S A I 



[ 390 



SAL 



frogs and tortoises. Aristotle and 

 Pliny state that if the salamander 

 passes through fire, the fire is 

 immediately extinguished, and that 

 it emits a milky saliva which is 

 depilatory. Bosc says that it emits 

 from its skin a milky fluid when 

 annoyed, and when put into the 

 fire, it sometimes happens that this 

 fluid sufficiently extinguishes it to 

 permit the animal to escape. This 

 secretion of a milky fluid appears 

 to be exceedingly acrid ; produces, 

 if applied to the tongue, a very 

 painful sensation ; is an excellent 

 depilatory, and destroys small ani- 

 mals. Spallanzani has discovered 

 -that the salamander has the power 

 of reproducing lost or mutilated 

 organs, so that if its legs or tail be 

 cut off, or its eyes plucked out, 

 these organs will, in the course of 

 a few months, be reproduced. It 

 has been found fossil. 



ST. CASSIAN BEDS. A large mass of 

 beds occurring in the Austrian 

 Alps: called also Hallstatt Beds. 

 In these beds are found fossils of 

 an intermediate character between 

 those occurring in the paleozoic 

 and mesozoic rocks. 



SA'LIENT A'NGLE. A projecting angle. 

 In a zig-zag line the upper are the 

 salient, a the lower the re-entering 

 angles. * 



SALI'FEBOUS. (from sal, salt, and 

 fero, to bear, or produce, Lat.) 

 Containing salt ; yielding salt. 

 Thus, in geology, we have sali- 

 ferous deposites ; saliferous rocks ; 

 saliferous strata, &c. &c. 



SALI'FEEOUS SYSTEM. The JSTew Red 

 Sandstone system of some jauthors ; 

 the Poikilitic system of Conybeare. 

 The saliferous system comprises the 

 new red sandstone and the mag- 

 nesian limestone formations. In 

 Germany and France there is 

 added to the series of strata which 

 we possess in this country, a 

 member which is called muschel- 

 kalk j ttiis, though extensively 



developed in Germany, has never 

 been discovered in England. Or- 

 ganic remains of this system, says 

 Prof. Phillips, though few in 

 number, are exceedingly interesting 

 to the naturalist and geologist, 

 from the strong testimony they 

 offer of the successive changes of 

 the living creation, according to 

 the new circumstances of the land 

 and sea. The fossil plants, shells, 

 fishes, and reptiles of the saliferous 

 system, appear to partake both of 

 the character of those in the older 

 carboniferous, and the newer ooli- 

 tic, deposites. Calamites, resem- 

 bling those of the coal formation, 

 are mingled with cycadese, like 

 those of the oolites. .Fishes of the 

 genus palseoniscus are here found 

 for the last time ; while the re- 

 mains of oviparous quadrupeds, the 

 phytosaurus and protorosaurus, are 

 first discovered. Regarding it ac- 

 cording to its mineral characters, 

 it forms one great series of deposites, 

 which were thrown down at a 

 period when a decided change in 

 the conditions of the globe was 

 taking place. The manner in 

 which the group rests upon the 

 carboniferous group in England is 

 such as to show that the latter was 

 disturbed, dislocated, and partially 

 removed before the former was 

 accumulated upon it ; nevertheless, 

 in other parts of the European area, 

 there is reason for supposing that 

 the new red sandstone was quietly 

 deposited upon the carboniferous 

 series, no real line of separation 

 being established between them. 

 The saliferous system, commencing 

 with the keuper, or variegated 

 marls, lies immediately under the 

 lias, and, terminating in the red 

 conglomerate, rests upon the car- 

 boniferous series. Its depth in 

 some parts has been estimated at 

 eight or nine hundred feet. 

 SALIFI'ABLE. (from sal, salt, and fio, 

 to become, Lat.) That may become 



