SER
560
SER
who ran neither sing nor say ; frogs in Seriphus being said to bedumb.
SERIPHIUM, in botany, a genus of plants belonging to theorder inouogatnia, and class syngenesis. Calyx imbricated ; co-rolla one-petaled, regular, with one oblong seed under it. It hasfour species.
SERIPHOS, or SERIPHUS , in ancient geography, one ofthe Cyclades or islands in the ASgean sea, called Saxum Seriphiumby Tacitus , as if all'a rock, it w as one of the usual places ofbanishment among the Romans.
SERKEiSK, a town of Russia, in the province of Kaluga ; 44miles W. S. W. of Kaluga .
SERMIONE, orSLRMIO, a peninsula of Italy , in the de-partment of the Mincio', and late Veronese.
SERON, in commerce, a weight of 2, 3, or 4 cwt. as appliedto different commodities; Thus a seron of almonds is two cwt.of anise-seed from 3 to 4 cwt. and of Castile Soap, from 2f to 3J cwt.
SERONGE, a town of Hindoostan, in Malwa ; 132 milesN. E. of Ougein, and 192 S. of Agra. Lon. 78.4. E. Lat. 24. 5. N.
SERPA, a strong town of Portugal, in Alentejo , 3 miles fromthe Guadiatia ; 12 S. W. of Mourao ; and S3 S. E. of Lisbon .Lon. 7. 45. W. Lat. 37. 47. N.
SERPENS, in astronomy, a constellation in the northernhemisphere, called also Serpens Ophiuclii. See Astronomy.
Serpens, the Serpent, in the Linnsean system of zoology, anorder of animals belonging to the class of amphibia, and comprehending seven genera, viz Achrochordus, Crotalus , or Rat-tle-Snake ; Boa; Coluber, pr Viper; Auguis, or Snake;AMPHisBiENA, or Annulated Snake ; and Ciecilia, or Ten-taculated Snake, the body and tail of which are wrinkled,without scales, and the upper part furnished witli two feelers. Seethese articles. The characters of serpents are these: They areamphibious animals, breathing through the mouth by meansof lungs only ; having a tapering body, no distinct neck ; thejaws not articulated, but dilatable, and destitute of feet, fins, andears.
Serpent, a musical instrument, serving as a bass to the cornet,or small shawn, to sustain a chorus of singers in a large edifice.It has its name from its figure, as consisting of several folds orwreaths which serve to reduce its length, which would otherwise besix or seven feet.
SERPENTARILTS, in astronomy, a constellation of thenorthern hemisphere, called also Ophiuchus , and anciently Aescu-lapius. See Astronomy.
SERPENTIN E. In the manege, a horse is said to have a ser-pentine tongue, if it is always frisking and moving, and sometimespassing over the bit, instead of keeping in the void space, calledthe liberty of (he tongue.
Serpentine, a mineral found in amorphous masses, formingstrata, and even entire mountains. Its fracture is splintery, some-times conchoidal. Specific gravity 2.57 to 2.71 ; feels soft and al-most greasy ; generally emits an earthy smell when breathed on.Its colours are various shades of green, yellow, red, grey, brown,and blue: commonly one or two colours form the ground, andone or more appear in spots or veins. Before the blowpipe ithardens, but does not melt.
SERPIIO, an island in the Grecian Archipelago , about 36miles in circumference, anciently called Seriphus .
SERPIGO, in surgery, is a kind of herpes, popularly called atetter, or ring-worm. See Surgery.
SERPUCHOV, a town of Russia, in Moscow ; 40 miles S. of
M oscow.
SERRATED, a term much used in the description of theleaves of plants. See Botany .
SERRATULA, Saw-wort; in botany, a genus of plants be-longing to the class syngenesis, ami order polygamia atqualis ; na-tural order, Composite. Calyx subcylindrical, imbricate ; scalespointed, but not pinous. There are 20 species.
SERRATUS, in anatomy, a name given to several muscles,from their resemblance to a saw. See Anatomy.
SERRES, a town of European Turkey . Lon. 22. 40. E. Lat.40. 54. N.
