SEMINARY, in Catholic countries, is particularly used for a kind of college or school, where youth are instructed in the ceremonies, &c., of the sacred ministry. Of these there are great numbers; it being ordained by the council of Trent that there be a seminary belonging to each cathedral under the direction of the bishop.

SEMIOPA'COUS, adj. Lat. semi and Half dark.

opacus. Semiopacous bodies are such as, looked upon in an ordinary light, and not held betwixt it and the eye, are not wont to be discriminated from the rest of opacous bodies. Boyle.

SEMIPALATNOI, a fortress of Asiatic Russia, in the government of Tomsk, built in 1718, with a view of protecting the trade there carried on with the Calmucs and Bucharians. But as the current of the Irtysch, on whose banks it was situated, continually carried away the adjacent ground, it was successively removed to different spots, and is now in its fourth position; the river is here so shallow, and so obstructed, that it has been found impossible to make a passage to the fort. The rendezvous, therefore, made for the purpose of trade with the Kirghisian and Bucharian caravans, has been fixed about ten miles below. The principal fortress forms a square, composed of wooden ramparts, and surrounded by a ditch two villages stand, one above, and the other below, both palisaded like the fort, and containing about 200 houses. The most profitable trade carried on is with the Kirghises, who give their horses and cattle at a very cheap rate, for mere toys and trifles. It is also frequented by traders from Taschkent and Little Bucharia, who bring chiefly inferior cotton goods. The name of Semipalatnoi, which signifies the Seven Palaces, is derived from some ruins situated in the neighbourhood. Long. 80° 10′ E., lat. 50° 29′ 45′′ N.

SEMIPALMATI, in ornithology, a subdivision of the order of palmipedes, in Mr. Latham's system, comprehending birds that have only halfwebbed feet. See PALMIPEDES.

SEMIPELAGIANS, in ecclesiastical history, a name anciently, and even at this day, given to such as retain some tincture of Pelagianism. See PELAGIANS. Cassian, who had been a deacon of Constantinople, and was afterwards a priest of Marseilles, was the chief of these Semipelagians; whose leading principles were, 1. That God did not dispense his grace to one more than another in consequence of predestination, i. e. an eternal and absolute decree, but was willing to save all men, if they complied with the terms of his gospel. 2. That Christ died for all men. 3. That the grace purchased by Christ, and necessary to salvation, was offered to all men. That man, before he received grace, was capable of faith and holy desires. 5. That man was

4.

born free, and was consequently capable of resisting the influences of grace, or of complying with its suggestion. The Semipelagians were very numerous; and the doctrine of Cassian, though variously explained, was received in the greatest part of the monastic schools in Gaul, whence it spread itself far and wide through the European provinces. As to the Greeks and other eastern Christians, they had embraced the Semipelagian doctrines before Cassian, and still adhere to them. In the sixth century, the controversy between the Semipelagians and the disciples of Augustin prevailed much, and continued to divide the western churches.

lucidus. Half clear; imperfectly transparent. SEMIPELLUCID, adj. Lat. semi and pel

A light grey semipellucid flint, of much the same complexion with the common Indian agat. Woodward. SEMIPERSPICUOUS, adj. Lat. semi and perspicuous. Half transparent; imperfectly clear. One entire massy stone, semi perspicuous, and of a pale blue, almost of the colour of some cows' horns. Grew.

