(see Pterocarpus, Encycl.) is used as a dye stuff, but generally in a manner which is very disadvantageous. In Crell's Chemical Annals are given, by Mr Vogler, the following directions for dyeing with this wood.
1. Into a solution of tin made with aquafortis (nitric acid), and mixed with three times as much salt water, put clean-washed wool, silk, linen, and cotton. After six hours, take them out, and wash them carefully in three different quantities of clean cold water, wringing them well each time. Let them dry, and then put half the quantity of each article into the spirituous tincture of red sanders, hereafter described in n° 6, letting them soak therein, without heat, from half an hour to an hour. To ascertain the superiority of his different processes, the other half of each article must be boiled in the tincture of sanders mixed with water, described in n° 7, a bare quarter of an hour. After being taken out, wrung, and dried in the shade, all of them will be dyed throughout of a fine rich poppy-colour.
2. Take three drams of powdered alum, and dissolve it in twelve ounces of clean hot water. Into this solution, while yet warm, put some well-washed wool, silk, linen, and cotton. After suffering them to remain therein for the space of twelve hours, take them out, wash them well in three quantities of clean cold water (wringing them each time), and dry them. Then steep the half of each article in the cold spirituous tincture of sanders (n° 6.), from half an hour to an hour; and boil the other half of each in the diluted tincture of sanders (n° 7.) for the space of five or seven minutes. After being taken out, wrung, and dried in the shade, they will be found to have acquired a very beautiful and rich scarlet colour.
3. Dissolve three drams of blue vitriol, or vitriol of copper, in twelve ounces of hot water. Steep in this solution, for twelve hours, wool, silk, linen, or cotton; and having sufficiently washed the stuff in clean cold water, immerse the one half of it in the spirituous tincture of sanders (n° 6.), from half an hour to an hour; and boil the other half of each for five or seven minutes in the diluted tincture, n° 7. Being then taken out, wrung, and dried in the shade, as before, they will have acquired a beautiful, rich, bright, crimson colour.
4. Steep wool, silk, linen, and cotton, which has been well washed, during twelve hours, in a solution of three drams of white vitriol, or vitriol of zinc, in twelve ounces of hot water. After being taken out, well washed in clean cold water, and dried, immerse one half of each in the cold spirituous tincture of sanders (n° 6.) and boil the other half in the diluted tincture (n° 7.) as before. When taken out, wrung, and dried, they will be of a fine, rich, deep crimson colour.
5. Dissolve three drams of common green vitriol, or vitriol of iron, in twelve ounces of hot water; steep well-washed wool, silk, linen, and cotton, in the solution, for the space of twelve hours. When taken out, washed several times in clean cold water, and dried, treat them, as in n° 4, and they will be generally found to be of a fine, rich, deep violet colour; though, on repeating his experiments, our author sometimes found the colour a dark brownish red.
The tincture in which the stuffs are to be dyed must be prepared in the following manner.
6. Take half an ounce of red sanders wood, beat or ground to powder, as it is sold at the colour shops or druggists. Having put it into a large glass bottle, pour upon it twelve ounces of malt spirit or common brandy; then cork the bottle, and set it in a moderately-warm place. In the space of 48 hours, the spirit will have extracted all the colouring matter from the red sanders, and thereby acquired a bright red colour. The bottle should
(a) In a Danish Journal, intitled, The Physical, Medical, and Economical Library, Part III. 1799. Sanders should be often shaken during the digestion; and the tincture, thus prepared, may be used for dyeing without heat, and without separating the powdered Sanders from the liquor. The articles to be dyed (after the application of the proper mordants, n° 1, 2, 3, 4, 5) are to be steeped in the tincture for half an hour, or a whole hour; they are then to be taken out, wrung, and dried in the shade. This tincture does not lose its dyeing quality by age; but dyes substances, after being kept a long time, almost as well as when it is just made. Its colouring power is indeed weakened by the frequent immersion and dyeing of different articles in it; and when that is the case, it must be again digested with some fresh Sanders-wood.
7. Mix the spirituous tincture of Sanders, just described, with from six to ten times as much clean cold water. The mixture was made by our author without any separation of the colouring particles worth noticing; and in this diluted tincture, the various articles (having their proper mordants first applied, n° 1, 2, 3, 4, 5) were boiled, as before mentioned. Linen and cotton, by being dipped in glue-water, after the application of the mordants, acquire, in this diluted tincture, a much deeper and richer colour.
