Page:Collier's New Encyclopedia v. 09.djvu/259

SYPHILIS 215 SYRACUSE The tertiary stage of syphilis is dis- tinguished from the secondary by the occurrence of an interval of health of longer or shorter duration — days, months or even years — and is characterized by a reproductive process. The affections of the skin are of the suppurative and ul- cerative type, such as rupia and ec- thyma. The tissues of the bones rapidly soften, and become carious or necrosed. The glands are also deeply affected, even the great secreting and blood glands — the liver, spleen, thyroid, etc. The nervous system is also affected by tertiary deposits in the nerve-struc- tures or their membranes leading to irri- tation or paralysis. The treatment of the tertiary stage must be conducted on the same principles as that of the sec- ondary stage. Infantile or congenital syphilis is transmitted to the foetus in utero, either through the blood of the mother or the semen of the father, or both, and is a form of secondary syphilis, differing from it only in that the primary sore has occurred on the body of the parent in- stead of the infant itself. The disease is characterized by a persistent coryza, a reddish or copper eruption — roseola or lichen — especially on the genitals and on the palms and soles. Crescentic patches of mucous tubercle are common on the interior of the mouth, the lips, and anus, and there is a peculiar yellow- ish complexion. SYRA, the most important, though not the largest of that group of islands in the iS]gean Sea known as the Cyclades. It is about 10 miles long by 5 broad, has an area of 32 square miles and is bare, rocky and not very fertile. Its pros- perity is of quite modern growth. Dur- ing the War of Independence Syra re- mained neutral, hence many fugitives of commercial enterprise flocked thither from Chios and other parts of Greece. Pop. of island about 27,000. The capi- tal Syra or Hermoupolis, is situated on a bay on the E. side of the island. Pop. about 20,000. It rises in terraces from the shore, is well built, and is the seat of erovernment for the Cyclades, and the seat of a Roman Catholic bishop. This port is the chief commercial entrepot of the ^gean. Exports tobacco, emery stone, valona and sponges. SYRACUSE, anciently a famous city of Sicily; on the S. E. coast of the island; 80 miles S. S. W. of Messina; was founded by Corinthian settlers about 733 B. c. The colonists seem to have occupied the little isle of Ortygia, which stretches S. E. from the shore. The settlement rapidly rose to prosper- ity, and toward the end of the 6th cen- tury B. c. sent out colonies of its own. Little is known of the early political state of Syracuse; but about 485 the ruling families, probably descendants of the original colonists, were expelled by the lower classes of citizens. Gelon, despot of Gela, restored the exiles and at the same time made himself master of Syracuse. He increased both the pop- ulation and the power of his new state, and won the highest prestige by a great victory over the Carthaginians at Hi- mera. In his time Achradina, a triangu- lar tableland N. of Ortygia and on the adjoining mainland, was built on. This ultimately became the most extensive and populous quarter; it contained the Agora, a temple of Zeus Olympius, the Prytaneum, with a splendid statue of Sappho and fine monuments to Timoleon and the elder Dionysius, etc. At a later date, and possibly thus early, there were two other quarters in the city — Tyche, occupying a plateau to the W. of Achi-a- dina; and Neapolis (New City), stretch- ing along the S. slopes of the plateau, and overlooking the marshes of Anapus and the Great Harbor, a spacious and well-sheltered bay to the S. W. of Orty- gia. This islet, however, contained the citadel, which overlooked the docks in the Lesser Harbor on the N. Hiero, the successor of Gelon, was celebrated throughout the Greek world as a patron of the fine arts and of men of genius, as iEschylus, Pindar, etc. In 467 B. C. the democracy again got the upper hand — Thrasybulus, Hiero's brother and successor, a "tyrant" of the baser sort, being expelled; and for 60 years a free and democratic government was enjoyed, under which Syracuse flourished more than it had ever done. During this period occurred the great struggle with Athens (415-414 B. c), and the celebrated siege by the Athenian armament, a contest in which the Sicil- ian city came off victorious. Nine years later Dionysius restored the "tyranny" of Gelon, and during a reign of nearly 40 years greatly increased the strength and importance of the city. It was he who constructed the docks in the Greater and Lesser Harbors, and surrounded the city with fortifications. His fierce war with Carthage (397 B. c.) raised the re- nown of Syracuse still higher. The reigns of the younger Dionysius and of Dion, the friend of Plato, were unset- tled; but after the restoration of public liberty by Timoleon (343 B. c.) a brief season of tranquillity ensued. In 317 B. c, 20 years after the death of the noble Timoleon, Agathocles, a rude sol- dier of fortune, once more restored the despotic form of government, which con-