No

SEMIRAMIS, in ancient and partly fabulous history, a celebrated queen of Assyria, daughter of the goddess Derceto by a young Assyrian. She was exposed in a desert; but her life was preserved by doves for one whole year, till Simmas, one of the shepherds of Ninus, found her and brought her up as her own child. Semiramis, when grown up, married Menones, the governor of Nineveh, and accompanied him to the siege of Bactria: where, by her advice and prudent directions, she hastened the king's operations, and took the city. These eminent services, together with her uncommon beauty, endeared her to Ninus. The monarch asked her of her husband, and offered him his daughter Sosana in her stead; but Menones, who tenderly loved Semiramis, refused; and, when Ninus had added threats to entreaties, he hanged himself. sooner was Menones dead than Semiramis, who was of an aspiring soul, married Ninus, by whom she had a son called Ninyas. Ninus was so fond of Semiramis that at her request he resigned the crown, and commanded her to be proclaimed queen and sole empress of Assyria. Of this, however, he had cause to repent: Semiramis put him to death, to establish herself on the throne; and, when she had no enemies to fear at home, she began to repair the capital of her empire, and by her means Babylon became the most superb and magnificent city in the world. She visited every part of her dominions, and left every where immortal monuments of her greatness. To render the roads passable, and communication easy, she hollowed mountains and filled up valleys, and water was conveyed at a great expense by large and convenient aqueducts to barren deserts and unfruitful plains. She was not less distinguished as a warrior: many of the neighbouring nations were conquered. Semiramis has been accused of licentiousness; and some authors have observed that she regularly called the strongest and stoutest men in her army to her arms, and afterwards put them to death, that they might not be living witnesses of her incontinence. Her passion for her

son was also unnatural; and it was this criminal propensity which induced Ninyas to destroy his mother with nis own hands. Mythologists say that Semiramis was changed into a dove after death, and received immortal honors in Assyria. It is supposed that she lived about eleven centuries before the Christian era, and that she died in the sixty-second year of her age and the twenty-fifth of her reign. Many fabulous reports have been propagated about Semiramis. See MYTHOLOGY.

SEMI-SPINALIS, in anatomy, the name of two muscles of the back. See ANATOMY, Index. SEMITERTIAN, n. s. Semi and tertian. An ague compounded of a tertian and a quotidian.-Bailey.

The natural product of such a cold moist year are tertians, semitertians, and some quartans.

Arbuthnot on Air.

SEMIVOW'EL, n. s. Semi and vowel. A consonant which makes an imperfect sound, or does not demand a total occlusion of the mouth. When Homer would represent any agreeable object, he makes use of the smoothest vowels and most flowing semivowels.

Broome.

SEMLER (John Solomon), a Lutheran divine, was born in 1725, at Saalfeld in Saxony, and educated under professor Baumgarten at Halle. After quitting the university he resided some time at Saalfeld, whence in 1750 he removed to Coburg, to become editor of the Gazette. In 1751 he obtained the professorship of rhetoric and poetry at Altorf; and two years after that of theology at Halle, where he remained till his death, March 14th, 1791. Semler was one of those divines who, semi-infidel, explain away every thing miraculous in the Gospel history, and of whom Michaelis said, Heretofore I was reckoned heterodox by my brethren, but now I am only too orthodox. The principal works of Semler are Historicæ Ecclesiastica selecta Capita, 1767-69, 3 vols., 8vo.; An Introduction to Exegetic Theology, 8vo.; Apparatus ad liberalem N. Test. Interpretationem, 8vo.; Apparatus ad lib. V. T. Interpretationem, 8vo.; he also wrote the history of his own life, published at Halle, 1781, 2 vols. 8vo.

SEMLIN, a town in the frontier district near the confluence of the Save and the Danube, separated from Belgrade by the Save. It is the seat of an arch priest of the Greek church, and the residence of the Austrian commander. It is also the principal place for carrying on the transit trade between Turkey and Sclavonia. From the frequent prevalence of the plague, in the neighbourhood of Belgrade, great precautions are necessary to prevent the introduction of infection: all persons coming from Belgrade must undergo a quarantine here. A market is held daily in a meadow between the two towns, where two rows of palisades separate the dealers; sentinels are continually on the watch, to see that no hazardous communication takes place; and all the goods bought from the Turks must be exposed to the air, and fumigated. Inhabitants 8000.

SEMNONES, two ancient nations in Europe: one in Germany, inhabiting the banks of the

Elbe and the Oder; the other in Italy, on the borders of Umbria.

