fe ii
ENCYCLOPAEDIA BRITANNICA.
Cncwlopactitfl Bntaimica:
OR, A
DICTIONARY
OF
ARTS, SCIENCES, AND MISCELLANEOUS
LITERATURE;
ENLARGED AND IMPROVED.
THE SIXTH EDITION.
illustrate*! Unti) nearly sir l)un*ire*i Cngrabmgo;
VOL. v.
INDOCTI DISCANT; AMENT MEMINISSE PERITI.
EDINBURGH:
PRINTED FOR ARCHIBALD CONSTABLE AND COMPANY;
AND HURST, ROBINSON, AND COMPANY, 90. CHEAPSIDE,
' 4
LONDON.
1823.
A t.
f B ^c:
: ui
15 AP^
^-1366^
Encyclopedia Britannica.
BUR
URKE, Edmund, a writer, orator, and statesman,
was born in Dublin, on the first January, in the
year 1730. His father was an attorney, first in Lime¬
rick, and afterwards in Dublin. Young Burke re¬
ceived the first rudiments of his education at Ballytore,
in the county of Kildare, under the tuition of Abra¬
ham Shackleton, a Quaker of considerable celebrity.
Committed to the care of a master so admirably qua¬
lified for the important business of instruction, young
Burke applied to his studies with commendable assi¬
duity, and became one of the numerous examples that
might be adduced, to demonstrate the falsehood of that
popular but dangerous maxim, that ijoung men of ge¬
nius are always destitute of application.
In this seminary he laid the foundation of his know¬
ledge in the languages of antiquity •, whence he was
hereafter to borrow the elegance of his taste, and the
models and imagery of his eloquence. From this
source was also, most probably, derived that love of
liberty, which, germinating at certain periods in his
bosom, so often pointed his oratory, inflamed his pas¬
sions, and animated his sentiments 5 and which in his
best days acquired him a reputation almost unequalled
in our times.
At this respectable school several years of his life
were spent : and the attachment of the master, and
the gratitude of the pupil, reflect honour on both.
The former lived to see his scholar attain a consider¬
able degree of reputation } and he on his part was ac¬
customed to spend a portion of his annual visit to Ire¬
land at Ballytore.
Prom a provincial seminary Edmund was sent to the
university of Dublin. Here, however, he does not
appear to have distinguished himself either by applica¬
tion or talents. His character, as a student, was merely
negative. He exhibited no symptoms of early genius,
obtained no palms in the academic race, and departed
even without a degree. During this period, however,
he commenced author. His first essays were of a poli¬
tical nature.
Mr Burke now addicted himself to other pursuits,
particulai ly logic and metaphysics : and is said to have
planned a refutation of the systems of Berkeley and
Hume. While thus employed in treasuring up the
means of attaining a species of celebrity, which far diffe¬
rent avocations prevented him afterwards from aspiring
to, he was not inattentive to the grand object of obtain¬
ing a suitable settlement in life; for his family was not
VOL. V. Part I. : +
BUR
opulent, and he already panted after independence. He
accordingly became a candidate for a vacant chair at
the university of Glasgow. The immediate reason of
his failure is not directly known j but on this he re¬
paired to the metropolis, and enrolled his name as a stu¬
dent of the Inner Temple. ^
It appears from his speeches, his writings, and his
conversation, that he studied the grand outline of our
municipal jurisprudence with particular attention j but
it may be doubted whether he ever entered into the
minutiae. Indeed, the versatility of his talents, and
his avocations, were but little calculated for that dull
and plodding circuit which can alone lead to an inti¬
mate knowledge of our laws. Besides, if he had been
gifted with the necessary application, both time and
opportunity were wanting : for it is well known that
at this period of his life the “ res angusta domi” did
not permit the student to dedicate his attention solely
to this, or indeed to any other single object.
The exhausted state of his finances called frequently
for a speedy supply ; and, instead of perusing the pages
of Bracton, Fleta, Littleton, and Coke, he was ob¬
liged to write essays, letters, and paragraphs, for the
periodical publications of the day. But if these pur¬
suits diverted his attention from graver studies, they
acquired him a facility of composition, and a com¬
mand of style and of language, which proved emi¬
nently serviceable in the course of his future life.
His health, however, became at length impaired,
and a nervous fever ensued. This circumstance in¬
duced him to call in the aid of Dr Nugent, one of his
own countrymen, a medical man, whose manners were
more amiable than his practice was extensive. This
gentleman, who had travelled on the continent, and
was an author himself, readily discovered the source of
his malady, and, by removing him from books and bu¬
siness to his own house, soon effected a cure. That
event is said to have been hastened, if not entirely
completed, by a physician of another kind j the ac¬
complished daughter of his host. This lady Was des¬
tined to become his wife 5 a circumstance particularly
fortunate for him, as her disposition was mild and
gentle, and she continued through a long series of
years, and many vicissitudes of fortune, to soothe and
tranquillize passions always violent, and often tumul¬
tuous.
Our student seems at length to have determined
once more to endeavour to distinguish himself as an au-
A thor,
BU R [
Ru'ke. ^orJ ani^ ^ie accordingly took advantage ot the death
v of a celebrated peer to write a work after the manner
of* that nobleman j in which, by exaggerating his
principles, he should be enabled to bring them into
contempt: but this effort proved unsuccessful, for the
treatise in question was for a long time consigned to
oblivion, and would never have been heard of, had it
not been resuscitated by his future fame. Another
performance made ample amends: his “ Essay on the
Sublime and Beautiful” attracted a high degree of re¬
putation, and acquired him considerable celebrity as a
man of letters. In addition to the profits of the pub¬
lication, he is said on this occasion to have received a
present from his father of look But his circumstances
must have been greatly embarrassed.about this time, as
he was obliged to sell his books ; and surely nothing
but the extremity of distress could have forced a man
of letters to such a measure.
The work we have just mentioned, having an im¬
mediate relation to taste, excited a desire in Sir Joshua
Reynolds, even then at the head of his profession, to
become acquainted with Mr Burke 5 and a friendship
ensued which continued uninterrupted during the life
of the painter, and was unequivocally testified by a
handsome bequest in his will. Dr Johnson also sought
and obtained an intimacy with him, and he now be¬
came the constant frequenter of two clubs, composed
of some of the most celebrated men of that day. One
of these met at the Turk’s Head tavern in Gerrard-
street, and consisted of the following members: Dr
Johnson, Mr (afterwards Sir Joshua) Reynolds, Dr
Goldsmith, Mr Topham Beauclerc, Dr Nugent, Sir
John Hawkins, Mr Bennet Langton, Mr Chamier, Mr
Garrick, and Mr Burke.
The other assembled at the St James’s coffee-house,
and besides many of the above, rvas composed of the
following members : Mr Cumberland, Dr Douglas
bishop of Salisbury, Dr Bernard dean of Derry, Mr
Richard Burke, Mr William Burke, Mr Hickey, &c.
Dr Goldsmith, who was Mr Burke’s contemporary at
Dublin College, was a member of both, and wrote the
epitaphs of those who composed the latter. That on
Mr Burke has often been praised.
Here lies our good Edmund whose genius was such,
We scarcely can praise it or blame it too much ;
Who, born for the universe, narrowed his mind,
And to party gave up what was meant for mankind.
Though fraught with all leai-ning, yet straining his
throat
To persuade Tommy Townshend to lend him a vote $
Who, too deep for his hearers, still went on refining,
And thought of convincing while they thought of
dining;
Though equal to all things, for all things unfit ;
Too nice for a statesman, too proud for a wit 5
For a patriot too cool, for a drudge disobedient;
And too fond of the right, to pursue the expedient.
In short, ’twas his fate, unemployed, or in place, Sir,
To eat mutton cold, and cut blocks with a razor.
A literary work on a new plan, first suggested in
2750, and by some attributed to the Dodsleys, and by
others to Mr Burke, became, for some time, a consi-
^srable source of emolument to him. This was called
2 ] BUR
the “ Annual Register a publication that soon oh- Buike.
tained considerable celebrity, and of which he had the v~““
superintendence for several years.
He rvas at length called oft' from his literary la¬
bours by avocations of a far different kind. A gentle¬
man who afterwards derived the cognomen of “ single¬
speech Hamilton,” from a celebrated oration, having
been appointed secretary to the lord-lieutenant of Ire¬
land, invited bis friend Mr Burke to accompany him
thither j this offer lie readily complied with, and al¬
though he acted in no public station, and performed
no public service while he remained in that country, he
was rewarded with a pension of 300I. per annum, which
he soon after disposed of for a sum of money.
On his return to England he amused himself, as
usual, with literary composition. A series of essays,
written by him in a newspaper, which, at one time,
obtained great celebrity, attracted the notice of the
late Marquis of Rockingham j and Mr Fitzherbert, a
member of parliament, and father of the present Lord
St Helen’s, in consequence of this circumstance, in¬
troduced him to that nobleman. From this moment
he was destined to become a public man, and to de¬
dicate his studies, his eloquence, and his pen, to po¬
litics.
Lord Rockingham having proved more compliant
than the Earl of Chatham, the former nobleman was
brought into power, and seated on the treasury bench.
On this occasion he selected Mr Burke as his private
secretary, an office of no power and very little emo¬
lument, but which naturally leads to both. As it was
now necessary he should have a seat in parliament, al¬
though it cannot be supposed that he was legally qua¬
lified in respect to property, he applied to Lord Ver-
ney, who was patron of Wendover, a borough at that
time dependent on him, and principally occupied by
his tenants.
Having thus obtained a seat in 1765, he prepared
to fit himself for his new situation. He was already
provided with all the necessary talents, and was only
deficient in the forms of business, and the facility of
expressing his sentiments before a public audience.
The first of these was mastered by sedulous attention j
and as to the second, if we are to give credit to those
who pretend to be intimately acquainted with this pe¬
riod of his life, he overcame all difficulties by a pre¬
vious initiation elsewhere. In short he had acquired
celebrity at the “ Robinhood,” before he attempted to
speak in the British senate, and vanquished an elo¬
quent “ baker” ere he began to cope with the great
orators of the nation.
Holding a confidential place under the Rockingham
administration, he of course supported all its measures.
A former ministry, anxious to increase its influence by
means of increased imposts, had conceived the idea of
taxing America through the medium of a parliament
in which she wb.s not represented. Having attempted
to carry this into effect by means of the famous stamp
act, the Americans, alarmed at what they conceived
to be a flagrant violation of every principle of the
English constitution, made such a spirited resistance to
the measure that it was abandoned, and the Rocking¬
ham party readily consented to the repeal. Under the
pretext, however, of vindicating the honour of the
crown, they unfortunately proposed and carried the de¬
claratory
BUR [
Burke, claratory act, by means of which, although the original
scheme had been abandoned, the principle on which it
was built was asserted anew, and a foundation laid for
all the miseries that afterwards ensued. But if this
short-lived administration deserved no great credit on
this occasion, it is entitled to considerable praise on ac*
count of other parts of its conduct ; for it repealed the
cyder act, procured a declaration of the house of com¬
mons, condemning the seizure of papers, and a resolu¬
tion against general warrants. The first of these af¬
forded great relief to such of the counties as cultivated
orchard grounds, and the two last seemed to be called
for by the conduct of their predecessors in respect to
Mr Wilkes.
On retiring from office they, however, did not carry
much popularity along with them, as Lord Chat¬
ham and his friends, who in some measure monopo¬
lized the public favour, were entrusted with the ma¬
nagement of affairs for a short time ; and it is extreme¬
ly probable that they would have sunk into neglect, had
not America been driven into resistance.
It now fell to the lot of Lord North to enforce the
scheme which the Grenville party had projected, and
wished to carry boldly into execution ; which the Rock¬
ingham administration had by an unaccountable blun¬
der at once annihilated and recognised, and which they
afterwards manfully, and at length successfully op¬
posed.
This forms the most brilliant epoch of Mr Burke’s
life. He was hostile to the expulsion of Mr Wilkes ;
an act which the house of commons afterwards rescind¬
ed from its records. On the application of the Dissen¬
ters for relief, he took up their cause, and expressed
his resentment, in very animated terms, against that
misguided policy, which permits all those not within
the pale of establishment to enjoy liberty less by right
than by connivance. But perhaps the noblest part of
his conduct consisted in his steady and uniform opposi¬
tion to the American war, and his marked and declared
hostility to the abettors of it. His speech against the
Boston Port bill was one of the most charming spe¬
cimens of oratory that had ever been exhibited in the
British senate ; and on the 19th of April, 1774, on a
motion for the repeal of the tea duty, he discovered
such talents, that an old and respectable member ex¬
claimed, “ Good God ! what a man is this !—-How
could he acquire such transcendent powers?” And
when,, in reply to another who had said, “ That the
Americans were our children, and it was horrible to
revolt, against their parent!” the orator uttered the
following passage, the whole house was electrified :
—“ They are our children, it is true ; but when chil¬
dren ask for bread, we are not to give them a stone.
When those children of ours wish to assimilate with
their parent, and to respect the beauteous countenance
of British liberty, are we to turn to them the shame¬
ful parts of our constitution ? Are we to give them
our weakness for their strength 5 our opprobrium for
their glory 5 and the slough of slavery, which we are
not able to work off, to serve them for their free¬
dom ?”
Ihe.city of Bristol, the merchants of which had be¬
come rich by the commerce with America, were like-
y to suffer by its interdiction. This consideration
alone rendered many of them hostile to the proceed-
3 ] BUR
ings of the ministry ; but nobler and more exalted mo- Burke.
tives actuated the bosoms of others, particularly the' /—
Quakers, Dissenters, and other sectarists who were
moved by zeal against oppression, and a love of liber¬
ty imprinted on their minds by a constitution which
had remained until then inviolate. Gratified by the
exertions of Mr Burke in behalf of civil and religious
freedom, they put him in nomination for their city,
and sent into Yorkshire, to request his immediate per¬
sonal attendance. After consulting with his patron
concerning an offer so flattering and unexpected, ac¬
companied at the same time with assurances most punc¬
tually fulfilled, that he should be put to no expenee
whatever, he immediately set out for the west of Eng¬
land, and found that no less than three candidates had
started before him. The first was Lord Clare, after-
wards Lord Nugent, one of the former representatives,
whose unpopularity was such, that he soon discovered
the necessity of resigning all his pretensions ; two,
therefore (Mr Cruger and Mr Brickdale), only re¬
mained in the field, and the former of these, like Mr
Burke himself, was averse to a rupture with Ame¬
rica.
The new candidate did not appear on the hustings
until the afternoon of the sixth day’s poll, on which
occasion he addressed the electors in a very able speech,
admirably calculated for the occasion. Pie began by
expressing a modest diffidence of his own abilities, and
a high opinion of the important trust they were as¬
sembled to confer. He then boldly declared himself
hostile to a contest with America, and asserted, that
England had been rendered flourishing by liberty and
commerce, the first of which was dear to his heart,
while the latter had been a favourite object of his stu¬
dies, both in its principles and details.
This harangue was well received by the electors ;
the contest proved propitious to his wishes ; and when
the sheriffs had notified, at the close of the poll, that
he was elected, he made the most brilliant address on
the occasion that had ever been heard within the walls
of a city celebrated rather for its opulence than its elo¬
quence.
Mr Burke immediately returned from his new con¬
stituents to parliament, with increased vigour, reputa¬
tion, and zeal. The Earl of Chatham, faving failed,
notwithstanding his reputation for wisdom, in an at¬
tempt to adjust the troubles of the colonies by means
of a conciliatory hill introduced by him into the
house of peers for that purpose, the obstinacy of the
ministry now became apparent to every one. This cir¬
cumstance, which would have appalled an inferior
man, did not, however, discourage the member for
Bristol from a similar attempt in another place 5 and
accordingly, March 22. 1775, he brought forward
his thirteen celebrated propositions, which were in¬
tended to close the fatal breach, and heal all the dif¬
ferences between the mother country and her colo¬
nies.
His plan, on this occasion, embraced not only an
immediate conciliation, by a repeal of the late coer¬
cive acts, but also the creation of an independent ju¬
dicature, and the regulation of the courts of admi¬
ralty. The whole, however, was quashed by a large
majority on the side of the minister, who moved the
previous question.
A 2
Mr
Burke.
BUR [ ■
Mr Burke bad hitherto chiefly distinguished himself
in opposition to the measures ot others 5 but in 1780,
he himself stood forth as the original author and pro¬
poser of a scheme which soon engaged the attention ot
the public, and actually appeared big with the most
prosperous results. When he found ministers obsti¬
nately persisting in a disastrous war, and perceived that
the people began to bend beneath the weight of the
tax,es for its support, it struck him as advantageous on
one hand, and political on the other, to diminish the
public burdens and the number of adherents to the
court at the same time. Accordingly, on the nth of
February, he brought in a bill “ for the regulation of
his majesty’s civil establishments, and of certain public
offices •, for the limitation of pensions, and the suppres¬
sion of sundry useless, expensive, and inconvenient
places, and for applying the monies saved thereby, to
the public service.4’
This scheme was manifestly founded on the late re¬
forms that had taken place in France ; for by an edict
of the king, registered in the parliament of Paris, it
appeared that he had suppressed no less than 406
places in his household by one regulation. The ora¬
tor, with great judgment, fastened upon this event, and
endeavoured to make use of it as an incitement to a
similar attempt here ; nay, he called in national rival-
ship itself, by way of an inducement to consent to this
sacrifice on the part of the crown.
To this bill the minority did not at first give much
opposition. Indeed the mover of it contrived to soften
those features that appeared harsh to them. Notwith¬
standing this, it did not prove successful during Lord
North’s administration ; and when it was at length car¬
ried, it-was much modified and altered.
Parliament was dissolved in 1780, but Mr Burke
was not re-elected for Bristol, and this is said to have
made a deep impression on the mind of the orator j but
this must have been obliterated by the important events
that speedily ensued j for the minister now tottered on
the treasury bench, being abandoned by many of his
staunchest supporters, and but little confident in his
own schemes, all of which had proved eminently unsuc¬
cessful, The opposition, having by this time increas¬
ed to a considerable degree, unceasingly assailed him,
until at length, March 28. 1782, Lord North assured
the house of commons that his administration was at an
end.
The day had now arrived when the ministry and
opposition were to change places, and the former to be
arrayed in the spoils of the latter. Of this rich booty
Mr Burke, whose services had been so conspicuous in
hunting the enemy into the toils prepared for them,
had his portion : lor he was made a privy counsellor,
and invested with the lucrative appointment of pay¬
master-general of the forces. He was at length now
enabled to enforce his plan of political economy, tender¬
ed before in vain ; and the board of trade, the board
of works, the offices of third secretary of state, trea¬
surer of the chamber, cofferer of the household, the
lords of police in Scotland, the master of the harriers,
the master of the stag hounds, the six clerks of the
board of green cloth, and the paymaster of the pen¬
sions, were abolished.
At length the reins of government were confided to.
] ' BUR
the hands of the Marquis of Lansdowne, then Earl pm4e.
Shelburne ; and this event gave such offence to those v—
who wished to place the duke of Portland at the head
of affairs, that Mr Fox, Lord John Cavendish, and
Mr. Burke, immediately resigned.
In the mean time, the critical state of the English
East India Company had long agitated the public
mind, and become occasionally a subject of discussion
in parliament. The seizure, imprisonment, and con¬
finement of Lord Pigot, by a faction in the council of
Madras ; the conduct of Mr Hastings, in respect to
several of the native powers 5 the grand question of so¬
vereignty, relative to the territorial possessions of the
company in Asia: all these subjects had, at different
times, excited the attention of the nation.
No sooner did Mr Fox behold himself and his friends
in possession of power, than he brought in a bill, to
remedy the various abuses in the government of Bri¬
tish India. Of this bill Mr Burke is well known to
have been the principal penman, and upon this occa¬
sion he defended its principles and provisions with all
the zeal of a parent. In a speech of considerable
length he exhibited an able retrospect of the system,
both political and commercial, of the company. He
then proceeded to state the benefit likely to result from
the plap under contemplation, which he considered as
calculated to effect “ the rescue of the greatest num¬
ber of the human race that ever were so grievously op¬
pressed, from the greatest tyranny that ever was exer¬
cised.” In short, he contemplated it as a measure that
would “ secure the rice in his pot to every man in In¬
dia.” “ I carry my mind (adds he) to all the people,
and all the names and descriptions that, relieved by
this bill, will bless the labours of this parliament, and
the confidence which the best house of commons has
given to him who best deserves it.”
This celebrated bill, notwithstanding much opposi¬
tion both within and without, was carried triumphantly
through the house of commons : but in the bouse of
peers it experienced a far different fate, and with it
fell the power and consequence of its authors, framers,
and supporters.
In the course of the next year (February 28. 1785),
he made a celebrated speech relative to the nabob of
Arcot’s debts ; and depicted one of his creditors, who
had taken an active share in the late elections, “ as a
criminal who long since ought to have fattened the re
gion kites with his offal ", the old betrayer, insulter,,
oppressor, and scourge of a country (Tanjore), which
had for years been an object of an unremitted, but un¬
happily an unequal, struggle, between the bounties of
Providence to renovate, and the wickedness of mankind
to destroy.”
But there appeared to Mr Burke to be a still
greater delinquent, on whom he was determined to in¬
flict all the wounds of his eloquence, and sacrifice, if
possible, the powerful offender himself at the shrine of
national vengeance. This was Mr Hastings j and soon
after his arrival in England, the orator gave notice of
his intentions. On the 17th of February, 1785, he
opened the accusation by a most eloquent speech j in
which he depicted the supposed crimes of the late go^
vernor-general, in the most glowing and animated co¬
lours. This trial, however, turned out. in the event
far
BUR T o
Baike. far difFerent from Iiis hopes ami expectations; while
v ' the length of it failed not to involve both himself and
party in reproach.
During the debate on the commercial treaty with
France (January 23. 1787), the member for Malton
exhibited an undiminished versatility of talents, and
pointed his ridicule with no common success at Mr
Pitt, who, according to him, contemplated the sub¬
ject with a narrowness peculiar to limited minds:—
“ He seems to consider it (adds he) as an affair of two
little compting-houses, and not of two great nations.
He seems to consider it as a contention between the
sign of \\\e fleur-de-lis and the sign of the old red lion,
for which should obtain the best custom.”
The next public event of importance in which we
find Mr Burke engaged, occurred in consequence of
his majesty’s indisposition. On this occasion he took
an active part in the debates of the house of commons ;
and is supposed to have penned a letter for one, and a
speech for another, branch of the royal family. When
Mr Pitt moved his declaratory resolutions relative to
the provisional exercise of the royal authority, he at¬
tacked him with much asperity of language, and was
particularly severe on the manner in which the royal
assent was to be given to all future acts of parliament.
The men who held most of the high places under the
government were treated as “ jobbers, old hacks of
the court, and the supporters and betrayers of all par¬
ties ; and it was a mock crown, a tinsel robe, and a
sceptre from the theatre, lackered over and unreal,”
which were about to be conferred on the prince of
Wales.
The opposition, lessened indeed by a few occasional
desertions, had hitherto acted as a great public body,
supposed to be united in general principles, for the
common welfare and prosperity of the state ; hut the
French revolution thinned their ranks, dispelled their
consequence, and, by sowing jealousy between the
chiefs, spread consternation and dismay among their
followers.
It was on the 2d of March 1790, when Mr Fox
moved for leave to bring in a bill to repeal the corpo¬
ration and test-acts, that this disunion became evident;
and soon after this Mr Burke declared, “ that his ho¬
nourable friend and he were separated in their politics
for ever.”
The ministry now seemed anxious to provide for
their new associate ; and he, on his part, certainly ap¬
peared deserving of some remuneration at their hands,
for he had abandoned all his old friends, and not a
few of his old principles. In addition to this, his
“ Reflections on the Revolution in France,” had af¬
forded some degree of countenance, and even popula¬
rity, to the measures of administration ; and, not con¬
tent with his own exertions, he had enlisted his son
on the same side, and even sent him to Coblentz. The
royal munificence at length gratified his warmest
wishes ; for by a warrant, dated September 24. 1795,
and made to commence January 5. 1793, he received a
pension of 1200I. for his own life, and that of his wife,
on the civil list; while two other pensions of 2500I.
a-year for three lives, payable out of the four and a
half per cent, fund, dated October 24. 1795, were
wade to commence from July 24. 1793. Honours as
well as wealth now seemed to await him, for he was
] - BUR
about to be ennobled, when the untimely death of an Bnrke.
only child put an end to his dreams of ambition, and—y"—"
contributed not a little to hasten his own, which occur¬
red at his house at Beaconsfield, July 8. 1797.
Thus died, in the 68th year of his age, Edmond
Burke, one of the greatest orators, statesmen, and au¬
thors, of his age ; one whose name will long continue
to be celebrated ; and who, had he fallen during the
meridian of his fame and character, would have scarce¬
ly been considered as second to any man, either of an¬
cient or modern times.
As a man of letters, he ranks high in point of ge¬
nius, learning, and composition ; and his works are
attended with this peculiarity, that they are the pro¬
duction of almost the only orator of his day, who
could wield his pen with as much fluency as his tongue,
and shine equally in the senate and the closet. His
dissertation on the “ Sublime and Beautiful” acquired
him the applause of all, and secured him the friend¬
ship and assistance of many men of taste in the nation.
His political tracts betoken much reading, deep
thought, uncommon sagacity ; and even those who
may be disposed to object to his doctrines, cannot but
admire his various talents, his happy allusions, and his
acute penetration. There is no species of composition
which he has not attempted ; no subject on which he
has not occasionally treated : his first and his last days
were equally dedicated to literature, and he disdained
not any species of it, from the newspaper column, that
supplied needful bread to his early youth, to the more
elaborate performance that procured, unnecessary opu¬
lence to his old age.
As an orator, notwithstanding some glaring defects,
he stands almost unrivalled. His gesticulation was at
times violent and repulsive, his manner harsh and over¬
bearing, his epithets coarse and disgusting ; on many
occasions he made use of assertions which were not bot¬
tomed in fact,, and on one in particular, toward the
latter end of his life, had recourse to stage trick and
pantomime, instead of sense and argument. But on
the other hand, no man was better calculated to arouse
the dormant passions, to call forth the glowing affec¬
tions of the human heart, and to “ harrow up” the in¬
most recesses of the soul. Venality and meanness
stood appalled in his presence; he who was dead to
the feelings of his own conscience, was still alive to
his animated reproaches ; and corruption for a while
became alarmed at the terrors of his countenance. His
powers were never more conspicuous than on that me¬
morable day on which he exposed the enormities of a
subaltern agent of oriental despotism—on which he de¬
picted the tortures inflicted by his orders, the flagrant
injustice committed by his authority, the pollution that
ensued in consequence of his sanction—when he paint¬
ed agonizing nature vibrating in horrid suspense be¬
tween life and destruction—when he described, in the
climax of crimes, “ death introduced into the very
sources of life,” the bosoms of his auditors became
convulsed with passion, and those of more delicate or¬
gans and weaker frame actually swooned away. Nay,
after the storm of eloquence had spent its force, and
the captivated ears no longer listened to his voice, his
features still spoke the purpose of his heart, his hand
still seemed to threaten punishment, and his brow to
meditate vengeance,.
“ The
BUR [6
Burke “ The qualities of his heart (says one of his biogra-
1) phers) were not less amiable and estimable than his
Burlesque. fca)ents were astonishing:—benevolent, just, temperate,
magnanimous. He loved bis country, loved its con¬
stitution, because he believed it the best adapted for
its happiness : at different times, from the same prin¬
ciple, he supported different members of it, when he
thought tb.e one or the other likely to be overbalanced.
During the prevalence of the Bute plans, dreading the
influence of the crown, he supported the people ; and
for the same reason, during the American war.
“ After the overthrow of the French monarchy, the
aristocracy, and the dissemination in Great Britain of
the principles that had destroyed these powers, appre¬
hending similar effects, if not vigorously opposed in
England, he strenuously supported the monarchy and
aristocracy. Thus discriminately patriotic in public
life, in his private relations his conduct was highly
meritorious. A fond and attentive husband, an affec¬
tionate and judiciously indulgent father, a sincere
friend, at once fervid and active, a liberal and kind
master, an agreeable neighbour, a zealous and bounti¬
ful patron, he diffused light and happiness. His prin¬
ciples were as strict, and habits as virtuous, as his dis¬
positions were kind.” {Annual Necrology').
BURKITT, William, a celebrated commentator
on the New Testament, was born at Hitcham in North¬
amptonshire, July 25. 1650, and educated at Pem-
broke-hall, Cambridge. He entered young upon the
ministry, being ordained by Bishop Reynolds: and the
first employment which he had was at Milden in Suf¬
folk, where he continued 21 years a constant preach¬
er, first as a curate, and afterwards as rector of that
church. In the year 1692, he had a call to the vi«
carage of Dedham in Essex, where he continued to
the time of his death, which happened in the latter
end of October 1703. He was a pious and charitable
man. He made great collections for the French Pro¬
testants in the years 1687, &c. and by his great care,
pains, and charges, procured a worthy minister to go
and settle in Carolina. Among other charities, by his
last will and testament, he bequeathed the house where¬
in he lived, with the lands thereunto belonging, to be
a habitation for the lecturer that should be chosen from
time to time to read the lecture at Dedham. Besides
his commentary upon the New Testament, written in
the same plain, practical, and affectionate manner in
which he preached, he wrote a volume, entitled The
poor mail’s help, and the inch man’s guide.
BURLAW. See By-Law.
BURLEIGH. See Cecil.
BURLESQUE, a species of composition, which,
though a great engine of ridicule, is not confined to
that subject j lor it is clearly distinguishable into bur¬
lesque that excites laughter merely, and burlesque that
excites derision or ridicule. A grave subject, in which
there, is no impropriety, may be brought down by a
certain colouring so as to be risible, as° in Virgil tra-
vestie; the author first laughs at every turn in order
to make his readers laugh. The Lutrin is a burlesque
poem of the other sort, laying hold of a low and tri¬
fling incident to expose the luxury, indolence, and
contentious spirit, of a set of monks. Boileau, the
author, turns the subject into ridicule, by dressing it in
the heroic style, and affecting to consider it as of the
] BUR
utmost dignity and importance. Though ridicule is Burlesque
the poet’s aim, he always carries a grave face, and II
never once betrays a smile. The opposition between
the subject and the manner of handling it, is what pro¬
duces the ridicule j and therefore, in a composition of
this kind, no image professedly ludicrous ought to
have quarter, because such images destroy the con¬
trast.
Though the burlesque that aims at ridicule produ¬
ces its effects by elevating the style far above the sub¬
ject, yet the poet ought to confine himself to such
images as are lively, and readily apprehended. A
strained elevation, soaring above the ordinary reach of
fancy, makes not a pleasant impression. The mind is
soon disgusted by being kept long on the stretch. Ma¬
chinery may be employed in a burlesque poem, such
as the Lutrin, Dispensary, or Hudibras, with more
success and propriety than in any other species of poe¬
try. For burlesque poems, though they assume the
air of history, give entertainment chiefly by their plea¬
sant and ludicrous pictures: It is not the aim of such a
poem to raise sympathy 5 and, for that reason, a strict
imitation of nature is not necessary. And hence, the
more extravagant the machinery in a ludicrous poem,
the more entertainment it affords.
BURLINGTON, a sea-port town in the east rid¬
ing of Yorkshire, situated on the German ocean, a-
bout 37 miles north-east of York. E. Long. o. 10. and
N. Lat. 54. 15. It gave the title of earl to a branch
of the noble family of Boyle, but the earldom is now
extinct. Population 3741 in 1811.
New Burlington, the capital of New Jersey, in
North America ; situated in an island of Delaware ri¬
ver, about 20 miles north of Philadelphia. W. Long.
74. o. N. Lat. 40. 40.
BURMAN, Francis, a Protestant minister, and
learned professor of divinity at Utrecht, was born at
Leyden in 16285 and died on the 10th of November
1679, a^ter having published a course of divinity, and
several other works.
He is not to be confounded with Francis Burman,
his son 5 or with Peter Burman, a laborious commen¬
tator on Phaedrus, Lucan, Petronius, and other pro¬
fane authors, who died in 1741.
BURN, in Medicine and Surgery, an injury re¬
ceived in any part of the body by fire. See Sur¬
gery.
BURNET, Gilbert, bishop of Salisbury in the
latter end of the 17th century, was born at Edin¬
burgh, in 1643, of an ancient family in the shire of
Aberdeen. Elis father being bred to the law, was,
at the restoration of King Charles II. appointed one of
the lords of. session, with the title of Lord Crimond,
in reward for his constant attachment to the royal par¬
ty during the troubles of Great Britain. Our author,
the youngest son of his father, was instructed by him
in the Latin tongue 5 at ten years of age he was sent
to continue his studies at Aberdeen, and was admitted
M. A. before he was 14. His own inclination led
him to the study of the civil and feudal law 5 and he
used to say, that it was from this study lie had receiv¬
ed more just notions concerning the foundations of
civil society and government, than those which some
divines maintain. About the year after, he changed
his mind, and began to apply to divinity, to the great
satisfaction
BUR [
Burnet, satisfaction of his father. He was admitted preacher
 ’ before he was 18 5 and Sir Alexander Burnet, his cou¬
sin-german, offered him a benefice } but he refused to
accept of it.
In 1663, about two years after the death of his fa¬
ther, he came into England; and after six months
stay at Oxford and Cambridge, returned to Scotland j
which he soon left again to make a tour for some
months, in 1664, in Holland and France. At Am¬
sterdam, by the help of a Jewish rabbi, he perfected
himself in the Hebrew language j and likewise became
acquainted with the leading men of the different per¬
suasions tolerated in that country 5 as Calvinists, Ar-
minians, Lutherans, Anabaptists, Brownists, Papists,
and Unitarians j amongst each of which he used fre¬
quently to declare, he met with men of such unfeign¬
ed piety and virtue, that he became fixed in a strong
principle of universal charity, and an invincible ab¬
horrence of all severities on account of religious dissen¬
sions.
Upon his return from his travels, he was admitted
minister of Salton : in which station he served five
years in the most exemplary manner. He drew up a
memorial, in which he took notice of the principal
errors in the conduct of the Scots bishops, which he
observed not to be conformable to the primitive insti¬
tution ; and sent a copy of it to several of them. This
exposed him to their resentments : but, to show he was
not actuated with a spirit of ambition, he led a retired
course of life for two years j which so endangered his
health, that he was obliged to abate his excessive ap¬
plication to study. In 1669, he published his “ Mo¬
dest and free conference between a conformist and non¬
conformist.” He became acquainted with the duchess
of Hamilton, who communicated to him all the papers
belonging to her father and her uncle ; upon which he
drew up the “Memoirs of the dukes of Hamilton.”
The duke of Lauderdale, hearing he was about this
work, invited him to London, and introduced him to
King Charles II. He returned to Scotland, and mar¬
ried the lady Margaret Kennedy, daughter of the earl
of Cassilis j a lady of great piety and knowledge,
highly esteemed by the Presbyterians, to whose senti¬
ments she was strongly inclined. As there was some
disparity in their ages, that it might remain past dis¬
pute that this match was wholly owing to inclination,
and not to avarice or ambition, the day before their
marriage our author delivered the lady a deed, where¬
by he renounced all pretensions to her fortune, which
was very considerable, and must otherwise have fallen
into his hand, she herself having no intention to secure
it. The same year he published his “Vindication of
the authority, constitution, and laws of the church and
state of Scotland j” which at that juncture was looked
upon as so great a service, that he was again offered a
bishopric, and a promise of the next vacant arch¬
bishopric ; but did not accept of it, because he could
not approve of the measures of the court, the grand
view of which he saw to be the advancement of
Popery.
Mr Burnet’s intimacy with the dukes of Hamilton
and Lauderdale occasioned him to be frequently sent
for by the king and the duke of York, who had con¬
versations with him in private. But Lauderdale, con¬
ceiving a resentment against him on account of the
7 ] BUR
freedom with which he spoke to him, represented at
last to the king, that Hr Burnet was engaged in an
opposition to his measures. Upon his return to Lon¬
don, he perceived that these suggestions had entirely
thi own him out of the king’s favour, though the duke
of York treated him with greater civility than ever,
and dissuaded him from going to Scotland. Upon this,
he resigned his professorship at Glasgow, and staid at
London. About this time the living at Cripplegate
being vacant, the dean and chapter of St Paul’s (in
whose gift it was), hearing of his circumstancfes, and
the hardships he had undergone, sent him an ofier of
the benefice; but, as he had been informed of their first
intention of conferring it on Hr Fowler, he generously
declined it. In 1675, at the recommendation of Lord
Hollis, whom he had known in France, ambassador at
that court, he Was by Sir Herbottle Grimstone, master
of the rolls, appointed preacher of the chapel there,
notwithstanding the opposition of the court. He was
soon after chosen a lecturer of St Clement’s, and be¬
came one of the preachers that were most followed in
town. In 1697, lie published his History of the Refor¬
mation, for which he had the thanks of both houses of
parliament. The first part of it was published in 1679,
and the second in 1681. Next year, he published an
abridgement of these two parts.
Mr Burnet about this time happened to be sent for
to a woman in sickness, who had been engaged in an
amour with the earl of Rochester. The manner in
which he treated her during her illness, gave that lord
a great curiosity for being acquainted with him.
Whereupon, for a whole winter, he spent one evening
in a week with Hr Burnet, who discoursed with him
upon all those topics upon which sceptics and men of
loose morals attack the Christian religon. The happy
effects of these conferences occasioned the publication
of his account of the life and death of that earl. In
1682, when the administration was changed in favour
of the duke of York, being much resorted toby persons
of all ranks and parties, in order to avoid returning
visits, he built a laboratory, and went for above a year
through a course of chemical experiments. Not long-
after, he refused a living of 300I. a-year offered him
by the earl of Essex, on the terms of his not residing
there, but in London. When the inquiry concerning
the popish plot was on foot, he was frequently sent for
and consulted by King Charles with relation to the state
of the nation. His majesty offered him the bishopric
of Chichester, then vacant, if he would engage in his
interests ; but he refused to accept it on these terms.
He preached at the Rolls till 1684, when he was dis¬
missed by order of the court. About this time he
published several pieces.
On King James’s accession to the throne, having ob¬
tained leave to go out of the kingdom, he first went
to Paris, and lived in great retirement; till, contracting
an acquaintance with Brigadier Stouppe, a Protestant
gentleman in the French service, he made a tour with
him into Italy. He met with an agreeable reception
at Rome. Pope Innocent XI. hearing of our author’s
arrival, sent the captain of the Swiss guards to acquaint
him he would give him a private audience in bed, to
avoid the ceremony of kissing his holiness’s slipper.
But Hr Burnet excused himself as well as he could.
Some disputes which our author had here concerning
religion,
Burnett
BUR [8
Unmet, religion, beginning to be taken notice of, made it
——y—* proper for him to quit the city, which, upon an inti¬
mation given him by Prince Borghese, he accordingly
did.
He pursued his travels through Switzerland and
Germany. In 1688, he came to Utrecht, with an in¬
tention to settle in some of the seven provinces. There
he received an invitation from the prince and princess
of Orange (to whom their party in England had re¬
commended him) to come to the Hague, which he ac¬
cepted. He was soon made acquainted with the se¬
cret of their councils, and advised the fitting out of a
fleet in Holland sufficient to support their designs and
encourage their friends. This, and the Account ol his
Travels, in which he endeavoured to blend Popery and
tyranny together, and represent them as unseparable,
with some papers reflecting on the proceedings of Eng¬
land, that came out in single sheets, and were dis¬
persed in several parts of England, most of which Mr
Burnet owned himself the author of, alarmed King
James, and were the occasion of his writing twice
against him to the princess of Orange, and insisting,
by his ambassador, on his being forbid the court 5
which, after much importunity, was done, though he
continued to be trusted and employed as before, the
Hutch minister consulting him daily. To put an end
to these frequent conferences with the ministers, a pro¬
secution for high treason was set on foot against him
both in England and Scotland. But Burnet receiving
the news thereof before it arrived at the States, he
avoided the storm, by petitioning for, and obtaining
without any difficulty, a bill of naturalization, in order
to his intended marriage with Mary Scott, a Dutch
lady of considerable fortune, who, with the advantage
of birth, had those of a fine person and understand-
i"g.
After his marriage with this lady, being legally un¬
der the protection of Holland, when Mr Burnet found
King James plainly subverting the constitution, he
omitted no method to support and promote the design
the prince of Orange had formed of deliverino- Great
Britain, and came over with him in quality of chap¬
lain. He was soon advanced to the see of Salisbury.
He declared for moderate measures with regard to the
clergy who scrupled to take the oaths, and many were
displeased with him for declaring for the toleration of
nonconformists. His pastoral letter concerning the
oaths of allegiance and supremacy to King William and
Queen Mary, 1689, happening to touch upon the right
of conquest, gave such offence to both houses of parlia¬
ment, that it was ordered to be burnt by the hands of
the common executioner. In 1698 he lost his wife
by the smallpox 5 and as he was almost immediately
after appointed preceptor to the duke of Gloucester, in
whose education he took great care, this employment,
and the tender age ol his children, induced him the same
year to supply her loss by a marriage with Mrs Berke-
ly, eldest daughter of Sir Richard Blake, knight. In
1669 ^ie published his Exposition of the 39 Articles;
which occasioned a representation against him in the
lower house of convocation in the year 1701 ; but he
was vindicated in the upper house. His speech in the
bouse of lords in 1704 against the bill to prevent occa¬
sional conformity was severely attacked. He died in
37x5, and was interred in the church of St James,
3
] BUR
Clerkenwell, where he has a monument erected to him. Barnet.
He formed a scheme for augmenting the poor livings v —
which he pressed forward W'ith such success, that it
ended in an act of parliament passed in the second year
of Queen Anne, “ for the augmentation of the livings
of the poor clergy.'”
Burnet, Thomas, a polite and learned writer in the
end of the 17th century, was born in Scotland, but
educated in Cambridge, under the tuition of Mr John
Tillotson, afterwards archbishop of Canterbury. In
the beginning of 1685, he was made master of Sutton’s
hospital in London, after which he entered into holy
orders. During the reign of King James, he made a
noble stand in his post as master of the Charter-house
against the encroachments of that monarch, who would
have imposed one Andrew Popham, a Papist, as a pen¬
sioner upon the foundation ol that house. In 1680 he
published his Telluris theoria sacra, so universally ad¬
mired for the purity of the style and beauty of the sen¬
timents, that King Charles gave encouragement to a
translation of it into English. This theory was, how¬
ever, attacked by several writers. In 1692 he pub¬
lished his Archceologiaphilosophica, deditated to King
William, to whom he was clerk of the closet. He
did in 17x5. Since his death, hath been published
his book De statu mortuorum et resurgentium, and his
treatise De fide et ojjiciis Christianorum.
Burnet, the Honourable James, Lord Monboddo, a
senator of the college of justice in Scotland, was born
about the year 1714. He was the son of Mr Burnet of
Monboddo in Kincardineshire. After passing through
the usual course of school education, he prosecuted
his studies at the universities of Aberdeen, Edinburgh,
and Leyden, with distinguished reputation. He was
admitted an advocate in 1737, and on the 12th of Fe¬
bruary 1767, he was raised to the bench by the title
of Lord Monboddo, in the room of Lord Milton, ap¬
pointed a judge the 4th of June 1742, and who had
succeeded Sir John Lauder of Fountainhall, admitted
November 1689 ; being the third on the bench in suc¬
cession since the Revolution.
He married Miss Farquharson, a very amiable wo¬
man, by whom he had a son and two daughters.
His private life was spent in the practice of all the
social virtues, and in the enjoyment of much domestic
felicity. Although rigidly temperate in his habits of
life, he, however, delighted much in the convivial so¬
ciety of his friends, and among these he could number
almost all the most eminent of those who were distin¬
guished in Scotland for virtue, literature, or genuine
elegance of conversation and manners. One of those
who esteemed him the most was the late Lord Garden-
stone, a man who possessed no mean portion of the same
overflowing benignity of disposition, the same unim¬
peachable integrity as a judge, the same partial fond¬
ness for literature and the fine arts. H is son, a very
promising boy, in whose education he took great de¬
light, was, indeed, snatched away from his affections
by a premature death. But, when it was too late for
sorrow and anxiety to avail, the afflicted father stifled
the emotions of nature in his breast, and wound up the
energies of his soul to the firmest tone of stoical forti¬
tude. He was, in like manner, bereaved oHiis excel¬
lent lady, the object of his dearest tenderness ; and he
endured the loss with a similar firmness, fitted to do
honour
BUR [ 9 ] BUR
Burnet honour either to philosophy or to religion. In addi-
tion to his office as a judge in the court of session, an
offer was made to him of a seat in the court of justi¬
ciary. But, though the emoluments of this would have
made a convenient addition to his income, he refused
to accept it, lest its business should too much detach
him from the pursuit of his favourite studies. To these
studies he continued through the whole of a long life
to be greatly devoted. His admiration of the man¬
ners, literature, and philosophy of the ancients, was un¬
bounded. Thus strongly prepossessed, it is not to be
wondered at, that the comparison which he made be¬
tween the ancients and moderns was little favourable to
the latter. For among the former he supposed that he
saw all that was elegant, manly, and virtuous, all that
was praiseworthy and excellent; while the degenerate
race of the moderns exhibited nothing but effeminacy
and corruption.
The vacation of the court of session afforded him
sufficient leisure to retire every year, in spring and in
autumn, to the country j and he used then to dress in a
style of simplicity, as if he had been only a plain far¬
mer ; and to live among the people upon his estate,
with all the kind familiarity and attention of an aged
father among his grown-up children. Although his
estate, from the old leases, afforded comparatively but a
moderate income, he would never raise the rents or dis¬
place an old tenant to make room for a new one who of¬
fered a higher rent. In imitation of the rural economy
of some of the ancients, whom he chiefly admired, he ac¬
counted population the true wealth of an estate, and was
desirous of no improvement so much as of increasing the
number of souls upon his lands, so as to make it greater,
in proportion to the extent, than that of those upon the
estate of any neighbouring landholder. It was there he
had the pleasure of receiving Dr Samuel Johnson, with
his friend James Boswell, at the time when these two
gentlemen were upon their well-known tour through
the Highlands of Scotland. Johnson admired nothing
in literature so much as the display of a keen discrimi¬
nation of human character, a just apprehension of the
principles of moral action, and that vigorous common
sense which is the most happily applicable to the ordi¬
nary conduct of life. Monboddo delighted in the re¬
finements, the subtleties, the abstractions, the affecta¬
tions of literature; and in comparison with these, des¬
pised the grossness of modern taste and of common af¬
fairs. Johnson thought learning and science to be lit¬
tle valuable, except so far as they could be made sub¬
servient to the purposes of living usefully and happily
with the world, upon his own terms. Monboddo’s
favourite science taught him to look down with con¬
tempt upon all sublunary, and especially upon all mo¬
dern things; and to fit life to literature and philoso¬
phy, not literature and philosophy to life. James Bos¬
well, therefore, in carrying Johnson to visit Monbod¬
do, probably thought of pitting them one against an¬
other, as two game cocks, and promised himself much
sport from the colloquial contest which he expected to
ensue between them. But Monboddo was too hospi¬
table and courteous to enter into keen contention with
a stranger in his own house. There was much talk
between them, but no angry controversy, no exaspe¬
ration of that dislike for each other’s well-known pe¬
culiarities with which they had met. 'Johnson it is
Vol. V. Part I. 4.
true, still continued to think Lord Monboddo what he Burnet,
called a prig in literature. »
Lord Monboddo used frequently to visit London, to
which he was allured by the opportunity that great
metropolis affords of enjoying the conversation of a vast
number of men of profound erudition. A journey to
the capital became a favourite amusement of his pe¬
riods of vacation from the business of the court to which
he belonged; and, for a time, he made this journey
once a year. A carriage, a vehicle that was not in
common use among the ancients, he considered as an
engine of effeminacy and sloth, which it was disgrace¬
ful for a man to make use of in travelling. To be
dragged at the tail of a horse, instead of mounting
upon his back, seemed, in his eyes, to be a truly ludi¬
crous degradation of the genuine dignity of human na¬
ture. In all his journeys, therefore, between Edin¬
burgh and London, he was wont to ride on horseback,
with a single servant attending him. He continued
this practice, without finding it too fatiguing for his
strength, till he was upwards of eighty years of age.
Within these few years, on his return from a last visit,
which he made on purpose to take leave, before his
death, of all his old friends in London, he became ex¬
ceedingly ill upon the road, and was unable to proceed ;
and had he not been overtaken by a Scotch friend,
who prevailed upon him to travel the remainder of the
way in a carriage, he might, perhaps, have actually
perished by the way side, or breathed his last in some
dirty inn. Since that time, he did not again attempt
an equestrian journey to London.
In London, his visits were exceedingly acceptable to
all his friends, whether of the literary or fashionable
world. He delighted to shew himself at court; and the
king is said to have taken a pleasure in conversing with
the old man, with a distinguishing notice that could not
but be very flattering to him.
A constitution of body, naturally framed to wear
well and last long, was strengthened to Lord Monbod*
do by exercise, guarded by temperance, and by a te¬
nor of mind too firm to be deeply broken in upon by
those passions which consume the principles of life. In
the country he always used much the exercises of
walking in the open air, and of riding. The cold bath
was a means of preserving the health, to which he had
recourse in all seasons, amidst every severity of the
weather, under every inconvenience of indisposition or
business, with a perseverance invincible. He was ac¬
customed, alike in winter and in summer, to rise at a
very early hour in the morning, and, without loss of
time, to betake himself to study or wholesome exercise.
It is said, that he even found the use of what he called
the air bath, or the practice of occasionally walking
about, for some minutes, naked, in a room filled with
fresh and cool air, to be highly salutary.
Lord Monboddo is well known to the world as a
man of letters. His first publication was “ a Disserta¬
tion on the Origin and Progress of Language,” in 2
vols. '8vo. 1773 > which were followed by four more
vols. the last published not long before his death. In
this work, intended chiefly to vindicate the honours of
Grecian literature, he ascribes the origin of alphabetical
writing to the Egyptians; and strenuously maintains,
that the ouran-outang is a class of the human species,
and that his want of speech is merely accidental. He al-
B so
B U K [
so endeavours to establish the reality of the existence of
mermaids, and other fictitious animals. He was indu¬
ced to undertake another work, for the purpose of de¬
fending the cause of Grecian philosophy; and publish¬
ed, in five vols. 4to. a work entitled, “ Ancient Meta¬
physics,” which, like the other, is remarkable for a sur¬
prising mixture of erudition and genius, with the most
absurd whim and conceit.
As a judge, his decisions were sound, upright, and
learned, and marked with acute discrimination; and
free from those paradoxes and partialities which appear
in his writings. He attended his judicial duty with
indefatigable diligence till within a few days of his
death, which happened at his house in Edinburgh, May
26. 1799, at the advanced age of 85.
His eldest daughter married some years before his
death. His second daughter, in personal loveliness one
of the finest women of the age, -was beheld in every
public place with general admiration, and was sought
in marriage by many suitors. Her mind was endowed
with all her father’s benevolence of temper, and with all
his taste for elegant literature, without any portion of his
rvhim and caprice. It was her chief delight to be the
nurse and the companion of his declining age. Her pre¬
sence contributed to draw around him, in his house, and
at his table, all that was truly respectable among the
vouth of his country. She mingled in the world of fa¬
shion, without sharing its follies ; and heard those flat¬
teries which are addressed to youth and beauty, without
being betrayed to that light and selfish vanity which is
often the only sentiment that fills the heart of the high-
praised beauty. She delighted in reading, in literary
conversation, in poetry, and in the fine arts, without
contracting from this taste, any of that pedantic self-
conceit and affectation which usually characterize lite¬
rary ladies^ and whose presence often frightens away the
domestic virtues, the graces, the delicacies, and all the
more interesting charms of the sex. When Burns, the
well-known Scotish poet, first arrived from the plough
in Ayrshire to publish his poems in Edinburgh, there
was none by whom he was more zealously patronized
than by Lord Monboddo and his lovely daughter. No
man’s feelings were ever more powerfully or exquisitely
alive than those of the rustic bard, to the emotions of
gratitude, or to the admiration of the good and fair.
In a poem which he at that time wrote, as a panegyri¬
cal address to Edinburgh, he took occasion to cele¬
brate the beauty and excellence of Miss Burnet, in
perhaps the finest stanza of the whole ;
“ Thy daughters bright thy walks adorn,
“ Gay as the gilded summer sky,
“ Sweet as the dewy milk-white thorn,
“ Dear as the raptur’d thrill of joy !
“ Fair Burnet strikes th’ adoring eye :
“ Heav’n’s beauties on my fancy shine,
“ I see the Sire of Love on high,
“ And own his work, indeed, divine.”
She was the ornament of the elegant society of the
city in which she resided, her father’s pride, and the
comfort of his domestic life in his declining years.
Every amiable and noble sentiment was familiar to her
heart, every female virtue was exemplified in her life.
Yet, this woman, thus lovely, thus elegant, thus wise
and virtuous, was cut off in the flower of her age, and
10 ] b ti n
left her father bereft of the last tender tie which bound ljurnet
him to society and to life. She died about six years jj
before him, of a consumption ; a disease that, in Scot-1
land, proves too often fatal to the loveliest and most ‘
promising among the fair and the young. Neither his
philosophy, nor the necessary torpor of the feelings of
extreme old age, were capable of preventing Lord Mon¬
boddo from being very deeply affected by so grievous
a loss ; and from that time he began to droop exceed¬
ingly in his health and spirits. Edin. Mag.
Burnet. See Poterium and Sanguisorba, Bo¬
tany Index.
BURNHAM, a market town of Norfolk in Eng¬
land, situated in E. Long. o. 50. N. Lat. 53. o.
BURNING, the action of fire on some pabulum or
fuel, by which the minute parts thereof are put into a
violent motion, and some of them assuming the nature
of fire themselves, fly off in orbem, while the rest are
dissipated in form of vapour, or reduced to ashes. See
Ignition.
Extraordinary Cases of Burning. We have in¬
stances of persons burnt by fire kindled within their
own bodies. A woman at Paris, who used to drink
brandy to excess, was one night reduced to ashes by a
fire from within, all but her head and the ends of her
fingers. Signora Corn. Zangari, or, as others call her,
Corn. Bandi, an aged lady, of an unblemished life, near
Cesana in Romagna, underwent the same fate in March
1731. She had retired in the evening to her chamber
somewhat indisposed ; and in the morning was found
in the middle of the room reduced to ashes, all except
her face, legs, skull, and three fingers. The stockings
and shoes she had on were not burnt in the least. The
ashes were light ; and, on pressing between the fingers,
vanished, leaving behind a gross stinking moisture with
which the floor was smeared ; the walls and furniture
of the room being covered with a moist cineritious
soot, which had not only stained the linen in the chests,
but had penetrated into the closet, as well as into the
room overhead, the walls of which were moistened with
the same viscous humour.—We have various other re¬
lations of persons burnt to death in this unaccountable
manher.
Sig. Mondini, Bianchini, and Maffei, have written
treatises express to account for the cause of so extraor¬
dinary an event: common fire it could not be, since this
would likewise have burnt the bed and the room ; besides
that it would have required many hours, and a vast
quantity of fuel, to reduce a human body to ashes ; and,
after all, a considerable part of the bones would have
remained entire, as they were anciently found after the
fiercest funeral fires. Some attribute the effect to a mine
of sulphur under the house ; others to a miracle ; while
others suspect that art or villany had a hand in it. A
philosopher of Verona maintains, that such a conflagra¬
tion might have arisen from the inflammable matters
wherewith the human body naturally abounds. Sig.
Bianchini accounts for the conflagration of the lady
above mentioned, from her using a bath or lotion of
camphorated spirit of wine when she found herself out
of order. Maffei supposes it owing to lightning, but
to lightning generated in her own body, agreeable to
his doctrine, which is, rJ hat lightning does not pro¬
ceed from the clouds, but is always produced in the
place where it is seen and its effects perceived. We
have
✓ BUR [ i
Burning, have had a late attempt to establish the opinion, that
~v-——1 these destro/ing internal fires are caused in the entrails
of the body by inflamed effluvia of the blood } by juices
and fermentation in the stomach ; by the many com¬
bustible matters which abound in living bodies for the
purposes of life } and, finally, by the fiery evaporations
which exhale from the settlings of spirit of wine, bran¬
dies, and other hot liquors, in the tunica villosa of the
stomach and other adipose or fat membranes j within
which those spirits engender a kind of camphor, which
in the night time, in sleep, by a full respiration, are
put in a stronger motion, and are more apt to be set on
fire. Others ascribe the cause of such persons being
set on fire to lightning j and their burning so entirely,
to the greater quantity of phosphorus and other com¬
bustible matters they contained.—For our own part,
we can by no means pretend to explain the cause of
such a phenomenon : but for the interests of humanity,
rve wish it could be derived from something external
to the human body 5 for if, to the calamities of human
life already known, we superadd a suspicion that we
may unexpectedly, and without the least warning, be
consumed by an internal fire, the thought is too dread¬
ful to be borne.
Burning, or Brenning, in our old customs, denotes
an infectious disease, got in the stews by conversing
with lewd women, and supposed to be the same with
what we now call the venereal disease.
In a manuscript of the vocation of John Bale to the
bishopric of Ossory, written by himself, he speaks of
Dr Hugh Weston, who was dean of Windsor in 1556,
but deprived by Cardinal Pole for adultery, thus : “ At
this day is leacherous Weston, who is more practised in
the arts of breech-burning, than all the whores of the
stews. He not long ago brent a beggar of St Bo-
tolph’s parish. See Stews.
Burning, in antiquity, a way of disposing of the
dead, much practised by the ancient Greeks and Ro¬
mans, and still retained by several nations in the East
and West Indies. The antiquity of this custom rises
as high as the Theban war, where we are told of
the great solemnity accompanying this ceremony at
the pyre of Menaeacus and Archemorus, who were
cotemporary with Jair, the eighth judge of Israel.
Homer abounds with funeral obsequies of this nature.
In the inward regions of Asia, the practice was of
very ancient date, and the continuance long : for we
are told, that in the reign of Julian, the king of
Chionia burnt his son’s body, and deposited the ashes
in a silver urn. Coeval almost with the first instances of
this kind in the east, was the practice in the western
parts of the world. The Herulians, the Getes, and the
Thracians, had all along observed it ; and its antiquity
was as great with the Celtse, Sarmatians, and other
neighbouring nations. The origin of this custom seems
to have been out of friendship to the deceased : their
ashes were preserved, as we preserve a lock of hair, a
ring, or a seal, which had been the property of a de¬
ceased friend.
Kings were burnt in cloth made of the asbestos stone,
that their ashes might be preserved pure from any mix¬
ture with the fuel and other matters thrown on the fu¬
neral pile. The same method is still observed with the
princes of I artary. Among the Greeks, the body was
placed on the top of a pile, on which were thrown di-
i ] BUR
vers animals, and even slaves and captives, besides un¬
guents and perfumes. In the funeral of Patroclus we
find a number of sheep and oxen thrown in, then four
horses, followed by two dogs, and lastly by 12 Trojan
prisoners. The like is mentioned by \irgil in the fune¬
rals of his Trojans ; where, besides oxen, swine, and
all manner of cattle, we find eight youths condemned to
the flames. The first thing was the fat of the beasts,
wherewith the body was covered, that it might con¬
sume the sooner: it being reckoned great Jelicity to
be quickly reduced to ashes. For the like reason, where
numbers were to be burnt at the same time, care was
taken to mix with the rest some of humid constitutions,
and therefore more easily to be inflamed. Thus we are
assured by Plutarch and Macrobius, that for every ten
men it was customary to put in one woman. Soldiers
usually had their arms burnt with them. The garments
worn by the living were also thrown on the pile, with
other ornaments and presents ; a piece of extravagance
which the Athenians carried to so great a height, that
some of their lawgivers were forced to restrain them,
by severe penalties, from defrauding the living by their
liberality to the dead.—In some cases, burning was ex¬
pressly forbidden among the Romans, and even looked
upon as the highest impiety. Thus infants, who died
before the breeding of teeth, were entombed unburnt
in the ground, in a particular place set apart for this
purpose, called sitggrundarium. The like was practised
with regard to those who had been struck dead with
lightning, who were never to be burnt again. Some say
that burning was denied to suicides.—The manner of
burning among the Romans was not unlike that of the
Greeks •, the corpse, being brought out without the
city, was carried directly to the place appointed for
burning it j which, if it joined to the sepulchre, was
called bustum ; if separate from it, ustrina ; and there
laid on the rogns or pyra, a pile of wood prepared on
which to burn it, built in shape of an altar, but of dif¬
ferent height, according to the quality of the deceased.
The wood used was commonly from such trees as con¬
tain most pitch or rosin j and if any other were used,
they split it, for the more easy catching fire : round
the pile they set cypress trees, probably to hinder the
noisome smell of the corpse. The body was not placed
on the bare pile, but on the couch or bed whereon it
lay. This done, the next of blood performed the ce¬
remony of lighting the pile $ which they did with a
torch, turning their faces all the while the other way,
as if it were done with reluctance. During the cere¬
mony, decursions and games were celebrated j after
which came the ossilegium, or gathering of the bones
and ashes j also washing and anointing them, and repo-
siting them in urns.
Burning, among surgeons, denotes the application
of an actual cautery, that is, a red hot iron instrument
to the part affected j otherwise denominated cauteriza¬
tion. The whole art of physic among the Japanese
lies in the choice of places proper to be burnt: which
are varied according to the disease. In the country of
the Mogul, the colic is cured by an iron ring applied
red hot about the patient’s navel. Certain it is, that
some very extraordinary cures have been performed ac¬
cidentally by burning. The following case is recorded
in the Memoirs of the Academy of Sciences by M. Hom-
berg. A woman of about 35 became subject to a head-
B 2 acb,
BUR [ i
Earning, ad1* which at times was so violent that it drove her out
<w—■-* of’ her senses, making her sometimes stupid and foolish,
at other times raving and furious. The seat of the pain
was in the forehead, and over the eyes, which were in¬
flamed, and looked violently red and sparkling ; and
the most violent fits of it were attended with nauseas
and vomitings. In the times of the fits, she could take
no food ; hut out of them, had a very good stomach.
Mr Homherg had in vain attempted her cure for three
years with all kinds of medicines $ only opium suc¬
ceeded; and that but little, all its effect being only the
taking oft’ the pain for a few hours. The redness of her
eyes was always the sign of an approaching fit. One
night, feeling a fit coming on, she went to lie down
upon the bed j but first walked up to the glass with
the candle in her hand, to see how her eyes looked :
in observing this, the candle set fire to her cap : and as
she was alone, her head was terribly burnt before the
fire could be extinguished. Mr Homberg was sent for,
and ordered bleeding and proper dressings: but it was
perceived, that the expected fit this night never came
on j the pain of the burning wore off by degrees j and
the patient found herself from that hour cured of the
headach, which bad never returned in four years after,
which was the time when the account was communi¬
cated. Another case, not less remarkable than the
former, was communicated to Mr Homberg by a phy¬
sician at Bruges. A woman, who for several years
had her legs and thighs swelled in an extraordinary
manner, found some relief from rubbing them before
the fire with brandy every morning and evening. One
evening the fire chanced to catch the brandy she had
rubbed herself with, and slightly burnt her. She ap¬
plied some brandy to her burn j and in the night all the
water her legs and thighs were swelled with was en¬
tirely discharged by urine, and the swelling did not
again return.
Burning-Bush. See Bush.
Burning-GIoss, a convex glass, commonly spherical,
which being exposed directly to the sun, collects all the
rays falling thereon into a very small space called the
foci/s ; where wood or any other combustible matter be-
ing put, will be set on fire. The term burning-gluss is
also used to denote those concave mirrors, whether com¬
posed of glass quicksilvered, or of metalline matters,
which burn by reflection, condensing the sun’s rays into
a focus similar to the former.
The use of burning-glasses appears to have been very
ancient. Diodorus Siculus, Lucian, Dion, Zonaras,
Galen, Anthemius, Eustathius, Tzetzes, and others,
attest, that by means of them Archimedes set fire to
the Homan fleet at the siege of Syracuse. Tzetzes is
so particular in his account of this matter, that his de¬
scription suggested to Kircher the method by which
it was probably accomplished. That author says, that
“ Archimedes set fire to Marcellus’s navy, by means
of a burning-glass composed of small square mirrors
moving every W'ay upon hinges 5 which, when placed
in the sun’s rays, directed them upon the Homan fleet,
so as to reduce it to ashes at the distance of a bow shot.”
A very particular testimony we have also from Anthe¬
mius of Lydia, who takes pains to prove the possibility
of setting fire to a fleet, or any other combustible body,
at such a distance.
That the ancients were also acquainted with the use
5] BUR
of catoptric or refracting burning-glasses, appears from Burning,
a passage in Aristophanes’s comedy of The Clouds,v——y——
which clearly treats of their effects. The author intro¬
duces Socrates as examining Strepsiades about the me¬
thod he had discovered of getting clear of his debts.
He replies, that “ he thought of making use of a burn¬
ing-glass which he had hitherto used in kindling his
fire for (says he) should they bring a writ against
me, I’ll immediately place my glass in the sun at some
little distance from it, and set it on fire.” Pliny and
Lactantius have also spoken of glasses that burn by
refraction. The former calls them balls or globes of
glass or crystal, which, exposed to the sun, transmit a
heat sufficient to set fii'e to cloth, or corrode the dead
flesh of those patients who stand in need of caustics $
and the latter, after Clemens Alexandrinus, takes no¬
tice that fire may be kindled by interposing glasses fill¬
ed with water between the sun and the object, so as to
transmit the rays to it.
It seems difficult to conceive how they should know
such glasses would burn without knowing they would
magnify, which it is granted they did not, till towards
the close of the 13th century, when spectacles were first
thought on. For as to those passages in Plautus which
seem to intimate the knowledge of spectacles, M. de
la Hire observes, they do not prove any such thing j
and he solves this, by observing, that their burning-
glasses being spheres, either solid or full of water, their
foci would be one-fourth of their diameter distant from
them. If then their diameter were supposed half a foot,
which is the most we can allow, an object must be at an
inch and a half distance to perceive it magnified $ those
at greater distances do not appear greater, but only
more confused through the glass than out of it. It is
no wonder, therefore, the magnifying property of con¬
vex glasses was unknown, and the burning one known.
It is more wonderful there should be 300 year's between
the invention of spectacles and telescopes.
Among the ancients, the burning mirrors of Archi¬
medes and Proclus are famous : the former we have al¬
ready taken notice of j by the other, the navy of Vi-
tellius besieging Byzantium, according to Zonaras, was
burnt to ashes.
Among the moderns, the most remarkable burning
mirrors are those of Settala, of Villette, of Tschirnhau-
sen, of Buffon, of Trudaine, and of Parker.
Settala, canon of Padua, made a parabolic mirror,
which, according to Shottus, burnt pieces of wood
at the distance of 15 or 16 paces. The following things
are noted of it in the Acta Eruditorum. 1. Green wood
takes fire instantaneously, so as a strong wind cannot
extinguish it. 2. Water boils immediately ; and eggs
in it are presently edible. 3. A mixture of tin and
lead, three inches thick, drops presently, and iron and
steel plate becomes red hot presently, and a little after
burns into holes. 4. Things not capable of melting,
as stones, bricks, &c. become soon red hot, like iron.
5. Slate becomes first white, then a black glass. 6. Tiles
are converted into a yellow glass, and shells into a
blackish yellow one. J. A pumice stone, emitted from
a Volcano, melts into white glass ; and, 8. A piece of
crucible also vitrifies in eight minutes. 9. Bones are
soon turned into an opaque glass, and earth into a black
one. . The breadth of this mirror is near three Leipsic
ells, its focus two ells from it jv it is made of copper,
and
BUR [
Burning. ant^ substance is not above double the thickness of
——y—^ the back of a knife.
Villette, a French artist of Lyons, made a large
mirror, which was bought by Tavernier, and pre¬
sented to the king of Persia; a second, bought by the
king of Denmark ; a third, presented by the French
king to the Royal Academy; a fourth has been in Eng¬
land, where it was publicly exposed. The effects here¬
of, as found by Dr Harris, and Dr Desaguliers, are,
that a silver sixpence is melted in 74", a King George’s
halfpenny in 167, and runs with a hole in 34". Tin
melts in 3", cast iron in 16", slate in 3"; a fossil shell
calcines in 7''; a piece of Pompey’s pillar at Alexan¬
dria vitrifies, the black part in 50", the white in
54"; copper ore in 8" ; bone calcines in 4", vitrifies
in 33". An emerald melts into a substance like a tur-
quois stone; a diamond weighing four grains loses seven-
eighths of its weight: the asbestos vitrifies ; as all other
bodies will do, if kept long enough in the focus ; but
xvhen once vitrified, the mirror can go no farther with
them. This mirror is 47 inches wide, and is ground
to a sphere of 76 inches radius ; so that its focus is
about 38 inches from the vertex. Its substance is a
composition of tin, copper, and tin-glass.
Every lens, whether convex, plano-convex, or con¬
vexo-convex, collects the sun’s rays, dispersed over its
convexity, into a point by refraction ; and is there¬
fore a burning-glass. The most considerable of this
kind is that made by M. de Tschirnhausen : the dia¬
meters of his lenses are three and four feet, the focus
at the distance of 12 feet, and its diameter an inch and
a half. To make the focus the more vivid, it is collect¬
ed a second time by a second lens parallel to the first,
and placed in that point where the diameter of the
cone of rays formed by the first lens is equal to the
diameter of the second ; so that it receives them all;
and the focus, from an inch and a half, is contracted
into the space of eight lines, and its force increased
proportionably.
This glass vitrifies tiles, slate, pumice-stones, &c.
in a moment. It melts sulphur, pitch, and all rosins,
underwater; the ashes of vegetables, woods, and other
matters, are transmuted into glass ; and every thing
applied to its focus is either melted, turned into a calx,
or into smoke. Tschirnhausen observes, that it suc¬
ceeds best when the matter applied is laid on a hard
charcoal well burnt.
Sir Isaac Newton presented a burning-glass to the
Royal Society, consisting of seven concave glasses, so
placed as that all their foci join in one physical point.
Each glass is about 11 inches and a half in diameter:
six of them are placed round the seventh, to which
they are all contiguous ; and they form a kind of seg¬
ment of a sphere, whose subtense is about 34 inches
and a half, and the central glass lies about an inch far¬
ther in than the rest. The common focus is about 22
inches and a half distant, and about an inch in diame¬
ter. This glass vitrifies brick or tile in 1", and melts
gold in 30".
It would appear, however, that glass quicksilvered
is a more proper material for burning-glasses than
metals; for the effects of that speculum wherewith Mr
Macquer melted the platina seem to have been supe¬
rior to those above mentioned, though the mirror it-
13 ] BUR
self was much smaller. The diameter of this glass was Burning
only 22 inches, and its focal distance 28. Black flint, *■■■—
when exposed to the focus, being powdered to prevent
its crackling and flying about, and secured in a large
piece ot charcoal, bubbled up and ran into transparent
glass in less than half a minute. Hessian crucibles, and
glass-house pots, vitrified completely in three or four
seconds. Forged iron smoked, boiled, and changed
into a vitrescent scoria as soon as it was exposed to the
focus. The gypsum of Montmartre, when the flat
sides of the plates or leaves of which it is composed
were presented to I he glass, did not show the least dis¬
position to melt; but, on presenting a transverse sec¬
tion of it, or the edges of the plates, it melted in an
instant, with a hissing noise, into a brownish yellow
matter. Calcareous stones did not completely melt:
but there was detached from them a circle more com¬
pact than the rest of the mass, and of the size of the
focus ; the separation of which seemed to be occasioned
by the shrinking of the matter which had begun to en¬
ter into fusion. The white calx of antimony, common¬
ly called diaphoretic antimony, melted better than the
calcareous stones, and changed into an opaque pretty
glossy substance like white enamel. It was observed,
that the whiteness of the calcareous stones and the an-
timonial calx was of great disadvantage to their fusion,
by reason of their reflecting great part of the sun’s rays;
so that the subject could not undergo the full activity
of the heat thrown upon it by the burning-glass. The
case was the same with metallic bodies ; which melted
so much the more difficultly as they were more white
and polished ; and this difference was so remarkablcj
that in the focus of this mirror, so fusible a metal as
silver, when its surface was polished, did not melt at
all.
Plate CXXXI. fig. 1. represents M. Buffon’s burn¬
ing mirror, which he with great reason supposes to be
of the same nature with that of Archimedes. It con¬
sists of a number of small mirrors of glass quicksilvered,
all of which are held together by an iron frame. Each
of these small mirrors is also moveable by a contrivance
on the back part of the frame, that so their reflections
may all coincide in one point. By this means they are
capable of being accommodated to various heights of
the sun, and to diflerent distances. The adjusting them
in this manner takes up a considerable time; but after
they are so adjusted, the focus will continue unaltered
for an hour or more.
Fig. 2. represents a contrivance of M. Buffon’s for
diminishing the thickness of very large refracting lenses.
He observes, that in the large lenses of this kind, and
which are most convenient for many purposes, the
thickness of the glass in the middle is so great as very
much to diminish their force. For this reason he pro¬
poses to form a burning-glass of concentric circular
pieces of glass, each resting upon the other, as represent¬
ed in the figure. His method is to divide the convex
arch of the lens into three equal parts. Thus, suppose
the diameter to be 26 inches, and the thickness in the
middle to be three inches : By dividing the lens into
three concentric circles, and laying the one over the
other, the thickness of the middle piece needs be only
one inch ; at the same time that the lens will have the
same convexity* and almost the same focal distance,
a?
BUR [ 14 ] BUR
as in the other case j while the effects of it must be
much greater, on account of the greater thinness of the
glass.
M. Trudaine, a French gentleman, constructed a
burning lens on a new principle. It was composed of
two circular segments of glass spheres, each four feet in
diameter, applied with their concave sides towards each
other. The cavity was filled with spirit of wine, ol
which it contained 40 pints. It was presented by the
maker to the Royal Academy of Sciences, but was, not
long after, broken by accident. The expence of con¬
structing it amounted to about 1000I. sterling. After
all, it does not appear that the effects of this lens were
very great. Mr Magellan informs us, that it could
only coagulate the particles of platina in 20 minutes,
while Air Parker’s lens entirely melted them in less
than two.
A large burning lens, indeed, for the purpose of
fusing and vitrifying such substances as resist the fires
of ordinary furnaces, and especially for the application
of heat in vacuo, and in other circumstances in which
heat cannot be applied by any other means, has long
been a desideratum among persons concerned in philo¬
sophical experiments : And it appears now to be in a
great degree accomplished by Mr Parfier. His lens is
three feet in diameter, made of flint-glass, and which,
when fixed in its frame, exposes a surface two feet eight
inches and a half in the clear.
In the Elevation represented on Plate CXXXII,
A is the lens of the diameter mentioned : thickness in
the centre, three inches and one-fourth: weight, 212
pounds : length of the focus, six feet eight inches ;
diameter of ditto, one inch. B, a second lens, whose
diameter in the frame is 16 inches, and shows in the
clear 13 inches : thickness in the centre, one inch five-
eighths : weight 21 pounds: length of focus 29 inches:
diameter of ditto, three-eighths of an inch. When the
two above lenses are compounded together, the length
of the focus is five feet three inches : diameter of ditto,
half an inch. C, a truncated cone, composed of 21
ribs of wood: at the larger end is fixed the great lens
A; at the smaller extremity the lesser lens B : near
the smaller end is also fixed a rack D, passing through
the pillar L, moveable by a pinion turning in the said
pillar, by means of the handle E, and thus giving a
vertical motion to the machine. F, a bar of wood,
fixed between the two lower ribs of the cone at G 5
having, within a chased mortice in which it moves, an
apparatus H, with the iron plate, I, fixed thereto •, and
this part turning on a ball and socket, K, a method is
thereby obtained of placing the matter under experi¬
ment, so as to be acted upon by the focal rays in the
most direct and powerful manner. LL, a strong ma¬
hogany frame, moving on castors, AIM. Immediately
under the table N are three friction wheels, by which
the machine moves horizontally. O, a strong iron bow,
in which the lens and the cone hang.
Section.—a, The great lens marked A in the eleva¬
tion. b, The frame which contains the lens, c, The
small lens marked B. d, The frame which contains
the small lens, e, The truncated cone, marked C.
f, The bar on which the apparatus marked F moves.
g, The iron plate marked I. h, The cone of rays
formed by the refraction of the great lens a, and falling
on the lens c. i, rl he cone of rays formed by the
refraction of the lens c. Front-view.—V., The great Burning;,
lens. 1, The frame containing it. m, The strong iron v—
bow in which it hangs.
From a great number of experiments made with this
lens, in the presence of many scientific persons, the fol¬
lowing are selected as specimens of its powers.
Substances fused, with their weight and time
of fusion.
Gold, pure,
Silver, do.
Copper, do.
Platina, do.
Nickel, -
Bar iron, a cube,
Cast iron, a cube,
Steel, a cube,
Scoria of wrought iron,
Terra ponderosa, or barytes,
A topaz, or chrysolite,
An oriental emerald,
Crystal pebble,
White agate,
Flint, oriental,
Rough cornelian,
Jasper, -
Onyx, ...
Garnet, - - -
AVhite rhomboidal spar,
Zeolites,
Rotten-stone,
Common slate,
Asbestos,
Common lime-stone,
Pumice-stone,
Lava, - - -
Volcanic clay,
Cornish moor-stone,
20
20
33
10
16
10
10
10
12
10
3
2
7
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
3
4
20
3
3
12
3
12
2
7
45
25
6
3°
3°
75
25
20
i7
60
23
80
2
10
55
24
7
60
60
Fuunjng Mountains. See tEtna, Hecla, Vesu¬
vius, and Volcano, with the plates accompanying
them.
Burning Springs. Of these there are many in dif¬
ferent parts of the world j particularly one in Dan-,
pbiny near Grenoble ; another near Hermanstadt in
Transylvania j a third at Chermay, a village near
Switzerland ; a fourth in the canton of Friburg 5 and
a fifth not far from the city of Cracow in Poland.
There also is, or was, a famous spring of the same
kind at Wigan in Lancashire, which, upon the ap¬
proach of a lighted candle, would take fire and burn
like spirit of wine for a whole day. But the most re¬
markable one of this kind, or at least that of which we
have the most particular description, was discovered in
1711 at Brosely in Shropshire. The following account
of this remarkable spring was given by the reverend Mr
Mason, Woodwardian professor at Cambridge, dated
February 18. 1746. “ The well for four or five feet
deep is six or seven feet wide ; within that is another
less hole of like depth dug in the clay, in the bottom
whereof is placed a cylindric earthen vessel, of about
four or five inches diameter at the mouth, having the
bottom taken off, and the sides well fixed in the clay
rammed
BTRISING MIRROR.
ri^ru oxxii.
•°/Jr
v/zv/a//^ f-y/
<?/'» y-A/ ///rrAw.
Shy. /.
V/^yV^T r /A.vvv
ss/’//6/1
■ .£%
//r'j r f/s/r///;/s
TtOirr/iiba/d t ?ru/p /
BUR [
Burning, rammed close about if. Within the pot is a brown
Burnisher, water, thick as puddle, continually forced up with a
—v~—' violent motion beyond that of boiling water, and a
rumbling hollow noise, rising or falling by fits five or
six inches j but there was no appearance of any vapou¬
rising, which perhaps might have been visible, had not
the sun shone so bright. Upon putting a candle
down at the end of a stick, at about a quarter of a yard
distance, it took fire, darting and flashing after a very
violent manner for about half a yard high, much in the
manner of spirits in a lamp, but with great agitation.
It was said that a tea-kettle had been made to boil in
about nine minutes time, and that it had been left burn¬
ing for 48 hours without any sensible diminution. It
was extinguished by putting a wet mop upon it ; which
must be kept there for a little time, otherwise it would
not go out. Upon the removal of the mop there arises a
sulphureous smoke lasting about a minute, and yet the
water is very cold to the touch.” In 1755, this well
totally disappeared by the sinking of a coal-pit in its
neighbourhood.
The cause of the inflammable property of such wa¬
ters is, with great probability, supposed to be their
mixture with petroleum, which is a very inflammable
substance, and has the property of burning on the sur¬
face of water.
Burning of Colours, among painters. There are
several colours that require burning ; as,
First, Lamp black, which is a colour of so greasy a
nature, that, except it is burnt, it will require a long
time to dry. The method of burning, or rather dry¬
ing, lamp black, is as follows : Put it into a crucible
over a clear fire, letting it remain till it be red hot,
or so near it that no manner of smoke arises from
it.
Secondly, Umber, which, if it be intended for
colour for a horse, or to be a shadow for gold, then
burning fits it for both these purposes. In order to
burn umber, you must put it into the naked fire, in
large lumps, and not take it out till it is thoroughly
red hot j if you have a mind to be more curious, put
it into a crucible, and keep it over the fire till it be
red hot.
Ivory also must be burnt to make black, thus : Fill
two crucibles with shavings of ivory, then clap their
two mouths together, and bind them fast with an iron
wire, and lute the joints close with clay, salt, and
horse-dung, well beaten together ; then set, it over the
fire, covering it all over with coals : let it remain in
the fire till you are sure that the matter enclosed is
thoroughly red hot: then take it out of the fire ; but
do not open the crucibles till they are perfectly cold ;
for were they opo..^. bile hot, the matter would turn
to ashes ; and so it will be, if the joints are not luted
close.
BURNISHER, a round polished piece of steel,
serving to smooth and give a lustre to metals.
Of these there are different kinds, of different figures,
straight, crooked, &c. Half burnishers are used to
solder silver, as well as to give a lustre.
Burnishers for gold and silver are commonly made
of a dog’s or wolf’s tooth, set in the end of an iron or
wooden handle. Of late, agates and pebbles have been
introduced, which many prefer to the dog’s tooth.
The burnishers used by engravers in copper, usually
15 ] BUR
serve with one end to burnish, and with the other to Burnisher
scrape. SI
BURNISHING, the art of smoothing or polishing
a metalline body, by a brisk rubbing of it with a bur- *
nisher.
Book-binders burnish the edges of their books, by
rubbing them with a dog’s tooth.
BURNLEY, a town of Lancashire in England,
situated in W. Long. 2. 5. N. Lat. 51. 38.
BURNS, Robert, was a native of Ayrshire, one
of the western counties of Scotland. He was the son
of humble parents ; and his father passed through life
in the condition of a hired labourer, or of a small far¬
mer. Even in this situation, however, it was not hard
for him to send his children to the parish school, to re¬
ceive the ordinary instruction in reading, writing, arith¬
metic, and the principles of religion. By this course of
education young Robert profited to a degree that might
have encouraged his friends to destine him to one of
the liberal professions, had not his father’s poverty
made it necessary to remove him from school, as soon
as he had grown up, to earn for himself the means of
support as a hired ploughboy or shepherd.
The expence of education in the parish-schools of
Scotland is so small, that hardly any parents who are
able to labour want the means of giving to their chil¬
dren at least such education as young Burns received.
From the spring labours of a ploughboy, from the
summer employment of a shepherd, the peasant-youth
often returns for a few months, eagerly to pursue his
education at the parish-school.
It was so with Burns $ he returned from labour to
learning, and from learning went again to labour, till
his mind began to open to the charms of taste and
knowledge j till he began to feel a passion for books,
and for the subjects of books, which was to give a co¬
lour to the whole thread of his future life. On nature
he soon began to gaze with new discernment and with
new enthusiasm : his mind’s eye opened to perceive af¬
fecting beauty and sublimity, where, by the mere gross
peasant, there was nought to be seen but water, earth,
and sky—but animals, plants, and soil.
What might perhaps first contribute to dispose his
mind to poetical efforts, is one particular in the devo¬
tional piety of the Scotish peasantry. It is still com¬
mon for them to make their children get by heart the
Psalms of David, in the version of homely rhymes
which is used in their churches. In the morning and
in the evening of every day, or at least on the evening
of every Saturday and Sunday, these Psalms are sung
in solemn family devotion, a chapter of the Bible is
read, and extemporary prayer is fervently uttered. The
whole books of the sacred Scriptures are thus conti¬
nually in the hands of almost every peasant. And it is
impossible that there should not be occasionally some
souls among them, awakened to the divine emotions of
genius by that rich assemblage which those books pre¬
sent, of almost all that is interesting in incidents, or pic¬
turesque in imagery, or affectingly sublime or tender in
sentiments and character. It is impossible that those
rude rhymes, and the simple artless music with which
they are accompanied, should not occasionally excite
some ear to a fond perception of the melody of verse.
That Burns had felt these impulses, will appear unde¬
niably certain to whoever shall carefully peruse his Cot¬
tar's
BUR [ i
Bums, tar's Saturday's Night ; or shall remark, with nice ob-
—v"--1-' servation, the various fragments of Scripture sentiment,
of Scripture imagery, of Scripture language, which are
scattered throughout his works.
Still more interesting to the young peasantry are
those ancient ballads of love and war, of which a great
number are, in the south of Scotland, yet popularly
known, and often sung by the rustic maid or matron at
her spinning-wheel. They are listened to with ravished
cars by old and young. Their rude melody j that
mingled curiosity and awe which are naturally excited
by the very idea of their antiquity j the exquisitely
tender and natural complaints sometimes poured forth
141 them; the gallant deeds of knightly heroism, which
they sometimes celebrate ; their wild tales of demons,
ghosts, and fairies, in whose existence superstition alone
has believed ; the manners which they represent; the
obsolete, yet picturesque and expressive, language in
which they are often clothed—give them wonderful
power to transport every imagination, and to agitate
every heart. To the soul of Burns they were like a
happy breeze touching the wires of an ^Eolian harp,
and calling forth the most ravishing melody.
Beside all this, the Gentle Shepherd, and the other
poems of Allan Ramsay, have long been highly popu¬
lar in Scotland. They fell early into the hands of
Burns; and while the fond applause which they receiv¬
ed drew his emulation, they presented to him likewise
treasures of phraseology and models of versification.
He got acquainted at the same tinae with the poetry
of Robert Ferguson, written chiefly in the Scotish
dialect, and exhibiting many specimens of uncommon
poetical excellence. The Seasons of Thomson, too,
the Grave of Blair, the far-famed Elegy of Gray,
the Paradise Lost of Milton, perhaps the Minstrel of
Beattie, were so commonly read, even among those
with whom Burns would naturally associate, that poe¬
tical curiosity, although even less ardent than his, could
in such circumstances have little difficulty in procuring
them.
With such means to give his imagination a poetical
bias, and to favour the culture of his taste and genius,
Burns gradually became a poet. He was not, how¬
ever, one of those forward children who, from a mis¬
taken impulse, begin prematurely to write and to rhyme,
and hence’never attain to excellence. Conversing fa¬
miliarly for a long while with the works of those poets
who were known to him ; contemplating the aspect of
nature in a district which exhibits an uncommon as¬
semblage of the beautiful and the ruggedly grand, of the
cultivated and the wild; looking upon human life with
an eye quick and keen, to remark as well the stronger
and leading, as the nicer and subordinate, features of
character; to .discriminate the generous, the honour¬
able, the manly in conduct, from the ridiculous, the
base, and the mean—he was distinguished among his
fellows for extraordinary intelligence, good sense, and
penetration, long before others, or perhaps even him¬
self, suspected him to be capable of writing verses. His
mind was mature, and well stored with such knowledge
as lay within his search: he had made himself master
of powers of language, superior to those of almost any
former writer in the Scotish dialect, before he conceiv¬
ed the idea of surpassing Ramsay and Ferguson.
Hitherto he had conversed intimatelv only with pea-
3
6 ] BUR
sants on his own level ; but having got admission into Burns,
the fraternity of free-masons, he had the fortune, whe- •'
ther good or bad, to attract in the lodges the notice of
gentlemen better qualified than his more youthful com¬
panions to call forth the powers of his mind, and to
show him that he was indeed a poet. A masonic song,
a satirical epigram, a rhyming epistle to a friend, at¬
tempted with success, taught him to know his own
powers, and gave him confidence to try tasks more ar¬
duous, and which should command still higher bursts
of applause.
The annual celebration of the sacrament of the Lord’s
Supper, in the rural parishes of Scotland, has much in it
of those old Popish festivals, in which superstition, traffic,
and amusement, used to be strangely intermingled. Burns
saw, and seized in it one of the happiest of all subjects,
to afford scope for the display of that strong and pierc¬
ing sagacity by which he could almost intuitively dis¬
tinguish the reasonable from the absurd, and the becom¬
ing from the ridiculous ; of that picturesque power of
fancy, which enabled him to represent scenes, and per¬
sons, and groups, and looks, attitudes, and gestures, in
a manner almost as lively and impressive, even in words,
as if all the artifices and energies of the pencil had been
employed ; of that knowledge which he had necessarily
acquired of the manners, passions, and prejudices of the
rustics around him, of whatever was ridiculous, no less
than of whatever was affectingly beautiful, in rural life.
A thousand prejudices of Popish, and perhaps too
of ruder Pagan superstition, have from time immemo¬
rial been connected in the minds of the Scotish pea¬
santry, with the annual recurrence of the Eve of the
Festival of all the Saints, or Hallowe’en. These were
all intimately known to Burns, and had made a power¬
ful impression upon his imagination and feelings. He
chose them for the subject of a poem, and produced a
piece which is almost to frenzy the delight of those
who are best acquainted with its subject; and which
will not fail to preserve the memory of the prejudices
and usages which it describes, when they shall perhaps
have ceased to give one merry evening in the year to
the cottage fire-side.
The simple joys, the honest love, the sincere friend¬
ship, the ardent devotion of the cottage ; whatever in
the more solemn part of the rustic’s life is humble and
artless, without being mean or unseemly—or tender and
dignified, without aspiring to stilted grandeur, or to un¬
natural buskined pathos, had deeply impressed the ima¬
gination of the rising poet: had, in some sort, wrought
itself into the very texture of the fibres of his soul. He
tried to express in verse what he most tenderly felt,
what he most enthusiastically imagined ; and produced
the Cottai''s Saturday's Night.
These pieces, the true effusion of genius, informed
by reading and observation, and prompted by its own
native ardour, as well as by friendly applause, were
soon handed about amongst the most discerning of
Burns’s acquaintance ; and were by every new reader
perused and reperused, with an eagerness of delight
and approbation which would not suffer their author
long to withhold them from the press. A subscription
was proposed ; was earnestly promoted by some gentle¬
men, who were glad to interest themselves in behalf of
such signal poetical merit; was soon crowded with
the names of a considerable number of the inhabitants
of
BUR [ ]
Burnt, of Ayrshire, who in the proffered purchase sought not
■—v—■ less to gratify their own passion for Scotish poetry,
than to encourage the wonderful ploughman. At Kil¬
marnock were the poems of Burns for the first time
printed. The whole edition was quickly distributed
over the country.
It is hardly possible to express with what eager ad¬
miration and delight they were everywhere received.—
They eminently possessed all those qualities which the
most invariably contribute to render any literary work
quickly and permanently popular. They were written
in a phraseology, of which all the powers were univer¬
sally felt j and which being at once antique, familiar,
and now rarely written, was hence fitted to serve all
the dignified and picturesque uses of poetry, without
making it unintelligible. The imagery, the sentiments,
were at once faithfully natural, and irresistibly impres¬
sive and interesting. Those topics of satire and scandal
in which the rustic delights 5 that humorous imitation
of character, and that witty association of ideas familiar
and striking, yet not naturally allied to one another,
which has force to shake his sides with laughter; those
fancies of superstition, at which he still wonders and
trembles j those affecting sentiments and images of true
religion, which are at once dear and awful to his heart,
were all represented by Burns with all a poet’s magic
power. Old and young, high and low, grave and gay,
learned or ignorant, all were alike delighted, agitated,
transported.
In the mean time, some few copies of these fascinat¬
ing poems found their way to Edinburgh ; and having
been read to Dr Blacklock, they obtained his warmest
approbation. In the beginning of the winter 1786-7
Burns went to Edinburgh, where he was received by
Dr Blacklock with the most flattering kindness, and
introduced to every man of generosity and taste among
that good man’s friends. Multitudes now vied with
each other in patronising the rustic poet. Those who
possessed at once true taste and ardent philanthropy
were soon earnestly united in his praise : they who were
disposed to favour any good thing belonging to Scot¬
land, purely because it was Scotch, gladly joined the
cry j those who had hearts and understanding to be
charmed, without knowing why, when they saw their
native customs, manners, and language, made the sub¬
jects and the materials of poesy, could not suppress that
voice of feeling which struggled to declare itself for
Burns : for the dissipated, the licentious, the malignant
wits, and the freethinkers, he was so unfortunate as to
have satire and obscenity, and ridicule of things sacred,
sufficient to captivate their fancies $ even for the pious
he had passages in which the inspired language of de¬
votion might seem to come mended from his pen.
Ihus did Burns, ere he had been many weeks in
Edinburgh, find himself the object of universal curio¬
sity, favour, admiration, and fondness. He was souo-ht
after, courted with attentions the most respectful and
assiduous, feasted, flattered, caressed, treated by all
ranks as the first boast of his country, whom it was
scarcely possible to honour and reward to a degree equal
to his merits. In comparison with the general favour
which now promised to more than crown his most san¬
guine hopes, it could hardly be called praise at all
which he had obtained in Ayrshire.
In this posture of our poet’s affairs a new edition of
Vol. V. Part I. +
7 ] BUR
his poems was earnestly called for. He sold the copy¬
right for look ; but his friends at the same time sug¬
gested, and actively promoted, a subscription for an
edition, to be published for the benefit of the author,
ere the bookseller’s right should commence. Those
gentlemen who had formerly entertained the public
of Edinburgh with the periodical publication of the
papers of the Mirror, having again combined their
talents in producing the Lounger, were at this time
about to conclude this last series of papers $ yet be¬
fore the Lounger relinquished his pen, he dedicated a
number to a commendatory criticism of the poems of
the Ayrshire bard.
The subscription papers were rapidly filled ; and it
was supposed that the poet might derive from the sub¬
scription and the sale of his copy-right, a clear profit
of at least 700I.
I he conversation of even the most eminent authors
is often found to be so unequal to the fame of their
writings, that he who reads with admiration can listen
with none but sentiments of the most profound con¬
tempt. But the conversation of Burns was, in com¬
parison with the formal and exterior circumstances of
his education, perhaps even more wonderful than his
poetry. He affected no soft air or graceful motions
of politeness, which might have ill accorded with the
rustic plainness of his native manners. Conscious su¬
periority of mind taught him to associate with the great,
the learned, and the gay, without being overawed into
any such bashfulness as might have made him confus¬
ed in thought, or hesitating in elocution. He possess¬
ed withal an extraordinary share of plain common
sense or mother-wit, which prevented him from ob¬
truding upon persons, of whatever rank, with whom
he was admitted to converse, any of those effusions of
vanity, envy, or self-conceit, in which authors are ex¬
ceedingly apt to indulge, who have lived remote from
the general practice of life, and whose minds have been
almost exclusively confined to contemplate their own
studies and their own works. In conversation he dis¬
played a sort of intuitive quickness and rectitude of
judgment upon every subject that arose. The sensibi¬
lity of his heart, and the vivacity of his fancy, gave a
rich colouring to whatever reasoning he was disposed
to advance j and his language in conversation was not
at all less happy than in his writings. For these rea¬
sons, those who had met and conversed with him once,
were pleased to meet and to converse with him again
and again.
I or some time he conversed only with the virtuous,
the learned, and the wise j and the purity of his morals
remained uncontaminated. But, alas ! he fell, as others
have fallen in similar circumstances. He suffered him¬
self to be surrounded by a race of miserable beings,
who were proud to tell that they had been in Company
with Burns, and had seen Burns as loose and as foolish
as themselves. He was not yet irrecoverably lost to tem¬
perance and moderation •, but he was already almost
too much captivated with their wanton rivals, to be
ever more won back to a faithful attachment to their
more sober charms. He now also began to contract
something of new arrogance in conversation. Accus¬
tomed to be among his favourite'associates what is vul¬
garly but expressively called the cock ojthe company, he
could scarcely refrain from indulging in similar free-
C dom
Burns.
BUR [i
dom and dictatorial decision of talk, even in the pre¬
sence of persons who could less patiently endure his
presumption.
The subscription edition of his poems, in the mean
time, appeared j and although not enlarged beyond
that which came from the Kilmarnock press by any
new pieces of eminent merit, did not tail to give entire
satisfaction to the subscribers. He was now to close
accounts with his bookseller and his printer, to retire
to the country with his profits in his pocket, and to fi.K
upon a plan for his future life. He talked loudly of
independence of spirit, and simplicity of manners, and
boasted his resolution to return to the plough ; yet still
he lingered in Edinburgh, week after week, and month
after month, perhaps expecting that one or other of his
noble patrons might procure him some permanent and
competent annual income, which should set him above
all necessity of future exertions to earn for himself the
means of subsistence j perhaps unconsciously reluctant
to quit the pleasures of that voluptuous town life to
which he had for some time too willingly accustomed
himself. An accidental dislocation or fracture of an
arm or leg confining him for some weeks to his apart¬
ment, left him, during this time, leisure for serious re¬
flection ; and he determined to retire from the town
without longer delay. None of all his patrons inter¬
posed to divert him from his purpose of returning to
the plough, by the offer of any small pension, or any
sinecure place of moderate emolument, such as might
have given him competence without withdrawing him
from his poetical studies. It seemed to be forgotten
that a ploughman thus exalted into a man of letters
was unfitted for his former toils, without being regu¬
larly qualified to enter the career of any new profes¬
sion j and that it became incumbent upon those patrons
who had called him from the plough, not merely to
make him their companion in the hour of riot, not
simply to fill his purse with gold for a few transient ex-
pences, but to secure him, as far as was possible, from
being ever overwhelmed in distress in consequence of
the favour which they had shewn him, and of the habits
of life into which they had seduced him. Perhaps in¬
deed the same delusion of fancy betrayed both Burns
and his patrons into the mistaken idea, that, after all
which had passed, it was still possible for him to return
in cheerful content to the homely joys and simple toils
of undissipated rural life.
In this temper of Burns’s mind, in this state of his
fortune, a farm and the excise were the objects upon
which his choice ultimately fixed for future employ¬
ment and support. By the surgeon who attended him
during his illness, he was recommended with effect to
the commissioners of excise j and Patrick Miller, Esq.
of Dalswinton, deceived, like Burns himself and
Burns’s other friends, into an idea that the poet and ex¬
ciseman might yet be respectable and happy as a farmer,
generously proposed to establish him in a farm, upon
conditions of lease, which prudence and industry might
easily render exceedingly advantageous. Burns eager¬
ly accepted the offers of this benevolent patron. Two
of the poet’s friends from Ayrshire were invited to
survey that farm in Dumfries-shire which Mr Miller
offered. A lease was granted to the poetical farmer at
that annual rent which his own friends declared that
the due cultivation of his farm might easily enable him
2
8 ]
BUR
to pay. What yet remained of the profits of his pub¬
lication was laid out in the purchase ot farm stock j
and Mr Miller might, tor some short time, please him¬
self with the persuasion that he had approved himself
the liberal patron of genius j had acquired a good te¬
nant upon his estate 5 and had placed a deseiving man
in the very' situation in which alone he himself desired
to be placed, in order to be happy to his wishes.
Burns, with his Jane, whom he now married, took
up their residence upon his (arm. The neighbouring
farmers and gentlemen, pleased to obtain tor an inmate
among them the poet by whose works they had been
delighted, kindly sought his company, and invited him
to their houses. He found an inexpressible charm in
sitting down beside his wife, at his own fireside j in
wandering over his own grounds *, in once more putting
his hand to the spade and the plough j in forming his
inclosures, and managing his cattle. lor some months
he felt almost all that felicity which fancy had taught
him to expect in his new situation. He had been for
a time idle 5 but his muscles were not yet unbraced
for rural toil. He now seemed to find a joy in being
the husband of the mistress ot his affections, in seeing
himself the father of her children, such as might pro¬
mise to attach him for ever to that modest, humble,
and domestic life, in which alone he could hope to be
permanently happy. Even his engagements in the
service of the excise did not, at the very first, threaten
necessarily to debase him by association with the mean,
the gross, and the profligate, to contaminate the poet,
or to ruin the farmer.
But it could not be : it was not possible for Burns
now to assume that soberness of fancy and passions, that
sedateness of feeling, those habits ot earnest attention to
gross and vulgar cares, without which success in his new
situation was not to be expected. A thousand difficul¬
ties Were to be encountered and overcome, much
money was to be expended, much weary toil was to be
exercised, before his farm could be brought into a state
of cultivation, in which its produce might enrich the
occupier. This was not a prospect encouraging to a
man who had never loved labour, and who was at this
time certainly not at all disposed to enter into agricul¬
ture with the enthusiasm of a projector. The business
of the excise too, as he began to be more and more
employed in it, distracted his mind from the care ot his
farm, led him into gross and vulgar society, and exposed
him to many unavoidable temptations to drunken ex¬
cess, such as he had no longer sufficient fortitude to re¬
sist. Amidst the anxieties, distractions, and seduce-
ments which thus arose to him, home became insensibly
less and less pleasing-, even the endearments of his
Jane’s affection began to lose their hold on his heart j he
became every day less and less unwilling to forget in riot
those gathering sorrows which he knew not to subdue.
Mr Miller and some others of his friends would glad¬
ly have exerted an influence over his mind, which might
have preserved him in this situation of his affairs, equal¬
ly from despondency and from dissipation 5 but Burns’s
temper spurned all controul from his superiors in for¬
tune. He resented, as an arrogant encroachment upon
his independence, that tenor of conduct by which Mr
Miller wished to turn him from dissolute convivia¬
lity, to that steady attention to the business of his
farm, without which it was impossible to thrive in it.
His
Bums.
BUR [ 19 ] BUR
Burns. His crosses and disappointments drove him every day
V— ■* more and more into dissipation •, and his dissipation
tended to enhance whatever was disagreeable and per¬
plexing in the state of his affairs. He sunk, by de¬
grees, into the boon companion of mere excisemen ;
and almost every drunken fellow, who was willing to
spend his money lavishly in the alehouse, could easily
command the company of Burns. The care of his
farm was thus neglected ; waste and losses wholly con¬
sumed his little capital : he resigned his lease into the
hands of his landlord ; and retired, with his family, to
the town of Dumfries, determining to depend entirely
for the means of future support upon his income as an
excise-officer.
Yet during this unfortunate period of his life, which
passed between his departure from Edinburgh to settle
in Dumfriesshire, and his leaving the country in order
to take up his residence in the town of Dumfries, the
energy and activity of his intellectual powers appeared
not to have been at all impaired. In a collection of
Scotish songs, which were published (the words with
the music) by Mr Johnson, engraver in Edinburgh, in
4 vols. 8vo, Burns, in many instances, accommodated
new verses to the old tunes with admirable felicity and
skill. He assisted in the temporary institution of a
small subscription library, for the use of a number of
the well-disposed peasants in his neighbourhood. He
readily aided, and by his knowledge of genuine Scotish
phraseology and manners, greatly enlightened, the an¬
tiquarian researches of the late ingenious Captain
Grose. He still carried on an epistolary correspondence,
sometimes gay, sportive, humorous, but always enliven¬
ed by bright flashes of genius, with a number of his
old friends, and on a very wide diversity of topics.
At times, as it should seem from his writings of this
period, he reflected, with inexpressible heart-bitter¬
ness, on the high hopes from which he had fallen 5 on
the errors of moral conduct into which he had been
hurried by the ardour of his soul, and in some measure
by the very generosity of his nature ; on the disgrace
and wretchedness into which he saw himself rapidly
sinking*, on the sorrow with which his misconduct op¬
pressed the heart of his Jane j on the want and desti¬
tute misery in which it seemed probable that he must
leave her and their infants; nor amidst these agonizing
reflections did he fail to look, with an indignation half
invidious, half contemptuous, on those who, with mo¬
ral habits not more excellent than his, Avith powers of
intellect far inferior, yet basked in the sunshine of for¬
tune, and were loaded with the wealth and honours of
the world, while his follies could not obtain pardon,
nor his wants an honourable supply. His wit became
from this time more gloomily sarcastic ; and his con¬
versation and writings began to assume something of a
tone of misanthropical malignity, by which they had not
been before, in any eminent degree, distinguished. But
with all these failings, he was still that exalted mind
which had raised itself above the depression of its ori¬
ginal condition ; with all the energy of the lion, paw¬
ing to set free his hinder limbs from the yet encum¬
bering earth, he still appeared not less than archangel
ruined!
His morals were not mended by his removal from
the country. In Dumfries his dissipation became still
more deeply habitual; he was here more exposed than
in the country to be solicited to share the riot of the Burns,
dissolute and the idle ; foolish young men flocked 1 —
eagerly about him, and from time to time pressed him
to drink with them, that they might enjoy his wicked
wit. The Caledonian Club, too, and the Dumfries¬
shire and Galloway Hunt, had occasional meetings in
Dumfries after Burns went to reside there, and the
poet was of course invited to share their convivality,
and hesitated not to accept the invitation.
In the intervals between his different fits of intem¬
perance, he suffered still the keenest anguish of remorse,
and horribly afflictive foresight. His Jane still be¬
haved with a degree of maternal and conjugal tender¬
ness and prudence, which made him feel more bitterly
the evil of his misconduct, although they could not re¬
claim him. At last crippled, emaciated, having the
very power of animation wasted by disease, quite
broken-hearted by the sense of his errors, and of the
hopeless miseries in which he saw himself and his fami¬
ly depressed ; with his soul still tremblingly alive to the
sense of shame, and to the love of virtue; yet even in
the last feebleness and amid the last agonies of expiring
life, yielding readily to any temptation that offered the
semblance of intemperate enjoyment, he died at Dum¬
fries, in the summer of 1796, while he was yet three or
four years under the age of 40, furnishing a melancho¬
ly proof of the danger of suddenly elevating even the
greatest mind above its original level.
After his death it quickly appeared that his failings
had not effaced from the minds of his more respectable
acquaintance either the regard which had once been
Avon by his social qualities, or the reverence due to his
intellectual talents. The circumstances of want in which
he left his family Avere noticed by the gentlemen of
Dumfries with earnest commiseration. His funeral Avas
celebrated by the care of his friends with a decent so¬
lemnity, and with a numerous attendance of mourners,
sufficiently honourable to his memory. Several copies
of verses were inserted in different neAVspapers upon
the occasion of his death. A contribution, by subscrip¬
tion, was proposed, for the purpose of raising a small
fund, for the decent support of his Avidow, and the edu¬
cation of his infant children.
From the preceding detail of the particulars of this
poet’s life, the reader will naturally and justly infer
him to have been an honest, proud, Avarm-hearted
man ; of high passions and sound understanding, and a
vigorous and excursive imagination. He Avas never
known to descend to any act of deliberate meanness.
In Dumfries he retained many respectable friends,
even to the last. It may be doubted Avhether he has
not, by his writings, exercised a greater poAA’er over
the minds of men, and, by consequence, on their con¬
duct, upon their happiness and misery, and upon the
general system of life, than has been exercised by any
half dozen of the most eminent statesmen of the present
age. The power of the statesman is but shadowy, so far
as it acts upon externals alone : the power of the Avri-
ter of genius subdues the heart and the understanding,
and having thus made the very spring of action its
OAvn, through them moulds almost all life, and nature
at its pleasure. Burns has not failed to command one
remarkable sort of homage, such as is never paid but
to great original genius: a crowd of poetasters started
up to imitate him, by writing verses as he bad done,
C a in
BUR [ 20 ] BUR
in the Scotish dialect; but, 0 imitatores ! servum pc-
cus! To persons whom the Scotish dialect, and the
customs and manners of rural life in Scotland, have no
charm, too much may appear to have been said about
Burns ; by those who passionately admire him, a great
deal more, perhaps, was expected.
A complete edition of his works, in 4 vols 8vo. was
published under the superintendence ot Dr Currie of
Liverpool, who drew up an elaborate and valuable ac¬
count oftthe life of the poet, which is prefixed. From
the profits of this edition his widow and family have
received a handsome sum. The following letter from
Burns to the late Dr Moore, gives so interesting an
account of the transactions of his early years, and af¬
fords so good a specimen of vigour of thought and force
of expression in his prose composition, that we hope it
will prove acceptable to our readers.
“ Mauchline, August 2. 1787*—Sir, For some
months past I have been rambling up and down the
country, but I am now confined with some lingering
complaints, originating, as I take it, in the stomach.
To divert my spirits a little in this miserable fog of
ennui, I have taken a whim to give you a history of
myself. My name has made some little noise in.tin3
country ; you have done me the honour to interest
yourself very warmly in my behalf; and I think a
faithful account of what character of a man I am, and
how I came by that character, may perhaps amuse you
in an idle moment. I will give you an honest narra¬
tive, though I know it will be often at my own ex¬
pence ; for I assure you, Sir, I have, like Solomon,
whose character, excepting in the trifling affair of wis¬
dom, I sometimes think I resemble, I have, I say, like
him turned my eyes to behold madness and folly, and
like him, too, frequently shaken hands with their in¬
toxicating friendship. * * * After you
have perused these pages, should you think them trif¬
ling and impertinent, I only beg leave to tell you, that
the poor author wrote them under some twitching qualms
of conscience, arising from a suspicion that he was do¬
ing what he ought not to do ; a predicament he has
more than once been in before.
“ I have not the most distant pretensions to assume
that character which the pye-coated guardians of es¬
cutcheons call, a gentleman. When at Edinburgh last
winter, I got acquainted in the heralds office, and look¬
ing through that granary of honours, I there found al¬
most every name of the kingdom ; but for me,
■■—My ancient but ignoble blood
Has crept thro’ scoundrels ever since the flood.
Gules, purpure, argent, &c. quite disowned me.
“ My father was of the north of Scotland, the son
of a farmer, and was thrown by early misfortunes on
the world at large ; where, after many years wander¬
ings and sojournings, he picked up a pretty large quan¬
tity of observation and experience, to which 1 am in¬
debted for most of my little pretensions to wisdom.—
I have met with few who understood men, their man¬
ners, and their ways, equal to him ; but stubborn un¬
gainly integrity, and headlong ungovernable irascibi¬
lity, are disqualifying circumstances ; consequently I
was born a very poor man’s son. For the first six or
seven years of my life, my father was a gardener to a
worthy gentleman of a small estate in the neighbour¬
hood of Ayr. Had he continued in that station, I
must have marched off to be one of the little underlings
about a farm-house ; but it was his dearest wish and
prayer to have it in his power to keep his children
under his own eye, till they could discern between
good and evil ; so with the assistance of his generous
master, my father ventured on a small farm on his
estate. At these years I was by no means a favourite
with any body. I was a good deal noted for a reten¬
tive memory, a stubborn sturdy something in my dis¬
position, and an enthusiastic idiot piety. I say idiot
piety, because I was then but a child. Though it cost
the schoolmaster some thrashings, I made an excellent
English scholar; and by the time I was 10 or 12
years of age, I was a critic in substantives, verbs, and
particles. In my infant and boyish days too, I owed
much to an old woman who resided in the family, re¬
markable for her ignorance, credulity, and superstition.
She had, I suppose, the largest collection in the coun¬
try, of tales and songs concerning devils, ghosts, fairies,
brownies, witches, warlocks, spunkies, kelpies, ell-
candles, dead-lights, wraiths, apparitions, cantraips,
giants, enchanted towers, dragons, and other trumpery.
This cultivated the latent seeds of poetry ; but had so
strong an effect on my imagination, that to this hour,
in my nocturnal rambles, I sometimes keep a sharp
look-out in suspicious places ; and though nobody can
be more sceptical than I am in such matters, yet it of¬
ten takes an effort of philosophy to shake off these idle
terrors. The earliest composition that I recollect tak¬
ing pleasure in, was the Vision of Mirza, and a hymn
of Addison’s, beginning, ‘ How are thy servants blest,
O Lord !’ I particularly remember one half-stanza
which was music to my boyish ear—
For though on dreadful whirls we hung
High on the broken wave.—
I met with these pieces in Mason’s English Collection,
one of my school-books. The two first books I ever
read in private, and which gave me more pleasure than
any two books I ever read since, were, The Life of
Hannibal, and -The History of Sir William Wallace.
Hannibal gave my young ideas such a turn, that I used
to strut in raptures up and down after the recruiting
drum and bag-pipe, and wish myself tall enough to be
a soldier; while the story of Wallace poured a Scotish
prejudice into my veins, which will boil along there,
till the flood-gates of life shut in eternal rest.
“ Polemical divinity about this time was putting the
country half mad, and I, ambitious of shining in con¬
versation parties on Sundays between sermons, at fu¬
nerals, &c. used a few years afterwards to puzzle Cal¬
vinism with so much heat and indiscretion, that I rais¬
ed a hue and cry of heresy against me, which has not
ceased to this hour.
“ My vicinity to Ayr was of some advantage to me.
My social disposition, when not checked by some mo¬
difications of spited pride, was, like our catechism de¬
finition of infinitude, without bounds or limits. I
formed several connexions with other younkers who
possessed superior advantages ; the youngling actors
who were busy in the rehearsal of parts in which they
were shortly to appear on the stage of life, where,
alas ! I was destined to drudge behind the scenes. It
is not commonly at this green age that our young
gentry
BUR [2
gentry have a just sense of the immense distance be¬
tween them and their ragged play-fellows. It takes a
few dashes into the world, to give the young great
man that proper, decent, unnoticing disregard for the
poor, insignificant, stupid devils, the mechanics and
peasantry around him, who were perhaps born in the
same village. My young superiors never insulted the
clouterly appearance of my plough-boy carcase, the
two extremities of which were often exposed to all
the inclemencies of all the seasons. They would give
me stray volumes of books j among them, even then, I
could pick up some observations, and one, whose heart
I am sure not even the Munny Begum scenes have
tainted, helped me to a little French. Parting with
these my young friends and benefactors, as they occa¬
sionally went off for the East or West Indies, was
often to me a sore affliction, but I was soon called to
more serious evils. My father’s generous master died j
the farm proved a ruinous bargain j and to clench the
misfortune, we fell into the hands of a factor, who sat
for the picture I have drawn of one in my tale of Twa
Dogs. My father was advanced in life when he mar¬
ried j I was the eldest of seven children, and he, worn
out by early hardships, was unfit for labour. My fa¬
ther’s spirit was soon irritated, but not easily broken.
There was a freedom in his lease in two years more,
and to weather these two years, we retrenched our
eScpences. We lived very poorly : I was a dexterous
ploughman for my age ; and the next oldest to me was
a brother (Gilbert) who could drive the plough very
well, and help me to thrash the corn. A novel writer
might perhaps have viewed these scenes with some sa¬
tisfaction, but so did not I j my indignation yet boils
at the recollection of the s——1 factor’s insolent threat¬
ening letters, which used to set us all in tears.
“ This kind of life—the cheerless gloom of a her¬
mit, with the unceasing moil of a galley-slave, brought
me to my 16th year j a little before which period I
first committed the sin of ryhme. You know our
country custom of coupling a man and woman toge¬
ther as partners in the labours of harvest. In my 15th
autumn, my partner was a bewitching creature, a year
younger than myself. My scarcity of English denies
me the power of doing her justice in that language, but
you know the Scotish idiom ; she was a bonnie, sweet,
soasie lass. In short, she altogether, unwittingly to
herself, initiated me in that delicious passion, which,
in spite of acid disappointment, gin-horse prudence, and
book-worm philosophy, I hold to be the first of human
joys, our dearest blessing here below ! How she caught
the contagion I cannot tell : you medical people talk
much of infection from breathing the same air, the
touch, &c. but I never expressly said I loved her.—
Indeed I did not know myself why I liked so much to
loiter behind with her, when returning in the evening
from our labours j why the tones of her voice made
my heart-strings thrill like an iEolian harp : and par¬
ticularly why my pulse beat such a furious ratan when
I looked and fingered over her little hand to pick out
the cruel nettle-stings and thistles. Among her other
love-inspiring qualities, she sung sweetly ; and it was
her favourite reel to which I attempted giving an em¬
bodied vehicle in rhyme. I was not so presumptuous
as to imagine that I could make verses like printed
anes, composed by men who had Greek and Latin $
1 ] BUR
but my girl sung a song which was said to be compos- "Brrns
ed by a small country laird’s son, on one of his la- )|
ther’s maids, with whom he was in love, and I saw no Burrock,
reason why I might not rhyme as well as he ; lor ex- v "'"
cepting that he could smear sheep, and cast peats, bis
father living in the moorlands, he had no more scholar-
craft than myself.
“ Thus with me began love and poetry ; which at
times have been my only, and, till within the last 12
months, have been my highest enjoyment. My father
struggled on till he reached the freedom in his lease,
when he entered on a larger farm, about ten miles
farther in the country. The nature of the bargain he
made was such as to throw a little ready money into his
hands at the commencement of his lease, otherwise the
affair would have been impracticable. For four years
we lived comfortably here j but a difference commenc¬
ing between him and his landlord as to terms, after
three years tossing and whirling in the vortex ot litiga¬
tion, my father was just saved from the horrors ot a
jail, by a consumption, which, after two years promises,
kindly stepped in, and carried him away, to * where
the wicked cease from troubling, and where the weary
are at rest!’
“ It is during the time that we lived on this farm,
that my little story is most eventful. I was, at the
beginning of this period, perhaps the most ungainly
aukward boy in the parish—no solitaii’e was less ac¬
quainted with the ways of the world. What I knew
of ancient story was gathered from Salmon’s and Guth¬
rie’s Geographical Grammars j and the ideas I had form¬
ed of modern manners, of literature, and criticism, I
got from the Spectator. These, with Pope’s Works,
some plays of Shakespeare, Tull and Dickson on Agri¬
culture, the Pantheon, Locke’s Essay on the Human
Understanding, Stackhouse’s History of the Bible, Jus¬
tice’s British Gardener’s Directory, Bayle’s Lectures,
Allan Ramsay’s Works, Taylor’s Scripture Doctrine
of Original Sin, a Select Collection of English Songs,
and Hervey’s Meditations, had formed the whole of
my reading. The collection of songs was my vade me-
cum. I pored over them driving my cart, or walking
to labour, song by song, verse by verse j carefully not¬
ing the true tender, or sublime, from affectation and
fustian. 1 am convinced I owe to this practice much
of my critic-craft, such as it is.” {Month Mag. and
Currie's Life of Burns').
BURNTISLAND. See Bruntisland.
BURNTWOOD, a town of Essex in England, situ¬
ated on a hill, in E. Long. O. 25. N. Lat. 51. 38.
BURR, the round knob of a horn next a deer’s head*
BURRE, Bourse, or Boree, a kind of dance com¬
posed of three steps joined together in two motions,
begun with a crotchet rising. The first couplet con¬
tains twice four measures, the second twice eight. It
consists of a balance and coupee*
BURR-Pump, or BiLGB-Pump, differs from the
common pump, in having a staff, six, seven, or eight
feet long, with a bar of wood, whereto the leather is
nailed, and this serves instead of a box. So two men,
standing over the pump, thrust down this staff, to the
middle whereof is fastened a rope, for six, eight, or
ten to hale by, thus pulling it up and down.
BURROCK, a small wier or dam, where weels are
laid in a river,.for the taking of fish.
BURROUGHS’S
BUR [ 22 ] BUR
BurroagUs’s BURROUGHS’S machine for grinding and polish-
Machine. Jng glass, invented by Mr Burroughs of Southwark ;
v and for which he received from the society for the en¬
couragement of arts a premium of 70I.
CXXXI This machine consists of a cog-wheel A (fig. 3.), 12
feet in diameter, carrying 72 cogs ; which turn a trun¬
dle-head B, one foot four inches in diameter, and fur¬
nished with eight rounds j and also a horizontal spur-
wheel C, of 12 cogs •, and one foot eight inches in
diameter. The trundle-head B turns a spur-wheel D
of 10 cogs, and two feet eight inches in diameter.
This spur-wheel has two cranks, a, b, in its shaft; one
of which, o, gives motion to a wooden frame, c, about
34 inches long and 19 broad. On the under side of
this frame are fastened by screws 12 pieces of polished
metal, each five inches and a half long, and three
broad, covered with leather 5 and underneath these
polishers a glass plate cemented in another frame is
placed on the bench d, and polished with tripoli by the
motion given to the upper frame by the crank a. The
nuts of the screws which fasten the polishers to the
upper frame are not screwed close to the wood, in order
to give the frame room to play j by which contrivance
the perpendicular rise of the crank is avoided, and the
motion of the polishers is always parallel and equal.
The under frame may be moved by the hand in any di¬
rection without stopping the machine ; by which means
the plate, when larger than the polishing frame can
cover in its motion, will be equally polished in every
part.
The other crank b gives motion to two other polish¬
ers marked n, 0, which have an alternate motion by the
bending of the crank ; they move upon the same plate,
and have an equal number of polishers as that already
described.
The same crank also gives motion to a contrivance
represented at e for polishing spectacle-glasses. It con¬
sists of two segments of the same sphere •, one concave
and the other convex. On the latter the glasses are
cemented ; and polished by the former, which is moved
by the crank b. The convex segment may be moved
round by tbe hand without stopping the machine, so
that all the glasses on its superficies will be equally po¬
lished.
The other spur-wheel C, by means of a crank in its
shaft, gives motion to another frame g, employed in
grinding the glass plates. The rod b, extended from
the crank/to the frame g, is fastened to the latter by
means of a pivot, in order to admit of a rotatory mo¬
tion, as well as that given it by the crank in a longi¬
tudinal direction. This rotatory motion is effected by
means of a rod of iron t, called a trigger, sharp at the
extremity next the frame, where it touches the teeth of
a horizontal spur-wheel, or circular piece of wood, fixed
on the grinding plate, while the other is extended three
feet two inches to the centre of motion.
But this contrivance, in which the merit of the ma¬
chine principally consists, will be much better conceived
from a small delineation of it by itself (fig. 4.), where
F is the crank marked / in fig. 3. and Turned by the
spur-wheel C in the same figure. G is the trigger, three
feet two inches long. I, a roll fixed on the trigger for
the rod to slide on. H, the horizontal spur-wheel,
eleven inches in diameter, fixed on the grinding plate ;
the teeth of which are touched by the trigger j but with
a very unequal force, as it will wholly depend upon the BurrougW,
grinding-plate’s being farther from, or nearer to, the Machine
centre of motion of the trigger. By this simple contri-
vance, the grinding-plate has a very compound motion, 1 , . ^ j
never moving exactly in the same track, and therefore
must grind the plates equally in every part. Several
attempts have been made by others for producing the
same effect, but without success $ the grinding-plate
always follows the same track, and consequently the
plates are ground equally.
BURROW, Sir James, master of the crown office,
was elected F. R. S. and F. A. S. 1751. On the death
of Mr West in 1772, he was prevailed on to fill the
president’s chair at the Royal Society till the anniver¬
sary election, when he resigned it to Sir John Pringle j
and August 10. 1773, when the society presented an
address to his majesty, he received the honour of
knighthood. He published two volumes of Reports in
1766 5 two others in 1771 and 1776 ; and a volume of
Decisions of the Court of King’s Bench upon settlement
cases from 1732 to 1772 (to which was subjoined An
Essay of Punctuation), in three parts, 4to, 1768, 1772,
1776. The Essay was also printed separately in 4to,
1773. published, without his name, “ A few
Anecdotes and Observations relating to Oliver Crom¬
well and his family, serving to rectify several errors
concerning him,” published by Nicol. Comn. Papado-
poli, in his Historia Gymnasii Patavini, 1763, 4to.
He died in I 782.
BURROWS, holes in a warren, serving as a covert
for rabbits, &c. A coney’s coming out of her burrow
is called bolting. To catch coneys, they sometimes lay
purse-nets over the burrows, then put in a terrier close
muzzled, which making the creature bolt, she is caught
in the net.
BURSA, or Prusa, in Geography, the capital of
Bithynia in Asia Minor, situated in a fine fruitful
plain, at the foot of Mount Olympus, about 100 miles
south of Constantinople. It is still a large town. E.
Long. 29. O. N. Lat. 40, 30.
PvRSA-Pastoris, in Botany. See Tiilasfi.
Bursa, Burse, originally signifies a purse. In mid¬
dle-age writers it is more particularly used for a little
college or hall in a university, for the residence of
students, called bursales or bursarii. In the French
universities it still denotes a foundation for the mainte¬
nance of poor scholars in their studies. The nomination
to burses is in the hands of the patrons and founders
thereof. The burses of colleges are not benefices, but
mere places assigned to certain countries and persons.
A burse becomes vacant by the burser’s being promoted
to a cure.
BURStE mucosa. See Anatomy Index.
BURSAR, or Burser, (JBursarins'), is used in
middle-age writers for a treasurer or cash-keeper. In
this sense we meet with bursars of colleges. Conven¬
tual bursars were officers in monasteries, who were to
deliver up their account yearly on the day after Mi¬
chaelmas. The word is formed from the Latin bursa,
whence also the English word purse ; hence also the
officer, who in a college is called bursar, in a ship is
called purser.
Bursars, or Bursors, (Bursarii), also denote those
to whom stipends are paid out of a burse or fund ap¬
pointed for that purpose.
BURSARIA,
BUR [ 23 ] BUR
Bursarii BURSARTA, the bursary, or exchequer of colle-
Q giate and conventual bodies ; or the place of receiving,
g^^t0B, , paying, and accounting by the bursarii or bursers.
BURSE, in matters of commerce, denotes a public
edifice in certain cities, for the meeting of merchants
to negotiate bills, and confer on other matters relating
to money and trade. In this sense, burse amounts to
the same with what we otherwise call an exchatige.
The first place of this kind to which the name Burse
was given, Guiechardin assures us was at Bruges ; and
it took its denomination from a hotel adjoining to it,
built by a lord of the family de la Bourse, whose arms,
which are three purses, are still found on the crowning
over the portal of the house. Catel’s account is some¬
what different, viz. that the merchants of Bruges
bought a house or apartment to meet in, at which was
the sign of the purse. From this city the name was
afterwards transferred to the like places in others, as in
Antwerp, Amsterdam, Bergen in Norway, and Lon¬
don. This last, anciently known by the name of the
common burse oj merchants, had the denomination since
given it by Queen Elizabeth, of the royal exchange.
The most considerable burse is that of Amsterdam,
which is a large building, 230 feet long and 130 broad,
round which runs a peristyle 20 feet wide. The co¬
lumns of the peristyle, which are 46, are numbered, for
the conveniency of finding people. It will hold 4500
persons.
In the times of the Romans there were public places
for the meeting of merchants in most of the trading
cities in the empire j that built at Rome, in the 259th
year after its foundation, under the consulate of Appius
Claudius and Publius Servilius, was denominated the
college of merchants ; some remains of it are still to be
seen, and are known by the modern Romans under
the name loggia. The Hans Towns, after the ex¬
ample of the Romans, gave the name of colleges to their
burses.
BURSERA. See Botany Index.
BURSTEN, denotes a person who has a rupture.
See Rupture
BURTHEN of a Ship. See Burden.
BURTON upon Trent, a town of Staffordshire, in
England. It had formerly a large abbey j and over the
river Trent it has now a famous bridge of free stone,
about a quarter of a mile in length, supported by 37
arches. It consists chiefly of one long street, which
runs from the place where the abbey stood to the bridge,
and contained 3979 inhabitants in 1811. Burton ale
is reckoned the best of any brought to London. W.
Long. 1. 36. N. Lat. 52. 48.
Burton, a town of Lincolnshire in England, seated
on a hill near the river Trent. It is but a small place,
and is situated in W. Long. o. 30. N. Lat. 53. 40.
Burton, a town of Westmoreland in England, seat¬
ed in a valley near a large hill called Farleton-knot-
hill. It is pretty well built, and lies on the great road
from Lancaster to Carlisle. W. Long. 2. 35. N. Lat.
54. 10.
Burton, Robert, known to the learned by the name
of Democritus junior, was younger brother to Wil¬
liam Burton, who wrote “ The Antiquities of Lei¬
cestershire,” and born of an ancient family at Lindley,
m that county, upon the 8th of February 1576. He
was educated in grammatical learning in the free school jjurtoir.
of Sutton Colefield in Warwickshire j in the year 1593 —y—~
was sent to Brazen-nose college in Oxford j and in
1599 was elected student of Christ-church. In i6i6,he
had the vicarage of St Thomas, in the west suburb of
Oxford, conferred upon him by the dean and canons of
Christ-church, to the parishioners of which, it is said,
that he always gave the sacrament in wafers ; and
this, with the rectory of Segrave in Leicestershire,
given him some time after by George Lord Berkeley,
he held to the day of his death, which happened in
January 1639.
He was a man of general learning j a great philoso¬
pher ; an exact mathematician j and (what makes the
peculiarity of his character) a very curious calculator
of nativities. He rvas extremely studious, and of a me¬
lancholy turn ; yet an agreeable companion, and very
humorous. The anatomy of melancholy, hy Democritus
junior, as he calls himself, shows, that these different
qualities were mixed together in his composition. This
book was printed first in 4to, afterwards in folio, in
1624, 1632, 1638, and 1652, to the great emolument
of the bookseller, who, as Mr Wood tells us, got an
estate by it. Some circumstances attending his death
occasioned strange suspicions. He died in his chamber
at or very near the time which, it seems, he had some
years before predicted from the calculation of his nati¬
vity ; and this exactness made it whispered about that
lor the glory of astrology, and rather than his calcula¬
tion should fail, he became indeed a felo de se. This,
however, was generally discredited j he was buried with
due solemnity in the cathedral of Christ-church, and
had a fair monument erected to his memory. He left
behind him a very choice collection of books. He be¬
queathed many to the Bodleian library $ and 100I. to
Christ-church, the interest of which was to be laid out
yearly in books for their library.
Burton, John, D. H. a learned divine, was born in
1696, at Wembworth, in Devonshire, of which parish
his father was rector. Fie was educated at Corpus
Christi college, Oxford. In 1725, being then pro¬
proctor and master of the schools, he spoke a Latin
oration before the determining bachelor, which is
entitled “ Deli; or, An Instance of a Magistrate’s
erring through unseasonable Lenitywritten and
published with a view to encourage the salutary ex¬
ercise of academical discipline $ and afterwards treated
the same subject still more fully in four Latin sermons
before the university, and published them with appen¬
dixes. He also introduced into the schools, Locke,
and other eminent modern philosophers, as suitable
companions to Aristotle : and printed a double series
of philosophical questions, for the use of the younger
students 5 from which Mr Johnson of Magdalene col¬
lege, Cambridge, took the hint of his larger work
of the same kind, which has gone through several
editions.
When the settling of Georgia was in agitation, Dr
Bray, justly revered for his institution of parochial li¬
braries, Dr Stephen Hales, Dr Berriman, and other
learned divines, intreated Mr Burton’s pious assistance
in that undertaking. This he readily gave, by preach¬
ing before the society in 1732, and publishing his ser¬
mon, with an appendix on the state of that colony j and
BUR [ 24 ] BUS
Bmtou he afterwards published an account of the designs of
II the associates of the late Dr Bray, with an account of
Burying- ^|,ejr proceedings.
, !>i^L(-’ , About the same time, on the death of Dr Edward
Littleton, he was presented by Eton college to the vi¬
carage of Maple-Derham, in Oxfordshire. Here a
melancholy scene, which too often appears in the man¬
sion of the clergy, presented itself to his view $ a wi¬
dow, with three infant daughters, without a home, with¬
out a fortune ; from his compassion arose love, the con¬
sequence of which was marriage 5 for Mrs Littleton
was handsome, elegant, accomplished, ingenious, and
had great sweetness of temper. In 1760, he exchanged
his vicarage of Maple-Derham for the rectory of Wor-
plesdon in Surrey. In his advanced age, finding his
eyes begin to fail him, he collected and published, in
one volume, all his scattered pieces, under the title of
Opuscula miscellanea ; and soon after died, February
nth, 1771.
Burton, in the sea-language, a small tackle con¬
sisting of two single blocks, and may be made fast
any where at pleasure, for hoisting small things in and
out.
BURY, is sometimes used to denote the hole or den
of some animal under ground. In this sense we say
the bury of a mole, a tortoise, or the like. The grillo-
talpa, or mole-cricket, digs itself a bury with its fore¬
feet, which are made broad and strong for that pur¬
pose. Naturalists speak of a kind of urchins in the
island of Maraguan, which have two entries to their
buries, one towards the north, the other to the south,
which they open and shut alternately, as the wind hap¬
pens to lie.
Bury, in Geography, a market town of Lancashire,
about 80 miles south-east of Lancaster. It is a barony
in the family of Albemarle. W. Long. 2. 20. N. Lat.
53- 36.
Bury St Edmond's, or St Edmond's Bury, the coun¬
ty town of Suffolk, about 12 miles east of Newmarket,
and 70 north-east of London. Population 7986. E.
Long. o. 45. N. Lat. 52. 20.
BURYING, the same with interment or Burial.
Burying Alive was the punishment of a vestal who
had violated her vow of virginity. The unhappy priestess
was let down into a deep pit, with bread, water, milk,
oil, a lamp burning, and a bed to lie on. But this was
only for show ; for the moment she was let down, they
began to cast in the earth upon her till the pit was filled
\ See the UP't Some middle-age writers seem to make bury-
artiele ing alive (defossio) the punishment of a woman thief.
Vesttds. Lord Bacon gives instances of the resurrection of per¬
sons who have been buried alive. The famous Duns
Scotus is of the number ; who, having been seized with
a catalepsis, was thought dead, and laid to sleep among
his fathers, but raised again by his servant, in whose
absence he had been buried. Bartholin gives an ac¬
count of a woman, who, on recovering from an apo¬
plexy, could not be convinced but that she was dead,
and solicited so long and so earnestly to be buried,
that they were forced to comply j and performed the
ceremonies, at least in appearance. The famous Em¬
peror Charles V. after his abdication, took it into his
head to have his burial celebrated in his lifetime, and
assisted at it. See Charles V.
BuRYiNG-Place. The ancients buried out of cities
3 '
and towns ; an usage which we find equally among pBfy;nj.
Jews, Greeks, and Romans. Among the last, bury- place
ing within the walls was expressly prohibited by a law 11
of the 12 tables. The usual places of interment were , Bnsby-
in the suburbs and fields, but especially by the way- "',_v
sides. We have instances, however, of persons buried
in the city j but it was a favour allowed only to a few
of singular merit in the commonwealth. Plutarch says,
those who had triumphed were indulged in it. Be this
as it will, Val. Publicola, and C. Fabricius, are said to
have had tombs in the forum : and Cicero adds Tubertus
to the number. Lycurgus allowed his Lacedemonians
to bury their dead within the city and round their
temples, that the youth, being inured to such spec¬
tacles, might be the less terrified with the apprehension
of death. Two reasons are alleged why the ancients
buried out of cities : the first, an opinion that the sight,
touch, or even neighbourhood, ot a corpse, defiled a
man, especially a priest-*, whence that rule in A. Gel-
lius, that the jlamen dialis might not on any account
enter a place where there was a grave : the second, to
prevent the air from being corrupted by the stench of
putrified bodies, and the buildings from being endan¬
gered by the frequency of funeral fires.
Burying in churches was not allowed for the first
300 years after Christ j and the same was severely pro¬
hibited by the Christian emperors for many ages after¬
wards. The first step towards it appears to have been
the practice of erecting churches over the graves of
some martyrs in the country, and translating the re¬
lics of others into churches in the city $ the next was,
allowing kings and emperors to be buried in the atrium
or church-porch. In the 6th century, the people be¬
gan to be admitted into the church-yards } and some
princes, founders, and bishops, into the church. From
that time the matter seems to have been left to the dis¬
cretion of the bishop.
BUSBEC, Auger Gislen, Lord of, a person il¬
lustrious on account of his embassies, was born at Corn-
mines in the year 1522$ and educated at the most fa¬
mous universities, at Louvain, at Paris, at Venice, at
Bologna, and at Padua. He was engaged in several
important employments and negotiations, and particu¬
larly was twice sent ambassador by the king of the Ro¬
mans to the emperor Soliman. He collected inscrip¬
tions ; bought manuscripts j searched after rare plants j
inquired into the nature of animals ; and in his second
journey to Constantinople, carried with him a painter,
that he might be able to communicate to the curious
the figures, at least, of the plants and animals that were
not well known in the west. He wrote a Discourse of
the State of the Ottoman Empire, and a Relation of his
two Journeys to Turkey, which are much esteemed.
He died in 1592.
BUSBY, Dr Richard, son of a gentleman in
Westminster, was born at Lutton in Lincolnshire, in
1606. He passed through the classes in Westminster
school, as king’s scholar ; and completed his studies at
Christ-church, Oxford. In 1640 he was appointed
master ol Westminster school j and by his skill and di¬
ligence in the discharge of this important and laborious
office, for the space of 55 years, bred up the greatest
numbetf of eminent men, in church and state, that ever
at one time adorned any age or nation. He was ex¬
tremely severe in his school $ though he applauded wit
BUS [
Banh. in jus scholars, even when it reflected on himself. He
1 died in 1695, aged 89, and was buried in Westminster
Abbey, where there is a fine monument erected for him,
with a Latin inscription. He composed several books
for the use of his school.
BUSCHING, A. F. a celebrated German geogra¬
pher. See Supplement.
BUSH, Paul, the first bishop of Bristol, became
a student in the university of Oxford about the year
J513, and in 1518 took the degree of bachelor of arts.
He afterwards became a brother of the order called
bonhoms: ol which, after studying some time among
the friars of St Austin (now Wadham college), he was
elected provincial. In that station he lived many years $
till at length King Henry VIII. being informed of his
great knowledge in divinity and physic, made him his
chaplain, and in 1542 appointed him to the new epis¬
copal see of Bristol 5 but having in the reign of Ed¬
ward \ I. taken a wife, he was, on the accession of
Mary, deprived of his dignity, and spent the remainder
of his life in a private station at Bristol, where he died
in the year 1558, aged 68, and was buried on the
north side of the choir of the cathedral. Wood says,
that while he was a student at Oxford, he was number¬
ed among the celebrated poets of that university ; and
Pitt gives him the character of a faithful Catholic,
his want of chastity notivithstanding. He wrote, 1.
An Exhortation to Margaret Burgess, wife to John
Burgess, clothier, of King’s Wood, in the county of
Wilts. London, printed in the reign of Edward VI.
8vo. 2. Notes on the Psalms. 3. Treatise in praise
of the cross. 4. Answer to certain queries concerning
the abuse of the mass. Records, No. 25. 5. Dialogues
between Christ and the Virgin Mary. 6. Treatise of
slaves and curing remedies. 7. A little treatise called
T/ie Extirpatioti of Xgnorancy. 8. Carmina diversa.
Bush, a term used for several shrubs of the same
kind growing close together: thus we say, a fur^e-
bush, bramble-bush, &.c.
Bush is sometimes used, in a more general sense,
for any assemblage of thick branches interwoven and
mixed together.
Bush also denotes a coronated frame of wood hung
out as a sign of taverns. It takes the denomination
from hence, that, anciently, signs where wine was sold
were bushes chiefly of ivy, cypress, or the like plant,
which keeps its verdure long. And hence the English
proverb, “ Good wine needs no bush."
Burning-BusH, that bush wherein the Lord appear¬
ed to Moses at the foot of Mount Horeb, as he was
feeding his father-in-law’s flocks.
As to the person that appeared in the bush, the text
says, “ lhat the angel of the Lord appeared unto him
in a flame of fire, out of the middle of the bush but
whether it was a created angel, speaking in the person
of God, or God himself, or (as the most received opi¬
nion is) Christ the son of God, lias been matter of
some controversy among the learned. rihose who sup¬
pose it no more than an angel, seem to imply that it
would be a diminution of the majesty of God, to ap¬
pear upon every occasion, especially when he has such
a number of celestial ministers, who may do the busi¬
ness as well. But considering that God is present
everywhere, the notification of his presence by some
outward sign in one determinate place (which is all
> OL. V. Part I. .
25 ] B U S
we mean by his appearance), is in our conception less Bush
laborious (if any thing laborious could be conceived of Bushel.
God) than a delegation of angels upon every turn from  
heaven, and seems in the main to illustrate rather than
debase the glory of his nature and existence. But how¬
ever this be, it is plain that the angel here spoken of
was no created being, from the whole context, and
especially from his saying, “ I am the Lord God, the
Jehovah,” &c. since this is not the language of angels,
who are always known to express themselves in such
humble terms as these, “ I am sent from God ; I am
thy fellow servant,” &c. It is a vain pretext to say,
that an angel, as God’s ambassador, may speak in God’s
name and person j for what ambassador of any prince
ever yet said, “ I am the king ?” Since therefore no
angel, without the guilt of blasphemy, could assume
these titles •, and since neither God the Father nor the
Holy Ghost, are ever called by the name of angel, i. e.
“ messenger, or person sent,” whereas God the Son is
called by the prophet Malachi (chap. iii. 1), “ The
angel of the covenant it hence seems to follow, that
this angel of the Lord was God the Son, who might
very properly be called an angel, because in the fulness,
of time he was sent into the world in our flesh, as a
messenger from God, and might therefore make these
his temporary apparitions presages and forerunners, as
it were, of his more solemn mission. The emblem of
the burning-bush is used as the seal of the church of
Scotland, with this motto : Elec tamen consumebatur i
j. e. “ Though burning, is never consumed.”
BUSHEL, a measure of capacity for things dry ;
as grains, pulse, dry fruits, &c. containing four pecks,
or eight gallons, or one-eighth of a quarter.
Du Cange derives the word from bussellus, bustellus,
or bisellus, a diminutive of bu%, or bii’za, used in the
corrupt Latin for the same thing 5 others derive it
from bussulus, an ui'n, wherein lots were cast; which
seems to be a corruption from buxulus. Bussellus ap¬
pears to have been first used for a liquid measure of
wine, equal to eight gallons. Octo librce faciunt gah-
nem vim, et octo galones vini faciunt hosseWom Lon¬
don, (ju.'B est octava pars quartern. It was soon after
transferred to the dry measure of corn of the same
quantity.— Bondus octo librorum frvmenti facit bus-
seiium, de quibus octo consistit quarterium.
By 12 Henry VII. c. 3. a bushel is to contain
8 gallons of wheat “, the gallon 8 pounds of wheat
troy weight; the pound 12 ounces troy-weight; the
ounce 20 shillings ; and the sterling 32 grains or corns
of wheat, growing in the midst of the ear. This stan¬
dard bushel is kept in the Exchequer; when being
filled with common spring-water, and the water mea¬
sured before the house of commons in 1696, in a re¬
gular parallelepiped, it was found to contain 2145,6
solid inches; and the said water being weighed, a-
mounted to 1131 ounces and 14 penny-weights troy.
Besides the standard or legal bushel, we have several
local bushels, of different dimensions in difl'erent places.
At Abington and Andover, a bushel contains nine
gallons; at Appleby and Penrith, a bushel of pease,
rye, and wheat, contains 16 gallons; of barley, big,
malt, mixt malt, and oats, 20 gallons. A bushel
contains, at Carlisle, 24 gallons ; at Chester, a bushel
of wheat, rye, &c. contains 32 gallons, and of oats
40; at Dorchester, a bushel of malt and oats con-
D tains
BUS [ 26 ] BUS
Bushel tains 10 gallons j at Falmouth, the bushel of stricken
It coals is 16 gallons, of other things 20, and usually
Buskin. 21 gifllons ; at Kingston upon Thames, the busiiel
v contains ; at Newbury, 9 j at Wycomb and Rea¬
ding, 8^ ; at Stamford, 15 gallons. Houghton. Col¬
lect. tom. i. n. 46. p. 42.
At Paris, the bushel is divided into 2 half-bushels \
the half-bushel into 2 quarts $ the quart into 2 half¬
quarts j the half quart into 2 litrons ; and the lilron
into 2 half-litrons. By a sentence of the provost of
the merchants of Paris, the bushel is to be 8 inches
2^ lines high, and 10 inches in diameter j the quart
4 inches 9 lines high, and 6 inches 9 lines wide $ the
half-quart 4 inches 3 lines high, and 5 inches diame¬
ter : the litron 3 J inches high, and 3 inches 10 lines
in diameter. Three bushels make a minot, 6 a mine,
12a septier, and 144 a muid. In other parts of France
the bushel varies : 14I- bushels of Amboise and Tours
make the Paris septier. Twenty bushels of Avignon
make 3 Paris septiers. Twenty bushels of Blois make
1 Paris septier. Two bushels of Bourdeaux make 1
Paris septier. Thirty-two bushels of Rochel make 19
Paris septiers. Oats are measured in a double propor¬
tion to other grains j so that 24 bushels of oats make
Sl septier, and 248 a muid. The bushel of oats is di¬
vided into 5 picotins, the picotin into 2 half-quarts, or
4 litrons. For salt, 4 bushels make a minot, and 6 a
septier. For coals, 8 bushels make a minot, 16 a mine,
and 320 a muid. For lime, 3 bushels make a minot,
and 48 minots a muid. Such were the measures by
bushel before the revolution : for the changes that have
since taken place, see Measure and Weight.
BUSIRIS, 'mAnde?it Geography, a city of the Low¬
er Egypt, to the south of Leontopolis, on that branch
of the Nile called Busiriticus ; built by Busiris, noted
for his cruelty, and slain by Hercules, (Ovid, Virgil,
Diodorus Siculus). Strabo denies such a tyrant ever
existed j Isocrates has written his panegyric. In this
city there stood a grand temple of Isis, which gave it
the appellation of the city of Isis. It was destroyed on
a revolt by Dioclesiau.
BUSIRITICUS Fluvius, in Ancient Geography,
that branch of the Nile which empties itself at the
mouth called Ostium Pathmeticum, or Phatniticum,
(Ptolemy) ; also a part according to an ancient map
at the Ostium Mindesium 5 this river, or branch, di¬
viding itself at Diospolis into two branches ; called
Busiriticus, from the city of Busiris, which stood on
its left or west branch. It is the second branch of the
Nile, reckoning from the east.
Busiriticus ^Nonios, in Ancient Geography, a prefec¬
ture, or division of the Lower Egypt; so called from
the city Busiris, (Herodotus, Pliny, Ptolemy).
BUSITIS, in Ancient Geography, a district of Ara¬
bia Deserta ; so called from Bus, or Buz, Nahor’s
second son ; the country of Elihu, the fourth interlo¬
cutor in Job •, called Buxetes, by the Septuagint.
BUSKIN, a kind of shoe, somewhat in manner of
a boot, and adapted to either foot, and worn by either
sex. This part of dress, covering both the foot and
mid-leg, was tied underneath the knee ; it was very
rich and fine, and principally used on the stage by ac¬
tors in tragedy. It was of a quadrangular form ; and
the sole was so thick, as that, by means thereof, men
of the ordinary stature might be raised to the pitch and
2
elevation of the heroes they personated. The colour
was generally purple on the stage ; herein it was dis- {j
tinguished from the sock worn in comedy, that being Bnstnarii.
only a low common shoe. The buskin seems to ha\e “"T~'V"
been worn not only by actors but by girls, to raise
their height; travellers and hunters also made use of it,
to defend themselves from the mire. In classic au¬
thors, we frequently find the buskin used to signify
tragedy itself, in regard it was a mark of tragedy ou
the stage. It was also to be understood for a lofty
strain or high style.
BUSS, in maritime affairs, a small sea vessel, used
by us and the Dutch in the herring-fishery, commonly
from 48 to 60 tons burden, and sometimes more : a
buss lias two small sheds or cabins, one at the prow
and the other at the stern ; that at the prow serves fora
kitchen. Every buss has a master, an assistant, a mate,
and seamen in proportion to the vessel’s size; the
master commands in chief, and without his express or¬
ders the nets cannot be cast or taken up; the as¬
sistant has the command after him ; and the mate next,
whose business is to see the seamen manage their rig¬
ging in a proper manner, to mind those who draw in
their nets, and those who kill, gut, and cure the her¬
rings as they are taken out of the sea : the seamen
generally engage for a whole voyage in the lump. The
provisions which they take on board the busses, consist
commonly in biscuit, oatmeal, and dried or salt fish :
the crew being content for the rest with what fresh
fish they catch. See Fisheries.
BUST, or Busto, in Sculpture, denotes the figure
or portrait of a person in relievo, showing only the
head, shoulders, and stomach, the arms being lopped
off: ordinarily placed on a pedestal or console.
In speaking of an antique, we say the head is marble,
and the bust porphyry, or bronze, that is, the stomach
and shoulders. Felibien observes, that though in paint¬
ing, one may say a figure appears in busto, yet it is not
properly called a bust, that word being confined to
things in relievo.
The bust is the same with what the Latins called
Ilermu, from the Greek Hermes, Mercury, the image
of that god being frequently represented in this manner
amongst the Athenians.
Bust is also used, especially by the Italians, for th«
trunk of a human body, from the neck to the hips.
Bust A Gallica, was a place in ancient Rome, wherein
the bones of the Gauls, who first took the city, and were
slain by Camillus, were deposited. It differed from
Bust a Gallorum, a place on the Apennines, thus
called by reason of many thousands of Gauls killed
there by Fabius.
BUSTARD. See Otis, Ornithology Index.
BUS ILARIyJL Moechje, according to some, wo¬
men that were hired to accompany the funeral and la¬
ment the loss of the deceased ; but others are of opi¬
nion, that they were rather the more common prosti¬
tutes, that stood among the tombs, graves, and other
such lonely places.
BUSIUARII, in Roman antiquity, gladiators who
fought about the bustum or funeral pile of a person of
distinction, that the blood which was spilt might serve
as a sacrifice to the infernal gods, and render them
more propitious to the manes of the deceased. This
custom was introduced in the room of the more inhu¬
man
BUT
[ 27 ]
BUT
Jstand.
Eastuaiii man one of sacrificing captives at the busturn, or on the
fi, tombs of warriors.
Biuiaci. BUSTUM, in antiquity, denotes a pyramid or pile
j of wood, whereon were anciently placed the bodies of
the deceased, in order to be burnt.
The Romans borrowed the custom of burning their
dead from the Greeks. The deceased, crowned with
flowers, and dressed in his richest habits, was laid on the
bustum. Some authors say, it was only called bushim
after the burning, quasi bene uslum : before the burning
it was more properly called pyra ; during it rogus; and
afterwards bustum. When the body was only burnt
there, and buried elsewhere, the place was not proper¬
ly called bustum, but ustrina, or ustrinum.
Bustum, in the Campus Martius, was a structure
whereon the emperor Augustus first, and after him the
bodies of his successors, were burnt. It was built of
white stone, surrounded with an iron pallisade, and
planted withinside with alder trees.
Bustum was also figuratively applied to denote any
tomb. Whence those phrases, facere bustum, violare
bustum, &c.
Bustum of an Altar, was the hearth or place where
the fire was kindled.
BUTCHER, a person who slaughters cattle for the
use of the table, or who cuts up and retails the same.
Among the ancient Romans, there were three kinds
of established butchers, whose office it was to furnish
the city with the necessary cattle, and to take care of
preparing and vending their flesh. The suarii provid¬
ed hogs; the pecuarii or boarii, other cattle, especially
oxen j and under these was a subordinate class, whose
office was to kill, called lanii and carnifices.
To exercise the office of butcher among the Jews
with dexterity, was of more reputation than to under¬
stand the liberal arts and sciences. They have a book
concerning shamble-constitution ; and in case of any
difficulty, they apply to some learned rabbi for advice :
nor was any allowed to practise this art, without a li¬
cense in form ; which gave the man, upon evidence of
his abilities, a power to kill meat, and others to eat
what he killed j provided he carefully read every week
for one year, and every month the next year, and once
a quarter during his life, the constitution above men¬
tioned.
We have some very good laws for the better regula¬
tion and preventing the abuses committed by butchers.
A butcher that sells swine’s flesh measled, or dead of
the murrain, for the first offence shall be amerced j for
the second, have the pillory : for the third, be im¬
prisoned, and make fine ; and for the fourth, abjure the
town. Butchers not selling meat at reasonable prices
•hall forfeit double the value, leviable by warrant of two
justices of the peace. No butcher shall kill any flesh
in his scalding-house, or within the walls of London,
on pain to forfeit for every ox so killed I2d., and for
every other beast 8d., to be divided betwixt the king
and the prosecutor.
BuTCHER-Bird. See Lanius, Ornithology In¬
dex.
BuTCHER-Broom. See Ruscus, Botany Index.
BuTCHER-Island, in the East Indies, a small island
about two miles long and scarce one broad. It has its
name from cattle being kept there for the use of Bom¬
bay, from which it is about three miles distant. It has
a small fort, but of very little consequence.
BUTE, an island lying to the west of Scotland, be¬
ing separated from Cowal, a district of Argyleshire, on¬
ly by a narrow channel. In length it is about 18 miles’,
the broadest part from east to west is about five. Part
of it is rocky and barren ; but from the middle south¬
wards, the ground is cultivated, and produces pease,
oats, and barley. Here is a quarry of red stone, which
the natives have used in building a fort and chapel in
the neighbourhood of Rothsay, which is a very ancient
royal borough, head town of the shire of Bute and Ar-
3’an ; but very thinly peopled, and maintained chiefly
by the herring fishery, wTith the profits of which all the
rents ot this island are chiefly paid. On the north side
of Kothsay, are the ruins of an ancient fort, with its
drawbridge, chapel, and barracks. Here are likewise
the remains of some Danish towers. The natives arc
healthy and industrious, speak the Erse and the dia¬
lect of the Lowlands indifferently, and profess the Pro¬
testant religion. The island is divided into two parishes,
accommodated with four churches j and belongs chiefly
to the earl of Bute, who possesses an elegant seat on
the east side of the island. The name of this isle has
by several authors, and in different periods, been very
differently written, as Bote, Both, Bothe, Boot, but
now generally Bute. Our ancient writers suppose that
it derived its name from a cell erected therein by St
Brendan, an Irish abbot who flourished in the 6th cen¬
tury, because in his language such a cell was called
Both. It is however, probable, that this name was of
great antiquity, since we find it denominated Botis by
the anonymous geographer of Ravenna. It was from
very early times part of the patrimony of the Stuarts:
large possessions in it were granted to Sir John Stuart,
son of Robert II. by his beloved mistress Elizabeth
More j and it has continued in that line to the present
time.
BUTESHIRE, comprehends the islands of Bute,
Arran, the greater and lesser Cumbray, and Inch-mar-
noc. This shire and that of Caithness send a member
to parliament alternately. The earl of Bute is admi¬
ral of the county, by commission from his majesty j but
no way dependent on the lord high admiral of Scot¬
land : so that if any maritime case occurs within this
jurisdiction, (even crimes of as high a nature as mur¬
der or piracy), his lordship, by virtue of his powers as
admiral, is sufficient judge, or he may delegate his au¬
thority to any deputies.
The following is a view of the population of this
county at two different periods, taken from the Statis¬
tical history of Scotland.
Parishes.
Bute.
Arran.
I Rothsay,
\ Kingarth,
f Kilbride,
(^Kilmorie,
Total,
Population in 1811,
See Buteshire, Supplement.
D 2
Population
in 1795.
2222
998
1369
2127
6716
12,033
Population in
179c—179S.
4032
727
254J •
3259
i°,563
BUTEO,
Btlleber-
Island
0
Buteshire.
BUT [2
liaffo, BUTEO, tlie trivial name of a species of FalcO.
butler. See ORNITHOLOGY Index.
-y BUTLER, Charles, a native of Wycomb in the
county of Bucks, and a master of arts in Magdalen
college, Oxford, published a hook with this title : “ rI he
principles of music in singing and setting ; with the
twofold use thereof, ecclesiastical and civil.” Quarto,
London 1636. The author of this book was a person
of singular learning and ingenuity, which he manifested
in sundry other works enumerated by Mood in the
Athen. Oxon. Among the rest is an English Grammar,
published in 1633, in which he proposes a scheme ot
regular orthography, and makes use of characters, some
borrowed from the Saxon, and others of his own in¬
vention, so singular, that we want types to exhibit
them : and of this imagined improvement he appears to
have been so fond, that all his tracts are printed in like
manner with his grammar ; the consequence whereof
has been an almost general disgust to all that he has
.written. His Principles of Music is, however, a very
learned, curious, and entertaining book ; and, by the
help of the advertisement from the printer to the read¬
er, prefixed to it, explaining the powers of the several
characters made use of by him, may be read to great
advantage, and may be considered a judicious supple¬
ment to Morley’s introduction.
Butler, Samuel, a celebrated poet, was the son
of a reputable Worcestershire farmer, and was born
in 1612. He passed some time at Cambridge, but
was never matriculated in that university. Return¬
ing to his native country, he lived some years as clerk
to a justice of peace; where he found sufficient time to
apply himself to history, poetry, and painting. Being
recommended to Elizabeth countess of Kent, he enjoy¬
ed in her house, not only the use of all kinds of books,
but the conversation of the great Mr Selden, who often
employed Butler to write letters, and translate for
him. He lived also some time with Sir Samuel Luke,
a gentleman of an ancient family in Bedfordshire, and
a famous commander under Oliver Cromwell : and he
is supposed at this time to have wrote, or at least to
have planned, his celebrated Hudibras', and under that
chai'acter to have ridiculed the knight. The poem it¬
self furnishes this key , where, in the first canto, Hu-
dibras says,
“ *Tis sung, there is a valiant Mamaluke
“ In foreign land yclep’d — —
“ To whom we oft have been compar’d
“ For person, parts, address, and beard.”
After the Restoration, Mr Butler .was made secretary
to the earl of Carbury, lord president of Wales, who
appointed him steward of Ludlow castle, when the court
was revived there. No one was a more generous friend
to him than the earl of Dorset and Middlesex, to
whom it was owing that the court tasted his Hudibras.
He had promises of a good place from the earl of
Clarendon, but they were never accomplished ; though
the king was so much pleased with the poem, as often
to quote it pleasantly in conversation. It is indeed
said, that Charles ordered him the sum of 3000I. :
buj the sum being expressed in figures, somebody
through whose hands the order passed, by cutting oil'
a cypher reduced it to 300I. which, though it passed
the offices without fees, proved not sufficient to pay
8 ] BUT
what he then owed $ so that Butler was not a shilling Butler,
the better for the king’s bounty. He died in 1680: Butlerage,
and though he met with many disappointments, was1
never reduced to any thing like want, nor did he die
in debt. Mr Granger observes, that Butler “ stands
without rival in burlesque poetry. His Hudibras (says
he) is in its kind almost as great an effort of genius
as the Paradise Lost itself. It abounds with uncom¬
mon learning, new rhymes, and original thoughts. Its
images are truly and naturally ridiculous. There are
many strokes of temporaly satire, and some characters
and allusions which cannot be discovered at this dis¬
tance of time.”
Butler, Joseph, late bishop of Durham, a pre¬
late distinguished by his piety and learning, was the
youngest son of Mr Thomas Butler, a reputable shop¬
keeper at Wantage in Berkshire, where he was born
in the year 1692. His father, who was a Presbyterian,
observing that he had a strong inclination to learning,
after his being at a grammar-school, sent him to an
academy in Gloucestershire, in order to qualify him for
a dissenting minister ; and while there, he wrote some
remarks on Dr Clarke’s first sermon at Boyle’s lecture.
Afterwards, resolving to conform to the established
church, he studied at Oriel college, where he contract¬
ed an intimate friendship with Mr Edward Talbot, son
of the bishop of Durham, and brother to the lord chan¬
cellor, who laid the foundation of his subsequent ad¬
vancement. He was first appointed preacher at the
Rolls, and rector of Haughton and Stanhope, two rich
benefices in the bishopric of Durham. He quitted the
Rolls in 1726 ; and published in 8vo, a volume of ser¬
mons, preached at the chapel. After this he con¬
stantly resided at Stanhope, in the regular discharge of
all the duties of his office, till the year 1733, when he
was called to attend the Lord Chancellor Talbot as his
chaplain, who gave him a prebend in the church of
Rochester. In the year 1736, he was appointed clerk
of the closet to Queen Caroline, whom he attended
every day, by her majesty’s special command, from
seven to nine in the evening. In 1738 he was appointed
to the bishopric of Bristol 5 and not long afterwards to
the deanery of St Paul’s, London. He now resigned his
living of Stanhope. In the year 1746, he was made
clerk of the closet to the king; and in 1750, was
translated to Durham. This rich preferment he en¬
joyed but a short time: for he died at Rath, June 16.
1752. His corpse was interred in the cathedral at
Bristol; where there is a monument, with an inscrip¬
tion, erected to his memory. He died a bachelor.
His deep learning and comprehensive mind appear suf¬
ficiently in his writings, particularly in that excellent
treatise entitled, The Analogy of Religion, natural and
revealed, to the Constitution and Course of Nature,
published in 8vo, 1736.
Butler, the name anciently given to an officer in
the court of France, being the same as the grand echan-
son, or great cupbearer of the present times.
Butler, in the common acceptation of the wo;d,
is an officer in the houses of princes and great men,
whose principal business is to look after the wine, plate,
&c.
BUTLERAGE of wine, is a duty of 2s. for every
ton of wine imported by merchant strangers; being a
composition in lieu of the liberties and freedoms grant¬
ed
BUT [ 29 ] BUT
Buttle rage to them by King John anil Edward I. by a charter
II called charta mercatoria.
Butter. Butlerage was originally the only custom that was
' payable upon the importation of wines, and was taken
and received by virtue of the regal prerogative, for the
proper use of the crown. But for many years past,
there having been granted by parliament subsidies to
the kings of England, and the duty of butlerage not
repealed, but confirmed, they have been pleased to
grant the same way to some noblemen, who, by virtue
of such grant, are to enjoy the full benefit and advan¬
tage thereof, and may cause the same to be collected
in the same manner that the kings themselves were for¬
merly wont to do.
BUTMENT. Butments of arches are the same
with buttresses. They answer to what the Romans call
sublicas, the French culees and butees.
Butments, or Abutments, of a bridge, denote the
two massives at the end of a bridge, whereby the two
extreme arches are sustained and joined with the shore
on either side.
BUTOMUS, the Flowering-rush, or Watcr-gia-
diole. See Botany Index.
BUTRINTO, a port-town of Epirus, or Canina, in
Turkey in Europe, situated opposite to the island of
Corfu, at the entrance of the gulf of Venice. E.
Long. 20. 40. N. Lat. 39. 45.
BUTT is used for a vessel, or measure of wine, con¬
taining two hogsheads, or 126 gallons ; otherwise call¬
edA butt of currants is from 1500 to 2200
pounds weight.
Butts, or Butt-ends, in the sea-language, are the
fore ends of all planks under water, as they rise, and
are joined one end to another.—Butt-ends in great
ships are most carefully bolted $ for if any one of them
should spring or give way, the leak would be very
dangerous and difficult to stop.
Butts, the place where archers meet with their
bows and arrows to shoot at a mark, which is called
shooting at the butts: (See Archery.)—Also butts
are the short pieces of land in arable ridges and fur¬
rows.
BUTTER, a fat unctuous substance, prepared from
milk by beating or churning.
It was late ere the Greeks appear to have had any
notion of butter ; their poets make no mention of it,
and are yet frequently speaking of milk and cheese.
The Romans used butter no otherwise than as a me¬
dicine, never as a food.
According to Beckman, the invention of butter be¬
longs neither to the Greeks nor the Romans. The
former, he thinks, derived their knowledge of butter
from the Scythians, the Thracians, and Phrygians j and
the latter from the people of Germany.
The ancient Christians of Egypt burnt butter in
their lamps instead of oil *, and in the Roman churches,
it was anciently allowed, during Christmas time, to
burn butter instead of oil, on account of the great con¬
sumption of it otherwise.
Butter is the fat, oily, and inflammable part of the
milk. This kind of oil is naturally distributed through
all the substance of the milk in very small particles,
which are interposed betwixt the caseous and serous
parts, aqiongst which it is suspended by a slight adhe¬
sion, but without being dissolved. It is in the same state
in which oil is in emulsions : hence the same whiteness
of milk and emulsions ; and hence, by rest, the oily
parts separate from both these liquors to the surface,
and form a cream. See Emulsion.
When butter is in the state of cream, its proper oily
parts are not yet sufficiently united together to form
a homogeneous mass. They are still half separated by
the interposition of a pretty large quantity of serous
and caseous particles. The butter is completely form¬
ed by pressing out these heterogeneous parts by means
of continued percussion. It then becomes an uniform
soft mass.
Fresh butter which has undergone no change has
scarce any smell *, its taste is mild and agreeable j it
melts with a weak heat, and none of its principles are
disengaged by the heat of boiling water. These pro¬
perties prove, that the oily part of butter is of the na¬
ture of the fat, fixed, and mild oils, obtained from many
vegetable substances by expression. See Oils.—The
half fluid consistence of butter, as of most other con¬
crete oily matters, is thought to be owing to a con¬
siderable quantity of acid united with the oily part j
which acid is so well combined, that it is not percep¬
tible while the butter is fresh and has undergone no
change j but when it grows old, and undergoes some
kind of fermentation, then the acid is disengaged more
and more j and this is the cause that butter, like oils
of the same kind, becomes rancid by age.
Butter is constantly used in food, from its agreeable
taste : but to be wholesome, it must be very fresh and
free from rancidity, and also not fried or burnt; other¬
wise its acrid and even caustic acid, being disengaged,
disorders digestion, renders it difficult and painful, ex¬
cites acrid empyreumatic belching®, and introduces
much acrimony into the blood. Some persons have
stomachs so delicate, that they are even affected with
these inconveniences by fresh butter and milk. This
observation is also applicable to oil, fat, chocolate, and
in general to all oleaginous matters.
For the making of butter, see Agriculture Index.
The trade in butter is very considerable. Some
compute 50,000 tons annually consumed in London.
It is chiefly made within 40 miles round the city.
Fifty thousand firkins are said to be sent yearly from
Cambridge and Suffolk alone : each firkin containing
561bs. Utoxeter, in Staffordshire, is a market famous
for good butter, insomuch that the London merchants
have established a factory there for that article. It is
bought by the pot, of a long cylindrical form, weigh¬
ing 141b.
Shower of Butter. Naturalists speak of showers
and dews of a butyraceous substance. In 1695, there
fell in Ireland, during the winter and ensuing spring,
a thick yellow dew, which had the medicinal properties
of butter.
Butter, among chemists, a name given to several
preparations, on account of their consistence resembling
that of butter ; as butter of antimony, &c. See Che¬
mistry Index.
BuTTER-Bur. See Tussilago, Botany Index.
BuTTER-Milk, the milk which remains after the but¬
ter is produced by churning. Butter-milk is esteemed an
excellent food, in the spring especially, and is particu-
larly.
Butter.
BUT [3
Kd wards's
Hint, o f
Birds,
y«1. ii.
p. 122.
larly recommended in hectic fevers. Some make curds
of butter-milk, by pouring into it a quantity of new
milk hot.
BuTTER-Wort. See Pinguicula, Botany Index.
BUTTERFLY, the English name of a numerous
genus of insects. See Papilio, Entomology Index.
B UTTERFLY-Shel/. See Voluta, Conchology
Index.
Method of preserving Butterflies. See Insects.
Method of making Pictures of Butterflies. “ Take
butterflies or field moths, either those catched abroad,
or such as are taken in caterpillars and nursed in the
house till they be flies j clip oft’ their wings very close
to their bodies, and lay them on clean paper, in the
form of a butterfly when flying j then have ready pre¬
pared gum arabic that hath been some time dissolved in
water, and is pretty thick ; if you put a drop of ox¬
gall into a spoonful of this, it will be better for the
use y temper them well with your finger, and spread a
little of it on a piece of thin white paper, big enough
to take both sides of your fly ; when it begins to be
clammy under your finger, the paper is in proper order
to take the feathers from the wings of the fly ; then
lay the gummed side on the wings, and it will take
them up : then double your paper so as to have all the
wings between the paper ; then lay it on a table, pres¬
sing it close with your fingers ; and you may rub it
gently with some smooth hard thing ; then open the pa¬
per and take out the wings, which will come forth trans¬
parent : the down of the upper and under side of the
wings, sticking to the gummed paper, form a just like¬
ness of both sides of the wing in their natural shapes
and colours. The nicety of taking off flies depends on
a just degree of moisture of the gummed paper : for if
it be too wet, all will be blotted and confused ; and if
too dry, your paper will stick so fast together, that it
will be torn in separation. When you have opened
your gummed papers, and they are dry, you must draw
the bodies from the natural ones, and paint them in wa¬
ter colours : you must take paper that will bear ink
very well for this use ; for sinking paper will separate
with the rest, and spoil all.”
BUTTERIS, in the manege, an instrument of steel,
fitted to a wooden handle, wherewith they pare the
foot, or cut off the hoof of a horse.
BUTTOCK (f a Ship, is that part of her which is
her breadth right astern, from the tack upwards ; and
a ship is said to have a broad or a narrow buttock,
according as she is built broad or narrow at the tran-
sum.
BUTTON, an article in dress, whose form and use
are too well known to need description. They are
made of various materials, as mohair, silk, horse hair,
metal, &c.
Method of making common Buttons. Common but¬
tons are generally made of mohair 5 some indeed are
made of silk, and others of thread $ but the latter are
of a very inferior sort. In order to make a button,
the mohair must be previously wound on a bobbin j
and the mould fixed to a board by means of a bodkin
thrust through the hole in the middle of it. This being
done, the workman wraps the mohair round the
mould in three, four, or six columns, according to the
button.
Horse-hair Buttons. The moulds of these buttons
o ] BUT
are covered with a kind of stuff composed of silk and
hair j the warp being belladine silk, and the shoot horse
hair. This stuff is wove with two selvages, in the same
manner and in the same loom as ribbands. It is theu
cut into square pieces proportional to the size ot the
button, wrapped round the moulds, and the selvages
stitched together, which form the under part of the
button.
Cleansing of Buttons. A button is not finished
when it comes from the maker’s hands ; the superfluou*
hair and hubs of silk must be taken off, and the but¬
ton rendered glossy and beautiful before it can be sold.
This is done in the following manner : A quantity of
buttons are put into a kind of iron sieve, called by
workmen a singeing box. Then a little spirit of wine
being poured into a kind of shallow iron dish, and set
on fire, the workman moves and shakes the singeing
box, containing the buttons, briskly over the flame of
the spirit, by which the superfluous hairs, hubs of silk,
&c. are burnt off, without damaging the buttons.
Great care, however, must be taken that the buttona
in the singeing box be kept continually in motion ; for
if they are suffered to rest over the flame, they will im¬
mediately burn. When all these loose hairs, &c. are
burnt off by the flame of the spirit, the buttons are
taken out of the singeing box, and put, with a proper
quantity of the crumbs of bread, into a leather bag,
about three feet long, and of a conical shape j the mouth
or smaller end of which being tied up, the workman
takes one of the ends in one hand and the other in the
other, and shakes the hand briskly with a particular
jerk. This operation cleanses the buttons, renders them
very glossy, and fit for sale.
Gold-twist Buttons. The mould of these button*
is first covered in the same manner with that of common
buttons. This being done, the whole is covered with
a thin plate of gold or silver, and then wrought over
of different forms, with purple and gimp. The former
is a kind of thread composed of silk and gold wire
twisted together; and the latter, capillary tubes of
gold or silver, about the tenth of an inch long. These
are joined together by means of a fine needle, filled
with silk, thrust through their apertures, in the sama
manner as beads or bugles.
The manner of making metal Buttons. The metal
with which the moulds are intended to be covered is
first cast into small ingots, and then flatted into thin
plates or leaves, of the thickness intended, at the flat¬
ting mills 5 after which it is cut into small round pieces
proportionable to the size of the mould they are intend¬
ed to cover, by means of proper punches on a block
of wood covered with a thick plate of lead. Each piece
of metal thus cut out of the plate is reduced into the
form of a button, by beating it successively in several
cavities, or concave moulds, of a spherical form, with
a convex puncheon of iron, always beginning with the
shallowest cavity of the mould, and proceeding to the
deeper, till the plate has acquired the intended form :
and the better to manage so thin a plate, they form ten,
twelve, and sometimes even twenty-four, to the cavities,
or concave moulds, at once; often nealing the metal
during the operation, to make it more ductile. This
plate is generally called by workmen the cap of the
button.
The form being thus given to the plates or caps,
they
Buttoai,
BUT [ 3
Bviioa. they strike the intended Impression on the convex side,
—•v——' by means of a similar iron puncheon, in a kind of mould
engraven en crcux, either by the hammer or the press
used in coining. The cavity or mould, wherein the
impression is to be made, is of a diameter and depth
suitable to the sort of button intended to be struck in
it 5 each kind requiring a particular mould. Betw'een
the puncheon and the plate is placed a thin piece of
lead, called by workmen a hob, which greatly contri¬
butes to the taking off all the strokes of the engrav¬
ing j the lead, by reason of its softness, easily giving
way to the parts that have relievo, and as easily insinu¬
ating itself into the traces or indentures.
The plate thus prepared makes the cap or shell of
the button. The lower part is formed of another plate,
in the same manner, but much flatter, and without any
impression. To the last or under plate is soldered a
small eye made of wire, by which the button is to be
fastened.
The two plates being thus finished, they are soldered
together with soft solder, and then turned in a lathe.
Generally indeed they use a wooden mould, instead of
the under plate j and in order to fasten it, they pass a
thread or gut across, through the middle of the mould,
and fill the cavity between the mould and the cap with
cement, in order to render the button firm and solid j
for the cement entering all the cavities formed by the
relievo of the other side, sustains it, prevents its flatten¬
ing, and preserves its bosse or design.
Button, in the manege. Button of the reins of a
bridle, is a ring of leather, with the reins passed through
it, which runs all along the length of the reins. To
put a horse under the button, is when a horse is stop¬
ped without a rider upon his back, the reins being laid
on his neck, and the button lowered so far down that
the reins bring in the horse’s head, and fix it to the
true posture or carriage. It is not only the horses
which are managed in the hand that must he put under
the button j for the same method must be taken with
such horses as are bred between two pillars, before they
are backed.
Button-ff'ood. See Cefhalanthus, Botany
Index.
Button's-Bay, the name of the north part of Hud¬
son’s bay in North America, by which Sir Thomas
Button attempted to find out a north-west passage to
the East Indies. It lies between 8o° and ico° west
longitude, and between 6o° and 66° north latitude.
BuTTON-Stone, in Natural History, a kind of figured
stone, so denominated from its resembling the button
of a garment. Dr Hook gives the figure of three sorts
of button stones, which seem to have been nothing else
but the filling up of three several sorts of shells. They
are all of them very hard flints ; and have this in com¬
mon, that they consist of two bodies, which seem to
have been the filling up of two holes or vents in the
shell. Dr Plot describes a species finely striated from
the top, after the manner of some hair buttons. This
name is also given to a peculiar species of slate found
in the marquisate of Bareith, in a mountain called
Fichtelberg; which is extremely different from the
common sorts of slate, in that it runs with great ease
into glass in five or six hours time, without the addi¬
tion ot any salt or other foreign substance, to promote
its vitrification, as other stones require. It contains in
i ] B U X
itself all the principles of glass, and really has mixed in
its substance the things necessary to be added to pro¬
mote the fusion of other stony bodies. The Swedes,
and Germans make buttons of the glass produced from
if, which is very black and shining, and it has hence its
name button-stone. They make several other things al¬
so of this glass, as the handles of knives and the like,
and send a large quantity of it unwrought in round
cakes, as it cools from the fusion, into Holland.
BUTTRESS, a kind of hutment built archwise, or
a mass of stone or brick, serving to prop or support the
sides of a building, wall, &c. on the outside, where it is
either very high, or has any considerable load to sustain
on the other side, as a bank of earth, &c.—Buttresses
are used against the angles of steeples and other build¬
ings of stone, &c. on the outside, and along the walls
of such buildings as have great and heavy roofs, which
would be subject to thrust the walls out, unless very
thick, if no buttresses were placed against them. They
are also placed for a support and butment against the
feet of some arches, that are turned across great hall*
in old palaces, abbeys, &c.
BUTUS, in Ancient Geography, a town of Lower
Egypt, on the west side of the branch of the Nile, call¬
ed Thermuthiacus; towards the mouth called Ostium
Sebsnnyticum: in this town stood an oracle of Latona,
(Strabo, Herodotus). Ptolemy places Butus in the
Nomos Phthenotes : it is also called Buto, -us, (H ero-
dotus, Stephanas.) It had temples of Apollo and
Diana, but the largest was that of Latona, where the
oracle stood.
BUTZAW, a town of Lower Saxony, in Germany;
it stands upon the river Varnow, on the road from
Schwerin to Rostock, lying in E. Long. 13. 12. N.
Lat. 54. 50.
BUVETTE, or Beuvette, in the French laws, an
established place in every court, where the lawyers
and counsellors may retire, warm themselves, and take
a glass of wine by way of refreshment, at the king’s
charge. There is one for each court of parliament,
but these are only for persons belonging to that body ;
there are others in the palais, whither other persons
also resort.
BUXENTUM, (Livy, Velleius, Ptolemy, Mela,
Pliny); Pyxus, (Strabo, Pliny) ; a town of Lucania,
first built by the people of Messina, but afterwards de¬
serted, (Strabo). A Roman colony was sent thither,
(Livy, Velleius) : and yvhen found still thin of inhabi¬
tants, a new colony was sent by a decree of the senate.
Its name is from buxus, the box-tree, growing plenti¬
fully there. Strabo says, the name Pyxus includes a
promontory, port, and river, under one. Now Pulicas-
kro, in the Hither Principato of Naples. E. Long. 13.
40. N. Lat. 40. 20.
BUXTON, a place in the Peak of Derbyshire, ce¬
lebrated for its medicinal waters, and lying in W. Long.
O. 20. N. Lat. 53. 20.
It has been always believed by our antiquaries, that
the Romans were acquainted with these wells, and had
frequented them much, as there is a military way still
visible, called t\\c Bath-gate, from Burgh to this place.
This was verified about 50 years ago, when Sir Thomas
Delves, of Cheshire, in memory of a cure he received
here, caused an arch to be erected ; in digging the
foundation for which, they came to the rejaiains of a
solid
B Litton
H
Buxton.
B U X [ 32 ] B U X
Buxton, solid and magnificent structure of Roman workrnan-
 v ship ; and in other places of the neighbourhood, very
capacious leaden vessels, and other utensils of Roman
workmanship, have been discovered. These waters
have always been reckoned inferior to those in Somer¬
setshire j but seem never to have been totally disused.
They are mentioned by Leland, as well known 200
years ago; but it is certain they were brought into
greater credit by Dr Jones in 1572, and by George
earl of Shrewsbury, who erected a building over the
bath, then composed of nine springs. This building
was afterwards pulled down, and a more commodious
one erected at the expence of the earl of Devonshix-e.
In doing this, however, the ancient register of cures
drawn up by the bath-warden, or physician attending
the baths, and subscribed by the hands of the patients,
was lost.
The warm waters of Buxton are, the bath, consist¬
ing of nine springs, as already mentioned, St Ann’s
well, and St Peter’s, or Bingham well. St Ann’s well
rises at the distance of somewhat more than 32 yards
north-east from the bath. It is chiefly supplied from
a spring on the north side, out of a rock of black lime¬
stone or bastard marble. It formerly rose into a stone
bason, shut up within an ancient Roman brick wall, a
yard square within, a yard high on three sides, and open
on the iourth. But, in 1709, Sir Thomas Delves, as
already mentioned, erected an arch over it, which still
continues. It is 12 feet long, and as many bi’oad, set
round with stone steps on the inside. In the midst of
this dome the water now springs up into a stone bason
two feet square. St Peter’s or Bingham well rises about
20 yards south-east of St Ann’s. It is also called
LeigJi's well, from a memorable cure received from it
by a gentleman of that name. It rises out of a black
limestone, in a very dry gx-ound $ and is not so warm
as St Ann’s well.
From the great resort of company to the waters,
this place has grown into a large straggling town,
which is daily increasing. The houses ai’e chiefly, or
rather solely, built for the xeception of invalids j and
many of them are not only commodious, but elegant.
The duke of Devonshire has lately erected a most mag¬
nificent building in the form of a crescent, with piazzas,
under which the company walk in wet or cold weather.
It is divided into different hotels, shops, &c. with a
public coffee-room, and a very elegant room for assem¬
blies and concerts.
The hot water resembles that of Bristol. It has a
sweet and pleasant taste. It contains the calcareous
earth, together with a small quantity of sea salt, and
an inconsiderable portion of a purging salt, but no
iron can be discovered in it. This water taken in¬
wardly is esteemed good in the diabetes ; in bloody
urine 5 in the bilious cholic ; in loss of appetite, and
coldness ol the stomach ; in inward bleedings ; in atro¬
phy ; in contraction of the vessels and limbs, especi¬
ally from age j in cramps and convulsions; in the drv
asthma without a fever ; and also in barrenness. In¬
wardly and outwardly, it is said to be good in rheu¬
matic and scorbutic complaints j in the gout; in in¬
flammation of the liver and kidneys, and in consump¬
tions of the lungs ; also in old strains ; in hard callous
tumours; in withered and contracted limbs; in the
itch, scabs, nodes, chalky swellings, ring worms, and
3
other similar complaints.—Besides the hot water, there Euxtoi?.
is also a cold chalybeate water, with a rough irony l—-~v 1 -
taste: It resembles the Tunbridge water in virtues.
For the methods of composing artificial Buxton wa¬
ter, or of impregnating the original water tvith a greater
quantity of its own gas or with other gases, see Wa¬
ters, Medicinal.
Buxton, Jedediah, a prodigy with respect to skill
in numbers. His father, William Buxton, was school¬
master of the same parish where he was born in 1704 :
yet Jedediah’s education was so much neglected, that
he was never taught to write ; and with respect to any
other knowledge but that of numbers, seemed always
as ignorant as a boy of ten years of age. How lie
came first to know the i-elative proportions of numbers,
and their progressive denominations, he did not remem¬
ber ; but to this he applied the whole force of his mind,
and upon this his attention was constantly fixed, so that
he frequently took no cognizance of extenial objects,
and when he did, it was only with respect to their
numbers. If any space of time was mentioned, he would
soon after say it was so many minutes ; and if any
distance of way, he would xxssign the number of hair-
bi’eadths, without any question being asked, or anv
calculation expected by the company. When he once
understood a question, he began to work with amazing
facility, after his own method, without the use of a pen,
pencil, or chalk, or even understanding the common
rules of arithmetic as taught in the schools. He would
stride over a piece of land or a field, and tell you the
contents of it almost as exact as if you had measured it
by the chain. In this manner he measured the whole
lordship of Elmton, of some thousand acres, belonging
to Sir John Rhodes, and brought him the contents, not
only in acres, roods, and perches, but even in square
inches. After this, for bis own amusement, he reduced
them into square hair-breadths, computing 48 to each
side of the inch. His memory was so great, that while
resolving a question he could leave off', and resume the
operation again where he left off the next morning, or
at a week, a month, or at several months, and proceed
regularly till it was completed. His memory would
doubtless have been equally retentive with respect to
other objects, if he had attended to other objects with
equal diligence ; but his perpetual application to figures
prevented the smallest acquisition of any other know¬
ledge. He was sometimes asked, on his return from
church, whether he remembered the text, or any part
of the sermon ; but it never appeared that he brought
away one sentence, his mind, upon a closer examination,
being found to have been busied, even during divine
service, in his favourite operation, either dividing some
time, or some space, into the smallest known parts, or
resolving some question that had been given him as a
test ol his abilities.
Ibis extraordinary person living in laborious pover-
ty, bis life was uniform and obscure. Tunc, with in¬
spect to him, changed nothing hut his age ; nor did
the seasons vary his employment, except that in winter
he used a flail, and in summer a ling-hook. In the year
I754 came to London, where he was introduced
to the Royal Society, who, in order to prove his abili¬
ties, asked him several questions in arithmetic, and he
gave them such satisfaction, that they dismissed him
with a handsome gratuity. In this visit to the metro¬
polis,
BUY [ 33 ] B Y N
Buxton polis, the only object of his curiosity, except figures,
|j was his desire to see the king and royal family $ but
Buying, they being just removed to Kensington, Jedediah was
■,““v disappointed. During his residence in London, he was
taken to see King Richard III. performed at Drury-
lane playhouse ; and it was expected, either that the
novelty and the splendour of the show would have fixed
him in astonishment, or kept his imagination in a con¬
tinual hurry $ or that his passions would, in some de¬
gree, have been touched by the power of action, if he
had not perfectly understood the dialogue. But Jede-
diah’s mind was employed in the playhouse just as it
was employed in every other place. During the dance,
he fixed his attention upon the number of steps $ he
declared, after a fine piece of music, that the innume¬
rable sounds produced by the instruments had perplexed
him beyond measure j and he attended even to Mr
Garrick, only to count the words that he uttered, in
which he said he perfectly succeeded. Jedediah re¬
turned to the place of his birth, where, if his enjoy¬
ments were few, his wishes did not seem to be more.
He applied to his labour, by which he subsisted, with
cheerfulness ; he regretted nothing that he left behind
him in London $ and it continued to be his opinion,
that a slice of rusty bacon afforded the most delicious
repast.
BUXTORF, John, a learned professor of Hebrew
at Basil, who, in the iyth century, acquired the highest
reputation for his knowledge of the Hebrew and Chal¬
dee languages. He died of the plague at Basil in 1629,
aged 65. His principal works are, I. A small but ex¬
cellent Hebrew grammar j the best edition of which
is that of Leyden in 1701, revised by Leusden. 2. A
treasure of the Hebrew grammar. 3. A Hebrew con¬
cordance, and several Hebrew lexicons. 4. Institutio
epistolaris Hebraica. 5. Ds abbreviaturis Tlebrceorum,
Sfc.
Buxtorf, John, the son of the former, and a learn¬
ed professor of the Oriental languages at Basil, distin¬
guished himself, like his father, by his knowledge of
the Hebrew language, and his rabbinical learning. He
died in Basil in 1664, aged 65 years. His principal
works are, 1. His translation of the Mot'e Nevochim,
and the Co%n. 2. A Chaldee and Syriac lexicon. 3.
An anticritic against Cappel. 4. A treatise on the
Hebrew points and accents, against the same Cappel.
BUXUS, the ^ox-tree. See Botany Index.
BUYING, the act of making a purchase, or of ac¬
quiring the property of a thing for a certain price.
Buying stands opposed to selling, and differs from
borrowing or hiring, as in the former the property of
the thing is alienated for perpetuity, which in the
latter it is not. By the civil law persons are allowed
to buy hope, spem precio emere, that is, to purchase the
event or expectation of any thing $ e. gr. the fish or
birds a person shall catch, or the money he shall win in
gaming.
There are different species of buying in use among
traders *, as, buying on one’s own account, opposed to
buying on commission : buying for ready money, which
is when the purchaser pays in actual specie on the
spot; buying on credit, or for a time certain, is when
the payment is not to be presently made, but in lieu
tsiereof, an obligation given by the buyer for payment
at a time future •, buying on delivery, is when the
Vol. Y. Part I. 4.
goods purchased are only to be delivered at a certain Buying
time future. ||
Buy]no the Refusal, is giving money for the right ®>n"*
or liberty of purchasing a thing at a fixed price in a
certain time to come j chiefly used in dealing for shares
in stock. This is sometimes also called by a cant name,
buying the bear.
Buying the Smallpox, is an appellation given to a
method of procuring that disease by an operation simi¬
lar to inoculation ; frequent in South Wales, where it
has obtained time out of mind. It is performed either
by rubbing some of the pus taken out of a pustule of
a variolous person on the skin, or by making a puncture
in the skin with a pin dipped in such pus.
BUYS, a town of Dauphiny in France, situated on
the borders of Provence. E. Long. 5. 20. N. Lat.
44. 25.
BUZANCOIS, a small town of Berry in France,
situated on the borders of Touraine, in E. Long. 1.
29. N. Lat. 46. 38.
BUZBACH, a town of Germany, in Westeravia,
and the county of Holmes, on the confines of Haaau.
E. Long. 10. 51. N. Lat. 50. 22.
BUZET, a small town of France, in Languedoc,
seated on the river Torne, in E. Long. 1. 45. N. Lat.
43- 47-
BUZZARD, the name of several species of the
hawk kind. See Falco, Ornithology Index.
BYBLUS, in Ancient Geography, a town of Phoe¬
nicia, situated between Berytus and Botrys 5 it was the
royal residence of Cinyras j sacred to Adonis. Pom-
pey delivered it from a tyrant, whom he caused to be
beheaded. It stood at no great distance from the sea,
on an eminence (Strabo) ; near it ran the Adonis into
the Mediterranean. Now in ruins.
BYCHOW, a small town of Lithuania in Poland,
situated on the river Nieper, in E. Long. 30. 2. N. Lat.
S3’ 57-
BY-LAWS, are laws made obiter, or by the by ; such
as orders and constitutions of corporations for the go¬
verning of their members, of court-leets, and courts
baron, commoners, or inhabitants in vills, &c. made
by common assent, for the good of those that made
them, in particular cases whereunto the public law
doth not extend j so that they bind further than the
common or statute law $ guilds and fraternities of
trades, by letters patents of incorporation, may likewise
make by-laws for the better regulation of trade among
themselves or with others. In Scotland these laws are
called laws of birlaw or burlaw : which are made by
neighbours elected by common consent in the birlaw-
courts, wherein knowledge is taken of complaints be¬
twixt neighbour and neighbour ; which men so chosen
are judges and arbitrators, and styled birlaw-men. And
birlaws, according to Skene, are leges rusticorum, laws
made by husbandmen, or townships, concerning neigh¬
bourhood among them. All by-laws are to be reason¬
able, and for the common benefit, not private advan¬
tage of particular persons, and must be agreeable to
the public laws in being.
BYNG, George, Lord Viscount Torrington, was
the son of John Byng, Esq. and was born in 1663.
At the age of 15, he went volunteer to sea with the
king’s warrant. His early engagement in this course
of life gave him little opportunity of acquiring learn-
E ing
IV Y N • [ 34 ]
Jng Of fcultivatirig -tho polite arts; but by bis abilities many signal services
and activity as a naval commander, he furnished abun¬
dant matter for the pens of others. After being seve¬
ral times advanced, he was iA 1702 raised to the com¬
mand of the Nassau, a third rate, and was at the
taking and burning the French fleet at Vigo ; and the
next year he was made rear-admiral of the red. In
1704 he served in the; grand fleet sent to the Medi¬
terranean under Sir Cfoudesly Shovel, as rear-admiral
of the red ; and it was he who commanded the squa¬
dron that attacked, cannonaded, and reduced Gibral¬
tar. He; was in the battle of Malaga, which followed
soon after'; and for his behaviour in that action Queen
Anne conferred on him- the honour of knighthood.
In 1705, in about turn-months time, he took-12 of the
enemies-largest privateers, with the Thetis, a French
man of war of 44 guns ; and also several merchant
ships, moSt of them'richly laden. The number ol men
taken on board vvaS'^C)^0*'an(^ Sl!ns 334’ I71^
be was made admiral and commander-in chief of the
B YJ s:
the king received him with the
most gracious expressions of favour and satisfaction ;
made him rear-admiral of F.ngland, and treasurer of
the navy, one of his most honourable privy-council,-
Baron Byng of Son thill in the county of Bedford^
Viscount Torrington in Devonshire, and one of the
knights companions of the Bath upon the revival of
that order. In 1727, George II. .on his accession to
the crown, placed him at the head of his. naval afiairs,
as first lord commissioner of the admiralty ; in \yhich
high station he died January 15. 1735, in the 70th
year of his age, and was buried at Southill in Bedford¬
shire. . :
Byng, the Honourable George, the unhappy son of
the former, was bred to sea, and rose to the rank of
admiral of the blue. Fie gave many proofs of courage ;
but was at last shot, upon a dubious sentence, for ne¬
glect of duty, in 1757* $ee Britain.
- BYRLAW or Burlaw Laws in Scotland. See
Bv_T,aws.
fleet, and waS sent With a squadron into the Mediter¬
ranean1 fer the protection'of Italy, according to the
obligation England was -under by treaty, against the
invasion of the-Spaniards : :who had the year before
surprised Sardinia, and had this year landed an army
in Sicily. In this expedition he dispatched Captain
Walton in the Canterbury with five more ships, in pur¬
suit of six Spanish men of war, with-galleysj fire-ships;
bomb-vessels', And storeTships, who separated from the
main fleet, and stood in for the Sicilian shore. . The
captain’s laconic epistle oh this occasion is worthy of
notice ; which shewed that fighting was his talent as
well as his admiral’s, And not writing.
“ Sir, r, ' ■ n - f/T
“ We.have taken and destroyed all the Spanish ships
and vessels/whi^h wrere upon the coast, as .per margin.
Canterbury, oil’Syracuse, I am, &c.
Augusjtj ifo.4,71$^ G. Wa|fcpp.”
Frhm tile hcdbuht'refeAed to, it appeared that hh had
taken fhur: Spkhisli m^n' of war^ With a bomb-vessel
and a ship ladeW vvith AririS : and burned fohr, with a
fire-ship and boihbAds'sel. The king made the admi¬
ral a handsome present, and sent him plenipotentiary
potve'rS to negotiate witli the princes and states of Italy
AS there should lie occasion. He procured the empe¬
ror’s troops free access into the fortresses that still held
out in Sicily, sailed afterwards to Malta, and brought
out the Sicilian galleys, and a ship belonging to the
Turkey fcqmpany. Soon after he received a gracious
letter from the emperor Charles VI. written with his
oWn hand, accompanied with a picture of his imperial
ihajesty, set round with very large diamonds, as a mark
of the grateful sense be had of his services. It was en¬
tirely owing to his advice and assistance that the Ger¬
mans retook the city of Messina in 1719, and destroy¬
ed the ships that lay in the bason ; which completed
the ruin of the naval power 6f Spain. The Spaniards
being much distressed, offered td quit Sicily; But the
admiral declared, that the trdops should never be
suffered to quit the island till the king of Spain had
acceded to the quadruple allianceA'Affd to his conduct
it waS entirely owing that Sicily was subdued, and his
Catholic m.ajestyTorced to accept the terms prescribed
him by' the quadruple alliance. ^ After perfortnitig so
gat •>
B Y ROM; John, an ingenious poet of Manchester;
born in 1691. Flis first poetical essay appeared in the
Spectator, No. 603, beginning, “ My time, O ye
Muses, was happily spentwhich, with two humo¬
rous letters on dreams, are to be found in the eighth
volume. He was admitted a member of the Royal
Society in 1724; and having originally entertained
thoughts of practising physic, to which the title of cfoc-
tor is incident, that was the appellation by which he
was always known : but reducing himself to narrow
circumstances by a precipitate marriage, he supported
himself by teaching a new method of writing shortJ
hand, of his own invention ; until an estate devolved
to him by the death of an elder brother. He was a
man of lively wit ; of which, whenever a favourable
opportunity tempted him to indulge it, he gave many
humorous specimens. He died in 1763 ; and a collec¬
tion of his miscellaneous poems Was printed at Man¬
chester, in 2 vols 8vo. 1773. !
BYRRHUS. See Entomology Index.
BYSSUS. See Botany
Byssus, or Byssvm, a fine thready matter produced
in India, Egypt, and about Elis in Achaia, of which
the richest apparel was anciently made, especially that
Worn by the priests both Jewish and Egyptian. Some
interpreters render the Greek Bwrrtfj, which occurs
both in the Old and New Testament, hy fine linen.
But other versions, as Calvin’s, and the Spanish print¬
ed at Venice in 1556, explain the word by silk : and
yet byssus must have been different from our silk, as
appears from a multitude of ancient writers, and parti¬
cularly from Jul. Polluk. M. Simon, who renders the
word by fine linen, adds a note to explain it; viz.
“ that thebe was a fine kind of lirten very dear, which
the great lords alone wore in this country as well as in
This accoilnt agrfees perfectly well with that
given by Hesychius, as well as what is observed by
Bochart, that the byssus was a finer kind of linen,
which was frequently dyed of a purple colour. Some
authors will have the byssus to be the same with our
cotton ; others take it for the linwn asbestinum ; and
others for the lock or bunch of silky hair found adhe¬
ring to the pinna marina, by which it fastens itself to
the neighbouring bodies. Authors usually distinguish
tWb sobts'of bys'sus ; that of Elis j and that of Judsea,
which
£ Y- 7> [ 35 J B' 7A 03
Byssus, which was the finest. Of this latter were the priestly
Byzantium.ornaments made. Bonfrerius notes, that there must
v~"’ ' have been two sorts of byssus, one finer than ordinary,
by reason there are two Hebrew words used in Scripture
to denote byssus j one of which is always used in speaks
ing of the habit of the priests, and the other of that of
the Levites.
Byssus AsbestimiS, a species o>fiasbestus or income
~ bnstible flax, composed of fine flexible fibres,' parallel to
one another. It is found plentifully in Sweden, either
white, or of different shades of ‘green. At a: copper
mine in Westmanland it forms the greatest part of
the vein oitt of which the ore is dug j and by the heat
of the furnace which melts the metal is changed into
a pure semitransparent slag or glass.
BYZANTIUM, an ancient city of Thrace, situ¬
ated On the Bosphorus. It. was founded, according to
Eusebius, about the 30th Olympiad, while Tullus Hos-
tilitrs reigned in Rome. But, according to Diodorus
Siculus, the foundations of this metropolis were laid in
the time of the Argonauts, by one Bysas, who there
reigned in the neighbouring country, and from whom
the city was called'Byzantium. This Bysas, accord¬
ing to Eustathius, arrived in Thrace a little before the
Argonauts came into those seas, and settled there with
a colony of Megarenses. Velleius Paterculus ascribes
the founding of Byzantium to the Milesians, and Am-
mianus Marcellinus to the inhabitants of Attica. Some
Ancient medals of Byzantium, which have reached our
times, bear the name and head of Bysas, with the prow
of a ship on the reverse. The year after the destruc¬
tion of Jerusalem by Titus, Byzantium waS reduced
to the form of a Roman province. In the year 193
this city took part with Niger agaiilst Sevefus. It
was strongly garrisoned by Niger, as being a place of
the utmost importance. It was soon after invested by
Severus 5 and as he was universally hated on account
of his cruelty, the inhabitants defended themselves with
the greatest resolution. They had been supplied with
a great number of warlike machines, modt'of them in¬
vented and built by Periscus, a native of Nicsea, and
the greatest engineer of his age. For a long time they
baffled all the attempts of the assailants, killed gteat
numbers of them, crushed such as approached the walls
with large stones j and when stones began to fail, they
used the statues of their gods and heroes. At last they
Were obliged to submit, through famine, after having
been reduced to the necessity of devouring one another.
The conqueror put all the magistratets and soldiers to
the sWord j but spared the engineer Periscus. Before
this siege, Byzantium was the greatest, most populous,
'and wealthiest city of Thrace. It was surrounded by
walls of an extraordinary height and breadth : apd de¬
fended by a great'number of towers,-Seven of which
were bbilt with such art, that the least noise heard itt
one of thetn was immediately conveyed to all the rest.
Severus, however, no sooner became master of it, than
he commanded it to be laid in;ashes. The inhabitants
Were stripped of all their effects, publicly sold for slaves,
and the walls levelled with the ground. But by the
chroniQle of Alexandria- we are informed, that sooh
aftbjv this ferrfblb catastrophe, Severus himself caused
a great part of the cify to be rebuilt, calling rtAtiUrum
■ ^ g1’’ . y . r J >,!.,) iua
'*-* : -i'-mi Ij x.{ -juai ^tucotjuj
n. j
from his son Caracalla, who assumed the surname of Bvzantium,
Antoninus. In 262, the tyrant Galienus wreaked his Rzovius.
fury on the inhabitants of Byzantium. He intended ——
-to besiege it j but on his arrival despaired of being able
tb make himself master of such a strong place. He was
admitted the next day, however, into the city and
without any regard to the terms he had agreed to,
caused the soldiers and all the inhabitants tb be put “to
the sword. Trebeliius Pollio says; that not a s.ingle*per-
son was left alive. What the reason was for such an
extraordinary massacre, we are nowhere informed. In
the wars between the emperors Eicinius and Maximin
the city of Byzantium was obliged to submit to the
latter, but was soon after recovered by Licinius. In
the year 323, it was taken from Licinius by Constan¬
tine the Great, who in 330 enlarged and beautified
it, with a design to make it the second, if not the first,
city in tire Roman empire. He began with extending
the .walls ol the ancient city from sea to sea ; and while
some of the workmen were busied in rearing them,
others were employed in raising within them a great
number of stately buildings, and among others a palace
no way inferior in magnificence and extent to that of
Rome. He built a Capitol and amphitheatre, made a
circus maximus, several forums, porticoes, and public
baths. He divided the whole city into 14 regions, and
granted the inhabitants many privileges and immunities.
By this means.Byzantium became one of the most flou¬
rishing and populous cities of the empire: Vast num¬
bers of people flocked thither from Pontus, Thrace,
and Asia, Constantine having, by a law, enacted this
year (330), decreed, that such as had lands in those
countries should not be at liberty to dispose of them,
nor eveh leave them to their proper heirs at their death,
unless they had a house in this new city. But how¬
ever desirous the emperor was that his city should be
filled with people, he did not care that it should be In¬
habited by any but Christians. He therefore caused
all the idols to be pulled down, and all their churches
consecrated to the true. God. He built besides an in¬
credible number of churches, and causeff crosses to be
erected in all the squares and public places. Most of
the buildings being finished, it was solemnly dedicated
to the Virgin Mary, according to Cedrenus, but ac¬
cording to Eusebius, to the God of Martyrs. At the
same time Byzantium was equalled to Rome.’ This
same rights, immunities, and' privilego’s, were granted
to its^inhabitants, as* to those of the metropolis. He
established a senate and other magistrates,* with a power
■and-Authority equal to those of did Rotrie. He took up
his residence in the new city j and changed its name to
Constantinople. < ‘ . ... j- .
BZOVIUS, Abraham, one of the'inost celebrated
writers in the 17th century^ with respect toAhe astd-
nishing number of pieces composed'by him. HiS chief
work is the ediitinoation of Baronius’s Annuls.' He WAS
a native of Poland, arid a Dominican friar. Upon his
coming to Rome, he’was received with open arms by
the Pope, and had an apartfnent assigned him in the
Vatican. He merited that reception, for be has imi¬
tated Baronins td admiration j in his design of retaking
Afl things fcorispirC to-the despotic power and glory of
the Papal sOe. He died in 1630* aged 7©.
* J;; " •• 2 ' * ->v
■JuJ tn f-VtiiiiitJ vu■>/.;: ."sV;ut .'4
? •
C A A
[ 36 ]
C A A
c.
C, /'*'« THE third letter, and second consonant, of the
aaba‘ 3 alphabet, is pronounced like k before the vowels
rt, 0, and u ; and like before c, z", andy. C is formed,
according to Scaliger, from the % of the Greeks, by re¬
trenching the stem or upright line j though others de¬
rive it from the 3 of the Hebrews, which has in effect
the same form j allowing only for this, that the He¬
brews reading backwards, and the Latins, &c. for¬
wards, each have turned the letter their own way.
However the C not being the same as to sound with
the Hebrew caph, and it being certain the Romans did
not borrow their letters immediately from the He¬
brews or other orientals, but from the Greeks, the de¬
rivation from the Greek is the more probable. Add,
that F. Montfaucon, in his Palteographia, gives us some
forms of the Greek », which come very near to that of
our C : thus, for instance, c: and Suidas calls the C the
Roman kappa. The second sound of C resembles that
of the Greek S : and many instances occur of ancient
inscriptions, in which S has the same form with our C.
All grammarians agree, that the Romans pronounced
their Q like our C, and their C like our K. F. Ma-
billon adds, that Charles the Great was the first who
wrote his name with a C $ whereas all his predecessors
of the same name wrote it with a K j and the same
difference is observed in their coins.
As an abbreviature, C stands for Caius, Carolus,
Caesar, condemno, See. and CC for consulibus.
As a numeral, C signifies 100, CC 200, &c.
C, in Music, placed after the cleff, intimates that
the music is in common time, which is either quick or
slow, as it is joined with allegro, or adagio $ if alone,
it is usually adagio. If the C be crossed or turned, the
first requires the air to be played quick, and the last
very quick.
CAABA, or Caabah, properly signifies a square
stone building: but is particularly applied by the Ma¬
hometans to the temple at Mecca, built,, aa they pre¬
tend, by Abraham and Ishmael his son.
Before the time of Mahomet, this temple was a
place of worship for the idolatrous Arabs, and is said
to have contained no less than 360 different images,
equalling in number the days of the Arabian year.
They were all destx-oyed by Mahomet, who sanctified
the Caaba, and appointed it to be the chief place of
worship for all true believers. The temple is in length
from north to south about 24 cubits 5 its breadth from
east to west is 23, and its height 27. The door,
which is on the east side, stands about four cubits from
the ground ; the floor being level with the bottom of
the door. In the corner next this door is the black stone,
so much celebrated among the Mahometans. On the
north side of the Caaba, within a semicircular enclo¬
sure 50 cubits long, lies the white stone, said to be the
sepulchre of Ishmael, which receives the rain water
from the Caaba by a spout formerly of wood, but now
of gold. The black stone, according to the Mahome¬
tans, was brought down from heaven by Gabriel at the
3
creation of the world, and was originally of a white co- Caaba,
lour j but contracted the blackness that now appears
on it from the guilt of those sins committed by the
sons of men. It is set in silver, and fixed in the south¬
east corner of the Caaba, looking towards Basra, about
seven spans from the ground. This stone, upon which
there is the figure of a human head, is held in the
highest estimation among the Arabs j all the pilgrims
kissing it with great devotion, and some even calling
it the right hand of God. Its blackness, which is only
superficial, is probably owing to the kisses and touches
of so many people. After the Karmatians had taken
Mecca, they carried away this precious stone, and
could by no means be prevailed upon to restore it^
but finding at last that they were unable to prevent the
concourse of pilgrims to Mecca, they sent it back o£.
their own accord, after having kept it 22 years.
The double roof of the Caaba is supported within by
three octagonal pillars of aloes wood j between which,
on a bar of iron, hang some silver lamps. The outside
is covered with rich black damask, adorned with an
embroidered band of gold, which is changed every
year, and was formerly sent by the caliphs, afterwards
by the sultans of Egypt, and is now provided by the
Turkish emperors. The Caaba, at some distance, is
almost surrounded by a circular enclosure of pillars,
joined towards the bottom by a low ballustrade, and
towards the top by bars of silver. Just without this
inner enclosure, on the south, north, and west sides of
the Caaba, are three buildings, which are the orato¬
ries or places where three of the orthodox sects as¬
semble to perform their devotions. Towards the south¬
east stands an edifice which covers the well Zemzem,
the treasury, and the cupola of Al Abbas. Formerly
there was another cupola, that went under the name
of the hemicycle or cupola of Judea; but whether or
not any remains of that are now to be seen, is unknown ;
nor is it easy to obtain information in this respect, all
Christians being denied access to this holy place. At
a small distance from the Caaba, on the east side, is
the station or place of Abraham j where is another stone
much respected by the Mahometans j and where they
pretend to shew the footsteps ol the patriarch, telling
us he stood on it when he built the Caaba. Here the
fourth sect of Arabs, viz. that of Al Shafei, assemble
for religious purposes.
The square colonnade, or great piazza, which at a
considerable distance encloses these buildings, consists,
according to Al Jannabi, of 488 pillars, and has no
less than 38 gates. Mr Sale compares this piazza to
that of the Royal Exchange at London, but allows it
to be much larger. It is covered with small domes or
cupolas, from the four corners of which rise as .many
minarets or steeples, with double galleries, and adorn¬
ed with gilded spires and crescents after the Turkish
manner, as are also the cupolas which cover the piazza
and other buildings. Between the columns of both
enclosures hang a great number of lamps, which are
constantly
CAB [ 37 1 CAB
Caaba constantly lighted at night. The first foundation of
|| this second enclosure was laid by Omar, the second
*baHaria. caliph, who built no more than a low wall, to prevent
* 1 " * the court of the Caaba from being encroached upon by
private buildings y but by the liberality of succeeding
princes the whole has been raised to that state of mag¬
nificence in which it appears at present.
Th is temple enjoys the privilege of an asylum for
all sorts of criminals : but it is most remarkable for
the pilgrimages made to it by the devout Mussulmans,
who pay so great a veneration to it, that they believe
a single sight of its sacred walls, without any particu¬
lar act of devotion, is as meritorious in the sight of
God, as the most careful discharge ot one’s duty, for
the space of a whole year, in any other temple.
CAAMINI, in Botany, a name given by the Spa¬
niards and others to the finest sort of Paraguayan
tea. It is the leaf of a shrub which grows on the
mountains of Maracaya, and is used in Chili and Peru
as the tea is with us. The mountains where this
shrub grows naturally are far from the inhabited parts
of Paraguay : but the people of the place know so well
the value and use of it, that they constantly furnish
themselves with great quantities of it from the spot.
They used to go out on these expeditions many thou¬
sands together j leaving their country, in the mean time,
exposed to the insults of their enemies, and many of
themselves perishing by fatigue. To avoid these in¬
conveniences, they have of late planted these trees about
their habitations $ but the leaves of these cultivated
ones have not the fine flavour of those that grow
♦ wild. The king of Spain has permitted the Indians
of Paraguay to bring to the town of Saintfoy 12,000
arobes of the leaves of this tree every year, but they
are not able to procure so much of the wild leaves an¬
nually : about half the quantity is the utmost they
bring of this : the other half is made up of the leaves
of the trees in their own plantations j and this sells at
a lower price, and is called pabos. The arobe is about
25 pounds weight: the general price is four piastres j
and the money is always divided equally among the
people of the colony. '
CAANA, or Kaana, a town in Upper Egypt,
seated on the eastern bank of the river Nile, from
whence they carry corn and pulse for the supply of
Mecca in Arabia. E. Long. 32. 23. N, Lat. 24* 30.
Here are several monuments of antiquity yet remain¬
ing, adorned with hieroglyphics.
CAB, a Hebrew dry measure, being the sixth part
of a seah or satum, and the 18th part of an ephah. A
cab contained 2|- pints of our corn-measure: a quarter
cab was the measure of dove’s , dung, or more properly
a sort of chick-pease called by this name, which was
sold at Samaria, during the siege of that city, for five
shekels.
CABAL, an apt name currently given to the infa¬
mous ministry, of Charles II. composed of five persons,
Clifford, Ashley, Buckingham, Arlington, and Lau¬
derdale $ the first letters of whose names, in this or¬
der, furnished the appellation by which they were dis¬
tinguished.
CABALIST, in French commerce, a factor or per¬
son who is concerned in managing the trade of another.
CABALLARIA, in middle-age writers, lands held
by the tenure of furnishing a horseman with suitable
equipage in time of war, or when the lord had occasion Caballaria
for him. H
CABALLEROS, or Cavalleros, are Spanish Cabbala.^
wools, of which there is a pretty considerable trade at 1 ^
Bayonne in France.
CABALLINE,,, denotes something belonging to
horses ; thus caballine aloes is so called, from its being
chiefly used for purging horses ; and common brim¬
stone is called sulphur caballinitm, for a like reason.
CABALLINUM, in Ancient Geography, a town of
the jE.dui in Gallia Celtica y now Chalons sur Saone.
CABALLINUS, in Ancient Geography, a very clear
fountain in Mount Helicon in Boeotia j called Hip-
pocrene by the Greeks, because opened by Pegasus on
striking the rock with his hoof, and hence called Pe-
gasins.
CABALLIO, or Cabellio, in Ancient Geography,
a town of the Cavares in Gallia Narbonensis, situated
on the Druentia. One of the Latin colonies, in the
Notitise called Civitas Cabellicorum. Now Cavaillon
in Provence.
CABANIS, P. J. G. a celebrated French medical
writer. See Supplement.
CABBAGE, in Botany, See Brassicaj and A-
GRICULTURE Index.
Cabba ge-Tree, or True Cab BA ge- Paim. See Areca,
Botany Index.
Cabbage-bark Tree. See Geoefr^a, Botany
Index.
CABBALA, according to the Hebrew style, has
a very distinct signification from that wherein we un¬
derstand it in our language. The Hebrew cabbala
signifies tradition 5 and the rabbins, who are called ca^-
balists, study principally the combination of particular
words, letters, and numbers, and by this means pretend
to discover what is to come, and ta see clearly into the
sense of many difficult passages of Scripture. There
are no sure principles of this knowledge, but it depends
upon some particular traditions of the ancients j for
which reason it is termed cabbala.
The cabbalists have abundance of names which they
call sacred'; these they make use of in invoking of
spirits, and imagine they receive great light from them.
They tell us, that the secrets of the Cabbala were dis¬
covered to Moses on Mount Sinai; and that these have
been delivered to them down from father to son, with¬
out interruption, and without any use of letters j for
to write them down, is what they are by no means
permitted to do. This is likewise termed the oral law,
because it passed from father to son, in order to dis¬
tinguish it from the written laws.
There is another cabbala, called artificial, which
consists in searching for abstruse and mysterious signi¬
fications of a word in Scripture, from whence they bor¬
row certain explanations, by combining the letters
which compose it; this cabbala is divided into three
kinds, the gematric, the notaricon, and the temura or
themura. The first whereof consists in taking the
letters of a Hebrew word for ciphers or arithmetical
numbers, and explaining every word by the arithmeti¬
cal value of the letters whereof it is composed. The
second sort of cabbala, called notaricon, consists in tak¬
ing every particular letter of a word for an entire
diction ; and the third, called themura, i. e. changq, .
consists in making diflerent transpositions or changes
CAB [ 38 ] CAB
Cabbala letters, placing one for the other, or one before the
other.
Cabidos. Among the Christians, likewise, a certain sort of
v ' magic is, by mistake, called which consists
in using improperly certain passages of Scripture for
magic operations, or in forming magic characters or
figures with stars and talismans.
Some visionaries among the Jews believe, that Jesus
Christ wrought his miracles by virtue of the mysteries
of the cabbala.
CABB AXISTS, the Jewish doctors who profess the
study of the cabbala.
In the opinion of these men, there is not a word,
letter, or accent in the law, without Some mystery in
it. The Jews are divided into two general sects ; the
karaites, who refuse to receive either tradition or the
talmud, or any thing but the pure texts of Scripture j
and the rabbinists, or talmudists, who, besides this,
receive the traditions of the ancients, and follow the
talmud.
The latter are again divided into two other sects j
pure rabbinists, who explain the Scripture in its natu¬
ral sense, by grammar, history, and tradition $ and
cabbalists, who, to discover hidden mystical senses,
which they suppose God to have couched therein,
make use of the cabbala, and the mystical methods
above mentioned.
CABECA, or Cabess, a name given to the finest
silks in the East Indies, as those from 15 to 20 per
cent, inferior to them are called barina. The Indian
workmen endeavour to pass them off one with the
other; for which reason, the more experienced Euro¬
pean merchants take care to open the bales, and to
examine all the skaines one after another. The Dutch
distinguish two sorts of cabecas 5 namely, the moor ca-
beca, and the common cabeca. The former is sold at
Amsterdam for about 2l-§- schellinghen Flemish, and
the other for about 18^.
Cabeca de Vide, a small sea port town of Alentejo,
in Portugal, with good walls, and a strong castle.
W. Long. 6. 43. N. Lat. 39. o.
CABENDA, a sea port of Congo, in Africa, situ¬
ated in E. Long. 12. 2. S. Lat. 4. 5.
CABES, or Gabes, a town of Africa in the king¬
dom of Tunis, seated ort a river near the gulf of the
same name. E. Long. 10. 35. N. Lat. 33. 40.
CABEZZO, a province ot the kingdom of Angola,
in Africa 5 having Oacco on the north, Lubolo on the
south, the Coanzb on the north-east, and the Reinba
on the south-west. It is populous, and well stored
with cattle, &c. and hath 'a mine of iron on a moun¬
tain, from thence called the iron mountain, which yields
great quantities of that metal; and this the Portuguese
have taught the natives to manufacture. This pro-
Vince is watered by a river called Rio Longo, and other
small rivulets; lalceS, &c. The trees here are vastly
large; and they have one sort not unlike our apple trees,
the bark of which being slashed with a knife, yields
an odoriferous resin of the colour and consistency of
wax, and very medicinal in its nature; Only a little too
hot for Europeans, unless1 qualified by some coolino-
■ 'drug;' ’ ‘ ; ‘
CABIDOS, or Cavidos, a long measure used at
'Goa, and other places of the East Indies belonging to
the Portuguese, to measure.stuffs, linens, &c. and equal Cahiuos
to 4ths of the Paris ell. II
CABIN, a room or apartment in a ship where any C,abinet
of the officers usuaWyreside. There are many of these
in a large ship; the’principal of which is designed for
the captain or commander. In ships of the line this
chamber is furnished with an open gallery in the ship’s
stern, as also a little gallery on each quarter. The
apartments where the inferior officers or common sail¬
ors sleep and mess are usually called Births ; which
see. '• - <
The bed places built up for the sailors at the ship’s
side in merchantmen are also called cabins.
CABINDA, the chief port of the kingdom of An-
goy in Loango in Africa. It is situated at the mouth
of a river of the same name, about five leagues north of
Cape Palmerino, on the north side of the mouth of the
river Zaire. The bay is very commodious for trade,
wooding and watering.
CxABINET, the most retired place in the finest part
of a building, set apart for writing, studying, or pre¬
serving any thing that is precious.
A complete apartment consists of a ball, anti¬
chamber, chamber, and cabinet, with a gallery on
one side. Hence we say, a cabinet of paintings, curio¬
sities, &c.
Cabinet also denotes a piece of joiners workman¬
ship, being a kind of press or chest, with several doors
and drawers.
There are common cabinets of oak or of chesnut
varnished, cabinets of China and Japan, cabinets of
inlaid-work, and some of ebony, or the like scarce and
precious woods. Formerly the Dutch and German
cabinets were much esteemed in France; but are now
quite out of date, as well as the cabinets of ebony
which came from Venice.
Cabinet is also used in speaking of the more select
and secret councils of a prince or administration. Thus
we say, the secrets, the intrigues of the cabinet. To
avoid the inconveniencies of a numerous council,; the
policy of Italy and practice of France first introduced
cabinet councils. King Charles I. is 1 charged with
first establishing this usage in England. Besides his
privy council, that prince erected a kind of cabinet
council, or junto, under the denomination of a council
of state ; composed of Archbishop Laud, the earl of
Strafford, and Lord Collington, with the secretaries of
state. Yet some pretend to find the substance of a
cabinet council of much greater antiquity, and even
allowed by parliament, which anciefttly settled a quorum
of persons most Confided in, without whose presence
tie arduous matter was to be determined : gitirtg them
power to act without consulting the rest of the council.
As long since as the 28thuf Henry IIL a charter pass¬
ed jn affirmance of the ancient rights of the kingdom 5
which provided, that four great met*, chosen by com¬
mon consent, who were to hie conservators of the king¬
dom, among other things,'Should see to-the disposing
rif moheys given by parliament, and appropriated to
paitiCiilar'dSes; and parliaments were:to be summoned
as they should advise. But even of these four, any two
■made a' quorum :”awd‘ generally the chief justice of
Lngland and clianetlloC Were of the‘number of the con¬
servators. Mattli. Par. Y8. Henry $IY la the first
C i. vu-of
Cable.
CAB [39
Cabinet of Henry VI. the parliament provides^ that the quorum
for the privy council be six, or four at least', and that
in all weighty considerations^ the dukes of Bedford and
Gloucester, the king’s uncles, should be present 3 which
seems to be erecting a cabinet by law* i ,
CABIRI, a term in the theology of the ancient
Pagans, signifying great and powerful, god$ 3 being
a name given to the gods of Sambthit&cia. They
were also worshipped in other parts of Greece, as
Lemnos and Thebes, where the Cabiria were celebra¬
ted in honour of them : these gods are' said to be in
number four, viz. Axieros, Axiocersa, Axiocersus, and
Casmilus. • .
CABIRIA, festivals in honour of the Cabiri, cele¬
brated in Thebes and Lemnos, but especially in Samo-
thracia, an island Consecrated': to the Cabiru All who
were initiated into the mysteries' of these gods were
thought to be secured thereby from storms at sea, and
all other dangers. The ceremony of initiation was per¬
formed by placing the candidate, crowned with olive
branches, and girded about the loins with a purple
ribband, on a kind of throne, about which the priests
and persons before initiated danced.
CABLE, a thick, large, strong rope, commonly of
hemp, which serves to keep a ship at anchor.
There is no merchant sbipy however weak, but has
at least three cables 3 namely, the chief cable, or cable
of the sheet anchor, a common cable, and a smaller
Circumf.
5 inches.
6
7
8
9-
10 .
11
12
13
H
I5.
l6
n
18
*9
20
hn
C A
Threads.
I 21
J74
238
311
393
48.5
598
699
821
952
i°93
1244
I4°4
J574
*754
I943
B
Weight.
484 pounds.
696 ,
952
1244
I572
I94°
2392
2796
3284
3808
4372
4976
5616
6296
7016
7772
one. ' ■ i > - Ji : ■ • ■ 1 . ■ ,
Cable is also said of ropes, which serve to raise heavy
loads; hyfheihelp of cranes, pulleys, and other engines.
The name of cable is usually given to such as are, at
leasts three inches in circumference 3 those that are less
are only called ropes, of different names, according tb
their use.
Every cable, of whatsoever thickness: it be, is com¬
posed of three strands; every strand of three ropes 3
and every rope of three twists: the twist is made of
mere or less threads, according as the cable is to be
thicker or thinner.
In the manufacture of cables, after the ropes are
made, they use sticks, which they pass first between
the ropes of which they make the strands, and after¬
wards between the strands of which they make the
cable, to the end that they may all bwist fhe better,
and be more regularly wound together 3' and also, to
prevent them from entwining or entangling, they hang,
at the end of each strand and of each rope, a weight of
lead or of stone. , > ; n ; 1/ . / :; !
The number of threads each cable is composed of is
always proportioned to its length and thickness 3 and:^t
is by this number of threads that its weight and value
are ascertained : thus, a cable of three inches circum¬
ference, or one inch diameter, ought to consist of 48
ordinary threads, and to weigh 192 podiifls 3 and on
this foundation is calculated the following table, very
useful for all people engaged in marine commerce, who
fit out merchantmen for their own account, or freight
them for the account of others. ( ■ *•,* ■
•VvvA 7/ r ,. . : • : , ' ■:, n\ \ / ‘
A table of the number of threads and weight of cables
of different circumferences.
Cilrcumf. Thread*. •'* Weight.
Cable
II
Cabot.
3 inches.
4 w .;
48
77
192 pounds.
308
Sheet-Anchor Cable, is the greatest cable belonging
to a ship.
Stream Cable, a hawser or rope, something smaller
than the bowers, and used to moor the ship in a river
or haven, sheltered from the wind and sea, &c.
Serve or Plate the Cable, is to bind it about with
ropes, clouts, &c. to keep it from galling in the
hawse. • ;
To splice a Cable, is to make two pieces fast toge¬
ther, by working the several threads of the rope the
one into the other.
Pay more GaBle^ is to let more out of the ship.
Pay cheap the Cable, is’ to hand it out apace. Veer-
more Cable, is to let more out, &c.
Cable's- Length, a measure of 120 fathoms, or of
the usual length of the cable.
CABLED, in Heraldry, a term applied to a cross
formed of the two ends, of a ship’s cable ; sometimes
also to a cross covereff over with rounds of rope 3 more
properly called a cress carded.
Cabled Flute, in Architecture, such flutes as are
filled up with pieces in the form of a cable.
CABO DE Istria, the capital town of the province
of Istria, in the Austro-Venetian territories 3 and the
see of a bishop. It is seated on a small island in the
gulf of Venice, and is joined to the mainland by draw¬
bridges. E. Long. 14. 22. N. Lat. 45. 49.
CABOCHED, in Heraldry, is when the heads
of beasts are borne without any part of the neck, full
faced.
CABOLETTO, in commerce, a coin of the repub¬
lic of Genoa, worth about 3d. of our money.
CABOT, Sebastian, the first discoverer of the con¬
tinent of America, was the son of John Cabot, a Ve¬
netian. He was born at Bristol in 1477 3 and was
taught by bis father, arithmetic, geometry, and cosmo-
graplvy. Before he was 20 years of age he made se¬
veral voyages. The first of any consequence seems to
have been made with his father, who had a commission
from Henry VII. for the discovery of a north-west pas¬
sage to India. They sailed in the spring of 14973 and ^
proceeding to the north-west they discovered land,
which for that reason they called Primavista, or 'New¬
foundland. Another smaller island they called St John,
from its being discovered on the feast of St John Bap¬
tist 3 after which, they sailed along the coast of Ame¬
rica as far as Cape Florida, and then returned to Eng¬
land
Cabot,
Cabra.
CAB [40
land with a good cargo, and three Indians aboard.
Stowe and Speed ascribe these discoveries wholly to
Sebastian, without mentioning his father. It is pro¬
bable that Sebastian, after his father’s death, made se¬
veral voyages to these parts, as a map of his discove¬
ries, drawn by himself, was hung up in the privy gar¬
den at Whitehall. However, history gives but little
account of his life for near 20 years : when he went to
Spain, where he was made pilot-major, and intrusted
with reviewing all projects for discoveries, which were
then very numerous. His great capacity and approved
integrity induced many eminent merchants to treat with
him about a voyage by the new found straits of Ma¬
gellan to the Moluccas. He therefore sailed in 1525,
first to the Canaries ; then to the Cape de \ erd islands j
thence to St Augustine and the island of Patosj when
some of his people beginning to be mutinous, and re¬
fusing to pass through the straits, he laid aside the de¬
sign of sailing to the Moluccas ; left some of the prin¬
cipal mutineers upon a desert island $ and, sailing up
the rivers of Plate and Paraguay, discovered, and built
forts in, a large tract of fine country, that produced
gold, silver, and other rich commodities. He thence
dispatched messengers to Spain for a supply of provi¬
sions, ammunition, goods for trade, and a recruit of men:
but his request not being readily complied with, after
staying five years in America, he returned home $
where be met with a cold reception, the merchants be¬
ing displeased at his not having pursued his voyage to
the Moluccas, while his treatment of the mutineers had
given umbrage at court. Hence he returned to Eng¬
land ; and being introduced to the duke of Somerset,
then lord protector, a new office was erected for him :
lie was made governor of the mystery and company of
the merchant adventurers for the discovery of regions,
dominions, islands, and places unknown j a pension w'as
granted him, by letters-patent, of 166I. 13s. 4d. per
annum } and he was consulted in all affairs relative to
trade. In 1522, by his interest, the court fitted out
some ships for the discovery of the northern parts of the
world. This produced the first voyage the English
made to Russia, and the beginning of that commerce
which has ever since been carried on between the two
nations. The Russia company was now founded by a
charter granted by Philip and Mary 5 and of this com¬
pany Sebastian was appointed governor for life. He is
said to be the first who took notice of the variation of
the needle, and who published a map of the world.
The exact time of his death is not known, but he lived
to be above 70 years of age.
CABRA, a town of the kingdom of Tombut in
Africa. It is a large town, but without walls j and is
seated on the river Niger, about 12 miles from Tom-
but. The houses are built in the shape of bells ; and
the walls are made with stakes or hurdles, plastered
with clay, and covered with reeds after the manner of
thatch. This place is very much frequented by ne¬
groes who come here by water to trade. The town is
very unhealthy, which is probably owing to its low si¬
tuation. The colour of the inhabitants is black, and
their religion a sort of Mahometanism. They have
plenty of corn, cattle, milk, and butter $ but salt is
very scarce. The judge who decides controversies is
appointed by the king of Tombut. E. Long. 0. 50.
N. Lat. 14. 31.
] C A C
CABUL, or GaBoul, a city of Asia,^ and capital Calwl
of the province of Cabulistan. It lies in E. Long. 68. ||
15. N. Lat. 33. 30. on the frontiers of Great Bukharia,. C’acem.
on the south side of the mountains which divide the » —
territories of Hindustan from that part of Great Tar¬
tary. It is one of the finest places in that part of the
world $ large, rich, and very populous. As it is con¬
sidered as the key of the whole country on that side,
great care is taken to keep its fortifications in re¬
pair, and a numerous garrison is maintained for its
security. It lies on the road between Samarcand and
Labor: and is much frequented by the Tartars, Per¬
sians, and Indians. The Usbec Tartars drive there a
great trade in slaves and horses, of which it is said that
no fewer are sold than 60,000 annually. The Persians
bring black cattle and sheep, which renders provisions
very cheap. They have also wine, and plenty of all
sorts of eatables. The city stands on a little river which
falls into the Indus, and thereby affords a short and
speedy passage for all the rich commodities in the
country behind it, which when brought to Cabul, are
there exchanged for slaves and horses, and then con¬
veyed by merchants of different countries to all parts
of the world. The inhabitants are most of them Indian
pagans, though the officers of the prince and most of
the garrisons are Mahometans.
CABULISTAN, a province of Asia, formerly be¬
longing to the Great Mogul j but ceded in 1739 to
Kouli Khan, who at that time governed Persia. It is
hounded on the north by Bukharia, on the east by
Caschmire, on the west by Zabulistan, and Candahar,
and on the south by Moultan. It is 250 miles in
length, 240 in breadth, and its chief town is Cabul.
This country in general is not very fruitful; but in the
vales they have good pasture lands. The roads are
much infested with banditti j which obliges the na¬
tives to have guards for the security of travellers.
The religion of the Cabulistans is pagan j and their
extraordinary time of devotion is the full moon in Fe¬
bruary, and continues for two days. At this time they
are clothed in red, make their offerings, dance to the
sound of the trumpet, and make visits to their friends
in masquerade dresses. They say, their god Crusman
killed a giant who was his enemy, and that he appear¬
ed like a little child $ in memory of which, they cause
a child to shoot at the figure of a giant. Those of the
same tribe make bonfires, and feast together in a jovial
manner. The moral part of their religion consists in
charity ; for which reason, they dig wells and build
houses for the accommodation of travellers. They have
plenty of provisions, mines of iron, myrobolans, aro¬
matic woods, and drugs of many kinds. They carry on
a great trade with the neighbouring countries j by
which means they are very rich, and are supplied with
plenty of all things.
CAB URNS, on ship board, are small lines made of
spun yarn, to bind cables, seize tackles, or the like.
CACALIA. See Botany Index.
CACAO. See Theobroma, Botany Index.
CACOONS. See Flevillea, Botany Index.
CACERES, a town of Spain in the province of
Estremadura, is seated on the river Saler, and noted
for the exceeding fine wool which the sheep hear in the
neighbourhood. Between this town and Brocos, there
is a wood, where the allies defeated the rear-guard of
tire
C A C [ 41 ] C A C
Caceres
II
Cachao.
the duke of Berwick, on the 7th of April 1706. E.
Long. 6. 47. N. Lat. 39. 15.
CACHALOT. See Physeter, Cetology In¬
dex.
CACHAN, or Cashan, a considerable town of
Persia, in Irac Agemi, where they carry on an exten¬
sive trade in silks, silver, and gold brocades, and fine
earthen ware. It is situated in a vast plain, 55 miles
from Ispahan. E. Long. 50. 2. N. Lat. 34. 10.
CACHAO, a province in the kingdom of Tonquin
in Asia, situated in the heart of the kingdom, and sur¬
rounded by the other seven. Its soil is fertile, and in
some places mountainous, abounding with a variety of
trees, and particularly that of varnish. Most of these
provinces carry on some branch of the silk manufacture,
but this most of all. It takes its name from the capi¬
tal, which is also the metropolis of the whole kingdom,
though in other respects hardly comparable to a Chi¬
nese town of the third rank.
Cachao, a city of the province of that name, in the
kingdom of Tonquin in Asia, situated in E. Long.
105. 31. N. Lat. 22. 10. at about 80 leagues distance
from the sea. It is prodigiously crowded with people,
insomuch that the streets are hardly passable, especially
on market days. These vast crowds, however, come
mostly from the neighbouring villages; upon which
account these villages have been allowed their halls in
particular parts of the city, where they bring and dis¬
pose of their wares. The town itself, though the me¬
tropolis of the whole Tonquinese kingdom, hath nei¬
ther avails nor fortifications. The principal streets are
wide and airy, but the rest of them narrow and ill
paved 5 and except the palace royal and arsenal, the
town has little else worth notice. The houses are low
and mean, mostly built of wood and clay, and not above
one story high. The magazines and warehouses be-
longing to foreigners are the only edifices built of brick;
and these, though plain, yet, by reason of their height
and more elegant structure, make a considerable shew
among those rows of wooden huts. From the combus¬
tibility of its edifices, this city suffers frequent and
dreadful conflagrations. These spread with such sur¬
prising velocity, that some thousands of houses are
often laid in ashes before the fire can be extinguished.
To prevent these sad consequences, every house hath,
either in its yard or even in its centre, some low build¬
ing of brick, in form of an oven, into which the inha¬
bitants, on the first alarm, convey their most valuable
goods. Besides this precaution, which every family
takes to secure their goods, the government obliges
them to keep a cistern, or some other capacious vessel,
always full of water, on the top of their house, to be
ready on all occasions of this nature ; as likewise a long
pole and bucket, to throw water from the kennel upon
the houses. If these two expedients fail of suppressing
the flames, they immediately cut the straps which
fasten the thatch to the walls, and let it fall in and waste
itself on the ground. The king’s palace stands in the
centre of the city ; and is surrounded with a stout wall,
within whose cincture are seen a great number of apart¬
ments two stories high, whose fronts and portals have
something of the grand taste. Those of the king and
his wives are embellished with variety of carvings and
gildings after the Indian manner, and all finely var¬
nished. In the outer court are a vast number of sump-
Vol. V. Part I.
tuous stables for the king’s horses and elephants. The c'achao.
appearance of the inner courts can only be conjectured ; ».n.. y——
for the avenues are not only shut to all strangers,
but even to the king’s subjects, except those of the
privy council, and the chief ministers of state ; yet we
are told, that there are staircases by which people may
mount up to the top of the wall, which are about 18
or 20 feet high ; from whence they may have a distant
view of the royal apartments, and of the fine parterres
and fish ponds that are between the cincture and them.
The front wall hath a large gate well ornamented,
which is never opened but when the king goes in and
out; but at some distance from it on each side there
are two posterns, at which the courtiers and servants
may go in and out. This cincture, which is of a vast
circumference, is faced with brick within and without,
and the whole structure is terminated by wide spacious
gardens : which, though stored with great variety of
proper ornaments, are destitute of the grandeur and
elegance observed in the palaces of European princes.
Besides this palace, the ruins of one still more magnifi¬
cent are to be observed, and are called Lihatvia. The
circumference is said to have been betwixt six and
seven miles ; some arches, porticoes, and other orna¬
ments, are still remaining; from which, and some of
its courts paved with marble, it may be concluded to
have been as magnificent a structure as any of the
eastern parts can show. The arsenal is likewise a large
and noble building, well stored with ammunition and
artillery. The English factory is situated on the north
side of the city, fronting the river Song-koy. It is a
handsome low-built house, with a spacious dining-room
in the centre ; and on each side are the apartments of
the merchants, factors, and servants. At each end of
the building are smaller houses for other uses, as store¬
houses, kitchen, &c. which form two wings with the
square in the middle, and parallel with the river, near
the bank of which stands a long flag-staff", on which
they commonly display the English colours on Sun¬
days and all remarkable days. Adjoining to it, on the
south side, is the Danish factory, which is neither so
large nor so handsome. On the same side of the river
runs a long dike, whose timber and stones are so firmly
fastened together, that no part of it can be stirred with¬
out moving the whole. This work was raised on those
banks to prevent the river, during the time of their
vast rains, from overflowing the city ; and it has hi¬
therto answered its end ; for, though the town stands
high enough to be in no danger from land floods, it
might yet have been otherwise frequently damaged, if
not totally laid under water, by the overflowing of that
river. Some curious observations have been commu¬
nicated to the Royal Society concerning differences be¬
tween the tides of those seas and those of Europe, viz.
that on the Tonquinese coast ebbs and flows but once
in 24 hours ; that is, that the tide is rising during the
space of 12 hours, and can be easily perceived during
two of the moon’s quarters, but can hardly be observed
during the other two. In the springs tides, which
last 14 days, the waters begin to rise at the rising of
the moon ; whereas, in the low tides, which continue
the same number of days, the tide begins not till that
planet has got below the horizon. Whilst it is passing
through the six northern signs, the tides are observed
to vary greatly, to rise sometimes very high, and somt-
F times
C A C [ 42 ] CAD
Cariiao times to be very low^ but when it once got into the
\\ southern part of' the zodiac, they are then found to be
Cactus. more even and regular.
v~"’ CACHECTIC, something partaking of the nature
of, or belonging to, a cachexy.
CACHEO, a town of Negroland in Africa, seated
on the river St Domingo. It is subject to the Portu¬
guese, who have three forts there, and carry on a great
trade in wax and slaves. W. Long. 14. 55. N. Lat.
12. O.
CACHEXY, in Medicine, a vitious state of the
humours and whole habit. See Medicine Index.
CACHRYS. See Botany Index.
CACHUNDE, the name of a medicine, highly ce¬
lebrated among the Chinese and Indians, and made of
several aromatic ingredients, the perfumes, medicinal
earth, and precious stones $ they make the whole into
a stiff paste, and form out of it several figures accord¬
ing to their fancy, which are dried for use ; these are
principally used in the East Indies, but are sometimes
brought over to Portugal. In China, the principal
persons usually carry a small piece in their mouths,
which is a continued cordial, and gives their breath a
very sweet smell. It is a highly valuable medicine,
also, in all nervous complaints ; and is esteemed a
prolonger of life, and a provocative to venery, the two
great intentions of most of the medicines in use in the
East.
CACOCH1LIA, or Cacochymia, a vitious state
of the vital humours, especially of the mass of blood j
arising either from a disorder of the secretions or ex¬
cretions, or from external contagion. The word is
Greek, compounded of koixos ill, and juice.
CACOPHONIA, in Grammar and Rhetoric, the
meeting of two letters, or syllables, which yield an un¬
couth and disagreeable sound. The word is compound¬
ed of xajxflj evil, and (pur/i voice.
Cacophonia, in Medicine, denotes a vice or depra¬
vation of the voice or speech j of which there are two
species, aphonia and dysphonia.
CACTUS. See Botany Index.
I he cacti are plants of a singular structure, but
especially the larger kinds of them ; which appear like
a large, fleshy, green melon, with deep ribs, set all
over with strong sharp thorns, and, when the plants
are cut through the middle, their inside is a soft, pale-
green, fleshy substance, very full of moisture. The
fruit of all the species is frequently eaten by the inha-
bitants of the West Indies. 'I he fruits are about three
quarters of an inch in length, of a taper form, drawing
to a point at the bottom toward the plant, but blunt
at the top where the empalment of the flower was si¬
tuated. Ihe taste is agreeably acid, which in a hot
country must render the fruit more grateful.
The cochineal animals are supported on a species
called eoctos cochenillifer.—The flower of the cactus
grandiflora (one of the creeping cereuses) is said to be
as grand and beautiful as any in the vegetable system.
It begins to open in the evening about seven o’clock,
is in perfection about eleven, and fades about four in
the morning j so that the same flower only continues
in perfection about six hours. The calyx when expand¬
ed is about a foot in diameter, of a splendid yellow
within, and a dark brown without j the petals are ma¬
ny, and of a pure white 5 and the great number of re-
2
curved stamina, surrounding the style in the centre of Cactus
the flower, make a grand appearance, to which may be J|
added the fine scent, which perfumes the air to a con- Ca‘knce-
siderable distance. It flowers in Juh\
CACUS, in fabulous history, an Italian shepherd up¬
on Mount Aventine. As Hercules was driving home
the herd of King Geryon whom be had slain, Cacus
robbed him of some of his oxen, which he drew back¬
ward into his den lest they should be discovered. Her¬
cules at last finding them out by their lowing, or the
robbery being discovered to him, killed Cacus with his
club. He was Vulcan’s son, of prodigious bulk, and
half man half satyr.
CADAN, a town of Bohemia, in the circle of Zats,
seated on the northern bank of the river Egra, in E.
Long. 13. 34. IV. Lat. 50. 20.
CADARI, or Kadari, a sect of Mahometans, who
assert free will j attribute the actions of men to men
alone, not to any secret power determining the will
and deny all absolute decrees, and predestination. The
author of this sect was Mabeb ben Kaled al Gihoni,
who suffered martyrdom for it. The word comes from
the Arabic, VTp, cadara, “ power.” Ben Aun calls
the Cadarians the Magi or Manichees of the Mussul¬
mans.
CADE, a cag, cask, or barrel. A cade of herrings
is a vessel containing the quantity of 5CO red herrings,
or 1000 sprats.
Cade Lamb, a young lamb weaned, and brought
up by hand, in a house ; called, in the North, pet
lamb.
Cade Oil, in the Materia Medico, a name given to
an oil much in use in some parts of France and Ger¬
many. The physicians call it oleum cadee, or oleum de
cada. This is supposed by some to be the pisselseum
of the ancients, but improperly j it is made of the fruit
of the oxycedrus, which is called by the people of these
places cada.
Cade Worm, in TLoology, the maggot or worm of a
fly called phryganea. It is used as a bait in angling.
See Phryganea, Entomology Index.
CADE A, or the League of the House of God,
is one of those that compose the republic of the Gri-
sons, and the most powerful and extensive of them all.
It contains the bishopric of Coire, the great valley of
Engadine, and that of Bragail or Pregal. Of the II
great or 21 small communities, there are but two that
speak the German language 5 that of the rest is called
the Rhetic, and is a dialect of the Italian. The Pro¬
testant religion is tnost prevalent in this league, which
has been allied to the Swiss cantons ever since the year
1498. Coire is the capital town.
, CADENAC, a town of France, in the department
of Lot, seated on the river Lot, in E. Long. 2.4,I2.
N. Lat. 44. 36.
CADENCE, or Repose, in Music, (from the Latin
cadere “ to fall or descend”) j the termination of an
harmonical phrase on a repose, or on a perfect chord,
bee Music, Art. 73—76, and 132—137.
Cadence, in Reading, is a lading of the voice be¬
low the key-note at the close of every period. In read-
ing, whether prose or verse, a certain tone is assumed
which is called the key-note : and in this tone the bulk
of the woids are sounded j but this note is generally
lowered towards the close of every sentence.
Cadence,
CAD , [ 43 ] CAD
Cadence
8.
Cadi.
CADENCE, in the manege, an equal measure or pro¬
portion, observed by a horse in all his motions j so
that his times have an equal regard to one another,
the one does not embrace or take in more ground than
the other, and the horse observes his ground regular-
ly.
CADENE, one of the sorts of carpets which the
Europeans import from the Levant. They are the
worst sort of all, and are sold by the piece, from one or
two piastres per carpet.
CADENET, a town of France, in the department
of Vaucluse, on the river Durance. E. Long. 5. 30.
N. Lat. 43. 40.
CADES, or Kadesh, in Ancient Geography, a
town in the wilderness of Zin, in Arabia Petraea j
the first encampment of the Israelites, after their de¬
parture from Eziongeber 3 and from which the wil¬
derness of Zin was called Cades; the burial place
of Miriam, with the rock and water of Meribah in
it. Another Cades, a town of the tribe of Judah,
Joshua xv. 23. Cadesbarnea, called also Cades.
CADESBARNEA, in Ancient Geography, a town
of the wilderness of Paran, on the confines of Canaan,
from which the spies were sent out 3 sometimes simply
called Cades, but distinct from the Cades in the wilder¬
ness of Zin.
CADET, the younger son of a family, is a term
naturalized in our language from the French. At Pa¬
ris, among the citizens, the cadets have an equal patri¬
mony with the rest. At Caux, in Normandy, the
custom, as with us, is to leave all to the eldest, except
a small portion to the cadets. In Spain, it is usual for
one of the cadets in great families to take the mother’s
name.
Cadet is also a military term, denoting a young
gentleman who chooses to carry arms in a marching
regiment as a private man. His views are, to acquire
some knowledge in the art of war, and to obtain a
commission in the army. Cadet differs from volunteer,
as the former takes pay, whereas the latter serves with¬
out pav. ♦
CADI, or Gadhi, a judge of civil affairs in the Tur¬
kish empire. It is generally taken for the judge of a
town 3 judges of provinces being distinguished by the
appellation of moulas.
We find numerous complaints of the avarice, ini¬
quity, and extortion, of the Turkish cadis 3 all justice
is here venal; the people bribe the cadis, the cadis bribe
the moulas, the moulas the cadileschers, and the cadi-
leschers the mufti. Each cadi has his serjeants, who
are to summon persons to appear and answer complaints.
If the party summoned fails to appear at the hour ap¬
pointed, sentence is passed in favour of his adversary.
It is usually in vain to appeal from the sentences of the
cadi, since the affair is never heard anew, but judg¬
ment is passed on the case as stated by the cadi. But
the cadis are often cashiered and punished for crying
injustice with the bastinado and mulcts 3 the law, how¬
ever, does not allow them to be put to death. Con¬
stantinople has had cadis ever since the year 1390, when
Bajazet I. obliged John Paleologus, emperor of the
Greeks, to receive cadis into the city to judge all con¬
troversies happening between the Greeks and the Turks
settled there. In some countries of Africa, the cadis
are also judges of religious matters. Among the Moors
cadis is the denomination of their higher order of
priests or doctors, answering to the rabbins among the
Jews.
CADIACI, the Turkish name of Chalcedon. See
Chalcedon.
CADILESCHER, a capital officer of justice among
the Turks, answering to a chief justice among us.
It is said, that this authority was originally confined
to the soldiery 3 but that at present it extends itself
to the determination of all kinds of law-suits 5 yet is
nevertheless subject to appeals.
There are but three cadileschers in all the grand
signior’s territories ; the first is that of Europe 3 the se¬
cond, of Natolia 3 and the third resides at Grand Cairo.
This last is the most considerable : they have their seats
in the divan next to the grand vizir.
CADILLAC, a town of France in Guienne, now in
the department of Gironde, near the river Garonne,
with a handsome castle, situated in W. Long. o. 15.
N. Lat. 44. 37. _
CADIZ, a city and port town of Andalusia in
Spain, situated on the island of Leon, opposite to Port
St Mary on the continent, about 60 miles south-west
of Seville, and 40 north-west of Gibraltar. W. Long.
6. 40. N. Lat. 36. 30.
It occupies the whole surface of the western extre¬
mity of the island, which is composed of two large
circular parts, joined together by a very narrow bank
of sand, forming altogether the figure of a chain-shot.
At the south-east end, the ancient bridge of Suaco,
thrown over a deep channel or river, affords a commu¬
nication between the island and the continent 3 a strong
line of works defends the city from all approaches along
the isthmus ; and, to render them still more difficult,
all the gardens and little villas on the beach wrere in
1762 cleared away, and a dreary sandy glacis left in
their room, so that now there is scarce a tree on the
whole island.
Except the Calle Ancha, all the streets are narrow,
ill paved, and insufferably stinking. They are all
drawn in straight lines, and most of them intersect each
other at right angles. The swarms of rats that in the
nights run about the streets are innumerable 3 whole
droves of them pass and repass continually, and these
in their midnight revels are extremely troublesome to
such as walk late. The houses are lofty, with each a
vestibule, which being left open till night, serves passen¬
gers to retire to 3 this custom, which prevails through¬
out Spain, renders these places exceedingly offensive.
In the middle of the house is a court like a deep well,
under which is generally a cistern, the breeding place
of gnats and mosquitoes 3 the ground floors are ware¬
houses, the first stories compting-house or kitchen, and
the principal apartment up two pair of stairs. The
roofs are flat, covered with an impenetrable cement,
and few are without a mirador or turret for the pur¬
pose of commanding a view of the sea. Round the
parapet-wall at top are placed rows of square pillars,
meant either for ornament according to some tradi¬
tional mode of decoration, or to fix awnings to, that
such as sit there for the benefit of the sea breeze may¬
be sheltered front the rays of the sun 3 but the most
common use made of them, is to fasten ropes for dry¬
ing linen upon. High above all these pinnacles,
which give Cadiz a most singular appearance, stands
F 2 the
Cadi
CAD [ 44 ] CAD
Cadiz.
t!ie tower of signals. Here flags are Imng out on the
first sight of a sail, marking the size of the ship, the
nation it belongs to, and, if a Spanish Indiaman, the
port of the Indies it comes from. The ships are ac¬
quainted with the proper signals to be made, and
these are repeated by the watchmen of the tower: as
painted lists are in every house, persons concerned in
commerce soon learn the marks.
The city is divided into 24 quarters, under the in¬
spection of as many commissioners of police; and its
population is reckoned at 70,000 inhabitants, of which
part are French, and part also Italians. The square
of Saint Antonia is large, and tolerably handsome, and
there are a few smaller openings of no great note. The
public walk, or Alameda, is pleasant in the evening :
it is fenced oft the coach-road by a marble rail. The
sea air prevents the trees from thriving, and destroys
all hopes of future shade.
i rom the Alameda, continuing your walk west¬
wards, you come to the Camposanto, a large esplanade,
the only airing place for coaches 5 it turns round most
part of the west and south sides of the island, but the
buildings are straggling and ugly : the only edifice of
any show is the new orphan house. Opposite to it is
the fortress of St Sebastian, built on a neck of land
running out into the sea. The round tower at the
extremity is supposed to have saved the city, in the
great earthquake of 1755* from being swept away by
the fury of the waves. The building proved sufficient¬
ly solid to withstand the shock, and break the immense
volume of water that threatened destruction to the
whole island. In the narrow part of the isthmus the
surge beat over with amazing impetuosity, and bore
down all before it; among the rest, the grandson of
the famous tragic poet Racine, who strove in vain to
escape, by urging his horse to the utmost of his speed.
On St Sebastian’s feast, a kind of wake or fair is held
in the fort j an astonishing number of people then
passing and repassing, on a string ot wooden bridges
laid from rock to rock, makes a very lively moving
picture.
From hence to the wooden circus where they exhibit
the bull feasts, you keep turning to the left close above
the sea, which on all this side dashes over large ledges
of lock: the shore seems here absolutely inaccessible.
On this shore stands the cathedral, a work of great ex¬
pence, but carried on with so little vigour, that it is
difficult to guess at the term of years it will require to
biing it to perfection. The vaults are executed with
gi eat solidity. ’I he arches, that spring from the cluster¬
ed pilasters to support the root ot the church, are very
bold ; the minute sculpture bestowed upon them seems
superfluous, as all the effect will be lost from their
great height, and from the shade that will be thrown
upon them by the filling up of the interstices. From
the sea, the present top ot the church resembles the
carcase of some huge monster cast upon its side, rearing
its gigantic blanched ribs high above the buildings of
the city. The outward casings are to be of white
marble, the bars of the windows of bronze.
Next, crossing before the land gate and barracks, a
superb edifice for strength, convenience, and cleanli¬
ness, you come down to the ramparts that defend the
city on the side of the bay. If the prospect to the
ocean is solemn,, that towards the main land is ani¬
mated in the highest degree 5 the men of war ride in
the eastern bosom of the bay 5 lower down the mer¬
chantmen are spread far and near j and close to the
town an incredible number of barks, of various shapes
and sizes, cover the surface of the water, some moored
and some in motion, carrying goods to and fro. The
opposite shore of Spain is studded with white houses,
and enlivened by the town of St Mary’s, Port-real,
and others, behind which, eastward, on a x-idge of hills,
stands Medina Sidonia, and further back rise the moun¬
tains of Granada. Westward, Rota closes the hori¬
zon, near which was anciently the island and city of
Tartessus, now covered by the sea, but at low water
some part of the ruins are still to be discerned. In
a lai-ge bastion, jutting out into the bay, they have
built the customhouse, the first story of which is
level with the walk upon the walls. When it was re¬
solved to erect a building so necessary to this great em¬
porium of trade, the marquis di Squillace gave orders
that no expence should be spared, and the most intelli¬
gent architects employed, in order to erect a monu¬
ment, which by its taste and magnificence might excite
the admiration of posterity: the result of these pre¬
cautions proved a piece of vile architecture, composed
of the worst of materials.
The stir here is prodigious during the last months of
the stay of the flota. The packers possess the art of
pressing goods to great perfection j but, as they pay
the freight according to the cubic palms of each bale,
they are apt to squeeze down the cloths and linens so
very close and haid, as sometimes to render them un¬
fit lor use. Every commercial nation has a consul re¬
sident at Cadiz j those of England and France are the
only ones not allowed to have any concern in tx-ade.
In 1596, Cadiz was taken, pillaged, and burnt by
the English j but in 1702 it was attempted, in conjunc¬
tion with the Dutch, without success. It was bom¬
barded by the English in 1800 ; and was blockaded by
the French while the Cortes held its sittings there in
1810, till the blockade was raised after the battle of
Salamanca in 1812.
CADIZADELITES, a sect of Mahometans vex*y
like the ancient Stoics. They shun feasts and diver¬
sions, and affect an extraordinary gravity in all their
actions j they are continually talking of God, and some
ol them make a jumble of Christianity and Mahome¬
tanism $ they drink wine, even in the fast of the Ra-
mcy iuve ana protect tne ^nristians j they be-
lieye that Mahomet is the Holy Ghost, practise circum¬
cision, and justify it by the example of Jesus Christ.
Cx\DMEAN Letters, the ancient Greek or Ionic
characters, such as they were first brought by Cadmus
from Phoenicia: whence Herodotus also calls them
Phoenician letters. According to some writers, Cad¬
mus was not the inventor, nor even importer of the
Greek letters, but only the modeller and reformer
thereof j and it was hence they acquired the appellation
Cadmean or Phoenician letters; whereas before that
time they had been called Pelaso'ian letters.
CADMIA. See Calamine.
CADMUS, in fabulous history, king of Thebes,
the son of Agenor king of Phoenicia, and the brother
of Phoenix, Cilix, and Europa. He carried into
Greece the 16 simple letters of the Greek alphabet;
and there built Thebes, in Boeotia. The poets say,
that
CAD [ 45 ] CAE
Cadmus that he left his native country in search of his sister
|| Europa, whom Jupiter had carried away in the form
Caduceus. 0f a . an(] that, inquiring of the Delphic oracle
for a settlement, he was answered, that he should fol¬
low the direction of a cow, and build a city where she
lay down. Having arrived among the Phocenses, he
was met by a cow, who conducted him through Bceo-
tia to the place where Thebes was afterwards built:
but as he was about to sacrifice his guide to Pallas, he
sent two of his company to the fountain Dirce for wa¬
ter ; when they being devoured by a serpent or dragon,
he slew the monster, and afterwards, by the advice of
Pallas, sowed his teeth, when there sprung up a num¬
ber of armed soldiers, who prepared to revenge the
death of the serpent; but on his casting a stone among
these upstart warriors, they turned their weapons against
each other with such animosity, that only five survived
the combast, and these assisted Cadmus in founding his
new city. Afterwards, to recompense his labours, the
gods gave him Harmonia, or Harmione, the daughter
of Mars and Venus j and honoured his nuptials with
presents and peculiar marks of favour. But at length
resigning Thebes to Pentheus, Cadmus and Harmione
went to govern the Ecclellenses : when grown old,
they were transformed into serpents ; or, as others say,
sent to the Elysian fields, in a chariot drawn by ser¬
pents. See Thebes.
Cadmus of Miletus, a celebrated Greek historian,
was, according to Pliny, the first of the Greeks who
wrote history in prose. He flourished about 550 be¬
fore Christ.
CADORE, or Pieve de Cadore, a town of Italy,
in the territory ot Venice, and capital of a district cal¬
led Cadorino; famous for the birth of Titian the pain¬
ter. E. Long. 13. 45. N. Lat. 46. 25.
CADORINO, a province of Italy, in the territory
of Venice j bounded on the east by Friuli Proper, on
the south and west by the Bellunese, and by the bishop¬
ric ot Brixen on the north. It is a very mountainous
country, but pretty populous. The only town is Pieve
de Cadore.
CADRITES, a sort of Mahometan friars, who once
a-week spend a great part of the night in turning
round, holding each others hands, and repeating in¬
cessantly the word hai, which signifies living, and is
one of the attributes of God *, during which one of them
plays on a flute. They never cut their hair, nor cover
their heads ; and always go bare-footed : they have
liberty to quit their convent when they please, and to
marry.
CADSAND, an island on the coast of Dutch Flan¬
ders, situated at the mouth ot the Scheldt, wdiereby
the Dutch command the navigation of that river.
CADUCEUS, in antiquity, Mercury’s rod or scep¬
tre, being a wand entwisted by two serpents, borne
by that deity as the ensign of his quality and office,
given him, according to the fable, by Apollo, for his
seven-stringed harp. Wonderful properties are ascribed
to this rod by the poets ; as laying men asleep, raisinw
the dead, &c. 5
It was also used by the ancients as a symbol of peace
and concord : the Romans sent the Carthaginians a
javelin and a caduceus, offering them their choice either
0 wai or peace. Among that people, those who de¬
nounced war were called^cm/c’s; and those who went
to demand peace, caduceatores, because they bore a Caduccin
caduceus in their hand. j|
The caduceus found on medals is a common symbol, Ctelius.
signifying good conduct, peace, and prosperity. The '—■"Y’—-J
rod expresses power, the two serpents prudence, and
the two wungs diligence.
CADUCI, (from cado, “ to fall”) j the name of a
class in Linnaeus’s cahjcina, consisting of plants whose
calyx is a simple perianthium, supporting a single
flower or fructification, and falling olf either before or
with the petals. It stands opposed to the classes persi-
stentes in the same method, and is exemplified in mus¬
tard and ranunculus.
CADURCI, Cadurcum, Cadurcvs, and Cadurx, in
Ancient Geography, a town of the Cadurci, a people of
Aquitania j situated between the rivers Oldus, running
from the north, and the Tarnis from the south, and
falling into the Garumna : Now Cahors, capital of the
territory of the Querci, in Guienne. A part of the
Cadurci, to the south next the Taruis, were called
Eleutheri.
CADUS, in antiquity, a wine vessel of a certain
capacity, containing 80 amphorae or firkins $ each of
which, according to the best accounts, held nine gal¬
lons.
CADUSII, in Ancient Geography, a people of Me¬
dia Atropatene, situated to the west in the mountains,
and reaching to the Caspian sea ; between whom and
the Medes perpetual war and enmity continued down
to the time of Cyrus.
CiECILIA, in Zoology, a genus of serpents belong¬
ing to the amphibia class. The ctecilia has no scales :
it is smooth, and moves by means of lateral rugae or
prickles. The upper lip is prominent, and furnished
with two tentacula. It has no tail. There are but
twt> species of this serpent, viz. I. The tentaculata,
has 135 rugae. It is about a foot long, and an inch
in circumference, preserving an uniform cylindrical
shape from the one end to the other. The teeth are'
very small. It has such a resemblance to an eel, that
it may easily be mistaken for one ; but as it has neither
fins nor gills, it cannot be classed with the fishes.
It is a native of America, and its bite is not poison¬
ous. 2. The glutinosa, has 340 rugae or prickles
above, and 10 below, the anus. It is of a brownish
colour, with a white line on the side, and is a native of
the Indies.
CiECUM, or Coecum, the blind gut. See Ana¬
tomy Index.
CyELIUM, in Ancient Geography, an inland town
of Peucetia, a division of Apulia ; a place four or five
miles above Barium or Bari, and which still retains
that name.
CiELIUS mons, (Itinerary) ; a town of Vindelicia,
on the right or west side of the Ilargus. Now Kel-
muntss, a small town of Suabia, on the Iller.
Cjelius mons at Rome. See Coelius.
Qelius, Aurelianus, an ancient physician, and the
only one of the sect of the Methodists of whom we
have any remains. He was of Sicca, a town of Nu-
midia j but in what age he lived, cannot be deter¬
mined : it is probable, however, that he lived before
Galen ; since, though he carefully mentions all the
physicians before him, he takes no notice of Galen.
He had read over very diligently the ancient physi¬
cians
CAE [ 4-6 ] CAE
Caelius clans of all sects’, and we are indebted to him for the
fl knowledge of many dogmas which are not to be found
Caermar- ^u(- jn |jjs books dc celeribus et tardis passionibus. He
jlienslme.^ wrote^ as |ie bimself tells us, several other works j but
they are all perished.
CAEN, a handsome and considerable town of
France, capital of Lower Normandy, and of the de¬
partment of Calvados. It contains 60 streets, and 12
parishes, and in 1815 had 36,000 inhabitants. It has
a castle with four towers, which were built by the Eng¬
lish. The town-house is a large building with four
great towers. The royal square is the handsomest in
all Normandy, and has fine houses on three sides of it;
and in the middle is the statue of Louis XIV. in a
Roman habit, standing on a marble pedestal, and sur-
sounded with an iron ballustrade. It is seated in a
pleasant country on the river Orne, about eight miles
from the sea. William the Conqueror was buried here,
in the abbey of St Stephen, which he founded. W.
Long. o. 27. N. Lat. 49. II.
C./ERE, in Ancient Geography, a town of Etruria,
the royal residence of Mezentius. Its ancient name was
Argyllce. In Strabo’s time not the least vestige of it
remained, except the baths called cceretana. From this
-town the Roman censor’s tables were called ccerites ta¬
bula, In these were entered the names of such as for
some misdemeanour forfeited their right of suffrage, or
were degraded from a higher to a less honourable tribe.
For the people of Caere hospitably receiving those Ro¬
mans who, after the taking of Rome by the Gauls, fled
with their gods and the sacred fire of Vesta, were, on
the Romans recovering themselves from this disaster,
honoured with the privilege of the city, but without a
right of voting.
CiERITES tabulje. See the preceding article.
CAERFILLY, a town of Gla morganshire in South
Wales, seated between the rivers TaaflF and Rumney,
in a moorish ground among the hills. It is thought
the walls, now in ruins, were built by the Romans j
there being often Roman coins dug up there. W,
Long. 3. 12. N. Lat. 51. 25.
CAERLEON, a town of Monmouthshire in Eng¬
land, and a place of great antiquity. It was a Roman
town, as is evident from the many Roman antiquities
found here. It is commodiously situated on the river
Usk, over which there is a large wooden bridge. The
houses are generally built of stone% and there are the
ruins of a castle still to be seen. W. Long. 3. o. N
Lat. 51.40.
CAERMARTHENSHIRE, a county of Wales,
bounded on the north by the Severn sea or St George’s
channel, Cardiganshire on the south, the shires of
Brecknock and Glamorgan on the east, and Pembroke¬
shire on the west. Its greatest length is between 30
and 40 miles, and its breadth upwards of 20, and it
contained 77,217 inhabitants in 1811. The soil is
less rocky and mountainous than most other parts of
Wales, and consequently is proportionally more fertile
both in corn and pasture. It has also plenty of wood,
coal, and limestone. The most considerable rivers are
the Towey, the Cothy, and the Tave ; of which, the first
abounds with excellent salmon. The principal towns
are Caermarthen the capital, Kidwely, Lanimdovery,
See. This county abounds with ancient forts, camps,
and tumuli or barrows. Near to Caermarthen, tol
wards the east, may be seen the ruins of Kastelk Kar- Caermar.
rey, which was situated on a steep and inaccessible rock j thenshire
and also several vast caverns, supposed to have been II
copper mines of the Romans. Near this spot is a foun-
tain which ebbs and flows twice in 24 hours like the < — u
sea. See Caermarthenshire, Supplement.
Caermarthen, a town of Wales, and capital of the
county of that name. It is situated on the river Towey,
over which it has a fine stone bridge. It is of great
antiquity, being the Maridunum of Ptolemy. It is a
thriving place, and many of the neighbouring gentry
reside there in the winter. It is a corporation and
county of itself, with power to make by-laws. Here
were held the courts of chancery and exchequer for
South Wales, till the whole was united to England in
the reign of Henry VIII. Here was born the famous
conjuror Merlin j and near the town is a wood called
Merlin's Grove, where he is said to have often retired
for contemplation. Many of his pretended prophecies
are still preserved in the country. The town gives the
title of marquis to the duke of Leeds. It sends one
member to parliament, and the county another. Popu¬
lation 7275.
CAERNARVONSHIRE, a county of Wales,
bounded on the north and west by the sea, on the south
by Merionethshire, and on the east divided from Den¬
bighshire by the river Conway. It is about 40 miles
in length, and 20 in breadth •, and sends one member to
parliament for the shire, and another for the borough
of Caernarvon. The air is very piercing ; owing partly
to the snow, that lies seven or eight months of the year
upon some of the mountains, which are so high that
they are called the Bt'iiish Alps , and partly to the
great number of lakes, which are said not to be fewer
than 50 or 60. The soil in the valleys on the side next
Ireland is pretty fertile, especially in barley 5 great
numbers of black cattle, sheep, and goats, are fed on
the mountains. The population in 1811 was 49,336.
1 he highest mountains in the county are those called
Snowdon hills, and Pen-maen-mawr, which last hangs
over the sea. There is a road cut out of the rock on the
side next the sea, guarded by a wall running along the
edge of it on that side ; but the traveller is sometimes in
danger of being crushed by the fall of pieces of the rock
from the precipices above. The river Conway, though
its course from the lake out of which it issues to its
mouth is only 12 miles, yet is so deep, in consequence
of the many brooks it receives, that it is navigable bv
ships of good burden for eight miles. Pearls are found
in large black muscles taken in this river. The prin¬
cipal towns are Bangor, Caernarvon the capital, and
Conway. In this county is an ancient road said to have
been made by Helena the mother of Constantine the
Great: and Matthew of Westminster asserts, that the
body of Constantius, father of Constantine, was found
at Caernarvon in the year 1283, and interred in the
parish church by order of Edward I. See Caernar¬
vonshire, Supplement. *
Caernarvon, a town of Wales, and capital of the
county of that name. It was built by Edward I. near
the site of the ancient Segontium, after his conquest of
the country in 1282, the situation being well adapted
to overawe his new subjects. It had natural requisites
for strength j being bounded on one side by the arm
of the sea called the Menai ,• by the estuary of the
Sciont
CAE r 47 ] CAE
Caernarvon Sciont on another, exactly where it receives the tide
1) from the former ; on a third side, and a part of the
["wisalpinia. by a cheek of the Menai 5 and the remainder
' v has the appearance of having the insulation completed
by art. Edward undertook this great work immedi¬
ately after his conquest of the country in 1282, and
completed the fortifications and castle before 1284;
for his queen, on April 25th in that year, brought
forth within its walls Edward, first prince of Wales of
the English line. It was built within the space of one
year, by the labour of the peasants, and at the cost of
the chieftains of the country, on whom the conqueror
imposed the hateful task. The external state of the
walls and castle, Mr Pennant informs us, are at present
exactly as they were in the time of Edward. The
walls are defended by numbers of round towers, and
have two principal gates : the east, facing the moun¬
tains j the west, upon the Menai. The entrance in¬
to the castle is very august, beneath a great tower, on
the front of which appears the statue of the founder,
with a dagger in his hand, as if menacing his new-
acquired unwilling subjects. The gate had four port¬
cullises, and every requisite of strength. The towers
are very beautiful. The eagle tower is remarkably
fine, and has the addition of three slender angular tur¬
rets issuing from the top. Edward II. was born in a
little dark room in this tower, not twelve feet long
nor eight in breadth : so little did, in those days, a
royal consort consult either pomp or conveniency.
The gate through which the affectionate Eleanor en¬
tered, to give the Welsh a prince of their own, who
* could not speak a word of English, is at the farthest
end, at a vast height above the outside ground j so
could only be approached by a drawbridge. The quay
is a most beautiful walk along the side of the Menai,
and commands a most agreeable view.
Caernarvon is destitute of manufactures, but has a
brisk trade with London, Bristol, Liverpool, and Ire¬
land, for the several necessaries of life. It is the re¬
sidence of numbers of genteel families, and contains
several very good houses. Edward I. bestowed on this
town its first royal charter, and made it a free bo¬
rough. Among other privileges, none of the burgesses
could be convicted of any crime committed between
the rivers Conway and Dyfe, unless by a jury of their
own townsmen. It is governed by a mayor, who, by
patent, is created governor of the castle. It has one
alderman, two bailiffs, a town clerk, and two Serjeants
at mace. The representative of the place is elected by
its burgesses, and those of Conway, Pwllheli, Nesyn,
and Crickaeth. The right of voting is in the freemen.
The town gives title of earl and marquis to the duke
of Chandos, and has a good tide harbour. Population
4595 1811.
CAERWIS, a market town of Flintshire, in North
Wales, situated in W. Long. 3. 25. N. Lat. ?3. 20.
CiES ALP1NIA, Brasiletto, oxTZrasilwood. See
Botany Index. 01 this there are three species, the
most remarkable of which is the brasihensis, commonly
called Brasdetto. It grows naturally in the warmest
parts of America, from whence the wood is imported
for the dyers, who use it much. The demand has been
so great, that none of the large trees are left in any
of the British plantations ; so that Mr Catesby owns
himself ignorant of the dimensions to which they grow.
The largest remaining are not above two inches in Ctesalpinii
thickness, and eight or nine feet in height. The i)
branches are slender and full of small prickles ; the , raes;ir-
leaves are pinnated ; the lobes growing opposite to one v ~ *
another, broad at their ends, with one notch. The flow¬
ers are white, papilionaceous, with many stamina and
yellow apices growing in a pyramidal spike, at the end
of a long slender stalk : the pods enclose several small
round seeds. The colour produced from this wood is
greatly improved by solution of tin in aqua regia *.* See <To-
The second sort is a native of the same countries with iour-inak-
the first, but is of a larger size. It sends out many
weak irregular branches, armed with short, strong, up¬
right thorns. The leaves branch out in the same man¬
ner as the first $ but the lobes, or small leaves, are
oval and entire. The flowers are produced in long-
spikes like those of the former, but are variegated with
red. These plants may be propagated from seeds,
which should be sown in small pots filled with light rich
earth early in the spring, and plunged in a bed of tan¬
ner’s bark. Being tender, they require to be always
kept in the stove, and to be treated in the same man¬
ner as other exotics of that kind.
C/ESALPINUS of Arezzo, professor at Pisa, and
afterwards physician to Pope Clement VIII. one of the
capital writers in botany. See Supplement.
CAESAR, Julius, the illustrious Roman general
and historian, was of the family of the Julii, who pre¬
tended they were descended from Venus by ./Eneas.
The descendants of Ascanius, son of iEneas and Creiisa,
and surnamed Julius, lived in Alba till that city was
ruined by Tullus Hostilius king of Rome, who carried
them to Rome, where they flourished. We do not find
that they produced more than two branches. The first
bore the name of Tullus, the other that of Ctesar. The
most ancient of the Caesars w'ere those who were in
public employments in the nth year of the first Punic
war. After that time we find there was always some
of that family who enjoyed public offices in the com¬
monwealth, till the time of Cains Julius Caesar, the sub¬
ject of this article. He was born at Rome the 12th of
the month Quintilis, year of the city 653, and lost his
father An. 669. By his valour and eloquence he soon
acquired the highest reputation in the field and in the
senate. Beloved and respected by his fellow citizens,
he enjoyed successively every magisterial and military
honour the public could bestow consistent with its
own free constitution. But at length having subdued
Pompey, the great rival of his growing power, his
boundless ambition effaced the glory of his former ac¬
tions : for, pursuing his favourite maxim, “ that he
had rather be the first man in a village than the second
in Rome,” he procured himself to be chosen perpetual
dictator ; and, not content with this unconstitutional
power, his faction had resolved to raise him to the im¬
perial dignity j when the friends of the civil liberties
of the republic rashly assassinated him in the senate-
house, where they should only have seized him and
brought him to a legal trial for usurpation. By this
impolitic measure they defeated their own purpose, in¬
volving the city in consternation and terror, which pro¬
duced general anarchy, and paved the way to the revo¬
lution they wanted to prevent: the monarchical govern¬
ment being absolutely founded on the murder of Julius
Caesar, He fell in the 56th year of his age, 43 years
before
CAE [ 48 ] CAE
Caesar, before the Christian era. His commentaries contain
' v"""a history of his principal voyages, battles, and victo¬
ries. The London edition in I7I2, in folio, is pre¬
ferred.
The detail of Caesar’s transactions (so far as is con¬
sistent with the limits of this work) being given under
the article Rome, we shall here only add a portrait ot
*Fiotn the him as drawn by a philosopher*.
Melanges “ If, after the lapse of 18 centuries, the truth may
Philoso- |,e published without offence, a philosopher might, in
vi O il °l ^ie f°^0W'nS terms, censure Caesar without calum-
jot’ niating him, and applaud him without exciting his
blushes.
“ Caesar had one predominant passion: it was the
love of glory $ and he passed 40 years of his life in
seeking opportunities to foster and encourage it. His
soul, entirely absorbed in ambition, did not open itself
to other impulses. He cultivated letters $ but he did
not love them with enthusiasm, because he had not lei¬
sure to become the first orator of Rome. He corrupted
the one half of the Roman ladies, but his heart had no
concern in the fiery ardours of his senses. In the arms
of Cleopatra, he thought of Pompey •, and this singu¬
lar man, who disdained to have a partner in the empire
of the world, would have blushed to have been for one
instant the slave of a woman.
“ We must not imagine that Caesar was born a war¬
rior, as Sophocles and Milton were born poets. For,
if nature had made him a citizen of Sybaris, he would
have been the most voluptuous of men. If in our days
he had been born in Pennsylvania, he would have been
the most inoffensive of Quakers, and would not have
disturbed the tranquillity of the new world.
“ The moderation with which he conducted himself
after his victories, has been highly extolled $ but in this
he showed his penetration, not the goodness of his
heart. Is it not obvious, that the display of certain
virtues is necessary to put in motion the political ma¬
chine ? It was requisite that he should have the appear¬
ance of clemency, if he inclined that Rome should for¬
give him his victories. But what greatness of mind is
there in a generosity which follows on the usurpation
of the supreme power ?
“ Nature, while it marked Caesar with a sublime cha¬
racter, gave him also that spirit of perseverance which
renders it useful. He had no sooner begun to reflect,
than he admired Sylla ; hated him, and yet wished to
imitate him. At the age of 15, he formed the pro¬
ject of being dictator. It was thus that the president
Montesquieu conceived, in his early youth, the idea of
the Spirit of Laws.
“ Physical qualities as, well as moral causes, contri¬
buted to give strength to his character. Nature, which
had made him for command, had given him an air of
dignity. He had acquired that soft and insinuating
eloquence, which is perfectly suited to seduce vulgar
minds, and has a powerful influence on the most culti¬
vated. His love of pleasure was a merit with the fair
sex $ and women, who even in a republic can draw to
them the suffrages and attention of men, have the
highest importance in degenerate times. The ladies
of his age were charmed with the prospect of having
a dictator whom they might subdue by their attrac¬
tions.
“ In vain did the genius of Cato watch for some
3
time to sustain the liberty of his country. It was un- Crosar.
equal to contend with that of Caesar. Of what avail —v—
were the eloquence, the philosophy, and the virtue of
this republican, when opposed by a man who had the
address to debauch the wife of every citizen whose in¬
terest he meant to engage j who, possessing an enthu¬
siasm for glory, wept, because, at the age of 30, he
had not conquered the world like Alexander; and who,
with the haughty temper of a despot, was more desi¬
rous to be the first man in a village than the second in
Rome.
“ Cgesar had the good fortune to exist in times of
trouble and civil commotions, when the minds of men
are put into a ferment; when opportunities of great
actions are frequent; when talents are every thing, and
those who can only boast of their virtues are nothing.
If he had lived an hundred years sooner, he would have
been no more than an obscure, villain ; and, instead of
giving laws to the world, would not have been able to
produce any confusion in it.
“ I will here be bold enough to advance an idea,
which may appear paradoxical to those who weakly
judge of men from what they achieve, and not from
the principle which leads them to act. Nature formed
in the same mould Ceesar, Mahomet, Cromwell, and
Kouli Khan. They all of them united to genius that
profound policy which renders it so powerful. They
all of them had an evident superiority over those with
whom they were surrounded ; they were conscious of
this superiority, and they made others conscious of it.
They were all of them born subjects, and became for¬
tunate usurpers. Had Caesar been placed in Persia, he
would have made the conquest of India ; in Arabia, he
would have been the founder of a new religion ; in Lon¬
don, he would have stabbed his sovereign, or have pro¬
cured his assassination under the sanction of the laws.
He reigned with glory over men whom he had reduced
to be slaves ; and, under one aspect, he is to be consi¬
dered as a hero ; under another, as a monster. But it
would be unfortunate, indeed, for society, if the pos¬
session of superior talents gave individuals a right to
trouble its repose. Usurpers accordingly have flatter¬
ers, but no friends ; strangers respect them ; their sub¬
jects complain and submit; it is in their own families
that humanity finds her avengers. Csesar was assassi¬
nated by his son, Mahomet was poisoned by his wife,
Kouli Khan was massacred by his nephew, and Crom¬
well only died in his bed because his son Richard was
a philosopher.
“ Csesar, the tyrant of his country ; Csesar, who
destroyed the agents of his crimes, if they failed in ad¬
dress ; Caesar, in fine, the husband of every wife, and
the wife of every husband, has been accounted a great
man by the mob of writers. But it is only the philo¬
sopher who knows how to mark the barrier between
celebrity and greatness. The talents of this singular
man, and the good fortune which constantly attended
him till the moment of his assassination, have concealed
the enormity of his actions.”
C-ffilSAR, in Roman antiquity, a title borne by ail
the emperors, from Julius Caesar to the destruction of
the empire. It was also used as a title of distinction
for the intended or presumptive heir of the empire, as
King of the Romans is now used for that of the German
empire.
This
CAE [ 49 ] C A F
C«sar This title took its rise from the surname of the first
(I emperor C. Julius Caesar, which, by a decree of the
C*8arodu- senate, all the succeeding emperors were to bear. Un-
der his successor, the appellation of Augustus being
appropriated to the emperors, in compliment to that
prince, the title Ccesar was given to the second per¬
son in the empire, though still it continued to be given
to the first j and hence the difference betwixt Caesar
used simply, and Caesar with the addition of Imperator
Augustus.
The dignity of Caesar remained to the second of
the empire, till Alexius Comnenus having elected
Nicephorus Melissenus Caesar by contract j and it be¬
ing necessary to confer some higher dignity on his
own brother Isaacius, he created him Sebastocrator
with the precedency over Melissenus ; ordering, that
in all acclamations, &c. Isaacius Sebastocrator should
be named the second, and Melissenus Caesar the
third.
CAESAR, Sir Julius, a learned civilian, was descend¬
ed by the female line from the duke de Cesarini in
Italy *, and was born near Tottenham in Middlesex, in
the year 1557. He was educated at Oxford, and
afterwards studied in the university of Paris, where,
in the year 1581, he was created doctor of the civil
law, and two years after was admitted to the same
degree at Oxford, and also became doctor of the ca¬
non law. He was advanced to many honourable em¬
ployments, and for the last 20 years of his life was
master of the rolls. He was remarkable for his exten¬
sive bounty and charity to all persons of worth, so that
he seemed to be the almoner-general of the nation.
He died in 1 639, in the 79th year of his age. It is
very remarkable that the manuscripts of this lawyer
were offered (by the executors of some of his descen¬
dants) to a cheesemonger for waste paper , but being
timely inspected by Mr Samuel Paterson, this gentle¬
man discovered their worth, and had the satisfaction to
find his judgment confirmed by the profession, to whom
they were sold in lots for upwards of 500I. in the year
1757-
CjEsar Augusta, or Ccesarea Augusta, in Ancient
Geography, a Iloman colony situated on the river Iberus
in the Hither Spain, before called Salduba, in the ter¬
ritories of the Edetani. Now commonly thought to be
Saragosa.
CAESAREA, the name of several ancient cities,
particularly one on the coast of Phoenicia. It was very
conveniently situated for trade j but had a very danger¬
ous harbour, so that no ships could be safe in it when
the wind was at south-west. Herod the Great, king
of Judea, remedied this inconveniency at an immense
expence and labour, making it one of the most con¬
venient havens on that coast. He also beautified it
with many buildings, and bestowed 12 years on the
finishing and adorning it. «
CAESAREAN operation. See Midwifery.
CAESARIANS, Ccesarienses, in Roman antiquity,
were officers or ministers of the Roman emperors : They
kept the account of the revenues of the emperors j and
took possession, in their name, of such things as de¬
volved or were confiscated to them.
CiESARODUNUM, in Ancient Geography, a town
of the 7 urones in Celtic Gaul j now Tours, the capi¬
tal of JTouraine. See Tours,
Vql. V. Part I. +
CAESAROMAGUS, in Ancient Geography, a town Ctesaroftia-
of the Trinobantes in Eritain ; by some supposed to gas
be Chelmsford, by others Brentford, and by others f
Purjlcet. J i 1 Cafla.
CAE SENA, in Ancient Geography, a town of Gallia ^v
Cispadana, situated on the rivers Isapis and Rubicon ;
naw Cecena, which see.
CAESIA sylva, in Ancient Geography, a wood in
Germany, part of the great Sylva Hercynia, situated
partly in the duchy of Cleves, and partly in Westphalia,
between Wesel and Kesfield.
CAESONES, a denomination given to those cut out
of their mothers wombs. Pliny ranks this as an au¬
spicious kind of birth j the elder Scipio Africanus, and
the first of the family of Caesars, were brought into the
world in this way.
CAESTUS, in antiquity, a large gauntlet made of
raw hide, which the wrestlers made use of when they
fought at the public games.—This was a kind of lea¬
thern strap, strengthened with lead or plates of iron,
which encompassed the hand, the wrist, and a pArt of
the arm, as well to defend these parts as to enforce
their blows.
Calstus, or Ceestum, was also a kind of girdle, made
of wool, which the husband untied for his spouse the
fii’st day of marriage, before they went to bed.
This relates to Venus’s girdle, which Juno borrowed
of her to entice Jupiter to love her. See Cestus.
CAESURA, in the ancient poetry, is when, in the
scanning of a verse, a word is divided so, as one part
seems cut off, and goes to a different foot from the
rest: as,
Menti\ri no\U, nun\quam men\dacia\prosunt.
where the syllables n, h, yuavi, and men, are caesuras.
CAESURA, in the modern poetry, denotes a rest or
pause towards the middle of an Alexandrian verse, by
which the voice and pronunciation are aided, and the
verse, as it were, divided into two hemistichs. See
Pause.
CAETERIS paribus, a Latin term in frequent use
among mathematical and physical writers. The words
literally signify, the rest for other things) being alike
or equal. Thus we say the heavier the bullet, cceteris
paribus, the greater the range j i. e. by how much the
bullet is heavier, if the length and diameter of the piece
and strength of the powder be the same, by so much
will the utmost range or distance of a piece of ordnance
be the greater. Thus also, in a physical way, we say,
the velocity and quantity circulating in a given time
through any section of an artery, will, cceteris paribus,
be according to its diameter, and nearness to or dis¬
tance from the heart.
CAETOBRIX, in Ancient Geography, a town of Lu¬
sitania, near the mouth of the Tagus, on the east side ;
now extinct. It had its name from its fishery ; and
there are still extant fish ponds on the shore done with
plaster of Paris, which illustrate the name of the ruin¬
ed city.
CAFFA, in commerce, painted cotton cloths ma¬
nufactured in the East Indies, and sold at Bengal.
Caffa, or Kaffa, a city and port town of Grim
Tartary, situated on the south-east part of that penin¬
sula. E. Long. 37. o. N. Lat. 44. 55.
It is the most considerable town in the countrv, and
G gives
C A G [ 50 ] C A G
CafYa gives name to the straits of CafTa, which run from
tj the Euxine or Black sea, to the Palus Mgeotis, or sea
Ca-es‘ ofAsoph.
CAFFILA, a company of merchants or travellers,
who join together in order to go with more security
through the dominions of the Great Mogul, and
through other countries on the continent of the East
Indies.
The caffila differs from a caravan, at least in Per¬
sia ; for the caffila properly belongs to some sovereign,
or to some powerful company in Europe whereas a
caravan is a company of particular merchants, each
trading upon his own account. The English and
Dutch have each of them their caffila at Gambrow.
There are also such caffilas, which cross some parts of
the deserts of Africa, particularly that called the sea of
sand, which lies between the kingdom of Morocco
and those of Tombut and Giago. This is a journey
of 400 leagues j and takes up two months in going,
and as many in coming back ; the caffila travelling
only by night, on account of the excessive heat of that
country, The chief merchandise they bring hack con¬
sists in gold dust, which they call atibar, and the Eu¬
ropeans tibir.
Caffila, on the coast of Guzerat or Cambaya, sig¬
nifies a small fleet of merchant ships.
CAFFRAMA, the country of the Caffres or Hot¬
tentots, in the most southerly parts of Africa, lying in
the form of a crescent about the inland country of Mo-
nomotapa, between 350 south latitude and the tropic
of Capricorn ; and bounded on the east, south, and
west, by the Indian and Atlantic oceans. See Hot¬
tentots.
Most of the sea coasts of this country are subject to
the Dutch, who have built a fort near the most southern
promontory called the Cape of Good Hope.
CAG, or Keg, a barrel or vessel that contains some
four or five gallons.
CAGANUS, or Cacanus, an appellation ancient¬
ly given by the. Huns to their kings. The word ap¬
pears also to have been formerly applied to the prin¬
ces of Muscovy, now called czar'. From the same
also, probably, the Tartar title cham or can, had its
origin.
CAGE, an enclosure made of wire, wicker, or the
like, interwoven lattice-wise, for the confinement of
birds or wild beasts. The word is French, cage, formed
from the Italian gaggia, of the Latin cavea, which sig¬
nifies the same : a caveis theatralibus in quibus include-
bantur ferae.
Beasts were usually brought to Rome shut up in
oaken or beechen cages artfully formed, and covered
or shaded with boughs, that the creatures, deceived with
the appearance of a wood, might fancy themselves in
their forest. The fiercer sorts were pent in iron cages,
lest wooden prisons might be broke through. In some
prisons there are iron cages for the closer confinement
of criminals. The French laws distinguish two sorts
of birds cages ; viz. high or singing cages, and low or
dumb cages j those who expose birds to sale are obliged
to put the hens in the latter, and the cocks in the for¬
mer, that persons may not be imposed on by buying a
hen for a cock.
Cages (caveai), denote also places in the ancient
amphitheatres, wherein wild beasts were kept, ready to
be let out for sport. The caveer, were a sort of iron Cage*
cages, different from dens, which ivere under ground ll
and dark; whereas the caveee being airy and light, <a-lian.
the beasts rushed out of them with more alacrity and "
fierceness than if they had been pent under ground.
Cage, in carpentry, signifies an outer work of tim¬
ber, inclosing another within it. In this sense we say,
the cage of a wind-mill. The cage of a staircase de¬
notes the wooden sides or walls which enclose it.
CAGEAN, or Cagayan, a province of the island
of Luzon, or Manilla, in the East Indies. It is the
largest in the island, being 80 leagues in length and
40 in breadth. The principal city is called Hew Se¬
govia, and 15 leagues eastward from this city lies Cape
Bajador. Doubling that cape, and coasting along 20
leagues from north to south, the province of Cagean
ends, and that of Ulocos begins. The peaceable Ca-
geans who pay tribute are about 9000; but there are
a great many not subdued. The whole province is
fruitful; the men apply themselves to agriculture, and
are of a martial disposition ; and the women apply to
several works in cotton. The mountains afford food
for a vast number of bees ; in consequence of which
wax is so plenty, that all the poor burn it instead of
oil. They make their candles after the following
manner ; they leave a small hole at each end of a
hollow stick for the wick to run through, and then,
stopping the bottom, fill it with wax at the top ; when
cold, they break the mould and take out the candle.
On the mountains there is abundance of brasil, ebony,
and other valuable woods. In the woods are store of
wild beasts, as boars ; but not so good as those of Eu¬
rope. There are also abundance of deer, which they
kill for their skins and horns to sell to the Chinese.
CAGLI, an ancient episcopal town of Italy, in the
duchy of Urbino, situated at the foot of the Apennine
mountains. E. Long. 14. 12. N. Lat. 43. 30.
CAGLIARI, Paolo, called Paulo Veronese, an
excellent painter, was born at Verona in the year
1532, Gabriel Cagliari his father was a sculptor, and
Antonio Badile his uncle was his master in painting.
He was not only esteemed the best of all the Lombard
painters, but for his extensive talents in the art was
peculiarly styled IIpittor felice, “ the happy painter
and there is scarcely a church in Venice where some
of his performances are not to be seen. De Pile says
that “ his picture of the marriage at Cana, in the
church of St George, is to be distinguished from his
other works, as being not only the triumph of Paul
S eronese, but also the triumph of painting itself.,,
When the senate sent Grimani, procurator of St
Mark, to be their ambassador at Rome, Paul attended
him, but did not stay long, having left some pieces at
Venice unfinished. Philip II. king of Spain, sent for
him to paint the Escurial, and made him great offers ;
but Paul excused himsell from leaving his own coun-
try, where his reputation 'was so well established, that
most of the princes of Europe ordered their several am¬
bassadors to procure something of his hand at any rate.
He was indeed highly esteemed by all the principal
men in his time ; and so much admired by the great
masters, as well his contemporaries, as those who suc¬
ceeded him, that Titian himself used to say, he was
the ornament of his profession. And Guido Reni
being asked which of the masters his predecessors he
would
C A J [ 51 ] C A J
would choose to be, were It in his power, after Ra¬
phael and Corregio, named Paul Veronese ; whom he
always called his Paolino. He died of a fever at Ve¬
nice in 1588, and had a tomb and a statue of brass
erected to his memory in the church of St Sebastian.
He left great wealth to his two sons Gabriel and Charles,
who lived happily together, and joined in finishing
several of their father’s imperfect pieces with good
success.
Cagliari, an ancient, large, and rich town, capital
of the island of Sardinia in the Mediterranean. It is
seated on the declivity of a hill ; is an university, an
archbishopric, and the residence of the viceroy. It has
an excellent harbour, and a good trade; but is a place
of no great strength. It was taken, with the whole
island, by the English in 1708, who transferred it to
the emperor Charles VI.; but it was retaken by the
Spaniards in 1717, and about two years afterwards
ceded to the duke of Savoy in lieu of Sicily, and hence
he has the title of King of Sardinia. E. Long. 9. 14.
N. Lat. 39. 12.
CAGUI, in Z.oologyy a synonyme of two species of
monkeys, viz the jacchus and oedipus. See Simia,
Mammalia Index.
CAHORS, a considerable town of France in Guienne,
now in the department of Lot. It is seated on a
peninsula made by the river Lot, and built partly on a
craggy rock. The principal street is very narrow j
and terminates in the market place, in which is the
town house. The cathedral is a Gothic structure, and
has a large square steeple. The fortifications are re¬
gular, and the town contained 10,136 inhabitants in
1815. E. Long. 1. 6. N. Lat. 44. 26.
CAHYS, a dry measure for corn, used in some parts
of Spain, particularly at Seville and Cadiz. It is near
a bushel of our measure.
CAJANABURG, the capital of the province of
Cajania or East Bothnia in Sweden, situated on the
north-east part of the lake Cajania, in E. Long. 27. o.
N. Lat. 63. 50.
CAIAPHAS, high priest of the Jews after Simon,
condemned Christ to death ; and was put out of his
place by the emperor Vitellius, for which disgrace he
made away with himself.
CAJAZZO, a town of the province of Lavoro in
the kingdom of Naples, situated in E. Long. 15. o. N.
Lat. 41. 15.
CAICOS, the name of some American islands to
the north of St Domingo, lying from W. Long. 112.
10. to 113. t6. N. Lat. 21. 40. .
CAJEPUT, an oil brought from the East Indies,
resembling that of cardamoms. See Melaleuca.
CAIE1 A, in Ancient Geography, a port and town
of Latium, so called from ZEneas’s nurse; now Gaeta,
which see.
_ CAJETAN, Cardinal, was born at Cajeta in the
kingdom of Naples in the year 1469. His proper
name was Thomas de Via: but he adopted that of Ca-
jetan from the place of his nativity. He defended the
authority of the pope, which suffered greatly at the
council of Nice, in a work entitled Gf the power of the
Pope; and for this work he obtained the bishopric of
Cajeta. He was afterwards raised to the archiepisco-
pal see of Palermo, and in 1517 was made a cardinal
by Pope Leo X. I he year after, he was sent as le¬
gate into Germany, to quiet the commotions raised
against indulgences by Martin Luther : but Luther,
under protection of Frederic elector of Saxony, set him
at defiance ; for though he obeyed the cardinal’s sum¬
mons, in repairing to Augsburg, yet he rendered all
his proceedings ineffectual. Cajetau was employed in
several other negotiations and transactions, being as
ready at business as at letters. He died in 1534. Pie
wrote Commentaries upon Aristotle’s philosophy, and
upon Thomas Aquinas’s theology ; and made a literal
translation of the Old and New Testaments.
CAIFONG, a large, populous, and rich town of
Asia, in China, seated in the middle of a large and
well cultivated plain. It stands in a bottom ; and
when besieged by the rebels in 1642, they ordered the
dykes of the river Hoang-ho to be cut, which drowned
the city and destroyed 300,000 of its inhabitants. E.
Long. 113. 27. N. Lat. 35. o.
CAILLE, Nicholas Louis de la, an eminent
mathematician and astronomer, was born at a small
town in the diocese of Rheims in 1713. His father
had served in the army, which he quitted, and in his re¬
tirement studied mathematics; and amused himself with
mechanic exercises, wherein he proved the happy au¬
thor of several inventions of considerable use to the
public. Nicholas, almost in his infancy, took a fancy
to mechanics, which proved of signal service to him in
his maturer years. He was sent young to school at
Mantes-sur-Seine, where he discovered early tokens of
genius. In 1729, he went to Paris ; where he studied
the classics, philosophy, and mathematics. Afterwards
he went to study divinity at the college de Navarre,
proposing to embrace an ecclesiastical life. At the end
of three years he was ordained a deacon, and officiated
as such in the church of the college de Mazarin seve¬
ral years ; but he never entered into priests orders, ap¬
prehending that his astronomical studies, to which he
became most assiduously devoted, might too much in¬
terfere with his religious duties. In 1739, he was
conjoined with M. de Thury, son to M. Cassini, in
verifying the meridian of the royal observatory through
the whole extent of the kingdom of France. In the
month of November the same year, whilst he was en¬
gaged day and night in the operations which this
grand undertaking required, and at a great distance
from Paris, he was, without any solicitation, elected
into the vacant mathematical chair which the celebra¬
ted M. Varignon had so worthily filled. Here he be¬
gan to teach about the end of 1740 ; and an observa¬
tory was ordered to be erected for his use in the col¬
lege, and furnished with a suitable apparatus of the
best instruments. In May 1741, M. de la Caille was
admitted into the Royal Academy of Sciences as an
adjoint member for astronomy. Besides the many ex¬
cellent papers of his dispersed up and down in their
Memoirs, he published Elements of Geometry, Mecha¬
nics, Optics, and Astronomy. Moreover, he carefully
computed all the eclipses of the sun and moon that had
happened since the Christian era, which were printed
in a book published by two Benedictines, entitled
A?d de Verifier les Dates, &c. Paris, 1750, in 4to.
Besides these he compiled a volume of astronomical
ephemerides for the years 1745 to 1755 j another for
the years 1755 to 1765 ; a third for the years 1765 to
1775 ; an excellent work entitled Astronomice Fnnda-
G 2 mcnta
Cajtdan
1!
Cable.
C A 1 . . [
Grille, menta novissimis soils et stellarum observalionibus stabi-
—v""1 "l lita: and the most correct solar tables that ever appear¬
ed. Having gone through a seven years series of astro¬
nomical observations in his own observatory, he form¬
ed a project of going to observe the southern stars at
the Cape of Good Hope. This was highly approved
by the academy, and by the prime minister Comte de
Argenson, and very readily agreed to by the states of
Holland. Upon this he drew up a plan of the method
he proposed to pursue in his southern observations 5
setting forth, that, besides settling the places of the
lixed stars, he proposed to determine the parallax of
the moon, Mars, and Venus. But whereas this re¬
quired correspondent observations to be made in the
northern parts of the world, he sent to those of his cor¬
respondents who were expert in practical astronomy pre¬
vious notice in print, what observations he designed to
make at such and such times for the said purpose. At
length, on the 21st of November 1750, he sailed for
the Cape, and arrived there on the 19th of April 1751.
He forthwith got his instruments on shore: and, with the
assistance of some Dutch artificers, set about building
an astronomical observatory, in which his apparatus of
instruments was properly disposed of as soon as it w'as
in a lit condition to receive them.
The sky at the Cape is generally pure and serene,
unless when a south-east wind blows : But this is often
the case, and when it is, it is attended with some
strange and terrible effects. The stars look bigger,
and seem to caper j the moon has an undulating tre¬
mor y and the planets have a sort of beard like comets.
Two hundred and twenty-eight nights did our astro¬
nomer survey the face of the southern heavens : during
which space, which is almost incredible, he observed
more than 10,000 stars; and whereas the ancients fil¬
led the heavens with monsters and old wives tales, the
Abbe de la Caille chose rather to adorn them with the
instruments and machines which modern philosophy
JPlaniUl-er *iaS raade USe tlie co,1(luest of nature *. With
,nahisSC^-e 110 less succcss did he attend to the parallax of the
iuniauftj'alc nioon, Mars, Venus, and the sun. Havingthusexe-
iUtliferum. cuted the purpose of his voyage, and no present oppor¬
tunity offering for his return, he thought of employing
the vacant time in another arduous attempt; no less
than that of taking the measure of the earth, as he had
already done that of the heavens. This, indeed, had,
through the munificence of the French king, been
done before by different sets of learned men, both in
Europe and America; some determining the quantity
of a degree under the equator, and others under the
ai ctic circles ; but it had not as yet been decided whe¬
ther in the southern parallels of latitude the same di¬
mensions obtained as in the northern. His labours
were rewarded with the satisfaction he wished for; hav¬
ing determined a distance of 410,814 feet from a
place called Klip Fontyn to the Cape, by means of a
base of 38,802 feet, three times actually measured :
whence he discovered a new secret of nature, namely,
that the radii of the parallels in south latitude are not
the same as those of the corresponding parallels in north
latitude. About the 23d degree of south latitude he
ipund a degree on the meridian to contain 342,222
Paris feet. He returned to Paris the 27th of Septem-
I754 > -l5avingV fils almost four years absence, ex-
3,
2 ] C A I
pended no more than 9144 livres on himself and his Caille,
companion ; and at his coming into port, he refused a Caimacan.
bribe of 100,000 livres, offered by one who thirsted » —1
less after glory than gain, to be sharer in his immunity
from customhouse searches.
After receiving the congratulatory visits of his more
intimate friends and the astronomers, he first of all
thought fit to draw up a reply to some strictures which
Professor Euler had published relative to the meridian,
and then lie settled the results of the comparison of his
own with the observations of other astronomers for the
parallaxes. That of the sun he fixed at ; of the
moon at 56' 56"; of Mars in his opposition, 36"; of
Venus, 38". He also settled the laws whereby astro¬
nomical refractions are varied by the different density
or rarity of the air, by heat or cold, and dryness or
moisture, And, lastly, he showed an easy, and by
common navigators practicable, method of finding the
longitude at sea by means of the moon, which he il¬
lustrated by examples selected from his own observa¬
tions during his voyages. His fume being now esta¬
blished upon so firm a basis, the most celebrated acade¬
mies of Europe claimed him as their own : and he was
unanimously elected a member of the royal society at
London ; of the institute of Bologna; of the imperial
academy at Petersburgh ; and of the royal academies
at Beilin, Stockholm, and Gottingen. In the year
1760, M. de la Caille was attacked with a severe fit
of the gout; which, however, did not interrupt the
course of his studies; for he then planned out a new
and immense work ; no less than the history of astro¬
nomy through all ages, with a comparison of the an*
cient and modern observations, and the construction
and use of the instruments employed in making them.
In order to pursue the task he had imposed upon him¬
self in a suitable retirement, he obtained a grant of
apartments in the royal palace of Vincennes ; and whilst
his astronomical apparatus was erected there, he began
printing his Catalogue of the Southern Stars, and the
third volume of his Ephemerides. The state of his
health was, towards the end of the year 1763, greatly
reduced. His blood grew inflamed ; he had pains of
the head, obstructions of the kidneys, loss of appetite,
with a fulness of the whole habit. His mind remained
unaffected, and he resolutely persisted in his studies as
usual. In the month of March, medicines were ad¬
ministered to him, which rather aggravated than alle¬
viated his symptoms ; and he was now sensible, that
the same distemper which in Africa, ten years before,
yielded to a few simple remedies, did in his native coun¬
try bid defiance to the best physicians. This induced
him to settle his affairs : his manuscripts he committed
to the care and discretion of his esteemed friend M.
Maraldi. It was at last determined that a vein should
be opened ; but this brought on an obstinate lethargy,
of which he died, aged 49.
CAIMACAN, or Kaimacam, in the Turkish affairs,
a dignity in the Ottoman empire, answering to lieute¬
nant, or rather deputy, amongst us.
1 liere are usually two caimacans; one residing at
Constantinople, as governor thereof; the other at¬
tends the grand vizir in quality of his lieutenant,
secietary of state, and first minister of his council, and
gives auxlience to ambassadors. Sometimes there is a
third
- c A I [ 53 ] CAT
0«irns.
‘aimacan third caimacan, who attends the sultan ; whom he ac¬
quaints with any public disturbances, and receives his
orders concerning them.
CAIMAN or Cayman Islands, certain Ameri¬
can islands lying south of Cuba and north-west of Ja¬
maica, between 8i° and 86° of west longitude, and in
21° of north latitude. They are most remarkable on
account of the fishery of tortoise, which the people of
Jamaica catch here and carry home alive, keeping
them in pens for food, and killing them as they want
them.
CAIN, eldest son of Adam and Eve, killed his
brother Abel ; for which he was condemned by God
to banishment and a vagabond state of life* Cain
retired to the land of Nod, on the east of Eden ;
and built a city, to which he gave the name of his son
Enoch.
CAIN1TES, a sect of heretics in the 2d century,
so called on account of their great respect for Cain.
They pretended that the virtue which produced Abel
was of an order inferior to that which had produced
Cain, and that this was the reason why Cain had the
victory over Abel and killed him; for they admitted
a great number of genii, which they called virtues, of
different ranks and orders. They made profession of
honouring those who carry in Scripture the most visible
marks of reprobation j as the inhabitants of Sodom,
Esau, Korah, Dathan, and Abiram. They had, in
particular, a very great veneration for the traitor Ju¬
das, under pretence that the death of Jesus Christ had
saved mankind. They had a forged gospel of Judas,
to which they paid great respect.
CAIRNS, or Carnes, the vulgar name of those
heaps of stones which are to be seen in many places of
Britain, particularly Scotland and Wales.—They are
composed of stones of all dimensions thrown together in
a conical form, a flat stone crowning the apex ; (see
Plate CXXXV.).
Various causes have been assigned by the learned for
these heaps of stones. They have supposed them to
have been, in times of inauguration, the places where
the chieftain elect stood to show himself to best advan¬
tage to the people •, or the place from whence judge¬
ment was pronounced •, or to have been erected on the
road-side in honour of Mercury *, or to have been form¬
ed in memory of some solemn compact, particularly
where accompanied by standing pillars of stones,' or
for the celebration of certain religious ceremonies.
Such might have been the reasons, in some instances,
where the evidences of stone chests and urns are want¬
ing : but these are so generally found that they seem
to determine the most usual purpose of the piles in ques¬
tion to have been for sepulchral monuments. Even
this destination might render them suitable to other
purposes j particularly religious, to which by their na¬
ture they fiiight be supposed to give additional solem¬
nity.-—According to Toland, fires were kindled on
the tops of flat stones, at certain times of the year,
particularly on the eves of the 1st of May and the 1st
of November, for the purpose of sacrificing j at which
time all the people having extinguished their domestic
hearths, rekindled them from the sacred fires of the
cairns. In general, therefore, these accumulations ap->
pear to have been designed for the sepulchral protection
af heroes and great men. The stone chests, the repo¬
sitory of the urns and ashes, are lodged in the earth
beneath : sometimes only one, sometimes more, are
found thus deposited ; and Mr Pennant mentions an ^
instance of 17 being discovered under the same pile.
Cairns are of different sixes, some of them very large.
Mr Pennant describes one in the island of Arran, 114
feet over, and of a vast height. They may justly be
supposed to have been proportioned in size to the rank
of the person, or to his popularity : the people of a
whole district assembled to show their respect to the
deceased ; and, by an active honouring of his memory,
soon accumulated heaps equal to those that astonish us
at this time. But these honours were not merely those
of the day ; as long as the memory of the deceased en¬
dured, not a passenger went by without adding a stone
to the heap : they supposed it would be an honour to
the dead, and acceptable to his manes.
Quanquam festinas, non cst mora longa : licebit
Inject a ter pulvera, curras.
To this moment there is a proverbial expression among
the Highlanders allusive to the old practice j a suppli¬
ant will tell his patron, Curri mi clock er do charne,
“ I will add a stone to your cairn 5” meaning, when
you are no moi’e, I will do all possible honour to your
memory.
Cairns are to be found in all parts of our islands, in
Cornwall, Wales, and all parts of North Britain •, they
were in use among the northern nations $ Dahlberg,
in his 323d plate, has given the figure of one. In
Wales they are called earneddau; but the proverb ta¬
ken from them there, is not of the complimental kind:
Karn ar dy ben, or, “ A cairn on your head,” is a
token of imprecation.
CAIRO, or Grand Cairo, the capital of Egypt,
situated in a plain at the foot of a mountain, in E.
Long. 32. o. N. Lat. 30. O. It was founded by Jaw-
har, a Magrebian general, in the year of the Hegira
358. He had laid the foundation of it under the ho¬
roscope of Mars j and for that reason gave his new
city the name of Al Kahira, or the Victorious, an epi¬
thet applied by the Arab astronomers to that planet.
In 362 it became the residence of the caliphs of
Egypt, and of consequence the capital of that country,
and has ever since continued to be so. It is divided
into the New and Old cities. Old Cairo is on the
eastern side of the river Nile, and is now almost unin¬
habited. The new, which is properly Cairo, is seated
in a sandy plain about two miles- and a half from the
old city. It stands on the western side of the Nile,
from which it is not three quarters of a mile distant.
It is extended along the mountain on which the castle
is built, for the sake of which it was removed hither,
in order, as some pretend, to be under its protection.
However, the change is much for the worse, as well
with regard to air as water, and the pleasantness of the
prospect. Bulack may b^ called the port of Cairo j
for it stands on the bank of the Nile, about a mile and'
a half from it, and all the corn and other commodities
are landed there before they are brought to the city.
Some travellers have made Cairo of a most enormous
magnitude, by taking in the old city, Bnlack, and the
new j the real circumference of it, however, is not
above ten miles, but it is extremely populous. The first
thing that strikes a traveller is the narrowness of the
streetSy
Cairn*,
Cairo.
C A I [ 5+ ] C A I
Cairo, streets, and the appearance of the houses. These are
1 so daubed with mud on the outside, that you would
think they were built with nothing else. Besides, as
the streets are unpaved, and always full of people, the
walking in them is very inconvenient, especially to
strangers. To remedy this, there are a great number
of asses, which always stand ready to be hired for a
trifle, that is, a penny a mile. The owners drive
them along, and give notice to the crowd to make way.
And here it may be observed, that the Christians in
this, as well as other parts of the Turkish dominions,
are not permitted to ride upon horses. I he number
of the inhabitants can only be guessed at. Volney
thinks it may amount to 200,000 ; but some later tra¬
vellers estimate it as high as 300,000 or 400,000. T-he
houses are from one to two or three stories high, and
flat at the top 5 where they take the air, and often
sleep all night. The better sort of these have a court
on the inside like a college. T^he common run of houses
have very little room, and even among great people it
is usual for 20 or 30 to lie in a small hall. Some houses
will hold 300 persons of both sexes, among whom are
20 or 30 slaves ; and those of ordinary rank have ge¬
nerally three or four.
There is a canal, called khalis, which runs along the
city from one end to the other, with houses on each
side, which makes a large straight street. Besides
this, there are several lakes, which are called birks in
the language of the country. The principal of these,
which is near the castle, is 500 paces in diameter.
The most elegant houses in the city are built on its
banks j but what is extraordinary, eight months in the
year it contains water, and the other four it appears
with a charming verdure. When there is water suffi¬
cient, it is always full of gilded boats, barges, and barks,
in which people of condition take their pleasure towards
night, at which time there are curious fire-works, and
variety of music.
New Cairo is surrounded with walls built with stone,
on which are handsome battlements, and at the distance
of every hundred paces there are very fine towers,
which have room for a great number of people. The
walls were never very high, and are in many places
gone to ruin. The basha lives in the castle, which
was built by Saladine 700 years ago. It stands in the
middle of the famous mountain Moketan, which ter¬
minates in this place, after it had accompanied the
Nile from Ethiopia hither. This castle is the only
place of defence in Egypt; and yet the Turks take
no notice of its falling, insomuch that in process of
time it will become a heap of rubbish. The principal
part in it is a magnificent hall, environed with 12 co¬
lumns of granite, of a prodigious height and thickness,
which sustain an open dome, under which Saladine
distributed justice to his subjects. Round this dome
there is an inscription in relievo, which determines the
date and by whom it was built. From this place the
whole city of Cairo may be seen, and above 30 miles
along the Nile, with the fruitful plains that lie near it,
as well as the mosques, pyramids, villages, and gar¬
dens, with which these fields are covered. These gra¬
nite pillars were the work of antiquity, for they were
got out of the ruins of Alexandria. There are like¬
wise in the mosques and in the principal houses no less
than 40,000 more, besides great magazines, where all Cairo,
kinds are to be had at very low rates. A janizary v—"
happened to find five in his garden, as large as those
in the castle ; but could not find any machine of
strength sufficient to move them, and therefore had
them sawed in pieces to make millstones. It is be¬
lieved that there have been 30 or 40,000 of these pil¬
lars brought from Alexandria, where there are yet
many more to be had. The gates of Cairo are three,
which are very fine and magnificent.
There are about 300 public mosques in this city,
some of which have six minarets. The mosque of Asher
hath several buildings adjoining, which were once a
famous university, and 14,000 scholars and students
were maintained on the foundation 5 but it has now not
above 1400, and those are only taught to read and
write. All the mosques are built upon the same plan,
and differ only in magnitude. The entrance is through
the principal gate into a large square, open on the
top, but well paved. Round this are covered galleries,
supported by pillars, under which they say their pray¬
ers, in the shade. On one side of the square there are
particular places with basons of water for the conve-
niency of performing the ablutions enjoined by the Ko¬
ran. The most remarkable part of the mosque, be¬
sides the minaret, is the dome. This is often bold, well
proportioned, and of an astonishing magnitude. The
inside stones are carved like lace, flowers, and melons.
They are built so firm, and with such art, that they
will last 600 or 700 years. About the outward circum¬
ference there are large Arabic inscriptions in relievo,
which may be read by those who stand below, though
they are sometimes of a wonderful height.
The khanes or caravanseras are numerous and large,
with a court in the middle, like their houses. Some
are several stories high, and are always full of people
and merchandise. The Nubians, the Abyssinians, and
other African nations, which come to Cairo, have one
to themselves, where they always meet with lodging.
Here they are secure from insults, and their effects are
all safe. Besides these, there is a bazar, or market,
where all sorts of goods are to be sold. This is in a
long broad street; and yet the crowd is so great, you
can hardly pass along. At the end of this street is
another short one, but pi'etty broad, with shops full of
the best sort of goods and precious merchandise. At
the end of this short street there is a great khane,
where all sorts of white slaves are to be sold. Farther
than this is another khane, where a great number of
blacks, of both sexes, are exposed to sale. Not far
from the best market place is a mosque, and an hos¬
pital for mad people. They also receive and maintain
sick people in this hospital, but they are poorly looked
after.
Old Cairo has scarce any thing remarkable but the
granaries of Joseph $ which are nothing but a high
wall, lately built, which includes a square spot of
ground where they deposit wheat, barley, and other
grain, which is a tribute to the basha, paid by the
owners of land. This has no other covering but the
heavens, and therefore the birds are always sure to
have their share. There is likewise a tolerably hand¬
some church, which is made use of by the Copts, who
are Christians, and the original inhabitants of Egypt.
Joseph’s
2
C A I
[ 55 ]
C A I
See Bar
iry.
Joseph’s well is in the castle, and was made by King
Mohammed about yoo years ago. It is called Joseph's
ivell, because they attribute every thing extraordinary
to that remarkable person. It is cut in a rock, and is
280 feet in depth. The water is drawn up to the top
by means of oxen, placed on platforms, at proper
distances, which turn about the machines that raise
it. The descent is so sloping, that, though there
are no steps, the oxen can descend and ascend with
ease.
The river Nile, to which not only Cairo, but all
Egypt is so much indebted, is now known to have its
rise in Abyssinia. The increase of the Nile generally
begins in May, and in June they commonly proclaim
about the city how much it is risen. Over against
old Cairo the basha has a house, wherein the water
enters to a column, which has lines at the distance of
every inch, and marks at every twm feet as far as 30.
When the water rises to 22 feet, it is thought to be
of a sufficient height; when it rises much higher, it
does a great deal of mischief. There is much pomp
and ceremony used in letting the water into the canal
above mentioned. See Egypt.
The inhabitants of Cairo are a mixture of Moors,
Turks, Jews, Greeks, and Copts or Coptis. The
only difference between the habit of the Moors and
Copts is their turbans $ those of the Moors being
white, and of the Copts white striped with blue. The
common people generally wear a long black loose frock,
sewed together all down before. The Jews wear a
frock of the same fashion, made of cloth ; and their
caps are like a high-crowned hat, without brims, cover¬
ed with the same cloth, but not so taper. The Jewish
women’s are not very unlike the men’s, but more light
and long. The Greeks are habited like the Turks,
only their turbans differ.
