SEDAN 



5290 



SEEDS 



and manufactories of farming implements and 

 carriages. Here, also, is a large horse and mule 

 market. Sedalia was founded by General G. R. 

 Smith in 1861. 



SEDAN, sedan', BATTLE OF, a decisive en- 

 gagement of the Franco-German War, fought 

 on September 1, 1870, at the fortified town of 

 Sedan, 164 miles northeast of Paris. About 

 17,000 of the French army, under Marshal 

 MacMahon, were killed or wounded, and on 

 September 2 nearly 2,900 officers and 83,000 pri- 

 vates, together with Emperor Napoleon III, 

 surrendered to the Germans. When the news 

 reached Paris that Sedan had fallen, the Sec- 

 ond Empire was overthrown and a republic was 

 established. For events preceding the battle, 

 see FRANCO-GERMAN WAR. 



SEDATIVE , sed ' a tiv, a drug, taken inter- 

 nally or applied externally, which exerts a 

 soothing influence on any part of the organism 

 by numbing the senses or lowering activity. 

 Sedatives vary in their effects; the same one 

 may soothe one part and excite another, and 

 one administered in small quantities may alle- 

 viate pain and in large quantities may irritate. 

 Again, a hot poultice may act as a 



sedative in one part of the body and an ice pack 

 have the same effect on another part. Drugs, 

 heat, cold and friction are all sedative agents 

 of varying degrees of effectiveness. 



Related Subjects. The reader is referred to 

 the following articles in these volumes : 

 Anesthetic Medicine and Drugs 



Disease Narcotic 



SEDGE, the name of a large family of plants 

 closely resembling the grasses and found grow- 

 ing in clumps in damp places in almost all parts 

 of the world. In the sedges the sheath which 

 enfolds the stem is entirely closed, and the 

 stems, often triangular, are usually solid; but 

 the grasses almost always have the stem sheath 

 split on one side, and this difference is some- 

 times the only feature by which the average 

 nature lover can tell the two apart. The spike- 

 lets of sedge flowers are small, each floweret 

 being enclosed by one scale instead of by sev- 

 eral, as in the grasses. The tubers of some spe- 

 cies are good to eat ; from the fragrant roots 

 of others perfumes are made; while the Egyp- 

 tian papyrus, another variety, had many im- 

 portant uses. See PAPYRUS. 



SEED'ER. See SOWING MACHINE. 



k^/EEDS. The plant grows to bear a 

 flower, and the flower blooms to produce a fruit. 

 The chief part of the fruit in respect to the 

 plant is the seed, for it is that part from which 

 another plant grows. Seeds are sometimes 

 called "plant babies," because within each seed 

 is a tiny plant waiting to grow. 

 "First a seed so tiny 



Hidden from the sight, 



Then two pretty leaflets 



Struggling toward the light ; 



Soon a bud appearing 



Turns into a flower, 



Kissed by golden sunshine, 



Washed by silver shower." 



Parts of a Seed. The parts of a seed are the 

 tiny plant, or embryo, the food for the embryo 

 and the seed coat. The coat may be thin and 

 smooth, as in the bean, or thick, rough and 

 hard, as in the peach pit. The food for the 



embryo, which consists chiefly of starch and 

 albumen, is stored around the embryo, as in 

 the bean and the corn, or it may be almost en- 

 tirely absorbed by the embryo, which nearly 

 fills the space enclosed by the seed coat. This 

 is usually the plan in small seeds. In Fig. 1, 

 a, b, d and e show these parts of the seed. In a 

 the embryo is in the center of the lower part 

 of the seed; d represents a bean, in which the 

 embryo can be seen by soaking a large bean 

 in water for a few hours, then opening it, as 

 shown in the cut. A study of Fig. 2 shows other 

 seeds in which the position and shape of the 

 embryo may be distinctly seen. A study of 

 these illustrations shows that no two plants 

 have seeds exactly alike. 



The food for the embryo is stored in the 

 seed on three general plans, and botanists have 

 divided all flowering plants into three great 



