Britannica Concise 2005

1979 players opposing the U.S. have been chosen from all of Europe. The trophy was donated by the British seed merchant Samuel Ryder.

rye Cereal grass ( Secale cereale) and its edible grain, used to make rye tm bread and rye whiskey, as livestock feed, and as a pasture plant. Native

to South Asia, today it is grown extensively in Europe, Asia, and North America. It is planted mainly where climate and soil are relatively unfavourable for other cereals and as a winter crop where temperatures are too cold for winter wheat. Rye thrives at high altitudes and is the most winter-hardy of all small grains. It is high in carbohydrates and provides small quantities of protein, potassium, and B vitamins. Only rye and wheat have the necessary qualities to make a loaf of bread, but rye lacks the elasticity of wheat and thus is frequently blended with wheat flour. The tough fibrous straw of rye is used for animal bedding, thatching, mat¬ tresses, hats, and paper. Rye may be grown as a green manure crop.

Rye House Plot (1683) In English history, an alleged Whig conspiracy to assassinate Charles II because of his pro-Catholic policies. The plot drew its name from Rye House at Hoddeston, Hertfordshire, near the road where Charles was supposed to be killed as he traveled from a horse meet. The king’s unexpected early departure supposedly foiled the plot, which was later revealed by an informer. The facts remained cloudy, but the main plotters included the duke of Monmouth, William, Lord Russell, Algernon Sidney (1622-1683), and Sir Thomas Armstrong. The last three were tried, convicted of treason, and beheaded.

Ryerson Polytechnic University Privately endowed institution of higher learning in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It was founded in 1948 and named after the educator Egerton Ryerson (1803-82). It has faculties of engineering and applied science, arts (including the humanities and social sciences), applied arts, business, community services, and continuing edu¬ cation. It is primarily a four-year baccalaureate institution.

Rykov Vrik-ofX, Aleksey (Ivanovich) (b. Feb. 25, 1881, Saratov, Russia—d. March 14, 1938, Moscow, Russia, U.S.S.R.) Soviet official. Active in Bolshevik revolutionary activities from age 18, he became a party leader and, after Vladimir Lenin’s death, chairman of the Council of People’s Commissars (1924-29). A strong supporter of the New Economic Policy, he was joined by Joseph Stalin to defeat the economic radicals (and Stalin’s rivals) Leon Trotsky, Grigory Zinovyev, and Lev Kamenev. When Stalin then adopted his rivals’ radical ideas, Rykov was stripped of his posts and forced to recant his “Right Opposition” views (1929). In 1936 he was implicated in fabricated conspiracies, tried in Stalin’s purge trials, and executed for treason.

Ryle, Gilbert (b. Aug. 19, 1900, Brighton, Sussex, Eng.—d. Oct. 6, 1976, Whitby, North Yorkshire) British philosopher, leading figure in the “ordinary language,” or “Oxford” school of analytic philosophy. He became a lecturer in philosophy at Christ Church College in 1924. He was Wayn- flete professor of metaphysical philosophy at Oxford from 1945 to 1968 and editor of Mind from 1948 to 1971. His major work, The Concept of Mind (1949), rejects Cartesian dualism as the logically incoherent doctrine of the “ghost in the machine” and argues for a “logical behaviourism” according to which attributions of mental states need refer only to the behaviour of bodies and not to any mysterious entity hidden inside them. His other works include Philosophical Arguments (1945), Dilemmas (1954), A Rational Animal (1962), Plato’s Progress (1966), and The Thinking of Thoughts (1968).

Ryle, Sir Martin (b. Sept. 27, 1918, Brighton, Sussex, Eng.—d. Oct. 14, 1984, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire) British radio astronomer. After receiving a Ph.D. in physics from the University of Oxford, he helped design radar equipment during World War II. He was an early investiga¬ tor of extraterrestrial radio signals. Ryle guided the Cambridge radio astronomy group in the production of radio source catalogs. The Third Cambridge Catalogue (1959) helped lead to the discovery of the first quasar. To map distant radio sources, he developed a technique called aperture synthesis, which provided tremendously increased resolving power for radio telescopes and was used to locate the first pulsar. In 1974 he and Antony Hewish shared a Nobel Prize.

Rymer Vri-morV, Thomas (b. 1643?, near Northallerton, Yorkshire, Eng.—d. Dec. 14, 1713, London) English critic. Though called to the bar in 1673, Rymer almost immediately turned to literary criticism. He is known for introducing into England the principles of French formalist Neoclas¬ sical criticism. Among his works are The Tragedies of the Last Age (1678) and A Short View of Tragedy (1693), both highly critical of modern drama and favouring classical tragedy. His views were very influential until the 19th century. Appointed historiographer royal in 1692, he compiled most of the Foedera, a collection of treaties entered into by England that is of considerable value to the medievalist.

Rydan \,re-o-'an\ Temple Japanese Ryoan-ji \re-o-'an-je\ Japanese Buddhist temple in Kyoto, famous for its abstract meditation garden (c. 1500). An area approximately 30 by 70 ft (10 by 20 m) is covered with raked gravel and set with 15 stones divided into five unequal groups. The pattern of the design may be interpreted as rocky islets in a sea, but the garden’s appeal lies essentially in the charm of its relationships and the arrangement of rocks such that all 15 are not visible from any single van¬ tage point.

Ryukyu \re-'yu-,kyu\ Islands Island chain, extreme southern Japan. It extends in an arc 700 mi (1,100 km) long from the southern Japanese island of Kyushu to the northern tip of Taiwan island. The 55 islands and islets have a total land area of 1,193 sq mi (3,090 sq km). In ancient times it was an independent kingdom, but Chinese and Japanese sovereignty were successively imposed on the archipelago from the 14th to the 19th century. In 1879 the Ryukyus became an integral part of Japan. After Japan’s defeat in World War II, the U.S. took control of the islands; it returned them all by 1972. The U.S. maintains military bases on Okinawa. The islands are primarily rural, and agriculture is the dominant occupa¬ tion; tourism has grown in importance.

"Toilers of the Sea," oil on wood panel by Ryder, before 1884; in the Metro¬ politan Museum of Art, New York City

COURTESY OF THE METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART, NEW YORK, GEORGE A. HEARN FUND, 1915

© 2006 Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.

SA ► Sabin

1659

SA in full Sturmabteilung (German: "Assault Division") known as Storm Troopers or Brownshirts Nazi paramilitary orga¬ nization that played a key role in Adolf Hitler’s rise to power. The SA was founded by Hitler in Munich in 1921 and drew its early membership from the Freikorps. Outfitted in brown uniforms after the fashion of the Italian Fascist Blackshirts, the SA protected Nazi Party meetings and assaulted political opponents. From 1931 it was headed by Ernst Rohm, and by 1932 it had grown to a force of more than 400,000. Rohm wanted to merge the regular army with the SA under his leadership, but Hitler had become wary of the organization’s growing power. In 1934 he ordered a “blood purge” of the SA, which became known as the Night of the Long Knives. Thereafter the SA was reduced to a minor political role.

Sa al-Hajar See Sais

Sa-skya pa \'sas-ky3-'pa\ Tibetan Buddhist sect granted sovereignty over Tibet by Kublai Khan and noted also for contributions to philosophy and linguistics. The Sa-skya pandita Kun-dga’-rgyal-mtshan (1182-1251) wrote a major treatise developing Buddhist logic.

Saadia ben Joseph Vsa-de-a-ben-'jo-zoA Arabic Sa'Id ibn Yusuf al-Fayyuml (b. 882, Dilaz, in al-Fayyum, Egypt—d. September 942, Sura, Babylonia) Egyptian-Babylonian Jewish philosopher and polemicist.

He left Egypt c. 905 and eventually settled in Babylonia, where he headed the rabbinic Academy of Sura. He wrote a Hebrew-Arabic dictionary and translated much of the Old Testament into Arabic. In 935 he produced his great¬ est work, The Book of Beliefs and Opinions, the objective of which was the harmonization of revelation and reason.

The introduction refutes skepticism and establishes the foundations of human knowledge. The first chapter seeks to establish creation ex nihilo (out of nothing) in order to ascertain the existence of a Creator-God. Saadia then discusses God’s uniqueness, jus¬ tice, revelation, free will, and other doctrines accepted both by Judaism and by the Mu'tazill sect of Islam (see Mu'tazilah). The second part of the book deals with the essence of the soul and eschatological problems and presents guidelines for ethical living.

Saale \'za-lo,\ English Vsa-l9\ River River, east-central Germany. A tributary of the Elbe River, it rises in the Bavarian highlands and flows north to join the Elbe just above Barby. As it crosses Thuringia, it enters a deep valley dominated by picturesque castles. The Saale is 265 mi (426 km) long.

Saar, Betye orig. Betye Irene Brown (b. July 30, 1926, Los Ange¬ les, Calif., U.S.) U.S. artist and educator. She studied design, education, and printmaking. By 1968 she developed an interest in three-dimensional objects and began working in assemblage. Her works incoiporate found objects of all sorts—from those suggesting ritual folk art to traditional Christianity. Many also challenge racist myths and stereotypes. Saar’s The Liberation of Aunt Jemima (1972), for example, is a “mammy” doll placed in front of the eponymous pancake syrup labels; the doll carries a broom in one hand and a shotgun in the other. Saar’s works expanded in size and scope from the late 1970s. Her room-size installations often featured mys¬ tical themes and sometimes included shrines.

Saar Vsar, 'zar\ River French Sarre \'sar\ River, France and Germany. A tributary of the Moselle River, it flows 153 mi (246 km) across north¬ eastern France into Germany and enters the Moselle above Trier. The northern part of the valley is a wine-growing district. The middle stretch between Saarbriicken and Dillingen is a centre of heavy industry.

Saarbriicken \zar-'bril-k3n\ City (pop., 2002 est.: city, 182,858; urban agglom., 959,084), capital of Saarland state, southwestern Germany. Located on the Saar River, Saarbriicken was chartered in 1321 and belonged to the counts of Nassau-Saarbrucken until it was occupied by the French in 1793. It passed to Prussia in 1815 and became the capital of the Saar region in 1919. The present city was formed in 1909 by the union of the former Saarbriicken with Burbach-Malstatt, Sankt Johann, and Sankt Arnual. In 1959 it was made capital of Saarland. Historic build¬ ings include the 18th-century Baroque Ludwigskirche, the Gothic abbey church of St. Arnual (c. 1270-1330), and the Old Bridge over the Saar

(1546).

Saaremaa or Sarema \'sar-3-,ma\ Island, Estonia. The largest of the islands in the Muhu archipelago, which divides the Baltic Sea from the

Gulf of Riga, Saaremaa has an area of 1,031 sq mi (2,671 sq km). It was occupied in the 13th century by the Livonian Knights and was ruled suc¬ cessively by Denmark, Sweden, and Russia before becoming part of Esto¬ nia in 1918. In 1940 Estonia was incorporated into the U.S.S.R., and the island passed into the Soviet sphere. Saaremaa was occupied by German troops during World War II. In 1991 Estonia became an independent nation, and Saaremaa was once again an Estonian possession. Economic activities include agriculture, livestock raising, and fishing.

Saarinen Vsar-s-nsnV, Eero (b. Aug. 20, 1910, Kirkkonummi, Fin.—d. Sept. 1, 1961, Ann Arbor, Mich., U.S.) Finnish-born U.S. architect. His father, Eliel Saarinen (1873-1950), was the foremost Finnish architect of his time; his major works include the Helsinki railway sta¬ tion (1904-14) and—after immigrating to the U.S. in 1923—the buildings of the Cranbrook Foundation, Bloom¬ field Hills, Mich. (1925-41). Eero joined his father’s prac¬ tice after studying at Yale. His vast General Motors Technical Center in Warren, Mich. (1948-56), was fol¬ lowed in 1948 by his design for the Gateway Arch in St. Louis, Mo. (completed 1965). In the Kresge Auditorium and chapel at MIT (1955), Cambridge, Mass., he used a “hand¬ kerchief’ dome resting on three points for the auditorium and a stark red-brick cylinder for the chapel. His TWA termi¬ nal at Kennedy International Airport (1956-62), New York City, employs two cantilevered concrete shells that extend dramatically outward, suggesting wings. Like many contemporary architects, Saarinen was challenged by furniture design, especially the chair. He is remem¬ bered in particular for a chair in molded plywood he designed with Charles Eames; a womblike chair using a glass-fibre shell upholstered in foam rubber and fabric; and a series of pedestal-based chairs and tables that combined a sculptural aluminum base with plastic shells for the chairs and disks of marble or plastic for the table tops.

Saarland \'zar-,lant,\ English \'sar-,land\ or Saargebiet \'zar-g3-,bet\ State (pop., 2002 est.: 1,066,470), southwestern Germany. It has an area of 992 sq mi (2,569 sq km). The capital, Saarbriicken, lies along the Saar River. The region was contested by France and Germany from the 17th century until 1815, when France ceded most of it to Prussia by the Treaty of Paris. When Alsace-Lorraine was added to the German Empire in 1871, the Saar ceased to be a boundary state and developed rapidly as a coal¬ mining and industrial area, producing iron and steel. French military forces occupied it after World War II, but it was restored to West Ger¬ many and became a state in 1957.

Saba Island (pop., 1994 est.: 1,180) of the Netherlands Antilles in the Caribbean Sea. It lies 16 mi (26 km) northwest of St. Eustatius, with which it forms the Lesser Antilles. It has an area of 5 sq mi (13 sq km) and is the peak of an extinct volcano, Mount Scenery. It was settled by the Dutch in 1632, but its inaccessibility and ruggedness prevented it from achiev¬ ing economic importance and it was often a buccaneers’ stronghold. The economy depends heavily on tourism.

Sabah dynasty or Al Sabah ("Sabah family") Ruling family of Kuwait since 1756. In that year the Banu TJtub, a group of families of the ‘Anizah tribe living in what is now Kuwait, appointed a member of the Sabah family, Sabah ibn Jabir (r. c. 1752-64), to be their ruler. The dynasty frequently depended politically or militarily on outsiders but maintained its autonomy. Its dependence on the Ottoman Empire in the late 19th century was subsequently a cause for Iraq to claim hegemony over Kuwait. It later enjoyed the patronage of the United Kingdom and, more recently, the support of the U.S. Despite the existence of deliberative institutions in modem Kuwait, the dynasty retains absolute power.

Sabbath Day of the week set aside for worship and observance of reli¬ gious duties in Judaism and Christianity. The Jewish Sabbath begins at sunset on Friday and lasts until sunset the next day, during which time no ordinary work or act of labor is performed. For most Christian denomi¬ nations, the Sabbath is on Sunday; prescribed conduct varies consider¬ ably, but attendance at worship services is a feature common to all. In Islam, Friday is the day of worship.

Sabi River See Save River

Sabin \'sa-bin\, Albert B(ruce) (b. Aug. 26, 1906, Bialystok, Poland, Russian Empire—d. March 3, 1993, Washington, D.C., U.S.) Polish-born

© 2006 Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.

1660 I Sabine ► Sachs

U.S. physician and microbiologist. He immigrated to the U.S. with his parents in 1921 and received an M.D. from New York University. He grew poliovirus in human nerve tissue outside the body, showed that it does not enter the body through the respiratory system, and proved that poliomy¬ elitis is primarily an infection of the digestive tract. He postulated that an oral vaccine would work longer than Jonas Salk’s injections of killed virus, and he isolated weakened strains of each of the three types of poliovirus that would stimulate antibody production but not produce dis¬ ease. The Sabin oral polio vaccine, approved for use in the U.S. in 1960, became the main defense against polio throughout the world.

Sabine Ysa-,bmz\ Any member of an ancient Italic tribe located east of the Tiber River. According to legend, Romulus invited them to a festival and then carried off (“raped”) their women to provide wives for his men. The second king of Rome, Numa Pompilius, probably a Sabine, is cred¬ ited with creating a great number of the early Roman religious institu¬ tions and practices. Later groups displaced the Sabines from Rome. The Romans conquered them and granted them partial citizenship in 290 bc; they became full citizens in 268.

