when it separates in the form of white crystals, which melt at 10.5°, and on gentle heating evolve sulphur trioxide and again form the same hydrate. When strong sulphuric acid is mixed with water there is a great development of heat; the heat evolved when four parts of acid are mixed with one of water being sufficient to raise the temperature from o° to 100° C. (Hence the laboratory precaution of always adding the acid to the water and not the water to the acid.) In addition to the heat evolution there is also a diminution in volume, the maximum occurring when the components are present in the ratio H2SO,:2H2O, thus pointing to the existence of a hydrate H2SO4, 2H2O. A second hydrate, H2SO,,H2O, may be obtained as rhombic crystals, which melt at 7° and boil at 205°, by diluting the strong acid until it has a specific gravity of 1.78, and cooling the mixture; this compound is sometimes known as glacial sulphuric acid. Both the mono- and di-hydrates form freeing mixtures with snow. Other hydrates have also been described. = soluble in water, soluble in strong sulphuric acid, and almost insoluble in alcohol. Sulphates may be detected by heating the salt mixed with sodium carbonate on charcoal in the reducing flame of the blowpipe; sodium sulphide is thus formed, and may be identified by the black stain produced if the mass be transferred to a silver coin and then moistened. In solution, sulphates are always detected and estimated by the formation of a white precipitate of barium sulphate, insoluble in water and all the common reagents. Manufacture. The first step in its manufacture is the combustion of sulphur. Formerly this was employed exclusively in the free state as brimstone, and this is still the case to a considerable extent in some countries, notably in the United States, but the great bulk of sulphuric acid is now made from metallic sulphides, especially those of iron and zinc Most of the brimstone of trade comes from Sicily, but in the United States Louisiana sulphur is playing an important part, and seems likely to oust the Sicilian gas sulphur" in the sulphur. Free sulphur is also contained as spent oxides" of gasworks, which are actually utilized for the manufacture of sulphuric acid. Sulphur is also recovered in a very pure state from the "alkali waste" of the Leblanc process, but this "recovered sulphur' is too expensive to be burned for the purpose in question. In the United Kingdom much gas sulphur is used for the manufacture of sulphuric acid, together with a limited quantity of Sicilian sulphur for the production of sulphuric acid free from arsenic. A much larger percentage of the sulphuric acid is made from pyrites, i.e. more or less pure disulphide of iron which occurs in large quantities in many countries. Great Britain produces very pyrites consumed in the United Kingdom come from Spain; this Spanish pyrites generally (not always) contains enough copper (say 3 or 4 %) to make its extraction from the residues (" cinders") a paying process, and this of course cheapens the price of the sulphur to the acid manufacturer. Spain also supplies much pyrites to Germany, France and America, all of which countries are themselves producers of this ore. Sweden and Norway are exporters of it to all these countries. Good pyrites contains from 48 to 50%. exceptionally up to 52% of sulphur, of which all but from 1 to 4% is utilized when burning the ore. Another metallic sulphide, blende, ZnS, is of importance for Germany, Belgium and the United States, much less so for the United Kingdom, as a source of sulphur. Blende contains only about half as much sulphur as good pyrites, and this cannot be burned off as easily as from pyrites, but this "roasting" has to be done somehow in any case in order to prepare the ore for the extraction of the zinc. Reactions.-Sulphuric acid has the widest commercial application of all chemical reagents. Here only reactions of commercial utility will be considered, and reference should be made to the article SULPHUR for reactions which are more of a purely scientific interest. In inorganic chemistry its principal applications are based on its solvent power for metals, and its power of expelling other acids from their salts. In the first group we have to notice the use of iron or zinc and dilute sulphuric acid for the manufacture of hydro-little of it, Ireland a little more, but of poor quality. Most of the gen, which may be used directly, as for inflating balloons or for purposes of combustion, or in the nascent condition, for reduction purposes, as generally is the case in organic chemistry (see ANILINE). It is worthy of notice that while many metals dissolve in cold dilute sulphuric acid, with the liberation of hydrogen, in accordance with the typical equation: M + H2SO MSO, + H2 (M denoting one atom of divalent or two atoms of a monovalent metal), there are several (copper, mercury, antimony, tin, lead and silver) which are insoluble in the cold dilute acid, but