but only 4,500 women. been rebuilt. elector Frederick III. of Brandenburg (the future king Frederick I. of Prussia), to whom he had dedicated his often republished Fürstenstaat, appointed him chancellor of the new university of Halle. The most celebrated of his works, Commentarius Historicus et Apologeticus de Lutheranismo (3 vols., Leipsic, 1688-'92), was written in refutation of Maimbourg's Histoire du Lutheranisme. II. Friedrich Heinrich, count, a German soldier, nephew of the preceding, born at Königsberg, Franconia, July 5, 1673, died at Meuselwitz, near Altenburg, Nov. 23, 1763. In 1695 he entered the English and Dutch service, but afterward joined the imperial army and fought under Prince Eugene against the Turks and in the war of the Spanish succession. He subsequently became a major general in the army of Augustus II. of Poland and Saxony, and in 1713 was the Polish ambassador to the Hague in the conferences which led to the peace of Utrecht. After the fall of Stralsund in 1715 he reëntered the imperial service, in 1719 became count of the empire, and in 1721 Feldzeugmeister and governor of Leipsic. Five years later he was sent as ambassador to Berlin by the emperor Charles VI., and in October, 1726, concluded the treaty of Wusterhausen. Subsequently he negotiated the marriage of the future Frederick the Great with the princess Elizabeth, for which the former never forgave him. In the war of the Polish succession he defeated the French at Klausen, Oct. 20, 1735. On the death of Prince Eugene in 1736, he received the command of the army against the Turks. In the campaign of 1737 Seckendorf's intentions were all thwarted by "Re-orders from the court of Vienna, and he was recalled and imprisoned for three years in the castle of Gratz. After his release he commanded the troops of the elector Charles Albert of Bavaria (crowned in 1742 as Charles VII. of Germany), with varying success, against Austria, and finally in 1744 recovered Munich for Charles. In April, 1745, he appeared at Füssen in what Carlyle calls "the questionable capacity" of negotiator of a peace with Austria, which caused his reinstatement in his dignities at Vienna, but gave umbrage to Frederick the Great, who had him imprisoned at Magdeburg on some slight pretext, and released after six months on his paying 10,000 thalers. Much of it has since SECCHI, Pietro Angelo, an Italian astronomer, born in Reggio in Emilia, July 29, 1818. He became a Jesuit Nov. 3, 1833, studied mathematics under Padre de Vico, and taught physics in the college of Loreto from 1841 to 1843. In 1844 he began his course of theology in the Roman college, completed it at Georgetown college, D. C., in 1848-'9, and taught physics and mathematics there till the autumn of 1850, when he was recalled to Rome. He was then appointed director of the observatory of the Roman college, reconstructed it on a new site and plan, invented and perfected a system of meteorological observation, published a monthly bulletin continued till 1873, and constructed a meteorograph much admired at the Paris exhibition of 1867. He was commissioned by Pius IX. to complete the trigonometrical survey of the Papal States begun by Boscovich in 1751, and to rectify the measurements already made of the meridional arc, and executed successfully a commission to bring a supply of water to Rome from Frosinone, 48 m. distant. The results of his labors in every field of astronomical research since 1850 are chronicled in the scientific periodicals of Italy, France, Germany, and England. He is especially distinguished for his discoveries in spectroscopic analysis and in solar and stellar physics. After the closing of the Roman college and the expulsion of the Jesuits (1870-'73) Secchi was allowed to retain his post, continued to lecture on astronomy in the ecclesiastical schools of Rome, and in 1875 he was sent by the Italian government on a scientific mission to Sicily. Among his important publications are: searches on Electrical Rheometry," originally in the "Smithsonian Contributions to Knowledge" (Georgetown, 1852); Quadro fisico del sistema solare secondo le più recenti osservazioni (Rome, 1859); Catalogo delle stelle (Paris, 1867); Sugli spettri prismatici delle stelle fisse (Rome, 1868); Le recenti scoperte astronomiche (1868); Nove ricerche sulle protuberanze solari (1869); Sur l'influence de l'atmosphère sur les raies du spectre et sur la constitution du soleil (1869); Fisica solare: sulle ultime scoperte spettroscopiche fatte nel sole (1869); Spectrum Observations on the Rotation of the Sun" (London, 1870); Le soleil: exposé des principales découvertes modernes sur la structure de cet astre, son influence et ses relations avec les autres corps célestes (Paris, 1870; German translation by Schellen, Brunswick, 1872); and Dell' unità delle forze fisiche (Rome, 1875; French translation, Paris, 1875). SECKENDORF. I. Veit Ludwig von, a German scholar, born near Erlangen, Dec. 20, 1626, died in Halle, Dec. 18, 1692. In 1642 his father, Joachim Ludwig von Seckendorf, was executed for attempting to desert from the Swedish army, in which he was a colonel, and the son found a patron in Duke