SEN 



Sokel, Eliabar, and Alfectak, fituated on the north of the 

 jfland St. Louis. The feafon is the month of March, and 

 the confumption in Europe is eftimated at a thoufand tons, 

 each of 20OO pounds. In 1788, different ports in France 

 employed in this trade 105 fliips, the tonnage exceeding 

 55,000. The French fettlement on the coall of Africa, 

 according to Herbin, is Arguin, a little ifle granted to the 

 company of Senegal in 1727. A confiderable trade in 

 gum was maintained with the river St. Juan, which is not 

 far dillant ; and by the treaty of 1783 the Englifh obtained 

 the right of trading with this river. On the river Senegal 

 there were fevcral French fettlements, particularly in the ifle 

 of St. Louis at the mouth of that river, which is a great feat 

 of the gum trade. The white population may be about 

 400; but in 1 80 1 the whole, including captives, was com- 

 puted at 10,000. 



Senegal, an ifland of Africa, in the river fo called, about 

 one mile and a quarter in length, from north to fouth, and 

 almofl; half a mile in breadth, from caft to weil. It is 

 compofed of a bed of loofe fand, produftivc of nothing but 

 what is forced by art and the richell manure, notwithltand- 

 ing which it contains 3000 inhabitants, vvhofe principal 

 food is fi(h and maize. This fort of corn grows in great 

 plenty almolt all over the whole country. It may feem 

 furprifing, that a part of the world fo very unhealthy as 

 this, (hould yet be fo populous, but the wonder will ceafe 

 when we come to underftand, that the greateft pride among 

 the men confifls in the number of their wives ; fo that every 

 one takes as many as he is able to maintain ; fome fix, others 

 eight, and others twelve at a time. In the year 175S, this 

 ifland was taken from the French by the Britifli tuops, and 

 by the peace of 1763 it was ceded to Great Britain. N. lat. 

 16° 5'. 



SENEGALIA, or Senegallus, in Ornithology, the 

 Loxiaajlrill. See LoxiA. See alfo Fkingilla j'^wcfa/a. 



SENEKA, Rattlesnake-root. This is a root lately 

 brought into ufe among us, and which feems to defcrve 

 very great regard. It is the root of a fpecies of polygala, 

 or milk-wort, (fee Polygala Senega,) diftinguirtied by 

 Gronovius, in his Flora Virginica, under the name of the 

 ereft polygala, witha fimple italk, with oval leaves, pointed at 

 the end, and with an eredl duller of flowers. We generally 

 call it the rattlefnake-root, and the French, from the place 

 whence it comes, Seneka. The plant is a native of Vir- 

 ginia, Pennfylvania, and Maryland, and is cultivated in fome 

 of our gardens. 



The root is perennial ; the thicknefs of it is generally 

 about that of a man's little finger. It is four or five inches, 

 or more, in length, and is varioufly contorted and twilled, 

 and divides into many branches, furniflied with fmall fibres, 

 and with a membranaceous rim running all along it. It is 

 yellowifli on the outfide, and white within, very acrid, and 

 fomewhat bitter to the tafte, and has fomewhat of an aro- 

 matic flavour. From this root arife numerous ftalks, all 

 fimple, and without branches ; fome lie on the ground, 

 others Hand ere£l. Thefe are ten or twelve inches high, 

 when full grown. The leaves ftand alternately on the 

 Ikalks, and the flowers are white, and perfeftly like thofe 

 of our own kinds of polygala. This root, which is 

 brought from Virginia in bales, each containing from two 

 to four hundred weight, is of no remarkable fmell, but 

 has a peculiar kind of fubtile, pungent, penetrating talle. 

 Its virtue is extrafted both by water and fpirit. 



Dr. Tennent, who brought over a large quantity of this 

 root from America fome years ago, and took great pains 

 to introduce it into praftice, praifes- it very largely as a 

 diuretic, a diaphoretic, and an alexipharmic, and a very 



SEN 



powerful attenuant and refolvent. He fays it will fome- 

 times vomit and purge. 



