62 



SABLE ISLAND 



>At HKYKKKLL 



eastern parte of Siberia has been much indebted 

 to the expeditions of the hardy and daring sable- 

 hunters, exploring new regions at the worst seasons 

 of the year, and upending dreary immtlis at a great 

 distance from all human abodes. The sable is 

 taken by traps, which are a kind of pitfall, it being 

 necessary to avoid injury to the fur; or by tracking 

 it through the snow to ii - hole, and placing a net 

 over the mouth of the hole. It is a very wary 

 animal, and not easily captured. It makes its 

 neat in a hollow tree, or sometimes, it is said, by 

 burrowing in the ground, and lines it with moss, 

 leaves, and grass. From this it issues to prey on 

 hares and smaller animals of almost any kind, its 

 agilitv enabling it even to catch birds among the 

 branches of trees. It is ready, when food is scarce, 

 to eat the remains of an animal on which a larger 

 beast of prey has feasted, and is said even to satisfy 

 its hunger with berries in winter, when animal food 

 is not to be had. The sable, although it inhabits 

 lii^li northern latitudes, does not, as so many arctic 

 itiiinmls do, change to white in the winter. This 

 is accounted for by its habit of hunting among the 

 branches of trees, against the dark colour of which 

 white would be conspicuous, and therefore dis- 

 advantageous. 



Saldf Island, a low-lying island in the At- 

 lantic, in 44 N. lat. and 60"' \V. long., 110 miles K. 

 of the central part of Nova Scotia (and not near 

 Cape Sable, at the south-east corner of Nova Scotia, 

 where there is also a Sable Island). It consists of 

 two parallel sand ridges, with a lagoon between 

 them. Scrubby gross, cranberries, &c. grow on the 

 island, which is so dangerous to navigation, and 

 has so frequently lieen the scene of wrecks, as to 

 be called 'the sailor's grave. ' The Canadian gov- 

 ernment has since 1873 built three lighthouses on 

 it, with an establishment of some 30 persons, of 

 which two have been swept away and the third 

 undermined, as the island is gradually sinking. 

 Early in the 19th century it was 40 miles long ; in 

 1890 it was reduced to 20 miles : it is to be hoped 

 it may soon utterly vanish. Near it there are 

 sandbanks. 



Sables D'OIonne, LES, a seaport of France 

 (dent. Vendee), on the Atlantic coast, 50 miles S. 

 by W. of Nantes, owes its early im|x>rtance to Louis 

 XL, who excavated (1472) the port and erected 

 the fortifications. There is a trade in grain, wine, 

 salt, cattle, timber, and tar. Salt-making, ship- 

 building, and fishing (sardines and oysters) are the 

 chief occupations. The town is visited for its sea- 

 bathing. Pop. (1891) 11,169. 



Sabots, a species of wooden shoes mode out of 

 one block, and largely used by the French and 

 Itelgian peasantry, especially by those who inhabit 

 moist and marshy districts. They are made of tir, 

 birch, beech, alder, walnut, and other wood, and 

 are manufactured principally in the Cevennes dis- 

 tricts of France, the more ornamental varieties 

 especially at Mende, Villefort, and Marvejols, all 

 in t In- department of Lozere. For greater comfort 

 and convenience, straw is stuffed between the foot 

 and the wooden sides, or, with the most luxurious, 

 a low woollen sock, mode to fit the hollow of the 

 shoe. The name is sometimes extended to a kind 

 of Clogs (q.v.), with wooden soles and leather 

 uppers. 



Sabre. See SWORD. 



Sabretache ( Fr. ), the leather case for carrying 

 letters, &c. which is attached to the sword-belt of 

 huHsars and of most mounted officers. In the latter 

 case it is often highly ornamented. 



Sabrlna Land, a stretch of coast-land dis- 

 covered in the Antarctic Ocean (1839) by Balleny ; 

 it is crossed by 120 E. long, and the Antarctic 

 Circle. Sabrina is the Latin form of SEVERN. 



