the Leipzig Conservatory and upon graduation became chorusmaster at the Vienna Opera. Hans Richter introduced him to Wagner, who engaged him to assist in preparing the Nibelung Trilogy, upon which work he was engaged until 1879. Upon Wagner's recommendation Angelo Neumann engaged him as conductor for the itinerant series of Wagner operas (1879-83). In 1885 Seidl accepted an engagement in New York as conductor of the German opera. There he soon developed the concert orchestra popularly known as the Seidl Orchestra. In 1892 the German opera was temporarily discontinued, but he again served as conductor during the New York seasons of 1895ductor of the Philharmonic Society and of the Sunday night concerts. In 1897 he was engaged

96 and in 1897. In addition he was the con

as one of the conductors at Covent Garden, Lon

don. By this time his reputation was such that

his services were in demand in several of the

leading musical centres of the world. In 1886 and 1897 he was one of the conductors at the Bayreuth Festival. He died in New York.

SEIDL, GABRIEL (1848-). A German architect, born in Munich, where he studied at the Academy under Neureuther, and after 1876 became favorably known through the erection of several buildings in the style of the German Renaissance, marked by refined elaboration of interior details. Besides the private residences of Lenbach and F. A. Kaulbach, he built Saint Ann's Church, the Künstlerhaus and the new part of the National Museum.

SEIDL, JOHANN GABRIEL (1804-75). An Austrian poet, born in Vienna. He studied law and was called in 1840 to Vienna as custodian of the cabinet of coins and antiques in the Museum. He devoted his leisure to literature and became especially well known for his lyric and dialect poetry. His publications in this department include Dichtungen (1826-28), Gedichte in niederösterreichischer Mundart (1844, 4 eds.), Bifolien (1855, 5 eds.), and Natur und Herz (1859, 3 eds.). Seidl is the author of the Austrian national hymn (1854) set to Haydn's music.

SEIDLITZ (sĕd'līts) POWDERS (named from the town of Seidlitz or Sedlitz, in Bohemian Austria). Powders composed of 120 grains of tartrate of soda and potash and 40 grains of bicarbonate of soda reduced to powder, mixed, and inclosed in a blue paper, and 35 grains of powdered tartaric acid in a white paper. The contents of the blue paper are dissolved in half a tumbler of water, and those of the white in a half tumbler of water, and the two are poured together. The mixture should be taken while the effervescence from the liberation of the carbonic acid is still going on. These powders act as an agreeable and mild cooling aperient.

SEIGNIORAGE (ML. senioraticum, lordship, dominion, from Lat. senior, elder, lord, comp. of sener, old; connected with Gk. vos, henos, Skt. sana, Lith. senas, Olr. sen, Goth. sineigs, old). The excess of the nominal value of a coin over its bullion value at the moment of coining. Such excess may represent only the cost of coinage, for which the term brassage, used by French writers, has been proposed, but not generally adopted, or it may represent a profit to the State. Where free coinage exists any mint charge or seigniorage will act as a check upon

the readiness with which private persons bring bullion to the mint for coinage. On the other hand, such a seigniorage offers an inducement to the State to coin money freely. If it yields to the temptation it may gain an immediate advantage, but not without jeoparding the security of its currency and running the risk of depreciating the value of its issues. Monetary legislation authorizing underweight coins usually limits the amount of such issues.

SEIGNIORY (ML. senioria, from Lat. senior, elder, lord). The domain of a seignior or feudal lord, and, in the strict sense, the ultimate unit in sovereignty annexed to property in land. The the feudal system. It was a local fragment of beginnings of the seigniory are to be found in the um) which the great provincial magnates (polate Roman Empire in the authority (patrocinitentes) exercised over the common people, especially the tillers of the soil. Among the Ger

