of Almighty God. The Larceny Act of 1861 punishes the breaking into, or out of, a lace of divine worship in the sameway as burglary, and the theft of things sacred in the same 'way as larceny. Now by the Malicious Damage Act 1861 the unlawful and malicious destroying or damaging any picture, statue, monument or other memorial of the dead, painted glass or other monument or work of art, in any church, chapel, meeting-place or other place of divine worship is a misdemeanour punishable by imprisonment for six months, and in the case of a male under the age of sixteen years with whipping. (T. A. I.)
SACRISTY (through Fr. sacristie, from med. Lat. sacristia or sacristina), the term in ecclesiastical architecture given to
the room or hall in a large church wherein are kept the vestments
and utensils (sacra) used in the services and celebrations.
Like the diaconicou in the Greek Church, it was usually situated
on the north side of the chancel, but its position varies according
to that of the chapter-house, as it is generally placed between the
latter and the church.
SACRO BOSCO, JOHANNES DE [John Holywood] (d. 1244 or 1256), astronomical author, studied at Oxford and was afterwards professor of mathematics at the university of Paris. He wrote a treatise on spherical astronomy, Tractatus de sphaera, first printed at Ferrara in 1472. This was the second astronomical
work to be printed. Although recording no advance on
the Arabian commentaries on Ptolemy, it gained a great reputation; twenty-four editions appeared .before 1500, and at least forty between 1500 and 1647, in which year the last edition was published, at Leiden. About the year 1232 he wrote De anni ratione or De computo ecclesiastic (printed editions at Paris
in 1538 (?), 1550, 1572 and at Antwerp in 1547 and 1566), in
which he points out the increasing error of the Julian calendar,
and suggests a remedy which is nearly the same as that actually
used under Gregory XIII. three hundred and fifty years later. .
He also wrote Algorismus or De arte numemndi, printed in
1490 (?), in 1517 (Vienna), 1521 (Cracow), 1523 (Venice); 'De
astralabid and Breviarum juris.
SADDLE (a word common to Teutonic languages, cf. Ger. Sattel, Dut. zadel, also in Russ. siedlo and Lat. sella, for sedla;
it is not derived directly from Lat. sedile, which means a chair,
but all the words are to be referred to the root sad-, which gives
Lat. sedere, Eng. “ sit,” “ settle,” “ seat,” &c.), a seat, usually of
leather, fixed by girths to the back of a horse for riding; also
a padded cushion for the back of a draught horse, fastened by
girths and crupper; to it are attached the supports for the shafts,
and rings for the reins (see Saddlery). The word is also applied
to many objects resembling a saddle in shape or function, such
as a block to support a spar in a ship, or in machinery to support
a rod, or in masonry (q.v.) the top or “ apex stone ” of the gable
of a roof, &c.
Saddle bars, in architecture (Fr. traverses), are narrow horizontal iron bars passing from mullion to mullion, and often through the whole window from side to side, to steady the sto'ne work, and to form stays, to which the lead work is secured. When the bays of the windows are wide, the lead lights are further strengthened by upright bars, passing through eyes forged on the saddle bars, and called stanchions. When saddle bars pass right through the mullions in one piece, and are secured to the jambs, they have sometimes been called “ stay bars.”
SADDLERY and HARNESS, two terms which embrace the whole equipment for the horse when used for riding or driving.
“Harness” (O. Fr. harneis, mod. harnais, Ger. Harnisch, of unknown origin) was originally a general term for equipment, e.g. the body armour of a soldier. It is now usually confined to the draught horse's equipment, “saddle and bridle” being used of that of the riding horse.
Saddlery is principally a leather trade, and the craft has been established in England as a separate trade since the 13th century, when the London Saddlers' Company received its charter from Edward I. There is evidence also of its early prosperity at Birmingham; the principal seat of the cheaper saddlery trade is now at Walsall. Saddler's ironmongery embraces the making of buckles, chains, stirrups, spurs, bits, hames, &c.
