Seneca Falls

Seneca Falls, a village of Seneca co., New York, on the outlet of Seneca lake, the Cayuga and Seneca canal, and the New York Central railroad, 160 m. W. by N. of Albany; pop. in 1870, 5,890; in 1875, 6,125. It has abundant water power and a variety of manufactures. The chief articles produced are steam fire engines, woollens, pumps, flour, machinery, and farming utensils. There are two national banks, an academy, two weekly newspapers, and seven churches.

Seneca Lake

Seneca Lake, a narrow sheet of water, lying nearly N. and S. in the W. part of New York, bordered by Seneca, Schuyler, Yates, and Ontario cos. It is about 37 m. long by 2 to 4 m. broad, has an elevation of about 450 ft. above the Atlantic, and about 200 ft. above Lake Ontario, and is surrounded by beautiful scenery. It flows into Lake Ontario through the Seneca and Oswego rivers, and is connected by canals with the Erie canal, with Keuka or Crooked lake near its W. border, and with the Chemung river. It is 630 ft. deep, and was never known to be frozen over till March 22, 1856. It is navigated by steamboats running from Wat-kins at the S. to Geneva at the N. extremity.

Seneca Oil

See Petroleum.

Sennacherib

See Assyria, vol. ii., p. 35.

Sens (Anc. Agendicum Or Civitas Senonum)

Sens (Anc. Agendicum Or Civitas Senonum), a town of France, in the department of Yonne, on the right bank of the Yonne, 60 m. S. E. of Paris; pop. in 1871, 11,514. It is the seat of an archbishop, and has a museum of antiquities, an episcopal seminary, a theatre, and an ancient Gothic cathedral. Serge, druggets, dials, pottery, cutlery, and nails are manufactured. - In the time of Julius Caesar Sens was one of the principal towns of the Senones, and subsequently as capital of Lugdunensis Quarta it was a focus of great Roman roads. It was strongly fortified and often besieged. It was taken by the allies, Feb. 11, 1814, after a brave resistance by the inhabitants.

Sensitive Plant

See Mimosa.

Sepia

Sepia, a pigment made from the black secretion of the sepia or cuttle fish, which it ejects when pursued or annoyed. This secretion was used as an ink by the ancients. Several varieties of sepia yield the ink, but the sepia officinalis, common in the Mediterranean, affords the most, and is the one chiefly sought. The sac containing the secretion is extirpated, and the juice dried as soon as possible, as it quickly putrefies. Caustic alkalies render it soluble in water, but absorption of carbonic acid again precipitates the sepia. The dried native sepia is prepared for the painter by triturating with caustic lye, adding more lye, boiling half an hour, filtering, neutralizing with an acid, filtering, washing the filtrate, and drying it with a gentle heat. It has a beautiful brown color with a fine grain, and has given name to a species of drawing.

September

September (Lat. septem, seven), the ninth month of the year, but the seventh with the early Romans, their year beginning with March, as the legal year did in England until the change of style in 1752. The name is still retained in most European languages, like those of the three succeeding months, notwithstanding their present inaccuracy. The Anglo-Saxons called it Gerstmonath, or barley month; and in Switzerland it is still called Herbstmonat, harvest month. It has 30 days.