SEELAND 



SEGU 



301 



Kernels Pflanzenleben, vol. ii. (Leip. 1891); for hints 

 us to the practical study of seeds, sec Strasburger's 

 Practical Botany, trans, by Hilhouse (2d ed. 1889). 



Vitality of Seeds. Although the seed is a com- 

 plex structure, it is usually able to remain for 

 weeks, months, or even years in a state of dormant 

 life hardly distinguishable from death except in its 

 power of reawakening. We usually say that a 

 seed is ripe at its separation from the parent plant, 

 but this ripeness is not coincident with readiness to 

 germinate. Sometimes indeed, as in the sheaves 

 of corn in a wet season, the seeds may germinate 

 before they leave the parent plant ; those of 

 ephemeral plants usually germinate as soon as 

 they are scattered. In most cases, however, seeds 

 are not ready to germinate until after they have 

 remained for some time dormant. The seed of the 

 mistletoe is ripe in autumn, but it does not ger- 

 minate until April or May of the following year ; 

 that of Draba verna requires ten or eleven months 

 of quiescence ; that of Euphorbia cyparissias 

 remains under ground from four to seven years ; 

 that of Euphorbia exiyua is said to lie dormant 

 for nine years. In some cases the reason of the 

 prolonged postponement of germination is to be 

 round in the hardness and thickness of the husks 

 which surround the seeds, and in the slowness with 

 which water seems able to penetrate into the dense 

 cells ; and it is likely that time is also required for 

 ferments which the seeds contain to do their work 

 of preparing the reserve food material for use in 

 germination. 



Seeds vary greatly in their powers of retaining 

 their life. Those of the willows and poplars are 

 peculiarly short-lived ; unless they land in moist 

 places they usually die in a few days. ' Seeds rich 

 in ferment quickly lose their power of germinating. 

 Ripe acorns will not germinate after a year, nor 

 coffee-beans after six months. Nor do those which 

 are rich in oil survive nearly so long as those whose 

 reserve-products consist mainly of starch.' There 

 is no doubt that carelessly-made experiments have 

 given rise to a much exaggerated estimate of the 

 powers of retaining vitality which seeds possess. 

 Thus, we often hear of mummy wheat which has 

 germinated after many centuries ; but this assertion 

 nas not been substantiated. Indeed, modern ex- 

 periments with the seeds of cereals show that they 

 lose their vitality after ten years at most, and 

 usually much sooner. Those of leguminous plants 

 may, however, survive for several decennia. The 

 vitality of seeds is also illustrated bv the fact that 

 some dry seeds can survive very high and very low 

 (100 C. and - 120 C. ) temperatures. As to the 

 real state of the protoplasm inside those seeds which 

 remain so long without either living or dying, we are 

 not yet in a position to make definite statements 

 (see J. Wiesner's Biologie der Pflanzen, 1889). 



Ues of Seeds. As seeds are of ten rich in starchy, 

 fatty, and proteid substances, their importance as 

 food is very great. Those of cereals and legumin- 

 ous plants are especially valuable ; and the seeds of 

 hazel, chestnut, cocoa-nut, Chenopodium Quinou, 

 Bertholletia, Pinm cembra, and many others are 

 also edible. Others, such as mustard and nutmeg, 

 furnish spices ; many others, such as linseed, 

 almonds, cocoa-nut, castor-oil plant, yield oil ; 

 cotton-wool surrounds the seeds of Gossypium, 

 >V<-. ; vegetable ivory is the dense endosperm of 

 Phytelephas. Some seeds are rich in stimulants, as 

 in coffee and kola plants ; many, such as Strychnos 

 nux vomica and Physostigma, yield drugs. 



Seeland (Dan. SjiUland). See ZEALAND. 



Sceley, SIR JOHN ROBERT, K.C.M.G. (knighted 

 in 1894), wai born in London in 1834, the third 

 son of the publisher, Robert B. Seeley (1798-1886). 