Sabine Vsab-in\, Sir Edward (b. Oct. 14, 1788, Dublin, Ire.—d. June 26, 1883, East Sheen, Surrey, Eng.) British astronomer and geodesist. He accompanied the expeditions of John Ross (1818) and William Parry (1819) in search of the Northwest Passage. In 1821 he began experiments to determine the Earth’s shape more precisely by observing the motion of a pendulum. He thereafter devoted most of his efforts to researches on terrestrial magnetism, overseeing the establishment of magnetic observa¬ tories throughout the world. In 1852 he discovered that the periodic varia¬ tion of sunspots is correlated with certain changes in magnetic disturbances. He was president of London’s Royal Society (1861-71). Knighted in 1869, he was promoted to the rank of general in 1870.

Sabine \so-'ben\ River River, eastern Texas and western Louisiana, U.S. Rising in northeastern Texas, it flows southeast and south, broadens near its mouth to form Sabine Lake, and continues from Port Arthur, Texas, through Sabine Pass to enter the Gulf of Mexico after a course of 578 mi (930 km). The river forms the southern section of the Texas- Louisiana boundary and is a link in the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway.

sable Carnivore (Martes zibellina, family Mustelidae) that inhabits for¬ ests of northern Asia and is highly valued for its fur. The name is some¬ times applied to related European and Asian species and to the American marten. The sable is 13-20 in. (32-51 cm) long, excluding the 5-7-in. (13-18-cm) tail, and weighs 2^4 lbs (0.9-1.8 kg). The coat varies from brown to almost black. The solitary, arboreal sable eats small animals and eggs.

Sabra and Shatila Vsab-r9...sha-'te-l3\ massacres (1982) Massa¬ cre of Palestinian civilians by Christian militiamen in two Beirut refugee camps during the Israeli invasion of Lebanon. The goal of Israel’s action was to expel Palestinian guerrillas from Lebanon. To achieve this objec¬ tive, Israel allied itself with several Lebanese Christian groups, including the Phalange party, who fought the Palestinians during the protracted Lebanese civil war (1975-90). Following the U.S.-brokered evacuation of Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) fighters from Beirut, Israeli forces under Defense Minister Ariel Sharon allowed Phalange militiamen into the camps, ostensibly to root out further PLO fighters. Estimates of the number of women, children, and elderly who were killed over the next several days ranged from 800 to several thousand. Although no militia¬ men were ever prosecuted for their participation, Sharon—who an Israeli commission of inquiry later found indirectly responsible through negligence—was condemned in Arab popular opinion as the culprit of the massacre.

Sabratha Vsa-bro-thoV or Sabrata Ancient city, Roman Africa. Founded by the Carthaginians as a trading post, it was first permanently settled in the 4th century bc. It was the westernmost of the three cities of Tripolitania; the site is located near the modem town of Sabratah, north¬ western Libya. Archaeological excavations have uncovered more than half the area of the city, including Roman and Byzantine fortifications, temples, fountains, the forum, theatre, basilica, and several churches. It was designated a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1982.

Sabre See F-86

sabre-toothed tiger or sabre-toothed cat Any of the extinct cat species forming the subfamily Machairodontinae. They had two long, bladelike canine teeth in the upper jaw. They lived from 36.6 million years

ago to about 10,000 years ago, arising in North America and Europe and spreading to Asia, Africa, and South America. The best-known, the short- limbed Smilodon of the Americas, was bigger than the modern lion. Its “sabres,” which grew to 8 in. (20 cm) long, were used to stab and slash prey, including the mastodon, whose pattern of extinction paralleled their own.

Sabzevdn Vsab-zo-.va-reX, HajjT Had! (b. 1797/98, Sabzevar, Iran—d. 1878, Sabzevar) Iranian philosopher and religious scholar. In his native city he founded a school that attracted students of philosophy from all over the Muslim world. His two main philosophical works. The Secrets of Wisdom and A Treatise on Logic in Verse, in which he advanced the hikmah (wisdom) school of thought, are still studied in Iran. He lived a devoutly religious and ascetic life and is said to have performed miracles.

Sac See Sauk

Sacagawea V.sa-ko-jo-'we-oX Shoshone Indian guide who led the Lewis and Clark Expedition (1804-06). Having been captured by Hidatsa Indians, she had been separated from her people for nearly 10 years when the expedition began. Carrying her infant son on her back, she traveled thou¬ sands of wilderness miles with the expedition. At one point in the jour¬ ney, Sacagawea was instrumental in obtaining horses and guides from a band of Shoshone (led by her brother Cameahwait); without them the expedition might well have ended. Her fortitude in the face of hazards and deprivations became legendary.

saccharin Vsa-ko-ronV Synthetic organic compound, C 7 H 5 NS0 3 , that is 200-700 times as sweet as cane sugar. The sodium or calcium salt of sac¬ charin is widely used as a diet sweetener. Though approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and other regulatory bodies around the world, its safety is controversial because it appears to be a weak carcino¬ gen. See also aspartame.

Sacchi \'sak-ke\, Andrea (b. 1599, Nettuno, Papal States—d. June 21, 1661, Rome) Italian painter. He studied with Francesco Albani in Bolo¬ gna and in Rome, where he would work all his life. He was employed, with Pietro da Cortona, to decorate the Sacchetti family villa (1628) and the Barberini Palace, for which he produced the ceiling fresco Allegory of Divine Wisdom (1629-31). His two altarpieces in the church of Santa Maria della Concezione (1631-38) are distinguished by their Classicism. Other notable works include eight canvases in the cupola of the Baptis¬ tery of St. John in Rome (1639^-5). He was a skilled draftsman and the leading exponent of the Classical tradition in 17th-century Roman paint¬ ing.

Sacco-Vanzetti case Murder trial in Massachusetts (1920-27). After the robbery and murder of a paymaster and a guard at a shoe factory (1920), police arrested the Italian immigrant anarchists Nicola Sacco (1891-1927), a shoemaker, and Bartolomeo Vanzetti (1888-1927), a fish peddler. They were tried and found guilty. Radicals and socialists pro¬ tested the men’s innocence, and many others felt they had been convicted for their anarchist beliefs. In 1925 a convicted murderer confessed to par¬ ticipating in the crime, but attempts to obtain a retrial failed and Sacco and Vanzetti were sentenced to death in 1927. Protest meetings were held throughout the U.S. Gov. Alvin Fuller appointed an advisory panel, which agreed with his refusal to grant clemency, and the men were executed. They became martyrs to radicals’ belief that the legal system was biased. Though opinion remained divided on the men’s guilt, most agreed that a retrial was warranted. In 1977 Massachusetts governor Michael Dukakis issued a proclamation stating that Sacco and Vanzetti had not been treated justly and that no stigma should be associated with their names.

Sachs \'zaks,\ English Vsaks\, Curt (b. June 29, 1881, Berlin, Ger.—d. Feb. 5, 1959, New York, N.Y., U.S.) German-born U.S. musicologist. He studied clarinet and composition as a teenager but earned a doctorate in art history. After working as an art critic, he returned to musicology, becoming one of the most significant scholars of that field, especially in the systematic study of musical instruments (working with Erich von Hornbostel). After immigrating to the U.S. in 1937, he wrote important textbooks and surveys and supervised the growth of the discipline, lec¬ turing at such institutions as Columbia University and New York Univer¬ sity.

Sachs, Nelly (Leonie) (b. Dec. 10, 1891, Berlin, Ger.—d. May 12, 1970, Stockholm, Swed.) German poet and dramatist. Born to a prosper¬ ous family, Sachs wrote poems mainly for her own entertainment until the advent of Nazism darkened her work and forced her to flee to Swe-

© 2006 Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.

Sachsen ► Saddam Hussein I 1661

den. Her lyrics from those years combine lean simplicity with imag¬ ery variously tender, searing, or mys¬ tical. In the famous title poem of her collection O the Chimneys (1967),

Israel’s body drifts upward as smoke from the Nazi death camps. Her best- known play is Eli (1951). She shared the 1966 Nobel Prize with S.Y.

Agnon.

Sachsen See Saxony

Sachsenhausen Vzak-son-.hau- zon\ German Nazi concentration camp. Located near the village of Sachsenhausen in northern Ger¬ many, it was established in 1936 as part of a system of camps that included Buchenwald (for central Germany) and Dachau (for southern Germany). The camp’s early prison¬ ers included 10,000 Jews rounded up from Berlin and Hamburg after the Kristallnacht raids. Of the 200,000 prisoners who went through Sachsen¬ hausen during World War II, 100,000 died there from disease, execution, and overwork in the local armaments factories; many of the rest were transferred to other camps. See also Holocaust.

Sackler, Arthur M(itchell) (b. Aug. 22, 1913, New York, N.Y., U.S.—d. May 26, 1987, New York City) U.S. physician, medical pub¬ lisher, and art collector. He earned an M.D. from New York University. In 1949 he founded the Creedmore Institute of Psychobiological Studies in New York and did pioneering research in the field of psychobiology. He edited the Journal of Clinical and Experimental Psychopathology and founded the biweekly Medical Tribune newspaper. He funded research at several universities and endowed art galleries at universities and muse¬ ums, donating art from his own vast collection, including the world’s largest collection of ancient Chinese art, to the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Sacks, Oliver (Wolf) (b. July 9, 1933, London, Eng.) British-U.S. neurologist and writer. He immigrated to the U.S. in 1960 to study neu¬ rology at the University of California, and in 1965 he joined the faculty at New York’s Albert Einstein College of Medicine. Many of his books relate case histories of neurologically damaged people. His empathy with those afflicted with strange conditions, including Tourette syndrome, amne¬ sia, and autism, has been the hallmark of his writings. His book Awaken¬ ings (1973), about the long-term effects of sleeping sickness, was filmed in 1990; other books include The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat (1986) and An Anthropologist on Mars (1995).

Sackville, Thomas, 1st earl of Dorset (b. 1536, Buckhurst, Sus¬ sex, Eng.—d. April 19, 1608, London) English politician and poet. A London barrister, he entered Parliament in 1558. He was a member of the Privy Council (1585) and conveyed the death sentence to Mary, Queen of Scots, in 1586. He later served on diplomatic missions to The Hague and served as lord high treasurer (1599-1608). He was also noted as the coau¬ thor of The Tragedie of Gorboduc (1561), the earliest English drama in blank verse, and for his “Induction,” the most famous part of the verse collection A Myrrour for Magistrates (1563).

Sackville-West, Vita orig. Victoria Mary Sackville-West (b.

March 9, 1892, Knole, Kent, Eng.—d. June 2, 1962, Sissinghurst Castle, Kent) British novelist and poet. The daughter of a baron, she married the diplomat and author Harold Nicolson (1886-1968) in 1913; her journal was the basis of Portrait of a Marriage (1973) by their son Nigel, which described a happy marriage in which both partners were principally homo¬ sexual. Her gift for evoking the beauty of the Kentish countryside was evident in her long poem The Land (1926). Her best-known novels are The Edwardians (1930) and All Passion Spent (1931). She also wrote biographies and gardening books. She was the inspiration for the title character in her friend Virginia Woolf’s novel Orlando.

sacrament Religious action or symbol in which spiritual power is believed to be transmitted through material elements or the performance of ritual. The concept is ancient; prehistoric people believed that they

could advantageously influence events in the natural world, such as weather patterns, through the performance of ritual. The word sacramen- tum was used in Roman law and later became an oath of allegiance sol¬ diers swore in a sacred place. The sacrament is primarily associated with Christianity, and Christian theologians as early as St. Augustine focused on the proper definition of sacrament. Among Christians, sacraments are said to derive from practices instituted by Jesus, such as baptism, the washing of the feet, and the casting out of demons. There are seven sacraments of Roman Catholicism, as codified by St. Thomas Aquinas and promulgated by the Council of Trent: baptism, confirmation, the Eucharist, penance, anoint¬ ing of the sick, ordination, and matrimony. The Eastern Orthodox church generally accepts seven sacraments, even though no council accepted by the Orthodox church ever defined the number of sacraments. In most Protestant churches, however, only baptism and the Lord’s Supper are recognized as sacraments, as the understanding of sacrament differs from that of the Roman Catholic church. See also samskara.

Sacramento City (pop., 2000: 407,018), capital of California, U.S. It is located in the Central Valley, where the Sacramento and American riv¬ ers meet. First settled in 1839 as New Helvetia by John Sutter, it became an important trading centre during the gold rush. The present city was laid out in 1848 and named for the river. It became the state capital in 1854 and prospered as a transportation and agricultural centre. It was the ter¬ minus of the first California railroad in 1856 and the western terminus of the Pony Express in 1860. A ship canal completed in 1963 made the city a deepwater port. The city’s main industries, in addition to government ser¬ vices, include food processing, printing, and aerospace products. It is the site of several institutions of higher learning.

Sacramento River River, northern California, U.S. Rising near Mount Shasta, it flows 382 mi (615 km) southwest between the Cascade and Sierra Nevada ranges, through the northern Central Valley. It forms a common delta with the San Joaquin River before entering the northern arm of San Francisco Bay. California’s largest river, it is navigable for 180 mi (290 km) and accommodates oceangoing vessels as far as Sacramento. Scene of the gold rush of 1849, the river flows through one of the world’s richest agricultural regions.

sacrifice Act of offering objects to a divinity, thereby making them holy. The motivation for sacrifice is to perpetuate, intensify, or reestablish a connection between the human and the divine. It is often intended to gain the favour of the god or to placate divine wrath. The term has come to be applied specifically to blood sacrifice, which entails the death or destruction of the thing sacrificed (see human sacrifice). The sacrifice of fruits, flowers, or crops (bloodless sacrifice) is more often referred to as an offering.

sacrifice, human See human sacrifice

Sadat \so-'dat\, (Muhammad) Anwar el- (b. Dec. 25, 1918, Mit Abu al-Kum, Egypt—d. Oct. 6, 1981, Cairo) President of Egypt (1970- 81). A graduate of the Cairo Military Academy, he joined Gamal Abdel Nasser’s coup that deposed the monarchy in 1950 and later served as vice president (1964-66, 1969-70). He became president when Nasser died in 1970. He led Egypt during the Yom Kippur War (1973) against Israel. A military loss, the war was a political success for Sadat, bolstering his popularity through the Arab world. At home, he reversed many of Nass¬ er’s socialist policies and attempted to garner the support of the country’s Islamists. In 1977 he went to Jerusalem to offer peace to Israel, and in 1979 he concluded a peace treaty, the Camp David Accords, with Israeli prime minister Menachem Begin. The two men shared the 1978 Nobel Prize for Peace. His popularity in the Arab world plummeted, and domestic support for his treaty with the Jewish state—especially among Islamists— evaporated. He was killed by a group of Muslim extremists led by Kha- lid al-lsiAMBUU and associated with the Islamic Jihad Group. See also Arab- Israeli Wars; Hosni Mubarak.

Saddam Hussein (b. April 28, 1937, Tikrlt, Iraq) President of Iraq (1979-2003). He joined the Ba'th Party in 1957. Following participation in a failed attempt to assassinate Iraqi Pres. c Abd al-Karim Qasim in 1959, Saddam fled to Cairo, where he briefly attended law school. He returned to Iraq when the Ba'thists gained power in 1963. Jailed when the Ba'thists were overthrown, he escaped and helped reinstall the party to power in 1968. He led the nationalization of the oil industry in 1972. He took over the presidency with the aims of replacing Egypt as leader of the Arab world and of gaining hegemony over the Persian Gulf, and he launched wars against Iran (Iran-Iraq War, 1980-90) and Kuwait (First Persian Gulf

© 2006 Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.

1662 I saddle ► saffron

War, 1990-91), both of which he lost. He instituted a brutal dictatorship and directed intensive campaigns against minorities within Iraq, particu¬ larly the Kurds. U.S. fears regarding his development of weapons of mass destruction led to Western sanctions against Iraq. Sanctions were followed by an Anglo-American invasion in 2003 (Second Persian Gulf War) that drove him from power. After several months in hiding, he was captured by U.S. forces. See also Pan-Arabism.

saddle Seat for a rider on the back of an animal, usually a horse. The leather saddle was developed between the 3rd century bc and the 1st cen¬ tury ad, probably by peoples of the Asian steppes, where the stirrup and the horse collar also originated. The saddle greatly improved a rider’s ability to control a moving horse, especially in combat. Improvements made in medieval Europe were related to feudal battles among knights. Modern saddles are mainly divided into two types: the light, flat English or Hungarian style used for sport and recreation, and the sturdy Western style used originally for cattle roping and now also for recreation.

