Salomon, John, professor of Hebrew, was a native of Pdsen, where he was born in 1623. He embraced Christianity at Dantzic, Jan. 22, 1657. Two years later he was appointed professor of the Oriental languages at
the gymnasium there, and died July 1, 1683. He wrote, DemtinstrtttiuiH'S XXXVIII contra Judivos (Frankfort, 1660): — J'rogram/na Ilchr. ad Audundam Orationem Ihhr. de I'mstantia et (tUitate Lingua: tlebr. (Dantzic, 1666) : — Progrummu de .lubibr.is Ilebneorum (ibid. 1658, etc.). See Fiirst, Bibl. .ludaica, ii, 97; iii, 229; Stein- schneider, Bibliograph. llundbuch, p. 123 ; id. Catalogiis Librorum Hebr. in Bibl. Bodl. p. 2397 ; Wolf, liibl. liebr. i, 480 ; Delitzsch, Wissenschaft, Kunst mid .Imknthitm, p. 139, 301; Basnage, Uistoire des Juifs (Taylor's transL), p. 735. (B. P.)
Salonius, St., bishop of Geneva in the middle of the 5th century, was the son of Eucher, afterwards bish- op of Lyons. At the early age of ten, he entered the monastery of Lerins, and there studied under Hilary, Honorat, and Vincent. It is not positively known whether Salonius had charge of the church at Vienna or Geneva, but it was probabh' the latter. He is sup- posed to have assisted, with his father, at the Council of Orange in 441. He died about 470. There remains a writing of Salonius, called Exjmsitio Mystica in Para- bolas Salomonis et Ecclesiasten. The style is simple, and the most of the exposition relates to ethics. — Hoefer, Nouv. Biog. Generale, s. v.
Salpinx {a trumpet), in Greek mythology, was a sur- name of Minerva. Hegeleos, the son of Tyrsenus, ded- icated to her a temple with the above name after his father had invented the trumpet.
Salt (n3'2, melach; liXg), the chloride of sodium of modern chemistry. Indispensable as salt is to ourselves, it was even more so to the Hebrews, being to them not only an appetizing condiment in the food both of man (Job vi, 6j and beast (Isa. xxx, 24; see margin), and a most valuable antidote to the effects of the heat of the climate on animal food, but also entering largely into their religious services as an accompaniment to the va- rious offerings presented on the altar (Lev, ii, 13 ). Tliev possessed an inexhaustible and ready supply of it on the southern shores of the Dead Sea. In the same manner the Arabs of the present day procure their supply of salt from the deposits of the Dead Sea, and carry on a con- siiierable trade in that article throughout Syria. Here may have been situated the Valley of Salt (2 Sam. viii, 13), in proximity to the mountain of fossil salt which Robinson (^Researches, ii, 108) describes as five miles in length, and as the chief source of the salt in the sea itself. See Salt, Valley of. Here were the salt-pits (Zeph. ii, 9), probably formed in the marshes at the southern end of the lake, which are completely coated with salt, deposited periodically by the rising of the waters; and here also were the successive pillars of salt which tradition has from time to time identified with Lot's wife (Wisd. x, 7; Josephus, ,4?;/. i, 11, 4). See Dead Sea. Salt might also be procured from the Mediterranean Sea, and from this source the Phoeni- cians would naturally obtain the supply necessary for salting tish (Neh. xiii, 16) and for other purposes. The Jews appear to have distinguished between rock-salt and that which was gained by evaporation, as the Tal- mudists particularize one species (probably the latter) as the "salt of Sodom" (Carpzov, Appar. p. 718), The notion that this expression means bitumen rests on no foundation. The salt-pits formed an important source of revenue to the rulers of the country (Joscphus, Ant. xiii, 4, 9), and Antiochus conferred a valuable boon on Jerusalem liy presenting the city with 375 bushels of salt for tlie Temple service {ibid, xii, 3, 3). In addition to the uses of salt already specified, the inferior sorts were applied as a manure to the soil, or to hasten tlie decomposition of dung (Jfaft. v, 13; Luke xiv, 35). Too large an admixture, however, was held to produce sterility, as exempliticd on tlic shores of the Dead Sea (Deut. xxix, 23; Zeph. ii, 9) ; hence a "salt" land was synonymous with barrenness (Job xxxix, 6; see mar- gin ; Jer. xvii, 6; comp. Joscphus, War, iv, 8, 2, u\fiv-
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jowoje Kai nyoi'of) ; and hence also arose the custom of sowing with salt the foundations of a destroyed city (Judg. ix, 45), as a token of its irretrievable ruin. It was the belief of the Jews that salt would, by exposure to the air, lose its virtue {^iwpavBy, Matt, v, 13), and become saltless {di'aXov, Mark ix, 50). The same fact is implied in the expressions of Pliny, sal biers (xxxi, 39), .'.•<// tabescere (xxxi, 44); and Maundrell {Eiuiy Travels [ed. BohnJ, p. 512) asserts that he found the surface of a salt rock in this condition (see Hackett, II- lustrut. of Script, p. 48 sq.).