SEP 



SEP 



mucronata Cartilagine evenientibus, Liber unus," 1632, 

 &c. See Eloy Dift. Hill, de la Medecine. 



SEPTANA, a word ufed by the ancient phyficians for 

 a feptenary fever, or one that performs its regular period 

 in feven days. 



SEPTARIjE, in Natural Hijlory, the name of a large 

 clafs of foflils, called by feme ludus Helmont'il, and by others 

 the luaxen veins. They are defined to be foihle bodies not 

 inflammable, nor fuliible in water, naturally found in loofe 

 detached mades of a moderately firm texture and dufky 

 hue, divided by feveral fepta, or thin partitions, and com- 

 poied of a fparry matter greatly dcbafed by earth, not giv- 

 ing fire with fteel, fermenting with acids, and in great part 

 diflolved by them, and calcining in a moderate fire. 



Of this clafs there are two diltinft orders of bodies, and 

 under thofe fix genera. The feptarije of the fird order are 

 thofe which are ufnaliy found in large mafieS of fimple uni- 

 form conilruftion, but divided by large fepta, either into 

 larger or more irregular portions, or into fmaller and more 

 equal ones, called talc. 



Thofe of the fecond order are fuch as are nfually found in 

 fmaller mafles of a cruftated Itrufture, formed by various 

 incruftations round a central nucleus, and divided by very 

 thin fepta. 



SEP TAS, in Botany, a name indicative of the number 

 feven, feptem, fo prevalent in its parts of fruftification. — 

 Linn. Gen. 184. Schreb. 246. Willd. Sp. PI. v. 2. 292. 

 Mart. Mill. Dia. V. 4. Ait. Hort. Kew. v. 2. 338. 

 Juff. Gen. 30S. Lamarck lUullr. t. 276. — Clafs and or- 

 der, Hepiandria Heptagynia. Nat. Ord. Succukntie, Linn. 

 Sempcrvivit, Juff. 



Gen. Ch. Cal. Perianth inferior, of one leaf, permanent, 

 cloven into feven, fpreading, acute fegments. Cor. Petals 

 feven, oblong, equal, twice as long as the calyx. Stam. 

 Filaments feven, awl-fhaped, the length of the calyx ; an- 

 thers nearly ovate, ereft. P'tfl. Germens feven, fuperior, 

 terminating in awl-fhaped tlyles, the length of the itamens ; 

 ftigmas fomewhat obtufe. Per'ic. Capfules feven, oblong, 

 acute, parallel, of one valve. Seeds numerous. 



Ed". Ch. Calyx feven-cleft. Petals feven. Germens 

 feven. Capfules feven, many-feeded. 



I. S. capenjis. Cape Septas. Linn. Sp. PI. 489. Amoen. 

 Acad. V. 6. 87. Andrews Repof. t. 90. — Native of the 

 Cape of Good Hope. Introduced at Kew in 1774, where 

 it flowers in Auguft and September. Root perennial, 

 tuberous, fibrous. Stem fhort, fimple, crowned with a tuft 

 of about four, oppofite, blunt, naked, notched, fucculent 

 leaiifs ; the lower ones larger, flightly ftalked, roundifh ; 

 iippcr oval, feflile, narrower. Floiver-Jlalk llender, fome- 

 what wavy, naked, terminated by a fimple umbel, com- 

 pofed of feven or eight elegant, drooping ^owi-n, of a deep 

 pink colour on ihe sutfide, fleih-coloured and white within- 

 fide. BraSeas in paira, lanceolate. 



The peculiarity of charaftcr in Septas, with regard to the 

 prevalence of the number feven, in the parts of fruttifica- 

 tion, is not fo coiillant as Linnaeus feems to have imagined ; 

 hence Thunberg was induced to refer this genus to Craf- 

 fula. 



Loureiro has given the name of Septas to a plant in Duly- 

 namia Angiofpertma, which, according to profeflbr Martyn, 

 is aUied to Thunhergia. 



SEPTE, in Ancient Geography, a town of Afia Minor, 

 in Phrygia, according to l^tolemy. 



