SEN 
SENAC (John), a distinguished French physician, was 
born in Gascony, about the close of the 17th century. 
Little is recorded respecting the progress of his education and 
life; but he is stated to have been a doctor of the faculty of 
physic of Rheims, and a bachelor of that of Paris; which 
last degree he obtained in the year 1724 or 1725. He was a 
man of profound erudition, united with great modesty, and 
became possessed, by his industry in the practice of his pro¬ 
fession, pf much sound medical knowledge. His merits ob¬ 
tained for him the favour of the court, and he was appointed 
consulting physician to Louis XV., and subsequently suc¬ 
ceeded Checoyneau in the office of first physician to that 
monarch. He was also a member of the Royal Academy of 
Sciences at Paris, and of the Royal Society of Nancy. He 
died in December, 1770, at the age of about 77 years. This 
able physician left these works: “ Traite de la Structure du 
Coeur, de son Action, et de ses Maladies,” Paris, 1749, in 
two volumes, 4to., which is still a standard work upon this 
interesting subject. An essay “ De recondita febrium inter- 
miltentium et remittentium natura,” Amst. 1759, “ Ana- 
tomie d'Heister, avec des Essais de Physique sur l’Usage 
des Parties du Corps Humain,” Paris 1724 ; and afterwards 
“ Discours sur la Methode de Franco, et sus celle deM. Rau 
touchant l’Operation de la Taille," 1727, “ Traite des 
Causes, des Accidens, etdelaCure de laPeste,” 1744. Awork 
under the assumed name of Julien Morison, entitled “ Lettres 
sur la Choix des Saignees,” 1730. A paper in the Memoirs of 
the Academy of Sciences for 1725, under the title of “ Re¬ 
flexions sur les Noyes,” in which he combatted some errone * 
ous opinions respecting the cause of death by drowning, and 
the treatment founded upon them. 
SENACIA, so named by him in honour of Scnac, in 
Botany, a genus of Commerson’s, not however established. 
It differs from Celastrus only in having a longer style and ob¬ 
long stamens. 
SENAMARIBO, a river of Guiana, which runs into the 
Atlantic. Lat. 5. 30. N. long. 54. 6. W. 
SENAN, a township of England, in the county of 
Cornwall, the most westerly of the kingdom; 5 miles 
from St. Barien, and 9k west-south-west of Penzance. Po¬ 
pulation 495. 
SENAN, a village of Algiers ; 20 miles south of Oran. 
SENAN-FOU, a city of China, of the first rank, in the 
province of Koeitchoo. It is situated on a fine river, in an 
extensive plain, surrounded on all sides by mountains, to 
which the inhabitants sometimes betake themselves in times 
of danger. These mountains are occupied by a barbarous 
race, who hold little communication with the Chinese. Lat. 
27. 56. N. long. 107. E. 
SENANLU, a village of Caramania, in Asiatic Turkey; 
30 miles north-west of Selefkeh. 
SENAPSE, a village of Upper Egypt, on the left bank of 
the Nile ; 17 miles west of Dendera. 
SENAQUIA, a river of the province of Darien, which 
enters the sea, opposite the Mulatto isles. 
SENARICA, a village in the north of the kingdom of 
Naples, in Abruzzo Ultra, situated in a rugged valley of 
the Appennines. It has the title of a republic, and 
chooses its own magistrates; 10 miles south-west of 
Teramo. 
SENARIO, Monte, a mountain of Italy, about 6 miles 
from Florence, on the side of which is situated the 
celebrated palace of the Medicis family, called Pratolino. 
SE'NARY, adj. [senarius, Lat.] Belonging to the num¬ 
ber six; containing six. 
SENAS, a village in the south-east of France, department 
of the Mouths of the Rhone, with 1200 inhabitants; 21 
miles south-by-east of Tarascon. 
SE'NATE, s. [senatus , Latin; senat, French; penat, 
Saxon.] An assembly of legislators. 