Ernest the Pious of Gotha. Shortly before his death the SECKER, Thomas, an English prelate, born at Sibthorpe, Nottinghamshire, in 1693, died in London, Aug. 3, 1768. He belonged to a family of nonconformists, and studied for the dissenting ministry, but became a physician. Subsequently he was induced to conform, and was ordained in 1723. He was distinguished as a preacher, and became bishop of Bristol in 1735 and of Oxford in 1737, and in 1758 archbishop of Canterbury. His works comprise sermons, lectures, and charges (last ed., with a memoir by Bishop Porteous, 6 vols., London, 1811). SECOND, the 60th part of a minute, whether of an hour or of a degree. The minutes, being SECOND ADVENTISTS the first divisions of these units, are called in the old mathematical treatises "primes," and were marked thus, the seconds (minuta secunda) thus". The next sexagesimal division was called thirds. The time divisions are now commonly marked m. and sec. 66 | of Adventists observe the seventh day as the sabbath, and are called Seventh Day Adventists. They originated as early as 1844. They set no time for the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, believing that the prophecies which, in the opinion of other Adventists, fix the second advent in or about the year 1844, really brought the world only to the "cleansing of the tabernacle," a period of brief but uncertain duration preceding the coming of Christ. One of the first organizers of this movement, Elder James White, began in 1850 the publication of the first organ of the Seventh Day Adventists, the "Advent Review and Herald of the Sabbath," which in 1855 was removed to Battle Creek, Mich., which place was henceforth the centre of all the denominational interests. The "Seventh Day Adventist Publishing Association" published in 1874, at Battle Creek, four denominational papers in English, one in Danish, and one in Swedish. Another English paper was established in California in 1874. The churches are organized into state conferences, of which in 1875 there were 13. A general conference, consisting of delegates, min has been established in Switzerland, where 200 believers were reported in 1875. The general conference of 1875 resolved to send missionaries as soon as possible to Great Britain, France, Germany, Holland, Italy, Hungary, Africa, and Australia. Strict temperance views, including the prohibition of the use of tobacco, prevail, and abstinence from pork, tea, and coffee is recommended. According to a report made to the general conference of 1875, the number of ministers was 69, of churches 339, and of members 8,022. SECOND ADVENTISTS, or Adventists, a religious sect who believe in the speedy second advent of Christ and the end of the world. They owe their origin as a body in the United States to William Miller. (See MILLER, WILLIAM.) Under his preaching and that of some of his followers, the number of adherents rapidly increased. The time at which they at first expected the second appearing of Christ was October, 1842, and subsequently some of them have fixed upon different dates, among others 1843, 1847, 1848, 1857, and 1861. In 1840 Joshua V. Himes, one of their preachers, began the publication in Boston of a semi-monthly journal in advocacy of their views, called the Signs of the Times and Exposition of Prophecy," and two years later changed it to a weekly, called the "Advent Herald," which had a very large circulation. The number of members continued to increase, notwithstand-isters, and laymen, meets annually. A mission ing the repeated errors into which they fell in regard to the date of the second advent. After the death of Mr. Miller (1849) there was some division in their views, a part holding to some modification of the usual Trinitarian view of the divinity of Christ, and some of them adopting the doctrine of the annihilation of the wicked; while the remainder adhered to the usual views of Trinitarians, except as to the second coming of Christ, which they believe will be speedy and pre-millennial, and that the first resurrection, that of the righteous, will then occur, while the wicked will not be raised till 1,000 years later; that during this thousand years he will reign on the earth, and while his reign will be a period of happiness for the righteous, it will be one of terror and judgment for the wicked. The Adventist churches are entirely independent, and generally receive their members by immersion on a profession of faith.-The "Advent Christian Association is a body of Adventists who believe in the final destruction of the wicked. At the 16th annual meeting of this body, held at Springfield, Mass., in August, 1875, it was resolved, in order to complete the congregational form of government which has been adopted by the denomination, to convoke at once a general conference. The chief organ of this denomination is the "World's Crisis," edited by John Couch and Miles Grant. The "American Millennial Association," founded in Boston in 1858, is the centre of the "evangelical" Adventists, who do not believe in the final destruction of the wicked. Their principal organ is the "Messiah's Herald," published at Boston. The "Life and Advent Union" is another organization of Adventists believing in the annihilation of the wicked. Its organ is the "Herald of Life," published at Springfield, Mass.