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 SARPY tensions. On Jan. 28, 1605, he was appointed state canonist, and in 1606 issued a Trattato delV interdetto, in which he exhorted the Ve- netians to disregard the threatened interdict. Consulted by the Venetian government on the most important matters of public policy, and allowed the free use of the state archives, Sar- pi published elaborate answers, and Come deb- la governarsi la republica veneziana per avere il perpetuo dominio. These works have been condemned as advocating an odious system of duplicity and oppression. At the same time their author strenuously promoted an alliance between Venice and the new Dutch republic, while stimulating his fellow citizens to hostil- ity toward the court of Eome. He was de- nounced as a schismatic and a Protestant, and an attempt was made upon his life, Oct. 5, 1607. He is now best known by his " Histo- ry of the Council of Trent " (Istoria del con- cilia tridentino, fol., London, 1619 ; 4 vols. 8vo, Florence, 1858; Latin translation, Lon- don, 1620 ; English translation, 1629 and 1676). Another principal work of Sarpi was his Istoria delV interdetto (4to, Venice, 1624; translated into French and Latin). The best complete edition of his writings was published in Na- ples (24 vols., 1789). His life has been written by the Italian liberal A. A. Bianchi-Giovini (2 vols., Zurich, 1836), and by A. G. Campbell, from original manuscripts (Florence, Turin, and Eome, 1875). An account of the controversy of Sarpi with the pope and the Jesuits is given by T. Adolphus Trollope in his " Paul the Pope and Paul the Friar" (London, 1860). SARPY, an E. county of Nebraska, separated from Iowa on the east by the Missouri river, and bounded S. and W. by the Platte ; area, about 275 sq. m. ; pop. in 1875, 3,385. It is traversed by the Union Pacific and the Omaha and Southwestern railroads. The surface is diversified and the soil very fertile. Cotton- wood abounds along the streams. The chief productions in 1870 were 95,233 bushels of wheat, 231,075 of Indian corn, 91,387 of oats, 12,135 of barley, 39,578 of potatoes, 107,655 Ibs. of butter, and 7,465 tons of hay. There were 1,531 horses, 1,422 milch cows, 1,888 oth- er cattle, and 1,927 swine. Capital, Bellevue. S A UK. It KM A. See PITCHER PLANTS. SABSAPARILLA (Span, zarza, a bramble, and parrilla, a vine ; . ., a thorny vine), a drug consisting of the roots of various species of smilax. (See SMILAX.) There is no article of materia medica surrounded by so much un- certainty as sarsaparilla. Little is definitely known as to the plants which produce the va- rieties of commerce, and there is no agreement among medical men as to its remedial value. Sarsaparilla is collected in western Mexico, Central America, and the northern countries of South America, and the varieties are known by the names of the countries producing them, or those of the ports of shipment. Among the species to which it has been referred are smilax officinalis of Colombia and Jamaica, SARTHE 635 S. medica of Mexico, 8. papyracea, 8. typliil- litica, and others. The base of the stem in the different plants is enlarged to form a short, thick, woody, and knotted rhizome, from which proceed several long slender roots which run near to the surface, often as much as 9 ft. in length. These roots are collected, in some countries with and in others without the rhi- zome, dried, and made into parcels ; the dried roots average about the size of a quill, are fur- nished with more or less rootlets or " beard," and longitudinally furrowed; they have an earthy smell and flavor. Examined with the microscope in cross section, the varieties pre- sent characteristic differences in the propor- tion and arrangement of the cortical, woody, and medullary tissues ; in some kinds the cells abound in starch granules, on which account the commercial varieties are grouped as mealy and non-mealy sarsaparillas ; the Honduras, Guatemala, and Brazilian belong to the first, and the Jamaica, Mexican, and Guayaquil to the other class. A crystalline neutral princi- ple may be separated from the root, which has been called smilacine, salseparine, and pa- rilline ; the last, being the oldest, is the gene- rally accepted name ; it appears to be related to saponine, and like that froths remarkably when a solution of it is shaken. Sarsaparilla was introduced into Spain as early as 1545, and has since been at times a very popular medicine. Those physicians who regard it as of value class it as an alterative, and use it in inveterate venereal cases, chronic rheumatism, obstinate skin diseases, and in a generally de- praved condition of the system. It is given in the form of decoction and sirups ; the sirups contain guaiacum and aromatics, and are much used as a vehicle for medicines of positive effi- cacy, such as iodide of potassium and corro- sive sublimate.- The drug has a popular repu- tation as a " purifier of the blood," and a few years ago immense quantities of quack medi- cines were sold bearing the name, but contain- ing not a particle of sarsaparilla. The sirup called sarsaparilla, so much drunk in soda wa- ter under the impression that it is healthful, rarely contains any of the drug. Indian sar- saparilla is hemidesmus Indicus, of the milk- weed family, the root of which is employed in India and sometimes in England for the same purposes. American or false sarsaparilla is aralia nudicaulis. (See SPIKENARD.) SARTHE, a N. W. department of France, formed from the old provinces of Maine and Anjou, bordering on Orne, Eure-et-Loir, Loir- et-Cher, Indre-et-Loire, Maine-et-Loire, and Mayenne; area, 2,397 sq. m. ; pop. in 1872, 446,603. The Loir, flowing through the S. part, and its tributary the Sarthe, through the W. part, are navigable, and there are many small- er streams. The productions include iron, coal, hemp, wine, cloth, gloves, candles, paper, and glass. It is divided into the arrondisse- ments of Le Mans, Mamers, La Fleche, and St. Calais. Capital, Le Mans.