Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XIV.djvu/778

This page needs to be proofread.

752 SEGOVIA Bednm Sieboldli. eastern coast. Several sednms are peculiar to the far west and the Pacific coast. About 125pecies in all are enumerated, some being only of botanical interest, while several are prized in cultivation. One, under the name of S. carneum variegatum, is a popular garden plant ; it is of low growth and has its small leaves edged with white ; nothing is known of its origin, and it has not produced flowers. The Japan sedum, S. specta- lile (called in the cata- logues S. Fabaria) is a fine species, 12 to 18 in. high, with rose-purple flowers in dense cymes, which are 6 in. across; it is especially valuable on account of blooming in September, when flowers of delicate tints are scarce. Another Ja- panese species is Sie- bold's sedum (S. Siebol- dii with slender stems, which soon become pros- trate, and nearly round leaves in whorls of three, of a fine glaucous green ; the terminal cymes of pink or purplish flowers open in October ; there is a variegated form in which the leaves are distinctly marked with yellowish white ; though perfectly hardy, both the plain and the variegated forms are seen to much better ad- vantage if grown as house plants, in a hang- ing pot or a vase. The sedums are easily mul- tiplied by dividing the clump or making cut- tings of the stems. 8EEBACH, Marie, a German actress, born in Riga, Feb. 24, 1835. She is the daughter of an actor, and was educated at Cologne for the opera. After appearing in minor parts in Nuremberg and Cassel, chiefly in vaudevilles, she became celebrated by her personation of Margaret in Goethe's Faust and of Clarchen in Egmont in Hamburg, Munich, Vienna, and Hanover. She performed chiefly at Hanover from 1856 to 1865, when she and her husband, the tenor singer Albert Niemann, removed to Berlin. She was afterward divorced, and in 1870-71 made a tour of the United States. SEELAND (Dan. Sjcelland), an island of Den- mark, bounded N. by the Cattegat, separated E. by the Sound from Sweden, S. by the Bal- tic from the islands of Moen, Falster, and Laa- land, and W. by the Great Belt and its con- tinuations from Langeland, Funen, and Samso ; length 81 m., greatest breadth 06 m. ; area, 2,721 sq. m. ; pop. in 1870, 560,510. It is irregular in shape and much indented by arms of the Baltic, and in the north an arm of the Cattegat extends far into the interior. The surface is generally flat. The soil is an ex- tremely fertile alluvium resting on beds of mussel shells and corallines. The chief pro- duct is grain. Extensive forests once covered the island, but timber is now scarce. The cli- mate is humid and milder than in other places in the same latitude. Frederiksborg, the new part of the city of Copenhagen, stands on this island, which together with Moen and Sams6 forms one of the main divisions of Denmark. SEELEY, John Robert, an English author, born in London about 1834. He is the son of a London publisher. He graduated at Christ Church, Cambridge, of which he became a fellow in 1858, was for several years principal classical assistant at the city of London school, was appointed in 1863 professor of Latin in University college, London, and in 1869 was made professor of modern history at Cam- bridge. In 1865 he published anonymously "Ecce Homo: The Life and Work of Jesus Christ." He has also published " Classical Studies, as an Introduction to the Moral Sci- ences," a lecture (1864); "An English Prim- er, or Course of English Instruction for Schools," with E. A. Abbott (London, 1869 ; republished in Boston under the title " Eng- lish Lessons for English People ") ; " Roman Imperialism" (Boston, 1869); "Lectures and Essays" (1870) ; and an edition of Livy. SEEMAM, BerthoM, a German naturalist, born in Hanover, Feb. 28, 1825, died in Nicaragua, Oct. 10, 1871. In 1846 he was appointed nat- uralist to an English expedition around the world, which returned to London in 1851. He explored the Feejee islands in 1860, and purchased a gold and silver mine in Nicaragua. His principal works are: "Narrative of the Voyage of II. M. S. Herald, and three Cruises to the Arctic Regions in search of Sir John Franklin" (London, 1852; German, 2 vols., Hanover, 1868) ; " Botanical Researches " (Lon- don, 1852-'7) ; "Popular History of the Palms " (1856); "Viti, an Account of a Government Mission to the Vitian or Fijian Islands" (1862) ; and "Dottings of the Roadside" (1868). SEGNERI, Paolo, an Italian orator, born at Nettuno in the Roman Campapna, March 21, 1624, died in Rome, Dec. 9, 1694. He early joined the order of Jesus, and labored as a missionary in Italy from 1665 to 1692, when he was appointed by Innocent XII. preacher to the papal court. His principal works are : a course of Lenten sermons entitled II Quare- simale (fol., Florence, 1679; 4to, Rome, 1752; 8 vols. 8vo, Padua, 1826) ; Tl Cristiano istruito (8 vols. 4to, Florence, 1686 ; French transla- tion, 5 vols., Avignon, 1836) ; II incredulo senza scum (Florence, 1690); Panegirici sagri (Venice, 1692); and Prediche dette nel palazzo apostolico (4to, Rome, 1694). Complete edi- tions were published at Venice (4 vols. 4to, 1712, 1758), Parma (3 vols. fol., 1714, with a life by Maffei), and Milan (3 vols. 8vo, 1837-'8). SEGOVIA. I. A central province of Spain, in Old Castile, bordering on Valladolid, Bur- gos, Soria, Guadalajara, Madrid, and Avila ; area, 2,714 sq. m. ; pop. in 1870, 150,812.