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pursue the truth by reasons drawn from principles before establish-ed or assumed, and propositions formerly proved; thus proceed-ing by a regular chain, to the conclusion. Such is the method inipuclid’s Elements, dnd most demonstrations of the ancient mathe-maticians, which proceed from definitions and axioms, toprove propositions, &c. and from those propositions provedto prove others. This method we also call composition, inopposition to analysis or resolution. See Analysis, and Ana-lytic.

SYR A, an island in the Grecian Archipelago, anciently calledSvfos.

Syr a, the capital of the above island, 12 miles S. of An-dros.

SYRACOSIA, festivals anciently held in Syracuse , for tendays annually, during which the women were chiefly employedin sacrificing.

SYRACUSE, a celebrated city of Sicily , and the capital ofthe island, 72 miles S. by VV. of Messina, and 110 or 115 S. E. ofPalermo . Eon. 15. 30. E. Eat. 37. 17. N.

SYRIA, a very ancient country or kingdom of Asia , lyingbetween the Mediterranean on the W. the Euphrates on the E.and Arabia Deserta,. Phoenicia, and Palestine , on the S. Thiscountry appears in the patriarchal age to have been divided intoa great number of cantons or petty principalities. Very earlyafter the flood, it went by the general name of Aram, from Aramthe youngest son of Shem, who settled in it. Hence the differentcantons were named Aram-naharaim, Aram-zobah, Aram maachah,and Aram-zehob. Within a few centuries afterwards, it had ob-tained its present name of Syria ; for we find Betlmel, the nephew,and Laban, the grand nephew, of Abraham , styled Syrians, evenin the patriarchal age. (See Gen. xxv. 20.) It is a piece oflearned folly, therefore, to quote Plutarch ’s derivation of thisname from the fabulous hero, Syrus, the son of Apollo , Muchmore credit is due to those etymologists, who suppose it to be acontraction of the name Assyria , which the best historians, etymo-logists, and chronologists, derive from Ashur, the second son ofShem. All the petty states, provinces, principalities, and can-tons, into which Syria Proper was originally divided, appear tohave been afterwards reduced under subjection to the four prin-cipal ones, Zobah, Damascus, Hamath , and Geshur. Afterwardsthe whole country was divided into two parts only. viz. Ccelesy-ria and Phcenicia ; though the Phoenicians, Idumeans, Jews , Ga-zites, and Azotites, inhabiting the whole country of the Philis-tines, were included. Alter the death of Alexander, Syris, inthe great extent of the word, was divided, according to Strabo ,into.Coinagene, Seleucisof Syria , Ccclesyria, Phocnice on the sea-coast, and Judea in the midland.

Syria , Inhabitants, Language, &c. of. The inhabitantsmay be divided into three principal classes: the descendants ofthe Greeks of the Lower Empire ; the Arabs , their conquerors,consisting ot Motouales, Druses , and Ansarians, and the Turks,the present ruling power, besides three wandering tribes of Tur-Jcomen, Curds, and Bedouin Arabs . The ancient inhabitants be-fore the Greeks under Alexander are entirely lost. The inhabi-tants are of a mid-ding stature, and the eves of the women almosteverywhere beautiful, and their shape correct and well piopor-tioneA. The general language is Arabic. Syriac is a dead ianguage . This country abounds with many celebrated mountains,whit h will be found described in their order. See Anti-Libanus-Leranon, Libanus, Moriah, Sinai, Zion, &c. Syria is atpresent divided into five provinces or governments. called Pacha-lies; viz. Alf.pfo, Tripoli, Damascus, Acre, and Palestine ;the capitals ot which are Aleppo, the ancient Berf.a, Tripoli ,Damascus, or Sham, orSciiAM, as the Arabs style it, Ptoi.kmais, or Acre, and Jerusalem. See these articles. Syria isexceedingly feitile, and the variety of its productions is verygreat. Besides wheat, rye, barley, beans, and the cotton-plant,which is cultivated everywhere, Palestine abounds in sasamum,from whch oil is procured, and doura as good that o- Egypt.Maize tinives in the light soil ot Balhcc, and rice is cultivatedwith success on die b.Tilers of the marshy country ol Mavula.They plant sugar-cam-s in the gardens of S.ude and ol Bairout,equal to those of the Delta. Indigo grows without cultivating onthe banks of the Jordan, in the country ol Bisun, and only requiresto make it of an excellent quality. The hill-sides oi Latakia

