SAL AMMONIAC 



5170 



SALEM 



valleys yield a little grain, olives and 

 The commercial importance of Salamis is \ 

 slight, but its ancient history is interesting and 

 notable. The narrow strait between the north- 

 east of the island and the coast of Attica was 

 the theater of a desperate and decisive naval 

 battle between the Greeks and Persians, 480 

 B. c., the Persians, although superior in numbers 

 and size of vessels, being completely routed, 

 over 200 out of about 750 vessels of Xerxes 

 being destroyed. The valiant Greeks had only 

 375 triremes in the buttle. See ATHENS. 



SAL AMMONIAC, sal amo'niack, a com- 

 pound of chlorine and ammonia, the chemical 

 name being ammonium chloride. It is prepared 

 in large quantities by distilling the liquor of 

 gas works, which contains a large proportion of 

 ammonia. In its crude form sal ammoniac is a 

 dirty white solid, but when purified it forms 

 fibrous white crystals. Crude sal ammoniac is 

 employed extensively in charging Le Clanche 

 batteries (see ELECTRIC BATTERY), for cleaning 

 surfaces to be soldered, in the manufacture of 

 galvanized iron and in the textile industries. 

 In a pure state it is used as a remedy for bron- 

 chitis, pneumonia and some stomach disorders. 

 It dissolves readily in water, to which it imparts 

 a salty taste. 



SAL 'ARIES OF RULERS. See CIVIL LIST. 



SALARY, safari, GRAB, in United States 

 history, the popular name of an act passed by 

 Congress in 1873, which provided that certain 

 increases in salary previously granted Senators 

 and Representatives were to date from 1871. 

 The general indignation aroused by this speci- 

 men of back-pay legislation caused the repeal 

 of the act, and the next year the salaries of 

 the Congressmen were reduced to the original 

 figures from $10,000 to $5,000 for Senators and 

 from $7,500 to $5,000 for Representatives. The 

 act grew out of the agitation for larger salaries 

 for United States officials. When Congress 

 raised the salaries of its own members it in- 

 creased also the compensation of several other 

 officers; the President's salary was raised from 

 $25,000 a year to $50,000; that of the Chief 

 Justice from. $8,500 to $10,500, and those of the 

 Vice-President, Associate Justices and Speaker 

 of the House from $8,000 to $10,000. By the 

 final act all of these salaries were reduced to 

 the original figures except those of the Presi- 

 dent and Justices. 



SALAYER, or SALEYER, sahli'er, IS- 

 LANDS, a group of islands in the Dutch East 

 Indies, with an area of 270 square miles. They 

 are of coral formation, .covered with a wonder- 



fully fertile soil, and the large forests contain 

 valuable timber. The island of Salayer itself 

 occupies 250 square miles, the remainder of the 

 group being mere islets. The inhabitants, who 

 number about 80,000, are chiefly Malays, em- 

 bracing the Mohammedan religion, their chief 

 occupation being fishing and making trepang. 



The island exports tobacco, indigo, cotton 

 and potatoes, and is noted for its breed of 

 horses. Salayer is in frequent communication 

 by steamer with Celebes. Native chiefs rule 

 the islands, subject to the Dutch government. 



SALE, BILL OF. See BILL OF SALE. 



SA'LEM, MASS., one of the two county seats 

 of Essex County, situated in the northeastern 

 part of the state, seventeen miles northeast of 

 Boston, on a peninsula formed by two inlets 

 of the Atlantic Ocean, the South River and the 

 North River. The latter separates it from Bev- 

 erly. Salem is a city of many interesting his- 

 toric and literary associations. It was the 

 original settlement of the Bay Colony, and the 

 birthplace of Nathaniel Hawthorne. The city 

 is served by the Boston & Maine Railroad and 

 by electric interurban lines. The population 

 was 43,697 in 1910, and 47,200 (state census) in 

 1915. On June 25, 1914, the city was partially 

 destroyed by fire; the property loss exceeded 

 $12,000,000, and about 15,000 people were made 

 homeless. The area of Salem exceeds eight 

 square miles. 



Special Features. Throughout the colonial 

 period Salem was a place of importance, and 

 until about 1860 had an extensive foreign trade 

 with Europe, Africa, China and India. The 

 museum of the Peabody Academy of Science, 

 which was founded in 1867 by a gift of $140,000 

 from George Peabody, contains many interest- 

 ing relics of the South Seas, Japan and the 

 East Indies and of the merchants and mer- 

 chantmen connected with the early commerce. 

 Other interesting features of Salem are the 

 Essex Institute, occupying several buildings 

 and containing a valuable library, historical 

 relics of New England and a number of fine 

 paintings; the Athenaeum with its excellent li- 

 brary ; and many fine old dwellings dating from 

 the Colonial period. Among the latter are the 

 house where Hawthorne was born, the Witch 

 House and the House of the Seven Gables, all 

 built in the second half of the seventeenth cen- 

 tury. 



Buildings and Parks. Salem has the old cus- 

 tomhouse (completed in 1819) in which Haw- 

 thorne worked as surveyor of the port from 

 1845 to 1849, three courthouses, a city hall, an 



