secretary-bird 
mainin" designations are place-names (one of them, ji//i'/i>- 
pemis, a blunder). The systematic position of this Isolated 
type has been much discussed. It has usually been put 
in the .flayfora, as a member of either of the families Fat- 
conidai or Vulturidae, or as forming a separate family 
called Serpentariidx or Gupogemitidse. Cuvier put the 
bird among waders next to the boat-billed herons (Cancro- 
ma). The late Dr. H. Schlegel of Leyden thought it was a 
goshawk, and called it Astur secretarim. The expert of the 
British Museum in the latest official lists locates it next to 
the cariama (which is transferred to the family Falcortida 
5456 
physiology, the process by which substances 
arc separated from the sap of vegetables. The 
descending sap of plants is not merely subservient to nu- 
trition, but furnishes various matters which are secreted 
or separated from its mass, and afterward elaborated by 
particular organs. These secretions are exceedingly nu- 
merous, and constitute the great bulls of the solid parts 
of plants. They have been divided into (1) general or 
nutritious secretions, the component parts of which are 
gum, sugar, starch, lignin, albumen, and gluten ; and (2) 
fpecial or non-assimilable secretions, which may be ar- 
ranged under the heads of acids, alkalis, neuter princi- 
ples, resinous principles, coloring matters, milks, oils, 
resins, etc. 
2.*A substance or product secreted, or elabo- 
on the strength of the supposed relationship). The appear 
ance of the secretary-bird is somewhat suggestive of the rated and emitted Pancreatic secretion. See 
hoactzin (see cuts under hoactzin and Opisthocomus). It is pancreatic. =&yn. Excretion, Secretion. See excretion. 
black ; the breast and under wing- and tail-coverts are A dealer in secrets. 
whitish, more or less shaded with ashy ; the two middle ,,._, , mafi .i, that win nnt r,a*t 
tail-feathers are longer than the rest, white-tipped, and lot P art "i j;VorksI 315 
with subterminal black bar. There is a bare orange-yel- Change " another. 
low space about the eyes; the iris is hazel; the shanks secretitioUS (se-kro-tish us), a. [< secrete 1 + 
are flesh-colored. The long crest of black or gray black- -ifj ou $ 1 Produced by secretion. 
tinned feathers springs from the himlhead and nape ; these . 
feathers are somewhat spatulate, and dispart when the They have a simiutude or contrariety to the ucreUttow, 
crest is erected under excitement. The serpent-eater has humours in taste and quality. Flayer, On the Humours. 
a very capacious gullet and crop, capable of holding at once gecretive (se-kre'tiv), a. Ksecrete 1 + -tre.] 1. 
several snakes two or three feet long; it also eats other rep- TanlH .. a t aa ,, r ot n , Veen aer>rpt <rivn 
ng blows with the wings u 
thrust with the beak upon the head of its prey. The bird 
has often been tamed by the Dutch colonists, and kept to 
rid their premises of vermin. 
secretaryship (sek're-ta-ri-ship), n. [< secre- 
tary + -s/p.] The office of secretary. 
secrete 1 (se-kref), v. t.; pret. and pp. secreted, 
concerning one s 
The power of the newspaper is familiar in America, and 
in accordance with our political system. In England it 
stands in antagonism with the feudal institutions, and it 
is all the more beneficent succor against the secretive ten- 
dencies of a monarchy. Emerson, English Traits, xv. 
,2. Causing or promoting secretion. 
ppr. secreting. [< F. secreter = Sp. secretar, < secretively (se-kre'tiv-li), adv. In a secretive 
L. secretus, pp. of secernere, separate: see se- manne r; with a tendency to secrecy or con- 
cern, secret.'] 1 . To make or keep secret ; hide ; cea lment. 
conceal ; remove from observation or the know- se cretiveness (se-kre'tiv-nes), n. The charac- 
ledge of others: as, to secrete stolen goods; to terof being secretive; tendency or disposition 
secrete one's self. to conceal; specifically, in phren., that quality 
He can discern what things are to be laid open, and the organ of which, when largely developed, is 
what to !( Dissimulation (ed . 1887). id *o impel the individual toward secrecy or 
concealment. It is located at the inferior edge 
thtm^eVto^hrn.^o'rherfs Sft&figSffi of the parietal bones. See cut uuter phrenology. 
council also, for the secreting of their consultations. Secretireness is quite often a blind propensity, serving 
Bacon, Advice to Villiers. no useful purpose. W. James, Psychology, xxiv. 
2. In animal and vegetable pliysiol., to produce, secretly (se'kret-li), adr. [< ME. secretly; < 
prepare, or elaborate by the process of secre- secret + -ly 2 . Cf. secrely.~\ 1. In a secret or 
tion the product thus derived from the blood hidden manner ; without the observation or 
or sap being a substance not previously exist- knowledge of others; in secret; not openly, 
ing, the character of which depends upon the 
kind of organ which acts, or on the manner in 
which the secretory operation is carried on. 
