SAL 



[227 ] 



S A S 



is employed in glass-making, enamelling, 

 glazing, and bleaching. It is a valuable 

 manure ; and it is used in the making of 

 bread. On an average, an adult may be 

 considered to consume from five to six 

 ounces of salt a-week. About a million 

 of tons is supposed to be annually con- 

 sumed. 



SALT MINES. Although the most frequent 

 position of rock-salt is in strata of the 

 new red sandstone formation, yet it is not 

 exclusively confined to them. The salt 

 mines of Wieliezka and Sicily are in ter- 

 tiary formations ; those of Cardona in 

 cretaceous ; some are found in the oolite ; 

 while others occur in the coal formation. 

 There are salt-mines in Mexico which 

 furnish annually one million eight hun- 

 dred thousand bushels. The salt-mine of 

 Wieliezka, already mentioned as existing 

 in the tertiary formation, is very cele- 

 brated. It is entered by six shafts of 

 four or five yards in diameter, and from 

 sixty to seventy yards deep. It is worked 

 to a depth of upwards of nine hundred 

 feet. The works in the mine are most 

 surprising ; there is a stable, apartments, 

 a chapel, &c., all the furniture of which 

 is made of salt. 



SALT SPRINGS. The salt-springs generally, 

 but not invariably, rise from strata of 

 the new red sandstone formation. The 

 strongest yield about one-fourth of their 

 weight in salt. Those at Droitwich, in 

 Cheshire, are remarkably abundant, fur- 

 nishing upwards of sixteen thousand tons 

 of salt annually. The salt is obtained 

 merely by evaporation. 



SALTPE'TRE. Nitrate of potash, or nitre. 

 See Nitre. 



SAND. (sand, Germ.) Flint or quartz 

 broken fine by the action of water, but 

 not reduced to powder. Very small par- 

 ticles of siliceous matter not cohering to- 

 gether, nor softened by water. 



SA'NDSTONE. An aggregate of siliceous 

 grains. Any stone composed of grains 

 of sand agglutinated together. The grains 

 of sandstone are sometimes so fine as 

 scarcely to be distinguished by the un- 

 aided eye; at others their magnitude is 

 equal to that of a walnut or an egg, as in 

 the coarse sandstones known as conglo- 

 merates, pudding-stones, breccias, &c. 

 The cement which agglutinates the sili- 

 ceous particles of sandstones may be cal- 

 careous, argillaceous, or siliceous : when 

 siliceous the sandstone sometimes resem- 

 bles quartz. Sandstones are close, porous, 

 and vesicular. They vary in colour, from 

 white to red or brown, but their most 

 common colour is grey or greyish white : 

 sometimes their colour is uniform, at 

 others it is variegated. Sandstone is in 

 general distinctly stratified, and the beds 



horizontally arranged ; this, however, is 

 not invariably the case, as they are some- 

 times much inclined, or even vertical. 



SAPONA'CEOUS. (from sapo, soap, Lat.) 

 Soapy to the touch ; resembling soap ; 

 having a soapy feel. 



SA'PPARE. A mineral first described by 

 Saussure, who gave it the name of sap- 

 pare. It is the Cyanit of Werner, and 

 the Disthene of Haiiy. For its descrip- 

 tion see Cyanite. 



SA'PPHIRE. (from <ra7T0apoc, Gr. sapplti- 

 rus, Lat. sapMr, Fr. zaffiro, It. saphir, 

 Germ.) A precious stone, exceeding all 

 others in hardness except the diamond. 

 It consists of nearly pure alumina, with a 

 little oxide of iron, and some silex or 

 lime ; but the sapphire contains upwards 

 of ninety-eight per cent, of alumina. Its 

 specific gravity is from 3' 70 to 4-30. It 

 possesses double refraction, and varies 

 from opaque to transparent. Its colours 

 are blue, red, green, white, grey, yellow, 

 brown, and black. There are several 

 varieties of the sapphire, as the white, 

 blue, or oriental sapphire, the oriental 

 amethyst, the oriental topaz, and the 

 oriental emerald. The finest sapphires 

 are found in alluvial soil in Ceylon and 

 Pegu. Lately the sapphire has been em- 

 ployed in the formation of small lenses 

 for microscopes. The red sapphire is the 

 most highly esteemed, its value being 

 sometimes equal to that of a diamond of 

 the same size : a single stone has been 

 estimated at the value of one thousand 

 guineas. 



SA'RCOCARP. The fleshy part of certain 

 fruits, placed between the epicarp and 

 the endocarp. That part of fleshy fruits 

 which is usually eaten. -__ 



SA'RCOLITE. (from crapZ, flesh, and \iQo, 

 stone, Gr.) A variety of analcirne, found 

 at Mount Somma, and obtaining its name 

 from the flesh colour of its crystals, which 

 are cubo-octahedral. 



SA'RDONYX. (aap86vv%, Gr. sardonyx, 

 Lat. sardoine, Fr. sardonico, It. sardonyx, 

 Germ.) The Quartz agate sardoine of 

 Haiiy ; Silex sardoine of Brongniart. A 

 variety of calcedony differing from carne- 

 lian only in its colour, which is reddish 

 yellow, or nearly orange, with occasion- 

 ally a tinge of brown. 



SARMENTO'SE. ) (sarmenteux, euse, Fr. sar- 



SARME'NTOUS. \ mentosus, Lat. full of 

 twigs.) In botany, applied to stems that 

 are thrown out from the roots for the 

 purpose of increase, being barren of 

 flowers, and creep along, putting forth 

 roots from various points. 



SA'SSOLIN. ) So called from its having 



SA'SSOLINE. ] been found near the warm 

 spring of Sasso, in Tuscany. Native 

 boracic acid. 



