SER
uniform conftruflion, but divided by large fepta either into larger and more irregular portions, or into fmaller and more equal ones, called talc.
Thofe of the fecond order are fuch as are ufually found in fmaller mafles of a cruftated ftru&ure, formed by various incruftations round a central nucleus, and divided by very ■ thin fepta.
The genera of the firft order are four. i. Thofe divided by fepta of fpar, called fecomia. 2. Thofe divided by fepta of earthy matter, called gaiophragmia. 3. Thofe divided by fepta of the matter of the pyrites, called pyritercia. And 4. thofe divided by fepta of fpar, with an admixture of cryftal, called diaugopbragmia. See all thefe under their fe- veral heads.
Of the fecond order there are only two genera. 1. Thofe with a fhort rOundifh nucleus, enclofed within the body of the mafs. And 2. thofe with a long nucleus, ftanding out beyond the ends of the mafs. Hi IPs Hiftory of Foflils, p P- 500.
SEPTERION, Eefflijgio', in antiquity, a Delphic feftival, ce- lebrated every ninth year, in memory of Apollo's victory over Python. The chief part of the folemnity was a re- prefentation of Python purfued by Apollo. Potter, Archseol. Grasc. Tom. I. p. 430. SEPTIMONTIUM, among the Romans, a feftival cele- brated in December on all the feven hills of Rome ; whence alfo it had this name, being otherwife called agonalia. See the article Agonalia, CycL SEQTJATUR fub fao periculo, a writ that lies when a fum- mons ad warrant'fzandum is awarded, and the fheriff returns that the party hath nothing whereby he may be fummoned ; then goes fortli an alias and a phtries ; and if he comes not in an the pluries, this writ fl) all i flue. Old Nat. Br, 163. Cowel. SEQUESTRATION (CyO—SEQUBSTRATioN,^^™^, in chemiftry, a term ufed by fome writers to exprefs feparation. SEQUESTRO babendo, a writ judicial for the difcharging a fequejlration of the profits of a church benefice granted by the biihop at the king's commandment, thereby to compel the parfon to appear at the fuit of another. The parfon, upon his appearance, may have this writ for the releafe of" the fequejlrat'ion. Reg. Judic. 36. Blount, Cttwel. SERACH, in the Turkifh military orders, an officer who holds the ftirrup of the caia of the janizaries in charge, at- tends him when he goes out on horfcbackj, and fe'rves him as a meflenger on all occafions. ■ After "this office he has the title of.cbqus; and after he has paffed througVtbis, he has the fame office under the aga'of the janizaries/ Pocod's Egypt, p. 168. ' '
SERANGODES, a word ufed originally as an epithet Ijbr the pumice ftone, and expreffing cavernous, fpungy, or full of holes. It has been hence ufed to finuous ulcers, and to all forts of things that are cavernous,' or of a fpungy texture. SERAGE, in zoology, an Englifh name for a bird of the . larus, or gull kind, more ufually called the fea-fwallvw, and
by authors Jlema. See Stema. SERAPIAS, in the materia medica, the officinal name of th<
dried root, called falep. Dale's Pbarm. -p. 2.54. SERBAJEE, in the Eaftern military orders, i:, a captain in the horfe in the fervice of the grand feignior. Pocock's Egypt, p. 166. SERIANA, in botany, a name given by Plumier to a genus of plants, the fame in its generical characters with his cu- ruru; both which are comprifed by Linnseus under one genus, with the new name paulinia. Plumier, Gen. 35. See the article Paulinia. SERICH, the name, of a feed ufed In the food of the Egyp- tian coptis. It is produced by an herb called fmifim^ and is pounded and put into oil. In this they dip their bread, which is always new, being baked as often as they eat in fmall flat 'cakes. Thefe they eat dipped in this oil with raw onions, or elfe they break the cakes to pieces, and put them into a fyrup of fugar, made when the canes are green. Pa- cock's Egypt, p.' 183. SERICUM,'y7tfv See the article Silk. " Sericum is alfo a name given by feveral chemical writers to the flowers of zink raifed by fublimation .in an inclined open crucible. Thefe flowers are not reducible into zink'a°-ain and are of a ftbrofe texture, and a beautiful bright white colour. This has made them be called alfo the philofopbic cotton, and others have named them the aqua fuca pbilofopbo- rum. What has given the greateft confufion, however, in regard to them is, that fome writers : have chofen to call them talc, and a fort of folution of them in vinegar, oil of talc. Others have reftra'med the word oil to a genuine oil feparated from a folution of thefe flowers in vinegar ; and have attributed to this oil the power of concentrating' me- tals, and fixing fllver, or reducing it to the folidity and weight of gold, and making it, like that metal, foluble only irt aqua regia. Thefe, however, are mere chimeras, and this boafted oil is, in reality, no other than- the eilentiaj oil of the grape, and can have no fuch properties.' SERINUS, in zoology, the name of a fmall bird common in Germany and I aly, and called by the Auftrians haerngril, or hmigryl. See Tab. of Birds, N u 37.
