[Sims, George Robert], playwright and novelist, born in London; was for a number of years on the staff of Fun and a contributor to the Referee and Weekly Dispatch, making his mark by his humorous and pathetic Dagonet ballads and stories; has been a busy writer of popular plays (e. g. "The Lights o' London," "The Romany Rye") and novels (e. g. "Rogues and Vagabonds," "Dramas of Life"); contributed noteworthy letters to the Daily News on the condition of the London poor; b. 1847.
[Simson, Robert], mathematician, born in Ayrshire; abandoned his intention of entering the Church and devoted himself to the congenial study of mathematics, of which he became professor in the old university at Glasgow (1711), a position he held for 50 years; was the author of the well-known "Elements of Euclid," but is most celebrated as the first restorer of Euclid's lost treatise on "Porisms" (1687-1768).
[Sinai, Mount], one of a range of three mountains on the peninsula between the Gulf of Suez and the Gulf of Akaba, at the head of the Red Sea, and from the summit or slopes of which Moses is said to have received the Ten Commandments at the hands of Jehovah.
[Sincerity], in Carlyle's ethics the one test of all worth in a human being, that he really with his whole soul means what he is saying and doing, and is courageously ready to front time and eternity on the stake.
[Sinclair], name of a Scottish family of Norman origin whose founder obtained from David I. the grant of Roslin, near Edinburgh.
[Sinclair, Sir John], philanthropist and statistician, born at Thurso Castle, bred to the bar; succeeding to the family estate devoted himself to his duties as a landed proprietor; sat for different constituencies in Parliament; published in 1784 "History of the Revenue of the British Empire," and in 1791-99, in 21 vols., "Statistical Account of Scotland" (1754-1835).
[Sind, Sindh], or Scinde (2,903), a province of North-West India, in the Presidency of Bombay; extends from Beluchistan and Punjab (N.) to the Indian Ocean and Runn of Cutch (S.); traversed by the Indus, whose delta it includes, and whose broad alluvial valley-tracts yield abundant crops of wheat, barley, hemp, rice, cotton, etc., which are exported, and give employment to the majority of the people; N. and E. are wide stretches of desert-land, and in the S. are the Hala Mountains; was annexed to the British possessions after the victories of Sir Charles Napier in 1843; chief city and port is Kurrachee.
[Sindia], the hereditary title of the Mahratta dynasty in Gwalior, Central India, founded in 1738 by Ranojee Sindia, who rose from being slipper-bearer to the position of hereditary prime minister of the Mahrattas; these princes, both singly and in combination with other Mahratta powers, offered determined resistance to the British, but in 1803 the confederated Mahratta power was broken by Sir Arthur Wellesley, and a large portion of their territory passed into British hands. Gwalior having been restored (1805), and retaken in 1844, the Sindia dynasty was reinstated under a more stringent treaty, and Boji Rao Sindia proved faithful during the Mutiny, receiving various marks of good-will from the British; was succeeded by his adopted son, a child of six, in 1886.
[Singapore], 1, (185, chiefly Chinese), the most important of the [British Straits Settlements] (q. v.); consists of the island of Singapore and upwards of 50 islets, off the southern extremity of the Malay Peninsula, from which it is separated by a narrow strait (2 to ½ m. broad); is hot, humid, and low-lying, yet healthy, and possessing a fertile soil which grows all kinds of spices, fruits, sugar-cane, coffee, etc.; purchased by the British in 1824. 2, Capital (160) and port, on the Strait of Singapore, close to the equator; the chief emporium of trade with the East Indies and South-Eastern Asia generally; is a picturesque and handsome town, strongly fortified, and an important naval coaling station and depôt, with spacious harbour, docks, etc.
[Sinology], the science treating of the language, literature, laws, and history of the Chinese.