66 
S E S 
S E S 
tivated, claims the attention of the naturalist by its products, 
viz., Indian figs, aloes, and fruit of various kinds. Popu¬ 
lation 5000; 35 miles south-east of Rome. 
SESSEA [dedicated by the authors of the Flora Peruviana, 
to the honour of a Spanish botanist, named Martin Sesseo], 
in Botany, a genus of plants of the class pentandria, order 
monogyma, natural order of luridae, solanese (Juss.) —Gene¬ 
ric Character. Calyx: perianth inferior, of one leaf, tubu¬ 
lar, with five angles, each angle terminating in an oval 
tooth, permanent. Corolla of one petal, funnel-shaped; 
tube as long again as the calyx; throat globular; limb 
plaited, in five deep, straight, oval segments, revolute at 
their margin. Stamina: filaments five, inserted towards the 
middle of the tube, curved and downy at their base, as long 
as the tube; anthers oval, of two cells. Pistil: germen su¬ 
perior, small, oblong; style terminal, thread-shaped, the 
length of the stamens; stigma of two unequal lobes. Peri¬ 
carp r capsule cylindrical, slightly curved, as long again as 
the calyx, of one cell, and two cloven valves. Seeds nu¬ 
merous, imbricated, oblong, compressed, each encompassed 
with a membranous border.— Essential Character. Co¬ 
rolla funnel-shaped. Calyx tubular, with five angles, and 
five teeth. Stamens simple. Stigma of two unequal lobes. 
Capsule of one cell and two cloven valves. Seeds numerous, 
bordered. 
1. Sessea stipulata.—A fetid shrub, five or six feet high, 
having the aspect of a cestrum. The branches are straight, 
leafy, alternate. Leaves alternate, stalked, mostly lanceo¬ 
late, heart-shaped at the base. Stipulas at the base of the 
footstalks, equal to them in length, opposite, large, oval, 
obtuse, sessile, a little heart-shaped at the bottom, deflexed 
at the sides, deciduous. Panicles terminal, composed of 
straight, downy clusters, with corymbose stalks, of yellow, 
downy flowers, accompanied by small, awl-shaped, deci¬ 
duous bracteas. 
2. Sessea dependens.—A tree, twenty-five or thirty feet 
high, agreeing in many respects with the foregoing, but the 
leaves are very powdery at the back, and the clusters very 
long, simple and pendulous, slightly zig-zag. The flowers 
are usually placed three together, in alternate, sessile tufts. 
Calyx powdery. Corolla with a black tube, and yellowish 
limb, externally downy. Capsules black. 
Both species are esteemed emollient and anodyne. 
SESSILE, in Botany, a term applied to any part of the 
herbage or flowers of a plant, that is not elevated on any 
kind of stalk; from the Latin sessi/is, sitting close. 
SE'SSION, s. [sessio, Lat.] The act of sitting—He hath 
as man, not as God only, a supreme dominion over quick 
and dead ; for so much his ascension into heaven, and his 
session at the right hand of God do import. Hooker. —A 
stated assembly of magistrates or senators. 
Summon a session, that we may arraign 
Our most disloyal lady. Shakspeare. 
Of their session ended they bid cry 
The great result. Milton. 
The space for which an assembly sits, without intermission 
or recess.—It was contrary to the course of parliament, that 
any bill that had been rejected should be again preferred the 
same session. Clarendon. —The second Nicene council 
affords us plentiful assistance, in the first session, wherein 
the pope’s vicar declares that Meletius was ordained by Arian 
bishops, and yet his ordination was never questioned. Stil- 
lingfleet. —Many decrees are enacted, which at the next 
session are repealed. Norris. —A meeting of justices: as 
the sessions of the peace. 
Quarter-sessions, called general sessions, or open ses¬ 
sions, stand opposite to especial, otherwise called petty ses¬ 
sions, which are procured upon some special occasion, for 
the more speedy dispatch of justice. 
Statute-sessions, are those kept by a high-constable of a 
hundred, for the placing of servants, &c. 
