SAN 
SAN 
SAM 
peculiar singularity in its oval-clustered flow- 
ers and berries. 
3. The Canadensis, or Canada shrubby 
elder. 
SAMI ELS, the Arabian name of a hot 
wind, peculiar to the desert of Arabia. I 
1 lows over the desert in the months of July 
and August from the north-west quarter, and 
'sometimes it continues with all its violence 
to the very gates of Bagdad, but never affects 
any body within the walls. Some years it 
does not blow at all, and in others it appears 
six, eight, or ten times, but seldom continues 
more than a few minutes at a time. It often 
passes with the apparent quickness of light- 
ning. The Arabians and Persians, who ar 
acquainted with the appearance of tire sky . 
or near the time this wind rises, have warning 
of its approach by a thick haze, which ap- 
pears like a cloud of dust arising out of the 
horizon ; and they immediately upon this ap- 
pearance throw themselves with their faces 
to the ground, and continue in that position 
till the wind is passed, which frequently hap- 
pens almost instantaneously; but if, on the 
contrary, they are not careful ,or brisk enough 
to take this precaution, which is sometimes 
the case, and they get the full force of the 
.wind, it is instant death. 
The above method is the only one which 
they take to avoid the effects of this fatal 
blast; and when it is over, they get up and 
look round them for their companions; and 
if they see any one lying motionless, they 
take hold of an arm or leg, and pull and jerk 
it with some force ; and if the limb thus agi- 
tated separates from the body, it is a certain 
sign that the wind has had its full effect ; but 
if, on the contrary, the arm or leg does not 
come away, it is' a sure sign there is life re- 
maining, although to every outward appear- 
ance the person is dead ; and in that case 
they immediately cover him or them with 
clothes, and administer some warm diluting 
liquor to cause a perspiration, which is cer- 
tainly but slowly brought about. 
The Arabs themselves can say little or 
nothing about the nature of this wind, only 
that it always leaves behind it a very strong 
sulphureous smell, and that the air at these 
times is quite clear, except about the hori- 
zon, in the north-west quarter, before ob- 
served, which gives warning of its approach. 
We have not been able to learn whether the 
dead bodies are scorched or dissolved into a 
kind of gelatinous substance; but from the 
stories current about them, there has been 
- frequent reason to believe the latter ; and in 
that case such fatal effects may be attributed 
rather to a noxious vapour than to an abso- 
lute and excessive heat. The story of its 
going to the gates of Bagdad and no further, 
may be reasonably enough accounted for, if 
the' effects are attributed to a poisonous va- 
pour, and not an excessive heat. 
SAMOLUS, water pimpenal, a genus of 
the monogynia order, in the pentandria class 
of plants, and in the natural method ranking 
under the 2 1st order, precise. The corolla is 
salver-shaped, the stamina surrounded by 
small Scales at its throat. The capsule is 
unilocular, inferior. There is one species. 
SAMPSEANS, in church history, an an- 
tient sect, who were properly neither Jews, 
Christians, nor Gentiles, though they took 
their name from the Hebrew word u/h > 
sun, as though they worshipped that planet. : 
SAMYDA, a 'genus of the uioi'Agynia or- 
der, in the decandria class of plants, and in 
the natural method ranking with those of 
which the order is doubtful. The calyx is 
quinquepartite and coloured; there is no co- 
rolla ; the capsule in the inside resembles a 
berry, is trivalved and unilocular; the seeds 
nestling. There are nine species, chiefly 
shrubs of the West Indies. 
SAND, in natural history, a genus of fos- 
sils, the characters of which are, that they are 
found in minute concretions, forming toge- 
ther a kind of powder, the genuine particles 
of which all have a tendency to one deter- 
minate shape, and appear regular, though 
more or less complete concretions ; not to be 
dissolved or disunited by water, or formed 
into a coherent mass by means of it, but re- 
taining their figure in it ; transparent, vilri- 
fiable by extreme heat, and not soluble in, 
nor effervescing with, acids. Sands are sub- 
ject to be variously blended both with homo- 
geneous and heterogeneous substances, as 
that of talcs, &c. and hence, as well as from 
their various colours, are subdivided into, 1. 
White sands, whether pure or mixed with 
other arenaceous or heterogeneous particles ; 
of all which there are several species, differ- 
ing no less in the fineness of their particles 
than in the different degrees of colour, from 
a bright and shining white to a brownish, 
yellowish, greenish, &c. white. 2. The red 
and reddish sands, both pure and impure. 
3. The yellow sands, whether pure or mixed, 
are also very numerous. 4. The brown 
sands, distinguished in the same manner. 
5. The black sands, of which there are only 
two species, viz. a fine shining greyish-black 
sand, and another of a fine shining reddish- 
black colour. 6.- The green kind, of which 
there is only one known species, viz. a coarse 
variegated dusky-green sand, common in 
Virginia. 
