SEC 



S E D 



Uyles three, (hort, permanent ; ftigmas obtufe. Peric. 

 Capfule thrVc-lobed, three-celled. Seeds folitary ? 



Ed. Cii. Male, Calyx in five deep fegments. Petals 

 none. ' Neftary a glandular ring on the outfide of the 

 ilamens. 



Female, Calyx and nedtary as in the male, permanent. 

 Capfule fuperior, three-lobed, three-celled. 



I. S. nUlda. Otaheite Myrtle. Willd. n. i. " Perf. 

 Syn. V. 2. 617." Ait. n. i. (S. duriifima ; Grael. Syll. 

 Nat. V. 2. 1008. Poiretiii Lam. Dift. v. 7. 632.) — Native 

 of the ifles of Mauritius and Bouibon, as well as of Ota- 

 heite, where it was obferved by the late Mr. Chriftopher 

 Smith. Living plants were brought to Kew by admiral 

 Bligh, in 1793. This is treated as a (love plant, flowering 

 in fpring and fummer. In the Mauritius it is a tall tree, with 

 alternate, round, minutely warty branches, and very hard 

 yellowilh wood. Leaves alternate, ftalked, ovate, various 

 in fizc and bluntnefs, from one to three inches long, and 

 about one broad, entire, fmooth, with one rib, and many 

 fine iaterbranching veins. Flowers numerous, in deufe, 

 fefiile, globular, axillary tufts. Commerfon defcribes fix 

 Jlamens, but we find only five, according to the general ob- 

 fervation of the authors above quoted. 



SECURIS, JoH>f, in Biography, an Englifli phyfician 

 of confiderable charafter in his day, was born in Wiltfiiire, 

 and itudied with great reputation in New college, Oxford, 

 in the reign of Edward VL From thence he went to Paris, 

 where lie diligently purfuedthe Rudy of altronomy and me- 

 dicine, the latter under the celebrated profedor Silvius. On 

 his return, he fettled at Salifbury, and was much reforted 

 to on account of his (kill in the praiflice of phyfic. He 

 publiihed annual trafts, which he called " Prognolticons ;" 

 and which appear to have been a kind of almanacs, accom- 

 panied with agronomical prediftions and medical precepts. 

 Anthony Wood had feen two of them, for the years 1579 

 and 1580. To the latter was added, " A Compendium, or 

 brief Inttruftions how to keep a moderate Diet." Securis 

 was likewife the author of " A Deteftion and Querimony 

 of the daily Enormities and Abufes committed in Phyfic, 

 concerning the Three Parts thereof." Lond. 1566. This 

 is a little treatife, written with learning and plaufibility, on 

 the often repeated complaint of the intrufion of irregularly 

 educated perfons into the pradHce of phyfic, and the pre- 

 fumption of furgeons and apothecaries in taking upon them 

 to aft the phyfician. A peroration in verfe, addrefled to the 

 two univerfities, is fubjoined. This work was thought to 

 have fo much merit, that it was reprinted in 1662, and pub- 

 lilhcd along with Recorde's " Judicial of Urines." The 

 autlior is not named in the title-page, but is called " A Doc- 

 tor of Phyfick in Queen Elizabeth's Days." In this traft 

 there is a reference to one which Securis had publi(hed about 

 the year 1554, with this odd title ; " A great Galley lately 

 come into England out of Terra Nova, laden with Phyfi- 

 cians. Surgeons, and Pothecaries." See Aikin's Biograph. 

 Memoirs of Med. 



SECURITATE Pacis, in Law, a writ which lies for 

 one who is threatened with death or danger, againit the per- 

 fon who fo threatens him. It is taken out of chancery, di- 

 rcfted to the fheriflF. See Peace and Surety. 



SECURITATEM inveniendi quod fe non divertat ad 

 partes exterasfme licentia regis, an ancient writ lying for the 

 king againft any of his fubjefts, to (lay them from going 

 out of this kingdom into foreign parts ; the ground whereof 

 is, that every man is bound to ferve and defend the common- 

 wealth, as the king (hall think fit. 



