SAM
SAM
lpects, was to receive thofe of the better fort with a kifs, and the poorer fort had a fmall entertainment given them, and were even feafted by fuch as wanted to be thought more liberal than ordinary. SALUTATORIUM, in nunneries, a place where the nuns receive the falutation of thofe that come to fee them. Hop, Lex. univ. in voc.
Salutatorium is alfo ufed for the veftiy, or place where the bifhop was drefled, and received the falutation of vifitants - before divine fervice. Id. ibid.
SALUTIGERULI, among the Romans, were fervants chiefly employed by the women in carrying falutations to one an- other. Pitifc. in voc. SAMALUM, in botany, a name by which Pliny and fome other authors have called the pulfatilla, or pafque flower. Ger, Emac. Ind. 2. SAMARRA, a garment worn by thofe condemned by the Romiih inquilition to be burnt; fuch are impenitents, and thofe who confeis themfelvea guilty of herefy, but repent, and renounce their errors before the execution. It is a black kind of frock, made of fackcloth, and painted with flames pointing downwards; fometimes the unhappy fuffe- rcr's picture is drawn to the life on it, and fometimes de- vils are painted on it dragging, as it were, the pcrfon along with them to hell. It is otherwife called fambenito, andyi?- maretta. Hofm. Lex. univ. in voc. SAMBAK, or Zambak, in botany, a name ufed by fome authors for the jafmine, or common white jeflamy. Chabrmn, p. 112. SAMBENITO, a kind of frock worn by thofe who are con- demned by the Romifh inquilition to be burnt. See the article Samarra. SAMBUCA, among the antients, a triangular mufical inftru-
ment. Pitifc. in voc. SAMBUCUS, the elder, in botany, the name of a genus of trees, the characters of which are thefe. The flower con- lifts only of one leaf, and is of the rotated kind, and divid- ed into many fegments at the edges. The middle of the flower is perforated by the pointal of the cup, in the man- ner of a nail, and the cup finally becomes a berry, contain- ing feveral oblong feeds.
The fpecies of elder, enumerated by Mr. Tournefort, are thefe, I. The common elder with black berries. 2. The common elder with white berries. 3. The racemofe moun- tain elder with red berries. 4. The jagged leaved elder. 5. The dwarf elder, called ebulus, or danewort. 6. The dwarf ihrubby elder with beautifully variegated leaves. 7. The jagged leaved ebulus, or danewort. fount. Inft. p. 606. SAMEL-brich. See the article Brick. SAMIA terra, in the materia medica, an earth of the marl kind, -found in the iftand of Samos, and much ufed both in medicine and in the pottery of the antients. It is of two kinds, a white dull looking one, called . the collyrium famiitm, and a brownilh and glittering one, called the after famius, Hill's Hift. of Foff. p. 38. The collyrium famium is ftill to be found in the place from whence they had it, and from whence it has its name ; and is a very fine and pure earth, of a clofe, equal, and regular texture, and yet remarkably light. It is of a fine bright white colour, and of a fmooth, even, and gloffy furface. It is foft to the touch, adheres firmly to the tongue, is eafily broken between the fingers, and does not at all ftain the hands, but drawn along a rough furface, leaves a fine clean white line. It melts flowly in the mouth, and does not ferment with acids. Thefe are the characters by which it is to be diftinguifhed from the white earths : to which may be added its manner of lying in the earth ; which is not, as that of molt of the other earths, in a continued ftratum, or bed, but in the per- pendicular fiflures, and horizontal cavities in the ftrata of ftone, in the manner of the European earths, called the medulla faxorum, but in fubftance very different from them all.
The antients prepared them by burning, warning, and then ufed them with fuccefs internally in hemorrhages, and fluxes of all kinds, and externally in inflammations. They alfo ufed them, probably, both mixed together, and blended with fome other vifcous earth, or clay, for the fineft of their earthen ware. Hill's Hift. of Fofl". p. 38. The other kind of Soman earth, called after famius, is ftill found in the place from whence they had it, and lies in the fame manner in which they have defcribed it, in an horizontal cavity between two rocks. It is a loofe, lax, and crumbly earth, of a mixed colour, between a dufky white and a pale brown, and all over fpangled with fmall glittering particles. It is of a loofe and incoherent ftructure, but ufually breaks away into flat pieces, and feems fomewhat of an obfeurely laminated make. It is of a dry dufty furface, falls to pieces very readily between the fingers, and though it dints the hands, does not at all ftain them. It melts very readily in the mouth, and when thrown into water parts immediately, with a hifline noife into a number of flaky pieces, and from thence moulders into a loofe powder. It makes no effervefcence with acid menftrua, and when its glittering particles are feparated, and
ftrictly examined, they are found to be fo many thin flafcei of that fpecies of foflils, called felenhes. This, as well as the other fpecies, or collyrium, wa's prepared by calcination and warning, and ufed by the antient phyii- cians internally in fluxes and hemorrhages, and externally in inflammations. It was alfo one of the moft valued earths in the Roman pottery. Hill's Hift. cf Fofl*. p. 39.
