SEA 



erpeks on the very erlt^e of the fea at low water, there is a 

 very line foapy iea-oufe at two or three feet depth : the 

 extent of this once fylvan region, which every common' 

 tide now covers, can fcarcely be lefs, in one place only, 

 than from five to fix hundrt-d acres. There is not an ap- 

 pearance of any tree lying at prelent from the lliimp, a^ 

 jf blown down or left after falhng, but rather that of 

 a forell cut down in hatte, the ftems cleared and hurried 

 away, leaving the branches to rot ; but this is mere cor;- 

 jedure. It is remarkable that there is not, as he is in- 

 formed, any mention of this ruined forell in the old 

 hiltonaiis of the county ; nor does tradition ofl'er the leail 

 conjecture or report on the fubjecl. Trees, roots, and 

 ftumps, are very common in bogs, wherever found ; but 

 here is not the trace of any thing like a bog, the earth is 

 folid, and all a fine oufe, or fea-clayey mud. It is added 

 that Mr. Rifhton viewed thefe relics with the eye of a 

 farmer ; for experiment, he fent his carts down for fome, 

 and fpread ten loadj per acre of it, for turnips : it anfwered 

 perfedly, and on comparifin equalled his yard-dung, and 

 alfo raps-cake. In another experiment, he manured two 

 acres for wheat, with a compolt, confilling of nine loads of 

 this weed, (or oufe,) and three chaldrons of lime mixed; 

 one acre with yard-muck ; one acre with tallow-chandlers' 

 graves, fixteen bufhels, and the reft of the piece with rape- 

 cake ; the graves were, in effetl, far beyond all the rell ; 

 betvi'een which the ditFerence was not very perceptible. 

 The expcnce only u. per load ; but if a barge was floated 

 to the fpot, and anchored when the tide was in, tor loading 

 at low water, it might be procured at a much cheaper rate. 

 And it is fuggefted, that this ingenious cultivator has 

 opened a real mine to fuch farmers as Ihall have the faga- 

 city to dig in it : it appears alloniftiing, he thinks, that 

 none of them Ihould long ago have made the fame experi- 

 ment, and confequently have profited by fo beneficial a 

 vicinity. 



Without doubt, by proper examination, other fituations 

 might be found to afford fubftances that might prove ufeful 

 as manures. 



SeaOW, in Ichthyology, a name given by many to that 

 fi(h which we more ufually call the lump-jijh, the lumpus of 

 Willughby, &c. and the cyclopterus of Artedi. See Cy- 

 CLOPTERUS lumpus. 



SE.\-Pea, in Botany. See PisuM. 

 SB\-Pearch, in Ichthyology. See PeRCA. 

 SEA-Pen. See Sea-xES. 



SEA-Phea/ant, in Ornithology, the name of a bird of the 

 duck kind, but differing from all the other fpecies in the 

 ftiape of its tail, which has two long feathers llauding out 

 beyond the reft, and terminating in a point. It is called 

 more generally the cracker. See Duck. 



Sea-Pic. Ste Pica marina, and Hjematopus ojlralegus. 

 SEA-Pigeon-Pea, in Botany. See Sophora. 

 SsA-Piie, in Ichthyology. See Esox belone. 

 Sea Pink, in Botany. See Cerastium. 

 SEA-Pla/its, a denomination comprehending thofe marine 

 produftions which are formed by infefts, and which properly 

 belong to the animal kingdom : however, they fo much 

 refemble vegetables in their form, that they have been long 

 taken for plants called by this name, and claifed under the 

 vegetable kmgdom. 



