Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 21.djvu/248

228 S A L S A L prise cereals (wheat, barley, oats, maize, rye), tobacco, wool, cotton, poppy seed, opium, cocoons, prunes, and timber. In 1884 the industrial establishments were steam flour-mills, a cotton- spinning factory (employing 500 hands and sending its goods to Constantinople, Smyrna, and Beyrout), a distillery, several large Boap-works, a nail factory, an iron-bedstead factory, and a number of brick and tile works. In Salonica the several nationalities have schools of their own: the Greeks, for example, have a normal school, a gymnasium, and nine other schools (one for girls) ; and even the Bulgarians, though their members are comparatively small, have two normal schools. The Jewish community (about 50,000) is of Spanish origin, and etill preserves its Judseo-Spanish written in Hebrew characters. Besides their own schools they have the advantage of a large school supported by the Jewish Mission of the Established Church of Scotland (instituted about 1860). The total population of Salonica was estimated by Tozer about 1865 as 60,000. It has since in- creased probably to 90,000 or 100,000. The railway opened to Kiuprili (136f "miles) in 1873 is now extended 75 miles to Mitrovitza. History. The older name of Thessalonica was Therma (in allu- sion to the hot-spring of the neighbourhood). It was a military and commercial station on a mainline of communication between Rome and the East, and had reached its zenith before the seat of empire was transferred to Constantinople. It became a Roman colonia in the middle of the 3d century, and in the later defence of the ancient civilization against the barbarian inroads it played a considerable part. In 390 Thessalonica was the scene of the dreadful massacre perpetrated by command of Theodosius. Constantine re- paired the port, and probably enriched the town with some of its buildings. During the iconoclastic reigns of terror it stood on the defensive, and succeeded in saving the artistic treasures of its churches: in the 9th century Joseph, one of its bishops, died in chains for his defence of image-worship. In the 7th century the Slavonic tribes strove to capture the city, but in vain even when it was thrown into confusion by a terrible earthquake which lasted several days. It was the attempt made to transfer the whole Bul- garian trade to Thessalonica that in the close of the 9th century caused the invasion of the empire by Simeon of Bulgaria. In 904 the Saracens from the Cyrenaica took the place by storm ; the public buildings were grievously injured, and the inhabitants to the number of 22,000 were carried off and sold as slaves through- out the countries of the Mediterranean. In 1185 the Normans of Sicily, having landed at Dyrrhachium and marched across country, took Thessalonica after a ten days' siege, and perpetrated endless barbarities, of which Eustathius, then bishop of the see, has left us an account. In 1204 Baldwin, conqueror of Constantinople, con- ferred the kingdom of Thessalonica on Boniface, marquis of Mont- ferrat ; but eighteen years later Theodore, despot of Epirus, one of the natural enemies of the new kingdom, took the city and had himself there crowned by the patriarch of Macedonian Bulgaria. On the death of Demetrius (who had been supported in his endea- vour to recover his father's throne by Pope Honorius III.) the empty title of king of Salonica was adopted by several claimants. In 1266 the house of Burgundy received a grant of the titular kingdom from Baldwin II. when he was titular emperor, and it was sold by Eudes IV. to Philip of Tarentum, titular emperor of Romania in 1320. The Venetians, to. whom the city was transferred by one of the Palaeologi, were in power when Sultan Amurath appeared, and on the 1st of May 1430, in spite of the desperate resistance of the inhabitants, took the city, which had thrice previ- ously been in the hands of the Turks. The body of St Demetrius, the patron saint, who from the time of his death under Maximian in the 4th century had exercised a marvellous influence on the popu- lar imagination, was hacked to pieces, though even the Moham- medans attributed virtue to the famous oil from which the saint obtained the title of Myroblete. In 1876 the French and German consuls at Thessalonica were massacred by the Turkish populace. Besides Tafel's monograph, Distertalio de Thenalonicn (Berlin, 1839), see Holland's Travel $ (IRIS); Grisebach, Rumelien vnd Brusta, 1839 ; ttov/cn's Mount Athot, Thfttaly, and