duced in the Middle Ages as a continuation of the Alleluia before the gospel in the mass, probably with the original idea of supplying words for the protracted series of notes known as neumes (q.v.). They were also known, especially in England and France, as proses, because the earlier ones were not metrical. Notker, a monk of Saint Gall, was the earliest great composer of them, and his work spread very widely throughout Europe; by 1500 his beautiful sequence for Whitsunday, "Veni sancte Spiritus," was adopted in at least 150 dioceses and religious Orders. Adam of Saint Victor is the principal figure in the second period. The sequences were principally used in the north of Europe; they are rare in Italian and Spanish missals, and the Cistercians and Carthusians never adopted them. In 1570 the revised Roman missal limited the number of sequences to five, including the "Stabat Mater," "Lauda Sion," and "Dies ira." As a term in the theory of music, a sequence denotes the frequent repetition of a musical phrase, each repetition ascending or descending by a certain interval. Although the older masters frequently made use of sequences, theorists were unable to explain their exact character. Fétis finally discovered that a sequence is a purely melodic, not a harmonic progression, and that therefore in this particular case the rules of strict harmony must be suspended. Consult: Daniel, Thesaurus Hymnologicus (Leipzig, 1844); Mone, Lateinische Hymnen des Mittelalters (Freiburg, 185355); Gautier, Histoire de la poésie liturgique (Paris, 1886).

SEQUESTRATION (Lat. sequestratio, from sequestrare, to surrender, lay aside, remove, from sequester, mediator, agent, probably from sequi, to follow). An equitable process directing a sheriff, or four or more commissioners, to seize and take possession of the property of a defendant, or person in contempt of court, and receive the rents and profits, if any, until some decree or order of the court is satisfied, or until litigation in regard to the property is determined. It was employed to enforce the payment of money damages, which are often granted as incidental to the main relief of a court of equity, and to enforce obedience to decrees of the court, where a person was in contempt. In a few States this process is still commonly employed for the above purposes, but in most jurisdictions the process of execution has superseded it, although, unless expressly abolished by statute, the courts of equity may still resort to it in the proper cases. See EQUITY; CONTEMPT; and the authorities there referred to.

SEQUIN (Fr. sequin, from It. zecchino, sequin, from zecca, Sp. zeca, seca, mint, from Ar. sikka, die for coins). A gold coin, first struck

at Venice toward the end of the thirteenth century. It was about the size of a ducat (q.v.), and equivalent to $2.33 American. Coins of the same name, but varying in value, were issued by

other States.

SEQUOIA (Neo-Lat., named in honor of Sequoya, or George Guess). A genus of coniferous trees closely allied to the cypress. Only two species persist, both in California. They are the big tree (Sequoia gigantea) and the redwood (q.v.) (Sequoia sempervirens). The former is the largest American forest tree and one of the largest in the world. The average height of the

trees is said to be about 275 feet, although specimens exceeding 320 feet, with a trunk diameter of 30 to 35 feet near the ground, have been measured. The trees are buttressed at base, so that they lose their diameter rapidly for a few feet after which they taper gradually and are frequently 100 to 150 feet without a branch. The wood is light, soft, coarse-grained, and durable, especially when in contact with the ground. The heart wood is red, turning darker upon exposure; the sap wood is thin and white. The bark of the tree is spongy and fluted, often two feet thick. The tree contains little resin and does not burn readily. The big tree is found only on the west side of the Sierra Nevadas, at elevations between 5000 and 7000 feet. It occurs in scattered groves along with other coniferous trees, in no place forming pure forests. These groves, of which there are about a dozen, occur from Placer to Tulare County, a distance of about 250 miles near the centre of the State. The Calaveras and Mariposa groves are the best known. The former contains about 100 trees of large size, and a considerable number of smaller ones. The tallest specimen now standing is the 'Keystone State,' which is 325 feet tall, and what is believed to be one of the finest specimens standing is the 'Empire State,' with a circumference of 94 feet. A fallen specimen known as the 'Father of the Forest' was broken in falling, but it is estimated as more than 400 feet tall. The Mariposa grove contains about 500 trees of all sizes, of which perhaps 100 are! ber of fine specimens large specimens. A num

are to be found in the State and National Forest Reserves, but the finest are upon private holdings. The discovery of the first of these big trees has been attrib uted to a hunter named Dowd in 1850, but it is claimed that John Bidwell actually visited the same grove, the Calaveras, in 1841, and to him should be given the credit of their discovery. The proper botanical name to be applied to this tree has been a subject of controversy. In England it is generally known under the name Wellingtonia gigantea, but as the tree does not differ from Sequoia the name was transferred to Sequoia gigantea. By some laws of nomenclature the name should be Sequoia Washingtoniana, but as the specific name gigantea is best known, it is here retained. The tree has been successfully grown in England and elsewhere. Some forest specimens are estimated to be from 1000 to 2000 years old.

