Seidel (Martin), Silesian Deist, of Olhau, lived at the end of the sixteenth century. He held that Jesus was not the predicted Messiah, and endeavored to propagate his opinion among the Polish Socinians. He wrote three Letters on the Messiah, The Foundations of the Christian Religion, in which he considered the quotation from the Old Testament in the new, and pointed out the errors of the latter. Sellon (Edward), English archæologist, author of The Monolithic Temples of India; Annotations on the Sacred Writings of the Hindus, 1865, and other scarce works, privately printed. Semerie (Eugène), French Positivist, b. Aix, 6 Jan. 1832. Becoming physician at Charenton, he studied mental maladies, and in '67 published a work on Intellectual Symptoms of Madness, in which he maintained that the disordered mind went back from Positivism to metaphysics, theology, and then to fetishism. This work was denounced by the Bishop of Orleans. Dr. Semerie wrote A Simple Reply to M. Dupanloup, '68. During the sieges of Paris he acted as surgeon and director of the ambulance. A friend of Pierre Lafitte, he edited the Politique Positive, and wrote Positivists and Catholics, '73, and The Law of the Three States, '75. Died at Grasse, May, 1884. Semler (Johann Salomo), German critic, b. Saalfeld, 18 Dec. 1725. He was professor of theology at Halle and founder of historical Biblical criticism there. He translated Simon's Critical History of the New Testament, and by asserting the right of free discussion drew down the wrath of the orthodox. Died at Halle, 4 March, 1791. Serafini (Maria Alimonda), Italian authoress of a Catechism for Female Freethinkers (Geneva, 1869), and a work on Marriage and Divorce (Salerno, '73). Serveto y Reves (Miguel), better known as Michael Servetus, Spanish martyr, b. Villanova (Aragon), 1509. Intended for the Church, he left it for law, which he studied at Toulouse. He afterward studied medicine at Paris, and corresponded with Calvin on the subject of the Trinity, against which he wrote De Trinitatis Erroribus and Christianismi Restitutio, which excited the hatred of both Catholics and Protestants. To Calvin Servetus sent a copy of his last work. Calvin, through one Trie, denounced him to the Catholic authorities at Lyons. He was imprisoned, but escaped, and to get to Naples passed through Geneva, where he was seized at the instance of Calvin, tried for blasphemy and heresy, and burnt alive at a slow fire, 26 Oct. 1553. Seume (Johann Gottfried), German poet, b. near Weissenfels, 29 Jan. 1763. He was sent to Leipsic, and intended for a theologian, but the dogmas disgusted him, and he left for Paris. He lived an adventurous life, travelled extensively, and wrote Promenade to Syracuse, 1802, and other works. Died at Teplitz, 13 June, 1810.