794 SEWELL SEWERAGE Quincy Adams in a popular form, which had an immense sale. He also wrote a biography of De.Witt Clinton, an abstract of which he prepared for this Cyclopaedia. " The Works of William H. Seward " (4 vols. 8vo, New York, 1853-'62) include a biographical memoir and historical notes, edited by George E. Baker. Most of his public orations have been printed separately ; the latest is " Speech at Sitka, Aug. 12, 1869." See also "Review of Mr. Seward's Correspondence of 1862," by Wil- liam B. Reed (Philadelphia, 1862).; " The Life, Character, and Services of William H. Sew- ard," a memorial address before the New York legislature, April 18, 1873, by Charles Francis Adams (New York, 1873); and "Lincoln and Seward," remarks on Mr. Adams's address, by Gideon Welles (New York, 1874). SEWELL. I. William, an English clergyman, born in the isle of Wight about 1805, died at Leachford hall, near Manchester, Nov. 14, 1874. He was the son of a solicitor, was educated at Harrow and Oxford, and became fellow of Exeter college and incumbent of Carisbrook castle chapel, isle of Wight. He was public examiner in the university from 1886 to 1841, and in 1852 was appointed principal of St. Po- ter'a college at Radley. He was a supporter of the tractarian movement. He published " Hora Philologica " and " Conjectures on the Struc- ture of the Greek Language" (1830); " Sacred Thoughts in Verse" (1881 ; 2d ed., 1842); "Pa- rochial Sermons" (1832); "Christian Morals" (1840; new ed., 1849); "Introduction to the Dialogues of Plato" (1841); "Christian Poli- tics" (1844); "The Agamemnon of ^Eschylus," translated (1846); literal and rhythmical trans- lations of "The Georgics of Virgil" (1846) and " The Odes and Epodes of Horace " (1860) ; and "Christian Vestiges of Creation" (1861). II. Elizabeth Missing, an English authoress, sister of the preceding, born in the isle of Wight in 1815. Her first publication was "Amy Her- bert " (1844), a high church religious novel. Among her later works are : " Gertrude " (1847); "Experience of Life" and "Journal of a Summer Tour on the Continent" (1862); " Katherine Ashton " (1854) ; " Ivors " (1856) ; "Ursula, a Tale of Country Life," "Clove Hall," " Earl's Daughter," and " Margaret Percival " (1858) ; " History of the Early Church " (1859) ; " Impressions of Rome, Florence, and Turin" (1862); "Isabel Grey" and "The Poor Brother" (1863); "Homely Ballads and Stories in Verse" (1865); "Rose of Cheriton, a Ballad " (1866) ; and several religious works and histories of Greece and Rome for the young. SEWELLEL, a North American rodent of the genus aplodontia (Rich.), so called from the simple structure of the molars, apparently con- necting the beaver with the squirrels through the spermophiles. It resembles the prairie dogs in the hairy and obtuse nose, fore feet with five claws, distinct ears, very short tail, and the flattened outline of the skull ; but the rootless molars and the absence of post-orbi- tal process bring it near the beaver. The fore claws are much larger than the hind ones, Sewellel (Aplodontia leporina). even the short thumb having one; the soles and heels naked ; the mouth is rather small, the lips thick, and cheek pouches absent ; the incisors are strong, flat, without grooves, and yellow, and the molars |-i|, prismatic, the an- terior very small ; the bony orbits very large, and the cranial cavity small ; the descending branch of the lower jaw is twisted so as to be horizontal behindhand its lower angles are extended inward as far as the molars, the whole jaw being very strong. The only de- scribed species of the genus is the A. leporina (Rich.), about the size of a muskrat, with a short, thick, and heavy body ; the color is red- dish brown, grayish plumbeous below ; the eyes are very small, the whiskers long and stiff, the ears rounded and covered with hair, and the tail much flattened ; the fur is denso and soft, with longer bristly dark hairs inter- spersed ; the limbs are short and robust ; mam- mae six, the interior two between the fore legs; the length is 16 in., of which the head I is 3| in. and the tail H in- It is found on the N. W. coast, in Washington territory, in I Oregon, and in California, in timber lands near j the coast. They form small societies, living in burrows, and feeding on vegetables; the na- tives make robes of the skins. SEWERAGE, a system of drainage under the streets of towns for carrying off the surface waters and the liquid refuse matters from houses. The necessity of underground chan- nels of this character to the comfort and health of thickly populated places was well under- stood by the ancient Romans, who at a very early period adopted a regular system of drain- age in their famous sewers. (See CLOAOJI.) These included not merely the spacious sub- terranean vaults by which the drainage of the pestilential marshes about the city was effected, but also the wooden pipes, clay tubes, or drains of whatever kind by which the im- purities were conveyed from the houses into the main conduits. An elaborate system of sewerage has recently been discovered in con-
Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XIV.djvu/820
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