794 



SULLY-PRUDHOMME 



SULPHUR 



singular form in which the Mf moires was cut proved no 

 intolerable to the 18th century that the Abb* de 1'fioliue 

 in 1745 re-edited the whole in ordinary form of narra- 

 tivr. but modernised and spoiled the work. The original 

 text may be found in the collection of Michaud and roll- 

 joulat (vols. xvi.-xvii.). See Sainte-BeUTe'i Cautrrin 

 <lu Lunili. vol. viii. ; also the books by Legoure I I 

 Uourdault (3d ed. 1877), Bouvet de Crawi (1878), l>u- 

 aieux ( 1887 ). and Cliailley ( 1888 ) ; also Ritter'i study of 

 the Memoirs (Munich, 1>7I . 



Siilly-Priuliiomme, RENIS FRANCOIS \K 

 M VXD, a great I'reuch |>oet, was born at Paris, 16th 

 March 1839, and after the e&rly death of his father 

 u.i* drought up by his uncle, a notary, for hits own 

 profession. He studied the sciences, law, and 

 philosophy, but soon devoted himself entirely to 

 letters, .iiul in 1865 published liU first volume of 

 poems, Stances et Pocmes, which bad the good 

 fortune to gain and to deserve the praises of 

 the veteran critic Sainte-Heuve. One poem, the 

 ' Vase brise,' at once became widely popular. Later 

 volumes, Lea Aprcuves, Croquis ftoliens. Let Soli- 

 tittles. Impression* de la Guerre, Let Destias, Lei 

 Vaines Tendresses, La France, La Revoltc ties Fleurs, 

 extended his fame as a poet of great delicacy of 

 feeling, as well as subtlety and depth of thought. 

 Hi- (meat poems are steeped in a serene In it 

 penetrating melancholy, and almost all reveal 

 sincerity of inspiration, nobility of aims, and an 

 austere beauty of form that sometimes attains per- 

 fection. But he has ever been a thinker wrapped 

 tip in a poet's robe, and the things nearest his 

 heart have been the graver questions of life and 

 death, of good and evil. Masterpieces of analytic 

 subtlety are his great didactic poems La ./////> 

 (1878) and Le Bonheur (1888), but the question 

 remains debatable whether these themes really 

 admit of poetic treatment. Other works are an 

 accurate but somewhat harsh metrical translation 

 of the first book of Lucretius (new ed. 1886); 

 L'Ezpression duns leg Beaux Arts, a contribution 

 to the history of art ; and Reflexions sur I' Art des 

 Vert (1892). His (Euvre* Completes appeared in 

 five volumes, 1882-88. He was elected to the 

 Academy in 1881. See Caro, Poeteset Romanciers ; 

 ami Jules Lemaitre, /.< Contemporains (series i. 

 mill iv. ). 



SlllllKMia. or SoLMONA, a city of Italy, 80 

 miles by rail E. of Rome. It stands 1575 feet 

 almve sea-level, has a cathedral (1119), and paper 

 ami fulling mills. Here were born Ovid and Pope 

 Innocent VII. On a mountain close by stood until 

 1870 the mother monastery ' of the Celestines 



(q.V. I. Pop. 14,171. 



Sulphates. See SULPHURIC ACID ; and for 

 sulphides and sulphites, see SULPHUR, 



Siilphocvanates, or SULPHOCYANIDES, are 

 prepared by naElg cyanides with sulphur. These 

 wilts do not possess the poisonous character of the 

 cyanides. Sulphocyanide of potassium, KCNS, is 

 anhydrous, but very deliquescent, and occurs in 

 long streaked colourless prisms, somewhat resem- 

 bling nitre both in appearance and taste ; it is 

 extremely soluble in water, and fuses on the 

 application of a gentle heat The uilphocyanide 

 of mercury a a white powder which possesses the 

 property of swelling or growing in size to an 

 almost incredible degree when moderately heate, I. 

 The resulting miuw often assumes a most fantastic 

 sha|x-. ami is sufficiently coherent to retain its form ; 

 it IH of a yellow colour externally, but black 

 within. It is this sulphocyanide which is the 

 ingredient of the toy known as ' Pharaoh '.- 

 pents.' Each serpent consists of a little com- of 

 tinfoil, resembling a pastille in shape, and tilled 

 with the above-named compound. On lighting the 

 cone at the apex, there begins to issue from it a 

 thick serpent-like coil, which continues twisting 



and increasing in length to an extraordinary degree, 

 the serpent-like shaue resulting from the salt being 

 Imrncil in the tinfoil colic. 