 He was educated at the City of London School, and 



at Christ's College, Cambridge, and graduated in 

 1857 first (equal with three others) in the first 

 class in the classical tripos. Next year he became 

 a Fellow of his college, later a lecturer there, then 

 at his old school, but in 1863 was professor of Latin 

 in University College, London, in 1869 of Modern 

 History at Cambridge, with a fellowship at Christ's 

 in 1882. Ecce Homo appeared anonymously in 

 1865, and excited an extraordinary commotion in 

 the religious world in England, which was startled 

 almost as much by its consummate literary excel- 

 lence and its spiritual reverence as by the absence 

 of the supernatural element. As a study of the 

 human character of Jesus it still stands unrivalled. 

 It was followed in 1882 by Natural Religion, a 

 work hardly less valuable, though less known. He 

 died 14th January 1895. 



Other, and acknowledged, works of Seeley's are 

 Eniliih Leaoni for Enjliih Beadert, in collaboration 

 with Dr E. A. Abbott (1869); Lectures and Essay, 

 (1870); an edition of Livy, Book I. (1871); Life and 

 Time* of Stein: or Germany and Prussia in the 

 Napoleonic Aye, a work that has satisfied even German 

 scholars (3 vols. 1879); The Expansion of Eiuiland 

 (1883) ; A Short Life of Napoleon the First (1885)'; and 

 Growth of British Polity ( 1892 ; new ed. with Life by 

 Protheto, 1895 ) ; Introil action to Political Science ( 1896) 

 besides many important contributions to magazines. 



Segesta, or EGESTA, an ancient city in the 

 north-west corner of Sicily, said to have been 

 founded by the Trojans, was allied with the Cartha- 

 ginians in 410 B.C., was conquered by the Syra- 

 cusan Greeks in 307, and, again Carthaginian, 

 revolted in 206 to the Romans, who greatly favoured 

 it. The place suffered much' from Saracen attacks, 

 and now shows nothing but fine ruins, including a 

 theatre and a great Boric temple. There are not 

 springs near the site, which was 6 miles from the 

 sea, the present Castellamare representing what 

 was the harbour of Segesta. 



Segegvar (Ger. Schaasburg), a town of Tran- 

 sylvania, on the Great Kokel, 60 miles by rail 

 NE. of Hermannstadt, consists of an upper and a 

 lower town. Pop. 8788, who weave cotton and 

 linen. Here on 31st July 1849 the Hungarians were 

 defeated by the Russians ; Petofi is believed to 

 have been amongst the slain. 



Segovia, an old city of Spain, stands at the 

 northern foot of the Sierra de Gnadarrama, 32 

 miles NNW. of Madrid. It occupies a rocky 

 eminence 3300 feet above sea-level, is surrounded 

 by ruinous walls with round towers, and consists 

 or narrow uneven streets, with old, quaint, and 

 stately houses, and numerous parish churches and 

 convents. The fortress or castle is perched on the 

 west extremity of the rocky height, and was origin- 

 ally Moorish, but has been gradually restored since 

 its destruction by fire in 1862 ; its towers anil 

 windows command magnificent views. The cathe- 

 dral ( 1521-77 ) is one of the finest specimens of Late 

 Gothic in Spain. The grand aqueduct, built in 

 the time of Trajan, is a very fine example of Roman 

 architectural work. It consists of two rows of 

 arches, the one resting upon the other, some 2600 

 feet long and 102 feet high. Wool-scouring 

 and the manufacture of paper, pottery, and cloth 

 are languidly carried on. Pop. (1887) 14,399. 

 Segovia was a place of importance during the 

 time of the Romans, and was frequently the resi- 

 dence of the kings of Castile and Leon. Charles I. 

 of England lodged at the castle, September 13, 

 1623, and supped on 'certaine trouts of etxra- 

 ordinary greatnesse.' The unresisting town was 

 sacked in 1808 by the French. The province of 

 Segovia has an area of 2714 sq. m. and a pop. 

 (1887) of 154,457. 



Scgii, or SEGU-SIKORO, an important trading 

 town of western Africa, stands on the Niger (here 