dissolve in the hot strong acid with evolution of sulphur dioxide, thus: M + 2H,2SO1 = MSO + SO2 + 2H2O. Carbon decomposes hot strong sulphuric acid on long continued boiling, with the formation of carbon dioxide and sulphur dioxide. The power which sulphuric acid exhibits for expelling other acids from their combinations, a power occasioned by its comparative involatility and high degree of avidity, forms the basis of a considerable number of commercial processes. Hydrochloric, hydrobromic, hydriodic, hydrofluoric. nitric, phosphoric and many other acids are manufactured by the action of sulphuric acid on their salts; the alkali and chlorine industries, and also the manufacture of bromine and iodine, employ immense quantities of this acid. In organic chemistry sulphuric acid is extensively employed. Its powerful affinity for the elements of water makes it a valuable dehydrating and condensation agent. It extracts the elements of water from formic acid, giving carbon monoxide; from oxalic acid, giving a mixture of carbon monoxide and dioxide; from alcohol, to give ether or ethylene according to the conditions of the experiment; and from many oxygenated compounds (e.g. sugar, tartaric acid, &c.), with the production of charred masses. The formation of esters and ethers are generally facilitated by the presence of this acid. It also acts in an opposite manner in certain cases, adding the elements of water to compounds; thus, nitriles are converted into acid-amides, and various acetylene derivatives may be caused to yield ketonic derivatives. As an oxidizing agent its application is limited. The transformation of piperidine into pyridine by W. Königs, and the observation that anthraquinone yielded oxyanthraquinones when treated in the cold with strong sulphuric acid, and the recent introduction of fuming sulphuric acid for the oxidation of naphthalene to phthalic acid, a process of great value in the manufacture of artificial indigo, may be noted. But its chief technical application depends upon the formation of sulphonic acids when it reacts with aromatic hydrocarbon residues; these compounds being important either as a step towards the preparation of hydroxy-compounds, e.g. resorcin, the naphthols, alizarín, &c., or for preparing dye-stuffs in a more soluble form. Sulphates.-Sulphuric acid, being a dibasic acid, forms two series of salts with monovalent metals: an acid sulphate, MHSO,, and a normal sulphate, M.SO.. Acid sodium sulphate, NaHSO4, has been employed in the manufacture of sulphur trioxide. When heated it loses water to form sodium pyrosulphate, Na2S2O,, which on treatment with sulphuric acid yields normal sodium sulphate and sulphur trioxide. The normal sulphates are the more important, and occur widely and abundantly distributed in the mineral kingdom; anhydrite, gypsum, anglesite, barytes, celestite and kieserite are among the commonest species. As a general class, the sulphates are soluble in water, and exhibit well crystallized forms. Of the most insoluble we may notice the salts of the metals of the alkaline earths, barium, strontium and calcium, barium sulphate being practically insoluble, and calcium sulphate sparingly but quite appreciably soluble. Lead sulphate is very slightly Brimstone is easily burned without any extraneous help; indeed the only precaution required is to take care lest the heat produced by the burning sulphur should not volatilize part of it in the unburned state. This can never be entirely avoided, and sometimes causes trouble in the succeeding apparatus. The roasting of pyrites always takes place without using any extraneous fuel, the heat given off by the oxidation of the sulphur and the iron being quite sufficient to carry on the process. If the ore is in pieces of the size of a walnut or upwards, it is roasted in plain kilns" or "burners," provided with a grating of suitable construction for the removal of the cinders, with a side door in the upper part for charging in the fresh ore on the top of the partially burned ore, and with an arch-shaped roof, from which the burnergas is carried away in a flue common to a whole set of kilns. The latter are always set in a row of twelve or more, and are one after another charged once or twice a day at appropriate intervals, so that a regular evolution of gas takes place all the day round. By employing suitable precautions, a gas of approximately uniform composition is obtained, containing from 6 to 8% sulphur dioxide, SO, with a little trioxide. SO, and about 12% of oxygen, which is more than sufficient for converting later all the SO into SO, or H2SO4. The burning of "smalls or dust"was formerly considered much more difficult and incomplete than that of pieces, but this difficulty has been entirely overcome in various ways, principally by the" shelf-burner," originally constructed by E. Malétra, and mechanical burners, which were formerly almost entirely confined to America, where the saving of labour is a