SEA 



SEA 



The year is divided into four feafons, fpring, fummer, 

 autumn, and winter ; the beginnings and endings of each 

 of which, fee under its proper article. 



It is to be obferved, the feafons anciently began differently 

 from what they now do ; witnefs the old verfes : 



" Dat Clemens hyemem ; dat Petrus vcr cathedratus ; 

 .ffiftuat Urbanus ; autumnat Bartholomaeus." 



SEAT, in AJlrommy. See Scheat. 



Seat, in the Manege, is the pofture or fituation of a 

 horfeman upon the faddle. 



To feat a horfe upon his branches or hip, fee Pht. 



Seat, '\n Ship-Budding, the fcarf or part trimmed out for 

 a chock, &c. to fay to. 



SzAT -Tran/om, that tranfom which is fayed and bolted to 

 the ftern-timbers, next above the deck-tranfom, at the height 

 of the port-fills. 



SEATING, that part of a floor which fays on the Jiad- 

 tuood; and of a tranfom which fays againll the poft. 



SEATNESS, in Geography, a cape on the S.W. coaft 

 of Shetland. N. lat. 59° 46'. W. long. 1° 36'. 



SEATON, a fmall fea-port town in the hundred of Co- 

 lyton, county of Devon, England, is lituated at the diftance 

 of three miles S. from Colyton, and 156 S.W. from London. 

 This place is called Suetetone in Domefday book, and was 

 undoubtedly the Moridunurj of the Iter of Antoninus. 

 Rifdon fays it is " memorable for the Danifli princes land- 

 ing there in the year 937, as alfo for the attempt of the in- 

 habitants of Colyton to make a haven there, which they had 

 folemnly named CoUyton Jiaven, and procured a coUeftion 

 under the great feal of England for the levying of money to 

 efFeft the fame, of which work there remaineth no monu- 

 ment, only a remembrance of fuch a place among ftrangers 

 that know not where it ftands." At preCent Seaton is 

 chiefly noted as a well frequented fea-bathing village. The 

 church is an ancient building of free-llone, dedicated to St. 

 ■ Gregory, and contains a very elegant monument in memory 

 of W. Walroud, efq. and his lady. According to the 

 parliamentary returns of 18 1 1, the parifli of Seaton com- 

 prifed 323 houfes, and 1524. inhabitants. The Hillory of 

 Devonfliire, by the Rev. Richard Polwhele, three vols, 

 folio, 1797. The Chorographical Defcription or Survey 

 of the County of Devon, by Triltam Rifdon, 8vo. 17 14, 

 2d edit, with additions, 8vo. 181 1. 



Seaton, or Port Seaton, a fmall fea-port of Scotland, 

 in the county of Haddington, in the Frith of Forth ; 5 miles 

 W.N.W. of Haddington. N. lat. 55° 58'. W. long. 3^ 



59'- 



Seaton Nook, a cape of England, on the E. coaft of 

 the county of Durham, at the mouth of the Tees ; 5 miles 

 S.S.E. of Hartlepool. 



Seaton Sluice, a (luice which opens into the German fea, 

 on the coaft of the county of Northumberland. — Alfo, a 

 town of England, called " Seaton Delaval," in Northum- 

 berland, deriving its name from an artificial harbour con- 

 Urufted by fir Ralph Delaval, in the 17th centurv ; 10 miles 

 N.E. of Newcaftle., N. lat. s^° &. 



Seaton, a river of England, which rifes near Lefkeard, 

 and runs into the Englifh Channel, three miles E. of Looe, 

 in Cornwall. 



SEAVES, in Rural Economy, a term ufed to fignify 

 rufnes, efpecially the foft rufh. 



SEAVY Ground, fuch ground as is covered or over- 

 run with rufhes. 



SEAUM, in Geography, a town of Hindooftan, in La- 

 hore ; 18 miles W. of Rahoon. 



SEA-WOLVES Island, an illand in the gulf of St. 



