SEC 



650 



8 ED 



Ssc'oNDMvr. l.In geology, an epithet for 

 those strata, rocks, or formations, begin- 

 ning with the chalk, and ending with the 

 gray wacke ; at the former the tertiary 

 strata begin, and at the latter the pri- 

 mary formations terminate. 2. In as- 

 tronomy, the secondary circles or secondaries 

 are those circles which pass through the 

 poles of any of the great circles of the 

 sphere, perpendicular to the planes of 



these circles. 3. Secondary qualities of 



todies are those which are inseparable 

 from them, but which proceed from casual 

 circumstances, such as colour, taste, 



odour, &c. 4. Secondary planets. See 



SATELLITES. 5. Secondary quills, in 



birds, are the large feathers of the wing, 

 which arise from the bones of the fore- 

 arm. 



SEC'RETARY, Fr. secretaire, from Lat. 

 secretus, secret. A person employed by a 

 public body, a company, or an individual, 

 to write orders, letters, dispatches, re- 

 cords, &c., &c. Thus legislative bodies 

 have secretaries, ambassadors have secre- 

 taries. The Secretary of State in Britain 

 is a high officer of the crown, who con- 

 ducts the affairs of a particular depart- 

 ment of the government. There are three 

 principal secretaries of state : the Secre- 

 tary for Home Affairs, the Secretary for 

 Foreign Affairs, and the Colonial Secre- 

 tary. 



SECRE'TIOX, I/at, secretio, from secretus. 

 A function in a living body, arranged by 

 physiologists under the head of natural 

 actions. It is by this function that a part 

 of the blood escapes from the organs of 

 circulation, and diffuses itself without or 

 within; either preserving its chemical 

 properties or dispersing, after its elements 

 have undergone another order of combi- 

 nations. 



SEC'TILE, Lat. sectilis,ihat may be easily 

 cut. A term used in mineralogy, to de- 

 note a character standing midway be- 

 tween malleable and brittle : the mineral 

 being cut with a knife, the particJes do 

 not fly off in splinters. Soapstone is a 

 sectile mineral. 



SEC'TION, Lat. sectio, from seco, to cut; 

 a part cut off. 1. Thus in writings an4 

 books, a distinct part or portion, often 



called a paragraph, or article. 2. In 



geometry, a side or surface appearing, of a 

 body or figure cut by ano .er ; also the 

 place where lines or surfaces cut each 

 other. 3. A section of a building, ma- 

 chine, or engine, is a view as if cut down 

 the middle, showing the construction or 

 disposition of the interior. This kind of 

 drawing is called sciagraphy. 



SEC'TIO PLANOG'BAPHT. A method of 

 laying down the section of engineering 

 works upon the plan recently introduced 

 by Mr. Macneil, and required by the 

 landing orders of the House of Commons, 



for all propis-cJ railways, &c. It is per- 

 formed by ujin^r the line of direction laid 

 down on the plan as a datum-line, the 

 cuttings beinu: plotted on the upper part, 

 and the embankments upon the lower 

 part of the line. 



SEC'TOR, Lat. from seco, to cut. l.In 

 geometry, the space be- 

 tween two radii and 

 the part of the cir- 

 cumference which 

 B they include: it is a 

 mixed triangle, formed 

 by two radii ac and 

 be, and an arc ab, of 

 the circle of which 



they are radii. 2. 



A mathematical in- 

 strument so marked with lines of sines, 

 tangents, secants, chords, &c., as to fit all 

 radii and scales. It is used for finding 

 the proportions between quantities of the 

 same kind. It is founded on the fourth 

 proposition of the sixth book of Euclid, 

 which proves that similar triangles have 



their homologous sides proportional. 



3. An instrument for determining the 

 zenith distances of stars passing within 

 a few degrees of the zenith. 



SEC'ULAR GAMES were festivals cele- 

 brated at Rome, every hundredth year ; 

 but frequently much oftener. 



SECULARIZATION (Lat.). The appropria- 

 tion of church property to secular uses. 



SEC'CLAR REFRIGERA'TION. The peri- 

 odical cooling and consequent consolida- 

 tion of the crust of the globe. 



SECUN'DINE. 1. In botany, the outer- 

 most but one of the enclosing sacs of the 

 ovulum, immediately resting upon the 

 primine. 2. In zoology, the fetal mem- 

 branes are so called. 



SECUN'DUW AR'TEM. According to art, 

 or the rules of art. A term used in medi- 

 cal prescription, and denoted by the let- 

 ters S. A., which are usually affixed when 

 the making up of the recipe requires 

 great care or skill. 



SECURIF'ERA, Lat. from securis, a hatch- 

 et, and fero, to bear. Hatchet- bearers : a 

 family of Hymenopterous insects com- 

 posed of two tribes, the Tenthredinees or 

 saw-flies, and the Urocerata, Lat., form of 

 the genus Sirex, Lin. They take the 

 family name from the females being pro- 

 vided with a peculiarly formed and ser- 

 rated ovipositor, which they use in pre- 

 paring a place to deposit their eggs in. 



SEcu'RiFORM,Lat.rci(riyorm, hatchet- 

 shaped: securis, a hatchet, and forma. 

 Applied to leaves, &c. 



SED'ATIVE. from sedo, to assuage. A 

 term applied, adjectively and substan- 

 tively, to medicines or other means which 

 diminish the animal energy, without de- 

 stroying life. 

 SB DEFENBEN'DO. In defending htuuelt 



