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SCULPERS-SCUTARI.

general style of ornamentation, though altogether destitute of the peculiar Scottish symbols. On some of them are Runic inscriptions. One inscription on a Manx cross indicates that Gaut (probably a Norwegian) made this cross and all on Man. Another is to the effect that erected this cross to his father Ufag, but Gaut Bjornson made it. Professor Munch, from the character of the Runes on these crosses, assigns them for date the middle or end of the 11th century. See RUNES.

A hundred and fifty of the sculptured stones of Scotland have been carefully engraved and described in a very valuable work contributed to the Spalding Club by Mr John Stuart. Some of those belonging to the county of Angus had been previously illustrated by the late Mr Chalmers of Auldbar, in a volume forming one of the Bannatyne Club series.

SCUPPERS are holes, lined with lead, in a ship's side, intended to carry off rain or other water which may be shipped.

SCURVY, or SCORBUTUS, is a disease which is characterised by a depraved condition of the blood. In consequence of this morbid state of the blood, there is great debility of the system at large, with a tendency to congestion, hæmorrhage, &c., in various parts of the body, and especially in the gums. It is a disease that has probably existed from the earliest times, but the first distinct account of it is contained in the history of the crusade of Louis IX., in the 13th c., against the Saracens of Egypt, during which the French army suffered greatly from it. In the 16th c. it prevailed endemically in various parts of the north of Europe, and it seems only to have abated about a century ago. It was in badlyfed armies, in besieged cities, and on board ship, that its ravages were most appalling, and it is believed that more seamen perished from scurvy alone than from all other causes combined, whether sickness, tempest, or battle. Whole crews were prostrated by this scourge, as in the well-known case of Lord Anson's memorable voyage.

Scurvy so closely resembles purpura in its general symptoms that it will be sufficient for us to refer to the article on that disease, and here merely to indicate the leading points of difference between the two diseases, which, notwithstanding their similarity, are essentially different. Scurvy is caused by a privation, for a considerable time, of fresh succulent vegetables, while purpura often makes its appearance when there has been no deficiency of this food, or special abstinence from it. Scurvy is most common in winter or the early spring, while summer and autumn are the seasons for purpura. In scurvy the gums are invariably swelled and spongy, and bleed readily; in purpura this is not necessarily the

case.

In scurvy there is extreme debility and depression of spirits, venesection and mercury do positive harm, while a cure is rapidly effected by the administration of lemon-juice, or of fresh fruits and vegetables; whereas in purpura there is little or no mental or bodily depression, venesection and mercury often give relief, while no marked and certain relief follows the administration of the lemon-juice and fruits that are all powerful in

scurvy.

Although the virtues of lemon-juice in scurvy were known in Great Britain as far back as 1636, when John Woodhall, Master in Surgery, published The Surgeon's Mate, or Military and Domestic Medicine, this invaluable medicine was not made an essential element of nautical diet till 1795. The effect of this official act may be estimated from the following numbers. In 1780 the number of cases of scurvy received into Haslar Hospital (a purely naval hospital) was 1457, while in 1806 there was

only one case, and in 1807 only one case. Many naval surgeons of the present day have never seen a case of the disease. The potato possesses almost equally great antiscorbutic properties, and, fortunately, potatoes when cooked are as active as when taken raw. The late Dr Baly, to whom we are indebted for this discovery, states that 'in several prisons the occurrence of scurvy has wholly ceased on the addition of a few pounds of potatoes being made to the weekly dietary.' The salutary action of potatoes is probably owing to their containing a considerable amount of tartaric acid, partly in combination with potash and lime, and partly free. In addition to the dietetic treatment, which should include easily-digested animal food, potatoes, such ripe fruits as can be procured, and an abundance of lemonade, little further need be prescribed. If necessary, constipation must be relieved the appetite may be stimulated by bitter tonics, and by mild laxatives, such as rhubarb and castor-oil; opiates given to procure rest in cases of pain or obstinate wakefulness. When the gums are very troublesome, solutions of tannin, chloride of lime, or of nitrate of silver, may be applied to them. For an excellent account of this disease, the reader is referred to the article 'Scurvy' by Dr Budd, in The Library of Practical Medicine.