Sadducee \'sa-jo-,se\ Member of a Jewish priestly sect that flourished for about two centuries, until the destruction (ad 70) of the Second Temple of Jerusalem. Sadducees were generally wealthier, more conservative, and better connected politically than their rivals, the Pharisees. They believed in strict interpretation of the Torah and thus rejected such ideas as immor¬ tality of the soul, bodily resurrection after death, and the existence of angels. They viewed Jesus' ministry with mistrust and are believed to have played some part in his death. Their wealth and complicity with Roman rulers made them unpopular with the common people.

Sade Vsad\, Marquis de orig. Donatien-Alphonse-Francois, count de Sade (b. June 2, 1740, Paris, France—d. Dec. 2, 1814, Charenton, near Paris) French novelist and philosopher. After abandon¬ ing a military career at the end of the Seven Years’ War, he married and became involved in a life of debauchery and outrageous scandal with prostitutes and with local young people he abducted, for which he was repeatedly imprisoned, once narrowly escaping execution. Despite his noble birth, he supported the French Revolution, which he saw as repre¬ senting political liberation on a level parallel to the sexual liberation he himself represented. He was twice sent to the insane asylum at Charen¬ ton (1789-90, 1801-14), where he would eventually die. He overcame boredom and anger in prison and the asylum by writing sexually graphic novels and plays. The 120 Days of Sodom (written 1785) was a tale of four libertines who kidnap victims for a nonstop orgy of perversion. In his most famous novel, Justine (1791), the heroine suffers because she fails to perceive that there is no moral God and that desire is the only reality. His other works include Philosophy in the Bedroom (1793) and Crimes of Passion (1800). His reputation and writings gave rise to the term sadism.

sadhu and swami In India, a religious ascetic or holy person. Sadhus are typically wandering ascetics who subsist on alms. They may follow the tenets of a particular belief system, such as Hinduism or Jainism, but are more typically regarded as saintly in their own right. The term swami refers to a sadhu ordained in a specific order and is associated particu¬ larly with Vedanta. Sadhus and swamis may live either in communities or in solitude; they typically possess little, eschew conventional and mod¬ ern dress, and have shaven heads or matted, unkempt hair.

sadism Ysa-.di-zom, ‘sa-.di-zonA Psychosexual disorder in which sexual urges are gratified by inflicting pain on another person. The term was coined in reference to the marquis de Sade, who chronicled his own such practices. Sadism is often linked to masochism, and many individuals who have one tendency also have the other.

Sadowa, Battle of See Battle of Koniggratz

Sadr, Musa al- Vmii-sa-al-'sadrA (b. 1928, Qom, Iran—disappeared Aug. 31, 1978, Libya?) Iranian-born Lebanese Shl'ite cleric. The son of an ayatollah, he received a traditional Islamic education in Qom and in Al-Najaf, Iraq, and also briefly studied political economy and law at Tehran University. In 1960 he moved to Lebanon, where he became involved in social work among the country’s largely disfranchised Shl'ite community. In 1968-69 he formed the Higher Shl'ite Islamic Council to promote the community’s interests, and in 1975 he formed a militia, Amal, to defend the Shl'ite community in the Lebanese Civil War. He and a small entourage dis¬ appeared while on an official trip in Libya. The Libyan government dis¬ avowed any knowledge of what became of the cleric and his companions; his disappearance has remained a highly controversial mystery.

Saenredam Vsan-re-.damV Pieter Jansz(oon) (b. June 9, 1597, Assendelft, Neth.—buried May 31, 1665, Haarlem) Dutch painter. Son of an engraver, he became a friend of the architect Jacob van Campen (1595— 1657), which may have influenced him to specialize in architectural paint¬ ing. A pioneer of the “church portrait,” he was the first Dutch artist to abandon the Mannerist tradition of fanciful invention in architectural painting in favour of a new realism in rendering specific buildings. His paintings of church interiors show a scrupulous precision and convey a majestic spaciousness and serenity.

Safaqis See Sfax

Safavid \sa-‘fa-v3d\ dynasty (1502-1736) Persian dynasty. It was founded by Isma'il I, who, by converting his people from Sunnite to Shl'ite Islam and adopting the trappings of Persian monarchy, planted the seeds of a unique national and religious identity. He captured Tabriz from the Ak Koyunlu and became shah of Azerbaijan (1501) and Persia (1502). 'Abbas I (r. 1588-1629) brought the dynasty to its peak; his capital, Esfahan, was the centre of Safavid architectural achievement. The dynasty declined in the century following his reign, pressed by the Ottoman Empire and the Mughal dynasty, and fell when a weak shah, Tahmasp II, was deposed by his general, Nadir Shah.

Safdie Vsaf-de\, Moshe (b. July 14, 1938, Haifa, Palestine) Israeli- Canadian architect. Educated at McGill University School of Architec¬ ture, Montreal, he began his career in the offices of Louis Kahn. His Habitat ’67 was a bold experiment in prefabricated housing using modular units; the design was for a prefabricated concrete housing complex of individual apartment units stacked irregularly along a zigzagged framework that was evocative of an Italian hill town or a pueblo. This aroused intense inter¬ national interest but failed to catch on as a low-cost housing construction method. Later works include Yeshivat Porat Joseph Rabbinical College in Jerusalem (1971-79) and Coldspring New Town near Baltimore (1971). He served as director of urban design at Harvard University, 1978-84.

safety Activities that seek to minimize or to eliminate hazardous con¬ ditions that can cause bodily injury. Occupational safety is concerned with risks in areas where people work: offices, manufacturing plants, farms, construction sites, and commercial and retail facilities. Public safety is concerned with hazards in the home, in travel and recreation, and in other situations that do not fall within the scope of occupational safety.

safflower Flowering annual plant ( Carthamus tinctorius ) of the com¬ posite family. Native to parts of Asia and Africa, it is now widely grown as an oil crop in the U.S., Canada,

Australia, Israel, and Turkey. Oil obtained from the seeds, an ingredi¬ ent of soft margarines, salad oil, and cooking oil, is valued for its high proportion of polyunsaturated fats.

Since the oil does not yellow with age, it is also a useful base for var¬ nish and paint. The plant, which grows 1-4 ft (0.3-1.2 m) high, has flowers in red, orange, yellow, or white, which were formerly a source of textile dyes.

saffron Golden-coloured, pungent seasoning and dye obtained from the dried stigmas of flowers of the saf¬ fron crocus ( Crocus sativus), a bul¬ bous perennial of the iris family.

Because 1 lb (0.45 kg) of saffron rep¬ resents 75,000 blossoms, it is the world’s most expensive spice. The colour and flavour are essential ingredients for certain Mediterra¬ nean and Asian dishes, as well as for special English, Scandinavian, and Balkan baked goods. Since ancient times, saffron has been the official colour for the robes of Buddhist priests and for royal garments in sev¬ eral cultures. Greeks and Romans

scattered saffron as a perfume in halls, courts, theatres, and baths.

Safflower (Carthamus tinctorius)

J.C. ALLEN AND SON

Saffron (Crocus sativus)

EMILMUENCH-OSTMAN AGENCY

© 2006 Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.

Safi al-Din ► Saguenay River I 1663

Safi al-Din Vsa-'fe-al-'denN (b. 1253, Ardabll, Iran—d. Sept. 12, 1334, Ardabll) Iranian founder of the Safavid Sufi order, which in time devel¬ oped into the Safavid dynasty. He was influenced by mystics of the Sufi order and by Sheikh Zahid, a religious leader whose daughter he even¬ tually married. On Sheikh Zahid’s death, Safi al-Din assumed leadership and gradually attracted many more adherents, largely through his policy of hospitality to all who sought refuge. He is commemorated by a shrine in Ardabll.

Safire Vsa-.fuA, William (b. Dec. 17, 1929, New York, N.Y., U.S.) U.S. journalist. Educated at Syracuse University, he worked as a newspaper reporter and at radio and television stations before entering the public- relations field, eventually founding his own firm. He was a speechwriter for Spiro Agnew and then for Richard Nixon. In 1973 he began his con¬ servative and vigorously written “Essay” column for The New York Times , which earned him a Pulitzer Prize in 1978. He also writes on linguistic issues in The New York Times Magazine. Among his books are the nov¬ els Full Disclosure (1977) and Sleeper Spy (1995) and works of lexico¬ graphical interest.

saga Genre of prose narrative typically dealing with prominent figures and events of the heroic age in Norway and Iceland, especially as recorded in Icelandic manuscripts of the late 12th and 13th century. Once thought to be orally transmitted history that had finally been written down, sagas are now usually regarded as reconstructions of the past, imaginative in varying degrees and created according to aesthetic principles. Important ideals in sagas are heroism and loyalty; revenge often plays a part. Action is preferred to reflection, and description of the inner motives and point of view of protagonists is minimized. Subdivisions of the genre include kings’ sagas, recounting the lives of Scandinavian rulers; legendary sagas, treating themes from myth and legend; and Icelanders' sagas. See also Grettis saga, Njals saga.

Sagan Vsa-gonV Carl (Edward) (b. Nov. 9, 1934, Brooklyn, N.Y., N.Y., U.S.—d. Dec. 20, 1996, Seattle, Wash.) U.S. astronomer and sci¬ ence writer. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Chicago. At the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory (1962-68), he focused on plan¬ etary astronomy and on SETI efforts to find extraterrestrial life. He gained prominence as a popular science writer and commentator noted for his clear writing and enthusiasm; his Dragons of Eden (1977) won a Pulitzer Prize. He coproduced and narrated the television series Cosmos (1980); its companion book became the best-selling English-language science book of all time. In the 1980s he studied the environmental effects of nuclear war and helped popularize the term nuclear winter.

Sagan \sa-'ga n \, Francoise orig. Francoise Quoirez (b. June 21, 1935, Carjac, France—d. Sept. 24, 2004, Honfleur) French novelist and dramatist. While attending the Sorbonne, she published her best-known novel, the poignant Bonjour Tristesse (1954), when she was 19 years old. It became an international best-seller and was followed by A Certain Smile (1956). Her later novels often feature aimless people in tangled relation¬ ships. Her plays, including Opposite Extremes (1987), resemble her nov¬ els in their subject matter.

sage Aromatic perennial herb {Salvia officinalis ) of the mint family, native to the Mediterranean. Its leaves are used fresh or dried as a flavouring in many foods. The stems,

2 ft (60 cm) tall, have rough or wrinkled, downy, gray-green or whitish green oval leaves. The flow¬ ers may be purple, pink, white, or red. Since the Middle Ages, sage tea has been brewed as a spring tonic and a stimulant believed to strengthen the memory and promote wisdom. See also salvia.

Sage, Russell (b. Aug. 4, 1816,

Shenandoah, N.Y., U.S.—d. July 22,

1906, Lawrence Beach, N.Y.) U.S. financier. He worked as an errand boy, studying arithmetic and book¬ keeping in his spare time, and in 1839 he started a wholesale grocery business, which earned him enough money to start a Hudson River ship¬ ping trade. He served in Congress (1853-57). Sage invested successfully in the La Crosse Railroad in Wisconsin, and he eventually acquired an

interest in more than 40 railroads, serving as director or president of 20. He helped organize the Atlantic & Pacific Telegraph Co. In 1872 he origi¬ nated stock-market puts and calls (options to buy or sell a set amount of stock at a set price and within a given time limit), but he stopped dealing in them after losing $7 million in the panic of 1884. His wife, Margaret Olivia Sage, established the Russell Sage Foundation and Russell Sage College (Troy, N.Y.) after his death.

sagebrush Any of various shrubby species of Artemisia of the compos¬ ite family. Native to semiarid plains and mountain slopes in western North America, these shrubs are adapted both to dry, hot summers and to moist, mild winters with intermittent polar Pacific winds. Common sagebrush {Artemisia tridentata) is a many-branched shrub, usually about 3-6.5 ft (1-2 m) high, with silvery gray, bitter-aromatic foliage.

Sager Vsa-joiA, Ruth (b. Feb. 7, 1918, Chicago, Ill., U.S.—d. March 29, 1997, Brookline, Mass.) U.S. geneticist. She received her Ph.D. from Columbia and later taught at Hunter College and Harvard University. Questioning the traditional belief that chromosomal genes are the only apparatus for transmitting genetic information to a cell, she discovered (1953) in the alga Chlamydomonas the existence of a second genetic transmitting system, a gene not located on the alga’s chromosomes that controls the cell’s sensitivity to the antibiotic streptomycin, and she observed that both male and female Chlamydomonas can transmit the nonchromosomal gene.

Sagittarius \,sa-j9-'ter-e-3s\ Latin "Archer" In astronomy, the con¬ stellation lying between Capricorn and Scorpio; in astrology, the ninth sign of the ZODIAC, governing approximately the period November 22-December 21. Its symbol is either a centaur shooting a bow and arrow or an arrow drawn across a bow. The association of this constellation with a mounted archer originated in Babylonia as early as the 11th century bc.

Sagittarius A Strongest source of cosmic radio waves, lying in the direction of the constellation Sagittarius. Discovered by Karl Jansky in 1932, it has been identified as the nucleus of the Milky Way Galaxy. The region is relatively small and constitutes an intense source of infrared radiation thought to be emitted partly by stars and partly by dust around them. Within the region is a much smaller radio source, Sagittarius (Sgr) A, which appears to mark the centre of the Galaxy. Observations indi¬ cate that the galactic nucleus contains a black hole with a mass of one million to several million times that of the Sun; they also provide a strong case that Sgr A is the black hole. The activity at the Galaxy’s centre resembles that of an active galactic nucleus but on a much smaller scale.

sago Vsa-go\ Food starch prepared from carbohydrate material stored in the trunks of several palms, chiefly Metroxylon rumphii and M. sagu, sago palms native to Indonesia. Composed of 88% carbohydrate, sago is a basic food of the South Pacific, where it is used in meal form to prepare soups, cakes, and puddings. Elsewhere its use in cookery is mainly as a pudding and sauce thickener. In industry it is used as a textile stiffener. The thick trunk grows to 30 ft (9 m) tall in low marshy areas. At 15 years the core of the mature trunk is engorged with starchy material. If allowed to form and ripen, the fruit absorbs the starch, leaving the stem hollow and dying. Cultivated plants thus are cut down when the flower spike appears, and the starchy pith is extracted from the stems.

saguaro \s3-'war-3, s3-'gwar-o\ Large, candelabra-shaped, branched CACTUS {Cereus giganteus, or Carnegiea gigantea ) native to Mexico, Ari¬ zona, and California. Slow-growing at first, mature saguaros may even¬ tually reach 50 ft (15 m) in height. They bloom for the first time when 50-75 years old. They may die at 150-200 years (at a weight of up to 10 tons, or 9,000 kg), most commonly by being uprooted by wind or wash¬ outs. Shallow, wide-ranging roots gather moisture from a large area of desert to support the weighty top growth. The white, night-blooming flow¬ ers, which remain open into the next day, are the Arizona state flower. The red fruits have been an important food of American Indians.

Saguaro National Park Mountain and desert region, southern Ari¬ zona, U.S. Established as a national monument in 1933, it became a national park in 1994. It has a total area of 143 sq mi (370 sq km). Its two districts, separated by the city of Tucson, contain forests of saguaro cactus. Plant life also includes paloverde, mesquite, and ocotillo.

Saguenay \,sa-g9-'na\ River River, southern central Quebec, Canada. It drains Lac-SAINT-JEAN into the Saint Lawrence River at Tadoussac, north¬ east of Quebec city. Flowing east, it descends about 300 ft (90 m) in a tur¬ bulent stream in the first third of its 105-mi (169-km) course. Its fall is a

Sage (Salvia officinalis)

INGMAR HOLMASEN

© 2006 Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.

