Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XV.djvu/452

 436 SUCCINIC ACID of subscription depends for its validity upon the same principles and facts as other contracts. The subscribers may be sued for their sub- scriptions whenever the conditions upon which they have promised to pay are fulfilled, if the purpose of the contract is legal and founded upon a good consideration, and if there is a party capable of maintaining the action. Sub- scription papers are often hastily drawn up and carelessly expressed, and the difficulty in the way of enforcing contracts of subscription has arisen chiefly from the want of proper parties and of a valid consideration for the promise. In their disposition to uphold this class of contracts, if they can be upheld con- sistently with the rules of law, the courts have gone in some cases so far as to say that the subscribers to a common object may be treated as contracting with each other, the considera- tion of each subscription being the promises of the other contributors, each subscriber being thus liable to a suit by all the others. There seems to be some difficulty in sustaining this view, and to avoid it subscriptions are usually made payable to some corporation or person who is to act as treasurer for the purpose of collection, and perhaps also in expending the moneys. Such undertakings, made on behalf of educational and charitable institutions or other public objects, or even for public cele- brations, have frequently been sustained and enforced, and there seems to be no sufficient reason against such action. If by the subscrip- tion paper the promisee expressly undertakes to apply the moneys to the object in view, the case is clear ; and certainly, if in any other case the subscription be accepted and acted upon by the expenditure of moneys or otherwise be- fore notice that subscriptions are withdrawn, it should be held that this constitutes a con- sideration sufficient to. support the promises, and that they cannot be. withdrawn subse- quently, but may be enforced. And such seems to be the tendency of decisions. SCCCIMC ACID, an acid found ready formed in amber and in certain lignites, and occasion- ally in the animal organism. It may be ob- tained in colored crystals by heating amber in retorts. It is formed artificially in several ways, as by the action of hydriodic acid on malic acid or tartaric acid, or by the oxidation of certain fatty acids. It is most conveniently prepared by the fermentation of malic acid, the crude malate of calcium obtained by adding chalk or slaked lime to the juice of mountain ash berries being used for the purpose. The malate is mingled with water and yeast or de- caying cheese, and kept for a few days at 86 or 100 F., when succinate of calcium forms. This salt is then decomposed by sulphuric acid, insoluble sulphate of lime being thrown down, while succinic acid is left in solution, and may be obtained by evaporation and cooling in col- orless oblique rhombic prisms, soluble in five parts of cold and three parts of boiling water. The combinations of succinic acid with bases SUCKER are called succinates, of which the most impor- tant are the calcium succinate above mentioned and succinate of ammonia. Succinic acid, though formerly officinal, is now seldom used in medicine. Succinate of ammonia is said to have been used with success in delirium trernens. SUCCORY. See CHICCORY. SUCHET, Louis Gabriel, duke of Albufera, a French soldier, born in Lyons, March 2, 1770, died in Marseilles, Jan. 3, 1826. He entered the army in 1792, was at the siege of Toulon in 1793 as chief of battalion, and was then transferred to the army of Italy. He was selected as one of the commanders in the army of Egypt, but was detained by Brune as major general in the army of Italy, in which he reestablished order and discipline; after- ward served as chief of staff under Massena on the Danube, and again in Italy as general of division ; and in 1800 distinguished himself in the defence of Genoa. In 1805 he com- manded the left wing under Lannes at Auster- litz, and in 1806 took an important part in the battle of Jena. In 1808 he was made commander of a division in the army of Spain, and after successive victories he became mar- shal in 1811. He afterward took Oropesa and Murviedro, and defeated Blake near the lagoon of Albufera, under the walls of Valencia, and forced him to surrender that city, Jan. 9, 1812, with 18,000 Spanish troops and immense stores. For this victory he was rewarded with the title of duke of Albufera and a large revenue. He gained the esteem of the Spaniards by his jus- tice and moderation. Louis XVIII. made him a peer in 1814. He wrote Memoires sur la guerre d'Espagne, 1808-1814 (2 vols. 8vo, Paris, 1829). SUCKER, the popular name of the soft-rayed fishes of the carp family (cyprinidce) included in the genus catostomus (Lesueur). They are characterized by a single dorsal, three rays in the gill membrane, smooth head and gill cov- ers, jaws without teeth and retractile, mouth beneath the snout, and lips plaited or lobed suitable for sucking ; there are comb-like teeth in the throat ; the intestine is very long, and the air bladder divided into two or more parts. There are about 30 species in the fresh-water rivers and lakes of North America ; they rarely take bait, and are very tenacious of life. The common sucker (0. Bostoniensis, Les.) is 8 to Common Sucker (Catostomus Bostoniensis). 15 in. long, of a brownish color, olive on the head, reddish with metallic lustre on the sides, and white below ; it is common in New Eng- land and the middle states. The chub sucker