SARDONYX SARTI. 



99 



general. A royal edict, of 1825, prohibited any 

 person learning to read or write, who had not pro- 

 perty to the amount of 1500 lire (about 90), and 

 any one studying at the university who had not as 

 much more in the funds. Translations of the works 

 of Gcithe, Wieland, and Schiller, were also prohi- 

 bited within the Sardinian states. Charles Felix 

 died March 29, 1831, and was succeeded by Charles 

 Albert, prince of Carignan. Some troubles broke 

 out in Sardinia ; the Genoese merchants offered the 

 king a large sum of money to induce him to consent 

 to the independence of Genoa; but the offer was 

 rejected, and his majesty was actually besieged in 

 Genoa, until relieved by Austrian troops. See the 

 articles Italy, and Italy, Travels in, with the works 

 there referred to ; see also Manno's Storia di Sar- 

 degna (Turin, 1825) ; Mimaut's Histoire de Sar- 

 daigne (Paris, 1825) ; and de la Marmora's Voyage 

 de Sardaigne (1826). 



SARDONYX. See Chalcedony. 



SARK OR CERG ; an island in the English 

 channel, situated on the French coast, within six 

 miles of Guernsey, Ion. 2 52' W ; lat. 49 30' N. It 

 is about five miles in length, and three in breadth, 

 surrounded by inaccessible rocks, except in one or 

 two places, where the ascent for the carriage is so 

 steep, that Governor Carteret was induced to form 

 a subterraneous passage through the cliff, the en- 

 trance of which is secured by a strong gate, and 

 defended by cannon. Here are some remains of a 

 convent dedicated to St Magloire, bishop of Dol, 

 who converted the inhabitants to Christianity in the 

 sixth century. The French seized this island, and 

 retained possession of it till the reign of Mary ; and 

 it was afterwards uninhabited till the next reign, 

 when Philip de Cateret, Lord of St Ouen, planted 

 a colony in the island : and it was held by his heirs 

 paying a small quit-rent to the British crown. It 

 is well watered, the climate is pure and healthy, 

 and the soil is productive, affording corn more than 

 is sufficient for the use of its inhabitants. The 

 island abounds with rabbits, wild fowl, and during 

 the season of incubation, with cliff pigeons. The 

 only manufactures are knit stockings, gloves, and 

 Guernsey jackets for sailors ; and the inhabitants 

 who are chiefly engaged in fishing, have some trade 

 with Bristol. The islands of Sark and Alderney 

 are under the same government with Guernsey. 

 The islands of Jethou and Arne, belonging to this 

 group, are very inconsiderable. The population of 

 Sark is about 500. 



SARMATIANS. The Sclavonians and other 

 nations, who inhabited the northern parts of Europe 

 and Asia, were called by the ancients Sarmatians. 

 European Sarmatia comprehended (according to 

 Gatterer, who, however, extended it too far) Po- 

 land from the Vistula, Prussia, Courland, Livonia, 

 Russian and European Tartary, together with the 

 Crimea; Asiatic Sarmatia embraced Asiatic Rus- 

 sia, Siberia and Mongolia. The Sarmatians were 

 nomadic tribes. They were probably descendants 

 of the Medes, and dwelt originally in Asia, between 

 the Don, the Wolga, and mount Caucasus. They 

 were allies of king Mithridates VI. of Pontus, even 

 at that time were settled on the west of the Don, 

 and afterwards extended over the country between 

 the Don and the Danube. They were, at times, 

 formidable to the Asiatic kings. Among the most 

 remarkable of them were the Jazyges and the Roxo- 

 lani. They carried on long and bloody, but for the 

 most part unsuccessful, wars against the Romans. 

 A part of them, with other barbarians entered 



Gaul A. D. 407; the remainder were conquered by 

 Attila, but after his death submftted to the emperor 

 Marcian, who assigned them a residence on the 

 Don. Here they afterwards united themselves in 

 the Goths, and formed with them one nation. 



SARPI, PIETRO. See Paul of Venice. 



SARRACENIA, OR SIDE-SADDLE FLOW- 

 ER. The species of sarracenia are among the most 

 singular productions of the vegetable world. They 

 are exclusively North American, and, according to 

 Mr Nuttall, are not found west of the Alleghanies. 

 The leaves have the form of a long tube or funnel, 

 conic or swollen, often containing water, and ter- 

 minated by an appendage, which varies in form in 

 the different species. The flowers resemble, in 

 size and form, those of the splatter-dock or yellow 

 water-lily (nuphar). All inhabit marshy grounds. 

 The S. purpurea is the most common species, and 

 by far the most widely diffused, being frequently 

 met with from Hudson's bay to Carolina : the stems 

 are eight or ten inches high, arising from the centre 

 of the leaves, simple, leafless, and are terminated 

 with large flowers, of a green colour mixed with 

 reddish-brown ; the leaves have a large heart-shaped 

 appendage, smooth externally, and covered within 

 with scattered whitish horizontal hairs. The other 

 species are confined to the Southern States. 



SARSAPARILLA. The roots of the milax 

 sarsaparilla, and doubtless of other species of smilax 

 (for all those plants closely resemble each other in 

 their sensible properties), are very long and slender, 

 with a wrinkled bark, brown externally and white 

 within, and have a small woody heart. They are 

 inodorous, and have a mucilaginous and very slightly 

 bitter taste ; they seem to possess no very active 

 principle, although they have enjoyed a very high 

 repute, at different times, as a specific in venereal 

 and scrofulous diseases : they have sudorific and 

 diuretic properties, but only in a slight degree 

 Sarsaparilla is one of the ingredients of the famous 

 Rob of Laffecteur, as well as of Swaim's Panacea, 

 and various other similar remedies. The species 01 

 smilax are very numerous in the United States of 

 America, especially in the southern parts. They 

 are green vines, usually spiny, with scattered leaves, 

 and are very troublesome in the woods, in certain 

 districts, forming impenetrable thickets. They are 

 allied, in their botanical characters, to the aspara- 

 gus, but differ widely in habit; the leaves are cori- 

 aceous or membranous, entire, nerved, and usually 

 more or less heart-shaped ; the leaf-stalks are gene- 

 rally provided with tendrils at the base. The 

 flowers are dioecious, chiefly disposed in little axil- 

 lary umbels, and the corolla is divided into six 

 lobes ; the male flowers have six stamens ; the fruit 

 is a small globular berry, containing three seeds, or 

 often one or two only, by reason of abortion. The 

 S. China grows in China and Japan, and the roots 

 are employed in those countries for the same pur- 

 poses, and have enjoyed the same reputation as our 

 sarsaparilla. It is, besides, used for food. The 

 true sarsaparilla has smooth, oval, membranous*, 

 heart-shaped leaves, and grows in Mexico, Peru 

 and Brazil. 



SARTI, JOSEPH, a composer, was born at Faenza, 

 in 1729, and died in 1802. He was, for a long time, 

 master of the chapel to Catharine II., in St Peters- 

 burg, who treated him very liberally. He composed 

 a grand Te-Deum for the taking of Oczakow, the 

 bass of which was accompanied by cannons of dif- 

 ferent calibre. A piece of music composed by him 

 for Good Friday, was performed by sixty-six singers 



