to render himself on board the ship or vessel, for which he has shipped, at the time mentioned in such memorandum, and if the master, commander, or other officer of the ship or vessel, shall, on the day on which such neglect happened, make an entry in the logbook of such ship or vessel, of the name of such seaman or mariner, and shall, in like manner, note the time that he so neglected to render himself, (after the time appointed), every such seaman or mariner shall forfeit, for every hour which be shall so neglect to render himself, one day's pay, according to the rate of wages agreed upon, to be deducted out of his wages. And if any such seaman or mariner shall wholly neglect to render himself on board of such ship or vessel, or having rendered himself on board, shall afterwards desert and escape, so that the ship or vessel proceed to sea without him, every such seaman or mariner shall forfeit and pay to the master, owner, or consignee, of the said ship or vessel, a sum equal to that which shall have been paid to him by advance at the time of signing the contract, over and besides the sum so advanced, both which sums shall be recoverable in any court, or before any justice or justices of any state, city, town, or county, within the United States, which, by the laws thereof, have cognizance of debts of equal value, against such seaman or mariner, or his surety or sureties, in case he shall have given surety to proceed the voyage.

3. That if the mate or first officer under the master, and a majority of the crew of any ship or vessel, bound on a voyage to any foreign port, shall, after the voyage is begun (and before the ship or vessel shall have left the land) discover that the said ship or vessel is too leaky, or is otherwise unfit in her crew, body, tackle, apparel, furniture, provisions, or stores, to proceed on the intended voyage, and shall require such unfitness to be enquired into, the master or commander shall, upon the request of the said mate (or other officer) and such majority, forthwith proceed to or stop at the nearest or most convenient port or place where such enquiry can be made, and shall there apply to the judge of the district court, if he shall there reside, or if not, to some justice of the peace of the city, town, or place, taking with him two or more of the said crew, who shall have made such request; and thereupon such judge or justice is hereby authorized and required to issue his precept, directed to three persons in the neighborhood, the most skilful in maritime affairs, that can be procured, requiring them to repair on board such ship or vessel, and to examine the same, in respect to the defects and insufficiencies complained of, and to make report to him, the said judge or justice, in writing, under their hands, or the hands of two of them, whether in any, or in what, respect the said ship or vessel is unfit to proceed on the intended voyage, and what addition of men, provisions, or stores, or what repairs or alterations in the body, tackle, or apparel, will be necessary; and upon such report, the said judge or justice shall adjudge and determine, and shall endorse on the said report his judgment, whether the said ship or vessel is fit to proceed on the intended voyage; and if not, whether such repairs can be made, or deficiencies supplied, where the ship or vessel then lays, or whether it be necessary for the said ship or vessel to return to the port from whence she first sailed, to be there refitted; and the master and crew shall in all things conform to the said judgment; and the master or commander shall, in the first instance, pay all the costs of such view, report, and judgment, to be taxed and allowed on a fair copy thereof, certified by the said judge or justice. But if the complaint of the said crew shall appear, upon the said report and judgment, to have been without foundation, then the said master, or the owner or consignee of such ship or vessel, shall deduct the amount thereof, and of reasonable damages for the detention (to be ascertained by the said judge or justice) out of the wages growing due to the complaining seamen or mariners. And if, after such judgment, such ship or vessel is fit to proceed on her intended voyage, or after procuring such men, provisions, stores, repairs, or alterations, as may be directed, the said seamen or mariners, or either of them, shall refuse to proceed on the voyage, it shall and may be lawful for any justice of the peace to commit, by warrant under his hand and seal every such seaman or mariner (who shall so refuse) to the common gaol of the county, there to remain without bail or mainprise, until he shall have paid double the sum advanced to him at the time of subscribing the contract for the voyage, together with such reasonable costs as shall be allowed by the said justice, and inserted in the said warrant, and the surety or sureties of such seaman or mariner (in case he or they shall have given any) shall remain liable for such payment; nor shall any such seaman or mariner be discharged upon any writ of habeas corpus, or otherwise, until such sum be paid by him or them, or his or their surety or sureties, for want of any form of commitment, or other previous proceedings. Provided, That sufficient matter shall be made to appear, upon the return of such habeas corpus and an examination then to be had, to detain him for the causes herein before assigned.