primary consideration. The first really successful mechanical pyrites-burner was constructed many years ago by MacDougall Bros. of Liverpool. The drawbacks still present in this burner caused it to be abandoned after a few years, but they have since been overcome by several recent inventors, principally American. The Hereshoff burner has been most widely introduced, both in America and in European countries. The roasting of blende is nothing like so easy as that of pyrites, since the heat developed by the oxidation of the zinc sulphide itself is not sufficient for carrying on the process, and external heat must be applied. It is now usually performed by a series of muffles, superposed one over another, so that the whole forms a kind of shelfburner, with internally heated shelves (the " Rhenania furnace). This operation is both more costly and more delicate than the roasting of pyrites, but it is now perfectly well understood, and gas is obtained from blende furnaces hardly inferior in quality to that yielded by pyrites kilns. In America, and quite exceptionally also in Europe, mechanical furnaces are used for the roasting of blende. The gas produced in the burning of sulphur ores, when issuing from the burner, holds in mechanical suspension a considerable quantity of "flue-dust," which must be removed as far as is practicable before the gas is subjected to further treatment. Flue-dust contains principally ferric oxide, zinc oxide, arsenious and sulphuric acids, and small quantities of the various metals occurring in the raw ore. All the thallium and selenium on the market is obtained from this source, Sometimes the burner-gas is employed directly for the sake of the SO, which it contains, principally in the manufacture of sulphite cellulose" from wood. When the gas is to be utilized for the manufacture of sulphuric acid the SO, must be combined with more oxygen, for which purpose an "oxygen carrier " must be employed. Until recently the only agent practically used for this purpose was furnished by the oxides of nitrogen; more recently other oxygen carriers, acting by "contact processes," have also come into use (see below). The production of sulphuric acid by the assistance of the oxides of the nitrogen is carried out in the " vitriol chambers." These are immense receptacles, mostly from 100 to 200 ft. long, 20 to 30 ft. wide, and 15 to 25 ft. high, constructed of sheet-lead, the joints of the sheets being made by "burning" or autogenous soldering, i.e. fusing them together by a blow-pipe without the aid of solder (which would be quickly destroyed by the acid). The vitriol chambers must be supported on all sides by suitable wooden or iron framework, and they are always erected at a certain height over the ground, so that any leaks occurring can be easily detected. In nearly all cases several of these chambers are connected so as to form a set of a cubic capacity of from 100,000 to 200,000 cub. ft. The burner gas is introduced at one end, the waste gases issue from the other, the movement of the gases being impelled partly by their own chemical reactions, partly by the draught produced by a chimney (or tower), or by mechanical means. At the same time water is introduced in a number of places in the shape of steam or finely divided as a spray, to furnish the material for the reaction: SO2+O+H2O H.SO. As this reaction of its own accord takes place only to a very small extent, an oxygen carrier" is always introduced in the shape of the vapours of nitric acid or the lower oxides of nitrogen. By the play of reactions induced in this way practically the whole of the SO2 is ultimately converted into sulphuric acid, and at the same time the nitrogen oxides are always recovered with comparatively very slight losses and made to serve over again. The reactions taking place in the vitriol chambers are very complicated, and have been explained in many different ways. The view hitherto accepted by most chemists is that developed by G. Lunge, according to which there are two principal reactions succeeding each other, it may be in quite contiguous places, but under different conditions. Where the nitrous fumes prevail and there is less water present, sulphur dioxide combines with nitrous acid and oxygen to form nitroso-sulphuric acid, a crystalline substance of the formula SO2(OH)(ONÓ). The reaction is therefore: SO+O+ HNO2 = SO NH. The solid substance is, however, only exceptionally met with, as it at once dissolves in the mist of sulphuric acid floating in the chamber and forms " nitrous vitriol. Wherever this nitrous vitriol comes into contact with liquid water (not steam), which is also present in the chamber in the shape of inist, and practically as dilute sulphuric acid, it is decomposed into sulphuric and nitrous acid, thus: SO2(OH) (ONO) + H2O = H2SO1 + HNO2. The re-formed nitrous acid, although not stable, any more than is its anhydride, NO3, is nevertheless the oxygen carrier in question, as the products of