the

SCURVY-GRASS (Cochlearia), a genus of plants of the natural order Cruciferæ, having small white flowers, and turgid many-seeded pouches; cotyledons accumbent. The species are annual or biennial, rarely perennial, plants; of humble growth, with branched smooth stems, smooth simple leaves, and terminal racemes of flowers. They have an acrid biting taste, containing the same pungent volatile oil which is found in horse-radish, and are valued for their antiscorbutic properties. COMMON S. (C. officinalis) is sometimes a foot high; the rootleaves are stalked and heart-shaped; the pouches globose, ovate, or elliptical. It is a variable plant, and some of the other species described by botanists are probably not essentially different. They possess the same properties. S. is very common on the shores of Britain, growing both on rocks where there is little soil, and in muddy places. It is also found on high mountains. It is a very widelydistributed plant, and being found on the shores of almost all parts of the world, has often been of the greatest benefit to sailors, in times when the modern precautions against sea scurvy were

known.

un

SCU'TAGE, or ESCUAGE (Lat. scutum, shield), a pecuniary fine or tax sometimes levied by the crown, in feudal times, as a substitute for the personal service of the vassal. No scutage seems at any time to have been levied in Scotland.

SCU'TARI (Italian or Levantine form of the Turkish Usküdar), a town of Asiatic Turkey, on the eastern shore of the Bosporus, immediately opposite Constantinople, of which it may be considered a suburb. It is built on the sides and summit of a hill, sloping irregularly upwards from the water's edge, and bears, both externally and internally, a great resemblance to the Turkishı capital. It contains several mosques, bazaars, and baths, a college of howling dervishes, manufactories of silks and cotton fabrics, corn warehouses, and imarets or kitchens for the poor. It has long been famed for its extensive cemeteries, adorned with magnificent cypresses, the chosen resting-place of many of the Turks of Constantinople, from attachment to the sacred soil of Asia, and the tradıtionary belief that their race will one day be driven out of Europe. The population is variously estimated at from 40,000 to 60,000, or even 100,000. S. has

SCUTARI-SEA.

of late years acquired great notoriety in connection probably taking advantage of the poetic licence to with the English army during the Russian War exaggerate the danger of the navigation, although (1854-1856), when the enormous barracks built it is not improbable that the whirlpool may have by Sultan Mahmud, on the southern outskirts of the changed its situation since his days. The myth town, were occupied as barracks and hospital by connected with it is, that under a large fig-tree, the English troops, and formed the scene of Miss which grew out of a rock opposite Scylla, dwelt the Nightingale's labours. A little to the south of the monster Charybdis, who thrice every day sucked General Hospital, on the cliffs bordering the Sea down the water of the sea, and thrice threw it up of Marmora, is the densely-filled English burial- again. ground, where Baron Marochetti's monument in honour of the troops has lately been erected.-S. is a place of considerable traffic, and is the rendezvous and starting-point of caravans and travellers trading with the interior of Asia. It occupies the site of the ancient Chrysopolis; and about two miles to the south, lies the village of Kadiköi, the ancient Chalcedon.

SCUTARI (Turkish Iskandere, the anc. Scodra), a considerable town of European Turkey, in Northern Albania, capital of a sanjak of the same name, situated at the southern end of the Lake of Scutari, at the point where the Bojana, issuing from it, is joined by the Drinassi. The lake is about 20 miles long, and abounds in fish. S. is a fortified town, with a citadel on a commanding height. manufactories of arms and cotton goods a bazaar, It has and yards for building coasting-vessels, It carries on a considerable trade. The population is estimated at about 40,000, of whom about one half are Roman Catholics.

SCUTCHEON, in Carpentry, is the small metal plate used to form the protection and ornament to the keyhole for locks; it is usually of brass, but in ornamental cabinet-work, is often of ivory, mother of pearl, &c. See SHIELD.

