644> SED 
SEDATIVES. See Materia Medica, 
vol. II. p. 110, col. 2, Narcotics. 
SE DEFEND ENDO, in law, a plea 
vised for him that is charged with the death of 
another, by alleging that he was under a 
necessity of doing what he did in his own de- 
fence; as that the other assaulted him in 
such a manner, that if he had not done what 
lie did, he must have been in hazard of his 
own life. But here the danger must appear 
so great, as to be inevitable. See Homi- 
cide. 
SEDITION, among civilians, is used for 
a factious commotion of the people, or an as- 
sembly of a number of citizens without law- 
ful authority, tending to disturb the peace 
and order of the society. This offence is of 
different kinds: some seditions more immedi- 
ately threatening the supreme power, and 
the subversion o' the present constitution of 
the state; others tending only towards the re- 
dress of private grievances. Among the 
Rbmaifs, therefore, it was variously punished, 
according as its end and tendency threatened 
greater mischief. See lib. i. God. de Sediti- 
osis, and Mat. de Crimin. lib. ii. n. 5. de 
Lx's.i Majestate. In the punishment, the 
"authors and ringleaders were justly distinguish- 
ed from those who, with less wicked inten- 
tions, joined arid made part of trie multi- 
tude. 
The same distinction holds in the law of 
England and in that of Scotland. Some 
kinds of sedition in England amount to high 
treason, and come within the stat. 25 Edw. 
HI. as levying war against the king. And 
several seditions are mentioned in the Scotch 
acts of parliament as treasonable. Bayne’s 
Grim Law. of Scotland, p. 33, 34. The law 
of Scotland makes riotous and tumultuous as- 
semblies a species of sedition. But the law 
there, as well as in England, is now chiefly 
regulated by the riot act, made l Geo. I. 
only it is to be observed, that the proper 
officers in Scotland, to make the proclama- 
tion thereby enacted, are sheriffs, stewards, 
and bailies of regalities, or their deputies; 
magistrates of royal boroughs, and all other 
inferior magistrates; high and petty con- 
stables, or other officers of the peace, in 
any county, stewartry, city, or town. And 
in that part of the island, the punishment of 
the offence is any thing short of death which 
the judges, hi their discretion, may ap- 
point. 
SEDUM, orpine, a genus of the pentagy- 
»ia order, in the decandria class of plants ; and 
in the natural method ranking under the 13th 
order, succulents:. The calyx is quinquefid ; 
the corolla is pentapetalous, pointed, and 
spreading; there are five nectariferous 
squama:, or scales, at the base of the germen. 
The capsules are five. 
The species are 30. The most noted are, 
1. The verticillatum ; 2. Te ephimn ; 3. 
Anacampseros ; 4. Aizoon; 5. Hybridum; 
6. l’opulifolium ; 7. Stellatum; 8. Cepaea, 
9. Libanotic.um; 10. Dasyphyllum ; 11. Re- 
flexum; 12. Rupestre; 13. Lineare; 14. 
Hispanicum; 15. Album; 16. Acre; 17. 
Sexangulare; 18. Annuum; 19. Villosur. 
20. Atratum. 
All these species of sedum are hardy her 
baceous succulent perennials, durable in root, 
but mostly annual in stalk, & c. which, rising 
SE6 
in spring, flower in June, July, and August, I 
in different sorts; the flowers consisting uni- 
versally of five spreading petals, generally 
crowning the stalks numerously in corym- 
bose and cymose bunches and, spikes, appear- 
ing tolerably conspicuous, and are succeeded 
by plenty of seeds in autumn, by which they 
may be propagated, also abundantly by part- 
ing the roots, and by slips or cuttings of the 
stalks in summer; in all of which methods 
they readily grow, and spread very fast into 
tufted bunches: being all of succulent growth, 
they consequently delight most in dry soils, 
or in any dry rubbishy earth. 
As flowering plants, they are mostly em- 
ployed to embellish rock-work, ruins, and 
the like places ; planting either the roots or 
cuttings of the shoots in a little mud or any 
moist soil at first, placing it in the crevices, 
where they will soon root and fix themselves, 
and spread about very agreeably. For eco- 
nomical purposes, the' reilexum and rupestre 
are cultivated in Holland and Germany, to 
mix with lettuce in saliads. The wall-pep- 
per is so acrid, that it blisters the skin when 
applied externally. Taken inwardly, it ex- 
cites vomiting. In scorbutic cases and quar- 
tan agues, it is said to be an excellent medi- 
cine under proper management. Goats cat 
it; cows, horses, sheep, and swine, refuse 
it. 
SEED. See Plants, Physiology, and 
Semen. 
