SAL
SALI/F., In antiquity, Roman virgins, dreffed after the man- ner of the (alii, who affiftcd the pontif in facrificing. Pttifc. invoc. See the article Salii, Cycl.
SALIAN^akw, in antiquity. See Dance and Salii, Cyd.
SALICARIA, willow herb, in botany, the name of a genus of plants, the characters of which are thefe. The flower is of the rofaceous kind, confifting of feveral petals, difpoied in a circular form, and growing out of the fegments of a tubular cup; from the bottom of this cup there arifes alio a petal, which finally becomes an oval bicapfuiar fruit, containing a number of fmall feeds, affixed to a placenta, and ufualTy furrounded and covered by the CUp. The fpecies of falkaria, enumerated by Mr. Tournefort, arc thefe. I. The common long leaved falkaria with pur- ple flowers. 2. The trifoliate purple flowered falkaria with hexangular italics. 3. The roundifh leaved purple flowered falkaria. 4. The narrow leaved Fonugd falicana. 5. The broad hyflbp leaved falkaria. 6. The narrower hyffop leaved falkaria. 7. The white flowered hyflbp leaved falkaria. 8. The Spanifh hyflbp leaved falkaria with long deep blue flowers. 9. The fmall eft narrow leaved falkaria. 10. The fmalleft Portugal falkaria with leaves like moneywort. Town. Inft. p. 253.
Salicaria, in zoology, a name by which Gefner, and fome others, have called a fmall bird, very much refembling the mufcicapa, or fly-catcher, if not the fame fpecies. It lives among the willows in wet places, and feeds on fplders, flies, and other infe&s. Gefner. de Avib. See the article Muscicapa.
SALICASTRUM, a name by which Pliny, and fome other botanical authors, have called the folanum lignofum, the woody nightfhade, or bitter fweet. Ger. Emac. Jnd. 2.
SALICHA, in the materia medica, a name given by fome of the old writers to cinnamon. Avifenna and Serapion ufe it for the bark we call caffia lignea, and the Greeks hylocafia, when ftripped clean from the wood. The antients had two ways of collecting the barks of trees and plants for medicinal ufes ; the one was the ftripping them from the branches of trees, as we do at this time; the other was the cutting off the branches, bark and all, and drying them together. The falkha fignifies, however, the caffia, or cinnamon, thus ftripped from the wood, not cut with it. The wore \felach, in the Arabic, from which it is derived, figuifying exuvits, or the carting off the outer part of any thing. The felach alhak is the exuviae ferpetitis, or caft (kin of a ferpent, and fo of the reft. The determinate fenfe of the word falkha is, therefore, the bark of caffia ftripped from its wood, and is what the antients called caffia fiflula, from its being rolled up in the form of a pipe. But we have perverted their meaning in this term, and applied it to the fruit of the pudding pipe tree, that being our wffta fijhtla, Damocrates, in his iambics, and alfo in his antidote, menti- ons this bark under the name of caffia fjivla ; and Scribonius Largus, among the reft, exprefsly informs us, that it was the bark, not the fruit of a tree, that was'at his time known by this name. Avifenna, and the more correct writers, keep this word for the name of caffia, never exprefling cinnamon by it, though others do. They call cinnamon darfwi.
SALICINEA, in the materia medica, a name ufed by Gefner, and fome other authors, for the nardus Celtica, or Celtic fpikenard. Ger. Emac. Ind. 2.
SALINE, a name given to a preparation of fczfalt, procured from the froth of the fea, hardened by the fun in hot countries. It is called by fome authors pilatro de Levante, and is ufed in glafs-making ; and in the making the fine purple colour from cochineal, by boiling it in a final] quan- tity, with the bran and fcenugreek, of which the magiftery is made fur that purpofe. Neri's Art of Glafs, p. 173.