-Another branch SECRETARY BIRD, a rapacious bird of the genus serpentarius (Cuv.) or gypogeranus (III.). The bill is moderate, broad, elevated at the base, and the culmen much arched to the hooked tip; nostrils with large and oblique lateral opening; wings long, with the third, fourth, and fifth quills nearly equal and longest, armed on the wrist joint with an obtuse spur; tail very long and wedge-shaped, with the two middle feathers prolonged; tarsi much lengthened, slender, covered in front with transverse scales; toes very short, the anterior ones united at base by a membrane, the hind one rather elevated, and all covered above with transverse scales; claws nearly straight and blunt; the lores and space round the eyes naked. The best known species is the S. reptilicorus (Daud.; gypogeranus serpentarius, Ill.), about 3 ft. long, inhabiting the sandy plains of S. Africa; the general color is bluish gray, the quills, thighs, crest, and abdomen more or less marked with black; the throat and chest shaded with white, and lower tail coverts reddish; cere and naked parts yellow; it has a long erectile crest on the back of the head, looking when depressed like a pen behind a clerk's ear, whence the common name; it is also called serpent eater from its favorite food, and messenger from its long steps and rapid | gait. These birds are usually seen in pairs, and devour serpents and other reptiles; when attacking a serpent they approach with one Secretary Bird (Serpentarius reptilivorus). wing extended and acting as a shield to the body, and with the other strike the reptile, wounding it with the wing spur, tossing it into the air, and safely wearying out the most venomous species; they also eat lizards, tortoises, rats, small birds, and large insects. They run and hop very swiftly; they are very voracious, Le Vaillant mentioning that he took from the crop of one 11 good-sized lizards, 3 serpents as long as his arm, 11 small tortoises ("many of which were about 2 in. in diameter "), and a number of insects. They are often introduced, partly domesticated, into poultry yards to rid them of rats, snakes, and other animals which devour young birds or eggs, and they rarely attack the fowls while supplied with reptiles and meat. The nest is made on trees, and is large, built of sticks and lined with wool and feathers; they lay two or three eggs. This bird in its long tarsi resembles the waders, and has been placed among them by Vieillot, and among the galline with the bustard by others on account of the wing spurs, terrestrial habits, and some details of internal structure. If a raptorial bird, as Nitzsch maintains, it comes nearer the vulture than the falcon family in the naked cheeks, loose plumage about the head, straightness and bluntness of the claws, and greater webs between the toes. A species is found in the Philippine islands, which is probably distinct from the African bird. SECRETION. See GLAND. ivory, wood, or metal, each of them 6 in. or a foot long, and is hinged in the centre like a carpenter's rule. The pivot represents the centre of the circle, and the lines drawn from it upon the two limbs the radii. Upon these lines are drawn the several scales specially adapted to the sector. Other scales not directly belonging to it may be placed in the blank spaces on the limbs. The scales for the radial lines are selected and arranged according to the particular uses for which the instrument is intended. They commonly consist of a line of chords by which we may protract an angle of any number of degrees, find the degrees corresponding to any arc, &c.; a scale of equal parts, which affords the means when the limbs are opened to the proper extent of finding with a pair of dividers a third proportional to two given lines, or a fourth to three given lines, &c.; also lines of sines, secants, tangents, and polygons. The sector is a convenient instrument in plotting for giving without calculation angles and the lengths of required lines; but all instruments are necessarily imperfect, and since the introduction of logarithmic tables this one is little used.-An instrument called the astronomical or equatorial sector is used for taking the difference of right ascensions and declinations of stars; and the zenith sector is used in trigonometrical surveys to determine the zenith distances of stars whose declinations differ little from the latitude of the observer. SECULAR GAMES, in Roman history, games celebrated at long and irregular intervals. Under the republic they were known as the Tarentine games from a place in the Campus Martius, called Tarentum, where they were celebrated, and appear to have been instituted about the time of the consul Valerius Publicola. Nothing is known of their origin beyond the fact that they were celebrated in honor of Pluto and Proserpine for the purpose of averting from the state some great calamity. Down to the time of Augustus they were held but three times; they were revived by that emperor in 17 B. C. with considerable