Provisions of all kinds are exceedingly plenty ; for
20 eggs may be bought for a parah or penny, and
bread is six times as cheap as with us. They have al¬
most all sorts of flesh and fish $ and in particular have
tame buffaloes which are very useful. They bring
goats into the streets in great numbers to sell their
milk. Their gardens are well stocked with fruit trees
of various kinds, as well as roots, herbs, melons, and
cucumbers. The most common flesh meat is mutton.
The goats are very beautiful, and have ears two feet in
length ; but their flesh is in no great esteem. See far¬
ther the article Egypt.
CAIROAN, or Cairwak, a city of Africa, in the
kingdom of Tunis, seated in a sandy barren soil, about
five miles from the gulf of Capres. It has neither
sprang, well, nor river j for which reason they are oblig¬
ed to preserve rain water in tanks and cisterns. It was
built by the Aglabites ; and is the ancient Cyrene *,
but hath now lost its splendour. There is still, however,
s very superb mosque, and the tombs of the kings of
Tunis are yet to be seen. E. Long. 9. 12. N. Lat.
35* 4°-
CAISSON, in the military art, a wooden chest, into
which several bombs are put, and sometimes filled
only with gunpowder : this is buried under some work
whereof the enemy intend to possess themselves, and,
when they are masters of it, is fired, in order to blow
them up.
Caisson is also used for a wooden frame or
chest used in laying the foundations of the pie rs of a
bridge.
CAITHNESS, otherwise called the shire of Wick,
is the most northern county of all Scotland j bounded on
the east by the ocean, and by Strathnaver and Suther¬
land on the south and south-west: from these it is di¬
vided by the mountain of Orde, and a continued ridge
of hills as far as Knockfin, then by the whole course of
the river Hallowdale. On the north it is washed by
the Pentland or Pictland frith, which flows between this
county and the Orkneys. It extends 35 miles from
north to south, and about 20 from east to west. The
coast is rocky, and remarkable for a number of bays
and promontories. Of these, the principal are Sand-
side-head to the west, pointing to the opening of Pent-
land frith ; Orcas, now Holborn-head, and Dunnet-
head, both pointing northward to the frith. Dunnet-
head is a peninsula about a mile broad, and seven in
compass ; affording several lakes, good pasture, excel¬
lent mill-stones, and a lead mine. Scribister bay, on
the north-west, is a good harbour, where ships may
ride securely. Rice-bay, on the east side, extends three
miles in breadth } but it is of dangerous access, on ac¬
count of some sunk rocks at the entrance. At the bot¬
tom of this bay appear the ruins of two strong castles,
the seat of the earl of Caithness, called Castle Sinclair,
and Gernego, joined to each other by a draw-bridge.
Duncan’s bay, otherwise called Dunsby-head, is the
north-east point of Caithness, and the extremest pro¬
montory in Britain. At this place, the breadth of the
frith does not exceed 12 miles, and in the neighbour¬
hood is the ordinary ferry to the Orkneys. Here is
likewise Clytheness pointing east, andNoshead pointing
north-east. The sea in this place is very impetuous, be¬
ing in continual agitation from violent counter tides,
currents, and vortices. The only island belonging to this
county is that of Stroma, in the Pentland frith, at the
distance of two miles from the main land, extending
about a mile in length, and producing good corn. The
navigation is here rendered very difficult by conflicting
tides and currents, which at both ends of the island
produce a great agitation in the sea. At the south
end, the waves dance so impetuously, that the sailors
term them the merry men of May, from the name of a
gentleman’s seat on the opposite shore of Caithness,
which served them as a land mark, in the dangerous
passage between the island and the continent. The
property of this island was once disputed between the
earls of Orkney and Caithness ; but adjudged to the
latter, in consequence of an experiment, by which it ap¬
peared, that venomous creatures will live in Stroma,
whereas they die immediately if transported to the Ork¬
neys. The county of Caithness, though chiefly moun¬
tainous, flattens towards the sea coast, where the ground
is arable, and produces good harvests of oats and bar¬
ley, sufficient for the natives, and yielding a surplus for
exportation. Caithness is well watered with small
rivers, brooks, lakes, and fountains, and affords a few
woods of birch, but is in general bare of trees ; and even
those the inhabitants plant are stunted in their growth.
Lead is found at Dunnet, copper at Old Urk, and
iron ore at several places ; but these advantages are not
improved. The air of Caithness is temperate, though in
the latitude of 58°, where the longest day in summer is
computed at 18 hours j and when the sun sets he makes
so
Caisson,
Caithness.
C A I [ 56 ].
Cait Imess So small an arch of a circle below the horizon, that the dead in the water,
wi people enjoy a twilight until he rises again. The fuel
used by the inhabitants of Caithness consists of peat and
turf, which the ground yields in great plenty. The
forests of Morravins and Berridale afford abundance
of red deer and roe-bucks ; the county is well stored
with hares, rabbits, grouse, heathcocks, plover, and
all sorts of game, comprehending a bird called snow-
fleet, about the size of a sparrow, exceedingly fat and
delicious, that comes hither in large flights about the
middle of February, and takes its departure in April.
The hills are covered with sheep and black cattle } so
numerous, that a fat cow has been sold at market for
4s. sterling. The rocks along the coasts are frequent¬
ed by eagles, hawks, and all manner ol sea fowl, whose
eggs and young are taken in vast quantities by the na- Parishes-
tives. The rivers anti lakes abound with trout, sal¬
mon, and eels ; and the sea affords a very advantageous
1 fishery. Divers obelisks and ancient monuments ap¬
pear in this district, and several Romish chapels are
still standing. Caithness is well peopled with a rac£
of hardy inhabitants, who employ themselves chiefly in
C A I
Much limestone is found in this faithneS!,
county, which when burnt is made into a compost with ' ■ y—^
turf and sea plants.
The discovery of coal has long been an object of
great importance in this part of Scotland. In the
years 1801 and 1802 some attempts were made for this
purpose at the expence of government. But although
the business was conducted by persons well skilled in
such matters, and long persevered in, it has entirely
failed, which leaves little hope of future success.
The following is the population of the county of
Caithness, according to the parishes, taken at two dif¬
ferent periods, namely in 1755 an^ an(^ ex'
tracted from the Statistical History of Scotland.
fishing, and breeding sheep and black cattle: they are
even remarkably industrious ; for between Wick and
Dunbeath, one continued tract of rugged rocks, ex¬
tending 12 miles, they have formed several little har¬
bours for their fishing boats, and cut artificial steps
from the beach to the top of the rocks, where they
have erected houses, in which they cure and dry the
fish for market.
According to Mr Pennant, this county is supposed
to send out in some years about 20,000 head of black
cattle, but in bad seasons the farmer kills and salts
great numbers for sale. Great numbers of swine are
also reared here. These are short, high-backed, long-
bristled, sharp, slender, and long-nosed 5 have long erect
ears, and most savage looks. Here are neither barns nor
granaries j the corn is threshed out, and preserved in
the chaff in byks j which are stacks, in the shape of
bee-hives, thatched quite round, where it will keep
good for two years. Vast numbers of salmon are taken
at Castle-hill, Dunnet, Wick, and Thurso. A miraculous
draught at this last place is still talked of, not less than
2500 being taken at one tide within the memory of
man j and Mr Smollet informs us, that, in the neigh¬
bourhood, above 300 good salmon have been taken
at one draught of the net. In the month of November,
great numbers of seals are taken in the caverns that
open into the sea, and run some hundreds of yards un¬
der ground. The entrance of these caverns is narrow,
but the inside lofty and spacious. The seal hunters en¬
ter these in small boats with torches, which they light
as soon as they land, and then with loud shouts alarm
the animals, which they kill with clubs as they attempt
to pass. This is a hazardous employment 5 for, should
the wind blow hard from sea, these adventurers are
inevitably lost. Sometimes a large species of seals, 12
feet long, have been killed on this coast j and it is said
the same kind are found on the rock Hiskir, one of the
Western islands. During the spring, great quantities
of lump fish resort to this coast, and are the prey of
the seals, as appears from the number of skins of those
fishes which at that season float ashore. At certain
times also the seals seem to be visited by a great mor¬
tality } for, at those times, multitudes of them are seen
Bower
Canisby
Dunnet
Halkirk
Latheron
01 rick
Reay
Thurso
Wattin
Wick
Population
hi inS’
1287
1481
I235
3°75
3675
^7S
2262
2963
1424
3938
22,215
Population
in 179c—9S.
XS92
J9S°
1399
3180
4006
1001
2298
3l46
1230
5000
24,802
Total
Population in 1811, 23,419
See Caithness, Supplement.
CAIUS, Kaye, or Keije, Dr John, the founder of
Caius College in Cambridge, was born at Norwich in
1510. He was admitted very young a student in
Gonville Hall in the above-mentioned university; and
at the age of 21 translated from Greek into Latin some
pieces of divinity, and into English Erasmus’s para¬
phrase on Jude, &c. From these his juvenile labours, it
seems probable that he first intended to prosecute the
study of divinity. Be that as it may, he travelled to
Italy, and at Padua studied physic under the celebrated
Montanus. In that university he continued some time,
where we are told he read Greek lectures with great
applause. In 1543, he travelled through part of Italy,
Germany, and France ; and returning to England com¬
menced doctor of physic at Cambridge. He practised
first at Shrewsbury, and afterwards at Norwich ; but
removing to London, in 1547, ^ie was admitted fellow
of the college of physicians, to which he was several
years president. In 1557, being then physician to
Queen Mary, and in great favour, he obtained a licence
to advance Gonville-hall, where he had been educated,
into a college j which he endowed with several consi¬
derable estates, adding an entire new square at the ex¬
pence ol 1834I. Of this college he accepted the mas¬
tership, which he kept till within a short time of his
death. He was physician to Edward VI. Queen Mary,
and Queen Elizabeth. Towards the latter end of his
life he retired to his own college at Cambridge j where,
having resigned the mastership to Dr Legge of Nor¬
wich, he spent the remainder of his life as a fellow
commoner. He did in July 1573, aged 63 ; and was
buried in the chapel of his own college. Dr Caius was
CAL [ 57 ] CAL
daitts a learned, active, benevolent man. In I5J7> ^ie erect-
D ed a monument in St Paul’s to the memory of the fa-
Talabash. moug j^Bacre> jn 1J63, he obtained a grant for the
' college of physicians to take the bodies of two male¬
factors annually for dissection $ and he was the inven¬
tor of the insignia which distinguish the president from
the rest of the fellows. He wrote, 1. Annals of the
college from 1555 to 1572. 2. Translation of several
of Galen’s works $ printed at different times abroad.
3. Hippocrates de Medicamentis; first discovered and
published by our author; also De ratione victus, Lov.
1556,8vo. 4. De Medendi Methodo. Basil, 1554. Lond.
1556, 8vo. 5. Account of the sweating sickness in
England. Lond. 1556, 1721. It is entitled De ephe¬
mera Britannica. 6. History of the university of Cam¬
bridge. Lond. 1568, 8vo. 1374, 4to. in Latin. 7. De
thermis Britannicis. Doubtful whether ever printed.
8. Of some rare plants and animals. Lond. 1570.
5. De canibus Britannicis, 1570, 1729. 10. De pro-
nunciatione Graces et Latinee Linguae. Lond. 1574.
II, De libris propriis. Lond. 1570. Besides many
other works which never were printed.
CAKE, a finer sort of bread, denominated from its
flat round figure.
We meet with different compositions under the name
of cakes ; as seed-cakes, made of flour, butter, cream, su-,
gar, coriander, and caraway seeds, mace, and other
spices and perfumes, baked in the oven; plum-cake,
made much after the same manner, only with fewer
seeds, and the addition of currants : pan-cakes, made
of a mixture of flour, eggs, &c. fried j cheese-cakes,
♦ made of cream, eggs, and flour, with or without cheese-
curd, butter, almonds, &c. $ oat-cakes, made of fine
oaten flour, mixed with yeast and sometimes without,
rolled thin, and laid on an iron or stone to bake over
a slow fire ; sugar-cakes, made of fine sugar beaten and
searced with the finest flour, adding butter, rose-water,
and spices j rose-cakes, (placentae rosacece), are leaves
of roses dried and pressed into a mass, sold in the
shops for epithems.
The Hebrews had several sorts of cakes, which they
offered in the temple. They were made of the meal
either of wheat or barley ; they were kneaded some¬
times with oil and sometimes with honey. Sometimes
they only rubbed them over with oil when they were
baked, or fried them with oil in a frying-pan upon the
fire. Jn the ceremony of Aaron’s consecration, they
Sacrificed a calf and two rams, and offered unleavened
bread, and cakes unleavened, tempered with oil, and
wafers unleavened, anointed with oil} the whole made
of fine wheaten flour. Ex. xxix. I, 2.
CAKET, a town of Asia, in Persia, in the province
of Curdistan near Mount Caucasus. Its trade consists
chiefly in silks. E. Long. 46. 15. N. Lat. 43. 32.
CALABASH, in Commerce, a light kind of vessel
formed of the shell of a gourd, emptied and dried, serv¬
ing to put divers kinds of goods in, as pitch, rosin,
and the like. The word in Spanish, Calabacca, which
signifies the same. The Indians also, both of the North
and South sea, put the pearls they have fished in cala¬
bashes, and the negroes on the coast of Africa do the
same by their gold dust. The smaller calabashes are
also frequently used by these people as a measure, by
which they sell these precious commodities to the Eu¬
ropeans. The same vessels likewise serve for putting
Vol. V. Part I. t
liquors in} and do the office of cups, as well as bottles, Calabash,
for soldiers, pilgrims, &c. Calabria.
CALABAsn-Tree. See Crescektia, Botany Index.'“"v—~
African CALABASH-Tree. See Adansonia, Botany
Index.
CALABRIA, a country of Italy, in the kingdom
of Naples, divided into Calabria Ultra and Calabria
Citra, commonly called Ulterior and Citerior, or Far¬
ther and Hither Calabria. Calabria Citerior is one of
the 12 provinces of the kingdom of Naples } and bound¬
ed on the south by Calabria Ultra, on the north by
Basilicata, and on the west and east by the sea : Co-
sensa is the capital. Calabria Ultra is washed by the
Mediterranean sea on the east, south, and west, and
bounded by Calabria Citra on the north. Reggio is
the capital town.
This country has been almost entirely desolated by
the earthquakes of 1783. The reiterated shocks ex¬
tended from Cape Spartivento to Amantea above the
gulf of St Eufemia, and also affected that part of Sicily
which lies opposite to the southern extremity of Italy.
Those of the 5th and 7th of February, and of the 28th
of March, were the most violent, and completed the
destruction of every building throughout the above-
mentioned space. Not one stone was left upon another
south of the narrow isthmus of Squillace : and what is
more disastrous, a very large proportion of the inhabi¬
tants was killed by the falling of their houses, near
40,000 lives being lost. Some persons were dug out
alive after remaining a surprising length of time buried
among the rubbish. Messina became a mass of ruins}
its beautiful paiazzata was thrown in upon the town,
and its quay cracked into ditches full of water.
Reggio was almost destroyed} Tropea greatly damaged}
and every other place in the province levelled to the
ground.
Before and during the concussion the clouds gather¬
ed, and then hung immoveable and heavy over the
earth. At Palmi the atmosphere wore so fiery an
aspect, that many people thought part of the town was
burning. It was afterwards remembered that an un¬
usual heat had affected the skins of several persons just
before the shock } the rivers assumed a muddy ash-
coloured tinge, and a sulphureous smell was almost ge¬
neral. A frigate passing between Calabria and Lipari
felt so severe a shock, that the steersman was thrown
from the helm, and the cannons were raised upon their
carriages, while, all around, the sea exhaled a strong
smell of brimstone.
Stupendous alterations were occasioned in the face
of the country } rivers, choked up by the falling in of
the hills, were converted into lakes, which if not speedily
drained by some future convulsion, or opened by human
labour, will fill the air with pestilential vapours, and
destroy the remnants of population. Whole acres of
ground, with houses and trees upon them, were broken
off from the plains, and washed many furlongs down
the deep hollows which the course of the rivers had
worn} there, to the astonishment and terror of behold¬
ers, they found a new foundation to fix upon, either
in an upright or an inclining position. In short, every
species of phenomenon, incident to these destructive
commotions of the earth, was to be seen in its utmost
extent and variety in this desolated country. Their
Sicilian majesties, with the utmost expedition, dis-
H patched
CAL [ 58 ] CAL
Calabria patched vessels loaded with every tiling that could be
*1 thought of on the occasion for the relief and accommo-
""1iils' dation of the distressed Calabrians •, a general officer
went from Naples with engineers and troops to direct
the operations of the persons employed in clearing
away and rebuilding the houses, and to defend the
property of the sufferers. The king ordered this offi¬
cer to take all the money the royal treasures could sup¬
ply or borrow ; for, rather than it should be wanting
on this pressing call, he was determined to part with
his plate, nay the very furniture of his palace. A
messenger sent off from a town near Reggio, on the
8th of February, travelled four days vrithout shelter,
and without being able to procure a morsel of bread ■,
lie supported nature with a piece of cheese which he
had brought in his pocket, and the vegetables he was
lucky enough to find near the road. To add to all
their other sufferings, the Calabrians found themselves
and the miserable wreck of their fortunes exposed to
the depredations of robbers and pirates. Villains
landed from boats and plundered several places, and
thieves went even from Naples in search of booty : In
order to strike a greater terror, they dressed themselves
like Algerines ; but were discovered and driven off. To
this accumulated distress succeeded a most inclement
season, which obstructed every effort made to alleviate
it ; and almost daily earthquakes kept the inhabitants
in continual dread, not of being destroyed by the fall
of houses, for none were left, but of being swallowed
up by the splitting of the earth, or buried in the waves
by some sudden inundation.
The two Calabrias in 1815 contained 750,000 inha¬
bitants.
CALADE, in the manege, the descent or sloping
declivity of a rising manege ground, being a small emi¬
nence upon which we ride down a horse several times,
putting him to a short gallop, with his fore hams in the
air, to learn him to ply or bend his haunches, and form
his stop upon the aides of the calves of the legs, the
stay of the bridle, and the caveson seasonably given.
CALAGORINA, or Calaguris, distinguished
by the surname Nastca, in Ancient Geography, a city
of the Vascones in the Hither Spain: now Cala-
horra.
CALAHORRA, an episcopal town of Spain, in
Old Castile, seated on a fertile soil, on the side of a hill
which extends to the banks of the river Ebro. W.
Long. 2. 7. N. Lat. 42. 12.
CALAIS, a strong town of France, in Lower Pi¬
cardy, now called the department of the Straits of Ca¬
lais, which has a citadel and a fortified harbour. It
is built in the form of a triangle, one side of which
is towards the sea. The citadel is as large as the
town, and has but one entrance. It is a trading
place, with handsome streets, and several churches and
monasteries j the number of inhabitants in 1812 was
7600.
Calais was taken by Edward III. in 1347. Hither
he marched his victorious army from Cressy, and in¬
vested the town on the 8th of September. But find¬
ing that it could not be taken by force without the
destruction of great multitudes of his men, he turned
the siege into a blockade ; and having made strong in-
trenchments to secure his army from the enemy, huts
to protect them from the inclemency of the weather, Calais
and stationed a fleet before the harbour to prevent the y—
introduction of provisions, he resolved to wait with
patience till the place fell into his hands by famine.
The besieged, discovering his intention, turned seven¬
teen hundred women, children, and old people, out
of the town, to save their provisions 5 and Edward
had the goodness, after entertaining them with a din¬
ner, and giving them two-pence a piece, to suffer them
to pass. The garrison and inhabitants of Calais hav¬
ing at length consumed all their provisions, and even
eaten all the horses, dogs, cats, and vermin in the
place, the governor John de Vienne appeared upon
the walls, and offered to capitulate. Edward greatly
incensed at their obstinate resistance, which had de¬
tained him eleven months under their walls, at an im¬
mense expence both of men and money, sent Sir Wal¬
ter Manny, an illustrious knight, to acquaint the go¬
vernor that he would grant them no terms \ but that
they must surrender at discretion. At length, how¬
ever, at the spirited remonstrances of the governor,
and the persuasions of Sir Walter Mauny, Edward
consented to grant their lives to all the garrison and
inhabitants, except six of the principal burgesses, who
should deliver to him the keys of the city, with ropes
about their necks. When these terms were made
known to the people of Calais, they were plunged into
the deepest distress j and after all the miseries they
had suffered, they could not think without horror of
giving up six of their fellow citizens to certain death,
in this extremity, when the whole people were drown¬
ed in tears, and uncertain what to do, Eustace de St
Pierre, one of the richest merchants in the place, step¬
ped forth, and voluntarily offered himself to be one
of these six devoted victims. His noble example was
soon imitated by other five of the most wealthy citi¬
zens. These true patriots, barefooted and bareheaded,
with ropes about their necks, were attended to the
gates by the whole inhabitants with tears, blessings,
and prayers for their safety. When they were brought
into Edward’s presence, they laid the keys of the
city at his feet, and falling on their knees, implored
his mercy in such moving strains, that all the noble
spectators melted into tears. The king’s resentment
was so strong for the many toils and losses he had suf¬
fered in this tedious siege, that he was in some danger
of forgetting his usual humanity j when the queen,
falling upon her knees before him, earnestly begged
and obtained their lives. This great and good princess
conducted these virtuous citizens, whose lives she had
saved, to her own apartment, entertained them honour¬
ably, and dismissed them with presents. Edward took
possession of Calais, August 4.5 and in order to secure
a conquest of so great importance, and which had cost
him so dear, he found it necessary to turn out all the
ancient inhabitants, who had discovered so strong an
attachment to their native prince, and to people it with
English.
Calais remained in subjection to England till the
reign of Queen Mary, when it was retaken by the
duke of Guise. This general began the enterprise by
ordering the privateers of Normandy and Bretagne to
cruise in the Channel, more especially in the very straits
of Calais j he then detached the duke of Nevers with
a
CAL [ 59 ] CAL
1 Calais, a considerable army towards the country of Luxetn-
““-v—burg; a motion which drew the attention of the Spa¬
niards that way: when all things were ready, he pro¬
cured an application from the people of Boulogne,
for a body of troops to secure them against the incur¬
sions of the Spaniards; he sent a strong detachment at
their request, which was followed by another, under
colour of supporting them ; then repaired thither in
person, secure that his officers would follow his in¬
structions : and thus, on the first day of the new year,
1557, Calais was invested. He immediately attacked
I Fort St Agatha, which the garrison quitted and re¬
tired into the fort of Nicolai, which, together with
the Risbank, the besiegers attacked at the same time,
granted good terms to the officer who commanded
in the former, but obliged the garrison of the latter to
surrender prisoners of war. By these means he open¬
ed a communication with the sea: and having re¬
ceived from on board the ships an immense quantity
of hurdles, his infantry, by the help of them, passed
the morasses that lie round the town. He then made
a false attack at the water-gate, which drew the atten¬
tion of the garrison, who fatigued themselves exceed¬
ingly in making intrenchments behind the breach ; but
when they had finished their work, he began to fire
upon the castle, where the walls were very old, and
had been neglected on account of the breadth of the
I ditch, which was also very deep when the tide was in ;
but a great breach being made, the duke caused it
to be attacked in the night, and during the ebb, the
soldiers passing almost up to the shoulders. The place
was easily carried, though the governor made three
vigorous attacks before the break of day, in order to
dislodge them ; but the French, though they lost a
considerable number of men, kept their posts. The
governor then saw that it was impracticable to de¬
fend the place any longer, and therefore made the
best terms for himself that he could obtain, which,
however, were not very good : and thus, in eight days,
the duke of Guise recovered a fortress which cost the
victorious Edward HI. a whole year’s siege, and which
had been now 210 years in the possession of the Eng¬
lish, without so much as a single attempt to retake it.
There are very different accounts given of this matter.
Some English historians say, that King Philip pene¬
trated the design of the French upon this fortress,
gave notice of it in England, and offered to take the
defence of it upon himself; but that this, out of jea¬
lousy, w'as refused, it being believed to be only an
artifice to get a place of such consequence into his own
hands. The truth of the matter seems to be this:
’Ihe strength of Calais consisted in its situation and
outworks, which required a very numerous garrison ;
but this being attended with a very large expence, the
best part of the troops had been sent to join Philip’s
army, so that the governor had not above 500 men,
and there were no more than 250 of the townsmen
able to bear arms. As to ammunition, artillery, and
provisions, the French found there abundance : but
with so slender a garrison, it was impossible to make
a better defence ; and therefore when the Lord Went¬
worth, who w'as governor, and whom the French call
Ford Dumfort, w’as tried by his peers for the loss
ol this place, lie was acquitted. The duke obliged
ail the English inhabitants to quit Calais; and bestow¬
ed the government of it upon Des Tormes, who was Calais
soon after made a marshal of France. ||
The fortifications of Calais are good; but its great- Calamine,
est strength is its situation among the marshes, which ~"v
may be overflowed at the approach of an enemy. The
harbour is not so good as formerly, nor will it admit
vessels of any great burden. In times of peace, there
are packet boats going backward and forward twice a
week from Hover to Calais, which is 21 miles distant.
E. Long. 2. 6. N. Lat. 50. 58.
Calais and Zetes, in fabulous history, sons of Bore¬
as and Orythia, to whom the poets attributed wings ;
they went on the voyage to Colchis with the Argonauts ;
delivered Phineus from the harpies; and were slain by
Hercules.
CALAMANCO, a sort of woollen stuff manufac¬
tured in England and Brabant. It has a fine gloss; and
is checkered in the warp, whence the checks appear
only on the right side. Some calamancoes are quite
plain, others have broad stripes adorned with flowers,
some with plain broad stripes, some w’ith narrow stripes,
and others watered.
CALAMARIiE, in Botany, an order of plants in
the Fragmenta methodi natundis of Linnaeus; in which
he has the following genera, viz. bobartia, scirpus, cy-
perus, eriophorum, carex, schoenus, flagellaria, juncus.
See Botany.
CAL AM AT A, a considerable town of Turkey in
Europe, in the Morea, and province of Belvedera. It
was taken by the Venetians in 1685 : but the Turks
retook it afterwards with all the Morea. It stands on
the river Spinarza, eight miles from the sea. E. Long.
22. 15. N. Lat. 37. 8.
CALAMINE, Calamy, Lapis Calaminaris or Cad--
mia Fossilis, a sort of stone or mineral containing zinc,
iron, and sometimes other substances. It is considera¬
bly heavy; moderately hard and brittle, or of a con¬
sistence betwixt stone and earth : the colour sometimes
whitish or grey ; sometimes yellowish, or of a deep yel¬
low ; sometimes red ; sometimes brown or blackish. It is
plentiful in several places of Europe, as Hungary, Tran¬
sylvania, Poland, Spain, Sweden, Bohemia, Saxony,
Goslar, France, and England, particularly in Derby¬
shire, Gloucestershire, Nottinghamshire, and Somerset¬
shire, as also in Wales. The calamine of England, how¬
ever, is by the best judges allowed to be superior in qua¬
lity to that of most other countries. It seldom lies very
deep, being chiefly found in clayey grounds near the sur¬
face. In some places it is mixed with lead ores. It is a
true ore of zinc, and is used as an ingredient in making of
brass.—Newman relates various experiments with this
mineral, the only result of which was to show that it. con¬
tained iron as well as zinc. The most remarkable are the
following; A saturated solution of calamine in the marine
acid, .concentrated by evaporating part of the liquor, ex¬
hibits in the cold an appearance of fine crystals, which on
the application of warmth dissolve and disappear. A lit¬
tle of this concentrated solution tinges a large quantity of
water of a bright yellow colour ; and at the same time
deposites by degrees a fine, spongy, brownish precipitate.
Blue dissolved inthissolution,and afterwards inspissated,
forms an extremely slippery tenacious mass, which does
not become dry, and, were it not too expensive, might
be of use for entangling flies, caterpillars, &c. Sulphur
boiled in this solution seems to acquire some degree of
H 2 transparency.
CAL ; [
Calamine transparency.—-This mineral is an article in the materia
U medica: but before it comes to the shops is usually roast-
Calamy. e[J or calcined, in order to separate some arsenical or sul-
1L ^ ’ phureous matter which in its crude state it is supposed
to contain, and to render it more easily reducible into
a fine powder. In this state it is employed in collyria
against defluxions of thin acrid humours upon the eyes,
for drying up moist running ulcers, and healing exco¬
riations. It is the basis of an officinal epulotic CERATE.
There is another substance from which this semi-me¬
tal is also obtained. This is called cadmia fornacum or
cadmia of the furnaces, to distinguish it from the other.
This is a matter sublimed when ores containing zinc,
like those of Rammelsberg, are smelted. This cadmia
consists of the flowers cf the semi-metal sublimed
during the fusion, and adhering to the inner surfaces
of the walls of furnaces, where they suffer a semi¬
fusion, and therefore acquire some solidity. So great
a quantity of these is collected, that they form very
thick incrustations, which must be frequently taken
off.
CALAMINT. See Melissa and Mentha, Bo¬
tany Index.
CALAMUS. See £otany Index. There is but
one species, the rotang. The stem is without branches,
has a crown at top, and is everywhere beset with straight
spines. This is the true Indian cane, which is not
visible on the outside j but the bark being taken off
discovers the smooth stick, which has no marks of spine
on the hark, and is exactly like those which the Dutch
sell to us; keeping this matter very secret, lest travel¬
lers going by should take as many canes out of the
woods as they please. Sumatra is said to be the place
where most of these sticks grow. Such are to be cho¬
sen as are of proper growth between two joints suit¬
able to the fashionable length of canes as they are then
worn ; but such are scarce. The calamus rotang is one
of several plants from which the drug called dragons
blood is obtained.
Calamus, in the ancient poets, denotes a simple
kind of pipe or fistula, the musical instrument of the
shepherds and herdsmen ; usually made either of an
oaten stalk or a reed.
Calamus Aromaticus, or Sweet-scented Flag, in the
materia medica, a species of flag called acorus hy Lin¬
naeus. See Acorus, Botany Index.
Calamus Scriptorius, in antiquity, a reed or rush
to write with. TLhe ancients made use of styles to
write on tables covered with wax; and of reed or rush,
to write on parchment, or Egyptian paper.
CALAMY, Edmund, an eminent Presbyterian di¬
vine, born at London in the year 1600, and educated
at Pembroke-hall, Cambridge, where his attachment
to the Arminian party excluded him from a fellowship.
Dr Felton, bishop of Ely, however, made him his chap¬
lain ; and in 1639? he was chosen minister of St Mary
Aldermary, in the city of London.. Upon the opening
of the long parliament, he distinguished himself in de¬
fence of the presbyterian cause ; and had a principal
hand in writing the famous Smectymnus, which, him¬
self says, gave the first deadly blow to Episcopacy. The
authors of this tract were five, the initials of whose
names formed the name under which it was published;
viz. Stephen Marshal, Edmund Calamy, Thomas
Young, Mathew Newcomen, and William Sparstow.
60 ] CAL
He was after that an active member in the assembly of
divines, was a strenuous opposer of sectaries, and used ^
his utmost endeavours to prevent those violences com¬
mitted after the king was brought from the isle of
Wight. In Cromwell’s time he lived privately, but
was assiduous in promoting the king’s return ; for
which he was afterwards otlered a bishopric, but re¬
fused it. He was ejected for nonconformity in 1662 ;
and died of grief at the sight of the great fire of Lon¬
don.
Calamy, Edmund, grandson to the preceding, (by
his eldest son, Mr Edmund Calamy, who was ejected
from the living of Moxton in Essex on St Bartholo¬
mew’s day 1662) was born in London, April 5. 1671.
After having learned the languages, and gone through
a course of natural philosophy and logic at a private
academy in England, he studied philosophy and civil
law at the university of Utrecht, and attended the lec¬
tures of the learned Grsevius. Whilst he resided here,
an offer of a professor’s chair in the university of Edin¬
burgh was made him by Mr Carstairs, principal of that
university, sent over on purpose to find a person pro¬
perly qualified for such an office. This he declined $
and returned to England in 1691, bringing with him
letters from Grtevius to Dr Pococke, canon of Christ¬
church, and regius professor of Hebrew, and to Dr
Bernard, Savilian professor of astronomy, who obtained
leave for him to prosecute his studies in the Bodleian
library. Having resolved to make divinity his princi¬
pal study, he entered into an examination of the con¬
troversy between the conformists and nonconformists;
which determined him to join the latter ; and coming
to London in 1692, he was unanimously chosen as¬
sistant to Mr Matthew Sylvester at Blackfriars : and in
1694, he was ordained at Mr Annesley’s meeting¬
house in Little St Helena, and soon after was invited
to become assistant to Mr Daniel Williams in Hand-
Alley. In 1702, he was chosen to be one of the lec¬
turers in Salters-hall ; and in 1703, succeeded Mr
Vincent Alsop as pastor of a great congregation in
Westminster. He drew up the table of contents to Mr
Baxter’s history of his life and times, which was sent
to the press in 1696; made some remarks on the work
itself, and added to it an index; and, reflecting on the
usefulness of the book, he saw the expediency of con¬
tinuing it, for Mr Baxter’s history came no lower than
the year 1684. Accordingly he composed an abridge¬
ment ol it, with an account of many other ministers
who were ejected after the restoration of Charles II. ;
their apology, containing the grounds of their non¬
conformity and practice as to stated and occasional
communion with the church of England ; and a con¬
tinuation of their history till the year 1691. This work
was published in 1702. He afterwards published a
moderate defence of nonconformity, in three tracts, in
answer to some tracts of Dr Hoadley. In 1709 Mr
Calamy made a tour to Scotland ; and had the degree
of doctor of divinity conferred on him by the universi¬
ties of Edinburgh, Aberdeen, and Glasgow. In 1713,
he published a second edition of his Abridgement of
Mi Baxter s history of his life and times ; in which',
among other additions, there is a continuation of the
history through King William’s reign, and Queen
Anne’s, down to the passing of the occasional bill; and
m the close 15 subjoined the reformed liturgy, which was
drawn
Calamy.
Calamy
II
€alas.
CAL t ]
drawn up and presented to the bishops in 1661, that
the world may judge (he says in his preface) how fair¬
ly the ejected ministers have been often represented as
irreconcileable enemies to all liturgies.” In 1718, he
wrote a vindication of his grandfather, and several
other persons, against certain reflections cast upon
them by Mr Archdeacon Echard in his History of
England*, and in 1728 appeared his Continuation
of the account of the ministers, lecturers, masters,
and fellows of colleges, and schoolmasters, who were
ejected, after the Restoration in 1660, by or before
the act of uniformity. He died June 3. 1732, great¬
ly regretted not only by the dissenters, but also by
the moderate members of the established church, both
clergy and laity, with many of whom he lived in
great intimacy. Besides the pieces already mention¬
ed, he published a great many sermons on several sub¬
jects and occasions. He was twice married, and had
13 children.
CALANDRE, a name given by the French wri¬
ters to an insect that does vast mischief in granaries^
It is properly of the scarab or beetle class ; it has two
antennae or horns formed of a great number of round
joints, and covered with a soft and short down j from
the anterior part of the head there is thrust out a
trunk, which is so formed at the end, that the crea¬
ture easily makes way with it through the coat or skin
that covers the grain, and gets at the meal or farina
which it feeds ; the inside of the grains is also the
CAL
on
place where the female deposites her eggs, that the
young progeny may be born with provision about them.
When the female has pierced a grain of corn for this
purpose, she deposites in it one egg, or at the utmost
two, but she most frequently lays them single : these
eggs hatch into small worms, which are usually found
with their bodies rolled up in a spiral form, and after
eating till they arrive at their full growth, they are
changed into chrysales, and from these in about a
fortnight comes out the perfect calandre. The fe¬
male lays a considerable number of eggs ; and the in¬
crease of these creatures would be very great, but na¬
ture has so ordered it, that while in the egg state, and
even while in that of the worm, they are subject to be
eaten by mites: these little vermin are always very
plentiful in granaries, and they destroy the far greater
number of these larger animals.
GALAS, John, the name of a most unfortunate
Protestant merchant at Thoulouse, inhumanly butcher¬
ed under forms of law cruelly prostituted to shelter the
sanguinary dictates of ignorant Popish zeal. He had
lived 40 years at Thoulouse. His wife was an English
woman of French extraction j and they had five sons j
one of whom, Lewis, had turned Catholic through
the persuasions of a Catholic maid who had lived 30
years in the family. In October 1761, the family
consisted of Calas, his wife, Mark Antony their son,
Peter their second son, and this maid. Antony was
educated for the bar *, but being of a melancholy turn
of mind, w'as continually dwelling on passages from
authors on the subject of suicide, and one night in
that month hanged himself on a bar laid across two
folding doors in their shop. The crowd collected by
the confusion of the family on so shocking a discovery,
took it into their heads that he had been strangled by
die family to prevent his changing his religion, and
that this was a common practice among Protestants.
The officers of justice adopted the popular tale, and
were supplied by the mob with what they accepted as
evidences of the fact. The fraternity of White Peni¬
tents got the body, buried it with great ceremony,
and performed a solemn service for him as a martyr:
the Franciscans did the same ; and after these formali¬
ties no one doubted the guilt of the devoted heretical
family. They were all condemned to the torture, to
bring them to confession : they appealed to the parlia¬
ment j who, as weak and as wicked as the subordinate
magistrates, sentenced the father to the torture, ordi¬
nary and extraordinary, to be broken alive upon the
wheel, and then to be burnt to ashes. A diabolical
decree ! which, to the shame of humanity, was actu¬
ally carried into execution. Peter Calas, the other
son was banished for life ; and the rest were acquitted.
The distracted widow found some friends, and among
the rest M. Voltaire, who laid her case before the
council of state at Versailles, and the parliament of
Thoulouse was ordered to transmit the proceedings.
These the king and council unanimously agreed to an¬
nul $ the capitoul or chief magistrate of Thoulouse was
degraded and fined j old Calas was declared to have
been innocent 5 and every imputation of guilt was re¬
moved from the family, who also received from the
king and clergy considerable gratuities.
CALASH, or Calesh, a small light kind of cha¬
riot or chair, with very low wheels, used chiefly for
taking the air in parks and gardens. The calash is for
the most part richly decorated, and open on all sides
for the conveniency of the air and prospect, or at most
enclosed with light mantlets of wax-cloth to be opened
and shut at pleasure. In the Philosophical Transac¬
tions we have a description of a new sort of calash go¬
ing on two wheels, not hung on traces, yet easier than
the common coaches, over which it has this further
advantage, that whereas a common coach will over¬
turn if one wheel go on a surface a foot and a half
higher than the other, this will admit of a difference
of 3^ feet without danger of overturning. Add, that
it would turn over and over 5 that is, after the spokes
being so turned as that they are parallel to the hori¬
zon, and one wheel flat over the head of him that
rides in it, and the other flat under him, it will turn
once more, by which the wheels are placed in statu
quo, without any disorder to the horse or rider
CALASIO, Marius, a Franciscan, and professor
of the Hebrew language at Rome, of whom there is
very little to be said, but that he published there, in
the year 1621, a Concordance of the Bible, which
consisted of four great volumes in folio. This work
has been highly approved and commended both by
Protestants and Papists, and is indeed a most admi¬
rable work. For besides the Hebrew words in the
Bible, which are in the body of the book, with the
Latin version over against them , there are, in the
margin, the differences between the Septuagint version
and the Vulgate 5 so that at one view may be seen
wherein the three Bibles agree, and wherein they dif¬
fer. Moreover, at the beginning of every article there
is a kind of dictionary, which gives the signification
of each Hebrew word ; affords an opportunity of com¬
paring it with other oriental languages, viz. with the
Syriac, Arabic, and Chaldee } and is extremely useful
for.
Calas
II.
Calasio.
CAL [ 62 ] CAL
Calasio for determining more exactly the true meaning of the
|| Hebrew words.
Calauria. CALASIRIS, in antiquity, a linen tunic fringed at
'rnJ the bottom, and worn by the Egyptians under a white
woollen garment: but this last they were obliged to
pull off when they entei'ed the temples, being only al¬
lowed to appear there in linen garments.
CALATAJUD, a large and handsome town of
Spain, in the kingdom of Arragon ; situated at the
confluence of the rivers Xalon and Xiloca, at the end
of a very fertile valley, with a good castle on a rock.
W. Long. 2. 9. N. Lat. 41. 22.
CALATHUS, in antiquity, a kind of hand basket
made of light wood or rushes ; used by the women
sometimes to gather flowers, but chiefly after the ex¬
ample of Minerva to put their work in. The figure of
the calathus, as represented on ancient monuments, is
narrow at the bottom, and widening upwards like that
of a top. Pliny compares it to that of a lily. The ca¬
lathus or work basket of Minerva is no less celebrated
among the poets than her distaff.
Calathus was also the name of a cup for wine used
in sacrifices.
CALATOR, in antiquity, a crier, or officer ap¬
pointed to publish something aloud, or call the people
together. The word is formed from kxMu, voco, “ I
call.” Such ministers the pontifices had, whom they
used to send before them when they went to sacrifice
on ferice or holidays, to advertise the people to leave off
work. The magistrates also used calatores, to call the
people to the comitia, both curiata and centuriata. The
officers in the army also had calatores; as had likewise
many private families, to invite their guests to entei’-
tainments.
CALATRAVA, a city of New Castile, in Spain,
situated on the river Guadiana, 45 miles south of To¬
ledo. W. Long. 4. 20. N. Lat. 39. o.
Knights of Calatrava, a military order in Spain,
instituted by Sancho III. king of Castile, upon the
following occasion : When that prince took the strong
fort of Calatrava from the Moors of Andalusia, he gave
it to the Templars, who, wanting courage to defend
it, returned it him again. Then Don Reymond of
the order of the Cistercians, accompanied with several
persons of quality, made an offer to defend the place,
which the king thereupon delivered up to them, and
instituted that order. It increased so much under the
reign of Alphonsus, that the knights desired they
might have a grand master, which was granted. Fer¬
dinand and Isabella afterwards, with the consent of
Pope Innocent VIII. reunited the grand mastership of
Calatrava to the Spanish crown ; so that the kings of
Spain are now become perpetual administrators there¬
of.
The knights of Calatrava bear a cross gules, fleur-
delised with green, &c. Their rule and habit was
originally that of the Cistercians.
CALAURIA, in Ancient Geography, an island of
Greece in the Saronic bay, over against the port of
Troezen, at the distance of 40 stadia. Hither Demos¬
thenes went twice into banishment $ and here he died.
Neptune was said to have accepted this island from
Apollo, in exchange for Delos. The city stood on a
high ridge nearly in the middle of the island, command¬
ing an extensive view of the gulf and its coasts. There Calami*
was his holy temple. The priestess was a virgin, who H
was dismissed when marriageable. Seven of the cities C^cea.
near the island held a congress at it, and sacrificed , U1]m' _
jointly to the deity. Athens, iEgina, and Epidaurus,
were of this number, with Nauplias, for which place
Argos contributed. The Macedonians, when they had
reduced Greece, were afraid to violate the sanctuary,
by forcing from it the fugitives, his suppliants. Anti¬
pater commanded his general to bring away the orators,
who had offended him, alive ; hut Demosthenes could
not be prevailed on to surrender. His monument re¬
mained in the second century, within the enclosure of
the temple. The city of Calauria has been long aban¬
doned. Traces of buildings and of ancient walls appear
nearly level with the ground ; and some stones, in their
places, each with a seat and back forming a little cir¬
cle, once perhaps a bath. The temple, which was of
the Doric order, and not large, as may he inferred
from the fragments, is reduced to an inconsiderable
heap of ruins. The island is now called Poro. It
stretches along before the coast of the Morea in a lower
ridge, and is separated from it by a canal only four sta¬
dia, or half a mile wide. This, which is called Poro
or the Ferry, in still weather may be passed on foot, as
the water is not deep. It has given its name to the
island 5 and also to the town, which consists of about
200 houses, mean and low, with flat roofs j rising on
the slope of a bare disagreeable rock.
CALCADA or St Domingo Calcalda, a town of
Spain, situated in W. Long. 3. 5. N. Lat. 42. 36.
CALCAR, a very strong town of Germany, in the
circle of Westphalia, and duchy of Cleves. It belongs
to the king of Prussia, and is seated near the Rhine,
in E. Long. 5. 51. N. Lat. 41. 45.
Calcar, in glass-making, the name of a small oven
or reverberatory furnace, in which the first calcination
ol sand and salt of potashes is made for the turning
them into what is called frit. This furnace is made in
the fashion of an oven, ten feet long, seven broad in
the widest part, and two feet deep. On one side of it
is a trench six inches square, the upper part of which
is level with the calcar, and separated only from it at
the mouth hy bricks nine inches wide. Into this trench
they put sea-coal, the flame of which is carried into
every part ot the furnace, and is reverberated from the
roof upon the frit, over the furnace of which the smoke
flies very black, and goes out at the mouth of the
calcar 5 the coals burn on iron grates, and the ashes
fall through.
Calcar, Joh?i de, a celebrated painter, was the
disciple of Titian, and perfected himself by studying
Raphael. Among other pieces he drew a Nativity, re¬
presenting the angels around the infant Christ; and so
ordered the disposition of his picture, that the light
all proceeds from the child. He died at Naples, in
I54^> flower of his age. It was he who design¬
ed the anatomical figures oi Vesal, and the portraits of
the painters of Vesari.
CALCAREOUS, something that partakes of the
nature and qualities ol calx, or lime. We say, a
calcareous earth, calcareous stone. See Chemistry
Index.
CALCEARIUM, in antiquity, a donative or lar¬
gess
2
CAL [ 63 ] CAL
'alceariumgess bestowed on Roman soldiers for baying shoes. In
|j monasteries, calcearium denoted the daily service of
Calculus, cleanino- the shoes of the religious.
v~—' CALCEOLARIA. See Botany Index.
CALCHAS, in fabulous history, a famous diviner,
followed the Greek army to Troy. He foretold that
the siege would last ten years ; and that the fleet, which
was detained in the port of Aulis by contrary winds,
would not sail till Agamemnon’s daughter had been sa¬
crificed to Diana. After the taking of Troy, he re¬
tired to Colophon ; where, it is said, he died of grief,
because he could not divine what another of his profes¬
sion, called Mopsus, had discovered.
CALCINATION, in Chemistry, the reducing of
substances to a calx, or powder, by fire. Limestone
is said to be calcined or burned by being deprived of
its carbonic acid, and thus brought to the caustic state.
But when a metallic substance is calcined by being ex¬
posed to strong heat, it assumes the form of powder or
calx, by combining with oxygen. See Chemistry
Index.
CALCINATO, a town of Italy, in the duchy of
Mantua, remarkable for a victory gained over the Im¬
perialists by the French in 1706. E. Long. 9. 55.
N. Lat. 45. 25.
CALCULARY of a Pear, a congeries of little
strong knots dispersed through the whole parenchyma
of the fruit. The calculary is most observed in rough-
tasted or choke pears. The knots lie more continuous
and compact together towards the part where they sur¬
round the ACETARY. About the stalk they stand more
distant j but towards the cork, or stool of the flower,
they still grow closer, and there at last gather into the
firmness of a plum stone. The calculary is no vital or
essential part of the fruit j the several knots whereof it
consists being only so many concretions or precipita¬
tions out of the sap, as we see in urines, wines, and
other liquors.
CALCULATION, the act of computing several
sums, by adding, subtracting, multiplying, or dividing.
See Arithmetic.
Calculation is more particularly used to signify
the computations in astronomy and geometry, for mak¬
ing tables of logarithms, ephemerides, finding the time
of eclipses, &c. See Astronomy, Geometry, and
Logarithms.
CALCULUS, primarily denotes a little stone or
pebble, anciently used in making computations, taking
of suffrages, playing at tables, and the like. In after
times, pieces of ivory, and counters struck of silver,
gold, and other matters, were used in lieu thereof, but
still retaining the ancient names. Computists were by
the lawyers called calculones, when they were either
slaves, or newly freed men j those of a better condition
were named calculatores or numerarii; ordinarily there
was one of these in each family of distinction. The
Roman judges anciently gave their opinions by calculi,
which were white for absolution, and black for con¬
demnation. Hence calculus albus, in ancient writers,
denotes a favourable vote, either in a person to be ab¬
solved and acquitted of a charge, or elected to some
dignity or post j as calculus niger did the contrary. This
usage is said to have been borrowed from the Thracians,
who marked their happy or prosperous days by while.
and their unhappy by black, pebbles, put each night in- Calculus,
to an urn. .
Besides the diversity of colour, there were some cal¬
culi also which had figures or characters engraven on
them, as those which were in use in taking the suffra¬
ges both in the senate and at assemblies of the people.
These calculi were made of thin wood, polished and
covered over with wax. Their form is still seen in
some medals of the Cassian family 5 and the manner,of
casting them into the urns, in the medals of the Lici-
nian family. The letters marked upon these calculi
were U. R. for uti rogas, and A. for antique ; the first
of which expressed an approbation of the law, the lat¬
ter a rejection of it. Afterwards the judges who sat
in capital causes used calculi marked with the letter A.
for absolve ; C. for eondemne ; and N. L. for non liquet,
signifying that a more full information was required.
Calculus is also used in ancient geometric writers
for a kind of weight equal to two grains of cicer.
Some make it equivalent to the siliqua, which is equal
to three grains of barley. Two calculi made the cera-
tium.
Calculus, in Mathematics, is a certain method of
performing investigations and resolutions, particularly
in mechanical philosophy. Thus there is the Differ¬
ential calculus, the Exponential, the Integral, the Li¬
teral, and the Antecedental.
Calculus Dff'erentialis, is a method of differen¬
cing quantities, or of finding an infinitely small quan¬
tity, which being taken infinite times, shall be equal to
a given quantity 5 or, it is the arithmetic of the infinite¬
ly small differences of variable quantities.
The foundation of this calculus is an infinitely
small quantity, or an infinitesimal, which is a portion
of a quantity incomparable to that quantity, or that is
less than any assignable one, and therefore account¬
ed as nothing 5 the error accruing by omitting it being
less than any assignable one. Hence two quantities,
only differing by an infinitesimal, are reputed equal.
Thus, in astronomy, the diameter ot the earth is an
infinitesimal, in respect of the distance of the fixed
stars } and the same holds in abstract quantities. I he
term, infinitesimal, therefore, is merely respective, and
involves a relation to another quantity 5 and does not
denote any real ens or being. Now infinitesimals are
called differentials, or differential quantities, when they
are considered as the differences of two quantities. Sir
Isaac Newton calls them moments; considering them
as the momentary increments of quantities, v. g. of a
line generated by the flux of a point, or of a surface
by the flux of a line. The differential calculus, there¬
fore, and the doctrine of fluxions, are the same thing
under different names ; the former given by M. Leib¬
nitz, and the latter by Sir Isaac Newton : each of
whom lays claim to the discovery. There is, indeed, a
difference in the manner of expressing the quantities
resulting from the different views wherein the two au¬
thors consider the infinitesimals : the one as moments,
the other as differences. Leibnitz, and most foreigners,
express the differentials of quantities by the same let¬
ters as variable ones, only prefixing the letter d: thus
the differential of at is called dx: and that of y, dy:
now f/a? is a positive quantity, if a; continually increase 5
negative, if it decrease. The English, with Sir Isaac
Newton,
CAL [ 64 ]
Calculus, Newton, instead otdx write .v (with a dot over it),
*”*"”'* ™ for dy, y, &c. which foreigners object against,, on ac¬
count of that confusion of points, which they imagine
arises when differentials are again differenced j besides,
that the printers are more apt to overlook a point than
a letter. Stable quantities being always expressed by
the first letters of the alphabet d a~o, d b-=oy d c=o ;
wherefore d (#+y—d) —dx-\-dyt and d {x—-yJf(i
=zdx-\-dy. So that the differencing of quantities is
easily performed by the addition or subtraction of their
compounds.
To difference quantities that multiply each other;
the rule is, first, multiply the differential of one factor
into the other factor, the sum of the two factors is the
differential sought: thus, the quantities being jp, y, the
differential will be# dy-\-y dx, i. e. d (x y) = x dy-\-y
d x. Secondly, If there be three quantities mutually
multiplying each other, the factum of the two must
then be multiplied into the differential of the third ;
thus suppose vxy,\etvx=tt then vxy—ty; conse¬
quently d (vxy) —tdy-^-y d t: but d t—vdx-\-x dv.
These values, therefore, being substituted in the ante¬
cedent differential, tdyJ(-ydt, the result is, d(y xy)
"zzv xjly-\-v y dx-\-xy dv. Hence it is easy to appre¬
hend how to proceed where the quantities are more
than three. If one variable quantity increase, while
the other y decreases, it is evident y d x—x d y will be
the differential oixy.
To difference quantities that mutually divide each
other 5 the rule is, first, multiply the differential of the
divisor into the dividend 5 and, on the contrary, the
differential of the dividend into the divisor : subtract
the last product from the first, and divide the remain¬
der by the square of the divisor, the quotient is the
differential of the quantities mutually dividing each
other. See Fluxions.
Calculus Exponentialis, is a method of differencing
exponential quantities, or of finding and summing
up the differentials or moments of exponential quan¬
tities *, or at least bringing them to geometrical con¬
structions.
By exponential quantity, is here understood a power,
whose exponent is variable j v. g. #x. ox. #y. where the
exponent x does not denote the same in all the points
of a curve, but in some stands for 2, in others for 3,
in others for 5, &c.
To difference an exponential quantity j there is no¬
thing required but to reduce the exponential quantities
to logarithmic ones ; which done, the differencing is
managed as in logarithmic quantities. Thus, suppose
the differential of the exponential quantity #y required,
let
Then will y Ixxzl 2;
lxdy-\-
y d x dx
l x dy-\-
%ydx
~d%
CAL
quantities j i. e. from a differential quantity given, to
find the quantity from whose differencing the given'
differential results.
The integral calculus, therefore, is the inverse of
the differential one ; whence the English, who usually
call the differential method fluxions, give this calculus,
which ascends from the fluxions, to the flowing or
variable quantities , or, as foreigners express it, from
the differences to the sums, by the name of the inverse
method of fluxions.
Hence, the integration is known to be justly per¬
formed, if the quantity found, according to the rules
of the differential calculus, being differenced, produce
that proposed to he summed.
Suppose 5 the sign of the sum, or integral quantity,
then sy dx will denote the sum, or integral of the dif¬
ferential y d x.
To integrate, cr sum up a differential quantity: it is
demonstrated, first, that *</#:=#: secondly, s {dx+dy)
rrx-fy: thirdly, s (xdy+y dx~)—xy: fourthly, s {m
71—m n •
 dx—x— *
m m
Calculus.
That is, x't lx dy-\-x^—'d x~d 25.
Calculus Integralis, or Summatorius, is a method of
integrating, or summing up moments, or differential
3
ftfm—id x)~x m : fifthly, s (n : m) x
sixthly, s(y dx—xdy') : y*~x : y. Of these, the fourth
and fifth cases are the most frequent, wherein the dif¬
ferential quantity is integrated, by adding a variable
unity to the exponent, and dividing the sum by the
new exponent multiplied into the differential of the
root j v. g. the fourth case, by (i-fi) d x, i. e.
by m d x.
If the differential quantity to be integrated doth not
come under any of these formulas, its must either be
reduced to an integral finite, or an infinite series, each
of whose terms may be summed.
It may be here observed, that, as in the analysis of
Unites, any quantity may be raised to any degree of
power: but vice versa, the root cannot be extracted
out of any number required j so in the analysis of
infinites, any variable or flowing quantity may be dif¬
ferenced j but vice versa, any differential cannot be in¬
tegrated. And as, in the analysis of Unites, we are not
yet arrived at a method of extracting the roots of all
equations, so neither has the integral calculus arrived
at its perfection $ and as in the former we are obliged
to have recourse to approximation, so in the latter we
have recourse to infinite series, where we cannot attain
to a perfect integration.
Calculus Litcralis, or Literal Calculus, is the
same with specious arithmetic, or algebra, so called
from its using the letters of the alphabet, in contra¬
distinction to numeral arithmetic, which uses figures.
In the literal calculus given quantities are expressed by
the first letters, a, b, c, d; and quantities sought by the
last, a, y, x, &c. Equal quantities are denoted by the
same letters.
Calculus, Antecedental, a geometrical method of
reasoning invented by Mr Glenie, which, without any
consideration of notion or velocity, is applicable to all
the purposes of fluxions. In this method, says Mr
Glenie,. “ every expression is truly and strictly geome¬
trical, is founded on principles frequently made use of
by the ancient geometers, principles admitted into the
very first elements of geometry, and repeatedly used by
Euclid himself. As it is a branch of general geometri¬
cal proportion, or universal comparison, and is derived
from an examination of the antecedents of ratios, hav¬
ing
CAL [ 65 ] CAL
Calculus 'nS given consequents and a given standard of compari-
»c»r. Jn various degrees of augmentation and diminution
they undergo by composition and decomposition, I
have called it the antecedental calculus. As it is
purely geometrical, and perfectly scientific, I have,
since it first occurred to me in 1779, always made use
of it instead of the fluxionary and differential calculi,
which are merely arithmetical. Its principles are to¬
tally unconnected with the ideas of motion and time,
which, strictly speaking, are foreign to pure geometry
and abstract science, though, in mixed mathematics and
natural philosophy, they are equally applicable to every
investigation, involving the consideration of either with
the two numerical methods just mentioned. And as
many such investigations require compositions and de¬
compositions of ratios, extending greatly beyond the
triplicate and subtriplicate, this calculus in all of them
furnishes every expression in a strictly geometrical form.
The standards of comparison in it may be any magni¬
tudes whatever, and are of course indefinite and innu¬
merable } and the consequents of the ratios, compound¬
ed or decompounded, may be either equal or unequal,
homogeneous or heterogeneous. In the fluxionary and
differential methods, on the other hand, 1, or unit, is
not only the standard of comparison, but also the con¬
sequent of every ratio compounded or decompounded.”
See Phil. Trans. Edin. vol. iv.
Some mathematicians, however, are of opinion that
the advantage to be derived from the employment of
this calculus is not so great as the author seems to pro¬
mise from it.
Calculus Minerva, among the ancient lawyers, de¬
noted the decision of a cause, wherein the judges were
equally divided. The expression is taken from the
history of Orestes, represented by .ZEschylus and Eu¬
ripides ; at whose trial, before the Areopagites, for the
murder of his mother, the votes being equally divided
for and against him, Minerva interposed, and gave the
casting vote or calculus in his behalf.
M. Cramer, professor at Marpurg, has a discourse
express, De Calculo Minerva ; wherein he maintains,
that all the effect an entire equality of voices can have,
is to leave the cause in statu quo.
Calculus Tiburtinus, a sort of figured stone, formed
in great plenty about the cataracts of the Anio, and
gther rivers in Italy •, of a white colour, and in shape
oblong, round, or echinated. They are a species of the
stirice lapidece, or stalactites, and generated like them j
and so like sugar plums, that it is a common jest at
Home to deceive the unexperienced by serving them
up as deserts.
Calculus, in Medicine, the disease of the stone in
the bladder or kidneys. The term is Latin, and signifies
2l little pebble. The calculus in the bladder is called
lithiasis; and in the kidneys nephritis. See Medicine
and Surgery.
Human calculi are commonly formed of different
strata or incrustations j sometimes smooth and heavy
like mineral stones ; but often rough, spongy, light,
and full of inequalities or protuberances ; chemically
analyzed, or distilled in an open fire, they yield nearly
the same principles as urine itself, or at least an em-
pyreumatic volatile urinous matter, together with a
great deal of air. They never have, nor can have,
naturally, any foreign matter for a basis j but they may
Vol. V. Part I. +
by accident: an instance of which is related by Dr Calculns,
Percival *. A bougie had unfortunately slipped into Calcutta,
the bladder, and upon it a stone of considerable size^ 7V——
was formed in less than a year. This stone had soY0j^?^*’
much the appearance of chalk, that the doctor waSp#
induced to try whether it could be converted into
quicklime. His experiment succeeded, both with that
and some other calculi; from which he conjectures,
that hard waters which contain calcareous earth may
contribute towards the formation of these calculi.
CALCUTTA, the capital of the province of Ben¬
gal, and of all the British possessions in the East Indies,
is situated on the river Hooghly, a branch of the
Ganges, about 100 miles from the sea, in N. Lat. 23.
and Long. 88. 28. E. from Greenwich. It is but a
modern city, built on the site of a village called
Govindpour. The English first obtained the Mogul’s
permission to settle in this place in the year 1690 ; and
Mr Job Charnock, the company’s agent, made choice
of the spot on which the city stands, on account of a
large shady grove which grew there ; though in other
respects it was the worst he could have pitched upon j
for three miles to the north coast, there is a salt water
lake, which overflows in September, and when the
flood retires in December leaves behind such a quan¬
tity of fish and other putrescent matter, as renders the
air very unhealthy. The custom of the Gentoos throw¬
ing the dead bodies of their poor people into the river
is also very disgustful, and undoubtedly contributes to
render the place unhealthy, as well as the cause already
mentioned.
Calcutta is now become a large and populous city,
being supposed at present to contain 500,000 inhabi¬
tants. It is elegantly built, at least the part inhabited
by the English *, but the rest, and that the greatest
part, is built after the fashion of the cities of India in
general. The plan of all these is nearly the same ;
their streets are exceedingly confined, narrow, and
crooked, with a vast number of ponds, reservoirs, and
gardens interspersed. A few of the streets are paved
with brick. The houses are built, some with brick,
others with mud, and a still greater number with bam¬
boos and mats j all which different kinds of fabrics
standing intermixed with one another, form a very un¬
couth appearance. The brick houses are seldom above
two stories high, but those of mud and bamboos are
only one, and are covered with thatch. The roofs of
the brick houses are flat and terraced. These, how¬
ever, are much fewer in number than the other two
kinds ; so that fires, which often happen, do not some¬
times meet with a brick house to obstruct their progress
in a whole street. Within these 20 or 25 years Cal¬
cutta has been greatly improved both in appearance
and in the salubrity of its air ; the streets have been
properly drained, and the ponds filled j thereby remov¬
ing a vast surface of stagnant water, the exhalations
of which were particularly hurtful. The citadel is
named Fort William, and is superior as a fortress to
any in India $ but is now on too extensive a scale to
answer the purpose for which it was intended, viz. the
holding a post in case of extremity. It was begun on
this extended plan by Lord Clive immediately after
the battle of Plassey. The expence attending it was
supposed to amount two millions sterling.
Calcutta is the emporium of Bengal, and the resi-
I dence
CAL [ 66 ] CAL
Calcutta, dence of the governor-general of India. Its flourish-
' ing state may in a great measure be supposed owing to
the unlimited toleration of all religions allowed here 5
the Pagans being suffered to carry their idols in pro¬
cession, the Mahomedans not being discountenanced,
and the Roman Catholics being allowed a church.—
At about a mile’s distance from the town is a plain
where the natives annually undergo a very strange kind
of penance on the 9th of April ; some for the sins
they have committed, others for those they may
commit, and others in consequence of a vow made by
their parents. This ceremony is performed in the fol¬
lowing manner : Thirty bamboos, each about the height
of 20 feet, are erected in the plain above mentioned.
On the. top of these they contrive to fix a swivel, and
another bamboo of 30 feet or more crosses it, at
each end of which hangs a rope. The people pull
down one end of this rope, and the devotee placing
himself under it, the bramin pinches up a large piece
of skin under hoth the shoulder-blades, sometimes in
the breasts, and thrusts a strong iron hook through
each. These hooks have lines of Indian grass hanging
to them, which the priest makes fast to the rope at the
end of the cross bamboo, and at the same time puts a
sash round the body of the devotee, laying it loosely
in the hollow of the hooks, lest, by the skin’s giving
way, he should fall to the ground. When this is done,
the people haul down the other end of the bamboo j
by which means the devotee is immediately lifted up
30 feet or more from the ground, and they run round
as fast as their legs can carry them. Thus the de¬
votee is thrown out the whole length of the rope,
where, as he swings, he plays a thousand antic tricks j
being painted and dressed in a very particular manner,
on purpose to make him look more ridiculous. Some
of them continue swinging half an hour, others less.
The devotees undergo a preparation of four days for
this ceremony. On the first and third they abstain
from all kinds of food ; but eat fruit on the other
two. During this time of preparation they walk about
the streets in their fantastical dresses, dancing to the
sound of drums and horns j and some to express the
greater ardour of devotion, run a rod of iron quite
through their tongues, and sometimes through their
cheeks also.
Before the war of 1755, Calcutta was commonly
garrisoned by 300 Europeans, W’ho were frequently em¬
ployed in conveying the company’s vessels from Patna,
loaded with saltpetre, piece goods, opium, and raw
silk. The trade of Bengal alone supplied rich cargoes
for 50 or 60 ships annually, besides what was carried
on in small vessels to the adjacent countries. It was
this flourishing state of Calcutta that probably was one
motive for the nabob Surajah Dowla to attack it in
the year 1756. Having had the fort of Cossimbuzar
delivered up to him, he marched against Calcutta with
all his forces* amounting to 70,000 horse and foot,
with 400 elephants, and invested the place on the I cth
of June. Previous to any hostilities, however, he wrote
a letter to Mr Drake the governor, offering to with¬
draw his troops, on condition that he would pay him
his duty on the trade for 15 years past, defray the
expence of his army, and deliver up the black mer¬
chants who were in the fort. This being refused, he
attacked one of the redoubts at the entrance of the
2
town j but was repulsed with great slaughter. On the Calcutts.
16th he attacked another advanced post, but was like- v—y——
wise repulsed with great loss. Notwithstanding this
disappointment, however, the attempt was renewed on
the 18th, when the troops abandoned these posts, and
retreated into the fort 5 on which the nabob’s troops
entered the town, and plundered it for 24 hours. An
order was then given for attacking the fort j for which
purpose a small breastwork was thrown up, and two
twelve pounders mounted upon it 5 but without firing
oftener than two or three times an hour. The go¬
vernor then called a council of war, when the captain
of the train informed them, that there was not am¬
munition in the fort to serve three days j in conse¬
quence of which the principal ladies were sent on board
the ships lying before the fort. They were followed
by the governor, who declared himself a Quaker, and
left the place to be defended by Mr Holwell the second
in council. Besides the governor, four of the coun¬
cil, eight gentlemen of the company’s service, four
officers, and 100 soldiers, with 52 free merchants, cap¬
tains of ships, and other gentlemen, escaped on board
the ships, where were also 59 ladies, with 33 of their
children. The whole number left in the fort was about
250 effective men, with Mr Holwell, four captains,
five lieutenants, six ensigns, and five Serjeants j as also
14 sea captains, and 29 gentlemen of the factory. Mr
Holwell then having held a council of war, divided
three chests of treasure among the discontented sol¬
diers* making them large promises also, if they be¬
haved with courage and fidelity ; after which he bold¬
ly stood on the defence of the place, notwithstanding
the immense force which opposed him. The attack
was very vigorous $ the enemy having got possession of
the houses, galled the English from thence, and drove
them from the bastions j but they themselves were
several times dislodged by the fire from the fort„
which killed an incredible number, with the loss of
only five English soldiers the first day. The attack,
however, was continued till the afternoon of the 20th j
when many of the garrison being killed and wounded,
and their ammunition almost exhausted, a flag of truce
was hung out. Mr Holwell intended to have availed
himself of this opportunity to make his escape on
board the ships, but they had fallen several miles
down from the fort, without leaving even a single boat
to facilitate the escape of those who remained. In the
mean time, however, the back-gate was betrayed by
the Dutch guard, and the enemy, entering the fort,,
killed all they first met, and took the rest prisoners.
I he fort was taken before six in the evening ; and,
in an hour after, Mr Holwell had three audiences of
the nabob, the last being in the durbar or council..
In all of these the governor had the most positive as¬
surances that no harm should happen to any of the
prisoners j but he was surprised and enraged at finding
on]y 50001* hr the fort instead of the immense trea¬
sures he expected; and to this, as well as perhaps to the
resentment of the jemmidaars or officers, of whom many
were killed in the siege, we may impute the catastrophe
that followed.
As soon as it was dark, the English prisoners, to
the number of 146, were directed by the jemmidaars
who guarded them, to collect themselves into one
body, and sit down quietly under the arched veranda,
or
CAL [ 67 ] CAL
Calcutta, or piazza, to tlie westward of the Black. Hole prison.
—v 1 ' Besides the guard over them, another was placed at
the south end of this veranda, to prevent the escape of
any of them. About 500 gunmen, with lighted
matches, were drawn up on the parade j and soon af¬
ter the factory was in flames to the right and left of
the prisoners, who had various conjectures on this ap¬
pearance. The fire advanced with rapidity on both
sides ; and it was the prevailing opinion of the Eng¬
lish, that they were to be suffocated between the two
fires. On this they soon came to a resolution of rush¬
ing on the guard, seizing their scimitars, and attack¬
ing the troops upon the parade, rather than be thus
tamely roasted to death : but Mr Holwell advanced,
and found the Moors were only searching for a place
to confine them in. At this time Mr Holwell might
have made his escape, by the assistance of Mr Leech,
the company’s smith, who had escaped when the
Moors entered the fort, and returned just as it was
dark, to tell Mr Holwell he had provided a boat,
and would ensure his escape, if he would follow him
through a passage few were acquainted with, and by
which he then entered. This might easily have been
accomplished, as the guard took little notice of itj
but Mr Holwell told Mr Leech, he was resolved to
share the fate of the gentlemen and the garrison j to
which Mr Leech gallantly replied, that “ then he was
resolved to share Mr Holwell’s fate, and would not
leave him.”
. The guard on the parade advanced, and ordered
them all to rise and go into the barracks. Then, with
• their muskets presented, they ordered them to go into
the Black Hole prison ; while others, with clubs and
scimitars pressed upon them so strong, that there was
no resisting it; but, like one agitated wave impelling
another, they were obliged to give way and enter :
the rest following like a torrent. Few among them,
the soldiers excepted, had the least idea of the di¬
mensions or nature of a place they had never seen ; for
if they had, they should at all events have rushed upon
the guard, and been cut to pieces by their own choice
as the lesser evil.
It was about eight o’clock when these 146 unhappy
persons, exhausted by continual action and fatigue,
were thus crammed together into a dungeon about
eighteen feet square, in a close sultry night in Bengal j
shut up to the east and south, the only quarters from
whence air could reach them, by dead walls, and by
a wall and door to the north ; open only to the west
by two windows, strongly barred with iron, from
which they could receive scarce any circulation of fresh
air.
They had been but few minutes confined' before
every one fell into a perspiration so profuse, that no
idea can be formed of it. This brought on a raging
thirst, which increased in proportion as the body was
drained of its moisture. Various expedients were
thought of to give more room and air. Every man
was stripped, and every hat put in motion: they se¬
veral times sat down on their hams j but at each time
several of the poor creatures fell, and were instantly
suffocated or trode to death.
Before nine o’clock every man’s thirst grew into¬
lerable, and respiration difficult. Efforts were again
made to force the door j but still in vain. Many in¬
sults were used to the guards, to provoke them to fire Calcutta,
in upon the prisoners, who grew outrageous, and —
many delirious. “ Water, water,” became the ge¬
neral cry. Some water was brought : but these sup¬
plies, like sprinkling water on fire, only served to
raise and feed the flames. The confusion became ge¬
neral and horrid from the cries and ravings for water;
and some were trampled to death. This scene of mi¬
sery proved entertainment to the brutal wretches
without, who supplied them with water, that they
might have the satisfaction of seeing them fight few:
it, as they phrased it j and held up lights to the bars,
that they might lose no part of the inhuman diver¬
sion.
Before eleven o’clock, most of the gentlemen were
dead, and one-third of the whole. Thirst grew into¬
lerable : but Mr Holwell kept his mouth moist by
sucking the perspiration out of his shirt sleeves, and
catching the drops as they fell, like heavy rain, from
his head and face. By half an hour after eleven, most
of the living were in an outrageous delirium. They
found that water heightened their uneasiness j and
“ Air, air,” was the general cry. Every insult that
could be devised against the guard ; all the opprobrious
names that the viceroy and his officers could be loaded
with, were repeated, to provoke the guard to fire upon
them. Every man had eager hopes of meeting the first
shot. Then a general prayer to heaven, to hasten the
approach of the flames to the right and left of them,
and put a period to their misery. Some expired on
others $ while a steam arose as well from the living as
the dead, which was very offensive.
About two in the morning, they crowded so much
to the windows, that many died standing, unable to fall
by the throng and equal pressure round. When the
day broke, the stench arising from the dead bodies was
insufferable. At that juncture, the soubah, who had
received an account of the havock death had made
among them, sent one of his officers to enquire if the
chief survived. Mr Holwell was shown to him 5 and
near six an order came for their release.
Thus they had remained in this infernal prison
from eight at night until six in the morning, when
the poor remains of 146 souls, being only 23, came
out alive ; but most of them in a high putrid fever.
The dead bodies were dragged out of the hole by the
soldiers, and thrown promiscuously into the ditch of
an unfinished ravelin, which was afterwards filled with
earth.
The injuries which Calcutta suffered at this time,
however, were soon repaired. The place was retaken
by Admiral Watson and Colonel Clive, early in
1757 j Surajah Dowla was defeated, deposed, and put
to death $ and Meer Jaflier, who succeeded him in
the nabobship, engaged to pay an immense sum for
the indemnification of the inhabitants. Since that
time, the immense acquisition of territory by the Bri¬
tish in this part of the world, with the constant state of
security enjoyed by this city, have given an opportunity
of embellishing and improving it greatly beyond what
it was before.—Among these improvements we may
reckon that of Sir William Jones, who on the 15th
of January, I784» instituted a society for inquiring
into the history, civil and natural, the antiquities, arts,
sciences, and literature of Asia j and thus the literature
12 of
Calcutta
II
Calder-
wood.
CAL [
of Europe, and along with it, it is to be hoped, the
arts of humanity, beneficence, and peace, have at
length obtained a footing in the rich empire ot Indos-
( tan, so long a prey to the rapine and violence ot ty¬
rants. See Calcutta, Supplement.
CALDARIUM, in the ancient baths, denoted a
brazen vessel or cistern, placed in The hypocaustum,
full of hot water, to be drawn thence into the ■piscina or
bath, to give it the necessary degree of heat. In this
sense the caldarium stood contradistinguished from the
tepidarium and frigidarium^
Caldarium, also denoted the stove, or sudatory,
being a close vaulted room, wherein, by hot dry lumes,
without water, people were brought to a profuse sweat.
In which sense, caldarium was the same with what was
otherwise denominated vaporarium, sudatorium, and la-
conium ; in the Greek baths, hypocaustum, vTroKxvrst.
CALDERINUS, Domitius, a learned critic, born
at Calderia near Verona. He read lectures upon po¬
lite literature at Rome with great reputation ; and
was the first who ventured to write upon the most
difficult of the ancient poets. He died very young in
1477.
CALDERON, de la Barca, Don Pedro, a Spa¬
nish officer, who after having signalized himself in the
military profession, quitted it for the ecclesiastical, and
then commenced dramatic writer. His dramatic works
make 9 vols. in 4to. and some Spanish authors have
compared him to Shakespeare. He flourished about
the year 1640.
CALDERWOOD, David, a famous divine of
the church of Scotland, and a distinguished writer in
behalf of the Presbyterians, was descended of a good
family in that kingdom 5 and being early designed for
the ministry, he applied with great diligence to the
study of the Scriptures in their original tongues, the
works of the fathers, the councils, and the best writers
on church history. He was settled about the year
1604 at Crelling near Jedburgh. King James I. of
Great Britain, being desirous of bringing the church
of Scotland nearer to a conformity with that of Eng¬
land, laboured earnestly to restore the episcopal autho¬
rity, and enlarge the powers of the bishops who were
then in Scotland. This design was very warmly oppos¬
ed by many of the ministers, and particularly by Mr
David Calderwood 5 who, when Mr James Lavv, bi¬
shop of Orkney, came to visit the presbyteries of Merse
and Tiviotdale, declined his jurisdiction by a paper
under his hand, dated May 5. 1608. But the king
having its success much at heart, sent the earl of Dunbar,
the high-treasurer of Scotland, with Dr Abbot, after¬
ward archbishop of Canterbury, and two other divines,
into that kingdom, with instructions to employ every
method to persuade both the clergy and laity of his
majesty’s sincere desire to promote the good of the
church, and of his zeal for the Protestant religion.
Mr Calderwood did not assist at the general assembly
held at Glasgow, June 8. 1610, in which Lord Dun¬
bar presided as commissioner j and it appears from his
writings, that he looked upon every thing transacted
in it as null and void. In May following, King James
went to Scotland j and on the 17th of June held a par¬
liament at Edinburgh. At that time the clergy met in
one of the churches, to hear and advise with the bi-
shpgs, which kind, of assembly, it seems, was contriv-
a.
68 ] CAL
ed in order to resemble the English convocation. Mr
Calderwood was present at it, but declared publicly
that he did not take any such meetings to resemble a v
convocation ; and being opposed by Dr Whitford and
Dr Hamilton, who were friends to the bishops, he took
his leave of them in these words : “ It is absurd to see
men sitting in silks and satins, and to cry poverty in
the kirk, when purity is departing.” The parliament
proceeded in the meanwhile in the dispatch of business;
and Mr Calderwood, with several other ministers, be¬
ing informed that a bill was depending to empower the
king, with the advice of the archbishops, bishops, and
such a number of the ministry as his majesty should
think proper, to consider and conclude as to matters
decent for the external policy of the church, not re¬
pugnant to the word of God ; and that such conclu¬
sions should have the strength and power of ecclesiasti¬
cal laws ; against this they protested, for four reasons:
1. Because their church was so perfect, that, instead
of needing reformation, it might be a pattern to others.
2. General assemblies, as now established by law, and
which ought always to continue, might by this means
be overthrown. 3. Because it might be a means of
creating schism, and disturb the tranquillity of the
church. 4. Because they had received assurances, that
no attempts should be made to bring them to a confor¬
mity with the church of England. They desired, there¬
fore, that, for these and other reasons, all thoughts of
passing such a law might be laid aside : but in case this
be not done, they protest for themselves and their bre¬
thren who shall adhere to them, that they can yield no
obedience to this law, when it shall be enacted, because
it is destructive of the liberty of the church ; and there¬
fore shall submit to such penalties, and think themselves
obliged to undergo such punishments, as may be in¬
flicted on them for disobeying that law. This protest
was signed by Mr Archibald Simson on behalf of the
members, who subscribed another separate roll, which
he kept lor his justification. This protest was present¬
ed to the clerk register, who refused to read it before
the states in parliament. However, though not read,
it had its effect; lor although the bill had the consent
of parliament, yet the king thought fit to cause it to be
laid aside, and not long after called a general assembly
at St Andrew’s. Soon after the parliament was dis¬
solved, and Mr Calderwood was summoned to appear
before the high commission court at St Andrew’s, on
the 8th of July following, to answer lor his mutinous
and seditious behaviour. July 10th, the king came
to that city in person ; when Mr Calderwood, being
called upon, and refusing to comply with what the
king in person required of him, was committed to prison.
Afterwards the privy council, according to the power
exeicrsed by them at that time, directed him to banish
himself out of the king’s dominions before Michaelmas
next ; and not to return without licence. .Having
applied to the king for a prorogation of his sentence
without success, because he would neithex- acknowledge
his offence, nor promise conformity for the future, he
retired to Holland, where, in 1623, he published his
celebrated piece entitled Altare Damascenum. Mr Gal-
derwood having in the year ^24 been afflicted with
a long fit of sickness, and nothing having been heard
of him for some time, one Mr Patrick Scott, as Cal-
derwood himself informs us, took it for granted that
be
Calder¬
wood.
CAL [ 69 ] CAL
Waller- lie was dead and thereupon wrote a recantation in his
wood name, as if, before his decease, he had changed his sen-
11 timents. This imposture being detected, Scott went
itedonia. ver jj0]]anc[} and staid three weeks at Amsterdam,
where he made a diligent search for the author of Al-
tare Damascenum, with a design to have dispatched
him. But Calderwood had privately retired into his
own country, where he lived several years. Scott gave
out that the king had furnished him with the matter
for the pretended recantation, and that he only put it
in order. During his retirement, Mr Calderwood col¬
lected all the memorials relating to the ecclesiastical
affairs of Scotland, from the beginning of the reforma¬
tion there down to the death of King James, which
collection is still preserved in the university library of
Glasgow 5 that which was published under the title of
« The True History of Scotland,” is only an extract
from it. In the advertisement prefixed to the last edi¬
tion of his Altare Damascenum, mention is made of his
being minister of Pencaitland near Edinburgh in 1638,
but we find nothing said there, or anywhere else, of his
death.
CALDRON, a large kitchen utensil, commonly
made of copper j having a moveable iron handle, where¬
by to hang it on the chimney hook. The word is form¬
ed from the French chaudron, or rather the Latin cal-
darium.
Boiling in Caldrons {caldariis decoquere), is a ca¬
pital punishment spoken of in the middle-age writers,
decreed to divers sort of criminals, but chiefly to de-
basers of the coin. One of the torments inflicted on
the ancient Christian martyrs, was boiling in caldrons
of water, oil, &c.
CALDWALL, Richard, a learned English phy¬
sician, born in Staffordshire about the year 1513. He
studied physic in Brazen-nose College, Oxford ; and
was examined, admitted into, and made censor of, the
College of Physicians at London, all in one day. Six
weeks after he was chosen one of the elects $ and in the
year 1570, he was made president of that college. Mr
Wood tells us, that he wrote several pieces in his pro¬
fession j but he does not tell us what they were, only
that he translated a book on the art of surgery, written
by one Horatio More, a Florentine physician. We
learn from Camden, that Caldwall founded a chirurgi-
cal lecture in the College of Physicians, and endowed
it with a handsome salary. He died in 1585.
CALEA. See Botany Index.
CALEB, one of the deputies sent hy the Israelites
to take a view of the land of Canaan. He made a
good report of the country, and by this means revived
the spirits of the dejected people *, on which account,
he and Joshua were the only persons who, after their
leaving Egypt, settled in the land of Canaan. Caleb
had for his share the mountains and the city of He¬
bron, from which he drove three kings. Othniel his
nephew having taken the city of Debir, Caleb gave
him his daughter Achsah in marriage j and died, aged
JI4'
CALEDONIA, the ancient name of Scotland.
From the testimonies of Tacitus, Dio, and Solinus, we
find, that the ancient Caledonia comprehended all that
country lying to the north of the rivers Forth and
Clyde. In proportion as the Silures or Cimbri advan¬
ced towards the north, the Caledonians being circum¬
scribed within narrower limits, were forced to transmi- Caledonia,
grate into the islands which crowd the western coasts ——y——<
of Scotland. It is in this period, probably, we ought
to place the first great migration of the British Gael
into Ireland j that kingdom being much nearer to the
promontory of Galloway and Cantire than many of
the Scotish isles are to the continent of North Bri¬
tain.
To the country which the Caledonians possessed,
they gave the name of Cael-doch ; which is the only ap¬
pellation the Scots, wdio speak the Gaelic language,
know for their own division of Britain. Cael-doch is a
compound, made up of Gael or Cuel, the first colony
of the ancient Gauls who transmigrated into Britain,
and dock, a district or division of a country. The Ro¬
mans, by transposing the letter / in Cad, and by soft¬
ening into a Latin termination the ch of dock, formed
the well-known name of Caledonia.
When the tribes of North Britain were attacked by
the Romans, they entered into associations, that, by
uniting their strength, they might be more able to re¬
pel the common enemy. The particular name of that
tribe, which either its superior power or military repu¬
tation placed at the head of the association, was the
general name given by the Romans to all the confede¬
rates. Hence it is that the Mozatce, who with other
tribes inhabited the districts of Scotland lying south¬
ward of the frith, and the Caledonians, who inhabited
the west and north-west parts, have engrossed all the
glory which belonged in common, though in an infe¬
rior degree, to all the other nations settled of old in
North Britain. It was for the same reason that the
name of Mccatce was entirely forgotten by foreign wri¬
ters after the third century, and that of the Caledonians
themselves but seldom mentioned after the fourth.
Britons, Caledonians, Mceatce, Barbarians, are the
names constantly given to the old inhabitants of North
Britain, by Tacitus, Herodian, Dio, Spartian, Vopis-
cus, and other ancient writers. The successors of these
Britons, Caledonians, Moeats, and barharians, are call¬
ed Piets, Scots, and Attacots, by some Roman writers
of the fourth century.
The origin of the appellations Scoti and Picti, intro¬
duced by later Roman authors, has occasioned much
controversy among the antiquarians of these days. The
dispute seems now to be fully decided by some learned
critics of the present century, whose knowledge of the
Gaelic language assisted their investigation. See Scot¬
land, Picts, and Highlanders.
Caledonia, the name of a settlement made by the
Scots on the west side of the gulf of Darien, in 1698 ;
out of which they were starved at the request of the
East India Company j for the English government pro¬
hibited the other colonies sending them any provisions j
so they were obliged to leave it in 1700.
New Caledonia, an island in the South sea, lately
discovered by Captain Cook, and next to New Hol¬
land and New Zealand, is the largest island that hath
yet been discovered in that sea. It extends from 19.
37. to 22. 30. S. Lat. and from 163. 37. to 167. 14.
E. Long. Its length from north-west to south-east is
about 80 leagues : but its greatest breadth does not ex¬
ceed ten leagues. This island is diversified with hills and
valleys of various size and extent. From the hills issue
abundance of rivulets, which contribute to fertilize the
plains..
CAL [7°1 C A L<
Caledonia, plains. Along its nortli-east shore the land is flat j and
'•iy«i ' being well watered, and cultivated by the inhabitants
after their manner, appeared to great advantage to Cap¬
tain Cook’s people. Was it not, indeed, for those fer¬
tile spots on the plains, the whole country might be
called a dreary waste : the mountains and higher parts
of the land are in general incapable of cultivation.
They consist chiefly of rocks, many of which are full of
mundic; the little soil that is upon them is scorched
and burnt up by the sun: it is, however, covered with
coarse grass and other plants, and here and there co¬
vered with trees and shrubs. The country in general
bears a great resemblance to those parts of New
South Wales which lie under the same parallel of lati¬
tude. Several of its natural productions are the same,
and the woods are without underwood as well as in that
country. The whole coast seems to be surrounded by
reefs and shoals, which render all access to it extreme¬
ly dangerous; but at the same time guard the coasts
against the attacks of the wind and sea j rendering it
easily navigable along the coast by canoes, and causing
it abound with fish. Every part of the coast seems to
be inhabited j the plantations in the plains are laid out
with great judgment, and cultivated with much labour.
They begin their cultivation by setting fire to the grass,
&c. with which the ground is covered, but have no
notion of preserving its vigour by manure j they, how¬
ever, recruit it by letting it lie for some years untouched.
On the beach was found a large irregular mass of rock,
not less than a cube of ten feet, consisting of a close
grained stone speckled full of granites somewhat bigger
than pins heads, from whence it seems probable that
some valuable minerals may be found on this island. It
differs from all the other islands yet discovered in the
South sea, by being entirely destitute of volcanic pro¬
ductions. Several plants of a new species were found
here j and a few young bread fruit trees, not then suf¬
ficiently grown to bear fruit, seemed to have come up
without culture ; plantains and sugar canes are here
in small quantity, and the cocoa-nut trees are small
and thinly planted. A new species of passion flower
was likewise met with, which was never known to grow
wild anywhere but in America. Several Caputi ('Me¬
laleuca) trees were also found in flower. Musquetos
here are very numerous. A great variety of birds was
seen of different classes, which were for the most part
entirely new; particularly a beautiful species of par¬
rot before unknown to zoologists. A new species of
fish, of the genus called by Liunseus tetraodon, was
caught here; and its liver, which was very large, pre¬
sented at supper Several species of this genus being
reckoned poisonous, and the present species being re¬
markably ugly, Messrs Fosters hinted their suspicions
of its quality; but the temptations of a fresh meal, and
the assurances of Captain Cook that he had formerly
eaten this identical sort of fish without barm, got the
better of their scruples, and they ale of it. Its oili-
jiess, however, though it had no other bad taste than
what proceeded from this, prevented them from taking
more than a morsel or two. In a few hours after they
had retned to rest they were awaked by very alarm¬
ing symptoms, being all seized with an extreme giddi¬
ness ; their hands and feet were numbed, so that they
were scarcely able to crawl} and a violent languor and
oppression seized them. Emetics were administered
with some success, but sudorifics gave the greatest re- Caledoni,.
lief. Some dogs who had eaten the remainder of the ' y—^
liver were likewise taken ill; and a pig which had eaten
the entrails died soon after, having swelled to an un¬
usual size. The effects of this poison on the gentle¬
men did not entirely go off in less than six weeks.—
Abundance of turtle was seen here. The natives had
not the least notion of goats, hogs, dogs, or cats, and
had not even a name for any of them.
The inhabitants are very stout, tall, and in general
well proportioned $ their features mild j their beards
and hair black, and strongly frizzled, so as to be
somewhat woolly in some individuals : their colour is
swarthy, or a dark chesnut brown. A few were seen
who measured six feet four inches. They are remark¬
ably courteous, not at all addicted to pilfering and
stealing : in which character of honesty they are sin¬
gular, all the other nations in the South sea being re¬
markably thievish. Some wear their hair long, and tie
it up to the crown of their heads: others suffer only a
large lock to grow on each side, which they tie up in
clubs $ many others, as well as all the women, wear it
crept short. They make use of a kind of comb made
ot sticks or hard wood, from seven to nine or ten inches
long, and about the thickness of knitting needles j a
number of these, seldom exceeding 20, but generally
fewer, are fastened together at one end, parallel to and
near one-tenth ot an inch from each other: the ends,
which are a little pointed, will spread out or open like
the sticks of a tan. These combs they always wear in
their hair on one side of their head. Some had a kind
of concave cylindrical stiff black cap, which appeared
to be a great ornament among them, and was supposed
to be worn only by the chiefs and warriors. A large
sheet of strong paper, whenever they got one in ex¬
change, was commonly applied to this purpose. The
men go naked j only tying a string round their middle,
and another round their neck. A little piece of a
brown cloth made of the bark of a fig tree, some¬
times tucked up to the belt, and sometimes pendulous,
scarcely deserves the name of a covering j nor indeed
does it seem at all intended for that purpose. This
piece of cloth is sometimes of such a length, that the
extremity is fastened to a string round the neck ; to
this string they likewise hang small round beads of
a pale green nephritic stone. Coarse garments were
seen among them made of a sort of matting} but they
seemed never to wear them, except when in their ca¬
noes and unemployed. The women seemed to be in a
servile state : they were the only persons of the family
who had any employment, and several of them brought
bundles of sticks and fuel on their backs: those who
had children carried them on their backs in a kind of
satchel. The women also were seen to dig up the earth
in order to plant it. 1 hey are in general of a dark
chesnut, and sometimes mahogany brown ; their sta¬
ture middle-sized, some being rather tall, and their
whole form rather stout and somewhat clumsy. Their
dress is the most disfiguring that can be imagined, and
gives them a thick squat shape 5 it is a short petticoat
or fringe, consisting of filaments or little cords, about
eight inches long, which are fastened to a very long
string, which they have tied several times round their
wa1St. I he filaments, or little ropes, therefore, lie
above each other in several layers, forming a kind of
thick
CAL [ 7i ] CAL
tlfdonia. thick thatch all round the body, but which does not
—y——' near cover the thigh ; these filaments were sometimes
dyed black ; but frequently those on the outside only
were of that colour, the rest being of a dirty grey.
There was not a single instance, during the ship’s stay
in this island, of the women permitting any indecent
familiarity with an European j they took pleasure in
practising the arts of a jilting coquette, but never be¬
came absolute wantons. The general ornaments of
both sexes are ear-rings of tortoise shells ; necklaces,
or amulets, made of both shells and stones j and brace¬
lets made of large shells, which they wear above the
elbows.
The houses, or huts, in New Caledonia, are circu¬
lar, something like a bee-hive, and full as close and
warm j the entrance is by a small door, or long square
hole, just big enough to admit a man bent double :
the side walls are about four feet and a half high 5
but the roof is lofty, and peaked to a point at the top,
above which is a post or stick of wood, which is gene¬
rally ornamented either with carving or shells, or both.
The framing is of small spars, reeds, &c. and both
sides and roof are thick, and close covered with thatch
made of coarse long grass. In the inside of the house
are set up posts, to which cross spars are fastened, and
platforms made for the conveniency of laying any thing
on. Some houses have two floors, one above another ;
the floor is laid with dried grass, and here and there
mats are spread for the principal people to sit or sleep
on. In these houses there was no passage for the smoke
but through the door : they were intolerably smoky,
and so hot as to be insupportable to those unaccustom¬
ed to them : probably the smoke is intended to drive
out the musquetos which swarm here. They commonly
erect two or three of these huts near each other under
a cluster of lofty fig trees, whose leaves are impervious
to the rays of the sun.
The canoes used here are very heavy clumsy vessels $
they are made of twTo trees hollowed out, having a
raised gunnel about two inches high, and closed at each
end with a bulk head of the same height ; so that the
whole is like a long square trough about three feet
shorter than the body of the canoe. Two canoes thus
fitted are fastened to each other about three feet asun¬
der, by means of cross spars, which project about a
foot over each side. Over these is laid a deck or heavy
platform made of plank and small round spai’s, on which
they have a fire-hearth, and generally a fire burning •,
they are navigated by one or two latteen sails, extended
to a small latteen yard, the end of which is fixed in a
nottjh or hole in the deck.
Notwithstanding the inofl’ensive disposition of the
inhabitants of New Caledonia, they are well provided
with offensive weapons j as clubs, spears, darts, and
slings for throwing stones. Their clubs are about two
feet and a half long, and variously formed j some like
a scythe, others like a pick-axe j some have a head like
a hawk, and others have round heads j but all are
neatly made ; many of their darts and spears are no less
neat, and ornamented with carvings. The slings are
as simple as possible j but they take some pains to form
the stones that they use into a proper shape, which is
something like an egg, supposing both ends to be
like the small one. They drive the dart by the assist¬
ance of short cords, knobbed at one end and looped
at the other, called by the seamen beckets. These con- Caledonia
tain a quantity of red wool taken from the vampyre, ||
or great Indian bat. Bows and arrows are wholly un- Calenda-
1 .1 J friniB.
known among them. .
Their language bears no affinity to that spoken in
the other South sea islands, the word ai'rekee and
one or two more excepted. This is the more extra¬
ordinary, as different dialects of one language were
spoken not only in the easterly islands, but at New
Zealand.
A musical instrument, a kind of whistle, was pro¬
cured here. It was a little polished piece of brown
wood about two inches long, shaped like a kind of bell,
though apparently solid, with a rope fixed at the small
end $ two holes were made in it near the base, and ano¬
ther near the insertion of the rope, all which commu¬
nicated with each other ; and by blowing in the up¬
permost, a shrill sound like whistling was produced :
no other instrument was seen among them that had the
least relation to music.
Many of the New Caledonians were seen with pro¬
digiously thick legs and arms, which seemed to be af¬
fected with a kind of leprosy j the swelling was found
to be extremely hard, but the skin was not alike harsh
and scaly in all those who were afflicted with the dis¬
order. The preternatural expansion of the arm or leg
did not appear to be a great inconvenience ; and they
seemed to intimate that they very rarely felt any pain
in it; but in some the disorder began to form blotches,
which are marks of a great degree of virulence. This
disease is probably elephantiasis.
Here they bury their dead in the ground. The
grave of a chief who had been slain in battle here re¬
sembled a large mole-hill, and was decorated with
spears, darts, paddles, &c. all stuck upright in the
ground round about it.
CALEDONIAN Canal, a canal extending across
the Highlands of Scotland, in a north-east and south¬
west direction, from Fort William to Inverness. It
was begun in 1803, ant^ ’s expected to be completed in
1821. See Caledonian Canal, Supplement.
CALEFACTION, the production of heat in a body
from the action of fire, or that impulse impressed by a
hot body on others around it. This word is used in
pharmacy, by way of distinction from coction, which im¬
plies boiling; whereas calefaction is only heating a thing.
CALENBERG, a castle of Germany, in the duchy
of Brunswick and principality of Calenberg. It is
seated on the river Leine, and is 15 miles south of
Hanover. It is subject to the duke of Brunswick Lu¬
nenburg, elector of Hanover, and king of Great Bri¬
tain. E. Long. 9. 43. N. Lat. 52. 20.
Calenberg, a principality of Lower Saxony, and
one of the three parts of the duchy of Brunswick, is
bounded on the north by the duchy of Verden, on the
east by the principality of Zell, on the south by the
principalities of Grubenhagen and Wolfenbuttle, and
on the west by Westphalia. It belongs to the elector
of Hanover.
CALENDAR, in Astronomy and Chronology. See
Kalendar.
Calendar of prisoners, in Law, a list of all the pri¬
soners names in the custody of each respective she-
* See the
CALENDARIUM florae, in Botany, a calendar
containing
"CAL
Valencia- containing an exact register of the respective times in
riiun which the plants of any given province or climate ger-
II niinate, expand, and shed their leaves and flowers, or
C■ileiidei.-'. rjpen an(] flJSpei’Se their seeds. For particulars on this
curious subject, see the articles Defoliatio, Efflo-
rescentia, Frondescentia, Fructescentia, and
Germinatio.
CALENDER, a machine used in manufactories to
press certain woollen and silken stuffs and linens, to
make them smooth, even, and glossy, or to give them
waves, or water them, as may be seen in mohairs and
tabbies. This instrument is composed of two thick
cylinders, or rollers, of very hard and well polished
wood, round which the stuffs to be calendered are
wound : these rollers are placed cross-wise between two
very thick boards, the lower serving as a fixed base,
and the upper moveable by means of a thick screw
with a rope fastened to a spindle, which makes its ax¬
is : the uppermost board is loaded with large stones
weighing 20,ooolb. or more. At Paris they have an
extraordinary machine of this kind, called the royal
calender, made by order of M. Colbert. The lower
table or plank is made of a block of smooth marble,
and the upper is lined with a plate of polished copper.
The alternate motion of the upper board sometimes one
way and sometimes another, together with the prodi¬
gious weight laid upon it, gives the stuff’s their gloss
and smoothness ; or gives them the waves, by making
the cylinders on which they are put roll with great
force over the undermost board. When they would
put a roller from under the calender, they only incline
the undermost board of the machine. The dressing
alone, with the many turns they make the stuff’s and
linens undergo in the calender, gives the waves, or
waters them, as the workmen call it. It is a mistake
to think, as some have asserted, that they use rollers
with a shallow indenture or engraving cut in them.
See Calendering, Supplement.
Calender of Monteith, a district in the south-west
corner of Perthshire in Scotland, from which a branch
of the ancient family of Livingstone had the title of
earl. The chief seat of the family near Falkirk is also
called Calender. Both estate and title were forfeited
in consequence of the possessor being engaged in the
rebellion 1715.
CALENDERS, a sort of Mahometan friars, so
called from Santon Calender! their founder. This San-
ton went bareheaded, without a shirt, and with the
skin of a wild beast thrown over his shoulders. He
wore a kind of apron before, the strings of which were
adorned with counterfeit precious stones. His disciples
are rather a sect of epicures than a society of reli¬
gious. They honour a tavern as much as they do a
mosque ; and think they pay as acceptable worship to
God by the free use of his creatures, as others do by
the greatest austerities and acts of devotion. They
are called, in Persia and Arabia, Abdals, or Abdallat,
i. e. persons consecrated to the honour and service of
God. Their garment is a single coat, made up of a
variety of pieces, and quilted like a rug. They preach
in the market places, and live upon what their auditors
bestow on them. They are generally very vicious per¬
sons : for which reason they are not admitted into any
iiouses.
See Kalends.
See Botany
Index.
CALENTIUS, Elisius, a Neapolitan poet and
prose author. Fie was preceptor to Frederick the son
of Ferdinand king of Naples, and the earliest writer on
the illegality of putting criminals to death, except for
murder. He died in 1503.
CALENTURE, a feverish disorder incident to sai¬
lors in hot countries j the principal symptom of which
is their imagining the sea to be green fields : hence,
attempting to walk abroad in these imaginary places
of delight, they are frequently lost. Vomiting, bleed¬
ing, a spare diet, and the neutral salts, are recommend¬
ed in this disorder ; a single vomit commonly removing
the delirium, and the cooling medicines completing the
cure.
CALEPIN, Ambrosius, an Augustine monk of Ca-
lepio, whence he took his name, in the 16th century.
He is author of a dictionary of eight languages, since
augmented by Passerat and others.
CALES, in Ancient Geography, a municipal city of
some note in Campania, at no great distance from Ca-
silinum. The epithet Calenus is by Horace and Juve¬
nal applied to a generous wine which the territory pro¬
duced.
CALETES, in Ancient Geography, a people of
Gallia Celtica, on the confines of Belgica, situated be¬
tween the sea and the Sequana. Now called le Paix
de Cavx, in Normandy.
CALETURE, a fort on the island of Ceylon, at the
mouth of a river of the same name. The Dutch be¬
came masters of it in 1655 > were afterwards ob¬
liged to leave it. E. Long. 80. 51. N. Lat. 6. 38.
CALF, in Zoology, the young of the ox kind.
There are two ways of breeding calves that are in¬
tended to be reared. The one is to let the calf run
about with its dam all the year round j which is the
method in the cheap breeding countries, and is gene¬
rally allowed to make the best cattle. The other is
to take them from the dam after they have sucked
about a fortnight : they are then to be taught to drink
flat milk, which is to be made but just ■warm for them,
it being very dangerous to give it them too hot. The
best time of weaning calves is from January to May :
they should have milk for 12 weeks after j and a fort¬
night before that is left off, water should be mixed
with the milk in larger and larger quantities. When
the calf has been fed on milk for about a month, lit¬
tle wisps of hay should be placed all about him in
cleft sticks to induce him to eat. In the beginning of
April they should be turned out to grass j only for a
few days they should be taken in for the night, and
have milk and water given them : the same may also
be given them in a pail sometimes in the field, till they
are so able to feed themselves that they do not regard
it. The grass they are turned into must not be too
rank, but shor£ and sweet, that they may like it, and
yet get it with some labour. Calves should always be
weaned at grass y for if it be done with hay and water,
they often grow big-bellied on it, and are apt to rot.
When those among the males are selected which are to
be kept as bulls, the rest should be gelt for oxen : the
sooner the better. Between 10 and 20 days is a pro¬
per
[ 72 ] CAL
CALENDS, in Roman antiquity.
CALENDULA, the Marigold
Calf.
See Che.
istry In
IX.
CAL [73
per age. About London almost all the calves are fat¬
ted for the batcher. The reason of this is, that there
is a good market for them : and the lands there are not
so profitable to breed upon as in cheaper countries.
The way to make calves fat and fine, is the keeping
them very clean j giving them fresh litter every day 5
and the hanging a large chalk stone in some corner
where they can easily get at it to lick it, but where it
is out of the way of being fouled by their dung and
urine. The coops are to be placed so as not to have
too much sun upon them, and so high above the ground
that the urine may run off. They also bleed them
once when they are a month old, and a second time
before they kill them ; which is a great addition to the
beauty and whiteness of their flesh j the bleeding is by
some repeated much oftener, but this is sufficient.
Calves are very apt to be loose in their bowels $ which
wastes and very much injures them. The remedy is
to give them chalk scraped among milk, pouring it
down with a horn. If this does not succeed, they
give them bole armenic in large doses, and use the cold
bath every morning. If a cow will not let a strange
calf suck her, the common method is to rub both her
nose and the calf’s with a little brandy $ this generally
reconciles them after a few smellings.
Golden Calf, an idol set up and worshipped by the
Israelites at the foot of Mount Sinai, in their passage
through the wilderness to the land of Canaan. Our
version makes Aaron fashion this calf with a graving
tool after he had cast it in a mould; the Geneva trans¬
lation makes him engrave it first, and cast it afterwards.
Others, with more probability, render the whole verse
thus : “ And Aaron received them (the golden ear¬
rings), and tied them up in a bag, and got them cast
into a molten calf:” which version is authorised by the
different senses of the word tear, which signifies to tie
up or bind, as well as to shape or form ; and of the
word cherret, which is used both for a graving tool
and a bag. Some of the ancient fathers have been of
opinion that this idol had only the face of a calf, and
the shape of a man from the neck downwards, in imi¬
tation of the Egyptian Isis. Others have thought it
was only the head of an ox without a body. But the
most general opinion is, that it was an entire calf in
imitation of the Apis worshipped by the Egyptians j
among whom, no doubt, the Israelites had acquired
their propensity to idolatry. This calf Moses is said to
have burnt with fire, reduced to powder, and strewed
upon the water which the people were to drink. How
this could be accomplished hath been a question. Most
people have thought that as gold is indestructible, it
could only be burnt by the miraculous power of God j
but M. Stahl conjectures that Moses dissolved it by
■means of liver of sulphur*. The Rabbins tell us
that the people were made to drink of this water in or¬
der to distinguish the idolaters from the rest j for that
as soon as they had drunk of it, the beards of the for¬
mer turned red. The Cabbalists add, that the calf
weighed 125 quintals ; which they gather from the
Hebrew word massekah, whose numerical letters make
125.
CALF-Skms, in the leather manufacture, are prepar¬
ed and dressed by the tanners, skinners, and curriers,
who sell them for the use of the shoemakers, saddlers,
Vol. V. Part I. X
] CAL
bookbinders, and other artificers, who employ them in
their several manufactures.
CALF-Skin dressed in sumach, denotes the skin of this
animal curried black on the hair side, and dyed of an ^
orange colour on the flesh side, by means of sumach,
chiefly used in the making of belts.
The English calf-skin is much valued abroad, and
the commerce thereof very considerable in France and
other countries ; where divers attempts have been made
to imitate it, but hitherto in vain. What is like to
baffle all endeavours for imitating the English calf in
France is, the smallness and weakness of the calves
about Paris $ which at 15 days old are not so big as
the English ones when they oome into the world.
Sea-CALF. See Phoca, Mammalia Index.
CALI, a town of Popayan in South America, seat¬
ed in a valley of the same name on the river Cauca.
The governor of the province usually resides there.
W. Long. 78. 5. N. Lat. 3. 15.
CALIBER, or Calliper, properly denotes the
diameter of any body $ thus we say, two columns of
the same caliber, the caliber of the bore of a gun, the
caliber of a bullet, &c.
Caliber compasses, a sort of compasses made with
arched legs to take the diameter of round or swelling
bodies. See Compasses.
Caliber compasses are chiefly used by gunners for
taking the diameters of the several parts of a piece of
ordnance, or of bombs, bullets, &c. Their legs are
therefore circular, and move on an arch of brass,
whereon is marked the inches and half inches, to show
how far the points of the compasses are opened asun¬
der.
Some are also made for taking the diameter of the
bore of a gun or mortar.
The gaugers also sometimes use calibers, to em¬
brace the two heads of any cask, in order to find its
length.
The caliber used by carpenters and joiners, is a
piece of board notched triangular-wise in the middle
for the taking of measure.
Caliber Rule, or Gunners Callipers, is an in¬
strument wherein a right line is so divided as that the
first part being equal to the diameter of an iron or
leaden ball of one pound weight, the other parts are to
the first as the diameters of balls of two, three, four,
&c. pounds are to the diameter of a ball of one pound.
The caliber is used by engineers, from the weight of
the ball given, to determine its diameter or caliber, or
vice versa.
The gunners callipers consist of two thin plates of
brass joined by a rivet, so as to move quite round each
other : its length from the centre of the joint is be¬
tween six inches and a foot, and its breadth from one
to two inches j that of the most convenient size is
about nine inches long. Many scales, tables, and pro¬
portions, &c. may be introduced on this instrument j
but none are essential to it, except those for taking the
caliber of shot and cannon, and for measuring the mag¬
nitude of salient and entering angles. The most
complete callipers is exhibited Plate CXXXIII. the
furniture and use of which we shall now briefly de-
cribe. Let the four faces of this instrument be distin¬
guished by the letters A, B, C, D: A and D consist
K of
Calf
II
Caliber.
CAL [ 74 ] CAL
Caliber, of a circular head and leg $ B and C consist only of a
 v~—leg.
On the circular head adjoining to the leg of the face
A are divisions denominated shot diameters: which
show the distance in inches and tenths of an inch ot the
points of the callipers when they are opened ; so that
if a ball not exceeding ten inches be introduced be¬
tween them, the bevil edge E marks its diameter a-
mong these divisions.
On the circular bevil part E of the face B is a scale
of divisions distinguished by lb. weight of iron shot.
When the diameter of any shot is taken between the
points of the callipers, the inner edge of the leg A
shows its weight in avoirdupois pounds, provided it be
lib. 4, I, 14, 2, 3> 4> 5h 6, 8, 9, 12, 16, 18, 24, 26,
32, 36, or 42 ; the figures nearest the bevil edge an¬
swering to the short lines in the scale, and those be¬
hind them to the longer strokes. This scale is con¬
structed on the following geometrical theorem, viz.
that the weights of spheres are as the cubes of their
diameters.
On the lower part of the circular head of the face
A is a scale of divisions marked bores f guns ; for the
use of which, the legs of the callipers are slipped across
each other, till the steel points touch the concave sur¬
face of the gun in its greatest breadth; then the bevil
edge F of the face B will cut a division in the scale
showing the diameter of the bore in inches and
tenths.
Within the scales of shot and bore diameters on the
circular part of A, are divisions marked pounders : the
inner figures |, i^, 3, Sh I2> 1^> corre¬
spond to the longest lines j and the figures, 1, 2, 4, 6,
9, 16, 24, 32, 42, to the short strokes. When the bore
of a gun is taken between the points of the callipers,
the bevil edge F will either cut or be near one of these
divisions, and show the weight of iron shot proper for
that gun.
On the upper half of the circular head of the face A
are three concentric scales of degrees $ the outer scale
consisting of 180 degrees numbered from right to left,
10, 20, &c. the middle numbered the contrary way,
and the outer scale beginning at the middle, with o,
and numbered on each side to 90 degrees. These
scales serve to take the quantity of an angle, either
entering or salient. For an entering or internal angle,
apply the legs of the callipers so that its outward edges
coincide with the legs of the given angle, the degree
cut by the bevil edge F in the outer scale shows the
measure of the angle sought: for a salient or external
angle, slip the legs of the callipers across each other,
so that their outward edges may coincide with the
legs forming the angle, and the degree marked on the
middle scale by the bevil edge E will show the measure
of the angle required. The inner scale will serve to
determine the elevation of cannon and mortars, or of
any oblique plane. Let one end of a thread be fixed
into the notch on the plate B, and any weight tied to
the other end : apply the straight side of the plate A
to the side of the body whose inclination is sought 5
hold it in this position, and move the plate B, till the
thread falls upon the line near the centre marked.
Then will the bevil edge F cut the degrees on the in¬
ner scale, showing the inclination of that body to the
horizon.
2
On the face C near the point of the callipers is a Ca|ib(,r
little table showing the proportion of troy and avoirdu- ^ y—.
pois weights, by which one kind of weight may be easi¬
ly reduced into another.
Near the extreme of the face D of the callipers are
two tables showing the proportion between the pounds
weight of London and Paris, and also between the
lengths of the foot measure of England and France.
Near the extreme on the face A is a table contain¬
ing four rules of the circle and sphere; and geometri¬
cal figures with numbers annexed to them : the first is
a circle including the proportion in round numbers of
the diameter to its circumference j the second is a
circle, inscribed in a square, and a square within that
circle, and another circle in the inner square : the num¬
bers 28, 22, above this figure, exhibit the proportion of
the outward square to the area of the inscribed circle:
and the numbers 14, 11, below it, show the proportion
between the area of the inscribed square and the
area of its inscribed circle. The third is a cube in¬
scribed in a sphere $ and the number 894 shows that
a cube of iron, inscribed in a sphere of 12 inches in
diameter, weighs 8941b. The fourth is a sphere in a
cube, and the number 243 expresses the weight in
pounds, of a sphere inscribed in a cube whose side is 12
inches: the fifth represents a cylinder and cone of one
foot diameter and height: the number in the cylinder
shows, that an iron cylinder of that diameter and
height weighs 364.51b. and the number 121.5 in the
cone expresses the weight of a cone, the diameter of
whose base is 12 inches, and of the same height: the
sixth figure shows that an iron cube, whose side is 12
inches, weighs 4641b. and that a square pyramid of
iron, whose base is a square foot, and height 12 inches,
weighs 15441b. The numbers which have been hi¬
therto fixed to the four last figures were not strictly
true; and therefore they have been corrected in the
figure here referred to ; and by these the figures on
any instrument of this kind should be corrected like¬
wise.
On the leg B of the callipers, is a table showing the
weights of a cubic inch or foot of various bodies in
pounds avoirdupois.
On the face D of the circular head of the callipers
is a table contained between five concentric segments
of rings : the inner one marked Guns shows the nature
of the gun, or the weight of ball it carries 5 the two
next rings contain the quantity of powder used for
proof and service to brass guns, and the two outermost
rings show the quantity for proof and service in iron
cannon.
On the face A is a table exhibiting the method of
computing the number of shot or shells in a triangular,
square, or rectangular pile. Near this is placed a
table containing the principal rules relative to the fall
of bodies, expressed in an algebraic manner $ nearer the
centre we have another table of rules for raising water,
calculated on the supposition, that one horse is equal
in this kind of labour to five men, and that one man
will raise a hogshead of water to eight feet of height in
one minute, and work at that rate for some hours.
N. B. Hogsheads are reckoned at 60 gallons.
Some ot the leading principles in gunnery, relating
to shooting in cannon and mortars, are expressed on the
face B of the callipers. Besides the articles already
enumerated.
CALIBER RULE. PLATE CXXXM.
WAirhibaUl Jtulp*
CAL [ 75 ] CAL
Caliber enumerated, the scales usually marked on this sector
|| are laid down on this instrument : thus the line of
Calidsi inches is placed on the edge of the callipers, or on the
planiae. ^ straight borders of the faces C, D ; the logarithmic
scales of numbers, sines, versed sines, and tangents, are
placed along these faces near the straight edges : the
line of lines is placed on the same faces in an angular
position, and marked Lin. The lines of planes or su-
perfices are also exhibited on the faces C and D, tend¬
ing towards the centre, and marked Plan. Finally,
The lines of solids are laid on the same faces tending
towards the centre, and distinguished by Sol.
CALICOULAN, or Quillon, a town of Asia, in
the Fast Indies, on the coast of Malabar, and in the
peninsula on this side the Ganges, where the Dutch
have a factory. E. Long. 75. 21. N. Lat. 9. 5.
CALICUT, a kingdom of India, on this side the
Ganges, upon the coast of Malabar. It is about 63
miles long, and as much broad. It has many woods,
rivers, and marshes, and is very populous ; lout does
not produce much corn, abundance of rice being im¬
ported from Canara. The land along the sea-coast is
low and sandy, and produces a number of cocoa trees.
The higher grounds produce pepper and cardamoms
of a very good quality. They have likewise timber for
building, white and yellow Sanders, cassia lignea,
cassia fistula, nux vomica, and cocculus indicus. The
woods abound with pan'ots and monkeys, as well as
different kinds of game. They have also plenty of
fish, several sorts of medicinal drugs, and their moun¬
tains produce iron. The samorin, or king, of Calicut,
. was once master of all the coast of Malabar; but at
his death, he left it by will among four of his nephews.
He who governs Calicut has a palace of stone, and
there is some appearance of grandeur about his court.
He carries on a considerable trade, which makes the
people of Calicut richer than their neighbours. In
former times they had several strange customs, some
of which are still kept up j particularly the samorin’s
wife must be first enjoyed by the high priest, who may
have her three nights if he pleases. The nobles per¬
mit the other priests to take the same liberty, but the
lower people cannot have that honour. A woman may
marry a number of husbands; each of whom has her
ten days or more, by turns, as they agree among them¬
selves $ and provide her all things necessary during
that time. When she proves with child she names
the father ; who, after the child is weaned, takes care
of its education. These people have no pens, ink, or
paper; but write with a bodkin on flags that grow
by the sides of the rivers. By this means the letters
are in some sense engraved j and so tough are the
flags, that they will last for a great number of years.
I his was the first land discovered by the Portuguese
in 1498.
Calicut, a town of Asia, in the kingdom of that
name on the coast of Malabar. It contains a great
number of mean low houses, each of which has a garden.
The English had a factory here, but it is removed to
Tellichery. E. Long. 76. 4. N. Lat. 11. 21.
CALIDiE plantje (from color, heat) ; plants that
are natives of warm climates. Such are those of the
East Indies, South America, Egypt, and the Canary
islands. These plants, says Linnseus, will bear a de¬
gree of heat which is as 40 on a scale in which the
freezing point is o, and 100 the heat of boiling water. Calid*
In the 10th degree of cold they cease to grow, lose plantm
their leaves, become barren, are suffocated, and pe- 11
rjsj1< California. *
CALIDUCT, in antiquity, a kind of pipes or ca- v
nal disposed along the walls of houses or apartments,
used by the ancients for conveying heat to several re¬
mote parts of the house from one common furnace.
CALIFORNIA, the most northerly of all the Spa¬
nish dominions on the continent of America, is some¬
times distinguished by the name of New Albion, and
the Islas Carrabiras : but the most ancient appellation
is California ; a word probably owing to some accident,
or to some words spoken by the Indians and misunder¬
stood by the Spaniards. For a long time California
was thought to be an island; but Father Caino, a Ge¬
nian Jesuit, discovered it to be a peninusla joining to the
coast of New Mexico and the southern parts of Ame¬
rica. The peninsula extends from Cape St Sebastian,
lying in north latitude 43.30. to Cape St Lucar, which
lies in north latitude 22. 32. It is divided from New
Mexico by the gulf, or as some call it the lube, of
California, or Vermilion sea, on the east; on the north,
by that part of the continent of North America which
is least known ; and on the west and south, by the
Pacific ocean or great South sea. The coasts, espe¬
cially towards the Vermilion sea, are covered with
inhabited islands, on some of which the Jesuits have
established settlements, such as St Clement, Paxaros,
St Anne, Cedars (so called from the great number of
these trees it produces), St Joseph, and a multitude of
others. But the islands best known are three lying off
Cape St Lucar towards the Mexican coast. These are
called Les Tres Marias, “ the three Maries.” They
are small, but have good wood and water, salt pits, and
abundance of game ; therefore the English and French
pirates have sometimes wintered there, when bound on
cruises in the South seas.
As California lies altogether within the temperate
zone, the natives are neither chilled with cold nor
scorched with heat $ and indeed the improvements in
agriculture made by the Jesuits afford strong proofs
of the excellency of the climate. In some places the air
is extremely hot and dry 5 and the earth wild, rugged,
and barren. In a country stretching about 800 miles in
length, there must be considerable variations of soil and
climate; and indeed we find, from good authority, that
California produces some of the most beautiful lawns,
as well as many of the most inhospitable deserts, in the
universe. Upon the whole, although California is ra¬
ther rough and craggy, we are assured by the Jesuit
Vinegas, and other good writers, that with due culture
it furnishes every necesssary and conveniency of life ;
and that, even where the atmosphere is hottest, vapours
rising from the sea, and dispersed by pleasant breezes,
render it of a moderate temperature.
The peninsula of California is now stocked with all
sorts of domestic animals known in Spain and Mexico.
Horses, mules, asses, oxen, sheep, hogs, goats, and all
other quadrupeds imported, thrive and increase in this
country. Among the native animals is a species of deer
of the size of a young heifer, and greatly resembling it
in shape ; the head is like that of a deer, and the horns
thick and crooked like those of a ram. The hoof of the
animal is large, round, and cloven, the skin spotted, but
K A the
CAL
[ 7*5 1
CAL
California, tlie hair thinner, and the tail sharper than those of a
*•"—1 ' deer. Its flesh is greatly esteemed. There is another
animal peculiar to this country, larger and more bulky
than a sheep, but greatly resembling it in figure, and,
like, it, covered with a fine black or white wool. The
flesh of this animal is nourishing and delicious ; and,
happily for the natives, it is so abundant, that nothing
more is required than the trouble of hunting, as these
animals wander about in droves in the forests and on
the mountains. Father Torquemado describes a crea¬
ture, which he calls a species of large bear, something
like a buffalo, of the size of a steer, and nearly of the
figure of a stag. Its hair is a quarter of a yard in
length, its neck long and awkward, and on its forehead
are horns branched like those of a stag. The tail is a
yard in length, and half a yard in breadth ; and the
hoofs cloven like those of an ox. With regard to
birds we have but an imperfect account 5 only, in ge¬
neral, Father Vinegas tells us that the coast is plen¬
tifully stored with peacocks, bustards, geese, cx-anes,
and most of the birds common in other parts of the
world. The quantity of fish which resort to these
coasts is incredible. Salmon, turbot, barbel, skate,
mackerel, &c. are caught here with very little ti-ou-
ble $ together with peaxl oysters, common oysters,
lobsters, and a variety of exquisite shell fish. Plen¬
ty of turtle are also caught on the coasts. On the
South sea coasts are some shell fish peculiar to it, and
perhaps the most beautiful in the world *, their lustre
surpassing that of the finest pearl, and darting their
rays through a transparent varnish of an elegant vivid
blue, like the lapis lazuli. The fame of California
for pearls soon drew forth great numbers of adventur¬
ers, who searched every part of the gulf, and are still
employed in that work, notwithstanding fashion has
greatly diminished the value of this elegant natural pro¬
duction. Father Torquemado observes that the sea of
California affords very rich pearl fisheries ; and that the
kostias, or beds of oysters, may be seen in three or four
fathom water, almost as plain as if they were on the
surface.
The extremity of the peninsula towards Cape St
Lucar is more level, temperate, and fertile, than the
other parts, and consequently more woody. In the
moxe distant parts, even to the farthest missions on
the east coast, no large timber hath yet been disco¬
vered. A species of manna is found in this country,
which, according to the accounts of the Jesuits, has all
the sweetness of refined sugai-, without its whiteness.
The natives firmly believe that this juice drops from
heaven.
The Californians are well made, and vei’y strong.
They are extremely pusillanimous, inconstant, stupid,
and even insensible, and seem extremely deserving of
the character given to the Indians in general, under
the article America. Before the Europeans pene¬
trated into California, the natives had no form of reli¬
gion. The missionaries indeed tell us many tales con¬
cerning them, but they so evidently bear the marks of
forgery, as not to be worth repeating. Each nation was
then an assemblage of several cottages more or less nu¬
merous, that were all mutually confederated by alli¬
ances, but without any chief. They were strangers
even to filial obedience. No kind of dress was used by
the men
but the women made use of some coverings,
- 3
and were even fond of ornamenting themselves with California,
pearls, and such other trinkets as the country afforded. ^—
What most displayed their ingenuity was the con¬
struction of their fishing nets, which are said by the
Jesuits to have even exceeded in goodness those made
in Europe. They were made by the women, of a
coarse kind of flax procured from some plants which
grow there. Their houses wrere built of branches and
leaves of trees; nay, many of them were only enclo¬
sures of earth and stone, raised half a yard high, with¬
out any covering j and even these were so small, that
they could not stretch themselves at length in them.
In winter they dwelt under ground, in caves either
natural or artificial.
In 1526 Ferdinand Cortez having reduced and set¬
tled Mexico, attempted the conquest of California j but
was obliged to return, without even taking a survey
of the country, a report of his death having disposed
the Mexicans to a general insurrection. Some other
attempts were made by the officers of Cortez, but these
were also unsuccessful j and this valuable coast was
long neglected by the Spaniards, who, to this day,
have but one settlement upon it. In 1595 a galleon
was sent to make discoveries on the Californian shore j
but the vessel was unfortunately lost. Seven yeare
after, the Count de Monteroy, then viceroy of New
Spain, sent Sebastian Biscayno on the same design with
two ships and a tender j but he made no discovei'y of
importance. In 1684 the Marquis de Laguna, also
viceroy of New Spain, dispatched two ships with a
tender to make discoveries on the lake of California.
He returned with an indifferent account, but was
among the first who asserted that California was not
an island j which was afterwards confirmed by Father
Caino, as already related. In 1697, the Spaniards
being discouraged by their losses and disappointments,
the Jesuits solicited and obtained permission to under¬
take the conquest of California. They arrived among
the savages with curiosities that might amuse them,
corn for their food, and clothes for which they could
not but perceive the necessity. The hatred these
people bore the Spanish name could not support itself
against these demonstrations of benevolence. They
testified their acknowledgments as much as their want
of sensibility and their inconstancy would permit them.
These faults were partly overcome by the religious in-
stitutors, who pursued their project with a degree of
warmth and resolution peculiar to the society. They
made themselves carpenters, masons, weavers, and hus¬
bandmen ; and by these means succeeded in imparting
knowledge, and in some measure a taste for the useful
arts, to this savage people, who have been all succes¬
sively formed into one body. In 1745 they composed
43 villages, separated from each other by the barren¬
ness of the soil and the want of water. The inhabitants
of these small villages subsist principally on corn and
pulse, which they cultivate j and on the fruits and
domestic animals of Europe, the breeding of which
last is an object of continual attention. The Indians
have each their field, and the property of what they
reap j but such is their want of foresight, that they
would squander in a day what they had gathered, if
the missionary did not take upon himself to distribute
it to them as they stand in need of it. They manu¬
facture some coarse stuffs} and the necessaries they are
in
CAL [ 77 ] CAL
California i'1 want °f are purchased with pearls, and with wine
|| nearly resembling that of Madeira, which they sell to
Caligula, the Mexicans and to the galleons, and which experi-
-—r—' ence had, shown the necessity of prohibiting in Cali¬
fornia. A few laws, which are rery simple, are suffi¬
cient to regulate this rising state. In order to enforce
them, the missionary chooses the most intelligent per¬
son of the village ; who is empowered to whip and im¬
prison $ the only punishments of which they have any
knowledge. In all California there are only two gar¬
risons, each consisting of 30 men, and a soldier with
every missionary. These troops were chosen by the
legislators, though they are paid by the government.
Were the court of Madrid to push their interest with
half the zeal of the Jesuits, California might become
one of the most valuable of their acquisitions, on ac¬
count of the pearls and other valuable articles of com¬
merce which the country contains. At present the
little Spanish town near Cape St Lucar is made use of
for no other purpose than as a place of refreshment for
the Manilla ships, and the head residence of the mis¬
sionaries.
CALIGA, in Roman antiquity, was the proper sol¬
dier’s shoe, made in the sandal fashion, without upper
leather to cover the superior part of the foot, though
otherwise reaching to the middle of the leg, and fasten¬
ed with thongs. The sole of the caliga was of wood,
like the sabot of the French peasants, and its bottom
stuck full of nails; which clavi are supposed to have
been very long in the shoes of the scouts and sentinels $
whence these were called by way of distinction, caligte
. speculatorice; as if, by mounting the wearer to a higher
pitch, they gave a greater advantage to the sight:
though others will have the caligce speculatorice to have
been made soft and woolly, to prevent their making a
noise. From these caliga: it was that the emperor
Caligula took his name, as having been born in the
army, and afterwards bred up in the habit of a common
soldier.
According to Du Cange, a sort of caliga was also
worn by monks and bishops, when they celebrated mass
pontifically.
CALIGATI, an appellation given by some ancient
writers to the common soldiers in the Roman armies,
by reason of the caliga which they wore. The caliga
was the badge or symbol of a soldier ; whence to take
away the caliga and belt, imported a dismissing or
cashiering.
CALIGO, or Caligatio, in Medicine, an opacity,
or cloudiness of the anterior surface of the crystal¬
line lens of the eye, causing a dimness or suffusion of
sight.
CALIGULA, the Roman emperor and tyrant,
A. D. 37, began his reign with every promising ap¬
pearance of becoming the real father of bis people $
but at the end of eight months he was seized with a
fever, which it is thought left a frenzy on bis mind :
for his disposition totally changed, and he committed
the most atrocious acts of impiety, cruelty, and folly ;
such as proclaiming his horse consul, feeding it at bis
table, introducing it to the temple in the vestments of
the priests of Jupiter, &c. and causing sacrifices to be
offered to himself, his wife, and the horse. After hav¬
ing murdered many of his subjects with his own hand,
and caused others to be put to death without any just
cause, he was assassinated by a tribune of the people Caligula
as he came out of the amphitheatre, A. D. 41, in the 11
29^7rTJf his 3ge’ anJd 4th ?f h!S reif\ ru- pels0
CAL1N, a compound metal, whereor the Chinese ■ _ .
make tea canisters, and the like. The ingredients seem
to be, lead and tin.
CALIPH, or Khalif, the supreme ecclesiastical
dignity among the Saracens : or, as it is otherwise de¬
fined, sovereign dignity among the Mahometans, vest¬
ed with absolute authority in all matters relating both
to religion and policy. In the Arabic it signifies suc¬
cessor ov vicar ; the caliphs bearing the same relation
to Mahomet that the popes pretend they do to Jesus
Christ or St Peter. It is at this day one of the Grand
Signior’s titles, as successor of Mahomet; and of the
Sophi of Persia, as successor of Ali. One of the chier
functions of the caliph, in quality of imam or chief
priest of Mussulmanism, was to begin the public pray¬
ers every Friday in the chief mosque, and to deliver
the khothbak or sermon. In after times, they had as¬
sistants for this latter office ; but the former the caliphs
always performed in person. The caliph was also obli¬
ged to lead the pilgrims to Mecca in person, and to
march at the head of the armies of his empire. He
granted investiture to princes 5 and sent swords, stand¬
ards, gowns, and the like, as presents to princes of the
Mahometan religion ; who, though they had thrown oft'
the yoke of the caliphate, nevertheless held of it as vas¬
sals. The caliphs usually went to the mosque mounted
on mules ; and the sultans Selgiucides, though masters
of Bagdad, held their stirrups, and led their mule by
the bridle some distance on foot, till such time as the
caliph gave them the sign to mount on horseback. At
one of the windows of the caliph’s palace there always
hung a piece of black velvet 20 cubits long, which
reached to the ground, and was called the caliph's
sleeve : which the grandees of his court never failed to
kiss every day, with great respect. After the destruc¬
tion of the caliphate by Hulaku, the Mahometan princes
appointed a particular officer, in their respective domi¬
nions, who sustains the sacred authority of caliph. In
Turkey, he goes under the denomination of mufti, and
in Persia under that of sadne.
CALIPHATE, the office or dignity of Caliph :
See the preceding article. The successions of caliphs
continued from the death of Mahomet till the 655th
year of the Hegira, when the city of Bagdad was taken
by the Tartars. After this, however, there were per¬
sons who claimed the caliphate, as pretending to be ot
the family of the Abassides, and to whom the sultans
of Egypt rendered great honours at Cairo, as the true
successors of Mahomet: but this honour was merely
titular, and th^ rights allowed them only in matters
relating to religion 5 and though they bore the sove¬
reign title of caliphs, they were nevertheless subjects
and dependents of the sultans. In the year of the He¬
gira 361, a kind of caliphate was erected by the Fa-
temites in Africa, and lasted till it was suppressed by
Saladin. Historians also speak of a third caliphate in
Yemen or Arabia Felix, erected by some princes of the
family of the Jobites. The emperors of Morocco as¬
sume the title of grand cherifs; and pretend to be the
true caliphs, or successors of Mahomet, though under
another name.
CALIPPIC PERIOD, in Chronology, a series of
seventy-six
CAL [ ?8 ] CAL
Calippic seventy-six years, perpetually recurring; which elapsed,
-))erjod the middle of the new and full moons, as its inventor
Calkins Calippus, an Athenian, imagined, return to the same
 — t - - day of the solar year. Meton, a hundred years be¬
fore, had invented the period, or cycle, of nineteen
years; assuming the quantity of the solar year 365^.
6/z. 18' 56" 50* 41* 34*: and the lunar month, 29J.
\lh. 45' 47,/ 26s 48* 30*: but Calippus, considering
that the Metonic quantity of the solar year was not
exact, multiplied Melon’s period by 4, and thence
arose a period of 76 years, called the Calippic. The
Calippic period, therefore, contains 27,759 ^a7s : and
since the lunar cycle contains 235 lunations, and the
Calippic period is quadruple of this, it contains 940
lunations. This period began in the third year of
the 112th Olympiad, or the 4384th of the Julian
period.. It is demonstrated, however, that the Calip¬
pic period itself is not accurate ; that it does not bring
the new and full moons precisely to their places ; 8/z.
5' 52" 60"', being the excess of 940 lunations, above
76 solar years; but brings them too late, by a whole
day in 225 years.
CALISTA, in fabulous history, the daughter of
Lycaon king of Arcadia, and one of the nymphs of
Diana. Being beloved by Jupiter, that god assumed
the form of the goddess of chastity, by which means
he debauched her: but her disgrace being revealed, as
she was bathing with her patroness, the incensed deity
turned her and the son with which she was pregnant
into bears ; when Jupiter, in compassion to her suffer¬
ings, took them up into the heavens, and made them
the constellations Ursa Major and Ursa Minor.
CALIX. See Calyx.
CALIXTINS, a name given to those, among the
Lutherans, who follow the sentiments of George Ca-
hxtus, a celebrated divine, and professor at Helmstadt
in the duchy of Brunswick, who died in 1656 : he op¬
posed the opinion of St Augustin, on predestination,
grace, and free will, and endeavoured to form an union
among the various members of the Romish, Lutheran,
and reformed churches ; or rather, to join them in the
bonds of mutual forbearance and charity.
^ Calixtins also denote a sect in Bohemia, derived
from the Hussites, about the middle of the 15th cen¬
tury, who asserted the use of the cup as essential to the
eucharist. And hence their name; which is formed
from the Latin calyx, a cup.
.. Tlie Calixtins are not ranked by Romanists in the
list of heretics, since in the main they still adhered to
the doctrine of Rome. The reformation they aimed
at terminated in the four following articles, i. In re¬
storing the cup to the laity. 2. In subjecting the cri¬
minal clerks to the punishment of the civil magistrate
3. In stripping the. clergy of their lands, lordships, and
all temporal jurisdiction. 4. In granting liberty to all
capable priests to preach the word of God.
CALKA, a kingdom of Tartary, in Asia, to the east
of bibena.
CALKING. See Caulking.
CALKINS, the prominent parts at the extremities
of a horse shoe, bent downwards, and forged to a sort
of point.
Calkins are apt to make horses trip : they also oc¬
casion bleymes, and ruin the back sinews. If fashioned
&n form of a hare s ear, and the horn of a horse’s heel
be pared a little low, they do little damage ; whereas Calkins
the great square calkins quite spoil the foot. j|
Calkins are either single or double, that is, at one A^a0,
end of the shoe, or at both : these last are deemed less v ”-
hurtful, as the horses can tread more even.
CALL, among hunters, a lesson blown upon the
horn, to comfort the hounds.
Call, an English name for the mineral called tung¬
sten or wolfram by the Germans.
Call, among sailors, a sort of whistle or pipe, of
silver or brass, used by the boatswain and his mates to
summon the sailors to their duty, and direct them in
the different employments in the ship. As the call can
be sounded to various strains, each of them is appro¬
priated to some particular exercise ; such as hoistiny,
heaving, lowering, veering away, belaying, letting go
a tackle, &c. The act of winding this instrument is
called piping, which is as attentively observed by sail¬
ors as the beat of the drum to march, retreat, rally,
charge, &c. is obeyed by soldiers.
Call, among fowlers, the noise or cry of a bird,
especially to its young, or to its mate in coupling
time. One method of catching partridges is by the
natural call of a hen trained for the purpose, which
drawing the cocks to her, they are entangled in a net.
Different birds require different sorts of calls ; but they
are most of them composed of a pipe or reed, with a
little leathern bag or purse, somewhat in form of a
bellows; which, by the motion given thereto, yields a
noise like that of the species of bird to be taken. The
call for partridges is formed like a boat bored through,
and fitted with a pipe or swan’s quill, &c. to be blown
with the mouth, to make the noise of the cock par¬
tridge, which is very different from the call of the hen.
Calls for quails, &c. are made of a leathern purse in
shape like a pear, stuffed with horse hair, and fitted at
the end with the bone of a cat’s, hare’s, or coney’s leg,
formed like a flageolet. They are played, by squeez¬
ing the purse in the palm of the hand, at the same
time striking on the flageolet part with the thumb, to
counterfeit the call of the hen quail.
Call of the House. See Calling.
CALL A, Make-robin, ox Ethiopian Arum. See
Botany Index.
Calla Susung, a town of Asia, in the island of
Bouton in the East Indies. It is seated about a mile
from the sea, on the top of a small hill surrounded with
cocoa-nut trees. See Bouton.
CALLAO, a strong town of South America, in
Peru. It is the port of Lima, from which it is dis¬
tant about five miles. The town is built on a low flat
point of land on the sea shore. It is fortified ; but the
fortifications were much damaged by the last great
earthquake, and have not since been repaired. The
town is not above nine or ten feet above the level of
high water mark ; but the tide does not commonly
rise or fall above five feet. The streets are drawn in a
line ; but are full of dust, which is very troublesome.
n a square near the sea side are the governor’s house,
the viceroy’s palace, the parish church, and a battery
of three pieces of cannon. On the north side are the
warehouses lor the merchandise brought from Chili
Mexico, and other parts of Peru. The other churches
are built with reeds, and covered with timber or clay
but they look tolerably neat. There are five monaste¬
ries
CAL r 79 ] CAL
Callao ries and an hospital, though the number of families
11 does not exceed 400. The trade of Callao is consi-
Cilligra- tlerable. From Chili they bring cordage, leather, tal-
l^y' low, dried fish, and corn j from Chiloe, cedar planks,
woollen manufactures, and carpets ; from Peru, sugars,
wines, brandy, masts, cordage, timber for shipping,
cacao, tobacco, and melasses; from Mexico, pitch,
tar, woods for dyeing, sulphur, balsam of Peru, both
white and brown, as well as commodities from China.
At the port of Callao the watering is easy, but the
wood is a mile or two distant. Earthquakes are very
frequent in these parts, which have done vast mischief
to Lima and Callao. W. Long. 76. 15. S. Lat. 12.
29' . .
CALLE, in Ancient Geography, a town of Hither
Spain, situated on an eminence which hangs over the
river Durius ; whose port was at the mouth of the ri¬
ver. Now Porto, Oporto, or Port a Port.
CALLEN, a town of Ireland, in the county of
Kilkenny and province of Leinster, about ten miles
south-west of Kilkenny. W. Long. 7. 22. N. Lat.
52. 25.
CALLICARPA. See Johnsonia.
CALLICO, in commerce, a sort of cloth resem¬
bling linens made of cotton. The name is taken from
that of Calicut, a city on the coast of Malabar, being
the first place at which the Portuguese landed when
they discovered the India trade. The Spaniards still
call it callicu.
Callicoes are of different kinds, plain, printed, paint¬
ed, stained, dyed, chintz., muslins, and the like, all in¬
cluded under the general denomination of callicoes.
Some of them are painted with various flowers of dif¬
ferent colours j others are not stained, but have a stripe
of gold and silver quite through the piece, and at each
end is fixed a tissue of gold, silver, and silk, intermix¬
ed with flowers. The printing of callicoes was first set
on foot in London about the year 1676.
CALLICRATES, an ancient sculptor, who en¬
graved some of Homer’s verses on a grain of millet,
made an ivory chariot that might be concealed under
the wing of a fly, and an ant of ivory in which all the
members were distinct: but iElian justly blames him
for exerting his genius and talents in things so useless,
and at the same time so difficult. He flourished about
the year 472 before Christ.
CALLIGONUM. See Botany Index.
CALLIGRAPHUS, anciently denoted a copyist,
or scrivener, who transcribed fair, and at length, what
the notaries had taken down in notes or minutes. The
ward is compounded of xicWts, beauty, and ygettpet, I
write. The minutes of acts, &c. were always taken in
a kind of cypher, or short hand $ such as the notes of
Tyx-o in Gruter: by which means the notaries, as the
Latins called them, or the irytp.iie'/^xipoi and rx^vy^upoi,
as the Greeks called them, were enabled to keep pace
with a speaker or person who dictated. These notes,
being understood by few, were copied over fair, and at
length, by persons who had a good hand, for sale, &c.
These persons were called calligraphi; a name fre¬
quently met with in the ancient writers.
CALLIGRAPHY, the art of fair writing. Calli¬
crates is said to have written an elegant distich on a
sesamum seed. Junius speaks of a person, as very ex¬
traordinary, who wrote the apostles creed, and begin¬
ning of St John’s Gospel, in the compass of a farthing. Calligra-
What would he have said of our famous Peter Bale, phy
who in 1575 wrote the Lord’s prayer-, creed, ten com- jl
mandments, and two short prayers in Latin, with his ,€aIlipa:diu‘
own name, motto, day of the month, year of the Lord, v ’
and reign ol the queen, in the compass of a single
penny, enchased in a ring and border of gold, and co¬
vered with a crystal, all so accurately wrought as to be
very legible ?
CALLIMACHUS, a celebrated architect, painter,
and sculptor, born at Corinth, having seen by accident
a vessel about which the plant called acanthus had
raised its leaves, conceived the idea of forming the Co¬
rinthian capital j hence the Corinthian order of archi¬
tecture. The ancients assure us, that he worked in
marble with wonderful delicacy. He flourished about
540 B. C.
Callimachus, a celebrated Greek poet, native of
Cyrene in Libya, flourished under Ptolemy Philadel-
phus and Ptolemy Euergetes, kings of Egypt, about
280 years before Christ. He passed, according to
Quintilian, for the prince of the Greek elegiac poets.
His style is elegant, delicate, and nervous. He wrote
a great number of small poems, of which we have only
some hymns and epigrams remaining. Catullus has
closely imitated him, and translated into Latin verse
his small poem on the locks of Berenice. Callimachus
was also a good grammarian and a learned critic. There
is an edition of his remains, by Mes. le Fevre, quarto;
and another in two volumes 8vo. with notes by Span-
heim, Grsevius, Bentley, &c.
CALLING the House, in the British Parliament,
is the calling over the members names, every one an¬
swering to his own, and going out of the house, in the
order in which he is called : this they do in order to
discover whether there be any person there not returri-
ed by the clerk of the crown, or if any member be ab¬
sent without the leave of the house.
CALLINICUS of Heliopolis, inventor of a com¬
position to burn in the water, called the Greek, and
since Wild-jire, See Grecian Fire.
CALLINUS of Ephesus, a very ancient Greek poet,
inventor of elegiac verse ; some specimens of which are
to be found in the collection of Stobeus. He flourish¬
ed about 776 years before Christ.
CALLIONYMUS, the Dragonet. See Ichthy¬
ology Index.
CALLIOPE, in the Pagan mythology, the Muse
who presides over eloquence and heroic poetry. She
was thus called from the sweetness of her voice, and
was reckoned the first of the nine sisters. Her distin¬
guishing office was to record the. worthy actions of the
living; and accordingly she is represented with tablets
in her hand.
CALLIPiEDIA, the art of getting or breeding
fine and beautiful children. We find divers rules and
practices relating to this art, in ancient and modern
writers. Among the Magi, a sort of medicine called er-
mesia was administered to pregnant women, as a means
of producing a beautiful issue. Of this kind were the
kernels of pine nuts ground with honey, myrrh, saf¬
fron, palm wine, and milk. The Jews are said to have
been so solicitous about the beauty of their children,
that care was taken to have some very beautiful child
placed at the door of the public baths, that the women
CAL [ Bo ] CAL
Callipsedia at going out being struck with his appearance, and
II retaining the idea, might all have children as fine as
Calloo. |ie> The Chinese take still greater care of their breed-
W™M—fng women, to prevent uncouth objects of any kind
from striking their imagination. Musicians are employ¬
ed at night to entertain them with agreeable songs and
odes, in which are set forth all the duties and comforts
of a conjugal and domestic life $ that the infant may
receive good impressions even before it is born, and not
only come forth agreeably formed in body, but well
disposed in mind. Callipaedia, nevertheless, seems to
have been first erected into a just art by Claude Quillet
de Chinon, a French abbot, who, under the fictitious
name of Calvides Lcetus, has published a fine Latin
poem in four books, under the title of Callipiediu, seu
de pulchrce prolis habendce ratione; wherein are con¬
tained all the precepts of that new art. There is a
translation of it into English verse by Mr Rowe.
CALLIPOLIS, in Ancient Geography, the name of
several cities of antiquity, particularly one upon the
Hellespont, next the Propontis, and opposite to Lamp-
sacus in Asia. Now Gallipoli.
CALLIPPIC period. See Calippic.
CALLIRRHOE, in Ancient Geography, surnamed
Enneacrunos, from its nine springs or channels j a
fountain not far from Athens, greatly adorned by Pi-
sistratus, where there were several wells, but this the
only running spring. Callirrhoe was also the name of
a very fine spring of hot water beyond Jordan near the
Dead sea, into which it empties itself.
CALLISIA. See Botany Index.
CALLISTEA, in Grecian antiquity, a Lesbian
festival, wherein the women presented themselves in
Juno’s temple, and the prize was assigned to the fairest.
There was another of these contentions at the festival
of Ceres Eleusinia among the Parrhasians, and another
among the Eleans, where the most beautiful man was
presented with a complete suit of armour, which he
consecrated to Minerva, to whose temple he walked in
procession, being accompanied by his friends, who a-
dorned him with ribbons, and crowned him with a
garland of myrtle.
CALLISTHENES the philosopher, disciple and
relation of Aristotle, by whose desire he accompanied
Alexander the Great in his expeditions 5 but proving
too severe a censurer of that hero’s conduct, he was
by him put to the torture (on a suspicion of a treason¬
able conspiracy), and died under it, 318 years before
Christ.
CALLISTRATUS, an excellent Athenian orator,
was banished for having obtained too great an authority
in the government. Demosthenes was so struck with
the force of his eloquence, and the glory it procured
him, that he abandoned Plato, and resolved from
thenceforward to apply himself to oratory.
CALLITRICHE, or Star-grass, in Botany, a
genus of the digynia order, belonging to the monan-
dria class of plants ; and in the natural method rank¬
ing under the 12th order, Holoracece. There is no
calyx, but two petals, and the capsule is bilocular and
tetraspermous.
CALLOO, a fortress in the Netherlands, in the
territory of Waes, on the river Scheldt, subject to the
house of Austria. The Dutch were defeated here by
the Spaniards in 1638. E. Long. 4.10. N. Lat. 51.15.
CALLOSUM corpus, in Anatomy, a whitish hard Callosum
substance, joining the two hemispheres of the brain, corpus,
and appearing in view when the two hemispheres are , Callot.
drawn back. See Anatomy Index. ,
CALLOT, James, a celebrated engraver, born at
Nancy in 1593* In his youth he travelled to Rome
to learn designing and engraving: and from thence
went to Florence, where the grand duke took him into
his service. After the death of that prince, Callot re¬
turned to his native country ; when he was very fa¬
vourably received by Henry duke of Lorrain, who set¬
tled a considerable pension upon him. His reputation
being soon after spread all over Europe, the infanta of
the Netherlands drew him to Brussels, where he en¬
graved the siege of Breda. Louis XIII. (tiade him de¬
sign the siege of Rochelle, and that of the isle of Rhd.
The French king, having taken Nancy in 1631, made
Callot the proposal of representing that new conquest,
as he had already done the taking of Rochelle : but
Callot begged to be excused $ and some courtiers resolv¬
ing to oblige him to do it, he answered, that he would
sooner cut off his thumb than do any thing against the
honour of his prince and country. This excuse the
king accepted 5 and said, that the duke of Lorrain was
happy in having such faithful and afiectionate subjects.
Callot followed his business so closely, that, though he
died at 43 years of age, he is said to have left of his
own execution about 1500 pieces. The following are
a few of the principal. 1. The murder of the innocents,
a small oval plate, engraved at Florence. Callot en¬
graved the same subject at Nancy, with some difference
in the figures on the back ground. The former is the
most rare $ a fine impression of it is very difficult to be
found. 2. The marriage of Cana in Galilee, from Paolo
Veronese, a middling sized plate lengthwise. 3. The
passion of Christ, on 12 very small upright plates: first
impressions very scarce. 4. St John in the island of
Patmos, a small plate, nearly square. 5. The temptation
of St Anthony, a middling sized plate lengthwise. He
also engraved the same subject larger 5 which, though
not the best, is notwithstanding the scarcest print.
There is a considerable difference in the treatment of
the subject in the two prints. 6. The punishments,
wherein is seen the execution of several criminals. The
marks of the best impressions of this plate are, a small
square tower which appears above the houses, towards
the left, and a very small image of the Virgin placed
in an angle of the wall, near the middle of the print.
7. The miseries of war, 18 small plates, lengthwise.
There is another set on the same subject, consisting of
seven plates less than the former. 8. The great fair of
Florence, so called because it was engraved at Florence.
As several parts of this plate were not equally bitten
by the aquafortis, it is difficult to meet with a fine im¬
pression. Callot, on his return to Nancy, re-engraved
this plate without any alteration. The copy, how¬
ever, is by no means equal to the original. The first
is distinguished from the second by the words inFiren-
2;a, which appear below at the right-hand corner of
the plate. The second has these words in the same
place, Fe. Florientis, excudit Nancei. There is also
a large copy of this print, reversed, published by Sa-
yery ; but the difference is easily distinguished between
it and the true print. 9. The little fair, otherwise called
the players at bowls } where also some peasants are re¬
presented
CAL [8
Callot presented dancing. This is one of the scarcest of Cal-
H lot’s prints} and it is very difficult to meet with a line
Calm, impression of it, for the distances and other parts of the
—v—plate failed in the biting it with the aquafortis. 10. The
tilting, or the new street at Nancy, a middling sized
plated lengthwise. II. The Garden of Nancy, where
young men are playing with a balloon, the same.
12. View of the Pont Neuf a small plate, lengthwise.
13. View of the Louvre, the same. 14. Four landscapes,
small plates, lengthwise.
CALLUS, or Callosity, in a general sense, any
cutaneous, corneous, or osseous hardness, whether na¬
tural or preternatural; but most frequently it means
the callus generated about the edges of a fracture, pro¬
vided by nature to preserve the fractured bones, or di¬
vided parts, in the situation in which they are replaced
by the surgeon. A callus, in this last sense, is a sort of
jelly, or liquid viscous matter, that sweats out from
the small arteries and bony fibres of the divided parts,
and fills up the chinks or cavities between them. It
first appears of a cartilaginous substance j but at length
becomes quite bony, and joins the fractured part so firm¬
ly together, that the limb will often make greater re¬
sistance to any external violence, with this part than
with those which were never broken.
Callus is also a hard, dense, insensible knob, rising
on the hands, feet, &c. by much friction and pressure
against hard bodies.
CALM, the state of rest which appears in the air
and sea when there is no wind stirring. A calm is
more dreaded by a seafaring man than a storm, if he
has a strong ship and sea room enough $ for under the
line excessive heat sometimes produces such dead calms,
that ships are obliged to stay two or three months with¬
out being able to stir one way or other. Two opposite
winds will sometimes make a calm. This is frequently
observed in the gulf of Mexico, at no great distance
from the shore, where some gust or land wind will
so poise the general easterly wind, as to produce a per¬
fect calm.
Calms are never so great on the ocean as on the
Mediterranean, because the flux and reflux of the
former keep the water in a continual agitation, even
where there is no wind; whereas there being no tides
in the latter, the calm is sometimes so dead, that the
face of the water is as clear as a looking glass 5 but
such calms are almost constant presages of an approach¬
ing storm. On the coasts about Smyrna, a long calm
is reputed a prognostic of an earthquake.
It is not uncommon for the vessels to be calmed, or
becalmed, as the sailors express it, in the road of the
constant Levantine winds, in places where they ride
near the land. Thus between the two capes of Car-
tooche towards the main, and Cape Antonio in Cuba,
the sea is narrow, and there is often a calm produced
by some gust of a land wind, that poises the Levantine
wind, and renders the whole perfectly still for two or
three days. In this case, the current that runs here is
of use to the vessels, if it sets right; when it sets easter¬
ly, a ship will have a passage in three or four days to
the Havannah *, but if otherwise, it is often a fortnight
or three weeks sail, the ship being embayed in the gulf
of Mexico.
When the weather is perfectly calm, no wind at all
stirring, the sailors try which way the current sets, by
Vol. V. Part I. f
i ] CAL
means of a boat which they send out, and which will Ca*m
ride at anchor, though there is no bottom to be found, |] _
as regularly and well as if fastened by the strongest an-
chor to the bottom. The method is this: they row
the boat to a little distance from the ship, and then
throw over their plummet, which is about forty pounds
weight j they let this sink to about two hundred fa¬
thoms j and then, though it never reaches the bottom,
the boat will turn head against the current, and ride as
firmly as can be.
Calm Latitudes, in sea language, are situated in the
Atlantic ocean, between the tropic of Cancer and the
latitude of 290N. or they denote the space that lies be¬
tween the trade and variable winds, because it is fre¬
quently subject to calms of long duration.
CALMAR, a strong sea port of Sweden, in the
province of Smaland, divided into two towns, the old
and the new } but of the former there remains only the
church and a few houses. The new town is built a
little way from the other, and has large handsome
houses. E. Long. 16. 15* N. Lat. 56. 48.
CALMET, Augustine, one of the most learned
and laborious writers of the 18 th century, was born at
Mesnil le Horgne, a village in the diocese of Toul in
France, in the year 1672, and took the habit of the
Benedictines in 1688. Among the many works he
published are, I. A literal exposition, in French, of all
the books in the Old Testament, in nine volumes folio.
2. An historical, critical, chronological, geographical,
and literal dictionary of the Bible, in four vols folio,
enriched with a great number of figures of Jewish an¬
tiquities. 3. A civil and ecclesiastical history of Lor-
rain, three vols folio. 4. A history of the Old and
New Testament, and of the Jews, in two volumes fo¬
lio, and seven volumes duodecimo. 5. An universal
sacred and profane history, in several volumes quarto.
He died in 1757*
CALMUCKS. See Kalmucks.
CALNE, a town of Wiltshire in England, seated
on a river of the same name. It has a handsome church,
and sends two members to parliament. W. Long. 1.
59. N. Lat. 51. 30. Population in 1811, 3457.
CALNEH, in Ancient Geography, a city in the land
of Shinar, built by Nimrod, and the last city men¬
tioned (Gen. x. 10.) as belonging to his kingdom. It
is believed to be the same with Calno, mentioned in
Isaiah (x. 9.) and with Canneh in Ezekiel (xxvii. 23.)
with still greater variation. It is observed, that it
must have been situated in Mesopotamia, since these
prophets join it with Haran, Eden Assyrian, and Chil-
mad, which carried on a trade with Tyre. It is said
by the Chaldee interpreters, as also by Eusebius and
Jerome, to be the same with Ctesiphon, standing upon
the Tigris, about three miles distant from Seleucia,
and that for some time it was the capital city of the
Parthians.
CALOGERI, in church history, monks of the
Greek church, divided into three degrees: the novices,
called archari; the ordinary professed, caMeA microche-
mii and the more perfect, called megalochemt: they are
likewise divided into coenobites, anchorites, and recluses.
The coenobites are employed in reciting their offices
from midnight to sunset, they are obliged to make
three genuflexions at the door of the choir, and, return¬
ing, to bow to the right and to the left, to their bre-
L thren.
CAL [ §2 ] CAL
Calo^eii tbren. The anchorets retire from the conversation of
(j the world, and live in hermitages in the neighbour-
Caivart. J)00ti 0f the monasteries ; they cultivate a little spot
of ground, and never go out but on Sundays and holi¬
days to perform their devotions at the next monastery.
As for the recluses, they shut themselves up in grottoes
and caverns on the tops of mountains, which they never
go out oft', abandoning themselves entirely to Provi¬
dence : they live on the alms sent them by the neigh¬
bouring monasteries.
CALOMEL, or dulcified sublimate of mercury, is a
combination of mercury with the muriatic acid, in the
present nomenclature called a sub-muriate of mercury.
See Pharmacy and Chemistry Index.
CALOPHYLLUM. See Botany Index.
CALOTTE, a cap or coif of hair, satin, or other
stuff j an ecclesiastical ornament in most Popish coun¬
tries. See Cap.
Calotte, in Architecture, a round cavity or de-
pressure, in form of a cap or cup, lathed and plastered,
used to diminish the rise or elevation of a moderate cha¬
pel, cabinet, alcove, &e. which without such an ex¬
pedient would be too high for other pieces of the apart¬
ment.
CALPE, a mountain of Andalusia in Spain j at
the foot of which, towards the sea, stands the town of
Gibraltar. It is half a league in height towards the
land, and so steep that there is no approaching it on
that side.
CALPURNIUS, Titus, a Latin Sicilian poet,
lived under the emperor Cams and his son. We have
seven ol his eclogues remaining.
CALQUING, or Calking, a term used in paint¬
ing, &c. where the back side of any thing is covered
over with a black or red colour, and the strokes or lines
traced through on a waxed plate, wall, or other mat¬
ter, by passing lightly over each stroke of the design
with a point, which leaves an impression of the colour
on the plate or wall.
CALTHA. See Botany Index.—There is only
one species known, which grows naturally in moist
boggy lands in many parts of England and Scotland.
I he flowers gathered before they expand, and pre¬
served in salted vinegar, are a good substitute for ca¬
pers. The juice of the petals, boiled with a little
alum, stains paper yellow. The remarkable yellow¬
ness of the butter in spring is supposed to be caused
by this plant: but cows will not eat it, unless compell¬
ed by extreme hunger ; and then, Boerhaave says, it
occasions such an inflammation, that they generally die.
Upon May-day, the country people strew the flowers
upon the pavement before their doors. Goats and sheep
eat this plant; horses, cows, and swine, refuse it.
CALTROP. See Tribulus, Botany Index.
Caltrop, in military affairs, an instrument with
four iron points, disposed in a triangular form, so that
three of them are always on the ground, and the fourth
in the air. They are scattered over the ground where
the enemy’s cavalry is to pass, in order to embarrass
them.
CALVARIA, in Anatomy, the hairy scalp or upper
part of the head, which, either by disease or old age,
grows bald first.
CALVART, Denis, a celebrated painter, was
born at Antwerp in 1552 j and had for his masters
Prospero Fontana and Lorenzo Sabbatini. He opened
a school at Bologna, which became celebrated j and
from which proceeded Guido, Albani, and other great
masters. Calvart was well skilled in architecture, per¬
spective, and anatomy, which he considered as neces¬
sary to a painter, and taught them to his pupils. His
principal works are at Bologna, Rome, and Reggio.
He died at Bologna in 1619.
CALVARY, a term used in Catholic countries for
a kind of chapel of devotion raised on a hillock near a
city, in memory of the place where Jesus Christ wuvs
crucified near the city of Jerusalem. The word comes
from the Latin calvarium ; and that from calvus, bald,
in regard the top of that hillock was bare and destitute
of verdure*, which is also signified by the Hebrew word
golgotha. Such is the Calvary of St Valerian near Paris j
which is accompanied with several little chapels, in
each of which is represented in sculpture one of the
mysteries of the Passion.
Calvary, in Heraldry, a cross so called, because it
resembles the cross on which our Saviour suffered. It
is always set upon steps.
CALVERT, George, aftervrards Lord Baltimore,
was born at Kipling in Yorkshire about the year 1582,
and educated at Oxford, where he took the degree of
bachelor of arts, and afterwards travelled. At his re¬
turn, he was made secretary to Sir Robert Cecil : he
was afterwards knighted, and in 1618 appointed one
ol the principal secretaries of state. But after he had
enjoyed that post about five years, he willingly resigned
it j freely owning to his majesty that he was become a
Roman Catholic, so that he must either be wanting to
his trust, or violate his conscience in discharging his
office. This ingenuous confession so affected King
James, that he continued him privy counsellor all his
reign, and the same year created him baron of Bal¬
timore in the kingdom of Ireland. He had before
obtained a patent, for him and his heirs, for the pro¬
vince oi Avelon in Newfoundland : but that being
exposed to the insults of the French, he abandon¬
ed it, and afterwards obtained the grant of a country
on the north part of Virginia from Charles L who call¬
ed it Maryland, in honour of his queen : but he died
in April 1632 (aged 50), before the patent was made
out. It was, however, filled up to his son Cecil Cal¬
vert Lord Baltimore j and bears date June 20. 1632.
It is held from the crown as part of the manor of
Windsor, on one very singular condition, viz. to pre¬
sent two Indian arrows yearly, on Easter Tuesday, at
the castle, where they are kept and shown to visitors. 
His lordship wrote, 1. A Latin poem on the death of
Sir Henry Upton. 2. Speeches in parliament. 3. Va-
1 ions letters ol state. 4. Ihe answer of Tom Tell-truth.
5. Ihe 1 ractice of Princes. And, 6. The Lamentation
of the Kirk.
CALVI, a town of the province of Lavoro, in the
kingdom of Naples, situated near the sea, about fifteen
miles north of the city of Naples. E. Long. 14. 4 c.
N. Lat. 41. 15. ^
Calvi is also the name of a sea port in the island of
Corsica, situated on a bay, on the west side of the
island, about 40 miles south-west of Bastia. E. Long.
9. 5. N. Lat. 42. 16.
John, the celebrated reformer of the
Christian church from Romish superstitions and doctri¬
nal
CAL [ 83 ] CAL
nal errors, and founder of the sect since called Calvin¬
ists, was born in 1509. He was the son of a cooper of"
Noyon in Picardy $ and his real name was Chau via,
which he chose to latinize into Calvinus, styling him¬
self in the title page to his first work (a Commentary
on Seneca cle Clementid), “ Lucias Cal vinos, Civis Ro¬
manos j” an early proof of his pride, at about 24 years
of age. In 1529, he was rector of Pont I’Eveque ; and
in 1534 he threw up this benefice, separating himself
entirely from the Romish church. The persecution
against the Protestants in France (with whom he was
now associated) obliged him to retire to Basle in Swit¬
zerland: here he published his famous Institutes of the
Christian religion in 1535. The following year he was
chosen professor of divinity, and one of the ministers of
the church at Geneva. The next year, viz. 1537, he
made all the people solemnly swear to a body of doc¬
trines j but finding that religion had not yet had any
great influence on the morals of the people, he, assisted
by other ministers, declared, that since all their admo¬
nitions and warnings had proved unsuccessful, they
could not celebrate the holy sacrament as long as these
disorders reigned j he also declared, that he could not
submit to some regulations made by the synod of Berne.
Upon which the syndics having summoned the people,
it was ordered that Calvin and two other ministers
• should leave the city within two days. Upon this Cal¬
vin retired to Strasburg, where he established a French
church, of which he was the first minister, and was al¬
so chosen professor of divinity there. Two years af¬
ter he was chosen to assist at the diet appointed by the
emperor to meet at Worms and at Ratisbon in order
to appease the troubles occasioned by the difference of
religion. He went with Beucer, and entered into a
conference with Melauctbon. The people of Geneva
now entreated him to return 5 to which he consented,
and arrived at Geneva, September 13. 1541. He
began with establishing a form of ecclesiastical disci¬
pline, and a consistorial jurisdiction, with the power of
inflicting all kinds of canonical punishments. This
was greatly disliked by many persons, who imagined
that the papal tyranny would soon be revived. Calvin,
however, asserted on all occasions the rights of his
consistory with inflexible strictness *, and he caused Mi¬
chael Servetus to be burnt at the stake for writing
against the doctrine of the Trinity. But though the
rigour of his proceedings sometimes occasioned great
tumults in the city, yet nothing could shake his stea¬
diness and inflexibility. Amongst all the disturbances
of the commonwealth, he took care of the foreign
churches in England, France, Germany, and in Po¬
land ; and did more by his pen than his presence, send¬
ing his advice and instructions by letter, and writing
a greater number of books. This great, reformer died
on the 27th of May 1564, aged 55. His works were
printed together at Amsterdam in 1671, in nine vo¬
lumes folio ; the principal of which are his Institutions,
in Latin, the best edition of which is that of Robert
Stephens in I553> folio; and his Commentaries on
the Holy Scriptures.—Calvin is universally allowed
to have had great talents, an excellent genius and pro¬
found learning. His style is grave and polite. Inde¬
pendent of his spiritual pride, his morals were exem¬
plary ; for he was pious, sober, chaste, laborious, and
disinterested. But his memory can never be purified
from the stain of burning Servetus; it ill became a
reformer, to adopt the most odious practice of the cor¬
rupt church of Rome.
CALVINISM, the doctrine and sentiments of Cal¬
vin and his followers. Calvinism subsists in its great¬
est purity in the city of Geneva: and from thence it
was first propagated into Germany, France, the United
Provinces, and England. In France it was abolish¬
ed by the revocation of the edict of Nanfz in 1685.
It has been the prevailing religion in the United Pro¬
vinces ever since the year 1571. The theological sy¬
stem of Calvin was adopted, and made the public rule
of faith in England, under the reign of Edward VI.
and the church of Scotland was modelled hy John
Knox, the disciple of Calvin, agreeably to the doc¬
trine, rites, and form of ecclesiastical government, esta¬
blished at Geneva. In England, it has declined since
the time of Queen Elizabeth ; though it still subsists,
some say a little allayed, in the articles of the etablish-
ed church; and in its rigour in Scotland.
The distinguishing theological tenets of Calvinism,
as the term is now generally applied, respect the doc¬
trines of Predestination, or particular Election
and Reprobation, original Sin, particular Redemp¬
tion, effectual, or, as some have called it, irresistible
Grace in regeneration, Justification by faith, Per¬
severance, and the Trinity. See each of these ar¬
ticles.
Besides the doctrinal part of Calvin’s system, which,
so far as it differs from that of other reformers of the
same period, principally regarded the absolute decree
of God, whereby the future and eternal condition of
the human race was determined out of mere sovereign
pleasure and free will ; it extended likewise to the dis¬
cipline and government of the Christian church, the
nature of the Eucharist, and the qualification of those
who were entitled to the participation of it. Calvin
considered every church as a separate and independent
body, invested with the power of legislation for itself.
He proposed that it should be governed by presbyteries
and synods, composed of clergy and laity, without
bishops, or any clerical subordination ; and maintain¬
ed, that the province of the civil magistrate extended
only to its protection and outward accommodation.
In order to facilitate an union with the Lutheran church,
he acknowledged a real, though spiritual, presence of
Christ, in the Eucharist, that true Christians wrere uni¬
ted to the man Christ in this ordinance, and that di¬
vine grace was conferred upon them, and sealed to
them, in the celebration of it; and he confined the
privilege of communion to pious and regenerate be¬
lievers. In France the Calvinists are distinguished by
the name of Huguenots ; and, among the common peo¬
ple, by that of Parpaillots. In Germany they are con¬
founded with the Lutherans, under the general title
Protestants ; only sometimes distinguished by the name
Reformed.
CALVINISTS, in church history, those who fol¬
low' the opinions of Calvin. See the two preceding
articles.
Crypto-Calvinists, a name given to the favourers
of Calvinism in Saxony, on account of their secret at¬
tachment to the Genevan doctrine and discipline.
Many of them suffered by the decrees of the convoca¬
tion of Torgaw, held in 1576. The Calvinists in their
L 2 progress
chro-
He
CAL [
Calvinists progress have divided into various branches, or lesser
I) sects*
Cilumet. CALVISIUS, Seth, a celebrated German
v «. no]0ger jn t|je beginning of the 17th century.
wrote Elenchus calendard Gregonaiu, et duplex calen-
darii melioris forma, and other learned works, together
with some excellent treatises on music. He died in
16x7, aged 61. _ f.
CALVITIES, or Calvitium, in Medicine, bald¬
ness, or a want of hair, particularly on the sinciput,
occasioned by the moisture of the head, which should
feed it, being dried up, by some disease, old age,
or the immoderate use of powder, &c. See Alope¬
cia.
CALUMET, a symbolical instrument of great im¬
portance among the American Indians.—Ft is nothing
more than a pipe, whose bowl is generally made of a
soft red marble r the tube of a very long reed, orna¬
mented with the wings and feathers of birds. No af¬
fair of consequence is transacted without the calumet.
It ever appears in meetings of commerce or exchanges $
in congresses for determining of peace or war $ and
even in the very fury of a battle. The acceptance of the
calumet is a mark of concurrence with the terms pro¬
posed } as the refusal is a certain mark of rejection.
Even in the rage of a conflict this pipe is sometimes
offered j and if accepted, the weapons of destruction
instantly drop from their hands, and a truce ensues. It
seems the sacrament of the savages; for no compact
is ever violated which is confirmed by a whiff from
this holy reed. When they treat of war, the pipe and
all its ornaments are usually red, or sometimes red on¬
ly on one side. The size and decorations of the calu¬
met are for the most part proportioned to the quality
of the persons to whom they are presented, and to the
importance of the occasion. The calumet of peace is
different from that of war. They make use of the for¬
mer to seal their alliances and treaties, to travel with
safety, and to receive strangers j but of the latter to
proclaim war. It consists of a red stone, like marble,
formed into a cavity resembling the head of a tobacco
pipe, and fixed to a hollow reed. They adorn it with
feathers of various colours 5 and name it the calumet
of the sun, to which luminary they present it, in ex¬
pectation of thereby obtaining a change of weather as
often as they desire. From the winged ornaments of
the. calumet, and its conciliating uses, writers compare
it to.the caduceus of Mercury, which was carried by
the caduceatores, or messengers of peace, with terms
to the hostile states. It is singular, that the most re¬
mote nations, and the most opposite in their other
customs and manners, should in some things have,
as it were, a certain consent of thought. The Greeks
and the Americans had the same idea, in the inven¬
tion of the caduceus of the cue, and the ealumet of the
other.
fiance of the Calumet, is a solemn rite among the
Indians, on various occasions.. They dare not wash
themselves in rivers in. the beginning of summer, nor
taste of the new fruits, without performing it and
the same ceremony always confirms a peace or precedes
a war. It is performed in the winter time in their
cabins, and in. summer in, the open fields. For this
purpose they choose a spot among trees to shade
them from the. heaf of ths, sun, and, lay in the middle
Cals.
84 ] C A Ir^
a large mat, as a carpet, setting upon it the monitor, Calumet
or god, of the chief of the company. On the right "
hand of this image, they place the calumet, as their _
great deity, erecting around it a kind of trophy with
their arms. Things being thus disposed, and the hour
of dancing come, those who are to sing take the most
honourable seats under the shade of the trees. The
company is then ranged round, every one, before he sits
down, saluting the monitor, which is done by blowing
upon it the smoke of their tobacco. Each person next
receives the calumet in rotation, and holding it with
both hands, dances to the cadence of the vocal music,
which is accompanied with the beating of a sort oi
drum. During this exercise, he gives a signal to one
of their warriors, who takes a bow, arrow, and axe,
from the trophies already mentioned, and fights him j
the former defending himself with the calumet only,
and both of them dancing all the while. This mock en¬
gagement being over, he who holds the calumet makes
a speech, in which he gives an account of the battles
he has fought, and the prisoners he has taken, and
then receives a cloak, or some other present, from the
chief of the ball. He then resigns the calumet to ano¬
ther, who, having acted a similar part, delivers it to a
third, who afterwards gives it to his neighbour, till at
last the instrument returns to the person that began the
ceremony, who presents it to the nation invited to the
feast, as a mark of their friendship, and a confirmation
of their alliance, when this is the occasion of the en¬
tertainment.
CALUMNY, the crime of accusing another falsely*
and knowingly so, of some heinous offence.
Oath of Calumny, Juramentum (or rather Jusju-
randuni) Calumnice, among civilians and canonists, was
an oath which both parties in a cause were obliged to
take $ the plaintiff that he did not bring his charge,
and the defendant that he did not deny it, with a design
to abuse each other, but because they believed, their
cause was just and good j that they would not deny
the truth, nor create unnecessary delays, nor offer the
judge or evidence any gifts or bribes. If the plaintiff
refused this oath, the complaint or libel was dismissed j
if the defendant, it was taken pro confesso. This custom
was taj^en from the ancient athletse j who, before they
engaged, were to swear that they had no malice, nor
would use any unfair means for overcoming each other.
The jaramentum calumnice is much disused, as a great»
occasion of perjury. Anciently the advocates and
proctors also took this oath j but of late it is dispensed
with, and thought sufficient that they take it once for
all at their first admission to practice. See also Law,
Part III. N° clxxxiv. 7.
CALVUS, Cornelius Licinius, a celebrated Kg*-
man orator, was the friend of Catullus j and flourished
64 B. C. Catullus, Ovid, and Horace, speak of him.
CALX properly signifies lime, but has been used by
chemists and physicians for a fine powder remaining
after the calcination of metals. All metallic calces
are found to weigh more than the metal from which
they were originally produced. This arises from the
metal having combined with oxygen, during the pro¬
cess of calcination or burning j and hence in the pre¬
sent chemical nomenclature they are called oxides.
Calx Nativa, in Natural History, a kind of marly
earth, of a dead whitish colour, which, if thrown into
water,
C A M
[ 85 ]
CAM
Calx
Cam tea.
water, makes a considerable bubbling and hissing noise,
and has, without previous burning, the quality of mak¬
ing a cement like lime or plaster of Paris.
' Calx Viva, or Quicklime, that whereon no water
has been cast j in contradiction to lime which has-been
slaked by pouring water on it.
CALYBITES, the inhabitants of a cottage, an ap¬
pellation given to divers saints on account of their long
residence in some hut by way of mortification.
The word is formed from K&XvTrr*, tego, I cover ;
whence KxXvZn, a little cot. The Romish church com¬
memorates St John the Calybite on the 15th of De¬
cember.
CALYCANTHEMiE, in Botany, an order of
plants in the Fragmenta methodi naturalis of Linnocus,
in which are the following genera, viz. epilobium,
oenothera, jussisea, ludivigia, oldenlandia, isnarda, See.
See Botany, Natural Orders.
CALYCANTHUS. See Botany Index.
CALYCIFLORiE, in Botany, the 16th order in
Linnaeus’s Fragmenta meihodi naturalis, consisting of
plants which, as the title imports, have the stamina
(the flower) inserted into the calyx. This order con¬
tains the following genera, viz. eleagnus, hippophae,
osyris, and trophis. See Botany.
CALYCIST.ZE, (from calyx, the flower-cup), sy¬
stematic botanists, so named by Linnaeus, who have
arranged all vegetables from the difl’erent species,
structure, and other circumstances, of the calyx or
flower-cup. The only systems of this kind are the
Character Blantarum Novus, a posthumous work of
Magnolius, professor of botany at Montpelier, publish¬
ed in 1720 } and Linnaeus’s Methodus Calycina, pub¬
lished in his Classes Blantarum, at Leyden, in 1738.
See Botany, History.
CALYDON, in Ancient Geography, a town of
yEtolia, situated seven miles and a half from the sea,
and divided by the river Evenus j the country was an¬
ciently called JEolis, from the ^Eolians its inhabitants.
This country was famous for the story of Meleager
and the Calydonian boar.
CALYPSO, in fabulous history, a goddess who
was the daughter of Oceanus and Tethys, or, as others
say, of Atlas. She was queen of the island of Ogygia,
which from her was called the island of Calypso. Ac¬
cording to Homer, Ulysses sufiered shipwreck on her
coast, and staid with her several years.
CALYPTRA, among botanists, a thin membrana¬
ceous involucrum, usually of a conic figure, which co¬
vers the parts of fructification. The capsules of most
of the mosses have calyptroe.
CALYX, among botanists, a general term, expres¬
sing the cup of a flower*, or that part of a plant which
surrounds and supports the other parts of the flower.
The cups of flowers are very various in their struc¬
ture, and on that account distinguished by several names,
as perianthium, involucrum, spatha, gluma, &.e. See
Botany.
CxlLZADA, a town of Old Castile in Spain, seat¬
ed on the river Leglera. W. Long. 2. 47. N. Lat.
42. 12.
CAM ALA, in Natural History, a genus of the semi-
pellucid gems, approaching to the onyx structure, be¬
ing composed of zones, and formed on a crystalline
basis : but having their zones very broad and thick, Can.sca
and laid alternately one on another, with no common 11
matter between *, usually less transparent, and more Ca^^lu'
debased with earth, than the onyxes. . _ ‘A—
I, One species of the camsea is the dull-looking
onyx, with broad, black, and white zones j and is the
eamrea of the moderns, and the Arabian onyx. This
species is found in Egypt, Arabia, Persia, and the East
Indies. 2. Another species of the camtea is the dull
broad-zoned, green and white camtea, or the jaspi-
camaso of the Italians : it is found in the East Indies,
and in some parts of America. 3. The third is the
hard camaea, with broad white and chesnut-coloured
veins. 4. The hard camtea, with bluish, white, and1
flesh-coloured broad veins, being the sardonyx of Pli¬
ny’s time, only brought from the East Indies. -
CAMAIEU, or Camayeu, a word used to express
a peculiar sort of onyx: also by some to express a
stone, whereon are found various figuresj and repre¬
sentations of landscapes, See. formed by a kind of lusus
naturce, so as to exhibit pictures without painting.
The word comes from camahuia, a name the Orientals
give to the onyx, when they find, in preparing it, ano¬
ther colour ’, as who should say, a second stone. It is
of these camaieux Pliny is to be understood when he
speaks of the manifold picture of gems, and the party-
coloured spots of precious stones ; Gemmarum pictura
tam multiplex lapidumque tam discolores maculae.
Camaieu is also applied by others to those precious
stones, as onyxes, cornelians, and agates, whereon the
lapidaries employ their art to aid nature, and perfect
these representations. See Cam^ea.
Camaieu is also frequently applied to any kind of
gem, whereon figures may be engraved either indent-
edly or in relievo. In this sense the lapidaries of Paris
are called in their statutes, cutters of camayeux.
A society of learned men at Florence undertook to
procure all the cameos or camayeux and intaglios in the
great duke’s gallery to be engraven j and began to
draw the heads of divers emperors in cameos.
Camaieu is also used for a painting, wherein there
is only one colour $ and where the lights and shadow
are of gold, wrought on a golden or azure ground.
When the ground is yellow, the French call \t cirage-;
when gray, gj'issaile. This kind of work x is chiefly
used to represent basso relievos: the Greeks call pieces
of this sort fAtis^upetru.
CAMALDULIANS, Camaldunians, or Ca--
MALDOLITES, an order of religious, founded by Ro¬
muald, an Italian fanatic, in 1023, in the horrible de¬
sert of Camaldoli, otherwise called Campo Malduli,
situated in the state of Florence, on the Apennines.
Their rule is that of St Benedict j and-their houses, by
the statutes, are never to be less than five leagues from
cities. The CamalduUans have not borne that title •
from the beginning of their order j till the close of the
eleventh century they were called Romualdins, from
the name of their founder. Till that time, Camaldu-
Han was a particular name for those of the desert Ga-
maldoli j and D. Grandi observes, was not- given to .
the whole order in regard it was in this monastery that
the order commenced, but because the regulation was
best maintained here.
Guido Grandi, mathematician, of the ,grand duke of
Tuscany, ,
CAM [ 86 ] CAM
Came.idu- Tuscany, and a monk of this order, has published Ca-
lians maldulian Dissertations, on the origin and establish-
li . ment of it.
< amaria. ^ 'piie Camaldulilcs were distinguished into two classes,
of which the one were Coenobites, and the other
Eremites.
CAMALODUNUM, in Ancient Geography, a
town of the Trinobantes, the first Roman colony in
Britain, of veterans under the emperor. From the Iti¬
neraries it appears to have stood where now Malden
stands. It continued to be an open place under the
Romans ; a place of pleasure rather than strength ; yet
not unadorned with splendid works, as a theatre and
a temple of Claudius: which the Britons considered as
badges of slavery, and which gave rise to several sedi¬
tions and commotions. It stands on a bay of the sea,
at the mouth of the Chelmer, in the county of Essex :
the modern name is curtailed from the ancient.
CAMARANA, an island of Arabia, in the Red sea,
whose inhabitants are little and black. It is the best
of all the islands in this sea, and here they fish for co¬
ral and pearls. N. Lat. 15. o.
CAMASSEI, or Camace, Andrea, painter of hi¬
story and landscape, was born at Bevagna, and at first
learned the principles of design and colouring from
Domenichino ”, but afterwards he studied in the school
of Andrea Sacchi, and proved a very great painter.
He was employed in St Peter’s at Rome, as also at St
John Lateran j and his works are extremely admired,
for the sweetness of his colouring, the elegance of his
thoughts and design, and likewise for the delicacy of his
pencil. Sandrart laments that the world was deprived
of so promising a genius, in the very bloom of life,
when his reputation was daily advancing. He died in
1657. Al St John Lateran are to be seen, the Battle
of Constantine and Maxentius j and the Triumph of
Constantine; which are noble and grand compositions;
and they afford sufficient proofs of the happiness of his
invention, and the correctness of his execution. Also
at Wilton, the seat of the earl of Pembroke, there is a
picture of Venus with the Graces, said to be by the
hand of Camassei.
CAMARCUM, in Ancient Geography, the capital
of the Nervii, a people of Gallia Belgica, (Antonine,
Peutinger) ; before whose time no mention was made
of it. Now Cambray, capital of the Cambresis, in
French Flanders. E. Long. 3. 15. Lat. 50. 15.
CAM ARINA, in Ancient Geography, a city of Si¬
cily, built by the Syracusans on an eminence near the
sea, in the south of Sicily, to the west of the promon¬
tory Pachynum, between two rivers, the Hipparis and
Oa nus. Of so famous a city nothing now remains but
its name and ancient walls, a mile and a half in com¬
pass, with the slight remains of houses : now called
Camarana.
Camahina Pains, a marsh or lake near the city Ca-
marina, and from which it took its name. In a time of
drought, the stench of the lake produced a pestilence ;
upon which the inhabitants consulted the oracle, whe¬
ther they should not quite drain it. The oracle dis¬
suaded them: they notwithstanding drained it, and
opened a way for their enemies to come and plunder
their city : hence the proverb Ne moveas Camarinam,
that is, not to remove one evil to bring on a greater.
Lago di Camarana, situated in a beautiful plain, under Camariu*
the very wails of Camarina, and of a triangular form. U
CAMAYEU. See Camaieu. ,
CAMBAIA, or Campay, a town of Asia, in In-
dia, and in the peninsula on this side the Ganges ; ca¬
pital of a province of the same name ; but more com¬
monly called Guzerat. It is seated at the bottom of
a gulf of the same name, on a small river ; is a large
place with high walls, and has a pretty good trade.
The product and manufactures are inferior to few towns
in India, for it abounds in corn, cattle, and silk ; and
cornelian and agate stones are found in its rivers. The
inhabitants are noted for embroidery ; and some of
their quilts have been valued at 40I. It came into the
possession of the British in 1803. E. Long. 72. 15.
N. Lat. 22. 30.
CAMBAYES, in commerce, cotton cloths made
at Bengal, Madras, and some other places on the coast
of Coromandel. They are proper for the trade of
Marseilles, whither the English at Madras send great
numbers of them. Many are also imported into Hol¬
land.
CAMBER, according to our monkish historians, one
of the three sons of Brute, who, upon his father’s death,
had that part of Britain assigned him for his share,
called from him Cambria, now Wales.
CAMBER-Beam, among builders, a piece of timber in
an edifice cut archwise, or with an obtuse angle in the
middle, commonly used in platforms, as church leads,
and on other occasions where long and strong beams are
required.
CAMBERED DECKS, among ship-builders. The
deck or flooring of a ship is said to be cambered,
or to lie cambering, when it is higher in the middle
of the ship’s length, and droops towards the stem
and stern, or the two ends. Also when it lies irregu¬
lar ; a circumstance which renders the ship very unfit
for war.
CAMBERT, a French musician in the 17th cen¬
tury, was at first admired for the manner in which he
touched the organ, and became superintendant of the
music to Anne of Austria the queen-mother. The
Abbe Peril! associated him in the privilege he obtained
ofhis majesty, of setting up an opera in 1669. Cam-
bert set to music two pastorals, one entitled Pomona,
the other Ariadne, which were the first operas given in
France. He also wrote a piece entitled The pains and
pleasures of love. These pieces pleased the public; yet
in 1672, Lully obtaining the privilege of the opera,
Cambert was obliged to come to England, where he
became superintendant of the music to King Charles II,
and died there in 1677.
CAMBIO, an Italian word which signifies exchange,
commonly used in Provence, and in some other coun¬
tries, particularly Holland.
CAMBIST, a name given in France to those who
trade in notes and bills of exchange. The word cam¬
bist, though a term of antiquity, is even now a techni¬
cal word, of some use among merchants, traders, and
bankers. Some derive it from the Latin cambium, or
rather cambio.
CAMBLET, or Chamblet, a stuff sometimes of
wool, sometimes silk, and sometimes hair, especial¬
ly that Oi goats, with wool or silk: in some, the
warp
2
CAM [ 87 ] CAM
Sublet warp Is silk and wool twisted together, and the woof
U hair.
*mbogia. ^|]e jrue or oriental camblet is made of the pure
v hair of a sort of goat, frequent about Angora, and
which makes the riches of that city, all the inhabitants
whereof are employed in the manufacture and com¬
merce of camblets. It is certain we find mentioned
in middle-age writers stufl’s made of camels hair, under
the denominations of cameletum and camelinum, whence
probably the origin of the term j but these are repre¬
sented as strangely coarse, rough, and prickly, and seem
to have been cliielly used among the monks by way of
mortification, as the hair shirt of latter times.
We have no camblets made in Europe of the goats
hair alone ; even at Brussels, they find it necessary to
add a mixture of woollen thread.
England, France, Holland, and Flanders, are the
chief places of this manufacture. Brussels exceeds
them all in the beauty and quality of its camblets $ those
of England are reputed the second.
Figured Camblets, are those of one colour, whereon
are stamped various figures, flowers, foliage, &e. by
means of hot irons, which are a kind of moulds, passed
together with the stuff under a press. These are chief¬
ly brought from Amiens and Flanders ; the commerce
of these was anciently much more considerable than at
present.
Watered Camblets, those which, after weaving, re¬
ceive a certain preparation with water 5 and are after¬
wards passed under a hot press, which gives them a
smoothness and lustre.
Waved Camblets, are those whereon waves are im¬
pressed, as on tabbies •, by means of a calender, under
which they are passed and repassed several times.
The manufacturers, &c. of camblets are to take care
they do not acquire any false and needless plaits j it
being almost impossible to get them out again. This
is notorious even to a proverb j we say a person is like
camblet he has taken his plait.
CAMBODIA, a kingdom of Asia, in the East In¬
dies, bounded on the north by the kingdom of Laos,
on the east by Cochin-China and Chiapa, and on the
south and west by the gulf and kingdom of Siam j
divided by a large river called Mecon. The capital
town is of the same name, seated on the western shore
of the said river, about 150 miles north of its mouth.
This country is annually overflowed in the rainy sea¬
son, between June and October j and its productions
and fruits are much the same with those usually found
between the tropics. E. Long. 104. 15. N. Lat. 12.
40.
CAMBODUNUM, (Itinerary) ; a town of the Bri¬
gades in Britain $ now in ruins, near Almonbury in
Yorkshire. Westchester, (Talbot.) Also a town of
Vindelicia, on the Cambus $ now Kempten in Suabia.
CAMBOGIA, in Botany, a genus of the monogy-
nia order, belonging to the polyandria class of plants ;
and in the natural method ranking under the 38th or¬
der, Tricoccce. The corolla is tetrapetalous 5 the calyx
tetraphyllous ; and the fruit is a pome with eight cells,
and solitary seeds. There is but one species, the
gutta, a native of India, which yields the gum-resin
known by the name of gamboge in the shops. See
Gamboge.
CAMBRASINES, in commerce, fine linen made Cambra-
in Egypt, of which there is a considerable trade at &ines
Cairo, Alexandria, and Rosetta, or Raschit. They li
are called cambrasines from their resemblance to cam- (
brics.
CAMBRAY, an archiepiscopal city, the capital of
the Cambresis, in the Low Countries, seated on the
Scheldt. It is defended by good fortifications, and
has a fort on the side of the river ; and as the land is
low on that side, they can lay the adjacent parts under
water by means of sluices. Its ditches are large and
deep, and those of the citadel are cut into a rock. Clo¬
dion became master of Cambray in 445. The Danes
burnt it afterwards j since which time it became a free
imperial city. It has been the subject of contest be¬
tween the emperors, the kings of France, and the earls
of Flanders. Francis I. let it remain neutral during
the war with Charles V. but this last took possession of
it in 1543* After this it was given to John of Mont-
luc by Henry III. of France, whom he created prince
of Cambray *, but the Spaniards took it from Montluc
in 1593’ which broke his heart. It continued under
the dominion of the house of Austria till 1677, when
the king of France became master of it, in whose hands
it has continued ever since.
The buildings of Cambray are tolerably handsome,
and the streets fine and spacious. The place or square
for arms is of an extraordinary largeness, and capable
of receiving the whole garrison in order of battle. The
cathedral dedicated to the "Virgin Mary is one of the
finest in Europe. The body of the church is very large,
and there are rich chapels, the pillars of which are
adorned with marble tombs that are of exquisite work¬
manship, and add greatly to the beauty of the place.
There are two galleries, one of which is of copper,
finely wrought. The door of the choir is'of the same
metal, and well carved. The steeple of this church is
very high, and built in the form of a pyramid ; and
from its top you have a view of the city, which is one
of the finest and most agreeable in the Low Countries.
There are nine parishes, four abbeys, and several con¬
vents for both sexes. The citadel is very advantage¬
ously situated on the high ground, and commands the
whole city. Cambray is one of the most opulent and
commercial cities in the Low Countries ; and makes
every year a great number of pieces of cambric, with
which the inhabitants drive a great trade. E. Long.
3. 20. N. Lat. 50. 11.
Cambray, M. de Fenelon, archbishop of. See Fe-
nelon.
CAMBRESIS, a province of France, in the Ne¬
therlands, about 25 miles in length. It is bounded on
the north and east by Hainault, on the south by Picar¬
dy, and on the west by Artois. It is a very fertile and
populous country ; and the inhabitants are industrious,
active, and ingenious. The trade consists principally
in corn, sheep, very fine wool, and fine linen cloth.
Cambray is the capital town.
CAMBRIA, a name for the principality of Wales.
CAMBRIC, in commerce, a species of linen made
of flax, very fine and white 5 the name of which was
originally derived from the city of Cambray, where
they were first manufactured. They are now made at
other places in France.
The
CAM [ 88 ] CAM
Cambric, The manufacture of cambrics hath long since prored
Cambridge. 0f extraordinary advantage to France. For many years
1 ' v ' it appeared that England did not in this article contri¬
bute less than 200,oool. per annum to the interest of
France. This proved motive sufficient to induce the
parliament of Great Britain to enact many salutary
laws to prevent this great loss of our wealth. See
18 Geo. II. c. 38. and 21 Geo. II. c. 26. See also
stat. 32 Geo. II. c. 32. and 4 Geo. III. c. 37. which
regulates the cambric manufactory, not long since in¬
troduced into Winchelsea in Sussex j but very soon
abolished. The cambrics now allowed in this country
are manufactured -in Scotland and Ireland. Any per¬
sons convicted of wearing, selling (except for exporta¬
tion), or making up for hire any cambric or French
lawns, are liable to a penalty of 5I. by the two first sta¬
tutes cited above.
CAMBRIDGE, a town of England, and capital
of the county of that name. It takes the name of
Cambridge from the bridge over the Cam, which di¬
vides the town into two parts. Either it or a place in
the neighbourhood was styled Cambot'itum, in the time
of the Romans. It suffered much during the wars
with the Danes. Here was a castle built by William
the Conqueror, of which the gatehouse yet remains,
and is now the county gaol. By Doomsday-book it
appears that it then had ten wards, containing 387
houses. In William Rufus’s reign it was quite de¬
stroyed by Roger de Montgomery $ but Henry I. be¬
stowed many privileges upon it to encourage its resto¬
ration, particularly an exemption from the power of
the sheriff, on condition of its paying yearly into the
exchequer 100 merks (equivalent to 1000 pounds now),
and from tolls, lastage, pontage, passage, and stallage,
in all fairs of his dominions. It was afterwards often
plundered in the barons wars by the outlaws from the
isle of Ely, till Henry III. secured it by a deep ditch.
In 1388, Richard II. held a parliament there. In the
rebellion of Wat Tyler and Jack Straw against that
prince, the university records were taken and burnt in
the market place.
The modern town is about one mile long from south
to north, and about half a mile broad in the middle, di¬
minishing at the extremities. It has 14 parish church-
>es, of which two are without any towers. It contained
.11,108 inhabitants in 1811 •, but the private buildings
are neither elegant nor large, owing chiefly to their be¬
ing held on college leases. It is governed by a mayor,
high steward, recorder, 13 aldermen and 24 common
council ihen, a town clerk, &c. Its chief trade is
water carriage from hence to Downham, Lynn, Ely,
;&c. The Jews, being encoui’aged to settle in Eng¬
land by William I. and II. were very populous here for
several generations, and inhabited that street now call¬
ed the Jewry. They had a synagogue, since convert¬
ed to a parish church, called from the shape of its
tower Round Church; though others are of opinion
that it was built by the Knights Templars, it bearing
a resemblance to the Temple church in London. The
market place is situated in the middle of the town, and
consists of two spacious oblong squares united together ;
at the top of the angle stands the shire hall, lately
erected at the expence of the county. At the back
of the shire hall is the town hall and gaol. In the
market place, fronting the shire hall, is a remarkably
3
handsome stone conduit, to which water is conveyed Cambridgt.
by an aqueduct, which was the benefaction of the cele- y
brated Hobson, a carrier in the reign of James I. who
was a native of this town. A fine road for the benefit
of the inhabitants and students was made a few years
since for four miles, from this town to Gogmagog hills*
pursuant to the will of Mr Worts. The late Dr Ad-
denbroke also left it 4000I. towards building and fur¬
nishing an hospital for the cure of poor diseased people
gratis ; of which charity the master of Catharine hall
is a trustee j which hospital has been erected at the
south-east end of the town. At a little distance from
Bennet college is the botanic garden of five acres, and
a large house for the use of the governors and the resi¬
dence of the curator, given to the university by the late
Dr Walker, who settled an estate on it towards its sup¬
port, to which the late Mr Edward Betham added a
very considerable benefaction. The town has fairs on
June 24. and August 14.
The glory of Cambridge is its university $ but when
it had its beginning is uncertain. At first there was
no public provision for the accommodation or mainte¬
nance of the scholars j but afterwards inns began to be
erected by pious persons for their reception, and in
the time of Edward I. colleges began to be built and
endowed. This university, not inferior to any in
Christendom, consists of 12 colleges and 4 halls, which
have the same privileges as the colleges. The whole
body, which is commonly about 1500, enjoys very
great privileges granted by several of our sovereigns j
but it was James I. who empowered it to send two
members to parliament, as the town had done from
the first. The university is governed, 1. By a chan¬
cellor, who is always some nobleman, and may be
changed every three years, or continued longer by the
tacit consent of the university. 2. By a high steward,
chosen by the senate, and holding his place by patent
from the university. 3. By a vice-chancellor, who is
the head of some college or hall, and chosen yearly by
the body of the university, the heads of the colleges
naming two. 4. By two proctors chosen every year,
according to the cycle of colleges and halls j as are
two taxors, who with the proctors regulate the weights
and measures, as clerks of markets. The proctors
also inspect the behaviour of the scholars, who must
not be out of their colleges after nine at night. Here
are also 2 moderators, 2 scrutators, a commissary, pub¬
lic orator, 2 librarians, a register, a school-keeper, 3
esquire beadles and a yeoman beadle, 18 professors, and
the capnt, consisting of the vice-chancellor, a doctor
of divinity, a doctor of laws, a doctor of physic, a re¬
gent and a non-regent master of arts. Henry VI.
granted it the power to print all books of any kind
within itself, a privilege which Oxford had net. The
senate house of the university is an elegant building of
the Corinthian order, cost near l6,oool. building; in
which on the north side is a fine statue of George I.
erected in 1739 a*- ^ie expence of the late Lord Town-
shend ; opposite to this on the south side is another of
George 11. erected in 1765 at the expence of the late
duke of Newcastle : at the east end, on each side of
the entrance, are two others ; one, the late duke of
Somerset, after the Vandyke taste ; tire other, an
Italian emblematical figure of Gloria. This is allowed
to be the most superb room in England, being 101 feet
CAM [ 89 ] CAM
mi,ridge,long, 42 broad, and 32 high j and it has a gallery
—Y—^ which can contain 1000 persons. This building forms
the north side of the quadrangle, as the schools and pub¬
lic library do the west, the schools being the ground
Roor, and the library over them surrounding a small
court. North of the philosophy school is the repository
of Dr Woodward’s fossils, ores, shells, &c. The doc¬
tor, together with that collection, and a part of his
library, left a sum of money to this university for erect¬
ing a professorship for natural philosophy, with a pro¬
vision of 150I. a-year for ever. At the south-east cor¬
ner of this building is an elegant geometrical stone stair¬
case which leads to the old library, and consists of l8
classes; at the end of which is an elegant square room,
in which are deposited the MSS. and a valuable cabi¬
net of oriental books and curiosities, &c. This room
opens to two other rooms, containing 26 large classes,
consisting of 30,000 volumes presented to the university
by George I. being the entire collection of Dr Moore,
bishop of Ely, and purchased of the doctor’s executors
by his majesty for 6000 guineas; before which his ma--
jesty gave the university 2000I. to defray the expence of
fitting up the apartments, and erecting classes for their
reception ; they consist of the first editions of the Greek
and Latin classics and historians, and the greatest part
of the works of the first printers ; large collections of
prints by the greatest masters ; and a valuable MS. of
the Gospels and Act;s of the Apostles, on vellum, in
Greek and Latin capitals, given to the university by
Theodore Beta, and supposed to be as old as any MS.
extant. The other part of the library has been re¬
built in an elegant manner, and forms the west side of
the intended quadrangle. The books which are con¬
tained in the last room are part of the old library,
augmented with a considerable number of the best
modern books, several of which are presents from foreign
sewreigns and eminent men. The south side of the
quadrangle is designed for a building to contain the
printing-office, &c. of the university, for which pre¬
parations began lately to be made by pulling down the
old buildings on the spot. St Mary’s church forms
the east side of this quadrangle ; here the university
have their public sermons ; and the pulpit, which stands
iu the centre of the church, and faces the chancel, has
no soundingboard. In a grand gallery over part of the
chancel is a seat for the chancellor, vice-chancellor, &c.
George I. when he gavd the books, also established a
professor of modern history and modern languages in
this university, with a salary of 400I. for himself and
two persons under him, qualified to instruct in that
branch 20 scholars, to be nominated by the king,
each of whom is obliged to learn at least two of the
languages. A fellowship is founded at Magdalen
college, appropriated to the gentlemen of Norfolk,
and called the travelling Norfolk fellowship. All
the libraries in Cambridge, except that of King’s
college, are lending libraries: and those at Oxford
are studying libraries. The different colleges are as
follow :
I. St Peter’s, the most ancient, and the first on enter¬
ing the town from London, consisting of two courts, se¬
parated by a cloister and gallery. The largest is 144
feet long, and 84 broad. The buildings in this court
have been lately repaired in an elegant manner. The
lesser court is divided by the chapel, which is a fine
Vol. V. Part I. +
old building, 54 feet long, 27 broad, and 27 high. Cambridge.
This college was founded in 1237. There are three col-
leges in Oxford, which dispute the antiquity with this.
Cambridge and Oxford were universities long before
they were possessed of any colleges in their own right,
the students then lodging and boarding with the
townsmen, and they then hired hotels for their exer¬
cises and disputations. A hotel or hall, now denomi¬
nated Pythagoras's school, situated on the west side of
the river, is one of the ancient hotels that remain un¬
demolished, and in which Erasmus read his first Greek
lectures in England. 2. Clare hall, on the brink of
the river, over which it hr-s an elegant stone bridge,
was founded in 1326, consisting of one grand court, 150
feet long, and ill broad. The front of this building
that faces the fields has the appearance of a palace.
To this college a new chapel has been added. 3. Pem¬
broke hall is near St Peter’s college, and was founded
in 1343 ; it consists of two courts. It has an elegant
chapel, built by Sir Christ. Wren. 4. Corpus Christi
or Bennet college, founded in 1350, has but a mean ap¬
pearance, but is possessed of a remarkably large col¬
lection of valuable and curious ancient manuscripts.
5. Trinity hall, on the north of Clare hall, near the
river, was founded in 1351 ; it is a small but remark¬
ably neat building. 6. Gonvil and Caius college is
near the middle of the to'wn, north of the senate house,
and has three courts. It was founded in 1348, and aug¬
mented in 1557. 7. King’s college, the most noble
foundation in Europe, was first endowed by Henry VI.
The old court resembles a decayed castle, more than a
college. The new building is very magnificent, near
300 feet long. The chapel is one of the finest pieces
of Gothic architecture now remaining in the world.
It is 304 feet long, 73 broad on the outside, and 40
within, and 91 high ; and yet not a single pillar to
sustain its ponderous roofs, of which it has two: the
first is of stone, most curiously carved ; the other of
wood, covered with lead, between which is a vacancy
of 10 feet. There is such a profusion of carvings, both
within and without, as is nowhere to be equalled.
Henry VII. enlarged it 188 feet in length, and Hen¬
ry VIII. gave the elegant stalls and organ gallery,
with its inimitable carvings, where are the coats of
arms of that king and those of Anne Boleyn quarter¬
ed. He gave also the elegant painted glass windows,
which are in fine preservation, and were permitted by
Cromwell to be preserved when almost every other in
England was destroyed, as he had a particular regard
for this university, where he had his education, and
for the town which he had represented in parliament.
Anew altar has been lately erected, which corresponds
with the architecture of the building, embellished with
an antique painting of Christ taken down from the
cross, purchased in Italy, and presented to the college
by the earl of Carlisle. In this chapel are put up the
Spanish colours taken at the reduction of Manilla by
Colonel Draper, a member of this college. This col¬
lege has an ancient stone bridge over the Cam.
8. Queen’s college, near the river*, south of King’s, was
founded in 1448, and consists of two courts, with a fine
grove, and gardens on both sides of the river, connected
with each other and the college by two wooden bridges,
one of which is of a curious structure. 9. Catharine
hall is east of Queen’s, and its principal front on the
M west,
CAM
[ 9° 1
CAM
Cambridge, west, the most extensive ami regular in the university.
Cambridge- It contains only one court, 180 feet long, and I 20 bioac .
shire. an(] vvas founded in 1475. 10. Jesus college is at the
east end of the town, surrounded by groves and gar¬
dens. Tiie principal front faces the south, 180 feet
long, regularly built and sashed : it was originally a
Benedictine convent, and converted to the present use
in 1576. II. Christ’s college is opposite to St Andrew’s
church, on the east side of the town ; and was founded
by Henry VHth’s mother, in I503‘ ^as hA^y |iac^
a thorough repair, and is now a neat and beautiful
structure. 12. St John’s college was founded by the
same lady, in 1509, on the site of a dissolved priory.
It consists of three courts, and has a large library filled
with scarce and valuable books. lo this college be¬
longs a fine stone bridge over the river, which leads to
their grand walks. 13. Magdalen college, the only
one that stands on the north side of the river, near the
great bridge, consists of two courts, and was founded
in ijip* 14- Trinity college is east of the river, hav¬
ing St John’s college on the north, and Caius’s col¬
lege and Trinity hall on the south. It contains two
large quadrangles, the first ol which is 344 feet long,
and 280 broad. It has two noble entrances ; and on
the north side of it is the chapel, 204 feet long, 34
broad, and 44 high. It has. every grand ornament,
and the much admired statue of Sir Isaac Newton,
who was a student in this college. The hall is above
100 feet long, 40 broad, and 50 high. The inner
court is esteemed the finest in the university, and sur¬
passes any in Oxford. It is very spacious, and has an
elegant cloister of stone pillars, supporting grand apart¬
ments : on the west is the library, the most elegant
structure of the kind in the kingdom, 190 feet long,
40 broad, and 38 high within. Its entrance is by a
staircase, the steps black marble, and the walls in-
crusted with ancient Roman monuments. The en¬
trance into the library is by folding doors at the north
end. Its inside appearance is inexpressibly grand,
having at the south end (lately erected) a beautiful
painted glass window of his present majesty in his robes;
and the classes are large, beautiful, and noble, well
stocked with books, manuscripts, &c. Its outside has
every suitable embellishment, and was erected by Sir
Christopher Wren, at the expence of near 20,000!.
Under this building is a spacious piazza of equal di¬
mensions ; out of which open three gates to a lawn
that leads to the river, over which is a new elegant
cycloidal bridge of three arches, leading to extensive
walks. In the middle is a remarkable vista. This col¬
lege was founded on the site of two other colleges and
a hall in 1546, by Henry VIII. 15. Emanuel college
is at the south-east end of the town ; consists of two
courts, the principal of which is very neat; and was
built on the site of a Dominican convent. It has been
lately in great part rebuilt and elegantly embellished.
16. Sidney-Sussex college is in Bridge-street. Its hall
is elegant, but the chapel remarkable only for standing
north and south, as others do east and west. The num¬
ber of inhabitants in the town of Cambridge in 1801,
was 10,087.
CAMBRIDGESHIRE, an inland county of Eng¬
land, bounded on the east by Norfolk and Suffolk, on
the south by Essex and Hertfordshire, on the west by
Bedfordshire and Huntingdonshire, and on the north Cambridg
by Lincolnshire. Prior to the arrival of the Romans it shire,
was included in the ancient division of the Iceni ; and New Cair
after their conquest, in the third province of Ilavia, ^
Ccesariensis, which reached from the rI hames to the
Humber. During the Heptarchy it belonged to the
kingdom of the East Angles, the sixth kingdom, which
began in 575, and ended in 792, having had 14 kings;
and it is now included in the Norfolk circuit, the dio¬
cese of Ely, and province of Canterbury, except a
small part which is in the diocese of Norwich. It is
about 40 miles in length from north to south, and 25
in breadth from east to west, and is 130 miles in cir¬
cumference, containing near ^0,000 acres. It lias
about 17,400 houses, 140,000 inhabitants : is divided
into 17 hundreds, in which are one city, Ely ; 8 market
towns, viz. Cambridge, which is the shire town, and a
celebrated university, Caxton, Linton, Merch, New¬
market, Soham, Wisbeach, Thorney, and part of Roy-
ston ; 220 villages, 64 parishes : sends 2 members to
parliament (exclusive of 2 for the town, and 2 for the
university^), pays one part of the land tax, and pro¬
vides 480 men in the militia. Its only rivers are the
Cam, the Nene, and the Ouse. A considerable tract
of land in this county is distinguished by the name of the
Isle of Ely. It consists of fenny ground, divided by in¬
numerable channels and drains : and is part of a very
spacious level, containing 300,000 acres of land, ex¬
tending into Norfolk, Suffolk, Huntingdonshire, and
Lincolnshire. The Isle of Ely is the north division of
the county, and extends south almost as far as Cam¬
bridge. The whole level of which this is part, is bound¬
ed on one side by the sea, and on the others by up¬
lands ; which, taken together, form a rude kind of se¬
micircle, resembling a horse shoe. The air is very dif¬
ferent in different parts of the county. In the fens it
is moist and foggy, and therefore not so wholesome ;
but in the south and east parts it is very good, these
being much drier than the other ; but both, by late im¬
provements, have been rendered very fruitful, the
former by draining, and the latter by cinquefoil: so that
it produces plenty of corn, especially barley, saffron,
and hemp, and affords the richest pastures. The rivers
abound with fish, and the fens with wild fowl. The
principal manufactures of the county are malt, paper,
and baskets. As the above tract appears to have
been dry land formerly, the great change it has under¬
gone must have been owing either to a violent breach
and inundation of the sea, or to earthquakes. As the
towns in and about the fens were great sufferers by
the stagnation of the waters in summer, and want of
provisions in winter, many attempts were made to
drain them, but without success, until the time of
Charles I. in which, and that of his son, the work
was happily completed, and an act of parliament passed,
by which a corporation was established for its preserva¬
tion and government. By the same act, 83,000 acres
were vested in the corporation, and 10,000 in the king.
In these fens are a great many DECOYS, in which in¬
credible numbers of ducks, and other wild fowl, are
caught during the season. The population of Cam¬
bridgeshire in 1811 amounted to 100,109 persons.
See Cambridgeshire, Supplement.
New Cambridge, a town of New England, about
three
CAM
three miles from Boston, remarkable for an university con-
11 0 sisting of three colleges. W. Long.70. 4. N. Lat.42. o.
Camden. CAMBRIDGE Manuscript, a copy ot the Gospels and
-—Acts of the Apostles, in Greek and Latin. Beza
found it in the monastery of Irenseus at Lyons in the
year 1562, and gave it to the university of Cambridge
in 1582. It is a quarto size, and written on vellum ;
66 leaves of it are much torn and mutilated, ten of
which are supplied by a later transcriber. Beza con¬
jectures, that this manuscript might have existed so
early as the time of Irenaeus : Wetstein apprehends
that it either returned or was first brought from Egypt
into France: that it is the same copy which Druth-
mar, an ancient expositor who lived about the year
840, had seen, and which, he observes, w'as ascribed to
St Hilary: and that R. Stephens had given a^parti-
cular account of it in his edition of the New lesta-
ment in 1550. It is usually called Stephen's second
Manuscript. Mill agrees with F. Simon in opinion,
that it was written in the western part of the world by
a Latin scribe, and that it is to a great degree inter¬
polated and corrupted : he observes that it agrees so
' much with the Latin Vulgate, as to afford reason for
concluding, that it was corrected or formed upon a
corrupt and faulty copy of that translation. From
this and the Clermont copy of St Paul’s Epistles, Beza
published his larger Annotations in 1582.
CAMBYSES. See (History of) Persia. _
CAMDEN, William, the great antiquarian, was
born in London in the year 1551. His father was a
native of Lichfield in Staffordshire, who settling in
London, became a member of the company of paper-
stainers, and lived in the Old Bailey. His mother was
of the ancient family of Curwen, of Workington, in
Cumberland. He was educated first at Christ s hospi¬
tal, and afterwards at St Paul’s school : from thence
he was sent, in 1566, to Oxford, and entered servitor
of Magdalen college } but being disappointed of a de¬
my’s place, he removed to Broadgate hall, and some¬
what more than two years after to Christ-church,
where he was supported by his kind friend and patron
Dr Thornton. About this time he was a candidate for
a fellowship of All-souls college, but lost it by the in¬
trigues of the Popish party. In 1570, he supplicated
the regents of the university to be admitted bachelor of
arts; but in this also he miscarried. The following
year Mr Camden came to London, where he prosecu¬
ted his favourite study of antiquity, under the patron¬
age of Dr Goodman, dean of Westminster, by whose
interest he ivas made second master of Westminster
school in 1575. From the time of his leaving the uni¬
versity to this period, he took several journeys to dif¬
ferent parts of England, with a view to make observa¬
tions and collect materials for his Britannia, in which
he was now deeply engaged. In 1581 he became in¬
timately acquainted with the learned President Brisson,
CAM
who was then in England; and in 1586 he published Camden.
the first edition of his Britannia; a work which, though 1 v—
much enlarged and improved in future editions, was
even then esteemed an honour to its author, and the
glory of its country. In 1593 ^ie succee^e(l ^ie
head mastership of Westminster school on the resigna¬
tion of Dr Grant. In this office he continued till
1597, when he was promoted to be Clarencieux king
at arms. In the year 1600 Mr Camden made a tour
to the north, as far as Carlisle, accompanied by his
friend Mr (afterwards Sir Robert) Cotton. In 1606
he began his correspondence with the celebrated Pre¬
sident de Thou, which continued to the death of that
faithful historian. In the following year he publish¬
ed his last edition of the Britannia, which is that
from which the several English translations have been
made; and in 1608, he began to digest his materials
for a history of the reign of Queen Elizabeth. In
1609, after recovering from a dangerous illness, he
retired to Chislehurst in Kent, where he continued to
spend the summer months during the remainder of his
life. The first part of his annals of the queen did not
appear till the year 1615, and he determined that the
second volume should not appear till after his death (a).
The work w'as entirely finished in 16175 and from
that time he was principally employed in collecting
more materials for the further improvement of his
Britannia. In 1622, being now upwards of 70, and
finding his health decline apace, he determined to lose
no time in executing his design of founding a history
lecture in the university of Oxford. His deed of gift
was accordingly transmitted by his friend Mr Heather
to Mr Gregory Wheare, who was, by himself, ap¬
pointed his first professor. He died at Chislehurst in
1623, in the 73d year of his age; and was buried
with great solemnity in Westminster Abbey, in the south
aisle, where a monument of white marble was erected
to his memory. Camden was a man of singular mo¬
desty and integrity ; profoundly learned in the history
and antiquities of this kingdom, and a judicious and
conscientious historian. He was reverenced and esteem¬
ed by the literati of all nations, and will be ever re¬
membered as an honour to the age and country where¬
in he lived. Besides the works already mentioned’, he
was author of an excellent Greek grammar, and of se¬
veral tracts in Hearne’s collection. But his great and
most useful work, the Britanniat is that upon which
his fame is chiefly built. The edition above mention¬
ed, to which he put his last hand, was correctly print¬
ed in folio, much augmented, amended where it was
necessary, and adorned with maps. It was first trans¬
lated into English, and published in folio at London,
in 1611, by the laborious Dr Philemon Holland", a
physician of Coventry, who is thought to have con¬
sulted our author himself; and therefore great respect
has been paid to the additions and explanations that
M 2 occur
r 9> i
(a) The reign of Queen Elizabeth was so recent when the first volume of the Annals was pubjished, that
many of the persons concerned, or their dependents, were still living. It is no wonder, therefore, that the honest
historian should offend those whose actions would not bear inquiry. Some of his enemies were clamorous and
troublesome; which determined him not to publish the second volume during his life ; but, that posterity might
be in no danger of disappointment, he deposited one copy in the Cotton library, and transmitted another to his
friend Dupuy at Paris. It was first printed at Leyden in 1625.
Cameo.
CAM [ 92
Camden occur therein, on a supposition that they may belong
to Camden. But in a later edition of the same transla-
^ tion, published in 1636, the doctor has taken liberties
which cannot either be defended or excused. A new
translation, made with the utmost fidelity from the last
edition of our author’s work, was published in 1695,
by Edmund Gibson of Queen’s college in Oxford, af¬
terwards bishop of London *, in which, besides the ad¬
dition of notes, and of all that deserved to be taken
notice of in Dr Holland’s first edition, which, though
thrown out of the text, is preserved at the bottom of
the page, there are many other augmentations and im¬
provements, all properly distinguished from the genuine
work of the author, as they ought to be : and the
same judicious method obtained in the next edition of
the same performance, which was justly considered as
the very best book of its kind that had been hitherto
published. But the public has been recently put in
possession of a new translation, and still more improved
edition, by that learned and industrious topographer
Mr Gough, under whose hands it has been enlarged
to near double the size of the last of the preceding edi¬
tions.
CAMEL, in Zoo/ogy. See Camelus.
Camel, in Mechanics, a kind of machine used in
Holland for raising or lifting ships, in order to bring
them over the Pampus, which is at the mouth of the
river Y, where the shallowness of the water hinders large
ships from passing. It is also used in other places, par¬
ticularly at the dock of Petersburgh, the vessels built
here being in their passage to Cronstadt lifted over the
bar by means of camels. These machines were origi¬
nally invented by the celebrated De Wit, for the pur¬
pose above mentioned ; and were introduced into Rus¬
sia by Peter the Great, who obtained the model of
them when he worked in Holland as a common ship¬
wright. A camel is composed of two separate parts,
whose outsides are perpendicular, and whose insides are
concave, shaped so as to embrace the hull of a ship on
both sides. Each part has a small cabin with sixteen
pumps and ten plugs, and contains 20 men. They are
braced to a ship underneath by means of cables, and
entirely enclose its sides and bottom ; being then tow¬
ed to the bar, the plugs are opened, and the water ad¬
mitted until the camel sinks with the ship and runs
aground. Then, the water being pumped out, the
camel rises, lifts up the vessel, and the whole is towed
over the bar. This machine can raise the ship eleven
feet, or, in other words, make it draw eleven feet less
water.
CAMELFORD, a borough town of Cornwall in
England, consisting of about 100 houses, badly built;
but the streets are broad and well paved. W. Long.
5. 4. N. Lat. 50. 40. It sends two members to par¬
liament ; and gives title of baron to Thomas Pitt,
elder brother of the great earl of Chatham.
CAMELIA. See Botany Index.
CAMELODUNUM. See Camalodunum.
CAMELOPARDALIS, in Zoologi/, the trivial
name of a species of Cervus. See Mammalia
Index.
CAMELUS, or Camel, in Zoology, a genus of
quadrupeds belonging to the order of pecora. See
Mammalia Index.
CAMEO. See Camaieiu. .
] CAM
CAMERA .EOLIA, a contrivance for blowing the
fire, for the fusion of ores, without bellows, by means
of water falling through a funnel into a close vessel,
which sends from it so much air or vapour as conti¬
nually blows the fire : if there be the space of another ,
vessel for it to expatiate in by the way, it there lets
fall its humidity, which otherwise might hinder the
work. This contrivance was named camera ceolia by
Kircher.
Camera Lvcida, a contrivance of Dr Hook for.mak¬
ing the image of any thing appear on a wall in a
light room, either by day or night. Opposite to the
place or wall where the appearance is to be, make a
hole of at least a foot in diameter, or if there be a
high window with a casement of this dimension in it,
this will do much better without such hole or casement
opened.
At a convenient distance, to prevent its being per¬
ceived by the company in the room, place the object
or picture intended to be represented, but in an in¬
verted situation. If the picture be transparent, reflect
the sun’s rays by means of a looking glass, so as that
they may pass through it towards the place of repre¬
sentation ; and, to prevent any rays from passing aside
it, let the picture be encompassed with some board or
cloth. If the object be a statue, or a living creature,
it must be much enlightened by casting the sun’s rays
on it, either by reflection, refraction, or both. Be¬
tween this object and the place of representation, put
a broad convex glass, ground to such a convexity as
that it may represent the object distinctly in suck
place. The nearer this is situated to the object, the
more will the image be magnified on the wall, and the
further the less : such diversity depending on the dif¬
ference of the spheres of the glasses. If the object
cannot be conveniently inverted, there must be two
large glasses of proper spheres, situated at suitable dis¬
tances, easily found by trial, to make the representa¬
tions erect. This whole apparatus of object, glasses,
&c. with the persons employed in the management of
them, are to be placed without the window or hole, so
that they may not be perceived by the spectators in the
room. Phil. Trans. No. 38. p. 741. seq. See Camera
Lucida, Supplement.
Camera Obscura, or Dark Chamber, in Optics, a
machine, or apparatus, representing an artificial eye ;
whereon the images of external objects, received
through a double convex glass, are exhibited distinctly,
and in their native colours, on a white matter placed
within the machine, in the focus of the glass.
The first invention of this instrument is ascribed to-
Baptista Porta. See his Magia Naturalis, lib. xvii.
cap. 6. first published at Frankfort about the year
1589 or 1591 ; the first four books of this work were
published at Antwerp in 1560.
1 he camera obscura aflords very diverting spectacles;
both by exhibiting images perfectly like their objects,
and each clothed in their native colours ; and by ex¬
pressing, at the same time, all their motions ; which
latter no other art can imitate. By means of this in-
stiument, a person unacquainted with designing will
be able to delineate objects with the greatest accuracy
and justness, and another well versed in painting will
find many things herein to perfect his art. See the
construction under Dioptrics.
Camera
ASolia
II
Camera
Obscure.
CAMERARIA.
CAM [ 93 ] ^ CAM
erarift CAMEKARIA. See Botany Index.
j] CAMERARIUS, Joachim, one of the most learn-
inero- ed writers of his time, was born in 1500, at Bamberg,
ians. a city of Franconia j and obtained great reputation by
^ JjJs writings. He translated into Latin Herodotus,
Demosthenes, Xenophon, Euclid, Homer, Theocritus,
Sophocles, Lucian, Theodoret, Nicephorus, &c. He
published a catalogue of the bishops of the principal
sees; Greek epistles j Accounts of his journeys, in
Latin verse ; a Commentary on Plautus ; the Lives of
Helius Eobanus Hessus, and Philip Melancthon, &c.
He died in I574>
Camerarius, Joachim, sou of the former, and a
learned physician, was born at Nuremberg in 1534.
After having finished his studies in Germany, he went
into Italy, where he obtained the esteem of the learn¬
ed. At his return he was courted by several princes
to live with them j but he was too much devoted to
books, and the study of chemistry and botany, to com¬
ply. He wrote a Hortus Medicus, and several other
works. He died in 1598.
CAMERATED, among builders, the same with
vaulted or arched.
CAMERET Bay, in the province of Brittany in
France, forms the harbour of Brest. See Brest.
CAMERINO, a town of the Ecclesiastical State in
Italy, situated in E. Long. 13. 7. N. Lat. 45. 5.
CAMERLINGO, according to Du Cange, signi¬
fied formerly the pope’s or emperor’s treasurer : at pre¬
sent, camerlingo is nowhere used but at Rome, where
it denotes the cardinal who governs the Ecclesiastical
State, and administers justice. It is the most eminent
office at the court of Rome, because he is at the head
of the treasury. During a vacation of the papal chair,
the cardinal camerlingo publishes edicts, coins money,
and exerts every other prerogative of a sovereign
prince ; he has under him a treasurer-general, auditor-
general, and 12 prelates called c/crLy of the chamber.
CAMERON, John, one of the most famous di¬
vines among the Protestants of France in the 17th cen¬
tury, was born at Glasgow in Scotland, where he taught
the Greek tongue *, and having read lectures upon that
language for about a year, travelled, and became pro¬
fessor at several universities, and minister at Bourdeaux.
He published, 1. Theological lectures*, 2. Icon Johan-
nis Cameronis; and some miscellaneous pieces. He
died in 1625, aged 60.
CAMERON1ANS, a sect or party in Scotland,
who separated from the Presbyterians in 1666, and
continued to hold their religious assemblies in the
fields.
The Cameronians took their denomination from
Richard Cameron, a famous field preacher, who re¬
fusing to accept the indulgences to tender consciences,
granted by King Charles II. as such an acceptance
seemed an acknowledgment of the king’s supremacy,
and that he had before a right to silence them, made
a defection from his brethren, and even headed a re¬
bellion, in which he was killed. His followers were
never entirely reduced till the Revolution, when they
voluntarily submitted to King William.
The Cameronians adhered rigidly to the form of go¬
vernment established in 1648.
Cameronians, or Cameronites, is also the denomi¬
nation of a party of Calvinists in France, who asserted
that the will of a man is only determined by the prac- Camero-
tical judgment of the mind ; that the cause of men’s nians
doing good or evil proceeds from the knowledge which ^
God infuses into them ; and that God does not move . fn>1 '*
the will physically, but only morally, in virtue of its
dependence on the judgment of the mind. They had
this name from John Cameron, a famous professor, first
at Glasgow, where he was born, in 1580, and after¬
wards at Bourdeaux, Sedan, and Saumur ; at which
last place he broached his new doctrine of grace and
free will, which was formed by Amyraut, Cappel, Bo-
chart, Daille, and others of the more learned among
the reformed ministers, who judged Calvin’s doctrines
on these points too harsh. The Cameronians are a
sort of mitigated Calvinists, and approach to the opi¬
nion of the Arminians. They are also called Univer-
salists, as holding the universality of Christ’s death j
and sometimes Amyraldists. The rigid adherents to
the synod of Dort accused them of Pelagianism, and
even of Manicheism. The controversy between the
parties wras carried on wfth a zeal and subtlety scarce
conceivable 5 yet all the question between them was
only, Whether the will of man is determined by the
immediate action of God upon it, or by the interven¬
tion of a knowledge which God impresses into the
mind ? The synod of Dort had defined that God not
only illuminates the understanding, but gives motion
to the will by making an internal change therein.
Cameron only admitted the illumination, whereby the
mind is morally moved ; and explained the sentiment
of the synod of Dos t so as to make the two opinions
consistent.
GAMES, a name given to tire small slender rods
of cast lead of which the glaziers make their turned
lead.
Their lead being cast into slender rods of twelve or
fourteen inches long each, is called the came : some¬
times also they cal! each of these rods a came, which
being afterwards drawn through their vice, makes their
turned lead.
CAMILLUS, Marcus Furius, was the first who #
rendered the family of Furius illustrious. He triumph¬
ed four times, was five times dictator, and was honour¬
ed with the title of the second founder oj Rome. In a
word, he acquired all the glory a man can gain in his
own country. Lucius Apuleius, one of the tribunes,
prosecuted him to make him give an account of the
spoils taken at Veii. Camillus anticipated judgment,
and banished himself voluntarily. During his banish¬
ment, instead of rejoicing at the devastation of Rome
by the Gauls, he exerted all his wisdom and bravery
to drive away the enemy ; and yet kept with the ut¬
most strictness the sacred law of Rome, in refusing to
accept the command, which several private persons of¬
fered him. The Romans who were besieged in the
capitol, created him dictator in the year 363 j in
which office he acted with so much bravery and con¬
duct, that he entirely drove the army of the Gauls out
of the territories of the commonwealth. He died in
the 81st year of his age, 365 years before the Christian
era.
CAMILLI and Camilla, in antiquity, boys and
girls of ingenuous birth, who ministered in the sacri¬
fices of the gods and especially those who attended
the jlamen dialis, or priest of Jupiter. The word seems
borrowed
CAM
[ 94 1
CAM
Camllli borrowed from tbe language of the ancient Hetrurians,
K where it signified minister, and was changed from cas-
,*-,tllll'ie:^-[ millus. The Tuscans also gave the appellation Camil-
lus to Mercury, in quality of minister of the gods.
CAMINHA, a maritime town of Portugal, in the
province of Entre-Duero-e-Minho, with the title of a
duchy. It is situated at the mouth of the river Min-
ho, in W. Long. 9. 15. N. Lat. 41. 14.
CAMIS, or Kamis, in the Japanese theology, de¬
note deified souls of ancient heroes, who are supposed
still to interest themselves in the welfare of the people
whom they anciently commanded.
The camis answer to the heroes in the ancient Greek
and Roman theology, and are venerated like the saints
in the modern Roman church.
Besides the heroes or camis beatified by the consent
of antiquity, the mikaddos, or pontiffs, have deified
many others, and continue still to grant the apotheosis
to new worthies ; so that they swarm with camis : the
principal one is Tensio Dai Sin, the common father of
Japan, to whom are paid devotions and pilgrimages ex¬
traordinary.
CAMISADE, in the art of war, an attack by sur¬
prise in the night, or at the break of day, when the
enemy is supposed to be a-bed. The word is said to
have taken its rise from an attack of this kind *, where¬
in, as a badge or signal to know one another by, they
bore a shift, in French called chemise, or chamise, over
their arms.
CAMISARDS, a name given by the French to the
Calvinists of the Cevennes, who formed a league, and
took up arms in their own defence, in 1688.
CAMLETINE, a slight stuff, made of hair and
coarse silk, in the manner of camblet. It is now out
of fashion.
CAMMA, and Gobbi, two provinces of the king¬
dom of Loango in Africa. The inhabitants are con¬
tinually at rvar with each other. The weapons they
formerly used in their wars were the short pike, bows
and arrows, sword and dagger ; but since the Euro¬
peans have become acquainted with that coast, they
have supplied them with fire-arms. The chief town
of Gobbi lies about a day’s journey from the sea.—
Their rivers abound with a variety of fish ; but are in¬
fested with sea-horses, which do great mischief both by
land and water. The principal commerce with the
natives is in logwood, elephants teeth and tails, the
hair of which is highly valued, and used for several cu¬
rious purposes.
CAMMIN, a maritime town of Germany, in Bran¬
denburg Pomerania, situated in E. Long. 150. N. Lat.
54°-
CAMOENS, Louis de, a famous Portuguese poet,
the honour of whose birth is claimed by different cities.
But according to N. Antonio, and Manual Correa, his
intimate friend, this event happened at Lisbon in 1517.
His family was of considerable note, and originally
Spanish. In 1370, Vasco Perez de Caamans, disgusted
at the court of Castile, fled to that of Lisbon, where
King Ferdinand immediately admitted him into his
council, and gave him the lordships of Sardoal, Pun-
nete, Marano, Amende, and other considerable lands ;
a certain proof of the eminence of his rank and abili¬
ties. In tbe war for the succession, which broke out
on the death of Ferdinand, Camoens sided with the
king of Castile, and was killed in the battle of Alja- Cam I
barota. But though John I. the victor, seized a great' 
part of his estate, his widow, the daughter of Gonsalo
Tereyro, grand master of the order of Christ, and ge¬
neral of the Portuguese army, was not reduced beneath
her rank. She had three sons, who took the name of
Camoens. The family of the eldest intermarried with
the first nobility of Portugal ; and even, according to
Castera, with the blood royal. But the family of the
second brother, whose fortune was slender, had the su¬
perior honour to produce the author of the Lusiad.
Early in his life the misfortunes of the poet began.
In his infancy, Simon Vaz de Camoens, his father,
commander of a vessel, was shipwrecked at Goa, where,
with his life, the greatest part of his fortune was lost.
His mother, however, Anne de Macedo of Santarene,
provided for the education of her son Louis at the uni¬
versity of Coimbra. What he acquired there, his
works discover; an intimacy with the classics, equal to
that of a Scaliger, but directed by the taste of a Mil-
ton or a Pope.
When he left the university, he appeared at court.
He was handsome ; had speaking eyes, it is said, and
the finest complexion. Certain it is, however, he was
a polished scholar, which, added to the natural ardour
and gay vivacity of his disposition, rendered him an
accomplished gentleman. Courts are the scenes of in¬
trigue } and intrigue was fashionable at Lisbon. But
the particulars of the amours of Camoens rest un¬
known. This only appears ; he had aspired above his
rank, for he was banished from the court; and in se¬
veral of his sonnets he ascribes this misfortune to
love.
He now retired to his mother’s friends at Santarene.
Here he renewed his studies, and began his poem on
the discovery of India. John III. at this time prepa¬
red an armament against Africa. Camoens, tired of
his inactive obscure life, went to Ceuta in this expedi¬
tion, and greatly distinguished his valour in several
rencounters. In a naval engagement with the Moors
in the straits of Gibraltar, in the conflict of boarding,
he was among the foremost, and lost his right eye.
Yet neither hurry of actual service nor the dissipation
of the camp could stifle his genius. He continued his
Lusiadas, and several of his most beautiful sonnets were
written in Africa, while, as he expressed it,
One hand the pen, and one the sword, employ’d. .
The fame of his valour had now reached the court,
and he obtained permission to return to Lisbon. But,
while he solicited an establishment which he had merit¬
ed in the ranks of battle, the malignity of evil tongues,
as he calls it in one of his letters, was injuriously pour¬
ed upon him. Though the bloom of his early youth
was effaced by several years residence under the scorch¬
ing heavens of Africa, and though altered by the loss
of an eye, his presence gave uneasiness to the gentle¬
men of some families of the first rank where he had
formerly visited. Jealousy is the characteristic of the
Spaniards and Portuguese; its resentment knows no
bounds, and Camoens now found it prudent to banish
himself from his native country. Accordingly, in
1553, he sailed for India, with a resolution never to
return. As the ship left the Tagus, he exclaimed, in
the words of the sepulchral monument of Scipio Afri-
canus.
CAM [ 95 ] CAM
canus, Ingrata patria, non possidebis ossa mea ! “ Un¬
grateful country, thou shall not possess my bones !”
But he knew not what evils in the east would awake
the remembrance of his native fields.
When Camoens arrived in India, an expedition was
ready to sail to revenge the king of Cochin on the
king of Pimenta. Without any rest on shore after
his long voyage, he joined this armament, and in the
conquest of the Alagada islands displayed his usual
bravery.
In the year following, he attended Manuel de Vas-
concello in an expedition to the Red sea. Here, says
Faria, as Camoens had no use for his sword, he em¬
ployed his pen. Nor was his activity confined to the
fleet or camp. He visited Mount Felix and the adja¬
cent inhospitable regions of Africa, which he so strong¬
ly pictures in the Lusiad, and in one of his little pieces
where he laments the absence of his mistress.
When he returned to Goa, he enjoyed a tranquillity
which enabled him to bestow his attention on his epic
poem. But this serenity was interrupted perhaps by
his own imprudence. He wrote some satires which
gave offence : and by order of the viceroy Francisco
Barreto, he was banished to China.
The accomplishments and manners of Camoens soon
found him friends, though under the disgrace of ba¬
nishment. He was appointed commissary of the de¬
funct in the island of Macao, a Portuguese settlement
in the bay of Canton. Here he continued his Lusiad •,
and here also, after five years residence, he acquired a
fortune, though small, yet equal to his wishes. Don
Constantine de Braganza was now viceroy of India j
and Camoens, desirous to return to Goa, resigned his
charge. In a ship, freighted by himself, he set sail;
but was shipwrecked in the gulf near the mouth of the
river Mehon, on the coast of China. All he had ac¬
quired was lost in the waves ; his poems, which he held
in one hand, while he swimmed with the other, were
all he found himself possessed of when he stood friend¬
less on the unknown shore. But the natives gave him
a most humane reception : this he has immortalized in
the prophetic song in the tenth Lusiad j and in the
seventh, he tells us, that here he lost the wealth which
satisfied his wishes.
Agora da esparanpaja adquirida, fyc.
Now blest with all the wealth fond hope could crave,
Soon I beheld that wealth beneath the wave
For ever lost j 
My life, like Judah’s heaven-doomed king of yore,
By miracle prolong’d  
On the banks of the Mehon he wrote his beautiful
paraphrase of the psalm, where the Jews, in the finest
strain of poetry, are represented as hanging their harps
on the willows, by the rivers of Babylon, and weeping
their exile from their native country. Here Camoens
continued some time, till an opportunity offered to
carry him to Goa. When he arrived at that city,
Don Constantine de Braganza, the viceroy, whose cha¬
racteristic was politeness, admitted him into intimate
friendship, and Camoens was happy till Count Redon¬
do assumed the government. Those who had formerly
procured the banishment of the satirist, were silent
while Constantine w'as in power ; but now they exert¬
ed all their arts against him. Redondo, when he en¬
tered on office, pretended to be the friend of Camoens j Camoens.
yet, with all that unfeeling indifference with which he —y—^
made his most horrible w’itticism on the Zamorin, he
suffered the innocent man to be thrown into the com¬
mon prison. After all the delay of bringing witnesses,
Camoens, in a public trial, fully refuted every accusa¬
tion of his conduct while commissary at Macao, and
his enemies were loaded with ignominy and reproach.
But Camoens had some creditors, and these detained
him in prison a considerable time, till the gentlemen of
Goa began to be ashamed that a man of his singular
merit should experience such treatment among them.
He was set at liberty ; and again he assumed the pro¬
fession of arms, and received the allowance of a gen¬
tleman volunteer, a character at this time common in
Portuguese India. Soon after, Pedro Barreto, ap¬
pointed governor of the fort at Sofala, by high promi¬
ses, allured the poet to attend him thither. I he go¬
vernor of a distant fort, in a barbarous country, shares
in some measure the fate of an exile. Yet, though
the only motive of Barreto was, in this unpleasant si¬
tuation, to retain the conversation of Camoens at his
table, it was his least care to render the life of his
guest agreeable. ' Chagrined with his treatment, and
a considerable time having elapsed in vain dependence
upon Barreto, Camoens resolved to return to his na¬
tive country. A ship, on the homeward voyage, at
this time touched at Sofala, and several gentlemen who
were on board were desirous that Camoens should ac¬
company them. But this the governor ungenerously
endeavoured to prevent, and charged him with a debt
for board. Anthony de Cabra, however, and Hec¬
tor de Sylveyra, paid the demand j and Camoens,
says Faria, and the honour of Barreto, were sold toge-
ther.
After an absence of 16 years, Camoens, in 1569} re¬
turned to Lisbon, unhappy even in his arrival, for the
pestilence then raged in that city, and prevented !us
publication for three years. At last, in 1572, he
printed his Lusiad, which, in the opening of the first
book, in a most elegant turn of compliment, he ad¬
dressed to his prince, King Sebastian, then in his 18th
year. The king, says the French translator, was so
pleased with his merit, that he gave the author a pen¬
sion of 4000 reals, on condition that he should reside
at court. But this salary, says the same writer, was
withdrawn by Cardinal Henry, who succeeded to tlm
crown of Portugal, lost by Sebastian at the battle of
Alcazar.
Though the great patron of one species of literature,
a species" the reverse of that ot Camoens, certain it is,
that the author of the Lusiad was utterly neglected by
Henry, under whose inglorious reign he died in all the
misery of poverty. By some, it is said, he died in an
alms-house. It appears, however, that he had not
even the certainty of subsistence which these houses
provide. He had" a black servant, who had grown old
with him, and who had long experienced his master s
humanity. This grateful Indian, a native of Java,
who, according to some writers, saved his master’s life
in the unhappy shipwreck where he lost his effects, beg¬
ged in the streets of Lisbon for the only man in I ortu-
gal on whom God had bestowTed those talents which
have a tendency to erect the spirit of a downward age.
To the eye of a faithful observer, the fate of Camoens
throws
CAM [96] CAM
Camoens throws great light on that of his country, and will ap-
G pear strictly connected with it. The same ignorance,
■ , the same degenerated spirit, which suffered Camoens
to depend on his share of the alms begged in the streets
by his old hoary servant, the same spirit which caused
this, sunk the kingdom of Portugal into the most ab¬
ject vassalage ever experienced by a conquered nation.
While the grandees of Portugal were blind to the ruin
which impended over them, Camoens beheld it with a
pungency of grief which hastened his exit. In one of
bis letters he has these remarkable words : Km Jim ac-
caberey a vida, e verram todos que fuy efeicoada a min-
ho patria, Sfc. “ I am ending the course of my life j
the world will witness how I have loved my country.
I haye returned, not only to die in her bosom, but to
die with her.”
In this unhappy situation, in 1579, in his 6ad year,
the year after the fatal defeat of Don Sebastian, died
[Louis de Camoens, the greatest literary genius ever
produced by Portugal 5 in martial courage and spirit
of honour nothing inferior to her greatest heroes. And
in a manner suitable to the poverty in which he died,
was he buried.
CAMOMILE. See Anthemis, Botant Index.
CAMP, the ground on which an army pitch their
tents. It is marked out by the quartermaster general,
who appoints every regiment their ground.
The chief advantages to be minded in choosing
a camp for an army, are to have it near the water, in a
country of forage, where the soldiers may find wood
for dressing their victuals $ that it have a free commu¬
nication with garrisons, and with a country from
whence it may be supplied with provisions j and, if
possible, that it be situated on arising ground, in a dry
gravelly soil. Besides, the advantages of the ground
ought to be considered, as marshes, woods, rivers, and
enclosure $ and if the camp be near the enemy, with
no river or marsh to cover it, the army ought to be
intrenched. An army always encamps fronting the
enemy ; and generally in two lines, running parallel,
about 500 yards distance ; the horse and dragoons, on
the wings j and the foot, in the centre ; sometimes a
body of two, three, or four brigades, is encamped be¬
hind the two lines, and is called the body of reserve.
The artillery and bread-waggons are generally encamp¬
ed in the rear of the two lines. A battalion of foot is
allowed 80 or 100 paces for its camp j and 30 or 40 for
an interval betwixt one battalion and another. A
squadron of horse is allowed 30 for its camp, and 30
for an interval, and more if the ground will allow it.
Where the grounds are equally dry, those camps are
always the most healthful that are pitched on the banks
of large rivers j because, in the hot season, situations
of this kind have a stream of fresh air from the water,
serving to carry off’the moist and putrid exhalations.
On the other hand, next to marshes, the worst encamp¬
ments are on low grounds close beset with trees ; for
then the air is not only moist and hurtful in itself, but
by stagnating becomes more susceptible of corruption.
However, let the situation of camps be ever so good,
they are frequently rendered infectious by the putrid
effluvia of rotten straw, and the privies of the army,
more especially if the bloody flux prevails 5 in which
case, the best method of preventing a general infection,
is to leave the ground with the privies, foul straw, and
3
other filth of the camp, behind. This must be fre-
quently done, if consistent with the military operations : v—
but when these render it improper to change the
ground often, the privies should be made deeper than
usual, and once a-day a thick layer of earth thrown
into them till the pits are near full ; and then they are
to be well covered, and supplied by others. It may
also be a proper caution to order the pits to be made
either in the front or the rear, as the then stationary
winds may best carry off their effluvia from the camp.
Moreover, it will be necessary to change the straw fre¬
quently, as being not only apt to rot, but to retain the
infectious steams of the sick. But if fresh straw cannot
be procured, more care must be taken in airing the
tents, as well as the old straw.
The disposition of the Hebrew encampment was at
first laid out by God himself. Their camp was of a
quadrangular form, surrounded with an enclosure of the
height of 10 bands-breadth. It made a square of 12
miles in compass about the tabernacle j and within this
was another called the Levites camp.
The Greeks had also their camps, fortified with gates
and ditches. The Lacedemonians made their camp of
a round figure, looking upon that as the most perfect
and defensible of any form : we are not, however, to
imagine, that they thought this form so essential to a
camp, as never to be dispensed with when the circum¬
stances of the place required it. Of the rest of the
Grecian camps, it may be observed, that the most va¬
liant of the soldiers were placed at the extremities, the
rest in the middle. Thus we learn from Homer, that
Achilles and Ajax were posted at the ends of the camp
before Troy, as bulwarks on each side of the rest of the
princes.
The figure of the Roman camp was a square divided
into two principal parts : in the upper part were the
general’s pavilion, or praetorium, and the tents of the
chief officers j in the lower, those of inferior degree
were placed. On one side of the prse tori urn stood the
quaestorium, or apartment of the treasurer of the army:
and near this the forum, both for a market place and
the assembling of councils. On the other side of the
praetorium were lodged the legati j and below it the
tribunes had their quarters, opposite to their respective
legions. Aside of the tribunes were the prsefecti of
the foreign troops, over against their respective wings ;
and behind these were the lodgments of the evocati,
then those of the extraordinarii and ablecti equites,
which concluded the higher part of the camp. Be¬
tween the two partitions was a spot of ground called
principia, for the altars and images of the gods, and pro¬
bably also for the chiei ensigns. The middle of the
lower partition was assigned to the Roman horse: next
to them were quartered the triarii j then the principes,
and close by them the hastati j afterwards the foreign
horse, and lastly, the foreign foot. They fortified
their camp with a ditch and parapet, which they term-
ed^/owo and vallum: in the latter some distinguish two
parts, viz. the agger or earth, and the sudes or wooden
stakes driven in to secure it. The camps were some¬
times surrounded by walls made of hewn stone j and the
tents themselves formed of the same matter.
In the front of the Turkish camp are quartered the
janizaries and other foot, whose tents encompass their
aga: in the rear are the quarters of the spahis and
other
CAM [ 97 ] CAM
-amp
other horsemen. The body of the camp is possessed
by the stately tents or pavilions of the vizier or gene-
npaign. ralt rais effendi or chancellor, khaija or steward, the
testerdar bashaw or lord treasurer, and kapislar kahia-
seer or master of the ceremonies. In the middle of
these tents is a spacious field, wherein are erected a
building for the divan, and a hafna or treasury. When
the ground is marked out for a camp, all wait for the
pitching of the tent lailac, the place where the courts
of justice are held 5 it being the disposition of this that
is to regulate all the rest.
The Arabs still live in camps, as the ancient Scenites
did. The camp of the Assyne Emir, or king of the
country about Tadmor, is described, by a traveller who
viewed it, as spread over a very large plain, and pos¬
sessing so vast a space, that though he had the advan¬
tage of a rising ground, he could not see the ut¬
most extent of it. His own tent was near the middle ;
scarce distinguishable from the rest, except that it was
bigger, being made, like the others, of a sort of hair¬
cloth.
Camp, is also used by the Siamese, and some other
nations in the East Indies, as the name of the quarters
which they assign to foreigners who come to trade with
them. In these camps, every nation forms, as it were,
a particular town, where they carry on all their trade,
not only keeping all their warehouses and shops there,
but also living in these camps with their whole families.
The European^, however, are so far indulged, that at
Siam, and almost everywhere else, they may live either
in the cities or suburbs, as they shall judge most con-
. venient.
CAMP-Jight, or KAMP-Jight, in law writers, denotes
the trial of a cause by duel, or a legal combat of two
champions in the field, for decision of some contro¬
versy.
In the trial by camp-fight, the accuser was, with
the peril of his own body, to prove the accused guilty $
and, by offering him his glove, to challenge him to
this trial, which the other must either accept of, or ac¬
knowledge himself guilty of the crime whereof he was
accused.
If it were a crime deserving death, the camp-fight
was for life and death : if the offence deserved only
imprisonment, the camp-fight was accomplished when
one combatant had subdued the other, so as either to
make him yield or take him prisoner. The accused
had liberty to choose another to fight in his stead, but
the accuser was obliged to perform it in his own per¬
son, and with equality of weapons. No women were
permitted to be spectators, nor men under the age of
thirteen. The priest and the people who looked on
were engaged silently in prayer, that the victory might
fall to him who had right. None might cry, shriek, or
give the least sign *, which in some places was executed
with so much strictness, that the executioner stood
ready with an axe to cut off the right hand or foot of
the party that should offend herein.
He that, being wounded, yielded himself, was at the
other’s mercy either to be killed or suffered to live.
But if life were granted him, he was declared infamous
by the judge, and disabled from ever bearing arms, or
riding on horseback.
CAMPAGNA. See Campania.
CAMPAIGN, in the art of war, denotes the space
Vol. V. Part I. f
of time that an army keeps the field, or is encamped. Campaign
The beginning of every campaign is considerably more II
unhealthy than if the men were to remain in quarters. Campania.
After the first fortnight or three weeks encampment,
the sickness decreases daily j the most infirm being by
that time in the hospitals, and the weather daily grow¬
ing warmer. This healthy state continues throughout
the summer, unless the men get wet clothes or wet
beds j in which case, a greater or less degree of the
dysentery will appear in proportion to the preceding
heats. But the most sickly part of the campaign be¬
gins about the middle or end of August, whilst the
days are still hot, but the nights cool and damp, with
fogs and dews : then, and not sooner, the dysentery
prevails : and though its violence is over by the begin¬
ning of October, yet the remitting fever gaining
ground, continues throughout the rest of the campaign,
and never entirely ceases, even in winter-quarters, till
the frost begin. At the beginning of a campaign the
sickness is so uniform, that the number may be nearly
predicted j but for the rest of the season, as the dis¬
eases are then of a contagious nature, and depend so
much upon the heats of summer, it is impossible to fore¬
see how many may fall sick from the beginning to the
end of autumn. It is also observed, that the last fort¬
night of a campaign, if protracted till the beginning
of winter, is attended with more sickness than the first
two months encampment; so that it is better to take »
the field a fortnight sooner, in order to return into
winter-quarters so much the earlier. As to winter ex¬
peditions, though severe in appearance, they are at¬
tended with little sickness, if the men have strong shoes,
quarters, fuel, and provisions. Long marches in sum¬
mer are not without danger, unless made in the night,
or so early in the morning as to be over before the heat
of the day.
CAM PANACE J£, in Botany, an order of plants
in the Fragmenta methodi naturalis of Linnaeus, in
which are the following genera, viz. convolvulus, ipo-
maea, polemonium, campanula, roella, viola, See.* * See Bo-
CAMPANELLA, Thomas, a famous Italian phi-TANY, Na-
losopher, born at Stilo in Calabria, in 1568. He dis-*“^ ^r”
tinguished himself by his early proficiency in learn¬
ing : for at the age of 13 he was a perfect master of
the ancient orators and poets. His peculiar inclina¬
tion was to philosophy, to which he at last confined
his whole time and study. In order to arrive at truth,
he shook off the yoke of authority : by which means
the novelty of some of his opinions exposed him to
many inconveniences $ for at Naples he was thrown
into prison, in which he remained 27 years, and du¬
ring this confinement wrote his famous work entitled
Atheismus triumphatus. Being at length set at liberty,
he went to Paris, where he was graciously received by
Louis XIII. and Cardinal Richelieu ; the latter pro¬
cured him a pension of 2000 livres, and often consult¬
ed him on the affairs of Italy. Campanella passed the
remainder of his days in a monastery of Dominicans at
Paris, and died in 1639.
CAMPANI, Matthew, of Spoletto, curate at
Rome, wrote a curious treatise on the art of cutting
glasses for spectacles, and made several improvements
in optics, assisted by his brother and pupil Joseph. He
died after 1678.
CAMPANIA, a town of Italy, in the kingdom of
N Naples,
CAM r 98 ] C A M
Campania- Naples, and in the Farther Principato, with a bishop’s
v—.--v—.... see> jr. Long. 15. 30. N. Lat. 40. 40.
Campania, or Campagna di Roma, anciently La-
tiom, a province of Italy, bounded on the west by the
Tiber and the sea, on the south-west by the sea, on the
south by Terra di Lavoro, on the east by Abruzzo,
and on the north by Sabina. Though the soil is good,
it produces little or nothing, on account of the heavy
duties on corn $ and though the waters are good, the
air is unwholesome. It is subject to the Pope, and is
about 60 miles in length, on the Mediterranean sea.
It has been generally thought that the air of this
country hath something in it peculiarly noxious during
the summer time } but Mr Condamine is of opinion
that it is not more unhealthy than any other marshy
country. His account follows. “ It was after the in¬
vasion of the Goths in the fifth and sixth centuries that
this corruption of the air began to manifest itself. The
bed of the Tiber being covered by the accumulated
ruins of the edifices of ancient Rome, could not but
raise itself considerably. But what permits us not to
doubt of this fact is, that the ancient and well-preserved
pavement of the Pantheon and its portico is overflowed
every winter; that the water even rises there sometimes
to the height of eight or ten feet : and that it is not
possible to suppose that the ancient Romans should
have built a temple in a place so low as to be covered
with the waters of the Tiber on the least inundation.
It is evident, then, that the level of the bed of this river
is raised several feetj which could not have happened
without forming there a kind of dikes or bars. The
choking up of its canal necessarily occasioned the over¬
flow and reflux of its waters in such places as till then
had not been subject to inundations : to these over¬
flowings of the Tiber were added all the waters that
escaped out of the ancient aqueducts, the ruins of which
are still to be seen, and which were entirely broken and
destroyed by Totila. What need, therefore, of any
thing more to infect the air, in a hot climate, than the
exhalations of such a mass of stagnating waters de¬
prived of any discharge, and become the receptacle of
a thousand impurities, as wfell as the grave of several
millions both of men and animals ? The evil could not
but increase from the same causes while Rome was ex¬
posed to the incursions and devastations of the Lom¬
bards, the Normans, and the Saracens, which lasted for
several centuries. The air was become so infectious there
at the beginning of the 13th century, that Pope Inno¬
cent III. wrote, that few people at Rome arrived at
the age of forty years, and that nothing was more un¬
common there than to see a person of sixty. A very
short time after the popes transferred the seat of their
residence to Avignon : during the seventy-two years
they remained there, Rome became a desert; the mo¬
nasteries in it were converted into stables ; and Gre-
gory XL on his return to Rome, in 1376, hardly
counted there 30,000 inhabitants. At his "death began
the troubles of the great schism in the west, which con¬
tinued for upwards of 50 years. Martin V. in whom
this schism ended in the year 1429) and his first succes¬
sors, were able to make but feeble efforts against so in¬
veterate an evil. It was not till the beginning of the
l6th century, that Leo X. under whom Rome began to
resume her wonted splendour, gave himself some trouble
about re-establishing the salubrity of the air : but the
2
city being shortly after besieged twice successively by tampsm,
the emperor Charles V. saw itself plunged again into j|
all its old calamities j and from 85,000 inhabitants,
which it contained under Leo X. it was reduced under
Clement VIII. to 32,000. In short, it is only since the
time of Pius V. and Sextus V. at the end of the 16th
century, that the popes have constantly employed the
necessary methods for purifying the air of Rome and
its environs, by procuring proper discharges for the
waters, drying up the humid and marshy grounds, and
covering the banks of the Tiber and other places reput¬
ed uninhabitable with superb edifices. Since that time
a person may dwell at Rome, and go in or out of it at
all seasons of the year. At the beginning, however, of
the present century, they were still afraid to lie out
of the city in summer, when they had resided there as
they were also to return to it, when once they had
quitted it. They never ventured to sleep at Rome, even
in broad day, in any other house than their own.
They are greatly relaxed at present from these ancient
scruples : I have seen cardinals, in the months of July
and August, go from Rome to lie at Frascati, Tivoli,
Albano, &c. and return the next or the following days
to the city, without any detriment to their health : I
have myself tried all these experiments, without suffer¬
ing the least inconvenience from them $ we have even
seen, in the last war in Italy, two armies encamped
under the walls of Rome at the time when the heats
were most violent. Yet, notwithstanding all this, the
greater part of the country people dare not still venture
to lie during that season of the year, nor even so
much as sleep in a carriage, in any part of the terri¬
tory comprehended under the name of the Campagna oj
Rome.','>
CAMPANIFORM, or Campanulated, an appel¬
lation given to flowers resembling a bell.
CAM BANINl, a name given to an Italian marble
dug out of the mountains of Carrara, because, when it
is worked, it sounds like a bell.
CAMPANULA, or Bell-flower. See Botany
Index.
CAMPBELL, Archibald, Earl and Marquis of
Argyle, was the son of Archibald earl of Argyle, by
the Lady Anne Douglas, daughter of William earl of
Morton. He was born in the year 1598 j and edu¬
cated in the profession of the Protestant religion, ac¬
cording to the strictest rules of the church of Scotland,
as it was established immediately after the Reformation.
During the commonwealth he was induced to submit to
its authority. Upon the Restoration, he was tried for
his compliance j a crime common to him with the whole
nation, and such a one as the most loyal and affec¬
tionate subject might frequently by violence be induced
to commit. To make this compliance appear the
more voluntary and hearty, there were produced in
court letters which he had wrote to Albemarle, while
that general governed Scotland, and which contained
expressions of the most cordial attachment to the esta¬
blished government. But, besides the general indig¬
nation excited by Albemarle’s discovery of this private
correspondence, men thought, that even the highest
demonstrations of aflection might, during jealous times,
be exacted as a necessary mark of compliance from a
person of such distinction as Argyle j and could not, by
any equitable construction, imply the crime of trea¬
son.
C A M [ 99 ] C A M
( Lpbell. son. The parliament, however, scrupled not to pass
u v——' sentence upon him, and he suffered with great constan¬
cy and courage.
Campbell, Archibald, earl of Argyle, son to the
former, had from Ills youth distinguished himself by his
loyalty and his attachment to the royal family. Though
his father was head of the covenanters, he himself re¬
fused to concur in any of their measures ; and when a
commission of colonel was given him by the convention
of states, he forbore to act upon it till it should be ra¬
tified by the king. By his respectful behaviour, as well
as by his services, he made himself acceptable to Charles
when that prince was in Scotland ; and even after the
battle of Worcester, all the misfortunes which attended
the royal cause could not engage him to desert it. Un¬
der Middleton he obstinately persevered to harass and
infest the victorious English ; and it was not till he re¬
ceived orders from that general, that he would submit
to accept of a capitulation. Such jealousy of his loyal
attachments was entertained by the commonwealth and
protector, that a pretence was soon after fallen upon to
commit him to prison \ and his confinement was rigo¬
rously continued till the Restoration. The king, sen¬
sible of his services, had remitted to him his father’s
forfeiture, and created him earl of Argyle ; and when
a most unjust sentence was passed upon him by the Scots
parliament, Charles had anew remitted it. In the sub¬
sequent part of this reign Argyle behaved himself du¬
tifully ; and though he seemed not disposed to go all
lengths with the court, he always appeared, even in his
opposition, a man of mild dispositions and peaceable
deportment.
A parliament was summoned at Edinburgh in sum¬
mer 1681, and the duke was appointed commissioner.
Besides granting money to the king, ahd voting the
indefeasible right of succession, this parliament enacted
a test, which all persons possessed of offices, civil, mili¬
tary, or ecclesiastical, were bound to take. In this test
the king’s supremacy was asserted, the covenantrenoun-
ced, passive obedience assented to, and all obligations
disclaimed of endeavouring any alteration in civil or ec¬
clesiastical establishments. This was the state of the
test as proposed by the courtiers ; but the country par¬
ty proposed also a clause of adherence to the Protestant
religion, which could not with decency be rejected.
The whole was of an enormous length, considered as
an oath 5 and, what was worse, a confession of faith
was there ratified which had been imposed a little after
the Reformation, and which contained many articles
altogether forged by the parliament and nation. Among
others, the doctrine of resistance was inculcated $ so
that the test being voted in a hurry, was found on
examination to be a medley of absurdity and contra¬
diction. Though the courtiers could not reject the
clause of adhering to the Protestant religion, they
proposed, as a requisite mark of respect, that all princes
of the blood should be exempted from taking that
oath. This exception was zealously opposed by Ar¬
gyle : who observed that the sole danger to be dreaded
for the Protestant religion must proceed from the
perversion of the royal family. By insisting on such
topics, he drew on himself the secret indignation of
the duke of York, of which he soon felt the fatal con¬
sequences.
When Argyle took the test as a privy counsellor, he
subjoined, in the duke’s presence, an explanation which fampbeli.
he bad beforehand communicated to that prince, and ' '
which he believed to have been approved by him. It
was in these words. “ I have considered the test, and
am very desirous of giving obedience as far as I can. I
am confident that the parliament never intended to im¬
pose contradictory oaths : therefore I think no man can
explain it but for himself. Accordingly I take it as far
as it is consistent with itself and the Protestant reli¬
gion. And I do declare that I mean not to bind my¬
self, in my station, and in a lawful way, from wishing
and endeavouring any alteration, which I think to the
advantage of church or state, and not repugnant to the
Protestant religion and my loyalty ; and this I under¬
stand as a part of my oath.” The duke, as was natural,
heard it with great tranquillity : no one took the least
offence : Argyle was admitted to sit that day in coun¬
cil ; and it was impossible to imagine that a capital of¬
fence bad been committed where occasion seemed not
to have been given so much as for a frown or repri¬
mand.
Argyle was much surprised a few days after, to find
that a warrant was issued for committing him to pri¬
son that he was indicted for high treason, leasing¬
making, and perjury ; and that from the innocent words
above mentioned an accusation was extracted, by which
lie was to forfeit life, honours, and fortune. It is need¬
less to enter into particulars, where the iniquity of the
whole is so evidently apparent. Though the sword of
justice was displayed, even her semblance was not put
on } and the forms of law were preserved to sanctify,
or rather aggravate, the oppression. Of five judges,
three did not scruple to find the guilt of treason and
leasing-making to be incurred by the prisoner : a jury
of 15 noblemen gave verdict against him; and the king
being consulted, ordered the sentence to be pronounced,
but the execution of it to be suspended till further
orders. Argyle, however, saw no reason to trust to
the justice or mercy of such enemies : He made his
escape from prison, and till he could find a ship for Hol¬
land he concealed himself during some time in London.
The king heard of his lurking place, but would not
suffer him to be arrested. All the parts, however, of
his sentence, so far as the government in Scotland had
power, were rigorously executed ; his estate confiscated,
his arms reversed and torn. Having got over to Hol¬
land, he remained there during the remaining part of
the reign of Charles II. But thinking himself at li¬
berty, before the coronation of Janies II. to exert him¬
self in order to recover the constitution by force of arms,
he concerted measures with the duke of Monmouth,
and went into Scotland, to assemble his friends : but
not meeting with the success he expected, he was taken
prisoner ; and being carried to Edinburgh, was be¬
headed upon his former unjust sentence, June 30. 1685.
He showed great constancy and courage under his mis¬
fortunes j on the day of his death he ate his dinner very
cheerfully $ and, according to custom, slept after it
a quarter of au hour or more, very soundly. At the
place of execution, he made a short, grave, and religious
speech; and, after solemnly declaring that he for¬
gave all his enemies, submitted to death with great
firmness.
Campbell, Archibald, first duke of Argyle, son
to the preceding, was an active promoter of the revo-
N 2 lution.
CAM
lution. He came over with the prince of Orange £ was
admitted into the convention as earl ot Argyle, though
his father’s attainder was not reversed ; and in the claim
of rights the sentence against him was declared to be,
what most certainly it was, a reproach upon the nation.
The establishment of the crown upon the prince and
princess of Orange being carried by a great majority
in the Scotish convention, the earl was sent from the
nobility, with Sir James Montgomery and Sir John
Dalrymple from the barons and boroughs, to ofler the
crown, in the name of the convention, to their ma¬
jesties, and tendered them the coronation oath $ lor
which, and many other eminent services, he was ad¬
mitted a member of the privy council, and, in 1690,
made one of the lords of the treasury. He was after¬
wards made a colonel of the Scots horse guards 5 and,
in 1694, one of the extraordinary lords of session.
He was likewise created duke of Argyle, marquis of
Kintyre and Lorn, earl of Campbell and Cowall, vis¬
count of Lochow and Glenila, Lord Inverary, Mull,
Morvern, and Terrey, by letters-patent, bearing date
at Kensington the 23d of June, 1701. He sent over
a regiment to Flanders for King William’s service, the
officers of which were chiefly of his own name and fa¬
mily, who bravely distinguished themselves through the
whole course of the war. He married Elizabeth, daugh¬
ter of Sir Lionel Talmash of Helmingham in the county
of Suffolk, by Elizabeth, duchess of Lauderdale, his
wife, daughter and heiress of William Murray, earl of
Dysart, by whom he left issue two sons and a daugh¬
ter ; namely, John, duke of Argyle, the subject of the
next article j Archibald, who succeeded his brother as
duke of Argyle j and Lady Anne, married to James
Stuart, second earl of Bute, by whom she had a son,
afterwards earl of Bute.
Campbell, John, second duke of Argyle, and also
duke of Greenwich and baron of Chatham, son to the
subject of the preceding article, was born on the 10th
of October, 1680 ; and, on the very day when his grand¬
father suffered at Edinburgh, fell out of a window three
pair of stairs high without receiving any hurt. At
the age of 15, he had made a considerable progress in
classical learning. His father then perceived and en¬
couraged his military disposition, and introduced him
to King William, who appointed him to the com¬
mand of a regiment. In this situation he remained
till the death of his father in 1703 ; when becoming
duke of Argyle, he was soon after sworn of Queen
Anne’s privy council, made captain of the Scots horse
guards, and appointed one of the extraordinary lords
of session. In 1704, her majesty reviving the Scotish
order of the Thistle, his grace was installed one of the
knights of that order, and was soon after appointed
high-commissioner to the Scotch parliament j where,
being of great service in promoting the intended union,
he was on his return created a peer of England, by the
titles of baron of Chatham and earl of Greenwich^
and in 1710 was made knight of the Garter. His grace
first distinguished himself in bis military capacity at
the battle of Oudenarde ; where he commanded as bri¬
gadier-general, with all the bravery of youth and the
conduct of a veteran officer. He was present under
the duke of Marlborough at the siege of Ghent, and
took possession of the town. He had also a consider¬
able share ip the victory obtained over the French at
CAM
the battle of Malplaquet, by dislodging them from the
wood of Sart, and gaining a post of great consequence.
In this sharp engagement, several musket-balls passed
through the duke’s clothes, hat, and peruke. Soon af¬
ter this hot action, he was sent to take the command in
Spain $ and after the reduction of Port Mahon he re¬
turned to England. His grace having now a seat in
the house of lords, he censured the measures of the mi.
nistry with such freedom, that all his places were dis¬
posed of to other noblemen : but at the accession of
George I. he recovered his influence. At the breaking
out of the rebellion in 1715, he was made commander-
in-chief of his majesty’s forces in North Britain j and
was the principal means and cause of the total extinc¬
tion, at that time, of the rebellion in Scotland, without
much bloodshed. In direct opposition to him, or that
part of the army he commanded, at the head of all his
Campbells was placed Campbell, earl of Braidalbin, of
the same family and kindred, by some fatal error that
ever misguided and misled that unhappy family of the
Stuarts and all its adherents. The consequence was,
that both sets of Campbells, from family affection,
refused to strike a stroke, and retired out of the
battle. He arrived at London March 6th, 1716,
and was in high favour : but, to the surprise of peo¬
ple of all ranks, he was in a few months divested of
all his employments $ and from this period to the year
1718, he signalized himself in a civil capacity, by his
uncorrupted patriotism and manly eloquence. In the
beginning of the year 1719, he was again admitted
into favour, appointed lord-steward of the household,
and in April following was created duke of Green¬
wich. He continued in the administration during all
the remaining part of that reign 5 and, after his late
majesty’s accession, till April 1740; when he deliver¬
ed a speech with such warmth, that the ministry being
highly offended, he was again dismissed from his em¬
ployments. To these, however, on the change of the
ministry, he was soon restored $ but not approving of
the measures of the new ministry more than those of
the old, he gave up all his posts for the last time, and
never after engaged in affairs of state. He now en¬
joyed privacy and retirement $ and died of a paralytic
disorder on the 4th of October 1743. To the me¬
mory of his grace a very noble monument was erected
in Westminster Abbey, executed by the ingenious Rou-
billiac.
The duke of Argyle, though never first minister,
was a very able statesman and politician, most steadily
fixed in those principles he believed to be right, and
not to be shaken or changed. His delicacy and ho¬
nour were so great, that it hurt him to be even sus¬
pected j witness that application said to be made to
him by one of the adherents of the Stuart family be¬
fore the last rebellion in order to gain his interest,
which was considerable both in Scotland and England.
He immediately sent the letter to the secretary of state j
and it vexed him much even to have an application
made him, lest any person should think him capable of
acting a double part. When he thought measures
wrong or corrupt, he cared not who was the author,
however great or powerful he might be ; witness his
boldly attacking the great duke of Marlborough in
the house of lords, about his forage and army con -
tracts in Flanders, in the very zenith of his power and
popularity,
[ 100 ]
CAM [i
1. popularity, though in all other respects he was the
most able general of his time. The duke of Argyle
on all occasions spoke well, with a firm, manly, and
noble eloquence; and seems to deserve the character
given of him by Pope :
Argyle the state’s whole thunder born to wield,
And shake alike the senate and the field.
In private life, the duke’s conduct was highly ex¬
emplary. He was an affectionate husband and an in¬
dulgent master. He seldom parted with his servants
till age had rendered them incapable of their employ¬
ments j and then he made provision for their subsist¬
ence. He was liberal fo the poor, and particularly to
persons of merit in distress : but though he was ready
to patronise deserving persons, he was extremely cau¬
tious not to deceive any by lavish promises or lead¬
ing them to form vain expectations. He was a strict
economist, and paid his tradesmen punctually every
month j and though he maintained the dignity of his
rank, he took care that no part of his income should
be wasted in empty pomp or unnecessary expences.
He was twice married, and left five daughters, but
no male issue. The titles of duke and earl of Green¬
wich and baron of Chatham became extinct at his
death ; but in his other titles he was succeeded by
his brother Archibald earl of Isla, the subject of the
next article.
Campbell, Archibald, third duke of Argyle, bro¬
ther to the subject of the preceding article, was born
at Hamhouse, in England, in June 1682, and was edu¬
cated at the university of Glasgow. He afterwards
applied himself to the study of the law at Utrecht ;
but, upon his father’s being created a duke, he betook
himself to a military life, and served some time under
the duke of Marlborough. Upon quitting the army,
in which he did not long remain, he applied to the ac¬
quisition of that knowledge which would enable him to
make a figure in the political world. In 1705, he was
constituted treasurer of Scotland, and made a consider¬
able figure in parliament, though he was not more than
23 years of age. In 1706, he was appointed one of
the commissioners for treating of the Union j and
the same year was created Lord Oronsay, Dunoon,
and Arrois, viscount and earl of Isla. In 1708, he
was made an extraordinary lord of session j and when
the Union was effected, he was chosen one of the Six¬
teen Peers for Scotland, in the first parliament of
Great Britain j and was constantly elected to every fu¬
ture parliament till his death, except the fourth. In
1710, he was made justice-general of Scotland. In
1711, he was called to the privy council; and upon
the accession of George I. he was nominated lord regi¬
ster of Scotland. When the rebellion broke out in
1715, he again betook himself to arms, in defence of
the house of Hanover, and by his prudent conduct in
the West Highlands, he prevented General Gordon,
at the head of three thousand men, from penetrating
into the country and raising levies. He afterwards
joined his brother at Stirling, and was wounded at the
battle of Dumblain. In 1725, he was appointed keep¬
er of the privy seal ; and from this time, he was en¬
trusted with the management of Scotish affairs. In
1734, uPon his resigning the privy seal, he was made
keeper of the great seal, which office he enjoyed till his
i ] CAM
death. Upon the decease of his brother, he became
duke of Argyle, hereditary justice-general, lieutenant,
sheriff, and commissary of Argyleshire and the Western
Isles, hereditary great master of the household, heredi¬
tary keeper of Dunstaffnage, Garrick, and several other
castles. He was also chancellor of the university of
Aberdeen ; and laboured to promote the interest of
that, as well as of the other universities of Scotland.
He particularly encouraged the school of physic at
Edinburgh, which has now acquired so high a reputa¬
tion. Having the chief management of Scotch affairs,
he was also extremely attentive to promote the trade,
manufactures, and improvements of his country. It
was by his advice that, after the rebellion in 1745,
the Highlanders were employed in the royal army. He
was a man of great endowments, both natural and ac¬
quired, well versed in the laws of his country, and pos¬
sessed considerable parliamentary abilities. He was
likewise eminent for his skill in human nature, had
great talents for conversation, and had collected one
of the most valuable private libraries in Great Bri¬
tain. He built himself a very magnificent seat at
Inverary. The faculties of his mind continued sound
and vigorous till his death, which happened sudden¬
ly on the 15th of April 1761, in the 79th year of
his age. He was married, but had no issue ; and
was succeeded in his titles and the estates of the
family by John Campbell, fourth duke of Argyle, son
of the honourable John Campbell of Mammore, who
was the second son of Archibald the ninth earl of
Argyle.
The family of Argyle were heritable justice gene¬
rals for Scotland till abolished by the jurisdiction act.
They are still heritable masters of the king’s house¬
hold in Scotland, and keepers of Dunstaffhage and
Cai’rick.
Campbell, John, an eminent historical, biogra¬
phical, and political writer, was born at Edinburgh,
March 8. 1707-8. His father, Robert Campbell of
Glenlyon, Esq. was captain of horse in a regiment
commanded by the then earl of Hyndford ; and his
mother, Elizabeth, daughter of   Smith, Esq. of
Windsor in Berkshire, had the honour of claiming a
descent from the poet Waller. Our author, their
fourth son, was at the age of five years carried from
Scotland to Windsor, where he received the first prin¬
ciples of his education ; and at a proper age, he was
placed out as clerk to an attorney, being intended for
the law. This profession, however, he never followed ;
but by a close application to the acquisition of know¬
ledge of various kinds, became qualified to appear with
great advantage in the literar-y world. In 1736, be¬
fore he had completed his 30th year, he gave to the
public, in two volumes folio, “ the Military His¬
tory of Prince Eugene and the duke of Marlbo¬
rough,” enriched with maps, plans, and cuts. The
reputation hence acquired, occasioned him soon af¬
ter to be solicited to take a part in the “ Ancient
Universal History.” Whilst employed in this capital
work, Mr Campbell found leisure to entertain the
world with other productions. In 1739, he published
the “ Travels and Adventures of Edward Brown,
Esq.” 8vo. In the same year appeared his “ Me¬
moirs of the Bashaw Duke de Ripperda,” 8vo. reprint¬
ed, with improvements, in 1740. These memoirs were
followed,,
Campbell.
CAM [ 102 ] CAM
followed, in 174IJ by the “ Concise History of Spanish
America,” 8vo. In 1742, he was the author of “ A
Letter to a friend in the Country, on the Publication
of Thurloe’s State Papers j” giving an account of their
discovery, importance, and utility. The same year
was distinguished by the appearance of the 1st and 2d
volumes of his “ Lives of the English Admirals, and
other eminent British Seamen.” The two remaining
volumes were completed in 1744 j and the whole, not
long after, was translated into German. This was the
first of Mr Campbell’s works to which he prefixed his
name ; and it is a performance of great and acknow¬
ledged merit. In 1743, he published “ Hermippus
revived j” a second edition of which, much improved
and enlarged, came out in 1749, under the following
title : “ Hermippus Redivivus : or, the Sage’s Tri¬
umph over Old Age and the Grave. Wherein a me¬
thod is laid down for prolonging the life and vigour
of man. Including a Commentary upon an ancient
inscription, in which this great secret is revealed j sup¬
ported by numerous authorities. The whole interspers¬
ed with a great variety of remarkable and well attested
relations.” This extraordinary tract had its origin
in a foreign publication ; but it was wrought up to
perfection by the additional ingenuity and learning of
Mr Campbell. In 1744 be gave to the public, in two
volumes folio, bis “ Voyages and Travels,” on Hr
Harris’s plan, being a very distinguished improvement
of that collection which had appeared in 1705. The
time and care employed by Mr Campbell in this im¬
portant undertaking did not prevent his engaging in
another great work, the “ Biographia Britannica,”
which began to be published in weekly numbers in
1745, and extended to seven volumes folio: but our
author’s articles were only in the first four volumes; of
which Dr Kippis observes, they constitute the prime
merit.
W’hen the late Mr Dodsley formed the design of
“ The Preceptor,” which appeared in 1748, Mr
Campbell was to assist in the undertaking; and the
parts written by him were the Introduction to Chro¬
nology, and the Discourse on Trade and Commerce,
both of which displayed an extensive fund of knowledge
upon these subjects. In 1750 he published the first
separate edition of his “ Present State of Europe a
work which had been originally begun in 1746, in the
“ Museum,” a very valuable periodical performance,
printed for Dodsley. There is no production of our
author’s that hath met with a better reception. It
Las gone through six editions, and fully deserved this
encouragement. The next great undertaking which
called for the exertion of our author’s abilities and
learning, was “ The Modern Universal History.” This
extensive work was published, from time to time, in
detached parts, till it amounted to 16 volumes folio ;
and a second edition of it, in 8vo. began to make its
appearance in 1759. The parts of it written by Mr
Campbell were, the histories of the Portuguese, Dutch,
Spanish, French, Swedish, Danish, and Ostend Set¬
tlements in the East Indies ; and the histories of the
Kingdoms of Spain, Portugal, Algarve, Navarre, and
that of France, from Clovis to 1656. As our author
had thus distinguished himself iu the literary world, the
degree of LL.D. was very properly and honourably
conferred upon him, June 18. 1754, by the university Cusipbe;
of Glasgow. -y-.
His principal and favourite work was, “ A Political
Survey of Great Britain,” 2 vol. 4to, published a short
time before his death ; in which the extent of his
knowledge, and his patriotic spirit, are equally conspi¬
cuous. Dr Campbell’s reputation was not confined to
bis own country, but extended to the remotest parts of
Europe. As a striking instance of this, it may be
mentioned, that in the spring of 1774, the empress of
Russia was pleased to honour him with the present of
her picture, drawn in the robes worn in that country
in the days of John Bassiliowitz, grand duke of Mus¬
covy, who was contemporary with Queen Elizabeth.
To manifest the doctor’s sense of her imperial majesty’s
goodness, a set of the “ Political Survey of Britain,”
bound in Morocco, highly ornamented, and accompa¬
nied with a letter descriptive of the triumphs and feli¬
cities of her reign, was forwarded to St Petersburgh,
and conveyed into her hands by Prince Orloff, who had
resided some months in this kingdom.
Dr Campbell in 1736 married Elizabeth, daughter
of Benjamin Vobe, of Leominster, in the county of
Hereford, gentleman, with whom he lived nearly 40
years in the greatest conjugal harmony and happiness.
So wholly did he dedicate his time to books, that he
seldom went abroad : but to relieve himself as much as
possible from the inconveniences incident to a sedentary
life, it was his custom, when the weather would ad¬
mit, to walk in his garden ; or otherwise in some room
of his house, by way of exercise. By this method,
united with the strictest temperance in eating, and an
equal abstemiousness in drinking, he enjoyed a good
state of health, though his constitution was delicate.
His domestic manner of living did not preclude him
from a very extensive and honourable acquaintance.
His house, especially on a Sunday evening, was the
resort of the most distinguished persons of all ranks,
and particularly of such as had rendered themselves
eminent by their knowledge or love of literature. He
received foreigners, who were fond of learning, with
an affability and kindness which excited in them the
highest respect and veneration ; and his instructive and
cheerful conversation made him the delight of his
friends in general. He was, during the latter part of
his life, agent for the province of Georgia in North
America; and died at the close of the year 1775, in
the 67th year of his age. The doctor’s literarv
knowledge was by no means confined to the subjects
on which he more particularly treated as an author;
he was well acquainted with the mathematics, and
had read much in medicine. It hath been with
great reason believed, that if he had dedicated his
studies to this last science, lie would have made a
very conspicuous figure in the medical profession. He
was eminently versed in the different parts of sacred li¬
terature ; and his acquaintance with the languages ex¬
tended not only to the Hebrew, Greek, and Latin,
among the ancient, and to the French, Italian, Spa-
nish, Portuguese, and Dutch, among the modern ; but
likewise to the oriental tongues. He was particularly
fond of the Greek language. His attainment of such a
variety of knowledge was exceedingly assisted by a
memory surprisingly retentive, and which indeed asto¬
nished
CAM [ 103 ] CAM
IC ipbell. nislied every person with whom he was conversant. In
w v——' communicating his ideas, he had an uncommon readi¬
ness and facility 5 and the style of his works, which had
been formed upon the model of that of the celebrated
Bishop Sprat, was perspicuous, easy, flowing, and har¬
monious. To all these accomplishments of the under¬
standing, Dr Campbell joined the more important vir¬
tues of a moral and pious character. His disposition
was gentle and humane, and his manners kind and
obliging. He was the tenderest of husbands, a most
indulgent parent, a kind master, a firm and sincere
friend. To his great Creator he paid the constant and
ardent tribute of devotion, duty, and reverence; and
in his correspondences he showed that a sense of piety
was always nearest his heart.
Campbell, George, D. D. was born at Aberdeen
in December 1719. He was educated at the gram¬
mar school in the same town, and intended for the
employment of signet-writer, an occupation similar
to that of an English attorney, in which he was bound
an apprentice. The love of study, however, prevailed
over every opposition : in 1741 he attended divinity
lectures at Edinburgh before the term of his apprentice*
ship was fully completed, and soon after became a regu¬
lar student in the university of Aberdeen, attending the
lectures of Professor Lumsden in King’s, and Professor
Chalmers in Marischal college. In 1746 he was li¬
censed to preach by the presbytery of Aberdeen. In
1748 he obtained the living of Banchory Ternan, in
which situation he became a married man, and was
fortunate in possessing a lady “ remarkable for the
I . sagacity of her understanding, the integrity of her
heart, the general propriety of her conduct, and her
skill in the management of domestic economy.” Mu¬
tual happiness was the consequence of this union, which
was not terminated till her death in 1792. In 1757
he was translated to Aberdeen, to be one of the mini¬
sters of that town, and in 1759 was presented to the
office of principal of Marischal college.
Mr Hume’s Treatise on Miracles gave the new prin¬
cipal an opportunity of evincing that he was not un¬
worthy of his office. He opposed it in a sermon preach¬
ed before the provincial synod of Aberdeen, in 1760,
which he was requested to publish 5 but he preferred
the form of a dissertation, and in that state sent the
manuscript to Dr Blair, to be by him communicated
to the metaphysician. Availing himself then of the re¬
marks of his friends, and his opponent, he gave it to
the world in 1763, with a dedication to Lord Bute:
but however desirable the patronage of the minister
might be in other respects, it was of very little assist¬
ance in giving circulation, in the literary world, to an
essay which, from the favourable impressions of Blair
and Hume, was eagerly read, and universally admired.
In 1771 he was elected professor of divinity in Ma-
nschal college, on which he resigned his qffice as one
of the ministers of Aberdeen : but as “ minister of
Gray Friars, an office conjoined to the professorship
about a century ago, he was obliged to preach once
every Sunday in one of the established churches,” Few
persons seem to have entertained truer notions of
the office of a teacher in an university than our new
professor; and the plan he had in view, on entering
upon his lectures, though expressed in rather too strong
language, may be recommended to every one who un- Campbell,
dertakes a similap employment. 1 v~~ 1
“ Gentlemen (he thus addresses his pupils), the na¬
ture of my office has been much misunderstood. It is
supposed, that I am to teach you every thing connected
with the study of divinity. I tell you honestly, that
I am to teach you nothing. Ye are not school-boys.
Ye are young men, who have finished your courses of
philosophy, and ye are no longer to be treated as if ye
were at school. Therefore, I repeat it, I am to teach
you nothing $ but, by the grace of God, I will assist you
to teach yourselves every thing.” In ijji he published
his excellent sermon on the Spirit of the Gospel $ and,
in 1776, his Philosophy of Rhetoric. In this latter
year, also, he acquired the friendship of Dr Tucker by
a sermon, then much admired, and very generally read,
on the Duty of Allegiance, in which he endeavours to
show “ that the British colonies in America had no
right, either from reason or from Scripture, to throw
off their allegiance j” and he uses those vulgar argu¬
ments, which, as being purely political, and more
especially adapted to the sentiments of the majority of
that day, were very improper topics for the pulpit.
It is so much the fashion for divines to make the varying
politics of the hour the subject of their discourses,
and in them to follow the sentiments of those whose
patronage is deemed most advantageous, that we must
not be very severe in our animadversions on the present
occasion. In 1777 he chose a better subject for a dis¬
course, which he published at the request of the So¬
ciety for propagating Christian Knowledge, and in
which the success of the first publishers of the Gospel
is ably treated as a proof of its truth. In I779> wlien
many of his countrymen, led away by the madness of
enthusiasm and fanaticism, were rushing headlong into
the most antichristian practice of persecution, he pub¬
lished a very seasonable address to the people of Scot¬
land, on the alarms which had been raised by the bill
in favour of the Roman Catholics.
In the same year, also, he published a sermon on the
Happy Influence of Religion on Civil Society. The
last work which he lived to bring before the public
was his Translation of the Four Gospejs, with prelimi¬
nary dissertations, and explanatory notes, ol which
it is unnecessary to say any thing further in this place
than that it is worthy of his talents and character.
In 1795 he resigned his professorship, in a letter to
the moderator of the presbytery of Aberdeen, which
they voted to be inserted in their records. Soon after
the resignation of his professorship, he resigned also
the principalship, on a pension of 300^ a-year being
conferred on him by government j but this pension
he possessed for a very short time ; for, on the 3Ist
March, 1796, his last illness seized him, and on the
next morning it was followed by a paroxysm of the
palsy, which destroyed his faculty of speech, and
under which he languished till he died. His funeral
sermon was preached on the 17th of April by Dr
Brown, who had succeeded him in the offices of prin¬
cipal and professor.
His character, very justly drawn by the same gentle¬
man, we shall now lay before our readers. “ Dr
Campbell, as a public teacher, was long admired for
the clearness and copiousness with which he illustrat¬
ed
CAM
[ 104 ]
CAM
Campbell, ed the great doctrines and precepts of religion, and
t|.—.y—the strength and energy with which he enforced them.
Intimately persuaded of the truth and infinite conse¬
quence of what revelation teaches, he was strongly de¬
sirous of carrying the same conviction to the minds of
his hearers, and delivered his discourses with that zeal
which flows from strong impressions, and that power
of persuasion which is the result of sincerity of heart,
combined with clearness of understanding. He was
satisfied, that the more the pure dictates of the gospel
were studied, the more they would approve them¬
selves to the mind, and bring forth, in the affections and
conduct, all the peaceable fruits of righteousness. The
unadulterated dictates of Christianity, he was, there¬
fore, only studious to recommend and inculcate ; and
knew perfectly to discriminate them from the inven¬
tions and traditions of men. His chief study ever was,
to direct belief to the great objects of practice ; and,
without these, he viewed the most orthodox profession
as “ a sounding brass, and a tinkling cymbal.” But,
besides the character of a preacher of righteousness,
he had also that of a teacher of the science of divi¬
nity to sustain. How admirably he discharged this
duty, and with what effect he conveyed the soundest
and most profitable instruction to the minds of his scho¬
lars, let those declare who are now in various congre¬
gations of this country, communicating to their fellow
Christians the fruits of their studies under so able and
judicious a teacher. Discarding all attachment to
human systems, merely considered as such, he tied his
faith to the Word of God alone, possessed the happiest
talent in investigating its meaning, and communicated
to his hearers the result of his own inquiries, with a
precision and perspicuity which brought light out of
obscurity, and rendered clear and simple what appeared
intricate and perplexed. He exposed, without reserve,
the corruptions which ignorance, craft, and hypocrisy
had introduced into religion, and applied his talent for
ridicule to the best of all purposes, to hold up to con¬
tempt the absurdities with which the purest and su-
blimest truths had been loaded.
“ Placed at the head of a public seminary of learn¬
ing, he felt all the importance of such a situation, and
uniformly directed his influence to public utility. His
enlarged and enlightened mind justly appreciated the
extensive consequence of the education of youth. He
anticipated all the effects resulting to the great com¬
munity of mankind, from numbers of young men issuing,
in regular succession, from the university over which
he presided, and occupying the different departments
of social life.
“ His benevolent heart delighted to represent to
itself the students under his direction usefully and
honourably discharging the respective duties of their
different professions, and some of them, perhaps, filling
the most distinguished stations of civil society. With
these prospects before him, he constantly directed his
public conduct to their attainment. He never suffered
his judgment to be warped by prejudice or partiality,
or his heart to be seduced by passion or private interest.
Those mean and ignoble motives by which many are
actuated in the discharge of important trusts, approach¬
ed not his mind. A certain honourable pride, if pride
it may be called, diffused an uniform dignity over the
whole of his behaviour. He felt the man degraded
3
by the perversion of public character. His understand¬
ing also clearly shewed him even personal advantage at-'
tached to such principles and practice, as he adopted
from a sense of obligation, and those elevated concep¬
tions of real worth w hich were so congenial to his soul.
He saw, he experienced, esteem, respect, and influence,
following in the train of integrity and beneficence; but
contempt, disgrace, aversion, and complete insignifi¬
cance, closely linked to corruption and selfishness. Tit¬
tle minds are seduced and overpowered by selfish con¬
siderations, because they have not the capacity to look
beyond the present advantage, and to extend to the mi¬
sery that stands on the other side of it. The same cir¬
cumstance that betrays the perversity of their hearts,
also evinces the weakness of their judgments.
“ His reputation as a writer is as extensive as the
present intercourse of letters } not confined to his own
country, but spread through every civilized nation. In
his literary pursuits, he aimed not, as is very often the
case, with men of distinguished literary abilities, mere¬
ly at establishing his own celebrity, or increasing
his fortune ; but had chiefly at heart the defence of
the great cause of Religion, or the elucidation of her
dictates.
“ At an early period he entered the lists as a cham¬
pion for Christianity against one of its acutest oppo¬
nents. He not only triumphantly refuted his argu¬
ments, but even conciliated his respect by the handsome
and dexterous manner in which his defence was conduct¬
ed. While he refuted the infidel, he spared the man,
and exhibited the uncommon spectacle of a polemical
writer possessing all the moderation of a Christian. But
while he defended Christianity against its enemies, he
was desirous of contributing his endeavours to increase,
among its professors, the knowledge of the sacred wri¬
tings. Accordingly, in the latter part of his life, he
favoured the world with a work, the fruit of copious
erudition, of unwearied application for almost thirty
years, and of a clear and comprehensive judgment. We
have only to regret, that the other writings of the New
Testament have not been elucidated by the same pen
that translated the Gospels. Nor were his literary me¬
rits confined to theology, and the studies more immedi¬
ately connected with it. Philosophy, and the fine arts,
are also indebted to his genius and labours j and in him
the polite scholar was eminently joined to the deep and
liberal divine.
“ Political principles will always be much affected
by general character. This was also the case with Dr
Campbell. In politics, he maintained that moderation
which is the surest criterion of truth and rectitude, and
was equally distant from those extremes into which men
are so apt to run in great political questions. He
cherished that patriotism which consists in wishing and
endeavouring to promote, the greatest happiness of his
country, and is always subordinate to universal benevo¬
lence. Firmly attached to the British constitution, he
was animated with that genuine love of liberty which
it inspires and invigorates. He was equally averse to
despotism and to popular anarchy j the two evils into
which political parties are so frequently hurried, to the
destruction of all that is valuable to government. Par¬
ty-spirit, of whatever description, he considered as hav¬
ing an unhappy' tendency to pervert, to the most per¬
nicious purposes, the best principles of the human mind,
and
Campbell
CAM ‘ [ i°5 ] CAM
< npbell an“ cl°^ie the most iniquitous actions with the most
|| specious appearances. Although tenacious of those
C iphora. sentiments, whether in religion or politics, which he
c WSis convinced to be rational and just, he never suffer¬
ed mere difference of opinion to impair his good will,
to obstruct his good offices, or to cloud the cheerfulness
of conversation. His own conversation was enlivened
by a vein of the most agreeable pleasantry.”
CAMPBELTOWN, a parliament town of Ar-
gyleshire in Scotland, seated on the eastern shore of
the peninsula of Kintyre or Cantyre, of which it is the
capital. It hath a good harbour 5 and is now a very
considerable place, though within these 50 years only
a petty fishing town. It has in fact been created by
the fishery: for it was appointed the place of rendez¬
vous for the busses j and above 260 have been seen
in the harbour at once. The inhabitants amounted to
6000 in 1811. W. Long. 5. 10. N. Lat. 54.
CAMPDEN, a small town of Gloucestershire in
England, containing 1214 inhabitants in 1811. It
gives title of Viscount, by courtesy, to the earl of
Gainsborough, his son. W. Long. 1. 50. N. Lat.
52.
CAMPEACHY, a town of Mexico in South Ame¬
rica, seated on the east coast of a bay of the same
name, on the west of the province of Yucatan. It is
defended by a good wall and strong forts j but is nei¬
ther so rich, nor carries on such a trade, as formerly ;
it having been the port for the sale of logwood, the
place where it is cut being about 30 miles distant. It
was taken by the English in 1596 $ by the Bucaneers
in 1678 ; and by the Flibusters of St Domingo in
1685, who set it on fire and blew up the citadel. W.
Long. 93. 7. N. Lat. 19. 20.
CAMPEACHY-Wood. See HiEMATOXYLUM, BOTANY
Index.
CAMPEN, a strong town in Overyssel in the Uni¬
ted Provinces. It hath a citadel and a harbour } but
the latter is almost choked up with sand. It was ta¬
ken by the Dutch in 1578, and by the French in
1672. E. Long. 5. 35. N. Lat. 52. 38.
CAMPER, Peter, an eminent Dutch writer on
medicine and physiology. See Supplement.
CAMPESTRE, in antiquity, a sort of cover for
the privities, worn by the Roman soldiers in their field
exercises *, being girt under the navel, and hanging
down to the knees. The name is supposed to be form¬
ed from campus, the field or place where the Roman
soldiers performed their exercises.
CAMPHORA, or Camphire, a solid concrete
substance extracted from the wood of the laurus cam-
pbora. See Chemistry, and Materia Medica
Index.
Pure camphire is very white, pellucid, somewhat
unctuous to the touch $ of a bitterish aromatic taste,
yet accompanied with a sense of coolness j of a very
fragrant smell, somewhat like that of rosemary, but
much stronger. It has been very long esteemed one of
the most efficacious diaphoretics*, and has been cele¬
brated in fevers, malignant and epidemical distempers.
In deliria, also, where opiates could not procure sleep,
but rather aggravated the symptoms, this medicine has
often been observed to procure it. All these effects,
however, Dr Cullen attributes to its sedative property,
and denies that camphire has any other medicinal vir-
Vol. V. Part I. f
tues than those of an antispasmodic and sedative. He Camphors
allows it to be very powerful, and capable of doing |{
much good or much harm. From experiments made Campian.
on different brute creatures, camphire appears to be * " ' ‘
poisonous to every one of them. In some it produced
sleep followed by death, without any other symptom.
In others, before death, they were awakened into con¬
vulsions and rage. It seems, too, to act chiefly on
the stomach $ for an entire piece swallowed, produced
the above-mentioned effects with very little diminu¬
tion of weight.
CAMPHUYSEN, Dirk Theodore Raphael, an
eminent painter, was born at Gorcum in 1586. He
learned the art of painting from Diederic Govertze;
and by a studious application to it, he very soon not
only equalled, but far surpassed his master. He had
an uncommon genius, and studied nature with care,
judgment, and assiduity. His subjects were landscapes,
mostly small, with ruinous buildings, huts of peasants,
or views of villages on the banks of rivers, with boats
and hoys, and generally he represented them by moon¬
light. His pencil is remarkably tender and soft, his
colouring true nature and very transparent, and his ex¬
pertness in perspective is seen in the proportional dis¬
tances of his objects, which are excellently contrived,
and have a surprising degree of nature and truth. As
he left off painting at an age when others are scarcely
qualified to commence artists, few of his works are to
be met with, and they bring considerable prices: as
they cannot but give pleasure to the eye of every ob¬
server. He painted his pictures with a thin body of
colour, but they are handled with singular neatness
and spirit. He practised in his profession only till he
was 18 years of age, and being then recommended as
a tutor to the sons of the Lord of Nieuport, he under¬
took the employment, and discharged it with so much
credit, that he was appointed secretary to that noble¬
man. He excelled in drawing with a pen 5 and the
designs which he finished in that manner are exceed¬
ingly valued.
CAMPIAN, Edmund, an English Jesuit, was bom
at London, of indigent parents, in the year 1540, and
educated at Christ’s hospital, where he had the honour
to speak an oration before Queen Mary on her acces¬
sion to the throne. He was admitted a scholar of St
John’s college in Oxford at its foundation, and took
the degree of master of arts in 1564. About the same
time he was ordained by a bishop of the church of
England, and became an eloquent Protestant preacher.
In 1566, when Queen Elizabeth was entertained by
the university of Oxford, he spoke an elegant oration
before her majesty, and was also respondent in the phi¬
losophy act in St Mary’s church. In 1568, he was
junior proctor of the university. In the following year,
he went over to Ireland, where he wrote a history of
that kingdom, and turned Papist j but being found
rather too assiduous in persuading others to follow his
example, he was committed to prison. He soon, how¬
ever, found means to make his escape. He landed in
England in 1571 j and thence proceeded to Douay
in Flanders, where he publicly recanted his former he¬
resy, and was created bachelor of divinity. He went
soon after to Rome, where, in 1573, he was admitted
of the society of Jesus, and was sent by the general of
that order to Vienna, where he wrote his tragedy cal-
O led
CAM [i
Campian led Nectar et Ambrosia, which was acted before the
|| emperor with great applause.
Campidoc- Fr0m Vienna he went trf Prague in Bohemia, where
* t0*C8* 1 resided in the Jesuits college about six years, and
then returned to Home. From thence, in 1580, he was
sent by Pope Gregory XIII. with the celebrated I ather
Parsons, to convert the people ol England. I rom Pitts
we learn, that, some time before, several English priests,
inspired by the Holy Ghost, had undertaken to convert
their countrymen} that 80 of these from foreign semina¬
ries, besides several others who, by God’s grace, had been
converted in England, were actually engaged in the
pious work with great success $ that some of them had
suffered imprisonment, chains, tortures, and ignomini¬
ous death, with becoming constancy and resolution ;
but seeing at last that the labour was abundant, and
the labourers few, they solicited the assistance of the
Jesuits, requesting, that though not early in the morn¬
ing, they would at least in the third, sixth, or ninth
hour, send labourers into the Lord’s vineyard. In con¬
sequence of this solicitation, the above two were sent
to England. They arrived in an evil hour for Campian,
at Doverj and were next dav joyfully received by their
friends at London. He had not been long in England,
before Walsingham, the secretary of state, being in¬
formed of his uncommon assiduity, in the cause of the
church of Rome, used every means in his power to have
him apprehended, but for a long time without success.
However, he rvas at last taken by one Elliot, a noted
priest-taker, who found him in the house of Edward
Yates, Esq. at Lyford, in Berkshire, and conducted
him in triumph to London, with a paper on his hat, on
which was written Campian the Jesuit. He was im¬
prisoned in the Tower, where Wood says, “ he did
undergo many examinations, abuses, wrackings, tor¬
tures:” exquisitissimis cruciatibus tortus, says Pitts.
It is hoped, for the credit of our reformers, this tortur¬
ing part of the story is not true. The poor wretch,
however, was condemned on the statute 25 Ed. III. for
high treason $ and butchered at Tyburn, with two or
three of his fraternity. Howsoever criminal in the eye
of the law, or of the English gospel, might be the zeal
of this Jesuit for the salvation of the poor heretics of
this kingdom, biographers of each persuasion unite in
giving him a great and amiable character. “ All writ¬
ers (says the Oxford antiquary), whether Protestants
or Popish, say, that he was a man of admirable parts j
an elegant orator, a subtile philosopher and disputant,
and an exact preacher whether in English or the Latin
tongue ; of a sweet disposition, and a well-polished
man.” Fuller, in his church history, says, “ he was of
a sweet nature, constantly carrying about him the
charms of a plausible behaviour, of a fluent tongue,
and good parts.” His History of Ireland, in two
books, was written in 1570 •, and published, by Sir
James Ware, from a manuscript in the Cotton library,
Dublin, 1633, folio. He wrote also Chronologia Uni¬
versalis, a very learned work, and various other tracts.
CAMPICURSIO, in the ancient military art, a
march of armed men for several miles, from and back
again to the camp, to instruct them in the military pace.
This exercise was nearly akin to the decursio, from
which it only differed, in that the latter was performed
by horsemen, the former also by foot.
CAMPIDGCTORES, or Campiductores, in the
06 ] CAM
Roman army, were officers who instructed the soldiery
in the discipline and exercises ol war, and the art of
handling their weapons to advantage. These are also
sometimes called campigeni and armidoctores.
CAMPIDUCTOR, in middle-age writers, signifies
the leader or commander of an army, or party.
CAMPION, in Botany, the English name of the
Lychnis.
Campion, a town of the kingdom of Tangut in
Tartary. It was formerly remarkable for being a
place through which the caravans passed in the road
from Bukharia to China. E. Long. 104. 53. N. Lat.
4°. 25.
CA~MPISTRON, a celebrated French dramatic au¬
thor, was born in 1656. Racine directed his poetical
talents to the theatre, and Assisted him in his first pieces.
He died in 1723.
CAMPITiE, in church history, an appellation gi¬
ven to the Donatists, on account of their assembling in
the fields for want of churches. For a similar reason,
they were also denominated Montenses and Rupitani.
CAMPLI, or Campoli, a town of Italy, in the
kingdom of Naples, and in the farther Abruzzo, situ¬
ated in E. Long. 13. 55. N. Lat. 42. 38.
CAMPOMANES, D. P. R. Comte de, a Spanish
political writer. See Supplement.
CAMPREDON, a town of Catalonia in Spain,
seated at the foot of the Pyrenean mountains. The
fortifications were demolished by the French in 1691.
W. Long. I. 56. N. Lat. 42. 20.
CAMPS, Francis de, abbot of Notre Dame at
Sigi, was born at Amiens in 1643 i an<^ distinguished
himself by his knowledge of medals, by writing a his¬
tory of France, and several other works. He died at
Paris in 1723.
CAMPVERE. See Veer.
CAMPUS, in antiquity, a field or vacant plain in
a city, not built upon, left vacant on account of shows,
combats, exercises, or other uses of the citizens.
Campus Maii, in ancient customs, an anniversary
assembly of our ancestors held on May-day, when they
confederated together for the defence of the kingdom
against all its enemies.
Campus Martins, a large plain in the suburbs of an¬
cient Rome, lying between the Quirinal and Capitoline
mounts and the Tiber; thus called because consecrated
to the god Mars, and set apart for military sports and
exercises to which the Roman youth were trained, as
the use and handling of arms, and all manner of feats
of activity. Here were the races run, either with cha¬
riots or single horses ; here also stood the villa publica,
or palace for the reception of ambassadors, who were
not permitted to enter the city'. Many of the public
comitia were held in the same field, part of which was
for that purpose cantoned out. The place was also
nobly decorated with statues, arches, columns, porti¬
coes, and the like structures.
Campus Seeleratus, a place without the walls of an¬
cient Rome, where the Vestals who had violated their
vows of virginity were buried alive.
CAMUL, a town of Asia, on the eastern extremity
of the kingdom of Cialus, on the frontiers of Tangut.
E. Long. 98. 5. N. Lat. 37. 15.
CAMUS, a person with a low flat nose, hollowed in
the middle.
The
Campid,
i tovts
Cnimi!
CAN [ i°7 ] CAN
The Tartars are great admirers of camus beauties.
Rubruquis observes, that the wife of the great Jenghiz
Khan, a celebrated beauty, had only two holes for a
nose.
CaMUS, John Peter, a French prelate, born in 1582.
H e was author of a number of pious romances (the
taste of his time), and other theological works, to the
amount of 200 vols. His definition of politics is re¬
markable ; Ars non tam regendi, quam jallendi, homi¬
nes: “ The art not so much of governing, as of deceiv¬
ing mankind.” He died in 1652.
CAN, in the sea-language, as can-pump, a vessel
wherewith seamen pour water into the pump to make
it go.
CAN-Buoy. See Buoy.
CAtf-Hook, an instrument used to sling a cask by the
end of the staves : it is formed by fixing a broad and
flat hook at each end of a short rope 5 and the tackle
by which the cask so slung may be hoisted or lowered,
is hooked to the middle of the rope.
CANA, in Ancient Geography, a town on the con¬
fines of the Upper and Lower Galilee : memorable for
the turning water into wine (John). The birthplace
of Simeon, called the Canaanite from this place, and of
Nathanael.
CANAAN, the fourth son of Ham. The irreve¬
rence of Ham towards his father Noah is recorded in
Gen. ix. Upon that occasion the patriarch cursed
him in a branch of his posterity : “ Cursed,” says he,
“ be Canaan ; a servant of servants shall he be unto
his brethren.” This curse being pronounced, not
against Ham the immediate transgressor, but against
his son, who does not appear, from the words of Moses,
to have been anywise concerned in the crime, hath
occasioned several conjectures. Some have believed
that Noah cursed Canaan, because he could not well
have cursed Ham himself, whom God had not long
before blessed. Others think Moses’s chief intent in
recording this prediction was to raise the spirits of the
Israelites, then entering on a terrible war with the
children of Canaan, by the assurance, that, in conse¬
quence of the curse, that people were destined by God
to be subdued by them. For the opinion of those who
imagine all Ham’s race were here accursed, seems re¬
pugnant to the plain words of Scripture, which con¬
fines the malediction to Canaan and his posterity : and
is also contrary to fact. Indeed the prophecy of Noah
that “ Canaan should be a servant of servants to his
brethren,” seems to have been wholly completed in
him. It was completed with regard to Shem, not only
in that a considerable part of the seven nations of the
Canaanites were made slaves to the Israelites, when
they took possession of their land, as part of the re¬
mainder of them were afterwards enslaved by Solomon ;
but also by the subsequent expeditions of the Assyri¬
ans and Persians, who were both descended from Shem j
and under whom the Canaanites suffered subjection, as
well as the Israelites $ not to mention the conquest of
part of Canaan by the Elamites, or Persians, under
Chedorlaomer, prior to them all. With regard to Ja-
phet, we find a completion of the prophecy, in the
successive conquests of the Greeks and Romans in Pa¬
lestine and Phoenicia, where the Canaanites were
settled; but especially in the total subversion of the Car¬
thaginian power by the Romans; besides some inva¬
sions of the northern nations, as the posterity of Tho- Canaan,
garma and Magog ; wherein many of them, probably, —-v——
were carried away captive.
The posterity of Canaan were very numerous. His
eldest son was Sidon, who at least founded and peopled
the city of Sidon, and was the father of the Sidonians
and Phoenicians. Canaan had besides ten sons, who
were the fathers of so many peoples, dwelling in
Palestine, and in part of Syria ; namely, the Hittites,
the Jebusites, the Amorites, the Girgasites, the Hivites,
the Arkites, the Sinites, the Arvadites, the Zemarites,
and Hamalhites.
Land of Canaan, the country so named from Ca¬
naan the son of Ham. It lies between the Mediter¬
ranean sea and the mountains of Arabia, and extetids
from Egypt to Phoenicia. It is bounded to the east
by the mountains of Arabia ; to the south by the wil¬
derness of Paran, Idumea, and Egypt; to the west by
the Mediterranean, called in Hebrew the Great Sea ;
to the north by the mountains of Libanus. Its length
from the city of Dan (since called Caesarea Philippi,
or Paneadis, which stands at the foot of these moun¬
tains) to Beersheba, is about 70 leagues ; and its
breadth from the Mediterranean sea to the eastern
borders, is in some places 30. This country, which
was first called Canaan, from Canaan the son of Ham,
whose posterity possessed it, was afterwards called Pa¬
lestine, from the people which the Hebrews call Phi¬
listines, and the Greeks and Romans corruptly Pales-
tines, who inhabited the sea coasts, and were first
known to them. It likewise had the name of the
Land of Promise, from the promise God made to Abra¬
ham of giving it to him ; that of the Land of Israel,
from the Israelites having made themselves masters of
it; that of Judah, from the tribe of Judah, which was
the most considerable of the twelve; and lastly, the
happiness it had of being sanctified by the presence,
actions, miracles, and death of Jesus Christ, has given
it the name of the Holy Land, which it retains to this
day.
The first inhabitants of this land therefore were the
Canaanites, who were descended from Canaan, and the
eleven sons of that patriarch. Here they multiplied
extremely : trade and war were their first occupations ;
these gave rise to their riches, and the several colonies
scattered by them over almost all the islands and ma¬
ritime provinces of the Mediterranean. The measure
of their idolatry and abominations was completed, when
God delivered their country into the hands of the
Israelites. In St Athanasius’s time, the Africans still
said they were descended from the Canaanites ; and it
is said, that the Punic tongue was almost entirely the
same with the Canaanitish and Hebrew language. The
colonies which Cadmus carried into Thebes in Boeotia,
and his brother Cilix into Cilicia, came from the stock
of Canaan. The isles of Sicily, Safdinia, Malta,
Cyprus, Corfu, Majorca and Minorca, Gades and
Ebusus, are thought to have been peopled by the Ca¬
naanites. Bochart, in his large work entitled Canaan,
has set all this matter in a good light.
Many of the old inhabitants of the north-west of
the land of Canaan, however, particularly on the coast
or territories of Tyre and Sidon, were not driven out
by the children of Israel, whence this tract seems to
have retained the name of Canaan a great while after
O 2 those
CAN [ 108 ] CAN
Canaan those other parts of the country, which were better
(i inhabited by the Israelites, had lost the said name. The
Canada. ^ Greeks called this tract, inhabited by the old Canaanites
along the Mediterranean sea, Phoenicia $ the more in¬
land parts, as being inhabited partly by Canaanites,
and partly by Syrians, Syrophoenicia : and hence the
woman said by St Matthew (xv. 22.) to be a woman
of Canaan, whose daughter Jesus cured, is said by St
Mark (vii. 26.) to be a Syrophoenician by nation as she
was a Greek by religion and language.
CANABAC, an island which lies contiguous to Bu-
LAM on the western coast of Africa, and is inhabited
by a fierce people, governed by two kings or chiefs. It
would appear that the Canabacs had been very trouble¬
some to their neighbours; for the inhabitants of some
other islands in that cluster rejoiced at the settlement
of the English in Bulam, hoping to find in them a de¬
fence against the usurpations of this people.
CANADA, an extensive country of North Ameri¬
ca, bounded on the north-east by the gulf of St Law¬
rence, and St John’s river; on the south-west, by the
great line of lakes, Erie, Huron, and Superior ; on the
south, by the province of Nova Scotia, and the territo¬
ries of the United States; and on the north-west, by
Indian nations. Under the name of Canada, the French
comprehended a very large territory \ taking into their
claim part of New Scotland, New England, and New
York on the east ; and extending it on the west as far
as the Pacific ocean. That part, however, which is
occupied or claimed by the British at present lies be¬
tween 61 and 92 of west longitude, and 42 and 52 of
north latitude, and is divided into Upper and Lower
Canada. The climate is not very different from that
of the United States $ but as it is much further from
the sea, and more to the northward, than most of those
provinces, it has a much severer winter, though the air
is generally clear j and, like most of those American
tracts that do not lie too far to the northward, the sum¬
mers are very hot, and exceeding pleasant. The soil
in general is very good, and in many parts extremely
fertile ; producing many different sorts of grains, fruits,
and vegetables. The meadow grounds, which are well
watered, yield excellent grass, and breed vast num¬
bers of great and small cattle. The uncultivated parts
are a continued wood, composed of prodigiously large
and lofty tress, of which there is such a variety of spe¬
cies, that even of those who have taken most pains to
know them, there is not perhaps one that can tell half
the number. Canada produces, among others, two
sorts of pines, the white and the red ; four sorts of firs $
two sorts of cedar and oak, the white and the red ; the
male and female maple; three sorts of ash trees, the
free, the mungrel, and the bastard j three sorts of wal¬
nut-trees, the hard, the soft, and the smooth j vast
numbers of beech-trees and white wood ; white and
red elms, and poplars. The Indians hollow the red
elms into canoes, some of which made out of one
piece will contain 20 persons : others are made of the
bark; the different pieces of which they sew together
with the inner rind, and daub' over the seams with
pitch,, or rather a bituminous matter resembling pitch,
to prevent their leaking \ the ribs of these canoes are
made of boughs of trees. In the hollow elms, the
bears and wild cats take up their lodging from No¬
vember to April. The country produces also a vast pana^
variety of other vegetables, particularly tobacco, which v
thrives well. Near Quebec is a fine lead mine, and
many excellent ones of iron have been discovered. It
hath also been reported that silver is found in some of
the mountains. The rivers are extremely numerous,
and many of them very large and deep. The princi¬
pal are, the Ouattauais, St John’s, Seguinay, Des-
paires, and Trois Rivieres j but all these are swal¬
lowed up by the great river St Lawrence. This river
issues from Lake Ontario 5 and, taking its course
north-east, washes Montreal, where it receives the
Ouattauais, and forms many fertile islands. It con¬
tinues the same course, and meets the tide upwai’ds of
400 miles from the sea, where it is navigable for large
vessels; and below Quebec, 320 miles from the sea,
it becomes so broad and so deep, that ships of the line
contributed in the last war to reduce that city. After
receiving in its progress innumerable streams, it at last
falls into the ocean at Cape Rosiers, where it is 90
miles broad, and where the cold is intense and the sea
boisterous. The most considerable settlements are
upon the river and its smaller branches, and upon Lake
Ontario, though a few settlers have fixed themselves
also on Lake Erie, and the fur traders have stations
far beyond Lake Superior. Here are five lakes, the
least of which is of greater extent than the fresh¬
water lakes to be found in any other part of the
world : these are Lake Ontario, which is not less than
200 leagues in circumference ; Erie, or Oswego,
longer, but not so broad, is about the same extent.
That of the Huron spreads greatly in width, and is
about 300 leagues in circuit; as also is that of Michi¬
gan, though, like Lake Erie, it is rather long, and
comparatively narx-ow. But Lake Superior is larger
than any of these, being not less than 500 leagues in
circumference. All these are navigable by any ves¬
sels, and they all communicate with each other; but
the passage between Erie and Ontario is interrupted
by a most stupendous fall or cataract, called the falls
of Niagara*. The river St Lawrence, as already ob-«See>Ti
served, is the outlet of these lakes, by which they dis-gara.
charge themselves into the ocean. The French built
forts at these several straits, by which the lakes com¬
municate with one another, and on that where the last
of them communicates with the river. By these, while
the country was in their possession, they effectually
secured to themselves the trade of the lakes, and pre-
sei’ved an influence over all the Indian nations that lie
near them.
I he most curious and interesting part of the natural
history of Canada is the animals there produced. These
are stags, elks, deer, bears, foxes, martens, wild cats,
ferrets, weasels, large squirrels of a grayish hue, hares
and rabbits. I he southern parts, in particular, breed
great numbers of wild hulls, divers sorts of roebucks,
goats, wolves, &c. The marshes, lakes, and pools,
with which this country abounds, swarm with otters
and beavers, of which the white are highly valued,
as well as the right black kind. A vast variety of birds
aie also to be found in the woods; and the river St
Lawrence abounds with such quantities of fish, that
it is affirmed by some writers, this would be a more
profitable article than even the fur-trade.—‘There are
ift
CAN [ 109 ] CAN
nada. Canada a multitude of different Indian tribes : but
^ .yl—J these are observed to decrease in number where the
Europeans are most numerous j owing chiefly to the
immoderate use of spirituous liquors, of which they
are excessively fond. Their manners and way of living
* e Ame-we have already particularly described*. The principal
r • towns are Quebec, Trois Rivieres, Montreal, and York.
The commodities required by the Canadians from Europe
are, wine, or rather rum; cloths, chiefly coarse j linens,
and wrought iron. The Indian trade requires rum,
tobacco, a sort of duffle blankets, guns, powder, balls,
and flints, kettles, hatchets, toys, and trinkets of all
kinds. While the country was in possession of the
French, the Indians supplied them with poultry, and
the French had traders, who, like the original inha¬
bitants, traversed the vast lakes and rivers in canoes,
with incredible industry and patience, carrying their
goods into the remotest parts of America, and among
nations entirely unknown to us. These again brought
the furs, &c. home to them, as the Indians were there¬
by habituated to trade with them. For this purpose,
people from all parts, even from the distance of looo
miles, came to the French fair at Montreal, which be¬
gan in June, and sometimes lasted three months. Since
Canada came into the possession of Great Britain, its
progress has been extremely rapid. Its population in
1759, when the French lost it, amounted to 70,000.
