S' E C S E C' 897 
rowed; style cylindrical, erect, the length of the calyx; 
stigma .very large, peltate, reflexed, five-cleft at the margin. 
Pericarp: apple very large, ovate, turbinate, five-furrowed, 
fleshy, unequally gibbous at the top, furnished with harmless 
prickles, one-celled above. Seed solitary, nearly ovate, 
flat or compressed, fleshy, obtuse at each end .—Essential 
Character. Male—Calyx five-cleft. Corolla five-cleft. 
Filaments five, forming a cylinder. Female calyx and 
corolla as in the male. Style five-cleft. Fruit muricated, 
siugle-seeded. 
Sechium edule, or chocho vine.—Native of the West In¬ 
dies, where it flowers and fruits in September. Root annual. 
Stem herbaceous, climbing or procumbent, greatly divari¬ 
cated, roundish, striated, smooth, thick. Leaves alternate, 
stalked, angularly heart-shaped, eight or ten-lobed, toothed 
at the margin, rough on the upper side, rugose beneath, 
often a span long. Tendrils opposite to the leaves, horizon¬ 
tal, very long. Flowers monoecious, axillary, yellow, 
scentless. 
Jacquin informs us that the chocho vine is used by the 
inhabitants of Cuba in their soups and puddings; and that 
it is served up as a vegetable with boiled meats. 
SECHOUI, a town of China, of the third rank, in Shan¬ 
tung. 
SECHURA, a town of Peru, in the bishopric of Truxillo, 
and jurisdiction of Piura, situated on the banks of the river 
Piura, about a league from the coast of the Pacific Ocean. 
This river is subject to great variations; flowing in the 
month of February till September, very rapidly, and the 
water so deep, that it can be passed only by rafts; whereas, 
it has very little water during the other months, and for some 
time is entirely dry. Sechura contains about 200 houses, 
built of cane, and a large handsome brick church. The 
inhabitants are all Indians, and consist of nearly 400 fami¬ 
lies, who are principally employed either in fishing ordriving 
mules. The desert of Sechura is a frightful waste of sand, 
extending thirty leagues. The extent and uniform aspect of 
this plain, together with the continual motion of the sand, 
which soon effaces all traces, often bewilder the most expe^ - 
rienced guides, who, however, shew their skill in soon reco¬ 
vering the right way, for which they make use of two expe¬ 
dients ; the first is to keep the wind directly in their faces 
as they go out, and the reverse on their return; for the wind 
here being always at south, they cannot be deceived: the 
second is to take up a handful of sand, at different distances, 
and smell to it; for as the excrement of the mules impreg¬ 
nate the sand more or less, they determine which is the true 
road by the scent of it; 180 miles north-north-west of Trux¬ 
illo, and 30 south-south-east of Payta. Lat. 5. 33. 33. S, 
long. 80. 42. E. 
SECIUM, among the Romans, a term used to signify 
every thing the priests cut with the knife sccespita, as the 
libum, placenta, &c, 
SECKAU, a petty town of Austria, in Upper Styria; 5 
miles north north-west of Knittelfield, and formerly a bishop’s 
see, which is now transferred to Gratz. 
SECKENDORF (Thus Louis de), a celebrated German 
writer, was born at a small village near Nuremberg, in the 
year 1626. He was at an early period introduced to the 
court of Ernest, duke of Saxony, where he remained about 
a year, and then entered himself as a student at the academy 
of Gotha. In 1645, when he returned to Erfurt, he was 
said to be completely master of eight languages, viz., the 
Latin, Greek, Hebrew, French, Italian, Spanish, Danish 
and Swedish, and had, moreover, acquired a very deep 
insight into history, geography, theology, philosophy, and 
several branches of the mathematical sciences. By these 
means, and by an assiduity rarely surpassed, he became 
not only a great statesman, but one of the brightest orna¬ 
ments of the republic of letters. In 1656 duke Ernest gave 
him the management of a part of his revenues; and in the 
same year he accepted the place of aulic judge in the tribu¬ 
nal of Jena, which was conferred on him by the duke of 
Altenburg. He accepted other and profitable places; and 
having attained to his 66th year, died. His works are very nu- 
Vol. XXII. No. 1548. 