its spontaneous decomposition, when meeting with other compounds, always react like nitrous acid itself and thus may transfer an indefinite quantity of oxygen to the corresponding quantities of SO, and H2O, with the corresponding formation of H2SO. This theory at once explains, among other things, why the acid formed in the vitriol chambers always contains an excess of water (the second of the above-quoted reactions requiring the "mass action" of this excess), and why the external cooling produced by the contact of the chamber sides with the air is of great importance (liquid water in the shape of a mist of dilute sulphuric acid being necessary for the process). " In 1906 Lunge (in a paper published with Bert) to some extent modified his views, by introducing an intermediate compound, sulphonitronic acid, SÓ NH2, which had been noticed by various chemists for some time through its property of imparting a deep blue colour to sulphuric acid. It is evident that the nitrous gases" present in the vitriol chamber consist essentially of a mixture of NO and NO2, the latter being formed from NO by the excess of oxygen present. The NO2 (or NO + 0) reacts upon SO2 + H2O, forming SONH2, which, being extremely unstable, is at once oxidized to SO NH (nitroso-sulphuric acid). The latter is now either converted by hydrolysis into sulphuric acid and nitrogen oxides: 250NH + H2O =2H2SO, + NO + NO2, the latter acting as before: or it reacts with more SO, forming again sulphonitronic acid: 250,NH + SO2 + 2H,O = H2SO, + 250,NH. The latter can also split up directly into NO and SO,H2. Whatever be the true theory of the vitriol-chamber process, there is no doubt about the way in which the reactions have to be carried out in practice. Since the reactions occur among gases and liquids in the nebulous state, vast spaces have to be provided in which the process may be carried out as completely as possible before the waste gases are allowed to escape into the outer air. These spaces cannot be constructed in any other way than is actu ally done in the shape of the lead chambers; neither iron nor brickwork can be employed for this purpose, as they would be quickly destroyed by the acid liquids and gases. When issuing from the chambers, the gases still contain the whole of the free nitrogen contained in the air which had entered into the burners, together with about a third, or at least a fourth, of the oxygen originally present therein, such excess of oxygen being required in order to carry out the conversion of the sulphur dioxide into sulphuric acid as completely as possible. For similar reasons it is necessary to employ much more water than is required to form H2SO4; and this is all the more necessary as strong sulphuric acid dissolves the nitrous compounds in the shape of nitroso-sulphuric acid, and thus withdraws these oxygen carriers from the gas-space of the chambers where the necessary reactions take place. It follows from this that the acid collecting at the bottom of the chambers must never exceed a certain concentration, say 70%. H,SO, having a specific gravity of 1-615, but it is preferable to make it only 66 to 67%, having a specific gravity of 1.57 to 1.58. On the other hand, it should never go down below 60 % H2SO1, equivalent to a specific gravity of 1.50. The commercial production of sulphuric acid imperatively requires that the nitrogen oxides (which originally were always introduced in the shape of nitric acid) should be available as long as possible, before being lost mechanically or by reduction to the inactive forms of nitrous oxide or elementary nitrogen. The first step towards securing this requirement was taken as early as 1827 by Gay-Lussac, who discovered that the nitrous fumes, otherwise carried away from the lead chambers by the waste atmospheric nitrogen and oxygen, could be retained by bringing the gases into contact with moderately strong sulphuric acid, the result being the formation of nitroso-sulphuric acid: 2H2SO1 + N2O1 = 2SO:(OH)(ONO) + H2O, and the latter remaining dissolved in sulphuric acid as "nitrous vitriol." But this important invention was of little use until John Glover, about 1866, found that the nitrous vitriol could be most easily reintroduced into the process by subjecting it to the action of burner-gas before this enters into the lead chambers, preferably after diluting it with chamber acid, that is, acid of from 65 to 70%, H2SO,, as formed in the lead chambers. The reaction is then: 2SO,(OH) (ONO) + SO2 + 2H2O = 3H2SO、 + 2NO; that is to say, all the nitre" is returned to the chambers in the shape of NO; the sulphuric acid employed in the Gay-Lussac process is not merely recovered, but an additional quantity is formed from fresh SO; as the heat of the burner-gases also comes into play, much water is evaporated, which supplies part of the steam required for the working of the chambers; and the acid issues from the apparatus in a "denitrated" and sufficiently concentrated