SERRUPALPUS, in natural history, a genus of insects of theorder coleoptera. Antennae setaceous; four feelers unequal; theanterior ones longer, deeply serrate, composed of four joints, the
last joint very large, truncate, compressed, patelliform ; the pos-terior one subclavate ; thorax margined, concealing the head, witha prominent angle on each side ; head deflected; feet formed fordigging. There are two species, viz. S. striatus, which is of abrown colour, with striated sheds, found in autumn in old build-ings, and S. lxvigatus, which is black and smooth.
SERTULARIA, in natural history, a genus of the vermes zoo-phyta class and order : animal growing in the form of a plant; stembranched, producing polypes, from cup-shaped denticles or minutecells. Nearly 80 species have been enumerated.
SERVANT, a term of relation, signifying a person who owesand pays obedience for a certain time to another in quality of amaster. See Master, Apprentice, and Liberty.
SERVERETTE, a town of France , in the department of Lo-zere ; 1\ miles S. S. E. of St. Chely, and twelve N. N. W. ofMende.
SERVETISTS, a name given to the modern Antilrinitarians,from their being the followers of Michael Servetus .
SER.VETUS, Michael, M. D. a learned Spanish physician,horn at Villaneiiva, in Arragon, in 1509. He was brought up anadvocate at Toulouse ; but afterwards studied physic at Paris,where he took his doctor’s degree. Having embraced the Ariandoctrine lie held a correspondence with Calvin on the subject,and many letters passed between them which only irritated themagainst each other. Servetus, who was settled at Vienne , in Dan-phiny, published a book in favour of his notions intituled, Christi-anismi Restitutio, but he avoided putting his name to it. The au-thor, however, was discovered by Calvin, who gave information ofit to the magistrates at Vienne, by whom Servetus was banished,and his effigy and hook burnt at the gallows. He then formed thedesign ot going to Naples to practise as a physician, but impru-dently passing through Geneva , in disguise, he was discovered byCalvin, by whose means he was apprehended ; and having refusedto recant his opinions was cruelly burnt alive the 27th of October1553. He wrote several books on the Trinity, a translation ofPtolemy’s Geography , and some medical treatises. In one ofthem lie says, “ that the mass of blood passes through the lungs bymeans of the pulmonic veins and arteries,” from which generalassertion some writers have ascribed to him the discovery of thecirculation of the blood.
SERVIA, a province of Turkey in Europe , bounded on the N.by the rivers Danube and Save, which separate ft from Hungary ;on the E. by Bulgaria; S. by Albania and Macedonia , and W. byBosnia and Dalmatia .
SERVICE, in law, is a duty which a tenant, on account of hisfee, owes to his lord. There are many divisions of services; as,1. Into personal, where something is to be done by the tenant inperson, as homage and fealty. 2. Real, such as wards, marriages,&c. 3. Accidental, including lieriots, reliefs, and the like. 4-
Entire, where, on the alienation of any part of the lands by atenant, the services become multiplied. 5. Frank-serviee, which wasperformed by freemen, who were not obliged to perform any baseservice, but only to find a man and horse to attend the lord intothe army or to court. 6. Knight’s service, by which lands wereanciently held of the king, on paying homage, service in war, See.
Service, in domestic occonomy. As in every free and wellregulated society there must be a great number of persons em-ployed in service, both in agriculture and domestic affairs, in thiscountry, service is a contract into which the servant voluntarilyenters ; and the master’s authority extends no farther than to theperformance of that species of labour for which the agreement wasmade. Mr. Paley has some judicious remarks on this subject, inhis Moral and Political Philos, p. 139.
Service, Choral , in church-history, denotes that part of re-ligious worship which consists in chanting and singing.
SERVITES, a religious order in the church ot Rome , foundedabont 1233, by seven Florentine merchants, who, with the approrbation of the bishop of Florence, renounced the world, and livedtogether in a religious community on mount Senar, two leaguesfrom (hat citv.
SERVITOR, in the university of Oxford, a student who attendson another for his maintenance and learning. See Sizar.
SERVI TUDE, the condition of a servant, or rather slave.Under the declension of the Roman, empire, a new kind of servi-tude was introduced, different from that of the ancient Romans 5
it