Snlphimal. a synthetical hypnotic now largely 

 iis.-d. of highly complex coni|>ositioii, with the 

 formula (CIIjIjClSOjCjHj).. It forms colourless 

 tasteless crystals, very slightly soluble in cold 

 water. For sleeplessness it is given in doses of 15 

 to 45 grains, but opinions ilill'er as to the place it 

 will ultimately take in medicine. 



Sulphonic Acid. See DYEING, p. 142. 



Sulphur is one of the most important of the 

 non-metallic elements ; sym. S, eq. 32, sp. gr. of 

 rolled sulphur 1-98, and of amorphous sulphur 

 1-957; sp. gr. of vapour 6'617 at 900 (48^ C.) 

 and 2-2 at 1904 (1040 C.), atmospheric air lining 

 the unit of comparison for the vapour. At ordi- 

 nary temperatures it exists as a solid, brittle, 

 tasteless, ami inodorous body, of a characteristic 

 yellow colour, and insoluble in water. A piece of 

 solid sulphur, heated to a temperature of 239" 

 ( 115 C.), fuses into a thin yellow liquid; while in 

 closed vessels it may by further heat be dis- 

 tilled, the boiling-point being about 836 (446 ( '.), 

 and at this temperature it yields a deep yellow 

 vapour of sp. gr. 6'617. When the sulphur-vapour 

 comes in contact with cold air it romlcnscs in the 

 form of a fine yellow powder, known as Flowers of 

 Sulphur. If fused sulphur 1 rapidly cooled it 

 solidifies into a compact mass, of a granular 

 crystalline texture; and if, in its liquid Mate, it, 

 be allowed to run into cylindrical wooden moulds, 

 we obtain the ordinary roll-sulphur, or common 

 brimstone. If allowed to cool slowly, it crystallises 

 in long, glistening, deep yellow, oblique prisms, 

 with a rhombic base, which, however, soon lose their 

 most characteristic properties. As native sulphur 

 is frequently met with in yellow crystals, whose 

 form is derived from the octahedron with a rhombic 

 base, it is obviously a dimorphous siiK-tann-. 

 Sulphur exists in several allotropic forms, red, 

 black, or brown. When sulphur is heated it incite 

 and forms a mobile amber -coloured liquid, which, 

 by continued heat, gradually darkens, at the same 

 time becoming more viscid, until a temperature of 

 356 (180C.) is reached. Even though the bent In- 

 still continued, the temperature remains stationary 

 for a time, but eventually it rises gradually to 600* 

 (260 C.), the melted sulphur becoming les- viscid. 

 If at this stage it is poured into cold water it forms 

 a tenacious ductile mass, which can l>e drawn out 

 into threads having a certain amount of elasticity. 

 In the course of a few hours these become brittle, 

 and are seen to be crystalline in structure and in 

 no way different from the original sulphur. 



Sulphur is a bad conductor of heat, ami the mere 

 heat of a warm hand often causes it to crackle or 



ven to fall to pieces, fr the unequal expansion. 



It is an insulator of electricity, and liccomes IP 

 lively electric by friction. It is slightly soluble in 

 alcohol, ether, and the fatty oils ; its best solicnt- 

 being the bisulphide of carbon and chloride of su! 

 pliur. When it is heated in the air it takes lii< 



about 470 (243 C.), burning with a blue lla , and 



becoming converted inUi sulphurous acid, who-r 

 pungent Kiillocating fumes are characteristic of sul- 

 phur. This element is second only to oxvgfil in it* 

 powerful atlinity for other elements, with most of 

 which it unites', and often in several proportions. 

 With most of the metals it combines very readily, 

 and in some coses with a development of light and 

 heat; thus, silver and copper burn in sulphur- 

 vapour just as iron-wire or zinc-foil burns in oxygen. 

 Inconsequence of its power, with the aid of beat. 

 of forming sulphurous acid with the oxygen of the 

 air, and thus rendering the latter incapable of 

 supporting combustion, burning sulphur may be 