Q 4. That if any person shall harbor, or secrete, any seaman or mariner, belonging to any ship or vessel, knowing them to belong thereto, every such person, on conviction thereof, before any court in the city, town or county, where he, she, or they, may reside, shall forfeit and pay ten dollars for every day which he, she, or they, shall continue so to harbor or secrete such seaman or mariner, one half to the use of the person prosecuting for the same, the other half to the use of the United States; and no sum exceeding one dollar, shall be recoverable from any seaman or mariner by any one person, for any debt contracted during the time such seaman or mariner shall actually belong to any ship or vessel, until the voyage, for which such seaman or mariner engaged, shall be ended.

5. That if any seaman or mariner who shall have subscribed such contract as is hereinbefore described, shall absent himself from on board the ship or vessel, in which he shall so have shipped, without leave of the master or officer commanding on board; and the mate, or other officer having charge of the logbook, shall make an entry therein of the name of such seaman or mariner, on the day on which he shall so absent himself, and if such seaman or mariner shall return to his duty within forty-eight hours, such seaman or mariner shall forfeit three days' pay for every day which he shall so absent himself, to be deducted out of his wages: but if any seaman or mariner shall absent himself for more than forty-eight hours at one time, he shall forfeit all the wages due to him, and all his goods and chattels which were on board the said ship or vessel, or in any store where they may have been lodged at the time of his desertion, to the use of the owners of the ship or vessel, and moreover shall be liable to pay to him or them, all damages which he or they may sustain by being obliged to hire other seamen or mariners in his or their place; and such damages shall be recovered with costs, in any court, or before any justice or justices, having jurisdiction of the recovery of debts to the value of ten dollars, or upwards.

6. That every seaman or mariner shall be entitled to demand and receive, from the master or commander of the ship or vessel to which they belong, one-third part of the wages which shall be due to him, at every port where such ship or vessel shall unlade and deliver her cargo before the voyage be ended, unless the contrary be expressly stipulated in the contract: and as soon as the voyage is ended, and the cargo or ballast be fully discharged at the last port of delivery, every seaman or mariner shall be entitled to the wages which shall be then due according to his contract: and if such wages shall not be paid within ten days after such discharge, or if any dispute shall arise between the master and seamen or mariners, touching the said wages, it shall be lawful for the judge of the district where the said ship or vessel shall be, or in case his residence be more than three miles from the place, or of his absence from the place of his residence, then, for any judge or justice of the peace, to summon the master of such ship or vessel to appear before him, to show cause why process should not issue against such ship or vessel, her tackle, furniture, and apparel, according to the course of admiralty courts, to ans'ver for the said wages; and if the master shall neglect to appear, or appearing, shall not show

that the wages are paid, or otherwise satisfied or forfeited, and if the matter in dispute shall not be forthwith settled, in such case the judge or justice shall certify to the clerk of the court of the district, that there is sufficient cause of complaint whereon to found admiralty process, and thereupon the clerk of such court shall issue process against the said ship or vessel, and the suit shall be proceeded on the said court, and final judgment be given according to the course of admiralty courts in such cases used; and in such suit all the seamen or mariners (having cause of complaint of the like kind against the same ship or vessel) shall be joined as complainants; and it shall be incumbent on the master or commander to produce the contract and logbook, if required, to ascertain any matters in dispute; otherwise the complainants shall be permitted to state the contents thereof, and the proof of the contrary shall lie on the master or commander; but nothing herein contained shall prevent any seaman or mariner from having or maintaining any action at common law, for the recovery of his wages, or from immediate process out of any court having admiralty jurisdiction, wherever any ship or vessel may be found, in case she shall have left the port of delivery where her voyage ended before payment of the wages, or in case she shall be about to proceed to sea before the end of the ten days next after the delivery of her cargo or ballast.