1664 I Sahara ► Saint Albans Raid

source of hydroelectric power; its shores are in many places cliffs 1,000- 1,800 ft (300-550 m) high. Noted for its scenery, it is a recreational area.

Sahara Largest desert in the world, encompassing almost all of north¬ ern Africa. Covering an area of about 3,500,000 sq mi (9,065,000 sq km), it is bounded by the Atlantic Ocean, the Atlas Mountains, the Mediterra¬ nean Sea, the Red Sea, and the Sahel region. It includes portions of sev¬ eral countries, including Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, Egypt, Mauritania, Mali, Niger, Chad, and The Sudan. Principal topographic fea¬ tures include large oasis depressions, extensive stony plains, rock-strewn plateaus, abrupt mountains, sand sheets and dunes, and sand seas. Huge areas of it are empty, but scattered clusters of inhabitants survive in frag¬ ile ecological balance wherever water sources occur. Sedentary living is restricted to oasis areas. See also Libyan Desert.

Saharan Arab Democratic Republic Disputed territory of West¬ ern Sahara occupied by Morocco. It was a Spanish colony from c. 1884 to 1976. After Spain left, native Saharawi guerrillas (see Polisario) based in Algeria declared a govemment-in-exile and fought Morocco and Mau¬ ritania for control. Mauritania made peace in 1979, whereupon Morocco claimed the whole territory. A referendum on whether the territory will remain part of Morocco or become independent has been repeatedly post¬ poned. See also Hassan II.

Sahel \sa-'hel\ Arabic Sahil Semiarid zone, western and north-central Africa. Extending from Senegal eastward to The Sudan, it forms a nar¬ row transitional band between the arid Sahara to the north and the humid savannas to the south. Beginning in the late 20th century, it was subjected to increased desertification and soil erosion caused by natural climate changes as well as overgrazing and overfarming. The countries of the zone suffered a devastating drought and famine in the early 1970s, and by 1973 sections of the Sahara had advanced southward as much as 60 mi (100 km). Severe drought and famine again struck the region in 1983-85. Efforts by local governments to combat desertification in the Sahel have met with limited success.

Sahibdin (11. 17th century, India) Indian miniature painter. His work dominated the Mewar school of Rajasthani painting. Though he was a Muslim, Sahibdin was fully at ease with Hindu themes. He produced abstract compositions that are full of brilliant colour and endowed with religious fervour. Among the important surviving examples of his paint¬ ings are a ragamala (musical modes) series (1628); a series on the Bhagavata-Purana, a scriptural text (1648); and the sixth book ( Yuddha- kanda ) of the Hindu epic the Ramayana (1652).

Saicho \ , s!-,cho\ or Dengyo Daishi (b. 767, Omi province, Japan—d. 822, Hiei-zan) Monk who established the Tendai (Chinese Tiantai) sect of Buddhism in Japan. Ordained at age 13, he studied in China and returned with the teachings of Tendai Buddhism, which embraced the Lotus Sutra. Unlike other Buddhist sects in Japan, it asserted that the material world could hold meaning and value and that the teachings of the Buddha are accessible to all, not just a select few. Saicho enjoyed favour with the government but often incurred the enmity of the leaders of other Japanese Buddhist sects. The monastery he built on Mount Hiei became one of the great centres of Buddhist learning.

Said \sa-'ed\, Edward W(adie) (b. Nov. 1, 1935, Jerusalem—d. Sept. 25, 2003, New York, N.Y., U.S.) Palestinian-bom U.S. literary critic. Said was educated in Western schools in Jerusalem and Cairo before moving to the United States to attend Princeton and Harvard universities. He taught at Columbia University beginning in 1963. In Orientalism (1978), his best-known work, he examines Western stereotypes of the Islamic world and argues that Orientalist scholarship is based on Western impe¬ rialism. An outspoken proponent of Palestinian issues, he wrote on the Middle East in such works as The Question of Palestine (1979) and The Politics of Dispossession (1994). His more general concern was the com¬ plex interaction of literature and politics, which he treated in Beginnings (1975), The World, the Text, and the Critic (1983), and Culture and Impe¬ rialism (1993). Out of Place (1999) is a memoir.

Sa'Id ibn Sultan Vsa-'ed-.ib-on-sul-'tanN or Sa'Td Sayyid

\sa-'ed-'sl-3d\ (b. 1791, Oman—d. Oct. 19, 1856, at sea) Ruler of Mus¬ cat and Oman and of Zanzibar (1806-56). He made Zanzibar the princi¬ pal power in East Africa and the commercial capital of the western Indian Ocean. Under Sa'Id, Zanzibar caravans were sent into central Africa to extract ivory, slaves, and other products. In 1822 he forbade his subjects to sell slaves to European traders. From 1828 he developed the islands

of Zanzibar and Pemba into the world’s largest clove producers, and he built up a large navy that helped expand his commercial interests.

Saigd Takamori VsI-go-.ta-ka-'mo-reX (b. Dec. 7, 1827, Kagoshima, Kyushu, Japan—d. Sept. 24, 1877, Kagoshima) Japanese military and political leader of the late Tokugawa and early Meiji periods. A samurai from the domain of Satsuma, Saigo joined Okubo Toshimichi and Kido Takayoshi in working to overthrow the Tokugawa shogunate (military government) and restore rule by the emperor. He commanded the troops that seized control of the imperial palace from the shogunate, and went on to lead a campaign against the shogunate’s supporters. After the Meiji Restoration (1868), he was given command of the new Imperial Guard. In 1873 he supported a war with Korea; when this plan was cancelled, he resigned from government. He opened a military school in his native Kagoshima that drew to it disaf¬ fected former samurai (class distinctions had been abolished in 1871). In 1877 some of his disciples attacked a government arsenal, and he found himself the unwilling head of a rebellion. It lasted for six months and resulted in some 12,000 dead on both sides, including Saigo himself. He is regarded as a tragic hero by the Japanese.

Saigon See Ho Chi Minh City Saikaku See Ihara Saikaku

sailfish Valued food and game fish in the genus Istiophorus (family Istiophoridae) of warm and temper¬ ate waters worldwide. It has a long, rounded spear extending from its snout but is distinguished from mar¬ lins and related species by its slim¬ mer form, long pelvic fins, and especially its large, sail-like dorsal fin, which is bright blue and spotted.

Deep blue above and silvery below, they grow to about 11 ft (3.4 m) long and 200 lbs (90 kg) or more. They feed mainly on other fishes. Its clas¬ sification is uncertain, and one (/. platypterus) to several species may be recognized.

sailing or yachting Sport or pastime of racing or cruising a sailboat or yacht. A modern yacht (from a Dutch word meaning “ship for chas¬ ing”) is a sailboat used for racing. In the 17th century Dutch royalty sailed early yachts for pleasure; Charles II brought the sport to England. Orga¬ nized yacht racing on the Thames began in the mid-18th century. In North America yachting began with the Dutch in New York in the 17th century. The first U.S. yacht clubs were founded in the mid-19th century. Sailboat races are held over two kinds of courses, point-to-point and closed. Yacht racing has been part of the Olympic Games since 1900. The America's Cup is the preeminent prize in yachting. See illustration on opposite page.

sailplane See glider

Saimaa Vsi-.maV Lake Lake, southeastern Finland. Located northeast of Helsinki, Lake Saimaa has an area of 443 sq mi (1,147 sq km) and is the primary lake in the Great Saimaa lake system, the largest in Finland. About 120 lakes and numerous rivers and streams in the system drain most of southeastern Finland through Lake Saimaa, the Vuoksi River, and the Saimaa Canal to the Gulf of Finland. The lake system provides essen¬ tial transportation links and hydroelectric power among the major towns of the region, and its scenic forests attract many tourists.

saint Holy person. In the New Testament, St. Paul used the term to mean a member of the Christian community, but the term more commonly refers to those noted for their holiness and venerated during their lifetimes or after death. In Roman Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy, saints are pub¬ licly recognized by the church and are considered intercessors with God for the living. They are honoured on special feast days, and their remains and personal effects are venerated as relics. Often Christian saints per¬ form miracles in their lifetime, or miracles occur in their names after their death. In Islam, xvali (“friend of God”) is often translated as saint; in Bud¬ dhism, arhats and bodhisattvas are roughly equivalent to saints. Hindu sadhus are somewhat similar. See also canonization.

Saint Albans Raid (Oct. 19, 1864) Raid by Confederates in the Ameri¬ can Civil War. About 25 Confederate soldiers based in Canada raided the Union town of St. Albans, Vt., where they killed one man and robbed

Sailfish (Istiophorus platypterus)

D. CORSON-SHOSTAL

© 2006 Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.

Saint Andrews ► Saint Croix I 1665

mast

mainsail

batten shroud

lateen day sailer

yawl

ketch

Principal parts of a sloop-rigged sailboat. A single mast is mounted forward of the keel and supported by stays and shrouds. Wind power is harnessed by the main¬ sail, which is fastened to the mast and a swinging boom, is stiffened by battens, and is kept in trim by crew members using the mainsheet. A jib funnels wind past the mainsail and also adds more sail area. A weighted keel translates most of the lateral thrust of the wind into forward motion and also counteracts the tendency of the boat to roll in its hull. The boat is steered from the stern by a rudder, which is turned from the cockpit by a tiller. Another single-mast boat design is the lateen, which has a triangular sail affixed to a long yard that is fastened at an angle to the top of a short mast. A yawl is a two-masted design with the mizzenmast mounted aft of the rudder post. On a ketch the mizzenmast is forward of the rudder.

© MERRIAM-WEBSTER INC.

three banks. They retreated to Canada, where a pursuing U.S. posse cap¬ tured several of them, though the posse was forced to surrender them to Canadian authorities. The Canadians returned the stolen money but later released the soldiers, causing strained relations between the two coun¬ tries.

Saint Andrews City (pop., 1995 est.: 15,000) and seaport, Fife coun¬ cil area, eastern Scotland. It was formerly the ecclesiastical capital of Scotland; its religious traditions began in the 6th century ad, when St. Kenneth is believed to have formed a Celtic religious community there. It received a charter in 1160 and was one of the principal towns in Scot¬ land in the Middle Ages. In 1472 its archbishop was recognized as the primate of Scotland, and it took part in the important events of the Scot¬ tish Reformation. A popular seaside resort, it is noted for its golf courses and for the University of St. Andrews.

Saint Andrews, University of Oldest university in Scotland, founded in 1411 on the outskirts of St. Andrews. The university buildings include St. Salvator’s College (1450), St. Leonard’s College (1512;

merged with St. Salvator’s in 1747), and the University Library (1612). A third college, St. Mary’s (1537), has always taught theology exclu¬ sively. The medical and dental school became independent as the Uni¬ versity of Dundee in 1967.

Saint Augustine \'6-g3-,sten\ City (pop., 2000: 11,592), northeastern Florida, U.S. It is the oldest continuously settled U.S. city. In 1513 Juan Ponce de Leon landed there in search of the Fountain of Youth and claimed the territory for Spain. It became part of the U.S. in 1821. The Castillo de San Marcos, now a national monument, is a symbol of the era of Span¬ ish control. During the American Revolution the city was a refuge for loy¬ alists, and during the Indian Wars it was the place of imprisonment for Osceola and other Seminoles. It is a winter and summer resort and a port on the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway. The economy is based on tourism and fishing.

Saint Bartholomew's Day, Massacre of (Aug. 24-25, 1572) Murder of French Huguenots in Paris by Catholics. As part of the ongo¬ ing Wars of Religion, Catherine de Medicis agreed to a plot by the Guise family (see house of Guise) to assassinate the Huguenot Gaspard II de Coligny. When he was only wounded, Catherine feared discovery of her complicity and secretly urged faithful nobles to murder all the Huguenot leaders, who were in Paris for the wedding of the future Henry IV. The massacre began on August 24 and spread rapidly; after the leaders had been murdered, Huguenot homes and shops were pillaged and their occu¬ pants murdered and thrown into the Seine. Even after the royal order on August 25 to stop the killing, it continued and spread to Rouen, Lyon, Bourges, Orleans, and Bordeaux. By October, about 3,000 Huguenots had been murdered in Paris and probably tens of thousands more in the prov¬ inces.

Saint Basil the Blessed or Pokrovsky \po- l krof-ske\ Cathedral Church constructed at the southern end of Red Square in Moscow (1554- 60) by Ivan IV as a votive offering for his military victories over the Tatars. The brick-and-stone church was designed by the architects Postnik and Barma (who may in fact have been one person). It is a unique and mag¬ nificent architectural fantasy exhibiting Byzantine influences. Eight chap¬ els topped by onion domes surround a central church with a tower topped by a tent-shaped roof and a small golden cupola. Each of the painted domes differs in design and colour.

Saint Bernard Breed of rescue dog that saved about 2,500 people over 300 years of service at a hospice in Great St. Bernard pass in the Pen¬ nine Alps. Probably descended from MASTlFF-like dogs, it was brought to the hospice in the late 17th century. A powerful dog with a massive head and drooping ears, it stands at least 25 in. (65 cm) and weighs 110-200 lbs (50-90 kg). Its dense coat is red-brown and white or brindle and white and may be short or medium-long. The long-haired variety was produced by crosses with the Newfoundland in the early 19th century.

Saint Bernard Pass See Great St. Bernard Pass

Saint Bernard Pass, Little See Little St. Bernard Pass

Saint Christopher and Nevis See Saint Kitts-Nevis

Saint Clair, Lake Lake, west-central Tasmania, Australia. It is located at the southern boundary of Cradle Mountain-Lake Saint Clair National Park. It has an area of 11 sq mi (28 sq km) and an elevation of 2,417 ft (737 m) on Tasmania’s central plateau. Its maximum depth approaches 700 ft (215 m), making it Australia’s deepest lake.

Saint Clair, Lake Lake, forming part of the boundary between Michi¬ gan, U.S., and Ontario, Canada. Roughly circular, with an area of 467 sq mi (1,210 sq km), it connects with the St. Clair River and Lake Huron to the north and with the Detroit River and Lake Erie to the south. It is in a popular summer recreation area. Suburbs of Detroit lie on its western shore.

Saint-Cloud \se n -'klu\ porcelain Soft-paste porcelain made in Saint- Cloud, France, from the last quarter of the 17th century until 1766. Much of the yellowish or creamy off-white porcelain was influenced by late Ming Chinese white porcelain—hence the plum-blossom decoration molded in low relief and figures in the Chinese manner.

Saint Croix \'kroi\ Largest island (pop., 1990: 50,000) of the U.S. Vir¬ gin Islands. Located south of Saint Thomas, it has an area of 84 sq mi (218 sq km). Its capital is Christiansted; the town of Frederiksted is the com¬ mercial centre. In 1493 it was visited by Christopher Columbus, who named

© 2006 Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.

1666 I Saint-Denis ► Saint-John Perse

it Santa Cruz. In the mid-17th century it was colonized in turn by the Dutch, English, Spanish, and French. It was purchased by Denmark in 1733 and sold to the U.S. in 1917. In 1989 it was devastated by a hur¬ ricane but recovered with U.S. aid. Tourism is the main industry; rum is distilled and exported.

Saint-Denis \,se n -d3-'ne\ City (pop., 1999: 85,832), northern France. Now a suburb of Paris, until the mid-19th century it was only a small township centred on its famous abbey church, which had been the burial place of French kings. King Dagobert I founded the abbey in the 7th cen¬ tury and built it over the tomb of St. Denis, patron saint of France. Abbot Suger built there a new basilica which later transformed Western archi¬ tecture from the Romanesque to the Gothic; most late-12th-century French cathedrals, including Chartres, are based on that of Saint-Denis. Remark¬ able tombs found there include those of Louis XII, Anne of Brittany, Henry II, and Catherine de Medicis. The city is now an industrial centre.

Saint-Denis \,sa n -d3-'ne\ City (pop., 1999: 131,557), capital of the French overseas department of Reunion, in the western Indian Ocean. It lies in a basin at the mouth of the St.-Denis River on the northern coast of the island, wedged between the ocean and a mountain rising abruptly behind it. It was originally the main port of Reunion, but an artificial har¬ bour at Fe Port, on the northwestern coast, replaced it in the 1880s. It is primarily an administrative town.

