SODA 



5429 



SODIUM 



In 399 B. c. he was condemned to death be- 

 cause he had introduced new gods and failed 

 to worship the city divinities, and because of 

 corrupting the youth. During his trial he gave 

 the famous defense known as the "Apology of 

 Socrates," but the jury, consisting of over 500 

 members, condemned him by a small majority. 

 On the morning of the day of his death his 

 scolding and quarrelsome wife Xanthippe was 

 banished by him from his cell because of the 

 violence of her grief. He is said to have spent 

 the last hour in tranquillity, discoursing with 

 friends on the imjnortality of the soul. When 

 twilight appeared he drank the poison hem- 

 lock, the cup reserved to those condemned, 

 walked up and down, then lay down on his 

 couch and died in quiet. 



The Socrates who frequently exclaimed, "How 

 many things there are that I do not need," 



PRISON OF SOCRATES, AT ATHENS 

 In one of these dungeons, hewn in the rock, the 

 philosopher spent his last hours. 



Plato eulogized as follows after his death: 

 "Thus died the man who of all with whom 

 we are acquainted was in death the noblest, 

 in life the wisest and most just." E.D.F. 



Consult Wright's Short History of Greek Litera- 

 ture; Gomperz's Greek Thinkers; Forbes' Soc- 

 rates. 



SO 'DA, the general name of several sodium 

 compounds occurring in nature in natural alka- 

 line waters. The term soda is employed more 

 commonly, however, to designate certain com- 

 mercial compounds used in the household and 

 in the industries. The sodas of commerce are 

 manufactured by various processes from com- 

 mon salt. One kind, known in chemistry as 

 sodium carbonate, is employed in the manu- 

 facture of glass and soap, as a disinfectant and 

 as a cleansing agent. Common names of so- 

 dium carbonate are sal soda and washing soda. 

 Sodium bicarbonate is the common baking 

 soda or saleratus used with sour milk or cream 

 of tartar to raise bread, biscuits or pastry. It 



is also an ingredient of baking powder (which 

 see ) . When heated or when mixed with an acid, 

 sodium bicarbonate gives up carbon dioxide, 

 and the escaping gas puffs up the dough. So- 

 dium bicarbonate is used in medicinal prepara- 

 tions for the relief of acidity of the stomach, 

 and is one of the two compounds that make up 

 Seidlitz powders (which see). Caustic soda, 

 known in chemistry as sodium hydroxide, is 

 used in making hard soap, paper and dyestuffs, 

 and in bleaching and kerosene oil refining. See 

 SODIUM. 



SODA WATER, a pleasant, effervescing 

 drink made of water charged with carbon diox- 

 ide and flavored with syrups. The carbon 

 dioxide is stored in steel cylinders under great 

 pressure, and the water is in a strong steel or 

 copper tank. When the liquid carbon dioxide 

 is allowed to escape into the water it instantly 

 changes to gas, which is dissolved in the water 

 until the required pressure is reached, when the 

 process is stopped. The pressure in the tank 

 forces the water into the pipes in the fountain, 

 and when it is drawn the rapid escape of the 

 gas causes the water to effervesce. Pop, ginger 

 ale and numerous other soft drinks consist of 

 water flavored with a syrup and charged with 

 carbon dioxide. The chief difference between 

 them and soda water is that they are bottled 

 when charged with the gas, while soda water is 

 prepared by mixing the flavoring syrup and the 

 water in the glass. There is no soda in soda 

 water. It was so named because formerly bi- 

 carbonate of soda was used in preparing the 

 carbon dioxide for charging the water. 



Soda water was an unknown beverage in 

 England until about 1908, when an American, 

 Harry J. Selfridge, established a great depart- 

 ment store in London and invested a large sum 

 in a modern "soda fountain." The new drink 

 became very popular. 



SO'DIUM, a soft, silvery- white metal that 

 is never found free in nature. Sodium is as 

 soft as wax and lighter than water. It has 

 great affinity for oxygen, and has to be kept in 

 kerosene or naphtha, liquids that contain no 

 oxygen. When thrown upon cold water it de- 

 composes so rapidly that the heat generated 

 melts it; when thrown upon hot water the de- 

 composition sets the hydrogen on fire, and it 

 burns with a bright yellow flame because of the 

 presence of sodium vapor. 



Sodium exists in large quantities in its chlo- 

 ride (common salt) and its nitrate (soda salt- 

 peter). It is manufactured for commercial 

 purposes by electrolysis (which see) of sodium 