Chaucer had been in his grave one hundred and fifty 
years ere England had secreted choice material enough 
And thei dide all his commaundement so secreUy that 
noon it perceyved, ne not the lady her-self. 
Merlin (E. E. T. S.), ii. 180. 
Addison. 
for the making of another great poet. 
Lou-ell, Among my Books, 2d ser., p. 125. 
Pearl secreted by a sickly fish. 
Now secretly with inward grief she pin'd. 
2. In secrecy, concealment, or retirement. 
Let her awhile be secretly kept in, 
And publish it that she is dead indeed. 
Shalt., Much Ado, iv. L 205. 
as distinguished from the lymphatic and other ductless 
glands. Secreting organs, in bot., certain specialized 
organs, tissue systems, of plants, whose function is the se- 
cretion of various substances, such as the nectar-glands of 
flowers, the stigmatic surface of a pistil, the resin-cells and 
-ducts of the Conifer*, etc. =Syn, 1. Hide, etc. See con- 
ceal, and list under hidei. 
secrete 1 ! (se-kref), a. [< L. secretus, pp. of se- 
cernere, separate : see secern and secret. Cf. dis- 
crete."] Separate; distinct. 
the 
Cudworth, Intellectual System (ed. 1845), i. 4. 
den, or concealed character or condition. 2. 
Secretive character or disposition; secretive- 
ness. 
There were thre or foure that knewe y secretnes of his 
mynde. Berners, tr. of i'roissart's Chron., I. xxuc. 
For I could muster up, as well as you, 
My giante and toy witches too. 
Which are vast Constancy and Secretness, 
But these I neither look for nor profess. 
Donne, The Damp. 
secreto (se-kre'to), adv. [< L. secretus: see 
secrete 1 .] Same as secretly, 3. 
. 
secrete 2 *, a. and n. An obsolete form of secret, secretor (se-kre'tor), n. [< secrete 1 + -or 1 .] One 
secret-false (se'kret-fals), a. Faithless in se- who or that which secretes; specifically, a se- 
cret. [Rare.] creting organ : as, the silk-sccretor of a spider. 
Teach sin the carriage of a holy saint ; Westwood. 
Be secret-false Shak., C. of E., iii. 2. 15. secretory 1 (se-kre'to-n), a. [< F. secretaire = 
secreting (se-kre'ting), n. [Verbal n. of se- Sp. Pg.lt. secretorio, secretory; as secrete 1 
crete 1 , "] In furriery, same as sccretage. :<>'T] Of or pertaining to secretion ; perf orm- 
secretion (se-kre'shon), n. [< OF. secretion, F. mg the office of secretion: as, secretory vessels. 
secret.'] 1. Iii pliysiol.: (a) In animal physi- 
ology, the process of preparing and separat- 
ej '- - iai L * . L 
ing substances by glandular activity. The prod- 
uct or secretion usually consists of substances previously 
existing in the blood, such as water, salts, etc., combined 
with others which have been elaborated by the glandular 
epithelium from more or less different substances in the 
blood. The secretion may be eliminated from the body as 
detrimental, as urine, or it may be used, as the digestive 
secretions, to serve requirements of the organism or (as 
the milk) those of its offspring. Secretions which are 
merely eliminated as detrimental are called excrrliinix. 
The act of secreting seems, in most instances at least, to be 
a vital act of the glandular epithelium, and is often, if not 
always, under direct nervous control. (&) In vegetable 
. (sekt),. [< ME. secte (=D. sefcte =MLG. 
secte, secte = MHG. secte, G. secte, sekte = 
Sw. Dan. sekt, < F. or L.), < OF. secte, F. secte 
= Pr. Sp. secte = Pg. secte, seite = It. setta, 
a sect in philosophy or religion, < LL. secta, 
a sect in philosophy or religion, a school, 
party, faction, class, gild, band, particularly a 
heretical doctrine or sect ; in ML. in general a 
following, suite, a suit at law, a part, train, 
series, order, suit of clothes, etc.; L. secta, a 
school or set of doctrines (in philosophy), in 
earliest use a mode of life, a way, most fre- 
sect 
quently in the phrase seclnni (nlii-ujus) sequi 
or pcrsci/iii, 'follow (some one's) way' (whence 
sectaiu (iiliciijiix'j Hicitli, 'those following (some 
one's) way,' one's party, sect, or faction), where 
scctd is prop, 'a way, road,' lit. 'a way cut 
through,' being orig. pp., secta (sc. via, way), 
fern, of sectus, pp. of secure, cut, as used in the 
phrase secare viam, take one's way. trnvcl one's 
road, lit. 'cut one's way' (cf. Gr. rhivtiv Mfa>, cut 
one's way, take one's way): see w i-imi.si cl?, sec- 
tion. Cf. ML. rujita, a way, road, orig. a road 
broken through a forest: see roufi, route*, rut 1 . 
