SAC 
SAC 
shell is subulate, obtuse at the tip, as thick 
as a swan’s quill, and composed of equal 
white grains of sand* S. alveolata, has nu- 
merous parallel tubes communicating by an 
aperture, forming in the mass the appear- 
ance of honey-combs. This is described 
by Ellis and Pennant. It is found on Euro- 
pean coasts, covering the rocks for a con- 
siderable space, and easily breaking under 
the feet. The shell is composed chiefly of 
sand, and very fine fragments of shells; 
the tubes straightish, two or three inches 
long. 
SABLE. See Mustela. 
Sable, in heraldry, denotes the colour 
black, in coats of arms belonging to gentle- 
men; but in those of noblemen it is called 
diamond; and in those of sovereign princes, 
saturn. It is expressed in engraving by 
perpendicular and horizontal hatches cross- 
ing one another. 
SABRE, a kind of sword, or scimetar, 
witli a very broad and heavy blade, thick at 
the back, and a little falcated, or crooked 
towards the point. It is generally worn by 
the heavy cavalry and dragoons. The gre- 
nadiers, belonging to the whole of the 
French infantry, are likewise armed with 
sabres. The blade is not so long as that of 
a small sword, but it is nearly twice as 
broad. French hussars wear the curved 
ones somewhat longer than those of the 
grenadiers. Perhaps it may be in the con- 
templation of his Royal Highness the Com- 
mander in Chief, to arm the British gre- 
nadiers with this useful and fotmidable 
weapon. 
SACCHARUM, in botany, sugar-cane, a 
genus of the Triandria Digynia class and 
order. Natural order of Gramina, Grami; 
nese, or Grasses. Essential character ; ca- 
lyx two-valved, involucred with a long 
lanugo; corolla two-valved. There are 
eleven species ; among which we shall no- 
tice the S. officinarum, common sugar-cane, 
the root of this plant is jointed, like that of 
other sorts of cane, or reed ; from this root 
arises four, five, or more shoots, proportion- 
able to the age or strength of the root, 
eight or ten feet high according to the good- 
ness of the ground; in very good rich soils, 
canes have been measured nearly twenty 
feet in height, these are not so much esteem- 
ed as those of a middling growth, abound- 
ing in juice, and having little of the essen- 
tial salt. 
The canesj are jointed, more or less dis- 
tant according to the soil ; a leaf is found 
at each joint, the base of which embraces 
the stalk to the next joint above its inser- 
tion, before it expands ; from hence to the 
point it is three or four feet in length, on 
the under side is a (jeep whitish furrow, or 
hollowed midrib, broad and prominent; the 
edges are thin, and armed with small sharp 
teeth, which are scarcely to be discerned 
With the naked eye ; the flowers are produ- 
ced in panicles, at the top of the stalks, from 
two to three feet long, composed of many 
spikes, nine or ten inches in length ; these 
are again subdivided into smaller spikes, 
having a long down inclosing the flowers, 
so as to hide them from sight ; the seed is 
oblong, pointed, and ripens in the valves 
of the flovVer. It has been asserted that 
the sugar-cane is not indigenous of Ame- 
rica; but that it migrated through the Eu- 
ropeans from Sicily and Spain to Madeira 
and the Canary islands, afterwards to the 
West Indian islands, to Mexico, Peru, and 
Brazil. 
S ACCOL.'ITES, in chemistry, salts form- 
ed from the Saclactic acid, which see. 
SACERDOTAL, something belonging to 
priests. 
SACK of wool, a quantity of wool con- 
taining just twenty- two stone, and every 
stone fourteen pounds. In Scotland, a sack 
is twenty-four stone, each stone containing 
sixteen pounds. 
Sacks of earth, in fortification, are can- 
vas-bags filled with earth. They are used 
in making intrenchments in haste, to place 
on parapets, or the head of the breaches, 
&c. to repair them, when beaten down. 
SACKBUT, a musical instrument of the 
wind kind, being a sort of trumpet, though 
different from the common trumpet both in 
form and size : it is fit to play a bass, and is 
contrived to be drawn out, or shortened, 
according to the tone required, whether 
gr^ve or acute. 
SACLACTIC acid. To this acid Four- 
croy has given tlie name of mucous acid, 
because it is obtained from gum arabic and 
other mucilaginous substances. This acid 
may be obtained by the following process : 
To one part of gum-arabic, or other muci- 
laginous substance, add two parts of nitric 
acid in a retort, and apply a gentle heat. 
There is at first disengaged a little nitrous 
gas and carbonic acid gas, 'after which let 
the mixture cool. Tliere is then precipi- 
tated a white powder which is slightly acid. 
This powder is the saclactic acid. Thus ob- 
tained, saclactic acid is a little gritty, and 
with a weak acid taste. It is readily decom- 
posed by heat, and yields an acid liquor winch 
