SALICYLIC ACID 



5172 



SALISBURY 



(1312-1377). The English king claimed the 

 right to the crown in descent from his mother 

 Ktbella, daughter of Philip IV (the Fair), king 

 of France. His claim was repudiated as coming 

 from a woman, and the law preventing women 

 or their heirs from occupying the throne be- 

 came known as the Salic Law. 



In 1714 Philip V introduced this law into 

 Spain, hut it was revoked by Philip VII in 

 1830. The question as to whether, while being 

 barred from succession, a woman may transmit 

 her rights to her descendants is a vexed ques- 

 tion, which besides embroiling France and Eng- 

 land in the fourteenth century was the cause of 

 f the Austrian Succession in the 

 eighteenth century (see SUCCESSION WARS). 



SALICYLIC ACID, salisil'ik as' id, a com- 

 pound of carbon, hydrogen and oxygen found 

 in the buds of spiraea (meadowsweet), winter- 

 green, birch and some chemical substances. 

 When pure it occurs in fine, white, needlelike 

 Ls. It has a sweetish acid taste, is spar- 

 ingly soluble in cold water, but dissolves readily 

 in hot water. 



Salicylic acid is a powerful antiseptic, a small 

 quantity being sufficient to preserve most ani- 

 mal and vegetable substances. Until its use 

 was forbidden by the government in 1904 it 

 was extensively employed in preserving meat, 

 eggs, other articles of food, and beer. Extensive 

 investigations showed that its continuous use, 

 even in small quantities, was injurious to the 

 system; hence the prohibition of its use as a 

 preservative. 



Salicylic acid is employed in the arts for 

 strengthening glue, preserving hides, and, in 

 combination with other substances, in the 

 manufacture of yellow, orange and purple dyes. 

 Some of its compounds are used in medicine. 



SALINA, sali'na, KAN., the county seat of 

 Saline County, is an industrial center northeast 

 of the center of the state, 100 miles west and 

 south of Topeka. It is served by the Atchison, 

 Topeka & Santa Fe, the Chicago, Rock Island 

 & Pacific, the Missouri Pacific and the Union 

 Pacific railroads. The population, which was 

 9,688 in 1910, was reported to be 10,488 by the 

 state census of 1915. The area is more than 

 three square miles. Salina is the seat of Kan- 

 sas Wesleyan University (Methodist Episco- 

 pal), and has Saint John's Military School, 

 Saint John's and Saint Barnabas hospitals, a 

 Carnegie Library, a Federal building, court- 

 house, city hall, Y. M. C. A. building and Oak 

 Dale Park (forty-one acres). Salina has im- 

 portant wholesale interests in groceries, hard- 



ware, agricultural implements and other lines, 

 and a good horse market; the chief manufac- 

 tures are flour, carnages, confectionery, rugs, 

 mattresses and foundry products. 



SALISBURY, sawlz'bcri, ROBERT ARTHUR 

 TALBOT GASCOYNE-CECIL, Marquis of (1830- 

 1903), a distinguished English statesman, born 

 at Hatfield in Hertfordshire and educated at 

 Eton and at Christ Church, Oxford. After his 

 graduation he traveled for a time, and in 1853 

 was elected to Parliament from Stamford. Be- 

 fore 1860 it came to be recognized that he was 

 a decided addition to the ranks of the Con- 

 servatives, and as early as 1865 he began to be 

 looked upon as one of the foremost politicians 

 of England. In the latter year he became Lord 

 Cranborne, by the death of his brother, and a 

 year later entered the Cabinet as Secretary of 

 State for India, but the Cabinet split in 1867 

 over a reform bill, and Cranborne resigned. In 

 1868, on the death of his father, he became 

 third Marquis of Salisbury and took his place 

 in the House of Lords. 



Between 1869 and 1873 Salisbury was leader 

 of the Opposition, but in 1874 he took his place 

 as Secretary of State for India in the newly- 

 organized Cabinet of Disraeli. He attended the 

 conference at Constantinople in 1876, the object 

 of which was to obtain from Turkey promises 

 of administrative reform, but was not able to 

 obtain Turkish consent to the British recom- 

 mendations. In 1878 he became Secretary of 

 State for Foreign Affairs, and it was largely his 

 influence which brought about the Congress of 

 Berlin, which he attended with his chief, Dis- 

 raeli. The Conservatives went out of office in 

 1880, and in 1881, on the death of Beaco'nsfield, 

 Salisbury became leader of the Conservative 

 party. Not until 1885 was he again in office, 

 but this time it was as Premier. Before any- 

 thing had been accomplished the Conservatives 

 were defeated in a general election and Glad- 

 stone became Prime Minister, but Salisbury was 

 returned to office in 1886. Save for the years 

 between 1892 and 1895, he remained at the 

 head of the government until 1902. 



Although during all his life he had little 

 sympathy with the masses of the people, offi- 

 cial confidence in him steadily increased, and 

 was justified by his unwavering, if cautious, 

 patriotism and by the outstanding position 

 which he acquired among the diplomats of 

 Europe. His great interest lay in foreign af- 

 fairs, and his policy was one of peace. In 1895 

 a break with the United States on the Vene- 

 zuelan question threatened, but Salisbury man- 