Saint Elias \,3-'lI-3s\ Mountains Segment of the Pacific Coast Ranges in the southwestern Yukon Territory of Canada and eastern Alaska, U.S. The mountains extend southeast about 250 mi (400 km) from the Wrangell Mountains to Cross Sound along the Canada-U.S. border. Many peaks exceed 17,000 ft (5,200 km), including Mount St. Elias (18,008 ft [5,489 km]) and Mount Logan. In 1741 Vitus Bering sighted Mount St. Elias from his ship and became the first official European discoverer of northwestern America. The mountains contain the world’s most extensive ice fields outside the polar ice caps. The southern end of the range forms part of Glacier Bay National Park.

Saint Elmo's fire Glow accompanying the brushlike discharges of atmospheric electricity that usually appears as a tip of light on the extremi¬ ties of such pointed objects as church towers or the masts of ships during stormy weather. It is commonly accompanied by a crackling or fizzing noise. It is commonly observed on the periphery of propellers and along the wing tips, windshield, and nose of aircraft flying in dry snow, in ice crystals, or near thunderstorms. St. Elmo is an Italian corruption of St. Erasmus, patron saint of Mediterranean sailors, who traditionally regarded St. Elmo’s fire as a sign of his guardianship over them.

Saint-Exupery NsaMag-ziE-pa-'reV Antoine (-Marie-Roger) de

(b. June 29, 1900, Lyon, France—d. July 31, 1944, in flight over the Mediterranean) French aviator and writer. He flew as a commercial, test, and military reconnaissance pilot and was a publicity attache for Air France and a reporter. He died when he was shot down on a wartime Air Force mission over the Mediterranean. His writings exalt perilous adven¬ ture and aviation, as in the novels Southern Mail (1929) and Night Flight (1931). Wind, Sand, and Stars (1939) is a lyrical memoir with philosophi¬ cal musings and meditations. The Little Prince (1943) is a child’s fable for adults.

Saint Francis River River, southeastern Missouri and eastern Arkan¬ sas, U.S. Rising in southeastern Missouri and flowing south, it enters the Mississippi River just above Helena, Ark., after a course of 425 mi (684 km). Part of its course forms a portion of the Missouri-Arkansas boundary. It is navigable for 125 mi (201 km).

Saint-Gaudens \sant-'g6-d 3 nz\, Augustus (b. March 1, 1848, Dub¬ lin, Ire.—d. Aug. 3, 1907, Cornish, N.H., U.S.) Irish-born U.S. sculptor. Son of an Irish mother and a French father, he was brought to the U.S. in infancy and at 13 was apprenticed to a cameo cutter. He studied sculp¬ ture in New York and at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris (1867-70), then settled in New York City in 1872. Between 1880 and 1897 he executed most of the works that earned him his reputation as the foremost American sculptor of the late 19th century. His first important commis¬ sion was the monument to David Farragut (1878-81) in New York’s Madi¬ son Square Park. For Boston he produced his great relief monument to Col. Robert G. Shaw and his African American Civil War regiment (1884- 97). The memorial to the wife of Henry Adams (1886-91) in Washington, D.C., a mysterious draped figure with a shadowed face, is often consid¬ ered his greatest work.

Saint George's Town (pop., 1991 est.: 5,000), capital of Grenada, in the West Indies. It lies on the island’s southwestern coast, on a small pen¬ insula. Founded by the French in 1650, it became the capital of the Wind¬ ward Islands (1885-1958). Now a port, it exports cacao, nutmeg, mace, and bananas. It was the scene of fighting in 1983 during the military inter¬ vention in Grenada by U.S. and Caribbean forces.

Saint George's Channel Wide passage between the Irish Sea and the northern Atlantic Ocean. It extends for 100 mi (160 km) and has a minimum width of 47 mi (76 km) between Camsore Point, Ireland, and St. David’s Head, Wales. The name derives from the legend of St. George, in which he traveled to England by sea.

Saint-Germain \ 1 sa n -zher- , ma ll \ / Treaty of (1919) Treaty ending World War I between Austria and the Allied Powers. Signed at Saint- Germain-en-Laye, near Paris, on Sept. 10, 1919, it came into force on July 16, 1920. It registered the breakup of the Habsburg empire and rec¬ ognized the independence of Czechoslovakia, Poland, Hungary, and the Kingdom of the Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes (later Yugoslavia). Eastern Galicia, southern Tirol, and Trieste were also ceded by Austria. The treaty limited Austria’s army to 30,000 men, dismantled the Austro-Hungarian navy, and barred the union of Austria with Germany.

Saint Gotthard Yga-tard\ Pass Mountain pass, Lepontine Alps, south¬ ern Switzerland. An important motor and railway route between central Europe and Italy, the pass lies at an elevation of 6,916 ft (2,108 m) and is 16 mi (26 km) long. Though the pass was known to the Romans, it was not generally used until the early 13th century. A long, winding motor¬ way leads across the pass, and the St. Gotthard Tunnel extends for more than 9 mi (14 km) beneath it. The railway through the tunnel connects Lucerne with Milan.

Saint Helena Vhe-lo-no, ho-'le-noX Island (pop., 2003 est.: 3,800), east¬ ern South Atlantic Ocean. Located 1,200 mi (1,950 km) west of Africa, Saint Helena has an area of 47 sq mi (122 sq km). The capital and port is Jamestown. With Ascension Island and Tristan da Cunha, it constitutes a British overseas territory (area: 119 sq mi [308 sq km]; pop., 2003 est.: 5,104). Discovered in 1502, it became a port of call for ships sailing between Europe and the East Indies. It was owned by the English East India Co. in the 17th century; because of its remoteness, it was used as the final place of exile for Napoleon (1815-21). It declined in importance after the Suez Canal was opened in 1869.

Saint Helens, Mount Volcanic peak in the Cascade Range, south¬ western Washington, U.S. Dormant since 1857, it erupted in May 1980 in one of the greatest volcanic explosions ever recorded in North America. Sixty people and thousands of animals were killed in the May 18 event, and 10 million trees were blown down by the lateral air blast. At the event’s end Mount St. Helens’s volcanic cone had been completely blasted away; in place of its 9,680-ft (2,950-m) peak was a horseshoe¬ shaped crater with a rim reaching elevations of about 8,000 ft (2,400 m). Further eruptions have occurred since 1980, and a dome of lava has grown in the crater. Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument was estab¬ lished in 1982.

Saint-Jean \sa n -'zha n \, Lac Lake, south-central Quebec, Canada. A shallow lake, it has an area of 387 sq mi (1,003 sq km) and discharges into the Saguenay River. In the 20th century logging operations on its feeder streams led to the establishment of large paper mills on the lake. Since 1926 the lake’s seasonal fluctuations have been controlled by two hydroelectric dams. It is a tourist resort centre famous for its salmon fishing.

Saint John City (pop., 2001: 69,661), southern New Brunswick, Canada. It is situated on the Bay of Fundy, at the mouth of the Saint John River. The site, visited by Samuel de Champlain in 1604 and fortified in the 1630s, was occupied by the British in 1758. It was chartered as the first city in Canada in 1785. The city recovered from a disastrous fire in 1877. Its year-round ice-free harbour fostered shipping, shipbuilding, and fishing. It is the province’s largest city and principal port. Industries include lumbering and pulp and paper products.

Saint John, Henry See Viscount Boungbroke

Saint-John Perse \sa n -dzhon-'pers\ orig. Marie-Rene-Auguste- Alexis Saint-Leger Leger (b. May 31, 1887, Saint-Leger-les Feuilles, Guad.—d. Sept. 20, 1975, Presqu’ile-de-Giens, France) French poet and diplomat. He served in various diplomatic posts from 1914 until his dismissal by the collaborationist Vichy government in 1940. He spent

© 2006 Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.

Saint John River ► Saint Lawrence I 1667

the years 1940-57 in exile in the U.S. The language of his poetry, admired especially by poets for its precision and purity, is difficult, and he made little appeal to the general public. His works include Anabasis (1924; translated by T.S. Eliot), Exile (1942), Winds (1946), Seamarks (1957), and Birds (1962). He was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1960.

Saint John River River, northeastern U.S. and southeastern Canada. Rising in northwestern Maine, it flows northeast to the Canadian border, then southeast to form that international boundary; in Canada, it flows through New Brunswick into the Bay of Fundy at Saint John. It is 418 mi (673 km) long. At Grand Falls, the river drops 75 ft (23 m), and at its mouth are the “reversing falls” rapids, caused by the strong tides of the bay, which at high tide force the river to reverse its flow.

Saint John's City (pop., 1991 est.: 22,000), capital of Antigua and Barbuda, West Indies. It lies on Antigua’s northwestern coast. It is a resort and the island’s main port, handling sugar, cotton, machinery, and lum¬ ber. Nearby Fort St. John’s was damaged over the centuries (1690-1847) by earthquakes, fire and a hurricane.

Saint John's City (pop., 2001: 172,918), port, and capital of Newfound¬ land and Labrador, Canada. Located on the southeastern Atlantic coast, St. John’s was a small fishing base from the early 16th century; it was colo¬ nized by the British in 1583. Attacked several times by the French, it was securely British from 1762 and prospered as a fishing port, despite several disastrous fires in the 19th century. It is a commercial and industrial centre, a major ocean port, and the base for the province’s fishing fleet. Industries include shipbuilding and fish processing. The annual regatta is one of the oldest sports events in North America. Signal Hill Historic Park memori¬ alizes several events, including Guglielmo Marconi’s reception of the first transatlantic wireless message from Europe (1901).

Saint Johns River River, northeastern Florida, U.S. It rises in the east-central part of the state and flows north parallel to the coast until it turns at Jacksonville to empty into the Atlantic Ocean, after a course of 285 mi (459 km). It is important for both shipping and recreation.

Saint-John's-wort Common name for plants in the family Hyperi- caceae, which contains 350 species of herbs or low shrubs in eight gen¬ era. The family is sometimes considered part of the family Guttiferae. The majority of species (about 300) belong to the genus Hypericum. Their leaves are opposite or whorled, dotted with glands, and usually have smooth margins. Several species are cultivated in temperate regions for their handsome flowers. H. perforatum, a showy golden flower grown in both the Old and New Worlds whose buds contain a red oil, has long been credited with magical and medicinal powers; today it is being widely used and studied for its possible efficacy against depression.

Saint-Just \sa n -'zhmst\, Louis (-Antoine-Leon) de (b. Aug. 25, 1767, Decize, France—d. July 28,

1794, Paris) French Revolutionary leader. In support of the French Revolution, he wrote the radical Esprit de la revolution et de la con¬ stitution de France (1791) and was elected to the National Convention in 1792. A close associate of Maxi- milien Robespierre and a member of the Committee of Public Safety, he was elected president of the Convention in 1793 and sponsored the Ventose (March) Decrees, which confiscated property of the Revolution’s enemies and redistributed it to the poor. He led the victorious attack against the Austrians at Fleurus (in modern Bel¬ gium). A fanatical leader of the Reign of Terror, he was arrested in the Ther- midorian Reaction and guillotined.

Saint Kitts and Nevis officially Federation of Saint Kitts and Nevis Island country, Leeward Islands, in the eastern Caribbean Sea.

Area: 104 sq mi (269 sq km). Popu¬ lation (2005 est.): 46,600. Capital: Basseterre (on Saint Kitts). Most of the population is of African descent. Language: English (official). Religions:

volcanic origin, with mountain ranges ris¬ ing to 3,792 ft (1,156 m). The climate is tropical, and heavy vegetation covers most of the mountainous interior. The economy is based on agri¬ culture; sugar has long been the mainstay, and tourism is also important. Saint Kitts and Nevis is a constitutional monarchy with one legislative house; its chief of state is the British monarch represented by the governor-general, and the head of government is the prime minister. Saint Kitts became the first British colony in the West Indies in 1623. Anglo- French rivalry grew in the 17th century and lasted more than a century. In 1783, by the Treaty of Versailles, the islands became wholly British possessions. They were united with Anguilla from 1882 to 1980 but became an independent federation within the British Commonwealth in

Saint Laurent Vsa n -l6-'ra n \, Louis (Stephen) (b. Feb. 1, 1882, Compton, Que., Can.—d. July 25, 1973, Quebec, Que.) Prime minister of Canada (1948-57). One of Canada’s most prominent lawyers, he served in the Canadian House of Commons (1942-58) and in W.L. Mac¬ kenzie King’s cabinet as minister of justice and attorney general (1942-46) and minister of external affairs (1945—48). As leader of the Liberal Party (1948), he succeeded King as prime minister. He promoted Canadian unity by equalizing provincial revenues and expanded social security and university education. He supported Canadian membership in NATO and helped establish the St. Lawrence Seaway.

Saint Laurent \sa n -l6-'ra n \, Yves (-Henri-Donat-Mathieu) (b.

Aug. 1, 1936, Oran, Alg.) Algerian-born French fashion designer. He left for Paris after secondary school to pursue a fashion career and at 17 was hired as Christian Dior’s assistant. When Dior died four years later, he was named head of the House of Dior. In 1962 he opened his own fash¬ ion house and quickly emerged as one of the world’s most influential designers. He popularized trousers for women for both city and country wear. Metallic and transparent fabrics were prominent in his late ’60s col¬ lections; in the 1970s, inspired by ethnic costume, he introduced the haute peasant look. During the 1960s and ’70s his enterprises expanded to include ready-to-wear licenses, accessories, household linens, fragrances, and men’s clothes in addition to his couture business. He retired in 2002.

Saint Lawrence, Gulf of Deep gulf of the Atlantic Ocean off eastern Canada. It has an area of about 60,000 sq mi (155,000 sq km). It touches the shores of half of the provinces of Canada, providing a gateway to the inte¬ rior of the entire North American continent. Its boundaries are the maritime estuary at the mouth of the Saint Lawrence River, the Strait of Belle Isle

Louis de Saint-Just, portrait after a red chalk drawing by Christophe Guerin,

COURTESY OF THE BIBUOTHtoUE NATIONALE, PARIS

© 2006 Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.

1668 I Saint Lawrence River ► Saint Paul River

between Newfoundland and the mainland, and Cabot Strait. It has many islands, including Prince Edward Isiand and the Magdalen Islands.

Saint Lawrence River River, southern Quebec and southeastern Ontario, Canada. It flows northeast out of Lake Ontario into the Gulf of Saint Lawrence and is about 760 mi (1,225 km) long. It passes through the Thousand Islands and for about 120 mi (195 km) forms the boundary between New York and Ontario. Entering Quebec, it widens into Lake St. Francis, then flows past Montreal island. Below Quebec city it widens to 90 mi (145 km) at its mouth in the Gulf of St. Lawrence. Major tribu¬ taries include the Ottawa, Saguenay, Richelieu, and Manicouagan rivers, all in Canada. It links the Atlantic Ocean with the Great Lakes through the Saint Lawrence Seaway.

Saint Lawrence Seaway U.S.-Canadian waterway and lock system. Located along the upper St. Lawrence River, it links the Atlantic Ocean with the Great Lakes. Its construction, carried out in 1954-59, involved clearing a 186-mi (299-km) stretch of the St. Lawrence River between Montreal and Lake Ontario. It included lakes, rivers, locks, and canals that extended for 2,340 mi (3,766 km) to connect Duluth, Minn., with the head of the Gulf of St. Lawrence. With the Great Lakes, it provides 9,500 mi (15,285 km) of navigable waterways. It allows deep-draft ocean ves¬ sels access to the Great Lakes’ rich industrial and agricultural regions. It is navigable from April to mid-December.

Saint-Leon \sa n -la-'o n \, (Charles-Victor-) Arthur (-Michel) (b.

Sept. 17, 1821, Paris, Fr.—d. Sept. 2, 1870, Paris) French dancer, cho¬ reographer, and violinist. He trained with his ballet-master father and toured extensively throughout Europe (1838-59), often playing the vio¬ lin as he danced. He was ballet master at the Imperial Theatre in St. Petersburg (1859-69); his The Humpbacked Horse (1864) was the first ballet based on Russian folk themes. In 1870 he became ballet master at the Paris Opera, where he choreographed his most famous ballet, Cop- pelia. He developed an early system of dance notation, which he pub¬ lished in 1852.

