The Nuttall Encyclopaedia Part 389

SALAMANDER, an elemental spirit conceived in the Middle Ages as an animal that lived in the fire as its proper element.

SALAMIS, a mountainous island of Greece, on the NW. coast of Attica, the strait between which and the mainland was the scene of a naval victory over the armament of Xerxes by the combined fleets of Athens, Sparta, and Corinth in 480 B.C.

SALDANHA OLIVEIRA E DAUN JOO CARLOS, DUKE OF, Portuguese statesman and soldier, played an honourable and patriotic part in many wars and crises of his country, notably in Brazil in the struggle between Dom Pedro and Dom Miguel, and during his occupancy of the Premiers.h.i.+p on three several occasions between 1846-70; proved a mild const.i.tutionalist, and enjoyed the confidence and support of England; was created a duke in 1846 (1790-1876).

SALE, GEORGE, Orientalist, born in Kent, and bred for the bar, contributed to the "Universal History" and the "General Dictionary," but is best known as the translator of the "Koran," with a preliminary dissertation and notes; he left a body of MSS. behind him (1690-1736).

SALE, SIR ROBERT HENRY, British general; saw a great deal of fighting; was distinguished in the Burmese War of 1824-25, and in the war against Afghanistan in 1834, in both of which he was wounded, and afterwards in the latter country during 1841-42; he was killed at the battle of Mudki fighting against the Sikhs (1782-1865).

SALEM, 1, a city (36) and seaport of the United States, founded in 1626 on a peninsula in Ma.s.sachusetts Bay, 15 m. NE. of Boston; its foreign trade has fallen away, but a good coasting trade is done in ice and coal; manufactures include cottons, jutes, shoes, &c. 2, Capital (5) of Oregon, on the Willamette River, 720 m. N. of San Francisco.

SALERNO (22), a city of South Italy, on a gulf of the name, 33 m.

SE. of Naples; has some fine Gothic buildings, notably the cathedral of St. Matthew; had a European fame in the Middle Ages for its medical school and university, closed in 1817; cotton-spinning is the chief industry; in the neighbourhood are the ruins of Paestum and an old Norman castle.

SALETTE, LA, a French village amid Alpine scenery, 28 m. SE. of Gren.o.ble; has become a place of pilgrimage, since the alleged appearance of the Virgin to two peasant children on 19th September 1846.

SALFORD (198), a suburb of Manchester, with cotton factories and iron-works, and with Manchester forms the second largest city in England.

SALIC LAW, a law which obtained among the Salian Franks, as also in certain German States, which excluded females from succession to the throne.

SALICYLIC ACID, produced in commercial quant.i.ties from carbolic acid; is a white crystalline powder, soluble in water, odourless, of a sweetish acid taste; largely used as an external antiseptic, and internally in the form of salicylate of sodium as a febrifuge and cure for acute rheumatism.

SALISBURY (17), a cathedral city, and capital of Wilts.h.i.+re, 84 m.

WSW. of London; the cathedral, founded in 1225, and frequently added to and restored, is one of the finest specimens of Early English architecture; has a number of other interesting old buildings--churches, almshouses, inns, an endowed school, &c.; agriculture is the staple industry; also called New Sarum, and a mile to the N. is the half-obliterated site of Old Sarum, with many interesting historical a.s.sociations; while round the neighbourhood sweeps the wide, undulating, pastoral Salisbury Plain, with its Druidical circle of STONEHENGE (q. v.).

SALISBURY, ROBERT ARTHUR TALBOT GASCOIGNE CECIL, MARQUIS OF, statesman, educated at Eton and Christ Church, Oxford; as Lord Cecil, represented Stamford in Parliament in 1853; was, as Lord Cranborne, Secretary for India in 1866 under Lord Derby; entered the House of Lords as Lord Salisbury in 1867, and distinguished himself as foremost in debate; became Secretary for India under Disraeli in 1874, and Secretary for Foreign Affairs in 1881, in which latter year he, on the death of Beaconsfield, became leader of the Conservative party; after this he was three times raised to the Premiers.h.i.+p, the last time on Lord Roseberys retirement in 1890, by coalition with the LIBERAL UNIONISTS (q. v.); was at one time a contributor to the _Sat.u.r.day Review_, and is interested in scientific pursuits, chemistry in particular; _b_. 1830.

