80 



SALMON SALON1CA. 



in Auxols (now the department Cote-d'Or), in 

 1588. His father, a respectable magistrate, and a 

 learned man, instrueted him in the ancient lan- 

 guages, and then sent him to Paris to study philo- 

 sophy. His edition of Florus, which was published 

 in 1009, and, according to his own assertion, had 

 already been completed several years, is a remark- 

 able proof of his early erudition. In 1606, he went 

 to Heidelberg, to study law, under the celebrated 

 Gothofredus (Godefroi). The excellent university 

 library there gave him an opportunity to gratify his 

 literary curiosity, and to extend his reputation by 

 the publication of his learned labours. On his re- 

 turn to France in 1610, he began to practise his 

 profession, but soon withdrew from it to devote 

 his whole time to study; and the rest of his life 

 was occupied with critical labours and learned con- 

 troversies. His mother, a Calvinist, had educated 

 him in Protestant principles; and, in 1623, he 

 married the daughter of a respectable Protestant. 

 Several years later, he passed some time at the 

 country seat of his father-in-law, near Paris, where 

 he completed his great labour on Pliny and Solinus. 

 In 1629, his father was desirous of transferring to 

 him his place, and the parliament of Dijon made no 

 objection, although he openly professed Calvinism ; 

 but the keeper of the seals, Marillac, refused to 

 sanction the step. The invitations of the universi- 

 ties of Padua and Bologna were declined by Sal- 

 masius; but, in 1651, he accepted the offer of the 

 professorship, which had been held by Joseph Scali- 

 ger at the university of Leyden. His friends made 

 several attempts to induce him to return to France, 

 and cardinal Richelieu offered him a pension, on 

 condition of his writing a history of his ministry. 

 But Salmasius declined all these offers. In 1649, 

 Charles II. of England induced him to write a de- 

 fence of his father (Defensio regia pro Carolo I.), 

 which was answered by Milton's Defensio pro Po- 

 pulo Angliccmo. (See Milton.) The zeal with 

 which Salmasius defended royalty in this work of- 

 fended his republican patrons in Holland, and he 

 therefore the more readily accepted the invitation 

 of queen Christina to visit Sweden (1650). But 

 the cb'mate of Sweden was so unfavourable to his 

 health, that he returned to Holland the next year, 

 and died in 1653, at Spa, whither he had gone for 

 his health. Although virulent in controversy, 

 Salmasius was remarkably gentle and kind in pri- 

 vate, and at home was entirely governed by his 

 wife. The most important of his numerous works 

 are his Pliniance Exercitationes in Solinum ; his edi- 

 tion of the Scriptores Histories Augustce ; De 

 Mutuo ; De Modo Usurarum ; De Fanore Trape- 

 zetico ; De Re militari Romanorum ; De JRe Hel- 

 Icnistica; Observations in Jus Atticum et Romanum, 

 &c. All his works display a wonderful variety, 

 extent and depth of erudition, but are less remark- 

 able for taste or judgment. His learning was aided 

 by a powerful memory. Besides the classical and 

 many modern languages, he was acquainted with 

 Hebrew, Chaldaic, Arabic, Persian, Coptic, &c. 

 He laboured with great industry, but used the file 

 sparingly. 



SALMON (salmo salar) ; a celebrated fish be- 

 longing to the trout genus, which inhabits the 

 northern seas, and ascends the rivers in spring for 

 the purpose of depositing its spawn. The excellence 

 of its flesh is well known, but it varies somewhat 

 in different waters. In certain districts, the 

 abundance of this fish forms a great source of wealth 

 to the inhabitants, and it often forms a chief article 



of sustenance. The salmon inhabits the Euro- 

 pean coasts, from Spit/bcrgen to Western Fraiuv. 

 but is never seen in the Mediterranean. On the 

 western shores of the Atlantic it is found from 

 Greenland to the Hudson, but is exceedingly rare 

 in the latter river, and never penetrates farther 

 south. It ascends the St. Lawrence to lake Ontario, 

 and enters the tributaries of that lake ; but the fall of 

 Niagara presents a barrier to its farther progress into 

 the continent. In the North Pacific the salmon again 

 makes its appearance, and frequents, in vast num- 

 bers, the rivers of North-western America, Kamts- 

 chatka, and Eastern Asia. A cold climate and clear 

 water seem to be most congenial to its constitution. 



The Salmon grows to the length of four, five or 

 six feet, and usually weighs twelve or fifteen pounds. 

 The body is elongated and compressed; the colour 

 silvery-gray, with spots ; the head of moderate size, 

 and the upper jaw rather the longest. Almost all 

 parts of the mouth, and even the tongue, are 

 furnished with pointed teeth, as in the other trouts, 

 and, like them, it has an adipose fin upon the lower 

 part of the back. All the trouts are voracious and 

 carnivorous, and in general seek the purest water. 

 As soon as the ice melts, the salmon enter the 

 mouths of rivers, and, as has been ascertained, al- 

 most always of those which gave them birth. They 

 swim usually in immense bodies, in the middle of 

 the stream, and near the surface : their progress is 

 slow, and they make a great noise in sporting, if 

 the weather be fine. They are easily frightened, 

 either by a sudden noise or floating timber, and on 

 such occasions sometimes turn aside from their 

 course and return to the sea. When farther ad- 

 vanced, they make the most determined efforts to 

 surmount rapids and cascades, and will leap a fall of 

 twelve or fifteen feet in perpendicular height. If 

 alarmed, they dart away with such rapidity that the 

 eye can scarcely follow them. The velocity of 

 this motion has been proved to equal twenty-five to 

 thirty miles per hour. They penetrate far into the 

 interior of the continents, and deposit their spawn 

 in the lakes, &c., about the head-waters of the 

 longest rivers. When the young are about a foot 

 in length, they descend the rivers and take refuge 

 in the ocean. Late in the following spring or in 

 the beginning of summer, and after the old ones 

 have ascended, the young again enter the rivers, 

 and are then about eighteen inches in length. They 

 again seek the ocean on the return of frosts. At 

 two years old, the salmon weighs six or eight 

 pounds, and requires five or six years to attain the 

 weight of ten or twelve. 



The salmon-fishery is one of the most important 

 branches of business in the north of Europe. Im- 

 mense quantities of this fish are taken every year, 

 and form a considerable accession to the general 

 mass of nutriment. The flesh is bright orange, but, 

 though delicious to the taste, and very much sought 

 after, is difficult of digestion. 



SALONIKA, OR SALONIKI, OR SALONICHI 

 (anciently Therma ; afterwards called by Cassander 

 Thessalonica) ; a city of European Turkey, in 

 Macedonia, at the north extremity of a gulf, to 

 which it gives name; anciently Thermaic gulf; 

 272 miles west of Constantinople ; Ion. 22 56' E.; 

 lat. 40 38' N.; population, 70,000; 35,000 Turks, 

 20,000 Greeks, 12,000 Jews, and 3000 Franks. It 

 is the residence of a pacha of three tails, and of a 

 Greek archbishop, has an excellent commercial 

 position, and, of the towns of European Turkey, is 

 second only to Constantinople in point of commerce. 



