SET 
ripen in autumn. S. indicum, with trlfid 
lower leaves, grows naturally in India; this 
is also an annual plant ; the stalk rises taller 
than that of the former ; the lower leaves 
arc cut into three parts, which is the only 
ditference between them. The first sort is 
frequently cultivated in all the eastern 
countries, and also in Africa, as a pidse ; 
and of late years the seeds have been intro- 
duced 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, without having any r ancid 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 w’orn 
off, they use it as a salad-oil, and for all the 
purposes of sweet oil. The seeds of this 
plant are also used by the negroes for food ; 
which seeds they parch over the fire, and 
then mix them with water, and stew other 
ingredients with them, which makes a hearty 
food. 
SESELI, in botany, meadow saxifrage, a 
genus of tlie Pentandria Digynia class and 
order. Natural order of Umbellat® or 
Umbelliferse. Essential character : umbels 
globular; involucre of one or two leaflets; 
fruit ovate, striated. There are fifteen 
species. 
SESSIONS of tJie peace. See Quarter 
Sessions. 
SESUVIUM, in botany, a genus of the 
Icosandria Trigynia class and order. Na- 
tural order of SuccnlentEe. Ficoidae, Jus- 
sieu. Essential character : calyx five-parted, 
coloured ; petals none ; capsule ovate, 
three-celled, cut round, many-seeded. There 
is only one species, r,iz. S. portulacastriim, 
a native of the West Indies. 
SET off, in law, is when the defendant 
acknow'ledges the justice of the plaintiff's 
demand on the one hand, but on the other 
sets up a demand of his own, to counter- 
balance that of the plaintiff, either in the 
whole or in part ; as if the plaintiff sue for 
10k due on a note of hand, the defendant 
may set off 9k due to himself for merchan- 
dize sold to the plaintiff, or for any other 
demand, the amount of which is ascertained 
in damages. 
The action in which a set off is allowable 
upon the statutes 2 and 3 George II. c. 22 
and 24, are debt, covenant, and assumpsit, 
for the non-payment of money ; and the de- 
mand 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, there- 
SEW 
fore, is never allowed in actions upon the 
case, trespass, replevin, &c. ; nor of a pe- 
nalty in debt on bond conditioned for the 
performance of covenants, &c. ; nor of ge- 
neral damages in covenant or assumpsit; 
but where a bond is conditioned for the pay- 
ment of an annuity, a set off may be allow- 
ed. A debt barred by the statute of limi- 
tations cannot be set off ; and if it be 
pleaded in bar to the action, the plaintiff 
may reply the statute of limitations ; or if 
given in evidence, on a notice of set off, 
which is one mode of setting up this sort of 
counter-demand, it may be objected to at 
the trial. 
SET, or Sets, a terra used by the 
farmers and gardeners to express the young 
plants of the white thorn and other shrubs, 
with which they use to raise their quick or 
quickset hedges. 
SETON, in surgery, a few horse hairs, 
small threads, or large packthread drawn 
through the skin, chiefly the neck, by means 
of a large needle or probe, with a view to 
restore or preserve health. 
SETTE, a vessel very common in the 
Mediterranean, witli one deck, and a very 
long and sharp prow : they carry some two 
masts, some three, without top-masts. Their 
yards and sails are all like the mizen ; the 
least of them are of sixty fons buiden. 
They serve to transport cannon and provi- 
sion for ships of war, and the like. 
SETTING, in astronomy, the withdraw- 
ing of a star or planet, or its sinking below 
the horizon. Astronomers and poets make 
three different kinds of setting of the stars, 
viz. the cosmical, acronychal, and helical. 
Setting, in the sea language. To set 
the land or the sun, by the compass, is to 
observe how the land bears on any point of 
the compass, or on what point of the com- 
pass 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 chase by the compass. 
SEWER, in tlie household, an officer 
who comes in before fhe meat of a king or 
nobleman, to place and range it on the 
table. * 
Sewer is also a passage or gutter made 
to carry water into the sea or a river, 
whereby to preserve the land, &c. from in- 
undations and other annoyances. The bu- 
siness of the commissioners of sewers, or 
their office in particular, is to repair sea- 
banks and walls, survey riyers, public 
streams, ditches, &c. and to make or- 
ders for that purpose. These commission- 