produce tobacco. Gaza produces dates and pomegranates; Tri-poli affords oranges; Bairout, figs and bananas; Aleppo producespistachios; and Damascus possesses all the fruits known in Eu-rope ; apples, plums, [reaches, and twenty sorts of apricots arereckoned there, the stone of one of which contains a kernel highlyvalued through all Turkey . The cochineal-plant, which grows onall that coast, contains that precious insect in as high perlection asit is found in Mexico and St. Domingo.

SYR1NGA, the Lilac, or Pipe-Tree; in botany, a genus ofplants belonging to the class diandria, and order monogynia ; na-tural order, Sepiariae. Corolla four-cleft; capsule two-celled.There are four species, with several varieties The S. vulgaris,common lilac, is a shrub growing to the height of eighteen ortwenty feet, dividing into many branches; those of the white sortgrow more erect than the blue; and the purple, or Scotch lilac,has its branches yet more diffused.

SYRINGE, [cvgiyl,] a pipe through which any liquor issquirted. The heart seems not designed to be the fountain orconservatory of the vital flame, but as a machine to receive theblood from the veins, and force it out by the arteries through thewhole body, as a syringe does any liquor.

Syringe, a well known instrument, serving to imbibe or-suckin a quantity ol fluid, and to squirt or expel the same with vio-lence. It is formed from the Greek or the Latin syrinx,

a pipe. A syringe is only a single pump, and the water ascendsin it oh the same principle as in the common pump. See Hydro-statics, and Pneumatics .

SYRINGOTOMY, [mnyl- and the act or practice of

cutting fistulas or hollow sores. See Surgery.

SYRINX, in the mythology, a nymph of Arcadia, daughter ofthe river-god Ladon.

SYRO-GREC1ANS, the people of Syria , under the Selucidai,being a mixture of Greeks and Syrians.

Syuo-Phcenicia, a country lying between Syria and Phceni-cia, inhabited, according to Bocliart, by natives of both nationsmixed.

SYROS, in ancient geography, an island in the iEgean Sea,one ol the Cyclades ; about twenty miles in circumference, andvery fertile in corn, wine, and fruits. The climate is inild, andthe inhabitants long-lived.

SYltTES, in ancient geography, two large sand-banks in theMediterranean, on the coast of Africa, the one near Leptis , theother near Carthage .

SYRUP, in pharmacy, a saturated solution of sugar, made invegetable decoctions or infusions. See Pharmacy, and Medi-cine.

SYRUS, in fabulous history, the son of Apollo , by the nymphSinope. He is fabled to have given his name to Syria .

Syrus, Publius, a Syrian mimic poet, who flourished about44 years B. C. He was originally a slave sold to a Roman pa-trician, called Domitius, who brought him up with great attention,and gave him his freedom when of age. He gained the esteemof the most powerful men at Rome, and reckoned J. Caesar amonghis patrons. He soon eclipsed the poet Laberius , whose bur-lesque compositions were in general esteem. There remains ofSyrus, a collection of moral sentences, written in iambics, andplaced in alphabetical order.

SYSSARCOS1S, [from with, and vajxo;, flesh,] in ana-tomv, a kind of articulation by the intervention of flesh.

SYSTEM, [irom o-urs.un, composition,] in general, denotes achain of principles and conclusions, or the whole of any doctrine,the several parts whereof are bound together, and depend on eachother.

System, in music, an assemblage of the rules of harmony, de-duced from some common principal by which they are reunited:by which their connection one with another is formed ; fromwhence, as from their genuine source, they natively flow ; and towhich, if we would account lor them, we must have recourse.See Music.

Systems, in the animal (economy, are he vascular, the ner-vous, and the cellular. See Anatomy.

Systems, of astronomy. See Astronomy.

SYSTOLE, [vi/r°x>j,] in anatomy, is the opposite state to thediastole, or dilatation of the heart. See Analomy.

. SYSTYLE, in architecture, that manner of placing columns

where