Sulphur is designated in Heb. as T^'^^.p^, ffophrith (A. V. "brimstone"), and in Greek ^tlov (Plutarch, Si/mjMs. iv, 2, 3). In the Scriptures it is very freiiuent- ly associated with " fire :" " The Lord rained upon Sod- om and Gomorrah brimstone and fire out of heaven" (Gen. xix, 24; see also Psa. xi, G; Ezek. xxxviii, 22). In Job xviii, 15 and Isa. xxx, 33 "brimstone" occurs alone, but no doubt in a sense similar to that in the fore- going passages, viz. as a synonymous expression with lightning, as has been observed bj' Le Clerc {IHssert. de Sodomce Subversione, Cominentcvio Pentateuch Adjecta, § iv), Michaelis, Rosenmllller, and others. There is a peculiar sulphurous odor which is occasionally perceived to accompany a thunder-storm. The ancients draw par- ticular attention to it: see Pliny (Hist. N'at.xs.xv, 15). "Fulmina ac fulgura quoque sulphuris odorem habent;" Seneca {Q. Nat. ii, 53), and Persius {Sat. it, 24, 25). Hence the expression in the sacred writings "fire and brimstone" to denote a storm of thunder and lightning. The stream of brimstone in Isa. xxx, 33 is, no doubt, as Lee (//e6. Lex. p. 123) has well expressed it, " a rushing stream of lightning." From Deut. xxix, 23, " The whole land thereof is brimstone . . . like the overthrow of Sodom," it would appear that native sulphur itself is al- luded to (see also Isa. xxxiv, 9). Sulphur is found at the present time in different parts of Palestine, but in the greatest abundance on the borders of the Dead Sea. " We picked up pieces," says Dr. Kobinson {Bibl. Bes. ii, 221), " as large as a walnut near the northern shore, and the Arabs said it was found in the sea near 'Ain el- Feshkhah in lumps as large as a man's fist: they find it in sufficient quantities to make from it their own gun- powder." See Irby and Mangles ( Travels, p. 453 ), Burckhardt (Travels, p. 394), who observes that the Arabs use sulphur in diseases of their camels, and Shaw (Travels, ii, 159). There are hot sulphurous springs on the eastern coast of the ancient Callirrhoe (Irby and Mangles, Travels, p. 467 ; Kobinson, Bibl. Res. ii, 222). The pieces of sulphur, varying in size from a nutmeg to a small hen's egg, which travellers pick up on the shore of the Dead Sea, have, in all probability, been disinte- grated from the adjacent limestone or volcanic rocks and washed up on the shores. Sulphur was much used by the Greeks and Komans in their religious purifica- tions (Juv. ii, 157; Pliny, xxxv, 15); hence the Greek
word biiov, lit. "the divine thing," was employed to express this substance. Suljihur is found nearly pure in different parts of tlie world, and generally in volcanic districts. It exists in combination with metals and in various sulphates: it is very combustible, and is used in the manufacture of gunpowder, matches, etc. Pliny (loc.cit.) says one kind of sulphur was employed "ad ellychnia coulicienda." — Smith. See Brimstone.
Sulpicians, or Priests of the Society of St. St'LPRE. This society was founded in the parish of St. Sulpice, Paris, in 1645, by Jean Jacques Olier de Ver- neuil. The act founding the society was dated Sept. G, 1G45, and was immediately sanctioned by the authori- ties. The society is specially devoted to the training of candidates for the priesthood, and is formed into two bands, one devoted to parish work and the other to teach- ing. Being warmly befriended by St. Vincent de Paul, the Sulpicians soon established themselves in nearly all the dioceses of France, and took the chief part in tlie edu- cation of the French clergy down to the Revolution of 1789. The}' were suppressed by Napoleon in 1812, but were restored by Louis XVIII. In 16oG Olier formed a company for colonizing the island of Montreal, who pur- chased it in 1G40, sent out Sieur de Maisonneuve with priests and nuns in 1641, and transferred their proprie- torship to the Sulpicians in 165G. In 1657 the Sul- picians De Queylus, Souard, and Galinier took posses- sion of the island, but their claims were resisted, and a conflict of jurisdiction arose wliich had not been settled as late as the early part of 187G. In 1668 the Sulpi- cians Francois de Fenelon and Claude Trouve founded the first Iroquois mission at the western extremity of Lake Ontario, but their labors were confined principally to the Indians near Montreal. In Montreal, in addition to the seminary attached to the Church of Notre Dame, founded in 1657, they possess the Theological Seminarj-, the Preparatory Seminary, or " College of Montreal," founded in 1773, and several other succursal churches with their residences. Invited by bishop Carroll in April, 1791, a band of four Sulpicians and three Semina- rians, headed by Francois Charles Nagot, sailed for Bal- timore, Md., where they formed for a time the clergy of the cathedral. Some of their number went to teach in the (Georgetown College, and foinided the St. Mary's Theological Seminary, Baltimore, with a college or pre- paratory school. Pope Gregorj' XVI raised the semi- nary to the rank of a university. The collegiate school was removed to Ellicott City, Howard Co., in 1849, and suppressed in 1852. See Appletons' Cyclop, s. v.
Sulpicius Severus. See Severus, Sui.picius.
Suiter, in Norse mythology, was the knife of the wicked Hela. The word signifies devouring hunger.