state (78 to 80% H2SO) to be used over again for absorbing nitrous vapours or any other purpose desired. Since that time, in every properly appointed sulphuric acid manufactory, the following cycle of operations is carried out. To begin with, in the burners pyrites (or, as the case may be, brimstone or blende) is made to yield hot burner-gas containing about 7% (in the case of brimstone 10 or 11%) of SO2. This, after having been deprived of most of the flue-dust, is passed through the "Glover tower," i.e. an upright cylindrical or square tower, consisting of a leaden shell lined with heat- and acid-proof stone or brick, and loosely filled or packed" with the same material, over which a mixture of acid from the Gay-Lussac tower and from the chambers trickles down in such proportions that it arrives at the bottom as denitrated acid of from 78 to 80% H2SO4. The gases now pass on to the lead chambers, described above, where they meet with more nitrous vapours, and with steam, or with water, converted into a fine dust or spray. Here the reactions sketched above take place, so that chamber-acid as already described is formed, while a mixture of gases escapes containing all the atmospheric nitrogen, some oxygen in excess, about 0.5% of the total SO, and some oxides of nitrogen. This gas is now passed through the Gay-Lussac tower, which somewhat resembles the Glover tower, but is usually filled with coke, over which sulphuric acid of about 80% H2SO, trickles down in sufficient quantity to retain the nitrous vapours. Ultimately the waste gas is drawn off by a chimney, or sometimes by mechanical means. Of course a great many special improvements have been made in the plant and the working of chamber systems; of these we mention only some of the most important. By judiciously watching all stages of the process, by observing the draught, the strength of the acid produced, the temperature, and especially by frequent analyses of the gases, the yield of acid has been brought up to 98% of the theoretical maximum, with a loss of nitre sometimes as low as two parts to 100 of sulphur burned. The supply of the nitric acid required to make up this loss is obtained in England by "potting that is, by decomposing solid nitrate of soda by sulphuric acid in a flue between the pyrites burners and the chambers. On the continent of Europe makers generally prefer to employ liquid nitric acid, which is run through the Glover tower together Since the development of the contact processes the fuming acid has become so cheap that it is now exclusively used for the preparation of the acids approaching the composition of "monohydrate." Fuming or Nordhausen Oil of Vitriol, a mixture or chemical compound of H2SO4, with more or less SO, has been made for centuries by exposing pyritic schist to the influence of atmospheric agents, collecting the solution of ferrous and ferric sulphate thus formed, boiling it down into a hard mass (" vitriolstein ") and heating this to a low red heat in small earthenware retorts. Since about 1800 this industry had been confined to the north-west of Bohemia, and A 4 contained in the burner-gases in the shape of flue-dust, especially the arsenic, which after a short time rendered the contact substance inactive, in a manner not as yet entirely understood. Another difficulty arose from the fact that the reaction SO2+0=SO, is reversible, the opposite reaction, SO, SO+O setting in but little above the temperature required for the synthesis of SO. As far as is known (so much secrecy having been observed), the best results obtained in various places, save one, did not exceed 67% of the theoretical quantity, the remaining 33% of SO, having to be converted into sulphuric acid in the ordinary lead chambers. As is now known, the exception (undoubtedly the only one until 1899) was the process discovered as early as 1889 by Dr R. TJ Knietsch, of the Badische Anilin-und Soda-Fabrik, at Ludwigshafen, but kept strictly secret until 1899, when the patents were published. The principal features of this invention are, first, a much more thorough purification of the burner-gas than had been practised up to that time, both in a chemical and a mechanical sense, and second, the prevention of superheating of the contact substance, which formerly always occurred by the heat generated in the process itself. As the Badische process effects this prevention by cooling the contact apparatus by means of the gaseous mixture to be later submitted to the catalytic action, the mixture is at the time, heated up to the requisite temperature, and a considerable saving of fuel is the consequence. Altogether this process has been brought to such a pitch of simplicity and perfection, that it is cheap enough, not merely for the manufacture of fuming oil of vitriol of all strengths, but even for that of ordinary sulphuric acid of chamber-acid strength, while it is decidedly cheaper than the old process in the case of stronger acids, otherwise obtained