SALl.u.s.t, Roman historian, born at Amiternum, in the territory of the Sabines, and attained the quaestors.h.i.+p and the tribunate, though a plebeian; for a misdemeanour was expelled the Senate; joined Caesar's party in the Civil War, and became governor of Numidia; enriched himself by extortions, and returned to Rome a rich man, and gave himself to literature; wrote the "Catiline Conspiracy," and the "War with Jugurtha,"

among other works, in a terse and forcible style, and was the precursor of Livy and Tacitus; as a writer he affects the moralist, though he lived in vice (86-35 B.C.).

SALMASIUS, eminent French scholar, learned in Greek, Latin, Hebrew, Arabic, and other languages; succeeded Scaliger at Leyden, and a.s.sociated with Casaubon, Grotius, and other scholars; embraced Protestantism; wrote a number of learned works, but his "Defence of Charles I." proved a failure, and provoked from Milton a crus.h.i.+ng reply; died a disappointed man, though he refused to sell his literary talent for money, when Richelieu tried hard to bribe him (1588-1653).

SALMON, GEORGE, mathematician and divine, born in Dublin, and there in 1839 graduated with mathematical honours at Trinity College; became a Fellow, entered the Church, and in 1866 was elected regius professor of Divinity, becoming provost of the college in 1888; has carried on with eminent success his dual studies, mathematics and theology, and has published some notable works in both sciences, e. g. in theology, "Non-Miraculous Christianity," "Gnosticism and Agnosticism," a scholarly and popular "Introduction to the New Testament," and in mathematics "a.n.a.lytic Geometry," "The Higher Plane Curves," &c. _b_. 1819.

SALOMON, JOHANN PETER, a violinist and composer, born at Bonn; was in his youth attached, to the court of Prince Henry of Prussia, at which time he wrote some operas; came to London, and is remembered for the great stimulus he gave to musical culture, and especially the study of Haydn in England by his Philharmonic Concerts (1790) and production of that great master's symphonies; composed songs, glees, violin pieces, &c.; buried in Westminster Abbey (1745-1815).

SALONICA or SALONIKI (122), the Thessalonica of the Scriptures, the second port and city of Turkey in Europe; occupies a bold and rocky site at the head of the Gulf of Salonica, 370 m. SW. of Constantinople; is surrounded by walls, is well laid out, drained, &c.; contains many fine old mosques; has an increasing commerce, exporting corn, cotton, opium, wool, &c.; founded in 315 B.C., and has ever since been a place of considerable importance.

SALSETTE (108), an island N. of Bombay, and connected with it by a causeway, with richly cultivated fields and rock temples among other ruins.

SALT, SIR t.i.tUS, English manufacturer, born near Leeds; introduced the manufacture of alpaca, planted his factory at Saltaire, near Leeds, which he made a model village for his workers as a philanthropic employer of labour (1803-1876).

SALT LAKE CITY (53), the capital of Utah, a high-lying city and stronghold of Mormonism, 11 m. from Great Salt Lake; contains the Mormon temple, which it took 40 years to build, and it has besides many fine churches, and the university of Deseret.

SALT RANGE, a tract of lofty tableland b.u.t.tressed on either side by mountain ranges 3000 to 5000 ft. high, and stretching across the Punjab E. and W., between Jhelum and Indus Rivers; derives its name from the remarkably rich deposits of rock-salt, which are extensively worked.

SALTS, in chemistry an important cla.s.s of compound substances formed by the union of an acid with a metal or a base, that is, a substance having, like a metal, the power of replacing in part or in whole the hydrogen of the acid employed.