SCY'LLA AND CHARY'BDIS. Scylla (Gr. Skullaion), a rocky cape on the west coast of South Italy, jutting out boldly into the sea so as to form a small peninsula just at the northern entrance to the Straits of Messina. About the beginning of the 5th c. (B. C.), a fort was built upon the rock (which is about 200 feet high, and much hollowed out below by the action of the waves), and in course of time a small town grew up, straggling down the slopes towards the sea. The navigation at this place was looked upon by the ancients as attended with immense danger, which, however, seems to have been much exaggerated, for at the present day the risk is not more than attends the doubling of any ordinary cape. The rock, according to the Homeric legend, was the abode of a monster called Scylla, possessing 12 feet, 6 long necks and mouths, each with three rows of sharp teeth, and who barked like a dog. There are other accounts of Scylla, one of which represents her as having once been a beautiful maiden, beloved by the sea-god Glaucus, but who, by the jealousy of Circé, was changed into a monster having the upper part of the body that of a woman, while the lower part consisted of the tail of a fish er serpent surrounded by dogs. The modern Scilla or Sciglio is a fortified town in the province of Reggio-Calabria, having large silk-works, the pop. being upwards of 7400, mostly seafaring people.

Charybdis (modern name Galofaro), is a celebrated whirlpool in the Straits of Messina, nearly opposite the entrance to the harbour of Messina in Sicily, and in ancient writings always mentioned in conjunction with Scylla. The navigation of this whirlpool is, even at the present day, considered to be very dangerous, and must have been exceedingly so to the open ships of the ancients. A modern writer describes it as being an agitated water of from 70 to 90 fathoms in depth, circling in quick eddies.' Homer places it immediately opposite to Scylla,

SCYTHE. See REAPING.

Latham

SCY'THIA, a name employed in ancient times.
to denote a vast, indefinite, and almost unknown
territory north and east of the Black Sea, the
Caspian, and the Sea of Aral. But the term is not
so much geographical as ethnological, and the only
interest attaching to the barren catalogue of tribes
and nations, which we meet with in the classical
writers, springs from the hope of connecting these
with a recognised race of modern times.
argues-successfully, as it appears to us-for the
Scythians being the ancestors of the later Turks,
and maintains their central and primitive abode to
have been Independent Tartary, whence they spread
west round the Caspian into Russia, Transylvania,
Neumann favour the hypothesis of a Mongol origin
and perhaps even Eastern Hungary. Niebuhr and
for the Scythians; while others regard them as
Finns or Circassians. In their mode of life they
were mainly nomadic and pastoral, though we
read of some trans-Danubian and Euxine tribes
that followed agriculture. Many of them were
Hippemolji ('mare-milkers').

large expause of salt water which covers the more
SEA, in its general signification, denotes that
depressed portion of the earth's surface, fills up
each hollow and rift to a certain uniform level,
completing as far as possible the spheroidicity of
the globe, and divides its surface into two great
and innumerable smaller portions—the Old and New
Worlds and their islands. This immense body of
water is not distributed with the least approach
to regularity, but here forms a huge basin, there
becomes a long and tortuous inlet or strait, which
narrows or widens as the configuration of the land-
surface on each side permits; nor is it placed
symmetrically to the earth's axis of rotation; for
the hemisphere of which the south-west corner of
England is the centre or pole contains the whole
of the land-surface, if we except the triangular
portion of South America, south of Uruguay,
Australia, New Zealand, the most of the East
Indian Islands, and the land around the south pole
(of unknown extent). The other hemisphere is,
with these exceptions, wholly water. From this
irregular distribution of the sea over the earth's
surface, and from the specific gravity of water
being about th of that of the land, it necessarily
follows that the centre of gravity of the whole
globe does not correspond accurately with its
centre of figure. The extent of sea-surface is esti-
mated at 146,000,000 English sq. m., or nearly
ths of the whole of the earth's surface, and its
mass, on the supposition of an average depth of 44
miles, is more than 1th of that of the whole
globe; such estimates, however, can be considered
at best as only rough approximations. One of the
most remarkable features of the sea is its continuity
or oneness; for in spite of the fact, that numerous
large stretches of salt-water, as the Sea of Azof,
Black, Mediterranean, and Baltic Seas, the Gulf
of Mexico, and others, have barely avoided becoming
detached lakes, very few such are found on the earth's
surface; and with the exception of the Caspian and
Aral Seas, they are of small size.

