institution known as the “Referendum” all legislative acts passed in the Cantonal or Federal Assemblies may under certain conditions be referred to the mass of the electors, and this is frequently done.  The public debt amounts to over two million pounds.  The national army is maintained by conscription; 71 per cent. of the people speak German, 22 per cent.  French, and 5 per cent.  Italian; 59 per cent. are Protestants, and 41 per cent.  Catholics.  Education is splendidly organised, free, and compulsory; there are five universities, and many fine technical schools.

SYBARIS, an ancient city of Magna Graecia, on the Gulf of Tarentum, flourished in the 17th century B.C., but in 510 B.C. was captured and totally obliterated by the rival colonists of Crotona; at the height of its prosperity the luxury and voluptuousness of the inhabitants was such as to become a byword throughout the ancient world, and henceforth a Sybaris city is a city of luxurious indulgence, and Sybarite a devotee of pleasure.

SYBEL, HEINRICH VON, German historian, born at Duesseldorf; was a pupil of RANKE’S (q. v.), and became professor of History at Muenich and Bonn; he was a Liberal in politics; his great works are a “History of the Period of the French Revolution from 1789 to 1795, and then to 1800,” in five volumes, and the “History of the Founding of the German Empire under William I.,” in five volumes; he has also written a “History of the First Crusade” (1817-1895).

SYCORAX, a hag in the “Tempest,” the dam of Caliban.

SYDENHAM, a district of Kent and suburb of London, to the SE. of which it lies 7 m., includes the Surrey parish of Lambeth, where in 1852-54 the Crystal Palace was erected and still stands, a far-famed sight of London, containing valuable collections illustrative of the arts and sciences, and surrounded by a magnificent park and gardens.

SYDENHAM, FLOYER, Greek scholar; translated some of the Dialogues of Plato into English, and wrote a dissertation on Heraclitus, which failed of being appreciated, and involved in embarrassment, he was thrown into prison because he could not pay a small bill for provisions, and there died; his sad fate led to the foundation of the Literary Fund (1710-1787).

SYDENHAM, THOMAS, the “English Hippocrates,” born in Dorsetshire, educated at Oxford, and a Fellow of All Souls’; practised medicine in London, where, though regarded with disfavour by the faculty, he stood in high regard, and had an extensive practice, from his study of the symptoms of disease, and the respect he paid to the constitution of the patient; he used his own sense and judgment in each case, and his treatment was uniformly successful; he commanded the regard of his contemporaries Locke and Boyle, and his memory was revered by such experts as Boerhaave, Stahl, Pinel, and Haller; he ranks as a great reformer in the healing art (1624-1689).