SECURUM, Si te/utril. See Si tefutrit. 



SECUTOR, among the Romans, tnott commonly figni- 

 fied an attendant upon great men. 



SECUTORES, in Antiquity, a kind of gladiators 

 among the Romans, who fought againft the retiarii. 



The word is formed from the verb fequi, tofol/om ; be- 

 caufe the fecutores ufed to purfue the retiarii, when they 

 failed to caft the net, and fled to put in order. 



The fecutores were armed with a fword and a buckler, to 

 keep off the net, or noofe, of their antagonids ; and they 

 wore a ca(l-c on their head. Some confounded the fecu- 

 tores with myrmillones, becaufe both had nearly the fame 

 weapons. 



Secutores was alfo the name given to fuch gladiators as 

 took the place of thofe killed in the combat ; or who 

 fought the conqueror. The pod was ufually taken by lot. 

 In ancient infcriptions we alfo meet with fecutor tr'ibun'i, fe- 

 cutor ducis, fecutor Ctfar'is, Sec. who were officers attending 

 the tribunes and generals ; perhaps like our aids-de-camp. 



SECZENIAGA, in Geography, a town of European 

 Turkey, in Dobruz Tartary, on the Danube ; 20 miles N. 

 of Kirfova. 



SEDA, a town of Portugal, in Alentejo ; 6 miles W. 

 of Alter do Chao. 



SEDAB, in Botany, a name given by the Arabian phy- 

 ficians to the wild, or mountain rue, a plant common in 

 Syria, Greece, and other places. Avicenna fuppofcs the 

 gum, which he calls ^fn/am, or jentum, to be produced from 

 this plant, but very erroneoufly, that gum being obtained 

 from the roots of the thapfia, or deadly carrot. 



SEDAINE, Michel Jean, in Biography, a French 

 dramatic writer, was born at Paris in 1719. His father, an 

 architeft, having left his family entirely deftitute, the fub- 

 jeft of this article was obliged to work as a common mafon, 

 to maintain his mother and two younger brothers. By his 

 laudable induftry he became a mafter mafon, but his fond- 

 nefs for the theatre having led him to make fome attempts at 

 dramatic compofition, which were attended with a coafi- 

 derable portion of fuccefs, he was, in 1754, engaged by 

 Monet, direftor of the comic-opera, to devote himfelf to 

 the fervice of the ftage. His talents were fo well exerted, 

 that he brought full audiences to that theatre, which had, 

 before his time, been nearly deferted, and he paflTed many 

 years in this employment, generally beloved and efteemed by 

 the literary charafters of the time. He died in the year 

 1797, in the 78th year of his age. Sedaine was the author 

 of a great number of pieces, chiefly of the light kind, and 

 accompanied by mufic. Some of them were eminently fuc- 

 cefsful : the " Le Deferteur" was reprefented one hundred 

 times. He had a perfeft knowledge of flagc cfFeft : hij 

 dialogue was eafy and natural, though extremely incorreft ; 

 hence his works were more adapted to the itage than to the 

 clofet. 



SEDAKI, in Geography, a town of Japan, in the ifland 

 of Niphon ; 40 miles N.W. of Nambu. 



SEDAN, a town of France, and principal place of a 

 diftrift, in the department of the Ardennes, fituated on the 

 Meufe ; fl;rongly fortified, and reckoned one of the keys of 

 France. It is divided into the north and fouth parts : the 

 former contains 5984, and its canton 1 1,471 inhabitants, in 

 14 communes: the latter has 4560, and its canton 13,124 

 inhabitants, in 22 communes. Both comprehend 320 Itilio- 

 metres. This town has a manufaAure of cloth : and before 

 the revocation of the edift of Nantes, it had a flourifhing 

 Protellant univerfity ; 13-I potts S.S.W. of Liege. N. lat. 

 49° 42'. E. long. 5° o'. 



Sedan Chair, See Chair. 



Y i SEDANG, 



