S A S 
fa 0 S A R 
r>ot, so that in a short time it would fill a 
large space of ground. The stalks are above 
two teet high, and of a purplish colour. The 
footstalks of the flowers arise from the wings 
\>f the leaves opposite ; they sustain four, five, 
or more purple flowers each, which have ge- 
nerally two small leaves placed under them. 
The stalk is also terminated by a loose buj ©it 
of flowers growing in form of an umbel; they 
have each a large swelling cylindrical empale- 
ment, and five broad obtuse petals, which 
spread open, of a purple colour. These are 
succeeded by oval capsules, with one cell 
filled with small seeds. The decoction of 
this plant is used to cleanse and scour woollen 
cloths: the poor people in some countries 
use it instead of soap for washing ; from which 
use it had its name. 
SAPPHIRE, a genus of precious stones, 
of a blue colour, and the hardest of all except 
the ruby and diamond. They are found in 
the same countries with the ruby; also in 
Bohemia, Alsace, Siberia, and Auvergne. 
M. Rome de l’Isle mentions one found at 
Au-. ?rgne, which appeared quite green or 
blue according to the position in which it 
was viewed. Cronstedt, however, informs 
us, that the blue fiuor spars are frequently 
met with in collections under the name of 
sapphires; and it is certain from Pliny, b. 37. 
chap. 9. that the sapphire of the antients was 
our lapis lazuli. They are seldom found of 
a deep-blue colour throughout, or free from 
parallel veins; and when they are but slightly 
tinged, they are named white sapphires. The 
late unfortunate king of France had one with 
a stripe of fine yellow topaz in the middle. 
Some are found half green and half red, and 
are foliated like the ruby. The fine hard 
sapphires, called by the jewellers oriental, are 
of the same nature with the ruby and topaz, 
excepting the mere circumstance of colour. 
They are commonly in two oblong hexagon 
pyramids, joined at their base, and pointed at 
top ; sometimes also in hexagonal columns. 
The specific gravity of these precious 
stones, according to Bergman, is from 3.650 
to 3.940. According to others, the specific 
gravity of the oriental sapphires is 3.994; 
that of the Brasilian 3.1307; and of those 
from Puy in Auvergne, 4.0769. When pow- 
dered, they are fusible with borax or micro- 
cosmic salt, into a transparent glass; and the 
same thing happens on treating them with 
magnesia alba. They are said to lose their 
colour by fire, and to become so hard and 
transparent as sometimes to pass for dia- 
monds ; but Mr. Achard found this to be a 
mistake, and that the true sapphires are not 
in the least altered either in colour, hardness, 
or weight, by the most intense fire. Those 
of Puy in Auvergne, however, though by 
their colour and hardness they seem to ap- 
proach the oriental sapphires, lose both their 
colour and transparency in the fire, becoming 
black, and even vitrifying; which plainly 
shows them to be of a different kind. See 
Corundum. 
SARABANDE, a dance said to be origi- 
nally derived from the Saracens. According 
to some authors, it had its appellation from a 
comedian named Sarabandi, who first intro- 
duced it in France. The tune of the sara- 
3 3 
bande is written in ^ or and its character 
is both expressive and majestic. One of its 
distinguishing features is the lengthening the 
S A R 
second note of the measure, which at once 
gives a gravity and consequence to the move- 
ment. 
SARACA, a genus of the hexandria order, 
in the diadelphia class of plants. There is 
no calyx ; the corolla is funnel-shaped and 
quadrifid; the filaments are on each side the 
throat of the corolla; the legumen is pedicel- 
,.ted. There is one species, a tree of the 
East Indies. 
SARCASM, in rhetoric, a keen bitter ex- 
pression, which has the true point of satire, 
by which the orator scoffs and insults his 
enemy: such was that of the Jews to our Sa- 
viour, “ He saved others, himself he cannot 
save.” 
SARCOCELE. See Surgery. 
SARCOCOEL, a vegetable substance that 
possesses the following properties: 
1. Solid, semi-transparent bodies; usually 
having a tinge of yellow: taste sweet, but 
leaving an impression of bitterness. Dissolves 
in the mouth like gum. 
2. Equally soluble in water and alcohol ; 
solution yellow. The watery solution has 
the appearance of mucilage, and may be 
used for the same purposes. 
3. Cannot be made to crystallize. 
4. When heated, softens, but does not 
melt. It emits a slight smell of calomel. 
When strongly heated, it blackens, and 
assumes the consistence of tar, emitting 
a white heavy smoke having an acrid odour. 
In a strong fire it scarcely leaves any resi- 
duum. 
These properties shew us that sarcocoll is 
a substance intermediate between sugar and 
gum, partaking in some measure of the pro- 
perties of each, but certainly approaching 
nearer to sugar than to gum. Iiow far the 
combination of sugar and the bitter principle 
would resemble sarcocoll, has not been tried. 