by concentration by fire. It should be noted that these are not the results of a few years' working with an experimental plant, but of many years' work with large plant, now equal to a capacity of 120,000 tons of pyrites per annum. It is therefore not too much to say that, in all probability, the contact process will ultimately be employed generally for concentrated acids. Still, for the reasons given in the beginning of this article, the revolution thus impending will require a certain time for its accomplishment. Since the Badische process has become known several other new contact processes have come into the field, in some of which ferric oxide is employed as contact substance, but we must refrain from describing these in detail. (G. L.) Medicine.-Sulphuric acid or oil of vitriol is a colourless oily; looking liquid incompatible with alkalis and their carbonates, lead and calcium. There are two medicinal preparations: (1) Acidum sulphuricum dilutum, containing 13 65% of hydrogen sulphate, (2) acidum sulphuricum aromaticum (elixir of vitriol), containing alcohol, spirit of cinnamon and ginger and 13.8% of hydrogen sulphate. Therapeutics-For external use, sulphuric acid is a powerful irritant and caustic, acting by its powerful affinity for water and therefore dehydrating the tissues and causing them to turn black. It coagulates the albumen. Strong sulphuric acid is occasionally used as a caustic to venereal sores, warts and malignant growths. It is difficult, however, to limit its action, and glacial acetic and nitric acids are preferable for this purpose. Considerable burns on the face or body may result from the application of sulphuric acid in the practice known as "vitriol-throwing," a brownish black eschar serving to distinguish the burns produced by this acid from those of other corrosive fluids. Internally, dilute sulphuric acid is used in poisoning by alkalis as a neutralizing agent. Both it and the aromatic solution are powerful intestinal astringents, and are therefore useful in diarrhoea of a serious type, being strongly recommended both as a prophylactic and as a treatment during epidemics of Asiatic cholera. Small doses of the aromatic acid also serve as a prophylactic to those artisans who work in lead and as a treatment in lead poisoning in order to form an insoluble sulphate of lead. Sponging the body with very dilute solutions of sulphuric acid is useful to diminish the night-sweats of phthisis. Toxicology. Given in toxic doses or in strong solution, sulphuric acid is a severe gastro-intestinal irritant, causing intense burning pain, extending from the mouth to the stomach, and vomiting of mucous and coffee-coloured material. The effects of the ingestion of large quantities may be so rapid that death may take place in a couple of hours, owing to collapse, consequent on perforation of the walls of the oesophagus or stomach, or from asphyxia due to swelling of the glottis consequent on some of the acid having entered the larynx. Should the patient survive the first twenty-four hours death generally results later from stricture of the oesophagus or intestine, from destruction of the glands of the stomach or from exhaustion. Death has occurred in a child from the ingestion of half a teaspoonful of the strong acid, but recovery is recorded after half an ounce had been swallowed. The treatment consists in the prompt neutralization of the acid, by chalk, magnesia, whiting, plaster, soap or any alkaline substance at hand; emetics or the stomach pump should not be used. Morphine may be given hypodermically to mitigate the pain. Should the patient survive he will probably have to be fed by rectal enemata. The prognosis of sulphuric acid poisoning is bad, 60 to 70% of the cases proving fatal. The post-mortem appearances will be those of corrosive poisoning. The buccal mucous membrane will be greyish, brown or black in colour, due to the corrosive effects of the acid. SULPICIA, the name of two Roman poets. The earlier lived in the reign of Augustus, and was a niece of Messalla, the patron of literature. Her verses, which were preserved with those of Tibullus and were for long attributed to him, are elegiac poems addressed to a lover called Cerinthus, possibly the Cornutus addressed by Tibullus in two of his Elegies (bk. ii., 2 and 3; see Schanz, Gesch. d. röm. Litt. § 284; F. Plessis, La Poésie latine, pp 376-377 and references there given). The younger Sulpicia lived during the reign of Domitian. She is praised by Martial (x. 35, 38), who compares her to Sappho, as a model of wifely devotion, and wrote a volume of poems, describing with considerable freedom of language the methods adopted to retain her husband Calenus's affection. An extant poem (70 hexameters) also bears her name. It is in the form of a dialogue between Sulpicia and the muse Calliope, and is chiefly a protest against the banishment of the philosophers by the edict of Domitian (A.D. 94), as likely to throw Rome back