SALTUS, EDGAR, an interesting American writer, born in New York; a busy writer in fiction, biography (Balzac), and philosophy, e. g. "The Philosophy of Disenchantment" and "The Anatomy of Negation," studies in a somewhat cheerful pessimism; _b_. 1858.

SALVADOR (780), the smallest but the most densely populated of the republics of Central America, about one-sixth the size of England and Wales; has a western foresh.o.r.e between Guatemala (N.) and Nicaragua (S.), fronting the Pacific for 140 m.; slopes up from rich alluvial coast-lands to high plateaus, which stretch, seamed and broken by rivers and volcanoes, to the Cordillera frontier of Honduras on the E.; soil is extremely fertile and naturally irrigated by numerous streams, and produces in abundance coffee and indigo (chief exports), balsam, tobacco, sugar, cereals, &c.; has a warm, healthy climate. The natives are chiefly Indians of Aztec descent, but speaking Spanish. The government is vested in a president and chamber of deputies. Education is free and compulsory.

Broke away from Spanish control in 1821; was a member of the Central American Confederacy, but since 1853 has enjoyed complete independence.

Capital, SAN SALVADOR (q. v.).

SALVATION ARMY, a modern religious organisation and propaganda, remarkable alike for its novel methods and phenomenal expansion; a.s.sumed its present quasi-military form in 1878, but is in reality the outgrowth of a mission founded in London in 1865 by the Rev. WILLIAM BOOTH (q. v.), and n.o.bly furthered by his wife. It is in essence a protest against the older conventional methods of propagating the Christian religion, and would seem by its remarkable success to have ministered to some latent and wide-spread need among the poorer cla.s.ses. In 1895 it numbered 500,000 enrolled soldiers, 25,126 local officers, and 11,740 officers; these are spread over 35 countries. The members a.s.sume semi-military attire, march through the streets to the sound of musical instruments, displaying banners; but while these and other sensational devices bring its purposes home to the hearts of the people, its vitality rests upon the real spiritual devotion and self-sacrifice of its members.

Various agencies of a more directly philanthropic kind (homes of rest, rescues, workshops, farms, etc.) have become attached to it, and are generously supported by the public. Funds are raised by means of the _War Cry_ and other periodicals.

SALVINI, TOMMASO, a celebrated Italian tragedian, born, the son of an actor, at Milan; was trained to the stage, and joined Ristori's company; served with distinction in the revolutionary war of 1849, and returning to the stage won for himself a European fame, appearing in France, Spain, United States, England, &c.; achieved his greatest success in "Oth.e.l.lo"; retired after 1884, and published "Leaves from My Autobiography"; _b_. 1830.

SALWEEN, a river of Asia whose source is still uncertain; forms in its lower part the boundary between Siam and British Burma, and falls into the Gulf of Martaban; its upper course traverses the northern Shan district; only 80 m. of it are navigable.

SALZBURG (174), a western province and duchy of Austria, borders on Bavaria between the Tyrol and Upper Austria; is woody and mountainous, especially in the S., where fine scenery is formed by the Alps; excellent meadowland favours a prosperous industry in the rearing of cattle and horses. The inhabitants, being Protestants, were severely persecuted by the Church, and 30,000 of them emigrated in 1730, and on the invitation of Frederick William of Prussia settled in Lithuania, that had been desolated by plague. Salzburg (28), the capital, occupies a fine site on the hill-girt banks of the Salzach (crossed by 3 bridges), 80 m. E. by S.

of Munich; is a handsome and interesting city, with many fine old buildings, including a cathedral, archbishop's palace, imperial palace, monasteries, &c.; has a theological college, libraries, &c.; birthplace of Mozart; manufactures musical instruments, &c.

SALZKAMMERGUT (18), a beautiful mountain district of Austria, between Salzburg (W.) and Styria (E.); salt mines and springs give a rich yield of salt.

SAM SLICK. See SLICK.