Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 22.djvu/52

 36 S I D S I E 9" E. long., about midway between Sur (Tyre) and Beirut (Beyrout). The ancient city extended some 800 yards farther inland, over ground now occupied by luxuriant fruit-gardens, on the produce of which the inhabitants of the town live. In front of the flat promontory to which the modern Sidon is confined there stretches northwards and southwards a rocky peninsula; at the northern ex- tremity of this begins a series of small rocks enclosing the harbour, which at present is a very bad one, having been, to some extent at least, purposely filled up. The port was formerly protected on the north by the Kal'at el-Bahr ("Sea Castle"), a building of the 13th century, situated upon an island still connected with the mainland by a bridge. On the south side of the town lay the so-called Egyptian harbour, now quite useless. The wall by which Sidon is at present surrounded is pierced by two gates, those of Beirut and Akko (Acre) ; at the south-eastern angle, upon a heap of rubbish, stand the remains of the citadel. The streets are very narrow, and the buildings of any interest are few ; most prominent are some large caravanserais belonging to the period of Sidon's modern prosperity, and the large mosque, formerly a church of the Knights of St John. Sidon looks best from the north. Of its 9000 inhabitants 7000 are Mohammedans ; there are a number of institutions conducted by Catholic and Protestant Christians. In the neighbourhood are large Phoenician burial-places, which have been partially explored by Renan ; the natives also engage in the search for anti- quities. The principal finds are sarcophagi, and next to these sculptures and paintings. The most important dis- covery hitherto made has been that of the sarcophagus of Eshmunazar with a long inscription ; it is now (1886) in the Louvre. Iii 637-638 Sidon was taken by the Arabs. During the crusades it was alternately in possession of the Franks and the Moham- medans, but finally fell into the hands of the latter in 1291. As the residence of the Druse emir Fakhr ed-Dm, it rose to some prosperity about the beginning of the 17th century, but towards the close of the 18th its commerce again passed away, principally to Beirut (Beyrout), and the prosperity of Sidou has ever since been steadily declining. See Renan, Mission de Phenicie, Paris, 1865. SIDONIUS APOLLINARIS. See APOLLINARIS SlDONIUS. SIEBENBURGEN. See TRANSYLVANIA. SIEBOLD, CARL THEODOR ERNST VON (1804-1885), physiologist and zoologist, the son of a physician and a descendant of what Oken called the "Asclepiad family of Siebolds," was born at Wiirzburg on 16th February 1804. Educated in medicine and science chiefly at the university of Berlin, he became successively professor of zoology, physiology, and comparative anatomy in Konigs- berg, Erlangen, Freiburg, Breslau, and Munich. In con- junction with Stannius he published (1845-48) a Manual of Comparative Anatomy, which is still of solid value; and along with Kolliker he founded in 1848 a journal which soon took and still retains a leading place in biological literature, Zeitschrift fur wissenschaftlicke Zoologie. He was also a laborious and successful helminthologist (see PARASITISM) and entomologist, in both capacities contri- buting many valuable papers to his journal, which he continued to edit until his death in 1885. In these ways, without being a man of marked genius, but rather an in- dustrious and critical observer, he came to fill a peculiarly distinguished position in science, and was long reckoned, what his biographer justly calls him, the Nestor of German zoology. See Ehlers, Zeitschr. f. wiss. ZooL, 1885. SIEBOLD, PHILIPP FRANZ VON (1796-1866), scientific explorer of Japan and elder brother of the physiologist noticed above, was born at Wiirzburg, Germany, on 17th February 1796. He studied medicine and natural science at Wiirzburg, and obtained his doctor's diploma in 1820. In 1822 he entered the service of the king of the Nether- lands as medical officer to the East Indian army. On his arrival at Batavia he was attached to a new mission to Japan, sent by the Dutch with a view to improve their trading relations with that country. Siebold was well equipped with scientific apparatus, and he remained in Japan for six years, with headquarters at the Dutch settle- ment on the little island of Deshima. His medical quali- fications enabled him to find favour with the Japanese, and he gathered a vast amount of information concerning a country then almost as little known as Corea, especially concerning its natural history and ethnography. He had comparatively free access to the interior, and his reputation spreading far and wide brought him visitors from all parts of the country. His valuable stores of information were added to by trained natives whom he sent to collect for him in the interior. In 1824 he published De Historic Naturalis in Japonia Statu and in 1832 his splendid Fauna Japonica. His knowledge of the language enabled him also in 1826 to issue from Batavia his Epitome Linguae Japonicx. In Deshima he also laid the foundation of his Catalogus Librorum Japonicorum and Isagoge in Biblio- thecam Japonicam, published after his return to Europe, as also his Bibliotheca Japonica, which, with the co-opera- tion of J. Hoffmann, appeared at Leyden in 1833. During the visit which he was permitted to make to Yedo (Tokio), Siebold made the best of the rare opportunity ; his zeal, indeed, outran his discretion, since, for obtaining a native map of the country, he was thrown into prison and com- pelled to quit Japan on 1st January 1830. On his return to Holland he was raised to the rank of major, and in 1842 to that of colonel. After his arrival in Europe he began to give to the world the fruits of his researches and observations in Japan. His Nippon; Archiv zur Beschreibung von Japan und dessen Neben- und Schutz- Ldndern was issued in five quarto volumes of text, with six folio volumes of atlas and engravings. He also issued many fragmentary papers on various aspects of Japan. In 1854 he published at Leyden Urkundliche Darstellung der Bestrebungen Niederlands und Russlands zur Eroffnung Japans. In 1859 Siebold undertook a second journey to Japan, and was invited by the emperor to his court. In 1861 he obtained permission from the Dutch Government to enter the Japanese service as negotiator between Japan and the powers of Europe, and in the same year his eldest son was made interpreter to the English embassy at Yedo. Siebold was, however, soon obliged by various intrigues to retire from his post, and ultimately from Japan. Re- turning by Java to Europe in 1862, he set up his ethno- graphical collections, which were ultimately secured by the Government of Bavaria and removed to Munich. He continued to publish papers on various Japanese subjects, and received honours from many of the learned societies of Europe. He died at Munich on 18th October 1866. Siebold until recent years was our great authority on Japan, and even now his writings on the natural history of that country have not been superseded. See biography by Moritz Wagner, in Allgemeine Zeitung, 13th to 16th November 1866. SIEDLCE (Russ. Syedlets), a government of Russian Poland, between the Vistula and the Bug, having Warsaw on the N.W., Lomza on the N., Grodno and Volhynia on the E., Lublin and Radom on the S. Its area is 5535 square miles. The surface is mostly flat, only a few hilly tracts appearing in the middle, around Biata, and in the east on the banks of the Bug. Extensive marshes prevail in the north and south-east. Chalk, Jurassic, and Tertiary deposits cover the surface, and are overlain in their turn with widely spread Glacial deposits. The valley of