652 S E S 
8. Muriat of soda, 
9. Pliosphat of soda, 
10. Phosphat of lime. 
Besides benzoic acid, which has been detected 
by Proust. 
But our knowledge of this singular fluid is 
bv no means so complete as it ought to be; 
a more accurate analysis would probably dis- 
cover the presence of other substances, and 
enable us to account for many of the proper- 
ties of blood which at present are inexpli- 
cable. 
SESAMUM, oily grain, a genus of plants 
belonging to the class of didynamia, and to 
the order of angiospermia, and' in the natural 
system ranging under the 20th order, luridae. 
r The calyx is divided into five parts. The 
corolla is companuluted, the tube of which is 
nearly the length of the calyx; the throat is 
inflated, and very large ; the border is divided 
into five parts, four of which are spreading 
and nearly, equal ; the fifth is the lowest and 
largest. There are four filaments, and the 
rudiments of a fifth. The stigma is lanceo- 
Jated, and the capsule has Totir cells. 'There 
are only three species, the orienfale, indicum, 
and Interim. *!. The orientate has ovate, 
oblong, entire leaves. It is an annual, and 
grows^naturally on the coast of Malabar and 
in the island of Ceylon ; rising with an her- 
baceous four-cornered stalk, two feet high, 
sending out a few short side-branches.- After 
the flowers are past, the germeu turns to an 
oval acute-pointed capsule, with four cells, 
tilled with oval compressed seeds, which 
ripen in autum. 2. The indicum, with trifid 
lower leaves, grows naturally in India: this 
is also an annual plant ; the stalk rises taller 
than that of the former ; the lower leaves are 
cut into three parts’, ’ which is the only differ- 
ence between them. The first sort is fre- 
quently cultivated in all the eastern countries, 
and also in Africa, as a pulse ; and of late 
years the seeds have been introduced into 
Carolina by the African negroes, where they 
succeed extremely well. The inhabitants of 
that country make an oil from the seed, 
which will keep good for many years, with- 
out having any rancid smell or taste, but in 
two years become quite mild ; so that when 
the warm taste of the seed, which is in the oil 
when first drawn, is worn off, they use it as 
a sal lad -oil, and for all the purposes of sweet 
oji. The seeds of this plant arc also used by 
the negroes for food; which seeds they parch 
over the fire, arid then mix them with water, 
aid stew other ingredients with them, which 
nukes a hearty food. Sometimes a sort of 
padding is made of these seeds, in the same 
jiianuer as with millet or rice, and is by some 
persons esteemed, but is rarely used for these 
purposes in Europe. 
From nine pounds of this seed which came 
f ri) m Carolina, there were upwards of two 
f marts of oil drawn, which is as great a quan- 
tity as has been obtained from any vegetable 
whatever. This might occasion its being 
jpjlled the oily grain. 
SESELI, meadow-saxifrage, a genus of 
prints belonging to the class of pentandria, 
aid to the order of digynia, and in the natural 
system ranging under the 45th order, umbel- 
la:e. The umbels are globular ; the involu- 
cium consists of one or two leaflets ; the 
friit is egg-shaped and. streaked. I here are 
j- teen species. The montanum grows natu- 
•S E S 
rally in France and Italy ; flie glatteum is a 
native of Fiance ; the aimnoides and tortuo- 
sum grow in the south of Europe ; and the 
hyppomarathrum is a native of Austria. 
SESSION, in law, denotes a sitting of jus- 
tices in court upon their commission : as the 
session of oyer and terminer, &c. 
Sessions, quarter. The session of the 
peace is a court of record holden before two 
or more justices, whereof one is of the quorum, 
for the execution of the authority given them 
by the commission of the peace, and certain 
statutes and acts of parliament. 
The justices shall keep their sessions in 
every quarter of the year at least, and for 
three days if need be; to wit, in the first 
week after the feast of St. Michael, in the 
first week after the Epiphany, In the first 
week after Easter, and in the first week after 
St. Thomas, and oftener if need be. 
Any two justices, one whereof is of the 
quorum, by the words of the commission of 
the peace, may issue their precept to the 
sheriff to summon a session for the general 
execution 'of their authority ; and such ses- 
sion, holden at any time within that quarter 
of a year, is a general quarter-session. 4 Burn, 
181. And such precept should bear teste, or 
be dated, fifteen days before the return. Nels. 
Iritr. 35. 
The sheriff also shall cause a jury to appear 
at such days arid places as the said justices, or 
such two or more of them as aforesaid, shall 
appoint. 
