SEC 
s 
SEC 
are four species : the viilosum, orientale, \ 
creticum, and cercale. I he viilosum, or 
wood rye-grass, is distinguished by a calyx 
with wedge-shaped scales, and by the fringe 
•of the glume being woolly. The glumes of 
the orientale are shaggy, and the scales of the 
calyx are shaped like an awl. The glumes of 
the" creticum are fringed on the outside. 
The cercale, or common rye, has glumes 
with rough fringes. It is a native of the is- 
land of Candia, was introduced into England 
many ages ago, and is the only species of 
; rye cultivated in this kingdom. There are, 
I however, two varieties, the winter and spring 
rye. 
[: ' The winter rye, which is larger in the 
grain than the spring rye, is sown in autumn 
!i at the same rime with wheat, and sometimes 
■ mixed with it ; but as the rye ripens sooner 
than the wheat, this method must be very ex- 
ceptionable. The spring rye is sown along 
with the oats, and usually ripens as soon as 
the winter rye ; but the grain produced is 
lighter, and it is therefore seldom sown ex- 
I cept where the autumnal crop has failed. 
Rye is commonly sown on poor, dry, 
; limestone, or sandy soils, where wheat will 
not thrive. By continuing to sow it on such 
I a soil for two or three years, it will at length 
ripen a month earlier than that which lias 
been raised for years on strong cold ground. 
Rye is commonly used for bread either 
alone or mixed with wheat. This mixture 
is called meslin, and was formerly a very 
common ■ rop in some parts of Britain. Mr. 
Marshall tells us, that the farmers in York- 
! shire believe that this mixed crop is never 
affected by mildew, and that a small quantity 
Of rye sown among wheat will prevent this 
destructive disease. Rye is much used for 
bread in some parts of Sweden and Norway 
by the poor people. About a century ago rye- 
bread was also much used in England ; but 
being made of a black kind of rye, it was of 
the same colour, clammy, very detergent, 
and consequently not so nourishing as 
wheat. 
Rye is subject to a disease which the 
French call ergot, and the English horned 
rye ; which sometimes happens when a very 
hot summer succeeds a rainy spring. Ac- 
cording to Tissot, horned rye is such as suf- 
fers an irregular vegetation in the middle 
substance between the grain and the leaf, 
producing an excrescence of a brownish co- 
lour, about an inch and a half long, and two- 
tenths of an inch broad. Bread made of this 
kind of rye has a nauseous acrid taste, and 
produces spasmodic and gangrenous dis- 
orders. 
SECANT, in geometry, is a line that cuts 
another, or divides it into two parts. See 
Trigonometry. 
SECHIUM, a genus of the svngenes'a 
order, in the moncecia class of plants ; and in 
the natural method ranking under the 34th 
j order, cueurbitaceax 'The male calyx is 
I quinquedentate and monophyllous ; the co- 
rolla monopetalous ; the live filaments are 
1 united in an erect tube. In the female flower 
the pistiilum is cylindrical and erect; the 
I stigma large, peltaled, and reflected ; the 
!■ pericarpium large, oval, unequal, fleshy, and 
j unilocular, containing one seed, which is 
smooth, compressed, and fleshy. Of thi* 
! there is only one species, viz. the edulis, or 
L choc ho vine. This is cultivated and grows 
very luxuriantly in many places in Jamaica. 
The vines run and spread very much. The 
fruit is boiled, and served up at table by way 
of greens ; and the root of the old vine is 
somewhat like a yam (dioscorea), arid on 
being boiled or roasted tastes farinaceous aiid 
wholesome. 
SECOND, in geometry, chronology, &c. 
the sixtieth part of a prime or minute, whe- 
ther of a degree, or of an hour : it is denoted 
by two small accents, thus ("). 
Second, in music, an interval of a con- 
joint degree. There are four kinds of seconds. 
The diminished second, containing four com- 
mas; the minor second, consisting of live 
commas ; the major second, consisting of 
nine commas ; and the redundant second, 
composed of a whole tone and a minor semi- 
tone. 
SECONDARY, in general, something 
that acts as second, or in subordination to 
another. Secondary circles of the sphere, 
are circles passing through the poles of some 
great circle : thus the meridians and hour- 
circles are secondaries to the equinoctial. 
There are also secondaries passing through 
the poles of the ecliptic, by means of which 
all stars are referred to the ecliptic. 
Secondary, an officer who is second, or 
next to the chief officer ; as the secondaries 
to the prothonotaries in the courts of B. R. 
and C. B. 