7. That if any seaman or mariner, who shall have signed a contract to perform a voyage, shall, at any port or place, desert, or shall absent himself from such ship or vessel, without leave of the master, or officer commanding in the absence of the master, it shall be lawful for any justice of the peace within the United States (upon the complaint of the master) to issue his warrant to apprehend such deserter, and bring him before such justice; and if it shall then appear, by due proof, that he has signed a contract within the intent and meaning of this act, and that the voyage agreed for is not finished, altered, or the contract otherwise dissolved, and that such seaman or mariner has deserted the ship or vessel, or absented himself without leave, the said justice shall commit him to the house of correction, or common gaol of the city, town, or place, there to remain until the said ship or vessel shall be ready to proceed on her voyage, or till the master shall require his discharge, and then to be delivered to the said master, he paying all the cost of such commitment, and deducting the same out of the wages due to such seaman or mariner.

8. That every ship or vessel, belonging to a citizen or citizens of the United States, of the burthen of one hundred and fifty tons or upwards, navigated by ten or more persons in the whole, and bound on a voyage without the limits of the United States, shall be provided with a chest of medicines, put up by some apothecary of known reputation, and accompanied by directions for administering the same; and the said medicines shall be examined by the same or some other apothecary, once, at least, in every year, and supplied with fresh medicines in the place of such as shall have been used or spoiled; and in default of having such medicine chest so provided, and kept fit for use, the master or commander of such ship or vessel shall provide and pay for all such advice, medicine, or attendance of physicians, as any of the crew shall stand in need of in case of sickness, at every port or place where the ship or vessel may touch or trade at during the voyage, without any deduction from the wages of such sick seaman or mariner.

9. That every ship or vessel, belonging as aforesaid, bound on a voyage across the Atlantic ocean, shall, at the time of leaving the last port from whence she sails, have on board, well secured under deck, at least sixty gallons of water, one hundred pounds of salted flesh meat, and one hundred pounds of wholesome shipbread, for every person on board such ship or vessel, over and besides such other provisions, stores, and live stock, as shall, by the master or passengers, be put on board, and in like proportion for shorter or longer voyages; and in case the crew of any ship or vessel, which shall not have been so provided, shall be put upon short allowance in water, flesh, or bread, during the voyage, the master or owner of such ship or vessel shall pay, to each of the crew, one day's wages beyond the wages agreed on, for every day they shall be so put to short allowance, to be recovered in the same manner as their stipulated wages.

The provisions of the 8th section of this act, relating to a chest of medicines, have since been extended to all merchant vessels, of 75 tons or upwards, bound to the West Indies.

Act of the 16th of July, 1798.-1. That from and after the first day of September next, the master or owner of every ship or vessel of the United States, arriving from a foreign port into any port of the United States, shall, before such ship or vessel shall be admitted to an entry, render to the collector a true account of the number of seamen that shall have been employed on board such vessel since she was last entered at any port in the United States, and shall pay, to the said collector, at the rate of twenty cents per month for every seaman so employed; which sum he is hereby authorised to retain out of the wages of such seamen.

2. That from and after the first day of September next, no collector shall grant to any ship or vessel whose enrolment or license for carrying on the coasting trade has expired, a new enrolment or license, before the master of such ship or vessel shall first render a true account to the collector, of the number of seamen, and the time they have severally been employed on board such ship or vessel, during the continuance of the license which has so expired, and pay to such collector twenty cents per month for every month such seamen have been severally employed as aforesaid; which sum the said master is hereby authorised to retain out of the wages of such seamen. And if any such master shall render a false account of the number of men, and the length of time they have severally been employed, as is herein required, he shall forfeit and pay one hundred dollars.

3. That it shall be the duty of the several collectors to make a quarterly return of the sums collected by them, respectively, by virtue of this act, to the secretary of the treasury; and the president of the United States is hereby authorised, out of the same, to provide for the temporary relief and maintenance of sick or disabled seamen, in the hospitals or other proper institutions now established in the several ports of the United States, or in ports where no such institutions exist, then in such other manner as he shall direct: Provided, That the moneys collected in any one district, shall be expended within the same.

4. That if any surplus shall remain of the moneys to be collected by virtue of this act, after defraying the expense of such temporary relief and support, that the same, together with such private donations as may be made for that purpose, (which the president is hereby authorized to receive,) shall be invested in the stock of the United States, under the direction of the President; and when, in his opinion, a sufficient fund shall be accumulated, he is hereby authorised to purchase or receive cessions or donations of ground or buildings, in the name of the United States, and to cause buildings, when necessary, to be erected as hospitals for the accommodation of sick and disabled seamen.

