Page:Collier's New Encyclopedia v. 08.djvu/290

LEFT SAP 246 SAPPHO culture. The principal crop is coffee; next follow sugar, cotton, tobacco, ma- nioc, maize, and grapes. The exports of the state — by either Rio de Janeiro or its own chief port, Santos — amount to almost 50 per cent, of the total for the republic. Pop. (1920) 4,823,100. Sao Paulo, the capital, is on a plain bounded by low hills; 4 miles from the Rio Tiete and 210 W. by S. of Rio de Janeiro. It has a handsome public gar- den, and tramways running out to the beautiful suburbs. The principal build- ings are the old Jesuit college, now the government palace, the bishop's palace, and a celebrated law school. Sao Paulo is the headquarters of the coffee trade, and railways connect it with the great coffee districts in the interior. There are cotton-weaving and printing works, and manufactories of tobacco, cigars, spirits, matches, gloves, and hats. Pop. (1919) 504,300. SAP, the nutrimental fluid which cir- culates in plants. As it rises in the stem it is of a watery nature and contains the various inorganic matters absorbed by the roots, also some sugar, dextrine, and other organic substances which it has dissolved in its upward course. In its passage to the leaves it becomes more and more altered from the state in which it was absorbed by the roots; but when it reaches the leaves it is still unfitted for the requirements of the plant, and is hence termed crude sap. Through the action of the light and air it undergoes important changes in the leaves and other green parts, and becomes adapted for the nourishment of the plant. In this state it is termed elaborated sap. In dicotyledons this elaborated fluid de- scends through the internal bark and cambium layer toward the root, and is transmitted laterally inward by the medullary rays. SAPINDACE.ffi, soapworts; the typi- cal order of Sapindales. Trees, shrubs, twining and with tendrils, rarely climbing herbs; leaves alternate, generally com- pound, sometimes dotted; flowers small, white or pink, rarely yellow. Found in S. America, in India, and various tropi- cal countries; tribes, Sapindese, Hippo- . castanese, Dodonex, and Melismese. I Known genera, 118; species, over 1,000. SAPONIN, senegin; polygalin; a sub- stance first observed in the common soap- wort, but now found to be widely dif- fused through the vegetable kingdom. Quillaja bark, horse chestnuts, and senega root yield it in considerable quan- tities. The powdered substance is boiled in strong alcohol and filtered hot; the saponin separates in flocks on cooling and is purified by animal charcoal. It is a white friable powder, having a burn- ing and persistently disagreeable taste, is more soluble in dilute than strong alcohol, and forms with water a frothy solution. It is often used to give an artificial froth to beer and effervescing beverages. SAPONITE, an amorphous mineral occurring as nodules, or filling crevices, and forming amygdules in igneous rocks; soft, but brittle when dry; color, various; composition: essentially a hydrated sili- cate of magnesia and alumina. Also a clay resembling soap, occurring in the granite of the hot springs of Plombieres, France. SAPOR I., or SHAHPUR, a Persian king who reigned A. D. 240-272. He belonged to the dynasty of the Sas- sanidse, which ruled Persia for about 400 years. Sapor's most noteworthy achievement was his successful war with the Romans, in which he defeated, took captive, and put to death the Emperor Valerian, (a. d. 260). SAPPER, in military language, a term applied in England to officers and men of the Royal Engineers, who were orig- inally organized as a corps of "Sappers and Miners." In the United States the work of the old sappers and miners is now done by the Engineer Corps. SAPPHIRE, a gem excelled in value by no precious stone except the diamond, and regarded as a variety of corundum, highly transparent and brilliant. It is sometimes colorless or nearly so. It more frequently exhibits exquisite color, generally a bright red (i. e., the ruby) or a beautiful blue — the latter being that commonly called sapphire. Purplish or greenish color indicates a flaw; and usual defects are clouds, milky spots, flakes, or stripes. It is found crystal- lized, usually in six-sided prisms, ter- minated by six-sided pyramids; it is sometimes found imbedded in gneiss, but more frequently occurs in alluvial soils. It occurs in Bohemia and Saxony, but European sapphires are of no commer- cial importance. The finest are found in Ceylon; Kashmir and Burma also produce fine specimens; and sapphires are found in Victoria, New South Wales, and parts of the United States. The value depends on quality more than on size, and does not increase with the size as does the ruby. SAPPHO (saf 6), a renowned Greek lyric poet; born in the island of Lesbos about 612 B. c. She wrote nine books of poems, but besides some small frag-