184 



SECKER-SECRETION. 



children of Ernest the Pious, duke of Saxe-Gotha, 

 to whom he became librarian, privy-counsellor, 

 minister, and consistorial director. In 1664, he 

 entered into the service of the duke of Saxe-Zeiti/, 

 and, at length, into that of the elector of Branden- 

 burg, who made him counsellor of state in 1691, 

 and also chancellor of the university of Halle. His 

 death took place in 1692. He was the author of a 

 defence of Luther (in answer to Maimbourg's His- 

 tory of Lutheranisin), which appeared in 1688 and 

 1692, under the title of Commentarius historicus et 

 apoloaeticus de Lutheranismo (2 vols., folio), and 

 e political work, entitled Deutscher Furstenstaat 

 (Hanover, 1656, 4to.) 



SECKER, THOMAS, archbishop of Canterbury, 

 was born of dissenting parents, in 1693. Being 

 designed by his friends for the ministry in their 

 "onnexion, he early directed his attention to theo- 

 logical pursuits; but from scruples of conscience 

 decb'ned the appointment of a pastor, and went to 

 Paris in 1719, with a view of practising in medicine, 

 to the study of which he had devoted the three 

 preceding years. While in this metropolis, he 

 formed an intimacy with Talbot, son of the bishop 

 of Durham, which eventually ripened into the sin- 

 cerest friendship. By the persuasion of the latter, 

 who promised him his father's interest in promoting 

 his advancement, Seeker became avowedly a mem- 

 ber of the church of England. In 1722, he was 

 ordained by bishop Talbot; and, in 1733, he re- 

 ceived the living of St James's, Westminster, hav- 

 ing, in the preceding year, been appointed a king's 

 chaplain, on which occasion he graduated as LL. D. 

 Two years after, he was elevated to the see of 

 Bristol, whence he was translated, in 1737, to 

 that of Oxford, with which he held the valuable 

 deanery of St Paul's. In 1758, the duke of New- 

 castle, then at the head of the cabinet, placed bishop 

 Seeker in the primacy. As a scholar, he was ele- 

 gant rather than profound, although in some of his 

 writings, especially in his Lectures on the Catechism 

 of the Church of England, he displays much depth 

 of argument as well as perspicuity of style. His 

 works, consisting of charges and sermons, have been 

 collected and printed in twelve octavo volumes 

 (1795), with a life by bishop Porteus, his chaplain. 

 There was also published by him, in his life-time, a 

 reply to Mayhew on the Charter and Conduct of 

 the Society for propagating the Gospel, without the 

 author's name. This controversy relates to a pro- 

 posed establishment of bishops in the American 

 colonies. Archbishop Seeker died at Lambeth 

 palace, in 1768. 



SECOND. See Duel. 



SECONDARY FORMATION. See Geology. 



SECOND SIGHT (in Gaelic, Taisch} ; a High- 

 land superstition, which supposes certain persons 

 endowed with the power of seeing future or dis- 

 tant events as if actually present. See Highlands. 



SECRETARY (from secretus, secret); an 

 officer, who, by order of his superior, writes letters 

 and other instruments. Secretaries of state in 

 monarchical governments, are officers of the king, 

 whose duty it is to attend to the despatch of 

 grants, orders, &c. This term was first used in 

 France, where the three clerks of the privy council 

 (clercs du secret} received the title of secretaires 

 des finances in 1343, and in 1547, that of secretaires 

 d'etat. Louis XVIII. (1814) styled his ministers, 

 minisires secretaires d'etat. In England, the term 

 secretary was first applied to those clerks of the 

 king, who, being always near his person, were 



called " clerks of the secret;" and in the reign of 

 Henry VII. the expression " secretary of state " 

 first came into use. Elizabeth first admitted them 

 to the rank of privy counsellors. There was for- 

 merly a secretary of state for North Britain, and at 

 one time also for the American department. At 

 present there are three principal secretaries of state, 

 viz. one for the home department, one for foreign 

 affairs, and one for the colonies, each of which lias 

 two under secretaries. The secretaries of state 

 have the custody of the signet, and the direction 

 of the signet-office. (See Ministers.} The secre- 

 tary at war belongs to the war-office. In the 

 United States, the four heads of departments are 

 styled secretaries. The department of state, 

 created by act of congress (September 15, 1789), 

 embraces foreign and home affairs. The secretary 

 of state conducts treaties with foreign powers, and 

 corresponds with the public ministers abroad, and 

 foreign ministers to the United States He keeps 

 the seal of the United States, but cannot affix it to 

 any commission till signed by the president, nor 

 to any act or instrument without authority from 

 the president. The treasury department was 

 created by act of congress of September 2, 

 1789. The secretary of the treasury superintends 

 the fiscal concerns of the government. For the 

 settlement of the public accounts, the department 

 is divided into the office of the secretary (who has 

 the superintendence of the whole), the offices of 

 the two controllers, of the five auditors, of the 

 treasurer, and of the register; to each of which is 

 attached the necessary number of clerks. The 

 patent office is under the control of the secretary 

 of state, and the general land-office, in which all 

 patents for land are made out and recorded (esta- 

 blished April 25, 1812,) is subordinate to the 

 treasury department. The war department (created 

 August 7, 1789) at first embraced the land and sea 

 service; but the latter now forms a distinct de- 

 partment. The secretary of war superintends 

 every branch of military affairs, and has under his 

 direction a requisition bureau, a bounty-land-office, 

 a bureau of Indian affairs, a pension bureau, an 

 engineer office, an ordinance office, an office for the 

 commissary-general of subsistence, a paymaster- 

 general's office, and a surgeon-general's office. The 

 office of secretary of the navy was created April 

 30, 1798; a board of three navy commissioners is 

 attached to the office. A secretary of embassy or 

 legation is an officer appointed by the sovereign, 

 and attached to an embassy, for writing of despatches, 

 &c. He is to all intents a public minister, and as 

 such has the same immunities as the head of the 

 embassy nimself. See Diplomacy, and Ministers, 

 Foreign. 



SECRETION. Many of the component parti 

 of the animal system become, in the course of its 

 operations, changed, and unfit for further use. 

 For the preservation of the system, it is not less 

 necessary that these parts should be removed, than 

 that the constant consumption should be supplied ; 

 and in this double process the whole organic system 

 is continually changing its ingredients, although it 

 retains the same external form. This supply of 

 new matter is derived from the blood, and the pro- 

 cess itself is called secretion. Most animals secrete 

 both solids and fluids. The solids are deposited 

 by the capillary vessels at the places of their desti- 

 nation, and supply the continual wear of the system. 

 The liquids are not intended to preserve the form 

 directly, but serve to assimilate the food by pro- 