5. That the president of the United States be, and he is hereby authorised to nominate and appoint, in such ports of the United States as he may think proper, one or more persons, to be called directors of the marine hospital of the United States, whose duty it shall be to direct the expenditure of the fund assigned for their respective ports, according to the 3d section of this act; to provide for the accommodation of sick and disabled seamen, under such general instructions as shall be given by the president of the United States for that purpose, and also, subject to the like general instructions to direct and govern auch hospitals, as the president may direct to be built in the respective ports: and that the said directors shall hold their offices during the pleasure of the president, who is authorized to fill up all vacancies that may be occasioned by the death or removal of any of the persons so to be appointed. Aud the said directors shall render an account of the moneys received and expended by them, once in

every quarter of a year, to the secretary of the treasury, or such other person as the president shall direct; but no other allowance or compensation shall be made to the said directors, except the payment of such expenses as they may incur in the actual discharge of the duties required by this act. Act of the 2d of March, 1799.-1. That the president of the United States shall be, and he hereby is, authorised to direct the expenditure of any moneys which have been, or shall be, collected by virtue of an act, entitled "An act for the relief of sick and disabled seamen,' "to be made within the state wherein the same shall have been collected, or within the state next adjoining thereto, excepting what may be collected in the states of New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut; any thing in the said act contained, to the contrary thereof notwithstanding.

2. That the secretary of the navy shall be, and he hereby is, authorised and directed to deduct, after the first day of September next, from the pay thereafter to become due, of the officers, seamen, and marines, of the navy of the United States, at the rate of twenty cents per month, for every such officer, seaman, and marine, and to pay the same, quarter annually, to the secretary of the treasury, to be applied to the same purposes as the money collected by virtue of the above mentioned act is appropriated.

3. That the officers, seamen, and marines, of the navy of the United States, shall be entitled to receive the same benefits and advantages, as, by the act abovementioned, are provided for the relief of the sick and disabled seamen of the merchant vessels of the United States.

Act of the 3d of May, 1802.-1. That the moneys heretofore collected in pursuance of the several acts "for the relief of sick and disabled seamen,' ," and at present unexpended, together with the moneys hereafter to be collected by authority of the beforementioned acts, shall constitute a general fund, which the president of the United States shall use and employ, as circumstances shall require, for the benefit and convenience of sick and disabled American seamen: Provided, That the sum of fifteen thousand dollars be, and the same is hereby, appropriated for the erection of an hospital in the district of Massachusetts.

2. That it shall be lawful for the president of the United States to cause such measures to be taken as, in his opinion, may be expedient for providing convenient accommodations, medical assistance, necessary attendance, and supplies, for the relief of sick or disabled seamen of the United States, who may be at or near the port of New Orleans, in case the same can be done with the assent of the government having jurisdiction over the port; and for this purpose, to establish such regulations, and to authorize the employment of such persons, as he may judge proper; and that, for defraying the expense thereof, a sum, not exceeding three thousand dollars, be paid out of any moneys arising from the said fund, not otherwise appropriated.

3. That, from and after the thirtieth day of June next, the master of every boat, raft, or flat, belonging to any citizen of the United States, which shall go down the Mississippi, with intention to proceed to New Orleans, shall, on his arrivai at fort Adams, render to the collector or naval officer thereof, a true account of the number of persons employed on board such boat, raft, or flat, and the time that each person has been so employed, and shall pay, to the said collector or naval officer, at the rate of twenty cents per month, for every person so employed; which sum he is hereby authorized to retain out of the wages of such person: and the said collector or naval officer shall not give a clearance for such boat, raft, or flat, to proceed on her voyage to New Orleans, until an account be rendered to him of the number of persons employed on board such boat, raft, or flat, and the money paid to him by the master or owner thereof: and if any such master shall render a false account of the number of persons, and the length of time they have severally been employed, as is herein required, he shall forfeit and pay fifty dollars, which shall be applied to, and shall make a part of, the said general fund, for the purposes of this act: Provided, That all persons employed in navigating any such boat, raft, or flat, shall be considered as seamen of the United States, and entitled to the relief extended by law to sick and disabled seamen.

