SAULCY SAVANNAH. 



443 



nwering to the stamens of the male flowers. 

 The tree has a greyish and deeply furrowed trunk, 

 but the young branches are of a. beautiful reddish- 

 green hue. The true bark wheu cut into is of a 

 dark red color like that of Peruvian bark. The 

 tree when old gives rise to many suckers which 

 spring up at a short distance from the trunk, growing 

 to a height of 6 or 8 feet. The leaves of the sassa- 

 fras are remarkable for their varying forms on the 

 same tree. Those first produced from the bud are 

 oval and entire ; the next series are lobed on one 

 side ; the last and most numerous have regularly 

 three lobes. The flowers protrude from the sides of 

 the branches below the leaves, the sexes being con- 

 fined to different trees. The fruit or seed is oval 

 iu form, of deep blue color, and contained in small 

 bright red cups, supported by peduncles from 1 to 2 

 inches long. The seeds when ripe are eagerly de- 

 voured by birds. 



The sassafras tree is indigenous to every part of 

 the United States east of the Rocky Mountains, and 

 extends far into the Dominion of Canada, where it 

 dwindles to a tall shrub. Every part of the tree has a 

 pleasant fragrance, and a sweetish aromatic taste, 

 which is strongest in the bark of the root. These 

 qualities depend upon an essential oil, which may be 

 obtained by distillation and has been highly valued in 

 medicine. The sassafras early attracted the atten- 

 tion of Europeans fro'n the peculiarity of its foliage 

 and its medicinal properties. One writer called it 

 the ague tree, and its value as a medicine was once 

 held so high that its products commanded an ex- 

 tra vagaut price. It is said that its strong fragrance 

 was one of the indications borne to Columbus and 

 his followers of the nearness of land, so that it may 

 be claimed to have borne a part in the discovery of 

 America. 



The wood of the sassafras is white and tender in 

 young trees, reddish and more compact in older 

 trees. While of little vilue as timber the wood 

 resist* decny an;l has been used for posts, rails, 

 joists, an.l rafters, also for trunks, bedsteads, etc., 

 unilur the belief that its odor drives away insect*. 

 S wsafras poles have long been used as poultry roosts 

 for the same reason, the odor being supposed to be 

 disagreeable to hen lice. Another use is for fishing 

 rods, from the toughness and lightness of the sea- 

 soned wood. The bark has been used for dyeing, 

 and gives wool a very durable orange color. The 

 young shoots and leaves are highly mucilaginous, 

 and the pith, which is light anil spongy and very 

 mucilaginous when chewed, is kept in shops and 

 sold for this purpose. It is also used in water as a 

 drink in inflammatory diseases and as an eye-wash. 

 In Louisiana the leaves are sometimes used as a 

 substitute for okra in miking gumbo soup. They 

 are also used in making home-made beer known as 

 root beer, and in some sections as a seasoning for 

 sauces. 



The Indians have long used the sassafras bark 

 medicinally and it is still used for this purpose, the 

 root bark being preferred for its strong aromatic 

 properties. It is kept in small fragments for flavor- 

 ing officinal preparations, for which purpose also the 

 oil is extracted to the extent of 15,000 or 20,000 

 pounds annually. Medicinally sassafras is con- 

 sidered an excellent stimulant and sudorific, and 

 was formerly much used in the cure of such com- 

 plaints as rheumatism, dropsy, and cutaneous erup- 

 tions. The fruits of the sassafras are much used by 

 perfumers, who powder them and put them up in 

 small sachets for their agreeable odor. (c. M.) 



SAULCY, Louis FELICIEN JOSEPH CAIGNAUD 

 DE, French orientalist and numismatist, was born 

 at Lille, March 19, 1807. He was educated at the 

 Polytechnic School, and entered the artillery service. 

 Meanwhile his leisure was taken up with an Ide- 

 ology and especially numismatics. In 183(3 his essay 



on the classification of Byzantine coins won a prize 



| from the French Institute, and he was soon enrolled 

 as a member of the Academy of Inscriptions. But 

 his duties as military instructor were also diligently 

 pursued, and in 1838 he became professor of me- 

 chanics in the school at Metz. Then he was trans- 

 ferred to Paris to be keeper of the Military Museum. 

