SAN 
wind prevailed. Its motion is so rapid, that 
I have been assured, that an apple-tree had 
been so covered with it in one season, that 
only the very summit appeared. This dis- 
tress was brought on about ninety years 
ago, and was occasioned by the cutting 
down some trees, and pulling up the bent 
or star which%rew on the sand-hills ; which 
at last gave rise to the act of t5 George II. 
c. 33, to prohibit the destruction of this 
useful plant. 
“ I beg leave to suggest to the public a 
possible means of putting a stop to these 
destructive ravages. Providence hath kind- 
ly formed this plant to grow only in pure 
sand. Mankind was left to make, in after 
times, an application of it suitable to their 
wants. The sand-hills on a portion of the 
Flintshire shores, in the parish of Llanasa, 
are covered with it naturally, and keep firm 
in their place. The Dutch perhaps owe 
the existence of part, at least, of their 
country to the sowing of it on the mobile 
solum, their sand-banks. My humane and 
amiable friend, the late Benjamin Stilling- 
fleet, Esq. recommended the sowing of this 
plant on the sandy wilds of Norfolk, that 
its matted roots might prevent the deluges 
of sand which that country experiences. It 
has been already remarked, that whereso- 
ever this plant grows the salutary effects 
are soon observed to follow. A single plant 
will fix the sand, and gather it into a hil- 
lock; these hillocks, by the increase of 
vegetation, are formed into larger, till by 
degrees a harrier is made often against the 
encroachments of the sea, and might as 
often prove preventative of the calamity in 
question. I cannot, therefore, but recom- 
mend the trial to the inhabitants of many 
parts of North Britain. The plant grows 
in most places near the sea, and is known 
to the Highlanders by the name of murah ; 
to the English by that of bent-star, mat- 
grass, or marram. Linnaeus calls it arnndo 
arenaria. The Dutch call it helm. This 
plant hath stiff and sharp-pointed leaves, 
growing like a rush, a foot and a half long : 
tte roots both creep and penetrate deeply 
into their sandy beds : the stalk hears an ear 
five or six inches long, not unlike rye ; the 
seeds are small, brown, and roundish. By 
good fortune, as old Gerard observes, no 
cattle will eat or touch this vegetable, allot- 
ted for other purposes, subservient to the 
use of mankind.” 
Sand stone, in mineralogy, is chiefly com- 
posed of quartz in rounded grains of various 
sizes. Sand-stones are stratified, and when 
SA,N 
disintegrated they form sand. We have 
many varieties; as, 1. “ The calcareous 
sand-stone,” which is of a green or greyish 
colour; it is moderately hard, and gives 
sparks when struck against steel. It effer- 
vesces with acids: when freed from the 
calcareous cement there remains a very 
friable mass of fine white sand. 2. “ The 
ferruginous sand-stone,” which is of a red- 
dish brown : it is opaque and soft, and sel- 
dom effervesces with acids : it readily dis- 
integrates by exposure to the weather. 
3. “ Grit-stone,” which rarely effervesces 
with acids, hut gives very lively sparks 
when struck with the steel. It is not easily 
decomposed by exposure to the air. Sand- 
stone is applied to many important pur- 
poses in building; as flag-stones: and the 
harder kinds of grit-stone are made into 
grindstones, and on account of their infiisi- 
hility they are employed for lining fur- 
naces. 
SANDARACH. See Resin. 
Sandarach, in natural history, a very 
beautiful native fossil, though too often con- 
founded with the common factitious red 
arsenic, and with the red matter formed by 
melting the common yellow orpiment. It 
is a pure substance, of a very even and re- 
gular structure, is throughout of that colour 
which our dyers term an orange-scarlet, and 
is considerably transparent even in the 
thickest pieces. But' though with respect 
to colour it has the advantage of cinnabar 
while in the mass, it is vastly inferior to it 
when both are reduced to powder. It is 
moderately hard, and remarkably 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. 
SANDORICUM, in botany, a genus of 
the Decandria Monogynia class and order. 
Essential character : calyx five-toothed ; 
petals five; nectary cylindrical, truncate, 
bearing the anthers at its mouth ; drupe 
filled with five nuts. There is only one 
species, viz. S. indicum, a native of the Phi- 
lippine and Molucca islands. 
SANGUINARIA, in botany, a genus of 
the Polyandria Monogynia class and order. 
Natural order of Rhoeadeae. Papaveraceas, 
Jussieu. Essential character: calyx two- 
leaved; corolla eight-petalled; siliqne ovate. 