5. That each and every director of the marine hospitals within the United States, shall, if it can with convenience be done, admit into the hospital of which he is director, sick foreign seamen, on the application of the master or commander of any foreign vessel to which such sick seaman may belong; and each seaman so admitted shall be subject to a charge of seventy-five cents per day for each day he may remain in the hospital, the payment of which the master or commander of such foreign vessel shall make to the collector of the district in which such hospital is situated: and the collector shall not grant a clearance to any foreign vessel, until the money due from such master or commander, in manner and form aforesaid, shall be paid; and the director of each hospital is hereby directed, under the penalty of fifty dollars, to make out the accounts against each foreign seaman that may be placed in the hospital, under his direction, and render the same to the collector.

Act of the 28th of February, 1803.— 3. That whenever a ship or vessel, belonging to a citizen of the United States, shall be sold in a foreign country, and her company discharged, or when a seaman or mariner, a citizen of the United States, shall, with his own consent, be discharged in a foreign country, it shall be the duty of the master or commander to produce to the consul, or vice consul, commercial agent. or vice commercial agent, the list of his ship's company, certified as aforesaid, and to pay to such consul, vice consul, commercial agent, or vice commercial agent, for every seaman or mariner so discharged, being designated on such list as a citizen of the United States, three months' pay, over and above the wages which may then be due to such mariner or seaman, two thirds thereof to be paid by such consul or commercial agent, to each seaman or mariner so discharged, upon his engagement on board of any vessel to return to the United States, and the other remaining third to be retained for the purpose of creating a fund for the payment of the passages of seamen or mariners, citizens of the United States, who may be desirous of returning to the United States, and for the maintenance of American seamen who may be destitute, and may be in such foreign port; and the several sums retained for such fund shall be accounted for with the treasury every six months, by the persons receiving the same.

4. That it shall be the duty of the consuls, vice consuls, commercial agents, vice commercial agents of the United States, from time to time, to provide for the mariners and seamen of the United States, who may be found destitute within their districts, respectively, sufficient subsistence and passages to some port in the United States, in the most reasonable manner, at the expense of the United States, subject to such instructions as the secretary of state shall give; and that all masters and commanders of vessels belonging to citizens of the United States, and bound to some port of the same, are hereby required and enjoined to take such mariners or seamen on board of their ships or vessels, at the request of the said consuls, vice consuls, commercial agents, or vice commercial agents, respectively, and to transport them to the port in the United States to which such ships or vessels may be bound, on such terms, not exceeding ten dollars for each person, as may be agreed between the said master and consul, or commercial agent. And the said mariners or seamen shall, if able, be bound to do duty on board such ships or vessels, according to their several abilities: Provided, That no master or captain of any ship or vessel shall be obliged to take a greater number than two men to every one hundred tons burthen of the said ship or vessel, on any one voyage; and if any such captain or master shall refuse the same, on the request or order of the consul, vice consul, commercial agent, or vice commercial agent, such captain or master shall forfeit and pay the sum of one hundred dollars for each mariner or seaman so refused, to be recovered, for the benefit of the United States, in any court of competent jurisdiction. And the certificate of any such consul or commercial agent, given under his hand and

official seal, shall be prima facie evidence of such refusal, in any court of law having jurisdiction for the recovery of the penalty aforesaid.

The reader may also be referred to Kent's Commentaries on American Law for a comprehensive and excellent statement of the law relating to seamen.-Am. Ed.]

SEAWORTHY, a term applied to a ship, indicating that she is in every respect fit for her voyage.

It is provided in all charterparties, that the vessel chartered shall be "tight, staunch, and strong, well apparelled, furnished with an adequate number of men and mariners, tackle, provisions, &c." If the ship be insufficient in any of these particulars, the owners, though ignorant of the circumstance, will be liable for whatever damage may, in consequence, be done to the goods of the merchant; and if an insurance has been effected upon her, it will be void. But whether the condition of seaworthiness be expressed in the charterparty or not, it is always implied. "In every contract," said Lord Ellenborough, " between a person holding himself forth as the owner of a lighter or vessel ready to carry goods for hire, and the person putting goods on board, or employing his vessel or lighter for that purpose, it is a term of the contract on the part of the lighterman or carrier implied by law, that his vessel is tight, and fit for the purpose for which he offers and holds it forth to the public: it is the immediate foundation and substratum of the contract that it is so: the law presumes a promise to that effect on the part of the carrier, without any actual proof; and every reason of sound policy and public convenience requires that it should be so,'

