Page:Cyclopaedia, Chambers - Supplement, Volume 2.djvu/418

 SAN

of a diftinft genus of plants, the characters of which are thefe. The cup is a perianthium, compofed of two very • fhort leaves, placed oppoiitc one to another, and falling with the flower. The flower is a Angle petal, divided into four oval obtufely pointed fegments, which cohere only at their lower extremities. The ft'amina are four filaments, broad in the upper part, and of the fame length with the flower. The anther;- are fmall and.roundifh. The germen of the piftil is fquare, and fituated between the cup and the flower. The ftyle is flender, and extremely fhort ; and the ftigma obtufe. The fruit is a capfule containing two cells, filled with very fmall feeds. Linnet Gen. Plant, p. 46. SANGUISUGA, in zoology, a name by which fome authors exnrefs the Irirudo*, or leech. Charli. Inf. p. 62. See the article Hirudo. SANGUISUGUM, a name given by fome barbarous authors to a diforder of the heart, fuppofed to arife from its retain- ing an abundant quantity of blood. SANICULA, fanicUi in botany, the name of a genus of the umbelliferous plants, the characters of which are thefe. The flower is compofed of feveral petals, which are difpofed in a circular form, and have their points bending inwards. Thefe ftand upon a cup, which finally becomes a fruit com- pofed of two echinated feeds, which are gibbofe on one fide, and flat on the other. Many of the flowers of the plants of this genus are barren.

The fpecies of [ankle, enumerated by Mr. Tournefort, are thefe. 1. The common wood fanicle ; and 2. the Canada fantcle, with very large and jagged leaves. Town. Inft. p. 326.

-The medical writers all agree in celebrating this plant, as one of the greater!: vulneraries we have of our own growth. They recommend it for the healing frefh wounds and ero- fions ; and many go fo far, as to talk of fiftulas having been cured, by injecting a decoction of it : but the modern prac- tice of furgery has fallen upon very different methods of practice, in thefe cafes, from their predeceflors, and in con- fequence of that, ''the whole tribe of vulnerary herbs are dis- regarded. SANIDIUM, in natural hiftory, the name of a genus of fof- fils, of the clafs of the felenitae, but neither of the rhomboi- dal nor columnar kinds, nor any other way diftinguifhable by its external figure, being made up of feveral plain flat plates.

The word is derived from the Greek, 2«»&«r, tabella, a flat thin plate or table, and expreffes a body made up only of fuch plates. And the felenitae of this genus are of no determinate form, nor confift of any regular number of planes or angles, but are merely flat, broad, and thin plates or tables, compofed of other yet thinner plates, like the talcs, but diltinguifhed from thofe bodies by this, that thefe plates are. made up of arangements of flender fibres, difpofed obliquely, but in uninterrupted lines acrofs the body. The felenitae having been always efteemed (when meant of this clafs of bodies, for fome have applied the word to cer- tain fpars and other fubfhnces) regularly figured foflils, this genus has been overlooked by authors, and the fpecimens of it which occurred, looked on as bodies of a different clafs, as fpars or talcs. Their not fermenting with acids, how- ever, determines them not to be fpars; and their obliquely ftriatcd ftruelure, their want of elaflricity, and their readily calcining in the fire, diftinguifh. them from the talcs, and fliew them to be true and genuine felenitx. Hill's Hift. of Fofl". p. 122.

Of this genus there are only two known fpecies, the one colourlefs and pellucid, the other whitifh and opake. The firft is found pretty frequently about Oxford, as alio in North- amptonfhire, Yorkfhire, and other counties; the other is very common in all parts of Germany, and is found alfo in Leicefr.erin.ire, and fome other parts of England, but with us it is not common. Hill's Hift. of Foil*, p. 144, 145. SANIS, Exi'K, among the Greeks, a kind of punifhment, in- flicted by binding the malefactor fatt to a piece of wood. Potter^ Archseol. Graec. Tom. I. p. 131. SANKIRA, in botany, a name given by fome authors to the plant, of which the China root, ufed in medicine, is the root. Kts??ip. Amcen. Exot. p. 781. SANS pareille, in conchyliology, the name of a peculiar fpe- cies of buccinum, which has its mouth opening a contrary way to that of all other buccina. This is a angle fpecies among the recent buccina, but we find more than one kind with this peculiarity among the foflile fhells, and that in great abundance in many places in England. SANTALUM, (Cycl.) in botany, the name of a genus of plants, the characters of which are thefe. The perianthium is a narrow rim, ftanding on the germen of the piltil, and rightly indented into four fegments. The flower is monopetalous, and of the campanulated kind ; its edge is divided into five acute fegments. The ftamina are eight filaments ; they ftand on the upper part of the tube of the flower, and aie alternately one fhorter than another. The anthers; are am- ple. The germen of the piltil is turbinated. The ftyle is of the length of the ftamina ; and the ftigma is fimple. The fruit is a berry. Linnai Gen. PI. p. 164.