In 1814 the inhabitants of Lower Canada amounted to
335,000, and those of Upper Canada to 95,000 $ but
a part of this increase may be attributed to the great
influx of emigrants from Britain. The agriculture and
|| * commerce of Canada have also been vastly extended.
In 1769 the value of the produce exported amounted
to 163,105!. and it employed 70 vessels belonging to
Britain and the colonies. But in 1812 the value of
the goods imported into Britain, from Canada, Nova
Scotia, and Newfoundland, amounted to 1,909,689!.
Since heavy duties were laid on Baltic timber, a vast
quantity has been imported from Canada j but its qua¬
lity is found to be very inferior to what is procured*
from Norway.
The greatest obstruction to the trade of Canada
arises from the vigour of the climate. This is so ex¬
cessive from December to April, that the broadest
rivers are frozen over, and the snow lies commonly
from four to six feet deep on the ground, even in those
parts of the country which lie three degrees south of
London, and in the temperate latitude of Paris. Our
communication therefore with Canada, and the im¬
mense regions beyond it, will always be interrupted
during the winter season, until roads are formed that
can be travelled without danger from the Indians. For
these savage people often commit hostilities against
us without any previous notice j and frequently, with¬
out any provocation, they commit the most horrid ra¬
vages for a long time with impunity.
Canada was undoubtedly discovered by Sebastian
Cabot, the famous Italian adventurer, who sailed un¬
der a commission from Henry VII. But though the
English monarch did not think proper to make any use
of this discovery, the French quickly attempted it j we
have an account of their fishing for cod on the banks of
Newfoundland, and along the sea-coast ot Canada, in
the beginning of the 16th century. About the year
1506, one Denys, a Frenchman, drew a map of the Canada,
gulf of St Lawrence > and two years after, one Au- —-y——
bort, a shipmaster of Dieppe, carried over to France
some of the natives of Canada. As the new country,
however, did not promise the same amazing quantities
of gold and silver produced by Mexico and Peru, the
French for some years neglected the discovery. At
last, in the year 1523, Francis I. a sensible and en-
terpris'mg prince, sent four ships, under the command
of Verazani, a Florentine, to prosecute discoveries in
that country. The particulars of this man’s first ex¬
pedition are not known. All we can learn is, that
he returned to France, and next year he undertook a
second. As he approached the coast, he met with a vio¬
lent storm j however, he came so near as to perceive the
natives on the shore, making friendly signs to him to
land. This being found impracticable by reason of the
surf upon the coast, one of the sailors threw himself into
the sea j but, endeavouring to swim back to the ship,
a surge threw him on shore without signs of life. He
was, however, treated by the natives with such care
and humanity, that he recovered his strength, and was
allowed to swim back to the ship, which immediately
returned to France. This is all we know of Vera-
zani’s second expedition. He undertook a third, but
was no more heard of, and it is thought that he and all
his company perished before he could form any colony.
In 1534, one Jaques Cartier of St Maloes set sail under
a commission from the French king, and on the 10th
of May arrived at Cape Bonavista in Newfoundland.
He had with him two small ships besides the one in
which he sailed. He cruised along the coast of that
island, on which he discovered inhabitants, probably
the Eskimaux. He landed in several places along the
coast of the gulf, and took possession ot the country in
the king’s name. On his return, he was again sent
out with a commission, and a pretty large force j he re¬
turned in 1535, and passed the winter at St Croix j but
the season proved so severe, that he and his companions
must have died of the scurvy, had they not, by the ad¬
vice of the natives, made use of the decoction of the
tops and bark of the white pines. As Cartier, how¬
ever, could produce neither gold nor silver, all that he
could say about the utility of the settlement was disre¬
garded ; and in 1540, he was obliged to become pilot
to one M. Roberval, who was by the French king ap¬
pointed viceroy of Canada, and who sailed from France
with five vessels. Arriving at the gulf of St Lawrence,
they built a fort j and Cartier was left to command the
garrison in it, while Roberval returned to France for
additional recruits to his new settlement. At last, hav¬
ing embarked in 1549, with a great number of adven¬
turers, neither he nor any of his followers were heard
of more.
This fatal accident so greatly discouraged the court
of France, that for 50 years, no measures were taken
for supplying with necessaries the settlers that were left.
At last, Henry IV. appointed the marquis de la Roche
lieutenant-general of Canada and the neighbouring
countries. In 1598, he landed on the isle ot Sablej
which he absurdly thought to be a proper place for a
settlement, though it was without any port, and with¬
out product except briars. Here he left about 40 ma¬
lefactors, the refuse of the French jails. After cruizing
CAN [i
Canada, for some time on the coast of Nova Scotia, without be-
Canal. Jng able to relieve these poor wretches, he returned to
France, where he died of a broken heart. His colony
must have perished, had not a French ship been wreck¬
ed on the island, and a few sheep driven upon it at the
same time. With the boards of the ship they erected
huts j and while the sheep lasted they lived on them,
feeding afterwards on fish. Their clothes wearing out,
they made coats of seal-skin 5 and in this miserable con¬
dition they spent seven years, when Henry ordered
them to be brought to France. The king had the cu¬
riosity to see them in their seal-skin dresses, and was so
moved with their appearance, that he forgave them all
their oflences, and gave each of them 50 crowns to be¬
gin the world anew.
In 1600, one Chauvin, a commander in the French
navy, attended by a merchant of St Malo, called Pont-
grave, made a voyage to Canada, from whence he re¬
turned with a very profitable quantity of furs. Next
year he repeated the voyage with the same good for¬
tune, but died while he was preparing for a third. The
many specimens of profit to be made by the Canadian
trade, at last induced the public to think favourably of
it. An armament was equipped, and the command of
it given to Fontgrave, with powers to extend his disco¬
veries up the river St Laurence. He sailed in 1603,
having in his company Samuel Champlain, who had
been a captain in the navy, and was a man of parts
and spirit. It was not, however, till the year 1608, that
the colony was fully established. This was accomplish¬
ed by founding the city of Quebec, which from that
time commenced the capital of all the settlements in
Canada. The colony, however, for many years conti¬
nued in a low way, and was often in danger of being
totally exterminated by the Indians. As the particu¬
lars of these wars, however, could neither be entertain¬
ing, nor indeed intelligible to many of our readers,
we choose to omit them, and in general observe, that
the French not only concluded a permanent peace with
the Indians, but so much ingratiated themselves with
them, that they could with the greatest ease prevail
upon them at any time to murder and scalp the Eng¬
lish in their settlements. These practices had a consi¬
derable share in bringing about the last war with
France, when the whole country was conquered by the
British in 1761. The most remarkable transaction in
this conquest was the siege of Quebec. See Quebec j
see also Canada, Supplement. And for the trans¬
actions here during the late American war, see Ame¬
rica (United States of').
CANAL of Communication, an artifical cut in
the ground, supplied with water from rivers, springs,
See. in order to make a navigable communication be¬
twixt one place and another.
The particular operations necessary for making ar¬
tificial navigations depend upon a number of circum¬
stances. The situation of the ground ; the vicinity or
connection with rivers j the ease or difficulty with
which a proper quantity of water can be obtained :
these and many other circumstances necessarily produce
great variety in the structure of artificial navigations,
mid augment or diminish the labour and expence of
executing them. When the ground is naturally level,
and unconnected with rivers, the execution is easy, and
the navigation is not liable to be disturbed with floods 3
o ] CAN
but, when the ground rises and falls, and cannot be re- (;ana|i
dueed to a level, artificial methods of raising and low- ' v—
ering vessels must be employed j which likewise vary
according to circumstances.
A kind of Jemporary sluices are sometimes employed
for raising boats over falls or shoals in rivers by a very
simple operation. Two posts or pillars of mason-work,
with grooves, are fixed, one on each bank of the river,
at some distance below the shoal. The boat having-
passed these posts, planks are let down across the river
by pulleys into the grooves, by which the water is
dammed up to a proper height for allowing the boat to
pass up the river over the shoal.
The Dutch and Flemings at this day sometimes,
when obstructed by cascades, form an inclined plane
or rolling-bridge upon dry land, alongst which their
vessels are drawn from the river below the cascade in¬
to the river above it. This, it is said, was the only me¬
thod employed by the ancients, and is still used by the
Chinese, who are said to be entirely ignorant of the
nature and utility of locks. These rolling-bridges con¬
sist of a number of cylindrical rollers which turn easily
on pivots, and a mill is commonly built near by, so that
the same machinery may serve the double purpose of
working the mill and drawing up vessels.
A Lock is a bason placed lengthwise in a river or
canal, lined with walls of masonry on each side, and
terminated by two gates, placed where there is a cas¬
cade or natural fall of the country 3 and so construct¬
ed, that the bason being filled with water by an upper
sluice to the level of the waters above, a vessel may
ascend through the upper gate 3 or the water in the lock
being reduced to the level of the water at the bottom
of the cascade, the vessel may descend through the
lower gate 3 for when the waters are brought to a level
on either side, the gate on that side may be easily
opened. But, as the lower gate is strained in propor¬
tion to the depth of water it supports, when the per¬
pendicular height of the water exceeds 12 or 13 feet,
more locks than one become necessary. Thus, if the
fall be 17 feet, twro locks are required, each having
84 feet fall ; and if the fall be 26 feet, three locks are
necessary, each having 8 feet 8 inches fall. The side
walls of a lock ought to be very strong. Where the
natural foundation is bad, they should be founded on
piles and platforms of wood : they should likewise slope
outwards, in order to resist the pressure of the earth
from behind.
Plate CXXXIV. fig. 1. A perspective view of part
of a canal: the vessel L, within the lock AC.—Fig. 2.
Section of an open lock 3 the vessel L about to enter.—
•Fig* 3- Section of a lock full of water 3 the vessel L
raised to a level with the water in the superior canal.—
Fig. 4. Ground section of a lock. L, a vessel in the
inferior canal. C, the under gate. A, the upper
gate. GH, a subterraneous passage for letting water
from the superior canal run into the lock. KF, a sub¬
terraneous passage for water from the lock to the infe¬
rior canal.
X and Y, (fig. 1.) are the two floodgates, each
of which consists of two leaves, resting upon one an¬
other, so as to form an obtuse angle, in order the bel¬
ter to resist the pressure of the water. The first (X)
prevents the water of the superior canal from falling
into the lock 3 and the second (Y) dams up and su¬
stains
CAN
rsnal. stains the water in the lock. These flood-gates ought
—v—mJ to be very strong, and to turn freely upon their hinges.
In order to make them open and shut with ease, each
leaf is furnished with a long lever A A A ; C C Z>.
They should be made very tight and close, that as little
water as possible may be lost.
By the subterraneous passage GH (fig. 2, 3, and 4.)
which descends obliquely, by opening the sluice G, the
water is let down from the superior canal D into the
lock, where it is stopt and retained by the gate C
when shut, till the water in the lock comes to be on a
level with the water in the superior canal D 5 as repre¬
sented, fig. 3. When, on the other hand, the wa¬
ter contained by the lock is to be let out, the passage
GH must be shut by letting down the sluice G } the
gate A must be also shut, and the passage KF opened
by raising the sluice K : a free passage being thus
given to the water, it descends through KF, into the
inferior canal, until the water in the lock is on a level
with the water in the inferior canal B j as represented,
fig. 2.
Now, let it be required to raise the vessel L (fig. 2.)
from the inferior canal B to the superior one D ; if
the lock happens to be full of water, the sluice G must
be shut, and also the gate A, and the sluice K opened,
so that the water in the lock may run out till it is on
a level with the water in the inferior canal B. When
the water in the lock comes to be on a level with the
water at B, the leaves of the gate C are opened by the
levers C b, which is easily performed, the water on each
side of the gate being in equilibrio ; the vessel then
sails into the lock. After this the gate C and the
sluice K are shut, and the sluice G opened, in order
to fill the lock, till the water in the lock, and con¬
sequently the vessel, be upon a level with the water in
the superior canal D j as is represented in fig. 3. The
gate A is then opened, and the vessel passes into the
canal D.
Again let it be required to make a vessel descend
from the canal D into the inferior canal B. If the
lock is empty, as in fig. 2. the gate C and sluice K
must be shut, and the upper sluice G opened, so that
the water in the lock may rise to a level with the wa¬
ter in the upper canal D. Then open the gate A, and
let the vessel pass through into the lock. Shut the
gate A and the sluice G ; then open the sluice K, till
the water in the lock be on a level with the water in
the inferior canal; then the gate C is opened, and
the vessel passes along into the canal B, as was re¬
quired.
Scarcity of water becomes a very serious inconveni¬
ence to navigation in those places where locks are ne¬
cessary, as without a sufficient supply, it must be fre¬
quently interrupted. To save water, therefore, has
been an important consideration in the construction of
locks. Various attempts have been made for this pur¬
pose. We shall here give an account of one which
has been proposed by Mr Playfair, architect in Lon¬
don. “ The nature and principle of this manner of
saving water (says the inventor), consists in letting the
water which has served to raise or fall a boat or
barge from the lock, pass into reservoirs or cisterns,
whose apertures of communication with the lock are
upon different levels, and which may he placed or
constructed at the side or sides of the lock with much
CAN
they communicate, or in any other contiguous situa- Canal,
tion that circumstances may render eligible j which t—-y—
apertures may be opened or shut at plesure, so that
the water may pass from the lock to each reservoir
of the canal, or from each reservoir to the lock, in the
following manner: The water which fills the lock,
when a boat is to ascend or descend, instead of being-
passed immediately into the lower part of the canal, is
let pass into these cisterns or reservoirs, upon dift’erent
levels j then their communications with the lock being
shut, they remain full until another vessel is wanted to
pass ; then, again, the cisterns are emptied into the
lock, which is thereby nearly filled, so that only the re¬
mainder which is not filled is supplied from the higher
part of the canal. Fach of these cisterns must have a
surface not less than that of the lock, and must con¬
tain half as much water as is meant to be expended for
the passing of each vessel. The cistern the most elevat¬
ed is placed twice its own depth Cmeasuring by the
aperture, or communicating opening of the cisterns)
under the level of the water in the higher part of the
canal. The second cistern is placed once its own depth
under the first, and so on are the others, to the lowest j
which last is placed once its own depth above the level
ot the water in the lower part of the canal. The aper¬
tures of the intermediate cisterns, whatever their num¬
ber may be, must all be equally divided into different
levels $ the surface of the water in the one being al¬
ways on the level of the bottom of the aperture of the.
$istern which is immediately above. As an example
of the manner and rule for constructing these cisterns,
suppose that a lock is to be constructed twelve feet
deep, that is, that the vessel may ascendor descend twelve
feet in passing. Suppose the lock sixty feet long and
six feet wide, the quantity of water required to fill the
lock, and to pass a boat, is 4320 cubic feet} and sup¬
pose that, in calculating the quantity of water that can
be procured for supplying the canal, after allowing for
waste, it is found (according to the number of boats
that may be expected to pass) that there will not be
above 800 cubic feet for each ; then it will be neces¬
sary to save five sixths of the whole quantity that in the
common case would be necessary : to do which ten cis¬
terns must be made (the mode of placing which is ex¬
pressed in the drawing, fig. 5. Plate CXXXIV.) each
ol which must be one foot deep, or deeper at pleasure,
and each must have a surface of 360 feet square, equal
to the surface of the lock. The bottom of the aper¬
ture of the lowest cistern must be placed one foot above
the level of the water in the lower part of the canal, or
eleven feet under the level of the high water j the se¬
cond cistern must be two feet above the level of the
low water; the third three feet, and soon of the others;
the bottom of the tenth, or uppermost cistern, being-
ten feet above the low water, and two feet lower than
the high water ; and, as each cistern must be twelve
inches in depth, the surface of the water in the higher
cistern will be one foot under the level of the water in
the upper part of the canal. The cisterns being thus
constructed, when the lock is full, and the boat to be
let down, the communications between the lock and the
cisterns, which until then have all been shut, are to be
opened in the following manner; first, the communica¬
tion with the higher cistern is opened, which, being at
bottom two feet under the level of the water in the
lock.
t nx ]
Canal.
CAN [i
lock, is filled to the depth of one foot, the water in the
lock descending one foot also at the same time: that
communication is then shut, and the communication be¬
tween the lock and the second cistern is opened } one
foot more of the water then passes into that cistern from
the lock, and fills it *, the opening is then shut: the
same is done with the third, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh,
eighth, ninth, and tenth cisterns, one by one, until
they are all filled ; and, when the tenth, or lowermost
cistern, is filled, there remains but two feet depth of wa¬
ter in the lock. The communication between the lock
and the lower part of the canal is then opened, and the
last two feet depth of water is emptied into the lower
part of the canal. By this means, it is evident, that,
instead of twelve feet depth of water being let descend
into the lower part of the canal, there is only two feet
depth that descends, or one-sixth of the whole j there¬
fore, instead of 4320 cubic feet being used, there are
only 720 cubic feet used : the remainder of the water
in the cisterns being used as follows. W hen another
boat is to mount, the sluices being then shut, and the
boat in the lock, the tenth or lowermost cistern is
emptied into the lock, which it fills one foot j the com¬
munication being then shut, the next lower cistern, or
the ninth, is emptied into the lock, which is thereby
filled another foot 5 and so in like manner, all the other
cisterns are emptied, one after another, until the higher
cistern being emptied, which fills the tenth foot of wa¬
ter in the lock, there remains but two feet of water to
fill, which is done from the upper part of the canal, by
opening the higher sluice to pass the boat; by that
means the same quantity of water descends from the
upper part of the canal into the lock, that in the other
case descended from the lock into the lower part of the
canal j so that, in both cases, the same quantity of wa¬
ter is saved, that is, five-sixths of what would be neces¬
sary were there no cisterns. Suppose again that, upon
the same canal, and immediately after the twelve feet
lock, it would be advantageous to construct one of
eighteen feet 5 then, in order not to use any greater
quantity of ivater, it will be necessary to have sixteen
cisterns, upon different levels, communicating with the
lock in the same manner. Should, again, a lock of
only six feet be wanted, after that of eighteen, then it
will only be necessary to have four cisterns on difierent
levels, and so of any other height of lock. The rule
is this : for finding the number and size of the cisterns,
each cistern being the same in superficies with the lock,
its depth must be such as to contain one half the quan¬
tity of water meant to be used in the passing of one
boat. The depth of the lock, divided by the depth
necessary for such a cistern, will give, in all cases, the
whole number of cisterns, and two more: deduct the
number two, therefore, from the number which you
find by dividing the depth of the lock by the depth of
one cistern, and you have always the number of cis¬
terns required ; which are to be placed upon different
levels, according to the rule already given,. The above
is the principle and manner of using the lock, for sav¬
ing water in canals, and for enabling engineers to con¬
struct locks of different depths upon the same canal,
without using more water for the deep locks than for
the shallow ones. With regard to the manner of dis¬
posing the cisterns, the circumstance of the ground,
3
2 ] CAN
the declivity, &c. will be the best guide for the en- Cana],
gineer.” Y"
But even when water is abundant, if the declivity of
a country be such as to require numerous locks, naviga¬
tion suffers great interruption from them. A method
by which boats could be raised and lowered with
greater facility, or in a shorter time than can be done
by means of locks, is still a very desirable object of im¬
provement in inland navigation. For this purpose the
inclined plane has been often resorted to, and particu¬
larly in China, where water carriage is more generally
employed than in any country of Europe. But this
method requires very powerful machinery or a great
number of hands, which has prevented it from being
much practised in this country. Other contrivances to
obviate the use of locks have been proposed. Dr
Anderson, in his Agricultural Survey of the County
of Aberdeen, has described one, of which we shall give
an account in his own words. This contrivance, he
observes, “ in the opinion of very good judges of mat¬
ters of this sort, to whom the plan has been shewn,
has been deemed fully adequate to the purpose of raising
and lowering boats of a moderate size, that is, of 20
tons, or downwards 5 and it is the opinion of most men
with whom I have conversed, who are best acquainted
with the inland navigations, that a boat of from 10 to
15 tons is better than those of a larger size. When se¬
veral are wanted to be sent at once, they may be affixed
to one another, as many as the towing-horse can con¬
veniently draw. Were boats of this size adopted, and
were all the boats on one canal to be of the same di¬
mensions, it would prove a great convenience to a
country in a state of beginning improvements $ because
the expence of such a boat would be so trifling, that
every farmer could have one for himself, and might of
course make use of it when he pleased, by the aid of
his own horse, without being obliged to have any de¬
pendence on the time that might suit the convenience
of his neighbour j and if two or more boats were going
from the same neighbourhood, one horse could serve
the whole.
“ You are to suppose that fig. 6. Plate CXXXIV.
represents a bird’s eye view of this simple apparatus, as
seen from above. A is supposed to be the upper reach
of the canal, and B the lower reach, with the apparatus
between the two. This consists of three divisions ; the
middle one, extending from C to D, is a solid piece of
masonry, raised from a firm foundation below the level
of the bottom of the second reach; this is again divid¬
ed into five parts, viz. d d d, where the wall rises only
to the height of the water in the upper reach, and e e,
two pillars, raised high enough to support the pivots of a
wheel or pulley g, placed in the position there marked.
“ The second division h consists of a wooden coffer,
of the same depth nearly as the w'ater in the upper
reach, and of a size exactly fitted to contain one of the
boats. This communicates directly with the upper
reach, and being upon the same plane with it, and so
connected with it as to be water-tight, it is evident,
from inspection, that nothing can be more easy than to
float a boat into this coffer from the upper reach, the
part of the wheel that projects over it being at a suffi¬
cient height above it, so as to occasion no sort of in¬
terruption.
“ Third
CANAL.
PL A TE ( XXXIV
Fig 1
Ferspectire Vi cur of part of a SlLVstl- rot Hi Locks
KMUc/u-U/wi//,1
’.anal.
CAN [ ii
“ Third division. At i is represented another cof¬
fer, precisely of the same dimensions with the first. But
here two sluices, which were open in the former, and
only represented by dotted lines, are supposed to be
shut, so as to cut off all communication between the
water in the canal and that in the coffer. As it was
impossible to represent this part of the apparatus on so
small a scale, for the sake of illustration it is represent¬
ed more at large in fig. 9. where A, as before, repre¬
sents the upper reach of the canal, and h one of the
coffers. The sluice k goes into two cheeks of wood,
joined to the masonry of the dam of the canal, so as to
fit perfectly close j and the sluice f fits, equally close,
into cheeks made in the side of the coffer for that pur¬
pose ; between these two sluices is a small space 0.
The coffer, and this division 0, are to be supposed full
of water, and it will be easy to see that these sluices
may be let down, or drawn up at pleasure, with much
facility.
“ Fig. 10. represents a perpendicular section of these
parts in the same direction as in fig. 9. and in which the
same letters represent the same parts.
“ Things being thus arranged, you are to suppose
the coffer h to be suspended, by means of a chain passed
over the pulley, and balanced by a weight that is suffi¬
cient to counterpoise it, suspended at the opposite end
of the chain. Suppose, then, that the counterpoise be
made somewhat lighter than the coffer with its con¬
tents, and that the line mn (fig. 10.) represents a divi¬
sion between the solid sides of the dam of separation,
which terminates the upper reach and the wooden
coffer, which had been closed only by the pressure of its
own weight (being pushed a very little from A towards
B, beyond its precise perpendicular swing), and that the
joining all round is covered with lists of cloth put upon
it for that purpose $ it is evident that, so long as the
coffer is suspended to this height, the joining must be
water-tight j but no sooner is it lowered down a little
than this joining opens, the water in the small division
0 is allowed to run out, and an entire separation is made
between the fixed dam and this moveable coffer, which
may be lowered down at pleasure without losing any
part of the water it contained.
“ Suppose the coffer now perfectly detached, turn
to fig. '7. which represents a perpendicular section of
this apparatus, in the direction of the dotted Wntpp
(fig. 6.). In fig. 7. h represents an end view of the
cofi’er, indicated by the same letter as in fig. 6. suspend¬
ed by its chain, and now perfectly detached from all
other objects, and balanced by a counterpoise i, which
is another coffer exactly of the same size, as low down
as the level of the lower reach. From inspection only
it is evident, that, in proportion as the one of these
weights rises, the other must descend. For the pre¬
sent, then, suppose that the coffer h is by some means
rendered more weighty than f, it is plain it will de¬
scend while the other rises ; and they will thus continue
till h comes down to the level of the lower reach, and i
rises to the level of the higher one.
“ Fig. 8. represents a section in the direction AB
3 ] c A N
(fig. 6.), in which the coffer i (seen in both situations) Canal,
is supposed to have been gradually raised from the level—v—
of the lower reach B to that of the higher one where
it now remains stationary; while the coffer h (which is
concealed behind the masonry) has descended in the
mean time to the level of the lower reach, where it
closes by means of the juncture r s, fig. 10. (which
juncture is covered with lists of cloth, as before explain¬
ed at m n, and is of course become water-tight), when,
by lifting the sluice f, and the corresponding sluice at
the end of the canal, a perfect communication by water
is established between them. If then, instead of water
only, this coffer had contained a boat, floated into it
from the upper reach, and then lowered down, it is very
plain, that when these sluices were removed, after it
had reached the level of the lower reach, that boat
might have been floated out of the coffer with as much
facility as it was let into it above. Here then we have
a boat taken from the higher into the lower canal; and,
by reversing this movement, it is very obvious that it
might be, with equal ease, raised from the lower into
the higher one. It now only remains that I should
explain by what means the equilibrium between these
counter-balancing weights can be destroyed at pleasure,
and the motion, of course, produced.
“ It is very evident, that if the two corresponding
coffers be precisely of the same dimensions, their weight
will be exactly the same when they are both filled to
the same depth of water. It is equally plain, that
should a boat be floated into either or both of them,
whatever its dimensions or weight may be, so that it
can be contained afloat in the coffer, the weight of the
coffer and its contents will continue precisely the same
as when it was filled with water only : hence, then,
supposing one boat is to be lowered, or one to be raised
at a time, or supposing one to be raised and another
lowered at the same time-—they remain perfectly in
equilibrium in either place, till it is your pleasure to
destroy that equilibrium. Suppose, then, for the pre¬
sent, that both coffers are loaded with a boat in each,
the double sluices both above and below closed j and
suppose also that a stop-cock #, in the under edge of
the side of the lower coffer (fig. 8. and 10). is opened,
some of the water which served to float the boat in the
coffer will flow out of it, and consequently that coffer
will become lighter than the higher one j the upper
coffer will of course descend, while the other mounts
upwards. When a gentle motion has been thus com¬
municated, it may be prevented from accelerating,
merely by turning the stop-cock so as to prevent the
loss of more water, and thus one coffer will continue to
ascend, and the other to descend, till they have assumed
their stations respectively ; when, in consequence of a
stop below, and another above, they are rendered sta¬
tionary at the level of the respective canals (a).
“ Precisely the same effect will be produced when
the coffers are filled entirely with water.
“ It is unnecessary to add more to this explanation,
except to observe, that the space for the coffer to?de-
scend into must be deeper than the bottom of the lower
canal,
(a) “ It does not seem necessary to adopt any other contrivance than the above for regulating the motions ;
but if it should be found necessary, it would be easy to put a ratch-wheel on the same axle.”
Vol.V. Parti. 'f - P
CAN [i
canal, in order to allow a free descent for the coffer to
the requisite depth ; and of course it will be necessary
to have a small conduit to allow the water to get out of
it. Two or three inches free, below the bottom of the
canal, is all that would be necessary.
“ Where the height is inconsiderable, there will he
no occasion for providing any counterpoise for the
chain, as that will give only a small addition to the
weight of the undermost coffer, so as to make it pre¬
ponderate, in circumstances where the two coffers would
otherwise he in perfect equilibrium ; but, where the
height is considerable, there will be a necessity for pro¬
viding such a counterpoise ; as, without it, the chain,
by becoming more weighty every foot it descended,
would tend to destroy the equilibrium too much, and
accelerate the motion to an inconvenient degree. To
guard against this inconvenience, let a chain of the same
weight per foot, be appended at the bottom of each
coffer, of such a length as to reach within a few yards
of the ground where the coffer is at its greatest height
(see fig. 7.) 5 it will act with its whole weight upon
the highest coffer while in this position j but, as that
gradually descended, the chain would reach the ground,
and, being there supported, its weight would be dimi¬
nished in proportion to its descent 5 while the weight of
the chain on the opposite side would he augmented in
the same proportion, so as to counterpoise each other
exactly, in every situation, until the uppermost chain
was raised from the ground. After which it would in¬
crease its weight no more j and, of course, would then
give the under coffer that preponderance which is ne¬
cessary for preserving the machine steady. The under
coffer, when it reached its lowest position, would touch
the bottom on its edges, which would then support it,
and keep every thing in the same position, till it was
made lighter for the purpose of ascending.
“ What constitutes one particular excellence of the
apparatus here proposed is, that it is not only unlimited
as to the system of the rise or depression of which it
is susceptible (for it would not require the expendi¬
ture of one drop more water to lower it 100 feet than
one foot) ; but it would also be easy so to augment the
number of pulleys at any one place as to admit of two,
three, four, or any greater number of boats being lower¬
ed or elevated at the same time $ so that let the suc¬
cession of boats on such a canal be nearly as rapid as
that of carriages upon a highway, none of them need
be delayed one moment to wait an opportunity of pas¬
sing : a thing that is totally impracticable where water-
locks are employed ; for the intercourse, on every ca¬
nal constructed with water-locks, is necessarily limited
to a certain degree, beyond which it is impossible to
force it.
“ For example: suppose a hundred boats are follow¬
ing each other, in such a rapid succession as to he only
half a minute behind each other. By the apparatus
here proposed, they would all be elevated precisely as
they came j in the other, let it be supposed that the
lock is so well constructed as that' it takes no more than
five minutes to close and open it j that is, ten minutes
in the whole to each boat (for the lock, being once
filled, must be again emptied before it can receive ano¬
ther in the same direction) j at this rate, six boats only
could he passed in an hour, and of course it would take
sixteen hours and forty minutes to pass the whole bun-
2
4 ] CAN
dred 5 and as the last boat would reach the lock in the
space of fifty minutes after the first, it would he detain¬
ed fifteen hours and fifty minutes before its turn would
come to he raised. This is an immense detention •, but
if a succession of boats, at the same rate, were to follow
continually, they never could pass at all. In short, in
a canal constructed with water-locks, not more than six
boats, on an average, can he passed in an hour, so that
beyond that extent all commerce must he stopped ; hut,
on the plan here proposed, sixty, or six hundred, might
be passed in an hour, if necessary, so as to occasion no
sort of interruption whatever. These are advantages
of a very important nature, and ought not to be over¬
looked in a commercial country.
“ This apparatus might be employed for innumerable
other uses as a moving power, which it would be foreign
to our present purpose here to specify. Nor does its
power admit of any limitation, but that of the strength
of the chain, and of the coffers which are to support
the weights. All the other parts admit of being made
so immoveably firm as to be capable of supporting al¬
most any assignable weight.
“ I will not enlarge on the benefits that may be de¬
rived from this very simple apparatus : its cheapness,
when compared with any other mode of raising and
lowering vessels that has ever yet been practised, is
very obvious ; the waste of water it would occasion is
next to nothing j and when it is considered that a boat
might be raised or lowered fifty feet nearly with the
same ease as five, it is evident that the interruptions
which arise from frequent locks would be avoided, and
an immense saving be made in the original expence of
the canal, and in the annual repairs.
“ It is also evident, that an apparatus, on the same
principle, might be easily applied for raising coals or
metals from a great depth in mines, wherever a very
small stream of water could he commanded, and where
the mine was level-free.”
It is almost needless to spend time in enumerating
the many advantages which necessarily result from ar¬
tificial navigations. Their utility is now so apparent,
that most nations in Europe give the highest encou¬
ragement to undertakings of this kind wherever they
are practicable. The advantages of navigable canals
did not escape the observation of the ancients. From
the most early accounts of society we read of attempts
to cut through large isthmuses, in order to make a
communication by w'ater, either between different na¬
tions, or distant parts of the same nation, where land-
carriage was long and expensive. Herodotus relates,
that the Cnidians, a people of Caria in Asia Minor,
designed to cut the isthmus which joins that peninsula
to the continent 5 but were superstitious enough to give
up the undertaking, because they were interdicted by
an oracle. Several kings of Egypt attempted to join
the Red sea to the Mediterranean by a canal. It
was begun by Necos the son of Psammeticus, and
completed by Ptolemy II. After his reign it was
neglected, till it was opened in 635 under the cali¬
phate of Omar, but was again allowed to fall into dis¬
repair: so that it is now difficult to discover any traces
ot it. Both the Greeks and Romans intended to
make a canal across the isthmus of Corinth, which joins
the Morea and Achaia, in order to make a navigable
passage by the Ionian sea into the Archipelago. De¬
metrius,
CAN [i
metrius, Julius Csesar, Caligula, anti Nero, made seve¬
ral unsuccessful efforts to open this passage. But, as
the ancients were entirely ignorant oi the use of vvater-
locks, their whole attention was employed in making
level cuts, which is probably the principal reason why
they so often failed in their attempts. Charlemagne
formed a design of joining the Rhine and the Danube,
in order to make a communication between the ocean
and the Black sea, by a canal from the river Almutz
which discharges itself into the Danube, to the Reditz,
which falls into the Main, and this last falls into the
Rhine near Mayence } for this purpose he employed a
prodigious number of workmen ; but he met with so
many obstacles from different quarters, that he was ob¬
liged to give up the attempt.
The French at present have many fine canals : that
of Briare was begun under Henry IV. and finished un¬
der the direction of Cardinal Richelieu in the reign of
Louis XIII. This canal makes a communication be¬
twixt the Loire and the Seine by the river Loing. It
eictends ll French great leagues from Briare to Mon-
targis. It enters the Loire a little above Briare, and
terminates in the Loing at Cepoi. There are 42 locks
on this canal.
The canal of Orleans, for making another commu¬
nication between the Seine and the Loire, was begun
in 1675, and finished by Philip of Orfearrs, regent of
France, during the minority of Louis XV. and is fur¬
nished with 20 locks. It goes by the name of the ca¬
nal of Orleans ; but it begins at the village of Com-
bleux, which is a short French league from the town of
Orleans. '
But the greatest and most useful work of this kind
is the junction of the ocean with the Mediterranean by
the canal of Languedoc. It was proposed in the reigns
of Francis I. and Henry IV. and was undertaken and
finished under Louis XIV. It begins with a large re¬
servoir 4000 paces in circumference, and 24 feet deep,
which receives many springs from the mountain Noire.
This canal is about 64 leagues in length, is supplied
by a number of rivulets, and is furnished with 104
locks, of about eight feet rise each. In some places it
passes over bridges of vast height; and in others it cuts
through solid rocks for 1000 paces. At one end it
joins the river Garonne near Thoulouse, and terminates
at the other in the lake Tau, which extends to the port
of Cette. It was planned by Francis Riquet in the
1666, and finished before his death, which happened
in the 1680.
In the Dutch, Austrian, and French Netherlands,
there is a very great number of canals; that from Bru¬
ges to Ostend carries vessels of 200 tons.
The Chinese have also a great number of canals ;
that which runs from Canton to Pekin extends about
825 miles in length, and was executed about 800 years
ago.
It would be an endless task to describe the number¬
less canals in Holland, Russia, Germany, &c. We shall
therefore confine ourselves to some of the more import¬
ant in our own country.
As the promoting of commerce is the principal in¬
tention of making canals, it is natural to expect that
their frequency in any nation should bear some propor¬
tion to the trade carried on in it, providing the situa¬
tion of the country will admit of them. The present
15 ] CAN
state of England and Scotland confirms this observa- Canal,
tion. Though the Romans made a canal between the —v—■
Nyne, a little below Peterborough, and the Witham,
three miles below Lincoln, which is now almost entire¬
ly filled up, yet it is not long since canals were revived
in England. They are now however become very nu¬
merous, particularly in the counties of York, Lincoln,
and Cheshire. Most of the counties betwixt the mouth
of the Thames and the Bristol channel are connected
together either by natural or artificial navigation ;
those upon the Thames and Isis being now connected
with those upon the Severn. The duke of Bridgewa¬
ter’s canal in Cheshire runs 27 miles on a perfect le¬
vel ; but at Barton it is carried by a very high aque¬
duct bridge over the Irwell, a navigable river; so
that it is common for vessels to be passing at the same
time both under and above the bridge. It is likewise
cut some miles into the hills, where the duke’s coal-mines
are wrought.
A navigable canal betwixt the Forth and Clyde in
Scotland, and which divides the kingdom in two parts,
was first thought of by Charles II. for transports and
small ships of war; the expence of which was to have
been 500,000!. a sum far beyond the abilities of his
reign. It was again projected in the year 1722, and a
survey made ; but nothing more done till 1761, when
the then Lord Napier, at his own expence, caused a
survey, plan, and estimate, on a small scale, to be made.
In 1764, the trustees for fisheries, &c. in Scotland, caus¬
ed make another survey, plan, and estimate, of a canal
five feet deep, which was to cost 79,000!. In 1766, a
subscription was obtained by a number of the most re¬
spectable merchants in Glasgow, for making a canal
four feet deep and twenty four feet in breadth; but
when the bill was nearly obtained in parliament, it was
given up on account of the smallness of the scale, and
a new subscription set on toot for a canal seven feet
deep, estimated at 150,000!. This obtained the
sanction of parliament; and the work was begun in
1768 by Mr Smeaton the engineer. The extreme
length of the canal from the Forth to the Clyde is 35
miles, beginning at the mouth of the Carron, and end¬
ing at Dalmuir Burnfoot on the Clyde, six miles be¬
low Glasgow, rising and falling 160 feet by means of
39 locks, 20 on the east side of the summit, and 19
on the west, as the tide does not ebb so low in Clyde as
in the Forth by nine feet. Vessels drawing eight feet
water, not exceeding nineteen feet beam and seven¬
ty-three feet in length, pass with ease, the canal having
afterwards been deepened to upwards of tight feet.
The whole enterprise displays the art of man in a high
degree. The carrying the canal through moss, quick¬
sand, gravel, and rocks, up precipices and over valleys,
was attended with inconceivable difficulties. There
are eighteen draw-bridges and fifteen aqueduct bridges
of note, besides small ones and tunnels. In the first
three miles there are only six locks : but in the fourth
mile there are no less than ten locks, and a very fine
aqueduct bridge over the great road to the west of
Falkirk. In the next six miles there are only four
locks which carry you to the summit. The canal
then runs eighteen miles on a level, and terminates by
one branch about a mile from Glasgow. In this course,
for a considerable way, the ground is banked about
twenty feet high, and the water is sixteen feet deep,
P 2 and
CAN [I
Canal. an^ tvvo miles of it is made through a deep moss. At
—V ■■■«■* Kirkintilloch, the canal is carried over the water ot
Logie on an aqueduct arch of ninety feet broad. This
arch was thrown over in three stretches, having only a
centre of thirty feet, which was shitted on small rollers
from one stretch to another : a thing new, and never
attempted before with an arch of this size j yet the join¬
ings are as fairly equal as any other part, and admired as
a very fine piece of masonry. On each side there is a very
considerable banking over the valley. This work was
carried on till it came within six milesof its junction with
the Clyde ; when the subscription and a subsequent loan
being exhausted, the work was stopt in 1775*
city of Glasgow, however, by means of a collateral
branch, opened a communication with the Forth, which
has produced a revenue of about 6000I. annually j
and, in order to finish the remaining six miles, the go¬
vernment in 1784 gave 50,000!. out of the forfeited
estates, the dividends arising from this sum to be ap¬
plied to making and repairing roads in the Highlands
of Scotland. The work was accordingly resumed j
and by contract, under a high penalty, was to be en¬
tirely completed in November 1789. The aqueduct
bridge over the Kelvin, which is supposed the great¬
est of the kind in the world, consists of four arches, and
carries the canal over a valley 65 feet high, and 420
in length, exhibiting a very singular effort of human
ingenuity and labour. To supply the canal with water
was of itself a very great work. There is one re¬
servoir of 50 acres 24 feet deep, and another of 70
acres 22 feet deep, in which many rivers and springs
terminate, which it is thought will afford a sufficient
supply of water at all times. This whole undertaking
when finished cost about 200,0001. It is the greatest
of the kind in Britain, and of great national utility;
though it is to be regretted that it had not been exe¬
cuted on a still larger scale, the locks being too short
for transporting large masts.
This canal was completed in July 1790. On the
28th of this month, a tract barge, belonging to the
company of proprietors, sailed from the bason, near the
city of Glasgow, to Bowling bay, where the canal joins
the’river Clyde. The committee of management, ac¬
companied by the magistrates of Glasgow, were the
first voyagers on the new canal. On the arrival of the
vessel at Bowling bay, after descending from the last
lock into the Clyde, the ceremony of the junction of
the Forth and Clyde was performed by discharging in¬
to the river Clyde a hogshead of water taken up from
the river Forth, as a symbol of joining the western and
eastern seas together.
About the year 1801, a canal was finished between
Loch Gilp to Loch Crinan in Argyleshire. The distance
is about nine miles. This canal, which is called the Cri¬
nan canal, is intended to accommodate the trade of the
Western islands and fisheries. The vessels employed in
this trade will, by means of this canal, avoid the circui¬
tous and dangerous navigation round the Mull of Cantire.
Another canal was begun in 1803, which is intend¬
ed to open a communication between the Western sea,
and the Murray frith, through Loch Ness. This canal,
which is by far the most magnificent work of the kind
in Britain, is expected to be finished in 1821. See
Caledonian Canal, Supplement.
6 ] CAN
Canal, in Anatomy, a duct or passage through Canal
which any of the juices flow. H
CANANORE, a maritime town of Hindustan, on Carnuy
the coast of Malabar, in a district of the same name,V"
with a large and safe harbour. It formerly belonged
to the Portuguese, and had a strong fort to guard it;
but in 1683, the Dutch, together with the natives,
drove them away ; and after they became masters of
the town, enlarged the fortifications. The Dutch sold
the place to a native family, now represented by a
female, and also sovereign of the Lacadive islands, but
paying an annual tribute of 14,000 rupees to the
English East India Company. The town was taken
by the British in 1790 from Tippo Saib, who had pre¬
viously made himself master of it. E. Long. 78. 10.
N. Lat. 12. o.
Cananore, a small district of Hindostan, on the
coast of Malabar, now subject to the British. The
natives are generally Mahometans $ and the country
produces pepper, cardamoms, ginger, mirobolans, and
tamarinds, in which they drive a considerable trade,
their vessels sailing to Arabia and Sumatra.
CANARA, a province of Hindostan, on the coast of
Malabar. The inhabitants are Gentoos, or Pagans 5
and there is a pagod or temple, called Rarntrut, which
is visited every year by a great number of pilgrims.
Here the custom of burning the wives with their hus¬
bands had its beginning, and is practised to this day.
The country, before it fell into the hands of the Bri¬
tish, was generally governed by a woman, who kept
her court at a town called Baydor, two days journey
from the sea. She might man-y whom she pleased}
and was not obliged to burn with her husband, like her
female subjects. They are so good observers of their
laws, that a robbery or murder is scarce ever heard of
among them. The lower grounds yield every year two
crops of corn or rice j and the higher produce pepper,
betel-nuts, sanders wood, iron, and steel. The climate
is fine, though subject to heavy rains during a great
portion of the year. The surface is rocky and uneven,
but produces a great abundance of vegetables. The
inhabitants live in ease and comfort, though they are
subjected to an enormous land tax of 60 per cent.
CANARIA, in Ancient Geography, one of the For¬
tunate islands, a proof that these were what are now
called the Canaries. Canaria had its name from its
abounding with dogs of an enormous size, two of which
were brought to Juba, king of Mauritania. See the
following article.
Canaria, or the Grand Canary, an island in the
Atlantic ocean, about 180 miles from the coast of
Africa. It is about too miles in circumference, and
33 in diameter. It is a fruitful island, and famous for
the wine that bears its name. It also abounds with
apples, melons, oranges, citrons, pomegranates, figs,
olives, peaches, and plantains. The fir and palm trees
are the most common. The towns are, Canary the
capital, Gualdera, and Geria,
CANARY, or Cividad be Palmas, is the capital
of the island of Canaria, with an indifferent castle, and
a bishop’s see. It has also a court of inquisition, and
the supreme council of the rest of the Canary islands 5
as also four convents, two for men and two for wo¬
men. I he town is about three miles in.compass, and
contains
auary.
CAN [ 117 ] CAN
contains 12,000 inhabitants. The houses are only one
story high, and flat at the top; but they are well built.
The cathedral is a handsome structure. W. Long.
15. 20. N. Lat. 28. 4. ^
Canary Islands, are situated in the Atlantic ocean,
over against the empire of Morocco in Africa. They
were formerly called the Fortunate Islands, on account
of the temperate healthy air, and excellent fruits. The
land is very fruitful, for both wheat and barley pro¬
duce 130 for one. The cattle thrive well, and the
woods are full of all sorts of game. The Canary sing¬
ing birds are well known all over Europe. There are
here sugar-canes in great abundance $ but the Spa¬
niards first planted vines here, from whence we have
the wine called Canary or Sack.
These islands were not entirely unknown to the an¬
cients ; but they were a long while forgot, till John de
Batencourt discovered them in 1402. It is said they
were first inhabited by the Phoenicians, or Carthagi¬
nians, but on no certain foundation j nor could the in¬
habitants themselves tell from whence they were de¬
rived ; on the contrary, they did not know there was
any other country iq the world. Their language,
manners, and customs, had no resemblance to those of
their neighbours. However, they were like the people
on the coast of Barbary in complexion. They had no
iron. After the discovery, the Spaniards soon got pos¬
session of them all, under whose dominion they are to
this day, except Madeira, which belongs to the Portu¬
guese. The inhabitants are chiefly Spaniards ; though
there are some of the first people remaining, whom they
call Guanches, who are somewhat civilized by their in¬
tercourse with the Spaniards. Their chief food is goat’s
milk. Their complexion is tawny, and their noses flat.
The population, according to Humboldt, in 179^ wa8
174,000. The Spanish vessels, when they sail for the
West Indies, always rendezvous at these islands, going
and coming. Their number is 12. 1. Alegranza ;
2. Canaria ; 3. Ferro ; 4. Fuerteventura; 5. Gomera 5
6. Gratiosa $ 7. Lancerotta ; 8. Madeira ; 9. Palma j
10. Roccaj II. Salvages •, 12. Teneriff. West longi¬
tude from 12. to 21. north latitude from 27. 30. to 29.
30. See Canary Islands, Supplement.
CANARY-Bird. See Fringilla. These birds are
much admired for their singing, and take their name
from the place from whence they originally came, viz.
the Canary islands; but of late years there is a sort of
birds brought from Germany, and especially from Tirol,
and therefore called German birds, which are much
better than the others ; though both are supposed to
have originally come from the same place. The cocks
never grow fat, and by some country people cannot he
distinguished from common green-birds; though the
Canary-birds are much lustier, have a longer tail, and
differ much in the heaving of the passages in the throat
when they sing. These birds being so much esteemed
for their song, are sometimes sold at a high price, ac¬
cording to the goodness and excellency ol their notes ;
so that it will always be advisabie to hear one sing be¬
fore he is bought. In order to know whether he is in
good health, take him out of the store-cage, and put
him in a clean cage by himself; if he stand up boldly,
without crouching or shrinking in his leathers, look
with a brisk eye, and is not subject to clap his head
under his wing, it is a sign that he is in good health ;
but the greatest matter is to observe his dunging : if he Canary,
bolts his tail like a nightingale, after he has dunged, it *
is a sign he is not in good health, or at least that he
will soon be sick ; but if his dung be very thin like
water, or of a slimy white without any blackness in it,
it is a sign of approaching death. W hen in perfect
health, his dung lies round and hard, with a fine white
on the outside, dark within, and dries quickly; though
a seed-bird seldom dungs so hard, unless he is very
young.
Canary-birds are subject to many diseases, particu¬
larly imposthumes, which affect the head, cause them
to fall suddenly from the perch, and die in a short
time, if not speedily cured. The most approved me¬
dicine is an ointment made of fresh butter and capon’s
grease melted together. With this the top of the
bird’s head is to be anointed for two or three days,
and it will dissolve the imposthume : but if the medi¬
cine has been too long delayed, then, after three or four
times anointing, see whether the place of his head be
soft; and if so, open it gently, and let out the matter,
which will be like the yolk of an egg ; when this is
done, anoint the place, and the bird will be cured. At
the same time he must have figs with his other food,
and in his water a slice or two of liquorice, with white
sugar-candy.
Canary-birds are distinguished by different names at
different times and ages such as are about three years
old are called runts ; those above two are named eriffs;
those of the first year under the care of. the old ones,
are termed branchers; those that are new-flown, and
cannot feed themselves, pushers } and those brought up
by hand, nestlings.
The Canary-birds may be bred with us ; and, if
treated with proper care, they will become as vigorous
and healthful as in the country from whence they
have their name. The cages in which these birds
are kept are to be made either of walnut-tree or oak,
with bars of wire; because these, being woods of
strength, do not require to be used in large pieces. The
common shape of cages, which is cylindric, is very
improper for these birds; for this allows little room to
walk, and without that the birds usually become melan¬
choly. The most proper of all shapes is the high and
long, but narrow.
If these birds eat too much, they grow overrfat, lose
their shape, and their singing is spoiled y or at least
they become so idle, that they will scarce ever sing.
In this case their victuals are to be given them in a
much smaller quantity, and they will by this means be
recovered by degrees to all their, beauty, and will sing
as at first.
At the time that they are about to build their nests,
there must be put into their cages some hay, dried
thoroughly in the sun ; with this must, be mixed some
moss dried in the same manner, and some stag’s hair ;
and great care is to be taken of breeding, the young,
in the article of food. As soon as the young birds
are eight days old, or somewhat more, and are able to
eat and pick up food of themselves, they are to be
taken out of the cage in which they were hatched, and;
each put separately into another cage, and hung up in
a room where it may never have an opportunity ofi
hearing the voice of any other bird. After they have
keen kept thus about eight days, they are to be ex?
cited;
CAN [ i:
Canary, cited to sing by a bird-pipe j but this is not to be
Cancaiie. blowed too much, or in too shrill a manner, lest they
"' sing themselves to death.
For the first fifteen days the cages are to be covered
with a black cloth, and for the fifteen days following
with a green one. Five lessons in a day from the pipe
are sufficient for these young creatures ; and they must
not be disturbed with several sounds at the same time,
lest they confound and puzzle them ; two lessons should
be given them early in the morning, one about the
middle of the day, and two more at night.
The genius and temper of the several birds of this
kind are very different. The males are almost always
melancholy, and will not sing unless they are excited
to it by hearing others continually singing about them.
The male bird of this kind will often kill the female
put to him for breeding $ and when there are several
females together with the males, they will often do
the same to one another from jealousy. It is therefore
not easy to manage the article of their breeding well
in this particular, unless in this manner: let two female
birds be put into one cage, and when they have lived
together some time, they will have contracted a sort of
love for one another, which will not easily be dissolved.
Put a male bird into the cage with these two, and
every thing will go well ; their friendship will keep
them from quarrelling about his favours, and from
danger of his mischievous disposition ; for if he attacks
one of them, in order to kill her, the other will imme¬
diately take her part $ and after a few of these battles,
the male will find that they ai’e together an over¬
match for him at fighting, and will then distribute his
favours to them, and there will not fail of being a
young breed or two, which are to be taken away from
their parents, and educated as before directed. Some
males watch the time of the females laying, and de¬
vour the eggs as fast as she deposits them *, and others
take the young ones in their beak as soon as hatched,
and crush them to death against the sides of the cage,
or some other way destroy them. When a male has
been known once to have been guilty of this, he is to
be shut up in a small cage, in the middle of the large
one in which the female is breeding her young, and
thus he will often comfort her with singing all day
long, while she sits upon the eggs or takes care of the
young ones j and when the time of taking away, to
put them into separate cages, is come, the male is to
be let out, and he will always after this lire in friend¬
ship with the female.
If the male become sick during the time of the fe¬
male’s sitting or bringing up her young, he must be re¬
moved immediately, and only brought to the side of
her cage at certain times that she may see him, till he
is perfectly cured ; and then he is to be shut up again
in his cage in the middle.
Canary-birds are various in their notes ; some having
a sweet song, others a lowish note, others a long song,
which is best, as having the greatest variety of notes;
but they sing chiefly either the titlark or nightingale
notes. See Song of Birds.
CANCALLE, a town of France, in the department
of Ille and Vilaine, by the sea-side, where there is a
road. Here the British landed in 1758, in their way
to St Maloes, where they burnt a great number of ships
in the harbour, and then retired without loss. This
8 ] CAN
town was in their power •, but they acted like gene- Cuncall
rous enemies, and did no hurt to this nor any other on |j
the coast. W. Long. O. 13. N. Lat. 48. 41. Candaha
CANCELIER, in falconry, is when a light brown ^
hawk, in her stooping, turns two or three times upon
the wing, to recover herself before she seizes.
CANCELLI, a term used to denote lattice windows,
or those made of cross bars disposed latticewise $ it is
also used for rails or ballusters inclosing the communiUn-
table, a court of justice, or the like, and for the network
in the inside of hollow bones.
CANCELLING, in the civil law, an act whereby
a person consents that some former deed be rendered
null and void. This is otherwise called rescision. The
word comes from the Latin cancellare, to encompass or
pale a thing round. In the proper sense of the word,
to cancel, is to deface an obligation, by passing the pen
from top to bottom, or across it; which makes a kind
of chequer lattice, which the Latins call cancelli.
CANCER, in Zoology, a genus of insects belonging
to the order of insecta aptera. This genus includes the
lobster, the crab, the prawn, the shrimp, and the craw¬
fish. See Entomology Index.
Cancer, in Medicine, a roundish, unequal, hard, and
livid tumour, generally seated in the glandulous parts
of the body, supposed to be so called, because it appears
at length with turgid veins shooting out from it, so as
to resemble, as it is thought, the figure of a crab-fish,
or others say, because, like that fish, where it has once
got, it is scarce possible to drive it away. See Medi¬
cine Index.
Cancer, in Astronomy, one of the twelve signs, re¬
presented on the globe in the form of a crab, and thus
marked (as) in books. It is the fourth constellation
in the starry zodiac, and that from which one quad¬
rant of the ecliptic takes its denomination. The rea¬
son generally assigned for its name as well as figure, is
a supposed resemblance which the sun’s motion in this
sign bears to the crab-fish. As the latter walks back¬
wards, so the former, in this part of his course, be¬
gins to go backwards, or recede from us ; though the
disposition of stars in this sign is by others supposed to
have given the first hint to the representation of a
crab.
Tropic of Cancer, in Astronomy, a lesser circle of
the sphere parallel to the equator, and passing through
the beginning of the sign Cancer.
CANCHERIZANTE, or Cancherizato, in the
Italian music, a term signifying a piece of music that
begins at the end, being the retrograde motion from
the end of a song, &c. to the beginning.
CANCROMA, or Boat-bill. See Ornithology
Index.
CANDAHAR, a province of Afghanistan, bounded
on the north by the province of Balk ; on the east, by
that of Cabul $ on the south, by Buchor and Sablestan ;
and on the west, by Sigestan. There have been bloody
wars between the Indians and Persians on account of this
province. In 1650 it fell to the Persians, but is now
independent. The inhabitants, who are known by the
name of Aghuans, or Afghans, are chiefly a migratory
race of shepherds. The country is fertile. See
Persia.
Candahar, the capital of the above province, is
seated on a mountain j and being a place of great
trade
CAN [ i
ndahar trade has a considerable fortress. The caravans that
|| travel from Persia and the parts about the Caspian sea
uidia. to the East Indies, choose to pass through Candahar,
because there is no danger of being robbed on this
road, and provisions are very reasonable. The religion
is Mahometanism, but there are many Banians and
Guebres. E. Long. 65. 45. N. Lat. 32. 40.
CANDAULES, the last king of Lydia, of the fa¬
mily of the Heraclidae. See Lydia.
CANDELARES, (from candela, a candle), the
name of an order in the former editions of Linnaeus’s
Fragments of a Natural Method, consisting of these
three genera, rhi%ophora, nyssa, and mimusops. They
are removed, in the later editions, into the order Ho-
LORACEAl.
CANDIA, the modern name of the island of Crete
(see Crete). The word is a variation of Khunda,
which was originally the Arabian name of the metropo¬
lis only, but in time came to be applied to the whole
island.
Candia came into the possession of the Venetians,
by purchase, in the year 1194, as related under the
article Crete j and soon began to flourish under the
laws of that wise republic. The inhabitants, living
under the protection of a moderate government, and
being encouraged by their masters, engaged in com¬
merce and agriculture. The Venetian commandants
readily afforded to those travellers who visited the island,
that assistance which is necessary to enable them to ex¬
tend and improve useful knowledge. Belon, the natu¬
ralist, is lavish in praise of their good offices, and de¬
scribes, in an interesting manner, the flourishing state
ef that part of the island which he visited.
The seat of government was established at Candia.
The magistrates and officers, who composed the coun¬
cil, resided there. The provisor-general was president.
He possessed the chief authority j and his power ex¬
tended over the whole principality. It continued in
the possession of the Venetians for five centuries and a
half. Cornaro held the chief command at the time when
it was threatened with a storm, on the side of Constan¬
tinople. The Turks, for the space of a year, had been
employed in preparing a vast armament. They de¬
ceived the Venetian, by assuring him that it was in¬
tended against Malta. In the year 1645, in the
midst of a solemn peace, they appeared unexpectedly
before Crete with a fleet of 400 sail, having on board
60,000 land forces, under the command of four pa¬
chas. The emperor Ibrahim, under whom this ex¬
pedition was undertaken, had no fair pretext to offer
in justification of his enterprise. He made use of all
that perfidy which characterizes the people of the east,
to impose on the Venetian senate. He loaded their
ambassador with presents, directed his fleet to bear for
Cape Matapan, as if they bad been going beyond the
Archipelago; and caused the governors of^'ina and
Cerigna to be solemnly assured that the republic had
nothing to fear for her possessions. At the very instant
when he was making those assurances, his naval ar¬
mament entered the gulf of Canea ; and, passing be¬
tween that city and St Theodore, anchored at the
mouth of Platania.
Ihe Venetians, not expecting this sudden attack,
bad made no preparations to repel it. The Turks
landed without opposition. The isle of St Theodore
9 ] CAN
is but a league and a half from Canea. It is only Candia.
three quarters of a league in compass. The Venetians v—-
had erected two forts there; one of which, standing
on the summit of the highest eminence, on the coast
of that little isle, was called Turluru ; the other, on a
lower situation, was named St Theodore. It was an
important object to the Mussulmans to make them¬
selves masters of that rock, which might annoy their
ships. They immediately attacked it with ardour.
The first of these fortresses, being destitute of soldiers
and cannon, was taken without striking a blow. The
garrison of the other consisted of no more than 60
men. They made a gallant defence, and stood out till
the last extremity; and when the Turks at last pre¬
vailed, their number was diminished to ten, whom the
captain-pacha cruelly caused to be beheaded.
Being now masters of that important post, as well
as of Lazaret, an elevated rock, standing about half
a league from Canea, the Turks invested the city by
sea and land. General Cornaro was struck, as with a
thunder-clap, when he learned the descent of the ene¬
my. In the whole island there were no more than
a body of 3500 infantry, and a small number of ca¬
valry. The besieged city was defended only by ICOO
regular troops, and a few citizens, who were able to
bear arms. He made haste to give the republic notice
of his distress ; and posted himself off the road, that he
might the more readily succour the besieged city. He
threw a body of 250 men into the town before the
lines of the enemy were completed. He afterwards
made several attempts to strengthen the besieged with
other reinforcements ; but in vain. The Turks had
advanced in bodies close to the town, had carried a
half-moon battery, which covered the gate of Retimo;
and were battering the walls night and day with their
numerous artillery. The besieged defended themselves
with resolute valour, and the smallest advantage which
the besiegers gained cost them dear. General Cor¬
naro made an attempt to arm the Greeks, particularly
the Spachlots, who boasted loudly of their valour. He
formed a battalion of these. But the sera of their va¬
lour was long past. When they beheld the enemy, and
heard the thunder of the cannon, they took to flight ;
not one of them would stand fire.
When the senate of Venice were deliberating on the
means to be used for relieving Canea, and endeavour¬
ing to equip a fleet, the Mahometan generals were
sacrificing the lives of their soldiers to bring their en¬
terprise to a glorious termination. In different en¬
gagements they had already lost 20,000 warriors; but,
descending into the ditches, they had undermined the
walls, and blown up the most impregnable forts with
explosions of powder. They sprung one of those mines
beneath the bastion of St Demetri. It overturned a
considerable part of the wall, which crushed all the
defenders of the bastion. That instant the besiegers
sprung up with their sabres in their hands, and taking
advantage of the general consternation of the besieged
on that quarter, made themselves masters of the post.
The besieged, recovering from their terror, attacked
them with unequalled intrepidity. About 400 men as¬
sailed 2000 Turks already firmly posted on the wall,
and pressed upon them with such obstinate and daunt¬
less valour, that they killed a great number, and drove
the rest down into the ditch. In this extremity, every
person
CAN [ 120 ] CAN
Candia. person in the city was in arms. The Greek monks
—V—'took up muskets; and the women, forgetting the deli¬
cacy of their sex, appeared on the walls among the de¬
fenders, either supplying the men with ammunition and
arms, or fighting themselves; and several of those dar¬
ing heroines lost their lives.
For 50 days the city held out against all the forces
of the Turks. If, even at the end of that time, the
Venetians had sent a naval armament to its relief, the
kingdom of Candia might have been saved. Doubtless,
they were not ignorant of this well-known fact. Die
north wind blows straight into the harbour ot Canea.
When it blows a little briskly, the sea rages. It is
then impossible for any squadron of ships, however
numerous, to form in line of battle in the harbour, and
to meet an enemy. If the Venetians had set out from
Cerigo with a fair wind, they might have reached
Canea in five hours, and might have entered the har¬
bour with full sails without being exposed to one
cannon-shot; while none of the Turkish ships would
have dared to appear before them ; or if they had ven¬
tured, must have been driven back on the shore, and
dashed in pieces among the rocks. But, instead of thus
taking advantage of the natural circumstances of the
place, they sent a few galleys, which, not daring to
double Cape Spada, coasted along the southern shore
of the island, and failed of accomplishing the design of
their expedition.
At last, the Cancans, despairing of relief from-Ve¬
nice, seeing three breaches made in their walls, through
which the infidels might easily advance upon them,
exhausted with fatigue, and covered with wounds, and
reduced to the number of 500 men, who were obliged
to scatter themselves round the walls, which were half
a league in extent, and undermined in all quarters,
demanded a parley, and offered to capitulate. They
obtained very honourable conditions ; and after a glo¬
rious defence of two months, which cost the Turks
20,000 men, marched out of the city with the honours
of war. Those citizens who did not choose to con¬
tinue in the city were permitted to remove ; and the
Ottomans, contrary to their usual practice, faithfully
observed their stipulations.
The Venetians, after the loss of Canea, retired to
Retimo. The captain-pacha laid siege to the citadel
of the Sude, situated in the entrance of the bay, on a
high rock, of about a quarter of a league in circum¬
ference. He raised earthen batteries, and made an in¬
effectual attempt to level the ramparts. At last, de¬
spairing of taking it by assault, he left some forces to
block it up from all communication, and advanced
towards Retimo. That city, being unwalled, was de¬
fended by a citadel, standing on an eminence which
overlooks the harbour. General Coj'naro had retired
thither. At the approach of the enemy, he advanced
from the city, and waited for them in the open field.
In the action, inattentive to his own safety, he en¬
couraged the soldiers, by fighting in the ranks. A
glorious death was the reward of his valour; but his
fall determined the fate of Retimo.
The Turks having landed additional forces on the
island, they introduced the plague, which was almost
a constant attendant on their armies. This dreadful
pest rapidly advanced, and, like a devouring fire, wast¬
ing all before it, destroyed most part of the inhabi-
3
tants. The rest, flying in terror before its ravages,
escaped into the Venetian territories, and the island
was left almost desolate.
The siege of the capital commenced in 1646, and
was protracted much longer than that of Troy. Till
the year 1648, the Turks scarce gained any advan¬
tages before that city. They were often routed by the
Venetians, and sometimes compelled to retire to Re¬
time. At that period Ibrahim was solemnly deposed,
and his eldest son, at the age of nine years, was raised
to the throne, under the name of Mahomet IV. Not
satisfied with confining the sultan to the horrors and
obscurity of a dungeon, the partizans of his son stran¬
gled him on the 19th of August, in the same year.
That young prince, who mounted the throne by the
death of his father, was afterwards expelled from it,
and condemned to pass the remainder of his life in con¬
finement.
In the year 1649, Ussein Pacha, who blockaded
Candia, receiving no supplies from the Porte, was
compelled to raise the siege, and retreat to Canea.
The Venetians were then on the sea with a strong squa¬
dron. They attacked the Turkish fleet in the bay of
Smyrna, burnt 12 of their ships and two galleys, and
killed 6000 of their men. Some time after, the Ma¬
hometans having found means to land an army on Can¬
dia, renewed the siege of the city with great vigour,
and made themselves masters of an advanced fort that
was very troublesome to the besieged; which obliged
them to blow it up.
From the year 1650 till 1658, the Venetians, con¬
tinuing masters of the sea, intercepted the Ottomans
every year in the straits of the Dardanelles, and fought
them in four naval engagements ; in which they de¬
feated their numerous fleets, sunk a number of their
caravels, took others, and extended the terror of their
arms even to the walls of Constantinople. That capi¬
tal became a scene of tumult and disorder. The Grand
Signior, alarmed, and trembling for his safety, left the
city with precipitation.
Such glorious success revived the hopes of the Ve¬
netians, and depressed the courage of the Turks. They
converted the siege of Candia into a blockade, and
suffered considerable losses. The sultan, in order to
exclude the Venetian fleet from the Dardanelles, and
to open to his own navy a free and safe passage, caused
two fortresses to be built at the entrance of the straits.
He gave orders to the pacha of Canea to appear again
before the walls of Candia, and to make every possible
effort to gain the city. In the mean time, the repub¬
lic of Venice, to improve the advantages which they
had gained, made several attempts on Canea. In 1660,
that city was about to surrender to their arms, when
the pacha of Rhodes, hastening to its relief, reinforced
the defenders with a body of 2000 men. He happily
doubled the extremity of Cape Melee, though within
sight of the Venetian fleet, which was becalmed off
Cape Spada, and could not advance one fathom to
oppose an enemy considerably weaker than them¬
selves.
Kiopruli, son and successor to the vizier of that name,
who had long been the support of the Ottoman em¬
pire, knowing that the murmurs of the people against
the long continuance of the siege of Candia were
rising to a height, and fearing a general revolt, which
would
CAN' [ 121 ] CAN
would be fatal to himself and his master, set out from
Byzantium about the end of the year 1666 at the
head of a formidable army. Having escaped the Ve¬
netian fleet, which was lying off Canea with a view to
intercept him, he landed at Palio Castt'o, and formed
his lines around Candia. Under his command were
four pachas, and the flower of the Ottoman forces.
Those troops, being encouraged by the presence and
the promises of their chiefs, and supported by a great
quantity of artillery, performed prodigies of valour.
All the exterior forts were destroyed. Nothing now
remained to the besieged but the bare line of the walls,
unprotected by fortresses j and these being battered by
an incessant discharge of artillery, soon gave way on
all quarters. Still, however, what posterity may per¬
haps regard as incredible, the Candians held out three
years against all the force of the Ottoman empire.
At last they were going to capitulate, when the hope
of assistance from France re-animated their valour, and
rendered them invincible. The expected succours ar¬
rived on the 26th of June 1669. They were conduct¬
ed by the duke of Noailles. Under his command
were a great number of Fi'ench noblemen, who came
to make trial of their skill in arms against the
Turks.
Next day after their arrival, the ardour of the French
prompted them to make a general sally. The duke
of Beaufort, admiral of France, assumed the command
of the forlorn hope. He was the first to advance
against the Mussulmans, and was followed by a nume¬
rous body of infantry and cavalry. They advanced
furiously upon the enemy, attacked them within their
trenches, forced the trenches, and would have com¬
pelled them to abandon their lines and artillery, had
not an unforeseen accident damped their courage. In
the midst of the engagement a magazine of powder
was set on fire } the foremost of the combatants lost
their lives 5 the French ranks were broken j several of
their leaders, among whom was the duke of Beaufort,
disappeared for ever ; the soldiers fled in disorder ;
and the duke of Noailles, with difficulty, effected a re¬
treat within the walls of Candia. The French accused
the Italians of having betrayed them 5 and on that pre¬
text prepared to set off sooner than the time agreed
upon. No intreaties of the commandant could prevail
with them to delay their departure •, so they re-em¬
barked. Their departure determined the fate of the
city. There were now no more than five hundred men
to defend it. Morosini capitulated with Kiopruli, to
whom he surrendered the kingdom of Crete, excepting
only the Snde, Grabusa, and Spina-Longua. The grand-
vizier made his entrance into Candia on the 4th of
October 1670, and staid eight months in that city, in¬
specting the reparation of its walls and fortresses.
The three fortresses left in the hands of the Vene¬
tians by the treaty of capitulation remained long after
in their possession. At last they were all taken, one
after another. In short, after a war of 30 years con¬
tinuance, in the course of which more than 200,000
men fell in the island, and it was deluged with streams
ot Christian and Mahometan blood, Candia was en¬
tirely subdued by the Turks, in whose hands it still
continues.
Of the climate of Candia travellers speak with rap¬
ture. The heat is never excessive ; and in the plains
Vol. V. Part I. +
violent cold is never felt. In the warmest days of Candia.
summer the atmosphere is cooled by breezes from the ’
sea. Winter properly begins here with December and
ends with January j and during that short period snow
never falls on the lower grounds, and the surface of
the water is rarely frozen over. Most frequently the
weather is as fine then as it is in Britain at the begin¬
ning of June. These two months have received the
name of winter, because in them there is a copious fall
of rain, the sky is obscured with clouds, and the north
winds blow violently ; but the rains are favourable to
agriculture, the winds chase the clouds towards the
summits of the mountains, where a repository is form¬
ed for those waters which are to fertilize the fields $
and the inhabitants of the plain suffer no inconvenience
from these transient blasts. In the month of February,
the ground is overspread with flowers and rising crops.
The rest of the year is almost one continued fine day.
The inhabitants of Crete never experience any of those
mortifying returns of piercing cold, which are so fre¬
quently felt in Britain and even more southern coun¬
tries j and which, succeeding suddenly after the che¬
rishing heats of spring, nip the blossoming flowers, wi¬
ther the open buds, destroy half the fruits of the year,
and are fatal to delicate constitutions. The sky is al¬
ways unclouded and serene ; the winds are mild and
refreshing breezes. The radiant sun proceeds in smil¬
ing majesty along the azure vault, and ripens the fruits
on the lofty mountains, the rising hills, and the plains.
The nights are no less beautiful *, their coolness is de¬
licious. The atmosphere not being overloaded with
vapours, the sky unfolds to the observer’s view a count¬
less profusion of stars j those numerous stars sparkle
with the most vivid rays, and strew the azure vault in
which they appear fixed, with gold, with diamonds,
and with rubies. Nothing can be more magnificent
than this sight, and the Cretans enjoy it for six months
in the year.
To the charms of the climate other advantages are
joined which augment their value: There are scarce
‘any morasses in the island j the waters here are never
in a state of stagnation $ they flow in numberless
streams from the tops of the mountains, and form here
and there large fountains or small rivers that empty
themselves into the sea j the elevated situation of their
springs causes them to dash down with such rapidity,
that they never lose themselves in pools or lakes j con¬
sequently insects cannot deposit their eggs upon them,
as they would he immediately hurried down into the
sea j and Crete is not infested like Egypt with those
clouds of insects which swarm in the houses, and whose
sting is insufferably painful j nor is the atmosphere here
loaded with those noxious vapours which rise from
marshy grounds.
The mountains and hills are overspread with various
kinds of thyme, savoury, wild thyme, and with a mul¬
titude of odoriferous and balsamic plants j the rivulets
which flow down the valleys are overhung with myr¬
tles, laurel, and roses j clumps of orange, citron, and
almond trees, are plentifully scattered over the fields •,
the gardens are adorned with tufts of Arabian jasmine.
In spring, they are bestrewed with beds of violets ;
some extensive plains are ai’rayed in saffron j the cavi¬
ties of the rocks are fringed with sweet smelling ditta¬
ny. In a word, from the hills, the vales, and the
Q plains,
Camlia.
CAN [12
plains, on all hands, there arise clouds of exquisite per¬
fumes, which embalm the air, and render it a luxury
to breathe it.
As to the inhabitants, the Mahometan men are ge¬
nerally from five feet and a half to six feet tall. They
bear a strong resemblance to ancient statues j and it
must have been after such models that the ancient ar¬
tists wrought. The women also are generally beauti¬
ful. Their dress does not restrain the growth of any
part of their bodies, and their shape therefore assumes
those admirable proportions with which the hand of
the Creator has graced his fairest workmanship on
earth. They are not all handsome or charming •, but
some of them are beautiful, particularly the Turkish
ladies. In general, the Cretan women have a rising
throat, a neck gracefully rounded, black eyes sparkling
with animation, a small mouth, a fine nose, and cheeks
delicately coloured with the fresh vermilion of health.
But the oval of their form is different from that of
Europeans, and the character of their beauty is pecu¬
liar to their own nation.
The quadrupeds belonging to the island are not of
a ferocious temper. There are no lions, tigers, bears,
wolves, foxes, or indeed any dangerous animal here.
Wild goats are the only inhabitants of the forests that
overspread the lofty mountains j and these have no¬
thing to fear but the ball of the hunter : hares inhabit
the hills and the plain ; sheep graze in security on the
thyme and the heath; they are folded every night, and
the shepherd sleeps soundly without being disturbed
with the fear that wild animals may invade and ravage
his folds.
The Cretans are very happy in not being exposed
to the troublesome bite of noxious insects, the poison
of serpents, or the rapacity of the wild beasts of the
desert. The ancients believed that the island enjoved
these singular advantages, on account of its having
been the birth-place of Jupiter. “ The Cretans (says
iElian) celebrate in their songs the beneficence of Ju¬
piter, and the favour which he conferred on their
island, which was the place of his birth and education,
by freeing it from every noxious animal, and even
rendering it unfit for nourishing those noxious ani¬
mals that are introduced into it from foreign coun¬
tries.'”
Dittany holds the first rank among the medicinal
plants which are produced in Crete. The praises be¬
stowed on the virtues of this plant by the ancients are
altogether extravagant ; yet we perhaps treat the me¬
dicinal virtues of this plant with too much contempt.
Its leaf is very balsamic, and its flower diffuses around
it a delicious odour. At present the inhabitants of
the island apply it with success on various occasions.
The leaf, when dried and taken in an infusion with a
little sugar, makes a very pleasant drink, of a finer fla¬
vour than tea. It is there an immediate cure for a
weak stomach, and enables it to recover its tone after
a bad digestion.
Diseases are very rare in a country whose atmos¬
phere is exceedingly pure ; and in Candia, epidemical
diseases are unknown. Fevers prevail here in summer,
but are not dangerous ; and the plague would be wholly
unknown, had not the Turks destroyed the lazarets
'that were established by the Venetians, for strangers to
do quarantine in. Since the period when these were
2 ] CAN
demolished, it is occasionally introduced by ships from
Smyrna and Constantinople. As no precautions are
taken against it, it gains ground, and spreads over the
island from one province to another; and as the colds
and heats are never intemperate, it sometimes conti¬
nues its ravages for six months at a time.
This fine country is infested with a disease somewhat
less dangerous than the plague, but whose symptoms
are somewhat more hideous ; that disease is the leprosy.
In ancient times, Syria was the focus in which it raged
with most fury : and from Syria it was carried into
several of the islands of the Archipelago. It is infec¬
tious, and is instantaneously communicated by con¬
tact. The victims who are attacked by it, are driven
from society, and confined to little ruinous houses on
the highway. They are strictly forbidden to leave
these miserable dwellings, or hold intercourse with any
person. Those poor wretches have generally beside
their huts a small garden producing pulse, and feeding
poultry ; and with that support, and what they obtain
from passengers, they find means to drag out a painful
life in circumstances of shocking bodily distress. Their
bloated skin is covered with a scaly crust, speckled with
red and white spots : which afflict them with intoler¬
able itchings. A hoarse and tremulous voice issues
from the bottom of their breasts. Their words are
scarce articulated ; because their distemper inwardly
preys upon the organs of speech. These frightful
spectres gradually lose the use of their limbs. They
continue to breathe till such time as the whole mass of
their blood is corrupted, and their bodies entirely in a
state of putrefaction : The rich are not attacked by
this distemper : it confines itself to the poor, chiefly
to the Greeks. But those Greeks observe strictly their
four lents; and eat nothing during that time but salt
fish, botargo salted and smoked, pickled olives, and
cheese. They drink plentifully of the hot and muddy
wines of the island. The natural tendency of such a
regimen must be, to fire the blood, to thicken the
fluid part of it, and thus at length to bring on a le¬
prosy.
Candia is at present governed by three pachas, who
reside respectively at Candia, Canea, and Retimo.
The first, who is always a pacha of three tails, may
be considered as viceroy of the island. He enjoys
more extensive powers than the others. To him the
inspection of the forts and arsenals is intrusted. He
nominates to such military employments as fall vacant,
as well as to the governments of the Sude, Grabusa,
Spina Longua, and Gira-petra. The governors of these
forts are denominated beys. Each of them has a con¬
stable and three general officers under him ; one of
whom is commander of the artillery, another of the
cavalry, and the third of the janissaries.
I he council of the pacha consuls of a kyaia, who is
the channel through which all orders are issued, and
all favours bestowed ; an aga of the janissaries, colonel-
general of the troops, who has the chief care of the
regulation of the police ; two topigi bachi ; a defter-
dar, who is treasurer-general for the imperial reve¬
nues; a keeper of the imperial treasury; and the chief
officers of the army. This government is entirely mi¬
litary, and the power of the pacha serasquier is abso¬
lute. The justice of his sentences is never called in
question ; they are instantly carried into execution.
The
CAN
CAN [ 123 ]
andia.
The people of the law are the mufti, who is the re¬
ligious head, and the cadi. The first interprets those
laws which regard the division of the patrimony among
the children of a family, successions, and marriages,—
in a word, all that are contained in the Koran j and
he also decides on every thing that relates to the cere¬
monies of the Mussulman religion. The cadi cannot
pronounce sentence on affairs connected with these
laws, without first taking the opinion of the mufti in
writing, which is named Faitfa. It is his business to
receive the declarations, complaints, and donations of
private persons j and to decide on such differences as
arise among them. The pacha is obliged to consult
those judges when he puts a Turk legally to death $ but
the pacha, who is dignified with three tails, sets him¬
self above all laws, condemns to death, and sees his
sentence executed, of his own proper authority. All
the mosques have their itam, a kind of curate, whose
duty is to perform the service. There are schoolmas¬
ters in the different quarters of the city. These per¬
sons are much respected in Turkey, and are honoured
with the title of effendi.
The garrison of Candia consists of 46 companies,
composing a military force of about ten thousand men.
All these forces do not reside constantly in the city,
but they may be mustered in a very short time. They
are all regularly paid every three months, excepting
the janissaries, none of whom but the officers receive
pay. The different gradations of this military body do
not depend on the pacha. The council of each com¬
pany, consisting of veterans, and of officers in actual
service, has the power of naming to them. A person
can occupy the same post for no longer than two
years $ but the post of sorbagi, or captain, which is
purchased at Constantinople, is held for life. The
ousta, or cook, is also continued in his employment as
long as the company to which he belongs is satisfied
with him. Each company has its almoner, denomina¬
ted imam.
The garrisons of Canea and Retimo, formed on a si¬
milar plan, are much less numerous. The first consists
of about 3000 men, the other of 500 ; but as all the
male children of the Turks are enrolled among the ja¬
nissaries as soon as born, tbe number of these troops
might be greatly augmented in time of war : but, to
say the truth, they are far from formidable. Most of
them have never seen fire, nor are they ever exercised
in military evolutions.
The pachas of Canea and Retimo are no less abso¬
lute, within the bounds of their respective provinces,
than the pacha of Candia. They enjoy the same pri¬
vileges with him, and their council consists of the same
officers. These governors chief object is to get rich
as speedily as possible j and in order to accomplish that
end, they practise all the arts and cruelties of oppres¬
sion, to squeeze money from the Greeks. In truth,
those poor wretches run to meet the chains with which
they are loaded. Envy, which always preys upon them,
continually prompts them to take up arms. If some
one among them happen to enjoy a decent fortune,
the rest assiduously seek some pretence for accusing
him before the pacha, who takes advantage of these dis¬
sensions, to seize the property of both the parties. It is
by no means astonishing, that under so barbarous a go¬
vernment, the number of the Greeks is daily diminished.
There are scarcely 150,000 Greeks Candia.
in the island, 65,000 of whom pay u——y—.
the carach.
The Turks have not possessed the
island for more than 120 years; yet
as they are not exposed to the same
oppression, they have multiplied in it,
and raised themselves upon the ruin
of the ancient inhabitants. Their
number amounts to 200,000 Turks,
The Jews, of whom there are not
many in the island, amount only to 200
Total is 350,200 souls.
This fertile country is in want of nothing but indus¬
trious husbandmen, secure of enjoying the fruit of their
labours. It might maintain four times its present num¬
ber of inhabitants.
Antiquity has celebrated the island of Crete as con¬
taining 100 populous cities ; and the industry of geo¬
graphers has preserved their names and situations.
Many of these cities contained no fewer than 30,000
inhabitants ; and by reckoning them, on an average, at
6000 each, we shall in all probability be rather within
than beyond the truth. This calculation gives for 100
cities 600,000
By allowing the same number as inhabi¬
tants of the towns, villages, and all the rest
of the island, 600,000
the whole number of the inhabitants of an¬
cient Crete will amount to 1,200,000
This number cannot be exaggerated. When Can¬
dia was in the hands of the Venetians, it was reckon¬
ed to contain nine hundred fourscore and sixteen vil¬
lages.
It appears, therefore, that when the island of Crete
enjoyed the blessing of liberty, it maintained to the
number of 849,800 more inhabitants than it does at
present. But since those happier times, she has been
deprived of her laws by the tyranny of the Romans ;
has groaned under the destructive sway of the monarchs
of the lower empire ; has been exposed for a period of
120 years to the ravages of the Arabians ; has next
passed under the dominion of the Venetians ; and has
at last been subjected to the despotism of the Turks,
who have produced a dreadful depopulation in all the
countries which have been subdued by their arms.
The Turks allow the Greeks the free exercise of
their religion, but forbid them to repair their churches
or monasteries ; and accordingly they cannot obtain
permission to repair their places of worship, or religious
houses, but by the powerful influence of gold. From
this article the pachas derive very considerable sums.
They have 12 bishops as formerly, the first of whom
assumes the title of archbishop of Gortynia. He re¬
sides at Candia ; in which city the metropolitan church
of the island stanes. He is appointed by the patriarch
of Constantinople ; and has the right of nominating to
all the other bishoprics of the island ; the names of
which are, Gortynia, Cnossou, Mirabella, Hyera, Gi-
ra-petra, Arcadia, Cherronese, Lambis, Milopotamo,
Retimo, Canea, Cisamo. These bishoprics are nearly
the same as under the reign of the Greek emperors.
Q 2 The
CAN [124] CAN
The patriarch wears a triple tiara, writes his signature
in red ink, and answers for all the debts of the clergy.
To enable him to fulfil his engagements, he lays im¬
positions on the rest of the bishops, and particularly on
the monasteries, from which he draws very handsome
contributions. He is considered as the head of the
Greeks, whom he protects, as far as his slender credit
goes. The orders of government are directed to him
on important occasions ; and he is the only one of all
the Greeks in the island who enjoys the privilege of
entering the city on horseback.
Candia, is the capital of the above island, situated
on its northern coast, in E. Long. 25. Q. N. Lat. 35.
30. It stands on the same situation which was for¬
merly occupied by Heraclea, and is the seat of govern¬
ment under the Turks. Its walls, which are more than
a league in compass, are in good repair, and defended
by deep ditches, but not protected by any exterior fort.
Towards the sea, it has no attacks to fear ; because
the shallowness of the harbour renders it inaccessible to
ships of war.
The Porte generally commits the government of this
island to a pacha of three tails. The principal officers,
and several bodies of the Ottoman soldiery, are sta¬
tioned here. This city, when under the Venetians,
was opulent, commercial, and populous; but it has
now lost much of its former strength and grandeur.
The harbour, naturally a fine bason, in which ships were
securely sheltered from every storm, is every day be¬
coming narrower and shallower. At present it admits
only boats, and small ships after they have discharged
a part of their freight. Those vessels, which the Turks
freight at Candia, are obliged to go almost empty to
the port of Standie, whither their cargoes are conveyed
to them in barks. Such inconveniences are highly un¬
favourable to commerce ; and as government never
thinks of removing them, the trade of Candia is there¬
fore considerably decayed.
Candia, which was embellished by the Venetians
with regular streets, handsome houses, a fine square,
and a magnificent cistern, contains at present but a
small number of inhabitants, notwithstanding the vast
extent of the area enclosed within its walls. Several
divisions of the city are void of inhabitants. That in
which the market-place stands is the only one which
discovers any stir of business, or show of affluence. The
Mahometans have converted most of the Christian
temples into mosques ; yet they have left two churches
to the Greeks, one to the Armenians, and a synagogue
to the Jews. The Capuchins possess a small convent,
with a chapel in which the vice-consul of France hears
mass. At present he is the only Frenchman who at¬
tends it, as the French merchants have taken up their
residence at Canea.
West oi the city of Candia is an extensive range of
hills, which are a continuation of Mount Ida, and of
which the extremity forms the promontory of Dion.
On the way to Dion, we find Palio Castro, on the
shore $ a name which the modern Greeks give indiffe¬
rently to all remains of ancient cities. Its situation
corresponds to that of the ancient Panormus, which
stood north-west from Heraclea.
The river which runs west of Candia was anciently
known by the name of Triton j near the source of
which Minerva sprung from the brain of Jove. Loaxus
is a little farther distant. About a league east of that
city, the river Ceratus flows through a delightful vale.
According to Strabo, in one part of its course it runs
near by Gnossus. A little beyond that, is another
river supposed to be Therenus, on the banks of which,
fable relates that Jupiter consummated his marriage
with Juno. For the space of more than half a league
round the walls of Candia there is not a single tree to
be seen. The Turks cut them all down in the time of
the siege, and laid waste the gardens and orchards.
Beyond that extent, the country is plentifully covered
with corn and fruit trees. The neighbouring hills
are overspread with vineyards, which produce the
malmsey of Mount Ida,—worthy of preference at the
table of the most exquisite connoisseur in wines. That
species of wine, though little known, has a fine flavour,
a very pleasant relish, and is highly esteemed in the
island.
Camlial
II j
Candle I
CANDIAC, John Lewis, a premature genius,
born at Candiac in the diocese of Nismes in Fiance, in
1719. In the cradle he distinguished his letters: at
13 months, he knew them perfectly : at three years of
age, he read Latin, either printed or in manuscript: at
four, he translated from that tongue : at six, he read
Greek and Hebrew j was master of the principles of
arithmetic, history, geography, heraldry, and the science
of medals j and had read the best authors on almost
every branch of literature. He died of a complication
of disorders, at Paris, in 1726.
CANDIDATE, a person who aspires to some pub¬
lic office.
In the Roman commonwealth, they were obliged to
wear a white gown during the two years of their soli->
citing a place. This garment, according to Plutarch,
they wore without any other clothes, that the people
might not suspect they concealed money for purchasing
votes, and also that they might more easily show to the
people the scars of those wounds they had received in
fighting for the defence of the commonwealth. The
candidates usually declared their pretensions a year
before the time of election, which they spent in making
interest and gaining friends. Various arts of populari¬
ty were practised for this purpose, and frequent circuits
made round the city, and visits and compliments to all
sorts of persons, the process of which was called ambitus.
See Ambitus.
CANDIDATI MILITES, an order of soldiers,
among the Romans, who served as the emperor’s body¬
guards to defend him in battle. They were the tallest
and strongest ol the whole troops, and most proper to
inspire terror. They were called candidati, because
clothed in white, either that they might be more con¬
spicuous, or because they were considered in the way
of preferment.
CANDISH, a considerable province of Asia, in the
dominions of the Great Mogul, bounded by Chytor
and Malva on the north, Orixa on the east, Decan on
the south, and Guzerat on the west. It is populous and
rich j and abounds in cotton, rice, and indigo. Rram-
pore is the capital town.
CANDLE, a small taper of tallow, wax, or sperma¬
ceti 3 the wick of which is commonly of several threads
of cotton, spun and twisted together.
A tallow-candle, to be good, must be half sheep’s
and half bullock’s tallow $ for hog’s tallow makes the
candle
\ aiidle.
CAN [12
camlle gutter, ami always gives an offensive smell, with
a thick black smoke. The wick ought to be pure, suf¬
ficiently dry, and properly twisted 5 otherwise the
candle will emit an inconstant vibratory flame, which
is both prejudicial to the eyes and insufficient for the
distinct illumination of objects.
There are two sorts of tallow-candles j the one dip¬
ped, the other moulded: the former are the common
candles j the others are the invention of the Sieur le
Brege at Paris.
As to the method of making candles in general:
After the tallow has been weighed, and mixed in the
due proportions, it is cut into very small pieces, that
it may melt the sooner; for the tallow in lumps, as it
comes from the butchers, would be in danger of burn¬
ing or turning black, if it were left too long over the
fire. Being perfectly melted and skimmed, they pour
a certain quantity of water into it, proportionable to
the quantity of tallow. This serves to precipitate to
the bottom of the vessel the impurities of the tallow
which may have escaped the skimmer. No water, how¬
ever, must be thrown into the tallow designed for the
three first dips; because the wick, being still quite dry,
would imbibe the water, which makes the candles
crackle in burning, and renders them of bad use. The
tallow, thus melted, is poured into a tub, through a
coarse sieve of horse-hair, to purify it still more, and
may be used after having stood three hours. It will
continue fit for use 24 hours in summer and 15 in win¬
ter. The wicks are made of spun cotton, which the
tallow-chandlers buy in skains, and which they wind up
into bottoms or clues ; whence they are cut out, with
an instrument contrived on purpose, into pieces of the
length of the candle required: then put on the sticks or
broaches, or else placed in the moulds, as the candles
are intended to be either dipped or moulded.
Wax-candles are made of a cotton or flaxen wick,
slightly twisted, and covered with white or yellow
wax. Of these, there are several kinds : some of a
conical figure, used to illuminate churches, and in
processions, funeral ceremonies, &c. (see Iaper) ;
others of a cylindrical form, used on ordinary occa¬
sions. The first are either made with a ladle or the
hand. 1. To make wax-candles with the ladle. The
wicks being prepared, a dozen ol them are tied by
the neck, at equal distances, round an iron circle, sus¬
pended over a large bason of copper tinned, and full
of melted wax : a large ladle full of this wax is poured
gently on the tops of the wicks one after another,
and this operation continued till the candle arrive at
its destined bigness ; with this precaution that the
three first ladles be poured on at the top of the wick,
the fourth at the height of the fifth at and the
sixth at J, in order to give the candle its pyramidal
form. Then the candles are taken down, kept warm,
and rolled and smoothed upon a walnut-tree table, with
a long square instrument ol box, smooth at the bottom.
2. As to the manner of making wax-candles by the
hand, they begin to soften the wax, by working it se¬
veral times in hot water, contained in a narrow but
deep caldron. A piece of the wax is then taken out,
and disposed by little and little around the wick,
which is hung on a hook in the wall, by the extre¬
mity opposite to the neck; so that they begin with
the big end, diminishing still as they descend towards
5 ] CAN
the neck. In other respects the method is nearly the Candla.
same as in the former case. However, it must be ob- 1
served, that, in the former case, water is always used to
moisten the several instruments, to prevent the wax from
sticking; and in the latter, oil of olives, or lard, for
the hands, &c. The cylindrical wax-candles are either
made as the former, with a ladle, or drawn. Wax-
candles drawn, are so called, because actually drawn
in the manner of wire, by means of two large rollers
of wood, turned by a handle, which turning back¬
wards and forwards several times, pass the wick
through melted wax contained in a brass bason, and at
the same time through the holes of an instrument like
thkt used for drawing wire fastened at one side of the
bason.
If any chandlers mix with their wares any thing de¬
ceitfully, &c. the candles shall be forfeited, by stat. 23
Eliz. ; and a tax or duty is granted on candles, by 8
and 9 Anne, cap. 6. made for sale, of one penny a
pound, besides the duty upon tallow, by 8 Anne, cap.*
9. And by 24 Geo. III. cap. II. an additional duty
of a halfpenny a pound : and by the same an additional
duty of a halfpenny a pound is laid upon all candles
imported (except those of wax and spermaceti, for which
see IFax-Candles), subject also to the two additional
5 per cents, imposed by 19 and 22 Geo. III. besides
the duty of 2^d. formerly imposed by 2 W. sess. 2.
cap. 4. 8 Anne, cap. 9. and 9 Anne, cap. 6. And
every maker of candles, other than wax-candles, for
sale, shall annually take out a licence at il. The
maker of candles shall, in four weeks within the bills,
and elsewhere in six weeks, after entry, clear off the
duties on pain of double duty ; nor sell any after de¬
fault in payment, on pain of double value ; 8 Anne,
cap. 9. The makers of candles are not to use melting
houses, without making a true entry, on pain of look
and to give notice of making candles to the excise
officer for the duties ; and of the number, &c. or shall
forfeit 50I. stat. 11. Geo. I. cap. 30. See also 23
Geo. II. cap. 21. and 26 Geo. II. cap. 32. No
maker of candles for sale shall begin to make candles,
without notice first given to the officers, unless, from
September 29. to March 25. yearly, between seven
in the morning and five in the evening, and from
March 25. to September 29. between five in the
morning and seven in the evening, on pain of 10I.
10 Anne, cap. 26. The penalty of obstructing the
officer is 20I. and of removing candles before they
are surveyed 20I. 8 Anne, cap. 9. The penalty of
privately making candles is the forfeiture of the same
and utensils, and 100I. 5 Geo. III. cap. 43. And
the penalty of mingling weighed with unweighed
candles, of removing them before they are weighed, or
of concealing them, is the forfeiture of tool, ix Geo.
cap. 30. Candles, for which the duty hath been paid,
may be exported, and the duty drawn back; but
no drawback shall be allowed on the exportation of
any foreign candles imported. 8 Anne, cap. 9. 23
Geo. II. cap. 21.
The Roman candles were at first little strings dipt
in pitch, or surrounded with wax ; though afterwards
they made them of the papyrus, covered likewise with
wax ; and sometimes also of rushes, by stripping off
the outer rind, and only retaining the pith.—For reli¬
gious offices, wax-candles were used ; for vulgar uses,
those
Candle.
CAN [
those of tallow. Lord Bacon proposes candles of divers
compositions and ingredients, as also of different sorts
of wicks ; with experiments of the degrees of duration,
and light of each. Good housewives bury their candles
in flour or bran, which it is said increases their lasting
almost half.
Experiments to determine the real and comparative va¬
lue of burning Candles of different sorts and sizes.
Small wick
Large wick.
Num. of
candles
in one
pound.
i8|
*9
i6i
12
ioi
8
Mould.
caudles.
Si
4
W eight
of one
eandle.
Oz. Dr.
the time
one can
die last
ed.
Hr. Min.
T4
5t
8
*3
12
O
x5
4°
4°
27
36
9
x5
19
20
The time
that one
pound
will last
Hr. Min.
The expence
in 12 hours
when candles
are at 6d per
dozen, which
also shews the
proportion of
the expence at
any price per
dozen
Farthing s and
tooth parts.
42
36
26
34
2
24
24
12
o
I5
4- 85
5- 7°
6- 54
6.96
7*5°
8.94
8.47
9-53
Mould, candl.
at 7 s. per doz.
7.87
9.28
N. B. The time that one candle lasted was taken
from an average of several trials in each size.
It is observable, in opics, that the flame of two can¬
dles joined, gives a much stronger light than both of
them separate. The observation was suggested by Dr
Franklin. Probably the union of the two flames pro¬
duces a greater degree of heat, whereby the vapour is
attenuated, and the particles of which light consists are
more copiously emitted.
Mr Nicholson has made some interesting observations
on the light afforded by lamps and candles, which we
* Phil. shall lay before our readers in his own words *. “ We
Jour. vol. i. are acquainted with no means (says he), unless we may
except electricity, of producing light, but by combus¬
tion, and this is most probably of the same nature. The
rude method of illumination consists in successively
burning certain masses of such in the solid state. Com¬
mon fires answer this purpose in the apartments of
houses, and in some lighthouses *, small pieces of resi¬
nous wood, and the bituminous coal called kannel-coaly
are in some countries applied to the same use j but the
most general and useful method is that in which fat oil,
of an animal or vegetable kind, is burned by means of
a wick. These instruments of illumination are either
lamps or candles. In the lamp, the oil must be one of
those which retains its fluidity in the ordinary tempera¬
ture of the atmosphere. The candle is formed of an
oil, or other material, which is not fusible but at a tem¬
perature considerably elevated.
“ The method of measuring the comparative intensi¬
ties of light is one of the first requisites in an inquiry con¬
cerning" the art of illumination. Two methods of con-
126] CL A N
siderable accuracy are described in the Traite d'OptiijUe Candle.!
of Bouguer, of which an abridged account is given by v»
Dr Priestley in his Optics. The first of these two me¬
thods has been used by others since that time, and pro¬
bably before, from its very obvious nature, but parti¬
cularly by Count Rumford, who has given a descrip¬
tion and drawings of an instrument called the photome¬
ter, in the Philosophical Transactions for 1794. The
principle it is grounded upon is, that if two lights
shine upon the same surface at equal obliquities, and
an opaque body be interposed, the two shadows it will
produce must differ in blackness or intensity in the
same degree. For the shadow formed by intercepting
the greater light will be illuminated by the smaller
light only, and reversely the other shadow will be il¬
luminated by the greater light. That is to say, in
short, the stronger light will be attended with a deeper
shadow. But it is easy, by removing the greater light
to a greater distance, to render the illumination it pro¬
duces at the common surface equal to that afforded by
the less. Experiments of this kind may be convenient¬
ly made by fastening a sheet of white paper against the
wall of a room. The two lights or candles intended to
be compared, must then be placed so that the ray of
light from each shall fall with nearly the same angle of
incidence upon the middle of the paper. By some ex¬
periments made in this way in the year 1785, I was
satisfied that the degree of illumination could be thus
ascertained to the 80th or 90th part of the whole.
“ By experiments of this kind many useful particu¬
lars may be shewn. Thus, for example, the light of a
candle, which is so exceedingly brilliant when first
snuffed, is very speedily diminished to one-half, and is
usually not more than one-fifth or one-sixth before the
uneasiness of the eye induces us to snuff it. Whence
it follows, that if candles could be made so as not to
require snuffing, the average quantity of light afforded
by the same quantity of combustible matter would be
more than doubled. In the same way, likewise, since
the cost and duration of candles, and the consumption
of oil in lamps, are easily ascertainable, it may be
shewn whether more or less of light is obtained at the
same expence during a given time, by burning a num¬
ber of small candles instead of one of greater thickness.
From a few experiments already made out of the nu¬
merous and useful series that presents itself, I have
reason to think that there is very much waste in this
expensive article of accommodation.
“ In the lamp there are three articles which demand
our attention, the oil, the wick, and the supply of air.
It is required that the oil should be readily inflam¬
mable, without containing any fetid substance which
may prove offensive, or mucilage, or other matter, to
obtruct the channels of the wick. I do not know of any
process for ameliorating oils for this purpose, excepting
that ol washing with water containing acid or alkali.
Either of these is said to render the mucilage of animal
oils more soluble in the water j but acid is preferred,
because it is less disposed to combine with the oil itself.
The office of the wick appears to be chiefly, if not
solely, to convey the oil by capillary attraction to the
place of combustion. As the oil is consumed and flies
off, other oil succeeds, and in this way a continued
current of oil and maintenance of the flame are effect¬
ed. But as the wicks of lamps are commonly formed
of
CAN [
idle, of combustible matter, it appears to be of some conse-
v-—■*'quence what the nature and structure of this material
may be. It is certain that the flame afforded by
a wick of rush differs very considerably from that
afforded by cotton ; though perhaps this difference
may, in a great measure, depend on the relative di¬
mensions of each. And if we may judge from the dif¬
ferent odour in blowing out a candle of each sort,
there is some reason to suspect that the decomposition
of the oil is not effected precisely in the same manner
in each. We have also some obscure accounts of pre¬
pared wicks for lamps, which are stated to possess the
property of facilitating the combustion of very impure
oils, so that they shall burn for many hours without
smoke or smell.
“ The access of air is of the last importance in every
process of combustion. When a lamp is fitted up with
a very slender wick, the flame is small, and of a bril¬
liant white colour: if the wick be larger, the com¬
bustion is less perfect, and the flame is brown : a still
larger wick not only exhibits a brown flame, but the
lower internal part appears dark, and is occupied by a
portion of volatilized matter, which does not become
ignited until it has ascended towards the point. When
the wick is either very large or very long, part of this
matter escapes combustion, and shews itself in the form
of coal or smoke. The different intensity of the igni¬
tion of flame, according to the greater or less supply
of air, is remarkably seen by placing a lamp with a
small wick beneath a shade of glass not perfectly
closed below, and more or less covered above. While
the current of air through the glass shade is perfectly
free, the flame is white ; but in proportion as the
aperture above is diminished, the flame becomes brown,
long, wavering, and smoky *, it instantly recovers its
original whiteness when the opening is again enlarged.
The inconvenience of a thick wick has been long since
observed, and attempts made to remove it: in some in¬
stances by substituting a number of small wicks instead
of a larger j and in others, by making the wick flat
instead of cylindrical. The most scientific improve¬
ment of this kind, though perhaps less simple than the
ordinary purposes of life demand, is the well-known
lamp of Argand. In this the wick forms a hollow
cylinder or tube, which slides over another tube of
metal, so as to afford an adjustment with regard to its
length. When this wick is lighted, the flame itself
has the figure of a thin tube, to the inner as well as
the outer surface of which the air has access from be¬
low. And a cylindrical shade of glass serves to keep
the flame steady, and in a certain degree to accelerate
the current of air. In this very ingenious apparatus
many experiments may be made with the greatest faci¬
lity. The inconvenience of a long wick, which sup¬
plies more oil than the volume of flame is capable
of burning, and which consequently emits smoke, is
seen at once by raising the wick ; and on the other
hand, the effect of a short wick, which affords a di¬
minutive flame merely for want of a sufficient supply
of combustible matter, is observable by the contrary
process.
“ The most obvious inconvenience of lamps in ge¬
neral, arises from the fluidity of the combustible ma¬
terial, which requires a vessel adapted to contain it,
and even in the best constructed lamps is more or less
127 ] CAN
liable to be spilled. When the wick of a lamp is Candle,
once adjusted as to its length, the flame continues near- v —y—
ly in the same state for a very considerable time.
“ It is almost unnecessary to describe a thing so uni¬
versally known as a candle. The article is formed of
a consistent oil, which envelopes a porous wick of
fibrous vegetable matter. The cylindrical form and
dimensions of the oil are given, either by casting it in a
mould, or by repeatedly dipping the wick into the
fused ingredient. Upon comparing a candle with a
lamp, two very remarkable particulars are immediately
seen. In the first place, the tallow itself, which re¬
mains in the unfused state, affords a cup or cavity to
hold that portion of melted tallow which is ready to
flow into the lighted part of the wick. In the second
place, the combustion, instead of being confined, as in
the lamp, to a certain determinate portion of the
fibrous matter, is carried by a slow succession, through
the whole length. Hence arises the greater necessity
for frequent snuffing the candle j and hence also the
station of the freezing point of the fat oil becomes of
great consequence. For it has been shown that the
brilliancy of the flame depends very much on the dia¬
meter of the wick being as small as possible ; and this
requisite will be most attainable in candles formed of a
material that requires a higher degree of heat to fuse it.
The wick of a tallow candle must be made thicker in
proportion to the greater fusibility of the material,
which would otherwise melt the sides of the cup, and
run over in streams. The flame will therefore be yel¬
low, smoky, and obscure, excepting for a short time
immediately after snuffling. Tallow melts at the p2d
degree of Fahrenheit’s thermometer •, spermaceti at the
133d degree*, the fatty matter formed of flesh after
long immersion in water melts at I2'7°5 the pela of
the Chinese, at 1450 bees wax at 1420 ; and bleach¬
ed wax at 1550. Two of these materials are well
known in the fabrication of candles. Wax in pai'ticu-
lar does not afford so brilliant a flame as tallow : but,
on account of its fusibility, the wick can be made
smaller ; which not only affords the advantage of a
clear perfect flame, but from its flexibility it is disposed
to turn on one side, and come in contact with the ex¬
ternal air which completely burns the extremity of
the wick to white ashes, and thus performs the office
of snuffing. We see, therefore, that the important ob¬
ject to society of rendering tallow candles equal to those
of wax, does not at all depend on the combustibility of
the respective materials, but upon a mechanical advan¬
tage in the cup, which is afforded by the inferior de¬
gree of fusibility in the wax 5 and that to obtain this
valuable object, one of the following effects must be
produced : Either the tallow must be burned in a
lamp, to avoid the gradual progression of the flame
along the wick ", or some means must be devised to
enable the candle to snuff itself, as the wax candle
does ; or, lastly, the tallow itself must be rendered less ’
fusible by some chemical process. I have no great rea¬
son to boast of success in the endeavour to effect these j
but my hope is, that the facts and observations here
presented may considerably abridge the labour of others
in the same pursuit.
“ The makers of thermometers and other small arti¬
cles with the blow-pipe and lamp, give the preference
to tallow instead of oil, because its combustion is more
complete,
» CAN r 128 ] CAN
Candle, complete, and does not blacken the glass. In this
—”V— operation, the heat of the lamp melts the tallow which
is occasionally brought into its vicinity by the work¬
man. But for the usual purposes of illumination, it
cannot be supposed that a person can attend to supply
the combustible matter. Considerable difficulties arise
in the project for affording this gradual supply as
it may be wanted. A cylindrical piece of tallow was
inserted into a metallic tube, the upper aperture of
which was partly closed by a ring, and the central
part occupied by a metallic piece nedrly resembling
that part of the common lamp which carries the wick.
In this apparatus the piece last described was intended
to answer the same purpose, and was provided with a
short wick. The cylinder of tallow was supported
beneath in such a manner that the metallic tube and
other part of this lamp were left to vest with their
whole weight upon the tallow at the ring or con¬
traction of the upper aperture. In this situation the
lamp was lighted. It burned for some time with a very
bright clear flame, which, when compared with that
of a candle, possessed the advantages of uniform inten¬
sity, and was much superior to the ordinary flame of a
lamp in its colour, and the perfect absence of smell.
After some minutes it began to decay, and very soon
afterwards went out. Upon examination it was found,
that the metallic piece which carried the wick had
fused a sufficient quantity of tallow for the supply du¬
ring the combustion ; that part of this tallow had flow¬
ed beneath the ring, and to other remote parts of the
apparatus, beyond the influence of the flame ; in con¬
sequence of which, the tube, and the cylinder of tallow,
were fastened together, and the expected progression
of supply prevented. It seems probable, that in every
lamp for burning consistent oils, the material ought to
be so disposed that it may descend to the flame upon
the principle of the fountain reservoir. I shall not
here state the obstacles which present themselves in the
prospect of this construction, but shall dismiss the sub¬
ject by remarking, that a contrivance of this nature
would be of the greatest public utility.
“ The wick of a candle, being surrounded by the
flame., is nearly in the situation of a body exposed to
destructive distillation in a close vessel. After losing
its volatile products, the carbonaceous residue retains
its figure, until, by the descent of the flame, the exter¬
nal air can have access to its upper extremity. But,
in this case, the requisite combustion, which might
snuff' it, is not effected. For the portion of oil emitted
by the long wick is not only too large to be perfectly
burned, but also carries off much of the heat of the
flame while it assumes the elastic state. By this dimi¬
nished combustion and increased efflux of half-decom¬
posed oil, a portion of coal or soot is deposited on the
upper part of the wick, which gradually accumulates,
and at length assumes the appearance of a fungus.
The candle does not then give more than one-tenth of
the light emitted in its best state. Hence it is that a
candle of tallow cannot spontaneously snuff- itself. It
was not probable that the addition of a substance con¬
taining vital air or oxygene would supply that principle
at the precise period of time required ; but, as experi¬
ment is the test of every probability of this nature, I
soaked a wick of cotton in a solution of nitre, then
dried it, and made a candle. When this came to be
lighted, nothing remarkable happened for a short time ; Candle
at the expiration of which a decrepitation followed at y—
the lower extremity of the flame, which completely
divided the wrick where the blackened part commences.
The whole of the matter in combustion therefore fell
off, and the candle wTas of course instantly extinguish¬
ed. Whether this would have happened in all pro¬
portions of the salt or constructions of the candle, I
did not try, because the smell of azote was sufficiently
strong and unpleasant to forbid the use of nitre in the
pursuit. From various considerations I am disposed to
think that the spontaneous snuffing of candles made of
tallow, or other fusible materials, will scarcely be
effected but by the discovery of some material for the
wick which shall be voluminous enough to absorb the
tallow, and at the same time sufficiently flexible to
bend on one side.
“ The most promising speculation respecting this most
useful article, seems to direct itself to the cup which
contains the melted tallow. The imperfection of this
part has already been noticed, namely, that it breaks
down by fusion, and suffers its fluid contents to escape.
The Chinese have a kind of candle about half an inch
in diameter, which, in the harbour of Canton, is call¬
ed lobckock; but whether the name be Chinese, or the
corruption of some European word, I am ignorant.
The wick is of cotton, wrapt round a small stick or
match of the bamboo cane. The body of the candle
is white tallow; but the external part, to the thickness
of perhaps one-thirtieth of an inch, consists of a waxy
matter coloured red. This covering gives a consider¬
able degree of solidity to the candle, and prevents its
guttering, because less fusible than the tallow itself.
I did not observe that the stick in the middle was
either advantageous or the contrary •, and, as I now
write from the recollection of this object at so remote
a period as 25 years ago, I can only conjecture that it
might be of advantage in throwing up a less quantity
of oil into the flame than would have been conveyed
by a wick of cotton sufficiently stout to have occupied
its place unsupported in the axis of the candle.
“ Many years ago I made a candle in imitation of
the lobchock. The expedient to which I had recourse
consisted in adapting the wick in the usual pewter
mould : wax was then poured in, and immediately
afterwards poured out: the film of wax which adhered
to the inner surface ef the mould soon became cool }
and the candle was completed by filling the mould
with tallow'. When it was drawn out, it was found
to be cracked longitudinally on its surface, which I.
attributed to the contraction of the wax, by cooling,
being greater than that of the tallow. At present I
think it equally probable that the cracking might have
been occasioned by too sudden cooling of the wax be¬
fore the tallow was poured in ; but other avocations
prevented the experiments from being varied and re¬
peated. It is probable that the Chinese external coat¬
ing may not be formed of pure hard bleached wax.
“ But the most decisive remedy for the imperfection
of this cheapest, and in other respects best material for
candles, would undoubtedly be to diminish its fusibili¬
ty. Various substances may be combined with tallow/,
either in the direct or indirect method. In the latter
way, by the decomposition of soap, a number of ex¬
periments were made by Berthollet, of which an ac¬
count
*
CAN [ 129 ] € A N
andle count is inserted in the memoirs of the academy at
. j Paris for the year 1780, and copied into the 26th vo¬
lume of the Journal de Physique. None of these point
directly to the present object j besides which, it is pro¬
bable that the soap made use of by that eminent che¬
mist was formed not of tallow, but oil. I am not
aware of any regular series of experiments concerning
the mutual action of fat oils and other chemical agents,
more especially such as may be directed to this im¬
portant object of diminishing its solubility j for which
reason I shall mention a few experiments made with
this view.
“ 1. Tallow was melted in a small silver vessel. Solid
tallow sinks in the fluid, and dissolves without any re¬
markable appearance. 2. Gum sandarach in tears was
not dissolved, but emitted bubbles, swelled up, became
brown, emitted fumes, and became crisp or friable.
No solution nor improvement of the tallow. 3. Shell-
lac swelled up with bubbles, and was more perfectly
fused than the gum sandarach in the former experi¬
ment. When the tallow was poured olf, it was thought
to congeal rather more speedily. The lac did not ap¬
pear to be altered. 4. Benzoin bubbled without much
swelling, was fused, and emitted fumes of an agreeable
smell, though not resembling the flowers of benzoin.
A slight or partial solution seemed to take place. The
benzoin was softer and of a darker colour than before,
and the tallow less consistent. 5. Common resin unites
very readily with melted tallow, and forms a more
fusible compound than the tallow itself. 6. Camphor
melts easily in tallow, without altering its appearance.
When the tallow is near boiling, camphoric fumes fly
o(T. The compound appeared more fusible than tal¬
low. 7. The acid or flowers of benzoin dissolves in
great quantities without any ebullition or commotion.
Much smoke arises from the compound, which does
not smell like the acid of benzoin. Tallow alone does
net fume at a low heat, though it emits a smell some¬
thing like that of oil-olive. When the proportion of
the acid was considerable, small needled crystals ap¬
peared as the temperature diminished. The appear¬
ances of separation are different according to the quan¬
tity of acid. The compound has the hardness and con¬
sistence of firm soap, and is partially transparent. 8.
Vitriolated tartar, nitre, white sugar, cream of tartar,
crystallized borax, and the salt sold in the markets un¬
der the name of salt of lemons, but which is supposed
to be the essential salt of sorrel, or vegetable alkali
supersaturated with acid of sugar, were respectively
tried without any obvious mutual action or change of
properties in the tallow. 9. Calcined magnesia render¬
ed tallow opake and turbid, but did not seem to dissolve.
Its effect resembled that of lime.
“ It is proposed to try the oxigenated acetous acid,
or radical vinegar ; the acid of ants, of sugar, of borax,
of galls, the tanning principle, the serous and gelati¬
nous animal matter, the fecula of vegetables, vegetable
gluten, bird lime, and other principles, either by direct
or indirect application. The object, in a commercial
point of view, is entitled to an extensive and assiduous
investigation. Chemists in general suppose the hard¬
ness or less fusibility of wax to arise from oxygen, and
to this object it may perhaps be advantageous to direct
a certain portion of the inquiry. The metallic salts
and calces are the combinations from which this prin-
Vol. V. Part I. f
ciple is most commonly obtained; but the combina- Candle,
tions of these with fat oils have hitherto afforded little -v—'
promise of the improvement here sought. The sub¬
ject is however so little known, that experiments of
the loosest and most conjectural kind are by no means
to be despised.”
Lighting a Candle by a small spark of electricity.
This method, which is an invention of Dr Ingenhousz,
is recorded in the Phil. Trans, vol. Ixviii. It is done by
a small phial, having eight or ten inches of metallic
coating, or even less, charged with electricity, which
may be done at any time of the night by a person
who has an electric machine in his room. “ When I
have occasion to light a candle,” says he, “ I charge
a small coated phial, whose knob is bent outwards, so
as to hang a little over the body of the phial ; then I
wrap some loose cotton over the extremity of a long
brass pin or a wire, so as to stick moderately fast to
its substance. I next roll this extremity ef the pin
wrapped up with cotton in some fine powder of resin,
(which I always keep in readiness upon the table for
this purpose, either in a wide-mouthed phial or in a
loose paper^ ; this being done, I apply the extremity
of the pin or wire to the external coating of the
charged phial, and bring as quickly as possible the
other extremity wrapped round with cotton to the
knob ; the powder of resin takes fire, and communicates
its flame to the cotton, and both together burn long
enough to light a candle. As I do not want more than
half a minute to light my candle in this way, I find it
a readier method than kindling it by a flint and steel,
or calling a servant. 1 have found that powder of
white or yellow resin lights easier than that of brown.
The farina lycopodii may be used for the same purpose;
but it is not so good as the powder of resin, because it
does not take fire quite so readily, requiring a stronger
spark not to miss : besides, it is soon burnt away. By
dipping the cotton in oil of turpentine, the same ef¬
fect may be as readily obtained, if you take ajar some¬
what greater in size. This oil will inflame so much the
readier if you strew a few fine particles of brass upon it.
The pin dust is the best for this purpose: but as this
oil is scattered about by the explosion, and when kind¬
led fills the room with much more smoke than the
powder of resin, I prefer the last.”
Candle-^oot^.?, a name given to small glass Kibbles,
having a neck about an inch long, with a very slender
bore, by means of which a small quantity of water is
introduced into them, and the orifice afterwards closed
up. This stalk being put through the wick of a burn¬
ing candle, the vicinity of the flame soon rarefies the
water into steam, by the elasticity of which the glass
is broken with a loud crack.
Candle is also a term of medicine, and is reckoned
among the instruments of surgery. Thus the candela
fumalis, or the candela pro suffitu odor at a, is a mass of
an oblong form, consisting of odoriferous powders mix¬
ed up with a third or more ol the charcoal of willow
or lime tree, and reduced to a proper consistence with
a mucilage of gum tragacanth, labdanum, or turpen¬
tine. It is intended to excite a grateful smell with¬
out any flame, to correct the air, to fortify the brain,
and to excite the spirits.
Medicated Candle, the same with Bougie.
Candle. Sale or auction by inch oi candle, is when
R a
CAN
[
a small piece of candle, being lighted, the bystanders
are allowed to bid for the merchandise that is selling j
but the moment the candle is out, the commodity is ad-
, judged to the last bidder.
There is also an excommunication by inch of candle ;
when the sinner is allowed to come to repentance
while a candle continues burning j but after it is con¬
sumed, be remains excommunicated to all intents and
purposes.
Rush Candles, used in different parts of England,
are made of the pith of a sort ol rushes, peeled or strip¬
ped of theskhij except on one side, and dipped in melt¬
ed grease.
Candle-Wood, slips of pine about the thickness of a
finger, used in New England and other colonies to
burn instead of candles, giving a very good light. The
French inhabitants of Tortuga use slips ol yellow san-
tal-wood for the same purpose, and under the same de¬
nomination, which yields a clear flame, though ol a
green colour.
CANDLEBERRYtree. See Myrica, Botany
Index.
CANDLEMAS, a feast of the church held on the
second day of February, in honour of the purification
of the Virgin Mary. It is borrowed from the practice
of the ancient Christians, who on that day used abun¬
dance of lights both in their churches and processions,
in memory, as is supposed, of our Saviour’s being on
that day declared by Simon “ to he a light to lighten
the Gentiles.” In imitation of this custom, the Roman
Catholics on this day consecrate all the tapers and
candles which they use in their churches during the
whole year. At Rome, the pope performs that ce¬
remony himself; and distributes wax-candles to the
cardinals and others, who carry them in procession
through the great hall of the pope’s palace. This ce¬
remony was prohibited in England by an order of coun¬
cil in 1548.
Candlemas, (2d Feb.) is made one of the four
terms of the year for paying or receiving rents or
borrowed money, &c.—In the courts of law, Candle¬
mas term begins 15th January, and ends 3d February.
CANDLESTICK, an instrument to hold a candle,
made in different forms, and all sorts of matter.
The golden candlestick was one of the sacred uten*
sils made by Moses to be placed in the Jewish taber¬
nacle. It was made of hammered gold, a talent in
weight. It consisted of s«ven branches supported by a
base or foot. These branches were adorned at equal
distances with six flowers like lilies, and with as many
bowls and knobs placed alternately. Upon the stock
and six branches of the candlestick were the golden
lamps, which were immoveable, wherein were put oil
afcd cotton.
These seven lamps were lighted every evening, and
extinguished every morning. The Ihmps had their tongs
or snuffers to draw the cotton in or out, and dishes
underneath them to receive the sparks or droppings of
the oil. This candlestick wss placed in the antichamber
of the sanctuary on the south side, and served to illu¬
minate the altar of perfume and the tabernacle of the
shew-bread. When Solomon had built the temple of
the Lord, he placed in it ten golden candlesticks of the
same form as that described by Moses, five on the north
and fire on the south side of the holy: But after the
30 ] CAN
Babylonish captivity, the golden candlestick was again
placed in the temple, as it had been before in the ta¬
bernacle by Moses. This sacred utensil, upon the de¬
struction of the temple by the Romans, was lodged in
the temple of Peace built by Vespasian : and the repre¬
sentation of it is still to be seen on the triumphal arch
at the foot of Mount Palatine, on which Vespasian’s
triumph is delineated.
CANDY, a large kingdom of Asia, in the island of
Ceylon. It contains about a quarter of the island ; and
as it is encompassed with high mountains, and covered
with thick forests, through which the roads and paths
are narrow and difficult, the king had them guarded to
prevent his subjects from going into other countries.
It is full of hills, from whence rivulets proceed which
are full of fish ; but as they run among the rocks, they
are not fit for boats: however, the Inhabitants are very
dexterous in turning them to water their land, which
is fruitful in rice, pulse, and hemp.
Since the island of Ceylon fell into the hands of the
English, we have obtained fuller information respecting
it. Mr Percival, who has published an account of this
island, mentions the jealousy, both ol the Dutch and
of the natives, as difficulties which could not have been
easily surmounted by travellers while it remained sub¬
ject to Holland #. “ The interior of the island (he says), * Atcoun,
owing to the jealousy of the Dutch, has been little ex- °/Cty/wJ
plored by Europeans j and any traveller who might
have obtained the permission ol the Dutch to visit it,
could not have executed his purpose from the jealousy
of the natives. Since the Candians have been driven
by their invaders into the mountains of the interior, it
has been their policy carefully to prevent any Europe¬
an from seeing those objects which might tempt the
avarice of his countrymen, or from observing the ap¬
proaches by which an army could penetrate their moun¬
tains. If an European by any accident was carried
into their territories, they took every precaution to pre¬
vent him from escaping; and the guards, stationed
everywhere at the approaches, joined to the wide and
pathless woods which divide the interior from the coast,
rendered such an attempt almost completely desperate.
When an ambassador was sent from any European go¬
vernment to the king of Candy, he was watched with
all that strictness and jealousy which the suspicious
temper of uncivilized nations dictates. In an em¬
bassy which I attended to the court of that monarch,
I had an opportunity of observing how careful the na¬
tives were to prevent strangers from making any ob¬
servations. Mr Boyd, who about twenty years ago
went on a similar embassy, was watched with the same
particular circumspection j and has therefore been able
to add little to our stock of knowledge concerning the
interior.
“ The dominions of the native prince are complete¬
ly cut off on all sides from those of the Europeans, by
almost impenetrable woods and mountains. The passes
which lead through these to the coasts are extremely
steep and difficult, and scarcely known even by the
natives themselves. As soon as we advance from ten
to twenty miles from the coasts, a country presents it¬
self greatly differing from the sea-coast, both in soil,
climate, and appearance. After ascending the moun¬
tains and passing the woods, we find ourselves in the
midst of a country not advanced many stages beyond
the
CAN [ i.
the first state of improvement, and which we are asto¬
nished to find in the neighbourhood of the highly cul¬
tivated fields which surround Colombo. As we advance
toxvards the centre of the island, the country gradually
rises, and the woods and mountains which separate the
several parts of the country become more steep and im¬
pervious.
“ It is in the midst of these fastnesses that the native
prince still preserves those remains of territory and
power which have been left him by successive invaders.
His dominions are now much reduced in size: lor be¬
sides the whole of the sea-coasts which were of any
value, the Dutch, in their various attacks during the
last century, have contrived to get into their power
every tract from which they could derive either emolu¬
ment or security. Those provinces which still remain
to him, are Nonrecalva and Hotcourly towards the
north and north-west j while Matuly, comprehending
the districts of Bintana, Velas, and Panoa, with a few
others, occupy those parts more to the eastward. rIo
the south east lies Ouvvah, a province of some note,
and giving the king one of his titles. The western parts
are chiefly included in the provinces of Cotemal and
Hotteracorley. These different provinces are subdi¬
vided into corles or districts, and entirely belong to
the native prince. It is needless to recount the names
of those divisions which stretch towards the sea-coast,
and are now chiefly in our possession.
“ In the highest and most centrical part of the native
king’s dominions, lie the corles or counties of Oudanor
and Tatanour, in which are situated the two principal
cities. These countries take the pre-eminence of all
the rest, and are both better cultivated, and more
populous, than any of the other districts, and are dis¬
tinguished by the general name of Conde Udda 5 condt
or cande in the native language signifying a mountain,
and udda the greatest or highest.
Ceylon fell into the hands of the British in 1796 j
and in 1802 a war originated with the Candians. The
British took possession of the capital, and placed a
new prince on the throne*; but the military force be¬
ing reduced by the climate, and the Candians being in
arms, the place was given up by capitulation, in defi¬
ance of which, however, the British were massacred.
Another British force again reduced the chief town in
1815, and in 1816 the kingdom was annexed to the
British dominions. The Candians revolted in 1818,
but were subdued after a considerable struggle.
Candy, a town of Asia, and capital of a kingdom of
the same name, in the island of Ceylon. It has been
often burnt by the Portuguese when they were masters
of these coasts. It is situated in E. Long. 79. 12. N.
Lat. 7. 35.
We have the following description of Candy by Mr
Percival, whom we have already quoted, and who at¬
tended an embassy to the king.
“ In the district of Tatanour lies Candy, the royal
residence and the capital of the native prince’s domi¬
nions. It is situated at the distance of 80 miles from
Columbo, and twice as far from Trincomalee, in the
midst of lofty and steep hills covered with thick
jungle. The narrow and difficult passes by which it is
approached are intersected with thick hedges of thorn ;
and hedges of the same sort are drawn round the hills
i ] CAN
in the vicinity of Candy like lines of circumvallation.
Through them the only passage is by gates of the same
thorny materials, so contrived as to be drawn up and
let down by ropes. When the Candians are obliged
to retreat within these barriers, they cut the ropes, and
then it is impossible to force a passage except by burn¬
ing down the gates, which, from their green state,
and the constant annoyance of the enemy sheltered
behind them, would prove an enterprise of time and
difficulty. These hedge-rows form the chief fortifica¬
tions of Candy. The Malivagonga also nearly sur¬
rounds the hill on which it stands : that river is here
broad, rocky, and rapid ; a very strict guard is kept
on it, and every one who passes or repasses is closely
watched and examined.
“ The city itself is a poor miserable-looking place,
surrounded by a mud wall of no strength whatever.
It has been several times burnt by Europeans, and
was once deserted by the king, who retired to a more
inaccessible part of bis dominions. It is upon occasion
of the embassy of General Macdowall, that any infor¬
mation concerning the present state o( Candy has been
obtained ; and even then it could be little more than
guessed at, as the ambassador and his suite were ad¬
mitted only by torch-light, and always retired before
break of day. From what could then be observed,
the city consists of a long straggling street built on
the declivity of a hill ; the houses mean and low, but
with their foundations raised in such a manner above
the level of the street, that they appear quite lofty to
passengers. The reason of this extraordinary taste is
to enable the king to hold his assemblies of the people,
and to have his elephant and buffalo fights in the
street, without interfering with the houses. AVhen
the king passes along the street, none of the inha¬
bitants are allowed to appear before their houses,
or the paths on a level with them, as that would
be attended with the heinous indecorum of placing
a subject higher than the prince descended of the
SUN.
“ At the upper end of this street, stands the palace,
a poor mansion for the abode of a king. It is sur¬
rounded with high stone walls, and consists of two
squares, one within the other. In the inner of these
are the royal apartments, and it is there that the court
is held and audiences given. The exterior of the pa¬
lace and the rest of the city could be but very par¬
tially observed by those who attended General Mac-
dowal, owing to the pressure of the crowd, and the
dazzling glare of the torches. By every account in¬
deed which I have heard, Candy contains nothing
worthy of notice, and from the want of either wealth
or industry among the inhabitants, it is not indeed
to be expected that any thing could be met with in
this straggling village to attract the attention of the
traveller.”
Candy, or Sugar-Candy, a preparation of sugar made
by melting and crystallizing it six or seven times over,
to render it hard or transparent. It is of three kinds,
white, yellow7, and red. The white comes from the
loaf-sugar, the yellow from the casonado, and the red
from the muscovado.
CANDYING, the act of preserving simples in
substance, by boiling them in sugar. The perfor-
R 3 mance
CAN r 132 ] CAN
Candying rnance of tins originally belonged to tbe apothecaries,
i! but is now become a part of the business of the con-
Canea. fectioner.
"v CANE. See Arundo ami Calamus, Botany
Index.
Cane, denotes also a walking stick. It is customary
to adorn it with a head of gold, silver, agate, &c.
Some are without knots, and very smooth and even j
others are full of knots about two inches distance from
one another. These last have very little elasticity, and
will not bend so well as the others.
Canes of Bengal are the most beautiful which the
Europeans bring into Europe. Some of them are so
line, that people work them into bowls or vessels, which
being varnished over in the inside, with black or yel¬
low lacca, will hold liquors as well as glass or China
ware does 5 and the Indians use them for that pur¬
pose.
Cane is also the name of a long measure, which dif¬
fers according to the several countries where it is used.
At Naples the cane is equal to 7 feet 3^ inches Eng¬
lish measure : The cane of Thoulouse and the Upper
Languedoc, is equal to the varre of Arragon, and
contains 5 feet 8^ inches ; at Montpellier, Provence,
Dauphiny, and the Lower Languedoc, to 6 English feet
5-2- inches.
CANEA, a considerable town of the island of Can-
dia, where a bashaw resides. It was built by the Ve¬
netians, and occupies part of the site of the ancient
Cydonia. It is but about two miles in compass j en¬
circled on the land side with a single wall, extremely
thick $ and defended by a broad and deep ditch, cut
through a bed of rock, which extends all around the
wall. By cutting it still deeper, they might cause the
sea to flow round its ramparts; on which they have
raised high platforms, that their great guns might
command a wider extent of the adjacent plain. The
city has only one gate, the gate of Retimo, protected
by a hall-moon battery, which is the only exterior fort.
The side which faces the sea is the best fortified. On
the left of the harbour are four batteries, rising one above
another, and planted with a number ol large cannons
of cast metal, marked with the arms of Venice. The
first of these batteries stands close on the brink of the
sea. The right side of the harbour is defended only
by a strong wall, extending along a chain of pointed
rocks which it is dangerous for ships to approach. At
the extremity of this wall, there is an old castle, falling
into ruins. Beneath that castle, the Venetians had im¬
mense arsenals, vaulted with stone. Each of these
vaults was of sufficient length, breadth, and height, to
serve as a work-shop for building a ship of the line.
The ground is sloping, and the outermost part of these
capacious arsenals is on a level with the sea 5 so that it
was very easy to launch the ships built there into the
water. The lurks are suflering that magnificent work
to fall into ruins.
The city ol Canea is laid out on a fine plan. The
streets are large and straight; and the squares adorned
w'lth fountains. There are no remarkable buildings
in it. Most of the houses are flat-roofed, and have
only one story. Those contiguous to the harbour are
adorned with galleries, from which you enjoy a de¬
lightful prospect. I rom the windows you discover
the large bay formed between Cape Spaila and Cape
Melee, and all the ships that are entering in or pass- Canea
ing out. The harbour, at present, receives ships of [j
2CO tons burden : and it might be enlarged so as to Cane*,
admit the largest frigates. Its mouth is exposed to the ' ^
violence of the north winds, which sometimes swell the
billows above the ramparts. But, as it is narrow, and
the bottom is good, ships that are well moored run no
danger. At the time when Tournefort visited Crete,
Canea did not contain more than five or six thousand
inhabitants. But, at present, when the gates of Gira-
Petra, Candi, and Retimo, are cboaked up, tbe mer¬
chants have retired to Canea j and it is reckoned to
contain 16,000 souls. The environs of tbe town are
admirable 5 being adorned with forests of olive-trees
mixed with fields, vineyards, gardens, and brooks bor¬
dered with myrtle-trees and laurel-roses. The chief
revenue of this town consists in oil-olive. E. Long,
24. 15. N. Lat. 35. 28.
CANELLA. See Botany Index.,
CANELLE, or Cane Land, a large country in
the island of Ceylon, called formerly the kingdom 0/
Cota. It contains a great number of cantons,, now oc¬
cupied by the English.. The chief riches of this coun¬
try consist in cinnamon, of which there are large fo¬
rests. There are five towns on the coast, some forts,,
and a great number of harbours. The rest of the
country is inhabited by the natives *, and there are
several rich mines, from whence they get rubies, sap¬
phires, topazes, cats eyes, and several other precious
stones.
CANEPHORiE, in Grecian antiquity, virgins who
when they become marriageable, presented certain,
baskets full of little curiosities to Diana, in order to get
leave to depart out of her train, and change their state
of life.
CANEPHORIA, in Grecian antiquity, a ceremo¬
ny which made part of a feast celebrated by the Athe¬
nian virgins on the eve of their marriage-day. At
Athens the canephoria consisted in this, that the maid,
conducted by her father and mother, went to the
temple of Minerva, carrying with her a basket full of
presents to engage the goddess to make the marriage
state happy ; or, as the scholiast of Theocritus lias it,
the basket was intended as a kind of honourable
amends made to that goddess, the protectrix of virgi¬
nity, for abandoning her party : or as a ceremony to
appease her wrath. Suidas calls it a festival in honour
of Diana.
Canephoria is also the name of a festival In honour
of Bacchus, celebrated particularly by the Athenians,
on which the young maids carried golden baskets full
of fruit, which baskets were covered, to conceal the
mystery from the uninitiated.
CANES, in Egypt, and other eastern countries, a
poor sort ol buildings for the reception of strangers
and travellers. People are accommodated in these with
a room at a small price, but with no other necessaries j
so that, excepting the room, there are no greater ac¬
commodations in these houses than in the deserts, only
that there is a market near.
Canes Venatict, in Astronormjy the Greyhounds, two
new constellations, first established by Hevelius, be¬
tween the tail of the Great Bear and Bootes’s arms,above
the Coma Berenices. The first is called, anteriorly be¬
ing that next the Bear’s tail \ the other chara. They
comprehend
CAN [ i,
comprehenil 23 star*, of which Tycho only obaerv-
ed two. The longitudes and latitudes of each are
agio, jriven by Hevelius. In the British Catalogue they
are 25.
CANETO, a strong town in Italy in the duchy
of Mantua, seated on the river Oglio, which was
taken by the Imperialists in 1701, by the French in
1702, afterwards by the Imperialists, and then by
the French in 1705. E. Long. 10.45. N. Lat. 45.
10.
CANGA, in the Chinese affairs, a wooden clog
borne on the neck, by way of punishment for divers
offences. The canga is composed of two pieces of
wood notched, to receive the criminal’s neck j the load
lies on his shoulders, and is more or less heavy accord¬
ing to the quality of his offence. Some cangas weigh
20clb. the generality from 50 to 60. The manda¬
rins condemn to the punishment of the canga. Sen¬
tence of death is sometimes changed for this kind of
punishment.
CANGE, Charles du Fresne, Sieur du, one of
the most learned writers of his time, was born at A-
miens in 1601, and studied at the Jesuits college in
that city. Afterwards he applied himself to the study
of the law at Orleans, and gained great reputation by
his works ; among which are, 1. The history of the
empire of Constantinople under the French emperors.
2. John Cinnamus’s six hooks of the history of the af¬
fairs of John and Manuel Comnenus, in Greek and La¬
tin, with historical and philological notes. 3. G/ossa-
rium ud Scriptores me dice et iufwice Lutmitatia.
CANGI, Ceangi, or Cajigani, anciently a people
of Britain, concerning whose situations antiquaries have
been much perplexed. They are all the same people.
Camden discovered some traces of them in many dif¬
ferent and distant places, as in Somersetshire, Wales,
Derbyshire, and Cheshire 5 and he might have found
as plain vestiges of them in Devonshire, Dorsetshire,,
Essex, Wiltshire, &c. Mr Horsley and others are no
less perplexed and undetermined in their opinions on
this subject. But Mr Baxter seems to have discovered
the true cause of all this perplexity, by observing that
the Cangi or Ceangi were not a distinct nation seated
in one particular place, but such of the youth of many
different nations as were employed in pasturage, in
feeding the flocks and herds of their respective tribes.
Almost all the ancient nations of Britain had their
ceangi, their pastoritia pubes, the keepers of their flocks
and herds, who ranged about the country in great num¬
bers, as they were invited by the season and plenty of
pasture for their cattle. This is the reason that vesti¬
ges of their name are to he found in so many different
parts of Britain } but chiefly in those parts which are
most fit for pasturage. These ceangi of the different
British nations, naturally brave, and rendered still more
hardy by their way of life, were constantly armed for
the protection of their flocks from wild beasts •, and
these arms they occasionally employed in the defence
of their country and their liberty.
CANGIAGIO, or Cambiasi Ludovico, one of
the most eminent of the Genoese painters, was born
in 1527. His works at Genoa are very numerous j
and he was employed by the king of Spain to adorn
part of the Escurial. It is remarked of him, that he
was not only a. most expeditious and rapid painter,
3 ] C A .N
but also that he worked equally well with both hands j
and by that unusual power he executed more designs,
and finished more grand works with his own pencils,
in a much shorter time, than most other artists could ,
do with several assistants. He died in 1585.
In the royal collection at Paris there is a Sleeping
Cupid, as large as life, and likewise Judith with her.
attendant, which are painted by Cangiagio, and are an
honour to that master. And in the Pembroke collec¬
tion at Wilton is a picture, reputed the work of Can¬
giagio, representing Christ bearing his cross.
CANICULA, is a name proper to one of the stars
of the constellation canis major, called also simply the
dog star ; by the Greeks Sirius. Canicula is
the tenth in order in the Britannic catalogue 5 in
Tycho’s and Ptolemy’s it is the second. It is situated
in the mouth of the constellation j and is of the first
magnitude, being the largest and brightest of all the
stars in the heavens. From the rising of this star not
cosmically, or with the sun, but heliacally, that is, its
emersion from the sun’s rays, which now happens about
the 15th day of August, the ancients reckoned their
dies caniculares, or dog days. The Egyptians and E-
thiopians began their year at the rising ol the Canicula,
reckoning to its rise again the next year, which is
called annus canarius, or canicular year. This year
consisted ordinarily of 365 days, and every fourth year
of 366, by which it was accommodated to the civil
year. The reason of their choice of the Canicula be¬
fore the other stars, to compute their time by, was not
only the superior brightness of that star, but because
its heliacal rising was in Egypt a time of singular note,
as falling on the greatest augmentation of the Nile,
the reputed father of Egypt. Ephestion adds, that,
from the aspect and colour of Canicula, the Egyptians
drew prognostics concerning the rise of the Nile ; and,
according to Floras, predicted the future state of the
year j so that the first rising of this star was annually
observed with great attention.
CANICULUM, or Caniculus, in the Byzantine
antiquities, a golden standish or ink vessel, decorated
with precious stones, wherein was kept the sacred e/i-
caustum, or red ink, wherewith the emperors signed their
decrees, letters, &c. The word is by some derived
from canis, or caniculus; alluding to the figure of a dog,
which it represented, or rather because it was supported
bv the fisures of dojjs. The caniculum was under the
care of a particular officer of state.
CANINA, the north part of the ancient Epirus, a
province of Greece, which now belongs to the Turks,
and lies off the entrance of the gulf of Venice. The
principal town.is of the same name, and is seated on the
sea coast, at the foot of the mountains of Chimera.
E. Long. 19. 25. N. Lat. 40. 55.
CANINANA, in Zoology, the name of a species of
serpent found in America, and esteemed one of the less
poisonous kinds. It grows to about two feet long j and
is green on the back, and yellow on the belly. It feeds
on eggs and small birds ; the natives cut off the head
and tail, and eat the body as a delicate dish.
CANINE, whatever partakes of, or has any rela¬
tion to, the nature of a dog.
Canine Appetite, amounts to much the same with
Bulimy.
Canine Madness. See Medicine Index.
Canciagio
II
Canine
Madness.
Canine.
CAN [ 134 ] CAN
Canine CAN INF, Teeth, are two sharp-edged teeth in each
Teeth jaw; one on each side, placed between the incisores
^ ,. and molares.
■ CAN INI, John Angelo and Marc Anthony,
brothers and Romans, celebrated for their love of an¬
tiquities. John excelled in designs for engraving on
stones, particularly heads : Marc engraved them. They
were encouraged by Colbert to publish a succession of
heads of the heroes and great men of antiquity, de¬
signed from medals, antique stones, and other ancient
remains ; but John died at Rome soon after the work
was begun : Marc Anthony, however, procured as¬
sistance, finished and published it in Italian in 1669.
The cuts of this edition were engraved by Canini, Pi¬
card, and Valet; and a curious explanation is given,
which discovers the skill of the Caninis in history and
mythology. The French edition of Amsterdam, in
1731, is spurious.
CANIS, or Dog. See Mammalia Index.
Canis Major, the Great Dog, in Astronomy, a con¬
stellation of the southern hemisphere, below Orion’s
feet, though somewhat to the westward of him ;
whose stars Ptolemy makes 29 ; Tycho observed only
13 ; Hevelius 21 ; in the Britannic catalogue they are
31-
Canis Minor, the Little Dog, in Astronomy, a con¬
stellation of the northern hemisphere ; called also by
the Greeks Procyon, and by the Latins Antecanis and
Canicula. The stars in the constellation Canis Minor,
are in Ptolemy’s catalogue, 2; in Tycho’s 5 ; in He-
velius’s, 13; and in the British catalogue, 14.
CANIS 1US, Henry, a native of Nimeguen, and
one of the most learned men of his time, was professor
of canon law at Ingoldstadt; and wrote a great number
of books ; the principal of which are, 1. Summa Juris
Canonici. 2. Antiques Leciiones, a very valuable work.
He died in 1609.
• CANITZ, the Baron of, a German poet and states¬
man, was of an ancient and illustrious family in
Brandenburg, and born at Berlin in 1654, five months
after his father’s death. After his early studies, he
travelled to France, Italy, Holland, and England ; and
upon his return to his country, was charged with im¬
portant negotiations by Frederic II. Frederic III,
employed him also. Canitz united the statesman with
the poet; and was conversant in many languages, dead
as well as living. His German poems were published
for the tenth time, 1750, in 8vo. He is said to have
taken Horace for his model, and to have written pure¬
ly and delicately. But he did not content himself with
barely cultivating the fine arts in himself; he gave
all the encouragement he could to them in others. He
died at Berlin, in 1699, privy counsellor of state, aged
45-,
CANKER, a disease incident to trees, proceeding
chiefly from the nature of the soil. It makes the bark
rot and fall. If the canker be in a bough, cut it off;
in a large bough, at some distance from the stem ; in a
small one, close to it : but for over hot strong ground,
the ground is to be cooled about the roots with pond
Mud and cow dung.
Canker, among farriers. See Farriery Index.
CANNA, Indian reed. See Botany Index.
CANNABIS, Hemp. See Botany Itidex.
From the leaves of hemp pounded and boiled in
water, the natives of the East Indies prepare an in¬
toxicating liquor of which they are very fond. The
plant, when fresh, has a rank narcotic smell ; the wa¬
ter in which the stalks are soaked, in order to separate
the tough rind for mechanic uses, is said to be violent¬
ly poisonous, and to produce its effects almost as soon
as drank. The seeds also have some smell of the herb,
and their taste is unctuous and sweetish : they are
recommended, boiled in milk, or triturated with water
into an emulsion, against coughs, heat of urine, and
the like. They are also said to be useful in inconti¬
nence of urine, and for restraining venereal appetites ;
but experience does not warrant their having any vir¬
tues of that kind.
CANNiE, in Ancient Geography, a town of Apulia
on the Adriatic, at the mouth of the river Aufidus,
rendered famous by a terrible overthrow which the
Romans here received from the Carthaginians under
Hannibal. The Roman consuls, jlimilius Panins and
Terentius Varro, being authorised by the senate to
quit the defensive plan, and stake the fortunes of the
republic on the chance of a battle, marched from Ca-
nusium, and encamped a few miles east, in two unequal
divisions, with the Aufidus between them. In this po¬
sition they meant to wait for an opportunity of engag¬
ing to advantage ; but Hannibal, whose critical situa¬
tion in a desolated country, without refuge or allies,
could admit of no delay, found means to inflame the
vanity of Varro by some trivial advantages in skirmishes
between the light horse. The Romans, elated with
this success, determined to bring matters to a speedy
conclusion ; but, finding the ground on the south side
too confined for the operations of so large an army,
crossed the river ; and Varro resting his right wing
upon the Aufidus, drew out his forces in the plain.
Hannibal, whose head-quarters were at Cannse, no
sooner perceived the enemy in motion, than he forded
the water below, and marshalled his troops in a line
opposite to that of his adversaries.
The Romans were vastly superior in number to the
Carthaginians ; but the latter were superior in cavalry.
The army of the former, consisting of 87,000 men,
was drawn up in the usual manner; the hastati in the
first line, the principes in the second, and the triarii in
the third. The cavalry were posted on the wings.—
On the right, the Roman knights flanked the legio¬
naries ; on the left, the cavalry of the allies covered
their own infantry. The two consuls commanded the
two wings, JEmilius the right, and Terentius the left;
and the two proconsuls, Servilius and Attilius, the main
body. On the other hand, Hannibal, whose army-
consisted of 40,000 foot and 10,000 horse, placed his
Gaulish and Spanish cavalry in his left wing, to face
the Roman knights; and the Numidian horse in his
right, over against the cavalry of the allies of Rome.
As to his infantry, he divided the African battalions
into two bodies ; one of which he posted near the Gaul¬
ish and Spanish horse, the other near the Numidian.
Between these two bodies were placed on one side the
Gaulish, on the other the Spanish infantry, drawn up
in such a manner as to form an obtuse angle, projecting
a considerable way beyond the two wings. Behind
this line he drew up a second which had no projec¬
tion. Asdrubal commanded the left wing; Maherbal
the right; and Hannibal himself, with his brother
Mago,
Cauna?.
CAN [ 135 ] CAN
Mago, tlie main body. He had also taken care to post
himself in such a manner, that the wind Vulturnus,
which rises at certain stated times, should blow directly
in the faces of the Romans during the fight, and cover
them with dust. The onset was begun by the light¬
armed infantry ; the Romans discharging their jave¬
lins, and the baleares their stones, with pretty equal
success; nevertheless, the consul JEmilius was wounded.
—Then the Roman cavalry in the right wing ad¬
vanced against the Gaulish and Spanish in Hannibal’s
left. As they were shut in by the river Aufidus on
one side, and by their infantry on the other, they did
not fight, as usual, by charging and wheeling off, and
then returning to the charge ; but continued fighting
each man against his adversary, till one of them was
killed or retired. After they had made prodigious
efforts on both sides to overbear each other, they all
on a sudden dismounted, and fought on foot with
great fury. In this attack the Gauls and Spaniards
soon prevailed, put the Romans to the route, and, pur¬
suing them along the river, strewed the ground with
their dead bodies, Asdrubal giving no quarter. This
action was scarce over, when the infantry on both sides
advanced. The Romans first fell upon the Spaniards
and Gauls, who, as already observed, formed a kind of
triangle projecting beyond the two wings. These
gave ground, and, pursuant to Hannibal’s directions,
sunk into the void space in their rear, by which means
they insensibly brought the Romans into the centre of
the African infantry ; and then the fugitives rallying,
attacked them in front, while the Africans charged
them in both flanks. The Romans being, by this
artful retreat, drawn into the snare and surrounded, no
longer kept their ranks, but formed several platoons
in order to face every way. iEmilius, who was on the
right wing, seeing the danger of the main body, at the
head of his legionaries acted the part both of a soldier
and general, penetrating into the heart of the enemy’s
battalions, and cutting great numbers of them in pieces.
All the Roman cavalry that were left attended the
brave consul on foot; and, encouraged by his example,
fought like men in despair. But, in the mean time,
Asdrubal, at the head of a detachment of Gaulish and
Spanish infantry brought from the centre, attacked
iRmilius’s legionaries with such fury, that they were
forced to give ground and fly ; the consul, being all
covered with wounds, was at last killed by some of the
enemy who did not know him. In the main body,
the Romans, though invested on all sides, continued to
sell their lives dear; fighting in platoons, and making
a great slaughter of the enemy. But being at length
overpowered, and disheartened by the death of the two
proconsuls, Servilius and Attilius, who headed them,
they dispersed and fled, some to the right, and others
to the left, as they could find opportunity ; but the
Numidian horse cut most of them in pieces; the whole
plain was covered with heaps of dead bodies, insomuch
that Hannibal himself, thinking the butchery too ter¬
rible, ordered his men to put a stop to it.—There is
a great disagreement among authors as to the number
of Romans killed and taken at the battle of Cannse.
According to Livy, the republic lost 50,000 men, in¬
cluding the auxiliaries. According to Polybius, of
6coo Roman horse, only 70 escaped to Venusia with
lerentius Yarro, and 300 of the auxiliary horse. As
to the infantry, that writer tells us, that 70,000 of the
Roman foot died in the field of battle fighting like
brave men ; and that 13,000 were made prisoners.
According to Dionysius of Halicarnassus, of 6000
ho rse, only 370 escaped the general slaughter, and of
80,000 foot, 3000 only were left. The most moderate
computation makes the number of Romans killed to
amount to 45,000. The scene of action is marked
out to posterity, by the name of Pc%-zo di Sangue,
“ Field of Blood.”
These plains have more than once, since the Punic
war, afforded room for men to accomplish their mutual
destruction. Melo of Bari, after raising the standard
of revolt against the Greek emperors, and defeating
their generals in several engagements, was at last rout¬
ed here in 1019, by the Catapan Bolanus. Out of
250 Norman adventurers, the flower of Melo’s army,
only ten escaped the, slaughter of that day. In 1201,
the archbishop of Palermo and his rebellious associates,
who had taken advantage of the nonage of Frederick
of Swabia, were cut to pieces at Cannae by Walter de
Brienne, sent by the Pope to defend the young king’s
dominions.
The traces of the town of Cannae are very faint,
consisting of fragments of altars, cornices, gates, walls,
vaults, and under-ground granaries. It was destroyed
the year before the battle : but, being rebuilt, became
an episcopal see in the infancy of Christianity. It was
again ruined in the sixth century, but seems to have
subsisted in a humble state many ages later ; for we
read of its contending with Barletta for the territory
which till then had been enjoyed in common by them ;
and in 1284, Charles I. issued an edict for divid¬
ing the lands, to prevent all future litigation. The
prosperity of the towns along the coast, which, increas¬
ed in wealth and population by embarkations of the
crusades and by traffic, proved the annihilation of the
great inland cities ; and Canute was probably aban¬
doned entirely before the end of the thirteenth cen¬
tury.
CANNEQUINS, in commerce, white cotton cloths
brought from the East Indies. They are a proper
commodity for trading on the coast of Guinea, parti¬
cularly about the rivers Senegal and Gambia. These
linens are folded square-wise, and are about eight ells
long.
CANNEL coal. See Mineralogy Index.
CANNES, a sea-port of France, in Provence, seat¬
ed on the coast of the Mediterranean sea, with a
castle. Bonaparte landed here on his return from
Elba, 1. March 1815. E. Long. 7. 7. N. Lat. 43. 34.
CANNIBAL, a modern term for an anthropo-
phagus or man-eater, more especially in the West In¬
dies, See Anthropophagi.
CANNON, a military engine for throwing balls,
&c. by the help of GUNPOWDER.
The invention of brass cannon is by Laney ascribed
to J. Owen : he says, that they were first known in
England in the year 1535; but yet acknowledges,
that, in 1346, there were four pieces of cannon in the
English army at the battle of Cressy, and that these
were the first that were known in France. And Me-
zeray relates, that King Edward, by five or six pieces
of cannon, struck terror into the French army, it be¬
ing the first time they had seen any of these thunder-
Cannon
Cano.
CAN [
ing machines j though others affirm that cannon weie
known also in France at the same time } but that the
, French king, in his hurry to attack the English, and
in confidence of victory, left all his cannon behind him
as useless incumbrances (see Artillery). Ihe Ger¬
mans carry the invention farther back, and attribute
it to Albertus Magnus, a Dominican monk, about the
year 1250. Vossius rejects all these opinions, and finds
cannon in China almost 1700 years ago. According
to him, they were invented by the emperor KJtey in
the year of Christ 85. See Gun and Gunnery.
For the casting of cannon, see 1OUNDERY. For their
different parts, proportions, management, operation,
and effect, see Gunnery. See also Cannon, Sup¬
plement.
Cannon, with letter-founders and printers, the
name of the largest size of letters they use.
CANNONADE, the application of artillery to
the purposes of war, or the direction of its efforts
against some distant object intended to be seized or
destroyed, as a ship, battery, or fortress. See Gun¬
nery.
Since a large ship of war may be considered as a
combination of floating batteries, it is evident that the
efforts of her artillery must be greatly superior to those
of a fortress on the sea coast •, that is to say, in gene¬
ral ; because, on some particular occasions, her situa¬
tion may be extremely dangerous, and her cannonading
ineffectual. Her superiority consists in several circum¬
stances, as the power of bringing her different bat¬
teries to converge to one point; of shifting the line of
her attack so as to do the greatest possible execution
against the enemy, or to lie where she will be the least
exposed to his shot j and chiefly because, by employ¬
ing a much greater number of cannon against a fort
than it can possibly return, the impression of her artil¬
lery against stone walls soon becomes decisive and irre¬
sistible. Besides these advantages in the attack, she is
-also greatly superior in point of defence ; because the
cannon shot, passing with rapidity through her sides,
seldom do any execution out of the line of their flight,
or occasion much mischief by their splinters ; whereas
they very soon shatter and destroy the faces of a para¬
pet, and produce incredible havock among the men by
the fragments of the stones, &c. A ship may also re¬
treat when she finds it too dangerous to remain longer
exposed to the enemy’s fire, or when her own fire can¬
not produce the desired effect. Finally, The fluctuating
situation of a ship, and of the element on which she
rests, renders the effects of bombs very uncertain, and
altogether destroys the effect of the ricochet, or rolling
and bounding shot, which is so pernicious and de¬
structive in a fortress or land engagement. The chief
inconveniency to which a ship is exposed, on the con¬
trary, is, that the low-laid cannon in a fort near the
brink of the sea, may strike her repeatedly on or under
the surface of the water, so as to sink her before her
cannonade can have any considerable efficacy.
CANO, a kingdom of Africa, in Negroland, with
a town of the same name. It is bounded by Zaara on
the north, by the river Niger on the south, the king¬
dom of Agades on the west, and that of Cashna on the
east. Some of the inhabitants are herdsmen, and others
till the ground and dwell in villages. It produces
and cotton. Here are also many deserts,
3
136 ] CAN
and mountains covered with woods, in which are wild
citrons and lemon trees. The walls and houses of
the town are made of clay, and the principal inha¬
bitants are merchants. E. Long. 16. 18. N. Lat,'
21. S'
CANOBIA, a town of Italy, in the duchy of
Milan, seated on the western bank of Lags Maggiore,
or the Greater Lake. E. Long. 8. 47. N. Lat. 45.
55*canoe, a sort of Indian boat or vessel, formed of
the trunk of a tree hollowed, and sometimes of several
pieces of the bark put together.
Canoes are of various sizes, according to the uses
for which they may be designed, or the countries
wherein they are formed. The largest are made of the
cotton tree $ some of them will carry between 20 and
30 hogsheads of sugar or melasses. Some are made to
carry sail; and for this purpose are steeped in water
till they become pliant 5 after which their sides are ex¬
tended, and strong beams placed between them, oh
which a deck is afterwards laid that serves to support
their sides. The other sorts very rarely carry sail,
unless when going before the wind j their sails are made
of a sort of short silk grass or rushes. They are com¬
monly rowed with paddles, which are pieces of light
wood somewhat resembling a corn shovel $ and, instead
of rowing with it horizontally like an oar, they ma¬
nage it perpendicularly. The small canoes are very
narrow, having only room for one person in breadth,
and seven or eight lengthwise. The lowers, who are
generally American savages, are very expert in ma-
naging their paddles uniformly, and in balancing the
canoes with their bodies 5 which would be difficult for a
stranger to do, how well accustomed soever to the con¬
ducting of European boats, because the canoes are
extremely light, and liable to be overturned. The
American Indians, when they are under the necessity
of landing to avoid a water-fall, or of crossing the land
from one river to another, carry their canoes on their
heads, till they arrive at a place where they can
launch them again. This is the general construction
of canoes, and method of managing them ; but some
nations have vessels going under the name of canoes,
which differ considerably from the above; as the in¬
habitants of Greenland, Hudson’s Bay, Otaheite,
&.C.
CANON, a person who possesses a prebend, or re¬
venue allotted for the performance of divine service, in
a cathedral or collegiate church.
Canons are of no great antiquity. Paschier observes,
that the name canon was not known before Charle¬
magne } at least the first we hear of are in Gregory de
'fours, who mentions a college of canons instituted by
. archbishop of that city, in the time of
rl he common oninion attributes *he in-
corn, rice,
Baldwin XVI.
Clotharius I. me common opinion
stitution of this order to Chrodegangus, bishop of Metz,
about the middle of the eighth century.
Originally canons were only priests, or inferior ec¬
clesiastics, who lived in community ; residing by the
cathedral church, to assist the bishop j depending en¬
tirely on his will j supported by the revenues of the
bishopric j and living in the same house, as his domes¬
tics, or counsellors, &c. Ihey even inherited Ins
moveables, till the year 817, when this was prohibited
by the council of Ai,x-la-Chapelle, and a new rule sub¬
stituted
Cano
II
Canon.;
CAN [ 137 ] CAN
1110ns.
stituted in the place of that which had been appointed
by Chrodegangus, and which was observed for the
most part in the west till the 12th century. By de¬
grees, these communities of priests, shaking off their
dependence, formed separate bodies ; whereof the bi¬
shops, however, were still heads. In the tenth cen¬
tury, there were communities or congregations of the
same kind, established even in cities where there were
no bishops : these were called collegiates, as they used
the terms congregation and college indifferently : the
name chapter, now given to these bodies, being much
more modern. Under the second race of the French
kings, the canonical or collegiate life had spread
itself all over the country $ and each cathedral had its
chapter, distinct from the rest of the clergy. They
had the name canon from the Greek xure/r, which sig¬
nifies three different things ; a rule, a pension or fixed
revenue to live on, and a catalogue or matricula ; all
which are applicable to them.
In time, the canons freed themselves from their
rules, the observance relaxed, and, at length, they
ceased to live in community: yet they still formed bo¬
dies ; pretending to other functions besides the cele¬
bration of the common office in the church; yet as¬
suming the rights of the rest of the clergy: making
themselves as a necessary council of the bishop 5 taking
upon them the administration of a see during a vacan¬
cy, and the election of a bishop to supply it. There
are even some chapters exempt from the jurisdiction of
the bishop, and owning no head but their dean. After
the example of cathedral chapters, collegiate ones also
continued to form bodies, after they had abandoned
living in community.
Canons are of various kinds $ as,
Cardinal Canons, which are those attached, and, as
the Latins call it, incardinatiy to a church, as a priest
is to a parish.
Domicellary Canons, were young canons, who, not
being in orders, had no right in any particular chap¬
ters.
Expectative Canons, were such as, without having
any revenue or prebend, had the title and dignities of
canons, a voice in the chapter, and a place in the
choir j till such time as a prebend should fall.
Foreign Canons, were such as did not officiate in the
canonries to which they belonged. To these were op¬
posed mansionary canons, or canons residentiary.
Lay or honorary Canons, are such among the laity
as have been admitted, out of honour and respect,
into some chapter of canons.
Regular Canons, are canons that still live in com¬
munity ; and who, like religious, have, in process of
time, to the practice of their rules, added the solemn
profession of vows. They are called regulars, to dis¬
tinguish them from those secular canons who abandon
living in community, and at the same time the ob¬
servance of the canons made as the rule of the clergy,
for the maintenance of the ancient discipline. The
canons subsisted in their simplicity till the eleventh,
some say the twelfth century, when some of them, se¬
parating from the community, took with them the
name of canons, or acephalous priests, because they
declined to live in community with the bishop j and
those who were left thenceforth acquired the denomi¬
nation of canons regular, and adopted most of the pro-
Vol. V.Partl. +
fessions of the rule of St Augustine. This order of re- Canons,
gular canons of St Augustine was brought into Eng-v-*—
land by Adelwald, confessor to Henry I. who erected
a priory at Nostel in Yorkshire $ and obtained for
them the church of Carlisle as an episcopal see, with
the privilege of choosing their own bishop. They were
singularly protected and encouraged by Henry I. who
gave them the priory of Dunstable in 1107, and by
Queen Maud, who, in the following year, gave them
the priory of the Holy Trinity in London. It appears,
that under the reign of Edward I. they had fifty-three
priories.
Tertiary Canons, those who had only the third part
of the revenues of the canonicate.
Canon, in an ecclesiastical sense, is a law or rule,
either of doctrine or discipline, enacted especially by a
council, and confirmed by the authority of the sove¬
reign.
Canons are properly decisions of matters of religion j
or regulations of the policy and discipline of a church,
made by councils, either general, national, or provin¬
cial. Such are the canons of the council of Nice, or
Trent, &c.
There have been various collections of the canons
of the eastern councils; but four principal ones, each
ampler than the preceding. The first, according to
Usher, A. D. 380, containing only those of the first
ecumenical council, and the first provincial ones : they
were but 164 in number. To these, Dionysius Exi-
guus, in the year 520, added the 50 canons of the
apostles, and those of the other general councils. The
Greek canons in this second collection end with those
of the council of Chalcedon j to whieh are subjoined
those of the council of Sardica, and the African coun¬
cils. The fourth and last collection comes down as
low as the second council of Nice j and it is on this
that Balsamon and Zonaras have commented.
Apostolical Canons, are those which have been usu¬
ally ascribed to St Clement, Bellarmin, Baronius, &c.
will have them to be genuine canons of the apostles j
Catelerius observes, that they cannot be ascribed to the
apostles or Clement, because they are not received with
other books of Scripture, are not quoted by the writ¬
ers of the first ages, and contain many things not a-
greeable to the apostolical times : Hincmar, De Mar-
ca, Beveridge, &c. take them to be framed by the
bishops who were the apostles disciples in the second
or third century; S. Basnage is of opinion that they
were collected by an anonymous writer in the fifth
centery; but Daille, Sec. maintain them to have been
forged by some heretic in the sixth century; and S.
Basnage conjectures that some of them are ancient,
and others not older than the seventh century. The
Greek church allows only 85 of them, and the Latins
only 50 ; though there are 84 in the edition given of
them in the Corpus Juris Canonici.
Canon is also used for the authorized catalogue of
the sacred writings. See Bible.
The ancient canon, or catalogue of the books of the
Old Testament, was made by the Jews, and is ordi¬
narily attributed to Ezra ; who is said to have distri¬
buted them into the law, the prophets, and the hagio-
grapha, to which our Saviour refers, Luke, chap. xxiv.
ver. 44. The same division is also mentioned by Jo¬
sephus, cont. Appion.
S
This
CAN [ 138 ] CAN
Canon. Tins is the canon allowed to have been followed by
—the primitive church, till the council ol Carthage j
and, according to St Jerome, this consisted ol no more
than 22 books ; answering to the number of the He¬
brew alphabet 5 though at present they are classed into
24 divisions, containing Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus,
Numbers, Deuteronomy, Joshua, Judges, Samuel,
Kings, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, the twelve minor
prophets, the Psalms, the Proverbs, Job, Canticles,
Ruth, Lamentations, Ecclesiastes, Esther, Daniel, Ez¬
ra, comprehending the book ot Nehemiah and the
Chronicles. However, this order is not universally
observed either among Jews or Christians •, nor were
all the books above enumerated admitted into the ca¬
non in Ezra’s time. It is most likely, says Dr Pri-
deaux, that the two books of Chronicles, Ezra, Ne-
hemiali, Esther, and Maiachi, were added in the time
of Simon the Just, when the canon was completed.
But that council enlarged the canon very considerably,
taking into it the books which w’e call apocryphal ;
which the council of Trent has further enforced, en¬
joining all these to be received as books ot Holy Scrip¬
ture, upon pain of anathema, and being attainted of
heresy. The Romanists, in defence of this canon, say,
that it is the same with that of the council of Hippo,
held in 393 ; and with that of the third council of
Carthage, in 397, at which were present 46 bishops,
and, among the rest, St Augustine : who declared that
they received it from their fathers.
Their canon of the New Testament perfectly agrees
with ours. It consists of books that are well known ;
some of which have been universally acknowledged j
such are the four Gospels, and acts of the Apostles,
thirteen Epistles of St Paul, one Epistle of St Peter,
and one Epistle of St John ; and others, concerning
which doubts were entertained, but which were after¬
wards received as genuine ; such are the epistle to the
Hebrews, that of James, the second of Peter, the se¬
cond and third of John, that of Jude, and the Reve¬
lation. These books were written at different times j
and they are authenticated, not by the decress of coun¬
cils, or infallible authority, but by such kind of evi¬
dence as is thought sufficient in the case of any other
ancient writings. They were very extensively diffused j
they were read in every Christian society 5 they were
valued and preserved with care by the first Christians;
they were cited by Christian writers of the second,
third, and fourth century, as by Irenasus, Clement the
Alexandrian, Tertullian, Origen, Eusebius, &c. and
their genuineness is proved by the testimony of those
who were contemporary with the apostles themselves,
and by tradition. The four Gospels, and most of the
other books of the New Testament, were collected
either by one of the apostles, or some of their dis¬
ciples and successors, before the end of the first century.
The catalogue of canonical books furnished by the
more ancient Christian writers, as Origen about the
year 210, Eusebius and Athanasius in 315, Epiphanius
in 370, Jerome in 382, Austin in 394, and many
others, agrees with that which is now received among
Christians. For the time of writing the several books
, of the New Testament, see the titles of the books
themselves; as the Gospel of St Matthew, Mark,
&c.
Some of the fathers distinguish the inspired writings
into three classes ; proto-canonical, deutero-canomcal, Canon,
and apocryphal. ’ 
Paschal Canon, a table of the moveable feasts, show¬
ing the day of Easter, and the other feasts depending
on it, for a cycle of 19 years.
The paschal canon is supposed to be the calculation
of Eusebius of Caesarea, and to have been done by or¬
der of the council of Nice.
Canon, in monastic orders, a book wherein the re¬
ligious of every convent have a fair transcript of the
rules of their order, frequently read among them as
their local statutes. This is also called regula, as con¬
taining the rule and institution of their order.
The canon differs from the missale, martyrologium,
and necrologium.
Canon, again, is used for the catalogue of saints
acknowledged and canoniz' d in the Romizh church.
Canon is also used, by way of excellence, in the
Romish church, for the secret words of the mass, from
the preface to the Pater; in the middle of which the
priest consecrates the host. The common opinion is,
that the canon of the mass commences with Te igitar,
&c. The people are to be on their knees, hearing the
canon ; and are to rehearse it to themselves, so as not
to be heard.
Canon, in the ancient music, is a rule or method of
determining the intervals of notes.
Ptolemy, rejecting the Aristoxenian way of measur¬
ing the intervals in music, by the magnitude of a tone
(which was supposed to be formed by the difference
between a diapente and a diatessaron), thought that
musical intervals should be distinguished, according to
the ratios or proportions which the sounds terminating
those intervals bear to one another, when considered
according to their degree of acuteness or gravity;
which, before Aristoxenus, was the old Pythagorean
way. He therefore made the diapason consist in a
double ratio; the diapente, in a sesquialterate; the
diatessaron, in a sesquitertian ; and the tone itself, in
a sesquioctave ; and all the other intervals, according
to the proportion of the sounds that terminate them :
wherefore taking the canon (as it is called) for a de¬
terminate line of any length, he shows how this ca¬
non is to be cut accordingly, so that it may represent
the respective intervals : and this method answers ex¬
actly to experiment, in the different lengths of musical
chords. From this canon, Ptolemy and his followers
have been called Canonici; as those of Aristoxenus
were called Musici.
Canon, in modern music, is a kind of fugue, which
they call a perpetual fugue, because the different parts
beginning one after another, repeat incessantly the
same air.
Formerly, says Zarlino, they placed, at the head of
perpetual fugues, particular directions which showed
how this kind of fugues was to be sung ; and these di¬
rections, being properly the rules by which perpetual
fugues were composed, were called canoni, rules or ca¬
nons. 1'rom this custom, others taking the title for the
thing signified, by a metonymy, termed this kind of
composition canon. Such canons as are composed with
the greatest facility, and of consequence most generally
used, begin the fugue either with the octave or the
unison ; that is to say, that every part repeats in the
same tone the melody of the preceding. In order to
form
CAN [i
fofm a canon of this kind, it is only necessary for the
J composer to make an air according to his taste : to add
in score as many parts as he chooses, where the voices
in octave or unison repeat the same melody ; then
forming a single air from all these parts successively
executed, to try whether this succession may form an
entire piece, which will give pleasure as well in the har¬
mony as the melody.
In order to execute such a canon, he who sings the
first part begins alone, and continues till the air is
finished 3 then recommences immediately, without any
suspense of sound or interruption of time ; as soon as
he has ended the first couplet, which ought to serve
for the perpetual subject upon which the whole canon
has been composed, the second part begins and repeats
the same couplet, whilst the first who had begun pur¬
sues the second : others in succession begin and pro¬
ceed the same way, as soon as he who precedes has
reached the end of the first couplet. Thus, by inces¬
santly recommencing, an universal close can never be
found, and the canon may be repeated as long as the
singers please.
A perpetual fugue may likewise consist of parts
which begin with the intervals of a fourth or fifth 3 or,
in other words, every part may repeat the melody of
the first, a fourth or a fifth higher or lower. It is then
necessary that the whole canon should be invented di
prima intenzione, as the Italians say 3 and that sharps
or flats should be added to the notes, whose natural
gradations do not answer exactly, by a fourth or fifth,
to the melody of the preceding part, and produce the
same intervals with itself. Here the composer cannot
pay the least regard to modulation ; his only care is,
that the melody may be the same, which renders the
formation of a canon more difficult 5 for at every time
when any part resumes the fugue, it takes a new key 3
it changes the tone almost at every note, and, what
is still worse, no part is at the same time found in the
same tone with another ; hence it is that this kind of
canons, in other respects far from being easy to be
perused, never produce a pleasing effect, however good
the harmony may be, and however properly it may be
sung.
There is a third kind of canon, but very scarce, as
well because it is extremely difficult, as because it is
for the most part incapable of giving pleasure, and can
boast no other merit but the pains which have been
thrown away in its composition. This may be called
a double canon inverted, as well by the inversions which
are practised in it with respect to the melody of the
parts, as by those which are found among the parts
themselves in singing. There is such an artifice in
this kind of canon, that, whether the parts be sung in
their natural order, or whether the paper in which
they are set be turned the contrary way, to sing them
backward from the end to the beginning, in such a
manner that the bass becomes the upper part, and the
rest undergo a similar change, still you have pretty har¬
mony and still a regular canon. The reader may con¬
sult Rousseau’s Dictionary in this article, where he is
referred to Plate D. fig. 11. for two examples of ca¬
nons of this sort extracted from Bontempi, who like¬
wise gives rules for their composition. But he adds,
that the true principle from which the rule is deduced
will be found at the word systeme, in his account of
39 1
CAN
the system of Tartini, to which we must likewise once
more refer the reader ; as a quotation of such length
must have protracted our article to an enormous ex¬
tent.
To form a canon, in which the harmony may be a
little varied, it is necessary that the parts should not
follow each other in a succession too rapid, and that
the one should only begin a considerable time after the
other. When they follow one another so immediately
as at a distance of a semibreve or a minim, the dura¬
tion is not sufficient to admit a great number of chords,
and the canon must of necessity exhibit a disagreeable
monotony 3 but it is a method of composing, without
much difficulty, a canon in as many parts as the com¬
poser chooses. For a canon of four bars only will con¬
sist of eight parts, if they follow each other at the di¬
stance of half a bar : and by each bar which is added,
two parts will constantly be gained.
The emperor Charles VI. who was a great musician,
and composed extremely well, took much pleasure in
composing and singing canons. Italy is still replete
with most beautiful canons composed for this prince, by
the best masters in that country. To what has been said
by Rousseau, xve need only subjoin, that the English
catch and the Italian canon are much the same 3 as any
intelligent reader may perceive, from comparing the
structure and execution of the English catch with the
account of canons which has now been given.
Canon, in Geometry and Algebra, a general rule
for the solution of all cases of a like nature with the
present inquiry. Thus every last step of an equation,
is a canon 3 and, if turned into words, becomes a rule
to solve all questions of the same nature with that pro¬
posed.
Canon Law, a collection of ecclesiastical laws,
serving as the rule and measure of church-govern¬
ment.
The power of making laws was exercised by the
church before the Roman empire became Christian.
The canon law that obtained throughout the west, till
the 12th century, was the collection of canons made
by Dionysius Exiguus in 520, the capitularies of Char¬
lemagne, and the decrees of the popes from Sircius to
Anastasius.
The canon law, even when papal authority was at its
height in England, was of no force when it was found
to contradict the prerogative of the king, the laws,
statutes and customs of the realm, or the doctrine of
the established church.
The ecclesiastical jurisdiction of the see of Rome in
England was founded on the canon law; and this creat¬
ed quarrels between kings and several archbishops and
prelates who adhered to the papal usurpation.
Besides the foreign canons, there were several laws
and constitutions made here for the government of the
church : but all these received their force from the
royal assent 3 and if, at any time, the ecclesiastical
courts did, by their sentence, endeavour to enforce
obedience to such canons, the courts at common law,
upon complaints made, would grant prohibition. The
authority vested in the church of England of making
canons, was ascertained by a statute of Henry VIII.
commonly called the act of the clergy's submission ; by
which they acknowledged, that the convocation had
always been assembled by the king’s writ 5 so that,
S 2 though
Canon.
CAN
[
€anon though the power of making canons resided in the cler-
|j gy met in convocation, their force was derived from
Canonical jlje authority of the king’s assenting to and confirming
ments.* them*
<- m~'|1 ^ ■ The old canons continued in full force till the reign
of James I. when the clergy being assembled in convo¬
cation, the king gave them leave to treat and consult
upon canons; which they did, and presented them to
the king, who gave them the royal assent: these were
a collection out of several preceding canons, and in¬
junctions. Some of these canons are now obsolete. In
the reign of Charles I. several canons were passed by
the clergy in convocation.
CANONESS, in the Romish church, a woman who
enjoys a prebend, affixed, by the foundation, to maids,
without their being obliged to renounce the world, or
make any vows.
CANONIC A, in philosophical history, an appella¬
tion given by Epicurus to his doctrine of logic. It
was called canonica, as consisting of a few canons or
rules for directing the understanding in the pursuit and
knowledge of truth. Epicurus’s canonica is represent¬
ed as a very slight and insufficient logic by several of
the ancients, who put a great value on his ethics and
physics. Laertius even assures us, that the Epicureans
rejected logic as a superfluous science ; and Plutarch
complains that Epicurus made an unskilful and pre¬
posterous use of syllogisms. But these censures seem
too severe. Epicurus was not averse to the study of
logic, but even gave better rules in this art than those
philosophers who aimed at no glory but that of logics.
He only seems to have rejected the dialectics of the
Stoics, as full of vain subtleties and deceits, and fitted
rather for parade and disputation than real use. The
stress of Epicurus’s canonica consists in his doctrine of
the criteria of truth. All questions in philosophy are
either concerning words or things : concerning things,
we seek their truth ; concerning words, their significa¬
tion j things are either natux’al or moral j and the form¬
er are either perceived by sense or by the understand¬
ing. Hence, according to Epicurus, arise three cri-
terions of truth, viz. sense, anticipation or prsenotion,
and passion. The great canon or principle of Epicu¬
rus’s logic is, that the senses are never deceived j and
therefore, that every sensation or perception of an ap¬
pearance is true.
CANONICAL, something that belongs to, or par¬
takes of, the nature of a rule or canon.
Canonical Hours, are certain stated times of the
day, consigned, more especially by the Romish church,
to the offices of prayer and devotion. Such are matins,
lauds, sixth, ninth vespers. In our country the cano¬
nical hours are from eight to twelve in the forenoon,
before or after which marriage cannot be legally per¬
formed in any parish church.
Canonical Obedience, is that submission which, by
the ecclesiastical law's, the inferior clergy are to pay to
their bishops, and religious to their superiors.
Canonical Sins, in the ancient church, those which
were capital or mortal. Such especially were idolatry,
murder, adultery, heresy, and schism.
Canonical Punishments, are those which the church
may inflict 5 such as excommunication, degradation,
and penance, in Roman Catholic countries 5 also fasting,
alms, whipping, &c._
40 ] CAN
Canonical Life, the method or rule of living pre- Canonic
scribed by the ancient clergy who lived in community. life
The canonical life was a kind of medium between the II
monastic and clerical lives. Originally the orders of.CaDonit
monks and clerks were entirely distinct; but pious per- ^
sons, in process of time, instituted colleges of priests
and canons, where clerks, brought up for the ministry,
as well as others already engaged therein, might live
under a fixed rule, which, though somewhat more easy
than the monastic, was yet more restrained, than the
secular. This was called the canonical life, and those
who embraced it canons. Authors are divided about
the founder of the canonical life. Some will have it to
be founded by the apostles ; others ascribe it to Pope
Urban I. about the year 1230, who is said to have
ordered bishops to provide such of their clergy as were
willing to live in community, with necessaries out of
the revenues of their churches. The generality attri¬
bute it to St Augustine 5 who, having gathered a num¬
ber of clerks to devote themselves to religion, institut¬
ed a monastery within the episcopal palace, where he
lived in community with them. Onuphrius Panvinus,
brings the institution somewhat lower, according to
him, Pope Gelasius I. about the year 495, placed the
first regular canons of St Augustine in the Lateran
church.
Canonical Letters, in the ancient church, were a
sort of testimonials of the orthodox faith, which the
bishops and clergy sent each other to keep up the Ca¬
tholic communion, and distinguish orthodox Christians
from Arlans and other heretics. They were denomi¬
nated canonical, either as being composed according to
a certain rule or form, or because they were given to
the canonici, that is, those comprehended in the canon
or catalogue of their church. When they had occasion
to travel into other dioceses or countries, dimissory and
recommendatory letters, also letters of peace, &c. were
so many species of canonical letters.
Canonical is also an appellation given to those
epistles in the New Testament, more frequently called
catholic or general epistles.
CANONICUM, in a general sense, denotes a tax or
tribute.
Canonicum is more particularly used in the Greek
church for a fee paid by the clergy to bishops, arch¬
bishops, and metropolitans, for degrees and promo¬
tions.
Canonicum also denotes a due of first fruits, paid
by the Greek laity to their bishops, or, according to
Du Cange, to their priests. The canonicum is affected
according to the number of houses or chimneys in a
place.
The emperor Isaac Comnenus made a constitution
for regulating the canonicum of bishops, which was
confirmed by another made in 1086, by his nephew
Alexis Comnenus. A village containing thirty fires,
was to pay for its canonicum one piece of gold, two of
silver, one sheep, six bushels of barley, six of wheat
flour, six measures of wine, and thirty hens.
CANONIST, a person skilled in or who makes pro¬
fession of the study and practice of the canon law. Ca¬
nonists and civilians are usually combined in the same
persons : and hence the title of doctor juris utriusquer.
or legum doctor, usually expressed in abbreviature,
LL.D. or J.U.D.
CANONIZATION.
( oniza*
ion
II
I lopns.
l ■■ ■ ■1
CAN [ 141 ] CAN
CANONIZATION, a ceremony in the Romish
church, by which persons deceased are ranked in the
catalogue of the saints. It succeeds beatification.
Before a beatified person is canonized, the qualifica¬
tions of the candidate are strictly examined into, in
some consistories held for that purpose ; after which,
one of the consistorial advocates, in the presence of
the pope and cardinals, makes the panegyric of the
person who is to be proclaimed a saint, and gives a
particular detail of his life and miracles ; which done,
the holy father decrees his canonization, and appoints
the day.
On the day of canonization the pope officiates in
white, and their eminences are drest in the same colour.
St Peter’s church is hung with rich tapestry, upon
which the arms of the pope, and of the prince or state
requiring the canonization, are embroidered in gold
and silver. An infinite number of lights blaze all round
the church, which is crowded with pious souls, who
wait with devout impatience till the new saint has made
his public entry as it were into paradise, that they may
offer up their petitions to him without danger of being
rejected.
The following maxim with regard to canonization is
now observed, though it has not been followed above a
century, viz. not to enter into the inquiries prior to ca¬
nonization, till 50 years at least after the death of the
person to be canonized. By the ceremony of canoni¬
zation, it appears that this rite of the modern Romans
has something in it very like the apotheosis or deifica¬
tion of the ancient Romans, and, in all probability, takes
its rise from it $ at least several ceremonies of the same
nature are conspicuous in both.
CANONRY, the benefice filled by a canon. It dif¬
fers from a prebend, in that the prebend may subsist
without the canonicate, whereas the canonicate is inse¬
parable from the prebend ; again, the right of suffrages,
and other privileges, are annexed to the canonicate,
and not to the prebend.
CANOPUS, in Astronomy, a star of the first mag¬
nitude in the rudder of Argo, a constellation of the
southern hemisphere.
Canopus, in Pagan mythology, one of the deities of
the ancient Egyptians, and, according to some the
god of water. It is said, that the Chaldeans, who
worshipped fire, carried their fancied deity through
other countries to try its powers, in order that, if it
obtained the victory over the other gods, it might be
acknowledged as the true object of worship; and it
having easily subdued the gods of wood, stone, brass,
silver and gold, its priests declared that all gods did it
homage. This the priest of Canopus hearing, and finding
that the Chaldeans had brought their god to contend
with Canopus, they took a large earthen vessel, in
which they bored several holes, which they afterwards
stopped with wax, and having filled the vessel with wa¬
ter, painted it of several colours, and fitting the head
of an idol to it, brought it out in order to contend with
the Chaldean deity. The Chaldeans accordingly kin¬
dled their fire all round it; but the heat having melted
the wax, the water gushed out through the holes, and
extinguished the fire ; and thus Canopus conquered the
god of the Chaldeans.
Canopus, or Canobus, according to Strabo, had been
Menelaus’s pilot, and had a temple erected to him in a
town called Canopus, near one of the mouths of the Nile. Canopus
Dionysius mentions it: II
t _ Canosa.
K%< Ttpuii TTiQtTrwrci AftvxXui 910 KavaZov. v,,.—v..i, 1
There stands Canobus’ temple known to fame :
. The pilot who from fair Amycla came.
Vossius remarks, on this occasion, the vanity of the
Greeks, who, as he conjectures, hearing of an Egyptian
deity named Canopus, took from thence an opportunity
of deifying the pilot of Menelaus who bore the same
name, and giving out that the Egyptian god Canopus
had been a Greek. E. Montfaucon gives several re¬
presentations of this deity. One, in allusion to the
victory above-mentioned, throws out water on every
side through little holes.
Canopus, or Canobus, in Ancient Geography, a
town of the Lower Egypt, on the Mediterranean, a
hundred and twenty stadia, or fifteen miles, to the
east of Alexandria; as old as the war of Troy, Ca¬
nopus, or Canobus, Menelaus’s steersman, being there
buried. Canopcei the gentilitious name ; famous for
their luxury and debauchery (Strabo, Juvenal). See
Aboukir.
CANOPY, in Architecture and Sculpture, a magni¬
ficent kind of decoration, serving to cover and crown an
altar, throne, tribunal, pulpit, chair, or the like. The
word is formed from the barbarous Latin canopeum, of
r.mmTriio'i, a net spread over a bed to keep off the gnats,
from a gnat.
Canopies are also borne over the head in processions
of state, after the manner of umbrellas. The canopy
of an altar is more peculiarly called ciborium.
The Roman grandees had their canopies, or spread
veils, called thensce, over their chairs ; the like were also
in temples over the statues of their gods. The modern
cardinals still retain the use of canopies.
CANOSA, a town of Puglia in Italy, occupying
part of the site of the ancient Canusium. The old
city was founded by Diomedes, according to Strabo.
It afterwards became a Roman colony,! and one of the
most considerable cities of this part of Italy for extent,
population, and magnificence of building. The era of
Trajan seems to have been that of its greatest splen¬
dour ; but this pomp only served to mark it as a capital
object for the avarice and fury of the Barbarians.
Genseric, Totila, and Autharis, treated it with ex¬
treme cruelty. The deplorable state to which this Swift-
province was reduced in 590 is concisely but strongly Wwe’*
painted by Gregory the Great in these terms : “ On Travels m
every side we hear groans; on every side we behold^2cl
crowds of mourners, cities burnt, castles razed to the^' 4C
ground, countries become waste, provinces become de¬
serts, some citizens led away captives, and others in¬
humanly massacred.” No town in Puglia suffered
more than Canosa from the outrages of the Saracens;
the contests between the Greeks and Normans increas¬
ed the measure of its woes, which was filled by a con¬
flagration that happened when it was stormed by duke
Robert. In 1090, it was assigned, by agreement, to
Bohemund prince of Antioch, who died hei’e in mi.
Under the reign of Ferdinand the Third, this estate
belonged to the Grimaldis. On their forfeiture,
the Affaititi acquired it, and still retain the title of
marquis, though the Capeci are the proprietors of the
fief.
The
CAN [i
Caiiosa The ancient city stood in a plain between the hills
II and the river Ofahto, and covered a large tract of
Cantu in a. grouI)(J4 Many brick monuments, though degraded and
stripped of their marble casing, still attest its ancient
grandeur. Among them may be traced the fragments
of aqueducts, tombs, amphitheatres, baths, military co¬
lumns, and two triumphal arches, which, by their po¬
sition, seem to have been two city gates. The present
’tow'n stands above, on the foundations of the old cita¬
del, and is a most pitiful remnant of so great a city,
not containing above three hundred houses. The
church of Sabinas, built, as is said, in the sixth cen¬
tury, is now without the enclosure. It is astonishing
that any part of this ancient cathedral should have
withstood so many calamities. If:s altars and pavements
are rich in marble ; and in a small court adjoining,
under an octagonal cupola, is the mausoleum of Bohe-
mund, adorned in a minute Gothic style.
CANSO, a sea-port town of Nova Scotia, in North
America, seated on a narrow strait which separates
Nova Scotia from Cape Breton. It has two bays which
afford safe anchorage. Near this town is a fine fishery
for cod. W. Long. 62. N. Lat. 46.
CANSTAT, a town of Swabia, in Germany, in the
kingdom of Vt irtemberg, situated on the river Neckar,
in E. Long. 9. 9. N. Lat. 48. 51.
CANT, a quaint affected manner of speaking, a-
dapted chiefly to the lower sort. Skinner racks his in¬
vention for the origin of this word ; which he succes¬
sively deduces from the German, Flemish, and Saxon
tongues. According to the general opinion, Cant is
originally the proper name of a Cameronian preacher
in Scotland, who by exercise had attained the faculty
of talking in the pulpit in such a tone and dialect as was
understood by none but his own congregation : since
Andrew Cant’s time, the word has been extended to
signify all sudden exclamations, and whining unmusical
tones, especially in praying and preaching. But this
origin of the word lias been disputed by others : and
perhaps the true derivation is from the Latin cantare
“ to sing.”
Cant is also applied to words and phrases affected by
particular persons or professions for low ends, and not
f authorized by the established language*. The differ¬
ence between eawtf and taAmca/seems to be this : the
former is restrained to words introduced out of folly,
affectation, or imposture : the latter is applied to such
as are introduced for the sake of clearness, precision,
and significancy.
Cant is also used to denote a sale by auction. The
origin of the word in this sense is dubious \ it may
come, according to some, from quantum, how much 5
according to others, from cantare, to sing or cry aloud ;
agreeably to which, we sometimes also call it an out¬
cry.
Cant-Timbers, in ship-building, those timbers which
are situated at the two ends of a ship. They derive
their name from being canted, or raised obliquely from
the keel ; in contradistinction from those whose planes
are perpendicular to it. The upper ends of those on
the bow, or fore part of the ship, are inclined to the
stern j as those in the after or hind part, incline to the
stern post above. See SHip-Building.
CANTABRIA, in Ancient Geography, a district of
Tarraconensis, on the Oceanus Cantabricu?, or bay
ing Lan
guage,
42 ] CAN
of Biscay; now Biscay. The inhabitants were fa- CantaWi
mous for their warlike character. In conjunction with
the Asturians f, they carried on desperate wars with+ ,Se«
the Romans; but were subdued by them about 2$uas'
years before Christ. Being impatient, however, of a
foreign yoke, they in a few years revolted. Most of
their youth had been already taken prisoners by the
Romans, and sold for slaves to the neighbouring na¬
tions: hut having found means to break their chains,
they cut the throats of their masters ; and returning
into their own country, attacked the Roman garrisons
with incredible fury. Agrippa marched against them
with great expedition ; but on his arrival, met with so
vigorous a resistance, that his soldiers began to despair
of ever being able to reduce them. As the Cantabrians
had waged war with the Romans for upwards of 200
years, they were well acquainted with their manner of
fighting, no way inferior to them in courage, and were
now become desperate ; well knowing, that if they
were conquered, after having so often attempted to re¬
cover their liberty, they must expect the most severe
usage, and cruel slavery. Animated with this reflec¬
tion, they fell upon the Romans with a fury hardly to
be expressed, routed them in several engagements, and
defended themselves when attacked by the enemy with
such intrepidity, that Agrippa afterwards owned that
he had never, either by sea or land, been engaged in a
more dangerous enterprise. That brave commander
was obliged to use entreaties, menaces, and to brand
some of his legionaries with ignominy, before he could
bring them to enter the lists with such a formidable
enemy. But having at last, with much ado, prevailed
upon them to try the chance of an engagement in the
open field, he so animated them by his example, that
alter a most obstinate dispute, he gained a complete
victory, which indeed cost him dear, hut put an end
to that destructive war. All the Cantabrians fit to bear
arms were cut in pieces, their castles and strong holds
taken and razed ; and their women, children, and
old men (none else being left alive,) were obliged
to abandon the mountainous places, and settle in the
plain.
I)r Wallis seems to make the Cantabrian the ancient
language of all Spain : which, according to him, like
the Gaulish, gave way to a kind of broken Latin called
romance, romansh; which by degrees was refined in¬
to the Castilian or present Spanish. But we can hard¬
ly suppose that so large a country, inhabited by such a
variety of people, spoke all the same language. The
ancient Cantabrian, in effect, is still found to subsist in
the more barren and mountainous parts of the provinces
of Biscay, Asturias, and Navarre, as far as Bayonne,
much as the British does in Wales ; but the people
only talk it: for writing, they use either the Spanish
or Irench, as they happen to live under the one or the
other nation. Some attribute this to a jealousy of fo¬
reigners learning the mysteries of their language ;
others to a poverty of words' and expressions. The
Cantabrian does not appear to have any affinity with
any other known language, abating that some Spanish
words have been adopted in it for things whose use the
Biscayans were anciently unacquainted with. Its pro¬
nunciation is not disagreeable. The Lord’s prayer, in
the Cantabrian tongue, runs thus : Gure aita cervetan
aicena, santijica bedi hire icena, ethor ledi hire resuma,
eguin
CAN [ H3 ] CAN
,tabria e^uin becli hire vorandatea cervan becala lurrean ere,
tl &c-
ntaro. CANTABRXCA, in Botany, a synonyme of a spe-
'Y~~l c;es of Convolvulus.
CANTABRUM, in antiquity, a large kind of flag
used by the Roman emperors, distinguished by its pe¬
culiar colour, and bearing on it some word or motto of
good omen, to encourage the soldiers.
CANTACUZENUS, Johannes, of Constantinople,
a celebrated statesman, general, and historian, was
born in that city, of a very ancient and noble family.
He was bred to letters and to arms, and admitted to
the highest offices in the state. The emperor Andro-
nicus loaded him with wealth and honour ; made him
generalissimo of his forces ; and was desirous of hav¬
ing him join him in the government, but this he re¬
fused. Andronicus dying in 1341, left to Cantacu-
/.enus the care of the empire, till his son John Paleo-
logus, who was then but nine years of age, should be
fit to take it upon himself. This trust he faithfully
discharged •, till the empress-dowager and her faction
forming a party against him, declared him a traitor.
On this the principal nobility and the army besought
him to ascend the throne *, and accordingly he was
crowned on the 21st of May 1342. This was follow¬
ed by a civil war, which lasted five years j when he
admitted John a partner with him in the empire, and
their union was confirmed by his giving him his
daughter in marriage. Suspicions and enmities, how¬
ever, soon arising, the war broke out again, and con¬
tinued till John took Constantinople in 1355. A few
days after, Cantacuzenus, unwilling to continue the
effusion of blood, abdicated his share of the empire,
and retiring to a monastery, took the habit of a monk,
and the name of Joasaphas. His wife also retired
to a nunnery, and changed her name of Irene for that
of Eugenia. In this retirement he lived till the year
1411, when he was upwards of 100 years of age. Here
he wrote a history of his own times, a L^tin transla¬
tion of which, from the Greek manuscript, was pub¬
lished by Pontanus at Ingolstadt, in 1603 ; and a splen¬
did edition was printed at Paris in 1645, in three vo¬
lumes folio, of the original Greek, and Pontanus’s La¬
tin version. He also wrote an apology for the Chris¬
tian religion against that of Mahomet, under the name
of Christodulus.
CANTAL, a department of France, forming part of
the ancient Auvergne. It contains 2300 square miles,
and had 252,000 inhabitants in 1815. Aurillac is the
chief town.
CANTALIVERS, in Architecture, pieces of wood
framed into the front or sides of a house, to suspend
the mouldings and eyes over it.
CANTAR, or Cantaro, an eastern weight, of
different value in different places, equal at Acra in
Turkey to 603 pounds, at Tunis and Tripoli to 114
pounds.
Cantar is also an Egyptian weight, which is de¬
nominated a quintal, and consists of a hundred or of an
hundred and fifty rotolos, according to the goods they
are to weigh.
Cantaro is also an Egyptian weight, which at
Naples is equivalent to 25 pounds, at Genoa to 150
pounds. At Leghorn there are three kinds of canta-
ros, one weighing 150 pounds, another 151, and a third Cantaro
160 pounds. (]
Cantaro is also a Spanish liquid measure, in use Cantemir.
especially at Alicant, containing three gallons. v~"
Cantaro is also a measure of capacity, used at Co¬
chin, containing four rubis, the rubi 32 rotolos.
CANTARINI, Simon, a famous painter, called the
JPeserese, from his being born at Pesaro, was the dis¬
ciple of Guido ; and copied the manner of his master so
happily that it is often difficult to distinguish between
their works. He died at Verona in 1648.
CANTATA, in Music, a song or composition, inter¬
mixed with recitatives, airs, and different movements,
chiefly intended for a single voice, with a thorough
bass, though sometimes for other instruments. It was
first used in Italy, then in France, whence it passed
to us.
CANTAZARO, an episcopal city of Italy, in the
kingdom of Naples, and in the territory of Calabria
Ulterior. It is the residence of the governor of the
province, and is seated near the sea, in E. Long. 17.0.
N. Lat. 38. 59.
CANTECROIX, a small territory of the Nether¬
lands in Brabant, and in the quarter of Antwerp, with
the title of a principality ; there is a small town of the
same name, but Lire is the capital.
CANTEMIR, Demetrius, son of a prince of Mol¬
davia. Disappointed by not succeeding his father in
that dignity, held under the Ottoman Porte, he went
over with his army to the Czar Peter the Great, against
whom he had been sent by the Grand Signior : He
signalized himself in the czar’s service ; and in the
republic of letters, by a Latin history of the origin
and decline of the Ottoman empire, &c. He died
in 1723.
Cantemir, Antiochus, esteemed the founder of the
Russian poetry, was the youngest son of the preced¬
ing. Under the most ingenious professors, whom the
czar had invited to Petersburgh, he learned mathe¬
matics, physic, history, moral philosophy, and polite
literature 5 without neglecting the study of the Holy
Scriptures, to which he had a great inclination. Scarce
had he finished his academic course, when he printed a
Concordance of the Psalms in the Russian language,
and was elected member of the academy. The af¬
fairs of state in which he was soon after engaged, did
not make him neglect his literary pursuits. In order
to make himself useful to his fellow citizens, he com¬
posed his satires, to ridicule certain prejudices which
had got footing among them. When but 24 years of
age, he was nominated minister at the court of Great
Britain j and his dexterity in the management of pub¬
lic affairs was as much admired as his taste for the
sciences. He had the same reputation in France,
whither he went in 1738 in quality of minister ple¬
nipotentiary, and soon after was invested with the
character of ambassador extraordinary. The wise and
prudent manner in which he conducted himself during
the different revolutions which happened in Russia du¬
ring his absence, gained him the confidence and esteem
of three successive princes. He died of a dropsy, at
Paris, in 1744, aged 44. Besides the pieces already
mentioned, he wrote, 1. Some Fables and Odes. 2. A
translation of Horace’s Epistles in Russian verse. 3. A
prose
CAN [
Cantemir, prose translation of Fontenelle’s Plurality of'W orlds •,
Ca*terbury.and, 4. Algarotti’s Dialogues on Sight. The Abbe
» Guasco has written his life in French, and translated
his satires into that language.
CANTERBURY, a city of England, and capital
of the county of Kent, situated in E. Long. 1. 15.
N. Lat. 51. 16. It has the names of Durovernum
and Dai'vernum given it by the Romans, and Durober-
nia by Bede, which are thought to be derived from
Durwhem, signifying a rapid stream, such as the Stour,
on which it stands, is. The Britons call it Caer Kent,
i. e. the city of Kent; and its present English name is
of the same import, derived from the Saxon. Modern
writers in Latin call it Cantnaria. Its great antiquity
appears not only from Antoninus’s Itinerary, but from
the military way which has been discovered here, and
the causeways leading to Dover and Lymme, besides
the coins and other curiosities found about it. The
archiepiscopal and metropolitan dignity seems to have
been settled here very early 5 and to prevent its being
removed, an anathema was decreed against any who
should attempt it. After that, the city flourished great¬
ly $ though it suffered in common with other towns
during the Danish invasions, and at other times by the
casualties of fire. The city was given entirely to the
bishops by William Rufus, and was held in the utmost
veneration in the Popish times, especially after the
murder of Becket in the reign of Henry II. to whose
shrine so great was the resort, and so rich were the
ofierings, that Erasmus, who was an eye-witness of its
wealth, says the whole church and chapel in which he
was interred glittered with jewels j and at the dissolu¬
tion, the plate and jewels filled two great chests, each
of which required eight strong men to carry out. The
cathedral was granted by Ethelbert, king of Kent, up¬
on his conversion, to Austin the Monk, together with
his palace, and the royalty of the city and its territo¬
ries. Ihis Austin founded a monastery for monks,
called from him Augustine. After the cathedral had
been several times destroyed by fire and rebuilt, the
present was begun about the year 1174, and augment¬
ed and embellished by the succeeding archbishops, till
it rvas completed in the reign of Henry V. It is a
noble Gothic pile, and before the Reformation had 37
altars. A great many kings, princes, cardinals, and
archbishops, are buried in it. At the dissolution, Henry
VIII, seized all the revenues both of the church and
monastery, except what he allotted for the maintenance
of a dean, 12 prebendaries, and six preachers, whom
he established in place of the monks. During the
grand rebellion, it suffered much ; the usurper Crom¬
well having made a stable of it for his dragoons. Af¬
ter the Restoration, it was repaired, and made what it
now appears.
Besides the cathedral and other churches, as well as
a monastery, the city had anciently a castle on the
south side, and strong walls, with towers, a ditch, and
rampart j it had also a mint and an exchange. As to
its government, it seems to have been entirely subject
to the archbishop, both in spirituals and temporals j at
least from the time that William Rufus gave it solely
to Bishop Anselm, till the Reformation. It is now a
county of itself: and the corporation consists of a may¬
or, recorder, 12 aldermen, a sheriff, 24 common council
men, a mace-bearer, a sword-bearer, and four serjeants
3
144] CAN
at mace. Every Monday a court is held at Guildhall canterba1
for civil and criminal causes ; and every other Tuesday Cantervj
for the government of the city. Here were formerly '""“Y
2000 or 3000 French Protestants employed in the silk
manufacture ; but this branch is now greatly decayed
in the place, since Spittalfields became so flourishing.
Besides the cathedral, it contains 15 parish churches,
seven hospitals, a free school, a house of correction, a
gaol for criminals, and sumptuous conduit for supply¬
ing the inhabitants with water. It consists of four
streets, disposed in the form of a cross, and divided in¬
to six wards, which are about three miles in circumfe¬
rence. It is surrounded on all hands with hop grounds
much to its advantage, and is famed for its excellent
brawn. The population in 1811 was 10,200.
The diocese of Canterbury contains 257 parishes,
besides chapels, in Kent, and about 100 more in other
dioceses. These are called Peculiars ; it being an an¬
cient privilege of this see, that, wheresoever the arch¬
bishops had either manors or advowsons, the place was
exempted from the jurisdiction of the ordinary of the
diocese where it was situated, and was deemed in the
diocese of Canterbury. This see is valued in the king’s
books at 28161. 17s. 9|d. but is reckoned to produce
a clear revenue of 8000I. a year. The clergy’s tenths
come to 615I. 18s. 2^d. This see had many great
privileges in the time of Popery, some of which it still
retains. The archbishop is accounted primate and me¬
tropolitan of all England, and is the first peer in the
realm 5 having the precedence of all dukes not of the
blood-royal, and of all the great officers of state. In
common speech he is styled His Grace, and he writes
himself Divina Providentia; whereas other bishops style
themselves Divina Permissione. At coronations, he
places the crown on the king’s head; and, where-
ever the court may be, the king and queen are the
proper domestic parishioners of the archbishop of Can¬
terbury. The bishop of London is accounted his pro¬
vincial dean, the bishop of Winchester his sub-dean,
the bishop of Lincoln his chancellor, and the bishop of
Rochester his chaplain. This see hath yielded to the
church 18 saints ; to the church of Rome, 9 cardinals;
to the civil state of England, 12 lord chancellors, 4
lord treasurers, and 1 lord chief justice ; and 9 chanr
cellors to the university of Oxford. To this see belongs
only one archdeacon, viz. of Canterbury. To the ca¬
thedral belong an archbishop, a dean, a chancellor, an
archdeacon, 12 prebends, 6 preachers, 6 minor canons,
6 substitutes, 12 lay clerks, 10 choristers, 2 masters,
50 scholars, and 12 almsmen.
Canterbury Bell, the English name of a species of
Campanula. See Botany Index.
CANTERUS, William, an eminent linguist and
philologer, was born at Utrecht, in 1541. He studied
at Louvain and Paris ; and gave surprising proofs of
his progress in Greek and Latin literature. He after¬
wards visited the several universities of Germany and
Italy $ and died at Louvain, in 1575, aged 33. He
understood six languages, besides that of his native
country j and, notwithstanding his dying so younsr,
wrote several philological and critical works, among
which are, ISotce, Scholce, Emendationes, etExplicationes,
in Euripidem, Sophoclem, Eschylum, Ciceronem, Pro-
pertium, Ausonium, &c. and many translations of Greek
authors.
CANTHARIDES,
CAN [ 145 ] CAN
intha* GANTHABIDES, in the Materia Medica, flies
•ides which are employed to produce blisters on the skin.
II CANTHARIS, in Zoology, a genus of insects be-
nticles. ]ongjng to the order of insecta coleoptera. Linnaeus
^ enumerates 27 species of the cantharis, most of them
to be found in different parts of Europe. The can¬
tharis used in making blistering plasters is ranked un¬
der the genus Meloe. See Entomology Index.
CANTHI, in Anatomy, cavities at the extremities
of the eye-lids, commonly called the corners of the eye :
the greater of them, or the great canthus, is next the
nose ; the lesser of them, or the little canthus, lies to¬
wards the temple.
CANTICLES, a canonical hook of the Old Testa¬
ment, otherwise called the Song of Solomon; by the
Jews the Song of Songs, Canticum Canticorum. The
book of Canticles is usually supposed to be an epitha-
lamium composed by Solomon, on occasion of his mar¬
riage with the king of Egypt’s daughter. But those
who penetrate further into the mystery, find in it the
marriage of Jesus Christ with human nature, the church,
and good men. On this principle the Canticles is held
to be a continued allegory, wherein, under the terms
of a common wedding, a divine and spiritual marriage
is expressed. This song contains the adventures of
seven days and seven nights 5 the exact time allowed
for the celebration of marriage among the Hebrews.
The Jews themselves, apprehending the book liable to
be understood in a gross and carnal manner, prohibited
the reading of it before the age of 30, and the same
usage anciently obtained in the Christian church. A-
mong thel*ancients, Theodore Mopsuetanus rejected
the book of Canticles as not divine. Divers rabbins
have also questioned its being written by inspiration.
It is alleged, that the name of God is not once found
in it. Mr Whiston has a discourse express to prove
that the Canticles is not a sacred book of the Old
Testament. He alleges it indeed to have been writ¬
ten by King Solomon the son of David j but asserts
that it was composed at the time when that prince,
blinded by his concubines, was sunk in lust and idola¬
try. This he chiefly infers from the general character
of vanity and dissoluteness which reigns through the
Canticles : in which there is not, according to Whis¬
ton, one thought that leads the mind towards religion,
but all is worldly and carnal, to say no worse. For the
mystic sense, he asserts it to be without foundation j
and that the book is not cited as canonical by any
writer before the destruction of Jerusalem. Mr Whis¬
ton will haye it to have been taken into the canon be¬
tween the years 77 and 128, when allegories came
into vogue, and the rabbins began to corrupt the text
of Scripture. Grotius, Nierembergius, the Dutch di¬
vines who criticised F. Simon, Menetrier, Basnage, and
some others, seem also to take the Canticles for a pro¬
fane composition, on a footing with the love pieces of
Catullus or Ovid. But this opinion is refuted by Mi-
chaelis, Majus, Witsius, Nat. Alexander, Outrein,
Francius, and others. Mr Whiston’s arguments have
been particularly considered by Itchener, and also by
Dr Gill. R. Akiba finds the book of Canticles more
divine than the rest j the whole world, according to
this rabbin, is not worth that day when the Canticles
was given to Israel j for, whereas all the hagiographers
are holy, the Canticles is the holy of holies.
Vol. V. Part L
CANTIMARONS, or Catimarons, a kind of Cantima-
floats or rafts, used by the inhabitants of the coast of ions
Coromandel to go a fishing in, and to trade along the ^anyUi)1
coast. They are made of three or four small canoes, ■ ^ 'j
or trunks of trees dug hollow, and tied together with
cacao ropes, with a triangular sail in the middle, made
of mats. The persons who manage them are almost
half in the water, there being only a place in the mid¬
dle a little raised to hold their merchandise : which
last particular is only to be understood of the trading
cantimarons, and not of those that go a fishing.
CANTIN, Cape, a promontory of the coast of
Morocco, in Africa, situated in W. Long. 10. 2. N.
Lat. 33. 9.
CANTING, a sea phrase, denotes the act of turn¬
ing any thing about.
Canting Language or Dialect, is a mysterious sort
of jargon used by gypsies, thieves, and strolling beg¬
gars, to express their sentiments to each other, without
being understood by the rest of mankind. This dia¬
lect is not founded on any rules $ yet even out of that
irregularity many words seem to retain something of
scholarship j as togeman, a gown, from toga in the La¬
tin ; pannam, bread, from panis; casan, cheese, from
caseus, &c. It is observable, that, even unknown to
ourselves, we have adopted some of their terms into
our vulgar languagej as and to cheat; bounce,
to vapour ; bowse, strong ftrink) filch, to steal; fiog, to
whip; rig, game or ridicule ; roast, to rally ; rhino,
money. From the same source proceed the words sham,
banter, bubble, bully, sharper, cutting, shuffling, palm¬
ing, &c. An anonymous author has given a canting
dictionary, comprehending all the terms used by the
several tribes of gypsies, beggars, shoplifters, highway¬
men, foot-pads, and other clans of cheats and villains,
with a collection of songs in the canting dialect: Lon¬
don, 1725, 8vo.
CANTIUM, in Ancient Geography, a promontory
of Britain, literally denoting a headland : giving name
to a territory called Cantium, now Kent; and to a
people called Cantii (Caesar), commended for their
great humanity and politeness. The promontory now
the North Foreland. It is supposed that this w7as the
first district in Britain which received a colony from
the continent ; and that it had frequently changed its
masters, by new colonies coming over from time to
time, and driving the inhabitants further noi’th. In
the midst of all these revolutions it still retained its an¬
cient name (which was so agreeable to its shape and
situation), and gave the same name to all the successive
tribes by which it was inhabited. Those who possessed
it at the time of the first Roman invasion were evident¬
ly of Belgic origin, and had come over so lately, that
they differed in nothing from their countrymen on the
continent. “ The inhabitants of Kent (says Cassar) are
the most civilized of all the Britons, and differ but
very little in their manners from the Gauls.” This
great resemblance between the people of Kent and
their neighbours on the continent, might be partly
owing to the situation of their country, which being
nearest to the continent, was most frequented by
strangers from thence. It was this situation also
which exposed them to the first assaults of the Romans.
For Cassar, in both his expeditions into this island,
landed in Kent; and therefore we may conclude,
T that
f
CAN ' [ 146 ], CAN
Cantium tljat the Cantii had a great share in the vigorous op-
C, it a P05^*00 vvas niade to his landing, and in the se-
_"in "A‘ veral battles and skirmishes which were fought against
him after his landing ; particularly, they made a very
bold, but unsuccessful attempt* upon his naval camp.
The Cantii did not make the same vigorous resistance
to the Romans on their next invasion in the reign of
Claudius. For Aulus Plautius, the Roman general
in that expedition, traversed their country without
seeing an enemy 5 and as they now submitted to the
power of Rome without a struggle, so they continued
in a state of quiet submission to it to the very last. The
situation of Cantium occasioned its being much fre¬
quented by the Romans, who generally took their way
through it in their marches to and from the continent.
Few places in Britain are more frequently mentioned
by the Roman writers than Rutupium and Portus
Rutupensis, most probably Richborough and Stonar.
Rutupium was the same in those times that Dover is
in ours; the usual place of embarking for, and land¬
ing from, the continent. Before the final departure of
the Romans out of Britain, Portus Dubris, now Do¬
ver, had become a considerable place, and a w’ell fre¬
quented harbour, where the third iter of Antoninus
ends, and from whence they often embarked for Gaul.
Portus Lemanus, supposed to be Lime near West
Hythe, was also a noted sea-port in these times, and
the termination of the fourth iter of Antoninus. Du-
robrivae and Durovernum, now Rochester and Can¬
terbury, were both Roman towns and stations, and are
often mentioned in the Itinerary and other books.
Besides these, there were several other Roman stations,
towns, and ports in Cantium, which need not be par¬
ticularly enumerated here. Cantium, in the most per¬
fect state of the Roman government, made a part of
the province which was called Flavin Ccesariensts.
CANTO, denotes a part or division of a poem, an¬
swering to what is otherwise called a book. The word
is Italian, where it properly signifies song. Tasso, Ari¬
osto, and several other Italians, have divided their longer
or heroic poems into cantos. In imitation of them,
Scarron has also divided his Gtgantomachia^ and Boi-
leau his Lutrin, into chants or songs. The like usage
has been adopted by some English writers, as Butler,
who divides his Hudibras, and Dr Garth his Dispen¬
sary, into cantos. A late translator of part of Virgil’s
iEneid has even subdivided a book of Virgil into seve¬
ral cantos.
Canto, in the Italian music, signifies a song: hence
canto simplice is where all the notes or figures are equal,
and called also canto sermo ; canto jigurato, that where
the figures are- unequal, and express different motions.
Canto also signifies the treble part of a song; hence
canto concertante, the treble of the little chorus ; canto
repisno, the treble of the grand chorus, or that which
sings only now and then in particular places. Canto
signifies the first treble, unless some other word be
added to it, as secondo; in which case it denotes the
second treble.
CANTON, in Geography, denotes a small district
or country constituting a distinct government: such
are the cantons of Switzerland.
Canton, Quang-tong, or Koanton, one of the south¬
ern provinces of China; bounded on the north-east by
Fokien, on the north by Kiang-si, on the west by
t^uang-si and the kingdom ot looking,
where else by the sea. The country is diversified with 1
hills and plains, and the soil in general so fertile that
it produces two crops annually. Besides many of the
fruits of Europe, and those common in other parts
of the Indies, the province of Canton produces some
peculiar to itself. Abundance of valuable aromatic
woods is also to be met with in this province, as well
as eagle wood, ebony, &c. and in the mineral king¬
dom the province furnishes gold, precious stones, tin,
quicksilver, and copper. Silk and sugar are also culti¬
vated here, and pearls are fished upon the coasts ; so
that every thing which can contribute to the pleasure or
convenience of life is to be met with in Canton. “ One
begins (says P\ Premare) to have an idea of China, on
entering the river Canton. Both sides of it present
large fields of rice which resemble green meadows, and
extend beyond the reacb of sight. They are inter¬
sected by an infinite number of small canals, in such a
manner that the barks which pass and repass in them
seem at a distance, while the water which carries them
is concealed, to glide along the grass. Farther inland
the country appears covered with trees, and cultivated
along the valleys ; and the whole scene is interspersed
with villages, rural seats, and such a variety of de¬
lightful prospects, that one is never tired of viewing
them, and regrets to be obliged to pass them so
quickly.
All the coasts of this province abound with fish, and
furnish vast numbers of crabs, oysters, and tortoises of
an immense size. The inhabitants keep a prodigious
number of tame ducks, which they hatch in ovens or
dunghills, though it does not appear that they bor¬
rowed this custom from the Egyptians. The docility
of these creatures exceeds what we should be apt at
first to imagine. The inhabitants load a number of
small barks with them, and carry them in flocks to
feed on the sea shore, where they find shrimps and
other animals proper for their nourishment. But
though the ducks from the different barks are thus
unavoidably mixed together in the day time, they are
easily collected by only beating on a bason, on which
they immediately collect themselves into different flocks,
and each returns to its proper bark.
In this province the Chinese have also a method of
preserving, not only the flesh of the ducks, in such a
manner that it loses nothing of its original flavour,
but their eggs also. The latter operation is performed
by covering the eggs with a coat of clay mixed with
salt. When mixed in this manner, it seems that the
salt has the property of penetrating through the pores
of the shell, and thus impregnating the substance in the
eg£T» which it could not do by simple solution in water.
Canton, though it suffered much in the Chinese
wars, is at present one of the most flourishing provinces
of the empire; and being at a great distance from
court, its government is one of the most important.
A great number of fortresses, many of which are cities,
provided with numerous garrisons, have been built
along the coasts for the suppression of pirates and
robbers; for which purpose also a certain number of
troops are kept properly posted in different parts of
the province. It is divided into ten districts, which
contain as many cities of the first class, and 84 of the
second and third. The air in general is warm but
healthy,
CAN [ 147 ]
healthy, and the people are very industrious. They
'possess in an eminent degree the talent of’ imitation ; so
that if they are only shown any European work, they
can execute others like it with surprising exactness.
The most remarkable cities in the province besides
Canton the capital are, 1. Chao-tcheou-fou, chiefly
noted for a monastery of bonzes in its neighbourhood,
to which the adjacent country belongs, and the origin
of which is traced back for 800 or 900 years. It has
under its jurisdiction six cities of the third class ; near
one of these grows a reed of which several instruments
are made, which cannot be distinguished from real
ebony. The air of Chao-tcheou-fou, however, is un¬
healthy j and great numbers of the inhabitants are car¬
ried off annually by contagious distempers, which pre¬
vail from the middle of October to the beginning of
Decembe’’. 2. Kao-tcheou-fou, situated in a delight¬
ful and plentiful country. In the neighbourhood is
found a singular kind of stone much resembling mar¬
ble, on which are natural representations of rivers,
mountains, landscapes, and trees. These stones are
cut into slabs, and made into tables, &c. Crabs are
also caught on the coasts here, which very much re¬
semble those of Europe ; but, says Mr Grosier, they
have this -singularity, that when taken out of the wa¬
ter, they become petrified, without losing any thing of
their natural figure. 3. Kiun-tcheou-fou, the capital
of the island of Hai-nan. See Hai-nan.
Canton, a large, populous, and wealthy city of
China, capital of the province of that name, stands on
the banks of the river Taa, or great river, which, near
the city, is wide and spacious. The wall of the city
is pretty high, and about six or seven miles in circum¬
ference, though not more than one third of the ground
is occupied by buildings, the other parts being appro¬
priated to pleasure grounds or to fish ponds. The
country is extremely pleasant, and towards the east
hilly, so as to command a beautiful prospect of the city
and suburbs, the compass of which, together, is about
ten miles.
The buildings of Canton are in general low, consist¬
ing of one story and a ground floor, which is covered
with earth or red tiles in order to keep it cool j but
the houses of the most respectable merchants and man¬
darins are comparatively lofty and well built. In dif¬
ferent parts of the city and suburbs are joss houses or
temples, in which are placed the images worshipped by
the Chinese : before whom are placed, at particular
seasons, a vast variety of sweetmeats, oranges, great
plenty of food ready dressed, and also incense, which is
kept perpetually burning.
The streets of Canton are long and narrow, paved
with flat stones, adorned at intervals with triumphal
arches, which have a pleasing effect, and much crowded
with people. On both sides are shops as in London,
appropriated to the sale of different commodities j and
a kind of awning is extended from house to house,
which prevents the sun’s rays from incommoding either
inhabitants or passengers. At the end of every street
is a barrier, which, with the gates of the city, is shut
in the evening. In China street, which is pretty
long and considerably wider than the rest, reside mer¬
chants, whose trade, so far as respects china, lack¬
ered ware, fans, &c. is wholly confined to Europeans.
Most of them speak the foreign languages tolerably
well, or at least sufficiently intelligible to transact bu¬
siness. Besides these merchants there is a company of
twelve or thirteen, called the Cohong; who have an
exclusive right by appointment from authority to pur¬
chase the cargoes from the different ships, and also to
supply them with teas, raw silks, &c. in return. The
establishment of the Cohong, though injurious to pri¬
vate trade, is admirably well adapted for the security
of the different companies with which they traffic 5 be¬
cause each individual becomes a guarantee for the
whole 5 so that if one fail, the others consider them¬
selves as responsible.
In Canton there are no carriages ; all burdens are
carried by porters across their shoulders on bamboos $
as are also the principal people in sedan chairs, and the
ladies always. The streets of Canton may be traver¬
sed from morning till evening without seeing a woman,
those excepted who are Tartars, and even these but
very seldom.
On the wharf of the river, which is commodious and
pleasant, stand the factories of the different European
nations, viz. the Dutch, French, Swedes, Danes, Eng¬
lish, &c. In those reside the supercargoes belonging
to their respective companies, who are appointed to
dispose of the cargoes brought to market j to supply
the ships with others from Europe in return 5 and, du¬
ring their absence, to contract with the merchants for
such articles as may be judged necessary for the next
fleet. Between the residents of the factories the most
perfect cordiality subsists j in each a common and
splendid table is kept at the company’s expence, and
visits are reciprocally exchanged $ so that nothing is
wanting to make residence at Canton agreeable to an
European, but the pleasure naturally resulting from
the society of women.
The side of the river next the city is covered with
boats, which form a kind of town, or streets, in which
live the poorer sort of the Chinese, or rather the de¬
scendants of the Tartars. Some of the men come on
shore in the morning to their respective employments,
and in those sampans, or boats which are not station¬
ary, the women and also the men carry passengers
from place to place in the same manner as is done by
wherries on the Thames. On this river live many
thousand souls who never were permitted to come on
shore j whose only habitation is their boat j in which
they eat, drink, sleep, carry on many occupations, keep
ducks, 6cc. and occasionally a hog.
The manufactures of Canton are principally carried
on in the suburbs; though it has been frequently sup¬
posed that they were confined to the city j and this, by
some writers, has been given as a reason why Euro¬
peans are not permitted to enter within the gates. But
this is a mistake $ and perhaps the true reason for this
very singular restraint is, that the houses in which they
keep their women are chiefly within the city.
At Wampoa, a large commodious place for anchor¬
age, and which is about 12 or 14 miles from Canton,
the European vessels lie and unload their cargoes,
which are transmitted by lighters to the factories;
and by the same conveyance receive their respective
freights. Between this place and the city are three
hoppo, or customhouses, at which the boats passing and
repassing are obliged to stop, and undergo, with their
passengers, an examination, in order to prevent smug-
T 2 gling.
CAN [ MS ] CAN
Canton, gjing. The lighters just mentioned, and also the cap-
tain’s pinnace, are, however, excepted j the former
having proper officers on board for the purpose, and
the latter being narrowly watched and examined at the
landing.
The weather at Canton is, in summer, extremely
hot, arid in the months of December, January, and
February, cold : the country is nevertheless pleasant
and healthful, abounding with all the necessaries and
delicacies of life, which may be procured on terms much
cheaper than in Europe. The number of inhabitants
has been estimated at one million j but later calcula¬
tions have made the number considerably less. N. Lat.
23. 30. E. Long. 113. 20.
Canton, Jo/m, an ingenious natural philosopher,
was born in Stroud, in Gloucestershire, in 17185 and
was placed, when young, under the care of a Mr Da¬
vis of the same place, a very able mathematician, with
whom, before he had attained the age of nine years, he
had gone through both vulgar and decimal arithmetic.
He then proceeded to the mathematics, and particularly
to algebra and astronomy, wherein he had made a con¬
siderable progress, when his father took him from
school, and put him to learn his own business, which
was that of a broad-cloth weaver. This circumstance
was not able to damp his zeal for the acquisition of
knowledge. All his leisure time was devoted to the
assiduous cultivation of astronomical science; and, by
the help of the Caroline tables annexed to “ Wing’s
Astronomy,” he computed eclipses of the moon and
other phenomena. His acquaintance with that science
he applied likewise to the constructing of several kinds
of dials. But the studies of our young philosopher
being frequently pursued to very late hours, his father,
fearing that they would injure his health, forbade him
the use of a candle in his chamber any longer than for
the purpose of going to bed, and would himself often
see that his injunction was obeyed. The son’s thirst
of knowledge was, however, so great, that it made him
attempt to evade the prohibition, and to find means of
secreting his light till the family had retired to rest,
when he rose to prosecute undisturbed his favourite
pursuits. It was during this prohibition, and at these
hours, that he computed, and cut upon stone, with no
bettei an instrument than a common knife, the lines of
a large upright sun dial, on which, besides the hour of
the day, was shown the rising of the sun, his place in
the ecliptic, and some other particulars. Wffien this
was finished, and made known to his father, he permit¬
ted it to be placed before the front of his house, where
it excited the admiration of several gentlemen in the
neighbourhood, and introduced young Mr Canton to
their acquaintance, which was followed by the offer of
the use of their libraries. In the library of one of these
gentlemen, he found “ Martin’s Philosophical Gram¬
mar,” which was the first book that gave him a taste
for natural philosophy. In the possession of another gen¬
tleman, a few miles from Stroud, he first saw a pair of
globes. an object that afforded him uncommon plea¬
sure, from the great ease with which he could, solve
those problems he had hitherto been accustomed to
compute. The dial was beautified a few years ago at
the expence of the gentlemen at Stroud, several of
whom had been his schoolfellows, and who continued
still to regard it as a very distinguished performance. Canton
Among other persons with whom he became acquaint-
ed in early life, was the late reverend and ingenious
Dr Henry Miles of Tooting, a learned and respectable
member of the Royal Society, and of approved emi¬
nence in natural knowledge. This gentleman perceiv¬
ing that Mr Canton possessed abilities too promising
to be confined within the narrow limits of a country
town, prevailed on his father to permit him to come
to London. Accordingly he arrived at the metropolis,
March 4. 1737, and resided with Dr Miles at Tooting
till the 6th of May following 5 when he articled him¬
self for the term of five years, as a clerk to Mr Samuel
Watkins, master of the Academy in Spital-square. In
this situation, his ingenuity, diligence, and good con¬
duct, were so well displayed, that on the expiration
of his clerkship in May 1742, he was taken into part¬
nership with Mr Watkins for three years 5 which gen¬
tleman he afterwards succeeded in Spital-square, and
there continued during his whole life. In 1744, he
married Penelope, the eldest daughter of Mr Thomas
Colbrooke, and niece to James Colbrooke, Esq. banker
in London.
Towards the end of 174J* electricity, which seems
early to have engaged Mr Canton’s notice, received a
very capital improvement by the discovery of the fa¬
mous Leyden Phial. This event turned the thoughts
of most of the philosophers of Europe to that branch
of natural philosophy 5 and our author, who was one
of the first to repeat and to pursue the experiment,
found his assiduity and attention rewarded by many
capital discoveries. Towards the end of 1749, he was
concerned with his friend, the late Mr Benjamin Ro¬
bins, in making experiments in order to determine to
what height rockets may be made to ascend, and at
what distance their light may be seen. In 1750 was
read at the Royal Society Mr Canton’s “ Method of
making artificial magnets, without the use of, and yet
far superior to, any natural ones.” This paper pro¬
cured him the honour of being elected a member of
the society, and the present of their gold medal. The
same year he was complimented with the degree of
M. A. by the University of Aberdeen 5 and, in 1751,
was chosen one of the council of the Royal Society.
I752» our philosopher was so fortunate as to be
the first person in England who, by attracting the
electric fire from the clouds during a thunder storm,
verified Dr Franklin’s hypothesis of the similarity of
lightning and electricity. Next year, his paper en¬
titled, “ Electrical Experiments, with an attempt to
account for their several Phenomena,” was read at the
Royal Society. In the same paper Mr Canton men¬
tioned his having discovered, by a great number of ex¬
periments, that some clouds were in a positive, and
some in a negative, state of electricity. Dr Franklin,
much about the same time, made the like discovery in
America. This circumstance, together with our au¬
thor s constant defence of the doctor’s hypothesis, in¬
duced that excellent philosopher, immediately on his
arrival in England, to pay Mr Canton a visit, and gave
rise to a friendship which ever after continued without
interruption or diminution. In the “ Lady’s Diary
for 1736, our author answered the prize question that
had been proposed in the preceding year. The ques¬
tion
CAN [ 149 ] CAN
mton. tion was, “ How can what we call the shooting of
1 -f—/ stars be best accounted for j what is the substance of
this phenomenon j and in what state of the atmosphere
doth it most frequently shew itself?” The solution,
though anonymous, was so satisfactory to his friend,
Mr Thomas Simpson, who then conducted that work,
that he sent Mr Canton the prize, accompanied with a
note, in which he said, he was sure that he was not
mistaken in the author of it, as no one besides, that he
knew of, could have answered the question. Our phi¬
losopher’s next communication to the public, was a
letter in the “ Gentleman’s Magazine, for September
1759,” on the electrical properties of the tourmalin,
in which the laws of that wonderful stone are laid down
in a very concise and elegant manner. On December
13. in the same year, was read at the Royal Society,
“ An attempt to account for the regular diurnal va¬
riation of the Horizontal Magnetic Needle 5 and also
for its irregular variation at the time of an Aurora
Borealis.” A complete year’s observations of the di¬
urnal variations of the needle are annexed to the pa¬
per. On November 5. 1761, our author communicated
to the Royal Society an account of the Transit of Ve¬
nus, June 6. 1761, observed in Spital-square. M. Can-
ton’s next communication to the Society, was a letter
addressed to Dr Benjamin Franklin, and read Feb. 4.
17625 containing some remarks on Mr Delaval’s elec¬
trical experiments. On Dec. 16. in the same year,
another curious addition was made by him to philoso¬
phical knowledge, in a paper entitled, “ Experiments
to prove that water is not incompressible.” These ex¬
periments are a complete refutation of the famous
Florentine experiments, which so many philosophers
have mentioned as a proof of the incompressibility of
water. On St Andrew’s day, 1763, our author was
the third time elected one of the council of the Royal
Society: and on Nov. 8. in the following year, were
read before that learned body, his farther “ Experi¬
ments and observations on the compressibility of water,
and some other fluids.” The establishment of this fact,
in opposition to the received opinion, formed on the
hasty decision of the Florentine Academy, was thought
to be deserving of the Society’s gold medal, ft was
accordingly moved for in the council of 1764 5 and af¬
ter several invidious delays, which terminated much to
the honour of Mr Canton, it was presented to him
Nov. 30. 1766.
The next communication of our ingenious author to
the Royal Society, which we shall take notice of in
this place, was on Dec. 22. 1763, being “ An easy
method of making a Phosphorus that will imbibe and
emit light like the Bolognian stone 5 with experiments
and observations.” When he first showed to Dr Frank¬
lin the instantaneous light acquired by some of this
phosphorus from the near discharge of an electrified
bottle, the doctor immediately exclaimed, “ And God
said, Let there be light, and there was light.” The
dean and chapter of St Paul’s having, in a letter to the
president, dated March 5. 1769, requested the opinion
of the Royal Society relative to the best and most ef¬
fectual method of fixing electrical conductors to pre¬
serve that cathedral from damage by lightning, Mr
Canton was one of the committee appointed to take
the letter into consideration, and to report their opi-»
nion upon it. The gentlemen joined with him in this Canton
business were, Dr Watson, Dr Franklin, Mr Delaval, i!
and Mr Wilson. Their report was made on the 8th , Can tyre.
of June following 5 and the mode recommended by y
them has been carried into execution. The last paper
of our author’s, which was read before the Royal So¬
ciety, was on Dec. 21. 1769 5 and contained “ Expe¬
riments to prove that the Luminousness of the Sea
arises from the putrefaction of its animal substances.”
In the account now given of his communications to the
public, we have chiefly confined ourselves to such as
were the most important, and which threw new and di¬
stinguished light on various objects in the philosophical
world. Besides these he wrote a number of papers both
in earlier and in later life, which appeared in several
different publications, and particularly in the Gentle¬
man’s Magazine.
The close and sedentary life of Mr Canton, arising
from an unremitted attention to the duties of his pro¬
fession, and to the prosecution of his philosophical in¬
quiries and experiments, probably contributed to shorten
his days. The disorder into which he fell, and which
carried him off", was a dropsy. His death happened on
March 22. 1772, in the 54th year of his age.
CANTONING, in the military art, is the allotting
distinct and separate quarters to each regiment: the
town where they are quartered being divided into as
many cantons as there are regiments.
CANTRED, or Cantreth, signifies a hundred vil¬
lages. It is a British word, compounded of the adjec¬
tive cant, i. e. hundred 5 and tref, a town or village.
In Wales some of the counties are divided into can-
treds, as in England into hundreds.
CANTYRE, from Cantierre, signifying a “ head¬
land 5” the southern division of the shire of Argyle in
Scotland. It is a peninsula, stretching 27 miles from
north to south, and seven miles in breath. It is mostly
plain, arable, and populous 5 inhabited promiscuously
by Highlanders and Lowlanders, the latter being in¬
vited to settle in this place by the Argyle family, that
the lands might be the better cultivated. It gives the
title of marquis to the duke, and is by Lochfyn divided
from Argyle Proper. This loch is an inlet from the
sea, about 60 miles in length and four in breadth, cele¬
brated for its herring fishery. There are many paltry
villages in this country, but no town of any consequence
except Campbelltown.
Cantyre was granted to the house of Argyle after the
suppression of a rebellion of the Macdonalds of the
Isles (and it is supposed of this peninsula) in the be¬
ginning of the last century, and the grant was after¬
wards ratified by parliament. The ancient inhabitants
were the Mac-donalds, Mac-eachrans, Mac-kays, and
Mac-maths.
Mull of Cantyre, the south cape or promontory of
the peninsula. There is here a lighthouse 235 feet
above the sea at high water, situated on the rocks call¬
ed the Merchants. Lat. 55. 22. Long. 5. 42. west of
London. The sound of Isla from the lighthouse bear-
ing, by the compass, N. by E. distant 27 miles 5 the
south end of Isla N. N. W. distant 25 miles ; the
north end of Rathlin island, N. W. by W. one half
W. 5 the Maiden Rocks, S. by W. one half W. di¬
stant 14 miles } Copland light, S. by W. one half W.
distant
CAN [ 150 1 CAN
distant 31 miles. The lanthorn is seen from N. N. E.
1-4U1 E. from S. by W. i-4th W. and intermediate
points of the compass N. of these two points.
CANTZ, a town of Silesia in Germany. E. Long.
16. 36. N. Lat. 51. 6.
CANVAS, in Commerce, a very clear unbleached
cloth of hemp, or flax, wove regularly in little squares.
It is used for working tapestry with the needle, by
passing the threads of gold, silver, silk, or wool, through
the intervals or squares.
Canvas is also a coarse cloth of hemp, unbleached,
somewhat clear, which serves to cover women’s stays,
also to stiffen men’s clothes, and to make some other of
their wearing apparel, &c.
Canvas is also used among the French for the mo¬
del or first words whereon an air or piece of music is
composed, and given to a poet to regulate and finish.
The canvas of a song contains certain notes of the
composer, which shew the poet the measure of the
verses he is to make. Thus Du Lot says, he has can¬
vas for ten sonnets against the Muses.
Canvas is also the name of a cloth made of hemp,
and used for ship sails.
Canvas, among painters, is the cloth on which they
usually draw their pictures ; the canvas being smoothed
over with a slick stone, then sized, and afterwards
whited over, makes what the painters called their p/z-
meo cloth, on which they draw their first sketches with
coal or chalk, and afterwards finish with colours.
CANULA, in Surgery, a tube made of different
metals, principally of silver and lead, but sometimes of
iron.
They are introduced into hollow7 ulcers, in order to
facilitate a discharge of pus or any other substance : or
into wounds, either accidental or artificial, of the large
cavities, as the thorax or abdomen : they are used in
the operation of bronchotomy ; and by some, after the
cutting for the stone, as a drain for urine.
Other canulas are used for introducing cauteries,
either actual or potential, into hollow parts, in order to
guard the parts adjacent to that to be cauterized, from
injury. They are of various figures j some being oval,
some round, and some crooked.
CANUSIUM, in Ancient Geography, a town of
Apulia, on the right or south side of the Aufidus, to
the west of Cannse, whither the Homans fled after the
defeat sustained there. It was famous for its red shin¬
ing wool j whence those who wore clothes made of
it were called Canusinati, Now called Canosa ;
which see.
Canute, the first Danish king of England after
Ironside. He married Emma, widow of KingEthelred 5
and put to death several persons of quality who stood in
his way to the crown. Having thus settled his power in
England, he made a voyage to his other kingdom of
Denmark, in order to resist the attacks of the king of
Sweden ; and he carried along with him a great body of
the English under the command of the earl of God¬
win. rl his nobleman had there an opportunity of per¬
forming a service by which he both reconciled the
king’s mind to the English nation, and gaining to him¬
self the friendship of his sovereign, laid the foundation
of that immense fortune which he acquired to his fa¬
mily. He was stationed next the Swedish camp; and
observing a favourable opportunity which he was ob¬
liged suddenly to seize, he attacked the enemy in the
night, drove them suddenly from their trenches, threw
them into disorder, pursued his advantage, and obtained
a decisive victory over them. Next morning, Canute,
seeing the English camp entirely abandoned, imagined
that these disalfected troops had deserted to the enemy;
and he was agreeably surprised to find that they were
at that time engaged in pursuit of the discomfited
Swedes. He was so pleased with this success, and the
manner of obtaining it, that he bestowed his daughter
in marriage upon Godwin, and treated him ever after
with the most entire confidence and regard.
In another voyage which he afterwards made to
Denmark, Canute attacked Norway, and expelled the
just but unwarlike Olaus from his kingdom, of which
he kept possession till the death of that prince. He
had now by his conquests and valour attained the ut¬
most height of his ambition, and having leisure from
wars and intrigues, he felt the unsatisfactory nature of
all human enjoyments : and equally weary of the glory
and turmoils of this life, he began to cast his view to¬
wards that future existence, which it is so natural for
the human mind, whether satiated by prosperity, or
disgusted with adversity, to make the object of its at¬
tention. Unfortunately the spirit which prevailed in
that age gave a wrong direction to his devotion ; and,
instead of making atonement to those whom he had
formerly injured by his acts of violence, he entirely
employed himself in those exercises of piety, which
the monks represented as most meritorious. He built
churches; he endowed monasteries ; he enriched eccle¬
siastics ; and he bestowed revenues for the support of
chantries at Assington and other places, where he ap¬
pointed prayers to be said for the souls of those who
had there fallen in battle against him. He even under¬
took a pilgrimage to Rome, where he sojourned a con¬
siderable time; and, besides obtaining from the pope
some privileges for the English school erected fhere, he
engaged all the princes through whose dominions he was
obliged to pass, to desist from those heavy impositions
and tolls which they were accustomed to exact from
the English pilgrims. By this spirit of devotion, no
less than by his equitable and politic administration, he
gained in a good measure the affections of his subjects.
Canute, who was the greatest and most powerful
prince of his time, sovereign of Denmark and Norway
as well as of England, could not fail to meet with
adulation from his courtiers; a tribute which is libe¬
rally paid even to the meanest and weakest of princes.
Some of his flatterers breaking out one day in admi¬
ration of his grandeur, exclaimed that every thing was
possible for him : upon which the monarch, it is said,
ordered a chair to be set on the sea shore while
the tide was making ; and as the waters approached,
he commanded them to retire, and obey the voice of
him who was lord of the ocean. He* feigned to sit
some time in expectation of their submission ; but when
the sea still advanced towards him, and began to wash
him with its billows, be turned to his courtiers, and re¬
marked to them, That every creature in the universe
was feeble and impotent, and that power resided with
one Being alone, in whose hands were all the elements
of nature, who could say to the ocean, “ Thus far
shall thou go, and no farther,” and who could level
with his nod the most towering piles of human pride
and
C A O [ 151 ] C A O
inulc and ambition. From that time, It Is said, he never
t! would wear a crown. He died in the 20th year of
loia- i)[3 reign, and was interred at Winchester, in the old
l0UC‘ , monastery.
^ CANZONE, in Music, signifies, in general, a song,
where some little fugues are introduced ; hut it is
sometimes used for a sort of Italian poem, usually
pretty long, to which music may be composed in the
style of a cantata. If this term be added to a piece of
instrumental music, it signifies much the same as can¬
tata j if placed in any part of a sonata, it implies the
same meaning as allegi'o, and only denotes that the part
to which it is prefixed is to be played or sung in a brisk
and lively manner.
CANZONETTA, a diminutive of canzone, denot¬
ing a little short song. The canzonette Neapolitane
has two strains, each whereof is sung twice over, as
the vaudevilles of the French. The canzonette Siciliane
is a species of jig, the measure whereof is usually
twelve eighths, and six eighths, and sometimes both,
as rondeaus.
CAORLO, a small island in the gulf of Venice, on
the coast of Friuli, 20 miles south-west of Aquileia,
subject to Venice. It has a town of the same name,
with a bishop’s see.
CAOUTCHOUC, Elastic Resin, or India rub¬
ber, a substance produced from the syringe tree of
Cayenne and other parts of South America, and pos¬
sessed of the most singular properties. No substance is
yet known which is so pliable, and at the same time so
elastre; and it is farther a matter of curiosity, as being
capable of resisting the action of very powerful men¬
strua. From the account of M. de la Condamine, we
learn that this substance oozes out, under the form of
a vegetable milk, from incisions made in the tree $
and that it is gathered chiefly in time of rain, because,
though it may be collected at all times, it flows then
most abundantly. The means employed to inspissate
and indurate it, M. de la Borde says, are kept a pro¬
found secret. M. Bomare, and others, affirm, that it
thickens and hardens gradually by being exposed to
the air; and as soon as it acquires a solid consistence
it manifests a very extraordinary degree of flexibility
and elasticity. Accordingly the Indians make boots
of it which water cannot penetrate, and which, when
smoked, have the appearance of real leather. Bottles
are also made of it, to the necks of which are fastened
hollow reeds, so that the liquor contained in them may
be squirted through the reeds or pipes by pressure.
One of these filled with water is always presented to
each of the guests at their entertainments, who never
fail to make use of it before eating. This whimsical
custom led the Portuguese in that country to call the
tree that produced the resin pan dixirringa ; and hence
the name of sei'ingat is given both to the tree and to
its resinous production. Flambeaux, an inch and a half
in diameter, and two feet long, are likewise made of
this resin, which give a beautiful light, have no bad
smell, and burn twelve hours. A kind of cloth is also
prepared from it, which the inhabitants of Quito apply
to the same purpose as our oil cloth and sail cloth. It
is formed, in fine, by means of moulds, into a variety
of figures for use and ornament; and the process is said
to be thus-The juice, which is obtained by incision,
is spread over pieces of clay formed into the desired
shape ; and as fast as one layer is dry, another is add- Caout-
ed, till the vessel be of the proper thickness; the whole ckouc.
is then held over a strong smoke of vegetables on fire,
whereby it hardens into the texture and appearance of
leather ; and before the finishing, while yet soft, is
capable of having any impression made on the outside,
which remains for ever after. When the whole is done,
the inside mould is picked out.
Since this resin has been known in Europe, its che¬
mical qualities and other interesting properties have
been very diligently investigated. In particular, it
has been endeavoured to discover some method of dis¬
solving it in such a manner that it would assume dif¬
ferent figures, with equal ease as when in its original
fluid state. In the memoirs of the Academy of Sciences
lor 1768, we have an account of several attempts for
this purpose, and how it may be effected.—The state of
vegetable milk in which the caoutchouc resin is found
when it comes from the tree, led M. Macquer to ima¬
gine that it was composed of an oil and a watery mat¬
ter. From its wanting aromatic flavour, from its little
volatility, and from its being incapable of solution in
spirit ol wine, he concluded that the oil which entered
its composition was not an essential, but a fatty one.
Hence he thought it probable that it passed from a fluid
to a solid form by the evaporation of the watery part,
and that the oily solvents would reduce it to a soft
state. The first trials he made for dissolving it were
with linseed oil, essence of turpentine, and several
others. But all he could obtain by means of these
menstrua was a viscid substance, incapable of being
hardened, and totally void of elasticity. The recti¬
fied essential oil of turpentine was employed seeming¬
ly with greater success. To separate from this men¬
struum the caoutchouc which it had dissolved, M. Mac¬
quer added spirit of wine ; but the consequence was,
that part only of the oil united with the spirit ; the
rest remaining obstinately attached to the resin which
it had dissolved, and thus preventing it from assuming
a solid consistence. The author next endeavoured to
dissolve it by means of heat in Papin’s digester. But
neither water, nor spirit of wine, although in this way
capable of dissolving the hardest bones, could produce
any other effect upon it than to render it more firm
than before. After this, lie tried what effect the milky
juice of other vegetables would have upon it. He
used several kinds, particularly that of the fig. But,
in this way, he could obtain no solution. From the
great volatility of ether, he was next induced to try it
as a menstruum ; and, for this purpose, he prepared
some with great attention. The caoutchouc, cut into
little bits, and put into a proper vessel with so much
ether as was sufficient to cover it, was perfectly dis¬
solved without any other heat than that of the atmo¬
sphere. This solution was transparent and of an am¬
ber colour. It still preserved the smell of ether, but
mixed with the disagreeable odour of the caoutchouc,
and it is a little less fluid than pure ether. Upon its
being thrown into water, no milky liquor was produ¬
ced ; but there arose to the surface a solid membrane,
which possessed the great elasticity and other peculiar
properties of the caoutchouc. He observes, however,
that two pints of the best ether, obtained by rectifying
eight or ten pints of the common ether by a gentle
heat, must be used, in order to the success of the ope¬
ration.—
C A O [ 152 ] C A O
€aout- ration.—-The distinguishing properties of this sub-
chouc. stance, viz. its solidity, flexibility, and elasticity, and
■“■—v its quality of resisting the action of aqueous, spirituous,
saline, oily, and other common solvents, render it ex¬
tremely fit for the construction of tubes, catheters,
and other instruments, in which these properties are
wanted. In order to form this resin into small tubes,
M. Macquer prepared a solid cylindrical mould of
wax, of the desired size and shape ; and then dipping
a pencil into the ethereal solution of the resin, daubed
the mould over with it, till he had covered it with a
coat of resin of a sufficient thickness. The whole
piece is then thrown into boiling water 5 by the heat
of which the wax is soon melted, and rises to the sur¬
face, leaving the resinous tube completely formed be¬
hind.
Grossart informs us, that he has succeeded very well
in employing the essential oils of turpentine and laven¬
der as a solvent for the elastic gum, and thus forming it
into tubes or giving it any shape that is wanted. When
the elastic tube is prepared with oil of lavender, the
latter may be separated by immersing the tube in alco¬
hol, which charges itself with the oil, and becomes a
good lavender water. Alcohol serves another purpose
beside taking up the essential oil. It accelerates very
much the drying of caoutchouc instruments which
are thus formed. Oil of turpentine appeared always
to have a kind of stickiness j and the smell which could
not be got rid of, by any means yet discovered, was
another inconvenience.
Grossart proposes another solvent, which is easily
procured, and is not liable to the inconvenience just
mentioned. This solvent is water. “ I conceive
(says he) it will appear strange to mention water as a
solvent of elastic gum, that liquid having been always
supposed to have no action upon it. I myself resisted
the idea $ but reflecting that ether, by being saturated
with water, is the better enabled to act on caoutchouc,
and that this gum when plunged into boiling water be¬
comes more transparent at the edges, I presumed that
this effect was not due simply to the dilatation of its
volume by the heat. I thought that, at that tempe¬
rature, some action might take place, and that a long
continued ebullition might produce more sensible ef¬
fects. I was not disappointed in my expectations, and
one of those tubes was prepared without any other sol¬
vent than water and heat. I proceeded in the same
manner as with ether: the elastic gum dilates but very
little in boiling water; it becomes whitish, but reco¬
vers its colour again by drying it in the air and light.
It is sufficiently prepared for use when it has been a
quarter of an hour in boiling water: by this time its
edges are somewhat transparent. It is to be turned
spirally round the mould, in the manner we described
before, and replunged frequently into the boiling wa¬
ter, during the time that is employed in forming the
tube, to the end that the edges may be disposed to
unite together. When the whole is bound with
packthread, it is to be kept some hours in boiling wa¬
ter ; after which it is to be dried, still keeping on the
binding.
“ If we wish to be more certain that the connexion
is perfect, the spiral may be doubled j but we must al¬
ways avoid placing the exterior surfaces of the slips one
upon the other, as those surfaces are the parts which
3
most resist the action of solvents. Thii precaution is Caomi
less necessary when ether is employed, on account of chouj
its great action upon the caoutchouc.
“ It might be feared that the actioyv of water upon
caoutchouc would deprive us of the advantages which
might otherwise be expected : but these fears will be
removed, if we consider that the affinities differ ac¬
cording to the temperatures 5 that it is only at a very
high temperature that water exercises any sensible ac¬
tion upon caoutchouc. I can affirm, that at 120* of
Reaumur’s thermometer (302° ef Fahrenheit) this af¬
finity is not such as that the water can give a liquid
form to caoutchouc 5 and it does not appear that we
have any thing to fear in practice from a combination
between these two bodies, which, though it really is a
true solution, does not take place in any sensible de¬
gree but at a high temperature. It is therefore at pre¬
sent easy to make of caoutchouc whatever instruments
it may be advantageous to have of a flexible, supple,
and elastic substance, which is impermeable to water
at the temperature of our atmosphere, and resists the
action of acids as well as that of most other solvents.
As to the durability of these instruments, few substan¬
ces promise more than this, because it may be soldered
afresh in a damaged part. Any woven substance may
be covered with it 5 it is only required that the sub¬
stance should be of a nature not to be acted upon dur¬
ing the preparation, either by ether or by boiling wa¬
ter j for these two agents are those which appear to me
to merit the preference. Artists will frequently find
an advantage in employing ether, as it requires less
time ; so that a person may make, in a single day, any
tube he may have occasion for. The expence of ether
is very little, since it is needful only to dispose the
caoutchouc to adhere j and being brought into that
state, the caoutchouc may be kept in a vessel perfectly
well closed. It would also diminish the expence of
the ether, if, instead of washing it with a large quantity
of water, there should be added to it only as much water
as it can take up.” Annales de Chimie, vol. xi. p. 149.
A resin similar to this was some years ago discover¬
ed by M. Poivre, in the isle of France j and there are
various milky juices extracted from trees in America
and elsewhere, which by previous mixtures and prepara¬
tions are formed into an elastic resin, but of an infe¬
rior quality to that of Cayenne j such, for instance,
are the juices obtained from the Cecropiapeltata, the
Ficus religiosa and Indica, &c.
Of the genuine trees, those growing along the banks
of the river of the Amazons are described by M. Con-
damine as attaining a very great height, being at the
same time perfectly straight, and having no branches
except at top, which is but small, covering no more
than a circumference of ten feet. Its leaves bear some
resemblance to those of the manioc : they are green on
the upper part, and white beneath. The seeds are
three in number, and contained in a pod consisting of
three cells, not unlike those of the ricinus or palmu
Chnsti; and in each of them there is a kernel, which
being stripped and boiled in water, produces a thick oil
or fat, answering the purpose of butter in the cookery
of that country.
A method of dissolving this elastic gum without
ether, for the purposes of a varnish or the like, is as fol¬
lows : lake one pound of the spirit of turpentine, and
a
c A O [ 153 ] CAP
a pound of the gum cut into very small pieces;
hmc. Pour ^ie turpentine into a long-necked matrass, which
v, j must be placed in a sand-bath ; throw in the gum,
not all at once, but by little and little according as it
is perceived to dissolve : When it is entirely dissolved,
pour into the matrass a pint of nut or linseed oil, or
•oil of poppies, rendered desiccative in the usual man¬
ner with litharge : Then let the whole boil for a quar¬
ter of an hour, and the preparation is finished. This
would make an excellent varnish for air balloons, were
it not so expensive on account of the price of the gum.
—Another method, invented by Mr Baldwin, is as
follows. Take any quantity of the caoutchouc, as
two ounces avoirdupois: cut it into small bits with a
pair of scissars. Put a strong iron ladle (such as plum¬
bers and glaziers melt their lead in) over a common pit-
coal or other fire. The fire must be gentle, glowing,
and without smoke. When the ladle is hot, much be¬
low a red heat, put a single bit into the ladle. If
black smoke issues, it will presently flame and disap¬
pear ; or it will evaporate without flame : the ladle is
then too hot. When the ladle is less hot, put in a se¬
cond bit, which will produce a white smoke. This
white smoke will continue during the operation, and
evaporate the caoutchouc : therefore no time is to be
lost; but little bits are to be put in, a few at a time,
till the whole are melted. It should be continually
and gently stirred with an iron or brass spoon. Two
pounds, or one quart, of the best drying oil (or of
raw linseed oil, which, together with a few drops of
neats foot oil, has stood a month, or not so long, on a
lump of quicklime, to make it more or less drying) is
to be put into the melted caoutchouc, and stirred till
hot: and the whole poured into a glazed vessel, through
a coarse gauze, or fine sieve. When settled and clear,
which will be in a few minutes, it is fit for use, either
hot or cold.
The Abbe Clavigero informs us, that the elastic
gum is called by the Mexicans Ollin or Olti, and by the
Spaniards of that kingdom Ule: That it distils from
the olquahuitl, which is a tree of moderate size ; the
trunk of which is smooth and yellowish, the leaves
pretty large, the flowers white, and the fruit yellow
and rather round, but angular ; within which there are
kernels as large as filberts, and white, but covered
with a yellowish pellicle : That the kernel has a bitter
taste, and the fruit always grows attached to the bark
of the tree : That when the trunk is cut, the ule which
distils from it is white, liquid, and viscous j afterwards
it becomes yellow 5 and lastly of a leaden colour,
though rather blacker, which it always retains. The
tree, he adds, is very common in the kingdom of Gua-
timala.
Different trees, it would appear, yield the elas¬
tic gum. Aublet, in his Histone des Plantes de la
Gviane (p. 871.), describes the tree, the fruit, and
manner of collecting the juice ; but never saw the
flower : he calls it, however, Hevea Guianensis. In
Jacquin’s America, it is called Echites Corymbosa. The
younger Linnaeus, in his Supplemcntum Plantarum
(p. 422), names it JatrophaElastica; but acknowledges
that he only gives it this name from the structure of
the fruit having most resemblance to that genus, his
flry species wanting the flowers.
Of the above gum, it is said, the Chinese make
Vol. V. Part I. t.
elastic rings for lascivious pui-poses.-—Among us it is Caout-
used by surgeons for injecting liquids, and by painters choue,
for rubbing out black lead pencil marks, &c. Cap.
CAP, a part of dress made to cover the head, much '■“-—v"--
in the figure thereof.
The use of caps and hats is referred to the year
1449, the first seen in these parts of the world being
at the entry of Charles VII. into Rouen: from that
time they began to take place of the hoods, or chape-
roons, that had been used till then. When the cap
was of velvet, they called it mortier; when of wool,
simply bonnet. None but kings, princes, and knights,
were allowed the use of the mortier. The cap was the
head-dress of the clergy and graduates. Pasquier says,
that it was anciently a part of the hood worn by the
people of the robe; the skirts whereof being cut off'
as an encumbrance, left the round cap an easy com¬
modious cover for the head $ which round cap being
afterwards assumed by the people, those of the gown
changed it for a square one, first invented by a French¬
man, called Patrouillet: he adds, that the giving of
the cap to the students in the universities, was to de¬
note, that they had acquired full liberty, and were no
longer subject to the rod of their superiors j in imita¬
tion of the ancient Romans, who gave a pileus, or cap,
to their slaves, in the ceremony of making them free :
whence the proverb, Vocare servos ad pileum. Hence,
also, on medals, the cap is the symbol of Liberty,
whom they represent holding a cap in her right hand,
by the point.
The Romans were many ages without any regular
covering for the head: when either the rain or sun
was troublesome, the lappet of the gown was thrown
over the head ; and hence it is that all the ancient sta¬
tues appear bareheaded, excepting sometimes a wreath,
or the like. And the same usage obtained among the
Greeks, where, at least during the heroic age, no caps
were known. The sort of caps or covers of the head
in use among the Romans, on divers occasions, were
the pitra, pileus, cucullus, galerus, and palliolum ; the
differences between which are often confounded by an¬
cient as well as modern writers.
The French clergy wear a shallow kind of cap,
called calotte, which only covers the top of the head,
made of leather, satin, worsted, or other stuff. The
red cap is a mark of dignity, allowed only to those who
are raised to the cardinalate. The secular clergy are
distinguished by black leathern caps, the regulars by
knit and worsted ones.
Churchmen, and the members of universities, stu¬
dents in law, physic, &c. as well as graduates, wear
square caps. In most universities doctors are distin¬
guished by peculiar caps, given them in assuming the
doctorate. Wickliff calls the canons of his time bi- .
furcati, from their caps. Pasquier observes, that, in
his time, the caps worn by the churchmen, &c. were
called square caps j though, in effect, they were round
yellow caps.
The Chinese have not the use of the hat, like us 5
but wear a cap of a peculiar structure, which the laws
of civility will not allow them to put off: it is differ¬
ent for the different seasons of the year : that used in
summer is in form of a cone, ending at top in a point.
It is made of a very beautiful kind of mat, much va¬
lued in that country, and lined with satin ; to this is
U added,
\
CAP
added, at top, a large lock of red silk,
round as low as the bottom } so that, in walking, the
silk fluctuating regularly on all sides, makes a graceful
appearance: sometimes, instead of silk, they use a kind
of bright red hair, the lustre whereof no weather .ef¬
faces. In winter they wear a plush cap, bordered with
martlet’s or fox’s skin : as to the rest, like those for
the summer. These caps are frequently sold for eight
or ten crowns j but they are so short, that the ears aie
exposed. .
The cap is sometimes used as a mark of infamy j in
Italy the Jews are distinguished by a yellow cap j at
liucca by an orange one. In I ranee, those who had
been bankrupts were obliged ever after to wear a green
cap, to prevent people from being imposed on in any
future commerce. By several arrets in I5^4> I^22,
1628, 1688, it was decreed, that if they were at any
time found without their green cap, their protection
should be null, and their creditors empowered to cast
them into prison : but the sentence is not now exe¬
cuted.
Cap of Maintenance, one of the regalia, or orna¬
ments of state, belonging to the kings of England, be¬
fore whom it was carried at the coronation and other
great solemnities. Caps of maintenance are also car¬
ried before the mayors of the several cities in Eng¬
land.
Cap and Button, are two small islands, lying in
longitude 105° 48' 30" east 5 and in latitude, the for¬
mer 50 58' 30", the latter 50 49' south. They are
thus described by Sir George Staunton:
“ At a little distance they might be mistaken for
the remains of old castles, mouldering into heaps of
ruins, with tall trees already growing upon the tops $
but at a nearer view, they betrayed evident marks of a
volcanic origin. Explosions from subterraneous fires,
produce, for the most part, hills of a regular shape,
and terminating in truncated cones ; but when from a
subaqueous volcano eruptions are thrown up above the
surface of the sea, the materials, falling back into the
water, are more irregularly dispersed, and generally
leave the sides of the new creation naked and mishapen,
as in the instance of Amsterdam, and of those smaller
spots called, from some resemblance in shape, the Cap
and Button.
“ In the Cap were found two caverns, running ho¬
rizontally into the side of the rock ; and in these were
a number of those birds nests so much prized by the
Chinese epicures. They seemed to be composed of
fine filaments cemented together by a transparent vis¬
cous matter, not unlike what is left by the foam of the
sea upon stones alternately covered by the tide, or those
gelatinous animal substances found floating on every
coast. The nests adhere to each other, and to the
sides of the caveim, mostly in rows, without any break
or interruption. The birds that build these nests are
small grey swallows, with bellies of a dirty white.
They were flying about in considerable numbers; but
they were so small and their flight so quick, that they
escaped the shot fired at them. The same nests are said
also to be found in deep caverns, at the foot of the
highest mountains in the middle of Java, and at a dis¬
tance from the sea, from which the birds, it is thought,
derive no materials, either for their food or the con¬
struction of their nests j as it does not appear probable
[ 154 ] CAP
which falls all they should fly, in search of either, over the interme- Cap j
diate mountains, which are very high, or against the ||
boisterous winds prevailing thereabouts. They feed taPa^l
on insects, which they find hovering over stagnated ^ j
pools between the mountains, and for catching which
their wide-opening beaks are particularly adapted.
They prepare their nests from the best remnants of
their food. Their greatest enemy is the kite, who of¬
ten intercepts them in their passage to and from the ca¬
verns, which are generally surrounded with rocks of
gray limestone or white marble. I he nests are placed
in horizontal rows at different depths, from 50 to 500
feet. The colour and value of the nests depend on the
quantity and quality of the insects caught, and perhaps
also on the^ituation where they are built. Their va¬
lue is chiefly determined by the uniform fineness and
delicacy of their texture 5 those that are white and
transparent being most esteemed, and fetching often in
China their weight in silver. These nests are a consi¬
derable object of traffic among the Javanese, and many
are employed in it from their infancy. The birds hav¬
ing spent near two months in preparing their nests, lay
each two eggs, which are hatched in about fifteen
days. When the young birds become fledged, it is
thought time to seize upon their nests, which is done
regularly thrice a-year, and is effected by means of
ladders of bamboo and reeds, by which the people de¬
scend into the cavern 5 but when it is very deep, rope
ladders are preferred. This operation is attended with
much danger; and several break their necks in the at¬
tempt. The inhabitants of the mountains generally
employed in it begin always by sacrificing a buffalo ;
which custom is constantly observed by the Javanese
on the eve of every extraordinary enterprise. They
also pronounce some prayers, anoint themselves with
sweet-scented oil, and smoke the entrance of the ca¬
vern with gum-benjamin. Near some of those caverns
a tutelar goddess is worshipped, whose priest burns in¬
cense, and lays his protecting hands on every person
preparing to descend into the cavern. A flambeau is
carefully prepared at the same time, with a gum which
exudes from a tree growing in the vicinity, and is not
easily extinguished by fixed air or subterraneous va¬
pours. The swallow, which builds those nests, is de¬
scribed as not having its tail feathers marked with
white spots, which is a character attributed to it by
Linnaeus ; and it is possible that there are two species
or varieties of the swallow, whose nests are alike va¬
luable
Cap, in ship-building, a strong thick block of*
wood, used to confine two masts together, when one is
erected at the head of the other in order to lengthen
it. It is for this purpose furnished with two holes
perpendicular to its length and breadth, and parallel
to its thickness : one of these is square, and the other
round: the former being solidly fixed upon the upper
end of the lower mast, whilst the latter receives the
mast employed to lengthen it, and secures it in this
position.
CAPACIO, an episcopal town of Italy in the
kingdom of Naples, and in the Hither Principato. E.
Long. 15. 18. N. Lat. 40. 40.
CAPACITY, in a general sense, an aptitude or
disposition to hold or retain any thing.
Capacity, in Geometry, is the solid contents of any
body ;
,to Chh
CAP F 155 ] CAP
holly y also our hollow measures for wine, beer, corn,
salt, &c. are called measures of Capacity.
Capacity, in Law, the ability of a man, or body
politic to give or take lands or other things, or sue
actions.
Our law allows the king two capacities ; a natural,
and a political : in the first, he may purchase lands to
him and his heirs ; in the second, to him and his suc¬
cessors. The clergy of the church of England have
the like.
CA-PAEASON, or Caparison, the covering or
clothing laid over a horse; especially a sumpter horse,
or horse of state. The word is Spanish, being an aug¬
mentative of cape, caput, head.
Anciently the caparasons were a kind of iron ar¬
mour, wherewith horses were covered in battle.
CAPE, in Geography, a high land running out
with a point into the sea, as Cape Nord, Cape Horn,
the Cape of Good Hope, &c.
Cape Elk. See Cervus, Mammalia Index.
Cape Breton. See Breton.
Cape Coast Castle. See Coast.
Cape of Good Hope. See Good Hope.
Cape Verd. See Verd.
CAPELL, Edward, a gentleman well known by
his indefatigable attention to the works of Shakespeare,
was a native of the county of Suffolk, and received his
education at the school of St Edmund’s Bury. In the
dedication of his edition of Shakespeare, in 1768, to
the duke of Grafton, he observes, that “ his father
and the grandfather of his grace were friends, and to
the patronage of the deceased nobleman he owed the
leisure which enabled him to bestow the attention ot
20 years on that work.” The office which his grace
bestowed on Mr Capell was that of deputy-inspector of
the plays, to which a salary is annexed of 200I. a-year.
So early as the year 1745, as Mr Capell himself informs
us, shocked at the licentiousness of Hanmer’s plan, he
first projected an edition of Shakespeare, of the strictest
accuracy, to be collated and published in due time,
ex fide codicum. He immediately proceeded to collect
and compare the oldest and scarcest copies j noting the
original excellencies and defects of the rarest quartos,
and distinguishing the improvements or variations of
the first, second, and third folios : and alter many
years labour produced a very beautiful small octavo,
in 10 volumes, with an “ Introduction.” There is
not, the authors of the Monthly Review observe, a-
mong the various publications of the present literary
era, a more singular composition than that “ Intro¬
duction.” In style and manner it is more obsolete
and antique than the age of which he treats. It is
Lord Herbert of Cherbury, walking the new pave¬
ment in all the trappings of romance j but, like Lord
Herbert, it displays many valuable qualities accom¬
panying this air of extravagance, much sound sense,
and appropriate erudition. In the title-page of “ Mr
William Shakespeare, his Comedies, Histories, and
Tragedies,” it was also announced and promulgated,
“ Whereunto will be added, in some other volumes,
notes critical and explanatory, and a body of various
readings entire.” “ The Introduction” likewise de¬
clared, that these “ notes and various readings” would
be accompanied with another work, disclosing the
sources from which Shakespeare “ drew the greater
part of his knowledge in mythological and classical Capell
matters, his fable, his history, and even the seeming H
peculiarities of his language—to which,” says Mr ^apeilu^..
Capell, “ we have given for title, The School of
Shakespeare.” Nothing surely could be more pro¬
perly conceived than such designs ; nor have we ever
met with any thing better grounded on the subject of
“ the learning of Shakespeare,” than what may be
found in the long note to this part of Mr Capell’s In¬
troduction. It is more solid than even the popular
“ Essay” on this topic. Certain quaintnesses of style,
and peculiarities of printing and punctuation, attended
the whole of this publication. The outline, however,
was correct 5 and the critic, with unremitting toil,
succeeded in his undertaking. But while he was div¬
ing into the classics of Caxton (to continue the Re¬
viewer’s account), and working his way under ground,
like the river Mole, in order to emerge with all his
glories j while he was looking forward to his tri¬
umphs, certain other active spirits went to work upon
his plan; and, digging out the promised treasures,
laid them prematurely before the public, defeating the
effect of our critic’s discoveries by anticipation. Stee-
vens, Malone, Farmer, Percy, Reed, and a whole
host of literary ferrets, burrowed into every hole and
corner of the warren of modern antiquity, and over¬
ran all the country, whose map had been delineated
by Edward Capell. Such a contingency nearly stag¬
gered the steady and unshaken perseverance of our
critic, at the very eve of the completion of his la¬
bours, and as his editor informs us—for, alas ! at
the end of near 40 years, the publication was posthu¬
mous, and the critic himself no more !—he was almost
determined to lay the work wholly aside. He perseve¬
red, however, by the encouragement of some noble and
worthy persons $ and to such their encouragement, and
his perseverance, the public was, in 17^3* indebted for
three large volumes in 4to. under the title ol a Notes
and various readings of Shakespeare j together with
the School of Shakespeare, or Extracts from divers
English Books that were in print in the Author’s
time ; evidently showing from whence his several Fa¬
bles were taken, and some parcel of his Dialogue. Al¬
so farther extracts, which contribute to a due under¬
standing of his Writings, or give a light to the History
of his Life, or to the Dramatic History of his Time.
By Edward Capell.”—Besides the works already men¬
tioned, Mr Capell was the editor of a volume of an¬
cient poems called “ Prolusions 5” and the alteration of
“ Anthony and Cleopatra,” as acted at Drury Lane in
1758. He died January 24. 1781.
CAPELLA, in Astronomy, a bright fixed star in the
left shoulder of the constellation Auriga.
CAPELLE, a town of France, in Picardy, in the
department of Aisne, eight miles from Guise. It was
taken by the Spaniards in 1636 j but retaken the year
after. E. Long. 3. 59. N. Lat. 49. 58.
CAPELLETS. See Farriery Index.
CAPELLUS, Lewis, an eminent French Protest¬
ant divine, born at Sedan in Champagne about the
year 1579. He was the author of some learned works,
but is chiefly known from the controversy he engaged
in with the younger Buxtorf concerning the antiquity
of Hebrew points, which Capellus undertook to dis¬
prove. His Critica Sacra was also an elaborate work,
U 2 and
CAP [ 156 ] CAP
Capellus and excited some disputes. He died In 1658, having
il made an abridgement of his life in his work De Gente
CaperoIans.Cw/or?-
CAPER. See Capparis, Botany Index.
Caper also denotes a vessel used by the Hutch for
cruising and taking prizes from the enemy} in which
sense, caper amounts to the same with privateer. Ca¬
pers are commonly double officered, and crowded with
hands even beyond the rates of ships of war, because
the thing chiefly in view is boarding the enemies.
CAPERNAUM, a city celebrated in the Gospels,
being the place where Jesus usually resided during the
time of his ministry. This city is nowhere mention¬
ed in the Old Testament under this or any other name
like it; and therefore it is not improbable that it was
one of those towns which the Jews built after their
return from the Babylonish captivity. It stood on the
sea coast, i. e. on the coast of the sea of Galilee, in
the borders of Zebulon and Nephtalim (Mat. iv. 15.),
and consequently towards the upper part therof. It
took its name no doubt from an adjacent spring, of
great repute for its clear and limpid water 5 and
which, according to Josephus, was by the natives called
Capernaum. As this spring might be some inducement
to the building the town in the place where it stood,
so its being a convenient wafting place from Galilee to
any part on the other side of the sea, might be some
motive to our Lord for his moving from Nazareth, and
making this the place of his most constant residence.
Upon this account Capernaum was highly honoured,
* and said by our Lord himselt to be exalted unto heaven ;
but because it made no right use of this signal favour,
it drew from him the severe denunciation, that it
should be brought down to hell (Matt. xi. 23.), which
has certainly been verified : for, as Hr Wells observes,
so far is it from being the metropolis of all Galilee, as
it once was, that it consisted long since of no more than
six poor fishermen’s cottages, and may perhaps be now
totally desolate.
CAPEROLANS, a congregation of religious in
Italy, so called from Peter Caperole their founder, in
the 15th century.
The Milanese and Venetians being at war, the en¬
mity occasioned thereby spread itself to the very clois¬
ters. The superiors of the province of Milan, of mi¬
nor brothers, which extended itself as far as the ter¬
ritories of the republic of Venice, carried it so haugh¬
tily over the Venetians, that those of the convent of
Brescia resolved to shake off a yoke which was grown
insupportable to them. The superiors, informed of
this, expelled out of the province those whom they
considered as the authors of this design} the principal
of whom were Peter Caperole, Matthew de Tharvillo,
and Bonaventure of Brescia. Peter Caperole, a man
of an enterprising genius, found means to separate the
convents of Brescia, Bergamo, and Cremona, from the
province of Milan, and subject them to the conven¬
tuals. This occasioned a law-suit between the vi-
car-general and these convents, which was deter¬
mined in favour of the latter; and these convents,
I475> ^7 tA0 authority of Pope Sextus IV. were
erected into a distinct vicarate, under the title of
that of Brescia. This not satisfying the ambition of
Caperole, he obtained, by the interposition of the doge
of Venice, that this vicarate might be erected into &
3
congregation, which was called from him Capcrolans.
This congregation still subsists in Italy, and is com- ||
posed of 24 convents, situated in Brescia, Bergamo, Capial
and Cremasco. ^
CAPEQUIN, a town of Ireland, in the county of
Waterford, and province of Munster, situated on the
river Blackwater. W. Long. 7. 50. N. Lat. 52. 5.
CAPE STAN, a town of France, in Lower Langue¬
doc, in the diocese of Narbonne, and near the royal
canal. E. Long. 3. 5. N. Lat. 43. 35.
CAPH, a Jewish measure of capacity for things,
estimated by Kimcbi at the 30th part of the log, by
Arbuthnot at the 16th part of the hin or 3 2d of the
seah, amounting to five-eighths of an English pint. The
caph does not occur in Scripture, as the name of any
measure.
CAPHAR, a duty which the Turks raised on the
Christians who carry or send merchandises from Aleppo
to Jerusalem and other places in Syria.
The duty of caphar was first imposed by the Chri¬
stians themselves, when they were in possession of the
Holy Land, for the maintenance of the troops which
were planted in difficult passes to observe the Arabs
and prevent their incursions. It is still continued, and
much increased by the Turks, under pretence of de¬
fending the Christians against the Arabs ; with whom,
nevertheless, they keep a secret intelligence, favouring
their excursions and plunders.
CAPHTOR, in Ancient Geography, a town or district
of Higher Egypt ; and hence the people called Capk-
tonm or Caphlorei.—Caphtor is an island of Egypt,
Ai Caphtor (Jeremiah) : probably one of those in the-
Nile. Hr Wells supposes it to be Coptos, which stood
in a small island. Thence came the Caphtorim or Caph- N
torcei, in Palestine; who with the Philistines conspired
to extirpate the Hevsei; and whose name was swal¬
lowed up in that of the Philistines.
CAPI-aga, or CAYl-Agassi, a Turkish officer who
is governor of the gates of the seraglio, or grand-master
of the seraglio.
The capi-aga is the first dignity among the white
eunuchs : he is always near the person of the grand
signior : he introduces ambassadors to their audience :
nobody enters or goes out of the grand signior’s apart¬
ment but by his means. His office gives him the pri¬
vilege of wearing the turban in the seraglio, and of
going everywhere on horseback. He accompanies
the grand signior to the apartment of the sultanas, but
stops at the door without entering. His appointment
is very moderate ; the grand signior bears the expence
of his table, and allows him at the rate of about sixty
French livres per day ; but his office brings him in
abundance ot presents ; no affair of consequence coming
to the emperor’s knowledge without passing through
his hand. The capi-aga cannot be bashaw when he
quits his post.
CAI IAS, in Law, a wrrit of two sorts ; one before
judgment in an action, and the other after. That be¬
fore judgment is called capias ad respondendum, where
an original is issued out, to take the defendant, and
make him answer the plaintiff. That after judgment
is of divers kinds ; as,
. Capias ad Satisfaciendum, a writ of execution, that
issues on a judgment obtained, and lies where any per¬
son recovers in a personal action, as for debt, damages,
&<v
CAP [ 157 ] CAP
"ias &c* ’n which cases this writ issues to the sheriff, cora-
|| mantling him to take the body of him against whom the
llary. debt is recovered, who is to be kept in prison till he
'r~J makes satisfaction.
Capias Pro Fine is a writ lying where a person is
fined to the king, for some offence committed against
a statute, and he does not discharge the fine accord¬
ing to the judgment; therefore his body shall be taken
by this writ, and committed to gaol till the fine is
paid.
Capias Utlegatum, a writ which lies against any one
outlawed, upon any action personal or criminal, by
which the sheriff is ordered to apprehend the party
outlawed, for not appearing on the exigent, and keep
him in safe custody till the day of return, when he is
ordered to present him to the court, to be there farther
ordered for his contempt.
Capias in Withernam, a writ that lies for cattle in
withernam : that is, where a distress taken is driven
out of the county, so that the sheriff cannot make de¬
liverance upon a replevin •, then this writ issues, com¬
manding the sheriff to take as many beasts of the dis¬
trainer, &c.
CAPIGI, a porter or doorkeeper of the Turkish
seraglio. There are about five hundred capigis or por¬
ters in the seraglio, divided into two companies : one
consisting of three hundred, under a chief called Capigi-
Bassa, who has a stipend of three ducats per day j the
other consists of two hundred, distinguished by the
name of Cuccicapigi, and their chief Cuccicapigi-Bassa,
who has two ducats. The capigis have from seven to
fifteen aspers per day; some more, others less. Their
business is to assist the janizaries in the guard of the
first and second gates of the seraglio \ sometimes all
together j as when the Turk holds a general council,
receives an ambassador, or goes to the mosque j and
sometimes only in part: being ranged on either side
to prevent people entering with arms, any tumults
being made, &c. The word, in its original, signifies
gate;
CAPILLAMENT, in a general sense, signifies a
hair: whence the word is applied to several things,
which on account of their length or their fineness re¬
semble hairs: as,
Capillaments of the Nerves, in Anatomy, the fine
fibres or filaments, whereof the nerves are composed.
CAPILLARY, in a general sense, an appellation
given to things on account of their extreme fineness, or
resembling hair.
Capillary Tubes in Physics, are small pipes of glass,
whose canals are extremely narrow, their diameter be¬
ing only a half, a third, or a fourth of a line.
The ascent of water, &c. in capillary tubes, is a phe¬
nomenon that has long embarrassed the philosophers j
for let one end of a glass tube open at both extremities
be immerged in water, the liquor within the tube will
rise to a considerable height above the external surface :
or if two or more tubes are immerged in the same fluid,
one a capillary tube, and the other of a larger bore,
the fluid will ascend higher in the former than in the
latter j and this will be in a reciprocal ratio of the dia¬
meters of the tubes.
In order to account for this phenomenon, it will be
necessary first to premise, that the attraction between
the particles of glass and water is greater than the
attraction between the particles of water themselves : Capillary
for if a glass tube be placed in a position parallel to |J
the horizon, and a drop of water be applied to the i Gapdupi.^
under side of the tube, it will adhere to it: nor will v
it fall from the glass till its bulk and gravity are so
far increased, as to overcome the attraction of the
glass. Hence it is easy to conceive how sensibly such
a power must act on the surface of a fluid, not viscid,
as water, contained within the small cavity or bore of
a glass tube ; as also that it will be proportionably
stronger as the diameter of the bore is smaller } for it
will be evident that the efficacy of the power is in the
inverse proportion of the diameter, when it is consider¬
ed that such particles only as are in contact with the
fluid, and those immediately above the surface, can ef¬
fect it.
Now these particles form a periphery contiguous to
the surface, the upper part of which attracts and raises
the surface, while the lower part, which is in contact
with it, supports it : so that neither the thickness nor
length of the tube is of any consequence here •, the peri¬
phery of particles only, which is always proportionable
to the diameter of the bore, is the only acting power.
The quantity of the fluid raised will therefore be as the
surface of the bore which it fills, that is, as the dia¬
meter ", for otherwise the effect would not be propor¬
tional to the cause, since the quantities are always as
the ratio of the diameters ; the heights therefore to
which the fluids will rise in difl’erent tubes, will be in¬
versely as the diameters. \
Some doubt whether the law holds throughout, of
the ascent of the fluid being always higher as the tube
is smaller: Dr Hook’s experiments, with tubes almost
as fine as cobwebs, seem to show the contrary. The
water in these, he observes, did not rise so high as one
would have expected. The highest he ever found
it, was at 21 inches above the level of the water
in the bason 5 which is much short of what it ought
to have been by the law above mentioned. See Co¬
hesion.
Capillary Vessels. Many small vessels of animal
bodies have been discovered by the modern invention
of injecting the vessels of animals, with a coloured fluid,
which upon cooling grows hard. But though most ana¬
tomists know the manner of filling the large trunks,
few are acquainted with the art of filling the capillaries.
Dr Monro, in the Medical Essays, has given what, al¬
ter many trials, he has found most successful. See In¬
jection.
CAPILLUS veneris. See Adiantum, Botany
Index.
CAPILUPI, or Capilupus, Camillus, a native
of Mantua, in the 16th century. He wrote a book,
entitled The Stratagem ; in which he relates not only
what was perpetrated at Paris during the massacre on
St Bartholomew’s day, but also the artful preparations
which preceded that horrid massacre. It is, however,
blended with a great number of falsities.
Capilupi, Lcelius, an Italian poet, brother to the
former, made himself famous by some Centos of N ii'gik
The manner in which he applied Virgil’s expressions
to represent things which the poet never dreamt ot, is
admired. His Cento against women is very ingenious,
but too satirical. The poems of Capilupi are inserted
in the Delicice Poetarum Italorum.
CAPISCOLUS, .
CAP [i
Capsicolus CAPISCOLUS, or Capischolus, in ecclesiastical
11 writers, denotes a dignitary in certain cathedrals, who
Capitanata. jia(j ^jie superintendency of the choir, or band of music,
answering to what in other churches is called chanter
ox 'precentor. The word is also written cabiscolus, and
caputscholce, q. d. the head of the school, or band of
music.
The capiscolus is also called scholasticus, as having
the instruction of the young clerks and choristers, how
to perform their duty.
CAPITA, Distribution by, in Law, signifies the
appointing to every man an equal share of a personal
estate ; when all the claimants claim in their own rights,
as in equal degrees of kindred, and not jure representa-
tionis.
CAPITAL, of the Latin caput “ the head,” is used,
on various occasions, to express the relation of a head,
chief or principal: thus,
Capital City, in Geography, denotes the principal
city of a kingdom, state, or province.
Capital Stock, among merchants, bankers, and
traders, signifies the sum of money which individuals
bring to make up the common stock of a partnership
when it is first formed. It is also said of the stock
which a merchant at first puts into trade for his account.
It likewise signifies the fund of a trading company or
corporation, in which sense the word stock is generally
added to it. Thus we say, the capital stock of the
bank, &c. The word capital is opposed to that of
profit or gain, though the profit often increases the ca¬
pital, and becomes of itself part of the capital, when
joined with the former.
Capital Crime, such a one as subjects the criminal
*Sec Crime to capital punishment, that is, to loss of life. *
and Pu- Capital Picture in Painting, denotes one of the
ninmur. yinegt an(j rnost exce]lent pieces of any celebrated
master.
Capital Letters, in Printing, large or initial letters,
wherein titles, &c. are composed ; with which all pe¬
riods, verses, &c. commence ; and wherewith also all
proper names of men, kingdoms, nations, &c. begin.
The practice which, for some time, obtained among our
printers, of beginning every substantive with a capital,
is now justly fallen into disrepute j being a manifest
perversion of the design of capitals, as well as an of¬
fence against beauty and distinctness.
Capital, Succession by, where the claimants are next
in degree to the ancestor, in their own right, and not by
right of representation.
Capital, in Architecture, the uppermost part of a
column, or pilaster, serving as the head or crowning,
and placed immediately over the shaft, and under the
entablature. See Architecture.
CAPITANA, or Captain Galley, the chief or
principally galley of a state, not dignified with the title
of a kingdom. The capitana was anciently the deno¬
mination of the chief galley of France, which the com¬
mander went on board of. But since the suppression
of the office of captain general of the galleys in 1669,
they have no capitana, but the first galley is called reale,
and the second parone.
Cx\PITANATA, one of the 12 provinces of the
kingdom of Naples, in Italy, bounded on the north by
the gulf of Venice, on the east by the Terra de Bari,
on the south by the Basilicata and the Farther Princi-
2
58 ] CAP
pato, and on the west by the county di Molise and a Capita-,!
small part of Hither Abruzzo. It is a level country, [|
without trees, the soil sandy, the air hot; the land, Capitcl
however, near the rivers, is fertile in pastures. The
capital town is Manfredonia.
CAPITANEATE, in a general sense, the same
with capitania. Capitaneates, in Prussia, are a kind of
noble feuds or estates, which, besides their revenue,
raise their owners to the rank of nobility. They are
otherwise called starosties.
CAPITANEI, or CatanEI, in Italy, ivas a deno¬
mination given to all the dukes, marquises, and counts,
who were called capitanei regis. The same appellation
was also given to persons of inferior rank who were
invested with fees, formerly distinguished by the ap¬
pellation valasores ?najores.
CAP1TANEUS, in ancient law writers, denotes a
tenant in capiteor chief.
Capitaneus Ecclesice, the same with advocate.
CAPITANIA, in Geography, an appellation given
to the 12 governments established by the Portuguese in
the Brasils.
CAPITATION, a tax or imposition raised on each
person, in proportion to his labour, industry, office,
rank, &c. It is a very ancient kind of tribute. The
Latins call it tributvm, by which taxes on persons are
distinguished from taxes on merchandise, which were
called vectigalia.
Capitations are never practised among us but in exi¬
gencies of state. In France the capitation was intro¬
duced by Louis XIV. in 1695J and is a tax very dif¬
ferent from the taille, being levied from all persons,
whether they be subject to the taille or not. The cler¬
gy pay no capitation, but the princes of the blood are
not exempted from it.
CAPITE, in Laiv, (from caput, i. e. rex ; whence
tencre in capite is to hold of the king, the head or lord
paramount of all the lands in the kingdom) : An an¬
cient tenure of land, held immediately of the king, as
of the crown, either by knight’s service or by soccage.
It is now abolished. See TENURE.
Capite Censi, in antiquity, the lowest rank of Ro¬
man citizens, who in public taxes were rated the least
of all, being such as never were worth above 365 asses.
They were supposed to have been thus called, because
they were rather counted and marshalled by their heads
than by their estates. The capite censi made part of
the sixth class of citizens, being below the proletarii,
who formed the other moiety of that class. They were
not enrolled in the army, as being judged not able to
support the expence of war; for in those days the sol¬
diers maintained themselves. It does not appear that
before Caius Marius any of the Roman generals listed
the capite censi in their armies.
CAPITOL, Capitolium, in antiquity, a famous
fort or castle, on the Mons Capitolinus at Rome, where¬
in was a temple dedicated, to Jupiter, thence also deno¬
minated Capitohnus, in which the senate anciently as¬
sembled j and which still serves as the city-hall, or
townhouse, for the meeting of the conservators of the
Roman people.—It had its name capital, from caput, “ a
man s head,” said to have been found fresh, and yet
bleeding, upon digging the foundation of the temple
built in honour of Jupiter. Arnobius adds, that the
man’s name was Talus, whence caput tolium. The first
foundations
CAP ~ [ 159 1 CAP
jtoj foandatxons of the capitol were laid by Tarquin the
[j1 Elder, in the year of Rome 139. His successor Servius
itoul. ralsed the walls j and Tarquin the Proud finished it in
the year 221. But it was not consecrated till the third
year after the expulsion of the kings, and establishment
of the consulate. The ceremony of the dedication of
the temple was performed by the consul Horatius in
246.
The capitol consisted of three parts; a nave sacred
to Jupiter, and two wings, the one consecrated to Juno,
the other to Minerva j it was ascended to by stairs *, the
frontispiece and sides were surrounded with galleries, in
which those who were honoured with triumphs enter¬
tained the senate at a magnificent banquet, after the
sacrifice had been offered to the gods.
Both the inside and outside were enriched with an
infinity of ornaments, the most distinguished of which
was the statue of Jupiter with his golden thunderbolt,
his sceptre, and crown. In the capitol also were a
temple to Jupiter the Guardian, and another to Juno,
with the mint j and on the descent of the hill was the
temple of Concord. This beautiful edifice contained
the most sacred deposits of religion, such as the ancilia,
the books of the Sibyls, &c.
The capitol was burnt under Vitellius, and rebuilt
under Vespasian. It was burnt a second time by light¬
ning under Titus, and restored by Homitian.
Anciently the name capitol was likewise applied to
all the principal temples in most of the colonies
throughout the Roman empire j as at Constantinople,
Jerusalem, Carthage, Ravenna, Capua, &c.—That of
Thoulouse has given the name of capitouls to the eche-
vins or sheriffs.
CAPITOLINE games, annual games instituted by
Camillus, in honour of Jupiter Capitolinus, and in com¬
memoration of the capitol’s not being taken by the
Gauls. Plutarch tells us that a part of the ceremony
consisted in the public criers putting up the Hetrurians
^ to sale by auction; they also took an old man, and
tying a golden bulla about his neck, exposed him to the
public derision. Pestus says they also dressed him in a
pretexta.—There was another kind of Capitoline games,
instituted by Domitian, wherein there were rewards
and crowns bestowed on the poets, champions, orators,
historians, and musicians. These last Capitoline games
were celebrated every five years, and became so famous,
that, instead of calculating time by lustra, they began
to count by Capitoline games, as the Greeks did by
Olympiads. It appears, however, that this custom
was not of long continuance.
CAPITOLINUS, Julius, an historian in the be¬
ginning of the fourth age, under Dioclesian, to whom
he inscribed the Lives of Verus, Antoninus Pius, Clo-
dius Balbinus, Macrinus, the Maximins, and the Gor-
dians. He wrote other lives, which are most of them
lost.
CAPITOUL, or Capitol, an appellation given
to the chief magistrates of Thoulouse, who have the
administration of justice and policy both civil and mer¬
cantile in the city. The capitouls at Thoulouse are
much the same with the echevins at Paris, and with
the consuls, bailiffs, burgomasters, mayors, and aider-
men, &c. in other cities. In ancient acts they are called
consules, capitularii, or capitolini, and their body capi-
tulum. From this last come the words capitularii and
capitouls. The appellative capitolini arose hence, that Capitoul
they have the charge and custody of the townhouse, U
which was anciently called capitol. Capitula-
The office lasts only one year, and ennobles the bear- ■ ^
ers. In some ancient acts they are called capitulum
nobilium Tolosee. Those who have borne it style them¬
selves afterwards burgesses. They are called to all ge¬
neral councils, and have the jus imaginum; that is,
when the year of their administration is expired, their
pictures are drawn in the townhouse j a custom which
they have retained from the ancient Romans, as may
be seen in Sigonius.
CAPITULATE, an appellation given to the seve¬
ral quarters or districts of the city of Thoulouse, each
under the direction of a capitoul: much like the wards
of London, under their aldermen. Thoulouse is now
divided into eight capitoulates, or quarters, which are
subdivided into moulans, each of which has its tithing-
man, whose business is to inform the capitoul of what
passes in his tithing, and to inform the inhabitants of
the tithing of the orders of the capitoul.
CAPITULAR, or Capitulare, denotes an act
passed in a chapter, either of knights, canons, or reli¬
gious.
The capitulariaor capitulars of Charlemagne, Charles
the Bald, &c. are the laws, both ecclesiastical and civil,
made by those emperors in the general councils or as¬
semblies of the people $ which was the way in which
the constitutions of most of the ancient princes were
made ; each person present, though a plebeian, setting
his hand to them.
Some distinguish these from laws; and say, they were
only supplements to laws. They had their name, capi¬
tulars, because divided into capitula, chapters, or sec¬
tions. In these capitulars did the whole French juris¬
prudence anciently consist. In process of time, the
name was changed for that of ordinances.
Some distinguish three kinds of capitulars, accord¬
ing to the difference of their subject-matter ; those on
ecclesiastical affairs are really canons, extracted from
councils ; those on secular affairs, real laws; those re¬
lating to particular persons, or occasions, private regu¬
lations.
CAPITULATION, in military affairs, a treaty -
made between the inhabitants or garrison of a place
besieged and the besiegers, for the delivering up the
place on certain conditions. The most honourable and
ordinary terms of capitulation are to march out at
the breach with arms and baggage, drums beating, co¬
lours flying, a match lighted at both ends, and some
pieces of cannon, waggons, and convoys for their bag¬
gage, and for their sick and wounded.
Capitulation, in the German polity, a contract
which the emperor makes with the electors, in the
name of all the princes and states of the empire, before
he is declared emperor, and which he ratifies before
he is raised to that sovereign dignity. The principal
points which the emperor undertakes to observe are,
I. To defend the church and empire. 2. To observe
the fundamental laws of the empire. And, 3. To
maintain and preserve the rights, privileges, and im¬
munities of the electors, princes, and other states of
the empire, specified in the capitulation. These ar¬
ticles and capitulations are presented to the emperor by
the electors only, without the concurrence of the other
states^ ,
CAP [ x6o ] CAP
Capitula- states, who have complained from time to time of such
tioa proceedings j and in the time of the Westphalian
II. treaty, in 1648, it was proposed to deliberate in the
Capomere. f0j]0W}ng upon a way of making a perpetual ca¬
pitulation } but the electors have always found means
of eluding the execution of this article. In order, how¬
ever, to give some satisfaction to their adversaries,
they have inserted in the capitulation of the empe¬
rors, and in that of Francis I. in particular, a promise
to use all their influence to bring the affair of a perpe¬
tual capitulation to a conclusion. Some German au¬
thors own, that this capitulation limits the emperor’s
power j but maintain that it does not weaken his so¬
vereignty : though the most part maintain that he is
not absolute, because he receives the empire under con¬
ditions which set bounds to absolute authority.
CAPITULUM, in the ancient military art, was a
transverse beam, wherein were holes through which
passed the strings whereby the arms of huge engines,
as balistse, catapultae, and scorpions, were played or
Worked.
Capitulum, in ecclesiastical writers, denoted part
of a chapter of the Bible read and explained. In which
sense they said, ire ad capitulum, “ to go to such a lec¬
ture.” Afterwards the place or apartment where such
theological exercises were performed was denominated
domus capituli.
CAPNICON, in antiquity, chimney money, or a
tax which the Roman emperors levied for smoke, and
which of consequence was due from all, even the
poorest, who kept a fire. This was first invented by
Nicephorus.
CAPNOMANCY, a kind of divination by means
of smoke, used by the ancients in their sacrifices. The
words come from Kcncvog, smoke, and puvTua, divination.
The general rule was, when the smoke was thin and
light, and rose straight up, it was a good omen j if the
contrary, it was an ill one. There was also another
species of capnomancy, consisting in the observation
of the smoke rising from poppy and jasmine seed cast
upon lighted coals.
CAPO fino, a large barren rock in the territory
of the Genoese, which has a castle on its eastern peak.
Near it is a small harbour of the same name, 13 miles
east by south of Genoa.
Capo d'lstria, a considerable town of Italy, in Istria,
on the gulf of Trieste, with a bishop’s see, and subject
to the Venetians. The air is wholesome and tempe¬
rate ; its principal revenue consists in wine and salt.
E. Long. 14. o. N. Lat. 45. 48.
(bAPON, a cock chicken, gelded as soon as left by
the dam, or as soon as he begins to crow. They are
of use either to lead chickens, ducklings, pheasants,
See. and defend them from the kites and buzzards j
or to feed for the table, they being reckoned more de¬
licate than either a cock or a hen.
CAPONIERE, or Capponiere, in Fortification,
a covered lodgment sunk four or five feet into the
ground, encompassed with a little parapet about two
ieet high, serving to support several planks covered
with earth. The caponiere is large enough to contain
*5 ^ soldiers $ and is usually placed in the glacis
on the extremity of the counterscarp, and in dry
moats $ having little embrasures for the soldiers to fire
through
CAPPADOCIA, an ancient kingdom of Asia,
comprehending all that country which lies between
Mount Taurus and the Euxine sea. It was divided by
the Persians into two satrapies or governments *, by the
Macedonians into two kingdoms, the one called Cap.
padocia ad Taurum ; the other Cappadocia ad Pontum,
and commonly Pontus ; for the history, Stc. of which
last, see the article PoNTUS.
Cappadocia Magna, or Cappadocia properly so
called, lies between the 38th and 41st degrees of north
latitude. It was bounded by Pontus on the north,
Lycaonia and part of Armenia Major on the south, Ga¬
latia on the west, and by the Euphrates and part of Ar¬
menia Minor on the east. The first king of Cappadocia
we read of in history was Pharnaces, who was preferred
to the crown by Cyrus king of Persia, who gave him
his sister Atossa in marriage. This is all we find re¬
corded of him, except that he was killed in a war with
the Hyrcanians. After him came a succession of eight
kings, of whom we know scarce any thing but that
they continued faithful to the Persian interest. In the
time of Alexander the Great, Cappadocia was govern¬
ed by Ariarathes II. who, notwithstanding the vast
conquests and fame of the Macedonian monarchy, con¬
tinued unshaken in his fidelity to the Persians. Alex¬
ander was prevented by death from invading his domi¬
nions ; but Perdiccas, marching against him with a
powerful and well-disciplined army, dispersed his forces,
and having taken Ariarathes himself prisoner, crucified
him with all those of the royal blood whom he could
get into his power. Diodorus tells us that he was killed
in the battle. He is said to have reigned 82 years.
His son Ariarathes III. having escaped the general
slaughter of the royal family, fled into Armenia, where
he lay concealed till the civil dissensions which rose
among the Macedonians gave him a fair opportunity of
recovering his paternal kingdom. Amyntas, at that
time the governor of Cappadocia, opposed him } but
being defeated in a pitched battle, the Macedonians
were obliged to abandon all the strong holds. Ariarathes,
after a long and peaceable reign, left his kingdom to
his son Ariaramnes II. He applied himself more to
the arts of peace than war, in consequence of which
Cappadocia flourished greatly during his reign. He
was succeeded by his son Ariarathes IV. who proved
a very warlike prince, and, having overcome Arsaces,
founder of the Parthian monarchy, considerably en¬
larged his own dominions.
He was succeeded by Ariarathes V. who, marrying
the daughter of Antiochus the Great, entered into an
alliance with that prince against the Romans } but An¬
tiochus being defeated, the king of Cappadocia was
obliged to sue for peace, which he obtained, after
having paid 200 talents by way of fine, for taking up
arms against the people of Rome. He afterwards as¬
sisted the republic with men and money against Perseus
king of Macedon, on which account he was by the senate
honoured with the title of the friend and ally of the
Roman people. He left the kingdom in a very flourishing
condition to his son Mithridates, who, on his accession,
took the name of Ariarathes VI.
This prince (surnamed Philopater, from the filial
respect and love he showed his father from his very
infancy) immediately renewed the alliance with Rome.
Out of mere good nature, he restored Mithrobarzanes,
CAP [ 161 ] CAP
Capj o- son Ladriades, king of the Lesser Armenia, to his
c father’s kingdom, though he foresaw that the Armeni-
ans would lay hold of that opportunity to join Arta-
xias, who was then on the point of invading Cappa¬
docia. These differences, however, were settled be¬
fore they came to an open rupture by the Roman le¬
gates } and Ariarathes seeing himself thus delivered from
an impending war by the mediation of the republic,
presented the senate with a golden crown $ and offered
his service in whatever they thought proper to employ
him. The senate in return sent him a staff, and chair
of ivory ; which were presents usually bestowed on those
only whom they looked upon as attached to their in¬
terest. Not long before this, Demetrius Soter, king of
Syria, had offered Ariarathes his sister in marriage, the
widow of Perseus king of Macedon : but this offer the
king of Cappadocia was obliged to decline for fear of
offending the Romans $ and his so doing was in the
highest degree acceptable to the republic, who rec¬
koned him among the chief of her allies. Demetrius,
however, being greatly incensed at the slight put upon his
sister, set up a pretender to the throne, one Orophernes,
a supposititious, or, as others call him, a natural son
of the deceased king. The Romans ordered Eu-
menes, king of Pergamus, to assist Ariarathes with all
his forces: which he did, but to no purpose $ for the
confederates were overthrown by Demetrius, and Ari¬
arathes was obliged to abandon the kingdom to his
rival. This happened about 159 years before Christ,
and the usurper immediately dispatched ambassadors
to Rome with a golden crown. The senate declined
accepting the present, till they heard his pretensions to
the kingdom 5 and this Orophernes, by suborned wit¬
nesses, made appear so plain, that the senate decreed
that Ariarathes and he should reign as partners; but
next year Orophernes was driven out by Attalus, bro¬
ther to Eumenes, and his successor to the kingdom of
Pergamus.
Ariarathes, being thus restored, immediately de¬
manded of the Priennians 400 talents of gold which
Orophernes had deposited with them. They honestly
replied, that as they had been trusted with the monev
by Orophernes, they could deliver it to none but him¬
self, or such as came in his name. Upon this, the king
entered their territories with an army, destroying all
with fire and sword. The Priennians, however, still
persevered in their integrity ; and though their city was
besieged by the united forces of Ariarathes and Atta¬
lus, not only made an obstinate defence, but found
means to restore the sum to Orophernes. At last they
applied to the Romans for assistance, who enjoined the
two kings to raise the seige, under pain of being de¬
clared enemies to the republic. Ariarathes immediate¬
ly obeyed ; and marching his army into Assyria, joined
Alexander Epiphanes against Demetrius Soter, by
whom he had been formerly driven out of his kingdom.
In the very first engagement Demetrius was slain, and
his army entirely dispersed, Ariarathes having on that
occasion given uncommon proofs of his courage and
conduct. Some years after, a war breaking out be¬
tween the Romans and Aristonicus, who claimed the
kingdom of Pergamus in right of his father, Ariarathes
joined the former, and was slain in the same battle in
which P. Crassus proconsul of Asia was taken, and the
Roman army cut in pieces. He left six sons by his
Vol. V. Part I. f
wife Laodice, on whom the Romans bestowed Lycao- Cappado-
nia and Cilicia. But Laodice, fearing lest her chil- cla.
dren, when they came to age, should take the govern- v-—■v'"—'
ment out of her hands, poisoned five of them, the
youngest only having escaped her cruelty by being con¬
veyed out of the kingdom. The queen herself was soon
after put to death by her subjects, who could not bear
her cruel and tyrannical government.
Laodice was succeeded by Ariarathes VII. who,
soon after his accession, married another Laodice,
daughter to Mithridates the Great, hoping to find in
that prince a powerful friend to support him against
Nicoraedes king of Bithynia, who laid claim to part of
Cappadocia. But Mithridates, instead of assisting, pro¬
cured one Gordius to poison his unhappy son-in-law,
and on his death, seized the kingdom, under pretence
of maintaining the rights of the Cappadocians against
Nicomedes, till the children of Ariarathes were in a
condition to govern the kingdom, The Cappadocians
at first fancied themselves obliged to their new pro¬
tector : but, finding him unwilling to resign the king¬
dom to the lawful heir, they rose up in arms, and driv¬
ing out all the garrisons placed by Mithridates, placed
on the throne Ariarathes VIII. eldest son of their de¬
ceased king.
The new prince found himself immediately engaged
in a war with Nicomedes j but, being assisted by Mi¬
thridates, not only drove him out of Cappadocia, but
stripped him of a great part of his hereditary domi¬
nions. On the conclusion of the peace, Mithridates,
seeking for some pretence to quarrel with Ariarathes,
insisted upon his recalling Gordius, who had murdered
his father j which being rejected with abhorrence, a war
ensued. Mithridates took the field first, in hopes of
overrunning Cappadocia before Ariarathes could be in
a condition to make head against him j but, contrary
to his expectation, he was met on the frontiers by the
king of Cappadocia with an army no way inferior to
his own. Hereupon he invited Ariarathes to a con¬
ference ; and, in sight of both armies, stabbed him with
a dagger, which he had concealed under his garment.
This struck such terror into the Cappadocians, that
they immediately dispersed, and gave Mithridates an
opportunity of possessing himself of the kingdom with¬
out the least opposition. The Cappadocians, however,
not able to endure the tyranny of his prefects, soon
shook off the yoke; and recalling the king’s brother
who had fled into the province of Asia, proclaimed him
king. He was scarce seated on the throne, however,
before Mithridates invaded the kingdom at the head
of a very numerous army, and having drawn Ariara¬
thes to a battle, defeated his army with great slaugh¬
ter, and obliged him to abandon the kingdom. The
unhappy prince soon after died of grief j and Mithri¬
dates bestowed the kingdom on his son, who wras then
but eight years old, giving him also the name of Aria¬
rathes. But Nicomedes Philopater, king of Bithynia,
fearing lest Mithridates, having now got possession of
the whole kingdom of Cappadocia, should invade his
territories, suborned a youth to pass himself for the
third son of Ariarathes, and to present to them a peti¬
tion in order to be restored to his father’s kingdom.
With him he sent to Rome Laodice, sister of Mithri¬
dates, whom he had married after the death of her for¬
mer husband Ariarathes. Laodice declared before the
X senate,
CAP [ 162 ] CAP
0- senate, that she had three sons by Ariarathes, and that
the petitioner was one of them ; but that she had
^ been obliged to keep him concealed, lest he should un¬
dergo the same fate with his brothers. The senate as¬
sured him that they would at all events reinstate him
in his kingdom. But in the mean time, Mithridates,
having notice of these transactions, dispatched Gordius
to Rome, to undeceive the senate, and to persuade
them that the youth to whom he had resigned the king¬
dom of Cappadocia was the lawful son of the late king,
and grandson to Ariarathes who had lost his life in the
service of the Romans against Aristonicus. This un¬
expected embassy put the senate upon inquiring more
narrowly into the matter, whereby the whole plot was
discovered j upon which Mithridates was ordered to
resign Cappadocia, and the kingdom was declared
free. The Cappadocians, however, in a short time
sent ambassadors to Rome, acquainting the senate that
they could not live without a king. This greatly
surprised the Romans, who had such an aversion to
royal authority ; but they gave them leave to elect a
king of their own nation. As the family of Pharna-
ces was now extinct, the Cappadocians chose Ariobar-
zanes ; and their choice was approved by the senate,
he having on all occasions shown himself a steady friend
to the Romans.
Ariobarzanes had scarce taken possession of his king¬
dom when he was driven out by Tigranes king of Ar¬
menia ; who resigned Cappadocia to the son of Mithri¬
dates, in pursuance of an alliance previously concluded
between the two parties. Ariobarzanes fled to Rome ;
and having engaged the senate in his cause, he re¬
turned into Asia writh Sylla, who was enjoined to re¬
store him to his kingdom. This was easily performed
by Sylla, who, with a small body of troops, routed
Gordius, who came to meet him on the borders of Cap¬
padocia at the head of a numerous army. Sylla, how¬
ever, had scarce turned his back, when Ariobarzanes
was again driven out by Ariarathes the son of Mithri¬
dates, on whom Tigranes had bestowed the kingdom
of Cappadocia. This obliged Sylla to return into Asia,
where he was attended with his usual success, and
Ariobarzanes was again placed on the throne. After
the death of Sylia, he was the third time forced by
Mithridates to abandon his kingdom ; but Pompey,
having entirely defeated Mithridates near Mount Stel¬
la, restored Ariobarzanes to his throne, and rewarded
him for his services during the war, with the provinces
of Sophene, Gordiene, and great part of Cilicia. The
king, however, being now advanced in years, and de¬
sirous of spending the remainder of his life in ease,
resigned the crown to his son Ariobarzanes, in pre¬
sence of Pompey j and never afterwards troubled him¬
self with affairs of state.
Ariobarzanes II. proved no less faithful to the Ro¬
mans than his father had been. On the breaking out
of the civil war between Caesar and Pompey, he sided
with the latter ; but, after the death of Pompey, he
was received into favour by Caesar, who even bestowed
upon him great part of Armenia. While Caesar was
engaged in.a war with the Egyptians, Pharnaces king
ofPontus invaded Cappadocia, and stripped Ariobar¬
zanes of all his dominions ; but Caesar, having defeated
Pharnaces, restored the king of Cappadocia, and ho-
2
noured him with new titles of friendship. After the
murder of Caesar, Ariobarzanes, having refused to join
Brutus and Cassius, was by them declared an enemy to
the republic, and soon after taken prisoner and put to
death. He was succeeded by his brother Ariobarza¬
nes III. who was by Mark Antony deprived both of
his kingdom and his life j and in him ended the family
of Ariobarzanes.
Archelaus, the grandson of that general of the same
name who commanded against Sylla in the Mithridatic
war, was by Mark Antony placed on the throne of
Cappadocia, though nowuse related either to the fa¬
mily of Pharnaces or Ariobarzanes. His preferment
was entirely owing to his mother Glaphyra, a woman
of great beauty, but of loose behaviour, who, in re¬
turn for her compliance with the desires of Antony,
obtained the kingdom of Cappadocia for her son. In
the war between Augustus and Antony, he joined the
latter j but, at the intercession of the Cappadocians,
was pardoned by the emperoi'. He afterwards re¬
ceived from him Armenia the Lesser, and Cilicia
Trachsea, for having assisted the Romans in clearing the
seas of pirates, who greatly infested the coasts of Asia.
He contracted a strict friendship with Herod the Great,
king of Judaea ; and even married his daughter Gla¬
phyra to Alexander, Herod’s son. In the reign of
Tiberius, Archelaus was summoned to appear before
the senate j for he had always been hated by that em¬
peror, because in his retirement at Rhodes he had paid
him no sort of respect. This had proceeded from no
aversion in him to Tiberius, but from the warning
given by Archelaus to his friends at Rome. For Caius
Caesar, the presumptive heir to the empire, was then
alive, and had been sent to compose the differences of
the east; whence the friendship of Tiberius was then
looked upon as dangerous. But when be came to the
empire, Tiberius, remembering the disrespect shewn
him by Archelaus, enticed the latter to Rome by
means of letters from Livia, who promised him her son
Tiberius’s pardon, provided he came in person to im¬
plore it. Archelaus obeyed the summons, and hasten¬
ed to Rome j where he was received by the emperor
with great wrath and contempt, and soon after accused
as a criminal in the senate. The crimes of which he
were accused were mere fictions ; but his concern at
seeing himself treated as a malefactor was so great,
that he died soon after of grief, or, as others say, laid
violent hands on himself. He is said to have reigned
50 years.
On the death of Archelaus, the kingdom of Cappa¬
docia was reduced to a Roman province, and governed
by those of the equestrian order. It continued subject
to the Romans till the invasion of the eastern empire
by the l urks, to whom it is now subject, but has no
distinguishing modern name. In what was anciently
called Cappadocia^ however, the Turks have four beg-
lerbeglics, called Siwas, Trebi%ond, Maraisch, and
Cogni.
In the time of the Romans, the inhabitants of Cap¬
padocia bore so bad a character, and were reputed so
vicious and lewd, that, among the neighbouring na¬
tions, a wicked man was emphatically called a Cappa-
uocian. In after ages, however, their lewd disposition
was so corrected and restrained by the pure doctrines
of
CAP [i
of Christianity, that no country whatever has produced
greater champions of the Christian religion, or given
to the church prelates of more unblemished characters.
We have now no system of the Cappadocian laws,
and scarce wherewithal to form any particular idea of
them. As to their commei'ce, they carried on a con¬
siderable trade in horses, great numbers of which were
produced in their country; and we read of them in
Scripture as frequenting the fairs of Tyre with this
commodity. As Cappadocia abounded with mines of
silver, brass, iron, and alum, and afforded great store of
alabaster, crystal, and jasper, it is probable that they
might supply the neighbouring countries with these
commodities.
The religion of the ancient Cappadocians was much
the same with that of the Persians. At Comana there
was a rich and stately temple dedicated to Bellona;
whose battles the priests and their attendants used to
represent on stated days, cutting and wounding each
other as if seized with an enthusiastic fury. No less
famous and magnificent were the temples of Apollo
Catanius, and of Jupiter $ the last of which had 3000
sacred servants, or religious votaries. The chief priest
was next in rank to that of Comana ; and, according
to Strabo, had a yearly revenue of 15 talents. Diana
Persica was worshipped in a city called Castaballa,
where women, devoted to the worship of that goddess,
were reported to tread barefooted on burning coals,
without receiving any hurt. The temples of Diana at
Diospolis, and of Anias at Zela, were likewise held in
great veneration both by the Cappadocians and Arme¬
nians, who flocked to them from all parts. In the
latter were tendered all oaths in matters of consequence $
and the chief among the priests was no way inferior in
dignity, power, and wealth, to any in the kingdom j
having a royal attendance, and an unlimited authority
over all the inferior servants and officers of the temple.
The Romans, who willingly adopted all the supersti¬
tions and superstitious rites of the nations they con¬
quered, greatly increased the revenues of this and
other temples j conferring the priesthood on such as
they thought most fit for carrying on their designs.—
We are told that human sacrifices were offered at Co-
mana $ and that this barbarous custom was brought by
Orestes and his sister Jphigenia from Taurica Scythica,
where men and women were immolated to Diana. Rut
this custom, if ever it obtained in Cappadocia, was
abolished in the times of the Romans.
CAPPANUS, a name given by some authors to a
worm that adheres to and gnaws the bottoms of ships 5
to which it is extremely pernicious, especially in the
East and West Indies j to prevent this, several ships
have lately been sheathed with copper j the first trial of
which was made on his majesty’s frigate the Alarm.
CAPPARIS. See Botany Index.
The buds of this plant, pickled with vinegar, &c.
are brought to Britain annually from Italy and the
Mediterranean. They are supposed to excite appetite
and assist digestion 5 and to be particularly useful as
detergents and aperients in obstructions of the liver
and spleen.
CAPRA, or Goat. See Mammalia Index.
Capra Saltans, in Meteorology, a fiery meteor or
exhalation sometimes seen in the atmosphere. It forms
63 ]
CAP
an inflected line, resembling in some measure the ca- Capra Sal-
perings of a goat; whence it has its name. tan*
CAPRALA, an isle of Italy, in the Tuscan sea, to ' 11
the north-east of Corsica, on which it depends. It is ^apt*corn‘.
pretty populous, and has a strong castle for its defence.
It is about 15 miles in circumference. E. Long. 11. 5.
N. Lat. 43. 1 5.
CAPRARIA. See Botany Index.
CAPRAROLA, one of the most magnificent pa¬
laces in Italy, seated on a hill, in Ronciglione, whose
foot is watered by the river Tircia. It was built by
Cardinal Farnese; and has five fronts, in the middle of
which is a round court, though all the rooms are square,
and well proportioned. It is 27 miles north-west of
Rome.
CAPRiE. See Capri.
CAPREOLUS, Elias, an excellent civilian, and
learned historian, born at Brescia in Italy, wrote a
history of Brescia, and other works : died in 1519-
CAPRI, (anciently Caprece), a city and island at the
entrance of the gulf of Naples, E. Long. 14. 50. N.
Lat. 40. 45.—The island is only four miles long and
one broad ; the city is a bishop’s see, and situated on a
high rock at the west end of the island. Caprece was
anciently famous for the retreat of the emperor Tibe¬
rius for seven years, during which he indulged himself
in the most scandalous debaucheries*. Before Tiberius#See Tt'-
carne hither, Capri had attracted the notice of Augus-
tus, as a most eligible retreat, though in sight of popu¬
lous cities, and almost in the centre of the empire. His
successor preferred it to every other residence 5 and in
order to vary his pleasure, and enjoy the advantages
as well as avoid the inconveniences of each revolving
season, built 12 villas in different situations, dedicated
to the 12 greater gods : the ruins of some of them are
still to be seen : at Santa Maria are extensive vaults
and reservoirs j and on an adjoining brow are the re¬
mains of a lighthouse j two broken columns indicate
the entrance of the principal court. According to
Dion Cassius, this island was wild and barren before
the Csesars took it under their immediate protection:
at this day a large portion of its surface is unculti¬
vated and impracticable j but every spot that will
admit the hoe is industriously tilled, and richly laden
with the choicest productions of agriculture. The
odium attached to the memory of Tiberius proved
fatal to his favourite abode 5 scarce was his death pro¬
claimed at Rome, when the senate issued orders for the
demolition of every fabric he had raised on the island,
which by way of punishment was thenceforward de¬
stined to be a state prison. The wife and sister of
Commodus were banished to its inhospitable rocks,
which were soon stained with their blood. In the
middle ages Capri became an appendage of the Amal-
fitan republic, and after the downfal of that state, be¬
longed to the duchy of Naples. There stood a pharos
on this island, which, a few days before the death of
Tiberius, was overthrown by an earthquake.
CAPRIATA, Peter John, a civilian and historian,
was born at Genoa. He wrote, in Italian, the history
of the wars of Italy; an English translation of which
was printed in London in 1663.
CAPRICORN, in Astronomy, one of the 12 signs
of the zodiac. See Astronomy Index.
