Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 21.djvu/333

Rh S A R S A B 313 Him." " It is of little .avail," adds Diodati, " to dispute with him, for all blows fall ineffectually upon the sweetness and maturity of affections and spirit which raise him above well nigh every emotion." Sarpi had another maxim, which he thus formulated to Dohna : " LefalsitA non dico mai mai, ma la verita non a ognuno." It must further be considered that, though Sarpi admired the English prayer-book, he was neither Anglican, Lutheran, nor Calvinist, and might have found it difficult to accommodate himself to any Protestant church. On the whole, the opinion of Le Courayer, "qu' il etait Catholique en gros et quelque fois Protestant en detail," seems not altogether groundless, though it can no longer be accepted as a satisfactory summing up of the question. His discoveries in natural science have been overrated, but his scientific attainments must have been great. Galileo would not have wasted his time in corresponding with a man from whom he could learn nothing ; and, though Sarpi did not, as has been asserted, invent the telescope, he immediately turned it to practical account by constructing a map of the moon. Sarpi's life was written by his enthusiastic disciple, Father Fulgenzio Micanzio, whose work does honour to his heart, but is both meagre and uncritical. Bianchi-Giovini's modern biography (1836) is greatly marred by digressions, but is on the whole the most satisfactory extant, though inferior in some respects to that by Miss Arabella Georgina Campbell (1860), a labour of love, enriched by numerous references to MSS. unknown to Bianchi-Giovini. The numerous mis- prints which disfigure the English edition of this work have been corrected in an Italian translation. T. A. Trollope's I'aul the Pope ami Paul the Friar (1801) is in the main a mere abstract of Bianchi-Giovini, but adds a spirited account of the conclave of Paul V. The incidents of the Venetian dispute from day to day are related in the contemporary diaries published by Enrico Cornet (Vienna, 1859). Giusto Fontanini's Storin Arcana de.'la Vita di Pietro Sarpi (1863), a bitter libel, is nevertheless important for the letters of Sarpi it contains, as Griselini's Afemorie Ancdote (1760) is from the author's access to Sarpi's un- published writings, afterwards unfortunately destroyed by fire. Koscarini's History of Venetian Literature is important on the same account. Sarpi's memoirs on state affairs remain in the Venetian archives. Portions of his correspondence have been printed at various times, and inedited letters from him are of frequent occurrence in public libraries. The King's Library in the British Museum luis a valuable collection of tracts in the Interdict controversy, formed by Consul Smith. (R. G.) SARRAZIN, JACQUES (1588-1660), French painter, born at Noyon in 1588, was a pupil of the father of Simon Guillain, but he went to Rome at an early age and worked there under a Frenchman named Anguille. Start- ing thus, Sarrazin speedily obtained employment from Cardinal Aldobrandini at Frascati, where he won the friendship of Domenichino, with whom he afterwards worked on the high altar of St Andrea della Valle. His return to Paris, where he married a niece of Simon Vouet's, was signalized by a series of successes which attracted the notice of Sublet des Noyers, who entrusted to him the work by which Sarrazin is best known, the decoration of the great portal and dome of the western facade of the interior court of the Louvre. The famous Caryatides of the attic show, especially in the way in which the shadows are made to tell as points of support, the profound and intelligent study of Michelangelo's art to which Sarrazin had devoted all the time he could spare from bread- winning whilst in Rome. He now executed many commis- sions from the queen and from all the chief personages of the day, devoted much time to painting, and was an active promoter of the foundation of the Academy. The mauso- leum for the heart of the Prince de Conoid in the Jesuit church of the Rue Saint Antoine was his last considerable work (see Lenoir, Musee des Monuments Franqais, v. 5); he died 3d December 1660, whilst it was in progress, and the crucifix of the altar was actually completed by one of his pupils named Gros. SARSAPARILLA, a popular alterative remedy, prepared from the long fibrous roots of several species of the genus 8milax, indigenous to Central America, and extending from the southern and western coasts of Mexico in the north to Peru in the south. These plants grow in swampy forests seldom visited by European travellers, and, being dioecious and varying much in the form of leaf in different individuals, they are but imperfectly known to botanists, only two species having been identified as yet with any degree of certainty. These are Smilax officinalis, Kth., and S. medica, Schlecht. and Cham., which yield respectively the so-called " Jamaica " and the Mexican varieties. The introduction of sarsaparilla into European medicine dates from the middle of the 16th century. Monardes, a