S E L 
racter. Calyx: perianth superior, permanent, deeply five- 
cleft. Corolla of one petal, irregular} tube cloven longitu¬ 
dinally to the base; limb ascending, cloven into five, lan¬ 
ceolate segments. Stamina: filaments five, placed in an 
erect manner on the germen, surrounding the style; anthers 
ovate, erect. Pistil: germen inferior, ovate, turban-shaped; 
style simple, incurved, longer than, the filaments; stigma 
globular truncated. Pericarp : berry ovate-turbinate, crowned 
by the calyx, of one cell and many seeds. Seeds ovate, 
compressed roughish.— Essential Character. Calyx supe¬ 
rior, five-cleft. Tube cloven longitudinally to its base. 
Berry of one cell and many seeds. 
.Selliera radicans.—Native of the moist maritime parts of 
Chili: flowering between February and May. Stem pros¬ 
trate, hairy, a foot high, sending out fibrous roots. Branches 
scarcely more than an inch long. Leaves alternate, spatulate, 
entire, clustered at the axils. Flowers blue and white, either 
terminating the branches, or axillary, on solitary stalks, 
which have two awl-shaped bracteas in the middle. Cava- 
nilles described this elegant little plant from a dried specimen 
only. He says that it differs from Sccevola in its fruit,which 
he suspects to be succulent, as in Passijlora; for after im¬ 
mersing the berry in warm water, he fouud it abound¬ 
ed with little moist cavities containing a glutinous 
fluid. 
SELLIGA, a name by which some authors have called 
the narda Celta, or Celtic spikenard. 
SELLING, a parish of England, in Kent; 4 miles south- 
south-east of Feversham. Population 458. 
SELLINGE, a parish of England, in Kent, with fairs in 
May and October; 5 miles north-west of Hythe. 
SELLYE, or Schelle, a small town of the north-west 
of Hungary, on the Woag, with 1600 inhabitants; 48 
miles north-north-west of Comorin. Lat. 48. 9. 47. N. 
long. 17. 52. l.E. 
SELMA CREEK, a river of Kentucky, which runs into 
the Ohio, Lat. 38.54. N. long. 84. 34. W. 
SELMAST, a considerable town of Adetbijan, in Persia, 
containing 2000 inhabitants, principally Nestorian Chris¬ 
tians. It is famed for its lofty poplars and delightful gar¬ 
dens; 75 miles'west-south-west of Tabreez. 
SELMESTON, a parish of England, in Sussex; 5§ miles 
west-by-south of Haylesham. 
SELOKOI, a village of Asiatic Russia, in the govern¬ 
ment of Tobolsk. Lat. 64. 8. N. long. 76. 14. E. 
SELONDA, a small island in the Eastern seas, near 
the north coast of Cumbava. Lat. 8. 5. S. long. 117. 
34. E- 
SELONGEY, a small town in the interior of France, de¬ 
partment of the Cote d’Qr, on the river Venelle. Population 
1600; 18 miles north-west of Gray, 
SELORICO. See Celorico. 
SELRA1N, a large straggling village of Austria, in Tyrol; 
7 miles west-south-west of Innspruck. 
SELSEA, or Selsey, a village and parish of England, 
situated on a peninsula formed by an inlet of the sea called 
Selsea harbour. It was formerly a considerable town, with 
a bishop’s see; but the town was swallowed up by the en¬ 
croachment of the sea, and the bishopric was removed to 
Chichester, in 1075. Population 648; 7 miles south of 
Chichester. 
SELSER TOWN, or Ellicotsville, a post township 
of the United States, in Adam’s county Mississippi; about 
15 miles north-east of Natchez. 
SELSIDE, a hamlet of England, in Westmoreland; 4 
miles north-north-east of Kendal. 
SELSTEIN, a very lofty mountain of the Rhcetian Alps, 
in Tyrol, 9550 feet in height. 
-SELSTON, a parish of England, county of Nottingham; 
9 miles south-west of Mansfield. Population 1102. 
