Page:Collier's New Encyclopedia v. 08.djvu/388

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SELKIRK MOUNTAINS 332 SELWYN of "Robinson Crusoe." He died on the ship "Weymouth," in 1723. SELKIRK MOUNTAINS, an outlying range of the Rocky mountains, in British Columbia, extending S. from about lat. 52° N. to near the United States fron- tier. The Canadian Pacific railway climbs over the mountains at a point 4,300 feet above the sea. SELKIRKSHIRE, a county of south- east Scotland. Area, 267 square miles. Pop. about 25,000. Almost its entire area is occupied by two parallel valleys of the rivers Ettrick and Yarrow. The county is mountainous. The various mountains, the highest of which is Dun Rig (2,433 feet), have round, instead of peaked tops, and the mountain sides are cov- ered with a high quality grass, pro- viding excellent pasturage. Formerly there were extensive woods, which, how- ever, have now disappeared. Capital, Selkirk, with a population (1918) of 5,946. SELLAR, WILLIAM YOUNG, an English critic; born in Morvich, Suther- land, Feb. 22, 1825; was educated at Edinburgh Academy and Glasgow Uni- versity, from which he passed to Balliol College, Oxford. In 1850 he was elected to a fellowship at Oriel; next acted as assistant professor at Durham, Glasgow (1851-1853), and St. Andrews (1853- 1859) ; filled for six years the Greek chair at St. Andrews; and was elected in 1863 to the Latin chair at Edinburgh, which he retained till his death near Dairy, Galloway, Oct. 12, 1890. _ He made his name widely known by his learned and brilliant book, "The Roman Poets of the Republic" (1863; revised and en- larged, 1881), which was followed by "The Roman Poets of the Augustan Age —Vergil" (1877), and "Horace and the Elegiac Poets" (1892), the latter edited from his papers by his nephew, Andrew Lang, with a brief memoir prefixed. SELLS, CATO, an American public official, born at Vinton, Iowa. He studied at Cornell College, Mount Vernon, Iowa. In 1884 he was admitted to the bar. He practiced at Laporte City, served as its mayor, and in 1891 was elected state's attorney. From 1894 to 1899 he was United States district attorney. In 1907 he removed to Cleburne, Tex., where he engaged in the banking business. He was appointed commissioner of Indian Af- fairs by President Wilson in 1913. SELMA, a city and county-seat of Dallas co., Ala.; on the Alabama river, and on the Western of Alabama, and the Louisville and Nashville and other rail- roads; 50 miles W. of Montgomery. Here are Dallas Academy, Alabama Methodist Orphanage, public library, Y. M. C. A., Alabama Baptist Colored University, and other public buildings, electric lights, National and State banks, and several daily and weekly newspapers. There is regular steamboat connection with Mo- bile. The city has an ice factory, cotton- seed oil mill, railroad machine and car- wheel shops, a planing mill, iron works, engine works, extensive cotton factories, etc. During the Civil War the city con- tained an arsenal, extensive powder works, and a gun foundry. It fell into the hands of the Union forces a few days before the surrender of General Lee. Pop. (1910) 13,649; (1920) 15,589. SELOUS, FREDERICK COURTE- NAY, an English explorer; born in London, Dec. 31, 1851. He made a name as a gold prospector, explorer, and ele- phant hunter in South Africa, where he spent many years; and during the Mata- bele campaign fought on the side of the colonists. In 1909-1910 he organized and conducted the Roosevelt hunting expedi- tion in E. Africa. Though over 60 when the World War broke out he obtained in 1915 a commission as lieutenant of Fusi- leers. Promoted captain D. S. O. 1916. Killed in action in E. Africa in 1917. He wrote: "A Hunter's Wanderings in Africa" (1881); "Travel and Adventure in Southeast Africa" (1893) ; and "Sun- shine and Storm in Rhodesia" (1896), etc. SELTZER WATER, a carbonated mineral water imported from Lower Set- ters, in the duchy of Nassau. It contains common salt and the carbonates of soda, magnesia, and lime, and is recommended as a mild stimulant and diuretic. An artificial seltzer for domestic use is pre- pared by adding minute quantities of common salt and carbonate of soda to distilled water, and highly impregnating with carbonic acid gas. SELWYN, GEORGE AUGUSTUS, an English bishop; born April 5, 1809; was educated at Eton and at Cambridge; rowed in the first inter-university boat race (1829) ; and was a great pedestrian and swimmer, athletic powers found very serviceable in after life. In 1841, while curate of Windsor, he was consecrated first and only Bishop of New Zealand and Melanesia — now divided into seven sees. On the voyage out he studied Maori and navigation. He visited every portion of his huge diocese before setting about his great work of organizing it. A visit to England in 1854 brought back John Coleridge Patteson, afterward the martyred Bishop of Melanesia, to whose see Bishop Selwyn's second son was con-