The L. secta has been explained otherwise : (a) 
According to Skeat and others, lit. ' a follower' 
(= Gr. lirirtK, a follower), with formative -te, < 
sequi (-\/sequ, sec- as in seciindiis, etc.) (= Gr. 
), follow : see sequent. But secte is never 
used in the sense of 'follower,' and the phrase 
scciam alicujm sequi cannot be translated 'fol- 
low some one's follower.' (6) L. secte, lit. 'a 
following,' formed from sequi as above ; but 
this is equally untenable. The notion of ' a fol- 
lowing,' however, has long been present in the 
use of the word, as in the ML. senses : see above, 
and cf. sectator, suit, suite, ult. < L. sequi, fol- 
low, (c) The notion that L. secta is lit. 'a party 
cut off,' namely from the true, orthodox, or es- 
tablished church, and thus implies schism and 
heresy (cf. sect 2 ), is entirely groundless. Cf. 
scpft.] 1. A system or body of doctrines or 
opinions held by a number of persons and con- 
stituting the distinctive doctrines of a school, 
as propounded originally by the founder or 
founders of the school and (usually) developed 
or modified by later adherents ; also and usual- 
ly, the body of persons holding such doctrines 
or opinions; a school of philosophy or of phi- 
losophers: as, the sect of Epicurus; the sect of 
the Epicureans. 
As of the secte of which that he was born 
He kepte his lay, to which that he was sworn. 
Chaucer, Squire's Tale, 1. 10. 
The academicks were willing to admit the goods of for- 
tune into their notion of felicity ; but no sects of old phi- 
losophers did ever leave a room for greatness. Dryden. 
When philosophers in after-times embraced our re- 
ligion, they blended it often with the peculiar notions of 
those sects in which they had been educated, and by that 
means corrupted the purity and simplicity of the Chris- 
tian doctrine. Bp. Atterbury, Sermons, I. iv. 
2. A party or body of persons who unite in 
holding certain special doctrines or opinions 
concerning religion, which distinguish them 
from others holding the same general religious 
belief; a distinct part of the general body of 
persons claiming the same religious name or 
origin ; especially, such a party of innovators, 
differing in their beliefs from those who sup- 
port the older or orthodox views; a party or 
faction in a religious body ; a separate ecclesi- 
astical organization; an ecclesiastical denom- 
ination: as, the sects of the Jewish religion 
(which were not separately organized); the 
sects of the Christian church (usually separately 
organized); Mohammedan sects; Buddhist secte. 
The Latin word secta, from which the English word sect is 
derived, did not at first become limited in Christian usage 
to a specific meaning. It was used for 'way,' 'mode of 
life,' etc., but also for the Greek a'tpcim (Latin hxresis, the 
original of the English word heresy\ signifying 'a school of 
philosophy, opinion, or doctrine,' especially peculiar or 
erroneous doctrine. A familiar application was to the 
sect of Christians, as distinguished from Jews and pagans. 
In four of the nine passages in which aiptcrts is found 
in the New Testament, the Vulgate has nieresis, in the 
other five secta. In Acts xxiv. 14 it has " the way (sectam) 
which they call heresy (hferesim). " The use of secta in these 
passages led to the meaning of 'a separate or heretical 
bodv,' which is found in writers of the fourth century, and 
by desynonymization secta emphasized the organization 
and hferesis the doctrine. Afterward it came to be sup- 
posed that the word secta meant, etymologically, 'a party 
cut off'; hence the more or less opprobrious use of sect 
by many writers. It is often used, however, unopprobri- 
ously, in a sense substantially identical with the original 
sense, to signify ' a body of persons who agree in a partic- 
ular set of doctrines.' 
This newe secte of Lollardie. Ootrer, Conf. Arnant,, ProL 
After the most straitest sect of our religion I lived a 
Pharisee. Acts xxvi. 5. 
Slave to no sect, who takes no private road, 
But looks through nature up to nature's God ; 
Pursues that chain which links the immense design, 
Joins heaven and earth, and mortal and divine. 
Pope, Essay on Man, iv. 331. 
We might say that the massacre of St. Bartholomew 
was intended to extirpate, not a religious sect, but a politi- 
cal party. Jfacaulay, Ilallam's Const. Hist. 
The eighty or ninety secte into which Christianity speed- 
ily divided hated one another with an intensity that ex- 
torted the wonder of Julian and theridiculeof the Pagans 
of Alexandria. Ledcy, Europ. Morals, II. 207. 
3. A religion. [Rare.] 