physi- cian of Seville, records that it was brought to that city from New Spain about 1536-45, that a better sort soon afterwards came from Honduras, and that an excellent variety of a darker colour, and consisting of larger roots, was subsequently imported from Guayaquil. Sarsaparilla must have come into extensive use soon afterwards, for Gerard, about the close of the century, states that it was imported into England from Peru in great abundance. When boiled in water the root affords a dark extractive matter, the exact nature of which has not been determined; the quantity of extract yielded by the root is used as a criterion of its quality. Boiling alcohol extracts from the root a neutral substance in the form of crystalline prisms, which crystallize in scales from boiling water. This body, which is named parillin, is allied to the saponin of quillaia bark, from which it differs in not exciting sneezing. The presence in the root of starch, resin, and oxalate of lime is revealed by the use of the microscope. Sarsaparilla is chiefly used in medicine in the form of decoction and fluid extract. It is regarded by many as a valuable alterative and diaphoretic in chronic rheumatism, syphilis, and various skin diseases, but by others as possessing little if any remedial value. It is frequently prescribed in com- bination with powerful medicines, such as iodide of potassium or bichloride of mercury. The varieties of sarsaparilla met with in commerce at present are the following : Jamaica, Lima, Honduras, Guatemala, Guayaquil, and Mexican. Of these the first-named is the most highly esteemed, as yielding the largest amount of extract, viz. , from 33 to 44 per cent.; it is the only kind admitted into the British pharmacopceia. On the Continent, and more especially in Italy, the varieties having a white starchy bark, like those of Honduras and Guatemala, are preferred. ' 'Jamaica" sarsaparilla is not produced there, but derives its name from the fact that Jamaica was at one time the emporium for sarsaparilla, winch was brought thither from Honduras, New Spain, and Peru. Sarsaparilla is grown to a small extent in Jamaica, and is occasionally exported thence to the London market in small quantities, but its orange colour and starchy bark are so different in appearance from the thin reddish-brown bark of the genuine drug, that it does not meet with a ready sale. The Jamaica sarsaparilla of trade is collected on the Cordilleras of Chiriqui, in that part of the isthmus of Panama which adjoins Costa Kica, where the plant yielding it grows at an elevation of 4000 to 8000 feet, and is brought down to Boca del Toro on the Atlantic coast for shipment. It is met with in commerce in the form of hanks about 18 inches long and 4 inches in diameter, loosely wound round with a long root of the same drug. The root bark is of a reddish-brown colour, thin and shrivelled, and there is an abundance of rootlets, which are technically known by the name of "beard." Lima sarsaparilla resembles the Jamaica kind, but the roots are of a paler brown colour, and are formed into cylindrical bundles of similar length, but only about 2J inches in diameter. Honduras sarsaparilla occurs in the form of cylindrical rolls about 30 inches long and 4 or more in diameter, closely wound round with a long root so as to form a neat bundle. The roots are less wrinkled, and the bark is whiter and more starchy, than in the Jamaica kind. It is exported from Belize to the extent of about 10,000 lb annually. Guatemala sarsaparilla is very similar to that of Honduras, but has a more decided orange hue, and the bark shows a tendency to split off. Guayaquil sarsaparilla is obtained chiefly in the valley ofAlausi, on the western side of the equatorial Andes. The roots are roughly packed in large bales and are not made into separate hanks, and the chump orrootstock is often allowed to remain attached to the roots. The bark is thick and furrowed, aiid of a pale fawn colour internally ; the rootlets are few, and the root itself is of larger diameter than in the other kinds. Sometimes there is attached to the rootstock a portion of stem, which is round and not prickly, differing in these respects from that of Smilax officinalis, which is square and prickly. Mexican sarsaparilla also is not made up into hanks, but is packed in straight lengths of about 3 feet into bales, the chump and por- tions of an angular but not square stem being frequently attached to the roots. The latter are slender, shrivelled, and nearly devoid of rootlets. This kind of sarsaparilla is collected on the eastern slope of the Mexican Andes throughout the year, and is the pro- duce of Smilax medica, Schlecht, a-nd Cham. The collection of sarsaparilla root is a very tedious business ; a single root takes an Indian half a day or sometimes even a day and a half to unearth it. The roots extend horizontally in the ground on all sides for about 9 feet, and from these the earth has to be carefully scraped away and other roots cut through where such come across them. A plant four years old will yield 16 ft of fresh XXI. 40