The “bridle" (O.E. bridel for brigdel, from bregdan, to pull) is the combination of straps and buckles which fits on the horse's head, the headstall, together with the bit and reins which it keeps in position. The headstall consists of the headpiece passing behind the ears and joining the head-band over the forehead; the cheek-straps run down the head to, the bit to which they are fastened; in the driving bridle the “blinkers," rectangular or round leather flaps which prevent the horse from seeing anything except what lies in front, are attached to the cheek-straps; the nose-band passes round the head above the nostrils and the throat-lash from the top of the cheek-straps underneath the head. The "martingale" passes between the horse's legs with one end fastened to the girth and the other to the bridle or nose-band. It prevents the horse throwing up his head. The bit is the metal contrivance inserted in the mouth to which the reins are attached. There are innumerable patterns of bits, but they may be divided into the “snaffle” (Du. snavel, horse's muzzle), the “curb" and combinations of the two. The “snafile" for the riding horse has a smooth jointed steel mouthpiece, with straight cheek-bars, the rings for the reins and cheek-pieces of the headstall being fixed in the bars at the junction with the mouthpiece. A severer snaffle has the mouthpiece twisted and fluted. The bars prevent the horse pulling the bit through the mouth. The snaffle without bars is generally termed a “bridoon.” The commonest form of bit used in driving is the double-ring snaffle, in which the rings work one within the other, the headstall straps fastening to one and the reins to the other, or, if the horse is driven on the double ring, the reins are buckled to both rings. The curb-bit (Fr. courbe, Lat. curvus, bent, crooked) is one to which a curb-chain or strap is attached, fastened to hooks on the upper ends of the cheek-bars of the bit and passing under the horse's lower jaw in the chin groove. The reins are attached to rings at the lower ends of the cheek-bars, the leverage thus pressing the curb-chain against the jaw. The mouthpiece of the curb-bit is unjointed and has in the centre a “port,” i.e. a raised curve allowing liberty for the tongue and bringing the pressure on the base of the horse's jaw. The curb-bit and the bridoon can be used together with separate headstalls and reins, but there are many combination bits, such as the Pelham. In this the mouthpiece, without port, is that of the snaffle bit (it may be unjointed), with the rings fixed at the junction of the mouthpiece and cheek-bars; the lower ends have rein rings as in the plain curb-bit.
Fig. 1.—a, Bridoon or snaffle; e, Curb. Polo bits:—b, Rugby Pelham; c, Hanoverian with rubber mouth; d, Kerro Pelham. (From Messrs Champion and Wilton.)
Fig. 2.—Some Types of Driving Bits. (From Messrs. Champion and Wilton.)
The riding saddle is composed of the “tree,“ the framework or skeleton, the parts of which are the pommel or head, the projection which fits over the withers, and the side bars which curve round into the cantle or hind-bow. The tree in the best saddles is made of beechwood split with the grain; thin canvas is glued over the wood to prevent splitting, and iron or steel plates then riveted on the head and on the cantle. Linen webs are fastened lengthwise and across, over which is nailed canvas and serge between which the padding is stuffed. To the tree are fastened the stirrup-bars. The leather covering of the tree should be of pig-skin; cheap saddles are made of sheep-skin stamped to imitate pig-skin. The various parts of the man's saddle are the seat, the skirt, i.e. the fold or pad of leather on either side of the head, and the hanging flaps; knee-rolls are not used as much as they were, except where roughly broken-in horses are ridden. The saddle is cut straight over the withers with a square ended cantle, as in the hunting saddle, or cut back over the withers with a round-ended cantle, as in the polo saddle. The saddles in use on the continent of Europe still retain the high pommel and cantle and heavy knee-rolls discarded by riders trained in the British school and the hunting-field. The saddles of the East and of the Arabs keep their primitive shape, and they are really seats in which rather than on which the rider sits. The Mexican saddle, with its silver adornments and embossed leather, is a characteristic type. It has a very high padded pommel and a round-headed projecting cantle.
The lady's side-saddle when first fully developed had two heads or pommels, between which the right leg was supported, the support for the left being the stirrup. The third pommel or “leaping head,” against which the left leg rests, was, it is said, invented as the result of a match between two gentlemen riders to ride a steeplechase on side-saddles; the winner had provided himself this support for his left leg. At first the “leaping head” was only used in the