SEQUOIA GIGANTEA.

The genus Sequoia appeared first in the Cretaceous beds of Atane, Greenland, and in the Potomac group of North America, and is represented by later species in the Tertiary of North America and Europe which are very similar to those remnant species now living in the Western United States. Still earlier ancestors were Lep

tostrobus and Swedenborgia of the Jurassic and Voltzia of the Triassic, all of which attained great size. See CONIFERE.

SEQUOYA, se-kwoi'ya, or GEORGE GUESS (e. 1760-1843). A Cherokee mixed blood, famous as the inventor of the Cherokee syllabary. He was born about the year 1760 and lived as a boy with his mother at the Cherokee town of Tuskegee, close to old Fort Loudon, in East Tennessee. As he grew up he became a hunter and fur trader, but also developed a considerable mechanical ingenuity, especially in the making of silver ornaments. He was led by a chance conversation in 1809 to reflect upon the ability of the whites to communicate thought by means of writing, with the result that he set about devising a similar system for his own people. For this purpose he made use of a number of characters which he found in an old spelling book, taking capitals, lower case, italics, and figures, and placing them right side up or inverted, without any idea of their sound or significance in English use. Having thus utilized about thirty-five ready-made characters, he obtained a dozen or more by modifying some of these originals, and then devised others from his own imagination to make a complete syllabary of eighty-five characters, capable of expressing every sound in the Cherokee language. By means of this invention anyone speaking the language can learn to read and write it perfectly in a few days. Since then the same principle has been utilized by missionaries for several other Indian languages, notably the Cree and Chippewyan. After years of patient labor in the face of ridicule, discouragement, and repeated failure, he finally perfected his invention, and in 1821 submitted it a public test by the leading men of the Cherokee Nation. Its great value was at once recognized, and within a few months thousands of hitherto illiterate Cherokee were able to read and write their own language. In the next year he visited the West, to introduce his system among those of the tribe who had removed to Arkansas. On a second visit in 1823 he decided to take up his permanent residence with the Western band. In 1839 Sequoya was instrumental in bringing about a union of feeling between the 'Old Settlers,' as the Arkansas band

to

was then known, and the body of the nation, which had just then removed from their original territory in the East. Consult: Foster, Sequo-yah, the American Cadmus and the Modern Moses (Ithaca, N. Y., 1885); Mooney, Myths of the Cherokee (Washington, 1900).

SERAGLIO, så-rä'lyd (It. serraglio, inclosure, seraglio, from ML. serraculum, spigot, Lat. seracula, little bolt, diminutive of sera, bolt, bar, from serare, to bind together, from serere, to bind, join; connected with Gk. elpe, eirein, Skt. sā, to bind; confused in meaning with Ar., Turk. sarai, from Pers. sarai, palace, inn, seraglio). The collection of buildings with surrounding grounds which formerly constituted the Imperial residence of the Sultan at Constantinople. It is situated on the easternmost of the seven hills of the city, between the Sea of Marmora, the Bosporus, and the Golden Horn, and is surrounded by a wall more than two miles in circumference. Mohammed II. began the erection of a palace on this location in 1468, and occupied it during a portion of the year. Solyman II. (1520-66) greatly

VOL. XVII.-51.

enlarged it and made it his habitual residence. Since 1839 it has not been occupied by the Sultan. and buildings and grounds are falling into decay. The Seraglio consists of two inclosures, an outer and inner; free access is allowed to the former, which constitutes nine-tenths of the whole. Among the buildings in the outer portion are several Imperial schools, a hospital, barracks, and the museum of Constantinople. Among the noteworthy structures of the inner portion are the Hall of the Divan, the Imperial Treasure House and Library, and the Bagdad Kiosk. Certain relics of the Prophet are kept here, among them the black mantle which he is said to have given to the poet Kaab. Annually on the fifteenth of Ramadan the Sultan comes in great state to render homage to this relic-the only time in the year at present when he visits the Seraglio or Stamboul. The Turks apply the name seraglio (or more properly serai) to any residence of the Sultan. In English it is often incorrectly confused with harem (q.v.). Consult Grosvenor, Constantinople (Boston, 1895), and for a description of the Seraglio in its greatest glory Tavernier, Voyage en Turquie, en Perse, et aux Indes (Paris, 1677-79).

