SAF 
crystallizes by rest in the shape of needles. 
It is partly sublimed in needles, or brown 
plates, with an odour similar to that of ben- 
zoic acid. Saclactic acid, in the state of 
powder, is not very soluble in w’ater. Cold 
water does not take up more than 200 
or 300 parts of its weight ; boiling "water 
does not take up above one half more. On 
cooling, the acid is deposited in brilliant 
scales, which become white in the air. 
The solution has an acid taste. It reddens 
the tincture of turnsole. Its specific gra- 
vity at the temperature of 59“ is nearly the 
same as that of water. This acid enters 
into combination with earths, alkalies, and 
metallic oxides ; and the salts which it 
forms are known by the name of sacco- 
lates. 
SACRAMENT, signifies, ^n general, a 
sign of a thing sacred and holy ; and is de- 
fined to be an outward and visible sign of a 
spiritual grace. Thus there are two objects 
in a sacrament, the one the object of the 
senses, snd the other the object of faith. 
Protestants admit only of two sacraments, 
baptism and the eucharist, or Lord’s sup- 
per : but the Roman Catholics own seven, 
viz, baptism, confirmation, the eucharist, 
penance, extreme unction, ordination, and 
marriage. 
SACRIFICE, a solemn act of religious 
worship, which consisted in dedicating or 
offering up something animate or inanimate 
on an altar, by the liands of the priest, ei- 
ther as an expression of gratitude to the 
deity for some signal mercy, or to acknow- 
ledge a dependance on him, or to conci- 
liate his favour. 
SACRILEGE, is church robbery, or a 
taking of things out of an holy place, as 
where a person steals any vessels, orna- 
ments, or goods of the church. 
SADDLE, is a seat upon a horse’s back, 
contrived for the conveniency of the rider. 
The ancient Romans are supposed not to 
have made use of saddles and stirrups, and 
it is thought that they did not come into 
use till the time of Constantine the Great, 
A.D. 340, as appears from the Greek his- 
torian, Zonaras, who (through his whole 
history^ makes no mention of a saddle for a 
horse, before such time as Constans, at- 
tempting to deprive his brother Constantine 
of the empire, made head against his army, 
and entering into the squadron where he 
himself was, cast him beside the saddle of 
his horse. 
SAFE conduct, in law, is a security given 
by the King, under the Great Seal, to a 
SAF 
stranger, for his safe coming into, and pass, 
ing out of the realm. Passports, however, 
under the King’s sign manual, or licences 
from his ambassadors abroad, which are 
now more usual, are obtained with greater 
facility. 
SAFFRON. See Crocus. 
Saffron is cultivated in fields for use, and 
is no w'here raised with so much success as in 
England, the English saffron being generally 
allowed to be greatly superior to any other. 
The usual way of propagating it is by the 
bulbs, of which it annually produces new 
ones. These are planted out in trenches at 
five inches distance, or less, and they sel- 
dom fail. They produce only leaves the 
first year, but in September, or October, 
of the year following, they flower. The 
saffron is, gathered as soon as the flowers 
open, and is then separated from all filth, 
and formed into cakes by a very careful 
pressure and gentle heat. At the end of 
October, when the flowering season is over, 
the bulbs are taken out of the ground and 
hung up in a dry place, and in spring are 
put into the ground again. 
It is not, however, the entire flower of 
the plant that produces it, but only some of 
its internal parts. It is met with in the 
shops in flat and thin cakes, into which it 
has been formed by pressing, and which 
consist of many long and narrow filaments, 
that are smallest in their lower part, where 
they are of a pale yellow colour ; in their 
upper part they are broader and indented 
at their edges, and of a very strong and 
deep orange colour, approaching to redness. 
They are somewhat tough, moderately 
heavy, very easily cut, of an acrid, pene- 
trating, but not unpleasant smell, somewhat 
affecting the head, and of a bitterish and 
hot, but highly cordial taste. Thrown into 
water, they almost instantaneously give it a 
strong yellow or reddish colour, according 
to the quantity used. These filaments are 
the cristated capillaments, into which the 
pistil of the flower divides at its head ; they 
are of a deep reddish orange colour, while 
growing, and there are only three of them 
in each flower. 
Hitherto saffron has not been subjected 
to a correct chemical analysis. From the 
experiments of Neumann, it does not ap- 
pear that any volatile oil can be procured 
froni it by distillation. It is probable, how- 
ever, that it owes its strong smell to such a 
principle, though in too small a quantity to 
be easily obtained separate. The colouring 
