SER 
loom, which the workman makes to act 
transversely, equally, and alternately, one 
after another, with his feet; and as the 
threads are raised, throws the shuttle. See 
Weaving. 
The serge, on being taken from the loom, 
is cairied to the fuller, who fulls or scours 
it, in the trough of his mill, with fullers- 
earth : and after the first fulling, the knots, 
ends, straws, &c. sticking out on either side 
of the surface, are taken off with a kind of 
pliers, or iron pincers, after which it is re- 
turned into the fulling-trough, where it is 
worked with warm water, in which soap 
has been dissolved ; when quite cleared, it 
is taken out, the knots are again pulled off; 
it is then put on the tenter to dry, taking 
care, as fast as it dries, to stretch it out 
both in length and breadth, till it be 
brought to its just dimensions ; then being 
taken off the tenter, it is dyed, shorn, and 
pressed. 
SERJEANT at law, is the highest de- 
gree taken in that profession, as that of a 
doctor is in the civil law. To tliese Ser- 
jeants, as men of great leai-ning and ex- 
perience; one court is set apart for them 
to plead in by themselves, which is the 
Court of Common Pleas, where the com- 
mon law of England is most strictly observ- 
ed ; yet, though they have this court to 
themselves, they are not restrained from 
pleading in any other (fourts. The judges 
cannot be elevated to that dignity till they 
have taken the degree of Serjeant at Law. 
They are called brothers by the judges, 
who hear them next to the King’s counsel ; 
but a King’s Seijeant has precedence of all 
but the Attorney and Solicitor General. 
These are made by the King’s mandate, or 
writ. 
Serjeant at arms, is one whose office is 
to attend on the person of the King, to 
airest persons of condition offending. 
SERJEANTY, in law, signifies a service 
that cannot be due from a tenant to any 
Lord, but to the King only. Although the 
old tenures are abolished, yet the merely 
honorary services of grand and petit ser- 
jeanty remain. 
SERIES, in general, denotes a continued 
succession of things in the same order, and 
having the same relation or connection with 
each other : in this sense we say, a series of 
emperors, kings, bishops, &Ci 
In natural liistory, a series is used for an 
order or subdivision of some class of natural 
bodies; comprehending all such as are dis- 
tinguished from the other bodies of that 
SER 
class, by certain characters, which they pos- 
sess in common, and which the rest of the 
bodies of that class have not. 
Series, in mathematics, is a number of 
terms, whether of numbers or quantities, 
increasing or decreasing in a given pro- 
portion ; the doctrine of which has already 
been given under the article Progression. 
Series, iji/inite, is a series consisting of 
an infinite number of terms, that is, to the 
end of which it is impossible ever to come; 
so that let the series be carried on to any 
assignable length, or number of terms, it 
can be carried yet further, without end or 
limitation. 
A number actually infinite, (that is, alt 
whose units can be actually assigned, and 
yet is without limits) is a plain contradic- 
tion to all our ideas about numbers ; for 
whatever number we can conceive, or have 
any proper idea of, is always determinate 
and finite ; so that a greater after it may be 
assigned, and a greater after this ; and so 
on, without a possibility of ever coming to 
an end of the addition or increase of num- 
bers, assignable ; which inexhaustibility, or 
endless progression in the nature of num- 
bers, is all we can distinctly understand by 
the infinity of number; and tlierefore to say 
that the number of any things is infinite, is 
not saying that we comprehend their num- 
ber, blit indeed the contrary; the only 
thing positive in this proposition being tliis, 
that the number of these things is greater 
than any number which we can actually 
conceive and assign. But then, whether in 
things that do really exist, it can be truly 
said that their number is greater than any 
assignable number; or, which is the same 
thing, that in the numeration of their units 
one after another, it is impossible ever to 
come to an end ; this is a question about 
which there are different opinions, with 
which we have no business in this place ; 
for all that we are concerned here to know, 
is this certain truth, that after one deter- 
minate number, we can conceive a greater, 
and after this a greater, and so on without 
end. And, therefore, whether the number 
of any things that do, or can really exist all 
at once, can be such that it exceeds any 
determinable number, or not, this is true, 
that of things which exist, or are produced 
successively one after another, -the number 
may be greater than any assignable one ; 
because though the number of things thus 
ptoduced, that does actually exist at any 
time, is finite, yet it may be increased with- 
out end. And tliis is the distinct and true 