Composition, Specific Gravity, and Temperature of

SEA.

the Sea. The sea consists of salt water, and from Indian Ocean, and lat. 8° S in the Pacific. See Isoits continual motion, under the influence of currents THERMAL LINES. The temperature of the surface and waves, preserves, generally speaking, uniform on sea is far less variable than it is found to be on saltness. Under special circumstances, however, land, and there exist extensive tracts, especially in we find the saltness increased, as by the excess of the North Atlantic and North Indian Oceans, where evaporation over the fresh-water influx in the Medi- it is almost equable. terranean and Red Seas, and about the northern Colour and Phosphorescence of the Sea. --The and southern limits of the tropical belt; and colour of the ocean, when free from admixture of decreased, by the contrary cause, in the Sea of foreign substances, as animalcules, vegetable organAzof, Black Sea, Baltic Sea, and in the polar isms, excessive rain, or the tinted waters of swollen regions. See TRADE-WINDS. The origin of the rivers, is a pure deep blue, which becomes less saltness of the sea is sufficiently accounted for marked where the water is of less depth. The origin when we consider, that the chloride of sodium of this colour is sought in the fact, that the blue rays and other soluble salts which form constituent of the spectrum are less liable to be absorbed by ingredients of the globe, are being constantly masses of transparent fluid than are the others, and washed out of the soil and rocks by rain and thus predominating in the reflected pencil, they make springs, and carried down by the rivers; and as most impression on the eye. This hypothesis is the evaporation which feeds the rivers carries none certainly supported by the numerous instances in of the dissolved matter back to the land, the ten- which it has been well ascertained that a 'different' dency is to accumulate in the sea. The principal colour of sea-water is due to the presence of some ingredients found in sea-water are chloride of foreign substance, e. g., the red, brown, and white sodium, or common salt, together with salts of patches of the Pacific and Indian Oceans, to the magnesia and lime. A more exact analysis will presence of swarms of animalcules, and the colours be given under WATER. The average specific of the Red and Yellow Seas, to matters of vegetable gravity of the sea, out of reach of the excep- origin. However, some fresh-water lakes exhibit tional action of the melting of snow, rain or river the same phenomenon, while others, for no ascerwater, is (at 62° F.) 1·0272. The slight variations tained reason, do not; and the Rhone, at its emerin the saltness of the sea must necessarily pro-gence from the lake of Geneva, exhibits an intensity duce corresponding changes in its specific gravity; of blue far surpassing that of any sea. The probaaccordingly, on the northern and southern limits bility is that we have only got hold of a part of the of the torrid zone, the mean specific gravity of explanation. The phosphorescence of the sea is due the sea is, in different longitudes, 1.0281, 1.0294; to the presence of myriads of invertebrata, especially while at the equatorial calm belt, it is 10272, rhizopoda, tunicata, &c. See LUMINOSITY OF ORGANIC 1.0279; and on the whole shews a tendency to BODIES. diminish as the latitude increases, Beechey having found it to be 1.0258 in lats. 55o-60° N. and S. in the Pacific, and King 10255 in the corresponding latitudes of the Atlantic. It also increases with the depth below the surface, though not at a regular rate; is considerably diminished by rains at and near the mouths of rivers, and in those inlets or semi-lacustrine arms which are the depositories of more river-water than compensates for their evaporation, as in the Black Sea, where it is only 10141. A few springs of fresh water are found in the sea, but their effect in diluting its saltness is infinitesimal.