SEMONES, in the Roman mythology, inferior deities, who were not among the number of the twelve great gods. Among these were Janus, Faunus, Pan, Vertuinnus, Priapus, Silenus, the Satyrs, and all the illustrious heroes who had received divine honors after death. The word is derived from semi homines, i. e. half men, because they were inferior to the gods, though superior to men.

SEMOSANCTUS, a deity of the Romans, one of those called Indigetes, or gods born in their country.

SEM'PERVIVE, n. s. Lat. semper and vivus, always alive. A plant.

The greater sempervive will put out branches two or three years; but they wrap the root in an oil-cloth once in half a year. Bacon

SEMPERVIVUM, house-leek, in botany, a genus of the dodecagynia order, and dodecandria class of plants; natural order thirteenth, succulentæ: CAL. divided into twelve parts; the petals are twelve, and the capsules twelve, containing many seeds. Linnæus enumerates only eight species, but there are twelve, viz., S. arachnoideum, arboreum, Canariense, glandulosum, globiferum, glutinosum, menanthes, montanum, sedeforme, tectorum, tortuosum, and villosum. of these the

The

S. tectorum alone is a native of Britain. stalk is about a foot high; the radical leaves are thick, oval, pointed, fringed, and spreading in a rose; those on the stem are imbricated and membranous: the flowers are pale red and sessile, and grow on curved terminal bunches. It is frequent on the tops of houses, and flowers in July. The species is thus described by Lewis : 'The leaves of house-leek, of no remarkable smell, discover to the taste a mild subacid austerity: their expressed juice, of a pale yellowish hue, when filtered, yields on inspissation a deep yellow, tenacious, mucilaginous mass, considerably acidulous and acerb: whence it may be presumed that this herb has some claim to the refrigerant and restringent virtues that have been ascribed to it. The filtered juice, on the addition of an equal quantity of the rectified spirit of wine, forms a light white coagulum, like cream of fine pomatum, of a weak but penetrating taste: this, freed from the fluid part, and exposed to the air, almost totally exhales. From this experiment it is concluded by some that house-leek contains a volatile alkaline salt: but the juice coagulates in the same manner with volatile alkalies themselves, as also with fixed alkalies: acids produce no coagulation.

SEMPITERNAL, adj. Fr. sempiternel; Lat. sempiternus, from semper and æternus. Eternal in futurity; having no end.

Those, though they suppose the world not to be eternal, à parte ante, are not contented to suppose it to be sempiternal, or eternal à parte post; but will carry up the creation of the world to an immense antiquity.

Hale.

The future eternity or sempiternity of the world being admitted, though the eternity à parte ante be denied, there will be a future infinity for the emanation of the divine goodness.

id.

Should we the long-depending scale ascend Of sons and fathers, will it never end? If 'twill, then must we through the order run To some one man whose being ne'er begun; If that one man was sempiternal, why Did he, since independent, ever die?

Blackmore.

SEMPRONIA; 1. A Roman matron, mother of the Gracchi, celebrated for her learning as well as for her public and private virtues. See GRACCHUS and ROME. 2. Her daughter, who was married to Scipio Africanus, junior; but is accused of having admitted the triumvirs Carbo, Gracchus, and Flaccus to murder him. No pretence of patriotism can vindicate such crimes. SEMPRONIUS, the family surname of the

Gracchi. See GRACCHUS.

SEM'STRESS, n. s. Sax. reamertne. A woman whose business is to sew; a woman who lives by her needle.

Two hundred semstresses were employed to make me shirts, and linen for bed and table, which they were forced to quilt together in several folds. Gulliver's Travels. The tucked up semstress walks with hasty strides. Swift. SEN'ATE, n. s. Lat. senatus; Fr. senat. SEN'ATE-HOUSE, An assembly of counselSENATOR, lors; a body of men set SENATO RIAL, adj. apart to consult for the SENATO RIAN. public good: a senator is a member of a senate senatorial, or senatorian, belonging to, or befitting, a senator. We debase

The nature of our seats, which will in time break ope
The locks o' th' senute, and bring in the crows
To peck the eagles. Shakspeare. Coriolanus.

