SAU 



SCA 



SANDSTONE. A rock made of 

 sand cemented together, or merely 

 compressed together. 



SANDWORT. Plants of the ge- 

 nus Arenaria : thcy are succulent and 

 harmless. 



SANICLE, SANICULA. A genus 

 of umbelliferous weeds. 



SANIES. A thin, foetid discharge 

 from sores. 



SAP. The fluid of vegetables and 

 trees. That absorbed from the soil 

 is called the ascending sap ; it passes 

 to the leaves along the cellular tissue 

 of herbs, and along the new wood 

 {alburnum) of trees. Tn the leaf, by 

 the action of light, it is converted 

 into a mucilaginous fluid, the elabo- 

 rated sap, which, moving from the 

 leaf, is diffused to all parts of the 

 plant along the space between the 

 bark and new wood ; out of this sap, 

 new roots, buds, flowers, seeds, and 

 partially the fruit is formed. 



SAPAN WOOD. A dye wood re- 

 sembling Brazil wood. 



SAP WOOD. The alburnum, or 

 new wood. 



S A P S A G O. A Swiss cheese, 

 flavoured with mellilot. 



SAPHENA. The large vein of 

 the thigh. 



SAPROPHAGANS. A tribe of 

 coleopterans, many of which feed on 

 decaying matters. 



SARCOCELE. A tumefaction of 

 the testes. 



SARCOCARP. The fleshy sub- 

 stance of fruits. 



SARCOCOLLA. A kind of gum. 



SARMENTUM. A runner, such 

 as that of the strawberry. 



SARSAPARILLA. The roots of 

 several species of Smilax growing in 

 tropical America ; the decoction is 

 much used as an alterative. 



SASH. In building, a piece of 

 framing for holding the squares of 

 glass in a window. It is of two sorts, 

 viz., that called the French sash, 

 which is hung like a door to the sash- 

 frame ; and that in which it moves 

 vertically, from being balanced by a 

 weight on each side, to which it is 

 attached by lines running over pul- 

 leys at the top of the sash-frame. 

 684 



When, in a window, both the upper 

 and lower sashes are moveable, the 

 sashes are said to be double hung, 

 and single hung when only one of 

 them moves. 



SASSAFRAS. Laurus sassafras. 

 A well-known tree, the wood and 

 roots of which are highly aromatic ; 

 in poor, worn lands it is little more 

 than a shrub, but on the borders of 

 Southern swamps sometimes attains 

 fifty to seventy feet. The wood is 

 tough and very durable, resisting 

 worms : it is but little known. A 

 beer is made of the bark of the young 

 shoots, boiled with sugar or molasses, 

 and fermented. 



SATURATION. A chemical ex- 

 pression, signifying either that no 

 more of a given substance, or salt, 

 can be dissolved ; or that, in a com- 

 pound, the combination of its parts 

 is complete or saturated. 



SAUER KRAUT. See Cabbage. 



SAURIANS. The subdivision of 

 the animal kingdom, including the 

 crocodiles, lizards, &c ; they have 

 four legs, and are covered with a sca- 

 ly epidermis. 



SAVANNAHS. Extensive allu- 

 vial flats ; the prairies. 



S A V I N. Juniperns sabina, the 

 leaves of which are a powerful drug. 

 In the United States, the red cedar is 

 often called savin. 



SAWDUST. When rotted in the 

 compost heap, or with lime and earth, 

 it forms a good manure for improving 

 the texture of soils. 



SAW FLIES. An extensive fam- 

 ily of hymenopterous insects, of the 

 genera Cimber, Tcnthredo, Selandria, 

 &c. The perfect insects, resembling 

 bees and wasps, are seen in summer 

 hovering over the plants they feed 

 on. The female lays her eggs in a 

 slit made in the young stem, or in 

 leaves ; the larvae, which are called 

 false caterpillars, feed on leaves and 

 buds, and are extremely voracious. 

 In some eight weeks, they descend 

 to the ground and form a web either 

 among the dead leaves, iu the bark, 

 or under ground : the grub remains 

 eight months before changing to the 

 fly. They are very destructive: whale- 



