896 S E C 
opinion, sentiment: and thence seb'uri > or seb'urai, Ppi- 
nionative. 
The reason of this appellation, say the rabbins, is, that the 
Talmud being finished, published and received in all the 
schools and synagogues, these doctors had nothing to do but 
to dispute for, and against, the Talmud, and its decisions. 
SEBURGHAM CASTLE, a parish of England, in Cum¬ 
berland ; 6 miles south-east of Wigton. Population 474. 
SEBURGHAM CHURCH, a village of England, in 
Cumberland; 9 miles east-south-east of Wigton. 
SEGA, a small island on the coast of Brazil, in the pro¬ 
vince of Porto Seguro. 
SEGA, a point of land on the coast of Venezuela* and New 
Kingdom of Granada. 
SECACUL, a name given by Avicenna, Serapion, and 
others, to a root which was like ginger, at this time called 
ginseng. 
SECALE [of Pliny. A secando. Frumenta secantur; 
legumina leguntur. Vossius. —Others derive it from the 
Celtic segal'\, in Botany, a genus of the class triandria, order 
digynia, natural order of gramina, or grasses; gramineae 
(Juss.J —Generic Character. Calyx: the common receptacle 
lengthened out into a spike; glume two-flowered, two¬ 
leaved; leaflets opposite, distant, erect, linear, acuminate, 
less than the corolla; florets sessile. Corolla two-valved ; 
outer valve more rigid, ventricose, acuminate, compressed; 
keel ciliate, ending in a long awn; inner valve flat, lanceo¬ 
late. Nectary two-leaved; leaflets lanceolate, sharpish, 
ciliate, gibbous on one side at the base. Stamina: filaments 
three, capillary, hanging out of the flower; anthers oblong, 
forked. Pistil: germ turbinate; styles two, reflexed, villose; 
stigma simple. Pericarp none; corolla embraces the seed, 
gapes and drops it. Seed one, oblong, semi-cylindrical, 
naked, pointed at the end. There is frequently a third flower 
which is peduncled between the two larger sessile ones.— 
Essential Character. Calyx opposite, two-valved, two- 
flowered, solitary. 
1. Secale cereale, or rye.—Ciliae of the glumes rugged. 
Root annual. Stem higher and weaker than wheat, some¬ 
times attaining the height of six feet. Leaves a quarter or a 
third of an inch in breadth, rough to the touch, if the finger 
be drawn from point to base, but not hairy; they are wider, 
and form a more considerable tuft than wheat commonly 
does. Spike very close, of a gray colour from its pubes¬ 
cence, in a good soil and situation having four rows, con¬ 
taining from sixty to eighty grains, which are smaller and 
more slender than in wheat. 
Some say that rye is a native of Crete, and others of Sibe¬ 
ria ; but there is no reason to think that there is any country 
in which it is found wild. It flowers in June, and the grain 
is ripe in England about the middle of July. 
Rye is esteemed less nourishing than the other common 
grains, more susceptible of fermentation, and in a small 
degree laxative. It is used principally for making bread in 
northern countries, either alone or mixed with wheat; and 
for extracting an ardent spirit. 
2. Secale villosum, or villose rye-grass.—Ciliae of the 
glumes villose; calycine scales wedge-shaped. This is 
an annual grass.-—Native of the South of Europe and the 
Levant. 
3. Secale orientale, or oriental rye-grass.-—Glumes hirsute; 
calycine scales awl-shaped.-—Native of the Archipelago. 
4. Secale Creticum, or Cretan rye-grass.—Glumes ciliate 
on the outside,-—Native of Candia or Crete. 
Propagation and Culture .—Rye is ground in many 
counties, either alone or mixed with wheat to make bread ; 
though it is evidently inferior to wheat in nutritious qualities. 
The proper time to sow it is autumn. It is a very useful 
spring feed for ewes and lambs, and is mown as green fod¬ 
der for horses, &c. The straw of rye is used for stuffing collars, 
pack-saddles, &c., being more durable than any other. 
SECAMONE [apparently corrupted by the modem in¬ 
habitants of Egypt from the Greek ffKupp.avia], in Botany, 
a genus of plants formed by Mr. Browne, of some species of 
speriplora: see Periplora Secamone. 
