SEG 6J 



The plea of a person charged with murder, 

 who alleges that he committed the act in 

 his own defence. 



SEDGE. 1. An aquatic plant, the Irti 



oseuda-corus. 2. The sedge bird or reed 



bunting (Sylvia phragmitis), a species of 

 warbler which builds its nest on the sedgy 

 banks of rivers. 



SED'LITZ POW'DERS. These consist of 

 two different kinds of powders, one of 

 which is wrapped in blue paper, and 

 the other in white, in order to distinguish 

 them : one consists of a mixture of tarta- 

 rate of soda 3'J . and bi-carbonate of soda, 

 vij ; the other consists of tartaric acid, 

 xxxv grs., these are dissolved in water, 

 the former in about a pint, and the latter 

 in a wine-glassful, and the solutions are 

 then mixed, and the draught taken dur- 

 ing effervescence. These powders take 

 their name from a supposed resemblance 

 of ingredients to the celebrated saline 

 mineral waters of Sedlitz, Seidlitz, or 

 Seydschutz, a village of Bohemia, in the 

 circle of Saatz. The Sedlitz water is, 

 however, a solution of sulphate of mag- 

 nesia (Epsom salt), sulphate of soda 

 (Glauber's salt), and sulphate of lime, 

 with some carbonates of lime and mag- 

 nesia and resinous matter. This water is 

 reckoned highly medicinal. 



SB'DCM. Stone-crop. An extensive 

 genus of plants. DecandriaPentagynia. 

 Name from sedo, to assuage, because it 

 allays inflammation. There are eleven 

 species indigenous to Britain, among 

 which are the wall-pepper, English stone- 

 crop, and common orpine. Thy are all 

 perennial plants. 



SEED, Sax. saed. The substance, ani- 

 mal or vegetable, which nature prepares 

 for the reproduction and conservation of 

 the species. The seeds of plants are a 

 deciduous part, containing the rudiments 

 of a new vegetable, and in some cases 

 constitute the fruit or valuable part of 

 the plant, as in the case of esculent 

 grain; sometimes also the seeds are in- 

 closed in the fruit, a in apples, melons, 

 &c. The seed-bud of a plant is called the 

 germen (q. v.) ; the seed-coats arelhe arilli 

 (see ARIL, ARILLUS) ; the seed-lobes are 

 cotyledons (see COTYLEDON), and the seed- 

 vessels are termed pericarps (^PERICARP). 



SEE'LING, from Fr. sceller, to seal. In 

 falconry, the running of a thread through 

 the eyelids of a hawk, when first taken, 

 to prevent her seeing well, and thereby 

 to prepare her to endure the hood. 



SEG'GAR (-written also saggar). The cy- 

 lindrical case of flre-clay, in which fine 

 stone- ware is inclosed while being baked 

 in the kiln. 



SEG'HOL. A Hebrew vowel -point, 

 marke4 thus . ' nd indicating the sound 

 cf e in me* 



SEL 



SEO'MENT, Lat, segmentum, from seco, to 



cut. 1. A part cut off. 2. In geometry, 



that part of a circle contained between a 

 chord AB and an arc ACB of the circle, 

 or so much of the 

 circle as is cut oft 



by the chord. 3. 



The segment of a 

 sphere is a part of a 

 sphere, terminated 

 by a portion of its 

 surface, and a plane 

 which cuts it off, 

 passing somewhere out of the centre; 

 being more properly called the section of 

 a sphere. 



SEGREGA'TA, Lat. from segrego, to set 

 apart. 1. In malacology, the name of a 

 family of molluscs : order Acephala nuda, 

 The family comprises those genera in 

 which the individuals which compose 

 them are insulated, and without any mu- 

 tual organic connection (Cuvier). 2. 



In botany, applied as an ad- 

 jective to the last order of 

 the class Syngenesia, order 

 Polygamia segregata, in 

 which the flowers are 

 doubly compound, each flo- 

 ret or assemblage of florets 

 Tiaving a partial calyx. 

 There is no British type. 



SEGUE, It., it follows. In 

 music, prefixed to a move- 

 ment which is immediately 

 to follow the last note of the preceding 

 movement. 



SEIG'NIORAGE. 1. An old prerogative 

 by which the English kings claimed a 

 portion of the gold and silver brought in 

 the mass to the mint to be exchanged for 



coin. 2. The term is sometimes used 



to denote the right or authority of a 

 seigneur or lord of a manor, but this is 

 now usually written seigniory. 



SEIG'NIORY. In Lower Canada, the right 

 of feudal superiority in real estate. 



SEISMOM'ETER, Gr., from rua-fto;, an 

 earthquake, an instrument for measuring 

 the shock of earthquakes and other con- 

 cussions. 



SEI'ZIN, Fr. saisine. In law , possession. 

 This is of two sorts : sei/in in fact imply- 

 ing actual possession, and seizin in law, 

 implying that something is done which 

 the law accounts possession or seizin, as 

 enrolment, or when the lands descend to 

 an heir, but he has not yet entered upon 

 them. In this case the law regards the 

 heir as seized of the estate, and should 

 any other take possession he is a disseisor. 

 SE'JANT. In heraldry, applied to a 

 beast in a sitting posture. Sejant ram- 

 pant, sitting with the fore-feet lifted up. 



SELEN'IC ACID. An acid discovered in 

 1327 by Mitcherlich. It has not yet been 

 isolated. Its aqueous solution may b 



