421 



SKA LIGHTS. 



SEAL. 



422 



as coffer-dams, that is to Bay, by means of puddle banks rammed 

 in between sheeting enclosures ; and near Havre, in the bay pf the 

 Seine, the fore-shore is defended by a regular timber stockade formed 

 of whole timber piles, whales and back ties, and of horizontal plank- 

 ing spiked to the outer faces of the piles ; earthwork is carefully 

 rammed at the back of these planks. 



It is necessary to guard against the destructive chemical action of 

 the sea-water upon the materials employed for any of these systems of 

 shore defences ; and when the soft limestones, or wood, are employed, 

 to take seriously into account the ravages which may be committed by 

 the various descriptions of boring conchiferte, and worms. The pholas, 

 solen, And lithodomus attack the calcareous stones ; the teredo navalis 

 and the lymexylon attack wood, in the temperate latitudes of Europe ; 

 in tropical climates there are other species of animals of even a more 

 destructive nature still, wliich feed upon, or burrow in, both those 

 classes of materials. 



It may be as well to add, that in the cases wherein the Dutch 

 engineers content themselves with sand dykes, faced with reeds, the 

 minimum dimensions they employ are about as indicated in the sketch ; 



but in very many instances they make the sea-slope with an inclination 

 of even 1 in 20, when the natural profile of the foreshore presents a 

 very flat incline. With the very light materials dealt with in these 

 cases it is indeed preferable to conduct the waves up a long easy slope 

 on which they can exhaust their power, than to attempt to oppose an 

 abrupt resistance to their shock. When stiff clay is the material used 

 for the bonk*, and no protection is given, the slope is made equal to 

 1 in 10 ; when light sand is used, the slope is made 1 in 20, whatever 

 may be the profile of the foreshore. At the mouth of the Thames and 

 Medway the mmh are defended by slopes of 1 in 4, protected by a 

 concrete bed covered by stone pitching, laid between rows of stakes 

 driven firmly into the banks, and between rows of piles at the 

 top and bottom. (See Minard, ' Ouvrages Hydrauliques des Ports de 

 Mer,*c.') 



SEA LIGHTS. [TRINITY HOUSE ] 



SEA SALT. [SODIUM. Chloridt of Sodium.] 



SEA WATER. [SODIUM.] 



SKAL, an intaglio or relief impression on wax, clay, paper, or other 

 substance made from a die or matris of metal or other material, by 

 which the impression U produced, derived from the French irean, 

 milt, or Kiiel, first used in the llth century ; the Latin riyillam. Heals, 

 called lhatrm, were in use at the earliest period in Egypt, the matrix 

 generally of square shape revolving in a large ring, or attached to a 

 chain ; those of kings and high dignitaries of gold, silver, or precious 

 tone*, while the inferior people used scarabtci, kkepem of porcelain, 

 or vitrified soapstone with the subject engraved in intaglio, set in rings 

 as signets. Impressions or seals from these were made in fine Nile 

 mad or clay, and attached by slips of papyri, linen or cord, to docu- 

 ments [PAPYRI'S], while at a later period coloured wax and even lead 

 were employed. [MUMMY.] The engravings were deities, royal and 

 other names, emblems and mottoes. Impressions of seals with the 

 names of Sheshank, Nafaarut, Amasis, and other monarch*, exist in the 

 British Museum. Seals were extensively used by the Egyptians : 

 tombs were sealed with mortar, letters and other documents being 

 rolled in a cylindrical form and sealed outside, and the sacred 

 victims, bread, and other objects, were also sealed. The ancient Hebrews 

 appear to have worn their signet-rings or tliilam as rings or bracelets 

 i' ;. n. xxxviii. 13); they were made of engraved onyx (Exod. xxxix. 6), 

 and documents were sealed with them. Ahab with his own hand ; 

 Ahasuenis by his chancellor Hainan, and Darius himself, impressed 

 the seals of their decrees. When Alexander the Great conquered 

 Persia he used the seal o{ Darius for his rescripts in that country. 



The signets of the Assyrians consist of cones of chalcedony and other 

 stone.-! pierced and engraved, which were set in rings or suspended to 

 chains or cords : the principal device is a rampant lion pierced by a 

 king, deities and other devices; they also used cylinders of green 

 felspar and onyx, with kings, animals, and other objects, and inscrip- 

 tion* containing the names and titles of kings, those of Sennacherib 

 being found at Kouyunjik (Layard, ' Nineveh and Babylon,' p. 154). 

 Impressions from similar signets in fine clay were discovered in the 

 rums of Kouyunjik, and thoe of witnesses or contracting parties are 

 found on clay documents. The use of cylinders, for this purpose, of 

 hematite, steatite, chalcedony, and onyx was prevalent amongst the 

 Babylonians, snch being engraved with deities, zodiacal signs, and 

 inscriptions, and continued under the Persians, who used by preference 

 red cornelian, that of Darius or his viceroy having been found in 

 Egypt. The I'lucniciaiu appear to have employed scarabtci of cornelian 

 or sardonyx for the same purpose, and the Etruscan signets were 

 ncarabtti of the tame or onyx, with devices of native deities, or the 



principal heroic and mythic personages of Greece, with Etruscan 

 legends/' 



_ At the earliest epoch the Greeks used impressions of worm-eaten 

 pieces of wood. The use of signets and seals among the Greeks appear,* 

 to be as old as the 6th century B.C., the earliest example being the 

 celebrated emerald ring engraved by Theodorus for Polycrates, tyrant 

 of Samoa. Such signets were called sphragides, semata, semcia, or 

 semantcrc*, and were worn on the fourth finger of the left hand. 

