In a chemical factory near Glasgow, 7200 gallons of ammoniacal liquor, obtained weekly from the gas-works, are treated as follows:—The liquor is first rectified by distillation from a waggon-shaped wrought-iron boiler, into a square cistern of iron lined with lead. 4500 lbs. of sulphuric acid, of specific gravity 1·625, are then slowly added to the somewhat concentrated distilled water of ammonia. The produce is 2400 gallons of sulphate of ammonia, slightly acidulous, of specific gravity 1·150, being of such strength as to deposit a few crystals upon the sides of the lead-lined iron tank in which the saline combination is made. It is decomposed by common salt.
From the 7200 gallons of the first crude liquor, 900 gallons of tar are got by subsidence, and 200 gallons of petroleum are skimmed off the surface. The tar is converted, by a moderate boiling in iron pans, into good pitch.
SALAMSTONE. See [Lapidary].
SALEP, or SALOUP, is the name of the dried tuberous roots of the Orchis, imported from Persia and Asia Minor, which are the product of a great many species of the plant, but especially of the Orchis mascula. Salep occurs in commerce in small oval grains, of a whitish-yellow colour, at times semi-transparent, of a horny aspect, very, hard, with a faint peculiar smell, and a taste like that of gum tragacanth, but slightly saline. These are composed almost entirely of starchy matter, well adapted for making a thick pap with water or milk, and are hence in great repute in the Levant, as restorers of the animal forces. Their aphrodisiacal properties are apocryphal. If the largest roots of the Orchis mascula of our own country were cleaned, scraped, steeped for a short time in hot, and then for a few minutes in boiling water, to extract their rank flavour, afterwards suspended upon strings to dry in the air, they would afford as nourishing and palatable an article as the Turkey saloup, and at a vastly lower price.
SALICINE, is a febrifuge substance, which may be obtained in white pearly crystals from the bark of the white willow (Salix alba), of the aspen tree (Salix helix), as also of some other willows, and some poplars. It has a very bitter taste.
SAL PRUNELLA, is fused nitre cast into cakes or balls.
SAL VOLATILE, is sesquicarbonate of ammonia.
SALT, EPSOM, is [sulphate of magnesia].
SALT, MICROCOSMIC, is the triple phosphate of soda and ammonia.
SALT OF AMBER, is [succinic acid].