Saline is alfo the name given by authors to fprings of fait water, called by us fait wells, fait fprings, and brine pits. Moft parts of the world are found to have thefe, but thofe of Franche Compte, in France, feem to be the moft: re- markable. The fprings are fituated in deep caves, and thefe in the greater work are about four hundred feet in length, and fifty feet in breadth : into this work they defcend by a ftone ftaircafe of forty fteps, and thence by a wooden one of twenty ; at the bottom of thefe flairs is a cave with an arched roof. This firft cave, or vault, is forty feet long, and thirty two feet and a half broad, and in it are fix fprings of fait water, and two fprings of frefti water; all which iffue out of the fame rock, in the fpace of fourteen feet in length. From this cave they go into others, which are fupported in the middle, each by a row of thick pillars, from which are carried double rows of arches. They then pafs through two gates into a fpacious vault, thirty five feet high, and fupported, nigh the entrance, by four ftrong pillars, placed in form of a fquare. In the middle fpace, between thefe pillars, is a bafon of a very confiderable fize, into which the fait water from feveral fprings is collected: and in the fame vault, beyond thefe pillars, are four others placed in a row, fupporting different arches, of fixty feet in length, and forty eight feet in breadth ; beyond which there is an Irregular fpace, fixty three feet long, in which are fix or feven fprings of fait water, and tenor twelve of frefh. | The fall waters of thefe fprings, and of the fix fprings be-
SAL
fore- mentioned, are kept feparate from the frefti water, and • are all conveyed through gutters to the bafon before-men- tioned. From this bafon, they are drawn out by a wheel and buckets into four large ftone bafons or refervoirs, one of which holds fifteen thoufand hoglheads, and the other three together twenty-five thoufand hogfheads. From thefe refervoirs they are to be drawn off, as occafion requires, in- to fmall cifterns placed near the boiling houfes ; and the wa- ters contained in the feveral bafons, as they arc drawn from the fprings, at different times, and are of different ffrengtb, are mixed together before the boiling, in fuch proportion, that each pound of the water yields about three ounces of fait. The water of the frefh fprings is alfo collected in the caves into a frefti water bafon prepared to receive it, and is raifed by means of a crane to the level of a little brook, through which it runs away by a fubterranean conduit. Brewntlg of Salt, p. 94. Saline principle, a term ufed by the chemical writers, to ex- prefs a constituent part of feveral mixt bodies, on which their exiftence in that form depends ; and which, though always exiftent in them, and always feparable by art, is yet not perceivable in many of them in the complex. The faline principle of vitriol is of the number of thofe made by fome a neceflary principle of the exiftence of that body, and by others fuppofed not to exiir at all, otherwife than in the general form of that compound fait. But the exiftence of it, in a feparate ftate, is proved by this expe- riment : take four or five gallons of the ftrong vitriofate water at the water works, as it runs from the beds of py- rites to the great ciftern ; this is to be chofen, becaufe hav- ing yet undergone no operation but that of the air and wa- ter, it muft needs be in the moft fimple and natural ftate; diftil from this about two thirds of the infipid water, let the glafTes cool, and the water will then let fall a vitriol of a lovely pale green colour, together with a large quantity of ochre or yellow earth. Evaporate away a third part of the remaining liquor, and more vitriol ftill will be pro- duced of a paler colour than the former, and fome yellow earth will alfo be thrown down, though lefs in quantity than before ; after this has been repeated five times, inftcad of vitriol, a yellow fait will be obtained; and after that, on more evaporations, a white fait will be every time obtained, which will be extremely different from vitriol both in co- lour and tafte, being fiery and pungent, and partaking fcarce at all of that acrid and naufeous afiringent tafte, which is fo peculiar to vitriol. It is un£tuous like fait of tartar, and cleanfing like foap, rendering the hands wafhed with it foft and fupple ; whereas the common vitriol makes them very harfti and rough ; finally, this Iz&falt diffolved in water ap- pears fatty and mucilaginous.
From five pounds and a half of the laft lixivium four pounds of this fait will be obtained, and half a pound of the liqua- men will never congeal. It is remarkable, that this faline matter is the moft foluble of all the forts, as the greateft quantity of it may be kept fluid in the fmalleft quantity of water wc know of in any experiment of this nature. The liquamen remains thin, and is of an acriu and fiery tafte, fcarce fupportable on the tongue. Sec the article Liquamen pyriticum.
The white fait, which is called the faline principle of vitriol, being put into a retort, and diltillcd in a fand furnace ; the far greater part of it comes over in form of a highly acid fpirit, efpecially that coming laft in fmall drops. This li- quor being rectified in a tall glafs body, a volatile fulphureous liquor arifes immediately on the application of the heat. The fmell of this Is fo fubtile, and penetrating, that it is al- moft infupportable, and yet it is clear as water and infipid to the tafte. This may be preferved in its full perfection many years, only by keeping it clofe flopped, not letting fall any fediment. The remaining liquor is the common acid li- quor of vitriol, and by diftiilation may be feparated into fpi- rit of vitriol, and that heavy and corrofive liquor, commonly called oil of vitriol.
In alum, vitriol, and mineral fulphur, the faline principle, which in each of them is by far the chief part, both in quan- tity and energy, has much the fame nature and properties. In the laft indeed it is clogged with fulphur ; for the true nature of common fulphur is, that it is a vitriolic fait, the very fame with that of common vitriol ; and the fulphureous parts, which give it that form and exiftence which we exprefs by the word fulphur, are lefs copious than could be imagined, compared with the faline, which are genuine vitriol, differing in nothing from the common vitriol, but that it contains a fmaller admixture of terreftrial and me- talline parts. Phil. Tranf. N 3 103. Saline earths. The chemifts under this, as a general head, reckon all thofe faline and earthy fubftances, which are cal- cined or burnt in the fire; as all the kinds of lime, pot- afhes, foot, and the like ; thefe being fo many mixtures of fait and earth ; and all fairs appearing to them, indeed, on a rigorous examination, to be only earths nf different na- tures, which when reduced to a certain degree of fubtility or finenefs of parts, fo as permanently to diflblve in water, are then emphatically denominated iiilts. Shaw's Lectures, p. 67.
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