burg, and in 1858 he went to the Philippines, where he traveled until 1864. Returning to Germany, he taught at Würzburg, and in 1872 became director of the zoölogical museum and laboratory. In 1877 he gave a course of lectures at Boston which were afterwards published under the title of “Animal Life as Affected by the Natural Conditions of Existence” (New York, 1881). Semper's work as a systematic zoölogist is embodied in his series of volumes on the zoölogy of the Philippines; as an embryologist he will be remembered for his work on the development of a fresh-water mollusk (Ampullaria); as a morphologist he actively advocated the theory of the derivation of the vertebrates from the annelid worms, a view now generally held. Still more important are his broad and original views on evolution as stated in his Animal Life. He also criticised Darwin's theory of circular coral reefs (atolls), his views having been confirmed by other later observers.
Semper's chief works, besides the Animal Life, are: Die Philippinen und ihre Bewohner (Würzburg, 1869); Die Palauinseln (Leipzig, 1873); Reisen im Archipel der Philippinen (“Wissenschaftliche Resultate,” part i., 1868; ii.-vi., 1870-96) ; “Beiträge sur Biologie der Oligochaeten,” in Arbeiten aus dem zoologisch-zootomischen Institut in Würzburg (1877); “Das Urogenital-system der Plagiostomen,” etc., in Arbeiten, etc., vol. ii. (1875). Semper was also the founder of the zoölogical periodical Arbeiten aus dem zoologisch-zootomischen Institut in Würzburg (1871-95).
SEM′PILL, Robert (c.1530-95). A Scottish ballad writer, who wrote many broadsides in support of the Reformation in Scotland. For them consult: The Sempill Ballates, ed. by Stevenson (Edinburgh, 1872); and Satirical Poems of the Time of the Reformation, ed. by Cranstoun (Scottish Text Society, 2 vols., ib., 1889-93).
SEN, Keshub Chunder (1838-84). A Hindu reformer and theist. He was bom at Garifa, Bengal, and received a mixed native and English education. He came into prominence in connection with the Theistic Church of India or the Brahmo-Somaj (q.v.), which he joined in 1857. In 1865 a division resulted, and the majority became known as the ‘progressive Somaj’ with Sen as the acknowledged leader. Although acknowledging the moral precepts of Christ, they demanded for India a Christ presented in Oriental form for the Hindu mind. In 1870 he visited England, where he was cordially received by scholars and ecclesiastics. When, in 1878, however, Sen, who had been one of the prime movers in the passage of the law against child marriage, permitted his daughter, thirteen years old, to wed the Rajah of Cutch Behar, he was deposed by some of his congregation and thenceforth his personal prestige declined. The dissenters formed the Sadhara or Cothetic Brahmo-Somaj. In 1881 he celebrated what he called the birth of the New Dispensation, promulgating the teachings which he had imbibed from Ramakrishna (q.v.). He was the author of Yoga, Objective and Subjective (1884). Consult: Max Müller, Biographical Essays (London, 1884); Mozoomdar, Life and Teachings of Keshub Chunder Sen (Calcutta, 1887).
SENANCOUR, se-näN′ko͞or′, Étienne Pivert de (1770-1846). A French philosopher and littérateur, remembered almost solely as the author of Obermann. He was born in Paris of a noble family ruined by the Revolution. He was sickly from childhood. Though destined to the Church, he escaped from the Seminary of Saint-Sulpice to Switzerland, with his mother's help, and married there. He returned to Paris after his wife's death, about 1800, and remained there in poverty, relieved at the last by a modest pension, till his death at Saint Cloud. His more noteworthy works besides Obermann (1804) are Réveries sur la nature primitive de l'homme (1799), De l'amour selon les lois primordiales (1805), Observations sur le génie du christianisme (1816), and a feeble romance, Isabelle (1833). Obermann alone “has qualities which make it permanently valuable to kindred minds” (Matthew Arnold). In form a novel, it is in fact a series of melancholy reflections on nature and society, with the morbid sentiment of the romantic generation of 1830. Senancour found self-forgetfulness only in nature, his descriptions of which are often beautiful. Obermann is translated with a biographical and critical introduction by A. E. Waite (New York, 1903).
SENART, se-när′, Émile Charles Marie (1847—). A French Orientalist, born at Rheims. He studied Sanskrit in Munich and Göttingen, and except for a short period of political activity devoted himself entirely to the languages and literature of India. His most famous work, Essai sur la légende du Bouddha (1875-82), advanced the theory that the tradition in regard to Buddha represents an old sun myth. Senart's other works include Kaccayana et la littérature grammaticale du Pâle (1871), Les castes dans l'Inde (1896), and an edition of the Mahavastu (1892-98).
SENATE. The name commonly applied to the upper chamber of a legislative body. See government sections under United States; France; Italy; Spain. See also Congress; Committees.
SENATOR, zā̇-nä′tôr, Hermann (1834—). A German physician, born in Gnesen and educated in Berlin. He became professor of clinical medicine at Berlin and principal physician of the Augusta Hospital in 1875, and six years afterwards directing physician in the Charity Hospital. His works are: Untersuchungen über den fieberhaften Prozess und seine Behandlung (1873); Die Albuminurie im gesunden und kranken Zustande (1881 and 1890), Die Krankheiten des Bewegungsapparates und Diabetes mellitus und insipidus (1879); and Die Erkrankungen der Nieren (1895).
SENATORIAL COURTESY. The term applied to a custom in the United States Senate by which the procedure of that body is based chiefly on the honor of Senators rather than upon strict rules such as exist in the House of Representatives. Thus it is a part of Senatorial courtesy that a member shall not be interrupted in the course of a speech on the ground that his time has expired, but may speak without limit. It is a part of the same custom that personal requests of Senators, as for the immediate consideration of a favorite measure, shall be granted. It has also come to be a part of Senatorial courtesy that the Senate will refuse to confirm the nomination of an appointment to office in a State