man tribes which overthrew the West Roman Empire the germs of similar relations existed. The German noble had rights of protection (which implied control) over free followers, servants, and tenants who voluntarily 'commended' themselves to him and became his 'men.' In the Frankish Empire these Roman and German institutions were fused into the 'seniorate,' and the powers of the 'senior' were enlarged and consolidated by the development of the 'immunity.' Immunity, another institution which dates from the late Roman Empire, and which originally meant exemption from taxes and the baser services, was ultimately granted in the Carolingian period to all who held royal land as a 'benefice' or fief, and it came to include much of the power of local government. The grant of immunity excluded the regular officers of the Empire (the counts) from entry (introitus) into the immune district; it devolved upon the seignior the right and duty of raising and leading the armed forces of the district, of preserving the peace, and collecting fines from those who broke it; and it gave him jurisdiction in all 'minor cases' (causæ minores) over his followers, servants, and tenants. In criminal cases and in cases involving status the county court was still exclusively competent; but when one of the seignior's men was charged with a criminal offense it was customary to appeal first of all to the seignior, and if the complainant was satisfied by the seignior the case went no further. Thus there was developed in the seigniory a seigniorial or manorial court, in which the seignior's advocatus (vogt) or bailiff presided and in which (usually) judgments were approved by the tenants. After the overthrow of the Frankish Empire the seigniors became petty monarchs of their seigniories, exercising nearly all the powers of the State. In the open country the free and previously independent inhabitants of the seigniory were forced into subjection, and for the most part reduced to serfdom. In the towns, on the contrary, the authority of the seigniors was gradually extinguished and all the townsmen became free.

Toward the close of the Middle Ages, in consequence of the increase of royal power, the authority of the seigniors was gradually restricted. The military and taxing powers of the Crown were exercised directly within the seigniories. The rights which the seigniors retained were eco

nomic rather than political: the political powers which they held longest were those of local police. These remnants of seigniorial authority were swept away by revolution or extinguished by legislation in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. For literature, see under FEUDALISM. SEINE, săn. One of the principal rivers of France. It rises on the Plateau of Langres in the Department of Côte-d'Or, and flows in a general northwest course of 472 miles, passing through the city of Paris and emptying into the English Channel through a wide estuary at Havre (Map: France, F 2). It falls very rapidly in its upper course, but below Paris its current becomes slow and its course marked by many windings. Its principal tributaries are the Marne and the Oise, both joining it from the north near Paris. The Seine is the most important commercial waterway of France, and considerable engineering works have been undertaken to facilitate its navigation, including a number of locks between Paris and Rouen. The river is navigable 337 miles to Méry, but from Marcilly, a little below Méry, a lateral canal follows its course to Troyes. Along the north shore of the estuary a ship canal 14 miles long leads from Tancarville into the harbor of Havre, while other canals connect the river through its tributaries with the Loire, the Rhone, the Rhine, the Meuse, and the Scheldt. The traffic passing through the river amounted in 1900 to 7,494,037 tons at Paris. Consult: Lavoinne, La Seine maritime et son estuaire (Paris, 1885); Barron, La Seine (ib., 1889.).

SEINE. The metropolitan department of France surrounded by the Department of Seineet-Oise, and comprising the arrondissements of Paris, Saint-Denis, and Sceaux (Map: France, J 3). It is at once the smallest and the most populous department in the Republic. Its area is 185 square miles. Population, in 1896, 3,340,514; in 1901, 3,669,930.

SEINE-ET-MARNE, & märn. A northern inland department of France (q.v.), bounded on the west by the Department of Seine-et-Oise (Map: France, J 3). Area, 2275 square miles. Population, in 1896, 359,044; in 1901, 358,325. The department derives its name from the two chief streams that water it, the Seine flowing through the southern and the Marne through the northern part. There are no mountains. Timber is grown in every part, and among the forests is that of Fontainebleau. The soil is generally fertile. Wheat is the principal cereal. Paving stone is quarried at Fontainebleau, and there are manufactures of flour and sugar. Capital, Melun.

SEINE-ET-OISE, â wäz. A northern department of France, surrounding the metropolitan Department of Seine (q.v.) (Map: France, H 3). Area, 2184 square miles. Population, in 1896, 669,098; in 1901, 707,325. The chief rivers are the Seine and the Oise, which have numerous affluents. Oats is the principal cereal, and wheat, sugar beets, forage roots, cider apples, and vege tables are important. The industries include silk, wool, and flax spinning, hosiery making, flour milling, sugar refining, and the manufacture of iron and copper articles. There are several fine varieties of stone and clays. Porcelain is largely made at the famous Sèvres (q.v.) factories. Capital, Versailles.

SEINE-INFÉRIEURE, ăn ́få ́rê-èr'. A northern maritime department of France, bounded on the northwest by the English Channel, and on the south by the Department of Eure (Map: France, G 2). Area, 2448 square miles. Population, in 1896, 837,824; in 1901, 853,883. The Seine flows through the southern districts, and a number of important though small streams flow northwest across the department. Wheat, oats, sugar beets, colza, and cider apples are cultivated, and some cheese is made. There are cotton, wool, and flax manufactures; iron, copper, locomotive, and machinery works are among the industrial establishments. Capital, Rouen.