If a very fine and bright colour be desired, the above spirituous tincture of Sanders should not be too old, nor should the digestion be protracted beyond 48 hours; for, after that period, the spirit appears to extract brown and yellow colouring particles from the wood. The powder of Sanders need not be separated from the diluted tincture which is made use of by boiling; nor is it absolutely necessary to wash the articles in cold water after they are dyed; as the powder which adheres to them may easily be taken off by rubbing and shaking. M. Vogler, however, found it advantageous, after the articles were taken out of the dye, and wrung, to steep them for a few minutes in a cold solution of half an ounce of common salt, and a quarter of an ounce of alum, in 12 ounces of pure water. In this case, they should afterwards be washed several times in clean cold water, then wrung and dried in the shade. By this method the colours are not only more beautiful, but are also more permanent. All the articles of wool, silk, linen, and cotton, which were dyed as is above mentioned, bore perfectly well the test of alkaline ley, soap, and acids; but, by exposure to the open air and the sun, the colours were more easily discharged, especially from linen and cotton.
N.B. Red Sanders, by being ground to a fine powder, answers much better for dyeing by this process, than when it is merely cut into small pieces; but it must be remarked, that the powder of red Sanders which is sold at the shops is sometimes adulterated, by being mixed with other substances, and moistened with acids. The best kind is not light, but rather heavy; and is not of a dark red colour, but clear and bright.
Goodwin Sands, famous sand banks off the coast of Kent, lying between the north and south Foreland; and as they run parallel with the coast for three leagues together, at about two leagues and a half distant from it, they add to the security of that capacious road the Downs; for while the land shelters ships with the wind from south-west to north-west only, these sands break all the force of the sea when the wind is at east-south-east. The most dangerous wind, when blowing hard on the Downs, is the south-south-west. These sands still occupy the space that was formerly a large tract of low ground belonging to Godwyn Earl of Kent, father of King Harold; and which being afterward given to the monastery of St Augustin at Canterbury, the abbot neglecting to keep in repair the wall that defended it from the sea, the whole track was drowned, according to Salmon, in the year 1102, leaving these sands, upon which so many ships have since been wrecked.
Sansanding, a town in Africa, situated near the banks of the Niger, in Lat. 14° 24' N. and 29° 23' W. Long. It is inhabited by Moors and Negroes to the number of from eight to ten thousand. The Negroes are kind, hospitable, and credulous; the Moors are at Sansanding, as everywhere else in the interior parts of Africa, fanatical, bigotted, and cruel.
Sap, or Sapp, in building, as to tap a wall, &c., is to dig out the ground from beneath it, so as to bring it down all at once for want of support.
Saphan, in zoology. See Mus., Encycl. p. 467.
Saphies, a kind of charms, consisting of some scrap of writing, which the credulous Negroes believe capable of protecting them from all evil. The writers of saphies are generally Moors, who sell scraps of the Koran for this purpose to people who believe not either in the Koran or the prophet. Accordingly, any piece of writing may be sold as a saphie; and Mr Park found the Negroes disposed to place greater confidence in the saphies of a Christian than in those of a Moor. The manner in which these charms are supposed to operate, will be learned from the following story:
Mr Park being at Koolikorro, a considerable town near the Niger, and a great market of salt, his landlord, hearing that he was a Christian, immediately thought of procuring a saphie. For this purpose he brought out his wakha, or writing board, assuring me (says our author) that he would dress me a supper of rice if I would write him a saphie to protect him from wicked men. The proposal was of too great consequence to me to be refused; I therefore wrote the board full, from top to bottom, on both sides; and my landlord, to be certain of having the whole force of the charm, washed the writing from the board into a calabash with a little water; and having said a few prayers over it, drank this powerful draught; after which, lest a single word should escape, he licked the board until it was quite dry. A saphie writer was a man of too great consequence to be long concealed; the important information was carried to the Dooty, who sent his son with half a sheet of writing-paper, defining me to write him a napulka saphie (a charm to procure wealth). He brought me, as a present, some meal and milk; and when I had finished the saphie, and read it to him with an audible voice, he seemed highly satisfied with his bargain, and promised to bring me in the morning some milk for my breakfast. Our author contrived to turn this absurd superstition to his own advantage, by writing saphies for his subsistence when his money was exhausted.