Count Marfigli, who was at indefatigable pains to colleft 

 the various fea-plants of feveral places, divides all thefe pro- 

 du<Elion8, which he referred to the rank of vegetables, into 

 three clafles. The firft clafs contains the foft or herbaceous 

 ones ; fuch are the alga, called fea-iurecis, the Jucufes or 

 fea-oais, the /ea-mofci or confervt, and the different fpecies 



SEA 



of fpunges : the lecond clafs comprehends thofe that are 

 ligneous, or of a woody hardnefs, which were called litho- 

 phyta by the ancients, as if their hardnefs approached to 

 that of itones ; thefe, Marfigli fays, confift of two fub- 

 ftances, a cortical and an internal ; the cortical part, while 

 in the fea, is foft, but in drying becomes as hard as chalk, 

 and eaiily crumbles between the fingers ; the internal fub- 

 ftance feems more of the nature of horn than of wood ; 

 when burnt it throws out a fpume, or froth, like that which 

 horns or feathers of animals yield in the fire, and their fmell 

 in burning is of the fame kind ; the branches of thefe are 

 very pliable, bending in the manner of whalebone, and giving 

 the fame refittance to a knife in cutting. The third clafi 

 comprehends thofe plants which are of the hardnefs of ftone, 

 and which fliould properly be called the lilhophyta: thefe 

 are the feveral ipecies of coral, madrtpora, and the like. 



Marfigli endeavours to explain the differences of thefe 

 feveral fubftances, and to account for the manner of their 

 receiving nourifhment, agreeably to the fyftem which pre- 

 vailed in his time, and which appropriated them to the clafs 

 of vegetables. Marfigli, Hift. Phyf. de la Mer. Mem. 

 de I'Acad, Par. 17 lo. 



By later experiments and obfervations, it has been fuffi> 

 ciently demonftrated by M. Peylfonnel, Bernard de Juffieu, 

 Donati, &c. that thofe marine fubftances wliich Marfigli 

 thought to be plants, are the work and habitation of animals. 

 See on this fubjett the articles Cor.al, and Corallines. 



Dr. Lifter apprehends, that thofe fubftances, which in 

 his time were thought to be fea-plants, fcrve to render a 

 great deal of the fea-water frelh, and give it in mifts to the 

 clouds, whence it again falls on the earth : this is eafily 

 proved by experiment, thus ; if a quantity of fea-water 

 be put into a long glafs body, and into it there be put a 

 large and vigorous fea-plant, fuch as the common fea- 

 wreck, and the head placed on the glafs, and a receiver 

 fitted for it without cutting the joints, there will daily diftil 

 into the receiver, without giving any fire below, a clear and 

 fweet water, frefh and potable, and without any difagree- 

 able or unwholefome quality. The quantity is but Imall 

 that is obtained in this way, but it is evident, that in the 

 fame manner a very immenie quantity of the fea-water is 

 every hour made frefh, and raifed up into the air from the 

 infinite number of plants that grow in it. Dr. Lifter even 

 thinks that the tropic winds, which blow conftantly one way, 

 may be owing to this fort of caufe. Philof. Tranf. N° 156. 

 See Tropic 'winds. 



SEA-ParJlane, in Botany. See Atriplex. 



Sea- Quadrant. See BACK-Jlaf, and Quadrant. 



Sea-Roow, denotes a fufficient diftance from the coaft, as 

 well as from any rock and fliallows, by which a fhip may 

 drive or feud without danger of (hipwreck. 



SEA-Salt. See Salt. 



SEA-Sand. See Sand, and Common Salt. 



SEA-Sand, in Agriculture, that fort of fand which is 

 thrown up in the creeks and other places on the coafts of the 

 fea, and which is often very ufeful as manure. The fea- 

 fand, which is thrown up in creeks and other places, is very 

 rich and proper for this purpofe. In the weftern parts of 

 England, which lie upon the fea-coafts, very great advan- 

 tage is made of it. The fragments of fea-fhells, which are 

 always in great abundance in this fand, add to its virtues ; 

 it being always the more efteemed by farmers, the more of 

 thefe fragments there are among it. The fand of this fortj 

 which is ufed as a manure in different parts of the kingdom, 

 is of three kinds : that about Plymouth, and fome other 

 of the fouthern coafts, is of a blue-grey colour, like afhes, 

 which is probably owing to the Ihells of mufcles, and other 



fifh 



