Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XIV.djvu/617

SAMPmKE SAMSON" 593 North Wind: Travels among the Laplanders and the Samoyedes," by Edward Rae (Lon- don, 1875). SAMPHIRE (formerly written sampire . and tampetra, from the old Fr. name Vkerbe de Saint Pierre, Ital. San Pietro, from its grow- Samphlre (Crithmum maritimum). ing on rocks), a very succulent plant of the parsley family or umbellifers, crithmum mari- timum, with fleshy, dissected leaves, and com- pound umbels of small white flowers destitute of calyx teeth ; the fruit oblong, dark green or purplish. It is a smooth perennial, about a foot high. Samphire is found on rocky cliffs by the seashores of Britain and southward to northern Africa, the roots penetrating deep into crevices by means of their numerous strong fibres. The leaves and young shoots have a pleasant aromatic taste, and the plant was held Marsh Samphire (Salicomia herbacea in great esteem by the old herbalists as a stomachic, and used in salads and pickled. It is still used in England as a pickle, and on the continent is sometimes cooked as a pot herb. The plant sometimes called samphire in this country, and marsh samphire in England, is salicornia herlacea (Lat. sal, salt, and cornu, horn, a saline plant with horn-like branches), more generally known as glasswort ; it is one of the goosefoot family, or chenopods. Its annual stems are 6 to 12 in. high, leafless and long, succulent, jointed, and much branching ; the minute flowers each in a hollow in the stems at the joints. It is very abundant along the coast and in saline marshes in the interior; it is much relished by cattle, and in Europe was formerly burned in large quantities for the soda contained in its ashes. It is said that much of the pickled samphire sold in England is really this plant, which is very abundant and more accessible than the true samphire, from which it differs not only in appearance but in the absence of aromatic flavor. SAMPSON, a S. E. county of North Carolina, bordered W. by South river and drained by Black river and several tributaries of that stream; area, 940 sq. m.; pop. in 1870, 16,436, of whom 6,483 were colored. The surface is undulating and the soil sandy but fertile. There are extensive forests of pitch pine. The chief productions in 1870 were 281,381 bushels of wheat, 21,950 of peas and beans, 141,373 of sweet potatoes, 1,231 bales of cotton, 19,837 Ibs. of rice, 7,523 of tobacco, 11,437 of wool, 35,554 of butter, and 22,664 of honey. There were 1,441 horses, 605 mules and asses, 3,378 milch cows, 1,149 working oxen, 5,267 other cattle, 6,732 sheep, and 22,524 swine. Capi- tal, Clinton. SAMSON (Heb. ShimsJiori), a judge of Israel, celebrated for his bodily strength. He was the son of Manoah, of the tribe of Dan, and was born about the middle of the 12th century B. 0. He was devoted to the life of a Nazarite from his birth, and early began to exhibit su- perhuman strength. The great achievements recorded of him are connected with his love for his Philistine wife and for two women of loose character, one of whom, Delilah of So- rek, ascertained that the secret of his strength lay in his hair, which had never been shorn. Having entered into a plot against him with the Philistines, she called in a man to cut off his hair while he lay sleeping in her lap ; he was then seized by his enemies, deprived of his sight, and made to grind in the prison. But when his hair grew long his strength came back. An immense multitude of Philis- tines having assembled in a temple to rejoice in his captivity, he was brought in to make them sport, and was placed, where all might see him, between the two central supports of the building. Persuading the lad who held him by the hand to let him feel the pillars and lean upon them, he grasped them both, and exerting all his strength overthrew them, and the building fell, burying the whole assembly, himself included, beneath the ruins. He was a judge of Israel for 20 years.