SULPHURETED HYDROGEN 



5621 



SUMAC 



SULPHURETED HYDROGEN, suljuret'ed 

 hi'drojen, or HYDROGEN SULPHIDE, sul' 

 fide, a poisonous gas with the odor of rotten 

 eggs, is a compound of sulphur and hydrogen. 

 It occurs in mineral waters, and wherever or- 

 ganic compounds containing sulphur are de- 

 composed, as in the air about cesspools and 

 sewers. It is made in the laboratory by the 

 action of hydrochloric acid on iron sulphide. 

 The gas burns with a bluish flame, is colorless 

 and has a sweet taste, and is soluble in water. 

 The solution reddens litmus, and when it de- 

 composes it deposits sulphur. Sulphureted hy- 

 drogen is a strong reducing agent, and is useful 

 in the manufacture of anilines. Dissolved in 

 mineral waters, it has medicinal properties in 

 rheumatism and skin diseases. The chemical 

 formula for hydrogen sulphide is HoS. 



SULPHURIC ACID, sulju'rik as' id, or OIL 

 OF VITRIOL, vit'riul, an oily liquid manu- 

 factured in great quantities for use in numer- 

 ous industries. This acid is indispensable in 

 the manufacture of artificial fertilizers, alum, 

 nitroglycerine, glucose, phosphorus and dye- 

 stuffs, and in the bleaching, electroplating, oil 

 refining and mining industries. It is employed 

 in the making of sodium carbonate (soda), 

 which in turn is used in manufacturing soap 

 and glass, and is an essential factor in the pro- 

 duction of all other mineral acids. The manu- 

 facture of sulphuric acid is based upon the fact 

 that it is formed when sulphur dioxide, the 

 common compound of sulphur and oxygen, oxi- 

 dizes in the presence of water. 



The acid is a combination of hydrogen, sul- 

 phur and oxygen, its chemical formula being 

 H2SO4. When pure it is colorless and odor- 

 less. It has great affinity for water, which it 

 absorbs quickly from many organic substances. 

 For this reason it makes painful wounds if it 

 touches flesh. It chars wood, paper, starch and 

 sugar, and is often employed in the laboratory 

 to dry gases, for it absorbs moisture from the 

 air and from gases passed through it. Four 

 parts of acid to one part of water raises the 

 temperature of the water to boiling, and if the 

 two are mixed the acid should be poured into 

 the water, not vice versa; otherwise the con- 

 taining vessel may be cracked by the sudden 

 access of heat. The acid is supposed to have 

 been known to Arabian alchemists of the tenth 

 century. In the fifteenth century a German 

 chemist, Basil Valentine, described its prepara- 

 tion. It was then known as oil of vitriol, as it 

 was made by heating a mixture of green vitriol 

 and sand. 



SUL 'TAN, an Arabic title of honor, used 

 since about A. D. 990 and applied to Moham- 

 medan princes and rulers. The word means em- 

 peror in the modern sense, but more anciently 

 referred rather generally to one who was 

 mighty or imperious. The sultan of greatest 

 dignity is the ruler of Turkey, and to set him 

 apart as greater than any other bearing the 

 title he is officially known as sultan khan, or 

 reigning sultan. The form sultana is applied to 

 the mother, wife, or daughter of the sultan. 



SULTE, suhlt, BENJAMIN (1841- ), a 

 Canadian poet and historian, author of the 

 Histoire des Canadiens-Frangais (History of 

 the French-Canadians), a standard in its field. 

 Suite was born at Three Rivers, Que. After 

 the early death of his father he left school and 

 had to work for a living. He drifted through 

 various employments until he finally entered 

 the service of the Dominion government as 

 a translator. He was in the government serv- 

 ice for thirty-five years. In addition to the 

 solid eight-volume History of the French-Cana- 

 dians, Suite wrote a Histoire de St. Francois du 

 Lac (History of Saint Francis of the Lake), a 

 history of Quebec and two volumes of verse, 

 Les Laurentiennes and Les Chants Nouveaux 

 (New Songs). Much of his work has appeared 

 in journals and periodicals. 



SU'LU ISLANDS, an archipelago consisting 

 of more than 190 islands, lying between the 

 Celebes and the Sulu seas, off the northeast 

 coast of Borneo (see colored map, with article 

 OCEANIA). They are the most southerly group 

 of the Philippines, and have a combined area 

 of about 1,560 square miles. The natives are 

 chiefly Moros. For governmental purposes the 

 Sulu Islands constitute a district of the Filipino 

 province of Moro. The islands produce a great 

 quantity of valuable wood, including teak, san- 

 dalwood, bamboo and palmg. Rice, cocoa, 

 maize, bananas, oranges and mangoes are culti- 

 vated, and there is an extensive trade in pearl 

 shells. Oxen, swine, goats and poultry are 

 abundant, and wild boars and deer are com- 

 mon. 



SUMAC, or SUMACH, su'mak, a group of 

 small trees or shrubs of temperate regions, con- 

 sisting of about 120 species, many of which are 

 commercially important. Of the North Ameri- 

 can sumacs one of the best known is the stag- 

 horn, whose range is from Southern Canada to 

 Georgia and Mississippi. It is an attractive 

 flat-topped tree, growing thirty or thirty-five feet 

 high and bearing fernlike leaves, small, green- 

 ish flowers and tiny red berries. In the autumn 



