5.-.,-, 



SOLWAV FIKT1I 



SOMA 



solution n- lunch of another Uwlv u- it is capable 

 of dissolving, the notation is Nad to !>. saturated. 

 If two or more salts are treated with water at tin 

 .-.inn- time, a proportion of each i- di -h ed. but 

 the amount of each wilt dissolved is !.. than if tin 

 ftame had been added to the water singly, and is 

 less the greater the number of salts dissolved. As 

 a rule, though not invariably, the solubility in 

 creases as the temperature rises. The accompany- 

 ing diagram shows the unequal solubility ol 

 various of the more common salts in water ol 

 different temperatures. The lines of gullibility cut 

 the verticals raised from points indicating the 

 temperature upon the lower hori/ontal line at 

 heignti proportional to the quantities of salt dis- 

 solved by 100 parts of water. Solution is of great 

 service in chemical and manufacturing processes. 

 By the difference in the degree of their solubility 

 we can separate one substance from another, ana 

 by dissolving a body we can purify it by filtration 

 or crystallisation. 



Kolway Firth in its upper part best regarded 

 as the estuary of the river Esk, in its lower as nn 

 inlet of the Irish Sea separates the north-west oi 

 Cumberland from the south of Scotland. Its entire 

 length, until lost off Balcarrv Point in the Irish 

 Sea, is 36 miles ; its breadth for the first 13 varies 

 from 1& to 8J miles, but afterwards it gradually, 

 although irregularly, increases to 22. The principal 

 rivers flowing into it, besides the Esk, are the 

 Annan, Nith, Dee, and Urr from the north or 

 Scottish side, and the Eden and Derwent from the 

 south or English side. The most striking feature 

 of the Solway Firth is the rapidity with which its 

 tides ebb and flow. The spring-tid'es are peculiarly 

 nwift and strong the bore rushing in from 3 to 6 

 feet high, and at the rate of 8 to 10 miles an hour, 

 occasionally inflicting serious damage on the ship. 

 ping ; while after it has retreated great stretches 

 of the l>e<l of the firth are left bare, and in some 

 places one can even cross over from the English to 

 the Scottish shore. The salmon-fisheries of the 

 Solway are valuable. Near Annan the Solway is 

 spanned by a railway viaduct, I960 yards lo'ng, 

 which, originally constructed in 1866-69 at a cost 

 of A'100,000, was almost destroyed by floating iee 

 in January 1881, but was reopencil to trallic in 

 1884. Scott paints the scenery of the Solway Firth 

 in both Guy Munnering and Stdgmmtltt. 



The Sohvay Moss is a district of Cumberland 

 about 7 miles in circumference, lying west of Long- 

 t'-\\n, and i in mediately adjoining Scotland. As 

 its name implies, it was once a bog, but is now 

 drained and cultivated. It is historically notable 

 as the scene in November 1542 of the rout of a 

 Scottish host under Oliver Sinclair by a handful 

 of English borderers under Thomas Dacre, the 

 Bastard of Lanereost,' and Jack Musgrave of 

 Bewcastle a disaster which broke the neart of 

 James V. (q.v.), and which forms the theme of an 

 iatarartlBfl article by Mr \V. Man-on in 7 

 arliiiii.1 of the, Cumlirrlintii Aiilii/inirin/i ,s' ( /r //// 

 (>1. viii., Kendal, 1886). Here, too, on 13th 

 November 1771, an extraordinary disaster occurred. 

 The boor* ground, surcharged with moisture the 

 effect of heavy rains rose, swelled, and burst like 

 a torrent, sweeping along with it trees and bouses, 

 and destroying Rome thirty small villages. 