SE'IR (Heb. Se' ir). A synonym for the land of Edom (e.g. Gen. xxxii. 3), and especially the name of the Edomite mountain land, Mount Seir (e.g. Deut. ii. 1). It is disputed whether the name is applied only to the mountains or also to the region west. In the patriarchal tradition, Esau, ancestor of the Edomites, is etymologically connected with Seir, he being described as a man of hair' (sē ār, Gen. xxv. 25; xxvii. 11). But in Gen. xxxvi. 20 sqq. Seir is the ancestor of the Horites (q.v.), the aboriginal inhabitants. In a papyrus of Ramses III. (B.c. 1300) the Seirites are mentioned as a Bedouin tribe. The name is therefore ancient and its etymology uncertain, whether it is to be derived from the people or from the land. In the latter case, just as Edom, 'red,' describes the prevailing color of these mountains, so Seir, ‘hairy,' 'shaggy,' or perhaps 'awful,' may express the roughness of the country. This great mountain ridge, composed of argillaceous rock, porphyry, and sandstone, extends from the Dead Sea to the Gulf of Akabah on the Red Sea. It presents a precipitous front to the west and is broken by deep valleys, but the vegetation is rich and allows cultivation. Its most famous peak is Mount Hor, reputed scene of the death of Aaron, and its chief city the famous Petra (q.v.), in the neighborhood of which are to be seen some of the most remarkable and beautiful rock-formations in the world.

The

Con

mountains were the home of a hardy race, which enriched itself through its command of the trade routes from Arabia to the Mediterranean, and which later spread north into Palestine. sult: Robinson, Biblical Researches (vol. ii., Boston, 1841); Palmer, Desert of the Exodus (Cambridge, 1871); Trumbull, Kadesh-Barnea (New York, 1884). See EDOM.

SEISIN (OF. seisine, saizine, saisine, Fr. saisine, from OF. seizir, saizir, Fr. saisir, to seize, take possession of, probably from OHG. sazzan, sezzan, Ger. setzen, Eng set, to put, place). Actual possession of land by a person entitled to it, or claiming to have a freehold interest therein. This is sometimes spoken of as seisin in deed, as distinguished from seisin in law, which is a mere right of present possession. By the old common law, seisin denoted the completion of feudal investiture of a tenant, accompanied by the rites of homage and fealty, after which he had the elements of a feudal title-possession and right of possession. This was done by a formal ceremony on the land, known as the 'livery of seisin' (q.v.). In most of the United States, delivery of a deed is equivalent to livery of seisin, and no formal entry on the land is necessary. However, the term seisin is still retained in our law, but there is some confusion as to its technical

meaning, the courts in some States using it as synonymous with actual possession, and others in the sense of ownership. Consult: Blackstone, Commentaries; also 12 Law Quarterly Review, 246 (London, 1896).

SEISMOGRAPH (from Gk. σeloμós, seismos, earthquake + ɣpápeɩv, graphein, to write), SEISMOMETER, or SEISMOSCOPE. Names given to instruments designed to indicate and record an earthquake shock. By the term seismoscope is generally implied an object that is moved by the earthquake and leaves a record of its motion. The seismometer or seismograph, on the other hand, records the period, extent, and direction of the disturbance. A trough of mercury with notches makes a useful seismoscope, as the direction of the movement is indicated by noting the point where the mercury overflows.