Saint Louis City (pop., 2000: 348,189), east-central Missouri, U.S. Located on the Mississippi River below its confluence with the Missouri River, it was founded by Auguste Chouteau in 1764 as a trading post and was named for King Louis IX of France. It became the crossroads of westward expansion for exploring parties, fur-trading expeditions, and pioneers traveling the Santa Fe and Oregon trails. Since the 19th-century steam¬ boat era and the arrival of the railroads in the 1850s, it has been a major transportation hub. Its diversified industries include brewing, food pro¬ cessing, and the manufacture of aircraft. The largest city in the state, it is home to many educational institutions, including Washington University and St. Louis University. The emblem of the city is its Gateway Arch, designed by Eero Saarinen.

Saint Lucia Vlu-sh9\ Island country, Windward Isands, in the eastern Caribbean Sea. Area: 238 sq mi (617 sq km). Population (2005 est.): 161,000. Capital: Castries. Most of the population is of African descent. Languages: English (official), French patois. Religions: Christianity (Roman Catholic, Protestant); also Rastafarianism. Currency: Eastern Caribbean dollar. Saint Lucia is of volcanic origin; within the Qualibou Caldera is Sulphur Springs, which continues to emit steam and gases and is a prime tourist attraction. Wooded mountains run north-south, culmi¬ nating in Mount Gimie (3,145 ft [958.6 mj). The economy is based on agriculture and tourism. Saint Lucia is a constitutional monarchy with a parliament of two legislative houses; its chief of state is the British mon¬ arch represented by the governor-general, and the head of government is the prime minister. Caribs replaced early Arawak inhabitants c. ad 800- 1300. Settled by the French in 1650, Saint Lucia was ceded to Great Brit¬ ain in 1814 and became one of the Windward Islands in 1871. It became fully independent in 1979. See map above.

Saint-Malo \sa n -ma-To\, Gulf of Gulf of the English Channel, France. Indenting the northern coast of Brittany, the gulf extends from the island of Brehat to the peninsula of Cotentin, Normandy. It includes the rocky islet of Mont-Saint-Michel. At low tide in spring and fall a huge tract of land is uncovered at the gulfs main port, Saint-Malo. The shore is lined with numerous small resorts.

Saint Mark's Basilica or San Marco Basilica Church in Venice built to house the remains of St. Mark. The basilica originally built for this purpose, begun in 829, was burned during a revolt in 976; the present structure, one of the most beautiful buildings in Europe, was completed

CARIBBEAN

SEA

Saint Lucia Channel

Cap Point

Pigeon Island

Gros Islet*

^Dauphin

^Castries *

Grand Anse

Sans SoucfS^k^

La Croix Maingot*

_L \ $e nn 5£j- j

Anse La Raye

_ . / Dennery

Canaries! J

Ml. Gimie Praslin a 3, 145 ft. *

Soufriere* Mon Re P os

^Micoud

%p\ .Desruisjseau

Londonderry/

Choiseul* Laborie

MARIA

Vieux Fort* ISLANDS

Saint Vincent Passage

& 2006 Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.

ATLANTIC

OCEAN

in 1071. The plan is an Eastern symmetri¬ cal Greek cross (see church) surmounted by five domes. The design is distinctly Byzan¬ tine, and both Byzantine and Italian archi¬ tects and craftsmen probably worked on it.

The interior is decorated with mosaics on a gold background; the floor is of inlaid marble and glass. In the restricted light their colours glow fan¬ tastically. Over the centuries, the church has benefited richly from the addition of sculptures, mosaics, and ceremonial objects.

Saint Martin Dutch Sint Maarten Island, Leeward Isands, eastern West Indies. Located northwest of Saint Kitts and Nevis, it covers an area of 33 sq mi (85 sq km). Discovered by Christopher Columbus, it was divided in 1648 between the French and the Dutch. The northern section of the island (20 sq mi [52 sq km]) is a dependency of the French overseas department of Guadeloupe; its chief town is Marigot (pop., 1990: 26,000). The island’s southern section (13 sq mi [34 sq km]) is administratively part of the Netherands Antilles; its main town is the island’s capital, Phil- ipsburg (pop., 1990: 32,000). The island’s economy is based on tourism.

Saint-Maurice \sa n -mo-'res\ River River, southern Quebec, Canada. It is 325 mi (523 km) long and a major tributary of the Saint Lawrence River, flowing south from Gouin Reservoir into the St. Lawrence at Trois Rivieres. It is a major logging river, serving large pulp and paper facto¬ ries at La Tuque, Grand-Mere, Shawinigan, and Trois Rivieres. Since 1900 it has also been a major source of hydroelectric power.

Saint Paul City (pop., 2000: 287,151), capital of Minnesota, U.S. It is in the eastern part of the state, on the Mississippi River just east of Minne¬ apolis, with which it forms the Twin Cities. In 1805 Zebulon Pike made an unofficial treaty there with the Dakota (Sioux) for possession of the region. First settled in 1838, it was known as Pig’s Eye until 1841, when a log chapel dedicated to St. Paul was built there. It became the capital of the Minnesota Territory in 1849 and of the state in 1858. It was important in the development of the upper Midwest because of its location on the Mis¬ sissippi and its rail links, which promoted its livestock market. It is a major transportation, commercial, and industrial centre with diversified manu¬ factures, including automobiles, electronic equipment, and food products. Educational institutions include Macalester and Concordia colleges.

Saint Paul River River, western Africa. Rising in southeastern Guinea, its upper reach forms part of the border between Guinea and Liberia. It enters Liberia north of Gbamga and discharges into the Atlantic Ocean after a southwesterly course of about 280 mi (450 km). Navigable for 18 mi (29 km) upstream, the river and its major tributaries drain much of Liberia and Guinea. Two arms of the river enclose Bushrod Island, site of the port of Monrovia.

© 2006 Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.

Saint Paul's Cathedral ► Saint Vincent and the Grenadines I 1669

Saint Paul's Cathedral Cathedral of the Church of England in Lon¬ don. The present building is a domed church of great openness designed in a restrained style that combines elements of Neoclassical, Gothic, and Baroque architecture. It was designed by Christopher Wren and con¬ structed (1675-1710) of Portland stone. The building replaced Old St. Paul’s, destroyed in the Great Fire of 1666. The interior is characterized by ironwork and woodcarving by master crafts workers. The majestic dome, set on a colonnaded drum, rises 365 ft (111 m). The superbly detailed cathedral that Wren built bears only a slight resemblance to the Classical-Gothic design that had been accepted; why this is so remains a mystery.

Saint Peter's Basilica Present church of St. Peter’s in Rome, begun by Pope Julius II in 1506 and completed in 1615. It is the church of the popes and one of the world’s largest churches. It was built to replace Old St. Peter’s, erected by Constantine over Peter’s traditional burial place. According to the original plan of Donato Bramante, it was to take the form of a Greek cross around a central dome. Successive architects, including Raphael, drew fresh plans after Bramante’s death, modifying the original Greek-cross plan to a Latin cross. Antonio da Sangallo the Younger returned to Bramante’s symmetrical plan. Michelangelo, who followed Sangallo, nearly completed the drum for the massive dome before his death. Pope Paul V (r. 1605-21) then insisted on a longitudinal plan for liturgical reasons and adopted the plan of Carlo Mademo (1556-1629), which extended the nave to the east. Gian Lorenzo Bernini added the ellip¬ tical piazza, lined by colonnades, that serves as the approach to the basilica. The interior is filled with Renaissance and Baroque masteipieces, including Michelangelo’s Pieta, Bernini’s baldachin, a statue of St. Longi¬ nus, the tomb of Urban VIII, and a bronze throne of St. Peter.

Saint Petersburg Russian Sankt-Peterburg Vsankt-,p y 3- t y or-'burk\ formerly (1914-24) Petrograd or (1924-91) Leningrad City (pop., 2002: 4,669,400) and port, northwestern Russia. Located on the delta of the Neva River where it enters the Gulf of Finland, it is Rus¬ sia’s second largest city after Moscow. Founded by Peter I (the Great) in 1703, it was the capital of the Russian Empire from 1712 to 1917. It was the scene of the Decembrist revolt in 1825 and the Bloody Sunday attack on workers in the Russian Revolution of 1905. The original centre of the Bolshevik revolution (see Russian Revolution of 1917), it lost its capital status to Moscow in 1918. In World War II it underwent a siege by Ger¬ man forces (September 1941-January 1944), during which hundreds of thousands of people died (see Siege of Leningrad). From 1990 a reform¬ ist city council and mayor helped swing the country from the control of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. St. Petersburg is a cultural, edu¬ cational, and industrial centre and Russia’s largest seaport. Industries include engineering, printing, manufacturing, and shipbuilding. One of Europe’s most beautiful cities, it is strewn with canals and several hun¬ dred bridges; its many palaces, cathedrals, museums (including the Her¬ mitage), and historical monuments were designated a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1990.

Saint Petersburg City (pop., 2000: 248,232), west-central Florida, U.S. It lies near the tip of Pinellas Peninsula, adjacent to Tampa Bay. Settled in 1876, it became in the late 1940s one of the first Florida cities to encourage tourists to spend their retirement years there. It is a winter resort and a centre for yachting and sport fishing. The city is connected by sev¬ eral bridges with a string of sandy islands (west) between the Gulf of Mexico and Boca Ciega Bay; seaside communities such as St. Pete Beach are located there. To the south, the Sunshine Skyway Bridge across the lower bay links the city to Bradenton and Sarasota.

Saint-Pierre and Miquelon \'sant- , pir... , mi-k3- l lan\ French \se n - , pyer-a-me- , klo n \ French overseas territorial collectivity (pop., 1993 est.: 6,000). It consists of an archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean off the southern coast of Newfoundland, Can. The largest island, Miquelon, has an area of 83 sq mi (215 sq km). St.-Pierre, with an area of 10 sq mi (26 sq km), is the administrative and commercial centre; almost 90% of the population live there. First settled by seafarers from western France early in the 17th century, the islands changed hands several times between France and Britain until an 1814 treaty made French possession final. They were classified as a French territory in 1946, a department in 1976, and a territorial collectivity in 1985. The economy is based on fishing.

Saint-Saens \sa n -'sa n s\, (Charles) Camille (b. Oct. 9, 1835, Paris, France—d. Dec. 16, 1921, Algiers) French composer. Astonishingly gifted from childhood, with a phenomenal memory (at his debut piano recital

at age 11, he offered to play any Beethoven sonata without music), he became a darling of the salons and a celebrated improviser. To promote new music by French composers, he founded the Societe Nationale de Musique in 1871. His compositions are often brilliant in their effects but not always profound. Of his 13 operas, Samson et Dalila (1877) had the greatest success. He wrote piano, cello, and violin concertos and three symphonies (including the “ Organ ” Symphony, 1886); his tone poem Danse macabre (1874) and the suite Carnival of the Animals (1886) are widely known.

Saint-Simon \sa n -se-'mo n \, (Claude-) Henri (de Rouvroy, comte) de (b. Oct. 17, 1760, Paris,

France—-d. May 19, 1825, Paris)

French social theorist. He joined the French army at age 17 and was sent to aid the colonists in the American Revolution. After his return to France (1783), he made a fortune in land speculation but gradually dissi¬ pated it. He turned to the study of science and technology as the solu¬ tion to society’s problems and wrote “On the Reorganization of European Society” (1814) and (with Auguste Comte) “Industry” (1816-18), in which he envisioned an industrial¬ ized state directed by modern sci¬ ence. In New Christianity (1825), he stated that religion should guide society toward improving life for the poor. His disciples helped influence the rise of Christian socialism.

Saint Thomas Chief island (pop.,

1990: 48,000), U.S. Virgin Islands.

Located east of Puerto Rico, it covers an area of 32 sq mi (83 sq km). The capital, Charlotte Amalie, has a well-sheltered harbour. Sighted in 1493 by Christopher Columbus, St. Thomas was colonized first by the Dutch (1657) and then by the Danish (1666). After 1673, when slavery was introduced, the island became one of the chief Caribbean sugar producers and a major slaving centre. Falling sugar prices after 1820 and the abolition of slavery in 1848 led to a decrease in profits. The U.S. bought St. Thomas for use as a naval base in 1917. The chief industry is tourism.

Saint Vincent, Cape Cape, Portugal. Located at the southwesternmost point of Portugal, the cape was known to the Greeks and Romans as Promontorium Sacrum (“Sacred Point”) because of a shrine there. Pasto- ralism and fishing are the economic mainstays of the region. Near Sagres, the main settlement, was the town of Vila do Infante, where c. 1420 Prince Henry the Navigator established a naval observatory and school for navi¬ gators. Many naval battles have taken place off the cape.

Saint Vincent, Gulf Triangular inlet of the Indian Ocean, southeast¬ ern Australia. It is on the coast of South Australia between Yorke Penin¬ sula (west) and the mainland (east and southeast). About 90 mi (145 km) long and 45 mi (73 km) wide, it is linked to the ocean by Investigator Strait and Backstairs Passage. Kangaroo Island lies across the gulfs entrance. Adelaide and Port Adelaide Enfield (pop., 2004 est.: 103,830), South Australia’s leading port, are on its eastern side.

Saint Vincent and the Grenadines \'gre-n9-,denz\ Island country, Windward Islands, in the eastern Caribbean Sea. It is composed of Saint Vincent island and the northern Grenadines. Area: 150 sq mi (389 sq km). Pop. (2005 est.): 119,000. Capital: Kingstown. Most of the population is of African descent. Languages: English (official), French patois. Religions: Christianity (mostly Protestant; also other Christians, Roman Catholic); also Hinduism, Islam. Currency: Eastern Caribbean dollar. The islands are composed of volcanic rock. Thickly wooded volcanic mountains run north- south and are cut by many swift streams. Soufriere (4,048 ft [1,234 m]), the highest of the mountains, has had devastating volcanic eruptions. Agricul¬ ture is the mainstay of the economy, and export crops include bananas and arrowroot. Tourism is also important. The country is a constitutional mon¬ archy with one legislative house; its chief of state is the British monarch represented by the governor-general, and the head of government is the prime minister. The French and the British contested for control of Saint Vincent until 1763, when it was ceded to England by the Treaty of Paris.

Henri de Saint-Simon, lithograph by L. Deymaru, 19th century

BBC HULTON PICTURE LIBRARY

© 2006 Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.

1670 I Sainte-Beuve ► Saki

61 ° 20 ' Saint Vincent Passage 6

Fancy^^.

±Soufriere 4,048 ft. Wallibou^ 1:3 .Orange Hill Chateaubelair. A 3,523 ^Georgetown

SAINT VINCENT

.Biabou •Mespotamia *Stubbs

Barrouallie

Layou*

Kingstown®

Calliaqua^—

BEQUIA

ATLANTIC

OCEAN

CARIBBEAN

SEA

** Derrick PETIT NEVIS BETTOW1A ISLAND ICI x ISLAND ; o

‘mmr THE BALICEAUX ISLAND ^ QUATRE piLL0R , ES

to

to

to

V Nor

PETIT

CANOUAN

(/xMUSTIQUE PETIT MUSTIQUE ISLAND SAVAN ISLAND

CANOUAN

^ MAYREAU

UNION ISLAND^! 0 CAYS

Ashton prune ISLAND PETIT SAINT

Ch<" VINCENT ISLAND

3 2002 Encyclopaedia Britanmca, Inc. GRENADA

SAINT VINCENT AND THE GRENADINES

The original inhabitants, the Caribs, recog¬ nized British sovereignty but revolted in 1795. Most of the Caribs were deported; many who remained were killed in volcanic eruptions in 1812 and 1902. In 1969 Saint

Vincent became a self-governing state in association with the United King¬ dom, and in 1979 it achieved full independence.