Sand is of great use in the glass manufac- 
ture; the white W riting-sand being employed 
for making of the white glass, and a coarse 
greenish-looking sand for the green glass. 
In agriculture it seems to be the office of 
sand to make unctuous earths fertile, and fit 
to support vegetables, &c. For earth alone, 
we find, is liable to coalesce, and gather 
into a hard coherent mass. Common sand 
is, therefore, a very good addition, by way 
of manure, to all sorts of clay-lands ; it warms 
them, and makes them more open and loose. 
The best sand for the farmer’s use is that 
which is washed by rains from roads or hills, 
or that which is taken from the beds of rivers; 
the common sand that is dug in pits never 
answers so well. However, if mixed with dung, 
it is much better than laid on alone ; and a 
very fine manure is made by covering the 
bottom of sheep-folds with several loads of 
sand every week, which are to be taken away, 
and laid on cold stiff lands, impregnated as* 
they are with the dung and the urine of the 
sheep. 
The sea-sand, used as manure in different 
p rts of the kingdom, is of three kinds: that 
about Plymouth, and on other of the southern 
coasts, is of a blue-grey colour, like ashes, 
which is probably owing to the shells of mus- 
cles, and other fish of that or the like colour, 
being broken and mixed among it in great 
quantity. Westward, near the LamlV-end, 
die sea-sand is very white, and about the 
isles of Scilly it is very glistening, with small 
particles of talc; on the coasts of the North 
Sea the sand is yellowish, brown, or reddish. 
and contains so great a quantity of fragments 
of cockle-shelis, that it seems to be chiefly 
composed of them. That sea-sand is account- 
ed best which is of a reddish colour : the 
next in value to this is the bltieish ; and the 
white is the worst of all. Sea-sand is best 
when taken up from under the water, or 
from sand-banks which are covered by every 
tide. The small-grained sand is most sudden 
in its operation, and is therefore best for the 
tenant who is only to take three or four crops ; 
but the coarse or large-grained sand is much 
better for the landlord, as the good it does 
lasts many years. See Husbandry. 
SAND-BAGS, in the art of war, are bags 
filled with, earth or sand, lidding each about 
a cubic foot. Their use is to raise parapets* 
in haste, or to repair what is beaten down. 
Sand-eel. See Ammodytes. 
SANDARACH, in natural history, a very- 
beautiful native fossil, though loo often con- 
founded with the common factitious red arse- 
nic, and with the red matter formed by melt- 
ing the common yellow orpiment. It is a pure 
substance, of a very' even and regular struc- 
ture, is throughout of that colour which our 
dyers term an orange-scarlet, and is consider- 
ably transparent even in the thickest pieces. 
But though with respect to colour it lias the ad- 
vantage of cinnabar while in the mass, it is 
vastly inferior to it when both are reduced 
to powders. It is moderately hard, and re- 
markably heavy ; and when exposed to a 
moderate heat, melts and flows like oil. If 
set on fire, it burns very briskly. 
It is found in Saxony and Bohemia, in the 
copper and silver mines, and is sold to the- 
painters, who find it a very fine and valuable 
red; but its virtues or qualities in medicine 
are no more ascertained at this time than 
those of the yellow orpiment. 
Sandarach, sum. See Resin. 
S AN DA R AC jjj A. The resinous substance 
called sandarach is not a pure resin; for 
when dissolved in alcohol an insoluble resi- 
duum remains. Giese, an apothecary of 
Augsburg, examined this residuum in 1 802, 
and found that it possessed peculiar proper- 
ties. We have therefore distinguished it by 
the name of sandaracha. it amounts to 
about one-fifth of the sandarach. When pu- 
rified by repeated digestions in alcohol, it 
possesses the following properties: 
1. Its colour is greyish white. It is brittle, 
and easily pounded. 
2. It burns with a bright flame and much 
smoke, leaving a black residue like colopho- 
ilium, partly soluble in hot alcohol. 
3. It is insoluble in water and in alcohol; 
but ether dissolves it. The solution, when 
; evaporated, leaves on bodies a stain like lime. 
When alcohol is added to the solution, the 
sanclaracha is precipitated ; but water does 
not produce this effect. 
4. It is soluble in sulphuric acid. But, 
5. Nitric acid has no action on it cold. 
SAN DIVER, a whitish salt, continually 
cast up from the metal, as it is called, where- 
of glass is made, and s\\ imining on its surface, 
is skimmed off. See Glass. 
SANDOR1CUM, a genus of the mono- 
gvnia order, in the decandria class of plants, 
and in the natural method ranking under the 
23d order, trihilatax The calyx is quinque- 
dentate; the petals five, and linear-slvaped; 
the nectarium has ten dents, on which the 
anthera: grow; the fruit is a drupe, and five 
in number, each of which has one seed. 