Most unwise patricians,
You grave but reckless senators.

The nobles in great carnestness are going All to the senate-house; some news is come.

Id.

As if to every fop it might belong, Like senators, to censure right or wrong. Granville. Gallus was welcomed to the sacred strand, The senate rising to salute their guest. Dryden. A SENATE is an assembly of the principal inhabitants of a state, who have a share in the government.

SENATE, in the university of Cambridge, is equivalent to the convocation of Oxford, and consists of all masters of arts and higher graduates, being masters of arts who have each a voice in every public measure, in granting degrees, in electing members of parliament, a chancellor, &c. &c.

SENATE, CONSERVATIVE, in the last constitution of the ci-devant French republic, was a body of eighty men, who, for a short period, possessed the enormous power of nominating VOL. XX.

the whole legislative and executive rulers of the state, yet could not themselves hold any office in either branch of government. It was one of those political engines invented by Buonaparte and his junto, by which he so rapidly accumulated and concentrated the whole power of the republic in himself.

The SENATE OF ANCIENT ROME was of all others the most celebrated. It exercised no contentious jurisdiction; but appointed judges, either from among the senators or knights, to determine processes: it also appointed governors of provinces, and disposed of the revenues of the commonwealth, &c. Yet the whole sove. reign power did not reside in the senate, since it could not elect magistrates, make laws, or decide of war and peace; in all which cases the senate was obliged to consult the people. The senate, when first instituted by Romulus, consisted of 100 members, to whom he afterwards added the same number, when the Sabines had migrated to Rome. Tarquin I. made the senate consist of 300, and this number remained fixed for a long time; but afterwards it fluctuated greatly, and was increased first to 700, and afterwards to 900, by Julius Cæsar, who filled the senate with men of every rank and order. Under Augustus the senators amounted to 1000, but this number was reduced, and fixed to 600. The place of a senator was bestowed upon merit; the kings had at first the privilege of choosing the members; and, after this expulsion, it was the right of the consuls, till the election of the censors, who from their office seemed most capable of making choice of men whose character was irreproachable, whose morals were pure, and relations honorable. Only particular families were admitted into the senate; and, when the plebeians were permitted to share the honors of the state, it was then required that they should be born of free citizens. It was also required that the candidates should be knights before their admission into the senate. They were to be above the age of twenty-five, and to have previously passed through the inferior offices of quæstor, tribune of the people, ædile, prætor, and consul. The senate always met on the 1st of January for the inauguration of the new consuls; and in all months, universally, there were three days, viz. the kalends, nones, and ides, on which it regularly met; but it met also on extraordinary occasions, when called together by a consul, tribune, or dictator. To render their decrees valid and authentic, a certain number of members was requisite, and such as were absent without some proper cause were fined. In the reign of Augustus 400 senators were requisite to make a senate. Nothing was transacted before sun-rise or after sun-set. In their office the senators were the guardians of religion, they disposed of the provinces, they prorogued the assemblies of the people, they appointed thanksgivings, nominated ambassadors, distributed the public money, and in short had the management of every thing political or civil in the republic, except the creating of magistrates, the enacting of laws, and the declarations of war and peace, which were confined to the assemblies of the people. The senate, as a body,

D

were styled Patres conscripti, 'conscript fathers.' See CONSCRIPT. Their decrees were published in the name of Senatus Populusque Romanus, by contraction, S. P. Q. R., i. e. the Senate and People of Rome. The tribunes of the people could stop their debates and decrees by the word veto. Their rank and authority were so great in the time of Pyrrhus that his minister Cineas declared them to be a venerable assembly of kings.' But under the emperors who succeeded Augustus they lost their importance, by flattering their vices. At last the senate was abolished by Justinian, thirteen ceuturies after its institution by Romulus.

