Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XV.djvu/569

 SYPHON SIPHON, an inverted U-shaped tube used to draw liquids over the containing walls of res- ervoirs. It acts upon the principle that the flow will be in the direction of that leg which contains the greatest vertical height of liquid. The instrument will act only when the bend at the top is not higher above the level of the water in the reservoir than the atmospheric pressure at the locality is capable of sustaining a column of the liquid acted upon, which for water could only be a little over 33 ft. at the sea level, and at a height of 15,700 ft. less than 20 ft. (See PUMP, vol. xiv., p. 82.) If the liquid is mercury, the bend of the syphon could not be more than 29 or 30 in. above the level in the reservoir at the sea level. In practice the outer or discharge leg is usually longer than the one immersed in the liquid; but the only requirement is that its orifice shall be lower than the level of the liquid. It is convenient to have a suction pipe attached to the outer leg for producing exhaustion, the lower ori- fice in that leg being closed at the time. SY11A, or Syros. I. A Grecian island, included in the Cyclades, 20 m. N. W. of Paros; area, 45 sq. m.; pop. in 1870, 26,480. It is of very irregular outline, with steep and rugged coasts. The chief productions are wheat, barley, cot- ton, figs, silk, and especially wine, whose praises have been sung by Homer. II. Syra, New Syros, or Hermopolis, the capital of the island and of the Greek nomarchy of the Cyclades, situated at the head of a bay on the E. coast, near the site of the ancient city; pop. in 1870, 20,996. It is the seat of a Roman Catholic bishop, and of the Greek bishop of the Cyclades. It is the principal commercial port of Greece and an important station for steamers. The im- ports in 1873 amounted to 791,500, and the exports to 172,337. The old part of the town, originally built on a hill as a protection against pirates, is inhabited chiefly by Roman Catholics, and the lower part by Greeks. At the close of the Cretan war in 1869, the port was blockaded by Hobart Pasha. SYRACUSE (It. Siraema or Siragosa). I. A province of Sicily, on the E. coast, bordering on Catania and Caltanisetta, and the Mediter- ranean; area, 1,429 sq. m. ; pop. in 1872, 294,- 885. It is chiefly mountainous, but the south is a plain. The principal rivers are the Ana- po, Abisso, and Ragusa. The valleys of these rivers, the bases of the mountains, and the districts along the coast are very fertile, and contain excellent pastures and some good tim- ber. Agriculture and cattle raising are the chief occupations. The principal products are grain, barley, olives, wines, fruit, flax, and hemp. Among the mineral products are mar- ble, agates, stalactites of various colors, and bitumen. The province is divided into the districts of Syracuse, Noto, and Modica. II. A city (anc. Syracusce), capital of the prov- ince, on the E. coast, 30 m. S. S. E. of Cata- nia, and 81 m. S. by W. of Messina ; pop. in 1872, 22,179. It is fortified, and maintains a SYRACUSE 541 garrison, but is commanded by the heights of Achradina. It is the see of a bishop, and has a fine cathedral, partly on the site and partly composed of the ancient temple of Mi- nerva, numerous palaces, and several churches and convents. The streets are narrow, and there are extensive ruins of amphitheatres, baths, &c. The city has some trade in wine, oil, brandy, fruits, salt, saltpetre, sulphur, and a little grain. The ancient Syracuse was the largest city of Sicily; its walls, flanked by towers, were about 22 m. in circuit, and the number of inhabitants in its most pros- perous period is stated by different writers at 500,000, 900,000, and even 1,200,000. It really consisted of five towns adjoining each, other, but separated by walls, viz., Ortygia, Achra- dina, Tyche, Neapolis, and the Epipolse, and hence was sometimes called Pentapolis. The original city was Ortygia, on an oblong island about 2 m. in circuit, between the Great or Greek harbor on the west and the Little har- bor on the east ; after a time it was connected with the mainland by a causeway, and was then spoken of as Ortygia on the peninsula. Achradina, which was next in age, was on the other side of the Little harbor, and extended along the sea coast for about 3 m., E. of the port of Trogilus, without the limits of the city ; it was built partly on the lowlands along the shore, and partly on the heights which rise in a wall of rocks some little distance inland. N". W. of Achradina and on the same range of heights stood Tyche, separated from it only by a double wall and a highway be- tween ; it extended northward about 2 m., and at its W. extremity were several heights named the Epipolse, which were enclosed by Dionysius the Elder and formed one vast for- tress. S. of Tyche, and opposite Ortygia, on the lowlands and extending to the wall ^of Achradina, at the foot. of the heights, was Ne- apolis or the new town. W. and S. of Orty- gia, around the marshy shores of the Great harbor as far as the rocky peninsula of Plem- myrium, were suburbs and gardens. After the Roman conquest, as the city declined in wealth and population, its limits became more restricted ; at the time of Augustus it occupied only Ortygia and th lower part of Achra- dina, and since its capture by the Saracens it has been confined to the Ortygian peninsula. The heights of Achradina now present only a surface of rock, the ancient buildings and the soil having been alike removed. The sea has undermined the shore, the walls have disap- peared, and over the elevated and extensive plain only steps hewn in the rock or a few courses of stone give evidence of the vast pop- ulation which once inhabited it. On the pen- insula and the lowland portion of Achradina and Neapolis, evidences of the former great- ness of Syracuse are more abundant. Near the borders of Tyche, Achradina, and Neapolis is the ancient theatre hewn out of the rock and now much overgrown with bushes ; it is 440