SERAING, se-răN'. A town in the Province of Liège, Belgium, on the Meuse, four miles by rail southwest of Liège (Map: Belgium, D 4). It has a factory for the manufacture of steam machinery, locomotives, etc., which is probably the largest in the world. The town depends on these works for its prosperity, the company maintaining schools, hospital, orphan asylum, etc. In the vicinity are valuable coal mines, and one of the largest glass factories of Europe. Population, in 1900, 39,623.

SERAJEVO, sẽ-ri yě-vô,

or BOSNA-SERAI.

The capital of Bosnia, beautifully situated in the midst of gardens on both sides of the Miljačka, 122 miles southwest of Belgrade (Map: Austria, F 5). The river is here spanned by several fine stone bridges. The town has been greatly advanced by modern improvements. Noteworthy structures are the Catholic cathedral (1889); the large sixteenth-century Mosque of Husref Bey; the town hall; the Governor's residence; and the museum with a collection of antiquities. The picturesque ruins of the old castle, erected by the Hungarians in the thirteenth century, crown the height above the town. Serajevo has a Catholic seminary. The principal industry is the manufacture of metal ware. There are also dyeing and silk-weaving establishments, extensive potteries, a large brewery, and a Government tobacco factory. Serajevo is an important commercial entrepôt, and the immense bazaar is the centre of a very lively trade. It is connected by rail with the Austro-Hungarian railroad system. There are valuable iron mines and mineral baths. Population, in 1885, 26,268; in 1895, 41,173.

SERAMPUR, sĕr'ŭm-põõr', or SERAMPORE. A town in the Province of Bengal, India, 13 miles north of Calcutta, on the Hugli River (Map: India, E 4). It extends along the river front and is very picturesque. The most prominent feature is the Baptist College, occupying a site overlooking the river. It has a library with valuable manuscripts and a fine collection of portraits. Other objects of interest are the former residence of the Danish Governor, now the Gov

ernment building, and the old Danish church, with its memorial tablets to the early missionaries. Population, in 1901, 44,451. Serampur was a Danish possession, known as Fredericksnagar, until 1845, when it was ceded to the East India Company. It is noted as the centre of the Baptist missionary movement of the early years of the nineteenth century. Ward, Carey, Mack, and Marshman, the leaders of this movement, are buried here.

SERAO, sâ-rä'ô, MATILDA (1856-). One of the most prominent of modern Italian novelists,

born at Patras, Greece. She first wrote short sketches for the Neapolitan papers, and was for a time connected with the editorial staff of the Capitan Francassa. Later, with her husband, Edoardo Scarfoglio, she founded the Corriere di Roma (afterwards Corriere di Napoli), and in 1891 founded the Mattino. As a novelist she shows in her earlier work unmistakably the influence of the French realists, notably Zola, whose Ventre de Paris she follows in spirit as well as title in her Ventre di Napoli (1885). A good many of her books deal with the various phases of Neapolitan life. In her later novels she devotes herself to psychological problems, which she handles with much subtlety and power. Among her best works are: La conquista di Roma (1885); Vita e aventure di Riccardo Joanna; Il paese di Cuccagna (1891); Addio amore. In her more recent book, Al Paese di Gesú, she seems to have joined the neo-mystic school of which Fogazzaro is a leading representative in Italy. In 1901 Serao's Paese di cuccagna appeared in English translation as The Land of Cockayne, in the same year, The Ballet Dancer (La ballerina), and On Guard, Sentinel (All 'erte sentinella!), and in 1902 the La conquista di Roma under the title The Conquest of Rome.

