in A.D. 529, the school of philosophy at Athens was disendowed and the teaching of philosophy forbidden, the scholars Damascius, Simplicius, Priscianus and four others resolved in 531 or 532 to seek the protection of Chosroes, king of Persia, but, though they received a hearty welcome, they found themselves unable to endure a continued residence amongst barbarians. Before two years had elapsed they returned to. Greece, Chosroes, in his treaty of peace concluded with Justinian in 533, expressly stipulating that the seven philosophers should be allowed “to return to their own homes, and to live henceforward in the enjoyment of liberty of conscience” (Agathias ii. 30, 31). After his return from Persia Simplicius wrote commentaries upon Aristotle's De coelo, Physica, De anima and Categoriae, which, with a commentary upon the Enchiridion of Epictetus, have survived. Simplicius is not an original thinker, but his remarks are thoughtful and intelligent and his learning is prodigious. To the student of Greek philosophy his commentaries are invaluable, as they contain many fragments of the older philosophers as well as of his immediate predecessors. (See Neoplatonism.)
See J. A. Fabricius, Bibliotheca Graeca, ix. 529 seq., who praises very highly Simplicius’s commentary on the Enchiridion; Ch. A. Brandis’s article in Smith’s Dict. of Greek and Roman Biography; E. Zeller, D. Phil. d. Gr. III. ii. 851 seq., also Ch. A. Brandis, “Über d. griech. Ausleger d. ristot. Organons,” in Abh. Berl. Akad. (1833); C. G. Zumpt, “Über d. Bestand d. phil. Schulen in Athen,” ibid. (1842); Chaignet, Histoire de la psychologie des Grecs, v. 357; Zahlfleisch, Die Polemik des S.
SIMPLON PASS, a pass over the Alps. Not known early save as a purely local route, the Simplon Pass rose into importance when Napoleon caused the carriage road to be built across it between 1800 and 1807, though it suffered a new eclipse on the opening of the Mont Cenis (1871) and St Gotthard railways (1882). The Simplon tunnel was opened in 1906. The pass proper starts from Brieg (Swiss canton of the Valais), which is in the upper Rhone valley and 9012 m. by rail from Lausanne, past St Maurice and Sion. From Brieg it is about 14 m. up to the pass (6592 ft.), close to which is the hospice (first mentioned in 1235) in the charge of Austin Canons from the Great St Bernard. The road descends past the Swiss village of Simplon, and passes through the wonderful rock defile of Gondo before entering Italy at Iselle (28 m. from Brieg). Here the road joins the railway line through the tunnel, which is 12; m. in length, and 2313 ft. high, being thus both the longest and the lowest tunnel through the Alps. From Iselle it is about 1 1 m. by rail to Domo d'Ossola, whence the Toce or Tosa valley is followed to the Lago Maggiore (23 m.). The new line runs along the W. shore of the Lago Maggiore past Baveno, Stresa and Arona, and so on to Milan. (W. A. B. C.)
SIMPSON, SIR JAMES YOUNG (1811–1870), Scottish
physician, was born at Bathgate, Linlithgow, Scotland, on the
7th of June 1811. His father was a baker in that town, and
James was the youngest of a family of seven. At the age of
fourteen he entered the university of Edinburgh as a student in
the arts classes. Two years later he began his medical studies.
At the age of nineteen he obtained the licence of the College of
Surgeons, and two years afterwards took the degree of doctor
of medicine. Dr John Thomson (1765–1846), who then occupied
the chair of pathology in the university, impressed with Simpson’s
graduation thesis, “On Death from Inflammation,” offered
him his assistantship. The offer was accepted, and during
the session 1837–1838 he acted as interim lecturer on pathology
during the illness of the professor. The following winter he
delivered his first course of lectures on obstetric medicine in the
extra-academical school. In February 1840 he was elected to
the professorship of medicine and midwifery in the university.
