Page:Collier's New Encyclopedia v. 09.djvu/210

SUNDEW 168 SUNNITES /eaves curve inward, and insects cap- hired are absorbed by the species. The glands, surrounded by drops of a viscid secretion, shine in the sun: hence the name — sundew. SUNDIAL. See DiAL. SUNFISH, the Lampris Inna, called also opah, and kingfish. Also any indi- vidual of the genera Centrarchus, Bryt- tus, and Pomotis, from the fresh waters of this country. They are small fishes, about six inches long, and are not used for food. Also any individual of the genus Orthagoriscus. The common or broad sunfish (O. mola) , though a native of warmer seas, is often taken in the summer months round the coasts of Northern Europe, and is usually cap- tured when floating on the surface, as if basking in the sun. The largest speci- men on record measured about eight feet long, and rather more in depth from the dorsal to the ventral fins. The oblong sunfish, called also oblong tetradon and truncated sunfish, has the height of body less than one-half its total length. It feeds on worms, crabs, and other marine animals, and does not float on the surface like the common sunfish. SUNFLOWER (Helianthus) , a genus of coarse, tall, herbaceous plants, with large, rough leaves and yellow flowers, belonging to Conipositse, and natives of America. H. annuiis, an introduction from Peru, which has long been grown as a showy and large-flowered annual in gardens, has recently been found to pos- sess high economic value. In Germany, Russia, India, and other countries it is now grown on a large scale. The seeds in a natural state are excellent food for poultry and pigs; roasted they are said to be a good substitute for coffee; crushed and pressed, they yield a limpid bland oil second in value only to olive oil, while the residuum can be used as an oil cake to fatten cattle; the stalks fui-- nish a good fiber; the blossoms yield a brilliant lasting yellow dye, and the leaves serve as manure. The tubers of the sunflower artichoke {H. Uiberosum) are saccharine, and serve culinary pur- poses. As fodder they increase the milk of cows. The foliage is also a good fodder. SUNN {Crotalaria juncea) , a large leguminous annual, rising under favor- able circumstances to a height of 10 feet, in appearance resembling somewhat the allied Spanish broom. It is indigenous to Southern Asia, and also widely distrib- uted through tropical Australia. In the former country sunn has been cultivated from remote times for its fiber, which is manufactured into rope, sackcloth, nets, twine, and paper. Sunn is also grown as a fodder plant for cattle. The sub- species, C. tenuifolia, furnishes Jubbul- pore hemp; C. retusa yields a fiber for ropes and canvas, and C. Burhia for ropes. SUNNITES, the name commonly given to orthodox Muslims, because in their rule of faith and manners the Sunna, or traditionary teaching of the Prophet, is added to the Koran. According to Islam the human mind is incapable of attain- ing light in law or religion but through the Prophet, and all expressions of God's will are equally important. Reason and conscience are here of no value; memory is all. Hell fire is the award due alike to him that prays without being properly washed and to him that denies the word of the Prophet. Accordingly during the Prophet's life his counsel was eagerly and continually sought; and after his death his example and sayings were col- lected as of infinite value. After the death of the four rightly guided caliphs, Abu Bekr, Omar, Othman, and Ali, in- timate friends of the Prophet, fearful uncertainty arose and gradually occa- sioned the four schools of the four ortho- dox imams. The first of these was Abu Hanifa, bom in Basra of a noble Per- sian family. He taught in Kufa on the Euphrates. He logically deduced from the Koran all religion and law; for the Koran says (Sura 16: 91) "to thee we have sent down the book which clears up everything." Consequently, when the Koran says (S. 2: 20) "for you have I created the whole earth," it follows that to Muslims belongs all the property of unbelievers. Hence the propriety of piracy and aggressive war against them. In his school arose the famous legists of Irak, and his system, the most widely spread of the four, is now professed by the Turkish empire. He would never hold any office under government, fear- ing the doom due according to prophetic tradition to every giver of a wrong de- cision, namely, to be plunged into hell from a height of 40 days' journey. He died in 767 in prison, where the caliph had confined him for refusing to be cadi over the new capital Bagdad. In 795 died Malik ibn Anas in his 84th year in Medina, where he was born and had lived all his days. There, surrounded by traditions of the Prophet, he had taught after the custom of Medina. Malik gathered from the Koran and from local traditions of Mohammed his "Mu- wattaa," or "Beaten Path," a complete body of law and religion. His system was established in North Africa by