SESSIONS for Weights and Measures. In London, 
four justices from among the mayor, recorder and aldermen 
(of whom the mayor or recorder is to be one), may hold a 
sessions to inquire into offences of selling by false weights 
and measures, contrary to the statutes; and to receive in¬ 
dictments, punish offenders, &c. Char. K. Cha. I. 
SESSION, The Court of, otherwise called the college of 
justice, is the supreme court in Scotland. See Scotland. 
SESSOLO, a small town of the continental Sardinian 
states, duchy of Moutferrat, district of Alba, near the Bor- 
rnida. 
SE'STERCE, or Sestertium, was the fourth part of 
the denarius, and originally contained two asses and a 
half. 
The sesterce was at first denoted by LLS; the two L’s 
signifying two librae, and the S half. But the librarii, after¬ 
wards converting the two L’s into an H, expressed the ses¬ 
terce by HS. 
The word sestertius was first introduced by way of abbre¬ 
viation for semistertius, which signifies two, and a half 
of a third, or, literally, only half a third ; for in expressing 
half a third, it was understood that there were two before. 
Hence sestertius came to be the great estimate of Roman 
money. 
Some authors make two kinds of sesterces: the less, called 
sestertius, in the masculine gender; and the great one, 
called sestertium, in the neuter: the first, that which we 
have already described; the latter containing a thousand of 
the other. 
This matter has been accurately stated by Mr. Raper, in 
the following manner:—The substantive to which sestertius 
referred is either as, or pond us; and sestertius as is two 
asses and a half; sestertium pondus, two pondera and a 
half, or two hundred and fifty denarii. When the denarius 
passed tor ten asses, the sesterce of two asses and a half was 
a quarter of it; and the Romans continued to keep their 
accounts in these sesterces long alter the denarius passed for 
sixteen asses; tdl, growing rich, they found it more con¬ 
venient to reckon by quarters of the denarius, which they 
called nummi, and used the words nunimus and sestertius 
indifferently, as synonymous terms, and sometimes both 
together, as sestertius nummus ; in which case, the word 
sestertius having lost its original signification, was used as a 
substantive; for sestertius nummus was not two nummi and 
a half, but a single nummus of four asses. They called any 
sum under two thousand sesterces so many sestertii in the. 
masculine gender; two thousand sesterces they called duo or 
bina sestertia, in the neuter; so many quarters making five 
hundred denarii, which was twice the sestertium ; and they 
said dena, vicena, &c., sestertia, till the sum amounted to a 
thousand sestertia, which was a million of sesterces. But, to 
avoid ambiguity, they did not use the neuter sestertium in 
the singular number, when the whole sum amounted to no 
more than a thousand sesterces, cr one sestertium. They 
called a million of sesterces, decies nummum, or decies 
sestertium, for decies centena millia nummorum, or sester- 
tiorurn (in the masculine gender), omitting centena millia, 
for the sake of brevity. They likewise called the same sum 
decies sestertium (in the neuter gender) for decies centies 
sestertium, omitting centies for the same reason ; or simply' 
decies, omitting centena millia sestertium, or centies 
sestertium ; and with the numeral adverbs, decies, vicics , 
centies, millies, and the like, either centena millia, or 
centies, was always understood. These were their most 
usual forms of expression ; though for bina, dena, vicena 
sestertia, they frequently said bina, dena, vicena millia 
nummum. If the consular denarius contained sixty troy 
grains of fine silver, it was worth somewhat more than eight- 
pence farthing and a half sterling ; and the as, of sixteen to 
the denarius, a little more than a half-penny. To reduce the 
ancient sesterces of two asses and a half, when the denarius 
passed for sixteen, to pounds sterling, multiply the given 
number by 5454, and cut off six figures on the right hand 
for decimals. To reduce nummi sestertii, or quarters of the 
denarius, to pounds sterling; if the given sum be consular 
money, multiply it by 8727, and cut off six figures on the 