SER
Its back is of a reddifli brown, and its head yellow • the colour being deeper in the male, and paler in the female" The rump is of a beautiful yellowifh green, as is alfo the breaft. The belly is white, and the fides have fome oblon» .blackifh fpots. The tail, and long feathers of the vyinpT are black, and a little greenifti at their extremities. The beak is very thick, ftrong, and fhort, and is very (harp at the point. It is kept in cages, and fings very fweetly. Gefncr deAvibus. Aldrovand. de Avib. lib. 18. cap. 20. '
SERMOCINATION, fermoc'matic, in rhetoric, denotes dif- courfe in general, whether held by a perfon alone, or in company, and is the fame with what is called diabgifm. See the article Dialogism. SERPEGER, in the manege, was ufed to denote the ridin» a horfe in a ferpentine way, or in a tread with waved turn- ings, like the pofture of a ferpent's body ; but is now become obfolete. SERPENT, (Cycl.) ferpens, in zoology, the name of a genus of animals, which Mr. Ray defines to be creatures breathing by means of lungs, having only one ventricle in the heart, having no feet, and having a long body, covered with fcales. To which he adds, that in cold feafons they can bear hunger a long time. The greater part of the ferpent clafs are poifonous, and dangerous in their bite, leaving a mifchievous liquor in the wound made by their tooth, which mixing by this means immediately with the blood, is of fa- tal confequencej though the whole creature may be eaten with fafety, or even the poifonous liquor, which does this mifchief- in the wound, tailed without hurt. Notwithftanding that firpmti refpire by means of luntrs, they do not take in and difcharge their breath by fuch fhort intervals as other animals, but what they have once infpired will ferve them a long time ; for as they are of a cold na- ture, and their naturally nccefl'ary vital warmth very fmall, they do not require fuch an eternally renewed fu'pply of that pabulum of vital heat, as thofe which have more of it ; and as with us they lie half the year torpid, and half dead, their vital warmth at that time, like fire fmothered under allies, barely exifts, and needs perhaps no more air than what the creature took in at one infpiration, before its laying itfelf down for the-feafon, which fcrves it till the -life- renewing (bring returns;
Serpent!, according to Mr. Ray, may be divided into -the poifonous and the harmlefs ; -the firft having long derites ex- erti, with poifonous liquors contained at their bottom, which on biting they difcharge into the wound ; the others want- ing thefe teeth, and this porfon.
They may alfo be divided, in regard to their generation, into the oviparous and viviparous ; but this is a lefs firmly founded diftinction than may be fuppofed, fince all ferpmts are truly and' properly produced of eggs'; and the only dif- ference is, that fome depofit their eggs in dung-hills, and the like places, to be hatched by accidental heat; while others retain thofe eggs to be hatched in their own bodies, and fo bring forth living young ones. Of the firft kind is the common fnake, of the latter the viper. Ray's -Syn. Quad, e-t Serp. p. 284. See Tab. of Quadrupeds and Serpents. Serpens htbalimis. Mr. Cleyer has given a very'remarkable account, in the German Ephemerides, of the prodigious fize, and voracious appetite of this ferpent, and its manner of feeding. -
This gentleman allures us that they grow to the length of twenty "'five feet, and are furpiifmgly daring in attacking large "' creatures for prey. Their necky he dbferves, is fo fmall, in proportion to the creatures they -ferae,' that it is a wonder that they -can fwallow" them whole, which yet ex- perience (hews they certainly do, having no- power of tear- ing them to pieces. This gentleman &v a compleat ftao- taken out of the belly of one of- thefe 'fliaHts, -with all its' limbs remaining on ; and at another time a wild goat, which had been fwallowed in the fame manner; and from an- other a compleat porcupine, a very trbublefome morfel ; and there was once an inftancc, in the Molucca iflands, of a woman big with" child being thus/fucked down whole by one of thefe creatures. Ray's Syn. An. p. 333. , The method of their managing their prey is this. When thoroughly lank, lean, and hungry, ; the- fnake lies in wait for any thing it can feize; he darts' out upon the prey, and feizing it- with his mouth, winds his body round that of the creature ;- and this he is able to do with fuch force, that he will often, in twifting himfelf firmly round the creature, break the bones' within its (kin. This he continues, and at the fame time is biting with his terrible mouth all the tender parts of the creature, till he has deftroyed it ; or if it be an animal too ftrong to be killed by thefe fimple folds, it will drag it to form-neighbouring tree, and tying it faft againft that, draw its body fo forcibly round it, as to crufh all its bones to pieces by the help of that folid refitting body. The part it ufually feizes with its teeth, at the fame time, is the creature's nofe, which he bites fo forcibly, as not only to flop the breath, but to occsfion a difcharge of blood, which helps to forward its deftruction. But the mod lingular attack, ever known to have been made by this creature, is that recorded by the fame author, 3 ■ of
