E A V IS 



brated by the Romans, in honour of 

 Saturn, during which solemnity the 

 slaves were reputed masters. 



SA'TURX'S Ilixo. In astronomy, a thin, 

 broad, opaque ring, 204,883 miles in 

 diameter, encompassing the body of the 

 planet Saturn, like the horizon of an 

 artificial globe. It appears double when 

 examined through a good telescope. 



SA'T*R. In mythology, a sylvan deity, 

 represented as half man and half goat, 

 with horns on his head, hairy body, and 

 the feet and tail of a goat. The Satyrs 

 c2Tf<v) were chiefly distinguished for 

 lasciviousness, raillery, and riot. 



SAUCIS'SE, Fr. for sausage. In military 

 affairs, a long pipe made of cloth well 

 pitched, or of leather filled with powder, 

 and extending from the chamber of a 

 mine to the entrance of the gallery : 

 serving to communicate fire to mines, 

 caissons, bomb-chests, &c. 



SABCIS'SON (French). In fortification, 

 saucissons are faggots made of thick 

 branches of trees, bound together, to 

 cover the men while exposed to the ene- 

 my's fire, and also to repair breaches, 

 stop passages, make traverses over wet 

 ditches, &c. 



SACN'DERS, see SANTALBM and PTERO- 

 CARPCS. 



SAB'HIA, from <rct.u$o;, a lizard. The 

 second order of the class Reptilia, com- 

 prising the six families, Crocodilida, 

 Lacertinida, Iguanida, Geckotida, Cha- 

 mttleonida, and Scincoidea. 



SAU'RIAX. An animal belonging to the 

 order Sauria. Many fossil skeletons of 

 Saurians have been found, some of enor- 

 mous length, the oldest in the lower 

 part of the secondary strata, but pecu- 

 liarly abundant between the eras of red 

 sandstones and green sands. Some of 

 these ancient saurians appear to have 

 been marine ; others amphibious ; others 

 terrestrial; and some were capable of 

 flying. 



SACR-KRATTT. Cabbage preserved in 

 brine: an article of food common in 

 Germany, like our pickled cabbage. 



SAC'ROID, from iru.yo'x, a lizard, and 

 lidos, likeness: lizard-like. An epithet 

 used to distinguish a group of fishes of 

 the carboniferous and secondary forma- 

 tions. 



SAUS'SURITE. A crystallised compound 

 of serpentine and jade or felspar, so 

 named after Saussure, who first described 

 it. Its usual colours are greyish white, 

 and green. It is sometimes included 

 under nephrite. 



SAVAN'XAHS. Those vast plains watered 

 by the Missouri and the Mississippi. 



SA'VIXE, ( In botany, the Jtiniperus sa- 



SA'VIN. ) bina, common in the south 

 at Europe The red cedar of America is 



3A A 



also sometimes called savin, from it* 

 resemblance to the European plant. 



SAW, Sax. saga. A cutting instrument. 

 The saws for cutting wood, ivory, &c., 

 have one edge, formed into regular teeth, 

 which act on the principle of the wedge 

 in cutting ; those for cutting marble are 

 of soft iron, not serrated. SPWS are 

 made of a great variety of forms ana 

 sizes, to adapt them to the materials on 

 which they are designed to operate. The 

 most common are those used by carpen- 

 ters, who require in ordinary no less 

 than 10 different saws : a cross-cut saw.. 

 for cutting a log or other heavy piece of 

 timber transversely, by means of two 

 workmen, one at each end; the pit-saw, 

 for ripping logs into planks and scant- 

 lings (now in a great measure superseded 

 by the sawmill) ; the frame-saw, a finer 

 kind of pit-saw ; the ripping-saw is a 

 hand-saw with coarse teeth, used foi 

 dividing boards coarsely and quickly ; 

 the hand-saw (properly so called), is a 

 convenient saw, of 26 inches or so of 

 blade, with angular teeth, of 5 to the 

 inch ; the pannel-saw, is the same as the 

 hand-saw, but the teeth are finer (7 or 8 

 to the inch) ; the dovetail, sash, carcase, 

 and tenon-saws, have very fine teeth, and 

 very thin blades, stiffened with stout 

 pieces of iron or brass, rivetted on tLe 

 back edge. There are also several very 

 narrow saws, indifferently called lock, 

 compass, key-hole, and turning-saws, for 

 cutting out small pieces, and rouided 

 work. The best saws are of highly tem- 

 pered steel. 



SAW'MH.L. A machine wherein several 

 or many saws are actuated by a central 

 power, communicated by wind, water, 

 or steam, and now brought to such a de- 

 gree of perfection, that wood may be cut 

 to the thickness of writing paper. The 

 sawmills in present use are of two sorts : 

 the circular, cutting by a continuous rota- 

 tory motion ; and the reciprocating, which 

 operate as the common pit or frame-saw. 

 Sawmills are as old as the beginning of 

 the 14th century. 



SAW'PIT. A place where wood is sawn 

 by means of the frame-saw, one of the 

 sawyers standing above and the other 

 below. It is so called because the ground 

 is usually dug away two, three, or four 

 feet in depth. 



SAXIT'RAGA, \ A very extensive genus 



SAX'IFRAGE. J of perennial plants. De- 

 candria Digynia. Name from saxum, a 

 stone, and frango, to break, because it 

 was supposed to be good against the stone 

 in the bladder. There are 31 species, 

 natives of Britain, among which are the 

 London-pride, Geum, and Alpine-brook 

 saxifrage. 



SAX'ON BLUE. The gulpho-indigotate 

 of alumina, precipitated from a solution 