Depth of the Sea.-Till very recently, it might be said that, with the exception of the more frequented strips along the coast, and such other portions as afforded anchorage-ground, our knowledge of the depth of the ocean amounted to nothing. It is true that deep-sea soundings had been frequently made, but from the necessary defectiveness of the ordinary lead,' and inattention to the effect of under-currents in destroying the perpendicularity of the line, little dependence could be placed on the results obtained. Even at the present time, our knowledge is confined chiefly to the North Atlantic, the greatest depth of which, as far as it has (according to Maury's opinion) The temperature of the sea, where it is not been satisfactorily ascertained, is 25,000 feet, though affected by currents from a warmer or colder region, there are, in all probability, considerably greater necessarily corresponds to that of the air above it; depths in the region between the United States, but this is true only of the water at and near the the Bermudas, and Newfoundland. Soundings surface, for it has been found, that beyond a certain giving a depth of 21 and of more than 3 miles were limit of depth, the temperature is constant at 39° to made by Lieutenant Brooke in the Pacific, and this 39.5° F. This depth, however, is not the same at all result corresponded very nearly with the estimate latitudes, but appears to vary in a similar manner of its average depth drawn by Professor Bache from to the perpetual snow-line on land-being about observation of the time taken by the great tide13ths miles under the equator, thence gradually waves of December 23, 1854, originated by the rising to the surface, which it reaches (in the south- terrible earthquake which occurred in Japan on ern hemisphere) in lat. 56° 25', and in the northern that day, to traverse the ocean between Japan and hemisphere in lat. 48° 20′-67° 30', the limits of California; the latter giving an average depth of the isotherm of 39-39° 5', and descending as the 2365 fathoms, or 2 miles. From the numerous latitude increases to ths of a mile about lat. 70°. islands which stud this ocean, one would be led at From the equator to the isotherm of 39°, the first sight to assume its comparative shallowness; water above this line is warmer, and between but the abruptuess with which they rise above the this latitude and the pole is colder than it is surface, and the remarkable soundings which have below the line, the temperature gradually, though been obtained near their shores, completely annihinot uniformly, varying from the line to the surface. late this supposition. In the Indian Ocean, Brooke Of course, in a few localities where exceptional made a sounding of about 8 miles, but Maury (who causes are at work, as in the case of the sea strenuously opposes the old belief in the great depth between Corunna and Ferrol, as found by Hum- of the sea) throws great doubt on the correctness of boldt, violations of this rule may occur, but these this result. From the remarkable gentleness of are comparatively few in number. The line of slope of the bed of the Arctic Ocean to the north greatest surface-temperature does not correspond to of Siberia, the line giving only 14-15 fathoms at the equator, but, owing to the disturbing influence 150 miles from the shore, and from its configuration of currents, is found in lat. 10° N. in the Atlantic on the north of America, it is generally concluded (28° N. in the Gulf of Mexico), lat. 12° N. in the to be by far the shallowest of the oceans, but no one

SEA-SEA-KALE.

has hitherto ventured to give a deliberate estimate vindicate the right in the reign of Charles I. Every of its depth. Of the depth of the Antarctic Ocean, nation has undoubtedly a right to the exclusive nothing is known, but it is supposed to be deeper dominion of the sea within a certain not very wellthan its antipodal kinsman. Till our chart of defined distance from the shore, depending on the soundings be tolerably complete, it will be impos-usage of the country. This right of lordship includes sible to give any general idea of the conformation of the right to free navigation, to fishing, to taking the bed of the sea, but, judging from what has been wrecks, the forbidding passage to enemies, the right lately discovered concerning the North Atlantic of flag, of jurisdiction, &c. By the law of England, (q. v.), it would seem as if the land-surface under the main sea begins at low-water mark; and water were the counterpart as regards eminences between low and high-water mark the common law and hollows, chasms, valleys, plateaus, &c., of the and admiralty have a divided jurisdiction, one on land-surface above. land when left dry, the other on the water when it is full sea. By the law of Scotland, the sea-shore is not considered to extend beyond the point which the sea reaches in ordinary tides. See BLOCKADE NEUTRALS.

The nature of

SEA CUCUMBER. See HOLOTHURIA.

matter.

