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thefc are the forts which in France they defpair of curing by re-diftillation, or bringing to the ftatc of three fifths, or trots cinques, as they exprefs their ftronger brandies. Shaw's Effav on Diftillery. See Trois cinques. SEELING {Cycl.)— Seeling, at fea, is ufed in the fame fenfe nearly with heeling. When a fhip lies down conftant- ly, or fteadily on one fide, the feamen fay {he heels; and they call it feeling, when {he tumbles on one fide violently, and fuddenly, by reafon of the fea forfaking her, as they call it ; /'. e. the waves leaving her for a time in a bowling fea. When a {hip thus tumbles to leeward, they call it lee- feel \ and in this there is not much danger, even in a {torm, becaufe the fea will prefently right her up again ; but if fhe rowls or feels to windward, there is fear of her coming over too fhort or fuddenly, and fo by having the fea break right into her, be either foundered, or elfe have fome of her upper works carried away. SEGITH, a word ufed by fome of the chemical writers as
a name for vitriol. SEGMENTUM, among the Romans, an ornament of lace ufed by the women on their fboulders, which, according to fome, refembled our moulder knots. Pitifc. in voc. Segmenta were likewife a kind of teflelated, or Mofaic pavements, made up of pieces of various fhapes and colours, but which had an uniform and regular arrangement. Pitifc, Lex. Ant. in voc. SEGUE, in the Italian mufic, is often found before aria, alleluja, amen, &c. to fhew that thofe portions or parts are to be fung immediately after the laft note of that part over which it is writ. But if thefe words, fe place, or ad libitum, are joined therewith, it fignifies that thefe portions may be lung, or not, at plcafure. SEGUENZA, in the Italian mufic, a kind of hymn fung in the Roman church, generally in profe. The feguenze are often fung after the gradual, immediately before the gofpel, and fometimes in the vefpers before the magnificat. They were formerly more ufed than at prefent. The Rom Mb. church has retained three feguenze, called le tre feguenze dell' anno. They are lauda Sion falvatorem, &c. vi£iimi£ pafchali laudes, Sec. veni faniie Spiritus, &c. Thefe are fung to mufic in many places. There is alfo one called dies ir&, dies ilia, in the funeral fervice, which is admirably well fet, and on which Legrenzi, Lully, and others, have made excellent compofitions. Broffard. SEIGNETTE's fait, a name given in France to a kind of fal polycreftus, famous a long time in that kingdom as a purge. It was otherwife called fal rupelktifis, and was in- vented by Mr. Seignette. The Paris Academy took it into confederation, and Mr. Geoffroy difcovered that it was only a kind of foluble tartar, formed of cream of tartar and common pot-afhes. See Rupellensis fal. SEIGNIORY, dominium, in our law, is ufed for a manor or
lord ftiip. Blount, Cowel. SEIM, in agriculture, a term ufed by the farmers of Corn- wall to exprefs a certain determinate quantity of fea fand, which they ufe as manure to their lands. They dredge this up on the fea coafts, and carry it as far toward the lands, where it is to be ufed, as they can by water. At the landing place the farmers bring a train of horfes to receive it, each horfe carrying 2. felm, that is a fack of it, containing thirteen gallons. The land carriage or this land, In Cornwall alone, is fuppofed to coft thirty two thoufand pounds annually; and yet the farmers find abundant encouragement to continue the ufe of it, it is fo rich a manure. Philof. Tranf. N° 103. SEISACHTHEIA, S !(C r« x 8 E(K , in antiquity, a public facrifice at Athens, in memory of Solon's ordinance ; whereby the debts of poor people were either entirely remitted, or at leaft the intereff. due upon them leflened, and the creditors hindered from feizing upon the perfons of their debtors, a; had been cuftomary before that time. Potter, Archxol. Grasc. Tom. I. p. 430.
The word fignifies the (baking off a burden. SEISINA habenda, quia rex habuit annum, diem et vajlum, in law, a writ that lies for delivery of fcifin to the lord of lands or tenements, after the king, in right of his prerogative, hath had the year, day, and wafte, on a felony committed! Reg. orig. 166. Blount, Cowel. SEITAN, a name given by Avifenna, and other of the Al__ bian writers, to a fpecies of prickly tree, often recommended in their prefcriptions.
The word is fometimes alfo written feien, fitan, fetah, fitim.
Pliny mentions this as a wood remarkably durable. He fays it grew moft plentifully in Egypt, and that it remained uncorrupted in waters. It is called by him, and others of the old Latin writers, fpina nigra, the black thorn : and the du- rable nature of our common floe tree, or black thorn, grow- ing in our hedges, has tempted fome to believe it to be the fame with the fetin, or fpina nigra of the antients ; but this is overthrown by the common account of Pliny, and others, of fhips being built of this wood, the fmall fize of our black thorn rendering it wholly impoffible to put it to fuch
Theodotion is to be underflood of this wood, when he fpeaks of the fet ah, or acanthina.