We debase 
The nature of our seats, which will in time break ope 
The locks o’ th’ senate, and bring in the crows 
To peck the eagles. Shakspeare. 
Vol. XXIII. No. 1551. 
SEN 25 
The senate of ancient Rome was, of all senates, the most 
celebrated, during the splendour of the republic. Cicero in 
his oration for Milo, defines it, templum sanctitatis, am- 
plitiidmis, mentis, consiliique publici Romani, caput 
orbis, ara sociorum, portusque omnium gentium. The 
Roman senate exercised no contentious jurisdiction: it ap¬ 
pointed j udges either out of the senate, or among the knights; 
but it never stooped to judge any processes in a body. The 
senate concerted matters of war, appointed who should com¬ 
mand the armies, sent governors into the provinces, took 
order, and disposed of the revenues of the commonwealth. 
Yet did not the whole sovereign power reside in the senate; 
it could not alone elect magistrates, make laws, nor decide of 
war and peace: but in all these cases, the senators were to 
consult the people. Under the emperors, when the senate 
became despoiled of most of its other offices, they began to 
hear causes. For those of less consequence they appointed 
particular judges ; the rest, principally criminal causes, they 
reserved for their own cognizance, to be judged by them in 
a body, and that frequently in the emperor’s presence. Nero 
farther committed to the senate the judgment of all appeals; 
but this did not hold long. 
It has been the opinion of some, that under the kings of 
Rome the choice and nomination of all the senators depend¬ 
ed wholly on the will of the prince, without any right in the 
people, either direct or indirect; and that the consuls, who 
succeeded to the kingly power, enjoyed the same prerogative, 
till the creation of the censors, who ever after possessed the 
sole and absolute right of making and unmaking senators. But 
Dr. Middleton is of opinion, that the kings, the consuls, and 
the censors, acted in this affair but ministerially and subordU 
nately to the supreme will of the people, in whom the proper 
and absolute power of creating senators always resided. 
And the doctor assures us, upon the strictest search into the 
state of the present question, as it stood under the kingly 
government, he cannot but conclude, from the express 
testimony of the best historians, the concurrence of similar 
facts, and the probability of the thing itself, that the right 
of choosing senators was originally and constitutionally 
vested in the people. Middleton of Rom. Sen. p. 36. 
But lord llervey, who studied the Roman history with 
care and attention, is of a different opinion. The senate, 
at its first establishment being, in his opinion, nothing more 
than the king’s council. In this light not only Festus, Eutro- 
pius and Livy, represent the senate, but even Dictoysius him¬ 
self. It is therefore highly probable, his lordship says, that 
each member of this council was merely, as Livy and 
Plutarch relate, the choice of the king, and not, as Dionysius 
reports, elected by the people. 
On two special occasions the senate was always held with¬ 
out the gates of Rome, either in the temple of Beliona, or 
of Apollo. 1st. For the reception of foreign ambassadors, 
and especially of those who came from enemies, who were 
not permitted to enter the city. 2dly. To give audience, 
and transact business with their own generals, who were 
never allowed to come within the walls as long as their com¬ 
mission subsisted, and they had the actual command of an 
army. 
SENATE of four hundred, an ancient senate of Athens, 
when the city was divided into four tribes, each of which 
chose a hundred men. This lasted tdl the time of Solon. 
SE'NATE-HOUSE, s. Place of public council. 
The nobles in great earnestness are going 
All to the senate-house ; some news is come. Shakspeare. 
SE'NATOR, s. [senator, Lat., senateur, Fr. A public 
legislator. 
As if to ev’ry fop it might belong, 
Like senators, to censure, right or wrong. Granville. 
There were two orders, or degrees, among the Roman 
nobility; that of the senators, and that of the knights; 
after these two, came the people. The first hundered sena¬ 
tors were appointed by Romulus, and called patres,fathers. 
Upon the union with the Sabines, Romulus, or as others say, 
Tullus, added a second hundred, called patres majorum 
H gentium: 