Sainte-Beuve \sa n t-'bcev\, Charles-Augustin (b. Dec. 23, 1804, Boulogne, France—d. Oct. 13, 1869, Paris) French literary historian and critic. In 1825 he began contributing critical articles to periodicals. In essays collected in Critiques et portraits litteraires, 5 vol. (1832—39) and Portraits contemporains (1846), he developed a new approach to critiqu¬ ing living writers that involved extensive biographical research to under¬ stand their mental attitudes. His famous “Monday Chats,” published in newspapers from 1849 to 1869, were detailed, well-rounded literary stud¬ ies in which he applied historical frames of reference to contemporary writing. His methods revolutionized French criticism by freeing it from personal prejudice and partisan passions. His Port-Royal (1840-48) is a scholarly history of an abbey and of 17th-century France.

Saintsbury, George (Edward Bateman) (b. Oct. 23, 1845, Southampton, Hampshire, Eng.—d. Jan. 28, 1933, Bath, Somerset) English literary historian and critic. When the school at which he was teaching failed in 1876, he decided to write for a living. He produced several successful volumes of criticism of French literature and extensive writings on English literature. Though he formulated no philosophy of criticism, his works were influential because they combined authoritative scholarship with the popular appeal of entertaining prose. They include A History of Criticism and Literary Taste in Europe from the Earliest Texts to the Present Day (1900-04), one of the first surveys of critical literary theory and practice.

Saipan \si-'pan, sl-'pan\ Island (pop., 2000: 62,392), Northern Mariana Islands, in the western Pacific Ocean. It has an area of 42 sq mi (109 sq km). Its chief settlement, Chalan Kanoa, is the Northern Marianas’ com¬ monwealth centre. Ruled by Spain (1565-1899), it then passed to Ger¬ many (1899-1914). It was a Japanese mandate from 1920, but in 1944 during World War II it was captured by U.S. forces after fierce fighting. It subsequently was the headquarters of the U.S.-administered UN Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands (terminated 1990). Copra is the island’s chief product.

Sais Vsa-is \ Arabic Sa al-Hajar Ancient Egyptian city. Located in the delta on the Canopic, or Rosetta, branch of the Nile River, it was from prehistoric times the site of the chief shrine of Neith, goddess of war and the loom. It became the capital of Egypt under Psamtik I (r. 664-609 bc).

His successors of the 26th dynasty also had their capital there. Enriched by trade from the Mediterranean region and Africa, the Saite kings built fine temples, palaces, and tombs. Inscribed stones found on the site and in nearby villages are all that remain of the once-great city.

Saivism See Shaivism

saivo Vsl-,vu\ One of the Sami regions of the dead, where the deceased lead happy lives with their families and ancestors, acting in every way as they did on earth. In Norway the saivo world was thought to exist in the mountains, whereas in Finland it was usually believed to be under spe¬ cial double-bottomed lakes. These localities were regarded as sacred and as sources of power that could be used by the shaman, or noaide. When the noaide wished to go into a trance, he would ask his guardian spirits from the saivo to aid him.

Sakakura \,sa-ka-'ku-ra\ Junzo (b. May 29, 1904, Gifu prefecture, Japan—d. Sept. 1, 1969, Tokyo) Japanese architect. He was one of the first to combine 20th-century European architecture with traditional Japa¬ nese elements. His first outstanding East-West blend was the Japanese pavilion at the 1937 World Exposition in Paris. He worked in the Paris office of Le Corbusier (1931-36) and was known as Le Corbusier’s lead¬ ing advocate in Japan. His major works include the Museum of Modern Art in Kamakura (1951) and Shinjuku Station Square and Odakyu Depart¬ ment Store in Tokyo (1964-67).

sake Vsa-ke\ Japanese alcoholic beverage made from fermented rice. It dates to at least the 3rd century ad. Sake is light in colour and noncar- bonated, with a sweet flavour; its alcohol content is about 18% by vol¬ ume. Often mistakenly called a wine, sake is closer in its method of manufacture to beer. Steamed rice is combined with a mold that converts the rice starch to fermentable sugars; the mix is kneaded into a paste, twice fermented (with fresh rice and water added), filtered, and bottled. In Japan, where it is the national beverage and the traditional drink of the Shinto gods, sake is warmed in a small earthenware or porcelain vessel before being blessed and served in small porcelain cups.

Sakha or Yakut Siberian people who speak a Turkic language. Most were formerly seminomadic, raising cattle and horses. They lived in win¬ ter settlements of earth-covered log huts and summer camps of conical birch-bark tents near pasturage and sources of hay for winter fodder. Through assimilation, many southern Sakha turned to farming while northern Sakha adopted reindeer breeding from the Evenk. The Sakha were noted for their ironwork (supernatural power was attributed to black¬ smiths) and also made pottery; traditional arts such as ivory and wood carving are still practiced. Filmmaking has become popular more recently. The Sakha number about 380,000. See also Siberian peoples.

Sakhalin \,sa-ka-'len\ Island Island, extreme eastern Russia. Together with the Kuril Islands, it forms an administrative region of Russia. It is 589 mi (948 km) long and a maximum of 100 mi (160 km) wide; it covers 29,500 sq mi (76,400 sq km). Sakhalin was first settled by Russians in 1853, and it came under Russian control in 1875 when Japan ceded it in exchange for the Kuril Islands. Japan held the southern part from 1905 to 1945, then ceded it and the Kurils to the U.S.S.R. The economy is dominated by fishing, lumbering, coal mining, and the extraction of oil and natural gas in the north.

Sakharov \'sa-k3-,r6f\, Andrey (Dmitriyevich) (b. May 21, 1921, Moscow, Russia—d. Dec. 14, 1989, Moscow) Russian nuclear physicist and human rights advocate. He worked with I.Y. Tamm (1895-1971) to develop the Soviet Union’s first hydrogen bomb, but in 1961 he opposed Nikita Khrushchev’s plan to test a 100-megaton hydrogen bomb in the atmosphere. In 1968 he published in the West “Progress, Coexistence, and Intellectual Freedom,” which called for nuclear arms reduction and criti¬ cized Soviet repression of dissidents. He and his wife, Yelena G. Bonner, continued to advocate civil liberties and reform in the Soviet Union. In 1975 Sakharov received the Nobel Prize for Peace but was forbidden to travel to Oslo to receive it. In 1980 he was exiled to the closed city Gorky (now Nizhny Novgorod); his wife was exiled there in 1984. They were released in 1986 and returned to Moscow. Elected to the Congress of Peo¬ ple’s Deputies in April 1989, Sakharov had his honours restored and saw many of the causes for which he had fought and suffered become official policy under Mikhail Gorbachev.

Saki \'sa-ke\ orig. H(ector) H(ugh) Munro (b. Dec. 18, 1870, Akyab, Burma—d. Nov. 14, 1916, near Beaumont-Hamel, France) Scot¬ tish writer. A journalist early in his career, he wrote political satires and

© 2006 Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.

Sakkara ► Salerno I 1671

worked as a foreign correspondent before settling in London in 1908. His comic short stories and sketches, which satirize the Edwardian social scene, were published in Reginald (1904), Reginald in Russia (1910), The Chronicles of Clovis (1911), and Beasts and Super-Beasts (1914); the best-known include “Tobermory” and “The Open Window.” Studded with epigrams and with well-contrived plots, his stories reveal a vein of cru¬ elty and a self-identification with the enfant terrible. He was killed in action in World War I.

Sakkara See Saqqarah sakti See shakti Saktism See Shaktism

Sakyamuni Vsak-ys-.mu-neV Epithet of the Buddha Gautama meaning “sage of the Sakyas.” The Sakyas were a clan into which the Buddha was born a prince; their kingdom covered an area that is today in southern Nepal and part of what is now northern Uttar Pradesh, India.

Saladin \'sa-b-d 3 n \ byname o/Salah al-DTn Yusuf ibn Ayyub (b.

1137/38, Tikrlt, Mesopotamia—d. March 4, 1193, Damascus, Syria) Kur¬ dish sultan of Egypt, Syria, Yemen, and Palestine and founder of the AyyObid dynasty. Though as a youth he preferred religious to military stud¬ ies, he began his military career under his uncle, a military commander of the Zangid dynasty. On his uncle’s death, Saladin became vizier of the Fajimid dynasty of Egypt. In 1171 he abolished the Shl'ite Fatimid caliph¬ ate and announced a return to Sunnite Islam in Egypt. From 1174, as sul¬ tan of Egypt and Syria, he succeeded in uniting Egypt, Syria, northern Mesopotamia, and Palestine. His reputation as a generous and virtuous but firm ruler rekindled Muslim resistance to the Crusades. In 1187, turn¬ ing his full strength against the Latin Crusader states, he captured Jerus¬ alem, which had been in Christian hands for 88 years. Whereas the Christian conquest had been marked by slaughter, Saladin’s troops dem¬ onstrated courteous and civilized behaviour. His victory deeply shocked the West and led to the call for the Third Crusade (1189-92), which matched him against Richard I (the Lionheart); their stalemate resulted in a peace that gave the Crusaders only a small strip of land from Tyre to Yafo (Jaffa). Many Muslims consider Saladin the paradigm of the pious and virtuous ruler.

Salado \sa-Ta-tho\ River River, eastern Argentina. It flows through the Pampas, generally southeast for about 400 mi (640 km) to the Atlantic Ocean, where it empties southeast of Buenos Aires. Before 1800 it marked the frontier between areas colonized by Spain to the northeast and regions inhabited by indigenous Indians to the southwest.

Salah al-DTn Yusuf ibn Ayyub See Saladin

Salamanca ancient Salmantica or Helmantica City (pop., 2001: 156,368), western Spain. An important Iberian settlement, it was sacked by Hannibal in 217 bc. It later became a Roman station. Captured by Moors in the 8th century, it was reconquered by Christians from 1087 to 1102. It was occupied by the French in the Peninsular War (1808-14). It is a cultural centre as well as the commercial centre of an agricultural district. Its many landmarks include the 12th-century Romanesque cathe¬ dral, the Gothic-style cathedral (begun 1513), and the University of Sala¬ manca (founded 1218).

salamander Any member of about 400 species in 10 amphibian fami¬ lies (order Caudata), commonly found in fresh water and damp woodlands, principally in temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere.

Salamanders are generally nocturnal, short-bodied, 4-6 in. (10-15 cm) long, and brightly coloured. They have a tail, two pairs of limbs of roughly the same size, moist, smooth skin, teeth on the jaws and roof of the mouth, and, usually, internal fertili¬ zation. The largest species, the Chi¬ nese giant salamander ( Andrias davidianus), is 5 ft (1.5 m) long. Salamanders eat insects, worms, snails, and other small animals, includ¬ ing members of their own species. See also hellbender; newt.

Salamis \'sa-l3-m9s\ Ancient city, Cyprus. Located on Cyprus’s east¬ ern coast, it had an active trade with Phoenicia, Egypt, and Cilicia. Accord¬ ing to tradition, it was founded by Teucer, a hero of the Trojan War. A

major Hellenic centre during the struggles between Greece and Persia, it was the scene of a Greek naval victory in 449 bc; in 306 bc the Mace¬ donian king Demetrius I (Poliorcetes) defeated Ptolemy I (Soter) of Egypt near there. The city was visited later by SS Paul and Barnabas. It was known as Constantia after the Byzantine emperor Constantius II rebuilt it (ad 337-61). It was abandoned after its destruction by the Arabs in 647^18.

Salamis, Battle of (480 bc) Significant naval battle of the Persian Wars, the first ever recorded. (Aeschylus served in the battle and wrote The Persians , which is the earliest of his works to survive.) The Greek fleet of some 370 triremes, under the command of Themistocles, lured the Persian fleet of about 800 galleys into the narrow strait between the island of Salamis and the Athenian port of Piraeus. There the highly maneuver- able triremes sank about 300 Persian vessels while losing only about 40 of their own. As a result of this battle, Xerxes had to postpone his planned land offensive, giving the Greek city-states time to unite against him.

Salan \sa-'la n \, Raoul (-Albin-Louis) (b. June 10, 1899, Roque- courbe, France—d. July 3, 1984, Paris) French military officer who sought to prevent Algerian independence. During a military career in which he became the French army’s most decorated soldier, he served in France during World War I (1914-18), French West Africa (1941-44), French Indochina (1945-53), and Algeria (1956-62). Rebelling against Charles de Gaulle’s decision to free Algeria, in 1961 he formed a right-wing extremist group, the Secret Army Organization, which terrorized France and Algeria. He was captured in 1962 and tried for treason.

Salazar V.sa-lo-'ziuA, Antonio de Oliveira (b. April 28, 1889, Vim- ierio, Port.—d. July 27, 1970, Lisbon) Portuguese prime minister (1932— 68). A professor of economics, he was appointed by Pres. Antonio Oscar de Fragoso Carmona as finance minister (1928) and later prime minister (1932). His new constitution established the authoritarian New State, cur¬ tailing political freedom and concentrating on economic recovery, and he thenceforth ruled as a virtual dictator. Sympathetic to Francisco Franco and the Axis Powers, he maintained Portugal’s neutrality in World War II, and after the war he led Portugal into NATO. He greatly improved the country’s transportation, utilities, and education systems. He fought to preserve Portugal’s African colonies after the general decolonization. Incapacitated by a stroke in 1968 after 36 years in power, he was not told when he was replaced as prime minister.

Sale \sa-'la\ Arabic Sla \'sla\ City (pop., 1994: city, 504,420; Rabat- Sale metro, area, 1,385,872), northwestern Morocco. Located at the mouth of the Bou Regreg River, opposite Rabat, it was founded in the 10th cen¬ tury and reached its peak as a merchant port. After 1627 Sale, with Rabat as its vassal, became the corsair republic of Bou Regreg and the base for the Sallee Corsairs, the most dreaded of the Barbary Coast pirates. The two cities grew together until the Bou Regreg silted up and Sale port was closed. It has many mosques and mausoleums; its greatest shrine is the tomb of Sid! c Abd Allah ibn Hasan, the city’s patron saint.

Salem City (pop., 2000: 136,924), capital of Oregon, U.S. It lies along the Willamette River, southwest of Portland. Founded in 1840, the town prospered as migration increased over the Oregon Trail. It became the state capital in 1859. It was an early river port whose growth was stimulated by rail connections in the 1870s. It is a food-processing centre for a fruit¬ growing and dairy area and has wood and light manufacturing industries.

Salem witch trials (May-October 1692) American colonial persecu¬ tions for witchcraft. In the town of Salem, Massachusetts Bay Colony, several young girls, stimulated by supernatural tales told by a West Indian slave, claimed to be possessed by the devil and accused three women of witchcraft. Under pressure, the accused women named others in false confessions. Encouraged by the clergy, a special civil court was convened with three judges, including Samuel Sewall, to conduct the trials. They resulted in the conviction and hanging of 19 “witches” and the imprison¬ ment of nearly 150 others. As public zeal abated, the trials were stopped and then condemned. The colonial legislature later annulled the convic¬ tions.

Salerno City (pop., 2001 prelim.: 144,078), southern Italy. Located on the Gulf of Salerno, it was founded by the Romans in 197 bc on the site of an earlier town. Part of a Lombard duchy from ad 646, it was the capital of an independent Lombard principality from 839 to c. 1076. It was then con¬ quered by the Norman Robert Guiscard and became his capital. It was later incorporated into the Kingdom of Naples. During World War II, Salerno’s

Salamander (Salamandra terrestris)

JACQUES SIX

© 2006 Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.

1672 I sales tax ► Saljuq dynasty

coast was the scene of a major battle (September 1943) between Allied landing forces and German troops. It is an active seaport in an industrial area; its landmarks include a medical school (the earliest in Europe, prob¬ ably founded in the 9th century) and the cathedral (845, rebuilt 1076-85) that contains the tombs of St. Matthew and Pope Gregory VII.

sales tax Levy imposed on the sale of goods and services. A sales tax on the manufacture, purchase, sale, or consumption of a specific com¬ modity is known as an excise tax. Though excise taxes have been used since ancient times, the general sales tax is a comparatively recent inno¬ vation. Sales taxes are ad valorem taxes, imposed “according to the value” (i.e., monetary value) of the taxable commodity. They are classified according to the levels of business activity at which they are imposed— production, wholesale, or retail. They account for significant portions of the revenue of most U.S. states and Canadian provinces. A variation of the sales tax, the value-added tax, became popular in western European countries and is widely used. Most sales taxes are borne by the consumer, since even where they are levied on production or wholesale goods, part or all of the cost is shifted to the consumer in the form of higher prices. Because the retail sales tax is considered a regressive tax, essential goods such as food, clothing, or drugs are sometimes exempted or taxed at a lower level. See also income tax; progressive tax.

