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mixture is called meslin, and was formerly a very common crop insome parts of Britain .

S. CreticuM, the Cretan Rye, has glumes fringed on theoutside.

S. Orientals, the Oriental Rye, has shaggy glumes, andthe scales of the calyx are shaped like an awl.

S. Villosum, the Wood-Rye-Grass, has a calyx with wedge-shaped scales, and the fringe of the glume is woolly. See Hus-bandry.

SECANDRA, or TSECANDER, a city of India, in Agra , 42miles N. E. of Agra . Lon. 79. 10. E. Lat. 27. 5. N.

SECANT, in geometry, is a line that cuts another, or divides itinto two parts. (Plate CLVII. fig. 12.) Thus the line AM is asecant of the circle AED, Ac. as it cuts it in B. It is demonstratedby geometricians, 1. That if several secants MA, MN , ME, &c. hedrawn from the same point Mj that passing through the centre MAis the greatest, and the rest are all so much the less as they aremore remote from the centre. On the contrary, the portionsthereof without the circle MD, MO, MB, are so much the greateras they are farther from the centre. 2. That if two secants, M Aand M E be drawn from the same point M, the secant M A will beto ME, as MD to MB. See Geometry . In trigonometry,the secant denotes a right line drawn from the centre of a circle,which cutting the circumference, proceeds till it meets with atangent to the same circle: thus the line FC, (fig. 13,) drawn fromthe centre C till it meet the tangent EF, is called a secant; andparticularly the secant of the arch AE to which EF is a tangent.See Trigonometry.

Secants, Line of, one of those lines, or scales, which are usually-put upon sectors. See Sector.

SECEDERS, in church-history, a numerous body of Presby-terians in Scotland , who.have withdrawn from the communion ofthe established church.

SECI1ES, an island in the North Pacific Ocean , near the coastofVeragua. Lon. 65. 5. W. Ferro. Lat. 8. 20. N.

SECFHUM, in botany, a genus of the syngenesia order, andmoncecia class of plants; natural order, Cucurbitacea:. Calyxhalf-five-cleft, corolla five-cleft, with ten hollows in the upper partof the tube; nectary: male, filaments five, connected: female,stigma very large, peltate reflexed, five-cleft; pericarpium large,ovate, turbinate, one-seeded. There is only one species, viz. S.edule, chocho vine. It is a native of the West Indies ; floweringand fruiting in December.

SEC Id UR A, a town of Peru , in the bishopric of Truxillo.It is thirty miles S. S. E. of Payta , and 180 N. N. W. ofTruxillo.

Sechura, a sandy desert of Peru , about 90 miles in extent, sofull of loose flying sand, that the most experienced guides are of-ten in danger of losing their way in it.

SECKER, Thomas, a learned and pious prelate, was born atSibthorpe, in Nottinghamshire , in 1693. He was educated atTewksbury under the learned Mr. Jones with a view to the minis-try among the dissenters; but in 1716 he went to Leyden, wherehe studied physic, and took his degree in that faculty. After hisreturn to Flngland he entered himself of Exeter college, Oxford ,and proceeded to the degree of doctor of laws. On entering intoorders he becamechaplain to bishop Talbot, and inl733 was institu-ted to the rectory of St. James, Westminster. The year following hewas consecrated bishop of Bristol, and in 1737 translated to Ox-ford . In 1750 he obtained the deanry of St. Paul’s, and in 1758was advanced to the archbishopric of Canterbury . Fie died in1768. The sermons, charges, and lectures, of this excellent pre-late are distinguished by their perspicuity and eloquence.

SECOND, in geometry, chronology, &c. is the 60th part of aprime, whether of a degree or of an hour.

Second, in music, one of the musical intervals; being only thedifference between any sound and the next nearest sound, whetherabove or below it. See Interval, and Music.