The three following species may be referred 
to sarcocoll. 
1. Common sarcocoll. This substance is usu- 
ally sold in the state of oblong globules from 
the size of a pea to that of a particle of sand. 
Its colour is usually yellow ; and it has the 
semitransparency and much of the appear- 
ance of gum arabic. But some of the grains 
are reddish-brown. Its smell is peculiar, 
and not unlike that of anise-seed. When 
carefully examined, four different substances 
may be detected: the first, and by far the 
most abundant, is pure sarcocoll ; the second 
consists of small woody fibres, and a soft 
yellowish-white substance, not unlike the co- 
vering of the seeds of some of the cruciform 
plants ; the third is a reddish-brown substance 
apparently earthy ; and the fourth is only 
detected when the sarcocoll is dissolved in 
water or alcohol. It then appears in soft 
transparent tremulous masses like jelly. 
The pure sarcocoll amounts to 0.8 of the 
whole. When the sarcocoll is dissolved in 
alcohol or water, and obtained again by eva- 
poration, it loses its smell. It then assumes 
the form of semitransparent brittle brown 
cakes very like gum. 
Sarcocoll exudes spontaneously from the 
penaea sarcocolla ; a shrub which is said by 
botanical writers to be indigenous in the 
north-eastern parts of Africa. Nothing pre- 
cise is known concerning the way in which it 
exudes. 
SARDONYX, a precious stone consisting 
of a mixture of the chalcedony and carnelian, 
sometimes in strata, but at other times blenffi- 
ed together. It is found, ]. Striped with 
white and red strata, which may he cut in 
cameo as well as the onyx. 2. White with 
red dendritical figures, greatly resembling 
the mocha-stone ; but with this difference, 
that the figures in the sardonyx are of a red 
colour, in the other black. There is no real 
difference, excepting in the circumstance of 
hardness, between the onyx, carnelian, chal- 
cedony, sardonyx, and agate, notwithstand- 
ing the different names bestowed upon them. 
Mongez informs us, that the yellow, or 
orange-coloured agates, with a wavy or un- 
dulating surface, are new commonly called 
sardonyx. 
SARMENTOSiE (from sarmentum, a 
long shoot like that of a vine), the name of 
the 11th class in Linnaeus’s Fragments of a 
Natural Method, consisting of plants which 
have climbing stems and branches, that, like 
the vine, attach themselves to the bodies in 
their neighbourhood for the purpose of sup- 
port. See Botany. 
SAROTHRA, a genus of the trigynia or- 
der, in the pentandru class of plants, and in 
the natural method ranking under the 20th 
order, rotacea*. The corolla is pentapeta- 
ious ; the capsule unilocular, trivalved, and 
coloured. There is one species, an annual 
of Virginia. 
SARPLAR of wool, a quantity of wool, 
otherwise called a pocket or half-sack ; a 
sack containing 80 tod ; a tod two stone ; 
and a stone 14 pounds. In Scotland it is 
called sarpliath, and contains 80 stone. 
SARRACENIA, side-saddle plant, a ge- 
nus of the monogynia order, in the polyan- 
dria class of plants, and in the natural me- 
thod ranking under the 54th order, miscella- 
neae. The corolla is pentapetalous ; the 
calyx is double, and triphyllous below, pen- 
taphyllous above; the capsule quinquelo- 
cular ; the style has a stigma of the form of 
a shield. There are five species, herbs of 
North America. 
SARSAPARILLA. See Smilax. 
SARTOIUUS. See Anatomy. 
SASH, a mark of distinction, which in 
the British service is generally made of crim- 
son silk for the officers, and of crimson mixed 
with white cotton for the Serjeants. It is 
worn round the waist in most regiments; in 
some few, particularly in the Highland corps, 
it is thrown across the shoulder. Sashes were 
originally invented for the convenience and 
ease of wounded officers, &c. by means of 
which, in case any of them were so badly 
wounded as to render them incapable of re- 
maining at their posts, they might be carried 
off with the assistance of two men. They 
are now reduced to a very small size, and of 
course unfit for the original purpose. Both 
the sash and gorget, indeed, must be consi- 
dered as mere marks of distinction, to point 
out officers on duty. In some instances they 
are worn together ; in others, the gorget is 
laid aside, and the sash only worn. The 
British cavalry tie the sash on the right, the 
infantry on the left, side. The sashes for the 
imperial army are made of crimson and gold, 
for the Prussian army black silk and silver, 
the Hanoverians yellow silk, the Portuguese 
crimson silk with blue tassels. The modern 
French have their sashes made, of three co- 
lours, viz. white, pink, and light-blue, to go*- 
respond with the national flag. 