8 E C 
RE'CANT, [secante, Fr.] in Geometry, the righ 
line drawn from the centre of a circle, cutting and meeting 
with another line called the tangent without it.—A secant 
cannot be a tangent. Bp. Berkeley. 
SECAS, some small islands or rocks of the Pacific Ocean, 
near the coast of the province and government of Varagua; 
about, 38 miles north-west of Quibo islands. 
SECATABRAS, a village of Diarbekir, in Asiatic Tur¬ 
key; 75 miles south-west of Mosul. 
SECCHIA, a small river of Italy, which falls into the Po; 
about 10 miles south-east of Mantua. 
SECCHIO, a small river of Italy, which, after traversing 
the territory of Lucca, falls into the Tuscan sea below Pisa. 
To SECE'DE, v. n. [secedo, Latin.] To withdraw from 
fellowship in any affair. 
SECE'DER, s. One who discovers his disapprobation of 
any proceedings by withdrawing himself. 
SECEDERS, an appellation comprehending those who 
are dissenters from the established church of Scotland. This 
kind of secession took place in the year 1727, when John 
Glass, disapproving every establishment of a national 
church, maintained that all churches ought to be congrega¬ 
tional; or, in other words, that no general church should 
be formed for a nation, but that each religious society in a 
kingdom or state should be self-constituted, and controuled 
only by itself. 
To SECE'RN, v. a. [secerno, Lat.] To separate finer 
from grosser matter; to make the separation of substances 
in the body.—Birds are better meat than beasts, because their 
flesh doth assimilate more finely, and secerneth more subtilly. 
Bacon. 
SECE'SS, s. [secessus, Lat.] Retirement; retreat.—Silent 
secess, waste solitude. More. 
SECESSION, s. [secessio , Lat.] The act of departing. 
—-The accession of bodies upon, or secession thereof from 
the earth’s surface, perturb not the equilibration of either 
hemisphere. Brown. —The act of withdrawing from coun¬ 
cils or actions.—The cells and cloysters of retired votaries, 
whose very secession proclaims'their contempt of sinful 
seculars. Bp. Hall. 
SECHE, a small river of the island of St. Domingo, 
which rises in the mountains on the south coast, and enters 
the sea between the bay of Ocoa and that of Neiva. 
SECHELLES, a cluster of small islands in the Indian 
Ocean, only three of which are inhabited, called Mahe, 
Praslin and La Digue. They are high, rocky, and, gene¬ 
rally speaking, barren, cotton being almost the only pro¬ 
duct, the annual amount of which is from 350 to 400 bales, 
of about SOOlbs. each. Besides these larger islands, there 
are twelve small ones, and about as many islets or rocks. 
They abound in turtle, oysters, and particularly cocoa nuts, 
which are imported by the inhabitants of Mauritius, who 
express an oil from them. The inhabitants have six-decked 
vessels belonging to tjjem. Lat. 4. to 5. S. 
SECHIEN, a town of Persia, in the province of Kerman, 
on the northern coast of the Persian gulf; 140 miles south of 
Kerman. 
SECHIUM [a name given by Dr. Patrick Browne, we 
know not wherefore], in Botany, a genus of the class monoecia, 
order monadelphia, natural order of euphorbias (Juss ).—• 
Generic Character. Male—Calyx: perianth inferior, of one 
leaf, tubular, cloven half way down ; tube bell-shaped, 
spreading; segments of the limb lanceolate, fiat, pointed, 
widely spreading. Corolla of one petal; tube the size and 
figure of the calyx, and adhering to it-; limb cloven into 
five, ovate, flat, acute segments, nearly twice as long- as the 
calyx, and much spreading. Nectary consisting of ten 
cavities in the upper part of the tube of the corolla. Sta^ 
mina: filaments five, formed into an erect cylinder, five- 
cleft at the top, spreading; anther one on the top of each 
filament, all the five together forming a continued, undu¬ 
lating, polliniferous line. Female on the same plant. 
Calyx as in the male, but placed on the germen, deciduoiri. 
Corolla as in the male, but with larger cavities in the nec¬ 
tary. Pistil: germen superior, obovate, downy, five-fur¬ 
rowed ; 
