Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 22.djvu/687

 S U N S U N 659 the powerful dorsal and anal fins. The small mouth, situ- ated in front of the head, is armed with an undivided dental plate above and below, similar to but weaker than the teeth of the globe-fish (Diodon). Sun-fishes are truly pelagic, propagating their species in the open sea, and only occasionally approach the coast. During the stormy season they live probably at some depth, but in calm bright weather they rise and rest or play on the surface with their dorsal fin high above the water. This habit has given rise to the popular name " sun-fish," a term also sometimes applied to the basking- shark (vol. xxi. p. 777), which in like manner enjoys the warmth of a sunny day. In some years the rough sun-fish is by no means scarce on the south coast of England and on the Irish coasts, where it appears principally in the summer months. The usual size is from 3 to 4 feet in length, but this species attains to 7 feet and more. One of the largest specimens (see the accom- panying figure) was caught near Portland (Dorsetshire) in 1846, and is now in the British Museum ; ^E^Hy its length is 7 feet 6 inches. The Wi I'M sun-fish has no economic value, Sun-fish (Orthagoriscus mola). Whilst the rough sun -fish has a granulated, rough, shagreen -like skin, the second species (0. trwicatus) has the surface of the body smooth and polished, with its small dermal scutes arranged in a tesselated fashion. It is oblong in shape, the body being much longer than it is deep. The sides are finely ornamented with transverse silvery, black-edged stripes running downwards to the lower part of the abdomen. It has not been found to exceed 2 feet in length, but is very scarce, only a few specimens having been captured on the coasts of Europe, at the Cape of Good Hope, and off Mauritius. SUNFLOWER. In the modern vernacular this name is most commonly applied to various species of Helianthus, especially to H. annuus; but, as this is a tropical American herb, and the word " sunflower " or something correspond- ing to it existed in English literature prior to its intro- duction, or at any rate prior to its general diffusion in gardens, it is obvious that some other flower than the Heli- anthus must have been intended. The marigold (Calendula officinalis) is considered by Dr Prior to have been the plant intended by Ovid (Met., iv. 269-70) ". . . Ilia suum, quainvis radice tenetiir, Vertitur ad soleni ; mutataque servat amorem " and likewise the solsxce of the Anglo-Saxon, a word equi- valent to solsequium (sun-following). But this movement with the sun is more imaginary than real, the better expla- nation being afforded by the resemblance to "the radiant beams of the sun," as Gerard expresses it. The central disk of tubular hermaphrodite flowers, encompassed by the spreading neuter florets of the ray, has, indeed, a marked resemblance to the sun as conventionally depicted. The florets are provided with two or three dry, sharply pointed scales, which serve as pappus, and the whole mass of florets is encircled by a close involucre of leafy bracts. There are numerous varieties of the common sunflower in cultivation, the so-called double form being one in which the ordinarily tubular florets in the centre become spreading and " ligulate " like those at the circum- ference. The seeds, or more strictly speaking the fruits, contain much oil, for which the plant is cultivated in southern Russia. The oil is used in the manufacture of soap. The seeds are also valued for their agreeable flavour, and are much used as food for poultry, &c. The so-called "Jerusalem artichoke" (Helianthus tuberosus) belongs to the same genus. It is believed to be a native of Canada, or perhaps a modified form of H. dor onicoi <{',<. The tubers are rich in inulin and sugar, and the plant deserves more attention at the hands of cultivators than it has yet received. The word " Jerusalem " is evidently a corruption, while "artichoke" applies to the flavour of the tuber, which is not unlike that of the artichoke. SUNNITES AND SHI'ITES. The religion of Mohammed Geo- is at present professed by 150 to 200 million souls, spread graphical over great parts of Asia (including the Indian Archi- ( lstrilni - pelago), Africa, and southern Europe, 1 over Asia Minor, Armenia, Syria, Palestine, Arabia, Mesopotamia, the Caucasus, Persia, all upper Asia (including Siberia), the steppes of southern Russia, Afghanistan, Beluchistan, Tibet, China, Japan, India, Egypt, the Soudan as far as the equatorial lakes, the whole north coast of Africa and thence deep into the interior, European Turkey, Bulgaria, Bosnia, and Herzegovina. In most of these regions Mos- lems live side by side with men of other confessions, even where Islam is the ruling creed ; it is found unmixed in Central Asia and some parts of Arabia. Mohammedans fall into the two great divisions of Sunnites and Shi'ites (Shi'a), separated by such bitter hatred as belongs to two hostile religions, or such as some Catholic populations feel towards a Protestant. 2 The Sunnites, who accept the orthodox tradition (Sunna) as well as the Koran as a source of theologico-juristic doctrines, predominate in Arabia, the Turkish empire, the north of Africa, Turkestan, Afghanistan, and the Mohammedan parts of India and the east of Asia ; the Shi'ites, whose origin has been explained in MOHAMMEDANISM (vol. xvi. pp. 564, 568, 592), have their main seat in Persia, where their confession is the state religion, but are also scattered over the whole sphere of Islam, especially in India and the regions bordering on Persia, except among the nomad Tatars, who are all nominally Sunnite. Even in Turkey there are many native Shi'ites, generally men of the upper classes, and often men in high office. The Shfites are less numerous and less important than the Sunnites, but on the whole may amount to 20 millions. SUNNITES. Orthodox Islam preserves unchanged the form of Sunnites. doctrine established in the 10th century by Abu '1- Hasan al-Ash'ari (see vol. xvi. p. 593, and also pp. 553 sq., 592, 584). The attacks of rationalism, aided by Greek philo- sophy, were repelled and vanquished by the weapons of scholastic dialectic borrowed from the enemy; on mobt points of dispute discussion was forbidden altogether, 1 Exact statistics are unattainable because we lack details as to the great advances which Islam has recently made and is still making in Central Africa. 2 Generally speaking the Smmites are the more bitter party. The relation is least strained in India, where the Sunnites approach tlu Shi'ites in reverence for 'All, Hasan, and Hosain, and share the feasts of these saiuts.
 * ff|/ and is rarely, if ever, eaten.