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SYMPATHETIC NERVOUS SYSTEM     i860

SYRACUSE

man and Shakespeare's Predecessors in the English Drama. His work is marked by accurate learning and much critical insight. The Renaissance in Italy is his chief work. On its seven volumes the author spent eleven years of intelligent labor.

Sympathetic Nerv'ous Sys'tem, a nervous system developed in vertebrated animals above the fishes. It consists of a double row of ganglia united by nerve-trunks, and is located within the cavity of the body, along each side of the spinal column. In this way two chains are formed, reaching from the base of the skull to the end of the body-cavity. The ganglia are collections of gray matter or nerve-cells, and nerve-fibers pass through them to and from the spinal cord. The sympathetic system is connected with the central nervous system by numerous nerve-trunks or communicating branches. It also sends branches to the viscera. It acts as a kind of relay center for regulating the blood-supply to the abdominal viscera and assisting in other involuntary actions. See Gray's or Quain's Anatomy for a longer description.

Sympetalous (stm-pet^al-us) Flowers, those in which the petals are more or less united, as distinguished from those which are polypetalous, in which the petals are entirely distinct from one another. The sympetalous condition is characteristic of families of the highest rank, in which the corolla takes such forms as a bell, urn, tube or trumpet. The noun is sympetaly. Equivalent terms are gamepetalous flowers and monopetalous flowers. See FLOWER.

Synagogue (s%n'd-gog)t the Jewish house of worship, the Jewish church. Synagogues were first established in Judaea, when the country was under the Greek and the Persian rule, and were sometimes used for schools. The synagogue has seats and desks on the floor for the men and galleries for the women. There are an ark containing the Hebrew copies of the books of Moses, a platform for the reader and a smaller platform for the preacher or lecturer. The congregation must face the east while certain prayers are recited. Modern synagogues have arrangements for a choir and are more like Christian churches.

Syncarpous (sin-kdr''pus) Flowers, those in which two or more carpels are organized together to form a single pistil, commonly called a compound pistil. The contrasting term is apocarpous or carpels distinct from one another. See FLOWER.

Synergids (sm'er-fids) (in plants), two cells which are associated with the egg in angiosperms, and with it form the group of three cells, called the egg-apparatus. This group is situated at the micropylar end of the embryo-sac, to which the pollen-tube comes. The name means helpers, and refers to the fact that these cells are of service in the process of fertilization. Dur-

ing this process one of the synergids becomes disorganized, contributing of its substance to the nourishment of the pollen-tube and its contents. See EMBRYO-SAC.

Syr'acuse (sw'a Ms'), N. Y., county-seat of Onondaga County, is on Onondaga Lake, about halfway between Albany and Buffalo. It is a handsome city, with broad, shaded streets and ornamental squares. The state armory, asylums for weak-minded and three asylums for orphans, a home for aged women, savings-bank, courtnouse, the new high school, Kirk Block, John Crotise College of Fine Arts, the Hall of Languages and the First Presbyterian chuich are among the noteworthy buildings. The manufacture of salt has been an industry since 1654 when the springs were visited by the Jesuits and the salt carried to Quebec. The supply is supposed to be inexhaustible, but the brine does not produce the best quality of salt; which is still obtained from the local wells to the extent of 2,000,000 bushels per year. In 1870 the output was over 8,000,000 bushels, but there is lively competition now at Warsaw and in Michigan. The extensive works of the Solvay Process Company are the principal industry, 2,800 men being employed and $5,000,000 invested. Caustic soda, bicarbonate of soda, soda-ash and crystals are the principal products, but carbolic aci'd, picric acid, coke, ammonia, tar and other coal-tar products are also made by this company. Brine is brought through iron pipes to the works from wells which the company sank 20 miles from the city. It was in the sinking of these wells that the main source of the brine, which had so long been used in Syracuse, was located in a mass of solid salt. Into some wells it was found necessary to discharge fresh water, When it became saturated it then was pumped to other wells and through pipes to the works. The limestone used by this company is brought from Split Rock. Large buckets, suspended on overhead wires and operated by steam-power, carry the material. They run in close connection and continuously, carrying 1,000 tons in 12 hours, The "waste" product is white like marl, possessing no sustenance for vegetation, but has been used to fill the surrounding lowlands. In this way hundreds of acres have been filled to a great depth, and places of deposit are now so limited that Onondaga Lake is to be used as a place of discharge. Besides this enormous business, typewriters and automobiles are extensively manufactured, as are recorders, chilled plows, furniture and shot-guns. In the city are Bessemer steel-works, blastfurnaces and foundries. The city expends $480,696 to maintain its public schools, which have 514 teachers and 22,177 pupils. Syracuse has 116 churches and missions