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SYMBOLICS 208 SYMONS the word symbolon, a brief compendium, a creed. SYME, JAMES, a Scotch surgeon; born in Fifeshire, Scotland, Nov. 7, 1799 ; was educated at the High School and University of Edinburgh, and studied anatomy under Barclay and Liston, vis- iting also Paris and Germany. In 1829 he opened Minto House Hospital, which he carried on for four years with great success as a surgical charity and school of clinical instruction; and in 1833 he was appointed Professor of Clinical Sur- gery in Edinburgh University. In 1847, on Liston's death, he accepted the same professorship in University College, Lon- don; he soon, however, returned to his former chair in Edinburgh and contin- ued to hold it till his death. Among his numerous writings are a "Treatise on the Excision of Diseased Joints," and "Principles of Surgery." He died in Edinburgh June 26, 1870. SYMMACHUS, QUINTUS AUBELI- US, a Roman statesman of the 4th cen- tury, A. D., and one of the last great ad- vocates of paganism; was educated in Gaul; and after serving as quaestor and prsetor became Corrector of Lucania and the Brutii (365) and Proconsul of Af- rica (373), and member of the pontifical college. His petition to Gratian, urged on the senate s behalf, for the restora- tion of the altar of Victory, proved un- availing (382), as did the extant letter addressed by him when prsefect of the city (384) to Valentinian. The failure led him to side with the pretender Maxi- mus (387), and for so doing he was im- peached of treason, but pardoned and raised to the consulship (391). His death must have taken place after 404, and we have by him 10 books of letters (1653), and fragments of 9 orations, the latter discovered and edited by Mai (1815). "Even saints," says Gibbons, "and polemic saints, treat Symmachus with respect," though Prudentius likened the use to which he applied his talents "to one digging in mud with an instru- ment of gold and ivory." SYMMETRICAL, in botany (of the parts of a flower), related to each other in number, the same in number, or one a multiple of the other, as in Saxifraga, which has five divisions of the calyx, five petals, and five stamens; or Epilohiium, which has a four-parted calyx, four pet- als, and eight stamens. In mathematics, possessing the at- tribute of symmetry; having correspond- ing parts or relations. In geometry, two points are symmetrically disposed with respect to a straight line, when they are on opposite sides of the line and equally distant from it, so that a straight line joining them intersects the given line, and is at right angles to it. A curve is symmetrical with respect to a straight line, when for each point on one side of the line there is a corresponding point on the other side, and equally distant from it. The line is called an axis of symmetry. In conic sections, the axes are the only true axes of symmetry. Two plane figures are symmetrically sit- uated with respect to a straight line, when each point of one has a correspond- ing point in the other on the opposite side of the axis, and equally distant from it. A line or surface is symmetrical with respect to a plane, when for each point on one side of the plane there is a sec- ond point on the other side, equally dis- tant from it. The plane is called the plane of symmetry, and is, in conical sec- tions, a principal plane. Symmetrical lines and surfaces in space cannot, in general, be made to coincide with each other. Spherical triangles are symmet- rical when their sides and angles are equal each to each, but not similarly sit- uated. In analysis, an expression is symmetrical with respect to two letters, when the places of these letters may be changed without changing the expres- sion. Thus the expression x^ + ax -- ab + b^x is symmetrical with respect to a and b; for, if we change the place of a and 6, we have x^ -f- ¥x + 6a -}- a'x, the same expression. An expression is symmetrical with respect to several let- ters, when any two of them may change places without affecting the expression; thus, the expression ab + &<** + «°c + c^a -f b'c -f be' is symmetrical with re- spect to the three letters, a, 6, c. SYMONDS, JOHN ADDINGTON, an English author; born in Bristol, Eng- land, Oct. 5, 1840; was educated at Har- row and at Balliol College, Oxford. His great work is the "Renaissance in Italy^' (1875-1886). Among his other works are: "Study of Dante"; "Studies of the Greek Poets"; "Sketches in Italy and Greece"; "Sketches and Studies in Italy"; translation of the "Sonnets of Michael Angelo and Campanella"; "An- imi Figura," a collection of sonnets; "Vagabunduli Libellus"; "In Nights and Days"; "Essays Speculative and Sug- gestive." He died in Rome, Italy, April 19, 1893. SYMONS, ARTHUR, a British writer of verse and prose, born in Wales, 1865. He was educated at various private schools and began to write early. His works include: "An Introduction to the Study of Browning"; "Days and