A SENATOR is properly a member of some senate. The dignity of a Roman senator could not be supported without the possession of 80,000 sesterces, or about £7000 English money; and therefore such as squandered away their money, and reduced their fortune below this sum, were generally struck out of the list of senators. This regulation was not made in the first ages of the republic, when the Romans boasted of their poverty. The senators were not permitted to be of any trade or profession. They were distinguished from the rest of the people by their dress; they wore the laticlave, half boots of a black color, with a crescent or silver buckle in the form of a C; but this last honor was confined to the descendants of those hundred senators who had been elected by Romulus, as the letter C is a contraction for centum. See SENATE.

SENATOR, in British polity, is a member o. either house of parliament. In the laws of king Edward the Confessor, we are told that the Britons called those senators whom the Saxons called afterwards aldermen and borough-masters, though not for their age but their wisdom; for some of them were young men, but very well skilled in the laws. Kenulph, king of the Mercians, granted a charter, which ran thus, viz. :— Consilio et consensu episcoporum et senatorum gentis suæ largitus fuit dicto monasterio, &c.

SENATUS ACADEMICUS, the title assumed by the professors of the University of Edinburgh, as a learned body, in their diplomas, granted to students.

SENATUS CONSULTUM anciently made part of the Roman law. When any public matter was introduced into the senate, which was always called referre ad senatum, any senator whose opinion was asked was permitted to speak about it as long as he pleased, and on that account it was often usual for the senators to protract their speeches till it was too late to determine. When the question was put, they passed to the side of that speaker whose opinion they approved, and a majority of votes was easily collected, without the trouble of counting the numbers. When the majority was known, the matter was determined, and a senatus consultum was immediately written by the clerks of the house, at the feet of the chief magistrates, and it was signed by all the principal members of the house. When there was not a sufficient number of members to make a senate, the decision was called senatus auctoritas, but it was of no force if it did not afterwards pass into a senatus consultum. The sena

tus consulta were at first in the custody of the kings, and afterward of the consuls, who could suppress or preserve them; but, about A. U.C. 304, they were always deposited in the temple of Ceres, and afterwards in the treasury, by the ediles of the people.

Sax. ren

SEND, v. a. & v. n. Preterite and part. SEND ER, n. s. pass. sent. pas dan; Goth. senda; Belg. zenden. To despatch persons or things from one place to another; transmit; dismiss; emit; let fly: as a verb active, to despatch a message; require by message: a sender is one who sends.

I pray thee send me good speed this day, and shew kindness unto my master. Gen. xxiv. 12. This son of a murderer hath sent to take away my head. Kings.

I make a decree that all Israel go with thee; forasmuch as thou art sent of the king. Ezra. vii. 14. He sent letters by post on horseback. Esther. O send out thy light and thy truth; let them lead

me.

Psalms. His citizens sent a message after him, saying, We will not have this man to reign over us.

Luke xix. 14.

land.

Bacon.

They could not attempt their perfect reformation abolished; therefore they sent the same day again to in church and state, till those votes were utterly the king.

Clarendon. My overshadowing spirit and might with thee I send along. Milton. But first, whom shall we send In search of this new world? Here he had need All circumspection, and we now no less Choice in our suffrage; for on whom we send The weight of all and our last hope relies. Cherubic songs by night from neighbouring hills Aerial music send.

Id.

Id.

Best with the best, the sender, not the sent. Id. His wounded men he first sends off to shore.

Dryden.

He threw his aged arms about my neck,
He sent for me; and, while I raised his head,
And, seeing that I wept, he pressed me close.

Id.

The senses send in only the influxes of material things, and the imagination and memory present only their pictures or images, when the objects themselves are absent. Cheyne.

When the fury took her stand on high, A hiss from all the snaky tire went round: The dreadful signal all the rocks rebound, And through the' Achaian cities send the sound. Pope. Servants, sent on messages, stay out somewhat longer than the message requires. Swift.

SENECA (Marcus Annæus), a celebrated orator, born at Corduba, in Spain, but descended