SAURIN, JACQUES, was born at Nismes in 1677. After serving some time as a soldier he devoted himself to study, and in 17o9 became pastor of the French church at the Hague, vvhere he died in 173o. He acquired much fame as a preacher, and his sermons, of which 12 vols. have been published, have had a wide circulation. His title to a place in this work rests on his Discours sur l'ancien Testament, of which the first two vols. appeared before his death. The work was com pleted by Beausobre and Rogues, and fills 6 vols. fol., or Svo, Amst. 172o. It is a work of much research, and contains some ingenious and valuable remarks on many points of difficulty, his torical and philosophical. It is adorned by a costly set of engravings. The first vol. was trans lated into English by John Chamberlayne, Lond. 1723, fol.—W. L. A.
SAW (r1=, • Sept. 7rptalv). The saw tY_ , was doubtless used. among the Hebrews for the
cutting of wood, though this is not mentioned in the Bible ; it was used for the cutting of stone (I Kings vii. 9), and also as an instrument of punishment (2 Sam. xii. 31 ; Chron. 3). The saws of the Egyptian, so far as known, were all straight and single-handed ; but the double handed saw seems to have been known to the As syrians (Layard, Hilt. and .Bab. p. r95),_and we suppose must have been known to the Hebrews from their sawing stones. Jerome is thought to allude to the circular saw, for he says (In Esai. xxviii. 27) that the iron wheels used to thresh corn were driven round 'in serrarum similitudinem.' The Egyptian saws in the British Museum are of bronze ; but those used by David as instruments of punishment were of iron. [HANDICRAFT.] W. L. A.