SEPTEM AcjujK, a town of the Sabines, fituatcd on 

 an eminence, and commanding the Rura rofea, or the fine 

 Rofiean valley. It is fuppofcd by the abbe Chaupi to be the 

 prefcnt Pont Grifpoldi. 



Septem Ars, Arronches, a place of Hifpania, betweei 

 Matufarum and Budua, according to Antonine's Itinerary. 

 It was fituated towards the N.W. of Emeritan Augulta. 



Septem Fratres, a mountain of Africa, in Mauritania 

 Tingitana. Ptolemy calls it Heptadelphus Mons, and 

 places it on the Northern coaft, between ExihfTa and 

 Abyla. 



Septem Maria, a name given, according to Herodian, 

 to the marflies which were formed by the feven branches of 

 the Eridanus, before its difcharge into the Adriatic fea. 



Septem Pag'i, the name of a plain of Italy, on the bank 

 of the Tiber, in the cofir.try of the Veians, according to 

 Dionyfius of HalicarnaiTus. 



Septem Pxda, a town of Italy, in the Picenum, accord- 

 ing to Strabo. Frontinus makes it a Roman colony, and 

 gives it the title of Oppidum. 



SEPTEMBER, the ninth month of the year, reckoned 

 from January, and the feventh from March, whence its 

 name, t/z. from feptimus, feventh. 



The Roman lenate would have given this month the 

 name of Tiberius, but thaf emperor oppofed it ; the emperor 

 Domitian gave it his own name Germanicus ; the ienate 

 under Antoninus Pius gave it that of Antoninus ; Commodus 

 gave it his furname Herculeus, and the emperor Tacitus his 

 own name Tacitus. But tiiefe appellations are all gone into 

 difufe. 



SEPTEMES, in Geography, a town of France, in the 

 department of the Ifere ; 9 miles E. of Vienne. 



SEPTEMVIR, in Antiquity. See QuiNQUEVIR. 



The Germans fometimes ule the word feptcmvirate, for 

 the feven eledlors of the empire. See Elector. 



SEPTENA, in Ancient Geography, a town of Afia 

 Minor, in Lydia. 



SEPTENTRIO, or Septentriones, in AJlronomy, a 

 northern conllellation of liars, more ulually called tfrfa 

 Minor, or the Little Bear; and by the people, Charles's 

 IVain : though the feven ftars in the Great Bear have been 

 of late fo denominated. 



The word is formed from the Latin feptem, feven ; and 

 triones, bullocks, which, in the ancient conllellation, were 

 yoked to the plough. 



Septentrio. in Cofmography, the fame with nor/A ; thus 

 called from the ancient contlellation Septentrio, one of 

 whofe ftars is the pole-ftar. Hence alfo, 



SEPTENTRIONAL, Septentrionalis, fomething 

 belonging to the north; 2l% feptentrional Jigns, feptentrional 

 parallels, &c. are thofe on the northern fide of the equator. 



SEPTERION, SsTrln^.ov, in Antiquity, a Delphic fef- 

 tival, celebrated every ninth year, in memory of Apollo's 

 viAory over Python. The chief part of the folemiuty was 

 a reprefentation of Python purfued by Apollo. 



SEPTEUIL, in Geography, a town of France, in the 

 department of the Seine and Oife ; 9 miles N.W. of 

 Montfort. 



SEPTFOIL, in Botany. See ToRMEN TIL. 



SEPTFONS, in Geography, a town of France, in the 

 department of the Lot ; 16 miles N.E. of Montanban. 



SEPTICOLLIS, in Ancient Geography, a name, or 

 rather an epithet, given to the city of Rome. 



SEPTICS, among Phyficians, an appellation given to 

 all fuch fubdances as promote putrefadion. 



From the many curious experiments made by Dr. Pringle 

 to afcertain the feptic and antileptic virtues of natural 

 bodies, it appears that there are very few fubdances of a 

 truly feptic nature. Thofe commonly reputed fuch by 

 authors, as the alkaline and volatile falts, he found to be no 

 wife feptic. However, he difcovered fome, where it feemed 



lead 



