39 
SEP 
Commentarii quinque,” 1590; “ In Aristotelis Problemata 
Commentaria Latina,” tom. i. 1602, ii. 1607; “ De Navis 
Liber,” 1006. “ Animadversionum et Cautionum Medi- 
carum Libri duo, septem aliis additi,” 1629. This is a 
valuable work, the result of 40 years of practice, and equal 
to any of its contemporaries of the 17th century. “ De 
Margaritis Judicium,” 1618; “ De Peste et Pestiferis Af- 
fectibus Libri V.” 1622; “ Analyticarum et Animasticarum 
Dissertationum Libri II.” 1626 ; “ De Morbisex mucronata 
Cartilagine evenientibus, Liber unus,” 1632, &c. Eloy. 
Diet. Hist, de la Mcdecine. • 
SEPTANA, a word used by the ancient physicians for 
a septenary fever, or one that performs its regular period in 
seven days. 
SEPTA'NGULAR, adj. [septum and angulus, Latin.] 
Having seven corners or sides. 
SEPTARTE, the name of a large class of fossils, called 
by some ludus Helmontii, and by others the waxen veins. 
They are defined to be fossile bodies not inflammable, nor 
soluble in water, naturally found in loose detached masses of 
a moderately firm texture and dusky hue, divided by several 
septa, or thin partitions, and composed of a sparry matter 
greatly debased by earth, not giving fire with steel, ferment¬ 
ing with acids, and in great part dissolved by them, and 
calcining in a moderate fire. 
SEPT AS [from septem : the number seven prevailing in 
the fructification], in Botany, a genus of the class heptan- 
dria, order heptagynia, natural order of succulentae, semper- 
vivae (Juss.) —Generic Character. Calyx: perianth se¬ 
ven parted, spreading, acute, permanent. Corolla: petals 
seven, oblong, equal, twice as long as the calyx. Stamina: 
filaments seven, awl-shaped, length of the calyx. Anthers 
subovate, erect. Pistil : germs seven, oblong, ending in 
awl-shaped styles, the length of the stamens. Stigmas 
bluntish. Pericarp: capsules seven, oblong, acute, paral¬ 
lel, one-valved. Seeds very many.— Essential Character. 
Calyx seven-parted. Petals seven. Germs seven. Capsules 
seven, many-seeded. 
Sepfas Capensis, or round-leaved septas.—Leaves radical, 
four, blunt, crenate; opposite, subpetioled, roundish. Scape 
filiform, naked, terminated by a simple umbel, composed 
of seven or eight filiform, one-flowered, naked peduncles, 
with a very small involucret. In the natural orders it ap¬ 
proaches to saxifraga and sedum.—Native of the Cape of 
Good Hope. 
SEPTE'MBER, s. [Latin; Septembre, Fr.] The ninth 
month of the year; the seventh from March.— September 
hath his name as being the seventh month from March: he 
is drawn with a merry and cheerful countenance, in a purple 
robe. Peacham. 
The Roman senate would have given this month the 
name of Tiberius, but that emperor opposed it; the emperor 
Domitian gave it his own name Germanicus; the senate 
under Antoninus Pius gave it that of Antoninus; Commodus 
gave it his surname Herculeus, and the emperor Tacitus his 
own name Tacitus. But these appellations are all gone into 
disuse. 
SE'PTENARY, adj. [septenarius , Lat.] Consisting of 
seven.—Every controversy has seven questions belonging to 
it; tho’ the order of nature seems too much neglected by a 
confinement to this septenary number. Watts. 
SEPTE'NARY, s. The number seven.—The days of 
men are cast up by septenaries, and every seventh year 
conceived to carry some altering character in temper of mind 
or body. Brown. 
SEPTE'NNIAL, adj. [ septennis, Lat.] Lasting seven 
years.—The dreadful disorders of frequent elections have 
also necessitated a septennial instead of a triennial duration 
of parliaments. Burke. —Happening once in seven years. 
