Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 21.djvu/692

Rh G66 S E P S E P It was founded in 1774 by Mohammed Amin Khan, and contains large public gardens, a fine market-place, and a handsome tank. In 1881 the population was 10,203. SEPIA is a valuable and much used deep brown pig- ment obtained from the ink -sacs of various species of CUTTLE-FISH (q.v.) ; that from which it is principally ob- tained is Sepia afficinalis, a native of the Mediterranean, and especially abundant in the upper parts of the Adriatic, where it is a prized article of food. To obtain sepia the ink-sac is, immediately on the capture of the animal, ex- tracted from the body and speedily dried to prevent putre- faction. The contents are subsequently powdered, dissolved in caustic alkali, and precipitated from the solution by neutralizing with acid. The precipitate after washing with water is ready to make up into any form required for use. Sepia -bone or cuttle -bone consists of the internal "shell" or skeleton of Sepia officinalis and other allied species. It is an oblong convex structure from 4 to 10 inches in length and 1 to 3 inches in greatest width, consisting internally of a highly porous cellular mass of carbonate of lime with some animal matters covered by a hard thin glassy layer. It is used principally as a polishing material and tor tooth powder, and also as a moulding material for fine castings in precious metals. SEPOY, the usual English spelling of sipdki, the Persian and Urdu term for a soldier of any kind. The word sipdh, " army," from which sipdhi, " soldier," is derived, corre- sponds to the Zend qpddha, Old Persian qpdda, and has also found a home in the Turkish, Kurdish, and Pashto (Pushtu) languages (see Justi, Handbuch der Zendsprache, p. 303, 6), while its derivative is used in all Indian verna- culars, including Tamil and Burmese, to denote a native soldier, in contradistinction to gord, " a fair-complexioned (European) soldier." Towards the middle of the 18th century efforts were made by the East India Company to train natives of good caste, both Hindus and Mohammedans, for military service under the company. Though they were made to use the musket, they remained for some time chiefly armed in the fashion of the country, with sword and target ; they wore the Indian dress the turban, vest, and long drawers and were provided with native officers under English superior command. Under their European leaders they were found to do good service and to face danger with constancy and firmness. In the progress of time a considerable change took place, and natives of every de- scription were enrolled in the service. Though some corps that were almost entirely formed of the lowest classes achieved considerable reputation for valour in the field, it was not considered safe to encourage the system ; and the company reverted to their practice of recruiting from none but the most respectable classes of native society. It is on record that a corps of 100 sepoys from Bombay and 400 from Tellicherry joined the army at Madras in 1747, that the regular sepoys at Madras were employed in the defence of Arcot (1751), and that a company of Bombay sepoys were present at the victory of Plassey. For instances of the early occurrence of the word see Burnell and Yule's Glossary of Anglo-Indian Terms, s.v. On the history of the sepoys compare Captain Williams's Historical Account of the Rise and Progress of the Bengal Infantry (London, 1817) ; Captain Broome's History of the Rise and Progress of the Bengal Army (Calcutta, 1850) ; Colonel Wilson's History of the Madras Army (London, 1882-85, in 3 volumes) ; No. xxxvi. of the Quarterly Review ; and the military histories of India generally. SEPTEMBER, the seventh month of the old Roman year, had thirty days assigned to it. By the Julian arrangement, while retaining its former name and number of days, it became the ninth month. The Ludi Magni (Ludi Romani) in honour of Jupiter, Juno, and Minerva began on the 4th of September. The principal ecclesias- tical feasts falling within the month are the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin on the 8th, the Exaltation of the Holy Cross on the 14th, St Matthew the Apostle on the 21st, and St Michael the Archangel on the 29th. September was called " harvest month " in Charlemagne's calendar, and it corresponds partly to the Fructidor and partly to the Vend6miaire of the first French republic. SEPTICAEMIA. After a wound, whether the result of accident or of operation by the surgeon, blood-poisoning may occur. Sepsis or putrefaction in the wound is the most evident local condition which has been associated by clinical observers with blood-poisoning, and hence the term " septicaemia." Within recent years the relation of micro- organisms to the different forms of blood-poisoning has come prominently into notice ; putrefaction is now known to be only one of the fermentative changes due to the presence of certain micro-organisms in a wound, and it is admitted that there are many organisms which, when they enter a wound, may give rise there to fermentative changes that are non-putrefactive. (See SCHIZOMYCETES.) Organisms have recently been divided into two great groups, those which can only grow in dead or decaying matter and those which can grow in the living tissues and in the blood, which in this relation must be looked upon as a tissue. The first group has been termed " sapro- phytic." The second group may be termed "pathogenic," to distinguish them from the saprophytic variety. But no distinct line of demarcation can yet be drawn between these two groups, and as a matter of fact some patho- genic organisms may equally with the saprophytic find a pabulum in dead and decaying matter. Yet there can be no doubt that the more common varieties of septic organisms or saprophytes can only grow in dead or decaying matter, and that the living tissues, more especially when their power of vitality is great, are able to resist and destroy the saprophytes. There are also some organisms which, as far as is known at present, may be innocuous and give rise to no symptoms, local or general, when they are implanted in the human body. When an organism finds in the tissues a fit pabulum for its growth and devel- opment, the elements in the tissue are broken up, and the products are termed a "ptomaine" (Trrw/ia). This ptomaine may irritate the wound and prevent healing ; it may also be absorbed into the blood and poison it, hence the term "ptomaine poisoning." Both the saprophytic and the pathogenic organism may form a ptomaine in the wound. When the wound is due to a saprophyte the absorption of the ptomaine has been termed "saprsemia"; the ptomaine of the saprophyte has been called " sepsin." No special name has yet been given to the ptomaine formed in the wound by the pathogenic organism ; nor has any name been given to the condition due to the absorption of the ptomaine formed by the pathogenic organism. Our knowledge is not yet sufficient to enable us to separate these two varieties of ptomaine poisoning. There can, however, be little doubt that they do exist as separate conditions, and also there can be little doubt that in some instances both forms of poisoning may be present at one and the same time. The pathogenic organism, however, has another power which gives rise to an entirely separate condition. Not only may it form its ptomaine in the wound, but the organism itself can enter into and be carried by the blood- stream and lymph-stream to distant parts. It can live in the blood or lymph-stream and can grow there : it may be arrested in the capillaries of the blood-vessels, or in the lymphatic glands of the lymph-vessels, and in these situa- tions may form, so to speak, a colony of organisms which develop and form ptomaines ; and the ptomaines, passing into the blood, may still further poison the patient. This power of the pathogenic organism is infective, and the term " infection " has been applied to the process. These colonies or secondary foci of infection often go on to sup- puration ; hence the term " secondary " applied to the