Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XIV.djvu/686

 662 SCALY ANT-EATER SCANDERBEG foreign species are very handsome, as the P. pallium (Lain.), or the duke's mantle, finely mottled with deep red; this is from the Iii- Scallop (Pecten Islandlcus). dian seas. The more northern P. Japonicus (Gmel.) is also a beautiful reddish shell, though it varies much. A large species, P. maximum (Lam.), is common on the English coast in from 80 to 40 fathoms ; the deeper shell was formerly used for scalloping oysters, giving the name to this favorite dish, and as a drinking cup. The scallop of St. James (P. Jacobceu*, Lam.) is common in the Mediterranean, and was worn by pilgrims to the Holy Land. SCALY ANT-EATER. See PANGOLIN. SCIMAVDKK. a small river of Troas, celebra- ted by Homer, who says that the gods called it Xanthus, and men Scamander. It probably owed the former name to the yellow or brown- ish color of its water, which was believed to have the power of tinging the wool of sheep which drank of it. (See TROY.) SCAMMONY (Gr. anafi^vtov), a medicinal drug, the concrete juice of convolvulus scammonia. This is a perennial species with a woody root, which in old plants is 2 or 8 ft. long and 3 or 4 in. thick ; its stems are numerous, twining, and woody at base, furnished with arrow- shaped leaves, and bearing long peduncles, each of which produces several pale yellow flowers about an inch long and striped with purple. It is found in Asia Minor, Syria, and the neighboring countries, Smyrna and Alep- po being the principal places of export. In collecting scammony, an excavation is made to expose the root for 4 or 5 in. ; the top of the root, or crown, with its attached stems, is removed by a slanting cut, and at the lower edge of this slope a mussel or other shell is stuck into the root to receive the juice ; at the end of about 1 2 hours the flow ceases, the shells are collected, and at the same time the cut surface of the root is scraped to remove any of the. partially dried juice that may re- main. The products attained by these meth- ods are mixed and dried. The purest form of scammony is that which is allowed to dry in the shells, but this is only to be seen in cab- inets of materia medica ; the mixed product from the shells and scrapings is nearly as good, and even in this state it is very rare. Scarce- ly any article of medicine is more persistently adulterated than scammony; the work begins with the peasants who collect it, and much of it is made over a third time before it en- ters commerce. Chalk, ashes, sand, and wheat flour and other farinaceous articles are added ; and what is known as Montpellier scammony is made up of different resins and starchy substances, and contains no scammony. Pure scammony is in irregular resinous lumps, of which 88 to 90 per cent, is soluble in ether ; but it is more commonly met with in the form of round flattened cakes and more or less impure, though called virgin scammony. It has a pe- culiar cheesy odor, especially in powder ; the amount and kind of foreign material mixed with it is readily ascertained by the use of sol- vents and a microscope. The dried root has been sent to Europe, where the resin has been prepared by exhausting the root with al- cohol. Scammony was used before the present era, and was mentioned by the early writers ; and though not em- ployed to any great extent, it has long had a place in the various pharmaco- poeias. It is a pow- erful drastic purge, regarded as more active than jalap and less violent than gamboge ; the dose of the pure drug is 10 or 15 grains. In this country it is rarely used alone; it enters into the compound extract of colo- cynth, which is the basis of the popular com- pound cathartic pill. For medical use the resin, which is officinal, is preferable on ac- count of the uniformity of its composition. The scammony root is officinal in the British Pharmacopoeia. SCANDERBEG (Turkish, hkander Beg an Albanian prince, whose true name was George Castriota, born in Croia about 1410, died in Alessio, Jan. 17, 14C7. He was the fourth son of John Castriota, a Christian prince, of a small district of Albania, of which the capital was Croia. Prince John, having been made tributary by Amurath II., was obliged to de- liver up his four sons as hostages. The three elder died young, and George was educated as a Mussulman, became a favorite with Amu- rath, received the name of Iskander (Alexan- der), and was made sanjakbeg or commandant Scammony (Convolvulus scam- monia).