SASSAFRAS 



SATELLITES 



167 



to Hudson Bay by the Nelson River (q.v.). Includ- 

 ing the Nelson, its total length is 1514 miles ; catch- 

 ment basin, 450,000 sq. m. It is now navigated 

 by steamers from Lake Winnipeg to Edmonton 

 (700 miles) ; the Nelson is rendered unnavigable 

 by rapids. The upper Saskatchewan drains a rich 

 prairie country ; near Medicine Hat it is sunk 

 almost 300 feet below the general surface. The 

 river gives name to one of the Western Territories, 

 lying between Manitoba and Keewatin, Assiniboia, 

 Alberta, and the parallel 55 N. lat. Both branches 

 of the river traverse the territory, and on their 

 banks are the settlements of Prince Albert, Battle- 



iord, &c. Area, 114,000 sq. m. ; pop. (1891) 



(11,146. 



Sassafras (Sassafras), a genus of trees or 

 shrubs of the natural order Lauraceae. The Sassa- 

 fras-tree (S. officinale) of North America, found 

 from Canada to Florida, a mere bush in the north, 



Suufru (StUMfra* offirinalr) : 



o, branch of male tree In flower ; 6, branch with ripe fruit and 

 developed foliage. ( Bentley and Trimen.) 



but a tree of 50 feet in the south, has deciduous 

 leaves, yellow flowers, which appear before the 

 leaves, and small dark-blue fruit. The wood is 

 soft, light, coarse in Kbre, dirty-white and reddish 

 brown, with a strong but agreeable smell, resem- 

 bling that of fennel, and an aromatic, rather pun- 

 gent and sweetish taste. The wood of the root 

 possesses these properties in a higher degree than 

 that of the stem, and the thick spongy bark of the 

 root most of all. The wood is brought to market 

 in the form of chips, but the bark of the root is 

 preferred for medicinal use, is a powerful stimu- 

 lant, sudorific, and diuretic, and U employed in 

 cutaneous diseases, gout, rheumatism, and syphilis, 

 generally in combination with other medicines. It 

 contains a volatile oil, Oil of Susan f ran, which is 

 often used instead. An agreeable beverage U 

 made in North America by infusion of sassafras 

 bark or sassafras wood ; ami a similar drink was 

 once commonly sold in the streets of London under 

 the name of Saloop, The leaves of sassafras con- 

 tain so much mucilage that they are used for 

 thickening soup. Another species of Sassafras (S. 

 parthenoxylon), possessing similar properties, is 

 found in Sumatra ; and the name, with or without 

 explanatory prefixes, is given to trees of various 

 orders found in Victoria, New South Wales, Tas- 

 mania, Brazil, and Chili. 

 SASSAFRAS NUTS, a name given to the cotyle- 



dons of the seed of the South American tree 

 Nectandra pttchury, used as medicinal aromatics. 

 They are also called Pichurim Beans and Brazilian 

 Beans. 



Sassanidie. See PERSIA, Vol. VIII. p. 67. 



Sas sari, a city in the north-west of Sardinia, 

 ranking next after the capital Cagliari, which it 

 has indeed attempted to supplant as the capital ; 

 it stands 12 miles by rail from the Gulf of Asmara, 

 where its port, Porto Torres ( pop. 2034 ), is situated, 

 and 162 miles N. bv W. of Caghari. A prosperous- 

 looking town, with both old and new nouses, em- 

 bosomed in orange and olive groves, it has a 

 cathedral (1531), an old castle (1327-31), a uni- 

 versity (1677, reopened in 1766) with about 120 

 students, a museum of Roman antiquities, a natural 

 history collection, and a library ( 1556) of 25,000 

 vols. , und is the seat of an archbishop and of 

 several of the old Sardinian nobles. There is a 

 busy trade in grain, olive-oil, cheese, and hides. 

 Pop. (1881) 31,596; (1895)38,000. 



SassotVrrato. an Italian painter, whose real 

 name was GIAMBATTISTA SALVI, was born at Sas- 

 soferrato in the March of Ancona, llth July 1605, 

 and worked mainly at Rome, where he died 8th 

 April 1685. He painted Madonnas, Holy Families, 

 an Annunciation, and an Assumption. , 



Sassoon, or SASSUN, the scene of atrocities per- 

 petrated on the Armenian inhabitants by Kurds and 

 Turks in 1N94, is a small town in the mountains of 

 Armenia, 50 miles W. of Bttlis. Sassoon is the 

 name of a munificent Jewish banking house in 

 Bombay, directed by Sir Albert Abdullah Sassoon, 

 born in Bagdad in 1832. 



Satan. See the articles DEVIL, HELL. 



Salara. a town of Bombay presidency, India, 

 occupies a high, healthy site on the Deccan plateau, 

 near the Kistna, 56 miles S. of Poona. It is com- 

 manded by a hill-fort, which came into the hands 

 of the British in 1848. Pop. 29,028. The district 

 has an area of 4988 sq. m. and a pop. of 1,062,350. 



Satellites are small members of the solar 

 By stem, taking the place of attendants of the 

 larger planete, by which their motions are con- 

 trolled. In relation to them, the controlling 

 planet is called their 'Primary.' For a discus- 

 sion of the satellite of the earth the reader is 

 referred to the article MoON. The satellites of 

 Mum are interesting as by far the smallest known. 

 One of them, Phobos, revolves round its primary 

 so quickly that its rising and setting are deter- 

 mined chiefly by its own motion. To an observer 

 on Mars it will rise in the west, and cross the 

 sky in a few hours. Both were discovered in 

 1H77. The first three of Jupiter's satellites are 

 eclipsed at every revolution, the fourth less fre- 

 quently. Their frequent passages before and 

 behind their primary form one of the most attrac- 

 tive spectacles for small telescopes. Their orbits 

 differ out little from circles, and between the first 

 three a curious relation exists viz. the mean side- 

 real motion of the 1st added to twice that of the 

 3d is equal to three times that of the 2d ; so that, 

 except at a vast interval, the three cannot all be 

 eclipsed at once, although each is eclipsed once in 

 every period. Long olwervation and careful calcu- 

 lation have enabled the places of these satellites to 

 be so accurately predicted that their eclipses have 

 been used to determine the velocity of light. 

 Jupiter, owing to the earth's orbital movement, 

 is at one time 183,000,000 miles nearer us than at 

 another. The eclipses of his satellites are therefore 

 delayed or hastened, according to the velocity of 

 light, as the strokes of a hammer at a distance are 

 delayed in reaching ns by the finite velocity of 

 sound (see LIGHT, SUN). From this difference 