X 2 The
*
CAP [ 164 ] CAP
Capricorn, The ancients accounted Capricorn the tenth sign ;
Capriiica- and when the sun arrived thereat, it made the winter
. ti011, solstice with regard to our hemisphere: hut the stars
having advanced a whole sign towards the east, Capri¬
corn is now rather the nth sign ; and it is at the sun’s
entry into Sagittary that the solstice happens, though
the ancient manner of speaking is still retained.
The sign is represented on ancient monuments, me¬
dals, &c. as having the forepart of a goat and the hind-
part of a fish, which is the form of an JEgipan 5 some¬
times simply under the form of a goat.
Tropic of Capricorn, a lesser circle of the sphere,
which is parallel to the equinoctial, and at 230 30' dis¬
tance from it southwards 3 passing through the begin¬
ning of Capricorn.
CAPRIFICATION, a method used in the Levant,
for ripening the fruit of the domestic fig tree, by means
cl insects bred in that of the wild fig tree.
The most ample and satisfactory accounts of this
curious operation in gardening, are those of Tourne-
fort andPontedra: the former, in his Voyage to the
Levant, and in a Memoir delivered to the Academy of
Sciences at Paris in 1705 3 the latter, in his Anthologia.
The substance of Tournefort’s account follows : “ Of
the thirty species or varieties of the domestic fig tree
which are cultivated in France, Spain, and Italy, there
are but two cultivated in the Archipelago. The first
species is called or nos, from the old Greek erinos, which
answers to caprificus in Latin, and signifies a wild fig
tree. The second is the domestic or garden fig tree.
The former bears successively, in the same year, three
, sorts of fruit, calledfornites, ct atitires, and orni; which,
though not good to eat, are found absolutely necessary
'• towards ripening those of the garden fig. These fruits
have a sleek even skin 3 are of a deep green colour 3
and contain in their dry and mealy inside several male
and female flowers placed upon distinct footstalks, the
former above the latter. The fornites appear in August,
and continue to November without ripening : in these
are bred small worms, which turn to a sort of gnats,
nowhere to be seen but about these trees. In October
and November, these gnats of themselves make a punc¬
ture into the second fruit, which is called cratitires.
These do not show themselves till towards the end of
September. The fornites gradually fall awTay after the
gnats are gone 3 the cratitires, on the contrary, remain
on the tree till May, and enclose the eggs deposited by
the gnats when they pricked them. In May, the third
sort of fruit, called orni, begins to he produced by the
wild fig trees. This is much bigger than the other
two 3 and when it grows to a certain size, and its bud
begins to open, it is pricked in that part by the gnats
of the cratitires, which are strong enough to go from
one fruit to another to deposite their eggs. It some¬
times happens that the gnats of the cratitires are slow
to come forth in certain parts, while the orni in those
very parts are disposed to receive them. In this case,
the husbandman is obliged to look for the cratitires in
another part, and fix them at the ends of the branches
of those fig trees whose orni are in a fit disposition to
be pricked by the gnats. If they miss the opportu¬
nity, the orraf fall, and the gnats of the cratitires fly away.
None but those that are well acquainted with the cul¬
ture know the critical moment of doing this 3 and in
order to know it, their eyg is perpetually fixed on the
bud of the fig 5 for that part not only indicates the time Cap
that the prickers are to issue forth, but also when the t
fig is to be successfully pricked 3 if the bud is too hard “
and compact the gnat cannot lay its eggs 3 and the fisc
drops when the bud is too open.
“ The use of all these three sorts of fruit is to ripen
the fruit of the garden fig tree, in the following manner :
During the months of June and July, the peasants take
the orni, at the time their gnats are ready to break out,
and carry them to the garden fig trees 3 if they do not
nick the moment, the orni fall ; and the fruit of the
domestic fig tree, not ripening, will in a very little time
fall in like manner. The peasants are so well acquainted
with these precious moments, that, every morning, in
making their inspection, they only transfer to their
garden fig trees such orni as are well conditioned,
otherwise they lose their crop. In this case, however,
they have one remedy, though an indifferent one 3 which
is, to strew over the garden fig trees another plant in
whose fruit there is also a species of gnats which answer
the purpose in some measure.”
The caprification of the ancient Greeks and Eo-
mans, described by Theophrastus, Plutarch, Pliny,
and other authors of antiquity, corresponds in every
circumstance with what is practised at this day in the
Archipelago and in Italy. These all agree in declaring,
that the wild fig tree, caprificus, never ripened its
fruit, but was absolutely necessary for ripening that
of the garden or domestic fig, over which the husband¬
men suspended its bi’anches. The reason of this suc¬
cess has been supposed to be, that by the punctures of
these insects the vessels of the fruit are lacerated, and
thereby a greater quantity of nutritious juice derived
thither. Perhaps, too, in depositing their eggs, the
gnats leave behind them some sort of liquor proper to
ferment gently with the milk of the figs, and to make
their flesh tender. The figs in Provence, and even at
Paris, ripen much sooner for having their buds pricked
with a straw dipped in olive oil. Plums and pears
likewise, pricked by some insects, ripen much the
faster for it 3 and the flesh round such puncture is better
tasted than the rest. It is not to be disputed, that
considerable changes happen to die contexture of fruits
so pricked, just the same as to parts of animals pierced
with any sharp instrument. Others have supposed that
these insects penetrated the fruit of the tree to which
they were brought, and gave a more free admission to
the air and to the sun. Linnaeus explained the ope¬
ration, by supposing that the insects brought the farina
from the wild fig, which contained male flowers only,
to the domestic fig, which contained the female ones.
Hasselquist, from what he saw in Palestine, seemed to
doubt of this mode of fructification. M. Bernard, in
the Memoirs of the Society of Agriculture, opposes it
more decidedly. He could never find the insect in the
cultivated fig 3 and, in reality, it appeared to leave the
wild fig, alter the stamina were mature, and their
pollen dissipated ; besides, he adds, what they may have
brought on their wings must be rubbed away, in the
little aperature which they would form for themselves.
At Malta, where there are seven or eight varieties of
the domestic fig, this operation is only performed on
those which ripen latest 3 the former are of a proper
size, fine flavour, and in great abundance without it j
so that he thinks the caprification only hastens the
ripeningo
CAP [ i
ripening. He examined the parts of fructification of
the fig J and he observes, if this examination be made
previous to the ripening, that round the eye of the
fig, and in the substance of its covering, may be seen
triangular dentated leaves, pressed one against an¬
other •, and under these leaves are the stamina, whose
pollen is destined for the impregnation of -the grains,
which fill the rest of the fruit. These male organs are
much more numerous in the wild fig than in the do¬
mestic 5 and the stamina are found to contain a yellow
dust, which may be collected when it is ripe. The
wild figs, when ripe, are not succulent, and have no
taste, though the grains are disposed in the same man¬
ner as in the other kind. The pith of the grain of
the wild fruit serves as food to a species of the cynips,
whose larva is white, till the moment of its transforma¬
tion *, and it is by an opening, in the direction of the
pistil, that the insect penetrates the grain. From this
account it is thought probable that the insect is only
communicated by accident to the domestic fig, and
that the flowers of this genus are sometimes herma¬
phrodites. But the number of hermaphrodite flowers
being fewer on the cultivated than on the wild fig, the
seeds are fecundated more certainly and quickly by
the caprification j and every botanist knows, that when
the impregnation is completed, the flower soon withers:
while, if by any accident it is delayed, it continues in
bloom much longer. This view of the subject, there¬
fore, explains very completely the reason why, in Mal¬
ta, the caprification is practised on the late kind of figs,
because it hastens the formation and maturity of the
fruit.
CAPRIMULGUS, Goatsucker, or Fern-owl. See
Ornithology Index.
CAPRIOLES, in the manege, leaps that a horse
makes in the same place without advancing, in such a
manner, that, when he is at the height of the leap, he
jerks out with his hinder legs even and near. It is the
most difficult of all the high manege. It differs from
a croupade, in this, that in a croupade, a horse does
Hot show his shoes ; and from a ballotade, because in
this he does not jerk out. To make a horse work
well at caprioles, he must be put between two pillars,
and taught to raise first his fore quarters, and then his
hind quarters while his fore ones are yet in the air j
for which reason you must give him the whip and the
poinson.
CAPSA, in Ancient Geography, a large and strong
town of Numidia, situated amidst vast deserts, waste,
uncultivated, and full of serpents, where Jugurtha kept
his treasure. In his time it was taken and razed by
Marias the Roman general, who put to death all the
citizens capable of bearing arms, and sold the rest for
slaves. It was, however, afterwards rebuilt by the Ro¬
mans, and strongly fortified j but, on the decline of
their empire, was taken and demolished a second time,
■^by Oocuba a famous Arab general. The walls of the
citadel are still remaining, and are monuments of the
ancient glory and strength of Capsa. They are 24 fa¬
thoms in height, and five in thickness, built of large
square stones, and have now acquired the solidity and
firmness of a rock. The walls of the town were rebuilt
by the inhabitants since their first demolition 5 but were
afterwards destroyed by Jacob Almanzor, who sent a
governor and troops into the province. In Marmol’s.
5 ] CAP
time Capsa was very populous, and abounded with Capsa
stately mosques and other structures of superb and ele- (j
gant workmanship : but at present it is occupied by a Capdcunn
poor and indigent people, fleeced and oppressed by the
Tunisian government. In the very centre of the city
stands an enclosed fountain, which both supplies the
people with drink, and affords them an agreeable bath.
The adjacent country is now cultivated, and produces
several kinds of fruits ; but the climate is unhealthy.
The inhabitants are remarkable for their peevishness
of temper. Both men and women dress handsomely",
except their feet, which they cover with coarse shoes
of bungling workmanship, and made of the rough skins
of wild beasts, equally inconvenient and unbecoming.
E. Long. 9. 3. N. Lat. 33. 15.
CAPSARIUS, (from capsa, satchel), in antiquity,
a servant who attended the Roman youth to school,
carrying a satchel with their books in it, sometimes al¬
so called lihrarius.
Capsarius was also an attendant at the baths, to
whom persons committed the keeping of their clothes.
Capsarius (from capsa, “ a chest,”) among the
Roman bankers, was he who had the care of the money
chest or coffer.
CAPSICUM, or Guinea-pepper. See Botany
Index-
The bell-pepper produces fruit for pickling $ for
which purpose they must he gathered before they ar¬
rive at their full size, while their rind is tender. They
must be slit down on one side to get out the seeds,
after which they should be soaked two or three days in
salt and water j when they are taken out of this and
drained, boiling vinegar must he poured on them in a
sufficient quantity to cover them, and closely stopped
down for two months j then they should be boiled in
the vinegar to make them green ; but they want no
addition of any spice, and are the wholesomest and
best pickle in the world. Another species is used for
making what is called cayan-butter or pepper-pots, by
the inhabitants of America, and which they esteem
the best of all the spices. The following is a receipt
for making of a pepper-pot: “ Take of the ripe seeds
of this sort of capsicum, and dry them well in the sun 5
then put them into an earthen or stone pot, mixing
flour between every stratum of pods ; and put them in¬
to an oven after the baking of bread, that they may
be thoroughly dried : after which they must be well
cleansed from the flour j and if any of the stalks re¬
main adhering to the pods, they should be taken oft’,
and the pods reduced to a fine powder 5 to every ounce
of this add a pound of wheat flour, and as much leaven,
as is sufficient for the quantity intended. After this
has been properly mixed and wrought, it should be
made into small cakes, and baked in the same manner
as common cakes of the same size 5 then cut them into
small parts, and bake them again, that they may be as
dry and hard as biscuit j which being powdered and sift¬
ed, is to be kept for use.” This is prodigiously hot and
acrimonious, setting the mouth as it were on fire. It
is by some recommended as a medicine for flatulencies j
but it is greatly to be doubted whether all those hot
irritating medicines are not productive of more harm
than good, in this country at least. If the ripe pods of
capsicum are thrown into the fire, they will raise strong
and noisome vapours, which occasion vehement sneezT
CAP '[i 66] CAP
Capsicum >t\g, coughing, and often vomiting, in those who are near
I! the place, or in the room where they are burnt. Some
Capstan. pers0ns have mixed the powder of the pods with snufi,
v to give to others for diversion : but where it is in quan¬
tity, there may be danger in using it; for it will occa¬
sion such violent fits of sneezing, as may break the
blood-vessels of the head.
CAPSQUARES, strong plates of iron which come
over the trunnions of a gun, and keep it in the car¬
riage. They are fastened by a hinge to the prize-
plate, that they may lift up and down, and form a
part of an arch in the middle to receive a third part of
the thickness of the trunnions : for two-thirds are let
into the carriage, and the other end is fastened by two
iron wedges called the forelocks and keys.
CAPSTAN, or Capstern, a strong massy column
of timber, formed like a truncated cone, and having
its upper extremity pierced with a number of holes to
receive the bars or levers. It is let perpendicularly
down through the decks of a ship j and is fixed in such
a manner, that the men, by turning it horizontally
with their bars, may perform any work which requires
any extraordinary effort.
Plate A capstern is composed of several parts, where A is
CXXXV. j.jie £ the wdielps, c the drumhead, and d the
spindle. The whelps rise out from the main body of
the capstern like buttresses, to enlarge the sweep, so
that a greater quantity of cable, or whatever rope en¬
circles the barrel, may be wound about it at one turn,
without adding much to the weight of the capstern.
The whelps reach downwards from the lower part of
the drumhead to the deck. The drumhead is a broad
cylindrical piece of wrood resembling a millstone, and
fixed immediately above the barrel and whelps. On
the outside of this piece are cut a number of square
holes parallel to the deck, to receive the bars. The
spindle or pivot d, which is shod with iron, is the axis
or foot upon which the capstern rests, and turns round
in the saucer, which is a sort of iron socket let into a
wooden stock or standard called the step, resting upon
and bolted to the beams.
, Besides the different parts of the capstern above ex¬
plained, it is furnished with several appurtenances, as
the bars, the pins, the pawls, the swifter, and the sau¬
cer, already described. The bars are long pieces of
wood, or arms, thrust into a number of square holes in
the drumhead all round, in which they are the radii
of a circle, or the spokes in the nave of a wheel. They
are used to heave the capstern round, which is done by
the men setting their breasts against them, and walking
about, like the machinery of a horse mill, till the ope¬
ration is finished.—The pins e, are little bolts of iron
thrust perpendicularly through the holes of the drum¬
head, and through a corresponding hole in the end of
the bar, made to receive the pins when the bars are
fixed. They are used to confine the bars, and to pre¬
vent them from working out as the men heave, or when
the ship labours. Every pin is fastened to the drum¬
head with a small iron chain ; and that the bars may
exactly fit their respective holes, they are all numbered.
The pawls f No. I. are situated on each side the cap-
jStern, being two short bars of iron, bolted at one end
through the deck to the beams close to the lower part
of the whelps ; the other end, which occasionally turns
round on the deck, being placed in the intervals of the
whelps, as the capstern turns round, prevents it from Capstan,
recoiling or turning back by any sudden jerk ot the Capsule,
cable, as the ship rises on the sea, which might greatly '““■’Y'-
endanger the men who heave. There are also hanging
pawls gg, No. 3. used for the same purposes, reaching
from the deck above to the drumhead immediately
below it. The swifter is a rope passed horizontally
through holes in the outer end of the bars, and drawn
very tight •, the intent of this is to keep the men steady
as they walk round when the ship rocks, and to give
room for a greater number to assist by pulling upon the
swifter itself.
The most frequent use of the capstern is to heave in
the cable, and thereby remove the ship or draw up the
anchor. It is also used to wind up any weighty body,
as the masts, artillery, &c. In merchant ships it is
likewise frequently employed to discharge or take in
the cargo, particularly when consisting of weighty ma¬
terials that require a great exertion of mechanical
powers to be removed.
There are commonly two capsterns in a man of war,
the main and the gear capstern $ the former of which
has two drumheads, and may be called a double one.
This is represented in No. 3. The latter is represent¬
ed in No. 2.
Formerly the bars of the capstern went entirely
through the head of it, and consequently were more
than double the length of the present ones; the holes
were therefore formed at different heights, as repre¬
sented in No. 1. But this machine had several incon¬
veniences, and has long been entirely disused in the
navy. Some of these sort of capsterns, however, are
still retained in merchant ships, and are usually deno¬
minated crabs. The situation of the bars in a crab, as
ready for heaving, is represented in No. 4.
To rig the Capstern, is to fix the bars in their re¬
spective holes, and thrust in the pins, in order to con¬
fine them.—Surge the Capstern, is the order to slack¬
en the rope heaved round upon it, of which there are
generally two turns and a half about the barrel at once,
and sometimes three turns.—To heave the Capstern,
is to go round with it heaving on the bars, and draw¬
ing in any rope of which the purchase is created.—To
come-vp the Capstern, is to let go the rope upon which
they had been heaving.—To Pawl the Capstern, is to
fix the pawls to prevent it from recoiling during any
pause of heaving.
CAPSULE, in a general sense, denotes a receptacle
or cover in form of a bag.
Capsule, among botanists, a dry hollow seed-vessel
or pericarpium, that cleaves or splits in some determi¬
nate manner. See Pericarpium, Botany Index.
This species of seed-vessel is frequently fleshy and
succulent, like a berry, before it has attained maturi¬
ty 5 but, in ripening, becomes dry, and often so elastic
as to dart the seeds from their departments with con¬
siderable velocity. This' elasticity is remarkably con¬
spicuous in wood sorrel; balsam, impatiens; African
spiraea, diosma ; fruxinella ;justicia ; ruellia ; barleria ;
lathrwa ; and many others.—The general aptitude or
disposition of this species of seed-vessel to cleave or
separate for the purpose of dispersing its seeds, dis¬
tinguishes it not less remarkably than its texture from
the pulpy or succulent fruits of the apple, berry, anff
cherry kind. This opening of the capsule for discharg¬
ing
CAP [ 167 ] CAP
Injr Its seeds when the fruit is ripe, is either at the
top, as in most plants ; at the bottom, as in tnglo-
cbinj at the side, through a pore or small hole, as in
campanula and orchis $ horizontally, as in plantain,
amaranthus, and anagallis •, or longitudinally, as in
convolvulus. All fruit that is jointed, opens at every
one of the joints, each of which contains a single seed.
Capsules, in splitting, are divided, externally, into one
or more pieces, called by Linnaeus valves. The in¬
ternal divisions of the capsules are called cells, locala-
menta : these, in point of number, are exceedingly di¬
versified j some having only one cell, as the primrose $
and others many, as the water lily. Hence a capsule
is termed unilocular, bilocular, trilocular, &c. accord¬
ing as it has one, two, three, &c. cells or cavities.
Capsulje Atrabiliarice, called also glandulce renales,
and renes succenturiati. See Anatomy Index.
CAPTAIN, a military officer whereof there are
several kinds, according to their commands.
Captain of a Troop or Company, an inferior officer
who commands a troop of horse or a company of foot,
under a colonel. The duty of this officer is to be
careful to keep his company full of able-bodied sol¬
diers j to visit their tents and lodgings, to see what is
wanting j to pay them well; to cause them keep them¬
selves neat and clean in their clothes, and their arms
bright. He has power in his own company of making
Serjeants, corporals, and lanspesades.
In the horse and foot guards, the captains have the
rank of colonels.
CAPTAIN-General, he who commands in chief.
CAPTAiN-Lieutcnant, he who, with the rank of cap¬
tain, but the pay of lieutenant, commands a troop or
company in the name and place of some other person
who is dispensed with, on account of his quality, from
performing the functions of his post.
Thus the colonel being usually captain of the first
company of his regiment, that company is commanded
by his deputy under the title of Captain-Lieutenant.
So in England, as well as in France, the king,
queen, dauphin, princes, &c. have usually the title of
captain of the guards, gens d^armes, &.c. the real du¬
ty of which offices is performed by captain-lieute¬
nants.
Captain Reformed, one who, upon the reduction of
the forces, has his commission and company suppressed $
yet is continued captain, either as second to another, or
without any post or command at all.
Captain of a Ship of War, the officer who com¬
mands a ship of the line of battle, or a frigate carry¬
ing 20 or more cannon. The charge of a captain in
his majesty’s navy is very comprehensive, in as much
as he is not only answerable for any bad conduct in
the military government, navigation, and equipment
of the ship he commands, but also for any neglect of
duty or ill management in his inferior officers, whose
several charges he is appointed to superintend and re¬
gulate.
On h is first receiving information of the condition
and quality of the ship he is appointed to command,
he must attend her constantly, and hasten the necessary
preparations to fit her for sea. So strict, indeed, are
the injunctions laid on him by the lord high admiral,
or commissioners of the admiralty, that he is forbid
to lie out of his ship, from his arrival on board to
the day of his discharge, unless by particular leave Captain,
from the admiralty or from his commander in chief. v—'
He is enjoined to show a laudable example of honour
and virtue to the officers and men j and to discounte¬
nance all dissolute, immoral, and disorderly practices,
and such as are contrary to the rules of subordination
and discipline j as well as to correct those who are
guilty of such ofiences as are punishable according to
the usage of the sea. He is ordered particularly to
survey all the military stores which are sent on board,
and to return whatever is deemed unfit for service.
His diligence and application are required to procure
his complement of men \ observing carefully to enter
only such as are fit for the necessary duty, that the go¬
vernment may not be put to unnecessary expence.
When his ship is fully manned, he is expected to keep
the established number of men complete, and superin¬
tend the muster himself, if there is no clerk of the check
at the port. When his ship is employed on a cruising
station, he is expected to keep the sea the whole length
of time previously appointed j but if he is compelled
by some unexpected accident to return to port sooner
than the time limited, he ought to be very cautious in
the choice of a good situation for anchoring, ordering
the master or other careful officers to sound and disco¬
ver the depths of water and dangers of the coast. Pre¬
vious to any possibility of an engagement with the
enemy, he is to quarter the officers and men to the ne¬
cessary stations according to their office and abilities,
and to exercise them in the management of the artil¬
lery, that they may be more expert in time of battle.
His station in the time of an engagement is on the
quarter-deck j at which time he is expected to take all
opportunities of annoying his enemy, and improving
every advantage over him ; to exhibit an example of
courage and fortitude to his officers and crew •, and to
place his ship opposite to his adversary in such a posi¬
tion as that every cannon shall do effectual execution.
At the time of his arrival in port, after his return
from abroad, he is to assemble his officers, and draw
up a detail of the observations that have been made
during the voyage, of the qualities of the ship as to
her trim, ballast, stowage, manner of sailing, for the
information and direction of those who may succeed
him in the command j and this account is to be signed
by himself and officers, and to be returned to the resi¬
dent commissioner of the navy at the port where the
ship is discharged.
Captain of a Merchant-ship, he who has the direc¬
tion of the ship, her crew, and lading, &c. In small
ships and short voyages, he is more ordinarily called the
master. In the Mediterranean, he is called the pa-
troon.—The proprietor of the vessel appoints the cap¬
tain or masterand he is to form the crew, and choose
and hire the pilots, mates, and seamen $ though, when
the proprietor and master reside on the same spot, they
generally act in concert together.
Captain Bashaw, or Capondan Bashaw, in the po¬
lity of the Turks, signifies the Turkish high admiral.
He possesses the third office of the empire, and is in¬
vested with the same power at sea that the vizier has
on shore. Soliman II. instituted this office in favour
of the famous Barbarossa, with absolute authority over
the officers of the marine and arsenal, whom he may
punish, cashier, or put to death, as soon as he is with¬
out-
CAP [ 168 ] CAP
Captain out the Dardanelles. He commands in chief in all the
il _ maritime countries, cities, castles, &c.; and, at Con-
i antivity. stantinople, is the first magistrate of police in the vil¬
lages on the side of the Porte, and the canal of the
Black sea. The mark of his authority is a large In¬
dian cane, which he carries in his hand, both in the
arsenal and with the army.—The captain bashaw en¬
joys two sorts of revenues j the one fixed, the other
casual. The first arises from a capitation of the islands
in the Archipelago, and certain governments in Nato-
lia and Galipoli. The latter consists in the pay of the
men who die during a campaign j in a fifth of all prizes
made by the begs j in the profits accruing from the la¬
bour of the slaves, whom he hires as rowers to the grand
signior ; and in the contributions he exacts in all places
' where he passes.
CAPTION, in Scots Law, a writ issuing under
his majesty’s signet, in his majesty’s name, obtained at
the instance of a creditor in a civil debt, commanding
messengers at arms and other officers of the law to ap¬
prehend and imprison the person of the debtor until he
pay the debt.—It is also the name of a writ issued by
the court of session against the agents of the court, to
return papers belonging to processes or law suits, or
otherwise to go to prison.
CAPTIVE, a slave, or a person taken from the
enemy.
Formerly captives in war became the slaves of those
who took them ; and though slavery, such as obtain¬
ed among the ancients, is now abolished, some sha¬
dow of it still remains in respect of prisoners of war,
who are accounted the property of their captors, and
have no right to liberty but by concession from them.
—The Romans used their captives with great severi¬
ty ; their necks were exposed to the soldiers to be
trampled on, and their persons afterwards sold by pub¬
lic auction. Captives were frequently burnt in the fu¬
neral piles of the ancient warriors, as a sacrifice to the
infernal gods. Those of royal or noble blood had their
heads shaven, and their hair sent to Rome to serve as
decorations for female toys, &c. They were led in
triumph loaded with chains through Rome, in the em-
peioi s ti ain, at least as far as the foot of the Capito-
line mount, for they were not permitted to ascend the
sacred hill, but carried thence to prison. Those of
the prime quality were honoured with golden chains
on their hands and feet, and golden collars on their
necks. If they made their escape, or killed them¬
selves, to avoid the ignominy of being carried in tri¬
umph, their images or effigies were frequently carried
in their place.
. CAPTIVITY, in a general sense, the state or con¬
dition of a captive.
( Captivity, in sacred history, a punishment which
God inflicted upon his people for their vices and infi¬
delities. The first of these captivities is that of Ecrypt,
from which Moses delivered them j after which, are*
reckoned six during the government of the judges ‘ but
the greatest and most remarkable were those of Judah
and Israel, which happened under the kings of each of
these kingdoms. It is generally believed, that the ten
tribes of Israel never came back again after their dis¬
persion ; and Josephus and St Jerome are of this opi¬
nion : nevertheless, when we examine the writings of
the prophets, we find the return of Israel from capti-
3
vity pointed out in a manner almost as clear as that of
the tribes of Benjamin and Judah: see Hosea, i. 10. n.
Amos, ix. 14. The captivities of Judah are generally
reckoned four 5 the fourth and last of which fell in the
year of the world 3416, under Zedekiah j and from
this period begins the 70 years captivity foretold by
Jeremiah.
Since the destruction of the temple by the Romans,
the Plebrews boast that they have always had their
heads, or particular princes, whom they call princes of
the captivitij, in the east and west. The princes of the
captivity in the east governed the Jews that dwelt in
Babylon, Assyria, and Persia; and the princes of the
captivity in the west governed those who dwelt in Ju¬
daea, Egypt, Italy, and in other parts of the Roman
empire. He who resided in Judaea commonly took up
his abode at Tiberias, and assumed the name of B.os-
chabboth “ head of the fathers or patriarchs.” He
presided in assemblies, decided in cases of conscience,
levied taxes for the expences of his visits, and had offi¬
cers under him who were dispatched through the pro¬
vinces for the execution of his orders. As to the prin¬
ces of the captivity of Babylon, or the east, we know
neither the original nor succession of them. It only
appears that they were not in being before the end of
the second century.
CAPTURE, a prize, or prey j particularly that of
a ship taken at sea. Captures made at sea were for¬
merly held to be the property of the captors after a
possession of twenty-four hours j but the modern au¬
thorities require, that before the property can be
changed, the goods must have been brought into port,
and have continued a night intra prccsidia, in a place
of safe custody, so that all hope of recovering them
was lost.
.Capture also denotes an arrest or seizure of a cri¬
minal, debtor, &c. at land.
CAPUA, in Ancient Geography, a very ancient citv
of Italy, in Campania, and capital of that district. It
is famous for the abode of Hannibal the Carthaginian
general after the battle of Cannae, and where Livy ac¬
cuses him, but unjustly, of having enervated himself
with pleasures *. It still retains the name, and is the* See Cal
see of an archbishop. It is seated on the river Voltur-M^.
no, in E. Long. 15. 5. N. Lat. 41. 7. The history
of Capua is thus shortly deduced by IMr Swinburne.
“ It was a settlement of the Osci long before the
foundation of Rome. As the amazing fertility of the
land and a lucrative commerce poured immense wealth
upon its inhabitants, it became one of the most exten¬
sive and magnificent cities in the world. With riches
excessive luxuiy crept in., and the Capuans grew inso¬
lent ; but by their effeminacy they soon lost the power
of repelling those neighbouring nations which their
insolence had exasperated. For this reason Capua was
continually exposed to the necessity of calling in fo¬
reign aid, and endangering its safety by the uncom¬
mon temptations it offered to needv auxiliaries. The
Roman soldiers sent to defend Capu'a were on the point
of making it their prey, and often the voice of the
Roman people was loud for a removal from the barren
unwholesome banks of the Tiber to the garden of
Italy, near those of the Yolturno. Through well-
iounded jealousy of the ambition of Rome, or, as Livy
and other partial writers term it, natural inconstancy,
the
Cs
CAP C 169 ] CAR
pua,
chins,
the Capuans warmly espoused the quarrel of Carthage :
Hannibal made Capua his winter quarters after the
1 campaign of Cannae ; and there, if we are to believe
historians, his rough and hitherto invincible soldiers
were enervated by pleasure and indolence.
“ When through a failure of supplies from Carthage
Hannibal was under a necessity of remaining in Brut-
tium, and leaving the Capuans to defend themselves,
this city, which had been long invested, was surren¬
dered at discretion to the consuls Appius Claudius and
Q. Fulvius Flaccus. The senators were put to death,
the nobles imprisoned for life, and all the citizens sold
and dispersed. Vibius, the chief of Hannibal’s friends,
avoided this ignominious fate, and escaped from the
cruel vengeance of the Romans, by a voluntary death.
—When the mob insisted upon the gates being thrown
open to the enemy, Vibius assembled his steady asso¬
ciates, and sat down with them to a superb banquet,
after which each of the guests swallowed a poisonous
draught, and expired in full possession of their free¬
dom. The buildings were spared by the victor j and
Capua was left to be merely a harbour for the husband¬
men of the plain, a warehouse for goods, and a gra¬
nary for corn $ but so advantageous a situation could
not long be neglected ; colonies were sent to inhabit it,
and in process of time it regained a degree of import¬
ance.
“ Genseric the Vandal was more cruel than the Ro¬
man conquerors had been j for he massacred the inha¬
bitants, and burnt the town to the ground. Narses
rebuilt it; but in 841 it was totally destroyed by an
army of Saracens, and the inhabitants driven into the
mountains. Some time after the retreat of these sa¬
vage invaders, the Lombards ventured down again
into the plain ; but not deeming their force adequate to
the defence of so large a circuit as the old city, they
built themselves a smaller one on the river, and called
it Capua.—They chose the site of Casilinum, famous
in the second Punic war, for the resistance made by its
garrison against Hannibal. Since the foundation of
the new city, Old Capua has remained in ruins.
“ In 856, Landulph formed here an independent
earldom dismembered from the duchy of Benevento,
and in the course of a few generations Capua acquired
the title of a principality. In the nth century, the
Normans of Aversa expelled the Lombard race of
princes, and Richard their chief became prince of Ca¬
pua ; the grandson of Tancred of Hauteville drove out
the descendants of Richard, and united this state to the
rest of his possessions.
“ Capua is at present a neat little city, fortified ac¬
cording to the rules of modern art, and may be consi¬
dered as the key of the kingdom ; though far removed
from the frontier, it is the only fortification that really
covers the approach to Naples.”
CAPUCHINS, religious of the order of St Francis
m its strictest observance ; deriving their name from
capuce, or capuchon, a stuff cap, or cowl, wherewith
they cover their heads. They are clothed with brown
or gray ; always barefooted ; and never to go in a
coach, nor ever shave their beard.—-The Capuchins
are a reform made from the order of Minors, com¬
monly called Cordeliers, set on foot in the 16th cen¬
tury by Matthew Baschi, a religious observant of the
monastery of Montefiascone ; who, being at Rome,
Vol. V. Part I. t
was advertised several times from heaven, to practise Capuchins
the rule of St Francis to the letter. Upon this he made [j
application to Pope Clement in 1525 ; who gave him Caracalla.
permission to retire into a solitude, with as many others v
as chose to embrace the strict observance. In 1528,
they obtained the pope’s bull. In 1529, the order
was brought into complete form : Matthew was elect¬
ed general, and the chapter made constitutions. In
1543, the right of preaching was taken from the Ca¬
puchins by the pope: but in 1545 it was restored to
them again with honour. In 1578, there wrere already
17 general chapters in the order of Capuchins.
CAPUT, the head. See Head.
Caput baroniee, the head of the barony, in ancient
customs, denotes the ancient or chief seat or castle of a
nobleman, where he made his usual residence, and held
his court; sometimes also called caput honoris, or the
head of the honour. The caput baroniae 'could not be
settled in dowry ; nor could it be divided among the
daughters, in case there was no son to inherit; but
was to descend entire to the eldest daughter, cceteris
jiliabus aliunde satisfactis.
Caput Gallinaginis, in Anatomy, is a kind of sep¬
tum, or spongy border, at the extremities or apertures
of each of the vesiculce seminales; serving to prevent
the seed coming from one side, from rushing upon, and
so stopping, the discharge of the other.
Caput Lupinum. Anciently an outlawed felon was
said to have caput lupinum, and might be knocked on
the head like a wolf, by any one that should meet
him ; because, having renounced all law, he was to be
dealt with as in a state of nature, when every one that
should find him might slay him; yet now, to avoid
such inhumanity, it is holden that no man is entitled
to kill him wantonly and wilfully; but in so doing he
is guilty of murder, unless it is done in the endeavour
to apprehend him.
Caput Mortuum, a Latin name given to fixed and
exhausted residuums remaining in retorts after distilla¬
tions. As these residuums are very different, accord¬
ing to the substances distilled, and the degree of heat
employed, they are by the more accurate modern che¬
mists particularly specified by adding a term denoting
their qualities ; as earthy residuum, charry residuum,
saline residuum, &c.
CARABINE, a fire arm shorter than a musket,
carrying a ball of 24 in the pound, borne by the light
horse, hanging at a belt over the left shoulder. The
barrel is two feet and a half long; and is sometimes
furrowed spirally within, which is said to add to the
range of the piece.
CARABINEERS, regiments of light horse, carry¬
ing longer carabines than the rest, and sometimes used
on foot.
CARABUS. See Entomology Index.
CARACALLA, M. Antoninus Bassianus, em¬
peror after his father Severus in 211, put the physicians
to death for not despatching his father, as he would
have had them. He killed his brother Geta ; and put
Papinianus to death, because he would not defend nor
excuse his parricide. In short, it is said that 20,000
persons were massacred by his order. He married Ju¬
lia, his father’s widow. Going to Alexandria, he slew
the inhabitants, and applied to the magicians and astro¬
logers. At last, going from Edessa to Mesopotamia,
Y one
CAR [ 170 ] CAR
one of his captains slew him, by order of Macrinus, who
succeeded him. He died after he had reigned some¬
what moi'e than six years.
Caracalla, in antiquity, a long garment, having
a sort of capuchin, or hood a-top, and reaching to the
heels •, worn equally among the Romans by the men
and the women, in the city and the camp. Spartian
and Xiphllian represent the emperor Caracalla as the
inventor of this garment, and hence suppose the appel¬
lation Caracalla was first given him. Others, with
more probability, make the caracalla originally a Gal¬
lic habit, and only brought to Rome by the emperor
above mentioned, who first enjoined the soldiery to
wear it. The people call it antoninian, from the same
prince, who had borrowed the name of Antoninus. The
caracalla was a sort of cassock, or surtout. Salmasius,
Scaliger, and after them Du Cange, even take the name
cosaque to have been formed from that of caraquet for
caracalla. This is certain from St Jerome, that the
caracalla, with a retrenchment of the capuchin, became
an ecclesiastical garment. It is described as made of
several pieces cut and sewed together, and hanging down
to the feet; but it is more than probable there were
some made shorter, especially out of Rome, otherwise we
do not see how it could have fitted the soldiers purposes.
CARACCAS, a district of Terra Firma in South
America, belonging to the Spaniards. The coast is
rocky and mountainous, interspersed with small fertile
valleys ; subjected at certain seasons of the year to dry
north-west winds, but blessed in general with a clear
air and wholesome climate. A very great illicit trade
is carried on by the English and Dutch with this pro¬
vince, notwithstanding all the vigilance of the Spa¬
niards, who have scouts perpetually employed, and
breastworks raised in all the valleys. A vast number
of cacao trees are cultivated in this province; and it is
reckoned that the crop of cacao produced here amounts
to more than 100,000 fanegas of no pounds each. The
country of Santa Fe consumes 20,000 \ Mexico a little
more j the Canaries a small cargo ; and Europe from
50 to 60,000. The cultivation of the plant employs 10
or 12,000 negroes. Such of them as have obtained
their liberty have built a little town called Nirva, into
which they will not admit any white people. The chief
town u> likewise called Caraccas, and is situated in N.
Lat. 10. 10. It stands at a considerable distance from
the sea j contains 34,000 inhabitants, and is extremely
difficult of access, by reason of the steep and craggy
hills over which an enemy must take his route. The
commerce of this town, to which the bay of Guaira at
two leagues distance serves for a harbour, was for a
long time open to all the subjects of the Spanish mo¬
narchy, and is still so to the Americans ; but the Euro¬
peans are not so well treated. The Caraccas contain
altogether, according to Depons, 728,000 inhabitants,
of whom the whites form two-tenths, the slaves three-
tenths, the descendants of freedmen four, and the Indi¬
ans the remainder. An insurrection began in this coun¬
try in 1810, which it is probable will end in its sepa¬
ration from Old Spain. See Caraccas, Supplement.
CARACCI, Lewis, Augustine, and Hannibal,
three celebrated painters of the Lombard school, all of
Bologna. Lewis was born in 1555 > antl was cousin-
german to Augustine and Hannibal, who were brothers,
the sons of a tailor, who was yet careful to give them
2'
a liberal education. They were both disciples of
their cousin Lewis. Augustine gained a knowledge of
mathematics, natural philosophy, music, poetry, and
most of the liberal arts ; but, though painting was his
principal pursuit, he learned the art of engraving from
Cornelius Cort, and surpassed all the masters of his
time. Hannibal, again, never deviated from his pencil.
—These three painters, at length, having reaped all
the advantages they could by contemplation and prac¬
tice, formed a plan of association, continued always
together, and laid the foundation of that celebrated
school which has ever since been known by the name of
Caracal's academy. Hitherto all the young students,
who had a view of becoming masters, resorted to be in¬
structed in the rudiments of painting; and here the Ca-
racci taught freely, and without reserve, all that came.
Lewis’s charge was to make a collection of antique
statues and bas reliefs. They had designs of the best
masters, and a collection of curious books on all sub¬
jects relating to their art; and they had a skilful ana¬
tomist always ready to teach what belonged to the
knitting and motions of the muscles, &c. There were
often disputations in the academy; and not only paint¬
ers, but men of learned professions, proposed questions,
which were always decided by Lewis. Every body was
well received; and though stated hours were allotted to
treat of different matters, yet improvements might be
made at all hours by the antiquities and the designs
which wrere to be seen.
The fame of the Caracci reaching Rome, the cardi¬
nal Farnese sent for Flannibal thither, to paint the gal¬
lery of his palace. Hannibal was the more willing to
go, because he had a great desire to see Raphael’s works,
with the antique statues and bass reliefs. The gusto
which he took there from the ancient sculpture, made
him change his Bolognian manner for one more learned
but less natural in the design and in the colouring.--
Augustine followed Hannibal, to assist him in his un¬
dertaking of the Farnese gallery ; but the brothers not
rightly agreeing, Farnese sent Augustine to the court
of the duke of Parma, where he died in the year 1602,
being only 45 years of age. His most celebrated piece
of painting is that of the Communion of St Jerome, in
Bologna.
In the mean while, Hannibal continued working in
the Farnese gallery at Rome; and, after inconceivable
pains and care, finished the paintings in the perfection
in which they are now to be seen. He hoped that the
cardinal would have rewarded him in some proportion
to the excellence of his work, and the time it took him
up, which was eight years ; but he was disappointed.
The cardinal, influenced by an ignorant Spaniard, his
domestic, gave him but a little above 200I. though it
is certain be deserved more than twice as many thou¬
sands. W hen the money was brought him, he was so
surprised at the injustice done him, that he could not
speak a word to the person who brought it. This con¬
firmed him in a melancholy to which his temper natu¬
rally inclined, and made him resolve nevermore to touch
his pencil; which resolution he had undoubtedly kept,
if his necessities had not compelled him to break it. It
is said, that his melancholy gained so much upon him,
that at certain times it deprived him of the use of his
senses. It did not, however, put a stop to his amours;
and his debauches at Naples, whither he had retired for
the
CAR [ r
( acc; the recovery of his health, brought a distemper upon
U him of which he died in 1609, when he was 49 years
( act. of age. His veneration for Raphael was so great, that
“ 'r““^it was his deathbed request to be buried in the same
tomb with him j which was accordingly done, in the
Pantheon or Rotunda at Rome. There are extant se¬
veral prints of the blessed Virgin, and some other sub¬
jects, etched by the hand of this incomparable artist.
He is said to have been a friendly, plain, honest, and
open-hearted man j very communicative to his scho¬
lars, and so extremely kind to them, that he generally
kept his money in the same box with his colours,
where they might have recourse to either as they had
occasion.
While Hannibal Caracci worked at Rome, Lewis
was courted from all parts of Lombardy, especially by
the clergy, to make pictures in their churches : and we
may judge of his capacity and facility, by the great
number of pictures he made, and by the preference
that was given him to other painters. In the midst
of these employments Hannibal solicited him to come
and assist him in the Farnese gallery; and so ear¬
nestly, that he could not avoid complying with his
request. He went to Rome; corrected several things
in that gallery ; painted a figure or two himself; and
then returned to Bologna, where he died in 1619,
aged 64.
CARACOL, in the manege, the half turn which a
horseman makes, either to the right or left.—-In the
army, the horse always makes a caracol after each dis¬
charge, in order to pass the rear of the squadron.
Caracol, in Architecture, denotes a staircase in a
helix or spiral form.
CARACOLI, a kind of metal of which the Carib-
bees, or natives of the Lesser Antilles, make a sort of
ornament in the form of a crescent, which they also call
foroco/?'.—This metal comes from the main land; and
the common opinion is, that it is a compound of silver,
copper, and gold, something like the Corinthian brass
among the ancients. These metals are so perfectly
mixed and incorporated together, that the compound
which results from them, it is said, has a colour that
never alters, how long soever it remains in the sea or
under ground. It is somewhat brittle; and they who
work at it are obliged to mix a large proportion of
gold with it, to make the compound more tough and
malleable.
CARACT, or Carat, the name of that weight
which expresses the degree of fineness that gold is of.
The word is also written carract, carrat, karract, and
karrat. Its origin is contested : but the most proba¬
ble opinion is that of Kennet, who derives it from
carecla, a term which anciently denoted any weight,
and came not till of later days to be appropriated to
that which expresses the fineness of gold, and the gra¬
vity of diamonds.
These carats are not real determinate weights, but
only imaginary. The whole mass, be the weight what
it will, is conceived to be divided into 24 carats ; and
as many 24th parts as it contains of pure gold, it is
called gold of so many carats, or so many carats fine.
Thus, gold of 18 carats is a mixture, of which 18 parts
are pure gold, and the other six an inferior metal, &c.
This is the common way of reckoning in Europe, and
at the gold mines in the Spanish West Indies, but with
-i ] CAR
some variation in the subdivision of the carat; among Caract
ns, it is divided into four grains ; among the Germans, SI
into 12 parts; and by the French, according to Mr ,C:ir»’-tes.
Helot, into 32. The Chinese reckon by a different
division called touches, of which the highest number, or
that which denotes pure gold, is 100; so that 100
touches correspond to our 24 carats, &c.
Caract is also a certain weight which goldsmiths
and jewellers use wherewith to weigh precious stones and
pearls.—In this sense, the word is by some supposed to
be derived from the Greek *sg«rie», a fiuit which the
Latins call siliqua, and we carob bean ; each of which
may weigh above four grains of wheat, whence the La¬
tin siliqua has been used for a weight of four grains.
This caract weighs four grains, but they are sometimes
lighter than the grains of other weights. Each of these
grains is subdivided into •!> ^ &.C.
CARACTACUS, a renowned king of the ancient
British people called Silures, inhabiting South Wales.
Having valiantly defended his country seven years
against the Romans, he was at length defeated ; and
flying to Cartismunda, queen of the Brigantes (inha¬
bitants of Yorkshire), was by her treacherously deli¬
vered up to the Romans, and led in triumph to the
emperor Claudius then at York; where his noble be¬
haviour, and heroic but pathetic speech, obtained him
not only his liberty, but the esteem of the emperor,
A. D. 52.
CARAGROUTH, in commerce, a silver coin of
the empire, weighing nine drachms. It goes at
Constantinople for 120 aspers. There are four sorts
of them, which are all equally current and of the same
value.
CARAITES, in the ecclesiastical history of the
Jew's, a religious sect among that people, whereof there
are still some subsisting in Poland, Russia, Constantino¬
ple, Cairo, and other places of the Levant, whose dis¬
tinguishing tenet and practice it is, to adhere closely
to the words and letter of the Scripture, exclusive of
allegories, traditions, and the like.
Leo of Modena, a rabbin of Venice, observes, that
of all the heresies among that people, before the de¬
struction of the temple, there is none now left but that
of the Caraim, a name derived from Micra, which sig¬
nifies the pure text of the Bible, because of their keep¬
ing to the Pentateuch, observing it to the letter, and
rejecting all interpretations, paraphrases, and consti¬
tutions of the rabbins. Aben Ezra, and some other
rabbins, treat the Caraites as Sadducees; but Leo de
Juda calls them, more accurately, Saducees reformed ;
because they believe the immortality of the soul, para¬
dise, hell, resurrection, &c. which the ancient Saddu¬
cees denied. He adds, however, that they were doubt¬
less originally real Sadducees, and sprung from among
them.
M. Simon, with more probability, supposes them to
have risen hence ; that the more knowing among the
Jews opposing the dreams and reveries of the rabbins,
and using the pure texts of Scripture to refute their
groundless traditions, had the name of Caraim given
them; which signifies as much as the barbarous Latin
Scripturarii; i. e. people attached to the text of Scrip¬
ture. The other Jews gave them the odious name Sad¬
ducees, from their agreement with those sectaries on
the head of traditions. Scaliger, Vossius, and Span-
Y 2 heim,
CAR [ 172 ] CAR
€%raites. lieim, rank the Caraites among the Sabeans, Magi,
Manichees, and Mussulmans, but by mistake : Wolf¬
gang, Fabricius, &c. say the Sadducees and Esseni
■were called Caraites, in opposition to the Pharisees •,
others take them for the doctors of the law so often
mentioned in the Gospel: but these are all conjectures,
Josephus and Philo make no mention of them ; which
shows them to be more modern than either of those
authors. In all probability, this sect was not formed
till after the collection of the second part of the Tal¬
mud, or the Gemera j perhaps not till after the com¬
piling of the Mischna in the third century. The Ca¬
raites themselves pretend to be the remains of the ten
tribes led captive by Shalmaneser. Wolfius, from the
Memoirs of Mardacheus, a Caraite, refers their origin
to a massacre among the Jewish doctors under Alex¬
ander Jannaeus, their king, about 100 years before
Christ: because Simon, son of Schetach, and the
queen’s brother, making his escape into Egypt, there
forged his pretended traditions j and, at his return to
Jerusalem, published his visions ; interpolating the law
after his own fancy, and supporting his novelties on
the notices which God, he said, had communicated by
the mouth of Moses, whose depositary he was: he gain¬
ed many followers j and was opposed by others, who
maintained, that all which God had revealed to Moses
was written. Hence the Jews became divided into two
sects, the Caraites and Traditioners : among the first
Juda, son of Tabbai, distinguished himself; among the
latter, Hillel. Wolfius reckons not only the Saddu¬
cees, but also the Scribes, in the number of Caraites.
But the address of the Pharisees prevailed against them
all ; and the number of Caraites decreased : Anan, in¬
deed, in the eighth century, retrieved their credit a
little ; and Rabbi Schalomon in the ninth. They suc¬
ceeded pretty well till the fourteenth ; but since that
time they have been declining.
The Caraites are but little known; their works
coming only into very few hands, even among the
greatest Hebraists. Buxtorf never saw more than
one ; Selden two ; but Mr Trigland says, he has re¬
covered enough to speak of them with assurance.
He asserts, that soon after the prophets had ceased,
the Jews became divided on the subject of works, and
supererogation : some maintaining their necessity from
tradition ; whilst others, keeping close to the written
law, set them aside ; and it was from these last that
Caraitism commenced. He adds, that after the return
from the Babylonish captivity, the observation of the
law being to be re-established, there were several prac¬
tices found proper for that end; and these once intro¬
duced, were looked upon as essential, and appointed by
Moses ; which was the origin of Pharisaism: as a con¬
trary party, continuing to keep close to the letter,
founded Caraitism.
The modern Caraites, Leo of Modena observes, have
their synagogues and ceremonies ; they pretend to be
the sole proper Jews, or observers of the laws of
Moses ; calling the rest by the term Rabbanim, or fol¬
lowers of the Rabbins: these hate the Caraites mortal¬
ly ; refusing to ally or even to converse with them, and
treating them as mam%eimr bastards ; because of their
rejecting the constitutions of the rabbins relating to
marriages, repudiations, purifications of women, &c.
T^is aversion is so great, that if a Caraite should be¬
come a Rabbimst, he would never be received by the Czt&iu
other Jew's. ii
The Caraites, however, do not absolutely reject all Carata
kinds of traditions ; but only such as do not appear '~v
well grounded. Selden, who is very express on this
point, in his Uxor Hebraica, observes, that, besides the
mere text, they have certain interpretations, which
they call hereditary, and which are proper traditions.
Their theology only seems to differ from that of the
other Jews, in that it is purer, and clearer of supersti¬
tion ; they give no credit to the explications of the
Cabbalists, chimerical allegories, nor to any constitu¬
tions of the Talmud, but what are conformable to the
Scripture, and may be drawn from it by just and neces¬
sary consequences.
Peringer observes of the Caraites in Lithuania, that
they are very different, both in aspect, language, and
manners, from the Rabbinists, wherewith the country
abounds. Their mother tongue is the Turkish; and
this they use in their schools and synagogues. In vi¬
sage they resemble the Mahometan Tartars. Their
synagogues are placed north and south ; and the reason
they give for it is, that Shalmaneser brought them north¬
ward : so that, in praying, to look to Jerusalem, they
must turn to the south. He adds, that they admit all
the books of the Old Testament; contrary to the opi¬
nion of many of the learned, who hold that they reject
all but the Pentateuch.
Caleb, a Caraite, reduces the difference betwen them
and the Rabbinists to three points : 1. In that they
deny the oral law to have come from Moses, and reject
the Cabbala. 2. In that they abhor the Talmud. 3. In
that they observe the feasts, as the sabbaths, &c. much
more rigorously than the Rabbins do. To this may be
added, that they extend the degrees of affinity, where¬
in marriage is prohibited, almost to infinity.
CARA MANIA, a considerable province of Turkey
in Asia, in the south part of Natolia. Bajazet united
this province to his empire about the year 1488, and
since that time it has continued in the possession of
the Turks. Satalia was the capital city, but is now
much decayed.
CARAMANTA, a town of South America, and
capital of the province of the same name in Terra Firma,
and in the audience of Santa Fe. W. Long. 72. 35-
N. Lat. 5. 18. The province of Caramanta is ex¬
tended on both sides the river Cauca ; and is bounded
on the north by the district of Carthagena, on the
east by New Grenada, on the south by Popayan, and
on the west by Popayan and by the audience of Pana¬
ma. It is a valley surrounded on every side by very
high mountains.
CARANGA, an inconsiderable island near Bom¬
bay in the East Indies. It affords nothing but some
rice, fowls, and goats, for that market.
PARANNA, or Karanna, a very scarce gum,
which comes from New Spain. It is said to possess
many, extraordinary medical virtues, but the present
practice takes no notice of it.
CARANUS, the first king of Macedon, and the
seventh of the race of the Heraclidoe. See Mace¬
donia.
CARARA, a weight at Leghorn, and in other parts
of Italy, used in the sale of wool and cod fish, equiva¬
lent to 60 pounds of that country.
CARAT.
CAR [ 173 ] CAR
CARAT. See Caract.
CARAVAGGIO, Michael Angelo. See An-
1 'avan-
GELO.
t CARAVAN, or Karavanne, in the east, signifies
a company or assembly of travellers and pilgrims, and
more particularly of merchants, who, for their greater
security, and in order to assist each other, march in a
body through the deserts, and other dangerous places,
which are infested with Arabs or robbers.
There are four regular caravans which go yearly to
Mecca ; the first from Damascus, composed of the
pilgrims from Europe and Asia ; the second from
Gairo, from the Mahomedans of Barbary j the third
from Zibith, a place near the mouth of the Red sea,
where those of Arabia and India meet j the fourth
from Babylon, where the Persians assemble. Most of
the inland commerce of the east is carried on by ca¬
ravans. The late Czar Peter the Great established a
trade between Russia and China by means of a cara¬
van. M. Bougnon, geographer to the duke of Lorrain,
has given a treatise of the caravans of merchants in
Asia } wherein he shows of what they are composed,
how many sorts there are j the several uses of the dif¬
ferent sorts of animals in them ; the prices given for
them ; the officers and men appointed to conduct them,
and the pay of each, with their manner of marching,
halting, fighting, retreating, &c. Caravans of this
kind are large convoys of armed men, merchants, and
travellers, with divers sorts of animals for the carriage
of their provisions. There are commonly four chief
officers of a caravan, viz. the caravan bachi, or chief;
the captain guide ; captain of rest ; and captain of
distribution. The first has absolute command over all
the rest: the second is absolute in the march : the of¬
fice of the third only commences when the caravan
stops and makes a stay : to the fourth it belongs to
dispose of every part of the corps, in case of an attack
or battle ; he has also the inspection over the distribu¬
tion of provisions, which is made under him by several
distributors, who give security to the master of the-
caravan, and have each of them a certain number of
persons, elephants, dromedaries, &c. to take care of
at their own peril. The treasurer of the caravan
makes a fifth officer, who has under him several agents
and interpreters, who keep journals of all that passes,
for the satisfaction of those concerned in fitting out the
caravan.
Any dealer is at liberty to form a company, in order
to make a caravan. He in whose name it is raised, is
Considered as the caravan bachi, or chief of the caravan,
unless he appoint some other in his place. If there are
several merchants equally concerned, they elect a cara¬
van bachi ; after which, they appoint officers to con¬
duct the caravan, and decide all controversies that may
arise during the journev.
There are also sea caravans ; established on the same
footing, and for the same purpose : such is the caravan
of vessels from Constantinople to Alexandria.
CARAVANSERA, or Karavansera, a place ap¬
pointed for receiving and loading the caravans.
It is commonly a large square building, in the
middle of which there is a very spacious court; and
under the arches or piazzas that surround it there runs
a bank, raised some feet above the ground, where the
nicrchauts, and those who travel with them in any ca¬
pacity, take up their lodgings as well as they can ; the Caravan-
beasts of burden being tied to the foot of the bank. sera
Over the gates that lead into the court, there are some- II
times little rooms, which the keepers of the caravan- ai ninc c;
seras let out at a very high price to such as have a
mind to be private.
The caravanseras in the east are something of the
nature of the inns in Europe ; only that you meet
with little accommodation either for man or beast, but
are obliged to carry almost every thing with you :
there is never a caravansera without a well, or spring
of water. These buildings are chiefly owing to the
charity of the Mahometans : they are esteemed sacred
dwellings, where it is not permitted to insult any per¬
son, or to pillage any of the effects that are deposited
there. There are also caravanseras where most things
may be had for money ; and as the profits of these are
considerable, the magistrates of the cities to whose
jurisdiction they belong take care to store them well.
There is an inspector, who, at the departure of each ca¬
ravan, fixes the price of the night’s lodging, from which
there is no appeal.
CARAVANSERASKIER, the stewart or keeper
of a Caravansera. He keeps an account of all the
merchandises that are sold upon trust, and demands the
payments of the sums due to the merchants for what
has been sold in the caravansera, on the seller’s paying
two per cent.
CARAVEL ; thus they call a small vessel on the
coast of France, which goes to fish for herring on the
banks. They are commonly from 25 to 30 tons bur¬
den. Those which are designed for the same fishery
in the British channel are called by the French trin-
quarts ; these are from 12 to 15 tons burden.
CARAWAY. See Carum, Botany Index.
CARBONADE, or Carbonado, in cookery;
flesh, fowl, or the like, seasoned and broiled on the
coals.
CARBUNCLE, in Natural History, a very elegant
gem, whose colour is deep red, with an admixture of
scarlet.
This gem was known among the ancients by the
name of anthrax. It is usually found pure and fault¬
less, and is of the same degree of hardness with the
sapphire : it is naturally of an angular figure ; and is
found adhering by its base, to a heavy and ferrugi¬
nous stone of the emery kind : its usual size is near a
quarter of an inch in length, and two-thirds of that in
diameter in its thickest parts . when held up against
the sun, it loses its deep tinge, and becomes exactly
of the colour of a burning charcoal, whence the pro¬
priety of the name which the ancients gave it. It bears
the fire unaltered, not parting with its colour, nor be¬
coming at all the paler by it. It is fgund only in the
East Indies, so far as is yet known ; and there but very
rarely.
Carbuncle, or Anthrax, in Medicine, an inflamma¬
tion which arises, in time of the plague, with a vesicle
or blister almost like that produced by burning.
Carbuncle, in Heraldry, a charge or bearing, con- '
-sisting of eight radii, four whereof make a common
cross, and the other four a saltier.
Some call these radii buttons, or staves, because round,
and enriched with buttons, or pearled like pilgrims
staves, and frequently tipped or terminated with flower- -
de*luces ; ^
CAR [ 174 ] CAR
Carbuncle de-luces ; others blazon them, royal sceptres, placed in
11 saltier, pale and fesse.
Carcatisone. CARCASSE, or Carcus, in the art of war, an
^ iron case, or hollow capacity, about the bigness of a
bomb, of an oval figure, made of ribs of iron, filled
with combustible matters, as meal powder, saltpetre,
sulphur, broken glass, shavings of horn, turpentine, tal¬
low, &c. It has two or three apertures out of which
the fire is to blaze, and the design of it is to be thrown
out of a mortar, to set houses on fire, and do other exe¬
cution. It has the name careasse, because the circles
which pass from one ring or plate to the other seem to
represent the ribs of a human carcase.
CARCASSONE, an ancient city of France, in
Lower Languedoc, with a bishop’s see. It is divided
into the upper and lower town. They are both sur¬
rounded with walls ; and though their situations are
different, they are both watered by the river Aude. The
upper town is seated on a hill, with a castle that com¬
mands it as well as the lower town. It is strong, not
only by its situation on a craggy rock, but also by
several large towel's which are joined to its walls, and
which render it of difficult access. The cathedral
church is remarkable for nothing but its antiquity.
The lower town is large, and built after the modern
taste. The streets are very straight, and lead to a large
square in the middle, from whence may be seen the four
gates of the town. It contained 15,200 inhabitants in
1815. The neighbouring country is full of olive-
trees j and in the mountains there is a fine marble,
commonly called marble of Languedoc. E. Long. 2. 25.
N. Lat. 43. 1 r.
This place bore a considerable share in that celebra¬
ted crusade undertaken against the Albigenses in the
beginning of the 13th century, and which forms one
of the most astonishing instances of superstition and of
atrocious barbarity to be found in the annals of the
world. When the royal power was nearly annihilated,
during the reigns of the last kings of the Carlovingian
race in France, most of the cities of Languedoc erect¬
ed themselves into little independent states, governed
by their own princes. Carcassone was then under the
dominion of viscounts. At the time when Pope Inno¬
cent III. patronised and commanded the prosecution
of hostilities against the Albigenses for the crime of
heresy, Raymond the reigning viscount was included
in that proscription. Simon de Montfort, general of
the army of the church, invested the city of Carcassone
in 1209. The inhabitants, terrified at the fate of se¬
veral other places where the most dreadful massacres
had been committed, demanded leave to capitulate j
but this act of mercy was only extended to them under
a condition equally cruel, incredible, and unparalleled
in history, if we are not compelled to believe it by
the unanimous testimony of all the contemporary wri¬
ters. The people found in the place were all obliged,
without distinction of rank or sex, to evacuate it in a
state of nudity j and Agnes the viscountess was not ex¬
empted, though young and beautiful, from this igno¬
minious and shocking punishment. “ On les fit sortir
tout nuds de la ville de Carcassone (says an ancient
author) afin qu’ils receussent de la honte, en montrant
ces parties du corps que la purete de la langue n’ex-
prime point, desquelles ils avoient abuse, et s’en etoient
servis dans des crimes execrables.” It seems by this
imputation that the Albigeois were accused by their Carcaaoi
enemies of some enormities, probably unjust, and si- (j
milar to those which religious enmity and prejudice ^ar('*
have attributed to the followers of Zinzendorf in the
last century.
CARCERES, in the ancient Circensian games, were
inclosures in the circus, wherein the horses were re¬
strained till the signal was given for starting, when by
an admirable contrivance, they all at once flew open.
CARCHEMISH, in Ancient Geography, a town
lying upon the Euphrates, and belonging to the As¬
syrians. Necho king of Egypt took it from the king
of Assyria, 2 Chron. xxxv. 20. Necho left a garrison
in it, which was taken and cut to pieces, in the fourth
year of Jechoiachin king of Judah, by Nebuchadnezzar
king of Babylon, 2 Kings xxiii. 29. Isaiah (x. 9.) speaks
of Carchemisb, and seems to say, that Tiglath-Pileser
made a conquest of it, perhaps from the Egyptians.
This is thought to be the same city with that called
Circesium by the Greeks and Latins.
CARCINOMA,in Medicine; the same with Cancer.
See Medicine and Surgery Index.
CARD, among artificers, an instrument consisting of
a block of wood, beset with sharp teeth, serving to ar¬
range the hairs of wool, flax, hemp, and the like j there
are different kinds of them, as hand-cards, stock-cards,
&c. They are made as follows:
A piece of thick leather, of the size intended for
the card, is strained in a frame for that purpose ; and
then pricked full of holes, into which the teeth or pieces
of iron wire are inserted. After which the leather is
nailed by the edges to a flat piece of wood, in the form
of an oblong square, about a foot in length, and half
a foot in breadth, with a handle placed in the middle
of one of the longer sides.
Jhe teeth are made in the following manner. The
wire being drawn of the size intended, a skain or num¬
ber of wires are cut into proper lengths by means of a
gauge, and then doubled in a tool contrived for that
purpose $ after which they are bent into the proper di¬
rection by means of another tool j and then placed in
the leather, as mentioned above.
Cards, among gamesters, little pieces of fine thin
pasteboard of an oblong figure, of several sizes j but
most commonly in Britain, three inches and a half
long and two and a half broad, on which are painted
several points and figures.
The moulds and blocks tor making cards are exactly
like those that were used for the first printed books.
I bey lay a sheet of wet or moist paper on the block,
which is very slightly done over with a sort of ink made
of lamp-black diluted in water, and mixed with some
starch to give it a body. They afterwards rub it off
with a round list. The court-cards are coloured by
means of several patterns, styled stane-files. These
consist el papers cut through with a penknife j and in
these apertures they apply severally the various colours,
as red, black, &c. Ihese patterns are painted with
oil-colours, that the brushes may not wear them out j
and when the pattern is laid on the pasteboard, they
slightly pass over it a brush full of colour, which
leaving it within the openings, forms the face or figure
of the card.
Among sharpers, divers sorts of false and fraudulent
cards have been contrived ; as, 1. Marked czv&s, where
> the
CAR [i
rds. the aces, kings, queens, knaves, are marked on the cor-
-v~—' ners of the backs with spots of diflerent number and
order, either with clear water or water tinged with
pale Indian ink, that those in the secret may distinguish
them. Aces are marked with single spots on two cor¬
ners opposite diagonally : kings with two spots at the
same corners : knaves with the same number transver-
sed. 2. Breef cards, those which are longer or broader
than the rest j chiefly used at whist and piquet. The
broad cards are usually for kings, queens, knaves, and
aces ; the long for the rest. Their design is to direct the
cuttings, to enable him in the secret to cut the cards dis-
advantageously to his adversary, and draw the person
unacquainted with the fraud to cut them favourably
for the sharper. As the pack is placed either endwise
or sidewise to him that is to cut, the long or broad
cards naturally lead him to cut them. Breef cards
are sometimes made thus by the manufacturer; but, in
defect of these, sharpers pare all but the breefs with a
penknife or razor. 3. Corner bend, denotes four cards
turned down finely at one corner, to serve as a signal
to cut by. 4. Middle bend, or Kingston-bridge, is
where the tricks are bent two different ways, which
causes an opening or arch in the middle, to direct like¬
wise the cutting.
Cards were invented about the year 1390, to divert
Charles VI. of France, who had fallen into a melan¬
choly disposition. The inventor proposed, by the fi¬
gures of the four suits or colours, as the French call
them, to represent the four classes of men in the king¬
dom, By the occurs (hearts) are meant the getis de
choeur, choir-men, or ecclesiastics $ and therefore the
Spaniards, who certainly received the use of cards from
the French, have copas, or chalices, instead of hearts.
The nobility, or prime military part of the kingdom,
are represented by the ends or points of lances or pikes j
and our ignorance of the meaning or the resemblance
of the figure induced us to call them spades : The Spa¬
niards have espadas, swords, in lieu of pikes, which are
of similar import. By diamonds are designed the
order of citizens, merchants, or tradesmen, carreaux,
(square stones, tiles, or the like) : The Spaniards have
a coin, dincros, which answers to it: and the Dutch
call the French word carreaux, “ streneen” stones and
diamonds, from the form. Trejle, the trefoil-leaf, or
clover-grass (corruptly called clubs'), alludes to the
husbandmen and peasants. But how this suit came to
be called clubs is not easily explained ; unless borrowing
the game from the Spaniards, who have bastos (staves
or clubs) instead of the trefoil, we give the Spanish
signification to the French figure.
The history of the four kings, which the French, in
drollery, sometimes call the cards, are David, Alex¬
ander, Caesar, and Charles $ which names were then,
and still are on the French cards. Those respectable
names represent the four celebrated monarchies of the
Jews, Greeks, Romans, and Franks under Charle¬
magne. By the queens are intended Argine, Esther,
Judith, and Pallas (names retained in the French
cards), typical of birth, piety, fortitude, and wisdom,
the qualifications residing in each person. Argine is an
anagram for regina, queen by descent. By the knaves
were designed the servants to knights (for knave ori¬
ginally meant only servant'); but French pages and
valets, now indiscriminately used by various orders of
75 ] CAR
persons, were formerly only allowed to persons of qua- Cards
lity, esquires (escuires), shield or armour bearers. {)
Others fancy that the knights themselves were de- Cardan-
signed by those cards $ because Hogier and Labire, -
two names on the French cards, were famous knights
at the time cards were supposed to have been invent¬
ed.
Deceptions with Cards. See Legerdemain, sect. i.
CARDAMINE, in Botany, a genus of the sili-
quosa order, belonging to the tetradynamia class of
plants ; and in the natural method ranking under the
39th order Siliquosce. The siliqua parts asunder with
a spring, and the valves roll spirally backward j the
stigma is entire, and the calyx a little gaping. Of this
there are 15 species; but the most remarkable is the
pratensis, with a large purplish flower. This grows
naturally in many parts of Britain, and is also called
cuckow flower. There are four varieties, viz. the single,
with purple and white flowers, which are frequently in¬
termixed in the meadows ; and the double, of both co¬
lours. The single sorts are not admitted into gardens ;
but the double deserve a place, as making a pretty ap¬
pearance during the time they are in flower. They
will thrive in a moist shady border; and are propagated
by parting their roots, which is best performed in au¬
tumn. They delight in a soft loamy soil, not too stiff.
By some the plant is reckoned antiscorbutic.
CARDAMOM, in the Materia Medica. See Amo-
mum.
CARDAN, Jerom, one of the most extraordinary
geniuses of his age, was born at Pavia on the 24th of
September 1501. As his mother was not married, she
tried every method to procure an abortion, but without
effect. She was three days in labour, and they were
at last obliged to cut the child from her. He was born
with his head covered with black curled hair. When
he was four years old, he was carried to Milan, his fa¬
ther being an advocate in that city. At the age of
20, he went to study at the university of that city ; and
two years afterwards he explained Euclid. In 1524,
he went to Padua, and the same year he was admitted
to the degree of master of arts : in the end of the fol¬
lowing year, he took the degree of doctor of physic.
He married about the year 1531* For ten years before,
his impotency had hindered him from having know¬
ledge of a woman, which was a great mortification to
him. He attributed it to the evil influences of his
planet under which he was born. When he enume¬
rates, as he frequently does, the greatest misfortunes
of his life, this ten years impotency is always one. At
the age of 32, he became professor of mathematics at
Milan. In 1539, fie was admitted a member of the
college of physicians at Milan; in 1543, he read
public lectures of medicine in that city, and at Pavia
the year following ; but discontinued them because he
could not get payment of his salary, and returned to
Milan. In 1552, he went into Scotland, having been
sent for by the archbishop of St Andrew’s who had
in vain applied to the French king’s physicians, and
afterwards to those of the emperor of Germany. This
prelate, then 40 years old, had for ten years been af¬
flicted with a shortness of breath, which returned every
eight days for the last two years. He began to reco¬
ver from the moment that Cardan prescribed for him.
Cardan took his leave of him at the end of six weeks
• and
CAR [ 176 ] CAR
Cat-dan. and three days, leaving him prescriptions which in two
 v~-~' years wrought a complete cure.
Cardan’s journey to Scotland gave him an oppor¬
tunity of visiting several countries. He crossed France
in going thither j and returned through Germany, and
the Low Countries, along the banks of the llhine. It
was on this occasion he went to London, and calculated
King Edward’s nativity. This tour took up about
four months j after which, coming back to Milan, he
continued there till the beginning of October 1552 j
and then went to Pavia, from whence he was invited
to Bologna in 1562. He taught in this last city till
the year 157° > which time he was thrown into
prison ; but some months after he was sent home to
his own house. He left Bologna in 1571, and went
to Rome, where he lived for some time without any
public employment. He was, however, admitted a
member of the college of physicians, and received a
pension from the pope. He died at Rome on the 21st
of September, IJ75» according to Thuanus. This ac¬
count might be sufficient to shew the reader that Car¬
dan was .of a very fickle temper; but he will have a
much better idea of his singular and odd turn of mind
by examining what he himself has written concerning
his own good and bad qualities. He paid himself con¬
gratulatory compliments for not having a friend in this
world; but that in requittal, he was attended by an
aerial spirit, emaned partly from Saturn and partly
from Mercury, who was the constant guide of his ac¬
tions, and teacher of every duty to which he was bound.
He declared, too, that he was so irregular in his man¬
ner of walking the streets, as induced all beholders to
point at him as a fool. Sometimes he walked very
slowly, like a man absorbed in profound meditation;
then all on a sudden quickened his steps, accompanying
them with very absurd attitudes. In Bologna his de¬
light was to be drawn about in a mean vehicle with
three wheels. When nature did not visit him with any
pain, he would procure to himself that disagreeable
sensation by biting his lips so wantonly, or pulling his
fingers to such a vehement degree, as sometimes to
force the tears from his eyes : and the reason he assign¬
ed for so doing, was to moderate certain impetuous
sallies of the mind, the violence of which was to him
by far more insupportable than pain itself; and that
the sure consequence of such a severe discipline was the
enjoying the pleasure of health. He says elsewhere,
that, in the greatest tortures of soul, he used to whip
his legs with rods, and bite his left arm; that it was a
great relief to him to weep, but that very often he
could not; that nothing gave him more pleasure than
to talk of things which made the whole company un¬
easy ; that he spoke on all subjects, in season and out
of season ; and he was so fond of games of chance, as
to spend whole days in them, to the great prejudice of
his family and reputation, for he even staked his furni¬
ture and his wife’s jewels.
Cardanus makes no scruple of owning that he was
revengeful, envious, treacherous, a dealer in the black-
art, a backbiter, a calumniator, and addicted to all the
foul and detestable excesses that can be imagined; yet
notwithstanding (as one would think) so humbling a
declaration, there was never perhaps a vainer mortal,
or one that with less ceremony expressed the high opi¬
nion he had of himself, than Cardanus was known to
3
do, as will appear by the following proofs. “ I have
been admired by many nations : an infinite number of
panegyrics, both in prose and verse, have been compo¬
sed to celebrate my fame. I was born to release the
world from the manifold errors under which it groaned.
What I have found out could not be discovered either
by my predecessors or my cotemporaries; and that is
the reason why those authors who write any thing-wor-
tbv of being remembered, scruple not to own that they
are indebted to me for it. I have composed a book
on the dialectic art, in which there is neither one su¬
perfluous letter nor one deficient. I finished it in seven
days, which seems a prodigy. Yet where is there a
person to be found, that can boast of his having become
master of its doctrine in a year ? And he that shall have
comprehended it in that time, must appear to have been
instructed by a familiar demon.”
The same capriciousness observable in his outward
conduct is to be observed in the composition of his
works. We have a multitude of his treatises in which
the reader is stopped almost every moment by the ob¬
scurity of his text, or his digressions from the point in
hand. In his arithmetical performances there are seve¬
ral discourses on the motions of the planets, on the
creation, and-on the tower of Babel. In his dialectic
work, we find his judgment on the historians and the
writers of epistles. The only apology which he makes
for the frequency of his digressions is, that they were
purposely done for the sooner filling up of his sheet, his
bargain with the bookseller being at so much per sheet:
and that he worked as much for his daily support as
for the acquisition of glory. The Lyons edition of
his works, printed in 1663, consists of ten volumes in
folio.
It was Cardanus who revived in latter times all the
secret philosophy of the Cabbala or Cabbalists, which
filled the world with spirits ; a likeness to whom, he
asserted, we might attain by purifying ourselves with
philosophy. He chose for himself, however, notwith¬
standing such reveries, this fine device, Tempus mea
possession tempus mens ager: “ Time is my sole pos¬
session, and the only fund I have to improve.”
In fact, when we consider the transcendent qualities
of Cardan’s mind, we cannot deny his having cultiva¬
ted it with every species of knowledge, and his having
made a greater progress in philosophy, in the medical
art, in astronomy, in mathematics, &c. than the great¬
est part of his cotemporaries who had applied their
minds but to one of those sciences.
Scaliger affirms, that Cardan, having fixed the time
of his death, abstained froom food, that this prediction
might be filfilled, and that his continuance to live
might not discredit his art. Cardan’s father, who was
a doctor of medicine, and a professor of civil and ca¬
non law, died in the same manner in the year 1524,
having abstained from all sustenance for nine days. His
son tells us that he had white eyes, and could see in
the night time.
CARHASS, a sort of card proper for carding flocks
of silk, to make cappadine of it. It is also the name
which the French give to those flocks of silk.
Card ass is also the name which, in the cloth
manufactories of Languedoc, they give to a sort of large
card, which is used for carding the dyed wool, designed
for making cloth of mixed colours.
CARDERS,
CAR L I?? ] CAR
CARDERS, in the woollen manufactory, are per¬
sons who prepare wool, &c. for spinning, &c.
Carders, spinners, weavers, fullers, sheermen, and
dyers, not performing their duty in their occupations,
shall yield to the party grieved double damages j to be
committed until payment. One justice to hear and de¬
termine complaints.
Carders, combers, sorters, spinners, or weavers, con¬
veying away, embezzling, or detaining any wool or
yarn, delivered by the clothier, or any other person,
shall give the party grieved such satisfaction, as two
justices, mayor, &c. shall think fit: if not able or will¬
ing to make satisfaction, for the first oft’ence to be
whipped, or set in the stocks in some market town, or
in any other town where the offence is committed : the
second offence to incur the like, or such further punish¬
ment by whipping, &c. as justices shall think proper.
Conviction by one witness on oath, or confession.
CARDI, Ludovico. See Civoli.
CARDIAC, in a general sense, signifies all medi¬
cines beneficial to the heart, whether internally or ex¬
ternally applied. The word comes from the Greek
word Kaefiict, cor; the heart being reputed the imme¬
diate seat of their operation.
Cardiacs, in a more particular sense, denote medi¬
cines which raise the spirits and give present strength
and cheerfulness $ these amount to the same with what
are properly called cordials. Cardiacs are medicines
anciently supposed to exert themselves immediately in
comforting and strengthening the heart: but the mo¬
dern physicians rather suppose them to produce the ef¬
fect by putting the blood into a gentle fermentation,
whereby the springs, before decayed, are repaired and
invigorated, and the tone and elasticity of the fibres of
the vessels restored j the consequence of which is a
more easy and brisk circulation.
CARDIALGIA, in Medicine, a violent sensation
of heat or acrimony felt towards the upper or left ori¬
fice of the stomach, though seemingly at the heart;
sometimes accompanied with palpitations of the heart,
fainting, and a propensity to vomit: better known by
the name of cardiac passion, or heart-burn. See Me¬
dicine Index.
CARDIFF, a town of Glamorganshire, in South
Wales, seated on the river Tave, in a rich and fruitful
soil. It is a large, compact, well built town, having a
castle, a wall, and four gates, built by Robert Fitz-
Hamon, a Norman, about the year 1100. It is go¬
verned by the constable of the castle, 12 aldermen, 12
burgesses, &c. and sends one member to parliament.
Here the assizes and sessions are held, besides several
courts. There is a handsome bridge over the river, to
which small vessels come to take in their lading. It has
now only one church j St Mary’s having been long since
thrown down by the undermining of the river. The
castle, though much decayed, makes a grand appear¬
ance even at this time j and the walls of the town are
very strong and thick. The church has a fine tower-
steeple, and the town-hall is a good structure. The
magistrates are elected every year by the majority of
the burgesses. W. Long. 3. 20. N. Lat. 51. 30. Car-
difl gives the title of a British baron to the family of
Bute in Scotland. Population 2457 in 1811.
CARDIGAN, the capital town of Cardiganshire,
in South Wales, is seated near the mouth of the river
Vol. V. Part I. f
Teivy, on the Irish channel. It contains three wards,
one church, and the county gaol, and had 2129 inhabi¬
tants in 1811. It is governed by a mayor, 13 aider-
men, 13 common council men, &c. Here are the ruins
of a castle which was built by Gilbert de Clare, about
the year 1100. It sends one member to parliament j
and has two markets, held on Tuesdays and Saturdays.
W. Long. 4. 38. N. Lat. 52. 15.
CARDIGANSHIRE, a county of South Wales,
bounded on the north by Merionethshire and Mont¬
gomeryshire, on the east by Radnorshire and Breck¬
nockshire, on the west by the Irish sea, and on the
south by Caermarthenshire. Its length from north¬
west to south-east is about 44 miles, and its breadth
near 20. The air, as in other parts of Wales, varies
with the soil, which in the southern and western parts
is more upon a level than this principality generally is,
which renders the air mild and temperate. But as
the northern and eastern parts are mountainous, they
are consequently more barren and bleak. However,
there are cattle bred in all parts j but they have nei¬
ther wood nor coal. They have rich lead mines, and
fish in plenty. The principal rivers are the Teivy, the
Ridol, and the Istwith. This county has five market-
towns, viz. Cardigan, Aberistwith, Llanbadarnvawn,
Llanbedar, and Tregaron, with 77 parishes $ and was
computed to have upwards of 520,000 acres of land.
It sends two members to parliament 5 one for the
county, and one for Cardigan, and contained 50,260
inhabitants in 1811. See Cardiganshire, Supple¬
ment.
CARDINAL, in a general sense, an appellation
given to things on account of their pre-eminence. The
word is formed of the Latin cardo, a hinge ; it being on
these fundamental points that all the rest of the same
kind are supposed to turn. Thus, justice, prudence,
temperance, and fortitude, are called the four cardinal
virtues, as being the basis of all the rest.
Cardinal Flower. See Lobelia, Botany In¬
dex.
Cardinal Points, in Cosmography, are ^he four in¬
tersections of the horizon with the meridian, and the
prime vertical circle. Of these, two, viz. the inter¬
sections of the horizon and meridian, are called North
and South, with regard to the poles they are directed
to. The other two, viz. the intersections of the hori¬
zon and first vertical, are called East and West.
The cardinal points, therefore, coincide with the
four cardinal regions of the heavens j and are 90° dis¬
tant from each other. The intermediate points are
called collateral points.
Cardinal Poijits, in Astrology, are the rising and
setting of the sun, the zenith, and nadir.
Cardinal Signs, in Astronomy, are Aries, Libra,
Cancer, and Capricorn.
Cardinal Winds are those that blow from the car¬
dinal points.
Cardinal Numbers, in Grammar, are the numbers
one, two, three, &c. which are indeclinable j in oppo¬
sition to the ordinal numbers, first, second, third,
fourth, &c.
Cardinal, an ecclesiastical prince in the Romish
church, being one who has a voice in the conclave at
the election of a pope. Some say the cardinals were
so called from the Latin incardinatio, which signifies
Z the
Cardigan
II
Cardinal.
CAR [178] CAR
Cardinal, the adoption in any church made of a priest of a fo-
——v —"i-'1 reign church, driven thence by misfortune : and add,
that the use of the word commenced at Rome and
Ravenna 5 the revenues of the church of which cities
being very great, they became the common refuge of
the unhappy priests of all other churches.
The cardinals compose the pope’s council or senate.
In the Vatican is a constitution of Pope John, which
regulates the rights and titles of the cardinals ; and
which declares, that as the pope represents Moses, so
the cardinals represent the seventy elders, who, under
the pontifical authority, decide private and particular
differences.
Cardinals, in their first institution, were only the
principal priests, or incumbents, of the parishes of Rome.
In the primitive church, the chief priest of a parish,
who immediately followed the bishop, was called pres¬
byter cardinalis, to distinguish him from the other petty
priests, who had no church nor preferment j the term
was first applied to them in the year 150 ; others say,
under Pope Silvester, in the year 300. These cardi¬
nal priests were alone allowed to baptize, and admini¬
ster the eucharist. When the cardinal priests became
bishops, their cardinalate became vacant j they being
then supposed to be raised to a higher dignity.—Under
Pope Gregory, cardinal priests, and cardinal deacons,
were only such priests and deacons as had a church or
chapel under their particular care : and this was the
original use of the word. Leo IV. in the council of
Rome, held in 853, calls them presbyteros suicardinis ;
and their churches, parochias cardinales.
The cardinals continued on this footing till the
eleventh century 5 but as the grandeur and state of his
holiness became then exceedingly augmented, he would
have his council of cardinals make a better figure than
the ancient priests had done. It is true, they still
preserved their ancient title j but the thing expressed
by it was no more. It was a good while, however, be¬
fore they had the precedence over the bishops, or got
the election of the pope into their hands : but when they
were once possessed of those privileges, they soon had
the red hat and purple 5 and growing still in authority,
they became at length superior to the bishops, by the
sole quality of being cardinals.
Du Cange observes, that originally there were three
kinds of churches : the first or genuine churches were
properly called parishes; the second deaconries, which
were chapels joined to hospitals, and served by dea¬
cons j the third were simple oratories, where private
masses were said, and were discharged by local and
resident chaplains. He adds, that to distinguish the
principal or parish churches from the chapels and ora¬
tories, the name cardinales was given to them. Ac¬
cordingly, parish churches gave titles to cardinal
priests $ and some chapels also, at length, gave the
the title of cardinal deacons.
Others observe, that the term cardinal was given not
only to priests, but also to bishops and deacons who
were attached to certain churches, to distinguish them
from those who only served them en passant, and by
. commission. Titular churches, or benefices, were a
kind of parishes,e. churches, assigned each to a car¬
dinal priest; with some stated district depending on it,
and a font for administering of baptism, in cases where
the bishop himself could not administer it. These car-
2
dinals were subordinate to the bishops ; and according- Cardin,
ly, in councils, particularly that held at Rome in 868, -y
subscribed after them.
It was not, however, only at Rome, that priests bore
this name j for we find there were cardinal priests in
France : thus, the curate of the parish of St John de
Vignes is called in old charters the cardinal priest of
that parish.
The title of cardinal is also given to some bishops,
quatenus bishops, e. g. to those of Mentz and Milan :
the archbishop of Bourges is also, in ancient writings,
cn\\e<l cardinal; and the church of Bourges, a cardinal
church. The abbot of Vendome calls himself cardinalis
natus.
The cardinals are divided into three classes or orders j
containing six bishops, fifty priests, and fourteen dea¬
cons j making in all seventy ; which constitute what
they call the sacred college. The cardinal bishops, who
are, as it were, the pope’s vicars, bear the titles of the
bishoprics assigned to them 5 the rest take such titles
as are given them : the number of cardinal bishops
has been fixed j'but that of cardinal priests and dea¬
cons, and consequently the sacred college itself, is al¬
ways fluctuating. Till the year 1125, the college only
consisted of fifty-two or fifty-three : the eouncil of
Constance reduced them to twenty-four $ but Sixtus
IV. without any regard to that restriction, raised them
again to fifty-three, and Leo to sixty-five. Thus, as
the number of cardinal priests was anciently fixed to
twenty-eight, new titles were to be established, in pro¬
portion as new cardinals were created. As for the
cardinal deacons, they were originally no more than
seven for the fourteen quarters of Rome $ but they
were afterwards increased to nineteen, and after that
were again diminished.
According to Onuphrius, it was Pope Pius IV. who
first enacted, in 1562, that the pope should be chosen
only by the senate of cardinals; whereas, till that time,
the election was by all the clergy of Rome. Some say,
the election of the pope rested in the cardinals, exclu¬
sive of the clergy, in the time of Alexander HI. in
1160. Others go higher still, and say, that Nicholas
II. having been elected at Sienna, in 1058, by the
cardinals alone, occasioned the right of election to be
taken from the clergy and people of Rome; only leav¬
ing them that of confirming him by their consent;
which was at length, however, taken from them. See
his decree lor this purpose, issued in the Roman coun¬
cil of 1059, in Hardouin’s Acta Conciliorum, tom. vi.
pt. i. p. n65* Whence it appears, that the cardinals
who had the right of suffrage in the election of his
successors, were divided by this pontiff into cardinal
bishops, and cardinal clerks; meaning by the former the
seven bishops who belonged to the city and territory of
Rome ; and by the latter, the cardinal presbyters, or
ministers of the twenty-eight Roman parishes, or princi¬
pal churches. Io these were added, in process of time,
under Alexander III. and other pontiffs, new members,
in order to appease the tumults occasioned by the edict
of Nicholas II.
At the creation of a new cardinal, the pope per¬
forms the ceremony of opening and shutting his mouth ;
which is done in a private consistory. The shutting
his. mouth implies the depriving him of the liberty of
giving his opinion in congregations and the opening
CAR [ 179 ] CAR
his mouth, which is performed 15 days after, signifies
the taking off his restraint. However, ii the pope hap¬
pens to die during the time a cardinal’s mouth is shut,
he can neither give his voice in the election of a new
pope, nor be himself advanced to that dignity.
The dress of a cardinal is a red soutanne, a rocket,
a short purple mantle, and a red hat.
The cardinals began to wear the red hat at the
council of Lyons, in 1243. ^ie d601,68 °f P°Pe Ur¬
ban VIIF. whereby it is appointed, that the cardinals
be addressed under the title of eminence, is of the year
1630 ; till then, they were called illustrissimi.
When cardinals are sent to the courts of princes, it
is in quality of legates a latere ; and when they are ap¬
pointed governors of towns, their government is called
by the name oi legation.
Cardinal has also been applied to secular officers.
Thus, the prime ministers in the court of the emperor
Theodosius, are called cardinales. Cassiodorus, lib. vii.
formal. 31. makes mention of the cardinal prince of
the city of Rome j and in the list of officers ol the
duke of Bretagne, in 1447, we raeef' w*t^1 one Raoul
de Thorel, cardinal of Quillart, chancellor, and servant
of the viscount de Rohan : which shows it to have been
an inferior quality.
CARDIOID, in the higher geometry, an algebrai¬
cal curve, so called from its resemblance to a heart.
CARDIOSPERMUM. See Botany Index.
CARDIUM, or Cockle, in Zoology, a genus of
insects belonging to the order of vermes testacea. The
shell consists of two equal valves, and the sides are equal.
There are 21 species of this genus. Common on all
sandy coasts, lodged a little beneath the sand $ their
place is marked by a depressed spot. They are whole¬
some and delicious food.
CARDONA, a handsome town of Spain, in Cata¬
lonia, with a strong castle, and the title of a duchy,
and containing 2800 inhabitants. Near it is an inex¬
haustible mountain of salt of several colours, as red,
white, carnation, and green : but when washed, it be¬
comes white. There are also vineyards which produce
excellent wine. It is seated on an eminence, near the
river Cardenero. E. Long. 1. 26. N. Lat. 41. 42.
CARDUUS. See Botany Index.
Carduus Benedictus, Blessed thistle. See Cnicus,
Botany Index.
CAREENING, in the sea-language, the bringing
a ship to lie down on one side, in order to trim and
caulk the other side.
A ship is said to be brought to the careen, when the
most of her lading being taken not, she is hulled down
on one side, by a small vessel, as low as necessary j and
there kept by the weight of the ballast, ordnance, &c.
as well as by ropes, lest her masts should be strained
too much $ in order that her sides and bottom may be
trimmed, seams caulked, or any thing that is faulty
under water mended. Hence, when a ship lies on one
side when she sails, she is said to sail on the careen.
CAREER, in the manege, a place inclosed with a
barrier, wherein they run the ring.
The word is also used for the race or course of the
horse itself, provided it do not exceed 200 paces.
In the ancient circus, the career was the space the
bigte, or quadrigae, were to run at full speed, to gain
the prize. See Circus.
Career, in falconry, is a flight or tour of the bird,
about 120 yards. If she mount more, it is called a
double career : if less, a semi-career.
CARELIA, the eastern province of Finland j di¬
vided into Swedish Carelia, and Muscovite Carelia.
The capital of the latter is Povenza, and of the former
Wei burg.
CARENTAN, a town of France in Lower Nor¬
mandy, with an ancient castle. Population 2860 in
1815. W. Long. 1. 14. N. Lat. 49. 20.
CARET, among grammarians, a character marked
thus a, signifying that something is added on the
margin, or interlined, which ought to come in where
the caret stands.
CAREW, a small village or parish of Wales, in
the county of Pembroke, with the remains of a fine
castle. Here a tournament was held about the begin¬
ning of the sixteenth century, or earlier, by the owner
Sir Keil of Thomas, which lasted five days. A cross
14 feet high, formed of a single stone, stands by the side
of the road. Population 911. Distant five miles from
Pembroke.
Carew, George, born in Devonshire in 1557* an
eminent commander in Ireland, was made president of
Munster by Queen Elizabeth ; when, joining his forces
with the earl of Thomond, he reduced the Irish insur-
gens, and brought the earl of Desmond to his trial.
King James made him governor of Guernsey, and crea¬
ted him a baron. As he was a valiant commander, he
was no less a polite scholar ; and wrote Pacata Hi¬
bernia, a history of the late wars in Ireland, printed
after his death, in 1633. He made several collections
for a History of" Henry V. which are digested into
Speed’s History of Great Britain. Besides these, be
collected materials of Irish history in four large MSS.
volumes, now in the Bodleian library, Oxford.
Carew, Thomas, descended from the family of
Carew in Gloucestershire, was gentleman of the privy
chamber to Charles I. who always esteemed him one
of the most celebrated wits of his court. He was much
respected by the poets of his time, particularly by Ben
Johnson and Sir William Davenant j and left behind
him several poems, and a masque called Cc&lum Bntan-
nicum, performed at Whitehall on Shrove 1 uesday
night, 1633, by the king, and several of his nobles
with their sons. Carew was assisted in the contrivance
by Inigo Jones, and the music was set by Mr Henry
Lawes of the king’s chapel. He died in the prime of
life, about the year 1639.
Carew, Richard, author of the “ Survey of Corn¬
wall,” was the eldest son of Thomas Carew of East
Anthony, and was born in 1555. When very young,
he became a gentleman commoner of Christ-church
college, Oxford ; and at 14 years of age ha^l the ho¬
nour of disputing, extempore, with the afterwards fa¬
mous Sir Philip Sydney, in the presence of the earls
of Leicester, Warwick, and other nobility. After
spending three years at the university, he removed to
the Middle Temple, where he resided the same length
of time, and then travelled into foreign parts. Not
long after his return to England, he married, in I577>
Juliana Arundel, of Trerice. In 1581, Mr Carew was
made justice of the peace, and in 1586 was appointed
high sheriff of the county of Cornwall ; about which
time he was likewise queenV deputy for the militia.
Z 2 In
CAR [ 180 ] • CAR
Carew. In 1589? was elected a member of the college of
Antiquaries, a distinction to which he was entitled by
his literary abilities and pursuits. What particularly
engaged his attention was his native county, his “ Sur¬
vey” of which was published, in 4to at London, in
1602. It hath been twice reprinted, first in 1723,
and next in 1769. Of this work Camden hath spo¬
ken in high terms, and acknowledges his obligations
to the author. In the present improved state of topo¬
graphical knowledge, and since Dr Borlase’s excellent
publications relative to the county of Cornwall, the
value of Carew’s “ Survey” must have been greatly di¬
minished. Mr Gough remarks, that the history and
monuments of this country were faintly touched by
Carew; but it is added, that he was a person extreme¬
ly capable of describing them, if the infancy of those
studies at that time had afforded light and materials.
Another work of our author was a translation from the
Italian, entitled, “ The Examination of Men’s Wits.
In which, by discovering the variety of natures, is
showed for what profession each one is apt, and how
far he shall profit therein.” This was published at
London in 1594, and afterwards in 1604 5 and though
Richard Carew’s name is prefixed to it, hath been
principally ascribed by some persons to his father. Ac¬
cording to Wood, Carew wrote also, lt The true and
ready way to learn the Latin tongue,” in answer to
a query, whether the ordinary method of teaching the
Latin by the rules of grammar be the best mode of
instructing youths in that language ? This tract is in¬
volved in Mr Hartlib’s book upon the same subject,
and with the same title. It is certain that Carew was
a gentleman of considerable abilities and literature,
and that he was held in great estimation by some of
the most eminent scholars of his time. He was parti¬
cularly intimate with Sir Henry Spelman, who extols
■him for his ingenuity, virtue, and learning.
Carew, George, brother to the subject of the last
article, was educated in the university of Oxford, after
which he studied the law in the inns of court, and then
travelled to foreign countries for farther improvement.
On his return to his native country, he was called to
the bar, and after some time was appointed secretary
to Sir Christopher Hatton, lord chancellor of England.
This was by the special recommendation of Queen
Elizabeth herself, who gave him a prothonotaryship in
the chancery, and conferred upon him the honour of
knighthood. In 1597, Sir George Carevv, who was
then a master in chancery, was sent ambassador to the
king of Poland. In the next reign, he was one of the
commissioners fox' ti'eating with the Scotch concerning
an union, between the two kingdoms j after which he
was appointed ambassador to the court of France, where
he continued from the latter end of the year 1605 till
1609. .During his residence in that country, he form¬
ed an intimacy with Ihuanus, to whom he commu¬
nicated an account of the transactions in Poland whilst
he was employed there, which was of great service to
that, admirable author in drawing up the 121st book
of his history. After Sir George Carew’s return from
France, he was advanced to the important post of mas¬
ter of the court of wards, which honourable situation
lie did not long live to enjoy; lor it appears from a
better written by Thuanus to Camden in the spring
that he was then lately deceased. Sir George
Carew married Thomasine, daughter of Sir Francis carei
Godolphin, great grandfather of the lord treasurer Go- ||
dolphin, and had by her two sons and three daughters. Gm
When Sir George Carew returned, in 1609, from his' ^
French embassy, he drew up, and addressed to James I.
“ A Relation of the State of France, with the cha¬
racters of Henry IV. and the principal persons of that
Court.” The characters are drawn from personal
knowledge and close observation, and might be of ser¬
vice to a general historian of that period. The com¬
position is perspicuous and manly, and entirely free
from the pedantry which prevailed in the reign of
James I. ; but this is the less surprising, as Sir George
Carew’s taste had been formed in a better era, that of
Queen Elizabeth. The valuable tract we are speaking
of lay for a long time in MS. ; till happly falling into
the hands of the earl of Hardwicke, it was communi¬
cated by him to Dr Birch, who published it, in 1749,
at the end of his “ Historical View of the Negotia¬
tions between the Courts of England, France, and
Brussels, from 1592 to 1617.” That intelligent and
industrious writer justly observes, that it is a model
upon which ambassadors may form and digest their no¬
tions and representations ; and the late celebrated poet
Mr Gray hath spoken of it as an excellent perform¬
ance.
CAREX, Sedge-grass. See Botany Index.
CAREY, Harry, a man distinguished by both
poetry and music, but perhaps more so by a certain
facetiousness, which made him agreeable to every bo¬
dy. He published in 1720 a little collection of poems;
and in I732> s*x cantatas, written and composed by
himself. He also composed sundry songs for modern
comedies, particularly those in the “ Provoked Hus¬
band he wrote a larce called “ The Contrivances,”
in which were several little songs to very pretty airs of
his own composition ; he also made two or three little
dramas for Goodman’s-fields theatre, which were very
favourably received. In 1729, he published by sub¬
scription his poems much enlarged : with the addition
of one entitled “ Namby Pamby,” in which Am¬
brose Philips is ridiculed. Carey’s talent, says his his¬
torian, lay in humour and unmalevolent satire: to ri¬
dicule the rant and bombast of modern tragedies he
wrote one, to which he gave the strange title of
“ Chrononhotonthologos,” acted in 1734. He also
wrote a farce called “ The Honest Yorkshireman.”
Carey was a thorough Englishman, and had an unsur-
mountable aversion to the Italian opera and the singers
in it: he wrote a burlesque opera on the subject of
the “ Dragon ofWantley;” and afterwards a sequel
to it, entitled, “Ihe Dragoness both which were
esteemed a true bui’lesque upon the Italian opera. His
qualities being of the entertaining kind, he was led
into more expences than his finances could beai’, and
thus was frequently in distress. His friends, however,
were always ready to assist him by their little subscrip¬
tions to his works : and encouraged by these, he re¬
published, in 1740, all the songs he had ever compos¬
ed, in a collection, entitled, “ The Musical Century,
in 100 English Ballads, &c.” and, in 1743, his drama¬
tic works, in a small volume, 4to. "With all his mirth
and good humour, he seems to have been at times deep¬
ly a fleeted with the malevolence of some of his own
profession, who, for reasons that no one can guess at;
* were
CAR [ 181 ] CAR
arey were his enemies, and this, with the pressure of his
|] circumstances, is supposed to have occasioned his un-
•ibbee timely end ; for, about I744» in a fit of desperation,
an^s’ . he laid violent hands on himself, arfd, at his house in
^ Warner-street, Cold-Bath Fields, put a period to a
life, which, says Sir John Hawkins, had been led with¬
out reproach. It is to be noted, and it is somewhat
singular in such a character, that in all his songs and
poems on wine, love, and such kind of subjects, he
seems to have manifested an inviolable regard for de¬
cency and good manners.
CARGADOBS, a name which the Dutch give to
those brokers whose business is to find freight for ships
outward bound, and to give notice to the merchants,
who have commodities to send by sea, of the ships that
are ready to sail, and of the places for which they are
bound.
CARGAPOL, or Kargapol, the capital of a ter¬
ritory of the same name, in the province of Dvvina, in
Muscovy. E. Long. 36. N. Lat. 63.
CARGO denotes all the merchandises and effects
which are laden on board a ship.
Super-CARGO, a person employed by merchants to
go a voyage, oversee the cargo, and dispose of it to the
best advantage.
CARIA, in Ancient Geography, a country of the
Hither Asia ; whose limits are extended by some, while
they are contracted by others. Mela and Pliny extend
the maritime Caria from Jasus and Plalicarnassus, to
Calynda, and the borders of Lycia. The inland Caria
Ptolemy extends to the Meander and beyond. Car,
Cariatcs, Cariatis, Curissa and Can's, and Caira, are
the gentilitious names j Carius and Carious the epithets.
In Care periculum, was a proverbial saying on a thing
exposed to danger, but of no great value. The Cares
being the Swiss of those days, were hired and placed
in the front of the battle, (Cicero). Cum Care Carissa,
denoted the behaviour of clowns. The Cares came
originally from the islands to the continent, being for¬
merly subject to Minos, and called Leleges : this the
Cretans affirm, and the Cares deny, making themselves
aborigines. They are of a common original with the
Mysi and Lydi, having a common temple, of a very
ancient standing, at Melassa, a town of Caria, called
Jovis Carii Dehibrwrt, (Herodotus). Homer calls the
Carians, barbarians in language.
CARIATI, a town of Italy, in the kingdom of
Naples, and province of Hither Calabria, with a bishop’s
see, and the title of a principality. It is two miles
from the gulf of Taranto, and 37 north-east of Cosenza.
E. Long. 17. 19. N. Lat. 30. 38.
CARIBBEE ISLANDS, a cluster of islands situated
in the Atlantic ocean between 59 and 63 degrees of
west longitude, and between 11 and 18 degrees of north
latitude. They lie in the form of a bow or semicircle,
stretching almost from the coast of Florida north, to
near the river Oroonoque. Those that lie nearest the
east have been called the Windward Islands, the others
the Leeward, on account of the winds blowing gene¬
rally from the eastern point in those quarters. Abbe
Raynal conjectures them to be the tops of very high
mountains formerly belonging to the continent, which
have been changed into islands by some revolution that
has laid the flat country under water. The direction
of the Caribbee islands, beginning from Tobago, is
nearly north and N. N. W. This direction is conti- Caribbee
nued, forming a line somewhat curved towards the Islands*
north-west, and ending at Antigua. In this place the v—
line becomes at once curved ; and extending itself in a
straight direction to the west and north-west, meets in
its course with Porto-Rico, St Domingo, and Cuba,
known by the name of the Leeward Islands, which are
separated from each other by channels of various
breadths. Some of these are 6, others I 1? or 20 leagues
broad, but in all of them the soundings are from 100
to 120 or 150 fathoms. Between Grenada and St Vin¬
cent’s there is also a small archipelago of 30 leagues, in
which the soundings are not above ten fathoms. The
mountains in the Caribbee islands run in the same di*
rection as the islands themselves. The direction is so
regular, that if we were to consider the tops of these
mountains only, independent of their bases, they might
be looked upon as a chain of hills belonging to the
continent, of which Martinico would be the most north¬
westerly promontory. The springs of water which flow
from the mountains in the Windward islands, run all
in the western parts of these islands. The whole eastern
coast is without any running water. No springs come
down there from the mountains 5 and indeed they would
have there been useless; for after having run over a very
short tract of land, and with great rapidity, they would
have fallen into the sea. In Porto Rico, St Domingo,
and Cuba, there are a few rivers that discharge them¬
selves on the northern side, and wdiose sources rise in
the mountains running from east to west, that is, through
the whole length of these islands. From the other side
of the mountains facing the south, where the sea, flow¬
ing with great impetuosity, leaves behind it marks of
its inundations, several rivers flow down, the mouths of
which are capable of receiving the largest ships. The
soil of the Caribbees consists mostly of a layer of clay
or gravel of diflerent thickness ; under which is a bed
of stone or rock. The nature of some of those soils is
better adapted to vegetables than others. In those
places where the clay is drier and more friable, and
mixes with the leaves and remains of plants, a layer of
earth is formed of greater depth than where the clay
is moister. The sand or gravel has different properties
according to its peculiar nature ; wherever it is less
hard, less compact, and less porous, small pieces se-^.
parate themselves from it, which, though dry, preserve
a certain degree of coolness useful to vegetation. This
soil is called \n America pumice-stone so\\. Where-
ever the clay and gravel do not go through such modi¬
fications, the soil becomes barren, as soon as the layer
formed by the decomposition of the original plants is
destroyed.—By a treaty concluded in January 1660,
between the French and English, the Garibs were
confined to the islands of St Vincent’s and Dominica,
where all the scattered body of this people were united,
and at that time did not exceed in number 6000 mem
See St Vincent’s and Dominica.
As the Caribbee islands are all between the tropics,
their inhabitants are exposed, allowing for the varieties
resulting from difference of situation and Soil, to a per¬
petual heat, which generally increases from the rising
of the sun till an hour after noon, and then declines in
proportion as the sun declines. The variations of the
temperature of the air seem to depend rather on the
wind than on the changes of the seasons.. In those
CAR [ 182 ] CAR
Crtpibbee places where the wind does not blow, the air is exces-
Islundsi. sively hot, and none but the easterly winds contribute
u sr-"*' to temper and refresh it 5 those that blow from the
south and west afford little relief; but they are much
less frequent and less regular than that which blows
from the east. The branches of the trees exposed to
the influence of the latter are forced round towards the
west j but their roots are stronger', and more extended
under the ground, towards the east than towards the
west, and hence they are easily thrown down by strong
west winds or hurricanes from that quarter. The
easterly wind is scarce felt in the Caribbee islands
before nine or ten o’clock in the morning, increases in
proportion as the sun rises above the horizon, and
decreases as it declines. Towards the evening it ceases
entirely to blow on the coasts, but not on the open sea.
It has also been observed, that it blows with more force
and more regularity in the dog-days than at any other
time of the year.
The rain also contributes to the temperature of the
Caribbee islands, though not equally in them all. In
those places where the easterly wind meets with no¬
thing to oppose its progress, it dispels the clouds as
they begin to rise, and causes them to break either in
the woods or upon the mountains. But whenever the
storms are too violent, or the blowing of the easterly
wind is interrupted by the changeable and temporary
effect of the southerly or westerly ones, it then begins
to rain. In the other Caribbee islands, where this
wind does not generally blow, the rains are so fre¬
quent and plentiful, especially in the winter season,
which lasts from the middle of July to the middle of
October, that, according to the most accurate obser¬
vations, as much rain falls in one week as in our cli¬
mates in a year. Instead of those mild refreshing
showers which fall in the European climates, the rains
of the Caribbee islands are torrents, the sound of which
might be mistaken for hail, were not that almost to¬
tally unknown under so burning a sky. These showers
indeed retresh the air j but they occasion a dampness,
the effects of which are not less disagreeable than fatal.
The dead must be interred within a few hours after
they have expired. Meat will not keep sweet above
24 hours. The fruits decay, whether they are gather¬
ed ripe or before their maturity. The bread must be
made up into biscuits, to prevent its growing mouldy.
Common wines turn sour, and iron turns rusty, in a
day’s time. I he seeds can only be preserved by con¬
stant attention and care, till the proper season returns
for sowing them. When the Caribbee islands were
first discovered, the corn that was conveyed there for
the support of the Europeans, was so soon damaged that
it became necessary to send it out in the ears. This
necessary precaution so much enhanced the price of it,
that few were able to purchase it. Flour was then
substituted in lieu of corn ; which lowered indeed the
expences of transport, but had this inconvenience, that
it was sooner damaged. It was imagined by a mer¬
chant, that if the flour were entirely separated from
the bran, it would have the double advantage of being
cheaper and keeping longer. He caused it therefore
to be sifted, and put the finest flour into strong casks,
and beat it close together with iron hammers, till it
became so close a body that the air could scarcely pe¬
netrate it, This method was found to answer the pur¬
pose *, and if, by it, the flour cannot be preserved as cHljbi)f
long as in our dry and temperate climates, it may he island!
kept for six months, a year, or longer, according to 8
the degree of care taken in the preparation. ,Citr‘»U{:
However troublesome these effects of the rain may
be, it is attended with some others still more formi¬
dable ; namely, frequent and dreadful earthquakes.—
These happening generally during the time or towards
the end of the rainy season, and when the tides are
highest, some ingenious naturalists have supposed that
there might be a connexion between them. The waters
of the sky and of the sea undermine, dig up, and
ravage the earth in several different ways. Among
the various shocks to which the Caribbee islands are
exposed from the fury of the boisterous ocean, there is
one distinguished by the name of raz, de maree, or whirl¬
pool. It constantly happens once, twice, or thrice,
from July to October, and always on the western coasts,
because it takes place after the time of the westerly or
southerly winds, or while they blow. The waves,
which at a distance seem to advance gently within 400
or 500 yards, suddenly swell against the shore, as if
acted upon in an oblique direction by some superior
force, and break with the greatest impetuosity. The
ships which are then upon the coast, or in the roads
beyond it, unable either to keep their anchors or to
put out to sea, are dashed to pieces against the land,
and all on board most commonly perish. The hurri¬
cane is another terrible phenomenon in these islands,
by which incredible damage is occasioned \ but happily
it occurs not often.
The produce of the Caribbee islands is exceedingly
valuable to the Europeans, consisting of sugar, rum,
molasses, indigo, &c. a particular account of which is
given under the name of the respective islands as they
occur in the order of the alphabet.
CARIBBIANA, or Caribiana, the north-east
coast of Terra Firma, in South America, otherwise
called 'New Andalusia.
CARICA, the Papaw. See Botany Index.
The fruit of one species is by the inhabitants of the
Caribbee islands eaten with pepper and sugar as me¬
lons, but is much inferior to a melon in its native coun-
try 5 but those which have ripened in Britain were de¬
testable : the only use to which Mr Miller says he has
known them put was, when they were about half
grown, to soak them in salt water to get out the acrid
juice, and then pickle them for onangos, to which they
are a good substitute.
CARICATURA, in Painting, denotes the conceal¬
ment of real beauties, and the exaggeration of ble¬
mishes, but still so as to pi’eserve a resemblance of the
object. T he word is Italian ; formed of carica, a load,
burden, or the like*
CARICOUS, an epithet given to such tumours as
resemble the figure of a fig. They are frequently found
in the piles.
C ARIES, the corruption or mortification of a bone.
See Medicine and Surgery Index.
CARIGNANO, a fortified town of Piedmont, situ¬
ated on the river Po, about seven miles south of Turin.
E. Long. 7. 25. N. Lat. 44. 30. It was taken in
*544 by the Irenchj who demolished the fortifica¬
tions, but spared the castle. It was also taken, and re¬
taken, in 1691.
CARILLONS,
CAR [ 183 ] CAR
,j]!ons CARILLONS, a species of chimes frequent in the
d Low Countries, particularly at Ghent, and Antwerp,
inthia. an(J played on a number of bells in a belfrey, forming
a complete series or scale of tones and semitones, like
those on the harpsichord and organ. There are pedals
communicating with the great bells, upon which the
carilloneur with his feet plays the bass to sprightly airs,
performed with the two hands upon the upper species
of keys. These keys are projecting sticks, wide enough
asunder to be struck with violence and velocity by
either of the hands edgewise, without the danger of hit¬
ting the neighbouring key. The player is provided
with a thick leather covering for the little finger of
each hand, to guard against the violence of the stroke.
These carillons are heard through a large town.
CARINA, a Latin term, properly signifying the
keel of a ship; or that long piece of timber running
along the bottom of the ship from head to stern, upon
which the whole structure is built or framed.
Carina is also frequently used for the whole capa¬
city or bulk of a ship $ containing the hull or all the
space below the deck. Hence the word is also some¬
times used by a figure for the whole ship.
Carina is also used in the ancient architecture.
The Romans gave the name carina to all buildings in
form of a ship, as we still give the name nave to the
middle or principal vault of our Gothic churches ; be¬
cause it has that figure.
Carina, among anatomists, is used to denote the
spina dorsi; as likewise for the fibrous rudiments or em¬
bryo of a chick appearing in an incubated egg. The
carina consists of the entire iiertebrcv, as they appear
after ten or twelve days incubation. It is thus called,
because crooked in form of the keel of a ship.—Bota¬
nists also, for the like reason, use the word carina to
express the lower petalum of a papilionaceous flower.
Carinas were also weepers, or women hired among
the ancient Romans, to weep at funerals : they were
thus called from Caria, the country whence most of
them came.
CARINOLA, an episcopal town of Italy, in the
kingdom of Naples, and Terra di Lavoro. E. Long.
15. 5. N. Lat. 41. 15.
CARINTH1A, a duchy of Germany, in the circle
of Austria, bounded by the archbishopric of Saltzburg
on the north, and by Carniola and the Venetian terri¬
tories on the south, on the west by Tyrol, and on the
east by Stiria. A part of this country was anciently
called Carnia, and the inhabitants Carni; but the for¬
mer afterwards obtained the name oiCarinthia, and the
latter Carantani or Carint/ii. The air of this country
is cold, and the soil in general mountainous and bar¬
ren ; but there are some fruitful dales and valleys in it,
which produce wheat and other grain. The lakes,
brooks, and rivers, which are very numerous, abound
with fish } and the mountains yield lead and iron, and
in many places are covered with woods. The river
Hrave, which runs across the country, is the most con¬
siderable in Carinthia. The inhabitants are partly de¬
scendants of the ancient Germans, and partly of the
Sclavonians or Wends. The states are constituted as
in Austria, and their assemblies are held at Clagenfurt.
The archbishop of Saltzburg and the bishop of Bam¬
berg have considerable territories in this country. Chri¬
stianity was planted here in the 7th century. The
only profession tolerated at present is the Roman Ca- Carinthiai
tholic. The bishops are those of Gurk and Lavant, II
who are subject to the archbishop of Saltzburg. This Carhng-
duchy w as formerly a part of Bavaria. In the year. ^ ‘
1282, the emperor Rodolph I. gave it to Maynard
count of Tyrol, on condition that when his male issue
failed, it should revert to the house of Austria ; which
happened in 1331. The population of Carinthia in
1812 amounted to 282,454, or about 70 persons to the
square mile, Of these 138,000 were males, of whom
500 were nobles, 5000 citizens, 21,500 mechanics, and
76,500 were tenants and peasantry.
CARIPI, a kind of cavalry in the Turkish army.
The caripi to the number of about 1000 are not slaves,
nor bred up in the seraglio, like the rest j but are gene¬
rally Moors or renegado Christians, who having follow¬
ed adventures, being poor, and having their fortune to
seek by their dexterity and courage, have arrived at
the rank of horse guards to the Grand Signior.
CAR1SSA. See Botany Index.
CARITAS.—The pocithim caritatis, or grace cup,
was an extraordinary allowance of wine or other liquors,
wherein the religious at festivals drank in commemora¬
tion of their founders and benefactors.
CARISBROOK castle, a castle situated in the
middle of the isle of Wight, where King Charles I. was
imprisoned. W. Long. 1. 30. N. Lat. 50. 40.
CARISTO, an episcopal city of Greece, in the
eastern part of the island of Negropont, near Cape
Loro. E. Long. 24. 15. N. Lat. 38. 6.
CARKE, denotes the 30th part of a sarplar of
wool.
CARLE. See Churl.
CARLETON, Sir Dudley, was born in Oxford¬
shire, 1573, and bred in Christ-church college. He
went as secretary to Sir Ralph Winwood into the Low
Countries, when King James resigned the cautionary
towns to the States j and wras afterwards employed for
29 years as ambassador to Venice, Savoy, and the
United Provinces. King Charles created him Viscount
Dorchester, and appointed him one of his principal se¬
cretaries of state ; in which office he died in 1651. He
was esteemed a good statesman, though an honest man j
and published several political works.
CARLINA, the Carline thistle. See Botany
Index.
CARLINE, or Caroline thistle. See Car-
LINA. It is said to have been discovered by an angel
to Charlemagne, to cure his army of the plague j whence
its denomination.
Carline, or Caroline, a silver coin current in the
Neapolitan dominions, and worth about 4d. of our
money.
Carlines, or Carlings, in a ship, two pieces
of timber lying fore and aft, along from one beam to
another, directly over the keel j serving as a founda¬
tion for the whole body of the ship. On these the
ledges rest, whereon the planks of the deck and other
matters of carpentry are made fast. The carlines
have their ends let into the beams called culver-tail-
ways.
Carline Trees, ai e timbers going athwart the ship,..
from the sides to the hatchway, serving to sustain the
deck on both sides.
CARLINGFORD, a port town of Ireland, seated
CAR f 184 1 CAR
-Calling- on Carlington bay, in the county of Louth, and pro-
ford, vince of Leinster, 22 miles north of Drogheda. W.
Carlisle- Longt 6> ^ N> Lat ^ ^
CARLISLE, the capital city of the county of Cum¬
berland, seated on the south of the river Eden, and be¬
tween the Petteral on the east, and the Caude on the
west. It is surrounded by a strong stone wall, and has
a pretty large castle in the western part of it, as also a
citadel in the eastern part, built by Henry VIII. It
flourished in the time of the Romans, as appears from
the antiquities that are to be met with here, and the
Roman coins that have been dug up. At the departure
of the Romans this city was ruined by the Scots and
Piets j and was not rebuilt till the year 680, by Eg-
Trid, who encompassed it with a wall, and repaired the
church. In the 8th and 9th centuries, the whole coun¬
try was again ruined, and the city laid desolate by the
incursions of the Norwegians and Danes. In this con¬
dition it remained till the time of William Rufus ; who
repaired the walls and the castle, and caused the houses
to be rebuilt. It was fortified by Henry I. as a bar¬
rier against Scotland ; he also placed a garrison in it,
and made it an episcopal see. It was twice taken by
the Scots, and afterwards burnt accidentally in the
reign of Richard II. The cathedral, the suburbs, and
1500 houses, were destroyed at that time. It is at
present in a good condition; and has three gates, the
English on the south, the Scotch on the north, and
the Irish on the west. It has two parishes, and as many
churches, St Cuthbert’s and St Mary’s, the last of
which is the cathedral, and is separated from the town
by a wall of its own. The eastern part, which is the
newest, is a curious piece of workmanship. The choir
with the aisles is 71 feet broad ; and has a stately east
window 48 feet high and 30 broad, adorned with cu¬
rious pillars. The roof is elegantly vaulted with wood ;
and is embellished with the arms of England and
France quartered ; as also with Percy’s, Lucy’s, War¬
ren’s, Mowbray’s, and many others. In the choir are
the monuments of the bishops who were buried there.
This see was erected in 1133 by King Henry I. and
made suffragan to the archbishop of York. The ca¬
thedral church here had been founded a short time be¬
fore by Walter, deputy in these parts for King William
Rufus, and by him dedicated to the Virgin Mary. He
likewise built a monastery, and filled it with canons
regular of &t Augustine. This foundation continued
till the dissolution of monasteries, when its lands were
added to the see, and the maintenance of a dean, &c.
placed here in their room. The church was almost
ruined by the usurper Cromwell and his soldiers ; and
lias never since recovered its former beauty, although
repaired after the Restoration. This diocese contains
the greatest part of the counties of Cumberland and
Westmoreland, in which are only 93 parishes; but
these (as all the northern are) exceeding large ; and of
them 18 are impropriations. Here is one archdeacon,
viz. of Carlisle. The see is valued in the king’s books
at 530I. 4s. 11-Jd. but is computed to be worth an¬
nually 2800I. The clergy’s tenth amounts only to
161I. is. ^ 0 this cathedral belong a bishop, a
dean, a chancellor, an archdeacon, four prebendaries,
.eight minor canons, &c. and other inferior officers and
Servants.
The Piets wall, which was built across the country
3
from Newcastle, terminates near this place. Carlisle Carlk
was a fortified place, and still has its governor and [j
lieutenant-governor, but no garrison. It was taken by parkcro
the rebels, Nov. 15. 1745; and was retaken by the 'r‘
duke of Cumberland on the 10th of December follow¬
ing, and deprived of its gates. It is governed by a
mayor, twelve aldermen, two bailiffs, &c. and has a
considerable market on Saturdays. The manufactures
of Carlisle are chiefly of printed linens, for which near
3000I. per annum is paid in duties. It is also noted
for a great manufacture of whips, in which a great
number of children are employed.—Salmons appear in .
the Eden in numbers, so early as the months of De¬
cember and January; and the London and even New¬
castle markets are supplied with early fish from this
river : but it is remarkable, that they do not visit the
Esk in any quantity till April; notwithstanding the
mouths of the two rivers are at a small distance from
each other.—Carlisle sends two members to parliament,
and gives title of earl to a branch of the Howard fa¬
mily.
CARLOCK, in commerce, a sort of isinglass, made
with the sturgeon’s bladder, imported from Arch¬
angel. The chief use of it is for clarifying wine,
but is also used by the dyers. The best carlock comes
from Astracan, where a great quantity of sturgeon is
caught.
CARLOSTAD, or Carlstad, a town of Sweden
in Wermeland, seated on the lake Wermer, in E. Long.
14. 4. N. Lat. 59. 16.
Carlostad, or Car/stadi, a town of Hungary, ca¬
pital of Croatia, and the usual residence of the gover¬
nors of the province. It is seated on the river Kulph,
in E. Long. 16. 5. N. Lat. 45. 34.
CARLOW1TZ, a small town of Hungary, in Scla-
vonia, remarkable for a peace concluded here between
the Turks and Christians in 1669. It is seated on the
west side of the Danube, and contains 5600 inhabi¬
tants. E. Long. 19. 5. N. Lat. 45. 25.
CARLSCRONA, or Carlscroon, a seaport town
in the Baltic, belonging to Sweden. It derives its
origin and name from Charles XI. who first laid the
foundation of a new town in 1680, and removed the
fleet from Stockholm to this place, on account of its
advantageous situation in the centre of the Swedish
seas, and the superior security of its harbour. The
greatest part of Carlscrona stands upon a small rocky
island, which rises gently in a bay of the Baltic ; the
suburbs extend over another small rock, and along the
mole close to the bason where the fleet is moored. The
way into the town, from the mainland, is carried over
a dyke to an island, and from thence along two long
wooden bridges joined by a barren rock. The town is
spacious, and contains about 18,000 inhabitants. It is
adorned with one or two handsome churches, and a few
tolerable houses of brick ; but the generality of the
buildings are of wrood. The suburbs are fortified towards
the land by a stone wall. The entrance into the har¬
bour, which by nature is extremely difficult from a
number of shoals and rocky islands, is still further se¬
cured from the attack of an enemy’s fleet by two strong
forts built on two islands, under the batteries of which
all vessels must pass.
Formerly vessels in this port when careened and
repaired, were laid upon their sides in the open har¬
bour,
CAR [ 185 ] CAR
■rona b°ur> unt*1 a dock» according to a plan given by PoU
** \ heim, was hollowed in the solid rock j it was begun
• fuel, in 17x4, and finished in 1724J but as it was too
r—' gmal| for the admission of men of war, it has lately
been enlarged, and is now capable of receiving a ship
of the first rate. But new docks have been begun
upon a stupendous plan, worthy of the ancient Romans.
According to the original scheme, it was intended to
construct 30 docks, for building and laying up the
largest ships, at the extremity of the harbour. A
large bason, capable of admitting two men of war, is
designed to communicate, by sluices, with two smaller
basons, from each of which are to extend, like the
radii of a circle, five rows of covered docks j each row
is to be separated by walls of stone j and each dock to
be provided with sluice gates, so as to be filled or
emptied by means of pumps. Close to the docks,
magazines for naval stores are to be constructed, and
the whole to be inclosed with a stone-wall. The pro¬
ject was begun in 1757, but was much neglected until
the accession of his present majesty, who warmly pa¬
tronized the arduous undertaking. At the commence¬
ment of the works, 25,000!. were annually expended
upon them ; which sum has been lessened to about
6000I. per annum, and the number of docks reduced
to 20. The first dock was completed in 1779, and it
was computed that the whole number would be executed
in 20 years; but they are yet unfinished.
CARLSTADT, a town of Germany, in Bavaria,
seated on the river Maine. It has a strong castle. E.
Long. 9. 51. N. Lat. 50.0.
CARLTON, a town in Norfolk, held by this tenure,
that they shall present 1000 herrings baked in 14 pies
to the king, wherever he shall be when they first come
in season.
CARLYLE, Joseph Dacre, an eminent orienta¬
list. See Supplement.
CARMAGNOLA, a fortified town of Italy, in Pied¬
mont, with a good castle. It is seated in a country
abounding in corn, flax, and silk, near the river Po, in
E. Long. 7. 32. N. Lat. 44. 43.
CARMANIA, in Ancient Geography, a country of
Asia, to the east of Persia, having Parthia to the north,
Gedrosia to the east, to the south the Persian gulf or
sea in part, and in part the Indian, called the Carma-
nian Ssa; distinguished into Carmania Deserta, and
Carmania Propria, the former lying to the south of
Parthia, and to the south of that, the Propria, quite to
the sea. Its name is from the Syriac, Carina, signi¬
fying a “ vine,” for which that country was famous,
yielding clusters three feet long. Now Kerman, or
Carimania, a province of modern Persia.
CARMEL, a high mountain of Palestine, standing
on the skirts of the sea, and forming the most remark¬
able headland on all that coast. It extends eastward
from the sea as far as the plain of Jezreel, and from
the city of that name quite to Caesarea on the south.
It seems to have had the name of Carmel from its great
fertility 5 this word, according to the Hebrew import,
signifying the vine of God, and is used in Scripture to
denote any fruitful spot, or any place planted with
fruit trees. This mountain, we are assured, was very
fertile. Mr Sandys acquaints us, that, when well cul¬
tivated, it abounds with olives, vines, and variety of
fruits and herbs, both medicinal and aromatic. Others,
Yol. V. Part I. +
however, represent it as rather dry and barren $ which Carmel,
perhaps may have happened from the neglect of agri- Carmelites,
culture so common in all parts of the Turkish empire,—v——'
especially where they are exposed to the incursions of
the Arabs. Carmel is the name of the mountain, and
of a city built on it j as well as of a heathen deity
worshipped in it, but without either temple or statue j
though anciently there must have been a temple, as
we are told that this mountain was a favourite retreat
of Pythagoras, who spent a good deal of time in the
temple, without any person with him. But what hath
rendered Mount Carmel most celebrated and revered
both by Jews and Christians, is its having been the re¬
sidence of the prophet Elijah, who is supposed to have
lived there in a cave (which is there shewn), before he
was taken up into heaven.
CARMELITES, an order of religious, making one
of the four tribes of mendicants or begging friars 5
and taking its name from Mount Carmel, formerly
inhabited by Elias, Elisha, and the children of the
prophets j from whom this order pretends to descend in
an uninterrupted succession. The manner in which
they make out their antiquity has something in it too
ridiculous to be rehearsed. Some among them pretend
they are descendants of Jesus Christ j others go further,
and make Pythagoras a Carmelite, and the ancient
druids regular branches of their order. Phocos, a
Greek monk, speaks the most reasonably. He says,
that in his time, 1185, Elias’s cave was still extant on
the mountain $ near which were the remains of a
building which intimated that there had been anciently
a monastery ; that, some years before, an old monk, a
priest of Calabria, by revelation, as he pretended, from
the prophet Elias, fixed there, and assembled ten bro¬
thers. In 1209, Albert, patriarch of Jerusalem, gave
the solitaries a rigid rule, which Papebroch has since
printed. In 1217, or, according to others, 1226, Pope
Honorius III. approved and confirmed it. This rule
contained 16 articles ; one of which confined them to
their cells, and enjoined them to continue day and
night in prayer’, another prohibited the brethren
having any property; another enjoined fasting from
the feast of the holy cross till Easter, except on
Sundays; abstinence at all times from flesh was enjoin¬
ed by another article ; one obliged them to manual la¬
bour ; another imposed a strict silence on them from
vespers till the tierce the next day.
The peace concluded by the emperor Frederic II,
with the Saracens, in the year 1229, so disadvantage¬
ous to Christendom, and so beneficial to the infidels,
occasioned the Carmelites to quit the Holy Land,
under Alan the fifth general of the Order. He first
sent some of the religious to Cyprus, who landed there
in the year 1328, and founded a monastery in the
forest of Fortania. Some Sicilians, at the same time,
leaving Mount Carmel, returned to their own country,
where they founded a monastery in the suburbs of
Messina. Some English departed out of Syria, in the
year 1240, to found others in England. Others of
Provence, in the year 1244, founded a monastery in
the desert of Aigualates, a league from Marseilles ;
and thus, the number of their monasteries increasing,
they held their European general chapter in the yea£
1245, tl16!1' monastery of Aylesford in England.—
This order is so much increased, that it has, at present,
A a 38
C A K [ 186 1 C A H
CaimelUctf 38 provinces, besides the congregation of Mantna, in
H which are 54 monasteries, under a vicar-general; and
Carolina- the congregations of Barefooted Carmelites in Italy and
. . Spain, which have their peculiar general.
After the establishment of the Carmelites in Europe,
their rule was in some respects altered ; the first time,
by Pope Innocent IV. who added to the first article a
precept of chastity, and relaxed the nth, which enjoins
abstinence at all times from flesh, permitting them,
when they travelled, to eat boiled flesh j this pope
likewise gave them leave to eat in a common refectory,
and to keep asses or mules for their use. Their rule
was again mitigated by the popes Eugenius IV. and
Pi us II. Hence the order is divided into two branch¬
es, viz. the Carmelites of the ancient observance, called
the moderate, or mitigated ; and those of the strict ob¬
servance, who are the barefooted Carmelites ; a reform
set on foot in 1548, by S. Theresa, a nun of the
convent of Avila, in Castile : these last are divided
into two congregations, that of Spain and that of
Italy.
The habit of the Carmelites was at first white, and
the cloak laced at the bottom with several lists. But
Pope Honorius IV. commanded them to change it for
that of the Minims. Their scapulary is a small wool¬
len habit of a brown colour, thrown over their shoulders.
They wear no linen shirts, hut instead of them linsey-
woolsey, which they change twice a-week in the sum¬
mer, and once a-week in the winter.
If a monk of this order lies with a woman, he is
prohibited saying mass for three or four years, is de-
cbared infamous, and obliged to discipline himself pub¬
licly once a-week. If he is again guilty of the same
fault, his penance is doubled ; and if a third time, he
is expelled the order.
CARMEN, an ancient term among the Latins, used
in a general sense to signify a verse 5 but more parti¬
cularly to signify a spell, charm, form of expiation, or
execration, couched in a few Words placed in a mystic
order, on which its efficacy depended. Pezron derives
the word carmen from the Celtic carm, the shout of
joy, or the verses which the ancient bards sung to
encourage the soldiers before the combat.—Carmen
was anciently a denomination given also to precepts,
laws, prayers, imprecations, and all solemn formuloe
couched in a few words placed in a certain order,
though written in prose. In which sense it was that
the elder Cato wrote a Carmen de moribus, which was
not in verse but in prose.
CARMENTALIA, a feast among the ancient Ro¬
mans, celebrated annually upon the nth of January,
in honour of Carmenta, or Carmentis, a prophetess of
Arcadia, mother of Evander, with whom she came into
Italy 60 years before the Trojan war. The solemnity
was also repeated on the 15th of January, which is
marked in the old calendar of Carmentalia relata. This
feast was established on occasion of a great fecundity
among the Roman dames, after a general reconciliation
with their husbands, with whom they had been at vari¬
ance, in regard of the use of coaches being prohibited
them by an edict of the senate. This feast was cele¬
brated by the women ; he who ofi'ered the sacrifices was
called sacerdos carmentalis.
CARMINATIVES, medicines used in colics, or
other flatulent disorders, to dispel the wind.
The word comes from the Latin carminare, to card (jftrn,j
or teaze wool, and figuratively to attenuate and dis- tive
cuss wind or vapours, and promote their discharge by ||
perspiration. Though Dr Quincy makes it more mys-^arilCl];
terious : He says it comes from the word carmen, tak- '
ing it in the sense of an invocation or charm j and
makes it to have been a general name for all medicines
which operated like charms, i. e. in an extraordinary
manner. Hence, as the most violent pains were fre¬
quently those arising from pent-up wind, which imme¬
diately cease upon dispersion, the term carminative be¬
came in a peculiar sense applied to medicines which
gave relief in windy cases, as if they cured by enchant¬
ment : but this interpretation seems a little too far
strained.
CARMINE, a powder of a very beautiful red co¬
lour bordering upon purple } and used by painters in
miniature, though rarely, on account of its great price.
The manner of preparing it is kept a secret by the co¬
lour-makers 5 neither do any of those receipts which
have for a long time been published concerning the pre¬
paration of this and other colours, at all answer the
purpose. See CoLOUR-making.
CARMONA, a town of Italy in Friuli, and in the
county of Goritz, seated on a mountain near the river
Indri. It belongs to the house of Austria. E.Long.
5. 37. N. Lat. 46. 15.
Carmona, an ancient town of Spain, in Andalusia.
It is seated in a fertile country, 15 miles east of Se¬
ville. W. Long. 5. 37. N. Lat. 37. 34.
CARNATIC, a province of Hindostan. See Sup¬
plement.
CARNATION. See Dianthus, Botany Index.
Carnation Colour, among painters, is understood
of all the parts of a picture, in general, which repre¬
sent flesh, or which are naked and without drapery.
Titian and Correggio in Italy, and Rubens and Van¬
dyke in Flanders, excelled in carnations.—In colour¬
ing for flesh, there is so great a variety, that it is hard
to lay down any general rules for instructions therein :
neither are there any regarded by those who have ac¬
quired a skill this way j the various colouring for car¬
nations may be easily produced, by taking more or
less red, blue, yellow, or bistre, whether for the first
colouring or for the finishing j the colour for women
should be bluish, for children a little red, both fresh
and gay ; and for men it should incline to yellow, es¬
pecially if they are old.
Carnation, among dyers. To dye a carnation, or
red rose colour, it is directed to take liquor of wheat
bran a sufficient quantity, alum three pounds, tartar
two ounces j boil them, and enter 20 yards of broad
cloth ; after it has boiled three hours, cool and wash
it: take fresh clear bran liquor a sufficient quantity,
madder five pounds j boil and sodden according to art.
—The Bow dyers know that the solution of tin, being
put in a kettle to the alum and tartar, in another pro¬
cess, makes the cloth, &c. attract the colour into it,
so that none of the cochineal is left, but the whole is
absorbed by the cloth.
GARNI ADES, a celebrated Greek philosopher,
was a native of Cyrene in Africa, and founder of the
third academy. He was so fond of study, that he not
only avoided all entertainments, but forgot even to eat
at his own table $ his maid servant Melissa was oblig¬
ed
C x\ R [ 1B7 ] CAR
’adc« ed to put the victuals into his ham]. He was an an-
| tagonist of the Stoics ; anil applied himself with great
ela't eagerness to refute the works of Chrysippus, one of the
most celebrated philosophers of their sect. The power
of his eloquence was dreaded even by a Roman senate.
The Athenians being condemned by the Romans to
pay a fine of 500 talents for plundering the city of
Oropus, sent ambassadors to Rome, who got the fine
mitigated to 100 talents. Carneades the Academic,
Diogenes the Stoic, and Critolaus the Peripatetic,
were charged with this embassy. Before they had an
audience of the senate, they harangued to great multi¬
tudes in different parts of the city. Carneades’s elo¬
quence was distinguished from that of the others by its
strength and rapidity. Cato the Elder made a motion
in the senate that these ambassadors should be immedi¬
ately sent hack, because it was very difficult to discern
the truth through the arguments of Carneades. The
Athenian ambassadors (said many of the senators) were
sent rather to force us to comply with their demands,
than to solicit them by persuasion j meaning, that it
was impossible to resist the power of that eloquence
with which Carneades addressed himself to them. Ac¬
cording to Plutarch, the youth at Rome were so
charmed by the orations of this philosopher, that they
forsook their exercises and other diversions, and were
carried with a kind of madness to philosophy; the hu¬
mour of philosophising spreading like enthusiasm. This
grieved Cato, who was particularly afraid of the sub¬
tility of wit and strength of argument with which Car¬
neades maintained either side of a question. Carneades
harangued in favour of justice one day, and the next
day against it, to the admiration of all who heard him,
among whom were Galba and Cato, the greatest ora¬
tors of Rome. This was his element; he delighted in
demolishing his own work ; because it served in the
end to confirm his grand principle, that there are only
probabilities or resemblances of truth in the mind of
man ; so that of two things directly opposite, either
may be chosen indifferently. Quintilian remarks, that
though Carneades argued in favour of injustice, yet he
himself acted according to the strict rules of justice.
The following was a maxim of Carneades : “ If a man
privately knew that his enemy, or'any other person
whose death might be of advantage to him, would
come to sit down on grass in which there lurked an
asp, he ought to give him notice of it, though it were
in the power of no person whatever to blame him for
being silent.” Carneades, according to some, lived
to be 85 years old : others make him to be 90 : his
death is placed in the 4th year of the i62d Olym¬
piad.
CARNEDDE, in British antiquity, denotes heaps
of stones, supposed to be druidical remains, and thrown
together on occasion of confirming and commemorat¬
ing a covenant, Gen. xxxi. 46. They are very com¬
mon in the isle of Anglesey, and were also used as se¬
pulchral monuments, in the manner of tumuli; for Mr
Rowland found a curious urn in one of these carnedde.
Whence it may be inferred, that the Britons had the
custom of throwing stones on the deceased. From this
custom is derived the Welsh proverb, Kern ardyben
“ 111 betide thee.”
CARNEIA, in antiquity, a festival in honour )of
Apollo, surnamed Carneus, held in most cities of
Greece, but especially at Sparta, where it was first
instituted.
The reason of the name, as well as the occasion of
the institution, is controverted. It lasted nine days,
beginning on the 13th of the month Carneus. The ce¬
remonies were an imitation of the method of living and
discipline used in camps.
CARNEL.—The building of ships first with their
timber and beams, and after bringing on their planks,
is called camel work, to distinguish it from clinch
work.
Vessels also which go with mizen sails instead of
main sails are by some called camels.
CARNELIAN, in Natural History, a precious
stone, of which there are three kinds, distinguished by
three colours, a red, a yellow, and a white. The red is
very well known among us ; is found in roundish or
oval masses, much like our common pebbles; and is
generally met with between an inch and two or three
inches in diameter ; it is of a fine, compact, and close
texture ; of a glossy surface ; and, in the several spe¬
cimens, is of all the degrees of red, from the palest
flesh-colour to the deepest blood-red. It is generally
free from spots, clouds, or variegations : but sometimes
it is veined very beautifully with an extremely pale
red, or with white ; the veins forming concentric cir¬
cles, or other less regular figures, about a nucleus, in
the manner of those of agates. The pieces of carne-
lian, which are all one colour, and perfectly free from
veins, are those which our jewellers generally make
use of for seals, though the variegated ones are much
more beautiful. The carnelian is tolerably hard, and
capable of a very good polish : it is not at all affected
by acid menstruums : the fire divests it of a part of
its colour, and leaves it of a pale red; and a strong
and long-continued heat will reduce it to a pale dirty
gray-
The finest carnelians are those of the East Indies ;
but there are very beautiful ones found in the rivers of
Silesia and Bohemia; and we have some not despicable
ones in Engand.
Though the ancients have recommended the carne¬
lian as astringent, and attributed a number of fanciful
virtues to it, we know of no other use of the stone
than the cutting seals on it; to which purpose it is
excellently adapted, as being not too hard for cutting,
and yet hard enough not to be liable to accidents, to
take a good polish, and to separate easily from the
wax.
CARNERO, in Geography, a name given to that
part of the gulf of Venice which extends from the
western coast of Istria to the islands of Grossa and the
coast of Morlachia.
Carnero is likewise the name of the cape to the
west of the mouth of the bay of Gibraltar.
CARNIFEX, among the Romans, the common ex¬
ecutioner. By reason of the odiousness of his office, the
carnifex was expressly prohibited by the laws from hav¬
ing his dwelling house within the city. In middle-ages
writers carnifex also denotes a butcher.
Under the Anglo-Danish kings, the carnifex was an
officer of great dignity ; being ranked with the arch¬
bishop of York, Earl Goodwin, and the lord steward.
Flor. Wigorn.ann. 1040, Rex Hardecanutus, Alfricum
Rbor. Archiep. Goodwinum comitem, Edricum dispensa-
A a 2 torem,
CAR [> 188 ] CAR
Camfex torem, Thrond suum carnificem, et alios magiue digiri-
II tads victor Londinum misit.
Carnival, CARNIOLA, a ducliy of Germany, bonntled on
the south by the Adriatic sea, and that part of Istria
possessed by the republic of Venice ) on the north, by
Carinthia and Stiria ", on the east, by Sclavonia and
Croatia $ on the west, by Friuli, the county of Gorz. or
Goritz, and a part of the gulf of Venice j extending
in length about no miles, and in breadth about ioo.
its area is about 4700 square miles, and it contained
409,504 inhabitants in 1807. It had its ancient name
Carnia, as well as the modern one Carniola, from its an¬
cient inhabitants, the Carni, a tribe of Scythians, other¬
wise called Japidcs, whence this and the adjacent
countries were also called Japidia.
Carniola is full of mountains, some of which are cul¬
tivated and inhabited, some covered with wood, others
naked and barren, and others continually buried in
snow. The valleys are very fruitful. Here are like¬
wise mines of iron, lead, copper, and cinnabar ; salt
must be had from the sovereign’s magazines. There
are several rivers, besides many medicinal springs and
inland lakes. The common people are very hardy,
going barefooted in winter through the snow, with
open breasts, and sleeping on a hard bench without
bed or bolster. I heir food is also very coarse and
mean. In winter, when the snow lies deep on the
ground, the mountaineers bind either small baskets, or
long thin narrow boards, like the Laplanders, to their
feet, on which, with the help of a stout staff or pole,
they descend with great velocity from the mountains.
When the snow is frozen, they make use of a sort of
irons or skaits. In different parts of the country the
inhabitants, especially the common sort, differ greatly
in their dress, language, and manner of living. In
Upper and Lower Carniola they wear long beards.
The languages chiefly in use are the Sclavonian or
Wendish, and German; the first by the commonalty,
and the latter by people of fashion. The duchy is di¬
vided into the Upper, Lower, Middle, and Inner
Carniola. The principal commodities exported hence
are, iron, steel, lead, quicksilver, white and red wine,
oil of olives, cattle, sheep, cheese, linen, and a kind
of woollen stuff* called mahalan, Spanish leather, ho¬
ney, walnuts, and timber 5 together with all manner
of wood work, as boxes, dishes, &c. Christianity was
first planted here in the eighth century. Lutheranism
made a considerable progress in it; but, excepting the
Walachians or Uskokes, who are of the Greek church,
and style themselves Staraverxi, i. e. old believers, all
the inhabitants at present are Roman Catholics. Car¬
niola was long a marquisate or margravate $ but in the
year 1231 was erected into a duchy. Carniola was
ceded to France in 1809, but was restored to Austria
in 1814.
CARNIVAL, or Carnaval, a time of rejpicing,
a season of mirth, observed with great solemnity by
the Italians, particularly at Venice, holding from the
twelfth day till Lent.
The word is formed from the Italian Carnavalle;
which M. Du Cange derives from Carn-a-valy by rea¬
son the flesh then goes to pot, to make amends for the
season of abstinence then ensuing. Accordingly, in
the corrupt Latin, he observes, it was called Carnele-
vamcn and Carnisprivium ; as the Spaniards still dcno- Carni
minate it carries tollendas. Carm
Feasts, balls, operas, concerts of music, intrigues,, 10111
marriages, &c. are chiefly held in carnival time. The ^ 1
carnival begins at Venice the second holiday in Christ-
mas: Then it is they begin to wear masks, and open
their playhouses and gaming houses $ the place of St
Mark is filled with mountebanks, jack-puddings, ped¬
lars, whores, and such like mobs, who flock thither
from all parts. There have been no less than seven
sovereign princes and 30,000 foreigners here to partake
of these diversions.
CARNIVOROUS, an epithet applied to those ani¬
mals which naturally seek and feed on flesh.
It has been a dispute among naturalists, whether
man is naturally carnivorous. Those who take the ne¬
gative side ol the question, insist chiefly on the struc¬
ture of our teeth, which are mostly incisores or mola-
res $ not such as carnivorous animals are furnished
with, and which are proper to tear flesh in pieces : to
which it may be added, that, even when we do feed
on flesh, it is not without a preparatory alteration by
boiling, roasting, &c. and even then that it is the
hardest of digestion ol all foods. To these arguments
Dr Wallis subjoins another, which is, that all quadru¬
peds which feed on herbs or plants have a long colon,
with a caecum at the upper end of it, or somewhat equi¬
valent, which conveys the food by a long and large
progress, from the stomach downwards, in order to its
slower passage and longer stay in the intestines j but
that, in carnivorous animals, such csecum is wanting,
and instead thereof there is a more short and slender
gut, and a quicker passage through the intestines^
Now in man, the caecum is very visible : a strong
presumption that nature, who is still consistent with
herself, did not intend him for a carnivorous animal.—
It is true, the caecum is but small in adults, and seems
of little or no use; but in a foetus it is much larger in
proportion : And it is probable, our customary change
of diet, as we grow up, may occasion this shrinking.
But to these arguments Dr Tyson replies, that if man
had been by nature designed not to be carnivorousy
there would doubtless have been found, somewhere on
the globe, people who do not feed on flesh $ which is
not the case. Neither are carnivorous animals always
without a colon and caecum j nor are all animals car¬
nivorous which have these parts j the opossum, for in¬
stance, hath both a colon and caecum, and yet feeds
on poultry and other flesh; whereas the hedgehog,
which has neither colon nor caecum, and so ought to
be carnivorous, feeds only on vegetables. Add to
this, that hogs which have both, will feed upon flesh
when they can get it ; and rats and mice, which have
large eajcums, will feed on bacon as well as bread and
cheese. Lastly, the human race are furnished with
teeth necessary for the preparation of all kinds of foods;
from whence it would seem that nature intended we
should live on all. And as the alimentary duct in the
human body is fitted for digesting all kinds of foods,
ought we not rather to conclude that nature did not
intend to deny us any ?
It is not less disputed whether mankind were carni¬
vorous before the flood. St Jerome, Chrysostome, The-
offorg, and other anciepts, maintain, that all animal
food'
CAR L 189 ] CAR
food was then forbidden *, which opinion is also stre-
rooi " nuously supported among the moderns by Curcellaeus,
|| and refuted by Heidegger, Danzius, Bochart, &c. See
rolina. ANTEDILUVIANS.
CARNOSITY is used by some authors for a little
fleshy excrescence, tubercle, or wen, formed in the
urethra, the neck of the bladder, or yard, which stops
the passage of the urine.—Carnosities are very difficult
of cure: they are not easily known but by introducing
a probe into the passage, which there meets with re¬
sistance. They usually arise from some venereal ma¬
lady ill managed.
CARO, Annibal, a celebrated italian poet, was
born at Civita Nuovo in Ijo^. He became secretary
to the duke of Parma, and afterwards to Cardinal
Farnese. He was also made a knight of Malta. He
translated Virgil’s iEneid into his own language, with
such propriety and elegance of expression, that he was
allowed by the best judges to have equalled the origi¬
nal. He also translated Aristotle’s rhetoric, two ora¬
tories of Gregory Nazianzen, with a discourse of Cy¬
prian. He wrote a comedy j and a miscellany of his
poems was printed at Venice in 1584. He died at
Borne in 1566.
CAROLINA, a province of North America, be¬
tween 31 and 36J degrees of N. Lat. It is bounded
on the east by the Atlantic, on the west by Tennessee,
on the north by Virginia, and on the south by Geor¬
gia. It is divided into two states, North Carolina and
South Carolina.
North Carolina is about 430 miles long, and in ge-
neral about lOO broad j but its sea coast is about 300
miles in extent. Its area is 50,500 square miles.
To the distance of 60 miles from the sea, the coun¬
try is perfectly level, with a sandy or marshy soil, ex¬
cept along the banks of rivers, where a vegetable
mould, three or four feet deep, affords fine pasture and
good crops. Beyond this level country, there is a tract
40 miles in breadth, consisting of small sand hills, in¬
terspersed with pitch pine, which is of little value for
agricultural purposes. The western parts of the state
are generally mountainous ; but between the mountains,
and at their feet, lies much fertile land fit for any species
of cultivation. There are several large swamps near
the sea coast.
The winter in North Carolina is mild ; the summer
hot and sultry ; the autumn is pleasant. The changes
of temperature are sudden and frequent, and vegeta¬
tion is sometimes hurt by the frost. In the upper coun¬
try the climate is healthy; but in the low country,
along the coast, the miasms are injurious, particularly
in autumn.
The principal rivers are the Roanoke, which is na¬
vigable for boats 70 miles; the Pamlico, navigable for
boats 80 miles ; the Neuse, navigable 160 miles for
small boats, and 50 miles for sea vessels ; and Cape
Fear river. A line of sand banks stretching along the
coast, renders it difficult to approach it except at some
points. The minerals are iron ore, which is abundant,
but little worked ; and gold, which is found in some of
the rivers, but only in trifling quantities. Of animals
there are the deer, bear, cougouar, wild cat, fox, squir¬
rel, the wild turkey, and various species of snakes.
The bison and the beaver, which were formerly nu¬
merous, have now. disappeared.
The population of North Carolina in 181O was Carolina.
555,500, including 168,824 slaves, and 10,266 free—v—-
blacks. Tt is one of the most thinly peopled of the old
states, having only about 11 persons to the square mile. •
The inhabitants are chiefly planters, who live on their
plantations at a distance of two or three miles from
each other. Marriages are made among them at an
early age. They are hospitable and indolent in their
habits, and are accused of being addicted to gambling,
drinking, and horse racing. In the upper country,
however, where few slaves are kept, the people are la¬
borious, sober, and plain in their manners. The go¬
vernment is vested in a senate and house of commons.
The former consists of a member for each county,
chosen annually by persons who possess 50I. freeholds.
The house of commons consists of two representatives
for each county, and one for each of six towns, chosen by
all the freemen of mature age. There is no establish¬
ed church ; the prevailing denominations are Presbyte¬
rians, Moravians, Quakers, Methodists, and Baptists. •
A public provision is made by the state for the support
of schools and a university. The agricultural products
are cotton, tobacco, rice, indigo, maize, wheat, barley,
&c. The wheat harvest is early in June. The manu¬
factures are chiefly domestic, and are but inconsider¬
able. The commerce of the state is also but small, the <
whole amount of the exports in 1817 being 95^j5^°
dollars. The value of lands and houses in the state, as
ascertained by a fiscal census in 1814, was 92,157,487
dollars, being three times as great as in 1799. New-
'bern, the largest town in the state, contained only 2467
inhabitants in 1810.
South Carolina is of a triangular form, and extends
along the sea coast 170 miles. Its greatest length is
340 miles, and its area is 24,080 miles. In its gene¬
ral appearance, soil, climate, and productions, it re¬
sembles North Carolina, but has less mountain land.
Snow seldom falls, and during seven years the thermo¬
meter never rose above 930 nor fell below I7°- The
annual average of rain is about 49 inches. The chief ri¬
vers are the Savannah, which is navigable for sloops 250
miles ; the Santee, navigable 150 miles ; the Pedee, also
navigable to a considerable distance ; Ashley river,
Cooper river, &c. The population of South Carolina
in 1810 was 415,115, including 196,365 slaves, and
4554 flee blacks. The whites are distinguished by
politeness, hospitality, and a nice sense of honour. They
are at the same time profuse in their habits, fond ot
gaming, and not free from the imputation of drunken¬
ness. Horse races, hunting, dancing, and ball-playing,
are favourite amusements. The legislative power is
vested in a senate and house of representatives. The
senate consists of 43 members elected for four years,
and renewed by halves. The representatives, 124 in
number, are chosen for two years. The electors con¬
sist of all the free white males of 21 years of age.
The value of lands, houses, and slaves in this state in
1814 was 123,416,512 dollars. The exports in 1817
amounted to 10,372,613 dollars; but a great propor¬
tion of the trade is in the hands of the New Fmglanderii,
the shipping belonging to the state in 1815, amounting >
only to 37,168 tons. There is no established church ;
the most numerous sects are the Presbyterians, Baptists,
Methodists, Episcopalians, and Independents. Till a
late period education was but little attended to. But >/
since -
CAR [ 190 ] CAR
Carolina, since 179J two colleges, and a considerable number of
t,,‘r v academies and grammar schools have been established.
In Charlestown, and some of the other towns, there are
a number of societies of a philosophical, literary, or
economical nature. The judges are appointed by the
legislature during good behaviour, and are removable
by impeachment. The judges of the difl’erent circuits,
four in number, form the highest, or constitutional court,
and meet once a year at Columbia, and at Charlestown,
for the purpose of hearing and determining all mo¬
tions for new trials, &c. The common and statute law
of Great Britain is in force, and has been adapted by
various modifications to the principles of the constitution.
Carolina was discovered by Sebastian Cabot about
the year 1500, in the reign of Henry VII. but the
settling of it being neglected by the English, a colony
of French Protestants, by the encouragement of Ad¬
miral Coligni, were transported thither $ and named
the place of their first settlement Arx Carolina, in ho¬
nour of their prince, Charles IX. of France: but in
a short time that colony was destroyed by the Spa¬
niards j and no other attempt was made by any Euro¬
pean power to settle there till the year 1664, when
800 English landed at Cape Fear in North Carolina,
and took possession of the country. In 1670, Cha. II.
of Britain granted Carolina to the lords Berkeley, Cla¬
rendon, Albemarle, Craven, and Ashly, Sir George
Carteret, Sir William Berkeley, and Sir John Colliton.
The plan of government for this new colony was drawn
up by the famous Mr Locke, who very wisely proposed
a universal toleration in religious matters. The only
restriction in this respect was, that every person claim¬
ing the protection of that settlement, should, at the
age of 17, register himself in some particular com¬
munion. To civil liberty, however, our philosopher
was not so favourable ; the code of Carolina gave to
the eight proprietors who founded the colony, and to
their heirs, not only all the rights of a monarch, but
all the powers of legislation. The court, which was
composed of this sovereign body, and called the Pala¬
tinate Court, was invested with the right of nominating
to all employments and dignities, and even of confer¬
ring nobility; but with new and unprecedented titles.
I hey were, for instance, to create in each county two
caciques, each of whom was to be possessed of 24,000
acres of land j and a landgrave, who was to have
80,000. The persons on whom these honours should
be bestowed were to compose the upper house, and
their possessions were made unalienable. They had
only the right of farming or letting out a third part of
them at the most for three lives. The lower house
was composed of the deputies from the several counties
and towms. The number of this representative body
was to be increased as the colony grew more populous.
No tenant was to pay more than about a shilling per
acre, and even this rent was redeemable. All the in¬
habitants, however, both slaves and freemen, were un¬
der an obligation to take up arms upon the first order
from the Palatine court.
It was not long before the defects of this constitu¬
tion became apparent. The proprietory lords used
every endeavour to establish an arbitrary government •,
and, on the other hand, the colonists exerted them¬
selves with great zeal to avoid servitude. In conse¬
quence of this struggle, the whole province, distracted
2
with tumults and dissensions, became incapable of
making any progress, though great things had been
expected from its particular advantages of situation.
Though a toleration in religious matters was a part of
the original constitution, dissensions arose likeivise on
that account. In 1705, Carteret, now Lord Gran¬
ville, who, as the oldest of the proprietors, was sole
governor of the colony, formed a design of obliging
all the non-conformists to embrace the ceremonies of
the church of England ; and this act of violence,
though disavowed and rejected by the mother country,
inflamed the minds of the people. In 1720, while this
animosity was still subsisting, the province was attacked
by several bands of savages, driven to despair by a
continued course of the most atrocious violence and
injustice. These unfortunate wretches were all put to
the sword : but, in 1728, the lords proprietors having
refused to contribute towards the expences of an ex¬
pedition, of which they were to share the immediate
benefits, were deprived of their prerogative, except
Lord Granville, who still retained his eighth part.
The rest received a recompense of about 24,000!. The
colony was taken under the immediate protection of
the crown, and from that time began to flourish. The
division into North and South Carolina now took place,
and the settlement of Georgia commenced in 1732.
See Georgia.
CAROLINE. See Carline.
Caroline-books, the name of four books, composed
by order of Charlemagne, to refute the second council
of Nice. These books are couched in very harsh and
severe terms, containing 120 heads of accusation against
the council of Nice, and condemning the worship of
images.
CAROLOSTADIANS, or Carlostadians, an
ancient sect or branch of Lutherans, who denied the
real presence of Christ in the eucharist.
They were thus denominated from their leader An¬
drew Carolostadius, who having originally been arch¬
deacon of Wittemberg, was converted by Luther, and
was the first of all the reformed clergy who took a
wife ; but disagreeing afterwards with Luther, chieflv
in the point of the sacrament, founded a sect apart.
The Carolostadians are the same with what are other¬
wise denominated Sacramentarians, and agree in most
things with the Zuinglians.
CAROLUS, an ancient English broad piece of gold
struck under Charles I. Its value has of late been at
23s. sterling, though at the time it was coined it is
said to have been rated at 20s.
Carolus, a small copper coin, with a little silver
mixed with it, struck under Charles VIII. of France.
The Carolus was worth 12 deniers when it ceased to
be current. Those which are still current in trade in
Lorrain, or in some neighbouring provinces, go under
the name of French sols.
CAROTIDS, in Anatomy, twro arteries of the neck,
which convey the blood from the aorta to the brain
one called the right, and the other the left, carotid.
CARP, in Ichthyology, the English name of a spe¬
cies of cyprirnis. See Cyprinus, Ichthyology Index.
The carp is the most valuable of all kinds of fish for
stocking of ponds. It is very quick in its growth,
and brings forth the spawn three times a year, so that
the increase is very great. The female does not begin
to
CAR [ i
C’ 1 * • * •
"arp to breed till eight or nine years old ; so that in hreed-
(f D ing-ponds a supply must be kept of carp of that age.
~ f pcnicr. Ybe best judges allow, tliat, in stocking a breed-
1, .y—-> pon(j^ pour ma]es should be allowed to twelve females.
The usual growth of a carp is two or three inches in
length in a year j but, in ponds which receive the fat¬
tening of common-sewers, they have been known to
grow from five inches to 18 in one year. A feeding-
pond of one acre extent will very well feed 300 carp
of three years old, 300 of two years, and 400 of
one year old. Carp delight greatly in ponds that have
marly sides; they love also clay-ponds well sheltered
from the winds and grown with weeds and long grass
at the edges, which they feed on in the hot mouths.
Carp and tench thrive very fast in ponds and rivers near
the sea, where the water is a little brackish ; but they
are not so well tasted as those which live in fresh water.
CARPATES, or Alpes Bastarnic.®, in Ancient
Geography, a range of mountains, running out between
Poland, Hungary, and Transylvania. Now called the
Carpathian mountains.
CARPATHIUM mare, (Horace, Ovid) ; the sea
that washes the island Carpathus.
CARPATHUS, an island on the coast of Asia, two
hundred stadia in compass, and an hundred in length.
Its name is said to be from its situation on the coast of
Caria. It lies between Rhodes and Crete, in the sea
which, from this island, is called the Carpathian sea,
and has to the north the Ionian, to the south the
Egyptian, to the west the Cretan and African seas.
It is two hundred furlongs in compass, and a hundred
in length. It had anciently, according to Strabo, four
cities ; according to Scylax, only three. Ptolemy men¬
tions but one, which he calls Posidium. This island
is now called Scarpanto.
CARPiEA, a kind of dance anciently in use among
the Athenians and Magnesians, performed by two
persons, the one acting a labourer, the other a robber.
The labourer, laying by his arms, goes to ploughing
and sowing, still looking warily about him as if afraid
of being surprised : the robber at length appears ; and
the labourer, quitting his plough, betakes himself to
his arms, and fights in defence of his oxen. The
whole was performed to the sound of flutes, and in
cadence. Sometimes the robber was overcome and
sometimes the labourer } the victor’s reward being the
oxen and plough. The design of the exercise was to
teach and accustom the peasants to defend themselves
against the attacks of ruffians.
CxARPENTER, a person who practises Carpen¬
try. The word is formed from the French charpen-
tier, which signifies the same, formed of charpente,
which denotes timber; or rather from the Latin cor-
pentarius, a maker of carpenta, or carriages.
Carpenter of a Ship, an officer appointed to exa¬
mine and keep in order the frame of a ship, together
with her masts, yards, boats, and all other wooden
machinery. It is his duty in particular to keep the
ship tight; for which purpose he ought frequently to
review the decks and sides, and to caulk them when it
is necessary. In the time of battle, he is to examine
up and down, with all possible attention, in the lower
apartments of the ship, to stop any holes that may
have been made by shot, with wooden plugs provided
of several sizes.
91 ] CAR
CARPENTHAS, an episcopal town of France, in Carpentra*
the department of Vaucluse, and capital of Venaissin. II
It is subject to the pope ; and is seated on the river (‘arP'*
Auson, at the foot of a mountain. E. Long. 5. 6. ' ~v
N. Lat. 44. 4.
CARPENTRY, the art of cutting, framing, and
joining large pieces of wood, for the uses of building.
It is one of the arts subservient to architecture, and is
divided into house-carpentry and ship carpentry : the
first is employed in raising, roofing, flooring of houses,
&c. and the second in the building of ships f, barges, f See Ship.
&c. The rules in carpentry are much the same with building.
those of Joinery : only carpentry is used in the larger
and coarser work, and joinery in the smaller and curi¬
ous. See Centre, Roof, and Strength of Materials.
See also Carpentry, Supplement.
CARPENTUM, in Antiquity, a name common to
divers sorts of vehicles, answering to coaches as well
as waggons, or even carts, among us. The carpentum
was originally a kind of car or vehicle in which the
Roman ladies were carried ; though in after times it
was also used in war. Some derive the word from
carro ; others from Carmenta the mother of Evander,
by a conversion of the m into/?.
CARPET, a sort of covering of stuff, or other ma¬
terials, wrought with the needle or on a loom, which
is part of the furniture of a house, and commonly
spread over tables, or laid on the floor.
Persian and Turkey carpets are those most esteem¬
ed ; though at Paris there is a manufactory after the
manner of Persia, where they make them little inferior,
not to say finer, than the true Persian carpets. They
are velvety, and perfectly imitate the carpets which
come from the Levant. There are also carpets of
Germany, some of which are made of woollen stuff's,
as serges, &c. and called square carpets : others are
made of wool also, but wrought with the needle, and
pretty often embellished with silk ; and, lastly, there
are some made of dog’s hair. We have likewise car¬
pets made in Britain, which are used either as floor-
carpets, or to cover chairs, &c. It is true, we are not
arrived at the like perfection in this manufacture with
our neighbours the French; but may not this be owing
to the want of a like public encouragement P
CARPET-Knights, a denomination given to gown-men
and others, of peaceable professions, who, on account
of their birth, office, or merits to the public, or the
like, are, by the prince, raised to the dignity of knight¬
hood.
They take the appellation carpet, because they usual¬
ly receive their honours from the king’s hands in the
court, kneeling on a carpet. By which they are dis¬
tinguished from knights created in the camp, or field
of battle, on account of their military prowess. Car¬
pet knights possess a medium between those called
truck or dunghill knights, who only purchase or merit
the honour by their wealth, and knights-bachelors, who
are created for their services in the war.
CARPI, a principality of Modena in Italy, lying
about four leagues from that city. It formerly be¬
longed to the house of Pio ; the elder sons of which
bore the title of princes of St Gregory. In the be¬
ginning of the 14th century, Munfroy was the first
prince of Carpi; but in the 16th, the emperor Charles
Y. gave the principality to Alfonzo duke of Ferrara.
CAR [
This nobleman, in recompense, gave to Albert
to whom the principality of Carpi belonged ot right,
the town of Sassuola and some other lands. Albert
was, however, at last obliged to retire to Paris 5 where,
being stripped of all his estates, he died in 1338, with
the reputation of being one of the best and bravest men
of his age. The family of Pio is yet in being, and
continues attached to the French court. Some of
them have even been raised to the purple, and still make
a figure in Europe.
Carpi, a town of Italy in the duchy of Modena,
and capital of the last-mentioned principality. It has
a strong castle, and is situated in E. Long. 11. 12. N.
Lat. 44. 45.
Carpi, a town of the Veronese in Italy, memorable
for a victory gained by the Imperialists over the French
in 1701. It is subject to the Venetians 5 and is situ¬
ated on the river Adige, in E. Long. II. 39. N. Lat.
45. 10.
Carpi, Ugo da, an Italian painter, of no very con¬
siderable talents in that art, but remarkable lor be¬
ing the inventor of that species of engraving on wood,
distinguished by the name of chiaro-scuro, in imitation
of drawing. This is performed by using more blocks
than one; and Ugo da Carpi usually had three j the
first for the outline and dark shadows, the second for
the lighter shadows, and the third for the half tint. In
that manner he struck off prints after several designs,
and cartoons of Raphael; particularly one of the Sibyl,
a Descent from the Cross, and the History of Simon
the Sorcerer. He died in 1500. This art was brought
to a still higher degree of perfection by Balthazar Pe-
ruzzi of Siena, and Parmigiano, who published several
excellent designs in that manner.
Carpi, Girolamo da, history and portrait painter,
was born at Ferrara in 1501, and became a disciple of
Garofala. When he quitted that master, he devoted
his whole time, thoughts, and attention, to study the
works of Correggio, and to copy them with a most
critical care and observation : in which labour he spent
several years at Parma, Modena, and other cities of
Italy, where the best works of that exquisite painter
were preserved. He acquired such an excellence in
the imitation of Correggio’s style, and copying his
pictures, that many paintings finished by him were ta¬
ken for originals, and not only admired, but were ea¬
gerly purchased by the connoisseurs of that time. Nor
is it improbable that several of the paintings of Giro¬
lamo de Carpi pass at this day for the genuine work of
Correggio himself. He died in 1556.
CARPINUS, the Hornbeam. See Botany Index.
CARPOBALSAM, in the Materia Medico, the
fruit ot the tree which yields the true oriental balsam.
The carpobalsam is used in Egypt, according to Pros¬
per Alpinus, in all the intentions in which the balsam
itself is applied : but the only use the Europeans make
of it is in Venice treacle and mithridate : and in these
not a great deal, for cubebs and juniper-berries are ge¬
nerally substituted in its place.
CARPOCRA riANS, a branch of the ancient
Gnostics, so called from Carpocrates, who in the se¬
cond century revived and improved upon the errors
of Simon Magus, Menander, Saturinos, and other
Gnostics. He owned, with them, one sole principle
and father of all things, whose name as well as nature
192 ] CAR
Pio, was unknown. The word, he taught, was created by Carpoen.
angels, vastly inferior to the first principle. He op- tians
posed the divinity of Jesus Christ j making him a mere B
man, begotten carnally on the body of Mary by Jo-CarraTefo»
seph, though possessed of uncommon gifts which set '
him above other creatures. He inculcated a commu¬
nity of women j and taught, that the soul could not
be purified, till it had committed all kinds of abomi¬
nations, making that a necessary condition of perfec¬
tion.
CARPOLITI, or Fruit-stone Rocks of the
Germans, are composed of a kind of jasper, of the
nature of the amygdaloides, or almond-stones. ' Ber¬
trand asserts that the latter are those which appear
to be composed of elliptical pieces like petrified al¬
monds, though, in truth, they are only small oblong
pieces of calcareous stone rounded by attrition, and
sometimes small mussel-shells connected by a stony con¬
cretion. The name of Carpolithi, however, is given
in general by writers on fossils to all sorts of stony
concretions that have any resemblance to fruit of what¬
ever kind.
CARPUS, the Wrist. See Anatomy Index.
CARR, a kind of rolling throne, used in tri¬
umphs, and at the splendid entries of princes. See
Chariot.
The word is from the ancient Gaulish, or Celtic,
Carr ; mentioned by Caesar, in his Commentaries, un¬
der the name Carrus. Plutarch relates, that Camillus
having entered Rome in triumph, mounted on a carr
drawn by four white horses, it was looked on as too
haughty an innovation.
Carr is also used for a kind of light open chariot.
The carr, on medals, drawn either by horses, lions,
or elephants, usually signifies either a triumph or an
apotheosis : sometimes a procession of the images of
the gods at solemn supplication, and sometimes of
those of some illustrious family at a funeral. The carr
covered, and drawn by mules, only signifies a conse¬
cration, and the honour done any one of having his
image carried at the gates of the circus. See Conse¬
cration, &c.
CARRAC, or Carraca, a name given by the Por¬
tuguese to the vessels they send to Brasil and the East
Indies, being very large, round built, and fitted for
fight as well as burden. Their capacity lies in their
depth, which is very extraordinary. They are nar¬
rower above than underneath, and have sometimes
seven or eight floors j they carry about 2000 tons, and
are capable of lodging 2000 men j but of late they are
little used. Formerly they were also in use among
the knights ot Rhodes, as well as among the Ge¬
noese, and other Italians. It is a custom among the
Portuguese, when the carracs return from India, not
to bring any boat or sloop for the service of the ship
beyond the island of St Helena } at which place they
sink them on purpose, in order to take from the crew
all hopes or possibility of saving themselves, in case of
shipwreck.
CARRARA marble, among our artificers, the
name ot a species of white marble, which is called mar-
mor lunense, and ligastrium by the ancients ^ it is distin¬
guished from the Parian, now called the statuary mar¬
ble, by being harder and less bright.
CARRAV EIRA, a town of Turkey in Europe,
with
CAR [ 193 ] CAR
Cf ireira with a Greek archbishop’s see. E. Long. 22. 25. N.
| Lat. 40. 27.
C ick- CARRIAGE, a vehicle serving to convey persons,
I 6US- 4 goods, merchandises, and other things, from one place
' to another.
For the construction and mechanical principles of
wheel-carriages, see MECHANICS.
Carriage of a Cannon, the frame or timber-work on
which it is mounted, serving to point it for shooting,
or to carry it from one place to another. It is made of
two planks of wood, commonly of one-half the length
of the gun, called the cheeks, and joined by three
wooden transums, strengthened with three bolts of iron.
It is mounted on two wheels, but on a march has two
fore-wheels with limbers added. The principal parts
of a carriage are the cheeks, transum, bolts, plates,
trainbands, bridges, bed, hooks, trunnion holes, and
capsquare.
Block-CARRIAGE, a cart made on purpose for carry¬
ing mortars and their beds from place to place.
Truck-CARRiAGE, two short planks of wood, sup¬
ported on two axletrees, having four trucks of solid
wood for carrying mortars or guns upon battery, where
their own carriages cannot go. They are drawn by
men.
GARRICK, the southern division of the shire of
Ayr in Scotland. It borders on Galloway *, stretches
32 miles in length j and is a hilly country fit for pas¬
turage. The chief rivers are the Stinchar and Girvan,
both abounding with salmon. Here are also several
lakes and forests, and the people on the coast employ
themselves in the herring-fishery, though they have no
harbour of any consequence. The only towns of this
district are Girvan and Ballantrae $ the former at the
mouth of the river of the same name, and the latter at
the mouth of the Stinchar 5 and Maybole, an inland
town. The Prince of Wales, as Prince of Scotland, is
Earl of Garrick.
Carrick on the Sure, a town of Ireland, in the coun¬
ty of Tipperary and province of Munster. W. Long.
7. 14. N. Lat. 52. 16.
CARRiCK-Fergus, a town of Ireland, in the county
of Antrim and province of Ulster. It is a town and
county in itself, and sends one member to parliament.
It contains 3400 inhabitants j has a good harbour ; and
is governed by a mayor, recorder, and sheriffs.—It
has, however, been of far greater consequence than at
present, as appears from the mayor having been admiral
of a considerable extent of coast in the counties of
Down and Antrim, and the corporation enjoying the
customs paid by all vessels within these bounds, the
creeks of Belfast and Bangor excepted. This grant
was repurchased, and the customhouse transferred to
Belfast.—Here is the skeleton of a fine house built by
Lord Chichester in the reign of James I. an old Gothic
church with many family monuments, and a very large
old castle. The town was formerly walled round, and
some part of the wall still remains entire.—Carrick-
Fergus is seated on a bay of the same name in the Irish
Channel ; and is noted for being the landing place of
King William in 1690. Here also Thurot made a
descent in 1759, took possession of the castle, and
carried away hostages for the ransom of the town j but
being soon after pursued by Commodore Elliot, his
three ships were taken, and he himself was killed.
Vol. V. Part I. I
CARRIER, is a person that carries goods for others Carrier,
for hire. A common carrier, having the charge and Oarrier-
carriage of goods, is to answer for the same, or the Pigeon. ^
value, to the owner. And where goods are deli- ’
vered to a carrier, and he is robbed of them, he shall
be charged and answer for them, because of the
hire. If a common carrier, who is oft’ered his hire,
and who has convenience, refuses to carry goods, he
is liable to an action, in the same manner as an inn¬
keeper who refuses to entertain a guest. See As¬
sumpsit.
One brought a box to a carrier, with a large sum of Jacob's
money, and the carrier demanded of the owner what ^aw D**'
was in it; he answered, that it was filled with silks,
and such like goods ; upon which the carrier took it,
and was robbed, and adjudged to make it good ; but
a special acceptance, as, provided there is no charge of
money, would have excused the carrier.—A person de¬
livered to a carrier’s book-keeper two bags of money
sealed up, to be carried from London to Exeter, and
told him that it was 200I. and took his receipt for
the same, with promise of delivery for 10s. per cent,
carriage and risk j though it be proved that there was
400I. in the bags, if the carrier be robbed, he shall
answer only for 200I. because there was a particular
undertaking for that sum and no more ; and his reward,
which makes him answerable, extends no farther. If a
common carrier loses goods which he is intrusted to
carry, a special action on the case lies against him, on
the custom of the realm, and not trover ; and so of a
common carrier by boat. An action will lie against a
porter, carrier, or barge-man, upon his bare receipt of
the goods, if they are lost through negligence. Also
a lighter-man spoiling goods he is to carry, by letting
water come to them, action of the case lies against him,
on the common custom.
CARRIER-Figeon, or Courier-pigeon, a sort of pigeon
used, when properly trained, to be sent with letters
from one place to another. See Columba.
Though you carry these birds hood- winked, 20, 30,
nay, 60 or 100 miles, they will find their way in a very
little time to the place where they were bred. They
are trained to this service in Turkey and Persia *, and
are carried first, while young, short flights of half a
mile, afterwards more, till at length they will return
from the farthest part of the kingdom. Every bashaw
has a basket of these pigeons bred in the seraglio,
which, upon any emergent occasion, as an insurrection,
or the like, he dispatches, with letters braced under
the wings, to the seraglio ; which proves a more speedy
method, as well as a more safe one, than any other j
he sends out more than one pigeon, however, for fear
of accidents. Lithgow assures us, that one of these
birds will carry a letter from Babylon to Aleppo, which
is 30 days journey, in 48 hours. This is also a very
ancient practice, Hirtius and Brutus, at the siege of
Modena, held a correspondence with one another by
means of pigeons. And Ovid tells ns, that rlauros-
thenes, by a-pigeon stained with purple, gave notice to
his father of his victory at the Olympic games, sending
it to him at iEgina.
In modern times, the most noted were the pigeons of
Aleppo, which served as couriers at Alexandretta and
Bagdad. But this use of them has been laid aside for
the last 30 or 40 years, because the Curd robbers
B b killed
C'arricr-
Pi^eor,
Canon.
* See A/i-
toninus's
Walt.
C A K [i
killed the pigeons. The manner of sending advice by
them was this : they took pairs which had young ones,
and carried them on horseback to the place from whence
they wished them to return, taking care to let them
have a full view. When the news arrived, the cor¬
respondent tied a billet to the pigeon’s foot, and let
her loose. The bird, impatient to see its young, flew
off like lightning, and arrived at Aleppo in ten hours
from Alexandretta, and in two days from Bagdad. It
was not difficult for them to find their way back, since
Aleppo may be discovered at an immense distance.
This pigeon has nothing peculiar in its form, except its
nostrils, which, instead of being smooth and even, are
swelled and rough.
CARBON, a small but remarkable river in Scot¬
land, rising about the middle of the isthmus between
the friths of Forth and Clyde. Both its source, and
the place where it emptieth itself into the sea, are
within the shire of Stirling, which it divides into two
nearly equal parts. The whole length of its course,
which is from west to east, is not above 14 miles.
It falls into the frith of Forth about three miles to the
north-east of Falkirk. The stream thereof is but
small, and scarcely deserves the notice of a traveller 5
yet there is no river in Scotland, and few in the
whole island of Britain, whose banks have been the
scene of so many memorable transactions. When the
Roman empire was in all its glory, and had its eastern
frontiers upon the Euphrates, the banks of Carron
were its boundaries upon the north-west; for the
wall of Antoninus *, which was raised to mark the
limits of that mighty empire, stood in the neighbour¬
hood of this river, and ran parallel to it for several
miles.
Near the middle of its course, in a pleasant valley,
stand two beautiful mounts, called the Hills of Duni-
pace, which are taken notice of by most of the Scot-
ish historians as monuments of great antiquity. The
whole structure of these mounts is of earth ; but they
are not both of the same form and dimensions. The
most easterly one is perfectly round, resembling an
oven, and about fifty feet in height; and that this is
an artificial work does not admit of the least doubt;
but we cannot affirm the same, with equal certainty,
of the other, though it has been generally supposed
to be so too. It bears no resemblance to the eastern
one either in. shape or size. At the foundation it is
nearly of a triangular form; but the superstructure is
quite irregular ; nor does the height thereof bear any
proportion to the extent of its base. These mounts
are now planted with firs, which, with the parish-
church of Dunipace standing in the middle between
them, and the river running hard by, give this valley
a. very romantic appearance. The common account
given of those mounts is, that they were erected as
monuments of a peace concluded in that place be¬
tween the Romans and the Caledonians, and that their
name partakes of the language of both people ; Dun
signifying a hill in the old language of this island, and
Pax “ peace,” in the language of Rome. The com¬
pound word, Dunipace, signifies “ the hills of peace.”
And we find in history, that no less than three treaties
of peace were at different periods entered into between
the Romans and Caledonians; the first by Severus
about the year 210; the second soon after, by his son
94 ] CAR
Caracalla ; and the third, by the usurper Carausius
about the year 280; but of which of these treaties'
Dunipace is a monument, we do not pretend to deter¬
mine. If the concurring testimony of historians and
antiquaries did not agree in giving this original to
these mounts, we would be tempted to conjecture that
they are sepulchral monuments. Human bones and
urns have been discovered in earthen fabrics of this
kind in many parts of this island, and the little mounts
or barrows which are scattered in great numbers about
Stonhenge in Salisbury plain are generally supposed to
have been the sepulchres of the ancient Britons. See
Barrows.
From the valley of Dunipace, the river runs for
some time in a deep and hollow channel, with steep
banks on both sides ; here it passes by the foundations
of the ancient Roman bridge; not far from which,
as is generally thought, was the scene of the memo¬
rable conference betwixt the Scotish patriot William
Wall ace and Robert Bruce, father to the king of that
name, which first opened the eyes of the latter to a
just view both of his own true interest and that of his
country'.
After the river has left the village and bridge of
Larbert, it soon comes up to another smaller valley,
through the midst of which it has now Avorn out to
itself a straight channel, whereas, in former ages,
it had taken a considerable compass, as appears by
the track of the old bed which is still visible. The
high and circling banks upon the south side give to
this valley the appearance of a spacious bay; and,
according to the tradition of the country, there was
once an harbour here; nor does the tradition seem
altogether groundless, pieces of broken anchors having
been found here, and some of them within the me¬
mory of people yet alive. The stream tides would
still flow near the place, if they were not kept back
by the dam-head built across the river at Stenhouse;
and there is reason to believe, that the frith flowed
considerably higher in former ages than it does at
present. In the near neighbourhood of this valley,
upon the south, stand the ruins of ancient Camelon :
Avhich, after it was abandoned by the Romans, Avas
probably inhabited, for some ages, by the natives of the
country.
Another ancient monument, called Arthur's Oven,
once stood upon the banks of the Carron : but Avas, Avith
a spirit truly Gothic, entirely demolished about 40
years ago. The corner of a small inclosure betAveen
Stenhouse and the Carron iron-Avorks, is pointed out
as the place of its situation. This is generally sup¬
posed to have been a Roman work : though it is not
easy to conceNe what could be their motive for erect¬
ing such a fabric, at so great a distance from any other
of their Avorks, and in a spot Avhich at that time must
have been very remote and unfrequented. The form
of it is said to have been perfectly round, and rising
perpendicular for some yards at first, but aftervvards
gradually contracted, till it terminated in a narrow ori¬
fice at the top. Antiquaries are not agreed whether
it had been a temple, or a trophy, ora mausoleum ; but
the most common opinion is, that it had been a temple,
and Buchanan thinks, a temple of Terminus. Hector
Boetius says, that there AATere benches of stone all around
it upon the inside; and that there had been a large
stone
Carron.
CAR [ 195 ] CAR
^ ron stone for sacrificing upon, or an altar, upon the south
( fou- side.
1 rks. As the Carron extends over the half of the isthmus,
and runs so near the ancient boundaries of the Ro¬
man empire, the adjacent country fell naturally to
be the scene of many battles and rencounters. His¬
torians mention a bloody battle fought near the river
between the Romans and the confederate army of the
Scots and Piets in the beginning of the 5th century.
The scenes of some of Ossian’s poems were, in the opi¬
nion of the translator, upon the banks of this river.
Here Fingal fought with Caracal, the son of the king
of the world, supposed to have been the same with
Caracalla, the son of the Roman emperor Severus.
Here also young Oscar, the son of Ossian, performed
some of his heroic exploits. Hereabout was the
stream of Crona, celebrated in the ancient composi¬
tions of the Gaelic bard ; possibly that now called
the water of Bonny, which runs in the neighbour¬
hood of the Roman wall, and dischargeth itself into
the Carron at Dunipace. In those poems, mention is
made of a green vale upon the banks of this river,
with a tomb standing in the middle of it, where
young Oscar’s party and the warriors of Caros met.
We only take notice of this as it strengthens the
conjecture hazarded above, that the mounts of Du¬
nipace, especially the more easterly of them, were se¬
pulchral monuments.—About the distance of half a
mile from the river, and near the town of Falkirk,
lies the field of that battle which was fought by Wil¬
liam Wallace and the English in the beginning of the
14th century. It goes by the name of Graham's muir^
from the valiant John Graham, who fell there, and
whose grave-stone is still to be seen in the church-yard
of Falkirk.
The river Carron, though it has long since ceased
to roll its stream amidst the din of arms, still preserves
its fame, by lending its aid to trade and manufactures 5
(see the next article.)—The river is navigable for some
miles near its mouth, and a considerable trade is carried
on upon it by small craft} for the convenience of which,
its channel has of late years been straightened and
*! the much shortened, and the great Canal * has its entrance
C ^rom
CARRON-Works, a large iron-foundery, two miles
north from Falkirk in Scotland. They are conveni¬
ently situated on the banks of the Carron, three miles
above its entry into the frith of Forth. Above 100
acres of land have been converted into reservoirs and
pools, for water diverted from the river, by magnifi¬
cent dams built above two miles above the works, which
after turning 18 large wheels for the several purposes
of the manufacture, falls into a tide-navigation that
conveys their castings to the sea.
These works are among the greatest of the kind in
Europe, and were established in 1760. At present,
the buildings are of vast extent} and the machinery,
constructed by Mr Smeaton, is the first in Britain,
both in elegance and correctness : there are 2000 men
employed, and there are about twenty furnaces which
consume 200 tons of coals a-week } 6500 tons of iron
are smelted annually from the mineral with pit-coal,
and cast into cannon, cylinders, See.—In the found¬
ing of cannon, those works have lately arrived at
such perfection, that they make above 5000 pieces a
year, many of which are exported to foreign states} Curron-
and their guns of new construction are the lightest and Works
neatest now in use, not excepting brass guns } the 32 II
pounder ship-gun weighing 42 hundred weight, the 6 amicate
pounder 8 hundred-weight and one-half, and the other
calibers in proportion.
The present proprietors are a chartered company,
with a capital of 150,000!. sterling, a common seal,
&c. but their stock is confined to a very few indivi¬
duals.
CARRONADE, a short kind of ordnance, capable
of carrying a large ball, and useful in close engage¬
ments at sea. It takes its name from Carron, the place
where this sort of ordnance was first made, or the prin¬
ciple applied to an improved construction. See the
article Gunnery.
CARROT. See Daucus, Botany Index.
Deadly Carrot. See Thapsia, Botany Index.
CARROUSAL, a course of horses and chariots,
or a magnificent entertainment exhibited by princes
on some public rejoicing. It consists in a cavalcade of
several gentlemen, richly dressed and equipped after
the manner of ancient cavaliers, divided into squa¬
drons, meeting in some public place, and practising
justs, tournaments, See.—The last carrousals were in
the reign of Louis XIV.—The word comes from the
Italian word carosello, a diminutive of carro, “ chariot.”
Tertullian ascribes the invention of carrousals to Circe }
and will have them instituted in honour of the Sun, her
father; whence some derive the word from carrus, or
carrus solis. The Moors introduced ciphers, liveries,
and other ornaments of their arms, with trappings, &c.
for their horses. The Goths added crests, plumes, &c.
CARRUCA, in Antiquity, a splendid kind of carr, or
chariot, mounted on four wheels, richly decorated with
gold, silver, ivory, See. in which the emperors, senators,
and people of condition, were carried. The word comes
from the Latin carrus, or British carr, which is still the
Irish name for any wheel-carriage.
Carruca, or Caruca, is also used in middle-age
writers for a plough.
Carruca, or Caruca, also was sometimes used for
carrucata. See Carrucate.
CARRUCAGE {carucagiuin), a kind of tax an¬
ciently imposed on every plough, for the public service,
See Carrucate and Hidage.
Carrucage, Carucage, or Carnage, in husbandry,
denotes the ploughing of ground, either ordinary, as for
grain, hemp, and flax } or extraordinary, as for woad,
dyers weed, rape, and the like.
CARRUCATE, {carrucata'), in our ancient laws
and history, denotes a plough land, or as much arable
ground as can be tilled in one year with one plough.
In Doomsday Inquisition, the arable land is estima¬
ted in carrucates, the pasture in hides, and meadow in
acres. Skene makes the carrucata the same with hilda,
or hida terree ; Littleton the same with soc.
The measure of a carrucate appears to have differed
in respect of place as well as time. In the reign of
Richard I. it was estimated at 60 acres, and in another
charter of the same reign at 100 acres: in the time of
Edward I. at 180 acres } and in the 23d of Edward
III. a carrucate of land in Burcester contained 112
acres, and in Middleton 150 acres.
By a statute under William III. for charging per-
B b 2 sons
CAR [ 196 ] CAR
€amvcatc s01^8 to tlie repair of the highways, a plough-land is
U rated at fifty pounds per annum, and may contain
Carstaus. houses, mills, wood, pasture, &c.
v CARKYING, in falconry, signifies a hawk’s flying
away with the quarry. Carrying is one of the ill quali¬
ties of a hawk, which she acquires either by dislike of
the falconer, or not being sufficiently broke to the lure.
Cakrying, among huntsmen. When a hare runs
en rotten ground (or even sometimes in a frost), and
it sticks to her feet, they say she carries.
Carrying, among riding-masters. A horse is said
to carry low, when having naturally an ill-shaped neck,
he lowers his head too much. All horses that arm
themselves carry low, but a horse may carry low with¬
out arming. A French branch or gigot is prescribed
as a remedy against carrying low.
A horse is said to carry well, when his neck is raised
or arched, and he holds his head high and firm, with¬
out constraint.
Carrying Windy a term used by our dealers in
horses to express such a one as frequently tosses his nose
as high as his ears, and does not carry handsomely.
This is called carrying wind; and the difference be¬
tween carrying in the wind, and beating upon the
hand, is this : that the horse who beats upon the hand,
shakes the bridle and resists it, while he shakes his
head ; but the horse that carries in the wind puts up his
head without shaking, and sometimes beats upon the
hand. The opposite to carrying in the wind, is arm¬
ing and carrying low : and even between these two
there is a difference in wind.
CARS, or Kars, a considerable and strong town of
Asia, in Armenia, seated on a river of the same name,
with a castle almost impregnable. E. Long. 43. 50.
N. Lat. 41. 30.
CARSE, or Corse of Cowry, a district of Perthshire
in Scotland. It lies on the north side of the Tay, and
extends 14 miles in length from Dundee to Perth, and
is from two to four in breadth. It is a rich plain
country, cultivated like a garden, and producing as
good harvests of wheat as any in Great Britain. It
abounds with all the necessaries of life : but, from its
low damp situation, the inhabitants are subject to agues,
and the commonalty are in great want of firing. In
this district, not far from the Tay, stands the house of
Errol, which formerly belonged to the earls of that
name, the chiefs of the ancient family of Hay, heredi¬
tary constables of Scotland.
CARSTAIRS, William, an eminent Scots divine,
whose merit and good fortune called him to act in
great scenes, and to associate with men to whose so¬
ciety and intercourse his birth gave him few preten¬
sions to aspire. A small village in the neighbourhood
of Glasgow was the place of his nativity. His father,
of whom little is known, exercised the functions of a
clergyman.
Young Carstairs turned his thoughts to the profes¬
sion of theology} and the persecutions and oppres¬
sions of government, both in regard to civil and reli¬
gious liberty, having excited his strongest indignation,
it became a matter of prudence that he should prose¬
cute his studies in a foreign university. He went ac¬
cordingly to Utrecht; and his industry and attention
being directed with skill, opened up and unfolded, those
faculties which he was about to employ with equal ho¬
nour to his country and himself.
During his residence abroad, he became acquainted
with Pensionary Fagel, and entered with warmth into
the interest of the Prince of Orange. On his return
to Scotland to produce a licence to teach doctrines
which he had studied with the greatest care, he be¬
came disgusted with the proud and insolent conduct of
Archbishop Sharp, and prepared to revisit Holland j
where he knew that religious liberty was respected, and
where he hoped he might better his condition by the
connections he had formed.
His expectations were not vain. His prudence, his
reserve, and his political address, were strong recom¬
mendations of him to the Prince of Orange ; and he
was employed in personal negotiations in Holland,
England, and Scotland. Upon the elevation of his
master to the English throne, he was appointed the
king’s chaplain for Scotland, and employed in settling
the affairs of that kingdom. William, who carried
politics into religion, was solicitous that episcopacy
should prevail there as universally as in England.
Carstairs, more versant in the affairs of his native
country, saw all the impropriety of this project, and the
danger that would arise from the enforcing of it. His
reasonings, his remonstrances, his entreaties, overcame
the firmness of King William. He yielded to con¬
siderations founded alike in policy and in prudence j
and to Carstairs Scotland is indebted for the full
establishment of its church in the Presbyterian form of
government.
The death of King William was a severe affliction
to him j and it happened before the prince had pro¬
vided for him with the liberality he deserved. He
was continued, however, in the office of chaplain for
Scotland by Queen Anne ; and he was invited to ac¬
cept the principality of the university of Edinburgh.
He was one of the ministers of the city, and four times
moderator of the General Assembly. Placed at the
head of the church, he prosecuted its interest with
zeal and with integrity. Nor were his influence and
activity confined to matters of religion. They were
exerted with success in promoting the culture of the
arts and sciences. The universities of Scotland owe
him obligations of the highest kind. He procured, in
particular, an augmentation of the salaries of their
professors $ a circumstance to which may be ascribed
their reputation, as it enabled them to cultivate with
spirit the different branches of knowledge.
A zeal for truth, a love of moderation and order,
prudence, and humility, distinguished Principal Car¬
stairs in an uncommon degree. His religion had no
mixture of austerity j his secular transactions were at¬
tended with no imputation of artifice $ and the versa¬
tility of his talents made him pass with ease from a
court to a college. He was among the last who suf¬
fered torture before the privy council, in order to make
him divulge the secrets entrusted to him, which he
firmly resisted $ and after the Revolution, that inhu¬
man instrument the thumb-screw was given to him
in a present by the council.—-This excellent person
died in 1715 i and in 1744 his State papers and Letters,
with an account of his life, were published in one vol.
4to. by the Rev. Dr M‘Cormick.
CARSUCAI^
CAR - [ 197 ] CAR
lcftj CARSUCAI, Rainier, a Jesuit, born at Citerna
in Tuscany, in 1647, was the author of a Latin poem,
ie- entitled Ars bene scribendi, which is esteemed both for
the elegance of the style and for the excellent precepts
it contains. He also wrote some good epigrams. He
died in 1709.
CARTAMA, a town of Spain in the kingdom of
Grenada, formerly very considerable. It is seated at
the foot of a mountain, near the river Guadala-Medina,
in W. Long. 4. 28. N. Lat. 36. 40.
CART, a land carriage with two wheels, drawn
commonly by horses, to carry heavy goods, &c. from
once place to another. The word seems formed from
the French charrette, which signifies the same, or
rather the Latin carreta, a diminutive of corrus. See
Carr.
In London and Westminster carts shall not carry
more than twelve sacks of meal, seven hundred and
fifty bricks, one chaldron of coals, &c. on pain of for¬
feiting one of the horses. (6 Geo. I. cap. 6.) By the
laws of the city, carr-men are forbidden to ride either on
their carts or horses. They are to lead or drive them
on foot through the streets, on the forfeiture of ten
shillings. (Stat. 1. Geo. I. cap. 57.) Criminals used
to be drawn to execution on a cart. Bawds and other
malefactors are whipped at the cart’s tail.
Scripture makes mention of a sort of carts or drags
used by the Jews to do the office of threshing. They
were supported on low thick wheels, bound with iron,
which were rolled up and—down on the sheaves, to
break them, and force out the corn. Something of
the like kind also obtained among the Romans, under
the denomination of plaustra, of which Virgil makes
mention. (Georg. I.)
Tardaque Eleusince matris volvenlia plaustra^
Tribulaque, traheceque. 
On which Servius observes, that trahea denotes a cart
without wheels, and tribula a sort of cart armed on all
sides with teeth, chiefly used in Africa for threshing
corn. The Septuagint and St Jerome represent these
carts as furnished with saws, insomuch that their surface
was beset with teeth. David having taken Rabbah,
the capital of the Ammonites, ordered all the inhabi¬
tants to be crushed to pieces under such carts, moving
on wheels set with iron teeth ; and the king of Damas¬
cus is said to have treated the Israelites of the land of
Gilead in the same manner.
CART-BotC) in Law, signifies wood to be employed
in making and repairing instruments of husbandry.
Carts of War, a peculiar kind of artillery anciently
in use among the Scots. They are thus described in
an act of parliament, A. D. 1456 : “ It is thought
speidfull, that the king may requiest to certain of the
great burrous of the land that are of ony myght, to
mak carts of weir, and in ilk cart two gunnis, and ilk
ane to have two chalmers, with the remnant of the
graith that effeirs thereto, and an cunnand man to
shut thame.” By another act, A. D. Pre-
fates and barons are commanded to provide such carts
of war against their old enemies the English.
CARTE, Thomas, the historian, was the son of
Mr Samuel Carte, prebendary of Lichfield, and born
in 1686. When he was reader in the abbey-church
at Bath, he took occasion in a 30th of January ser¬
mon, 1714, to vindicate Charles I. with respect to Carte
the Irish massacre, which drew him into a controver- 11 .
sy with Mr Chandler the dissenting minister j and on
the accession of the present royal family he refused
to take the oaths to government, and put on a lay
habit. He is said to have acted as a kind of secreta¬
ry to Bishop Atterbury before his troubles : and in
the year 1722, being accused of high treason, a re¬
ward of 1000I. was offered for apprehending him :
but Queen Caroline, the great patroness of learned
men, obtained leave for him to return home in secu¬
rity". He published, I. An edition of Thuanus, in
seven volumes, folio. 2. The life of the first duke
of Ormond, three volumes, folio. 3. The History of
England, four volumes, folio. 4. A Collection of Origi¬
nal Letters and Papers concerning the affairs of Eng¬
land, two volumes octavo j and some other works.
He died in April 1754. His History of England ends
in 1654. His design was to have brought it down
to the Revolution j for which purpose he had taken
great pains in copying every thing valuable that could
be met with in England, Scotland, France, Ireland,
&c.-—-He had (as he himself says, p. 43. of his Vindi¬
cation of a full answer to a letter from a bystander),,
“ read abundance of collections relating to the time of
King Charles II. and had in his power a series of me¬
moirs from the beginning to the end of that reign, in
which all those intrigues and turns at court, at the
latter end of that king’s life, which Bishop Burnet,
with all his gout for tales of secret history, and all his
genius for conjectures, does not pretend to account for,
are laid open in the clearest and most convincing man¬
ner by the person who was most affected by them,
and had the best reason to know them.”—At his
death, all his papers came into the hands of his widow,
who afterwards married Mr Jernegan, a member of the
church of Rome. They are now deposited in the Bod¬
leian library, having been delivered by Mr Jernegan to
the university, 1778, for a valuable consideration. Whilst
they were in this gentleman’s possession, the earl of
Hardwick paid 200I. for the perusal of them. For a
consideration of 300I. Mr Macpherson had the use of
them j and from these and other materials, compiled
his history and state papers. Mr Carte was a man of
a strong constitution and indefatigable application.
When the studies of the day were over, he would eat
heartily} and in conversation was cheerful and enter¬
taining.
Carte Blanche, a sort of white paper signed at
the bottom with a person’s name, and sometimes also
sealed with his seal, giving another person power to
superscribe what conditions he pleases. Much like
this is the French blanc sjgne,, a paper without writ¬
ing, except a signature at the bottom, given by con¬
tending parties to arbitrators or friends, to fill up with
the conditions they judge reasonable, in order to end
the difference.
CARTEL, an agreement between two states for
the exchange of their prisoners of war.
Cartel signifies also a letter of defiance or a chal¬
lenge to decide a controversy either in a tournament or
in a single combat. See Duel.
Cartel Ship, a ship commissioned in time of war to
exchange the prisoners of any two hostile powers} also
to carry any particular request or proposal from one to
another::
CAR [ 198 ] CAR
Cartel Ship, another : for this reason the officer who commands
Cartes, her is particularly ordered to carry no cargo, ammuni-
' * tion, or implements of war, except a single gun for the
purpose of firing signals.
CARTES, Rene DES, descended of an ancient
family in Touraine in France, was one of the most
eminent philosophers and mathematicians in the 17th
century. At the Jesuits College at La Fleche, he
made a eery great progress in the learned languages
and polite literature, and became acquainted with
Father Marsenne. His father designed him for the
army j but his tender constitution then not permitting
him to expose himself to such fatigues, he was sent
to Paris, where he launched into gaming, in which he
had prodigious success. Here Marsenne persuaded
him to return to study ; which he pursued till he went
to Holland, in May 1616, where he engaged as a vo¬
lunteer among the Prince of Orange’s troops. While
he lay in garrison at Breda, he wrote a treatise on music,
and laid the foundation of several of his works. He
was at the siege of Rochelle in 1628 ; returned to
Paris j and, a few days after his return, at an assembly
of men of learning in the house of Monsignor Bagni,
the pope’s nuncio, was prevailed upon to explain his
sentiments with regard to philosophy, when the nuncio
urged him to publish his system. Upon this he went
to Amsterdam, and from thence to Franeker, where
he began bis metaphysical meditations, and drew up his
discourse onmetcors. He made a short tour to England j
and not far from London, made some observations con¬
cerning the declination of the magnet. He returned to
Holland, where finished his treatise on the world.
His books made a great noise in France ; and Hol¬
land thought of nothing but discarding the old philoso¬
phy, and following his. Voetius being chosen rector
of the university of Utrecht, procured his philosophy
to be prohibited, and wrote against him j but he im¬
mediately published a vindication of himself. In
1647, he took a journey into France, where the king
settled a pension of 3000 livres upon him. Christina,
queen of Sweden, having invited him into that king¬
dom, he went thither, where he was received with the
greatest civility by her majesty, who engaged him to
attend her every morning at five o’clock, to instruct
her in philosophy, and desired him to revise and digest
all his writings which were unpublished, and to form a
complete body of philosophy from them. She like¬
wise proposed to allow him a revenue, and to form an
academy, of which he was to be the director. But
these designs were broken off by his death in 1650.
His body was interred at Stockholm, and 17 years af¬
terwards removed to Paris, where a magnificent monu¬
ment was erected to him in the church of St Gene-
vive du Mont. The great Dr Halley, in a paper
concerning optics observes, that though some of the
ancients mention refraction as an effect of transpa¬
rent mediums, Des Cartes was the first who discovered
the laws of refraction, and reduced dioptrics to a sci¬
ence. As to his philosophy, Dr Keill, in his introduc¬
tion to his examination of Dr Burnet’s theory of the
earth, says, that Des Cartes was so far from applying
geometry to natural philosophy, that his whole system
is one continued blunder on account of his negligence
in that point; the laws observed by the planets in their
revolutions round the sun not agreeing with bis theory
2
Cartel
of vortices. His philosophy has accordingly given way
to the more acurate discoveries and demonstrations of
the Newtonian system. Cartba;,
CARTESIANS, a sect of philosophers, who ad-
hered to the system of Des Cartes, founded on the
two following principles, the one metaphysical, the
other physical. The metaphysical one is, I think, there-
fot'e I am ; the physical principle is, that nothing exists
hut substance. Substances he makes of two kinds; the
one a substance that thinks, the other a substance ex¬
tended j whence actual thought, and actual extension,
are the essence of substance.
The essence of matter being thus fixed in extension,
the Cartesians conclude that there is no vacuum nor
any possibility thereof in nature ; but that the universe
is absolutely full: mere space is excluded by this prin¬
ciple ; because extension being implied in the idea of
space, matter is so too. Upon these principles the
Cartesians explained mechanically how the world was
formed, and how the present celestial phenomena came
to take place. See Astronomy Index.
CARTHAGE, a famed city of antiquity, the capi¬
tal of Africa Propria5 and which for many years
disputed with Rome the sovereignty of the world.
According to Velleius Paterculus, this city was built
65, according to Justin and Trogus 72, according to founded,
others 100 or 140 years, before the foundations of
Rome were laid. It is on all hands agreed that the
Phoenicians were the founders.
The beginning of the Carthaginian history, like
that of all other nations, is obscure and uncertain. In *
the 7th year of Pygmalion king of Tyre, his sisterEljtaor
Elisa, or Dido, is said to have fled, with some of herDuiosefri
companions and vassals, from the cruelty and avarice her bro-
of her brother, who had put to death her husband Si-ther.
chseus in order to get possession of his wealth.
She first touched at the island of Cyprus, where she
met with a priest of Jupiter, who was desirous of
attending her 5 to which she readily consented, and
fixed the priesthood in his family. At that time it
was a custom in the island of Cyprus, for the young
women to go on certain stated days, before marriage,
to the sea side, there to look for strangers, that might
possibly arrive on their coasts, in order to prostitute
themselves for gain, that they might thereby acquire a
dowry. Out of these the Tyrians selected 80, whom
they carried along with them. From Cyprus they
sailed directly for the coast of Africa : and at last
safely landed in the province called Africa Propria, not
far from Utica, a Phoenician city of great antiquity.
The inhabitants received their countrymen with great
demonstrations of joy, and invited them to settle among
them. The common fable is, that the Phoenicians
imposed upon the Africans in the following manner :
They desired, for their intended settlement, only as
much ground as an ox’s hide would encompass. This
request the Africans laughed at: but were surprised,
when, upon their granting it, they saw Elisha cut the
hide into the smallest shreds, by which means it sur¬
rounded a large territory ; in which she built the cita¬
del called Byrsa. The learned, however, are now un*B -jj, ti
animous in exploding this fable : and it is certain that^d
the Carthaginians for many years paid an annual tribute epa.
to the Africans for the ground they possessed.
I he new city soon became populous and flourishing,
by
Cai aare.
CAR [ 199 J CAR
Africans, who Carthage ; that they were very well acquainted with Carthage.
the coasts of Italy, and had made some attempts up- y——'
on them before this time : and that, even at this early
period, a spirit of jealousy had taken place between
the two republics. Some time near this period, the
Carthaginians had a mind to discontinue the tribute
they had hitherto paid the Africans for the ground on
which their city stood. But, notwithstanding all their
power, they were at present unsuccessful j and at
last were obliged to conclude a peace, one of the ar¬
ticles of which was, that the tribute should be con¬
tinued. 7
She 11s
her f.
Spa li
mir of
vas irvice
to t Car.
tha ians.
F>r reaty
bet en
Cai lge
*nc ome.
by the accession of the neighbouring
came thither at first with a view of traffic. In a short
time it became so considerable, that Jarbas, a neigh¬
bouring prince, thought of making himself master of
it without any effusion of blood. In order to this, he
desired that an embassy of ten of the most noble Car¬
thaginians might be sent him 5 and, upon their arrival,
proposed to them a marriage with Dido, threatening
war in case of a refusal. The ambassadors, being
afraid to deliver this message, told the queen that
Jarbas desired some person might be sent him who
wras capable of civilizing his Africans j but that there
was no possibility of finding any of her subjects who
would leave his relations for the conversation of such
barbarians. For this they were reprimanded by the
queen : who told them that they ought to be ashamed
of refusing to live in any manner for the benefit of
their country. Upon this, they informed her of the
true nature of their message from Jarhas : and that, ac¬
cording to her own decision, she ought to sacrifice her¬
self for the good of her country. The unhappy queen,
rather than submit to he the wife of such a bar¬
barian, caused a funeral pile to be erected, and put an
end to her life with a dagger.
This is Justin’s account of the death of Queen Di¬
do, and is the most probable j Virgil’s story of her
amour with AEneas being looked upon as fabulous,
even in the days of Macrohius, as we are informed by
that historian. How long monarchical government
continued in Carthage, or what happened to this state
in its infancy, we are altogether ignorant, by reason
of the Punic archives being destroyed by the Romans 5
so that there is a chasm in the Carthaginian history
for above 300 years. It however appears, that from
the very beginning the Carthaginians applied them¬
selves to maritime affairs, and were formidable by sea
in the time of Cyrus and Cambyses. From Diodorus
Siculus and Justin, it appears that the principal sup¬
port of the Carthaginians were the mines of Spain, in
which country they seem to have established themselves
very early. By means of the riches drawn from these
mines, they were enabled to equip such formidable
fleets as we are told they fitted out in the time of
Cyrus or Cambyses. Justin insinuates, that the first
Carthaginian settlement in Spain happened when the
city of Gades, now Cadiz, was but of late standing, or
even its infancy. The Spaniards finding this new
colony begin to flourish, attacked it with a numerous
army, insomuch that the inhabitants were obliged to call
in the Carthaginians to their aid. The latter very readily
granted their request, and not only repulsed the Spa¬
niards, but made themselves masters of almost the whole
province in which their new city stood. By this suc¬
cess, they were, encouraged to attempt the conquest of
the whole country : but having to do with very war¬
like nations, they could not push their conquests to
any great length at first ; and it appears, from the ac¬
counts of Livy and Polybius, that the greatest part of
Spain remained unsubdued till the time of Hamilcar,
Asdrubal, and Hannibal.
About 503 years before the birth of Christ, the
Carthaginians entered into a treaty with the Romans.
It related chiefly to matters of navigation and com¬
merce. From it we learn that the whole island of
Sardinia, and part of Sicily, were then subject to
By degrees the Carthaginians extended their power Sicily inva-
over all the islands in the Mediterranean, Sicily ex- ^
cepted j and for the entire conquest of this, they made Vans
vast preparations, about 480 years before Christ. Their
army consisted of 300,000 men ; their fleet was com¬
posed of upwards of 2000 men of war, and 3000 trans¬
ports j and with such an immense armament, they
made no doubt of conquering the whole island in a
single campaign. In this, however, they found them¬
selves miserably deceived. Hamilcar their general
having landed his numerous forces, invested Himera,
a city of considerable importance. He carried on his
attacks with the greatest assiduity 5 but was at last
attacked in his trenches by Gelou and Theron, the
tyrants of Syracuse and Agrigentum, who gave the
Carthaginians one of the greatest overthrows mention- ^ 8
ed in history. An hundred and fifty thousand werear*e
killed in the battle and pursuit, and all the rest taken stroje(j.-
prisoners ; so that of so mighty an army not a single
person escaped. Of the 2000 ships of war and 3000
transports, of which the Carthaginian fleet consisted,
eight ships only, which then happened to be out at
sea, made their escape : these immediately set sail for
Carthage j but were all cast away, and every soul
perished, except a few who were saved in a small boat,
and at last reached Carthage with the dismal news of
the total loss of the fleet and army. No words can
express the consternation of the Carthaginians upon
receiving the news of so terrible a disaster. Ambas¬
sadors were immediately dispatched to Sicily, with
orders to conclude a peace upon any terms. They
put to sea without delay j and landing at Syracuse, 9
threw themselves at the conqueror’s feet. They begged C0Il~
Gelon, with many tears, to receive their city into
favour, and grant them a peace on whatever terms he
should choose to prescribe. He granted their request,
upon condition that Carthage should pay him 2000
talents of silver to defray the expences of the war ; that
they should build two temples, where the articles of
the treaty should he lodged and kept as sacred j and
that for the future they should abstain from human
sacrifices. This was not thought a dear purchase of a
peace for which there was such occasion $ and to show
their gratitude for Gelon’s moderation, the Carthagi¬
nians complimented his wife Demerata with a crown of
gold worth 100 talents.
From this time we find little mention of the Car¬
thaginians for 70 years. Some time during this pe¬
riod, however, they had greatly extended their do¬
minions in Africa, and likewise shaken off the tribute . 10
which gave them so much uneasiness. They
warm disputes with the inhabitants of Cyrene, the ca* Cyreneans.
pital of Cyrenaica, about a regulation of the limits
of
CAR
[ 200 ] CAR*
Carthage, of their respective territories. The consequence of
*"■" v~* *' these disputes was a war, which reduced both nations
so low, that they agreed first to a cessation of arms,
and then to a peace. At last it was agreed, that
each state should appoint two commissaries, who
should set out from their respective cities on the same
day, and that the spot on which they met should be
Ir the boundary of both states. In consequence of this,
Story of two brothers called Philceni were sent out from Car-
the Phi- thage, who advanced with great celerity, while those
from Cyrene were much more slow in thtjir motions.
Whether this proceeded from accident or design, or
perfidy, we are not certainly informed ; but be this
as it will, the Cyreneans, finding themselves greatly
outstripped by the Philaeni, accused them of breach
of faith, asserting that they had set out before the
time appointed, and consequently that the convention
between their principals was broken. The Philteni
desired them to propose some expedient whereby their
difterences might be accommodated ; promising to
submit to it whatever it might be. The Cyreneans
then proposed, either that the Philaeni should retire
from the place where they were, or that they should be
buried alive upon the spot. With this last condition
the brothers immediately complied, and by their death
gained a large extent of territory to their country.
The Carthaginians ever after celebrated this as a most
brave and heroic action j paid them divine honours j
and endeavoured to immortalize their names by erect¬
ing two altars there, with suitable inscriptions upon
12 them.
Sicily inva. About the year before Christ 412, some disputes
ded anew, happening between the Egestines and Selinuntines,
inhabitants of two cities in Sicily, the former called
in the Carthaginians to their assistance ; and occa¬
sioned a new invasion of Sicily by that nation. Great
preparations were made for this war: Hannibal, whom
they had appointed general, was empowered to raise
an army equal to the undertaking, and equip a suit¬
able fleet. They also appointed certain funds for de¬
fraying all the expences of the war, intending to exert
their whole force to reduce the island under their sub-
13 jection.
Emporium The Carthaginian general having landed his forces,
taken6*11118 imme^*ateiy marched for Selinis. In his way he took
Emporium, a town situated on the river Mazara •, and
having arrived at Selinis, he immediately invested it.
The besieged made a very vigorous defence; but at
last the city was taken by storm, and the inhabitants
were treated with the utmost cruelty. All were mas¬
sacred by the savage conqueror, except the women who
fled to the temples ; and these escaped, not through the
merciful disposition of the Carthaginians, but because
they were afraid, that if driven to despair they would
set fire to the temples, and by that means consume the
treasure they expected to find in those places. Six¬
teen thousand were massacred j 2250 escaped to Agri-
gentum 5 and the women and children, about 5000 in
number, were carried away captives. At the same
time the temples were plundered, and the city razed to
the ground.
as likewise After the reduction of Selinis, Hannibal laid siege
Himera. to Himera : that city he desired above all things to be¬
come master of, that he might revenge the death of
his grandfather Hamilcar, who had been slain before
it by Gelon. His troops, flushed with their late sue- CanW
cess, behaved with undaunted courage: but finding Iris'—-y-.
battering engines not to answer his purposes sufficient¬
ly, he undermined the wall, supporting it with large
beams of timber, to which he afterwards set fire, and
thus laid part of it flat on the ground. Notwithstand¬
ing this advantage, however, the Carthaginians were
several times repulsed with great slaughter ; but at last
they became masters of the place, and treated it in the
same manner as they had done Selinis. After this,
Hannibal, dismissing his Sicilian and Italian allies, re¬
turned to Africa.
The Carthaginians were now so much elated, that
they meditated the reduction of the whole island. But
as the age and infirmities of Hannibal rendered him
incapable of commanding the forces alone, they join¬
ed in commission with him Imilcar, the son of Hanno,
one of the same family. On the landing of the Car¬
thaginian army, all Sicily was alarmed, and the prin¬
cipal cities put themselves into the best state of de- j,
fence they were able. The Carthaginians immediately Agri^eii.
marched to Agrigentum, and began to batter the walls u™ be.
with great fury. The besieged, however, defended sieSed>
themselves with incredible resolution, in a sally burnt
all the machines raised against their city, and repulsed
the enemy with great slaughter. The Syracusans, in
the mean time, being alarmed at the danger of Agri¬
gentum, sent an army to its relief. On their approach
they were immediately attacked by the Carthaginians j
but after a sharp dispute tlie latter were defeated, and
forced to fly to the very walls of Agrigentum, with the
loss of 6000 men. Had the Agrigentine commanders
now sallied out, and fallen upon the fugitives, in all
probability the Carthaginian army must have been de¬
stroyed $ but, either through fear or corruption, they
refused to stir out of the place, and this occasioned the i5
loss of it. Immense booty wd,s found in the city ; and and take
the Carthaginians behaved with their usual cruelty, put¬
ting all the inhabitants to the sword, not excepting
even those who had fled to the temples.
The next attempt of the Carthaginians was design¬
ed against the city of Gela ; but the Geleans, being
greatly alarmed, implored the protection of Syracuse;
and, at their request, Dionysius was sent to assist them
with 2000 foot and 400 horse. The Geleans were
so well satisfied with his conduct, that they treated
him with the highest marks of distinction j they even
sent ambassadors to Syracuse to return thanks for the
important services done them by sending him thither;
and soon after he was appointed generalissimo of the
Syracusan forces and those of their allies against the
Carthaginians. In the mean time Imilcar, having
razed the city of Agrigentum, made an incursion
into the territories of Gela and Comarina; which
having ravaged in a dreadful manner, he carried oft
such immense quantity of plunder, as filled his whole ^
camp. He then marched against the city j but though Gela b«
it was but indifferently fortified, he met with a very sieged,
vigorous resistance; and the place held out for a long
time without receiving any assistance from its allies.
At last Dionysius came to its assistance with an army
of 50,000 foot and iooq horse. With these he at¬
tacked the Carthaginian camp, but was repulsed with
great loss j alter which he called a council of war, the
result ol whose deliberations was, that since the enemy
was
CAE, [ 201
C :hage. was so much superior to them in strength, it would be
*- v“^ highly imprudent to put all to the issue of a battle;
and therefore that the inhabitants should be persuaded
to abandon the country, as the only means of saving
their lives. In consequence of this, a trumpet was
sent to Imilcarto desire a cessation of arms till the next
day, in order, as was pretended, to bury the dead, but
i s in reality to give the people of Gela an opportunity of
At doned making their escape. Towards the beginning of the
by > iuha-mglit the bulk of the citizens left the place j and he
bl ts' himself with the army followed them about midnight.
To amuse the enemy, he left 2000 of his light-arm¬
ed troops behind him, commanding them to make
fires all night, and set up loud shouts, as though the
army still remained in the town. At day-break these
took the same route as their companions, and pursued
their march with great celerity. The Carthaginians,
finding the city deserted by the greatest part of its
inhabitants, immediately entered it, putting to death
all who had remained j after which, Imilcar having
thoroughly plundered it, moved towards Camarina.
The inhabitants of this city had been likewise drawn
off by Dionysius, and it underwent the same fate with
I? Gela.
econ- Notwithstanding these successes, however, Imilcar
ct d.
]
CAR
finding his army greatly weakened, partly by the ca
sualties of war, and partly by a plague, which broke
out in it, sent a herald to Syracuse to offer terms of
peace. His unexpected arrival was very agreeable
to the Syracusans, and a peace was immediately con¬
cluded upon the following terms, viz. That the Car¬
thaginians, besides their ancient acquisitions in Sicily,
should still possess the countries of the Silicani, the
Selinuntines, the Himereans, and Agrigentines 5 that
the people of Gela and Camarina should be permitted
to reside in their respective cities, which yet should
be dismantled, upon their paying un annual tribute to
the Carthaginians 5 that all the other Sicilians should
preserve their independency except the Syracusans,
l0 who should continue in subjection to Dionysius.
D ysius The tyrant of Syracuse, however, had concluded
br the this peace with no other view than to gain time, and
tri f' to put himself in condition to attack the Cartha¬
ginian territories with greater force. Having ac¬
complished this, he acquainted the Syracusans with
his design, and they immediately approved of it: upon
which he gave up to the fury of the populace the per¬
sons and possessions of the Carthaginians who resided
in Syracuse, and traded there on the faith of treaties.
As there were many of their ships at that time in the
harbour, laden with cargoes of great value, the people
immediately plundered them j and, not content with
this, ransacked all their houses in a most outrageous
manner. This example was followed throughout the
whole island j and in the mean time Dionysius dis¬
patched a herald to Carthage, with a letter to the se¬
nate and people, telling them, that if they did not im¬
mediately withdraw their garrisons from all the Greek
cities in Sicily, the people of Syracuse would treat them
as enemies. With this demand, however, he did not
allow them to comply •, for without waiting for any an¬
swer from Carthage, he advanced with his army to
Mount Eryx, near which stood the city of Motya, a
Carthaginian colony of great importance ; and this he
immediately invested. But soon after, leaving his bro-
Vol. V. Part I. f
ther Leptines to carry on the attack, he himself went Carthage.
with the greatest part of his forces to reduce the cities   
in alliance with the Carthaginians. He destroyed
their territories with fire and sword, cut down all their
trees j and then sat down before Egesta and Entella,
most of the other towns having opened their gates at
his approach : but these baffling his utmost efforts, he
returned to Motya, and pushed on the siege of that
place with the utmost vigour.
The Carthaginians, in the mean time, though alarm¬
ed at the message sent them by Dionysius, and though
reduced to a miserable situation by the plague which
had broke out in their city, did not despond, but sent
officers to Europe, with considerable sums, to raise 2i
troops with the utmost diligence. Ten galleys were also Syracusan
sent from Carthage to destroy all the ships that were ^e~
found in the harbour of Syracuse. The admiral, ac-stl0^e^’
cording to his orders, entered the harbour in the night,
without being discerned by the enemy; and having
sunk most of the ships he found there, returned without
the loss of a man. 22
All this while the Motyans defended themselves with Motya ta-
incredible vigour 5 while their enemies, desirous of re-j^n ^ ^ie
venging the cruelties exercised upon their country- lCi" s*
men by the Carthaginians, fought like lions. At last
the place was taken by storm, and the Greek soldiers
began a general massacre. For some time Dionysius
was not able to restrain their fury : but at last he
proclaimed that the Motyans should fly to the Greek
temples j which they accordingly did, and a stop was
put to the slaughter *, but the soldiers took care tho¬
roughly to plunder the town, in which they found a
great treasure.
The following spring, Dionysius invaded the Cartha¬
ginian terx-itories, and made an attempt upon Egesta:
but here he was again disappointed. The Carthagi¬
nians were greatly alarmed at his progress ; but, next
year, notwithstanding a considerable loss sustained in
a sea-fight with Leptines, Himilco their general land¬
ed a powerful army at Panormus, seized upon Eryx,
and then advancing towards Motya, made himself mas¬
ter of it before Dionysius could send any forces to its
relief. He next advanced to Messana, which he like¬
wise besieged and took ; after which most of the Siculi
revolted from Dionysius. 23
Notwithstanding this defection, Dionysius, finding ^reeks «!e-
his forces still amount to 30,000 foot and 3000 horse, ^
advanced against the enemy. At the same time Lep- cartlia<ri-
tines was sent with the Syracusan fleet against that ofnians. b
the Carthaginians, but with positive orders not to
break the line of battle upon any account whatever.
But, notwithstanding these orders, he thought proper
to divide his fleet, and the consequence of this was a
total defeat ; above too of the Syracusan galleys being .
sunk or taken, and 20,000 of their men killed in the 24
battle or in the pursuit. Dionysius, disheartened by this Syracuse
misfortune, returned with his army to Syracuse, ^‘ngthe^th^
afraid that the Carthaginian fleet might become mas- gin;ang.
ters of that city, if he should advance to fight the land^
army. Himilco did not fail immediately to invest the
capital ; and had certainly become master of it, and
consequently of the whole island, had not a most ma¬
lignant pestilence obliged him to desist from all further
operations. This dreadful malady made great havoek
among his forces both by sea and land; and, to com-
C c plete
CAR [ 202 ]
his misfortunes, Dionysius attacked him unex- such a stormy season
and made himself
.2S
Himilco
obliged to
return.
25
Another
Carthage, plete
1 v——^ pectedly, totally ruined his fleet,
master of his camp.
Himilco, finding himself altogether unable to sustain
another attack, was obliged to come to a private
agreement with Dionysius j who for $00 talents con¬
sented to let him escape to Africa with the shatteied
remains of his fleet and army. I he unfortunate ge¬
neral arrived at Carthage, clad in mean and sordid
attire, where he was met by a great number of peo¬
ple bewailing their sad and inauspicious fortune. Hi¬
milco joined them in their lamentations ; and, being
unable to survive his misfortunes, put an end to his
own life. He had left Mago in Sicily, to take care
of the Carthaginian interests in the best manner he
could. In order to this, Mago treated all the Sicilians
subject to Carthage with the greatest humanity j and,
having received a considerable number ol soldiers from
Africa, he at last formed an army with which he ven¬
tured a battle ; in this he was defeated, and driven
out rff the field, with the loss of 8oo men ; which
obliged him to desist from farther attempts of that
nature.
Notwithstanding all these terrible disasters, the Car-
iiivasion of thaginians could not forbear making new attempts
Sicily. upon the island of Sicily j and about the year before
Christ 392, Mago landed in it with an army of 80,000
mem This attempt, however, was attended with no
better success than before: Dionysius found means to
reduce him to such straits for want of provisions, that
he was obliged to sue for peace. This continued for
nine years, at the end of which the war was renewed
with various success. It continued with little interrup¬
tion till the year before Christ 376, when the Syra¬
cusan state being rent by civil dissensions, the Car¬
thaginians thought it a proper time to exert them¬
selves, in order to become masters of the whole island.
They fitted out a great fleet, and entered into alliance
with Icetas, tyrant of Leontini, who pretended to have
taken Syracuse under his protection. By this treaty,
the two powers engaged to assist each other, in order to
^ expel Dionysius II. after which they were to divide
Syracusans the island between them. The Syracusans applied for
assisted by succours to the Corinthians : and they readily sent
the Conn- j|iem a body of troops under the command of Timo-
leon, an experienced general. By a stratagem, he got
his forces landed at Taurominium. The whole of
them did not exceed 1200 in number 5 yet with these
he marched against Icetas, who was at the head of
5000 men : his army he surprised at supper, put 300
of them to the sword, and took 600 prisoners. He
then marched to Syracuse, and broke into one part of
the town before the enemy had any notice of his ap¬
proach : here he took post, and defended himself with
such resolution, that he could not be dislodged by the
united power of Icetas and the Carthaginians.
In this place he remained for some time, in expec-
eonduct of tation of a reinforcement from Corinth •, till the arrival
the Gartha- 0f which he did not judge it practicable to extend
giman ad- jjjg conquests.—The Carthaginians, being apprised that
the Corinthian succours were detained by tempestuous
weather at Thurium, posted a strong squadron, under
Hanno their admiral, to intercept them in their pas¬
sage to Sicily. But that commander, not imagining
the Corinthians would attempt a passage to Sicily in
CAR
left his station at Thurium, and CartW<
tbians.
2 S -
Foolish
ordering his seamen to crown themselves with garlands,
and adorn their vessels with bucklers both of the Greek
and Carthaginian form, sailed to Syracuse in a triumph¬
ant manner. Upon his arrival there, he gave the troops
in the citadel to understand that he had taken the suc¬
cours Timoleon expected, thinking by this means to
intimidate them to surrender. But, while he thus
trifled away his time, the Corinthians marched with
great expedition to Rhegium, and, taking the advan¬
tage of a gentle breeze, were easily wafted over into J9
Sicily. Mago, the Carthaginian general, was no sooner Cowardic
informed of the arrival of this reinforcement, than he0^1^0-
was struck with terror, though the whole Corinthian
army did not exceed 4000 men j and soon after, fear¬
ing a revolt of his mercenaries, he weighed anchor, in
spite of all the remonstrances of Icetas, and set sail for
Africa. Here he no sooner arrived, than, overcome
with grief and shame for his unparalleled cowardice, he
laid violent hands on himself. His body was hung
upon a gallows or cross, in order to deter succeeding
generals from forfeiting their honour in so flagrant a
manner. ' «0
After the flight of Mago, Timoleon carried all be-Exploits
fore him. He obliged Icetas to renounce his allianceThnoleor
with the state of Carthage, and even deposed him, and
continued his military preparations with the greatest
vigour. On the other hand, the Carthaginians pre¬
pared for the ensuing campaign with the greatest ala¬
crity. An army of 70,000 men was sent over with a
fleet of 200 ships of war, and 1000 transports laden
with warlike engines, armed chariots, horses, and all
other sorts of provisions. This immense multitude,
however, was overthrown on the banks of the Crime-
sus by Timoleon: 10,000 were left dead on the field
of battle $ and of these above 3000 were native Car¬
thaginians of the best families in the city. Above,
15,000 were taken prisoners j all their baggage and
provisions, with 200 chariots, 1000 coats of mail, and
10,000 shields, fell into Timoleon’s hands. The spoil,
which consisted chiefly of gold and silver, was so im¬
mense, that the whole Sicilian army was three days in
collecting it and stripping the slain. After this signal
victory, he left his mercenary forces upon the frontiers
of the enemy, to plunder and ravage the country j
while he himself returned to Syracuse with the rest of
his army, where he was received with the greatest de¬
monstrations of joy. Soon after, Icetas, grown weary
of his private station, concluded a new peace with the
Carthaginians $ and, having assembled an army, ven¬
tured an engagement with Timoleon : but in this he
was utterly defeated j and himself, with Eupolemus
his son, and Euthymus general of his horse, were
brought bound to Timoleon by their own soldiers.
The two first were immediately executed as tyrants
and traitoi’s, and the last murdered in cold blood j Ice-
tas’s wives and daughters wex-e likewise cruelly put to
death after a public trial. In a short time after, Ma-
mercus, another of the Carthaginian confederates, was
overthrown by Timoleon, with the loss of 2000 men. ^
These misfortunes induced the Carthaginians to con-peace'
elude a peace on the following terms : That all the eluded-
Greek cities should be set free ; that the river Halycus
should be the boundary between the territories of both
parties $ that the natives of cities subject to the
Carthaginians
Ci i»Se-
CAR [ 203
Carthaginians should be allowed to withdraw, if they
pleasedt to Syracuse or its dependencies, with their
families and effects j and, lastly, that Carthage should
not for the future, give any assistance to the remain-
2 ing tyrants against Syracuse. v
W re- About 316 years before Christ, we find the Gar-
i*1 * * * * 6 thaginians engaged in another bloody war with the
Sicilians, on the following occasion ; Sosistratus, who
had usurped the supreme authority at Syracuse, having
been forced by Agathocles to raise the siege of Khe-
gium, returned with his shattered troops to Sicily.
But soon after this unsuccessful expedition he was ob¬
liged to abdicate the sovereignty and quit Syracuse.
With him were expelled above 600 of the principal
citizens, who were suspected of having formed a de¬
sign to overturn the plan of government which then
prevailed in the city. As Sosistratus and the exiles
thought themselves ill treated, they had recourse to
the Carthaginians, who readily espoused their cause.
Hereupon the Syracusans, having recalled Agathocles,
who had before been banished by Sosistratus, appointed
him commander in chief of all their forces, principally
on account of the known aversion he bore that tyrant.
The war, however, did not then continue long ; for
Sosistratus and the exiles were quickly received again
into the city, and peace was concluded with Carthage :
A kocles pe0pie 0f Syracuse, however, finding that Aga-
ic s him ^j10cles wanted to make himself absolute, exacted an
tine of oath from him, that he would do nothing to the pre-
S cuse. judice of the democracy. But, notwithstanding this
oath, Agathocles pursued his purpose, and by a ge¬
neral massacre of the principal citizens of Syracuse,
raised himself to the throne. For some time he was
obliged to keep the peace he had concluded with Car.
thage; but at last, finding his authority established,
amf that his subjects were ready to second his ambi¬
tious designs, he paid no regard to Ins treaties, but im¬
mediately made war on the neighbouring states, which
he had expressly agreed not to do, and then carried
his arms into the very heart of the island. In these
expeditions he was attended with such success, that in
two years time he brought into subjection all the
Greek part of Sicily. This being accomplished, he
committed great devastations in the Carthaginian ter-
less jje invades
1 34
i eated
* lie Car
t ^nians,
s besie-
I in Sy-
1 ise.
ritories, their general Hamilcar not offering to give
him the least disturbance. This perfidious conduct
greatly incensed the people of those districts against
Hamilcar, whom they accused before the senate. He
died, however, in Sicily j and Hamilcar the son of
Cisco was appointed to succeed him in the command
of the forces. The last place that held out against
Agathocles was Messana, whither all the Syracusan
exiles had retired. Pasiphilus, Agathocles’s general,
found means to cajole the inhabitants into a treaty :
which Agathocles, according to custom, paid no re¬
gard to, but, as soon as he was in possession of the
town, cut off all those who had opposed his govern¬
ment. For, as he intended to prosecute the war with
the utmost vigour against Carthage, he thought it a
point of good policy to destroy as many of his Sicilian
enemies as possible.
• The Carthaginians in the mean time having landed
a powerful army in Sicily, an engagement soon ensued,
in which Agathocles was defeated with the loss of
7000 men. After this defeat he was obliged to shut
] CAR
himself up in Syracuse, which the Carthaginians imme* Carthage,
diately invested, and most of the Greek states in the v
island submitted to them.
Agathocles, seeing himself stripped of almost all his
dominions, and his capital itself in danger of falling
into the hands of the enemy, formed a design, which,
were it not attested by writers of undoubted authority,
would seem absolutely incredible. This was no less ^ ^ ^
than to transfer the war into Alrica, and lay siege to Africa
the enemy’s capital, at a time when he himself was
besieged, and only one city left to him in all Sicily.
Before he departed, however, he made all the neces¬
sary preparations for the defence of the place, and ap¬
pointed his brother Antandrus governor of it. He also
gave permission to all who were .not willing to stand
the fatigues of a siege to retire out of the city. Many
of the principal citizens, Justin says 1600, accepted
of this offer : but they were no sooner got out of the
place, than they were cut off by parties posted on the
road for that purpose. Having seized upon their estates,
Agathocles raised a considerable sum, which was in¬
tended in some measure to defray the expence of the
expedition : however, he carried with him only 50 ta¬
lents to supply his present wants, being well assured that
he should find in the enemy’s country whatever was
necessary for his subsistence. As the Carthaginians
bad a much superior fleet, they for some time kept the
mouth of the harbour blocked up j but at last a fair op¬
portunity 0tiered} and Agathocles hoisting sail, by the
activity of his rowei’s soon got clear both of the port
and city of Syracuse. The Carthaginians pursued him
with all possible expedition $ but notwithstanding their
utmost efforts, Agathocles got his troops landed with
very little opposition. $6
Soon after his forces were landed, Agathocles burnt He bum
his fleet, probably that his soldiers might behave with 11,5 fieet‘
the greater resolution, as they saw no possibility of fly¬
ing from their danger. He first advanced to a place
called the Great City. This, after a feeble resistance,
he took and plundered. From hence he marched to
Tunis, which surrendered on the first summons 3 and
Agathocles levelled both places with the ground.
The Carthaginians were at first thrown into the
greatest consternation 3 but, soon recovering themselves,
the citizens took up arms with so much alacrity, that
in a few days they had on foot an army of 40,000
foot and IOOO horse, with 2000 armed chariots. The
command of this army they entrusted to Hanno and
Bomilcar, two generals between whom there subsisted 37
a great animosity. This occasioned the defeat of their Carthagini-
whole army, with the loss of their camp, though all^8deleat-
the forces of Agathocles did not exceed 14,000 in
number. Among other rich spoils the conqueror found
many chariots of curious workmanship, which carried
20,000 pair of fetters and manacles that the enemy 3S
had provided for the Sicilian prisoners. After this de-Their mc-
feat, the Carthaginians, supposing themselves to have of ap-
fallen under the displeasure of their deities on account
ef their neglecting to sacrifice children of noble fami-tjeg,
lies to them, resolved to expiate this guilt. Accord¬
ingly 200 children of the first rank were sacrificed to
their bloody gods, besides 300 other persons who vo¬
luntarily offered themselves to pacify the wrath of these
deities. # r
After these expiations, Hamilcar was recalled iron!
C c 2 Sicily.
CAR
40
He raises
the siege.
Sicily. When the messengers arrived, Hamilcar com¬
manded them not once to mention the victory of Aga-
thocles; but, on the contrary, to give out among the
troops that he had been entirely defeated, his forces
all cut oft, and his fleet destroyed by the Carthagini¬
ans. This threw the Syracusans into the utmost de¬
spair 5 however, one Eurymnon, an Etolian, prevailed
upon Antandrus not to consent to a capitulation, but
to stand a general assault. Hamilcar being informed
of this, prepared his battering engines, and made all
the necessary preparations to storm the town without
delay. But while matters remained in this situation,
a galley, which Agathocles had caused to be built im¬
mediately after the battle, got into the harbour of Sy¬
racuse, and acquainted the inhabitants with the cer¬
tainty of Agathocles’s victory. Hamilcar, observing
that the garrison flocked down to the port on this oc¬
casion, and expecting to find the walls unguarded, or¬
dered his soldiers to erect scaling ladders, and begin
the intended assault. The enemy having left the ram¬
parts quite exposed, the Carthaginians mounted them
without being discerned, and had almost possessed them¬
selves of an entire part lying between two towers, when
the patrole discovered them. Upon this, a warm dispute
ensued ; but at last the Carthaginians were repulsed
with loss. Hamilcar, therefore, finding it in vain to
continue the siege after such glad tidings had restored
life and soul to the Syracusans, drew oft’ his forces,
[ 204 ]
CAR
thocles received advice of the defeat of the Carthagi- ,
nian forces before Syracuse, and the head of Hamilcar ,CartH
their general. Upon this he immediately rode up to
the enemy’s camp, and showing them the head, gave
them an account of the total destruction of their army
before Syracuse. This threw them into such conster¬
nation, that in all human probability Agathocles would
have made himself master of Carthage, had not an un¬
expected mutiny arisen in his camp, which gave the
Carthaginians an opportunity of recovering from their
terror.
The year following an engagement happened, inHeij
which neither party gained any great advantage: butanallian,
soon after, the tyrant, notwithstanding all his victo-w‘lll0i'b
ries, found himself unable to carry on the war alone :las’
and therefore endeavoured to gain over to his interest
Ophelias, one of the captains of Alexander the Great.
In this he perfectly succeeded ; and to succour his
new ally the more effectually, Ophelias sent to Athens
for a body of troops. Having finished his military
preparations, Ophelias found his army to consist of
10,000 foot and 600 horse, all regular troops, be¬
sides 100 chariots, and a body of 10,000 men, at¬
tended by their wives and children, as though he had
been going to plant a new colony. At the head of
these forces he continued his march towards Agatho¬
cles for 18 days; and then encamped at Automale,
a city about 3000 stadia distant from the capital of his
, ^ ^ —  7 •* oictuid uisiauL uuui uie capicai or ms
and sent a detachment of 5000 men to reinforce the - dominions. From thence he advanced through the
troons in Afrira cfill f^v.t-i  "O ■ .• ■ n * * • , _ &
41
Is defeated,
and taken
prisoner,
and put to
death.
42
Agrigen-
tines at¬
tempt the
sovereignty
of Sicily.
4$
Success of
Agathoeles
in Africa.
troops in Africa. He still entertained hopes, how¬
ever, that he might oblige Agathocles to quit Africa,
and return to the defence of his own dominions. He
spent some time in making himself master of such
cities as sided with the Syracusans ; and, after having
brought all their allies under subjection, returned again
to Syracuse, hoping to surprise it by an attack in the
night-time. But being attacked while advancing
through narrow passes, where his numerous army had
not room to act, he was defeated with great slaughter,
and himself taken prisoner, carried into Syracuse, and
put to death.
In the mean time the Agrigentines, finding that the
Carthaginians and Syracusans had greatly weakened
each other by this war, thought it a proper opportu¬
nity to attempt the sovereignty of the whole island.
Ihey therefore commenced a war against both parties ;
and prosecuted it with such success, that in a short time
they wrested many places of note both out of the hands
of the Syracusans and Carthaginians.
In Africa the tyrant carried every thing before him.
He reduced most of the places of any note in the ter¬
ritory of Carthage ; and hearing that Elymas king of
Ei iya had declared against him, he immediately en¬
tered Libya Superior, and in a great battle overthrew
that prince, putting to the sword a good part of his
troops, and the general who commanded them ; after
which he advanced against the Carthaginians with such
expedition, that he surprised and defeated them with
the loss of 2000 killed, and a great number taken
prisoners. He next prepared for the siege of Carthage
itself; and in order thereto advanced to a post within
five miles of that city. On the other hand, notwith¬
standing the great losses they had already sustained, the
Carthaginians, with a powerful army, encamped be¬
tween him and their capital. In this situation Aga-
Hegio Syrtica; but found himself reduced to such ex»
trennties, that his army was in danger of perishing for
want of bread, water, and other provisions. They
were also greatly annoyed by serpents and wild beasts,
with which that desert region abounded. The serpents
made the greatest havock among the troops; for, be¬
ing of the same colour with the earth, and extremely
venomous, many soldiers, who trod upon them with¬
out seeing them, were stung to death. At last, after
a very fatiguing march of two months, he approached
Agathocles, and encamped at a small distance from
him, to the no small terror of the Carthaginians, who
apprehended the most fatal consequences from this
junction. Agathocles at first caressed him, and ad- , 4\.
vised him to take all possible care of his troops thattreacher-
had undergone so many fatigues; but soon after cutouslyraar
him oft by treachery, and then by fair words and pro-ders*
mises persuaded his troops to serve under himself.
Agathocles, now finding himself at the head of a
numerous army, assumed the title of king of Africa,
intending soon to complete his conquests by the re¬
duction of Carthage. He began with the siege of ■
Utica, which was taken by assault. After this be
marched against Hippo Diarrhytus, the Biserta of the
moderns, which rvas also taken by storm ; and after
tliis most of the people bordering upon the sea coasts,
and even those who inhabited the inland parts of the
country, submitted to him. But in the midst of this,
career of success, the Sicilians formed an association infoSu
avoui of liberty; which obliged the tyrant to return home,
lome, leaving his son Archagathus to carry on the
war in Africa.
Archagathus, after his father’s departure, greatly Success 0
extended tne African conquests. He sent EumachusArchaga-
at the head of a large detachment to invade some ofthus*
the neighbouring provinces, while he himself, with
the
CAR [ 205 ] CAR
Cart "e. ^ grea*:est part of his army, observed the motions
'of the Carthaginians. Eumachus falling into Numi-
dia, first took the great city of Tocas, and conquer¬
ed several of the Numidian cantons. Afterwards he
besieged and took Phillina ; which was attended with
the submission of the Asphodelodians, a nation, accord¬
ing to Diodorus, as black as the Ethiopians. He
then reduced several cities j and being at last elated
with such a run of good fortune, resolved to penetrate
into the most remote parts of Africa. Here he at first
met with success ; but hearing that the barbarous na¬
tions were advancing in a formidable body to give him
battle, he abandoned his conquests, and retreated with
the utmost precipitation towards the sea coasts, after
having lost abundance of men.
Heiedu- This unfortunate expedition made a great altera-
ced the t;on for the worse in the affairs of Archagathus. The
utiiK dig- Cart[iaginians being informed of Eumachus’s bad suc-
tre!,S cess, resolved to exert themselves in an extraordinary
manner to repair their former losses. They divided
their forces into three bodies : one of these they sent
to the sea coasts, to keep the towns there in awe;
another they dispatched into the mediterranean parts,
to preserve the allegiance of the inhabitants there j
and the last body they ordered to the Upper Africa,
to support their confederates in that country. Archa¬
gathus, being apprised of the motions of the Cartha¬
ginians, divided his forces likewise into three bodies.
One of these he sent to observe the Carthaginian
troops on the sea coasts, with orders to advance after¬
wards into the Upper Africa } another under the
command of HLschrion, one of his generals, he posted
at a proper distance in the heart of the country, to
have an eye both on the enemy there and the barbar¬
ous nations *, and with the last, which he led in per¬
son, he kept near Carthage, preserving a communi¬
cation with the other two, in order to send them suc¬
cours, or recal them, as the exigency of affairs should
require.—The Carthaginian troops sent into the heart
of the country, were commanded by Hanno, a ge¬
neral of great experience, who being informed of
the approach of iEschrion, laid an ambuscade for
him, into which he was drawn, and cut off with 4000
foot and 200 horse. Himilco, who commanded the
Carthaginian forces in Upper Africa, having advice
of Eumachus’s march, immediately advanced against
him. An engagement ensued, in which the Greeks
were almost totally cut off, or perished with thirst
after the battle ; out of 8000 foot only 30, and of 800
horse only 40, having the good fortune to make their
escape.
Archagathus receiving the melancholy news of
these two defeats, immediately called in the detach¬
ments he had sent out to harass the enemy, which
would otherwise have been instantly cut off. He was,
however, in a short time hemmed in on all sides, in
such a manner as to be reduced to the last extremity
for want of provisions, and ready every moment to
be swallowed up by the numerous forces which sur¬
rounded him. In this deplorable situation Agathocles
received an express from Archagathus, acquainting
him of the losses he had sustained, and the scarcity of
provisions he laboured under. Upon this the tyrant,
leaving the care of the Sicilian war to one Leptines,
by a stratagem got 18 Etruscan ships that came to
his assistance out of the harbour; and then engaging Carthage,
the Carthaginian squadron which lay in its neighbour- ls-—y— '
hood, took five of their ships, and made all their
men prisoners. By this means he became master of
the port, and secured a passage into it for the mer¬
chants of all nations, which soon restored plenty to
that city, where the famine before had begun to make
great liavock. Supplying himself, therefore, with a
sufficient quantity of necessaries for the voyage he
was going to undertake, he immediately set sail for
Africa. ^
Upon his arrival in this country, Agathocles re-Agathocles
viewed his forces, and found them to consist of 6000 arrives in
Greeks, as many Samnites, Celtes, and Etruscans j Alr‘ca'
besides 10,000 Africans, and 1500 horse. As he
found his troops almost in a state of despair, he thought
this a proper time for offering the enemy battle. The
Carthaginians, however, did not think proper to ac¬
cept the challenge j especially as, by keeping close in
their camp, where they had plenty of every thing,
they could starve the Greeks to a surrender without ,.0
striking a stroke. Upon this Agathocles attacked the Attacks the
Carthaginian camp with great bravery, made a consi- enemy
derable impression upon it, and might perhaps have WJtb°ut-
earned it, had not his mercenaries deserted him almost ~
at the first onset. By this piece of cowardice he was
forced to retire with precipitation to his camp, whither
the Carthaginians pursued him very closely, doing
great execution in the pursuit.
The next night, the Carthaginians sacrificed all the Disaster in
prisoners of distinction as a grateful acknowledgment the Cartha-
to the gods for the victory they had gained. While gin*aa
they were employed in this inhuman work, the wind, camP*
suddenly rising, carried the flames to the sacred ta¬
bernacle near the altar, which was entirely consumed,
as well as the general’s tent, and those of the princi¬
pal officers adjoining to it. A dreadful alarm took
place through the whole camp, which ivas heightened
by the great progress the fire made. For the soldiers
tents consisting of very combustible materials, and the
wind blowing in a most violent manner, the whole
camp was almost entirely reduced to ashes •, and many
of the soldiers, endeavouring to carry off their arms,
and the rich baggage of their officers, perished in the
flames. Some of those who made their escape met
with a fate equally unhappy ; for, after Agathocles
had received the last blow, the Africans deserted him,
and were in that instant coming over in a body to the
Carthaginians. These, the persons who were flying
from the flames took to be the whole Syracusan army
advancing in order of battle to attack their camp.
Upon this a dreadful confusion ensued. Some took
to their heels j others fell down in heaps one upon
another j and others engaged their comrades, mis¬
taking them for the enemy. Five thousand men lost
their lives in this tumult, and the rest thought proper
to take refuge within the walls of Carthage ; nor
could the appearance of daylight* for some time, dis- „.
sipate their terrible apprehensions. In the mean Another in
time the African deserters, observing the great con-that of A-
fusion the Carthaginians were in, and not knowing shocks*
the meaning of it, were so terrified, that they thought
proper to return to the place from whence they came.
The Syracusans, seeing a body of troops advancing to¬
wards them in good order, concluded that the enemy
were
CAR [ 2c6 ] CAR
Carthage, were marching to attack them, and therefore imme-
diately cried out, “ To arms.” The flames ascend¬
ing out of the Carthaginian camp into the air, and
the lamentable outcries proceeding from thence, con¬
firmed them in this opinion, and greatly heightened
their confusion. The consequence was much the same
as in the Carthaginian camp 5 for coming to blows
with one another instead of the enemy, they scarce re¬
covered their senses upon the return of light, and the
intestine fray was so bloody that it cost Agathocles
53 4000 men.
lie esapes The last disaster so disheartened the tyrant, that he
private y. immediate]y set about contriving means for making
his escape privately ; and this he at last, though with
great difficulty, effected. After his departure, his two
sons were immediately put to death by the soldiers,
who, choosing a leader from among themselves, made
peace with the Carthaginians upon the following con¬
ditions : 1. That the Greeks should deliver up all the
places they held in Africa, receiving from them 300
talents : 2. That such of them as were willing to serve
in the Carthaginian army should be kindly treated, and
receive the usual pay ; and, 3. That the rest should be
transported to Sicily, and have the city of Selinus for
their habitation.
C’ausxt From this time to that of their first war with the
of the first Romans, we find nothing remarkable in the history
Punic war. of the Carthaginians. The first Punic war, as it is
commonly called, happened about 255 years before
Christ. At that time the Carthaginians were possessed
of extensive dominions in Africa; they had made con¬
siderable progress in Spain j were masters of Sardinia,
Corsica, and all the islands on the coast of Italy ;
and had extended their conquests to a great part of
Sicily. The occasion of the first rupture between the
two republics was as follows : The Mamertines being
vanquished in battle, and reduced to great straits by
Hiero, king of Syracuse, had resolved to deliver up
Messina, the only city they now possessed, to that
prince, with whose mild government and strict pro¬
bity they were well acquainted. Accordingly, Hiero
was advancing at the head of his troops to take pos¬
session of the city, when Hannibal, who at that time
commanded the Carthaginian army in Sicily, prevent¬
ed him by a stratagem. He came to meet Hiero,
as it were, to congratulate him on his victory ; and
amused him, while some of the Carthaginian troops
filed off towards Messina. Hereupon the Mamer¬
tines, seeing their city supported by a new reinforce¬
ment, were divided into several opinions. Some
were for accepting the protection of Carthage ; others
were for surrendering to the king of Syracuse ; but
the greater part were for calling in the Romans to
their assistance. Deputies were accordingly dispatch¬
ed to Rome, offering the possession of the city to the
Romans, and in the most moving terms imploring
protection. This, after some debate, was agreed to 5
and the consul Appius Claudius received orders to
■attempt a passage to Sicily at the head of a powerful
army. Being obliged to stay some time at Rome,
however, one Cams Claudius, a person of great intre¬
pidity and resolution, was dispatched with a few vessels
to Rhegium. • On his arrival there, he observed the
Carthaginian squadron to be so much superior to his
own, that he thought it would be little better than
madness to attempt at that time to transport forces to
Sicily. He crossed the straits, however, and had a —
conference with the Mamertines, in which he prevail¬
ed upon them all to accept of the protection of Rome ;
and on this he made the necessary preparations for
transporting his forces. The Carthaginians, being in¬
formed of the resolution of the Romans, sent a strong
squadron of galleys under the command of Hanno to
intercept the Roman fleet j and accordingly the Car-Hanno j
thaginian admiral, coming up with them near the coast tercepts
of Sicily, attacked them with great fury. During the^6^0®
engagement, a violent storm arose, which dashed many^61,
of the Roman vessels against the rocks, and did a vast
deal of damage to their squadron j by which means
Claudius was forced to retire to Rhegium, and this he
accomplished with great difficulty. Hanno restored
all the vessels he had taken 5 but ordered the deputies
sent with them to expostulate with the Roman general
upon the infraction of the treaties subsisting between
the two republics. This expostulation, however just,
produced an open rupture: Claudius soon after pos¬
sessing himself of Messina.
Such was the beginning of the first Punic war, Qart^
which is said to have lasted 24 years. The first year,nknsai
the Carthaginians and Syracusans laid siege to Messi-Syracu.
na $ but not acting in concert, as they ought to have*ans^e'
done, were overthrown by the consul Appius Clau-^fjJ/
dius ; and this defeat so much disgusted Hiero with the mans.
Carthaginians, that he soon after concluded an alliance
with the Romans. After this treaty, having no enemy
to contend with but the Carthaginians, the Romans
made themselves masters of all the cities on the western
coast of Sicily, and at the end of the campaign carried
back most of their troops with them to take up their
winter quarters in Italy.
The second year, Hanno the
fixed his principal magazine at xms
place was very strong by nature, had been rendered
almost impregnable by the new fortification raised by
the Carthaginians during the preceding winter, and
was defended by a numerous garrison, commanded by
one Hannibal, a general of great experience in war.
For five months the Romans attempted to reduce the
place by famine, and had actually brought the inhabi¬
tants to great distress, when a Carthaginian army of
50,000 foot, 6000 horse, and 60 elephants, landed at
Lilybseum, and from thence marched to Heraclea,
within 20 miles of Agrigentum. There the general
received a deputation from some of the inhabitants of
Erbessa, where the Romans had their magazines, offer-
ing to put the town into his hands. It was accordingly
delivered up j and by this means the Romans became
so much disti’essed, that they had certainly been
obliged to abandon their enterprise, had not Hiero
supplied them with provisions. But all the assistance
he was able to give could not long have supported
them, as their army was so much weakened by dis¬
orders occasioned by famine, that out of 100,000 men,
of whom it originally consisted, scarce a fourth part
remained fit for service, and could no longer subsist on
such parsimonious supplies. But in the mean time
Hannibal acquainted Hanno that the city was reduced
to the utmost distress 5 upon which he resolved to ven¬
ture an engagement, which he had before declined.
In this the Romans were victorious, and the city sur¬
rendered
Carthaginian general Agrigea
A   'Pi.:, turn tak
Ca .age.
CAR [
rendered at discretion, though Hannibal with
^greatest part of the garrison, made their escape. This
ended the campaign j and the Carthaginians being
greatly chagrined at their bad success, fined Hanno
of an immense sum of money, and deprived him of his
command, appointing Hamilcar to succeed him in the
command of the land army, and Hannibal in that of the
fleet.
8 The third year, Hannibal received orders to ravage
bm the coast of Italy 5 but the Romans had taken care
8 ’ to post detachments in such places as were most pro¬
per to prevent his landing, so that the Carthaginian
found it impossible to execute his orders. At the same
time, the Romans, perceiving the advantages of being
masters of the sea, set about building 120 galleys.
While this was doing, they made themselves masters
of most of the inland cities, but the Carthaginians re¬
duced or kept steady in their interest most of the mari¬
time ones $ so that both parties were equally successful
during this campaign.
The fourth year, Hannibal by a stratagem made
himself master of 17 Roman galleys; after which he
committed great ravages on the coast of Italy, whither
he had advanced to take a view of the Roman fleet,
an efeat But he was afterwards attacked in his turn, lost the
thi artha-greatest part of his ships, and with great difficulty
gii 11 at niade his own escape. Soon after he was totally de¬
feated by the consul Duillius, with the loss of 80 ships
taken, 13 sunk, 7000 men killed, and as many taken
prisoners. After this victory Duillius landed in Si¬
cily, put himself at the head of the land forces, reliev¬
ed Segesta, besieged by Hamilcar, and made himself
master of Macella, though defended by a numerous
garrison.
Si ans The fifth year a difference arose between the Ro¬
de tedbymans and their Sicilian allies, which came to such a
th artha-jleight that they encamped separately. Of this Ha¬
milcar availed himself, and attacking the Sicilians in
their entrenchments, put 4000 of them to the sword.
He then drove the Romans from their posts, took se¬
veral cities from them, and overran the greatest part
of the country. In the mean time, Hannibal, after
his defeat, sailed with the shattered remains of his fleet
to Carthage: but, in order to secure himself from pu¬
nishment, he sent one of his friends with all speed, be¬
fore the event of the battle was known there, to ac¬
quaint the senate, that the Romans had put to sea
with a good number of heavy ill-built vessels, each
of them carrying some machine, the use of which
the Carthaginians did not understand ; and asked whe¬
ther it was the opinion of the senate that Hannibal
should attack them P These machines were the corvi,
which were then newly invented, and by means of
which, chiefly, Duillius had gained the victory. The
senate were unanimous in their opinion that the Ro¬
mans should be attacked; upon which the messenger
acquainted them with the unfortunate event of the
battles. As the senators had already declared them¬
selves for the engagement, they spared their general’s
life, and, according to Polybius, even continued him in
the command of the fleet. In a short time, being re¬
inforced by a good number of galleys, and attended by
some officers of great merit, he sailed for the coast of
Sardinia. He had not been long here before he was
surprised by the Romans, who carried off many of his
gn ns.
bune.
207 ] CAR
the ships, and took great numbers of his men prisoners. Carthage.
This so incensed the rest, that they seized their unfor- ' —1
tunate admiral, and crucified him ; but who was his
immediate successor does not appear. 6l
The sixth year, the Romans made themselves mas-Corsica and
ters of the islands of Corsica and Sardinia. Hanno, San!”dare-
who commanded the Carthaginian forces in the latter,
defended himself at a city called Olhia with incrediblemani
bravery ; but being at last killed in one of the attacks,
the place was surrendered, and the Romans soon be¬
came masters of the whole island.
The seventh year, the Romans took the town of The Ro-
Mytestratum, in Sicily, from whence they inarched ™an army
towards Camarina, but in their way were surrounded
in a deep valley, and in the most imminent danger of “g,
being cut off by the Carthaginian army. In this ex- Rescued by
tremity, a legionary tribune, by name M. Calpurnius the bravery
Flamma, desired the general to give him 300 chosen®^ leg^io-
men, promising, with this small company, to find,Larj 11
the enemy such employment as should oblige them to
leave a passage open for the Roman army. He per¬
formed his promise with a bravery truly heroic ; for
having seized, in spite of all opposition, an eminence,
and intrenched himself on it, the Carthaginians, jea¬
lous of his design, flocked from all quarters to drive
him from his post. But the brave tribune kept their
whole army in play, till the consul, taking advantage
of the diversion, drew his army out of the had situa¬
tion into which he had imprudently brought it. The
legions were no sooner out of danger, than they hast¬
ened to the relief of their brave companions : but all
they could do was to save their bodies from the insults
of their enemies; for they found them all dead on the
spot, except Calpurnius, who lay under a heap of dead
bodies all covered with wounds, but still breathing.
His wounds were immediately dressed, arid it fortu¬
nately happened that none of them proved mortal ; and
for this glorious enterprise he received a crown of gra-
mcn. After'* this the Romans reduced several cities,
and drove the enemy quite out of the territory of the
Agrigentines ; but were repulsed with great loss be¬
fore Li para.
The eighth year, Regulus, who commanded the Carthagini-
Roman fleet, observing that of the Carthaginians lying^lsa^^at"
along the coast in disorder, sailed with a squadron of by tjie
ten galleys, to observe their number and strength, or-mans.
dering the rest of the fleet to follow him with all ex¬
pedition. But as he drew too near the enemy, he was
surrounded by a great number of Carthaginian galleys.
The Romans fought with their usual bravery; hut be¬
ing overpowered with numbers, were obliged to yield.
The consul, however, found means to make his escape,
and join the rest of the fleet; and then had his full
revenge of the enemy, 18 of their ships being taken, .
and eight sunk. <y-
The ninth year, the Romans made preparations for Rcgulus in-
invading Africa. Their fleet for this purpose consist-varies Atri-
ed of 330 galleys, each of them having on board I20ca‘
soldiers and 300 rowers. The Carthaginian fleet con¬
sisted of 360 sail, and was much better manned than
that of the Romans. The two fleets met near Ecno-
mus, a promontory in Sicily; where, after a bloody
engagement, which lasted the greater part of the day,
the Carthaginians were entirely defeated, with the
loss of 30 galleys sunk, and 63 taken, with all their
men.
<4
66
Cartkagi-
nians in
great con¬
sternation.
c 67
Success of
Regulus.
CAR
Caiihage. men. The Romans lost only 24 galleys, which were
v~~ "-1 all sunk.—After this victory, the Romans having re¬
fitted their fleet, set sail for the coast of Africa with
all expedition. The first land they got sight of was
Cape Hermea, where the fleet lay at anchor for some
time, w'aiting till the galleys and transports came up.
From thence they coasted along till they arrived before
Clupea, a city to the east of Carthage, where they
made their first descent.
No words can express the consternation of the Car¬
thaginians on the arrival of the Romans in Africa.
The inhabitants of Clupea were so terrified, that, ac¬
cording to Zonaras, they abandoned the place, which
the Romans immediately took possession of. Having
left there a strong garrison to secure their shipping,
and keep the adjacent territory in awe, they moved
nearer Carthage, taking a great number of towns ;
they likewise plundered a prodigious number of vil¬
lages, laid vast numbers of noblemen’s seats in ashes,
and took above 20,000 prisoners. In short, having
plundered and ravaged the whole country, almost to
the gates of Carthage, they returned to Clupea loaded
with the immense booty they had acquired in the ex¬
pedition.
The tenth year, Regulus pushed on his conquests
with great rapidity. To oppose his progress, Hamil-
car was recalled from Sicily, and with him Bostar and
Asdrubal were joined in command. Hamilcar com¬
manded an army just equal to that of Regulus. The
other two commanded separate bodies, which were
to join him or act apart as occasion required. But,
before they were in a condition to take the field, Re¬
gulus, pursuing his conquests, arrived on the banks of
the Bagrada, a river which empties itself into the sea
at a small distance from Carthage. Here he had a
monstrous serpent to contend with, which, according
to the accounts of those days, infected the waters of
the river, poisoned the air, and killed all other ani¬
mals with its breath alone. , When the Romans went
to draw water, this huge dragon attacked them ; and
twisting itself round their .bodies, either squeezed them
to death, or swallowed them alive. As its hard and
thick scales were proof against their darts and arrows,
they were forced to have recourse to the balistae, which
they made use of in sieges to throw great stones, and
to beat down the walls of besieged cities. With these
they discharged showers of huge stones against this
new enemy, and had the good luck with one of them,
to break his back-bone j which disabled him from
twisting and winding his immense body, and by that
means gave the Romans an opportunity of approaching
and dispatching him with their darts. But his dead
body corrupted the air and the water of the river; and
spread so great an infection over the whole country,
that the Romans were obliged to decamp. We are told
that Regulus sent to Rome the skin of this monster,
which was 120 feet long 5 and that it was hung up in
a temple, where it was preserved to the time of the Nu-
mantine war.
Defeats the Having passed this river, he besieged Adis, or Adda,
Carthagi- not far from Carthage, which the enemy attempted
to relieve 5 but as they lay encamped among hills and
rocks, where their elephants, in which the main strength
of their army consisted, could be of no use, Regulus
attacked them in their camp, killed 17,000 of them,
3
68
He kills a
monstrous
serpent.
mans
[ 208 ] CAR
and took 5000 prisoners, and 18 elephants. Upon Cartha
the fame of this victory, deputations came from all w
quarters, insomuch that the conqueror in a few days
became master of 80 towns : among which were the
city and port of Utica. This increased the alarm atandredi
Carthage; which was reduced to despair, when Re-cesttan
gulus laid siege to Tunis, a great city about nine milesto t^le,11
from the capital. The place was taken in sight of thepairi 1:1
Carthaginians, who, from their walls, beheld all the
operations of the siege, without making the least at¬
tempt to relieve it. And to complete their misfor¬
tunes, the Numidians, their neighbours, and impla¬
cable enemies, entered their territories, committing
every where the most dreadful devastations, which soon
occasioned a great scarcity of provisions in the city.
The public magazines were soon exhausted ; and, as
the city was full of selfish merchants, who took advan¬
tage of the public distress, to sell provisions at an ex¬
orbitant price, a famine ensued, with all the evils which
attend it. ^
In this extremity Regulus advanced to the very His proj
gates of Carthage; and, having encamped under thesa'sof
walls, sent deputies to treat of a peace with the se-Peace,lf
nate. The deputies were received with inexpressible^6
joy ; but the conditions they proposed were such that
the senate could not hear them without the greatest
indignation. They were, 1. That the Carthaginians
should relinquish all claims to Sardinia, Corsica, and
Sicily. 2. That they should restore to the Romans
all the prisoners they had taken from them since the
beginning of the war. 3. That if they cared to re¬
deem any of their own prisoners, they should pay so
much a head for them as Rome should judge reason¬
able. 4. That they should for ever pay the Romans
an annual tribute. 5. That for the future they should
fit out but one man of war for their own use, and 50
triremes to serve in the Roman fleet, at the expence
of Carthage, when required by any of the future con¬
suls. These extravagant demands provoked the se¬
nators, who loudly and unanimously rejected them ;
the Roman deputies, however, told them that Regu¬
lus would not alter a single letter of the proposals,
and that they must either conquer the Romans or obey
them.
In this extreme distress, some mercenaries arrivedXanthipj
from Greece, among whom was a Lacedemonian, byaPPoilltt
name Xanthippus, a man of great valour and ex peri-
ence in war. This man having informed himself ofcartiiag
the circumstances of the late battle, declared publicly, nianara
that their overthrow was more owing to their own
misconduct than to the superiority of the enemy. This
discourse being spread abroad, came at last to the
knowledge of the senate ; and by them, and -even by
the desire of the Carthaginian generals themselves,
Xanthippus was appointed commander in chief of their
forces. His first care was to discipline his troops in
a proper manner. He taught them how to march, en¬
camp, widen and close their ranks, and rally after the
Lacedemonian manner under their proper colours.
He then took the field with 12,000 foot, 4000 horse,
and 100 elephants. The Romans were surprised at
the sudden alteration they observed in the enemy’s
conduct; but Regulus, elated with his last success,
came and encamped at a small distance from the Car¬
thaginian army in a vast plain, where their elephants
and
CAR [ 209 ] CAR
c mge. and horse had room to act. The two armies were
parted by a river, which Regulus boldly passed, by
which means he left no room for a retreat in case of
? any misfortune. The engagement began with great
Th t°- fury 5 but ended in the total defeat of the Romans,
ma ut- wj10> exCept 2000 that escaped to Clupea, were all
f6* ^and hilled or taken prisoners, and among the latter was
i’us Regulus himself. The loss of the Carthaginians scarce
taki. exceeded 8oo men.
The Carthaginians remained on the field of battle
till they had stripped the slain ; and then entered their
]. metropolis, which was almost the only place left them,
He cruel-in great triumph. They treated all their prisoners
ty' h with great humanity, except Regulus ; but as for him,
he had so insulted them in his prosperity, that they
could not forbear showing the highest marks of their
resentment. According to Zonaras and others, he
was thrown into a dungeon, where he had only suste¬
nance allowed him barely sufficient to keep him alive.
Nay, his cruel masters, to heighten his other torments,
ordered a huge elephant (at the sight of which ani¬
mal, it seems, he was greatly terrified) to be constantly
placed near him $ which prevented him from enjoying
, any tranquillity or repose.
Ca agini- The eleventh year of this war, the Carthaginians,
sit!meat- elated with their victory over Regulus, began to talk
** sca in a very high strain, threatening Italy itself with an
*" in ' invasion. To prevent this, the Romans took care to
garrison all their maritime towns, and fitted out a new
fleet. In the mean time, the Carthaginians besieged
Clupea and Utica in vain, being obliged to abandon
their enterprise upon hearing that the Romans were
equipping a fleet of 350 sail. The Carthaginians hav¬
ing with incredible expedition refitted their old ves¬
sels, and built a good number of new ones, met the
Roman fleet off Cape Hermea. An engagement en¬
sued, in which the Carthaginians were utterly defeat¬
ed j 104 of their ships being sunk, 30 taken, and 15,000
of their soldiers and rowers killed in the action. The
Romans pursued their course to Clupea, where they
were no sooner landed, than they found themselves
attacked by the Carthaginian army, under the two
Hannos, father and son. But, as the brave Xanthip-
pus no longer commanded their army, notwithstanding
the Lacedemonian discipline he had introduced among
them, they were routed at the very first onset, with
the loss of 9000 men, and among them many of their
6 chief lords.
Ri ms Notwithstanding all their victories, however, the
at doa° ^omans f°und themselves now obliged, for want of
Ai a provisions, to evacuate both Clupea and Utica, and
abandon Africa altogether. Being desirous of signa¬
lizing the end of their consulate by some important
conquest in Sicily, the consuls steered for that island,
contrary to the advice of their pilots, who represented
their danger, on account of the season being so far ad¬
vanced. Their obstinacy proved the destruction of
7 the whole fleet j for a violent storm arising, out of
r fleet 370 vessels only 80 escaped shipwreck, the rest being
ed^b" 8wa^owed UP by the sea, or dashed against the rocks.
a lnu y This was by far the greatest loss that Rome had ever
sustained ; for besides the ships that were cast away
with their crews, a numerous army was destroyed,
with all the riches of Africa, which had been by Re¬
gulus amassed and deposited in Clupea, and were now
Vql. Y. Part I. f
from thence transporting to Rome. The whole coast Carthage,
from Pachinum to Camerina was covered with dead '“““v
bodies and wrecks of ships 5 so that history can scarce
afford an example of such a dreadful disaster.
The twelfth year, the Carthaginians hearing of this
misfortune of the Romans, renewed the war in Sicily
with fresh fury, hoping the whole island, which was
now left defenceless, would fall into their hands. Cai’-
thalo, a Carthaginian commander, besieged and took
Agrigentum. The town he laid in ashes, and demo-Agrigen-
lished the walls, obliging the inhabitants to fly totuni taken
Olympium. Upon the news of this success, Asdrubal ^
was sent to Sicily with a large reinforcement of troops, tjie (jartha.
and 150 elephants. They likewise fitted out a squa-ginians.
dron, with which they retook the island of Corcyra,
and marched a strong body of forces into Mauritania
and Numidia, to punish the people of those countries
for showing a disposition to join the Romans. In Si¬
cily the Romans possessed themselves of Cephalodium
and Panormus, but were obliged by Carthalo to raise
the siege of Drepanum with great loss. 79
The 13th year, the Romans sent out a fleet of 260 The Ro-
galleys, which appeared oft’ Lilybaeum in Sicily ; but™^®^^1
finding this place too strong, they steered from thence
to the eastern coast of Africa, where they made seve¬
ral descents, surprised some cities, and plundered seve- 80
ral towns and villages. They arrived safe at Panormus, Which is
and in a few days set sail for Italy, having a fair windaSain
till they came off Cape Palinurus, where so violent asUo*C(‘
storm overtook them, that 160 of their galleys and a
great number of their transports were lost •, upon which
the Roman senate made a decree, that for the future
no more than 50 vessels should be equipped ; and that
these should be employed only in guarding the coast of
Italy, and transporting the troops into Sicily.
The 14th year, the Romans made themselves mas¬
ters of Himera and Lipara in Sicily j and the Car¬
thaginians conceiving new hopes of conquering that
island, began to make fresh levies in Gaul and Spain,
and to equip a new fleet. But their treasures being
exhausted, they applied to Ptolemy king of Egypt,
intreating him to lend them 2000 talents: but he, be¬
ing resolved to stand neuter, refused to comply with
their request; telling them that he could not, with¬
out breach of fidelity, assist one friend against another.
However, the republic of Carthage making an effort,
equipped a fleet of 200 sail, and raised an army of
30,000 men, horse and foot, and 140 elephants, ap¬
pointing Asdrubal commander in chief both of the
fleet and army. The Romans, then, finding the great They lit
advantages of a fleet, resolved to equip one, not-outanu-
withstanding all former disasters j and while the ves-t,ier*
sels were building, two consuls were chosen, men of
valour and experience, to supersede the acting ones
in Sicily. Metellus, however, one of the former
consuls, being continued with the title of proconsul,
found means to draw Asdrubal into a battle on disad¬
vantageous terms near Panormus, and then sallying gz
out upon him, gave him a most terrible overthrow. Carthagini-
Twenty thousand of the enemy were killed, andan* utt®r,y
many elephants. A hundred and foiA elephantsde ta e
were taken with their leaders, and sent to Rome,
where they were hunted and put to death in the
circus.
The 15th year, the Romans besieged Lilybasum;
D d and
CAR
[
mans.
8?
A Roman
fleet utter¬
ly destroy¬
ed by a
storm.
SS
Hatnilcar
Carthage, and the siege continued during the rest of the first
1   ' Punic war, and was the only thing remarkable that
s3 happened during that time*. The Carthaginians,
besieged byon ^ie ^rs*' nevvs ^t3 being besieged, sent Regulus
the Ro. with some deputies to Rome to treat of a peace } but,
mans, instead of forwarding the negotiation, he hindered it :
-ee^ and notwithstanding he knew the torments prepared
' m' for h im at Carthage, could not be prevailed upon to
stay at Rome, but returning to his enemies country,
84 was put to a most cruel death. During this siege,
J hey are the Roman fleet under Claudius Fulcher was utterly de-
seaTy'the*’ feated by Adherbal the Carthaginian admiral. Ninety
Carthagi- ^‘e Roman galleys were lost in the action, 8000 of
their men either killed or drowned, and 20,000 taken
and sent prisoners to Carthage j and the Carthaginians
gained this signal victory without the loss of a single
ship, or even a single man. Another Roman fleet met
with a still severer fate. It consisted of 120 galleys,
800 transports, and was laden with all sorts of military
stores and provisions. Every one of these vessels was
lost by a storm, with all they contained, not a single
plank being saved that could be used again \ so that
the Romans found themselves once more deprived of
their whole naval force.
,, In the mean time, the Carthaginian soldiery having
into Sicily s‘,own a disposition to mutiny, the senate sent over
Hamilcar Barcas, father of the famous Hannibal, to
Sicily. He received a charte blanch from the senate
to act as he thought proper 5 and, by his excellent
conduct and resolution, showed himself the greatest
general of his age. He defended Eryx, which he had
taken by surprise, with such vigour, that the Romans
would never have been able to make themselves masters
of it, had they not fitted out a new fleet at the ex¬
pence of private citizens, which, having utterly defeat¬
ed that of the Carthaginians, Hamilcar, notwithstand-
S? ing all his valour, was obliged to yield up the place
Peace with which he had so long and so bravely defended. The
following articles of peace were immediately drawn
up between the two commanders. 1. The Carthagi¬
nians shall evacuate all the places which they have in
Sicily, and entirely quit that island. 2. They shall,
in 20 years, pay the Romans, at equal payments every
year, 2200 talents of silver, that is, 437,250]. ster-
3- ^bey shall restore the Roman captives and
deserters without ransom, and redeem their own pri¬
soners with money. 4. They shall not make war up¬
on Hiero king of Syracuse, or his allies. These articles
being agreed to, Hamilcar surrendered Eryx upon con¬
dition that all his soldiers should march out with him,
upon his paying for each of them 18 Homan denarii.
Hostages were given on both side?, and deputies were
sent to Rome to procure a ratification of the treaty
oy the senate. After the senators had thoroughly in¬
formed themselves of the state of affairs, two more ar¬
ticles were added, viz. 1. That 1000 talents should be
paid immediately, and the 2200 in the space of 10 years
at equal payments. 2. That the Carthaginians should
quit all the little islands about Italy and Sicily, and
never more come near them with ships of war, or raise
mercenaries in those places. Necessity obliged Ha¬
milcar to consent to these terms 5 but he returned to
Carthage with a hatred to the Romans which he did
not even suffer to die with him, but transmitted to his
son the great Hannibal.
1
the Ro
mans.
10 ] CAR
The Carthaginians were no sooner got cut of this
bloody and expensive war than they found themselves
engaged in another, which was like to have proved fatal &S I
to them. It is called by ancient historians the Z/-Gau'cso|
hyan war, or the war with the mercenaries. The prin- ^]]wai'
cipal occasion of it was, that when Hamilcar returnedm«ee!a
to Carthage, he found the republic so much impove-ries.
risked, that, far from being able to give these troops
the largesses and rewards promised them, it could not
pay them their arrears. He had committed the care
of transporting them to one Gisco, who, being an offi¬
cer of great penetration, as though he had foreseen
what would happen, did not ship them off all at once,
but in small and separate parties, that those who came
first might be paid off and sent home before the arrival
of the rest. The Carthaginians at home, however, did
not act with the same prudence. As the state was al¬
most entirely exhausted by the late war, and the im¬
mense sum of money, in consequence of the peace, paid
to the Romans, they judged it would be a laudable ac¬
tion to save something to the public. They did not
therefore pay off the mercenaries in proportion as they
arrived, thinking it more proper to wait till they
all came together, with a view of obtaining some
remission of their arrears. But, being soon made sen¬
sible of their wrong conduct on this occasion, by
the frequent disorders these barbarians committed in
the city, they with some difficulty prevailed upon
the officers to take up their quarters at Sicca, and
canton their troops in that neighbourhood. To in¬
duce them to this, however, they gave them a sum
of money for their present subsistence, and promised
to comply with their pretensions when the remainder
of their troops arrived from Sicily. Here, being whol¬
ly immersed in idleness, to which they had long been
strangers, a neglect of discipline ensued, and of course
a petulant and licentious spirit immediately took place.
I hey were now determined not to acquiesce in receiv¬
ing their bare pay, but to insist upon the rewards Ha¬
milcar had promised them, and even to compel the
state of Carthage to comply with their demands by
force of arms. The senate being informed of the mu-jHL
tinous disposition of the soldiery, dispatched Planno, conduct!
one of the suffetes, to pacify them. Upon his ar-Hanno. I
rival at Sicca, he expatiated largely upon the pover¬
ty of the state, and the heavy taxes with which the
citizens of Carthage were loaded j and therefore, in¬
stead of answering their high expectations, he desired
them to be satisfied with receiving part of their pay, and
remit the remainder to serve the pressing exigencies of
the republic. I he mercenaries being highly provoked,
that neither Hamilcar, nor any other of the principal
officers, who commanded them in Sicily, and were
the best judges of their merit, made their appearance
on this occasion, but only Hanno, a person utterly
unknown, and above all others utterly disagreeable td
them, immediately had recourse to arms. Assembling
therefore in a body, to the number of 20,000, they ad¬
vanced to jl unis, and immediately encamped before that
city.
I he Carthaginians, being greatly alarmed at the
approach of so formidable a body to Tunis, made
large concessions to the mercenaries, in order to bring
them back to their duty ; but, far from being soften-
ed, they grew more insolent upon these concessions,
taking
<>. «*; <'
CAR
taking tliem for the effects of fear
[ 2
, and therefore
were altogether averse to thoughts of accommoda¬
tion. The Carthaginians, making a virtue of ne¬
cessity, showed a disposition to satisfy them in all
points, and agreed to refer themselves to the opinion
of some general in Sicily, which they had all along
desired ; leaving the choice of such commander entire¬
ly to them. Cisco was accordingly pitched upon to
mediate this affair, the mercenaries believing Hamilcar
to have been a principal cause of the ill treatment they
met with, since he never appeared amongst them, and,
according to the general opinion, had voluntarily re¬
signed his commission. Cisco soon arrived at Tunis
with money to pay the troops j and, after conferring
with the officers of the several nations, apart, he ha¬
rangued them in such a manner, that a treaty was
upon the point of being concluded, when Spendius and
Mathos, two of the principal mutineers, occasioned a
tumult in every part of the camp. Spendius was by
nation a Campanian, who had been a slave at Rome,
and had fled to the Carthaginians. The apprehen¬
sions he was under of being delivered to his old master,
by whom he was sure to be hanged or crucified,
prompted him to break oft* the accommodation. Ma¬
thos was an African, and free born ; but as he had
been active in raising the rebellion, and was well ac¬
quainted with the implacable disposition of the Car¬
thaginians, he knew that a peace must infallibly prove
his ruin. He therefore joined with Spendius, and in¬
sinuated to the Africans the danger of concluding a
treaty at that juncture, which could not but leave them
singly exposed to the rage of the Carthaginians. This
so incensed the Africans, who were much more nu¬
merous than the troops of any other nation, that they
immediately assembled in a tumultuous manner. The
foreigners soon joined them, being inspired by Spen¬
dius with an equal degree of fury. Nothing was now
to he heard but the most horrid oaths and impre¬
cations against Cisco and the Carthaginians. Who¬
ever offered to make any remonstrance,- or lend an ear
to temperate counsels, was stoned to death by the en¬
raged multitude. Nay, many persons lost their lives
barely for attempting to speak, before it could be
known whether they were in the interest of Spendius or
the Carthaginians.
In the midst of these commotions, Cisco behaved
with great firmness and intrepidity. He left no me¬
thods untried to soften the officers and calm the
minds of the soldiery ; hut the torrent of sedition was
now so strong, that there was no possibility of keeping
it within bounds. They therefore seized upon the
military chest, dividing the money among themselves
in part of their arrears, put the person of Cisco under
an arrest, and treated him as well as his attend¬
ants with the utmost indignity. Mathos and Spen¬
dius, to destroy the remotest hopes of an accommo¬
dation with Carthage, applauded the courage and reso¬
lution of their men, loaded the unhappy Cisco and
,!’'^ce'his followers with irons, and formally declared war
' war a§ainst ffie Carthaginians. All the cities of Africa,
to whom they had sent deputies to exhort them to
recover their liberty, soon came over to them, ex¬
cept Utica and Hippo Diarrhytus. By this means,
their army being greatly increased, they divided it
into two parts, with one of which they moved to-
90
ii ] CAR
wards Utica, whilst the other marched to Hippo, in Carthage,
order to besiege both places. The Carthaginians, in ——v—
the mean time, found themselves ready to sink under
the pressure of their misfortunes. After they had
been harassed 24 years by a most cruel and destruc¬
tive foreign war, they entertained some hopes of en¬
joying repose. The citizens of Carthage drew their
particular subsistence from the rents or revenues of
their lands, and the public expences from the tribute
paid from Africa ; all which they were not only de¬
prived of at once, but, what was worse, had it directly
turned against them. They were destitute of arms
and forces either by sea or land j had made no prepa¬
rations for the sustaining of a siege, or the equip¬
ping of a fleet. They suffered all the calamities inci¬
dent to the most ruinous civil war j and, to complete
their misery, had not the least prospect of receiving
assistance from any foreign friend or ally. Notwith¬
standing their deplorable situation, however, they did
not despond, but pursued all the measures necessary to
put themselves into a posture of defence. Hanno was
appointed commander in chief of all their forces ; and
the most strenuous efforts were made, not only to repel
all the attempts of the mutineers, but even to reduce
them by force of arms.
In the mean time Mathos and Spendius laid siege
to Utica and Hippacra at once } but as they were
carried on by detachments drawn from the army for
that purpose, they remained with the main body of
their forces at Tunis, and thereby cut off all commu¬
nication betwixt Carthage and the continent of Afri¬
ca. By this means the capital was kept in a kind of
blockade. The Africans likewise harassed them by
perpetual alarms, advancing to the very walls of Car¬
thage by day as well as by night, and treating with
the utmost cruelty every Carthaginian that fell into
their hands. pi
Hapno was dispatched to the relief of Utica with They are
a good body of forces, 100 elephants, and a large defealedsby
train of battering engines. Having taken a view 0f^anIlu’
the enemy, he immediately attacked their intrench-
ments, and after an obstinate dispute forced them.
The mercenaries lost a vast number of men ; and con¬
sequently the advantages gained by Hanno were so
great, that they might have proved decisive, had he
made a proper use of them : but becoming secure af- pa
ter his victory, and his troops being everywhere offHeisinhis
their duty, the mercenaries, having rallied their for.^u1-11 ^e^eat“
ces, fell upon him, cut off many of his men, forced the
rest to fly into the town, retook and plundered the
camp, and seized all the provisions, military stores, &c.
brought to the relief of the besieged. Nor was this
the only instance of Hanno’s military incapacity.
Notwithstanding he lay encamped in the most advan¬
tageous manner near a town called Gorza, at which
place he twice overthrew the enemy, and had it in his
power to have totally ruined them, he yet neglected to
improve those advantages, and even suffered the merce¬
naries to possess themselves of the isthmus which join¬
ed the peninsula on which Carthage stood, to the con¬
tinent of Africa. ^ 93
These repeated mistakes induced the Carthaginians
once more to place Hamilcar Barcas at the head ofp0jnt.ej to
their forces. He marched against the enemy with command
10,000 men, horse and foot, being all the troops theag^ns*
D d 2 Carthaginians
Iticm,
CAR [ i
Carthage. Carthaginians could then assemble for their defence 5
^ a full proof of the low state to which they were at that
time reduced. As Mathos, after he had possessed
himself of the isthmus, had posted proper detachments
in twm passes on two hills facing the continent, and
guarded the bridge over the Bagrada, which through
Hanno’s neglect he had taken, Hamilcar saw little
probability of engaging him upon equal terms, or in¬
deed of coming at him. Observing, however, that
on the blowing of certain winds, the mouth ol the ri¬
ver was choked up with sand, so as to become pas¬
sable, though with no small difficulty, as long as these
winds continued ; he halted for some time at the
river’s mouth, without communicating his design to
any person. As soon as the wind favoured his intend¬
ed project, he passed the river privately by night, and
immediately after his passage, he drew up the troops
in order of battle; and advancing into the plain where
his elephants were capable of acting, moved towards
Mathos who was posted at the village near the bridge.
This daring action greatly surprised and intimidated
the Africans. However, Spendius receiving intelli¬
gence of the enemy’s motions, drew a body of 10,000
men out of Mathos’s camp, with which he attended
Hamilcar on one side, and ordered 15,000 from Utica
to observe him on the other, thinking by this means to
surround the Carthaginians, and cut them all off at one
He defeats stroke. By feigning a retreat, Hamilcar found means
to engage them at a disadvantage, and gave them a
total overthrow7, with the loss of 6000 killed and
2000 taken prisoners. The rest fled, some to the
town at the bridge, and others to the camp at Utica.
He did not give them time to recover from their de¬
feat, but pursued them to the tow'n near the bridge
before mentioned ; which he entered without opposi¬
tion, the mercenaries flying in great confusion to Tu¬
nis $ and upon this many towns submitted of their own
accord to the Carthaginians, whilst others were redu¬
ced by force.
Notwithstanding these disasters, Mathos pushed on
the siege of Hippo with great vigeur, and appointed
Spendius and Autaritus, commanders of the Gauls, with
a strong body to observe the motions of Hamilcar.
These two commanders, therefore, at the head of a
choice detachment of 6000 men drawn out of the
camp at Tunis, and 2000 Gallic horse, attended the
Carthaginian general, approaching him as near as
they could with safety, and keeping close to the skirts
of the mountains. At last Spendius, having received
a strong reinforcement of Africans and Numidians,
and possessing himself of all the heights surrounding
the plain in which Hamilcar lay encamped, resolved
not to let slip so favourable an opportunity of attack¬
ing him. Had a battle now ensued, Hamilcar and
his army must in all probability have been cut off5
but, by the desertion of one Naravasus, a young Nu-
midian nobleman, with 2000 men, he found himself
enabled to offer his enemies battle. The fight was
obstinate and bloody} but at last the mercenaries w'ere
entirely overthrown, with the loss of 10,000 men kill¬
ed and 4000 taken prisoners. All the prisoners that
were willing to enlist in the Carthaginian service Ha¬
milcar received among his troops, supplying them with
the arms of the soldiers who had fallen in the engage¬
ment. To the rest be gave full liberty to go where
Carthaj,
95
Mercena¬
ries again
defeated.
96
12 ] C A , R
they pleased, upon Condition that they should never
for the future bear arms against the Carthaginians;
informing them, at the same time, however, that as
many violators of this agreement as fell into his hands
must expect to find no mercy.
Mathos and his associates, fearing that this affected
lenity of Hamilcar might occasion a defection among
the troops, thought that the best expedient would be
to put them upon some action, so execrable in its na¬
ture that no hopes of reconciliation might remain. By PM
their advice, therefore, Gisco, and all the Carthagi-^^
nian prisoners were put to death j and when Hamil-g;njan ^
car sent to demand the remains of his countrymen, hesoners.
received for answer, that whoever presumed hereafter
to come upon that errand, should meet with Cisco’s
fate : after which they came to a resolution to treat
with the same barbarity all such Carthaginians as
should fall into their hands. In return for this enor¬
mity, Hamilcar threw all the prisoners that fell into
his hands to be devoured by wild beasts; being con¬
vinced that compassion served only to make his enemies
more fierce and untractable.
The war was now carried on generally to the ad¬
vantage of the Carthaginians $ nevertheless, the male-
contents still found themselves in a capacity to take
the field with an army of 50,000 men. They watch¬
ed Hamilcar’s motions, but kept on the hills, care¬
fully avoiding to come down into the plains, on ac¬
count of the Numidian horse and Carthaginian ele¬
phants. Hamilcar, being much superior in skill to
any of their generals, at last shut them up in a post,
so situated, that it was impossible to get out of it. Here
be kept them strictly besieged : and the mercenaries,
not daring to venture a battle, began to fortify their
camp, and surrounded it with ditches and intrenchments. ^
They were soon pressed by famine so sorely, that they They an
were obliged to eat one another : but they were driven besieged
desperate by the consciousness of their guilt, and there-Hamilca
fore did not desire any terms of accommodation. At
last being reduced to the utmost extremity of misery,
they insisted that Spendius, Autaritus, and Zarxas,
their leaders, should in person have a conference with
Hamilcar, and make proposals to him. Peace was ac¬
cordingly concluded upon the following terms, viz.
That ten of the ringleaders of the malecontents should
be left entirely to the mercy of the Carthaginians, and
that the troops should all be disarmed, every man re¬
tiring only in a single coat. The treaty was no sooner
concluded, than Hamilcar, by virtue of the first article,
seized upon the negotiators themselves ; and the army
being informed that their chiefs were under arrest, had
immediately recourse to arms, as suspecting they were
betrayed j but Hamilcar, drawing out his army in order
of battle, surrounded them, and either cut them to 9S
pieces, or trod them to death with his elephants. The40,0021
number of wretches who perished on this occasiont!ienl
amounted to above 40,000. s r y •
After the destruction of the army, Hamilcar in¬
vested lunis, whither Mathos had retired with all
his remaining forces. Hamilcar had another general,
named Hannibal, joined in the command with him.
Hannibal’s quarters was on the road leading to Car¬
thage, and Hamilcar on the opposite side. The
army was no sooner encamped, than Hamilcar caused
Spendius, and the rest of the prisoners, to be led oufe
CAR
[ 21
Ca iage.
9 ,
Ha ibal
tah and
cru e<^ by
JR >s.
DO
M ios en.
ti« de-
fe d and
ta i pri-
«o|.
OI
H dlcar’s
s< me to
e' ,1 Car-
tl ewith
to*
I death.
in the view of the besieged, and crucified near the
walls. Mathos, however, observing that Hannibal did
not keep so good a guard as he ought to have done,
made a sally, attacked his quarters, killed many of his
men, took several prisoners, among whom was Hanni¬
bal himself, and plundered his camp. Taking the
body of Spendius from the cross, Mathos immediately
substituted Hannibal in its room •, and 30 Carthagi¬
nian prisoners of distinction were crucified around him.
Upon this disaster, Hamilcar immediately decamped,
and posted himself along the sea coast, near the mouth
of the river Bagrada.
The senate, though greatly terrified by this unex¬
pected blow, omitted no means necessary for their pre¬
servation. They sent 30 senators, with Hanno at
their head, to consult with Hamilcar about the pro¬
per measures for putting an end to this unnatural
war, conjuring, in the most pressing manner, Hanno
to be reconciled to Hamilcar, and to sacrifice his pri¬
vate resentment to the public benefit. This, with some
difficulty, was effected ; and the two generals came
to a full resolution to act in concert for the good of
the public. The senate, at the same time, ordered
all the youth capable of bearing arms to be pressed
into the service : by which means a strong reinforce¬
ment being sent to Hamilcar, he soon found himself
in a condition to act offensively. He now defeated
the enemy in all rencounters, drew Mathos into fre¬
quent ambuscades, and gave him one notable overthrow
near Leptis. This reduced the rebels to the necessity
of hazarding a decisive battle, which proved fatal to
them. The mercenaries fled almost at the first onset *,
most of their army fell in the field of battle, and in the
pursuit. Mathos, with a few, escaped to a neighbour¬
ing town, where he was taken alive, carried to Car¬
thage, and executed ; and then by the reduction of the
revolted cities an end was put to this war, which, from
the excesses of cruelty committed in it, according to
Polybius, went among the Greeks by the name of the
inexpiable war.
During the Libyan war, the Romans, upon some
absurd pretences, wrested the island of Sardinia from
the Carthaginians ; which the latter, not being able to
resist, were obliged to submit to. Hamilcar, finding
his country not in a condition to enter into an imme¬
diate war with Rome, formed a scheme to put it on a
level with that haughty republic. This was by making
an entire conquest of Spain, by which means the Car¬
thaginians might have troops capable of coping with
the Romans. In order to facilitate the execution of
this scheme, he inspired both his son-in-law Asdrubal,
and his son Hannibal with an implacable aversion to
the Romans, as the great opposers of his country’s
grandeur. Having completed all the necessary prepa¬
rations, Hamilcar, after having greatly enlarged the
Carthaginian dominions in Africa, entered Spain,
where he commanded nine years, during which time
he subdued many warlike nations, and amassed an im¬
mense quantity of treasure, which he distributed partly
amongst his troops, and partly amongst the great men
at Carthage 5 by which means he supported his inte¬
rests with these twfo powerful bodies. At last, he was
killed in a battle, and was succeeded by his son-in-law
Asdrubal. This general fully answered the expecta¬
tions of his countrymen $ greatly enlarged their domi-
3 ] CAR
nions in Spain *, and built the city of New Carthage, Carthage,
now Carthagena. He made such progress in his con- »
quests that the Romans began to grow jealous. They
did not, however, choose at present to come to an open
rupture, on account of the apprehensions they were
under of an invasion from the Gauls. rIhey judged
it most proper, therefore, to have recourse to milder
methods j and prevailed upon Asdrubal to conclude a IC,
new treaty with them. 1 he articles of it were, Asdrubal’s
1. That the Carthaginians should not pass the Iberus. treaty with
2. That the Saguntines, a colony ol Zacynthians, |nd
a city situated between the Iberus and that part of
Spain subject to the Carthaginians, as well as the other
GreeJc colonies there, should enjoy their ancient rights
and privileges. > > 104
Asdrubal, after having governed the Carthaginian He is mur-
dominions in Spain for eight years, was treacherously dered.
murdered by a Gaul, whose master he had put to death.
Three years before this happened, he had written to
Carthage, to desire that young Hannibal, then twenty-
two years of age, might be sent to him. This request
was complied with, notwithstanding the opposition ot
Hanno: and, from the first arrival of the young man
in the camp, he became the darling of the whole army.
The great resemblance he bore to Hamilcar rendered
him extremely agreeable to the troops. Every ta¬
lent and qualification he seemed to possess, that con¬
tribute towards forming a great man. After the death
of Asdrubal, he was saluted general by the army with io^
the highest demonstration of joy. He immediately Succeeded
put himself in motion j and in the first campaign con-by Hanni-
quered the Olcades, a nation seated near ^ie ^^er.us’
The next year he subdued the Vaccsei, another nation ^011<iaests
in that neighbourhood. Soon alter, the Carpaetani, jn <jpain>
one of the most powerful nations in Spain, declared
against the Carthaginians. Their army consisted of
100,000 men, with which they proposed to attack Han¬
nibal on his return from the Vaccsei; but by a strata¬
gem they were utterly defeated, and the whole nation
obliged to submit.
Nothing now remained to oppose the progress of
the Carthaginian arms but the city of Saguntum.
Hannibal, however, for some time, did not think pro¬
per to come to a rupture with the Romans by attack¬
ing that place. At last he found means to embroil 10(J
some of the neighbouring cantons, especially the I ur-He attacks
detani, or, as Appian calls them, the Torboletce, with Saguntuuu
the Saguntines, and thus furnished himself with a pre¬
tence to attack their city. Upon the commencement
of the siege, the Roman senate dispatched two am¬
bassadors to Hannibal, with orders to proceed to Car¬
thage, in case the general refused to give them satisfac¬
tion. They were scarcely landed, when Hannibal, who
was carrying on the siege ot Saguntum with great
vigour, sent them word that he had something else to
do than to give audience to ambassadors. At last,
however, he admitted them : and, in answer to their
remonstrances, told them, that the Saguntines had
drawn their misfortunes upon themselves, by commit¬
ting hostilities against the allies of Carthage j and at
the same time desired the deputies, if they had any
complaints to make of him, to carry them to the se¬
nate of Carthage. On their arrival in that capital,
they demanded that Hannibal might be delivered up
to the Romans to be punished according to his deserts;
and-
CAR [2
Carthage, and this not being complied with, war was immediately
declared between the two nations.
The Saguntines are said to have defended them¬
selves for eight months with incredible bravery. At
last, however, the city was taken, and the inhabitants
were treated with the utmost cruelty. After this con¬
quest, Hannibal put his African troops into winter
quarters at New Carthage ; but, in order to gain their
affection, he permitted the Spaniards to retire to their
io3 respective liomes.
Fte sets out The next campaign, having taken the necessary
for Italy, measures for securing Africa and Spain, he passed the
Iberus, subdued all the nations betwixt that river and
the Pyrenees, appointed Hanuo commander of all the
new conquered district, and immediately began his
march for Italy. Upon mustering his forces, after
they had been weakened by sieges, desertion, morta¬
lity, and a detachment of io,coo foot and 1000 horse,
left with Hanno to support him in his new post, he
found them to amount to 50,000 foot and 9000 horse,
all veteran troops, and the best in the world. As
they had left their heavy baggage with Hanno, and
were all light-armed, Hannibal easily crossed the
Pyrenees; passed by lluscino, a frontier town of the
Gauls, and arrived on the banks of the Phone with¬
out opposition. This river he passed, notwithstand¬
ing of some opposition from the Gauls j and was for
some time in doubt whether he should advance to
engage the Romans, who, under Scipio, were bending
their march that way, or continue his march for Italy,
But to the latter he was soon determined by the ar¬
rival of Magilus, prince of the Boii, who brought rich
presents with him, and offered to conduct the Cartha¬
ginian army over the AJps. Nothing could have hap¬
pened more favourable to Hannibal’s affairs than the
arrival of this prince, since there was no room to doubt
the sincerity of his intentions. For the Boii bore an
implacable enmity to the Romans, and had even come
to an open rupture with them, upon the first news that
Italy was threatened with an invasion from the Cartha¬
ginians.
It is not known with certainty where Hannibal
began to ascend the Alps. As soon as he began his
march, the petty kings of the country assembled their
forces in great numbers ; and, taking possession of the
eminences over which the Carthaginians must necessa¬
rily pass, they continued harassing them, and were no
sooner driven from one eminence than they seized on
another, disputing every foot of land with the enemy,
and destroyed great numbers of them by the advan¬
tage they had of the ground. Hannibal, however,
having found means to possess himself of an advanta¬
geous post, defeated and dispersed the enemy, and
soon after took their capital city ; where he found the
prisoners, horses, &c. that had before fallen into the
hands of the enemy, and likewise corn sufficient to
serve the army for three days. At last, after a most
fatiguing march of nine days, he arrived at the top of
the mountains. Here he encamped, and halted two
days, to give his wearied troops some repose, and to
wait for the stragglers. As the snow had lately fallen
in great plenty, and covered the ground, this sight ter¬
rified the Africans and Spaniards, who were much af¬
fected with the cold. In order, therefore, to encourage
them, the Carthaginian general led them to the top of
109
He crosses
the Alps.
14 ] CAR
the highest rock on the side of Italy, and thence gave r 1
them a view of the large and fruitful plains of Insu-
bria, acquainting them that the Gauls, whose country
they saw, were ready to join them. He also pointed
out to them the place whereabout Rome stood, telling
them, that by climbing the Alps they had scaled the
walls of that rich metropolis j and, having thus ani¬
mated his troops, he decamped, and began to descend
the mountains. The difficulties they met with in their
descent were much greater than those that had occur¬
red while they ascended. They had indeed no enemy
to contend with, except some scattered parties that
came to steal rather than to fight 5 but the deep snows,
the mountains of ice, craggy rocks, and frightful pre¬
cipices, proved more terrible than any enemy. After
they had for some days marched through narrow, steep,
and slippery ways, they came at last to a place which
neither elephants, horses, nor men could pass. The
way, which lay between two precipices, was exceeding
narrow; and the declivity, which was very steep, had
become more dangerous by the falling away of the
earth. Here the guides stopped j and the whole army
being terrified, Hannibal proposed at first to march
round about, and attempt some other way j but all
places round him being covered with snow, be found
himself reduced to the necessity of cutting a way into
the rock itself, through which his men, horses', and
elephants, might descend. This work was accom¬
plished with incredible labour 5 and then Hannibal,
having spent nine days in ascending, and six in de¬
scending the Alps, gained at length Insubria 5 and,
notwithstanding all the disasters he had met with by
the way, entered the country with all the boldness of a
conqueror.
Hannibal, on his entry into Insubria, reviewed his
army 5 when he found that of the 50,000 foot, with
whom he set out from New Carthage five months and
15 days before, he had now hut 20,000, and that his
9000 horse were reduced to 6000. His first care,
after he entered Italy, was to refresh his troops ; who,
after so long a march, and such inexpressible hardships,
looked like as many skeletons raised from the dead, or
savages born in a desert. He did not, however, suffer !
them to languish long in idleness ; but, joining the In*
suhrians, who were at war with the Taurinians, laid
siege to Taurinum, the only city in the country, and in 110
three days time became master of it, putting all whoT"'
resisted to the sword. This struck the neighbouring^
barbarians with such terror, that of their own accord
they submitted to the conqueror, and supplied his army
with all sorts of provisions.
Scipio, the Roman general, in the mean time, who
had gone in quest of Hannibal on the banks of the
Rhone, was surprised to find his antagonist had crossed
the Alps, and entered Italy. Pie therefore returned
with the utmost expedition. An engagement ensued
near the river licinus, in which the ' Romans were , 1,1
defeated. Hie immediate consequence was, that^ies^e
ucipio repassed that river, and Hannibal continued hisfeatedn
march to tne banks of the Po. Here he staid twotlieTid ;
days, beiore he could cross that river over a bridge of
boats. He then sent Mago in pursuit of the enemy,
who, having rallied their scattered forces, and repassed
the. Po, were encamped at Placentia. Afterwards
having concluded a treaty with several of the Gallic
cantons,
f" JI2
T1 are
ag i de-
fe; d.
CAR [21
f ha"e. Cifitons, he joined his brother with the rest of the
_ rL-j army, and again offered battle to the Romans : but this
they thought proper to decline ; and at last the consul
being intimidated by the desertion of a body of Gauls,
abandoned his camp, passed the Trebia, and posted him¬
self on an eminence near that river. Here he drew
lines round his camp, and waited the arrival of his col¬
league with the forces from Sicily.
Hannibal being apprised of the consul’s departure,
sent out the Numidian horse to harass him on his
march ; himself moving with the main body to sup¬
port them in case of need. The Numidians arriving
before the rear of the Roman army had quite pas¬
sed the Trebia, put to the sword or made prisoners
all the stragglers they found there. Soon after Han¬
nibal coming up, encamped in sight of the Roman
army on the opposite bank. Here having learned the
character of the consul Sempronius, lately arrived, he
soon brought him to an engagement, and entirely de¬
feated him. Ten thousand of the enemy retired to
Placentia ; but the rest were either killed or taken pri¬
soners. The Carthaginians pursued the flying Romans
as far as the Trebia, but did not think proper to repass
that river on account of the excessive cold.
Hannibal, after this action upon the Trebia, or¬
dered the Numidians, Celtiberians, and Lusitanians,
to make incursions into the Roman territories, where
they committed great devastations. During his state
of inaction, he endeavoured to win the affections of
the Gauls, and likewise of the allies of the Romans j
declaring to the Gallic and Italian prisoners, that he
had no intention of making war upon them, being de¬
termined to restore them to their liberty, and protect
them against the Romans : and to confirm them in their
good opinion of him, he dismissed them all without ran¬
som.
Next year having crossed the Apennines, and pe¬
netrated into Etruria, Hannibal received intelligence
;d near^at the new consul Flaminius lay encamped with
tl :ake the Roman army under the walls of Aretium. Hav-
tsyme- jng learned the true character of this general, that
he was of a haughty, fierce, and rash disposition,
he doubted not of being soon able to bring him to a
battle. To inflame the impetuous spirit of Flamini¬
us, the Carthaginian general took the road to Rome,
and, leaving the Roman army behind him, destroyed all
the country through which he passed with fire and
sword j and as that part of Italy abounded with all
the elegancies as well as necessaries of life, the Ro¬
mans and their allies suffered an incredible loss on
this occasion. The rash consul was inflamed with
the utmost rage on seeing the ravages committed by
the Carthaginians ; and therefore immediately ap¬
proached them with great temerity, as if certain of
victory. Hannibal in the mean time kept on, still
advancing towards Rome, having Crotona on the
left hand, and the lake Thrasymenus on the right j
and at last, having drawn Flaminius into an ambus¬
cade, entirely defeated him. The general himself,
with 15,000 of his men, fell on the field of battle.
A great number was likewise taken prisoners j and
a body of 6000 men, who had fled to a town in Etru¬
ria, surrendered to Maherbal the next day. Han¬
nibal lost only 1500 men on this occasion, most of
whom were Gauls $ though great numbers, both of
”3
y are
ly de-
5 ] CAR
his soldiers and of the Romans, died of their wounds. Carthage.
Being soon after informed that the consul Servilius had 1 —•
detached a body of 4000, or, according to Appian, ^ ^14
8000 horse from Ariminum, to reinforce his colleague t|etatiimeut
in Etruria, Hannibal sent out Maherbal, with all the cut t0
cavalry, and some of the infantry, to attack him.— piecesor
The Roman detachment consisted of chosen men, and taken,
was commanded by Centenius a patrician. Maherbal
bad the good fortune to meet with him, and after a short
dispute entirely defeated him. Two thousand of the
Romans were laid dead on the spot ; the rest, retiring
to a neighbouring eminence, were surrounded by Ma-
herbal’s forces, and obliged next day to surrender at
discretion ; and this disaster, happening within a few
days after the defeat at the lake Thrasymenus, almost
gave the finishing stroke to the Roman affairs.
The Carthaginian army was now so much troubled
with a scorbutic disorder, owing to the unwholesome
encampments they had been obliged to make, and
the morasses they had passed through, that Hannibal
found it absolutely necessary to repose them for some
time in the territory of Adria, a most pleasant and
fertile country. In his various engagements with the
Romans he had taken a great number of their arms,
with which he now armed his men after the Roman
manner. Being now likewise master of that part ol
the country bordering on the sea, he found means to
send an express to Carthage with the news ol the glo¬
rious progress of his arms. The citizens received
this news with the most joyful acclamations, at the
same time coming to a resolution to reinforce their
armies both in Italy and Spain, with a proper number of
troops. . n5
The Romans being now in the utmost consterna- Fabius
tion, named a dictator, as was their custom in times Maximus
of great danger. The person they chose to this of-1^1110^ t^c~
fice was Fabius Maximus, surnamed Verruscosus; a ‘ '
man as cool and cautious as Sempronius and Flaminius
were warm and impetuous. He set out with a design
not to engage Hannibal, but only to watch his motions
and cut off his provisions, which he knew was the most
proper way to destroy him in a country so far from
his own. Accordingly he followed him through Um¬
bria and Picenum, into the territory ol Adria, and
then through the territories of the Marucini and Fren-
tani into Apulia. When the enemy marched he fol¬
lowed them: when they encamped, he did the same j
but for the most part on eminences, and at some dis¬
tance fx’om their camp, watching all their motions, cut¬
ting off their stragglers, and keeping them in a con¬
tinual alarm. This cautious method of proceeding
greatly distressed the Carthaginians, but at the same
time raised discontents in his own army. But neither
these discontents, nor the ravages committed by Han¬
nibal, could prevail upon Fabius to alter his measures.
The former, therefore, entered Campania, one ol the
finest countries of Italy. The ravages he committed
there raised such complaints in the Roman army, that
the dictator, for fear of irritating his soldiers, was
obliged to pretend a desire of coming to an engage¬
ment. Accordingly he followed Hannibal with more
expedition than usual 5 but at the same time avoided,
under various pretences, an engagement, with more
care than the enemy sought it. Hannibal, finding he
could not by any means bring the dictator to a battle,
resolved
Carthage.
116
He is out¬
witted by
Hannibal,
117
Mimicius
in great
danger is
relieved by
Fabius.
118
The Ro¬
mans utter¬
ly defeated
at Cannae.
CAR [21
resolved to quit Campania, which he found abound¬
ing more with fruit and wine than corn, and to re¬
turn to Samnium through the pass called Erihanus.
Fabius concluding from his march that this was his
design, got there before him, and encamped on Mount
Callicula, which commanded the pass, after having
placed several bodies in all the avenues leading to it.
Hannibal was for some time at a loss what to do }
but at last contrived the following stratagem, which
Fabius could not foresee nor guard against. Being
encamped at the foot of Mount Callicula, he ordered
Asdrubal to pick out of the cattle taken in the coun¬
try 2000 of the strongest and nimblest oxen, to tie
faggots to their horns, and to have them and the
herdsmen ready without the camp. After supper,
when all was quiet, the cattle were brought in good
order to the hill, where Fabius had placed some Ro¬
man parties in ambush to stop up the pass. Upon a
signal given, the faggots on the horns of the oxen
were set on fire ; and the herdsmen, supported by
some battalions armed with small javelins, drove them
on quietly. The Romans, seeing the light of the
fires, imagined that the Carthaginians were marching
by torch light. However, Fabrus kept close in his
camp, depending on the troops he had placed in am¬
buscade $ but when the oxen, feeling the fire on their
beads, began to run up and down the hills, the Ro¬
mans in ambush thinking themselves surrounded on all
sides, and climbing the ways where they saw least
light, returned to their camp, leaving the pass open to
Hannibal. Fabius, though rallied by his soldiers for
being thus overreached by the Carthaginian, still con¬
tinued to pursue the same plan, marched directly after
Hannibal, and encamped on some eminences near him.
Soon after this, the dictator was recalled to Rome j
and as Hannibal, notwithstanding the terrible ravages
he had committed, had all along spared the lands of
Fabius, the latter was suspected of holding a secret cor¬
respondence with the enemy. In his absence, Minu-
cius, the general of the horse, gained some advantages,
which greatly tendqd to increase the discontent with
the dictator, insomuch that before his return Minu-
cius was put upon an equal footing with himself. The
general of the horse proposed that each should com¬
mand his day j but the dictator chose rather to divide
the army, hoping by that means to save at least a part
of it. Hannibal soon found means to draw Minucius
to an engagement, and by his masterly skill in laying
ambushes, the Roman general was surrounded on every
side, and would have been cut off with all his troops,
had not Fabius hastened to his assistance, and relieved
him. Then the two armies uniting, advanced in good
order to renew the fight ; but Hannibal, not caring
to venture a second action, sounded a retreat, and re¬
tired to his camp j and Minucius, being ashamed of
bis rashness, resigned the command of the army to
Fabius.
The year following the Romans augmented their
army to 87,000 men, horse and foot, under the com¬
mand of iEmilius Paulus and Terentius Varro, the
consuls for the year j and Hannibal being reduced to
the greatest straits for want of provisions, resolved to
leave Samnium, and penetrate into the heart of Apulia.
Accordingly he decamped in the night; and by leav¬
ing fires burning, and tents standing in his camp, made
6 ] CAR
the Romans believe for some time that his retreat was CanW
only feigned. When the truth was discovered, A£mi-
lius was against pursuing him ; but in this he was se¬
conded by few besides Servilius, one of the consuls of
the preceding year j Terentius and all the other officers
being obstinately bent on pursuing the enemy. They
accordingly overtook them at Cannoe, till this time an
obscure village in Apulia.* A battle ensued at this* See Can
place, as memorable as any mentioned in history; in”®-
which the Romans, though almost double in number to
the Carthaginians, were put to flight with most terrible
slaughter ; at least 45,000 of them being left dead on
the field of battle, and 10,000 taken prisoners in the
action or pursuit. The night was spent in Hannibal’s
camp in feasting and rejoicings, and next day in strip¬
ping the dead bodies of the unhappy Romans ; after
which the victorious general invested their two camps,
where he found 4000 men. II?
The immediate consequences of this victory, as Han-Consequer
nibal had foreseen, was a disposition of that part ofcesofthis
Italy called the Old Province, Magna Grecia, Taren-v*ctor^
turn, and part of the territory of £apua, to submit to
him. The neighbouring provinces likewise discovered
an inclination to shake off the Roman yoke, but want¬
ed first to see whether Hannibal was able to protect
them. His first march was into Samnium, being in¬
formed that the Hirpini and other neighbouring na¬
tions were disposed to enter into an alliance with the
Carthaginians. He advanced to Compsa, which opened
its gates to him. In this place he left his heavy bag¬
gage, as well as the immense plunder he had ac¬
quired. After which he ordered his brother Mago,
with a body of troops destined for that purpose, to pos¬
sess himself of all the fortresses in Campania, the most
delicious province of Italy. The humanity Hannibal
had all along shown the Italian prisoners, as well as
the fame of the complete victory he had lately obtain¬
ed, wrought so powerfully upon the Lucani, Bruttii,
and Apulians, that they expressed an eager desire of
being taken under his protection. Nay, even the
Campanians themselves, a nation more obliged to the
Romans than any in Italy, except the Latins, disco¬
vered an inclination to abandon their natural friends. I20
Of this the Carthaginian general receiving intelligence, Capua su
he bent his march towards Capua, not doubting but mils to
that, by means of the popular faction there, he should Rann‘1,a
easily make himself master of it; which accordingly
happened. Soon after this place had made its sub¬
mission, many cities of the Bruttii opened their gates
to Hannibal, who ordered his brother Mago to take
possession of them. Mago was then dispatched to
Carthage, with the important news of the victory at
Cannae, and the consequences attending it. Upon
his arrival there, he acquainted the senate, that Hanni- IJt
bal had defeated six Roman generals, four of whom Mago’sa
were consuls, one dictator, and the other general of count of
horse to the dictator: that he had engaged six con-Hannina
sular armies, killed two consuls, wounded one, andsUceeSS*
driven another out of the field, with scarce 50 men to
attend him : that he had routed the general of the
horse, who was of equal power with the consuls ; and
that the dictator was esteemed the only general fit to
command an army, merely because he had not the
courage to engage him ; and as a demonstrative proof
of what he advanced, he produced, according to some
authors,
CAR [ 217 ] ' CAR
Ca
Ha
sup
etc
get
met
ia I
Ca
th<
of
fai
aP,e authors, three bushels and a half of gold rings, taken
from knights and senators who had been killed in the
various engagements.
I,al Hitherto we have seen Hannibal surprisingly victo-
;orto rious ; and, indeed, if we consider what he had already
other done, we sha]i find his exploits superior to those of
med any °^ier generaJ> either ancient or modern. Other
ory, commanders have been celebrated for victories gained
over barbarous and uncivilized nations. Alexander
the Great invaded and overran the empire of Persia ;
but that kingdom was then sunk in sloth and effemi¬
nacy, so as to be an easy conquest: but had that
great commander turned his arms against the western
nations, who were of a more martial disposition, it is
more than probable he had not conquered so easily.
Hannibal, on the other hand, lived at a time when
the Romans were not only the most powerful, but the
most warlike nation in the whole world. That nation
he attacked with an army of only 26,000 men, with¬
out resources either for recruits, money, or provi¬
sions, except what he could procure in the enemy’s
country. With these he had for three years resisted
the Roman armies j which had been hitherto invinci¬
ble by all other nations. Their armies had been com¬
manded by generals of different tempers, dispositions,
and abilities: the losses they sustained are by the
Roman writers imputed to the faults of the generals
themselves j but experience had abundantly shown,
that these commanders, with all their faults, were able
to conquer the most warlike nations, when command¬
ed by another than Hannibal. In the battles fought
with the Romans he had destroyed 200,000 of their
men, and taken 50,000 prisoners; yet from the time
of the battle of Cannae, the affairs of this great man
totally declined. The reason of this is, by the Roman
ecline historians, said to be, that when he put his army into
af. winter quarters in Capua, he so enervated himself and
his army by debaucheries in that place, that he be¬
came no longer capable of coping with the Roman
forces. But this seems by no means to have been the
case $ for the Roman historians themselves own, that,
after the battle of Cannae, he gave their armies many
and terrible defeats, and took a great number of towns
in their sight.
