SELTZER SEMLER. 



191 



168,320 statute acres. With the exception of a 

 very narrow portion, on its eastern side, the county 

 may be said to be a continued alternation of hill 

 and dale, and many of the eminences rise to a 

 considerable height. It has some small lakes, 

 the chief being St Mary's Loch and the Loch of 

 the Lowes, lying at the head of Yarrow. Of 

 minerals, none of the more useful have yet been 

 found in this pastoral county ; coal, lime, and sand- 

 stone being equally wanting. It has, however, 

 abundance of whinstone, and a good deal of granite. 

 From the hilly nature of the county it is chiefly 

 pastoral. The mountain ranges of Ettrick and Yar- 

 row afford most extensive and excellent sheep 

 walks. In no district in Scotland are so much 

 skill and care directed to sheep raising. The sheep 

 are chiefly of the white-faced breed. This county 

 contains many pleasant seats of the nobility and 

 gentry, chiefly belonging to the families of Ker, Scot, 

 aud Pringle. The arrangement of the parochial dis- 

 tricts is extremely irregular, the parishes are very 

 large, and only two of them are entirely comprehended 

 within the bounds of the county. The only towns 

 here are the royal burgh of Selkirk and Galashiels. 

 Population of Selkirkshire in 1821, 6637; in 1831, 

 6833; in 1841, 7990. 



SELTZER OK SELTER'S WATER; a mineral 

 water belonging to the class of acidulous waters, 

 which is found in the village of Niederselters, near 

 Limburg, in Nassau. It is drunk unmixed at meals, 

 or with wine and sugar. The water is exported in 

 great quantities, in stone bottles containing about 

 three pints. More than one million are filled 

 annually. On the spot, 100 bottles, pitched, &c., 

 are sold for eleven guild. Rhenish. It is composed, 

 according to Bergmanii, of carbonic acid, 60 cubic 

 inches; muriate of soda, 109 - 5 grains; carbonate of 

 magnesia, 29; ditto of lime, 17; ditto of soda, 24; 

 in about five pints of water. See Mineral Waters. 



SEMEIOTICS, also SEMEIOLOGY (doctrine 

 of signs; from the Greek irv^ue*'), is used in medical 

 science to denote that branch which teaches how 

 to judge of all the symptoms in the human body, 

 whether healthy or diseased. 



SEMELE; a daughter of Cadmus, by Hermione, 

 the daughter of Mars and Venus. She was beloved 

 by Jupiter; but Juno, jealous of her husband's 

 amours, determined to punish this successful rival. 

 She persuaded Semele to entreat her lover to come 

 to her arms with the same majesty as he approached 

 Juno. This rash request was heard with horror 

 by Jupiter ; but, as he had sworn by the Styx to 

 grant Semele whatever she required, he came to 

 her bed attended by lightning and thunderbolts, 

 and Semele was instantly consumed with fire. 

 The child, however, with which she was pregnant, 

 was saved from the flames by Jupiter, who placed 

 him in his thigh the rest of the time which he 

 ought to have been in his mother's womb. This : 

 child was called Bacchus, or frown. Semele, [ 

 after death, was honoured with immortality; or, 

 according to some, remained in the infernal regions 

 till Bacchus, her son, was permitted to bring her 

 back. 



SEMI-ARIANS. See Arians. 



SEMIGALLIA. See Courland. 



SEMI-METALS; a term that expresses those 

 metallic substances not possessing ductility and 

 malleability, these properties being deemed charac- 

 teristic of real metals. 



SEMINOLES. See Creeks; also Indians, 

 American. 



SEMI-PELAGIANS. See Pelagians. 



SEMIRAMIS; a queen of Assyria, whose his- 

 tory is enveloped in fable. CtPsias is our only 

 ' authority for the early Assyrian history. Semira- 

 mis, when grown up, married Menones, the 

 governor of Nineveh, and accompanied him to the 

 siege of Bactra, where, by her advice, she assisted 

 the ting's operations. These services, but chiefly 

 her uncommon beauty, endeared her to Ninus. 

 The monarch asked her of her husband; but Me- 

 nones refused to yield her, and, when Ninus had 

 added threats to entreaties, hanged himself. Ninus 

 resigned the crown to her, and commanded her to 

 be proclaimed queen of Assyria. Semiramis ren- 

 dered Babylon the most magnificent city in the 

 world. She visited every part of her dominions, 

 and left every where monuments of her greatness. 

 She was not less distinguished as a warrior, and 

 conquered many of the neighbouring nations. 

 Having been completely defeated on the Indus, 

 she was either put to death or compelled to abdi- 

 cate the throne, after a reign of forty-two years, by 

 her son Ninyas. She has been accused of aban- 

 doned licentiousness. The whole history of Semi- 

 ramis has the appearance of an Oriental tale; and 

 there is nothing to indicate the date of her reign, 

 although her existence has not been called in 

 question. 



SEMITIC LANGUAGES; one of the great 

 families of languages. They have been divided 

 thus : 1. Aramaean (in the north), including Eastern 

 and Western Aramaean; the Eastern embraces (a.) 

 the Assyrian, which is lost, excepting a few names 

 of kings; (6.) the Babylonian, from which several 

 dialects originated in Palestine, after the return of 

 the Jews from the Babylonish captivity, as the 

 Chaldaic, in which some portions of the Old Testa- 

 ment are written; the Syro-Chaldaic, used at and 

 about Jerusalem ; the Galilean, and the Samaritan. 

 The Western Aramaean includes (a.) the Syriac 

 dialect (the common written language of the 

 Western Syrians, of which the Syriac translation 

 of the Bible is the oldest, to this day the ecclesias- 

 tical language of all the sects in Syria, but used as 

 a popular idiom only in a few districts ; the purest 

 is spoken in Mesopotamia ; (6.) the Palmyrene (see 

 Palmyra'), preserved only in a few inscriptions; and 

 (c.) the Sabian idiom, a corrupted Syrian dialect, 

 in which the religious works of the Sabians (q. v.) 

 are written. 2. Canaanitish languages, or those of 

 the earliest inhabitants of the country between the 

 Arabian desert and the Mediterranean. This com- 

 prises (a.) the Phoanician language (of which re- 

 mains exist only on coins and inscriptions), with its 

 dialect, the Punic; (Z>.) the Hebrew (see Hebrew 

 Language and Literature}, and the Rabbinic dialect 

 (see Rabbinical Language and Literature}, which 

 grew up after the decline of Jewish science, in the 

 middle ages, among the Spanish Jews, who chiefly 

 sprung from the Jews of Jerusalem, whilst the 

 Polish and German Jews were mostly Galileans. 

 3. The Arabic language (see Arabian Literature}, 

 from which originated the Ethiopian or Abyssinian 

 (see Abyssinia}, and, from the modern Arabic, the 

 Maltese. 



SEMLER, JOHN SOLOMON, one of the most 

 influential German theologians of the eighteenth 

 century, was born at Saalfield, in 1725. His father 

 was a clergyman, and his education was good. 

 The duke of Saalfield and his whole court were 

 Pietists; and morbid and gloomy views of religion 

 pervpded all classes, from which Semler was at first 