SELTERS, or Lower Selters, a village in the west 
of Germany, in the duchy of Nassau; 24 miles north of 
Mentz, and 26 east of Coblentz. In the neighbourhood is 
one of the most celebrated mineral springs in Europe, com¬ 
monly known by the name of Seltzer. The water is ex- 
:s e l m 
ported in stone bottles, each containing about three English 
pints, and may be conveyed to any distance, without any 
diminution of its medicinal qualities, some of the Dutch 
inhabitants of Batavia, in the East Indies, having used it as 
their ordinary beverage. The ingredients are magnesia, 
soda, and lime, with a large proportion of common salt; 
and the water is prescribed in complaints of the stomach, and 
bowels. See Seltzer-Water. 
SELTZ, a small town in the north-east of France, de¬ 
partment of the Lower Rhine, situated at the influx of the 
Seltzbach into the Rhine. Population 1500. It was the 
scene of diplomatic conferences between the French and 
allies, in 1798; 27 miles north of Strasburg. 
SELTZER. See Selters. 
SELTZER-WATER, the name of a mineral water of 
Germany, which arises near Neider Seltzer, or Lower 
Seltzer, about ten miles from Francfort-on-the-Mayne, 
and which is imported into England and many other coun¬ 
tries. 
This water issues forth at the spring with great rapidity, is 
remarkably clear and bright, and on pouring it from one 
bottle into another, discharges abundance of air-bubbles. 
That which is imported at London is brought over in 
stone-bottles, closely corked and cemented, containing about 
three English pints each, by which means this water, as 
long as the common air is excluded, will retain many of its 
excellent qualities for several months; but this caution is so 
necessary, that if too large an empty space is left even in 
the neck of a bottle, it soon loses in a great degree the 
brisk, smart, pungent taste, which principally characterizes 
its excellence, and is more liable to be injured by keeping 
than any other mineral water. 
The Seltzer mineral water contains, besides the mere ele¬ 
mentary water, a very small quantity of calcareous earth, 
and a much greater portion of a native mineral alkali, toge¬ 
ther with some acid retained a while within the water, but 
which either evaporates into the open air, or else is soon 
combined with the mineral alkali: the active virtues of 
this water depend more on this elastic matter, or fixed air, 
which it contains in such uncommon abundance beyond 
other mineral waters, than in any combination of its saline 
and earthy contents, which are found in such small quan¬ 
tities, as to be incapable of any material service. 
SELVA, San Francisco de la, a town of Chili, 
capital of the Province of Copiapo. It is an ancient town; 
and in 1742 it was greatly improved, and was regularly 
built in strait lines. Lat. 27. 19. 30. S. 
SELVA BAXA, a small town of Spain, in Catalonia, 
near the borders of France, on a bay of the same name, 
with a small harbour, and 3600 inhabitants. On a height 
in the neighbourhood stands the small town of Selva Alta. 
Vines are cultivated in the environs; 31 miles north-east 
of Gerona, and 43 north-east of Rossa. Lat. 42. 20. N. 
long. 3. 2. E. 
SELVA-PLANA, a village of the Swiss canton of the 
Grisons, in the Upper Engadine. It stands on a projecting 
point of land, which divides into two the lake of Selva- 
plana. At a little distance is another lake called St. Moritz. 
The banks of these lakes, the scenery of the valley, and the 
enormous glaciers on the mountains, all concur to render 
this a most romantic spot; 26 miles south-south-east of 
Coire. 
SE'LVAGE, or Se'lvedge, [formerly written selvidge; 
salvus, Lat. safe.'] The edge of cloth where it is closed by 
complicating the threads.-—Meditation is like the selvedge, 
which keeps the cloth from ravelling. Eckard. 
SELVAGE, in Sea Language, a sort of hank or skein of 
rope-yarn tied together at several distances. It is used to 
fasten round any rope, as a shroud or stay, so that a tackle 
.may be hooked in it, to extend the said shroud or stay, 
which is called setting it up. 
SE'LVEDGED, adj. Hemmed ; bordered ; welted. 
SELVES. The plural of self. —Consciousness being in¬ 
terrupted, and we losing sight of our past selves, doubts are 
raised whether we are the same. Locke. 
SELWOOD, 