The true reason of that reverse of fortune which
Hannibal now experienced, was his not having suf¬
ficient resources for recruiting his army. On the first
news, indeed, of his success at Carthage, a body of
4000 Numidian cavalry, 40 elephants, and loco talents
of silver, were granted by the senate. A large de¬
tachment of Spanish forces was also appointed to fol¬
low them *, and that these last might be ready in due
time, Mago set out immediately for Spain to raise
20,000 foot and 4000 horse there. Had this ample
supply been sent with proper expedition, it is by no
means probable that the Romans would have had any
occasion to reflect upon Hannibal’s conduct at Capua.
That general would undoubtedly have obliged the
haughty republic to submit to the superior force of his
arms the next campaign. But, notwithstanding the
influence of the Barcinian faction at Carthage, Hanno
and his adherents found means net only to retard the
march of the supplies intended, but even to diminish
their number. Mago, through the artifices of that
infatuated party, could obtain an order for only
Vol. V.Paitl. f
12,000 foot and 2500 horse $ and even with this incon- Cartba^is
siderable body of troops he was sent into Spain. Han- y—J
nibal being thus deserted by his country, found him¬
self obliged to act on the defensive ; his army amount¬
ing to no more now than 26,000 foot and 9000 horse.
But though obliged to act in this manner, he was
only hindered from conquering j the utmost efforts of
the whole Roman power not being able to drive this
small army out of Italy for more than 14 years. ri*
The Romans, though greatly reduced, were not Measures
yet exhausted. They were able still to send two con-1^6”
sular armies into the field, fully recruited and in good^iangl0"
order j and as neither the Gauls nor Italians were na¬
tural allies of the Carthaginians, they did not fail to
abandon them on the first reverse of fortune. After
the Romans had recovered from the consternation in¬
to which they were thrown by the defeat at Cannae*
they chose a dictator, and recalled Marcellos, the con¬
queror of Syracuse, from Sicily. All the young Ro¬
mans, above 17 years of age, of what rank soever,
were obliged to enlist themselves j as were also those
who had already served their legal time. By this means
four legions and 10,000 horse were soon raised in the
city. The allies of Rome, the colonies, and the mu-
nicipia, furnished their contingents as usual. To these
were added 8000 of the youngest and strongest slaves
in the city. The republic purchased them of their
masters, but did not oblige them to serve without their
own consent, which they gave, by answering Volo,
“ I am willing j” whence they were called volo7ies, to
distinguish them from the other troops. As the Ro¬
mans, after the loss of so many battles, had no swords,
darts, or bucklers, left in their magazines, the volones
were supplied with the arms which had been formerly
taken from the enemy, and bung up in the public
temples and porticoes. The finances of Rome were
no less exhausted : but this defect was supplied by the
liberality of her citizens. The senators shewing the
example, were followed first by the knights, and after¬
wards by all the tribes j who stripping themselves of
all the gold they had, brought it to the public trea¬
sury. The senators only reserved their rings, and the
bullae about their children’s necks. As for the silver
coin, it was now, for the first time, alloyed with cop¬
per, and increased in its value. Thus the finances
were put into a good condition, and a competent army
raised.
This was plainly the last effort the Romans could
make 5 and could Hannibal have procured a sufficient
supply of men and money to enable him to cope with
this army, and to break it as he had done the others
before, there could have been no more resistance made
on their part. He began, however, to be in want of
money j and, to procure it, gave the Roman prisoners
leave to redeem themselves. These unhappy men
agreed to send ten of their body to Rome to negotiate
their redemption j and Hannibal required no other se¬
curity for their return but their oath. Carthalo was 125
sent at the bead of them to make proposals of peace jto tl^at of
but upon the first news of his arrival, the dictator sent peace,
a lictor to him, commanding him immediately to de¬
part the Roman territory ; and it was resolved not to
redeem the captives. Upon this Hannibal sent the
most considerable of them to Carthage j and of the rest
he made gladiators, obliging them to fight ^with one
E e another,
Carthage.
126
Asdrubal
defeated by
the Ro¬
mans in
Spain.
CAR [ 218 ]
another, even relations with relations, for the enter- got to their camp
127
Marcellus
gains an
tainment of the troops.
All this time Cneius ami Publius Scipio had car¬
ried on the war in Spain with great success against
the Carthaginians. Asdrubal had been ordered to en¬
ter Italy with his army to assist Hannibal ; hut being
defeated by the Romans, was prevented. The dicta¬
tor and senate of Rome, encouraged by this news,
carried on the preparations for the next campaign
with the greatest vigour, whilst Hannibal remained in¬
active at Capua. This inaction, however, seems to
have proceeded from his expectation of succours from
Africa, which never came, and which delay occasioned
his ruin. The Roman dictator now released from
prison all criminals, and persons confined lor debt,
who were willing to enlist themselves. Of these he
formed a body of 6000 foot, armed with the broad¬
swords and bucklers formerly taken from the Gauls.
Then the Roman army, to the number of about 25,000
men, marched out of the city under the command of
the dictator; while Marcellus kept the remains of
Varro’s army, amounting to about 15,000 men, at
Casilinum, in readiness to march whenever there should
be occasion.
Thus the Roman forces were still superior to those
of Hannibal } and as they now saw the necessity of
following the example of Fabius Maximus, no engage¬
ment of any consequence happened the first year after
the battle of Cannae. Hannibal made a fruitless at¬
tempt upon Nola, expecting it would be delivered up
advantage . |)Uj. ^g prevented by Marcellus, who had
iJbal ai entered that city, and sallying unexpectedly from three
gates upon the Carthaginians, obliged them to retire
in great confusion, with the loss of 5000 men. This
was the first advantage that had been gained by the
Romans where Hannibal had commanded in person,
and raised the spirits of the former not a little. They
were, however, greatly dejected, on hearing that the
consul Posthumius Albinus, with his whole army, had
been cut off by the Boii, as he was crossing a forest.
Upon this it was resolved to draw all the Roman for¬
ces out of Gaul and other countries, and turn them
against Hannibal; so that the Carthaginian stood daily
I2S more and more in need of those supplies, which yet
Hannibal never arrived from Carthage. He reduced, however,
lakes seve-the cities of Nuceria, Casilinum, Petelia, Consentia,
ral cities. Crotona, Locri, and several others in Great Greece,
before the Romans gained any advantage over him, ex¬
cept that before Nola, already mentioned. The Cam¬
panians, who had espoused the Carthaginian interest,
raised an army of 14,000 of their own nation in fa¬
vour of Hannibal, and put one Marius Alsius at the
head of it j but he was surprised by the consul Sem-
pronius, who defeated and killed him, with 2000 of
his men. It was now found that Hannibal bad con¬
cluded a treaty of alliance, ofi’ensive and defensive, with
Philip king of Macedon : but, to prevent any disturb-
129 ance from that quarter, a Roman army was sent to
He is de- Macedon. Soon after this Marcellus defeated Han-
leated by niba] in a pitched battle, having armed his men with
Maicellus. |on^ pjkes usetl generally at sea, and chiefly in board¬
ing of ships j by which means the Carthaginians were
pierced through, while they were totally unable to
hurt their adversaries with the short javelins they car¬
ried. Marcellus pursued them close j and before they
CAR
killed 5000, and took 600 pri- Canh«,
losing himself about 1000 men, who were trod sr—<
soners
down ne
nibal in person. After this defeat the Carthaginian™^
general found himself deserted by 1200 of his best
bv the Numidian horse, commanded by Han- J3o
. J . .. He is dt.
c - . . 1 Pan)’ol
horse, partly Spaniards, and partly Numidians, who horse.
had crossed the Alps with him. This touched him so
that he left Campania,
and retired into
sensibly,
Apulia.
The Romans still continued to increase their forces $
and Hannibal, not having the same resources, found it
impossible to act against so many armies at once. Fa¬
bius Maximus advanced into Campania, whither Han¬
nibal was obliged to return, in order to save Capua.
He ordered Hanno, however, at the head of 17.OOO
foot and 1700 horse, to seize Beneventum ; but he
was utterly defeated, scarce 2000 of his men being left ^
alive. Hannibal himself, in the mean time, advanced He ha^i
to Nola, where he was again defeated by Marcellus. defeated,
He now began to lose ground: the Romans retook
Casilinum,. Accua in Apulia, Arpi, and Aternum j
but the city of Tarentum was delivered up to him by
its inhabitants. The Romans then entered Campa¬
nia, and ravaged the whole country, threatening Ca¬
pua with a siege. The inhabitants immediately ac¬
quainted Hannibal with their danger 5 but he was so
intent upon reducing the citadel oi Tarentum, that he
could not be prevailed upon to come to their assistance.
In the mean time Hanno was again utterly defeated
by Fulvius, bis camp taken, and he himself forced to
fly into Bruttium, with a small body of horse. The
consuls then advanced with a design to besiege Capua
in form. But, in their way, Sempronius Gracchus, a
man of great bravery, and an excellent general, was
betrayed by a Lucanian and killed, which proved a ^
very great detriment to the republic. Capua, how- capUa^
ever, was soon after invested on all sides j and the be-sieged ]>j
sieged once more sent to Hannibal, who now came totheRo-
their assistance with his horse, his light-armed infantry,rnans'
and 33 elephants. He found means to inform the ^
besieged of the time he designed to attack the Romans, jjaimiba
ordering them to make a vigorous sally at the same in rain
time. The Roman generals, Appius and Fulvius,
upon the first news of the enemy’s approach, dividedrel
their troops. Appius taking upon him to make head
against the garrison, and Fulvius to defend the in-
trenchments against Hannibal. The former found no
difficulty in repulsing the garrison, and would have
entered the city with them, had he not been wounded
at the very gate, which prevented him from pursuing
his design. Fulvius found it more difficult to with¬
stand Hannibal, whose troops behaved themselves with
extraordinary resolution. A body of Spaniards and
Numidians had even the boldness to pass the ditch,
and, in spite of all opposition, climbing the ramparts,
penetrated into the Roman camp: but, not being pro¬
perly seconded by the rest, they were all to a man cut
in pieces. The Carthaginian general was so disheart¬
ened at this, especially after the garrison was repulsed,
that he sounded a retreat, which was made in good
order. His next attempt for the relief of Capua was
to march to Rome, where he hoped his approach He maI
would strike so much terror, that the armies would beestoR*' |
called from before Capua •, and that the Capuans might
not be disheartened by his sudden departure, he found
meana
CAR [ 2J
jp(ithsge. means to acquaint them with his design. The news of
u ~ his approach caused great consternation in the me¬
tropolis. Some of the senators were for calling all the
armies in Italy into the neighbourhood of Rome, as
thinking nothing less was able to resist the terrible Car¬
thaginian. But Fabius told them that Hannibal’s de¬
sign was not to take Rome, but relieve Capua ; upon
which Fulvius was recalled to Rome with 15,000 foot
t and xooo horse $ and this obliged Hannibal again to
] isur- retire. He then returned before Capua so suddenly
j, :s and he surprised Appius in his camp, drove him out
(1 ats wjjjj £|ie ]ogg 0f a grea^ number of men, and oblig¬
ed him to intrench himself on some eminences, where
he expected to be soon joined by his colleague Fulvius.
■flu?.sub- As Hannibal, however, now expected to have all the
r ; to the Roman forces upon him, he could do nothing more for
- Iliaus' the relief of Capua*, which was of consequence obliged
to submit to the Romans.
(Itenius A little before the surrender of Capua, Hannibal
4 S ula de-came up with a Roman army commanded by one M.
! ed by Centenius Penula, who had signalized himself on many
1 111 a ’ occasions as a centurion. This rash man, being intro¬
duced to the senate, had the assurance to tell them,
that if they would trust him with a body of only 5000
men, he would give a good account of Hannibal. They
gave him 8000, and his army was soon increased to
double that number. He engaged the Carthaginians
on Hannibal’s first ofi’ering him battle j but, after an
engagement of two hours, was defeated, himself and
j-3 all his men being slain except about 1000. Soon
ilso the after, having found means to draw the praetor Cneius
• dor Ful-FulvJug into an ambuscade, Hannibal cut in pieces
almost his whole army, consisting of 18,000 men.
In the mean time Marcellos was making great pro¬
gress in Samnium. The city of Salapia was betray¬
ed to him j but he took other two by assault. In the
last of these he found 3000 Carthaginians, whom he
j put to the sword; and carried off 240,000 bushels of
Ithe wheat, and II 0,000 of barley. This, however, was by
iconsul no means a compensation for the defeat which Han-
ivius nibal soon after gave the proconsul Fulvius Centuma-
ntuma- jus^ w}j0m Jje surpnSed and cut off, with 13,000 of his
men.
After this defeat the great Marcellus advanced with
his army to oppose Hannibal. Various engagements
happened without any thing decisive. In one of them
the Romans are said to have been defeated, and in
another Hannibal ; but notwithstanding these, it was
neither in the power of Marcellus, nor any other Ro-
,40 man general, totally to defeat or disperse the army com-
arcellui manded by Hannibal in person. Nay, in the eleventh
awn into year of the war, Hannibal found means to decoy into
deand" an am^usca^e ani' cut t^ie great Marcellus himself;
the consequence of which was, that the Romans were
obliged to raise the siege of Locri, with the loss of all
m their military engines.
irthagini- Hitherto the Carthaginians, though no longer the
affairs favourites of fortune, had lost but little ground ; but
!a!Iy now they met with a blow which totally rained their
e defeat a^rS* This was the defeat of Asdrubal, Hannibal’s
Asdrn- brother, who had left Spain, and was marching to his
I assistance. He crossed the Pyrenees, without any dif¬
ficulty ; and, as the silver mines had supplied him with
a very considerable quantity of treasure, he not only
prevailed upon the Gauls to grant him a passage
9 ] CAR
through their territories, but likewise to furnish him Carthage,
with a considerable number of recruits. Meeting with v——v™ *
many favourable circumstances to expedite his march,
he arrived at Placentia sooner than the Romans or
even his brother Hannibal expected. Had he conti¬
nued to use the same expedition with which he set
out, and hastened to join his brother, it would have
been utterly impossible to have saved Rome ; but, sit¬
ting down before Placentia, he gave the Romans an
opportunity of assembling all their forces to attack
him. At last he was obliged to raise the siege, and
began his march for Umbria. He sent a letter to ac¬
quaint his brother of his intended motion ; but the
messenger was intercepted : and the two consuls, join¬
ing their armies, with united forces fell upon the
Carthaginians. As the latter were inferior both in
numbers and resolution, they were utterly defeated,
and Asdrubal was killed. About the same time, Han¬
nibal himself is said to have suffered several defeats,
and was retired to Canusium ; but, on the fatal news
of his brother’s defeat and death, he was filled with
despair, .and retired to the extremity of Bruttium ;
where, assembling all his forces, he remained for a
considerable time in a state of inaction, the Romans
not daring to disturb him ; so formidable did they
esteem him alone, though every thing about him went
to wreck, and the Carthaginian affairs seemed not
far from the verge of destruction. L/ivy tells us, that
it was difficult to determine whether his conduct was
more wonderful in prosperity or in adversity. Not¬
withstanding which, Bruttium being but a small pro¬
vince, and many of its inhabitants being either forced
into the service, or forming themselves into parties of
banditti, so that a great part of it remained unculti¬
vated, he found it a difficult matter to subsist there,
especially as no manner of supplies were sent him from
Carthage. The people there were as solicitous about
preserving their possessions in Spain, and as little con¬
cerned about the situation of affairs in Italy, as if Han¬
nibal had met with an uninterrupted course of success,
and no disaster befallen him since he first entered that
country. _ 142
All their solicitude, however, about the affairs ofThe great
Spain, was to no purpose; their generals, one after Progress of
another, were defeated by the Romans. They hadJ^P1^
indeed cut off the two Scipios ; but found a much
more formidable enemy in the young Scipio, after¬
wards surnamed Ajricanus. He overthrew them in
conjunction with Masinissa king of Numidia ; and the
latter thereafter abandoned their interest. Soon af¬
ter, Syphax king of the Masyesylii, was likewise per¬
suaded to abandon their party. Scipio also gave the
Spanish reguli a great overthrow, and reduced the
cities of New Carthage, Gades, and many other im¬
portant places. At last the Carthaginians began to
open their eyes when it was too late. Mago was or¬
dered to abandon Spain, and sail with all expedition
to Italy. He landed on the coast of Liguria with an Mago lands
army of 12,000 foot and 2000 horse; where he sur-in Italy,
prised Genoa, and also seized upon the town and port
of Savo. A reinforcement was sent him to this place,
and new levies went on very briskly in Liguria; but
the opportunity was past, and could not be recalled.
Scipio having carried all before him in Spain, passedscipio land)
over into Africa, where he met with no enemy capable in Africa^
Eel of
Carthage,
*43
Mago and
Hannibal
uncalled.
R [ 220 ]
The Carthaginians, then,
146
Hannibal’s
proceed¬
ings after
his arrival
in Africa.
*47
He has an
interview
with Scipio,
C A
of opposing his progress.
seeing themselves on the brink of destruction, were
obliged to recal their armies from Italy, in order to
save their city. Mago, who had entered Insubria, was
defeated by the Roman forces there ; and having re¬
treated into the maritime parts of Liguria, met a
courier who brought him orders to return directly to
Carthage. At the same time, Hannibal was likewise
recalled. When the messengers acquainted him with
the senate’s pleasure, he expressed the utmost indigna¬
tion and concern, groaning, gnashing his teeth, and
scarce refraining from tears. Never banished man, ac¬
cording to Livy, showed so much regret in quitting
his native country as Hannibal did at going out of that
of the enemy.
The Carthaginian general was no sooner landed in
Africa than he sent out parties to get provisions for
the army, and buy horses to remount the cavalry.
He entered into a league with the regulus of the
Arcacidse, one of the Numidian tribes. Four thousand
of Syphax’s horse came over in a body to him ; but as
he did not think proper to repose any confidence in
them, he put them all to the sword, and distributed
their horses among his troops. Vermina, one of Sy¬
phax’s sons, and Macetulus, another Numidian prince,
likewise joined him with a considerable body of horse.
Most of the fortresses in Masinissa’s kingdom either
surrendered to him upon the first summons, or were
taken by force. Narce, a city of considerable note
there, he made himself master of by stratagem. Ty-
chseus, a Numidian regulus, and faithful ally of Sy-
phax, whose territories were famous for an excellent
breed of horses, reinforcing him also with 2000 of his
best cavalry, Hannibal advanced to Zama, a town
about five days journey distant from Carthage, where
he encamped. He thence sent out spies to observe
the posture of the Romans. These being brought to
Scipio, he was so far from inflicting any punishment
upon them, which he might have done by the laws
of war, that he commanded them to be led about the
camp, in order to take an exact survey of it, and then
dismissed them. Hannibal, admiring the noble as¬
surance of his rival, sent a messenger to desire an inter¬
view with him j which, by means of Masinissa, he ob¬
tained. The two generals, therefore, escorted by
equal detachments of horse, met at Nadagara, where,
by the assistance of two interpreters, they held a pri¬
vate conference. Hannibal flattered Scipio in the most
refined and artful manner, and expatiated upon all
those topics which he thought could influence that ge¬
neral to grant his nation a peace upon tolerable terms j
amongst other things, that the Carthaginians would
willingly confine themselves to Africa, since such was
the will of the gods, in order to procure a lasting peace,
whilst the Romans would be at liberty to extend their
conquests to the remotest nations. Scipio answered,
that the Romans were not prompted by ambition, or any
sinister views, to undertake either the former or present
war against the Carthaginians, but by justice and a
proper regard for their allies. He also observed, that
the Carthaginians had, before his arrival in Africa, not
only made him the same proposals, but likewise agreed
to pay the Romans 5000 talents of silver, restore all
the Roman prisoners without ransom, and deliver up
%11 their galleys. He insisted on the perfidious conduct
CAR
routed.
of the Carthaginians, who had broke a truce concluded CartW,
with them } and told him, that, so far from granting
them more favourable terms, they ought to expect
more rigorous ones •, which if Hannibal would submit
to, a peace would ensue j if not, the decision of the
dispute must be left to the sword. ^
This conference betwixt two of the greatest gene- The ban],
rals the world ever produced, ending without success, of Zam»,
they both retired to their respective camps; where
they informed their troops, that not only the fate
of Rome and Carthage, but that of the whole world,
was to be determined by them the next day. An
engagement ensued*, in which, as Polybius informs* Se®Z*
us, the surprising military genius of Hannibal dis-”2®’
played itself in an extraordinary manner. Scipio
likewise, according to Livy, passed a high encomium
upon him, on account of his uncommon capacity in
taking advantages, the excellent arrangement of his
forces, and the manner in which he gave his orders
during the engagement. The Roman general, in¬
deed, not only approved his conduct, but openly de¬
clared that it was superior to his own. Nevertheless,
being vastly inferior to the enemy in horse, and the
state of Carthage obliging him to hazard a battle with ^
the Romans at no small disadvantage, Hannibal was Hannibal
utterly routed, and his camp taken. He fled first loJota!br
Thon, and afterwards to Adrumentum, from whence
he was recalled to Carthage 5 where being arrived,
he advised his countrymen to conclude a peace with
Scipio on whatever terms he thought proper to pre¬
scribe. ijo
Thus was the second war of the Carthaginians with Peaces
the Romans concluded. The conditions of peaceC^I^‘
were very humiliating to the Carthaginians. They
were obliged to deliver up all the Roman deserters, fu¬
gitive slaves, prisoners of war, and all the Italians
whom Hannibal had obliged to follow him. They
also delivered up all their ships of war, except ten
triremes, all their tame elephants, and were to train up
no more of these animals for the service. They were
not to engage in any war without the consent of the
Romans. They engaged to pay to the Romans, in
50 years, 10,000 Euboic talents, at equal payments.
They were to restore to Masinissa all they had usurp¬
ed from him or his ancestors, and to enter into an alli¬
ance with him. They were also to assist the Romans
both by sea and land, whenever they were called upon
so to do, and never to make any levies either in Gaul
or Liguria. These terms appeared so intolerable to the
populace, that they threatened to plunder and burn the
houses of the nobility j but Hannibal having assembled
a body of 6000 foot and 500 horse at Marthama, pre¬
vented an insurrection, and by his influence completed
the accommodation.
The peace between Carthage and Rome was scarce-Cartliagii
ly signed, when Masinissa unjustly made himself master ans °PPrt
of part of the Carthaginian dominions in Africa, under ‘
pretence that these formerly belonged to his fami¬
ly. The Carthaginians, through the villanous media¬
tion of the Romans, found themselves under a neces¬
sity of ceding these countries to that ambitious prince,
and of entering into an alliance with him. The
good understanding between the two powers continued
for many years afterwards $ but at last Masinissa vio¬
lated the. treaties subsisting betwixt him and the Car¬
thaginian ,
CAR '- [ 2
thaainian republic, and not a little contributed to its
Cfl lag®- . S . ^
u. < subversion.
After the conclusion of the peace, Hannibal still
kept up his credit among his countrymen. He was
intrusted with the command of an army against some
neighbouring nations in Africa : but this being dis¬
agreeable to the Romans, he was removed from it, and
raised to the dignity of praetor in Carthage. Here he
„ ^ai continued for some time, reforming abuses, and put-
flie > An- ting the affairs of the republic into a better condi-
tioi s. tion : but this likewise being disagreeable to the Ro¬
mans, he was obliged to fly to Antiochus king of
Syria. After his flight, the Romans began to look
upon the Carthaginians with a suspicious eye ; though
to prevent every thing of this kind, the latter had or¬
dered two ships to pursue Hannibal, had confiscated
3 his effects, razed his house, and by a public decree
Ini tous declared him an exile. Soon after, disputes arising
fr( ^Ia.between the Carthaginians and Masinissa, the latter,
l$in land notwithstanding the manifest iniquity of his proceed-
thi o- ings, was supported by the Romans. That prince,
n,a grasping at further conquest, endeavoured to embroil
the Carthaginians with the Romans, by asserting that
the former had received ambassadors from Perseus
king of Macedon *, that the senate assembled in the
temple of iEsculapius in the night time, in order to
confer with them j and that ambassadors had been dis¬
patched from Carthage to Perseus, in order to con¬
clude an alliance with him. Not long after this, Ma¬
sinissa made an irruption into the province of Tyson,
where he soon possessed himself of 70, or, as Appian
will have it, 50 towns and castles. This obliged the
Carthaginians to apply with great importunity to the
Roman senate for redress, their hands being so tied up
by an article in the last treaty, that they could not re¬
pel force by force, in case of an invasion, without their
consent. Their ambassadors begged, that the Roman
senate would settle once for all what dominions they
were to have, that they might from thenceforth know
what they had to depend upon j or, if their state had
any way offended the Romans, they begged that they
would punish them themselves, rather than leave them
exposed to the insults and vexations of so merciless a
tyrant. Then prostrating themselves on the earth,
they burst out into tears. But, notwithstanding the
impression their speech made, the matter was left un¬
decided j so that Masinissa had liberty to pursue his
rapines, as much as he pleased. But whatever villan-
ous designs the Romans might have with regard to
the republic of Carthage, they affected to show a great
regard to the principles of justice and honour. T-hey
therefore sent Cato, a man famous for committing
enormities under the specious pretence of public spirit,
into Africa, to accommodate all diflerences betwixt
Masinissa and the Carthaginians. The latter very well
knew their fate, had they submitted to such a media¬
tion ; and therefore appealed to the treaty concluded
with Scipio, as the only rule by which their conduct
and that of their adversary ought to be examined.
This unreasonable appeal so incensed the righteous
Cato, that he pronounced them a devoted people, aud
from that time resolved upon their destruction. For
some time he was opposed by Scipio Nasica j but the
people, of Carthage, knowing the Romans to be their
inveterate enemies, and reflecting upon the iniquitous
i ] CAR
treatment they had met with from them ever since the Carthage,
commencement of their disputes with Masinissa, were —y--—J
under great apprehensions of a visit from them. To
prevent a rupture as much as possible, by a decree of
the senate, they impeached Asdrubal, general of the
army, and Carthalo, commander of the auxiliary for¬
ces, together with their accomplices, as guilty of high
treason, for being the authors of the war against the
king of Numidia. They sent a deputation to Rome,
to discover what sentiments were entertained there of
their late conduct, and to know what satisfaction the
Romans required. These messengers meeting with a
cold reception, others were dispatched, who returned
with the same success. This made the unhappy citi¬
zens of Carthage believe that their destruction was re¬
solved upon ; which threw them into the utmost de¬
spair. And indeed they had but too just grounds for
such a melancholy apprehension, the Roman senate
now discovering an inclination to fall in with Cato’s
measures. About the same time, the city of Utica,
being the second in Africa, and famous for its immense
riches, as well as its equally commodious and capaci¬
ous port, submitted to the Romans. Upon the posses¬
sion of so important a fortress, which, by reason of its
vicinity to Carthage, might serve as a place of arms in 154
the attack of that city, the Romans declared war War dc-
against the Carthaginians without the least hesitation. ^re^oby
In consequence of this declaration, the consuls M. mlans
Manlius, Nepos, and L. Marcius Censorious, weregainst Car-
dispatched with an army and fleet to begin hostilities thage.
with the utmost expedition. The land forces consisted
of 80,000 foot and 4000 chosen horse ; and the fleet
of 50 quinqueremes, besides a vast number of trans¬
ports. The consuls had secret orders from the senate
not to conclude the operations but by the destruction
of Carthage, without which, it was pretended, the re¬
public could not but look upon all her possessions as
insecure. Pursuant to the plan they had formed, the
troops were first landed at Lilybaeum in Sicily, from
whence, after receiving a proper refreshment, it was
proposed to transport them to Utica. 155
The answer brought by the last ambassadors to Car-Ambassa-
thage had not a little alarmed the inhabitants of that™1^11* t0
city. But they were not yet acquainted with the re¬
solutions taken at Rome. They therefore sent fresh
ambassadors thither, whom they invested with full
powers to act as they thought proper for the good of
the republic, and even to submit themselves without
reserve to the pleasure of the Romans. But the most
sensible persons among them did not expect any
great success from this condescension, since the early
submission of the Uticans had rendered it infinitely less
meritorious than it would have been before. How¬
ever the Romans seemed to be in some measure satis¬
fied with it, since they promised them their liberty,
the enjoyment of their laws, and, in short, every thing
that was dear and valuable to them. This threw them
into a transport of joy, and they wanted words to ex-
tol the moderation of the Romans. But the senate The Ro~
immediately dashed all their hopes, by acquainting mans de-
them that this favour was granted upon . condition °
that they would send 300 young Carthaginian noble¬
men of the first distinction to the praetor Fabius at
Lilybseum, within the space of 30 days, and comply
with all the orders of the consuls. Ihese hard terms
filled 1
man arras,
military
machines,
See,
They com- concern,
maud them
to destroy
their city.
CAR £ 2
Carthage, filled the whole city with inexpressible grief: hut the
* V”1 ' hostages were delivered; and as they arrived at Lily-
baeum before the 30 days were expired, the ambassa¬
dors were not without hopes of softening their hard¬
hearted enemy. But the consuls only told them, that
upon their arrival at Utica they should learn the fur¬
ther orders of the republic.
The ministers no sooner received intelligence of the
Roman fleet appearing off Utica, than they repaired
thither, in order to know the fate of their city. The
consuls however did not judge it expedient to com¬
municate all the commands of the republic at once,
lest they should appear so harsh and severe, that the
1-7 Carthaginians would have refused to comply with
and all the them. They first, therefore, demanded a sufficient
Carthagi- SUpp|y 0f corn for the subsistence of their troops. Se¬
condly, That they should deliver up into their hands
all the triremes they were then masters of. Thirdly,
That they should put them in possession of all their
military machines. And, fourthly, That they should
immediately convey all their arms into the Roman
camp.
As care was taken that there should be a conve¬
nient interval of time betwixt every one of these de¬
mands, the Carthaginians found themselves ensnared,
and could not reject any one of them, though they
158 submitted to the last with the utmost reluctance and
Censorinus, now imagining them incapable
of sustaining a siege, commanded them to abandon
their city, or, as Zonaras will have it, to demolish it;
permitting them to build another 80 stadia from the
sea, but without walls or fortifications. This terrible
decree threw the senate and every one else into de¬
spair ; and the whole city became a scene of horror,
madness, and confusion. The citizens cursed their an¬
cestors for not dying gloriously in the defence of their
country, rather than concluding such ignominious trea¬
ties of peace, that had been the cause of the deplora¬
ble condition to which their posterity was then redu¬
ced. At length, when the first commotion w'as a little
abated, the senators assembled, and resolved to sustain
a siege. They were stripped of their arms and desti¬
tute of provisions ; but despair raised their courage,
and made them find out expedients. They took care
to shut the gates of the city ; and gathered together on
the ramparts great heaps of stones, to serve them in¬
stead of arms in case of a surprise. They took the ma¬
lefactors out of prison, gave the slaves their liberty,
and incorporated them in the militia. Asdrubal was
recalled who had been sentenced to die only to please
the Romans; and he was invited to employ 20,000
men he had raised against his country in defence of it.
Another Asdrubal was appointed to command in Car-
Thev makc^13^6 ^ an<^ a^ seerne<l resolute, either to save their ci-
*ewyanns.Cty or Perish in Its ruins* They wanted arms ; but, by
order of the senate, the temples, porticoes, and all
public buildings, were turned into workhouses, where
men and women were continually employed in making
arms. As they encouraged one another in their work,
and lost no time in procuring to themselves the neces¬
saries of life, which were brought to them at slated
hours, they every day made 144 bucklers, 300 swords,
1000 darts, and 500 lances and javelins. As to ba-
listse and catapultse, they wanted proper materials for
them ; but their industry supplied that defect. Where
2
*59
The Car¬
thaginians
resolve to
sustain a
siege.
163
22 ] CAR
iron and brass were wanting, they made use of silver Canlti
and gold, melting down the statues, vases, and even
the utensils of private families ; for, on this occasion,
even the most covetous became liberal. As tow and
flax were wanting to make cords for working the ma¬
chines, the women, even those of the first rank, freely
cut off* their hair and dedicated it to that use. With¬
out the walls, Asdrubal employed the troops in get¬
ting together provisions, and conveying them safe into
Carthage ; so that there was as great plenty there as
in the Roman camp.
In the mean time the consuls delayed drawing near
to Carthage, not doubting but the inhabitants, whom
they imagined destitute of necessaries to sustain a siege,
would, upon cool reflection, submit; but at length,
finding themselves deceived in their expectation, they
came before the place and invested it. As they were
still persuaded that the Carthaginians had no arms,
they flattered themselves that they should easily carry ^
the city by assault. Accordingly they approached*^'1
the walls in order to plant their scaling ladders ; butt]iepc
to their great surprise they discovered a prodigious mans,
multitude of men on the ramparts, shining in thearerel
armour they had newly made. The legionaries were so56^'
terrified at this unexpected sight, that they drew back,
and would have retired, if the consuls had not led
them on to the attack ; which, however, proved un¬
successful ; the Romans, in spite of their utmost ef¬
forts, being obliged to give over the enterprise, and
lay aside all thoughts of taking Carthage by assault.
In the mean time, Asdrubal, having collected from all
places subject to Carthage a prodigious number of
troops, came and encamped within reach of the Ro¬
mans, and soon reduced them to great straits for want
of provisions. As Marcius, one of the Roman con¬
suls, was posted near a marsh, the exhalations of the
stagnating waters, and the heat of the season, infected
the air, and caused a general sickness among his men.
Marcius, therefore, ordered his fleet to draw as near
the shore as possible, in order to transport his troops 1
to a healthier place. Asdrubal being informed of^
this motion, ordered all the old barks in the harbourfleet(
to be filled with faggots, tow, sulphur, bitumen, andstroye
other combustible materials ; and then, taking advan¬
tage of the wind, which blew towards the enemy, let
them drive upon their ships, which were for the most
part consumed. After this disaster, Marcius was call¬
ed home to preside at the elections; and the Cartha¬
ginians looking upon the absence of one of the con¬
suls to be a good omen, made a brisk sally in the night;
and would have surprised the consul’s camp, had not
AEmilianus, with some squadrons, marched out of the
gate opposite to the place where the attack was made,
and, coming round, fell unexpectedly on their rear, and
obliged them to return in disorder to the city.
Asdrubal had posted himself under the walls of a
city named Nepheris, 24 miles distant from Carthage,
and situated on a high mountain, which seemed inac¬
cessible on all sides. From thence he made incursions
into the neighbouring country, intercepted the Roman
convoys, fell upon their detachments sent out to forage,
and even ordered parties to insult the consular army in
their camp. Hereupon the consul resolved to drive
the Carthaginian from this advantageous post, and set
out for Nepheris. As he drew near the hills, Asdru-
CAR
[ 223 ]
CAR
Carl ge.
The
mac my
in gJ^
(ian§ is
save yl
Seip ^E-
milif «•
bal suddenly appeared at the head of his army in order
of battle, and fell upon the Homans with incredible
fury. The consular army sustained the attack with
great resolution •, and Asdrubal retired in good order
to his post, hoping the Romans would attack him
there. But the consul, being now convinced of his
danger, resolved to retire. This Asdrubal no sooner
perceived, than he rushed down the hill, and falling
upon the enemy’s rear, cut a great number of them in
pieces. The whole Roman army was now saved by
the bravery of Scipio iEmilianns. At the head of 300
horse, he sustained the attack of all the forces com¬
manded hy Asdrubal, and covered the legions, while
they passed a river in their retreat before the enemy.
Then he and his companions threw themselves into
the stream, and swam across it. When the army had
crossed the river, it was perceived that four manipuli
were wanting*, and soon after they were informed that
they had retired to an eminence, where they resolved
to sell their lives as dear as possible. Upon this news
iEmilianus, taking with him a chosen body ol horse,
and provisions for two days, crossed the river, and flew
to the assistance of his countrymen. He seized a hill
over against that on which the four manipuli were
posted ; and, after some hours repose, marched against
the Carthaginians who kept them invested j lell upon
them at the head of his squadron with the boldness of
a man determined to conquer or die 5 and, in spite of
all opposition, opened a way for his fellow-soldiers to
escape. On his return to the army, his companions,
who had given him over for lost, carried him to his
quarters in a kind of triumph ; and the manipuli he
had saved gave him a crown dgrcmien. By these and
some other exploits, iEmilianus gained such reputation,
that Cato, who is said never to have commended any
body before, could not refuse him the praises he de¬
served ; and is said to have foretold that Carthage
would never be reduced till Scipio -ZUmilianus was em¬
ployed in that expedition.
The next year, the war in Africa fell by lot to the
consul L. Calpurnius Piso ; and he continued to em¬
ploy ^Emilianus in several important entc rprises, in
which he was attended with uncommon success. He
took several castles j and in one of his excursions, found
ai ;ncra! means to have a private conference with Phameas, ge-
of rse. neral, under Asdrubal, of the Carthaginian cavalry,
and brought him over, together with 2200 of his
horse, to the Roman interest. Under the consul Cal¬
purnius Piso himself, however, the Roman arms were
unsuccessful. Pie invested Clupea *, but was obliged
to abandon the enterprise, with the loss of a great
number of men killed by the enemy in their sallies.
Prom this place he went to vent his rage on a city
newly built, and thence called Neapohs, which pro¬
fessed a strict neutrality, and had even a safeguard from
the Romans. The consul, however, plundered the
place, and stripped the inhabitants of all their effects.
After this he laid siege to Hippagretta, which employ¬
ed the Roman fleet and army the whole summer ; and,
on the approach of winter, the consul retired to Utica,
without performing a single action worth notice during
the whole campaign.
The next year Scipio ^Emilianus was chosen consul,
and ordered to pass into Africa 5 and, upon his arrival,
the face of affairs was greatly changed. At the time
54
II ains
ov the
Ci lagini-'
i65
s cho-
H :onsu].
II
of his entering the port of Utica, 3500 Romans were Carthage,
in great danger of being cut in pieces before Carthage. »-■—v - *
These had seized Megalia, one of the suburbs of the
city} but, as they had not furnished themselves with
provisions to subsist there, and could not retire, being
closely invested on all sides by the enemy’s troops, the
praetor Mancinus, who commanded this detachment,
seeing the danger into which he had brought himself,
dispatched a light boat to Utica, to acquaint the Ro¬
mans there with his situation. iEmilianus received this
letter a few hours after his landing j and immediately
flew to the relief of the besieged Romans, obliged the
Carthaginians to retire within their walls, and safely
conveyed his countrymen to Utica. Having then
drawn together all the troops, TEmilianus applied him¬
self wholly to the siege of the capital. 166
His first attack was upon Megalia j which he carried Cruelties of
by assault, the Carthaginian garrison retiring into the Asdrubal.
citadel of Byrsa. Asdrubal, who had commanded the
Carthaginian forces in the field, and was now governor
of the city, was so enraged at the loss of Megalia,
that he caused all the Roman captives taken in
the two years the war lasted to be brought upon the
ramparts, and thrown headlong, in the sight of the
Roman army, from the top of the wall } after having,
with an excess of cruelty, commanded their hands and
feet to be cut off, and their eyes and tongues to be
torn out. He was of a temper remarkably inhuman ;
and it is said that he even took pleasure in seeing some
of these unhappy men flayed alive. .ZEmilianus, in the
mean time, was busy in drawing lines of circumvalla-
tion and contravallation across the neck of land which
joined the isthmus on which Carthage stood to the J(5^
continent. By this means, all the avenues on the land Carthage
side of Carthage being shut up, the city could receive blocked up
no provisions that way. His next care was to raise aljy sea and
mole in the sea, in order to block up the old port, the 11,1
new one being already shut up by the Roman fleet}
and this great work he effected with immense labour.
The mole reached from the western neck of land, of
which the Romans were masters, to1 the entrance of the
port, and was 90 feet broad at the bottom, and 80 at
the top. The besieged, when the Romans first began
this surprising work, laughed at the attempt j but
were no less alarmed than surprised, when they beheld
a vast mole appearing above water, and by that means
the port rendered inaccessible to ships, and quite use- J(5g
less. Prompted by despair, however, the Carthagi-The besic-
nians, with incredible and almost miraculous industry,ged dig a
dug a new bason, and cut a passage into the sea, by wide bason,
which they could receive the provisions that were sent
them by the troops in the field. With the same di¬
ligence and expedition they fitted out a fleet of 50
triremes *, which, to the great surprise of the Romans,
appeared suddenly advancing into the sea through this
new canal, and even ventured to give the enemy battle.
The action lasted the. whole day, with little advantage
on either side. The day after, the consul endeavoured
to make himself master of a terrace which covered the
city on the side next the sea 5 and on this occasion the
besieged signalized themselves in a most remarkable
manner. Great numbers of them, naked and unarmed, They set
went into the water in the dead of the night, with un-fue to the
lighted torches in their hands ; and having, partly by
swimming, partly by wading, got within reach ol the
Roman.
CAR
[ 224 ]
CAR
Carthige.
170
Vast
slaughter
of the Car¬
thaginians.
I7I
Cotho ta¬
ken.
172
II oiu an s
enter the
city.
Roman engines, they struck fire, lighted their torches,
and threw them with fury against the machines. The
sudden appearance of these naked men, who looked
like so many monsters started up out of the sea, so ter¬
rified the Romans who guarded the machines, that
they began to retire with the utmost confusion. The
consul, who commanded the detachment in person,
and had continued all night at the foot of the terrace,
endeavoured to stop his men, and even ordered those
who fled to be killed. But the Carthaginians, per¬
ceiving the confusion the Romans were in, threw them¬
selves upon them like so many wild beasts •, and having
put them to flight only with their torches, they set
fire to the machines, and entirely consumed them.—
This, however, did not discourage the consul; he re¬
newed the attack a few days after, carried the terrace
by assault, and lodged 4000 men upon it. As this
was an important post, because it pent in Carthage on
the sea side, .ZEmilianus took care to fortify and se¬
cure it against the sallies of the enemy ; and then,
winter approaching, he suspended all further attacks
upon the place till the return of good weather. Dur¬
ing the winter season, however, the consul was not
inactive. The Carthaginians had a very numerous
army under the command of one Diogenes, strongly en¬
camped near Nepheris, whence convoys of provisions
were sent by sea to the besieged, and brought into
the new bason. To take Nepheris, therefore, was to
deprive Carthage of her chief magazine. This vEmili-
anus undertook, and succeeded in the attempt. He
first forced the enemy’s intrenchments, put 70,000 of
them to the sword, and made 10,000 prisoners ; all
the inhabitants of the country, who could not retire
to Carthage, having taken refuge in this camp. After
this he laid siege to Nepheris, which was reduced in
22 days. Asdrubal being disheartened by the defeat
of the army, and touched with the misery of the be¬
sieged, now reduced to the utmost extremity for want
of provisions, offered to submit to what conditions the
Romans pleased, provided the city was spared j but
this was absolutely refused.
Early in the spring, ^Emilianus renewed the siege
of Carthage $ and in order to open himself a way into
the city, he ordered Lselius to attempt the reduction
of Cotho, a small island which divided the two ports.
iEmilianus himself made a false attack on the citadel,
in order to draw the enemy thither. This stratagem
had the desired effect: for the citadel being a place of
the greatest importance, most of the Carthaginians
hastened thither, and made the utmost efforts to re¬
pulse the aggressors •, but in the mean time Lselius
having, with incredible expedition, built a wooden
bridge over tbe channel which divided Cotho from the
isthmus, entered the island, scaled the walls of the
fortress which the Carthaginians had built there, and
made himself master of that important post. The pro¬
consul, who was engaged before Byrsa, no sooner un¬
derstood, by the loud shouts of the troops of Lselius,
that he had made himself master of Cotho, than he
abandoned the false attack, and unexpectedly fell on
the neighbouring gate of the city, which he broke
down, notwithstanding the showers of darts that were
incessantly discharged upon his men from the ramparts.
As night coming on prevented him from proceeding
farther, he made a lodgment within the gate, and
3
waited there for the return of day, with a design to cart]ia
advance through the city to the citadel, and attack ityf
on that side, which was but indifferently fortified. Pur¬
suant to this design, at daybreak, he ordered 4000
fresh troops to be sent from his camp ; and having so¬
lemnly devoted to the infernal gods the unhappy Car¬
thaginians, he began to advance at the head of his
men through the streets of the city, in order to at¬
tack the citadel. Having advanced to the market
place, he found that the way to the citadel lay through
three exceeding steep streets. The houses on both
sides were very high, and filled with the Carthaginians,
who overwhelmed the Romans as they advanced with
darts and stones ; so that they could not proceed till
they had cleared them. To this end ^Emilianus in
person, at the head of a detachment, attacked the first
house and made himself master of it, sword in hand.
His example was followed by the officers and soldiers,
who went on from house to house, putting all they
met with to the sword. As fast as the houses were
cleared on both sides, the Romans advanced in order
of battle towards the citadel 5 but met with a vigorous
resistance from the Carthaginians, who on this occasion
behaved with uncommon resolution. From the market
place to the citadel, two bodies of men fought their
way every step, one above on the roofs of the houses,
the other below in the streets. The slaughter was in¬
expressibly great and dreadful. The air rung with
shrieks and lamentations. Some were cut in pieces,
others threw themselves down from the tops of the
houses} so that the streets were filled with dead and
mangled bodies. But the destruction was yet greater Which ii
when the proconsul commanded fire to be set to thatsetonli[
quarter of the town which lay next to the citadel. In¬
credible multitudes, who had escaped the swords of
the enemy, perished in the flames, or by the fall of the
houses. After the fire, which lasted six days, had de¬
molished a sufficient number of houses, iEmilianus or¬
dered the rubbish to be removed, and a large area to
be made, where all the troops might have room to
act. Then he appeared with his whole army before
Byrsa ; which so terrified the Carthaginians, who had
fled thither for refuge, that first of all 25,000 women,
and then 30,000 men, came out of the gates in such
a condition as moved pity. They threw themselves
prostrate before the Roman general, asking no favour
but life. This was readily granted, not only to them
hut to all that were in Byrsa except the Roman de- I74
setters, whose number amounted to 900. Asdrubal’sCroehy
wife earnestly entreated her husband to suffer her to and cow
join the suppliants, and carry with her to the P™-
consul her two sons who were as yet very young j 8
but the barbarian denied her request, and rejected her
remonstrances, with menaces. The Roman deserters,
seeing themselves excluded from mercy, resolved to die
sword in hand, rather than deliver themselves up to the
vengeance of their countrymen. Then Asdrubal, find¬
ing them all resolved to defend themselves to the last
breath, committed to their care his wife and children ;
after which, he in a most cowardly and mean-spirited
manner, came and privately threw himself at the con¬
queror’s feet. I he Carthaginians in the citadel no
sooner understood that their commander had abandon¬
ed the place, than they threw open the gates, and put
the Romans in possession of Byrsa. Thev had now
no
CAR
[
self ‘d
tw< uld'
reii
l6
Ca age
Ca a^e. no enemy to contend with but the 900 deserters, who,
u- -Lu being reduced to despair, retreated into the temple of
iEsculapius, which was as a second citadel within the
first. There the proconsul attacked them j and these
unhappy wretches, finding there was no way to escape,
set fire to the temple. As the flames spread, they re¬
treated from one part of the building to another, till
. they got to the roof. There Asdrubal’s wife appeared
jal’s in her best apparel, and having uttered the most bitter
wif e- imprecations against her husband, whom she saw stand-
strc her- jng |je]ow with ^milianus, “ Base coward ! (said she)
the mean things thou hast done to save thy life shall
not avail thee : thou shalt die this instant, at least in
thy two children.” Having thus spoken, she stabbed
both the infants with a dagger ; and while they were
yet struggling for life, threw them both from the top
of the temple, and then leaped down after them into
the flames.
JEmilianus delivered up the city to be plundered,
pin sred, but in the manner prescribed by the Roman military
law. The soldiers wrere allowed to appropriate to
themselves all the furniture, utensils, and brass money,
they should find in private houses 5 but all the gold
and silver, the statues, pictures, &c. were reserved to
be put into the hands of the queestors. On this occa¬
sion the cities of Sicily, which had been often plunder¬
ed by the Carthaginian armies, recovered a number of
statues, pictures, and other valuable monuments 5
among the rest the famous brazen bull, which Phalaris
had ordered to be cast, and used as the chief instru¬
ment of his cruelty, was restored to the inhabitants of
Agrigentum. As yEmilianus was greatly inclined to
spare what remained of this stately metropolis, he wrote
to the senate on the subject, from whom he received
the following orders : 1. The city of Carthage, with
Byrsa and Megalia, shall be entirely destroyed, and
no traces of them left. 2. All the cities that have
lent Carthage any assistance shall be dismantled. 3.
The territories of those cities which have declared for
the Romans shall be enlarged with lands taken from
the enemy. 4. All the lands between Hippo and
Carthage shall be divided among the inhabitants of
Utica. 5. All the Africans of the Carthaginian state,
both men and women, shall pay an annual tribute to
the Romans at so much per head. 6. The whole
country, which was subject to the Carthaginian state,
shall be turned into a Roman province, and be govern¬
ed by a prsetor, in the same manner as Sicily. Lastly,
Rome shall send commissioners into Africa, there to
settle jointly with the proconsul the state of the new
province. Before iEmilianus destroyed the city, he
performed those religious ceremonies which were re¬
quired on such occasions: he first sacrificed to the
gods, and then caused a plough to be drawn round the
|Utterlywa"s t*ie After tl"s ^ie towers, ramparts,
di ojed/vva^» anA aA the works which the Carthaginians had
raised in the course of many ages, and at a vast ex¬
pellee, were levelled with the ground 5 and lastly, fire
was set to the edifices of the proud metropolis, which
consumed them all, not a single house escaping the
flames. Though the fire began in all quarters at the
same time, and burnt with incredible lury, it con¬
tinued for 17 days before all the buildings were con¬
sumed.
Thus fell Carthage, about 146 years before the
Vol. V. Part I. t
225 ] . CAR
birth of Christ $ a city whose destruction ought to be Carthage,
attributed more to the intrigues of an abandoned fac- 'v J
tion, composed of the most profligate part of its citi¬
zens, than to the power of its rival. The treasure which
yEmilianus carried off, even after the city had been de¬
livered up to be plundered by the soldiers, was im¬
mense, Pliny making it to amount to 4,470,000 pounds
weight of silver. The Romans ordered Carthage
never to be inhabited again, denouncing dreadful im¬
precations against those who, contrary to this prohi¬
bition, should attempt to rebuild any part of it, espe- ^3
cially Byrsa and Megalia. Notwithstanding this, how-Rebuilt,
ever, about 24 years after, C. Gracchus, tribune
of the people, in order to ingratiate himself with them,
undertook to rebuild it; and to that end conducted
thither a colony of 6000 Roman citizens. The work¬
men, according to Plutarch, were terrified by many
unlucky omens at the time they were tracing the limits
77
and laying the foundations of the new city ; which
the senate being informed of, would have suspended
the attempt. But the tribune, little affected with such
presages, continued to carry on the work, and finished
it in a few days. From hence it is probable that only
a slight kind of huts were erected ; but whether Grac¬
chus executed his design, or the work was entirely
discontinued, it is certain that Carthage was the first
Roman colony ever sent out of Italy. According to
some authors, Carthage was rebuilt by Julius Caesar j
and Strabo, who flourished in the reign of Tiberius,
affirms it in his time to have been equal, if not supe¬
rior, to any other city in Africa. It was looked upon
as the capital of Africa for several centuries after the
commencement of the Christian era. Maxentius laid
it in ashes about the sixth or seventh year of Constan¬
tine’s reign. Genseric, king of the Vandals, took it
A. D. 439 ; but about a century afterwards it was re¬
annexed to the Roman empire by the renowned Bell- ^
sarius. At last the Saracens, under Mohammed’s sue- Utterly de-
cessors, towards the close of the seventh century, sostroyedby
completely destroyed it, that there are now scarce anytIie Sara'
traces remaining.
At the commencement of the third Punic war, Car¬
thage appears to have been one of the first cities in 1g0
the world. It was seated on a peninsula 360 stadia or Its ancient
45 miles in circumference, joined to the continent bygrandeur.
an isthmus 25 stadia or three miles and a furlong in
breadth. On the west side there projected from it a
long tract of land half a stadium broad j which shoot¬
ing out into the sea, separated it from a lake or mo¬
rass, and was strongly fortified on all sides by rocks and
a single wall. In the middle of the city stood the ci¬
tadel of Byrsa, having on the top of it a temple sacred
to iEsculapius, seated upon rocks on a very high hill,
to which the ascent was by 60 steps. On the south
side the city was surrounded by a triple wall, 30 cu¬
bits high, flanked all round by parapets and towers,
placed at equal distances of 480 feet. Every tower
had its foundation sunk 32 feet deep, and was four
stories high, though the walls were but two : they were
arched ; and, in the lower part, corresponding in
depth with the foundation above mentioned, were
stalls large enough to hold 300 elephants, with their
fodder, &c. Over these were stalls and other conve¬
niences for 4000 horses j and there was likewise room
for lodging 20,000 foot and 4000 cavalry,
F f
without
iii
\
CAR [226] CAR
Carthage, in the least incommoding the inhabitants. There were
1 v--— ' two harbours, so disposed as to have a communication
with one another. They had one common entrance
70 feet broad, and shut up with chains. The first was
appropriated to the merchants j and included in it a
vast number of places of refreshment, and all kinds of
accommodation for seamen. The second, as well as
the island of Cothon, in the midst of it, was lined
with large quays, in which were distinct receptacles for
securing and sheltering from the weather 220 ships of
war. Over these were magazines of all sorts of naval
stores. The entrance into each of these receptacles
was adorned with two marble pillars of the Ionic or¬
der $ so that both the harbour and island represented
on each side two magnificent galleries. Near this
island was a temple of Apollo, in which was a statue of
the god all of massy gold ; and the inside of the temple
all lined with plates of the same metal, weighing 1000
talents. The city was 23 miles in circumference, and
at the time we speak of contained 700,000 inhabitants.
Of their power we may have some idea, by the quanti¬
ty of arms they delivered up to the Roman consuls.
The whole army was astonished at the long train of
carts loaded with them, which were thought sufficient
to have armed all Africa. At least it is certairy, that
on this occasion were put into the hands of the Re¬
mans 2000 catapultee, 200,000 complete suits of ar¬
mour, with an innumerable quantity of swords, darts,
javelins, arrows, and beams armed with iron, which
were thrown from the ramparts by the balistse.
The character transmitted of the Carthaginians is
extremely bad ; but we have it only on the authority
of the Romans, who, being their implacable enemies,
cannot be much relied upon. As to their religion,
manners, &c. being much the same with the Phoeni¬
cians, of which they were a colony, the reader is re-.
ferred for an account of these things to the article
Phoenicia.
On the ruins of Carthage there now stands only a
small village called Melc/ia. The few remains of Car¬
thage consist only of some fragments of walls, and 17
cisterns for the reception of rain water.
There are three eminences, which are so many mas¬
ses of fine marbles pounded together, and were in all
probability the sites of temples and other distinguish¬
ed buildings. The present ruins are by no means the
remains of the ancient city destroyed by the Romans ;
who, after taking it, entirely erased it, and ploughed
up the very foundations ; so truly they adhered to the
well-known advice perpetually inculcated by Cato the
Elder, Delenda est Carthago. It was again rebuilt by
the Gracchi family, who conducted a colony to re¬
people it: and continually increasing in splendour, it
became at length the capital of Africa under the Ro¬
man emperors. It subsisted near 700 years after its
first demolition, until it was entirely destroyed by the
Saracens in the beginning of the 7th century.
It is a singular circumstance that the two cities of
Carthage and Rome should have been built just oppo¬
site one to the other j the bay of Tunis and the mouth
of the Tiber being in a direct line.
Littora littoribus contraria, fiuctibus undas,
Arma armis. VlRG. i£n. iv. 627.
New Carthage, a considerable town of Mexico, in
the province of Costa Rica. It is a very rich trading earth,
place. W. Long. 86. 7* N. Lat. 9. 5. Cartha
CARTHAGENA, a province of South America, na
in the new kingdom of Grenada, bounded on the north ^
by the Carribbean sea, on the south by the province of
Antioquia, on the east by Santa Martha, and on the
west by Darien. The capital city, called likewise
Carthagena, is situated in W. Long. 77. N. Lat. 11.
on a sandy island, by most writers called a peninsula j
which, forming a narrow passage on the south-west,
opens a communication with that called Tierra Bomba,
as far as Bocca Chica. The little island which now
joins them was formerly the entrance of the bay j but
it having been filled up by orders of the court, Bocca
Chica became the only entrance : this, however, has been
filled up since the attempt of Vernon and Wentworth,
and the old passage again opened. On the north side
the land is so narrow, that before the wall was begun,
the distance from sea to sea was only 35 toises j but
afterwards enlarging, it forms another island on this
side ; so that, excepting these two places, the whole
city is entirely surrounded by salt water. To the east¬
ward it has a communication, by means of a wooden
bridge, with a large suburb called Xemani, built on
another island, which is also joined to the continent
by a bridge of the same materials. The fortifications
both of the city and suburbs aie built after the mo¬
dern manner, and lined with freestone j and, in time of
peace, the garrison consists of ten companies of 77
men each, besides militia. The city and suburbs are
well laid out, the streets straight, broad, uniform, and
well paved. All the houses are built of stone or brick,
only one story high, well contrived, neat, and furnish¬
ed with balconies and lattices of wood, which is more
durable in that climate than iron, the latter being soon
corroded by the acrimonious quality of the atmo¬
sphere. The climate is exceedingly unhealthy. The
Europeans are particularly subject to the terrible dis¬
ease called the black vomit, which sweeps off multitudes
annually on the arrival of the galleons. It seldom
continues above three or four days, in which time the
patient is either dead or out of danger, and if he reco¬
vers, is never subject to a return of the same distemper.
—This disease has hitherto foiled all the art of the
Spanish physicians j as has also the leprosy, which is
very common here. At Carthagena, likewise, that
painful tumour in the legs, occasioned by the entrance
of the dracunculus or Guinea-worm, is very common
and troublesome. Another disorder peculiar to this
country, and to Peru, is occasioned by a little insect
called nigua, so extremely minute as scarce to be vi¬
sible to the naked eye. This insect breeds in the dust,
insinuates itself into the soles of the feet and the legs,
piercing the skin with such subtility, that there is no
being aware of it, before it has made its way to the
flesh. 11 it is perceived in the beginning, it is extracted
with little pain *, hut having once lodged its head, and
pierced the skin, the patient must undergo the pain of
an incision, without which a nidus would be formed,
and a multitude of insects ingendered, which would
soon overspread the foot and leg. The province con¬
tains about 60,000 whites, 13,000 Indians, and 7000
negro slaves. It has not been much concerned in the
revolutionary movements which began in 1810, and
still continue.
Carthagena,
CAR [ 227 ] ' CAR
f ,mcna Carthagena, a seaport town of Spain, in the
* )'" kingdom of Marcia, and capital of a territory of the
Ci la&i- same name, built by Asdrubal, a Carthaginian general,
us’ and named after Carthage. It has the best harbour in
U r”“,a!l Spain, but nothing else very considerable j the bi¬
shop’s see being transferred to Toledo. In 1706 it was
taken by Sir John Leake : but the duke of Berwick
retook it afterwards. Population 25,000. W. Long.
0. 58. N. Lat. 37. 36.
CARTHAMUS. See Botany Index. The car-
thamus tinctorius is at present cultivated in many parts
of Europe, and also in the Levant, from whence great
quantities of it are annually imported into Britain for
the purposes of dyeing and painting. The good qua¬
lity of this commodity is in the colour, which is of a
bright saffron hue : and in this the British carthamus
very often fails j for if there happens much rain during
the time the plants are in flower, the flowers change
to a dark or dirty yellow, as they likewise do if the
flowers are gathered with any moisture remaining upon
them. The seeds of carthamus have been celebrated
as a cathartic *, but they operate very slowly, and for
the most part disorder the stomach and bowels, espe¬
cially when given in substance : triturated with distil¬
led aromatic waters, they form an emulsion less offen¬
sive, yet inferior in efficacy to the more common pur¬
gatives. They are eaten by a species of Egyptian par¬
rot, which is very fond of them ; to other birds or beasts
they would prove a mortal poison.
CARTHUSIANS, a religious order, founded in the
year 1080, by one Brudo. The Carthusians, so called
from the desert of Chartreux, the place of their insti¬
tution, are remarkable for the austerity of their rule.
They are not to go out of their cells, except to church,
without leave of their superior, nor speak to any person
without leave. They must not keep any portion of
their meat or drink till next day ; their beds are of
straw, covered with a felt j their clothing two hair¬
cloths, two cowls, two pair of hose, and a cloak, all
coarse. In the refectory, they are to keep their eyes
on the dish, their hands on the table, their attention on
the reader, and their hearts fixed on God. W omen are
not allowed to come into their churches. It is compu¬
ted that there are 172 houses of Carthusians j whereof
five are of nuns, who practise the same austerities as
the monks. They are divided into 16 provinces, each
of which has two visitors. There have been several ca¬
nonized saints of this order, 4 cardinals, 70 archbishops
and bishops, and a great many very learned writers.
Carthusian Powder, the same with kermes mine¬
ral. See Kermes.
CARTILAGE, in Anatomy, a body approaching to
the nature of bones ; but lubricous, flexible, and elas-
J e. Zoo/, tic. See Anatomy Index.
» 75. CARTILAGINOUS, in Ichthyology, a title given
to all fishes whose muscles are supported by cartilages
instead of bones : and comprehends the same genera of
fish to which Linnaeus has given the name of amphibia
nantes : but the word amphibia ought properly to be
confined to such animals as inhabit both elements ; and
can live, without any inconvenience, for a considerable
time, either on land or in water 5 such as tortoises,
frogs, and several species of lizards j and among the
quadrupeds, hippopotami, &c. &c.
Many of the cartilaginous fish are viviparous, being Carlilagi-
exeluded from an egg, which is hatched within them. nous
The egg consists of a white and yolk j and is lodged in cai!!01J
a case formed of a thick tough substance, not unlike y-—
softened horn ; such are the eggs of the ray and shark
kinds. Some again differ in this respect, and are ovi¬
parous j such is the sturgeon, and others.
They breathe either through certain apertures be¬
neath, as in the rays; on their sides, as in the sharks,
&c. 5 or on the top of the head, as in the pipe-fish : for
they have not covers to their gills like bony fish.
CARTMEL, a town of Lancashire in England. It
is seated among the hills called Cartmell-felio, not far
from the sea, and near the river Kent j adorned with
a very handsome church, built in the form of a cross
like a cathedral. The market is well supplied with
corn, sheep, and fish. Population 280 in 1811. W .
Long. 2. 43. N. Lat. 54. 15.
CARTON, or Cartoon, in Painting, a design
drawn on strong paper, to be afterwards chalked
through, and transferred on the fresh plaster of a wall,
to be painted in fresco. It is also used for a design
coloured, for working in mosaic, tapestry, &c. The
word is from the Italian cartoni {carta, “ paper,” and
oni, “ large,”) denoting many sheets of paper pasted
on canvas on which large designs are made, whether .
coloured or with chalks only. Of these many are to be
seen at Rome, particularly by Domenichino. Those by
Andrea Mantegna, which are at Hampton Court, were
made for paintings in the old ducal palace at Mantua.
But the most famous performances of this sort are,
The Cartoons of Raphael, so deservedly applauded
throughout Eur&pe by all authors of refined taste, and
all true admirers of the art of design, for their various
and matchless merit, particularly with regard to the
invention, and to the great and noble expression of
such a variety of characters, countenances, and most
expressive attitudes, as they are differently affected and
properly engaged, in every composition. These car¬
toons are seven in number, and form only a small part
of the sacred historical designs executed by this great
artist, while engaged in the chambers of the Vatican
under the auspices of Popes Julius II. and Leo X.
When finished, they were sent to Flanders, to be
copied in tapestry, for adorning the pontifical apart¬
ments j which tapestries were not sent to Rome till se¬
veral years after the decease of Raphael, and even in all
probability were not finished and sent there before the
terrible sack of that city in the time of Clement VII.
when Raphael’s scholars had fled from thence, and
none left to inquire after the original cartoons, which
lay neglected in the store-rooms of the manufactory.
The great revolution also which followed in the Low
Countries prevented their being noticed amidst the
entire neglect of the works of art. It was therefore
a most fortunate circumstance that these seven escaped
the wreck of the others, which were torn in pieces
and remained dispersed as fragments in different collec¬
tions. These seven were purchased by Rubens for
Charles I. and they have been so roughly handled
from the first, that holes were pricked for the weavers
to pounce the outlines, and other parts almost cut
through in tracing also. In this state perhaps they as
fortunately escaped the sale amongst the royal collec-
F f 2 tion,
CAR [ 228 ] CAR
Carton tion, by the disproportloned appraisement of these seven
|| at 300!. and the nine pieces, being the Triumph of
Carucatu- Julius Caesar, by Andraea Mantegna, appraised at 1000I.
. nus‘ They seem to have been taken small notice of till King
William built a gallery, purposely to receive them at
Hampton Court; whence they were moved, on their
suffering from damps, to the Queen’s Palace. They are
now at Windsor Castle, and open to public inspection.
CARTOUCHE, in Architecture and Sculpture, an
ornament representing a scroll of paper. It is usu¬
ally a flat member, with wavings to represent some
inscription, device, cipher, or ornament of armoury.
They are, in architecture, much the same as modil-
lions ; only these are set under the cornice in wains-
cotting, and those under the cornice at the eaves of a
bouse.
Cartouche, in the military art, a case of wood, about
three inches thick at the bottom, girt with marline,
bolding about four hundred musket balls, besides six or
eight balls of iron, of a pound weight, to be fired out of
a hobit, for the defence of a pass, &c.
A cartouche is sometimes made of a globular form,
and filled with a ball of a pound weight} and some¬
times it is made for the guns, being of a ball of half
or quarter a pound weight, according to the nature of
the gun, tied in form of a bunch of gi’apes, on a tom-
pion of wood, and coated over. These were made in
the room of partridge-shot.
CARTRIDGE, in the military art, a case of paste¬
board or parchment, holding the exact charge of a fire¬
arm. Those for muskets, carabines, and pistols, hold
both the powder and ball for the charge : and those of
cannon and mortars are usually in cases of pasteboard
or tin, sometimes of wood, half a foot long, adapted to
the caliber of the piece.
Cartridge-Box, a case of wood or turned iron, co¬
vered with leather, holding a dozen musket cartridges.
It is worn upon a belt, and hangs a little lower than
the right pocket-hole.
CARTWRIGHT, William, an eminent divine
and poet, born at Northway, near Tewkesbury, in
Gloucestershire, in September 1611. ^ He finished his
education at Oxford j afterwards went into holy orders,
and became a most florid preacher in the university.
In 1642, he had the place of succentor in the church
of Salisbury : and, in 1642, was chosen junior proctor
in the university. He was also metaphysical reader there.
Wit, judgment, elocution, a graceful person and be¬
haviour, occasioned that encomium of him from Dean
Fell, “ That he was the utmost that man could come
to.” He was an expert linguist $ an excellent orator j
and at the same time was esteemed an admirable poet.
There are extant of his, four plays, and some poems.
He died in 1643, aged 33.
CARVAGE (carvagium), the same with Carru-
CAGE.
Henry HI. is said to have taken carvage, that is, two
marks of silver of every knight’s fee, towards the mar¬
riage of his sister Isabella to the emperor. Carvage
could only be imposed on tenants in capite.
Carvage also denotes a privilege whereby a man is
exempted from the service of carrucage.
CARUCATURIUS, in ancient law books, he that
|,eld land in seepage, or by plough tenure...
3
CARUCATE. See Carrucate.
CARVER, a cutter of figures or other devices in
wood. See Carving.
Carvers answer to what the Romans called sculpiores,
who were different from ccelatores, or engravers, as these
last wrought in metal.
Carver is also an officer of the table, whose busi¬
ness is to cut up the meat, and distribute it to the
guests. The word is formed from the Latin carptor,
which signifies the same. The Romans also called
him carpus, sometimes scissor, scindendi magister, and
structor.
In the great families at Rome, the carver was an
officer of some figure. There were masters to teach
them the art regularly, by means of figures of animals
cut in wood. The Greeks also had their carvers, called
q. d. dirihilores, or distributors. In the pri¬
mitive times, the master of the feast carved for all his
guests. Thus in Homer, when Agamemnon’s ambassa¬
dors were entertained at Achilles’s table, the hero him¬
self carved the meat. Of latter times, the same office
on solemn occasions was executed by some of the chief
men of Sparta. Some derive the custom of distri¬
buting to every guest his portion, from those early ages
when the Greeks first left off feeding on acorns, and
learned the use of corn: The new diet was so great a deli¬
cacy, that to prevent the guests from quarrelling about
it, it was found necessary to make a fair distribution.
In Scotland, the king has a hereditary carver in the
family of Anstruther.
CARUI, or Carvi, in Botany. See Carum, Bo¬
tany Index.
CARVING, in a general sense, the art or act of
cutting or fashioning a hard body, by means of some
sharp instrument, especially a chissel. In this sense
carving includes statuary and engraving, as well as cut¬
ting in wood.-
Carving, in a more particular sense, is the art of
engraving or cutting figures in wood. In this sense
carving, according to Pliny, is prior both to statuary
and painting.
To carve a figure or design, it must be first drawn
or pasted on the wood ; which done, the rest of the
block not covered by the lines of the design, is to
be cut away with little narrow-pointed knives. The
wood fittest for the use is that which is hard, tough,
and close, as beech, but especially box : to prepare it
for drawing the design on, they wash it over with
white lead tempered in water j which better enables it
either to bear ink or the crayon, or even to take the
impression by chalking. When the design is to be
pasted on the wood, this whitening is omitted, and
they content themselves with seeing the wood well
planed. Then wiping ever the painted side of the
figure with gum tragacanth dissolved in water, they
clap it smooth on the wood, and let it dry : which done,
they wet it slightly over, and fret off the surface of the
paper gently, till all the strokes of the figure appear
distinctly. This done, they fall to cutting or carving,
as above.
CARUM. See Botany Index.
CARUNCULA, or Caruncle, in Anatomy, term
denoting a little piece of flesh, and applied to several
parts of the human body. Thus,
Caruoa
Canmcu
Carunculm
CAB [ 229 ] CAB
Cf ncu’as
J tifor-
It'S
Carunculjb Myrtiformes, in Anatomy, fleshy knobs
about the size of a myrtle berry, supposed to owe their
origin to the breaking of the hymen. See Anatomy
Index,
Caruncles, in the urethra, proceeding from a go¬
norrhoea, or an ulceration of the urethra, may be redu¬
ced by introducing the Bougie.
CARUS, a sudden deprivation of sense and motion,
affecting the whole body. See Medicine Index.
Carus, Matxus Aurelius, was raised from a low
station, by his great merit, to be emperor of Rome in
282. He shewed himself worthy of the empire ; sub¬
dued his enemies j and gave the Romans a prospect of
happy days, when he was unfortunately killed by light¬
ning in 284.
CAR WAR, a town of Asia, on the coast of Mala¬
bar in the East Indies, and where the East India Com¬
pany have a factory, fortified with two bastions. The
valleys about it abound in corn and pepper, which
last is the best in the East Indies. The woods on
the mountains abound with quadrupeds, such as ti¬
gers, wolves, monkeys, wild hogs, deers, elks, and a
sort of beeves of a prodigious size. The religion of
the natives is Paganism ; and they have a great many
strange and superstitious customs. E. Long. 73. 7.
N. Lat. 15. o.
CARY, Lucius, Lord Viscount Falkland, was
born in Oxfordshire, about the year 1610 5 a young
nobleman of great abilities and accomplishments. About
the time of his father’s death in 1633, he was made
gentleman of the privy chamber to King Charles I.
and afterwards secretary of state. Before the assem¬
bling of the long parliament, he had devoted himself
to literature, and every pleasure which a fine genius,
a generous disposition, and an opulent fortune, could
afford: when called into public life, he stood foremost
in all attacks on the high prerogatives of the crown ;
but when civil convulsions came to an extremity, and
it was necessary to choose a side, he tempered his zeal,
and defended the limited powers that remained to mo¬
narchy. Still anxious, however, for his country, he
seems to have dreaded equally the prosperity of the
royal party, and that of the parliament \ and among
his intimate friends, often sadly reiterated the word
peace. This excellent nobleman freely exposed his
person for the king in all hazardous enterprises, and
was killed in the 34th year of his age at the battle
of Newberry. In Wellwood’s Memoirs we are told,
that whilst he was with the king at Oxford, his ma¬
jesty went one day to see the public library, where he
was shown among other books a Virgil, nobly printed,
and exquisitely bound. The Lord Falkland, to divert
the king, would have his majesty make a trial of his
fortune by the Sortes Virgilianse, an usual kind of di¬
vination in ages past, made by opening a Virgil. The
king opening the book, the passage which happened to
come up, was that part of Dido’s imprecation against
-/Eneas, iv. 615, &c. which is thus translated by
Dryden :
“ Oppress’d with numbers in th’ unequal field,
“ His men discourag’d, and himself expell’d ;
“ Let him for succour sue from place to place,
“ Torn from his subjects and his son’s embrace.” &c.
King Charles seeming concerned at this accident, the
Lord Falkland, who observed it, would likewise try his Gary
own fortune in the same manner, hoping he might fall l)
upon some passage that could have no relation to his , ^aryl-
case, and thereby divert the king’s thoughts from any
impression the other might make upon him : but the
place Lord Falkland stumbled upon was yet more suit¬
ed to his destiny than the other had been to the king’s ;
being the following expressions of Evander, upon the
untimely death of his son Pallas, i£n. xi. 152.
“ O Pallas ! thou hast fail’d thy plighted word ;
“ To fight with caution, not to tempt the sword,
“ I warn’d thee, but in vain ; for well I knew
“ What perils youthful ardour would pursue 5
“ That boiling blood would carry thee too far $
“ Young as thou wert in dangers,'raw to war.
“ O curst essay of arms, disastrous doom,
“ Prelude of bloody fields and fights to come !”
He wrote several things both poetical and political j
and in some of the king’s declarations, supposed to be
penned by Lord Falkland, we find the first regular de¬
finition of the English constitution that occurs in any
composition published by authority. His predecessor,
the first Viscount Cary, was ennobled for being the first
who gave King James an account of Queen Elizabeth’s
death.
Cary, Robert, a learned English chronologer, born
in Devonshire about the year 1615. On the Restora¬
tion, he was preferred to the archdeaconry of Exeter,
but on some pretext was ejected in 1664, and spent the
rest of his days at his rectory of Portlemoth, where he
died in 1688. He published Ralcelogia Chronica, a
chronology of ancient times, in three parts, didactical,
apodeictical, and canonical} and translated the hymns
of the church into Latin verse.
CARY A, -iE, (Stephanus) 5 Caryce,-arum, (Pau-
sanius) ; a town of Laconia, between Sparta and the
borders of Messenia ; where stood a temple of Diana,
thence called Caryatis, -idis; whose annual festival,
called Carya, -orum, was celebrated by Spartan virgins
with dances. An inhabitant, Caryates, and Caryatis,
Caryatis apis, a Laconian bee, (Stephanus).
Caryje, -arum, in Ancient Geography, a place in Ar¬
cadia, towards the borders of Laconia. Whether from
this of Arcadia, or that of Laconia, the columnce cary¬
atides of Vitruvius and Pliny (which were statues of
matrons in stoles or long robes) took the appellation, is
disputed.
CARYTES, in antiquity, a festival in honour of
Diana, surnamed Caryatis, held at Caryum, a city of
Laconia. The chief ceremony was a certain dance said
to have been invented by Castor and Pollux, and per¬
formed by the virgins of the place. During Xerxes’s
invasion, the Laconians not daring to appear and cele¬
brate the customary solemnity, to prevent incurring the
anger of the goddess by such an intermission, the neigh¬
bouring swains are said to have assembled and sung
pastorals or bucolismi, which is said to have been the
origin of bucolic poetry.
CARYATIDES, or Cariates. See Architec¬
ture.
CARYL, Joseph, a divine of the last century, bred
at Oxford, and some time preacher to the society of
Lincoln’s-inn, an employment he filled with much ap¬
plause. He became a frequent preacher before the.
long parliament, a licenser of their books, one of the
assembly.
CAR [ 230 ] CAR
Cary! assembly of divines, and one of the triers for the ap-
11 probation of ministers; in all which capacities he
Car>ophyl.shoWed himself a man of considerable parts and learn-
■ l*s‘ .• ing, hut with great zeal against the king’s person and
cause. On the restoration of Charles II. he was silen¬
ced by the act of uniformity, and lived privately in
London, where, besides other works, he distinguished
himself by a laborious Exposition of the Book of Job ;
and died in 1672.
CARYLL, John, a late English poet, was of the
Roman Catholic persuasion, being secretary to Queen
Mary the wife of James II. and one who followed the
fortunes of his abdicating master 5 who rewarded him,
first with knighthood, and then with the honorary
titles of Earl Caryll and Baron Dartford. How long
lie continued in that service is not known j but he
was in England in the reign of Queen Anne, and re¬
commended the subject of the “ Rape of the Lock”
to Mr Pope, who at its publication addressed it to
him. He was also the intimate friend of Pope’s
“ Unfortunate Lady.” He was the author of two
plays: 1. “The English Princess, or the Death of
Richard III. 1667,” 410 j 2. “Sir Salomon, or the
Cautious Coxcomb, 1671,” 4to j and in 1700, he
published “ The Psalms of David, translated from the
Vulgate,” l2mo. In Tonson’s edition of Ovid’s
Epistles, that of “ Briseis to Achilles” is said to be
by Sir John Caryll ; and in Nichols’s Select Collec¬
tion of Miscellany Poems, vol. ii. p. 1. the first eclogue
of Virgil is translated by the same ingenious poet. He
was living in 1717, and at that time must have been
a very old man. See three of his letters in the “ Ad¬
ditions to Pope,” vol. ii. p. 114.
CARYOCAR, in Botany, a genus of the tetragy-
nia order, belonging to the polyandria class of plants.
The calyx is quinquepartite, the petals five, the styles
more frequently four. The fruit is a plum, with nu-
cleusses, and four furrows netted.
CARYOPHYLL2EI, in Botany, the name of a
very numerous family or order in Linnaeus’s Fragments
of a Natural Method ; containing, besides the class of
the same name in Tournefort, many other plants,
which from their general appearance seem pretty nearly
allied to it. The following are the genera, viz. Agro-
sterna, Cacubalus, Dianthus, Drypis, Gypsophilia,
Lychnis, Saponaria, Silene, Velazia, Alsine, Arenaria,
Bufonia, Cerastium, Cherleria, Glinus, Holosteum,
Loeflingia, Mochringia, Polycarpen, Sagina, Spergu-
ia, Stellaria, Minuartia, Mollugo, Ortegia, Pharnace-
um, Queria. All the plants of this order are herba¬
ceous, and mostly annual. Some of the creeping
kinds do not rise an inch, and the tallest exceed not
seven or eight feet. See Botany, Natural Orders.
CARYOPH\ LLUS, the Pink, in Botany. See
Dianthus.
Caryofhyllus, the Clove tree. See Botany
Index.
The caryophyllus aromaticus is a native of the Moluc¬
ca islands, particularly of Amboyna, where it is princi¬
pally cultivated. The clove tree resembles in its bark
the olive, and is about the height of the laurel, which it
also resembles in its leaves. No verdure is ever seen under
it. It has a great number of branches, at the extremities
of which are produced vast quantities of flowers, that
are first white, then green, and at last pretty red and
2
hard. When they arrive at this degree of maturity, Caryopli
they are, properly speaking, cloves. As they dry, they lus.
assume a dark yellowish cast j and when gathered, be-'
come of a deep brown. The season for gathering the
cloves is from October to February. The boughs of
the trees are then strongly shaken, or the cloves beat
down with long reeds. Large cloths are spread to re¬
ceive them, and they are afterwards either dried in the
sun or in the smoke of the bamboo cane. The cloves
which escape the notice of those who gather them, or
are purposely left upon the tree, continue to grow till
they are about an inch in thickness j and these falling
otf, produce new plants, which do not bear in Jess than
eight or nine years. Those which are called mother
cloves are inferior to the common sort j but are pre¬
served in sugar by the Dutch ; and in long voyages,
eaten after their meals, to promote digestion.
The clove, to be in perfection, must be full sized,
heavy, oily, and easily broken j of a fine smell, and of
a hot aromatic taste, so as almost to burn the throat.
It should make the fingers smart when handled, and
leave an oily moisture upon them when pressed. In
the East Indies, and in some parts of Europe, it is so
much admired as to be thought an indispensable ingre¬
dient in almost every dish. It is put into their food,
liquors, wines, and enters likewise the composition of
their perfumes. Considered as medicines, cloves are
very hot stimulating aromatics, and possess in an emi¬
nent degree the general virtues of substances of this
class. Their pungency resides in their resin ; or rather
in a combination of resin with essential oil: for the
spirituous extract is very pungent 5 but if the oil and
the resin contained in this extract are separated from
each other by distillation, the oil will be very mild ;
and any pungency which it does retain, proceeds from
some small portion of adhering resin, and the remain¬
ing resin will be insipid. No plant, or part of any
plant, contains such a quantity of oil as cloves do.
From 16 ounces Newman obtained by distillation two
ounces and two drachms, and Hoffman obtained an
ounce and a half of oil from two ounces of the spice.
The oil is specifically heavier than water. Cloves
acquire weight by imbibing water j and this they
will do at some considerable distance. The Dutch,
who trade in cloves, make a considerable advantage
by knowing this secret. They sell them always by
weight; and when a bag of cloves is ordered, they
hang it, for several hours before it is sent in, over a
vessel of water, at about two feet distance from the
surface. This will add many pounds to the weight,
which the unwary purchaser pays for on the spot.
This is sometimes practised in Europe, as well as in
the Spice islands j but the degree of moisture must
be more carefully watched in the latter ; for there a
bag of cloves will, in one night’s time, attract so much
water, that it may be pressed out of them by squeez¬
ing them with the hand.
The clove tree is never cultivated in Europe. At
Amboyna the Company have allotted the inhabitants
4000 parcels of land, on each of which they were at
first allowed, and about the year 1720 compelled, to
plant about 125 trees, amounting in all to 500,00c.
Each of these trees produces annually, on an average,
more than two pounds of cloves j and consequently
the collective produce must weigh more than a mil-
CAS [23
1 lion. The cultivator is paid with the specie that is
y constantly returned to the Company, and receives some
1 unbleached cottons which are brought from Coroman-
sas' del.
f ' CAR YOTA. See Botany Index.
CASA, in ancient and middle-age writers, is used
to denote a cottage or house.
Casa, Santa, denotes the chapel of the holy virgin
at Loretto. The Santa Casa is properly the house,
or rather chamber, in which the blessed virgin is said
to have been born, where she was betrothed to her
spouse Joseph, where the angel saluted her, the Holy
Ghost overshadowed her, and by consequence where
the Son of God was conceived or incarnated. Of
this building the Catholics tell many wonderful stories
too childish to transcribe. The Santa Casa, or holy
chamber, consists of one room, forty-four spans long,
eighteen broad, and twenty-three high. Over the
chimney, in a niche, stands the image called the great
Madona or Lady, four feet high, made of cedar, and,
as they say, wrought by St Luke, who was a carver
as well as a physician. The mantle or robe she has
on, is covered with innumerable jewels of inestimable
value. She has a crown, given her by Louis XIII. of
France, and a little crown for her son.
CASAL, a strong town of Italy in Montserrat,
with a citadel and a bishop’s see. It was taken by
the French from the Spaniards in 1640 ; and the duke
of Mantua sold it to the French in 1681. In 1695
it was taken by the allies, who demolished the for-
• tificationsj but the French retook it, and fortified it
again. The king of Sardinia became master of it in
1706, from whom the French took it in 1745 5 how¬
ever the king of Sardinia got possession again in 1746.
It is seated on the river Po, and contains 15,000 inha¬
bitants. E. Long. 8. 37. N. Lat. 45. 12.
CASAL-Maggiore, a small strong town of Italy, in the
duchy of Milan, seated on the river Po. E. Long. II.
5. N. Lat. 45. 6.
CASA NOVA, Marc Antony, a Latin poet,
born at Rome, succeeded particularly in epigrams.
The poems he composed in honour ot the illustrious
men of Rome are also much esteemed. He died in
1527.
CASAN, a considerable town of Asia, and capital
of a province of the same name in the Russian empire,
with a strong castle, a citadel, and an archbishop’s see.
The country about it is very fertile in all sorts ot fruits,
corn, and pulse. It carries on a great trade in furs,
and furnishes wood for the building of ships. I he
fortress is built of stone} but the town is of wood.
The inhabitants amount to 17,500. Besides several
schools, it has a university, founded in 1803. E. Long.
49. 25. N. Lat. 55. 38.
CASAS, Bartholomew de las, bishop of Chi-
apa, distinguished for his humanity and zeal for the
. conversion of the Indians, was born at Seville in 1474 :
and went with his father who sailed to America with
Christopher Columbus in 1493. At his return to
Spain, he embraced the state of an ecclesiastic, and ob¬
tained a curacy in the island of Cuba: but some time
after quitted his cure in order to procure liberty for
the Indians, whom he saw treated by the Spaniards
in the most cruel and barbarous manner; which natu¬
rally gave them an unconquerable aversion to Christi-
i ] CAS
anity. Bartholomew exerted himself with extraordi-
Catas
0
Casaubon.
nary zeal, for 50 years together, in his endeavours to
persuade the Spaniards that they ought to treat the In- ,
dians with equity and mildness; for which he suffered
a number of persecutions from his countrymen. At
last the court, moved by his continual remonstrances,
made laws in favour of the Indians, and gave orders
to the governors to observe them, and see them exe¬
cuted.* He died at Madrid in 1566, aged 92. He * See the
wrote several works, which breathe nothing but huma-
nity and virtue. The principal of them are, I. An
account of the destruction ot the Indies. 2. Several
treatises in favour of the Indies, against Dr Sepulveda,
who wrote a book to justify the inhuman barbarities
committed by the Spaniards. 3. A very curious
and now scarce work in Latin, on this question,
“ Whether kings or princes can, consistently with
conscience, or in virtue of any right or title, alienate
their subjects, and place them under the dominion of
another sovereign ?
CASATI, Paul, a learned Jesuit, born at Pla¬
centia in 1617, entered early among the Jesuits ; and
after having taught mathematics and divinity at Itome,
was sent into Sweden to Queen Christina, whom he
prevailed on to embrace the Popish religion. He wrote,
1. Vacuum proscriptum. 2. Terra machims mota. 3.
Mechanicorum, libm octo. 4- De Igne Dissertatwnes,
which is much esteemed. 5. De Angclis Disputatio
Theolog. 6. Hydrostaticce Dissertationes. 7. Optica
Disputationes. It is remarkable that he wrote this
treatise on optics at 88 years ot age, and after he was
blind. He also wrote several books in Italian.
CASAUBON, Isaac, was born at Geneva in 1559 ;
and Henry IV. appointed him his library keeper in
1603. After this prince’s death, he went to Eng¬
land with Sir Henry Wotton, ambassador from King
James I. where he was kindly received, and engaged in
writing against Baronius’s annals. He died not long
after this, in 1614 ; and was interred in Westminster-
abbey, where a monument was erected to him. He was
greatly skilled in the Greek, and in criticism ; publish¬
ed several valuable commentaries; and received the
highest eulogiums irom all his cotemporaries.
Casaubon, Meric, a son ol the preceding, was
born at Geneva in 1599. He was bred at Oxford, and
took the degree of master of arts in 1621. I he same
year he published a book in defence ot his father a-
gainst the calumnies of certain Roman Catholics, which
gained him the favour of King James I. and a consider¬
able reputation abroad. He was made prebendary of
Canterbury by Archbishop Laud. In the beginning of
the civil war he lost all his spiritual promotions, but
still continued to publish excellent works. Oliver Crom¬
well, then lieutenant-general of the parliament’s forces,
would have employed his pen in writing the history ot
the late war; but he declined it, owning that this
subject would oblige him to make such reflections as
would be ungrateful, if not injurious, to his lordship.
Notwithstanding this answer, Cromwell, sensible of his
worth, ordered three or four hundred pounds to be
paid him by a bookseller in London, whose name rvas
Cromwell, on demand, without requiring from him
any aknowledgment of his benefactor. But this ofler
he rejected, though his circumstances were then mean.
At the same time it was proposed by his friend Mr
Greaves,
CAS [ 232 ] CAS
Gasaukm Greaves, who belonged to the library at St James’s,
II that, if Casaubon would gratify Cromwell in the re-
^ase* quest above mentioned, all his father’s books, which
were then in the royal library, having been purchased
by King James, should be restored to him, and a pen¬
sion of 300I. a year paid to the family as long as the
youngest son of Dr Casaubon should live 5 but this also
was refused. He likewise refused handsome offers
from Christina queen of Sweden, being determined to
spend the remainder of his life in England. At the
Restoration he recovered all his preferments, and* con¬
tinued writing till his death in 1671. He was the
author of an English translation of Marcus Aurelius
Antoninus’s Meditations, and of Lucius Florus j edi¬
tions of several of the classics, with notes j a treatise of
use and custom } a treatise of enthusiasm ; with many
other works j and he left a number of MSS. to the
university of Oxford.
CASAURINA. See Botany Index.
CASCADE, a steep fall of water from a higher
into a lower place. The word is French, formed of the
Italian cascata, which signified the same} of cascaro,
“ to fall,” and that from the Latin cadere.
Cascades are neither natural, as that at Tivoli, &c. 5
or artificial, as those of Versailles, &c.-, and either fall¬
ing with a gentle descent, as those of Sceaux j or in
form of a buffet, as at Trianon ; or down steps, in
form of a perron, as at St Cloud ; or from bason to
bason, &c.
CASCA1S, a town of Estremadura in Portugal,
situated at the mouth of the river Tagus, 17 miles east
of Lisbon. W. Long. 10. 15. N. Lat, 38. 40.
CASCARILLA. See Clutia and Croton.
CASE, among grammarians, implies the different
inflections or terminations of nouns, serving to express
the different relations they bear to each other j and to
the things they represent. See Grammar.
Case also denotes a receptacle for various articles j
as a case of knives, of lancets, of pistols, &c.
Case, in printing, a large flat oblong frame, placed
aslope, divided into several compartments or little
square cells ; in each of which are lodged a number of
types or letters of the same kind, whence the composi¬
tor takes them out, each as he needs it, to compose
his matter. See Printing.
Case is also used for a certain numerous quantity
of divers things. "I bus a case of crown glass contains
usually 24 tables, each table being nearly circular, and
about three feet six inches diameter ; of Newcastle
glass, 35 tables j of Normandy glass, 25.
CASE-Hardemng oj hwt, is a superficial conversion
of that metal into steel, by the ordinary method of
conversion, namely, by cementation with vegetable or
mineral coals. Ibis operation is generally practised
upon small pieces of iron, wrought into tools and in¬
struments to which a superficial conversion is sufficient 5
and it may be performed conveniently by putting the
pieces of iron to be case-hardened, together with the
cement, into an iron box, which is to be closely shut
and exposed to a red heat during some hours. By this
cementation a certain thickness from the surface of
the iron will be converted into steel, and a proper
hardness may be afterwards given by sudden extinc¬
tion of the heated pieces of converted iron in a cold
fluid. See Steel.
CASE-S/wt, in the military art, musket balls, stones, Case-I
old iron, &c. put into cases, and shot out of great j]
guns. ( Cast
CASEMENT, or Casemate, in Architecture^ a v
hollow moulding, which some architects make one-
sixth of a circle, and others one fourth.
Casement is also used in building, for a little
moveable window, usually within a larger, being made
to open or turn on hinges.
CASERN, in fortification, lodgings built in garri¬
son towns, generally near the rampart, or in the waste
places of the town for lodging soldiers of the garrison.
There are usually two beds in each casern for six sol¬
diers to lie, who mount the guard alternately j the
third part being always on duty.
CASERTA, an episcopal town of Italy, in the
kingdom of Naples, and in the Terra de Lavoro,
W'ith the title of a duchy, seated at the foot of a moun¬
tain of the same name, in E. Long. 15. 5. N. Lat.
41, 5-
CASES, Peter-James, of Paris, the most emi¬
nent painter of the French school. The churches of
Paris and of Versailles abound with his works. He
died in 1754, aged 79.
CASH, in a commercial style, signifies the stock
or ready mo'ney which a merchant or other person has
in his present disposal to negotiate j so called from
the French term caisse, i. e. “ chest or coffer,” for the
keeping of money.
M. Savary shows that the management of the cash
of a company is the most considerable article, and that
whereon its good or ill success depends.
CASH-Book. See Book-Keeping.
CASHEL, or Cashil, a town of Ireland in the
county of Tipperary, and province of Munster, with
an archbishop’s see. The ruins of the old cathedral
testify its having been an extensive as well as handsome
Gothic structure, boldly towering on the celebrated
rock of Cashel, which taken together form a magni¬
ficent object, and bear honourable testimony to the la¬
bour and ingenuity, as well as the piety and zeal, of
its former inhabitants. It is seen at a great distance
and in many directions. Adjoining it are the ruins
of the chapel of Cormac M‘Culinan, at once king and
archbishop of Cashel, supposed to have been the first stone
building in Ireland j and seems, by its rude imitation
of pillars and capitals, to have been copied after the
Grecian architecture, and long to have preceded that
which is usually called Gothic. Cormac M‘Culinan
was a prince greatly celebrated by the Irish historians
for his learning, piety, and valour. He wrote, in his
native language, a history of Ireland, commonly called
the Psalter of Cashel, which is still extant, and contains
the most authentic account we have of the annals of
the country to that period, about the year 900. On the
top of the rock of Cashel, and adjoining the cathedral,
is a lofty round tower, which proudly defied the two
successful attempts of Archbishop Price, who in this
century unroofed and thereby demolished the ancient
cathedral founded by St Patrick. In the choir are
the monuments of Myler Magrath, archbishop of this
see, in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, and some other
curmus remains of antiquity. Cashel was formerly the
royal seat and metropolis of the kings of Munster;
and on the ascent to the cathedral is a large stone on
which
CAS [ 233 ] CAS
. s ci which every new king of Munster was, as the inhabi¬
tants report from tradition, formerly proclaimed. Ca-
Ca nire. s|iel js smaller than it once was, containing only about
L-" goo houses. The archbishop’s palace is a fine build¬
ing. Here is a very handsome market house, a ses¬
sions house, the county infirmary, a charter school
for' twenty boys and the same number of girls, and
a very good barrack for two companies of foot. Dr
Agar finished a very elegant church which was be¬
gun by his predecessor. W. Long. 7. 36. N. Lat.
52. 16.
CASHEW nut. See Anacardium, Botany In¬
dex.
CASHIER, the cash-keeper ; he who is charged
with the receiving and paying the debts of a society.
In the generality of foundations, the cashier is called
treasurer.
Cashiers of the Bank, are officers who sign the notes
that are issued out, and examine and mark them when
returned for payment.
CASHMIRE, a province of India, for a long time
belonging to Hindostan, but now an appendage of
Afghanistan. It is about 90 miles in length, and near¬
ly of an oval form, situated chiefly between 34 and 35
degrees of north latitude, and between 73 and 76 de¬
grees of east longitude. Being girt in by a zone of
hills, and elevated very considerably above an arid
plain, which stretches many miles around it, the scenes
which it exhibits are wild and picturesque. Rivers,
hills, and valleys, charmingly diversify the landscape.
Here, Mr Sullivan * informs us, a cascade rushes from
tofces a foaming precipice j there a tranquil stream glides
placidly along j the tinkling rill, too, sounds amidst the
groves 5 and the feathered choristers sing the song of
love, close sheltered in the shade.
At what time Cashmire came under the dominion
of the Mogul government, and how long and in what
manner it was independent, before it was annexed to
the territories of the house of Timur, are points that
are beyond our present purpose. Though inconsiderable
as to its revenues, it was uniformly held in the highest
estimation by the emperors of Hindostan. Thither
they repaired in the plenitude of their greatness, when
the affairs of the state would admit of their absence 5 and
there they divested themselves of form, and all the op¬
pressive ceremony of state. The royal manner of tra¬
velling to Cashmire was grand, though tedious and un¬
wieldy, and showed, in an eminent degree, the splen¬
dour and magnificence of an eastern potentate. Au-
rengzebe, we are told, seldom began his march to that
country, for a march certainly it was to be called, with¬
out an escort of 80,000 or 100,000 fighting men, be¬
sides the gentlemen of his household, the attendants of
his seraglio, and most of his officers of state. These
all continued with him during the time he was on the
road, which generally was a month j but no sooner was
he arrived at the entrance of those aerial regions, than,
with a select party of friends, he separated from the
rest of his retinue, and with them ascended the defiles
which led him to his Eden.
The temperature of the air of Cashmire, elevated
as it is so much above the adjoining country, together
with the streams which continually pour from its moun¬
tains, enables the husbandman to cultivate with success
the soil he appropriates to agriculture ; whilst the gar-
Vol. V. Part I. f
dener’s labour is amply repaid in the abundant produce Caslntiire
of his fruit. In short, nature wears her gayest cloth- 1}
ing in this enchanting spot. The rivers supply the in- £ask.
habitants with almost every species of fish ; the hills v-^» J
yield sweet herbage for the cattle j the plains are co¬
vered with grain of different denominations ; and the
woods are stored with variety of game. The Cash-
mireans, according to our author, seem a race distinct
from all the others in the east: Their persons are more
elegant, and their complexions more delicate and more
tinged with red.
On the decadence of the Mogul power in Hindos¬
tan, Cashmire felt some of the ravages of war. The
inhabitants are sprightly and ingenious, and manufac¬
ture a beautiful species of shawls much valued in India.
They are all Mahometans or idolaters. Cashmire is
the capital town.
CASIMIR, the name of several kings of Poland.
See {History of) Poland.
Casimir, Matthias Sorbiewski, a Polish Jesuit, born
in 1597. He was a most excellent poet; and is, .says
M. Baillet, an exception to the general rule of Ari¬
stotle and the other ancients, which teaches us to ex¬
pect nothing ingenious and delicate from northern cli¬
mates. His odes, epodes, and epigrams, have been
thought not inferior to those of the finest wits of
Greece and Rome. Dr Watts has translated one or
two of his small pieces, which are added to his Lyric
Poems. He died at Warsaw in 1640, aged 43. There
have been many editions of his poems, the best of which
is that of Paris, 1759.
CASING of timber work, among builders, is
the plastering the house all over the outside with mor¬
tar, and then striking it while wet, by a ruler, with the
corner of a trowel, to make it resemble the joints of
freestone. Some direct it to be done upon heart-laths,
because the mortar would, in a little time, decay the
sap-laths; and to lay on the mortar in two thicknesses,
viz. a second before the first is dry.
CASIRI, Michael, a learned orientalist, a native
of Syria. See Supplement.
CASK, or Casque, a piece of defensive armour
wherewith to cover the head and neck ; otherwise call¬
ed the head-piece and helmet*. The word is French, * See Hel-
casque, from cassicum or cassicus, a diminutive of cassis rnet-
“ a helmet.” Le Gendre observes, that anciently, in
France, the gens d’armes all wore casks. The king
wore a cask gilt j the dukes and counts silvered j gentle¬
men of extraction polished steel 5 and the rest plain
iron.
The cask is frequently seen on ancient medals, where
we may observe great varieties in the form and fashion
thereof j as the Greek fashion, the Roman fashion, &c.
F. Joubert makes it the most ancient of all the co¬
verings of the head, as well as the most universal.
Kings, emperors, and even gods themselves, are seen
therewith. That which covers the head of Rome has
usually two wings like those of Mercury $ and that of
some kings is furnished with horns like those of Jupiter
Ammon j and sometimes barely bulls or rams horns, to
express uncommon force.
Cask, in Heraldry, the same with helmet. See He¬
raldry, No. 45.
Cask, a vessel of capacity, for preserving liquors of
divers kinds j and sometimes also dry goods, as sugar,
G g almonds,
CAS [ 234 ] CAS
Biog. Brit.
and Anec¬
dotes of
Boyer,
by Nicho¬
las.
almonds, &c.—A cask of sugar is a barrel of that com¬
modity, containing from eight to eleven hundred
weight. A cask of almonds is about three hundred
weight.
CASKET, in a general sense, a little coffer or ca¬
binet. See Cabinet.
Caskets, in the sea language, are small ropes made
of sinnet, and fastened to gromets, or little rings upon
the yards; their use is to make fast the sail to the
yard when it is to he furled.
CASLON, William, eminent in an art of the
greatest consequence to literature, the art of letter¬
founding, was horn in 1692, in that part of the town
of Hales Owen which is situated in Shropshire. Though
he justly attained the character of being the Coryphae¬
us in that employment, he was not brought up to the
business ; and it is observed by Mr Mores, that this
handywork is so concealed among the artificers of it,
that he could not discover that any one had taught it
to another, but every person who had used it had
learned it of his own genuine inclination. Mr Caslon
served a regular apprenticeship to an engraver of orna¬
ments on gun barrels 5 and after the expiration of his
term, carried on this trade in Vine-street, near the
Minories. He did not, however, solely confine his
ingenuity to that instrument, hut employed himself
likewise in making tools for the bookbinders, and for
the chasing of silver plate. Whilst he was engaged in
this business, the elder Mr Bowyer accidentally saw, in
a bookseller’s shop, the lettering of a book uncommon¬
ly neat j and inquiring who the artist was by whom the
letters were made, was hence induced to seek an ac¬
quaintance with Mr Caslon. Not long after, Mr
Bowyer took Mr Caslon to Mr James’s foundery, in
Bartholomew-close. Caslon had never before that
time seen any part of the business ; and being asked by
his friend, if he thought he could undertake to cut
types, he requested a single day to consider the mat¬
ter *, and then replied that he had no doubt but he
could. Upon this answer, Mr Bowyer, Mr Betten-
ham, and Mr Watts, had such a confidence in his abi¬
lities, that they lent him 500I. to begin the undertak¬
ing, and he applied himself to it with equal assiduity
and success. In 1720, the society for promoting Chris¬
tian knowledge, in consequence of a representation
from Mr Solomon Negri, a native of Damascus in Sy¬
ria, who was well skilled in the oriental tongues, and
had been professor of Arabic in places of note, deemed
it expedient to print, for the use of the Eastern
churches, the New Testament and Psalter, in the Arabic
language. These were intended for the benefit of the
poor Christians in Palestine, Syria, Mesopotamia,
Arabia, and Egypt, the constitution of which countries
did not permit the exercise of the art of printing. Upon
this occasion Mr Caslon was pitched upon to cut the
fount; in his specimens of which he distinguished it by
the name of English Arabic. Under the farther en¬
couragement of Mr Bowyer, Mr Bettenham, and Mr
Watts, he proceeded with vigour in his employment j
and he arrived at length to such perfection, that he not
only freed us from the necessity of importing types
from Plolland, hut in the beauty and elegance of those
made by him he so far exceeded the productions of tire
best artificers, that his workmanship was frequently ex¬
ported to the continent. In short, his foundery be¬
came, in process of time, the most capital one that ex- Ca',!#*
ists in this or in foreign countries. Having acquired Caspian
opulence in the course of his employment, he was put
into the commission of the peace for the county of Mid-V"“_v'"
dlesex. Towards the latter end of his life, his eldest
son being in partnership with him, he retired in a great
measure from the active execution of business. His
death happened in January 1766.
CASPIAN SEA, a large lake of salt water in Asia,
bounded by the province of Astracan on the north,
and by part of Persia on the south, east, and west. It
is 646 miles in length, 265 in breadth, and 2350 in
circumference, including gulfs and bogs. This sea
embraces between Astracan and Astrabad an incre¬
dible number of small islands. Its bottom is mud, but
sometimes mixed with shells. At the distance of some
German miles from land it is 500 fathoms deep; but
on approaching the shore it is everywhere so shallow,
that the smallest vessels, if loaded, are obliged to re¬
main at a distance.
When we consider that the Caspian is enclosed on
all sides by land, and that its banks are in the neigh¬
bourhood of very high mountains, we easily see why
the navigation in it should be perfectly different from
that in every other sea. There are certain winds that
domineer over it with such absolute sway, that vessels
are often deprived of every resource j and in the whole
extent of it there is not a port that can truly be called
safe. The north, north-east, and east winds, blow most
frequently, and occasion the most violent tempests.
Along the eastern shore the east winds prevail ; for
which reason vessels hound from Persia to Astracan
always direct their course along this shore.
The surface of the Caspian sea is found to be 324 feet
lower than the ocean. Although its extent is immense,
the variety of its productions is exceedingly small. This
undoubtedly proceeds from its want of communication
with the ocean, which cannot impart to it any portion of
its inexhaustible stores. But the animals which this lake
nourishes multiply to such a degree, that the Russians,
who alone are in condition to make them turn to ac¬
count, justly consider them as a never-failing source of
profit and wealth. It will he understood that we
speak of the fish of the Caspian, and of its fisheries,
which make the sole occupation and principal trade of
the people inhabiting the banks of the Wolga and of
the Jaik. This business is distinguished into the great
and lesser fisheries. The fish comprehended under the
first division, such as the sturgeon and others, abound
in all parts of the Caspian, as well as in the rivers that
communicate with it, and which they ascend at spawn¬
ing time. The small fishes, such as the salmon and
many others, observe the general law of quitting the
salt waters for the fresh ; nor is there an instance of
one of them remaining constantly in the sea.
Seals are the only quadrupeds that inhabit the Cas¬
pian ; but they are there in such numbers as to afford
the means of subsistence to many people in that coun¬
try as well as in Greenland. The varieties of the spe¬
cies are numerous, diversified however only by the
colour. Some are quite black, others quite white ;
there are some whitish, some yellowish, some of a
mouse colour, and some streaked like a tiger. They
crawl by means of their fore feet upon the islands,
where they become the prey of the fishermen, who kiU
them
CAS [ 235 ] CAS
c ^11 them with long clubs. As soon as one is dispatched,
u he is succeeded by several who come to the assistance
their unhappy companion, but come only to share
his fate. They are exceedingly tenacious of life, and
endure more than thirty hard blows before they die.
They will even live for several days after having recei¬
ved many mortal wounds. They are most terrified by
fire and smoke } and as soon as they perceive them, re¬
treat with the utmost expedition to the sea. These ani¬
mals grow so very fat, that they look rather like oil
bags than animals. At Astracan is made a sort of gray
soap with their fat mixed with pot-ashes, which is much
valued for its property of cleansing and taking grease
from woollen stuffs. The greatest numbers of them are
killed in spring and autumn. Many small vessels go
from Astracan merely to catch seals.
If the Caspian has few quadrupeds, it has in propor¬
tion still fewer of those natural productions which are
looked upon as proper only to the sea. There have
never been found in it any zoophytes, nor any animal
of the order of mollusca. The same may almost be said
of shells $ the only ones found being three or four spe¬
cies of cockle, the common muscle, some species of
snails, and one or two others.
But to compensate this sterility, it abounds in birds
of different kinds. Of those that frequent the shores,
there are many species of the goose and duck kind,
of the stork and heron, and many others of the water
tribe. Of birds properly aquatic, it contains the grebe,
the crested diver, the pelican, the cormorant, and al¬
most every species of gull. Crows are so fond of fish,
that they haunt the shores of the Caspian in prodigious
multitudes.
The waters of this lake are very impure, the great
number of rivers that run into it, and the nature of its
bottom, affecting it greatly. It is true, that in general
the waters are salt: but though the whole western
shore extends from the 46th to the 35th degree of
north latitude j and though one might conclude from
analogy that these waters would contain a great deal
of salt, yet experiments prove the contrary j and it is
certain, that the saltness of this sea is diminished by the
north, north-east, and north-west winds j although we
may with equal reason conclude, that it owes its salt¬
ness to the mines of salt which lie along its two banks,
and which are either already known, or will be known
to posterity. The depth of these waters also diminishes
gradually as you approach the shores, and their saltness
in the same way grows less in proportion to their proxi¬
mity to the land, the north winds not unfrequently
causing the rivers to discharge into it vast quantities
of troubled water impregnated with clay. These va¬
riations which the sea is exposed to are more or less
considerable, according to the nature of the winds $
they allect the colour of the river waters to a certain
distance from the shore, till these mixing with those
of the sea, which then resume the ascendancy, the fine
green colour appears, which is natural to the ocean,
and to all those bodies of water that communicate with
it.
It is well known, that, besides its salt taste, all sea
water has a sensible bitterness, which must be attri¬
buted not only to the salt itself, but to the mixture of
different substances that unite with it, particularly to
different sorts of alum, the ordinary effect of different
combinations of acids. Besides this, the waters of the Caspian
Caspian have another taste, bitter too, but quite di- *ea.
stinct, which affects the tongue with an impression 1 1 C”**"
similar to that made by the bile of animals j a property
which is peculiar to this sea, though not equally sen¬
sible at all seasons. When the north and north-west
winds have raged for a considerable time, this bitter
taste is sensibly felt $ but when the wind has been
south, very imperfectly. We shall endeavour to ac¬
count for this phenomenon.
The Caspian is surrounded on its western side by the
mountains of Caucasus, which extend from Derbent
to the Black sea. These mountains make a curve
near Astracan, and directing their course towards the
eastern shore of the Caspian, lose themselves near the
mouth of the Jaik, where they become secondary
mountains, being disposed in strata. As Caucasus is
an inexhaustible magazine of combustible substances, it
consequently lodges an astonishing quantity of metals
in its bowels. Accordingly, along the foot of this
immense chain of mountains, we sometimes meet with
warm springs, sometimes springs of naphtha of dif¬
ferent quality j sometimes we find native sulphur,
mines of vitriol, or lakes heated by internal fires. Now
the foot of Mount Caucasus forming the immediate
western shore of the Caspian sea, it is very easy to
imagine that a great quantity of the constituent parts
of the former must be communicated to the latter :
but it is chiefly to the naphtha, which abounds so much
in the countries which surround this sea, that we must
attribute the true cause of the bitterness peculiar to
its waters ; for it is certain that this bitumen flows
from the mountains, sometimes in all its purity, and
sometimes mixed with other substances which it ac¬
quires in its passage through subterranean channels,
from the most interior parts of these mountains to the
sea, where it falls to the bottom by its specific gravity.
It is certain, too, that the north and north-west winds
detach the greatest quantities of this naphtha $ whence
it is evident that the bitter taste must be most sensible
when these winds prevail. We may also comprehend
why this taste is not so strong at the surface or in the
neighbourhood of the shore, the waters there being
less impregnated with salt, and the naphtha, which is
united with the water by the salt, being then either
carried to a distance by the winds, or precipitated to
the bottom.
But it is not a bitter taste alone that the naphtha
communicates to the waters of the Caspian : these wa¬
ters were analysed by M. Gmelin, and found to con¬
tain, besides the common sea salt, a considerable pro¬
portion of Glauber salt, intimately united with the for¬
mer, and which is evidently a production of the naph¬
tha.
As the waters of the Caspian have no outlet, it has
been supposed that they are discharged by subterra¬
nean canals; but this is shewn to be incredible, by
the lower level of this sea. The two great deserts
which extend from it to the east and west are chiefly
composed of a saline earth, in which the salt is form¬
ed by efflorescence into regular crystals $ for which
reason salt showers and dews are exceedingly common
in that neighbourhood. The salt of the marshes at
Astracan, and that found in efflorescence in the de¬
serts, is by no means pure sea salt, but much de-
G g 2 based
CAS [ 236 ] CAS
Caspian sea based by the bitter Glauber salt we mentioned above.
j| In many places indeed it is found with crystals of a
Cassana. lozenge shape, which is peculiar to it, without any cu-
^ -v bical appearance, the form peculiar to crystals ot sea
salt.
A great deal has been written on the successive aug¬
mentation and decrease of the Caspian sea, but with
little truth. There is indeed to be perceived in it a
certain rise and fall of its waters; in which, however,
no observation has ever discovered any regularity.
Many suppose (and there are strong presumptions in
favour of the supposition), that the shores ot the Cas¬
pian were much more extensive in ancient times than
they are at present, and that it once communicated
with the Black sea. It is probable, too, that the level
. of this last sea was once much higher than it is at
present. If then it be allowed, that the waters of the
Black sea, before it procured an exit by the straits ot
Constantinople, rose several fathoms above their present
level, which from many concurring circumstances may
easily be admitted, it will follow, that all the plains ot
the Crimea, of the Kuman, of the Wolga, and ot the
Jaik, and those of Great Tartary beyond the lake ot
Aral, in ancient times formed but one sea, which em¬
braced the northern extremity of Caucasus by a narrow
strait of little depth ; the vestiges of which are still ob¬
vious in the river Mantysch.
CASQUE, or Cask. See Cask.
•CASSADA. See Jatropha, Botany Index.
CASSANA, Nicolo, called Nicoletto, an emi¬
nent Italian painter, was born at Venice in 1659, and
became a disciple of his father Giovanni Francesco
Cassana, a Genoese, who had been taught the art ot
painting by Bernardino Strozzi. He soon distinguish¬
ed himself, not only by the beauty of his colouring,
but by the gracefulness of his figures in historical com¬
positions, as well as in portrait. The most eminent
personages solicited him to enrich their cabinets with
some of his performances •, and were more particularly
desirous to obtain their portraits, because in that branch
he excelled beyond competition. The grand duke of
Tuscany, who was an excellent judge of merit in all
professons, and as liberal an encourager of it, invited
Nicoletto to his court j and he there painted the por¬
traits of that prince and the Princess Violante his
consort. These performances procured him uncommon
applause, as well as a noble gratuity, and he was em¬
ployed and caressed by the principal nobility of Flo¬
rence. Beside several historical subjects painted by
this master while he resided in that city, one was a
very capital design. The subject of it was the Conspi¬
racy of Catiline ; it consisted of nine figures as large as
life, down to the knees ; and the two principal figures
were represented as with one hand joined in the pre¬
sence of their companions, and in their other hand
holding a cup of blood. Some of the-English nobility
on their travels sat to him for their portraits j which
being sent to London, and highly admired, Nicoletto
was invited to England, with strong assurances of a
generous reception ; and on his arrival he experienced
the kindness, the respect, and the liberality, so peculiar
to the natives of that kingdom. He had the honour
of being introduced to the presence of Queen Anne,
and to paint her portrait: in which he succeeded so
happily, that the Queen distinguished him by many
2
marks of favour and honour j but he had not the Cassaiu
happiness to enjoy his good fortune for any length of ||
time, dying in London, universally regretted, in the Sandra
year 1713. ... ' ^
Cassana, Giovanni Agostino, called L*Abate Cas¬
sana, was brother to the preceding, and born in 1664.
Fie was educated along with him by their father
Francesco Cassana, and he finished his studies at Ve¬
nice, where his brother Nicoli resided for some time.
Although he composed and designed historical subjects
with expertness, and with a correctness of outline equal
to his brother j yet, from prudence and fraternal alfec-
tion, he declined to interfere with him, and chose
therefore to design and paint all sorts of animals and
fruits. In that style he arrived at a high degree of
excellence, imitating nature with exactness, beauty,
and truth ; expressing the various plumage of his birds,
and the haix-s of the different animals, with such tender¬
ness and delicacy as rendered them estimable to all
judges and lovers of the art. His works were admit¬
ted into the collections of those of the first rank, am]
accounted ornaments of those repositories of what is
curious or valuable. He also painted fruits of those
kinds which were the most uncommon, or naturally of
odd and singular colours; and such fishes as seemed
worthy to excite admiration by their unusual form,
colour, or appearance. But, besides those subjects, he
sometimes painted the portraits of particular persons
of distinction, which he designed, coloured, and touch¬
ed, with the same degree of merit that was visible in
all his other performances. At last he determined to
visit Genoa, where his family had lived in esteem $ and
took with him several pictures which he had already
finished. His intention was to display his generosity,
and to appear as a person of more wealth, and of greater
consequence than he really was j and, to support that
character, he bestowed his pictures on several of the
principal nobility of that city. But, unhappily, he
experienced no grateful return for all that prodigal
munificence ; he reduced himself by that vain liberality
to the most necessitous circumstances $ was deprived
of the means to procure for himself even the common
necessaries of life j and wasted away the remainder of
his days in the bitterness of poverty, misery, and ne¬
glect.
CASSANDER, king of Macedon after Alexan¬
der the Great, was the son of Antipater. He made
several conquests in Greece, abolished democracy at
Athens, and gave the government of that state to the
orator Demetrius. Olympias, the mother of Alexander,
having caused Aridaeus and his wife Eurydice, with
others of Cassander’s party, to be put to death, he
besieged Pydne, whither the queen had retired, took
it by a stratagem, and caused her to be put to death.
He married Thessalonica, the sister of Alexander the
Great; and killed Roxana and Alexander, the wife and
son ol that conqueror. At length he entered into an
alliance with Seleucus and Lysimachus, against An-
tigonus and Demetrius j over whom he obtained a
great victory near Ipsus in Phrygia, 301 years before
the Christian era, and died three years after, in the
19th year of his reign.
CASSANDRA, in fabulous history, the daughter
of Priam and Hecuba, was beloved of Apollo, who
promised to bestow on her the spirit of prophecy, pro¬
vided
CAS [2.
vided she would consent to his love. Cassandra seemed
Ca ndm to accept the proposal j but had no sooner obtained
f. ine that gift, than she laughed at the tempter, and broke
— jier vvord. Apollo, being enraged, revenged himself,
by causing no credit to be given to her predictions,
hence she in vain prophesied the ruin of ivoy. Ajax,
the son of Oileus, having ravished her in the temple of
Minerva, he was struck with thunder. She fell into
the hands of Agamemnon, who loved her to distrac¬
tion ; but in vain did she predict that he would be as¬
sassinated in his own country. He was killed, with
her, by the intrigues of Clytemnestra j but their death
was avenged by Orestes.
CASSANO, a town of Italy in the duchy of Mi¬
lan, rendered remarkable by an obstinate battle fought
there between the Germans and French in 1705. It
is subject to the house of Austria, and is seated on the
river Adda, in E. Long. 10. o. N. Lat. 45*
Cassano, a town of Italy in Calabria Citerior, in
the kingdom of Naples, with a bishop’s see. E. Long.
16. 30. N. Lat. 39. 55.
CASSAVI, or Cassada. See Jatropha, Bo¬
tany Index.
CASSEL, a town of French Flanders, in the de¬
partment of the North. It contains 3600 inhabitants,
and is seated on a mountain j and from whence there
is one of the finest prospects in the world $ for one may
see no less than 32 towns, with a great extent of the
sea, from whence it is distant 15 miles. E. Long. 2.
27. N. Lat. 50. 48.
CassEL, the capital city of the landgrayate of
Hesse Cassel, in the circle of the Upper Rhine in Ger¬
many ; (see Hesse Cassel). It is divided into the
Old, New, and High Towns. The New Town is best
built, the houses being of stone, and the streets broad.
The houses of the Old Town, which is within the
walls, are mostly of timber 5 but the streets are broad,
and the market places spacious. I he place is strongly
fortified, but the fortifications are not regular. It con¬
tained 20,300 inhabitants in 1810, and was the capi¬
tal of the kingdom of Westphalia till 1814. There
are several manufactories in the place, particularly in
the woollen branch. It is seated on the declivity of a
hill near the river Fulva, in E. Long. 9. 28. N. Lat.
51. 20.
CASSIA. See Botany Index.
Cassia Lignea. See Laurus.
CASSIDA. See Scutellaria, Botany Index.
Cassida, in Zoology, a genus of insects belonging
to the order of coleoptera. See Entomology Index.
CASSIMER, or Casimer, the name of a thin
tweeled woollen cloth, much in fashion for summer
use.
CASSIMIRE, or Cashmire. See Cashmire.
CASSINE. See Botany Index. The Spaniards
who live near the gold mines of Peru, are frequently
obliged to drink an infusion of this herb in order to
moisten their breasts 5 without which they are liable to
a sort of suffocation, from the strong metallic exhala¬
tions that are continually proceeding from the mines.
In Paraguay, the Jesuits make a great revenue by im¬
porting the leaves of this plant into many countries,
under the name of Paraguay or South sea tea, which
is there drank in the same manner as that ol China or
7 ] CAS
Japan is with us. It is with difficulty preserved in Cassine,
England. Cassini.
CASSINI, Johannes Dominicus, a most excellent1 *
astronomer, was born at Piedmont in 1635. His early
proficiency in astronomy procured him an invitation to
be mathematical professor at Bologna when he was no
more than 15 years of age : and a comet appearing in
1652, he discovered that comets were not accidental
meteors, but of the same nature, and probably govern¬
ed by the same laws, as the planets. In the same year
he solved a problem given up by Kepler and Bullialdus
as insolvable, which was, to determine geometrically
the apogee and eccentricity of a planet from its true
and mean place. In 1663, he was appointed inspector
general of the fortifications of the castle of Urbino, and
had afterwards the care of ail the rivers in the ecclesi¬
astical state : he still, however, prosecuted his astro¬
nomical studies, by discovering the revolution of Mars
round his own axis 5 and, in 1666, published his theory
of Jupiter’s satellites. Cassini was invited into France
by Louis XIV. in 1669, where he settled as the first
professor in the royal observatory. In 1677 he demon¬
strated the line of Jupiter’s diurnal rotation; and in
1684 discovered four more satellites belonging to Sa¬
turn, Huygens having found one before. He inhabited
the royal observatory at Paris more than forty years;
and when he died in 1712, was succeeded by his only
son James Cassini.
Cassini, James, another celebrated astronomer, was
the only son of the former. He was born at Paris,
18th February 1677. It would appear that his early
studies were conducted in his father’s house, where,
from the pursuits and studies of his father, mathematics,
and their application to astronomy, it is probable, were
not neglected. He became a student afterwards at the
Mazarine college, at the time that the celebrated Va-
rignon was professor of mathematics. M ith the assist¬
ance of this eminent man young Cassini made such pro¬
gress, that at 15 years of age he supported a mathema¬
tical thesis with great honour. At the age of 17 he
was admitted a member of the Academy of Sciences ;
and the same year he accompanied his father in a jour¬
ney to Italy, where he assisted him in the verification
of the meridian at Bologna and other measurements.
After his return he performed similar operations in a
journey into Holland, and he discovered some eriois in
the measure of the earth by Snell, the result of which
was communicated to the Academy in 1702. In 1696
he made also a visit to England, where he was made a
member of the Royal Society. In 1712 he succeeded
his father as astronomer royal at the observatory of
Paris. In 1717 he gave to the Academy his researches
on the distance of the fixed stars ; in which he shewed
that the whole annual orbit, of near 200 millions of
miles diameter, is but as a point in comparison of that
distance. The same year he communicated also his
discoveries concerning the inclination of the orbits of
the satellites in general, and especially of those of Sa¬
turn’s satellites and ring. In 1725 be undertook^to
determine the cause of the moon’s libration, by which
she shews sometimes a little towards one side, and some¬
times a little on the other, of that half which is com¬
monly behind or hid from our view..
In 1732 an important question in astronomy enga¬
ged.
CAS [ 238 ] CAS
Cassini, ged tlie ingenuity of our author. His father had de-
^ termined, by his observations, that the planet Venus re¬
volved about her axis in the space of 23 hours $ and
M. Bianchini had published a work in 1729, in which
he settled the period of the same revolvtion at 24 days
8 hours. From an examination of Bianchini’s obser¬
vations which were upon the spots in Venus, he dis¬
covered that he had intermitted his observations for the
space of three hours, from which cause he had probably
mistaken new spots for the old ones, and so had been
led into the mistake. He also determined the nature
and quantity of the acceleration of the motion of Ju¬
piter at half a second per year, and of that of the re¬
tardation of Saturn at two minutes per year j that
these quantities would go on increasing for 2000 years,
and then would decrease again. In 1740 he publish¬
ed his Astronomical Tables, and his Elements of
Astronomy •, very extensive and accurate works.
Astronomy was the principal object of our author’s
consideration, but he did not confine himself absolutely
to that pursuit, but made occasional excursions into
other fields. We owe to him Experiments on Electri¬
city, Experiments on the Recoil of Fire-arms; Re¬
searches on the Rise of the Mercury in the Barometer
at different Heights j Reflections on the perfecting of
Burning-glasses \ and some other memoirs.
One of the most important objects of the French
academy was the measurement of the earth. In 1669
Picard measured a little more than a degree of lati¬
tude to the north of Paris $ but as that extent appear¬
ed too small from which to conclude the whole circum¬
ference with sufficient accuracy, it was resolved to
continue that measurement on the meridian of Paris to
the north and the south, through the whole extent of
the country. Accordingly, in 1683, the late M. de
la Hire continued that on the north side of Paris, and
the older Cassini that on the south side. The latter
was assisted in 1700 in the continuation of this opera¬
tion by his son our author. The same work was
farther continued by the same academicians $ and
finally, the part left unfinished by De la Hire in the
north was finished in 1718 by our author, with the
late Maraldi, and De la Hire the younger.
These operations produced a considerable degree of
precision. From this measured extent of six degrees,
it appeared also, that the degrees were of different
lengths in different parts of the meridian 5 and our
author concluded, in the volume published for 1718,
that they decreased more and more towards the pole,
and that therefore the figure of the earth was that of
an oblong spheroid, or having its axis longer than the
-equatorial diameter. He also measured the perpendi¬
cular to the same meridian, and compared the measured
distance with the differences of longitude as before
determined by the eclipses of Jupiter’s satellites ; from
which he concluded that the length of the degrees of
longitude was smaller than it would be on a sphere,
and that therefore again the figure of the earth was
an oblong spheroid, contrary to the determination of
Newton by the theory of gravity. Newton was in¬
deed of all men the most averse from controversy ;
but the other mathematicians in Britain did not
tamely submit to conclusions in direct opposition to
the fundamental doctrine of this philosopher. The
consequence was, that the French government sent
3
two different sets of measurers, the one to measure
a degree at the equator, the other at the polar circle j Cassini
and the comparison of the whole determined the figure
to be an oblate spheroid, contrary to Cassini’s deter-
mination.
After a long and laborious life, James Cassini died
in April 1756, and was succeeded in the Academytand
Observatory by his second son. He published, A Trea¬
tise on the Magnitude and Figure of the Earth; as
also, the Elements or Theory of the Planets, with
Tables j beside a great number of papers in the Me¬
moirs of the Academy, from the year 1699 to 1755.
Cassini de Thury, Ccesar Francois, a celebrated
French astronomer, director of the observatory, and
member of most of the learned societies of Europe,
was born at Paris June 17. 1714. He was the second
son of James Cassini, whose occupations and talents he
inherited and supported with great honour. He re¬
ceived his first lessons in astronomy and mathematics
from MM. Maraldi and Camus j and made such a ra¬
pid progress, that when he was not more than ten
years of age he calculated the phases of a total eclipse
of the sun. At the age of eighteen he accompanied
his father in his two journeys undertaken for drawing
the perpendicular to the observatory meridian from
Strasbourg to Brest. A general chart of France was
from that time devised j for which purpose it was neces¬
sary to traverse the country by several lines parallel and
perpendicular to the meridian of Paris. Our author
was charged with the conduct of this business 3 in
which he was so scrupulous as to measure again what
had been measured by his father. This great work was
published in I74°> with a chart shewing the new me¬
ridian of Paris, by two different series of triangles, pas¬
sing along the sea coasts to Bayonne, traversing the
frontiers of Spain to the Mediterranean and Antibes,
and thence along the eastern limits of France to Dun¬
kirk, with parallel and perpendicular lines described at
the distance of 6000 toises from one another, from side
to side of the country.
Our author made a tour in 1741, in Flanders, in'the
train of the king. This gave rise, at his majesty’s in¬
stance, to the chart of France \ relative to which Cassini
published different works, as well as a great number of
the sheets of the chart itself. He undertook, in 1761,
an expedition into Germany, for the purpose of con¬
tinuing to Vienna the perpendicular of the Paris me¬
ridian j to unite the triangles of the chart of France
with the points taken in Germany j to prepare the
means of extending into that country the same plan
as in I ranee; and thus to establish successively for all
Europe a most useful uniformity. Our author was at
Vienna the 6th of June 1761, the day of the transit
of the planet Venus over the sun, of which he observed
as much as the state of the weather would permit him
to do, and published the account of it in his Voyage
en Allemagne.
Cassini, always meditating the perfection of his
grand design, profited of the peace of 1783 to propose
the joining of certain points taken upon the English
coast with those which had been determined on the
coast of France, and thus to connect the general chart
of the latter with that of the British isles, as he had
before united it with those of Flanders and Germany.
The proposal was favourably received by the English
government,
CAS [ 239 ] CAS
Ca u de government, and presently carried into effect under
• jry the direction of the Royal Society, by the late General
Roy.
Ca ipeia. between the years 1735 and 1770, M. Cassini pub-
lished, in the volumes of Memoirs of the French Aca-.
demy, a great number of pieces, consisting chiefly of
astronomical observations and questions ; among which
are researches concerning the parallax of the sun, the
moon, Mars and Venus ; on astronomical refractions,
and the effect caused in their quantity and laws by the
weather; numerous observations on the obliquity of
the ecliptic, and on the law of its variations. He cul¬
tivated astronomy for 50 years, the most important for
that science that ever elapsed for the magnitude and
variety of objects j and in which he commonly sustain¬
ed a principal share.
M. Cassini was of a very strong and vigorous consti¬
tution, which carried him through the many laborious
operations in geography and astronomy which he con¬
ducted. An habitual retention of urine, however, ren¬
dered the last twelve years of his life very painful and
distressing, till it was at length terminated by the small¬
pox the 4th of September 1784, in the 71st year of his
age. He was succeeded in the academy, and as director
of the. observatory, by his only son John-Dominic Cas¬
sini, the fourth in order of direct descent who has filled
that honourable station. Hutton's Math. Die.
CASSIODORUS, Marcus Aurelius, secretary
of state to Theodoric king of the Goths, was born at
Squillace, in the kingdom of Naples, about the year
470. He was consul in 514, and was in great credit
under the reigns of Athalaric and Vitiges ; but at 70
years of age retired into a monastery in Calabria, where
he amused himself in making sun-dials, water hour¬
glasses, and perpetual lamps. He also formed a li¬
brary ; and composed several works, the best edition
of which is that of Father Caret, printed at Rouen in
1679. Those most esteemed are his Divine Institu¬
tions, and his Treatise on the Soul. He died about the
year 562.
CASSIOPEIA, in fabulous history, wife to Cepheus
king of Ethiopia, and mother of Andromeda. She
thought herself more beautiful than the Nereides, who
desired Neptune to revenge the affront; so that he sent
a sea monster into the country, which did much harm.
To appease the god, her daughter Andromeda was ex¬
posed to the monster, but was rescued by Perseus ; who
obtained of Jupiter, that Cassiopeia might be placed
after her death among the stars j hence the constella¬
tion of that name.
Cassiopeia, in Astronomy, one of the constellations
of the northern hemisphere, situated next to Cepheus.
In 1572, there appeared a new star in this constella¬
tion, which at first surpassed in magnitude and bright¬
ness Jupiter himself: but it diminished by degrees, and
at last disappeared, at the end of eighteen months. It
alarmed all the astronomers of that age, many of whom
wrote dissertations on it; among the rest Tycho Brahe,
Kepler, Maurolycus, Lyeetus, Gramineu*-', &c. Beza,
the landgrave of Hesse, Rosa, &c. wrote to prove it a
comet, and the same which appeared to the Magi at
the birth of Jesus Christ, and that it came to declare
his second coming ; they were answered on this sub¬
ject by Tycho. The stars in the constellation Cassio¬
peia, in Ptolemy’s catalogue, are 13 ; in Hevelins’s, Cassiopeia
33 $ in Tycho’s, 46 : But in the Britannic catalogue |)
Mr Flamstead makes them 55. Cassumar.
CASSIS, in antiquity, a plated or metalline helmet j v
different from the galea, which was of leather.
CASSITERIA, in the history of fossils, a genus of
crystals, the figures of which are influenced by an ad¬
mixture of some particles of tin.
The cassittria are of two kinds $ the whitish pellu¬
cid cassiterion, and the brown cassiterion. The first
is a tolerably bright and pellucid crystal, and seldom
subject to the common blemishes of crystal : it is of a
perfect and regular form, in the figure of a quadrila¬
teral pyramid : and is found in Devonshire and Corn¬
wall principally. The brown cassiterion is like the
former in figure : it is of a very smooth and glossy sur¬
face, and is also found in great plenty in Devonshire
and Cornwall.
CASSITERIDES, in Ancient Geography, a cluster
of islands to the west of the Land’s End •, opposite to
Celtiberia, (Pliny) j famous for their tin, which he
calls candidum plumbum, formerly open to none but the
Phoenicians, who alone carried on this commerce from
Gades, concealing the navigation from the rest of the
world, (Strabo). The appellation is from Cassiteros,
the name for tin in Greek. Now thought to be the
Scilly islands, or Sorlings, (Camden).
CASSIUS, Spurius, a renowned Roman general
and consul, whose enemies accusing him of aspiring to
royalty, he was thrown down from the Tarpeian rock
485 years before Christ $ after having thrice enjoyed
the consular dignity, been once general of the horse
under the first dictator that was created at Rome, and
twice received the honour of a triumph.
Cassius Longinus, a celebrated Roman lawyer,-
flourished 113 years before Christ. He was so in¬
flexible a judge, that his tribunal was called the Dock
of the impeached. It is from the judicial severity of
this Cassius, that very severe judges have been called
Cassiani.
Cassius, Caius, one of the murderers of Julius
Caesar ; after his defeat by Mark Antony at the battle
of Philippi, he ordered one of his freedmen to put him
to death with his own sword, 41 years before Christ.
See Rome.
CASSOCK, or CasSULA, a kind of robe or gown,
worn over the rest of the habit, particularly by the
clergy. The word cassock comes from the French.
cassaque, a horseman’s coat.
CASSONxADE, in commerce, cask-sugar, or sugar
put into casks or chests, after the first purification, but
which has not been refined. It is sold either in pow¬
der or in lumps ; the whitest, and that of which the
lumps are largest, is the best. Many imagine it to
sweeten more than loaf sugar ; but it is certain that it
yields a great deal more scum.
CASSOWARY. See Struthio, Ornithology
Index.
CASSUMAR, in the Materia Medico, a root re¬
sembling that of zedoary.
It is cardiac and sudorific, and famous in nervous
cases*, it is also an ingredient in many compositions,,
and is prescribed in powders, boluses, and infusions.
Its dose is from five to fifteen grains.
C ASSUME AZAR,
Cassumlia-
Castagno.
CAS [240
CASSUMBAZAR, a town of India in Asia, situ¬
ated on the river Ganges, in the province ot Bengal.
E. Long. 37. o. and N. Lat. 24. o.
CAST is peculiarly used to denote a figure or small
statue of bronze. See Bronze.
Cast, among founders, is applied to tubes of wax
litted in divers parts of a mould of the same matter ;
by means of which, when the wax of the mould is re¬
moved, the melted metal is conveyed into all the parts
which the wax before possessed.
Cast, also denotes a cylindrical piece of brass or
copper, slit in two, lengthwise, used by the founders
in sand, to form a canal or conduit in their moulds,
whereby the metal may be conveyed to the different
pieces intended to be cast.
Cast, among plumbers, denotes a little brazen fun¬
nel at one end of a mould, for casting pipes without
CAS
mising talents, he placed him under the care of the
best masters who were at that time in Florence. An-
Castagm
soldering, by means of which the melted metal is pour-
red into the mould.
Cast or Caste, in speaking of the eastern affairs,
denotes a tribe, or number of families, of the same
rank or profession. The division of a nation into
casts chiefly obtains in the dominions of the Great
Mogul, kingdom of Bengal, island of Ceylon, and the
gi’eat peninsula opposite thereto. In each of these
there are, according to Father Martin, four principal
casts, viz. the cast of the bramins, which is tire first
and most noble the cast of the rajas, or princes, who
pretend to be descended from divers royal families $
the cast of the choutres, which comprehends all the
artificers; and that of the parias, the lowest and most
contemptible of all; though Henry Lord, it must be
observed, divides the Indians about Surat into four casts,
somewhat differently from Martin, viz. into bramins,
or priests j cuttery, or soldiers ; shuddery, which we call
banians, or merchants •, and wyse, the mechanics or
artificers. Every art and trade is confined to its pro¬
per cast, nor is allowed to be exercised by any but those
whose fathers professed the same. So that a tailor’s
son can never rise to be a painter, nor a painter’s son
fall to be a tailor; though there are some employ¬
ments that are proper to all the casts, e. g. every body
may be a soldier or a merchant. There are also divers
casts which are allowed to till the ground, but not
all. The cast of parias is held infamous, insomuch
that it is a disgrace to have any dealings or conversa¬
tion with them ; and there are some trades in the cast
of choutres, which debase their professors almost to the
same rank. Thus shoemakers, and all artificers in lea¬
ther, as also fishermen, and even shepherds, are I'eputed
no better than parias. See Caste, Supplement.
CASTAGNO, Andrea Dal, historical painter,
was born at a small village called Castagno, belonging
to the territory of Tuscany, in 1409*, and being de¬
prived of his parents, was employed by his uncle to
attend the herds of cattle in the fields; but having
accidentally seen an ordinary painter at work in the
country, he observed him for some time with surprise
and attention, and afterwards made such efforts to imi¬
tate him, as astonished all who saw his productions.
The extraordinary genius of Andrea became at last a
common topic of discourse in Florence j and so far
excited the curiosity of Bernardetto de Medici, that
he sent for Andrea 5 and perceiving that he had pro-
drea diligently pursued his studies, devoted himself en- Castalio
tirely to practice under the direction of his instructors,
became particularly eminent in design, and in a few
years made so great a progress, that he found as much
employment as he could possibly execute. He painted
only in distemper, and fresco, with a manner of colour¬
ing that was not very agreeable, being rather dry and
hard, till he learned the secret of painting in oil from
Domenico'Venetiano, who had derived his knowledge
of that new discovery from Antonello da Messina.
Andrea was the first of the Florentine artists who
painted in oil ; but although he was in the highest de¬
gree indebted to Domenico for disclosing the secret,
yet he secretly envied the merit of the man who
taught him the art; and because his own works seem¬
ed to be much less admired than those of Domenico,
he determined to assassinate his friend and benefac¬
tor. He executed his design with the utmost ingra¬
titude and treachery (for Domenico at that time lived
with him, and painted in partnership with him), and
he stabbed him at a corner of a street so secretly, that
he escaped, unobserved and unsuspected, to his own
house, where lie composedly sat down to work ; and
thither Domenico was soon after conveyed, to die in
the arms of his murderer. The real author of so in¬
human a transaction was never discovered, till An¬
drea, through remorse of conscience, disclosed it on his
death-bed, in 1480. He finished several considerable
works at Florence, by which he gained great riches,
and as great a reputation ; but when his villanous
misconduct became public, his memory was ever after
held in the utmost detestation. The most noted work
of this master is in the hall of justice at Florence,
representing the execution of the conspirators against
the house of Medicis.
CASTALIAN spring. See Castalius.
CASTALIO, Sebastian, was born at Chatillon,
on the Rhone, in the year 1515. Calvin conceived
such an esteem and friendship for him, during the stay
he made at Strasburg in 1540 and 1541, that he lodg¬
ed him some days at his house, and procured him a re¬
gent’s place in the college of Geneva. Castalio after
continuing in this office near three years, was forced
to quit it in the year 1544, on account of some par¬
ticular opinions which he held concerning Solomon’s
Song, and Christ’s descent into hell. He retired to
Basil, where he was made Greek professor, and died
in that place in 1564, aged 48. He incurred the
high displeasure of Calvin and Theodore Beza, for
differing with them concerning predestination and the
punishment of heretics. His works are very consi¬
derable both on account of their quality and number
In 1545, he printed at Basil four books of dialogues
containing the principal histories of the Bible in ele
gant Latin ; so that youth might thereby make a pro
ficiency in piety and in the Latin tongue at the same
time. But his principal work is a Latin and French
translation of the Scripture. Fie began the Latin
translation at Geneva in 1542, and finished it at Basil
in 1550. It was printed at Basil in 1551, and dedi¬
cated by the author to Edward VI. king of England.
The French version was dedicated to Henry 11. of
France,
CAS [ 241 ] CAS
aiio France, and printed at Basil in 1555. The fault which
has been most generally condemned in his Latin trans-
C tel. lation, is the affectation of using only classical terms,
w —* CASTALIUS FONS (Strabo, Pausanias) ; Castalia,
(Pindar, Virgil) ; a fountain at the foot of Mount
Parnassus, in Phocis, near the temple of Apollo, or
near Delphi j sacred to the Muses, thence called Ca-
stalides. Its murmurs were thought prophetic. (Non-
nius, Lucian). See the articles Delphi and Par¬
nassus.
CASTANEA. See Fagus, Botany Index.
CASTANETS, Castagnettes, or Castanet-
TAS, a kind of musical instrument, wherewith the
Moors, Spaniards, and Bohemians, accompany their
dances, sarabands, and guitars. It consists of two
little round pieces of wood dried, and hollowed, in the
manner of a spoon, the concavities whereof are placed
on one another, fastened to the thumb, and beat from
time to time with the middle finger, to direct their mo¬
tion and cadences. The castanets may be beat eight
or nine times in the space of one measure, or second of
a minute.
CASTANOVITZ, a town of Croatia, situated on
the river Unna, which divides Christendom from Tur¬
key. E. Long. 17. 20. N. Lat. 45. 40. It is subject
to the house of Austria.
CASTEL, Lewis Bertrand, a learned Jesuit,
was born at Montpelier in 1688, and entered among
the Jesuits in 1703. He studied polite literature in Ins
youth } and at length applied himself entirely \o the
study of mathematics and natural philosophy. He
distinguished himself by writing on gravity ; the ma¬
thematics $ and on the music of colours, a very whim¬
sical idea, which he took great pains to reduce to
practice. His piece on gravity, entitled Traite de la
Pensateur Universelle, was printed at Paris in I724‘
He afterwards published his Mathematique Umverselle;
which occasioned his being unanimously chosen a fel¬
low of the Royal Society of London, without the
least solicitation. He was also member of the aca¬
demies of Bourdeaux and Rouen : but his Clavecin
oculaire made the most noise ; and he spent much time
and expence in making an harpsichord for the eye, but
without success. He also wrote for and against Sir
Isaac Newton, and published several other works j the
principal of which are, Le plan du Mathematique abre-
gee, and a treatise entitled Optique des Cauleurs. He
led a very exemplary life, and died in 1757’
CASTELAMARA, a town of Italy, in the king¬
dom of Naples, and the Hither Principato, with a
bishop’s see, and a good harbour. E. Long. 14. 15.
N. Lat. 41. 40. v
CASTEL-aragonese, a strong town of Italy, in
the island of Sardinia, with a bishop’s see, and a good
harbour. It is seated on the N. W. coast of the island,
in E. Long. 8. 57. N. Lat. 40. 56.
Castel~Branco, a town of Portugal, and capital
of the province of Beira j seated on the river Lyra,
35 miles N. W. of Alcantara. W. Long. 8. o. N.
Lat. 39. 35.
Cast el-Franco, a very small, but well fortified fron¬
tier town of the Bolognese, in Italy, belonging to the
pope.
CASTEL-de-Vide, a small strong town of Alentejo.
Vol. V. Part I.
It was taken by Philip V. W. Long. 6. 25. N. Lat. CastelN
39. 15. y- , 11
Castel Folit, a town of Spain, in Catalonia, seat- Castdla-
ed on an inaccessible eminence, between Gironne and . . . “
Campredon, about 15 miles from each, and near the
river Fulva.
Castel Gandolpho, a town of Italy, in the territory
of the church, with a castle, to which the pope retires
in the summer season 5 10 miles S. by E. of Rome.
E. Long. 12. 46. N. Lat. 41. 44.
Castel-Novo, a strong town of Dalmatia, subject
to the Venetians j seated on the gulf of Cataro, in
E. Long. 18. 45. N. Lat. 42. 25.
CASTEL-Rodrigo, a town of Portugal, in the pro¬
vince of Tra-los-Montes, in W. Long. 7. 1. N. Lat.
41. o.
CASTEL-JSfovo-de-Carfagnana, a town of Italy, in the
Modenese, with a strong fortress. It is the capital ot
the valley of Carfagnana, and seated on the river Ser-
chio, 17 miles above Lucca.
CASTEL-del-Ovo, a small island in the Tuscan sea,
in the gulf of Naples, near a town of that name, to
which it is joined by a stone bridge. The fortress is
called Castel-del-Ovo, in which there is always a good
garrison.
CASTLEBAR, a town of Ireland, in the county
of Mayo, and province of Connaught, 35 miles N. of
Galway. W. Long. 9. 25. N. Lat. 53. 45.
CASTEEL, Edmund, D. D.a learned English di¬
vine of the 17th century, distinguished by his skill in
the eastern languages. He was educated at Cam¬
bridge $ where he was master of Catharine hall, and
Arabic professor j and was at length canon of Canter¬
bury. He had the greatest share in the Polyglott Bible
of London j and wrote the Heptaglotton pro septem
Orientalibus, &c. On this excellent work, which occu¬
pied a great part of his life, he bestowed incredible
pains and expence, even to the breaking of his consti¬
tution, and exhausting of his fortune, having expended
no less than i2,oool. upon that work. At length,
when it was printed, the copies remained unsold upon
his hands. He died in 1685 5 and lies buried in the
churchyard of Higham Gobyon in Bedfordshire, of
which he was rector. It appears from the inscription
on his monument, which he erected in his lifetime, that
he was chaplain to Charles II. He bequeathed all his
oriental manuscripts to the university of Cambridge, on
condition that his name should be written on every copy
in the collection.
CASTELLA, a town of the Mantuan, in Italy,
about five miles north-east of the city ot Mantua.
E. Long. 11. 15. N. Lat. 45. 30.
CASTELLAN, the name of a dignity or charge
in Poland : The castellans are senators of the king¬
dom, but senators only of the lower class, who, in
diets, sit on low seats, behind the palatines, or great
senators. They are a kind of lieutenants of provinces,
and command a part of the palatinate under the palatine.
CASTELLANY, the territory belonging to any
city or town, chiefly used in France and Flanders:
Thus we say, the castellany of Lisle, Ypres, &c.
CASTELLARIUS, the keeper, or curator, of a
castellum. Gruter gives an ancient sepulchral inscrip¬
tion in memory of a castellarius.
H h CASTELLATIO,
t
CAS [ 242 ] CAS
Castellatio CASTELLATIO, in middle-age writers, the act
l) of building a castle, or of fortifying a^ house, and
Castiglione.rendering it a castle.—By the ancient English laws,
castellation was prohibited without the king’s special
license.
CASTELLI, Bernard, an Italian painter, was
born at Genoa in 1557 j and excelled in colouring and
in portraits. He was the intimate friend of Tasso, and
took upon himself the task of designing and etching
the figures of his Jerusalem Delivered. He died at
Genoa in 1629.
Valerio Castelli, one of his sons, was born at Ge¬
noa in 1625, and surpassed his father. He particu¬
larly excelled in painting battles •, which he composed
with spirit, and executed them with so pleasing a va¬
riety, and so great freedom of hand, as gained him
universal applause. His horses are admirably drawn,
thrown into attitudes that are natural and becoming,
full of motion, action, and life. In that style of
painting he showed all the fire of Tintoretto, united
with the fine taste of composition of Paolo Veronese.
He died in 1659. The works of this master are not
very frequent ; but they are deservedly held in very
high esteem. A greater number of his easel pictures are
in the collections of the nobility and gentry o( England.
CASTELLORUM OPERATIC, castle work, or ser¬
vice and labour done by inferior tenants for the build¬
ing and upholding of castles of defence ; towards which
some gave personal assistance, and others paid their
contributions. This was one of the three necessary
charges to which all lands among the Anglo-Saxons
were expressively subject.
CASTELVETRO, Lewis, a native of Modena,
of the 16th century, famous for his Comment on Aris¬
totle's Poetics. He was prosecuted by the inquisition
for a certain book of Melancthon, which he had trans¬
lated into Italian. He retired to Basil, where he
died.
CASTI, Giambatista, a modern Italian poet.
See Supplement.
CASTIGATION, among the Romans, the punish¬
ment of an offender by blows, or beating with a wand
or switch. Castigation was chiefly a military punish¬
ment the power of inflicting of which on the soldiery
was given to the tribunes. Some make it of two kinds j
one with a stick or cane, called fustigatio: the other
with rods, called jiagellatio: the latter was the most
dishonourable.
CASTIGATORY, Jbr Scolds. A woman in¬
dicted for being a common scold, if convicted, shall be
placed in a certain engine of correction, called the
trebucket castigatory, or clicking stool; which, in the
Saxon language, signifies the scolding stool; though
now it is frequently corrupted into the ducking stool;
because the residue of the judgment is, that when she
is placed therein, she shall be plunged in water for her
punishment.
CASTIGLIONE, Giovanni Benedetto, a ce¬
lebrated painter, was born at Genoa in 1616. His
first master was Gio- Battista Paggi. Afterwards he
studied under Andrea Ferrari*, and lastly perfected him¬
self from the instructions of Anthony Vandyck, who
at that time resided at Genoa. He painted portraits,
historical pieces, landscapes, and castles ; in the latter of
which he is said chiefly to have excelled j as also in fairs,
markets, and all kinds of rural scenes. By this master
we have also a great number of etchings, which are all |
spirited, free, and full of taste. The effect is, in ge- Casiile.
neral, powerful and pleasing *, and many of them have
a more harmonized and finished appearance than is
usual from the point, so little assisted by the graver.
His drawing of the naked figure, though by no means
correct, is notwithstanding managed in a style that in¬
dicates the hand of the master.
His son, Francesco, was bred under himself, and ex¬
celled in the same subjects j and it is thought that
many good paintings which are ascribed to Benedetto,
and are frequently seen at sales, or in modern collec¬
tions, are copies after him by his son Francesco, or
perhaps originals of the younger Castiglionc.
Castiglione, a small but strong town of Italy,
in Mantua, with a castle. It was taken by the Ger¬
mans in 1701, and the French defeated the Imperial¬
ists near it in 1706. E. Long. 10. 29. N. Lat. 43.
23.
CASTIGLIONI, Balthazar, an eminent Italian
nobleman, descended from an illustrious and ancient
family, and born at his own villa at Cusalico in the
duchy of Milan in 1478. He studied painting, sculp¬
ture, and architecture, as appears from a book he
wrote in favour of these arts j and excelled so much
in them, that Raphael Urbino, and Buonaroti, though
incomparable artists, never thought their works com¬
plete, without the approbation of Count Casttglioni.
\\7h en he was 26 years of age, Guido Ubaldo, duke
of Urbino, sent him ambassador to Pope Julius II.
He was sent upon a second embassy to Louis XII. of
France, and upon a third to Henry VII. of England.
After he had dispatched his business here, he return¬
ed, and began his celebrated work, entitled the Cour¬
tier; which he completed at Rome in I5I6. Ihis
work is full of moral and political instruction : and if
we seek for the Italian tongue in perfection, it is said
to be nowhere better found than in this performance.
A version of this work, together with the original Ita¬
lian, was published at London in 1727, by A. P. Ca-
stiglioni, a gentleman of the same family, who resided
there under the patronage of Dr Gibson, bishop of Lon¬
don. Count Castiglioni was sent by Clement VII. to
the court of the emperor Charles V. in quality of
legate, and died at Toledo in 1529.
CASTILE, New, or The Kingdom of Toledo,
a province of Spain, bounded on the north by Old
Castile, on the east by the kingdoms of Arragon and
Valencia, cn the south by those of Murcia and Anda¬
lusia, and on the west by the kingdom of Leon. It
is divided into three parts j Argaria to the north,
Mancha to the east, and Sierra to the south. Madrid
is the capital. Both these provinces are very well wa¬
tered with rivers, and the air is generally pure and
healthy j but the land is mountainous, dry, and un¬
cultivated, through the laziness of the inhabitants.
The north part produces fruits and wine, and the south
good pastures and fine wool. The population of New
Castile in 1787 amounted to 949,649 persons, includ¬
ing 14,000 priests, monks, and nuns.
Castile, Old, a province of Spain, with the title
of a kingdom. It is about 192 miles in length, and 115
in breadth j bounded on the south by New Castile,
on the east by Arragon and Navarre, on the north by
• Biscay
CAS [
;>c Biscay and Asturias, and on tiie west by the kingdom
of Leon. Burgos is the capital town.
”£• Castile-del-Oro, a fertile and large country in
South America, lying to the west of the Oroonoko. It
comprehends eight governments •, viz. Terra Firma,
Proper Carthagena, St Martha, Rio de la Hacha, Ve¬
nezuela, New Andalusia, Popayan, and the kingdom of
New Granada.
CASTILLAN, or Castillane, a gold coin cur¬
rent in Spain, and worth fourteen rials and sixteen
deniers.
CaSTILLAN, is also a weight used in Spain for weigh¬
ing gold. It is a hundredth part of a pound Spanish
weight. What they commonly call a weight ot gold
in Spain is always understood of the castillan.
CASTILLARA, a town of the Mantuan in Italy,
situated six miles north-east of the city of Mantua.
E. Long, i r. 25. N. Lat. 45. 20.
CASTILLON, a town of France, in the depart¬
ment of Gironde, situated on the river Dordogne, 16
miles east of Bourdeaux. W. Long. 2. 40. N. Lat.
44- 5°-
CASTING, in foundry, the running of metal into
a mould, prepared for that purpose.
Casting of Metals, of Letters, Bells, &c. See the
article Foundry.
Casting in Sand or Earth, is the running of me¬
tals between two frames, or moulds, filled with sand or
earth, wherein the figure that the metal is to take has
been impressed en crenx, by means of the pattern.
Casting, among sculptors, implies the taking ot casts
and impressions of figures, busts, medals, leaves, &c.
The method of taking of casts of figures and busts,
is most generally by the use of plaster of Paris, 1. e.
alabaster calcined by a gentle heat. The advantage of
using this substance preferably to others is, that not¬
withstanding a slight calcination reduces it to a pul-
verine state, it becomes again a tenacious and cohering
body, by being moistened with water, and afterwards
suffered to dry ; by which means either a concave or
a convex figure may be given by a proper mould or
model to it when wet, and retained by the hardness
it acquires when dry: and from these qualities, it is
fitted for the double purpose of making both casts, and
moulds for forming those casts. The particular manner
of making casts depends on the form ol the subject to
be taken. Where there are no projecting parts, it is
very simple and easy ; as likewise where there are
such as form only a right or any greater angle with
the principal surface of the body: but where parts
project in lesser angles, or form a curve inclined to¬
wards the principal surface ot the body, the work is
more difficult.
The first step to be taken is the forming the mould.
In order to this, if the original or model be a bass re¬
lief, or any other piece of a flat form, having its sur¬
face first well greased, it must be placed on a proper
table, and surrounded by a frame, the sides of which
must be at such a distance from it as will allow a pro¬
per thickness for the sides of the mould. As much
plaster as will be sufficient to cover and rise to such a
thickness as may give sufficient strength to the mould,
as also to fill the hollow betwixt the frame and the
model, must be moistened with water, till it be just
of such consistence as will allow it to be poured upon
243 ] CAS
the model. This must be done as soon as possible j Casting-.
or the plaster would concrete or set, so as to become 1 'v—
more troublesome in the working, or unfit to be used.
The whole must then be suffered to remain in this
condition, till the plaster has attained its hardness ;
and then the frame being taken away, the preparatory
cast or mould thus formed may be taken off from the
subject entire.
Where the model or original subject is of a round
or erect form, a different method must be pursued ;
and tire mould must be divided into several pieces : or
if the subject consists of detached and projecting parts,
it is frequently most expedient to cast such parts sepa¬
rately, and afterwards join them together.
Where the original subject or mould forms a round,
or spheroid, or any part of such round or spheroid,
more than one half the plaster must be used without
any frame to keep it round the model ; and must be
tempered with water to such a consistence, that it may
be wrought with the hand like very soft paste \ but
though it must not be so fluid as when prepared for
flat-figured models, it must yet be as moist as is com¬
patible with its cohering sufficiently to hold together ;
and being thus prepared, it must be put upon the mo¬
del, and compressed with the hand, or any flat instru¬
ment, that the parts of it may adapt themselves, in the
most perfect manner, to those of the subject, as well
as to be compact with respect to themselves. When
the model is so covered to a convenient thickness, the
whole must be left at rest till the plaster be set and
firm, so as to bear dividing without falling to pieces,
or being liable to be put out of its form by slight vio¬
lence ; and it must then be divided into pieces, in or¬
der to its being taken off' from the model, by cutting
it with a knife with a very thin blade : and being di¬
vided, must be cautiously taken off, and kept till dry:
but it must be always carefully observed, before the
separation of the parts be made, to notch them across
the joints or lines of the division, at proper distances,
that they may with ease and certainty be properly con¬
joined again ; which would be much more precarious
and troublesome without such directive marks. The
art of properly dividing the moulds, in order to make
them separate from the model, requires more dexterity
and skill than any other thing in the art ol casting ;
and does not admit of rules for the most advantageous
conduct of it in every case. Where the subject is of
a round or spheroidal form, it is best to divide the
mouid *into three parts, which will then easily come
off from the model : and the same will hold good of
a cylinder or any regular curved figure.
The mould being thus formed, and dry, and the
parts put together, it must be first greased, and placed
in such a position that the hollow may lie upwards,
and then filled with plaster mixed with water, in the
same proportion and manner as was directed for the
casting the mould : and when the cast is perfectly set.
and dry, it must be taken out of the mould, and re¬
paired where it is necessary 5 which finishes the ope¬
ration.
This is all that is required with respect to subjects
where the surfaces have the regularity above men¬
tioned : but where they form curves which intersect
each other, the conduct of the operation must he va¬
ried with respect to the manner ol taking the cast ot
H h 2 the
CAS [ 244 ] CAS
Casting, the mould from oft’ the subject or model j and where
V——; there are long projecting parts, such as legs or arms,
they should be wrought in separate casts. The opera¬
tor may easily judge, from the original subjects, what
parts will come off together, and what require to be
separated : the principle of the whole consists only in
this, that where under-workings, as they are called,
occur, that is, wherever a straight line drawn from the
basis or insertion of any projection, would be cut or
crossed by any part of such projection, such part can¬
not be taken off -without a division ; which must be
made either in the place where the projection would
cross the straight line ; or, as that is frequently difficult,
the whole projection must be separated from the main
body, and divided also lengthwise into two parts •, and
where there are no projections from the principal sur¬
faces, but the body is so formed as to render the sur¬
face a composition of such curves, that a straight line
being drawn parallel to the surface of one part would
be cut by the outline, in one or more places, of ano¬
ther part, a division of the whole should be made, so
as to reduce the parts of it into regular curves, which
must then be treated as such.
In larger masses, where there would otherwise he a
great thickness of the plaster, a core or body may he
put within the mould, in order to produce a hollow in
the cast; which both saves the expence of the plaster,
and renders the cast lighter.
This core may he of wood, where the forming a
hollow of a straight figure, or a conical one with the
basis outward, will answer the end •, hut if the cavity
require to be round, or of any curve figure, the core
cannot be then drawn while entire j and consequently
should be of such matter as may be taken out piece¬
meal. In this case, the core is best formed of clay j
which must he worked upon wires to give it a tenacity,
and suspended in the hollow of the mould by cross
■wires lying over the mouth ; and when the plaster is
sufficiently set to bear handling, the clay must be pick¬
ed out by a proper instrument.
Where it is desired to render the plaster harder, the
water with which it is tempered should be mixed with
parchment size properly prepared, which will make it
very firm and tenacious.
In the. same manner, figures, busts, &c. may he
cast of lead, or any other metal, in the moulds of pla¬
ster } only the expence of plaster, and the tediousness
of its becoming sufficiently dry, when in a very large
mass, to hear the heat of melted metal, render the use
of clay, compounded with some other proper materials,
preferable where large subjects are in question. The
clay, in this case, should be washed over till it be per¬
fectly free from gravel or stones*, and then mixed with
a third or more of fine sand to prevent it cracking;
or, instead of sand, coal ashes sifted fine may be used.
Whether plaster or clay be employed for the casting in
metal, it is extremely necessary to have the mould per¬
fectly dry : otherwise the moisture, being rarefied, will
make an explosion that will blow the metal out of the
mould, and endanger the operator, or at least crack the
mould in such a manner as to frustrate the operation.
Where the parts of a mould are larger, or project
much, and consequently require a greater tenacity of
the matter they are formed of to keep them together,
flpqks of doth, prepared like those designed for pa¬
per hangings, or fine cotton plucked or cut till it is (.as[ir
very short, should be mixed with the ashes or sand he-
fore they are added to the clay to make the composition
for the mould. The proportion should be according to
the degree of cohesion required 5 hut a small quantity
will answer the end, if the other ingredient of the com¬
position be good, and the parts of the mould properly
linked together by means of the wires above directed.
There is a method of taking casts in metals from
small animals, and the parts of vegetables, which may
be practised for some purposes with advantage : par¬
ticularly for the decorating grottoes or rock works,
where nature is imitated. The proper kinds of animals
are lizards, snakes, frogs, birds, or insects j the casts
of which, if properly coloured, will be exact represen*
tations of the originals.
This is to be performed by the following method :
A coffin or proper chest for forming the mould being
prepared of clay, or four pieces of boards fixed toge¬
ther, the animal or parts of vegetables must be suspend¬
ed in it by a string : and the leaves, tendrils, or other
detached parts of the vegetables, or the legs, wings,
&c. of the animals, properly separated, and adjusted
in their right position by a small pair of pincers: a
due quantity of plaster of Paris and calcined talk,
in equal quantities, with some alumen plumosum,
must then be tempered with water to the proper con¬
sistence for casting j and the subject from whence the
cast is to be taken, also the sides of the coffin, moisten¬
ed with spirit of wine. The coffin or chest must then
he filled with the tempered composition of the plaster
and talk, putting at the same time a piece of straight
stick or wood to the principal part of the body of the
subject, and pieces of thick wire to the extremities of
the other parts, in order that they may form, when
drawn out after the matter of the mould is properly
set and firm, a channel for pouring in the melted
metal, and vents for the air 5 which otherwise by the
rarefaction it would undergo from the heat of the me¬
tal, would blow it out or burst the mould. In a short
time the plaster and talk will set and become hard,
when the stick and wires may he drawn out, and the
frame or coffin in which the mould was cast taken away:
and the mould must then be put first into a moderate
heat, and afterwards, when it is as dry as it can be ren¬
dered by that degree, removed into a greater j which
may be gradually increased till the whole be red hot.
The animal or part of any vegetable, which was in¬
cluded in the mould, will then be burnt to a coal } and
may be totally calcined to ashes, by blowing for some
time gently into the channel and passages made for
pouring in the metal, and giving vent to the air, which
will, at the same time that it destroys the remainder
of the animal or vegetable matter, blow out the ashes.
The mould must then he suffered to cool gently j and
will be perfect ; the destruction of the substance of the
animal or vegetable having produced a hollow of a
figure correspondent to it; but it may be nevertheless
proper to shake the mould, and turn it upside down,
as also to blow with the bellows into each of the air-
vents, in order to free it wholly from any remainder of
the ashes $ or where there may be an opportunity of
filling the hollpw with quicksilver without expence, ft
will he found a very effectual method of clearing the
cavity, as all dust, ashes, or small detached bodies, will
necessarily
i ting.
i /• Com.
< Iris.
j !«ra/.
! Co m.
J isa.
CAS [ 245 ] CAS
necessarily rise to the surface of the quicksilver, and be
poured out with it. The mould being thus prepared, it
must be heated very hot when used, it the cast be made
with copper or brass 5 but a less degree will serve for
lead or tin and the matter being poured in, the mould
must be gently struck j and then suffered to rest till it
be cold ; at which time it must be carefully taken from
the cast, but without the least force j for such parts of
the matter as appear to adhere more strongly must be
softened by soaking in water till they be entirely loos¬
ened, that none of the more delicate parts of the cast
may be broken off or bent.
Where the alumen plumosum, or talk, cannot easily
be procured, the plaster may be used alone j but it is
apt to be calcined by the heat used in burning the ani¬
mal or vegetable from whence the cast is taken, and
to become of too incohering and crumbly texture $ or,
for cheapness, Sturbridge or any other good clay, wash¬
ed over, till it be perfectly fine, and mixed with an
equal part of*sand, and some flocks cut small, may he
employed. Pounded pumice stone and plaster of Paris,
taken in equal quantities, and mixed with washed clay
in the same proportion, is said to make excellent moulds
for this and parallel uses.
Casts of medals, or such small pieces as are of a si¬
milar form, may be made in plaster by the method di¬
rected for bass relievos.
Indeed there is nothing more required than to form
a mould by laying them on a proper board, and having
surrounded them by a rim made by the piece of a card
or any other pasteboard, to fill the rim with soft tem¬
pered plaster of Paris j which mould, when dry, will
serve for several casts. It is nevertheless a better me¬
thod to form the mould of melted sulphur *, which will
produce a sharper impression in the cast, and be more
durable than those made of plaster.
The casts are likewise frequently made of sulphur,
which being melted must be treated exactly in the same
manner as the plaster.
For taking casts from medals, Dr Lewis recom¬
mends a mixture of flowers of brimstone and red
lead : equal parts of these are to be put over the fire
in a ladle, till they soften to the consistence of pap j
then they are kindled with a piece of paper, and
stirred for some time. The vessel being afterwards
covered close, and continued on the fire, the mixture
grows fluid in a few minutes. It is then to He poured
on the metal, previously oiled and wiped clean. Ihe
casts are very neat j their colours sometimes a pretty
deep black, sometimes a dark grey : they are very du¬
rable $ and when soiled, may be washed clean in spirit
of wine.
Dr Lettsom recommends tin foil for taking of! easts
from medals. The thinnest kind is to he used. It
should be laid over the subject from which the impres¬
sion is to he taken, and then rubbed with a brush, the
point of a skewer, or a pin, till it has perfectly re¬
ceived the impression. The tin toil should now be
pared close to the edge of the medal, till it is brought
to the same circumference : the medal must then be
reversed, and the tin foil will drop off into a chip box
or mould placed ready to receive it. Thus the con¬
cave side of the foil will be uppermost, and upon this
plaster of Paris, prepared in the usual manner, may
he poured. When dry, the whole is to he taken
out, and the tin foil sticking on the plaster will give Casting,
a perfect representation of the medal, almost equal in v
beauty to silver. If the box or mould is a little larger
than the medal, the plaster running round the tin foil
will give the appearance of a white frame or circular
border j whence the new made medal will appear more
neat and beautiful.
Casts may be made likewise with iron, prepared
in the following manner : “ Take any iron bar, or
piece of a similar form ; and having heated it red
hot, hold it over a vessel containing water, and
touch it very slightly with a roll of sulphur, which
will immediately dissolve it, and make it fall in drops
into the water. As much iron as may be wanted
being thus dissolved, pour the water out of the ves¬
sel j and pick out the drops formed by the melted
iron from those of the sulphur, which contain little
or no iron, and will be distinguishable from the other
by their colour and weight.” The iron will, by
this means, be rendered so fusible, that it will run
with less heat than is required to melt lead j and may
be employed for making casts of medals, and many
other such purposes, with great convenience and ad¬
vantage.
Impressions of medals having the same effect as
casts, may be made also of isinglass-glue, by the fol¬
lowing means. Melt the isinglass, beaten, as when
commonly used, in an earthen pipkin, with the ad¬
dition of as much water as will cover it, stirring it
gently till the whole is dissolved ; then with a brush
of camels hair, cover the medal, which should be
previously rvell cleansed and warmed, and then laid
horizontally on a board or table, greased in the part"
around the medal. Let them rest afterwards till the
glue he properly hardened j and then, with a pin,
raise the edge of it 5 and separate it carefully from
the medal : the cast will be thus formed by the glue
as hard as horn ; and so light, that a thousand will
scarcely weigh an ounce. In order to render the re¬
lief of the medal more apparent, a small quantity of
carmine may be mixed with the melted isinglass j or
the medal may he previously coated with leaf gold
by breathing on it, and then laying it on the leaf,
which will by that means adhere to it ; but the use of
leaf gold is apt to impair a little the sharpness of the
impression.
Impressions of medals may be likewise taken 111
putty j but it should he the true kind made of calx of
tin, and drying oil. These may be formed in the
moulds, previously taken in plaster or sulphur ; or
moulds may he made in its own substance, in the
manner directed for those of the plaster. Ihese im¬
pressions will he very sharp and hard ; but the great¬
est disadvantage that attends them, is their drying
very slowly, and being liable in the mean time to be
damaged.
Impressions of prints, or other engravings, may he
taken from copperplates, by cleansing them thoroughly,
and pouring plaster upon them j but the effect in tins
way is not strong enough for the eye ; and therefore the
following method is preferable, where such impressions
on plaster are desired.
Take vermilion, or any other coloured pigment, fine¬
ly powdered, and rub it over the plate : then pass a
folded piece of paper, or the flat part of the hand, ovei?.
the
Cnstin£.
CAS [ 246 1 CAS
the plate to take off the colour from the lights or parts
where there is no engraving ; the proceeding must then
he the same as where no colour is used. This last
method is also applicable to the making of impressions
of copperplates on paper with dry colours; for the
plate being prepared as here directed, and laid on the
paper properly moistened, and either passed under the
rolling press, or any other way strongly forced down
on the paper, an impression of the engraving will be
obtained.
Impressions may be likewise taken from cop¬
perplates, either on plaster or paper, by means of
the smoke of a candle or lamp 5 if, instead of rub¬
bing them with any colour, the plate be held over
the candle or lamp till the whole surface become
black, and then wiped off by the flat of the hand, or
paper.
These methods are not, however, of great use in the
case of copperplates, except where impressions may
he desired on occasions where printing ink cannot he
procured : but as they may be applied likewise to the
taking impressions from snuff-boxes, or other engraved
subjects, by which means designs may be instantly bor-
row'ed by artists or curious persons, they may in such
instances be very useful.
The expedient of taking impressions by the smoke
of a candle or lamp may be employed also' for botani¬
cal purposes in the case of leaves, as a perfect and
durable representation of not only the general figure,
but the contexture and disposition of the. larger fibres,
may be extemporaneously obtained at any time. The
same may be nevertheless done in a more perfect man¬
ner, by the use of linseed oil, either alone or mixed
witii a small proportion of colour, where the oil can
be conveniently procured : but the other method is va¬
luable on account of its being practicable at almost all
seasons, and in all places, within the time that the
leaves will keep fresh and plump. In taking these im¬
pressions it is proper to bruise the leaves, so as to take
off the projections of the large ribs, which might pre¬
vent the other parts from plying to the paper.
Leaves, as also the petals, or flower leaves, of plants,
may themselves be preserved on paper, with their ori¬
ginal appearance, for a considerable length of time, by
the following means.——Take a piece of paper, and rub
it oyer with isinglass-glue treated as above directed for
taking impressions from medals ; and then lay the
leaves in a proper position on the paper. The glue
laid on the paper being set, brush over the leaves
witn more of the same ; and that being dry likewise,
the operation will be finished, and the leaves so secured
from the air and moisture, that they will retain their
figure and colour much longer than by any other treat¬
ment.
Butteiflies, or other small animals of a flat figure,
may also be preserved in the same manner.
Casting is also sometimes used for the quitting,
laying, or throwing aside any thing ; thus deer cast
their horns, snakes their skins, lobsters their shells,
hawks their feathers, &c. annually.
Casting of feathers is more properly called moulting
or mewing.
A horse casts his hair or coat, at least once a-year,
viz. in the spring, when he casts his winter coat •/ and
sometimes, at the close of autumn, he casts his summer
coat, in case he has been ill kept. Horses also some- t'asijn,,
times cast their hoofs, which happens frequently to Castle'
coach horses brought from Holland j these being bred
in a moist marshy country, have their hoof's too flabby ;
so that coming into a drier soil, and less juicy proven¬
der, their hoofs fall off, and others that are firmer
succeed.
Casting a Colt, denotes a mare’s proving abor¬
tive. X f, ■ I
Casting Net, a sort of fishing net, so called, because
it is to be cast or thrown out j which when exactly
done, nothing escapes it, hut weeds and every thing
within its extent are brought away.
CASTLE, a fortress or place rendered defensible
either by nature or art. It frequently signifies with us
the principal mansion of noblemen.’ In the time of
Henry II. there were no less than 1115 castles in
England, each of which contained a manor.
Castles, walled with stone, and designed for resi¬
dence as well as defence, are for the most part, ac¬
cording to Mr Grose, of no higher antiquity than the
Conquest 5 for although the Saxons, Romans, and even,
according to some writers on antiquity, the ancient
Britons, had castles built with stone ; yet these were
both few in number, and at that period, through ne¬
glect or invasions, either destroyed or so much decayed,
that little more than their ruins were remaining. This
is asserted by many of our historians and antiquaries,
and assigned as a reason for the facility with which
William made himself master of this country.
This circumstance was not overlooked by so good
a general as the Conqueror j who, effectually to guard
against invasions from without, as well as to awe his
newly acquired subjects, immediately began to erect
castles all over the kingdom, and likewise to repair and
augment the old ones. Besides, as he had parcelled
out the lands of the English amongst his followers,
they, to protect themselves from the resentment of
those so despoiled, built strong holds and castles on
their estates. This likewise caused a considerable in¬
crease of these fortresses ; and the turbulent and un¬
settled state of the kingdom in the succeeding reigns,
served to multiply them prodigiously, every baron or
leader of a party, building castles ; insomuch that
towards the latter end of the reign of King Stephen,
they amounted to the almost incredible number of
1115.
As the feudal system gathered strength, these castles gjw’s
became the heads of baronies. Each castle was atiquith
manor j and its castelain, owner, or governor, the lord Eng law
of that manor. Markets and fairs were directed
be held there j not only to prevent frauds in the king’s^,
duties or customs, but also as they were esteemed places
where the laws of the land were observed, and as such
had a very particular privilege. But this good order
did not long last 5 for the lords of castles began to arro¬
gate to themselves a royal power, not only within their
castles, but likewise its environs j exercising judicature
both civil and criminal, coining of money, and arbitra¬
rily seizing iorage and provision for the subsistence of
their garrisons, which they afterwards demanded as a
right 5 at length their insolence and oppression grew to
such a pitch, that, according to William of Newbury,
“ there were in England as many kings, or rather
tyrants, as lords of castles $” and Matthew Paris
styles
CAS [ 247 ] CAS
styles them very nests of devils, and dens of thieves.
Castles were not solely in the possession of the crown
and the lay barons, but even bishops had these fortresses j
though it seems to have been contrary to the canons,
from a plea made use of in a general council, in favour
of King Stephen, who had seized upon the strong
castles of the bishops of Lincoln and Salisbury. This
prohibition (if such existed) was, however, very little
regarded ; as in the following reigns many strong
places were held, and even defended, by the ecclesias¬
tics: neither was more obedience afterwards paid to a
decree made by the pope at Viterbo, the fifth of the
kalends of June 1220, wherein it was ordained, that no
person in England should keep in his hands more than
two of the king’s castles.
The licentious behaviour of the garrisons of these
places becoming intolerable, in the treaty between
King Stephen and Henry II. when only duke of
Normandy, it was agreed, that all the castles built
within a certain period should be demolished ; in con¬
sequence of which many were actually rased, but not
the number stipulated.
The few castles in being under the Saxon govern¬
ment, were probably, on occasion of war or invasions,
garrisoned by the national militia, and at other times
slightly guarded by the domestics of the princes or
great personages who resided therein ; but after the
Conquest, when all the estates were converted into ba¬
ronies held by knight’s service, castle guard coming
under that denomination, was among the duties to
which particular tenants were liable. From these ser¬
vices the bishops and abbots, who till the time of the
Normans had held their lands in frank almoign, or free
alms, were, by this new regulation, not exempted $
they were not, indeed, like the laity, obliged to personal
service, it being sufficient that they provided fit and
able persons to officiate in tbeir stead. This was, how¬
ever, at first stoutly opposed by Anselm, archbishop of
Canterbury; who being obliged to find some knights
to attend King William Rufus in his wars in Wales,
complained of it as an innovation and infringement of
the rights and immunities of the church.
It rvas no uncommon thing for the Conqueror and
the kings of those days to grant estates to men of ap¬
proved fidelity and valour, on condition that they
should perform castle guard in the roval castles, with a
certain number of men, for some specified time : and
sometimes they were likewise hound by their tenures
to keep in repair and guard some particular tower or
bulwark, as was the case at Dover castle.
In process of time these services were commuted for
annual rents, sometimes styled tvardpenny, and waytfee,
but commonly castleguard rents, payable on fixed days,
under prodigious penalties called sursizes. At Roches¬
ter, if a man failed in the payment of his rent of castle
guard on the feast of St Andrew7, his debt was doubled
every tide during the time for Which the payment was
delayed. These were afterwards restrained by an act of
parliament made in the reign of King Henry VIII.
and finally annihilated, with the tenures by knight’s
service in the time of Charles II. Such castles as were
private property w’ere guarded either by mercenary sol¬
diers, or the tenants of the lord or owner.
Castles which belonged to the crown, or fell to it
either by forfeiture or escheat, (circumstances that fre-
2
quently happened in the distracted reigns of the feudal Castle,
times), were generally committed to the custody of'——v~
some trusty person, who seems to have been indifferent¬
ly styled governor and constable. Sometimes also they
were put into the possession of the sheriff of the county,
who often converted them into prisons. That officer
was then accountable at the exchequer, for the farm
or produce of the lands belonging to the places intrust¬
ed to his care, as well as all other profits ; he was
likewise, in case of war or invasion, obliged to victual
and furnish them with munition out of the issues of
his county ; to which he was directed by writ of privy
seal.
The materials of which castles were built, varied
according to the places of their erection : but the
manner of their construction seems to have been pretty
uniform. The outsides of the w'alls uTere generally
built with the stones nearest at hand laid as regularly
as their shapes would admit ; the insides were filled up
with the like materials, mixed with a great quantity of
fluid mortar, which was called by the workmen grout-
work.
The general shape or plan of these castles depended
entirely on the caprice of the architects, or the form
of the ground intended to be occupied ; neither do
they seem to have confined themselves to any particular
figure in their towers ; square, round, and polygonal,
oftentimes occurring in the original parts of the same
building.
The situation of the castles of the Anglo-Norman
kings and barons was most commonly on an eminence,
and near a river; a situation on several accounts eli¬
gible. The whole site of the castle (which was fre¬
quently of great extent and irregular figure) was sur¬
rounded by a deep and broad ditch, sometimes filled
with water, and sometimes dry, called the fosse. Be¬
fore the great gate was an outwork, called a barbacan,
or antemural, which was a strong and high wall, with
turrets upon it, designed for the defence of the gate
and drawbridge. On the inside of the ditch stood the
wall of the castle, about eight or ten feet thick, and
between 20 and 30 feet high, with a parapet, and a
kind of embrasures called erennels on the top. On
this wall, at proper distances, square towers of two or
three stories high were built, which served for lodging
some of the principal officers of the proprietor of the
castle, and for other purposes: and on the inside were
erected lodgings for the common servants or retainers,
granaries, storehouses, and other necessary offices. On
the top of this wall, and on the flat roofs of these
buildings, stood the defenders of the castle, when it
was besieged, and from thence discharged arrows, darts,
and stones on the besiegers. The great gate of the
castle stood in the course of this wall, and was strongly
fortified with a tower on each side, and rooms over the
passage, which was closed with thick folding doors of
oak, often plated with iron, and with’ an iron portcullis
or grate let down from above. Within this outward
wall was a large open space or court, called, in the
largest and most perfect castles, the outer bayle,ov bal-
Hum, in which stood commonly a church or chapel.
On the inside of this outer bayle was another ditch,
wall, gate, and towers, inclosing the inner bayle or
court, within which the chief tower or keep was built.
This was a very large square fabric, four or five stories
CAS- [ 248 ] CAS
lii<4, having small windows in prodigious thick walls,
which' rendered the apartments within it dark and
gloomy. This great tower was the palace of the
prince, prelate, or baron, to whom the castle belonged,
and the residence of the constable or governor. Under
ground were dismal dark vaults, for the confinement of
prisoners, which made it sometimes be called the
dungeon. In this building also was the great hall, in
which the owner displayed his hospitality, by entertain¬
ing his numerous friends and followers. At one end
of the great halls of castles, palaces, and monasteries,
there was a place raised a little above the rest of the
floor, called the cleis, where the chief table stood, at
which persons of the highest rank dined. Though there
were unquestionably great variations in the structure of
castles, yet the most perfect and magnificent of them
seem to have been constructed nearly on the above p'an.
Such, to give one example, was the famous castle of
Bedford, as appears from the following account of the
manner in which it was taken by Henry III. A. D.
1224. The castle was taken by four assaults. “ In
the first was taken the barbacan j in the second the
outer ballia ; at the third attack, the wall by the old
tower was thrown down by the miners, where, with
great danger, they possessed themselves of the inner
ballia, through a chink $ at the fourth assault the
miners set fire to the tower, so that the smoke burst
out, and the tower itself was cloven to that degree, as
to show visibly some broad chinks : whereupon the
enemy surrendered.” See a representation of a castle
in Plate CXXXY. where 1 is the barbacan, 2 the ditch
or moat, 3 the wall of the outer ballium, 4 the outer
ballium, 5 the artificial mount, 6 the wall of the in¬
ner ballium, 7 the inner ballium, 8 the keep or dun¬
geon.
Before the accession of James VI. to the throne of
England, the situation of Scotland was such, that every
baron’s house was more or less fortified, according
to the power or consequence of its lord, or according
to the situation of the castle. Near Edinburgh or
Stirling, where the inhabitants were more polished in
their manners, and overawed by the seat of government,
no more was necessary than towers capable of resisting
the cursory attack of robbers and thieves, who never
durst stop to make a regular investment, but plundered
by surprise, and, if repulsed, instantly fled away. Such
was Melville Castle. It anciently consisted of a strong
built tower of three stories, embattled at the top, and
was sufficiently strong to resist a sudden attack, unaid¬
ed by artillery, or other engines of war. But, when
further removed, as in Perthshire, Inverness-shire, or
Aberdeenshire, then it was necessary to be better de¬
fended, and the aids of a peel or dungeon, with outer
walls, moat, and wet ditch, barnakin, &c. added to en¬
able the powerful lord to resist the formidable attack
of his powerful adversary. The history of Scotland,
so late as the reign of the Stuart family, affords a num¬
ber of melancholy instances of inveterate feuds among
the greater and lesser barons of that period : by which
every mode of fortification then in use was seldom ade¬
quate to the defence of the castle against the storm
or blockade of the enraged chieftain. The castle of
Doune seems to answer this description of fortification,
and has made several gallant defences, in the annals of
Scotland. The third kind of fortresses we meet with
3
in Scotland are those situated on the borders of Eng-
land, or on the sea coasts of the kingdom, and in the y.
Western isles, and very remote places. Many of the
old castles in Scotland were situated on an island, in a
deep lake, or on a peninsula, which by a broad deep cut
was made an island. Of this kind was Lochmaben, in
the stewartry of Annandale, the castle of Closeburn in
the shire of Nithsdale, the castle of the Bive, situated
on the river Dee in the shire of Galloway, Lochleven
castle, and many others.
This kind of fortress was only accessible in a hard
frost, or by boats, which were not easily transported by
a people destitute of good roads and wheel carriages.
In fact, they could only be taken by surprise or block¬
ade ; the first very difficult, the second very tedious ;
so that, before the use of artillery, they might be deem¬
ed almost impregnable. On that account, their situa¬
tion wras very desirable in the inland parts of Scotland.
On the sea coasts of Scotland we generally find the
strongest and most ancient, as well as the most impreg¬
nable castles. These had to defend themselves from
the invasion of the foreign enemy, as well as the at¬
tacks of the domestic foe. Thus we find the barons,
whose lands extended to the sea coast, perched, like the
eagle, on the most inaccessible rocks that lay within
their possessions. Of this kind were Slains castle, Tan-
tallon and Dunottar, on the east coast, and Dunvegan
in the isle of Sky, with Dunolly on the west coast.
These must have been most uncomfortable retreats, ex¬
cept to a barbarous people, or when a pressing danger
forced the baron to seek his safety in the only possible
retreat left him.
Castle, in ancient writers, denotes a town or vil¬
lage surrounded with a ditch and wall, furnished with
towers at intervals, and guarded by a body of troops.
The word is originally Latin, castellum, a diminutive
from castrum. Castellwn originally seems to have sig¬
nified a smaller fort for a little garrison : though Sue¬
tonius uses the word where the fortification was large
enough to contain a cohort. The castella, according
to Vegetius, were often like towns, built on the bor¬
ders of the empire, and where there were constant
guards and fences against the enemy. Horsley takes
them for much the same with what were otherwise de¬
nominated stations.
Castle, or Castle-steed, is also an appellation given
by the country people in the north to the Roman cas-
tella, as distinguished from the castra stativa, which
they usually call chesters. Plorsley represents this as
an useful criterion, whereby to discover or distinguish
a Roman camp or station. There are several of these
castella on Severus’s wall : they are generally 60 feet
square •, their north side is formed by the wall itself,
which falls in with them ; the intervals between them
are from six furlongs and a half to seven ; they seem
to have stood closest where the stations are widest. The
neighbouring people call them castles, or castle-steeds,
bv which it seems probable that their ancient Latin
name had been castellum. Some modern writers call
them mile castles, or military castellce ; Horsley some¬
times exploratory castles. In these castella the areans
had their station, who w'ere an order of men whose bu¬
siness wTas to make incursions into the enemy’s country,
and give intelligence of their motions.
Castle, in the sea language, is a part of the ship,
of
CAS [ 249 ] CAS
C( e of which there are two; the forecastle, being the ele¬
vation at the prow, or the uppermost deck towards the
Ci >r. mizen, the place where the kitchens are. Hindcastle
is the elevation which reigns on the stern, over the last
deck, where the officers cabins and places of assembly
are.
Castle, Edmund. See Castel.
CASTLE-Bar, a borough and market town, capital
of the county of Mayo in Ireland, is a well-inhabited
place, and carries on a brisk trade : it has a barrack
for a troop of horse ; and there is here a charter school
capable of receiving 50 children, and endowed with
two acres of land, rent free, by the right honourable
Lord Lucan, who has also granted a lease of 20 acres
more at a pepper corn yearly.
CASTLE-Carey, a remarkable Roman station about
four miles west from Falkirk, on the borders of Stir¬
lingshire in Scotland. It comprehends several acres
of ground, is of a square form, and is surrounded
with a wall of stone and mortar ; all the space within
the walls has been occupied by buildings, the ruins of
which have raised the earth eight or ten feet above its
natural surface; so that the fort now seems like a
hill top surrounded with a sunk fence. In 1770, some
workmen employed in searching for stones for the
great canal, which passes very near it, discovered se¬
veral apartments of stone ; and in one of them a great
number of stones about two feet in length, and stand¬
ing erect, with marks of fire upon them, as if they
had been employed in supporting some vessel under
which fire was put. In a hollow of the rock near this
place, in I77I> a considerable quantity of wheat quite
black with age was found, with some wedges and ham¬
mers supposed to be Roman.
CASTLE-Rising, a borough town of Norfolk in Eng¬
land, which sends two members to parliament. E.
Long. o. 40. N. Lat. 52. 46.
CASTLE-Work, service or labour done by inferior ten¬
ants, for the building and upholding castles of de¬
fence, toward which some gave their personal assist¬
ance, and others paid their contributions. This was
one of the three necessary charges to which the An¬
glo-Saxons were expressly subject.
CASTLETOWN, the capital of the Isle of Man,
seated on the south-west part of the island. It has a
strong castle ; but of no great importance, on account
of its distance from the harbour. The number of houses
is about 500. W. Long. 4. 39. N. Lat. 53. 30.
CASTOR, the Beaver, in Zoology, a genus of
quadrupeds belonging to the order of glires. See
Mammalia Index.
Castor, in Astronomy, a moiety of the constellation
Gemini •, called also Apollo. Its latitude north¬
wards, for the year 1700, according to Hevelius, was
JO0 4' 23,/; and its longitude, of Cancer, 170 4' i^".
It is also called Razalgenze, Apollo, Aphellan, Avellar,
and Anelar.
Castoe and Pollux, in Pagan mythology. Jupiter
having an amour with Leda, the wife of Tyndarus
king of Sparta, in the form of a swan, she brought
forth two eggs, each containing twins. From that
impregnated by Jupiter proceeded Pollux and Helena,
who were both immortal ; from the other Castor and
Clytemnestra, who being begot by Tyndarus were
Vol. V. Part I. f
both mortal. They were all, however, called by the Castor,
common name of Tyndandce. These two brothers Castoreum.
entered into an inviolable friendship} they went with ^
the other noble youths of Greece in the expedition to
Colchis, and on several occasions signalized themselves
by their courage: But Castor being at length killed,
Pollux obtained leave to share his own immortality
with him j so that they are said to live and die alter¬
nately every day: for, being translated into the skies,
they form the constellation of Gemini, one of which
stars rises as the other sets.
A martial dance, called /the Pyrrhic or Castorian
dance, was invented in honour of those deities, whom
the Cepheienses placed among the Dii Magni, and of¬
fered to them white lambs. The Romans also paid
them particular honours on account of the assistance
they are said to have given them in an engagement
against the Latins} in which, appearing mounted on
white horses, they turned the scale of victory in their
favour, for which a temple was erected to them in the
forum.
Castor and Pollux, a fiery meteor, which at sea ap¬
pears sometimes sticking to a part of the ship, in form
of one, two, or even three or four fire-balls: when
one is seen alone, it is more properly called Helena ,*
two are denominated Castor and Pollux, and sometimes
Tyndaridse. Castor and Pollux are called by the Spa¬
niards, San Elmo $ by the French St El me, St Ni¬
cholas, St Clare, St Helene; by the Italians, Hermo j
by the Hutch, Tree Vuuren.
Castor and Pollux are commonly judged to portend
a cessation of the storm, and a future calm $ being
rarely seen till the tempest is nigh spent. Helena
alone portends ill, and witnesses the severest part of the
storm yet behind. When the meteor sticks to the masts,
yards, See. they conclude, from the air’s not having mo¬
tion enough to dissipate this flame, that a profound
calm is at hand j if it flutter about, it indicates a
storm.
CASTOREUM, in the Materia Medico, Castor j
the inguinal glands of the beaver. The ancients had
a notion that it was lodged in the testicles j and that
the animal when hard pressed would bite them off, *
and leave them to its pursuers, as if conscious of what
they wanted to destroy him for. The best sort of
castor is what comes from Russia. So much is Rus¬
sian castor superior to the American, that two guineas
per pound are paid for the former, and only 8s. 6d.
for the latter. The Russian castor is in large hard
round cods, which appear, when cut, full of a brittle,
red, liver-coloured substance, interspersed with mem¬
branes and fibres exquisitely interwoven. An inferior
sort is brought from Dantzic, and is generally fat and
moist. The American castor, which is the worst of
all, is in longish thin cods. Russia castor has a strong
disagreeable smell; and an acrid, bitterish, and nause¬
ous taste. Water extracts the nauseous part, with
little of the finer bitter ; rectified spirit extracts tin’s
last without much of the nauseous 5 proof spirit both :
water elevates the whole of its flavour in distillation ;
rectified spirit brings over nothing. Castor is looked
upon as one of the capital nervine and antihysteric
medicines; some celebrated practitioners, nevertheless,
have doubted its virtues ; and Neumann and Stahl de-
I i dare
CAS [ 250 ]
CAS
Castoreu'n, clare it insignificant. Experience, however, has shown
Castration, that the virtues of castor are considerable, though less
' V——1 than they have been generally supposed.
CASTRATION, in Surgery, the operation of geld¬
ing, t. e. of cutting off the testicles, and putting a male
animal out of the capacity of generation.
Castration is in much use in Asia, especially among
the Turks, who practise it on their slaves, to prevent
any commerce with their women. The Turks often
make a general amputation.
Castration also obtains in Italy, where it is used with
a view to preserve the voice for singing. See Eunuch.
The Persians, and other eastern nations, have divers
methods of making eunuchs, different from those which
obtain in Europe ; we say, of making eunuchs, for it is
not always done among them by cutting, or even col¬
lision. Cicuta and other poisonous herbs do the same
office, as is shown by Paulus ^Egineta. Those eunuchis-
ed in this manner are called thlibice. Besides which
there is another sort, called tlilasue, in whom the geni¬
tals are left entire, and only the veins which should
feed them are cut ; by which means the parts do in¬
deed remain, but so lax and weak, as to be of no use.
Castration was for some time the punishment of
adultery. By the laws of the Visigoths, sodomites un¬
derwent the same punishment.
By the civil law it is made penal in physicians and
surgeons to castrate, even with consent of the party,
who is himself included in the same penalty, and his
effects forfeited. The offence of mayhem by castra¬
tion is, according to all our old writers, felony ; though
committed upon the highest provocation. See a re¬
cord to this purpose of Henry III. transcribed by Sir
Edward Coke, 3 Inst. 62. or Biackstone’s Com. vol.
iv. p. 206.
Castration is sometimes found necessary on medicinal
considerations, as in mortifications, and some other
diseases of the testicles, especially the sarcoeele and va¬
ricocele. Some have also used it in maniac cases.
Castration is also in some sort practised on wo¬
men. Athenaeus mentions that King Andramytes was
the first who castrated women. Hesychius and Suidas
say Gyges did the same thing. Galen observes, that
women cannot be castrated without danger of life ; and
Dalechampius, on the fore-mentioned passage of Athe¬
naeus, bolds, that it is only to be understood of simple
padlocking.
Castration, in respect of brutes, is called Geld¬
ing and Spating.
Castration also denotes the art of retrenching, or
cutting away any part of a thing from its whole.—
Castrating a book, among booksellers, is the taking out
some leaf, sheet, or the like, which renders it impel'-
feet and unfit for sale. The term is also applied to
the taking away particular passages, on account of their
obscenity, too great freedom with respect to govern¬
ment, &c.
Castration, among botanists, a term derived from
the fancied analogy betwixt plants and animals. The
castration of plants consists in cutting off the antherce,
or tops of the stamina, before they have attained ma¬
turity and dispersed the pollen or fine dust contained
within their substance. This operation has been fre¬
quently practised by the moderns, with a view to esta¬
blish or confute the doctrine of the sexes of plants 3 the
... 2
antherae or tops being considered by the sexualists as CaUra
the male organs of generation. The experiment of j|
castration succeeds principally on plants which, like ^astiui
the melon, have their male flowers detached from the
female. In such as have both male and female flowers
contained within the same covers, this operation can¬
not be easily performed without endangering the neigh¬
bouring organs. The result of experiments on this
subject by Linneeus, Alston, and other eminent bota¬
nists, may be seen under the article Botany.
CASTREL, a kind of hawk resembling the lanner
in shape, hut the hobby in size. The castrel is also
called kestrel, and is of a slow and cowardly kind 3 her
game is the grouse, though she will kill a partridge.
CASTRES, a city of Languedoc, in France, about
35 miles east of Thoulouse, containing 12,400 inhabi¬
tants. E. Long. 2. 20. N. Lat. 43. 40.
CASTRO, the capital of the island of Chiloe, on
the coast of Chili in South America. AY. Long. 82. 0.
S. Lat. 43. o.
Castro is also the capital of a duchy of the same
name in the pope’s territories in Italy, situated on the
confines of Tuscany. E. Long. 12. 35. N. Lat. 42.
3°*
Castro, Pietro de, a celebrated painter, who flou¬
rished about the middle of the 17th century. The sub¬
jects which this great artist chose to paint, were what
are distinguished by the name of still life 3 vases, shells,
musical instruments, gems, vessels of gold, silver, and
crystal, books, and rich bracelets : and in those sub¬
jects his choice and disposition were elegant, and his
execution admirable.
CASTRUCCIO Castracani, a celebrated Italian
general, was born (nobody knows of whom) at Lucca
in Tuscany in 1284, and left in a vineyard covered
with leaves, where he was found by Dianora a widow
lady, the sister of Antonio, a canon of St Michael
in Lucca, who was descended from the illustrious
family of the Castracani. The lady havjng no chil¬
dren, she resolved to bring him up, and educated
him as carefully as he had been her own. She in¬
tended him for a priest 3 but he was scarcely 14 years
old when he began to devote himself to military sports,
and those violent exercises which suited his great
strength of body. The factions named the Guelfs and
Gibelines then shared all Italy between them ; divided
the popes and the emperors 3 and engaged in their dif¬
ferent interest not only the members of the same town,
but even those of the same family. Francisco, a con¬
siderable person on the side of the Gibelines, observ¬
ing Castruccio’s uncommon spirit and great qualities,
prevailed with Antonio to let him turn soldier 3 on
which Castruccio soon became acquainted with every
thing belonging to that profession, and was made a
lieutenant of a company of foot by Francisco Guiriigi.
In bis first campaign he gave such proofs of his cou¬
rage and conduct as spread his fame all over Lombardy 3
and Guinigi, dying soon after, committed to him the
care of his son and the management of his estate. Still
distinguishing himself by his exploits, he filled his com¬
mander in chief with such jealousy and envy, that he
was imprisoned by stratagem in order to be put to
death. But the people of Lucca soon released him,
and afterwards chose him for their sovereign prince.—
The Gibelines considered him as the chief of their
party 3
CAS [ 251 ] CAS
•uccio, party ; and those who had been banished from their
strum country fled to him for protection, and unanimously
loris. promised, that if he could restore them to their estates,
'J they would serve him so effectually that the sovereign¬
ty of their country should he his reward. Flattered
by these promises, he entered into a league with the
prince of Milan. He kept his army constantly on
foot, employing it as best suited his own designs. For
services he had done the pope, he was made senator of
Rome with more than ordinary ceremony; but while
there, received news which obliged him to hasten back
to Lucca. The Florentines entered into a war with
him, but Castruccio fought his way through them ;
and the supreme authority of Tuscany was ready to
fall into his hands, when a period was put to his life.
In May 1328 he gained a complete victory over his
enemies, who amounted to 30,000 foot and 10,000
horse; in which 22,000 of them were slain, with the
loss of not quite 1600 of his own men ; but as he was
returning from the field of battle, tired with the action,
and covered with sweat, he halted a little, in order to
thank and caress his soldiers as they passed ; when, the
north wind blowing upon him, he was immediately
seized with an ague, which he at first neglected, but it
carried him off in a few days, in the 44th year of his
age.
Machiavel, who has written the life of Castruccio,
says, that he was not only an extraordinary man in his
own age, but he would have been so in any other. He
was of a noble aspect, and of the most winning address.
He had all the qualities that make a man great; was
grateful to his friends, just to his subjects, terrible to
his enemies. No man was more forward to encounter
dangers ; no man more careful to escape them. He
had an uncommon presence of mind, and often made
repartees with great smartness. Some of them are
recorded, which discover a singular turn of humour ;
and, for a specimen, we shall mention three or four of
them.— Passing one day through a street where there
was a house of bad fame, he surprised a young man,
who was just coming out, and who, upon seeing him,
was all over blushes and confusion : “ Friend, you
should not be ashamed when you come out, but when
you go in.”—One asking a favour of him with a thou¬
sand impertinent and superfluous words : “ Hark you
friend ; when you would have any thing with me for the
future, send another man to ask it.”—Another great
talker having tired him with a tedious discourse, ex¬
cused himself at last, by saying, he was afraid he had
been troublesome. “ No indeed (replied he), for I did
Hot mind one word you said.”—He w as forced to put a
citizen of Lucca to death, who had formerly been a
great instrument of his advancement; and being re¬
proached by somebody for having dealt so severely with
an old friend, replied, “ No, you are mistaken, it was
with a new foe.”—One of his courtiers, desirous to re¬
gale him, made a ball and invited him to it. Castruccio
came, entertained himself among the ladies, danced,
and did other things, which did not seem to comport
with the dignity of his rank. One of his friends inti¬
mating that such freedoms might diminish the reverence
that ought to be paid him; MI thank you for your
caution; but he who is reckoned wise all the day, will
never be reckoned a fool at night.”
CASTRIJM DOLORIS, in middle age writers, de¬
notes a catafalco, or a lofty tomb of state, erected in Casiruin
honour of some person of eminence, usually in the Doioris
church where the body is interred ; and decorated with R
arms, emblems, lights, and the like. Casus A-
Ecclesiastical writers speak of a ceremony of conse-1 ' ■ '
crating a castrum doioris ; the edifice was to be made
to represent the body of the deceased, and the priest
and deacon were to lake their pos*ts, and say the. pray¬
ers after the same manner as if the corpse were actually
present.
CASTS. See Casting.
CASU consimili, in Law, a writ of entry granted
where a tenant, by courtesy or for life, aliens either
in fee, in tail, or for the term of anothei',s life. It is
brought by him in reversion against the person to whom
such tenant does so alien to the prejudice of the rever¬
sioner in the tenant’s lifetime.
Casu Proviso, in Law, a writ of entry founded on
the statute of Gloucester, where a tenant in dower
aliens the lands she so holds in fee or for life ; and lies
for the party in reversion against the alliance.
CASUAL, something that happens fortuitously,
without any design, or any measures taken to bring it
to pass.
Casual Revenues, are those which arise from forfei¬
tures, confiscations, deaths, attainders, &e.
Casual Theology, a denomination given to what is
more frequently called Casuistry.
CASUALTY, in a general sense, denotes an acci¬
dent, or a thing happening by chance, not design. It
is particularly used for an accident producing unnatu¬
ral death.
Casualty, in Scots Law. Casualties of a superior,
are those duties and emoluments which a superior has
a right to demand out of his vassal’s estate, over and be¬
sides the constant yearly duties established by the red¬
dendo of his charter upon certain casual events.
Casualty, in Metallurgy. See Causalty.
CASUIST, a person who proposes to resolve cases
of conscience. Escobar has made a collection of the
opinions of all the casuists before him. M. le Feore,
preceptor of Louis XIII. called the books of the ca¬
suists the art of quibbling with God : which does not
seem far from truth, by reason of the multitude of dis¬
tinctions and subtleties they abound withal. Mayer
has published a bibliotheca of casuists, containing an
account of all the writers on cases of conscience, ranged
under three heads; the first comprehending the Luthe¬
ran, the second the Calvinist, and the third the Romish
casuistsT
' CASUISTRY, the doctrine and science of con¬
science and its cases, with the rules and principles of
resolving the same ; drawn partly from natural reason
or equity ; partly from authority of Scripture, the
canon law, councils, fathers, &c. To casuistry belongs
the decision of all difficulties arising about what a man
may lawfully do or not do ; what is sin or not sin ;
what things a man is obliged to do in order to discharge
his duty, and what he may let alone without breach of
it.
CASUS AMISSION! s, in Scots T^aw. In actions prov¬
ing the tenor of obligations inextinguishable by the
debtor’s retiring or cancelling them, it is necessary lor
the pursuer, before he is allowed a proof ol the tenor,
to condescend upon such a casus amtssionts, or accident
I i 2 by
CAT [ 252 ] CAT
Casus hy wliicli the writing was tlestroyei!, as shows it was
Amissionis lost while in the writer’s possession.
!i CAT, in Zoology, See Felis, Mammalia Index.
Cat-Heads. f.ATj Jn sea afiairs, a ship employed in the coal
trade, formed from the Norwegian model. It is dis¬
tinguished by a narrow stern, projecting quarters, a
deep waiste, and by having ornamental figures on the
prow. These vessels are generally built remarkably
strong, and carry from four to six hundred tons, or, in
the language of their own mariners, from 20 to 30 keels
of coals.
Cat, is also a sort of strong tackle, or combination of
pulleys, to hook and draw the anchor perpendicularly
up to the cat-head. See CAT-Heads.
CAT's-Eye, or Sun-stone of the Turks, a kind of gem
found chiefly in Siberia. Cat’s eye is by the Latins
called oculus cati, and sometimes onycopalus, as having
white zones or rings like the onyx, and its colours va¬
riable like OPAL, from which last it differs chiefly by
its superior hardness. It is very hard, and semitrans¬
parent, and has different points, from whence the light
is reflected with a kind of yellowish radiation somewhat
similar to the eyes of cats, from whence it had its name.
The best of them are very scarce, and jewellers cut
them round to the greatest advantage. One of these
stones, an inch in diameter, was in the possession of the
duke of Tuscany.
Cat-fish, in Ichthyology. See Sq,ualus, Ichthyo¬
logy Index.
CAT-Gut, a denomination given to small strings for
fiddles, and other instruments, made of the intestines
of sheep or lambs, dried and tw'isted together, either
singly, or several together. These are sometimes co¬
loured red, sometimes blue, but are commonly left
whitish or brownish, the natural colour of the gut.
They are also used by watchmakers, cutlers, turners,
and other artificers. Great quantities are imported into
England, and other northern countries, from Lyons and
Italy.
Cat-Harpings, a purchase of ropes employed to
brace in the shrouds of the lower masts behind their
yards, for the double purpose of making the shrouds
more tight, and of affording room to draw in the yards
more obliquely, to trim the sails for a side-wind, when
they are said to be close-hauled.
CAT-Heads, two strong short beams of timber, which
project almost horizontally over the ship’s bows on
each side of the bowsprit; being like two radii which
extend from a centre taken in the direction of the
bowsprit. That part of the cat-head which rests upon
the forecastle is securely bolted to the beams ; the
other part projects like a crane, as above described, and
carries in its extremity two or three small wheels or
sheaves of brass or strong wood, about which a rope,
called the cat-fall, passes and communicates with the
cat-block, which also contains three sheaves. The
machine formed by this combination of pulleys is called
the Cat, which serves, to pull the anchor up to the cat¬
head, without tearing the ship’s sides with its flukes.
The cat-head also serves to suspend the anchor clear of
the bow, when it is necessary to let it go 5 it is sup¬
ported by a sort of knee, which is generally ornamented
with sculpture. See Plate CXXXVI.
The cat-block is filled with a large and strong hood,
which catches the ring of the anchor when it is to be cat|j
drawn up. |j J1 ]
CAT-Mint. See MENTHA, Botany Index. Catacu,
CAT-Salt, a name given by our salt-workers to a ""“v
very beautifully granulated kind of common salt. It is
formed out of the bittern, or leach brine, which runs
from the salt when taken out of the pan. When they
draw out the common salt from the boiling pans, they
put it into long wooden troughs, with holes bored at
the bottom for the brine to drain out; under these
troughs are placed vessels to receive this brine, and
across them small sticks to which the cat-salt affixes
itself in very large and beautiful crystals. This salt
contains some portion of the bitter purging salt, is very
sharp and pungent, and is white when powdered,
though pellucid in the mass. It is used by some for
the table, but the greatest part of what is made of it is
used by the makers of hard soap.
CAT-Silver. See Mica.
CATACAUSTIC CURVES, in the higher geome¬
try, that species of caustic curves which are formed by
reflection. See Fluxions.
CATACHRESIS, in Rhetoric, a trope which bor¬
rows the name of one thing to express another. Thus
Milton, describing Raphael’s descent from the empyreal
heaven to paradise, says,
“ D own thither prone in flight
“ He speeds, and through the vast ethereal sky
“ Sails between worlds and worlds.”
CATACOMB, a grotto, or subterraneous place for
the burial of the dead.
Some derive the word catacomb from the place where
ships are laid up, which the modern Latins and Greeks
called cumbte. Others say, that cata was used for ad, and
catacumbas for adtumbas; accordingly, Dadin says, they
anciently wrote catatumbas. Others fetch the word
from the Greek, and rvy-Cof, a hollow, cavity, or
the like.
Anciently the word catacomb was only understood
of the tombs of St Peter and St Paul j and M. Chaste-
lain observes, that, among the more knowing of the
people of Rome, the word catacomb is never applied to
the subterraneous burying-places hereafter mentioned,
but only to a chapel in St Sebastian, one of the seven
stational churches j where the ancient Roman kalen-
dars say the body of St Peter was deposited, under the
consulate of Tuscus and Bassus, in 258.
Catacombs of Italy ; a vast assemblage of subter¬
raneous sepulchres about Rome, chiefly at about three
miles from that city, in the Via Appia j supposed to
be the sepulchre of the martyrs •, and which are visited
accordingly out of devotion, and relics thence taken
and dispersed throughout the catholic countries, after
having been first baptized by the pope under the name
of some saint. These catacombs are said by many to
be caves or cells wherein the primitive Christians hid
and assembled themselves together, and where they
interred such among them as were martyred. Each
catacomb is three feet broad, and eight or ten high ;
running in form of an alley or gallery, and communi¬
cating with others; in many places they extend with¬
in a league of Rome. There is no masonry or vault¬
ing therein, but each supports itself j the two sides,
which.
CAT
( tcombs. which we may look on as the parietes or walls, were
w -v—^ the places where the dead were deposited j which were
laid lengthwise, three or four rows over one another, in
the same cutacomb, parallel to the alley. They were
commonly closed with large thick tiles, and sometimes
pieces of marble, cemented in a manner inimitable by
the moderns. Sometimes, though very rarely, the
name of the deceased is found on the tile : frequently
a palm is seen, painted or engraven, or the cypher Xp,
which is commonly read pro Christo. The opinion held
by many Protestant authors is, that the catacombs are
heathen sepulcres, and the same with the puticuli
mentioned by Festus Pompeius ; maintaining, that
whereas it was the practice of the ancient Romans to
burn their dead, the custom was, to avoid expence, to
throw the bodies of their slaves to rot in holes of the
ground ; and that the Roman Christians, observing at
length the great veneration paid to relicks, resolved
to have a stock of their own : entering therefore the
catacombs, they added what cyphers and inscriptions
they pleased, and then shut them up again, to be
opened on a favourable occasion. Those in the secret,
add they, dying or removing, the Contrivance was for¬
got, till chance opened them at last. But this opinion
has even less of probability than the former. Mr
Monro, in the Philosophical Transactions, supposes the
catacombs to have been originally the common sepul¬
chres of the first Romans, and dug in consequence of
these two opinions, viz. that shades hate the light.} and
that they love to hover about the places where the
bodies are laid.
Though the catacombs of Rome have made the
greatest noise of any in the world, there are such be¬
longing to many other cities. Those of Naples, ac¬
cording to Bishop Burnet, are much more noble and
spacious than the catacombs of Rome. Catacombs
have also been discovered at Syracuse and Catanea in
Sicily, and in the island of Malta. The Roman cata¬
combs take particular names from the churches in their
neighbourhood, and seem to divide the circumference
of the city without the walls between them, extending
their galleries everywhere under, and a vast way from
it; so that all the ground under Rome, and for many
miles about it, some say 20, is hollow. The largest,
and those commonly shown to strangers, are the cata¬
combs of San Sebastiano, those of Saint Agnese, and
the others in the fields a little ofi’Saint Agnese. Wo¬
men are only allowed to go into the catacombs in the
churchyard of the Vatican on Whitsun Monday, un¬
der pain of excommunication. There are men kept
constantly at work in the catacombs. As soon as
these labourers discover a grave with any of the suppos¬
ed marks of a saint upon it, intimation is given to the
cardinal camerlingo, who immediately sends men of
reputation to the place, where finding the palm, the
monogram, the coloured glass, &c. the remains of the
body are taken up with great respect, and translated to
Borne. After the labourers have examined a gallery,
they stop up the entry that leads to it } so that most
cf them remain thus closed up*, only a few being left
open to keep up the trade cf showing them to strangers.
^bis, they say, is done to prevent people from lo¬
sing themselves in these subterraneous labyrinths,
which indeed has often happened} but more probably
[ 255 ]
CAT
to deprive the public of the means of k,toning whither
and bow far the catacombs are carried. Catalauni.’
The method of preserving the dead in catacombs '    
seems to have been common to a number of the ancient
nations. The catacombs of Egypt are still extant
about nine leagues from the city of Grand Cairo, and
tuo miles from the city of Zaccara. They extend
from thence to the pyramids of Pharoah, which are
about eight miles distant. Ihey lie in a field covered
with a fine running sand, of a yellowish colour. The
country is dry and huly} the entrance of the tombs is
choked up with sand ; there are many open, but more
that are still concealed.
j. he bodies found in catacombs, especially those of
Egypt, are called mummies; and as their flesh was
formerly reckoned an efficacious medicine, they were
much sought after. In this work the labourers were
often obliged to clear away the sand for weeks to¬
gether, without finding what they wanted. Upon
coming to a little square opening of about 18 feet in
depth, they descend into it by holes for the feet placed
at proper intervals } and there they are sure of finding
a mummy. I iiese caves, or wells as they call them
there, are hollowed out of a white free-stone, which is
found in all this country a few feet below the covering
of sand. When one gets to the bottom of these, which
are sometimes 40 feet below the surface, there are
several square openings on each side into passages of 10
or 1 5 wide ; and these lead to chambers of 15 or
20 feet square. These are all hewn out in the rock}
and in each of the catacombs are to be found several
of these apartments communicating with one another.
They extend a great way under ground, so as to be
under the city of Memphis, and in a meanner to under¬
mine its environs. In some of the chambers the walls
are adorned with figures and hieroglyphics } in others
the mummies are found in tombs, round the apartment,
hollowed out in the rock.
The Egyptians seem to have excelled in the art of
embalming and preserving their dead bodies } as the
mummies found in the Egyptian catacombs are in a
better state than the bodies found either in the Italian
catacombs or those of any other part of the world. See
Embalming and Mummy.
Laying up the bodies in caves, is certainly the ori¬
ginal way of disposing of the dead } and appears to
have been propagated by the Phoenicians throughout
the countries to which they sent colonies : their inter¬
ring as we now do in the open air or in temples was
first introduced by the Christians. When an ancient
hero died, or was killed in a foreign expedition, as his
body was liable to corruption, and for that reason un¬
fit to be transported entire, they fell on die expedient
of burning, in order to bring home the ashes, to oblige
the manes to follow 5 that so his country might not be
destitute of the benefit of his tutelage. It was thus
burning seems to have had its original ; and by degrees
it became common to all who could bear the expences
of it, and took place of the ancient burying : thus
catacombs became disused among the Romans, after
they had borrowed the manner of burning from the
Greeks, and then none but slaves were laid in the
ground. See Burial, &c.
CATALAUNI, called also Durocatalauni, a town
of-:
CAT [ 254 ] CAT
Cata'aiuii of Gallia Belgica: Catalauni, the people. A name
11 rather of the lower age than of classical antiquity. Now
Catalogue. Chalons sur Marne, in Champagne. E. Long. 4. 35.
^ ^ N. Lat. 48. 55.
CATADROMUS, from lunx and ci/iipM, I run, in
antiquity, a stretched sloping rope in the theatres,
down which the funambuli walked to show their skill.
Some have taken the word to signify the hippodrome
or decursorium, wherein the Roman knights used to
exercise themselves in running and fighting on horse-
hack. But the most natural meaning is that of a rope
fastened at one end to the top of the theatre, and at
the other to the bottom, to walk or run down, which
was the highest glory of the ancient schcenobates, or
funambuli. Elephants were also taught to run down
the catadromus, Suetonius speaks of the exploit of a
Roman knight, who passed down the catadromus mount¬
ed on an elephant’s back.
CATAGOGION, a heathen festival at Ephesus,
celebrated on the 22d of January, in which the devo¬
tees ran about the streets, dressed in divers antic and
unseemly manners, with huge cudgels in their hands,
and carrying with them the images of their gods j in
which guise they ravished the women they met with,
abused and often killed the men, and committed many
other disorders, to which the religion of the day gave a
sanction.
CATAGRAPHA, in antiquity, denote oblique fi¬
gures or views of men’s faces $ answering to what the
moderns call profiles.
Catagrapha are said to be the invention of Simon
Cleonseus, who first taught painters to vary the looks
of their figures, and sometimes direct them upwards,
sometimes downwards, and sometimes sidewards or
backwards.
CATALEPSIS, or Catalepsy, in Medicine, a
kind of apoplexy, or drowsy disease, wherein the pa¬
tient is taken speechless, senseless, and fixed in the
same posture wherein the disease first seized him*, his
eyes open, without seeing or understanding. See Me¬
dicine Index.
C ATALOGUE, a list or enumeration of the names
of several books, men, or other things, disposed accord¬
ing to a certain order.
Catalogues of books are digested in different man¬
ners, some according to the order of the times when
the books are printed, as that of Mattaire j others
according to their form and size, as the common book¬
sellers catalogues ; others according to the alphabeti¬
cal ox-der of the authors names, as Hyde’s catalogue
of the Bodleian library 5 others according to the al¬
phabetical order of matters or subjects, which are call¬
ed real or classical catalogues, as those of Lipenius and
Draudius j lastly, others are digested in a mixed me¬
thod, partaking of several of the former, as De
Seine’s catalogue of Cardinal Slusius’s library, which
Is first divided according to the subjects or sciences,
and afterwards the books in each ax*e x*ecited alphabeti¬
cally.
The most applauded of all catalogues is that of Thu-
anus’s library, in which are united the advantages of
all the rest. It was first drawn up by the two Puteani
in the alphabetical order, then digested according to
the sciences and subjects by Ishm. Bullialdus, and pub¬
lished by F. Quesnel at I’aris in 16793 and reprint¬
ed, though incorrectly, at Hamburgh, in 1704. The fatal,,
books are here ranged with justness under their several Catalo
sciences and subjects, regard being still had to the ua- oftlj
tion, sect, age, &c. of every writer. Add, that only
the best and choicest books on every subject are found
here, and the most valuable editions. Yet the cata¬
logue of M. le Telliers archbishop of Rheims’s library,
made by M. Clement, is not inferior to any published
in our age, either on account of the number and
choice of the books, or the method of its disposition.
One advantage peculiar to this catalogue is, the mul¬
titude of anonymous and pseudonymous authoi’s de¬
tected in it, scarce to be met with elsewhex*e. Some
even prefer it to Thuanus’s catalogue, as containing a
greater vai'iety of classes and books on particular sub¬
jects.
The conditions required in a catalogue are, that it
indicate at the same time the order of the authors and
of the matters, the form of the book, the number of
volumes, the chronological order of the editions, the
language it is written in, and its place in the library ;
so as that all these circumstances may appear at once
in the shortest, clearest, and exactest manner possible.
In this view all the catalogues yet made will be found
to be defective.
An anonymous French writer has laid down a new
plan of a catalogue, which shall unite all the advan¬
tages, and avoid all the inconveniences of the rest.
The Jesuits of Antwerp have given us a catalogue
of the popes ; which makes what they call their Pro-
pilcmm.
Catalogue of the Stars, is a list of the fixed stars,
disposed in their several constellations 3 with the lon¬
gitudes, latitudes, &c. of each 3 or according to their
right ascensions, that is, the order of their passing over
the meridian.
The first who undertook to reduce the fixed stars
into a catalogue was Hipparchus Rhodius, about 120
years before Christ 3 in which he made use of the ob¬
servations of Timocharis and Aristylfus for about 180
years before him. Ptolemy retained Hipparchus’s ca¬
talogue containing 1026 fixed stars 3 though he him¬
self made abundance of observations, with a view to a
new catalogue, A. D. 140. About the year of Christ
880, Albategni, a.Syrian, brought down the same to
his time. Anno 1437, Ulugh Beigh, king of Parthia
and India, made a new catalogue of 1022 fixed stars,
since translated out of Persian into Latin by I3r Hyde.
The third who made a catalogue from his own obser¬
vations was Tycho Bx*ahe, who determined the places
of 777 stars for the year 1600, which Kepler from
other observations of Tycho afterwards increased to
the number of 1000 in the Rudolphine tables 3 adding
those of Ptolemy omitted by Tycho, and of other au¬
thors 3 so that his catalogue amounts to above 1160.
At the same time, William, landgrave of Hesse, w7ith
his mathematicians, Christopher Rothmannus and Jus¬
tus Byrgius, determined the places of 400 fixed stars
by his own observations, with their places rectified for
the year 1593 » which Hevelius prefers to those of
J ycho’s. Ricciolus, in his Astronomia Reformata, de¬
termined the places of 101 stars for the year 1700,
from his own observations 3 for the rest he followed
Tycho’s catalogue, altering it where he thought fit.
Anno 1667, Dr Halley, in the island of St Helena,
observed
CAT [ 255 ] CAT
talo^ue observed 350 southern stars not visible in our horizon,
if the The same labour was repeated by F. Noel in 1710,
Stars. w|10 published a new catalogue of the same stars con-
nn' ‘ structed for the year 1687.
Bayer, in bis Uranomctria, published a catalogue of
1160 stars, compiled chiefly from Ptolemy and Tycho,
in which every star is marked with some letter of the
Greek alphabet ; the biggest star in any constellation
being denoted by the first letter, the next by the se¬
cond, &c. and if the number exceeds the Greek al¬
phabet, the remaining stars are marked by letters of
the Roman alphabet, which letters are preserved by
Flamsteed, and by Senex on his globes. The cele¬
brated Hevelius composed a catalogue of 1888 stars,
I553 which were observed by himself 5 and their
places are computed for the year 1660.
The last and greatest is the Britannic catalogue,
compiled from the observations of the accurate Mr
Flamsteed ; who for a long series of years devoted
himself wholly thereto. As there was nothing want¬
ing either in the observer or apparatus, we may look
on this as a perfect work so far as it goes. It is to
be regretted the impression had not passed through his
own hands : that now extant was published by autho¬
rity, but without the author’s consent: it contains
2734 stars. There was another published in 1725,
pursuant to his testament •, containing no less than 3000
stars, with their places rectified for the year 1689 : to
which is added Mr Sharp’s catalogue of the southern
stars not visible in our hemisphere, adapted to the year
1726.
The first catalogue, we believe, that was printed in
the new or second form, according to themrder of the
right ascension, is that of De la Caille, given in his
Ephemerides for the ten years between 1755 and 1765*
and printed in 1755. It contains the right ascensions
and declinations of 307 stars, adapted to the begin-
ing of the year 1750. In 1757 De la Caille publish¬
ed his Astronomia Fundamental containing a catalogue
of the right ascensions and declinations of 398 stars,
likewise adapted to the beginning of 175°* And in
1763, the year after his death, was published the Cer¬
ium Australe Stelliferum of the same author ; contain¬
ing a catalogue of the places of 1942 stars, all situated
to the southward of the tropic ol Capricorn, and ob¬
served by him while he was at the Cape ot Good
Hope in 1751 and 1752 •, their places being also
adapted to the beginning of I75°* -^n ^ie same year
was published his Ephemerides for the ten years be¬
tween 1765 and 1775; in the introduction to which
are given the places of 515 zodiacal stars, all deduced
from the observations of the same author ; the places
adapted to the beginning of the year 1765-
In the Nautical Almanack for 1773, is given a ca¬
talogue of 387 stars, in right ascension, declination,
longitude and latitude, derived from the observations
of the late celebrated Dr Bradley, and adjusted to the
beginning of the year 1760. This small catalogue,
and the results of about 200 observations of the moon,
are all that the public have yet seen of the multiplied
labours of this most accurate and indefatigable obser¬
ver, although he has now (1798) been dead upwards
of 36 years.
In 1775 was published a thin volume, entitled, Opera
Ineditai containing several papers of the late Tobias
Mayer, and among them a catalogue of the right ascen- Catalogue
sions and declinations of 99^ stars, winch may be oc- of the
culted by the moon and planets ; the places being Starf-
adapted to the beginning of the year 1756. ' ' v
At the end of the first volume of “ Astronomical Ob¬
servations made at the Royal Observatory at Green¬
wich,” published in 1776, Dr Maskelyne, the present
astronomer royal, has given a catalogue of the places
of 34 principal stars, in right ascension and north polar
distance, adapted to the beginning of the year 1770.
Ihese, being the result of several years repeated
observations, made with the utmost care, and the best
instruments, it may be presumed, are exceedingly ac¬
curate.
In 1782 M. Bode of Berlin published a very extensive
catalogue of 5058 of the fixed stars, collected from the
observations of Flamsteed, Bradley, Hevelius, Mayer,
De la Caille, Messier, Monnier, D’Arquier, and other
astronomers j all adapted to the beginning of the year
1780 $ and accompanied with a celestial atlas or set of
maps of the constellations, engraved in a most delicate
and beautiful manner.
To these may be added Dr Herschel’s catalogue of
double stars, printed in the Phil. Trans, for 1782 and
1783 , Messier’s nebulae and clusters of stars, published
in the Connoissance des Temps for 17845 and Her¬
schel’s catalogue of the same kind given in the Phil.
Trans, for 1786.
In 1789 Mr Francis Wollaston published “ A Spe¬
cimen of a General Astronomical Catalogue, in Zones
of North-polar Distance, and adapted t6 January 1.
1790.” These stars are collected from all the catalogues
before-mentioned, from that of Hevelius downwards.
This work contains five distinct catalogues 5 viz. Dr
Maskelyne’s new catalogue of 36 principal stars 5 a
general catalogue of all the stars, in zones of north
polar distance; an index to the general catalogue 5 a
catalogue of all the stars in the order in which they
pass the meridian 5 and a catalogue of zodiacal stars, in
longitude and latitude.
Finally, in 1792, Dr Zach published at Gotha, Ta-
bulce MotuumSolis; to which is annexed a new catalogue
of the principal fixed stars, from his own observations
made in the years 1787, 1788, 1789, 1790. This ca¬
talogue contains the right ascensions and declinations
of 381 principal stars, adapted to the beginning of the
year 1800. Hutton's Math. Diet.
Besides these two methods of forming catalogues of
the stars, Dr Herschel has proposed a new one, in
whichAhe comparative brightness of the stars is accu¬
rately expressed. It is long since astronomers were first
led to arrange the stars in classes of different magni¬
tudes by their various degrees of brilliancy or lustre.
Brightness and size have at all times been considered
as synonymous terms; so that the brightest stars have
been referred to the class comprehending those of the
first magnitude ; and as the subsequent orders of stars
have been supposed to decrease in lustre, their magni- .
tude has been determined in the same decreasing pro¬
gression ; but the want of some fixed and satisfactory
standard of lustre has been the source of considerable
confusion and uncertainty in settling the relative mag¬
nitude of the stars. A star marked 1.2m. is supposed
to be between the first and second magnitude ; but
2.1 m. intimates, that the star is nearly ol the second
magnitudCj
C ' A T [2
maffnitiule, and that it partakes somewhat of tlie lustre
of a star of the first order. Such subdivisions may be
of some use in ascertaining stars of the first, second, and
third classes ; but the expressions 5m. 5.6m. 6.5m. 6m.
must be very vague and indefinite. Dr Herschel ob¬
serves that he has found them so in fact j and he there¬
fore considers this method of pointing out the different
lustre of stars as a reference to an imaginary standard.
If any dependence could be placed on this method of
magnitudes, “ it would follow, that no less than 11
stars in the constellation of the Lion, namely, /3, r, jr,
A, b, c, d, 54, 48, 72, had all undergone a change in
their lustre since Flamsteed’s time : For if the idea of
magnitudes had been a clear one, our author, who
marked /3 1.2m. and y 2m. ought to be understood to
mean that /3 is larger than y; but we now find that
actually y is larger than /S. Every one of the eleven
stars (says Dr Herschel) which I have pointed out
may be reduced to the same contradiction.”
The author has pointed out the instances of the in¬
sufficiency of this method, and of the uncertain con¬
clusions that are deduced from it, in determining the
comparative brightness of stars found not only in Mr
Flamsteed’s catalogue, but also in the catalogues of
other astronomers. It is sufficiently apparent that the
present method of expressing the brightness of the stars
is very defective. Dr Herschel therefore proposes a
dift’erent mode, that is more precise and satisfactory.
“ I place each star (says he,) instead of giving its
magnitude, into a short series, constructed upon the
order of brightness of the nearest proper stars. For
instance, to express the lustre of D, I say CDE. By
this short notation, instead of referring the star D to
an imaginary uncertain standard, I refer it to a precise
and determined existing one. C is a star that has a
greater lustre than D, and E is another of less bright¬
ness than D. Both C and E are neighbouring stars,
chosen in such a manner that I may see them at the
same time with D, and therefore may be able to com¬
pare them properly. The lustre of C is in the same
manner ascertained by BCD ; that of B by ABC ;
and also the brightness of E by DEF; and that of F
by EFG.
“ That this is the most natural, as well as the most
effectual way to express the brightness of a star, and
by that means to detect any change that may happen
in its lustre, will appear, when we consider what is re¬
quisite to ascertain such a change. We can certainly
not wish for a more decisive evidence, than to be as¬
sured, by actual inspection, that a certain star is now
110 longer more or less bright than such other stars to
which it has been formerly compared ; provided we are
at the same time assured that those other stars remain
still in their former unaltered lustre. But if the star D
will no longer stand in its former order CDE, it must
have undergone a change j and if that order is now to
be expressed by CED, the star has lost some part of its
lustre ; if, on the contrary, it ought now to be de¬
noted by DCE, its brightness must have had some
addition. Then, if we should doubt the stability of C
and E, we have recourse to the orders BCD and’DEF,
which express their lustre ; or even to ABC and EFG,
which continue the series both ways. Now bavin
before us the series BCDEF, or if necessary even the
more extended one ABCDEFG, it will be impossible
3
56 ]
CAT
g
to mistake a change of brightness in D, when every Cata]
member of the series is found in its proper order ex- °
cept D.”
In the author’s journal or catalogue, in which the
order of the lustre of the stars is fixed, each star bears
its own proper name or number, e. g. “ the brightness
of the star J Leonis may be expressed by /3 J s Leonis,
or better by 94—68—17 Leonis j these being the
numbers which the three above stars bear in the Bri¬
tish catalogue of fixed stars.”
This method of arrangement occurred to Dr Her¬
schel so early as the year 1782 j but he was diverted
from the regular pursuit of it by a variety of other as¬
tronomical engagements. After many trials, he pro¬
posed, in the Transactions of the Royal Society of
London for 1796, the plan which appeared to him the
most eligible. It is as follows :—Instead of denoting
particular stars by letters, he makes use of numbers j and
in the choice of the stars which are to express the lustre
of any particular one, he directs his first view to perfect
equality. When two stars seem to be similar both in
brightness and magnitude, he puts down their numbers
together, separated merely by a point, as 30.24 Leonis ;
but if two stars, which at first seemed alike in their
lustre, appeared on a longer inspection to be different,
and the preference should be always decidedly in favour
of the same star, he separates these stars by a comma,
thus, 41,94 Leonis. This order must not be varied $
nor can three such stars, as 20, 40, 39, Librae, admit
of a different arrangement. If the state of the heavens
should be such as to require a different order in these
numbers, we may certainly infer that a change has ta¬
ken place in the lustre of one or more of them. When
two stars differ very little in brightness, but so that the
preference of the one to the other is indisputable, the
numbers that express them are separated by a short line,
as —17—70 Leonis, or 68—17—70 Leonis. When
two stars differ so much in brightness, that one or two
other stars might be interposed between them, and still
leave sufficient room for distinction,they are distinguish¬
ed by a line and comma, thus, —, or by two lines, as
32— —41 Leonis. A greater difference than this is
denoted by a broken line, thus, ——29 Bootis. On
the whole, the author observes, the marks and distinc¬
tions which he has adopted cannot possibly be mistaken ;
“ a point denoting equality of lustre j a comma indica¬
ting the least perceptible difference j a short line to
mark a decided but small superiority $ a line and com¬
ma, or double line, to express a considerable and strik¬
ing excess of brightness ; and a broken line to mark
any other superiority which is to be looked upon as of
no use in estimations that are intended for the purpose
of directing changes.”
I he difficulties that attend this arrangement are not
disguised ; but the importance and utility of it more
than compensate for the labour which it must necessarily
require. By a method of this kind, many discoveries
of changeable and periodical stars might probably have
been made, which have^escaped the most diligent and
accurate observers. We might then, as the author sug¬
gests, be enabled to resolve a problem in which we are
all immediately concerned.
“ Who, for instance, would not wish to knowr what
degree of permanency we ought to ascribe to the lustre
of our sun ? Not only the stability of our climates, but
the
CAT
alogoc the very existence of the whole animal and vegetable
the creation itself, is involved in the question. Where can
tM*' we hope to receive information upon this subject but
‘v "" from astronomical observations? If it be allowed to ad¬
mit the similarity of stars with our sun as a point esta¬
blished, how necessary will it be to take notice of the
fate of our neighbouring suns, in order to guess at that
of our own ! That star, vrhich among the multitude we
have dignified by the name of sun, to-morrow may slow¬
ly begin to undergo a gradual decay of brightness, like
£ Leoms, « Ceti, a Draconis, $ Ursae majoris, and many
other diminishing stars that will be mentioned in my
catalogues. It may suddenly increase, like the won¬
derful star in the back of Cassiopeia’s chair, and the no
less remarkable one in the foot of Serpentanus j or gra¬
dually come on, like /3 Geminorum, fi Ceti, £ Sagitta-
ri'\ many other increasing stars, for which I also
refer to my catalogues ; and, lastly, it may turn into a
periodical one of 25 days duration, as Algol is one of
three days, 5 Cephei of five, (& Tyrte ef six, « Anti-
noi of seven dajs, and as many others as are of various
periods.”
Having thus explained the general principle on which
this catalogue is formed, as we find it in the author’s
first memoir on the subject, we must refer the reader to
the doctor s . own account for its particular arrange¬
ment, observing only that the catalogue subjoined com-
pitnends nine constellations, which are arranged in al¬
phabetical order, with the comparative brightness of the
stars accurately stated. In a subsequent paper publish-
ed in the same volume, he has completely verified the
utility of his method by experience, and shewn that there
is no permanent change of lustre in the stars. In the
notes to his first catalogue he mentioned a Herculis as
a periodical star. By a series of observations on this
star, compared with * Ophiuchi, which was most con¬
veniently situated for his purpose, he has been able not
only to confirm this opinion, but to ascertain its period.
His observations are arranged in a table, by means of
which he determines that this star had gone through
four successive changes in an interval of 241 days 5 and
therefore the duration of its period must be about 60
days and a quarter. This fact concurs with other cir¬
cumstances in evincing the rotatory motion of the stars
on their axes. ‘‘ Dark spots, or large portions of the
surface less luminous than the rest, turned alternately
in certain directions, either towards or from us, will ac¬
count for the phenomena of periodical changes in the
lustre of the stars, so satisfactorily, that we certainly
need not look out for any other cause.” If it be al-
eged that the periods in the change of lustre of some
stars, such as Algol, $ Lyroe, J Cephei, and n Antinoi,
art. short, being only 3, jj, 6, and 7 days respectively j
w ule those of • Ceti, and of the changeable star in
jdia, and that in the neck of the Swan, are long,
amounting to 331, 394, and 497 days; and that we
cannot ascribe phenomena so different in their duration
to the same cause—it may be answered to this objec¬
tion, that the force of it is founded on our limited ac¬
quaintance with the state of the heavens. To the seven
stars, the periodical changes of which were before
novvn, we may now add * Herculis, which performs
» revolution of its changes in 60 days.
The step from the rotation of c Herculis to that of
• et, is far less considerable than that from the period
Vol. V. Part 1. , I 1
[ 2 57 f
CAT
of Algol to the rotation of et Herculis ; and thus a link Catalogue
in the chain is now supplied, which removes the objec- of tiie
tion that arose from the vacancy.” The rotation of Stais
the fifth satellite of Saturn is proved by the change ob- f. ^
servable in its light; and “ this variation of light, ow- L
ing to the alternate exposition of a more or less bright
hemisphere of this periodical satellite, plainly indicates,
that the similar phenomenon of a changeable star arises
fiom the various lustre of the different parts of its sur¬
face, successively turned to us by its rotatory motion.”
Besides, we perceive a greater similarity between the
sun and the stars, by means of the spots that must be
admitted to exist on their surfaces, as well as on that
of the sun.
Dr Herschel farther observes, that the stars, besides
a rotatory motion on their axes, may have other move¬
ments ; “ such as nutations or changes in the inclina¬
tion of their axes ; which, added to bodies much flat¬
tened by quick rotatory motions, or surrounded by
rings like Saturn, will easily account for many new
phenomena that then offer themselves to our extended
views.”
CAIALONIA, a province of Spain, bounded on
the north by the Pyrenean mountains, which divide it
from France ; by the kingdom of Arragon and Va¬
lencia on the west; and by the Mediterranean sea on
the south and east. It is 153 miles in length, and 100
in breadth. It is watered by a great number of rivers ;
the principal of which are the Lobregat, the Ter, and
the Segra. The air is temperate and healthy ; but
the land is mountainous, except in a few places. It
produces, however, corn, wine, oil, pulse, flax, and
hemp, sufficient for the inhabitants. The mountains
are covered with large forests of tall trees, such as the
oak, the ever-green oak, the beech, the pine, the fir,
the chesnut, and many others; with cork trees, shrubs,
and medicinal plants. There are several quarries of
marble of all colours, crystal, alabaster, amethysts, and
lapis lazuli. Gold dust has been found among the
sands of one or two of the rivers ; and there are mines
of tin, iron, lead, alum, vitriol, and salt. They like¬
wise fish for coral on the eastern coast. The inhabi¬
tants are hardy, courageous, active, vigorous, and good
soldiers. Catalonia is the most industrious province in
Spain. It has considerable manufactures of cottons,
woollens, and silk, and carries on an extensive commerce.
The population of the whole province in 1788 was
814,000, of whom 12,400 were ecclesiastics, secular
or regular. In the agriculture of the country, irriga¬
tion is practised to a great extent. There are in the
province, one university, one archbishopric, one grand
priory, seven bishoprics, sixteen commanderies of the
order of Malta, and about 300 religious establishments.
arcelona the capital, Tarra-
capi
Cardona Vich, Giro-
Catalonia
which submitted to
The principal^towns are Bare
gona, Tortosa, Lerida, Solsonia,
na, Sen d’Urgel, Pui Cerda, and Cervera.
was the last province in Spain which s
Philip in the succession war.
CATAMENIA, in Medicine. See Menses.
CATAMITE, a boy kept for sodomitical practices.
CATANA, or Catina, in Ancient Geography, a town
of Sicily, situated opposite to AEtna, to the south-east ;
one of the five Roman colonies : anciently built by the
people of Naxus seven years after the building of Sy¬
racuse, 728 years before Christ. It was the country
K k of
CAT [ ' 258. ] CAT
of Charondas the famous lawgiver. The town is still
called Catanea. See Catanea.
CATANANCHE, Candia lions-foot. See Bo¬
tany Index.
CATANEA, or Catania, a city of Sicily, seated
on a gulf of the same name, near the foot ot Mount
./Etna, or Gibel. It was founded by the Chalcidians
soon after the settlement of Syracuse, and enjoyed
great tranquillity till Hiero I. expelled the whole body
of citizens ; and after replenishing the town with a new
stock of inhabitants, gave it the name of JEtna : im¬
mediately after his decease, it regained its ancient
name, and its citizens returned to their abodes. Ca¬
tania fell into the hands of the Romans, among their
earliest acquisitions in Sicily, and became the residence
of a praetor. To make it worthy of such an honour,
it was adorned with sumptuous buildings of all kinds,
and every convenience was procured to supply the na¬
tural and artificial wants of life. It was destroyed by
Pompey’s son, but x’estored with superior magnificence
by Augustus. The reign of Decius is famous in the
history of this city, for the martyrdom of its patroness
St Agatha. On every emeniency her intercession is
imploi-ed. She is piously believed to have preserved
Catanea from being overwhelmed by torrents of lava,
or shaken to pieces by earthquakes *, yet its ancient
edifices are covered by repeated streams of volcanic
matter; and almost every house, even her own church,
has been thrown to the ground. In the reign of Wil¬
liam the Good, 20,000 Catanians, with their pastor at
their head, were destroyed before the sacred veil could
be properly placed to check the flames. In the last
century the eruptions and earthquakes raged with re¬
doubled violence, and Catania was twice demolished
See .Etna.
The present prince of Biscari has been at infinite
pains, and spent a large sum of money, in working
down to the ancient town, which, on account of the nu¬
merous torrents of lava that have flowed out of Mount
aEtna for these last thousand years, is now to be sought
for in dark caverns many feet below the present sur¬
face of the earth. Mr Swinburne informs us that he
descended into baths, sepulchres, an amphitheatre, and
a theatre, all very much injured by the various cata¬
strophes that have befallen them. They were erected
upon old beds of lava, and even built with square
pieces of the same substance, which in no instance ap¬
pears to have been fused by the contact of new lavas :
The sciarra, or stones of cold lava, have constantly
proved as strong a barrier against the flowing torrent
of fi re as any other stone could have been, though
some authors were of opinion that the hot matter would
melt the old mass and incorporate with it.
This city has been frequently defended from the
burning streams by the solid mass of its own ramparts,
and by the air compressed between them and the lava ;
as appears by the torrent having stopt within a small
distance of the walls, and taken another direction.
But when the walls were broken or low, the lava col¬
lected itself till it rose to a great height, and then
poured over in a curve. A similar instance is seen at
the Torre del Greco near Naples, where the stream of
liquid fire from Vesuvius divided itself into two branches,
and left a church untouched in the middle. There is
a well at the foot of the old walls of Catania, where
the lava, after running along the parapet, and then eaU|
falling forwards, has produced a very complete lofty ty
arch over the spring. Catapi
The church here is a noble fabric. It is accounted ’■“’“v
the largest in Sicily, though neither a porch nor cupo¬
la has been erected, from a doubt of the solidity of the
foundations, which are no other than the bed of lava
that ran out of -Etna in 1669, and is supposed to be
full of cavities. The organ is much esteemed by con¬
noisseurs in musical instraments.
Catanig, according to Mr Swinburne’s account, is
reviving with great splendour. “ It has already (he
says) much more the features of a metropolis and royal
residence than Palermo : the principal streets are wide,
straight, and well paved with lava. An obelisk of red
granite, placed on the back of an .antique elephant of
touchstone, stands in the centre of the great square,
which is formed by the townhall, seminary, and cathe¬
dral. The cathedral erected by the abbot Angerius
in the year 1094, was endowed by Earl Roger with
the territories of Catania and E.tna, for the small ac¬
knowledgment of a glass of wine and a loaf of bread
offered once a-year. It has suffered so much by earth¬
quakes, that little of the original structure remains,
and the modern parts have hardly any thing except
their materials to recon.mend them. The other reli¬
gious edifices of the city are profusely ornamented, but
in a bad taste. The spirit of building seems to have
seized upon the people, and the prince of Biscari’s ex¬
ample adds fresh vigour. It were natural to suppose
men would be backward in erecting new habitations,
especially with any degree of luxury, on ground so of¬
ten shaken to its centre, and so often buried under the
ashes of a volcano ; but such is their attachment to
their native soil, and their contempt of dangers they are
habituated to, that they rebuild their houses on the
warm cinders of Vesuvius, the quaking plains of Cala¬
bria, and the black mountains of Sctarra at Catania:
it is, however, suprising to see such embellishments la¬
vished in so dangerous a situation. There is a great
deal of activity in the disposition of this people : they
know by tradition that their ancestors carried on a
flourishing commerce; and that before the fiery river
filled it up, they had a spacious convenient harbour,
where they now have scarce a creek for a felucca:
they therefore wish to restore those advantages to Ca¬
tania, and have often applied to government for assis¬
tance towards forming a mole and port, an undertaking
their strength alone is unequal to ; but whether the re¬
fusal originates in the deficiencies of the public treasury
or the jealousy of the other cities, all the projects have
ended in fruitless applications. The number of inha¬
bitants dwelling in Catania has been estimated at
50,000: A considerable portion of this number apper¬
tains to the university, the only one in the island, and
the nursery of all the lawyers.” E. Long. 15. 19.
N. Lat. 37. 30.
C AT AN Z A BO, a city in the kingdom of Naples,
the capital of Calabria Ulterior, with a bishop’s see.
It is the usual residence of the governor of the pro¬
vince, and is seated on a mountain, in E. Long. 18.
20. N. Lat. 38. 58.
CATAPHONICS, the science which considers the
properties ot reflected sounds. See Acoustics.
CATAPHORA, in Medicine^ the same as Coma.
CATAPHRACTA*
ipla'ac-
CAT r 259 ]
CATAPHRACTA, (from WU, and (p^xa-rv, I fortify prevents the design
CAT
or arm), in the ancient njilitary art, a piece of heavy
defensive armour, formed of doth or leather, fortified
with iron scales or links, wherewith sometimes only
the breast, sometimes the whole body, and sometimes
the horse too, was covered. It was in use among
the Sarmatians, Persians, and other barbarians. The
Romans also adopted it early for their foot j and,
according to Vegetius, kept to it till the time of Gra-
tian, when the military discipline growing remiss, and
field exercises and labour discontinued, the Roman foot
thought the cataphracta as well as the helmet too great
a load to bear, and therefore threw both by, choosing
rather to march against the enemy bare-breasted $ by
which, in the war with the Goths, multitudes were
destroyed.
Cataphractm Naves, ships armed and covered in
fight, so that they could not be easily damaged by the
enemy. They were covered over with boards or planks,
on which the soldiers were placed to defend them ; the
rowers sitting underneath, thus screened from the
enemy’s weapons.
CATAPHRAC1US, denotes a thing defended or
covered on all sides with armour.
Cataphractus, or Catuphractctrius, more particu¬
larly denotes a horseman, or even horse, armed with a
cataphracta. The cataphracti eqirites were a sort of
cuirassiers, not only fortified with armour themselves,
but having their horses guarded with solid plates of
brass or other metals, usually lined with skins, and
wrought into plumes or other forms. Their use was
to bear down all before them, to break in upon the
enemy’s ranks, and spread terror and havock wherever
they came, as being themselves invulnerable and secure
from danger. But their disadvantage was their un¬
wieldiness, by which, if once unhorsed, or on the
ground, they were unable to rise, and thus fell a prey
to the enemy.
CATAPHRYGIANS; a sect in the second centurv,
so called as being of the country of Phrygia. They
were orthodox in every thing, setting aside this, that
they took Mon tan us for a prophet, and Priscilla and
Maximilla for true prophetesses, to be consulted in every
thing relating to religion 5 as supposing the Holy Spirit
had abandoned the church. See Montanist.
CATAPLASMA, a poultice ; from xcc\ct'7r\a.<rxu, il-
hno, to spread like a plaster. Cataplasms take their
name sometimes from the part to which they are ap¬
plied, or effects they produce j so are called anacol-
lema, front ale, epicarpium, epispasticum, vesicatorivm ;
and when mustard is an ingredient, they are called
sinapisms.
These kinds of applications are softer and more easy
than plasters or ointments. They are formed of some
vegetable substances, and applied of such a consistence
as neither to adhere nor run j they are also more useful
when the intention is effected by the perpetuity of the
heat or cold which they contain, for they retain them
longer than any other kind of composition.
When designed to relax, or to promote suppura¬
tion, they should be applied warm. Their warmth,
moisture, and the obstruction they give to perspira¬
tion, is the method of their answering that end. The
proper heat, when applied warm, is no more than to
promote a kindly pleasant sensation; for great heat
for which they are used. They Catapla*.
sliould be renewed as often as they cool. For relaxing ma,
and suppurating, none excel the white bread poultice, Catapuita.
made with the crumb of an old loaf, a sufficient quan- J
tity of milk to boil the bread in until it is soft, and
a little oil ; which last ingredient, besides preventing
the poultice from drying and sticking to the skin,
also retains the heat longer than the bread and milk
alone would do. To preserve the heat longer, the
poultice, when applied, may be covered with a strono-
ox’s bladder.
When designed to repel, they should be applied cold,
and ought to be renewed as oft as they become warm.
A proper composition for this end is a mixture of oat¬
meal and vinegar.
CAT APULTA, in antiquity, a military engine
contrived for the throwing of arrows, darts, and stones
upon the enemy.—Some of these engines were of such
force that they would throw stones of an hundred
weight. Josephus takes notice of the surprising effects
of these engines, and says, that the stones thrown out
of them beat down the battlements, knocked off the
angles of the towers, and would level a whole .file of
men from one end to the other, was the phalanx ever
so deep. This was called the
Battering Catapuita, and is represented on Plate
CXXXV. This catapuita is supposed to carry a
stone, &c. of an hundred weight ; and therefore a
description of it will be sufficient to explain the
doctrine of all the rest; for such as threw stones of
500 and upwards, were constructed on the same prin¬
ciples.
The base is composed of two large beams 2, 3. The
length of these beams is fifteen diameters of the bore
of the capitals 9. At the two extremities of each
beam, two double mortises are cut to receive the eight
tenons of two cross beams, each of them four of the
diameters in length. In the centre of each of the
beams of the base, and near two-thirds of their length,
a hole, perfectly round, and 16 inches in diameter,
should be bored j these holes must be exactly opposite
to each other, and should increase gradually to the in¬
side of the beams, so that each of them, being 16
inches on the outside towards the capitals 9, should be
at the opening on the inside, and the edges care¬
fully rounded off. The capitals 9 are, in a manner,
the soul of the machine, and serve to twist and strain
the cordage, which forms its principle or power of mo¬
tion. «
The capitals are either of cast brass or iron \ each
consisting of a wheel with teeth, C 10, of 2^ inches
thick. The hollow or bone of these wheels should be
11^ inches in diameter, perfectly round, and the edge*
smoothed down. As the friction would be too great
if the capitals rubbed against the beams by the extreme
straining of the cordage, which draws them toward*
these beams, that inconvenience is remedied by the
means of eight friction wheels, or cylinders of brass,
about the 13th of an inch in diameter, and an inch and
one sixth in length, placed circularly, and turning upon
axes, as represented at I) 13, B 12. One of these
friction wheels at large, with its screw, by which it i*
fastened into the beam, is represented at A.
Upon this number of cylindrical wheels the capital*
9 must be placed in the beams 2, 3, so that the cylin-
K k 2 der*
CAT [ 260 ] CAT
Catapults, tiers do not extend to the teeth of the wheels, which
‘"-—y-" must receive a strong pinion 14. By means of this
pinion the wheel of the capital is made to turn for
straining the cordage with the key 15. The capital
wheel has a strong catch 16, and another of the same
kind may be added, to prevent any thing from giving
way through the extreme and violent force of the
strained cordage.
The capital piece of the machine is a nut or cross
pin of iron, 17, seen at C, and hammered cold into
its form. It divides the bore of the capitals exactly in
two equal parts, and fixed in grooves about an inch
deep. This piece, or nut, ought to be about two
inches and one-third thick at the top 18, as represented
in the section at B ; and rounded off and polished as
much as possible, that the cords folded over it may
not be hurt or cut by the roughness or edges of the
iron. Its height ought to be eight inches, decreasing
gradually in thickness to the bottom, where it ought to
be only one inch. It must be very exactly inserted in
the capitals.
After placing the two capitals in the holes of the
two beams in a right line with each other, and fixing
the two cross diametrical nuts or pieces over which
the cordage is to wind, one end of the cord is reeved
through a hole in one of the capitals in the base, and
made fast to a nail withinside of the beam. The
other side of the cord is then carried through the hole
in the opposite beam and capital, and so wound over
the cross pieces of iron in the centre of the two capi¬
tals, till they are full, the cordage forming a large
skain. The tension or straining of the cordage ought
to be exactly equal, that is, the several foldings of the
qord over the capital pieces should be equally strained,
and so near each other as not to leave the least space
between them. As soon as the first folding or skain of
cord has filled up one whole space or breadth of the
capital pieces, another must be carried over it j and so
on, always equally straining the end till no more will
pass through the capitals, and the skain of cordage
entirely fills them, observing to rub it from time to
time with soap.
At three or four inches behind the cordage, thus
wound over the capital pieces, two very strong upright
beams 21 are raised ; these are posts of oak 14 inches
thick, crossed over at top by another of the same soli¬
dity. The height of the upright beams is 7J- diameters ;
each supported behind with very strong props 25, fixed
at bottom in the extremities of the base 2, 3. The cross
beam 24 is supported in the same manner by a prop in
the centre.
The tree, arm, or stylus 22, should be of sound ash.
Its length is from 15 to 16 diameters of the bore of
the capitals. The end at the bottom, or that fixed
in the middle of the skain, is 10 inches thick, and 14
broad. To strengthen the arm or tree, it should be
wrapped round with a cloth dipped in strong glue like
the tree of a saddle, and bound very hard with waxed
thread of the sixth of an inch in diameter, from the
large end at bottom, almost to the top, as represented
in the figure.
At the top of the arm, just under the iron hand or
receiver 27, a strong cord is fastened, with two loops
twisted one within another, for the greater strength.
Into these two. loops the hook of a brass pulley 28 is
put. The cord 29 is then reeved through the pulley,
and fastened to the roll 30. The cock or trigger 31, ||
which serves as a stay, is then brought to it, and ,
made fast by its hook to the extremity of the hand
27, in which the body to be discharged is placed.
The pulley at the neck of the arm is then unhooked 5
and when the trigger is to let it oif, a stroke must be
given upon it with an iron bar or crow of about an
inch in diameter j on which the arm flies up with a
force almost equal to that of a modern mortar. The
cushion 01* stomacher 23, placed exactly in the middle
of the cross-beam 24, should be covered with tanned
ox-hide, and stuffed with hair, the arm striking against
it with inconceivable force. It is to be observed, that
the tree or arm 22 describes an angle of 90 degrees,
beginning at the cock, and ending at the stomacher or
cushion.
Catapult a for Arrows, Spears, or Darts. Some of
the spears, &c. thrown by these engines, are said to
have been 18 feet long, and to have been thrown with
such velocity as to take fire in their course.
ABCD is the frame that holds the darts or arrows,Fig. j.
which may be of different numbers, and placed in dif¬
ferent directions. EF is a large and strong iron spring,
which is bent by a rope that goes over three pulleys,
I, K, L, and is drawn by one or several men 5 this
rope may be fastened to a pin at M. The rope, there¬
fore, being set at liberty, the spring must strike the
darts with great violence, and send them, with surpri¬
sing velocity, to a great distance. This instrurhent
diflers in some particulars from the description we have
of that of the ancients ; principally in the throwing of
several darts at the same time, one only being thrown
by theirs.
CATARACT, in Hydrography, a precipice in the
channel of a river, caused by rocks, or other obstacles,
stopping the course of the stream, from whence the
water falls with greater noise and impetuosity. The
word comes from “ I tumble down with
violence f compounded of kcltx, “ down,” and {<ecnr«,
dejicio, “ I throw down.”—Such are the cataracts of
the Nile, the Danube, Rhine, &c. In that of Nia¬
gara, the perpendicular fall of the water is 137 feet;
and in that of Pistil Rhaiadr, in North Wales, the fall
of water is near 240 feet from the mountain to the
lower pool.
Strabo calls that a cataract which we call a cascade:
and what we call a cataract, the ancients usually called
a catadupa. Herminius has an express dissertation,
“ De admirandis mundi Cataractis supra et subterra-
neis where he uses the word in a new sense ; sig¬
nifying by cataract, any violent motion of the ele¬
ments.
Cataract, in Medicine and Surgerj/, a disorder of
the humours of the eye, by which the pupilla, that
ought to appear transparent and black, looks opaque,
blue, gray, brown, &.c. by which vision is variously
impeded, or totally destroyed. See Surgery.
CATARA, a town of Dalmatia, and capital of the
teiritory ot the same name, with a strong castle, and
a bishop s see. It is subject to Venice, and is seated
on a gulf of the same name. E. Long. 19. 19. N. Lat.
42. 25.
CATARACTES, the trivial name of a species, of
Larus, See Ornithology Index.
CATARRH,
PLATE ( XXXV
CASTLE.
Cata/ia/fa
C
arrh
-ch-
jrd.
CAT [ 261 ] CAT
CATARRH, in Medicine, a distillation or defluxion
from the head upon the mouth and aspera arteria,
and through them upon the lungs. See Medicine
j Index.
CATASTASIS, in Poetj'y, the third part of the
ancient drama; being that wherein the intrigue, or
action, set forth in the epitasis, is supported, carried
on, and heightened, till it be ripe for the unravelling in
the catastrophe. Scaliger defines it, the full growth of
the fable, while things are at a stand in that confusion
to which the poet has brought them.
CATASTROPHE, in Dramatic Poetry, the fourth
and last part in the ancient drama ; or that immediate¬
ly succeeding the catastasis: or, according to others,
the third only ; the whole drama being divided into
protasis, epitasis, and catastrophe ; or in the terms of
Aristotle, prologue, epilogue, and exode.
The catastrophe clears up every thing, and is nothing
else but the discovery or winding up of the plot. It
has its peculiar place : for it ought entirely to be con¬
tained, not only in the last act, but in the very conclu¬
sion of it: and, when the plot is finished, the play
should be so also. The catastrophe ought to turn upon
a single point, or start up on a sudden.
The great art in the catastrophe is, that the clearing
up of all difficulties may appear wonderful, and yet
easy, simple, and natural.
It is a very preposterous artifice in some writers to
show the catastrophe in the very title of the play. Mr
Dryden thinks that a catastrophe resulting from a mere
change in the sentiments and resolutions of a person,
without any other machinery, may be so managed as to
be exceedingly beautiful.
It is a dispute among the critics, whether the cata¬
strophe should always fall out favourably on the side of
virtue or not. The reasons on the negative side seem
the strongest. Aristotle prefers a shocking catastrophe
to a happy one.—The catastrophe is either simple or
complex. The first is that in which there is no change
in the state of the principal persons, nor any discovery
or unravelling, the plot being only a mere passage out
of agitation into quiet repose. In the second, the prin¬
cipal persons undergo a change of fortune, in the man¬
ner already defined.
CATCH, in the musical sense of the word, a fugue
m unison, wherein, to humour some conceit in the
words, the melody is broken, and the sense interrupted
in one part, and caught again or supported by another ;
as in the catch in Shakespeare’s play of the Twelfth
Night,.where there is a catch sung by three persons, in
which the humour is, that each who sings, calls and
is called knave in turn : Or, as defined by Mr Jack-
son, “ a catch is a piece for three or more voices,
one of which leads, and the others follow in the same
notes. It must be so contrived, that rests (which
are made for the purpose) in the music of one line
be filled up with a word or two from another line ;
these form a cross purpose, or catch, from whence the
name.”
CATCH-Ply. See Lychnis, Botany Index.
CATCH-Po/e, (quasi one that catches by the pole), a
term used, by way of reproach, for the bailiff’s follower
or assistant.
CjTCii-irord, among printers, that placed at the bot¬
tom of each page, being always the first word of the
following page.
CATECHESIS, in a general sense, denotes an in¬
struction given any person in the first rudiments of an
art or science ; but more particularly of the Christian
religion. In the ancient church, catechesis was an
instruction given viva voce, either to children or adult
heathens, preparatory to their receiving of baptism. In
this sense, catechesis stands contradistinguished from
mystagogica, which were a higher part of instruction
given to those already initiated, and containing the
mysteries of faith. Those who give such instructions
are called catechists; and those who receive them,
catechumens.
CATECHETIC, or Catechetical, something
that relates to oral instruction in the rudiments of Chri¬
stianity.—Catechetic schools were buildings appointed
for the office of the catechist, adjoining to the church,
and called catechwiiena : such was that in which Origen
and many other famous men read catechetical lectures
at Alexandria. See Catechumen.
CxlTECHISM, in its primary sense, an instruc¬
tion, or institution, in the principles of the Christian
religion, delivered viva voce, and so as to require fre¬
quent repetitions, from the disciple or hearer, of what
has been said. The word is formed from xxtti^u, a
compound of xxtx. and t%o;, q. d. circumsono ; alluding
to the noise or din made in this sort of exercise, or to
the zeal and earnestness wherewith things are to be in¬
culcated over and over on the learners.—Anciently the
candidates for baptism were only to be instructed in
the secrets of their religion by tradition, viva voce,
without writing; as had also been the case among the
Egyptian priests, and the British and Gaulish druids,
who only communicated the mysteries of their theo¬
logy by word of mouth.
Catechism is more frequently used in modern times
for an elementary book, wherein the principal articles
of religion are summarily delivered in the way of ques¬
tion and answer.
CATECHIST, (xxTt%ins, catecheta), he that cate¬
chises, i. e. he that instructs novices in the principles
of religion.
Catechist more particularly denotes a person ap¬
pointed by the church to instruct those intended for
baptism, by word of mouth, in the fundamental arti¬
cles of the Christian faith. The catechists of churches
were ministers usually distinct from the bishops and
presbyters* and had their auditors or catechumena
apart. Their business was to instruct the catechu¬
mens, and prepare them for the reception of baptism.
But the catechists did not constitute any distinct or¬
der of the clergy, but were chosen out of any other
order. The bishop himself sometimes performed the
office ; at other times presbyters, or even readers or
deacons, were the catechists. Origen seems to have
had no higher degree in the church than reader, when
he was made catechist at Alexandria, being only 18
years of age, and consequently incapable of the dea-
conship.
CATECHU, in the Materica Medica, a name
given to the extract otherwise known by the name
of 1 'err a- Japonic a, or Japan earth. See Areca and
Mimosa.
CATECHUMEN,,
Catcb-
Word
Catechu.
C A
CAT [262
Catechu- CATECHUMEN, a candidate for baptism, or one
men who prepares himself for the receiving thereof.
N The catechumens, in church history, were the lovv-
. '' ” ~ '■ est order of Christians in the primitive church. They
had some title to the common name of Christian, being
a degree above pagans and heretics, though not con¬
summated by baptism. They were admitted to the
state of catechumens by the imposition of hands, and
the sign of the cross. The children of believing pa¬
rents were admitted catechumens, as soon as ever
they were capable of instruction: but at what age
those of heathen parents might be admitted, is not so
cleax-. As to the time of their continuance in this
state, there were no general rules fixed about it j but
the practice varied according to the difference of times
and places, and the readiness and proficiency of the
catechumens themselves.
There were four orders or degrees of catechumens j
the first were those instructed privately without the
church, and kept at a distance for some time, from the
privilege of entering the church, to make them the
more eager and desirous of it. The next degree were
the cmdienteSj so called from their being admitted to
hear sermons and the Scriptures read in the church,
but were not allowed to partake of the prayers. The
third so^-t of catechumens were the genu-flectentes, so
•called because they received imposition of hands kneel¬
ing. The fourth order was the competentes et electi, de¬
noting the immediate candidates for baptism, or such
as were appointed to be baptized the next approach¬
ing festival ; before which, strict examination was
made into their proficiency under the several stages of
catechetical exercises.
After examination, they were exercised for twenty
days together, and were obliged to fasting and con¬
fession : some days before baptism they went veiled 5
and it was customary to touch their ears, saying, Epha-
tha, i. e. be opened $ as also to anoint their eyes
with clay j both ceremonies being in imitation of our
Saviour’s practice, and intended to shadow out to the
catechumens their condition both before and after their
admission into the Christian church.
CATEGORICAL, in a general sense, is applied
to those things ranged under a Category.
Categorical also imports a thing to be absolute,
and not relative 5 in which sense it stands opposed to
hypothetical. We say, a categorical proposition, a cate¬
gorical syllogism, &c.
A categorical answer denotes an express and per¬
tinent answer made to any question or objection pro¬
posed.
CATEGORY, in Logic, a series or order of all
the predicates or attributes contained under any
genus.
The school philosophers distribute all the objects of
our thoughts and ideas into certain genera or classes,
not so much, say they, to learn what they do not
know, as to communicate a distinct notion of what
they do know % and these classes the Greeks called
categories, and the Latins predicaments.
Aristotle made ten categories, viz. substance, quan¬
tity, quality, relation, action, passion, time, place, si¬
tuation, and habit, which are usually expressed by the
following technical distich :
]
Arbor, sex, servos, ardore, rejrigerat, ustos,
llure eras stabo, nec tunicatus ero. „ , H
v-liter pi
CATEK. See Bengal. ( F-at|-
CATENARIA, in the higher geometry, the name ^~v"
of a curve line formed by a rope hanging freely from
two points of suspension, whether the points be hori¬
zontal or not. See Fluxions.
CATERPILLAR, in Zoology, the name of all
winged insects when in their reptile or worm state.
See Entomology Index.
Method of destroijing Caterpillars on Trees.—
Take a chafing dish with lighted charcoal, and pla¬
cing it under the branches that are loaded with ca¬
terpillars, throw some pinches of brimstone upon the
coals. The vapour of the sulphur, which is mortal
to these insects, will not only destroy all that are on
the tree, but prevent it from being infested with
them afterwards, A pound of sulphur will clear as
many trees as grow on several acres. This method
has been successfully tried in France. In the Journal
Oeconomique, the following is said to be infallible
against the caterpillars feeding on cabbage, and per¬
haps may be equally serviceable against those that in¬
fest other vegetables. Sow with hemp all the borders
of the ground where you mean to plant your cabbage;
and, although the neighbourhood is infested with
caterpillars, the space enclosed with the hemp will be
perfectly free, not one of the vermine will approach
it.
CATERPILLAR-Eaters, a name given by some au¬
thors to a species of worms bred in the body of the ca¬
terpillar, and which eat its flesh ; these are owing to a
certain kind of fly that lodges her eggs in the body of
this animal, and they, after their proper changes, be¬
come flies like their parents.
M. Reaumur has given us, in his history of insects,
some very curious particulars in regard to these little
worms. Every one of them, he observes, spins itself
a very beautiful case of a cylindric figure, made of a
very strong sort of silk ; these are the cases in which
this animal spends its state of chrysalis ; and they have
a mark by which they may be known from all other
animal productions of this kind, which is, that they
have always a broad stripe or band surrounding their
middle, which is black when the rest of the case is
white, and white when that is black. M. Reaumur
has had the pains and patience to find out the reason
of this singularity, which is this : the whole shell i*
spun of a silk produced out of the creature’s body;
this at first runs all white, and towards the end of
the spinning turns black. The outside of the case
must necessarily be formed first, as the creature works
from within : consequently this is truly white all over,
but it is transparent, and shows the last spun or black
silk through it. It might be supposed that the whole
inside of the shell should be black ; but this is not the
case : the whole is fashioned before this black silk
comes ; and this is employed by the creature, not to
line the whole, but to fortify certain parts only ; and
therefore is all applied either to the middle, or to the
two ends omitting the middle ; and so gives either a
black band in the middle, or a blackness at both end*,
leaving the white in the middle to appear. It is net
unfrequent
ters
8 ,
edral
•pillav. unfrequent to find a sort of small cases, lying about
garden walks, which move of themselves $ when these
are opened, they are found to contain a small living
worm. This is one of the species of those caterpillar-
eaters ; which, as soon as it comes out of the body of
that animal, spins itself a case for its transformation
long before that happens, and lives in it without food
till that change conies on j and it becomes a fly like
that to which it owed its birth.
CATERVA, in ancient military writers, a term used
in speaking of the Gaulish or Celtiberian armies, de¬
noting a body of 6000 armed men. The word caterva,
or catervarius, is also frequently used by ancient wri¬
ters to denote a party or corps of soldiers in disorder
or disarray ; by which it stands distinguished from co¬
hort or turma, which were in good order.
CATESBiEA, the Lilythorn. See Botany In¬
dex.
CATHjEiRETICS, in Pharmacy, medicines of a
caustic nature, serving to eat off fungous flesh.
CATHARINE. Knights of St Catharine of Mount
Sinai, an ancient military order, erected for the assist¬
ance and protection of pilgrims going to pay their de¬
votion to the body of St Catharine, a virgin of Alex¬
andria, distinguished for her learning, and said to have
suffered martyrdom under Maximin. The body of
the martyr having been discovered on Mount Sinai,
caused a great concourse of pilgrims j and travelling
being very dangerous, by reason of the Arabs, an or¬
der of knighthood was erected in 1063, on the model
of that of the holy sepulchre, and under the patronage
of St Catharine $ the knights of which obliged them¬
selves by oath to guard the body of the saint, keep the
roads secure, observe the rule of St Basil, and obey
their grand master. Their habit was white, and on it
were represented the instruments of martyrdom where¬
by the saint had suffered viz. a half wheel armed
with spikes, and traversed with a sword stained with
blood.
Catharine. Fraternity of St Catharine at Sienna,
a sort of religious society, instituted in that city in ho¬
nour of St Catharine, a saint famous for her revelations,
and for her marriage with Jesus Christ, whose wedding
ring is still preserved as a valuable relick. This fra¬
ternity yearly endows a certain number of destitute vir¬
gins, and has the privilege of redeeming annually two
criminals condemned for murder, and the same number
of debtors, by paying their debts.
CATHARTICS, in Medicine, remedies which pro¬
mote evacuation by stool. See Materia Medica.
CATHEDRA, in a general sense, a chair. The
word is more particularly used for a professor’s chair,
and a preacher’s pulpit.
Cathedra is also used for the bishop’s see, or throne
in a church.
CATHEDRAL, a church wherein is a bishop’s
see or seat: See Church and Bishop. The word
comes from the Greek y.u6i^x, “ chair,” of
sedeo, “ I sit.” The denomination cathedral seems to
have taken its rise from the manner of sitting in the
ancient churches, or assemblies of primitive Christi¬
ans : in these, the council, i. e. the elders and priests,
was called Preshyterium ; at their head was the bishop,
who held the place of chairman, Cathedralis, or Ca-
2
thedraticus ; and the presbyters, who sat on either side, Cathodnd.
were also called by the ancient fathers, Assessores Epis- Catherin^
coporum. The episcopal authority did not reside in the u"—'
bishop alone } but in all the presbyters, whereof the
bishop was president. A cathedral, therefore, original¬
ly, was different from what it is now j the Christians,
till the time of Constantine, having no liberty to build
any temple : by their churches they only meant their
assemblies j and by cathedrals, nothing more than con¬
sistories.
CATHERINE Parr. See Parr.
Catherine I. Empress of Russia, a most extraor¬
dinary personage, whose history deserves to be given
in detail. She was the natural daughter of a country
girl j and was born at Ringen, a small village upon the
lake Virtcherve, near Dorpt, in Livonia. The year
of her birth is uncertain ; but according to her own
account, she came into the world on the 5th of April
1687. Her original name was Martha, which she
changed for Catherine when she embraced the Greek
religion. Count Rosen, a lieutenant-colonel in the
Swedish service, who owned the village of Ringen,
supported, according to the custom of the country,
both the mother and the child ; and was, for that rea¬
son, supposed by many persons to have been her fa¬
ther. She lost her mother when she was but three
years old j and, as Count Rosen died about the same
time, she was left in so destitute a situation, that the
parish-clerk of the village received her into his house.
Soon afterwards Gluck, Lutheran minister of Marien-
burgh, happening, in a journey through those parts,
to see the foundling, took her under his protection,
brought her up in his family, and employed her in at¬
tending his children. In 1701, and about the 14th
year of her age, she espoused a dragoon of the Swedish
garrison of Marienburgh. Many different accounts
are given of this transaction : one author of great cre¬
dit affirms that the bride and bridegroom remained to¬
gether eight days after their marriage \ another, of no
less authority, asserts, on the contrary, that on the
morning of the nuptials her husband being sent with a
detachment for Riga, the marriage was never consum¬
mated. This much is certain, that the dragoon was
absent when Marienburgh surrendered to the Russians,
and Catherine, who was reserved for a higher fortune,
never saw him more.
General Bauer, upon the taking of Marienburgh,
saw Catherine among the prisoners ; and, being smit¬
ten with hep youth and beauty, took her to his house,
where she superintended his domestic affairs, and was
supposed to be his mistress. Soon afterwards she was
received into the family of Prince Menzikof, who was
no less struck with the attractions of the fair captive.
With him she lived until 1704 j when, in the 17th
year of her age, she became the mistress of Peter the
Great, and won so much upon his affections, that he
espoused her on the 29th of May 1711. The ceremo¬
ny was secretly performed at Jawerof in Poland, in the
presence of General Bruce \ and on the 20th of Fe¬
bruary 1712, it was publicly solemnized with great
pomp at Petersburgh.
Catherine, by the most unwearied assiduity and un¬
remitted attention, by the softness and Complacency
of her disposition, but above all by an extraordinary
liveliness
CAT [ 264 ] CAT
Catherine, liveliness and gaiety of temper, acquired a wonderful
•I v——' ascendency over the mind of Peter. The latter was
subject to occasional horrors, which at times rendered
him gloomy and suspicious, and raised his passions to
such a height as to produce a temporary madness. In
these dreadful moments Catherine was the only person
who durst venture to approach him j and such was the
kind of fascination she had acquired over his senses, that
her presence had an instantaneous effect, and the first
sound of her voice composed his mind and calmed his
agonies. From these circumstances she seemed neces¬
sary not only to his comfort, hut even to his very exist¬
ence ; she became his inseparable companion on his
journeys to foreign countries, and even in all his mili¬
tary expeditions.
The peace of Pruth, by which the Russian army
was rescued from certain destruction, has been wholly
attributed to Catherine, though she was little more
than an instrument in procuring the consent of Peter.
The latter, in his campaign of 1711 against the Turks,
having imprudently led his troops into a disadvantage¬
ous situation, took the desperate resolution of cutting
his way through the Turkish army in the night. With
this resolution he retired to his tent in an agony of
despair, and gave positive orders that no one should be
admitted under pain of death. In this important
juncture the principal officers and the vice-chancellor
Shassirof assembled in tbe presence of Catherine, and
drew up certain preliminaries in order to obtain a truce
from the grand vizier. In consequence of this deter¬
mination, plenipotentiaries were immediately despatch¬
ed without the knowledge of Peter, to the grand vi¬
zier, and a peace obtained upon more reasonable con¬
ditions than could have been expected. With these
conditions Catherine, notwithstanding the orders issued
by Peter, entered his tent, and prevailed upon him to
sign them. Catherine, by her conduct on this occa-
«ion, acquired great popularity; and the emperor par¬
ticularly specifies her behaviour at Pruth as one of the
reasons which induced him to crown her publicly at
Moscow with his own hand. This ceremony was per¬
formed in 1724 > and although designed by Peter only
as a proof of his affection, was the principal cause of
her subsequent elevation.
Her influence continued undiminished until a short
time before the death of the emperor, when some cir¬
cumstances happened which occasioned such a coldness
between them as would probably have ended in a total
rupture, if his death had not fortunately intervened.
The original cause of this misunderstanding arose from
the following discovery of a secret connection between
Catherine and her first chamberlain, whose name was
Mons. The emperor, who was suspicious of this con¬
nection, quitted Petersburgh under pretence of remov¬
ing to a villa for a few days, but privately returned to
his winter palace in the capital. From thence he occa¬
sionally sent one of his confidential pages, with a com¬
plimentary message to the empress, as if he had been
in the country, and with secret orders to observe her
motions. From the page’s information the emperor,
on the third night, surprised Catherine in an arbour of
the garden with her favourite Mons 5 while his sister,
Madame Balke, who was first lady of. the bedchamber
to the empress, was, in company with a page, upon the
watch without the arbour.
Peter, whose violent temper was inflamed by this Cathcri
discovery, struck Catherine with his cane, as well as-v-
the page, who endeavoured to prevent him from en¬
tering the arbour, and then retired without uttering a
single word either to Mons or his sister. A few days
after this transaction these persons were taken into
custody, and Mons was carried to the winter palace,
where no one had admission to him but Peter, who
himself brought him his provisions. A report was at
the same time circulated, that they were imprisoned
for having received bribes, and making their influence
over the empress subservient to their own mercenary
views. Mons being examined by Peter, in the pre¬
sence of Major-general UscbacofF, and threatened with
the torture, confessed the corruption which was laid to
his charge. He was beheaded } his sister received
five strokes of the knout, and was banished into Si¬
beria j two of her sons, who were chamberlains, were
also degraded, and sent as common soldiers among the
Russian troops in Persia. On the day subsequent to
the execution of the sentence, Peter conveyed Cathe¬
rine in an open carriage under the gallows to which
wras nailed the head of Mons. The empress, without
changing colour at this dreadful sight, exclaimed,
“ What a pity it is that there is so much corruption
among courtiers !”
This event happened in the latter end of the year
1724; and as it was soon followed by Peter’s death,
and Catherine upon her accession recalled Madame
Balke, it has been suspected that she shortened the
days of her husband by poison. But notwithstanding
the critical situation for Catherine in which he died,
and her subsequent elevation, this charge is totally de¬
stitute of the least shadow of proof j for the circum¬
stances of Petex-’s disorder were too well known, and
the peculiar symptoms of his last illness sufficiently
account for his death, without the necessity of recurring
to poison.
While Peter was yet lying in the agonies of death,
several opposite parties were caballing to dispose of the
crown. At a considerable meeting of many among
the principal nobility, it was secretly determined, on
the moment of his dissolution, to arrest Catherine, and
to place Peter Alexievitch upon the throne. Bassevitz,
apprised of this resolution, repaired in person to the
empress, although it was already night. “ My grief and
consternation,” replied Catherine, “ render me inca¬
pable of acting myself: do you and Prince Menzikof
consult together, and 1 will embrace the measures
which you shall approve in my name.” Bassevitz, find¬
ing Menzikof asleep, awakened and informed him of
the pressing danger which threatened tke empi’ess and
her party. As no time remained for long deliberation,
the prince instantly seized the treasure, secured the
fortress, gained the officers of the guards by bribes and
promises, also a few of the nobility, and the principal
clergy. These partizans being convened in the palace,
Catherine made her appearance j she claimed the
throne in right of her coronation at Moscow; she ex¬
posed the ill effects of a minority ; and promised, that,
“ so far from depriving the great duke of the crown,
she would receive it only as a sacred deposit, to be rev
stored to him when she should be united, in another
world, to an adored husband, whom she was now upon
the point of losing.”
The
3
CAT [ 265 ] CAT
herine Pat^e^c manner with which she uttered this ad-
\ dress, and the tears which accompanied it, added to
the previous distribution of large sums of money and
jewels, produced the desired effect : at the close of this
meeting the remainder of the night was employed in
making the necessary preparations to insure her acces¬
sion in case of the emperor’s death.
Peter at length expired on the morning of the 28th
of January 1725. This event being made known, the
senate, the generals, the principal nobility and clergy,
hastened to the palace to proclaim the new sovereign.
The adherents of the great duke seemed secure of suc¬
cess, and the friends of Catherine were avoided as per¬
sons doomed to destruction. At this juncture Basse-
vitz whispered one of the opposite party, “ The em¬
press is mistress of the treasure and the fortress 5 she
has gained over the guards and the synod, and many
of the chief nobility 5 even here she has more followers
than you imagine 5 advise therefore your friends to
make no opposition as they value their heads.” This
information being rapidly circulated, Bassevitz gave
the appointed signal, and the two regiments of guards,
who had been gained by a largess to declare for Ca¬
therine, and had already surrounded the palace, beat
to arms. “ Who has dared (exclaimed Prince Rep-
nin, the commander in chief), to order out the troops
without my knowledge ?” “ I, (returned General
Butterlin), without pretending to dispute your autho¬
rity, in obedience to the commands of my most gra¬
cious mistress.” This short reply was followed by a
dead silence. In this moment of suspense and anxiety
Menzikof entered, preceding Catherine, supported by
the duke of Holstein. She attempted to speak, but
was prevented by sighs and tears from giving utterance
to her words: at length, recovering herself, “ I come
(she said-,) notwithstanding the grief which now over¬
whelms me, to assure you, that, submissive to the will
of my departed husband, whose memory will be ever
dear to me, I am ready to devote my days to the pain¬
ful occupations of government, until Providence shall
summon me to follow him.” Then, after a short
pause, she artfully added, “ If the great duke will
profit by my instructions, perhaps I shall have the con¬
solation, during my wretched widowhood, of forming
for you an emperor worthy of the blood and the name
of him whom you have now irretrievably lost.” “ As
this crisis (replied Menzikof) is a moment of such im¬
portance to the good of the empire, and requires the
most mature deliberation, your majesty will permit us
to confer, without restraint, that this whole affair may
be transacted without reproach, as well in the opinion
of the present age as in that of posterity.” “ Acting
as I do (answered Catherine) more for the public good
than for my own advantage, I am not afraid to sub¬
mit all my concerns to the judgment of such an en¬
lightened assembly : you have not only my permission
to confer with freedom ; hut I lay my commands upon
you all to deliberate maturely on this important sub¬
ject, and I promise to adopt whatever may be the re¬
sult of your decisions.” At the conclusion of these
words the assembly retired into another apartment, and
the doors were locked.
It was previously settled by Menzikof and his party
that Catherine should be empress $ and the guards,
who surrounded the palace with drums beating and
Vol. V. Part I. t
colours flying, effectually vanquished all opposition, ('ailierine.
The only circumstance, therefore, which remained, was  4»
to give a just colour to her title, by persuading the as¬
sembly that Peter intended to have named her his suc¬
cessor. For this purpose Menzikof demanded of that
emperor’s secretary, whether his late master had left
any written declaration of his intentions ? The secre¬
tary replied, “ That a little before his last journey to
Moscow he had destroyed a will ; and that he had fre¬
quently expressed his design of making another, but
had always been prevented by the reflection, that if
he thought his people, whom he had raised from a state
of barbarism to a high degree of power and glory,
could be ungrateful, he would not expose his final in¬
clinations to the insult of a refusal} and that if they
recollected what they owed to his labours, they would
regulate their conduct by his intentions, which he had
disclosed with more solemnity than could be manifest¬
ed by any writing.” An altercation now began in the
assembly, and some of the nobles having the courage
to oppose the accession of Catherine, Theophanes
archbishop of Plescoff called to their recollection the
oath which they had all taken in 1722 to acknowledge
the successor appointed by Peter, and added, that the
sentiments of that emperor delivered by the secretary
were in effect an appointment of Catherine. The op¬
posite party, however, denied these sentiments to be
so clear as the secretary chose to insinuate j and insist¬
ed, that as their late monarch had failed to nominate
his heir, the election of the new sovereign should re¬
vert to the state. Upon this the archbishop farther
testified, that the evening before the coronation of the
empress at Moscow, Peter had declared, in the house of
an English merchant, that he should place the crown
upon her head with no other view than to leave her
mistress of the empire after his decease. This attesta¬
tion being confirmed by many persons present, Men¬
zikof cried out, “ What need have we of any testa-^
ment ? A refusal to conform to the inclination of our
great sovereign, thus authenticated, would be both un¬
just and criminal. Long live the Empress Catherine .r‘”
These words being instantaneously repeated by the
greatest part of those who were present, Menzikof, sa¬
luting Catherine by the title of empress, paid his first
obeisance by kissing her hand ; and his example was
followed by the whole assembly. She next presented
herself at the window to the guards and to the people,
who shouted acclamations of, “ Long live Catherine !”
while Menzikof scattered among them handfuls of
money. Thus (says a contemporary) the empress was
raised to the throne by the guards, in the same man¬
ner as the Roman emperors by the prsetorian cohorts,
without either the appointment of the people or of the
legions.
The reign of Catherine may be considered as the
reign of Menzikof, that empress having neither incli¬
nation or abilities to direct the helm of government;
and she placed the most implicit confidence in a man
who had been the original author of her good for¬
tune, and the sole instrument of her elevation to the
throne.
During her short reign her life was very irregular ;
she was extremely averse to business ; would frequent¬
ly, when the weather was fine, pass whole nights in
the open air j and was particularly intemperate in the
LI «se
CAT [ 266 ] CAT
Catherine, use of tokay wine. These irregularities, joined to a
' v——J cancer and a dropsy, hastened her end 5 and she ex¬
pired on the 17th of May 1727, a little more than two
years after her accession to the throne, and in about
the 40th year of her age.
As the deaths of sovereigns in despotic countries are
seldom imputed to natural causes, that of Catherine
has also been attributed to poison 5 as if the disorders
which preyed upon her frame were not sufficient to
bring her to her grave. Some assert that she was poi¬
soned in a glass of spirituous liquor ; others by a pear
given her by General Diever. Suspicions also fell
upon Prince Menzikof, who, a short time before her
decease, had a trilling misunderstanding with her, and
who was accused of hastening her death, that he might
reign with still more absolute power during the mino¬
rity of Peter II. But these reports deserve not the
least credit, and were merely dictated by the spirit of
party, or by popular rumour.
Catherine was in her person under the middle size,
and in her youth delicate and well formed, but inclined
to corpulency as she advanced in years. She had a
fair complexion, dark eyes, and light hair, which she
was always accustomed to dye with a black colour.
She could neither read nor write : her daughter Eli¬
zabeth usually signed her name for her, and particu¬
larly to her last will and testament 5 and Count Oster-
man generally put her signature to the public decrees
and dispatches. Her abilities have been greatly ex¬
aggerated by her panegyrists. Gordon, who had fre¬
quently seen her, seems of all writers to have represent¬
ed her character with the greatest justness, when he
says, “ She was a very pretty well-looked woman, of
good sense, but not of that sublimity of wit, or rather
that quickness of imagination, which some people have
believed. The great reason why the czar was so fond
of her, was her exceeding good temper; she never
was seen peevish or out of humour 5 obliging and civil
to all, and never forgetful of her former condition 5
withal, mighty grateful.” Catherine maintained the
pomp of majesty with an air of ease and grandeur
united 5 and Peter used frequently to express his ad¬
miration at the propriety with which she supported her
high station, without forgetting that she was not born
to that dignity.
The following anecdotes will prove that she bore
her elevation meekly j and, as Gordon asserts, was
never forgetful of her former condition. When
Wurmb, who had been tutor to Gluck’s children at
the time that Catherine was a domestic in that clergy¬
man’s family, presented himself before her after her
marriage with Peter had been publicly solemnized,
she recollected and addressed him with great compla¬
cency ; “ What, thou good man, art thou still alive !
I will provide lor thee.” And she accordingly settled
upon him a pension. She was no less attentive to the
family of her benefactor Gluck, who died a prisoner
at Moscow ; she pensioned his widow ; made his son
a page; portioned the two eldest daughters j and ad¬
vanced the youngest to be one of her maids of honour.
If we may believe Weber, she frequently inquired af¬
ter her first husband j and, when she lived with Prince
Menzikof, used secretly to send him small sums of
money, until, in 1705, he was killed in a skirmish with
the enemy.
But the most noble part of her character was her Calheri
peculiar humanity and compassion for the unfortunate. l-—v-
Motraye has paid a handsome tribute to this excel¬
lence. “ She had, in some sort, the government of
all his (Peter’s) passions ; and even saved the lives of
a great many more persons than Le Fort was able to
do : she inspired him with that humanity which, in the
opinion of his subjects, nature seemed to have denied
him. A word from her mouth in favour of a wretch'
just going to be sacrificed to his anger, would disarm
him •, but if he was fully resolved to satisfy that pas¬
sion, he would give orders for the execution when she
was absent, for fear she should plead for the victim.”
In a word, to use the expression of the celebrated Mu¬
nich, EUe etoit proprement la mediatrice entre le mo-
narqite et ses st/jets.”
Catherine II. Empress of Russia, whose original
name was Sophia Augusta Frederica, was the daugh¬
ter of Christian Augustus of Anhalt Zerbst, a small
district in Upper Saxony, and w:as born in the castle of
Zerbst, on the 23d of May 1729. She was educated
under the eye of her parents, along with her brother
Prince Frederic Augustus, and at an early period dis¬
played a masculine spirit. Elegant, majestic, and hand¬
some in her person, her complexion exhibited the
union of the lily and the rose, while a native dignity
was tempered by a smile of beneficence. But it was
early observed, that she concealed under this a certain
austerity of disposition, and an ambition, which was
even then considered as excessive, and proved after¬
wards to be insatiable.
She soon learned all the fashionable accomplishments
of that day. In addition to her native language, she
wrote and conversed in French } of music she acquired
a competent knowledge, and excelled particularly in
needlework, which she did not disdain to practise after
her elevation to the throne.
The empress Elizabeth, who had pitched upon her
nephew the duke of Holstein Gottorp Oldenbourg for
her successor, was also desirous to choose a consort for
him, and the princess of Anhalt Zerbst was selected
upon this occasion, when only fourteen years of age.
She was chiefly indebted for so unexpected an honour
to the tender regard which her imperial majesty always
entertained for the memory of her uncle, who had
been her lover; and in an evil hour she united the fate
of the prince, better known afterwards by the name of
Peter III. to that of the princess of Anhalt Zerbst.
In consequence of a special invitation, the future em¬
press repaired to St Petersburgh, accompanied by her
mother, and being admitted into the bosom of the
Greek church, the ceremonial of marriage, after some
delay, took place j on which these august personages
were formally acknowledged, by her imperial majesty
and the senate, as grand duke and duchess of Russia.
Elizabeth, at the same time, presented them with the
palace of Oranienhaum, delightfully situated on the
gulf of Cronstadt, as a summer residence ; this had
formerly belonged to Menzikof, the favourite of Peter
the Great, who, in this capricious court, had been by
turns a pye-boy, a prince, and an exile.
The grand duke was far from being handsome ", on
the contrary, his person was disagreeable, and almost
disgusting. His education had been greatly neglected,
and he was passionately found of military parade. Fre¬
derick
CAT • [ 267 ] CAT
^tiiie ^er'c^ P1”1153*11 was at once h's friend and his model;
^ 1 Jje kept up a secret correspondence with that monarch
at the time when Russia was at open war with him ;
he was accustomed in his cups to kneel before a picture
of this hero ; and after quaffing a bumper, he would
exclaim, “ My brother ! we shall conquer the world
together.”
The first moments of this union seemed to be pecu¬
liarly auspicious. The illustrious pair were accustom¬
ed to withdraw themselves daily, as if desirous to en¬
joy the pleasure of each other’s company, in preference
to the giddy dissipation of a court. It was perceived
at last, that grandeur was not incompatible with hap¬
piness, and that hymeneal felicity was not confined to
plebeian life.
The empress hoped that the name and pretensions of
Prince Iwan would be obliterated by the issue of the
grand duke, and the whole empire impatiently wished
for and now expected an heir to the throne of Peter
the Great. It has since been discovered, that this
young couple occupied their time in a far different
manner than was then suspected ! His highness, it
seems, retired from society on purpose to perfect him¬
self in the Prussian exercise, and his consort on these
occasions participated in his diversions, for he was ac¬
customed to make her stand for hours together, as a
centinel, with a musquet at her shoulder. This species
of entertainment did not altogether suit the disposition
of a young princess of an ardent temperament, and her
highness accordingly began, in her own language, to
think “ that she was made for something else.” Al¬
though she did not love, she at this period governed
her husband, and even concealed his foibles j imagin¬
ing at first that she could not reign but by means of
him, she wisely determined to make him appear worthy
of a throne.
A marriage of eight years was not productive of any
issue, and strange suspicions began to be entertained.
This alarmed the court, for a formidable rival, who
possessed a superior claim to the throne, still existed ; it
is true, he was in bondage, but in a country like Russia,
the interval might not be long between a dungeon
and a throne. The birth of a son and daughter, soon
after this, put an end to all apprehensions of this kind,
and tended not a little to give stability to the empire.
The grand duke, who at times discovered noble,
and even magnanimous sentiments, had about this pe¬
riod formed a most unfortunate connection with Eliza¬
beth Voronsoff, a lady of high rank, but neither cele¬
brated for her beauty nor her talents. He seldom saw
his consort in private, and all the hours that were not
occupied either by military exhibitions, or the plea¬
sures of the table, were entirely devoted to his mistress.
The grand duchess, on the other hand, is said to have
spent much of her time in company with a young Pole,
whose history, like that of Catherine’s, has since been
interwoven with the annals of Europe. This -was
Count Poniatowski, afterwards known as Stanislaus
Augustus king of Poland. He was the third son of a
grandee of the same name, the favourite of Charles XII.
of Sweden, by the princess Ezatoryska, who boasted
the possession of the noblest blood in Poland, as she
traced her descent from the Jagellon, the ancient so¬
vereigns of Lithuania. His person was of exquisite
symmetry, his air noble, his manners agreeable j in
short, he possessed a charming exterior, and his mind, a Catherine.
circumstance extremely rare, was no less graceful than '---v 1
his person. At this period he was in no higher station,
than a gentleman in the suite of the minister plenipo¬
tentiary from England, who had formed an intimacy
with his family during a former mission at Warsaw.
Being now taught to look higher, he returned to his
native country, and appeared soon after at Petersburg!],
as ambassador from the king of Poland. In this new
capacity he did not forget to pay his respects at the
little court of Oranienbaum, and the young plenipo¬
tentiary, with a view of ingratiating himself with the
grand duke, smoked, drank, and praised the king of
Prussia. At length Paul Petrowisch received the Po¬
lish minister with coolness, and he was actually forbid¬
den to visit at the palace. This, however, it is said,
did not deter him from concealing the order of the
white eagle, and disguising himself as a mechanic,
under which assumed quality he repaired one summer’s
evening to the gardens, in the neighbourhood of the
gulf of Cronstadt; but he was discovered by his high¬
ness, who ordered him to be brought before him, and,
after affecting to reprimand the captain of his guard
for his disrespect to the representative of a crowned
head, told him he was at liberty to depart.
From this moment the grand duchess is said to have
changed both her system and her conduct. She had
formerly aspired only to direct the counsels of the fu¬
ture emperor ; she now resolved, if possible, to obtain
the crown for her son, and the regency for herself.
Such a task would have discouraged a common mind,
for it was impossible to achieve this without prevailing
on the empress to consent to dethrone her own nephew.
Bestuchef, the grand chancellor, who hated the heir
apparent, joined cordially in their scheme : and Eliza¬
beth, who herself had obtained the crown by means of
a revolution, was taught to tremble for her life, in
consequence of the designs of her successor, who was
represented as having resolved to shorten her days by
poison. But a sudden and unexpected revolution in
the ministry put an end to these intrigues j for Bes¬
tuchef was driven into exile, and Poniatowski recalled.
A long and melancholy interval now ensued, during
which the ambition of the grand duchess was rather
suspended than annihilated. She, however, had re
course to, and soothed her anguish by means of books j
it was in her study that she laid the foundation of her
future greatness, and rendered herself in some mea¬
sure deserving of a throne. During her leisure mo¬
ments she found means to gain partisans, and she ac¬
quired the favour of the soldiery, who did duty around
her person, by means of her liberality and condescen¬
sion. Peter, on the other hand, to the personal exertions
of a common soldier, added the orgies of a debauchee.
Surrounded by his male and female favourites, he con¬
sumed whole days and nights in intoxication, and
forgot that he was a prince. There were some few mo¬
ments, however, when he appeared great, and even
magnanimous, but unfortunately they were of short
duration ; and it was his misfortune to have a weak
woman for his mistress, and an able and ambitious one
for his wife.
Such was the situation of the court when Elizabeth
died, on the 5th of January 1762. This event, so
productive of interesting effects, had been long foreseen
L 1 2 by
CAT
Catherine, by Catherine, who now began to act a more conspicuous
par(. on (jle theatre of public affairs. Her sorrow,
which appeared unbounded, was only equalled by her
devotion. She was constantly employed either at her
prayers in the cathedral, or occupied in public proces¬
sions, during which she scrupulously adhered to all the
ceremonious practices of the Greek church. 'Ihe
courtiers were astonished at the sudden change, and
affected to survey it with contempt j but it imposed on
the populace, and the priests were highly gratified with
the zeal of the empress, more especially as her consort
had always treated their mysteries with indignity.
Another design, meditated with no less art, proved
unsuccessful. She is said to have made use of all her
eloquence to persuade Peter, that he ought to leave
off the barbarous custom of being proclaimed emperor
by the army, in the same manner as his predecessors :
instead of this, she proposed that his title should be re¬
cognised by the senate alone, and produced a speech
which she herself had composed for the occasion ; but
Godowitz, one of the favourites, and the only friend of
the new sovereign, perceived the snare, and, partly ow¬
ing to his entreaties, and partly from an attachment to
every thing military, the soldiery were as usual grati¬
fied with the ceremony of saluting the czar.
The grand duke now ascended the throne, by the
name of Peter III. and the commencement of the new
reign appeared to be peculiarly auspicious. The ca¬
tastrophe, which terminated a short reign of six months,
may be attributed to three apparently trifling, but, in
reality, irretrievable errors ; for it is allowed on all
hands, that if they did not constitute the original cause,
they at least afforded the pretext for his dethronement
and murder. The first of these was, the sudden peace
with, and marked predilection for, the king of Prussia,
certainly the greatest monarch of his age •, the second,
an attempt to reform a barbarous and fanatical clergy,
whose power Peter I. had curbed, but whose persons
fie still affected to consider as sacred ; the third was,
the war against Denmark.
Let it be recollected, however, in honour to his
memory, that the young monarch, immediately after
his elevation, threw open the state prisons, recalled
Munich, Biron, Lestock, and several others, who had
offended him during the late reign, from Siberia *, that
he limited the despotism of his officers, abridged his
own power, by abolishing a state inquisition, exercised
under the name of the Secret Council of Chancery ;
and that he framed the memorable decree which en¬
franchised the nobles from compulsive service in the
army, and permitted them to travel without the royal
permission.
The following answer to a letter from the king of
Prussia, who had requested him to be on his guard
against the plot then meditating, conveys no unfavour¬
able opinion of his heart.
“ Touching the interest you express for my safety,
I request you will rest contented. I am called the
father of my soldiers—-they prefer a male to a female
government. I walk alone constantly in St Petersburg!!
-—if any mischief is meditated, it would have been
effected long since ; but I am a general benefactor. I
repose myself on the protection of heaven ; trusting to
that, I have nothing to fear.”
This false security proved his ruin. While, his mind
CAT
was occupied with plans of reform, and he aspired to CatWi
rival, and even to excel, his illustrious predecessor,
whose name he had assumed, a person who had sworn
fidelity to him at the altar, and who owed allegiance
by the double ties of a wife and a subject, was actually
employed in planning a conspiracy, and organizing a
revolt, against him. It has been said that he intended
to have shut up his consort and son in a convent. But
did a meditated imprisonment justify treachery, trea¬
son, and murder ? On the other hand, it is known
that, so far from this being the intention of Peter, he
was preparing for a journey to Holstein, and had ac¬
tually empowered his consort to act as regent during
his absence.
The mistakes of the emperor did not escape the eagle
eyes of his enemies. He purposed to carry his guards
into Holstein, with a view to recover the possessions
wrested from his ancestors. The regiments that had
hitherto done duty at the palace, and were inured to
the indulgences of the capital, revolted at the idea of
a foreign war: they had been accustomed to be govern¬
ed by women, and they were taught to fix their eyes
on the consort of the czar.
It is not the least wonderful part of her conduct,
that previously to the great catastrophe now meditat¬
ing, Catherine contrived to appear abandoned by all
the world. She knew how interesting a female, and
more especially an empress, appeared while in distress:
and she took care to heighten the sensibility of the
public, by bursting at times into a flood of tears. This
artful woman had found means to attach many persons
to her destiny : it must be owned, however, that her
adherents were neither so powerful, nor so numerous
as to afford her any w'ell-founded hopes of success. She
had gained several subalterns, and some privates, of
the guards : but her principal partizans consisted of the
Princess D’Aschekof, niece to the new chancellor:
Prince Rozamouski, who had risen from obscurity,
having been originally a peasant $ Odart, an intriguing
Italian j and Panin, governor to the grand duke. The
arrest of Passick, one of the conspirators, seemed to
lead to a discovery, which would have proved fatal to
the malcontents j but this very circumstance induced
them to declare instantly, and in the end crowned an
apparently rash attempt with success.
The empress, who was asleep at the castle of Peters-
hoff, received intimation of their design by a common
soldier, who soon after returned with a carriage and
eight horses. On the faith of this man, and accompa¬
nied only by a few peasants, a German female domes¬
tic, and a French valet de chambre, she arrived at
eight o’clock in the morning in the capital, and stop¬
ped opposite the barracks of the regiment of Ismailoff
There she addressed the soldiers in an eloquent speech,
intermingled with sighs and tears, and actually found
means to persuade them that she and her son had but
that moment escaped from the hands of assassins, sent
by the emperor to murder them. This story, by agi¬
tating the passions of the troops, had a wonderful ef¬
fect on them, and they all swore, with the exception
of only one regiment, to die in defence of her and the
young archduke. On this the empress ordered a cru¬
cifix to be brought, and commanded the priests to ad¬
minister a new oath of allegiance. She afterwards re¬
paired to one of the principal churches, where she was
met
[ 268 ]
CAT [ 269 T CAT
erine. rnet by the bishop of Novogorod and the clergy, and,
having returned thanks to Almighty God, ascended a
balcony, and presented her son to the people. In a
few hours she was again seen, dressed in the uniform of
the guards, riding at the head of a numerous and well-
appointed army against her husband.
That unfortunate prince first made a shew of resist¬
ance, and manned his Lilliputian batteries, at Orani-
enbaum, with his Holstein guards, in order to oppose
what appeared to him to be a contemptible sedition.
When it was too late, he attempted to get possession
of Cronstadt. He might still have escaped to Revel,
but the women in his galley were apprehensive of dan¬
ger, and the courtiers shuddered at the proposition of
old Munich, who wished them to assist the sailors in
rowing.
On the first intelligence of the plot, this intrepid
warrior had repaired to his benefactor, and advised
him to march directly to the capital, at the head of his
German troops.” “ I shall precede you, (said the ge¬
nerous veteran), and my dead body shall be a rampart
to your sacred person.” But, on the other hand, the
emissaries of the empress, bathing his hands in their
crocodile tears, deprecated resistance, magnified the
danger, and invited him to repose in the inviolable fi¬
delity of his consort. In short, on the 14th of July
1762, he was taken prisoner by the orders of his own
wife, to whom he had been married 14 years, pi*evail-
ed on by the threats and intreaties of Count Panin to
renounce his crown, conveyed to the castle of Rob-
scha, and three days afterwards put to death. Of the
titled minions, who perpetrated this daring murder, one
carried the guilty marks of the czar’s scymitar on his
forehead to the grave, and another, tortured for years
by the remembrance of the last bloody scene in the
tragedy of his expiring sovereign, exhibited a shocking
spectacle of insanity and remorse.
The empress, on her assumption of the now vacant
crown, notified the event to all the courts of Europe,
under her new name of Catherine Alexiewna II. But
there was still a competitor for the empire, and suspi¬
cion never slumbers near a throne. This was Prince
Iwan, son to the princess of Mecklenburgh, and grand
nephew to Peter the Great, and the empress Anna
Iwanovvna, who had destined him for her successor;
but in consequence of a former revolution, he was
seized while yet an infant, and doomed to lead a life of
captivity. During 18 years of precarious existence,
he had been shut up in the castle of Schlusselbourg,‘and
never in all that time did he breathe the open air, or
behold the sky, but once. This prince was visited by
Peter HI. who finding him in an arched room, 20
feet square, determined to set him at liberty j but,
alas ! the youth, in consequence of his long and soli¬
tary confinement had been deprived of his senses. In
this situation, the emperor determined to build a house
for him, with a convenient terrace, where he might
take the air daily within the fortress. Such, however,
are the changes of fortune, that, in three weeks, he
himself was also precipitated from a throne, and ex¬
posed to a violent death. This event was but the pre¬
lude to that of Iwan j for, as orders had been given, in
case of an attempt to rescue him, that an end should be
put to his life •, and a real or pretended plot having
*<een hatched for this purpose, the motives and details
of which have hitherto been involved in the most pro- •Catherine,
lound obscurity, the unhappy prince experienced the v ™1 '*
same fate as his generous protector.
Catherine being now firmly seated on the throne,
wisely determined to divert the thoughts of the na¬
tion from the late horrid scenes, and fix them on
more agreeable objects. Having soothed Prussia, ac¬
quired a preponderance in the cabinet of Denmark,
long become an absolute monarchy, and entered into
a league with the popular party in Sweden, not yet
bereft of its liberties, she cast her eyes on Courland,
then governed by Prince Charles of Saxony, the se¬
cond son of Augustus III. king of Poland •, and, find¬
ing that country admirably situated for the increase of
her present, and the extension of her future power,
she, in 1762, expelled the lawful sovereign, and in¬
vested Biron, a creature of her own, with the ducal
cap. Not content with this, the new duke, soon re¬
duced to the most abject dependence, W'as prevented
from resigning his precarious pow’er, and the states as¬
sembled at Mittau were actually interdicted from no¬
minating a successor. This, however, was only a pre¬
lude to far greater scenes, for she had hardly dethron¬
ed one sovereign before she undertook to create ano¬
ther. Augustus II. or, as he is called by some, Au¬
gustus III. of Poland, having died at Dresden, in 1763,
her imperial majesty did not let slip so fair an opportu¬
nity for interfering in the appointment to the vacant
throne, and even placing one of her dependents on it.
Count Poniatowski, on the elevation of Catherine, had
sent a friend to Petersburgh, to sound the disposition
of the empress about his return to that capital, where
he naturally hoped to participate in her power, and
fi^sk in the sunshine of the royal smiles. But the more
prudent German, who was at this very moment medi¬
tating a splendid provision for him elsewhere, prohibit¬
ed the journey from political motives. Accordingly,
notwithstanding the opposition of the grand chancellor
BestuchefF, and indeed of all her ministers, she deter¬
mined to invest him with the ensigns of royalty. The
head of the house of Brandenburgh, swayed by his
hatred to Saxony and Austria, or, what is still more
likely, the Prussian eagle having perhaps, even now,
scented his future prey, Catherine was enabled to send
10,000 men into Poland, who, encamping on the
banks of the Vistula, overawed the deliberations of
the diet, assembled on the 9th of May 1764, and placed
Stanislaus Augustus on the throne. Thus, by the
appearance of a camp filled with Russian mercenaries,
was violated one of the fundamental laws of the com¬
monwealth, established ever since the time of Sigis-
mund Augustus, two centuries before, in consequence
of which the election of a king is deemed void while
there are any foreign troops within the territories of the
republic 5 and so justly jealous were the ancient Poles
of their national independence, that the marshal of the
diet, on those occasions, was accustomed to request all
ambassadors to absent themselves, as he could not be
answerable for the safety of their persons.
Having conferred the crown of Poland, September
7. 1764* on an amiable and accomplished prince, who,
on account of his youth, his poverty, and even his de¬
pendence on Russia, would have been excluded from
that painful pre eminence had the free sufi'rage of the
nation been collected $ and who was, in consequence
Of:
\
CAT [ 270 ] CAT
of the hatred of his countrymen, still more subjected
to the dominion of the empress, she began to prepare
for a war against the Turks, vvhieh was accordingly
declared in 1768. During this contest the Greek
cross was triumphant both by sea and land. On the
first of these elements her fleet, under Count Orloff,
entered the straits of Gibraltar, and carried terror and
desolation among the islands in the Archipelago, and
throughout the defenceless shores of Asia Minor ; on
the second, her armies, under Galitzen and Roman-
zolf, achieved many important victories, seized on the
fortress of Choczim, and prevailed on the Greek inha¬
bitants of Wallachia and Moldavia to acknowledge her
as their sovereign.
In the mean time, however, a dangerous insurrec¬
tion broke out in the heart of her dominions, instigat¬
ed by a Cossack of the name of PugatschelF, who pre¬
tended to be Peter III. After displaying great valour
and considerable talents, which had enabled him, at
the head of raw and undisciplined levies, to contend
against veteran troops and experienced generals, this
unfortunate man was at length seized, inclosed in an
iron cage, and beheaded at Moscow on the 21st of Ja¬
nuary 1775.
A peace had been concluded on the 21st of July, in
the preceding year, with the Porte, which proved
highly honourable to Russia ; but it was productive of
little benefit, for the liberty of navigating the Black
sea, and a free trade with all the ports of the Turkish
empire, which would have afforded inestimable advan¬
tages to a civilized people, was scarcely of any conse¬
quence to a nation unacquainted alike with commerce
and manufactures.
Accordingly, we find her imperial majesty still un¬
satisfied. Ambition, which in a female bosom is ever
insatiable, stimulated her to attempt new acquisitions,
and we learn with astonishment that her diplomatic
artifices proved infinitely more hostile to the Turkish
crescent, than even her victorious arms. Scarcely had
four years elapsed, when, after an armed negotiation,
a new treaty of pacification was agreed to by the re¬
luctant sultan, on the 21st of March 1789, in conse¬
quence of which the Crimea was declared independent:
an event not calculated to close ancient jealousies, but
on the contrary to produce fresh dissensions, as it af¬
forded an opening into the very heart of the Turkish
empire, and a ready pretext for future interference.
New claims and new concessions immediately followed.
Russia insisted on establishing consuls in the three pro¬
vinces of Moldavia, Wallachia, and Bessarabia, which
she was accordingly permitted to do by the treaty of
1781. Mortifying as this compliance was, it pro¬
duced but a short respite. The emperor Joseph was
now brought upon the political stage, and the Roman
and Russian eagles, after hovering over the carcase of
the Turkish empire, and meditating to devour the whole,
were at last content with a part of the prey. The em¬
press, as it may be readily believed, was not inatten¬
tive to her own interests; and by the treaty of Con¬
stantinople, signed January 9. 1784, to Russia was
ceded the entire sovereignty of the Crimea, which then
received its ancient name of Taurica, the isle of Taman,
and part of Cuban.
It wfts now in the 58th year of her age, and the
2
25th of her reign, that Catherine may be said to have Catlici
attained the very summit of her wishes. There was no '■—v
one who pretended to the throne, unless her son Paul
Petrowitz, an amiable prince, who had attained his
33d year, without displaying the least symptom of am¬
bition, and who besides was superintended with the
most watchful jealousy. She had triumphed over a
nation, supposed to be the natural enemy of Russia,
both by arms and negotiations, and she dazzled her
barbarous subjects with the blaze of her glory, for they
were eager to forget her errors, in order to contemplate
a grandeur which soothed their national vanity. Know¬
ing the effect of splendour upon ignorance, she ushered
in the year 1787 with a brilliant journey to Cherson,
Accompanied thither at once by a court and an army,
with foreign ambassadors, an emperor and a king in
her train, she intended to have assumed the high-sound¬
ing titles of Empress of the East, and Liberator of
Greece. At Kiow, w’here she remained during three
months, she was received under triumphal arches, and,
having heard the petitions of the deputies from distant
nations, and extended the walls of that city, she in¬
scribed, with an arrogant anticipation, the following
motto, in Greek characters, on the quarter next to
Constantinople: “ Through this gate lies the road to
Byzantium.”
Scarcely, however, had the empress, after visiting
Moscow, returned to her capital, than the Turk
thought proper to declare war. Her majesty, long
since prepared for an event which w'as far from being
displeasing, called forth the stipulated succours of her
ally the emperor; and the combined army under the
prince de Cobourg made itself master of Choczim, at
the end of a siege of three months. Oczakow, after
a still more obstinate resistance, was taken by storm,
by the Russians alone. A diversion, however, was
made by the king of Sweden, who, subsidized with
Turkish gold, and directed by Prussian counsels, fought
his own battles at the expence of his ally. But the
exertions of this monarch were principally confined to
the indecisive naval actions of Stoogland, in which both
parties claimed the victory, and this was soon after
followed by a convention for peace.
Disembarrassed from an active, if not a powerful
enemy, the empress no longer confined her conquests
to the course of the Danube, but ci’owned the cam¬
paign with the capture of Ismael, which was taken by
storm on the 22d of December. On this occasion
Suwarrow, one of her favourite generals, displayed a
horrid mixture of courage and cruelty, and thus proved,
to a demonstration, that personal bravery is far from
being incompatible with the deadliest revenge. Incensed
at the gallant resistance of the Turks, like Caesar, he
snatched a standard from a subaltern, and planted it
with his own hand on the walls of the city ; like Sylla,
he doomed the vanquished to experience a bloody
proscription, and upwards of 30,000 men, women, and
children, if we are to credit the boastful account of
the barbarians themselves, perished by the sword and
bayonet of the unsparing Russians.
Instead of regaining the Crimea, as had been ex¬
pected by the sultan, the fortress of Oczakow, and all
the territories between the rivers Bog and Dniester,
were assigned to the empress, who now found herself
nearer
CAT [ 271 ] CAT
erinc. nearer to that Byzantium, on which she had so eagerly
r—' fixed her eye, by a whole campaign, than at the com¬
mencement of hostilities.
Having concluded a final treaty of peace with the
Turk, on the 9th of January I7925 hy which the river
Dniester became the boundary of the two empires,
and was to be navigated by both, the empress had
more time to apply her attention lo European politics.
Part of Poland had been dismembered and partitioned
during tbe year I772> n°t onty i11 contravention to the
general rights of nations, but in direct opposition to
the most solemn treaties on the part of Russia, Prussia,
and Austria. The revolution which took, place in that
ill-fated country on May 3. 1791, and which afforded
the prospect of a happy and stable government to the
remains of the republic, was the signal of its annihila¬
tion. The imperial and royal spoilers seized this op¬
portunity to fall once more in concert on their prey,
which they forced to expire under their talons ; and
they have since cut it into shares, and attempted to
disfigure it by new names, lest it should one day be
reclaimed by the lawful owners. After this insult to
humanity, Stanislaus, whom posterity may acknow¬
ledge as an unfortunate, but surely not as a great
king, was forced soon after to abdicate, and allowed to
retire into obscurity with his mistress, his children, and
a pension.
Another great object had for some time engaged
the attention of Catherine and her cabinet. This was
the French revolution ; an event pregnant with conse¬
quences that involved the claims, or, more properly
speaking, the existence of all the sovereigns of Europe.
With a treasury nearly exhausted by the war with the
Ottoman Porte, which was not then terminated, and
at a distance from the scene of action, the empress could
not well engage in the contest; but she readily entered
into the coalition, and soon after subsidized her late
enemy the king of Sweden j but that enterprising prince
met his fate, on the night of the 16th of March 1792,
by the hand of an assassin.
Notwithstanding this sinister event, the head of the
Greek church, compassionating the fate of the pretend¬
ed father of the Christian world, promised to exert her¬
self for the restoration of Avignon to the holy see.