SER'APE'UM (Lat., from Gk. Zeparetov, Serapeion, Zapametov, Sarapeion, from Zéparis, Serapis, Záparis, Sarapis). A name signifying a temple

of

the god Serapis (q.v.). Several such temples existed in Egypt, the most remarkable being the Serapeum of Alexandria, said to have been one of the grandest buildings in the world. It was built by Ptolemy I. in the suburb of Racotis on the site of an older temple, and was richly adorned with sculptures and paintings. The temple was burned down in the reign of Marcus Aurelius, but was soon rebuilt; it was finally destroyed, in A.D. 391, by Bishop The ophilus of Alexandria. The Serapeum of Memphis (q.v.), situated near the site of the modern village of Saqqara (q.v.), was the funerary temple of the sacred bull Apis. It consisted of an extensive group of buildings, with pylons, an inner and an outer court, and the usual appur; tenances of Egyptian temples, and was connected by an avenue of sphinxes with a small serapeum of the Greek period, before which stood eleven statues of Greek philosophers and poets arranged in a semicircle. Within the chambers of the Egyptian Serapeum was established a colony of hermits who lived in cells attached to the various chapels of the temple. A regularly organized monastic system prevailed among them, and there can be no doubt that they were the prototypes of the Christian monks and ascetics of a later period. Below the great temple were the subterranean tombs in which the mummies of the Apis bulls were deposited from the time of Amenophis

In

III., or perhaps earlier, down to the Roman period. The earlier tombs are square chambers, hewn in the rock, and they were connected by shafts with chapels standing above them. the nineteenth year of Rameses II. a subterranean gallery, about 110 yards long, was hewn out and flanked by some 40 chambers, each of which was walled up after receiving the remains of a sacred bull. In the reign of Psammetichus I. (q.v.) a new gallery was excavated upon a much more extensive scale, and additions were made to it from time to time by the Saitic and Ptolemaic

monarchs.

The Apis tombs were opened in 1851 by Mariette, who found some of the mummies still intact in the coffins in which they were buried. Among the many valu able relics found, the most instructive were the exact dates of birth, enthronement, and burial the Apis steles or small tablets recording of the sacred animals. chronological data of the utmost importance; These tablets furnish they are dated by the regnal years of the kings and they have thus served to determine with under whose rule the recorded events occurred, precision the duration of the reigns of many Pharaohs, and the order in which they succeeded each other. Consult: Mariette, Mémoire sur la mère d'Apis (Paris, 1856); id., Le Sérapéum de Memphis (ib. 1857); Wiedemann, Aegyptische Geschichte (Gotha, 1884-88); id., Religion of the Ancient Egyptians, translated (New York, 1897); Budge, A History of Egypt (ib., 1902). SERAPH (Heb. sārāph, pl. sĕrāphim). An order of celestial beings mentioned only once in From the description the Bible (Is. vi. 2-6).

rea

re

there given it would appear that they were con ceived as human in form, having hands, faces, and feet, but having also wings. Of these they had six, or three pairs, with one pair covering their faces, with a second their feet, and flying with the third pair. They are ranged opposite each other and proclaim the holiness of Yahweh. They also carry out His commands. The origin of the word as well as of the idea is still a matter of conjecture. The word is rendered by Jewish commentators 'the brilliant ones,' but other scholars propose the lofty ones'; still others would change the text, reading shĕrāthim for seraphim, and translate 'ministering ones.' So radical a procedure, however, is not called for, and since the underlying stem sāraph signi fies to consume with fire, it seems sonable to connect with the seraphim the notion of purification by fire and to gard them as the agents who bring about such purification—which as a matter of fact is the function assigned to them in Isaiah's vision (Is. vi. 6-8). There is evidently some relationship also between Isaiah's seraphim and the 'fiery serpent' (sārāph) referred to in Num. xxi. 6 and Deut. viii. 15 (cf. Is. xiv. 29; xxx. 6), which bites the Israelites in the desert. This seraph appears to have been originally a personification of the serpent-like lightning. The popular notion is transferred by the Prophet into the spiritual realm, and in this transfer all traces of the serpentine form disappear. A factor in bringing about this transfer may have been the Egyptian conceptions of winged griffins-called in Demotic texts serb-who act as guardians of tombs and temples. It is to be noted that winged men and beasts appear also on the Assyrian monuments. See CHERUB.