merous, but the most important and considerable is his “ Com¬ 
mentary on Lutheranism,” which was undertaken with the 
view of confuting Maimbourg. Duke Ernest had solicited him 
to write the History of the Reformation, or at least that part 
of it which related to Saxony; which, in 1682, he agreed to 
undertake. So highly were his talents estimated, that as soon 
as his intention was known, most of the German princes 
opened to him their libraries and archives, and furnished him 
with such documents as might be useful to his project. A 
part of the work came out in 1688 ; but it was not till 1692 
that the whole of it was given to the public, under the follow¬ 
ing title, “ Commentarius Historicus et Apologeticus de Lu- 
theranismo, sive de Reformatione Religionis ductu D. M. 
Lutheri in magna Germanica, aliisque Regionibus et spe- 
ciatim in Saxonia recepta et stabilita,” &c., 2 vols. fol. 
This work was received with great applause by the learned 
of all parties. Bayle, in speaking of it, says, “ Whoever 
is desirous of being thoroughly acquainted with the history 
of that great man (Luther), needs only to read the extensive 
work of Seckendorf. Gen. Biog. 
SECKENHEIM, a large village of the west of Ger¬ 
many, in Baden; 4 miles east of Manheim. Population 
1200. 
SECKER (Thomas), a celebrated archbishop of the 
church of England, was born in 1693, at Sibthorp, in 
Nottinghamshire. He was well educated among the dissen¬ 
ters ; then went to Paris, and studied medicine. He took 
his degree of M. D. at Leyden; but, finding that he was 
likely to get considerable emoluments in the established 
church, he left both the doctors and dissenters, and, in 1724 
was presented to the valuable rectory of Houghton-le-spring, 
in Durham; in the year 1733, he was presented with the 
rectory of St. James; in January 1734, he was consecrated 
bishop of Bristol; and in 1737, was translated to the see of 
Oxford; and in 1758, he was raised to the archbishopric 
of Canterbury. He repaid the givers of these places by 
zealous defences of the church to which he had conformed: 
he even went farther than most of his contemporaries in en¬ 
deavouring to extend the authority of the church of England. 
For this purpose he advocated the measure of establishing 
bishops in the American colonies. On this subject he was 
attacked by Dr. Mayhew, of Boston, to whom he replied 
with much temper. The subsequent separation of the colonies 
from the British government, fortunately put an end to this 
project. He died August 3d, 1768, in the 75th year of his 
nge. 
Besides his “Lectures on the Church Catechism,” he was 
author of “ Eight Charges delivered to the Clergy of the 
Dioceses of Oxford and Canterbury; with Instructions to 
Candidates for Orders, and a Latin Speech, intended to 
have been made at the opening of the Convocation in 
1761;” “Fourteen Sermons, preached on several Occa¬ 
sions ;” and “ Sermons on several Subjects," in four vo- » 
lumes, published after his death by his chaplains, Drs. 
Porteus and Stinton. “ The various works of this able 
prelate have established his character as one of the most 
useful and rational preachers among the English divines. 
Their style is simple and without ornament: they have 
no pretence to oratory and fine writing; but they dis¬ 
play more knowledge of the human heart, and the real mo¬ 
tives of action, than is usually found in those kinds of com¬ 
positions.” Aiken » 
SECKINGEM, a petty town in the west of Germany, in 
Baden ; 17 miles east of Bale. Population 1000. It is si¬ 
tuated on the north bank of the Rhine. 
SECKINGTON, a parish ot England, in Warwickshire; 
4 miles north-east of Tamworth. 
SE'CLE, s. [siecle , Fr., seculum, Lat.] A century. Not 
in use. —Of a man’s age, part he lives in his father’s lifetime, 
and part after his son’s birth; and thereupon it is wont to be 
said, that three generations make one secle, or a hundred years, 
in the genealogies. Hammond. 
SECLIN, a small town of French Flanders, containing 
2500 inhabitants; 4 miles south of Lille. 
To SECLU'DE, v. a. [secludo, Lat.] To confine from; 
10 T to 