She also launched forth a menacing manifesto against
France, and prepared for a new war.
The empress has hitherto been contemplated in her
public character. It may not be amiss now to fix our
eyes on the individual ; to pay some attention to the
sex of the sovereign, and, viewing majesty as it were
in an undress, behold the woman lurking behind the
princess.
It might have been supposed, that in the neighbour¬
hood of the Hyperborean regions, the passions, if not
dormant, would be at least moderate, and that the men
would consequently be temperate, and the women
chaste. The contrary, however, is the case ; and it
is left to the philosopher to determine, whether the
double windows and heated rooms of St Petersburgh,
added to an affectation of oriental manners, be not to
the full as critical, in respect to female virtue, as the
climate of Naples and Turin. Certain it is, however,
that, during the reign of Catherine II. no remarkable
wcrease of indecorum took place, and that any occasion-
sal indiscretions appear to have made but little impres¬
sion on the public mind.
Count Gregory Orloff, distinguished in Russia by
the appellation of Gregorevitsch, was one of the hand¬
somest men in the north. Gratitude and affection both
conspired to procure him a favourable reception at
court: and from an obscure condition he soon rose to
the highest offices of the state, which he, in fact, go¬
verned. His opinion in the cabinet was listened to
with deference, and he was invested with the supreme
military command. Still higher honours awaited him.
The empress-queen was solicited to grant him a diplo¬
ma of prince of the empire ; it was next in contempla¬
tion to decorate him with the titles of Duke of Ingria
and Carelia, and the chancellor Bestucheff actually pro¬
posed to the empress that he should be admitted as the
partner of her bed and throne. But this scheme was
blasted by the interference of Count Panin ; who, not
content with his own remonstrances, invoked the in¬
terposition of Razumoffsky and Vorontzoff, and found
means to divert Catharine from her purpose.
Soon after this the conduct of Orloff began to give
dissatisfaction j for he absented himself from court j
went but seldom to the palace ; resided principally in
the country $ and, being extremely addicted to hunt¬
ing, dedicated whole weeks to the chace of the bear
Panin, who had frequently experienced his arrogance,
deemed this a happy opportunity to procure his dis¬
grace. He accordingly introduced a young officer
named Vissensky, who, being directed by the artful
minister, behaved in such a manner as to give reason
to believe that he would soon reign uncontrolled.
Pride, however, on this occasion supplied the place of
affection, and Orloff suddenly altering his conduct, his
rival was dismissed with superb presents, and invested
with an employment that required his residence in a re¬
mote province.
A new favourite soon after made his appearance in
the person of Vassiltschikoff, a subaltern in the gnards,
and advantage was taken of the absence of Orloff to
introduce him at the hermitage. This officer was
young and handsome j but nature, which had been la¬
vish to his person, seems to have been at no pains with
his mind. He was immediately appointed chamber-
lain to the empress, enriched with splendid presents,
and treated with the most flattering attention. In the
mean time Gregorevitsch, who had been appointed to
treat with the Turkish plenipotentiaries relative to a
peace, on hearing of this unexpected event, instantly
returned to the capital from Fokshiani, but was arrest¬
ed at the gates of Petersburgh, and stripped of all his
employments. He, however, experienced the impe¬
rial bounty, and received, as a recompense for his sub¬
mission, the sum of 100,000 rubles in hand, a pension
of 150,000 more, a magnificent service of plate j and,
to crown the whole, an estate, with 6000 peasants upon
it, was made over to him.
Vassiltschikoff, during 22 months, enjoyed all the
distinction belonging to the reigning favourite 5 but
at the end of that period he also found occasion to la¬
ment the inconstancy of fortune. This young man had
conducted himself with great prudence, for he had ne¬
ver abused his influence. He possessed none of that
haughtiness so common to upstarts 3 and he did not ap¬
pear
CAT [ 272 ] CAT
Catherine, pear eager to increase his own fortune, or to diminish
‘ vr—' that of his rivals. Such was his moderation, that, as
his elevation excited no envy, so his disgrace was un¬
accompanied by exultation. His faults are still un¬
known j and most probably he had ceased to please.
His retreat, however, was accompanied by every mark
of respect ; and, as he repaired to Moscow, the place
of his destined exile, he received presents, on his jour¬
ney, which might be styled imperial on account of
their magnificence.
No sooner was this change made public than Orloff
appeared once more on the scene, and was readmitted
to all his former influence. Supposing Panin to be the
cause of his late exile, he extorted a promise from his
royal mistress to dismiss him from his employments.
Her assent was given with reluctance ; and the prayers
of the grand duke, who was too generous to sutler his
preceptor to fall a prey to the suspicions of a man he
did not love, induced her to revoke her intentions.
In the mean time the manly air and elegant appear¬
ance of Potemkin made a great impression on an illus¬
trious personage. This officer had been bred in the
guards ; and, perceiving on that memorable day when
the empress, mounted on a fine charger and dressed in
regimentals, exhibited herself at the head of the troops,
that she had forgotten to place a plume in her hat, he
snatched this decoration from his own, and presented it
to the new sovereign. Neither this action, nor the
grace with which it was performed, had escaped unno¬
ticed 5 and the time was now arrived when his attach¬
ment was to receive an ample remuneration.
The post of favourite is almost peculiar to Russia,
and was during many years considered an official em¬
ployment. Ever since 1730 the nation had been go¬
verned by women, except during the short and unfor¬
tunate reign of Peter III. In fine, it seemed to be
sanctioned, if not by a fundamental law of the empire,
at least by prescription ; as four empresses had succes¬
sively consecrated it by their practice, and the age of
the last Elizabeth made it be considered in some mea¬
sure as a mere appendage to imperial grandeur.
Potemkin soon grew giddy with success, and his
pride and presumption keeping pace with his elevation,
he accordingly' exposed himself to a number of dis¬
agreeable events. Boasting one day of the extent of
his power in presence of Count Alexis Orloff’, the
brother of his predecessor, he received a blow which
deprived him of an eye ; and Prince Gregoj-y Orloff
having requested his dismission, he was forced to repair
to Smolensk, at once the place of his nativity and exile.
Such was his vexation, partly from the loss of his eye,
and partly from his disgrace, that he actually enter¬
tained some idea of turning monk ; but a submissive
letter produced his recal •, and from that moment he
seemed to have dropped all thoughts of the cowl.
Ambition now appears to have taken complete pos¬
session of the bosom of Potemkin 5 and this was amply
gratified, for his influence soon extended to every de¬
partment of the state, and he himself, after procuring
the dismission of Count Zachar Chernicheff, became
vice-president at war, with a seat in the council. But
his aspiring hopes were not yet gratified, for he enter¬
tained still higher expectations.
With a view to the accomplishment of these, he af¬
fected to be once more seized with a fit of religion.
3
and kept Lent with great strictness, living upon roots Catlu
and water during that holy season. He also wearied —-y
all the saints in the Greek calendar with his prayers;
went daily to confession, and having selected on this
occasion the same priest that afforded absolution to a
great personage, he besought him to inform her, that
his alarmed conscience could no longer permit him to
indulge in an intercourse, which, by marriage alone,
would cease to be criminal.
This project, however, failed of success ; and, soon
after the empress’s return to Petersburgh (for it was at
Moscow that it had been first conceived), a young
man from the Ukraine, of the name of Zavadoffsky,
was honoured with the imperial countenance, while the
haughty Potemkin received the customary intimation,
“ that he must prepare to travel.” Potemkin did not
dare to disobey, but he evaded the order ; for, setting
out in great form, he proceeded a few miles towards
the place indicated for his exile, but returned in the
course of next day, and placed himself in the evening
exactly opposite to the empress as she was about to sit
down to whist. Every one expected to behold some
signal mark of the imperial displeasure ; but, on the
contrary, Catherine, handing him a pack of cards, de¬
sired the ex-favourite to cut in, observing that he had
always been a fortunate player. His posts, his honours,
his influence, were all restored to him, and he now
occupied a new situation about the person of her impei
rial majesty, for he became her friend.
In tbe mean time the bosom of the humble Zava¬
doffsky began to catch the flame of ambition ; and, as
he was jealous of the grandeur of Potemkin, he aimed
a deadly blow at his consequence. But the minister
at war, become wily in his turn, warded it oft, and
made it recoil on the head of his rival. Perceiving a
handsome young Servian officer of hussars, of the name
of Zoritch, who had repaired to Petersburgh in search
of promotion, he presented him with a captain’s com¬
mission, and in a few days he was perceived behind the
chair of the empress. A large estate, the rank ol
major-general, and an immense sum of money, soon
became the appanage of this fortunate youth; but the
empress perceiving that he was ignorant, and being
disgusted at his want of accomplishments, recommend¬
ed, as he could speak no language but that of the
Russian boors, that he should be sent abroad for im¬
provement.
Fortune seems to have been in a playful mood when
she elevated Rimsky Korzakoff to the post of chamber-
lain, and successor to the Servian. This man had ac¬
tually been a serjeant in the guards ; he was now pro¬
claimed aid-de-camp general to the empress, and pre¬
sented with the palace of Vassiltschikoff.
He proved to be a vain upstart, whose dress exhi¬
bited a profusion of diamonds, and whose conduct was
such as could not fail to involve him in ruin. This
speedily occurred ; for, being detected in a secret cor¬
respondence with a lady, she was banished from court,
and he was obliged to repair to Moscow.
The same day that beheld his disgrace witnessed
the good fortune of Laskoi, a Pole by descent, and an
officer of the body guards by profession. The educa¬
tion of this young man had been neglected; but this
defect was in some measure remedied by the zeal and
attachment of an illustrious personage, who superin¬
tended
CAT [ 273 ] CAT
C) ,rjnei tended his improvement; and in a short time he be-
w r—j came as remarkable for the superior elegance of his
manners, as the graces of his person : but, while in
the flower of youth, and the very height of his fa¬
vour, he was attacked by a mortal disease, which cut
him off after a short illness. He died in the arms of
his mistress, who was inconsolable on the occasion, and
refused to take any sustenance during three whole days.
A mausoleum, the plan of which was sketched out by
an English artist, attested the respect of the empress,
who burst in tears on seeing it two years after. His
fortune he had bequeathed to her imperial majesty,
but she presented it, with her accustomed generosity,
to the sister of this handsome youth.
The next person who aspired to the post of favourite
was a young man educated in Scotland, and who had
become a fellow of the Royal Society of London. This
was Prince Dashkoff, son to the celebrated princess of
the same name, who had participated in the memora¬
ble revolution that levelled Peter III. with the dust.
A lieutenant of the name of Yermoloff anticipated
him, however, in this post, to which he was raised by
the interest of Potemkin j but, proving ungrateful to
his benefactor, he was suddenly disgraced, being re¬
placed by Momonoff, who attended her imperial ma¬
jesty during her journey to the Crimea. He fell in
love, however, with a lady of the court; and no soon¬
er was the empress informed of this circumstance, than
she insisted on his marrying her immediately j after
which they were sent into exile at Moscow.
Plato Zuboff, an officer of the horse guards, supplied
his place. This aspiring young man, not content with
wealth and honours, affected public employments j and
it is asserted that the idea of the second division of
Poland originated with him. In a short time he be¬
came omnipotent at Petersburgb. He was decorated
with the title of prince \ received the post of grand
master of the artillery 5 all the admirals, generals, and
ministers of the empire, were to be seen at his levee,
bending lowly before him, and, if we are to believe
the author of a work of some reputation, paying their
compliments, at the same time, in great form, to his
favourite monkey.
Catherine hitherto had only afforded empty promi¬
ses to the enemies of France : but, at the instigation
of Zuboff, she now formed the design of giving effec¬
tual assistance to the confederated kings j and, as a
proof of her intentions, issued orders for a squadron of
men of war to join the English fleet, and commanded
a levy of 60,000 troops. She at the same time prose¬
cuted a war on the frontiers of Persia, where her army,
under the command of a near relation of the grand
master of the artillery, had experienced a most humi¬
liating defeat j and she was now preparing to send fresh
succours to his assistance.
Such were the projects that occupied the mind of
Catherine, the overthrow of the French republic, and
the subjugation of the distant Persians, when she was
smitten by the hand of death. This fortunate prin¬
cess had hitherto enjoyed an almost uninterrupted state
of good health during the whole of her long reign.
She was sometimes, indeed, subject to a colic, and
her legs were now and then observed to swell $ but
neither of these symptoms were alarming.
On the morning of the Qth of November she rose at
Vol. V. Part I f
her usual hour, and breakfasted on coffee, according to Catherine,
custom. Some time after she retired to her closet $ and —y—<
her long absence affording cause of suspicion to her
attendants, they entered the apartment, and found her
lying speechless. Dr Rogerson, her physician, being
sent for, he treated her disease as an apoplexy, and
considerable relief seemed to ensue after the application
of the lancet. But the empress never entirely recover¬
ed her senses 5 and did not utter a single word during
the remainder of her life, which was prolonged till tea
o’clock in the evening of November 10. 1797.
Thus, with her usual good fortune, after a very
short illness, died Catherine II. empress of all the Rus-
sias. During her youth she had been extremely hand¬
some, but she got fat as she increased in years $ she,
however, preserved a certain air of gracefulness, in¬
termingled with dignity, until the last moment of her
life.
Her majesty in persifti was not above the middle size $
but, being well proportioned, and carrying her head
high, she appeared tall. Her forehead was open, her
nose aquiline, her mouth agreeable, and her chin,
without being ugly, was rather long. Her hair, in
which she took great delight, was auburn, and her
eye-brows dark and thick. Her eyes, according to
some, were blue, wdiilst others insist that they were of
a brown hue. Upon the whole, her physiognomy was
not deficient in expression j but she had such a com¬
mand of her countenance, that no one could there dis¬
cover the secrets of her heart.
Her imperial majesty was accustomed, on great oc¬
casions, to dress in a splendid manner, and to wear a
profusion of jewels. Being particularly fond of dia¬
monds, she possesed a prodigious number ; and one in
particular was the largest that ever had been seen in
Europe. Catherine, however, was accustomed in ge¬
neral to affect the ancient Russian fashions, for the most
part wearing green, out of compliment to the nation.
Her hair was powdered but slightly. On the other
hand, her face was covered with rouge ; and as her
imperial majesty, like the ladies in the French court,
wore it in proportion to her rank, it is not to be won¬
dered if it was of a high colour.
The strictest temperance was regularly preserved by
Catherine, in a country, and at a court, where a little
deviation would not have given occasion to much scan¬
dal. A slight breakfast, a moderate dinner, and two
or three glasses of wine (for she never indulged in sup¬
per), constituted her usual diet. y
It is far more easy to describe the empress than the
woman. The acts of the former have now become hi¬
story, but those of the latter must be left to the pen
of genius, that can analyze the springs of human ac¬
tion.
It must be confessed that both she and the empire
appear to have been frequently a prey to favouritism ;
and this part of her conduct, by being connected with
the happiness of millions of her subjects, is highly cen¬
surable.,
As a sovereign she stands conspicuous. She in¬
creased the extent of Russia, and added not only new
countries, but new nations, to that mighty empire.
As a conqueror, her victories were numerous and bril¬
liant : she triumphed equally by sea and by land, and
had she lived but ten years longer, might have realized
M m the
CAT [ 274 ] CAT
Catherine, the proud dream of her ambition, and beheld her
v   v“~—grandson Constantine sitting on the throne of the Ot¬
tomans. Her merit as a legislator, too, is great} but
she would have been far more worthy of our admira¬
tion, had she effected the generous idea of enfranchi¬
sing all the peasantry of her immense dominions.
She was the only sovereign of Russia who ever exhi-*
hited a taste for letters. This was not all ; she was an
author herself, and did not disdain to compose little
treatises for her grandchildren, whose education she
superintended.
For music she also possessed an exquisite relish, and
brought Gabrielli, and a number of singers of great
note, from Italy, allowing them liberal salaries, and
treating them with great attention. Throughout the
whole of her long reign Catherine also evinced a mark¬
ed predilection for painting. In the midst of a war
with the Turks she purchased pictures in Holland, to
the amount of 60,000 rubles, all of which were lost in
consequence of a ship’s being wrecked on the coast of
Finland. This, however, rather served to stimulate
her to fresh exertions, and her agents accordingly pro¬
cured whatever was to be found in Italy worthy of no¬
tice. The Houghton collection from England was
also transferred, by an act of her munificence, to the
shores of the Baltic ; and, while it added to her glory,
disgraced this nation in the eyes of foreigners.
Her conduct to learned men was truly worthy of a
woman of genius. She was proud of the correspon¬
dence and friendship of Voltaire ; she invited Diderot
to her court, ahd lived with him, while there, in
habits of the uttnost familiarity 5 to D’Alembert she
looked up as to a superior being, and endeavoured, al¬
though in vain, to seduce him to reside at St Peters-
burgh ; but he possessed a haughty soul, was devoted
to liberty, and would not consent to degrade the
mind of a freeman, by residing among a nation of
slaves.
To the honour of Catherine, she was extremely at¬
tentive to the education of her people, and instituted a
prodigious number of schools for their instruction. To
remove their prejudices against inoculation, she herself
submitted to the operation, and thus hazarded her life
for her nation. Amidst the schemes of grandeur, the
allurements of power, and the gratification of the pas¬
sions, she found leisure to civilize and instruct her sub¬
jects : this added not a little to her glory, as it con¬
tributed to the benefit of so large a portion of the hu¬
man race j hut it will insensibly operate against a de¬
spotic government, by rendering the boors unfit for
their chains, which they will some day break, perhaps,
on the heads of the boyars, who at once enslave and
oppress them.
No woman could so easily forgive ; and in this point
of view her conduct must be allowed to have possessed
a great share of magnanimity. She generously pardon¬
ed old Munich and Godowitz, the one the counsel¬
lor, the other the favourite of Peter III. She even
admitted the former of these into her confidence, and
would have conferred honours and preferments on the
latter; but he loved his late sovereign, and with a no¬
ble scorn spurned at the proffered friendship of his suc¬
cessor. To the mistress of Peter III. although her
own rival, she granted her life, restored her fortune,
and at length admitted her daughters to honourable si- call ^
tuations at court.
No personage in our own times has attracted a great- OatlL
er share of censure and eulogium than Catherine 5 and w
no woman in any age ever exhibited more of the mascu¬
line greatness of one sex, and the feminine weakness of
another. As a female, she appears at times the slave
of passion, and the puppet of her courtiers ; but while
\ve behold her diminishing, in this point of view, into
insignificance, we look again, and contemplate the so¬
vereign, towering like an immense colossus, and with
one foot placed on Cherson, and another at Kamtschat-
ka, waving her iron sceptre over the subject nations,
and regulating the destiny of a large portion of mankind.
The frailties, however, of the woman will soon be
forgotten, while the glory that encircles the brows of
the legislator and conqueror will long continue to dazzle
the eyes of an admiring world. The present age, how¬
ever, shudders at the untimely fate of Peter and of
Iwan, and posterity will not easily pardon the degrada¬
tion of Stanislaus, the partition of Poland, and the mas¬
sacres of Ismailow and of Praga.
Catherine, St, Order of, in modern history, be¬
longs to ladies of the first quality in the Russian court.
It was instituted in 1714 by Catherine w’ife of Peter
the Great, in memory of his signal escape from the
Turks in 1711. The emblems of this order are a red
cross, supported by a figure of St Catherine, and fast¬
ened to a scarlet string edged with silver, on which are
inscribed tfie name of St Catherine, and the motto Pro
fide et patria.
CATHERLOUGH, or Carlow, a town of Ireland
in the county of Catherlough, and province of Leinster;
seated on the river Barrow, 16 miles north-east of Kil¬
kenny. W. Long. 7. 1. N. Lat. 52. 45.
Catherlough, or Carlow, a county of Ireland,
about 28 miles in length, and eight in breadth ; bound¬
ed on the east by Wicklow and Wexford, on the west
by Queen’s county, on the north by Kildare, and on
the south and south-west by Wexford. It contains five
baronies, 50 parishes, 13,000 houses, atid 78,000 in¬
habitants. The county sends one member, and the
town another to the imperial parliament. See Carlow,
Supplement.
CATHETER, in Surgery, a fistulous instrument,
usually made of silver, to be introduced into the blad¬
der, in order to search for the stone, or discharge the
urine when suppressed. See SURGERY Index.
CATHETUS, in Geometry, a line or radius falling
perpendicularly on another line or surface ; thus the
catheti of a right-angled triangle are the two sides that
include the right angle.
Cathetus of Incidence, in Catoptrics, a right line
drawn from a point of the object, perpendicular to the
reflecting line.
Cathetus of Reflection, or of the Eye, a right line
drawn from the eye perpendicular to the reflecting plane.
Cathetus of Obliquation, a right line drawn per¬
pendicular to the speculum, in the point of incidence
or reflection.
Cathetus, in Architecture, a perpendicular line
supposed to pass through the middle of a cylindrical
body, as a balluster, column, &c.
CATHNESS. See Caithness.
CATHOLIC,
CAT [ 275 ] , CAT
CATHOLIC, in a general sense, denotes any thing
I that is universal or general.
to. Catholic Church. The rise of heresies induced the
'"■‘"'primitive Christian church to assume to itself the ap¬
pellation of catholic^ being a characteristic to distin¬
guish itself from all sects, who, though they bad party
names, sometimes sheltered themselves under the name
of Christians.
The Romish church distinguishes itself now by the
name of Catholic^ in opposition to all those who have se¬
parated from her communion, and whom she considers
as heretics and schismatics, and herself only as the true
and Christian church. In the strict sense of the word,
there is no Catholic church in being, that is, no univer¬
sal Christian communion.
Catholic King, is a title which has been long here¬
ditary to the king of Spain. Mariana pretends, that
Reccarede first received this title after he had destroy¬
ed Arianism in his kingdom, and that it is found in the
council of Toledo for the year 589. Vasce ascribes
the original of it to Alphonsus in 738. Some allege
that it has been used only since the time of Ferdinand
and Isabella. Colombiere says, it was given them on
occasion of the expulsion of the Moors. The Bollan-
dists pretend it had been borne by their predecessors
the Visigoth kings of Spain ; and that Alexander VI.
only renewed it to Ferdinand and Isabella. Others say
that Philip de Valois first bore the title j which was given
him after his death by the ecclesiastics, on account of
his favouring their interests.
In some epistles of the ancient popes, the title catho¬
lic is given to the kings of France and of Jerusalem, as
well as to several patriarchs and primates.
CATHOLICON, in Pharmacy, a kind of soft pur¬
gative electuary, so called as being supposed an univer¬
sal purger of all humours.
CATILINE, Lucius, a Roman of a noble family,
who, having spent his whole fortune in debauchery,
formed the design of oppressing his country, destroy¬
ing the senate, seizing the public treasury, setting
Rome on fire, and usurping a sovereign power over his
fellow-citizens. In order to succeed in this design, he
drew some young noblemen into his plot; whom he
prevailed upon, it is said, to drink human blood as a
pledge of their union. His conspiracy, however, was
discovered by the vigilance of Cicero, who was then
consul. Upon which, retiring from Rome, he put
himself at the head of an army, with several of the
conspirators, and fought with incredible valour against
Petreius, lieutenant to Antony, who was colleague with
Cicero in the consulship j but was defeated and killed
in battle. See (History of) Rome.—Sallust has given
an excellent history of this conspiracy.
CATO, Marcus Fortius, the censor, one of the
greatest men among the ancients, was born at Tuscu-
lum in the year of Rome 519, about the 232d before
Christ. He began to bear arms at 17 j and, on all
occasions showed, extraordinary courage. He was a
man of great sobriety, and reckoned no bodily exer¬
cise unworthy of him. He had but one horse for him¬
self and his baggage, and he looked after and dressed
it himself. At his return from his campaigns, he be¬
took himself to plough his ground j not that he was
without slaves to do it, but it was his inclination. He
dressed also like his slaves, sat down at the same table
with them, and partook of the same fare. He did not Cato,
in the meanwhile neglect to cultivate his mind, espe-
cially in regard t;o the art of speaking j and he em¬
ployed his talents, which were very great, in generous¬
ly pleading causes in the neighbouring cities without
fee or reward. Valerius Flaccus, who had a country
seat near Cato, conceiving an esteem for him, per¬
suaded him to come to Rome ; where Cato, by his own
merits, and the influence of so powerful a patron, was
soon taken notice of, and promoted. He was first of
all elected tribune of the soldiers for the province of
Sicily } he was next made questor in Africa under
Scipio. Having in this last office reproved him for his
profuseness to his soldiers, the general answered, that
“ he did not want so exact a questor, but would make
war at what expence he pleased ; nor was he to give an
account to the Roman people of the money he spent,
but of his enterprises, and the execution of them.”
Cato, provoked at this answer, left Sicily, and returned
to Rome.
Afterwards Cato was made praetor, when he fulfilled
the duties of his office with the strictest justice. He
conquered Sardinia, governed with admirable modera¬
tion, and was created consul. Being tribune in the
war of Syria, he gave distinguished proofs of his valour
against Antiochus the Great, and at his return stood
candidate for the office of censor. But the nobles,
who not only envied him as a new man, but dreaded
his severity, set up against him seven powerful compe¬
titors. Valerius Flaccus, who had introduced him
into public life, and had been his colleague in the
consulship, was a ninth candidate, and these two united
their interests. On this occasion Cato, far from em¬
ploying soft words to the people, or giving hopes of
gentleness or complaisance in the execution of his
office, loudly declared from the rostra, with a threaten¬
ing lock and voice, “ That the times required firm and
vigorous magistrates to put a stop to that growing
luxury which menaced the republic with ruin j censors
who would cut up the evil by the roots, and restore
the rigour of ancient discipline.” It is to the honour
of the people of Rome, that, notwithstanding these
terrible intimations, they preferred him to all his
competitors, who courted them by promises of a mild
and easy administration ; the comitia also appointed his
friend Valerius to be his colleague, without whom he
had declared that he could not hope to compass the
reformations he had in view. Cato’s merit, upon the
whole, was superior to that of any of the great men
who stood against him. He was temperate, brave, and
indefatigable j frugal of the public money, and not to
be corrupted. There is scarce any talent requisite for
public or private life which he had not received from
nature, or acquired by industry. He was a great sol¬
dier, an able statesman, an eloquent orator, a learned
historian, and very knowing in rural affairs. Yet, with
all these accomplishments, he had very great faults.
His ambition being poisoned with envy, disturbed both
his own peace and that of the whole city as long as he
lived. Though he would not take bribes, he was un¬
merciful and unconscionable in amassing wealth by all
such means as the law did not punish.
The first act of Cato in his new office, was naming
his colleague to be prince of the senate j after which '
the censors struck out of the list of the senators the
Mm2 names
CAT [ 276 J CAT
Cato, names of seven persons ; among whom was Lucius the
» brother of T. Flaminius. Lucius, when consul, and
commanding in Gaul, had with his own hand murder¬
ed a Boian of distinction, a deserter to the Romans ;
and he had committed this murder purely to gratify
the curiosity of his pathic, a young Carthaginian, who
longing to see somebody die a violent death, had re¬
proached the general for bringing him away from
Rome just when there was going to be a fight of gla¬
diators. Titus Flaminius, full of indignation at the
dishonour done to his brother, brought the affair be¬
fore the people j and insisted upon Cato’s giving the
reason of his proceeding. The censor related the
story 5 and when Lucius denied the fact, put him to his
oath. The accused, refusing to swear, was deemed
guilty; and Cato’s censure was approved. But no
part of the censor’s conduct seemed so cruel to the
nobles and their wives as the taxes he laid upon luxu¬
ry in all its branches, dress, household furniture, wo¬
men’s toilets, chariots, slaves, and equipage. These
articles were all taxed at three per cent, of the real
value. The people, liowever, in general, were pleased
with his regulations; insomuch that they ordered a
statue to be erected to his honour in tlie Temple of
Health, with an inscription that mentioned nothing of
his victories or triumphs, but imported only, that by
his wise ordinances in his censorship he had reformed
the manners of the republic. Plutarch relates, that
before this, upon some of Cato’s friends expressing
their surprise, that when many persons without merit
or reputation had statues, he had none ; he answered,
“ I had much rather it should be asked why the people
have not erected a statue to Cato, than why they
have.” Cato was the occasion of the third Punic war.
Being dispatched to Africa to terminate a difference
between the Carthaginians and the king of Numidia,
on his return to Rome he reported that Carthage was
grown excessively rich and populous, and he warmly
exhorted the senate to destroy a city and republic, dur¬
ing the existence of which Rome could never be safe.
H aving brought from Africa some very large figs, he
showed them to the conscript fathers in one of the
lappets of his gown. “ The country (says he) where
this fine fruit grows is but a three days voyage from
Rome.” We are told, that from this time he never
spoke in the senate upon any subject, without con¬
cluding with these words, “ I am also of opinion, that
Carthage ought to be destroyed.” He judged, that
for a people debauched by prosperity, nothing was
more to be feared than a rival state, always powerful,
and now from its misfortunes grown wise and circum¬
spect. He held it necessary to remove all dangers that
could be apprehended from without, when the republic
had within so many distemper's threatening her destruc¬
tion.
From the censor, dignified and severe, the reader
will not perhaps be displeased to turn his view upon
Cato sociable and relaxed. For we should have a false
notion of him, if we imagined that nothing but a sad
austerity prevailed in his speech and behaviour. On
the contrary, he was extremely free ; and often with
his friends at table intermixed the conversation with
(j uvres di discourses and witty sayings. Of these Plutarch
verses ^as collected a pretty large number; we shall relate but
p. 49. one, and make use of Balzac’s paraphrase, and the
preface with which he introduces it. “ The very
censors, though sadness seemed to be one of the func- ... ^
tions of their office, did not altogether lay aside rail¬
lery. They were not always bent upon severity; and
the first Cato, that troublesome and intolerable honest
man, ceased sometimes to be troublesome and into¬
lerable. He had some glimpses of mirth, and some
intervals of good humour. He dropped now and then
some words that were not unpleasant, and you may
judge of the rest by this. He had married a very hand¬
some wife ; and history tells us that she was extreme¬
ly afraid of the thunder, and loved her husband well.
These two passions prompted her to the same thing;
she always pitched upon her husband as a sanctuary
against thunder, and threw herself into his arms at the
first noise she fancied she heard in the sky. Cato, who
was well pleased with the storm, and very willing to
be caressed, could not conceal his joy. He revealed
that domestic secret to his friends; and told them one
day, speaking of his wife, “ that she had found out
a way to make him love bad weather ; and that he
never was so happy as when Jupiter was angry.” It is
worth observing, that this was during his censorship;
when he degraded the senator Manlius, who would
probably have been consul the year after, only for giv¬
ing a kiss to his wife in the day-time, and in the pre¬
sence of his daughter.
Cato died in the year of Rome 604, aged 85. He
wrote several works. I. A Roman History. 2. Con¬
cerning the art of war. 3. Of Rhetoric. 4. A trea¬
tise of Husbandry. Of these, the last only is extant.
Cato, Marcus Portals, commonly called Cato Minor,
or Cato of Utica, was great-grandson of Cato the Cen¬
sor. It is said, that from his infancy he discovered by
his speech, by his countenance, and even his childish
sports and recreations, an inflexibility of mind ; for
Ife would force himself to go through with whatever
he had undertaken, though the task was ill-suited to
his strength. He was rough towards those that flat¬
tered him, and quite untractable when threatened ; was
rarely seen to laugh, or even to smile ; was not easily
provoked to anger ; but if once incensed, hard to be
pacified. Sylla having had a friendship for the father
of Cato, sent often for him and his brother, and talk¬
ed familiarly with them. Cato, who was then about
14 years of age, seeing the heads of great men brought
there, and observing the sighs of those that were pre¬
sent, asked his preceptor, “ Why does nobody kill
this man ?” Because, said the other, he is more fear¬
ed than he is hated. The boy replied, “ Why then did
you not give me a sword when you brought me hither,
that I might have stabbed him, and freed my country
from this slavery ?”
He learned the principles of the Stoic philosophy,
which so well suited his character, under Antipater of
Tyre, and applied himself diligently to the study of
it. Eloquence he likewise studied, as a necessary means
to defend the cause of justice, and he made a very con¬
siderable proficiency in that science. To increase his
bodily strength, he inured himself to suffer the ex¬
tremes of heat and cold; and used to make journeys
on foot and bare-headed in all seasons. When he was
sick, patience and abstinence were his only remedies:
he shut himself up, and would see nobody till he was
well. Though remarkably sober in the beginning of
CAT [ 277 ] CAT
r.at0 his life, making it a rule to drink but once after sup-
^ 1 per, and then retire, lie insensibly contracted a habit
of drinking more freely, and of sitting at table till
morning. His friends endeavoured to excuse this, by
saying that the affairs of the public engrossed his at¬
tention all the day; and that, being ambitious of
knowledge, he passed the night in the conversation of
philosophers. Caesar wrote, that Cato was once found
dead drunk at the corner of a street, early in the morn¬
ing, by a great number of people who were going to
the levee of some great man $ and that when, by un¬
covering his face, they perceived who it was, they
blushed for shame : “ You would have thought (added
Caesar), that Cato had found them drunk, not they
him.” Pliny observes, that by this reflection Caesar
praises his enemy at the same time that he blames him.
And Seneca, his extravagant panegyrist, ventures to
assert, that it is easier to prove drunkenness to be a
virtue, than Cato to be vicious. He affected singu¬
larity ; and in things indifferent, to act directly con¬
trary to the taste and fashions of the age. Magnani¬
mity and constancy are generally ascribed to him ; and
Seneca would fain make that haughtiness and contempt
for others, which, in Cato, accompanied those virtues, a
matter of praise. Cato, says Seneca, having received a
blow in the face, neither took revenge nor was angry ;
he did not even pardon the affront, but denied that he
had received it. His virtue raised him so high, that
injury could not reach him. He is reputed to have been
chaste in his youth. His first love was Lepida $ but
when the mai’riage was upon the point of being con¬
cluded, Metellus Scipio, to whom she had been promis¬
ed, interfered, and the preference was given to him. This
affront extremely exasperated our Stoic. He was for
going to law with Scipio; and when his friends had
diverted him from that design, by showing him the ri¬
dicule of it, he revenged himself by making verses up¬
on his rival. When this first flame subsided, he mar¬
ried Attilia the daughter of Serranus, had two children
by her, and afterwards divorced her for her very indis¬
creet conduct.
He served as a volunteer under Callus in the war
of Spartacus j and when military rewards were offered
him by the commander, he refused them, because he
thought he had no right to them. Some years after,
he went a legionary tribune into Macedonia under the
prastor Rubrius: in which station he appeared, in his
dress and during a march, more like a private soldier
than an officer : but the dignity of his manners, the
elevation of his sentiments, and the superiority of his
views, set him far above those who bore the titles of
generals and proconsuls. It is said, that Cato’s design
in all his behaviour was to engage the soldiers to tbe
love of virtue $ whose affections he engaged thereby
to himself, without his having that in his intention.
“ For the sincere love of virtue (adds Plutarch) im¬
plies an affection for the virtuous. Those who praise
the worthy without loving them, pay homage to their
glory ; but are neither admirers nor imitators of their
virtues.” When the time of his service expired, and
he was leaving the army, the soldiers were all in tears ;
so effectually had he gained their hearts by his conde¬
scending manners and sharing in their labours. After
his return home, he was chosen to the questorship $
and bad scarce entered oa his charge, when he made a
great information in the questor’s office, and particu- €ato.
larly with regard to the registers. These registers,
whose places were for life, and through whose hands
passed incessantly all the public accounts, being to act
under young magistrates inexperienced in business, as¬
sumed an air of importance j and, instead of asking or¬
ders from the questors, pretended to direct and govern
as if they themselves were the questors. Cato reduced
them to their proper sphere.
One thing by which Cato extremely pleased the
people, was his making the assassins to whom Sylla
had given considerable rewards out of the treasury for
murdering the proscribed, disgorge their gains. Plu¬
tarch tells us, that Cato was so exact in discharging
the duties of a senator, as to be always the first who
came to the house, and the last who left it ; and that
he never quitted Rome during those days when the
senate was to sit. Nor did he fail to be present at
every assembly of the people, that he might awe those
who, by an ill-judged facility, bestowed the public mo¬
ney in largesses, and frequently, through mere favour,
granted remission of debts due to the state. At first
his austerity and stiffness displeased his colleagues;
but afterwards they were glad to have his name to
oppose to all the unjust solicitations, against which
they would have found it difficult to defend them¬
selves. Cato very readily took upon him the task of
refusing.
Cato, to keep out a very bad man, put in for the
tribunate. He sided with Cicero against Catiline,
and opposed Caesar on that occasion. His enemies
sent him to recover Cyprus, which Ptolemy had for¬
feited, thinking to hurt his reputation by so difficult
an undertaking; yet none could find fault with his
conduct.
Cato laboured to bring about an agreement between
Caesar and Pompey ; but seeing it in vain, he sided
with the latter. When Pompey was slain he fled to
Utica; and being pursued by Caesar, advised his
friends to be gone, and throw themselves on Caesar’s
clemency. His son, however, remained with him ;
and Statilius, a young man, remarkable for his hatred
to Caesar.
The evening before the execution of the purpose
he had formed with regard to himself, after bathing,
he supped with his friends and the magistrates of the
city. They sat late at table, and the conversation
was lively. The discourse falling upon this maxim of
the Stoics, that “ the wise man alone is free, and that
the vicious are slaves;” Demetrius, who was a Peripa¬
tetic, undertook to confute it from the maxims of his
school. Cato, in answer, treated the matter very am¬
ply ; and with so much earnestness and vehemence of
voice, that he betrayed himself, and confirmed the sus¬
picion of his friends that he designed to kill himself.
When he had done speaking, a melancholy silence en¬
sued ; and Cato perceiving it, turned the discourse to
the present situation of affairs, expressing his concern
for those who had been obliged to put to sea, as well
as for those who had determined to make their escape
by land, and had a dry and sandy desert to pass. Af¬
ter supper, the company being dismissed, he walked for
some time with a few friends, and gave his orders to
the officers of the guard : and going into his chamber,
he embraced his son and his friends with more than
usual
Cato.
CAT
[ 278 ]
CAT
usual tenderness, which farther confirmed the suspi¬
cions of the resolution he had taken. Then laying
himself down on his bed, he took up Plato’s Dialogue
on the Immortality of the Soul. Having read tor some
time, he looked up, and missing his sword, which his
son had removed while he was at supper, he called a
slave, and asked who had taken it away j and receiving
no pertinent answer, he resumed his reading. Some
time after, he asked again for his sword } and, without
showing any impatience, ordered it to be brought to
him : but having read out the book, and finding no¬
body had brought him his sword, he called for all his
servants, fell into a rage, and struck one of them on the
mouth with so much violence that he very much hurt his
own hand, crying out in a passionate manner, “ What!
do my own son and family conspire to betray me, and
deliver me up naked and unarmed to the enemy ?” Im¬
mediately his son and friends rushed into the room 5
and began to lament, and to beseech him to change
his resolution. Cato raising himself, and looking fierce¬
ly at them, “ How long is it,” said he, “ since I have
lost my senses, and my son is become my keeper? Brave
and generous son, why do you not bind your father’s
hands, that when Caesar comes, he may find me un¬
able to defend myself P Do you imagine that without
a sword I cannot end my life ? Cannot I destroy my¬
self, by holding my breath f°r some moments, or by
striking my head against the wall ?” His son answer¬
ed with his tears, and retired. Apollonides and De¬
metrius remained with him ; and to them he addressed
himself in the following words : “ Is it to watch over
me that ye sit silent here ? Do you pretend to force
a man of my years to live ? or can you bring any
reason to prove, that it is not base and unworthy of
Cato to beg his safety of an enemy ? or why do you
not persuade me to unlearn what I have been taught,
that, rejecting all the opinions I have hitherto de¬
fended, I may now, by Caesar’s means, grow wiser,
and be yet more obliged to him than for life alone ?
Not that I have determined any thing concerning my¬
self j but I would have it in my power to perform
what I shall think fit to resolve upon : and I shall not
fail to ask your counsel, when I have occasion to act
up to the principles which your philosophy teaches.
Go tell my son, that he should not compel his father
to what he cannot persuade him.” They withdrew,
and the sword was brought by a young slave. Cato
drew it, and finding the point to be sharp j “ Now,
(said he) I am my own master And, laying it
down, he took up his book again, wmcn 11 is re- cata
ported he read twice over. After this he slept so Catock
soundly that he was heard to snore by those who were ’“V'-J
near him. About midnight he called two of his freed- '
men, Cleanthes his physician, and Butas, whom he
chiefly employed in the management of his affairs.
The last he sent to the port, to see whether all the
Romans were gone ; to the physician he gave his hand
to be dressed, which was swelled by the blow he had
given his slave. This being an intimation that he
intended to live, gave great joy to his family. Butas
soon returned, and brought word that they were all
gone except Crassus, who had staid upon some busi¬
ness, but was just ready to depart. He added, that the
wind was high and the sea rough. These words drew
a sigh from Cato. He sent Butas again to the port, to
know whether there might not be some one, who, in
the hurry of embarkation, had forgot some necessary
provisions, and had been obliged to put back to Utica.
It v/as now break of day, and Cato slept yet a little
more, till Butas returned to tell him, that all was per¬
fectly quiet. He then ordered him to shut his door;
and he flung himself upon his bed, as if he meant to
finish his night’s rest; hut immediately he took his
sword, and stabbed himself a little below his chest; yet
not being able to use his hand so well by reason of the
swelling, the blow did not kill him. It threw him into
a convulsion, in which he fell from his bed, and over¬
turned a table near it. The noise gave the alarm j
and his son and the rest of the family, entering the
room, found him weltering in his blood, and his bowels
half out of his body. The surgeon, upon examination,
found that his bowels were not cut j and was preparing
to replace them and bind up the wound, when Cato,
recovering his senses, fhrust the surgeon from him, and
tearing out his bowels, immediately expired, in the 48th
year of his age.
By this rash act, independent of all moral or religious
considerations, he carried his patriotism to the highest
degree of political phrensy ; for Cato, dead, could be of
no use to his country 5 but had he preserved his life,
his counsel might have moderated Caesar’s ambition,
and (as Montesquieu observes) have given a different
turn to public affairs.
CATOCHE, or Catochus, a disease by which
the patient is x’endered in an instant as immoveable as
a statue, without either sense or motion, and continues
in the same posture he was in at the moment of his
being seized. See Medicine Index,
which it is
CATOPTRICS.
/CATOPTRICS is that part of optics which explains
^ the properties of reflected light, and particularly
that which is reflected from mirrors.
As this and the other branches of Optics will be
fully treated under the collective word, we shall, in the
present article, 1st, Just give a summary of the prin¬
ciples of the branch, in a few plain aphorisms, with
some preliminary definitions j and, 2dly, Insert a set
of entertaining experiments founded upon them.
Sect. I. Definitions,
l
1. Every polished body that reflects the rays ofDcf'nit'011
light is called a mirror, whether its surface be plane,
spherical, conical, cylindric, or of any other form
whatever.
2. Of mirrors there are three principally used in
optical experiments ; The plane mirror, GHI, (fig.
CATOPTRICS.
I.) ; the spherical convex mirror, GHI, (fig. 2.) ; and
the spherical concave mirror, GHI, (fig- 3-)
a. The point K, (fig. 2, 3.) round which the re¬
flecting surface of a spherical mirror is described, is
called its centre. The line KH, drawn from its cen¬
tre perpendicular to its two surfaces, is the axis of the
mirror 5 and the point H, to which that line is drawn,
is its vortex.
4. The distance between the lines AG and BG,
(fig. 1.) is called the angle of incidence, and the dis¬
tance between BG and CG is the angle of reflection.
Sect. II. Aphorisms.
distance of its centre, where their heat will be augment¬
ed in proportion of the surface of the mirror to that of
the focal spot.
6. If a luminous body be placed in the focus of a
concave mirror, its rays being reflected in parallel lines,
will strongly enlighten a space of the same dimension
with the mirror, at a great distance. If the luminous
object be placed nearer than the focus, its rays will
diverge, and consequently enlighten a larger space.
It is on this principle that reverberators are con¬
structed.
IV. In all plane and spherical mirrors the angle of
incidence is equal to the angle of reflection.
279
I. I A _
plai mir¬
ror.
IL a
sph cal
con r
mir .
1. The image DF, (fig. 1.) will appear as far behind
the mirror as the object AC is before it.
2. The image will appear of the same size, and in
the same position as the object.
3. Every such mirror will reflect the image of an
object of twice its own length and breadth.
4. If the object be an opaque body, and its rays fall
on the mirror nearly in direct lines, there will be only
one image visible, which will be reflected by the inner
surface of the glass. But,
5. If the object be a luminous body, and its rays
fall very obliquely on the mirror, there will appear to
an eye, placed in a proper position, several images j the
first of which, reflected from the outer surface of the
glass, will not be so bright as the second, reflected from
the inner surface. The following images, that are pro¬
duced by the repeated reflections of the rays between
the two surfaces of the glass, will be in proportion less
vivid, to the eighth or tenth, which will be scarce vi¬
sible.
1. The image DF, (fig. 2.), will always appear be¬
hind it.
2. The image will be in the same position as the ob¬
ject.
ml a
sph :al
con ?e
mir: ,
3. It will be less than the object.
4. It will be curved, but not, as the mirror, spheri¬
cal.
5. Parallel rays falling on this mirror will have the
focus or image at half the distance of the centre K
from the mirror.
6. In converging rays, the distance of the object
must be equal to half the distance of the centre, to make
the image appear behind the mirror.
7. Diverging rays will have their image at less than
half the distance of the centre. If the object be placed
in the centre of the mirror, its image will appear at one
eighth of that distance behind it.
1. That point where the image appears of the same
dimensions as the object, is the centre of that mirror.
2. Parallel rays will have their focus at one half the
distance of the centre.
3. Converging rays will form an image before the
mirror.
4. In diverging rays, if the object be at Jess than
one-half the distance of the centre, the image will be
behind the mirror, erect, curved, and magnified, as
DEF, (fig. 3.) j but if the distance of the object be
greater, the image will be before the mirror, inverted
and diminished, as DEF, (fig. 4.)
5. The sun’s rays falling on a concave mirror, and
being parallel, will be collected in a focus at half the
Sect. III. Entertaining Experiments.
I. Of all our senses the sight is certainly subject to I. Catop-
the greatest illusion. The various writers on optics l!lu-
have described a great number of instances in whichsl0ns-
it deceives us, and have constantly endeavoured to in¬
vestigate the causes, to explain their effects, and to re¬
concile appearance with reality. We every day dis¬
cover new phenomena, and doubtless many more are
reserved for posterity. It frequently happens, more¬
over, that a discovery which at first seemed of little
consequence has led to matters of the highest import¬
ance.
Take a glass bottle A (fig. 14.) and fill it with water
to the point B ; leave the upper part BC empty, and
cork it in the common manner. Place this bottle op¬
posite a concave mirror, and beyond its focus, that
it may appear reversed, and before the mirror, (see
Sect. II. aph. 3. 4. of a spher. concave mirror,) place
yourself still further distant from the bottle, and it will
appear to you in the situation a, b, c, (fig. 15.)
Now it is remarkable in this apparent bottle, that the
water, which, according to all the laws of catoptrics,
and all the experiments made on other objects, should
appear at ab, appears on the contrary at be, and con¬
sequently the part a b appears empty.
If the bottle be inverted and placed before the mir¬
ror (as in fig. 16.), its image will appear in its natural
erect position -, and the water, which is in reality at
BC, will appear at ab.
If while the bottle is inverted it be uncorked, and
the water run gently out, it will appear, that while the
part BC is emptying, that of a 6 in theJmage is filling ;
and what is likewise very remarkable, as soon as the
bottle is empty the illusion ceases, the image also ap¬
pearing entirely empty. If the bottle likewise be quite
full there is no illusion.
If while the bottle is held inverted, and partly empty,
some drops of water fall from the bottom A towards
BC, it seems in the image as if there were formed at
the bottom of that part a b, bubbles of air that rose
from a io b ; which is the part that seems full of water.
All these phenomena constantly appear.
The remarkable circumstances in this experiment
are, first, not only to see an object where it is not, but
also where the image is not *, and secondly, that of two
objects which are really in its same place, as the sur¬
face at one place, and the other at another j and to see
the bottle in the place of its image, and the water where
neither it nor its image are.
II. Construct a box AB, of about a foot long,, eight
inches
280 CATOPTRICS.
6 inches wide, and six high ; or what other dimensions
II. Appear- you shall think fit, provided it does not greatly vary
ance of a £rom tiiese proportions.
vista CSS 0° the inside of this box, and against each of its
fig, 5’, opposite ends A and B, place a mirror of the same
size. Take off the quicksilver from the mirror that
you place at B, for about an inch and a half at the
part C, where you are to make a hole in the box of
the same size, by which you may easily view its inside.
Cover the top of the box with a frame, in which must
be placed a transparent glass, covered with gauze, on
the side next the inner part of the box. Let there be
two grooves at the parts E and F to receive the two
painted scenes hereafter mentioned. On two pieces of
cut pasteboard let there be skilfully painted on both
sides (see fig. 6. and 7.) any subject you think proper $
as woods, gardens, bowers, colonnades, &c. and on two
other pasteboards, the same subjects on one side only $
observing that there ought to be on one of them some
object relative to the subject placed at A, that the mir¬
ror placed at D may not reflect the hole at C on the op¬
posite side.
Place the two boards painted on both sides in the
grooves E and F j and those that are painted cn one
side only against the opposite mirrors C and D j and
then cover the box with its transparent top. This
box should be placed in a strong light to have a good
effect.
When the eye is placed at C, and views the objects
on the inside of the box, of which some, as we have
said, are painted on both sides, they are successively
reflected from one mirror to the other ; and if, for ex¬
ample, the painting consists of trees, they will appear
like a very long vista, of which the eye cannot discern
the end : for each of the mirrors repeating the objects,
continually more faintly, contribute greatly to augment
the illusion.
III. Of a HI- Take a square box ABCD, of about six inches
fortification long, and twelve high $ cover the inside of it with four
of immense plane mirrors, which must be placed perpendicular to
extent, tjie b0ttorn 0f the box CHFD.
Place certain objects in relief on the bottom of this
box ; suppose, for example, a piece of fortification,
(as fig. 9.) with tents, soldiers, &c. or any other sub¬
ject that you judge will produce an agreeable effect by
its disposition when repeatedly reflected by the mir¬
rors.
On the top of this box place a frame of glass, in
form of the bottom part of a pyramid, whose base
AGEB is equal to the size of the box : its top ILN
must form a square of six inches, and should not be
more than four or five inches higher than the box.
Cover the four sides of this frame with a gauze, that
the inside may not be visible but at the top ILN,
which should be covered with a transparent glass.
When you look into this box through the glass
LN, the mirrors that are diametrically opposite each
other, mutually reflecting the figures enclosed, the eye
beholds a boundless extent, completely covered with
these objects j and if they are properly disposed, the
illusion will occasion no small surprise, and afford great
entertainment.
Note, The nearer the opening ILN is to the top of
the box, the greater will be the apparent extent of the
3
subject. The same will happen if the four mirrors
placed on the sides of the box be more elevated. The
objects, by either of these dispositions, will appear to
be repeated nine, twenty-five, forty-nine times, &c.
by taking always the square of the odd numbers of the
arithmetical progression 3, 5, 7, 9, &c. as is very easy
to conceive, if we remember that the subject enclosed
in the box is always in the centre of a square, compo¬
sed of several others, equal to that which forms the
bottom of the box.
Other pieces of the same kind (that is, viewed from
above) may be contrived, in which mirrors may be
placed perpendicular on a triangular, pentagon, or hex¬
agon (that is, a three, five, or six-sided) plane. All
these different dispositions, properly directed, as well
with regard to the choice as position of the objects, will
constantly produce very remarkable and pleasing illu¬
sions.
If instead of placing the mirrors perpendicular, they
were to incline equally, so as to form part of a reversed
pyramid, the subject placed in the box would then
have the appearance of a very extensive globular or
many-sided figure. g
IV. On the hexagonal or six-sided plane ABCDEFlV. Surp
draw six semidiameters GA, GB, GC, GD, GE, GF; sillg mult
and on each of these place perpendicularly two plane Pjj.cal‘01
mirrors, which must join exactly at the centre G, and fjg ^
which placed back to back must be as thin as possible. °
Decorate the exterior boundary of this piece (which is
at the extremity of the angles of the hexagon) with
six columns, that at the same time serve to support the
mirrors, by grooves formed on their inner sides. (See
the profile H). Add to these columns their entabla¬
tures, and cover the edifice in such a manner as you
shall think proper.
In each one of these six ti'iangular spaces, contained
between two mirrors, place little figures of pasteboard,
in relief, representing such objects as when seen in a
hexagonal form will produce an agreeable effect. To
these add small figures of enamel; and take particular
care to conceal, by some object that has relation to
the subject, the place where the mirrors join, which,
as we have said before, all meet in the common centre
G.
When you look into any one of the six openings of
this palace, the objects there contained being repeated
six times, will seem entirely to fill up the whole of the
building. This illusion will appear very remarkable ;
especially if the objects made choice of are properly
adapted to the effect that is to be produced by the mir¬
rors.
Note, If you place between two of these mirrors
part of a fortification, as a curtain and two demi-ba¬
stions, you will see an entire citadel, with six bastions.
Or if you place part of a ball-room, ornamented with
chandeliers and figures in enamel, all those objects
being here multiplied, will afford a very pleasing pro¬
spect.
Within the case ABCD, place your mirrors,-y. Opa
O, P, Q, It, so disposed that they may each of thembodiei
make an angle of forty-five degrees, that is, that theyseemlD?
may be half way inclined from the perpendicular, as^"
in the figure. In each of the two extremities AB,,ent/
make a circular overture, in one of which fix the tubeig. 11.
GL,
CATOPTHICS.
281
GL, in the other the tube MF, and observe that in
each of these is to be inserted another tube, as H and
I CA)*
Furnish the first of these tubes with an object-glass
at G, and a concave eye-glass at F. You are to ob¬
serve, that in regulating the focus of these glasses, with
regard to the length of the tube, you are to suppose
it equal to the line G, or visual pointed ray, which,
entering at the aperture G, is reflected by the four
mirrors, and goes out at the other aperture F, where
the ocular glass is placed. Put any glass you will in¬
to the two ends of the moveable tubes H and I; and,
lastly, place the machine on a stand E, moveable at the
point S, that it may be elevated or depressed at plea¬
sure.
When the eye is placed at F, and you look through
the tube, the rays of light that proceed from the object
T, passing through the glass G, are successsvely reflect¬
ed by the mirrors O, P, Q, and R, to the eye at F,
and there paint the object T in its proper situation j
and these rays appear to proceed directly from that
object.
The two moveable tubes H and I, at the extremi¬
ties of each of which a glass is placed, serve only the
more to disguise the illusion, for they have no commu¬
nication with the interior part of the machine. This
instrument being moveable on the stand E, may be
directed to any object; and if furnished with proper
glasses will answer the purpose of a common perspec¬
tive.
The. two moveable tubes H and I being brought
together, the machine is directed toward any object,
and desiring a person to look at the end F, you ask
him if he sees distinctly that object. You then sepa¬
rate the two moveable tubes, and leaving a space be¬
tween them sufficient to place your hand, or any other
solid body ; you tell him that the machine has the
power of making objects visible through the most
opaque body j and as a proof you desire him then to
look at the same object, when, to his great surprise, he
will see it as distinct as when there was no solid body
placed between the tubes.
Note, This experiment is the more extraordinary, as
it is very difficult to conceive how the effect is produced.
The two arms of the case appearing to be made to sup¬
port the perspective glass; and to whatever object it is
0 directed, the effect is still the same.
^ VII. VI. In the partition AB, make two apertures, CD,
nagi- and EF, of a foot high, and ten inches wide, and
>! 5 mir- a]30Ut a f00t distant from each other. Let them be
t’’12, at the common height of a man’s head ; and in each
of them place a transparent glass, surrounded with a
frame, like a common mirror.
Behind this partition place two mirrors H and I,
inclined to it in an angle of forty-five degrees $ that
is, half way between a line drawn perpendicular to the
ground and its surface j let them be both 18 inches
square : let all the space between them b? inclosed by
boards or pasteboard painted black, and well closed, that
no light may enter: let there be also two curtains to
cover them, which may be drawn aside at pleasure.
When a person looks into one of these supposed
mirrors, instead of seeing his own face, he will perceive
the object that is in front of the other; so that if two
persons present themselves at the same time before these
mirrors, instead of each one seeing himself, they will
reciprocally see each other.
Note, There should be a sconce with a candle placed
on each side of the two glasses in the wainscot, to en¬
lighten the faces of the persons who look in them,
otherwise this experiment will have no remarkable
effect.
This experiment may be considerably improved by
placing the two glasses in the partition in adjoining
rooms, and a number of persons being previously pla¬
ced in one room, when a stranger enters the other,
you may tell him his face is dirty ; and desire him to
look in the glass, which he will naturally do; and on
seeing a strange face he will draw back; but return¬
ing to it, and seeing another, another, and another,
like the phantom kings in Macbeth, what his surprise
will be is more easy to conceive than express. After
this a real mirror may be privately let down on the
back of the glass ; and if he can be prevailed to look
in it once more, he will then, to his further astonish¬
ment, see his own face ; and may be told, perhaps per¬
suaded, that all he thought he saw before wTas the mere
effect of imagination.
How many tricks, less artful than this, have pass¬
ed in former times for sorcery, and pass at this time
in some countries for apparitions !
Note, When a man looks in a mirror that is pla¬
ced perpendicular to another, his face will appear
entirely deformed. If the mirror be a little inclined,
so as to make an angle of 80 degrees (that is, one-
ninth part from the perpendicular), he will then see
all the parts of his face, except the nose and forehead.
If it be inclined to 60 degrees (that is, one-third part),
he will appear with three noses and six eyes : in short,
the apparent deformity will vary at each degree of in¬
clination : and when the glass comes to 45 degrees
(that is, half way down), the face will vanish. If, in¬
stead of placing the two mirrors in this situation, they
are so disposed that their junction may be vertical,
their different inclinations will produce other effects;
as the situation of the object relative to these mirrors
is quite different. The effects of these mirrors, though
remarkable enough, occasions but little surpi’ise, as
there is no method of concealing the cause by which
they are produced. It
VII. Make a box of wood, of a cubical figure, pjg.,
ABCD, of about 15 inches every way. Let it be
fixed to the pedestal P, at the usual height of a man’s
head. In each side of this box, let there be an open¬
ing
(a) These four tubes must terminate in the substance of the case, and not enter the inside, that they may not
hinder the effect of the mirrors. The fourfold reflection of the rays of light from the mirrors, darkens in some
■degree the brightness of the object; some light is also lost by the magnifying power of the perspective. , t rere*
fore, instead of the object-glass at G, and concave eye-glass at F, plain glasses were substituted, the magnifying
power of the perspective will be taken away, and the object appear brighter.
Vol. V. Part I. f
Nn
202
CATOPTRICS.
VIII. The
perspective
mirror,
%• 17-
r?
IX. To set
fire to a
combus¬
tible body
by the re¬
fection of
two con¬
cave mir¬
rors, fig-.
18.
Jng of an oval form, of ten inches high, and seven
wide.
In this, box place two mirrors A, D, with their
backs against each other; let them cross the box in a
diagonal line, and in a vertical position. Decorate
the openings in the sides of this box with four oval
frames and transparent glasses, and cover each of them
with a curtain, so contrived that they may all draw up
together.
Place four persons in front of the four sides, and at
equal distances from the box, and then draw up the cur¬
tains that they may see themselves in the mirrors ; when
each of them, instead of his own figure, will see that of
the person who is next to him, and who, at the same
time, will seem to him to be placed on the opposite
side. Their confusion will be the greater, as it will be
very difficult for them to discover the mirrors concealed
in the box. The reason of this phenomenon is evident;
for though the rays of light may be turned aside by a
mirror, yet as we have before said, they always appear
to proceed in right lines.
VIII. Provide a box ABCD of about two feet long,
15 inches wide, and 12 inches high. At the end AC
place a concave mirror, the focus of whose parallel
rays is at 18 inches from the reflecting surface. At
IL place a pasteboard blacked, in which a hole is cut
sufficiently large to see on the mirror H the object
placed at BEFD.
Cover the top of the box, from A to I, close, that
the mirror H may be entirely darkened. The other
part IB must be covered with a glass, under which is
placed a gauze.
Make an aperture at G, near the top of the side Ell;
beneath which, on the inside, p'ace, in succession, paint¬
ings of different subjects, as vistas, landscapes, &c. so
that they may be in front of the mirror H. Let the
box be so placed that the object may he strongly illu¬
minated by the sun, or by wax lights placed under the
enclosed part of the box AT.
By this simple construction the objects placed at
GD will be thrown into their natural perspective; and
it the subjects be properly chosen, the appearance will
be altogether as pleasing as in optical machines of a
much more complicated form.
Note, A glass mirror should be always here used,
as those of metal do not represent the objects with
equal vivacity, and are besides subject to tarnish. It
is also necessary that the box be sufficiently large, that
you may not be obliged to use a mirror whose focus
is too short ; for in that case, the right lines near the
border of the picture will appear bent in the mirror,
which will have a disagreeable effect, and cannot be
avoided.
IX. The rays of a luminous body placed in the fo¬
cus of a concave mirror being reflected in parallel lines,
it a second mirror be placed diametrically opposite the
first, it will, by collecting those rays in its focus, set
fire to a combustible body.
Place two concave mirrors, A and B, at about
12 or 15 feet distance from each other, and let the
axis of each of them be in the same line. In the fo¬
cus C of one of them place a live coal, and in the
focus D of the other some gunpowder. With a pair
of double bellows, which make a continual blast, keep
constantly blowing the coal, and notwithstanding the
distance between them, the powder will presently take
fire.
It is not necessary that these mirrors be of metal
or brass, those made of wood or pasteboard gild¬
ed will produce the explosion, which has sometimes
taken effect at the distance of 50 feet, when mir¬
rors of j 8 inches, or two feet diameter, have been
used.
This experiment succeeds with more difficulty at
great distances ; which may proceed from the mois¬
ture in a large quantity of air. It would doubtless
take effect more readily, if a tin tube, of an equal dia¬
meter with the mirrors, were to be placed between
them.
X. Behind the partition AB, place, in a position
something oblique, the concave mirror EF, which must apparitioi
be at least ten inches in diameter, and its distance from fig 19,
the partition equal to three fourths of the distance of its
centre.
In the partition make an opening of seven or eight
inches,.either square or circular: it must face the mir¬
ror, and be of the same height with it. Behind this
partition place a strong light, so disposed that it may
not he seen at the opening, and may illumine an ob¬
ject placed at C, without throwing any light on the
mirror.
Beneath the aperture in the partition place the ob¬
ject C, that you intend shall appear on the outside of
the partition, in an inverted position ; and which we
will suppose to be a flower. Before the partition,
and beneath the aperture, place a little flowerpot D,
the top of which should be even with the bottom of
the aperture, that the eye, placed at G, may see the
flower in the same position as if its stalk came out of
the pot.
rI ake care to paint the space between the back part
of the partition and the mirror black, to prevent any
reflections of light from being thrown on the mirror;
in a word, so dispose the whole that it may be as little
enlightened as possible.
When a person is placed at the point G, he will
perceive the flower that is behind the partition, at the
top of the pot at D : But on putting out his hand to
pluck it, he will find that he attempts to grasp a sha¬
dow.
If in the opening of the partition a large double
convex lens of a short focus be placed, or, which is not
quite so well, a bottle of clear water, the image of the
flower reflected thereon will appear much more vivid
and distinct.
The phenomena that may be produced by means 0jJ(W.
of concave mirrors are highly curious and astonishing.ficn.
By their aid, spectres of various kinds may be exhi¬
bited. Suppose, for example, a person with a drawn
sword places himself before a large concave mirror, but
farther from it than its focus ; he will then see an in¬
verted image of himself in the air, between him and
the mirror, of a less size than himself. If he steadily
present the sword towards the centre of the mirror,
an image 01 the sword will come out therefrom towards
the sword in his hand, point to point, as it were to
fence with him : and by his pushing the sword nearer,
the image will appear to come nearer him, and almost
to touch his breast, having a striking effect upon him.
If the mirror be turned 45 degrees, or one-eighth,
round,
Catoptrics.
cxutt.
j
F
. / //'A ■// r// y/ /// /
CATOPTRICS.
round, the reflected image will go out perpendicular to
the direction of the sword presented, and apparently come
to another person placed in the direction of the motion of
the image. If that person is unacquainted with the ex¬
periment, and does not see the original sword, he will be
much surprised and alarmed. This experiment may be
another way diversified, by telling any person, that at
such an hour, and in such a place, he should see the ap¬
parition of an absent or deceased friend (of whose por¬
trait you are in possession'). In order to produce
this phantom, instead of the hole in the partition AB
in the last figure, there must be a door which opens
into an apartment to which there is a considerable de¬
scent. Under that door you are to place the portrait,
which must be inverted and strongly illuminated, that
it may be lively reflected by the mirror, which must
be large and well polished. Then having introduced
the incredulous spectator at another door, and pla¬
ced him in the proper point of view, you suddenly
throw open the door at AB, when, to his great asto¬
nishment, he will immediately see the apparition of his
friend.
It will be objected, perhaps, that this is not a per¬
fect apparition, because it is only visible at one point
of view, and by one person. But it should be remem¬
bered, that it was an established maxim in the last cen¬
turies, that a spectre might be visible to one person
and not to others. So Shakespeare makes both Ham¬
let and Macbeth see apparitions that were not visible
to others present at the same time. It is not unlike¬
ly, moreover, that this maxim took its rise from cer¬
tain apparitions of this kind that were raised by the
monks, to serve some purposes they called religious •,
as they alone were in possession of what little learning
there then was in the world.
Opticians sometimes grind a glass mirror concave in
one direction only, as it is said longitudinally } it is in
fact a concave portion of a cylinder, the breadth of
which may be considered that of the mirror. A per¬
son looking at his face in this mirror, in the direction
of its concavity, will see it curiously distorted in a very
lengthened appearance ; and by turning the cylindri¬
cal mirror a quarter round, his visage will appear dis¬
torted another way, by an apparent increase in width
only. Another curious and singular property attends
this sort of mirror : If in a very near situation before
it, you put your finger on the right hand side of
your nose, it will appear the same in the mirror j but
if in a distant situation, somewhat beyond the centre
of concavity, you again look at your face in the mirror,
your finger will appear to be removed to the other or
left hand side of your nose. This, though something
extraordinary, will in its cause appear very evident
from a small consideration of the properties of sperical
concave mirrors.
283
CAT
Ca tro- CATOPTROMANCY, KsaTwIgo^amias, a kind of
n’cy divination among the ancients ; so called, because con¬
sisting in the application of a mirror. The word is
wL ^lun‘formed from xuroTrlgoy, speculum, “ mirror,” and pcw-
Tii«, divinatio, “ divination.” Pausanias says, it was
in use among the Achaians ; where those who were
sick, and in danger of death, let down a mirror, or
looking glass fastened by a thread, into a fountain be¬
fore the temple of Ceres j then looking in the glass,
if they saw a ghastly disfigured face, they took it as a
sure sign of death: on the contrary, if the flesh ap¬
peared fresh and healthy, it was a token of recovery.
Sometimes glasses were used without water, and the
images of things future represented in them. See
Gastromancy.
CATROU, Francis, a famous Jesuit, born at Paris
in 1659. He was engaged for 12 years in the Jour¬
nal de Trevoux, and applied himself at the same time
to other works, which distinguished him among the
learned. He wrote a general History of the Mogul
empire, and a Roman history, in which he was assist¬
ed by Father Rouille, a brother Jesuit. Catrou died
!n I737 > and this last history was continued by Rou¬
ille, who died in 1740.
CATTERHUN, a remarkable Caledonian post a
few miles north of the town of Brechin in the county
of Angus in Scotland. Mr Pennant describes it as of
uncommon strength. “ It is (says he) of an oval
iorm, made of a stupendous dike of loose white stones,
whose convexity, from the base within to that with-
CAT
out, is 122 feet. On the outside a hollow, made by Cattertlmn,
the disposition of the stones, surrounds the whole. Catti.
Round the base is a deep ditch, and below that about v ■■" ^
100 yards, are vestiges of another, that went round
the hill. The area within the stony mound is flat:
the axis, or length of the oval, is 436 feet, the trans¬
verse diameter 200. Near the east side is the foun¬
dation of a rectangular building 5 and on most parts
are the foundations of others small and circular : all
which had once their superstructures, the shelter of the
possessors of the post : there is also a hollow, now al¬
most filled with stones, the well of the place.” There
is another fortification, but of inferior strength, in the
neighbourhood. It is called the Broivn Catterthun,
from the colour of the ramparts, which are composed
only of earth. It is of a circular form, and consists
of various concentric dikes. On one side of this rises
a small rill, which, running down the hill, has formed a
deep gully. From the side of the fortress is another
rampart, which extends parallel to the rill, and then re¬
verts, forming an additional post or retreat. The mean¬
ing of the word Catter-thun, is Camp-town; and Mr
Pennant thinks these might probably be the posts occu¬
pied by the Caledonians before their engagement at
the foot of the Grampian mountains with the celebrat¬
ed Agricola. See (History of) Scotland.
CATTI, a people of Germany, very widely spread,
on the east reaching to the river Sala, on the north to
Westphalia $ occupying, besides Hesse, the Wetterau,
and part of the tract on the Rhine, and on the banks
N n 2 of
CAT
Catti of the river Lohne. The Hercynian forest began and
I! ended in their country.
Catullus. CATTIVELLAUNI, anciently a people of Bri-
> tain, seated in the country which is now divided into
the counties of Hertford, Bedford, and Bucks. The
name of this ancient British people is written in several
dilTerent ways by Greek and Roman authors, being
sometimes called Catti, Gassn, Catticulcani, Gattiduda-
ni, Catticludani, &c. That they were of Belgic origin
cannot be doubted ", and it is not improbable that they
derived their name of Gatti from the Belgic word
Katten, which signifies illustrious or noble, and that
the addition of Vellauni, which means on the banks ot
rivers, might be given them after their arrival in Bri¬
tain, as descriptive of the situation of their country.
However this may be, the Cattivellauni formed one of
the most brave and warlike of the ancient British na¬
tions when Caesar invaded Britain, and long after.
Cassibelanus, their prince, was made commander in
chief of the confederated Britons, not only on account
of his own personal qualities, but also because he was
at the head of one of their bravest and most powerful
tribes. In the interval between the departure of Cae¬
sar and the next invasion under Claudius, the Cattivel¬
launi had reduced several of the neighbouring states un¬
der their obedience 5 and they again took the lead in
opposition to the Romans at their second invasion,
under their brave but unfortunate prince, Caractacus.
The country of the Cattiveliauni was much frequent¬
ed and improved by the Romans, after it came under
their obedience. Verulamium, their capital, which
stood near where St Alban’s now stands, became a place
of great consideration, was honoured with the name
and privileges of a municipium or free city, and had
magistrates after the model of the city of Rome. This
place was taken and almost destroyed by the insurgents
under Boadiceaj but it was afterwards rebuilt, restored
to its former splendour, and surrounded with a strong
wall, some vestiges of which are still remaining. Du-
rocobrivse and Magiavintnm, in the second iter of An¬
toninus, were probably Dunstable and Fenny Strat¬
ford, at which places there appear to have been Ro¬
man stations. The Salense of Ptolemy, a town in the
country of the Cattivellauni, was perhaps situated at
Salndy in Bedfordshire, where several Roman antiqui¬
ties have been found. There were, besides these, se¬
veral other Roman forts, stations, and towns in this
country, which it would be tedious to enumerate. The
territories of the Cattivellauni made a part of the Ro¬
man province called Britannia Prima.
CATTLE, a collective word, which signifies the
four-footed animals, which serve either for tilling the
ground, or for food to man. They are distinguished
into large or black cattle, and into small cattle : of
the former are horses, hulls, oxen, cows, and even
calves and heifers : amongst the latter are rams, ewes,
sheep, lambs, goats, kids, &c. Cattle are the chief
stock of a farm; they who deal in cattle are styled
graziers.
CATULLUS, Caius Valerius, a Latin poet,
born at Verona, in the year of Rome 666. The har¬
mony of his numbers acquix-ed him the esteem and
friendship of Cicero, and other great men of his time.
Many of his poems, however, abound with gross obsce¬
nities.. He wrote satirical verses against Caesar, under
C A V
the name of Marmoro. He spent his whole life in a Catullu,
state of poverty 5 and died in the flower of his age ||
and the height of his reputation. Joseph Scaliger, Pas-
serat, Muret, and Isaac Vossius, have written learned cante,
notes on this poet.
CATZ, James, a great civilian, politician, and
Dutch poet, was born at Browex-shaven, in Zealand,
in the year 1577. After having made several voy¬
ages, he fixed at Middleburg ; and acquired by his
pleadings such reputation, that the city of Dort chose
him for its pensionary j as did also, some time after,
that of Middleburg. In 1634, he was nominated pen¬
sionary of Holland and West Friesland j and in 1648,
he was elected keeper of the seal of the same state, and
stadtholder of the fiefs: but some time after, he re¬
signed these employments, to enjoy the repose which
his advanced age demanded. As the post of grand
pensionary had been fatal to almost all those who had
enjoyed it, from the beginning of the republic till that
time, Catz delivered up his charge on his knees, be¬
fore the whole assembly of the states, weeping for joy,
and thanking God for having preserved him from the
inconveniences that seemed attached to the duties of
that office. But though he was resolved to spend the
rest of his days in repose, the love of his country en¬
gaged him to comply with the desires of the states, who
importuned him to go on an embassy to England, in
the delicate conjuncture in which the republic found
itself during the protectorate of Ci’omwell. At his
return, he retired to his fine country seat at Sorgvliet,
where he lived in tranquillity till the year 1660, in
which he died. He wrote a great number of poems
in Dutch $ most of which are on moral subjects, and so
esteemed, that they have been often printed in all the
different sizes j and, next to the Bible, there is no work
so highly valued by the Dutch.
CATZENELLIBOGEN, a town of Germany, in
the duchy of Nassau, with a strong castle. It is capi¬
tal of a county of the same name. E.Long. 7. 38. N.
Lat. 50. 20.
CAVA, in Anatomy, the name of a vein, the largest
in the body, terminating in the right ventricle of the
heart. See Anatomy Index.
Cava, a considei-able and populous town of Italy,
in the kingdom of Naples, and in the Hither Pi’incipa-
to, with a bishop’s see. It is situated at the foot of
Mount Metelian, in E. Long. 15. 5. N. Lat. 40. 40.
CAVAILLAN, a town of France, in the depart¬
ment of Vaucluse, and formerly a bishop’s see. It is
situated on the idver Durance, in a fertile and pleasant
country, and 20 miles south-east of Avignon. Popula¬
tion 7000. E. Long, 4. 17. N. Lat. 43. 52.
CAVALCADE, a formal pompous march or pro¬
cession of horsemen, equipages, &c. by way of parade
or ceremony, to grace a triumph, public entxy, or the
like.
CAVALCADOUR, or Cavalcadeur, ancient¬
ly denoted a riding master ; but at pi’esent is disused
in that sense, and only employed to denote a sort of
equerries or officers who have the direction of princes
stables. The French say, ecnyer cavalcadeitr of the
king, the duke of Orleans, &c. Menage writes it ca-
valcadour, and derives it from the Spanish cavalgadon,
a horseman.
CAVALCANTE, Guido, a nobleman of Florence
in
[ 284 ]
C A V [2
£ inte jn the 13th century, who having followed the party of
laT the Guelphs, experienced the changeableness of fortune.
Ca ry- He showed great strength of mind in his misfortunes,
u‘'' and never neglected to improve his talents. He wrote
a treatise in Italian concerning style, and some verses
which are esteemed. His poem on the love of this
world has been commented on by several learned men.
CAVALIER, a horseman, or person mounted on
horseback : especially if he be armed withal, and have
a military appearance.
Anciently the word was restrained to a knight, or
miles. The French still use Chevalier in the same
sense.
Cavalier, considered as a faction. See Britain,
No. 109.
Cavalier, in fortification, an elevation of earth of
different shapes, situated ordinarily in the gorge of a
bastion, bordered with a parapet, and cut into more or
less embrasures, according to the capacity of the cava¬
lier. Cavaliers are a double defence for the faces of
the opposite bastion : they defend the ditch, break the
besiegers galleries, command the traverses in dry moats,
scour the salient angle of the counterscarp, where the
besiegers have their counter batteries, and enfilade the
enemy’s trenches, or oblige them to multiply their pa¬
rallels they are likewise very serviceable in defend¬
ing the breach and the retrenchments of the besieged.
Cavalier, in the manege, one that understands
horses, and is practised in the art of riding them.
CAVALIERI, Bonaventure, an eminent mathe¬
matician in the 17th century, a native of Milan, and a
friar of the order of the Jesuati of St Jerome, was pro¬
fessor of the mathematics at Bologna, where he pub¬
lished several mathematical books, particularly the
“ Method of Indivisibles.” He was a scholar of Ga¬
lileo. His Directorium generale Uranometricum con¬
tains great variety of most useful practices in trigono¬
metry and astronomy. His trigonometrical tables in
that work are excellent.
CAVALLO, Tiberius, an eminent natural philo¬
sopher. See Supplement.
CAVALRY, a body of soldiers that charge on
horseback. The word comes from the French, cava-
lerie, and that from the corrupt Latin, caballus, a horse.
The Roman cavalry consisted wholly of those called
equites, or knights, who were a distinct order in the
distribution of citizens.—The Grecian cavalry were di¬
vided into cataphractce and non cataphractce, i. e. into
heavy and light armed.—Of all the Greeks, the Thes¬
salians excelled most in cavalry. The Lacedemonians,
inhabiting a mountainous country, were but meanly
furnished with cavalry, till, carrying their arms into
other countries, they found great occasion for horse to
support and cover their foot. The Athenian cavalry,
for a considerable time, consisted only of 96 horsemen :
after expelling the Persians out of Greece, they increas¬
ed the number to 300 5 and afterwards to 1 200, which
Was the highest pitch of the Athenian cavalry.
The chief use of the cavalry is to make frequent
excursions to disturb the enemy, intercept his convoys,
and destroy the country : in battle to support and cover
the foot, and to break through and disorder the ene¬
my : also to secure the retreat of the foot. Formerly,
the manner of fighting of the cavalry was, after firing
15 J C A U
their pistols or carabines, to wheel off, to give oppor- Cavalry
tunity for loading again. Gustavus Adolphus is said ||
to have first taught the cavalry to charge through, to Caudex.
march straight up to the enemy, with the sword drawn v
in the bridle hand, and each man having fired his
piece, at the proper distance, to betake himself to his
sword, and charge the enemy as was found most ad¬
vantageous.
CAVAN, a town of Ireland, and capital of a coun¬
ty of the same name, in the province of Ulster, situat¬
ed in W. Long. 6. 32. N. Lat. 54. o.
Cavan, a county of Ireland, 47 miles in length and
23 in breadth j is bounded on the ea$t by Monaghan,
and on the south by Longford, West-Meath, and East-
Meath. It has but two towns of any note, viz. Cavan
and Kilmore. It contains 33 parishes, and in 1801
was computed to have 18,000 houses and 90,000 in¬
habitants. The county sends two members to the im¬
perial parliament. It has nine market towns. See
Cavan, Supplement.
CAVANILLES, Antonio Joseph, an eminent
Spanish botanist. See SUPPLEMENT.
CAUBUL, an extensive country in Asia. See Sup¬
plement.
CAUCASUS, the name of a very high mountain of
Asia, being one of that great ridge which runs between
the Black and Caspian seas. Sir John Chardin de¬
scribes this as the highest mountain, and the most
difficult to pass, of any he had seen. It has frightful
precipices, and in many places the roads ai’e cut out of
the solid rock. At the time he passed it, the moun¬
tain was entirely covered with snow y so that, in many
places, his guides behoved to clear the way with
shovels. The mountain is 36 leagues over, and the
summit of it eight leagues in breadth. The top is per¬
petually covered with snow j and our traveller relates,
that the two last days he seemed to be in the clouds,
and was not able to see 20 paces before him. Except¬
ing the very top, however, all the parts of Mount
Caucasus are extremely fruitful $ abounding in honey,
corn, fruits, hogs, and large cattle. The vines twine
about the trees, and rise so high, that the inhabitants
cannot gather the fruit from the uppermost branches.
There are many streams of excellent water, and a
vast number of villages. The inhabitants are for the
most part Christians of the Georgian church. I hey
have fine complexions, and the women are very beauti¬
ful.—In the winter they wear snow shoes in the form
of rackets, which prevent their sinking in the snow, and
enable them to run upon it with great swiftness.
CAUDEBEC, a rich, populous, and trading town,
in Normandy, and capital of the territory of Caux. It
is seated at the foot of a mountain near the river Seine,
in E. Long. o. 46. N. Lat..40. 30.
CAUDEX, by Malpighi and other botanists, is
used to signify the stem or trunk of a tree j by Lin¬
naeus, the stock or body of the root, part of which
ascends, part descends. The ascending part raises it¬
self gradually above ground, serving frequently for a
trunk, and corresponds in some measure to the cau¬
dex of former writers 5 the descending part strikes
gradually downward into the ground, and puts forth
radicles or small fibres, which are the principal and
essential part of every root. The descending cau-
C A V [ 286 ] C A V
dex therefore corresponds to the radix of other bota¬
nists. Agreeably to this idea, Linnseus considers trees
and shrubs as roots above ground; an opinion which
is confirmed by a well known fact, that trees, when
inverted, put forth leaves from the descending cau-
dex, and radicles or roots from the ascending. For the
varieties in the descending caudex, see the article
Kadix.
CAUDIUM, in Ancient Geography, a town of Sam-
nium, on the Via Appia, between Galatia and Bene-
ventum : Caudinus, the epithet. The Caudince Fur-
cce, Furcatce, were memorable by the disgrace of the
Romans $ being spears disposed in the form of a gal¬
lows, under which prisoners of war were made to pass,
and gave name to a defile or narrow pass near Cau-
diu?n (Livy) j where the Samnites obliged the Roman
army and the two consuls to lay down their arms, and
pass under the gallows, or yoke, as a token of subjec¬
tion.
CAVE, any large subterraneous hollow. These
v/ere undoubtedly the primitive habitations, before
men began to build edifices above ground. The pri¬
mitive method of burial was also to reposite the bodies
in caves, which seems to have been the origin of cata¬
combs. They long continued the proper habitations
of shepherds. Among the Romans, caves {antra)
used to be consecrated to nymphs, who were worship¬
ed in caves, as other gods were in temples. The
Persians also worshipped their god Mithras in a na¬
tural cave consecrated for the purpose by Zoroaster.
The cave of the nymph Egeria is still shown at Rome.
Kircber, after GalFarellus, enumerates divers species
of caves ; as divine, natural, &c.—Of natural caves
some are possessed of a medicinal virtue, as the Grot¬
to de Serpente ; others are poisonous or mephitical :
some are replete with metalline exhalations, and others
with waters. Divine caves were those said to affect
the human mind and passions in various ways, and
even to inspire with a knowledge of future events.
Such were the sacred caverns at Delphi which in¬
spired the Pythia $ the Sibyl’s cave at Cumae, still
shown near the lake Avernus; the cave of Tropho-
nius, &c.
Cave, Fir TFilham, a learned English divine, born
in 1637? educated in St John’s College, Cambridge ;
and successively minister of Hasely in Oxfordshire, All¬
hallows the Great in London, and of Islington. He
became chaplain to Charles II. and in 1684 was install¬
ed a canon of Windsor. He compiled the Lives of the
Primitive Fathers in the three first Centuries of the
Church, which is esteemed a very useful work, and His-
tdria Liter aria, &c. in which he gives an exact account
of all who had written for or against Christianity from
the time of Christ to the 14th century: which works
produced a very warm dispute between Dr Cave and M.
le Clerc, who was then writing his Bibliotheque Uni-
verselle in Holland, and who charged the doctor with
partiality. Dr Cave died in 1713.
Cave, Edward, printer, celebrated as the projector
of the Gentleman's Magazine,—the first publication of
the species, and since
The fruitful mother of a thousand more,
was born in 1691. His father being disappointed
-of some small family expectations, was reduced to fol¬
low the trade of a shoemaker at Rugby in Warwick- ca,0
shire. The free school of this place, in which his son L--v-
had, by the rules of its foundation, a right to be in¬
structed, was then in high reputation, under the Rev.
Mr Holyock, to whose care most of the neighbouring
families, even of the highest rank, intrusted their sons.
Lie had judgment to discover, and for some time
generosity to encourage, the genius of young Cave j
and was so well pleased with his quick progress in the
school, that he declared his resolution to breed him
for the university, and recommend him as a servitor to
some of his scholars of high rank. But prosperity
which depends upon the caprice of others is of short
duration. Cave’s superiority in literature exalted him
to an invidious familiarity with boys who were far
above him in rank and expectations ; and, as in un¬
equal associations it always happens, whatever unlucky
prank was played was imputed to Cave. When anv
mischief, great or small, was done, though perhaps
others boasted of the stratagem when it was successful,
yet upon detection or miscarriage, the fault was sure to
fall to poor Cave. The harsh treatment he experienced
from this source, and which he bore for a while, made
him at last leave the school, and the hope of a literary
education, to seek some other means of gaining a
livelihood.
He was first placed with a collector of the excise j
hut the insolence of his mistress, who employed him
in servile drudgery, quickly disgusted him, and he went
up to London in quest of more suitable employment.
He was recommended to a timber merchant at the
Bankside; and while he was there on liking, is said to
have given hopes of great mercantile abilities; hut this
place he soon left, and was bound apprentice to Mr
Collins, a printer of some reputation, and deputy aider-
man. This was a trade for which men were formerly
qualified by a literary education, and which was pleasing
to Cave, because it furnished some employment for his
scholastic attainments. Here, therefore, he resolved to
settle, though his master and mistress lived in perpetual
discord, and their house was therefore no comfortable
habitation. From the inconveniences of these domestic
tumults he was soon released, having in only two years
attained so much skill in his art, and gained so much
the confidence of his master, that he was sent without
any superintendant to conduct a printing house at
Norwich, and publish a weekly paper. In this under¬
taking he met with some opposition, which produced
a public controversy, and procured young Cave the
reputation of a writer.
His master died before his apprenticeship was ex¬
pired, and he was not able to bear the perverseness of
his mistress $ he therefore quitted her house upon a
stipulated allowance, and married a young widow, with
whom he lived at Bow. When his apprenticeship was
over, he worked as a journeyman at the printing-house
of Mr Barhar, a man much distinguished and employ¬
ed by the Tories, whose principles had at that time so
much prevalence with Cave, that he was for some
years a writer in Mist’s Journal. Lie afterwards ob¬
tained by his wife’s interest a small place in the post-
office j hut still continued, at his intervals of attend¬
ance, to exercise his trade, or to employ himself with
some typographical business. He corrected the Grc-
dus ad Farnassum ; and was liberally rewarded by the
Company
( c
{
C A V C 287 ]
C A V
Company of Stationers. He wrote an Account of the
Criminals, which had for some time a considerable sale j
and published many little pamphlets that accident
1 brought into his hands, of which it would be very dif¬
ficult to recover the memory. By the correspondence
which his place in the post-ofiice facilitated, he pro¬
cured a country newspaper, and sold their intelligence
to a journalist in London for a guinea a-week. He
was afterwards raised to the office of the clerk of the
franks, in which he acted with great spirit and firm¬
ness ; and often stopped franks which were given by
members of parliament to their friends, because he
thought such extension of a peculiar right illegal. This
raised many complaints j and the influence that was
exerted against him procured his ejectment from office.
He had now, however, collected a sum sufficient for the
purchase of a small printing office, and began the Gen¬
tleman’s Magazine 5 an undertaking to which he owed
the affluence in which he passed the last 20 years of his
life, and the large fortune which he left behind him.
When he formed the project, he was far from expecting
the success which he found j and others had so little
prospect of its consequence, that though he had for se¬
veral years talked of his plan among printers and
booksellers, none of them thought it worth the trial.
That they were not (says Hr Johnson) restrained by
their virtue from the execution of another man’s design,
was sufficiently apparent as soon as that design began to
be gainful } for, in a few years, a multitude of maga¬
zines arose, and perished ; only the London Magazine,
supported by a powerful association of booksellers, and
circulated with all the art and all the cunning of trade,
exempted itself from the general fate of Cave’s in¬
vaders, and obtained, though not an equal, yet a con¬
siderable sale.
Cave now began to aspire to popularity ; and be¬
ing a greater lover of poetry than any other art, he
sometimes offered subjects for poems, and proposed
prizes for the best performers. The first prize was 50!.
lor which, being but newly acquainted with wealth,
and thinking the influence of 50I. extremely great, he
expected the first authors of the kingdom to appear
as competitors, and offered the allotment of the prize
to the universities. But, when the time came, no name
was seen among the writers that had been ever seen
before 5 and the universities and several private men re¬
jected the province of assigning the prize. The deter¬
mination was then left to Hr Cromwell Mortimer and
Hr Birch j and by the latter the award was made,
which may be seen in Gent. Mag. vol. vi. p. 59.
Mr Cave continued to improve his Magazine, and
had the satisfaction of seeing its success proportionate
to his diligence, till in 1751 his wife died of an asthma.
He seemed not at first much affected by her death, but
in a few days lost his sleep and his appetite, which he
never recovered. After having lingered about two
years, with many vicissitudes of amendment and relapse,
he fell by drinking acid liquors into a diarrhoea, and
afterwards into a kind of lethargic insensibility j and
died Jan. 10. 1754, having just concluded the 23d an¬
nual collection.
CAYEARE. See Caviarf.
CAVEAT, in Law, a kind of process in the spiri¬
tual courts, to stop the proving of a will, the granting
tithes of administration, &c. to the prejudice of an-
2
other. It is also used to stop the institution of a clerk Caveat
to a benefice. jj
CAVEATING, in fencing, is the shifting the Cavendish,
sword from one side of that of your adversary to the “*
other.
CAVE HO, in commerce, a Portuguese long mea¬
sure, equal to 27t3oVo English inches.
CAV ENHISH, Thomas, of Suffolk, the second
Englishman that sailed round the globe, was descended
from a noble family in Hevonshire. Having dissipated
his fortune, he resolved to repair it at the expence of
the Spaniards. He sailed from Plymouth with two
small ships in July 1586 passed through the straits of
Magellan j took many rich prizes along the coasts of
Chili and Peru j and near California, possessed himself
of the St Ann, an Acapulco ship, with a cargo of im¬
mense value. He completed the circumnavigation of
the globe, returning home round the Cape of Good
Hope, and reached Plymouth again in September
1588. On his arrival, it is said that his soldiers and
sailors were clothed in silk, his sails were damask, and
his top-mast was covered with cloth of gold. His ac¬
quired riches did not last long: he reduced himself, in
i59i5 t° the expedient of another voyage 5 which was
far from being so successful as the former $ he went no
farther than the straits of Magellan, where the weather
obliging him to return, he died of grief on the coast
of Brasil.
Cavendish, Sir William, descended of an ancient
and honourable family, was born about the year 1505,
the second son of Thomas Cavendish of Cavendish in
Suffolk, clerk of the pipe in the reign of Henry VIII.
Having had a liberal education, he was taken into the
family of the great Cardinal Wolsey, whom he served
in the capacity of gentleman-usher of the chamber,
when that superb prelate maintained the dignity of a
prince. In 1527, he attended his master on his splen¬
did embassy to France, returned with him to England,
and was one of the few who continued faithful to him
in his disgrace. Mr Cavendish was with him when
he died, and delayed going to court till he had per¬
formed the last duty of a faithful servant by seeing his
body decently interred. The king was so far from
disapproving of his conduct, that he immediately took
him into his household, made him treasurer of his
chamber, a privy counsellor, and afterwards conferred
on him the order of knighthood. He was also ap¬
pointed one of the commissioners for taking the sur¬
render of religious houses, In 1540, he was nominated
one of the auditors of the court of augmentations, and
soon after obtained a grant of several considerable
lordships in Hertfordshire. In the reign of Edward VI.
his estates were much increased by royal grants in seven
different counties \ and he appears to have continued
in high favour at court during the reign of Queen
Mary. He died in the year 1557. He was the foun¬
der of Chatsworth, and ancestor of the dukes of He¬
vonshire. He wrote “ The life and death of Cardinal
Wolsey j printed at London in 1607 j reprinted in
1706, under the title of “ Memoirs of the great favour¬
ite Cardinal Wolsey.”
Cavendish, William, Buke of Newcastle, grandson
of Sir William Cavendish, was born in 1592-
1610, he was made knight of the Bath 5 in 1620,
raised to the dignity of a peer, by the title of Baron
Ogle,
c A V ' [ 288 ] C A V
Cavendish. Ogle, and Viscount Mansfield 5 and in the third year
v——v—" l"/ of King Charles I. created earl of Newcastle upon
Tyne, and Baron Cavendish of Bolesover. He was
after this made governor to the prince of Wales, af¬
terwards Charles II. When the first troubles broke
out in Scotland, and the king’s treasury was but indif¬
ferently provided, he contributed ten thousand pounds,
and also raised a troop of horse, consisting of about
two hundred knights and gentlemen, who served at
their own charge, were commanded by the earl, and
honoured with the title of the prince's troop. He had
after this the command of the northern counties 5 and
was constituted general and commander in chief of all
the forces that might be raised north of Trent, and of
several counties south of that river. He afterwards
raised an army of eight thousand horse, foot, and dra¬
goons $ with which he took some towns, and gained
several important victories. On this he was advanced
to the dignity of marquis of Newcastle j but his ma¬
jesty’s affairs being totally ruined by the rashness of
Prince Rupert, he, with a few of the principal officers
of the army, went abroad, and staid for some time at
Paris 5 where, notwithstanding the vast estate he had
when the civil war broke out, his circumstances were
now so bad, that himself and wife W'ere reduced to the
necessity of pawning their clothes for a dinner. He
afterwards removed to Antwerp, that he might be
nearer his own country : and there, though under
great difficulties, resided for several years $ but, not¬
withstanding his distresses, he was treated, during an
exile of eighteen years, with extraordinary marks of
distinction. On his return to England at the Restora¬
tion, he was advanced to the dignity of earl of Ogle,
and duke of Newcastle. He spent his time in a coun¬
try retirement, and was the patron of men of merit.
His grace died in 1670, aged 84. He wrote a treatise
on horsemanship, which is esteemed: and some come¬
dies, which are not.
Mr Granger observes, that he was master of many
accomplishments, and was much better qualified for a
court than a camp ) that he understood horsemanship,
music, and poetry *, but was a better horseman than
musician, and a better musician than poet.
Cavendish, Margaret, duchess of Newcastle, fa¬
mous for her voluminous productions, was born about
the latter end of the reign of James I. and was the
youngest sister of Lord Lucas of Colchester. She
married the duke of Newcastle abroad in 1645 j and
on their return after the Restoration, spent the remain¬
der of her life in writing plays, poems, with the life
of her husband, to the amount of about a dozen of fo¬
lios. “ What gives the best idea of her unbounded
passion for scribbling (says Mr Walpole), was her sel¬
dom revising the copies of her works, lest, as she said,
it should disturb her following conceptions.” She died
in 1673.
Cavendish, William, the first duke of Devonshire,
and one of the most distinguished patriots in the Bri¬
tish annals, was born in 1640. In 1677, being then
member for Derby, he vigorously opposed the venal
measures of the court 5 and, the following year, was
one of the committee appointed to draw up articles of
impeachment against the lord treasurer Danby. In
1679, being re-elected to serve for Derby in a new
parliament, Charles II. thought fit to make him a
3
privy counsellor •, but he soon withdrew from the board, Catendi,
with his friend Lord Russel, when he found that Popish ||
interest prevailed. He carried up the articles of im- Ca™«
peachment to the house of lords, against Lord-chief-
justice Scroggs, for his arbitrary and illegal proceed¬
ings in the court of king’s bench 5 and when the king
declared his resolution not to sign the bill for exclud¬
ing the duke of York (afterwards James II.) he mov¬
ed the house of a commons, that a bill might be brought
in for the association of all his majesty’s Protestant sub¬
jects. He also openly named the king’s evil counsel¬
lors, and voted for an address to remove them from
his presence and councils for ever. He nobly appear¬
ed at Lord Russel’s trial, in defence of that great man,
at a time when it was scarce more criminal to be an
accomplice than a witness for him. The same forti¬
tude, activity, and love of his country, animated this
illustrious patriot to oppose the arbitrary proceedings
of James II. j and when he saw there was no other
method of saving the nation from impending slavery,
he was the foremost in the association for inviting over
the prince of Orange, and the first nobleman who ap¬
peared in arms to receive him at his landing. He
was created duke of Devonshire in 1694, by William
and Mary. His last public service was in the union
with Scotland, for concluding of which he was appoint¬
ed a commissioner by Queen Anne. He died in 1707,
and ordered the following inscription to be put on his
monument.
Willielmus dux Devon,
Jdonorum Principum Fidelis subditus,
Inimicus et Invisus Tyrannis.
William duke of Devonshire,
Of good Princes the faithful Subject,
The Enemy and Aversion of Tyrants.
Besides being thus estimable for public virtues, his
grace was distinguished by his literary accomplishments.
He had a poetical genius, which showed itself particu¬
larly in two pieces written with equal spirit, dignity,
and delicacy : these are, an Ode on the Death of Queen
Mary ; and an allusion to the archbishop of Cambray’s
Supplement to Homer. He had great knowledge in
the languages, was a true judge in history, and a critic
in poetry $ he had a fine hand in music, an elegant
taste in painting, and in architecture had a skill equal
to any person of the age in which he lived. His pre¬
decessor, Sir John Cavendish, was the person who kill¬
ed the famous Wat Tyler in 1381.
Cavendish, Henry, an eminent chemist and natu¬
ral philosopher. See SUPPLEMENT.
CAVETTO, in Architecture, a hollow member, or
round concave moulding, containing a quadrant of a
circle, used as an ornament.
CAVEZON, in the manege, a sort of nose band,
either of iron, leather, or wood, sometimes flat, and
at other times hollow or twiste^, clapt upon the nose
of a horse to wring it, and so forward the suppling and
breaking of the horse.
CAVIARE, a kind of food lately introduced into
Britain. It is made of the hard roes of sturgeon S«e
formed into small cakes, about an inch thick, and three
or four inches broad. The method of making it is,
by taking out of the spawn all the nerves or strings,
then washing it in white wine or vinegar, and spread¬
ing
r
C A U [ 289 ] C A U
c ing it on a table. It is then salted and pressed in a
fine bag; after which it is cased up in a vessel with a
• hole at the bottom, that if any moisture is left it may
run out. This kind of food is in gi-eat request among
the Muscovites, on account of their three lents, which
they keep with a superstitious exactness j wherefore
the Italians settled at Moscow drive a very great trade
in this commodity throughout that empire, there being
a prodigious quantity of stux-geon taken at the mouth
of the Wolga and other rivers which fall into the Cas¬
pian sea. A pretty large quantity of the commodity
is also consumed in Italy and France. They get the
caviare from Archangel, but commonly buy it at se¬
cond hand of the English and Dutch.—According to
Savary, the best caviare brought frem Muscovy is pre¬
pared from the belluga, a fish eight or ten feet long,
caught in the Caspian sea, which is much pi’eferable
to that made of the spawn of a sturgeon. A kind of
caviare, or rather sausage, is also made from the spawn
of some other fishes ; particularly a sort of mullet
caught in the Mediterranean. See Mugil and Bo-
tar go.
CAVIDOS. See Cabidos.
CAVIL {cavillatio'), is defined by some a fallacious
kind of reason, carrying some resemblance of truth,
which a person, knowing its falsehood, advances in dis¬
pute for the sake of victory. The ai't of framing so¬
phisms or fallacies is called by Boethius cavillatoria.
CAUK, or Cawk. See Barytes, Chemistry
and Mineralogy Index.
CAUKING, or Caulking of a Ship, is driving a
quantity of oakum, or old ropes untwisted and drawn
asunder, into the seams of the planks, or into the
intervals where the planks are joined together in the
ship’s decks or sides, in order to prevent the entrance
of water. After the oakum is driven very hard into
these seams, it is covered with hot melted pitch or
rosin, to keep the water from rotting it.
Among the ancients, the first who made use of pitch
in caulking, were the inhabitants of Phueacia, aftei'-
wards called Corsica. Wax and rosin appear to have
been commonly used previous to that pei’iod 5 and the
Poles at this time use a sort of unctuous clay for the
same purpose on their navigable rivers.
Caulking Irons, are iron chissels for that purpose.
Some of these irons are broad, some round, and others
grooved. After the seams are stopped with oakum,
it is done over with a mixture of tallow, pitch, and tar,
as low as the ship draws xvater.
CAUL, in Anatomy, a membrane in the abdomen,
covering the greatest part of the guts ; called, from its
structure, Reticulum, but most frequently Omentum.
See Anatomy Index.
Caul is likewise a little membrane, found on some
children, encompassing the head tvhen born.
Drelincourt takes the caul to be^only a fragment of
the membranes of the foetus ; which ordinarily break
at the birth of the child. Lampridius tells us, that
the midwives sold this caul at a good price to the advo¬
cates and pleaders of his time ; it being an opinion,
that while they had this about them, they should carry
with them a force of persuasion which no judge could
withstand ; the canons forbid the use of it, because
some witches and soi’cerers, it seems, had abused it.
Vol. V. Part I. * t
CAULIFLOWERS, in Gardetiing, a much esteem- CauK-
ed species of cabbage. See Brassica. flowers
CAURIS, in Nalzeral History, a name given by some ^
to the genus of shells called, by the generality of. ~ ■>
writers, porcellana and concha venerea, ft is from a
false pronunciation of this word cauris that these shells
are called cowries. See Porcelain Shell, Conchology
Index.
CAURSINES (Cat/rsini), were Italians that came
into England about the year 1235, terming themselves
the pope's merchants, but driving no other trade than
letting out money; and having great banks in England,
they differed little from Jews, save (as history says) they
were rather more merciless to their debtors. Some will
have them called Coursines, quasi'CV/zwa Ursini, bearish,
or cruel in their causes ; others Caorsini or Corsini, as
coming from the isle of Coi’sica ; but Cowel says, they
have their name from Caorsium, Caorsi, a town in
Lombardy, where they first practised their arts of usury
and extortion ; from whence spreading themselves, they
carried their infamous trade through most parts of Eu¬
rope, and were a common plague to every nation where
they came. The then bishop of London excommuni¬
cated them ; and King Henry III. banished them from
the kingdom in the year 1240. But, being the pope’s
solicitors and money changers, they were permitted to
return in the year i2^o ; though in a very short time
they were again driven out of the kingdom on account
of their intolerable exactions.
CAUSA matrimonii pralLocuti, in common
law, a writ that lies where a woman gives lands to a
man in fee to the intent he shall marry her, and he
refuses to do it in a reasonable time, being thereupon
required by the woman ; and in such case, for not pei’-
forming the condition, the entry of the woman into the
lands again has been adjudged lawful.
The husband and wife may sue this writ against
another who ought to have married her. .
CAUSALITY, among metaphysicians, the action or
power of a cause in producing its effect.
CAUSALTY, among miners, denotes the lighter,
sulphureous, earthy parts of ores, carried off in the
operation of washing. This, in the mines, they throw
in heaps upon banks, which in six or seven years they
find it worth their while to work over again.
CAUSE, that from whence any thing proceeds, or
by virtue of which any thing is done; it stands opposed
to effect. We get the ideas of cause and effect from
our observation of the vicissitude of things, while we
perceive some qualities or substances begin to exist,
and that they receive their existence from the due ap¬
plication and operation of other beings. That which
produces, is the cause ; and that which is produced,
the effect; thus, fluidity in wax is the effect of a certain
degree of heat, which we observe to be constantly pro¬
duced by the application of such heat.
Aristotle, and the schoolmen after him, distinguished on t/ie
four kinds of causes ; the efficient, the material, the -Actn c
formal, and the final. This, like many of Aristotle’s s ^
distinctions, is only a distinction of the various mean¬
ings of an ambiguous word ; for the efficient, the
matter, the form, and the end, have nothing common
in their nature, by which they may be accounted species
of the same genus; but the Greek word, which we
O 0 translate
C A U [ 290 ] C A U
Cause, translate cause, bad these four different meanings in
—~v * Aristotle’s days, and we have added other meanings.
We do not indeed call the matter or the form of a
thing its cause 5 but we have final causes, instrumental
causes, occasional causes, and many others. Thus the
word cause has been so hackneyed, and made to have
so many different meanings in the writings of philoso¬
phers, and in the discourse of the vulgar, that its ori¬
ginal and proper meaning is lost in the crowd.
With regard to the phenomena of nature, the im¬
portant end of knowing their causes, besides gratifying
our curiosity, is, that we may know when to expect
them, or how to bring them about. This is very often
of real importance in life j and this purpose is served,
by knowing what, by the course of nature, goes before
them and is connected with them ; and this, therefore,
we call the cause of such a phenomenon.
If a magnet be brought near to a mariner’s compass,
the needle, which was before at rest, immediately begins
to move, and bends its course towards the magnet, or
perhaps the contrary way. If an unlearned sailor is
asked the cause of this motion of the needle, he is at
no loss for an answer. He tells you it is the magnet j
and the proof is clear j for, remove the magnet, and
the effect ceases ; bring it near, and the effect is again
produced. It is, therefore, evident to sense, that the
magnet is the cause of this effect.
A Cartesian philosopher enters deeper into the cause
of this phenomenon. He observes, that the magnet
does not touch the needle, and therefore can give it
no impulse. He pities the ignorance of the sailor.
The effect is produced, says he, by magnetic effluvia,
or subtle matter, which passes from the magnet to the
needle, and forces it from its place. He can even
shew you, in a figure, where these magnetic effluvia
issue from the magnet, what round they take, and what
way they return home again. And thus he thinks he
comprehends perfectly how, and by what cause, the
motion of the needle is produced.
A Newtonian philosopher inquires what proof can
be offered for the existence of magnetic effluvia, and
can find none. He therefore holds it as a fiction, a
hypothesis j and he has learned that hypothesis ought
to have no place in the philosophy of nature. He
confesses his ignorance of the real cause of this motion,
and thinks that his business as a philosopher is only
to find from experiment the laws by which it is regula¬
ted in all cases.
These three persons differ much in their sentiments
with regard to the real cause of this phenomenon •, and
the man who knows most is he who is sensible that lie
knows nothing of the matter. Yet all the three speak
the same language, and acknowledge that the cause of
this motion is the attractive or repulsive power of the
magnet.
What has been said of this, may be applied to every
phenomenon that falls within the compass of natural
philosophy. We deceive ourselves, if we conceive that
we can point out the real efficient cause of any one of
them.
The grandest discovery ever made in natural philo¬
sophy, was that of the law of gravitation, which opens
such a view of our planetary system, that it looks like
something divine. But the author of this discovery
was perfectly aware that he discovered no real cause,
2
but only the law or rule according to which the un- f,,,
known cause operates. s-—y-
Natural philosophers, who think accurately, have a
precise meaning to the terms they use in the science;
and when they pretend to shew the cause of any phe¬
nomenon of nature, they mean by the cause, a law of
nature of which that phenomenon is a necessary conse*
quence.
The whole object of natural philosophy, as Newton
expressly teaches, is reducible to these two heads:
first, by just induction from experiment and observa¬
tion, to discover the laws of nature ; and then to apply
those laws to the solution of the phenomena of nature.
This was all that this great philosopher attempted, and
all that was thought attainable. And this indeed he
attained in a great measure, with regard to the mo¬
tions of our planetai-y system, and with regard to the
rays of light.
But supposing that all the phenomena which fall
within the reach of our senses were accounted for from
general laws of nature justly deduced from experience '7
that is, supposing natural philosophy brought to its ut¬
most perfection : it does not discover the efficient cause
of any one phenomenon in nature.
The laws of nature are the rules according to which
the effects are produced ; but there must be a cause
which operates according to these rules. The rules of
navigation never navigated a ship. The rules of ar¬
chitecture never built a house.
Natural philosophers, by great attention to the course
of nature, have discovered many of her laws, and have
very happily applied them to account for many pheno¬
mena : but they have never discovered the efficient cause
of any one phenomenon ; nor do those who have di¬
stinct notions of the principles of the science make any
such pretence.
Upon the theatre of nature we see innumerable ef¬
fects which require an agent endowed with active
power: but the agent is behind the scene. Whether
it be the Supreme cause alone, or a subordinate cause
or causes ; and if subordinate causes be employed by
the Almighty, what their nature, their number, and
their different offices may be, are things hid, for wise
reasons, without doubt, from the human eye.
Cause, among civilians, the same with action. See
Action.
Cause, among physicians. The cause of a disease
is defined by Galen to be that during the presence of
which we are ill, and which being removed, the dis¬
order immediately ceases. The doctrine of the causes
of diseases is called ETIOLOGY.
Physicians divide causes into procatarctic, antece¬
dent, and continent.
Procatarctic Cause (euncc %^ox.ot,Tu^tTiKi\), called also
primitive anti incipient cause, is either an occasion which
of its own nature does not beget a disease, but happen¬
ing on a body inclined to diseases, breeds a fever, gout,
&c. (such as are watching, fasting, and the like); or
an evident and manifest cause, which immediately pro¬
duces the disease, as being sufficient thereto, such as is
a sword in respect of a wound.
Antecedent Cause, {uitix Tr^wyxp.wi), a latent dispo¬
sition of the body, from whence some disease may
arise : such as a plethora in respect of a fever, a caco-
chymia in respect of a scurvy.
Continent,
C A U [ 291 ] C A U
c Continent, Conjunct, or Proximate Cause, that prin¬
ciple in the body which immediately adheres to the dis-
ease? and which being present, the disease is also pre-
sent: or, which being removed, the disease is taken
away : such is the stone in a nephritic patient.
CAUSEWAY, or Causey, a massive construction
of stones, stakes, and fascines ; or an elevation of fat
viscous earth, well beaten : serving either as a road in
wet marshy places, or as a mole to retain the waters
of a pond, or prevent a river from overflowing the
lower grounds. See Road.—The word comes from
the French chaussee, anciently wrote chaulse'e; and that
from the Latin calceata, or calcata ; according to Som-
ner and Spelman, a calcando. Bergier rather takes
the word to have had its rise a peditum calceis, quibus
. teruntur. Some derive it from the Latin calx, or
French chaux, as supposing it primarily to denote a
way paved with chalk stones.
Causeway, {calcetum or caked), more usually de¬
notes a common hard raised way, maintained and re¬
paired with stones and rubbish.
Devil's Causeway, a famous work of this kind,
which ranges through the county of Northumberland,
commonly supposed to be Roman, though Mr Horsley
suspects it to be of later times.
Giant's Causeway, is a denomination given to a huge
pile of stony columns in the district of Coleraine in Ire¬
land. See Giant's Causeway.
CAUSSIN, Nicholas, surnamed the Just,, a French
Jesuit, was born at Troyes in Champagne, in the year
1580; and entered into the Jesuits order when he was
26 years of age. He taught rhetoric in several of their
colleges, and afterwards began to preach, by which he
gained very great reputation. He increased this re¬
putation by publishing books, and in time was prefer¬
red to be confessor to the king. But he did not dis¬
charge this office to the satisfaction of Cardinal Riche¬
lieu, though he discharged it to the satisfaction of every
honest man; and therefore it is not to be wondered at
that he came at length to be removed. He died in the
Jesuits convent at Paris in 1651. None of his works
did him more honour than that which he entitled La
Cour Sainte. It has been printed a great many times ;
and translated into Latin, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese,
German, and English. He published several other
books both in Latin and French.
CAUSTICITY, a quality belonging to several sub¬
stances, by the acrimony of which the parts of living
animals may be corroded and destroyed. Bodies which
have this quality, when taken internally, are true poi¬
sons. The causticity of some of these, as of arsenic, is
so deadly, that even their external use is proscribed by
prudent physicians. Several others, as nitrous acid, la¬
pis infernalis or lunar caustic, common caustic, butter
of antimony, are daily and successfully used to consume
fungous flesh, to open issues, &c. They succeed very
well when properly employed and skilfully managed.
The causticity of bodies depends entirely on the
state of the saline, and chiefly of the acid matters they
contain. When these acids happen to be at the same
time much concentrated, and slightly attached to the
matters with which they are combined, they are then
capable of acting, and are corrosive or caustic. Thus
fixed and volatile alkalies, although they are themselves
caustic, become much more so by being treated with
quicklime; because this substance deprives them of
all their fixed air, or carbonic acid, to which they owe
their mildness. By this treatment, then, the saline prin¬
ciple is more disengaged, and rendered more capable of
action. Also all combinations of metallic matters with
acids form salts more or less corrosive, because these
acids are deprived of all their superabundant water,
and are besides but imperfectly saturated with the me¬
tallic matters. Nevertheless, some other circumstance
is necessary to constitute the causticity of these saline
metalline matters. For the same quantity of marine
acid, which, when pure and diluted with a certain
quantity of water, would be productive of no harm,
shall, however, produce all the effects of a corrosive
poison, when it is united with mercury in corrosive sub¬
limate, although the sublimate shall be dissolved in so
much water that its causticity cannot be attributed to
the concentration of its acid. This effect is, by some
chemists, attributed to the great weight of the metal¬
lic matters, with which the acid is united ; and this
opinion is very probable, seeing its causticity is nothing
but its dissolving power, or its disposition to combine
with other bodies; and this disposition is nothing else
than attraction.
On this subject Dr Black observes, that the com¬
pounds produced by the union of the metals with acids
are in general corrosive. Many of them applied to the
skin destroy it almost as fast as the mineral acids; and
some of the most powerful potential cauteries are made
in this way. Some are reckoned more acrid than the
pure acids themselves; and they have more powerful
effects when taken internally, or at least seem to have.
Thus we can take 10 or 12 drops of a fossil acid, di¬
luted with water, without being disturbed by it; but
the same quantity of acid previously combined with sil¬
ver, quicksilver, copper, or regulus of antimony, will
throw the body into violent disorders, or even prove a
poison, if taken all at once.
This increased activity was, by the mechanical phi¬
losophers, supposed to arise from the weight of the
metallic particles. They imagined that the acid was
composed of minute particles of the shape of needles or
wedges; by which means they were capable of enter¬
ing the pores of other bodies, separating their atoms
from each other, and thus dissolving them. To these
acid spiculm the metallic particles gave more force;
and the momentum of each particular needle or wedge
was increased in proportion to its increase of gravity by
the additional weight of the metallic particle. But
this theory is entirely fanciful, and does not correspond
with facts. The activity of the compound is not in
proportion to the weight of the metal ; nor are the
compounds always possessed of any great degree of
acrimony: neither is it true that any of them have a
greater power of destroying animal substances than the
pure acids have.
There is a material difference between the powers
called stimuli and corrosives. Let a person apply to
any part of the skin a small quantity of lunar caustic,
and likewise a drop of strong nitrous acid, and he will
find that the acid acts with more violence than the
caustic; and the disorders that are occasioned by the
compounds of metals and acids do not proceed from a
causticity in them, but from the metal affecting and
proving a stimulus to the nerves: and that this is the
O 0 2 case,
C A U [ 292 ] CAY
Causticity case,appears from their affecting some particular nerves
i! of th» body. Thus the compounds of antimony and
, Cautery. merCury with the vegetable acids, do not show the
smallest degree of acrimony; but, taken internally,
they produce violent convulsive motions over the whole
body, which are occasioned by the metallic matter
having a power of producing this effect ; and the acid
is only the means of bringing it into a dissolved state,
and making it capable of acting on the nervous
system. In general, however, the compounds of me¬
tallic substances with acids may be considered as mild¬
er than the acids in a separate state ; but the acid is
not so much neutralized as in other compounds, for it
is less powerfully attracted by the metal ; so that al¬
kaline salts, absorbent earths, or even heat alone, will
decompound them ; and some of the inflammable sub¬
stances, as spirit of wine, aromatic oils, &c. will at¬
tract the acid, and precipitate the metal in its metallic
form : and the metals can be employed to preci¬
pitate one another in their metallic form ; so that the
cohesion of these compounds is much weaker than
those formed of the same acids with alkaline salts or
earths.
CAUSTICS, is an appellation given to substances
of so hot and fiery a nature, that, being applied, they
consume, and as it were burn, the texture of the parts,
like hot iron.
Caustics are generally divided into four sorts ; the
common stronger caustic, the common milder caustic,
the antimonial caustic, and the lunar caustic. See
Pharmacy and Chemistry Index.
Caustic Curve, in the higher geometry, a curve
formed by the concourse or coincidence of the rays of
light reflected from some other curve.
CAUSUS, or Burning Fever, a species of con¬
tinual fever, accompanied with a remarkable inflamma¬
tion of the blood.
CAUTERIZATION, the act of burning or sear¬
ing some morbid part, by the application of fire either
actual or potential. In some places they cauterize
with burning tow, in others wfith cotton or moxa, in
» others with live coals ; some use Spanish w7ax, others
pyramidal pieces of linen, others gold or silver; Seve¬
rinus recommends flame blown through a pipe ; but
what is usually preferred among us is a hot iron.
Cauterizing irons are of various figures ; some flat,
others round, some curved, &c. of all which we find
draughts in Albucasis, Scultetus, Ferrara, and others.
Sometimes a cautery is applied through a capsula, to
prevent any terror from the sight of it. This method
was invented by Placentius, and is described by Scul¬
tetus. In the use of all cauteries, care is to be taken
to defend the neighbouring parts, either by a lamina,
defensive plaster, or lint moistened in oxycrate. Some¬
times the hot iron is transmitted through a copper can¬
nula, for the greater safety of the adjoining parts.
The degrees and manners of cauterizing are varied
according to the nature of the disease and the part af¬
fected.
CAU1ERA, in Sut'gerTj, a medicine for burning,
eating, or corroding any solid part of the body.
Cauteries are distinguished into two classes : actual
and potential: by actual cauteries are understood red
hot instruments, usually of iron ; and by potential cau¬
teries are understood certain kinds of corroding medi-
cines. See Pharmacy. » '
CAUTION, in the Civil and Scots Law, denotes Cayenne
much the same with what, in the law of England, is
called Bail.
CAUTIONER, in Scots Imw, that person who
becomes bound for another to the performance of any
deed or obligation. As to the different kinds and ef¬
fects of cautionry, see Law, Part III. No. clxxv. 19.
CAWK. See Cauk.
CAXA, a little coin made of lead mixed with some
scoria of copper, struck in China, but current chiefly
at Bantam in the island of Java, and some of the neigh¬
bouring islands. See (the subjoined to) Money.
CAXAMALCA, the name of a towm and district
of Peru in South America, where there was a most
sumptuous palace belonging to the Incas, and a mag¬
nificent temple dedicated to the sun.
CAXTON, William, a mercer of London, emi¬
nent by the works he published, and for being reputed
the first who introduced and practised the art of print¬
ing in England ; as to which, see (the History of)
Printing.
CAYENNE, a rich town and island of South Ame¬
rica, and capital of the French settlements there, is
bounded on the north by the Dutch colonies of Suri¬
nam, and situated in W. Long, 53. 10. N. Lat. 50.
This settlement was begun in 1646. A report had
prevailed for some time before, that in the interior
parts of Guiana, there was a country known by the
name of El Idorada, which contained immense riches in
gold and precious stones ; more than ever Cortez and
Pizarro had found in Mexico and Peru ; and this
fable had fired the imagination of every nation in Eu¬
rope. It is supposed that this was the country in quest
of which Sir W alter Raleigh went on his last voyage;
and as the French were not behind their neighbours
in their endeavours to find out so desirable a country,
some attempts for this purpose were likewise made
by that nation much about the same time ; which at
last coming to nothing, the adventurers took up their
residence on the island of Cayenne. In 1643, some
merchants of Rouen united their stock, with a design
to support the new colony ; but, committing their af¬
fairs to one Poncet de Bretigny, a man of a ferocious
disposition, he declared war both against the colonist?
and savages, in consequence of which he was soon mas¬
sacred. This catastrophe entirely extinguished the ar¬
dour of these associates; and in 1651, a new' company
was established. This promised to be much more con¬
siderable than the former ; and they set out with such
a capital as enabled them to collect 700 or 800 colo¬
nists in the city of Paris itself. These embarked on
the Seine, in order to sail down to Havre de Grace ;
but unfortunately the abbe de Marivault, a man of
great virtue, and the principal promoter of the under¬
taking, was drowned as he was stepping into his boat.
Another gentleman, who wras to have acted as general,
was assassinated on his passage, and 12 of the principal
adventurers who had promised to put the colony into
a flourishing situation, not only were the principal
perpetrators of this fact, but uniformly behaved in the
same atrocious manner. At last they hanged one of
th^ir own number; two died; three were banished to¬
ft
CAY [ 203 ] CAY
me a desert island •, and the rest abandoned themselves to
(jus. every kind of excess. The commandant of the citadel
v— -—■'deserted to the Dutch with part of his garrison. The
savages, roused by numberless provocations, fell upon
the remainder : so that the few who were left thought
themselves happy in escaping to the Leeward islands
in a boat and two canoes, abandoning the fort, ammu¬
nition, arms, and merchandise, fifteen months after they
had landed on the island.
In 1663, a new company was formed, whose capital
amounted only to 8750I. By the assistance of the
ministry they expelled the Dutch who had taken pos¬
session of the island, and settled themselves much more
comfortably than their predecessors. In 1667 the island
was taken by the English, and in 1676 by the Dutch,
but afterwards restored to the French : and since that
time it has never been attacked. Soon after some pi¬
rates, laden with the spoils they had gathered in the
South seas, came and fixed their residence at Cayenne ;
resolving to employ the treasures they had acquired in
the cultivation of the lands. In 1688, Ducasse, an able
seaman, arrived with some ships from France, and pro¬
posed to them the plundering of Surinam. This was
agreed to. The expedition, however, proved unfortu¬
nate. Many of the assailants were killed, and all the
rest taken prisoners and sent to the Caribbee islands.
Cayenne surrendered to the British in 1809, hut was
restored to France at the peace of Paris in 1814.
The island of Cayenne is about 16 leagues in cir¬
cumference, and is only parted from the continent by
two rivers. By a particular formation, uncommon in
islands, the land is higher near the water side, and low
in the middle. Hence the island is so full of morasses,
that all communication between the different parts of
it is impossible, without taking a great circuit. There
are some small tracts of an excellent soil to be found
here and there ; but the generality is dry, sandy, and
soon exhausted. The only town in the colony is de¬
fended by a covert way, a large ditch, a very good mud
rampart, and five bastions. In the middle of the town
is a pretty considerable eminence, of which a redoubt
has been made that is called the fo7't. The entrance
into the harbour is through a narrow channel 5 and ships
can only get in at high water, through the rocks and
reefs that are scattered about this pass.
The first produce of Cayenne was the arnotto j from
the culture of which the colonists proceeded to that of
cotton, indigo, and lastly sugar. It was the first of
all the French colonies that attempted to cultivate
coflee. The coffee tree was brought from Surinam in
1721 by some deserters from Cayenne, who purchased
their pardon by so doing. Ten or twelve years after
they planted cacao. In the year 1752 there were
exported from Cayenne 260,541 pounds of arnotto,
80,363 pounds of sugar, 17,919 pounds of cotton,
26,881 pounds of coffee, 91,016 pounds of cacao, 618
trees for timber, and 104 planks.
CAYLUS, Count de, Marquis de Sternay, Baron
de Bronsac, was born at Paris in 1692. He was the
eldest of the two sons of John Count de Caylus, lieu¬
tenant general of the armies of the king of France,
and of the marchioness de Villette. The count and
countess, his father and mother, were very careful
of the education of their son. The former instructed
him in the profession of arms, and in bodily exercises j Caylus.
the latter watched over and fostered the virtues of1 ■ 1 /—
his mind, and this delicate task she discharged with
singular success. The countess was the niece of
Madame de Maintenon, and was remarkable both
for the solidity of her understanding and the charms
of her wit. She was the author of that agreeable
book entitled “ The llecollections of Madame de
Cavlus,” of which Voltaire lately published an elegant
edition. The amiable qualities of the mother appeared
in the son j but they appeared with a bold and mi¬
litary air. In his natural temper he was gay and
sprightly, had a taste for pleasure, a strong passion for
independence, and an invincible aversion to the ser¬
vitude of a court. Such were the instructors of the
count de Caylus. He was only twelve years of age
when his father died at Brussels in 1704. After fi¬
nishing his exercises, he entered into the corps of the
Musquetoires; and in his first campaign in the year
1709, he distinguished himself by his valour in such a
manner, that Louis XIV. commended him before all
the court, and rewarded him with an ensigncy in the
Gendarmerie. In 1711 he commanded a regiment of
dragoons, which was called by his own name 5 and
he signalized himself at the head of it in Catalonia. In
1713, he was at the siege of Fribourg, where he was
exposed to imminent danger in the bloody attack of the
covered way. The peace of Ilastadt having left him
in a state of inactivity ill suited to his natural temper,
his vivacity soon carried him to travel into Italy : and
his curiosity was greatly excited by the wonders of that
country, where antiquity is still fruitful, and produces
so many objects to improve taste and to excite admira¬
tion. The eyes of the count were not yet learned } but
he was struck with the sight of so many beauties, and
soon became acquainted with therh. After a year’s
absence, he returned to Paris with so strong a passion
for travelling and for antiquities, as induced him to
quit the army.
He had no sooner quitted the service of Louis, than,
he sought for an opportunity to set out for the Levant.
When he arrived at Smyrna, he visited the ruins of
Ephesus. From the Levant he was recalled in Fe¬
bruary 1717 by the tenderness of his mother. From
that time he left not France, but to make two excur¬
sions to London. The Academy of Painting and Sculp¬
ture adopted him an honorary member in the year
1731 ; and the count, who loved to realize titles, spar¬
ed neither his labour, nor his credit, nor his fortune,
to instruct, assist, and animate the artists. He wrote
the lives of the most celebrated painters and engra¬
vers that have done honour to this illustrious academy;
and, in order to extend the limits of the art, which
seemed to him to move in too narrow a circle, he col¬
lected, in three different works, new subjects for the
painter, which he had met with in the works of the
ancients.
Such was his passion for antiquity, that he wished
to have had it in his power to bring the whole of it
to life again. He saw with regret, that the works
of the ancient painters, which have been discovered
in our times, are effaced and destroyed almost as soon
as they are drawn from the subterraneous mansions
where they were buried. A fortunate accident fur-
nighedi
CAY [ 294 ] C E A
Cnylus. nlshed him with the means of showing us the compo-
sition and the colouring of the pictures of ancient
Rome. The coloured drawings which the famous
Pietro Sante Bartoli had taken there from antique
pictures, fell into his hands. He had them engraved j
and, before he enriched the king of France’s cabinet
with them, he gave an edition of them at his own ex¬
pence. It is perhaps the most extraordinary book of
antiquities that ever will appear. The whole is paint¬
ed with a purity and precision that are inimitable }
we see the liveliness and the freshness of the colouring
that charmed the Caesars. There were only 30 copies
published ; and there is no reason to expect that there
will hereafter be any more.
Count de Caylus was engaged at the same time in
an enterprise still more favourable to Roman gran¬
deur, and more interesting to the French nation.
Colbert had framed the design of engraving the Ro¬
man antiquities that are still to be seen in the southern
provinces of France. By his orders Mignard the ar¬
chitect had made drawings of them, which Count de
Caylus had the good fortune to recover. He resolved
to finish the wmrk begun by Colbert, and to dedicate
it to that great minister j and so much had he this en¬
terprise at heart, that he was employed in it during his
last illness, and warmly recommended it to M. Mariette.
In 1742, Count Caylus was admitted honorary mem¬
ber of the Academy of Belles Lettres ; and then it
was that he seemed to have found the place for which
nature designed him. The study of literature now be¬
came his ruling passion ; he consecrated to it his time
and his fortune; he even renounced his pleasures to
give himself wholly up to that of making some disco¬
very in the field of antiquity. But amidst the fruits
of his research and invention, nothing seemed more
flattering to him than his discovery of encaustic paint¬
ing. A description of Pliny’s, but too concise a one
to give him a clear view of the matter, suggested the
idea of it. He availed himself of the friendship and
skill of M. Magault, a physician in Paris, and an ex¬
cellent chemist $ and by repeated experiments found
out the secret of incorporating wax with divers tints
and colours, and of making it obedient to the pencil.
Pliny has made mention of two kinds of encaustic
painting practised by the ancients j one of which was
performed with wax, and the other upon ivory, with hot
punches of iron. It was the former that Count Caylus
had the merit of reviving : and M. Muntz afterwards
made many experiments to carry it to perfection.
In the hands of Count Caylus, literature and the
arts lent each other a mutual aid. But it would be
endless to give an account of all his works. He pub¬
lished above 40 dissertations in the Memoirs of the
Academy of Belles Lettres. The artists he was par¬
ticularly attentive to j and to prevent their falling into
mistakes from an ignorance of costume, which the
ablest of them have sometimes done, he founded a
prize of 500 livres, the object of which is to explain,
by means of authors and monuments, the usages of an¬
cient nations. In order that he might enjoy with the
whole world the treasures he had collected, he caused
them to be engraved, and gave a learned description of
them in a work which he embellished with 800 copper¬
plates.
The strength of his constitution seemed to give him
hopes of a long life; but a humour settling in one of
his legs, which entirely destroyed his health, he ex- j]
pired on the 5th of September 1765, and by his death
his family is extinct. The tomb erected to the ho-
nour of Count Caylus is to be seen in the chapel of
St Germain 1’Auxerrois, and deserves to be remark¬
ed. It is perfectly the tomb of an antiquary. This
monument was an ancient sepulchral antique, of the
most beautiful porphyry, with ornaments in the Egyp¬
tian taste. From the moment he procured it, he had
destined it to grace the place of his interment. While
he awaited the fatal hour, he placed if in his garden,
where he used to look upon it with a tranquil but
thoughtful eye, and pointed it out to the inspection of
his friends.
The character of Count Caylus is to be traced in
the different occupations which divided his cares and
his life, in society, he had all the frankness of a sol¬
dier, and a politeness which had nothing in it of de¬
ceit or circumvention. Born independent, he applied
to studies which suited his taste. His heart was yet
better than his abilities. In his walks he used fre¬
quently to try the honesty of the poor, by sending
them with a piece of money to get change for him*
In these cases he enjoyed their confusion at not find¬
ing him j and then presenting himself, used to com¬
mend their honesty, and give them double the sum.
He said frequently to his friends, “ I have this day
lost a crown j but I was sorry that I had not an op¬
portunity of giving a second. The beggar ought not
to want integrity.”
CAYSTER, or Caystrus, in Ancient Geography,
a river of Ionia, whose mouth Ptolemy places between
Colophon and Ephesus ; commended by the poets for
its swans, which it had in great numbers. Its source
was in the Montes Cilbiani, (Pliny). Caystrius Cam¬
pus was a part of the territory of Ephesus. Campi
Caystriani of Lydia were plains lying in the middle be¬
tween the inland parts and Mount Tmolus.
CAZEROM, or Cazeron, a city of Asia, in Per¬
sia, situated in E. Long. •no. N. Lat. 29. 15.
CAZ1C, or Cazique, a title given by the Spaniards
to the petty kings, princes, and chiefs, of the several
countries of America, excepting those of Peru, which
are called curatas. The French call them casiques, a
denomination which they always give to the Tarta¬
rian hordes.—-The cazics, in some places, do the office
of physicians, and in others of priests, as well as of
captains. The dignity of cazic among the Chiites, a
people of South America, does not descend to chil¬
dren, but must be acquired by valour and merit. One
of the prerogatives attached to it is, that the cazic
may have three wives, while the other people are al¬
lowed only one. Mexico comprehended a great num¬
ber of provinces and islands, which were governed
by lords called caciques, dependent on and tributary to
the emperor. Thirty of these vassals are said to have
been so powerful, that they were able, each of them,
to bring an army of 100,000 men into the field.
CAZIMIR, a handsome town of Poland, in the
palatinate of Lublin, situated on a hill covered with
trees, in E. Long. 3. 10. N. Lat. Cl. 5.
CEA. See Ceos.
CEANOTHUS. New> Jersey Tea. See Botany
Index.
CEBES,
C E C [ 295 ] C E C
5 CEBES, of Thebes, a Socratic philosopher, author
I J;]’ of the admired Table qfCebes; or, “ Dialogues on the
w.- Birth, Life, and Death of Mankind.” He flourished
about 405 years before Christ.—The above piece is
mentioned by some of the ancient writers, by Lucian,
D. Laertius, Tertullian, and Suidas: but of Cebes
himself we have no account, save that he is once men¬
tioned by Plato, and once by Xenophon. The for¬
mer says of him, in his “ Phaedo,” that he was a sa¬
gacious investigator of truth, and never assented with¬
out the most convincing reasons : the latter, in his
“ Memorabilia,” ranks him among the few intimates
of Socrates, who excelled the rest in the innocency of
their lives. Cebes’s Tabula is usually printed with
Epictetus’s Manuals.
CECIL, William, Lord Burleigh, treasurer of
England in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, was the son
of Richard Cecil, Esq. master of the robes to King
Henry VIII. He was born in the house of his grand¬
father, David Cecil, Esq. at Bourn in Lincolnshire,
in the year 1520 ; and received the rudiments of his
education in the grammar-school at Grantham. From
thence he was removed to Stamford j and about the
year 1535, was entered of St John’s College, Cam¬
bridge. Here he began his studies with a degree of en¬
thusiastic application very uncommon in young gentle¬
men of family. At the age of 16 he read a sophis¬
try lecture, and at 19 a voluntary Greek lecture,
which was the more extraordinary as being at a time
when the Greek language was by no means univer¬
sally understood. In 1541 he went to London, and
became a member of the society of Gray’s Inn, with
an intention to study the lawj but he had not been
long in that situation before an accident introduced
him to King Henry, and gave a new bias to his pur¬
suits. O’Neil, a famous Irish chief, coming to court,
had brought with him two Irish chaplains, violent
bigots to the Romish faith ; with these Mr Cecil, visit¬
ing his father, happened to have a warm dispute in
Latin, in which he displayed uncommon abilities.
The king, being informed of it, ordered the young
man into his presence, and was so pleased with his
conversation, that he commanded his father to find a
place for him. He accordingly requested the rever¬
sion of the custos brevium, which Mr Cecil afterwards
possessed. About this time he married the sister of
Sir John Cheke, by whom he was recommended to
the earl of Hertford, afterwards duke of Somerset, and
protector.
Soon after King Edward’s accession, Mr Cecil came
into the possession of the office of custos brevium, worth
about 240I. a-year. His first lady dying in I543> he
married the daughter of Sir Anthony Cook, direc-
tor of the king’s studies. In 1547, he was appointed
by the protector master of requests } and soon after
attended his noble patron on his expedition against
the Scots, and was present at the battle of Mussel¬
burgh. In this battle, which wras fought on the 10th
of September 1547, Mr Cecil’s life was miraculously
preserved by a friend, who on pushing him out of the
level of a cannon, had his arm shattered to pieces.
The sight and judgment of his friend must have been
as extraordinary as his friendship, to perceive the pre¬
cise direction of a cannon shot $ unless we suppose,
that the ball was almost quite spent 5 in which case
the thing is not impossible. The story is told in his
life by a domestic. In the year 1548, Mr Cecil was
made secretary of state j but in the following year,
the duke of Northumberland’s faction prevailing, he
suffered in the disgrace of the protector Somerset, and
was sent prisoner to the Tower. After three months
confinement he was released ; in 1551 restored to his
office j and soon after knighted, and sworn of the
privy council. In 1553, he was made chancellor of
the order of the Garter, with an annual fee of 100
merks.
On the death of Edward VI. Mr Cecil prudently
refused to have any concern in Northumberland’s at¬
tempt in favour of the unfortunate Lady Jane Gray :
and when Queen Mary succeeded to the throne, he was
graciously received at court $ but not choosing to
change his religion, was dismissed from his employ¬
ments. During this reign, he was twice elected knight
of the shire for the county of Lincoln ; and often spoke
in the house of commons with great freedom and
firmness, in opposition to the ministry. Nevertheless,
though a Protestant and & patriot (that is, a courtier
out of place), he had the address to steer through a
very dangerous sea without a shipwreck.
Queen Elizabeth’s accession in the year 1558 im¬
mediately dispelled the cloud which had obscured his
fortunes and ministerial capacity. During the horrid
reign of her sister, he had constantly corresponded
with the princess Elizabeth. On the very day of her
accession, he presented her with a paper containing
twelve articles necessary for her immediate dispatch j
and, in a few days after, was sworn of the privy
council, and made secretary of state. His first advice
to the queen was, to call a parliament j and the first
business he proposed after it was assembled was the
establishment of a national church. A plan of refor¬
mation was accordingly drawn up under his imme¬
diate inspection, and the legal establishment of the
church of England was the consequence. Sir Wil¬
liam Cecil’s next important concern, was to restore
the value of the coin, which had in the preceding
reigns been considerably debased. In 1561, he was
appointed master of the wards; and, in 1571, created
baron of Burleigh, as a reward for his services, par¬
ticularly in having lately stifled a formidable rebellion
in the north. The following year he vras honoured
with the Garter, and raised to the office of lord high
treasurer of England. From this period we find him
the primum mobile of every material transaction during
the glorious reign of Queen Elizabeth. Notwith¬
standing the temporary influence of other favourites,
Lord Burleigh was, in fact, her prime minister, and the
person on whom she chiefly confided in matters of real
importance. Having filled the highest and most im¬
portant offices of the state for 40 years, and guided
the helm of government during the most glorious pe¬
riod of English history, he departed this life on the
4th of August 1598, in the 78th year of his age.
His body was removed to Stamford, and there depo¬
sited in the family vault, where a magnificent tomb
was erected to his memory.—-Notwithstanding his
long enjoyment of such lucrative employments, he left
only an estate of 4000I. per annum, 14,000!. in
money, and effects worth about n,oool. He lived,
indeed, in a manner suitable to his high rank and im¬
portance^
CEO
L 296 ]
C E I
Cecil,
Cecilia.
portance. He bad four places of residence, viz. his
lodgings at court, his house in the Strand, his seat at
Burleigh Park, near Stamford, and his seat at Theo¬
bald’s. The last of these was his favourite place of re¬
tirement, where he frequently entertained the queen at
a vast expence.
Lord Burleigh was doubtless a man of singular abi¬
lities and prudence, amiable in his private character,
and one of the most able, upright, and indefatigable
ministers ever recorded in the annals of this king¬
dom. His principal works are; 1. La Complainte de
Pame pecheresse, or the Complaint of a sinful Soul, in
French verse, in the king’s library. 2. Materials for
Patten’s Diarium exped. Scolicte, London, 1541, i2mo.
3. Slanders and lies maliciously, grossly, and impu¬
dently vomited out, in certain traiterous hooks and
pamphlets, against two counsellors, Sir Francis Ba¬
con and Sir William Cecil. 4. A speech in parlia¬
ment, 1562, Strype’s Mem. vol. iv. p. 107. 5. Pre¬
cepts or directions for the well ordering of a man’s
life, 1637, Harl. Cat. vol. ii. p. 755. 6. Meditations
on the death of his lady, Ballard’s Mem. p. 184.
7. Meditations on the state of England during the
reign of Queen Elizabeth, manuscript. 8. The exe¬
cution of justice in England for the maintenance of
public and Christian peace, &c. Lond. 1581, 1383,
Somer’s tracts, 4th Collect, vol. i. p. 5. 9. Advice to
Queen Elizabeth in matters of religion and state, ib.
p. ioi, ic6. 10. A great number of letters. See
Peck’s Desiderata Curiosa, Howard’s collections, &c.
it. Several pedigrees, some of which are preserved in
the archbishop of Canterbury’s library at Lambeth,
No.^ 299,747.
CECILIA, St, the patroness of music, has been
honoured as a martyr ever since the fifth century.
Her story, as delivered by the notaries of the Homan
church, and from thence transcribed into the Golden
Legend and other books of the like kind, says, that
she was a Homan lady, born of noble parents about
the year 295 : That, notwithstanding she had been
converted to Christianity, her parents married her to
a young Pagan nobleman named Valerianus ; who go¬
ing to bed to her on the wedding night, as the custom
is, says the book, was given to understand by his
spouse, that she was nightly visited by an angel, and
that he must forbear to approach her, otherwise the
angel would destroy him. Valerianus, somewhat
troubled at these words, desired that he might see his
rival the angel ; but his spouse told him that was im¬
possible, unless he would consent to be baptized and
become a Christian. This he consented to ; after
which, returning to his wife, he found her in her closet
at prayer, and by her side, in the shape of a beautiful
young man, an angel clothed with brightness. After
some conversation with the angel, Valerianus told him
that he had a brother named Tiburtius, whom he
greatly wished to see a partaker of the grace which he
himself had received. The angel tokl him that his
desire was granted, and that they should be both crown¬
ed with martyrdom in a short time. Upon this the
angel vanished, and was not long in showing himself
as good as his word j Tiburtius was converted, and
both he and his brother Valerianus were beheaded.
Cecilia was offered her life upon condition that she
would sacrifice to the deities of the Homans 5 hut she
3
refused ; upon which she was thrown into a cauldron
of boiling water, and scalded to death. Others say,
that she was stifled in a dry bath, i. e. an enclosure
from whence the air was excluded, having a slow fire
underneath it 5 which kind of death was sometimes in¬
flicted by the Romans upon women of quality who
were criminals. Upon the spot where her house stood,
is a church, said to have been built by Pope Urban I.
who administered baptism to her husband and his
brother : it is the church of St Cecilia at Trastevere •,
within is a most curious painting of the saint, as also
a stately monument with a cumbent statue of her with
her face downwards. There is a tradition of St Ce¬
cilia, that she excelled in music ; and that the angel
who was thus enamoured of her, was drawn from the
celestial regions by the charms of her melody •, this has
been deemed authority sufficient to making her the
patroness of music and musicians. The legend of St
Cecilia has given frequent occasion to painters and
sculptors to exercise their genius in representations of
her, playing on the organ, and sometimes on the harp.
Raphael has painted her singing with a regal in her
hands ; and Domenichino and Mignard, singing and
playing on the harp.
CECRGPS, the founder and first king of Athens,
about the time of Moses the lawgiver of the He¬
brews. He was the first who established civil govern¬
ment, religious rites, and marriage among the Greeks;
and died after a reign of 50 years. See Attica,
no_4.
CEDAR. See JunTperus and Pinus, Botany
Index.
The species of cedar famous for its duration, is that
popularly called the cedar of Lebanon {Pinus cedrus'),
by the ancients cedrus magna, or the great cedar; also
cedrelate, xitS^Xur/',. See Pinus, Botany Index. ,
CEDRENUS, George, a Grecian monk, lived in
the nth age, and wrote, “Annals, or an abridged
History, from the beginning of the World to the
Reign of Isaac Comnenus, emperor of Constantinople,
who succeeded Michael IV. in 1057.” rI'his work is
no more than an extract from several historians. There
is an edition of it, printed at Paris in 1647, with the
Latin version of Xylar.der, and the notes of Father
Goar, a Dominican.
CEDRUS, the Cedar tree, Mahogany, &c. See
Juniperus, Pinus, and Svvietenia, Botany Index.
CEILING, in Architecture, the top or roof of a
lower room ; or a covering of piaster over laths nailed
on the bottom of the joists that bear the floor of the
upper room ; or where there is no upper room, on joists
for the purpose ; hence called ceiling joists. The word
ceiling answers pretty accurately to the Latin lacunar,
“ every thing over head.”
Plastered ceilings are much used in Britain, more
than any other country : nor are they without their
advantages, as they make the room lightsome ; are
good in case of fire ; stop the passage of the dust;
lessen the noise over head ; and, in summer, make the
air cooler.
Ceiling, in sea language, denotes the inside planks
of a ship.
CEIMELIA, from Xitpoit, “ to be laid up,” in an¬
tiquity, denotes choice or precious pieces of furni¬
ture or ornament?, reserved or laid up for extraordi¬
nary
CEL [ 297 ] CEL
. cjla nary occasions and uses j in which sense, sacred gar¬
ments, vessels, and the like, are reputed of the cei-
C bes. melia of a church. Medals, antique stones, figures,
manuscripts, records, &c. are the ceimelia of men of
letters.
CEIMELIARCHIUM, the repository or place
where ceimelia are preserved.
CEIMELIOPHYLAX, (from KU^Xiov and tpvXxr-
ru, I keep), the keeper or curator of a collection of cei¬
melia j sometimes also denominated The
ceimeliarcha, or ceimeliophylax, was an officer in the
ancient churches or monasteries, answering to what
was otherwise denominated chariophylax and custos
archivorum,
CEL/EN^E, in Ancient Geography, the capital of
Phrygia Magna, situated on a cognominal mountain,
at the common sources of the Mfeander and Marsyas.
The king of Persia had a strong palace beneath the ci¬
tadel, by the springs of the Marsyas, which rose in the
market-place, not less in size than the Mgeander, and
flowed through the city. Cyrus the Younger had also
a palace there, but by the springs of the Mseander,
which river passed likewise through the city. He had,
moreover, an extensive paradise or park, full of wild
beasts, which he hunted on horseback for exercise or
amusement} and watered by the Maeander, which ran
through the middle. Xerxes was said to have huilt
these palaces and the citadel after his return from his
expedition into Greece.
Antiochus Soter removed the inhabitants of Celsense
into a city which he named, from his mother, Apamea j
and which became afterwards a mart inferior only to
Ephesus. See Apamea.
CELANDINE. See Chelidonium, Botany
Index.
CELANO, a town of Italy, in the kingdom of
Naples, in Farther Abruzzo. It is seated a mile from
the lake Celano, anciently called Fucinus. E. Long
13. 39. N. Lat. 41. 56.
CELARENT, among logicians, a mode of syllogism,
wherein the major and conclusion are universal nega¬
tive propositions, and the minor an universal affirma¬
tive.
E. gr. cE None whose understanding is limited can be
omniscient.
IA Evex-y man’s understanding is limited.
rEnt Therefore no man is omniscient.
CELASTRUS. See Botany Index.
In Senegal the negroes use the powder of the root
of this plant as a specific against gonorrhoeas, which it
is said to cui'e in eight or sometimes in three days. An
infusion of the bark of a species of staff tree, which
grows in the isle of France, is said to possess the same
virtues.
CELEBES, an island in the Indian sea, situated
under the equator, and called by some Macassar. It
extends 20 north, and 6° south latitude, and between
up0 and I 250 east longitude. It is of a very irregular
figure, consisting of three long peninsulas. The air is
hot and moist, and subject to great rains during the
north-west winds, which blow from November to March,
at which time the country is overflowed, and for this
reason they build their houses on piles of wrood ten leet
high. The most healthful time is during the northern
Vol. V. Part I. f
monsoons, which seldom fail blowing regularly in one part Celebe1!,
ot the year. The chief vegetables are rice and cocoas •, Celtics.
but they have ebony, Sanders, &c. Their fruits and  v 
flowers are much the same as in the neighbouring parts
of the Indies. They have pepper, sugar, betel, areca,
the finest cotton, and opium. The natives have bright
olive complexions, and the women have shining black
hair. They are thought to be very handsome by the
Dutch and Chinese, who often purchase them for
bed-fellows. The men are industrious, robust, and
make excellent soldiers. Their arms are sabx*es, and
trunks, from whence they blow poisoned darts, which
are pointed with the tooth of a sea-fish. Some like¬
wise use poisoned daggers. They were the last of the
Indian nations that were enslaved by the Dutch, which
could not be effected till after a long war. They teach
their children to read and write, and their characters
have some resemblance of the Arabic. Their religion
being Mahometan, the men indulge themselves in many
wives and concubines. The employment of the wo¬
men is spinning, cookery, and making their own and
their husbands clothes. The men wear jewels in their
ears, and the women gold chains about their necks.
The inhabitants in general go half-naked, without any
thing on their head, legs, or feet, and some have no¬
thing but a cloth about their middle. The streets of
the town Macassar are spacious, and planted with trees
on every side. It stands by the side of the only large
river they have in the island. The Dutch have a fort
here, mounted with 40 guns, and garrisoned with 700
men ; having gradually possessed themselves of a great
part of the country. They were, however, dispossess¬
ed by the British during the late wars, but received
back the colony at the peace in 1814. It is said that
the population has diminished since the Dutch con¬
quest.
The I’eligion of these islands was formerly idolatry.
They wmishipped the sun and moon. They sacrificed
to them in the public squares, having no materials
which they thought valuable enough to be employed
in raising temples. About two centuries ago, some
Chiustians and Mahometans having brought their opi¬
nions to Celebes, the principal king of the countx-y took
a dislike to the national worship. Having convened
a general assembly, he ascended an eminence, when,
spreading out his hands towards heaven, he told the
Deity, that he would acknowledge for truth that doc¬
trine whose ministers should first arrive in his domi¬
nions, and, as the winds and waves were at his com¬
mand, the Almighty would have himself to blame if
he embraced a falsehood. The assembly broke up, de¬
termined to wait the orders of heaven, and to obey the
first missionaries that should arrive. The Mahometans
were the most active, and their religion accordingly
prevailed. See Celebes, Supplement.
CELEBES, in Roman antiquity, a regiment of
body-guards belonging to the Roman kings, established
by Romulus, and composed of 300 young men, chosen
out of the most illustrious Roman families, and appro¬
ved by the suffrages of the curixe of the people, each
of which furnished ten. The name comes from ccler,
“ quick, ready and was given them because of their
promptness to obey the king.
The celeres always attended near the king’s person,
to guard him, to be ready to carry his ordexs, and to
P p execute
CEL
Ceicres, execute them. In war they made the van-guard in
( eteri. the engagement, which they always began first 5 in re-
 v treats they made the rear-guard.
Though the celeres were a body of horse, yet they
usually dismounted, and fought on foot; their com¬
mander was called tribune, or prefect of the celeres.
They were divided into three troops of 100 each,
commanded by a captain called centurio : their tribune
was the second person in the kingdom.
Plutarch says, Numa broke the celeres. If this be
true, they were soon re-established j for we find them
under most of the succeeding kings : witness the great
Brutus, who expelled the Tarquins, and who was the
tribune of the celeres.
CELERI, in Botany, the English name of a variety
of the Apium Graveolens.
The seed of celeri should be sown at two or three
different times, the better to continue it for use through
the whole season without running up to seed. The
first sowing should be in the beginning of March, upon
a gentle hot bed; the second may be at the end of
the same month, which ought to be in an open spot
of light earth, where it may have the benefit of the
sun ; the third time of sowing should be in the latter
end of April, or beginning of May, on a moist soil ;
and if exposed to the morning sun only, it will be so
much the better, but it should not be under the drip
of trees. The middle of May, some of the plants of
the first sowing will be fit to transplant for blanch-
ing-
The manner of transplanting it is as follows : after
having cleared the ground of weeds, you must dig a
trench by a line about 10 inches wide, and 8 or 9
inches deep, loosening the earth in the bottom, and
laying it level; and the earth that comes out of the
trench should be equally laid on each side the trench,
to be ready to draw in again to earth the celeri as it
advances in height. These trenches should be made
at three feet distance from each other; then plant your
plants in the middle of the trench, at about four or
five inches distance, in one straight row, having be¬
fore trimmed the plants, and cut off the tops of the
long leaves : and as they are planted, you must observe
to close the earth well to their roots with your feet,
and to water them plentifully until they have taken
new root. As these plants advance in height, you
must observe to draw the earth on each side close to
them, being careful not to bury their hearts, nor ever
to do it but in dry weather; otherwise the plants will
rot. When your plants have advanced a considerable
height above the trenches, and all the earth, which
was laid on the sides thereof, hath been employed in
earthing them up, you must then make use of a spade
to dig up the earth between the trenches, which must
also be made use of for the same purpose, continuing
from time to time to earth it up until it is fit for use.
The last crop should be planted in a drier soil, to pre¬
vent its being rotted with too much wet in the winter.
You will do well to cover your ridges of celeri with
some pease-haulm, or some such light covering, when
the frost is very hard, which will admit the air to the
plants; for if they are covered too close they will be
very subject to rot: by this means you will preserve
your celeri till spring: but you must remember to
take off the covering whenever the weather will per-
C E L
mit, otherwise it will be apt to cause the celeri to pipe
and run to seed. The celeri, when full blanched, will ||
not continue good above three weeks or a month be- ce!estin
fore it will rot or pipe ; therefore, in order to con- "T-
tinue it good, you should have at least six or seven dif¬
ferent seasons of planting, proportioned to the con¬
sumption.
The other sort of celeri, which is commonly called
celeriac, is to be managed in the same manner ; ex¬
cepting that this should be planted on the level ground,
or in very shallow drills : for this plant seldom grows
above eight or ten inches high, so requires but little
earthing up ; the great excellency of this being in the
size of the root, which is often as large as ordinary
turnips.
The best method to save the seed of celeri, is to
make choice of some long good roots of the upright
celeri, which have not been too much blanched, and
plant them out, at about a foot asunder, in a moist
soil, early in the spring ; and when they run up to
seed, keep them supported with stakes, to prevent
their being broken down with the wind : and in July,
when the seed begins to be formed, if the season should
prove very dry, it will be proper to give some water
to the plant, which will greatly help its producing
good seeds. In August these seeds will be ripe, at
which time it should be cut up, in a dry time, and
spread upon cloths in the sun to dry ; then beat out
the seeds, and preserve it in bags for use.
Celeri, Wild, {Apium antarcticum), was found in
considerable quantities by Sir Joseph Banks and Dr
Solander on the coast of Terra del Fuego. It is like
the garden celeri in the colour and disposition of the
flowers, but the leaves are of a deeper green. The
taste is between that of celeri and parsley. It is a very
useful ingredient in the soup for seamen, because of its
antiscorbutic quality.
CELERITY, in Mechanics, the swiftness of any
body in motion. It is also defined to be an affection
of motion, by which any moveable body runs through
a given space in a given time.
CELESTINS, a religious order, so called from their
founder Peter de Meuron, afterwards raised to the
pontificate under the name of Celestin V. This Peter,
who was born at Ifernia, a little town in the kingdom
of Naples, in the year 1215, of but mean parents, re¬
tired, while very young, to a solitary mountain, in
order to dedicate himself wholly to prayer and morti¬
fication. The fame of his piety brought several, out
of curiosity, to see him ; some of whom charmed with
his virtues, rermunced the world to accompany him in
his solitude. With these he formed a kind of commu¬
nity in the year 1254 : which was approved by Pope
Urban IV. in 1264, and erected into a distinct order,
called the hermits of St Damien. Peter de Meuron
governed this order till 1286, when his love of soli¬
tude and retirement induced him to quit the charge.
In July 1294, the great reputation of his sanctity rai¬
sed him, though much against his will, to the pontifi¬
cate. He then took the name of Celestin V. and his
order that of Celestins from him. By his bull he ap¬
proved their constitutions, and confirmed all their mo¬
nasteries to the number of 20. But he sat too short
time in the chair of St Peter to do many great things
for his order ; for having governed the church five
months
[ 298 ]
CEL [ 299 ] CEL-
tins months and a few days, and considering the great bur-
1 den he had taken upon him, to which he thought him-
<’e ite. self unequal, he solemnly renounced the pontificate in
a consistory held at Naples.
After his death, which happened in 1296, his order
made great progress, not only in Italy hut in France
likewise j whither the then general Peter of Tivoli
sent 12 religious, at the request of King Philip the
Fair, who gave them two monasteries; one in the fo¬
rest of Orleans, and the other in the forest of Com-
peigne at Mount Chartres. This order likewise passed
into several provinces of Germany. They have about
96 convents in Italy, and 21 in France, under the title
of priories.
The Celestins rise two hours after midnight to say
matins. They eat no flesh at any time, except when
they are sick. They fast every Wednesday and Fri¬
day, from Easter to the feast of the exaltation of the
holy cross ; and, from that feast to Easter, every day.
As to their habit, it consists of a white gown, a capuche,
and a black scapulary. In the choir, and when they
go out of the monastery, they wear a black cowl with
the capuche : their shirts are of serge.
CELETES, or Celette (from a race-horse')
in antiquity, denote single or saddle-horses, by way of
contradistinction from those yoked or harnessed toge¬
ther, called bigaj'ii, qiiadrigarii, &c. The same de¬
nomination is also given to the cavaliers or riders on
horseback : and hence some deduce celeres, the name
of Romulus’s guard.
CELEUSMA, or Celeuma, in antiquity, the shout
or cry of the seamen, whereby they animated each other
in their work of rowing. The word is formed from
xtXivui, to call, to give the signal.
CELEUSMA, was also a kind of song or formula, re¬
hearsed or played by the master, or others, to direct
the strokes and movements of the mariners, as well as
to encourage them to labour. See Celeustes.
CELEUSTES, in Ancient Navigation, the boat¬
swain or officer appointed to give the rowers the sig¬
nal, when they were to pull, and when to stop. He is
also denominated epopeus, and by the Romans, portis-
cvlus ; sometimes simply hortator.
CELIBACY, the state of unmarried persons. Sca-
liger derives the word from the Greek xeirn, “ bed,”
and Aictai, linquo, “ I leave others say it is formed
from codi beatitudo, q. d. the blessedness of heaven.
The ancient Romans used all means imaginable to
discourage celibacy. Nothing was more usual than
for the censors to impose a fine on bachelors. Diony¬
sius Halicarnassensis mentions an ancient constitution
whereby all persons of full age were obliged to marry.
But the first law of that kind, of which we hav.? any
certainty, is that under Augustus, called lex Julia de
niaritandis ordinibus. It was afterwards denominated
Papia Poppcea, and more usually Julia Papia, in re¬
gard of some new sanctions and amendments made to
it under the consuls Papius and Poppaeus. By this
law, divers prerogatives were given to persons who
had many children $ penalties imposed on those who
lived a single life, as that they should be incapable of
receiving legacies, and not exceeding a certain propor¬
tion.
CELIBATE, the same with celibacy; but it is
chiefly used in speaking of the single life of the Popish
clergy, or the obligation they are under to abstain Celibate.
from marriage. In this sense we say the laiv of celi- '——y 
bate. Monks and religious take a vow of celibate ;
and what is more, of chastity.
The church of Rome imposes an universal celibacy
on all its clergy, from the pope to the lowest deacon
and subdeacon. The advocates for this usage pretend
that a vow of perpetual celibacy was required in the
ancient church as a condition of ordination, even from
the earliest apostolic ages. But the contrary is evi¬
dent, from numerous examples of bishops and archbi¬
shops, who lived in a state of matrimony, without any
prejudice to their ordination or their function. It is
generally agreed that most of the apostles were mar¬
ried. Some say all of them, except St Paul and St
John. Others say St Paul himself was married, be¬
cause he wrrites to his yokefellow, whom they inter¬
pret his wife. Be this as it will, in the next ages
after the apostles, we have accounts of divers mar¬
ried bishops, presbyters, and deacons, without any re¬
proof or mark of dishonour set on them ; e. g. Valens,
presbyter of Philippi, mentioned by Polycarp ; and
Chaeremon, Fbishop of Nilus. Novatus was a married
presbyter of Carthage, as we learn from Cyprian ; who
himself was also a married man, as Pagi confesses j
and so was Csecilius the presbyter who converted him ;
and Numidius, another presbyter of Carthage. The
reply which the Romanists give to this is, that all mar¬
ried persons, w'hen they came to be ordained, promis¬
ed to live separate from their wives by consent, which
answered the vow of celibacy in other persons. But
this is not only said without proof, but against it. For
Novatus presbyter of Carthage was certainly allowed
to cohabit with his wife after ordination 5 as appears
from the charge that Cyprian brings against him, that
he had struck and abused his wife, and thereby caused
her to miscarry. There seems indeed to have been,
in some cases, a tendency towards the introduction of
such a law by one or two zealots } but the motion
was no sooner made than it was quashed by the au¬
thority of wiser men. Thus Eusebius observes, that
Pinytus, bishop of Gnossus in Crete, was for laying
the law of celibacy upon his brethren j but Dionysius
bishop of Corinth wrote to him, that he should consi¬
der the weakness of men, and not impose that heavy
burden on them. In the council of Nice, anno 325,
the motion was renewed for a law to oblige the clergy
to abstain from all conjugal society with their wives,
whom they had married before their ordination ; but
Paphnutius, a famous Egyptian bishop, and one who
himself never was married, vigorously declaimed against
it, upon which it was unanimously rejected. So So¬
crates and Sozomen tell the story ; to which all that
Valesius, after Bellarmin, has to say, is, that he sus¬
pects the truth of it. The council in Trullo, held in
692, made a difference in this respect between bi¬
shops and presbyters 5 allowing presbyters, deacons,
and all the inferior orders, to cohabit with their wives
after ordination 5 and giving the Roman church a
smart rebuke for the contrary prohibition, but at the
same time laying an injunction upon bishops to live se¬
parate from their wives, and appointing the wives to
betake themselves to a monastic life, or become dea¬
conesses in the church. And thus was a total celibate
established in the Greek church as to bishops, but not
P p 2 any
CEL [ 300 ] CEL
Celibate any others. In the Latin church, the like establish-
|| ment was also made, but by slow steps in many places.
Cell. ]rorj ;n Africa, even bishops themselves cohabited with
v~ their wives at the time of the council of Trullo. The
celibacy of the clergy, however, appears of an ancient
standing, if not of command and necessity, yet of
counsel and choice. But as it is clearly neither of di¬
vine nor apostolical institution, it is at iirst hard to con¬
ceive from what motive the court of Rome persisted so
very obstinately to impose this institution on the cler¬
gy. But we are to observe that this was a leading step
to the execution of the project formed of making the
clergy independent of princes, and rendering them a
separate body to be governed by their own laws. In
effect, while priests had children, it was very difficult
to prevent their dependence on princes, whose favours
have such an influence on private men*, but having no
family, they were more at liberty to adhere to the
pope.
CELIDOGRAPHIA, the description of the spots
which appear on the surfaces of the sun and planets.
See Astronomy.
CELL, (Celia) in ancient writers, denotes a place
or apartment usually under ground, and vaulted, in
which w'ere stored up some sort of necessaries, as wine,
honey, and the like *, and according to which it was
called Celia Vinaria, Ollearia, Mellaria, &c. The
word is formed from the Latin celare, to conceal.
Cella was also used for the lodge or habitation of
a common prostitute, as being anciently under ground,
hence also denominated fornix.
Intravit calidum veteri centone lvpanary
Et cellam vacuum. Juv. Sat. vi. ver. 121.
On which place an ancient scholiast remarks, that the
names of the whores wrere written on the doors of their
several cells ; by which we learn the meaning of in-
scripta cella in Martial, lib. xi. ep. 46.
Cella was also applied to the bedchambers of do¬
mestics and servants; probably as being low and nar¬
row.—Cicero, inveighing against the luxury of Anto¬
ny, says the beds in the very cellae of his servants were
spread with pompous purple coverlets.
Cella is also applied to the members or apartments
of baths. Of these there were three principal, called
frigidaria, tcpidaria, and caldaria: to which may be
added a fourth, called cella assa, and sometimes suda¬
toria.
Cella likewise signified the adyta, or inmost and
most retired parts of temples, wherein the images of
the gods to whom the edifices were consecrated were
preserved. In this sense we meet with cella Jovis, cel¬
la Concordice.
Cella is also used for a lesser or subordinate sort of
monastery dependent on a great one, by which it was
erected, and continues still to be governed. The great
abbeys in. England had most of them cells in places
distant from the mother abbey, to which they were ac¬
countable, and from which they received their supe¬
riors. The alien priories in England were cells to
abbeys in Normandy, France, Italy, &c. The name
cell was also given to rich and considerable monasteries
not dependent on any other.
CELL signifies also a little apartment or chamber,
such as those wherein the ancient monks, solitaries, and
3
hermits, lived in retirement. Some derive the word
from the Hebrew L e. “ a prison, or place where
any thing is shut up.”
The same name is still retained in divers monasteries.
The dormitory is frequently divided into so many
cells or lodges. The Carthusians have each a separate
house, which serves them as a cell. The hall where¬
in the Roman conclave is held, is divided by parti¬
tions into divers cells, for the several cardinals to
lodge in.
Cell is also a name given to the little divisions in
honeycombs, which are always regular hexagons. See
Bee.
Cell, in Botany, is applied to the hollow place be¬
tween the partitions in the pods, husks, and other seed-
vessels of plants : according as there is one, two, three,
<5cc. of these cells, the vessel is said to be unilocular,
bilocular, trilocular, &c.
Cells, in Anatomy, little bags, or bladders, where
fluids or other matters are lodged •, called loculi, cella-
Ice, &c. Thus the eelhdee adiposce are the little cells
where the fat is contained j cellulce in the colon, are
spaces wherein the excrements are detained till void¬
ed, &c.
CELLAR, (Cellarium), in ancient writers, denotes
the same with cella, viz. a conservatory of eatables or
drinkables.
Cellar differs from vault, as the latter is supposed to
be deeper, the former being irequently little below the
surface of the ground. In which sense, cellarium also
differed from penus, as the former was only a storehouse
for several days, the latter for a long time. Thus it
is the bactroperatse, a sort of ancient Cynics, are said
by St Jerome to carry their cellar about with them.
Cellarium also denoted an allowance of bread, wine,
oil, or other provision, furnished out of the cella, to
the use of the governor of the province and his officers,
&c. In which sense, the word amounts to much the
same with annona.
Cellars, in modern building, are the lowest rooms
in a house, the ceilings of which usually lie level with
the surface of the ground on which the house is built}
or they are situated under the pavement before the
house, especially in streets and squares.
Cellars, and other places vaulted under ground, were
called by the Greeks hypogcea : the Italians still call
them fundi delli case.
CELLARER, or Cellerer, (CW/erormsor Cella-
rius), an officer in monasteries, to whom belong the
care and procurement of provisions for the convent.
The denomination is said to be borrowed from the Ro¬
man law, where cellarius denotes an examiner of ac¬
counts and expences. Ulpian defines it thus: “ Celle-
rarius, id est, ideo praepositus ut rationes salvse sint.”
The cellerarius was one of the four obedientiarn, or
great officers of monasteries : under his ordering was
the pistrinum or bakehouse, and the hracinum or brew-
house. In the richer houses there were particular
lands set apart for the maintenance of his office, called
in ancient writings ad cibum monachorum. The celle¬
rarius was a great man in the convent. His whole
office in ancient times had a respect to that origin :
he was to see his lord’s corn got in, and laid up in
granaries ; and his appointment consisted in a certain
proportion thereof, usually fixed at a thirteenth, pact
Ge rer
CEL [ 301 ] CEL
of the whole, together with a furred gown. The of¬
fice of cellarer then only differed in name from those
Ci is of bailiff and minstrel ; excepting that the cellarer had
l"~' the receipt of his lord’s rents throughout the whole ex¬
tent of his jurisdiction.
Cellarer was also an officer in chapters, to whom
belonged the care of the temporals, and particularly
the distributing of bread, wine, and money, to canons,
on account of their attendance in the choir. In some
places he was called cellarer, in others burser, and in
others currier.
CELLARIUS, Christopher, was born in 1638,
at Smalcade in Franconia, of which town his father was
minister. He was successively rector of the colleges
at Weymar, Zeits, and Mersbourg : and the king of
Prussia having founded an university at Halle in 1693,
he was prevailed on to be professor of eloquence and
history there, where he composed the greatest part of
his works. His great application to study hastened the
infirmities of old age *, for it is said, he would spend
whole days and nights together at his books, without
any attention to his health, or even the calls of nature.
His works relate to grammar, geography, history, and
the oriental languages j and the number of them is a-
mazing. He died in 1707.
CELLINI, Benvenuto, an eminent statuary, who
was bred a jeweller and goldsmith, but seems to have
had an extraordinary genius for the fine arts in gene¬
ral. He was cotemporary with Michael Angelo and
Julio Romano, and w’as employed by popes, kings,
and other princely patrons of sciences and arts, so
highly cultivated in the days of Leo X. and Charles V.
some of his productions being esteemed most exqui¬
site. He lived to a very considerable old age ; and
his life, almost to the last, was a continued scene of
adventure, persecution, and misfortune, truly wonder¬
ful. He wrote his own history, which was not, how¬
ever, published till the year 1730, probably, on ac¬
count of the excessive freedom with which he therein
treated many distinguished personages of Italy and
other countries. It was translated into English bv Hr
Nugent in 1771, to which the reader is referred, as it
will not admit of an abridgment suitable to the design
of this work.
CELLULAR, in a general sense, is applied to any
thing consisting of single cells.
Cellular Membrane. See Anatomy Index.
CELOSIA, Cock’s-comb. See Botany Index.
CELSIA. See Botany Index.
CELSUS, Aurelius Cornelius, a celebrated
physician of the first century, who wrote eight books
on medicine, in elegant Latin. He was the Hippo¬
crates of the Latins : and Quintilian gives him a high
eulogium. The great Boerhaave tells us, that Celsus
is one of the best authors of antiquity for letting us
into the true meaning and opinions of Hippocrates j
and that, without him, the writings of this father in
physic wmuld he often unintelligible, often misunder¬
stood by us. He shows us also how the ancients cured
distempers by friction, bathing, &c. His eight books
dc Medicina have been several times printed. The
Elzevir edition, in the year 1650, by Vander Linden,
is the best, as being entirely corrected from his manu¬
scripts.
Celsus, an Epicurean philosopher, in the second
century. He wrote a work against the Christians,
entitled, The Ti ue D iscourse : to which Origen, at the
desire of Ambrose his fri.*nd, wrote a learned answer.
To this philosopher Lucian dedicated his Pseudomanies.
CELTiE, or Celtes, an ancient nation, by which
most of the countries of Europe are thought to have
been peopled. The compilers of the Universal History
are of opinion that they were descended from Corner
the eldest son of Japhet, the son of Noah. They think
that Comer settled in the province of Phrygia in Asia j
Ashkenaz his eldest son, or Togarmah his youngest, or
both, in Armeniaj and Riphath the second son in Cap¬
padocia. When they spread themselves wider, they
seem to have moved regularly in columns without in¬
terfering with or disturbing their neighbours. The de¬
scendants of Comer, or the Celtse, took the left hand,
insensibly spreading themselves westward towards Po¬
land, Hungary, Germany, France, and Spain ) while
the descendants of Magog, Comer’s brother, moving
eastward, peopled Tartary.
In this large European tract, the Celtes began to
appear a powerful nation under a regular monarchy,
or rather under several considerable kingdoms. Men¬
tion is made of them indeed in so many parts of Eu¬
rope, by ancient geographers and historians, that Or-
tellius took Celtica to be a general name for the conti¬
nent of Europe, and made a map of it bearing this
title. In those parts of Asia which they possessed, as
well as in the difierent parts of Europe, the Celtes
went by various names. In Lesser Asia they were
known by the names of Titans and Sacks; in the
northern parts of Europe, by those of Cymmerians,
Cymbrians, &c.; and in the southern part they were
called Celtes, Gauls, or Galatians.,
With respect to the government of the Celtes we
are entirely in the dark. All we know is, that the
curates,, and afterwards druids and bards, were the in¬
terpreters of their laws; judged all causes whether cri¬
minal or civil; and their sentence was reckoned so sa¬
cred, that whoever refused to abide by it was by them
excluded from assisting at their sacred rites ; after
which no man dared to converse with him : so that this
punishment was reckoned the most severe of all, even
severer than death itself.
They neither reared temples nor statues to the Hei-
ty, but destroyed them wherever they could find them,
planting in their stead large spacious groves ; which,
being open on the top and sides, were, in their opi¬
nion, more acceptable to the Divine Being, who is ab¬
solutely unconfined. In this their religion seems to
have resembled that of the Persees and disciples of
Zoroaster. The Celtes only differed from them irii
making the oak instead of fire the emblem of the
Deity; in choosing that tree above all others to plant
their groves with, and attributing several supernatural
virtues both to its wood, leaves, fruit, and misletoe
all of which were made use of in their sacrifices and
other parts of their worship. But after they had adopt¬
ed the idolatrous superstition of the Romans and other
nations, and the apotheosis of their heroes and prin-.
ces, they came to worship them much in the same
manner ; as Jupiter under the name of Turan, which-
in the Celtic signifies thunder; Mercury, whom some
authors call Hens or Ilesvs, probably from the Celtic
handh, which signifies a dog, and might be the Anubis
latrans:
Celsm,
Celt®.
CEL [ 3°2 ]
C E M
Celtes, latrans of the Egyptians. Bnt Mars was held in the
Olliberia. greatest veneration by the warlike, and Mercury by
t]ie trading, part of the nation. The care of religion
was immediately under the curates, since known by
the name of druids and bards. These were, as Caesar
tells us, the performers of sacrifices and all religious
rites, and expounders of religion to the people. They
also instructed youth in all kinds of learning, such as
philosophy, astronomy, astrology, &c. I heir doc¬
trines were taught only by word of mouth, esteeming
them too sacred to be committed to writing. Other
more common subjects, such as their hymns to their
gods, the exploits of princes and generals in time of
war, and especially before a battle, were couched in
elegant verse, and recited, or rather sung, /m all pro¬
per occasions; though even these were also kept
from vulgar eyes, and either committed to memory,
or, if to writing, the whole was a secret to all the
- laity. The latter indeed seems the most probable, if
what Caesar hints be true; namely, that those poetic
records were increased in his time to such a hulk, that
it took up a young hard near 20 years to learn them
by heart. Diodorus tells us farther, that these poets
used to accompany their songs with instrumental music,
such as those of organs, harps, and the like j and that
they were held in such veneration, that if in the time
of an engagement between two armies one of these
bards appeared, both sides immediately ceased fighting.
The reason of this was, that they were universally be¬
lieved to he prophets as well as poets 5 so that it was
thought dangerous as well as injurious to disobey what
they supposed came from their gods. These prophe¬
tic philosophers kept academies, which were resorted
to, not only by a great number of their own youth,
but also of those from other countries, insomuch that
Aristotle says, their philosophy passed from thence
into Greece, and not from Greece thither. Diodorus
likewise quotes a passage from Hecateus, which is
greatly in their praise ; viz. that the druids had some
.kinds of instruments by which they could draw distant
objects nearer, and make them appear larger and
plainer", and by which they could discover even seas,
mountains, and valleys, in the moon. But whatever
might be their learning, it is certain, that in process
of time they adopted several very barbarous customs,
such as sacrificing human victims to their gods, as more
acceptable to them than those of any other animals.
And Diodorus tells us of another inhuman custom they
used in their divinations, especially in great matters,
which was done by killing some of their slaves, or
some prisoners of war, if any they had, with ascymitar,
to draw the augury from the running of his blood from
his mangled limbs.
For the history, &c. of the different Celtic nations,
see the article Gaul, &c.
Celtes, certain ancient instruments, of a wedge¬
like form, of which several have been discovered in
different parts of Great Britain. Antiquarians have
generally attributed them to the Celtae j hut not agree¬
ing as to their use, distinguished them by the above
unmeaning appellation. But Mr Whitaker makes it
probable that they were British battle-axes. See
Battle-Axes.
CELTIBERIA, in Ancient Geography, a country of
the Hither Spain, along the right or south-west side
2
of the river Iberus; though sometimes the greatest part Celtic
of Spain was called by the name Celtiberia. The people ||
were denominated Celtiberi, or the Celtoe seated on Ceme
the Iherus. They were brave and very warlike ; their' ^
cavalry in particular was excellent. They wore a
black and rough cloak, the shag of which was like
goats hair. Some of them had light bucklers like the
Gauls : others hollow' and round ones like those of
other nations. They all wore boots made of hair, and
iron helmets adorned with crests of a purple colour.
They used swords which cut on both sides, and po¬
niards of a foot long. Their arms were of an admirable
temper, and are said to have been prepared in the
following manner: they buried plates of iron under
ground, where they let them remain till the rust had
eaten the weakest part of the metal, and the rest was
consequently hard and firm. Of this excellent iron
they made their swords, which were so strong and
well tempered, that there was neither buckler nor
helmet that could resist their edge. The Celtiberians
were very cruel towards their enemies and malefac¬
tors, but showed the greatest humanity to their guests.
They not only cheerfully granted their hospitality to
strangers who travelled in their country, but were
desirous that they should seek protection under their
roof.
CELT1S. See Botany Index.
CEMENT, in a general sense, any glutinous sub¬
stance capable of uniting and keeping things together
in close cohesion. In this sense the word cement com¬
prehends mortar, solder, glue, &c. but has been ge¬
nerally restrained to the compositions used for holding
together broken glasses, china, and earthen ware. For
this purpose the juice of garlic is recommended as ex¬
ceedingly proper, being both very strong, and if the
operation is performed with care leaving little or no
mark. Quicklime and the white of an egg mixed
together and expeditiously used, are also very proper
for this purpose. Dr Lewis recommends a mixture
of quicklime and cheese in the following manner;
“ Sweet cheese shaved thin, and stirred with boiling-
hot water, changes into a tenacious slime which does
not mingle with the water. Worked with fresh parti¬
cles of hot water, and then mixed upon a hot stone
with a proper quantity of unslacked lime, to the con¬
sistence of a paste, it proves a strong and durable ce¬
ment for wood, stone, earthen ware, and glass. When
thoroughly dry, which will be in two or three days, it
is not in the least acted upon by water. Cheese barely
beat with quicklime, as directed by some of the che¬
mists for luting cracked glasses, is not near so effica¬
cious.” A composition of the drying oil of linseed
and white lead is also used for the same purposes, but
is greatly inferior.
Cement, in building, is used to denote any kind of
mortar of a stronger kind than ordinary. The cement
commonly used is of two kinds $ hot and cold. The
hot cement is made of rosin, bees-wax, brick-dust, and
chalk boiled together. The bricks to be cemented
are heated, and rubbed one upon another, with cement
between them. The cold cement is that above describ¬
ed for cementing china, &c. which is sometimes, though
rarely, employed in building.
The ruins of the ancient Roman buildings are found
to cohere so strongly, that most people have imagined
the
C E M [ 303 ] C E M
]ent t]ie ancients were acquainted with some kind of mor-
u y taI-7 which, in comparison of ours, might justly be call¬
ed cement; and that to our want of knowledge of the
materials they used, is owing the great inferiority of
modern buildings in their durability. In 1770, one
M. Loriot, a Frenchman, pretended to have discover¬
ed the secret of the ancient cement, which, according
to him, was no more than a mixture of powdered quick¬
lime with lime which had been long slacked and kept
under water. The slacked lime was first to be made
up with sand, earth, brickdust, &c. into mortar, after
the common method, and then about a third part of
quicklime in powder was added to the mixture. This
produced an almost instantaneous petrification, some¬
thing like what is called the setting of alabaster, but in
a much stronger degree •, and was possessed of many
wonderful qualities needless here to relate, seeing it
has never been known to succeed with any other per¬
son who tried it. Mr Anderson, in his essays on agri¬
culture, has discussed this subject at considerable length,
and seemingly with great judgment. He is the only
person we know who has given any rational theory of
the uses of lime in building, and why it comes to be
the proper basis of all cements. His account is in sub¬
stance as follows :
ILime which has been slacked and mixed with sand
becomes hard and consistent when dry, by a process
similar to that which produces the natural stalactites
in caverns. These are always formed by water drop¬
ping from the roof. By some unknown and inexpli¬
cable process of nature, this water has dissolved in it a
small portion of calcareous matter in a caustic state.
As long as the water continues covered from the air,
it keeps the earth dissolved in it: it being the natural
property of calcareous earths, when deprived of their
fixed air, to dissolve in water. But when the small
drop of water comes to be exposed to the air, the cal¬
careous matter contained in it begins to attract the
fixable part of the atmosphere. In proportion as it
does so, it also begins to separate from the water, and
to reassume its native form of limestone or marble.
This process Mr Anderson calls a crystallisation: and
when the calcareous matter is perfectly crystallised in
this manner, he affirms, that it is to all intents and
purposes limestone or marble of the same consistence
as before : and in this manner (says he), within the
memory of man, have huge rocks of marble been form¬
ed near Matlock in Derbyshire.” If lime in a caustic
state is mixed with water, part of the lime will be dis¬
solved, and will also begin to crystallize. The water
which parted with the crystallized lime will then be¬
gin to act upon the remainder, which it could not dis¬
solve before ; and thus the process will continue, either
till the lime be all reduced to an effete, or (as he calls
it) crystalline state, or something hinders the action of
the water upon it. It is this crystallization which is
observed by the workmen when a heap of lime is mix¬
ed with water, and left for some time to macerate. A
hard crust is formed upon the surface, which is igno¬
rantly called frosting, though it takes place in summer
as well as in winter. If therefore the hardness of the
lime, or its becoming a cement, depends entirely on
the formation of its crystals, it is evident that the per¬
fection of the cement must depend on the perfection
of the crystals, and the hardness of the matters which
are entangled among them. The additional substances Cement,
used in making of mortar, such as sand, brickdust, or —v—
the like, according to Mr Anderson, serve only for a
purpose similar to what is answered by sticks put into
a vessel full of any saline solution, namely, to afford the
crystals an opportunity of fastening themselves upon it.
If therefore the matter interposed between the crystals
of the lime is of a friable, brittle nature, such as brick¬
dust or chalk, the mortar will be of a weak and imper¬
fect kind ; but, when the particles are hard, angular,
and very difficult to be broken, such as those of river
or pit sand, the mortar turns out exceedingly good
and strong. Sea sand is found to be an improper ma¬
terial for mortar, which Mr Anderson ascribes to its
being less angular than the other kinds. That the
crystallization may be the more perfect, he also recom¬
mends a large quantity of water, that the ingredients
be perfectly mixed together, and that the drying be as
slow as possible. An attention to these circumstances,
he thinks, would make the buildings of the moderns
equally durable with those of the ancients ; and from
what remains of the ancient Roman works, he thinks
a very strong proof of his hypothesis might be adduced.
The great thickness of their walls necessarily required
a vast length of time to dry. The middle of them
was composed of pebbles thrown in at random, and
which have evidently had mortar so thin as to be
poured in among them. By this means a great quantity
of the lime would be dissolved, and the crystallization
performed in the most perfect manner ; and the inde¬
fatigable pains and perseverance for which the Romans
were so remarkable in all their undertakings, leave no
room to doubt that they would take care to have the
ingredients mixed together as well as possible. The
consequence of all this is, that the buildings formed in
this manner are all as firm as if cut out of a solid rock ;
the mortar being equally hard, if not more so, than the
stones themselves.
Notwithstanding the bad success of those who have
attempted to repeat M. Loriot’s experiments, however.
Dr Black informs us, that a cement of this kind is cer¬
tainly practicable. It is done, he says, by powdering
the lime while hot from the kiln, and throwing it into
a thin paste of sand and water; which, not slacking
immediately, absorbs the water from the mortar by de¬
grees, and forms a very hard mass. “ It is plain, he
adds, that the strength of this mortar depends on using
the lime hot or fresh from the kiln.”
By mixing together gypsum and quicklime, and then
adding water, we may form a cement of tolerable
hardness, and which apparently might be used to ad¬
vantage in making troughs for holding water, or lining
small canals for it to run in. Mr Wiegley says, that
a good mortar or cement, which will not crack, may
be obtained, by mixing three parts of a thin magma of
slacked lime with one of powdered gypsum ; but adds,
that it is used only in a dry situation. A mixture of
tarras with slacking lime acquires in time a stony hard¬
ness, and may be used for preventing water from enter¬
ing. See Mortar and Stucco.
CEMENT, among engravers, jewellers, &c. is the same
with the hot cement used in building* ; and is used for* See the
keeping the metals to be engraven firm to the block, foregoing
and also for filling up what is to be chisseled. aiticlc.
Cement, in Chemistry, is used to signify all those
powders
C E N [ 304 ] C E N
Cement
II
■Cenotaph.
powders and pastes with which any body is sur¬
rounded in pots or crucibles, and which are capable
by the help of fire of producing changes upon that
body. They are made of various materials ; and are
used for different purposes, as for parting gold from
silver, converting iron into steel, copper into brass ; and
by cementation more considerable changes can be
effected upon bodies, than by applying to them liquids
of any kind 5 because the active matters are then in a
state of vapour, and assisted by a very considerable
degree of heat.
Cement which quickly hardens in water. This is
described in the posthumous works of Mr Hooke, and
is recommended for gilding live craw fish, carps, &c.
without injuring the fish. The cement for this pur¬
pose is prepared, by putting some Burgundy pitch
into a new earthen pot, and warming the vessel till it
receives so much of the pitch as will stick round it,
then strewing some finely-powdered amber over the
pitch when growing cold, adding a mixture of three
jjounds of linseed oil, and one of the oil of turpentine,
covering the vessel and boiling them for an hour over
a gentle fire, and grinding the mixture as it is wanted
with as much pumice-stone in fine powder as will reduce
it to the consistence of paint. The fish being wiped
dry, the mixture is spread upon it j and the gold leaf
being then laid on, the fish may be immediately put
into water again, without any danger of the gold
coming off, for the matter quickly grows hard in the
water.
Cement Pots, are those earthen pots used in the
cementation of metals.
CEMENTATION, the act of corroding or other¬
wise changing a metal by means of a Cement.
CEMETERY (Koi^iXTYi^iov, from 'R.eif&xv,to*'1 sleep”')}
a place set apart or consecrated for the burial of the
dead.
Anciently none were buried in churches or church¬
yards ; it was even unlawful to inter in cities, and the
cemeteries were without the walls. Among the primi¬
tive Christians these were held in great veneration.
It even appears from Eusebius and Tertullian, that, in
the early ages, they assembled for divine worship in the
cemeteries. Valerian seems to have confiscated the
cemeteries and other places of divine worship, but they
were restored again by Gallienus. As the martyrs
were buried in these places, the Christians chose them
for building churches on, when Constantine established
their religion ; and hence some derive the rule which
still obtains in the church of Rome, never to consecrate
an altar without putting under it the relicks of some
saint. The practice of consecrating cemeteries is of
some antiquity. The bishop walked round it in pro¬
cession, with the crosier or pastoral staff in his hand,
the holy water pot being carried before, out of which
the aspersions were made.
CENCHRUS. See Botany Index.
CENEGILL, in the Saxon antiquities, an expia¬
tory mulct, paid by one who had killed a man to the
kindred of the deceased. The word is compounded
of the Saxon cinne, i. e. cognatio, “relation,” and gild,
solutio, “ payment.”
CENOBITE. See Coenobite.
CENOTAPH, in antiquity, an empty tomb, erect¬
ed by way of honour to the deceased. It is distinguish- £cno
ed from a sepulchre, in which a coffin was deposited. ||
Of these there were two sorts 3 one for those who t>n
had, and another for those who had not, been honoured
with funeral rites in another place.
The sign whereby honorary sepulchres were distin¬
guished from others, was commonly the wreck of a
ship, to denote the decease of the person in some foreign
country.
CENSER, in antiquity, a vase containing incense
to be used in sacrifices. Censer is chiefly used in speak¬
ing of the Jewish worship. Among the Greeks and
Romans it is more frequently called thuribulum,
rt{, and acerra.
The Jewish censer was a small sort of chafing dish,
covered with a dome, and suspended by a chain. Jo¬
sephus tells us, that Solomon made 20,000 gold censers
for the temple of Jerusalem, to offer perfumes in, and
50,000 others to carry fire in.
CENSIO, in antiquity, the act or office of the cen¬
sor. See Census.
Censio included both the rating or valuing a man’s
estate, and the imposing mulcts and penalties.
Censio hastaria, a punishment inflicted on a Roman
soldier for some offence, as laziness or luxury, whereby
his hasta or spear was taken from him, and consequent¬
ly his wages and hopes of preferment stopped.
CENSITUS, a person censed, or entered in the
censual tables. See Census.
In an ancient monument found at Ancyra, contain¬
ing the actions of the emperor Octavius, we read,
Qmo bistro civium Roma norum
Censita sunt capita quadragies
Centum millia et sexaginta tria.
Censitus is also used in the civil law for a servile
sort of tenant, who pays capitation to his lord for the
lands he holds of him, and is entered as such in the
lord’s rent roll. In which sense, the word amounts to
the same with capite census, or capite censitus. See
Capite Censi.
CENSOR, (from censere to “ think” or “ judge”),
one of the prime magistrates in ancient Rome.—Their
business was to register the effects of the Roman citi¬
zens, to impose taxes in proportion to what each man
possessed, and to take cognizance or inspection of the
manners of the citizens. In consequence of this last
part of their office, they had a power to censure vice
or immorality, by inflicting some public mark of igno¬
miny on the offender. They had even a power to
create the princeps senatus, and to expel from the senate
such as they deemed unworthy of that office. This
power they sometimes exercised without sufficient
grounds 3 and therefore a law was at length passed, that
no senator should be degraded or disgraced in any man¬
ner until he had been formally accused and lound
guilty by both the censors. It was also a part of the
censorian jurisdiction, to fill up the vacancies in the
senate, upon any remarkable deficiency in their num¬
ber 3 to let out to farm all the lands, revenues, and
customs, of the republic ; and to contract with artifi¬
cers for the charge of building and repairing all the
public works and edifices both in Rome and the colo¬
nies of Italy. In all parts of their office, however,
they
it
C E N [ 305 ] C E IN!
isor they were subject to the jurisdiction of the people ; and
|] an appeal always lay from the sentence of the censors
C iuie. to that of an assembly of the people.
u The first two censors were created in the year of
Rome 311, upon the senate’s observing that the con¬
suls were so much taken up with war as not to have
time to look into other matters. The office continued
to the time of the emperors, who assumed the censorial
power, calling themselves morum prcefecti; though
Vespasian and his son took the title of censors. De-
cius attempted to restore the dignity to a particular
magistrate. After this we hear no more of it, till Con¬
stantine’s time, who made his brother censor, and he
seems to have been the last that enjoyed the office.
The office of censor was so considerable, that for a
long time none aspired to it till they had passed all the
rest; so that it was thought aspiring that Crassus
should be admitted censor, without having been either
consul or praetor. At first the censors enjoyed their
dignity for five years, but in 420 the dictator Mamer-
cus made a law restraining it to a year and a half,
which was afterwards observed very strictly. At first
one of the censors was elected out of a patrician, and
the other out of a plebeian family ; and upon the death
of either, the other was discharged from his office, and
two new ones elected, but not till the next lustrum. In
the year of Rome 622, both censors were chosen from
among the plebeians; and after that time the office
was shared between the senate and people. After their
election in the Comitia Centuriata, the censors pro¬
ceeded to the capitol, where they took an oath not to
manage either by favour or disaftection, but to act
equitably and impartially throughout the whole course
of their administration.
The republic of Venice still has a censor of the man¬
ners of their people, whose office lasts six months.
Censors of Books, are a body of doctors or others
established in divers countries to examine all books be¬
fore they go to the press, and to see they contain no¬
thing contrary to faith and good manners.
At Paris, before the late revolution, the faculty of
theology claimed this privilege as granted to them by
the pope; but, in 1624, new commissions of four doc¬
tors were created, by letters patent, the sole censors of
all books, and answerable for every thing contained
therein.
In England, we had formerly an officer of this kind,
under the title of licenser of the press: but, since the
Revolution, our press has been laid under no such re¬
straint.
CENSORINUS, a celebrated writer in the third
century, well known by his treatise De die Natali. This
treatise, which was written about the year 238, Gerard
^ossius calls a little book of gold ; and declares it to
he a most learned work of the highest use and import¬
ance to chronologers, since it connects and determines,
With great exactness, some of the principal eras in pa¬
gan history. It was printed at Cambridge, with the
notes of Lindenbrokius, in 1695.
CENSURE, a judgment which condemns some book,
person, or action, or more particularly, a reprimand
irom a superior. Ecclesiastical censures are penalties,
uy which, for some remarkable misbehaviour, Christians
are deprived of the communion of the church, or pro¬
hibited to exercise the sacerdotal office.
Vol. V. Part I. +
CENSUS, in Roman antiquity, an authentic decla¬
ration made before the censors, by the several subjects ^
of the empire, of their respective names and places of
abode. This declaration was registered by the cen¬
sors ; and contained an enumeration, in writing, of all
the estates, lands, and inheritances they possessed ; their
quantity, quality, place, wives, children, domestics,
tenants, slaves. In the provinces the census served not
only to discover the substance of each person, but
where, and in what manner and proportion, taxes
might be best imposed. The census at Rome is com¬
monly thought to have been held every five years;
but Dr Middleton hath shown, that both census and
lustrum were held irregularly and uncertainly at va¬
rious intervals. The census was an excellent expedi¬
ent for discovering the strength of the state ; for by it
they discovered the number of the citizens, how many
were fit for war, and how many for offices of other
kinds ; how much each was able to pay of taxes, &c.
It went through all ranks of people, though under dif¬
ferent names: that of the common people was called
census ; that of the knights, census, recensio, recognitio ;
that of the senators, lectio, relectio.—Hence also census
came to signify a person who had made such a declara¬
tion ; in which sense it was opposed to incensus, a per¬
son who had not given in his estate or name to be re¬
gistered.
The census, according to Salmasius, was peculiar to
the city of Rome. That in the provinces was pro¬
perly called professio and But this distinc¬
tion is not everywhere observed by the ancients them
selves. ,
Census was also found for the book or register where*
in the professions of the people were entered : In which
sense, the census was frequently cited and appealed to
as evidence in the courts of justice.
Census is also used to denote a man’s whole sub¬
stance or estate.
Census Senatorius, the patrimony of a senator, which
was limited to a certain value ; being at first rated at
800,000 sesterces, but afterwards, under Augustus, en¬
larged to 1,200,000.
Census Ecjuester, the estate or patrimony of a knight,
rated at 400,000 sesterces, which was required to qua¬
lify a person for that order, and without which no vir¬
tue or merit was available.
Census was also used for a person worth 100,000
sesterces, or who was entered as such in the censual ta¬
bles, on his own declaration. In which sense, census
amounts to the same with classicus, ora man of the first
class; though Gellius limits the estate of those of this
class to 125,000 asses. By the Voconian law, no cen¬
sus was allowed to give by his will above a fourth par#
of what he was worth to a woman.
Census was also used to denote a tax or tribute im¬
posed on persons, and called also capitation. See Ca-
pite Censi.
Census Dominicatus, in writers of the lower age,
denotes a rent due to the lord.
Census Duplicatus, a double rent or tax, paid by
vassals to their lord on extraordinary or urgent occa¬
sions ; as expeditions to the Holy Land, &c.
Census Bcc/esice Romance, was an annual contribu¬
tion voluntarily paid to the see of Rome by the several
princes of Europe.
Q q CENT
Census.
—y—-J
Cent
C E N [3
CENT signifies properly a hundred, being an a-
bridgement of the tvord centum ; but is often used in
commerce to express the profit or loss arising from the
sale of any commodity : so that when they say there is
IO per cent, profit, or 10 per cent, loss, upon any mer¬
chandise that has been sold, it is to be understood that
the seller has either gained or lost 10I. on every 100I.
of the price at which he bought that merchandise $
•which is TV of profit, or TV of loss, upon the total of
the sale.
CENTAUR, in Astronomy, a part or moiety of a
southern constellation, in form half man half horse j
usually joined with the wolf. The word comes from
xiVTav^, formed of Tssm#, pungo; and bull;
(j. d. bull-pricker. The stars of this constellation, in
Ptolemy’s Catalogue, are 365 in Tycho’s 4-, and in
the Britannic Catalogue, with Sharp’s Appendix, 35.
CENTAURS, in Mythology, a kind of fabulous
monsters, half men and half horses.—The poets pre¬
tended that the Centaurs were the sons of Ixion and a
cloud \ the reason of which fancy is, that they retired
to a castle called yg^sAjj, which signifies “ a cloud.”—
This fable is differently interpreted : some will have
the Centaurs to have been a body of shepherds and
herdsmen, rich in cattle, who inhabited the mountains
of Arcadia, and to whom is attributed the invention of
bucolic poetry. PalEcphtetus, in his book of incredibles,
relates, that under the reign of Ixion, king of Thessaly,
a herd of bulls on Mount Thessaly run mad, and rava¬
ged the whole country, rendering the mountains inac¬
cessible ; that some young men who had found the art
of taming and mounting horses, undertook to clear the
mountains of these animals, which they pursued on
horseback, and thence obtained the appellation of Cen¬
taurs. This success rendering them insolent, they in¬
sulted the Lapithse, a people of Thessaly : and because
when attacked they fled with great rapidity, it was
supposed they were half horses and half men.-—The
Centaurs in reality were a tribe of Lapithse, who in¬
habited the city Pelethronium, adjoining to Mount Pe-
lion, and first invented the art of breaking horses, as
is intimated by Virgil.
CENTAUREA, Greater Centaury. See Bo¬
tany Index. There are 61 species belonging to this
genus. The root of one of them, called glastifolia, is
an article in the materia medica. It has a rough, some¬
what acrid taste, and abounds with a red viscid juice.
Its rough taste has gained it some esteem as an astrin¬
gent, its acrimony as an aperient, and its glutinous
quality as a vulnerary j but the present practice takes
very little notice of it in any intention. Another of
the species is the cyanus or blue bottle, which grows
commonly among corn. The expressed juice of this
flower stains linen of a beautiful blue colour, but is not
permanent. Mr Boyle says, that the juice of the inner
petals, with a little alum, makes a beautiful permanent
colour, equal to ultramarine.
Lesser Centaury. See Gentiana, Botany Index.
CENTELLA. See Botany I?idex.
CENTENARIES, or Centenario, in the middle
age, an officer who had the government or command,
with the administration of justice, in a village. The
centenarii as well as vioarii were under the jurisdiction
and command of the court. We find them among the
Franks, Germans, Lombards, Goths, &c.
06 ] C E N
Centenaries was also used for an officer who had Cen((
the command of ICO men, most frequently called a nu
Centurion. _ ||
Centenaries, in monasteries, was an officer who ('en,|
had the command of 100 monks.
CENTENINUM OVUM, among naturalists, de¬
notes a sort of hen’s egg much smaller than ordinary,
vulgarly called a cock's egg ; from which it has been
fabulously held that the cockatrice or basilisk is pro¬
duced. The name is taken from an opinion, that these
are the last eggs which hens lay, having laid 100 be¬
fore whence centeninum, q. d. the hundredth egg.—
These eggs have no yolks, but in other respects dif¬
fer not from common ones, having the albumen, cha-
lazes, membranes, &c. in common with others. In
the place of the yolk is found a little body like a ser¬
pent coiled up, which doubtless gave rise to the fable
of the basilisk’s origin from thence. Their origin is
with probability ascribed by Harvey to this, that the
yolks in the vitellary of the hen are exhausted before
the albumina. *
CENTER, or Centre, in a general sense, signi¬
fies a point equally distant from the extremities of a
line, figure, or body. The word is formed from the
Greek a point.
Center of an Arch. Under the article Bridge,
the different forms of arches have been particularly
considered.
Under this article, it comes very properly to be as¬
certained in what manner the arch-stones are supported
till the arch is completed, and the most commodious
and least expensive manner in which this can be ac¬
complished. When the span is small, and upon a li¬
mited scale, as cellars, and vaults below ground, the
foundation of the side walls is dug out, the earth round¬
ed off betwixt, the arch thrown over upon it, and the
earth is afterwards dug out and carried away. This
must have been done on any account. By this method
the wood and workmanship are saved ; but it is only in
particular instances that this can be done. Vi'hen the
arch to be cast is on land, and at no great height above
the surface of the earth, a frame for supporting the
arch-stones can be raised from the earth, and bound
together, frequently, with a great profusion of wood,
which on account of the smallness of the arch is not
taken into account j but, when the span is great, or at
a great height above the surface of the earth, the ex¬
pence of a frame formed in the same manner would
be enormous, and in many cases impracticable 5 but
whether the arch be great or small, high or low, a pro¬
per economy ought to be observed ; and the less the
expence in wood and workmanship incurred, so much
the more advantage to those concerned, and the pur¬
pose being obtained, so much more credit is due to the
engineer.
It is again to be considered, on the other hand, that
in order to save some expence, either in wood or work¬
manship, the frame or center, as we shall call it, is
made too slight, and so unconnected in its parts, that
the pressure of the arch-stones is greater than it can
support. The whole work is brought down, and the
saving on the one part produces a more serious loss on
the other j so that both the workmen and proprietors
agree, that it is better that the center be too strong
than too weak $ better have too much wood in it than
too
C E N [ 307 ] C E N
ler too little. To assist the mechanic in this important
^—/affair, is the design of treating this article with parti¬
cular attention ; for which purpose we shall be at pains
to acquire every assistance that can be collected, from
the most experienced engineers, and from the researches
and experiments of the most distinguished philosophers
who have treated of such arts as may enable us to elu¬
cidate the subject, and make it worth the attention of
engineers and mechanics who may have occasion to ex¬
ert their genius in that line.
In the first place, it will be necessary to consider
the weight to be supported : 2dly, The quantity of the
materials to be used, that shall be of strength sufficient
to support such a weight: 3dly, The most elfective
method to apply these materials, as supported by the
most approved authorities, or practised by the ablest
engineers. The weight to be supported is the arch¬
stones. Suppose an arch 20 feet span, (see figures for
the arches, a new figure being unnecessary). It has
been shown under the article Bridge, that the arch
can be raised to 30 degrees and upwards, without the
support of the center •, after which it begins to rest
upon the frame of which the center is composed, if
the arch is a semicircle, or semiellipse j if a segment
of a circle, it will press sooner upon the center, and the
more so the flatter the arch is. 1st, Suppose a semi¬
circle ; then there is 120 degrees of the arch to be sup¬
ported by the center, the diameter supposed is 20 feet.
One hundred and twenty degrees will measure
20.94393 feet $ but as it is advisable to give the ad¬
vantage to the center, we call it 21 feet in an arch of
20 feet span. If the stone is of a durable and hard
quality, perhaps an arch-stone of 12 or 14 inches might
be of sufficient strength 5 yet it is not probable that
any one would think of less than 18 inches for the thick¬
ness of the arch 5 for it will not have too heavy an
appearance if it should be twro feet thick. We shall
calculate the weight at 18 inches square ; the thickness
of the stone is not here to be considered, as the weight
of the whole is to be supported till the key-stone is
driven : the specific gravity of good free stone is 2.532,
the solid feet in an arch of 120 degrees 5 the span 20
feet is 21 feet, nearly as above. The stone 18 inches
square by 21 feet gives 47.25 solid feet ; the weight
by the above specific gravity is 7477.3076 lb. avoirdu-
poise, about 66.753 cwt. being the weight that one
rib of the center frame must sustain, without warping,
or by the pressure on its haunches make it rise in the
crown j neither must it sink under the pressure : in
either case the consequences would be fatal, either in
causing the arch to give way, upon striking out the cen¬
ter, or in weakening it in such a manner as to shorten
its durability ; being twisted in its shape, the equili¬
brium would be destroyed, and the consequence would
he either to spring the key-stone, or, if that was pre¬
vented by the weight above it, the same weight would
cause it to yield at about, or a little above, 30 degrees
*rom the spring of the arch. From all which the ne¬
cessity of the strength and firmness of the center frame
is evident.
If the arch exceeds 20 feet, suppose 50, the weight
wdl evidently become greater, and an additional
strength necessary on that account; and likewise on
account of its greater extent, the frame that would be
sufficiently firm at 20 feet would be supple at 50. To
prevent any error on this account, another calcula- Center,
tion for 50 feet will become necessary. In the span —v——
of 50 the arch of 120 degrees measures 52.36 feet;
suppose the arch-stone, 2~ feet deep by 2, is five super¬
ficial feet, multiplied by 52.36 is 261.8 solid feet, and
at the above specific gravity gives 41429.7154748 lb.
avoirdupoise, equal to 369.908 cwt. Here the weight is
increased upon the center frame, in the proportion of
66.5 to 369.9, that is, more than five times, besides
what allowance it will be necessary to make for the dif¬
ference of the stiffness of the center frame ; both which
will be considered in their proper places.
Let us now consider what wTiil be the increase of
weight, upon a span of 100 feet. The rise of the
arch, before it presses on the center frame in a semi¬
circle, being in the same propox-tion, the arch of 120
degrees in 100 feet span measures 104.719 feet; the
arch-stone may be supposed abundantly strong of 4
feet length, for the depth of the arch, and 3 feet broad,
which makes a superficies of 12 feet, and multiplied by
104.719 gives 1256.628 solid feet, the specific gravity,
that is, the stone is supposed of the same durability
gives 198.861.381 lb. avoirdupois, equal to 1775.548
cvvt. about five times more weight than upon the arch
of 50 feet span. If the arch is 130 feet span, 120 de¬
grees measures 136.13556 feet. Suppose the arch¬
stone 5 feet, as in the arch-stones of the bridge over
the Dee at Aberdeen, at least they are between 4^
and 5 feet. The Aberdeen granite is a very hard
stone, and perhaps exceeds the specific gravity above.
The arch-stone is here supposed to be 5 feet by 3, equal
to 15 square feet, multiplied by 136.13556, gives
2042.0334 solid feet. According to the above specific
gravity, the weight to be supported till the key¬
stone is drove, is 2885.2838 cvvt. The weight of
the key-stone in the whole of the above may be de¬
ducted.
As center-frames must likewise be used for iron
bridges, we shall consider them, and take the span 236
feet, still supporting a semicircle.
It may be proper to take the weight that it would
be if the arch were the segment of a circle, the span of
the arch 236, the height above the spring of the arch
or the versed sine of the arch, 34 feet, in which case
the diameter of the circle would be 444 feet nearly;
the arch-stones in this segment would press upon the
center-frame, at about 18 feet from the spring of the
arch. Suppose the arch-stone 5 feet by 4, equal to
20 superficial feet, the whole measure of the arch is
444.154 lineal feet, the solid content is 4131.84 feet,
and weight 318.689 tons; but the weight of the iron
was only 260 tons. It may not be improper here to
observe, that in a stone bridge of that span, 5 feet of
arch-stone would be too small to sustain the arch. It
may perhaps be admitted, that it would be sufficient
to support its own weight; and if so, the arch be¬
ing smoothed above, a second arch of a five feet stone.
may be thrown over above it. These two together
may form a stronger arch than a stone often feet depth
would do. And thus a stone arch may be extended
to any span, and made of abundant strength; and ex¬
perience has shown its durability to withstand the
weather. Thus the old London bridge has perform¬
ed its faithful ssrvices to the public for 600 years :
that it was an incumbrance in passing up and down
Q q 2 the
C E N [ 308 ] C E N
Center the river, ami clumsy in its construction, were owing
to the taste of the times. Perhaps few will be found
that would be willing to insure an iron bridge against
the ruin occasioned by the weather for the same time,
or perhaps much above one-half that time. But this
is not a fit place to enter into the full discussion of this
subject. To return to the weight pressing upon a center-
frame. Having now taken a view of the weight to be
supported, it comes next to be considered what strength
of wood is necessary to resist this force, and the most
proper and commodious manner of combining the parts.
To determine this, we must have recourse to such ex¬
periments as have been made for trying the strength of
different spe'cies of stone arid wood.
Experiments have been made to ascertain the strength
of timber, and many of them appear to have been con¬
ducted with great care and attention. Some of these
the reader will find collected and detailed under the
article Strength of Materials. We shall here state
the result of some of the curious experiments which
were instituted by the Count de Buffon to ascertain
this point. According to these experiments, the batten
of five inches square, whose length was 14 feet, and
which supported a weight of 5300, which may be called
its breaking force, should have double the strength of
a batten of 28 feet long. But it has a great deal
more. The latter by the experiment is equal to 1775
only j whereas the half of 5300 is 2650. But it is to be
considered, that the power of the lever is in proportion
to its distance from the fulcrum j this power arising from
the weight of the log, is the weight of one foot of wood
acting as a weight at a distance from the fulcrum. The
log increases in its power to break by its length ; 1 2
inches of this log, five inches square, weighs about
10.41b. somewhat more or less; and 10.41b. at 13 feet
distance, acts with a force of 135.2 lb.: this we consider
the last term 5 and o, the point of fracture, is the first
term,; the first and last term, multiplied by half the
number of terms, are equal to the sum of all the terms ;
that is, 135.2x64, amount 878.8 lb. added to 1775,
equal 2653.8 ; so near to the half, that the difference
may easily be accounted for, from the real weight of
the wood on which the experiment was made; and
our taking the weight from tables of specific gravity,
of the supposed 60 lb. rIo take another example, a
batten of nine feet is double the strength of one of the
same size of 18 feet long. The weight that breaks a
batten of nine feet, five inches square, is 8308 lb. ; the
half is 4154; but by the experiment, 37001b. break
the batten at 18 feet. N. B, The weight being laid
upon the middle, 94 is the number of terms, one-half
is 4.625. Seventeen feet one-half is 84 ; 10.4 lb. mul¬
tiplied by 84, is 102x4.625, half the number of
terms, is 47r125-j-370°j *S4I7I,25» somewhat greater,
but which is so near, that the smallest accident for
failure, not discernible in the wood, will occasion the
difference. Now, to reduce the experiment of this
given size to any other of greater dimensions ; suppose
one foot ; similar solids of the same altitude are to one
another as their bases ; that is, 25, the base of the five
inch square, is to 144, the base of the 12 inch square,
as the weight that would break the batten of nine feet,
to the weight tlvat will break another of the same nine
feet length, and of one foot square (5. 6. El. 12.), that
is, as the base 25 is to the weight 8308, so is 144 to
478541b. : equal 213.8125 ton, and the proportion as Cetl(
above, for greater or less length of logs or spars. As we -y j
have no experiments made of logs of 12 inches square,
unless there is something in the texture of the fibres,
in pieces of different diameters, we have every reason
to conclude, the above proportion will give the proper
strength of the material used. It must, however, not
be forgot, that the pieces upon which the experiments
were made, were nicely chosen for the purpose. It
will scarcely be practicable to find apiece of 12 inches
square, and even of nine feet length, equally well
adapted to bear a proportionable strain ; and much
more difficult to find a piece of still greater length.
These experiments and proportions afford a safe crite¬
rion for proper limits to be attended to in practice. In
this, we do not mean to apply such a load upon the
beam as will break it ; we intend the beam to support
the load, without giving way or yielding to it.
In the same experiments, we are told by the author,
that two-thirds of the weight broke the beam in the
space of two months ; that one-half the weight gave a
set or bend which it did not recover, but shewed no
farther tendency to break; that one-third of the weight,
after long continuance, did not give it a set; but the
weight being removed, the beam returned to the same
position as before it was loaded. Betwixt one-third and
the half of load or weight that would break the beam,
is the strength we allot to it for permanent use. Before
we proceed to put the above observations into full
practice, let us examine whether the log is necessary
to be square to give it the greatest strength ; practice,
in a great measure, determines that it is not. It is,
however, necessary to inquire what breadth to a given
depth is sufficient as a maximum that we ought not to
exceed; or what is the minimum that we may use, so as
not to lose the principal intended effect. Belidor has
made a series of experiments on the transverse strength
of bodies, which are detailed in his Science dcs Inge-
nieurs, but the spars are only of one inch, not exceed¬
ing two inches in breadth or thickness. Among these,
we select one spar two inches breadth, one inch depth,
and 18 inches length ; which at the medium of three
trials was broken, lying loose at both ends, by 8051b.
Another one inch board, twro inches deep, and 18 inches
long, broke with the force of 1580 lb.; nearly in the
proportion of the square of the depth, being only a
diminution of 20 lb. weight. In the present case, the
quantity of matter is the same in both.
It may therefore he concluded from this experi¬
ment, that a batten of any depth, and one-half breadth,
is equally strong in that position as if it had been
square timber ; and that the strength is according to
the depth, if the breadth is only such as that it does
not yield in that direction. And hence the advan¬
tage in point of economy ; for if the piece is set upon
its edge, suppose nine inches deep and one broad,
provided that by straining the piece in depth, it shall
not yield in the lateral direction, it will bear as much
strain as if nine inches square. The experiment may
be performed upon a small scale. Suppose five inches,
and one inch broad, the thin section may be inclosed
at different distances with pieces five inches square.
Suppose at the distances of 1,2, 3* &c. fig. 1. Plate
CXXXVIII. and the weight applied that broke the
five inch square of the length of I4, feet, viz. 5300 lb.
ster.
C E N
All the experiments which have been
J were made upon scantling of sound oak. But it has
already been observed, that in practice, such pieces can¬
not always, if at all, be selected. But the practical
mechanic, confining himself to between one-third and
one-half of the absolute strength, according as his
judgment directs him, respecting the soundness of the
piece he uses ; there can be no doubt, that, upon oc¬
casions, he will be convinced, that he cannot, with
safety, allow even one-third of the absolute strength,
but must take it considerably below that proportion.
As to other species of wood, trials have also been
made 4 and the result from different experiments has
occasioned some deviation. We are told that Buffbn
makes fir about -r^ths of the strength of oak, Parent
xlths, and Emerson yds ; all of them different. The
difference between Buffbn and Parent is x*o-; between
Parent and Emerson is £th j and between Bufibn and
Emerson is yth. It is easy to conceive that the differ¬
ent states of the wood, and different circumstances in
the same species of fir and oak, will make a consider¬
able difference although the same persons were em¬
ployed on the same materials, the experiments avould
probably vary 5 much more, may it be allowed that at
different times different states of the wood must make
the results different.
The experiments made by different persons vary in
their amount. Belidor’s experiments agree one part
with another, and so do Buflbn’s, but differ in their
results from Belidor’s. Belidor’s slips of oak are only
of one inch square, and Buffon’s are from four to eignt
inches square, and from 7 to 28 feet in length. When
the one is reduced to the standard of the other, they
do not agree : the difference may arise from various
causes. We know that there is a difference in the
strength of oak of different growths, and from differ¬
ent soils, as well as in other species of wood ; there is
likewise a difference in the degree of seasoning of the
wood. Buffon gives the weight of his wood, Belidor
does not. If Buffon’s log or batten, four inches square,
weighs about 60 lb. that is, about 77 lb. the solid foot;
whereas a solid foot of dry oak will not weigh above
60 lb. j but Buffbn acknowledges that his wood was in
the sap, as vapours issued at both ends in the bend¬
ing. These differences may make all the odds in the
breaking, unless the proportion was established to be,
as the squares of the diameter of the battens j but this
is not the case, for in Buffon’s experiments, the
square of four, to the square of five of the seven feet
batten, the breaking force is 83001b. ; but the ex¬
periment gives it 115254 that of six inches square
16 : 36 :: 5312.11952 4 exp. 18950. In the seven inch
square 16 : 49.5312.16268 ; exp. 32200. In the eighth
inch square 16.64.5312 : 21248; exp. 4709, the dif¬
ference between the four and five inch square is one-
third part of the experiment weight; the difference be¬
tween the four and six is somewhat more than one-third
the experiment weight; and in the seventh,, the differ¬
ence is a littl« less than half the experiment weight ;
between the seventh and the eighth the difference is
greater than half the experiment weight.
There is likewise a difference at the different lengths ;
for it does not appear that the different lengths bear a
Proportion to their parts ; a batten of four inches square
[ 309 1 C E N
alluded to above of seven feet length, is expected to be double the strength
of one of the same dimensions of 14 feet length ; that
is, the one of 14 feet length is expected to break
with one half of the weight that breaks the seven
feet batten ; but we find it much less ; but when it
is considered that the weight of the materials acting
at a greater distance from the center of motion, this
must be taken into the account, and added to the
weight of the breaking force. For example, the bat¬
ten of five inches square and 12 inches length,
weighs 13.3681b. at the rate of 771b. per solid foot.
This weight, acting upon the batten of 14 feet, taking
the amount of the whole in an arithmetical ratio, is
i3-368x 52^=701.51!). acting upon the whole, add¬
ed to 5300, the breaking force 6001. The breaking
force, at seven feet, is 11525; one half is 5762.2.5,
one twenty-fourth part greater than the half. The
batten of six inches square, the breaking force at 14
feet is 7475* the weight of 12 inches of this batten is
19.251b. at 77ib. per solid foot; the acting force of this
weight at 14 feet length is 19.25 X52f, is 1010.625,
added to 7475, equal to 8485625. Now the break¬
ing force of seven feet length is 18950; one half is
9475, difference is 989, that is, nine and a half
times less than the half. In the seven inch batten of
seven feet length, the breaking force is 32,2001b. and
of 14 feet length, the breaking force is 13.225. The
weight of 12 inches of the seven inch square is 26o2lb.
acting upon the 14 feet length, is x370.5-f-1322.5r:
146001b. which is one-nintli less than the half. A-
gain, 1 2 inches of the eight inch batten weighs 34.21b.
at 77lb. per solid foot, acting upon the 14 feet length,
is 17961b. added to X9775, the force that broke it at
14 feet length is 215751b. about one-tenth part less
than the half of 47,6491b. which broke it at seven feet
length. From the above comparison, it may he al¬
lowed, that the difference of the force that broke the
spar at seven feet, and that which broke it at 14, so
far as it differs from the half, is accounted for upon
philosophical principles ; and when we consider that
the spars or battens cannot be supposed to be mathe¬
matically exact in their measure, and that a difference
in point of breaking, may be accounted for from that
cause; but further, it may be observed that the
weight of the materials is not equal in the solid
foot. For example, the spar four inches square, and se¬
veral feet in length, weighs 6olb.; that is, at the rate
of 77.141b. per solid or cubic foot, the eight feet spar
at the rate of 76.51b. do. ; the nine feet spar at the rate
of 77 feet ; the 10 feet spar at the rate of 75.6 ; the
1 2 feet spar at the rate of 7 jib. per cubic foot; which
difference of weight, with the difference of exact ma¬
thematical measure, may fully account for all the dif¬
ference that takes place in the manner of accounting
for the above-mentioned difference of the weight of
breaking at 7 and 14 feet ; as also the difference that
takes place between 8 and 16; 9 and 18, &c. The-
experiments being made upon green w'ood, cannot be
approved of; they ought to have been made of such
seasoned wood as is fitted for mechanical purposes, of
which none of this kind can be used ; . or if experi¬
ments are made with unseasoned wood, as being of the
greatest strength, they ought likewise to have been made
with dry wood seasoned for use. A cubic foot of dry
oak-
Center.
C E N [3
Center, oak will not weigh much above 6olb. Those spars
■' ' v upon which the experiments were made, must have
been very green, and very unfit for mechanical purposes,
which gives an unfair account of the strength, when in
a proper state for use. But experiments were made
with wood of different weights, which may be supposed
better seasoned. For example, the seven feet spar that
weighs 561b. that is, 72lb. per cubic foot 5 the nine
feet spar is at yilb. per solid foot, and the 10 feet spar
at 73.81b. per solid foot, none of which are seasoned
wood. And yet it is not mentioned which of these
o ] C E N
were used. This may be adduced as a very good rea- Ceim
son why the variations were so great. y.
We shall now consider the force in bruising materials,
according as we may be directed by experiments made
in this way. And, 1st, upon that of stone, which will
in some measure lead to the pressure in the same direc*
tion upon other materials.
The experiments selected from M. Gauthey, engi¬
neer, in erecting the bridge of Chalons sur Saone (tom.
iv. Rozier Journal cle Physique, November 1774)5 are
now to be considered.
Experiments Selected.
Hard Stone
Soft Stone
Length of
the Stone.
8
8
8
9
9
18
18
Breadth.
Lines.
8
12
16
16
18
18
24
Superficies.
64-f
96T
128^
144.1
l62.l|-
324.2^
432-3
Force,
Upon each
square line.
lb.
46
164
281
3 J
53
183
I3I
io|
27
35t
3t
5
8f
124
Proportion.
12
24
4
44-
9
12
Difference.
tt
f
1
TV
x
T
1 5
T-g-
I I
VT
In general, the force is greater as the surfaces in¬
crease, but a regular proportion to fix upon a theory
is not found ; but the last line in the table, the weight
that crushes the 432.3 surface must be greater than
131, the stone being of the same quality j if in the pro¬
portion of 8! to I2-|, the crushing weight will be 272.7
instead of 131.
The measures here taken are cubic, and the pressing
force is upon cubic lines, the thickness one line ; where
the pressure is upon a square foot, it is likewise to be
understood one foot deep, or upon a cubic foot $ the
stone used, he terms Givry stone, of which he gives its
absolute force to be 870911, that it will bear 6635521b.
In the cubic foot of soft stone the strength is 2488321b.
The proportional force of the hard and soft is 24 to 1.
A cubic foot of a stone fixed in a wall, and project¬
ing one foot, was broken by a force of 557281b. And
a cubic foot of soft, by ioo8olb. the proportion yf
to 1.
A cubic foot of hard stone, supported upon two ful-
crums at 1 foot distance, was broken by 2056321b. sus¬
pended from its middle j and the soft by 38592, the
proportion about 5! to 1.
In fine, a cubic foot of the hard stone was torn asun¬
der by 45,500!!).; and the soft by 15,8501b. the propor¬
tion 2! to I. Thus far Gauthey’s account.
It is to be observed, that the above table does not
strictly correspond with itself $ for the proportion up¬
on the square line, or T\ of an inch, in place of ioJ- is
upwards of 11. Now, the increase of force which
crushes 96 square lines, and 128 one line thick, is 7.8
oz. nearly upon the square line, that is a little more
than !• of 35 oz. upon the square line; then, as 128
square lines is to 44960Z. so is 144 square lines to 5058,
to which add one-fifth, viz. ion!, this makes 6069!
upon the square inch, and this multiplied by 144, the
2
square inches in a foot, is 874,022.4oz. but Mr Gauthey
says, that the square foot of surface of one foot deep, is
of the strength of 870,9111b.
Again there are 20,736 square lines in a square
inch, the force upon a surface of 64 square inches being
about 11.5 upon each square line, is 238,464 oz. upon
the square foot. Upon the surface of 96 lines, 27oz.
to the square line, gives 559,872 to the square foot.
Upon the surface of 128 lines, 35-^ to the square
line, is 878,806 to the square foot, the proportion of
2384640Z. to 870,911 is about 53! nearly, and of
559,872 to 870,911 is y nearly; but by the experi¬
ment the number 870,911 is lbs. upon the square foot;
the other numbers are onlyozs. The variation between
the first difference and between the pressing force of
6069!oz. upon the square inch, makes in that propor¬
tion 874,022oz. The increase of force from one square
inch to one square foot, must be Ty part of what the
above experiment upon the square foot produces. Fur¬
ther experiments upon this therefore become necessary.
In the mean time, we have no reason to doubt the ex¬
periment upon the square foot, or upon the smaller parts;
intermediate experiments only can make them accord.
One example adduced is of consequence. A pillar in
the church of All Saints, in Angers, of 24 feet height,
and 11 inches square, supports a weight of 6o,coolb.
that is y- being added 85685.9 upon the square foot,
which is said not to be ! part of the load that would
crush it. From this it is evident, that the load it sup¬
ports exceeds the weight of an arch of 50 feet span,
of a semicircular form ; the arch-stones being feet
long, or depth of the arch, and 2 feet in breadth, ft
is asserted under the article Bridge, that instead of an
arch y of the opening or 10 feet thick, that a pier of 2
feet thick would be sufficient, but that it is given twice
the length of the arch-stone, that is 5 feet thick in place
gen [3
tf r of 10 j but from this example, it is five times thicker than
‘ < necessary, and has therefore superabundant strength,
allowing even for the force of a current. How super¬
fluous then will these clumsy piers be reckoned, whose
sole effect is a useless obstruction to the water ! But as
our principal design at present is upon the strength of
wood, in prosecution of this inquiry, we have paid par¬
ticular attention to the strength of this material, in the
transverse direction, in so far as it can be supported by
experiment. Before we proceed to make particular
application to its use, it will be necessary to consider
its strength or power of resistance in its breadth and
thickness. In this it may be with safety averred that
such force as will bruise or crush its fibres, although
only of yo or ti °f an inch ; the same weight con¬
tinued will produce the same effect upon the next stra¬
tum, till the whole piece is bruised, and its cohesive
power overcome. This is supported by the experi¬
ments of celebrated mechanicians, as those of Buffon,
Muschenbroek, Bouguer. Muschenbroek, in his Essai
de Physique, says, that a piece of sound oak T2~ of an
inch is torn asunder by 11501b. ; and that a plank 12
inches broad, and 1 thick, will just bear i89,i681bs.
These give for the cohesion of an inch 15,755, and
15,763 lbs. Bouguer in his Traite de Navire says, that
it is very well known that a rod of sound oak, of ^ inch
square can be torn asunder by 1000 lb. 5 this gives
16,000 for the square inch. Bouguer speaks with
certainty, that ^ inch square of sound oak can be torn
asunder by 1000 lb. If we reduce the above propor¬
tion of the experiment, it will appear, that the force
will be much greater than 16,000, to tear asunder a
piece of sound oak of one inch square. It must in the
mean time be allowed, that Buffon’s experiments be¬
ing upon a larger scale, can be followed with more se¬
curity than those upon a smaller scale.
But, after all, we have not yet got sufficient data to
form a criterion for an arch j nor can this be expected
till we have more precisely ascertained the strength of
an arch above a right line, parallel to the horizon.
In the first place, as an arch is in form, one part of
it towards the perpendicular, and the other towards a
horizontal line ; the force that it will sustain, is betw'een
that force that a body will carry in the perpendicular,
and that which produces a fracture upon any material
in the horizontal direction. If the perpendicular is
greater than the horizontal line, it will have more of
the strength of the bruising force, than of the trans¬
verse fracture j and the force may be expressed by the
ratio compounded of the bruising or crushing force,
and that of the transverse fracture 5 or not improperly
expressed, as it has been denominated by others, the
absolute and relative force.
Unfortunately we have not yet a sufficient variety
of experiments to ascertain the absolute force, as those
made are only upon a small scale 5 and the number is
not adequate to form a proportion of the increase for
the force that will crush a piece of wood of -j—, or, as
the French philosophers have done most this way, we
take their measure TV of an inch, or one line, and
from that to an inch j but the force required is found
to be greater than that of the square of the diameter,
as also the force to produce a transverse fracture, or to
give the relative strength. This increases in a greater
I ] C E N
ratio than that of the square of the diameters $ for in Center.
the above experiments, the weight that broke a batten   
4 inches square, was to that weight which broke an 8-
ineh square batten, each of the length of 7 feet, more
than double of the square of 4 to the square of 8 as
above ; we are, therefore, much limited as to an exact
procedure.
At the same time, by keeping the.experiments in
view, and the observations made upon them, we shall be
able to give such a ratio, as to the necessary strength,
and will furnish the ingenious artist with a pretty sure
principle to act upon, and prevent his using superfluous
materials, either in their application to horizontal right
lines, or inclined in the right-lined direction, or in
curves.
If we attend to the weight that crushes one inch of
sound oak, by Muschenbroek’s experiments, we find that
it is 17,3001b. but, if computed from the increase, being
as the squares of the diameters, it is only 16,000 lb. but
it has been found as above, that the power to break, or
make a transverse fracture in the same wood, of the same
length, of different diameters, if a considerable differ¬
ence in diameters is taken, the difl’erence of weight
is twice that produced by the square of the diame¬
ter. This comparison makes the proportion between
the strength of stone, and that of wood, to be as
17,300 is to 6048, or 1 to 2^ nearly. Thus we
may with a sufficient degree of accuracy substitute
the one for the other in point of strength, and form a
proportion between the arch and the strength of a
horizontal line. As several experimentalists agree,
that a square inch of wood can be crushed or pulled a-
sunder with a weight of between 16,000 and 17,3001b.
and that a piece of wood one inch square, 18 inches in
length, can be broken by 406 lb. or at 12 inches by
609, or at 6 inches by 1218 ; attending to the addition
as mentioned above, which has been proved by compa¬
rison of experiments, to be upon the principle of the
lever. If, then, the geometrical mean is taken between
the elevation of the arch, as pressure or absolute
strength, and the length of the horizontal line, this
mean will be the strength of the arch above the hori¬
zontal line ; for it is evident, that so much as the piece
of wood is elevated towards the perpendicular, so much
the nearer it approaches to its absolute strength, and
by so much as the arch is flatter or the piece of wood
less inclined, the nearer it is to a straight line, and so
much the more reduced to its relative strength ; the
position of the arch, therefore, must be in the ratio
compounded of these two.
Having now established the principles, let us en¬
deavour to apply them to practice, in forming a cen¬
ter or supporting an arch, to produce the intended cur¬
vature or mould for an arch of any intended span, and
at the same time have strength to support the same.
Several ingenious artists have not only formed, but
have written and laid down principles for forming these
moulds, both with regard to strength and economy j at
the same time we have not found any that have treated
the subject upon principles that are fully established.
We have, therefore, been the more particular, accord¬
ing to the principles laid down. 1st, We have assigned
the weight to be supported, as established by uncon¬
troverted principles : And, 2dly, established the strength
C E N [ 312 ] . C E N
Center, of wood as to its thickness or diameter, that is suffi-
■—"V"—cient to sustain such weight; which we have supported
by the, most approved experiments, comparing one
with the other j and in the third place, we have consi¬
dered the effects when the materials are applied in the
horizontal direction, or elevated in any degree toward
the perpendicular.
In a work of this kind, it is not only necessary to
lay before our readers well grounded principles, and a
well supported theory, hut along with these, the dif¬
ferent opinions, and various modes used by the most
distinguished artists, who have exhibited their plans to
the public, together with the principles on which they
■were founded, and the success they have met with, in
answering the purposes proposed.
Among the most distinguished who have treated this
subject, we may consider Pitot, a member of the Aca¬
demy of Sciences, who wrote about the beginning of
the last century. His method undoubtedly shows con¬
siderable ingenuity ; but, at the same time, we must
observe that he has been rather too profuse in the quan¬
tity of materials which he has employed.
To lay his plan of operation before our readers,
we shall give a figure showing the constructions. The
arch of the circle or ellipse being formed j as little
or no weight lies upon the center, till between 30
and 35 degrees of the arch, a stretcher is extended
at this height, to the same height on the opposite side ;
two struts support this stretcher from the spring of
the arch $ upon the upper part of the stretcher, imme¬
diately above, or a little within the upper end of the
truss on each side, two spars joining upon the king-post,
spring from about the middle of the arch, the stretcher
being divided into four parts. Another strut springs
from the rise of the arch, meeting the stretcher at this
fourth part, from each side of the arch j these last struts
are joined by a tie-beam, which gives additional strength
to the first stretcher; upon these, on the upper side of
the stretcher, two spars join the king-post, a little be¬
low the other j these spars are joined by bridles or
cross spars, from the circular arch, to the lower strut j
ribs of the same formation being placed at proper dis¬
tances, according to the width of the bridge, and join¬
ed by bridging joints, which may be of greater or lesser
strength, according to the span of the arch, and of
consequence the weight it has to support. Pitot is the
first writer who has given us any account of the method
of forming frames, according to the above general de¬
scription. If no rests are left at the spring of the arch,
as a base for the center to rest upon ; let AB, fig. 1.
Plate CXXXVIII. be the ends of two planks raised
from the foundation, upon which the center may rest;
let CD be the stretcher, extended about 35 or 40 de¬
grees from the spring of the arch ; or, as little weight
rests upon the center till that height, the stretcher may
be as high as 45 degrees •, let AE, AG, BD, BG be
the two struts on each side ; from each extremity of the
. center, let BE, AE, be fixed to the stretcher near C
and D, and AG, B G, at ^ of CD 5 their stretcher or
tie-beam GG, equal to one-half of CD, the bridles, I,
2, 3, &c. from A to C, and from B to D, are intend¬
ed to prevent the arch from yielding from A to C,
and from B to D. The struts EF, EF, meeting the
king-post K in F, and the interior struts GH, GH,
3
meeting the king-post in H, support the bridles 4, 5, Cent(
6, on each side of the king-post} their use is to stiffeny »
the frame of the center, which supports the upper and
more weighty part of the arch.
The arch for which Pitot allots this center, is of 60
feet span ; and the arch stones seven feet in length, the
weight of a solid cubic foot he makes 160 lb. The
Portland stone is admitted to weigh 160 lb. 5 but we
do not find any other freestone of such weight. It is
however to be considered, that the Paris foot is 12.788
of our inches $ that is, a little more than lijlhs of our
measure, which will make a difference of the weight
upon the foot j as also their lb. is lighter than ours about
1.2 oz. by which the stone here mentioned is not bet¬
ter than ours. In a matter of this kind, such exact¬
ness is not necessary. As was proposed, we first con¬
sider the weight to be supported by the frame 5 and here
it is evident from the figure that no strain lies upon the
frame below C $ the arch is raised, or can be raised to
this height, before the frame is set 5 therefore the per¬
pendicular C c determines the limits of the absolute
pressure upon the frame. The triangle C e c presses
on the frame, and the triangle C Jg adds to the la¬
teral pressure ; the weight of the arch, that actually
presses upon the frame, is contained between the per¬
pendicular lines C c, D d; no more can press upon the
center frame. The part of the arch below C will rest
upon the abutment raised upon the pier 5 but if it is
insisted that there is a pressure upon the lower part of
the center frame, what can only possibly rest, or press
upon it, must be contained between the parallels C c
and f g: although it will be admitted, that the arch
can be raised to the height C, without the center
frame j but to indulge such as say it is not advisable
to do it, we will admit what lies between these paral¬
lels to press upon the frame. Now to determine the
weight of these parts of the arch, the distance be¬
tween the perpendiculars C c, D 0? is 53 feet j the arch¬
stone is 7 feet, and admit it to be three feet broad,
53 X 7 X 3 X 160 lb.=178,080 lb.
To determine the area between the two parallels
C g, f g, the line f g perpendicular to the diameter
AB, is 13-J, the base is pi, and C f perpendicular to
it is 7 feet, the area is 33^ feet j C c the base of the
triangle Cy'c is 7.2, andy* c is 7 j the area is 25, the
difference is 8£. If this difference had been the ex¬
cess of the triangle C fc above the triangle C ./'g', it
would have been a pressure upon the frame $ but as it
is the reverse, the pressure is upon the abutment. This
distinction is requisite to be taken notice of, that an
unnecessary expence of wood and workmanship be not
expended where it is unnecessary $ as well as its being
unvvorkman-like, or having an appearance of ignorance
in the engineer.
Let us now inquire, what strength of materials is
sufficient to support this weight. It has been laid
down as a principle, that the parts of wood in an
arch act upon one another by their absolute strength ;
but are liable to the transverse fractui’e ; in proportion to
the length of the piece, in a span of 60 feet, the length
of the piece may be 7 feet without sensibly impairing
its strength, in reducing it to the round ; and experiment
gives the relative strength of 7 feet to be 476491b.
by 8 inches square. It has been formerly illustrated
from
C E N [ 313 ] c E N
tcl. from experiments, that the strength is according to
—' the depth, with this precaution, that the breadth or
thickness be such, that it is prevented from warping,
the absolute strength being nearly, by last experiment
mentioned, as the squares of the depth. The absolute
strength to the relative force has been found nearly 60
to 1, although by some it is said to be only 42 to 1 5
the absolute strength of the plank 12 inches broad by
one thick, is 1891631b. ; if two inches, it would be no
more than 1891631b. If it had been 8 inches square,
then every 7 feet of the arch might be broken with
the weight 1891631b.; but the whole weight of the
arch is only 1780801b. that is, 11080 less weight than
what that part of the frame would bear ; but 7 feet is
only about one-seventh part of 53 ; the frame is there¬
fore of sufficient strength to support the whole weight
of the arch when equally divided along its whole
length. This is not the case with the center frame of
an arch, as it is loaded at one place, and not at an¬
other; it is therefore apt to yield between the parts
where the load is laid ; that is, it may rise in the mid¬
dle, and thus change the form of the arch ; for the
center frame is not only intended to support the arch,
but likewise to preserve its true form ; for this cause
some struts may be necessary to prevent its putting the
arch out of shape. To remedy this, where the arch
begins to press upon the frame at C, draw the chord
line C c, fig. 2. which acts as a tie-beam to the arch,
from C at 35 degrees to c at 51 degrees, as, beyond
this, if the arch frame had been permitted to alter its
shape, it would begin to be restored to it, at least
the force would tend that way. At that part of the
arch, where its weight begins to flatten the frame, as
at 2, draw the stretcher 2, 2, which likewise acts as a
tie-beam, and gives support to the bridle I, on one
side, and to 3 the bridle upon the other side, from Dr/;
and thus the arch e J is prevented from sinking by
the tie-beams e d. This will effectually prevent any
warping or yielding of the frame, notwithstanding the
enormous load from the size of the arch-stones.
But it is necessary to attend to the relative strength
of different kinds of timber of which frames may be
constructed. The relative proportion of the strength
of oak and fir has been ascertained by different expe¬
riments ; and although the results do not exactly agree,
yet the mean or least proportion may be taken. Let
ns take T^, that of Buffon. Now to reduce a frame of
oak to one of fir of equal strength, divide 8 inches,
the diameter of the oak, by 1%-, the relative strength
of fir; this gives inches. Allow i^- inches. The
depth of the frame will then be 9^- inches by or 4
inches in breadth ; that is, 93- by 2? inches. In this
way the strength of the fir arch is rendered equal, and
by the additional allowance superior to the oak in
strength, and of less expence in wood and workman¬
ship.
We have here taken the most simple method of in¬
vestigation and computation, that every mechanic,
whether scientific or not, pan easily follow it in every
step, and judge of the propriety or impropriety of what
is advanced.
It will now be necessary to follow Mr Pitot in esti¬
mating the quantity of materials which he allows.
The ring of his arches consists of pieces of oak 12 inches
Vol. V. Part I. -f-
broad and six thick. The stretcher CD is 12 inches Center.
square, the straining piece GG is likewise 12 inches' v 
square, the lower struts 10 inches by 8; the king-post
12 inches square, the upper struts 10 by 6, the ridges
20 by 8, French measure. Pitot allows the square
inch to carry 86501b. that is, one half of the absolute
strength, which is ascertained by experiment to be
173001b. nearly, and not by the square of the diameter,
which would be only l6ooolb. But on account of knots
he reduces it to 72001b. per inch. He then computes
the whole load upon the frame to be 7075201b. which
is the weight of the whole arch-stones, supposing each
to be three feet broad, and the whole to press upon
the frame. This comes so very near, that it would
be needless to dispute about the difference. We have
shown that no more than 1780801b. presses upon the
frame ; but we are not so fully satisfied as to the weight
that rests upon the center. Pitot supposes it to be
■r^ths ofi i:he whole w'eight; but he has assigned no
reason for this conjecture. Mr Couplet assumes that
it presses by ^ths. Another writer, who makes some
comment upon the whole, says that l^ths is nearer the
truth than ^ths, but gives no reason for his opinion,
which seems to be equally vague as the other. The
pressure here allowed, and the reason of assigning such
a pressure, have been already explained. Our readers,
therefore have it in their power to examine the prin¬
ciples, and decide for themselves.
It has been asserted by some, that the arch does not
press upon the center frame below C. At the same
time, were we inclined to dispute this opinion, we
might state our objection in the following manner:
Suppose the area of the triangle Q> c f was equal to
the area of the triangle Cfg, so that the friction above
would make the triangle £ cf rest upon the side c f;
and as the triangle Cf g is greater than C cy in the
proportion of 33|ths to 25yd, the cohesion of the parts
will determine the intermediate space between C c and
gf to rest upon the abutment as has been said, and
not on the perpendicular, unless a scissure is made in
the direction gf, in which case it would be detached
from the lateral pressure, and so rest upon the center.
As this is not the case, any plea for a pressure below
C is entirely removed ; and a method to determine with
precision the actual pressure upon the center frame is
shewn. If the arch is the center of a circle or an ellipse,
a frame so much stronger is necessary, as more of the
arch presses upon the frame; but the method of deter¬
mining the strength is the same as here laid down. A
second figure of the ellipse and another calculation
are required. It is here to be understood, that the
frame calculated for is only one rib ; and the weight
it supports is that of the arch-stones, between the pa*
rallels C c, D d, to three feet in breadth. If, therefore,
the bridge is 42 feet broad, it requires 14 ribs of the
above strength. These are joisted over with planks,
suppose of two inches thick, and upon these the arch¬
stones are laid, equally carried on from C and D, and
rising equally, on each side, till the key-stone is set, in
which state they remain, till the engineer judges it
proper to slacken the frame, by striking out the wedges
at the rests, A and B (or, as the French use logs be¬
tween the frame and arch), so far as to allow the arch¬
stones to press upon one another, by the equilibrated
R r' curvature
C E N [3'
curvature of the arch •, after which, it being found, that
the arch is perfectly just and secure, the irame is en¬
tirely removed. In the frame, fig. 2. the tie-beams
are not taken into the account tor strength, the arch
being abundantly strong without them. Their use is
merely to stiffen the frame, on account of the manner
in which the weight is laid on. In an elliptic arch,
it has been mentioned that it is somewhat different,
requiring more strength and the binding likewise dif¬
ferent. In what are termed elliptical arches, few or
none are strictly so, the true elliptic curve being dif¬
ficult to form on so large a scale. It may therefore be
acceptable to our readers, and also to the ingenious
mechanic, if we give the form of an ellipse that will
answer nearly to the elliptic equation, and upon an
universal plan, easy of construction. The greater
and lesser axes of the ellipse being given, divide the
excess of the greater axis above the lesser into three
equal parts 5 set off two of these from the center of
the greater axis each way ; upon this distance de¬
scribe an equilateral triangle on each side of the
greater axis, and produce the sides of the triangle both
ways from the vertex of these triangles, to the extremity
of the lesser axis j describe two arches till terminated
by the sides of the triangle produced gives the flat
part of the ellipse. At the intersection of the produced
sides of the triangle as a center, with the distance of
the extremity of the greater axis, describe an arch
which will meet the other arch, and complete the ellipse.
Let AB, fig. 3. be the greater axis 60, and X)E the
lesser axis 40, be drawn at right angles, bisecting one
another in C. Set off’ AF 40, upon AB, then the
excess FB is 20, which divide into three parts 5 set off
two of these from C to G and H ; upon GII describe
the equilateral triangles GHK, GHL j produce KG,
KH, to any indefinite length ; which may be cut by the
arch drawn through I) and E; from the centers K.L at
the intersections GH, and distance AB, let the other
part of the ellipse be described j thus an universal me¬
thod of describing a beautiful ellipse, and so just that it
answers the elliptic equation exceedingly near, at least
till it becomes verv flat.
A second form of a center frame described by Pitot,
is adapted to an elliptical arch. The construction differs
nothing from the former, only the two upper struts are
parallel ; the strength as in the former is superabun¬
dant, which is easily accounted for, from not knowing
the real weight that lies upon the frame, or by con¬
sidering the whofe weight of the arch to rest upon the
frame. Both this and the former Pitot has considered
as divisible into three pieces, which renders it more
manageable in erecting, particularly in large spans.
See fig. 4.
Fontana has given a description of a very neat frame
consisting of two pieces, the upper and the lower. The
struts 1 2, 1 2 taken from fig. 4. leave a representation
of Fontana’s frame. Different constructions being laid
before our readers, the ingenious artist may improve the
hints that have been thrown out; and thus form a more
simple or better construction.
We shall now select draughts of the most approved
center frames that we are able to collect; and make
such remarks upon them as may occur. Fig. 3. ex¬
hibits a form, which the experienced engineer will
2
4 ] C E N
readily allow to be neat and ingenious ; but there is Cen,
much more wood and work expended than is necessary. W-y
It is divided into two parts, the base or stretcher LL,
of the upper part, resting upon the lower part of the
frame, the greatest part of which at least must appear
quite superfluous. The lower rests, EF, appear only
necessary to prevent the stretcher LL from yielding,
and thereby allowing the arch to lose its true curva¬
ture.
The general maxim of construction adopted by Per-
ronet, a celebrated French architect, is to make the
truss consist of several courses of separate trusses, in¬
dependent, as he supposes, of each other, and thus to
employ the united support of them all. Each truss
spans over the whole distance of the piers. It con¬
sists of a number of struts, set end to end, so as to
form a polygon. By this construction, the angles of
the ultimate truss lie in lines pointing towards the
centre of the curve. It is the invention of Perrault, a
physician and architect, and was practised by Mandsard
de Sagonne at the great bridge of Moulins.
In the centering of the bridge of Cravant, fig. 6.
the arches are elliptic. The longer axis or span is
60 feet, the semi-transverse axis or lise 20 feet. The
arch-stones weigh 1761b. per foot, and are four feet
in \length, which is the thickness of the arch. The
truss beams were from 15 to 18 feet long, and 9 inches
deep by 8 broad. The whole frame was constructed of
oak. The distance between the trusses, which were
five in number, 5! feet. The whole weight of the
arch amounted to 1,350,0001b. which is nearly equal to
600 tons, making 112 tons for the weight on each
truss. Ninety tons of this must be allowed really to
press the truss ; hut a great part of the pressure is sus¬
tained by the four beams which make the feet of the
truss, joined in pairs on each side. The diagonal of
the parallelogram of forces drawn for these beams is to
one of the sides as 360 to 285. Then 360: 28 J-po: 17I
tons the weight on each foot. The section of each is
144 inches. Three tons may be laid with perfect
safety on every inch ; and the amount of this is 432
tons, which is six times more than the real pressure on
the foot-beams in their longitudinal direction. The
absolute sti'ength of each foot-beam is equal to 216
tons. But being more advantageously placed, the dia¬
gonal of the parallelogram of forces which corresponds
to its position is to the side as 438 to 285. This is
equal to 58Tr^ tons for the strain on each foot; which
is not much above one-fourth of the pressure it is able
to bear. This kind of centering, therefore, undoubted¬
ly possesses the advantage of superabundant strength.
The upper row of struts is quite sufficient; nothing is
wanted but to procure stiffness for it.
In bis executing the bridge at Neuilly, fig. 7* °f 120
feet span, and only 30 feet rise; the arch 5 feet thick ;
his strut-beams are 17 by 14 inches of size, and king-post
15 by nine, the strut-beams placed in three parallel poly¬
gons, each abutting upon the king-post, he uses the
binders or bridges of 9 inches square. This arch is re¬
markable for its flatness. The account Perronet gives
of his success with this frame, and the effects it produc¬
ed in his work, are as follows. Notwithstanding the
different improvements he had made upon his center
frame, he here found that it aunk 13: inches, before
C E N [3]
,r the key-stones \vere set, and that the crown rose and
—'sunk as the different courses were laid. At 20 courses
on each side, with a load of 16 tons upon the crown, it
sunk an inch j when 20 more courses were laid, it sunk
half an inch more, and continued sinking as the work
advanced. When the key-stone was set, it had sunk
13 inches 5 and, as it sunk at the crown, and in the ad¬
vance, to the crown, it rose at the haunches, so as to
open the upper parts of the joints almost an inch j
which gradually lessened towards the crown, and of
consequence the joints in the lower part opened as the
upper part was compressed. This no doubt showed a
suppleness in the frame, and at the same time inatten¬
tion in the architect, to load the crown, when he perceiv¬
ed it sinking with having already too much weight upon
it. If he had observed the crown to rise, it would then
have been proper to give it additional weight.
Let us now attend to the description of the centre
frame of the bridge of Orleans, fig. 8. The architect
to this bridge was Hupeau ; and it is universally allow¬
ed to be an elegant structure. The arch stones are
six feet in length, the form is elliptical, the span 100
feet, and rise 30. Hupeau died before any of the
arches were complete. The center-frame had been
placed, and some rows of the arch laid. Upon his de¬
mise, Perronet succeeded as architect, and finished the
bridge. As the work advanced, he found that the
crown of the center rose ; he then found it sink as re¬
markably, which showed that there was some defect j
he inserted the long beam AB, on each side ; he then
found the frame sufficiently stiff; for this made a
change in the nature of the strut.
Having taken a view of the practice of the French
architects, as to their form and effects, let us direct
our attention to those of our own country, which are
well worthy of notice. We shall only name some that
have used trussings, and among these we find the cen¬
ter-frame of Blackfriars bridge, fig. 9. The span here
is 100 feet} the form is elliptical, the arch-stones from
the haunches seven feet, near the key-stone not quite
so much, as they decrease in length from the haunch
to the key-stone.
A particular description of this arch is not neces¬
sary: a view of the figure will show the use of the dif¬
ferent parts ; it may be sufficient to observe, that when
the arch stone was placed, it had changed its shape only
one inch, and when the frame was taken out, the arch
remained firm without any sinking of consequence. The
great arch did not sink above one inch, and none of
them above an inch and a half j whereas those already
mentioned sunk by the suppleness of the frame 13
inches, and some of them 9 inches more when the frame
was removed.
Different methods are employed for easing the frame
or disengaging it from its weight. We shall give a
short description of Mr Mylne’s method of placing
and disengaging his center-frame from the mason-work.
Each end of the truss was mortised into a plank of oak
cut in the lower part as in the figure ; a similar piece
of oak was placed to receive the upper part of the posts.
I he blocks rested upon these posts, but were not mor¬
tised into them, pieces of wood being interposed. The
upper part of this block was cut similar to the lower
part of the other) the wedge E, being intended to
5 ] C E N
be driven betwixt them, was notched as in the figure,
and filled up with small pieces ol wood, to prevent the
wedge from sliding back by the weight of the arch )
which, it will appear from the figure, would have been
the case : the event proved the fact. When the centre
was to be struck, the inserted pieces of wood were
taken out, and the wedge, which was prepared for dri¬
ving back by being girt with a ferule round the top,
was removed by a piece of iron driven in with the
head so broad as to cover the whole of the wood. A
plank of wood was prepared armed with iron in the
same manner at the one end, and suspended so that it
could freely act in driving back the wedge to any dis¬
tance, however small, with certainty. Thus, by an
equal gradation, the centre ivas eased from the arch,
which appeared to have been so equally supported
throughout the whole of the operation, and the arch¬
stones so properly laid, that it did not sink above one
inch j and thus it was evident that the centre might
he entirely removed, having completely answered the
purpose.
'i he above examples may be considered as sufficient
to show the effects of the trussed arches, which have
been employed by the French architects. We
shall now take the liberty of suggesting some hints
which may tend to improve the construction, and re¬
medy the faults and failures that have occurred in
practice.
Trussed arches for center frames being found expe¬
dient in navigable rivers, and almost in every river
which is apt to be raised by rains, or other rise in the
river, the frame is apt to he endangered or carried off,
to the great risk of bringing down the arch, and ruin¬
ing the work before it is finished. In ax-ches were
there is no such danger, the frame may be properly se¬
cured by posts from below, which are made to abut
upon these parts of the arch where the greatest sti’ain
must fall.
In the centre used by Pitot we have only to com¬
plain of an unnecessary expenditure of wood and work¬
manship. We have already shown what strength of
oak is necessary, and have reduced the strength of
oak to an equal strength of fir-wood for the ring of
his frame, which alone ought to have the strength re¬
quired to be fully adequate to the load 5 but as this
weight must be gradually applied, the frame must like¬
wise have such a degx-ee of firmness as to form the ex¬
act mould of the arch that is intended. And, for this
purpose, it must he prevented from yielding in any
part of its arch. Now, as it has been made to appeal-,
that the frame supports no part of the arch till it rise
from the spring to about 35 degrees, if a semicircle,
and so in proportion for a segment of a cii-cle 5 in an
ellipse, to a part similar according to the nature of that
curve ; the supporting struts and ties can be more
particularly directed to support that part of the arch
which produces the greater strain upon the centre. In
fig. 2. where the necessary strength for Pitot’s arch is
pointed out, the frame of fir requisite to stiffen the
frame is by 24. The tie-beam C c is joined to
those parts of the arch where the strain being greatest,
would tend most to raise it in the crown. The strength
of this tie-beam being 94 by 24 and its length 25 feet,
would require a weight of 30495 lb. to make the trafts-
11 r 2 verse
C E N [ 31
Centre, verse fracture*, one-third of this at the bridle 1, 3, is
■*—v—— sufficient to resist tire strain at the part ot the arch ;
and the abutment, being according to the principles
laid down under the article BRIDGE, prevents the pos¬
sibility of its rising at the haunches 5 but if not formed
according to these principles, the two tie-beams C c
D d are joined by a third tie-beam 2, 2 with its bridle
3, 4. Fig. 4. is Pitot’s centering for his elliptic arch :
the strength of fig. 2. may suffice to this by giving the
ring and tie-beams ^ an inch more depth.
Fig. 6. represents two centerings used by Perronet j
A is that used by him in erecting the bridge at No-
gent, and B that at Maxence j they differ little from
one another. That at Nogent is 90 feet by 28 of
height. The span of the latter being greater, we shall
here consider the weight to be supported. Tins is the
arch from A to C, which is an arch of 470 45'. The
measurement is 42 feet ; the arch stones 4I-, and sup¬
posing them 3 feet broad, they would amount to 567.9
solid feet, which at 160 lb. per foot, is equal to
90866.88 lb. This is little more than one-half of the
semicircular arch: and although it is flatter, the
weight is so much less, that no additional strength is
necessary to be given to the frame, fig. 2. for the 60
feet span. There is likewise abundance of strength of
materials for the 90 feet arch ; but on the greater ex¬
tent, that it may be rendered more stiff', a tie-beam
I, 4, 3, 4 may be added on each side of the arch, as
represented by the dotted line.
It is scarcely necessary to make any farther calcula¬
tions on the centering used by Perronet. It appears,
that notwithstanding the superabundance of wood em¬
ployed, they were so supple as when used upon an ex¬
tended arch, they rose and sunk so much, that the arch
was changed from its intended form by a radius of se¬
veral feet. These changes took place in erecting the
bridges at Nogent and Maxence, which are represented
in fig. 6. Perronet, it would appear, was not satis¬
fied with these $ and, convinced of their insufficiency,
changed the form of the frame of the bridge at Neu-
illy. But this form is far from answering the pur¬
pose; for, when the arch-stones began to press upon
the centering, it yielded to the weight. He then loaded
the crown to prevent its rising there, but it still sunk ; he
added more weight to the crown, it continued sinking
as the work advanced. When the key-stone was set, it
had sunk more than 13 inches, and it was found to have
raised the haunches ; for when the centering was
slackened, the arch still sunk for about 9 inches more.
The arch-stones being raised at the haunches, the joints
were of necessity opened ; for the pressure from the
crown, when the centering was removed, forced them
again into contact, by which the arch flattened to such a
degree, that from an arch intended to have a radius of
1.50 feet, it flattened till part of it was as if formed
from a radius of 244 feet. It here appeared to be set¬
tled, from which a considerable deformity must ap¬
pear in the structure ; which deformity took its rise
from two evident causes ; the want of firmness in the
centering, and the bridge not properly loaded at the
haunches. It is evident, that if the load at the haunches
is only equal to the weight of the arch-stones from
the place where they begin to rest on the centering to the
crown of the arch, the pressure of the arch could never
6 ] C E N
overcome itself or its equal weight upon the haunches;
much more, if the weight upon the haunches, be-'>
fore it comes to press upon the centering, was made
to exceed that part of the arch that did press upon it,
the load upon the crown of the arch would have re¬
stored the figure of the centering. It seems to be a
strange oversight, that Perronet, when he saw that his
centering was rising at the haunches, did not apply his
loading to this part of the arch, by which he might
have restored it to its equilibrium before his centre was
struck, and before his lime had lost the band ; if this
is once done, it is allowed that it does not again re¬
cover it.
From the whole of this it appears evident, that filling
up the haunches to a proper height, so as to make a
firm abutment to the pressing part of the arch, serves
two good purposes. It acts as an abutment to the
centre frame, in preventing its sinking by the load as
the work advances ; and likewise prevents the arch¬
stones at the haunches being raised from their beds ;
for it is only acted upon by a force considerably less
than what they have a power to resist. Having now
seen the defects of this centering, and animadverted
on the manner of executing the work, let us now ex¬
amine the weight of this arch, and what resistance
would have prevented its change in shape, and pre»
served its intended form.
The part of the arch that presses upon the center, is
from C to C, fig. 10. an arch of 36 degrees, and mea¬
sures 94^ feet nearly ; the stones 5 feet in length, and
breadth 3, make 1979.035 solid feet, X 160 lb. the'
weight of a solid foot, make the whole weight
216645-88 lb. Allow each beam of the truss to be
7 feet, and its absolute strength, to tear it at 12 inches
deep, by one inch thick, 189163 ; the absolute power
of transverse fracture, 95416 lb. The strength of the
arch is the mean of these, or ratio compounded ; taking
one-third of each, the geometrical mean is 44285 lb.
that each 7 feet can sustain when formed into an arch;
there are 13 times 7 in 94 feet, equal to a power of
582764, to sustain the weight of 316645.68 if equally
distributed. But this not being the case, a tie-beam
of about 30 feet marked e r, dd, will prevent the arch
yielding to the pressure. It is supported at e by the
struts Ee,hh ; and these by the joint support of ef, hf
tied at k. The whole centre frame is supported by the
upright posts CC, DD. Two wedges A and B are
placed across between two blocks which are fitted for
a rest to the frame. When it is required to be slacken¬
ed, and the frame withdrawn from the arch, they allow
it to rest by its own pressure. This, it must appear
obvious, ought to be done when the key stone is set be¬
fore the lime has begun to be dry and solid.
I he centre frame ot the bridge of Orleans is repre¬
sented fig. 8. It has been already noticed in this un¬
dertaking, that Perronet succeeded Hupeau. As the
work advanced, he found the arch and frame to sink,
and trying his ordinary mode of loading the crown of
the arch, he was now taught by experience to strengthen
his centre frame, and happily succeeded by continuing
his strut. By forming the base of the triangle I, 2, 3,
on each side, his frame was rendered sufficiently stiff,
and the inner part below AB, AB became superfluous.
The weight that presses upon this frame is great both
Centrt
c E N [ 3
nler on account of the flatness of the arch, and the length
Jy-—;0fthe arch-stone. The pressing arch is an arch of 57
degrees ; it measures 88.87 feet, x6 the length of the
arch-stone, and by 3 in width, makes 1599.66 solid
feetX i6olb. the weight of a solid foot, gives 255945.61b.
The length of each plank of the truss being 7 feet,
depth 12 inches by 2 inches thick, the strength is
1891631b. The weight for every 7 feet in length of
the arch, one third of this 63054^18. in 88 feet, there
is 12 times 7, that is 63054.3 +12=756,65218. to sup¬
port 255945.61b. more than 3 times stronger, without
taking into account the strength of the. arch, being the
mean of the splitting force and transverse section: the
tie-beams, as in fig. 7. will be of abundant strength to
stiffen the frame.
The next we take notice of is, the truss-frame, fig. 9.
used by Mr Mylne, at Blackfriars bridge, London.
This is supported by ties and struts in such a manner,
that no sinking took place during the mason work go¬
ing on, although the arch-stones at the haunches were
7 feet, gradually lessening to the crown of the arch j
and, when the frame was struck, which was done by a
very ingenious method, by the wedges of the con¬
structions as in the figure, in place of sinking 9 inches,
it did not sink above 1, which may well be accounted
for by the compression of the mortar; whether a
smaller quantity of materials might not have answered
the same purpose, such as fig. 7. we shall refer to the
judicious reader, or to the ingenious artist who may
have occasion to depend upon such frames for sup¬
port of this work, or a tie-beam between 1 and 3
on each side, represented by the dotted line. As there
is a strain upon the frame at s,ff, let these tie-beams be
supported by the struts a 3, 3 on each side, and tied
at 4, 4 as represented by the dotted line 4, 4. It does
not appear that what lies between the dotted line
04, 4^ bears any part in the support or stiffness of
the frame, and therefore becomes unnecessary ; nor
does it appear, that the different beams used as king¬
posts are of so much advantage for strengthening the
frame, as tie-beams would be. At the same time, those
used by Mr Mylne are employed with so much judg¬
ment, that none of their effects are misapplied. This
cannot be said of any of the frames used by the Fi’ench
architects, even of that used at the bridge of Orleans.
They are not often employed by the British archi¬
tects ; they rather prefer a tie-beam at the spring of
the arch from one side to the other. This, however,
might be as judiciously applied at the height where
the arch begins to rest upon the frame, especially if
the shoulders are properly loaded or filled up, so as
to be a counterpoise to the arch-stones, that rest upon
the frame. In this case they effectually prevent the
necessity of a tie-beam, as a diameter at the spring of
the arch ; and from the spring proper supports may be
given at the upper tie-beam, and from it to any part of
the arch, where the greatest strain lies.
Having, from the examples adduced, and the obser¬
vations made upon them, found center-frames of suffi¬
cient strength to support arches of very extensive spans,
and even greater extent than they have yet been ap¬
plied ; it may be said, why not continue these frames
for the bridge, without the very great additional ex¬
pence of throwing a stone arch over them ? The ma-
7 ] C E N
son would answer, that the stone was more durable, Center,
and had other advantages, particularly as to neatness, —
when once thrown, and freed from the uncouth trusses
and tie-beams necessary in the wooden frame. The
carpenter would reply, that if wood was not so du¬
rable as stone, it could be raised at much less expence;
and, when it failed in any part, it could be replaced at
a small expence, and made to last longer than a stone
arch ; which latter, when it fails, requires as much ex¬
pence as at first, and even more, in clearing off the
rubbish of its decayed and now useless materials. As
to neatness, the frame of wood vies with the arch of
stone in elegance, and is erected at half the expence,
and even less. But now since iron materials are intro¬
duced in place of stone, there is room for expei'iments »
with regard to neatness and extent of span.
We shall here suppose the carpenter exhibits this
plan. Let AB be a span of 60 feet, (fig. 11.) the
arch a semicircle, the absolute strength of oak a plank
12 inches by one is 189163 lb. Let the arch be com¬
posed of pieces 5 feet long, 12 inches deep, and 2
inches broad ; a second arch joining to this, of the same
depth and breadth in close contact, but the joints of
the one to the middle of the other, like brick-build¬
ing, or as the carpenters express it breaking-joint.
The absolute strength of this arch is, before the two
trusses are joined, more than 84 ton, as may be col¬
lected from the calculations above, which is more than
3 times what can ever come upon it. The beauty of
this arch would be hurt by placing struts below to
stiffen it, for which there is not the smallest occasion :
for it can be stiffened to better advantage above the
arch. But this is not practicable in center-frames.
Let the road-way be CDEF, resting upon the per¬
pendicular support 1, 2, 3, &c. As the carriage
acts upon these in the oblique direction, transepts
from the arch in a radial direction, give them the ad¬
vantage of equal pressure upon the arch. Each of
these perpendiculars is mortised into short pieces, that
will form into an arch, the pieces all abutting one
upon another, and forming a fillet over the arch, and
projecting so far, that the faces of an architrave of
any order may be formed along the face of the arch,
which adds both to its strength and beauty. Thus
there is formed a rib, 12 inches deep and 4 thick, with
its fillet over it 4 inches deep and 6 inches broad,
to cover the faces of the architrave. Suppose the arch
44 feet wide, 7 of these ribs may give a strength not
inferior to the strength of stone or any metal ; but it
will be said, it will not be so durable. It is well
known bow long wood lasts in the roofs, and joists of
flooring, and even when it forms a part of the wall
of a house built of brick. The interstices between
these perpendicular bearings of the wood may be
built up with brick ; even brick on edge, or brick thick
will render its preservation equal to what it is in a
bouse, and will preserve it from the bad eflects pf wet
and dry ; and the lower part of the ribs covered with
a thin lining. A door being left in the side to ob¬
serve at different times any failure in the wood, it may
be repaired without interrupting the passage by the
bridge. It ought to be so covered above, that water
may be prevented from going through to the injury ol
the bridge. It has been formerly mentioned, in speak*
ing ;
C E N
Center, ing of the proportional strength of oak and fir, and by
v—the calculation it appeared, that fir plank 13-J inches
is equal in strength to oak of 12 inches. And thus a
framing of wood does not much exceed the expence
of centering either a stone or iron bridge; and is not
inferior even in elegance.
The span here proposed is only 60 feet. But an arch
of 600 feet may be required, which must have a center’"
ing to support the weight and preserve the figure ; the
size of that center frame can be made of strength equal,
and even to exceed the weight.it has to support. It
can be rendered stiff by the method proposed for the
60 feet arch. This, therefore, will be a bridge that
will support any weight that can be laid upon it, and
may be of any figure, elliptical, or at the pleasure of
the architect, any other curve which may be required.
It may be framed in a similar manner to those formed
of iron, but it is natural to suppose that one arch over
the other will be equally strong and more easily pre¬
served from the weather, constructed in the way de¬
scribed above.
In the simple wooden bridges not curved, it is only
necessary to refer to fig. 7. where the struts E c, f, hg,
will be a support for planks, that will form a straight
bridge, joining so many ribs as are necessary for the
bridge according to its breadth.
The joints may be secured from opening by dove¬
tailed pieces being inserted across the joints on the in¬
side of the rib; the abutments prevent the ends of
the arch from flying out. The pressure above coming
upon it obliquely, may be said to tend to make it rise
at the crown, especially when of a great span. In the
center-frame, the only manner of preventing this is
by struts and tie-beams judiciously applied. Here the
rise may be prevented more effectually without hurt¬
ing the ornamental part of the arch. In the abutment,
which must be of mason-work, let a beam be built in¬
to the wall, the ends at G and K projecting 1 foot,
corresponding to each rib, the road-way formed by the
beam DE : let a tie-beam GD, KE, join these in the
manner the carpenter knows to be the most secure :
from this tie-beam, let the radial struts be mortised into
the fillets at G, K, formerly described, instead of the
perpendiculars there named, and perpendiculars join¬
ing the road-way CPEF, and resting on the tie-beam
GD, KE, supported by the radial struts 4, 5, 6, as
in the figure. Thus the crown of the arch cannot rise
without lifting up the whole body of the abutment at
each end, and it cannot sink till the weight laid upon
it is sufficient to crush the materials of which the arch
is composed. In this manner a neat and elegant arch
is procured, that may at a small comparative expence
be kept up for centuries. Here is then a choice of
three species of arches, that may vie with each other
in point of strength. With the last none may com¬
pare in point of elegance, and in duration perhaps not
inferior to the iron bridge.
Center of Gravity, in Mechanics, that point about
which all the parts of a body do in any situation ex¬
actly balance each other.
Center of Motion, that point which remains at rest,
while all the other parts of a body move about it.
Center of a Sphere, a point in the middle, from
which all lines drawn to the surface are equal.
C E M
Hermes Trismegistus defines God an intellectual ceiltcr
sphere, whose center is everywhere, and circumference 1|
nowhere. CentliYn
CENTESIMA USURA, that wherein the interest in
a hundred months became equal to the principal, 1. e.
where the money is laid out at one per cent, per month j
answering to what in our style would be called 12 per
cent., for the Romans reckoned their interest not by
the year, but by the month.
CENTESIMATION, a milder kind of military
punishment in cases of desertion, mutiny, and the like,
when only every hundredth man is executed.
CENTILGQUIUM, denotes a collection of 100
sentences, opinions, or sayings.
The centiloquium of Hermes contains 100 apho¬
risms, or astrological sentences, supposed to have been
written by some Arab, falsely fathered on Hermes
Trismegistus. It is only extant in Latin, in which it
lias several times been printed.—The centiloquium of
Ptolemy is a famous astrological piece, frequently con¬
founded with the former, consisting likewise of too
sentences or doctrines, divided into short aphorisms,
entitled also in Greek as being the fruit or re¬
sult of the former writings of that celebrated astrono¬
mer, viz. his quadripartitum and almagestwn ; or ra¬
ther, by reason that herein is shown the use of astrolo¬
gical calculations.
CENTIPES, in Zoology. See Scolopendra.
CENTIPED worm, a term used for such worms
as have a great many feet, though the number does
not amount to 100, as the term seems to import.—
M. Malouet relates the history of a man, who, for
three years, had a violent pain in the lower part of
the forehead near the root of the nose 5 at length he
felt an itching, and afterwards something moving with¬
in his nostril, which he brought away with his finger j
it was a worm of the centiped kind, an inch and a
half long, which run swiftly. It lived five or six days
among tobacco. The patient was free of his pain
ever after. Mr Littre mentioned a like case in 1708,
of a larger centiped voided at the nose, after it had
thrown the woman, in whose frontal sinus it was, into
convulsions, and had almost deprived her of her rea¬
son.
CENTLIVRE, Susanna, a celebrated comic wri¬
ter, was the daughter of Mr Freeman of Holbeacb,
in Lincolnshire; and had such an early turn for poe¬
try, that it is said she wrote a song before she was
seven years old. Before she was twelve years of age,
she could not only read Moliere in French, but enter
into the spirit of all the characters. Her father dying,
left her to the care of a step-mother, whose treatment
not being agreeable to her, she determined, though al¬
most destitute of money and every other necessary, to
go up to London to seek a better fortune than what
she had hitherto experienced. As she was proceeding
on her journey on foot, she was met by a young gen¬
tleman from the university of Cambridge, the after¬
wards well known Anthony Hammond, Esq. wdio was
so extremely struck with her youth and beauty, that
he fell instantly in love with her ; and inquiring into
the particulars of her story, soon prevailed upon her
unexperienced innocence to seize on the protection he
offered her, and go with him to Cambridge. After
some
[ 318 ]
C E jNTTE E
plate rx.wnn.
H'..tr,Jiikxui Sadp.1
*
rr*
It'J/v/n'/i.r/J
c E N [3
some months cohabitation, he persuaded her to come
to London, where, in a short time, she was married
to a nephew of Sir Stephen Fox. But that gentleman
not living with her above a twelvemonth, her wit and
beauty soon procured her a second husband, whose
name was Carrol, and who was an officer in the army *,
but he having the misfortune to be killed in a duel
about a year and a half after their marriage, she be¬
came a second time a widow. For the sake of support
she now applied to her pen, and became a votary of
the muses: and it is under this name of Carrol that
some of her earlier pieces were published. Her first
attempt was in tragedy, in a play called the Perjured
Husband; yet natural vivacity leading her afterwards
to comedy, we find but one more attempt in the bus¬
kin, among 18 dramatic pieces which she afterwards
wrote.
In 1706, she wounded the heart of one Mr Joseph
Centlivre, yeoman of the mouth, or, in other words,
principal cook to her majesty, who married her 5 and,
after passing several years happily together, she died
at his house in Spring Garden, Charing-cross, in De¬
cember 1723.
This lady for many years enjoyed the intimacy and
esteem of the most eminent wits of the time, viz. Sir
Richard Steele, Mr Rowe, Budgell, Farquhar, Dr
Sewell, &c. 5 and very few authors received more to¬
kens of esteem and patronage from the great. With
regard to her merit as a writer, it must be allowed
that her plays do not abound with wit, and that the
language of them is sometimes even poor, enervate,
incorrett, puerile ; but then her plots are busy and well
conducted, and her characters in general natural and
well marked.
CENTNER, or Docimastic Hundred, in Me¬
tallurgy and Assaying, is a weight divisible, first into a
hundred, and thence into a greater number of other
smaller parts j but though the word is the same both
with the assayers and metallurgists, yet it is to be un¬
derstood as expressing a very different quantity in their
different acceptation of it. The weights of the metal¬
lurgists are easily understood, as being of the common
proportion 5 but those of the assayers are a thousand
times smaller than these, as the portions of metals or
ores examined by the assayers are usually very small.
The metallurgists, who extract metals out of their
ores, use a weight divided into a hundred equal parts,
each part a pound j the whole they call a centner or
hundred weight; the pound is divided into thirty-two
parts, or half ounces ; and the half ounce into two quar¬
ters of ounces, and these each into two drachms.
These divisions and denominations of the metallur¬
gists are easilly understood 5 but the same words, though
they are equally used by assayers, with them express
very different quantities ; for as the centner of the me¬
tallurgists contains a hundred pounds, the centner of
the assayers is really no more than one dram, to which
the other parts are proportioned.
As the assayers weights are divided into such an ex¬
treme degree of minuteness, and are so very different
from all the common weights, the assayers usually
make them themselves in the following manner, out of
small silver, or fine solder plates, of such a size, that the
mark of their weight, according to the division of the
19 ] C E N
dram, which is the docimastic or essaying centner, may Centner
be put upon them. They first take for a basis one ||
weight, being about two-thirds of a common dram : Centrifugal
this they mark (641b.) Then having at hand some ■ ^ ' ,
granulated lead, washed clean, well dried, and sifted
very fine, they put as much of it into one of the small
dishes of a fine balance as will equipoise the (64 lb.)
as it is called, just mentioned : then dividing the gra¬
nulated lead into very nice halves, in the two scales,
after taking out the first silver weight, they obtain a
perfect equilibrium between the two scales $ they then
pour the granulated lead out of one dish of the scales,
and instead of it put in another silver weight, which
they make exactly equiponderant with the lead in the
other scale, and mark it (32 lb.). If this second weight,
when first put into the scale, exceed by much the
weight of the lead, they take a little from it by a very
fine file j but when it comes very near, they use only a
whetstone to wear off an extremely small portion at a
time. When it is brought to be perfectly even and
equal to the lead, they change the scales to see that no
error has been committed, and then go on in the same
manner till they have made all the divisions, and all
the small weights. Then to have an entire centner or
hundred weight, they add to the (64 lb.) as they call it,
a 32lb. and a 41b. and weighing against them one small
weight, they make it equal to them, and mark it (icc.)
This is the docimastical or essaying centner, and is
really one dram.
CENTO, in poetry, a work wholly composed of
verses or passages promiscuously taken from other au¬
thors, only disposed in a new form and order.—Pro-
ba Falconia has written the life of Jesus Christ in cen¬
tos taken from Virgil. Alexander Ross has done the
like in his Christiados, and Stephen de Pleure the
same.
CENTONARII, in antiquity, certain of the Roman
army, who provided different sorts of stuff’ called ce?i-
tones, made use of to quench the fire which the enemy’s
engines threw into the camp.
These centonarii kept with the carpenters and other
officers of artillery.
CENTRAL forces, the powers which cause a mov¬
ing body to tend towards, or recede from, the centre of
motion. See Mechanics.
Central Rule, a rule discovered by Mr Thomas
Baker, whereby to find the centre of a circle designed
to cut the parabola in as many points as an equation
to be constructed hath real roots. Its principal use is
in the construction of equations, and he hath applied it
with good success as far as biquadratics.
The central rule is chiefly founded on this property
of the parabola, that, if a line be inscribed in that
curve perpendicular to any diameter, a rectangle
formed of the segments of the inscript is equal to the
rectangle of the intercepted diameter and parameter of
the axis.
The central rule has the advantage over Carter and
De Latere’s methods of constructing equations, in that
both these are subject to the trouble of preparing the
equation by taking away the second term.
CENTRIFUGAL force, that force by which all
bodies that move round any other body in a curve en¬
deavour to fly off from the axis of their motion in a
tangent
. \
CEN [320] CEN
Centrifugal tangent to the periphery of the curre, and that in every
Force, part of it. See MECHANICS.
Centrifugal * CENTRIFUGAL Machine, a very curious machine, in-
Maehine. vente(j ]yir Erskine, for raising water by means of a
Y centrifugal force combined with the pressure of the at¬
mosphere.
It consists of a large tube of copper, &c. in the form
of a cross, which is placed perpendicular in the water,
and rests at the bottom on a pivot. At the upper part
of the tube is a horizontal cog-wheel, which touches
the cogs of another in a vertical position j so that by
the help of a double winch, the whole machine is mov¬
ed round with very great velocity.
Near the bottom of the perpendicular part of the
tube is a valve opening upwards; and near the two ex¬
tremities, but on the contrary sides of the arms, or
cross part of the tube, are two other valves opening
outwards. T^hese two valves are, by the assistance of
springs, kept shut till the machine is put in motion,
when the centrifugal velocity of the water forces them
open, and discharges itself into a cistern or reservoir
placed there for that purpose.
On the upper part of the arms are two holes, which
are closed by pieces screwed into the metal of the
tube. Before the machine can work, these holes must
be opened, and water poured in through them, till
the whole tube be full: by this means all the air will
be forced out of the machine, and the water supported
in the tube by means of the valve at the bottom.
The tube being thus filled with water, and the
holes closed by the screw caps, it is turned round by
means of the winch, when the water in the arms of
the tube acquires a centrifugal force, opens the valves
near the extremities of the arms, and flies out with a
velocity nearly equal to that of the extremities of the
said arms.
The above description will be very easily understood
by the figure we have added on Plate CXXXVII.
which is a perspective view of the centrifugal machine,
erected on board of a ship. ABC is the copper tube.
D, a horizontal cog-wheel, furnished with twelve cogs.
E, a vertical cog-wheel, furnished with thirty-six cogs.
F, F, the double winch, a, the valve near the bot¬
tom of the tube, h, h, the two pivots on which the
machine turns, c, one of the valves in the cross piece j
the other at d, cannot be seen in this figure, being on
the other side of the tube, e, e, the two holes through
which the water is poured into the machine. GH, the
cistern or reservoir. I, 1, part of the ship’s deck.
The distance between the two valves c, d, is six feet.
The diameter of these valves is about three inches :
and that of the perpendicular tube about seven inches.
If we suppose the men who work the machine can
turn the winch round in three seconds, the machine
will move round its axis in one second 5 and conse¬
quently each extremity of the arms will move with a
velocity of 18.8 feet in a second. Therefore a column
of water of three inches diameter will issue through
each of the valves with a velocity of 18.8 feet in a se¬
cond : but the area of the aperture of each of the valves
is 7.14 inches; which being multiplied by the velocity
in inches 225.6, gives 1616.784 cubic inches, the
quantity of water discharged through one of the aper¬
tures in one second ; so that the whole quantity dis¬
charged in that space of time through both the aper-
3
tures is ==3221.568 inches; or 193294.08 cubic inchescen[rijl)f
in one minute. But 60812 cubic inches make a tun Maohi:
beer-measure ; consequently, if we suppose the centri- I!
fugal machine revolves round its axis in one second, it Centime
will raise nearly 3 tuns 44 gallons in one minute : but "
this velocity is certainly too great, at least to be held
for any considerable time; so that, when this and other
deficiencies in the machine are allowed for, two tuns
is nearly the quantity that can be raised by it in one
minute.
It will perhaps be unnecessary to observe, that as
the water is forced up the perpendicular tube by the
pressure of the atmosphere, this machine cannot raise
w'ater above 3 2 feet high.
An attempt was made to substitute this machine in
place of the pumps commonly used on shipboard ; but
the labour of working was found to be so great as to
render the machine inferior to the chain-pump. A
considerable improvement, we apprehend, would be, to
load with a weight of lead the ends of the tubes
through which the water issues, which would make the
machine turn with a great deal more ease, as the cen¬
trifugal force of the lead would in some measure act
the part of a fly.
CENTBIPETAL FORCE, that force by which a
body is everywhere impelled, or any how tends, to¬
wards some point as a centre. See Mechanics.
CENTBISCUS, in Ichthyology, a genus of fishes
belonging to the order of amphibia nantes. See Ich¬
thyology Index.
CENTBONIA, in Natural History, a name by
which the echini marini have been distinguished. Dr
Hill makes them a distinct class of.animals, living under
the defence of shelly coverings formed of one piece,
and furnished with a vast number of spines moveable
at the creature’s pleasure.
CENTUMCELLyE, in Ancient Geography, Tra¬
jan’s villa in Tuscany, on the coast, three miles from
Algse; with an excellent port, called Trajanus Portus,
(Ptolemy) ; and a factitious island at the mouth of the
port, made with a huge block of stone, on which two
turrets rose, with two entrances into the bason or har¬
bour, (Butilius). Now Civita Vecchia. E. Long. 12.
30. N. Lat. 420.
CENTUMVIBI, in Boman antiquity, judges ap¬
pointed to decide common causes among the people :
They were chosen three out of each tribe ; and though
five more than a hundred, were nevertheless called ccw-
tumviri, from the round number centum a hundred.
CENTUNCULUS. See Botany Index.
CENTUBIGN, among the Bomans, an officer in
the infantry, who commanded a century, or a hun¬
dred men.
In order to have a proper notion of the centurions,
it must be remembered, that every one of the thirty
manipuli* in a legion was divided into two ordines, or#See .
ranks ; and consequently the three bodies of the ha.-nipUiut
stati, principes, and triarii, into 20 orders a piece, as
into 10 manipuli. Now, every manipulus was allowed
two centurions, or captains, one to each order or cen¬
tury : and, to determine the point of priority between
them, they were created at two different elections.
The 30 who were made first always took the precedency
of their fellows ; and therefore commanded the right-
hand orders, as the others did the left. The triarii,
or
C E N [ 321 ] CEO
C arion ox pilani, so called from their weapon ihe pilum, being
il esteemed the most honourable, had their centurions
w elected first, next to them the principes, and afterwards
the hastati; whence they were called primus et secundus
pilus, primus et secundus princeps, primus et secundus
hastatus ; and so on. Here it may be observed, that
primiordines is sometimes used in historians for the
centurions of these orders > and the centurions are some¬
times styled principes ordinum, and principes centurio-
num. We may take notice too what a large field there
lay for promotion: first through all the orders of the
hastati j then quite through the principes; and after¬
wards from the last order of the triarii to the primipi-
lus, the most honourable of the centurions, and who de¬
serves to be particularly described. This officer, be¬
sides his title of primipilus, went under the several
titles of dux legionis, prcefectus legionis, primus centu-
rionum, and primus centurio : and was the first centu¬
rion of the triarii in every legion. He presided over
all the other centurions, and generally gave the word of
command by order of the tribunes. Besides this, he
had the care of the eagle or chief standard of the le¬
gion : hence, aquilce prceesse is to bear the dignity of
primipilus; and hence aquila is taken by Pliny for the
said office. Nor was this station only honourable, but
very profitable too : for he had a special stipend allowed
him, probably as much as a knight’s estate ; and, when
he left that charge, was reputed equal to the members
of the equestrian order, bearing the title of primipila-
rius, in the same manner as those who had discharged
the greatest civil offices were styled ever after, consu-
lares, censorii, &$c.
. CENTURIPiE, CENTORiPA,or Centuripe, in An¬
cient Geography, a town in the south-west of the terri¬
tory of Etna, on the river Cyamasorus : Now Centorbi
or Centurippi. It was a democratical city, which, like
Syracuse, received its liberty from Timoleon. Its in¬
habitants cultivated the fine arts, particularly sculpture
and engraving. In digging for the remains of antiqui¬
ties, cameos are nowhere found in such abundance as
at Centurippi and its environs. The situation of the
place is romantic: it is built on the summit of a vast
group of rocks, which was probably chosen as the most
difficult of access, and consequently the properest in
times of civil commotion. The remains still existing
of its ancient bridges are a proof of its having been a
considerable city. Cicero speaks of it as such. It was
taken by the Romans, plundered and oppressed by
Verres, destroyed by Pompey, and restored by Octa¬
vius, who made it the residence of a Roman colony.
CENTURY, in a general sense, any thing divided
into, or consisting of, a hundred parts.
The marquis of Worcester published a Century of
inventions, (for a specimen of which, see Acoustics,)
anil Dr Hooke has given a decimate of inventions, as
part of a Century, of which he affirmed himself master.
It is remarkable, that both in the century of the form¬
er, and the decimate of the latter, we find the princi¬
ple on which Savary’s fire or steam engine is founded.
See Hteam-E ngine.
Century, in antiquity. The Roman people, when
they were assembled for the electing of magistrates,
enacting of laws, or deliberating upon any public af¬
fair, were always divided into centuries, and voted by
centuries, in order that their votes might be the more
Vol. V. Part I. 5 +
easily collected, whence these assemblies were called Century
comitia centuriata. The Roman cohorts were also di- j|
vided into centuries. See Centurion and Cohort.
Century, in Chronology, the space of 100 years. ' V""T*
This method of computing by centuries is generally
observed in church history, commencing from the time
of our Saviour’s incarnation : in which sense we say
the first century, the second century, &c.
Centuries of Magdeburg, a famous ecclesiastical
history, ranged into 13 centuries, carried down to the
year 1298, compiled by several hundred Protestants of
Magdeburg, the chief of whom was Flavius Ulyricus.
CENTUSSIS, in Roman antiquity, a coin contain¬
ing 100 asses.
CENTZONTLI, in Ornithology, the Mexican
name of the Turduspolyglottus. See Turdus, Orni¬
thology Index.
CEODES, in Tdotany, a genus of the dioecia or¬
der, belonging to the polygamia class of plants. There
is no calyx ; the corolla is monopetalous, with a short
turbinated tube ; the stamina are ten subulated fila¬
ments ; the anthene roundish.
CEORLES, the name of one of the classes or or¬
ders into which the people were distinguished among
the Anglo-Saxons. The ceorles, who were persons
completely free, and descended from a long race of
freemen, constituted a middle class between the la¬
bourers and mechanics (who were generally slaves, or
descended from slaves), on the one hand, and the no¬
bility on the other. They might go where they pleased,
and pursue any way of life that was most agreeable
to their humour : but so many of them applied to agri¬
culture, and farming the lands of the nobility, that a
ceorl was the most common name for a husbandman
or farmer in the Anglo-Saxon times. These ceorls,
however, seem in general to have been a kind of gen¬
tlemen farmers ; and if any one of them prospered so
well as to acquire the property of five hydes of land,
upon which he had a church, a kitchen, a bell-house,
and great gate, and obtained a seat and office in the
king’s court, he was esteemed a nobleman or thane.
If a ceorl applied to learning, and attained to priest’s
orders, he was also considered as a thane ; his were-
gild, or price of his life, was the same, and his testi¬
mony had the same weight in a court of justice. When
he applied to trade, and made three voyages beyond
sea, in a ship of his own, and with a cargo belonging
to himself, he was also advanced to the dignity of a
thane. But if a ceorl had a greater propensity to arms
than to learning, trade, or agriculture, he then became
the fithcunman, or military retainer, to some potent
and warlike earl, and was called the huscarle of such an
earl. If one of these huscarles acquitted himself so
well as to obtain from his patron either five hydes of
land, or a gilt sword, helmet, and breastplate, as a re¬
ward of his valour, he was likewise considered as a
thane. Thus the temple of honour stood open to these
ceorls, whether they applied themselves to agriculture,
commerce, letters, or arms, which were then the only
professions esteemed worthy of a freeman.
CEOS, Cea, Cia, or Cos, in Ancient Geography,
one of the Cyclades, lies opposite to the promontory
of Achaia called Suniutn, and is 50 miles in compass.
This island is commended by the ancients for its fertility
and the richness of its pastures. The first silk stuffs, if
S s Pliny
CEP [ 322 ] C E R
Ceos Pliny and Solinns are to be credited, were wrought
ij here. Ceos was particularly famous tor the excellent
Cephalic ggS produced. It was first peopled by Aristseus, the
.Meritemes. goij o^- Apollo and Cyrene, who being grieved for the
",l death of his son Actreon, retired from Thebes, at the
persuasion of his mother, and went over with some
Thebans to Ceos, at that time uninhabited. Diodorus
Siculus tells us, that he retired to the island of Cos $
but the ancients, as Servius observes, called both these
islands by the name of Cos. Be that as it will, the
island of Ceos became so populous, that a law prevail¬
ed there, commanding all persons upwards of sixty to
be poisoned, that others might be able to subsist; so
that none above sixty were to be seen in the island,
being obliged, after they arrived at that age, either
to submit to the law, or abandon the country, together
with their effects. Ceos had, in former times, four fa¬
mous cities, viz. Julis, Carthcea, Coressus, and Prse-
essa. The two latter were, according to Pliny, swal¬
lowed up by an earthquake. The other two flourished
in Strabo’s time. Carthsea stood on a rising ground
at the end of a valley, about three miles from the sea.
The situation of it agrees with that of the present town
of Zea, which gives name to the whole island. The
ruins both of Carthsea and Julis are still remaining *,
those of the latter take up the whole mountain, and are
called by the modern inhabitants Polis, that is, the city.
Near this place are the ruins of a stately temple, with
many pieces of broken pillars, and statues of most ex¬
quisite workmanship. The walls of the city were of
marble, and some pieces are still remaining above 12
feet in length. Julis was, according to Strabo, the
birthplace of Simonides, Bacchylides, Erasistratus, and
Aristo. The Oxford marbles tell us that Simonides
the son of Leoprepis invented a sort of artificial me¬
mory, the principles of which he explained at Athens $
and add, that he was descended of another Simonides,
who was a poet no less renowned than himself*. One
of these two poets invented those melancholy verses
which were sung at funerals, and are called by the
Latins ncenice. Strabo says, that the Athenians, hav¬
ing besieged the city of Julis, raised the siege, upon
advice that the inhabitants had resolved to murder all
the children under a certain age, that useful persons
might not be employed in looking after them. Ceos
was, with the other Greek islands, subdued by the Ro¬
mans, and bestowed upon the Athenians by Mark An¬
tony the triumvir, together with JEgina, Tinos, and
some other adjoining islands, which were all reduced
to one Roman province by Vespasian. The island is
now called Zea.
CEPA, the Onion. See Allium, Botany Index.
CEPHALANTHUS, Button-Wood. See Bo¬
tany Index.
CEPHALIC, in a general meaning, signifies any
thing belonging to the head.
Cephalic Medicines, are remedies for disorders of
the head. Cordials are comprehended herein, as are
also whatever promotes a free circulation of the blood
through the brain.
Except when the disorder arises from excess of heat,
or an inflammatory disposition in the head, moist topi-
cals should never be used, but always dry ones.
To rub the head after it is shaved proves an instan¬
taneous cure for a cephalalgia, a stuffing of the head, Ccpy
and weakness of the eyes, arising from a weak and Medici
relaxed state of the fibres. And as by every fresh II
evacuation of the humours their quantity is not only , Cerai1
lessened, but also their recrementitious parts derived ^
thither, the more frequently the head is shaved, the
larger quantity of humour is discharged ; so that the
frequent shaving of the head and beard is likewise a
perpetual blister j and in as much as it is useful, it is a
cephalic.
Cephalic Vein, in Anatomy, creeps along the arm
between the skin and the muscles, and divides it into
two branches ; the external goes down to the wrist,
where it joins the basilica, and turns up to the back of
the hand 5 the internal branch, together with a small
one of the basilica, makes the mediana.
The ancients used to open this vein for disorders of
the head, for which reason it bears this name ; but a
better acquaintance with the circulation of the blood
informs us that there is no foundation for such a notion.
CEPHALENIA, or Cephallenia, the largest of
the islands constituting the Ionian republic. It was
known in Homer’s time by the names ot Samos and
Epirus Melaena, is about forty miles in length, twenty
in breadth, and a hundred and thirty in compass. It
had anciently four cities, one of which bore the name of
the island. Strabo tells us, that in his time there were
only two cities remaining } but Pliny speaks ol three j
adding, that the ruins of Same, which had been de¬
stroyed by the Romans, were still in being. Same
was the metropolis of the island, and is supposed to
have stood in the place which the Italians call Porto
Guiscardo. It contains now three small towns, 130
villages, and 60,000 inhabitants. This island was
subdued by the Thebans, under the conduct of Amphi-
tryo, who is said to have killed Pterelas, who then
reigned here. After it had been long in subjection to
the Thebans, it fell under the power of the Macedo¬
nians, and was taken from them by the .ZEtolians, who
held it till it was reduced by M. Fulvius Nobilior,
who having gained the metropolis after a four months
siege, sold all the citizens for slaves, adding the whole
island to the dominions of the republic. It was subject
to the Venetians from the year 1449 till the peace of
Campo Formio in 1797. It was taken from the French
in 1799, and formed into an independent common¬
wealth. It was again brought under the dominion of
the French in 1807, but was taken by the British in
1809, an^ continues under their protection. See
Ionian Isles, Supplement.
CEPHALONIA, the capital of the island of the
same name, situated in the Mediterranean, near the
coast of Epirus, and subject to the Venetians. E.
Long. 21. N. Lat. 38. 30.
CEPHEUS, in fabulous history, a king of Arcadia,
on whose head Minerva fastening one of Medusa’s hairs,
he was rendered invincible.
Cepheus, in Astronomy, a constellation of the north¬
ern hemisphere. See Astronomy Index.
CERAM, an island in the Indian ocean, between
the Molucca islands on the north, and those of Am-
boyna and Banda on the south, lying between E.
Long. 126. and 129. in S. Lat. 3. It is about
150 miles long, and 60 broad j and here the Dutch
have
C E R [ 323 ] C E R
iam l,ave a which keeps the natives in subjec-
|1 tion.
acrus, CERAMBYX, in Zoology, a genus of insects, of the
beetle kind, belonging to the order of insecta coleop-
tera. See Entomology Index.
CERASTES, in Zoology, the trivial name of a
species of Anguis and Coluber. See Ophiology
Index.
CERASTIUM, Mouse-ear. See Botany Index.
CERAS'US. See Prunus, Botany Index.
CERATE, in Pharmacy, a thickish kind of oint¬
ment applied to ulcerations, excoriations, &c. See
Pharmacy Index.
CERATION, the name given by the ancients to
the small seeds of ceratonia, used by the Arabian phy¬
sicians as a weight to adjust the doses of medicines *, as
the grain weight with us took its rise from a grain of
barley.
Ceration, or Ceratium, was also a silver coin, equal
to one-third of an obolus.
CERATOCARPUS. See Botany Index.
CERATONIA, the Carob Tree, or St John's
bread. See Botany Index. The pods of this plant
are called St John’s bread, from an ill-founded asser¬
tion of some writers on Scripture, that these were the.
locusts which St John ate with his honey in the wilder-
neSs.
CERATOPHYLLUM. See Botany Index.
CERAUNIA, Ceraunias, or Ceraunius La¬
pis, in Natural History, a sort of flinty stone, of no
certain colour, but of a pyramidical or wedge-like fi¬
gure: popularly supposed to fall from the clouds in the
time of thunder-storms, and to be possessed of divers
notable virtues, as promoting sleep, preserving from
lightning, &c. The word is from the Greek x^xvvos,
thunderbolt. The ceraunia is the same with what is
otherwise called the thunder-stone, or thunder-bolt ;
and also sometimes sagitta or arrow’s head, on ac¬
count of its shape. The cerauniae are frequently con¬
founded with the ombrise and brontiae, as being all
supposed to have the same origin. The generality
of naturalists take the ceraunia for a native stone,
formed among the pyrites, of a saline, concrete, mi¬
neral juice. Mercatus and Dr Woodward assert it to
be artificial, and to have been fashioned thus by tools.
The ceraunia, according to these authors, are the heads
of the ancient weapons of war, in use before the in¬
vention of iron ; which, upon the introduction of that
metal, growing into disuse, were dispersed in the fields
through this and the neighbouring country. Some
of them had possibly served in the early ages for axes,
others for wedges, others for chissels j but the greater
part for arrow-heads, darts, and lances. The ceraunia
is also held by Pliny for a white or crystal-coloured
gem, that attracted lightning in itself. What this
was, is hard to say. Prudentius also speaks of a yellow
ceraunia j by which he is supposed to mean the car¬
buncle or pyropus.
CERBERA. See Botany Index.
CERBERUS, in fabulous history, a dreadful three¬
headed mastiff, born of Typhon and Echidna, and placed
to guard the gates of hell. He fawned upon those
who entered, but devoured all who attempted to get
back. He was, however, mastered by Hercules, who
dragged him up to the earth, when, in struggling, a
foam dropped from his mouth, which produced the Cerberus
poisonous herb called aconite or wolfs bane.
Some have supposed that Cerberus is the symbol of Cereaiia
the earth, or of all-devouring time ; and that its three
mouths represent the present, past, and future. The
victory obtained by Hercules over this monster der
notes the conquest which this hero acquired over his
passions. Dr Bryant supposes that Cerberus was the
name of a place, and that it signified the temple of
the Sun 5 deriving it from Kir Abor, the place of light.
This temple was called also Tor-Caph-El, which was
changed to •, and hence Cerberus was sup¬
posed to have bad three heads. It was likewise called
Tor-Keren, Turns Regia; whence from
Tgs<5, three, and xagwo'i, head.
CERCELE, in Heraldry. A cross cercele is a cross
which, opening at the ends, turns round both ways like
a ram’s horn. See Cross.
CERCIS, the Judas tree. See Botany Index.
CERCOP1THECI, in Natural History, the name
given by Mr Ray to monkeys, or the class of apes with
long tails. See Simla, Mammalia Index.
CERDA, John Lewis de la, a learned Jesuit of
Toledo, wrote large commentaries on Virgil, which
have been much esteemed $ also several other works.
He died in 1643, aged 80.
CERDONIANS, ancient heretics who maintained
most of the errors of Simon Magus, Saturninus, and
the Manichees. They took their name from their
leader Cerdon, a Syrian, who came to Rome in the
time of Pope Hyginus, and there abjured his errors ;
but in appearance only ; for he was afterwards con¬
victed of persisting in them, and accordingly cast out
of the church again. Cerdon asserted two principles,
the one good and the other evil} this last, according to
him, was the creator of the world, and the god that
appeared under the old law. The first, whom he call¬
ed unknown, was the father of Jesus Christ j who, he
taught, was incarnate only in appearance, and was
not born of a virgin j nor did he suffer death but in
appearance. He denied the resurrection, and rejected
all the books of the Old Testament, as coming from an
evil principle. Marcion, his disciple, succeeded him in
his errors.
CEREALIA, in antiquity, feasts of Ceres, institut¬
ed by Triptolemus, son of Celsus king of Eleusine in
Attica, in gratitude for his having been instructed by
Ceres, who was supposed to have been his nurse, in
the art of cultivating com and making bread.
There were two feasts of this kind at Athens j the
one called Eleusinia, the other, Thesmophona. See the
article Eleusinia. What both agreed in, and was
common to all the cereaiia, was, that they were cele¬
brated with a world of religion and purity; so that
it was esteemed a great pollution to meddle, on those
days, in conjugal matters. It was not Ceres alone
that was honoured here, but also Bacchus. ! he vic¬
tims offered were hogs, by reason of the waste they
make in the products of the earth whether there
was any wine offered or not, is matter of much de¬
bate among the critics. Plautus and Macrobius seem
to countenance the negative side $ Cato and Virgil the
positive. Macrobius says, indeed, they did not offer
wine to Ceres, but mulsum, which was a composition
of wine and honey boiled up together 5 that the sa-
S s 2 crifice
C E R [ 324 ] C E R
Ctrealia crifice made on the 21st December to that goddess
(1 and Hercules, was a pregnant sow, together with
^riiaT0" ca^es ant^ muisum 5 and that this is what Virgil means
1 . by Mill Baccho. The cerealia passed from the Greeks
to the Romans, who held them for eight days succes¬
sively ; commencing, as generally held, on the fifth
of the ides of April. It was the women alone who
wrere concerned in the celebration, all dressed in
white : the men, likewise in white, were only spec¬
tators. They ate nothing till after sunset j in memory
of Ceres, who in her search after her daughter took
no repast but in the evening.
After the battle of Cannae, the desolation was so
great at Rome, that there were no women to cele¬
brate the feast, by reason they were all in mourning j
so that it was omitted that year.
Cerealia, in Botany, from Ceres, the goddess of
corn ; Linnaeus’s name for the larger esculent seeds of
the grasses : these are rice, wheat, rye, barley, oats,
millet, panic grass, Indian millet, holcus, zizania, and
maize. To this head may be likewise referred dar¬
nel (lolium) ; which, by preparation, is rendered escu¬
lent.
CEREBELLUM, the hinder part of the head.
See Anatomy Index.
CEREBRUM, the Brain. Its structure and use
are not so fully known as some other parts of the
body $ and different authors consider it in various man¬
ners. However, according to the observations of those
most famed for their accuracy and dexterity in anato¬
mical inquiries, its general structure is as given in A-
NATOMY. See Index.
Dr Hunter observes, that the principal parts of the
medullary substance of the brain in idiots and mad¬
men, such as the thalami nervorum opticorum, and me¬
dulla oblongata, are found entirely changed from a me¬
dullary to a hard, tough, dark-coloured substance,
sometimes resembling white leather.
CEREMONIAL (ceremoniale') a book in which
is prescribed the order of the ceremonies to be observ¬
ed in certain actions and occasions of solemnity and
pomp. The ceremonial of the Roman church is call¬
ed ordo Romanus. It was published in 1516 by the
bishop of Corcyra •, at which the college of cardinals
were so scandalized, that some of them voted to have
the author as well as book burnt, for his temerity in
exposing the sacred ceremonies to the eyes of profane
people.
Ceremonial is also used for the set or system of
rules and ceremonies which custom has introduced for
regulating our behaviour, and which persons practise
tovyards each other, either out of duty, decency, or ci¬
vility.
Ceremonial, in a more particular sense, denotes
the manner in which princes and ambassadors used to
receive and to treat one another. There are endless
disputes among sovereigns about the ceremonialsome
endeavouring to be on a level, and others to be supe¬
rior 5 insomuch that numerous schemes have been pro¬
posed for settling them. The chief are, 1. To accom¬
modate the difference by compromise or alteration;
so that one shall precede now, the other the next
time j or one in one place, and the other in another:
1. By seniority} so that an elder prince in years shall
precede 3 younger, without any other, distinction.
These expedients, however, have not yet been accept- Ceren
ed by any, except some alternate princes, as they are nial
called, in Germany. ||
Ceremonial is more particularly used in speaking , ^ere
of the laws and regulations given by Mcses relating to r '
the worship of God among the ancient Jews. In this
sense it amounts to much the same with what is called
the Levitical law, and stands contradistinguished from
the moral as well as judicial law.
CEREMONY, an assemblage of several actions,
forms, and circumstances,serving to render a thing more
magnificent and solemn.
In 1646, M. Ponce published a history of ancient
ceremonies, tracing the rise, growth, and introduction
of each rite into the church, and its gradual advance¬
ment to superstition therein. Many of them were bor¬
rowed from Judaism ; but more seemingly from Pa¬
ganism. Dr Middleton has given a fine discourse on
the conformity between the Pagan and Popish cere¬
monies, which he exemplifies in the use of incense,
holy water, lamps, and candles, before the shrines of
saints, votive gifts or offerings round the shrines of
the deceased, &c. In effect, the altars, images, crosses,
processions, miracles, and legends; nay, even the very
hierarchy, pontificate, religious orders, &c. of the pre¬
sent Romans, he shows, are all copied from their hea¬
then ancestors.—We have an ample and magnificent
account of the religious ceremonies and customs of all
nations in the world, represented in figures designed by
Picart, with historical explanations, and many curious
dissertations.
Master of the Ceremonies, an officer instituted by
King James I. for the more honourable reception of
ambassadors and strangers of quality. He wears about
his neck a chain of gold, with a medal under the crown
of Great Britain, having on one side an emblem of
peace, with this motto, Beatipacijici; ajad on the other,
an emblem of war, with Dieu et men droit: his salary
is 300I. per annum.
Assistant Master of the Ceremonies, is to execute
the employment in all points, whensoever the master of
the ceremonies is absent. His salary is 141I. 13s. 4d.
per annum.
Marshal of the Ceremonies, is their officer, being
subordinate to them both. His salary is 100I. per an¬
num.
CERENZA, a town of Italy, in the kingdom of
Naples, and in the Hither Calabria, with a bishop’s
see. It is seated on a rock, in E. Long. 17. 5. N. Lat.
39- 23-
CERES, a pagan deity, the inventor or goddess of
corn 5 in like manner as Bacchus was of wine.
According to the poets, she w'as the daughter of Sa¬
turn and Ops, and the mother of Proserpine, whom she
had by Jupiter. Pluto having stolen away Proserpine,
Ceres travelled all over the world in quest of her daugh¬
ter, by-the help of a torch, which she had lighted in
Mount iEtna.
As Ceres was thus travelling in search of her daugh¬
ter, she came to Celeus king of Eleusis, and under¬
took to bring up his infant son Triptolemus. Being
desirous to render her charge immortal, she fed him
in tire day time with divine milk, and in the night
covered him with fire. Celeus observing an unusual
improvement in his son, resolved to.watch his nurse }
c E R [ 325 ] C E R
>re, to which end he hid himself in that part of the house
| where she used to cover the child with fire : but when
r‘n* he saw her put the infant under the embers, he cried
alis* out and discovered himself. Ceres punished the curio-
' sity and indiscretion of the father with death. After¬
wards she taught the youth the art of sowing corn and
other fruits, and mounted him in a chariot drawn by
winged dragons, that he might traverse the world, and
teach mankind the use of corn and fruits. After this,
having discovered, by means of the nymph Arethusa,
that Proserpine was in the infernal regions, she applied
to Jupiter, and obtained of him that Proserpine should
be restored, on condition that she had tasted nothing
during her stay in that place : but it being discovered,
by the information of Ascalaphus, that, as she was
walking in Pluto’s orchard, she had gathered an apple,
and had tasted of some of the seeds, she was for ever
forbidden to return. Ceres, out of revenge, turned
Ascalaphus into an owl. At length, Jupiter, to miti¬
gate her grief, permitted that Proserpine should pass
one half of the year in the infernal regions with Pluto,
and the other half with her mother on earth.
Cicero speaks of a temple of Ceres at Catanea in
Sicily, where was a very ancient statue of that godde&s,
but entirely concealed from the sight of men, every
thing being performed by matrons and virgins.
CERET, a town of France in Rousillon, with a
magnificent bridge of a single arch. It is seated near
the river Tec, in E. Long. 2. 46. N. Lat. 42. 13.
CEREUS, in Botany. See Cactus.
CERIGO, an island in the Archipelago, anciently
called Cytherea ; noted for being the birthplace of He¬
len and of Venus. It is now' one of the seven isles
constituting the Ionian republic. At present there is
nothing very delightful in the place ; for the country
is mountainous, and the soil dry. It abounds in hares,
quails, turtle, and excellent falcons. It is about 50
miles in circumference, and produces corn, wane, flax,
oil, and cotton. The town of the same name is strong
both by art and nature, being seated on a craggy rock.
The inhabitants, who are Greek Christians, were a-
bout 10,000 in number in 1806.
CERINES, a town in the island of Cyprus, with a
good castle, a harbour, and a bishop’s see. E. Long.
33* 35* 35* 22*
CERINTHE, Honeywort. See Botany In¬
dex.
CERINTHIANS, ancient heretics, who denied
the deity of Jesus Christ.—They took their name
from Cerinthus, one of the first heresiarchs in the
church, being contemporary with St John. See Ce-
Rinthus.
They believed that Jesus Christ was a mere man,
born of Joseph and Mary; but that, in his baptism,
a celestial virtue descended on him in form of a dove ;
by means whereof he was consecrated by the Holy
Spirit, and made Christ. It was by means of this ce¬
lestial virtue, therefore, that he wrought so many mi¬
racles ; which, as he received it from heaven, quitted
him after his passion, and returned to the place whence
it came ; so that Jesus, whom they called a. pure man,
really died and rose agjiin j but that Christ, who was
distinguished from Jesus, did not suffer at all. It was
partly to refute this sect that St John wrote his go¬
spel. They received the gospel of St Matthew, to Cerin-
countenance their doctrine of circumcision, from Christ’s thians
being circumcised ; but they omitted the genealogy. .11
They discarded the epistles of St Paul, because that Cert^catc;
apostle held circumcision abolished.
CERINTHUS, a heresiarch, cotemporary with the
apostles, ascribed the creation not to God, but to an¬
gels. He taught that Jesus Christ was the eon of Jo¬
seph, and that circumcision ought to be retained under
the gospel. He is looked upon as the head of the
converted Jews, who raised in the church of Antioch
the tumult of which St Luke has given the history in
the 15th chapter of the Acts. Some authors ascribe
the book of the Apocalypse to Cerinthus ; adding, that
he put it off under the name of St John, the better to
authorize his reveries touching Christ’s reign upon
earth : and it is even certain that he published some
works of this kind under the title of Apocalypse. See
Apocalypse.
CEROPEGIA. See Botany Index.
CERTHIA, in Ornithology, the Creeper or Ox-
eye, a genus belonging to the order of picse. See
Ornithology.
CERTIFICATE, Trial by, in the law of Eng¬
land, a species of trial allowed in such cases where the
evidence of the person certifying is the only proper
criterion of the point in dispute*. For when the fact * See I’m/,
in question lies out of the cognizance of the court, the
judges must rely on the solemn averment or informa¬
tion of persons in such a station as affords them the
most clear and competent knowledge of the truth. J^s,Blaek*t.
therefore such evidence, if given to a jury, must have
been conclusive, the law, to save trouble and circuity,
permits tbe fact to be determined upon such certificate
merely. Thus, 1. If the issue be whether A was ab¬
sent with the king in his army out of the realm in time
of war, this shall be tried by the certificate of the ma-
reschal of the king’s host in writing under his seal,
which shall be sent to the justices. 2. If, in order to
avoid an outlawry, or the like, it was alleged that
the defendant was in prison, ultra mare, at Bourdeaux,
or in the service of the mayor of Bourdeaux, this should
have been tried by the certificate of the mayor, and
the like of the captain of Calais. But when this was
law, those towns were under the dominion of the
crown of England. And therefore, by a parity of
reason^ it should now hold, that in similar cases arising
at Jamaica or Minorca, the trial should be by certifi¬
cate from the governor of those islands. We also find
that the certificate of the queen’s messengers, sent to
summon home a peeress of the realm, was formerly
held a sufficient trial of the contempt in refusing to
obey such summons. 3. For matters within the realm ;
the customs of the city of London shall be tried by
the certificate of the mayor and aldermen, certified by
the mouth of their recorder, upon a surmise from the
party alleging it, that the custom ought to be thus
tried ; else it must be tried by the country : As, the
custom of distributing the eflects of freemen deceased ;
of enrolling apprentices, or that he who is free of
one trade may use another; if any of these, or other
similar points come in issue. 4. The trial of all cus¬
toms and practice of the courts shall be by certificate
from the proper officers of those courts respectively^
C E R [ 326 ] C E S
Certificate and when returned was made on a writ by the sheriff or
!l under sheriff, shall be only tried by his own certificate.
Vessel^ CERTIORARI, in Lena, a writ which issues out
t v ' • ^ie chancery, directed to an inferior court, to call
up the records of a cause there depending, in order
that justice maybe done. And this writ is obtained
upon complaint, that the party who seeks it has re¬
ceived hard usage, or is not likely to have an impartial
trial in the inferior court. A certiorari is made re¬
turnable either in the king’s bench, common pleas, or
in chancery.
It is not only used out of the court of chancery,
but likewise out of the king’s bench ; in which last
mentioned court it lies where the king would be cer¬
tified of a record. Indictments from inferior courts,
and proceedings of the quarter-sessions of the peace,
may also be removed into the king’s bench by a cer¬
tiorari : and here the very record must be returned,
and not a transcript of it ; though usually in chancery,
if a certiorari be returnable there, it removes only the
tenor of the record.
CERTITUDE, considered in the things or ideas
which are the objects of our understanding, is a ne¬
cessary agreement or disagreement of one part of our
knowledge with another : as applied to the mind, it
is the perception of such agreement or disagreement:
or such a firm well-grounded assent, as excludes not
only all manner of doubt, but all conceivable possibili¬
ty of a mistake.
There are three sorts of certitude, or assurance, ac¬
cording to the different natures and circumstances of
things. 1. A physical or natural certitude, which de¬
pends upon the evidence of sense ; as that I see such
or such a colour, or hear such or such a sound j no¬
body questions of the truth of this, where the organs, the
medium, and the object, are rightly disposed. 2. Ma¬
thematical certitude is that arising from mathematical
evidence : such as, that the three angles of a triangle
are equal to two right ones. 3. Moral certitude is that
founded on moral evidence, and is frequently equiva¬
lent to a mathematical one $ as that there was former¬
ly such an emperor as Julius Ctesar, and that he wrote
the commentaries which pass under his name ; because
the historians of these times have recorded it, and no
man has ever disproved it since : this affords a moral
certitude, in common sense so great, that one would be
thought a fool or madman for denying it.
CERIOSA, a celebrated Carthusian monastery,
in the territory of the Pavese, in the duchy of Milan,
four miles from Pavia : its park is surrounded with a
wall 20 miles in circumference $ but there are several
small towns and villages therein.
CERVANTES. See Saavedra.
CERA ERA, a town of Spain in Catalonia, seated
on a small river of the same name, in E. Long. 1. o.
N. Lat. 41. 28.
CERAIA, a sea-port town of Italy, in Romagna,
with a bishop’s see, seated on the gulf of Venice, in
E. Long. 13. 5. N. Lat. 44. 16.
CERVICAL nerves, are seven pair of nerves, so
called, as having their origin in the cervix, or neck.
Cervical Vessels, among anatomists, denote the ar¬
teries, veins, &.c. which pass through the vertebrae and
muscles of the neck up to the skull.
2
CERVIX, in Anatomy, properly denotes the hind (;£I
part of the neck as contradistinguished from the fore j
part, which is ca\\e.&jugulum, or the throat. Ccs,
Cervix of the Scapula, denotes the head of the'J
shoulder blade, or that upper process whose sinus re¬
ceives the head of the humerus.
Cervix of the Uterus, the neck of the uterus, or that
oblong canal or passage between the internal and ex¬
ternal orifices, which receives and encloses the penis
like a sheath, whence it is also called Vagina.
CERUMEN, a thick, viscous, bitter, excrementi-
tious humour, separated from the blood by proper glands
placed in the meatus auditoi'ius, or outer passage of
CERUSS, White Lead, a sort of calx of lead,
made by exposing plates of that metal to the vapour of
vinegar. See Chemistry Index.
Ceruss, as a medicine, is used externally, either mix¬
ed in ointments or by sprinkling in on old gleeting
and watery ulcers, and in many diseases of the skin.
If, when it is reduced into a fine powder, it is received
in with the breath in inspiration, and carried down in¬
to the lungs, it causes incurable asthmas. Instances of
the very pernicious effects of this metal are too often
seen among those persons who work lead in any form,
hut particularly among the workers in white lead.
The painters use it in great quantities ; and that it
may he afforded cheap to them, it is generally adul¬
terated with common whiting.