Salesbury \'salz-,ber-e\ A William (b. c. 1520, Cae Du, Llansannan, Denbighshire, Wales—d. c. 1584, Llanrwst) Welsh lexicographer and translator. He spent most of his life at Llanrwst, Wales, following anti¬ quarian, botanical, and literary pursuits. His collection of Welsh proverbs, The Whole Sense of a Welshman’s Head (1546), may be the first book printed in Welsh. Salesbury compiled the first Welsh-English dictionary (1547) and, with Richard Davies, translated the New Testament into Welsh

(1567).

Salgado, Sebastiao (b. Feb. 8, 1944, Aimores, Braz.) Brazilian pho- tojoumalist. He briefly pursued a career as an economist before switch¬ ing his focus to photography in 1971. Over the next decade he photographed stories such as the famine in Niger and the civil war in Mozambique. In 1979 he joined the prestigious Magnum Photos coop¬ erative for photojournalists, and two years later he gained prominence as a result of his photograph of John Hinckley’s attempt to assassinate U.S. Pres. Ronald Reagan. By the mid 1980s Salgado devoted himself almost entirely to long-term projects that told a story through a series of images, often focusing on the homeless and downtrodden. Among his critically acclaimed books of photographs are Other Americas (1986), Workers (1993), and Migrations: Humanity in Transition (2000).

salicylic \,sa-b-'si-lik\ acid White, crystalline solid organic compound used chiefly to make aspirin and other pharmaceutical products, including methyl salicylate (oil of wintergreen, for medicines and flavourings), phe¬ nyl salicylate (for sunburn creams and pill coatings), and salicylanilide (a cutaneous fungicide). Its molecular structure, with the formula C 6 H 4 (OH)COOH, consists of a six-membered aromatic ring (see aromatic compound) having a hydroxyl group (—OH) and a carboxyl group (—COOH) bonded to adjacent carbon atoms; as such, it is both a phenol and a carboxylic acid. It and certain derivatives occur naturally in some plants, particularly species of Spiraea and Salix (willow). Large amounts are used in producing certain dyes.

Salieri \sal-'yer-e\, Antonio (b. Aug. 18, 1750, Legnago, Republic of Venice—d. May 7, 1825, Vienna, Austria) Italian composer. He moved to Vienna in 1766 with the imperial court composer Florian Gassmann (1729-74), and he remained there most of his career. On Gassmann’s death, Salieri became composer and conductor of the Italian opera at the imperial court, and later court kapellmeister (1788). Vienna’s most popu¬ lar - opera composer for much of the last quarter of the 18th century, he had many important students, including Ludwig van Beethoven, Franz Schu¬ bert, and Franz Liszt. In addition to his more than 40 operas, he wrote much other secular and sacred music. Though he and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart were rivals, there is no basis to the story that he poisoned Mozart, and it is unlikely that he claimed to have done so.

Salinas \s3-'le-n9s\ City (pop., 2000: 151,060), western California, U.S. Located in the Salinas valley east of Monterey, it was a crossroads on El Camino Real, the old Spanish trail between San Diego and San Francisco. It was settled in 1856 and became a cattle centre. The arrival of the Southern Pacific Railroad in 1868 stimulated agricultural development. Salinas was the birthplace of John Steinbeck, who often referred to it in his books, especially in East of Eden.

Salinas \sa-'le-nas\ (de Gortari), Carlos (b. April 3, 1948, Mexico City, Mex.) President of Mexico (1988-94). Son of a Mexican senator, Salinas earned a Ph.D. in economics at Harvard University and held vari¬ ous governmental posts until he was elected president in 1988 by a slim margin; vote fraud was widely charged. He pursued a program of eco¬ nomic retrenchment and privatization, selling off hundreds of inefficient state-owned corporations and spending part of the proceeds on infrastruc¬ ture and social services. In 1991-92 his government co-negotiated the North American Free Trade Agreement. The economic collapse immediately following his term made him the target of bitter criticism. The assassina¬ tion of his party’s nominee as his successor was linked to Salinas’s asso¬ ciates, and Salinas fled to the U.S. and eventually Ireland. His brother Raul, widely suspected of extensive corruption, was convicted in 1999 of complicity in another assassination.

Salinger Vsa-lin-jorV J(erome) D(avid) (b. Jan. 1, 1919, New York, N.Y., U.S.) U.S. writer. He began to publish short stories in periodicals in 1940. After World War II his stories, some based on his army experi¬ ences, appeared increasingly in The New Yorker. His entire literary out¬ put comprises 13 stories and novellas— collected in Nine Stories (1953), Franny and Zooey (1961), and Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters, and Seymour: An Introduction (1963)—and The Catcher in the Rye (1951), a novel of adolescent anguish that won great critical and popular admiration, especially among college students. He retreated into a mys¬ terious seclusion in New Hampshire and ceased to publish.

Salisbury See Harare Salisbury, Earl of See Robert Cecil

Salisbury Vsolz-bo-reV Harrison E(vans) (b. Nov. 14, 1908, Min¬ neapolis, Minn., U.S.—d. July 5, 1993, near Providence, R.I.) U.S. author and journalist. He was a reporter with United Press (1930—48) before join¬ ing The New York Times, where he won a 1955 Pulitzer Prize. He later held editorial positions with the Times, rising to associate editor (1972-74). The first Western journalist to visit Hanoi during the Vietnam War, he wrote eyewitness accounts that contributed to skepticism in the U.S. about the war’s purpose. His 29 books include 10 on Russia and 6 on China.

Salisbury, Robert Arthur Talbot Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd mar¬ quess of (b. Feb. 3, 1830, Hatfield, Hertfordshire, Eng.—d. Aug. 22, 1903, Hatfield) British prime minister (1885-86, 1886-92, 1895-1902). He served in Benjamin Disraeli’s government as secretary for India (1874- 78) and foreign secretary (1878-80), helping to convene the Congress of Berlin. He led the Conservative Party opposition in the House of Lords, then became prime minister on three occasions beginning in 1885, usu¬ ally serving concurrently as foreign secretary. He opposed alliances, main¬ tained strong national interests, and presided over an expansion of Britain’s colonial empire, especially in Africa. He retired in 1902 in favour of his nephew, Arthur James Balfour.

Salishan Vsa-li-shonN languages Family of about 23 North Ameri¬ can Indian languages, spoken or formerly spoken in the Pacific Northwest and adjoining areas of Idaho, Montana, and southern British Columbia. Today Salishan languages are spoken almost exclusively by older adults. They are remarkable for their elaborate consonant inventories and small number of vowels.

saliva Thick, colourless fluid constantly present in the mouth, composed of water, mucus, proteins, mineral salts, and amylase, an enzyme that breaks down starches. One to two litres are produced daily by the salivary glands. Small amounts are continually discharged into the mouth, but the presence, smell, or even thought of food increases flow. Saliva’s main function is to keep the inside of the mouth moist, making speech more fluid, dissolving food molecules for taste, and easing swallowing. It also helps control the body’s water balance, since lack of it stimulates thirst when water intake has been low. Saliva reduces dental caries and infec¬ tion by removing food debris, dead cells, bacteria, and white blood cells.

salivary gland \'sal-3-,ver-e\ Any of the organs that secrete saliva. Three pairs of major glands secrete saliva into the mouth through distinct ducts: the parotid glands (the largest), between the ear and the back of the lower jaw; the submaxillary glands, along the side of the lower jaw; and the sublingual glands, in the floor of the mouth near the chin. There are also numerous small glands in the tongue, palate, lips, and cheeks. The presence, smell, or thought of food normally increases secretion.

Saljuq dynasty See SeuOq dynasty

© 2006 Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.

Salk ► salsify I 1673

Salk \'s6k\, Jonas (Edward) (b. Oct. 28, 1914, New York, N.Y., U.S.—d. June 23, 1995, La Jolla, Calif.) U.S. physician and researcher. He received his M.D. from New York University. Working with other sci¬ entists to classify poliovirus, he confirmed earlier studies that identified three strains. He showed that killed virus of each strain could induce anti¬ body formation without producing disease. Salk’s vaccine was released for use in the U.S. in 1955. From 1963 he directed the Salk Institute in La Jolla, Calif. He was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in

Salle \sa-'la\, Marie (b. 1707—d. July 27, 1756, Paris, Fr.) French dancer and choreographer. She made her debut at the Paris Opera in 1721. In London and Paris she performed in a new expressive, dramatic style that later was championed as the ballet d’action by Jean-Georges Noverre. With Pygmalion (1734) she became the first woman to choreograph a bal¬ let in which she danced and also the first to discard the traditional restric¬ tive costume for a muslin dress. Her rivalry with Marie Camargo led her to appear more frequently in London, where she danced in several of George Frideric Handel’s opera ballets. She retired from the Opera in 1740.

Sallust Vsa-lost\ Latin Gaius Sallustius Crispus (b. c. 86 bc, Amit- ernum, Samnium—d. 35/34 bc) Roman historian. Sallust probably had military experience before taking political office during the strife of the 50s. He began to write after his political career ended c. 45 bc, becoming one of the great Latin literary stylists, noted for his narrative writings about political personalities, corruption, and party rivalry. His works, whose influence pervades later Roman historiography, are Catiline’s War (43^-2 bc), dealing with corruption in Roman politics; The Jugurthine War (41—40), exploring party struggles in Rome in the late 2nd century bc; and Histories , of which only fragments remain.

salmon Name that originally referred to the Atlantic salmon ( Salmo salar ) and now also refers to six species of Pacific salmon (genus Onco- rhynchus, family Salmonidae): chum, Chinook, pink, and sockeye salmon; coho; and the cherry salmon (O. masu) of Japan. Adult salmon live at sea, then migrate, fighting rapids and leaping high falls, to the stream where they hatched to spawn. Pacific salmon die soon after spawning; many Atlantic salmon live to spawn again. See also trout.

Salmon River River, central Idaho, U.S. It flows northeast past the town of Salmon, where it is joined by the Lemhi River, and then north¬ west to join the Snake River south of the Idaho-Oregon-Washington bor¬ der. It is about 420 mi (676 km) long. It is the largest tributary of the Snake and flows through an extensive wildlife area of national forests.

salmon trout See lake trout

salmonella X.sal-mo-'ne-taN Any of the rod-shaped, gram-negative, non-oxygen-requiring bacteria that make up the genus Salmonella. Their main habitat is the intestinal tract of humans and other animals. Some of the 2,200 species exist in animals without causing disease; others are seri¬ ous pathogens. Any of a wide range of mild to serious infections caused by salmonellae are called salmonellosis, including typhoid and paratyphoid fever in humans. Refrigeration prevents their reproduction but does not kill them; as a result, many salmonellae can develop in foods, which, when eaten, can cause gastroenteritis. Chickens are major reservoirs of salmo¬ nella, and chicken and eggs are the principal source of human poisoning, whose symptoms include diarrhea, vomiting, chills, and painful head¬ aches. Other food sources include unpasteurized milk, ground meat, and fish.

salmonellosis \ I sal-m3-,ne-To-s9s\ Any of several bacterial infections caused by salmonella, including typhoid and similar fevers and gastroen¬ teritis (see food poisoning). Meat from diseased animals carries the bac¬ teria, and any food can pick it up from infected feces in the field or during storage or from contaminated food or utensils during food preparation. The source is often hard to trace. Eggs from infected hens can carry it within, not just on the shells. Onset is sudden and sometimes severe, with nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, fatigue, and low fever. Most patients recover within days, with some degree of immunity. Prevention requires care in food handling, especially thorough cooking.

Salome Vso-'lo-me, 'sa-l3-(,)ma\ Stepdaughter of Herod Antipas, who caused the death of John the Baptist. The event is recounted in the gospels of Matthew and Mark, though her name is given only by the historian Josephus. John had been imprisoned for denouncing Herod’s adulterous marriage to Herodias, but Herod was afraid to kill him. When Salome, daughter of Herodias, danced before the king, he promised to give her

anything she asked as a reward, and she requested John’s head on a plat¬ ter. The scene was a popular subject in Christian art.

Salomon Vza-lo-m6n\, Erich (b. April 28, 1886, Berlin, Ger.—d. July 7, 1944, Auschwitz, Pol.) German photographer. He studied law at the University of Munich but soon abandoned his practice to pioneer in pho¬ tojournalism. He specialized in photographing heads of state in unguarded moments at international conferences and social gatherings. His purpose was to show the human qualities of world leaders, who up to that time had been stereotyped in stiff formal portraits. In May 1944 he was sent to the concentration camp at Auschwitz, where he died.

Salomon Vsa-lo-monV Haym (b. 1740, Lissa, Pol.—d. Jan. 6, 1785, Philadelphia, Pa., U.S.) American patriot and financier. Forced to flee Poland for his revolutionary activities, he arrived in New York in 1772 and soon became a successful merchant and financier. A supporter of the patriot cause in the American Revolution, he was arrested and imprisoned by the British. In 1778 he escaped to Philadelphia, where he opened a brokerage office. He made loans in excess of $600,000 to help finance the new government, extended interest-free private loans to James Madison, Thomas Jefferson, James Monroe, and others, and obtained French loans to the American government.

Salon \sa-Toii\ Official exhibition of art sponsored by the French gov¬ ernment. It originated in 1667 when Louis XIV sponsored an exhibit of the works of the members of the Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture. The Salon derives its name from the exhibition’s location in the Salon d’Apollon of the Louvre Palace. After 1737 it became an annual event, and in 1748 the jury system of selection was introduced. During the French Revolution, the Salon was opened to all French artists, though academicians continued to maintain near-total control over the teaching and exhibition of art through most of the 19th century. In 1881 the new Societe des Artistes Frangais began to oversee the Salon, and with the growing importance of independent exhibitions of the works of avant- garde artists, it gradually lost its influence and prestige.

Salon des Independants \sa- , l6 n -da-za 11 -da-pa n - , da n \ Annual unjur¬ ied exhibition of the Societe des Artistes Independants, held in Paris since 1884. Organized as a second Salon des Refuses, it was established in response to the rigid traditionalism of the official government-sponsored Salon. Its first show exhibited works by Paul Cezanne, Paul Gauguin, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Vincent van Gogh, and Georges Seurat. By 1905 Henri Rousseau, Pierre Bonnard, Henri Matisse, and the Fauves had all exhibited there.

Salon des Refuses \sa-To n -da-r9-ftE-'za\ Art exhibition held in 1863 in Paris by command of Napoleon III for those artists whose works had been refused by the jury of the official Salon. Among the exhibitors were Camille Pissarro, Henri Fantin-Iatour, James M. Whistler, and Edouard Manet, whose scandalous Le Dejeuner sur l ’herbe was officially regarded as an affront to taste.

Salonika See Thessaloniki

salsa Spanish "sauce" Contemporary Latin American dance music. Salsa developed in Cuba in the 1940s. It drew upon local musical styles, such as charanga (featuring prima¬ rily strings and flute) and the dance music of the conjuntos (bands), and blended them with elements of jazz.

In the 1950s salsa began to flourish in New York City, where it incorpo¬ rated traditional Puerto Rican rhythms, and later, elements from Venezuelan and Colombian music and rhythm and blues. Its stars have included Celia Cruz, Tito Puente, and Willie Colon.

salsify Vsal-so-fe, 'sal-s9-,fi\ or

oyster plant or vegetable oyster Biennial herbaceous plant (Tragopogon porrifolius) of the com¬ posite family, native to the Mediterra¬ nean. The thick white taproot is cooked as a vegetable and tastes somewhat like oysters. The plant has purple flowers and narrow leaves

© 2006 Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.

1674 I salt ► Salween River

whose bases usually clasp the stem. Goatsbeard, or meadow salsify ( T. pratensis ), is a weedy European species, naturalized in North America, that has a large yellow flower head. It is occasionally cultivated as an ornamen¬ tal, and its leaves, flowers, and roots are sometimes eaten in salads.