SEINE-ET-OISE 



SELANGOR 



303 



known, and so are the roses of Provins. The 

 white grapes of Fontainebleau have a European 

 reputation. The capital is Melun, and the arron- 

 dissements are Melun, Coulommiers, Fontaine- 

 bleau, Meaux, and Provins. 



Seine-et-Oise, a dept. in the north of France, 

 encloses the metropolitan dept. of Seine. Area, 

 2163 sq. m. ; pop. ( 1891 ) 628,590. The principal 

 rivers are the Seine and its tributaries the Oise, 

 Marne, Essoune, Bievre, Epte, &c. The surface is 

 pretty level on the whole, but the country is 

 charmingly diversified by picturesque valleys and 

 great forests. Vast quantities of wheat, oats, pota- 

 toes, l>eet- root, and fodder crops are produced ; and 

 then- are several fine varieties of stone and clay. 

 There are numerous branches of manufacture, the 

 most important being porcelain (at Sevres), paper, 

 cotton, silk, and woollen stuffs, iron goods, sugar, 

 spirits, books, chemicals, laces, fringes, &c. The 

 dept. is divided into the arrondissements of Ver- 

 sailles, Corbeil, Etampes, Mantes, Pontoise, and 

 Rambouillet, and the capital is Versailles. 



Seinc-Infe'rieure, a maritime dept. of north- 

 ern France, formed out of the old province of Nor- 

 mandv, and liounded on the N. and W. by the 

 English Channel. Area, 2330 sq. m. ; pop. (1891) 

 x: i.. s 76. The Seine flows through the southern 

 districts : but a number of important though small 

 streams Mow north-west across the dept. and fall 

 into tin- Channel. The hills of Caux extend from 

 east to west, and to the south of them are rich 

 pasture lands, watered by the Seine and its 

 affluents. The coasts are formed of chalk -cliffs, 

 varying in height from 200 to 400 feet. This dept. 

 is one of the most flourishing in all France, having 

 many manufacturing establishments (cotton and 

 woollen stuffs, dyeworks, cloth, flax, shipping, 

 foundries, sugar-refineries, tobacco, chemicals, 

 &c.), a large trade from Havre, Rouen, and Dieppe, 

 and much prosperous farming (cheese, butter, 

 cattle, wool ). Cider is extensively made. The 

 coast-fisheries are valuable. On its coast are the 

 favourite seaside resorts of the Parisians Fecamp, 

 St Valery, Treport, Dieppe, and others. Tne 

 arrondissements are Dieppe, Havre, Koiien, Neuf- 

 cbatel, and Yvetot. The capital is Itouen. 



Seine-net. See FISHERIES, Vol. IV. p. 647. 

 Seir, MOUNT. See EDOM. 



Seisin, or SASINE. See FEOFFMENT, INFEFT- 

 MENT. 



