72 



SAFFRON 



SAGE 



belonging to the natural order Composite. It is 

 believed to be indigenous to India and adjoining 

 countries, lint it may have had a wide distribution 

 in the wild state, as safHower seeds have been 

 found in ancient tombs in Egypt. SalHower is 

 cultivated all over India, and to some extent also 

 in Persia and Egypt, for the dye obtained from 

 it* flowent. It has likewise been cultivated in 

 southern France and other countries. Formerly 

 it was largely exported from India, but its im- 

 pnrtnnce in western Euroi>e as a dyestuff has 

 greatly diminished since tne introduction of the 

 coal-tar colours. Only 190 cwt. (value 830) was 

 imported into Great Britain in 1889. The flowers 

 yield both a red and a yellow dye, but the latter is 

 of little value. A peculiar treatment of the flowers 

 with an alkaline solution in required to obtain the 

 red dye, which is called Carthamine. This substance 

 dyes silk and also cotton of a beautiful red colour, 

 but it is not permanent. It is used as a colouring 

 matter of toilet Rouge (q.v.). The seeds of the 

 salHower plant yield a useful lamp-oil, and they 

 are given to fatten poultry. See DVKINC, Vol. IV. 

 p. 138. 



Saffron consist* of the dried stigmas of the 

 flowers of the Saffron Crocus (Crocus sativus). It 

 is used as a colouring material for some articles of 

 food and medicinal tinctures. Formerly it was 

 employed for dyeing fabrics yellow, and, to a slight 

 extent, is so still in some countries. In Persia it 

 is much consumed as a condiment, and for this 

 purpose it is also used in 

 Spain ; whilst, according to 

 (iiraldus Cambrensis, it 

 forms with milk the diet of 

 the fairies. SaflYotj is cul- 

 tivated in various districts 

 in the south of Euro|>e ; and 

 in England, where it is said 

 to have been introduced 

 from the East in 1339, it 

 was much grown till alxiut 

 1768 in Essex ( round Saffron- 

 Walden) and Cambridge- 

 shire. It is also cultivated 

 in Persia, Afghanistan, and 

 Cashmere. The gathered 

 stigmas of the plant are 

 pressed under a weight, and 

 neat applied till the cake- 

 shaped mass is quite dry. 

 From so small a portion of 

 the plant being useful, a 

 vast number of flowers are 

 required to make a small 

 quantity of saffron. There 

 is accordingly a strong 

 temptation to adulterate it, 

 the flowers of Carthamus (safflower) l>eing much 

 used for this purpose, for which reason they are 

 sometimes called bastard saffron. The strong 

 tinctorial power of saffron is owing to the present e 

 of a body called polychroite or nafrnnin. 



Saffron was of much greater importance centuries 

 ago than it is now. It was in favour with the 

 ancient Greeks as a dye, and with lioth them and 

 the Romans as a perfume. In the middle ages it 

 was employed in cookery and as a drug. It is on 

 record that as late as the 15th century persons were 

 burned alive in NuromlierK for adulterating saffron. 

 The yellow colour of this dyeing substance seems to 

 have been applied to the dress of royal persons at 

 an early time in Greece and in Ireland, and to the 

 sliirts of personR of rank in the Western Islands of 

 Scotland down to a comparatively late period. 



SnUVon-Wnlrirn. a municipal borough of 

 Eex, 16 miles 8. of Cambridge, 27 NNW. of 



i MM II - it 



Chelmsford, and 46 by a branch line (1865) NNE. 

 of London. The Saffron Crocus (see SAFFRON) 

 was formerly cultivated here, and the name of the 

 town is said to be derived from Satl'nm Woods." 

 The parish church, crowning a hill, is a stately 

 Perpendicular structure, with a spire 108 feet 

 high, and brasses and monument* one to Lonl 

 Chancellor Audley (1488-1544). There are also 

 remains of a Norman castle, a corn exchange 

 (1848), a town-hall (1879), a cattle-market (1834), 

 and a grammar school, founded in 1423. Audlcy 

 End, H mile S\\ ., the seat of Lord Braybrooke. 

 was built in 1603 by Thomas Howard, * Earl of 

 Suffolk, and is still a magnificent mansion, though 

 partly demolished since 1701. Pop. (1851) 5911 ; 

 ( 1891 ) 6104. See works by Lord Braybrooke ( 1836) 

 and John Player ( 1845). 



Sana. See ICELAND, where the more important 

 are enumerated, also the books of The Saga Library, 

 by W. Morris and E. Magnu&son (Loud. 1891 et 

 seq.). 



Sagaing. a decayed town of Burma, extends 

 for a mile and a half" along the right bank of the 

 Irawadi, opposite to Ava, Its houses, mean and 

 few, are embosomed in orchards and gardens, and 

 embrace amongst them a great number of ruined 

 temples. Sagaing preceded Ava as the capital, for 

 a time, of Burma. 



Sasrnn. a town of Prussian Silesia, the chief 

 place (since 1397) in the principality of Sagan, on 

 the Bober, 33 miles by rail \\ . by S. of Glogau. 

 It has manufactures of cotton and woollen clot lis. 

 beer, &c. At the castle Wallenstein was visited 

 (1629-30) by Kepler. Pop. 12,010. 



Siltfar. or S\i i.oi;. a well-built town in the 

 Central Provinces of India, is situated in a hilly 

 tract, on a feeder of the Jumna. There are here 

 a Mahratta fort, now converted into British store*, 

 barracks, and a magazine, as well a* a gaol ( 1846) 

 and a park (1862): and there were formerly a 

 college ( removed to Jabalpur ) and a mint ( removed 

 to Calcutta). Sagar has a trade in salt, sugar, and 

 cloth. Pop. (1891) 44,674. The district has an 

 area of 4005 sq. in. ami a ]x>p. ( 1891 ) of 591,743. 



Sugar. H low, swampy island at the mouth of 

 the Hiigli, the holiest branch of the Ganges ; il is 

 particularly sacred in the estimation of the Hindus. 

 Multitude.- of pilgrims annually resort to it in 

 January, and after the three davs' festival of puri- 

 fication is over a great fair is held. The island has 

 an area of 225 sq. m., but is very thinly inhabited, 

 the greater part being jungle, tne haunt of tigers 

 and other wild animals. A lighthouse (1808), a 

 meteorological oWrvatory, and a telegraph station 

 are the chief buildings. 



Sagasta, PHAXKDKS MATED, statesman, born 

 at Torrecilla, 21st July 1827, became an engineer, 

 Inn taking part in insurrections in 1856 and 1866 

 had twice to flee for a time to France. He had a 

 place in Trim's cabinet ( 1868), supported Amadeus, 

 helil office under Serrano, and under the new 

 monarchy became leader of the Liberals, being 

 minister 'in 1881-83, 1885-90, 1892-95, and again 

 in 1898-99, during the disastrous war with the 

 United States and the peace negotiations. His 

 siiliscc|iieut programme of internal reforms was 

 hampered by ill-liealtli and politieal ilillirult ies. 



NagO (Snlvia), a genus of I,aliiat.e. containing 

 many species, herbaceous and half-shrubby. There 

 , are only two perfect stamens, the filaments of 

 i which bear at their summit a cross thread fas- 

 tened by a joint. Common Sage, or Garden Sage 

 (S. nffir'inalu), so much grown in gardens as an 

 aromatic herb for flavouring purposes in cookery, 

 is a native of the south of Europe. It is possessed 

 of active properties, as iU powerfully aromatic 