Motion of the Sea.-The sea is in a state of perpetual restlessness, its motion being either a vertical oscillation, or an actual transference of its waters from one place to another. The first motion, which constitutes waves, is due either to the attraction of the sun and moon on such a mobile body as the sea (see TIDES), or to the impulsive action of the winds natural order Gnetace, a natural order consisting of SEA GRAPE (Ephedra), a genus of plants of the which blow over its surface (see WAVES); the second arises from the sun, which, directly through its heat, characters to the Conifera, and by many botanists a small number of species, closely allied in botanical and indirectly by scorching dry winds, produces united with that order, although differing much in evaporation to a great extent, of the parts most exposed to its influence, and by its similar action on appearance. The Gnetacea are small trees, or twiggy the atmosphere (see TRADE-WINDS), causes a trans-shrubs, with opposite or clustered branches and ference of this vapour to remote latitudes, where it jointed stems, whence they are sometimes called descends as rain, and, destroying the equilibrium JOINT-FIRS. They secrete not resinous but watery of the sea, gives rise to currents. The development of the ovule is very these currents is described under GULF STREAM, peculiar; it has a projecting process formed from and the chief currents of each ocean are found the intimate covering of the nucleus. under its own head. This constant motion of the sea is of great service in tending to equalise the temperature of different parts of the globe; it also produces remarkable changes in the form of coasts, eating into rocks, converting low-lying lands into shoals and sand-banks, or carrying away the earthy materials, and depositing them in some distant region. The erosive action of the sea is generally almost imperceptible during several years, but in course of two or three centuries, the magnitude of the changes effected by it is almost incredible. The sea, like the land, teems with animal life; representatives of the four great divisions of the animal kingdom are found abundantly, and though its temperature is far more equable, the limitation of the zonal range of animals is not a whit less definite: the profound depths of ocean would appear to be as barren of vegetable and animal life as are the lofty summits on land; and the inhabitants of the deep seem to suffer as much from being taken even a little out of their depth, as would a land animal removed to an unaccustomed altitude.

On the economic value of the sea as a purifier, and as a commercial highway, it is unnecessary to dilate. For some of the peculiar phenomena of the sea, see ICEBERGS, AURORA BOREALIS, WHIRLPOOLS, the five great OCEANS (q. v.), CORAL, &c.

The term Sea is also applied in a more limited though indefinite sense, to an offshoot of one of the oceans, as to the Black, Baltic, Okhotsk Seas, to any portion of an ocean which from its position or configuration is considered deserving of a special name, and to the two great inland salt lakes of Central Asia, the Caspian and Aral Seas.

SEA'HAM HARBOUR, a thriving seaport in the county of Durham, 6 miles south of Sunderland. Its excellent harbour is furnished with wharfs, quays, and jetties, and the town contains most extensive bottle-works, blast furnaces, ironfoundry, and chemical works. It communicates by railway with collieries in the vicinity, and the principal articles of export are coals and agricultural produce. The town nearly doubled its population between the years 1855 and 1865. Pop. (1851) 3538,(1861) 6137, (1865) 7000.

SEA-HORSE, in Heraldry, a fabulous animal, consisting of the upper part of a horse with webbed feet, united to the tail of a fish. A scalloped fin is carried down the back. The arms of the town of Cambridge are supported by two sea-horses, proper finned and maned or.

[graphic]

Sea-horse.

SEA-KALE (Crambe maritima; see CRAMBE), a perennial plant with large roundish sinuated seagreen leaves, found on the sea-shores in various parts of Europe, and in Britain. The blanched sprouts have become a very favourite esculent in Britain, although as yet little known on the continent. The common people, on some of the shores of England, had long been in the practice of watching them when they came through the sand, and using them as a pot-herb, but the cultivation of the plant in the kitchen garden became general only at a comparatively recent date. It requires a deep rich soil, and the care of the gardener is bestowed upon the blanching, without which the sprouts are not tender and agreeable, but even acrid. The blanching is accomplished in various ways, by earth, sand, boards, earthenware pots, &c. Sea-kale is generally raised from seed, although also sometimes propagated by offsets or by cuttings of the roots. The seedlings

SEA, SOVEREIGNTY OF THE. Blackstone lays it down that the main or high seas are part of the realm of England, as the Courts of Admiralty have jurisdiction there; but adds that they are not subject to common law. But the law of nations, as now understood, recognises no dominion in any one nation over the high seas, which are the highway of all nations, and governed by the public law of the civilised world. Such a right has, however, long been claimed over the four seas surrounding the British Isles. It was strongly asserted by Selden, do not yield a crop till the third year; but a plantaand denied by Grotius, and measures were taken totion of sea-kale remains productive for many years.

