SALAMANDER 



SALDANHA 



103 



university began to decline. The river is crossed by a 

 bridge of twenty-seven arches, in part of Roman con- 

 struction. The great snuare is the largest perhaps 

 in Sjiain ; it is surrounded by an arcade, and has 

 on one side the municipal buildings. It was used 

 for bull-fights, and can hold 20,000 spectators. The 

 city possesses two cathedrals ; the old cathedral, 

 cruciform in shape, late Romanesque in style, and 

 dating from the 12th century, is richly decorated 

 with paintings and monuments ; the new cathedral 

 (1513-1734) is a florid Gothic pile, also richly 

 decorated. Amongst the remaining noteworthy 

 buildings are the Jesuit College (1614), Renais- 

 sance in style ; the Old College, now the governor's 

 palace ; the convents of the Dominicans and the 

 Augustinians, the churches of which are both 

 elalmrately ornamented. In the middle ages Sala- 

 manca was famous for its leather- work ; at the 

 present day it has not much industry, save a little 

 manufacture of cloth, linen, leather, and pottery. 

 Pop. (1886) 17,155. The town was captured by 

 Hannibal in 222 B.C. The Moors were expelled 

 from its walls in 1055. During the Peninsular 

 war it was taken by the French (1812), who com- 

 mitted great destruction in one of its quarters, and 

 in the vicinity Wellington defeated Marmont on 

 122d July 1812. The province, which produces a 

 good deal of wool, has an area of 4940 sq. in. and 

 u pop (1887) of 314,424. 



Salamander (Salamandra), a genus of tailed 

 Amphibians, nearly related to the newts (Molge, 

 &c.). Tin; salamanders are born in the water, but 

 in adult life mostly live on land. In early life they 

 breathe by gills, 'but these disappear, the adults 

 breathing entirely by lungs. They feed on worms, 

 slugs, snails, insects, and other small animals. In 

 habit they are somewhat sluggish, shy, and stupid. 

 The Spotted Land Salamander (S. maculosa) is 

 very common in Europe and in North Africa. It 

 is six to eight inches in length, and is conspicu- 

 ous with bright yellow patches on a blackish back- 

 ground. Its skin is very glandular, and is usually 

 covered with a moist secretion. The Black 

 Salamander (S. atra) lives on the Alps, and is 

 viviparous. There are no British species. The 

 four genera included in the family Salamandridie 



The Spotted Salamander (Salamandra maculosa). 



of which the salamander is type are confined to 

 the Old World. Though the salamanders are 

 <|iiit<- harmless, they have long had, and still 

 retain, a popular reputation of extreme venomous- 

 ness, and are therefore much dreaded. Strange 

 fables have been current concerning them from 

 remote ages, particularly concerning the icy cold 

 < a reference perhaps to the moist secretion ) which 

 envelops their body, and enables them not only to 

 ndure lire without burning, but to extinguish lire. 

 Pliny refers to this belief, but very dubiously ( Nat. 

 Hist. x. 86 and xxix. 23) ; and so recently as 1716 

 tli' Philosophical Transactions recorded how a 

 salamander, lieing cast ' into the fire, thereupon 

 swi-lk-d presently, and then vomited store of thick 

 slimy matter, which did put out the neighbouring 

 coals.' Cellini, it will be rememl>ered, was beaten 

 as a IK iy by his father to make him remember he 

 bad seen a salamander in the fire. 



Sal amis (now Koluri), an irregularly-shaped, 

 mountainous island of Greece, off' the coast of 

 Attica, and forming with it the Bay of Eleusis. 

 Close to the southern promontory lies the long 

 narrow island of Psyttalia. Its area is about 35 

 sq. m., and it has a population of over 4500, 

 the chief town being the port of Koluri, on the 

 west coast, itself with more than 3500 inhabit- 

 ants. In ancient times its two principal towns, 

 Old and New Salamis, lay, the former on the south, 

 the latter on the north-east coast. Salamis was an 

 independent state till about 620 B.C., when it 

 fell, first to Megara, next to Athens through the 

 policy of Solon. Its name is ever memorable from 

 the great naval battle between the Greeks and 

 Persians, fought (480 B.C.) a few days after the 

 battle of Thermopylae, in the narrow strait between 

 the east coast of Salamis and the west coast of 

 Attica. The Greek fleet of 366 triremes was drawn 

 np at the entrance of the bay forming the harbour 

 of New Salamis, the Athenian contingent under 

 Themistocles, the Corinthian under Adimantus, 

 while the Spartan Eurybiades commanded the 

 whole. Great dissensions prevailed among the 

 Greek leaders, which would probably have led to 

 a general break-up had not Themistocles by a 

 stratagem induced Xerxes, king of the Persians, 

 to bring up his fleet, and give immediate battle to 

 the Greeks. Xerxes drew up his ships, numbering 

 1200 triremes and 3000 smaller vessels, during the 

 night previous to the battle, opposite the Greek 

 fleet, along the coast of Attica, almost completely 

 blocking up both entrances to the straits ; and 

 confident or victory he took his seat on a throne 

 erected on a lofty height on the Attic coast, almost 

 opposite New Salamis. Both Greeks and Persians 

 fought with great bravery, but the latter were 

 entirely defeated, their unwieldy fleet losing all 

 advantage of numbers in the narrow space. Both 

 the order and incidents of the battle are obscure, 

 but the issue is clear enough. The loss of the 

 Greeks is said to have been 40, and that of the 

 Persians 200 ships, exclusive of those which were 

 captured. 



Sal Ammoniac, known also as Chloride of 

 Ammonium, and sometimes as Hydrochlorate of 

 Ammonia, is used in medicine and in chemistry to 

 a considerable extent. It is obtained from the 

 ammoniacal liquor of the gas-works by adding 

 hydrochloric acid and then subliming it in iron 

 pots, or by adding sulphuric acid and then sublim- 

 ing the ammonium sulphate with sodium chloride 

 in the same way ; on a small scale it may be made 

 by adding hydrochloric acid to solution of ammonia. 

 It occurs in colourless, odourless, translucent fibrous 

 masses, with an acrid saline taste, and soluble in 

 water. It is used as an expectorant in chronic bron- 

 chitis and pneumonia, as a diuretic, diaphoretic, 

 and alterative in rheumatism, and as an alterative 

 in neuralgia ; it is also given in catarrhal con- 

 ditions of the gastro-intestmal tract and in various 

 hepatic diseases. While being dissolved in water 

 it greatly lowers the temperature, and hence in 

 solution can be used as a refrigerant. The dose is 

 5 to 20 grains given in solution. In chemistry it 

 is hirgely used as a test. See AMMONIA. 



Salangane. See EDIBLE BIRDS'-NEST. 



Salar Jung. See JUNG. 



Salhnild. name given by miners to the band of 

 altered rock or other material which often separates 

 the contents of a mineral vein or lode from the 

 rock-mass which the vein traverses. Selvage and 

 Flucan are terms used in the same sense. 



Saldanha Bay. See CAPE COLONY. 



Saldanlia Oliviera e Daun, JOAO CARLOS, 

 DUKE OF, Portuguese statesman and marshal, was 



