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SEMPKKVIVUM. 



SENSITIVE PLANTS. 



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Sfmnopilkfcut mtFalitjikvi. 



Th young are remarkable for the disproportionate length of the 

 extremities, the deliberate air of their movements, and the tranquillity 

 of their eyes and physiognomy generally. Face and hands black ; body 

 and limbs light gray or straw-colour; hair surrounding the face, and 

 forming a projecting bandeau over the eyebrows; a peaked beard 

 directed outwards beneath the chin. The colour always darker on the 

 loins and along the spine, and becoming deeper as the animal advances 

 in age, till finally the fur, becoming mixed with numerous black hairs, 

 is of a rusty brown. The body at the same time becomes more deve- 

 loped and muscular, and the animal, when at its full size, is 4.1 feet 

 from the extremity of the muzzle to the origin of the tail, which is 

 considerably longer than the body, of the same colour, and ends 

 in a tuft of hair rather longer and darker than the general hue. 

 It is a native of Bengal, the Himalayan Mountains, Nepaul, and 

 Boo tan. 



This monkey is remarkably interwoven with the religion of the 

 country where it is found. M. Duvaucel has given an interesting 

 account of the careful watch which the Bengalees kept over him to 

 prevent his killing this sacred animal, holding a high place among the 

 thirty millions of Indian gods, and to save himself from dying 

 within the year, which, according to popular belief, U sure to be the 

 fate of one who puts an Entellus Monkey to death. He was haran- 

 gued by the Hindoos upon the danger of injuring animals which were 

 no other than prince* and heroes under the operation of the metem- 

 psychosis. Unmoved by their eloquence, and eager to possess a 

 specimen, he levelled and brought down a ' princess.' But the acqui- 

 sition was dearly bought. Tim ill-fated creature had a young one on 

 her back, and, though shot through the heart, the mother exhausted 

 her remains of life in throwing it into the branches of a neighbouring 

 tree ; then fell and expired at the feet of M. Duvaucel. It is but 

 just to add that he mounted over the deed he had done. 



The remains of a species of quadrumanous animal allied to Scmnopi- 

 Oucut were found by Captain Cautley and Dr. Falconer amongst the 

 fnarils discovered by them in the tertiary strata of the Sewalik Hills 

 in the north of HindoonUn. ('Oeol. Proc.,' 1838.) 



SEMPEKVIV'UM, ('always living/ from 'semper 1 and 'vivo,' on 

 account of their tenacity of life), a genus of Plants belonging to the 

 natural order Craanlacfe. This genus is known by possessing a 

 calyx 6-12-partd, and occasionally even 20-parted ; petals 6-12 in 

 number, seldom 20, more or less united at the base ; 12-24 stamens or 

 more, grown together at the base ; scale* at the base of the carpels, 

 which are follicular, and equal in number to the petals. The genus is 

 composed mostly of herbs, some of which ore stemlen, and have 

 young plants growing from the axils. Others are caulescent, without 

 young plants, or they may be shrubby and fleshy. The leaves are 

 usually revolute, and their branches of cymoM flowers are disposed 

 in corymbs, or panicles. Their flowers are white, yellow, or purple. 

 The species of Sempervivum, like the family to which they belong, 

 hare most of them thick fleshy leaves and small roots, and are adapted 

 for growing in rocky, dry, barren places. The arrangement of their 

 leaves U frequently very elegant, and many of the species are culti- 

 vated in our greenhouses and gardens. Some are used in the arts and 

 medicine. 



8. ytutinottm, Clammy House-Leek. Stem frutescent ; leaves wedge- 

 shaped, viscid, rather scattered, fringed with cartilaginous cilUn ; 

 pal*8-10. It is a native of Madeira. It has loose panicle* of golden- 

 yellow flowers, with a rtem about two feet high. The fishermen of 

 Madeira are in the habit of using this specie* to rub their net*, 

 which are however previou-ly steeped in an alkaline solution of some 

 kind. They an said to endure as long as if they were tanned. 



8. lector**, Common House- Leek. Leaves ciliated ; offsets spreading ; 

 petal* 6-9, spreading; wale* of flowers wedge-shaped, carunculate. Jt 

 was originally a native of alpine and sub-alpine regions of central 

 Europe, but it has now found its way to the tops of old walls and the 

 thatched and tiled roob of the house* of nearly all the oountrie* of 



Europe. It is known by many other names than that of House-Leek, 

 as Jupiter's-Eye, Bullock's-Eye, and Jupiter's-Beord. 



About 36 species of this genus are described. Those known in 

 greenhouses are chiefly brought from the Canary Islands. 



SENA'CIA, a small genus of PlanU belonging to the natural order 

 Pittoiporocar, named in honour of Jean Senac, a French phyician. The 

 species are native* of the West Indies, Mauritius, and of the Hima- 

 layas. The genus is characterised by it* small 5-toothed calyx. 