SEAL

It is planted in rows, four to six feet apart. It sends its tap-root very deep into the ground.

SEAL (Lat. sigillum, Fr. sceau), an impression on wax or other soft substance made from a die or matrix of metal, a gem, or some other material. The stamp which yields the impression is sometimes itself called the seal. In Egypt, seals were in use at an early period, the matrix generally forming part of a ring (see GEM, RING). Devices of a variety of sorts were in use at Rome, both by the earlier emperors and private individuals. The emperors, after the time of Constantine, introdaced bullæ or leaden seals, and their use was continued after the fall of the Western Empire by the popes, who attached them to documents by cords or bands. On the earlier papal seals are monograms of the pope; afterwards the great seal contained the name of the pope in full, and

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a cross between the heads of St Peter and St Paul, while the papal privy seal, impressed not on lead but on wax, known as the Seal of the Fisherman, represented St Peter fishing. In the 9th and 10th centuries we find Charlemagne, the Byzantine emperors, and the Venetian doges, occasionally sealing with gold, and we have an instance as late as the 16th c. of a gold seal appended to the treaty of the Field of the Cloth of Gold, between Henry VIII. and Francis I.

Seals were not much used in England in AngloSaxon times, but they came into general use after the Norman Conquest. On the royal great seals was the king in armour on a caparisoned horse galloping, his arms being shewn on his shield after the period when arms came into use; and the reverse represented the king seated on a throne. The great seals of Scotland begin with Duncan IL

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RISE AND

Great Seal of William the Conqueror.

in the end of the 11th c., and have also for subject the king on horseback; the counterseal, with the seated figure, being used first by Alexander I., and the earliest appearance of the arms of Scotland being on the seal of Alexander II. In both countries there were also the privy seals with the royal arms only.

Ecclesiastical seals first appear in the 9th c., and attained great beauty in the 13th and 14th. They are of the pointed oval form known as Vesica piscis; and have for subjects, a figure of the bishop, sometimes of the Trinity, the Virgin, or a patron saint, seated under an elaborate architectural canopy. The arms of the bishop are often added.

practice of sealing has degenerated into a mere formality. The custom was gradually introduced of covering the wax with white paper, on which the impression was made, and latterly wafers have been considered a sufficient substitute for seals.

In Scotland, every freeholder was obliged by statutes of Robert III. and James I. to have his seal of arms, an impression of which was kept in the office of the clerk of court of the shire; and among the Scottish armorial seals of the 14th and 15th centuries are some of wonderful beauty of execution. Act 1540, c. 117, for the first time made subscription an essential formality to deeds; but sealing still continued to be necessary till 1584, when it was dispensed with in the case of deeds containing a clause of registration, and soon afterwards the practice was altogether laid aside.

Under the Norman monarchs of England, sealing became a legal formality, necessary to the authentication of a deed; and from the 13th c. onwards, the seals of all persons of noble or gentle birth The use of corporate seals by towns and boroughs represented their armorial ensigns. The seal was dates as far back as the 12th century. The earlier generally appended to the document by passing corporate seals bear the town gates, city walls, or a strip of parchment or a cord through a slit in some similar device; the use of corporate arms its lower edge; and the ends being held together, the did not begin till the latter half of the 14th wax was pressed or moulded round them a short century.

distance from the extremity, and the matrix im- The principal use of seals in the present day is in pressed on it. Occasionally the seal was not pendant, closing letters, and even for this purpose they have but the wax was spread on the deed. The coloured of late years been less used than formerly, owing to wax with the impression was sometimes imbedded the fashion of using stamped adhesive envelopes. in a mass of white wax forming a protective border The study of medieval seals is of great importto it. In England, a seal is still an essential to all ance and interest in connection with many branches legal instruments by which real estate is conveyed; of archæology, including heraldic and genealogical but since subscription has also become necessary, the investigations. See GREAT SEAL; PRIVY SEAL.

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