Saracolets, a Negro nation occupying the lands situated between the rivers of Senegal and Gambia. They are a laborious people, cultivate their lands with care, are plentifully supplied with all the necessaries of life, and inhabit handsome and well built villages; their housetops, of a circular form, are for the most part terraced. SAV
SAV
became a most accomplished gentleman. At his return, he was made tutor in the Greek tongue to Queen Elizabeth, who had a great esteem and liking for him.
In 1535 he was made warden of Merton College, which he governed for thirty years with great honour, and improved it by all the means in his power. In 1596 he was chosen provost of Eton College; which he filled with many learned men.—James the First, upon his accession to the crown of England, expressed a great regard for him, and would have preferred him either in church or state; but Savile declined it, and only accepted the ceremony of knighthood from the king at Windsor in 1604. His only son Henry dying about that time, he thenceforth devoted his fortune to the promoting of learning. Among other things, in 1619, he founded, in the university of Oxford, two lectures, or professorships, one in geometry, the other in astronomy; which he endowed with a salary of £60 a-year each, besides a legacy of £600 to purchase more lands for the same use. He also furnished a library with mathematical books, near the mathematical school, for the use of his professors; and gave £100 to the mathematical chair of his own appointing; adding afterwards a legacy of £20 a-year to the same chair, to the university, and to his professors jointly. He likewise gave £100 towards the new building of the schools, beside several rare manuscripts and printed books to the Bodleian library; and a good quantity of Greek types to the printing press at Oxford.
After a life thus spent in the encouragement and promotion of science and literature in general, he died at Eton College the 19th of February 1622, in the 73rd year of his age, and was buried in the chapel there. On this occasion, the university of Oxford paid him the greatest honours, by having a public speech and verses made in his praise, which were published soon after in 4to, under the title of *Ultima Læna Savilii*.
As to the character of Savile, the highest encomiums are bestowed on him by all the learned of his time: by Caiusbon, Mercerus, Melibomius, Joseph Scaliger, and especially the learned Bishop Montague; who, in his *Dissertatio* upon Selden's History of Tythes, styles him, "that magazine of learning, whose memory shall be honourable amongst not only the learned, but the righteous for ever."
Several noble instances of his munificence to the republic of letters have already been mentioned; in the account of his publications many more, and even greater, will appear. These are,
1. Four Books of the Histories of Cornelius Tacitus, and the Life of Agricola; with Notes upon them, in folio, dedicated to Queen Elizabeth, 1581.—2. A View of certain Military Matters, or Commentaries concerning Roman Warfare, 1598.—3. *Rerum Angliae Scriptores post Bedam*, &c., 1596. This is a collection of the best writers of our English history; to which he added chronological tables at the end, from Julius Caesar to William the Conqueror.—4. The Works of St Chrysostom, in Greek, in 8 vols folio, 1613. This is a very fine edition, and composed with great cost and labour. In the preface he says, "that having himself visited, about 12 years before, all the public and private libraries in Britain, and copied out thence whatever he thought useful to this design, he then sent some learned men into France, Germany, Italy, &c." Italy, and the East, to transcribe such parts as he had not already, and to collate the others with the best manuscripts." At the same time, he makes his acknowledgments to several eminent men for their assistance; as Thuanus, Velleius, Schottus, Caiusbon, Ducret, Gruter, Hocelhelius, &c. In the 8th volume are inserted Sir Henry Savile's own notes, with those of other learned men. The whole charge of this edition, including the several sums paid to learned men, at home and abroad, employed in finding out, transcribing, and collating the best manuscripts, is said to have amounted to no less than 800l. Several editions of this work were afterwards published at Paris.—5. In 1618 he published a Latin work, written by Thomas Bradwardin, archbishop of Canterbury, against Pelagian, intitled, De Gaufa Dei contra Pelagium, et de virtute causae; to which he prefixed the life of Bradwardin.—6. In 1621 he published a collection of his own Mathematical Lectures on Euclid's Elements, in 4to.—7. Oratio coronis Elisabetha Regina Omnia habita, anno 1597. Printed at Oxford in 1618, in 4to.—8. He translated into Latin King James's Apology for the Oath of Allegiance. He also left several manuscripts behind him, written by order of King James; all which are in the Bodleian library. He wrote notes likewise upon the margin of many books in his library, particularly Eusebius's Ecclesiastical History; which were afterwards used by Valentinus, in his edition of that work in 1659.—Four of his letters to Camden are published by Smith, among Camden's Letters, 1691, 4to.