 In 1850 he made a visit to Palestine and explored 

 the Dead Sea, of which he published a popular nc- 

 count (2 vols. 1852-54). Though his book had wide 



i acceptance, as had also his later work on the Holy 

 l>and |18G5), many of his statements were contro- 

 verted. His researches in the Holy Land are said 

 to have converted him to belief in Christianity. In 



1 1870, on the downfall of the French empire, "he nc- 

 companied the Em press Eugenie to Chihelliurst, but 



: afterwards returned to his labors in the Academy i f 

 Inscriptions. Several of his numismatic works had 

 reference to the Jewsnnd to Palestine, buthe had alt-o 

 essays on the coins of the Seleucid kings (1872), the 

 Xabateans (1874), the Roman Republic (1874), and 

 of various French kings. He published treatises on 

 r:'>ar's expeditions to Britain (I860), ou Herod 

 (1867), the siege of Jerusalem (1866), /Seven Ventures 

 of Jewish History (1874), and a Dittionnaire Topo- 

 grajJi-ifjue de la Terre Sainte (1877). 



SAVAGE, JAMES (1784-1873), antiquarian, -was 

 born in Boston, July 13, 1784. He graduated at 

 Harvard College in 1803, and was admitted to the 

 bur in 1807. In 1812 he wns elected to the Stnte 

 legislature, in 1820 \vas a member of the State Con- 

 stitutional Convention, and afterwards held various 

 municipal oflices. lie wns one of the editors of the 

 Monthly Anthology, 1806-11. He founded the first 

 savings bank in Boston in 1817, and was treasurer 

 and president of the IfMMCtawttC Historical Soci- 

 ety. In 1825 he edited with notes Gov. Winthrop's 

 liistory nf Kew England <2d ed. 1853). His princi- 

 pal work wns A Gtnealoijicul Dictionary of lite First 

 Kttlers rf AVtc Englmid (4 vols. 1860^62). It was 

 pronounced by the Ktirth American Rtmw " the 

 most stupendous work on genealogy ever compiled." 

 The author died at Boston, Man h 8, 1873. 



SAVAGE, MINOT JuDfcON, preacher and author, 

 was born at Norridgewood. Maine, June 10, 1841. 

 !!' graduated at Bangor Theological Seminary in 

 18(54, nnd went ns a Congregational home missionary 

 to California. Afterwards he supplied a church at 

 Framinghnm, Mass., nnd became pastor at Hanni- 

 bal. Mo., in 18(59. His theological views having 

 changed he brcnme pastor of a Unitarian church in 

 Chicago in 1873, and in the next year took charge 



I of the Church of the Unity in Boston. He now be- 

 longs to the extreme left wing of Unitarianism, and 

 is a bold exponent of its views. He has been a 

 frequent contributor of both prose nnd poetry to 

 journals nnd magazines. Among his books are 

 Chrixtionity the Science of Manhood (1873), The 

 Beligicm of Evolution (1876), Talks about Jf.vs(1880), 

 Xelicjin God (1881). reliefs about Man (1882), The 

 Modern Sphinx (1883), The Btliyious Life (1880), 

 Social Problems (1886). 



SAVANNAH, a city and port of entry of Georgia, 

 county-sent of Chatham eo., is on the south bank of 

 the Savannah River, 18 miles from the Atlantic 



! Ocean, 32 5' N. Int., 81 8' W. long. By rail it is 



, 90 miles from Charleston and 682 miles from Wash- 

 ington. Situated partly on a bluff about 40 feet 



I above the river, it extends 3 miles along the river 

 and over a mile inland. The city is regularly laid 

 out with wide streets crossing at right angles and 

 lined with trees. There are 24 small parks and in 

 the centre Forsyth Place, a park of 30 acres, thickly 

 planted with forest trees, has a handsome fountain 

 and a monument with bronze statue to the Con- 

 federate dead. Johnson Square contains a granite 

 obelisk commemorating Gen. Nathaniel Greene, and 



| Monterey Square a marble shaft with a stal ue of 