Pendulums are also used as seismoscopes, and this form of apparatus has been rendered selfrecording and forms seismometers or seismographs now in use. These pendulums consist of heavy masses delicately suspended so that they remain stationary during any vibration of the earth, and consequently can trace a record of the movement of the earth with respect to the pendulum. Two types of pendulum seismograph are used: those which employ a vertical pendulum, such as the Italian observers have used for many years, and those provided with a horizontal pendulum, a form preferred by the Japanese, English, and European scientists. The horizontal pendulum was invented by Hengler in 1832 and was subsequently improved and adapted to scientific use by Professor Zollner of Leipzig. In connection with the horizontal pendulum a recording device is used which in the instruments constructed during the last few years is photographic and employs a moving strip of bromide or other paper on which a beam of light is reflected by mirrors connected with the apparatus. In former instruments a blackened surface on which a point traced a line and other registering devices were used. In the bracket arrangement of the horizontal pendulum a heavy weight is supported at the extremity of a horizontal bracket free to turn about a vertical axis at the opposite end. Any movement of the earth affects the stand and surrounding objects, but is not communicated to the suspended mass. This instrument has been used in Japan in connection with a photographic register as described above, with considerable success. The horizontal pendulum of Professor Ernst von Rebeur Paschnitz of Merseburg is the form most used in Europe and has also been tested in Japan. In this apparatus there are one or two horizontal pendulums so that a vibration in any direction is recorded. A simple horizontal pendulum seismograph which is now extensively used was devised by Professor John Milne of England. This instrument consists of a horizontal pendulum which carries a boom at whose extremity there is an aluminum plate in which there is a transverse slit. This slit is placed above and at right angles to a second slit beneath which there is a moving band of bromide paper. Light from a lamp is reflected through the intersection of these two slits in the form of a point when the two slits are in their position of rest, and makes a straight line on the moving paper. If there is any movement of the earth there is a movement of one slit with respect to the other, caus

ing a wavy line to be produced which indicates the tremors observed at the particular station. A clockwork arrangement opens and closes a shutter at regular intervals so that the light from the lamp makes a record of the time on the moving strip. Professor Milne in his observatory on the Isle of Wight using such an instrument is able to detect disturbances in Japan, Borneo, South America, or elsewhere, and the seismograms thus obtained, taken in connection with telegraphic information and interchange of observations at other stations, enable the velocity, wave movement, source, and other features of an earthquake to be studied.

OMORI SEISMOGRAPH OF U. 8. WEATHER BUREAU.

For further information on seismometers, the reader is referred to Milne, Earthquakes and Other Earth Movements (London and New York, 1886); miscellaneous papers on seismology in Nature (London), by the same author; Reports of the Committee on Seismological Investigations of the British Associations (to be found in the annual reports of the meetings of the association); and The Seismological Journal of Japan. See EARTHQUAKE.

SEISMOLOGY. See EARTHQUAKE.

SEISS, sēs, JOSEPH AUGUSTUS (1823-1904). An American Lutheran clergyman. He was born at Graceham, Md., and studied for two years at Pennsylvania College, Gettysburg. After a course of private instruction in theology, he became a in 1843, moved to Cumberland, then to Balti pastor at Martinsburg and Shepherdstown, Va., more, Md., and in 1858 became pastor of Saint John's, Philadelphia. In 1874 he built and inaugurated the Church of the Holy Communion in that city. For twelve years he was editor of The Lutheran and for a time an editor of The Prophetic Times; also a founder of the General Council of the Church. Some of his books are: Baptist System Examined (1854; 3d ed. 1882); Last Times (1856; 7th ed. 1880); Ecclesia Lutherana (1867); Lectures on the Gospels (1876); Luther and the Reformation (1883).

SEISTAN, sås-tän', or SISTAN. A region in Eastern Persia and Southwestern Afghanistan, between latitudes 30° and 31° 35′ N., and longitudes 60° and 62° 40′ E. (Map: Persia, H 5). The Persian-Afghan boundary was determined

in 1870-72 by an English boundary commission, which gave Sistan proper (mostly west of the Helmund) to Persia, and outer Sistan (to the east and southeast of Sistan proper) to Afghanistan. The Persian district is mostly sandy, but well watered and productive. Outer Sistan is only sparsely inhabited. The inhabitants are Persians and Baluchis. The region abounds in relics of antiquity, and before the ravages of Tamerlane, in the fourteenth century, was one of the most important of the Persian provinces.

near

SEITZ, zīts, ANTON (1829-1900). A German genre painter, born at Roth-am-Sand, Nuremberg. He was especially successful with interior scenes on miniature scale, remarkable for delicate elaboration of the figures, fine chia roscuro, and subtle humor, which earned him the name of the Munich Meissonier. A partial list of his principal works includes: "The Miser” (1860); "Dice-Players in a Tavern" (1862); "Rural Letter-Writer" (Germanic Museum, Nuremberg); "Vagabonds" (New Pinakothek, Munich); "Champion Shot" (1874, D. W. Powers, Rochester, N. Y.); "Capuchin Monk in Peasant's Cottage" (1883, Leipzig Museum); and "Political Declaration" (1891).

