Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 17.djvu/463

* SAGAB. 423 SAOE GROUSE. industries of the surrounding section. Popula- tion, in lltOl, including cantonment, 42,330. SAGASTA, sd-gUs'ta, Pbaxede.s Mateo ( 1827- 1903). A Spanish statesman, born at Torrecilla de Cameros. After following the profession of engineer at Valladolid and Zamora, he was elected from the latter city to the Cortes of 1854. His share in the uprising of July, 1850, forced -him to llee to France, whence he returned, after being amnestied, to take a position in the faculty of the school of engineering at Madrid and to assume the editorship of the Progressist organ. La Iberia. From ISoil to 1803 he sat in the Cortes, and, as a stanch Liberal, participated in the struggle against the reactionary Government of Isabella II. After the rising of .June 22, 1860, Sagasta again fled to France. Upon the outbreak of the revolution of Septeml)er, 1808, Sagasta became Minister of the Interior in the provisional Gov- ernment, attaching himself to Prim. He be- came president of the Cortes in October 1871, assumed the portfolio of the Interior in De- cember, and from February to May, 1872, was head of the Ministry. He took office as Minister of Foreign Affairs under Serrano (q.v.) in Janu- ary, 1874, and, after the latter made himself virtual head of the Government in the follow- ing month, became Minister of the Interior, and subsequently Premier. Upon the elec- tion of Alfonso XII. to the Spanish throne Sagasta resigaed (December, 1874). In the fol- lowing year, however, he appeared as the leader of those Liberals in the Cortes who rallied to the support of the new throne, and, upon the fall of Canovas del Castillo, in 1881, was intrusted with the formation of a Cabinet. He remained in power till 1883, but failed to carry out any of the sweeping reforms advocated by the Liberal Party. After the death of Alfonso XII. he once more became Premier, and remained in power till 1890, signalizing his term of office by firmly repressing all attempts on the part of the military element to renew the anarchy of the years following the dethronement of Isabella II. The weakness of the Conservative Party afforded Sagasta another period of office from December, 1892, to March, 1895, his resignation being due to his inability to cope with the military situa- tion in Cuba, where a new insurrection had broken out. In September, 1897, he was called to the head of affairs at a time when matters in Cuba were hastening to a crisis. The unhappy outcome of the war with the United States, which all his efforts could not prevent, led to his resig- nation in March, 1899. For the last time he as- sumed office in March, 1901. He resigned in December, 1902, after the young Alfonso XIII. had attained his majority. He died at Madrid, January 5, 1903. SAGE (OF. sauge, saiilge, Fr. sauge, from Lat. salvi-a. sage-plant, from salvus, safe, Gk. SKot, holos, Olr. sMn, entire, Skt. sarva, all ; so called from the healing properties attributed to if), Salvia officinalis. A perennial garden herb used to flavor dressings, sauces, etc. It is a half shrubby plant which grows on sunny mountain slopes in Southern Europe, and has long been in cultivation. The whole plant has a peculiar, strong, penetrating aromatic smell, and a bitterish, aromatic, somewhat astringent taste. It contains much essential oil (oil of sage). Sage grows best in a dry soil, and is easily propagated by slips or cuttings. Meadow clary, or meadow sage (.Suiriu pratrnnis), is a common ornament of meadows and borders of fields in most parts of Kurope. The apple-bear- ing sage (Salvia pomiferu) is a native of South- ern Kurope and of the East, remarkable for its large reddish or purple bracts, and for the gall- nuts (sago apples) which grow on its branches. SAGE, He.nbt Willlvms (1814—). An American philanthropist. He was born at Mid- dletown, Conn., studied medicino for a while, and in 1832 entered upon a mercantile career. He succeeded to the business of two of his uncles in Ithaca, N. Y., where he soon U'came recog- nized as one of its most enterprising business men. After the death of Ezra Cornell in 1874, he succeeded to the presidency of the board of trustees for the university, iiesides the college hall for women and a chapel which bear his name, he gave Cornell a new library building with an endowment. He was the foumlir of the Lyman Beecher lectureship on preaching at Vale. SAGE, Russell (1810—). An American cap- italist, born in Shenandoah. Oneida County, N. V. He was educated in the jjuIjUc schools, and after serving as a clerk for several years he established himself in the wholesale grocery business in Troy in 1839. He served from 1841 to 1848 as an alderman in Troy, was for several years county treasurer, and in 1852 was elected to Congress as a Whig, and reelected in 1854. serving on the Ways and Means Committee. Having become one of the leading wholesale merchants in the upper part of the State, he removed to Xew York City in 1803. purchased a seat in the Stock Ex- change, and became largely interested in railroad investments. He became associated with .Jay Gould (q.v.) in the control of the Wabash, the Saint Louis and Pacific, and other Western roads, and in the Western Union Telegraph Company and the Manhattan Elevated Kailroad system of Xew York City. SAGE-BRUSH. Certain drought-resisting plants. See Artemisia. SAGE-BRUSH STATE. Nevada. See St.tes, Popular X^ames of. SAGE COCK. See Grouse. SAGE GROUSE. The largest of American grouse (Ceiitrocercus urophasianiis), which in- habits the sagebrush plains of Western North- America and the mountain valleys up to about 9500 feet. The full-grown cocks average about 21A feet in length: the hens rather under two feet; the weight varies from three to six pounds. The tail equals, or rather exceeds, the wing in length, and consists of twenty very narrow acu- minate feathers, stiffened and graduat4?d in length from the middle pair outward. A more remarkable feature of the cock is the immense dilatable air-sac of naked yellow skin on each side of the neck, bordered by a patch of curiously stiffened, horny feathers, like fish-scales, often terminating in" bristly filaments several inches long. The feet are feathered to the toes. The upper parts arc varied with gray, black, brown, and tawny or whitish, and a noticeable mark is a broad black area on the under part of the adult. It is numerous in its habitat, and affords good sport with dogs, but its flesh is so tainted with the bitterness of the artemisia bmls upon which it principally feeds (unless 'drawn' as