580 



SABBATI A SALAMANDER. 



the tribe. They grow well in our stoves, and some- 

 times throw up a sucker by which they are increased. 



SABBATI A (Adanson). A genus of biennial 

 herbs, natives of North America. The flowers are 

 pentandrous, and the genus belongs to Gentianece. 

 These are desirable plants, and can only be increased 

 by seeds sown in a damp peat-earth border. 



SACCHARUM (Linnaeus). An important genus, 

 belonging to the Graminece. The sugar-cane has 

 been long celebrated for its invaluable juice, and cul- 

 tivated in every latitude warm enough for the nature 

 of the plant. It is extraordinary, says a late writer, 

 that so fine a grass, possessed of such remarkable 

 properties, should have been unknown to the an- 

 cients, or so little sought after by them when they 

 procured so many luxuries from the East. Galen and 

 Pliny both mencion a sweet salt which they call Sac- 

 charum* and which was then only used in medicine. 

 Until a comparatively modern epoch, its chief use 

 was as a febrifuge, a small piece being recommended 

 to be placed on the tongue to relieve the thirst of 

 fever. In the tenth century sugar was first substi- 

 tuted for honey in medicine. Like many other 

 medicines, it has escaped from the apothecary's store, 

 and from being dreaded as a drug, is now esteemed 

 a luxury, or rather a necessary of life. The con- 

 sumption of sugar by the British population is esti- 

 mated at about a quarter of a. hundred weight per 

 annum for each person. 



SAFFRON is the Crocus sativus of Linnceus, the 

 stigmas of which, when collected, are the drug so 

 called. No part but the stigmas should be prepared, 

 and hence the number of plants required to produce 

 even an ounce will sufficiently account for the high 

 price this drug bears in the market. Saffron is aro- 

 matic and stimulant, and is a favourite carminative ; 

 it is, however, chiefly now valued for its colouring mat- 

 ter. The plants are grown in large quantities in some 

 parts of England, and are much higher priced than 

 those of foreign growth. The chief saffron gardens 

 are at Walden in Essex, hence called Saffron Walden. 



SAGITTARI A (Linnaeus). A genus of aquatic 

 herbs, natives of many different parts of the world, 

 and so called from the shape of the leaves resembling- 

 arrow-heads. The flowers are monoecious; and the 

 genus belongs to the natural order Alismacecc. None 

 of the species are cultivated. 



SAGUS (Gsertner). An East Indian tree, be- 

 longing to Palmce, commonly called the sago-palm, 

 from which the medical or dietetic substance called 

 sago is extracted. This substance is the granulated 

 pith of the tree. 



SAINFOIN is the Onobrychis saliva of Tourne- 

 fort, an agricultural plant, cultivated in chalky districts 

 as a forage and pasture plant. The Astralagus ono- 

 brychis of Linnaeus is also called sainfoin. 



ST. JOHN'S WORT is the Hypericum qua- 

 drangularum of Linnaeus, a British plant found in 

 most meadows. 



SALAMANDER (Salamandra). A genus of 

 batrachian reptiles, having some slight resemblance 

 to the lizards in its external shape, and accordingly 

 classed with them by some of the earlier naturalists, 

 but very properly separated since the structure came 

 to be better understood. The general characters 

 may be described as follows : the body lengthened, 

 with four feet of equal dimensions, and a long tail ; 

 the head is flat, and the ear entirely embedded in the 

 flesh, and without any distinct tympanum, and only 



a small cartilaginous plate on the opening ; both jaws 

 are furnished with numerous small teeth, and there 

 are two parallel rows of such teeth along the bones 

 in the upper part of the mouth, which represent the 

 vomer ; the ribs are merely rudimental, though they 

 are not wholly wanting as in the frogs, but there is 

 no sternum of bone ; the pelvis is very imperfectly 

 developed, and suspended to the spine by ligaments; 

 the legs are of nearly equal length, and without any 

 webs to the toes or claws on them, and there are 

 always four toes on the fore feet, and, generally 

 speaking, five on the hind ones. In the adult state 

 they breathe in the same manner as tortoises and 

 frogs ; but in their early state they breathe in the 

 water by means of gills. These gills are formed into 

 tufts upon arches of cartilage attached to the bone 

 of the tongue, and some of them retain these arches, 

 in part at least, after they have ceased to breathe 

 with the gills. There is a sort of membranous lid to 

 the opening ; but the tufts of the gills hang free, 

 instead of being enclosed by any membrane. In their 

 transformation the fore legs are earlier formed than 

 the hind ones, and the toes are successively developed 

 as if the one pushed out the other. 



Salamanders are usually divided into land species 

 and water species, but the division is not very pre- 

 cise, for the land ones inhabit humid places, and the 

 aquatic ones breathe air, and are not wholly confined 

 to the water. There are, however, distinctions 

 between them, which arc of importance, but which 

 we can notice with more advantage afterwards. 



Though among the humblest, least developed, and 

 apparently least sentient of all the vertebrated ani- 

 mals, whether inhabiting the land or the water, the 

 salamanders have been much famed in story for their 

 powers of mischief and their tenacity of life under 

 circumstances the most remarkable. There is scarcely 

 a cottage in the country which has been visited by 

 knowledge in any shape, where the salamander is not 

 believed to beacreature which not only can live, but ac- 

 tually does habitually live, in the fire. Not'only this, but 

 where a little speculation is added to the mere report, 

 it is said that the salamander is bred only in the fire, 

 and especially in the long continued heat of powerful 

 furnaces. We have heard it stated again and again, as 

 matter of terror to a whole district, that the fires of glass- 

 houses and other works requiring great and continued 

 heat, had been kept so long burning, and burning 

 with so much intensity, that salamanders had actually 

 bred in them, and that the terrified owners had built 

 up all the openings, so that the terrific reptiles might 

 perish in the smouldering extinguishment of their 

 burning cradles, instead of issuing forth to spread 

 pestilence and death over the whole country. We 

 need hardly say that this is not true, but still it is 

 believed by many; and the fable has been so much 

 interwoven with story and with song, and so much 

 emblazoned among the nonsensical representations of 

 the heralds, that the getting rid of it from the public 

 mind will be no such easy matter, as those who are 

 convinced of its absurdity may be apt to suppose. 

 Pliny, to whom we are indebted for more of the non- 

 sense of natural history, than we are perhaps to any 

 other man, has tended much to perpetuate this ridi- 

 culous fable. We do not say that he invented the 

 story of the salamander, or any other of the ridiculous 

 stories of which his works are so full. Pliny was a 

 mere compiler, and as such ht was a pipe for trans- 

 fusing the nonsense of others, just as is the case with 



