Saffron belongs to the flag or iris order {Iridacea). The different members of the crocus family are great favorites: the purple and golden varieties {Crocus ver- mis, Willd., and C. aureus, Sm.), which, on English flowei borders, are the first to follow the snowdrop, and often fill with a flush of coming spring the earliest days of March ; and the lonely, fragile sort {C. nudiforus, Sm.), which, with its own leaves still underground, comes up amid the drifting foliage of autumn, making a mourn- ful effort to cheer the last days of October. These, and other species now naturalized in various localities, are regarded by some as only varieties of the C. sativus of
Saffron {Crocus sativns).
SAGA
244
SAHUGUET
Linnaeus, the true or saffron -yielding crocus— a plant of plentiful occurrence in Greece and Asia Minor. The name salfron, as usually applied, does not denote the whole plant, nor even the whole flower, of Crocus sdllviis, but oniv the stigmas, with part of the style, which, be- ing plucked out, are carefully dried. (Comp. I/alle Kn- cykl. i, § XX, 165 sq., and plates in Plenck, /cones I'lun- (ar. Med. i, plate 32.) These, when prepared, arc dry, narrow, thread-like, and twisted together, of an orange- yellow color, having a peculiar aromatic and penetrat- ing odor, wiili a hittorisli and somewhat aromatic taste, tinging the mouth and saliva of a yellow color. Some- times the stigmas are prejiared by being submitted to pressure, and thus maile into what is called cake saf- fron, a form in which it is still imported from Persia into India. Hay saffron is obtained chiefly from France and Spain, though it is also sometimes prepared from the native crocus cultivated for this purpose. Saffron was formerly highly esteemed as a stimulant medicine, and still enjoys high repute in Eastern countries both as a medicine and as a condiment. See, further, Beck- mann, Geschkhte der Krjind. ii, 79 sq. ; Celsius, Hierohol. ii, 11 sq. ; Bod. a Stapel. Comment, in Theophr. p. G03 sq.; Ilertodt, Crocolnr/ia (Jen. 1670); Tristram, Nat. Hist, of the Bible, p. 496.
Saga, in Scandinavian mythology, possibly identi- cal with fAif/a, is a deity who at least shares the dwell- ing-place of Laga in the cooling waters of Soquabekr, and participates in the love of Odin, who pays her dai- ly visits. Saga is one of the Asins, whose songs com- memorate the deeds of the heroes. See Norse Mv-
TllOLOGY.
Sagan ("55, a py-crfect'), the second priest of the .Jews, who acted as deputy of the high -priest, often officiating for him in the sacred service of the Temple. He was sometimes called high-priest, and was identical with the ruler of the Temple. See Pkiest.
Sagaren, or Sangaren, in Hindu mythology, was a famous king, belonging to the race of Children of the Sun, whose sixty thousand sons were turned to ashes by an angry glance of the white penitent Kabiler.
Sagaris, in Greek mythology, was a Trojan who accompanied /Eneas to Italy, where he was slain by Turuus.
Sagaritis, in Phoenician mythology, was a drj-ad who iiiduced Atys to violate his faith with Cybele, to punish which the latter cut down the tree of Sagaritis, and thus caused her death.
Sagatrakawaxeii, in Hindil mythologj-, w^as a monstrous giant wlio sprang from the blood of Brahma, when that god was decapitated by the angrv Siva, and who was provided with five hundred heads and a tliousaud arms. — Yollmer, WOyterb. d. Afyt/iol. s. v.
Sage, John, a bishop of the Episcopal Church of Scotland, was born (1652) in the parish of Creich, Fife. He was educated at the University of St. Andrews (M.A. 1672), and was ordained in 16K1. He officiated at (.ilasgow until the Uevolution in HWS, and was con- secrated a bishop for Scotland, 1705. He died in 1711. The following are his principal works: The Fundamen- tal Charter of I'resbi/teri/ (Loud. 1695, 8vo) ; The Prin- ciples of the Ci/prianic Age with regard to Episcopal y'oicer.etc. (1G'.»5, 4to; 1717, 8vo); A Vindication of the same (1701, 4to). These, together with his Life, were republished, in three octavo volumes, by the Spottis- woode Society (\'A\n. IHl 1-46). See AUibone, Diet, of A ulhors, H. V. ; I )arling, Cijvh>p. Bibliog. s. v.
Sagittarius, Casi-ak, historiographer of the duchy of Saxony, professor of history at the University of Jena, and, according to liis biographer, J. A. Schmidt, one of the most excellent, erudite, and industrious men of his lime, was Ijorn Sept. 23, 1013. His father, a pastor, taught him with care, and sent him. when fifteen, to the gymnasium at Liibeck. At this early age he published an essay, Dc Ritibus Vetcrum Itumanorum
Nupti(dibus, and began his annotations on Justin. Here also he wrote an erudite history of the Passion of Jesus. After three years at the gymnasium, he entered the University of Helmstiidt, and heard lect- ures on the whole field of human knowledge — exege- sis, church history, metaphysics, logic, ethics, politics, physics, history, geography, and anatomy — thus lay- ing a foundation for the character of j^oli/histor which he subsequently bore. He also preached and travelled in various parts of Germany, and formed relations with many learned men. He next prepared his work, De Calceis et Nudipedalibus Veterum. At the age of t^ven- ty-five he became rector of the school at Saalfeld (1668), where he not only distinguished himself as an educator, but also continued his literary productiveness. In 1671 he was called to a professorship at Jena. After writing various philological treatises and theological disputa- tions— one of them De Martyrum Cruciatibus in Pri- miliva Ecclesia — he succeeded (1674) to the chair of J. A. Bose as professor of history. The next year he pub- lished a very learned work on the history and customs of Thuringia. In 1676 he visited the libraries of Ger- many and Copenhagen ; in 1678 he issued his Compen- dium Historue Saxonicw, and was made a doctor of the- ology; in the following years he appeared as a polemic, defending Lutheranism against the Jesuit Schonmann. Thereupon followed various works on Pietism, which he boldly defended, and for which he was bitterly assailed by the staid orthodox party. Among the best of his works in this strife is his Christlicher Nenjahisivunsch an alle evangelische Theologos, die die Beforderung des thdtigen Christenthums sich angelegen seyn lassen (Jena, 1692). Among his later writings were his Ilistoi-ia Vitm Georgii Spalatini (Jena, 1693), and an Introductio in IIisto7-iam Ecclesiasticam, which he did not live to finish. He died March 9, 1694. For a complete list of the works of Sagittarius, see Joan. Andr. Schmidii Com- mentarius de Vita et Scriptis Caspari Sagittarii (Jena, 1713). See Herzog, Real-EncyU. xiii, 301-304. (J. P. L.)