Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 18.djvu/230

* SIMONY. (Gth ed., London, 188G) ; Blackstone, Commen- tariin. See Advowson ; Benefice. SIMOOM (Ar. savvuin, liot pestilent wind, from mimiHci, to poison). A hot sufl'ocating wind, carrying clouds of dust. Although these winds occur in their greatest intensity in the deserts of Northern Africa and Western Asia, analogous winds are found in India, North America, and Aus- tralia. Simooms may be either local and similar to our hot winds, sand storms, and tornadoes, or they nia}' be more general, like the blizzards of North America or the bora of Northern Europe. Owing to the clear sky over desert regions in the tropics, the soil and adjacent air may become intensely heated, causing local ascending currents and whirlwinds. Temperatures of 120° and 140° F. have been observed in the Sahara and are not infrequent in Arizona, New ^Mexico, and Australia. The descriptions of the simoom indicate that as it approaches the ob- server its front extends at least from five to twenty miles, very nuich like the ad- vancing front of a series of thunder storms on a hot afternoon ; the clouds of fine sand and dust that are carried up by the wind extend as a haze overspreading the sky ; the heavier sands are also transported in large quantities, and as they fall are collected in mounds around every obstacle like the drifts of snow in winter. In the case of an extended simoom the finer sands are carried so high as to be drawn into the general circulation over Europe. Tluis in the great storm of March 10-12, 1901, red and yellow sand and dust from the Sahara fell in nearly every por- tion of Oermany, France, Austria, and Turkey, and southward over the Mediterranean, and was also reported in Southern England for the first time on record. This 'dust' is a mixture of in- organic particles of quartz, mica, and clay with a considerable admixture of fragments of fresh- water diatoms entirely similar to the diatoms found in the dust when the northeast Harmattan blows from the same desert soutliwestward to the Atlantic and the Gulf of Guinea. The simoom is not to be confounded with the Khamsin, which usually blows for about fifty days from the northeast over Egypt. The Sirocco is a hot moist southerly wind, in Sicily and Italy; the Saniiel is the similar hot south- erly wind of Turkey ; the Solnno is the liot south- east wind of Spain: these may all exist without any connection with the simoom, but on some oc- casions dry simoom winds have advanced north- ward from the desert and merged into the hot moi.st southerly winds, the Sirocco, of the north- ern shores of the Mediterranean. SIMPLE. The servant of Slender in Shake- speare's Mcrrp Wires of Windsor. SIMPLE HARMONIC MOTION. See Me- cn.vxios : W.we.s. SIM'PLICIS'SIMTJS. The first modern Ger- man novel — Der ahentciierliche Simplicissimus Tentsch. das ist : Die Beschreihung des Lehens eiiies seUzamen Yaqanlen. r/enant Melchior Sternfels I'on Fiiehshaini (The Venturesome German Simplicissimus. that is: Description of the Life of a Remarkable Vagabond named Melchior Sternfels, of Fuchshaim) (1060). Its author was Hans Jakob Christoffel von Grim- melshausen (q.v. ). The book deals realistically with the Thirty Years' War. 186 SIMPSON SIMPLICIUS, sim-plish'i-us. A Neo-Platonic philosopher of the sixth century, who was a na- tive of C'ilicia. He was teaching at Athens when the schools of pbilo.sopliy were closed by the edict of Justinian, and was one of those philosopliers who found a temporary asylum at the Court of the Persian King Kliosru I. Subsequently he lived at Alexandria. He was chiefly famous as a commentator on Aristotle. His complete works were edited by Schweighauscr (Leipzig, 1800). His commentaries on Aristotle's Categories, Phys- ics, De C'aio, and De Auinta were edited by Karsten (1805), and that on the Enchiridion of Epictetus by Enk (Vienna, 1800). SIM'PLON, Fr. proa. saN'ploN'. A famous Alpine nmuntain pass of Switzerland, 0592 feet above the sea, in the eastern part of the Canton of Valais, near the Piedmontese frontier. The Simplon road, one of the greatest engineering achievements of modern times, leads over a shoulder of the moiuitain from Brig in Valais to Domo d'Ossola in the north of Piedmont. The road was commenced in ISOO under the direction of Napoleon and was completed in 1800. It is from 25 to .30 feet broad, and 42 miles long. It is carried across Oil bridges, over numerous gal- leries cut out of the natural rock, or built of solid masonry, and through great tunnels. The construction of a railway tunnel between Brigand Isella was nearing completion at the close of 1903. It will have a length of about 12 miles and will be the longest railway' tunnel in the world, surpassing the Saint Gotthard by more than 2 miles. It begins on the Swiss side at an elevation of about 2250 feet and the opening at the Italian end is about 550 feet higher. Con- sult La fcrniria del Sempione (Rome. 1900). SIMPSON, sim'son, Edward (1824-88). An American naval olficer and author, born in New York City, He was appointed a midshipman in the navy in 1840; in 1845 entered the new Naval Academy at Anna]K)lis; and in the following year graduated in the first class that ever went out from that institution. In the Mexican War he served on board the ^'ixcn. and took part in the bombardment of Vera Cruz. In 1855 he was commissioned lieutenant, and in the following year assi.sted in capturing the Barrier Forts near Canton. China. After some years as instructor at Annapolis, he was in July, 1862, commissioned lieutenant-commander; and in command of the monitor Passaic, he participated in attacks on Fort Wag7ier, Fort Sumter, and Fort Moultrie. Later he was fleet-captain of the block.iding squadron before Jlobile. He had risen to the rank of rear-admiral when he was retired in 1886. His publications include: Ordnance and ^'aval Giinncrti (1802); The Xaral ^[ission to Europe (1873); and Modern Ships of War (1887). SIMPSON. Sir George (1792-1860). A Canadian statesman and explorer, born in Ross- shire, Scotland. In 1820 he was sent to British America by the Earl of Selkirk, the leading spirit of the Hudson's Bay Company. In 1821, when the Hudson's Bay Company and its rival, the Northwest Company, coalesced, he was appointed Governor of the Northern Department, and subsequently general superin- tendent of the company's afl"airs in America. That position he filled with great success for thirty-five years. In 1828 he crossed the