Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XIV.djvu/768

 742 SEA SPIDER SEBASTIAN world the days and nights are equal ; but at the north pole the sun is just rising, at the south pole he is just setting. B represents the position of the earth at the summer sol- stice (about June 21). The north pole has been continually exposed to the sun for three months, and it is the noon of the north po- lar day. The direct light of the sun reaches about 23 28' beyond the pole, and consequent- ly anywhere within that distance of the pole the sun is visible during the whole 24 hours. Within the same distance of the south pole it is continual night. (See POLAR CIRCLES.) is the position of the earth at the autumnal equinox of the northern hemisphere (about Sept. 23), but the sun is just setting at the north pole and just rising at the south, and again everywhere else the days and nights are equal. D is the position of the earth at the winter solstice of the northern hemisphere (about Dec. 21); it is the noon of the south polar day, the midnight of the north polar night. It will be seen that at the poles the day and the year are coincident, if we consid- er a day as made up of one period during Positions of the Earth in its Orbit which the sun is visible and one during which he is invisible. The popular divisions of the year do not correspond with those of the as- tronomer, and are not the same in different countries. In England the spring begins with February, summer with May, autumn with August, and winter with November; but in the United States the seasons begin respective- ly with the months succeeding those named. The marked changes in the amount of heat and light imparted by the sun in the different seasons upon those portions of the earth out- side the tropics are not experienced in the equatorial regions. The sun as it passes twice each year over these regions sends down its rays so directly upon them, that the variations of temperature are comparatively inconsider- able ; but the regular winds and rains and dry periods consequent on the movement of the sun in the ecliptic are the most marked peri- odic phenomena, and by these the year is di- vided into two dry and two wet seasons. SEA SPIDER. I. See SPIDER CRAB. II. The common name of certain marine arachnids of the order podosomata. They have no respira- tory organs, and only four pairs of legs, which Sea Spider (Pycnogo- nuiu Httoralo). in some forms attain an extraordinary length ; they are grotesque-looking, and are found at low water on stones or marine plants, or attached as parasites to other ani- mals. SEA SQUIRT, a name pop- ularly given to the sin- gle ascidians or tunicates, from their power of forci- bly ejecting water from their muscular sacs. (See MOLLUBCOIDS.) SEA SWALLOW. See TERN. SEATON, William Winston, an American jour- nalist, born in King William co., Va., Jan. 11, 1785, died in Washington, D. C., June 16, 1866. He successively edited the " Petersburg Regis- ter," the " North Carolina Journal " at Halifax, and the " Register " at Raleigh, N. C. ; and in 1812 became partner with his brother-in-law Joseph Gales, jr., in the " National Intelligen- cer " at Washington, which, after the death of Mr. Gales in 1860, he continued to edit alone till 1865. From 1812 to 1820 Gales and Seaton were the exclusive reporters as well as editors of their journal, one of them devoting himself to the senate and the other to the house of representatives. Their " Register of Debates " is one of the standard sources of American history. For 12 consecutive years, beginning with 1840, Mr. Seaton was elected mayor of Washington city. (See GALES, JOSEPH.) SEA UNICORN. See NARWHAL. SEA URCHIN. See ECHINUS. SEA WEEDS. See A i .. .r.. SEA WOLF. See WOLF Fisn. SKBASTE. See SAMARIA. SEBASTIAN, a W. county of Arkansas, bound- ed W. by the Indian territory and N. by the Arkansas river ; area, about 600 aq. m. ; pop. in 1870, 12,940, of whom 1,354 were colored. The Poteau hills, a southern offshoot of the Ozark mountains, traverse a part of the coun- ty, and are rich in minerals. The soil is well adapted to grazing and the production of grain and cotton. Bituminous coal is abundant. The chief productions in 1870 were 18,518 bushels of wheat, 862,019 of Indian corn, 16,084 of oats, 25,453 of sweet and 13,708 of Irish potatoes, 2,215 bales of cotton, 28,289 Ibs. of tobacco, 8,494 of wool, 142,347 of but- ter, 11,675 gallons of sorghum molasses, and 1,099 tons of hay. There were 3,060 horses, 670 mules and asses, 4,284 milch cows, 1,040 working oxen, 5,437 other cattle, 2,788 sheep, and 85,848 swine. Capital, Greenwood. SEBASTIAN, Dom, king of Portugal, born in Lisbon, Jan. 20, 1554, killed in battle in Africa, Aug. 4, 1578. He succeeded his grandfather John III. in 1557, and in his 21st year un- dertook with 800 or 900 soldiers an expedi- tion against Tangier, the result of which en- couraged him to still greater effort. The war raging in Morocco between Muley-Malek and his nephew Muley-Mohammed, the latter of