The Senegaw Indians firft taught the ufe of it to the Eu- 

 ropeans ; they elteem it a fovereign remedy againll the bite 

 of the rattlefnake ; and Dr. Tennent aflTures us, that he 

 faw two perfons, who had been bitten by this creature in 

 the month of July, when its poifon is mod fatal, perfeftly 

 reftored to health by it. The powder, or a decoftion of 

 the root, is taken internally ; and either the powder or 

 cataplafms made with it applied to the wound. 



He afterwards gave it in pleurifies and peripneumonies 

 with great fuccefs, and in all other cafes where the blood 

 is infpiflated. The effedt of this medicine was found to 

 be, that it made the fizy blood fluid, (which is contradifted 

 by a ftrong faft adduced by De Haen, ) procured a plenti- 

 ful fpitting, increafed perfpiration and urine, and fome- 

 times purged or vomited. If the firfl; dofes of it provoke 

 a vomiting, it is not at all the worfe, except in cafes in 

 which the patient is very weak ; and in fuch this effeft is 

 eafily prevented, by giving fome of the teftaceous powders 

 with it. 



In pleurifies it is bell to take away ten ounces of blood, 

 before the entering on the ufe of the medicine ; in other 

 cafes no precaution is required, but it is to be given in 

 powder, or tindlure, in white wine, particularly Madeira 

 wine ; and the ordinary drink, during the ufe of it, fliould 

 be marflimallow tea. Its good effeds in pleurifies have 

 been atteiled by feveral of the French academicians and 

 others. But repeated bleeding is not to be negledled. 



This medicine may be given either in powder or decoc- 

 tion, and combined with aromatics, opium, or camphor, 

 which check its naufeating quahties ; but Dr. Tennent 

 prefers the decoftion, having obferved it to give relief 

 fooner than the powder does. The dofe of the powder is 

 thirty-five grains, and he gives at once three fpoonfuls of 

 the decoAion, prepared by boiling three ounces of the root 

 bruifed in a quart of water to nearly the half. The dofe ia 

 repeated every fix hours. He is alfo fond of this root in 

 the rheumatifm, dropfy, and gout, in which laft difeafe, 

 he fays, he has given it with fuccefs. See his Letter con- 

 cerning the Seneka, or rattlefnake-root. The extratt of it 

 in combination with carbonate of ammonia has been found 

 by Dr. Brandreth, of Liverpool, to be efficacious in fome 

 cafes of lethargy ; and in America the decoftion given in 

 divided dofes, at fliort intervals till it vomits or purges, hai 

 been employed with feeming fuccefs in croup ; it has alfo 

 been lately ufed as a ftimulating gargle in the fame difeafe. 

 The ufual dofe, fays Woodville, is from one fcruple to 

 two of the powder, or two or three fpoonfuls of a decoftion 

 prepared by boiling an ounce of the root in a pint and a 

 half of water till it is reduced to a pint. 



Meffrs. Lemery, Du Hamel, and Juflieu, vouch for the 

 good elTefts of the Seneka-root in pleurifies, and other in- 

 flammatory difeafes. Mem. de I'Acad. des Scienc. 1739. 



SENEMBI, in Zoology, a name given by Marcgrave to 

 the Lacerta iguana. See LiZARD. 



SENESCHAL, Senescallus, a name anciently ufed 

 for a ftcward or majordomo ; formed from the German Jtnd, 

 houfe ox family, zndfcalc, fcrvant. 



Thus riic feneichal of a lord, or a baron, is his rtcward 

 or bailifi^, who holds his courts, and manages his demefne 

 lands ; and the fub-fenefchal, his under-flcward. 



High fenefchal of England is the high-ileward of Eng- 

 land ; high fenefchal del hotel du roi, is the ftcward of the 

 king's houfehold. 



The office of fenefchal was at all times a great ofEce ; 



but the jurifdiAion of it increafed much, when the grand 



H h 0! julliciary's 