 Those of metal only were called apsephoi, the stone itself I eing psephot, 

 and the chaton tphenilone, ecmayeion, apotpliragiima, ectyposna. The 

 impression of the seal was made on a fine clay, the ge semantrU or 

 sealing earth, not wax. Seals were placed on doors, and on things in 

 the house to prevent the pilfering of slaves. The seal itself was 

 protected by a shell or scale. 



The use of signets amongst the Romans appears to have been 

 introduced by the Etruscans, whose gemmati annuli, or rings with 

 stones, were subsequently used by the Romans as old as Tarquin the 

 elder. Senators sent as ambassadors had a gold official signet given 

 them by the State, but used an iron ring in private : gold rings or 

 signets were limited to the senators and knights, and the jus annuli 

 aurei, or rights of the gold ring, had a certain legal status under the 

 Empire. But their use was extended by Tiberius to freedmen, by 

 Severus Alexander and Aurelian to the troops, and under Justinian it 

 had entirely disappeared. The signet of the Emperor was a state seal, 

 generally engraved with his own portrait or favourite device. The 

 chaton, or place which held the stone, was called pala. The various 

 gems were engraved by excellent artists, who sometimes placed their 

 names, or the name or initials of the possessor, on the stone ; but glass 

 seals, called by the Greeks ttphragitlct hyaltnai, and vitr? gemintr by 

 the Romans, were used by the poorer classes. These came first into 

 use about 416 B.C. The impressions were made in Lemuiau and 

 sealing clay, crttula, ilyillarit creta, stucco maltha, or still more fre- 

 quently wax. The Romans sealed bags of money, granaries, doors of 

 female apartments, and other objects, but principally writings or 

 letters ; the papyrus or tablet was tied up with a cord and the seal, 

 iiyxHm, placed on it ; wills particularly required seals, and under Nero 

 the law ordered them to be pierced at the margin with a cord, which 

 thrice passed round them, and the seal was then applied, and the 

 proctor required the seals of the seven witnesses to validate a will. 

 The devices of the seals of the emperors appear to have varied, and no 

 particular symbol was used for the state seal. Julius Ciesar used 

 Venus, Augustus a sphinx, which he changed for the head of 

 Alexander the Great, which continued till Nero ; the following 

 emperors used various symbols. Private individuals used indifferently 

 all sorts of devices During the Empire leaden seals were used for 

 private purposes, and after the age of Constantino, flat circular metallic 

 seals called bull<r, made of gold, silver, and lead, attached by silken or 

 woollen bands to the documents, came into use. 



The Byzantine commence with Valentinian and Valeus, A.D. 364, 

 and have on one side the figure of the Emperor, on the other that of 

 Christ or the Virgin ; dignitaries and private persons of the epoch also 

 employed leaden seals, with Christ or the Virgin, or only their own 

 names and titles. The devices of the seals of the Christians at this 

 epoch were fishes, fishermen, lambs, and vines. After the fall of the 

 Western Empire the use of the leaden bulltr was assumed by the Popes, 

 the oldest known being that of Deus dedit, A.D. 615-667, with a male 

 figure standing between a lion and a lamb and A.n. Small seals were 

 inscribed only with thu names or monograms till Honoring II., 

 1124-80; but at the 12th century, the bulho became larger, and the 

 name of the pope appeared in full, with the heads of St. Peter and 

 St. Paul, and a cross between them ; the ordinal after the papal name 

 dates from the llth century. Besides these the Popes used the 

 so-called seal of the Fisherman, or privy seal, on which was St. Peter 

 fishing : this was impressed on red wax en jilaeanl. The use of 

 the bulltc in Western Europe continued till the 16th century, the 

 Emperors of Germany, princes of Calabria, the doges of Venice, dukes 

 of Lorraine, and counts of Toulouse, continuing to use them. In thu 

 13th century no priest was allowed to travel without a permission 

 sealed with a leaden seal. The use of golden seals commenced about 

 the 10th century, having been first used by the Byzantine Emperors 

 and Charlemagne, Venetians and others, and occasionally for important 

 documents as late as the 16th century, Henry VIII. and Francis I. 

 having appended gold seals to their treaty at the Field of the Cloth of 

 Gold. Silver seals were sometimes used by the liyxantiins Emperors, 

 the princes of Capua, and other Italian potentates. But all these weiv 

 gradually superseded by wax seals. On the fall of the Roman 

 Empire the art of seal engraving was lost in the West, but lingered at 

 Constantinople. The early kings of France from Carloman, A.D. 769, 

 to Louis VIII., 1170, used antique gems. Sealing < /iliminl con- 

 tinued in France from Clovis I., A.D. 481, to Louis le Gros, 1108, in 

 whose reign seals were first appended, and in Germany till the clo. o 

 of the 12th century. 



The seals of the Merovingians represent busts with long hair, thu 

 Carlovingians bearded profiles, but appear to be impressions of ancient 

 gems. The title of Dei gratia commences with Charlemagne ; Hugh 

 Capet, 987, is first seen with a sceptre. Robert has an oval pointed seal 

 with a half-length figure. Henry I., 1031, was the first who used the seal 

 of Majesty as it is called, representing the king seated on the chair of 