Towards the end of 1846 he was present at an operation per-
formed by Robert Liston on a patient rendered unconscious by
the inhalation of sulphuric ether. The success of the proceeding
was so marked that Simpson immediately began to use it in
midwifery practice. He continued, however, to search for other
substances having similar effects, and in March 1847 he read
a paper on chloroform to the Medico-Chirurgical Society of
Edinburgh, in which he fully detailed the history of the use of
anaesthetics from the earliest times, but especially dwelt upon
the advantages of chloroform over ether. He advocated its use,
not only for the prevention of pain in surgical operations, but
also for the relief of pain in obstetrical practice, and his uncompromising
advocacy of its use in the latter class of cases
gave rise to one of the angriest and most widespread controversies of the time. In 1847 he was appointed a physician to
the queen in Scotland. In 1859 he advocated the use of acupressure in place of ligatures for arresting the bleeding of
cut arteries, but of more importance were his improvements
in the methods of gynaecological diagnosis and obstetrics. His
contributions to the literature of his profession were very numerous, embracing Obstetric Memoirs and Contributions (2 vols.),
Homoeopathy, Acupressure, Selected Obstetrical Works, Anaesthesia and Hospitalism and Clinical Lectures on the Diseases
of Women. He also took an active interest in archaeology, and
two volumes of his Archaeological Essays, edited by Dr J. Stuart,
were published at Edinburgh in 1873. Simpson, who had been
created a baronet in 1866, died in Edinburgh on the 6th of May
1870, and was accorded a public funeral; his statue in bronze
now stands in West Princes Street Gardens, Edinburgh.
See John Duns, Memoir of J. Y. Simpson (1873); E. B. Simpson, Sir James Simpson (1896) ; and H. L. Gordon, Sir J. Y. Simpson and Chloroform (1897).
SIMPSON, MATTHEW (1811–1884), American bishop of the Methodist Episcopal Church, was born in Cadiz, Ohio, on the 21st of June 1811. He studied medicine in 1830–1833 and began to practise, and in 1833 was licensed as a preacher of the Methodist Episcopal Church. He was pastor of the Liberty Street Church of Pittsburg in 1835, and of a church at Williamsport (now Monongahela) in 1836. In 1837 he was ordained elder and was appointed professor of natural science in Allegheny College, Meadville, in which Madison College had been merged in 1833; and in 1838 he was elected professor and immediately afterwards president of the newly established Indiana Asbury (now De Pauw) University, Greencastle, Indiana, to which he went in 1839; this position he held until 1848. He was editor of the Western Christian Advocate, which he made a strong temperance and anti-slavery organ, from 1848 to 1852. He was elected a bishop in May 1852, and in 1857, with Dr McClintock, visited Great Britain as a delegate to the British Wesleyan Conference, and travelled in the Holy Land. He was an intimate and trusted friend of President Lincoln, who considered his advice of great value, and at whose grave in Springfield he spoke the last words. He addressed the Garfield Memorial Meeting at Exeter Hall, London, on the 24th of September 1881. He died on the 18th of June 1884 in Philadelphia.
He published A Hundred Years of Methodism (1876) ; a Cydopedia of Methodism (1878); Lectures on Preaching (1879), delivered before the Theological Department of Yale College ; and a volume of his Sermons (1885) was edited by George R. Crooks, whose Life of Bishop Matthew Simpson (New York, 1890) should be consulted.
SIMPSON, THOMAS (1710–1761), English mathematician, was born at Market Bosworth in Leicestershire on the 20th of August 1710. His father was a stuff weaver, and, intending to bring his son up to his own business, took little care of the
boy’s education. Young Simpson was so eager for knowledge that he neglected his weaving, and in consequence of a quarrel was forced to leave his father’s house. He settled for a short time at Nuneaton at the house of a Mrs Swinfield, whom he
afterwards married, where he met a pedlar who practised fortune-telling. Simpson was induced to cast nativities himself, and soon became the oracle of the neighbourhood; but he became convinced of the imposture of astrology, and he abandoned this
calling. After a residence of two or three years at Derby, where he worked as a weaver during the day and taught pupils in the evenings, he went to London. The number of his pupils increased; his abilities became more widely known; and he was enabled to publish by subscription his Treatise of Fluxions in 1737. This treatise abounded with errors of the press, and
contained several obscurities and defects incidental to the author’s want of experience and the disadvantages under which