 Petals 5. Stamens 6, hypogynous. Younger capsule* berry-formed, 

 afterwards 2-VHlved, half 2-celled. Seeds 4-8. The specie* form 

 i-mooth-branched shrubs, with feathery-reined entire leave*, and 

 terminal corymbs of white flowers. This genus closely resemble* 

 (.'rlattrui, but the hypogynous insertion of the stamens is a distinguish- 

 ing character. The wood of & vndttlata (the Celatrta undulalut of 

 Lamarck), a native of the Mauritius, is well known, and esteemed for 

 its hardness. It is thence called Bois de Joli Occur by the French. 



SKNEBIEUA (iu honour of John Do Seuebier, of Geneva, a 

 vegetable pyhsiologist), a genus of Plants belonging to the natural 

 order Cruciferir. The pouch is somewhat kidney-shaped, entire at 

 the end, or notched above and below, and almost 2-lobed, not bursting. 

 The cells 1 -seeded. 



S. coronopui. Common Wart-Cress, has on undivided uniform crested 

 pouch with little sharp points, the pouches large in dense clusters. 

 The leaves pinnate lobed. The stem much branched and prostrate. 

 The sepals roundish, with white membranous margins. It is a native 

 of Europe, North America, and England. 



& tlidyma, has a pouch notched by two wrinkled lobes, an extremely 

 short style, and pinnatifid leaves. The stem is spreading, about a 

 foot iu length, the flowers small ami white, in long lax clusters. It 

 is found on waste ground near the sea in Great Britain. 



& Nilolica is eaten as a salad iu Egypt. As tln-.-c plants possess no 

 beauty, they are not worth cultivating except in botanical gardens. 



SENECA OIL. [NAIMITIH.] 



SENE'CIO (from 'leuex,' on account of its silvery capitate seed- 

 down resembling the gray hairs of an old man), a genua of PlauU 

 belonging to the natural order Compoiitie. The species of this genus 

 are very numerous, but are not remarkable for either beauty or utility. 

 The Common Groundsel (Senecio vulgarit) is one of tho most common 

 of weeds. [GROUNDSEL.] The flower-buds and young tops are 

 gathered as food for young birds, and especially for domestic Canary 

 birds. S. Saraceniau, Broad-Leaved Groundsel, was used by the Sara- 

 cens as an application to wounds. A few of the species are cultivated, 

 the most pleasing of which are S. hieracifoliut, the Hieracium-Leaved 

 Groundsel; .S'. pttudo-Ckina, the Chinese Groundsel; S. hattatiu, the 

 Spleeuwort-Leared Groundsel ; S. elegant, the Elegant Groundsel 



SENEGA. [POLYGALA.] 



SENNA. [CASSIA.] 



SENSATION. [NERVOUS SYSTEM.] 



SENSES. The senses are the faculties by which we become 

 acquainted with some of the conditions of our own bodies, uinl with 

 certain properties and states of extern il things, such as their colour, 

 taste, odour, size, form, density, motion, tic. The senses are five in 

 number, namely, sight, hearing, taste, smell, and touch ; and each of 

 them is exercised in the recognition of an impression conveyed along 

 some nerve to the brain. [Eve; EAH; NOSE; TONOUE; SKIM; 

 NERVOUS SYSTEM ; MUSCLE.] 



SENSIBILITY, an aptitude for receiving impressions of the sense*. 

 This is its physiological meaning, 03 designating that faculty of the 

 senses whereby things external are made to act upon us. That peculiar 

 fineness of organisation which renders a man alive to the impressions 

 of physical objects, has, by a natural metaphor, become the expression 

 of that peculiarity of mental organisation which renders tho mind 

 alive to impressions of moral object*, such as pity for the distress of 

 others, admiration of heroic courage or patient endurance, Ac. ; and 

 thus a person with a keen sense of grandeur, sublimity, uoUlity, 

 beauty, or pathos, in nature or art, is said to possess great sensibility. 

 It U this moral aspect of sensibility which in all people creates tho 

 love of poetry and fiction, and when possessed iu a high degree, creates 

 the poet himself. 



SENSITIVE PLANTS is a term commonly applied to those species 

 of plant* that possess the property of visibly moving th.-ir leaves when 

 they are touched or otherwise stimulated. This term is not applied 

 generally to plants in which any mnvi-meiit* can be observed ; for tho 

 power of moving under the influence of certain external btimulants is 

 a very general property of the tissues of plants, and especially of the 

 flowers. [SLEEC OF PLANTS.] 



There are a great number of species of plants of various families, 

 th.it posset* the power of moving their leaves under the influence of 

 a slight touch ; that which is best known is a plant bflonging to tho 

 order Leguminotd, called Mimota jnulica. [ MIMOSA.] It is a native of 

 tropical climates in moist districts, where it is exposed to a tempera- 

 ture of between 70* and 80 Fahr. It is iu its native districts where 

 its excitability is seen to the greatest perfection. A knock upon the 

 ground at a short distance from the plant is sufficient to produce an 

 influence on the leaves; and Von Martius nays, that at llio Janeiro the 

 falling of horses' feet by the way is sufficient to set whole masses of 

 Mimosas in motion. When in this country, the motions of the plant 

 are always best displayed in high temperatures. 