—Being once dispensed with for his septennial visit, by a 
holy instrument from Petropolis, he resolved to govern them 
by subaltern ministers. Howell. 
SEPTE'NTRION, s. [French; septentrio, Lat.] The 
north. 
SEP 
Thou art as opposite to every good, 
As the antipodes are unto us. 
Or as the south to the septentrion. Shakspeare. 
SEPTE'NTRION, or Septe'ntrional, adj. [septen- 
trionalis, Latin; septentrional, Fr.] Northern. 
Back’d with a ridge of hills. 
That screen’d the fruits of th’ earth and seats of men 
From cold septentrion blasts. Milton. 
If the Spring 
Preceding should be destitute of rain. 
Or blast septentrional with brushing wings 
Sweep up the smoaky mists and vapours damp, 
Then woe to mortals. Philips. 
SEPTENTRIONA'LITY, Northerliness. 
SEPTE'NTRIONALLY, adv. Towards the north; 
northerly. 
To SEPTE'NTRIONATE, v. n. [from septentrio, Lat.] 
To tend northerly.—Steel and good iron, never excited by 
the loadstone, septentrionatc at one extreme, and australize 
at another. Brown. 
SEPTEONS, a small town in the south-west of France, 
department of the Tarn and Garonne, with 1000 inhabitants. 
SEPTERION, \jZenlYi$Hov, Gr.] in Antiquity, a Delphic 
festival, celebrated every ninth year, in memory of Apollo’s 
victory over Python. The chief part of the solemnity was 
a representation of Python pursued by Apollo. 
SE'PTICAL, or Se'ptic, adj. [<rrp:liKo^, Gr., septique, 
Fr.] Having power to promote or produce putrefaction.— 
As a sepfical medicine, Galen commended the ashes of a sa¬ 
lamander. Brown. 
SEPTICS, among Physicians, an appellation given to all 
such medicines as promote putrefaction. 
From the many curious experiments made by Dr. Pringle 
to ascertain the septic and antiseptic virtues of natural 
bodies, it appears that there are very few substances of a 
truly septic nature even on the dead body; and as there is 
never any putrefaction in the living body it is clear that all 
such medicines are deceits. 
SEPTIER, or Setier, a French measure, differing ac¬ 
cording to the species of the things measured. 
For dry measure, the septier is very different in different 
places and different commodities; as not being any vessel 
of measure, but only an estimation of several other measures. 
The septier is also a liquid measure at Paris and in other 
parts of France, and at Geneva. A muid of wine at Paris 
and in some other parts of France, contains 36 septiers, or 
71jj English gallons. 
At Geneva, the septier is = about 12 English gallons. 
SEPTILA'TERAL, adj. [septem and lateris, Lat.] 
Having seven sides.—By an equal interval they make seven 
triangles, the bases whereof are the seven sides of a septilate¬ 
ral figure, described within a circle. Brown. 
SEPTIMONTIUM, among the Romans, a festival cele¬ 
brated in December, on all the seven hills of Rome; 
whence also it had this name, being otherwise called Ago- 
nalia. 
SEPTIZON, or Septizonium, in the Ancient Architec¬ 
ture, a term almost appropriated to a famous mausoleum of 
the family of the Anton ines, which, Aur. Victor tells us, 
was built in the tenth region of the city of Rome, being 
a large insulated building, with seven stages or stories of 
columns. 
SEPTUA'GENARY, adj. [septuagenarius, Lat., septua- 
ge naire, Fr.] Consisting of seventy.—The three hundred 
years of John of times, or Nestor, cannot afford a reasonable 
encouragement beyond Moses's septuaginary determination. 
Brown. 
SEPTUAGE'SIMA, s. [Lat.] The third Sunday before 
Lent. 
SEPTU AGE'SIMAL, adj. [septuagesimus, Lat.] Con¬ 
sisting of seventy.—In our abridged and septuagesimal age, 
it is very rare to behold the fourth generation. Brown. 
SE'PTUAGINT, 
