Page:EB1911 - Volume 24.djvu/84

 hydroquinone carboxylic acid (German Patent 81,297). When boiled with calcium chloride and ammonia, salicylic acid gives a precipitate of insoluble basic calcium salicylate, C5H4 Ca, a reaction which serves to distinguish it from the isomeric metaand para-hydroxybenzoic acids. It yields both esters and ethers since it is an acid and also a phenol.

Applications.—The addition of a little of the acid to glue renders it more tenacious; skins to be used for making leather do not undergo decomposition if steeped in a dilute solution; butter containing a small quantity of it may be kept sweet for months even in the hottest weather. It also prevents the moldiness of preserved fruits and has been found useful in the manufacture of vinegar. The use of salicylic acid as a food preservative, was, however, condemned in the findings of the commission appointed by the government of the United States of America, in 1904.

Medicine.—The pharmacopeial dose of the acid is 5-20 grains, but it is so unrelated to experience and practice that it may be ignored. The British Pharmacopeia contains only one preparation, an ointment containing one part of acid to 49 of white paraffin ointment. Salicylic acid is now never given internally, being replaced by its sodium salt, which is much cheaper, more soluble and less irritating to mucous membranes. The salt has a sweet, mawkish taste.

SALIERI, ANTONIO (1750–1825), Italian composer, was born at Legnano, on the 19th of August 1750. His father was a Inerchant who died a bankrupt. Through the family of Mocenigo he obtained free admission to the choir school of St Mark's, Venice. In 1766 he was taken to Vienna by F. L. Gassrnann, who, introduced him to the emperor Joseph. His first opera, Le Donne letterate, was produced at the Burg-Theater in 1770. Others followed in rapid succession, and his Armida (1771) was a triumphant success.

SALII, the “dancers,” an old Italian priesthood, said to have been instituted by Numa for the service of Mars, although later tradition derived them from Greece. They were originally twelve in number, called Salii Palatini to distinguish them from