S AN

SANTEO, in botany, a name given by the people of Guinea to an herb, which they efteeni remarkably good in allVliftafes of the eyes, the herb being boiled in water, and the eyes waflied with it. The leaves of this grow in pairs, oppo- site one to another, and have no footltalks, The joints, or fettings on of the leaves, are blackifh, and they arc of the fize and fhape of thofe of the laurel. Philofoph, Trartfacl. N° 202. SANTOLINA, female foiitbernwood, in botany, the name of a genus of plants, the characters of which are thefe. 'Die flower is of the flofculous kind, and is of a globofe fhape. The feveral fmall flofculcs, it is compofed of, are divided each into feveral fegments at the end, and are placed Upon the embryos, with imbricated leaves between them, and the whole contained in a fcaly cup of a femiorbicular figure. The embryos ripen into feeds, which have no down, and the flowers are larger than thofe of the wormwood, or abrota- num.

The fpecies o^ fantolina, enumerated by Mr. Tournefort, are thefe. 1. The common fantolina with cylindric vermicu- lated leaves. 2. The fantolina with hairy woolly leaves, and with large flowers. 3. The jantolina with' heath, or favin- like leaves. 4. The cyprefs leavedfantoHna. 5. The creep- ing hoary fantolina. 6. The fantelina with lefs hoary leaves. 7. The fantolina with duiky green leaves, and fulphiir co- loured flowers. 8. The fantolina with dufky green leaves, and gold yellow flowers. 9. The great rofemary Xezve&'fan- tolina. 10. The letter rofemary leaved fantolina. 11. The corymbiferous African fantolina with a large coronopus leaf. 12. The corymbiferous African fantolina with a fmaller co- ronopus leaf. 13. The Spanifh camomile leaved fantolina. And 14. the Ctetic fantolina with vermiculated leaves. Town. Inft. p. 460.

Santolina has the fame virtues afcribed to it with the male fouthernwsod. See Southernwood.

It is alfo particularly recommended in uterine complaints. It is ufed to deftroy worms ; and the powder of the dried leaves, half a drachm for the dofe, and to be continued for a confiderable time, is efteemed good in the fluor albus ; alio in pleurines and peripneumontes. SANTONICUMyi'wwB, in the materia medica. See the article

Chouan. SANTSI, in botany, a name given by the Chinefe to a plant, famous among them for its medicinal virtues. It is defcribed by the writers, who have been on the fpor, in fo remarkable a manner, that it cannot eafily be mif- taken, provided their defcriptions are juft. They tell us that it grows wild on the mountains in fome of the provinces of China, and that each root of it ufually fends up eight ftalks, the middle one greatly higher than the reft. They have no branches, and have each only three leaves at the top, and the middle ftalk bears clufters of flowers. The root they fay is four inches thick, and pufhes out feveral fide branches, of the thicknefs of a finger. The. bark of thefe roots is rough and brown, and their internal part foft and yellow.

The fmall roots only are ufed in medicine, the great ones being feldom found. The plant flowers in the month of July, and the fpring feafon is accounted the belt fur taking up the roots.

The way of multiplying the plant is to cut the great root into flices tranfverfely, and plant thefe an inch deep in a good foil ; they will foon fhoot up the natural number of branches, and in three years the plant will grow to its ut- moft perfection.

The great ufe of the plant is in hemorrhages^ in which .cafe it is faid to be ahnoft infallible. Obferv. furies Cout; de l'Afic. SAP Cycl. — Courfe of the Sap, a term ufed by gardners and nurfery men to exprefs the current of the ftp in trees. This has been generally fuppofed to run in an equable and even manner; but Mr. Fairchild has {hewn, that it has an irregular, and even contrary motion to its firft courfe. This is a difcovcry of more real ufe in gardening, than might at firit thought be imagined ; fince this accurate ex- perimenter obferves, that by means of it he could render barren trees fruitful, and decaying trees healthful, and ren- der the fyftem of gardening much better in itfelf, and more ufeful to the public.

The laureola grafted on the mezereon, and tha evergreen oak of Virginia upon the common Englifh oak ; both thefe hold their leaves all the winter, and are in good itate and flourifhing, though grafted on trees which drop their leaves in winter. This plainly fhews that the juices rife upwards in winter, even in thofe trees which drop their leaves, other- wife thefe grafted ever-greens mutt have ftarved at that feafon.

If all the variety of foreign oaks were to be grafted on the Englifh oak, it would make the timber more firm and lait- ing than it is, when railed from foreign acorns ; for as the crab ftock makes the wood of the apple more firm and bit- ing, than that of the apple ftock, and the peaches and al- monds, budded on plums, are more lafting than thofe on peach ftalks : fo, by the contrary rule, all firm timber, graft- ed