Page:Collier's New Encyclopedia v. 08.djvu/491

SIGNALS 427 SIGURD by — ..., and so on. The signaler holds his flag perpendicularly, and to send a message moves it through an angle of 45 for a dot, or of 90 for a dash. The Myer system represents each letter of the al- phabet by a series of numbers. Thus, a is 22, b is 2112, c is 121, and so on. The signaler holds his flag perpendicularly, and then moves it through an angle of 90 to the right for 1, 90 to the left for 2, and straight down in front of him for 3. The heliograph signals by means of a mirror, or a combination of two mirrors, reflected sun flashes taking the place of movements of a flag. When the sun is in front of the operator, only one mirror is needed. When the sun is behind the operator, two mirrors are required, one to reflect the sun from the first mirror to the second, the other to reflect it from the second mirror to the receiver. Military telegraphy differs in no essen- tial from ordinary telegraphy, but special equipment is, of course, required. The wires are strung on light poles, or may even lie on the ground. They are car- ried on a reel, supported either on a man's back or on a light cart. Wireless teleg- raphy is rapidly rendering the use of a cable unnecessary. SIGNALS, the means by which com- munications are made to greater distances than can be reached by the human voice. To the eye these are conveyed by flags, lights, etc., and to the ear by guns, steam- whistles, fog-horns, etc. The most com- plete systems of signaling are those de- vised to enable ships some distance apart to communicate with each other. Of these the most important ones in the United States navy are the international code, the secret naval code, the wig-wag system, the Ardois night signal code, and a system of wireless telegraphy invented by officers of the navy. The wig-wag system is the simplest of all, and in most general use when vessels of a fleet are lying in close proximity to each other. It is carried on by means of a small flag of conspicuous color, mounted on a staff some six or seven feet long. This is held by the person sending the message and is waved down, or to the right or left, in accordance with an understood arrangement. The inter- national code, which is used by all vessels at sea, consists of 27 flags, of which there are 19 square ones, 6 pennants and 2 burgees. These flags represent letters, and in order to spell out a message combinations of three or four, having the same meaning in all languages, are hoist- ed to the top of the signal mast. SIGNATURE, in music, in writing music in any key with sharps or flats, the sharps and flats belonging to the key, in- stead of being prefixed to each note as required, are placed together immediately after the clef on the degrees of the staff to which they belong; and this collection of sharps or flats is called the signature. In printing, a letter or figure at the bot- tom of the first page of each sheet, to denote the order of the sheet and to facil- itate the arrangement of them for bind- ing. SIGOURNEY, LYDIA (HUNTLEY), an American author; born in Norwich, Conn., Sept. 1, 1791. Among her many publications are: "Pleasant Memories of Pleasant Lands," a record of her visit in Europe made in 1840 (1842) ; "Scenes in My Native Land" (1884) ; "Water Drops: A Plea for Temperance" (1847) ; "Glean- ings," poems (1860) ; and "The Man of Uz, and Other Poems" (1862). She died in Hartford, Conn., June 10, 1865. SIGSBEE, CHARLES DWIGHT, an American naval officer; born in Albany, N. Y.) Jan. 16, 1845; was graduated at the United States Naval Academy in 1863; served in the Gulf blockading squadron during the latter part of the Civil War; and participated in the battle of Mobile Bay. After the war he com- manded a Coast Survey vessel, and served for several years in the hydrographic office of the Navy Department at Wash- ington. He invented a deep-sea sounding apparatus and was permitted to accept the Order of the Red Eagle from the Em- peror of Germany in recognition of his services in superintending its construc- tion abroad. As captain he was assigned to the command of the battleship "Maine" in 1897. During the Spanish-American War he commanded the auxiliary cruiser "St. Paul," which rendered excellent serv- ice as a naval scout. The deepest valley in the Gulf of Mexico is named "Sigsbee's Deep," after Captain Sigsbee, and the sci- entific name of Sigsbeia murrhina is given to one of the rarest species of deep-sea fauna. It was Sigsbee, too, who discov- ered near the Morro light, many beauti- ful specimens of the pentacrini, or sea lilies. In 1898 Captain Sigsbee was given command of the battleship "Texas," and in 1900 became chief of the bureau of naval intelligence. In 1903 he was com- mander of the navy yard at League Is- land, Pa. He was commander of the S. Atlantic Squadron, 1904-1905; of the N. Atlantic Fleet, 1905-1906. He retired in 1907. He was the author of "Deep-Sea Sounding and Dredging," "Personal Nar- rative of the Battleship Maine," etc. SIGURD, or SIGURDR, in Northern mythology, the hero of the Volsunga Saga, on which the "Nibelungenlied" is based. According to the legend of the Volsungs, Sigurd (the Siegfried of the "Nibelung-