It is plain from Avifenna, that this feian, or feitan, is no other than that fpecies of acacia, which, from its producing- our gum arabic, is called the gum arabic tree. Avifenna calls the fruit of this alcarad, or alcarath ; and in his ac- count of it, he fays that it is the fruit of a great thorny tree growing in Egypt, and in the region called BafTera, and that the gum arabic exfudates from its trunk, and the acacia juice is prepared from its fruit alcarath. He adds, that the JE- gyptians themfelves call it yfrsfi ; and Profper Alpinus tells us, that at this time they call \tfant. This word is eafily derived from fit an, and then the name is not a little initru- mental to the proving what the tree was, as the fant is evi- dently ' what Avifenna fays of the fitan, the gum arabic tree.
We find the word fant in fome of the Arabians alfo, and they write it fatn, whence the fofter word fant is as eafily formed, as botn, the name of turpentine, is formed into bant? or, as fome write it, botin or botim, and many other words in the materia medica of the antients, are fpelt in the fame manner. Profper Alpinus, de Plant. ./Egypt. SEL, in the materia medica of the antients, a name given to the fruit of an Indian plant, refembling the cucumber in its manner of growth, but bearing a fruit like a piftachia nut. There are three of thefe fruits mentioned by the Arabian writers, the bel, fel, and fel. See Bel and Fel, They tell us exprefsly that the bel and fel, as alfo the fruit fel, were not the truit of a tree, but of a plant, and that of the creeping kind. It is very probable, that the other fel of Avifenna is the root of the nymphaa. indica, which he mentions in the chapter of nenuphar, as poiTeffing the fame virtues which he attributes to this fort of fel, that is the fame with thofe of mandrake. SELAGINOIDES, in botany, the name of a genus of mofles, the characters of which are thefe. The capfules are pro- duced in the alee of the leaves, in the manner of thole of the felago, but they are of a different form, being tricoccous, and fometimes quadricoccous, and opening, when mature, into fo many valves. See Tab. of Mofles, N° 16. Of this genus of mofs we have only one known fpecies, which is the prickly felaginoides, commonly called feeding mountain mofs. This is found in the mountainous parts of Yorkfhire, and in Wales, and loves rocky and moifr. places. Dillon. Hift- Mufc. p. 461. SELAGO, in the Linnsean fyftem of botany, the name of a genus of plants, the characters of which are thefe. The perianthium is fmall, and remains after the flower is fallen. It is compofed of one leaf, divided into four fegments at the edge. The flower confifts of one petal, formed into a tube, which is very fmall, and fcarce fenfibly perforated, and a limb or verge, which is expanded, and divided into five fegments ; the two upper of which are the fmalleff, and the under one the largeft of all. The {lamina are four ca- pillary filaments, of the length of the flower, into which they are fixed at the bafe ; the two upper ones of thefe are longer than the reft, and their anthers are fimple. The germen of the pifr.il is roundifh. The ftyle is {lender, and of the length of the iramina. The ftigma is fimple and acute. The flower finally involves the feed, which is {ingle, and of a roundifh. figure. Linn&i Gen. Plant, p. 300. The characters of this genus of moues, according to Dille- nius, are thefe. The capfules are produced in the alae of the leaves, and are either reniform, or globular, and have nei- ther pedicle, operculum, nor calyptra, like the capfules of the other mofles. They have only one cavity, and part in- to two valves when ripe. To this it may be added that the plants are all rigid and fhrubby, and the ftalks as well as roots are dichotomous. See Tab. of Mofles, N° 13. Of this genus of mofles the following are all the known fpe- cies. 1. The common upright fir mofs, or felago, refem- bling the common fpruce fir. This grows to four or five inches high, and is found in the crevices of ftones, and in fome places on the ground, in the mountainous parts of Yorkfhire and in Wales. There are three or four varie- ties of this mofs, found in different places, which might lead a new obferver into the error of fuppofing them new fpecies. 1. The American felago with notched and reflected leaves. This grows in Penfylvania, in wet clayey foils. 3. The camphorated leaved felago, called by fome authors the coris-leaved american mofs. It is found in North Ame- rica, and its branches are often a foot long, divided at dif- ferent parts in a dichotomous manner; fo that it fpreads greatly, taking root all the way that it panes. It generally creeps upon the barks of trees. 4. The coris-leaved felago, called by Plunder the great faviti-leaved mofs. This alfo grows in North America. 5. The toad-flax-leaved felago. 'I his alfo is an American mofs, and grows on the trunks and branches of trees. Dillen. Hift. Mufc. p. 436. SELANION, in botany, a name by which fome authors have called the common crocus vermis, or the garden fpring flower we call the crocus. Ger. Emac. Ind. 2. SELA7 US, one of the many names by which the chemical writers have called quickfilver.
SELENA,