SEELING, at sea, 's used in the same 
sense nearly with heeling: when a ship lies 
down constantly, or steadily on one side, the 
seamen say, she heels; and they call it seel- 
ing when she tumbles violently and suddenly, 
by the sea forsaking her, as they call it, that 
is, the waves leaving her for a time in a 
bowling sea. 
SEGMENT of a circle • See Geome- 
try. 
Segment of a sphere, is a part of a 
sphen terminated by a portion of its surface, 
and a plane which cuts it off, passing some- 
where out of the centre; being more properly 
called the section of a sphere. 
The base of a segment is always a circle. 
And the convex surfaces of different segments, 
are to each other as their altitudes, or versed 
sines. And as the whole convex surface of 
the sphere is equal to four of its great circles, 
or four circles of the same diameter ; so the 
surface of any segment is equal to four cir- 
cles on a diameter equal to the chord of half 
the arc of the segment. So that if d denotes 
the diameter of the sphere, or the chord of 
half the circumference, and c the chord of 
half the arc of any other segment, also a 
the altitude or versed sine of the same; 
then, 
3.141&L is the surface of the whole 
sphere, and 
3.l4l6c 2 , or3.l4]6rf, the surface of the 
segment. 
For the solid content of a segment, there 
re two rules usually given ; viz. 'l.l'o three 
rimes the square of the radius of its base, add 
the square of its height ; multiply the sum -by 
the height, and the product by .5236. Or, 
2dly, From three times the diameter of the 
sphere, subtract twice the height of the frus- 
um; multiply the remainder by the square 
of the height, and tire product by .5236. 
S E L 
That is, in symbols, the solid content is either 
— .52 36a X 3r- -f- cF, or = -5236a 2 X 
3d — 2a; where a is the altitude of the seg- 
ment, r the radius of its base, and d the di- 
ameter of the Whole sphere. 
SEGUERIA, in botany, a plant belong- 
ing to the class of polyandria and the order of 
monogynia. The calyx is penlapin llous ; 
the phylla are oblong, concave, coloured,, 
and permanent ; there is no corolla. The 
capsule is oblong and monospermous, the 
large ala terminating in small lateral ala:. 
There are two species, the Americana and 
Asiatic. 
SEIGNIORY, dominium, in our law, is 
used for a manor or lordship of a seigneur, or- 
lord of the fee or manor. 
SEIGNORAGE, signifies the right, or 
due belonging to a seigneur, or lord ; but it is 1 
particularly used for a duty belonging to the ; 
prince, for the coining of money, called also 
coinage ; which under our antient kings was ' 
five shillings for every pound of gold brought 
in the mass to be coined, and a shilling for 
every pound weight of silver. At present 
the king claims no seignorage at all, but the 
subject has his money coined at the public 
expence; nor has the king any advantage, i 
but what he has from the alloy. See Coin- 
ing. 
SEISIN, in law, signifies possession. Sei- 
sin is two-fold ; seisin in law, and seisin in 
fact. Seisin in fact, is when an actual pos- j 
session is taken; seisin in law, when some- 
thing is done which the law accounts a seisin, ; 
as an enrollment. 
SEIZE, Seaze, or Sease, in the sea- 
language, is to make fast, or bind, particularly ] 
to fasten two ropes together, with rope-yarn. ] 
The seizing of a boat is a rope tied to a ring, ] 
or little chain in the foreship of the boat, by , 
which means it is fastened to the side of the j 
ship. 
SEIZURE, in commerce, an arrest of 
some merchandize, moveable, or other mat- i 
ter, either in consequence of some law, orof : 
some express order of the sovereign. Con- 
traband goods, those fraudulently entered, or ' 
landed without entering at all, or at wrong 
places, are subject to seizure. In seizures, 
among us, one half goes to the informer, and 
the other half to the king. 
SELAGO, a genus of the angiospermia 
order, in the didynamia class of plants ; and 
in the natural method ranking under the 48th 
order, aggregata:. The calyx is quinquefid : 
the tube of the corolla capillary, with the 
limb nearly equal, and a single seed. There 
are 20 species. 
SELENITE, in chemistry. See Sul- ; 
phat of Lime. 
Selenites, in natural history, the name of] 
a large class of fossils, the characters of which 
are these: they are bodies composed of slen- 
der and scarce visible filaments, arranged 
into fine, even, and thin flakes ; and those dis- 
posed into regular figures in the several diffe-1 
rent genera, approaching to a rhomboid or 
hexangular column, or a rectangied paral- 
lelogram; fissile, like the talcs, but they not 
only lie in a horizontal, but also in a perpen- 
dicular direction; they are flexile in a small 
degree, but not at all elastic; they do not 
ferment with acid menstrua, but readily cal- 
cine in the fire. Of this class there are se- 
