173 



SEAMEN SEii.ASTIAN. 



or justice. In England, the office of the lord chan- 

 cellor and lord keeper of the great seals have boon 

 united since the time of Elizabeth; but for tbe privy 

 seal there is still a particular officer, the lord keeper df 

 the privy seal, generally called lord privy seal, 

 through whose hands all instruments pass before 

 the great seal is affixed to them. The English 

 seal has only one side, and there are two great 

 seals, different in dignity. The most important 

 contains the portrait of the sovereign, the second 

 the royal arms. From the privy seal is to be dis- 

 tinguished the signet, which is kept by the secre- 

 tary of the cabinet. (See Keeper.) In Scotland, 

 there is also a lord keeper of the great seal, a lord 

 privy seal, and a particular officer for law papers, 

 called keeper of the signet. See Sphragistics. 



SEAMEN. It is the policy of every nation 

 aspiring to maritime power, to increase the number 

 of its seamen. This is one reason for promoting 

 fisheries, as the nursery for the supply of the navv. 

 The English laws subject men of this class to a pe- 

 culiar hardship, little consonant to the spirit of the 

 British constitution, as they are liable to be forcibly 

 seized and detained in the naval service. The 

 power of impressing seamen into that service has 

 been a matter of some dispute, and submitted to 

 with great reluctance. Sir Michael Foster has 

 shown that impressments are of very ancient date, 

 and have been uniformly practised for a long series 

 of years ; whence he concludes this practice to be 

 a part of the common law. It is also recognised 

 in many statutes, such, for instance, as exempted! 

 certain persons from impressment, though the ' 

 power of impressing is not expressly granted in the 

 acts of parliament. Sir William Blackstone says 

 this practice is only defensible from public neces- 

 sity, to which all private considerations must give 

 way. 



SEAPOYS. See Sepoys. 

 SEARCH, RIGHT OF. See Prize. 

 SEASONS. The year is remarkably diversified 

 by the seasons, which depend upon the oblique 

 position of the sun's path through the heavens, 

 whereby this luminary rises to different heights 

 above the horizon, making the day sometimes 

 longer, and sometimes shorter, than the nights. 

 When the sun rises highest at noon, its rays fall 

 most nearly in the direction of a perpendicular, and 

 consequently a greater number is received upon any 

 given spot; their action, also, at the same time, 

 continues the longest. These circumstances make 

 the difference between summer and winter. It is 

 true, that the sun is sometimes nearer to us by one 

 thirtieth of his whole distance than at others. This 

 is evident from his diameter being found, by actual 

 measurement, to be one thirtieth larger at one time 

 of the year than at the opposite. But the greatest 

 proximity in the northern hemisphere takes place 

 in winter ; the sun is farthest from us in July, and 

 nearest in January; and the difference between 

 summer and winter temperature would undonbtedly 

 be greater than it now is, if the sun were to remain 

 at the same invariable distance through the year. 

 In southern latitudes mid-winter occurs in July, 

 when the sun is at his greatest distance. This may 

 be one cause of the excessive cold which prevails 

 in high southern latitudes, as at Cape Horn and 

 about the south pole, beyond that which belongs to 

 similar latitudes on this side of the equator. It is 

 found, that the sun does not rise so high in sum- 

 mer, or descend so low in winter, at the present 

 time, as it did formerly , in other words, the obli- 



of the ecliptic, which is half ths difference 

 between the sun's greatest and least meridian alti- 

 tudes, is growing less and less continually, and the 

 seasons are thus tending, though slowly, towards 

 one unvaried spring. This diminution of the sun's 

 utmost range north and south, since the time of 

 the earliest observations, or during a period of 3000 

 years, amounts to nearly a fiftieth part of the whole 

 quantity. This may be one of -the causes of a me- 

 lioration of winter, which seems to be so consider- 

 able in those places where there are the means of 

 making a comparison of the degree of cold that has 

 prevailed at different times. The year is naturally 

 divided into four periods by the equinoxes and sol- 

 stices, or those epochs when the day is equal to the 

 night, namely, 21st of March and 23d of Septem- 

 ber, and those when there is the greatest difference, 

 namely, 21st of June and 22d of December. Our 

 winter, spring, summer and autumn (q. v.) have re- 

 ference to these epochs, although their commence- 

 ment and termination do not correspond exactly to 

 the astronomical times above indicated. We are 

 apt to imagine, that the four seasons are equal to 

 each other, and that spring and summer are toge- 

 ther just half the year. This is not the case, how- 

 ever, more especially with respect to the natural 

 periods, so denominated. If, for example, we com- 

 pare the time from the 21st of March to th'e 23d 

 of September with the rest of the year, we shall 

 find a difference of about one week, the former 

 being the longer. This benefit of a long summer 

 is confined, at present, to the northern hemisphere ; 

 but this natural distinction is not a permanent one. 

 This longer continuance of the sun in the northern 

 hemisphere arises from the particular position of 

 the sun's oval orbit, or path through the heavens. 

 We have already stated, that the sun is nearest to 

 us in the winter season: in other words, the earth 

 is nearest to the sun, and on this account its mo- 

 tion is more rapid, so that the part of the orbit 

 from the autumnal equinox (September 23d) to the 

 vernal (March 21st), is completed a week sooner 

 than the other half, in which the motion is slower. 

 (See Equinox, and Precession of the Equinoxes.) But 

 the point of the sun's nearest approach, or peril. e- 

 lion, on the position of which the above-mentioned 

 physical advantages depend, is in motion, whereby 

 we are gradually losing the benefit of a prolonged 

 summer, and in about 5000 years shall cease to en- 

 joy any such privilege. In about 10,000 years the 

 condition will be reversed, and the southern hemi- 

 sphere will be the favoured portion of the globe. 

 It may be worth mentioning, that at the date fixed 

 by chronologists for the first residence of man upon 

 the earth, the sun's influence was equally distri- 

 buted to the two hemispheres. See Calendar, and 

 Year. 



SEBACIC ACID is obtained from tallow, and 

 was at first called acid of fat, but is now known to 

 be benzole acid, contaminated with some unknown 

 substance derived from the fat which alters some 

 of its properties. 



SEBASTIAN, ST, a saint of the Roman calen- 

 dar, who, according to the legend, was born at 

 Narbonne, and lived during the reign of Diocletian 

 and Maximian, towards the end of the third cen- 

 tury. He distinguished himself in the military 

 service, and rendered great assistance to the Chris- 

 tians, but was finally arrested and carried before 

 Diocletian. The emperor, finding promises and 

 threats vain, ordered him to be shot, and he was 

 left for dead, pierced through with a thousand ar- 