pomp, occupying three days and nights, and being accompanied by sacrifices to Jupiter, Juno, and all the superior deities. For this occasion Horace wrote his Carmen Sæculare. The secular games were celebrated in the reign of Claudius in A. D. 47, in that of Domitian in 88, and in that of Philip in 248. SECULARISM. See HOLYOAKE, GEORGE JACOB. SECUNDUS, Johannes. See JOHANNES SECUNDUS. SEDAINE, Michel Jean, a French dramatist, born in Paris, July 4, 1719, died there, May 17, 1797. He was a stone cutter, but became known in 1756 by his comic opera Le diable à quatre, for which Philidor composed the music. Among his other pieces, set to music by Grétry and others, was Richard Cœur de Lion (1784). His best comedy, Le philosophe sans le savoir (1765), was revived in 1875, at the Théâtre Français. SEDALIA SEDALIA, a town and the county seat of Pettis co., Missouri, on the Missouri Pacific railroad, at the junction of the Lexington branch, and the Missouri, Kansas, and Texas railroad, 189 m. by rail W. of St. Louis, 64 m. W. by N. of Jefferson City, and 94 m. E. S. E. of Kansas City; pop. in 1870, 4,560, of whom 845 were colored; in 1875, about 8,000. It was laid out in 1860, on one of the highest swells of a rolling prairie. The principal street is 120 ft. wide, is finely shaded, and has many handsome buildings. Sedalia is lighted with gas, and is supplied with water by the Holly system. It has a large and rapidly increasing trade. It contains the shops of the two railroad companies, several founderies and machine shops, flouring mills, and manufactories of agricultural implements, carriages, soap, and woollens. There are three hotels, two national banks, good public schools, a public library and reading room, three daily and four weekly newspapers, and 11 churches. SEDAN (anc. Sedanum), a fortified town of France, in the department of Ardennes, on the right bank of the Meuse, 130 m. N. E. of Paris; pop. in 1872, 14,345. It has fine squares and promenades, a Protestant and three Catholic churches, and a château in which Turenne was born. Fine black cloths and cassimeres, linen, hosiery, leather, hardware, and firearms are manufactured. Sedan was formerly the capital of a principality, which in 1591 came into possession of the Turenne family, who in 1642 ceded it to France. It had a celebrated Protestant university, which was suppressed on the revocation of the edict of Nantes in 1685. The chairs commonly known as sedans took their name from this town. The fortress surrendered to the Hessians in 1815, and was occupied by the Prussians till November, 1816. Here the Germans, on Sept. 1, 1870, obtained a victory over the French, which led to the capitulation of the fortress, and the capture of Napoleon III. and his army. (See FRANCE, vol. vii., p. 397.) SEDGE (A. S. secg or sæcg, a dagger, formerly applied to sharp-pointed plants in general which grew in marshes), a name for plants of the genus carex, but sometimes applied in a general way to other plants of the cyperaceae, or sedge family, to which it belongs. There are about 200 species of the genus carex in North America; they are found in great abundance in wet places (though some are met with only in dry localities and on the tops of mountains), where they form a large portion of the vegetation, and are often mistaken for grasses, from which they differ in several important particulars. The sedges are perennial, and, especially those in wet localities, often form dense tufts or tussocks; the culms or stems are triangular and solid; the leaves are grasslike, often rough on the margin and keel, with the sheaths (which in grasses are generally split down on one side) quite closed or entire; A Sedge (Carex umbellata), with separate Perigonium and Bract, Pistil, and section of Ovary. flowers, either on the same spike (androgynous), or on separate spikes on the same plant (monoecious), or rarely on distinct plants (dicecious). Both kinds of flowers are subtended by a scale-like bract, and these scales overlap one another equally around the axis to form a more or less cylindrical (sometimes ovoid) spike. The staminate flowers consist of three (rarely two) stamens to each bract; the pistillates have a single ovary and two or three long stigmas; the ovary is enclosed in a bag or sac with a narrow orifice from which the styles are protruded; this bag (perigynium) increases with the ripening fruit, and in some species becomes large and bladdery; the fruit is a lens-shaped, plano-convex or triangular akene. The carices vary in height from a few inches to 3 ft. and over; in some the stems are weak and thread-like, and in others very wiry and rigid; they for the most part flower early in spring, and perfect their fruit during the summer. It is estimated that there are in all about 1,000 species, which are more abundant in arctic and cold countries, and diminish toward the tropics, where they are found only in the mountainous portions. While the species are numerous, the number of individuals is also very great, and in many places they form a large share of the vegetation; but they are of little direct value to man; their stems and foliage are dry and harsh, and contain very little sugar or starch; their chief office is to furnish mould for the sustenance of other plants. They can hardly be regarded as weeds, though some make their appearance in pastures which are too wet for the growth of nutritious grasses; the large tussocks which the sportsman and botanist uses as "stepping stones" in crossing swamps are mostly produced by C. striata, in some of its several forms.