and has considerable industrial importance. Repair shops of the Southern Railway, cotton mills and cotton gins, a large grist mill, and manufactories of cottonseed oil, engines and boilers, machinery, wagons, bricks, and boxes are among the leading establishments. The government, under the revised charter of 1900, is vested in a mayor and a unicameral council. Selma was settled in 1823. During the Civil War it was an important military depot for the Confederate army. On April 2, 1865, after a sharp engagement, the garrison surrendered to a Federal army under General J. H. Wilson. Population, 1890, 7622; 1900, 8713.
SELOUS, se-lōō′, Frederick Courteney (1851— ). An English hunter and explorer in South Africa. In 1871 he went to South Africa, where, for nineteen years, he was almost continuously in the field, hunting chiefly elephants and earning his living by selling ivory and natural history collections. In 1890 he piloted the pioneer expedition of the British South Africa Company through Mashonaland and he was prominent in the events that brought about the occupancy of all the large territory north of the South African Republic. In 1893 he participated in the first Matabele war. After that time he lived in Surrey, England. His publications are: A Hunter's Wanderings in Africa (1881); Travel and Adventure in Southeast Africa (1893); Sunshine and Storm in Rhodesia (1896); Sport and Travel, East and West (1900); and various contributions to geographical periodicals.
SELTERS WATER. A mineral water obtained at Selters, near Limburg, in Nassau, Germany. The spring has long been known, and has a high reputation for its medicinal qualities, being recommended as a beverage in chronic disorders of the digestive and respiratory organs. It is a sparkling alkaline water containing sodium carbonate and common salt. A mineral water of similar composition to the original is now extensively manufactured in Europe and in the United States.
SELUNGS′. The inhabitants of the Mergui Archipelago in the eastern part of the Bay of Bengal, off the coast of Tenasserim; a primitive, seafaring people of doubtful ethnological relations. They are probably a branch of the Indonesian race. Consult Anderson, The Selungs (London, 1890).
SELWYN, sĕl′wĭn, Alfred Richard Cecil (1824— ). An English geologist. He was born at Kilmington, Eng., was educated chiefly by private tutors in England and Switzerland, and in 1845 was appointed assistant geologist on the Geological Survey of Great Britain. From 1852 to 1869 he was director of the Geological Survey of Victoria, Australia. He also made a special study of the coal and gold fields of Tasmania and South Australia, and in 1850 was a Victorian commissioner of mines. He was director of the Canada Geological Survey from 1869 to 1895, when he was retired and pensioned. In 1896 he was president of the Royal Society of Canada. He published large contributions to the Geological and Natural History Survey of Canada (19 vols., 1869-94), of which work he was the editor.
SELWYN, George Augustus (1719-91). An English wit. From his mother, a woman of the bedchamber to Queen Caroline, described as “of much vivacity and pretty,” he seems to have derived his wit. He studied at Eton with Gray and Walpole, and thence proceeded to Hart Hall, Oxford, from which, after very irregular attendance, he withdrew without a degree, to escape expulsion for drinking from a chalice at a wine party (1745). In 1747 he entered Parliament, where he sat, a silent member usually asleep, till 1780. In the meantime he had succeeded to the family estates (1751), and had obtained several sinecures, as registrar of the Court of Chancery in Barbados and surveyor-general of the works. He became a member of the leading London clubs, where he was known as “Bosky.” Many witticisms have been fathered upon Selwyn, some of which are probably not authentic. Selwyn's jokes have long since lost their piquancy. The man and the manner made them. One may be cited. When Lord Forley crossed over the Channel to escape his creditors, Selwyn remarked that it was “a passover not much relished by the Jews.” A peculiar trait of the humorist was a passion for witnessing executions of famous criminals. He died in London. Consult: J. H. Jesse, Selwyn and His Contemporaries (London, 1843; new ed., 1882); and Roscoe and Clergue, Selwyn, His Letters and His Life (ib., 1899).
SELWYN, George Augustus (1809-78). A missionary and bishop of the Church of England, born at Church Row, Hampstead. He took his degree at Saint John's College, Cambridge, in 1831, was ordained deacon in 1833, and became curate at Windsor. In 1841 he was consecrated Bishop of New Zealand, and labored there till 1867, when he became Bishop of Lichfield. He displayed great ability as an organizer, both in the mission field and at home. Selwyn College, Cambridge, was erected in his memory in 1882 by popular subscription. His works include: Are Cathedral Institutions Useless? (1838); Letters to the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, etc. (1884); Verbal Analysis of the Holy Bible (1855). For his life consult Tucker (London, 1879).
SELWYN COLLEGE. See Cambridge, University of.
SEMANG′, or Mendi. One of the aboriginal peoples of the Malay Peninsula, inhabiting Northern Perak, Kedah, Rahman, Ranga, and Kelantan. They are short-statured and darker than the Sakai (q.v.). from whom they are also distinguished by their curly hair. The advance of the Malays and the intrusions of Siamese and Europeans, with the ever-present Chinese, are driving these aborigines farther into the interior.
SEMANTICS. That portion of linguistic science which treats of the development of signification of words. See Philology; Semasiology.
SEM′APHORE. A town of the County of Adelaide, South Australia, 10 miles by rail northwest of Adelaide. It is a well-known bathing resort. Population, in 1901, about 8000.
SEMAPHORE. See Signaling and Telegraphy, Military; Signals, Marine; Block Signals; Storm and Weather Signals.
SEMASIOLOGY (from Gk. σημασία, sēmasia, signification + -λογία, logia, account, from λέγειν, legein, to say), or Semantics. The study which treats of the meanings of words and the devel-