Nolymnn, or Si I.KIMAX II., surnamed 'The 

 Magnificent,' the greatest of the Ottoman sultans, 

 was born in U!Ni, and at twenty-four succeeded his 

 father Selim I. His first care was to refund a large 

 amount of property that hail lieen unjustly conlis- 

 :. hi- iii At to remove incompetent and corrupt 

 official., ami to begin a comprehensive scheme of 

 Internal icioim. Itut In-fore this task was com- 

 pleted he led an army into Hungary, to extort the 



tribute that its king refused to pay him at IUM 

 accession. He took Schabatz, Semlin, and Belgrade 

 ( l.~>21 ), and left Turkish garrisons in them. Then 

 irried a very formidable army to attack the 

 Knights of St John at Rhodes; they had beaten 

 "II a Turkish army with a loss of 25,000 forty yean 

 previously. On this occasion they inflicted a loss 

 of nearly four times that number upon the Turks 

 before surrendering ( 1623) after a six months' siege. 

 The following three years were devoted by Soly- 

 man to the internal government of his domains. 

 But in 1526 he again led a force of 100,000 men 

 into Hungary, slew King Louis at Mohacs (29th 

 August) and all but annihilated his army, and 

 pushing on farther captured both Buda and Perth. 

 He was recalled by tidings of an outbreak in Asia 

 Minor. By 1529, however, he was back again in 

 Hungary, ostensibly as the supporter of John 

 Zapplya, who claimed the crown of Hungary 

 against Ferdinand of Austria. Ferdinand was 

 turned out of Buda and driven back into Vienna, 

 which city the sultan besieged (September to 

 October). After delivering a deviate assault, 

 which cost him 40,000 soldiers, he was obliged to 



retreat without taking it. Upturning I ie he 



directed his arms against Persia, and conquered 

 ( 1534) large portions of Armenia and Persia prot>er, 

 including the strong cities of Tabriz and Bagdad. 

 At the same time be sent out his fleets against the 

 Christian powers of the Mediterranean, and his 

 lieutenants (Barbarossa, Piyala, and others) con- 

 quered the whole of the north of Africa except 

 Morocco Egypt was his already. But Tunis was 

 recovered by Charles V. in 1 535. In 1542 the widow 

 of John Zapolya appealed to Solyman to aid her son 

 against Ferdinand. Solyman allowed the young 

 mince to retain Transylvania, but Hungary hi- kept 

 for himself. Six years later a truce was inade IH-- 

 tween the Turks and imperialists. Solymnn being 

 left in possession of the greater part of Hungary and 

 Transylvania, and being granted a yearly tribute 

 of 50,000 ducats. In 1565 the fleet and' army of 

 Solyman sustained a severe reverse in an un- 

 successful attempt to reduce Valetta, the head- 

 quarters of the Knights of St John in Malta. And 

 in the following year, whilst besieging tin- small 

 fortress of Szigeth in Hungary, the great sultan 

 die,! (4th September). SoTyman is equally re- 

 nowned as a lawgiver and just ruler, as a patron 

 of learning and an encourager of the fine arts. 



Souia is the name of a god worshipped by the 

 Ar\aii Indians in Vedic times, as well as of a 

 certain plant, and its juice used for the preparation 

 of an intoxicating drink. The word is most prob- 

 ably derived from the root *M (cf. vu), 'to press 

 out,' 'distil,' and thus originally meant 'extract.' 

 The Soma cult, with its copious libations and 

 potations of the sacred leverage, is not con- 

 fined to India, but was already a prominent feature 

 of the religions s\stcm of the Indo Iranians; 

 the old Persian /im///m sharing all the cliaracter- 

 i-lics ;ind uses of the Indian .\nniii. In his divine 

 form Soma is conceived of as a (Hiwerful deity of a 

 fiery and luminous nature, the inspirer of heroic 

 deeds of arms, as well as of the flights of fancy and 

 Ming, the liestower of health, long life, and even 

 immortality. Indeed, in accordance with his 

 physical origin, this fiery deity is at the same time 

 the ,i,,irHit (ambrosia), or the drink of immortality, 

 ilike for gods and men. At the Soma sacrifice, 

 therefore, not only are libations of.Soma juice 

 made to the principal deities, but the sacnficer 

 limself and the priests freely partake of the 

 Hitent lii|iior. Among the celestials it is especi- 

 illy the god Indra, the Jupiter piuvius of the 

 Vedic pantheon, with whom Soma stands in close 



oni lion ; the ever welcome draughts of the fiery 



uice supplying him with the requisite strength 