into a state of barbarism. At the same time Sulpicia expresses the hope that no harm will befall Calenus. The muse reassures her, and prophesies the downfall of the tyrant. It is now generally agreed that the poem (the MS. of which was discovered in the monastery of Bobbio in 1493, but has long been lost) is not by Sulpicia, but is of much later date, probably the 5th century; according to some it is a 15th-century production, and not identical with the Bobbio poem. Editions by O. Jahn (with Juvenal and Persius, revised by F. Bücheler, 1893) and in E. Bährens, De Sulpiciae quae vocatur satira (1873); see also monograph by J. C. Boot (1868); R. Ellis in Academy, (Dec. 11, 1869) and Journal of Philology (1874), vol. v.; O. Ribbeck, Geschichte der römischen Dichtung (1892), vol. iii.; H. E. Butler, Post-Augustan Poetry (1909), pp. 174-176; M. Schanz, Geschichte der römischen Litteratur (1900), iii. 2; Teuffel, Hist. of Roman Literature (Eng. trans., 1900), p. 233, 6. There are English translations by L. and by J. Grainger (verse, 1759). Evans in Bohn's Classical Library (prose, with Juvenal and Persius) SULPICIUS RUFUS, PUBLIUS (c. 121-88 B.C.), Roman orator and statesman, legate in 89 to Cn. Pompeius Strabo in the Social War, and in 88 tribune of the plebs. Soon afterwards Sulpicius, hitherto an aristocrat, declared in favour of Marius and the popular party. He was deeply in debt, and it seems that Marius had promised him financial assistance in the event of his being appointed to the command in the Mithradatic War. To secure the appointment for Marius, Sulpicius brought in a franchise bill by which the newly enfranchised Italian allies and freedmen would have swamped the old electors (see further ROME, History, II. "The Republic "). The majority of the senate were strongly opposed to the proposals; a justitium (cessation of public business) was proclaimed by the consuls, but Marius and Sulpicius got up a riot, and the consuls, in fear became law, and, with the assistance of the new voters, the of their lives, withdrew the justitium. The proposals of Sulpicius command was bestowed upon Marius, then a mere privatus. Sulla, who was then at Nola, immediately marched upon Rome. Marius and Sulpicius, unable to resist him, fled from the city. Marius managed to escape to Africa, but Sulpicius was discovered in a villa at Laurentum and put to death; his head was sent to Sulla and exposed in the forum. Sulpicius appears to have been originally a moderate reformer, who by force of circumstances became one of the leaders of a democratic revolt. Although he had impeached the turbulent tribune C. Norbanus (q.v.), and resisted the proposal to repeal judicial sentences by popular decree, he did not hesitate to incur the displeasure of the Julian family by opposing the candidature for the consulship of C. Julius Caesar (Strabo Vopiscus), who had never been praetor and was consequently ineligible. His franchise proposals, as far as the Italians were concerned, were a necessary measure of justice; but they had been carried by violence. Of Sulpicius as an orator, Cicero says (Brutus, 55): "He was by far the most dignified of all the orators I have heard, and, so to speak, the most tragic; his voice was loud, but at the same time sweet and clear; his gestures were full of grace; his language was rapid and voluble, but not redundant or diffuse; he tried to imitate Crassus, but lacked his charm." Sulpicius left no written speeches, those that bore his name being written by a certain | two of their officers, sacked the station. Upon the restoration P. Canutius (or Cannutius). He is one of the interlocutors in of order Sultanpur cantonment was strengthened by a detachCicero's De oralore. ment of British troops; but in 1861 it was entirely abandoned as a military station. See Appian, Bell. civ. i. 55-60; Plutarch, Sulla and Marius, Vell. Pat. ii. 18; Livy, Epit. 77; E. A. Ahrens, Die drei Volkstribunen (Leipzig, 1836); Mommsen, Hist. of Rome, bk. iv. ch. 7; Long, Decline of the Roman Republic, vol. ii. ch. 17. SULPICIUS RUFUS, SERVIUS (c. 106-43 B.C), surnamed Lemonia from the tribe to which he belonged, Roman orator and jurist. He studied rhetoric with Cicero, and accompanied him to Rhodes in 78 B.C. Finding that he would never be able to rival his teacher he gave up rhetoric for law (Cic. Brut. 41). In 63 he was a candidate for the consulship, but was defeated by L. Licinius Murena (q.v.), whom he subsequently accused of bribery, in 51 he was successful. In the Civil War, after considerable hesitation, he threw in his lot with Caesar, who made him proconsul of Achaea in 46. He died in 43 while on a mission from the senate to Antony at Mutina. He was accorded a public funeral, and a statue was erected to his memory in front of the Rostra. Two excellent specimens of Sulpicius's style are preserved in Cicero (Ad. Fam. iv. 5 and 12). Quintilian (Instit. x. 1, 116) speaks of three orations by Sulpicius as still in existence; one