Laurence, near the W. coaft of Cape Breton. N. lat. 

 21'. W. long. 61°. 



SEBA, Albert, in Biography, a native of Eaft Friz^ 

 land, was by profeflion a druggift at Amfterdam, and 

 member of the Academy Natura: Curioforum. He pub 

 lifhed a defcriptive catalogue, in Latin and French, of th 

 ▼aft coUeftion of objefts in natural hiftory which he ha 

 brought together, in four vols, folio, iliuftrated with a grejj 

 number of engravings. He likewife cornmunicated feverj 

 papers to the Ephem. Nat. Curiof. 



SEBACA, in Geography. See Mariout. 



SEBACEOUS Glands, in Anatomy, fmall glandulj 

 bodies in the (kin, lecreting the unftuous matter which coven 

 the furface of the body. They are particularly m.anifeJ 

 about the alae of the nofe, and in the folds of the externa 

 ear. See Integuments, Ear, and Nose. 



SEBACIC Acid, in Chemi/lry, is an acid produced fro 

 the decompofition of animal fat, particularly hog's-lard 

 The acrid fumes which are evolved during the burning 1 

 fat at a heat fhort of inflammation, was formerly confidereJ 

 as a peculiar acid, which was called the acid of fat, and after 

 wards the febacic acid. From the experiments of Therard 

 it has fince been proved not to be a peculiar acid, but the 

 acetic acid difguifed with fome other produft of the decom- 

 pofition. During thefe refearches, however, he found that 

 by the diftillation of tallow, he obtained an acid having pe- 

 culiar properties, which he ftill called the febacic acid. The 

 following is the procefs he recommends. Diltil hog's-lard 

 from a retort, by a heat which will decompofe the fat ; car- 

 bonic acid and carburcttcd hydrogen firft come over, and a 

 yellowith fluid containing acetic acid, but ftill no febacic 

 acid. This receiver muft now be removed, and a new one 

 adapted : the heat being continued, an oily matter comes 

 over of the confiftcnce of butter. It is in this fubftance 

 that the febacic acid is found. It is feparated by firft boil- 

 ing it io water, and evaporating the liquid till the febacic 

 acid falls down in cr)-ftals. This depofition is increafed as 

 the liquid cools. 



He alfo recommends, inftead of getting the cryftils by 

 evaporation, to add acetate of lead to the water in which the 

 oily matter has been boiled ; a flaky precipitate is formed, 

 which is the febat of lead, and which is to be well walhed 

 and dried. When to this fubftance fulphuric acid is added, 

 and heat applied, a fatty liquid floats on the top, which is 

 to be collefted ; this being diflblved in hot water, forms 

 cryllais of pure febacic acid, which are depofited on cool- 

 ing. 



The lard affords but a very fmall proportion of the acid. 

 Rofe informs us that it requires a pound of lard to produce 

 forty grains of acid. 



Sebacic acid, thus obtained, is in the form of a cryftalline 

 mafs, of a white colour. It has no fmell, but its tafte is 

 agreeably four, and flightly bitter ; like moft other acids it 

 changes fome vegetable blues to a red colour. 



When heated, it melts like fat into a tranfparent fluid, 

 but on cooling it re-aflumes its whitenefs and its cryftalline 

 form. It is faid to be volatile by heat, ftill retaining its 

 properties, but a ftrong heat decompofes it. 



It is fparingly foluble in cold water, and boihng water 

 diflblves about oue-fourth its weight ; it affords cryftals on 

 cooling, which are in the form of prifms. Alcohol diffolves 

 it in confiderable quantity. It is alfo foluble in oils. From 

 the laft, and fome other properties, it bears a ftrong refem- 

 blance to the benzoic acid. This laft analogy has been 

 pointed out by Berzelius. He found alfo that the falts 

 formed by this acid have a ftrong refemblance to the ienzoatr. 

 Thefe fafts go far to fhew fo ftrong an analogy between the 



two 