CERVUS, or Deer, in Zoology, a genus of qua¬
drupeds belonging to the order of Decora. See Mam¬
malia Index. j
Servus Volans, in Natural History, a name given
by authors to the stag-fly, or horned beetle, a very
large species of beetle with horns sloped, and some¬
thing like those of the stag.
CERYX, in antiquity. The ceryces were a sort of
public criers, appointed to proclaim or publish things
aloud in assemblies. The ceryx among the Greeks an¬
swered to the prceco among the Romans. Our criers
have only a small part of their office and authority.
There were two kinds of ceryces, civil and sacred.
The former were those appointed to call assemblies,
and make silence therein ; also to go on messages, and
do the office of our heralds, &c. The sacred ceryces
were a sort of priests, whose office was to proclaim si¬
lence in the public games and sacrifices, publish the
names of the conquerors, proclaim feasts, and the like.
The priesthood of the ceryces was annexed to a parti¬
cular family, the descendants of Ceryx, son of Eumol-
pus. To them it also belonged to lead solemn vic¬
tims to slaughter. Before the ceremonies began, they
called silence in the assembly, by the formula, 'ZvCpupti-
Ti triyi Iras ifu Xetus j answering to the favete Unguis ol
the Romans. When the service was over, they dis¬
missed the people with this formula, A«6/» atpte-ts, lie,
missa est.
CESARE, among logicians, one of the modes of
the second figure of syllogisms j the minor proposition
of which is an universal affirmative, and the other two
universal negatives: thus,
Ce No immoral hooks ought to be read j
Sa But every obscene book is immoral j
Re Therefore no obscene books ought to be read.
CESENA,
C E S [3:
I (irolti CESAROTTI, Melchior, an Italian poet. See
|| Supplement.
J sion- CESENA, a town of Romagna in Italy, with a
I bishop’s see, subject to the pope, and seated on the
river Savio, in E. Long. 12. 46. N. Lat. 44. 8.
CESPITOSiE PLANTS (from cespes, turf or sod),
are those plants which produce many stems from one
root, and thence form a close thick carpet on the sur¬
face of the earth.
Cespitosm Pabides, turf bogs.
CESSATION, the act of intermitting, or disconti¬
nuing, the course of any thing, work, or action.
Cessation of Arms, an armistice or occasional truce.
See Truce.
When the commander of a place finds things re¬
duced to an extremity, so that he must either surrender,
or sacrifice the garrison and inhabitants to the mercy
of the enemy, he plants a white flag on the breach, or
beats the charaade ; on which a cessation of arms com¬
mences, to give room for a capitulation.
CESSIO Bonorum, in Scots Law, the name of that
action by which an insolvent debtor may apply for li¬
beration from prison, upon making over his whole real
and personal estate to his creditors.
CESSION, in Law, an act by which a person sur¬
renders and transmits to another person a right which
belonged to himself. Cession is more particularly used
in the civil law for a voluntary surrender of a person’s
effects to his creditors to avoid punishment. See the
article Bankrupt.
In several places the cession carried with it a mark
of infamy, and obliged the person to wear a green
cap or bonnet ; at Lucca, an orange one ; to neglect
this was to forfeit the privileges of the Cession. This
was originally intended to signify that the cessionary
was become poor through his own folly. The Italian
lawyers describe the ceremony of cession to consist in
striking the bare breech three times against a stone,
called Lapis Vituperii, in presence of the judge. For¬
merly it consisted in giving up the girdles and keys in
court j the ancients using to carry at their girdles the
chief utensils wherewithThey got their living; as the
scrivener his escritoire, the merchant his bag, &c.
The form of cession among the ancient Gauls and Ro¬
mans was as follows : The cessionary gathered up dust
in his left hand from the four corners of the house, and
standing on the threshold, holding the door-post in his
right hand, threw the dust back over his shoulders ; then
stripping to his shirt, and quitting his girdle and bags,
C E T O
t
J . *
c etltb; TJNr)ER Rl*S Seneral *8 comprehended the
history of that division of marine animals, which
in the Linnuean arrangement constitutes the seventh
^ ^ order of the class mammalia. This is the order cete or
ni of whales. Ray and Willoughby have included this or-
;by ^er °f animals under the class of fishes. Ray, in his
arrangement of fishes, divides them into two principal
sections. The one comprehends those fishes which are
furnished with lungs for respiration ; and the other,
those which breathe by means of gills, and may be
7 ] GET
he jumped with a pole over a hedge; hereby letting Cession
the world know that he had nothing left, and that ||
when he jumped, all he was worth was in the air with Ceterach.
him. This was the cession in criminal matters. In
■civil cases it was sufficient to lay a broom, a switch,
or a broken straw, on the threshold : this was called
chrcnecruda per durpillum et festucam.
Cession, in the ecclesiastical law, is when an ec¬
clesiastical person is created a bishop, or when a par¬
son ol a parish takes another benefice, without dispen¬
sation, or being otherwise qualified. In both these
cases their first benefices become void by cession, with¬
out any resignation ; and to these livings that the per¬
son had, who was created bishop, the king may pre¬
sent for that time, whosoever is patron of them j and
in the other case the patron may present: but by dis¬
pensation of retainder, a bishop may retain some or
all the preferments lie was entitled to before he was
made bishop.
CESTRUM, Bastard Jasmine. See Botany
Index.
CESTUI, a French word, signifying he or him,
frequently used in the English law writings. Thus,
Cestui qui trust, a person who has lands, &c. commit¬
ted to him for the benefit of another ; and if such per¬
son does not perform his trust, he is compellable to it
in chancery. Cestui qui vie, one for whose life any
lands, &c. are granted. Cestui qui use, a person to
whose use any one is infeoffed of lands or tenements.
Formerly the feoffees to uses were deemed owners of
the land, but now the possession is adjudged in cestui
qui use.
CESTUS, among ancient poets, a fine embroidered
girdle said to be worn by Venus, to which Homer
ascribes the power of charming and conciliating love.
The word is also written cesium and ceston: it comes
from itsgoj, a girdle or other thing embroidered or
wrought with a needle j derived, according to Servius,
from kivtuv, pungere ; whence also incestus, a term used
at first for any indecency by undoing the girdle, &c.
but now restrained to that between persons near a-kin.
See Incest.
CETACEOUS, an appellation given to the fishes of
the whale kind. See Cetology.
CETE, the name of Linnaeus’s seventh order of
mammalia, comprehending the MoNODON, Bal^ENA,
Physeter, and Delphinus. See Cetology.
CETERACH, the trivial name of a species of A»
splenium. See Asplenium, Botany Index.
LOG Y.
considered as truly fishes. In the former section are
included the cetaceous fishes ; and the reasons which
he assigns for arranging them in this manner are, that
they agree in external form with fishes j that they are
entirely naked, or covered only with a smooth skin ;
and that they live entirely in the water, and have all
the actions of fishes. Although this tribe of animal3 Of whales
resembles fishes, not only in manners and habits, butbyLinme-
also in being inhabitants of the same element, Lin- ns,
nseus thought proper to class them with the mammalia,
on
CETOLOGY.
Treated of
separately.
C
Tkeir his¬
tory im¬
portant,
7
but defi¬
cient.
8
Reasons.
9
Sources of
informa¬
tion.
to
Name li¬
mited.
on account of the similarity of their internal structure,
having a double heart and warm blood, and respiring
like them by means of lungs.
Mr Pennant, in his British Zoology, has objected
to the classification of cetaceous animals with the mam¬
malia, as Linnaeus has done, because, “ to have pre¬
served the chain of beings entire, he says that Linnaeus
should have made the genus phocce or seals, and that of
the trichecus or manati, immediately precede the whale,
those being tbe links that connect the mammalia or
quadrupeds with the fish j for the seal is in respect to
its legs the most imperfect of the former class j and in
the manati the hind feet coalesce, assuming the form
of a broad horizontal tail.” On this account, Mr Pen¬
nant has arranged the cetaceous order of animals under
his class of fishes, including them under the first division
of that class. For the same reasons we have separated
them from the class of fishes j but although they re¬
semble the quadrupeds, which compose chiefly the class
mammalia, in being warm-blooded, and in the functions
of circulation and respiration $ yet, as they possess cha¬
racters so totally distinct from any of the mammalia,
we judged it more natural to separate them also from
this class, and to treat of them in the present article.
This tribe of animals is also entitled to a separate
treatise, both on account of the interest to be derived
from their natural history, and on account of their im¬
portance in a commercial view.
The history of cetaceous animals, as well as that of
the other inhabitants of the ocean, cannot be expected
to be complete. They are beyond the reach of the
naturalist, from the nature of the element in which
they live ; and even when he is favoured with a tran¬
sient glimpse, the rapidity of their motions precludes
the possibility of obtaining much accurate knowledge
of their manners and habits. But the abode of the
whale is the most inaccessible parts of the ocean. The
frozen regions of the north and south are his chief re¬
treat—regions so inhospitable, as to forbid the approach
of the most hardy naturalist with all his zeal and ardour,
and to be visited only by the adventurous fisherman,
prompted by the hope of gain. To the latter, chiefly,
we are indebted for what knowledge we possess of
this tribe of animals. And from men who bad a very
different object in view, who, in this hazardous trade,
had to struggle with the severest seasons, in a climate
where the rigour of winter rarely relaxes, information
on this subject could neither be accurate nor extensive.
This, however, was the principal source from which
the earlier writers on this department of natural
history derived their information. Such were Sibbald,
Martens, Dudley, Clein, and Anderson, who composed
their descriptions from the relations and memoirs which
were communicated to them by fishermen and voyagers.
Hence have originated these erroneous and inaccurate
details which have been introduced into the works of
naturalists.
The name of Cete, as the word which is derived
from the Greek language originally signifies, was given
indiscriminately to all marine animals of extraordinary
size. It has been limited by later naturalists to that
tribe of fishes which are distinguished from other fishes
by tbe functions of respiration and circulation, and by-
being viviparous. These are now included under the
general term cetaceous fishes. Beside^the discrimina-
3
live marks of respiration, circulation, and being vivi- |ntr0(
parous, others may be mentioned. In the cetaceous tio
fishes the skin is not covered with scales as in other'™—v
fishes $ there are one or two orifices in the upper part. 1
of the head for discharging water j the lateral finsj^J0
are furnished with articulations as in the human hand, fishes
and the tail is horizontal. There is another remarkable i
difference between the cetaceous and other fishes, in'nfat>
the greater quantity of blood, and the thick cover¬
ing of fat or blubber, for which the former are dis¬
tinguished. And considering the temperature of the
climate, and the element in which these animals live,
this seems to be a wise and necessary provision of na¬
ture. The great quantity of blood produces a greater
degree of heat, and the spongy porous mass of blubber, anfi q,
being from its nature a slow conductor of heat, is amity of
excellent defence against the rigour of the seasons in Wood,
the polar regions.
In the following treatise we propose to lay before
our readers, ist, The Classification and Natural History
of Cetaceous Fishes ; 2d, Their Anatomy and Physio¬
logy $ and, lastly, The History of the Whale Fishery
as an object of trade. These shall be the subjects of
three chapters.
Chap. I. Of the Classification and Natural History of
Cetaceous Fishes.
Cetaceous fishes have been divided into four classes, cia55e
the characters of which are taken from the want oft'our.
teeth, from the structure of the teeth, and from their
position in one or both jaws. The following table ex¬
hibits the characters of these classes, with a translation
opposite for the sake of the English reader.
1st, Bala£NA, or Whale.
Dentium loco lamince cor-
nece'in maxilla superiore.
In place of teeth there are
horny plates in the up¬
per jaw.
2d, MoNODON, or Unicorn Fish.
Dens unicusaut duo in par
te antica maxillce superb
oris hori%ontaliter exser-
ti.
One or two teeth horizon¬
tally inserted in the an¬
terior part of the upper
jaw.
3d, Physeter, or Spermaceti Whale.
Teeth in the lower jaw,
but scarcely conspicuous
in the upper jaw.
Dentes veri in maxilla in¬
ferior e; aliquot veropla¬
nt, vix conspicuiin max¬
illa superiore.
4th, Delfhinus, or Dolphin.
Dentes in utraque maxilla. J Teeth in both jaws.
Each of the four classes which we have now enume¬
rated and characterised, comprehends only a single
genus, the characters of which are as follows :
Generic Characters.
ist Genus, Bal^ena, or Whale.
Gene)
Maxilla superior dentium
loco, lamtnis corneis in-
structa ; fistula duplex
in vertice.
The upper jaw is furnish¬
ed with horny plates in
place of teeth, and there
are two blow-holes on
the top of the head.
2d,
lap
issifica-
.1.
GET
2d Genus, MoNODON, or Unicorn-Fish.
o
,n' k~c‘, Fens unions out duo, longi
out breves, recti vel re-
curvi, in parte antica
maxillae superioris exser-
ti; Jistula in occipite.
3d Genus, Physeter,
Dentes veri et visibiles in
maxilla inferiore, in qui-
busdam vero maxilla su¬
perior dentibus planis
vix conspicuis instruct a ;
fistula in angulo supe-
riore rostri.
In the anterior part of the
upper jaw there is one
or two teeth which are
either straight or cur¬
ved, long or short} the
spout in the back part
of the head.
or Spermaceti Whale.
The teeth distinctly seen
in the lower jaw, but
scarcely visible in the
upper jaw ; the spout in
the upper part of the
forehead.
4th Genus, Delphinus, or Dolphin.
Maxilla utraque dentata:
Jistula in froute.
Both jaws are furnished
with teeth ; the spout
in the forehead.
Class I. BALiENA.
, Genus 1st, Bal^na, or Whale.
iS ’ ’
• leric The body is naked, elliptical, or of an oblong coni-
‘ racters‘ cal shape, and of a black or brownish colour.
The head is very long, laterally compressed, and di¬
minishing towards the beak. The opening of the mouth
is very large. The jaws are nearly equal, and without
teeth ; but in place of teeth, the upper jaw is furnish¬
ed on both sides with horny plates, transversely dis¬
posed. The lower jaw is anteriorly of an oval or round¬
ish form, broader than the upper jaw, and having a fur¬
row on the margin for receiving the horny-plates. The
eyes are small j they are placed near the insertion of
the lateral fins. The ears are also small, and are situ¬
ated behind the eyes.
In some of the species the anterior part of the body
is plicated or folded underneath.
The penis is enclosed in a sheath. The female is fur¬
nished with two mammae j and the organs of generation
are placed between them. Behind them is the anus.
There are three or four fins ; two lateral fins, one at
the extremity of the tail, which is placed horizontally.
The dorsal fin is often wanting.
* Species which have no Dorsal Fin.
j e rvr
u I. Bal/ENA Mysticetus, the Greenland, or large
Whalebone Whale.
French, Ttaleine Franche. Baleine de grande bale ;
Spaniards, Vallena; Whalljfesch, by the Germans j
Whallvisek, Dutch ; Hvajisch, Sletbaclc, by the Nor¬
wegians Hvaljisk, by the Swedes 5 Slitcheback,
Sandhual, by the Danes ; Vatuskalr, by the Iceland-
^ ers j and Arbek, Arbavirksoak, by the Greenlanders.
^ *cters. In this species the jaws are nearly of equal length j
the lower is of an oval form, and broad in the middle j
^ iS the back is spotted, black and white.
This is the largest of animals known. The body,
from a side view, appears of an elliptical form. The head
Vol. V. Part I. f
logy.
329
is very nearly equal to one-third of the whole length Classiflca-
of the body. It is as it were composed of two inclined tion. See.
planes joined together under a larger or smaller angle,
and has something the appearance of the roof of a small
house. l9
In the middle of the line formed by the junction of Blow-holes,
the two inclined planes, there rises a large tubercle, in
which are situated the spouts or blow-holes opposite to
each other, and curved in the shape of the letter S. The
jaws are nearly equal in length ; the lower is broader
towards the middle of its length than the upper ; and
besides it spreads out and has membranous coverings,
which terminate in a broad deep furrow, which is de¬
stined to receive the horny teeth of the upper jaw.
When the jaws are close, the opening of the mouth
folds upwards towards the orbit of the eyes, and ex¬
hibits by its inflection the curved form of a sickle. 20
The want of teeth is supplied by about 500 horny Whale-
laminae. This is the substance called whalebone. They hone,
are attached to the upper j.aw on both sides, and sup¬
ported at the base by a kind of bone which extends the
whole length of the roof of the mouth. They are ar¬
ranged transversely, and in an oblique direction. Each
of them is from three to five feet long, is thickest at
the base, tapers towards the point, is a little curved,
and terminates in a fringe of long hair which hangs
about the tongue. Towards the two extremities of
each row, there are besides many other small laminae,
which are of a square form, of the thickness of a writ¬
ing quill, and about four inches long. These latter are
arranged in the same direction as the former ; but are
of a softer substance, and do not come so close to each
other.
The tongue is soft and spongy, strongly attached to Tongue,
the lower jaw, and rounded at the extremity. On the
upper side it is white, but on the sides it is marked
with black spots. It is often 10 feet broad and 18 feet
long.
The eyes are placed very low, at the broadest part of Eyes,
the head, just above the angles of the mouth, and very
near the origin of the lateral fins. They are furnished,
as the means of defence, with eyelids and eyelashes $
and resemble in form and magnitude those of an ox.
The crystalline lens, which is white and transparent,
is not larger than a pea. The external organ of bear-Ear.
ing, consists of a small hole of the diameter of a quill,
which is placed immediately behind the eyes.
The back forms a gentle curvature from the tuber¬
cle on the top of the head ; towards the middle of the
trunk it is again elevated, and then tapers gradually
to the tail. The lower part of the body diminishes in
the same proportion. The lateral fins have their origin Fins,
near the angle of the mouth. They are two large
thick masses, of an oval irregular form, and are often
10 feet long. The tail fin is divided into two oval
fleshy lobes, which terminate in a point.
The male is furnished with a penis which is eight
feet long, and surrounded with a double skin, which
gives it something of the appearance of a knife in its
sheath. The female has two mammae, which are placed
on each side of the organs of generation. 2(_
The skin of the whale is divided into the epidermis skin,
or scarf-skin, the true skin, the fat or blubber, and the
muscle or flesh. The epidermis is as thin as parch-
T t inent.
330
C E T 0
26
Colour.
Ciassifica. ment, and very easily separated, when the process of
lion, &c. putrefaction first commences. The true skin is an inch
thick, and covers a layer of fat of 15 inches.
The back of the whale is usually of a fine black,
marked with whitish rays, which have some resem¬
blance to the veins of wood } and in the thickest, as
well as the finest of these traces, there pass other veins
of a dirty white. This mixture of colours presents an
agreeable appearance, especially when the back of the
fish is illuminated with the rays of the sun. I he dif¬
ferent changes of colour from white to yellow then ex¬
hibit the splendour and brilliancy of silver.
The under part of the trunk, and of the lower jaw,
is of a bright white. But these colours are subject to
considerable variation, according to the age of the fish.
Some have been observed to be entirely black ; others
spotted with white, yellow, and brown. Martens as¬
sures us, that he observed on the tail of a whale, the
number 1222, as neatly traced as if it had been exe¬
cuted by the hand of a painter. But probably the re¬
semblance to those figures was helped out by the aid of
fancy.
Ellis and some other naturalists assert, that the whale
is found perfectly white in the western parts of the
northern ocean. It is not uncommon to see the young
whale spotted with brown *, and old whales marked
on the back with a transverse band, which extends
to the belly. Sometimes, however, the spots ob¬
served on the whale have been undoubtedly occa¬
sioned by wounds ; for it is certain, that a white scar
always remains on the place which has been wound-
27
Size. The size of the whale has not been very accurately
ascertained. Some have been taken of 80, and even
of 100 feet long, and almost as much in circumference.
The female is in general larger than the male. The
period of pregnancy is nine or ten months $ and one,
very rarely two, is brought forth at a time. The young
2g whale is 20 feet long at birth.
flaunts. This species of whale is very common towards the
north pole, in the seas of Greenland and Spitzbergen,
and especially in that part of the arctic sea which lies
29 under the 76th degree oflatitude.
Fowl. The principal food of the whale is a species of
helix and different species of actinise. It is not a lit¬
tle surprising that the whale, of such immense size,
should feed on such small animals, and should acquire
such a quantity of fat as to yield above 150 tons of
oil. But according to the testimony of those employed
in the whale fishery, these worms are found in such
abundance in the seas about Spitzbergen, that the
whale has only to open his mouth to receive thousands
at once, and then rejecting the water through the
fringe or beard attached to the jaws, these little ani¬
mals remain behind, taken as it were in a net. And
indeed there seems to be a wise provision of nature
for the subsistence of this monstrous animal, in impres¬
sing on these worms and insects, which are to be his
food, a kind of instinct, which guides them to sport
about the fringes of the jaws, in the very gulf which
is to swallow them up. Linnaeus says that the whale
also feeds on medusae. But to this it has been object¬
ed, that the medusae are not in sufficient abundance
in the northern seas, to furnish the necessary quantity
LOGY. Chap. I
of food for so large an animal. It seems not improbable, cWifc*
however, that the medusae as well as the actiniae may lion, &«.
form part of its food. 1 ~
The excrement of the whale has some degree of so¬
lidity, and it is of a yellow colour, approaching some¬
what to the colour of saffron.
The whale fishery, or rather it might be termed the Fishery bj
chase of the whale, constitutes one of the principal oc-^ ^wtn
cupations of the inhabitants of Greenland. The cap- m'
ture of a single whale is sufficient for the subsistence
of a whole family for a lorg time. I be flesh is eaten
raw, baked, or after being half rotten, or dried in the
heat of the sun ; and according to Horrebow, it has a 3l
very good taste. The skin, the tail, and the fins, un-Uses,
dergo no kind of preparation } for it seems these paits
furnish, in the raw state, a very delicate morsel to the
Greenlanders. The fat is either eaten, or burnt for
the purpose of giving light. The intestines are em¬
ployed to shut up the doors and windows of their habi¬
tations ; and the tendons furnish thread for sewing, or
for the construction of nets. Of the bones the Green¬
landers make stools or chairs, and instruments that are
used in hunting and fishing. 1 he best lines are made
of the hair that terminates the horny plates of the upper
jaw.
The following are the dimensions of a whale taken
towards the north pole, and recorded by M. de Page*
in the account of his voyage round the world.
Ft. Inch.
Total length, . 48 O
Circumference of the head, which is the
thickest part of the body, 26 5
Length of the head, about 18 o
Length of the jawbones, 18 o
Diameter of the orbit of the eyes, o 3
Opening of the eyelids, O 5
Distance of the eyes from the opening of
the breathing holes, 6 0
Length of the cavity, which includes the
penis, 4 0
Depth of this cavity, O 8
Distance of this cavity from the anus, 1 o
Diameter of each mamma, O 6
Length of the papilla, O 2
Diameter of it, O
Distance of the two lobes of the tail fin,
about 17 0
Depth of the hollow which separates the
two lobes, 2 6
Length of the lateral fins, 8 O
Breadth of the same, about 7 0
2. Bal^ena Glacialis, Iceland Whale.
French, Le Nord Caper, Baleine de Sarde ; German,
Isordkaper ; Norwegian, Sildqual, Nordkaper.
In this species, the jaws are nearly of equal length. SpeciSe
The under jaw is rounded, and broader towards thecharaet*
middle of its length. There is no dorsal fin. The back
is whitish. # 33
The Iceland whale differs from the former only in Body,
the colour and dimensions of the body. The head
and horny laminae of the upper jaw are much smaller.
The trunk of the body is more slender, and is of a
light
hap.
nssifica-
on, &c.
I.
C E T O
34
xk of
ti»g by
■ Icelan-
35
'facters.
liglit brown colour. It has been observed, that the
lower jaw of this species is more elongated and rounder
than that of the common whale.
As it is very dangerous to harpoon this species of
whale, on account of its extreme agility, it is men¬
tioned by Anderson, that the Icelanders have a very in¬
genious method of taking it. When they perceive the
whale in chase of the herrings, they instantly launch
their canoes furnished with harpoons, spears, and knives,
and endeavour to get between the whale and the ocean.
They continue the pursuit by rowing, and approach as
near as possible. If the wind blow towards the shore,
they pour on the sea a quantity of blood, with which they
are always provided, and as it is carried by the waves
to the coast, they endeavour to direct it as near to the
shore as they can. The whale perceiving himself pur¬
sued, attempts to regain the ocean, but when he ap¬
proaches the blood he is alarmed, and rather than
swim across it, he makes his escape to the shores, where
he often throws himself on the rocks. But if the
wind blow from the land, the fishermen endeavour to
get between the whale and the ocean, as in the other
case 5 and when he attempts to make for the deep,
they throw stones from their canoes, and shout and
make a noise, so that the whale is terrified and is driven
on shore. This, however, is contradicted by Hor-
rebow, who remained two years in Iceland, and had
good opportunities of being well informed of every
thing relating to the whale-fishery. He says, that the
Icelanders are neither hardy enough to make this ha¬
zardous attempt, nor so fortunate or dexterous as to
take the whale so easily. The only method which is
practised there, he says, is the following: When the
boat approaches the whale, the harpooner discharges
his harpoon, and the boat instantly retreats. The
harpoon is known by having the mark of the proprie¬
tor, and when the whale has been successfully wound¬
ed, he dies and is thrown ashore. A certain portion
belongs to the person who was so fortunate as to inflict
the wound, and the remainder is claimed, according to
a law of the country, as the right of the person on
whose property he lands. According to this author,
this is the whole art practised by the inhabitants of
Iceland in the whale-fishery.
The Iceland whale yields only from to to 30 tons of
blubber.—The food of this whale consists of some
species of helix, meclusee, and herrings.
This whale inhabits the northern ocean, about the
coasts of Norway and Iceland.
Klein has made two varieties of this whale, distin¬
guishing them by names derived from that part of the
ocean where they are found. 1. Var. Australis, which
is found in the southern ocean, has the back very flat.
2. Var. Occidentalis, found in the western ocean, which
has the back more elevated. The same naturalist has
distinguished the Balcena glacialis by the name borealis.
* * Species which have a Fin or Bunches on the Back.
3. Bauena Physalus, or Fin Fish.
French Le Gibbar; German, Finnfisch ; Dutch, Vin-
visch; Norwegian, Ror-hual, Finne-fisk; Green¬
land, TummiliJc ; Iceland, Hunfubaks.
The jaws are equal and pointed j the horny laminae
LOGY. 33t
of the upper jaw are short, and of a bluish colour. Classifica-
There is one fin on the back. tion, &c.
According to the fishermen, the fin fish is as long '■““-v——'
but not so thick as the common whale. When the jaws ^ -L6
are shut, the head resembles a cone, which constitutes tjoe,*^np
nearly one-third part of the whole length of the whale,
and terminates in a sharp snout. On the top of the
head are two respiratory orifices divided longitudinally.
This whale, it is said, ejects the water with much
greater force than the common whale. The horny la¬
minae of the upper jaw are fringed and disposed in the
same manner as those of the preceding. They differ in
being shorter, and of a blue colour. The length is
from 10 to 12 inches. The long hair which terminates
the laminae, is so twisted that the edges of the upper
jaw seem covered with a thick cord interwoven to¬
gether. The eyes are placed very low, nearly in the
direction of the angles of the mouth. Towards the
posterior extremity of the back, there arises a triangu¬
lar fin, about 3 or 4 feet high, having the summit bent
backwards. The lateral fins are of an oval figure, from
6 to 7 feet long. The tail fin is divided into two lobes
which form nearly a right angle. ^
This species lives on the herring, the mackerel, a Food,
kind of salmon frequent in the northern sea, and other
small fish.
The upper part of the body is of a shining brown
colour. The belly and the under part of the lower
jaw are of a splendid white.
This species of whale is found in the Greenland
seas, in the European seas, in the Indian ocean, and
in the new world. In March 1673, Martens men¬
tions that he saw a whale of this species in the straits
of Gibraltar. As the mass of the body constitutes the
third or the fourth of that of the common whale, the
fat is less thick. It yields, it is said, only ten tons of
oil. This whale is therefore less an object of the
fisherman’s pursuit, for the produce of oil is not equi¬
valent to the expence, the risk, and the danger that at¬
tend it.
It has been remarked, that as soon as the fin fish
makes its appearance in the seas round Spitzbergen,
the common whale is no longer to be seen.
In Greenland the flesh, the fins, the skin, and the Uses,
tendons, are employed as food by the poorer inhabi¬
tants ; and the bones are applied to a great many do¬
mestic uses. It is said that the flesh has the same taste
as that of a sturgeon.
4. Bal^ena Nodosa, the Bunch or Humpback Whale.
French, Baleine-tampon ; German, Flock fish ; Dutch,
Pen-fish.
The lateral fins are white. There is a bunch near Characters,
the tail larger than the head of a man.
Of this species less is known than of the others. Descrip-
In place of the dorsal fin, there is a bunch near the don.
tail which declines posteriorly. It is about a foot high,
and a little thicker than the human head. The lateral
tins are white, placed near the middle of the body,
and are 18 feet long. The blubber of the bunch-
whale resembles that of the fin fish. According to
Klein, the beard of this species is not held in much
estimation, though it is more valued than that of the
latter species. It is a native of the seas of New Eng¬
land.
3$
39
T t 2
5. Baljena
332
C E T O
Classilica-
tian, &c.
4*
Characters.
42
descrip¬
tion.
5. BaL^ENA GiBDOSA, the Scrag-whale.
French, La JBaleine a six bosses ; German, Knotenftsch}
Dutch, Knobbejisch.
The horny laminae of the upper jaw in this species
are white $ and there are six bunches on the back.
In external form this species resembles the common
whale. It is nearly of the same colour, and yields an
equal quantity of blubber. It seems difficult to recon¬
cile this with the specilic name given by Klein, viz.
Balwna macro, or lean whale. But it has been sup¬
posed that this refers to the muscular parts, which are
of smaller size.
The dorsal fin is wanting. Its place seems to be
supplied by six bunches or knots towards the tail.
The laminae are white, and are found to split with much
difficulty.
Like the former, it inhabits the seas of New Eng¬
land.
*** Species which have a Protuberance in form of a
Fin on the Tail, and Folds on the Belly.
6. Baljena Boops, the Pike-headed Whale.
French, La Jubarte ; Greenland, Kcporkak ; Iceland,
Hrufm, Reydus.
Character.'. The lower jaw is a little shorter and narrower than
the upper. The protuberance on the back is curved
and stretching to the tail.
Descrip. M. O. Fabricius, who was present and assisted at
tie 11. the capture of a whale of this species, has given the
following description of it. The body is round and very
thick near the lateral fins. It gradually diminishes to
the end of the tail, the thickness of which is not
greater than what a man can embrace. The head is
oblong, inclining, and terminates in a broad obtuse
snout. Towards the middle of the head is the protu-
bex-ance, in the middle of which are the two respira-
tary orifices, which are so close to each other as to
appear to be only one. Befoi’e the orifices there are
three rows of circular protuberances, of which the use
is not known. The lower jaw is shorter and nar¬
rower than the upper. The eyes are placed on the
sides of the head behind the orifices. The external
opening of the organ of hearing fprms two holes im¬
mediately behind the orbits of the eyes, but are al¬
most imperceptible. The horny laminae of the upper
jaw are black, and scarcely a foot in length. They
are disposed in the same manner as in the common
whale, but the interstices in the fore part of the jaw
are not filled up with small laminse. The tongue is
large, fat, and spongy *, its colour resembles that of the
liver. It is covered with a loose skin, which stretches
towards the gullet, where it forms a kind of operculum
or covering.
The lateral fins are large, oval, interiorly entire,
rounded, and notched posteriorly, and a little hollow¬
ed externally. The tail fin is hollowed or notched in
form of a crescent, and terminates in a point. From
the lower part of the mouth to the x*egion of the
anus, the inferior surface of the body is marked with
folds or furrows which unite in pairs, and form angles
at the two extremities. The two external furrows are
LOGY. Chap.]
always of the greatest length ; and it would appear ciassifie
that the whale has the power of dilating and contract- tion, See.
ing them at pleasure. u’" v—
The colour of the upper part of the body is black j
the lower part of the mouth and the lateral fins are
white ; the cavity of the furrows is of a blood red j
the interior folds, the belly, and the tail fin, are mark¬
ed with black and white spots. Under the epidermis
is the skin which covers the fat, which in this species is
but a thin layer, and consequently yields less oil than
the preceding.
When the pike-headed whale takes in food, it opens
its capacious mouth, and swallows a great quantity
of water along with its prey. It is then that the folds
of the skin on the belly are observed to dilate consider¬
ably ; and then too the contrast between the fine red
in the cavity of the furrows, the black colour of
the laminae of the jaw, and the bright white on the
under part of the mouth, produces a very striking
effect.
At evex-y attempt at progressive motion, this species
ejects the water by the respii’atory orifices, but with
less violence than other whales. The moment after,
it disappears under the water. And when it plunges
and shews the tail fin, it is considered as a sign that it
is going to descend to a great depth, and that it will
remain a longer ti^e under the surface. When the sea
is calm, it is seen asleep on the surface of the water
and the moment it awakes, it performs a number of
different motions with inconceivable rapidity. Some¬
times it lies on its sides ; in an instant it strikes the
water with the lateral fins with prodigious force, and
then turns on its back. It springs up into the air, and
returns to the water in a whirling motion, at a consi¬
derable distance from the place from which it arose. ^
The food of the pike-headed whale consists of apooi
species of helix, a small species of salmon which fre¬
quents the northern ocean, and the sand-eel. It has
only a single young one at a time. The young whale
follows its mother till another is brought forth ; but
this does not happen every year.
The slightest wound is observed to occasion the
death of this species of whale *, for the wound very soon
runs into gangrene. The animal often goes to a great
distance from the spot where it received the fatal blow.
The surest method seems to be to strike with the spear
immediately behind the lateral fins j and if it happen
that the intestines are wounded, the whale instantly
plunges into the ocean.
This species frequents chiefly the Greenland seas, be¬
tween the 61st and 65th degree of latitude. In winter
it appears only in the open seas, but in summer it ap¬
proaches the shores, and enters the great bays.
The length varies from 50 to 54 feet. Sibbald has
given a description of a young one which was thrown
ashore on the coast of Scotland. The following are
the dimensions of the principal parts of the body;
From the end of the snout to the extremity
of the tail,
The greatest thickness at the lateral fins,
The greatest thickness at the dorsal fin,
Greatest breadth of the lower jaw,
Length of the opening of the mouth,
Ft. In.
46 0
20 O
12 O
4 6
10 o
Breadth
C ip. I* C E T O
Ft. In.
,'1 ^ Breadth of the mouth, 4 o
^ j Length of the tongue, 5 O
Breadth of this organ at the root, 3 O
Length of the pectoral fins, 5 o
Breadth of ditto, I 6
Breadth of the tail fin, 9 6
Length of the penis, 2 o
7. Baljena Musculus, the Bound-lipped Whale.
French and Greenland, Rorqual; Iceland, Steipe,
Reydus.
)
Ch cters. In this species the lower jaw is longest and broadest.
The protuberance on the back is straight, triangular,
and stretches to the tail.
■ This species resembles the preceding in the form of
^ the body. In both there is a prodigious enlargement
of the side of the head, which gradually diminishes to¬
wards the tail. The structure of the lower jaw furnishes
the principal characteristic distinction. In the pike¬
headed whale it is pointed j but in this species it is
rounded, which gives the head an obtuse shape. The
opening of the mouth is so wide, that it will admit
fourteen men standing upright at the same time. The
upper jaw is narrower than the lower j it is also more
pointed at the extremity, and is received into the lower
jaw. The tongue is composed of a soft spongy sub¬
stance } and is covered with a fine membrane or skin.
At the base of the tongue, on each side, there is a
fleshy mass of a red colour, which shuts up the en¬
trance of the gullet so closely that only small fish can
be admitted. The whole palate is covered with black
laminae, which terminate at their extremity in a silky
hair which hangs over the tongue. The laminae and
the hair are of unequal length and breadth. Those
which are attached to the anterior part of the jaw
are 3 feet long, and 12 inches broad j while those near
the entrance to the gullet are scarcely six inches long
by one inch broad.
The eyes are placed above the angle of the mouth ;
they resemble those of the ox. Above the eyes, in the
middle of the head, are situated the two respiratory ori¬
fices, which are of a pyramidal form.
The pectoral fins are large, a little oval, and taper¬
ing ; and situated opposite to the angle of the mouth.
The dorsal fin is placed directly opposite to the opening
of the anus. It tapers a little, and is curved backward.
The tail fin is divided into two lobes, which are curved
like a scythe, and end in a point.
From the end of the lower jaw to the navel, the un¬
der part of the body is covered with rugae or folds, which
are two inches broad, having the cavities by which they
are separated of the same breadth. The sides are co¬
vered with a layer of fat or blubber, 4 inches thick j
and on the head and neck, where the fat is more abun¬
dant, it is a foot in thickness. The upper part of the
$ body is black, the bellv is white.
The herring is the food of this species of whale.
In the month of September 1692, a whale of this
species was thrown ashore on the coast of Scotland, as
we find it recorded by Sibbald. For twenty years be¬
fore the fishermen had observed it occasionally in pur¬
suit of the herrings ; and they recognised it in conse¬
quence of a wound which it had received from a mus-
LOGY. 333
ket. The ball had pierced through the dorsal fin. Classifica-
The following are the principal dimensions, bv the tion, &c.
same author. '^ f
Ft. In.
Whole length of the body, from the snout
to the extremity of the tail, 78 o
Circumference of the body at its greatest
thickness, 35 G
Length of the lower jaw, 13 2
Length of the tongue, 15 7
Breadth of ditto, 15 O
Length of the pectoral fins, 10 O
Greatest breadth of ditto, 2 6
Length of the dorsal fin, 2 O
Height of ditto,
Distance between the extremity of the lobes
of the tail, 186
Length of the penis, 5 o
8. Bal^ena Kostrata, the Piked Whale.
French, La Baleine a Bee.
The jaws are long, narrow, and pointed ; the lower characters,
jaw is longest. The protuberance which is placed on
the extremity of the back, is roundish at the apex.
A side view of this species of whale presents a Descrip-
lengthened oval form, which has the greatest trans-tion.
verse diameter towards the middle- of the body. The
head constitutes a fourth part of the length of the
body, and is of a conical form. The jaws are larger,
narrower, and more pointed than in the other species.
The upper jaw is the shortest. The eyes are placed
little above the angles of the mouth, and the blow¬
holes are on the top of the head. The laminae of the
upper jaw, according to Fabricius, are white and very
short.
The lateral fins occupy the middle of the height of
the sides ; they are broad, nearly oval, and rounded.
The dorsal fin is opposite to the anus. It is rounded
at the top, inclining towards the tail. The tail fin is
divided into two lobes, which form by their junction
a crescent, the horns of which are directed behind.
The under part of the body, from the point of the
lower jaw to the middle of the trunk, is covered with
rugae or folds in parallel rows, which stretch on both
sides to the insertion of the pectoral fins. The back
is black •, but this gradually diminishes towards the
belly, which is pure white, varied with a mixture of
reddish shades.
This species of whale swims with extraordinary ve¬
locity. The fat or blubber is very compact, and yields
but a small quantity of oil. The fishermen are there¬
fore not very eager in the pursuit of it. But as the
inhabitants of Greenland consider the flesh very delicate
food, they are often employed in taking this whale.
They never approach so near as to strike it with the
harpoon j but discharge arrows from a distance, the
wounds of which almost always prove mortal.
The food of this whale is the same as of some of the sl-
other species ; chiefly, the small species of salmon of Food,
the northern seas, and the other small fish, which it
pursues with such avidity, that they are often seen leap¬
ing from the sea to avoid the pursuit. This is the
smallest species of whale.
334 C E T O
Clagsifica- It is found most frequently in the Greenland seas ;
ti»n, 8ce. and often also in the European. One which was ta-
1 ^~ ken on the Dogger bank, measured 17 feet in length.
Where ^ie ^orsa^ fin> an(^ by some other accident
found, the jaws were so swelled, that the head formed a mass
specifically lighter than water, and therefore did not
sink in that element.
Class II. MONODON.
Genus 1st, Monodon, Unicorn-fish, or Sea-Unicorn.
Generic The body is naked, oval, oblong, round and spotted,
characters. The head is small, and not easily distinguished from
the rest of the body. There is only one respiratory
orifice, which is placed on the top of the head, and shut
up by a covering cut in form of a comb. The open¬
ing of the mouth is small. There are no teeth in the
mouth ; but fi-om the upper jaw there proceeds, inclin¬
ing sometimes to the right side, and sometimes to the
left, one long tooth which is twisted in a spiral form.
There are rarely two ; but when that is the case, they
are nearly of the same length ; and there is only one
species which has the teeth curved at the extremity.
The eyes and ears are very small. The penis of the
male is enclosed in a kind of sheath $ and the female
has two mammae on the belly, between which are the
organs of generation.
There are three or four fleshy fins ; two pectoral
fins •, one at the extremity of the tail j and that of the
back is often replaced by a projection which runs its
whole length.
Species.
Plate Monodon Monoceros, the Nar/nvai, or Unicorn-
CXL. Fish.
1 rench, Narhwal, Licorne de mer ; Norwegian, TAg-
hual; Iceland, Narhioal; Greenland, Tauvar.
S4
Characters. One tooth in shape of a horn, inserted in the upper
jaw, and spirally twisted 5 there are rarely two.
There is no tail fin.
Descrip- The body of the narhwal is oblong and oval ; the
tioii. ])ack convex, and tapering towards the tail ;
the head is round, small, enlarged at the top, and ter¬
minates in an obtuse rounded snout. There are no
teeth ; but a long twisted tooth, which is attached to the
upper jaw. It was long supposed that this bony instru¬
ment of defence was the horn of a very rare quadruped,
and consequently it was sold at a very high price. Each
tooth is from nine to ten feet in length, and possesses
some of the properties of ivory. It is however easy to
distinguish them. The fibres of the tooth of the uni¬
corn-fish are finer than ivory ; it is more compact,
heavier, and less apt to become yellow. The narh¬
wal is rarely furnished with more than one tooth, but
under the common skin of the head on the other side,
the rudiments of another may be observed. There
have been, however, different examples of two teeth,
and both nearly of the same length. In the year 1604,
a female having two teeth was taken, and the bones of
the head, with the teeth inserted, were brought to Ham¬
burgh. The two teeth proceeded in a right line from
the anterior part of the skull. At the place of insertion
they were only two inches asunder, but gradually di¬
verging, they were separated at the extremity 18 inches.
2
Chap.
LOGY.
The left tooth was 9 inches in circumference, and 7 chmic
feet 5 inches long. The right was 7 feet long, and 8 lion, &
inches in circumference at the base. Both teeth enter-
ed 13 inches into the bones of the head, which was 2
feet long, and 18 inches broad.
The opening of the mouth is in general very small j
not larger, according to some, than to admit the hand
of a man. The tongue is nearly of the same size. The
head ends in a rounded snout. The lower lip is thin,
and shorter than the upper.
The eyes are placed opposite to the opening of the
mouth and they are surrounded by a kind of eye-lid.
On the top of the head there is one respiratory orifice,
which may be shut and opened at pleasure by means of
a fringed covering.
The pectoral fins are about a foot long, and eight
inches broad. The fin of the tail is divided into two ob¬
tuse oval lobes. In place of the dorsal fin, there is a ridge
or projection about nine inches high, which extends from
the breathing hole on the head to the base of the fin,
which terminates the trunk of the body, and diminishes
gradually in height as it approaches to the tail.
The skin is about one inch in thickness. The colour
is of a grayish white, marked with a great number of
black spots which seem to penetrate the substance of
the skin. The skin of the belly is of a shining white,
and soft as velvet to the touch.
I he oil which the unicorn-fish yields is in small quan¬
tity, but is considered to be of a superior quality to that
of the Greenland or common whale. The food of this Food,
fish is one of the species of the Pleuronectes, and some
species of helix.
The length of the unicorn-fish is from 20 to 22 feet,
the circumference about 1 2 feet. According to some
authors indeed, some fish have been found 60 feet long.
It inhabits chiefly the northern seas of Europe and
America, about Davis straits, and the coasts of Ice¬
land.
It would be difficult to take this fish singly and in
the open sea j for they are excellent swimmers, and
move with astonishing velocity by means of the tail fin.
But as they live in very cold climates, and cannot re¬
main long under water without respiring, they frequent
the bays that are free of ice. In these places they
crowd together in such numbers, that they force their
teeth into the body of each other; and in this situation
they can neither plunge into the deep water, nor avoid
the pursuit and blows of the fishermen. 57
There is no part ol this fish which is not applied tolbe*-
some useful purpose by the inhabitants of Greenland.
1 hey are extremely fond of the flesh, which they eat
roasted or dried in the smoke. The intestines also are
regarded as a very delicate food. They are also roast¬
ed. The fat affords an oil for burning. From the gul¬
let they obtain bags or bladders which they employ in
fishing. The tendons are made into excellent thread
or small cords. Of the teeth they make several instru¬
ments which are used in the chase, or stakes for the
construction of their huts. ^
I he kings of Denmark have a most magnificent ftfagni1
throne, which is entirely composed of the teeth of the cent th{
unicorn-fish. It is preserved in the castle of Rosen-oftthe
berg ; and it is esteemed of greater value than if ittee
were made of gold.
It has been affirmed by some naturalists, that there
have
Clip. I. C E T O
(I fica. have been found, Individuals of the unicorn fish having
tii &c. protuberances on the back, and that in others the teeth
^ were not spirally twisted, but smooth from the base to
the extremity. Should these differences turn out to he
uniform and constant, other species beside those already
known must be admitted.
2. MoNODON Spurius, the Spurious Nar/nval or Uni-
corn-Jish.
French, L?Anarnak.
Cki :ters. In this species there are two small curved teeth in
> the upper jaw, and one fin on the back.
1)6 l’" This species, which has been described by Fahricius
81,1 in his Fauna Greenlatidica, properly belongs to the ge¬
nus monodon, at least the characters correspond more
nearly to this genus than any other. The body is
oblong, rounded, and of a black colour. There are
no teeth in the mouth ; but to the upper jaw are at¬
tached two small teeth which are of a conical form, a
little curved at the extremity, and about one inch long.
Beside the two pectoral fins, there is a small one on the
back.
This species is one of the smallest fishes belonging
to this class. It respires like the other cetaceous fishes
by a breathing hole on the top of the head.
It rarely happens that the tail fin is seen when it
plunges into the water ; but when it respires the air, it
rises above the surface of the sea as high as the inser¬
tion of the pectoral fins.
The flesh and fat are found to have a violently pur¬
gative effect. From this property the Greenlanders
have given it the name of Anarnak, which is adopted
by the French naturalists.
It inhabits chiefly the open sea, and very rarely ap¬
proaches the shores. It is most commonly found in the
Greenland seas.
Class III. PHYSETER.
Ct
ill!
Genus ist, Physeter, Spermaceti Whale.
ic The body is naked, sometimes oval, and sometimes
•Urs, in tlie form of a lengthened cone. The head is very
thick, anteriorly truncated, and occupying nearly one
half or one third of the whole length of the body.
There is only one breathing hole, which is placed on
the snout. The jaws are unequal. The lower is short¬
er and narrower, and it is furnished with teeth which
are sometimes of a conical form, and sometimes blunt j
sometimes straight, but often curved in form of a sickle.
In the upper jaw there are corresponding cavities. It
is also furnished with teeth, but they are flat, lie hori-
zontally, and are scarcely visible.
The eyes are small, and are situated near the in¬
sertion of the pectoral fins. The external opening of
the organ of hearing is very small, and not easily de¬
tected.
The penis, as in the other classes, is included in a
sheath. The female has two mammoe situated in the
abdomen, and between them are placed the parts of ge¬
neration, near which is the external opening of the anus.
There are three fleshy fins. Two of these are the
pectoral j and the third is at the extremity of the tail.
Hip place of the dorsal fin is occupied by a false fin,
and often by a kind of callosity.
LOGY.
335
Species.
i. Physeter Macrocephalus,
Whale.
€lassifiea-
tion, 8tc.
the Large Spermaceti
French, Cachalot; Germ. Fottfisch; Dutch, Potvisch;PlateCLX.
Norweg. Kaskelot, Pot/isk, Trolcl Huai. %• 3*
62
There is a spurious fin on the back. The teeth are Character*,
curved and a little pointed at the extremity. 63
Of all the species belonging to this genus, this, on Descrip-
account of its great bulk, is entitled to the first place, tion•
The head, which occupies the third part of the body,
is a large mass of a square form angular at the sides,
and truncated before. The upper is of much greater
length than the lower. It is also broader, its edges
forming a very considerable projection, and folded
back towards the centre, where there is an oval longi¬
tudinal cavity destined to receive the lower jaw. The
lower jaw is furnished on each side with a row of
strong conical teeth, a little curved towards the mouth,
and projecting from the alveolar process about one and
a half inch. The two teeth at the anterior extremi¬
ty of the jaw, and the four which terminate on each
side the two rows, are smaller and more pointed. The
colour of them externally approaches to that of ivory :
but internally they are less hard and compact, and are
of an ash colour. It has been supposed that the teeth
become longer, thicker, and more curved, in propor¬
tion to the age of the animal. The ordinary length is
about six inches, and three inches in circumference
at the base. The upper jaw is furnished with as
many cavities as there are teeth in the lower jaw }
but, in the interstices which separate these cavities,
there are about 20 small teeth placed horizontally, and
raised a little above the flesh. These teeth are sharp
on the side opposite to the place of insertion, but pre¬
sent a smooth, plain, and oblique surface, which fills
up the interval that separates the cavities. This ob¬
lique surface is only visible j the rest of the tooth is co¬
vered with flesh. And from not attending to the
form and disposition of these teeth, it has been gene¬
rally said that the spermaceti whale had none in the
upper jaw.
The tongue is a mass of flesh of a square form, and
of a livid red colour, which fills almost the whole of
the bottom of the mouth.
The breathing holes, passing diagonally through the
bead, unite into one at the superior extremity of the
snout, where the opening is about six inches diameter.
The eyes are black, very small when compared to
the bulk of the body, and surrounded with a strong
short hair, which is not very perceptible. The open¬
ing of the ears is not easily detected. It is placed be¬
hind the orbit of the eyes, on a cutaneous excrescence
between the eyes and the pectoral fins.
The head is separated from the trunk by a trans¬
verse groove, which extends to the place of insertion
of the pectoral fins. These fins are of an oval form,
three or four feet long, and three inches thick.
On the back there is a callosity which extends two-
thirds of the whole length. It rises several inches above
the surface, and is slightly inclined. Where it termi¬
nates behind it is truncated.
The organs of generation resemble those of qua¬
drupeds. The penis of the male is enclosed in a sheath.
On
33<>
C E T O
Classifica- On each side of the same organs in the female are
tion^Scc. placed the mammae, which are four or five inches
The tail, which is small for the size of the fish, ter¬
minates in a fin, which is divided into two lobes, hol¬
lowed out in form of a sickle.
The back is black, or of a slate blue, spotted with
white. The belly is also white. The fat or blubber,
which lies immediately under the skin, is about five or
six inches thick on the back, and rather less on the
belly. The flesh is of a pale red, like that of pork.
The head, though very large, is the least fleshy part
of the body. But it yields the substance called sper¬
maceti, in great abundance. This seems to vary in
colour according to the climate in which the whale has
lived.
The food of the spermaceti whale is the dog-fish
and the lump-fish.
This whale swims with great velocity j and he often
t appears on the surface of the water. It is at this time
that the fishermen take the opportunity of striking him
with their spears j and it often happens that the parts
of the body which have been wounded become gangre¬
nous, and Vail off before the death of the animal.
The flesh, the skin, the fat, and the intestines, are
applied to the same purposes as those of the unicorn-
fish. The tongue, roasted, is reckoned excellent food j
and of the different bones of the body beside the teeth,
instruments for the chase are made.
This whale inhabits chiefly the Greenland seas and
Davis straits; but occasionally is found on the Euro¬
pean shores to the southward. In the year 1784} in
the month of March, 31 of these fishes came on shore
on the western coast of Audierne in Lower Brittany in
France. The following are the dimensions of one of
these taken at the time.
Ft. in.
Total length, 44 6
From the anterior extremity of the snout to
the eyes, 8 O
From the eyes to the pectoral fins, 3 o
From the pectoral fins to the organs of gene¬
ration, 19 7
Length of the tail, 6 9
Distance of the lobes of the tail, 10 o
Circumference at the greatest thickness, 34 8
Length of the upper jaw, 5 O
 lower jaw, 4 6
Opening of the mouth, 3 10
Breadth of the snout, 5 O
2. Physeter Catodon, the small Spermaceti Whale.
French Le Petit Cachalot; Norwegian, Stuine-Hual;
Greenland, Kegutilik.
Characters. 1° th'3 species, there is a rough spurious fin on the
65 back. The teeth are curved and blunt.
Descnp- Without attending to the form and disposition of the
teeth in the cetaceous fishes, the characteristic marks
are often 'ambiguous. All naturalists agree that the
characters taken from the teeth are the most certain,
because they are most constant and uniform in struc¬
ture and appearance, and less subject to those varia¬
tions which age and climate seem to produce. This
species is, in this manner, easily distinguished from the
tioii.
LOGY. Chap.
others. The head is of a round form ; the opening of ciassig
the mouth is of a moderate size ; the lower jaw is long- tion, &
er, but not so broad as the upper. It is furnished'""‘“V'-
with a row of teeth on each side 5 and these correspond
to the cavities in the upper jaw, which receive them.
There is a peculiar structure of the teeth in this spe¬
cies. That part of the tooth which rises above the
gum has a greater thickness than where it is inserted
into the jaw j and besides, each tooth is flat at the top,
and marked with concentric lines. The longest teeth
are two inches in length, and about an inch in circum¬
ference at the greatest thickness.
Sibbald has mistaken the breathing holes for nostrils;
and this seems to have arisen from the position of the
breathing holes near the snout of the fish.
This species is chiefly an inhabitant of the northern
seas.
Towards the end of the 17th century, 102 of this
species came on shore at Cairston in the Orkney islands.
The longest was 24 feet.
3. Physeter Trumpo, the Spermaceti Whale.
French, Le Cachalot de la Nouvelle Angleterre; Le
Trumpo.
This species is distinguished by a bunch on the back, Q]iai.^t
and having the head straight and pointed. ^
The head of this species is of an immense size. It Descrip
divides the body nearly into two equal parts. Thefi0*1-
upper jaw is much longer and thicker than the lower,
which is furnished with 18 teeth, straight and pointed,
about three inches distant from each other; and when
the mouth is shut, they are received into cavities of the
upper jaw.
The eyes are small. The breathing hole is at least
a foot in diameter, and it is placed at the superior ex¬
tremity of the snout.
The thickest part of the body is near the insertion
of the pectoral fins. These are very small, and that
of the tail is divided into two lobes. In place of the
dorsal fin, there is a bunch on the back which is more
than a foot thick. It is placed nearly opposite to the
parts of generation.
The skin is of a grayish colour, and very soft to the
touch. The length of this whale varies from 48 to 60
feet.
It is chiefly an inhabitant of the seas which wash
the shores of New England.
An individual of this species landed in the year
1741, near Bayonne in France. It yielded ten tons of
spermaceti, which was reckoned of a superior quality
to that of the large spermaceti whale. In the stomach of
the same whale was found a round mass of seven pounds
weight, which was taken for ambergrease. 68
The substance called spermaceti is lodged in particu-Sperraa
lar cells in the head near the seat of the brain. It isceb'
extracted by making a hole in the skull.
It has been observed by some naturalists that this
whale is more agile and more dangerous than any other
of the species. When it is wounded, it is said that it
throws itself on its back, and defends itself with its
mouth.
Mr Pennant has described this under the name of
the (Physeter Microps, Lin.). But
if we attend to the form of the body, the structure of
the
op. I. C E T 0
c iifica- the head, the number and structure of the teeth, it
t &c. seems to constitute a distinct species.
Dimensions of the Spermaceti Whale thrown ashore
near Bayonne.
Feet. Inches.
Total length, 49 O
Greatest circumference at the eyes, 27 o
From the extremity of the tail fin to the
opening of the anus, 14 o
Length of the penis, 4 o
■ —   sheath which encloses it, 1 6
Diameter of the penis o 7
Distance of the extremities of the two lobes
of the tail, 13 o
4. Physeter Cylindricus, the Round Spermaceti
Whale.
C icters. There is a bunch on the back j the teeth are curved
and pointed at the top j the breathing hole is in the
70 middle of the snout.
D rip- The form and relative situation of the trunk and
head, the position of the breathing-hole, the relative
length of the jaws, the number and structure of the
teeth, and especially the size of the dorsal fin, present
differences which sufficiently distinguish this from the
following species. The body is cylindrical, from the
extremity of the snout to a line drawn perpendicular to
the place where the penis is inserted, and from thence
to the tail fin it gradually diminishes. The head is at
least the third of the whole length of the body. The
profile of the head presents a kind of parallelogram.
The jaws are nearly of e<jual length. On each side of
the lower jaw there is a jrow of 25 curved, sharp-point¬
ed teeth. The breathing-hole is placed at the superior
extremity of the snout. The dorsal fin is replaced by
a bunch, 18 inches high, and four and a half inches
long at the base. The tail fin is divided into two lobes,
forming a kind of crescpnt.
One of this species is described by Anderson, which
was 48 feet long, 12 of perpendicular height, and 36 in
circumference, at its greatest thickness.
5. Physeter Microfs, the Black-headed Spermaceti
Whale^ov Cachalot.
French, Cachalot Microps, Cachalot a dents en Fau-
cille; Norwegian, Staur-Hyming; Greenland, Ti-
sagusik.
Cl actere. ^is species there is a long straight fin on the
back. The teeth are curved, the point is at first direct-
71 ed to the mouth, and then turns outwards.
^ riP* The descriptions of naturalists who have treated of
this species of whale are greatly confused $ and this
probably arises from not having attended sufficiently to
the form of the teeth. According to Fabricius, there
are only 22 teeth in the lower jaw, 11 on each side.
All these teeth are curved, having the concave side
towards the mouth, and are sunk in the jaw-bone, two-
thirds of their whole length. The external part of the
teeth is white as ivory, of a conical form ; and the point
which is sharp inclines a little outwardly. That part
of the tooth which is sunk in the jaw is compressed
on two sides, and furrowed on that side next to the
gullet. The Greenlanders say that this whale has
teeth in the upper jaw : but this is not clearly ascer-
Vol. V. Part I. 5 * 7 f
LOGY. 337
tained. Perhaps they are only flatted teeth, similar to Classiflca-
what we have described in the great spermaceti whale, tion, &c.
Each tooth extends to a finger length, and is about »
one and a half inch broad. The longest occupy the
middle part of the jaw. The smaller are at the extre¬
mities. The snout ends in a blunt surface j and, ac¬
cording to most naturalists, the upper jaw is the
longest.
The pectoral fins are about four feet long. What
occupies the place of a fin on the back is of consider¬
able height, and has been by some naturalists compared
to a long needle.
This whale is the declared enemy of some of the
other whales, as the pike-headed whale and the por¬
poise, which it pursues as its prey. In Greenland the
flesh of this whale is greatly esteemed, even more than
that of any of the other species. It is rarely taken
with the harpoon.
It inhabits chiefly the northern ocean.
6. Physeter Mular.
French, Za Cachalot Mular.
This species is distinguished by a very elevated fin Characters,
on the middle of the back. The teeth are slightly
curved and obtuse. 74
This species resembles the former in the general Descrip-
structure of the body. It differs in the form of thet*on*
teeth, which are less curved, and are obtuse. The
longest, which are eight inches in length, and nine
inches in circumference, occupy the front of the jaw.
The others are only six inches long. Sometimes the
teeth are found to be hollow, and sometimes they are
solid. Is this owing to the difference of age in the in¬
dividuals in which it has been observed ? Beside the
pectoral fins, that which is placed on the back is very
remarkable on account of its length. Sibbald com¬
pares it to the mizzen mast of a vessel.
According to Anderson, this species is farther dis¬
tinguished by having three bunches or protuberances
towards the extremity of the back: the first is 18
inches high j the second, six inches 5 and the last only
three inches. The same historian has observed, that
he was informed by the captain of a ship, that he saw
on the coast of Greenland a great number of this spe¬
cies of whale, at the head of which was one of 100
feet long, which seemed to be the leader j and which,
at the appearance of the ship, gave such a terrible
shout, spouting water at the same time, as to shake the
vessel. At this signal, the whole made a precipitate
retreat.
This species is gregarious, and frequents the seas
about the North Cape. They are but rarely taken j
for they are very wild and difficult to wound. It ap¬
pears, that the harpoon can only pierce them in one or
two places near the pectoral fins.
The fat or blubber is very tendinous, and yields but
a small proportion of oil.
Class IV. DELPHINUS.
Genus 1st, Delphinus, the Dolphin.
.7.5
The body is naked, oval, or of an oblong conical Generic
shape, of a blue colour, inclining to black. The head c^aractclu
is conical, diminishing gradually towards the snout.
U u The
338 C E T O
Classifica- The breathing hole, which is on the top of the head, is
tion, &c. in form of a crescent, the horns of which are directed
' towards the snout. The jaws are of equal length, some¬
times beaked, and sometimes rounded. U hey are fur¬
nished with teeth, which are conical or compressed,
pointed or obtuse, and in some species notched.
The eyes are placed near the angles ol the mouth.
The pupil of the eye is black, and the iris white, ihe
external opening of the ears is situated behind the eyes.
The nostrils terminate in the snout.
The penis of the male is included in a sheath; and
the mammae of the female are attached to the belly }
and between them are the organs of generation.
There are four fins ; two are pectoral; there is one
on the back, and one at the extremity of the tail. In
one species only the dorsal fin is wanting.
Species.
i. Delfhinus PHOCiENA, the Porpoise or Porpesse.
French, Le Marsotiin; Spanish, Mar sop a : Dutch,
Bruinvisch ; German, Meerschwein, Braunfisch;
Danes, Marswin, Tumler ; Norweg. Nise ; Green-
, land, Nisa.
7<> 7
Characters. The form of the body is conical. The dorsal fin is
triangular. The snout is pointed. The teeth are en-
77 larged at the summit, rounded and cutting.
Descrip- The body of this fish is round, thick, and diminishes
tion. towards the tail. The head resembles an obtuse cone.
It is swelled out towards the top above the orbits of
the eyes. It then gradually diminishes, and ends in a
sharp snout.
The eyes are placed opposite to the opening of the
mouth j and the pupil of the eye, which is black, is
surrounded with a white iris. Behind the eyes there
is a small round hole, about one inch in diameter :
This is the organ of hearing. The nostrils are placed
between the breathing hole and the extremity of the
snout. The breathing hole is situated on the top of
the head, in a line perpendicular to the interval be¬
tween the eyes and the angles of the mouth.
The pectoral fins are attached to the edges of the
lower surface of the body. The dorsal fin is triangu¬
lar, and is situated very nearly on the middle of the
trunk. Directly under the dorsal fin on the belly are
the parts of generation. The anus is situated at an
equal distance between the parts of generation and the
tail fin.
The length of the porpoise is from four feet to six
and eight. This fish is an excellent swimmer. When
it rises to the surface to respire, the back only appears $
the head and tail are kept under water. But when it
73 is dead, it becomes straight.
Food. It feeds on small fishes, and pursues them with in-
79 conceivable rapidity.
Manners. The porpoise is generally gregarious *, this is parti¬
cularly the case in the time of copulation in the month
of August. It is not unusual to see at that time 15
males in pursuit of one female $ and so eager are they
in the chase, that they are often thrown ashore. The
female goes with young 10 months, and brings forth
one at a time. At birth the young one is of consider¬
able size, and it constantly follows the mother till it is
weaned. When a pregnant female is killed, it has
been observed that the tail of the foetus is seen thrust
2
LOGY. Chap.
through the navel of the mother. This is supposed toclassi(ic
be occasioned by the spasmodic contraction, produced
by the efforts of the mother in the struggles of death. v-
The flesh of the porpoise has a disagreeable oily^80
taste. It is however used as food by the inhabitants of Lses’
Lapland and of Greenland. In Greenland they sufter
it to undergo some degree of putrefaction to make it
tender, and then they prepare it by roasting or boiling.
They use the skin, the fat, and the entrails for this
purpose. The Dutch and the Danes take the porpoise
only for the extraction of the oil.
The porpoise inhabits those places which are shelter¬
ed by rocks and bays, and is oftener seen in summer
than in winter.
2. Delphinus Delphis, the Dolphin, or Bottle-nosed
Whale.
French, Dauphin ; German, Meerschwein, Tummler ;
Dutch, Dolphin Taymelaar ; Norwegian, Springer ;
Iceland, Leipter. jt
The body is nearly oval. The dorsal fin is curved (haraet
at the top. The snout is flattened and sharp. The
teeth are cylindrical and pointed. 5,
The greatest thickness of the dolphin is at the inser-Descrip
tion of the pectoral fins j from which the body gra-tion.
dually diminishes towards the head and tail, and thus
has the oval form. The head enlarges at the top like
that of the porpoise ; but, in the dolphin, it diminishes
in thickness, and ends in a flatted beak, like that of
a goose. The jaws are of equal length, and furnish¬
ed on each side with a row of cylindrical teeth, a
little pointed at the end, and projecting near one and
a half inches above the gum. 1 It would appear that the
number of teeth varies according to the age and sex.
Klein has reckoned 96 in the upper jaw, and 90 in
the under. Mr Pennant, on the contrary, mentions
that he saw 19 teeth in the latter, and 21 in the former.
Forty-seven teeth have been observed by others in each
jaw.
The eyes are placed almost in the same line with the
opening of the mouth. The breathing hole is on the
top of the head, opposite to the orbit of the eyes. It
appears in form of a crescent, the horns of which are
directed towards the snout.
The pectoral fins are oval, and inserted at the under
part of the breast. The dorsal fin occupies the middle
of the body. It is curved backwards at the extremity.
The tail fin is divided into two lobes, the one of which
folds over the other.
The upper surface of the body is black y the breast
is white. From under the eyes on each side passes a
white ray, which stretches towards the pectoral fins.
The dolphin is almost always an inhabitant of the
open seas, and very rarely approaches the shore. His
motions are inconceivably swift j and hence he has been
named by the mariners, the arrow of the sea.
The length of the dolphin varies from five to nine or
ten feet. _
The description which has now been given, has little
relation to the fanciful accounts which have been de- 15
tailed of this fish, or to the imaginary representations
by the ancient painters and engravers. On the pieces
of money which were in circulation in the time of
Alexander the Great, and are preserved by Belon,
as well as on other medals, the dolphin is represented
with
(ap.I. C E T O
( silica* with a very large head, a spacious open mouth, and
i , &c. the tail raised above the head.
t y——' j,j0 an'imal has been more celebrated by the ancient
poets and historians than the dolphin. From the ear¬
liest ages he was considered as consecrated to the gods,
and honoured as the benefactor of man. Pliny, iE-
lian, and other ancient authors, speak highly of his at¬
tachment to mankind. The younger Pliny has written
a charming story of the loves of a dolphin for Hippus ;
and Ovid relates, with all the beauties of poetry, the
story of the musician Arion, who being pursued by pi¬
rates and thrown into the sea, was rescued and saved
by this kind animal.
Inde (fide mnjus') tergo delphina recurvo,
Se memorant onere supposuisse novo.
Hie sedens citharamque tenet, pretiumque vehendi
Cantat, et tequoreas carmine mulcet aquas.
Di pia facta vident. Astris delphina recepit
Jupiter ; et Stellas jussit habere novem.
Ovid. Fasti, lib. ii. 117.
But (past belief) a dolphin’s arched back
Preserved Arion from his destined wreck.
Secure he sits, and with harmonious strains
Requites his bearer for his friendly pains.
The gods approve : the dolphin heaven adorns,
And with nine stars a constellation forms.
But after all these fabulous accounts of the dolphin
by the ancients, and the presages drawn by the modern
sailors from their movements, it does not appear that
this species of fish is endowed with more sagacity than
any other of the cetaceous fishes, or discovers greater
attachment to man. What may have been the foun¬
dation of these fables, it is not our present object to
inquire. It is true, that the dolphin and others of the
cetaceous fishes accompany ships for several days to¬
gether. But this seems to be in search of food, on ac¬
count of the offals of animal matters that are thrown
overboard.
3. Delphinus Tursio.
c
I
t
Greenland, AksorwaA:; French, Le Nesarnak.
54
•acters. The form of the body is conical. The dorsal fin is
curved. The snout is compressed above. The teeth
85 are straight and blunt.
:r*p- The greatest thickness of this species is between the
dorsal and pectoral fins. From this to the extremity of
the tail the body becomes gradually more slender.
The breathing hole, which is placed above the orbits
of the eyes, is about inch in diameter. The ante¬
rior part of the head is inclined and rounded, and ter¬
minates in a flat beak. The lower jaw is the longest.
Both jaws are furnished with 42 cylindrical teeth, which
are disposed in a single row.
The pectoral fins are very low, and are of a falciform
shape. The dorsal fin rises like an inclined plane, and
is incurvated behind. At the posterior base of the lat¬
ter fin there arises a projection which stretches to the
tail. The tail fin is divided into two lobes in form of
a crescent.
The upper part of the body is black ; the belly is
white.
It has been observed by some naturalists, that when
L ° G V. 339
this species rises to the surface to respire, a great part
of the body appears above water. It inhabits the open
seas, and is consequently taken with difficulty. The
flesh, the fat, and the entrails, are eaten in the same
way as the porpoise.
Delphinus Orca, the Grampus.
French, Epaulard; Norwegian, Spek-Hugger; Ho-
val-Hund; Dutch, Botskop ; Iceland, Huy ding ;
Swedes, L'Qpare.
The body is nearly oval. The dorsal fin is very high. Character*.
The teeth are conical and slightly curved. $7
The profile of the grampus is oval and oblong. The Descrip-
greatest thickness is about the middle of the trunk,'i011-
from which it gradually diminishes towards both extre¬
mities. The snout is short and round. The lower jaw
is broader than the upper. Both jaws are furnished
with conical teeth, which are unequal and curved at the
top, and are from 20 to 30 in number in each jaw.
The eyes are situated in the same line with the open¬
ing of the mouth.
But the most distinguishing mark of the grampus is
the dorsal fin, which rises from the middle of the back
in the form of a cone, and is nearly four feet in height.
The pectoral fins are very broad, and nearly oval. The
tail fin is divided into two lobes in the form of a cres¬
cent. The penis is three feet in length.
The upper part of the body is black ; the belly is
white. Sometimes white spots are observed on the
head and back.
The grampus is the largest fish belonging to the ge¬
nus. Some have been seen of 25 feet in length by 12
or 13 in circumference. One of 24 feet long was taken
in the mouth of the river Thames in the year 1759*
All naturalists agree in describing the grampus as the
most cruel and voracious of the family of the dolphin.
Its ordinary food is the seal and some species of flat
fish. But it is said that it will attack the porpoise, and
even the large whale. The latter, so far from defend¬
ing himself, is struck with terror, utters dreadful shouts,
and, to escape from the enemy, quits the open seas, and
retires towards the coasts, which is perhaps the reason
that the whale is sometimes thrown ashore. The gram¬
pus, however, is often the victim of its voracity. It is
at this time that the fishermen watch the opportunity of
striking him with the harpoon.
When the emperor Claudius was engaged in the
construction of the harbour of Ostia, a grampus, at¬
tracted by some skins which had been sunk in a ship¬
wreck, came upon the coast. There he remained for
several days $ and forming a kind of canal to receive
his huge body in the sand, was protected from the agi¬
tation of the sea. While in pursuit of his prey, one
day, he was driven ashore by the violence of the waves.
The back appeared above the surface of the sea, and
resembled a ship with its bottom upwards. The em¬
peror caused strong nets to be stretched across the
mouth of the harbour to prevent the escape of the fish,
in case he should again get into the water. He then
advanced in person, accompanied with his pretorian
bands, and exhibited a very amusing spectacle to the
Romans. The soldiers entbarked in boats were order¬
ed to attack him with spears and other missile wea¬
pons. One of the boats was filled with water, and
U u 2 sunk
Glassifica¬
tion, &c.
Plate
CXL.
«g. 4.
S6
340
Classifica¬
tion, &c.
88
Characters.
89
Descrip¬
tion.
9°
Characters.
9i
Descrip-
tipn,
C E T 0
sunk in consequence of the fish spouting with great
violence.
a. A variety of the grampus is described by the late
Mr John Hunter, in the Philosophical Transactions for
1787. It is distinguished particularly by having a very
large belly, which diminishes suddenly towards the re¬
gion of the anus. The dorsal fin reaches nearer the
tail. It has the form of a rectangular triangle, and is
longer, but less elevated than the first described. The
lower part of the body is not perfectly white, but is
marked with brown and black spots.
5. Delphinus Gladiator, the Sea-Sword.
The form of the body of this species is conical.
The dorsal fin resembles a sabre. Tire teeth are small
and sharp.
This species comes very near the grampus in the
form of the head ; but it is chiefly distinguished by the
dorsal fin, which is three or four feet high, and about
18 inches broad at the base. It becomes slender to¬
ward the summit, and is incurvated towards the tail.
This fin seems to be an offensive instrument j for with
it they strike and wound the whale. The length is
from 23 to 25 feet.
This species is gregarious. They are found to¬
gether in small bodies, which attack the whale with
great fury, and tear off large masses from his body.
When he becomes warm and fatigued, he lolls out
his tongue, which is instantly seized by the watchful
enemy. They even enter the mouth and tear out the
tongue entirely, which seems with them to be a deli¬
cate morsel. The delphinus gladiator possesses im¬
mense strength. They have been known to seize upon
a dead whale that was dragged by a number of boats,
and carry it to the bottom.
I hey are found near Spitzbergen, in Davis straits,
and on the coasts of New England, and even so far
north as the 790 of latitude. They are very fat, and
the oil which they yield is esteemed very good..
6. Delphinus Leucas.
Beluga, Pennant’s Quadrup.: Whittfisch, Anderson’s
Iceland.
The form of the body is conical. There is no dorsal
fin. The teeth are short and blunt.
This species has been arranged by some naturalists
among. the whales, but having teeth in both jaws
makes it properly come under this genus. The body
resembles a lengthened cone, having the base at the
pectoral fins, and the vertex at the tail. The head is
short, and ends in an obtuse snout, on the top of which
is a protuberance in which is the blow-hole, which ter¬
minates in an oblique direction towards the posterior
part ol the body. rI he jaws are nearly equal. The
lower jaw is furnished with nine small obtuse teeth on
each side, which resemble in structure the grinding
teeth of quadrupeds. The teeth in the fore part of the
jaw are the smallest. In the upper jaw the number of
teeth is the same, but they are more pointed and slight¬
ly curved.
The eyes are not larger than those of the hog. The
opening of the mouth is small, and the tongue is
strongly attached to the lower jaw. Behind the eyes is
the externaj opening of the ear, but it is scarcely visible.
LOGY. Qiap,
The pectoral fins are broad and of an oval figure, classic
The dorsal fin is wanting, but in its place there is an tior.Jt
angular protuberance. The tail fin is divided into two '’"■"’Y-
rounded lobes.
The penis of the male is bony, of a white colour, and
inclosed in a sheath. The mammse of the female are
placed on each side of the organs of generation.
The whole body is white, and marked in young fishes
with brown and blue spots. The skin is an inch thick,
and covers a layer of fat of three inches. It is said
that'the flesh of this species has a reddish colour like
that of pork.
It lives on different fishes, particularly the cod and
the soal fish. And as the throat is of small capacity, it
is sometimes suffocated in attempting to swallow fish of
too large size. The female has one young at a time,
which at birth is of a greenish colour, but becomes af¬
terwards bluish, and as it advances in age is white.
The females are gregarious, and the young follow at
their sides, imitating all their motions. This species
is often observed following ships, and exhibiting by a
thousand diflerent motions an amusing spectacle.
It quits the open sea during the rigour of winter,
and enters the bays that are free from ice. It is
seldom an object of trade, on account of the little ad¬
vantage from the fat. Their arrival, however, is con¬
sidered by the whale fishers as the fortunate presage
of an abundant fishery. The length is from 12 to 18
feet.
7. Delphinus Bidentatus.
The body is conical. The dorsal fin is spear-shaped.Chaiact
The snout is slender and flat. There are two sharp
teeth in the lower jaw. ^
This species in some of its characters resembles the Descrip.
delphinus tursio, but in others is so different that it^0’1’
may properly be regarded as a distinct species. The
forehead is convex and rounded. The upper jaw is
flat, and ends in a beak like that of a duck $ but there
are only two sharp teeth at the anterior extremity of
the lower jaw. The pectoral fins, which are of an
oval form and small for the size of the body, are pla¬
ced opposite to the angles of the mouth. The place
of the dorsal fin corresponds to the origin of the'tail* is
spear-shaped, pointed, and inclines backward. The
tail fin is divided into lobes, forming by their union a
crescent. The lower part of the body is of a light
brown colour, the upper part is brownish black. This
species is supposed to be from 30 to 40 feet long.
8. Delphinus Butskopf, Bottle-headed or Beaked
Whale.
94
The form of the body is conical. The dorsal fin isCharact
incurvated towards the tail. The snout is flat and
slender. The upper jaw and the palate are furnished
with small teeth. ^
I he body represents a cone whose summit is towards De*crip
the tail. Ihe head is of a greater height than breadth.t*on’
I he front, which is full and round, becomes suddenly
narrow, and ends in a flat beak rounded at the extre¬
mity. Ihe breathing-hole is on the top of the head,
opposite to the orbit ol the eyes 5 it forms a crescent
whose horns-are turned towards the tail. This is the
characteristic
(ap-
( sifica*
t ,&c'
u v—'
Boran«.
' , JSn-
c. )pcrf.
^ iod.
96
^ acters.
r. C E T o
characteristic mark between this and other species of
delphinus. In place of teetli the surface of the pa¬
late and upper jaw are covered with small points, which
are unequal and hard. The tongue adheres to the
lower jaw, and is notched at the edges. The edge of
the upper jaw is also notched.
The eyes are convex as in quadrupeds. They are
surrounded with eyelids, and are placed nearly in the
middle of the side of the head. ■;
The pectoral fins are attached to the lower part of
the breast 5 they are small in proportion to the size of
the fish. The dorsal fin is nearer the tail than the
snout: the summit is incurvated backward. The tail-
fin is divided into two lobes in form of a sickle.
The whole body excepting the belly is of a leaden
colour.
In the Journal de Physique for the year 1789, M.
Baussard has published an account of two cetaceous
fishes which were taken near Honfleur in September of
the preceding year. The largest was 231 feet long,
and the smallest 124* The fishers of Honfleur per¬
ceived them at a distance struggling on the strand.
When they approached they found the smallest stuck
on the sand in shallow water. The mother made many
attempts to move her young one into deep water, and
not only failed but stuck fast by the head, the heavi¬
est part of the body. The fishermen first took posses¬
sion of the young one, secured it with ropes ; and
by their own exertions, aided by a horse and the flow¬
ing of the sea, succeeded in bringing it on shore. They
then went into the water up to the middle to secure
the mother j and having made above 50 wounds with
knives on the head and back, and a large wound in the
belly, at which the fish seemed to be in great pain, by
uttering groans like those of a hog, they were driven
off by the violent motion of the tail. A small anchor
was then brought, which was introduced into the breath¬
ing hole, and a rope was fastened round the tail. The
fish finding herself thus entangled, made such violent
efforts, that she broke a thick rope, disengaged herself
from the anchor, and taking the advantage of the rising
tide, escaped and launched into the deep, at the same
instant throwing up an immense quantity of water mix¬
ed with blood to the height of 12 feet. She was found
next day floating on the water quite dead, at the di¬
stance of three leagues from Honfleur.
The following are the principal dimensions of the
young fish and the mother,
Young one. Mother.
Feet Inches. Feet. Inches.
Total length, 126 23 6
Greatest circumference, 80 I5 7
Distance from the breathing-hole,
to the extremity of the snout, I II 4 4
Length of the dorsal fin, I o 2 0
Height of ditto 0 7 13
Length of the pectoral fins, 10 20
Breadth of ditto, 0 7 1 3
Breadth of the tail fin, 3 3 6 10
9. Delphinus Feres.
In this species there is one fin on the back,
head is rounded. The teeth are oval and obtuse.
The
L OGY.
34i
The head is nearly of the same height as the length. Classifica-
It is very thick at the top, and suddenly diminishing tion, &e.
towards the anterior part ends in a short round snout. !
The jaws are equal ; they are covered with membra-jjesa^_
nous lips, and furnished internally with a row of teeth Jtion.
20 have been reckoned in each jaw. The form of the
teeth constitutes the distinctive character of the spe¬
cies. The large and the small teeth are equal in num¬
ber. The largest are above an inch long by half an
inch broad. The small teeth are only five or six lines
in length.
The skeleton of one of this species is preserved in
the cabinet of natural history at Frejus in France. The
length is 14 feet. The bones of the skull are 1 foot
IO inches long, and 1 foot 5 inches broad.
This species is found in the Mediterranean sea.
Chap. II. Of the Anatomy and Physiology of Cetace¬
ous Fishes.
It has fallen to the lot of few anatomists to have an DiffioiHies
opportunity of examining with accuracy the structure in acquir-
of cetaceous fishes. The same difficulties which have mgaknow-
retarded the progress of their natural history, operate j^!c of
perhaps still more powerfully in preventing the acqtii-ture
sition of information with regard to their anatomical
structure. They are not inhabitants of those parts of
the world where this knowledge is in that improved
state to render such investigations successful: and when
they are accidentally found on the shores of civilized
countries, the anatomist, whose skill and dexterity on¬
ly could be advantageously employed in the examina¬
tion, is not always at hand, and they are too large to
be transported to the dissecting-room, where the nature
and structure of the different parts could be patiently
traced and faithfully demonstrated. Several of the
species of this tribe of fishes have been dissected by the
late Mr John Hunter, the detail of which he has gi¬
ven in a paper oh the Structure and Economy of
Whales, in the Philosophical Transactions for the year
1787 , and to this paper we must acknowledge our¬
selves indebted for the principal part of the anatomical
knowledge which we propose to lay before our readers
in the present chapter.
We have already mentioned the characters which Distinctive
distinguish the whale tribe from fishes in general. They characters,
have indeed nothing peculiar to fish, except that they
live in the same element, and have the same powers
of progressive motion as those fish, which from their
nature must move with great velocity. This seems to
be the case with all fish which come to the surface of
the water, as the whales must do for the purpose of
respiration. It has also been observed that they are i00
more closely allied to quadrupeds than to fish. They Allied to
have in many respects the peculiar structure and eco- quadrupeds,
nomy of parts which belong to this class of animals.
They are furnished with lungs, breathe air, and have
warm blood. ICI
This tribe of animals is peculiarly fitted by their Fitted for
external form for dividing the water in progressive rapid mo-
motion, and for moving with considerable velocity.tl0U*
And, on account of the uniformity of the element in
which they live, the form of their bodies is more uni-;
form than in animals of the same class that live on
land.
The
342
Anatomy
and
Physiology.
1 v ^
102
Form of
the head;
103
of the body.
104
Power of
the tail.
*05
The skele¬
ton gives
no idea of
the general
form.
106
Bones of
the head;
107
of the neck
and back;
C E T O
The form of the head 13 commonly a cone or inclined
plane. The spermaceti whale is an exception to this,
in which it terminates in a blunt surface. The head is
larger in proportion to the body than in quadrupeds,
and swells out laterally at the articulation of the lower
jaw. This seems to be of advantage to the animal in
catching its prey, as there is no motion of the head on
the body.
Behind the pectoral fins, at the insertion of which the
circumference is greatest, the body gradually diminish¬
es to the spreading of the tail. The body is flattened
laterally 5 and it would appear that the back is sharper
than the belly, which is nearly flat.
The progressive motion of the animal is performed by
the tail, which moves the broad termination or lobes,
operating in the same manner as an oar in sculling a
boat. And for the purpose of preventing any obstruc¬
tion in moving through the water, it may be observed
that all the external parts of the class mammalia, that
live on land, are either entirely wanting, or are con¬
cealed under the skin in cetaceous fishes.
Sect. I. 0/’ the Bones.
The bones alone, Mr Hunter observes, when proper¬
ly united into the skeleton, in many animals give the
general shape and character. But this is not so de¬
cidedly the case in this order of animals. In them the
head is immensely large, the neck small, there are few
ribs, in many a very short sternum, and no pelvis, with
a long spine terminating in a point, so that these bones
being merely joined together do not aflbrd any idea of
the regular shape of the animal. The different parts of
the skeleton are so enclosed, and the projecting spaces
between the parts so filled up, that they are altogether
concealed, and give to the animal externally an uniform
and elegant form.
The great size of the bones of the head leave but
a small cavity for the brain. In the spermaceti whale
it is not easy to discover where the cavity of the skull
lies. This is also the case with the large whalebone
and bottle-nose whale. In the porpoise, the skull con¬
stitutes the principal part of the head : for the brain
is found to be considerably larger in proportion to the
size of the animal. The bones of one genus differ
very much from those of another. In the spermaceti
and bottle-nose whales, the grampus and the porpoise,
the lower jaws, especially at the posterior ends, resem¬
ble each other j but in others it is very different. The
number of particular bones is also observed to vary very
much.
V?rtebrce.—The piked whale has seven vertebrae in
the neck, 12 in the back, and 27 to the tail. This
makes the whole number 46. In the porpoise the cer¬
vical vertebrae are seven in number. There is one
common to the neck and back, 14 proper to the back,
and 30 to the tail, making in whole 51. The cervi¬
cal vertebrae of a bottle-nose whale, were the same in
number as those of the porpoise. There were 17 in the
back and 37 in the tail, which make the whole num¬
ber 60. Four of the vertebrae of the neck in the por¬
poise are anchylosed, or have grown together. The
atlas in every one of this order of animals that has been
examined is the thickest of the vertebrae/ It seems to
Anatom
and
108
109
LOGY. Chap. I
be composed of two. There is no articulation between
the first and second vertebrae of the neck to admit of
rotatory motion. The vertebrae of the neck are very
thin, so that the distance between the head and shoul¬
ders is as short as possible.
Sternum or Breastbone.—This is very flat in theof toe
piked whale, and consists of a single very short bone.b'esst
The breastbone of the porpoise is considerably longer;
it is composed of three bones, which are of some length
in the small bottle-nose whale. The first rib of the
piked whale, and the three first of the porpoise, are ar¬
ticulated to the sternum.
Bibs.—The small bottle-nose whale, dissected by Mr Ribs
Hunter, had 18 ribs on each side $ and the porpoise had
16. Fifteen ribs have been reckoned in the skeleton of
the dolphin. A large whalebone whale had 15 ribs on
each side, which were 21 feet long and 18 inches in
circumference. The spermaceti whales which were
thrown ashore on the coast of Brittany in France, had
only 8 ribs on each side. They were 5 feet long and
6 inches in circumference. II0
The ends of the ribs that have two articulations, inarticu!at<
the whole of this tribe, Mr Hunter observes, are arti-'v!totw»
culated with the body of the vertebrae above, and withV£rtel)ne
the transverse processes below, by the angles, so that
there is one vertebra common to the neck and back.
In the large whalebone whale the first rib is bifurcated,
and consequently is articulated with two vertebrae. m
Pectoral or lateralfins.—These are analogous, and Pectoral
somewhat similar in construction to the anterior ex-**ns^'mj|
tremities of quadrupeds. They are composed of a^emities
scapula or shoulder-blade, os humeri, ulna, radius, car-qUa(jru.
pus, and metacarpus, which last may include the fin-peds.
gers, the number of bones being such as may be
reckoned fingers, although they are included in one
general covering. The number of bones in each is
different, the fore-finger has five, the middle and ring-
finger has seven, and the little finger has four. These
bones are not articulated by capsular ligaments as in
quadrupeds, but by intermediate cartilages attached to
each bone. These cartilages are nearly equal in length
to one-half of the bone. This construction gives firm¬
ness and a considerable degree of pliability to the
whole. m
Teeth.—Of this tribe of animals some have teeth inleetli
both jaws, some have them only in one, while there are
others which have none at all. The teeth cannot be
divided into classes as in quadrupeds. They are all
pointed teeth, and are pretty much similar in form and
size. Each tooth is a double cone, one part of which
is fastened in the jaw, and the other projects above the
gum. In some, indeed, the fang is flattened and thin
at the extremity ; and in others it is curved. uj
The formation of the teeth, and their progress after-formed cl
wai'ds, seems to be different from that of quadrupeds : ferentlj
For they seem to form in the gum, so that they must^rom ^
either extend and sink into the jaw, or the alveoli must
rise to enclose them. Mr Hunter thinks this last the
most probable, since the depth of the jaw is increased,
so that the teeth seem to sink deeper and deeper in it.
This mode of formation is observed in jaws that are
not fully grown \ for, as happens in other animals, the
teeth increase in number as the jaw lengthens. ^4
It does not appear that they shed their teeth, or Arc not
have toed-
1$
p liar
ii ance,
16
kiuds-
*7
nge-
18
C r row.
(ap.II. C E T O
have new ones formed similar to the old. This indeed
,:^iny seems scarcely possible from the situation in which they
p iology.are originally formed.
l v—' Tfrhalebone.—~rXWis is a substance peculiar to the
whale. If is of the same nature as horn. It is there¬
fore entirely composed of animal matter, and is ex¬
tremely elastic. The name of hone is undoubtedly
improper, as it has no earthy matter in its composition ;
but as it has been commonly employed we shall still
retain it.
There are two kinds of whalebone. One kind is got
from the large whale ; the other from a smaller species.
It is placed in the inside of the mouth, and is attached
to the upper jaw. It consists of thin plates of different
sizes in different parts of the mouth. The length and
the breadth of the whalebone, although not always, in
general correspond pretty nearly } those plates that are
longest being also the broadest.
These plates are arranged in several rows on the
outer edge of the upper jaw, similar to the teeth in
other animals, and stand parallel to each other, one
edge being towards the circumference of the mouth,
and the other towards the inside. They are placed at
unequal distances in different parts of the mouth. In
the piked whale, they are only one-fourth of an inch
asunder, at the greatest distance. In the great whale
the distances are greater.
The longest plates are in the outer row ; and the
length is proportioned to the different distances, be¬
tween the different parts of the jaws. Some of them
are 14 or 15 feet long, and 12 or 15 inches broad.
Towards the anterior and posterior part of the mouth
they are very short. They rise for half a foot or more
of the same breadth, and afterwards shelve off from the
inside till they come nearly to a point at the outer.
The exterior of the inner rows are the longest, cor¬
responding to the termination of the declivity of the
outer, and become shorter and shorter, till they hardly
rise above the gum.
The inner rows are closer than the outer, rise al¬
most perpendicularly from the gum, are longitudinally
straight, and have less declivity than the other. The
plates of the outer row make a serpentine line late¬
rally, and in the piked whale the outer edge is the
thickest. Round the line made by their outer edge runs
a small white bead, which is formed along with the
whalebone, and wears down with it j both edges of the
smaller plates are of nearly the same thickness. In all
of the plates, the termination is in a kind of hair,
as if the plate were divided into innumerable small
parts. The exterior plates have the strongest and also
longest.
The whole surface of the mouth resembles the skin
of an animal covered with strong hair j and under this
surface the tongue lies when the mouth is shut. In
the piked whale the projecting whalebone remains
entirely on the inside of the lower jaw, when the
mouth is shut,, because the jaws meet everywhere along
their surface. Mr Hunter is at a loss to explain how
this is effected in large whales, in which the lower jaw
is straight, forming a horizontal plane ; but the upper
jaw being an arch, cannot be hid by the former. He
therefore supposes that a broad upper lip reaches to the
lower jaw and covers the whole.
The formation of the whalebone is in one respect
19
Ii rrow.
LOGY.
similar to that of horn, hair, &c. but it has another
mode of growth and decay which is peculiar. The
pliiies form upon a thin vascular substance, which does
not immediately adhere to the jaw-bone; but which
has a more dense vascular substance between. From
this substance thin broad processes, corresponding to
each plate, are sent out; and on these processes the
plate is formed, in the same way as the horn on the
bony cone, or the tooth on the pulp. Each plate is
necessarily hollow at the growing end, and the first
part of the growth takes place on the inside of the hol¬
low. But besides this mode of growth, it receives ad¬
ditional layers on the outside, which are formed on the
vascular substance extended along the surface of the
jaw. This part also forms upon it a kind of horny
substance between each plate, which is very white,
rises with the whalebone, and becomes even with the
outer edge of the jaw, and the termination of its out¬
er part forms the bead above mentioned. This inter¬
mediate substance fills up the space between the plates,
as high as the jaw, and is similar to the alveolar pro¬
cesses, keeping them firm in their places.
As both the whalebone and the intermediate sub¬
stance are constantly growing, a determined length
must be supposed necessary, so that there must be a
regular mode of decay established, which does not de¬
pend entirely on chance or accidental circumstances.
In its growth there seems to be a formation of three
parts ; one from the rising cone, which is the centre,
a second on the outside, and a third being the inter¬
mediate substance. These appear to have three stages
of duration $ for that which forms on the cone, it is
supposed, makes the hair j and that on the outside
makes principally the plate of the whalebone y and
this, when got a certain length, breaks off, leaving
the hair projecting, becoming at the termination very
brittle j and the third or intermediate substance, by the
time it rises as high as the edge of the skin of the jaw,
decays and softens away.
The use which has been ascribed to the whalebone,
is principally for the retention of the food till it is
swallowed j for it is supposed that the fish which are
taken by the species of whale having this peculiar con¬
struction of the month, are small when compared with
its size.
343
Anatomy
and
Physiology.
Formation
peculiar.
Plate
CXLI.
Fig. 3. 4,5-
Sect. II. Of the Skin and Muscles.
I2Z
The cuticle, or scarf skin, in this order of animals, ia Cuticle,
similar to that on the sole of the foot in the human
species. It seems to be composed of a number of layers,
which may be separated by slight putrefaetion. Mr
Hunter suspects that this arises from a succession of cu¬
ticles being formed. The fibres of the cuticle appear
to have no particular direction. It has no elasticity,
but is easily torn asunder. The internal layer is tough
and thick, and in the spermaceti whale, the external
surface resembles coarse velvet. The cuticles gives
the colour to the animal. In parts that are dark, a
dirty coloured substance has been washed away in se¬
parating the cuticle from the true skin. This seems to
be the rete nmcosuni. 1*3
The cutis or true skin in cetaceous fishes is extreme-Tnie skin,
ly villous in bhe external surface, corresponding to the
rough, surface of the cuticle, and forming ridges in
some
344 C E T O
Anatomy some parts. The villi, which are soft and pliable,
and float in water, and are observed to be longer or shorter
Physiology. jn proportion to the eyes of the animal. In some they
' r—are one-fourth of an inch in length, and in all they are
very vascular.
The cutis seems to be the termination of the cellular
membrane of the body more closely united, having
smaller interstices, and becoming more compact. In fat
animals the distinction between skin and cellular mem¬
brane is small, the gradation from the one to the other
being almost imperceptible $ for the cells of both mem¬
brane and skin being loaded with fat, the whole seems
to be one uniform substance. A loose elastic skin
would appear to be improper in this tribe of animals ;
it is therefore always on the stretch by the adipose
membrane being loaded with fat. In some places, in¬
deed, where it seems to be necessary, it possesses con¬
siderable elasticity, as at the setting on of the fins, and
under the jaw, round the opening of the prepuce, the
nipples, &c. to allow free motion of these parts, where
it is observed that there is more reticular and less adi¬
pose membrane.
In the piked whale there is a very singular instance
of an elastic cuticular contraction. The whole skin
of the fore part of the neck and breast, and as far
down as the middle of the belly, is extremely elastic $
but it receives an increased lateral elasticity by being
ribbed longitudinally. It is not easy to say why this
part which covers the thorax should possess so much
elasticity, for this part of the body cannot be increased
124 in size*
Muscle?. The fleshy or muscular parts of cetaceous fishes
resemble that of most quadrupeds. Perhaps it comes
nearer to that of a bull or a horse than to that of any
other animal. Some of the fleshy parts are very firm $
and about the breast and belly they are mixed with
125 tendons.
The body and tail of this tribe of animals are com¬
posed of a series of bones connected together, and mov¬
ed as in fish ; but the movements are produced by long
muscles, with long tendons. This renders the body
thicker, and the tail at its stem smaller, than any other
swimming animal.
The depressor muscles of the tail, which are similar
in situation to the psoae, make two very large ridges
on the lower part of the cavity of the belly, rising
much higher than the spine, and the lower part of the
aorta passes between them. These two large muscles
go to the tail, which may be considered as the two
posterior extremities united in one.
The muscles of cetaceous animals lose their fibrous
structure a very short time after death, and become as
uniform a texture as a mass of clay, and even softer.
This change no doubt arises from incipient putre¬
faction, although no evidence of this process being
begun is to be had from any offensive smell. This
change is most remarkable in the large muscles, as
th ose of the back and the psose muscles.
The Tail.—The construction of the tail affords an
instance of a singular piece of mechanism. It is com¬
posed of three layers of tendinous fibres, which are
covered with the cutis and cuticle. Two of these layers
are external: the other is internal. The direction of
the fibres of the external layers is the same as in the
tail, forming a stratum about one-third of an inch
3
verystro
LOGY. Chap.
thick $ but varying, as the tail is thicker or thinner. Anaton
The middle layer is composed entirely of tendinous and
fibres, passing directly across between the two external Physiolo
layers, their length being in proportion to the thick-
ness of the tail. This structure gives amazing strength, 126
to this part of the animal.
The substance of the tail is so firm and compact,
that the vessels remain in their dilated state, even
when they are cut across. This section consists of a
large vessel, surrounded by as many small ones as can
come in contact with its external surface. The fins
are merely covered with a strong condensed adipose
membrane.
Sect. III. Of the Organs of Digestion and Excretion.
127
In the whale, the oesophagus begins at the fauces, Gullet,
as in other animals. At the beginning it is circular,
but is soon divided into two passages by the epiglottis
crossing it. Passing down in the posterior mediastinum,
to which it is attached by a broad part of the same
membrane, its anterior surface makes the posterior
part of a cavity behind the pericardium. Having
passed through the diaphragm, it enters the stomach,
and is lined with a very thick, white, and soft cuticle,
which is continued into the first cavity of the stomach.
The inner or true coat of the oesophagus is white, and
of considerable density, but it is not muscular j for it
is thrown into large longitudinal folds, by the contrac¬
tion of the muscular fibres. This coat is very glandu¬
lar j many orifices of glands, especially near the fauces,
are visible. The oesophagus is larger than it is in
quadrupeds, in proportion to the bulk of the animal,
but of less size than it usually is in fish. One in the
piked whale that was measured, was three inches and
a half wide. I28
The stomach, as in other animals, lies on the left side Stomad
of the body, and terminates on the pylorus towards thea.n^‘ntl
right. The duodenum passes down on the right side,tines'
as in the human body, lies on the right kidney, and
then passes to the left side, behind the ascending part
of the colon and root of the mesentery, comes out on
the left side, and getting on the edge of the mesentery,
becomes a loose intestine, forming the jejunum. In
this course behind the mesentery, it it exposed as in
most quadrupeds. The jejunum and ileum pass along
the edge of the mesentery downwards, to the lower
part of the abdomen. The ileum, near the lower end,
makes a turn towards the right side, mounts upwards
round the edge of the mesentery, passes a little way on
the right, as high as the kidney, and there enters the
colon or caecum. The caecum, which is about seven
inches long, and resembles that of the lion or seal, lies
on the lower end of the kidney, considerably higher
than in the human body j and this renders the ascend¬
ing part of the colon short. The colon passes obb’que-
ly up the right side, a little towards the middle of the
abdomen $ and when as high as the stomach, crosses to
the left, and acquires a broad mesocolon. It lies here
on the left kidney, and in its passage down inclines
more and more to the middle line of the body. When
it has reached the lower part of the abdomen, it passes
behind the uterus, and along the vagina in the female;
between the two testicles, and behind the bladder and
root of the penis, in the male ; bending down, to open
on what is called the belly of the animal. In its whole
course
lap.
latomy
and"
siology,
II.
CETOLOGY.
[29
1 iber of
$ rnchs.
[3o
1 t.
'3i
)ud.
r3J
id.
, '33
' rib.
'34
course It is gently convoluted. In those 'which have
no caecum, and, therefore, can hardly be said to have
a colon, the intestine, before its termination in the rec-
' turn, makes the same kind of sweep round the other
intestines, as the colon does where there is a caecum.
For the size of the animal, the intestines are not
large. In those of 18 or 24 feet long, they are not
larger than in the horse ; the colon is very short, and
has little more capacity than the jejunum and ileum.
This is a circumstance common to carnivorous animals.
In the piked whale, the length from the stomach to
the caecum is 28J yards, the length of the caecum
seven inches, and of the colon to the anus, two yards
and three quarters.
The teeth, in the ruminating tribe of animals, point
out the kind of stomach, caecum, and colon j but in
others, as the horse, lion, &c. the appearances of the
teeth only indicate the kind of colon and caecum. In
the cetaceous tribe of fishes, whether they have teeth
or not, the stomachs vary little, and the circumstance
of caecum seems not to depend on either teeth or sto¬
mach.
The stomach, in all the subjects examined by Mr
Hunter, consisted of several bags continued from the
first on the left, towards the right, where the last ter¬
minates in duodenum. The number and size of the
stomachs difier considerably. In the porpoise, gram¬
pus, and piked whale, there are five 5 in the bottle-
nose whale, seven. The two first stomachs in the por¬
poise, bottle-nose, and piked whale, are the largest j
the others are smaller, but not uniformly so.
The first stomach has very much the shape of an egg
with the small end downwards, and is lined with a con-
tiriliatioil of the cuticle from the oesophagus. In some,
the oesophagus enters the upper end of the stomach ;
in others, it enters posteriorly and obliquely. The se¬
cond stomach in the piked whale is very large, and ra¬
ther longer than the first, is of the shape of the Italic
letter iS1, and passes out from the upper end of the first
on its right side, by nearly as large a beginning as the
body of the bag. In the porpoise, where this second
stomach begins, the cuticle of the first ends. The in¬
side of the second stomach has unequal rugae like an
irregular honey-comb. In the piked whale the rugae
are longitudinal, and in many places deep, some of
them being united by cross bands : in the porpoise the
folds are thick, massy, and indented into each other.
Hi is stomach opens into the third by a round contract¬
ed orifice.
The third stomach is the smallest, appears only to be
a passage between the second and fourth, has no peculiar
internal structure, and terminates in as large an open¬
ing as at its beginning. It is from one to five inches
long. The fourth stomach is less than either the first
or second. It seems to be flattened between the. Se¬
cond and fifthj and in some, as the porpoise, it is long,
and passes in a serpentine course like an intestine. The
internal surface is regular and villous, and opens on its
right side into the fifth. The fifth stomach is round in
the piked whale ; in the porpoise it is oval : it is small,
and terminates in the pylorus without any appearance
of a valvular structure. Its coats are thinner than
those of the fourth ; the internal surface is even, and
it is commonly tinged with bile. In some, as the
piked whale and the large whalebone whale, there is a
Vol. V. Part I. f
345
caecum j in others, as the porpoise, grampus, and bottle- Anatomy
nose whale, it is wanting.
The structure of the inner surface of the intestine is Physiology.
very singular. The inner surface of the duodenum of v~—'
the piked whale has longitudinal rugae or valves, at
some distance from each other, and receiving lateral
folds. The inner coat of the ileum and jejunum ap¬
pears in irregular folds, which may vary according to
the action of the muscular coat of the intestine, yet do
not seem to depend entirely on this contraction. In
some the whole tract of the intestine is thrown into
large cells, which are subdivided into smaller. These
cells have the appearance of pouches with the mouths
downwards, and act like valves when any thing is at¬
tempted to be passed in a contrary direction.
Liver.—In this tribe of animals there is a consider-Rc5cmbles
able degree of uniformity in the liver, which in shape the human,
bears a near resemblance to the human liver, but is
probably less firm in its texture. The right lobe is
the largest and thickest, and there is a large fissure be¬
tween the two lobes, in which the round ligament
passes. Toward the left the liver is much attached to
the stomach. The gall-bladder is wanting $ but the
hepatic duet, which enters the duodenum about seven
inches beyond the pylorus, is large.
Pancreas.—The pancreas is a long flat body, bav- gjtUation
ing its left end attached to the right side of the first
cavity of the stomach. It crosses the spine at the root
of the mesentery, joins the hollow curve at the duo¬
denum near to the pylorus, adheres to that intestine,
and its duct enters that of the liver near the termina¬
tion in the gut. t
Spleen.—The spleen, which is involved in the epi-Smafl/
ploon, is small for the size of the animal. In some of
the tribe, as in the porpoise, there are one or two small
ones, not larger in size than a nutmeg, and sometimes
smaller. They are placed in the epiploon behind the
others. I3g
Kidney.—The kidneys in this whole tribe of ani-Conglome-
mals are conglomerated. They are made up of smaller rated,
parts, which are connected only by cellular mem¬
brane, blood-vessels, and ducts. The smaller portions
are of a conical figure ; the apex is placed towards the
centre of the kidney, and the base forms the external
surface. Each portion is composed of a cortical and
tubular substance, the tubular terminating in the apex,
which apex makes the mamiila. Each mamilla lias
an infundibulum, which is long, and at its beginning
wide, embracing the base of the mamilla, and becom¬
ing smaller. These infundibula at last unite and form
the ureter.
Ureters and Bladder.—The ureter comes out of the Smalt,
kidney at the lower end, and passes along to the blad¬
der, which it enters very near to the urethra. The
bladder, which is of an oblong shape, is small for the
size of the animal. In the female the urethra passes
along to the external sulcus or vulva, and opens jest
under the clitoris, as in the human subject. The cap-
suite renales, when compared to the human, are small
for the size, of the animal. They are flat and of an
oval figure. They are composed of two substances j
of an external substance, which has the direction of its
fibres towards the centre ; and of an internal substance,
which is more uniform and has less of the fibrous ap¬
pearance.
Xx
Sect.
346
Anatomy
C E T O
and Sect. IV. Of the Organs of Circulation and Respira-
Physiology. ti'0n.
x. Circulation’.—The heart and blood-vessels, es¬
pecially the veins, are probably larger in proportion to
their size than in the quadruped. The heart is enclosed
in its pericardium, and is attached to the diaphragm
as in the human body. It is composed of two auricles
and two ventricles, is flatter than in the quadruped,
and adapted to the shape of the chest. The auricles
have a greater number of fasciculse, passing more across
the cavity from side to side, than in many other ani¬
mals 5 and besides have considerable muscularity and
elasticity. There is nothing peculiar in the structure
of the ventricles of the heart, in their valves, in the
arteries, or in their distribution, all which have a simi¬
larity to other animals whose parts are nearly similar.
Animals of this tribe have a greater proportion of
141
Struct 11 re
not pecu¬
liar.
142
Blood in
great pro. blood than any other yet known j and some arteries are
portion. apparently intended as reservoirs, where a great quan¬
tity of blood is required in any part. There is a net¬
work of arteries, formed of the intercostal arteries, and
running between the pleura, ribs, and their muscles.
The spinal marrow is surrounded with a net-work of
arteries in the same manner, especially where it passes
out from the brain, where a thick substance is formed
by their ramifications and convolutions.
In examining particular parts which bear any rela¬
tion to the size of the animal, if we have been accustom¬
ed to see them in the middle-sized animals, we must
behold them with astonishment in animals like the
whale, which so far exceed the common hulk. The
heart and aorta of the spermaceti whale, for instance,
appear of immense size, when we make this kind of
comparison. The latter measures a foot in diameter $
143 and the former was too large to be contained in a wide
Circulation tub. Considering the quantity of circulating fluid in
so large a vessel, that probably 10 or 15 gallons of
blood are thrown out at a single stroke, and the great
velocity with which it moves, the mind must be filled
with wonder.
The veins seem to have nothing peculiar in their
structure, if we except the veins in the folds on the
skin of the breast, as in the piked whale, where, and
in similar places, it was necessary to have the elasticity
increased.
The blood of this order of animals is similar to that
of quadrupeds. Mr Hunter seems to think that the
quantity of red globules is in larger proportion j and he
supposes that this increased quantity of red particles
may have some effect in aiding to keep up the animal
heat $ for as they live in a very cold climate, or atmo'.
sphere, compared with the heat of their bodies, it is
readily carried off, and therefore some help of this kind
becomes necessary.
The quantity of blood in this tribe of animals is
comparatively greater than in the quadruped, and
therefore it is probable that it amounts to more than in
any known animal. In them too the red blood is
carried to the extreme parts of the body, similar to
what happens in the quadruped, but different from
fish.
2. Respiration.—Some parts of the organs of respi¬
ration in animals that live on land seem to be fitted for
astonish-
.144
Veins.
*45
Red glo¬
bules in
great pro¬
portion.
L O G Y. Chap. II
a compound action, as for instance the larynx, which Anatomy
is adapted both for respiration, deglutition, and sound j and
but in the whale tribe it seems to be adapted only for ^ysiylc^j
respiration.
Larynx.—The larynx varies much in structure and Varieties
size in the different species. It is composed of the os
hyoides, thyroid, cricoid, and two arytenoid cartilages.
The os hyoides was larger, while the cartilages were
much smaller, in the bottle-nose whale of 24 feet long
than in the piked whale of 17 feet. In the bottle-nose
the os hyoides is composed of three bones, with two
whose ends are attached to it, making five in all. In
the porpoise it consists of only one bone slightly bent:
it has no attachment to the head, as in many quadru¬
peds.
The thyroid cartilage, in the piked whale, is broad
from side to side, and has two lateral processes which
are long, and pass down the outside of the cricoid, near
to its lower end, and are joined to it, as in the human
subject. The cricoid cartilage is broad and flat,
making the posterior and lateral part of the larynx, and
is much deeper behind and laterally than before. The
two arytenoid cartilages project much, and are unit¬
ed to each other till near their ends 5 they are ar¬
ticulated on the upper edge of the cricoid, cross the
cavity of the larynx obliquely, and make the passage
at the upper part a groove between them. In several
of the tribe, the epiglottis makes a third part of the
passage, and completes the glottis by forming it
into a canal. No thyroid gland has been discover¬
ed.
Lungs.—The lungs are two oblong bodies, one on vot ^
each side of the chest, but are not divided into smaller ed into
lobes as in the human subject. They are of consider-lobes,
able length, but not so deep as in the quadruped, from
the heart being broad and flat, and filling up the chest.
They are increased in size by rising higher up in the ^
chest, and passing farther down on the back. The Very ela
lungs are extremely elastic in their substance, and have tic.
the appearance and consistence of the spleen of an ox.
The branches of the bronchiie which ramify into the
lungs, have the cartilages rounded, which seems to ad¬
mit of greater motion between them.
The pulmonary cells are smaller than in the quadru¬
ped, and communicate with each other, which those
of the quadruped do not j for by blowing into one
branch of the trachea, the whole lungs may be fill¬
ed.
The diaphragm has not the same attachments as injjjapbrai
the quadruped j because the ribs in this tribe do not
complete the cavity of the thorax. The diaphragm is
therefore unconnected forwards to the abdominal mus¬
cles, which are very strong, being a mixture of muscu¬
lar and tendinous fibres. The chest is longest in the
direction of the animal at the back, by the diaphragm
passing obliquely backwards, and reaching low on the
spine. The parts immediately concerned in respiration
are very strong. This is particularly the case with the
diaphragm. This seems necessary, as the animal must
enlarge the chest in so dense a medium as water, the
pressure of which must be greater than the counter¬
pressure from the air inspired. And for the same rea¬
son, expiration must be easily performed, for the pres¬
sure of the water and the natural elasticity of the parts
are greater than the resistance of the internal air, so
that
I$0
strils
efly i
ided for
piration
CXLT.
?• I, 2.
hap. II.
natomy ^ia*- ^ may produced without any immediate action
and of muscles. In these animals the diaphragm seems to
ysiolflgy. be the principal agent in inspiration.
Blow-hole, or passagefor the air.—In animals breath¬
ing air, the nose is the passage for the air, and the seat
of the organ of smelling ; but in some of the cetaceous
tribe, this sense seems to be wanting; in them, there¬
fore, the nostrils are intended merely for respiration,
ded for ^ mein!jranous portion of the posterior nostrils is one
canal; but in the bony part, in most of them, it is di¬
vided into two. In those which have it divided, it is
in some continued double through the anterior soft
parts, and opens by two orifices ; but, in others, it
unites again in the membranous part, making exter¬
nally only one orifice, as in the porpoise, grampus,
and bottle-nose whale. At its beginning in the fauces,
it is a roundish hole, surrounded by a strong sphincter
muscle, which grasps the epiglottis : the canal beyond
this enlarges, and opens into the two passages in the
bones of the head. In the spermaceti whale, in which
the canal is single, it is thrown a little to the left side.
After these canals emerge from the bones near the ex¬
ternal opening, they become irregular, and have sulci
passing out laterally, of irregular forms, with corre¬
sponding eminences *, and the structure of these emi¬
nences is muscular and fatty.
Where there is only one external opening, it is
transverse, as in the porpoise, grampus, bottle-nose,
and spermaceti whale; but when it is double, it is
longitudinal, as in the large whalebone whale, and in
the piked whale. These openings form a passage for
the air to and from the lungs ; for it would be im¬
possible for these animals to breathe through the
mouth.
In the whale tribe, the situation of the opening on
11 fitted the upper surface of the head is well adapted for the
respira- pUrp0se 0f respiration ; for it is the first part that comes
to the surface of the water in the natural progressive
motion of the animal. The animals of this order do
not live in the medium which they breathe. This re¬
quires a particular construction of the organs which
conduct the air to the lungs, that the water in which
they live may not interfere with the air they breathe.
The projecting glottis passes into the posterior nostrils,
by which means it crosses the fauces, and divides them
into two passages.
The beginning of the posterior nostrils, which an¬
swers to the palatum molle in the quadruped, has a
sphincter which grasps the glottis, by which its situa¬
tion is rendered still more secure, and the passages
through the head, across the fauces and along the
trachea, are rendered one continued canal. This union
of glottis and epiglottis with the posterior nostril mak¬
ing only a kind of joints, admits of motion, and of a
dilatation and contraction of the fauces in deglutition,
from the epiglottis moving more in or out of the pos¬
terior nostril. This tribe of animals having no project¬
ing tongue, and therefore wanting its extensive motion,
and the power of sucking things into the mouth, may
perhaps require this peculiarity of construction to ren¬
der the communication between the air and lungs more
perfect. But how far this is the case, in the present
state of our knowledge of the structure and economy of
these respiratory organs, it is not easy to say.
CETOLOGY.
347
is*
lening
Sect. V. Of the Brain and Organs of Sense.
The brain.—In the different genera of the cetaceous Pk>,sio!o.-y-
tribe of animals, the brain differs much, and also in ^ 7- ^
the proportion it bears to the bulk of the animal. The NoJmpro.
porpoise has the largest brain, and thus comes nearest portion to
to the human subject. The whole brain is compact.the bullc*
The anterior part projects less forward than in the
quadruped 5 the medulla oblongata is less prominent,
and lies on the hollow made by the lobes of the cere¬
bellum.
The brain is composed of distinctly marked cortical
and medullary substances. The medullary substance
is very white ; the cortical like the tubular substance
of the kidney $ and these two substances, seem to be in
the same proportion as in the human brain. The la¬
teral ventricles are large. They pass close round the
ends of the thalami nervorum opticorum. The thalami
are large : the corpora striata small. Most of the other
parts have a great resemblance to similar parts in the
human brain. ^
The substance of the brain is more visibly fibrous Substance
than in any other animal. The fibres pass from thefib*ou*,
ventricles as from a center to the circumference, and
continue through the cortical substance. The brain of
the piked whale weighed four pounds 10 ounces.-
The spinal marrow in this tribe of animals is proper-Spinal mar-
tionally smaller than in the human species. It is row.
largest in the porpoise where the brain is largest, bear¬
ing some proportion to the quantity of brain. But this
is not always the case ; for in the spermaceti whale,
where the brain is small, the spinal marrow is propor¬
tionally largest. It terminates about the twenty-fifth
vertebra, beyond which is the cauda equina ; the dura
mater is no farther continued. The nerves that go
off from the spinal marrow in its course are more uni¬
form in size than in the quadruped ; the parts being
more equal, and no extremities, except the fins, to be
supplied. The structure of the spinal marrow is more
fibrous than in other animals j when separated longi¬
tudinally, it tears with a fibrous appearance, but when
separated transversely, it breaks irregularly.
The skull is lined with the dura mater, and in some
forms the three processes corresponding to the divisions
of the brain, as in the human subject; but in others this
division is bony. Where the dura mater covers the spi¬
nal marrow, it differs from what takes place in other
animals, for it encloses the marrow closely, and the
nerves immediately passing out through it at the lower
part, as they do at the upper, so that the cauda equina
as it forms is on the outside of the dura mater. T _
The nerves going out from the brain are similar to Nerves,
those of the quadruped, excepting in those that want
olfactory nerves, as the porpoise. As the organs of
sense are variously formed in different animals, fitted
for the different modes of impression, in this tribe the
construction is varied according to the economy of the
animal. The senses of touch and taste seem to be adapt¬
ed to every mode $ but those of smell, sight, and hear¬
ing, probably require to be varied or modified accord¬
ing to circumstances 5 and according to these circum¬
stances the senses are formed. 1-6
Sense oj touch.—The skin in this tribe of animals Skin the
appears in general to be well calculated for sensation. ofsen"
Xx 2 The’*1'0”-
348 C E T O
Anatomy The whole surface Is covered with villi, which are so
and many vessels, and it must be supposed also nerves.
Physiology. '\Vliet|)er this structure be only necessary ior acute sen-
* sation, or whether it be necessary for common sensation,
is not known. But it may be observed, that where
the sense of touch is required to be acute, the villi are
usually thick and long*, and this is probably necessary,
because in these parts of the body where the sensations
of touch are acute, such parts are covered with a thick
cuticle. This is remarkably the case in the ends of our
fingers and toes, and in the foot of the hoofed animals.
Mr Hunter seems to think that the sense ot touch pos-
157 sesses greater acuteness in water.
Tongue not Sense oj taste.—The tongue in most animals is not
merely the on]y tl,e organ of taste, but is also intended for me-
taste1 °f chanical purposes. For this latter purpose it is per¬
haps less so than in any other animal. In some it has
more freedom of motion than in others*, and the reason
of this is probably the difference in the mode of catch¬
ing the food and of swallowing. In those with teeth it
projects most, which seems less necessary in others which
merely open the mouth to receive the food along with
the water, or swim upon it. In the porpoise and gram¬
pus, the tongue is firm in texture ; but in the sperma¬
ceti whale it resembles a feather bed. It is composed
of muscle and fat; and in some is pointed and serrated
on the edges.
Wanting in Sense of smelling.—In many of this tribe there is no
some. organ of smell at all; and in those which have such an
oygan, it is not that of a fish, and therefore, like theirs,
it is probably pot calculated to smell water. It be-
coines a matter of difficulty to account for the manner
in which such animals smell water, and why others
have no such organ, which is supposed to be peculiar
to the large and small whalebone whales. Mr Hunter
is of opinion that the air retained in the nostril out of
the current of respiration, which by being impregnated
with the odoriferous particles contained in the wa¬
ter during the act of blowing, is applied to the organ
of smell. It might be supposed, he observes, that they
would smell the air on the surface of the water by
every inspiration as animals do on land j but admitting
this to be the case, it will not give them the power to
smell the odoriferous particles of their prey in the wa¬
ter at any depth ; and as their organ is not fitted to
be affected by the application of water, and as they
cannot suck water into the nostrils without the dan¬
ger of its passing into the lungs, it cannot be by its
application to this organ that they are enabled to
smell. Some have the power of throwing the water
from the mouth through the nostril, and with such
force as to raise it 30 feet high. This no doubt an¬
swers some very important purpose, although not very
obvious. Mr Hunter, supposing that smelling the ex¬
ternal air could be of no use as a sense, thinks that
they do not smell in inspiration ; for the organ of
smell is out of the direct road of the current of air
in inspiration, and it is also out of the current of water
when they spout j may it not then be supposed, he
asks, that this sinus contains air, and as the water passes
in the act of throwing it out, that it impregnates this
reservoir of air, which immediately affects the sense of
smell ? This operation is conjectured to be performed
in the act of expiration j because then the water is
said to be very offensive, Mr Hunter adds, that if
LOGY. Chap,];
this solution be well founded, those only can spout which Aimhjn
have the organ of smell. But as some animals of this and
order are entirely deprived of this organ, and as the
organ in those which have it is extremely small, as well 'r‘
as the nerve which receives the impression, it would
appear to be less necessary in them than in those which
live in air. ijp
Se?ise of hearing.—The internal ear in general has Similar
nearly the same construction as that of quadrupeds.(1U^IU'
The bones, the cavities, the cartilages, and the nerves^
are the same, their disposition and arrangement vary¬
ing in some of the species j and from this there arises
a difference of structure in these organs, and perhaps
also a difference in the sensation. According to some
anatomists, the semicircular canals are wanting in some
of this tribe of animals ; while they have been describ¬
ed by others. Some have described the form of the
vestibulum as in the spermaceti whale, others have de¬
nied its existence altogether. It is perhaps owing to
their being less easily detected, that they have been
supposed not to exist at all. According to the rela¬
tions of fishermen, the cetaceous tribe have the sense
of hearing as acute as that of quadrupeds. i£o
Sense of seeing.—The organ of light in this tribeIs s»aH
seems to have a very close analogy with the same or¬
gan in quadrupeds. There is the same relative connec¬
tion between the choroid coat, the retina, and the crys¬
talline humour. In some circumstances, however, they
differ, by which probably the eye in this tribe is better
adapted to see in the medium through which the light
is to pass. The eye for the size of the animal is small j
from which it is conjectured that their power of motion
is not great. As no observations have yet been made
on the form, size, and density of the different humours
of the eye, any thing we could add would be mere con¬
jecture founded on vague analogy.
Sect." VI. Of the Organs of Generation, Sfc.
l6i
If the cetaceous tribe of animals come near to fishes Structui
in some point of resemblance, they are very different insimJarl
those of others. This is remarkably the case in the 0£e.w
structure or the organs ot generation, in which they animals,
come nearer in form to those of ruminating animals,
than of any other ; and this similarity is more striking
in the female than in the male ; for the situation must
vary in the latter on account of external circumstances. 162
In the male the testicles remain in the situation in which Male,
they were formed, as in those quadrupeds in which they
never come down into the scrotum. They are situated
near the lower part of the abdomen, one on each side,
upon the two great depressors of the tail *, and at this
part they come in contact with the abdominal muscles
anteriorly. The vasa deferentia pass directly from the
epididymis behind the bladder, or between it and the
rectum, into the urethra. The vesiculae seminaies are
wanting. The structure of the penis is nearly the
same as that of the quadruped. The erectores penis,
which have a similar insertion to those of the human
subject, as well as the acceleratores, are very strong
muscles. nfj
These organs in the female consist of the external Female¬
opening of the vagina, the two horns of the uterus,
Fallopian tubes, fimbriae, and ovaria. The external
opening is a longitudinal slit, whose edges meet in two
opposite
Cap*
, tomy
ad
ri oiosy
II. C E T O
opposite points, forming a kind of sulcus. The vagina
passes upwards and backwards in a diagonal direction,
respecting the cavity of the abdomen, and then divides
" v ' Jnto the two horns, one on each side of the loins.
These afterwards terminate in the Fallopian tubes, to
which the ovaria are attached. The inside of the va¬
gina is smooth for about one-half of its length, and
then begins to form something similar to valves pro¬
jecting towards the mouth of the vagina, each like an
os tincce. Those are from six to nine in number. These
hardly go quite round where they first begin to form,
but the last make complete circles ; and at this place
the vagina becomes smaller, and continues gradually
to decrease in width to its termination. From the last
projecting part the passage is continued up to the open¬
ing of the two horns : and at this place the inner sur¬
face forms longitudinal rugae, which stretch into the
horns.
The Fallopian tubes, at their termination in the
uterus, are for some inches remarkably small, they then
begin to dilate suddenly ; and this dilatation increases,
till at the mouth they are live or six inches in diame¬
ter. Through their whole length they are full of
longitudinal rugae. The ovaria are oblong bodies
about five inches in length ; one end is attached to the
end of the Fallopian tube, and the other to the horn of
the uterus. They are irregular in the external surface,
and have no capsule but what is formed by the Fallo¬
pian tube.
In what position the act of copulation is performed,
does not seem to be precisely ascertained. The Green¬
land fishermen say, that they are then erect in the
water, the heads being above the surlace, and em¬
bracing each other with the fins. M. de St Pierre,
during the course of a voyage to the isle ol France,
asserts, that he saw them several times in this position.
Others as confidently affirm, that the female throws
herself on her back j but it would appear, that this po¬
sition must interfere with the act of respiration, which
cannot be for any length of time suspended j and, there-
^ fore, that it is less probable.
B r forth It is conjectured, that the female admits the male
«r ta only once in two years, and that the time of gestation
tii once Js n|ne or ten months. It is probable, too, that hav-
^ 0 ing only two nipples, they bring forth only a single
young one at a time.
The glands for the secretion of milk, or the breasts,
are two, one on each side of the middle line of the
belly at its lower part. The posterior ends, from which
the nipples proceed, are on each side of the opening of
the vagina in small furrows. They are flat bodies ly¬
ing betweent he external layer of fat and the abdomi¬
nal muscles, and are of considerable length, but only
one-fourth of that in breadth. There is a large trunk
which runs through the whole length of the gland, and
appears to serve the purpose of a reservoir for the milk.
Into this trunk the lateral and smaller ducts enter, some
with the course of the milk, some in a contrary direc¬
tion. The trunk terminates in a projection externally,
which incloses the nipple.
It seems difficult at first sight to conceive in what
way the process of sucking is performed j so that both
the mother and the young one mav at the same time
respire freely. According to the relations of the
Greenland fishermen, the mother throws herself on her
°5
M tii®,
66
h « of
LOG Y. 349
side, and the young one then seizes the nipple. In Anatomy
this position, the smallest motion of the body permits an<t
the mother or the young one to enjoy the advantage Phy8*010*?-
of respiration. The art of sucking must be different
from that of land animals, for in them it is performed
by drawing the air from the mouth backward into the
lungs, which the fluid follows by the pressure of the
external air on its surface ; but, in the cetaceous tribe,
the lungs have no connection with the mouth. The
operation of sucking must therefore be performed by
the action of the mouth itself, and by its having the
power of expansion.
The milk of the whale is supposed to be very rich. Milk rich»
In the one which was taken near Berkeley with its
young one, the milk was tasted by Mr Jenner and Mr
Ludlow. By their account, it had the richness of cows
milk to which cream had been added.
The young whale, according to Dudley, continues
to suck for a year. They are then called short-heads
by the fishermen, and are extremely fat, some yielding
50 tons of fat. The mothers, at the same period, are
very lean. At the age of two years, they are called
stunts, because they are supposed to be dull after being
weaned. The quantity of fat which they then yield,
is from 24 to 28 tons. After this period, they come
under the denomination of skull-fish, when their age
can only be guessed at by the length of hair at the
terminations of the whalebone. jtfs
The affection and attachment which the whale dis-Affectioa
covers for its young, have been much celebrated bylor 'ts
naturalists. Perhaps it is magnified by the comparisony°U ^*
between the whale and fishes living in the same ele¬
ment, the care of whose offspring is totally disregarded
by the parent, and left, which indeed is all that is
necessary, to the influence of heat and air to bring
forth from the ova or spawn deposited by the mother..
This attachment is probably, after all, not more re¬
markable than in other animals which suckle their
young, and bring forth a small number, or only one at
a time.
Sect. VII. Of the Food of the Whale; the Si%e, Abode,
Fat, Sfc.
Food.—The food of the whole cetaceous tribe is Different
supposed by naturalists to be fish, each probably kl»ds of
having some particular kind. Some hundreds of the118
beaks of cuttle-fish were found by Mr Hunter, in the
stomach of the bottle*nose whale $ in the stomach of the
piked-vvhale, bones of different fish, hut particularly
those of the dog-fish j and, in the grampus, the tail of
a porpoise.
Considering the capacity of the oesophagus, we must
conclude, that they do not swallow fish so large in pro¬
portion to their size as many fish do j for it is observed,
that fish often attempt to swallow more at a time than
what the stomach will hold j so that part must remain
in the oesophagus till the rest is digested. 170
The food of the large whalebone whale is supposed of the
to be small fish, sometimes crab-fish and shell-fish. It large
may appear strange, that so large an animal should be whale,
able to find a quantity of food sufficiently great for its
subsistence, and to preserve with it such a covering
of fat as they are generally found to have. But this
wonder ceases, when it is considered that the very food 1
they.
.350
Anatomy
and
Physiology
C E T O L O G Y.
•71
Northern
whale.
172
Narhwal.
1J3
Spermaceti
whale.
174
Elaekhead-
ed sperma-
eeti whale.
r7S
Dolphin.
176
Sixty feet.
they seek after, is found in the greatest abundance in
those regions which they usually inhabit. In the eco-
■ nomy of the whalebone whale, this substance, from
which it derives its name, seems to be of particular
use y for as it appears that they live on small fish,
which they probably receive into the mouth in great
numbers, it was necessary that there should be some
contrivance to retain them in the mouth till they are
swallowed $ and this purpose is fully answered by the
whalebone.
The northern whale, or the north-caper, lives on
mackerel, herrings, cod fish, and tunny fish. Horre-
bow mentions, that the Icelanders found in the stomach
of an individual of this species, which came on shore
in pursuit of its prey, no less than 600 living cod-fish,
besides a great number of pilchards, and some aquatic
birds. This account is probably exaggerated, at least
with regard to the number of fish in the stomach being
alive. The other species belonging to this genus
usually feed on the herring, the arctic salmon, and the
sand-eel.
The narhwal, or unicorn whale, is said to live chiefly
on the different species of actinia. It is unprovided
with teeth to seize its prey; but, according to some
naturalists, it can employ the long tooth which pro¬
ceeds from the upper jaw to entangle these fishes j and
having collected them in this manner to the edge of
the lips, it sucks them into the mouth and destroys
them, by constantly stretching the tongue along the
lips.
The spermaceti whales pursue the seal, the dolphin,
and the pike-headed whale. The large spermaceti
whale pursues, with great avidity, the shark, which is
said to be his ordinary food ; and this animal, other¬
wise so formidable, is seized with such a panic at the
sight of this terrible enemy, that he conceals himself in
the mud, or under the sand ; sometimes seeing himself
so assailed on all sides, he darts across the rocks, and
strikes them with such force and violence as to occa¬
sion his own death. This terror, according to Fabri-
cius, is so strongly impressed, that the shark, which is
so greedy of the carcases of the other cetaceous fishes,
dares not even approach the dead body of the large
spermaceti whale.
The physeter microps is said to prey chiefly on the
seal. When the seals are in number together, and
find themselves attacked by their enemy, they make a
precipitate retreat. Some gain the shore j while others
climb on a piece of ice ; and then, if the whale be alone,
be conceals himself under the ice, and waits till the
seal return to the water, when he seizes his prey. But
if several whales have joined in the pursuit, as frequent¬
ly happens, it is said they surround the mass of ice, and
overturn it in the water.
The dolphin genus feed on cod fish, flat fish, such
as the turbot, a»d many other kinds of fish of moderate
size. The grampus is the boldest, the strongest, and
the most voracious of any belonging to this tribe of
animals. It is agreed by almost all naturalists, that the
grampus will even attack the great whale, and put him
to flight, which is said to be the reason that they are
sometimes thrown ashore on our coasts.
Size of the whale.—The whale is now rarely seen to
exceed 60 feet in length, by 36 feet in circumference.
A whale, which landed in the island of Corsica in 1620,
Chap.
177
was one of the largest which has been known for some Ana,.
centuries. It measured 100 feet in length. But al- and
though this be an enormous bulk, it falls far short of Ptysioi
the magnitude of the whale, as it has been described
by ancient naturalists, existing in their time. But pro¬
bably these relations will gain little faith, even from
the most credulous of the present day, in which Pliny
speaks of the whale being 960 feet long j and in an¬
other place, the same naturalist says, that Juba writes
to C. Caesar, the son of Augustus, that some whales of
600 feet in length, and 360 in circumference, had en¬
tered the rivers of Arabia.
But whatever credit is to be given to these stories, Forme
there is little doubt that the whales in the northern larger,
ocean were formerly of much greater hulk than they r
now are : and the reason seems to be, that being lessReasol,
disturbed when this fishery was less frequented, they
arrived at a greater age, and consequently acquired a
greater size.
Abode of the whale.—According to the testimony More f,
of the ancient naturalists, the whale was more frequent-quent i
ly seen in the ocean than at present 5 for, on account ^oce
of being disturbed by the numerous fleets traversingtoimei
the ocean, they have retired to the regions of the
north, where they are less exposed to the noise of the
mariners, less harassed by the fishermen, and enjoy that
tranquillity which is no longer to be found in their
former haunts. jjc
The large whalebone whale is most frequently Chiefly
found in the Greenland seas, Davis straits, and the d'6 D01
coasts of Spitzbergen, Iceland, and Norway j on theeinsea
coasts of Labrador, in the gulf of St Lawrence, and
round Newfoundland. This whale is also found a-
mong the Philippine islands, near Socotora, an island
on the coast of Arabia Felix, and on the coasts of
Ceylon. The whale also frequents the Chinese seas;
and, if the reports of voyagers are to be implicitly ad¬
mitted, is found there of an immense size. The usual
retreat of the spermaceti whale is the northern ocean,
towards Davis straits, the North Cape, and the coasts
of Finmark. Of all the cetaceous fish, this indeed
seems to lead the most wandering life. In the year
1787, this whale was discovered in great numbers in
an extensive bay in the southern peninsula of Africa,
at the distance of 40 leagues from the Cape of Good
Hope.
The dolphin family is found in all seas; in the
ocean, the Mediterranean, the gulf of Messina, and
the Adriatic sea, from whence they go into the la¬
goons of Venice, and to the coasts of Galicia. On
the coasts of Cochin China very considerable fisheries
are established, which produce a great quantity of
oil. 1S1
We may conclude, that, in general, the great whale Larges
and the unicorn fish usually frequent the seas towards
the poles, between the 68th and 79th degrees of la^'"egions
tude j and that the other families are found diffused
more or less in the seas of more temperate regions. It
would appear, from this account of the places which
are the ordinary haunt of the whale, that the produc¬
tions of nature are disposed somewhat in a contrary ^
order j since we find all the large terrestrial animals,Larges
such as the elephant and rhinoceros, in countries with-land ai ^
in the torrid zone j while the huge inhabitants of the e,
ocean have fixed their abode in the polar regions.
Migration
Cl,). II. C E T O
An ny Migration of the whale.—Although the abode of the
i whale be generally determined and fixed, yet particu-
?hy: }?y lar causes force them to leave their usual and natural
haunts. The season of their amours, a furious storm,
Caa 0f the pursuit of a harassing enemy, the want of food, or
excessive cold, often oblige them to migrate. Some¬
times they appear solitary, sometimes in considerable
numbers, according to the nature of the causes which
, have disturbed and driven them from their ordinary re¬
treats. According to the information of voyagers who
have visited these regions, the great whale every year,
in the month of November, leaves Davis straits, en¬
ters the river St Lawrence, and there brings forth her
young, between Camourasca and Quebec ; and from
thence, in the month of March following, they regular¬
ly return to the polar seas.
It appeal’s, that tne whale constantly remains in the
northern ocean, and never leaves it but when the fe¬
male is to bring forth, or when they are driven away
by an enemy. In this last case they are most com¬
monly found solitary, at least not more than the male
and female, or the mother and the young one.
The spermaceti whales, however, seem frequently to
change their habitation, and to roam about in strange
seas. This appears from considerable numbers having
been thrown ashore or left dry by the retreating tide
at different times. In the year 1690, 200 of this spe¬
cies were landed near Cairston in the Orkneys j and,
(in the year 1784, 31 large spermaceti whales came on
shore on the west coast of Audierne in Lower Brittany
in France.
Bla. ead- Enemies of the whale.—The greatest and most ter-
oi' le. rJh]e enemy of the small whale is the physeter microps,
or black-headed spermaceti whale. As soon as he per¬
ceives the pike-headed whale, the porpoise, and some
others, he darts upon them, and tears them to pieces
with his crooked fangs.
U"' n- Jt is said, that there exists a continual and settled
enmity between the unicorn-fish and the great whale j
and that they never meet without engaging in combat,
in which the whale receives so many severe, and often
deadly wounds, as often to occasion its death. When
the unicorn-fish strikes its tooth or horn into the side of
ships, it is supposed that it is through mistake, taking
the vessel for its enemy, the whale.
W bear The white bear, so common in Greenland and Spitz-
bergen, is extremely fond of the flesh of the cetaceous
and other fishes. He remains constantly on the watch
for his prey, on a mass of ice, or on the sea shore ; and
as soon as he perceives it, he throws himself into the
water, and plunges to attack it. The large and the
small whales are equally the objects of his eager pur¬
suit j but he is not successful till after they have lost a
great deal of blood from the wounds which he has in-
1 flicted, or they have been exhausted with fatigue.
Sa' Between the saw-fish and the whale there exists a
constant warfare. It is related by all the fishermen,
that the whale and saw-fish, whenever they meet, join
in combat, and that the latter is always the aggressor.
Sometimes two or more individuals combine to attack
a single whale j and it is inconceivable with what fury
they make the attack. The whale, whose only de¬
fence is his tail, endeavours to strike his enemy with
it 5 and a single blow would prove mortal. But the
saw-fish, with astonishing agility, shuns the dreadful
LOGY. 351
stroke, bounds into the air, and returns upon his huge Anatomy
adversary, plunging the rugged weapon, with which and
he is furnished, into his back. The whale is still more Physiology.
irritated by this wound, which only becomes fatal when "" '''v
it penetrates the fat. The engagement ceases not but
with the death of one of the combatants. Martens
relates an account of one of these combats between the
Iceland whale (Balaena Glacialis) and the saw-fish.
It seemed to be extremely dangerous to approach the
field of battle. It was therefore at some distance, that
he saw them pursuing and striking each other, dealing
such violent blows that the water rose in foam as if
agitated by a storm. He was prevented from seeing
the issue of the struggle by the weather becoming thick
and hazy $ but he was informed by the sailors, that
such combats were frequent; that they generally kept
at a distance till the whale was vanquished ; and that
the saw-fish, only eating the tongue, relinquished the
rest of the body, which they take possession of.
Forskal informs us, that the Arabians believe that
some species of the scarus, a fish found in the Red sea,
enter the blow-holes of the whale, and desti’oy it with
their sharp spines 5 and, in confirmation of this fact, it
is mentioned, that one of these fishes was found in the
blow-hole of a dead whale. jS8
The whale is even harassed with aquatic birds, which Birds,
alight in great numbers on its back, in search of the
testaceous animals and small insects, which have made
it their habitation. And, like most other animals,
the whale is tormented with a species of louse, pecu¬
liar to itself, which adheres so strongly to the skin,
that it may sooner be torn asunder than be made to
let go its hold. The fins, the lips, the parts of gene¬
ration, and other parts of the body, which are most
protected from friction, are chiefly infested with this
insect. The bite is extremely painful, and they are
most troublesome in that season when the whale is in
heat.
Age of the whale.—If the time necessary for the Not so old
growth or increase of the body were in proportion to as t'omier-
the period of life, there could be little doubt of the
whale being, of all animals known, the most remark¬
able for longevity. It is well known, that the whales
which were taken when this fishery first became an ob¬
ject of trade, that is, between 200 and 300 years ago,
were of much greater bulk than they are found to be
in the present day. The largest now taken rarely ex¬
ceed 60 feet long ; while, at that time, some reached
the astonishing size of 100 in length. The reason of
this difference of size seems to be, that, when the fish¬
ery first commenced, whales which had probably
reached their utmost growth were frequently met
with. These, on account of being the largest, were
constantly harassed, pursued, and destroyed ; so that
none which have attained their full growth are now
to be found in those seas resorted to by the fishermen.
From this circumstance, that no large whales are now
to be seen in the places which they commonly fre¬
quent, it is concluded, that the period of the life of
the whale is very long 5 and that they cannot arrive at
the huge size for which the first whales were so re¬
markable, since they are not permitted to live undi¬
sturbed the requisite length of time to attain that bulk.
According to Buffon, a whale may live 1000 years,
since a carp has been known to reach the age of 200.
352
C E T O
Oil.
Anatomy But, reasoning from analogy, with regard to the struc-
aai tare and economy of the whale, we have seen in many
Physiology, instances, by no means holds; and It is perhaps equal-
" ^—ly Inapplicable to the growth and age ot this order of
animals.
The fat or oil of cetaceous fishes.—The fat of this
order of animals is usually called oil. It is the most
fluid of animal fats, for it does not coagulate in our
atmosphere. It is found in considerable quantity, prin-
•cipally on the outside of the muscles, and immediately
under the skin; and is rarely to be met with in any
of the cavities, or in the interstices of the muscles. rlhis
substance is enclosed in a reticular membrane, appa¬
rently composed of fibres passing in all directions,
which seem to confine its extent, and allow it little or
no motion on itself; for the whole, when distended,
forms almost a solid body. In some of the animals of
this order there is a dilferent distribution of the fat.
Under the head or neck of the bottle-nose whale, it is
confined in large cells which admit of motion. In
some this reticular membrane is very fine, in others it
is coarse and strong, and it varies in different parts ot
the same fish. In the porpoise, spermaceti, and large
whalebone whale, it is very fine; in the grampus and
small whalebone whale, it is coarse. In all ot them it
is finest on the body, becoming coai'ser as it reaches
and covers the fins and tail, which latter is composed
of fibres without any fat.
The internal fat is the least fluid in this order of ani¬
mals. Jt is nearly of tue consistence of hogs lard.
The external fat is the common train-oil. It is the
adipose covering from all of the whale kind, which is
brought home in square pieces called/Zxte/xe.?; and this,
which is commonly known under the name of blubber,
i9i after being boiled, yields the oil by expi'ession, leaving
Of two the cellular membrane. When these flitches or masses
kinds. 0f ijecome putrid, there issue two kinds of oil. The
one is pure ; but the other seems to have a consider¬
able mixture of other animal matters, which, from the
state of putiddity, are readily dissolved in the purer
oil, and form a kind of butter. It feels unctuous to
the touch, and ropy, coagulates with cold, swims on
water, and the pure oil separates and rises to the top.
The substance which remains after all the oil is extract¬
ed, is almost entirely convertible into glue, and is sold
to be applied to the same purposes.
1« ey9* Spermaceti.—The substance called spermaceti is
parTor ths f°lintl *n every part of the body, mixed with the com-
liady. xnon fat of the animal ; but to this it bears a small
proportion. In the head this substance is also mixed
with the common fat; but here the proportions of the
two substances are reversed : the spermaceti is by far
in greatest quantity. And, from this circumstance of
its being found in such abundance, in what, from a
slight view, would appear to be the cavity of the skull,
it has been by some supposed to be the brain.
Mast abun- The two kinds of fat in the head are contained in
dant ia the cel]s or ;n cellular membrane, similar to what takes
bead. place in other animals ; but, besides these, there are
larger cells, or ligamentous parts going across, the bet¬
ter to support the vast load of oil of which the bulk of
the head is principally composed. There are two
places in the head in which this oil lies. These are situ¬
ated along the upper and lower part of it, and are di¬
vided by the nostrils and a great number of tendons
LOGY. Chap.]
which pass from the nose and the different parts of the Anatoi
head. The cells which are of the smallest size, and ami
are the least ligamentous, are observed to contain the Pl'^iok,
purest spermaceti. These cells resemble those which
contain the fat in other parts of the body nearest the
skin, and they lie above the nosti'il, along the upper
part of the head, immediately under the skin and com¬
mon cellular membrane. The spermaceti, which lies
above the roof of the mouth, or between it and the
nostril, is more intermixed with a ligamentous cellular
membrane ; and it is contained in chambers whose
partitions are perpendicular. Near the nose these
chambers are smallest; but they become larger to-
wards the back part of the head, and in these last the
spermaceti is purest. About the nose Mr Hunter dis¬
covered a great number of vessels which had the ap¬
pearance of a plexus of veins, some of which were as
large as a finger. They were loaded with spermaceti
and oil, and some of them had corresponding arteries.
He thinks it probable that they were lymphatics, and
that their contents were absorbed from the cells of the
head ; for many of these cells or chambers were found
empty.
The numerous useful purposes to which the common
oil of the whale and the spermaceti are applied, the
latter sometimes in medicine, and both in many of the
arts and in domestic economy, are to well known to
be particularly pointed out.
Ambergris.—This substance, the origin of which was Doubts d
long a matter of doubt and uncertainty among natu-pp>n1011 f
ralists, is now pretty well ascertained to be the pro-lts01lc
duction of some of the cetaceous tribe of animals. By
some it was supposed to be the excrement of the whale,
and by others, that it was the dung of birds. Ac¬
cording to some, it is composed of honey and wax,
consolidated by the heat of the sun and the action of
sea water; while, in the opinion of others, it is a bitu¬
minous substance, which flows fronx the bowels of the
earth into the waters of the ocean, where it becomes
hard and firm. fp;
But, in the opinion of later naturalists, it is a sub-Thepr
stance which has an origin and formation similar to that^^
of musk, and is a production of the spermaceti whale.macctj
This opinion has been rendered moi'e probable by the
same substance having been found in some whales of
this species, and particularly in one which came on
shore on the coast of Bayonne in Fx-ance, in I741, -^n
the latter it was found in rounded masses from three
to 12 inches in diametex*, which weighed from i j lb.
to 20lb. It was contained in an oval bag from three
to four feet long, and from two to three feet broad,
which was suspended immediately above the testicles.
This bag terminated in two tubes, one of which be¬
coming narrower, reached to the penis ; the other pro¬
ceeded from the kidneys, and terminated in the other
extremity. The bag was almost entirely filled with a
yellow-coloured fluid, not quite so thick as oil, exhal¬
ing a similar but sti'onger odour than the masses of am¬
bergris which floated in it. Each mass was compos¬
ed of concentric layers. The number of masses found
in one bag never exceeded four. One was found
which weighed 2olb.; but there was no other in the
same bag. It has been supposed that the ambergris
is only found in old whales, and in the males. Some
naturalists think that this substance is an oily concre¬
tion
Cap. HI- C E T O
/ tomy t^011 which exhales the odour of the fluid in which it is
id formed; and that the bag which contains these fra-
p] ology. grant masses is the urinary bladder.
' But if this be the usual mode in which amber¬
gris is produced, it appears difficult to account for
the large masses which are found floating in the waters
of the ocean in different parts of the world, as among
the islands in the torrid zone, and in the Indian and
African seas.
According to the information collected by Dr Swe-
diaur, and which the reader will find more fully de¬
tailed under the word Ambergris, it appears that
it is generally considered by the New England fisher¬
men as a production of the spermaceti whale. Some¬
times they find it floating in the sea} and when this
happens they search for the whale, supposing that it
has been voided by this animal. Sometimes they
cut it out from a swelling or protuberance on the
belly of the dead whale. And from all the informa¬
tion which Dr Swediaur could obtain, he concludes,
that ambergris is generated in the bowels of the
spermaceti whale (P/iyseter Macrocep/ialus, Lin.), and
that it is there mixed with the beaks of the septa
octopodia, which is the principal food of this whale.
He therefore considers this substance to be the fieces
of the animal preternaturally indurated, mixed with
the indigestible relics of the food. See Amber¬
gris.
Later information has verified some part of the doc¬
tor’s opinion, as well as some of the conjectures of ear¬
lier naturalists. Mr Coffin, master of a ship employed
in the southern whale fishery, brought home, in the year
I79I> 362 ounces of ambergris taken from the body
of a female spermaceti whale on the coast of Guinea.
Part was found floating in the sea, and part was seen
coming from the anus while the people were employ¬
ed in cutting up the blubber. More was found in the
intestines, and the rest in a bag communicating with
them. This whale was lean, sickly, and old, and yield¬
ed but a small proportion of oil. When the spermaceti
whale is struck, she generally voids her excrement 5
and, if she does not, it is conjectured that she has no
ambergris. Mr Coffin supposes, that the production
of this substance is either the cause or the effect of
some disease, as he thinks it is most likely to be
found in sickly fish, as was the case with the fish which
yielded him so large a quantity. Perhaps it may be
j/S
St >sed
to in-
<5i ed
fit .
» 57
8 ibly 1
P rna-
sub-
e.
L as a
He.
found by future and more accurate investigation to be
a natural production of the animal, secreted to answer
some important purpose in its economy ; and that it is
preternaturally increased in quantity, either by the
excessive or the diminished action of the vital powers
in age or disease, and then it is excreted, or discovered
iu the body of the fish after death.
Ambergris is one of the most fragrant perfumes $
and for this purpose, it is chiefly employed in this as
well as in most other countries. In Asia, and in some
parts of Afica, it is also used in medicine and cookery.
It is bought up in considerable quantities by the pil¬
grims who traval to Mecca, by whom it is supposed to
he used in fumigations in religious ceremonies, in the
same manner as the burning frankincense or other
fragrant perfumes makes part of the religious rites of
other countries.
Vol. V. Part I. -j.
LOGY. „ 353
Chap. III. Of the Whale Fishery. Fishery.
Nothing, perhaps, displays in a more striking man- p 199 .
ner the power and dexterity of man than the facility manYn0sub-
and success with which he conquers and destroys tbeduingthe
most enormous and the most formidable of the animated largest ani-
productions of nature. The elephant and the whale, raals*
the largest animals known, the one seemingly secure
in the midst of the huge icy mountains of the polar
regions, and the other roaming at pleasure in the al¬
most inaccessible wilds and deep woods of the torrid
zone, yield to his power, or fall beneath his all-subduing
arm. Ihe swiftest and the most ferocious, as well as
the most sagacious, and the most cunning and artful,
escape not the toils and snares which he contrives,
or the deadly aim of the instruments of his inven¬
tion.
Whether man was originally urged by necessity, as
is most probable, to attack so huge a monster as the
whale, or whether it was indirectly to gratify the arti¬
ficial demands of luxury that he first attempted and
still continues to persevere in an occupation so full of
of danger and fatigue, it must be allowed to be one of
the boldest and most daring enterprises that can be con¬
ceived. And indeed were it not quite familiar to us,
we should still behold with dread and astonishment so
feeble a creature as man preparing to attack this mon¬
ster of the deep, whose strength, were it properly di¬
rected, no power could resist j nor would our wonder
be diminished, when we find that he seldom fails to
succeed in the attempt. But knowledge is power j and
the triumphs of intellectual power are equally conspi¬
cuous, in accommodating the most unwieldy and most
unmanageable parts either of the inanimate or ani¬
mated creation to the supply and gratification of hu¬
man wants and desires, in guiding through the track¬
less ocean the ship from which the spear is launched
for the destruction of the whale, or in digging from the
bowels of the earth the metal with which the compass
and the harpoon are constructed.  
O 1 11 • 1 • 200
bo early as the pth century, in the time of Alfred Norwegi-
the Great, it appears that the Norwegians were ac-ans fir*4
quainted1 with the whale fishing. This prince received ac.<Vlal1,.*e<^
an account of the discoveries of a Norwegian about^gj^ery **
the North Cape, in which he speaks of his having been
as far north as the places to which the whale-hunters
resort; which is considered as a proof of its antiquity j* Ander-
although it is supposed that it was pursued merely 0n*07>’B^s**
account of the oil, the use of the whalebone not being 0^QCom7n*
then known *. ** ^or
But the people who are recorded in history as hav-Biscayans
ing prosecuted this fishery with success, were the Bis-most ex*
cayans. The spermaceti whale, as well as the whale-pert’
bone whale, were at that time frequently seen in these
latitudes. The first attempts were made in the bay of
Biscay, and in the gull of Gascony. Ships were fitted
out, instruments were constructed, and an establish¬
ment was formed for carrying on the fishery. It was
observed that the whale only appeared at certain sea¬
sons of the year, which led the new fishers to suppose
that his residence in other seas was more perma¬
nent. And discovering that they retreated towards
the polar regions, ships were fitted out and maimed
y y with
354
Whale
Fishery.
C E T O
with the most experxenceil seamen, to pursue them
northward. At this time the Biscayans carried on
this trade, both for the sake of the oil and the whale¬
bone.
Towards the end of the 16th century, the English
first engaged in the whale fishery. But at this time
they were so little acquainted with it, that “ the re¬
quest of an honest merchant, by letter to a friend of
bis, to be advised and directed in the course of killing
the whale,” is recorded by the historians of that age.
The answer was, that a ship of two hundred tons must
be fitted out, and provided with all kinds of proper
utensils and instruments. But it appears to have been
necessary to send to JBiskaie for men skilful in catching
the whale and ordering of the oil, and one cooper skill¬
ful to set up the staved cask.
In the year 1594, some English ships made a voy¬
age to Cape Breton, at the entrance of the bay of St
Larvrence, some for the morse fishing, and others for
the whale fishing. This seems to have been among
Whalebone their first attempts in this trade. The fishing proved
unsuccessful} but they found in an island 800 whale
fins or whalebone, part of the cargo of a Biscayan ship
wrecked there three years before, which they put on
board and brought home. This was the first time
that this substance was imported into England.
The town of Hull, in 1598, first fitted out ships from
England for the Greenland whale fishery, a branch of
trade which has since become very considerable, and
has frequently received the protection and encourage¬
ment of the legislature. A premium of six shillings
for each ton of oil, and five shillings for each ton of
whalebone, was at first granted by government in
1672. But this encouragement appearing insufficient
for the success of the fishery, or the enterprise being
considered too great for the stock of individuals, a
company was incorporated in 1692, and established by
established, royal authority, with peculiar privileges. Their capi¬
tal amounted to 40,000!. sterling. The subscriptions
in a few years increased to 82,000!. sterling j but in
1701 the company was dissolved, and the trade made
free to all adventurers.
The English were now become the most successful
adventurers in this fishery. By their skill, their indus¬
try, and perseverance, and the aid and encouragement
granted by the legislature, they carried on the whale
fishery on more advantageous terms than the Biscayans,
the first adventurers, whose efforts became less enter¬
prising, as their success was more precarious. In the
year 1730, they fitted out for this fishery only 33 ships 5
about the year 1735, the number was diminished to
ten or twrelve $ and continuing to decrease till the war
in 1744? the trade was finally abandoned.
The English still persevered in the trade, a new
company was establishad, and a fund of 50,000k sterling
was provided, with power to the company to make all
necessary and proper regulations. And for the farther
encouragement of the fishery, a duty of 17k or 18k
sterling was imposed on the ton of all oil imported,
and a premium or bounty, to the same amount, was paid
for every ton of oil exported which was the produce
Fishery en-of the national fishery. Other encouragements wrere
couraged. a]so given; rewards were bestowed on the most suc¬
cessful j the sailors employed in the trade were ex¬
empted from the impress service j adventurers were in-
2
Hakluyt's
Voyage,
424.
2G3
lirst intro
duced
204
Ships fitted
out from
Hull.
205
Premium
granted.
206
Company
237
English
very sue
«essful.
208
New Eng.
iish Com.
paay.
209
LOGY. Chap. I (
demnified for all losses which they sustained in their first wha
enterprise 5 and they were granted the privilege of pro- Fisk
viding, duty free, all those articles which were needed '“—v'
in this fishery, and were the subjects of taxation.
Still farther to encourage and extend the fishery,
which now had become an important national concern,
parliament granted in 1779 a premium to five ships
which should bring home the greatest quantity of oil:
for the first greatest quantity, 500k sterling •, for the
next, 400k and for the third, fourth, and fifth, 300k
200k and look sterling. 2,J,
In North America, while that continent was subjectFiskiy
to Britain, the whale fishery was carried on to a very North
considerable extent. A society was established at Newmenca'
York, and numbers of ships were equipped for this
trade in different parts of the colonies, by enterprising
adventurers, and it has been long extremely successful
and lucrative.
The advantages derived to the nation from theAdvant
whale fishery, are no doubt very considerable. Be-gesofi
side being an excellent nursery for hardy seamen, it is^€ry>
the foundation of great commercial concerns, by in¬
troducing articles which become the sources of an im¬
portant trade. In this view it has often been an ob¬
ject of legislative discussion, and has often experienced
the liberal encouragement and protection of govern- JI3
ment. According to a law passed in favour of shipsRegUia
employed in this trade, every British vessel of 200lions,
tons or upwards, bound to the Greenland seas, on the
whale fishery, if found to be duly qualified agreeable
to the act, obtained a licence from the commissioners
of the customs to proceed on such voyage j and on the
ship’s return, the master and mate declaring on oath that
they were on such voyage, that they used all their en¬
deavours to take whales, and that all the whale-fins,
blubber, oil, &c. imported in their ship, were taken by
their crew in those seas, there was allowed 40s. for
every ton according to the admeasurement of the ship.
It was afterwards found, however, that so great a
bounty was neither necessary to the success of the
trade nor expedient with regard to the public. In
1786, therefore, the acts conferring the said emolu¬
ments being upon the point of expiring, the subject
was brought under the consideration of parliament j
and it was proposed to continue the former measures, jr
but with a reduction of the bounty from 40s. to 30s. state t
In proposing this alteration, it was stated, “ that thetheira^
sums which this country had paid in bounties for thein^nS
Greenland fishery amounted to 1,265,461k ; that, in
the last year, we had paid 94,858k $ and that, from
the consequent deduction of the price of the fish, the
public at present paid 60 per cent, upon every cargo.
In the Greenland fishery there were employed 6000 sea¬
men, and these seamen cost government 13k 10s. per
man per annum, though we were never able to obtain
more than 500 of that number to serve on board our
ships of war. Besides, the vast encouragement given
to the trade had occasioned such a glut in the market,
that it was found necessary to export considerable
quantities ; and thus we paid a large share of the pur¬
chase money, for foreign nations, as well as for our own
people, besides supplying them with the materials of
several important manufactures.” This proposition
was opposed by several members, but was finally car¬
ried) and the propriety of the measure became very
soon
i mp. III. ^ E T O
Ie soon apparent. At that time (1786) the number of
Aery, ships employed from England in the whale fishery to
1 Davis straits artd the Greenland seas amounted to
139 ; besides 15 from Scotland. The proposed altera¬
tion took place the following year (1787) j and not¬
withstanding the diminution of the bounty, the trade
increased ; the number of ships employed the same year
from England amounting to 217, and the next year
(1788) to 222. Their cargoes consisted of 5989 tons
of clean oil j 7654 tons of whalebone, beside 13,386
seal skins.
J For some years British capital has been employed in
s le a southern whale fishery j and this has also been a very
l :ry> lucrative branch of trade. This fishery was first prose¬
cuted with vigour about the commencement of the
American war. In the year 1785, 18 ships which pro¬
duced 29,000!. sterling were employed in it. Two
years afterwards the number of ships was doubled, and
the returns increased in a much greater proportion,
which is a proof of the flourishing state of the trade.
The number of ships in 1787 was 38, and the produce
jij amounted to 107,000!. sterling.
led on Some American families, when the war broke out in
L*e"l*dthat country, emigrated to Nova Scotia, where they
proposed to carry on the whale fishery j but being dis-
1 ren( couraged from particular circumstances, on the invita¬
tion of the honourable Mr Greville, they settled at
Milford in Milford Haven, and fitted out a ship, which
had a very successful voyage. The number of ships
soon increased to four, and at present (1803), that num¬
ber is doubled, so that 8 ships are now employed in the
southern whale fishery from this port, with a capital
afloat of no less than 8o,oool. sterling. This fact is
stated by Mr Barrow in his Travels in Southern Africa ;
and “ I mention it (says he), as a striking instance
to show the importance of the South sea fishery, and
as a proof that, contrary to the generally received
opinion, it may be carried on with skill and manage¬
ment, and without the adventitious aid of trading, so
as fully to answer the purpose of those who are proper¬
ly qualified to embark in the undertaking. For where
men, by industry in their profession, rise from small
beginnings into affluence, such profession may be fol¬
lowed with a greater certainty of success than many
others which appear to hold out more seducing pros¬
pects. The American fishermen never set out with a
capital, but invariably work themselves into one; and
the South sea fishery from England may succeed on the
same principle, as the above example clearly shews,
under every disadvantage, when properly conducted.
t;a]]y “ It is difficult to point out the grounds of justice or
aurag* policy in giving tonnage bounties to the Greenland
fishery, and only premiums to successful adventurers in
the southern fishery. A voyage to Greenland is four
months, the outfit of which is covered by the tonnage
bounty, and if wholly unsuccessful, the same ship can
make a second voyage the same year to some of the
ports of the Baltic. A voyage to the South sea is from
12 to 18 months, and must depend solely on the success
in fishing. A Greenland ship sets out on a small capi-
tal, and builds on a quick return ; but a South sea wha¬
ler must expend a very considerable capital in making
an outfit, for which he can reckon on no returns for at
least 18 months. Flence the usual practice of sending
them out in the double capacity of fishers and contraband
LOGY. 355
traders, in order that the loses they may sustain by ill whale
success in fishing may be made good by smuggling. Fishery.
“ If by extending the fishery we should be enabled "v*"—
to supply the continent of Europe, two objects should
never be out of the view of the legislature—the ex¬
emption from duty of all the produce of the fisheries,
and particulaidy spermaceti, which, if manufactured
into candles, and subject only to the same duty as
tallow candles, would produce much more to the re¬
venue than when taxed as it now is, as wax. I have
heard it asserted that the extension of the premium
system, by doubling its present amount, which never
could exceed 30,000!. a-year, would be adequate en¬
couragement to supply the home-market with sperma¬
ceti and black whale oil, and that the bonding of
foreign oil in Great Britain would throw the whole
agency of American fishery on England with greater
advantage to both countries than by any other system. 217
“But when we consider that the home market is ne-Fape of
cessarily secured to British subjects by high duties on^00^ H°pe
foreign oil, we should also consider that every means en^Juion
to lessen the charges of outfit should strengthen our
adventure in this lucrative branch of trade. Among
others that would seem to have this tendency, are the
facilities that might be afforded by the happy position
of the Cape of Good Hope. If at this station was
established a kind of central depot for the southern
whale-fishery, it might, in time, be the means of throw¬
ing into our hands exclusively the supply of Europe
with spermaceti oil. To the protection of the fisheries
on the east and west coasts of southern Africa, the
Cape is fully competent, and the fisheries on these
coasts would be equally undisturbed in war as in peace.
From hence they would, at all times, have an oppor¬
tunity of acquiring a supply of refreshments for their
crews, and of laying in a stock of salt provisions at
one-fourth part of the expence of carrying them out
from England.” 21j
The Dutch were very early engaged in the Green- Dutch
land whale-fishery, which soon became one of the most early en-
important objects of their trade. In 1611 a comPany
was.established at Amsterdam for carrying on the1,1,5 8 e r'
whale-fishery on the coasts of Spitzbergen and Nova
Zembla. This branch of ti*ade has in general suc¬
ceeded better with the Dutch than with any other
nation. The principal reason which has been assigned
for this success is the greater economy and frugality of
this people, in this as in all their concerns, by which
they are able to undersell others in oil and whale¬
bone. The mode of fitting out all their ships is also
mentioned as a cause of their prosperity in this fishery.
The ship-builder, the rope-maker, the baker, the brew¬
er, and other tradesmen, employed in fitting out these
ships, commonly take a share in the voyage. When
it proves fortunate, they are double gainers j but when
it is unsuccessful, the loss which they sustain is proba¬
bly not greater than if they had merely furnished the
articles without having a chance of the profit 5 and in
this respect have the advantage of mere merchants. It
is observed by De Witt that this fishery, since it fell
into the hands of individuals, has seldom f ded to be
profitable ; but while it was monopolized by the
Dutch Greenland company, the profit was inconsider- 2iv)
able. Some idea may be formed of the extent to Extent of
which the Dutch have carried this trade, by stating tiu:ir fish-
Y y 2 thatery*
35<5
Whale
Fishery.
220
Ships em¬
ployed,
and pro¬
duce of it,
from i£)6i
to
C E T O
that for a period of 46 years preceding the year 1722,
5886 ships were employed in it, and in this period
they took 32,907 whales. Each whale, at an average,
valued at makes the total amount above 16 mil¬
lions sterling.
T. he following table affords at one view a brief re¬
cord of the Dutch whale fishery from 1661 to 1788.
I he number of ships employed for each year, and the
number of whales taken, are stated in separate columns.
A LIST of the Number of Ships from Holland,
which were employed in the Greenland and Davis
Straits Whale Fishery since 1661.
N. B. The Dutch sent Ships to Davis Straits for
the first time in 1719.
Tears Ships. Fish [Tears! Ships
1661
1662
1663
1664
1663
1666
1667
1668
1669
1670
1 671
1672
^73
*674
*675
^76
*677
1678
1679
1680
1681
1682
1683
1684
1685
1686
1687
1688
1689
1690
1691
1692
1693
1694
*695
1696
1697
1698
*699
1700
1701
1702
l7°3
1704
I7°5
1706
1707
133
149
202
J93
1
452t
862
93
782
War with
England, no
Ships out.
I5S
133
148
158
I
573
10134
792
10884-
War with
England, no
Ships out.
147
I45
I45
120
126
15l
I75
195
242
233
209
189
194
214
160
117
l
32
90
63
97
122
I3I
J39
I73
208
224
107
130
J57
I5I
131
9004
182%
785t
11184
792
I373
876
I444
l33*v
^53^
1283x7
6644
6214
34°i
24Ii
785
war with
France
^64-
J75
161
187^
428
I279
775i
9137
20714-
6&7t\
644
65 2|
1678
9664-
126
1708
1709
1710
17 11
1712
l7'3
1714
1715
1716
1717
1718
1719
1720
1721
1722
r723
1724
1725
1726
1727
1728
1729
I73°
1731
1732
x733
J734
1735
1736
'731
1738
1739
I74°
1741
1742
!743
1744
!745
1746
1747
1748
749
75°
'75'
'75*
'753
I754
122
126
J37
"7
108
93
108
'34
'S3
'79
'39
21 ^
228
260
254
233
232
226
218
202
182
184
186
164
176
184
186
185
'9'
196
'95
192
187
178
'73
185
187
184
180
164
94
'57
j58
162,
'59
166
'7'
181
Fish.
192^
62
631
373t
237*
1291
6984
535
392t
2804
346
455^
733t
noif
3'4
358
S3°i
244
4024
363^
2294
2484
2984
SMl-
3604
327
4964
857i
5°4a
472
7284
6654
3581-
937
[494
5684
1036
7764
2784
6194
59°i
33°t2
54^4
639#
672|f
7204
LOGY.
Years Ships. Fish.
Chap,
i7J6
1757
x759
1760
1761
1762
x763
1764
x765
1766
1767
1768
'769
1770
'77'
1772
186
180
'59
'55
x54
161
'£>5
161
167
i65
160
x52
*50
'5°
'3'
5684
423^
37'i
464
454
357*
l89l
224
•477
1894
'79r
6ocf
x 127
523
x43t
7684
Years Ships, Fish.
x773
1774
1775
1776
1777
1778
'779
1780
1781
1782
x783
1784
1785
1786
1787
1788
I34
130
129
123
116
in
xo5
82
7 War
yiand,
55
62
65
67
67
69
444f
450
x05
5°9
4274
306*
1684
476
with Eng
110 ships ou
33°
198
300
479
2395-
190
vih
Fhht
This table is interesting, as it shews us the precari¬
ous nature of this fishery. But it would have been
still more valuable, if some other circumstances had
been stated, such as the nature of the seasons when the
fishery was less successful} whether the preceding win¬
ter was unusually long or severe 5 whether the short
summer of these regions was not remarkable for ex¬
tremes or sudden changes of heat and cold, sudden
changes and variations of the wind, the prevalence of
particular winds j or other facts which might enable us
to trace the causes of the extraordinary failure and suc¬
cess of the fishery. m
The French made an attempt to revive this branch Attemp
of trade in 1784. Six ships fitted out at Dunkirk attheFre
the expence of the late king, made some successfult0 ieY''•
voyages both in the northern and southern whale fish¬
ery. rlhe advantages of the trade were obvious, and
the French government was eager to improve them.
In the year 1786, some of the inhabitants of the island
of Nantucket, near Halifax in North America, were
invited to settle at Dunkirk to carry on the fishery.
Several families accepted the invitation, and to en¬
courage them to pi-osecute the trade, they were per¬
mitted to enjoy peculiar privileges and immunities.
Ships were sent out to different seas, and had prosper¬
ous voyages. But this trade, as well as every other
branch of French commerce, has probably been com¬
pletely interrupted by the late revolution, and the par¬
ticular circumstances in which that nation has been
with regard to foreign powei'S.
Besides the nations which we have mentioned, who Other u
have been most deeply concerned in this fishery, theb°Dse,1
inhabitants of other countries have also embarked in it.£a£e 'n
Some ships were equipped at Embden in 1768 by order
of the king of Prussia $ the Swedish government in
1774 granted to a company established at Gottenburgh
the exclusive privilege of the Davis straits and Green¬
land fishery for 20 years ; and Denmark in 1775 at¬
tempted to take a share in the benefits of that fishery,
which many of the nations of Europe, more enterpris¬
ing or more industrious, had long successfully enjoyed
on the shores of the Danish dominions. ^
The whale fishery commences in May. It is about Time of *
this time that the whales ai’e seen in great numbers fishery*
between
wp. HI. C E T O
..)mle between the 76th and yptli degrees of north latitude ;
slieiy. and at a distance they exhibit the appearance of the
’V~' smoke rising from the chimneys of a great town by the
water which is thrown into the air by their spouting or
blowing. The fishery continues for the months of June
and July, when it must be abandoned whether it has
been successful or unprosperous $ because it is neces¬
sary to be clear of the ice by the end of August. The
ships return home at farthest in the month of Septem¬
ber. But if the fishery happen to begin early in May,
and prove abundant, they sometimes return in June or
July.
115 We shall now conclude this article with a short ac-
le count of the difi’erent modes that are practised in taking
deb'16 ^ie The following is employed in the Green-
opeans, land fishery by Europeans. Every ship is provided
with six boats, to each of which belong six men for
rowing the boat, and a harpooner, whose business it is
to strike the whale with his harpoon. Two of these
boats are kept constantly on the watch at some di¬
stance from the ship, fastened to pieces of ice, and
are relieved by others every four hours. As soon as a
whale is perceived, both the beats set out in pursuit of
it, and if either of them can come up before the whale
finally descends, which is known by his throwing up
his tail, the harpooner discharges his harpoon at him.
There is no difficulty in choosing the place where the
whale is to be struck, as some have asserted : for these
animals only come up to die surface in order to breathe,
or blowy as the fishermen term it, and therefore al¬
ways keep the soft and vulnerable part of their bodies
above water. A late improvement was made in the
method of discharging the harpoon j namely, by shoot¬
ing it out of a kind of swivel or musquetoou : but it
does not appear, that since this improvement was made
the whale fishing ships have had better success than be¬
fore. As soon as the whale is struck, the men set up
one of their oars in the middle of the boat as a signal
to those in the ship. On perceiving this, the watchman
alarms all the rest with the cry ot fall! fall! upon which
all the other boats are immediately sent out to the as¬
sistance of the first.
The whale .finding himself wounded, swims off with
prodigious velocity. Sometimes he descends perpendi¬
cularly, and sometimes goes off horizontally at a small
depth below the surface. The rope which is fastened
to the harpoon is about 200 fathoms long, and pro¬
perly coiled up, that it may freely be given out as
there is a demand for it. At first the velocity with
which this line runs over the side of the boat is so
great, that it is wetted to prevent its taking fire : but
in a short time the strength of the whale begins to fail,
and the fishermen, instead of letting out more rope,
strive as much as possible to pull back what is given
out already, although they always find themselves ne¬
cessitated to yield at last to the efforts of the animal,
to prevent its sinking the boat. If be runs out the
200 fathoms of line contained in one boat, that be¬
longing to another is immediately fastened to the end
of the first, and so on ; and there have been instances
"where all the rope belonging to the six boats has been
necessary, though half that quantity is seldom requir¬
ed. The whale cannot stay long below water, but
again comes up to blow; and being now much fati¬
gued and wounded, stays longer above water than
logy. 357
usual. This gives another boat time to come up with 'Whale
him, and he is again struck with a harpoon. He Fishery,
again descends, but with less force than before \ and
when he comes up again, is generally incapable of de¬
scending, but suffers himself to be wounded and killed
with long lances which the men are provided with for
that purpose. He is known to be near death when he
spouts up the water deeply tinged with blood.
The whale being dead, is lashed alongside the ship.
They then lay it on one side, and put twm ropes, one
at the head, and the other in the place of the tail,
which, together with the fins, is struck off as soon
as he is taken, to keep these extremities above water.
On the off-side of the whale are two boats, to receive
the pieces of fat, utensils, and men, that might other¬
wise fall into the water on that side. These precau¬
tions being taken, three or four men, with irons at
their feet to prevent slipping, get on the whale, and
begin to cut out pieces of about three feet thick and
eight long, which are hauled up at the capstan or
windlass. When the fat is all got off, they cut off the
whalebone of the upper jaw with an axe. Before they
cut, they are all lashed to keep them firm ; which also
facilitates the cutting, and prevents them from falling
into the sea j when on board, five or six of them are
bundled together, and properly stowed j and after all
is got off, the carcase is turned adrift, and devoured
by the white bears, who are very fond of it. In pro¬
portion as the large pieces of fat are cut off, the rest
of the crew are employed in slicing them smaller, and
picking out all the lean. When this is prepared, they
stow it under the deck, where it lies till the fat of all
the whales taken during the fishery is on board ; then
cutting it still smaller, they put it up in tubs in the
hold, cramming them full and close. At the end of
the season they return home, where the fat is boiled
and pressed to give out the oil.
But a different method is practised by the rude in-the pco*
habitants of the different nations on the coasts of the pie of
Frozen ocean. On some parts of the sea coasts of^amtschat-
Kamtschatka, the return of the fishing season is cele-^a*
brated with a grand festival and great rejoicings in
their subterraneous winter habitations, in which many
superstitious ceremonies are performed. In one part
of the ceremonies dogs are sacrificed with beating of
drums and other rude musical instruments. The priests
who attend and conduct the festival, transport with
great solemnity and pomp a figure of a whale, made of
wood, from the summer habitation to the winter cot- 227
tage. As the ceremonies proceed, the whole company Their pre¬
assembled shout with a great noise, that the whale has V!0US cere“
made its escape from the cottage to the sea j and they pre- ‘ ‘ ’
tend even to show the traces of the whale, in its course,
as if it had really made its way through the opening
in the cottage. These ceremonies being ended, the
men prepare their nets, and embark in their canoes.
The nets are set at the openings of bays, where fish,
which are the food of the whale, are abundant, and in
the pursuit of which entering the bays he is taken.
When this is observed by the people in the canoes,
they approach and secure their prize with ropes and
straps of leather. This event is again celebrated by
their wives and children on shore with dancing, sing¬
ing, and other demonstrations of joy. But after the
whale is sufficiently secured, he is not brought on,
shores
35S C E T O
Whale- shore till another ceremony is performed. They put
Fishery, on their best clothes, and with similar solemnity, trans-
» * port the image of the whale in wood from the w’inter
to a new summer habitation. A lamp is there lighted
up, and an attendant is appointed to watch and keep
it burning from the spring to the autumn. The whale
is then cut up, and furnishes for a long time what is
considered by the natives of those regions a very deli-
tsS cate food.
By the Among the Kurile islands, which are situated near
the^Kurde ^ie sout^ern extremity of the peninsula of Kamtschatka,
islands'.11 6 ^ie whales are most abundant about the beginning of
autumn. At that time the inhabitants embark in their
canoes, and search for them in places where they ge¬
nerally find them asleep on the surface of the water.
When they are so fortunate as to find one in this situ¬
ation, they approach with the least possible noise 5 and,
when they have come within the proper distance, they
pierce him with poisoned arrows. And although these
wounds seem extremely slight, they are said in a short
time to occasion great pain. The whale thus wounded
moves about furiously, blows with great violence, and
22p soon dies.
Of Iceland. We have already mentioned the mode of taking the
whale which is practised by the Icelanders, in giving
the natural history of the balcena glacialis, or Iceland
whale. It is, according to Anderson, by throwing blood
into the sea, when they get between the whale and the
shore. They then endeavour to drive him towards the
shore ; but the whale finding himself pursued, attempts
to regain the ocean, and approaching the blood, is a-
larmed ; and rather than swim across it, returns to¬
wards the land, where he is often thrown on shore. But
this is contradicted by Horrebow, who says, that the
usual method of killing the whale in Iceland is with the
„30 harpoon.
Of Green- When the whale returns to the coasts of Greenland,
land. the fishermen put on their large skin coats, and furnish
themselves with a large knife, and a stone to sharpen
it. They provide also harpoons, spears, and arrows,
with a number of large skins of the sea-dog inflated.
Thus equipped, they launch their canoes, and embark
with their wives and children. The harpoon which
they generally employ is pointed with bone, or a sharp
stone. Some indeed have harpoons of iron, which they
procure from the Danes by barter for the oil or fat of
the whale. The scarcity of wood and iron makes these
articles extremely valuable to Greenlanders, and has
excited their ingenuity to avoid the risk of losing them.
For this purpose an inflated bladder of the skin of the
sea-dog is attached to the harpoon, so that in case it
should not reach the whale when they attempt to strike,
it may float on the water, and be recovered. Thus
equipped they launch out into the ocean in their small
canoes, and, with great intrepidity, attack the largest
whales. They approach them, says Anderson, with
astonishing boldness, and endeavour to fix, by means
of their harpoon, which they throw at his bodv, some of
the skins inflated with air. For, notwithstanding the
enormous bulk of this animal, twro or three of these
skins, by the resistance which they make to the water,
on account of their diminished specific gravity, greatly
impede his attempts at plunging into the deep. Having
by this means succeeded in arresting his progress, they
approach nearer $ and, with their lances, pierce his
Whal<
Fisher
331
LOGY. Chap, ij
body, till he become languid and feeble with the loss of
blood, and at last dies. The fishermen then plunge in¬
to the sea with their skin-jackets filled with air, and
swim to their prize ; and, floating on the surface of the
water, they cut off with their knives from every part of
the whale the fat or blubber, which is thrown into the
canoes. And, notwithstanding the rudeness and imper¬
fection of their instruments, their dexterity is such, that
they can extract from the mouth the greatest, or at
least the best part of the whalebone.
But the mode of fishing the whale, the boldest andAstonisi;
most astonishing, is that which is practised by the In-in8'mod
diaps on the coast of Florida. When a whale appears,
they fasten to their bodies two pieces of wood and adians.
mallet 3 and these instruments, with their canoe, con¬
stitute the whole of their fishing equipage. When they
approach the whale, they throw themselves into the
water, swim directly towards him, and have the address
to get upon his neck, taking care to avoid the stroke of
his fins or tail. When the whale first spouts, the In¬
dian introduces one of the pieces, of wood into the open¬
ing of one of the blow-holes, and drives it home with
the mallet. The whale thus attacked, instantly plunges,
and carries the Indian along with him, who keeps fast
hold of the animal. The whale, which has now only
one blow-hole, soon returns to the surface of the water
to respire : and, if the Indian succeeds in fixing the
other piece of wood into the second blow-hole, the whale
again descends to the bottom, but a moment after re¬
appears on the surface, where he remains motionless,
and immediately expires by the interruption of the func¬
tion of respiration.
EXPLANATION OF PLATES.
432
Plate CXL.—Fig. I. The large whalebone or Green- Plates e
land whale, is from 40 to 60 feet long, and more thanP,a'ne<*'
one half the length in circumference at the thickest
part. This whale is taken on account of the oil and the
whalebone.
Fig. 2. The narhwal or unicorn-fish, yields a small
quantity of oil, but it is said to be of a superior quality.
The horns dr teeth are much valued, and are in some
respects preferable to ivory. They are from 9 to 10
feet long. The flesh is greatly esteemed by the inha¬
bitants of Greenland.
Fig. 3. The large spermaceti whale, which is taken
on account of the oil, and also on account of the more
valuable substance, spermaceti, which is found chiefly
in cells within the skull. The figure here given is ta¬
ken from one of the 31 which came on shore in 1784,
near Audierne in France. The length was 44 feet.
Fig. 4. The grampus. This figure was taken from
one caught at the mouth of the Thames in 1759. ^
was 24 feet long.
Plate CXLI.—Fig. 1. and 2. exhibit a view of the
course of the blow-hole in the cetaceous fishes.
Fig. 1. shews the blow-hole of the whalebone and
spermaceti whale. In the whalebone whale it is dou¬
ble, and the course of it is marked by the dotted line
ABCD. It is single in the spermaceti whale, and
marked by the dotted lines AEFD.
Fig. 2. shews that of the monodon and delphinus.
That of the monodon, which is single, is shewn by the
dotted line ABCD, terminating at the back part of
the
A. IVilsjn Sail}?.
.
9
CETOLOGY.
PLATE CXLT
Fuf. 1.
hlowhole of tztk wuajijbojs e a\rn Spermaceti whale.
AWilson sculp?
jap. III. C E T O
Thale *,ea^ ’ an^ t^ie C^ass ^e^P^'nus ty the dotted
.heiy. line AEFD, terminating at the top of the head.
y > Fig. 3. A perpentlicular section of several plates of
whalebone in their natural situation in the gum. The
inner edges or shortest terminations are removed, and
the cut edges seen from the inside of the snout. A,
the upper part, shews the distance of the plates from
each other. C, the lower part, shews the white sub¬
stance on which they grow, and the basis on which they
stand.
Fig. 4. A side view of one of the plates of whale¬
bone. A, the part which projects beyond the gum,
B, the portion which is sunk in the gum. CC, a
white substance which surrounds the whalebone, form¬
ing there a projecting bead, and also passing between
the plates to form their external lamellae. DD, the part
LOGY. 3S9
analogous to the gum. E, a fleshy substance covering 'Whale
the jaw-bone, on which the inner lamella of the plate , Fishery..
is formed. F, the termination of the whalebone in the ’ r
hair.
Fig. 5. An outline to shew the mode of growth of
the plates, and of the white intermediate substance.
A, the middle layer of the plate, which is formed upon
a pulp or cone that passes up in the centre of the plate.
The termination of this layer forms the hair. B, one of
the outer layers, which is formed from the intermediate
white substance. CCCC, the intermediate white sub¬
stance, the laminse of which are continued along the
middle layer, and form the substance of the plate of
whalebone. D, the outline of another plate of whale¬
bone. E, the basis on which the plates are formed
which adheres to the jaw-bone.
INDEX.
A.
?£ of the whale,
ibergris,
\atomy of whales,
rangement by Ray and Willoughby,
by Linnseus,
by Pennant,
made a different class,
B.
N° 189
194
98
2
itena, Class I. 14
general characters, 16
Mysticetus,
characters, 17
description, 18
whalebone, 20
size, 27
food, 29
dimensions, 31
Glacialis,
characters, 32
description, 33
curious mode of taking, 34
Physalus,
characters, 3 5
description, 36
Nodosa,
description, 40
Gibbosa,
description, 42
Boops, 44
Musculus, 46
Bostrata, co
Wer, 139
ood, 142
wv-holeS) 130
ubber, I p0
head, 106
neck and back, 107
. ^s, 109
j -2
G.
te) word limited in signification, 10
Circulation,
Classes, four,
D.
Delphinus, Class IV.
general character,
Phocsena,
Delphis,
Tursio,
Orca,
Gladiator,
Eeueas,
Bidentatus,
Butskopf,
Feres,
Diaphragm,
Digestion, organs of,
Dolphin,
fabulous history,
E.
Excretion, organs of,
. F.
Fat,
Fins,
Food of the whale,
G.
Generation, organs of,
Grampus,
Heart,
Intestines,
Kidneys,
Laiynx,
Liver,
Lungs,
Mamma;,
Milk, rich,
Monodon, Class II.
generic characters,
H.
I.
K.
L.
M.
N° 146
14
75
77
82
85
87
89
91
93
95
97
49
27
81
83
139
190
in
169
161, 163
86
140
128
138
146
*35
147
167
53
Monodon Monoceros N° 55
uses,. 57
magnificent throne of the
bones, 58
Spurius, 60
Muscles, 124
N.
Narhwal, 53—60
Nerves, 155
P.
Pancreas,
Physeter, Class III.
generic characters,
Macrocephalus,
Catodon,
Trumpo,
Cylindricus,
Microps,
Mular,
Physiology,
Porpoise,
S.
136
61
63
65
67
70
72
74
98
76
Skin, 122
Spermaceti whale, large, 62
Small, 64
of New England, 66
Round, 69
Black-headed, 71
Mular, 73
Spermaceti, 192
supposed to be indurated
faeces, 19^
probably a preternatural
substance, 197
used as a perfume, 198
Spinal marrow, I54
Spleen, *37
Stomach, &c. *28, 134
SeTWe of touch, *56
taste, I57
smelling, 158
hearing, 159
Sense
36°
Sense of seeing,
Sucking, mode of,
Teeth,
T.
U.
N° 160
166
112-114
14
6
Unicorn-fish, 53~6°
Ureters, 139
W.
Whales, Classification,
natural history important,
but deficient, 7
organs of digestion, 127
of circulation and re¬
spiration, x 140
of generation, 161
food, size, abode, 169
Greenland or large whale¬
bone, 17
Iceland, 32
Fin-fish, 35
Humpback, 39
Scrag, 41
Pike-headed, 43
Hound-lipped, 46
Piked, 49
Bottle-nose, ' 81
C E T O L O G
Whale, fiottle-headed, N° 94
enemies of, 184-188
affection for young, 168
one young at a birth, 164
Whalebone, peculiar substance, &c. 155
hair, 120
first introduced, s 203
Whale-fishery,
Norwegians first acquainted
with the, 200
Biscayans most expert in, 201
English first engaged in, 202
ships fitted out from Hull, 204
premium granted for, 205
company established, 206
English very successful in, 207
New English company, 208
encouraged, 209
in North America, 210
advantages of the, 211
regulations of, 212
state of the trade in Eng¬
land, 213
Southern, 214
carried on by Americans
settled in Milford Haven, 215
Y. Inde
Whale-fishery, partially encouraged,N°i
Cape of Good Hope a con¬
venient station for, 2
Dutch early engaged in, 2
extent of their, 2
ships employed and pro-
« duce of it from 1661
to 1788, 220,2
Attempt of the French to
revive, 2
other nations engage in, 2
time of the, 2
mode practised by the Eu¬
ropeans, 2
by the people of Kamts-
schatka, j
their previous ceremo¬
nies, 2
by the people of the Ku¬
rile islands, 2
of Iceland, 2
of Greenland, 2
astonishing mode by the
Floridan Indians, 2
C E U
C E Y
Cette CETTE, a maritime town of France, in Languedoc,
II seated at the place where the canal of Languedoc be-
Ccuta* gins, between Montpelier and Agde, on the bay of Ma-
guelona, in the Mediterranean sea. Population in 1815,
8000. E. Long. 3. 15. N. Lat. 43. 25.
CETUS, in Astronomy, the whale $ a large constel¬
lation of the southern hemisphere, under Pisces, and
next the water'of Aquarius. The stars in the constel¬
lation Cetus, in Ptolemy’s catalogue, are twenty-two j
in Tycho’s twenty-one ; in Hevelius’s forty-five j in the
Britannic catalogue ninety-seven.
Cetus is represented by the poets as the sea monster
which'Neptune, at the suit of the nymphs, sent to de¬
vour Andromeda for the pride of her mother, and which
was killed by Perseus. In the mandible of Cetus is a
variable star which appears and disappears periodical¬
ly, passing through the several degrees of magnitude,
both increasing and diminishing, in about 523 days.
See Astronomy.
CEYA, a strong town of Piedmont in Italy, seated
on the river Tanero, with a strong fort, and contain¬
ing 5000 inhabitants. E. Long. 3. 8. N. Lat. 44. 20.
CEVENNES, mountains of Languedoc in France,
remarkable for the frequent meetings of the Protestants
there as a place of security against the tyranny of their
governors. In Queen Anne’s reign there was an at¬
tempt made to assist them by an English fleet in the
Mediterranean \ but to no purpose, for the French had
occupied the passages.
CEUTA, a maritime town of Barbary in Africa,
and in the kingdom of Fez, seated on the straits of
Gibraltar, opposite that place, in W. Long. 6. 25. N.
Lat. 36. 35. John king of Portugal took it from the
Moors in 1415, but it now belongs to Spain. In 1697 Ceun
it sustained a vigorous siege by the Moors. Ccyloi
CEYLON, a large island in the East Indies, which
lies between 6° and 10° north latitude : and between
78° and 82° east longitude. It is situated at the en¬
trance of the bay of Bengal, by which it is bounded on
the north. On the north-west it is separated from the
Coromandel coast by the gulf of Manaar, a narrow
strait full of shoals, and impassable by large ships j
and is distant about 60 leagues from Cape Comorin,
the southern part of the peninsula of India. Its cir¬
cumference is computed to be about 900 miles ; and its
length from Point Pedro at the northern extremity to
Donderhead at the southern is about 300 miles. Its
breadth is very unequal, being in some parts only from
40 to 50 miles, while in others it extends to 60, 70,
and even 100.
The appearance of the eastern coast is bold and
rocky, and a few reefs of rocks run out into the sea on
the south-east between Point de Galle and Batocolo.
The deep water on the eastern shores admits the ap¬
proach of the largest vessels in safety ; and if that side
of the island be the least fertile, its other defects are
amply compensated by the harbours of Trincomalee and
Batocolo. The north and north-west coast from Pofnt
Pedro to Columbo is flat, and everywhere indented
yvith inlets of the sea. The largest of them extends
almost quite across the island from Mullipatti to Jafna-
patam on the north-west point of the island ; and forms
the peninsula of Jafnapatam. Several of these inlets
form small harbours.
The interior of the island abounds with steep and
lofty mountains, covered with thick forests, and lull
of
C E Y L 361 ] C E Y
y]oa. of almost impenetrable jungles. The woods and moun-
u y-—' tains completely surround the dominions of the king of
Candy, and seem destined by nature to defend him
against those foreign enemies, whose superior skill and
power have deprived him of the open tracts on the sea-
coast. The most lofty range of mountains divides the
island nearly into two parts, and so completely sepa¬
rates them from each other, that both the climate and
seasons on either side are essentially different. These
mountains also obstruct completely the effect of the
monsoons, which set in periodically from opposite sides
of them; so that not only the opposite sea-coast, but
the whole country in the interior, suffers very little
from these storms.
The monsoons in Ceylon are connected with those
on the Coromandel and Malabar coasts ; but they set
in much sooner on the western than the eastern side of
the island. On the west side, where Columbo lies, the
rains prevail in the months of May, June, and July,
the season when they are felt on the Malabar coast.
This monsoon is usually extremely violent, being ac¬
companied with dreadful storms of thunder and light¬
ning, together with vast torrents of rain, and violent
south-west winds. During its continuance, the north¬
ern parts of the island ai’e very little affected, and are
even generally dry. In the months of October and
November, when the opposite monsoon sets in on the
Coromandel coast, it is the north of Ceylon which is
affected, and scarcely any impression of it is felt in the
southern parts.
These monsoons pass slightly over the interior, and
seldom occasion any considerable inconvenience. But
this part of the island is not altogether freed from the
dreadful storms which so terribly ravage the tropical
climates. During its own periodical season, which
happens in March and April, the rain pours down in
torrents, and the thunder and lightning are terrible.
From the situation of this island, so near the equa¬
tor, the days and nights are nearly of equal length j
the variation during the two seasons not exceeding 15
minutes. The seasons are more regulated by the mon¬
soons than the course of the sun 5 for although the
island lies to the north of the line, the coolest season is
during the summer solstice, while the western monsoon
prevails. Their spring commences in October ; and
the hottest season is from January to the beginning of
April. The heat, during the day, is nearly the same
throughout the whole year; the rainy season, however,
renders the nights much cooler, from the dampness of
the earth, and the prevalence of winds during the
monsoons. The climate, upon the whole, is much
more temperate than on the continent of India. This
temperate climate, however, is chiefly confined to the
coast where the sea-breezes have room to circulate. In
the interior of the country, owing to the thick and
close woods, and the hills which crowd upon each
other, the heat is in many degrees greater than on the
sea-coast, and the climate often extremely sultry and
unhealthy.
The principal harbours in the island for large ships
are Trincomalee and Point de Galle j they also come
to anchor, and at certain seasons of the year moor se¬
curely, in the roads of Columbo. There are several
other inferior ports round the island, which afford shel¬
ter to the smaller coasting vessels.
Vol. V. Part I. f
The two principal rivers are the Malivagonga and Ceylon,
the Mulivaddy. The former takes its rise among the
hills to the south-east of Candy, and nearly surrounds
that city. After a variety of circuitous windings
among the mountains, it at last discharges itself into
the sea at Trincomalee. This river is so deep as to be
fordable only towards the source 5 but the rocks, which
everywhere break its course, prevent it from being na¬
vigated. The Mulivaddy rises from the foot of a
very high mountain, known to Europeans by the name
of Adam’s Peak, and situated about sixty miles to the
north-east of Columbo. This river falls into the sea
by several branches : the largest of these empties itself
about three miles from the fort of Columbo, after hav¬
ing nearly surrounded a large tract of the level coun¬
try, of which it forms a peninsula.
Besides the rivers with which Ceylon abounds, there
are many lakes and canals communicating with them,
particularly in the neighbourhood of Columbo and Ni-
gumbo. They are often of considerable extent, and
of great utility to the inhabitants in their neighbour¬
hood, who have thus an opportunity of readily trans¬
porting their several articles of trade j and it is by
this means also that the towns on the coast are sup¬
plied with the greatest abundance of fresh-water fish.
The internal communications by land through the
island have scarcely passed the first stage of improve¬
ment. Along the sea-coasts indeed there are roads and
stations for travellers : but these roads are in many
places rugged and steep.
The soil in general is sandy, with a small mixture
of clay. In the south-west parts, particularly about
Columbo, there is a great deal of marshy ground, very
rich and productive. This tract, however, is chiefly
occupied with cinnamon plantations, and the rest of the
island, in its present state of cultivation, does not pro¬
duce a sufficient quantity of rice for the consumption
of its inhabitants.
Ceylon was originally divided into a number of dis¬
tinct petty kingdoms, separated by the several rivers
and mountains which are dispersed over the face of the
island, and subject each to its own independent sove¬
reign. In process of time, however, the whole coun¬
try was reduced under the dominion of the king of
Candy, and divided by him into a few great provinces,
from which several of the numerous titles he still re¬
tains were derived. These provinces were Candy,
Coitu, Matura, Dambadar, and Sittivacca, which in¬
cluded the rich districts on the west coast. The chief
of these provinces was Candy, situated in the centre of
the island, and honoured with the royal residence.
The king holds his court there to this day j and though
all the other provinces have been more or less en¬
croached upon, no part of Candy has ever been reduced
to permanent subjection under a foreign power. The
great divisions of the island now are reduced to two ;
the one comprehending those parts under the dominion
of Europeans, and the other those which still remain to
the natives.
Little was known of the island of Ceylon previous
to the arrival of the Portuguese in 1505, who were ad¬
mitted by the king of the country in a friendly manner,
and received from him an annual tribute for their pro¬
tection against external invasion, particularly against
the attacks of the Arabs, who had long harassed and
Z z oppressed
Ceylon.
C E Y
oppressed the Ceylonese. T^he inhabitants
time, as at present, consisted of two distinct races, the
Bedahs, who lived in the forests, particularly in the
northern parts, and the Cinglese, who inhabited the
sea coast. Columbo, now the European capital at Cey¬
lon, was at that time the royal residence. Cinnamon
was even then the chief product and staple commodity
of the country. Two hundred and fifty thousand pounds
weight were annually delivered by the king to the I or-
tuguese in name of tribute. The inhabitants suffered
great cruelties and oppression under the Portuguese,
and were glad of an opportunity of throwing off the
yoke and putting themselves under the protection of
the Dutch. In 1632, a strong armament was sent out
by the latter to act in concert with the native prince j
and after a bloody struggle, the Portuguese were at
last expelled from the island. Columbo surrendered to
the Dutch arms in 1656, and this terminated the do¬
minion of the Portuguese in the island. In the jear
1795, the island was reduced by a body of British
troops. Subsequently to that period the native princes
in the interior have been subdued.
The chief towns in Ceylon are Trincomalee and
Columbo. Trincomalee lies in latitude 8° 30'. It
runs in a north-east direction along one branch of the
bay. The country around it is mountainous and
woody; the soil uncultivated and rather barren, and
the whole appearance wild.
Trincomalee, from its situation and construction, is
naturally strong. It occupies more ground than Co¬
lumbo, but contains a much smaller number of houses,
and those inferior in size and appearance to those which
are to be met with in several towns on the south-west
coast. The circumference of Trincomalee, within the
walls, is about three miles ; within this space is also
included a hill or rising point, immediately over the
sea, and covered with brushwood.
The fort is strong, and commands the principal
bays; and, in particular, the entrance into the grand
harbour, or inner bay, which affords at all seasons, and
in every variety of weather, a secure shelter to ships
of all descriptions, being land-locked on all sides, and
sufficiently deep and capacious to receive any number
of the largest vessels.
This harbour, iron its nature and situation, is that
which stamps Ceylon one of our mo'st valuable acquisi¬
tions in the East Indies. As soon as the violent mon¬
soons commence, every vessel which is caught by them
in any other part of the bay of Bengal, is obliged im¬
mediately to put to sea to prevent inevitable destruc¬
tion. At these seasons Trincomalee and Bombay
alone, of all the ports on the different coasts of the
peninsula of India, are capable of affording a safe
retreat. The incalculable advantages to be derived
from such a harbour, are increased by its proximity
and easy access to our settlements in the bay of Ben-
gal.
Columbo is the capital of Ceylon and the seat of go¬
vernment. Although Trincomalee, on account of its
situation and harbour, be of more consequence to this
nation to retain, yet Columbo in every other respect is
greatly superior. The number of its inhabitants is
much greater ; its fort and black town are much lar¬
ger ; the country where it is situated is far more fertile,
and the rich district depending upon it much wider,
[ 362 ] C E Y
at that being not less than 20 leagues in length, and 10 in
breadth. It is situated in the west, or rather towards
the south-west part of the island, in about 70 north la¬
titude and 78° east longitude from London.
The plan of Columbo is regular. It is nearly di¬
vided into four equal quarters by two principal streets,
which cross each other, and extend the whole length
of the town. To these, smaller ones run parallel,
with connecting lanes between them. At the foot of
the ramparts on the inside is a bi'oad street or way,
which goes round the whole fort, and communicates
with the bastions and soldiers barracks ; and also af¬
fords, at the different angles, open spaces for their pri¬
vate parading.
Besides the European inhabitants of Ceylon, the na¬
tives are quite distinct from each other in manners and
civilization. The Cinglese, who inhabit the low lands
and parts contiguous to the coasts, live entirely under
the dominion of whatever European nation has been
able to acquire possession of that part of the island.
The nature of the country they inhabit indeed leaves
them hardly any alternative but unconditional submis¬
sion, unless they could either meet the Europeans in
open battle, or consent to quit their plentiful fields for
the barren mountains of the interior.
They are a quiet, inoffensive people ; exceedingly
grave, temperate, and frugal. Their bodies partake
of the indolence of their minds, and it is with reluc¬
tance they are roused to any active exertion. "When,
however, they are obliged to apply themselves to any
work, such as agriculture, they are capable of under¬
going a great deal of labour.
The milder virtues form the most prominent features
of the Cinglese character. They are gentle, chari¬
table, and friendly, and have scarcely any of the false,
treacherous, and designing arts which are often found
among the Candians. With much less smoothness and
courteousness of face and manner than the latter, they
have much sincerer hearts. On examining the coun¬
tenances and carriage of these two classes of Ceylonese,
it is easy to perceive the difference arising from the re¬
spective circumstances in which they are placed. The
countenance of the Candian is erect, his look haughty,
his mein lofty, and his whole carriage marked by the
pride of independence.
The looks of the Cinglese even denote a degree of
effeminacy and cowardice, which excites the contempt
of the Candians; although the latter, with all their
boasted spirit, can never venture to attack an Euro¬
pean but by the same method as the Cinglese, and are
equally cautious in waiting the convenient moment of
assaulting him from the bushes, in which they have
concealed themselves.
The most singular part of the inhabitants of Ceylon
are the Bedahs or Vaddahs. The origin of the
Bedahs or Vaddahs, who inhabit the deepest re¬
cesses of the Ceylonese forests, has never been traced,
as no other race can be found in the eastern world
which corresponds with them. Conjecture has, indeed,
been busy on the occasion, as it usually is where real
information is wanting. The Bedahs are generally
supposed to have been the aboriginal inhabitants of the
island, who, upon being overwhelmed by their Cin¬
glese invaders, preferred the independence of savages
to a tame submission. A current tradition, how¬
ever,
Ceylo
C E Y [ 363 1 C E Y
don. ever, assigns them a different origin. It is related that
j y——' they were cast away on the island, and chose to settle
there •, but refusing, upon a certain occasion, to assist
the king in his wars against some foreign enemies, they
were driven out from the society of the natives, and
forced to take up their abode in the most unfrequented
forests. Some imagine that the Bedahs are merely a
part of the native Candians, who chose to retain their
ancient savage freedom, when their brethren of the
plains and valleys submitted to the cultivation of the
earth, and the restraints of society. This opinion rests
entirely on those Bedahs, who are most known, speak¬
ing a broken dialect of the Cinglese. It is, however,
by no means ascertained that this is the universal lan¬
guage of the Bedahs ; nor is any account of their origin
supported by the slightest shadow of proof. •
Among the animals of Ceylon, and at the head of
the class of quadrupeds, is the elephant, which is con¬
sidered as superior to those found in any other part of
the world. The oxen are of very small size, scarcely
exceeding that of calves of a year old. They are of
that species which have the hump on the shoulder j
but are inferior in quality, as well as in size, to any
found on the Indian continent. The beef is sometimes
of a good quality, and forms the chief food of the Eu¬
ropean soldiers. Buffaloes are found in great numbers
in the island, both in a wild and tame state. They
are wild and untractable } and even when tamed and
trained to the draught, for which, being stronger and
larger than the oxen, they are well adapted, they re¬
tain a good deal of their original manners. A variety
. of deer and elks are found in Ceylon j especially the
gazelle, a very small species, about the size of our hare,
which is caught by the natives and brought to market
in cages, where they are sold for about is. a piece.
Hares, similar to the European, abound in every part
of the island 5 a small species of tyger, the tyger cat,
the leopard, the jackal, porcupines, racoons, squirrels,
and sometimes, but rarely, the hyena, and the bear, are
found in Ceylon. Birds, insects, serpents, and other
reptiles, such as are usually to be met with in the larger
iilands of the Indian ocean, or on the neighbouring con¬
tinent, are common on this island.
Ceylon abounds in all the vegetables and fruits which
are found within the tropical regions. But among the
vegetable productions of Ceylon, the most valuable,
and what may be reckoned the staple commodity of the
island, is the cinnamon.
The principal woods, or gardens, as they are called,
where the cinnamon is procured, lie in the neighbour¬
hood of Columbo. The grand garden near the town
is so extensive as to occupy a tract of country from 10
to 15 miles in length, and stretching along from the
north-east to the south of the district. Nature has here
concentrated both the beauty and the riches of the
island. Nothing can be more delightful to the eye
than the prospect which stretches around Columbo.
The low cinnamon trees which cover the plain allow
the view to reach the groves of evergreens, inter-
spersed with tall clumps, and bounded everywhere with
extensive ranges of cocoa-nut and other large trees.
The whole is diversified with small lakes and green
marshes, skirted all around with rice and pasture fields.
In one part the intertwining cinnamon trees appear
completely to clothe the face of the plain ; in another,
the opening made by the intersecting footpaths just
serve to shew that the thick underwood has been pene- cevion,
trated. »-'v——
The soil best adapted for the growth of the cinna¬
mon is a loose white sand. Such is the soil of the cin¬
namon gardens around Columbo, as well as in many
parts around Nigumbo and Caltura, where this spice is
found of the same superior quality. Of late years little
is procured from the interior ; and what is brought
thence is coarser and thicker in the appeai'ance, and
of a hot pungent taste.
As this spice constitutes the wealth of Ceylon, great
pains are taken to ascertain its quality, and to propa¬
gate the choicest kinds. The prime sort, and that
which grows in the gardens around Columbo, is pro¬
cured from the laurus cinnamomum. This is a tree of
a small size, from four to ten feet in height: the trunk
is slender, and like several of our shrubs, a number of
branches and twigs shoot out from it on every side.
The wood is soft, light, and porous, in appearance
much resembling that of our osier 5 and when barked
it is chiefly fit for fuel, to which use it is commonly
converted. It is, however, sometimes sawed into planks,
and manufactured into caddies and other pieces of fur¬
niture } but its scent does not secure it from the attacks
of the worms.
The cinnamon tree produces a species of fruit re¬
sembling an acorn, but not so large, which ripens
about the latter end of autumn, and is gathered by the
natives for the purpose of extracting the oil. The
process they employ is to bruise the fruit, boil it, and
skim off the oil: this they use for their hair and body
on great occasions, and also for burning in their lamps.
When mixed with cocoa-nut oil, it gives extremely
good light. The kings of Candy use it for this pur¬
pose, and formerly commanded their subjects to bring
them a certain quantity as a yearly tribute. When
any ambassadors are sent to these princes, they always
burn this oil during the time of audience.
The pearl-fishery in the bay of Condatchy, during
the season, exhibits one of the most interesting scenes
in Ceylon. The banks, where it is carried on, ex¬
tend several miles along the coast from Manaar south¬
ward, off Arippo, Condatchy, and Pomparipo. The
principal bank is opposite to Condatchy, and lies out
at sea about 20 miles. The first step, previous to the
commencement of the fishery, is to have the different
oyster banks surveyed, the state of the oysters ascer¬
tained, and a report made on the subject to govern¬
ment. If it has been found that the quantity is suffi¬
cient, and that they are arrived at a proper degree of
/ maturity, the particular banks to be fished that year
are put up for sale to the highest bidder, and are usual¬
ly purchased by a black merchant. Government some¬
times judges it more advantageous to fish the banks on
its own account, and to dispose of the pearls afterwards
to the merchants. WThen this plan is adopted, boats
are hired for the season on account of government, from
different quarters; the price varies considerably, ac¬
cording to circumstances ; but is usually from 500 to
800 pagodas for each boat.
As neither the season, nor the convenience of the
persons attending, would permit the whole ot the banks
to be fished in one year, they are divided into three or
four different portions, which are fished one portion
annually in succession. The different portions are
completely distinct, and are set up separately to sale,
Z z 2 each
C E Y
Ceylon, each in the year in which it is to be fished.
V*""' means a sufficient interval is given to the oysters to at¬
tain their proper growth ; and as the portion first used
has generally recovered its maturity by the time the
last portion has been fished, the fishery becomes almost
regularly annual, and may thus be considered as yield¬
ing a yearly revenue. The oysters are supposed to at¬
tain their completest state of maturity in seven years ;
for, if left too long, it is said that the pearl becomes so
large and inconvenient to the fish, that it throws it out
of the shell.
The fishing season commences in February, and ends
about the beginning of April. The period allowed to
the merchant to fish the banks is six weeks, or two
months at the utmost; hut there are several interrup¬
tions, which prevent the fishing days from exceeding
more than about thirty. If it happens to be a very bad
season, and many stormy days intervene during the
period allotted, the purchaser of the fishery is often al¬
lowed a few days more as a favour.
1) uring the season, all the boats regularly sail and
return together. A signal gun is fired at Arippo,
about ten o’clock at night, when the whole fleet sets
sail with the land breeze. They reach the banks be¬
fore daybreak j and at sunrise commence fishing. In
this they continue busily occupied till the sea breeze,
which rises about noon, warns them to return to the
bay. As soon as they appear within sight, another
gun is fired, and the colours hoisted, to inform the
anxious owners of their return. When the boats come
to land, their cargoes are immediately taken out, as it
is necessary to have them completely unloaded before
night. Whatever may have been the success of their
boats, the owners seldom wear the looks of disappoint¬
ment ; for, although they may have been unsuccessful
one day, they look with the most complete assurance
of better fortune to the next j as the Brahmins and
conjurors, whom they implicitly trust in defiance of
all experience, understand too well the liberality of a
man in hopes of good fortune, not to promise them all
they can desire.
Each of the boats carries 20 men, with a tindal or
chief boatman, who acts as pilot. Ten of the men
row and assist the divers in re-ascending. The other
ten are divers $ they go down into the sea by five at a
time ; when the first five come up the other five go
down, and by this method of alternately diving, they
give each other time to recruit themselves for a fresh
plunge.
In order to accelerate the descent of the divers, large
stones are employed ; five of these are brought in each
boat for the purpose 5 they are of a reddish granite,
common in this country, and of a pyramidal shape,
round at top and bottom, with a hole perforated through
the smaller end sufficient to admit a rope. Some *of
the divers use a stone shaped like a half-moon, which
they, fasten round the belly when they mean to descend,
and thus keep their feet free.
The people are accustomed to dive from their very
infancy, and fearlessly descend to the bottom in from
four to ten feet fathom water, in search of the oy¬
sters. The diver, when he is about to plunge, seizes
the rope to which one of the stones we have described
is attached, with the toes of his right foot, while he
takes hold of a bag of net-work with those of his left j
it being customary among all the Indians to, use their
[ 364 ] c E Y .
By this toes in working or holding as well as their fingers, and
such is the power of habit that they can pick up even v
the smallest thing from the ground with their toes as
nimbly as an European could do with bis fingers. The
diver thus prepared, seizes another rope with his right
hand, and holding his nostrils shut with the left, plunges
into the water, and by the assistance of the stone
speedily reaches the bottom. He then hangs the net
round his neck, and with much dexterity, and all pos¬
sible dispatch, collects as many oysters as he can while
he is able to remain under water, which is usually about
two minutes. He then resumes his former position,
makes a signal to those above by pulling the rope in
his right hand, and is immediately by this means drawn
up and brought into the boat, leaving the stone to be
pulled up afterwards by the rope attached to it.
The exertion undergone during this process is so vio¬
lent, that upon being brought into the boat, the divers
discharge water from their mouth, ears, and nostrils,
and frequently even blood. But this does not binder
them from going down again in their turn. They will
often make from 40 to 5c plunges in one day *, and at
each plunge bring up about 100 oysters. Some rub
their bodies over with oil, and stuff their ears and noses
to prevent the water from entering 5 while others use
no precautions whatever. Although the usual time of
remaining under water does not much exceed two
minutes, vet there are instances known of divers who
could remain four and even five minutes. The longest
instance ever known was that of a diver who came from
Anjango in 1797, and who absolutely remained under
water full six minutes.
The boat-owners and merchants are very apt to lose
many of the best pearls while the boats are on their re¬
turn to the bay from the banks, as the oysters when
alive and left for some time undisturbed frequently
open their shells of their own accord y a pearl may
then be easily discovered, and the oyster prevented by
means of a bit of grass or soft wood from again closing
its shell, till an opportunity offers of picking out the
pearl. Those fellows who are employed to search
among the fish also commit many depredations, and
even swallow the pearls to conceal them} when this is
suspected, the plan followed by the merchants is to
lock the fellows up, and give them strong emetics and
purgatives, which have frequently the effect of discover¬
ing the stolen goods.
As soon as the oysters are taken out of the boats,
they are carried by the different people to whom they
belong, and placed in holes or pits dug in the ground
to the depth of about two feet, or in small square places
cleared and fenced round for the purpose j each person
having his own separate division. Mats are spread be¬
low them to prevent the oysters from touching the earth J
and here they are left to die and rot. i. As soon as they
have passed through a state of putrefaction, and have
become dry, they are easily opened without any danger
of injuring the pearls, which might be the case if they
were opened fresh, as at that time to do so requires
great force. On the shell being opened, the oyster is
minutely examined for the pearls : it is usual even to
boil the oyster, as the pearl, though commonly found in
the shell, is not unfrequently contained in the body of
the. fish itself.
The pearls found at this fishery are of a whiter co¬
lour than those got in the gulf of Ormus on the Ara.
bian
Ceylon
c E Y [365] C H A
|on. bian coast, but in other respects are not accounted so
> 'pure or of such an excellent quality; for though the
white pearls are most esteemed in Europe, the natives
prefer those of a yellowish or golden cast. Off Tutu-
coreen, which lies on the Coromandel coast, nearly
opposite to Condatchy, there is another fishery ; but
the pearls found there are much inferior to the two
species now mentioned, being tainted with a blue or
grayish tinge.
In preparing the pearls, particularly in drilling and
stringing them, the black people are wonderfully ex¬
pert, The instrument they employ in drilling is a ma¬
chine made of wood, and of a shape resembling an ob¬
tuse inverted cone, about six inches in length, and four
in breadth, which is supported upon three feet, each 12
inches long. In the upper flat surface of this machine,
holes or pits are formed to receive the larger pearls,
the smaller ones being beaten in with a little wooden
hammer. The drilling instruments are spindles of va¬
rious sizes according to that of the pearls ; they are
turned round in a wooden head by means of a bow-
handle to which they are attached. The pearls being
placed in the pits which we have already mentioned,
and the point of the spindle adjusted to them, the work¬
man presses on the wooden head of the machine with
his left hand, while his right is employed in turning-
round the bow-handle. During the process of dril¬
ling, he occasionally moistens the pearl by dipping the
little finger of his right hand in a cocoa-nut filled with
water, which is placed by him for that purpose ; this
he does with a dexterity and quickness which scarcely
impedes the operation, and can only be acquired by
much practice.
They have also a variety of other instruments, both
for cutting and drilling the pearls. To clean, round,
and polish them to that state in which we see them, a
powder made of the pearls themselves is employed.
These different operations in preparing the pearls oc-
cupy a great number of the black men in various parts
of the island. In the black town of Columbo, iu par¬
ticular, many of them may every day be seen at this
work.
Putallom is remarkable for its salt-pans. This place,
before the arrival of Europeans on the island, supplied
the natives with salt; and on account of its convenient
situation, was pitched upon by the Dutch for manu¬
facturing the salt with which they supplied the king of
Candy’s dominions, according to the articles of their
treaty with him. The salt-pans are formed by an arm
of the sea which overflows part of the country between
Putallom and Calpenteen. A very large quantity of
salt was manufactured here by the Dutch ; they look¬
ed upon it as of the highest importance to their in¬
terests in the island, and the most formidable weapon
which it was in their power to employ against the na¬
tive king, as it was impossible for him to procure any
but through their means. The Dutch enacted severe
laws to prevent individuals from manufacturing or trad-
ing in this article, the government taking upon itself
the management of the works and the care of supply¬
ing both its own subjects and the Candians. In order
to keep a constant check on the latter, the Dutch were
careful not to allow them too great a quantity at once ;
»iid whatever remained at Putallom after supplying the
uemands of each year they destroyed, that it might not
be seized upon by surprise. But this manufacture has Ceylon
been of late greatly neglected. See Ceylon, Sup- jj
PLEMENT. Cbasronea.
CHACE. See Chase.
CHACO, a large country of South America, situa¬
ted between 190 and 370 S. Lat. It belongs to the
Spaniards, by whom it was conquered in 1536. It is
not naturally fruitful ; but abounds in gold mines, which
are so much the more valuable that they are easily
worked. The works are carried on by about 8000
blacks, who deliver every day to their masters a cer¬
tain quantity ol gold ; and what they can collect
above this belongs to themselves; as well as what
they find on those days that are consecrated to religion
and rest, upon condition that during the festival they
maintain themselves. This enables many of them to
purchase their liberty ; after which they intermarry
with the Spaniards.
CHADCHOD, in Jewish antiquity. Ezekiel men¬
tions chadchod among the several merchandises which
were brought to Tyre. The old interpreters, not
very well knowing the meaning of this term, conti¬
nued it in their translation. St Jerome acknowledges
that he could not discover the interpretation of it.
The Chaldee interprets it pearls; others think that the
onyx, ruby, carbuncle, crystal, or diamond, is meant
bv it.
CHJERONEA ,in Ancient Geography, the last town;
or rather the last village, of Boeotia, towards Phocis;
the birth-place of Plutarch ; famous for the fatal defeat
of the confederate Greeks by Philip of Macedon. This
place was considered by Philip as well adapted to the
operations of the Macedonian phalanx ; and the ground
for his encampment, and afterwards the field of battle,
were chosen with equal sagacity; having in view on
one side a temple of Hercules, whom the Macedonians
regarded as the author of their royal house, and the
high protector of their fortune; and on the other the
banks of the Thermodoon, a small river flowing into
the Cephissus, announced by the oracles of Greece as
the destined scene of desolation and woe to their unhap¬
py country. The generals of the confederate Greeks
had been much less careful to avail themselves of the
powerful sanctions of superstition. Unrestrained by
inauspicious sacrifices, the Athenians had left the city
at the exhortation of Demosthenes, to wait no other
omen but the cause of their country. Regardless qi
oracles, they afterwards advanced to the ill-fated 1 her-
modoon, accompanied by the Thebans, and the scanty
reinforcements raised by the islands and states of Pelo¬
ponnesus which had joined their alliance. Their army
amounted to 30,000 men, animated by the noblest
cause for which men can fight, but commanded by the
Athenians Lysicles and Chares ; the first but little, and
the second unfavourably known ; and by Theagenes
the Theban, a person strongly suspected of treachery ;
all three creatures of cabal and tools of faction, slaves
of interest or voluptuousness, whose characters (espe¬
cially as they bad been appointed to command the only
states whose shame, rather than virtue, yet opposed the
public enemy) are alone sufficient to prove that Greece
wras ripe for ruin.
When the day approached for abolishing the totter¬
ing independence of those turbulent republics, which
their own internal vices, and the arms and intrigues of
Philip,
C H A [
Chserouea. Philip, had been gradually undermining for 22 years,
<—-v——' both armies formed in battle array before tiie rising of
the sun. The right wing of the Macedonians was
headed by Philip, who judged it proper to oppose in
person the dangerous fury of the Athenians. His son
Alexander, only 19 years of age, but surrounded by
experienced officers, commanded the left wing, which
faced the Sacred Band of the Thebans. 'I he auxi¬
liaries of either army were posted in the centre. In
the beginning of the action, the Athenians charged
with impetuosity, and repelled the opposing divisions
of the enemy j but the youthful ardour of Alexander
obliged the Thebans to retire, the Sacred Band being
cut down to a man. The young prince completed their
disorder, by pursuing the scattered multitude with his
Thessalian cavalry. /
Meantime the Athenian generals, too much elated
with their first advantage, lost the opportunity to im¬
prove it •, for having repelled the centre and right wing
of the Macedonians, except the phalanx, which was
composed ol chosen men, and immediately commanded
by the king, they, instead of attempting to break this
formidable body by attacking it in flank, pressed for¬
ward against the fugitives, the insolent Lysicles ex¬
claiming in vain triumph, “ Pursue, my brave country¬
men ! let us drive the cowards to Macedon.” Philip
observed this rash folly with contempt 5 and saying to
those round him, “ Our enemies know not how to con¬
quer,” commanded his phalanx, by a rapid evolution,
to gain an adjacent eminence, from which they poured
down, firm and collected, on the advancing Athenians,
whose confidence of success had rendered them totally
insensible to danger. But the irresistible shock of the
Macedonian spear converted their fury into despair.
Above a thousand fell, two thousand were taken pri¬
soners 5 the rest escaped by a precipitate and shameful
flight. Of the Thebans more were killed than taken.
Few of the confederates perished, as they had little
share in the action, and as Philip, perceiving his,vic¬
tory to be complete, gave orders to spare the vanquish¬
ed, with a clemency unusual in that age, and not less
honourable to his understanding than his heart j since
his humanity thus subdued the minds, and gained the
aflections of his conquered enemies.
According to the Grecian custom, the battle was
followed by an entertainment; at which the king, pre¬
siding in person, received the congratulations of his
friends, and the humble supplications of the Athenian
deputies, who craved the bodies of their slain. Their
request, which served as an acknowledgment of their
defeat, was readily granted ; but before they availed
themselves of the permission to carry off their dead,
Philip, who with his natural intemperance had pro¬
tracted the entertainment till morning, issued forth
with his licentious companions to visit the field of
battle ; their heads crowned with festive garlands, their
minds intoxicated with the insolence of wine and vic¬
tory } yet the sight of the slaughtered Thebans, which
first presented itself to their eyesj and particularly the
sacred band of friends and lovers, who lay covered with
honourable wounds on the spot where they had been
drawn up to fight, brought back these insolent specta¬
tors to the sentiments of reason and humanity. Philip
beheld the awful scene with a mixture of admiration
and pity $ and, after an affecting silence, denounced a
Chaff.
366 ] C H A
solemn curse against those who basely suspected the chteroi
friendship of such brave men to be tainted with crimi¬
nal and infamous passions.
But this serious temper of mind did not last long;
for having proceeded to that quarter of the field where
the Athenians had fought and fallen, the king aban¬
doned himself to all the levity and littleness of the most
petulant joy. Instead of being impressed with a deep
sense of his recent danger, and with dutiful gratitude
to Heaven for the happiness of his escape, and the
importance of his victory, Philip only compared the
boastful pretensions with the mean performances of
his Athenian enemies ; and, struck by this contrast, re¬
hearsed, with the insolent mockery of a buffoon, the
pompous declaration of war lately drawn up by the ar¬
dent patriotism and too sanguine hopes of Demos¬
thenes. It was on this occasion that the orator De-
mades at once rebuked the folly, and flattered the am¬
bition of Philip, by asking him, Why he assumed the
character of Thersites when fortune assigned him the
part of Agamemnon ?
Whatever might be the effect of this sharp reprimand,
it is certain that the king of Macedon indulged not, on
any future occasion, a vain triumph over the vanquish¬
ed. When advised by his generals to advance into At¬
tica, and to render himself master of Athens, he only
replied, “ Have I done so much for glory, and shall I
destroy the theatre of that glory ?” His subsequent
conduct corresponded with the moderation of this
sentiment. He restored without ransom the Athe¬
nian prisoners ; who, at departing, having demanded
their baggage, were also gratified in this particular;
the king pleasantly observing, that the Athenians
seemed to think he had not conquered them in earnest.
Soon afterwards he dispatched his son Alexander, and
Antipater, the most trusty of his ministers, to offer
them peace on such favourable terms as they had little
reason to expect. They were required to send depu¬
ties to the isthmus of Corinth, where, to adjust their
respective contingent of troops for the Persian expedi¬
tion, Philip purposed assembling early in the spring a
general convention of all the Grecian states : they were
ordered to surrender the isle of Samos, which actually
formed the principal station of their fleet, and the main
bulwark and defence of all their maritime or insular
possessions ; but they were allowed to enjoy, unmolest¬
ed, the Attic territory, with their hereditary form of
govfanment.
CHiEROPHYLLUM, Chervil. See Botany
Index.
CHiETODON. See Ichthyology Index. This
fish is a native of the East Indies, where it frequents
the sides of the sea and rivers in search of food; from
its singular manner of obtaining which it receives its
name. When it spies a fly sitting on the plants that
grow in shallow water, it swims to the distance of four,
five, or six feet ; and then, with a surprising dexterity,
it ejects out of its tubular mouth a single drop of wa¬
ter, which never fails striking the fly into the water,
where it soon becomes its prey.
CHAFF, in Husbandry, the husks of the corn, se¬
parated by screening or winnowing it. It signifies al¬
so the rind of corn, and straw cut small for the use of
cattle.
CHAFF-ctitter, a machine for making chaff to feed
horses.
c H A [367] C H A
I ff-
i «•
|10rses.—The advantages of an easy and expeditions
method of cutting straw into chaff, by an engine
which could be used by common labourers, have been
^ er^‘ long acknowledged j and various attempts have been
U’ made to bring such an engine to perfection. But the
objections to most of them have been their complicated
structure, their great price, and the noise they make in
working; all which incoveniences seem to have been
lately removed by an invention of Mr James Pike,
watchmaker at Newton Abbot in Devonshire. Of his
engine, which is of a simple and cheap construction,
the following description, and figure referred to, are
extracted from the Transactions of the Society of Arts,
for 1787.
The engine is fixed on a wooden frame, which is
supported with four legs, and on this frame is a box
for containing the straw, four feet six inches long,
and about ten inches broad j at one end is fixed across
the box two rollers inlaid with iron, in a diagonal line,
about an eighth of an inch above the surface $ on the
ends of these rollers are fixed two strong brass wheels,
which take one into the other. On one of these
wheels is a contract wheel, whose teeth take in a worm
on a large arbor; on the end of this arbor is fixed a
wooden wheel, two feet five inches diameter and three
inches thick; on the inside part of this wheel is fixed a
knife, and every revolution of the wheel the knife passes
before the end of the box and cuts the chaff, which is
brought forward between the rollers, which are about
two inches and a half asunder ; the straw is brought on
by the worm taking one tooth of the wheel every round
of the knife; the straw being so hard pressed between
the rollers, the knife cuts off the chaff with so great
ease, that 22 bushels can be cut within the hour, and
makes no more noise than is caused by the knife pass¬
ing through the chaff.
ite A is the box into which the straw is put* B, the
t XVII. Upper roller, with its diagonal projecting ribs of iron,
the whole moving by the revolution of the brass wheel
C on the axis of which it is fixed. jD, a brass wheel,
having upon it a face wheel, whose teeth take into the
endless screw on the arbor E, while the teeth on the
edge of this wheel enter between those on the edge of
the wheel C. On the axis of the wheel Z) is a roller,
with iron ribs similar to B, but hid within the box.
-E, the arbor, one of the ends of which being made
square and passing through a mortise in the centre of
the wooden wheel E, is fastened by a strong screw and
nut •, the other end of this arbor moves round in a hole
within the wooden block G. H, the knife, made fast
by screws to the wooden wheel F, and kept at the di¬
stance of nearly three quarters of an inch from it by
means of a strip of wood of that thickness, of the form
of the blade, and reaching to within an inch of the
edge. J, the handle mortised into the outside of the
wooden wheel F.
CHAFFER, in Zoology, a species of beetle. See
ScARABTEUS, ENTOMOLOGY Index.
CHAFFERCONNERS, in commerce, printed li¬
nens manufactured in the Great Mogul’s dominions.
They are imported by the way of Surat, and are of the
number of those linens prohibited in France.
CHAFFERY, in the iron works, the name of one
of the two principal forges. The other is called the
finery. When the iron has been brought at the fi¬
nery into what is called an ancony, or square mass, Chafferv
hammered into a bar in its middle, but with its two
ends rough, the business to be done at the chaffery is Chain.
the reducing the whole to the same shape, by hammer- ’V—
ing down these rough ends to the shape of the middle
part.
CHAI FINCH, the English name of a species of
Fringilla. See Ornithology Index.
CHAGRE, a fort of America, in the province of
Darien, at the mouth of a river of the same name. It
has been taken several times by the Buccaneers, and
last of all by Admiral Vernon in 1740. W. Long. 82.
7. N. Lat. 9. 50.
CHAIN (^Catena) a series of several rings or links,
fitted into one another.
There are chains of divers matters, sizes, forms, and
for divers uses,—Ports, rivers, streets, &c. are closed
with iron chains ; rebellious cities are punished by ta¬
king away their chains and barriers.
The arms of the kingdom of Navarre are, Chains
Or, in a field ofi Gules. The occasion hereof is refer¬
red to the kings of Spain leagued against the Moors j
who, having gained a celebrated victory against them
in 1212, in the distribution of the spoils the magnifi¬
cent tent of Miralmumin fell to the king of Navarre,
as being the first that broke and forced the chains
thereof.
A Gold Chain is one of the ornaments or badges of
the dignity of the chief magistrates of a city, as the
mayor of London, the provost and bailies of Edinburgh,
&c.-—Something like this obtained among the ancient
Gauls: the principal ornament of their persons in power
and authority was a gold chain, which they wore on all
occasions; and even in battle, to distinguish them from
the common soldiers.
Chain also denotes a kind of string, of twisted
wire j serving to hang watches, tweeser cases, and
other valuable toys upon. The invention of this piece
of curious work is owing to the English ; whence, in
foreign countries, it is denominated the English chain.
These chains are usually either of silver or gold, some
of gilt copper j the thread or wire of each kind to
be very fine.—For the fabric, or making of these
chains, a part of the wire is folded into little links of
an oval form ; the longest diameter about three lines;
the shortest one. These, after they have been exactly
soldered, are again folded into two ; and then bound
together or interwoven, by means of several other little
threads of the same thickness} some whereof, which
pass from one end to the other, imitate the warp of a
stuff; and the others, which pass transverse, the woof.
There are at least four thousand little links in a chain
of lour pendants ; which are by this means bound so
equally, and withal so firmly together, that the eye is
deceived, and takes the whole to consist of one entire
piece.
Chain is also a kind of measure in France, in the
trade of wood for fuel. There are chains for wood by
tale, for wood by the rope, for faggots, lor cleft wood,
and for round sticks. There are also chains for mea¬
suring the sheaves of all sorts ol corn, particularly with
regard to the payment of tithes ; for measuring pottles
of hay, and for measuring horses. All these are divid¬
ed into feet, inches, hands, &c. according to the use
they are designed for.
Chain,
C H A [ - 368 ] C H A
Chain. CHAIN, in surveying, is a measure, consisting of a
—— vj--h > certain number of links of iron wire, usually a hun¬
dred ; serving to take the dimensions of fields, Sec.
This is what Mersenne takes to be the arvipendium of
the ancients.
The chain is of various dimensions, as the length or
number of links varies : that commonly used in mea¬
suring land, called Gunter’s chain, is in length four
poles or perches j or sixty-six feet, or a hundred links $
each link being seven inches 1%%. Whence it is easy
to reduce any number of those links to feet, or any
number of feet to links.
This chain is entirely adapted to English measure 5
and its chief convenience is in finding readily the num¬
bers contained in a given field. Where the propor¬
tions of square feet and acres differ, the chain, to have
the same advantage as Gunter’s chain, must also be
varied. Thus, in Scotland, the chain ought to be of
74 feet, or 24 Scotch ells, if no regard be had to the
difference between the Scotch and English foot $ but
if regard be had to this difference, the Scotch chain
ought to consist of 74^ English feet, or 74 feet four
inches and £ of an inch. This chain being divided
into an hundred links, each of these will be TcrWV
inches.
That ordinarily used for large distances, is in length
IOO feet j each link one foot. For small parcels, as
gardens, &c. is sometimes used a small chain of one
pole, or 16 feet and a half length $ each link one
inch t9oV
Some in lieu of chains use ropes; but these are
liable to several irregularities, both from the different
degrees of moisture, and of the force which stretches
them. Schwenterus, in his Practical Geometry, tetls
us, he has observed a rope sixteen feet long reduced
to fifteen in an hour’s time, by the mere falling of a
hoar-frost. To obviate these inconveniences, Wolfius
directs, that the little strands whereof the rope consists
be twisted contrariwise, and the rope dipped in boil¬
ing hot oil, and when dry, drawn through melted
wax. A rope thus prepared will not get or lose any
thing in length, even though kept under water all
day.
CuAiN-Pump. See Pump.
Chain-Shotf two bullets with a chain between them.
They are used at sea to shoot down yards or masts,
and to cut the shrouds or rigging of a ship.
Top Chain, on board a ship, a chain to sling the
sail yards in time of battle, in order to prevent them
from falling down when the ropes by which they are
hung happen to be shot away or rendered incapable of
service.
Plate Chain Wales, or Channels, of a ship, ( poi'teboissoirs,')
CXXXVII. are broad and thick planks projecting horizontally from
the ship’s outside, abreast of and somewhat behind the
masts. They are formed to extend the shrouds from
each other, and from the axis or middle line of the ship,
so as to give a greater security and support to the
masts, as well as to prevent the shrouds from damaging
the gunwale, or being hurt by rubbing against it. E-
very mast has its chain wales, which are either built
above and below the second deck ports in a ship of the
line j they are strongly connected to the side by knees,
bolts, and standards, besides being confined thereto by
3
the chains, whose upper ends pass through notches on cha
the outer edge of the chain wales, so as to unite with ||
the shrouds above. Clia
Chains, in Ship-Building, are strong links or plates V,'""Y
of iron, the lower ends of which are bolted through the
ship’s side to the timbers.
Hanging in Chains, a kind of punishment inflicted
on murderers. By stat. 25 Geo. II. c. 37. the judge
shall direct such to be executed on the next day but
one, unless Sunday intervene, and their bodies to be
delivered to the surgeons to be dissected and anato¬
mized •, and he may direct them ^afterwards to be hung
in chains. During the interval between sentence and
execution, the prisoner shall be kept alone, and sustain¬
ed only with bread and water. The judge, however,
hath power to respite the execution, and relax the
other restraints of the act.
Chain Island, an island lately discovered by Captain
Wallis in the South sea. It seemed to be about five
miles long and as much broad, lying in the direction
of north-west and south-east. It appeared to be a
double range of woody islands joined together by
reefs, so as to compose one island of an oval figure,
with a lake in the middle. The trees are large, and
from the smoke that issued from the woods, it ap¬
peared to be inhabited. W. Long. 145* 54*
17* 23*
CHAJOTLI, or Chayoti, a Mexican fruit of a
round shape, and similar in the husk with which it is
covered to the chesnut, but four or five times larger,
and of a much deeper green colour. Its kernel is of
a greenish "white, and has a large stone in the middle,
which is white, and like it in substance. It is boiled,
and the stone eaten with it. This fruit is produced by
a twining perennial plant, the root of which is also good
to eat.
CHAIR {Cathedra), was anciently used for the
pulpit, or suggestum, whence the priest spoke to the
people.
It is still applied to the place where professors and
regents in universities deliver their lectures, and teach
the sciences to their pupils j thus, we say, the professor’s
chair, the doctor’s chair, &c.
Curule Chair, was an ivory seat placed on a car,
wherein were seated the prime magistrates of Rome,
and those to whom the honour of a triumph had been
granted.
Sedan Chair, a vehicle supported by poles, wherein
persons are carried $ borne by two men. There are
200 chairs allowed by act of parliament j and no person
is obliged to pay for a hackney chair more than the rate
allowed by the act for a hackney coach driven two-third
parts of the said distance. 9 Ann. c. 23. § 8. Their
number is since increased by 10 Ann. c. 19. and 12
Geo. I. c. 12. to 400. See Hackney Coaches.
Chair is also applied by the Romanists to certain
feasts, held anciently in commemoration of the trans¬
lation of the see, or seat, of the vicarage of Christ, by
St Peter.
The perforated chair, wherein the new elected pope
is placed, F. Mabillon observes, is to be seen at
Rome ; but the origin thereof he does not attribute,
as is commonly done, to the adventure of Pope
Joan j but says there is a mystery in it j and it is in¬
tended,
lit
I 11
e co
IT.
C H A [ 369 ] C H A
tended, forsooth, to explain to the pope those words only ones of any value ; they are found in vast abund-
of Scripture, that God draws the poor from out of the
■ dust and mire.
^ CHAIRMAN, the president, or speaker of an
assembly, company, &c. We say, the chairman of a
committee, &c.
CHAISE, a sort of light open chariot, or calash.
Aurelius Victor relates, that Trajan first introduced
the use of post-chaises 5 but the invention is generally
ascribed to Augustus; and was probably only improved
by Trajan and succeeding emperors.
CHALAZA, among naturalists, a white knotty sort
of a string at each end of an egg, formed of a plexus
of the fibres of the membranes, whereby the yolk and
white are connected together.
CHALCAS. See Botany Index.
CHALCEDON, or Calcedon, anciently known by
the names otProcerastis and Colbusa; a city of Bithynia,
situated at the mouth of the Euxine, on the north ex¬
tremity of the Thracian Bosphorus, over against Byzan¬
tium. Pliny, Strabo, and Tacitus, call it The city of
the Blind; alluding to the answer which the Pythian
Apollo gave to the founders of Byzantium, who, con¬
sulting the oracle relative to a place where to build a
city, were directed to choose that spot, which lay op¬
posite “ to the habitation of the blind f that is, as was
then understood, to Chalcedon 5 the Chalcedonians well
deserving that epithet for having built their city in a
barren and sandy soil, without seeing that advantageous
and pleasant spot on the opposite shore, which the By¬
zantines afterwards chose.—Chalcedon, in the Christian
times, became famous on account of the council which
was held there against Eutyches. The emperor Valens
caused the walls of this city to be levelled with the
ground, for siding with Procopius, and the materials
to be conveyed to Constantinople, where they were
employed in building the famous Valentinian aqueduct.
Chalcedon is at present a poor place, known to the
Greeks by its ancient name, and to the Turks by that
of Cadiaci, or “ the Judges’ Town.”
CHALCEDONY, in Natural History, a genus of
the semipellucid gems. They are of an even and re¬
gular, not tabulated structure j of a semi-opaque cry¬
stalline basis, and variegated with different colours, but
those ever disposed in form of mists or clouds, and, if
nicely examined, found to be owing to an admixture
of various coloured earths, but imperfectly blended in
the mass, and often visible in distinct moleculse. It has
been doubted by some whether the ancients were at all
acquainted with the stone we call chalcedony ; they hav¬
ing described a Chalcedonian carbuncle and emerald,
neither ot which can at all agree with the characters of
our stone j but we are to consider that they have also
described a Chalcedonian jasper, which seems to have
been the very same stone as they describe by the word
turbida, which extremely well agrees with our chalce¬
dony.
There are four known species of the chalcedony.
1* bluish white one. This is the most common of
* !» and is found in the shape of our Hints and pebbles,
in masses of two or three inches or more in diame¬
ter. It is of a whitish colour, with a faint cloud of
ue diffused all over it, but always in the greatest de¬
gree near the surface. This is a little less hard than
t e oriental onyx. The oriental chalcedonies are the
Vol. V. Part I. f
ance on the shores of rivers in all parts of the East In¬
dies, and frequently come over among the ballast of
the East India ships. They are common in Silesia and
Bohemia, and other parts of Europe also j but with
us are less hard, more opaque, and of very little va¬
lue. 2. The dull milky-veined chalcedony. This is
a stone of little value ; and is sometimes met with
among our lapidaries, who mistake it for a kind of ne¬
phritic stone. It is of a somewhat yellowish white or
cream colour, with a few milk-white veins. This is
principally found in New Spain. 3. The third is a
brownish, black, dull, and cloudy one, known to the
ancients by the name of smoky jasper, or jaspis capni-
tis. This is the least beautiful stone of all the class :
it is of a pale brownish white, clouded all over with a
blackish mist, as the common chalcedony is with a
blue. It is common both in the East and West In¬
dies, and in Germany j but is very little valued, and
is seldom worked into any thing better than the han¬
dles of knives. 4. The yellow and red chalcedony is
greatly superior to all the rest in beauty ; and is in
great repute in Italy, though very little known among
us. It is naturally composed of an admixture of red
and yellow only, on a clouded crystalline basis ; but is
sometimes found blended with the matter of common
chalcedony, and then is mixed with blue. It is all 0-
ver of the misty hue of the common chalcedony. This
is found only in the East Indies, and there not plenti¬
fully. The Italians make it into beads, and call these
cassidonies; but they are not determinate in the use
of the word, but call beads of several of the agates
by the same name. All the chalcedonies readily give
fire with steel, and make no effervescence with aqua¬
fortis.
CHALCIDENE, or Chalcidice, in Ancient Geo¬
graphy, an inland country of Syria, having Antiochia
or Seleucia to the west, Cyrrhestica to the north, to
the south Apamene and Coelosyria, and to the east
Chalybonites j being so called from its principal city
Chalcis. This province, one of the most fruitful in
Syria, was seized by Ptolemy the son of Mennaeus,
during the troubles of Syria, and by him made a sepa¬
rate kingdom. Ptolemy himself is styled by Jose¬
phus and Hegesippus only prince of Chalcis, but his
son Lysanias is honoured both by Josephus and Dio
with the title of king. Upon the death of Antiochus
Dionysius king of Syria, Ptolemy attempted to make
himself master of Damascus and all Ccelosyria ; but
the inhabitants having an utter aversion to him on ac¬
count of his cruelty and wickedness, chose rather to
submit to Aretas king of Arabia, by whom Antiochus
and his whole army had been cut oft'. He opposed
Pompey on his entering Syria j but was by him de¬
feated, taken prisoner, and sentenced to death ; which,
however he escaped by paying a thousand talents, and
was left also in possession of his kingdom. After Ari-
stobulus king of Judea had been poisoned by the friends
of Pompey, and Alexander his son beheaded at Anti¬
och, he sent Philippion his son to Ascalon, whither the
widow of Aristobulus had retired with her other chil¬
dren, to bring them all to Chalcis 5 proposing, as he
was in love with one of the daughters named Alexan¬
dra, to maintain them in his own kingdom in a man¬
ner suitable to their rank ; but Philippion' likewise be-
3 A it!S
Chalce¬
dony,
Chalci-
dene.
C H A [ 370 ] C H A
CfcUeidene ing in l°ve Alexandra, married her on the way ;
|| for which presumption Ptolemy put him to death on
Clmh-oncly-hjg return, and then took her to wife. On account of
, las~ this affinity, he supported to the utmost of his power
v Antigonus the younger son of Aristobulus, who took
the field at the head of a considerable army, but on Jiis
entering Judea was entirely defeated by Herod. Pto¬
lemy soon after died, and was succeeded by his son Ly-
sanias, who, espousing the cause of the Asmonsean fa¬
mily with great warmth, promised to Barzapharnes
who commanded the Parthian troops in Syria, and to
Pacorus the king’s son, a thousand talents and five hun¬
dred w'omen, provided they should put Antigonus in
possession of the kingdom of Judea, and depose Hyr-
canus. He was not long after put to death by Mark
Antony, at the instigation of Cleopatra ; who, in or¬
der to have his dominions, accused him falsely of hav¬
ing entered into an alliance with the Parthians.
CHALCIDIC, Chalcidicum, or Chalcedoni-
um, in the ancient architecture, a large magnificent
hall belonging to a tribunal or court of justice. Fes-
tus savs, iftook its name from the city Chalcis j but
he does not give the reason. Philander will have it to
be the court or tribunal where affairs of money and
coinage were regulated j so called from brass,
and StKii, justice. Others say, the money was struck in
it ; and derive the word from and house.
In Vitruvius, it is used for the auditory of a basilica :
in others of the ancient writers for a hall or apartment
where the heathens imagined their gods to eat.
CHALCIDICE, in Ancient Geographj, an eastern
district of Macedonia, stretching northwards between
the Sinus Toronseus and Singiticus. Formerly a part
of Thrace, but invaded by Philip of Macedon. Na¬
med from the city Chalcis near Olynthus.
CHALCIDIUS, a famous Platonic philosopher in
the third century, who wrote a commentary, which
is esteemed, on the Timseus of Plato. This work has
been translated from the Greek into Latin.
CHALCIS, in Anciejit Geography, a city of Chalci-
dice. See Chalcidice. Another of iEtolia, near the
mouth of the river Evenus, on the Ionian sea, at the
foot of a cognominal mountain; and therefore called
by some Hypochalcis. Another of Euboea, (Strabo), on
the Euripus, the country of Lycophron the poet, one
of the seven which formed the constellation Pleiades.
Now Negroponte. E. Long. 24. 30. N. Lat. 38. 30.
A fourth, the capital of Chalcidene in Syria; di¬
stinguished by the name ad Belum, a mountain or a
river •, and ad Libanum, from its situation (Pliny).
CHALCITIS, one of the divisions or districts of
Mesopotamia, to the south of Anthemusia, the most
northern district, next to. Armenia, and situated be¬
tween Edessa and Carrae. Chalcitis (Pliny), an island
opposite to Chalcedon.
CHALCONDYLAS, Demetrius, a learned
Greek, born at Constantinople, left that city after its
being taken by the Turks, and afterwards taught
Greek in several cities in Italy. He composed a Greek
grammar; and died at Milan in 1513.
ChalconDYLAS, Laonicus, a famous Greek histo¬
rian of the 15th century, was born at Athens; and
wrote an excellent history of the Turks, from Otto¬
man, who reigned about the year 1300, to Mahomet II.
in 1453.
2
CHALDEA, in Ancient Geography, taken in a C})a,,
larger sense, included Babylonia ; as in the prophecies y
of Jeremiah and Ezekiel. In a restricted sense, it Chalj
denoted a province of Babylonia, towards Arabia '‘““Y-
Deserta; called in Scripture The land of the Chaldeans.
Named from dialed the fourth son of Nahor. See
Babylonia.
CHALDEE LANGUAGE, that spoken by the Chal¬
deans or people of Chaldea. It is a dialect of the
Hebrew.
Chaldee Paraphrase, in the rabbinical style, is
called Targum. There are three Chaldee paraphrases
in Walton’s Polyglot; viz. that of Onkelos, that of
Jonathan son of Uzziel, and that of Jerusalem.
CHALDRON, a dry English measure, consisting
of thirty-six bushels, heaped up according to the
sealed bushel kept at Guildhall, London ; but on ship¬
board, twenty-one chaldrons of coals are allowed to
the score. The chaldron should weigh two thousand
pounds.
CHALICE, the cup or vessel used to administer
the wrine in the sacrament, and by the Roman Catholics
in the mass.
The use of the chalice, or communicating in both
kinds, is by the church of Rome denied to the laity,
who communicate only in one kind, the clergy alone
being allowed the privilege of communicating in both
kinds.
CHALK {Greta'), is a white earth found plenti¬
fully in Britain, France, Norway, and other parts of
Europe, said to have been anciently dug chiefly in the
island of Crete, and thence to have received its name
of Greta. They have a very easy way of digging
chalk in the county of Kent in England. It is there
found on the sides of hills ; and the workmen under¬
mine it so far as appears proper; then digging a trench
at the top, as far distant from the edge as the under¬
mining goes at bottom, they fill this with water,
which soaks through in the space of a night, upon
which the whole flake falls down at once. In other
parts of the kingdom, chalk generally lies deeper, and
they are forced to dig for it at considerable depths,
and draw it up in buckets.
Chalk is of two kinds ; hard, dry, and firm, or soft
and unctuous ; both of which are adapted to various
purposes. The hard and dry kind is much the pro-
perest for burning into lime ; but the soft and unctuous
chalk is the best for using as a manure for lands. Chalk,
whether burnt into lime or not, is in some cases an ex¬
cellent manure.
Pure chalk melts easily with alkali and flint into a
transparent colourless glass. With alkaline salts it
melts somewhat more difficultly, and with borax som6-
wliat more easily than with flint or sand. It requires
about half its weight of borax and its whole weight
of alkali to fuse it. Sal mirabile, and sandiver, which
do not vitrify at all with the crystalline earths, form,
with half their weight of chalk, the first a yel¬
lowish black, the latter a greenish glass. Nitre, on
the other hand, one of the most active fluxes for flint,
does not perfectly vitrify with chalk. This earth
notably promotes the vitrification of flint; a mixture
of the two requiring less alkali than either of them
separately. If glass made from flint and alkali is
further saturated with the flint, so as to be incapable of
bearing
c H A [371] CHA
llkt bearing any further addition of that earth without be-
—' coming opaque and milky, it will still in a strong fire
take up a considerable proportion, one-third or one-
fourth ot its weight, of chalk, without injury to its
transparency : hence chalk is sometimes made use of in
compositions for glass, as a part of the salt may then
be spared. Chalk likewise has a great effect in melt¬
ing the stony matters intermixed with metallic ores,
and hence might be of use in smelting ores j as in¬
deed limestone is used for that purpose. But it is
remarkable, that chalk, when deprived of its fixed air,
and converted into limestone, loses much of its dispo¬
sition to vitrify. It is then found to melt very diffi¬
cultly and imperfectly, and to render the glass opaque
and milky.
Chalk readily imbibes water 5 and hence masses of
it are employed for drying precipitates, lakes, earthy
powders that have been levigated with water, and
other moist preparations. Its economical uses in clean¬
ing and polishing metalline or glass utensils are well
known. In this case it is powdered and washed from
any gritty matter it may contain, and is then called
wJiiting.-—In medicine it is one of the most useful ab¬
sorbents, and is to be looked upon simply as such. The
astringent virtues which some have attributed to it have
no foundation, unless in as far as the earth is saturated
with an acid, with which it composes a saline concrete
manifestly subastringent. For the further properties of
chalk, see Chemistry Index.
Black Chalk, a name given by painters to a species
of earth with which they draw on blue paper, &c.
It is found in pieces from two to ten feet long, and
from four inches to twenty in breadth, generally flat,
but somewhat rising in the middle, and thinner to¬
wards the edges, commonly lying in large quantities
together. While in the earth, it is moist and flaky:
but being dried, it becomes considerably hard and
very light, but always breaks in some particular di¬
rection j and if attentively examined when first broken,
appears of a striated texture. To the touch it is soft
and smooth, stains very freely, and by virtue of its
smoothness makes very neat marks. It is easily re¬
duced into an impalpable soft powder, without any
diminution of its blackness. In this state it mixes
easily with oil into a smooth paste; and being diffused
through water, it slowly settles in a black slimy or
muddy form $ properties which make its use very con¬
venient to the painters, both in oil and water colours.
It appears to be an earth quite different from common
chalk, and rather of the slaty bituminous kind. In
the fire it becomes white with a reddish cast, and very
friable, retaining its flaky structure, and looking much
like the white flaky masses which some sorts of pitcoal
leave in burning. Neither the chalk nor these ashes
are at all affected by acids.
The colour shops are supplied with this earth from
Italy or Germany j though some parts of England af¬
ford substances nearly, if not entirely, of the same qua¬
lity, and which are found to be equally serviceable
both for marking and as black^aints. Such particu¬
larly is the black earth called killow, said by I)r Mer-
ret, m his Pinax Rerum Rritannicarum, to be found in
Lancashire, and by Mr Da Costa, in his History of
Fossils, to be plentiful near the top of Cay-Avon, a
mgh hill in Merionethshire.
Red Chalk, an earth much used by painters and ar- Chalk
tificers, and common in the colour shops. It is pro- Challenge,
perly an indurated clayey ochre, and is dug in Ger- —v—
many, Italy, Spain, and France, but in greatest quan¬
tity in Flanders. It is of a fine, even, and firm tex¬
ture very heavy, and very hard j of a pale red on the
outside, but of a deep dusky chocolate colour within.
It adheres firmly to the tongue, is perfectly insipid to
the taste, and makes no effervescence with acids.
Chalk Land. Barley and wheat will succeed very
well on the better sort of chalky land, and oats gene¬
rally do well on any kind of it. The natural produce
of this sort ot land in weeds, is that sort of small vetch
called the tine-tare, with poppies, may-weed, &c. Sain-
foil and hope-clover will generally succeed tolerably
well on these lands j and where they are of a better
sort, the great clover will do. The best manure is
dung, old rags, and the sheep dung left after folding
them.
CnALK-Stones, in Medicine, signify the concretions
of calcareous matter in the hands and feet of people
violently afflicted with the gout. Leeuwenhoek has
been at the pains of examining these by the micro¬
scope. He divides them into three parts. The first
is composed of various small parcels of matter looking
like white grains of sand ; this is harder and drier, and
also whiter, than the rest. When examined with
large magnifiers, those are found to be composed of
oblong particles laid closely and evenly together:
though the whole small stones are opaque, these com¬
ponent parts of them are pellucid, and resemble pieces
of horse-hair cut short, only that they are somewhat
pointed at both ends. These are so extremely thin,
that Mr Leeuwenhoek computes that 1000 of them
placed together would not amount to the size of one
hair of our heads. The whole stones in this harder
part of the chalk are not composed of these particles,
but there are confusedly thrown in among them some
broken parts of other substances, and in a few places
some globules of blood and small remains of other
juices. The second kind of chalky matter is less hard
and less white than the former, and is composed of
fragments or irregular parts of those oblong bodies
which compose the first or hardest kind, and these are
mixed among tough and clear matter, and interspersed
with the small broken globules of blood discoverable
in the former, but in much greater quantity. The
third kind appears red to the naked eye ; and, when
examined with glasses, is found to be a more tough and
clammy white matter, in which a great number of
globules of blood are interspersed j these give it the
red appearance it has.
CHALLENGE, a cartel or invitation to a duel or
other combat *. A challenge either by word or let-*See Dm*/.
ter, or to be the bearer of such a challenge, is punish¬
able by fine and imprisonment on indictment or infor¬
mation.
Challenge, among hunters. When hounds or
beagles, at first finding the scent of their game, pre¬
sently open and cry, they are said to challenge.
Challenge, in the Law of England, is an excep¬
tion made to jurors f 5 and is either in civil or crimi-fSee the
nal cases.
I. In civil cases challenges are of two sorts $ chal-
lenges to the array, and challenges of the poll.
3 A 2 1. Challenges
C H A
Challenge. I. Challenges to the array are at once an exception
V—' to the whole panel, in which the jury are arrayed, or
set in order by the sheriff in his return ; and they may
be made upon account of partiality or some default in
the sheriff or his under-officer who arrayed the panel.
Also, though there be no personal objection against
the sheriff, if yet he arrays the panel at the nomina¬
tion, or under the direction of either party, this is
good cause of challenge to the array. Formerly, if a
lord of parliament had a cause to he tried, and no
knight was returned upon the jury, it was a cause of
challenge to the array j also by the policy of the an¬
cient law, the jury was to come de vicineto, from the
neighbourhood of the vill or place where the cause
of action was laid in the declaration : and therefore
some of the jury were obliged to be returned from
the hundred in which such vill lay) and, if more
were returned, the array might be challenged from
defect of hundreders. For, living in the neighbour¬
hood, these were supposed to know beforehand the
characters of the parties and witnesses j and therefore
they better knew what credit to give to the facts al¬
leged in evidence. But this convenience was over¬
balanced by another very natural and almost unavoid¬
able inconvenience •, that jurors, coming out of the im¬
mediate neighbourhood, would be apt to intermix
their prejudices and partialities in the trial of right.
And this the law was so sensible of, that it for a long
time has been gradually relinquishing this practice j
the number of necessary hundreders in the whole pa¬
nel, which in the reign of Edward III. was constantly
six, being in the time of Fortescue reduced to four j
afterwards by statute 26 Eliz. c. 6. to two j and at
length, by statute 4 and 5 Anne, c. 16. it was en-
- tirely abolished upon all civil actions, except upon pe¬
nal statutes, and upon those also by the 24 Geo. II.
c. 18. the jury being now only to come de corpore co-
mitatus, from the body of the country at large, and not
de vicineto, or from the particular neighbourhood.
The array by the ancient law may be also challenged,
if an alien be party to the suit, and upon a rule ob¬
tained by his motion to the court for a jury de medie-
tute lingua, such a one be not returned by the sheriff
pursuant to the statute 28 Edward III. c. 13. enforced
by 8 Hen. VI. c. 29. which enacts, that where either
party is an alien born, the jury shall be one half deni¬
zens and the other aliens (if so many be forthcoming
in the place), for the more impartial trial j a privi¬
lege indulged to strangers in no other country in the
world ; but which is as ancient in England as the time
of King Ethelred, in whose statute de moniicojis Wal-
lice (then aliens to the crown of England), c. 3. it is
ordained, that “ duodeni legales homnies, quorum sex
Walli et sex Angli erunt, Anglis et Wallis jus di-
cunto.”
2. Challenges to the polls, in capita, are exceptions
to particular jurors j and seem to answer to the recusatio
juditis in. the civil and canon laws j by the constitu¬
tions of which a judge might be refused upon any sus¬
picion of partiality. By the laws of England also, in
the times of Bract on and Fleta, a judge might be re¬
fused for good cause ; but now the law is otherwise,
and it is held that judges or justices cannot be challen¬
ged. For the law will not suppose a possibility of bias
op favour in a judge who is. already sworn to admini-
C H A
ster impartial justice, and whose authority greatly de- Cballen
pends on that presumption and idea. And, should the 'T'»
fact at any time prove flagrantly such, as the delicacy
of the law will not presume beforehand, there is no
doubt but that such misbehaviour would draw down a
heavy censure from those to whom the judge is ac¬
countable for his conduct. But challenges to the
polls of the jury (who are judges of fact) are reduced
to four heads by Sir Edward Coke : propter honoris re-
spectum; propter defectum; propter affectum ; and prop¬
ter delictum. 1. Propter honoris respectum ; as, if a lord
of parliament be impannelled on a jury, he may be
challenged by either party, or he may challenge him¬
self. 2. Propter defectum; as, if a juryman be an alien
horn, this is defect of birth j if he be a slave or bond-
man, it is defect of liberty, and he cannot be a liber et
legalis homo. Under the word homo also, though a
name common to both sexes, the female is however ex¬
cluded, propter defectum sexus: except when a widow
feigns herself with child in order to exclude the next
heir, and a supposititious birth is suspected to he in¬
tended j then upon the writ de ventre inspiciendo, a jury
of women is to be impannelled to try the question
whether with child or not. But the principal deficiency
is defect of estate sufficient to qualify him to be a juror,
which depends upon a variety of statutes*. 3. Jurors*^
may he c\m\\engeiS. propter affectvm, for suspicion of bias
or partiality. This may be either a principal chal-j^
lenge, or to the favour. A principal challenge is such,
where the cause assigned carries with it, primafacie,
evident marks of suspicion either of malice or favour;
as, that a juror is of kin to either party within the
ninth degree ; that he has an interest in the cause j that
there is an action depending between him and the par¬
ty •, that he has taken money for his verdict, &c. which
if true cannot be overruled j for jurors must be omni
exceptione majores. Challenges to the favour are where
the party hath no principal challenge ; but objects only
some probable circumstances of suspicion, as acquaint¬
ance, and the like ; the validity of which must be left
to the determination of triors, whose office is to de¬
cide whether the juror be favourable or unfavourable.
4. Challenges propter delictum, are for some crime or
misdemeanour that affects the juror’s credit, and ren¬
ders him infamous : As for a conviction of treason,
felony, perjury, or conspiracy ; or if for some infamous
offence, he hath received judgment of the pillory or
the like.
II. In criminal cases, challenges may be made either
on the part of the king, or on that of the prisoner $
and either to the whole array, or to the separate polls,
for the very same reasons that they may be in civil
causes. For it is here at least as necessary as there,
that the sheriff or returning officer be totally indiffer¬
ent $ that, where an alien is indicted, the jury should
be de medietate, or half foreigners, if so many are found
in the place (which does not indeed hold in treasons,
aliens being very improper judges of the breach of al¬
legiance ; nor yet in the case of Egyptians under the
statute 22 Hen. \ III. c. 10.) ; that on every panel
there should be a competent number of hundreders;
and that the particular jurors should be omni exceptione
majore, not liable to objections either propter honoris
respectum, propter defectum, propter affectum, or prop¬
ter delictum.
Challenges
[ 372 3
C H A
illenge Challenges on any of the foregoing accounts are
|| styled challenges /or cause ; which may be without stint
doner. in both civil and criminal trials. But in criminal cases,
’v~ or at least in capital ones, there is, in favorem vitce., al¬
lowed to the prisoner an arbitrary and capricious spe¬
cies of challenge to a certain number of jurors, with¬
out showing any cause at all $ which is called a peremp¬
tory challenge : a provision full of tenderness and hu¬
manity to prisoners for which our laws are justly fa¬
mous. This is grounded on two reasons : i. As every
one must be sensible what sudden impressions and un¬
accountable prejudices we are apt to conceive upon the
bare looks and gestures of another; and how necessary
it is that a prisoner, when put to defend bis life, should
have a good opinion of his jury, the want of which
might totally disconcert him; the law wills not that
he should be tried by any one man against whom he
has conceived a prejudice, even without being able to
assign a reason for such his dislike. 2. Because upon
challenges for cause shown, if the reason assigned prove
insufficient to set aside the juror, perhaps the bare ques¬
tioning his indifference may sometimes provoke a re¬
sentment ; to prevent all ill consequences from which,
the prisoner is still at liberty, if he pleases, perempto¬
rily to set him aside.
This privilege of peremptory challenges, though
granted to the prisoner, is denied to the king by the
statute 33 Edward I. stat. 4. which enacts, that the
king shall challenge no jurors without assigning a cause
certain, to be tried and approved by the court. How¬
ever, it is held that the king need not assign his cause
of challenge till all the panel is gone through, and un¬
less there cannot be a full jury without the persons so
challenged. And then, and not sooner, the king’s
counsel must show the cause, otherwise the juror shall
be sworn.
The peremptory challenges of the prisoner must,
however, have some reasonable boundary, otherwise he
might never be tried. This reasonable boundary is set¬
tled by the common law to the number of 35 ; that is,
one under the number of three full juries. For the law
judges, that 35 are fully sufficient to allow the most
timorous man to challenge through mere caprice ; and
that he who peremptorily challenges a greater number,
or three full juries, has no intention to be tried at all.
And therefore it deals with one who peremptorily chal¬
lenges above 35, and will not retract his challenge, as
with one who stands mute or refuses his trial ; by sen¬
tencing him to the pein forte et dure in felony, and by
attainting him in treason. And so the law stands at
this day with regard to treason of any kind. But by
statute 22 Hen. VIII. c. 14. (which, with regard to
felonies, stands unrepealed), no person arraigned for
felony can be admitted to make more than 20 peremp¬
tory challenges.
CHALONS sur-Saone, a ancient town of France,
in Burgundy, and capital of the Chalonnois*, with a
citadel and bishop’s see. It is seated on the river
Saone, in E. Long. 5. 7. N. Lat. 46. 47.
CiiALONS-sur-Marjie, a large episcopal town of
France, in Champagne. It carries on a considerable
trade in shalloons and other woollen stuffs. It is seated
between two fine meadows on the rivers Marne, Mau,
and Nau, in E. Long. 4. 37. N. Lat. 48. 57.
CHALONEE, Sir Thomas, a statesman, soldier,
c H A
and poet, descended from a good family in Denbigh Chaloner.
jn Wales, was born at London about the year 1^x3. "~y — 1
Having been educated in both universities, "but chiefly
at Cambridge, he was introduced at the court of Hen¬
ry VIII. who sent him abroad in the retinue of Sir
Henry Knevet, ambassador to Charles V. and he had
the honour to attend that monarch on his fatal expedi¬
tion against Algiers in 1541. Soon after the fleet left
that place, he was shipwrecked on the coast of Bar¬
bary in a very dark night: and having exhausted his
strength by swimming, he chanced to strike his head
against a cable, which he had the presence of mind to
catch hold of with his teeth ; and, with the loss of se¬
veral of them, was drawn up by it into the ship to
which he belonged. Mr Chaloner returned soon after
to England, and was appointed first clerk of the coun¬
cil, which office he held during the rest of that reij/n.
On the accession of Edward VI. he became a favourite
of the duke of Somerset, whom he attended to Scot¬
land, and was knighted by that nobleman after the
battle of Musselburgh, in 1547. The protector’s fall
put. a stop to Sir Ihomas Chaloner’s expectations,
and involved him in difficulties. During the reign of
Queen Mary, being a determined Protestant, he was in
some danger; but having many powerful friends, he
had the good fortune to escape. On the accession of
Queen Elizabeth, he appeared again at court; and was
so immediately distinguished by her majesty, that she
appointed him ambassador to the emperor Ferdinand I.
being the first ambassador she nominated. His com¬
mission was of great importance ; and the queen was
so well satisfied with his conduct, that soon after his
return, she sent him in the same capacity to Spain ;
but Sir Thomas was by no means satisfied with this in¬
stance of her majesty’s confidence : the courts of Eng¬
land and Spain being at this time extremely dissatis¬
fied with each other, he foresaw that his situation would
be very disagreeable, and so it proved ; but Elizabeth
must be obeyed. He embarked for Spain in 1361,
and returned to London in 1564, in consequence of
a request to his sovereign, in an elegy written in imita¬
tion of Ovid. After his return, he resided in a house
built by himself in Clerkenwell close, where he died
in the year 1565, and was buried in St Paul’s. Sir
William Cecil assisted as chief mourner at his fu¬
neral.
So various were the talents of Sir Thomas Chalo¬
ner, that he excelled in every thing to which he ap¬
plied himself. He made a considerable figure as a poet.
His poetical works were published by William Malim,
master of St Paul’s school, in 1579. caP*t»l work
was that “ Of restoring the English republic, in ten
books,” which he wrote when he was ambassador in .
Spain. It is remarkable, that this great man, who
knew how to transact as well as write upon the most.
important affairs of states and kingdoms, could descend
to compose a dictionary for children, and to translate
from the Latin a book Of the office of Servants, merely
for the utility of the subjects.
Chaloner, Sir Thomas, the younger, though in-
considei’able as an author, deserved to be recorded as a
skilful naturalist, in an age wherein natural history was
very little understood in this or any other country;
and particularly as the founder of the alum works in-
Yorkshire, which have since proved so exceedingly ad¬
vantageous ,
[ 373 ]
C H A [374
Chaloner vantageous to the commerce of this kingdom.' . He
II was the only son of Sir Thomas Chaloner mentioned
cham; in the last article, and was born in the year 1559. Be-
* ing very young at the time of his father's death, the
lord treasurer Burleigh, taking charge of his education,
sent him to St Paul’s school, and afterwards to Mag¬
dalen college in Oxford, where, like his father, he dis¬
covered extraordinary ^talents for Batin and English
poetry. About the year 1580, he made the tour of
Europe, and returned to England before 1584 ; for
in that year, we find him a frequent attendant in the
court of Queen Elizabeth. About this time he mar¬
ried the daughter of Sir William Fleetwood, re¬
corder of London. In 1591 he was knighted j and,
some time after, discovered the alum mines on his
estate at Gisborough, near the river Tees in York¬
shire (a).
Towards the latter end of the queen’s reign, Sir
Thomas visited Scotland j and returning to England in
the retinue of King James I. found such favour in the
sight of his majesty, that he was immediately appoint¬
ed governor to Prince Henry, whom he constantly at¬
tended, and, when his royal pupil visited Oxford, was
honoured with the degree of master of arts. How he
was employed after the death of the prince is not
known. Some years before that event, he married
a second wife, the daughter of Mr William Blount of
London, by whom he had some children. He died in
the year 1615, and was buried at Chiswick in Middle¬
sex. His eldest son William was created a baronet in
18th of James, anno 1640. The title was extinct
in 1681. He wrote, 1. Dedication to Lord Burleigh
of his father’s poetical works, dated 1579* 2. The
virtue of nitre, wherein is declared the sundry cures by
the same effected. Bond. 1584, 4to.
CHALYBEAT, in Medicine, an appellation given
to any liquid, as wine or water, impregnated with par¬
ticles of iron or steel. See Mineral Waters.
CHALYBES, in Ancient Geography, an ancient
people of the Hither Asia. Their situation is differ¬
ently assigned : Strabo placing them in Paphlagonia,
to the east of Synope j Apollonius Rhodius and Ste-
phanus, on the east of the Thermodon, in Pontus $ call¬
ed Hali%ones, by Homer. They either gave their name
to, or took it from, their iron manufactures (Xenophon,
Val. Flaccus), their only support, their soil being bar¬
ren and ungrateful, (Dionysius Periegetes).
CHAM, or Khan, the title given to the sovereign
princes of Tartary.
The word, in the Persian, signifies mighty lord; in
the Sclavonic, emperor. Sperlingius, in his disserta¬
tion on the Danish term of majesty, honing, king, thinks
the'Tartarian chain may be well derived from it j add¬
ing, that in the north they-say kan, konnen, konge, kon-
] C H A
ning, &c. The term cham is also applied, among the ckir
Persians, to the great lords of the court, and the go- ||
vernors pf provinces. Cliaroan
Cham, in Geography, a town of the Bavarian pala- " 'r“
tinate, situated on a river of the same name, about 25
miles north-east of Ratisbon. E. Long. 13. N. Lat.
49- I5*
CHAM A, in Zoo/ogy, a genus of shell fish belong¬
ing to the order of vermes testaceoe. The shell is thick,
and has two valves; it is an animal of the oyster kind.
Linnaeus enumerates 14 species, principally distinguish¬
ed by the figure of their shells.
CHAMADE, in War, a certain beat of a drum, or
sound of a trumpet, which is given the enemy as a sig¬
nal to inform them of some propositions to be made to
the commander, either to capitulate, to have leave to
bury their dead, make a truce, or the like. Menage
derives the word from the Italian chiamata, of clamare,
“ to cry.”
CHAMiEDRYS. See Veronica, Botany Index.
CHAMiEPITHYS. See Teucrium, Botany
Index.
CHAMJEROPS. See Botany Index.
This plant the Americans call thatch, from the use
to which the leaves are applied.—Under the name of
palmetto, however, Mr Adanson describes a species of
palm which grows naturally at Senegal, whose trunk
rises from 50 to 60 feet in height: from the upper end
of the trunk issues a bundle of leaves, which, in turn¬
ing off, form a round head : each leaf represents a fan
of five or six feet in expansion, supported by a tail of
the same length. Of these trees some produce male
flowers, which are consequently barren *, others are fe¬
male, and loaded with fruit, which succeed each other
uninterruptedly almost the whole year round. The
fruit of the large palmettos, Mr Adanson affirms to be
of the bigness of an ordinary melon, but rounder j it is
enveloped in two skins, as tough as leather, and as thick
as strong parchment j within the fruit is yellowish, and
full of filaments, fastened to three large kernels in the
middle. The negroes are very fond of this fruit,
which, when baked under the ashes, is said to taste
like a quince.
CHAMANIM, in the Jewish antiquities, is the He¬
brew name for that which the Greeks call Pyreia or
Pyrateria; and St Jerome in Leviticus has translated
simulachra, in Isaiah, delubra. These chamanim were,
according to Rabbi Solomon, idols exposed to the sun
upon the tops of houses. Abenezoa says they were
portable chapels or temples made in the form of cha¬
riots, in honour of the sun. What the Greeks call
Pyreia w^:e temples consecrated to the sun and fire,
wherein a perpetual fire was kept up. They were
built upon eminences j and were large enclosures with¬
out
(a) Sir Thomas, during his residence in Italy, being particularly fond of natural history, spent some time at
Puzzoli, where he was very attentive to the art of producing alum. This attention proved infinitely serviceable
to his country, though of no great benefit to himself or his family, his attempt being attended with much dif¬
ficulty and expence. It was begun about the year 1600, in the reign of Queen Elizabeth $ but was not brought
to any degree of perfection till some time in the reign of Charles I. by the assistance of one Russel a Walloon,
and two other workmen brought from the alum works at Rochelle. By one of the arbitrary acts of Charles, it
was then deemed a mine royaT, and granted to Sir Paul Pindar. The long parliament adjudged it a monopoly,
and justly restored it to the original proprietors.
C H A [ 3
tnanim o11*1 covering, where the sun xvas worshipped. The
|| Guebres, or worshippers of fire, In Persia and the East
amber Indies, have still these Pyreia. The word chamanim
1 is derived from chaman, which signified to warm or
burn.
CHAMARIN, a word which occurs in several
places of the Hebrew Bible, and is generally translated
the priests of the idols, or the priests clothed in black,
because chamar signifies “ black,” or “ blackness,” St
Jerome, in the second book of Kings, renders it aru-
spices. In Hosea and Zephaniah, he translates it cedi-
tui or church-wardens. But the best commentators are
of opinion, that by this word we are to understand the
priests of the false gods, and in particular the worship¬
pers of fire : because they were, as they say, dressed
in black; or perhaps the Hebrews gave them this name
in derision, because, as they were continually employed
in taking care about the fuel, and keeping up the fire,
they were always as black as smiths or colliers. We
find priests, among those of Isis, called melanephori,
that is to say, that wear black j but whether this may
he by reason of their dressing in black, or whether it
were because they wore a certain shining black veil in
the processions of this goddess, is not certain. Camar,
in Arabic, signifies the “ moon.” Isis is the same dei¬
ty. Grotius thinks the Roman priests, called camilli,
came from the Hebrew chamarin. Those among the
heathens who sacrificed to the infernal gods were dres¬
sed in black.
CHAMBER, in building, a member of a lodging,
or piece of an apartment, ordinarily intended for sleep¬
ing in j and called by the Latins cubiculum. The
word comes from the Latin camera; and that, accord¬
ing to Nicod, from the Greek k^x^x, vault or curve ;
the term chamber being originally confined to places
arched over.
A complete apartment is to consist of a hall, anti¬
chamber, chamber, and cabinet.
Privy Chamber. Gentlemen of the privy chamber
are servants of the king, who are to wait and attend
on him and the queen at court, in their diversions, &c.
Their number is forty-eight, under the lord chamber-
lain, twelve of whom are in quarterly waiting, and two
of these lie in the privy chamber.
In the absence of the lord chamberlain, or vice
chamberlain, they execute the king’s orders: at coro¬
nations, two of them personate the dukes of Aquitain
and Normandy j and six of them, appointed by the
lord chamberlain, attend ambassadors from crowned
heads to their audiences, and in public entries. The
gentlemen of the privy chamber were instituted by
Henry VII.
Chamber, in policy, the place where certain assem¬
blies are held •, also the assemblies themselves. Of these
some are established for the administration of justice,
others for commercial affairs.
Of the first kind are, I. Star chamber, so called
because the roof was painted with stars j the authori¬
ty, power, and jurisdiction of which, are absolutely
abolished by the statute 17 Car. I. 2. Imperial cham¬
ber of Spire, the supreme court of judicatory in the
empire, erected by Maximilian I. This chamber has
a right of judging by appeal 5 and is the last resort of
all civil affairs of the states and subjects of the empire,
75 ] C H A
in the same manner as the aulic ^ouncil of Vienna. Chamber.
Nevertheless it is restrained in several cases: it takes ——v—**
no notice of matrimonial causes, these being left to the
pope nor of criminal causes, which either belong to
particular princes of towns in their respective territo¬
ries, or are cognizable by all the states of the empire
in a diet. By the treaty of Osnaburg, in 1648, fifty
assessors were appointed for this chamber, whereof 24
were to be Protestants, and 26 Catholics; besides five
presidents, two of them Protestants, and the rest Ca¬
tholics. 3. Chamber of accounts, a sovereign court in
France, where accounts are rendered of all the king’s
revenues, inventories and avowals thereof registered,
oaths of fidelity taken, and other things relating to the
finances transacted. There are nine in France : that
of Paris is the chief *, it registers proclamations, trea¬
ties of peace, naturalizations, titles of nobility, &c.
All the members wear long black gowns of velvet, of
satin, or damask, according to their places. 4. Eccle¬
siastical chambers in France, which judge by appeal of
differences about collecting the tythes. 5. Chamber of
audience, or grand chamber, a jurisdiction in each par¬
liament of France, the counsellors of which are called
jugeurs, or judges, as those of the chamber of inquests
are called raporteurs, reporters of processes by writ¬
ing. 6. Chamber of the edict, or miparty, a court es¬
tablished by virtue of the edict of pacification in favour
of those of the reformed religion. This chamber is now
suppressed. 7. Apostolical chamber of Rome, that
wherein affairs relating to the revenues of the church
and the pope are transacted. This council consists of
the cardinal camerlinga, the governor of the rota, a
treasurer, an auditor, a president, one advocate-gene¬
ral, a solicitor-general, a commissary, and twelve clerks.
8. Chamber of London, an apartment in Guildhall,
where the city-money is deposited.
Of the last sort are, the chambers of commerce j the
chambers of assurance ; and the royal or syndical cham¬
ber of booksellers in France.
1. The chamber of commerce is an assembly of mer¬
chants and traders, where the affairs relating to trade
are treated of. There are several established in most
of the chief cities of France ; and in our own country
W'e have lately seen chambers of this kind erected,
particularly in London, Edinburgh, and Glasgow.
2. Chamber of assurance, in France, denotes a society
of merchants and others for carrying on the business
of insuring : but in Holland it signifies a court of jus¬
tice, where causes relating to insurances are tried.
3. Chamber of booksellers in Paris, an assembly con¬
sisting of a syndic and assistants, elected by four dele¬
gates from the printers, and twelve from the book¬
sellers, to visit the books imported from abroad, and
to search the houses of sellers of marble paper, print-
sellers, and dealers in printed paper for hangings, who
are prohibited from keeping any letters proper for
printing books. In the visitation of books, which
ought to be performed by three persons at least from
among the syndic and assistants, all libels against the
honour of God, and the welfare of the state, and all
books printed either within or without the kingdom
in breach of their regulations and privileges, are stopt,
even with the merchandises that may happen to be in
the bales with such libels or other prohibited books.
C H A [ 376 ] C H A
Chamber, Tl16 days appointed for this chamber to meet are
Chamber- Tuesdays and Fridays, at two o’clock in the after-
noon.
" v CHAMBER, in military affairs. 1. Powder cham¬
ber, or bomb chamber a place sunk under ground
for holding the powder, or bombs, where they may
be out of danger, and secured from the rain. 2. Cham¬
ber of a mine j the place, most commonly of a cubical
form, where the powder is confined. 3. Chamber
of a mortar ; that part of the chase, much narrower
than the rest of the cylinder, where the powder lies.
It is of different forms j sometimes like a reversed
cone } sometimes globular, with a neck for its commu¬
nication with the cylinder, whence it is called a bottled
chamber; but most commonly cylindrical, that being
the form which is found by experience to carry the
ball to the greatest distance.
CHAMBERLAIN, an officer charged with the
management and direction of a chamber. See Cham¬
ber in Policy.
There are almost as many kinds of chamberlains as
chambers ; the principal whereof are as follows :
Lord Chamberlain of Great Britain, the sixth great
officer of the crown ; to whom belong livery and
lodging in the king’s court; and there are certain
fees due to him from each archbishop or bishop when
they perform their homage to the king, and from all
peers at their creation or doing their homage. At
the coronation of every king, he is to have forty ells of
crimson velvet for his own robes. This officer, on the
coronation day, is to bring the king his shirt, coif, and
wearing clothes ; and after the king is dressed, he
claims his bed, and all the furniture of his chamber,
for his fees : he also carries, at the coronation, the coif,
gloves, and linen, to be used by the king on that occa¬
sion ; also the sword and scabbard ; the gold to be of¬
fered by the king, and the robes royal and crown : he
dresses and undresses the king on that day, waits on
him before and after dinner, &c. To this officer be¬
longs the care of providing all things in the house of
lords, in the time of parliament; to him also belongs
the government of the palace of Westminster; he dis¬
poses likewise of the sword of state, to be carried be¬
fore the king, to what lord he pleases.
The great chamberlain of Scotland was ranked by
Iving Malcolm, as the third great officer of the crown,
and was called Camerarius Domini Regis. Before
a treasurer vvas appointed, it was his duty to collect the
revenue ot the crown ; and he disbursed the money
necessary for the king’s expences, and the maintenance
of the king’s household. From the time that a trea¬
surer was appointed, his province was limited to the
boroughs throughout the kingdom, where he was a
sort of justice general, as he had a power for judging
of all crimes committed within the borough, and of
the crime of forestalling. He was to hold chamber-
lain ayres every year. He was supreme judge : nor
could any of his decrees be questioned by any inferior
judicatory. His sentences were put in execution by
the magistrates of the boroughs. He also regulated
the price of provisions within the boi'ough, and the
fees of the workmen in the mint house. His salary,
wras only 200I. a-year. The smallness of his salary,
and his great powers, had no doubt been the causes
much oppression in this officer, and the chamber-
3
lain ayre was called rather a legal robbery than a court chamti
of justice ; and when the combined lords seized King lair
James YI. August 24. 1582, and carried him to Ruth-
ven Castle, they issued a proclamation in the king’s, la-n
name, discharging the chamberlain ayres to be kept. r
The chamberlain had great fees arising from the pro¬
fits of escheats, fines, tolls, and customs. This office
was granted heritably to the family of Stuart duke
of Lenox : and when their male line failed, King
Charles II. conferred it in like manner upon his natu¬
ral son, whom he created duke of Monmouth, and on
his forfeiture it went to the duke of Lenox ; but that
family surrendered the office to the crown in 1703.
Lord Chamberlain of the Household, an officer who
has the oversight and direction of all officers belonging
to the king’s chambers, except the precinct of the
king’s bedchamber.
He has the oversight of the officers of the wardrobe
at all his majesty’s houses, and ot the removing ward¬
robes, or of beds, tents, revels, music, comedians, hunt¬
ing, messengers, &c. retained in the king’s service.
Fie moreover has the oversight and direction of the Ser¬
jeants at arms, of all physicians, apothecaries, surgeons,
barbers, the king’s chaplains, &c. and administers the
oath to all officers above stairs.
Other chamberlains are those of the king’s court
of exchequer, of North Wales, of Chester, of the city
of London, &c. in which case this officer is generally
the receiver of all rents and revenues belonging to the
place whereof he is chamberlain.
In the exchequer there are two chamberlains, who
keep a controlment of the pells of receipts and exitus,
and have certain keys of the treasury, records, &c.
Chamberlain of London keeps the city money,
which is laid up in the chamber of London : he also
presides over the affairs of masters and apprentices, and
makes free of the city, See.
His office lasts only a year; but the custom usually
obtains to re-choose the same person, unless charged
with any misdemeanour in his office.
CHAMBERLAYNE, Edward, descended from
an ancient family, was born in Gloucestershire, 1616,
and made the tour of Europe during the distractions
of the civil war. After the Restoration, he went as
secretary with the earl of Carlisle, who carried the or¬
der of the Garter to the king of Sweden; was ap¬
pointed tutor to the duke of Grafton, natural son of
Charles II. and was afterwards pitched on to instruct
Prince George of Denmark in the English tongue. He
died in 1703, and was buried in a vault in Chelsea
churchyard : his monumental inscription mentions six
books of his writing; and that he was so desirous of do¬
ing service to posterity, that he ordered some copies of
his books to be covered with wax, and buried with
him. That work by which he is best known, is his
Anglia; Notitice, or the Present State of England, which
has been often since printed.
Chamberlayne, John, son to the author of “ The
Present State of England,” and continuator of that use¬
ful work, was admitted into Trinity College, Oxford,
1685 ; but it doth not appear that he took any degree.
Beside the Continuation just mentioned, he was author
of “ Dissertations, historical, critical, theological, and
moral, on the most memorable events of the Old and
New Testaments, with Chronological Tablesone
vol.
C H A t 377
( mber- vol* folio j and translated a variety of works from tlie
yne French, Dutch, and other languages. He likewise
11 was F. R. S. and communicated some pieces, inserted
gnbers. ^.|ie philosophical Transactions. It was said of him
that he understood sixteen languages ; hut it is certain
that he was master of the Greek, Latin, French, High
and Low Dutch, Portuguese, and Italian. Though he
was qualified for employment, he had none but that of
gentleman-usher to George prince of Denmark. After
a useful and well-spent life, he died in the year 1724.
He was a very pious and good man, and earnest in
promoting the advancement of religion, and the interest
of true Christianity 5 for which purpose he kept a large
correspondence abroad.
CHAMBERRY, a considerable and populous town
of Italy, in Savoy, with a castle. It is capital of the
duchy, and well built, but has no fortifications. It is
watered by several streams, which have their sources
in St Martin’s hill, and run through several of the
streets. There are piazzas under most part of the
houses, where people may walk dry in the worst
weather. It hath large and handsome suburbs j and
in the centre of the town is the royal palace. The
parliament meets here, which is composed of four
presidents, and a pretty large number of senators, be¬
ing the supreme tribunal of the whole duchy. The po¬
pulation in 1815 was 11,763. The Jesuits college is
the most magnificent of all the monasteries. E. Long,
j. 50. N. Lat. 45. 25.
CHAMBERS, David, a Scots historian, priest,
and lawyer, was born in the shire of Ross, about the
year 1530, and educated in the university of Aber¬
deen. From thence he went to France and Italy,
where he continued some time, particularly at Bou¬
logne, where, in 1556, he was a pupil of Marianus
Sozenus.
After his return to Scotland, he was appointed, by
Queen Mary, parson of Suddy and chancellor of Ross,
He was soon after employed in digesting the laws of
Scotland, and u'as principally concerned in publishing
the acts of parliament of that kingdom by authority
in 1566. He was also appointed one of the lords of
session, and continued her majesty’s faithful servant
till her declining fortune obliged her adherents to seek
for refuge in other kingdoms. Chambers went firs:t
to Spain, where he, was graciously received by King
Philip; and thence he travelled to Paris, where he
was no less kindly received by Charles IX. of that
kingdom, to whom, in 1572, he presented his history
of Scotland, &c. He died at Paris in the year 1592,
much regretted (says Mackenzie) by all who knew
him. His writings were chiefly calculated to assist
his royal mistress, and to extol the wisdom of the Scots
nation.
Chambers, Ephraim, author of the Scientific
Dictionary which goes under his name, was born at
Milton, in the county of Westmoreland. His parents
were dissenters of the Presbyterian persuasion, and his
education no other than that common one which is
intended to qualify a youth for trade and commerce.
When be became of a proper age, he was put appren¬
tice to Mr Senex the globe-maker, a business which
is connected with literature, and especially with astro¬
nomy and geography. It was during Mr Chambers’s
residence with this skilful mechanic, that he contracted
Vol. V. Part I. ' +
] C H A
that taste for science and learning which accompanied Chamber!
him through life, and directed all his pursuits. It was y—~
even at this time that he formed the design of his
grand work, the “ Cyclopaediaand some of the
first articles of it were written behind the counter.
Having conceived the idea of so great an undertaking,
he justly concluded that the execution of it would not
consist with the avocations of trade ; and therefore he
quitted Mr Senex, and took chambers at Gray’s Inn,
where he chiefly resided during the rest of his days.
The first edition of the Cyclopcedia, which was the re¬
sult of many years intense application, appeared in
1728, in two vols. folio. It was published by subscrip¬
tion, the price being 4I. 4s.; and the list of subscribers
was very respectable. The dedication, which was to
the king, is dated October 15. 1727. The reputation
that Mr Chambers acquired by his execution of this
undertaking, procured him the honour of being elect¬
ed F. R. S. November 6. 1729. In less than 10 years
time a second edition became necessary ; which accprd-
ingly was printed, with corrections and additions, in
1738 ; and was followed by a third the very next
year.
Although the Cycloptedia was the grand business of
Mr Chambers’s life, and may be regarded as almost
the sole foundation of his fame, his attention was not
wholly confined to this undertaking. He was con¬
cerned in a periodical publication, entitled, “ The
Literary Magazine,” which was begun in 1735’ D’
this work he wrote a variety of articles, and particu¬
larly a review of Morgan’s “ Moral Philosophy.”
Fie was engaged likewise, in conjunction with Mr
John Martyn, F. R. S. and professor ol botany at
Cambridge, in preparing for the press a translation and
abridgment of the “ Philosophical Flistory and Me¬
moirs of the Royal Academy of Sciences at Paris, or
an Abridgment of all the Papers relating to Natural
Philosophy, which have been published by the Mem¬
bers of that illustrious Society.” This undertaking,
when completed, was comprised in five volumes, 8vo,
which did not appear till I742j sonie time after our
author’s decease, when they were published under the
joint names of Mr Maityn and Mr Chambers. Mr
Martyn, in a subsequent publication, had passed a se¬
vere censure upon the share which his fellow-labourer
had in the abridgment of the Parisian papers. The
only work besides, that we find ascribed to Mr Cham¬
bers, is a translation of the Jesuit's Perspective, from
the French ; which was printed in 4to, and hath gone
through several editions. Mr Chambers’s close and un¬
remitting attention to his studies at length impaired his
health, and obliged him occasionally to take a lodging
at Canonbury-house, Islington. This not having great¬
ly contributed to his recovery, he made an excursion
to the south of France, but did not reap that benefit
from it which he had himself hoped and his frfends
wished. Returning to England, he died at Canonbu-
ry house, and was buried at Westminster; where the
following inscription, written by himself, is placed on
the north side of the cloisters of the Abbey:
Multis pervulgatis,
Paucis notus;
Qui vitam, inter lucem et umbram,
Nec eruditus, nec idiota,
2 B Literis
C H A
Chambers LIteris cleditus, transegit; sed ut homo
Qui humanx nihil a se alienum putat.
Chaaios. Vita simul, et laboribus functus,
v Hie requiescere voluit,
Ephraim Chambers, E. S. S.
Obiit XV Mali. MDCCXL.
After the author’s death two more editions of his
Cyclopaedia were published. A supplement, which
extended to two volumes more, was afterwards com¬
piled j and in the year 1778 was published an edition
of both, incorporated into one alphabet, by Dr Rees,
which was completed in four volumes folio. Another
edition which is now (1803) going on, and is to ex¬
tend to 20 vols. 4to, has been undertaken by the same
gentleman.
CHAMBRE, Martin Cureau de la, physician
in ordinary to the French king, was distinguished by
his knowledge in medicine, philosophy, and polite learn¬
ing. He was born at Mons, and was received into the
French academy in 1635, and afterwards into the aca¬
demy of sciences. He wrote a great number of works j
the principal of which are, 1. The characters of the
passions. 2. The art of knowing men. 3. On the know¬
ledge of beasts, &c. He died at Paris in 1669.
CHAMELEON. See Lacerta, Erpetology
Index.
CHAMFERING, in Architecturey a phrase used
for cutting any thing aslope on the under side.
CHAMIER, Daniel, an eminent Protestant divine,
born in Dauphiny. He was many years preacher at
Montellimart j from whence he went in 1612 to Mont-
aubon, to be professor of divinity in that city, and was
killed by a cannon-ball during the siege in 1621. The
most considerable of his works is his Panstratia Catho-
lieu, or “ Wars of the Lord,” in four volumes folio j in
which he treats very learnedly of the controversies
between the Protestants and Roman Catholics.
CHAMOIS, or Chamois Goat, in Zoologij. See
Capra, Mammalia Index.
CHAMOMILE. See Anthemis, Botany Index.
CHAMOS, or Chemosh, the idol or god of the
Moabites.
The name of chamos comes from a root which, in
Arabic, signifies to make haste ; for which reason many
believe Chamos to be the sun, whose precipitate course
might well procure it the name of swift or speedy.
Others have confounded Chamos with the god Ham-
man, adored not only in Libya and Egypt, but also in
Arabia, Ethiopia, and the Indies. Macrobius shows
that Hammon was the sun ; and the horns, with which
he was represented, denoted his rays. Calmet is of
opinion that the god Hamonus, and Apollo Chomeus,
mentioned by Strabo and Ammianus Marcellinus, was
the very same as Chamos or tire sun. These deities
were worshipped .in many of the eastern provinces.
Some who go upon the resemblance of the Hebrew
term chamos to that of the Greek comos, have believed
Cbamos to signify the god Bacchus, the god of drunk¬
enness, according to the signification of the Greek
comos. St Jerome, and with him most other interpre¬
ters, take Chamos and Peor for the same deity. But
it seems that Baal Peor was the same as Tammuz or
Adonis j so that Chamos must be the god whom the
heathens call the sun.
[ 378 . ] C H A
CHAMOUNI, one of the elevated valleys of the Ckmoei
Alps, situated at the foot of Mont Blanc. See Alps —r-
and Blanc.
The first strangers whom a curiosity to visit the gla¬
ciers drew to Chamouni (M. Saussure observes), certain¬
ly considered this valley as a den of robbers ; for they
came armed cap-a-pee, attended with a troop of do¬
mestics armed in the same manner $ they would not
venture into any house j they lived in tents which they
had brought along with them; fires were kept burning,
and centinels on guard, the whole night over. It was
in the year 1741 that the celebrated traveller Pocock,
and another English gentleman called Wyndham, un¬
dertook this intei-esting journey. It is remembered by
the old men of Chamouni, and they still laugh at the
fears of the travellers, and at their unnecessary precau¬
tions. For 20 or 25 years after this period, the journey
was made but seldom, and then chiefly by English¬
men, who lodged with the curate; for, when I was
there in 1760, and even for four or five years after¬
wards, there was no habitable house except one or two
miserable inns, like those in villages that are little fre¬
quented. But now that this expedition has gradually
become so fashionable, three large and good inns, which
have been successively built, are hardly sufficient to
contain the travellers that come during the summer
fi*om all quarters.
This concourse of strangers, and the money they
leave behind them at Chamouni, have somewhat affected
the ancient simplicity of the inhabitants, and even the
purity of their manners. Nobody, however, has any
thing to fear fimm them ; the most inviolable fidelity is
observed with respect to travellers ; they are only ex¬
posed to a few importunate solicitations, and some small
artifices dictated by the extreme eagerness with which
the inhabitants offer their services as guides.
The hope of obtaining this employment brings to¬
gether, round a traveller, almost all the men in every
village through which he passes, and makes him believe
that there are a great many in the valley; but there
are very few at Chamouni in summer. Curiosity, or
the hope of making money, draws many to Paris and
into Gei'many ; besides, as the shepherds of Chamouni
have the reputation of excelling in the making of
cheese, they are in great request in the Tarentaise, in
the valley of Aoste, and even at greater distances ; and
they receive there, for four or five months in summer,
very considerable wages. Thus the labours of the field
devolve almost entirely on the women, even such as in
other countries fall solely on the men ; as mowing,
cutting of wood, and thrashing ; even the animals of the
same sex are not spared, for the cows there are yoked
in the plough.
The only labours that belong exclusively to the men
are the seeking for rock crystal and the chase. Happily
they ai'e now less employed than formerly in the first
of these occupations ; I say happily, for many of them
perished in this pursuit. The hope of enriching them¬
selves quickly by the discovery of a cavern filled with
fine crystals, was so powerful a motive, that they expo¬
sed themselves in the search to the most alarming dan¬
gers ; and hardly a year passed without some of them
perishing in the snows, or among the precipices.
The principal indication of the grottoes or crystal
ovens as they are here called, are veins of quartz, which
appear
fflOULli.
C H A r 379 ] C H A
appeal’ on the outside of the rocks of granite, or of the
laminated rock. These white veins are seen at a di¬
stance, and often at great heights, on vertical and inac¬
cessible places. The adventurers endeavour to arrive
at these, either by fabricating a road across the rocks,
or by letting themselves down from above suspended by
ropes. When they reach the place, they gently strike
the rock; and if the stone returns a hollow sound, they
endeavour to open it with a hammer, or to blow it up
with powder. This is the principal method of search¬
ing : but young people, and even children, often go in
quest of these crystals over the glaciers, where the rocks
have lately fallen down. But whether they consider
these mountains as nearly exhausted, or that the quan¬
tity of crystal found at Madagascar has too much lower¬
ed the price of this fossil, there are now but few peo¬
ple that go in search of it, and perhaps there is not a
single person at Chamouni that makes it his only oc¬
cupation. They go however occasionally, as to a par¬
ty of pleasure.
But the chase of the chamois goat, as dangerous,
and perhaps more so than the seeking for crystal, still
occupies many inhabitants of the mountains, and car¬
ries off, in the flower of their age, many men whose
lives are most valuable to their families. And when
we are informed how this chase is carried on, we will
be astonished that a course of life, at once so laborious
and perilous, should have irresistible attractions for
those who have been accustomed to it.
The chamois hunter generally sets out in the night,
that he may reach by break of day the most elevated
pastures where the goats come to feed, before they ar¬
rive. As soon as he discovers the place where he hopes
to find them, he surveys it with his glass. If he finds
none of them there, he proceeds, always ascending j
whenever he descries any, he endeavours to get above
them, either by stealing along some gully, or getting
behind some rock or eminence. When he is near
enough to distinguish their horns, which is the mark
by which he judges of the distance, he rests his piece
on a rock, takes his aim with great composure, and
rarely misses. This piece is a rifle-barrelled carabine,
into which the ball is thrust, and these carabines often
contain two charges, though they have but one barrel $
the charges are put one above another, and are fired in
succession. If he has wounded the chamois, he runs
to his prey, and for security he hamstrings it; then he
considers his way home j if the road is difficult, he
skins the chamois, and leaves the carcase ; but, if it is
practicable, he throws the animal on his shoulders, and
bears him to his village, though at a great distance,
and often over frightful precipices j he feeds his family
with the flesh, which is excellent, especially when the
creature is young; and he dries the skins for sale.
But if, as is the most common case, the vigilant
chamois perceives the approach of the hunter, he im¬
mediately takes flight among the glaciers, through the
snows, and over the most precipitous rocks. It is par¬
ticularly difficult to get near these animals when there
are several together ; for then one of them, while the
rest are feeding, stands as a centinel on the point of
some rock that commands a view of the avenues lead¬
ing to the pasture ^ and as soon as he perceives any
object of alarm, he utters a sort of hiss $ at which the
others instantly gather round him to judge for them¬
selves of the nature of the danger : if it is a wild beast, Cbamouai.
or a hunter, the most experienced puts himself at the * v""
head of the flock, and away they fly, ranged in a line,
to the most inaccessible retreats.
It is here that the fatigues of the hunter begin ; in¬
stigated by his passion for the chase, he is insensible to
danger : he passes over snows, without thinking of the
horrid precipices they conceal j he entangles himself
among the most dangerous paths, and bounds from
rock to rock, without knowing how he is to return.
Night often surprises him in the midst of his pursuit j
hut he does not for that reason abandon it j he hopes
that the same cause will arrest the flight of the cha¬
mois, and that he will next morning overtake them.
Thus he passes the night, not at the foot of a tree,
like the hunter of the plain •, nor in a grotto, softly
reclined on a bed of moss j but at the foot of a rock,
and often on the hare points of shattered fragments,
without the smallest shelter. There, all alone, with¬
out fire, without light, he draws from his bag a bit of
cheese, with a morsel of oaten bread, which make his
common food j bread so dry, that he is sometimes
obliged to break it between two stones, or with the
hatchet he carries with him to cut out steps in the ice.
Having thus made his solitary and frugal repast, he puts
a stone below his head for a pillow, and goes to sleep,
dreaming on the route which the chamois may have
taken. But soon he is awakened by the freshness of
the morning 5 he gets up, benumbed with cold j sur¬
veys the precipices which he must traverse, in order to
overtake his game j drinks a little brandy, of which he
is always provided with a small portion, and sets out to
encounter new dangers. Hunters sometimes remain in
these solitudes for several days together, during which
time their families, their unhappy wives in particular,
experience a state of the most dreadful anxiety j they
dare not go to rest for fear of seeing their husbands ap¬
pear to them in a dream ; for it is a received opinion in
the country, that when a man has perished, either in
the snow, or on some unknown rock, he appears by
night to the person he held most dear, describes the
place that proved fatal to him, and requests the per¬
formance of the last duties to his corpse.
“ After this picture of the life which the cha- Voyage*
mois hunters lead, could one imagine that this chase
would be the object of a passion absolutely unsur-J>ar
mountable ! I knew a well-made handsome man, who
had just married a beautiful woman :—‘ My grand--,” ’
father,’ said he to me, ‘ lost his life in the chase j so
did my father $ and I am persuaded that I too shall die
in the same manner; this bag which I carry with me
when I hunt I call my grave clothes, for I am sure I
will have no other $ yet, if you should offer to make
my fortune on condition of abandoning the chase of
the chamois, I could not consent.’ I made some
excursions on the Alps with this man : His strength
and address were astonishing: but his temerity was
greater than his strength j and I have heard, that
two years afterwards, he missed a step on the brink
of a precipice, and met with the fate he had expect-
ed.
** The few who have grown old in this employment
bear upon their faces the marks of the lives they have
led. A savage look, something in it haggard and wild,
makes them be known in the midst of a crowd, even
3 B 2 when
C H A [ 380 ] C H A
Qlmmouni. when they are not in their hunting dress. And un-
v- — douhtedly it is this ill look which makes some super¬
stitious peasants believe that they are sorcerers, that
they have dealings with the devil in their solitudes,
and that it is he who throws them down the rocks.
What then can be the passionate inducement to this
course of life ? It is not avarice, at least it is not
an avarice consistent with reason : the most beautiful
chamois is never worth more to the person that kills
it than a dozen of francs, even including the value of
its flesh : and now that the number is so much dimi¬
nished, the time lost before one can be taken is much
more than its value. But it is the very dangers that
attend the pursuit, those alternations of hope and fear,
the continual agitation and exercise which these emo¬
tions produce in the mind, that instigate the hunter :
they animate him as they do the gamester, the warrior,
the sailor, and even to a certain degree, the naturalist
of the Alps j whose life, in some measure, pretty much
resembles that of the hunter, whose manners we have
described.”
But there is another kind of hunting, which is nei¬
ther dangerous nor laborious, nor fatal to any one but
to the poor animals that are the objects of it.—These
are the marmots, animals that inhabit the high moun¬
tains ; where in summer they scoop out holes, which
they line with hay, and retire to at the beginning of
autumn. Here they grow torpid with the cold, and
remain in a sort of lethargy, till the warmth of the
spring returns to quicken their languid blood, and to
recal them to life. When it is supposed that they
have retired to their winter abodes, and before the snow
has covered the high pastures where their holes are
made, people go to unharbour them. They are found
from 10 to 13 in the same hole, heaped upon one an¬
other, and buried in the hay. Their sleep is so pro-
'found, that the hunter often puts them into his bag,
and carries them home without their awaking. The
flesh of the young is good* though it tastes of oil, and
smells somewhat of musk 5 the fat is used in the cure
of rheumatisms and pains, being rubbed on the parts
affected j but the skin is of little value, and is sold for
no more than five or six sols. Notwithstanding
the little benefit they reap from it, the people of
Chamouni go in quest of this animal with great
eagerness, and its numbers accordingly diminish very
sensibly.
It has been said, that marmots, in order to transport
the hay into their holes, use one of their number laid
on his back as a cart; but this is fabulous, for they
are seen carrying the hay in their mouths. Nor is it
for food that they -gather it, but for a bed, and in order
to shut out the cold, and to guard the avenues of their
retreat from enemies. When they are taken in autumn,
their bowels are quite empty, and even as clean as
if they had been washed with water ; which proves
that their torpidity is preceded by a fast, and even by
an evacuation j a wise contrivance of nature for pre¬
venting their accumulated feces from growing putrid
or too dry, in the long lethargy they are exposed to.
They also continue a few days after their revival with¬
out eating, probably to allow the circulation and di¬
gestive power to recover their activity. At first leav¬
ing their holes, they appear stupid and dazzled with
the light j they are at this time killed with sticks, as
they do not endeavour to fly, and their bowels are then chamou
also quite empty. They are not very lean when they Cham-
awake, but grow more so for a few days after they first pagne
come abroad. Their blood is never congealed, how- '""-"Y-*
ever profound their sleep may be j for at the time that
it is deepest, if they are bled, the blood flows as if they
were awake.
In these countries the period is so short between the
dissolution of the snow and its return, that grain has
hardly time to come to maturity. M. Saussure men¬
tions a very useful and ingenious practice, invented by
the mountaineers of Argentiere, for enlarging this
period, “ I observed (says he) in the middle of the
valley, several large spaces where the surface of the
snowr exhibited a singular appearance, somewhat reserh-
bling a piece of white cloth spotted with black. While
I was endeavouring to divine the cause of this pheno¬
menon, I discovered several women walking with mea¬
sured pace, and sowing something in handfuls that was
black 5 and which being scattered, regularly diverging
on the surface of the snow, formed that spotted ap¬
pearance that I had been admiring. I could not con¬
ceive what seed should be sown on snow six feet deep;
but my guide, astonished at my ignorance, informed
me that it was black earth spread upon the snow to ac¬
celerate its melting ; and thus to anticipate, by a fort¬
night or three weeks, the time of labouring the fields,
and sowing. I was struck with the elegant simplicity
of a practice so useful, the effects of which I already
saw very evidently in places which had not been thus
treated above three days.
“ As to the inhabitants of Chamouni, the men, like
those of most high valleys, are neither well made nor
tall ; hut they are nervous and strong, as are also the
women. They do not attain to a great age : men of
80 are very rare. Inflammatory diseases are the most
fatal to them ; proceeding, no doubt, from obstructed
perspiration, to which the inconstant temperature of
the climate exposes them.
“ They are in general honest, faithful, and diligent, in
the practice of religious duties. It would, for instance,
be in vain to persuade them to go anywhere on a ho¬
liday before hearing mass. They are economical, but
charitable. There are amongst them neither hospitals
nor foundations for the poor; but orphans and old
people, who have no means of subsistence, are enter¬
tained by evei-y inhabitant of a parish in his turn. If
a man is prevented by age or infirmities from taking
charge of his affairs, his neighbours join among them¬
selves and do it for him.
“ Their mind is active and lively, their temper gay,
with an inclination to raillery : they observe, with sin¬
gular acuteness, the ridiculous in strangers, and turn
it into a fund of very facetious merriment among
themselves j yet they are capable of serious thinking:
many of them have attacked me on religious and me¬
taphysical subjects 5 not as professing a different faith
■from theirs, but on general questions, which show¬
ed they had ideas independent of those they were
taught.”
CHAMPAGNE, a considerable province of France^
about 162 miles in length, and 112 in breadth, bound¬
ed on the north by Hainault and Luxembourg, on
the east by Lorrain and the Franche Compte, on the
south by Burgundy, and on the west by the Isle of
France
C H A
( tipagne^'r3nce an^ Soissonnoi’s. It has a great number of ri-
1 t| B vers, the principal of which are the Meuse, the Seine,
( mpion. the Marne, the Aube, and the Aine. Its principal
*     trade consists in,excellent wine, all sorts of corn, linen
cloth, woollen stuffs, cattle, and sheep. It is also di¬
vided into the higher and lower ; and Troyes is the
capital town. Its subdivisions are Champagne Proper,
and Rhemois, the Retolois, the Pertois, the Village,
Basigni, the Senonois and the Brie Champenois. It
now forms the departments of Ardennes, Aube, Marne,
and Upper Marne.
Champagne Proper, is one of the eight parts of
Champagne, which comprehends the towns of Troyes,
Chalons, St Menehould, Eperney, and Vertus.
CHAMP AIN, or Point Champain, in Heraldry,
a mark of dishonour in the coat of arms of him who
kills a prisoner of war after he has cried quarter.
CHAMPERTRY, in Law, a species of MAINTE¬
NANCE, and punished in the same manner j being a
bargain with the plaintiff or defendant campum par-
tire, “ to divide the land,” or other matter sued for,
between them, if they prevail at law ; whereupon the
champertror is to carry on the party’s suit at his own
expence. This champart, in the French law, signifies
a similar division of profits, being a part of the crop
annually due to the landlord by bargain or custom.
In our sense of the word, it signifies the purchasing of
a suit or right of suing j a practice so much abhorred
by our law, that it is one main reason why a chose in
action, or thing of which one hath the right but not
the possession, is not assignable in common law ; be¬
cause no man should purchase any pretence to sue in
another’s right. These pests of civil society, that are
perpetually endeavouring to disturb the repose of their
neighbours, and officiously interfering in other men’s
quarrels even at the hazard of their own fortunes,
were severely animadverted on by the Roman law,
and were punished by the forfeiture of a third part of
their goods, and perpetual infamy. Hitherto also must
be referred the provisions of the statute 32 Henry VIII.
c. 9. that no one shall sell or purchase any pretended
right or title to land, unless the vender hath received
the profits thereof for one whole year before such
grant, or hath been in actual possession of the land, or
of the reversion or remainder ; on pain that both pur¬
chaser and vender shall each forfeit the value of such
land to the king and the prosecutor.
CHAMPION, a person who undertakes a combat
in the place or quarrel of another ; and sometimes the
word is used for him who fights in his own cause.
It appears that champions, in the just sense 6f the
word, were persons who fought instead of those that,
by custom, were obliged to accept the duel, but had
a just excuse for dispensing with it, as being too old,
infirm, or being ecclesiastics, and the like. Such
causes as could not be decided by the course of com¬
mon law were often tried by single combat j and he
who had the good fortune to conquer, was always re¬
puted to have justice on his side. See the article
Battle.
Champion of the K ing (campio regis^), is an ancient
officer, whose office is, at the coronation of our kings,
when the king is at dinner, to ride armed cap-apee
into Y/estminster-hall, and by the proclamation of a
C H A
herald make a challenge, “ That if any man shall de- Champion
ny the king’s title to the crown, he is there ready to 11
defend it in single combat, &c.” which bein^ done., ('hant‘°- .
the king drinks to him, and sends him a gilt cup with v
a cover lull oi wine, which the champion drinks, and
hath the cup for his fee. Ihis office at the corona¬
tion of King Richard II. when Baldwin Ferville exhi¬
bited his petition for it, was adjudged from him to his
competitor Sir John llymocke, (both claiming from
Marm ion), and hath continued ever since in the fami¬
ly of the Dymockes ; who hold the manor of Sinvels-
by in Lincolnshire, hereditary from the Marmions, by
grand serjeantry, viz. that the lord thereof shall be
the king’s champion as aforesaid. Accordingly Sir
Edward Dymocke performed this office at the coro¬
nation of King Charles II. ; a person of the name of
Dymocke performed at the coronation of his present
majesty George III.
CHAMl LAIN, Samuel de, a celebrated French
navigatoi, the founder of the colony of New France,
or Canada. He built Quebec ; and was the first go¬
vernor of the colony in 1603. Died after 1640. See
Quebec.
CHANANiEI, in Ancient Geography, the name
of the ancient inhabitants of Canaan in general, de¬
scendants of Canaan but peculiarly appropriated to
someone branch; though uncertain which branch or
son of Canaan it was, or how it happened that they
preferred the common gentilitious name to one more
appropriated as descendants of one of the sons of Ca¬
naan ; unless from their course of life, as being in the
mercantile way, the import of the name of Canaan ;
and for which their situation was greatly adapted, they
living on the sea and about Jordan, and thus occupy¬
ing the greater part of the Land of Promise.
CHANCE, a term we apply to events, to denote
that they happen without any necessary or foreknown
cause. See Cause.
Our aim is, to ascribe those things to chance which
are not necessarily produced as the natural effects of
any proper cause : but our ignorance and precipitancy
lead us to attribute effects to chance which have a ne¬
cessary and determinate cause.
When we say a thing happens by chance, we really
mean no more than that its cause is unknown to us:
not, as some vainly imagine* that chance iist\f can be
the cause of any thing.
The case of the painter, who unable to express the
foam at the mouth of a horse he had painted, threw
his sponge in despair at the piece, and by chance,
did that which he could not before do by design,
is an eminent instance of the force of chance : yet,
it is obvious, all we mean here by chance is, that
the painter was not aw'are of the effect; or that he
did not throw the sponge with such a view : not but
that he actually did every thing necessary to produce
the effect $ insomuch, that considering the direction
wdierein he threw his sponge, together with its form,
specific gravity, the colours wherewith it was smear¬
ed, and the distance of the hand from the piece, it
was impossible, on the present system of things, the
effect should not follow.
Chance is frequently personified, and erected into a
chimerical being, whom we conceive as acting arbitra¬
rily, ,
f 381 ]
C H A • [38
Choice, rily, and producing all the effects whose real causes do
Clmnce- not appear to us $ in which sense the word coincides
Medley. with the rvx*,fortiina, of the ancients.
 v - ' Chance is also used for the manner of deciding
things, the conduct or direction whereof is left at large,
and not reducible to any determinate rules or measures,
or where there is no ground for preference • as at
cards, dice, lotteries, &c. _
For the laws of Chance, or the Proportion of Ha¬
zard in Gaming, see Game.
The ancient sortilege, or chance, M. Placette ob¬
serves, was instituted by God himself: and in the Old
Testament we find several standing laws and express
commands which prescribed its use on certain occa¬
sions. Hence the Scripture says, “ The lot, or chance,
fell on Matthias,” when it was in question who should
fill Judas’s place in the apostolate.
Hence also arose the sortes sanctorum, or method of
determining things, among the ancient Christians, by
opening some of the sacred books, and pitching on the
first verse they cast their eye on, as a sure prognostic
of what was to befal them. The sortes Homeric#, Vir-
giliance, Prcenestince, &c. used by the heathens, were
with the same view, and in the same manner. See
Sortes.
St Augustine seems to approve of this method of
determining things future, and owns that he had prac¬
tised it himself; grounded on this supposition, that
God presides over chance ; and on Prov. xvi. 33.
Many among the modern divines hold chance to
be conducted in a particular manner by Providence j
and esteem it an extraordinary way which God uses
to declare his will, and a kind of immediate revela¬
tion.
Chauce-Medley, in Law, is where one is doing a
lawful act, and a person is killed by chance thereby j
for if the act he unlawful, it is felony. If a person
cast, not intending harm, a stone, which happens to
hit one, whereof he dies j or shoots an arrow in a
highway, and another that passeth by is killed there¬
with j or if a workman, in throwing down rubbish
from a house, after warning to take care, kills a per¬
son } or a schoolmaster in correcting his scholar, a
master his servant, or an officer in whipping a criminal
in a reasonable manner, happens to occasion his death;
it is chance-medley and misadventure. But if a man
throw stones in a highway where persons usually pass j
or shoot an arrow, &c. in a market-place among a
great many people j or if a workman cast down rub¬
bish from a house in cities and towns where people are
continually passing*, or a schoolmaster, &c. correct
his servant or scholar, &c. exceeding the bounds of
moderation *, it is manslaughter : and if with an im¬
proper instrument of correction, as with a sword or
iron bar, or by kicking, stamping, &c. in a cruel
manner, it is murder. If a man whips his horse in a
street to make him gallop, and the horse runs over a
child and kills it, it is manslaughter : but if another
whips the horse, it is manslaughter in him, and chance-
medley in the rider. And if two are fighting, and a
third person coming to part them is killed by one of
them without any evil intent, yet this is murder in
him, and not manslaughter by chance-medley or mis¬
adventure. In chance-medley, the offender forfeits
his goods) but hath a pardon of course.
2 ] C H A
CHANCEL, is properly that part of the choir of a C|ianc
church, between the altar or communion-table and the Chance
balustrade or rail that encloses it, where the ministerv-
is placed at the celebration of the communion. The
word comes from the Latin cancellus, which in the
lower Latin is used in the same sense, from cancelli,
“ lattices or cross bars,” wherewith the chancels were
anciently encompassed, as they now are with rails.
