SOLANACE.E 



SOLAR SYSTEM 



The area is stated to be nearly 200,000 so. in. The 

 country U generally level, but rises* to 10,000 feet 

 in the province of Adamawa ; and it i- well 

 watered by the Benue and it tributaries. There 

 are large deposits of good iron. The inhabitants 

 number 10 or 12 millions. The ruling race are the 

 Fulahs (q.v.); their subjects Haussa (q.v.) and 

 various Negro tribes. In 1885 the sultan of Spkoto 

 put his kingdom under the protectorate of Britain, 

 and granted to the Royal Niger Company a mono- 

 poly of the trade. The toicn of Sokoto, in the 

 north-west corner of the kingdom, shares with 

 Wurnu, 18 miles east, the rank of capital. Near 

 it Clapperton died (1837); and Sokoto has also 

 been visited by Barth (1853), Rohlfs (1866), Flegel 

 (1880), and J. Thomson (1885). 



Solunarnr. or SHI.\\K., a natural order of 

 exogenous plants, mainly herliaceous plants and 

 shrubs, but including a few tropical trees. The 

 leaves are mostly alternate, undivided or lobed, 

 without stipules. The flowers are regular, or 

 nearly so ; the calyx and corolla generally five- 

 cleft ; the stamens generally five. The fruit is 

 either a capsule or a berry, usually two-celled. 

 The plants of this order are mostly natives of 

 tropical countries, a small number extending into 

 the temperate climates ; in the coldest regions they 

 are entirely wanting. They are mostly distin- 

 guished by an offensive smell and by containing a 

 liarcotic, poisonous substance, usually associated 

 with a pungent principle, and some of them are 

 amongst the most active poisons. Sometimes the 

 narcotic substance predominates, as in Mandrake 

 (q.v.) and Henbane (q.v.); sometimes the pungent 

 substance predominates, or is alone present, as in 

 Cayenne Pepper (Capsicum); Hometimes both are 

 present in more or less equal proportion, as in 

 Tobacco, Thorn-apple, and Belladonna. The fruit 

 is generally poisonous ; but that of a considerable 

 number of species, in which acids and mucilage 

 predominate, is eatable e.g. the berries of the 

 winter Cherry and other species of Physalis, of 

 the Egg-plant (q.v.) and some other species of 

 Solanum, and of the Tomato (q.v.). The tubers, 

 which occur in a few specie*, contain much starch, 

 and serve for food, the Potato being the chief 

 example. The seeds of all contain a fixed oil, 

 which in the south of (iermanv is expressed from 

 the seeds of the Belladonna itself. 



Solan Gooxe. See GANNET. 



Sola num. a genus of plants of the natural 

 order Solanacetc, containing a great number of 

 species, distributed all over the world, but particu- 

 larly abundant in South America and the West 

 Indies. Some are herbaceous, others shrubs ; some 

 unarmed, and some spiny ; many covered with a 

 down of starlike hairs. The flowers are in false 

 umbels, or almost in panicles ; seldom in racemes 

 or solitary. The anthers ojien by two holes at the 

 top. The berries are two-celled, and contain many 

 smooth seeds. The species of this genus almost 

 always contain in all their parts a poisonous 

 alkaloid, Solanine, sometimes so much that the 



leaves or berries cannot be eaten without danger, 

 whilst in a few species the quantity present is so 

 small that these parts* are eaten freely, tieing agree- 

 able and harmless. By far the most important nf 

 all the species is the Potato (q.v.), in which, how- 

 ever, solanine is found in considerable quantity, so 

 th.-tt not only the heritage, but the juice of the raw 

 tul>ers, is unwholesome Of tin- sjn-ri.-. with eat- 

 able fruit the principal is tin- Kxg-plant (q.v.). 

 The only British s]>ecie8 are the Bitter-sweet (q.v.) 

 and Common Nightshade (q.v.), both of which 

 possess poisonous and medicinal qualities. The 

 lii'iiir.-, leave**, lirk, and roots of various species 

 are employed for different medicinal uses* in warm 

 countries. The berries of S. taponaceum are used 

 as a substitute for soap. The fruit of S. iodomeum, 

 Apple of Sodom, a native of North Africa, contains 

 a greenish pulp when ripe, which if eaten causes 

 headache, madness, and death. S. quituente yields 

 a wholesome fruit resembling an orange in appear- 

 ance and somewhat also in flavour. The fruit of 

 S. mvricata is eaten in Peru and has the flavour of 

 a melon. The Kangaroo-apple of Australia is the 

 fruit of S. laciniatttm, which is wholesome when 

 ripe, but poisonous when unripe. The berries of S. 

 coagulans are employed in Egypt to curdle milk. 



Solar Microscope is an apparatus for pro- 

 jecting upon a screen by means of sunlight an 

 enlarged view of any object. It is essentially the 

 same as the combination of lenses used in the 

 Magic Lantern (tj.v. ) taken in conjunction with <i 

 heliostat. A hehostat is a plane reflecting mirror 

 which by means of clockwork follows the sun's 

 apparent motion so as always to throw its rays in 

 the direction in which they are first adjusted. By 

 this instrument the rays are thrown horizontally 

 into the solar microscope, and are concentrated 

 first by a large lens and then by a small lens upon 

 the small object that is to be projected. As they 

 diverge the rays are collected by an adjustable 

 system of lenses and focnssed sharply on a screen. 

 Uncertainty of sunlight very much circumscribes 

 the usefulness of the apparatus. For solar cycle, 

 solar engine, see CYCLE, AIK-ENGINE. 



Solar Myth, a myth allegorising the course of 

 the sun ; by some mythologists constantly invoked 

 to explain the problems of Mythology (q.v.). 



Solar System, the planets and comets which 

 circle round the sun ; also called /,!inninrii system. 

 No change of much magnitude can take place in 

 the elements of the planets without having effect 

 on the earth and its inhabitants, on account of the 

 mutual attractions of the planets for each other ; 

 in fact, they appear as members of one family, 

 1" in ml together by common ties, which eon Id not 

 be ruptured in the case of one individual without 

 communicating a general shock to the others. 

 The various members of the solar system, ami their 

 motions, are noticed under PLANETS, COMET, 



SUN, MOON, SATELLITE. M KTKoliS. d:\VITATION, 



CENTRE, PRECESSION, Kn.irsKs, \-c. , so that it 

 only remains here to tabulate the more interesting 

 numerical facts connected with them. 