Epirut (1852); Bocckh, C. I. O., TO!. II.; Texier and PuUan, Bytantine Architecture (1864); Tozer, Highlands of Turkey, 1869. SALOP. See SHROPSHIRE. SALSETTE, a large island to the north of Bombay, with an area of 241 square miles. It lies between 19 2' 30" and 19 18' 30" N. lat. and between 72 51' 30" and 73 3' E. long. ; it is connected with Bombay Island by bridge and causeway. Salsette is a beautiful, picturesque, and well-wooded tract, its surface being well diversified by hills and mountains, some of considerable elevation, while it is rich in rice fields. In various parts of the island are romantic views, embellished by the ruins of Portuguese churches, convents, and villas; its cave antiquities still form a subject of interest. At the census of 1881 Salsette had a population of 108,149 (males 58,540, females 49,609); Hindus numbered 74,736 and Mohammedans 7,036. The island was taken from the Portuguese by the Mahrattas in 1739, and from them the British captured it in 1774 ; it was formally annexed to the East India Company's dominions in 1782 by the treaty of Salbai. SALT. Common salt, or simply salt, is the name given to the native and industrial forms of sodium chloride (NaCl). The consideration of this important substance naturally falls under two heads, relating respectively to sea salt or "bay" salt and "rock" salt or mineral salt. As actually found, however, the one is probably derived from the other, most rock salt deposits bearing evidence of having been formed by the evaporation of lakes or seas at former (often remote) geological periods. This is seen from their stratified nature, with their interposed beds of clay, which could only have been deposited from solution. The crystals of selenite (hydrated calcium sulphate), moreover, which they contain can only have been formed in water and can never since have been subjected to any considerable amount of heat, otherwise their water of crystallization would have been driven off. The beds also of potassium and magnesium salts found at Stassfurt and other places, interposed be- tween or overlying the rock salt deposits, are in just the position in which one would naturally expect to find them if deposited from salt water. Finally, the marine shells often occurring abundantly in the surrounding rocks of contemporary periods also testify to the former existence of large neighbouring masses of salt water. Sea Salt. Assuming a degree of concentration such that each gallon of sea water contains 0*2547 ft), of salt, and allowing an average density of 2'24 for rock salt, it has been computed that the entire ocean if dried up would yield no less than 4,419,360 cubic miles of rock salt, or about four- teen and a half times the bulk of the entire continent of Europe above high-water mark, mountain masses and all. The proportion of sodium chloride in the water of the ocean, where it is mixed with small quantities of other salts, is on the average about 33 '3 per 1000 parts, ranging from 29 per 1000 for the polar seas to 35 P 5 per 1000 or more at the equator. Enclosed seas, such as the Mediterranean, the Red Sea, the Black Sea, the Dead Sea, the Caspian, and others, are dependent of course for the proportion and qual- ity of their saline matter on local circumstances. Forch- hammer found the following quantities of solid matter in the water of various seas: North Sea 32'80 grammes per litre. Cattcgat and Sound 15'12 Baltic 4-81 Mediterranean 37 '50 Atlantic 34 '30 Black Sea 15'89 Caribbean Sea 36'10 Of this sodium chloride constitutes about four-fifths. See SEA WATER. At one time almost the whole of the salt in commerce was produced from the evaporation of sea water, and in- deed salt so made still forms a staple commodity in many countries possessing a seaboard, especially those where the climate is dry and the summer of long duration. In Portugal a total of over 250,000 tons is annually made in the salt works of St Ubes (Setubal), Alcacer do Sal, Oporto, Aneyro, and Figueras. Spain, with the salt works of the Bay of Cadiz, the Balearic Islands, <fec., makes 300,000 tons. Italy has salt works in Sicily, Naples, Tuscany, and Sar- dinia, producing 165,000 tons. In France, between the "marais salants du midi" and those on the Atlantic, 250,000 to 300,000 tons are annually produced, besides those of Corsica. The "Salzgarten" of Austria produce collectively from 70,000 to 100,000 tons annually at various places on the Adriatic (Sabioncello, Trieste, Pirano, Capo d'Istria, <fec.). In England and Scotland the industry has of late