SECRETARY, an officer who by his mas- 
ter’s orders writes letters, dispatches, and 
other instruments, which he renders authen- 
tic by his signet. Of these there are several 
kinds ; as, 1. Secretaries of state, who are 
officers that have under their management 
and direction the most important affairs of 
the kingdom, and are obliged constantly to 
attend on the king : they receive and dis- 
patch whatever comes to their hands, either 
from the crown, the church, the army,. pri- 
vate grants, pardons, dispensations, See, as 
likewise petitions to the sovereign : which 
when read, are returned to them ; ail which 
they dispatch according to the direction of 
the king in council. They have authority to 
commit persons for treason, and other of- 
fences against the state, as conservators of 
the peace at common law, or as justices of 
the peace throughout the kingdom. They 
are members of the privy and cabinet coun- 
cil, which is seldom or never held without 
one of them being present ; as to the business 
and correspondence in all parts of this king- 
dom, it is managed by the secretary for the 
home department. With respect to foreign 
affairs, the business is in the foreign office. 
There has been lately established a secretary of 
state for the war department, which must not 
be confounded with the secretary at war. 
The secretaries have each two under-secre- 
taries, and one chief clerk. To the secre- 
taries of state belong the custody of that seal 
properly called the signet, and the direction 
of two other offices, one called the paper- 
office, and the other the signet-office. See 
Paper-office and Signet-office. 
2 ■ Secretary of an embassy, a person at- 
tending an ambassador for writing dispatches 
relating to the negotiation. There is a great 
difference between the secretary of an em- 
bassy, and the ambassador’s secretary ; the 
last being a domestic or menial of the am- 
bassador, and the first, a servant or minister 
of the prince. 3. The secretary at war, an 
officer of the war-office, who has two chid • 
clerks under him, the last of which is the se- 
cretary’s messenger. There are also secre- 
taries in most of the other offices. 
SECRETION, in the animal economy,, 
the separation of some fluid mixed with the ' 
blood by means of the glands. See Physi- 
ology. 
Secretions, morbid. In different diseases 
to which the animal body is subject, various 
fluids make their appearance which did not 
previously exist, at least under the forms 
which they assume. Thus in the dropsy the 
cellular substance, frequently the cavities of 
the head, breast, or abdomen, are filled with 
a whitish liquid. Where any part of the 
skin is irritated into a blister, the interval be- 
tween the cutis and cuticle is filled with a 
transparent fluid ; and when any part of the 
muscles or skin is wounded, the ulcer is soon 
covered with a matter called pus. See Pus. 
A thin sanies exudes from cancers and cari- 
ous bones. The liquor of the dropsy is found 
upon examination to agree almost exactly 
with the serum of the blood. T he liquor of 
blisters is composed also of the same consti- 
tuents as the serum of blood : from 200 parts, 
has been obtained by chemical analysis' 
36 albumen, 
4 muriat of soda, 
2 carbonat of soda, 
2 phosphat offline, 
156 
200 . 
SECTION, in geometry, denotes a side 
or surface appearing of a body or figure cut 
by another ; or the place where lines, planes, 
&c. cut each other. 
The common section of two planes is al- 
ways a right line ; being the line supposed 
to be drawn on one plane by the section of 
the other, or by its entrance into it. 
Section of a building, in architecture, is 
the same with its profile ; or a delineation 
of its heights and depths raised on a plana* 
as if the fabric was cut asunder to discover 
its inside. 
Sections, conic, in geometry. See Conic 
Section. 
SECTOR, in geometry, is a part of a 
circle, comprehended between two radii and 
the arch ; or it is a mixed triangle, formed 
by two radii and the arch of a circle. 
Sector. See Instruments mathe- 
M ATIC AL. 
SECUND1NES. See Midwifery. 
SECURIDACA, a plant belonging to the 
class of diadelphia, and to the order of octan- 
dria. The calyx has three leaves, which are 
small, deciduous, and coloured. The corolla 
is papilionaceous. The vexillum, consisting 
of two petals, is oblong, straight, and con-' 
joined to the carina at the base. The carina 
is of the same length with the ake. T he le- 
gumen is ovated, unilocular, monospennous, 
and ending in a legulated ala. There are three 
species. The erecta has an upright stem : the 
scandens is a climbing plant, and is a native 
of the West Indies. 
SECUTORES, in antiquity, a kind of 
gladiators among the Romans, who fought 
against the retiarii. The secutores were 
armed with a sword and buckler, to keep off 
the net or noose of their antagonists, and they 
wore a cask on their head. 