'There are many offences, which, by par- 
ticular statutes, belong properly to this juris- 
diction, and ought to be prosecuted in this 
court: as the smaller misdemeanors against 
the public or commonwealth, not amounting 
to felony ; and especially offences relating to 
the game, highways, alehouses, bastard chil- 
dren, the settlement and provision of the 
poor, vagrants, servants’ wages, apprentices, 
and popish recusants. Some of these are 
proceeded upon by indictment; and others in 
a summary way, by motion and order there- 
upon ; which order may, for the most part, 
unless guarded against by any particular 
statute, be removed into the court of king’s 
bench by certiorari, and be there either 
quashed or confirmed. 
Sessions./o/’ weight £ and measures. In 
London, four justices from among the mayor, 
recorder, and aldermen, (of which the mayor 
or recorder to be one) may hold a session to 
enquire into offences of selling by false 
weights and measures, contrary to the sta- 
tutes ; and to receive indictments, punish 1 he 
offenders, kc, 
SESTERCE, a silver coin in use among 
the Romans. See Com. 
Some authors make two kinds of sesterces: 
the less, called sestertius, in the masculine 
gender; and the great one, called sestertium, 
in the neuter, the latter containing a thousand 
of the former. 
Sesterce, or sestertius, was also used by the 
antients for a thing containing two wholes and 
a half of another, as as was taken for any 
whole or integer. 
SESUVIUM, a genus of plants belonging 
to the class of i cosand via, and to the order of 
trigynia. The calyx is coloured, and divided 
into five parts ; there are no petals; the cap- 
sule is egg-shaped, three-celled, opening ho- 
rizontally about the middle, and containing 
many seeds. There is only one species, the 
SEW 
portulacastrum, purslane-leaved sesuviimr, 
which is a native of the West Indies. - 
SET-OFF, is when the defendant acknow- 
ledges the justice of the plaintiff ’s demand oij 
the one hand, but on the other sets up a de- 
mand of his own to counterbalance that of 
the plaintiff, either in the whole, or in part: 
as if the plaintiff sues for 10/. due on a note of 
hand, the defendant may set-off 9/. due to 
himself for merchandize sold to the plaintiff. 
3 Black. 304. 
The action in which a set-off is allowable 
upon the statutes 2 and 8 G. II. c. 22 and 
24, are debt, covenant, and assumpsit, for 
the non-payment of money ; and the demand 
intended to be set-off, must be such as might 
have been made the subject of one or other 
of these actions. A set-off, therefore, is 
never allowed in actions upon the case, tres- 
pass, replevin, kc. nor of a penalty, in debt 
on bond conditioned for the performance of 
covenants, kc. nor of general damages in 
covenant or assumpsit ; but where a bond is 
conditioned for the payment of an annuity, a 
set-off may be allowed. A debt barred by the 
statute of limitations, cannot be set-off; and 
if it is pleaded in bar to the action, the 
plaintiff may reply the statute of limitations; 
or if gi en in evidence, on a notice of set-off, 
it may be objected to at the trial. Tidd’s 
Bract. K. B. 
SETON. See Surgery. 
SETTING, in the sea-language. To set 
the land or the sun by the compass, is to ob- 
serve how the land bears on any point of the 
compass, or on what point of the compass the 
sun is. Also when two ships sail in sight of 
one another, to mark on what point the 
chased bears, is termed setting the cliase by 
the compass. 
SEVENTH, septhna, in music. A dis- 
sonant interval called by the Greeks hepta- 
chordon, because it is formed of seven sounds, 
or six, diatonic degrees. There are four 
kinds of sevenths. 'The minor seventh, com- 
posed of four tones (three majors and one 
minor), and two major semitones ; the major 
seventh, composed diatonically of five tones 
(three majors and two minors), and a major 
semitone ; the diminished seventh, consisting 
of three tones (two minors and one major), 
and three major semitones ; arid the super- 
fluous seventh, containing five tones (three, 
minors and two majors), a semitone major, 
and a semitone minor. 
SEWER, a passage or gutter made to 
carry water into the sea or a river, w hereby, 
to preserve the land, tkc. from inundations 
and other annoyances. 'The business of the 
commissioners of sewers, or their office in 
particular, is to repair sea-banks and walls, 
survey rivers, public streams, ditches, kc. 
and to make orders for that pu pose. 
'These commissioners have likewise autho- 
rity to make enquiry of all nuisances or of- 
fences committed by the stopping of rivers, 
erecting mills, not repairing banks, bridges, 
& c. and to tax .persons chargeable for the 
amending of defaults that tend to the ob- 
struction or hindrance of the free passage of 
the water through its antient courses. 'They 
may not only make a rate and. assessment for 
repairs, but also, may decree lands to be sold, 
in order to levy charges assessed, upon non- 
payment thereof, &c. But the decrees of the 
commissioners are to be certified into chan- 
cery, and have the king’s assent, to be bind- 