-The sand sedge (C. arenaria), common on the shores of Europe, has a slender but strong running and branching root stock, several feet long, which serves to bind the sands where it grows naturally, and is planted for the same purpose upon the dikes in Holland; the roots of this species have a reputation for diuretic and sudorific properties, and are known in Europe as German sarsaparilla. The Laplanders are said to convert the leaves of C. sylvatica, by drying and carding, into a sort of vegetable wool, which they use as a non-conductor of heat, to stuff their winter shoes. In some localities carices form a considerable part of the marsh hay which is cut for use as a mulch, and for bedding animals in the stable; when saturated with urine, it is thrown upon the manure heap and soon converted into a fertilizer. The carices, though regarded by novices in botany as difficult, have been favorite objects of study by some of the most eminent botanists. An important monograph on the American species was published by Schweinitz and Torrey in the "Annals of the New York Lyceum of Natural History" in 1824; later the species of the northern states were elaborated for Gray's "Manual of Botany" by John Carey; numerous papers on the genus by the late Dr. Chester Dewey are to be found running through the "American Journal of Science," in which the number of species is increased to an extent not accepted by other botanists; and Mr. S. T. Olney of Rhode Island has made important contributions to our knowledge of these plants. One of the finest monographs upon any specialty in botany is the "Illustrations of the Genus Carex," by Francis Boot (4 vols. fol., London, 1858-67), with 600 plates. a critical survey of the lower paleozoic strata 66 SEDGWICK, John, an American soldier, born in Cornwall, Conn., Sept. 13, 1813, killed at Spottsylvania Court House, Va., May 9, 1864. He graduated at West Point in 1837, was appointed second lieutenant in the second artillery, served in Florida, in the removal of the Cherokee nation, and on the northern frontier, and became first lieutenant in 1839. In the war with Mexico he was successively brevetted captain and major for gallantry at Contreras and Churubusco and at Chapultepec. In 1855 he was commissioned major in the first cavalry. He was made a brigadier general of volunteers on Aug. 31, 1861, received command of a division of the army of the Potomac in March, 1862, participated in the peninsular campaign, was wounded at Glendale, June 30, and was appointed major general of volunteers July 4. At the battle of SEDGWICK, a S. county of Kansas, inter- Antietam, Sept. 17, he was severely wounded. sected by the Arkansas river, and drained On Dec. 22 he took command of the 9th army by the Little Arkansas and other affluents of corps, and on Feb. 5, 1863, was transferred that stream; area, 1,512 sq. m.; pop. in 1870, to the 6th corps of the army of the Potomac 1,095. The southwestern branch of the Atchi- He was in command at the storming of Marye's son, Topeka, and Santa Fé railroad terminates heights, near Fredericksburg, and in the final at the county seat. The surface is undulating battle near Chancellorsville, May 3, 4; and in and the soil fertile. The chief productions in the Pennsylvania campaign he made a forced 1870 were 6,652 bushels of wheat, 1,100 of march of 35 m. to Gettysburg, where he comoats, 1,290 of potatoes, and 2,000 lbs. of wool.manded the left wing of the army in the batThere were 407 horses, 760 cattle, 307 sheep, and 165 swine. Capital, Wichita. tle of July 2, 3, and took part in the pursuit of the enemy to Warrenton. In the Rapidan SEDGWICK, Adam, an English geologist, born campaign, September to December, he comat Dent, Yorkshire, about 1785, died in Cam-manded the right wing, composed of the 5th bridge, Jan. 27, 1873. He graduated at Trinity college, Cambridge, in 1808, became a fellow of the college, and in 1818 succeeded Hailstone as professor of geology. He was elected a fellow of the royal society in 1819, and from 1829 to 1831 was president of the geological society. In 1827 he made a geological tour of Scotland, and in 1829, in conjunction with Murchison, visited different portions of Germany, Austria, and Switzerland, especially studying the Alps. In 1831 he commenced and 6th corps, and was engaged in the combat of Rappahannock station, Nov. 7, and in the operations at Mine run, Nov. 26 to Dec. 3. In the Richmond campaign in May, 1864, he commanded the 6th corps, which had become known as Sedgwick's corps, and took part in the battle of the Wilderness, May 5, 6. Three days later, while making a personal reconnoissance, and directing the placing of a battery for the battle of Spottsylvania Court House, he was shot by a sharpshooter. 1 |