of these was the speech against Murena, another Pro or Contra Aufidium, of whom nothing is known. He is also said to have been a writer of erotic poems. It is as a jurist, however, that Sulpicius was chiefly distinguished. He left behind him a large number of treatises, and he is often quoted in the Digest, although direct extracts are not found (for titles see Teuffel-Schwabe, Hist. of Roman Lil. 174, 4). His chief characteristics were lucidity, an intimate acquaintance with the principles of civil and natural law, and an unrivalled power of expression. See R. Schneider, De Servio Sulpicio Rufo (Leipzig, 1834); O. Karlowa, Römische Rechtsgeschichte, vol. i. (Leipzig, 1885); the chief ancient authority is Cicero. SULTAN (an Arabic word meaning "victorious " or " a ruler," sultat, dominion), a title of honour borne by a great variety of rulers of very varying powers and importance in Mahommedan Africa and the East. The word has thus no exact equivalent in English, and was early imported into the language in the Middle English form of soudan (from old Fr. soudan, souldan). This title is that conventionally applied by foreigners to the ruler of the Ottoman Empire, the sultan par excellence, whose proper styles are, however, padishah (emperor) and "commander of the faithful" (see AMIR). The feminine form "sultana" is derived from the Italian (fem. of sultano). SULTANPUR, a town and district of British India, in the Fyzabad division of the United Provinces. The town is on the right bank of the river Gumti, midway between Benares and Lucknow, on the Oudh & Rohilkhand railway. Pop. (1901), 9550. The DISTRICT OF SULTANPUR has an area of 1713 sq. m. The surface is generally level, being broken only by ravines in the neighbourhood of the rivers. The central portion is highly cultivated, while in the south are widespread arid plains and swampy jhils or marshes. The principal river is the Gumti, which passes through the centre of the district and affords a valuable highway for commerce. Minor streams are the Kandu, Pili, Tengha and Nandhia, the last two being of some importance, as their channels form the outlet for the superfluous water of the jhils, draining into the Sai. There are no forests in the district, only stunted dhák jungles used for fuel. In 1901 the population was 1,083,904, showing an increase of less than 1% in the decade. Sultanpur is a purely agricultural district with a very dense population. The principal crops are rice, pulses, wheat, barley, sugar-cane and a little poppy. The main line of the Oudh & Rohilkhand railway from Lucknow to Rae Bareli and Mogul Serai serves the south-western portion. The only incident worthy of note in the history of the district since the British annexation of Oudh is the revolt of the native troops stationed at Sultanpur during the Mutiny. The troops rose in rebellion on the 9th of June 1857, and, after murdering See Sultanpur District Gazetteer (Allahabad, 1903). SUMACH. The Sumach of commerce is the finely ground leaves of Rhus coriaria, a native of the North Mediterranean region from Portugal to Asia Minor; it is a shrub or low tree with hairy leaves composed of 11 to 15 elliptical leaflets with large blunt teeth, and large loose panicles of whitish-green flowers. Another species, Rhus cotinus, known as Venetian Sumach, Sumach, Rhus coriaria. 4. A seed. also a native of southern Europe and Asia Minor, yields the yellow dye-wood known as young fustic; it is also known as the Smoke-plant or Wig-tree, from the feathery or hairy appearance of the flower-stalks, which become elongated and hairy after the flowering. The genus Rhus is a member of the natural order Anacardiaceae and contains about 120 species of trees or shrubs mostly native in the temperature regions of both hemispheres. The leaves are alternate and simple or compound, with few to many entire-margined or serrated leaflets, and terminal or axillary panicles of small flowers with parts in fours or sixes. The species are mostly poisonous, some being especially, noxious. Such are Rhus toxicodendron, the North American poison ivy, a shrub climbing on rocks and trees by means of rootlets, and poisonous to the touch. R. venenata, the North American poison elder sumach or dogwood, also contains an extremely irritant poison. R. vermicifera the Japan lacquer or varnish-tree. Several species are cultivated in the British Isles as store, greenhouse or hardy trees. SUMATRA, the westernmost and, next to Borneo, the largest of the Great Sunda Islands in the Malay Archipelago. It stretches N.W. to S.E. from Malacca Passage to Sunda Strait, between 5° 40′ N. and 5° 59' S., and 95° 16' and 106° 3′ 45′′ E. Its length is about 1100 m., its extreme breadth 250 m., and its area, including the neighbouring islands, except Banka and Billiton, is 178,338 sq. m. The northern half runs roughly parallel to the Malay Peninsula, from which it is separated by the Strait of Malacca, and the southern end is separated by the |