SEʼJANT (OF. seant, from Lat. sedens, pres. part. of sedere, to sit), or Assis (Fr.). In heraldry (q.v.), a term of blazon applied to a beast represented as preparing for action.

SEJA'NUS, ÆLIUS (?-A.D. 31). A favorite and minister of the Emperor Tiberius (q.v.). Sejanus was born at Vulsinii. His father was Sejus Strabo, commander of the prætorian guard under Augustus. When Sejus Strabo became governor of Egypt (A.D. 14) Elius was set over the prætorian cohorts, whom he united (A.D. 23) and with whose support he for a while held Rome in his sway. In order to make himself eventually Emperor, he persuaded Tiberius to withdraw to Capri. With Livia, wife of Tiberius, whom he had debauched, he plotted and brought about in A.D. 23 the death of Drusus Cæsar (q.v.) and got rid of Agrippina (q.v.), wife of Germanicus, and her sons Nero and Drusus. Tiberius named Sejanus to be consul along with himself for the year 31 and then to be pontifex, but he became suspicious of Sejanus and had him killed with many of his suspected followers and his whole family. Our rather uncertain authority is Tacitus. Consult Jülg, Vita Lucii Elii Sejani (Innsbruck, 1882).

SELACHII, sê-la'ki-i (Neo-Lat. nom. pl., from Gk. Naxos, selachos, shark). A group of fishes including the sharks and rays. See CARTILAGINOUS FISHES. For fossil forms, see SHARK.

four times at the end of the psalm; in most of the remainaing cases, in connection with a quotation. In general, therefore, it indicates some natural break in the hymn. The most probable explanation is that advanced by Dr. C. A. Briggs, that the term is connected with a verb meaning 'to lift up,' in the sense of 'raising' a hallelujah, and that it was the rubrical direction for choric doxologies, which are found at the end of the first four Books of the Psalms (xli. 13; lxxii. 18-19; lxxxix. 52; cvi. 48), and which were used at the end of each psalm in the services. This view is supported by some of the Greek and Syriac renderings of the term, and by Jacob of Consult: Jacob in ZeitEdessa and Jerome. schrift für alttestamentliche Wissenschaft, vol. xvi. (1896); C. A. Briggs in Journal of Biblical Literature, vol. xviii. (1899); E. C. Briggs in American Journal of Semitic Languages, vol. xvi. (1899).

SEL BORNE, LORD. See PALMER, Sir ROUN

DELL.

SEL BY. A river port in the West Riding of Yorkshire, England, on the Ouse, 20 miles east of Leeds (Map: England, E 3). An ancient Gothic cross adorns the market-place. The famous parish church, 306 feet long by 60 feet wide, was part of a Benedictine abbey founded by William the Conqueror in 1068. Population, in 1901, 7800. Consult Morrell, History of Selby (Selby, 1867).

SEL'DEN, JOHN (1584-1654). An English jurist and Orientalist. He was born near Worthing, in Sussex, studied at Hart Hall, Oxford, and studied law at the Inner Temple. In 1610 appeared his Janus Anglorum, Facies Altera (English translation, 1683), which dealt with the progress of English law down to Henry II.; and in 1614 was published his Titles of Honour. In 1623 he was elected member for Lancaster, and from this period til his death he took a considerable part in public affairs. In 1626 he took part in the impeachment of Buckingham; in 1627 he was counsel for Sir Edward Hampden in the celebrated Five Knights Case; in 1628 he played an important rôle in drawing up and passing the Petition of Right, and for his participation in the tumultuous closing scene of the Parliament of 1629 was committed to the Tower for two years. In 1640 he was chosen member for the University of Oxford. After the execution of Charles I. (of which it is certain he strongly disapproved), he took little share in public matters. The principal writings of Selden deal with ancient Hebrew law and include: De Successionibus in Bona Defuncti Secundum Leges Hebræorum (1634); De Successione in Pontificatum Hebræorum Libri Duo (Leyden, 1638); De June Naturali et Gentium Juxta Disciplinam Hebræorum (1640). His Mare Clausum (pub

lished in 1635, though written sixteen or seventeen years before) was a reply to Grotius's Mare Liberum. He left besides a great variety of posthumous works, of which the most famous, and also the most valuable, is his TableTalk, recorded and published by his amanuensis, Richard Milward, in 1689, and recently reprinted (London, 1868). Consult Johnson, Memoirs of John Selden (10 vols., London and New York, 1883-84).

VOL. XVII.-49.