Not only must the ship and furniture be sufficient for the voyage, but she must also be furnished with a sufficient number of persons of competent skill and ability to navigate her. And for sailing down rivers, out of harbours, or through roads, &c., where either by usage or the laws of the country a pilot is required, a pilot must be taken on board. But no owner or master of a ship shall be answerable for any loss or damage by reason of no pilot being on board, unless it shall be proved that the want of a pilot shall have arisen from any refusal to take a pilot on board; or from the negligence of the master in not heaving to, for the purpose of taking on board any pilot who shall be ready and offer to take charge of the ship.(48 Geo. 3. c. 164.)

A ship is not seaworthy unless she be provided with all the documents or papers necessary for the manifestation of the ship and cargo. Neither is she seaworthy, if, during war, she be not supplied with the sails required to facilitate her escape from an enemy.

It is only necessary, to guarantee the owners from loss, that the ship should be seaworthy at the time of her departure. She may cease to be so in a few hours, and yet they may not be liable. The question to be decided in such cases always is, whether the ship's disability arose from any defect existing in her before her departure, or from a cause which occasioned it afterwards. But if a ship, within a day or two of her departure, become leaky or founder at sea, or be obliged to put back, without any visible or adequate cause to produce such an effect-such as the starting of a plank or other accident to which the best ships are liable, and which no human prudence can prevent-the fair presumption is that she was not seaworthy when she sailed; and it will be incumbent on the owners to show that she was seaworthy at that time. They are liable for damage occasioned by every injury arising from any original defect in the ship, or from bad stowage: but they are not liable for any injury arising from the act of God, the king's enemies, or the perils of the sea.

It is further to be observed, that how perfect soever a ship may be, yet if, from the nature of her construction, or any other causes, she be incapable of performing the proposed voyage, with the proposed cargo on board, she is not seaworthy. She must be, in all respects, fit for the trade in which she is meant to be employed. And it is a wholesome rule that the owners should be held to a pretty strict proof of this.

It has been already observed, that any defect in point of seaworthiness invalidates an insurance upon a ship. There is not only an express but an implied warranty in every policy, that the ship shall be "tight, staunch, and strong, &c. ;" and the reason of this is plain. The insurer undertakes to indemnify the insured against the extraordinary and unforeseen perils of the sea, and it would be absurd to suppose that any man would insure against those perils, but in the confidence that the ship is in a condition to encounter the ordinary perils to which every ship must be exposed in the usual course of the proposed voyage.

By the old law of France it was directed, that every merchant ship, before her departure from the place of her outfit, should be surveyed by certain sea officers appointed for that purpose, and reported to be seaworthy, "en bon état de navigation," and that previous to her return, before she took her homeward cargo on board, she should be again surveyed. Valin has shown-(Tit. Fret, art. 12.), that very little confidence could be placed in these surveys, which, he tells us, were only made upon the external parts, for the ship was not unsheathed; and, therefore, her internal and hidden defects could not be disclosed. This practice seems now to be abandoned by the French; at least, there is no allusion to it in the Code de Commerce. It is, one should think, much better to leave the question as to the seaworthiness of the ship to be ascertained, as in England, after a loss has happened, by an investigation of the true cause of such loss, than to permit so important a question to be decided upon the VOL. II.-2 Q

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report of officers without any motive to inquire carefully into her actual condition. A ship may, to all appearance, be perfectly capable of performing a voyage; and it is only after a loss has happened, that her latent defects can be discovered, and her true state at the time of her departure rendered manifest. Indeed, the survey made by the French was not deemed a conclusive proof that the ship was, at her departure, really seaworthy: it merely raised a presumption that such was the case; but it was still open to the freighter or the insurer to show the contrary.

For further information upon this point, the reader is referred to the able and excellent works of Chief Justice Abbott (Lord Tenterden) on the Law of Shipping, part iii. c. 3., and of Mr. Serjeant Marshall on Insurance, book i. c. 5. § 1.