Seismometer is an instrument for measuring 

 shakings, tremors, and tiltings of the earth (see 

 EARTHQUAKE). In its earlier and ruder forms it 

 was merely a seismoscope or seismograph, and its 

 indications or records could not be interpreted 

 quantitatively. Such, for example, is Babbage's 

 liowl of treacle, in which the liquid, tending by 

 inertia to remain steady as the bowl moves with 

 the ground, leaves a high tidal mark as an evidence 

 of the earthquake. Probably, but by no means 

 certainly, such an instrument would indicate the 

 direction of the largest motion occurring in an 

 earthquake. It could not, however, record the 

 succession of oscillations that make up the shock, 

 or give really comparative records of different 

 earthquakes. Simitar limitations exist in all 

 forms of liquid seismoscopes, such as Mallet's and 

 Palmieri's, in which mercury moving in glass tubes 

 forms the 'steady body." A complete seismometer 

 most, indeed, be capable of recording the entire 

 earthquake motion in time, so that the amounts 

 ami rates of motions in all directions can be readily 

 estimated from the records. The practical realisa- 

 tion of such an instrument we owe to the labours 

 of Ewing, Gray, and Milne, who, working simul- 

 taneously and more or less in concert, brought to 



bear upon the problem of Japanese earthquakes a 

 rare combination of scientific knowledge and me- 

 chanical skill. Gray and Milne's Seismometer (see 

 Philosophical Magazine, 1887) is perhaps the most 

 complete of its kind, and is identical in principle 

 with Ewing's Bracket Seismometer, which was the 

 earliest instrument constructed for recording on the 

 same sheet both the horizontal and vertical motions 

 of small earthquakes. In these instruments there 

 are three weights suspended by brackets, so that 

 each has somewhere within it a ' steady point ' 

 with reference to one of the three directions, N. and 

 S., E. and W., up and down. To these weights 

 suitable levers are attached, which trace out on a 

 smoked surface any desired magnifications of the 

 relative motions of the earth and the corresponding 

 steady points. Thus we obtain records of the three 

 components of an earthquake motion ; and from 

 these the whole motion can be reconstructed and a 

 model made of the complex motion of an earth 

 particle, as has been done by Professor Sekiya of 

 Japan. When the vertical motion is large, so that 

 the earth's surface is thrown into distinct waves, 

 these bracket seismometers fail to act as such. 

 The precise meaning of a ' steady point ' may be 

 best obtained from consideration of a long pend- 

 ulum with a heavy bob. AVe may suppose a pencil 

 fixed to the lx)l> and bearing lightly upon a sheet 

 of paper resting on the ground. In an earthquake 

 the ground moves, and with it the pendulum sup- 

 port. But the pendulum bob, localise of its inertia, 

 remains steady during the first motion, of which, 

 consequently, we get a tracing on the paper. The 

 subsequent tracing is a combination of the real 

 earthquake motion and the slow swing of the 

 pendulum itself. To get a perfectly steady point 

 we should have to use an infinitely long pendulum. 

 By a combination of an inverted unstable pendulum 

 with an ordinary stable pendulum of convenient 

 size, the stability may be reduced to neutrality, 

 and a very satisfactory steady point obtained. 

 This plan, first suggested by Principal Forbes, is 

 very effectively realised in Ewing's Duplex Pend- 

 ulum Seismometer. The record is a superposition 

 of the whole horizontal motion, and gives definitely 

 little more than the maximum displacement in 

 direction and magnitude. For earth tremors and 

 earth tiltings much more delicate instruments are 

 needed than have been described. Of these Ber- 

 telli's Tromometer is the best known. For large 

 and disastrous earthquakes the havoc wrought is 

 the only seismoscope that can l>e depended upon. 



Seistan, or Hamooil, LAKE, a large, irregu- 

 larly-shaped, shallow lake or swamp in the west of 

 ! Afghanistan, close to the frontier of the Persian 

 province of Khorasaan, a division of which pro- 

 ! vince (mainly steppe) is named Seistan after it. 

 The lake is not a single expanse of water, but 

 is divided into three depressions. Great part 

 of the area is generally dry ; but, as the basin 

 has no outlet, when the Helmund (q.v.) and its 

 other feeders are in flood this lake regularly over- 

 flows its boundaries, fertilising large tracts of 

 country. 



Sejaiius. See TIBERIUS. 



Selachoidei. See CARTILAGINOUS FISHES. 



SHnilillolla. a genus of heterosporong crypto- 

 gams, closely allied to the so-called Club-moss (see 

 LYCOPODIACE*), with some 350 species many of 

 them cultivated in conservatories. 



SHail'aror. a state of the Malay Peninsula, 

 which since 1874 has been under British protection. 

 It lies between Malacca and Perak, has an area of 

 5000 sq. in. and a pop. ( 1890) of 140,000, including 

 many Chinese ; contains rich deposits of tin ; and 

 grows tapioca, rice, and sugar. The capital is 

 Kwala Lampur, which is connected by rail (22 