Second Sight, [in Erse taisdi,] is a mode of seeing super-added to that which nature generally bestows. This gilt or fa-culty, which is neither voluntary nor constant, is in general rathertroublesome, than agreeable, to the possessors of it, who are chieflyfound among the inhabitants of the Highlands of Scotland , those ofthe Western Isles, of the Isle of Man, and of Ireland . It is an im-pression made either by the mind upon the eye, or by the eye upon

the mind, by which tilings distant or future are perceived, andseen as if they were present. A man on a journey far from homefalls from his horse ; another, who is perhaps at work about thehouse, sees him bleeding on the ground, commonly with a land-scape of the place where the accident befals him. Another seer,driving home his cattle, or wanderng in idleness,' or musing in thesunshine, is suddenly surprised by the appearance of a bridal cere-mony, or funeral procession, and counts the mourners or attend-ants, of whom, if he knows them, he relates the names; if heknows them not, he can describe the dresses. Things distant areseen at the instant when they happen. Of things future, Johnsonsays that he knows no rule prettnded to for determining the timebetween the sight and the event; but we are informed by Mr.Grose, that in general the time of accomplishment bears some re-lation to the time of the day in which the impressions are received.Thus visions seen early in the morning (which seldom happens)will be much sooner accomplished than those appearing at noon ;and those seen at noon will take place in a much shorter time thanthose happening at night; sometimes the accomplishment of thelast does not fall out within a year or more. These visions are notconfined to solemn or important events; nor is it true, as is com-monly reported, that to the second sight nothing is presented butphantoms of evil. The future visit of a mountebank, or piper;a plentiful draught of fish ; the arrival of common travellers; or,if possible, still more trifling matters than these,—are foreseen bythe seers. A gentleman told Dr. Johnson, that when he hadonce gone far from his own island one of his labouring servantspredicted his return, and described the livery of his attendant,which he had never worn at home; and which had been, withoutany previous design, occasionally given him. Many hypotheseshave been invented to account for the most singular gift of secondsight said to be possessed by many of the Highlanders; but theyhave all been insufficient for the purpose intended; and the moreespecially so, as the numerous cases of undoubted authority, whichhave been foretold with astonishing minuteness, have entirely ren-dered this phenomenon unaccountable by means of the com-plicated laws in the doctrine of chances. "And to say that everyinstance of second sight recorded in history is an imposition uponthe public, because it cannot be comprehended, would betray agreat want of candour, and be a gross impeachment of the veracityof many respectable members of society.

SECONDARY, in general, an epithet applied to somethingthat acts as second, or in subordination to another. Secondary cir-cles of the sphere, are circles passing through the poles of somegreat circle : thus the meridians and hour-circles are secondariesto the equinoctial.

SECRETARY, in a public office, is an officer who, by hismaster’s orders, writes letters, dispatches, and other instruments,which he renders authentic by bis signet. Of these there areseveral kinds:. as,

Secretaries of State, are officers that have under theirmanagement and direction the most important affairs of the king-dom, and are obliged constantly to attend on the king; they re-ceive and dispatch whatever comes to their hands, either from thecrown, the church, the army, private grants, pardons, dispensations,&c. as likewise petitions to the sovereign, which, when read, arereturned to them ; all which they dispatch according to the king’sdirection. They have authority to commit persons for treason,and other offences against the state, as conservators of the peace atcommon law, or as justices of the peace throughout the kingdom.They are members of the privy council, which is seldom or neverheld without one of them being present.

Secretary of an Embassy, a person attending an ambassa-dor, for writing dispatches relating to the negociation. There is agreat difference between the secretary of an embassy and theambassador’s secretary; the last being a domestic or menial ofthe ambassador, and the first a servant or minister of theprince.

Secretary of War, an officer of the war-office, who has twochief clerks under him, the last of which is the secretary’smessenger. There are also secretaries in most of the otheroffices.

SECRETION , [seerctio, Lat.[| in the animal-ceconomy, theseparation of some fluid mixed with the blood by means of theglands. See the article Gland . In the bodies of animals we ob-serve