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SAG 
Jiiatter of saffron is equally soluble in alco- 
liol and water. 
SAGAPENUM. See Gcm rmn. 
SAGE. See Salvia. 
SAGINA, in botany, pearl-wort, a genus 
of the Tetrandria Tetragynia class and or- 
der. Natural order of Caryopliyllei, or 
Caryopliylleae. Essential character : calyx 
four-leaved j petals four ; capsule one celled, 
four-valved, inany seeded. There are five 
species, of which the most remarkable is 
the sagittafolia, growing naturally in many 
parts of England. The root is composed 
of many strong fibres, which strike into the 
mud ; the footstalks of the leaves are in 
length proportionable to the depth of the 
Watei* in which they grow ; so they are 
sometimes almost a yard long: they are 
thick and fungous; the leaves, which float 
upon the wafer, are shaped like the point 
of an arrow, the two ears at their base 
spreading wide asunder, and are vei 7 sharp 
pointed. There is always a bulb at the 
lower part of the root, growing in the solid 
earth beneath the mud. This bulb consti- 
tutes a considerable part of the food of the 
Chinese ; and upon that account they culti- 
vate it. Horses, goats and swine eat it; 
cows are not fond of it. 
SAGITTA, in astronorhy, the arrow, or 
dart, a constellation of the northern hemis- 
phere, near the eagle, coilsisting of five 
stars, according to Ptolemy and Tycho; 
but in Mr. Flamsteed’s catalogue, of no 
less than twenty-three. 
Sagitta, in geometry, a term used for 
the absciss of a curve. 
Sag itta, in trigonometry, the same with 
the versed sine of an arch. 
SAGITTARIA, in botany, airow-head, 
a genus of the Monoecia Polyandria class 
and order. Natural order of Tripetaloi- 
de®. Junci, Jussieu. Essential charac- 
ter : calyx three-leaved ; corolla tliree-pe- 
talled : male, filaments commonly twenty- 
four : female, pistils many ; seeds many, 
naked. There are five species. 
SAGITTARIUS, the archer, in astro- 
nomy, the ninth sign of the zodiac. The 
stars in this constellation in Ptolemy’s cata- 
logue are thirty-two, in Tycho’s sixteen, 
and in Mr. Flamsteed’s fifty-two. 
SAGO, a simple brought from the East 
Indies, of considerable use in diet as a 
restorative. 
Sago and Salop are vegetable fecula. The 
former is the produce of the cycas circina- 
lis, and is extracted from the pith of the 
stem and branches, by maceration in wa- 
SAI 
ter ; it is washed, passed through a perfo. 
rated copper plate, so as to reduce it to 
grains, which are dried. Salop is the pro- 
duce of the orchis mascula. The lately 
introduced arrow- root powder is said to be 
the produce of the maranta arinidinacea. 
Cassava is (irepared from the tuberose root 
of the manise (jatropha manihot). With 
the fecula of this root, there is associated 
an acrid and poisonous juice, which is, how- 
ever, completely separated by washing, in 
the process by which it is extracted. The 
roots of the bryonia alba, and the arum 
maculatum, are likewise composed princi- 
pally of fecula, associated with acrid mat- 
ter, which is separated in the process by 
which the fecula is extracted from them. 
These two were formerly prepared for me- 
dicinal use. Wheat rfords, perhaps, a 
larger quantity of fecula than any other 
vegetable substance, and in a state of per- 
fect purity. A very pure fecula, in large 
quantity, is also extracted from the potatoe, 
the root being peeled, well cleansed, and 
rasped, the pulp placed on a hair sieve, 
and water poured on it until the fecula is 
extracted, which, after being deposited, is 
washed and dried. 
SAHLITE, in mineralogy, a species of 
the Talc genus, of a light greenish-grey co- 
lour ; it occurs massive ; externally it is 
shining and splendent; its principal frac- 
ture is foliated ; fragments frequently rhom- 
boidal ; consists of very coarse granular dis- 
tinct concretions ; it is translucent on the 
edge; semihard, brittle, and easily fran- 
gible ; specific gravity 3.21. It is found at 
Sahlberg in Sweden. 
SAICK, or Saique, a Turkish vessel, 
very common in the Levant for carrying of 
merchandize. 
SAIL, in navigation, an assemblage of 
several breadths of canvass, sewed together 
by the lists, and edged round with a cord, 
fastened to the yards of a ship, to make it 
drive before the wind. Every yard in a 
ship has its proper sail, except the cross- 
jack, which takes its name from the yard : 
and those which are not bent to the yard, 
are the flying jib, fore, foretop, main, main- 
top, maintop-gallant, mizen, mizentop-mast, 
stay-sails, main and maintop studding sails. 
SAILING, properly denotes the art of 
navigating and working a ship, or of causing 
her to observe such motions and directions 
as are assigned by the navigator ; in which- 
sense, sailing differs from navigation, and 
must be learped by practice on shipboard. 
See Navigation. 
