294 



SNAKE SNOW. 



far from this lies a smaller castie. The quarter 

 inhabited by Europeans, called the Frank quarter, 

 is the pleasantest part of the city, and lies entirely 

 on the sea. Carriages are rare, and the streets ex- 

 tremely narrow; and the litistle in this great mart 

 of the Levant is remarkable. The population is 

 estimated at about 120,000, among which are 65,000 

 Turks, 25 to 30,000 Greeks, 7000 Armenians, 

 12,000 Jews, and some Europeans and Americans. 

 There are Armenian, Greek, Roman Catholic, and 

 Protestant churches, several monasteries, and three 

 synagogues here. The bay is capacious, the 

 anchorage excellent, and the water so deep that 

 large ships come close to the wharfs. Smyrna has 

 been several times destroyed by earthquakes, and 

 frequently ravaged by the plague. In 1814, from 

 50,000 to 60,000 persons are said to have perished 

 by this scourge. In the year 1831, Smyrna suf- 

 fered very severely from the cholera. The princi- 

 pal articles of import consist of grain, furs, &c., 

 from Odessa and Taganrog; cotton stuffs, silk and 

 woolen goods, coffee, cochineal and dye woods, 

 glass, &c., from Great Britain, France, Italy, the 

 United States, &c. The principal exports are raw 

 silk and cotton, fruits, opium, rhubarb, drugs, oil, 

 madder, Turkey carpets, wool, wax, &c. Smyrna 

 is one of the places which laid claim to the hon- 

 our of having given birth to Homer. On the banks 

 of the Meles was shown the spot where he was 

 brought into the world; and, in a cavern by its 

 source, the place was pointed out where he was said 

 to have written his poems; the coins of Smyrna 

 bore his image, and the citizens held their assem- 

 blies under the columns of his tomb. A short dis- 

 tance from this place, near the baths of Diana 

 (several fountains, which unite to form a lake), are 

 some ruins, supposed to be the remains of a temple 

 of Diana. The Spectateur Oriental, formerly pub- 

 lished in Smyrna, was succeeded, in 1827, by the 

 Observateur Impartial, which has since given place 

 to the Courrier de Smyrne. 



SNAKE. See Serpent. 



SNAKE-ROOT (aristolochia serpentaria). This 

 plant is widely diffused through the United States; 

 but, as it grows solitarily in woods, and has noth- 

 ing conspicuous in its flowers or foliage, and, be- 

 sides, does not put forth its shoots till late in the 

 season, it is detected with difficulty, and the root 

 bears a high price. This last is used in materia 

 medico, and is exported to Europe. The odour is 

 aromatic; the taste warm, bitter and pungent, re- 

 sembling, in some degree, that of camphor; medi- 

 cinally it is stimulating, diaphoretic and tonic. The 

 stem is eight or ten inches high, flexuous, bearing 

 oblong, cordate, very acute leaves. The flowers 

 are situated on radical foot-stalks, and consist of a 



swelling, curved tube, expanding at the orifice 



The A. sipho, or Dutchman's pipe, so named from 

 the form of the flower, is a climbing vine, with very 

 large heart-shaped leaves, which grows wild on the 

 more southern parts of the Alleghanies. It is cul- 

 tivated for ornament in gardens. 



SNEEZING is a violent convulsive motion of the 

 muscles of respiration, which is preceded by a deep 

 inspiration, that fills the lungs, then forces the air 

 violently through the nose, while the lower jaw is 

 at the same time closed, and shakes the head and 

 whole body. It is always excited by some irritation 

 affecting the inner membrane of the nose, which, 

 however, may be produced by very different causes. 

 Any extraneous body brought into contact with the 

 pituitary membrane, will excite sneezing. As a 



direct communication exists between the eyes and 

 the nostrils, into which the tears are constantly 

 passing through the lachrymal ducts, a reverse sym- 

 pathy is excited in many people by irritations of the 

 eye, so that the membrane of the nose is at the 

 same time titillated; whence, in such persons, 

 sneezing is immediately excited by sudden exposure 

 to a strong light, as by passing from a shade into a 

 bright sunshine. Irritations of the lungs, stomach 

 and bowels, &c., have been mentioned as causes of 

 sneezing. Sneezing, if very often repeated, may 

 become dangerous, by an accumulation of blood in 

 the head. If it originates only from too great irri- 

 tability of the membrane of the nose, injections of 

 tepid milk or water into the nostrils may cure it; 

 otherwise, opiates, camphor, and other anti-spasmo- 

 dics, may be necessary. Few animals, perhaps 

 only the dog, sneeze precisely like man. The cus- 

 tom of blessing persons, when they sneeze, is very 

 ancient. Aristotle professes ignorance of the origin 

 of it. This custom is mentioned by various ancient 

 writers. Sneezing at sacrifices was considered a 

 good omen. 



SNIPE. The snipe has many of the external 

 characters of the woodcock, but differs in having 

 the lower part of the tibia bare of feathers, and in 

 its habits. It keeps in marshy places, and does not 

 frequent woods; and its flight is high, rapid, and 

 very irregular. 



SNORRO STURLASON. See Sturlason. 



SNOW is formed in the air, when the tempera 

 ture of the atmosphere sinks below the freezing 

 point of water. The particles of moisture thus 

 frozen from flakes, having great diversities of den- 

 sity, and displaying innumerable varieties of the 

 most beautiful forms. Snow-flakes, examined by a 

 microscope, appear to be regular crystals; and 

 Scoresby, who has figured ninety-six varieties in his 

 Arctic Regions, arranges them under five forms, 

 lamellar, spicular, pyramidal, &c. Like ice, and 

 other crystallized bodies, snow would be transparent 

 were it not that the air which it contains renders it 

 opaque. The regular crystals are found only when 

 the air is calm, and the cold intense, and do not 

 often occur, therefore, in temperate regions. Snow 

 has been seen in the polar regions of red, orange 

 and salmon colour. This occurs, both on the fixed 

 and floating ice, and appears, in some cases, to re- 

 sult from vegetable, and in others from animal mat- 

 ter, suspended in the sea, and deposited upon the 

 ice around. Snow storms sometimes present a 

 luminous appearance, covering all objects with a 

 sheet of fire. The electricity of snow is generally 

 positive. Snow-water has been found, by chemi- 

 cal 'analysis, to contain more oxygen than rain or 

 river water a fact which accounts for its superior 

 activity in causing iron to rust, &c. Snow answers 

 many valuable purposes in the economy of nature. 

 Accumulated upon high regions, it serves to feed, 

 by its gradual melting, streams of running water, 

 which a sudden increase of water in the form of rain 

 would convert into destructive torrents or standing 

 pools, and, in many countries, tempers the burning 

 heats of summer, by cooling the breezes which pass 

 over it. In severer climates, on the contrary, it 

 serves as a defence against the rigours of winter, by 

 the protection which it affords to vegetation against 

 the frost, and the shelter which it gives to animals, 

 who bury themselves under the snow. Even in 

 more temperate climates, vegetation suffers from 

 an open winter; and it has been found that Alpine 

 plants perished in the mild winter of England, from 