SAMIARII, among the Romans, were a kind of furbifhers, who with Samian earth polifhed the arms of the prsetorian foldiers and emperor's life guards. Pitifc, in voc.
SAMIR, a kind of worm, which, according to the fabulous ftories of the Jews, was made ufe of by Mofes in fitting and polilhing the precious ftones in the ephod, and the two tables of the law. Hofm. Lex. univ. in voc,
SAMLET, an Englifh name for a fifli of the truttaceouskind, caught in Hereford fh ire, and fome other parts of England^ and called by Willughby fahnulus. WUlughby\ Hift. Pifc. p. 193. See Salmulus.
SAMOLUS, in botany, the name of a genus of plants, the characters of which are thefe. The flower confifts of one leaf, is rotated, aad divided into fegments at the edge. Th.e piftil arifes from the cup, and is fixed in the manner of a nail to the lower part of the flower, and finally joining wi:h the cup, it forms a fhell, or capfule, which opens at the; fummit, and contains a great number of fmall feeds. The fingle fpecies of famolus, according to Mr. Tournefort, is the famolus valerandi, called anagallis aquatica rotundifolia, or the round leaved water brook lime, by authors. Tourn. Inft. p. 143.
SAMP, in our American colonies, a name given to a fort of bread made of the maiz, or Indian corn. They firft water the corn for about half an hour, and then beat it in a mortar, or grind it in a hand mill ; they then fift out the flour, and winnow the hulks from it ; they then mix this into a thin pafte with water, and bake it in flat loaves, which they call famp loaves, or famp bread.
Befide this they have another difli prepared of this corn, which they efteem a great delicacy, and call by the name of famp, without the addition of loaf or bread. To make this, they only bruife or grind the corn to the fize of rice, and then winnowing away the hulks, they boil it gently till it is thoroughly tender, and then add to it milk and but- ter, and fugar : this is not only a very wholfome, but a very pleafant difh. It was the firft diet of our planters when newly fettled there, and is ftill in ufe, as an innocent food in ficknefs as well as health.
The Indians, who feed on this fort of food, are found ne- ver to be fubject to the ftone, and to efcape feveral other painful difeafes.
The Englifh have found a way of making a very good fort of beer of the grain of this Indian corn: they do this either by ufing the bread made of it, or elfe by malting it as we do our own corn. When they make the beer of the maiz bread, they break or cut it into lumps as big as a man's fift; they mafh thefe in the fame manner that we do malt, and boil up the wort in the fame manner, cither with or without hops. Phil. Tranf. N° 142.
SAMPHOR^, among the antients, were horfes marked with the letter x on their legs. Pitifc in voc.
SAMPSUCHUS, a word generally ufed as a name of the com- mon fweet marjoram. This is as old a cuftom as Diofco- rides ; for that author exprefsly fays, that the plant fampfu- chus was called amaractts by the Cyzenians, and fome others whom he names, and feems to make them proper fynonyms of the fame plant ; yet afterwards mentioning the oils, called oleum fampfuchinum and oleum amaracinum, he declares them to be different medicines.
This might feem to imply a falfe text, either by the error of the tranferibers or printers, in one of the places, but thofe who are verfed in the writings of Diofcorides, will not infer fo much ; for there are too many inftances of this fort of contradiction in his works. It appears, however, from the moft antient writers of all, that the amaracus and fampju- chus were originally the names of different plants. Meleager in his poem, where he compares the feveral poets of his own and former times to the flowers of various gar- den plants, compares one to the amaracus, and another to the fampfuchus* Galen and Paulus iEgineta alfo make them different plants, and allot different chapters to the treating of them. This would never have been the cafe, had the general opinion of the world at that time made them one plant ; and the teftimony of Diofcorides, that they were fo, will weigh very little with thofe who know how often that author, though excellent in his way, is guilty of inac- curacies of this kind.
Diodes, in Athenseus, indeed mentions amaracus, which fome call fampfuchus : but even allowing that fome people did call the amaracus by this name, it does not follow but that this might be improperly done, and that the fampfu- chus mi°"ht ftill be the name of a different plant.
SAMYDA, in botany, the name of a genus of plants firft defcribed byPlumier, and called by him guldoma ; the cha- racters are thefe. The cup is a very large one-leaved peri- anth ium 1