SEEDS, in commerce, the grains of several species of gramina. Those of most importance are clover seed, flax or linseed, hemp seed, mustard seed, rape seed, tares, &c.; for which, see the respective articles.

SEGARS, OR CIGARS. See TOBACCO.

SENNA (Fr. Sene; Ger. Sennablater; It. Senna; Sp. Sen; Lat. Cassia Senna; Arab. Suna). The plant (Cassia Senna) which yields the leaves known in commerce and the materia medica by the name of senna, is an annual, a native of Upper Egypt, and Bernou in Central Africa. The senna after being collected in Upper Egypt, is packed up in bales, and sent to Boullac, where it is mixed with other leaves, some of which are nearly equally good, while others are very inferior. After being mixed, it is repacked in bales at Alexandria, and sent to Europe. A great deal of senna is imported from Calcutta and Bombay, under the name of East India senna; but it is originally brought to them from Arabia.(Thomson's Dispensatory.) Senna is very extensively used in medicine. The total quantity imported in 1831 amounted to 250,296 lbs., of which 130,222 lbs. were retained for home consumption. Of the imports, 42,519 lbs. came directly from Egypt; 200,990 lbs. from the East Indies; and small quantity at second hand from Italy and other places. The imports of senna from India in 1832 amounted to 464,917 lbs. The duty was reduced, in 1832, from is. 3d. to 6d. per lb.

SHAGREEN (Ger. Schagrin, It. Chagrin, Rus. Schagrim, Schagren), a kind of grained leather, used for various purposes in the arts. It is extensively manufactured at Astrakhan in Russia.-(See Tooke's Russia, vol. iii. p. 403.)

SHAMMY, OR CHAMOIS LEATHER (Ger. Sämischleder; Fr. Chamois; It. Camoscio; Rus. Samshanüi, Koshi), a kind of leather dressed in oil, or tanned, and much esteemed for its softness, pliancy, and capability of bearing soap without hurt. The real shammy is prepared of the skin of the chamois goat. But leather prepared from the skins of the common goat, kid, and sheep, is frequently substituted in its stead.

(SHARES IN JOINT STOCK COMPANIES (PRICES OF, &c.).—The following Table may, we hope, be useful to such of our readers as have not ready access to the lists regularly published in London. It embraces the various companies of which shares are usually on sale in the London market, exhibiting the number of shares in each, the sum paid up on account of such shares, the price which they brought on the 3d of April, 1840, the then dividend on account of each share, and the periods when the dividends are payable. It is taken from Wettenhall's List, the most authentic record of such matters. It can hardly, we think, fail to be interesting; for, though some of the particulars embodied in it will soon become obsolete, others will not easily change, and it will be always valuable as a standard of comparison. Increase of Companies.--The extraordinary increase of joint-stock companies, for the construction of railways, the formation of banks, insurance offices, &c., is not one of the least interesting phenomena of the present times. This increase makes it peculiarly desirable that the law as to these associations, both as respects the engagements between them and the public, and the rights and obligations of the partners in reference to each other, should be clearly defined and laid down; and we have heard that it is intended to introduce a measure in furtherance of these objects. The subject, however, is one of considerable difficulty, and should be approached with great caution. But whatever may be done in this matter, we trust that no attempt will be made, directly or indirectly, to lessen the indefinite responsibility of every partner in such concerns for their debts and engagements. We look upon this unlimited individual responsibility as by far the best, or rather the only, security that is worth a straw for their honest and prudent management. The introduction of partnerships en commandite, or of partnerships with limited responsibility, would be both unnecessary and mischievous: unnecessary, because there is no disinclination on the part of individuals to embark, as the law now stands, in any undertaking, how hazardous soever, that affords a reasonable prospect of even a moderate return; and mischievous, because partnerships with limited responsibility may be, and in fact frequently are, converted into engines for deceiving and defrauding the public. Some companies have endeavoured to defeat this indefinite liability by inserting clauses to that effect among the conditions on which they profess to do business. But it is believed that these stipulations are illegal; of their inexpediency there can be no doubt; and as they may entrap the unwary, and give rise to litigation, their prohibition by an act of the legislature would seem to be a prudent measure.