Saccharic Acid. HjC.H.O,, i a product of 

 the action of nitric acid, under certain conditions, 

 on grape and cane sugar, or on starch, gum, and 

 lignine. It occurs as a colourless, inodorous, 



deliquescent, gummy, uncrystallisable mass, which 

 is freely solulile in alcohol. It is Milliciently 

 powerful to dissolve iron and /.inc. with extrication 

 of hydrogen. It has a tendency to form double 

 salts. It is ililiasic, and forms an ucid and a 

 normal salt with [>otassiuiu. 



Sarcliariinctcr, or SACCHAROMETER, an in- 

 strument for determining the quantity of sugar in 

 liquids, especially brewers' and distillers' worts. 

 In principle it resembles the hydrometer (see 

 Si'icinc DENSITY ), used for ascertaining the 

 strength of alcoholic liquids. It consists of a 

 hollow sphere or oval of thin brass, with a 

 graduated stem and a hook so placed opposite 

 each other that when placed in water it floats, 

 and the graduated stem stands uiiright on the 

 top, and the hook is below, for the purpose of 

 appending weights. The degree to which the stem 

 sinks gives the means of calculating, by tables 

 prepared on purpose, the proportion of saccharine 

 matter present in the liquid. 



Saccharin, or GLTJCIDE, C,H 4 COSO 2 NH, is a 

 sweet substance prepared by complex processes 

 from coal-tar. It is a wh'ite, semi -crystalline 

 powder, with a faint odour and intensely sweet 

 taste. So sweet is it that it requires to be very 

 much diluted before its sweetness can be appreci- 

 ated, from J to 1 grain sutlicing for a cupful of tea. 

 It is not a pure substance as found in commerce, 

 but contains a variable proportion ( 40 to 60 per 

 cent. ) of a less sweet compound. On this account 

 opinions diller ;ts to its sweetening power com- 

 pared with that of sugar, it being estimated to be 

 from 200 to 300 times stronger than the natural 

 product. It was at first thought likely that it 

 would prove a serious rival to sugar, but its price 

 offers no great inducement, and conflicting opi&iooi 

 as to its safety have rather militated against it- 

 use. At present it is employed for sweetening the 

 food of diabetic patients, and for disguising (lie 

 taste of drugs. Some aerated- water makers also 

 employ it as a substitute for sugar, and it may be 

 used to give an extra sweetness to glucose in the 

 manufacture of artificial jams, &c. Saccharin is 

 but slightly soluble in water, but dissolves readily 

 if mixed With baking-soda, carbonic acid gas being 

 liberated during solution. 



Saccharissa. See WALLER. 



Saccharum. See ( under Sugar ) Suo AR-CANE. 



SaccllHti, FRANCO (c. 1330-99), an Italian 

 novelist, a follower of Boccaccio, was a native of 

 Florence, who held several diplomatic offices. Of 

 his 258 Novelle, first printed in 1724, ten are trans- 

 lated in Thomas Hoscoe's Italian Novelists (1825). 



Saccopharynx. See PELICAN-FISH. 



Sa-li'V'r'll. HKNRY, D.D., was born in 1672 

 at Mai I borough, the son of the High Church rector 

 of St Peter's, and from the grammar school there 

 was sent by charity in 1689 to Magdalen College, 

 Oxford. He shared rooms with Addison, who 

 dedicated to his 'dearest Henry 'An Account of 

 the Greatett En/jlish. Poets (1694): and, gaining 

 successively a demynhip and a fellowship, he took 

 the degrees of KA. I 1093), M.A. (1696), H.I). 

 (1707), and D.D. (1708). He hod held the small 

 St .ilVordshire vicarage of Cannock, when in 1705 he 

 Wame preacher of St Saviour's. Southwark, and 

 soon made his mark as a pulpit orntor. In 1709 he 

 delivered the two sermons one at Derby assizes, 

 the other on the 5th of November at St Paul's 

 which have given him a place in history. The 

 rancour with which he assailed the principles of 