The right of a seat and a sepulchre in the chancels is
one of the privileges of founders.
CHANCELLOR, was at first only a chief notary
or scribe under the emperors 5 and was called canccl-
larius, because he sat behind a lattice (in Latin canceh-
las'), to avoid being crowded by the people: though
some derive the word from cancellare, “ to cancel.”
(See Chancery.) This officer was afterwards invest¬
ed with several judicial powers, and a general super¬
intendency over the rest of the officers of the prince.
From the Roman empire it passed to the Roman
church, ever emulous of imperial state : and hence
every bishop has to this day his chancellor, the prin¬
cipal judge of his consistory. And when the modern
kingdoms of Europe were established upon the ruins of
the empire, almost every state preserved its chancellor
with different jurisdictions and dignities, according to
their different constitutions. But in all of them he
seems to have had the supervision of all charters, let¬
ters, and such other public instruments of the crown
as were authenticated in the most solemn manner : and
therefore, when seals came in use, he had always the
custody of the king’s great seal.
Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain, or Lord
Keeper of the Great Seal, is the highest honour of the
long robe, being created by the mere delivery of the
king’s great seal into his custody : whereby he be¬
comes, without writ or patent, an officer of the great¬
est weight and power of any now subsisting in the
kingdom. He is a privy counsellor by his office j and,
according to Lord Chancellor Ellesmere, prolocutor
of the house of lords by prescription. To him belongs
the appointment of all the justices of the peace through¬
out the kingdom. Being in former times commonly
an ecclesiastic (for none else were then capable of an
office so conversant in writing), and presiding over the
royal chapel, he became keeper of the king’s con¬
science } visitor, in right of the king, of all hospitals
and colleges of the king’s foundation ; and patron of
all the king’s livings under the value of 20I. per an¬
num in the king’s books. He is the general guardian
of all infants, idiots and lunatics; and has the gene¬
ral superintendence of all charitable uses in the king¬
dom } and all this over and above the vast extensive
jurisdiction which he exercises in his judicial capacity
in the court of chancery. He takes a precedence of
every temporal lord except the royal family, and of
all others except the archbishop of Canterbury. See
Chancery.
Chancellor, in Scotland, was the chief in mat¬
ters of justice. In the laws of King Malcolm II. be
is placed before all other officers j and from these
it appears that he had the principal direction of the
chancery, or chancellary as it is called, which is his
proper office. He had the custody of the king’s seal j
and he was the king’s most intimate counsellor, as ap¬
pears by an old law cited by Sir James Balfour : “ The
chancellar
(| icellor.
C H A [ 383 ] C H A
chancellar sal at al tymes assist the king, in giving him
counsall mhir secretly nor the rest of the nobility, to
quais ordinances all officiaris, als well of the realme as
of the kingis hous, sould answer and obey. The chan¬
cellar sal be ludgit neir unto the kingis grace, for
keiping of his bodie, and the seill $ and that he may
be readie baith day and nicht at the king’s command.”
By having the custody of the great seal, he had an
opportunity of examining the king’s grants, and other
deeds which wei’e to pass under it, and to cancel them
if they appeared against law, and were obtained sur¬
reptitiously or by false suggestions.
King James VI. ordained the chancellor to have the
first place and rank in the nation, ratione officii; by
virtue whereof he presided in the parliament, and in
all courts of judicature. After the restoration of King
Charles II. by a particular declaratory law, parliament
first, the lord chancellor was declared, by virtue and
right of his office, president in all the meetings of
parliament, or other public judicatures of the king¬
dom. Although this act was made to declare the
chancellor president of the exchequer as well as other
courts, yet in 1663 the king declared the treasurer to
be president of that court.
The office of Lord Chancellor was abolished by the
Union, there being no farther use for the judicial part
of this office $ and to answer all the other parts of the
chancellor’s office, a lord keeper of the great seal was
erected, with a salary of 3000I. a-year.
Chancellor of a Cathedral, an officer that hears
lessons and lectures read in the church, either by him¬
self or his vicar $ to correct and set right the reader
when he reads amiss ; to inspect schools $ to hear
causes $ apply the seal j write and dispatch the letters
of the chapter; keep the books ; take care that there
be frequent preachings, both in the church and out
of it; and assign the office of preaching to whom he
pleases.
Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, an officer
appointed chiefly to determine controversies between
the king and his tenants of the duchy land, and other¬
wise to direct all the king’s affairs belonging to that
court. See Duchy Court.
Chancellor of the Exchequer, an officer who pre¬
sides in that court, and takes care of the interest of the
crown. He is always in commission with the lord-
treasurer, for the letting of crown lands, &c. and has
power with others, to compound for forfeitures of
lands upon penal statutes. He has also great authori¬
ty in managing the royal revenues, and in matters re¬
lating to the first fruits. ■
Chancellor of the order of the Garter and other
Military orders, is an officer who seals the commissions
and mandates of the chapter and assembly of the
knights, keeps the register of their proceedings, and
delivers acts thereof under the seal of their order.
Chancellor of an University, is he who seals the
diplomas, or letters of degrees, provision, &c. given in
the university.
The chancellor of Oxford is usually one of the prime
nobility, chosen by the students themselves in convo¬
cation. He is their chief magistrate $ his office is,
durante vita, to govern the university, preserve and
defend its rights and privileges, convoke assemblies,
and do justice among the members under his jurisdic- chancellor
tion. jj
Under the chancellor is the vice-chancellor, who is Chancery,
chosen annually, being nominated by the chancellor, *
and elected by the university in convocation. He is
always the head of some college, and in holy orders.
His proper office is to execute the chancellor’s power,
to govern the university according to her statutes, to
see that officers and students do their duty, that courts
be duly called, &c. When he enters upon his office,
he chooses four pro-vice chancellors out of the heads
of the colleges, to execute his power in his absence.
The chancellor of Cambridge is also usually one of
the prime nobility, and in most respects the same as
that in Oxford j only he does not hold his office du¬
rante vita, but may be elected every three years. Un¬
der the chancellor there is a commissary, who holds a
court of record for all privileged persons and scholars
under the degree of master of arts, where all causes are
tried and determined by the civil and statute law, and
by the custom of the university.
The vice-chancellor of Cambridge is chosen annual¬
ly by the senate, out of two persons nominated by the
heads of the several colleges and halls.
Chancellor's Court. See University Courts.
CHANCERON, in Natui'alHistory, a name given
by the French writers to the small caterpillar, that eats
the corn, and does vast mischief in their granaries.
See the the article CoRN-Butterfly.
CHANCERY, the highest court of justice in Bri¬
tain next to the parliament, and of very ancient insti¬
tution. It has its name chancery [cancellarid) from
the judge who presides here, the lord chancellor, or
cancellarius; who, according to Sir Edward Coke, is
so termed, d cancellando, from cancelling the king’s
letters patent when granted contrary to law, which is
the highest point of his jurisdiction. In chancery
there are two distinct tribunals ; the one ordinary, be¬
ing a court of common law; the other extraordinary,
being a court of equity.
1. The ordinary \ega\ court holds pleas of recogni-
zances acknowledged in the chancery, writs of scire Comment,
facias, for repeal of letters patent, writs of partition,
&c. and also of all personal actions by or against any
officer of the court. Sometimes a supersedeas, or writ
of privilege, hath been here granted to discharge a
person out of prison : one from hence may have a ha¬
beas corpus prohibition, &c. in the vacation $ and here
a subpeena may be had to force witnesses to appear in
other courts, when they have no power to call them.
But, in prosecuting causes, if the parties descend to
issue, this court cannot try it by jury 5 but the lord
chancellor delivers the record into the king’s bench
to be tried there j and after trial had, it is to be re¬
manded into the chancery, and there judgment given j
though if there be a demurrer in law, it shall be ar¬
gued in this court.
In this court is also kept the officina justitia ; out of
which all original writs that pass under the great seal,
all commissions of charitable uses, sewers, bankruptcy,
idiocy, lunacy, and the like, do issue; and for which
it is always open to the subject, who may there at any
time demand and have, ex dehitojustitiee, any writ that
his occasions may call for. These writs, relating to the
business
C H A [ 384 ] C H A
Chancery, business of the subject, and the returns of them, were,
—v—according to the simplicity of ancient times, originally
kept in a hamper, in hanaperio; and the other (relat¬
ing to such matters wherein the crown is mediately or
immediately concerned) were preserved in a little sack,
or bag, in parva baga; and hence hath arisen the di¬
stinction of the hanaper office, and the petty-bag office,
which both belong to the common law court in chan¬
cery.
2. The extraordinary court, or court of equity, pro¬
ceeds by the rules of equity and conscience, and mo¬
derates the rigour of the common law, considering the
intention rather than the words of the law. It gives
relief for and against infants notwithstanding their
minority, and for or against married women notwith¬
standing their coverture. All frauds and deceits for
which there is no redress at common law j all breaches
of trust and confidence $ and accidents, as to relieve
obligors, mortgagers, &c. against penalties and forfei¬
tures, where the intent was to pay the debt, are here
remedied : for in chancery, a forfeiture, &c. shall not
bind, where a thing may be done after, or compensa¬
tion made for it. Also this court will give relief against
the extremity of unreasonable engagements entered
into without consideration ; oblige creditors that are
unreasonable to compound with an unfortunate debtor ;
and make executors, &cc. give security and pay in¬
terest for money that is to lie long in their hands.
This court may confirm title to lands, though one hath
lost his writings: and render conveyances defective
through mistake, &c. good and perfect. In chancery,
copy-holders may be relieved against the ill usage of
their lords ; enclosures of land that are common be
decreed ; and this court may decree money or lands
given to charitable uses, oblige men to account with
each other, &c. But in all cases where the plaintiff
can have his remedy at law, he ought not to be reliev¬
ed in chancery •, and a thing which may be tried by a
jury is not triable in this court.
The proceedings in chancery are, first to file the bill
of complaint, signed by some counsel, setting forth the
fraud or injury done, or wrong sustained, and praying
relief: after the bill is filed, process of subpoena issues to
compel the defendant to appear; and when the defend¬
ant appears, he puts in his answer to the bill of com¬
plaint, if there be no cause for the plea to the jurisdic¬
tion of the court, in disability of the person, or in bar,
&c. Then the plaintiff brings his replication, unless
he files exceptions against the answer as insufficient,
referring it to a master to report whether it be sufficient
or not; to which report exceptions may also be made.
The answer, replication, rejoinder, &c. being settled,
and the parties come to issue, witnesses are to be exa¬
mined upon interrogatories, either in court or by com¬
mission in the country, wherein the parties usually join ;
afnd when the plaintiff and defendant have examined
their witnesses, publication is to be made of the de¬
positions, and the cause is to be set down for hearing;
after which follows the decree. But it is now usual to
appeal to the house of lords ; which appeals are to
be signed by two noted counsel, and exhibited by way
of petition ; the petition or appeal is lodged with the
clerk of the house of lords, and read in the house,
whereon the appellee is ordered to put in his answer,
and a day fixed for hearing the cause ; and after coun-
3
sel heard, and evidence given on both sides, the lords Chance
will affirm or reverse the decree of the chancery, and |]
finally determine the cause by a majority of votes, &c. c!*Rn(ll<|
CHANDELIER, in fortification, a kind of move- '""’“v—
able parapet, consisting of a wooden frame, made of two
upright stakes, about six feet high, with cross planks
between them ; serving to support fascines to cover the
pioneers.
CH ANDERNAGORE, a French settlement in the
kingdom of Bengal in the East Indies. It lies on the
river Ganges, two leagues and a half above Calcutta.
The district is hardly a league in circumference, and
has the disadvantage of being somewhat exposed on the
western side ; but its harbour is excellent, and the air
is as pure as it can be on the banks of the Ganges.
Whenever any building is undertaken that requires
strength, it must here, as well as in all other parts of
Bengal, be built upon piles, it being impossible to dig
three or four feet without coming at water.
CHANDLER, Mary, distinguished by her talent
for poetry, was the daughter of a dissenting minister
at Bath, and was born at Malmsbury in Wiltshire in
1687. She was bred a milliner; but from her child¬
hood had a turn for poetry, and in her riper years ap¬
plied herself to the study of the poets. Her poems,
for which she was complimented by Mr Pope, breathe
the spirit of piety and philosophy. She had the mis¬
fortune to be deformed, which determined her to live
single ; though she had great sweetness of counte¬
nance, and was solicited to marry. She died in 1745,
aged 58.
Chandler, Dr Samuel, a learned and respectable
dissenting minister, descended from ancestors who had
heartilv engaged in the cause of religious liberty, and
suffered for the sake of conscience and nonconformity;
was born at Hunger ford in Berks, where his father was
a minister of considerable worth and abilities. Being by
his literary turn destined to the ministry, he was first
placed at an academy at Bridgewater, and from thence
removed to Gloucester under Mr Samuel Jones. A-
mong the pupils of Mr Jones were Mr Joseph Butler,
afterwards bishop of Durham, and Mr Thomas Seeker,
afterwards archbishop of Canterbury. With these emi¬
nent persons he contracted a friendship that continued
to the end of their lives, notwithstanding the different
views by which their conduct was afterwards directed,
and the different situations in which they were placed.
Mr Chandler having finished his academical studies,
began to preach about July 1714 ; and being soon di¬
stinguished by his talents in the pulpit, he was chosen
in 1716 minister of the Presbyterian congregation at
Peckham near London, in which station he continued
some years. Here he entered into the matrimonial state,
and began to have an increasing family, when, by the
fatal South Sea scheme of 1720, he unfortunately lost
the whole fortune which he had received with his wife.
His circumstances being thereby embarrassed, and his
income as a minister being inadequate to his expences,
he engaged in the trade of a bookseller, and kept a
shop in the Poultry, London, for about two or three
years, still continuing to discharge' the duties of the
pastoral office. He also officiated as joint preacher with
the learned Dr Lardner of a winter weekly evening
lecture at the meeting house in the Old Jewry, London :
in which meeting he was established assistant preacher
about
I
V
(
I.
c H A [ 385 ] C H A
ndlef. about the year 1725, and then as the pastor. Here he
v ■ —* administered to the religious improvement of a very re¬
spectable congregation for 40 years with the greatest
applause j and with what diligence and application he
improved the vacancies of time from his pastoral du¬
ties, for improving himself and benefiting the world,
will appear from his many writings on a variety of im¬
portant subjects. While he was thus laudably employ¬
ed, not only the universities of Edinburgh and Aber¬
deen gave him, without any application, testimonies of
their esteem in diplomas, conferring on him the degree
of H. I). but he also received offers of preferment from
some of the governors of the established church, which
he nobly declined. He had likewise the honour of be¬
ing afterwards elected F. R. and A. SS.
On the death of George II. in 1760, Dr Chandler
published a sermon on that event, in which he compared
that prince to King David. This gave rise to a
pamphlet, which was printed in the year 1761, en¬
titled “ The History of the Man after God’s own
Heart j” wherein the author ventured to exhibit King
David as an example of perfidy, lust, and cruelty, fit
only to be ranked with a Nero or a Caligula 5 and
complained of the insult that had been offered to the
memory of the late British monarch by Dr Chandler’s
parallel between him and the king of Israel. This at¬
tack occasioned Dr Chandler to publish in the follow-
ing year “ A Review of the History of the Man af¬
ter God’s own Heart j in which the Falsehoods and
Misrepresentations of the Historian are exposed and
corrected.” He also prepared for the press a more ela¬
borate work, which was afterwards published in two
volumes 8vo, under the following title : “ A Critical
History of the Fife of David; in which the principal
Events are ranged in Order of time ; the chief Objec¬
tions of Mr Bayle and others against the Character of
this Prince, the Scripture Account of him, and the
Occurrences of his Reign, are examined and refuted $
and the Psalms which refer to him explained.” As this
was the last, it was likewise one of the best, of Dr
Chandler’s productions. The greatest part of this
work was printed off at the time of our author’s death,
which happened May 8. 1766, aged 73. During the
last year of his life, he was visited with frequent returns
of a very painful disorder, which he endured with great
resignation and Christian fortitude. He was interred
in the burying-ground at Bunhill-fields on the 16th of
the month $ and his funeral was very honourably at¬
tended by ministers and other gentlemen. He express¬
ly desired, by his last will, that no delineation of his
character might be given in his funeral sermon, which
Was preached by Dr Amory. He had several chil¬
dren ; two sons and a daughter who died before him,
*nd three daughters who survived him ; two of whom
*re yet living, and both married, one of them to the
Rev. Dr Harwood.
Dr Chandler was a man of very extensive learning
*nd eminent abilities ; his apprehension was quick and
his judgment penetrating ; he had a warm and vigorous
imagination ; he was a very instructive and animated
preacher; and his talents in the pulpit and as a writer
procured him very great and general esteem, not only
among the dissenters, but among large numbers of the
established church. He was principally instrumental in
the establishment of the fund for relieving the widows
Vol. V. Part I. f
and orphans of poor Protestant dissenting ministers:
the plan of it was first formed by him ; and it was by
his interest and application to his friends that many of
the subscriptions for its support were procured.
In 1768, four volumes of our author’s sermons were
published by Dr Amory, according to his own direc¬
tions in his last will; to which were prefixed a neat
engraving of him, from an excellent portrait by Mr
Chamberlin. He also expressed a desire to have some
of his principal pieces reprinted in four volumes 8vo :
proposals were accordingly published for that purpose,
but did not meet with sufficient encouragement. But
in 1777, another work of our author was published in
one volume 4to, under the following title : “ A Para¬
phrase and Notes on the Epistles of St Paul to the
Galatians and Ephesians, with doctrinal and practical
Observations : together with a critical and practical
Commentary on the two Epistles of St Paul to the
Thessalonians.” Dr Chandler also left, in his inter¬
leaved Bible, a large number of critical notes, chiefly
in Latin, which are now the property of Dr Kippis,
Mr Farmer, Dr Price, and Dr Savage, and which
have been intended to be published j but the design
has not yet been executed. A complete list of Dr
Chandler’s works is given in the Biographia Britannica,
vol. iii. p. 435.
CHANG-tong, a province of China, bounded on
the east by Petcheli and part of Honan, on the south
by Kiang-nan, on the east by the sea, and on the
north by the sea and part of Petcheli. The country
is well watered by lakes, streams, and rivers ; but is
nevertheless liable to suffer from drought, as rain falls
here but seldom. The locusts also sometimes make
great devastation. However, it abounds greatly in
game; and there is perhaps no country where quails,
partridges, and pheasants, are sold cheaper, the in¬
habitants of this province being reckoned the keenest
sportsmen in the empire. This province is greatly en¬
riched by the river Yun, called the Grand Imperial
Canal, through which all the barks bound to Pekin
must pass in their way thither. The duties on this
canal alone amount to more than 450,000!. annually.
The canal itself is greatly admired by European tra¬
vellers on account of its strong and long dikes, the
banks decorated with cut stone, the ingenious mecha¬
nism of its locks, and the great number of natural ob¬
stacles which have been overcome in the execution of
the work. The province produces silk of the ordina¬
ry kind : and besides this, another from a sort of in¬
sect resembling our caterpillar. It is coarser than the
ordinary silk, but much stronger and more durable ; so
that the stuffs made from it have a very extensive sale
throughout the empire.
Chang-tong is remarkable for being the birth-place
of the celebrated philosopher and lawgiver Confucius.
His native city is called Kio+feou, where there are se¬
veral monuments erected in honour of this great man.
This province is divided into six districts, which con¬
tain six cities of the first class, and 114 of the second
and third. Along the coast, also, are 15 or 16 villages
of considerable importance on account of their com¬
merce ; there is likewise a number of small islands, most
of which have harbours very convenient for the Chi¬
nese junks which pass from thence to Corea or Lea-
tong. The most remarkable cities are, 1. Tsi-nan-fon,
3 C the
Chandler,
Chang-
tong.
Chang-
tong
II
Changes.
C H A [
the capital, which stands south of the river Tsing-ho or
Tsi. It is large and populous; but chiefly celebrated
for having been tbe residence of a long series of kings,
whose tombs rising on the neighbouring mountains,
afford a beautiful prospect. 2. "i n-tcheu-fou, tbe se¬
cond city of the province, situated between two rivers,
and in a mild and temperate climate. Great quanti¬
ties of gold are said to have been formerly collected in
its neighbourhood. 3. Lin-tcin-tcheu, situated on the
great canal, is much frequented by ships, and may be
called a general magazine for every kind of merchan¬
dise. llei’e is an octagonal tower, divided into eight
stories, the Avails of which are covered on the outside
Avith porcelain loaded with various figures neatly exe¬
cuted, and incrusted on the inside Avith variously co¬
loured marble. A staircase, constructed in the Avail,
conducts to all the stories, from which there are pas¬
sages that lead into magnificent galleries ornamented
with gilt ballustrades. All the cornices and projec¬
tions of the tower are furnished Avith little bells j Avhich,
says M. Grosier, Avhen agitated by the wind, form a
very agreeable harmony. In the highest story is an
idol of gilt copper, to Avhich the tower is dedicated.
In the neighbourhood are some other temples, the ar¬
chitecture of which is exceedingly beautiful.
CHANGER, an officer belonging to the king’s
mint, who changes money for gold or silver bullion.
See Mint.
Money-CnANGER, is a banker, Avho deals in the
exchange, receipt, and payment of moneys. See
Banker.
CHANGES, in Arithmetic, &c. the permutations
or variations of any number of quantities \ Avith regard
to their position, or-der, &c. See Combination.
[To find all the possible Changes of any number of
Quantities, or how oft their Order may be varied.]
Suppose two quantities a and b. Since they may be
either wrote ab or b a, it is evident their changes are
2—2.1. Suppose three quantities abc : their changes
Avill be as in the margin ; as is evident by com¬
bining c first Avith ab, then with ba; and hence
the number of changes arises 3. 2. 1 = 6. If
the quantities be 4, each may be combined four
Avays with each order of the other three 5
Avhence the number of changes arises 6. 4=4.
3. 2. I.= 24. Wherefore, if the number of
quantities be supposed «, the number of changes
Avill be n.n—\.n—2.n—3.72—4. &c. If the
same quantity occur twice, the changes of tAvo Avill be
found 6 i,* of three, £ fl 5, abb, bbc; oiiom,cbab,
b c ab, babe. And thus the number of changes in
the first case Avill be i=:(2. 1) : 2. I ; in the second,
3=1(3. 2. 1) : 2. 1 *, in the third, 12=3(4. 3* 2. 1) : 2. 1.
If a fifth letter be added, in each series of four quan¬
tities, it will beget five changes, Avhence the number
of all the changes will be 6or=(5. 4. 3. 2.) I, : 2. I.
Hence if the number of quantities be n, the number of
changes will be (n.n—i.n—2.n—3,77—-4. &c.) : 2. 2.
From these special formulae may be collected a general
one, viz. if n be the number of quantities, and m the
number which sIioaa'S how oft the same quantity occurs j
Ave shall have {n.n~—\.n—2.n—3.77—4.77—5.7? 6.77
* 7.77 8.72 9. &C.) : (777 1.777 2.772 3.772 4. &C.)
the series being to be continued, till the continual
subtraction of unity from n and m leave o. After the
2
386 ] C H A
same manner we may proceed further, till putting n
for the number of quantities, and l, m, r, &c. for the
number that shows how oft any of them is repeated,
we arrive at an universal form, {n.n—1.72—2.72—3.72
_4.72.__3.72 6.72-—7.72—8. &c.) : (/./.— I./ 2.1—3./
 4./ 3. &C. 777.772 1.772 2.777 3. &C.) 71.?’——1.7’ 
2.7’ 3.7’ 4.7’ 3. 6tC.
Suppose, for instance, n—6, 1=3, r=0. The num¬
ber of changes Avill be (6. 5. 4. 3. 2. 1.) : (3. 2. 1.
3. 2. i.) = (6. 5. 4.) : (3. 2=2. 5. 2=20). _
Hence, suppose thirteen persons at a table, if it be
required Iaoav oft they may change places $ we shall
find the number 13. 12. II. 10. 9. 8. 7. 6. 3. 4. 3. 2. 1.
=36227020800.
In this manner may all the possible anagrams of any
Avord be found in all languages, and that without any
study : suppose, v. g. it Avere required to find the ana¬
grams of the Avord amor, the number of changes Avill
cab
a c b
abc
c b a
b c a
b a c
be
772 a
a 777
m 0 a
m a 0
0 a 777
a 0 m
r 0 777 a
0 r ?77 a
0 m r a
0 m a r
r 772 0 a
m r 0 a
m 0 r a
m 0 a r
r m a 0
m r a 0
m a r 0
m a 0 r
r a 0 m
ora 772
oar m
0 a m r
a r 0 ?77
a 0 r m
a 0 ?77 r
r a 711 0
a r m o
a m r o
amor
therefore
roam
of the Avord
maro.
amor,
ramo.
in
armo.
brought to
sea perch,
not be di-
The anagrams
Latin tongue, are roma, mora
See Anagram.
Whether this neAV method of anagramatizing be like
to prove of much service to that art, is left to the
poets.
CHANNA, in TLoology, the name of a fish caught
in great plenty in the Mediterranean, and
market in Italy and elseAvhere, among the
Avhich it so nearly resembles, that it would
stinguishable from it, but that the sea perch is bigger,
and has only broad transverse lines on its back, where¬
as the channa has them both transverse and longitudi¬
nal. It has a very Avide mouth, and its lower jaw is
longer than its upper 5 so that its mouth naturally falls
open. Its eyes are small, and its teeth very sharp j
its back is of a blackish red j it has several longitudi¬
nal lines of a reddish hue ; and its tail is marked with
reddish spots. There is an observation, that in all the
fish of this kind which haA'e been examined by natura¬
lists, there have been found none but females. Uiis is
as old as the days of Aristotle. Whether this be true
in fact, would require many observations. If it should
prove so, the whole seems to end in this, that the channa
is no distinct species, but only the female of some other
fish. There is another fish not unlike this, called can-
nadella, or rather channadella, which at Marseilles is
knoAvn by the name of charina.
CHANNEL, in Geography, an arm of the sea, or
a narrow sea betiveen Iavo continents ; or between a
continent and an island. Such are the British channel,
St George’s channel, the channel of Constantinople,
&c.
Channel of a Ship. See CHAiN-TFales.
CHAN-si, a province of China, and one of the
smallest in the empire, is bounded on the east by Pe-
tcheli, on the south by Honan, on the Avest by Chen-sr,
and on the north by the great Avail. The climate is
healthful
Ebar,
Cbai.
the
C H A
n s- healthful and agreeable, and the soil generally fertile,
ant.' though the country is full of mountains. Some of
y—' these last are rough, wild, and uninhabited $ but others
are cultivated with the greatest care from top to bot¬
tom, and cut into terraces, forming a very agreeable
prospect; while some have on their tops vast plains no
less fertile than the richest low lands. These moun¬
tains abound with coal, which the inhabitants pound
and make into cakes with water ; a kind of fuel which,
though not very inflammable, affords a strong and last¬
ing fire when once kindled. It is principally used for
heating their stoves, which are constructed with brick
as in Germany ; but the inhabitants of this province
give them the form of small beds, and sleep upon them.
The best grapes to be met with in this part of Asia
grow in the province of Chan-si; so that good wine
might be made ; but the people choose rather to dry
and sell them to the neighbouring provinces. The
country abounds with musk, porphyry, marble, lapis
lazuli, and jasper of various colours ; and iron mines, as
well as salt pits and crystal, are very common. Here
are five cities of the first class, and eighty-five of the
second and third : the most remarkable are, I. Tai-
youen-fou the capital, an ancient city about three
leagues in circumference, but much decayed in conse¬
quence of being no longer the residence of the princes
of the blood as it was foi’merly. Nothing now remains
of the palaces of those princes but a few ruins; but
their tombs are still to be seen on a neighbouring
mountain. The burying-place is magnificently orna¬
mented $ and all the tombs are of marble or cut stone,
having near them triumphal arches, statues of heroes,
figures of lions and different animals, especially horses,
and which are disposed in very elegant order. An
awful and melancholy gloom is preserved around these
tombs by groves of aged cypresses, which have never
felt the stroke of the axe, placed chequer-wise. The
principal articles of trade here are, hardware, stuffs of
different kinds, particularly carpets in imitation of
those of Turkey. 2. Ngan-y is situated near a lake as
salt as the ocean, from which a great quantity of salt is
extracted. 3. Fuen-tcheou-fou, an ancient and com¬
mercial city, built on the banks of the river Fuen-ho :
it has baths and springs almost boiling hot, which, by
drawing hither a great number of strangers, add great¬
ly to its opulence. 4. Tai-tong-fou, situated near the
wall, is a place of great strength, and important by
reason of its situation, as being the only one exposed
to the incursions of the Tartars. Its territories abound
with lapis lazuli, medicinal herbs, and a particular kind
of jasper called yieche, which is as white and beautiful
as agate; marble and porphyry are also common ; and
a great revenue is produced from the skins which are
dressed here.
CHANT, (cantus), is used for the vocal music of
churches.
In church history we meet with divers kinds of chant
or song. The first is the Ambrosian, established by St
Ambrose. The second, the Gregorian chant, mivoAaceA
by Pope Gregory the Great, who established schools of
chantors, and corrected the church-song. This is still
retained in the church under the name of plain song:
at first it was called the Homan song. The plain or
Gregorian chant, is where the choir and people sing in
unison, or all together in the same manner.
C H A
CHANTILLY, a village in France, about seven Chantilly
leagues from Paris, where there is a magnificent palace 11
and fine forest formerly belonging to the duke of Bour- . Chaos.
bon. ’
CHANTOR, a singer of a choir in a cathedral. The
word is almost grown obsolete, chorister or singing-man
being commonly used instead of it. All great chapters
have chantors and chaplains to assist the canons, and
officiate in their absence.
Chantor is used by ivay of excellence for the pre¬
centor or master of the choir, which is one of the first
dignities of the chapter. At St David’s in Wales,
where there is no dean, he is next in dignity to the
bishop. The ancients called the chantor primicerius
cantorum. To him belonged the direction of the dea¬
cons and other inferior officers.
Chantors, in the temple of Jerusalem, were a num¬
ber of Levites, employed in singing the praises of God,
and playing upon instruments before his altar. They
had no habits distinct from the rest of the people j yet
in the ceremony of removing the ark to Solomon’s
temple, the chantors appeared dressed in tunics of bys-
sus or fine linen. 2 Chron. v. 12.
CHANTRY, or Chauntry, was anciently a church
or chapel endowed with lands, or other yearly revenue,
for the maintenance of one or more priests, daily say¬
ing or singing mass for the souls of the donors, and
such others as they appointed. Hence chauntry-rents,
are rents paid to the crown by the tenants or purchasers
of chauntry-lands.
CHAOLOGY, the history or description of the
chaos. See Chaos.
Orpheus, in his chaology, sets forth the different al¬
terations, secretions, and diverse forms, which matter
went through till it became inhabitable $ which amounts
to the same with what we otherwise call cosmogony.
Dr Burnet, in his Theory of the Earth, represents the
the chaos as it was at first, entire, undivided, and uni¬
versally rude and deformed or the tohu bohu : then
shows how it came to be divided into its respective re¬
gions j how the homogeneous matter gathered itself
apart from all of a contrary principle ; and, lastly, how
it hardened and became a solid habitable globe. See
Earth.
CHAOS, that confusion in which matter lay when
newly produced out of nothing at the beginning of the
world, before God, by his almighty word, had put it
into the order and condition wherein it was after the
six days creation. See Earth.
Chaos is represented by the ancients as the first
principle, ovum, or seed of nature and the world. All
the sophists, sages, naturalists, philosophers, theologues,
and poets, held that chaos was the eldest and first prin¬
ciple, TO ee^euoi %xos. The Barbarians, Phoenicians,
Egyptians, Persians, &c. all refer the origin of the
world to a rude, mixed, confused mass of matter. The
Greeks, Orpheus, Hesiod, Menander, Aristophanes,
Euripides, and the writers of the Cyclic Poems, all
speak of the first chaos ; the Ionic and Platonic philo¬
sophers build the world out of it. J he Stoics hold,
that as the world was first made of a chaos, it shall at
last be reduced to a chaos 5 and that its periods and
revolutions in the mean time are only transitions from
one chaos to another. Lastly, the Latins, as Ennius,
Varro, Ovid, Lucretius, Statius, &c. are all of the
3 C 2 same
[ 387 1
C H A [ 388 ] C H A
Chaos same opinion. Nor is there any sect or nation what-
|| ever that does not derive their the structure
Chapel. QJifie worl(l^ froiy a chaos.
v The opinion first arose among the Barbarians, whence
it spread to the Greeks and from the Greeks to the
Romans and other nations. Dr Burnet observes, that
besides Aristotle and a few other Pseudo-Pythagoi’eans,
nobody ever asserted that our world was always from
eternity of the same nature, form, and structure, as at
present j but that it had been the standing opinion of
the wise men of all ages, that what we now call the
terrestrial earth, was originally an unformed, indigest¬
ed mass of heterogeneous matter, called chaos; and no
more than the rudiments and materials of the present
world.
It does not appear who first broached the notion of
a chaos. Moses, the eldest of all writers, derives the
origin of this world from a confusion of matter, dark,
void, deep, without form, which he calls tohu bohu;
which is precisely the chaos of the Greek and Barba¬
rian philosophers. Moses goes no further than the
chaos, nor tells us whence it took its origin, or whence
its confused state ; and where Moses stops, there pre¬
cisely do all the rest. Dr Burnet endeavours to show
that as the ancient philosophers, &c. who wrote of the
cosmogony, acknowledged a chaos for the principle of
their world j so the divines, or writers of the theogony,
derive the origin or generation of their fabled gods
from the same principle.
Mr Whiston supposed the ancient chaos, the origin
of our earth, to have been the atmosphere of a comet:
which though new, yet all things considered, is not
the most improbable assertion. He endeavours to make
it out by many arguments, drawn from the agreement
which appears to be between them. So that, according
to him, every planet is a comet, formed into a regular
and lasting constitution, and placed at a proper di¬
stance from the sun, revolving in a nearly circular or¬
bit : and a comet is a planet either beginning to be de¬
stroyed or re-made ; that is, a chaos or planet unform¬
ed or in its primeval state, and placed as yet in an or¬
bit very eccentrical.
Chaos, in the phrase of Paracelsus, imports the air.
It has also some other significations amongst the alche¬
mists.
Chaos, in Zoology, a genus of insects belonging to
the order of vermes zoophyta. The body has no shell
oi' covering, and is capable ol reviving after being dead
to appearance for a long time ; it has no joints or ex¬
ternal organs of sensation. There are five species,
mostly obtained by infusions of different vegetables in
water, and only discoverable by the microscope. See
Animalcuiae.
CHAPEAU, in Heraldry, an ancient cap of digni¬
ty worn by dukes, being scarlet-coloured velvet on the
outside, and lined with a fur. It is frequently borne
above a helmet instead of a wreath, under gentlemen’s
crests.
CHAPEL, a place of divine worship so called.
The word is derived from the Latin capella. In former
times, when the kings of I ranee were engaged in war
they always carried St Martin’s hat into the field’
which was kept in a tent as a precious relick : from
whence the place was called capella ; and the priests,
who had the custody of the tent, capellani. After¬
wards the word capella became applied to private ora¬
tories.
In Britain there are several sorts of chapels. 1. Pa¬
rochial chapels : these differ from parish churches only
in name ; they are generally small, and the inhabitants
within the district few. If there be a presentation ad
ecclesiam instead of capellam, and an admission and in¬
stitution upon it, it is no longer a chapel, but a church.
2. Chapels, which adjoin to, and are part of the church:
such were formerly built by honourable persons, as
burying-places for themselves and their families. 3.
Chapels of ease j these are usually built in very large
parishes, where all the people cannot conveniently re¬
pair to the mother church. 4. Free chapels } such as
were founded by kings of England. They are free
from all episcopal jurisdiction, and only to be visited by
the founder and his successors; which is done by the
lord chancellor : yet the king may license any subject
to build and endow a chapel, and by letters patent ex¬
empt it from the visitation of the ordinary. 5. Chapels
in the universities, belonging to particular colleges. 6.
Domestic chapels, built by noblemen or gentlemen for
the private service of God in their families. See
Chaplain.
Chapel is also a name given to a printer’s work-
house j because, according to some authors, printing
was first actually performed in chapels or churches j or,
according to others, because Caxton, an early printer,
exercised the art in one of the chapels in Westminster
Abbey. In this sense they say, the orders or laws of
the chapel, the secrets of the chapel, &c.
Knights of the Chapel, called also Poor Knights of
Windsor, were instituted by Henry VIII. in his testa¬
ment. Their number was at first thirteen, but has been
since augmented to 26. They assist in the funeral ser¬
vices of the kings of England : they are subject to the
office of the canons of Windsor, and live on pensions
assigned them by the order of the Garter. They bear
a blue or red cloak, with the arms of St George on the
left shoulder.
CHAPELAIN, James, an eminent French poet,
born at Paris in 1595, and often mentioned in the
works of Balzac, Menage, and other learned men. He
wrote several works, and at length distinguished himself
by a heroic poem called La Pucellc, ou France Hcliv-
ree, which employed him several years ; and which,
raising the expectation of the public, was as much de¬
cried by some as extolled by others. He was one of
the king’s counsellors j and died in 1647, very riC^>
but was very covetous and sordid.
CHAPELET, in the manege, a couple of stirrup-
leathers, mounted each of them with a stirrup, and
joined atop in a sort of leather buckle, called the head
of the chapelet, by which they were made fast to the
pummel of the saddle, after being adjusted to the rider’s
length and bore. They are used both to avoid the
trouble of taking up or letting down the stirrups every
time that a gentleman mounts on a different horse and
saddle, and to supply the place of the academy saddles,
which have no stirrups to them.
CHAPELLE, Claudius Emanuel Luillier,
the natural son of Francis Luillier, took the name of
Chapelle from a village between Paris and St Denys,
where he was born. He distinguished himself by writing
small pieces of poetry, in which he discovered great
delicacy.
c H A [ 389 ] C H A
apelle delicacy, an easy turn, and an admirable felicity of ex-
|| pression. He was the friend of Gassendi and Moliere:
aplain. and died in 1686.
"v ' CHAPERON, Chaperonne, or Chaperoon, pro¬
perly signifies a sort of hood or covering for the head,
anciently worn both by men and women, the nobles
and the populace, and afterwards appropriated to the
doctors and licentiates in colleges, &c. Hence the
name passed to certain little shields, and other funeral
devices, placed on the foreheads of the horses that
drew the hearses in pompous funerals, and which are
still called chaperoons or s/iafferoons; because such de¬
vices were originally fastened on the chaperonnes, or
hoods, worn by those horses with their other coverings
of state.
Chaperon of a bit-mouth, in the manege, is only
used for scatch-mouths, and all others that are not can¬
non-mouths, signifying the end of the bit that joins to
the branch just by the banquet. In scatch-mouths
the chaperon is round, but in others it is oval: and
the same part that in scatch and other mouths is called
chaperon, is in cannon-mouths called fronpeau.
CHAPITERS, in Architecture, the same with Ca¬
pitals.
Chapiters, in Law, formerly signified a summary
of such matters as were inquired of, or presented be¬
fore justices in eyre, justices of assize, or of the peace,
in their sessions.
Chapiters, at this time, denotes such articles as are
delivered by the mouth of the justice in his charge to
the inquest.
CHAPLAIN properly signifies a person pro¬
vided with a chapel, or who discharges the duty
thereof.
Chaplain is also used for an ecclesiastical person,
in the house of a prince, or a person of quality, who
officiates in their chapels, &c.
In England there are 48 chaplains to the king,
who wait four each month, preach in the chapel,
read the service to the family, and to the king in
his private oratory, and say grace in the absence of
the clerk of the closet. While in waiting they have a
„ table and attendance, but no salary. In Scotland the
king has six chaplains, with a salary of 50I. each,
three of them having in addition the deanery of the
chapel-royal divided between them, making up above
100I. to each. The only duty at present is to say
prayers at the election of peers for Scotland to sit in
parliament.—According to a statute of Henry VIH.
the persons vested with a power of retaining chaplains,
together with the number each is allowed to qualify,
is as follows : An archbishop, eight; a duke or bishop,
six ; marquis or earl, five ; viscount, four ; baron,
knight of the Garter, or lord chancellor, three ; a
duchess, marchioness, countess, baroness, the treasurer
and comptroller of the king’s house, clerk of the clo¬
set, the king’s secretary, dean of the chapel, almoner,
and master of the rolls, each of them two j chief jus¬
tice of the king’s bench, and warden of the cinque-r
ports, each one. All these chaplains may purchase a
license or dispensation, and take two benefices with
cure of souls. A chaplain must be'retained by letters
testimonial under hand and seal; for it is not sufficient
that he serve as chaplain in the family.
The first chaplains are said to have been those insti¬
tuted by the ancient kings of France, for preserving
the chape, or cape, with the other relicks of St Mar¬
tin, which the kings kept in their palace, and car- ‘
ried out with them to the war. The first chaplain
is said to have been Gul. de Mesmes, chaplain to St
Louis.
Chaplain in the order of Malta, is used for the
second rank or class in that order $ otherwise called
diaco.
The knights make the first class, and the chaplains
the second.
Chaplains of the Pope, are the auditors, or judges
of cause in the sacred palace j so called, because the
pope anciently gave audience in his chapel, for the de¬
cision of cases sent from the several parts of Christen¬
dom. He hither summoned as assessors the most learn¬
ed lawyers of his time 5 and they hence acquired the
appellation of capellani, chaplains. It is from the de¬
crees formerly given by these that the body of decretals
is composed : their number Pope Sixtus IV. reduced
to twelve.
Some say, the shrines of relicks were covered with a
kind of tent-cape, or capella, i. e. little cape j and that
hence the priests, who had the care of them, were called
chaplains. In time these relicks were reposited in a
little church, either contiguous to a larger or separate
from it; and the same name, capella, which was given
to the cover, was also given to the place where it was
lodged : and hence the priest who superintended it
came to be called chaplain.
CHAPLET, an ancient ornament for the head, like
a garland or wreath : but this word is frequently used
to signify the circle of a crown. There are instances
of its being borne in a coat of arms, as well as for
crests; the paternal arms for Lascelles are argent, three
chaplets, gules.
Chaplet also denotes a string of beads used by the
Roman Catholics, to count the number of their prayers.
The invention of it is ascribed to Peter the hermit,
who probably learned it of the Turks, as they owe it
to the East Indians.
Chaplets are sometimes called paternosters ; and are
made of coral, of diamonds, of wood, &c. The com¬
mon chaplet contains 50 ave-marias, and five pater¬
nosters. There is also a chaplet of our Saviour, con¬
sisting of 33 beads, in honour of his 33 years living-
on the earth, instituted by Father Michael the CamaL
dulian.
The Orientals have a kind of chaplets which they
call chains, and which they use in their prayers, re¬
hearsing one of the perfections of God on each link or
head. The Great Mogul is said to have 18 of these
chains, all precious stones; some diamonds, others ru¬
bies, pearls, &c. The Turks have likewise chaplets,
which ihey bear in the hand, or hang at the girdle :
but Father Uandini observes, they differ from those
used by the Romanists, in that they are all of the same
bigness, and have not that distinction into decades,
though they consist of six decades, or 60 heads. He
adds, that the Mussulmans run over the chaplet almost
in an instant, the prayers being extremely short, as
containing only these words, “ praise to God,” or
“ glory to God,” for each bead. Besides the com¬
mon chaplet they have likewise a larger one consist¬
ing of 100 beads, where there is some distinction, as
being
Chaplain,
Chaplet.
C H A [ 390 ] C H A
Chaplet being divided by little threads into three parts j on one
II of ■which they repeat 30 times soubhan Allah, i. e.
Chapter. << q0(] js worthy to be praised on another, ellamh
v ' Allah, “ Glory be to God and on the third, Allah
echer, “ God is great.” These thrice thirty times
making only 90; to complete the number 100, they add
other prayers for the beginning of the chaplet.—Pie
adds, that the Mahometan chaplet appears to have
had its rise from the mea beracoth, or “ hundred be¬
nedictions,” which the Jews are obliged to repeat
daily, and which we find in their prayer books $ the
Jews and Mahometans having this in common, that
they scarce do any thing without pronouncing some
laud or benediction.
Menage derives the word chaplet from chapeau,
“ hat.” The modern Latins call it chapellina, the
Italians more frequently corona.
Chaplet, or Chapelet, in Architecture, a little
moulding, cut or carved into round beads, pearls,
olives, or the like.
CHAPMAN, George, born in 1557, a man high¬
ly esteemed in his time for his dramatic and poetic
works. Pie wrote 17 plays ; translated Homer and
some other ancient poets j and was thought no mean
genius. He died in 16345 and was buried in St Giles’s
in the Fields, where his friend Inigo Jones erected a
monument to him.
CHAPPE, in Heraldrxj, the dividing an escutcheon
by lines drawn from the centre of the upper edge to
the angles below, into three parts, the sections on the
sides being of different metal or colour from the rest.
CHAPPEL in FRITH, a market town of Derby¬
shire, about 26 miles north-west of Derby. W. Long.
1. 50. N. Lat. 53. 22.
Chappel, William, a fearned and pious bishop of
Cork, Cloyne, and Ross in Ireland, born in Notting¬
hamshire in 1582. When the troubles began under
Charles I. he was prosecuted by the puritan party in
parliament, and retired to Derby, where he devoted
himself to study till his death in 1649. -^e wrote
Methodus Concionandi, i. e. “ the Method of Preach¬
ing:” and he is one of those to whom the Whole Duty
oj' Man has been attributed. He left behind him also
his own life written by himself in Latin, which has
been twice printed.
CHAPTER, in ecclesiastical polity, a society or
community of clergymen belonging to the cathedrals
and collegiate churches.
It was in the eighth century that the body of canons
began to be called a chapter. The chapter of the ca¬
nons of a cathedral were a standing council to the bi¬
shops, and, during the vacancy of the see, had the juris¬
diction of the diocese. In the earlier ages, the bishop
was head ol the chapter 5 afterwards abbots and other
dignitaries, as deans, provosts, treasurers, &e. were
preferred to this distinction. The deans and chapters
had the privilege of choosing the bishops in England ;
but Henry Mil. got this power vested in the crown :
and as the same prince expelled the monks from the
cathedrals, and placed secular canons in their room
those he thus regulated were called deans and chapters
of the new foundation ; such are Canterbury, Winches¬
ter, Ely, Carlisle, &c. See Dean.
Chapter, in matters of literature, a division in a
book for keeping the subject treated of more clear and
distinct.
CHAR, in Ichthyology, a species of Salmo. Charact*
CHARA. See Botany Index. ' y-
CH ARAB ON, a sea-port town on the northern
coast of the island of Java in the East Indies. E. Long.
10. 8. S. Lat. 6.
CHARACENE, the most southern part of Susiana,
a province of Persia, lying on the Persian gulf, be¬
tween the Tigris and the Eulseus. It was so named
from the city of Chorax, called first Alexandria, from
its founder Alexander the Great 5 afterwards Antio-
chia, from Antiochus V. king of Syria, who repaired
and beautified it *, and lastly, Chorax Spasinse, or Pa-
sinae, that is, the Mole of the Spasines, an Arabian
king of that name having secured it against the over¬
flowing of the Tigris, by a high bank or mole, extend¬
ing three miles, which served as a fence to all that
country. Dionysius Periegetes, and Isidorus, author
of the Parthicae Mansiones, were both natives of this
city. The small district of Characene was seized by
Pasines, the son of Sogdonacus, king of the neighbour¬
ing Arabs, during the troubles of Syria, and erected
into a kingdom. Lucian calls him Hyspasines, and
adds, that he ruled over the Characeni and the neigh¬
bouring people : he died in the 85th year of his age.
The other kings of this country we find mentioned by
the ancients are, Teraeus, who died in the 92d year
of his age, and after him Artabazus the seventh, as
Lucian informs us, who was driven from the throne
by his own subjects, but restored by the Parthians.
And this is all we find in the ancients relating to the
kings of Characene.
CHARACTER, in a general sense, signifies a mark
or figure, drawn on paper, metal, stone, or other mat¬
ter, with a pen, graver, chissel, or other instrument,
to signify or denote any thing. The word is Greek,
y>ci^cc,KTrig), formed from the verb, ^x^cccra-m, insculpere,
“ to engrave, impress,” &c.
The various kinds of characters may be reduced to
three heads, viz. Literal Characters, Numeral Charac¬
ters, and Abbreviations.
I. Literal Character, is a letter of the alphabet,
serving to indicate some articulate sound, expressive
of some idea or conception of the mind. See Al¬
phabet.
1. These may be divided, with regard to their na¬
ture and use, mto Nominal Chai'acters, or those we pro¬
perly call letters; which serve to express the names of
things : See Letter. Real Characters; those that
instead of names express things and ideas: See Idea,
&c. Emblematical or Symbolical Characters ; which
have this in common with real ones, that they express
the things themselves ; but have thus further, that
they in some measure personate them, and exhibit their
form 5 such are the hieroglyphics of the ancient Egyp-
tians. See Hieroglyphic, Symbol, &c.
2. Literal Characters may be again divided, with
regard to their invention and use, into particular and
general or universal.
Particular Characters, are those peculiar to this
or that nation. Such are the Roman, Italic, Greek,
Hebrew, Arabic, Gothic, Chinese, &c. characters.—
See Hebrew, Gothic, Chinese, &c.
Universa
(
c H A [ 391 ] C H A
-acters. Universal Characters, are also real characters, and
.y—j make what some authors call a Philosophical Lan-
guage.
That diversity of characters used by the several na¬
tions to express the same idea, is found the chief ob¬
stacle to the advancement of learnings to remove this,
several authors have taken occasion to propose plans
of characters that should be universal, and which each
people should read in their own language. The cha¬
racter here is to be real, not nominal: to express things
and notions 3 not, as the common ones, letters or sounds :
vet to be mute, like letters, and arbitrary ; not emble¬
matical, like hieroglyphics.
Thus, every nation should retain its own language,
yet every one understand that of each other, without
learning it 3 only by seeing a real or universal character
which should signify the same things to all people, by
what sounds soever each express it in their particular
idiom. For instance, by seeing the character destined
to signify to drink, an Englishman should read to drink;
a Frenchman, hoire; a Latin, hibere ; a Greek itimv
a Jew, nnt? 3 a German, trine ken : and so of the rest 3
in the same manner as seeing a horse, each people ex¬
presses it after their own manner 3 but all mean the
same animal.
This real character is no chimera ; the Chinese and
Japanese have already something like it. They have
a common character, which each of those nations un¬
derstand alike in their several languages 3 though they
pronounce them with such different sounds, that they
do not understand one another in speaking.
The first and most considerable attempts for a real
character, or philosophical language, in Europe, are
those of Bishop Wilkins and Dalgarno ( but these,
with how much art soever they were contrived, have
yet proved ineffectual.
M. Leibnitz had some thoughts the same way 5 he
thinks those great men did not hit the right method.
It was probable, indeed, that by their means, people
who do not understand one another might easily have
a commerce together: but they have not hit on true
real characters.
According to him, the characters should resemble
those used in algebra 3 which, in effect, are very
simple, yet very expressive 3 without any thing super¬
fluous or equivocal 3 and contain all the varieties re¬
quired.
The real character of Bishop Wilkins has its just ap¬
plause : Dr Hook recommends it, on his own know¬
ledge and experience, as a most excellent scheme 3 and
to engage the world to the study thereof, publishes
some fine inventions of his own therein.
M. Leibnitz tells us, he had under consideration an
alphabet of human thoughts ; in order to a new philo¬
sophical language on his own scheme : but his death
prevented its being brought to maturity.
M. Lodwic, in the Philosophical Transactions, gives
us a plan of a?i universal alphabet or character of another
kind : this was to contain an enumeration of all such
single sounds, or letters, as are used in any language 3
by means whereof, people should be enabled to pro¬
nounce truly and readily any language 3 to describe
the pronunciation of any language that shall be pro¬
nounced in their hearing, so as others accustomed to
this language, though they had never heard the lan¬
guage pronounced, shall at first be able truly to pro-Character*,
nounce it : and, lastly, this character to serve as a *■——■v"— *
standard to perpetuate the sounds of any language. In
the Journal Lilteraire, an. 1720, we have a very inge¬
nious project for an universal character. The author,
after obviating the objections that might be made
against the feasibleness of such schemes in the general,
proposes his own : his characters are to be the common
Arabic, or numeral figures, The combinations of these
nine are sufficient to express distinctly an incredible
quantity of numbers, much more than we shall need
terms to signify our actions, goods, evils, duties, pas¬
sions, &c. Thus is all the trouble of framing and
learning any new character at once saved ; the Arabic
figures having already all the universality required.
The advantages are immense. For, \mo, We have
here a stable, faithful interpreter 3 never tP be cor¬
rupted or changed, as the popular languages continu¬
ally are. ido. Whereas the difficulty of pronouncing
a foreign language is such as usually gives the learner
the greatest trouble, and there are even some sounds
which foreigners never attain to, in the character here
proposed this difficulty has no place : every nation is
to pronounce them according to the particular pronun¬
ciation that already obtains among them. All the dif¬
ficulty is, the accustoming the pen and the eye to affix
certain notions to characters that do not, at first sight,
exhibit them. But this trouble is no more than we
find in the study of any language whatever.
The inflections of words are here to be expressed by
the common letters. For instance, the same character
shall express a fidy or a colt, a horse or a mare, an old
horse or an old mare, as accompanied with this or that
distinctive letter, which shall show the sex, youth, ma¬
turity, or old age 5 a letter also to express the bigness
or size of things 3 thus v. g. a man with this or that
letter, to signify a great man, or a little man, &c.
The use of those letters belongs to the grammar 3
which, once well understood, would abridge the voca¬
bulary exceedingly. An advantage of this grammar
is, that it would only have one declension and one
conjugation 3 those numerous anomalies of grammari¬
ans are exceeding troublesome 3 and arise hence, that
the common languages are governed by the populace,
who never reason on what is best; but in the character
here proposed, men of sense having the introduction of
it, would have a new ground, whereon to build regu¬
larly.
A new universal character has been proposed by Mr
Northmore of London, by which diflerent nations may
communicate their sentiments to each other. His oiu-
ginal plan was, to make the same numerical figure re¬
present the same word in all languages. But he found
afterwards that it might be improved, by using a figure
not for every word, but every useful word. And even
these he thinks might be abbreviated by adopting cer¬
tain uniform fixed signs, the number of which would
not exceed 20, for the various parts of speech. Words
of negation, he proposed, to be expressed by a prefixed
sign. A few instances will explain the author’s meaning.
Suppose the number 5 to represent the word see,
6 . - a man,
7 - * happy,
g „ - never.
Character*.
C H A '[ 392 ]
u I would then (says he) express the tenses, genders, pendage.
C H A
cases, &c. in all languages, in some such uniform man
ner as the following :
0)
(2)
(3)
(4)
(5)
(6)
(7)
(8)
(9)
(10)
C”)
(12) + 6
(13) 7
04) 7
05) 7
1_
(16)—7
5
•5
:5
5:
5-
_5
6
6
6
F/'-n
6
present tense,
perfect tense,
perfect participle,
present participle,
future,
substantive,
personal substantive,
nominative case,
genitive,
dative,
feminine,
plural,
positive,
cojnparative,
superlative,
as above, No. 6.
negation.
seeing,
will see,
sight,
spectator,
a man,
of a man,
to a man,
a woman,
men,
happy,
happier,
happiest,
happiness,
unhappy.
“ From the above specimen, I should find no difficul¬
ty in comprehending the following sentence, though it
were written in the language of the Hottentots :
9, 8, *5,—7, 6. L never saw a more unhappy woman.
“ Those languages which do not use the pronoun
prefixed to the verb, as the Greek and Roman, &c.
may apply it, in a small character, simply to denomi¬
nate the person j thus, instead of 9, 8, .5, I never saw;
they may write, 8, 9.5, which will signify that the
verb is in the first person, and will still have the same
meaning.”
Our author thinks, that according to this scheme of
an universal character, about 20 signs, and less than
10,000 chosen words (synonyms being set aside), would
answer all the ends proposed 5 and that foreigners, by
referring to their numerical dictionary, would easily
comprehend each other. He proceeds next to shew
how appropriate sounds may be given to his signs, and
an universal living language formed from the universal
characters.
To attain this end, he proposes to distinguish the ten
numerals by ten monosyllabic names of easy pronun¬
ciation, and such as may run without difficulty into one
another. To illustrate his scheme, however, he calls
them, for the present, by their common English names j
but would pronounce each number made use of by ut¬
tering separately its component parts, after the manner
of accountants. Thus, let the number 6943 represent
the word horse, he would not, in the universal language,
call a horse six thousand nine hudred and forty-three,
but six, nine, four, three, and so on for all the words of
a sentence, making the proper stop at the end of each.
In the same manner, a distinct appellation must be ap¬
propriated to each of the prefixed signs, to be pronoun¬
ced immediately after the numeral to which it is an ap-
3
Thus, \iplu\ie the appellation or the signcharacte
of the plural number, six, nine, four, three, plu will-y—
be horses.
“ Thus (says our author), I hope, it is evident that
about 30 or 40 distinct syllables are sufficient for the
above purpose •, but I am much mistaken if eleven only
will not answer the same end. This is to be done by
substituting the first 20 or 30 numerals for the signs,
and saying, as in algebra, that a term is in the power
of such a number, which may be expressed by the sim¬
ple word under. Ex gr. Let 6943 represent the word
horse; and suppose 4 to be the sign of the plural num¬
ber, I would write the word thus and pro¬
nounce it, six, nine, four, three, in the power of or un¬
der four. By these means eleven distinct appellations
would be sufficient, and time and use would much ab¬
breviate the pronunciation.”
But the difficulty is not in inventing the most sim¬
ple, easy, and commodious character, but in engaging
the several nations to use it j there being nothing they
agree less in, than the understanding and pursuing their
common interest.
3. Literal characters may again be divided, with re¬
spect to the nations among whom they have been in¬
vented, into Greek characters, Roman characters, He¬
brew characters, &c. The Latin character now used
through all Europe, was formed from the Greek, as the
Greek was from the Phoenician j and the Phoenician,
as well as the Chaldee, Syriac, and Arabic characters,
were formed from the ancient Hebrew, which subsisted
till the Babylonish captivity j for after that event the
character of the Assyrians, which is the square Hebrew
now in use, prevailed, the ancient being only found on
some Hebrew medals, commonly called Samaritan me¬
dals. It was in 1091 that the Gothic characters, in¬
vented by Ulfilas, were abolished, and the Latin ones
established in their room.
Medallists observe, that the Greek character, con¬
sisting only of majuscule letters, has preserved its uni¬
formity on all medals, as low as the time of Gallienus,
from which time it appears somewhat weaker and
rounder : from the time of Constantine to Michael we
find only Latin characters: after Michael, the Greek
characters recommence; but from that time they be¬
gan to alter with the language, which was a mixture of
Greek and Latin. The Latin medals preserved both
their characters and language, as low as the translation
of the seat of the empire to Constantinople : towards
the time of Decius the character began to lose its
roundness and beauty $ some time after, it retrieved
and subsisted tolerably till the time of Justin, when it
degenerated gradually into the Gothic. The rounder,
then, and better formed a character is upon a medal,
the fairer pretence it has to antiquity.
II. Numerical Characters, or characters used to ex*
press numbers, are either letters or figures.
The Arabic character, called also the common one,
because it is used almost throughout Europe in all sorts
of calculations, consists of these ten digits, I, 2, 3, 4>
5> 7> 8, 9, o.
The Roman numeral character consists of seven ma¬
juscule letters of the Roman alphabet, viz. I, V, X,
L, C, I), M. The I denotes one, V five, X ten,
L fifty, C a hundred, D five hundred, and M a thou¬
sand, The I repeated twice makes two, II j thrice,
three,
r a
C H A
utters, three, III. Four is expressed thus, IV. as I before V
t j or X takes an unit from the number expressed by these
letters. To express six, an I is added to a V, VI. j
for seven, two, VII.} and for eight, three, VIII. Nine
is expressed by an I before X, thus, IX. The same
remark may be made of the X before L or C, except
that the diminution is by tens j thus, XL denotes
forty, XC ninety, and LX sixty. The C before D
or M diminishes each by a hundred. The number
five hundred is sometimes expressed by an I before a
C inverted, thus, 10 ; and instead of M, which signi¬
fies a thousand, an I is sometimes used between two
C’s, the one direct, and the other inverted, thus, CID.
The addition of C and 0 before or after raises CIO by
tensj thus, CCIOO expresses ten thousand, CCCIOOO
a hundred thousand. The Romans also expressed any
number of thousands by a line drawn over any numeral
less than a thousand; thus, y denotes five thousand,
LX sixty thousand $ so likewise ivT is one milllion, MM
is two millions, &c.
The Greeks had three ways of expressing numbers :
l. Every letter, according to its place in the alphabet,
denoted a number, from *, one, to 0, twenty-four.
2- The alphabet was divided into eight units, «, one,
£ two, y, three, See.; into eight tens, 1 ten, * twenty,
A thirty, &c.; and eight hundreds, g one hundred,
r two hundred, r three hundred, &c. 3. I stood for
one, n five, A ten, H a hundred, X a thousand, M ten
thousand ; and when the latter II enclosed any of these,
except I, it showed the enclosed letter to be five times
its value j as $ lAl fifty, |Hi five hundred, 1x1 five thou¬
sand, |m! fifty thousand.
The French Characteiis used in the chamber of ac¬
counts, and by persons concerned in the management
of the revenue, is, properly speaking, nothing else than
the Roman numerals, in letters that are not majuscule j
thus, instead of expressing fifty-six by LVI, they de¬
note it by smaller characters, Ivj.
III. Characters of Abbreviations, &c. in several
of the arts, are symbols contrived for the more concise
and immediate conveyance of the knowledge of things.
For the
Characters used in Algebra. See Algebra, In¬
troduction.
Of the Aspects.
A Trine
Bq Biquintile
Vc Quincunx
0° Opposition
£L Dragon’s head
TS Dragon’s tail
Of Time.
A. M. ante meridiem^ before the sun comes upon the
meridian.
0. or N. noon.
B. M. post meridiem^ when the sun is past the meridian.
Characters in Commerce.
D° ditto^ the same
N° numero, or number
^ folio, or page
C or 0 hundred weight,
or 112 ponnds
393 ] C H A
L. or /. pounds Sterling Rx rixdollar
pr per or by, pr ann. Dc ducat
by the year, pr cent. P. S. postscript, &c.
<5 or S Conjunction
S3 Semisextile
* Sextile
Q Quintile
O Quartile
Td Tredecile
qts quarters
Vol, V. Part I.
S or 5 shillings
d pence or deniers
lb pound weight
R° recto 7 r ;•
r
V° vero
Character*.
Characters in Geomcti'y and Trigonometry.
I| the character of paral¬
lelism
A triangle
O square
Q O rectangle
© circle
V equiangular or simi¬
lar
— equilateral
.gfl an angle
A right angle
_L perpendicular
0 denotes a degree; thus 450 implies 45 degrees.
f denotes a minute $ thus, 50' is 50 minutes. ",
""j denote seconds, thirds, and fourths : and the same
characters are used when the progressions are by tens,
as it is here by sixties.
Characters in Grammar, Rhetoric, Poetry, S^c.
D. D. doctor
( ) parenthesis
£ ] crotchet
- hyphen
’ apostrophe
' emphasis or accent
0 breve
•• dialysis
a caret and circumflex
f J and * references
§ section or division
paragraph
“ quotation
For the other characters used
Comma, Colon, Semicolon.
divi¬
nity
V. D. M. minister of-the
word of God
LL. D. doctor of laws
J. V. D. doctor of civil
and common law
M. D. doctor in physic
A. M. master of arts
A. B. bachelor of arts
F. R. S. fellow of the
royal society
Grammar, see
Characters among the ancient Lawyers, and in ancient
Inscriptions.
C. Code
C. C. consules
T. titulus
P. P. D. D. propria
pecunia dedicavit
D. D. M. dono dedit
monumentum.
§ paragraph
#digests
Scto. senatus consulto
E. extra
S. P. Q. R. senatus po-
pulusque Romanus
P. P. pater patriae
Characters in Medicine and Pharmacy.
]$> recipe
a, aa or ana, of each
alike
lb a pound, or a pint
an ounce
3 a drachm
^ a scruple
gr. grains
& s half of any
thing
cong. congius, a gallon
coch. cochleare, a
spoonful
M. manipulus, a hand¬
ful
P. a pugil
P. IF. equal quanti¬
ties
S. A. according to art
q. s. a sufficient quan¬
tity
q. pi. as much as you
please
P. P. pulvis patrum, the
Jesuits bark.
f
Characters upon Tomb-stones.
S. V. Siste viator, i. e. Stop traveller.
M. S. Memoriae sacrum, i. e. Sacred to the me
mory.
3D
D.
C H A
[ 394 ]
C H A
Characters.
D. M. Dils manibus.
J. H. S. Jesus.
X. P. a character found in the catacombs, about
the meaning of which authors are not agreed.
Characters used in Music, and of Musical Notes with
their proportions, are as follows.
crotchet
quaver
semiquaver
demisemiquaver -yV
tk
j-j character of a large 8 f
H a long 4 |/
a breve 2 £
0 a semibreve i p
a minim
^ character of a sharp note ; this character, at the
beginning of a line or space, denotes that all the notes
in that line are to be taken a semitone higher than in
the natural series ; and the same affects all the octaves
above and below, though not marked: but when pre¬
fixed to any particular note, it shows that note alone
to be taken a semitone higher than it would be with¬
out such a character.
or character of a flat note: this is the con¬
trary to the other above j that is, a semitone lower.
1] character of a natural note : when in a line or
series of artificial notes, marked at the beginning t) or
$, the natural note happens to be required, it is de¬
noted by this character.
^ character of the treble cliff.
| | character of the mean cliff.
bass cliff.
^ or characters of common duple time, signify¬
ing the measure of two crotchets toj be equal to two
notes, of which four make a semibreve.
Ctp 3> characters that distinguish the move¬
ments of common time, the first implying slow, the se¬
cond quick, and the third very quick.
v, h characters of simple triple time, the
measure of which is equal to three semibreves, or to
three minims.
4, or i^-, characters of a mixed triple time where
the measure is equal to six crotchets, or six quavers.
§, or or t97, or f-, or characters of compound
triple time.
tt» tV» tI-) °r tV> or tv* characters of that species
of triple time called the measure of twelve times.
Character, in human life, that which is peculiar
in the manners of any person, and distinguishes him
from all others.
Good Character, is particularly applied to that con¬
duct which is regulated by virtue and religion j in an
inferior but very common sense, it is understood of
mere honesty of dealing between man and man. The
importance of a good character in the commerce of
life seems to be universally acknowledged.—To those
who are to make their own way either to wealth or
honours, a good character is usually no less necessary
than address and abilities. To transcribe the observation
of an elegant moralist: though human nature is de¬
generate, and corrupts itself still more by its own in¬
ventions j yet it usually retains to the last an esteem
for excellence, But even if we are arrived at such an
extreme degree of depravity as to have lost our native
reverence for virtue $ yet a regard to our own interest
and safety, which we seldom lose, will lead us to ap-
2
ply for aid, in all important transactions, to men whose c]mra(
integrity is unimpeached. When we choose an assist- y
ant, a partner, a servant, our first inquiry is concerning
his character. When we have occasion for a counsel¬
lor or attorney, a physician or apothecary, whatever
we may be ourselves, we always choose to trust our
property and persons to men of the best character.
When we fix on the tradesmen who are to supply us
with necessaries, we are not determined by the sign of
the lamb, or the wolf, or the fox, nor by a shop fitted
up in the most elegant taste j but by the fairest repu¬
tation. Look into a daily newspaper, and you will
see, from the highest to the lowest rank, how import¬
ant the characters of the employed appear to the em¬
ployers. After the advertisement has enumerated the
qualities required in the person wanted, there constant¬
ly follows, that none need apply who cannot bring an
undeniable character. Offer yourself as a candidate
for a seat in parliament, be promoted to honour and
emolument, or in any respect attract the attention
of mankind upon yourself, and if you are vulner¬
able in your character, you will be deeply wound¬
ed. This is a general testimony in favour of ho¬
nesty, which no writings and no practices can possibly
refute.
Young men, therefore, whose characters are yet
unfixed, and who consequently may render them just
such as they wish, ought to pay great attention to the
first steps which they take on entrance into life. They
are usually careless and inattentive to this object. They
pursue their own plans with ardour, and neglect the
opinions which others entertain of them. By some
thoughtless action or expression, they suffer a mark to
be impressed upon them, which scarcely any subsequent
merit can entirely erase. Every man will find some
persons, who, though they are not professed enemies,
yet view him with an envious or a jealous eye, and who.
will gladly revive any tale to which truth has given the
slightest foundation.
In this turbulent and confused scene, where our
words and actions are often misunderstood, and often-
er misrepresented, it is indeed difficult even for in¬
nocence and integrity to avoid reproach, abuse, con¬
tempt, and hatred. These not only hurt our interest
and impede our advancement in life, but sorely afflict
the feelings of a delicate and tender mind. It is then
the part of wisdom first to do every thing in our power
to preserve an irreproachable character, and then to let
our happiness depend chiefly on the approbation ol our
own consciences, and on the advancement of our inte¬
rest in a world where liars shall not be believed, and
where slanders shall receive countenance from none
but him who, in Greek, is called by way of eminence,
Diabolus, or the calumniator.
Character, in Poetry, particularly the epopee and
drama, is the result of the manners or peculiarities by
which each person is distinguished from others.
The poetical character, says M. Bossu, is not pro¬
perly any particular virtue or quality, but a composi¬
tion of several which are mixed together, in a diffe¬
rent degree, according to the necessity of the fable
and the unity of the action: there must be one, how¬
ever, to reign over all the rest $ and this must be found,
in some degree, in every part. The first quality in
Achilles, is wrath j in Ulysses, dissimulationand m
iEneas,
c H A l 395 1 C H A
j racier, mildness •, but as these characters cannot be
, mete- alone, they must he accompanied with others to em-
stic- hellish them, as far as they are capable, either by
1 ^ ' hiding their defects, as in the anger of Achilles, which
is palliated by extraordinary valour; or by making
them centre in some solid virtue, as in Ulysses, whose
dissimulation makes a part of his prudence ; and in
iEneas, whose mildness is employed in a submission to
the will of the gods. In the making up of which
union, it is to be observed, the poets have joined to¬
gether such qualities as are by nature the most com¬
patible; valour with anger, piety with mildness, and
prudence with dissimulation. The fable required pru¬
dence in Ulysses, and piety in iEneas ; in this, there¬
fore, the poets were not left to their choice ; but Homer
might have made Achilles a coward without abating
any thing from the justness of his fable ; so that it was
the necessity of adorning his character, that obliged
him to make him valiant; the character, then, of a hero
in the epic poem, is compounded of three sorts of
qualities; the first essential to the fable ; the second,
embellishments of the first; and valour, which sustains
the other two, makes the third.
Unity of character is as necessary as the unity of
the fable. For this purpose a person should be the
same from the beginning to the end ; not that he is
always to betray the same sentiments, or one passion;
but that he should never speak nor act inconsistently
with his fundamental character. For instance, the
weak, may sometimes sally into a warmth, and the
breast of the passionate be calm, a change which often
introduces in the drama a very affecting variety; but
if the natural disposition of the former was to be repre¬
sented as boisterous, and that of the latter mild and
soft, they would both act out of character, and contra¬
dict their persons.
True characters are such as we truly and really see
in men, or may exist without any contradiction to
nature ; no man questions but there have been men
as generous and as good as tineas, as passionate and
as violent as Achilles, as prudent and wise as Ulysses,
as impious and atheistical as Mezentius, and as amo¬
rous and passionate as Dido ; all these characters,
therefore, are true, and nothing but just imitations
of nature. On the contrary, a character is false when
an author so feigns it, that one can see nothing like
it in the order of nature wherein he designs it shall
stand; these characters should be wholly excluded from
a poem, because, transgressing the bounds of probabi¬
lity and reason, they meet with no belief from the
readers ; they are fictions of the poet’s brain, not imi¬
tations of nature ; and yet all poetry consists of an imi¬
tation of nature.
Character is also used for certain visible qualities,
which claim respect or reverence to those vested there¬
with.—The majesty of kings gives them a character
which procures respect from the people. A bishop
should sustain his character by learning and solid
piety, rather than by worldly lustre, Stc. The law of
nations secures the character of an ambassador from
all insults.
Character, among naturalists, is synonymous with
the definition of the genera of animals, plants, &c.
CHARACTERISTIC, in general, is that which
characterises a thing or person, i. e. constitutes its
character, whereby it is distinguished. See ChaRAC- Characte-
ristic.
Characteristic, is peculiarly used in grammar, Charade,
for the principal letter of a word ; which is preserved " ^
in most of its tenses and moods, its derivatives and
compounds.
Characteristic of a Logarithm, is its index or ex¬
ponent. See Logarithm.
Characteristic Triangle of a Curve, in the higher
geometry, is a rectilinear right-angled triangle, whose
hypothenuse makes a part of the curve, not sensibly
diflerent from a right line. It is so called, because
curve lines are used to be distinguished hereby. See
Curve.
CHARADE, the name of a new species of compo¬
sition or literary amusement. It owes its name to the
idler who invented it. Its subject must be a word of
two syllables, each forming a distinct word ; and these
two syllables are to be concealed in an enigmatical
description, first separately, and then together. The
exercise of charades, if not greatly instructive, is at
least innocent and amusing. At all events, as it has
made its way into every fashionable circle, and has
employed even Garrick, it will scarcely be deemed un¬
worthy of attention. The silliness indeed of most that
have appeared in the papers under this title, are not
only destitute of all pleasantry in the stating, but are
formed in general of words utterly unfit for the purpose.
They have therefore been treated with the contempt
they deserved. In trifles of this nature, inaccuracy is
without excuse. The following examples therefore are
at least free from this blemish.
I.
My first, however here abused,
Designs the sex alone ;
In Cambria, such is custom’s pow’r,
’Tis Jenkin, John, or Joan.
My second oft is loudly call’d,
When men prepare to fist it:
Its name delights the female ear;
Its force, may none resist it:
It binds the weak, it binds the strong,
The wealthy and the poor ;
Still ’tis to joy a passport deem’d,
For sullied fame a cure.
It may ensure an age of bliss,
Yet mis’ries oft attend it;
To fingers, ears, and noses too,
Its various lords commend it.
My whole may chance to make one drink,
Though vended in a fish shop;
’Tis now the monarch of the seas,
And has been an archbishop. Her-ring.
II.
first, when a Frenchman is learning English,
serves him to swear by. My second, is either hay or
corn. My whole, is the delight of the present age ;
and will be the admiration of posterity. Gar-rick.
III.
My first, is plowed for various reasons, and grain is
frequently buried in it to little purpose. My second,
is neither riches nor honours ; yet the former would
generally be given for it, and the latter is often taste¬
less without it. My whole applies equally to spring,
summer, autumn, and winter: and both fish and flesh,
3 D 2 praise
C H A [ 396 ] C H A
Charade praise and censure, mirth and melancholy, are the
fl better for being in it. Season.
Chapcoal.
T My first, with the most rooted antipathy to a French¬
man, prides himself, whenever they meet, upon sticking
close to his jacket. My second, has many virtues, nor
is it its least that it gives name to my first. My whole,
may I never catch ! Tar-tar.
V.
My first, is one of England’s prime boasts; it rejoices
the ear of a horse, and anguishes the toe of a man. My
second, when brick, is good ; when stone, better *, when
wooden, best of all. My whole, is famous alike for
rottenness and tin. Corn-wall.
VI.
My first is called bad or good,
May pleasure or offend ye ;
My second, in a thirsty mood,
May very much befriend ye.
My whole, though styled a “ cruel word,”
May yet appear a kind one ;
It often may with joy be heard,
With tears may often blind one. Fare-well.
VII.
My first is equally friendly to the thief and the lover,
the toper and the student. My second is light’s oppo¬
site j yet they are frequently seen hand in hand $ and
their union, if judicious, gives much pleasure. My
whole, is tempting to the touch, grateful to the sight,
fatal to the taste. Nightshade.
CHARADRIUS, the Plover and Dotterel. See
Ornithology Index.
CHARAG, the tribute which Christians and Jews
pay to the Grand Signior.
It consists of ten, twelve, or fifteen francs per
annum, according to the estate of the party. Men
begin to pay it at nine or at sixteen years old ; women
are dispensed with, as also priests, rabbins, and reli¬
gious,
CHARAIMS, a sect of the Jews in Egypt. They
live by themselves, and have a separate synagogue;
and as the other Jews are remarkable for their eyes,
so are those for their large noses, which run through
all the families of this sect. These are the ancient
Essenes. They strictly observe the five books of
Moses, according to the letter, and receive no written
traditions. It is said that the other Jews would join
the Char aims ; but those not having observed the exact
rules of the law with regard to divorces, these think
they live in adultery.
CHARANTIA. See Momordica, Botany In¬
dex.
CHARBON, in the manege, that little black spot
or mark which remains after a large spot in the cavity
of the corner teeth of a horse ; about the seventh or
eighth year, when the cavity fills up, the tooth being
smooth and equal, it is said to be rased.
CHARCAS, the southern division of Peru in
South America, remarkable for the silver mines of
Potosi.
CHARCOAL, a sort of artificial coal, or fuel, con¬
sisting of wood half burnt $ chiefly used where a clear
strong fire, without smoke, is required j the humidity
of the wood being here mostly dissipated, and exhaled
in the fire wherein.it is prepared,
The microscope discovers a surprising number of
pores in charcoal j they are disposed in order, and
traverse it lengthwise j so that there is no piece of
charcoal, how long soever, but may be easily blown
through. If a piece be broken pretty short, it may be
seen through with a microscope. In a range the 18th
part of an inch long, Dr Hook reckoned 150 pores;
whence he concludes, that in a charcoal of an inch
diameter, there are not less than 5,724,000 pores. It
is to this prodigious number of pores that the blackness
of charcoal is owing; for the rays of light striking on
the charcoal, are received and absorbed in its pores,
instead of being reflected ; whence the body must of
necessity appear black, blackness in a body being no
more than a want of reflection. Charcoal was an¬
ciently used to distinguish the bounds of estates and
inheritances; as being incorruptible, when let very
deep within ground. In effect, it preserves itself so
long, that there are many pieces found entire in the
ancient tombs of the northern nations. M. Dodart
says, there is charcoal made of corn, probably as old
as the days of Caesar; he adds, that it has kept so
well, that the wheat may be still distinguished from
the rye; which he looks on as proof of its incorrup¬
tibility.
The operation of charring wood is performed in
the following manner: The wood intended for this
purpose is cut into proper lengths, and piled up in
heaps near the place where the charcoal is intended to
be made ; when a sufficient quantity of wood is thus
prepared, they begin constructing their stacks, for
which there are three methods. The first is this : They
level a proper spot of ground, of about 12 or 15 feet
in diameter, near the piles of wood; in the centre of
this area a large billet of wood, split across at one end
and pointed at the other, is fixed with its pointed ex¬
tremity in the earth, and two pieces of wood inserted
through the clefts ol the other end, forming four right
angles ; against these cross pieces four other billets of
wood are placed, one end on the ground, and the other
leaning against the angles. This being finished, a
number of large and straight billets are laid on the
ground to form a floor, each being as it were the radius
of the circular area ; on this floor a proper quantity of
brush or small wood is strewed, in order to fill up the
interstices, when the floor will be complete; and in
order to keep the billets in the same order and position
in which they were first arranged, pegs or stumps are
driven into the ground in the circumference of the
circle, about a foot distant from one another; upon this
floor a stage is built with billets set upon one end, but
something inclining towards the central billet; and on
the tops of these another floor is laid in a horizontal
direction, but of shorter billets, as the whole is, when
finished, to form a cone.
The second method of building the stacks for making
charcoal is performed in this manner: A long pole
is erected in the centre of the area above described,
and several small billets rangerl round; the pole on
their ends} the interstices between these billets and
the pole are filled with dry brushwood, then a floor is
laid on that stage, in a reclining position, and on
that a second floor, &c. in, the same manner as de¬
scribed above ; but in the lower floor there is.a billet
larger and longer than the rest, extending from the
central
c H A [ 397 ] C H A
( reoal. central pole to some distance beyond the circumference
t v— of the circle.
The third method is this: A chimney, or aperture
of a square form, is built with billets in the centre,
from the bottom to the top; and round these, floors
and inclined stages are erected, in the same manner as
in the stacks above described, except that the base of
this, instead of being circular like the others, is square;
and the whole stack, when completed, forms a pyra¬
mid.
The stack of either form being thus finished, is coat¬
ed over with turf, and the surface plastered with a
mixture of earth and charcoal dust well tempered to¬
gether.
The next operation is the setting the stack on fire.
In order to this, if it be formed according to the first
construction, the central billet in the upper stage is
drawn out, and some pieces of very dry and combus¬
tible wood are placed in the void space, called, by
workmen, the chimney, and fire set to these pieces.
If the stack be built according to the second construc¬
tion, the central pole is drawn out, together with the
large horizontal billet above described : and the void
space occupied by the latter being filled with pieces of
very dry combustible wood, the fire is applied to it at
the base of the stack. With regard to the third con¬
struction, the square aperture or chimney is filled with
small pieces of very dry wood, and the fire applied to
it at the top or apex of the pyramidal stack. When
the stack is set on fire, either at the top or bottom,
the greatest attention is necessary in the workman ;
for in the proper management of the fire the chief
difficulty attending the art of making good charcoal
consists. In order to this, care is taken, as soon as
the flame begins to issue some height above the chim¬
ney, that the aperture be covered with a piece of turf,
but not so close as to hinder the smoke from passing
out: and whenever the smoke appears to issue very
thick from any part of the pile, the aperture must be
covered with a mixture of earth and charcoal dust.
At the same time, as it is necessary that every part of
the stack should be equally burnt, it will be requisite
for the workman to open vents in one part and shut
them in another. In this manner the fire must be
kept up till the charcoal be sufficiently burnt, which
will happen in about two days and a half if the wood
be dry ; but if green, the operation will not be finish¬
ed in less than three days. When the charcoal is
thought to be sufficiently burnt, which is easily known
from the appearance of the smoke, and the flames no
longer issuing with impetuosity through the vents, all
the apertures are to be closed up very carefully with a
mixture of earth and charcoal dust, which, by exclud¬
ing all access of the external air, prevents the coals
from being any further consumed, and the fire goes out
of itself. In this condition it is suffered tu remain, till
the whole is sufficiently cooled 5 when the cover is re¬
moved, and the charcoal is taken away. If the whole
process is skilfully managed, the coals will exactly re¬
tain the figure of the pieces of wood : some are said to
have been so dexterous as to char an arrow without al¬
tering even the figure of the feather.
There are considerable differences in the coals of
different vegetables, in regard to their habitude, to
fire ; the very light coals of linen, cotton, some fungi,
&c. readily catch fire from a spark, and" soon burn Charcoal,
out ; the more dense ones of woods and roots are set —y——'
on fire more difficultly.,, and burn more slowly : the
coals of the black berry-bearing alder, of tbe hazel,
the willow, and the lime tree, are said to answer best
for the making of gunpowder and other pyrotechnieal
compositions, perhaps from their being easily inflam¬
mable : for the reduction of metallic calces those of
tbe heavier woods, as tbe oak and the beech, are pre¬
ferable, these seeming to contain a larger proportion of
the phlogistic principle, and that, perhaps, in a more
fixed state ; considered as common fuel, those of the
heavy woods give the greatest heat, and require the
most plentiful supply of air to keep them burning j
those of the light woods preserve a glowing heat, with¬
out much draught of air, till the coals themselves are
consumed ; the bark commonly crackles and flies abont
in burning, which the coal of the wood itself very sel¬
dom does.
Mathematical instrument makers, engravers, &c.
find charcoal of great use to polish their brass and cop¬
per plates after they have been rubbed clean with
powdered pumice stone. Plates of horn are polishabie
in tbe same way, and a gloss maybe afterwards given
with tripoli.
The coals of different substances are also used as
pigments ; hence the home-black, ivory-black, &c. of
tbe shops. Most of the paints of this kind, besides
their incorruptibility, have the advantage of a full co¬
lour, and work freely in all tbe forms in which pow¬
dery pigments are applied ; provided they have been
carefully prepared, by thoroughly burning the subject
in a close vessel, and afterwards grinding the coal into
a powder of due fineness. Pieces of charcoal are used
also in their entire state for tracing the outlines of
drawings, &c. j in which intention they have an ex¬
cellence, that their mark is easily wiped out. For
these purposes, either the finer pieces of common char¬
coal are picked out and cut to a proper shape $ or the
pencils are formed of wood, and afterwards burnt into
charcoal in a proper vessel well covered. The artists
commonly make choice of the smaller branches of the
tree freed from the bark and pith ; and the willow and
vine are preferred to all others. This choice is con¬
firmed by tbe experiments of Dr Lewis, who lias found Philosoph.
that the wood of the trunks of trees produces charcoal
of a harder nature than their small twigs or branches
and the hard woods, such as box and guaiacum, pro¬
duced coals very sensibly harder than the softer woods.
Willow he prefers to all others. The shells and stones
of fruits yielded coals so hard that they would scarce
mark on paper at all; while the coals of the kernels of
fruits were quite soft and mellow. The several coals
produced by the doctor’s experiments were levigated
into fine powder, mixed both with gum water and oil,
and applied as paints both thin and thick, and diluted
with different degrees of white. All of them, when
laid on thick, appeared of a strong full black, nor could
it be judged that one was of a finer colour than ano¬
ther j diluted with white, or when spread thin, they
had all somewhat of a bluish cast.
Horns, and the hones both of fishes and land ani¬
mals, gave coals rather glossier and deeper coloured than
vegetables : and which, in general, were very bard, so
as difficultly, or not at all, to stain paper. Here also
tha
IT
C H A [ 398 ] C H A
Cuarcoal the hardness of the coal seemed to depend on that of
ii the subject from whence it was prepared } for silk,
| Charge, woollen, leather, blood, and the fleshy parts of ani-
y—majg? yjel(le(l soft coals. Some of these differed from
others very sensibly in colour $ that of ivory is superior
to all the rest, and indisputably the finest of all the
charcoal blacks. The animal coals had much less of
the bluish cast in them than the vegetable, many of
them inclining rather to a brown. Charred pit coal,
on the other hand, seemed to have this blueness in a
greater degree. For the chemical properties of char¬
coal, see Chemistry Index.
CHARDIN, Sir John, a celebrated traveller, was
born at Paris in 1643. His father, who was a jewel¬
ler, had him educated in the Protestant religion \ after
which he travelled into Persia and India. He traded
in jewels, and died at London in 1713. The account
he wrote of his travels is much esteemed.
CHARENTE, a department in the south-west of
France. It is about 56 miles in length, and on an ave¬
rage 30 in breadth $ and contained 327,000 inhabi¬
tants in 1815. It covers an extent of 2240 square
miles. Angouleme is the chief town.
Charente Inferior, a department in the south-west
of France, lying between the department of Charente
above described, and the bay of Biscay. It is 80 miles
long, and from 20 to 40 in breadth 5 and contains 2800
square miles. The population in 1815 was 393,000.
The coast of this department is marshy, and the cli¬
mate rather unhealthy j but the soil is fruitful in corn
and flax, and produces excellent wine. There are
manufactures of woollens, cottons, pottery, paper, glass,
and salt. Saintes is the chief town.
' CHARES the Lydian, a celebrated statuary, was
the disciple of Lysippus j and made the famous Colos¬
sus of the sun in the city of Rhodes. Flourished 288
years before Christ.
CHARGE, in Gunnery, the quantity of powder
and ball wherewith a gun is loaded for execution.
The rules for charging large pieces in war are, That
the piece be first cleaned or scoured within-side : that
the proper quantity of powder be next driven in and
rammed down j care, however, being taken, that the
powder, in ramming, be not bruised, because that weak¬
ens its effect: that a little quantity of paper, hay,
lint, or the like, be rammed over it: and that the ball
or shot be intruded. If the ball be red hot, a tompion,
or trencher of green wood, is to be driven in before it.
The common allowance for a charge of powder of a
piece of ordnance, is half the weight of the ball. In
the British navy, the allowance for 32 pounders is but
Robins's seven sixteenths of the weight of the bullet. But a
Proposal late author is of opinion, that if the powder in all ship-
for vicreas- cannon whatever was reduced to one-third weight of
*>,fr ^ the ball, or even less, it would be of considerable ad¬
vantage, not only by saving ammunition, but by keep¬
ing the guns cooler and quieter, and at the same time
more effectually injuring the vessels of the enemy.
With the present allowance of powder the guns are
heated, and their tackle and furniture strained ; and
this only to render the bullets less efficacious : for a
bullet which can but just pass through a piece of tim¬
ber, and loses almost all its motion thereby, has a
much better chance of rending and fracturing it, than
if it passes through with a much greater velocity.
strength
of the
Wavy.
Charge, in Heraldry, is applied to the figures re¬
presented on the escutcheon, by which the bearers are
distinguished from one another ; and it is to be observ¬
ed, that too many charges are not so honourable as
fewer.
Charge of Lead, denotes a quantity of 36 pigs. See
Pig.
To Charge, in the military language, is to attack
the enemy either with horse or foot.
Charge, in Law, denotes the instructions given
to the grand jury, with respect to the articles of their
inquiry, by the judge who presides on the bench.
Charge, in Law, also signifies a thing done that
bindeth him who doth it 5 and Discharge is the remo¬
val of that charge. Lands may be charged in various
ways $ as, by grant of rent out of it, by statutes, judg¬
ments, conditions, warranties, &c.
Charge of Horning, in Scots Law. See Horn¬
ing.
Charge to enter Heir, in Scots Law, a writing pas¬
sing under the signet, obtained at the instance of a cre¬
ditor, either against the heir of his debtor, for fixing
upon him the debt as representing the debtor, which
is called a general charge y or, against the debtor him¬
self, or his heir, for the purpose of vesting him in the
right of an heritable subject to which he has made
up no title, in order the creditor may attach that sub¬
ject for payment of his debt, in the same manner as if
his debtor or his heir were legally vested in it by ser¬
vice or otherwise. This last kind is called a special
charge.
Charge, or rather Overcharge, in Tainting, is an
exaggerated representation of any person ; wherein the
likeness is preserved, but at the same time ridiculed.
CHARGED, in Heraldry, a shield carrying some
impress or figure, is said to be charged therewith; so
also when one bearing, or charge, has another figure
added upon it, it is properly said to be charged.
Charged, in electrical experiments, is when a phial,
pane of glass, or other electric substance, properly coat¬
ed on both sides, has a quantity of electricity commu¬
nicated to it*, in which case the one side is always elec¬
trified positively, and the other negatively.
CHARIOT, a half coach, having only a seat be¬
hind, with a stool before. See Coach.
The chariots of the ancients, chiefly used in war,
were called by the several names of bigce, trigee, &c.
according to the number of horses applied to draw
them. Every chariot carried two men, who were pro¬
bably the warrior and the charioteer j and wre read of
several men of note and valour employed in driving
the chariot. When the warriors came to encounter
in close fight, they alighted out of the chariot, and
fought on foot; but when they were weary, which
often happened by reason of their armour, they re¬
tired into their chariot, and thence annoyed their ene¬
mies with darts and missile weapons. These chariots
were made so strong, that they lasted for several gene¬
rations.
Besides this sort, we find frequent mention of the
currus falcati, or those chariots armed with hooks or
scythes, with which whole ranks of soldiers were cut
off together, if they had not the art of avoiding the
danger *, these were not only used by the Persians, Sy¬
rians, Egyptians, &c. but we find them among the an¬
cient
c H A 1 399 1 C H A
( r;ot dent Britons j and notwithstanding the imperfect state
u. j of some of the most necessary arts among that nation
„ , before the invasion of the Romans, it is certain that they
had war chariots in great abundance. By the Greek
and Roman historians, these chariots are described by
the six following names : viz. Benna, Petoritum, Cur-
rus, or Carrus, Covinus, Essedum, and Rheda. The
benna seems to have been a chariot designed rather for
travelling than war. It contained two persons, who
were called combennones, from their sitting together in
the same machine. The petoritum seems to have been
a larger kind of chariot than the benna ; and is thought
to have derived its name from the British word ped-
war, signifying jfottr; this kind of carriage having
four wheels. The carrus or currus was the common
cart or waggon. This kind of chariot was used by
the ancient Britons, in time of peace, for the purposes
of agriculture and merchandise, and, in time of war,
for carrying their baggage, and wives and children,
who commonly followed the armies of all the Celtic
nations. The covinus was a war chariot, and a very
terrible instrument of destruction $ being armed with
sharp scythes and hooks for cutting and tearing all
who were so unhappy as to come within its reach.
This kind of chariot was made very slight, and had
few or no men in it besides the charioteer; being de¬
signed to drive with great force and rapidity, and to
do execution chiefly with its hooks and scythes. The
essedum and rheda were also war chariots, probably of
a larger size, and stronger made than the covinus, de¬
signed for containing a charioteer for driving it, and
one or two warriors for fighting. The far greatest
number of the British war chariots seem to have been
of this kind. These chariots, as already observed,
were to be found in great numbers among the Britons ;
insomuch, that Caesar relates, that Cassibelanus, after
dismissing all his other forces, retained no fewer than
4000 of these war chariots about his person. The
same author relates, that, by continual experience,
they had at last arrived at such perfection in the
management of their chariots, that “ in the most steep
and difficult places they could stop their horses upon
full stretch, turn them which tvay they pleased, run
along the pole, rest on their harness, and throw them¬
selves back into their chariots, with incredible dexte¬
rity.”
Chariots, in the heathen mythology, were some¬
times consecrated to the sun ; and the Scripture ob¬
serves, that Josiah burnt those which had been offered
to the sun by the kings his predecessors. This supersti¬
tious custom was an imitation of the heathens, and
principally of the Persians, who had horses and cha¬
riots consecrated in honour of the sun. Herodotus,
Xenophon, and Quintus Curtius, speak of white cha¬
riots crowned, which were consecrated to the sun,
among the Persians, which in their ceremonies were
drawn by white horses consecrated to the same lumi¬
nary.
Triumphal Chariot, was one of the principal orna¬
ments of the Roman celebration of a victory.
The Roman triumphal chariot ■was generally made
of ivory, round like a tower, or rather of a cylindrical
figure j it was sometimes gilt at the top, and orna¬
mented with crowns ; and to represent a victory
more naturally, they used to stain it with blood. It
was usually drawn by four white horses ; but often- chariot
times by lions, elephants, tygers, bears, leopards, dogs, |)
&c. Charity.
CHARISIA, in the heathen theology, a wake, or y—-
night festival, instituted in honour of the Graces. It
continued the whole night, most of which time was
spent in dancing 5 after which, cakes made of yellow
flour mixed with honey, and other sweetmeats, were
distributed among the assistants.—Charisia is also some¬
times used to signify the sweetmeats used on such oc¬
casions.
CHARISIUS, in the heathen theology, a surname
given to Jupiter. The word is derived from
gratia, “ grace” or “ favour he being the god by
whose influence men obtain the favour and affection of
one another. On which account the Greeks used at
their meals to make a libation of a cup to Jupiter
Charisius.
CHARISTIA, a festival of the ancient Romans,
celebrated in the month of February, wherein the rela¬
tions by blood and marriage met, in order to preserve
a good correspondence j and that if there happened to
be any difference among them, it might be the more
easily accommodated by the good humour and mirth
of the entertainment. Ovid. Fast. i. 617.
CHARISTICARY, commendatory, or donatory,
a person to whom is given the enjoyment of the reve¬
nues of a monastery, hospital, or benefice.
The Charisticaries among the Greeks, were a kind
of donatories, or commendatories, who enjoyed all the
revenues of hospitals and monasteries, without giving
an account thereof to any person.—The original of
this abuse is referred to the Iconoclastse, particularly
Constantine Copronymus, the avowed enemy of the
monks, whose monasteries he gave away to strangers.
In after times, the emperors and patriarchs gave many
to people of quality, not by way of gift to reap any
temporal advantage from them, but to repair, beautify,
and patronise them. At length avarice crept in, and
those in good condition were given away, especially
such as were rich 5 and at last they were all given
away, rich and pool', those of men and of women, and
that to laymen and to married men.
CHARITY* among divines, one of the three grand
theological virtues, consisting in the love of God arid
of our neighbour, or the habit and disposition of lov¬
ing God with all our heart, and our neighbour as our¬
selves.
Charity is also used for the effect of moral vir¬
tue, which consists in supplying the necessities of
others, whether with money, counsel, assistance, or the
like.
As pecuniary relief is generally the most efficacious,
and at the same time that from which we are most apt
to excuse ourselves, this branch of the duty merits par¬
ticular illustration ; and a better cannot be offered than
what is contained in the following extracts (if we may
be permitted to make them) from the elegant Moral
System of Archdeacon Paley.
Whether pity be an instinct or a habit, it is in fact
a property of our nature, which God appointed ; and
the final cause for which it was appointed, is to aflord
to the miserable, in the compassion of their fellow-
creatures, a remedy for those inequalities and distresses
which God foresaw that many must be exposed to,
under
. C H A [ 400 ] C H A
Charity, under every general rule for the distribution of pro-
——v«— perty.
The Christian Scriptures are more copious and ex¬
plicit upon this duty than almost any other. The de¬
scription which Christ hath left us of the proceedings
uf the last day, establishes the obligation of bounty
beyond controversy. “ When the Son of Man shall
come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him,
then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory, and be¬
fore him shall be gathered all nations ; and he shall
separate them one from another. Then shall the King
say unto them on his right hand, Come ye blessed of
my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from
the foundation of the world: lor I was hungered,
and ye gave me meat; I was thirsty, and ye gave me
drink $ I was a stranger, and ye took me in ; naked,
and ye clothed me j I was sick, and ye visited me $ I
was in prison, and ye came unto me. And inasmuch
as ye have done it to one of the least of these my bre¬
thren, ye have done it unto me.” It is not necessary
to understand this passage as a literal account of what
will actually pass on that day. Supposing it only a
scenical description of the rules and principles by
which the Supreme Arbiter of our destiny will regu¬
late his decisions, it conveys the same lesson to us : it
equally demonstrates of how great value and import¬
ance these duties in the sight of God are, and what
stress will be laid upon them. The apostles also de¬
scribe this virtue as propitiating the divine favour in
an eminent degree. And these recommendations have
produced their effect. It does not appear that, before
the times of Christianity, an infirmary, hospital, or
public charity of any kind, existed in the world j
whereas most countries in Christendom have long
abounded with these institutions. To which may be
added, that a spirit of private liberality seems to
flourish amidst the decay of many other virtues : not to
mention the legal provision for the poor, which ob¬
tains in this country, and which was unknown and
unthought of by the most polished nations of antiqui-
ty-
St Paul adds upon the subject an excellent direc¬
tion ; and which is practicable by all who have any
thing to give. “ Upon the first day of the week (or
any other stated time) let every one of you lay by in
store, as God hath prospered him.” By which the
apostle may be understood to recommend, what is the
very thing wanting with most men, the being charitable
vpon a plan ; that is, from a deliberate comparison of
our fortunes with the reasonable expences and expecta¬
tions of our families, to compute what we can spare,
and to lay by so much for charitable purposes, in some
mode or other. The mode will be a consideration af¬
terwards.
The effects which Christianity produced upon some
of its converts, was such as might be looked for from
a divine religion coming with full force and miracu¬
lous evidence upon the consciences of mankind. It
overwhelmed all worldly considerations in the expecta¬
tion of a more important existence. “ And the mul¬
titude of them that believed were of one heart and of
one soul ; neither said any of them that aught of the
things which he possessed was his own ; but they had
all things in common.—Neither was there any among
them that lacked $ for as many as were possessors of
3
lands or houses sold them, and brought the prices of Charir®
the things that were sold, and laid them down at the y—
apostles feet 5 and distribution was made unto every
man according as he had need.” Acts iv. 32.
Nevertheless, this community of goods, however it
manifested the sincere zeal of the primitive Christians,
is no precedent for our imitation. It was confined to
the church at Jerusalem ; continued not long there ;
was never enjoined upon any (Acts v. 4.) j and, al¬
though it might suit with the particular circumstances
of a small and select society, is altogether impracti¬
cable in a large and mixed community.
The conduct of the apostles upon the occasion de¬
serves to be noticed. Their followers laid down their
fortunes at their feet: but so far were they from tak¬
ing advantage of this unlimited confidence to enrich
themselves or establish their authority, that they soon
after got rid of this business as inconsistent with the
main object of their mission, and transferred the cus¬
tody and management of the public fund to deacons
elected to that office by the people at large (Acts vi.)
There are three kinds of charity, our author ob¬
serves, which prefer a claim to attention.
1. The first, and apparently one of the best, is to
give stated and considerable sums, by way of pension
or annuity to individuals or families, with whose beha¬
viour and distress we ourselves are acquainted. In
speaking of considerable sums, it is meant only, that
five pounds, or any other sum, given at once, or divided
amongst five or fewer families, will do more good than
the same sum distributed amongst a greater number in
shillings or half crowns $ and that, because it is more
likely to be properly applied by the persons who re¬
ceive it. A poor fellow who can find no better use for
a shilling than to drink his benefactor’s health, and
purchase half an hour’s recreation for himself, would
hardly break into a guinea for any such purpose, or be
so improvident as not to lay it by for an occasion of
importance, for his rent, his clothing, fuel, or stock of
winter’s provision. It is a still greater recommenda¬
tion of this kind of charity, that pensions and annui¬
ties, which are paid regularly, and can be expected at
the time, are the only way by which we can prevent
one part of a poor man’s sufferings, the dread of
want.
2. But as this kind of charity supposes that proper
objects of such expensive benefactions fall within our
private knowledge and observation, which does not
happen to all, a second method of doing good, which
is in every one’s power who has the money to spare,
is by subscription to public charities. Public charities
admit of this argument in their favour, that your money
goes farther towards attaining the end for which it
is given, than it can do by any private and separate
beneficence. A guinea, for example, contributed to
an infirmary, becomes the means of providing one pa¬
tient, at least, with a physician, surgeon, apothecary,
with medicine, diet, lodging, and suitable attendance ;
which is not the tenth part of what the same assistance,
it it could be procured at all, would cost to a sick per¬
son or family in any other situation.
3. The last, and, compared with the former, the
lowest exertion of benevolence, is in the relief of beg¬
gars. Nevertheless, the indiscriminate rejection of all
who implore our alms, in this way, is by no means ap-
c H A [ 401 ] C H A
CtiiLci ity- proved. Some may perish by such a conduct. Men
*> U ' are sometimes overtaken by distress, for which, all
other relief would come too late. Besides which, re¬
solutions of this kind compel us to offer such violence
to our humanity, as may go near, in a little while, to
suffocate the principle itself} which is a very serious
consideration. A good man, if he do not surrender
himself to his feelings without reserve, will at least lend
an ear to importunities which come accompanied with
outward attestations of distress} and after a patient
hearing of the complaint, will direct himself by the
circumstances and credibility of the account that he
receives.
There are other species of charity well contrived to
make the money expended go far i such as keeping
down the price of fuel or provisions in case of a mono¬
poly or temporary scarcity, by purchasing the articles
at the best market, and retailing them at prime cost,
or at a small loss ; or the adding a bounty to a parti¬
cular species of labour, when the price is accidentally
depressed.
The proprietors of large estates have it in their
power to facilitate the maintenance, and thereby en¬
courage the establishment of families (which is one of
the noblest purposes to which the rich and great can
Convert their endeavours), by building cottages, split¬
ting farms, erecting manufactures, cultivating wastes,
embanking the sea, draining marshes, and other expe¬
dients, which the situation of each estate points out.
If the profits of these undertakings do not repay the
expence, let the author's of them place the difference
to the account of charity. It is true of almost all
such projects, that the public is a gainer by them,
whatever the owner be. And where the loss can be
spared, this consideration is sufficient.
It is become a question of some importance, Under
what circumstances works of charity ought to be done
in private, and when they may be made public with¬
out detracting from the merit of the action ? if indeed
they ever may, the Author of our religion having de¬
livered a rule upon this subject, which seems to enjoin
universal secrecy. “ When thou dost alms, let not
they left hand know what thy right hand doth } that
thy alms may be in secret} and thy Father which seeth
in secret, himself shall reward thee openly.” (Matt,
y*’ 3> 4')* From the preamble to this prohibition it
is plain, that our Saviour’s sole design was to forbid
ostentation, and all publishing of good works which pro¬
ceeds from that motive. “ Take heed that ye do not
your alms before men, to be seen of them; otherwise ye
have no reward of your Father which is in heaven}
therefore, when thou doest thine alms, do not sound a
trumpet before thee, as the hypocrites do, in the sy-
nagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory
of men. Verily I say unto thee, they have their re¬
ward,” v. 2. There are motives for the doing our
alms in public besides those of ostentation } with which
therefore our Saviour’s rule has no concern : such as
to testify our approbation of some particular species of
charity, and to recommend it to others } to take off
the prejudice which the want, or, which is the same
thing, the suppression, of our name in the list of con¬
tributors, might excite against the charity or against
ourselves. And so long as these motives are free from
My mixture of vanitv, they are in no danger of invad-
Vol. V. Part II. * -f
ing our Saviour’s prohibition : they rather seem to com- Charity,
ply with another direction which he has left us: “ Let *«——y——
youi light so shine before men, that they may see your
good works, and glorify your Father which is in hea¬
ven.” If it be necessary to propose a precise distinction
upon the subject, there can be none better than the fol¬
lowing : When our bounty is beyond our fortune or
station, that is, when it is more than could be expected
from us, our chanty should be private, if privacy be
practicable : when it is not more than might be expect¬
ed, it may be public : for we cannot hope to influence
others to the imitation of extraordinary generosity, and
therefore want, in the former case, the only justifiable
reason for making it public.
The pretences by which men excuse themselves from
giving to the poor are various } as,
1. “ That they have nothing to spare}” i. e. no¬
thing, for which they have not some other use } no¬
thing, which their plan of expence, together with the
savings they have resolved to lay by, will not exhaust }
never reflecting whether it be in their power, or that
it is their duty, to retrench their expences, and con¬
tract their plan, “ that they may have to give to them
that need or rather that this ought to have been
part of their plan originally.
2. “ That they have families of their own, and that
charity begins at home.” A father is no doubt bound
to adjust his economy with a view to the reasonable de¬
mands of his family upon his fortune } and until a suf¬
ficiency for these is acquired, or in due time probably
will be acquired (for in human affairs probability is
enough, he is justified in declining expensive liberality }
for to take from those who want, in order to give to
those who want, adds nothing to the stock of public
happiness. Thus far, therefore, and no farther, the
plea in question is an excuse for parsimony, and an an¬
swer to those who solicit our bounty.
3. “ That charity does not consist in giving money,
but in benevolence, philanthropy, love to all mankind,
goodness of heart,” &c. Hear St James. “ If a bro¬
ther or sister be naked, and destitute of daily food, and
one of you say unto them, Depart in peace, be ye
warmed and filled, notwithstanding ye give them riot
those things which are needfulfor the body, what doth
it profit?” (James ii. 13, 16.).
4. “ That giving to the poor is not mentioned in
St Paul’s description of charity, in the 13th chapter
of the first epistle to the Corinthians.” This is not a
description of charity, but of good nature } and it is
not necessary that every duty be mentioned in every
place.
5. “ That they pay the poor rates.” They might
as well allege that they pay their debts } for the poor
have the same right to that portion of a man’s property
which the laws assign them, that the man himself has
to the remainder.
6. “ That they employ many poor persons }”—for
their own sake, not the poor’s—otherwise it is a good
plea.
7. “ That the poor do not suffer so much as we
imagine} that education and habit have reconciled
them to the evils of their condition, and make them
easy under it.” Habit can never reconcile human na¬
ture to the extremities of cold, hunger, and thirst,
any more than it can reconcile the hand to the touch
3 E of
C H A
[ 402 ]
C H A
Charity.
of a red-hot iron : besides, the question is not, how un¬
happy any one is, but how much more happy we can
make him.
8. “ That these people, give them what you will,
will never thank you, or think of you for it.” In the
first place, tins is not true: in the second place, it
was not for the sake of their thanks that you relieved
them.
9. “ That we are so liable to be impossed upon.” If
a due inquiry be made, our motive and merit is the
same •, besides that the distress is generally real, what¬
ever has been the cause of it.
10. “ That they should apply to their parishes.”
That is not always practicable : to which we may add,
that there are many requisites to a comfortable sub¬
sistence, which parish-relief does not always supply $
and that there are some who would suffer almost as
much from receiving parish-relief as by the want of it 5
and lastly, that there are many modes of charity, to
which this answer does not relate at all.
11. “That giving money encourages idleness and
vagrancy.” This is true only of injudicious and indis¬
criminate generosity.
12. “ That we have too many objects of charity at
home to bestow any thing upon strangers $ or that
there are other charities which are more useful, or stand
in greater need.” The value of this excuse depends
entirely upon the fact, whether we actually relieve those
neighbouring objects, and contribute to those other
charities.
Besides all these excuses, pride, or prudery, or de¬
licacy, or the love of ease, keep one half of the world
out of the way of observing what the other half
suffer.
Charity Schools, are schools erected and maintain¬
ed in various parishes by the voluntary contributions of
the inhabitants, for teaching poor children to read,
write, and other necessary parts of educations. See
School.
Brothers of Charity, a sort of religious hospitallers,
founded about the year 1297, since denominated Bil-
letins. They took the third order of St Francis, and
the scapulary, making the three usual vows, but with¬
out begging.
Brothers of Charity, also denotes an order of hos.
pitallers, still subsisting in Romish countries, whose bu¬
siness is to attend the sick poor, and minister to them
both spiritual and temporal succour.
They are all laymen, except a few priests, for ad¬
ministering the sacraments to the sick in their hospi¬
tals. The brothers of charity usually cultivate botany,
pharmacy, surgery, and chemistry, which they practise
with success.
They were first founded at Granada, by St John de
Dieu $ and a second establishment was made at Madrid
in the year 1553 J the order was confirmed by Grego¬
ry XIII. in 1572 • Gregory XIV. forbade them to take
holy orders j but by leave of Paul V. in 1609, a few
of the brothers might be admitted to orders. In 1619
they were exempted from the jurisdiction of the bishop.
Those of Spain are separated from the rest; and they,
as well as the brothers of France, Germany, Poland,
and Italy, have their distinct generals, who reside at
Rome. They were first introduced into France by Mary
of Medicis in 1601, and have since built a fine hospi¬
tal in the fauxbourg of St Germain.
Charity of Hippolitus, a religious congregation
founded about the end of the 16th century, by one Ber-
nardin Alvarez, a Mexican, in honour of St Hippolitus
the martyr, patron of the city of Mexico j and ap¬
proved by Pope Gregory XIII.
Charity of our Lady, in church history, a religious
order in France, which, though charity was the princi¬
pal motive of their union, grew in length of time so
disorderly and irregular, that their order dwindled, and
at last became extinct.
There is still at Paris a religious order of women,
called nuns hospitallers of the charity of our lady. The
religious of this hospital are by vow obliged to admi¬
nister to the necessities of the poor and sick, but those
only women.
CHARLATAN, or Charletan, signifies an em¬
piric or quack, who retails his medicines on a public
stage, and draws people about him with his buffoone¬
ries, feats of activity, &.c. The word, according to
Calepine, comes from the Italian ceretano ; of Cceretwn,
a town near Spoletto in Italy, where these impostors
are said to have first risen. Menage derives it from
ciarlatano, and that from circulatorius or circulator, a
qUack,
CHARLEMAGNE, or Charles I. king of France
by succession, and emperor of the West by conquest in’
800 (which laid the foundation of the dynasty of the
western Franks, who ruled the empire 472 years till
the time of Rodolphus Auspurgensis, the founder of
the house of Austria). Charlemagne was as illustrious
in the cabinet as in the field; and, though he could
not write his name, was the patron of men of letters,
the restorer of learning, and a wise legislator 5 he want¬
ed only the virtue of humanity to render him the most
accomplished of men \ but when we read of his beheatU
ing 4500 Saxons, solely for their loyalty to their prince,
in opposing his conquests, we cannot think he merits
the extravagant encomiums betowed on him by some
historians. He died in 814, in the 74th year of his
age, and 47th of his reign.
France had nine sovereigns of this name, of whom
Charles V. merited the title of the-*wise (crowned in
1364, died in 1380): and Charles VIII. signalized
himself in the field by rapid victories in Italy 5 (crown¬
ed in 1483, died in 1498). The rest do not deserve
particular mention in this place. See (History of)
France.
CHARLEMONT, a town of France, in the de¬
partment of Ardennes, containing 4100 inhabitants in
1815. It is about eighteen miles south of Namur.
E. Long. 4. 40. N. Lat. 50. 10.
Charlemont is also the name of a town of Ire¬
land, situated on the river Blackwater, in the county
of Armagh, and province of Ulster, about six miles
south-east of Dungannon. W. Long. 6. 50. N. Lat.
J°- l6* . • r
CHARLEROY, a strong town in the province 01
Namur in the kingdom of the Netherlands, situated
on the river Sambre, about 19 miles west of Namur.
Population 4500. E. Long. 46. 20. N. Lat. 50. 30*
CHARLES Martel, a. renowned conqueror in
the early annals of France. He deposed and restored
Childenc
C H A L 403 J C H A
es. Childeric king of France; and had the entire govern-
ment of the kingdom, first with the title of mayor of
the palace, and afterwards as duke of France; but he
would not accept the crown. He died regretted, in
741,
Charles le Gros, emperor of the west in 881, king
of Italy and Suabia, memorable for his reverse of for¬
tune ; being dethroned at a diet held near Mentz, by
the French, the Italians, and the Germans, in 887 : af¬
ter which he was obliged to subsist on the bounty of
the archbishop of Mentz. He died in 888.
Charles V. (emperor and king of Spain) was son
of Philip, archduke of Austria, and of Jane queen of
Castile. He was born at Ghent, February 24. 1500,
and succeeded to the crown of Spain in 1517. Two
years afterwards he was chosen emperor at Francfort
after the death of Maximilian his grandfather. He
was a great warrior and politician : and his ambition
was not satisfied with the many kingdoms and pro¬
vinces he possessed j for he is supposed, with reason, to
have aspired at universal empire. He is said to have
fought 60 battles, in most of which he was victorious.
He took the king of France (Francis I.) prisoner, and
sold him his liberty on very hard terms $ yet after¬
wards, when the people of Ghent revolted, he asked
leave to pass through his dominions : and though the
generous king thus had him in his power, and had an
opportunity of revenging his ill treatment, yet he re¬
ceived and attended him with all pomp and mag¬
nificence. He sacked Rome, and took the pope pri¬
soner} and the cruelties which his army exercised
there are said to have exceeded those of the northern
barbarians. Yet the pious emperor went into mourn¬
ing on account of this conquest: forbade the ringing of
bells } commanded processions to be made, and prayers
to be offered up for the deliverance of the pope his
prisoner} yet did not inflict the least punishment on
those who treated the holy father and the holy see
with such inhumanity. He is accused by some Romish
writers of favouring the Lutheran principles, which he
might easily have extirpated. But the truth is, he found
his account in the divisions which that sect occasioned }
and he for ever made his advantage of them, sometimes
against the pope, sometimes against France, and at
other times against the empire itself. He was a great
traveller, and made 50 different journeys into Germany,
Spain, Italy, Flanders, France, England, and Africa.
Though he had been successful in many unjust enter¬
prises, yet his last attempt on Metz, which he besieged
with an army of 100,000 men, was very just, and very
unsuccessful.
Vexed at the reverse of fortune which seemed to
attend his latter days, and oppressed by sickness, which
unfitted him any longer for holding the reins of go¬
vernment with steadiness, or to guide them with ad¬
dress, he resigned his dominions to his brother
Ferdinand and his son Philip} and retreated to the
monastery of St Justus near Placentia in Estrema-
dura.
When Charles entered this retreat, he formed such
a plan of life for himself as would have suited a pri¬
vate gentleman of moderate fortune. His table was
neat, but plain} his domestics few} his intercourse
with them familiar} all the cumbersome and ceremo¬
nious forms of attendance on his person were entirely
abolished, as destructive of that social ease and trail- Charles,
quillity which he courted in order to soothe the remain- —y—
der of his days. As the mildness of the climate, toge¬
ther with his deliverance from the burdens and cares
of government, procured him at first a considerable
remission from the acute pains of the gout, with which
he had been long tormented, he enjoyed perhaps more
complete satisfaction in this humble solitude than all
his grandeur had ever yielded him. The ambitious
thoughts and projects which had so long engrossed and
disquieted him, were quite effaced from his mind. Far
from taking any part in the political transactions of
the princes of Europe, he restrained his curiosity even
from an inquiry concerning them } and he seemed to
view the busy scene which he had abandoned, with
all the contempt and indifference arising from his
thorough experience of its vanity, as well as from the
pleasing reflection of having disentangled himself from
its cares.
Other amusements, and other subjects, now occupied
him. Sometimes he cultivated the plants in his gar¬
den with his own hand } sometimes he rode out to
the neighbouring wood on a little horse, the only one
that he kept, attended by a single servant on foot.
When his infirmities confined him to his apartment,
which often happened, and deprived him of these more
active recreations, he either admitted a few gentlemen
who resided near the monastery to visit him, and en¬
tertained them familiarly at his table } or he employed
himself in studying mechanical principles, and in form¬
ing curious works of mechanism, of which he had al¬
ways been remarkably fond, and to which his genius
was peculiarly turned. With this view he had enga¬
ged Turriano, one of the most ingenious artists of that
age, to accompany him in his retreat. He laboured
together with him in framing models of the most use¬
ful machines, as well as in making experiments with
regard to their respective powers } and it was not sel¬
dom that the ideas of the monarch assisted or perfected
the inventions of the artist. He relieved his mind at
intervals with slighter and more fantastic works of me-.*
chanism, in fashioning puppets, which, by the structure
of internal springs, mimicked the gestures and actions
of men, to the no small astonishment of the ignorant
monks, who, beholding movements which they could
not comprehend, sometimes distrusted their own senses,
and sometimes suspected Charles and Turriano of be¬
ing in compact with invisible powers. He was parti¬
cularly curious with regard to the construction of clocks
and watches } and having found, after repeated trials,
that he could not bring any two of them to go exactly
alike, he reflected, it is said, with a mixture of sur¬
prise as well as regi’et, on his own folly, in having be¬
stowed so much time and labour in the more vain attempt
of bringing mankind to a precise uniformity of senti¬
ment concerning the intricate and mysterious doctrines
of religion.
But in what manner soever Charles disposed of the
rest of his time, he constantly reserved a considerable
portion of it for religious exercises. He regularly at¬
tended divine service in the chapel of the monastery,
every morning and evening} he took great pleasure
in reading books of devotion, particularly the woiks
of St Augustine and St Bernard } and conversed much
with his confessor, and the prior of the monastery,
C H A [ 404 ] C H A
Charles, on pious subjects. Thus did Charles pass the first year
■—■“v-—' of his retreat in a manner not unbecoming a man per¬
fectly disengaged from the affairs of this present life,
and standing on the confines of a future world, either
in innocent amusements »which soothed his pains, and
relieved a mind worn out with excessive application to
business; or in devout occupations, which he deemed
necessary in preparing for another state.
But, about six months before his death, the gout,
after a longer intermission than usual, returned with
a proportional increase of violence. His shattered con¬
stitution had not strength enough remaining to with¬
stand such a shock. It enfeebled his mind as much as
his body 5 and from this period we hardly discern any
traces of that sound and masculine understanding which
distinguished Charles among his cotemporaries. An
illiberal and timid superstition depressed his spirit. He
had no relish for amusements of any kind. He endea¬
voured to conform, in his manner of living, to all the
rigour of monastic austerity. He desired no other
society than that of monks, and was almost continu¬
ally employed in chaunting with them the hymns of the
missal. As an expiation for his sins, he gave himself
the discipline in secret, with such severity that the
whip of cords which he employed as the instrument of
his punishment, ivas found, after his decease, tinged
with his blood. Nor was he satisfied with these acts
of mortification, which, however severe, were not
unexampled. The timorous and distrustful solicitude
which always accompanies superstition, still continu¬
ed to disquiet him, and depreciating all that he had
done, prompted him to aim at something extraordina¬
ry, at some new and singular act of piety that would
display his zeal, and merit the favour of heaven.
Hie act on which he fixed was as wild and uncom¬
mon as any that superstition ever suggested to a dis¬
ordered fancy. He resolved to celebrate his own ob¬
sequies before his death. He ordered his tomb to be
erected in the chapel of the monastery. His domes¬
tics marched thither in funeral procession, with black
tapers in their hands. He himself followed in his
shroud. He was laid in his coffin with much solem¬
nity. The service for the dead was chaunted 5 and
Charles joined in the prayers which were offered up
for the rest of his soul, mingling his tears with those
which his attendants shed, as if they had been cele¬
brating a real funeral. The ceremony closed with
sprinkling holy water on the coffin in the usual form,
and, all the assistants retiring, the doors of the chapel
were shut. Then Charles rose out of the coffin, and
withdrew to his apartment, full of those awful senti¬
ments which such a singular solemnity was calculated
to inspire. But either the fatiguing length of the ce¬
remony, or the impression which this image of death
left on his mind, affected him so much, that next day
he was seized with a fever. His feeble frame could
not long resist its violence ; and he expired on the
2 t,st of September, after a life of jj8 years 6 months
and 21 days.
Charles I. Kings of Britain. See Britain
Charles II. J No. 49 254.
Charles XII. King of Sweden, was born in 1682.
By his father’s will, the administration was lodged in
the hands of the queen dowager Eleonora, with five
senators, till the young prince was 18 j but he was
declared major at 15, by the states convened at Stock- chi
holm. The beginning of his administration raised no v—-
favourable ideas of him, as he was thought both by
Swedes and foreigners to be a person of mean capaci¬
ty. But the difficulties that gathered round him, soon
afforded him an opportunity to display his real charac¬
ter. Three powerful princes, Frederick king of Den¬
mark, Augustus king of Poland and elector of Sax¬
ony, and Peter the Great, czar of Muscovy, presuming
on his youth, conspired his ruin almost at the same
instant. Their measures alarming the council, they
were for diverting the storm by negotiations 5 but
Charles, with a grave resolution that astonished them,
said, “ I am resolved never to enter upon an unjust
war, nor to put an end to a just one but by the
destruction of my enemies. My resolution is fix¬
ed : I will attack the first who shall declare against
me; and when I have conquered him, I may hope
to strike a terror into the rest.” The old counsel¬
lors received his orders with admiration } and were
etill more surprised when they saw him on a sudden
renounce all the enjoyments of a court, reduce his
table to the utmost frugality, dress like a common sol¬
dier, and, full of the ideas of Alexander and Caesar,
propose these two conquerors for his models in every
thing but their vices. The king of Denmark began
by ravaging the territories of the duke of Holstein.
Upon this Charles carried the war into the heart of
Denmark, and made such a progress that the king of
Denmark thought it best to accept of peace, which
was concluded in 1700. He next resolved to ad¬
vance against the king of Poland, who had blocked up
Riga. He had no sooner given orders for his troops
to go into winter quarters, than he received advice
that Narva, where Count Horne was governor, was
besieged by an army of 100,000 Muscovites. This
made him alter his measures, and move towards the
czar; and at Narva he gained a surprising victory,
which cost him not above 2000 men killed and wound¬
ed. The Muscovites were forced to retire from the
provinces they had invaded. He pursued his con¬
quests, till he penetrated as far as where the diet of
Poland was sitting; when he made them declare the
throne of Poland vacant, and elect Stanislaus their
king: then making himself master of Saxony, he ob¬
liged Augustus himself to renounce the crown of Po¬
land, and acknowledge Stanislaus by a letter of con¬
gratulation on his accession. All Europe was surpris¬
ed with the expeditious finishing of this great negotia¬
tion, but more at the disinteresteduess of the king of
Sweden, who satisfied himself with the bare reputa¬
tion of this victory, without demanding an inch of
ground for enlarging his dominions. After thus re¬
ducing the king of Denmark to peace, placing a new
king on the throne of Poland, having humbled the
emperor of Germany, and protected the Lutheran re¬
ligion, Charles prepared to penetrate into Muscovy,
in order to dethrone the czar. He quickly obliged
the Muscovites to abandon Poland, pursued them into
their own country, and won several battles over theim
The czar, disposed to peace, ventured to make som*
proposals } Charles only answered, “ I will treat with
the czar at Moscow.” When this haughty answer
was brought to Peter, he said, “ My, brother Charles
still affects to act the Alexander, but I flatter my-
c H A [ 405 ] C H A
jelei. self he will not in me find a Darias.” The- event
y——'justified him : for the Muscovites, already beaten into
discipline, and under a prince of such talents as Peter,
entirely destroyed the Swedish army at the memorable
battle of Pultowa, July 8. 1709 ; on which decisive
day, Charles lost the fruits of nine years labour, and
of almost IOO battles ! The king, with a small troop,
pursued by the Muscovites, passed the Boristhenes
to Oczakow in the Turkish territories : and from
thence, through desert countries, arrived at Ben¬
der; where the sultan, when informed of his arrival,
sent orders for accommodating him in the best man¬
ner, and appointed him a guard. Near Bender Charles
built a house, and intrenched himself; and had with
him 1800 men, who were all clothed and fed, with
their horses, at the expence of the grand signior.
Here he formed a design of turning the Ottoman
arms upon his enemies; and is said to have had a pro¬
mise from the vizier of being sent into Muscovy with
200,000 men. While he remained here, he insensibly
acquired a taste for books ; he read the tragedies of
Corneille and Racine, with the works of Despreaux,
whose satires he relished, but did not much admire his
other works. When he read that passage in which
the author represents Alexander as a fool and a mad¬
man, he tore out the leaf. He would sometimes play
at chess : but when he recovered of his wounds, he re¬
newed his fatigues in exercising his men : he tired
three horses a-day; and those who courted his favour
were all day in their boots. To dispose the Ottoman
Porte to this war, he detached about 800 Poles and
Cossacks of his retinue, with orders to pass the
Niester, that runs by Bender, and to observe what
passed on the frontiers of Poland. The Muscovite
troops, dispersed in those quarters, fell immediately
upon this little company, and pursued them even to
the territories of the grand signior. This was what
the king expected. His ministers at the Porte ex¬
cited the Turks to vengeance; but the czar's money
removed all difficulties, and Charles found himself in
a manner prisoner among the Tartars. He imagined
the sultan was ignorant of the intrigues of his grand
vizier. Poniatowsky undertook to make his complaints
to the grand signior. The sultan, in answer, some
days after, sent Charles five Arabian horses, one of
which was covered with a saddle and housing of great
richness ; with an obliging letter, but conceived in such
general terms, as gave reason to suspect that the mi¬
nister had done nothing without the sultan's consent:
Charles therefore refused them. Poniatowsky had the
courage to form a design of deposing the grand vizier,
who accordingly was deprived of his dignity and
wealth, and banished. The seal of the empire was
given to Numan Cuproughly ; who persuaded his ma¬
ster, that the law forbade him to invade the czar, who
had done him no injury ; but to succour the king of
Sweden as an unfortunate prince in his dominions.
He sent his majesty 800 purses, every one of which
amounted to 500 crowns, and advised him to return
peaceably to his own dominions. Charles rejected
this advice, threatening to hang up the bashaws, and
shave the beards of any janizaries who brought him
such messages, and sent word that he should depend
upon the grand signior’s promise, and hoped to re¬
enter Poland as a conqueror with an army of Turks.
After various intrigues at the Porte, an order was sent Cbarlen.
to attack this head of iron, as he was called, and to v—  
take him either alive or dead. He stood a siege in his
house, with 40 domestics, against the Turkish army ;
killed no less than 20 janizaries with his own hand ;
and performed prodigies of valour on a very unneces¬
sary and unwarrantable occasion. But the house
being set on fire, and himself wounded, he was at
last taken prisoner, and sent to Adrianople, where
the grand signior gave him audience, and promised to
make good all the damages he had sustained. At
last, alter a stay of above five years, he left Turkey ;
and, having disguised himself, traversed Wallachia,
Transylvania, Hungary, and Germany, attended only
by one person ; and in sixteen days riding, during
which lime he never went to bed, came to Stralsund
at midnight, November 21. 1714. His boots were cut
from his swollen legs, and he was put to bed ; where,
when he had slept some hours, the first thing he did
was to review his troops, and examine the state of the
fortifications. He sent out orders that very day to re¬
new the war with more vigour than ever. But af¬
fairs were now much changed : Augustus had recover¬
ed the throne of Poland ; Sweden had lost many of its
provinces, and was without money, trade, credit, or
troops. The kings, of Denmark and Prussia seized the
island of Rugen ; and besieged him in Stralsund,
which surrendered ; but Charles escaped to Carlscroon.
When his country was threatened with invasion by
so many princes, he, to the surprise of all Europe,
marched into Norway with 20,000 men. A very
few Danes might have stopped the Swedish army ; but
such a quick invasion they could not foresee. Europe
was yet more at a loss to find the czar so quiet, and
not making a descent upon Sweden, as he had before
agreed with his allies. This inaction was the conse¬
quence of one of the greatest designs, and at the same
time the most difficult of any, that were ever formed
by the imagination of man. In short, a scheme was
set on foot for a reconciliation with the czar ; for re¬
placing Stanislaus on the throne of Poland ; and setting
James II.*s son upon that of England, besides resto¬
ring the duke of Holstein to his dominions. Charles
was pleased with these grand ideas, though without
building much upon them, and gave his minister
leave to act at large. In the mean time, Charles
was going to make a second attempt upon Norway in
1718; and he flattered himself with being master of
that kingdom in six months ; but while he was exa¬
mining the works at Frederickshall, a place of great
strength and importance, which is reckoned to be the
key of that kingdom, he was killed by a shot from the
enemy, as has been generally believed, though it has
been also reported, that he fell by the treachery of one
of his own officers, who had been bribed for that pur¬
pose.
This prince experienced the extremes of prosperity
and of adversity, without being softened by the one or
disturbed for a moment at the other; but was a man
rather extraordinary than great, and fitter to be ad¬
mired than imitated. He was honoured by the Turks
for his rigid abstinence from wine, and his regularity
in attending public devotion.
As to his person, he was tall and of a noble mien,
had a fine open forehead, large blue eyes, flaxen hair,
fair
C H A
[ 406 ]
C H A
Charles
fair complexion, a handsome nose, but little beard,
and a laugh not agreeable. His manners were harsh
and austere, not to say savage: and as to religion,
he was indifferent towards all, though exteriorly a Lu¬
theran, and a strong believer in predestination. A lew
anecdotes will illustrate his character. xNo dangers,
however great, made the least impression upon him.
When a horse or two were killed under him at the
battle of Narva, in 1700, he leaped nimbly upon fresh
ones, saying, “ These people find me exercise.” One
day, when he was dictating letters to a secretary, a
bomb fell through the roof into the next room of the
house where they were sitting. The secretary, terri¬
fied lest the house should come down upon them, let
his pen drop out of his hand : “ What is the matter ?”
says the king calmly. The secretary could only reply,
“ Ah, Sir, the bomb.” “ The bomb ! (says the king)
what has the bomb to do with what I am dictating to
you ! Go on.”
He preserved more humanity than is usually found
among conquerors. Once, in the middle of an action,
finding a young Swedish officer wounded and unable
to march, he obliged the officer to take his horse, and
continued to command his infantry on foot. The
Princess Lubomirski, who was very much in the interest
and good graces of Augustus, falling by accident into
the hands of one of his officers, he ordered her to be
set at liberty: saying, “ That he did not make war
with women.” One day, near Leipsic, a peasant threw
himself at his feet, with a complaint against a grenadier,
that he had robbed him of certain eatables, provided
for himself and his family. “ Is it true (said Charles
sternly), that you have robbed this man ?” The sol¬
dier replied, “ Sir, I have not done near so much
harm to this man as your majesty has done to his
master; for you have taken from Augustus a k^fgdom,
whereas I have only taken from this poor scoundrel a
dinner.” Charles made the peasant amends, and par¬
doned the soldier for his firmness : “ However, my
friend (says he to him), you will do well to recollect,
that if I took a kingdom from Augustus, I did not take
it for myself.”
Though Charles lived hardly himself, a soldier did
not fear to remonstrate to him against some bread,
which was very black and mouldy, and which yet was
the only provision the troops had. Charles called for
a piece of it, and calmly ate it up ; saying, “ that it
was indeed not good, but that it might be eaten.”—
From the danger he was in in Poland, when he beat the
'Saxon troops in 1702, a comedy was exhibited at Ma-
rienburg, where the combat was represented to the dis¬
advantage of the Swedes. “ Oh, (says Charles, hear¬
ing of it) I am far from envying them this pleasure.
Let them beat me in the theatres as long as they will,-
provided I do but beat them in the field.” He wrote
some observations on war, and on his own campaigns
from 1700 to 1709 : but the MS. was lost at the un¬
fortunate battle of Pultowa.
CHARLES’S cape, a promontory of Virginia, in
North America, forming the northern headland of the
strait that enters the bay of Chesapeak.
Charles's Fort, a fortress in the county of Cork,
and province of Munster in Ireland, situated at the
mouth of Kinsale harbour. W. Long. 8, 20. N. Lat.
51. 21.
CHARLESTON, the metropolis of South Carolina,c]w,@stoi
is the most considerable town in the state $ situated in *—-v-—.
the district of the same name, and on the tongue of
land formed by the confluent streams of Ashley and
Cooper, which are short rivers, but large and navi¬
gable. These waters unite immediately below the city,
and form a spacious and convenient harbour $ which
communicates with the ocean just below Sullivan’s
island, which it leaves on the north, seven miles south¬
east of Charleston. In these rivers the tide rises, in
common, about 6|- feet $ but uniformly rises 10 or 12
inches more during a night tide. The fact is certain j
the cause unknown. The continual agitation which
the tides occasion in the waters which almost surround
Charleston, the refreshing sea-breezes which are regu¬
larly felt., and the smoke arising from so many chim¬
neys, render this city more healthy than any part of
the low country in the southern states. On this ac¬
count it is the resort of great numbers of gentlemen,
invalids from the West India islands, and of the rich
planters from the country, who come here to spend
the sickly months, as they are called, in quest of health
and of the social enjoyments which the city affords.
And in no part of America are the social blessings en¬
joyed more rationally and liberally than here. Un¬
affected hospitality, affability, ease of manners and ad¬
dress, and a disposition to make their guests welcome,
easy, and pleased with themselves, are characteristics
of the respectable people of Charleston. In speaking
of the capital, it ought to be observed, for the honour
of the people of Carolina in general, that when in com¬
mon with the other colonies, in the contest with Bri¬
tain, they resolved against the use of certain luxuries,
and even necessaries of life 5 those articles, which im¬
prove the mind, enlarge the understanding, and correct
the taste, were excepted j the importation of books was
permitted as formerly.
The land on which the town is built is flat and
low, and the water brackish and unwholesome. The
streets are pretty regularly cut, and open beautiful
prospects, and have subterranean drains to carry off
filth and keep the city clean and healthy $ but are too
narrow for so large a place and so warm a climate.
Their general breadth is from 35 to 66 feet. The
houses which have been lately built, are brick, with
tiled roofs. The buildings in general are elegant, and
most of them are neat, airy, and well furnished. The
public buildings are, an exchange, a state-house, an
armoury, a poor-house, and an orphan’s house. Here
are several respectable academies. Pail of the old
barracks has been handsomely fitted up, and converted
into a college, and there are a number of students;
but it can only be called as yet a respectable academy.
Here are two banks, a branch of the national bank,
and the South Carolina bank, established in I792* The
houses for public worship are two Episcopal churches,
two for Independents, three for Scotch Presbyterians,
one for Baptists, one for German Lutherans, three for
Methodists, one for French Protestants, a meeting¬
house for Quakers, a Roman Catholic chapel, and a
Jewish synagogue.
Little attention is paid to the public markets ; a
great proportion of the more wealthy inhabitants hav¬
ing plantations from which they receive supplies of
almost every article of living. The country abounds
with
C H A L 407 ] C H A
0 rleston Poll^rJr a,1(^ wild ducks. Their beef, mutton, and
jj veal, are not generally of the best kind j and few fish
ieeii are found in the market.
C lotte’s jn 1787, it was computed that there were 1600
1 ^1(j‘ ■ houses in this city, and 15,000 inhabitants, including
5400 slaves j and what evinces the healthiness of the
place, upwards of 200 of the white inhabitants were
above 60 years of age. In 1817, the population was
22,944, of which 11,229 were white inhabitants, and
11,715 slaves. The city has often sufi’ered from fires.
It has also often been visited by the yellow fever. This
disease carried off 150 persons in each of the years 1792
and 1794, and in 1817 1249 persons fell victims to it.
Charleston was incorporated in 1783, and divided
into three wards, which choose as many wardens, from
among whom the citizens elect an intendant of the
city. The intendant and wardens fonn the city-coun-
cal, who have power to make and enforce by-laws for
the regulation of the city. There are a considerable
number of charitable institutions in the town. There
is besides a literary and philosophical society, and an
agricultural society. Three daily and two weekly news¬
papers are published in the town. Nearly the whole
trade of the state centres in this town, which had
35,857 tons shipping belonging to it in 1815.
Charles’s Wain, in Astronomij, seven stars in the
constellation called Ursa Major, or the Great Bear.
CHARLETON, an island at the bottom of Hud¬
son’s bay, in North America, subject to Great Britain.
W. Long. 80. o. N. Lat. 53. 30.
Charleton, Walter, a learned English physician,
born in 1619, was physician in ordinary to Charles I.
and Charles II. one of the first members of the royal
society, and president of the college of physicians. He
wrote on various subjects j but at last his narrow cir¬
cumstances obliged him to retire to the island of Jersey,
where he died in 1707*
CHARLOCK, the English name of the Rapha-
NUS. It is a very troublesome weed among corn, be¬
ing more frequent than almost any other. There are
two principal kinds of it: the one with a yellow flower,
the other with a white. Some fields are particularly
subject to be overrun with it. especially those which
have been manured with cow-dung alone, that being
a manure very favourable to the growth of it. The
farmers in some places are so sensible of this, that they
always mix horse-dung with their cow-dung, when they
use it for arable land. When barley, as is often the
case, is infested with this weed to such a degree as
to endanger the crop, it is a very good method to mow
down the charlock in May, when it is in flower, cut¬
ting it so low as just to take off the tops of the leaves
of barley with it: by this means the barley will
get up above the weed $ and people have got four
quarters of grain from an acre of such land as would
have scarce yielded any thing without this expedient.
Where any land is particularly subject to this weed,
the best method is to sow it with grass seed, and make
a pasture of it 5 for then the plant will not be trouble¬
some, it never growing where there is a coat of grass
upon the ground.
Queen CHARLOTTE’S Island, an island in the
Sooth sea, first discovered by Captain Wallis in the
Dolphin, in 1767, who took possession of it in the
name of King George III. Here is good water, aud
2
plenty of cocoa nuts, palm nuts, and scurvy grass. The
inhabitants are of a middle stature and dark com¬
plexion, with long hair hanging over their shoulders $
the men are well made, and the women handsome j
their clothing is a kind of coarse cloth, or matting,
which they fasten about their middle.
Queen Charlotte'’s Islands, a cluster of South sea
islands, discovered in 1767 by Captain Carteret. Pie
counted seven, and there were supposed to be many
more. The inhabitants of these islands are described
as extremely nimble and vigorous, and almost as well
qualified to live in the water as upon land : they are
very warlike j and, on a quarrel with some of Captain
Carteret’s people, they attacked them with great re¬
solution j. mortally wounded the master and three of
the sailors 5 were not at all intimidated by the fire
arms $ and at last, notwithstanding the aversion of
Captain Carteret to shed blood, he was obliged to se¬
cure the watering places by firing grape shot into the
woods, which destroyed many of the inhabitants.
These islands lie in S. Lat. n. E. Long. 164. They
are supposed to be the Santa Cruz of Mandana, who
died there in 1595.
CHARM, a term derived from the Latin carmen,
“ a verse 5” and used to denote a magic power, or spell,
by which, with the assistance of the devil, sorcerers
and witches were supposed to do wonderful things, fas
surpassing the power of nature.
CHARNEL, or Charnel-house, a kind of por¬
tico, or gallery, usually in or near a churchyard, over
which were anciently laid the bones of the dead, after
the flesh was wholly consumed. Charnel-houses are
now usually adjoining to the church.
CHARON, in fabulous history, the son of Erebus
and Nox, whose office was to ferry the souls of the
deceased over the waters of Acheron, for which each
soul was to pay a piece of money. For this reason
the Pagans had a custom of putting a piece of money
into the mouth of the dead, in order that they might
have something to pay Charon for their passage.
CHARONDAS, a celebrated legislator of the Thu-
rians, and a native of Catanea, in Sicily, flourished 446
before Christ. He forbade any person’s appearing
armed in the public assemblies of the nation ; but one
day going thither in haste, without thinking of his
sword, he was no sooner made to observe his mistake
than he ran it through bis body.
CHAROST, a town of France, in Berry, with the
title of a duchy. It is seated on the river Arnon. E.
Long. 2. 15. N. Lat. 46. 56.
CHAROUX, a town of France, in the Bourbon-
nois, seated on an eminence, near the river Sioulle. It
has two parishes, which are in different dioceses. E.
Long. 3. 15. N. Lat. 46. 10.
CHARPENTIER, Francis, dean of the French
academy, was born in 1620. His early capacity in¬
clined his friends to educate him at the bar: but be
was mtich more delighted with the study of languages
and antiquity than of the law ; and preferred repose
to tumult. M. Colbert made use of him in establish¬
ing his new academy of medals and inscriptions j and
no person of that learned society contributed more
than himself toward that noble series of medals which
were struck on the considerable events that distinguish^
ed the reign of Louis XIV. He published several
works.
Queen
Charlotte’s
Island
11
Cliarpen-
tier.
' V •
C H A [ 408 ] C H A
Charpea- works, which were all well received ; and died in
tier 1702.
H CHARR. See Salmo, Ichthyology Index.
. yta' . CHARRON, Peter, the author of a book entitled
Of Wisdom, which gained him great reputation, was
born at Paris in the year 1541. After being advocate
in the parliament of Paris for five or six years, he ap¬
plied himself to divinity j and became so great a
preacher, that the bishops of several dioceses oftered
him the highest dignities in their gift. He died at Paris,
suddenly in the street, November 16. 1603.
CHART, or Sea Chart, an hydrographical map,
or a projection of some part of the earth’s superficies in
piano, for the use of navigators.
Charts differ very considerably from geographical or
land maps, which are of no use in navigation. Nor are
sea charts all of the same kind, some being what we
call plane charts, others Mercator charts, and others
globular charts.
Plane Chart, is a representation of some part of the
superficies of the terraqueous globe, in Which the me¬
ridians are supposed parallel to each other, the parallels
of latitude at equal distances, and consequently the
degrees of latitude and longitude everywhere equal to
each other. See Plane Chart.
Mercator's Chart, is that where the meridians are
straight lines, parallel to each other, and equidistant ;
the parallels are also straight lines, and parallel to
each other j but the distance between them increases
from the equinoctial towards either pole, in the ratio of
the secant of the latitude to the radius. See Navi¬
gation.
Globular Chart, a meridional projection, wherein
the distance of the eye from the plane of the meridian,
upon which the projection is made, is supposed to be
equal to the sine of the angle 450. This projection
eomes the nearest of all to the nature of the globe,
because the meridians therein are placed at equal
distances ; the parallels also are nearly equidistant, and
consequently the several parts of the earth have their
proper proportion of magnitude, distance, and situation,
nearly the same as on the globe itself. See Globular
Projection.
Hydrographic Charts, sheets of large paper, where¬
on several parts of the land and sea are described, with
their respective coasts, harbours, sounds, flats, rocks,
shelves, sands, &c. together with the longitude and
latitude of each place, and the points of the compass.
See Mercator'1 s Chart.
Selenographic Charts, particular descriptions of the
spots, appearances, and maculae of the moon. See As¬
tronomy Index.
Topographic Charts, draughts of some small parts
of the earth only, or of some particular place, with¬
out regard to its relative situation, as London, York,
&c.
CHAR FA, or Carta, primarily signifies a sort of
paper made of the plant papyrus or biblus. See Paper
and Charter.
Chart a Emporetica, in Pharmacy, &c. a kind of
paper made very soft and porous, used to filter withal.
See Filtration, &c.
Charta is also used in our ancient customs for a
charter, or deed in writing. See Charter.
3
Magna Charta, the great charter of the liberties of Ma ^
Britain, and the basis of our laws and privileges. Chau*
This charter may be said to derive its origin from-v—-
King Edward the Confessor, who granted several pri¬
vileges to the church and state by charter j these liber¬
ties and privileges were also granted and confirmed by
King Henry I. by a celebrated great charter now lost j
but which was confirmed or re-enacted by King Henry
II. and King John. Henry III. the successor of this
last prince, after having caused 12 men make inquiry
into the liberties of England in the reign of Henry I.
granted a new charter; which was the same as the pre¬
sent magna charta. This he several times confirmed,
and as often broke 5 till, in the 37th year of his reign,
he went to Westminster Hall, and there, in presence of
the nobility and bishops, who held lighted candles in
their hands, magna charta was read, the king all the
time holding his hand to his breast, and at last solemn¬
ly swearing faithfully and inviolably to observe all the
things therein contained, &c. Then the bishops ex¬
tinguishing the candles, and throwing them on the
ground, they all cried out, “ Thus let him be extin¬
guished, and stink in hell, who violates this charter.”
It is observed that, notwithstanding the solemnity of
this confirmation, King Henry, the very next year,
again invaded the rights of his people, till the barons
entered into a war against him $ when, after various
success, he confirmed this charter, and the charter of
the forest, in the 5 2d year of his reign.
This charter confirmed many liberties of the church,
and redressed many grievances incident to feodal te¬
nures, of no small moment at the time j though now,
unless considered attentively and with this retrospect,
they seem but of trifling concern. But, besides these
feodal provisions, care was also taken therein to protect
the subject against other oppressions, then frequently
arising from unreasonable amercement, from illegal
distresses or other process for debts or services due to
the crown, and from the tyrannical abuse of the pre¬
rogative of purveyance and pre-emption. It fixed the
forfeiture of lands for felony in the same manner as it
still remains : prohibited for the future the grants of
exclusive fisheries j and the erection of new bridges so
as to oppress the neighbourhood. With respect to
private rights, it established the testamentary power
of the subject over part of his personal estate, the rest
being distributed among his wife and children ; it laid
down the law of dower, as it hath continued ever since j
and prohibited the appeals of women, unless after
the death of their husbands. In matters of public po¬
lice and national concern, it enjoined an uniformity of
weights and measures 5 gave new encouragements to
commerce, by the protection of merchant strangers ;
and forbade the alienation of lands in mortmain. With
regard to the administration of justice, besides prohi¬
biting all denials or delays of it, it fixed the court of
common pleas at Westminster, that the suitors might
no longer be harassed with following the king’s per¬
son in all his progresses $ and at the same time brought
the trial of issues home to the very doors of the free¬
holders, by directing assizes to be taken in the proper
counties, and establishing annual circuits ; it also cor¬
rected some abuses then incident to the trials by wager
of law and of battle j directed the regular award-
j 'rta
t .rta
( iter-
ty-
C H A [ 409 ] C H A
ing of inquests for life or member j prohibited the
king’s inferior ministers from holding pleas of the
crown, or trying any criminal charge, whereby many
forfeitures might otherwise have unjustly accrued to
the exchequer j and regulated the time and place of
holding the inferior tribunals of justice, the county-
court, sheriff’s torn and court-leet. It confirmed and
established the liberties of the city of London, and all
other cities, boroughs, towns, and ports of the king¬
dom. And, lastly, (which aloffe could have merited the
title that it bears, of the great charter), it protected
every individual of the nation in the free enjoyment of
his life, his liberty, and his property, unless declared to
be forfeited by the judgment of his peers, or the law of
the land.
This excellent charter, so equitable and beneficial
to the subject, is the most ancient written law in the
kingdom. By the 25th Edward I. it is ordained, that
it shall be taken as the common law ; and by the 43d
Edward III. all statutes made against it are declared
to be void.
CHARTER, in Law, a written instrument, or evi¬
dence of things acted between one person and ano¬
ther. The word charter comes from the Latin charta.
anciently used for a public and authentic act, a dona¬
tion contract, or the like, from the Greek
“ thick paper” or “ pasteboard,” whereon public acts
were wont to be written. Britton divides charters
into those of the king, and those of private persons.
1. Charters of the king, are those whereby the king
passeth any grant to any person or body politic, as a
charter of exemption, of privilege, &c.} charter of par¬
don, whereby a man is forgiven a felony, or other offence
committed against the king’s crown and dignity j char¬
ter of the forest, wherein the laws of the forest are
comprised, such as the charter of Canutus, &c.
2. Charters of private persons, are deeds and instru¬
ments for the conveyance of lands, &c. And the pur¬
chaser of lands shall have all the charters, deeds, and
evidences, as incident to the same, and for the main¬
tenance of his title.
CHARTER-Governments in America. See Colony.
CiiARTER-Land, such land as a person holds by
charter; that is, by evidence in writing $ otherwise
called freehold.
CHARTERPARTY, in Commerce, denotes the in¬
strument of freightage, or articles of agreement for
the hire of a vessel. See Freight, &c.
The charter-party is to be in writing ; and to be sign¬
ed both by the proprietor or master of the ship,
and the merchant who freights it. It is to contain the
name and burden of the vessel ; the names of the
master and the freighter j the price or rate of freight;
and the time of loading and unloading; and the other
conditions agreed on. It is properly a deed, or poli¬
cy, whereby the master or proprietor of the vessel
engages to furnish immediately a tight sound vessel,
well equipped, caulked, and stopped, provided with an¬
chors, sails, cordage, and all other furniture to make
the voyage required, as equipage, hands, victuals, and
other munitions ; in consideration of a certain sum to
be paid by the merchant for the freight. Lastly, The
ship with all its furniture, and the cargo, are respec¬
tively subjected to the conditions of the charterparty.
The charter parti/ differs from a bill of lading, in that
VOL. V. Part II. f
the first is for the entire freight, or lading, and that
both for going and returning j whereas the latter is
only for a part of the freight, or at most only for the
voyage one way.
Boyer says, the word is derived from hence, that
per medium charta incidebatur, et sic fiebat charta
partita: because, in the time when notaries were less
common, there was only one instrument made for
both parties ; this they cut in two, and gave each
his portion $ joining them together at their return, to
know if each had done his part. This he obsei-ves to
have been practised in his time j agreeable to the me¬
thod of the Romans, who, in their stipulations, used to
break a staff, each^party retaining a moiety thereof as
a mark.
CHARTOPHYLAX, the name of an officer of
the church of Constantinople, who attends at the door
of the rails when the sacrament is administered, and
gives notice to the priests to come to the holy table.
He represents the patriarch upon the. bench, tries all
ecclesiastical causes, keeps all the marriage registers,
assists at the consecration of bishops, and presents the
bishop elect at the solemnity, and likewise all other
subordinate clergy. This office resembles in some shape
that of the bibliothecarius at Rome.
CHARTRES, a large city of France', in the depart¬
ment of Eure and Loire, containing 13,000 inhabitants.
E. Long. 1. 20. N. Lat. 48. 26. It is a bishop’s see.
CHARTREUSE, or Chartreuse-grand, a ce¬
lebrated monastery, the capital of all the convents of
the Carthusian monks, situated on a steep rock in the
middle of a large forest of fir trees, about seven miles
north-east of Grenoble, in the province of Dauphiny
in France. E. Long. 5. 5. N. Lat. 45. 20. See Car¬
thusians.
From this mother convent, all the others of the same
order took their name ; among which was the Char¬
treuse of London, corruptly called Ihe charterhouse,
now converted into an hospital, and endowed with a re¬
venue of 600I. per artnum.
Here were maintained 80 decayed gentlemen, not
under 50 years of ago 5 also 40 boys are educated and
fitted either for the university or trades. Those sent
to the university have an exhibition of 20I. a-year for
eight years: and have an immediate title to nine
church-livings in the gift of the governors of the hos¬
pital, who are sixteen in number, all persons of the
first distinction, and take their turns in the nomination
of pensioners and scholars.
CHARTULARY, Chartularlus, a title given
to an ancient officer in the Latin church, who had the
care of charters and papers relating to public affairs.
The chartulary presided in ecclesiastical judgments, in
lieu of the pope. In the Greek church the chartulary
was called chartophylax ; but his office was there much
more considerable and some even distinguished the
chartulary from the chartophylax in the Greek church.
See Chartophylax.
CHARYBDIS, in Ancient Geography, a whirlpool
in the straits of Messina, according to the poets j near
Sicily, and opposite to Scylla, a rock on the coast of
Italy. Thucydides makes it to be only a strong flux
and reflux in the strait, or a violent reciprocation of
the tide, especially if the wind sets south. But on
diving into the Charybdis, there are found vast gulfs
& 3 F an<1
Charter-
party
II
Charybdis.
' v  
C H A [ 410 ] C H A
Cliarybdis, anti whirlpools below, which produce all the commo-
thase. tion on the surface of the water.
■»—"-v '■’*■*''* Chanjbdis is used by Horace to denote a rapacious
prostitute.
CHASE, or Chace, in Law, is used for a driving
of cattle to or from any place ; as to a distress, or sort-
let, &c.
Chase, or Chace, is also a place of retreat for deer
and wild beasts 5 of a middle kind between a forest
and a park, being usually less than a forest, and not
possessed of so many privileges j but wanting v. g.
* See Fa- courts of attachment, swainmote, and justice seat*,
raf. Yet it is of a large extent, and stocked both with a
greater diversity of wild beasts or game, and more
keepers, than a park. Crompton observes, that a fo¬
rest cannot be in the hands of a subject ; but it forth¬
with loses its name, and becomes a chase; in regard all
those courts lose their nature when they come into the
bands of a subject 5 and that none but a king can make
a lord chief justice in eyi’e of the forest. See Justice
m Eyre. •
The following history of the English chase is given
British by Mr Pennant. “ At first the beasts of chase had
Zoo/, i. 42. this whole island for their range *, they knew no other
limits than the ocean, nor confessed any particular
master. When the Saxons had established themselves
in the heptarchy, they were reserved by each sove¬
reign for his own particular diversion. Hunting and
war, in those uncivilized ages, were the only employ
of the great 5 their active, but uncultivated minds, be¬
ing susceptible of no pleasures but those of a violent
kind, such as gave exercise to their bodies, and pre¬
vented the pain of thinking.
“ But as the Saxon kings only appropriated those
lands to the use of forests which were unoccupied, so
no individuals received any injury ; but when the Con¬
quest had settled the Norman line on the throne, this
passion for the chase was carried to an excess, which
involved every civil right in a general ruin : it super¬
seded the consideration of religion even in a supersti¬
tious age : the village communities, nay even the most
sacred edifices, were turned into one vast waste, to
make room for animals, the objects of a lawless ty¬
rant’s pleasure. The New forest in Hampshire is too
trite an instance to be dwelt on 5 sanguinary laws were
enacted to preserve the game j and in the reigns of
William Rufus, and Henry I. it was less criminal to
destroy one of the human species than a beast of chase.
Thus it continued while the Norman line filled the
throne ; but when the Saxon line was restored under
Henry II. the rigour of the forest laws was immediate¬
ly softened.
“ When our barons began to form a power, they
claimed a vast, but more limited, tract for a diversion
that the English were always fond of. They were
vei'y jealous of any encroachments on their respective
bounds, which were often the cause of deadly feuds j
such a one gave cause to the fatal battle of Chevy-chase;
a fact which, though recorded only in a ballad, may,
from what we know of the manners of the times, be
founded on truth j not that it was attended with all
the circumstances which the author of that natural but
heroic composition has given it : for on that day
neither a Percy nor a Douglas fell: here the poet
seems to have claimed his privilege, and mixed with
2
this fray some of the events of the battle of Otter- (]la,
bourne.
“ When property became happily more divided
by the relaxation of the feodal tenures, those exten¬
sive hunting grounds became more limited j and as
tillage and husbandry increased, the beasts of chase
were obliged to give way to other's more useful to the
community. The vast tracts of land, before dedicat¬
ed to hunting, were then contracted ; and, in propor¬
tion as the useful arts gained ground, either lost their
original destination, or gave rise to the invention of
parks. Liberty and the arts seem coeval j for when
once the latter got footing, the former protected the
labours of the industrious from being ruined by the li¬
centious sportsman, or being devoured by the objects
of his diversion : for this reason, the subjects of a de¬
spotic government still experience the inconveniences
of vast wastes and forests, the terrors of the neigh¬
bouring husbandmen \ while in our well regulated
monarchy very few chases remain. The English still
indulge themselves in the pleasures of hunting 5 but
confine the deer kind to parks, of which England
boasts of more than any other kingdom in Europe.
The laws allow every man his pleasure; but confine
them in such bounds as to prevent them from being in¬
jurious to the meanest of the community. Before the
Reformation, the prelates seem to have guarded suffi¬
ciently against this want of amusement $ the see of
Norwich, in particular, being possessed, about that
time, of thirteen parks.”
Chase, in the sea language, is to pursue a ship;
which is also called giving chace.
Stcrn-CiiASE, is when the chaser follows the chased
astern directly upon the same point of the compass.
To lie with a ship's fore-foot in a Chase, is to sail
and meet with her by the nearest distance; and so to
cross her in her way, or to come across her fore-foot.
A ship is said to have a good chase, when she is so
built forward on, or a-stern, that she can carry many
guns to shoot forwards or backwards; according to
which she is said to have a good forward or good stern
chase.
Chase Guns, are such whose ports are either in the
head (and then they are used in chasing of others};
or in the stern, which are only useful when they are
pursued or chased by any other ship.
Chase of a Gun, is the whole bore or length of a
piece taken withinside.
Wild-goose Chase, a term used to express a sort of
racing on horseback used formerly, which resembled
the flying of wild geese; those birds generally going
in a train one after another, not in confused flocks as
other birds do. In this sort of race the two horses,
after running twelve score yards, had liberty, which
horse soever could take the leading, to ride what
ground the jockey pleased, the hindmost horse being
bound to follow him within a certain distance agreed
on by the articles, or else to be whipped in by the
tryers and judges who rode by ; and whichever horse^
could distance the other won the race. This sort of
racing was not long in common use ; for it was found
inhuman, and destructive to good horses, when two
such were matched together. For in this case neither
was able to distance the other till they were both
ready to sink under their riders; and often two very
C H A [ 411 ] C H A
( se good horses were both spoiled, and the wagers forced
to he drawn at last. The mischief of this sort of
Cl ity- racing soon brought in the method now in use, of ruu-
^ ■—"^ning only for a certain quantity of ground, and deter¬
mining the plate or wager by the coming in first at the
post.
Chasing of Gold, Silver, &cc. See Enchasing.
CHASTE tree. See Vitex, Botany Index.
CHASTITY. Purity of the body, or freedom from
obscenity.—The Roman law justifies homicide in de¬
fence of the chastity either of one’s self or relations ;
and so also, according to Selden, stood the law in the
Jewish republic. Our law likewise justifies a woman
for killing a man who attempts to ravish her. So the
husband or father may justify killing a man who at¬
tempts a rape upon his wife or daughter; but not if he
takes them in adultery by consent j for the one is for¬
cible and felonious, but not the other.
Chastity is a virtue universally celebrated. There is
indeed no charm in the female sex that can supply its
place. Without it beauty is unlovely, and rank is
contemptible $ good breeding degenerates into wan¬
tonness, and wit into impudence. Out of the nume¬
rous instances of eminent chastity recorded by authors,
the two following are selected on account of the lesson
afforded by the difl’erent modes of conduct which they
exhibit.
Lucretia was a lady of great beauty and noble ex¬
traction ; she married Collatinus, a relation of Tar-
quinius Superbus king of Rome. During the siege
of Ardea, which lasted much longer than was expected,
the young princes passed their time in entertainments
* d.l.i. and diversions. One day as they were at supper*, at
j ~J°' Sextus Tarquin’s, the king’s eldest son, with Colla-
Jjjj’ tinus, Lucretia’s husband, the conversation turned on
- 7. the merit of their wives ; every one gave his own the
I 1. iii. preference. “ What signify so many words ?” says
Collatinus j “ you may in a few hours, if you please,
be convinced by your own eyes how much my Lu¬
cretia excels the rest. We are young ; let us mount our
horses, and go and surprise them. Nothing can better
decide our dispute than the state we shall find them
in at a time when most certainly they will not expect
us.” They were a little warmed with wine : “ Come
on, let us go,” they all cried together. They quickly
galloped to Rome, which was about twenty miles from
Ardea, where they find the princesses, wives of the
young Tarquins, surrounded with company, and every
circumstance of the highest mirth and pleasure. From
thence they rode to Collatia, where they saw Lucre¬
tia in a very different situation. With her maids about
her, she was at work in the inner part of her house,
talking of the dangers to which her husband was ex¬
posed. The victory was adjudged to her unanimously.
She received her guests with all possible politeness and
civility. Lucretia’s virtue, which should have com¬
manded respect, was the very thing which kindled in
the breast of Sextus Tarquin a strong and detestable
passion. Within a few days he returned to Collatia ;
and, upon the plausible excuse he made for his visit, he
was received with all the politeness due to a near rela¬
tion, and the eldest son of a king. Watching the fittest
opportunity, he declared the passion she had excited at
his last visit, and employed the most tender entreaties,
and all the artifices possible to touch a woman’s
heart; but all to no purpose. He then endeavoured chastity,
to extort her compliance by the most terrible threat- -y——
enings. It was in vain. She still persisted in her re¬
solution ; nor could she be moved even by the fear of
death. But when the monster told her that he would
first dispatch her, and then having murdered a slave,
would lay him by her side, after which he would spread
a report, that having caught them in the act of adul¬
tery, he had punished them as they deserved ; this
seemed to shake her resolution. She hesitated, not
knowing which of these dreadful alternatives to take,
whether, by consenting to dishonour the bed of her
husband, whom she tenderly loved j or, by refusing, to
die under the odious character of having prostituted
her person to the lust of a.slave. He saw the struggle
of her soul •, and seizing the unlucky moment, obtain¬
ed an inglorious conquest. Thus, Lucretia’s virtue,
which had been proof against the fear of death, could
not hold out against the fear of infamy. The young
prince having gratified his passion, returned home as in
triumph. On the morrow, Lucretia, overwhelmed with
grief and despair, sent early in the morning to desire her
father and her husband to come to her, and bring with
them each a trusty friend, assuring them there ivas no
time to lose. They came with all speed, the one ac¬
companied with Valerius (so famous after under the
name of Publicola), and the other with Brutus. The
moment she saw them come, she could not command
her tears j and when her husband asked her if all was
well ? “ By no means,” said she, “ it cannot be well
with a woman after she has lost her honour. Yes, Col¬
latinus, thy bed has been defiled by a stranger: but
my body only is polluted *, my mind is innocent, as
my death shall witness. Promise me only not to suffer
the adulterer to go unpunished : it is Sextus Tarqui-
nius, who last night, a treacherous guest, or rather cruel
foe, offered me violence, and reaped a joy fatal to me j
but, if you are men, it will be still more fatal to him.”
All promised to revenge her ; and at the same time,
tried to comfort her with representing, “ That the
mind only sins, not the body} and where the consent
is wanting, there can be no guilt.” “ What Sextus
deserves,” replies Lucretia, “ I leave you to judge ;
but for me, though I declare myself innocent of the
crime, I exempt not myself from punishment. No
immodest woman shall plead Lucretia’s example to
outlive her dishonour.” Thus saying, she plunged
into her breast a dagger she had concealed under her
robe, and expired at their feet. Lucretia’s tragical
death has been praised and extolled by Pagan writers,
as the highest and most noble act of heroism. The
Gospel thinks not so : it is murder, even according to
Lucretia’s own principles, since she punished with death
an innocent person, at least acknowledged as such by
herself. She was ignorant that our life is not in our
own power, but in his disposal from whom we receive
it. St Austin, who carefully examines, in his book De
Civitate Dei, what we are to think of Lucretia’s death,
considers it not as a courageous action flowing from
a true love of chastity, but as an infirmity of a woman
too sensible of worldly fame and glory j and who, from
a dread of appearing in the eyes of men an accomplice
of the violence she abhorred, and ol a crime to which
she was entirely a stranger, commits a real crime upon
herself voluntarily and designedly. But what cannot
3 F 2 be
Chateau-
Chinon.
C H A [41
Chastity be sufficiently admired in this Homan lady, is her ap-
horrence of adultery, which she seems to hold so detest¬
able as not to bear the thoughts ot it. In this sense,
she is a noble example for all her sex.
Chiomara, the wife of Ortiagon, a Gaulish prince,
was equally admirable for her beauty and chastity.
During the war between the Romans and the Gauls,
A. R. 563, the latter were totally defeated on Mount
Olympus. Chiomara, among many other ladies, was
taken prisoner, and committed to the care of a centu¬
rion, no less passionate for money than w’omen. He
at first endeavoured to gain her consent to his infa¬
mous desires j but not being able to prevail upon her,
and subvert her constancy, he thought he might em¬
ploy force with a woman whom misfortune had re¬
duced to slavery. Afterwards, to make her amends
for that treatment, he offered to restore her liberty ) but
not without ransom. He agreed with her for a certain
sum, and to conceal this design from the other Ro¬
mans, he permitted her to send any of the prisoners she
should choose to her relations, and assigned a place
near the river where the lady should be exchanged for
gold. By accident there w7as one of her own slaves
among the prisoners. Upon him she fixed j and the
centurion soon after carried him beyond the advanced
posts, under cover of a dark night. The next evening
two of the relations of the princess came to the place
appointed, whither the centurion also carried his cap¬
tive. When they had delivered him the Attic talent
they had brought, which was the sum they had agreed
on, the lady, in her own language, ordered those who
came to receive her to draw their swords and kill the
centurion, who was then amusing himself with weigh¬
ing the gold. Then, charmed with having revenged
the injury done her chastity, she took the head of the
officer, which she had cut off with her own hands, and
hiding it under her robe, went to her husband Ortiagon,
who had returned home after the defeat of his troops.
As soon as she came into his presence, she threw the
centurion’s head at his feet. He was strangely sur¬
prised at such a sight j and asked her whose head it
was, and what had induced her to do an act so un¬
common to her sex ? With her face covered with a
sudden blush, and at the same time expressing her fierce
indignation, she declared the outrage which had been
done her, and the revenge she had taken for it. During
the rest of her life, she stedlastly retained the same
attachment for the pux*Ity of manners which constitutes
the principal glory of the sex, and nobly sustained the
honour of so glorious, bold, and heroic an action.—
This lady was much more prudent than Lucretia, in
revenging her injured honour by the death of her ra-
visher rather than by her own. Plutarch relates this
iact, in his treatise upon the virtue and great actions
of women 5 and it is from him we have the name of
this, which is well worthy of being transmitted to pos¬
terity.
The above virtue in men is termed continence. See
Continence.
CHATEAU-Briant, a town of France in the de¬
partment of Lower Loire, writh an old castle. W7. Long.
I. 20. N. Lat. 47. 40.
CiiATEAU-Chinon, a town of France in the depart¬
ment of Nievre, with a considerable manufactory of
cloth. E. Long. 3. 48. N. Lat. 47. 2.
2 ] C H A
ClUTEAU-Dauphin, a very strong castle of Piedmont ^wlef
in Italy, and in the marquisate of Saluces, belonging to Daupl
the king of Sardinia. It was taken by the combined (1
army of France and Spain in 1744, and was restored ,c^at^
by the treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle.
CHATEAU-du-Loire, a town of France in the depart¬
ment of Indre and Loire, famous for sustaining a siege
of seven years against the count of Mans. It is seated
on the river Loire, in E. Long. o. 25. N. Lat. 47. 40.
Chateau-Duh, an ancient town of France, in the de¬
partment of Eure and Loire, with a castle and rich mo¬
nastery ; seated on an eminence near the river Loire,
in E. Long. 1. 26. N. Lat. 48. 4.
CilATEAU-Neuf, the name of several towns of France,
viz. one in Perche; another in Angumois, on the
river Charente, near Angoulesme $ a third in Berry,
seated on the river Cher 5 and several other small
places.
CHATEAU-Portien, a town of France in the depart¬
ment of Ardennes, ivith a castle built on a rock, near
the river Aisne. Population 1030. E. Long. 4. 23.
N. Lat. 49. 35.
CilATEAU-Renaud, a town of France, in the Gatenois,
where clothes are made for the army, and where there
is a trade in saffron. E. Long. 4. 25. N. Lat. 48. 0.
This is also the name of a town ofTouraine, in France,
with the title of marquisate. E. Long. 2. 41. N. Lat.
47. 22.
Chateau-Roux, a town of France, in the department
of Indre. It has a cloth manufacture, and is seated in
a very large pleasant plain on the river Indre, in E.
Long. I. 47. N. Lat. 46. 49.
CHATEAU-T/iiery, a town of France, in the depart¬
ment of Aisne, with a handsome castle on an eminence,
seated on the river Maine. It contains 4080 inhabi¬
tants. E. Long. 3. 23. N, Lat. 49. 12.
CHATEAU-Vilain, a town of France, in the depart¬
ment of Upper Marne, with a castle j seated on the ri¬
ver Anjou. E. Long. 2. 59. N. Lat. 48. o.
CHATEL, or Chate, a town of Loraine, in the
Vosges, seated on the river Moselle, eight miles from
Mirecourt.
Chatel-Allon} a maritime town of France, in the de¬
partment of Lower Charente, five miles from Rochelle;
formerly very considerable, but now greatly decayed.
CiiATEL-Chalon, a town of France, in the depart¬
ment of Jura, remarkable for its abbey of Benedictine
nuns. E. Long. 5. 25. N. Lat. 46. 50.
CHATELET, a town of the Netherlands, in Na¬
mur, seated on the Sambre, in the bishopric of Liege.
E. Long. 4. 28. N. Lat. 50. 25.
Chatelet, the name of certain courts of justice
established in several cities in France. The grand
chatelet at Paris is the place where the presidial qr
ordinary court of justice of the provost of Paris is kept;
consisting of a presidial, a civil chamber, a criminal
chamber, and chamber of policy. The little chatelet
is an old fort, now serving as a prison.
CHATELLERAULT, a town of France, in the
department of Vienne, with the title of a duchy; seated
in a fertile and pleasant country, on the river Vienne,
over which there is a handsome stone bridge. E. Long,
o. 40. N. Lat. 46. 34.
CHATHAM, a town of Kent, adjoining to Ro¬
chester, and seated on the river Medway. It is the
principal
C H A [ 413 ] C H A
principal station of the royal navy j ami the yards and
magazines are furnished with all kinds of naval stores,
as well as materials for building and rigging the largest
men of war. The entrance into the river Medway
is defended by Sheerness and other forts 5 notwith¬
standing which, the Dutch fleet burnt several ships of
war here in the reign of Charles II. after the peace of
Breda had been agreed upon. In the year 1757, by
direction of the duke of Cumberland, several addition¬
al fortifications were begun at Chatham ; so that now
the ships are in no danger of an insult either by land
or water. It has a church, a chapel of ease, and a
new chapel for the docks, built in 1811. The dock¬
yard, including the ordnance wharfs, is a mile in length.
Handsome barracks, capable of accommodating 1200
men, were built in 1804. The town contained 12,652
inhabitants in 1811. The principal employment of the
labouring hands is ship building. This town gave title
of earl to that great statesman William Pitt, in the
reigns of George II. and III. E. Long. o. 40. N. Lat.
JI.2°.
CHATIGAN, a town of Asia, in the kingdom of
Bengal, on the most easterly branch of the river Gan¬
ges. It is but a poor place, though it was the first
the Portuguese settled at in these parts, and who still
keep a sort of possession. It has but a few cotton ma¬
nufactures $ but affords the best timber for building of
any place about it. The inhabitants are so suspicious
of each other, that they always go armed with a
sword, pistol, and blunderbuss, not excepting the priests.
It is subject to the British government. E. Long. 91.
10. N. Lat. 23. o.
CHATILLON sur Seine, a town of France, in
the department of Cote D’or, divided into two by the
river Seine. This town was the scene of the fruitless
negociations between the allies and Bonaparte in 1814.
E. Long. 4. 33. N. Lat. 47. 45. _
CHATRE, a town of France, in the department of
Indre, seated on the river Indre, 37 miles from Bourges.
It carries on a considerable trade in cattle. E. Long.
1. 55. N. Lat. 46. 35.
CHATTELS, a Norman term, under which were
anciently comprehended all moveable goods j those im¬
moveable being termed fief or fee.
Chattels, in the modern sense of the word, are
all sorts of goods, moveable or immoveable, except such
as are in the nature of freehold.
CHATTERER. See Amtelis, Ornithology
Index.
CHATTERTON, Thomas, a late unfortunate
poet, whose fate and performances have excited in no
small degree the public attention, as well as given rise
to much literary controversy. He was born at Bristol,
Nov. 20. 1752; and educated at a charity school on
St Augustine’s Back, where nothing more was taught
than reading, writing, and accounts. At 14 years of
age, he was articled clerk to an attoimey at Bristol,
with whom he continued about three years j yet, though
his education was thus confined, he discovered an early
turn towards poetry and English antiquities, and par¬
ticularly towards heraldry. How soon he began to be
an author is not known. In the Town and Country
Magazine for March 1769, are two letters, probably
from him, as they are dated from Bristol, and subscrib¬
ed with his usual signature, D. B. that is, Dunhehnm
Bristoliensis. The former contains short extracts from ' -v——<
two MSS. “ written 300 years ago by one Rowley a
monk,” concerning dress in the age of Henry II. 3 the
latter, “ Ethelgar, a Saxon poem,” in bombast prose.
In the same magazine for May 1769 are three commu¬
nications from Bristol, with the same signature D. B.
one of them entitled, “ Observations upon Saxon He¬
raldry, with drawings of Saxon Achievements 3” and
in the subsequent months of 1769 and 1770, there are
several other pieces in the same magazine, which are
undoubtedly of his composition.
In April 1770, he left Bristol, disgusted with his
profession, and irreconcileable to the line of life in
which he was placed 3 and coming to London in hopes
of advancing his fortune by his pen, he sunk at once
from the sublimity of his views to an absolute depen¬
dence on the patronage of booksellers. Things, how¬
ever, seem soon to have brightened up a little with him 3
for, May 14. he writes to his mother, in high spirits,
upon the change of his situation, with the following
sarcastic reflections upon his former patrons at Bristol.
“ As to Mr   •, Mr , Mr , &c. &c. they
rate literary lumber so low, that I believe an author,
in their estimation, must be poor indeed : but here
matters are otherwise. Had Rowley been a Londoner
instead of a Bristowyan, I could have lived by copying
his works.” In a letter to his sister, May 30. he informs
her that he is to be employed in writing a voluminous
History of London, to appear in numbers the begin¬
ning of next winter. Meanwhile, he had written some¬
thing in praise of Beckford, then lord mayor, which
had procured him the honour of being presented to his
lordship 3 and, in the letter just mentioned, he gives
the following account of his reception, with certain
observations upon political writing: “ The lord mayor
received me as politely as a citizen could 5 but the devil
of the matter is, there is no money to be got on this
side of the question.—However, he is a poor author
who cannot write on both sides.—Essays on the patrio¬
tic side will fetch no more than what the copy is sold
for. As the patriots themselves are searching for
places, they have no gratuity to spare.—On the other
hand, unpopular essays will not even be accepted, and
you must pay to have them printed 3 but then you sel¬
dom lose by it, as courtiers are so sensible of their de¬
ficiency in merit, that they generously reward all who
know how to daub them with the appearance of it.”
He continued to write incessantly in various period¬
ical publications. July II. he tells his sister that
he had pieces last month in several magazines 3 in The
Gospel Magazine, The Town and Country, The Court
and City, The London, The Political Register, &c.
But all these exertions of his genius brought in so little
profit, that he was soon reduced to the extremest indi¬
gence 3 so that at last, oppressed with poverty and
disease, in a fit of despair, he put an end to his exist¬
ence, August 1770, with a dose of poison. Ihis un¬
fortunate person, though certainly a most extraordinary
genius, seems yet to have been a most ungracious com¬
position. He w’as violent and impetuous to a strange
degree. From the first of the above cited letters he
seems 4o have had a portion of ill humour and spleen
more than enough for a lad of 17 5 aI1^ ^ie e(l*tor of
C H A [ 414 1 C H A
Chatterton. h'13 Miscellanies records, “ that he possessed all the vi-
ces and irregularities of youth, and that his profligacy
was at least as conspicuous as his abilities.,,
In 1777 were published in one volume 8vo, “ Poems,
supposed to have been written at Bristol, by Thomas
Kowley and others, in the 15th century : the greatest
part now first published from the most authentic copies,
with an engraved specimen of one of the MSS. . rIo
which are added, a Preface, an Introductory Account
of the several pieces, and a Glossary.” And in 1778
were published, in one volume 8vo, “ Miscellanies in
Prose and Verse, by Thomas Chatterton, the supposed
author of the Poems published under the names of
Kowley,” &e.
Of Rowley’s poems we have the following account
in the preface, given in the words of Mr George Cat-
cot of Bristol, to whom, it is said, the public is in¬
debted for them : “ The first discovery of certain MSS.
having been deposited in Redclift church above three
centuries ago, was made in the year 1768, at the time
of opening the new bridge at Bristol 5 and was owing
to a publication in Farley’s Weekly Journal, Oct. 1.
containing an account of the ceremonies observed at
the opening of the old bridge, taken, as it was said,
from a very ancient MS. This excited the curiosity
of some persons to inquii*e after the original. The
printer, Mr Farley, could give no account of it, or of
the person who brought the copy , but after much in¬
quiry, it was discovered that this person was a youth
between 15 and 16 years of age, whose name was
Thomas Chatterton, and whose family had been sex¬
tons of Redclift church for near 150 years. His fa¬
ther-, who was now dead, had also been master of the
free school in Pile-street. The young man was at first
very unwilling to discover from whence he had the ori¬
ginal : but, after many promises made to him, wras at
last prevailed on to acknowledge that he had received
this, together with many other MSS. from his father,
who had found them in a large chest in an upper room
over the chapel on the north side of Redclift church.”
It is added, that soon alter this Mr Catcot commenced
an acquaintance with Chatterton, and partly as pre¬
sents, partly as purchases, procured from him copies
of many of his MSS. in prose and verse ; as other co¬
pies were disposed of in like manner to others. It is
concluded, however, that whatever may have been
'Chatterton’s part in this very extraordinary transaction,
whether he was the author, or only (as he constantly
asserted) the copier of all these productions, he appears
to have kept the secret entirely to himself, and not to
have put it in any one’s power to bear certain testi¬
mony either of his fraud or of his veracity.
This affair, however, has since become the founda¬
tion of a mighty controversy among the critics, which
hath yet scarcely subsided. The poems in question,
published in 1777, were republished in 1778, with an
“ Appendix, containing some observations upon their
language ; tending to prove that they were written,
not by an ancient author, but entirely by Chatter¬
ton.” Mr Warton, in the third volume of his History
of English Poetry, hath espoused the same side of the
question. Mr Walpole also obliged the World with a
Letter on Chatterton, from his press at Strawberry-hill.
On the other hand have appeared, “ Observations”
upon these poems, “ in which their authenticity is ascer¬
tained,” by Jacob Bryant, Esq.j 1781, 2 vols. 8vo ;ci,attert
and another edition of the “Poems, with a Comment, Chauce
in which their antiquity is considered and defended, by 'T-
Jeremiah Milles, D. I). Dean of Exeter, 1782,” 4to.
In answer to these two works, we have had three
pamphlets: 1. “ Cursory Observations on the Poems,
and Remarks on the Commentaries of Mr Bryant and
Dr Milles ; with a salutary proposal addressed to the
friends of these gentlemen.” 2. “ An Archaeological
Epistle to Dean Milles, editor of a superb edition of
Rowley’s Poems,” &c. 3. “ An Inquiry into the au¬
thenticity of the Poems attributed to Thomas Rowley,
in which the Arguments of the Dean of Exeter and Mr
Bryant are examined, by Thomas Warton and other
pieces in the public prints and magazines : All prepa¬
ratory to the complete settlement of the business in
“ A Vindication of the Appendix to the Poems called
Rowley’s, in reply to the Ansrvers of the Dean of Exe¬
ter, Jacob Bryant, Esq. and a third xlnonymous Wri¬
ter j with some further Observations upon these Poems,
and an Examination of the Evidence which has beep
produced in support of their Authenticity. By Tho¬
mas Tyrwhitt, 1782,” 8vo.
CHAUCER, Sir GEOFREY,an eminent English poet
in the 14th century, born at London in 1328. After
he left the university, he travelled into Holland, France,
and other countries. Upon his return he entered him¬
self in the Inner Temple, where he studied the muni¬
cipal laws of England. His first station at court was
page to Edward HI. and he had a pension granted
him by that prince till he could otherwise provide for
him. Soon after we find him gentleman of the king’s
privy chamber; next year, shield-bearer to the king.
Esteemed and honoured, he spent his younger days m
a constant attendance at court, or for the most part liv¬
ing near it, in a square stone house near the park-gate
at Woodstock, still called Chaucer's House.
Soon after, having got the duke of Lancaster for
his patron, Chaucer began every day to rise in great¬
ness. In 1373, he was sent with other persons to tire
republic of Genoa to hire ships for the king’s navy
(our want of shipping in those times being usually sup¬
plied by such means) $ and the king was so well satis¬
fied with his negotiation, that, on his return, he ob¬
tained a grant of a pitcher of wine daily in the port
of London, to be delivered by the butler of England )
and soon after was made comptroller of the customs
for wool, wool fells, and hides 5 an office which he
discharged with great diligence and integrity. At this
period, Chaucer’s income was about 1000I. a-year;
a sum which in those days might well enable him to
live, as he says he did, with dignity in office, and hos¬
pitality among his friends. It was in this meridian
blaze of px-osperity, in perfect health of body and peace
of mind, that he rvrote his most humorous poems.
His satires against the priests were probably written to
oblige his patx-on the duke of Lancaster, who favoui’ed
the cause of Wickliff, and endeavoured to expose the
clergy to the indignation of the people. In the last
year of Edward III. our poet was employed in a com¬
mission to treat with the French) and in the begin¬
ning of King Richard’s reign, he. was in some degree of
favour at court.
I he duke of Lancaster at last finding his views
checked, began to abandon Wickliff’s party) upon
which
C H A
[ 415 ]
C H A
aucer.
which Chaucer likewise, how much soever he had
J espoused that divine’s opinions, thought it prudent to
conceal them more than he had done. With the duke’s
interest that of Chaucer entirely sunk; and the former
passing over sea, his friends felt all the malice of the
opposite party. These misfortunes occasioned his
writing that excellent treatise, The Testament of Love,
in imitation of Boethius on the Consolation of Philoso¬
phy. Being much reduced, he retired to Woodstock,
to comfort himself with study, which produced his ad¬
mirable treatise of the Astrolabe.
The duke of Lancaster at last surmounting his trou¬
bles, married Lady Catharine Swynford, sister to Chau¬
cer’s wife •, so that Thomas Chancer, our poet’s son,
became allied to most of the nobility, and to several of
the kings of England. Now the sun began to shine
upon Chaucer with an evening ray : for by the influ¬
ence of the duke’s marriage, he again grew to a con¬
siderable share of wealth. But being now 70, he re¬
tired to Dunnington castle near Newbury. He had
not enjoyed this retirement long before Henry IV. son
of the duke of Lancaster, assumed the crown, and in
the first year of his reign gave our poet marks of his
favour. But however pleasing the change of affairs
might be to him at first, he afterwards found no small
inconveniences from it. The measures and grants of
the late king were annulled : and Chaucer, in order
to procure fresh grants of his pensions, left his retire¬
ment, and applied to court: where, though he gained a
confirmation of some grants, yet the fatigue of attend/
ance, and his great age, prevented him from enjoying
them. He fell sick at London : and ended his days in
the 72d year of his age, leaving the world as though be
despised it, as appears from his song of File from the
Trese. The year before his death he had the happi¬
ness, if at his time of life it might so be called, to see
the son of his brother-in-law (Henry IV.) seated on
the throne. He was interred in Westminster Abbey;
and in 1556, Mr Nicholas Bingham, a gentleman of
Oxford, at his own charge, erected a handsome monu¬
ment for him there. Caxton first printed the Canter¬
bury Tales j but his works were first collected and
published in one volume folio, by William Thynne,
London, 1542. They were afterwards reprinted in
1561, 1598, 1602. Oxford, 1721.
Chaucer was not only the first, but one of the best
poets which these kingdoms ever produced. He was
equally great in every species of poetry which he at¬
tempted ; and his poems in general possess every kind
of excellence, even to modern readers, except me¬
lody and accuracy of measure; defects which are to be
attributed to the imperfect state of our language, and
the infancy of the art in this kingdom at the time when
he wrote. “ As he is the father of English poetry
(says Mr Dryden), so I hold him in the same degree of
veneration as the Grecians did Homer, or the Romans
Virgil. He is a perpetual fountain of good sense,
learned in all sciences, and therefore speaks properly on
all subjects. As he knew what to say, so he knows
also when to leave oft'; a continence which is practised
by few writers, and scarcely by any of the ancients, ex¬
cept Virgil and Horace.” This character Chaucer cer¬
tainly deserved. He had read a great deal; and was a
man of the world, and of sound judgment. He was
the first English poet who vivoie poetically, as Dr John¬
son observes in the preface to his Dictionary, and (he Chaucer
might have added) who wrote like a gentleman. He II
had also the merit of improving our language consider-. Chavez,
ably, by the introduction and naturalization of words 7
from the Provencal, at that time the most polished dia¬
lect in Europe.
CHALCIS, in Ancient Geography, the country of
the Chouci, a people of Germanv : divided into the
Mmores, now' East Friesland, and the county of Olden-
burgh; and into the Afajores, now the duchy of Bremen
and a part of Lunenburfri.
CHAUD Medley, in Law, is of much the same im¬
port with Chance Medley. The former in its etymo-
logy signifies an affray in the heat of blood or passion:
the latter, a casual affray. The latter is in common
speech too often erroneously applied to any manner of
homicide by misadventure ; whereas it appears by
the stat. 24 Hen. VIII. c. 5. and ancient books
(Standf. P. C. 16.), that it is properly applied to such
killing as happens in self-defence upon sudden en¬
counter.
CHAUL, a town of the East Indies, on the coast of
Malabar, in the province of Baglana, and kingdom of
Visapour. Its river affords a good harbour for small
vessels. The town is fortified, and so is the island on
the south side of the harbour. It had formerly a good
trade, but is now miserably poor. It was taken by the
Portuguese in 1507, to whom it still belongs. It is 15
miles south of Bombay, and five miles from the sea.
E. Long. 72. 45. N. Lat. 18. 30.
CHAULIEU, William Amfreyede, Abbe
d’Amale, one of the most polite and ingenious of tire
French poets, was born in 1639, and died at the age
of 84. The most complete edition of his poems is that
printed in two vols. 8vo, in 1733.
CHAUMONT, a town of France, in the depart¬
ment of Upper Marne, of which it is the capital. It is
seated on a mountain near the river Marne. E. Long.
5. 15. N. Lat. 48. 6.
CHAUNE, a town of France, in the department
of Somme, with the title of a duchy. E. Long. 2. 55.
N. Lat. 49. 45.
CHAUNTRY. See Chantry.
CHAUNY, a town of France, in the department of
Aisne, seated on the river Oise, in Chantry. E. Long.
.3. 17. N. Lat. 49. 37.
CHAUVIN, Stephen, a celebrated minister of the
reformed religion, born at Nismes, left France at the
revocation of the edict of Nantz, and retired to Rot¬
terdam, where he began a new Journal des Spavans;
and afterwards removing to Berlin, continued it there
three years. At this last place, he was made profes¬
sor of philosophy, and discharged that office with much
honour and reputation. His principal work is a philo¬
sophical dictionary, in Latin, which he published at
Rotterdam in 1692; and gave a new edition of it, much
augmented, at Lewarden, in 1 703, in folio. He died
in 1725, aged 85. #
CHAVEZ, a’strong town of Tra-los-Montes in Por¬
tugal, seated at the foot of a mountain on the river
Tamega. It has two suburbs, and as many forts; one
of which looks like a citadel. Between the town and
suburb of Magdalena, is an old Roman stone bridge
about 92 geometrical paces long. W. Long. 7* *•
N. Lat. 41. 4c.
CHAZELLES, ,
C H A [ 416 ] CHE
Cliaeelle*, CHAZELLES, Jean Matthew, a celebrated
Chazinza- French mathematician and engineer, was born at Lyons
in 1657. M. du Hamel, with whom he got acquaint-
v ” ed, finding his genius incline towards astronomy, pre¬
sented him to M. Cassini, who employed him in his ob¬
servatory. In 1684, the duke of Mortemar made use
of Chazelles to teach him mathematics ; and, the year
after, procured him the preferment of hydrography
professor for the galleys of Marseilles, where he set
up a school for young pilots designing to serve aboard
the galley's. In t686, the galleys made four little
campaigns, or rather four courses, purely for exercise.
Chazelles went on board every time with them, kept
his school upon the sea, and showed the practice of
what he taught. In the years 1687 and 1688, he made
two other sea campaigns, in which he drew a great
many plans of ports, roads, towns, and forts, which
were lodged with the ministers of state. At the be¬
ginning of the war which ended with the peace of
liyswick, some marine officers, and Chazelles among
the rest, fancied the galleys might be so contrived as
to live upon the ocean *, that they might serve to tow
the men of war when the wind failed or proved con¬
trary, and also help to secure the coast of I ranee upon
the ocean. Chazelles was sent to the west coasts in
July 1689, to examine the practicability of this scheme j
and in 1690, fifteen galleys new built set sail from
Rochefort, and cruised as far as Torbay, in England,
and proved serviceable at the descent upon Tinmouth.
After this, he digested into order the observations he
had made on the coasts of the ocean 5 and drew distinct
maps, with a portulan to them, viz. a large description
of every haven, of the depth, the tides, the dangers
and advantages discovered, &c. These maps were in¬
serted in the Neptune Franpoise, published in 1692, in
which year Chazelles was engineer at the descent at
Oneille. In 1693, Monsieur de Pontchartrain, then
secretary of state for the marine, and afterwards chan¬
cellor of France, resolved to get the Neptune Fran-
poise carried on to a second volume, which was also to
take in the Mediterranean. Chazelles desired that he
might have a year’s voyage on this sea, for making
astronomical observations j and the request being grant¬
ed, he passed through Greece, Egypt, and other parts
of Turkey, with his quadrant and telescope in his
hand. When he was in Egypt, he measured the py¬
ramids : and finding the sides of the largest precisely
facing the four cardinal points, naturally concluded
this position to have been intended, and also that the
poles of the earth and meridians had not since deviated.
Chazelles likewise made a report of his voyage in the
Levant, and gave the academy all the satisfaction they
wanted concerning the position of Alexandria : upon
which he was made a member of the academy in 1695.
He died in 1710.
CHAZINZARIANS, a sect of heretics who rose
in Armenia in the seventh century. The word is
formed of the Armenian cha'zus, “ cross.” They are
also called staurolatrce, which in Greek signifies the
same as Cha’zin'zarians in Armenian, vi£. adorers of
the cross; they being charged with paying adoration
to the cross alone. In other respects they were Nesto-
rians ; and admitted two persons in Jesus Christ: Ni-
cephorus ascribes other singularities to them j particu¬
larly their holding an annual feast in memory of the
3
dog of their false prophet Sergius, which they called Chazil
artxibart'zes. riar|
CHEADLE, a town of England in the county of <1
Stafi’ord, situated on the side of a hill. It is surround-, ‘^1
ed by coal pits ; and in the neighbourhood are carried
on extensive manufactories in brass, copper, and tin.
A weekly market is held here, and thei'e are four an¬
nual fairs. Population 3191 in 1811. Distant 15
miles N. E. of Stafford, and 146 N. N. W. of London.
W. Long. 2. N. Lat. 53.
Cheadle Bulkeley, a township of England in the
county of Chester, situated on the river Bollin. Popu¬
lation 2509.
Cheadle Moseley, a township of England in the
county of Chester, situated on the river Boilin, adjoin¬
ing Cheadle Bulkeley. Population 1209. Distant
three miles S. W. from Stockport.
CHEATS, are deceitful practices, in defrauding, or
endeavouring to defraud, another person of hist right,
by means of some artful device, contrary to the plain
rules of common honesty : as by playing with false
dice, or by causing an illiterate person to execute a
deed to his prejudice, by reading it over to him in
words different from those in which it was written,
&c.—If any person deceitfully get into his hands or
possession any money or other things of any other per¬
son’s, by colour of any false token, &c. being convict¬
ed, he shall have such punishment by imprisonment,
setting upon the pillory, or by any corporeal pain ex¬
cept pains of death, as shall be adjudged by the per¬
sons before whom he shall be convicted.—As there are
frauds which may be relieved civilly, and not punish¬
ed criminally j so there are other frauds which in a
special case may not be helped civilly, and yet shall be
punished criminally. Thus, if a minor goes about the
town, and, pretending to be of age, defrauds many
persons by taking credit for a considerable quantity of
goods, and then insisting on his nonage, the persons in¬
jured cannot recover the value of their goods, but they
may inflict and punish him for a common cheat. Per¬
sons convicted of obtaining money or goods by false
pretences, or of sending threatening letters in order to
extort money or goods, may be punished with fine or
imprisonment, or by pillory, whipping, or transporta¬
tion.
CHEBRECHIN, a town of Poland, in the province
of Red Russia and palatinate of Belskow. It is seated
on the declivity of a hill; and the river AVierpi waters
its walls, and afterwards falls into the river Bog. The
Jews there are very rich. E. Long. 23. 51. N. Lat.
50* 35*
CHECAYA, in Turkish affairs, the second officer
of the janizaries, who commands them under the aga,
and is otherwise ca\\e& protogero.
There is also a checaya of the treasury, stables, kit¬
chen, &c. the word signifying as much as lieutenant, or
the second in any office.
CHECK, or Check-JRoII, a roll or book, wherein
are contained the names of such persons as are attend¬
ants and in the pay of the king, or other great perso¬
nages, as their household servants.
Clerk of the Check in the king's household, has the
check and controlment of the yeomen of the guard,
and all the ushers belonging to the roval family, al¬
lowing their absence or defects in attendance, or dimi¬
nishing
CHE
|.tk nlshing their wages for the same, See. He also, by
, | himself or deputy, takes the view of those who are to
I cks. watch in the court, and has the setting of the watch,
  &c.
Clerk of the Check, in the royal dock yards, an offi¬
cer who keeps a muster or register of all the men em¬
ployed aboard his majesty’s ships and vessels, and also
of all the artificers and others in the service of the na¬
vy at the port where he is settled.
Check, in falconry, a term used of a hawk, when
she forsakes her proper game, to fly at pies, crows,
rooks, or the like, that cross her in her flight.
CHECKY, in Heraldry, is when the shield, or a
bordure, &c. is chequered, or divided into chequers
or squares, in the manner of a chessboard.
This is one of the most noble and most ancient fi¬
gures used in armoury ; and a certain author saith,
that it ought to be given to none but great warriors,
in token of their bravery j for the chessboard repre¬
sents a field of battle j and the pawns placed on both
sides represent the soldiers of the two armies, which
move, attack, advance, or retire, according to the will
of the gamesters, who are the generals.
This figure is always composed of metal and colour.
But some authors would have it reckoned among the
several sorts of furs.
CHEEK, in Anatomy, that part of the face situat¬
ed below the eyes on each side.
Cheeks, a general name among mechanics, for al¬
most all those pieces of their machines and instruments,
that are double and perfectly alike. Thus, the cheeks
of a printing press are its two principal pieces : they
are placed perpendicular, and parallel to each other j
serving to sustain the three sommers, viz. the head,
shelves, and winter, which bear the spindle and other
parts of the machine. See Pkinting Press.
The checks of a turner'1 s lathe, are two long pieces
of wood, between which are placed the puppets, which
are either pointed or otherwise, serving to support the
work and the mandrils of the workman. These two
pieces are placed parallel to the horizon, separated
from one another by the thickness of the tail of the
puppets, and joined with tenons to two other pieces
of wood placed perpendicularly, called the legs of the
lathe.
Cheeks of the glazier's vice, are two pieces of iron
joined parallel at top and bottom *, in which are the
a\les, or spindles, little wheel, cushions, &c. whereof
the machine is composed.
The checks of a mortar, or the brackets, in Artillery,
are made of strong planks of wood, bound with thick
plates of iron, and are fixed to the bed by four bolts *,
they rise on each side of the mortar, and serve to
keep her at what elevation is given her, by the help of
strong holts of iron which go through both cheeks
both under and behind the mortar, betwixt which are
driven quoins of wood *, these bolts are called the brack¬
et bolts; and the bolts which are put one in each end
of the-bed, are tbe traverse bolts, because with hand¬
spikes the mortar is by these traversed to the right or
left.
Chteks, in Ship-building, are two pieces of tim¬
ber, fitted on each side of the mast at the top, serv¬
ing to strengthen the masts there. Tbe uppermost
bail or prece of timber in the beak of a ship is called
Vol. V. Part II. +
CHE
tbe cheek. The knees which fasten the beak bead to Cheeks
tbe ship are called cheeks; and the sides of any block, Cheese,
or tbe sides of a ship’s carriage of a gun, are also v~—
called cheeks.
CHEESE, a sort of food prepared of curdled milk
purged from the serum or whey, and afterwards dried
for use.
Cheese differs in quality according as it is made from
new or skimmed milk, from tbe curd which separates
spontaneously upon standing, or that which is more
speedily produced by the addition of runnet. Cream
also affords a kind of cheese, but quite fat and butyra-
ceous, and which does not keep long. Analyzed che¬
mically, cheese appears to partake much more of an
animal nature than butter. It is insoluble in every li¬
quid except spirit of nitre, and caustic alkaline ley.
Shaved thin, and properly treated with hot water, it
forms a very strong cement if mixed with quicklime *. Ce"
When prepared with hot water, it is recommended
in the Swedish Memoirs to be used by anglers as a
bait; it may be made into any form, is not softened
by tbe cold u'ater, and the fishes are fond of it.—As
a food, physicians condemn the too free use of cheese.
When new, it is extremely difficult of digestion : when
old, it becomes acrid and hot j and, from Dr Perci*
val’s experiments, is evidently of a septic nature. It
is a common opinion that old cheese digests every
thing, yet is left undigested itself j but this is without
any solid foundation. Cheese made from the milk of
sheep digests sooner than that from the milk of cows,
but is less nourishing j that from the milk of goats
digests sooner than either, but is also tbe least nou¬
rishing. In general, it is a kind of food fit only for
the laborious, or those whose organs of digestion are
strong.
Every country has places noted Cor this commodity :
thus Cheshire and Gloucester cheese are famous in Eng¬
land ; and the Parmesan cheese is in no less repute
abroad, especially in France. This sort of cheese is
entirely made of sweet cow-milk : but at Rochefort in
Languedoc, they make it of ewes milk ; and in other
places it is usual to add goat or ewes milk in a certain
proportion to that of the cow. There is likewise a
kind of medicated cheese made by intimately mixing
tbe expressed juice of certain herbs, as sage, baum,
mint, &c. with the curd, before it is fashioned into a
cheese.— The Laplanders make a sort of.cheese of the
milk of their rein deer ; which is not only of great ser¬
vice to them as food, hut on many other occasions. It
is a very common thing in these climates to have a
limb numbed and frozen with the cold : their remedy
for this is tbe heating an iron red hot, and thrusting it
through the middle of one of these cheeses ; they catch
what drops out, and with this anoint the limb, which
soon recovers. They are subject also to coughs and
diseases of the lungs, and these they cure by the same
sort of medicine : they boil a large quantity of the
cheese in the fresh deer’s milk, and drink the decoc¬
tion in large draughts warm several times a-day. They
make a less strong decoction of the same kind also,
which they use as their common drink, for three or
four days together, at several times of the year. For
an account of the different processes for making cheese,
see Cheese, Agriculture //jc/cv.
Cheese Rennet. See Galium and Runnet.
3 G CHFCOE,
[ 417 1
C'iiegoe
U
Cheke.
CHE [ 4i
CHEGOE, or Nigua, the Indian name of an in¬
sect common in Mexico, and also found in oilier hot
countries, where it is called pique, is an exceeding snid
J animal, not very unlike a flea, and is bred in the dust.
It fixes upon the feet, and breaking insensibly the cu¬
ticle, it nestles betwixt that and the true skin, which
also, unless it is immediately taken out, it breaks, am
pierces at last to the flesh, multiplying with a rapidity
almost incredible. It is seldom discovered unti it
pierces the true skin, when it causes an intolerable
itching. These insects, with their astonishing multi¬
plication, would soon depopulate those countries, w'ere
it less easy to avoid them, or were the inhabitants less
dexterous in getting them out before they begin to
spread. On the other hand, nature, in order to lessen
the evil, has not only denied them wings, but even
that conformation of the legs and those strong muscles
which are given to the flea for leaping. The pool,
however, who are in some measure doomed to Ihe in
the dust, and to an habitual neglect of their peisons,
sufler these insects sometimes to multiply so far as to
make large holes in their flesh, and even to ocasion
dangerous wounds.
CHEIRANTHUS, Stock-gilliflower, or V all-
flower. See Botany Index.
CHEKAO, in Natural History, the name of an
earth found in many parts of the East Indies, and
sometimes used bv the Chinese in their porcelain ma¬
nufactures. It is a hard and stony earth ; and the
manner of using it is this : they first calcine it in an
open furnace, and then beat it to a fine powder. This
powder they mix with large quantities of water : then
stirring the whole together, they let the coarser part
subside ; and pouring off the rest, yet thick as c^eam,
they leave it to settle, and use the matter which is
found at the bottom in form of a soft paste, and will
retain that humidity a long time. rI his supplies the
place of the earth called koache, in the making of that
elegant sort of china-ware which is all white, and has
flowers which seem formed by a mere vapour within its
surface. The manner of their using it is this : they
first make the vessel of the common matter of the ma¬
nufacture 5 when this is almost dry, they paint upon it
the flowers, or whatever other figures they please, with
a pencil dipt in this preparation of the chekao •, when
this is thoroughly dry, they cover the whole vessel
with the varnish in the common way, and bake it as
usual. The consequence is, that the whole is white :
but the body of the vessel, the figures, and the varnish,
being three different substances, each has its own par¬
ticular white j and the flowers being painted in the
finest white of all, are distinctly seen through the var¬
nish upon the vessel, and seem as if traced by a vapour
only. The hoache does this as well as the chtkao ;
and has besides this the quality of serving for making
the porcelain ware either alone, or in the place of kao¬
lin : the chekao has not this property, nor any other
substance besides this hoache, which appears to be the
same with our steatites or soap-rock.
CHEKE, Sir John, a celebrated statesman, gram¬
marian, and divine, of an ancient family in the isle of
Wight, was born at Cambridge in the year 1514, and
educated at St John’s college in that university ; where,
after taking his degrees in arts, he was first chosen
Greek lecturer, and in 1540 professor of that lan-
2
Chtke
8 ] CHE
guage, with a stipend of 4®^* a-year. In this station
he was principally instrumental in reforming the pro- Che kvai
nunciation of the Greek language, which, having been
much neglected, was imperfectly understood. About
the year 1543 he was incorporated master of arts at
Oxford, where, we are told, he had studied for some
time. In the following year he was sent to the court
of King Henry VIII. and appointed tutor for the La¬
tin language, jointly with Sir Anthony Cooke, to
Prince Edward, about which time he was made canon
of the college newly founded at Oxford j wherefore he
must have now been in orders. On the accession of
his royal pupil to the crown, Mr Cheke was first re¬
warded with a pension of 100 merks, and afterwards
obtained several considerable grants from the crown.
In 1550 he was made chief gentleman of the priv)-
chamber, and was knighted the following year; in
1552, chamberlain of the exchequer for life j in I553>
clerk of the council j and soon after secretary of state
and privy-counsellor. But these honours were of short
duration. Having concurred in the measures of the
duke of Northumberland for settling the crown on the
unfortunate Jane Grey, and acted as her secretary
during the nine days of her reign, on the accesion of
Queen Mary, Sir John Cheke was sent to the Tower,
and stript of the greatest part of his possessions. In
September 1554 obtained his liberty, and a license
from her majesty to travel abroad. He went first to
Basil, thence to Italy, and afterwards returned to
Strasburg, where he was reduced to the necessity of
reading Greek lectures for subsistence. In ijij6 he
set out in an evil hour to meet his wife at Brussels:
but, before he reached that city, he was seized by or¬
der of King Philip II. hoodwinked, and thrown into
a waggon j and thus ignominiously conducted to a
ship, which brought him to the lower of London.
He soon found that religion was the cause of his im¬
prisonment j for he was immediately visited by two
Romish priests, who piously endeavoured to convert
him, but without success. However, he was at last
visited by Fleckenham } who told him from the queen,
that he must either comply or burn. This powerful
argument had the desired effect j and Sir John Cheke
accordingly complied in form, and his lands, upon cer¬
tain conditions, were restored j but his remorse soon
put an end to his life. He died in September 1557,
at the house of his friend Mr Peter Osborne in Mood-
street, London, and was buried in St Alban’s church.
He left three sons, the eldest of whom, Henry, was
knighted by Queen Elizabeth. He wrote, 1. A Latin
translation of tw o of St Chrysostom’s homilies. Lend.
1543, 410. 2. The Hurt of Sedition. Lend. I549>
1576, 1641. 3. Latin translation of the English Com¬
munion Service. Printed among Bucer’s opuscula.
Depronv.neiatione Grcecce. Basil, 1555, 8vo. 5-
veral letters published in his life by Strype 5 and a
great number of other books.
CHE-KYANG, or Tche-kiang, a maritime pro¬
vince of China, and one of the most considerable in
the empire ; is bounded on the south by Fo-kien : on
the north and west by Kiang-nan and Kiang-si; and
on the east by the sea. The air is pure and healthful,
and the soil fertile, being watered by a number of ri¬
vers and canals, as well as springs and lakes. Th«
chief produce is silk} a vast quantity of which is cul¬
tivated
CHE [ 4i9 1 CHE
vir-r. tivatf d here, and for which the whole country is cover-
—^ ed with mulberry trees. These are purposely checked
in their growth by the natives, experience having
taught them, that the leaves of the smallest trees pro¬
duce the best silk. The stuffs made in this province,
which are embroidered with gold and silver, are reckon¬
ed the best in the empire ; and notwithstanding a vast
exportation to the Japan and Philippine islands, as well
as to every part, of China, and to Europe, such an
abundance is left in the province, that a complete suit
of silk may be bought here as cheap as one of the
coarsest woollen in France.
This province is also remarkable for a particular spe¬
cies of mushrooms, which are exported to every part
of the empire. They are pickled, and then dried ; when
they will keep good for a whole year. When used
they must be soaked in water, which renders them as
fresh as at first. Here also the tallow tree is met
with •, and the province affords excellent hams, and
those small gold fishes with which the ponds are usual¬
ly stocked.
Che-kyang contains 11 cities of the first class, 72
of the third, and 18 fortresses, which, in Europe, would
be accounted large cities. The principal of these are,
I. Hang-tcheou-fou, the metropolis, accounted by the
Chinese to he the paradise of the earth. It is four
leagues in circumference, exclusive of the suburbs j
and the number of its inhabitants is computed at more
than a million, and 10,000 workmen are supposed to
be employed within its walls in manufacturing of silk.
Its principal beauty is a small lake, close to the walls
on the western side, the water of which is pure and
limpid, and the banks almost everywhere covered with
flowers. Its banks are likewise adorned with balls and
open galleries supported by pillars, and paved with
large flag stones for the convenience of those who are
fond of walking; and the lake itself is intersected with
causeways cased with cut stone, openings covered with
bridges being left in them for the passage of boats. In
the middle are two islands with a temple and several
pleasure houses, and the emperor has a small palace in
the neighbourhood. The city is garrisoned by 3000
Chinese and as many Tartars, and has under its juris¬
diction seven cities of the third class. 2. Hou-tcheou-
fou is also situated on a lake, and manufactures an in¬
credible quantity of silk, insomuch, that the tribute
of a city under its jurisdiction, amounts to more than
500,000 ounces of silver. 3. Ning-po-fou, by Euro¬
peans called Liampo, is an excellent port, opposite to
Japan. Eighteen or twenty leagues from it is an
island called Tcheou-can, where the English first land¬
ed on their arrival at China. 4. Ning-po is remark¬
able for the silk manufactured there, which is much
esteemed in foreign countries, especially Japan, where
it is exchanged for gold, silver, and copper. 5. Chao-
hing.fou, situated in au extensive and fertile plain, is
remarkable for a tomb about half a league distant, which
is said to be that of Yu. The people of this province
are said to be the most versed in chicanery of any in
phina. 6. Tchu-tcheou-fou, remarkable for having
m its neighbourhood pines of an extraordinary size,
capable of containing 40 men in their trunks. The
inhabitants are ingenious, polite, and courteous to Clie kyanA
strangers, but very superstitious. ||’
CHELIDONLAS, according to Pliny, an anniver- ^lem‘se*
sary wind, blowing at the appearance of the swallows; '
otherwise the Favonius, or Zephyrus.
CHELIDONIUM, Celandine, and Horned or
Prickly Poppy. See Botany Index.
CHELIDONIUS lapis, in Natural History, a
stone said by the ancients to be found in the stomachs
of young swallows, and greatly esteemed for its virtues
in the falling sickness.
CHELM, a town of Poland, capital of a palatinate
of the same name. It is situated in the province of
lied Russia. E. Long. 23. 30. N, Lat. 51. 25.
CHELMSFORD, the county town of Essex, si¬
tuated on the river Chelmer, in E. Long. o. 30.
N. Lat. 51. 40. It sends two members to pailia-
ment.
CHE LONE. See Botany Index.
CHELSEA, a fine village situated on the northern
hank of the river Thames, a mile westward of West¬
minster, remarkable for a magnificent hospital of in¬
valids and old decrepid soldiers; and a pleasure house,
called Ranelagh, to which a great deal of fine com¬
pany resort in summer; and a noble botanic garden
belonging to the company of apothecaries. The roy¬
al hospital of invalids was begun by Charles II. car¬
ried on by James II. and finished by King William.
Its consists of a vast range of buildings, that form three
large squares, in which there is an uncommon air of
neatness and elegance observed. It is under the di¬
rection of commissioners, who consist generally of the
officers of state and of war. There is a governor with
500I. salary, a lieutenant-governor with 400I. and a
major with 250!. besides inferior officers, serjeants,
corporals, and drums, with above 400 men, who all
do gairisen duty: and there are above 10,000 out-
pensioners, who receive an annuity of 7I. 12s. 6d. each;
all which expence is defrayed by a poundage deducted
from the army, deficiencies being made good by par¬
liament. The botanic garden is very extensive, en¬
riched with a vast variety of domestic and exotic plants,
the original stock of which was given to the apothe¬
caries of London by Sir Hans Sloane.—At Ranelagh
garden and amphitheatre, the entertainment is a fine
band of music, with an organ and some of the best
voices ; and the regale is tea and coffee.
CHELTENHAM, or Chiltenham, a market
town of Gloucestershire, seven miles north-east of
Gloucester. W. Long. 2. 10. N. Lat. 51. 50. It is
chiefly remarkable for its mineral waters, of the same
kind with those of Scarborough. See Scarbo¬
rough.
CHEMISE, in Fortification, the wall with which a
bastion, or any other bulwark of earth, is lined for its
greater support and strength : or it is the solidity oi
wall from the talus to the stone row.
Fire Chemise, a piece of linen cloth, steeped in a
composition of oil ol petrol, camphor, and other com¬
bustible matters, used at sea to set fire to an enemy’s
vessel.
3 G a
CHEMISTRY.
[ 420 ]
i
Definition.
?
Variety of
objects im¬
mense.
»
CHEMISTRY.
INTRODUCTION.
CHEMISTRY is defined, by Dr Black, to be “ the
study ol the eflects produced by heat and by
mixture, in all bodies, or mixtures ol bodies, natural
or artificial, with a view to the improvement of the
arts, and the knowledge of nature j” or, according to
the definition proposed by the learned editor ot his lec¬
tures, “ chemistry is the study of the effects ol heat
and mixture, with the view of discovering their gene¬
ral and subordinate laws, and of improving the uselul
aits.”
Fourcroy has defined “ chemistry to be that science
which teaches the knowledge of the intimate and reci¬
procal action of all the bodies in nature on one ano¬
ther.” To this definition it has been objected, that it
requires much explanation, that the terms reciprocal
and intimate action not being readily understood, would
need new definitions to explain them, and that it em¬
braces more than what strictly belongs to the science
of chemistry.
Perhaps no definition of chemistry has yet been given
which is of sufficient logical precision to be entirely
free from objection. The object of chemistry, how¬
ever, as distinguished from other departments of science,
admits of no ambiguity. It is the province of natural
history to arrange and distribute natural bodies into
classes and orders, and to give an accurate character
of each, by means of which the objects which it includes
may be readily recognized and distinguished. Mecha¬
nical science is employed about those agencies of bodies
which have no reference to their composition, and the
force and measure of which are subject to calculation.
But it is the object of chemistry to discover the compo¬
nent parts of bodies, to examine the properties and uses
of the combinations formed, either naturally or artifi¬
cially, from these simple elements, and to observe and
trace the laws by which the formation of these combi¬
nations is regulated.
Sect. I. Division of Natural Knowledge.
When we consider the boundless variety of objects
which present themselves to the eye, it must appear, at
first sight, impossible to acquire even a general know¬
ledge of their qualities and properties. The longest
life, with the most vigorous mind and the most indefa¬
tigable industry, would be greatly inadequate to the
task of examining every individual object. It is a law
of the human mind, by which it spontaneously facilitates
its own intellectual acquirements, to arrange the objects
of its investigation into certain classes, the individuals
of which are found to possess certain general proper¬
ties. These are again subdivided into other classes
with additional discriminative marks j and these last
are still farther subdivided, till we arrive at the indi¬
vidual ; and, if the arrangement be correct, this must
possess all the characteristic marks, of reference to the
general and subordinate divisions of that class of ob¬
jects to which it belongs. This proves conducive to
the communication as well as to the acquirement of ^
knowledge. Thus it is the province of natural history Natura
to arrange the objects which come under our observa-^sl017-
tion, and to describe them with such precision and ac¬
curacy that they may be easily distinguished from each
other. It may be considered as a descriptive view of
the material world. j
But the operations of nature are subjected to im-Nuturli
portant movements. Change succeeds change, newi^iksol
combinations are formed, and new productions make
their appearance. The primary planets revolve round
the sun as their centre ; the secondary planets, or
moons, attracted by the primary, perform similar revo¬
lutions ; the air of the atmosphere presses on the sur¬
face of the earth with a certain force ; a stone, when
unsupported, falls to the earth in a course directed
towards its centre j water deprived of a certain per¬
tain of heat becomes solid, and assumes the form of
ice; when combined with a greater portion of heat than
what is necessary to retain it in the fluid state, it as¬
sumes the form of vapour, ascends into the atmosphere,
is there by certain processes robbed of its heat, and
re appears in the form of rain ; or, when a large por¬
tion is abstracted, takes that of snow or hail, and falls
to the earth. When a seed is put into the ground ; if
heat, air, and moisture be applied, it germinates and
springs up ; and if, with the addition of light, the ope¬
ration of the same agents be continued, it becomes a
new plant, puts forth leaves and flowers, and produces
seeds similar to that from which it sprung.
Now, to determine what are these changes, to ob-pfiysk ■
serve the laws by which they are effected, and to as¬
certain the measure and quantity of the effect produced,
belong to that department of knowledge which is inclu¬
ded under the general term natural philosophy ot phy¬
sics. But of these changes or motions, some are ob¬
vious and palpable ; others entirely elude our senses.
We see a stone descend to the earth ; and experience
informs us, that it falls with a force in a certain pro¬
portion to its weight and the height from which it fell.
The peculiar change or motion which takes place when
water assumes the solid form, when a fluid undergoes
the process of fermentation, or when a combustible
body is burned, is altogether imperceptible. These
motions are too minute to be recognized. The effect
is produced before we can discover the change. (i|
Thus natural philosophy divides itself into two great'Cliemir
branches. The objects of the first are the sensible
changes or motions which are observed in the material
world ; and the consideration of these objects is, pro¬
perly speaking, natural philosophy or physics. The
second great branch, which is employed- in discovering
the laws, and appreciating the effects, of the insensible
motions of bodies, constitutes the science of chemis¬
try.
Sect. II. Of the Objects* and Importance (f Chemistry.
The importance and extensive utility of this science
must appear obvious to those who have at all consider¬
ed
CHEMISTRY.
421
j eiluc- ed the subject. But for the sake of others who are yet
on unacquainted with it, we shall take a general view of
^ v-—' the objects which it embraces, and the advantages to
, 7 jn he derived from the study of chemistry, whether in ex-
i iuin<r pl»ining many of the striking operations of nature, or
1U al in improving the arts of life.
The most wonderful effects, after frequent repeti-
»' tion, become familiar, and cease to produce any emo¬
tion in the mind. It is on this account that many of
the most striking appearances of nature pass unheeded
as trifling occurrences, and are unnoticed by common
observers. Had we been always accustomed to the ri¬
gour of winter, and never known the genial warmth
of spring, or the ripening heat of summer, the striking
changes effected by the return of these seasons could not
have failed to fill us with admiration. The'beneficial
effects of these changes are felt in the inanimate as well
as in the animated creation. The same power which
gives origin to a gay profusion of numberless vegetable
species, restores to a new existence myriads of animals,
whose vital functions had been suspended. The air,
the earth, the waters, now swarm with life.
The principal agent in the production of these changes
is heat j an agent, the most powerful and irresistible
in its operations, unlimited in its effects, and extensive
in its importance and utility. This agent, therefore,
acting so powerfully in chemical operations, becomes an
essential object of chemical science. Closely connected
with heat is light, which is also a powerful agent in
many of the processes of nature, and becomes a subje ct
of chemical investigation, not less curious and interest¬
ing. Such, indeed, is the universal importance of
light and heat in all the processes of nature, that no
change takes place, no new combination is formed,
or new product makes its appearance, in which the
one or the other, or both, are not either evolved or
absorbed.
In acquiring a knowledge of the constitution of the
atmosphere, in investigating the changes to which it is
subject, the variations of temperature, the laws of
winds, dew, rain, bail, and snow, chemistry is our
principal, our only satisfactory guide. These remarka¬
ble changes are chemical operations on a magnificent
S scale, and can only be explained by chemical laws,
f nan in In surveying the infinite variety of objects from
hstudy which man must derive the means of his comfort, his
happiness, and his luxuries, and even of his existence,
chemistry affords him the most important aid. Whe¬
ther his researches he carried into the mineral, the
vegetable, or the animal kingdoms, the cultivation of
chemical science becomes essentially requisite for the
9 successful progress of bis investigations.
* ;rals. Of the importance of chemistry to the mineralogist,
the limited and unsettled state of mineralogy previous to
the improvements of modern chemistry, is a convincing
proof. The knowledge of chemistry is indispensable
in detecting, and discriminating the various substances
of which the globe which we inhabit is composed, in
separating and purifying these substances, and in adapt-
L ing them to the numerous purposes of life.
' tables. Of the knowledge which we possess of the vegeta¬
ble kingdom, chemistry furnishes a very large share.
' It is from this science that we derive the means of
tracing the progress of vegetation, of illustrating the
peculiar functions of plants, and discovering the com¬
pounds which are formed from a few simple principles,
the nature and propel ties of these compounds, and their
relative proportions, which exhibit an immense variety
of new productions, many of them of the utmost im¬
portance to man, on account of their nutritious quali¬
ties, or indirectly useful to him by affording nourish¬
ment to those animals which he employs as food.
Hence the advantage of applying chemical knowledge
to agriculture, in determining the nature of the soil fit
for the reception of plants, their proper food, and the
mode of supplying it in the preparation of manures.
With these objects in view, chemistry holds out incal¬
culable advantages in the improvement of many de¬
partments of agriculture and rural economy, many of
which, from the rapid and successful progress of the
science, there is room to hope, may be soon obtain-
Introdue-
tion.
Nor is the application of chemical science to the Animals*
economy of animals less limited in its importance and
utility. It not only contributes to the means of de¬
composing animal matters, and of exhibiting and ex¬
amining separately the constitutent parts of animal sub¬
stances ; hut also serves to explain in some measure
many of the essential functions of the living animal
body : such are digestion, respiration, secretion, which,
so far as matter is concerned, and the changes which
it undergoes, are to he considered as true chemical
processes, and can only be investigated by chemical
principles. But it is here necessary to observe, that
the functions of the living vegetable or animal cannot
he wholly accounted for from the nature of chemical
action, without taking into consideration the operations
of the vital principle, which counteract and regulate
the operation of other chemical laws, aid and promote
the beneficial effects of those that are useful to its
health and growth, resist those that are hurtful, and
give rise to chemical as well as vital phenomena pecu¬
liar to itself. i2
The utility of chemistry in medicine is too obvious Medicine,
to require much illustration. It is now universally
considered as one of the essential branches of medical
education. So far as the principles of chemistry can
he applied in investigating the nature of the functions
of the animal body in a state of health, or can he em¬
ployed in accounting for the irregular action of these
powers, whether excessive or deficient, which indicates
a deranged state of the functions, and constitutes dis¬
ease, its relation to medicine must he allowed to he
close and intimate. But the medical ait comprehends
more than a hare knowledge of the structure and func¬
tions of the animal body. It also includes an accurate
knowledge of the substances employed as remedies, of.
their nature and properties as simple substances, and
their new qualities and effects under new combina¬
tions. This knowledge can only he acquired by the
study of chemistry, which is indebted to the excitements
afforded by medicine for some part of its progress as
an art, in the discoveries which were accidentally made
by the rude experiments of medical practitioners in the
early ages, to ascertain the sensible qualities and salu¬
tary effects of the remedies which they employed.
Chemistry, by its rapid progress in modern times, has-
amply re paid these advantages, and in th& hands of the
intelligent and accurate observer, has,.in some points,
greatly contributed to. give more, rational and simple
views of medical science. t 13.
In considering the application of chemistry to the The .arts.
improvement
422 C H E M
Introduc- improvement of the arts of civilized life, a wide field
tion. of contemplation opens to our view. So extensive in-
v deed are its influence and importance, that in most ol
the arts, many of the processes, in some all that are
employed, depend on chemical principles. The bare
mention of some of these arts will suggest ample illus¬
tration of its extensive utility. In the art of extract¬
ing metals from their ores, in purifying and combining
them with each other, and in forming instruments and
utensils, whether for useful or ornamental purposes, al¬
most all the processes are purely chemical. The es¬
sential improvements which modern chemistry has in¬
troduced in the manufacture of glass and porcelain,
shew its importance and utility in these arts. Nor
has it contributed less by the application of its princi¬
ples to the arts of tanning, soapmaking, dyeing, and
bleaching. All the processes in baking, brewing, and
distilling, most of the culinary arts, and many others
in domestic economy, are chemical operations. In
short, wherever, in any of the processes of nature or of
art, the addition or the abstraction of heat takes place ;
wherever substances in combination are to be decom¬
posed or separated ; wherever the union of simple sub¬
stances and the formation of new compounds are want¬
ed, the effects produced can only be explained by che¬
mical principles.
From this general view of the extensive application
of chemical science, those who have not considered the
1( objects which it embraces will be enabled to judge of
As a sci- importance of this study.
eiice. But however much wre may be interested in observ¬
ing and admiring the effects produced by chemical ac¬
tion, if we extend our views to the consideration of
chemistry purely as a science, and the subject of phi¬
losophical investigation, it will command a greater share
of our attention and study. Perhaps there is no study
better calculated to encourage that generous love of
truth which confers dignity and superiority on those
who successfully pursue it. In this view, indeed, no
science holds out more interesting subjects of research,
in the singular and surprising changes which every¬
where present themselves. And it is surely no small re¬
commendation to the study of chemistry, that its specu¬
lations are not barren, and that while we store the mind
with interesting truths, we add something to the stock
of human knowledge, which is perhaps immediately ap¬
plicable to some of the most important purposes of life.
The practical value of the facts and discoveries in any
science might he fairly estimated by the proportion in
which they enlarge our resources by their useful appli¬
cation, and interest and gratify the mind as subjects of
curious speculation. From these, joint considerations
the whole range of chemical facts derives the highest
value, and becomes entitled to a distinguished place
among the sciences.
Chemistry has a still higher claim to our attention,
I S T R Y.
as it affords some of the most striking proofs of the wis-
dom and beneficence of the Creator of the universe. A t'on.
machine constructed by human ait is admired in pro- v"
portion to the simplicity of its contrivance, the extent ln ^ |
of its usefulness, and the niceness of us adaptations.templati
But the works of man sink into nothing when brought the wovlj
into comparison with the works of nature. In ourotnatsri
examination of the former, every step of our progress
is obscured with comparative clumsiness and defect :
in contemplating the latter, we behold perfection rise
on perfection, and more exquisite wonders meet our
view. It is the merit of chemistry that by its aid we
are enabled to take a minuter survey of the great sys¬
tem of the universe. And so far as our limited powers
can comprehend it, the whole is nicely balanced and
adjusted, and all its changes tend to the most benefi¬
cial purposes. Circumstances which, on a superficial
view, were seeming imperfections and defects, a closer
inspection points out to be real excellencies. In all
the changes which are constantly going forward, the
more closely we observe and examine them, the more
we shall admire the simple means by which they are
accomplished, and the intelligent design and perfect
wisdom displayed in the beneficial ends to which they
are directed.
Sect. III. History of Chemistry.
The word Chemistry, which is supposed to have
been of Egyptian origin, seems to have been first used
in a very extensive sense (a). It appears to have in¬
cluded all the knowledge which the ancients possessed
of natural objects. It was afterwards more limited in
its signification, and solely confined to the art of work¬
ing metals. The great importance which the ancients
attached to this art wras probably the cause of this li¬
mitation. Such indeed was its importance, that those
who were supposed to have discovered or improved it,
were regarded by mankind as their greatest benefac¬
tors. They u’ere deemed worthy of being enrolled a-
inong the gods, and temples and statues were consecrat¬
ed to their honour.
It is not necessary to trace minutely the history of
chemistry to the remote periods of antiquity, or labour
to prove its origin to be coeval with the earliest ages of
the world. Man indeed could not exist long without
some knowledge of chemical processes ; and as he im¬
proved in civilization and accurate observation, this
knowledge must have been improved and extended.
Tnbal-Cain, wiio is mentioned in the sacred Scriptures
as a worker in metals, and is supposed to have given
rise to the fabulous story of Vulcan, in ancient mytho¬
logy and poetry, is considered by some as the first
chemist whose name has been transmitted to the pre-
sent times. But, although the working of metals, andchemistr
other chemical arts, were known in the earliest ages of existed a
^ tlie an art.
(Aj According to some it is derived from the word kema^ which was supposed to be a book of secrets given
to the women by the demons. Others derive it from Cham the son of Noah, from whom Egypt took the
name of Chemie, or Chamie. Sometimes the origin of the word is ascribed to Chemmis, a king of the Egyptians;
and sometimes to the Greek word %vfioi;, which signifies liquid, because the art was at first applied in the pre¬
paration of liquids ; and sometimes to the Greek verb “ pour out,” because chemistry is the art of fusing
metals. J
C H E M
I >due- tlie world ; and among tlie Egyptians, Greeks, and
jn, Romans, many of the aits dependent on chemistry had
i* v'-—'reached sonie degree of perfection; this knowledge
can only be considered as consisting of a number of
scattered, unconnected facts, which have no claim to be
dignified with the name of science. A carpenter may
erect a piece of machinery, arranged and constructed
exactly similar to a pattern which he has seen, without
the knowledge of a single principle of its construction ;
while the man of science, who can neither handle the
axe nor the chissel, observes and estimates the power
and operation of all its parts, and determines the gene¬
ral eftect of the whole.
Nor will it afford us much instruction to pursue the
supposed history of chemistry, even to a comparatively
later period. Moses, who is said to have been skilled in
all the wisdom of the Egyptians, has been ranked among
the number of the earliest chemists, and as a proof of his
knowledge of chemistry, the means he employed of dis¬
solving the golden calf made by the Israelites, to ren¬
der it potable, are adduced. It is said that Democri¬
tus was, of all the Greeks who travelled into Egypt to
acquire knowledge, the only one admitted into their my-
a igthe steries. According to Diodorus Siculus, the art of
^ itians, c|iemjstry lia(] made considerable progress among the
Egyptians. The knowledge of their priests is suppos¬
ed to have consisted chiefly of chemical processes. They
were acquainted, it is said, with the preparation of
many medicines, perfumes, plasters, and soaps : they
used burnt ashes as caustic substances ; they fabricated
bricks, glass, porcelain ; they painted on glass, and
practised the art of gilding with silver and gold. They
extracted natron or soda from the mud of the Nile.
They prepared alum, sea salt, and sal ammoniac ; work¬
ed in gold and copper, and possessed many other pro¬
cesses in metallurgy. The extraction of oils, and the
preparation of wine and vinegar, were well known
to them ; and they were also acquainted with the art
j of dyeing silk by the intermedium of mordants.
! ks, Fewer traces of chemistry are found among the
Greeks, although they derived the knowledge of many
of the arts from Egypt. The ancient philosophers of
Greece, as Pythagoras, Thales, and Plato, were more
devoted to the cultivation of mathematical and astrono¬
mical knowledge, than the physical sciences. Some
chemical arts, however, were not unknown to this people.
The alloy of metals formed at Corinth has been much
celebrated. Cinnabar- was employed in some parts of
Greece. Tychius knew the art of tanning leather ;
Plato has described the process of filtration; Hippo¬
crates was acquainted with that of calcination ; Galen
speaks of distillation per descvnsum, and the word embic
as the name of a piece of apparatus, is mentioned by
ii I ! Dioscorides a long time before the Arabic article al was
prefixed to it. According to Alhenseus, there was a ma¬
nufactory of glass established at Lesbos. Democritus of
Abdera prepared and examined the juices of plants :
Aristotle and Theophrastus treated of stones and of
11 [9 metals.
J l‘cl" The Phoenicians are said to have been acquainted
with the making of glass; and among this people the
celebrated Tyrian purple was found. They were also
skilled in the working of metals and other mineral sub¬
stances. The Persians are said to be the first who dis-
I S T R Y.
423
tinguished the metals by the names of the planets, a tntrodue-
practice which they retained for many centuries.
Among the Chinese, if we may believe their histo¬
rians, many chemical arts were known from the earliest^
ages: they were acquainted with nitre, borax, alum,
gunpowder, verdigris, mercurial ointments, sulphur,
and colouring matters; nor W'ere the arts of dyeing
linen and silk, paper-making, manufacturing of pottery
and porcelain, unknown to them. They were skilled
in the art of alloying metals, and in the working of
ivory and of horn. From the early knowledge which
the Chinese possessed ot these arts, they have been sup¬
posed by some to have been a colony from Egypt. 2I
I he ivars in which the Romans were almost constant-Roaiaus.
ly engaged, and the spirit which prompted them to mi¬
litary aflairs, gave them neither time nor taste to culti¬
vate and improve the arts of peace. Chemistry, there¬
fore, appears to have been little known among that peo¬
ple. Petronius indeed speaks of malleable glass, which
was presented to Caesar ; and a similar fact is mention¬
ed by Pliny with regard to Tiberius. But it appears,
that this art was long known before the time of the
Romans.
To us it may seem singular, that chemistry, now of
such universal importance to mankind, should he in¬
debted, in some measure, for its origin as an art,
and for part of its progress, to one of the least ge¬
nerous of the human passions. It was cultivated
in its early dawn, by men who were instigated by
avarice to prosecute and study it. About the 10th
century, or perhaps earlier, a set of men arose,
and continued to flourish till the 16th, who assum¬
ed, by way of distinction, the name of alchemists, that 22
is the chemists, because they considered themselves, The akhe-
on account of the knowledge they possessed, as moremuts"
highly favoured than the rest of mankind. It was
natural enough for men who observed the remark¬
able changes produced by chemical action, to be power¬
fully struck with these effects ; and overlooking the va¬
riations and differences in the result of their opera¬
tions, which were the consequences of partial or in¬
accurate observation, to flatter themselves, that their
power over the substances on which they operated
was as extensive as their wishes. Hence originated
all the extravagances and follies, similar indeed to those
of speculators and projectors of every age, with which
the history and works of the alchemistical writers are
filled. Many of the alchemists were the dupes of their
own ignorance and credulity ; hut many mpre, there is
little doubt, took advantage of the ignorance and bar¬
barity which prevailed in the dark ages, during which
period they chiefly flourished, to impose on the credu¬
lity of mankind.
It was one of the first principles among the alche¬
mists, that all metals consist of the same ingredients,
and, that hence the substances which enter into the
composition of gold, are found in all metals, but mix¬
ed with many impurities, from which they might, by
certain processes, he freed. The constant object of all
their researches, was the discovery of a substance pos¬
sessed of the wonderful property of converting the
baser metals into gold, which, on account of its scar¬
city and durability, is more valued than the other more
common metals. This celebrated substance was deno¬
minated
424
Inlroiluc-
lion.
Philoso¬
phers stone
. 24
Universal
medicine.
C H E M
niinated the philosophers stone; and those who were
supposed to be so singularly fortunate as to accomplish
this great discovery, or those to whom it was imparted
by others, were regarded as the peculiar favourites of
heaven. They were ranked in the highest order of al¬
chemists, and assumed the name of adepts.
These adepts never seemed to think of enriching
themselves by their great discoveries. They were too
generous to monopolize the wealth of the world. Uhey
accordingly offered their services to others, and li¬
berally proposed to communicate the fiuit of their
labours for a moderate reward. 1 he ambitious man
to procure riches, that he might increase his power,
and the avaricious man to add to his wealth, eagerly
sought after, and encouraged them in the prosecu¬
tion of their extravagant schemes. They were kept in
the pay of princes and other great men, to fill and re¬
pair their exhausted treasuries. These flattering hopes,
it may well be supposed, were never realized. The
rich prospect fled before them, and the golden prize,
which they often supposed was just within their reach,
eluded their eager grasp. The magnitude of the plan,
however, fired the imagination, and produced a sort of
conviction in the mind, of the possibility, and even
certainty, of obtaining the object of all their wishes
and labours. With unabating ardour, and unexam¬
pled assiduity, they pursued their researches, per¬
suading themselves and their employers, that they
were on the point of being soon in possession of unli¬
mited wealth.
Beholding man by anticipation possessed of immense
riches, the alchemists saw that something more was
requisite to secure him in the uninterrupted enjoyment
of them. Experience fatally taught them, that his
feeble frame was liable to the pains and languor of dis¬
ease ; that gold and silver could neither prevent the
paroxysm of a fever, nor confer on the possessor the
blessings of constant health. Another most desirable
object was consequently held up to view, and deluded
their distempered minds into the false hope of attain¬
ing it. This was the famous panacea, or universal
medicine, which was to cure all diseases j and even to
prevent their occurrence. Thus fortunate in the en¬
joyment of vast richesy thus blessed with unbroken
health, the desires of man were yet unsatisfied. An¬
other seeming evil still remained, which was naturally
to be dreaded as the destroyer of this fancied scene of
apparently perfect felicity. The melancholy x-eflection,
that it was limited by the short span of human life,
roused the alchemists again into exettion, and produ¬
ced new efforts of ingenuity in their labours, to secure
to man exemption from the common lot of mortality.
In imagination they had discovered the means of pro¬
longing life at pleasure to an indefinite length, of res¬
cuing man from the grave, and of making him immor¬
tal upon earth.
Such were the extraordinary pursuits of the alche¬
mists. The exact period of the origin of this study is
unknowny nor can it now be ascertained what progress
it had made, or indeed whether it was at all cultivated
among those whom we strictly call the ancients. Ju¬
lius Firraicus Maternus is the first historian who men¬
tions this study as well known in his day ; and the pe¬
riod when he flourished was about the beginning of the
4th century. A subsequent author, iEneas Blasius,
3
I S T R Y.
who lived in the following century, also makes men- Introd[J
tion of it: and Suidas defines the term by informing us, tion.
that it is the art of making gold and silver. Diocle-  /—
sian, he says, prohibited all chemical operations, during
his persecution of the Christians, that his subjects
might not be instigated to acts of rebellion against him
by the formation of gold. In some places where gold
is washed down in minute pai tides, by brooks and ri¬
vulets, from the mountains, it is customary to suspend
the skins of animals in the water, by which means the par¬
ticles containing the gold are detained 5 a circumstance
from which the fabulous story of the golden fleece pro¬
bably derived its origin. Suidas, however, who flourish¬
ed in the 10th century, is not entitled to any high de¬
gree of credit, especially as the ancient authors are
wholly silent on the subject of alchemy.
It is from the physicians of Arabia that we ob¬
tain the most satisfactory evidence concerning al¬
chemy. Avicenna, who lived in the 10th century,
is said, by one of his own disciples, to have written on
this subject. He likewise takes notice of rose water,
and some other chemical preparations j and in the 12th
century we find it recommended to physicians to culti¬
vate an acquaintance with the chemists. Another Ara¬
bian writer says, that the method of preparing rose¬
water, &c. was at that time well understood. These
proofs of the existence of alchemy among the Arabians,
and particularly from the particle Al prefixed to it,
have induced some to conclude, that the doctrine of the
transmutation of metals first originated with the Ara¬
bians, and was introduced into Europe by the cru¬
sades, as well as by the rapid conquests of the Arabi¬
ans, in Europe, Asia, and Africa. At that period
Europe was in a state of the utmost barbarity, owing
to the incursions of the northern nations ; but some of
the sciences, among which alchemy was comprehended,
were happily revived by the Arabians : and about the
middle of the 17th century, the extravagance of such
as were the professors of alchemy arrived at its great¬
est height. < 25
It appears that the alchemists began to be establish-Principal
ed in the west of Europe, as early as the ninth ctn-alchemis
tury $ and between the eleventh and fifteenth, this
study was in its most flourishing stale. Among the
principal alchemists who flourished during this period,
and who were distinguished for their discoveries and
writings, were Albertus Magnus, Roger Bacon, Ar-
noldus de Yillanova, and Raymond Lully. They all
lived in the 13th century. Albertus Magnus was a
Dominican monk of Cologne, and was regarded by his
cotemporaries, as a magician. He was born in the
year 1205, and died in 1280. He left numerous
works, one of the most curious of which is a treatise
entitled lAe Ate hernia, which exhibits a distinct view
of the state of chemistry at the time he lived. Roger
Bacon, another monk, was born in the county ol So¬
merset in England in 1214, and died in 1294. He
was celebrated for many ingenious inventions and dis¬
coveries in chemistry and mechanics. Among these
are mentioned the camera obscura, the telescope, and
gunpowder. His works discover astonishing sagacity
and acuteness, and, considering the age in which he
lived, are composed with no small degree of elegance
and conciseness. Some of them, however, bearing the
character of the times, are mystical and obscure. Ar-
noldus
CHEMISTRY.
I, >duc- noldus de Villanova was a native of Languedoc in
>n. France, and was born about the year 1240. He has
' u 1 mentioned the mineral acids, and joined to his chemi¬
cal studies extensive knowledge in medicine. His
writings are characterised by all the obscurity of the
alchemistical authors. Raymond Lully, whose repu¬
tation raised him to the rank of adept, was born at
Barcelona in 1235. He wrote on strong waters and
metals. His last will and testament is one of the most
celebrated of his writings 5 and these are not less ob¬
scure than those of his cotemporaries.
About the end of the 14th century, Basil Valentine,
a German Benedictine monk, was the first who for¬
mally applied chemistry to medicine. He was the
original discoverer of many of the virtues of antimonial
medicines ; and in his celebrated treatise on antimony,
entitled Currus triumphalis Antimonii, are found many
preparations which have since been announced to the
world as new discoveries. About the same time lived
Isaacus Hollandus, whose works have been greatly
jg commended by Boerhaave.
P celsus. In the beginning of the 16th century arose Paracel¬
sus, one of the most extraordinary men who ever lived.
IHe was born in 1493, near Zurich in Switzerland.
Of a bold and enterprising spirit, he despised the com¬
mon rules of conduct by which men are usually guided.
By iis singularities he raised his reputation to a great
height ; he became an enthusiast in chemistry, and in
^ the application of substances prepared by chemical pro-
t1 irst cesses to the cure of diseases. He was the first public
p c teacher of chemistry in Europe, having been appointed
tilierof deliver lectures on that subject in the city of Basil :
c ustr^' but his restless spirit did not permit him to remain long
in this situation. In two years he was involved in a
quarrel with the magistrates, from whom he had re¬
ceived his appointment, and lelt the city. Despising
the common principles of medical practice, and suc¬
ceeding wonderfully in some cures by the free use of
opium and mercury, he thought he had discovered the
universal medicine, and promised immortality to him¬
self and to his patients. But while he thus made such
flattering piomises, his own fate furnished a sad proof
of the futility of his doctrine. After an almost unin¬
terrupted course of debauchery, having wandered a
great part of his life from place to place, he died at an
inn in Saltzburg, in the 48th year of his age.
A great number of medical practitioners, in the
course of the 16th century, adopted and propagated
the principles of Paracelsus. Among the most distin¬
guished of these was Van Helmont, a man of consider¬
able genius, who was born in the year 1577. Many of
the followers of Paracelsus were greatly devoted to the
r8 study of chemistry ; and this, with the absurd and un-
A emy principled conduct of their master, tended not a little to
lle5, bring the views and speculations of the alchemists into
disrepute. Chemistry, now freed from the trammels of
alchemy, consis.ed only of a number of detached, un¬
connected facts. To have these facts brought together
in one point of view, and arranged into classes, so that
the knowledge of them might be applied to useful pur¬
poses, and the objects pointed out to which future re-
! >9 searches might be advantageously directed, was now
^ ustry the great desideratum. This task was accomplished
th ^ by Beecher, who distinguished himself by the extent of
a n 1 his views, in a work entitled Physica subterrunea,
Vol. V. Part II. f
425
which was published at Frankfort in the year 1669. Introduc-
This was the first dawn of true chemical science, and tion.
in the history of which the publication of Beecher’s
work formed an important.sera. ^
In taking a retrospective view of the progress of Discoveries
chemistry, previous to the publication of Beecher’s of the al-
work, we find that a great number of important factscbemlsts-
had been discovered and collected. To the class of acids,
the sulphuric, the nitric, and the muriatic, were added ;
the alkalies were better known, and the volatile alkali
was obtained from sal ammoniac by Basil Valentine,
by decomposing it by means of soda or potass ; the sul¬
phate of potass, prepared in three or lour different ways,
received as many different names ; the nitrate of pot¬
ass was called nitre, a name which had been formerly
applied to soda; Sylvius discovered the muriate of pot¬
ass which he denominated digestive salt; and Glauber,
the sulphate of soda, to which he gave the name won-
derfid salt, though better known by the name of Glau¬
ber’s salt, by which it is still distinguished. Some of
the earthy salts began to be known about this period,
and among others the muriate of lime, which received
the name oi fixed sal ammoniac.
The earths themselves were also better known ; lime
Avater was prepared, and some of the alkaline sulphu-
rets were pointed out and examined.
The properties of some of the metallic salts were
studied and examined ; the nitrate of silver was known
under the name and form of crystals of Diana, and of
lapis infernalis ; the muriate of silver, under that of
luna cornea. The two muriates of mercury were de¬
scribed, and employed for various purposes. The red
precipitate, called arcanum corallinum, sacchariim-sa-
turni, or sugar of lead, the butter of antimony, and the
powder of algaroth, were either discovered, or their
properties more attentively investigated and ascer¬
tained.
During this period also, the distinction was made
between the brittle and the ductile metals. Bismuth,
zinc, antimony, and even arsenic were obtained in a
metallic state. A number of oxides, some metallic
dyes, fulminating gold, turpith mineral, the saline pre¬
cipitates of mercury, or the mercurial oxides of differ¬
ent colours, minium and litharge, colcothar, the saffron
of Mars, and diaphoretic antimony, were discovered,
and the mode of preparing them sufficiently described.
During this period, the preparation of oils by distil¬
lation commenced, and the distinction was made be¬
tween the volatile and empyreumatic. Ethers were dis¬
covered, and the spirit of wine was well known by the
name alcohol, which it still bears.
The extravagant history of the alchemists is instruc-xheii hi-
tive, as affording a useful lesson to moderate our ex-story usc-
pectations in the pursuit of knowledge, and to restrained,
them within the bounds which the Almighty has pre¬
scribed to the range of our investigations. This hi¬
story is instructive also, as presenting a singular and
exti aordina'ry feature in the history ot mankind. rI o
our present purpose it is immediately useful, as show¬
ing us the commencement of chemical researches.
Chemistry, it is true, in the hands of the alchemists,
like every other department ot knowledge during the
dark ages, was involved in mystery, and the knowledge
it communicated in a barbarous jargon, to be under¬
stood only by the initiated, and scarcely to be decyphered
3 II and
426
CHEMISTRY.
P.
Their dis¬
coveries
compara¬
tively few.
33
Introduc- and comprehended at the present day, with the assist-
tion. anee of the extensive knowledge of chemical facts
1 "v""' which we now possess. But with all the extravagance
displayed in the objects they pursued, the means em¬
ployed were ultimately useful to the progress of che¬
mistry. By their incessant labours, discovery was add¬
ed to discovery, facts were multiplied on facts, though
unaccompanied by any regular train of research or
reasoning.
It may appear surprising that these important dis¬
coveries were not more numerous. The alchemists
had laboured incessantly in chemical pursuits for near¬
ly a thousand years, and with all the zeal and ardour
of enthusiasts j the labour of whole lives was exhaust¬
ed, and immense fortunes were dissipated, in endea¬
vouring to obtain the grand object of all their re¬
searches. But the spirit which prevailed among the
alchemists was directly hostile to the free communica-
Thereason.tion and accumulation of knowledge. The prominent
feature of their character was secrecy. This indeed
was closely connected with the nature of the object, to
attain which all their pursuits and inquiries were di¬
rected : and so strongly was this impressed upon their
minds, that they believed, or pretended to believe, that
the dreadful wrath of Heaven would fall on him who
should presume to disclose to any, but to the initiated,
the secrets of the art. That spirit which arose from
motives of avarice and self-conceit, became at last one
of the leading principles of their conduct. With an
object so important in view, as the discovery of the
means of putting themselves in possession of unlimited
wealth, it is little to be wondered at, if they should
carefully conceal from the world, and even from one
another, the steps in the progress which led to the ac¬
complishment of this end. Thus, all their processes
Were carried on in private, all their discoveries were
kept secret. In their pretended communication of
knowledge with each other, they employed conven¬
tional signs and figures, and assumed a mysterious
mode of writing, that they might be understood only
by adepts, and might be totally unintelligible to the
rest of mankind.
Thus it was scarcely to be expected that they should
reveal to the world, either by speech or writing, dis¬
coveries which most of them probably believed were to
be of such vast benefit to themselves. In this view,
we should rather be surprised that any of their pro¬
cesses were ever made known. But here vanity, and
even avarice, probably had considerable influence in
calling forth what they pretended was an account of
their attainments and discoveries. Some of the alche¬
mists, perhaps by means of trick and imposture, had
acquired a high reputation for knowledge, and had im¬
posed a belief on many, that they were actually in pos¬
session of the philosopher’s stone. They were there¬
fore sought after, and often received great ^rewards
for their labour, in proving the effects, or trying the
success of this wonderful agent. To be thus employed
was perhaps the object of many in the publication of
their works. But, at the same time, they cautiously
avoided revealing their knowledge, by employing my¬
sterious and metaphorical language. Thus we may
account for the impenetrable obscurity, as well as ma¬
ny of the absurdities which characterized their writ¬
ings.
Ill trod I];
tion. I
34
Considering the cautious concealment with which
they carried on all their processes, it is not improbable
that many important discoveries were never announced1
by the first observers ; for the very appearance of any
thing new or unexpected, -would flatter their hopes that
they had advanced another step toward the attainment
of their objects, and that the next would put them in
full possession of it. Thus, such a discovery would be
held inviolably secret, and might in this way be lost for
ever.
The work of Beecher, which gave the first scientific
form to chemical knowledge, appeared about the middle
of the seventeenth century, when the light of science
began to spread over Europe, and chemistry received
its share. The facts which had been accumulated by
the labours of the alchemists, and to which Beecher
had given a systematic form, were still farther metho¬
dised and extended by his pupil Stahl. Indeed, so Stahl
much was done by the latter, in simplifying and im-provestH
proving the theory of his master, that it was afterwards theory oi
denominated from his name the Stah/ian or phlogistic ®ccc^e,:
theory. This theory was then received and adopted
by all chemists, and continued to flourish for more than
half a century. ^
After the middle of the seventeenth century, the es-Chemisti
tablishment of philosophical societies in Europe greatly stu^ed i
contributed to the diffusion of knowledge. It was about
this time that the academy of sciences was established
in France, and some of its members rose high in re¬
putation by their experiments and discoveries in che¬
mistry. The .Royal Society of London was founded
about the same period j but its members, following the
example of Newton, were more occupied in mechani¬
cal philosophy, and paid less attention to chemical
science. The latter, however, was not entirely over¬
looked. Newton himself threw out some important
hints in this department, and took some general views
of chemical phenomena j Boyle, along with his re-Britain, f
searches in mechanical philosophy, prosecuted the stu¬
dy of chemistry ; and the experiments of Hooke and
Mayow, on the nature of combustion and respirable
air, discover a high degree of sagacity and skill in
their investigations.
Towards the middle of the eighteenth century, the
study of chemistry became fashionable in France. Be¬
fore this time Homberg, Geoff’roy, and Lemery, had
distinguished themselves by their chemical discoveries. .7
Geoffrey is still deservedly celebrated for his invention In Fr»n<
of the tables of chemical affinities, an ingenious me¬
thod of exhibiting, at one view, the principal results of
experiments in this science. These tables were af¬
terwards improved by several chemists, especially by
Rouelle, Wenzel, and Bergman. 3S
But the discoveries of Hr Black formed one of the Black’* *
most important aeras in the history of this science, andcovciy.
gave a new and unexpected turn to the views of che¬
mists. It was the object of Hr Black’s researches to
discover the cause of the remarkable change which a
piece of limestone undergoes when it is calcined or
burnt, and to point out the reason of the great diffe¬
rence of the properties of this substance in its different
states j and his investigations were crowned with suc¬
cess. In the year 1755, he ascertained that these
changes were owing to the combination or separation of
a peculiar kind of air, different in its properties from
the
CHEMISTRY,
iduc- the air of the atmosphere. Lime, when combined with
in. this air, is in the mild state, or the state of limestone :
/"■"'"■'when this air is driven off, which is done by the pro¬
cess of calcination or burning, the limestone has changed
its properties ; it is reduced to the caustic state, and
has lost considerably of its weight ; and this loss of
weight, Dr Black proved, was exactly equal to the
weight of the air driven ofl\ To this air Dr Black
gave the name of fixed air; because, when united to
the lime and other substances, with which it enters in¬
to combination, it is in a fixed state. This discovery,
one of the most important in chemistry, opened a new
field for investigation : lor it had not been once sus¬
pected, that aerial substances formed combinations with
solid bodies.
From this time, the progress of chemistry became
rapid and brilliant. Facts and discoveries were daily
p multiplied, and a spirit of enthusiasm for the study burst
rim- forth, and was widely diffused. In the year 1774, Dr
nt dis-Pj-Jestley^ |iacl contributed largely to the stock of
ies‘ chemical knowledge, discovered pure or vital air, and
its property of being exclusively fit for the purposes
of respiration and combustion. In the year 1781, Mr
Cavendish, another ingenious English chemist, proved
that water is not a simple element, but composed of
pure or vital air, and inflammable air j called now in
chemical language, oxygen and hydrogen.
But, previous to this time, two chemists had ap¬
peared in Sweden, had distinguished themselves by
their zeal, ingenuity, and indefatigable industry, and
had obtained the highest reputation for their invaluable
discoveries in chemical science. These were the cele¬
brated Bergman and Scheele, whose names will not be
forgotten, as long as modesty, candour, and truth, are
honoured among mankind.
In the mean time, the Fx-ench chemists were not idle.
The celebrated Lavoisier, in conjunction with some of
his philosophical friends, confirmed, by the most deci¬
sive experiments, the truth of Mr Cavendish’s discovery
of the composition of water, which was now received
and adopted by almost every chemist. The same un¬
fortunate philosopher, Lavoisier, whose bright cax-eer
was cut short by the horrors of the French revolution,
had, previous to the time alluded to, enriched chemi¬
cal science with many valuable and important facts.
He had greatly contributed to the overthrow of the
phlogistic theory, by a series of accurate experiments
and observations on the calcination of metals. It had
now become a question, whether metals, during the
process of calcination, gave out any substance j that is,
whether they contained any phlogiston ; and Lavoisier
incontestably proved, that metals cannot be calcined,
excepting in contact with pure air, and that the calx
thus obtained was, in all cases, exactly equal to the
weight off the metal, added to the quantity of air which
had disappeared.
Chemistry had now, by its rapid and unexampled
progress, so far extended itself, and had accumulated
so large a body of facts, that the barbarous and arbi¬
trary language which the alchemists employed to veil
their mysteries, and part of which had been adopted
and imitated in language equally obscure and arbitrary
by the earlier chemists, rendered it exti'emely difficult
to be acquired or understood. This disadvantage was
loudly and justly complained of, but the difficulties in
427
the way of remedying it seemed almost insurmountable, inuodoc-
1 he Irench chemists, however, undertook the arduous tion.
task, and completely succeeded in their labours. To —v—
these illustrious philosophers we are indebted for the T 4°
present language of chemistry, which is so constructed, ^enda-"
that every word, and every combination, has an appro-ture.
priate meaning, and clearly expresses the nature and
composition of the substance which it represents. It is
to this improvement in its language, that we are to as¬
cribe the facility and precision with which the know¬
ledge of chemistry can now be communicated, and
which has materially contributed to its general diffu¬
sion and cultivation.
The career of chemical science has accordingly been
of late years even more rapid than was then anticipa¬
ted. It has been signalized by the brilliant discoveries
of the composition of the alkalies and earths, the doc¬
trine of definite combining quantities, or the atomic
theory, by multitudes of elegant improved manipula¬
tions, new compound substances, new simple elements,
and new practical applications of chemical knowledge.
In this place we shall refrain from any formal eulogy
on living chemists. The results of their labours will
be recorded in the body of this article, with a minute¬
ness proportioned to its general extent, and will form,
we hope, an instructive improvement in the present,
compared with the former editions of this work. On
some subjects we shall refer to the corresponding article
contained in the Supplement, which is now in course
of publication, exhibiting a separate view of the most
recent improvements. It has been necessary, however,
to alter this article materially, as our latest discove¬
ries not only serve to enlarge our former views, but to
correct them.
Sect. IV. Of the First Principles of Bodies, and of
the Methods of studying and arranging them.
4r
1. According to the ancient philosophers, all matter Elements
consisted of four principles or elements. These were ofbo^e*
fire, air, water, and earth. This opinion, under differ-
ent modifications, seems to have universally prevailed.
But the discoveries of modern chemistry have proved,
that three of these elements, at least, are compound
substances. Fire is a compound of light and heat j air,
of oxygenous and azotic gas 5 and water, of oxygen
and hydrogen.
The alchemists, not satisfied with this division of the
principles of bodies, adopted another, which was more
appropriate to the nature of their labours and experi¬
ments, and was better calculated to explain the appear-
ances with which they were acquainted. The elements The alche-
of all bodies, according to their theory, were salt, sul- mists.
phur, and mercury: and these were long known among
the alchemists by the appellation of the tria prima.
These were admitted bv all the alchemistical writers
down to the time of Paracelsus, who adopted them, and
added two more to the number. These five elements or
principles were thus characterized. Every thing came
under the name of salt which was soluble or sapid } all
inflammable substances were called sidphur i and every
volatile substance, which flies off without burning, was
called mercury or spirit. Every thing liquid and insi¬
pid was called phlegm or water : every thing that was
dry, insipid, fixed, and insoluble, was called earth, or
3 H 2 caput
CHEMISTRY,
428
Introduc- caput mortuum. The two last, which were added by
lion. Paracelsus, are synonymous with the water and earth
v v--—q[‘ ||ie ancients. According to the original theory of
the alchemists, all bodies may be decomposed by fire,
and resolved into their three constituent principles.
Tire mercury, or spirit, escapes during combustion in
the form of smoke ; the sulphur is inflamed 5 and the
43 salt, or fixed principle, remains behind.
Beecher’s Beecher, whom we have already mentioned as the
elements, founder of chemical science, perceiving the vague and
unsettled notions of the alchemists, with regard to the
principles of bodies, generalized and simplified still
more, the chemical facts which were then known. Ac¬
cording to his theory, all bodies consisted of earth and
water. Under the former he included every thing that
was dry, and under the latter, every thing humid. He
admitted three earthy principles, namely, the fusible
earth, the inflammable earth, and the mercurial earth.
The fir.it was the principle of dryness, of infusibility
and hardness. The fusible earth, combined with wa¬
ter, composed an acid, which was called the universal
acid, because all other acids owed their properties to
it. The inflammable earth was considered as the prin¬
ciple of combustibility j and the mercurial earth as the
principle of volatility. The fusible and the mercurial
earths, with water, composed common salt} and the in¬
flammable earth, with the universal acid, formed sul¬
phur. The metals were composed of these three earths
in equal proportions. When the mercurial earth was
in small proportion, the compound was stone; when the
fusible was in greater proportion, the compound formed
the precious stones ; and the resulting compounds are
the colorific earths, when the inflammable earth is in
44 the largest, and the fusible in the smallest proportion.
Stahl’s. This theory of Beecher was considerably modified
by his pupil Stahl. The inflammable earth of Bee¬
cher seems to have been changed by him into the prin¬
ciple of inflammability or fixed fire, which he called
phlogiston. He admitted the universal acid, but re¬
jected the mercurial eanh. The number of elements
in the theory thus modified by Stahl amounted to five.
These were, air, water, phlogiston, earth, and the uni¬
versal acid.
This mode of considering the elements of bodies, of
their first principles, and of admitting such arbitrary
and erroneous distinctions, is justly banished from che¬
mical science. All substances are supposed to be simple,
which have not been decomposed, without regard to
primitive elements or principles, such as are hitherto
not ascertained by experiment.
2. To acquire the knowledge of those properties of
bodies, investigation of which is properly included un¬
der the chemical science, two methods are employed :
The one is the method of analysis or decomposition ; the
other is that of synthesis, or composition. By the one,
the different simple substances of which compound
bodies consist, are separated, and their properties indi¬
vidually examined \ by the other, the simple substances
are combined together, and the properties of the new
4- compound are investigated.
Analysis. Different modes of analysis have been admitted and
described by chemical writers. Some bodies, when ex¬
posed to the action of heat and air, undergo a total se¬
paration of their component parts. This is called span-,
taneops analysis. Thps, some minerals, and all vege¬
table and animal matters, when deprived of life in fa- jr,trojt
vourable circumstances, slowly separate into their com- tion.
ponent parts j and in the same way the principles of'T-
which some liquids are composed, re-act on each
other, and spontaneously separate, thus giving an op¬
portunity of investigating the nature of these substan¬
ces.
Analysis by fire operates by the accumulation of
caloric in bodies j and by the power which it has of
separating their particles to favour their examination.
But this instrument of analysis is to be considered only
as one of the means which should concur with many
others, to throw light on the real composition of bodies.
For it wTill afterwards appear, that the different quan¬
tities of caloric accumulated in bodies, have the greatest
effects in giving different results, and changing the order
of decomposition.
Another mode of analysis is by means of re-agents.
This is conducted by placing the compound body which
is to be examined, in contact with various substances,
which have the power of separating its constituent parts.
This is always done by forming a combination with
one of the constituents, to the exclusion of others. It
is here that the genius and science of the chemist ap¬
pear most conspicuous $ for every substance in nature,
and all the products of art, become valuable instru¬
ments in his hands, to ascertain the nature, and to
examine the properties, of the substances which come
under his examination. The different means of analy¬
sis which chemists have employed, to arrive at the
knowledge of compound bodies, have been deemed of
such importance and utility, that chemistry has been
called the science of analysis. ^
Synthesis, or composition, is the union of two orsjnthesi
more simple substances. This union, from whence a
new compound results, has become an important step
in prosecuting knowledge of the properties of bodies,
and in forming a number of products useful in the arts,
and necessary to our wants ; and thus it is considered
by chemists as in some measure the inverse of the me¬
thod of analysis, as the perfection of their art, and one
of the great, instruments of their operations. The me¬
thod of synthesis or composition, considered as a che¬
mical process to acquire the knowledge of the intimate
and reciprocal action of bodies, is in reality more fre¬
quently employed than that of analysis j and the name
of the science, if we were to regard these two methods,
should rather be called the science of synthesis than the
science of analysis. In all cases of complicated ana¬
lysis, the operations are synthetic. Compounds of an
inferior order are formed, but more numerous than the
first compounds which were subjected to analysis or ex¬
amination.
But besides, there are many bodies which have never
yet been decomposed. It is only by composition or
synthesis, that is, by combining them with others, and
by examining the nature of the compounds which are
formed by this combination, that the chemical proper¬
ties of these can be investigated.
However various the operations of chemistry may be j
however numerous and different from each other the
results obtained *, they may all be referred to analysis
or synthesis, and be regarded either as combinations or
decompositions.
3. It must be universally allowed, that it is of vast
importance,
J, i;llic
ill.
17
A r'e-
. importance, in acquiring or communicating knowledge,
to have a clear view of the objects of our studies j and
' this becomes the more necessary, in propoition as the
facts in any science are accumulated, and the objects
which it comprehends become more numerous. In
many of the arrangements of chemical knowledge
which have been proposed to the world, the objects of
this science have been classed together according to
certain resemblances in one or two points, while they
are totally distinct in all others. But an arrangement
which is founded on the properties and characters of
substances which have not been fully ascertained and
generally admitted, must tend to obstruct, rather than
facilitate the acquisition of science. If, for instance,
the objects of chemical knowledge are to be arranged
according to their combustibility or incombustibility,
the nature of the process of combustion ought to lie
fully understood, and the effects of combustion on the
substances to be classed in this way, clearly establish¬
ed. if all this has not been previously attended to,
the principles of the arrangement must be false, and
must unavoidably lead to error. As a proof of the
truth of our remarks, the same substance has been con¬
sidered by one chemist as a combustible body, and ar¬
ranged by another in the class of combustibles j and
even by the same chemist it is described as combustible
at one time, and incombustible at another, according
to the theoretic nomenclature which then prevails.
Without pursuing any method of arrangement found¬
ed on particular theories or systems, we shall en¬
deavour, in the following treatise, to lay before our
readers a full view of the present state of chemical
science j and in arranging the great body of facts of
which it consists, we shall observe the two following-
rules. i. To introduce the substances to be examined
according to the simplicity of their composition j and,
2. According to their importance as chemical agents.
The plan which we propose to pursue, in treating of
these different classes of bodies, is, i. To consider their
properties as simple substances, and, 2. The combina¬
tions which they form with those which have been de¬
scribed. By previously following out this plan, we
hope to have less anticipation and repetition than would
otherwise be occasioned.
In conformity with the principles now stated, the
following table exhibits a view of the order which we
shall observe in this treatise. In the present state of
chemical science, and in its application to explain the
phenomena of nature, or to improve the arts of life,
the whole may be conveniently arranged into twenty
chapters,
I. Affinity.
II. Light.
III. Heat.
IV. Oxygen Gas.
V. Azotic Gas and its combinations.
VI. Hydrogen, &c.
VII. Carbone, &c.
VIII. Phosphorus, &c,
IX. Sulphur, &c.
X. Acids, &c.
1. Sulphuric,
2. Nitric,
3. Muriatic, (Chlorine.)
4. Oxiodic and Hydriodic (Iodine,) &c.
CHEMISTRY.
429
XI. Inflammable Substances.
1. Alcohol,
2. Ether,
3. Oils,
XII. Alkalies.
1. Potash and its combinations.
2. Soda.
3. Litbina.
4. Ammonia.
XIII. Earths.
1. Lime and its combinations.
2. Barytes.
3. Strontites.
4. Magnesia.
5. Alumina.
6. Silica.
7. Yttria.
8. Glucina.
9. Zirconia.
10. Thorina.
XIV. Metals.
1. Arsenic and its combinations.
2. Tungsten.
Molybdena.
Chromium.
Columbium.
Titanium.
Uranium.
8. Cerium..
9, Cobalt.
10. Nickel.
11. Manganese.
12. Bismuth.
13. Antimony.
14. Tellurium*
15. Selenium.
16. Mercury.
17. Zinc.
18. Tin.
19. Lead.
20. Iron.
21. Copper.
22. Silver.
23. Gold.
24. Platina.
25. Rhodium.
26. Palladium.
27. Iridium.
28. Osmium.
XV. The Atmosphere.
XVI. Waters.
1. Sea water.
2. Mineral waters.
XVII. Minerals.
1. Component parts.
2. Analysis.
XVIII. Vegetables.
I. Functions.
2- Decomposition.
3. Component parts.
XIX. Animals.
1. Functions.
2. Decomposition.
3. Component parts.
XX.
CHEMISTRY.
XX. Arts and Manufactures.
1. Soaps.
2. Glass.
3. Porcelain.
4. Tanning.
5. Dyeing.
6. Bleaching.
In the preceding arrangement, the first chapter treats
of affinity, or the laws of chemical action. In the two
following chapters, the properties of light and heat are
detailed. These are considered as material substances;
but their properties can only be known in combina¬
tion with other bodies, as they have never been found
in a separate state. They likewise so far elude the
sense of touch as to be imponderable and unresisting.
Oxygen, azote, and hydrogen, which are considered as
the basis of oxygenous, azotic, and hydrogenous gases,
are treated of in the 4th, 5th, and 6th chapters ; but
these substances are not generally cognizable by the
sense of sight, as light and heat elude the grasp of
touch. They are known in a state of combination, the
aeriform or gaseous state, when they are combined
with caloric, or the matter of heat. The three follow¬
ing substances, carbone, phosphorus, and sulphur,
which are the subjects of the 7th, 8th, and 9th chap¬
ters, are considered as simple, because they have never
been decomposed. They can be exhibited in the solid
state. Two of them being very abundantly diffused in
nature, and entering into an immense number of com¬
binations with other bodies ; and the third, namely,
phosphorus, possessing very singular properties ; it be¬
comes of great importance that they should be early
known.
The acids are treated of in the 10th chapter. They
fall to be arranged in this place, because the constitu¬
ent parts of some of the most important are derived
from the substances which have been already treated of.
The properties of the class of acid bodies ought also to
be early known, because they are the most powerful
instruments of analysis in the hands of the chemist.
In many of them he can scarcely proceed a single step
without their aid.
The bodies treated of in the nth chapter, name¬
ly, alcohol, ether, and oils, under the head of inflam¬
mable substances, are now introduced, because the
nature and properties of the substances which enter
into their composition have been previously examined ;
because one of them is the result of a chemical action
between the acids and alcohol; and because some of
them are extensively employed as chemical agents. In
the 12th, 13th, and 14th chapters, the properties and
combinations of the alkalies, earths, and metals, are de¬
tailed. These three classes of bodies were formerly
considered as alike, simple, undecompounded substances.
That character, however, belongs only to the metals.
Some of them have formed the subjects of the most im¬
portant and interesting chemical researches. They
are first to be treated of in their nature as simple or
compound substances ; and next, as they enter into
combination with the different classes of bodies which
are already known, particularly with that of the acids,
forming the numerous classes of alkaline, earthy, and
metallic salts, most of which are not only of vast im¬
portance, as objects of chemical research, but also of
extensive utility in the arts of life.
In the six following chapters, our chemical know- introdi
ledge is to be applied in explaining the appearances of tion.
nature, so far as they are supposed to depend on che- 't-
mical action. The 15th chapter treats of the chemi¬
cal changes and combinations which take place in the
atmosphere. The waters, as they are found on the
earth ; the different ingredients with which they are
impregnated ; the nature and quantity of these ingre¬
dients, and the methods of discovering and ascertain¬
ing them, form the subject of the 16th chapter. The
17th chapter is employed in giving a view of the com¬
ponent parts of mineral productions, and in describing
the methods of analyzing or separating the parts which
enter into their composition. The functions of vege¬
tables and animals, or those changes which take place
in them in the living state, which seem to be depend¬
ent on chemical action ; the changes which they un¬
dergo by spontaneous analysis, or separation into their
constituent parts, and the nature and properties of
these elements, will be the subject of discussion in the
18th and 19‘h chapters. The 20tb chapter, in which
chemical science is applied to the improvement of arts
and manufactures, is not one of the least important and
interesting ; and a full view of this part of the subject
would exhaust the whole of the useful detail of chemi¬
cal knowledge. But, in the following treatise, it is
not proposed to enter at full length into the different
branches of the arts and manufactures, but only to give
a slight view of their general principles, so far as they
depend on chemistry, referring for the particular dis¬
cussion of each to the different heads under which they
will be found arranged in the course of the work.
Chap. I. Of AFFINITY.
Before we enter into the detail of those changes
which take place by the action of bodies upon each
other, producing compounds which are possessed of to¬
tally different properties, and thus exhibiting the cha¬
racters of chemical action, it is necessary to take a
view of the circumstances in which these changes are
effected, or, in other words, the laws of combination or
chemical affinity. ^ i
The term ajjinitij, which is the expression of a force jjjstory
by which substances of different natures combine with
each other, seems to have been pretty early employed l!y
chemical writers. Barchusen seems to be among the first
who employed it. “ Arctam enim atque reciprocam inter
se habent affinitatem.” It was afterwards brought in¬
to more general use, and its application more precisely
defined by Boerhaave*. His words are remarkable,
“ Particulse solventes et solutse, se affinitate sure natu-chem-
rse colligunt in corpora homogenea.” And to explain part, 2
his meaning still more cleai'ly, he adds, “ non igitur
hie etiam actiones mechanics, non propulsiones vio-
lentse, non inimicitise cogitandae, sed amicitia.” To
avoid the metaphorical expression affinity, Bergman
proposed the term attraction ; and to distinguish che¬
mical attraction, which exists only between particular
substances, from that attraction which exists between
all the bodies in nature, he prefixed the word elective*
The word affinity, however, is now employed by all
chemists.
The different tendencies of bodies to combine with
43°
48
explained.
mty.
tion
lined
V tahl.
t 'dm.
her.
C H E M
each other, or the relative degree of affinity which
exists between them, could not long be overlooked by
those whose attention was occupied in observing che¬
mical changes. And to explain this difference of ac-
tiod, a maxim of the schoolmen was adopted*, simile
venit ad simile. The same doctrine was held by Bee¬
cher, that substances which were capable of chemical
combination, possessed a similarity of particles. Other
attempts were made to explain chemical action, by
considering solvents as consisting of points, finer or
coarser, which were mechanically disposed to enter in¬
to the pores of certain substances which they were ca¬
pable of holding in solution. But Stahl, as appears
from his works, rejected the notion of mechanical
force, and ascribed the power of solvents to contact, or
to the attraction of cohesion. “ Combinationes quas-
cunque non aliter fieri, quam per arctam appositionem.”
And afterwards, he speaks still more precisely when he
says, “ non per modum cunei, neque per modum in-
cursus, in unam partidulam separandam, sed potius per-
modum apprehensionis, seu arctae applicationis j” and
then he adds, “ est inde ration! quam maximae consen-
taneum, quod effectus tales potius arctiore unione sol-
ventis cum solvente contingant, quam nuda et simplici
formal! instrumental! divisione t.”
Having made this important step in the considera¬
tion of chemical action, the experiments and observa¬
tions of the sagacious chemist led him to conclude that
a combination between two substances, once formed,
could not be destroyed, without effecting a more inti¬
mate union of one of the constituent parts with some
other substance.
The next step in the method of observing and study¬
ing chemical affinity was made by Geoffrey the Elder.
He collected the scattered facts, to determine the foi'ce
or measure of their degrees of union, and to establish
rules of analysis and composition. Elis first table of af¬
finity was presented to the Royal Academy of Sciences
at Paris in the year 1718. This consisted only of 17
columns, which were but imperfectly filled up, and ex¬
hibited rules, most of which have been changed j but
with all its errors, it ought to be considered as one of
the earliest true guides in medical knowledge.
The first material improvement in Geoffroy’s table
was made by Gellert, professor at Ereyberg. In his
Chemia Metallurgical published in 1750, there is a
new table of affinity, which extends to 28 columns.
At the bottom of each column is given a list of sub¬
stances with which the body at the head of the column
has no action. Rudiger, in the year 1756, insei’ted a
table of affinity in his system of chemistry, in which he
reduced the number of columns to 15. In this table
l he placed the fixed alkalies and lime parallel with each
*1 “pro- other, and before ammonia, the column of acids. He
pointed out also with a good deal of accuracy, in a small
separate table, those substances which refuse to com-
; hine without the agency of intermediate substances.
•O' n- The next important addition to the knowledge of
01 affinities, was made by M. Limbourg. In his table
the number of columns was extended to 33. This
table was the fullest and most accurate of any that had
yet appeared. He had justly observed that zinc, of all
metallic substances, should be placed at the head in
the column exhibiting the affinities of the acids, and
that even in the dry way it precipitated them all. He
1 :s m-
T id,
3
« :d,
I S T R Y.
43i
Affinity.
asserted that lime and the caustic alkalies acted by
affinity on animal matters : and besides, he stated some
cases in which a change took place in the order of affi¬
nities, by a change of temperature, or by the volatility
of one of the substances.
This subject, the importance of which was sufficient-By Berg-
ly obvious, was now assiduously investigated by manynmtu
chemists. The number of tables was multiplied, and
the system of affinity more fully established. But the,
greatest improvement which it had hitherto received,
was made by the celebrated Bergman, in his disserta¬
tion on elective attractions, published in the Transac¬
tions ol the Royal Society of Upsal, in the year 1775.
His tables, editions of which appeared in 1779 and
17^3> have been justly regarded as commanding speci¬
mens of the sagacity and industry of (he author. The
affinities of 59 substances are ascertained with great
accuracy: and the distinction between those that take
place in the moist and dry way, is particularly stated,
as well as the distinction between simple and compound
affinities, which has led to the explanation of a great
number of apparent anomalies. Since the time of
Bergman, this subject has been prosecuted by many of
the most distinguished philosophical chemists. Among
these we may mention the industrious and indefatigable
Kirwan of our country ; and among the French philo¬
sophers, Morveau and Berthollet, more especially the
latter, distinguished for his skill and sagacity, who, in
his researches concerning the laws of affinity, and
his Treatise on Chemical Statics, has opened a new field
of inquiry, corrected many former errors, and pointed
out some new laws in this interesting and importaut
subject. ^
All bodies with which we are acquainted are influ-All botlie*
enced by a certain force, by which they are attracted attract,
towards each other. A stone, when unsupported, falls
to the ground j the planets are attracted by the sun j
two polished plates of metal, of glass, or of marble,
when brought into close contact, adhere with a certain
force ; a piece of wood or stone requires a considerable
degree of force to separate its particles; and lime and
sulphuric acid enter into such close combination, that
an equal degree of force is required to overcome that
combination, or to separate the particles from each
other. Whatever may be the nature of these attrac¬
tions, or the cause of these different combinations, or
whether they are all to be ascribed to the same univer¬
sal law pervading matter, as some have supposed, they
have been described by philosophers under different
names. The attraction, which exists between all bodies
in the solar system, was designated by Newton by the
general term attraction ; he demonstrated that this uni¬
form and universal law was precisely the same as the
law of gravitation, or the descent of heavy bodies to¬
wards the earth $ that this attraction was an essential
property of all matter ; that the minutest particles, in
proportion to their bulk, were equally influenced with
the largest masses ; that the same power which retain¬
ed the planets in their orbits, gave form to the drops of
rain. .58
That attraction which is exerted between two polish-Different
ed surfaces brought into contact, has been called ct/-names of
hesion. When particles of the same nature are at-a<Enity*
tracted or held together, the expression of the force by
which this is effected, has received the name of cohe¬
sion.
432
Affinity.
CHEMISTRY.
59
III what
circum¬
stances it
happens.
6d
Accounted
for.
•Wo/2, homogeneous affinity, or the attraction of aggrega¬
tion ; but when dissimilar particles, or the particles of
two substances of different qualities, combine together,
the force or attraction which is here exerted has been
called heterogeneous affinity, the attraction of composi¬
tion, or, strictly speaking, chemical affinity. In the
three following sections, we propose to give an account
of the opinions and doctrines which have been held bv
philosophers with regard to the nature and force of
these attractions. Of the two first we shall only take
a short view ; but shall enter more fully into the detail
of the latter, namely, chemical affinity, which more
strictly belongs to our present subject.
Sect. 1. Of Adhesion.
By adhesion, is to be understood, that force which
retains different substances in contact with each other.
Thus, water adheres to the finger, which is said to be
wet, and mercury brought into contact with gold, ad¬
heres with great force. Adhesion takes place, either
between two solids, as marble or glass j or between
solids and fluids, as when water rises in capillary tubes j
or between two fluids, as water and oil. Dr Desagu-
liers found by experiment, that two plates of glass, of
one-tenth of an inch in diameter, adhered with a force
equal to 17 ounces. The adhesion of two fluids has
been proved by the experiment of Lagrange and Cigna,
as that of oil and water, between which it was former¬
ly supposed there existed a natural repulsion j and the
experiments on capillary attraction, and particularly
the ascent of water between two panes of glass, which
was ascertained by Dr Brook Taylor, have established
the attraction between solids and fluids.
This adhesive force, or the cause of this attraction,
has been differently accounted for by philosophers. In
a dissertation on the weight of the atmosphere, pub¬
lished in 1682 by James Bernoulli, he ascribes the
resistance which two polished pieces of marble oppos¬
ed to their separation to the pressure of the air ; and
in proof of this, he states as a fact, that the two plates
could be easily separated in vacuo. But it has been
supposed that he had either never attempted to verify
this fact, or that the experiment had been accompanied
by some fallacy. Dr Taylor concluded from his ex¬
periments, that the intensity of the adhesive power of
surfaces might be measured by the weight which was
required to separate them. About the same time Mr
Hawksbee proved by experiment, that the. adhesion of
surfaces and capillary attraction were not to be ascrib¬
ed to the pressure of the atmosphere, as Bernoulli had
supposed : but Lagrange and Cigna, after having prov¬
ed the adhesion between oil and water, thought that it
was owing to a different cause from that of attraction.
They supposed that it was occasioned by the pressure
of the air, and that the opinion of Dr Taylor was not
well founded. Such were the opinions held by philo¬
sophers on this subject, when Morveau, in the year
I773» instituted a series of experiments on adhesion,
which he exhibited at Dijon. By these experiments
he proved, that this attraction was not owing to the
pressure of the air, but entirely to the mutual attrac¬
tion of the two substances. To prove this, a polished
plate of glass was suspended from the arm of a balance,
and placed in contact with a surface of mercury. The
3
weight necessary to separate the two surfaces was equal
to nine gros and some grains. The whole apparatus'—■~sr-
was placed under the receiver of an air-pump, which
was exhausted of the air as much as possible. Exactly
the same force was still required to separate the sur¬
faces. The same disk of glass brought into contact
with pure water, adhered to it with a force equal to
258 grains j but from the surface of a solution of po¬
tash, it required only a force of 210 grains. This in¬
equality of effects with equal diameters, and in the in¬
verse order of the respective densities, seemed not on¬
ly to be decisive in favour of Dr Taylor’s method, but
appeared to point out the possibility of applying it to
the calculation of chemical affinities. For the force of
adhesion being necessarily proportional to the points
of contact, and the sum of the points of contact not
varying in the adhesion of a fluid and a solid with equal
surfaces, but by the figure of their constituent parts,
the difference of the results points out to us precisely
a cause analogous to that which produces affinity, the
force of which it becomes easy, in these circumstances,
to measure and compare. g.
To ascertain the accuracy of this method, plates ofMonea
the different metals, of an inch in diameter, and of,:xPe1'-
equal thickness, perfectly round, and well polished, 11'ent>'
were procured. They were furnished, each with a
small ring in the centre, to keep them suspended pa¬
rallel to the horizon. Each of the plates was suspend¬
ed in turn to the arm of an assay balance, and accurate¬
ly counterpoised by weights in the opposite scale. Thus
balanced, the plate was applied to the surface of mer¬
cury in a cup, by sliding it over the mercury in the
same manner as is practised for silvering mirrors, to
exclude the whole of the air. Weights were then put
into the opposite scale, till the adhesion between the
plate and the mercury was broken. In each experi¬
ment fresh mercury was employed. The following table
exhibits the results of these experiments.
Grains,
Gold adheres to mercury with a force equal to 446
Silver - - - - 429
Tin - - - - -418
Lead - - - - 397
Bismu tli - - . 372
Zinc - - - - 204
Copper - - - - 142
Antimony - - - 126
Iron . _ - - - 115
Cobalt - 8
In considering the remarkable differences, we clearly
see that the pressure of the atmosphere has little or nc
influence, since its effects must have been precisely si¬
milar in the different cases, nor do they depend on the
difference of polish on the surface j for a plate of iron,
simply smooth and filed, adheres more strongly than a
plate of the same diameter which has received the high¬
est polish. Nor are these differences owing to the dif¬
ference of density ; for in this case silver would follow
lead j cobalt would adhere with a greater force than
zinc, and iron with a greater than that of tin. On the
contrary, the order of their densities is reversed. M hat
then is the order in which the adhesion of these differ¬
ent substances takes place? It is precisely, says Mor-
veau, the order of affinity, or the greater or less solubi¬
lity
Unity.
62
i aid’s.
63
uisites.
C H E M
llty of the metals in mercury. Gold, of all the metals,
attracts mercury most strongly j but mercury dissolves
neither iron nor cobalt, and therefore they are placed
at the bottom of the list. This correspondence, he far¬
ther observes, cannot certainly be the effect of chance,
but clearly depends on the general property of matter
called attraction. This property, which is always the
same, and always subject to the same laws, produces
according to him very different effects, corresponding to
the different distances between the particles occasioned
by the variety of elementary forms ; and thus it may
be possible to estimate the force of chemical affinity by
the force of adhesion. In the present case, for instance,
the real affinities which tend to combine mercury with
gold, silver, zinc, and copper, may be expressed by the
above numbers 446, 429, 204, and 142.
Achard of Berlin, convinced by Morveau’s experi¬
ments, of the accuracy of Dr Taylor’s method, saw its
importance in chemistry ; and having examined the
principle, made a great number of applications of it,
which he published in 1780. The result of these ob¬
servations, if accurately obtained, can alone guide us in
estimating the points of contact by adhesion, and by
calculating the points of contact, to ascertain the figure
of the particles which touch, and the resulting affini¬
ties. Three conditions are essential to the accuracy
and uniformity of each experiment. 1. That the solid
body whose adhesion with a fluid is to be estimated be
so suspended as to be in a horizontal position, and that
the force employed to detach it, should always act in a
line which forms a right angle with the surface of the
fluid. 2. That there be no air interposed between the
surface of the solid and the fluid; and, 3. That the
weights employed as a counterpoise may be added, espe¬
cially towards the end, in very small quantity, not more
than a quarter of a grain each j and to avoid any sud¬
den jerk, they should be placed gently in the scale.
The first point which he wished to ascertain was,
whether the difference of atmospherical pressure, the
temperature remaining the same, caused any difference
in the adhesion of surfaces. For he found that the
adhesive force between a plate of glass and distilled
water was the same at all pressures, but the uniformity
of the results varied when he operated at different
degrees of temperature, while the elevation of the
barometer continued the same j and he found that this
variation did not arise from the different temperatures
of the surrounding air, but from that of the water.
When the fluids are colder, the adhesion is the stronger;
and the reason is obvious : containing more matter un¬
der the same volume, they must present a greater num¬
ber of points of contact in the same space ; and since
the force of the adhesion is in proportion to the number
of the points of contact, it ought to increase when the
fluids are condensed by cold, and to diminish when they
are rarefied by heat. Achard did not stop with ob¬
serving these variations of the force of adhesion be¬
tween glass and water heated to diflerent temperatures ;
he subjected them to calculation, to verify his observa¬
tions, and render their application easy to all degrees.
Wre subjoin his table exhibiting the force of adhesion
by observation, and also by calculation. He proceed¬
ed on the following data.
Let x be the temperature of the water, y the corre-
Vol. V. Part II. t
I S T R Y.
sponding adhesion, h its coefficient, and a the constant
force. We have then the equation x—a by. To
find the value of a and Z*, he employed two observa¬
tions ; the one in which water at 104® of Sulzer’s ther¬
mometer, adhered to the glass disk with a force equal
to 80 grains, and the other in which water at 56°
adhered with a force equal to 89 grains. Proceeding
from these two terms I04°=ra—806
56 —a—89 £,
we have 0=530
9
And thus the relation of the temperature of water to
its adhesion to glass may be thus expressed : #=530—
48
—y ; and from thence are deduced the corresponding
values of x and y for all the adhesions of glass to water
at any temperature. Such are the data from which,
and the corresponding experiments, Achard formed
the table which exhibits the adhesive force of a glass
disk of inch in diameter, to water at different tem¬
peratures; and shewing the difference of the results.
TABLE I.
Degrees of
Sulzer’s
Therm.
Degrees of
Fahren.
Therm.
95
90
75
70
65
60
55
5°
45
40
35
32
25
20
J5
10
141.687
I35-9I4
130.141
124.368
118.595
112.822
107.049
101.276
95-5°3
89.73°
83-957
78.184
72.411
66.638
60.865
55-°92
49-3 x9
43-546
Adhesion
by Experi¬
ment.
81.25 grs
82.5
83- 75
84- 5
85- 75
86.
87-25
88.5
89.
90.25
9°-75
92.
92- 75
93- 75
94- 5
95- 75
96.25
97-5
Adhesion
found by
Calculation.
8i-55
82.5
83- 43
84- 37
85- 31
86.25
87.18
88.12
89.06
90.
9°-93
9i-87
92.81
93-73
94.68
95.62
96.56
97-5
Difference.
—0.3
O.
-fO.34
+°-I3
+ 0.46
—O.25
-f-O.07
4-0.38
—O.06
-f-O.25
—0.l6
+°-I3
—0.04
4-0.02
—0.l8
+ °-I3
—O.3I
o.
64
Adhesion
of glass to
water.
The temperature being supposed to continue the
same, if this principle be well founded, the force of
adhesion of any given body with water, ought not only
to increase or diminish according to the extent of sur¬
face, but these difl’erences ought to be as the difference
of the surfaces.
If then p be the force with which a disk of glass
whose diameter is c, adheres to water, and y the force
of adhesion of another disk, whose diameter is b, we
b*p
shall have the proportion a* : b* :: p : y and y= —.
To verify the order of this progression, either with
water or other fluids, Achard employed disks of glass
from to 7 inches in diameter, having first ascertain¬
ed their force of adhesion with these fluids, by the
3 I number
434 CHEMISTRY.
Affinity, number of grains which were necessary to overcome it. periment and of calculation, which if the procedure Affim’t
» .1- y—»i Jfe afterwards calculated the same by the above equa- be free from error, correspond as nearly as could be '—“v
tion. The following Table exhibits the results of ex- expected.
TABLE II.
The force of adhesion between glass disks of different diameters, and different kinds of fluids, determined by
experiment and calculation.
65
To different
fiuids.
Diani. of
the disk.
Inches
i-75
2.
2.25
2-5
2.75
3-25
3-5
3-75
Distilled water.
Experim.
gre.
364-
494-5
647.25
818.75
IOIO.
1223.5
I457-
I7°9-
j98i-5
2257.
2587.
4044.
5824-5
7926.25
Calcul.
grs.
49-5
647.
819.
ion.
1223.
1456.
1708.
1982.
2257-
2588.
4044.
5324.
7927-
Alcohol.
Exper.
grs.
2l6.
294-25
384-
457-5
600.
725-
863.25
1015.
1177.
I538-
2399-
3455-5
47°3-
Calcuh
grs.
294-
384-
457-
600.
726.
864.
1014.
1176.
I35°
lS36
2400
3456-
4704.
Liquid ammonia.
Experim.
grs.
328.
447-
582.
738-
912.
1103.
I3II-5
i538-25
1786.
2049.
2332-
3^45-
5248.25
Calcul.
grs.
446-
Solution of potash.
Experim
grs.
420.
571-
583-
738-
911
1102.
I312
I539
i785-
2050
2332
3644-
7T43-
5248.
7r43
Calcul.
gr-.
SV
746.
945-
1167.
I4IO-75
1680.5
[97°-
2287.
2624.5
2986.
4665.8
6721.
9146.
746.
945-
1166.
1411.
1680.
I97I-
2286.
2625.
2986.
4666.
6720.
9l46-
Oil of turpentine.
Experim.
grs-
240.
326.5
425-
Caieul.
grs.
326.
426.
539-
667.
806.
961.
1126.5
I3°5-75
1500.
I7°7-
2666.
3839-5
5227.
54°-
666.
806.
960.
1126.
1306.
1500.
Einseed oil.
Experim.
grs.
268.
363-25
475-
604.
744-
901.
Calcul
grs.
364-
476.
603.
744-
9OO.
IO72.25
1259.
i458-5
1706.
2666.
3840.
5226.
1675.25
1905.
29.77
4289.25
1072
1258
J459
1675
I9°5
2977
4288
5835-75
5836
Achard also instituted a series of experiments with with the order of chemical affinities. But besides, some
different solid substances, formed into disks of equal of the results cannot be admitted as perfectly legitimate,
diameters, and applied to the surface of different fluids. on account of the chemical action which would neces-
The following table shows the results of those experi- sarily take place when some of the substances were
ments -, but from these results it appears, that the force brought into contact ; as some of the metals would be
of adhesion does not depend on the specific gravity, acted on by the acids, and others by the solutions of
either of the solid or the fluid j nor does it correspond metallic salts.
TABLE
inity,
CHEMISTRY.
TABLE III.
The force of adhesion of different solids, in disks 1.5 inch in diameter, with water and other fluids, at “J0C
Fahrenheit’s thermometer, determined in grains.
6«
(j ilTerent
J s to
d rent
>-!
Solids.
cilic 1
vity. j;
Specific
gra
'zj
JZ 6
Plate-glass
Rock-crystal
Green oriental
jasper
Gypsum
Sulphur
Yellow wax
Ivory
Horn
Iron
Copper
Tin
Lead
Brass
Zinc
ICOO.
91.
9o.
80.
965-
97-
90.
84.
93-5
96-5
94-5
100.25
99.
96.
3 -T3
"S.'S
l868.4
II5-
11 2.
96.
[ 99-75
123.
120.5
114.
io4-75
116.
123.
:29.25
124.
c ^
a; c
U v
IOI9.4
87.
86.
120.5
78.
92.5
92-75
90.
85.
88.
92.
98.
96.
90.25
842.
54-
a) »-a
4131-5
98.
52.
96.25
46.5
58.
56-5
92.
83-75
56.
57-25
55-5
59-
59-
57-
98-75
99.8
87.25
107.
106.5
84.
76.25
104.
106.
103.5 100
U OJ
->-■ o,
1> o
« o
IOOO.
96.
95-
88.5
85-
101.5
103.
86.
81.
98.25
102.
1 JO.
106.25
toy.
I03-5
J02.
1368.4
105.
[03-
91.
93-
110.5
in.
II3-
106.
108.
112.
108.5
”5-
114.
no.
.? s
S
1046.
82.
80.
122.
71-
86.
88.
80.
74-5
83-5
87.
86.
9I-5
j: v
^•5
828.9
54-5
53-
85.5
48.
57-5
59-
881.5
60.
58-5
52-5
64.
64.
77-5
73-
55-5
58.
54-75
61.
90.
85-75
60.
56-75
52.
48.75
61.
62.5
61.
67.
65-
61.25
_! §
H
907.8
66.
66.
56.5
56.5
69.
71-
68.
68.85
69.
72.
7°-5
69.
From all these observations, then, we may conclude,
that the force of adhesion between different bodies is
altogether independent of the pressure of the air j that
it varies according to the number of points of contact
of the touching surfaces 5 and that it is probably owing
to the same cause as the force of affinity. It appears
also, that the force of adhesion between solids and fluids
is in the inverse ratio of the temperature indicated by
the thermometer, and the direct ratio of the squares of
their surfaces 5 that different solids adhere with different
degrees of force to the same fluid $ but still it must be
allowed, that experiments and observations are yet
wanting, to derive any advantage from the resplts of
adhesive force which have been obtained, in the culti¬
vation of chemical affinities.
Sect. II. OJ' the Attraction of Aggregation.
(61 rp
:sion, That force which is inherent in the particles of mat¬
ter, by which they are held together, and form masses,
is called cohesion; and when particles of the same kind
are united together, it is denominated the attraction of
aggregation, or homogeneous affinity. It is probably
the same in kind with that which we have already con¬
sidered, but differing in degree. Thus, it requires a
much greater force to separate the particles of a mass
of marble, than two polished surfaces of the same sub¬
stance brought into contact.
As the force of cohesion often opposes itself to die- Difference
mical action, and must in the researches of the chemist of force,
be destroyed or overpowered, it becomes a matter of
considerable importance to be able to estimate it.
This force differs greatly in different bodies. A very
great force is necessary to overcome the power of co¬
hesion among the particles of an iron or gold wire,
while a small degree offeree can separate the particles
of a piece of wood or stone. To ascertain this force,
experiments have been made by different philosophers,
and particularly by Muschenbroeck, on that of the co¬
hesion of solid bodies. A rod of the substance whose
3 I 2 cohesive
436 C H E M
Affinity, cohesive force was to be estimated, was suspended per-
'■"“■"V pendicularly, and weights attached to the lower extre¬
mity. The weight necessary to destroy the cohesive
force of the particles of matter in the rod, or to tear it
asunder, was considered as the measure of that force.
The following are the results of his experiments made
on different substances. The substances employed were
rods of an inch square, and the numbers in the table
indicate pounds avoirdupois.
Metals.
Steel, bar
Iron, bar
Iron, cast
Copper, cast
Silver, cast
Gold, cast
Tin, cast
Bismuth,
Zinc,
Antimony,.
Lead, cast
Metallic Alloys.
Gold 2 parts, silver I part,
Gold 5, copper i,
Silver 5, copper I,
Silver 4, tin I,
Copper 6, tin I,
Brass,
Tin 3, lead i,
Tin 8, zinc i,
Tin 4, antimony I,
Lead 8, zinc I,
Tin 4, lead I, zinc i,
Woods.
Locust tree,
Jujeb,
Beech and oak,
Orange,
Alder,
Llm,
Mulberry,
Willow,
Ash,
Plum,
Elder,
Pomegranate,
Lemon,
Tamarind,
Fir,
Walnut,
Pitch pine,
Quince,
Cypress,
Poplar,
Cedar,
Ivory,
Bone,
Horn,
Whalebone,
Tooth of sea-calf^
Bones.
135,000
74»5°o
50,100
28,600
4i,5°o
22,000
4,44°
2,900
2,600
1000
860
28,000
50,000
48,500
41,000
55,000
51,000
10,200
10,000
12,000
4>50°
13,000
20,100
18.500
17,300
ISf500
15,900
13,200
12.500
1-2,500
12; 000
11,800
10,000
9,15°
9.250
8»75o
8,330
8,130
7,656
6.750
6,000
5.500
4,880
16,270
15.250
8.750
7.500
4,075
I S T ft Y.
Various opinions have been entertained of the na- Affi t
ture of this cohesive force. According to Newton, as -y—
we have already observed, it is properly essential to all 69
matter, and the cause of the variety observed in the0p*niuns
texture of different bodies. “ The particles,” says he^ure^f"c
“ of all hard homogeneous bodies which touch onehesion.a
another, cohere with a great force 5 to account for 7°
which some philosophers have recourse to a kind of^cvrt()n'
hooked atoms, which, in effect, is nothing else but to
beg the thing in question. Others imagine that the
particles of bodies are connected by rest $ that is, in
effect, by nothing at all j and others by conspiring
motions, that is, by a relative rest among themselves.
For myself, it rather appears to me, that the particles
of bodies cohere by an attractive force, whereby they
tend mutually towards each other : which force, in the
very point of contact, is very great j at little distances
is less, and at a little farther distance is quite insen¬
sible.”
“ If compound bodies,” Dr Desaguliers observes, DeJaV
“ be so hard as by experience we find some of them lias,
to be, and yet Jiave a great many hidden pores with¬
in them, and consist of parts only laid together $ no
doubt those simple particles which have no pores with¬
in them, and which were never divided into parts, must
be vastly harder. For such bard particles gather¬
ed into a mass cannot possibly touch in more than a
few points *, and therefore, much less force is required
to sever them, than to break a solid particle whose
parts touch throughout all their surfaces, without any
intermediate pores or interstices. But how such hard
particles only laid together, and touching only in a few
points, should come to cohere so firmly, as in fact we
find they do, is inconceivable j unless there be some
cause by which they are attracted and pressed to¬
gether. Now, the smallest particles of matter may co¬
here by the strongest attractions, and constitute larger,
whose attractive force is feebler : and again, many of
these larger particles cohering, may constitute others
still larger, whose attractive force is still weaker j and
so on for several successions, till the progressions end
in the largest particles, on which the operations in che¬
mistry, and the colours of natural bodies, do depend;
and which, by cohering, compose bodies of a sensible
magnitude.” ^
_ A theory, which possesses great ingenuity and plau-Bosconc
sibility, has been proposed by Boscovich, to account
for cohesive attraction $ and some suppose, that it is on
immaterial means or powers that this attraction, ac¬
cording to this theory, depends. Dr Hutton * seems * Mai*,
to think, that Dr Priestley applies it in this view, inDi^2S|
the following passage, in which he attempts to solve
some difficulties with regard to the Newtonian doc¬
trine of light. “ The easiest method,” says Dr Priest¬
ley, speaking of this subject, “ of solving all diffi¬
culties, is to adopt the hypothesis of Mr Boscovich,
who supposes that matter is not impenetrable, as has,
perhaps, been universally taken for granted 5 but that
it consists of physical points only, endued with powers
of attraction and repulsion, in the same manner as so¬
lid matter is generally supposed to be: provided, there¬
fore, that any body move with a sufficient degree of ve¬
locity, or have a sufficient momentum to overcome any
powers of repulsion that it may meet with, it will find
no difficulty in making its way through any body what¬
ever :
C H E M
ever: for nothing else will penetrate one another but
powers such as we know do in fact exist in the same
place, and counterbalance or overrule one another.
The most obvious difficulty, and indeed almost the on¬
ly one, that attends this hypothesis, as it supposes the
mutual penetrability of matter, arises from the idea of
the nature of matter, and the difficulty we meet with
in attempting to force two bodies into the same place.
But it is demonstrable, that the first obstruction arises
from no actual contact of matter, but from mere powers
of repulsion. This difficulty we can overcome, and
having got within one sphere of repulsion, we fancy
that we are now impeded by the solid matter itself.
But the very same is the opinion of the generality of
mankind, with respect to the first obstruction. Why,
therefore, may not the next be only another sphere of
repulsion, which may only require a greater force than
we can apply to overcome it, without disordering the
j 0j arrangement of the constituent particles, but which
V n, vol, aiay be overcome by a body moving with the amazing
i. 592. velocity of light f
3 According to the theory of Boscovich, the first
amed elements or atoms of matter are indivisible, unextend¬
ed, but simple, homogeneous, and finite in number.
They are dispersed in one immense space, in such a
manner, that any two or more may be distant from
each ether any assignable interval. This interval may
be indefinitely augmented or diminished, but cannot en¬
tirely vanish. Actual contact of the atoms is therefore
impossible, seeing that the repulsive power which pre¬
vents the entire vanishing of the interval must be suf¬
ficient to destroy the greatest velocities by which the
atoms tend to unite. The repulsive power must en¬
circle every atom, must be equal at equal distances
from the atoms, and, moreover, must increase as the
distance from the atoms diminishes. On the contrary,
if the distance from the atoms increases, the repulsive
power will diminish, and at last will become equal to
nothing or vanish ; then, and not till then, an attrac¬
tive power commences, increases, diminishes, vanishes.
But the theory does not stop here $ for it supposes,
that a repulsive power succeeds to the second or at¬
tractive, increases, diminishes, vanishes ; and that there
are several alternations of this kind, till at the last an
attractive power prevails ; and though diminishing sen¬
sibly, as the squares of the distances increase, extends
to the most distant regions of our system. All the va¬
rieties of cohesion, Boscovich has shown, may be sa¬
tisfactorily accounted for from the diversity of size,
figure, and density of the cohering particles.
Bodies exist in three difi’erent states, which are quite
distinct from each other ; in the solid state, the liquid,
and in the state of elastic fluid. Solidity, he supposes,
is the consequence of the irregular figure of the parti¬
cles, and their great deviation from the spherical form,
by which free motion among them is prevented. And
thus, in solid bodies, the motion of one particle is follow¬
ed by that of the whole mass j or if the motion of the whole
mass requires a greater force to effect it than what is
necessary to destroy the cohesion of the particles, the
latter takes place. The divex-sity in solids arises from
the various degrees of force in the limits of cohesion.
The particles of fluid bodies, according to Bosco¬
vich, are spherical, and their forces are more directed
1 S T R Y.
437
4
«in
to their centres than to their surfaces ; by which mo- Affinity.
tion is freely allowed when any force is applied. Flu-  „ —•
ids, he supposes, are ol three kinds j one in which the 77
particles have no mutual power, as sand and fine pow-°.flhree
ders *, one in which they have repulsive power j suchkinds‘
are the elastic fluids, as air : and the third in which
they have an attractive power, as water, mercury, &c.
And these three kinds are produced by the primary
diflerences in the particles which compose them.
There is a class of bodies which are intermediate viscut snb-
between the solids and fluids ; the nature of which may stances,
be explained on the same principles. These are the
viscid substances, the particles of which attract each
other more strongly than the fluids, but not so strong¬
ly as the solids. In these bodies the particles deviate
so far from the spherical form, as to produce a certain
resistance among each other, and to impede their re¬
lative motion.
According to this theory, chemical phenomena may Solution,
be traced to the same principle, namely the law of the
forces and the differences in the particles which thence
arise. Solution, for instance, is thus explained. The
particles of some solid bodies have less attraction for
each other than for the particles of some fluids, and
consequently when these are applied to each other,
the particles of the solid separate, and combine with
those of the fluid j and thus a mixture of the two is
formed. But the separation of the particles of the
solid can only take place so long as the particles of the
fluid are in the sphere of their attraction j and when
either of them get beyond it, or when the attraction of
the mixture thus formed becomes equal to the attrac¬
tion of the particles of the solid for each other, no
farther solution takes place, and the fluid is said to be
saturated. But if, into this mixtui-e, another solid,
whose particles have a greater attraction for the fluid,
be introduced, the fluid will leave the former solid and
combine with the particles of the latter. The parti¬
cles of the former will fall to the bottom, i. z.precipita¬
tion will take place. go
Substances which are dissolved, may not only be ob- Evapora-
tained again by precipitation, but also by slowly ab-^0^•
stracting part of the fluid in which they are dissolved.
This is called evaporation^ and th^ solid bodies which
are thus slowly formed, generally assume some regular
shape, and are denominated crystals. As the fluid is
removed, the particles come gradually into the sphere
of the attractive power of each other, and thus attain
to some limit of cohesion, when the fluid which kept
them asunder is removed. But when a solid is ob¬
tained by precipitation, the fluid is suddenly removed
from betwixt the particles, which are consequently left
beyond the sphere of attraction of each other, and do
not therefore assume any regular form. And thus it
will follow, that the more slowly the process of evapo-.
ration goes on, the more regular will be the crystals * See Bos.
which are formed ; and this corresponds with experi-.c®wc^s
ment and observation*. theory.
Thus, solid bodies are found, either in irei-gular crvsla]i]za.
masses, or assuming regular forms by ciystallization j tion.
and the same substances which are capable of assum¬
ing regular figui-es, uniformly affect the same form ;
subject, howevex-, to certain variations from particular
circumstances. No bodies can assume the form of
crystals,
3
43 8
Affinity.
8i
Accounted
for by
S3
Newton,
C H E M
crystals, excepting such as can be reduced to the fluid
state. This, as Is well known, is the usual method of
crystallizing salts. The substances to be crystallized
are dissolved in water, which is then slowly evapora¬
ted j and as the bulk of the fluid is diminished, the par¬
ticles gradually come nearer to each other, combine
together, and form crystals. These crystals, which
are at first small, receiving the addition of other par¬
ticles, become larger, and fall to the bottom by their
gravity.
Some saline bodies, which are very soluble in hot
water, are dissolved but in small proportion in cold
Water. Hot water, which is saturated with any of
these salts, is no longer capable of holding them in so¬
lution when it cools. The particles then gradually ap¬
proach each other, and arrange themselves according
to certain determinate forms, or in other words, they
crystallize. Many of the saline bodies which crystal¬
lize in this manner, when they assume the solid form,
combine with a considerable portion of water, which
is called the water of crystallization. There is another
class of saline bodies which assume regular forms ac¬
cording to a different law. Being equally soluble in
hot and in cold water, they cannot be crystallized by
cooling the fluid in which they are dissolved, but by di¬
minishing its quantity •, and this is efiected by continu¬
ing the application of heat, that is, by the piocess of
evaporation. Salts which are crystallized in these cir¬
cumstances, contain but a small quantity of water of
crystallization. This is the case with common salt,
which is crystallized by boiling the fluid which holds it
in solution.
Many substances assume regular forms which are not
soluble in any liquid. Such, for instance, is the case
with metallic substances, and with glass, as well as some
other bodies. To crystallize substances of this nature,
they must be subjected to fusion, and thus by com¬
bining with caloric, they are reduced to the liquid
state, and the particles being separated from each other,
are left at liberty to arrange themselves into regular
crystalline forms, and by slow and gradual cooling, the
crystals are obtained more perfect.
But what is the cause that the particles of bodies
in these circumstances arrange themselves in this man¬
ner ? or what is the cause of the same bodies in the
same circumstances assuming regular figures? Some of
the ancient philosophers considered the elements of bo¬
dies as consisting of certain regular geometrical fi¬
gures ; but it does not appear that they employed this
theory to explain crystallization. The regular figure
of crystals was ascribed by the schoolmen to their sub¬
stantial forms j while others supposed that it was ow¬
ing merely to the aggregation of the particles, without
explaining the reason of this aggregation, or of the re¬
gular figures which it formed.
According to Newton, and the theory of Boscovich
which we have quoted, the particles of bodies which
are held in solution by a fluid, are arranged in regular
order, and at regular distances. When the force of
cohesion between the particles and the fluid is dimi¬
nished, that between the particles themselves is in¬
creased *, they therefore separate from the fluid, and
combine together in groups, which are composed of the
particles nearest to each other. If it be supposed, that
the particles which compose the same body have the
I S T R Y.
same figure, the aggregation of any determinate num- Affiniti
ber of such particles will produce similar figures. Ac-' /-
cording to the ingenious theory of the Abbe Hauy, the *4
integrant particles always combine in the same body in
the same way j they attach themselves together by the
same faces or the same edges ; but these faces and edges
are diflerent in different crystals. And although the
same substances are observed to crystallize in a great
variety of different forms, yet they all contain what
Hauy'calls the primitive form, or have it within them
as a nucleus ; and this nucleus or primitive figure may g5
be extracted by careful mechanical division. If then who as-
the figure of crystals is owing to the figure of the in-cr,b« it
tegrant particles, and to the peculiar mode of their ar-
rangement in combination, these particles, when they
are left at full liberty, as is the case when they are
dissolved in a fluid, will combine in the same vay, and
thus the crystals of the same body will always exhibit
similar forms. M
In prosecuting this subject, Hauy found that all the the prim
primitive forms of crystals which he had observed,dve fon
might be reduced to six j namely,
1. The parallelepiped.
2. The tetrahedron.
3. The octahedron.
4. The regular six-sided prism.
5. The dodecahedron, terminated by equal rhombs.
/C m TVltll fviQniTlllar f 3 P.PS. COmtlO-
sed of two pyramids, united base to base.
But the nucleus or primitive form of a crystal, he
observes, is not the last term of its mechanical divi¬
sion. It may be subdivided parallel to its different
faces, and sometimes also in different directions. If
the nucleus or primitive form be a parallelepiped, which
cannot be subdivided, but in a direction parallel to its
faces, as takes place in carbonate of lime, it is obvious
that the integrant particle or molecule is similar to the ^
nucleus itself. And he has found by experiment, that Figure ii
the figure of the integrant particles of all crystals may the inn
be reduced to the three following. These are, _
1. The tetrahedron, or the simplest of all pyramids.
2. The triangular prism, or the simplest of all the
prisms.
3. The parallelopepid, or the simplest of the solids
which have their faces parallel two and two.
From these primitive forms, the difference of size,
proportion, and density of the different particles of
bodies, he supposes, may account for all the diflerences
of attraction which take place in simple aggregation
and composition of bodies. The integrant particles
sometimes unite by their faces, and sometimes by their
edges, in forming the primitive crystals; and this
accounts for the different figures of the primitive
crystals, which are composed of integrant particles
of the same form. But bodies when they are
stallized do not always exhibit the same primitive
form. The deviations from this, and the varieties of
forms which are produced, are called by Hauy second-scconi1
ary forms. In some salts, for instance, the primitive forms
form is the octahedron ; but in deviating from this
form, they assume, when crystallized, that of the cube
or the dodecahedron.
These secondary forms seem to depend sometimes
on variations in the ingredients which compose the in¬
tegrant particles of particular bodies, the solvent in
which
C H E M
.in;tyt which the crystals are formed, or the diiferent de-
yJ—' crements of the laminae of the crystals. But for a full
view of this ingenious theory, see Crystallization.
Sect. III. Of the Attraction of Composition.
I S T R Y. 4J9
chemical affinity under ten different heads, which he Affinity,
has denominated the laws of affinity. In illustrating v—1 ■»
this interesting part of chemical science, we shall ob¬
serve the same arrangement.
First Law.
Bodies which are composed of particles of the same
nature cohere with a certain force, as in the particles
of water or of mercury, and those of wood or of
metal ; and this force, we have seen, acts with very dif¬
ferent degrees of intensity. In the two former, the
water and the mercury, it is comparatively weak, but
in the two latter it is very powerful,
e ained. But the particles of dissimilar bodies also enter into
combination; and thus combined, form homogeneous
substances, the parts of which cohere with great force 5
and wherever these combinations take place, the force
I of cohesion formerly subsisting between the panicles of
each of the bodies must be destroyed or overcome, be¬
fore the new combination can take place. Thus a
piece of marble is dissolved in muriatic acid ; but be¬
fore this can take place, the force of cohesion which
existed between the particles of the marble must be
overcome $ or, in other words, the force of attraction
between the particles of muriatic acid and the particles
of the marble must be greater than that between the
particles of marble themselves. This attraction then
which exists between the particles of substances of a
different nature, has been called the attraction of com-
position, heterogeneous ajfniiy, or more properly che-
5: mical affinity.
affini- An attraction or affinity, thus efficient, does not exist
1 mited. between the particles of all bodies. Thus there is no af¬
finity between a piece of marble and water, as is the case
between marble and muriatic acid, or it is not sufficient
to overcome the attractions opposed to it; and it has
been thought that there is no affinity between oil and
water, because the particles of the one do not enter in-
91 to combination with those of the other.
1 iriance Chemistry may be said to be the history of affinities,
as it consists in the detail of the numerous compositions
and decompositions which take place among natural
bodies. Without attending to the phenomena which
arise from affinity, the chemist could carry on no pro¬
cess, either of synthesis or analysis j for it is by means
of their affinities that the chemical nature of bodies
can be discovered.
In taking a general view of the phenomena which
depend upon chemical attraction, the changes or events
which are the results of this action, have been divided
into certain classes, and from their being constant and
uniform, they have been characterized by the name of
laws of chemical affinity. These may be considered as
chemical axioms, which are the principles or founda¬
tion of the science, and therefore it is necessary that
they should be well understood, before we enter into
92 the detail of the facts which it embraces.
,s* Fourcroy has arranged the facts which depend on
Chemical affinity takes place only between bodies of a Affinity
different nature, or bet ween dissimilar particles. between
This law, when considered as a law of chemical af-pal.ticieg.
finity, may be regarded as negative j for when the par¬
ticles of bodies of the same nature combine together,
it is by the force of cohesion, and therefore comes
under that species of affinity called the attraction of
aggregation. No chemical action has taken place,
no new compound is formed; which are the charac¬
teristics of chemical affinity.
But as an instance of the effect of chemical affinity
between two bodies of a different nature, we may re¬
fer to the experiments above alluded to, of the combina¬
tion which takes place between a piece of marble and
muriatic acid j for by mutual action between these
two bodies the marble has disappeared, and the acid
has totally changed its properties. The compound,
which is the result of this combination, proves that
the heterogeneous bodies have entered into intimate
mutual union.
Chemical affinity may act between two bodies, and
a combination take place, when these bodies are totally
uncombined with all others. In this case the combi¬
nation is produced by the force of affinity between the
two bodies j but when one or both of these bodies is
in a state of combination with others, the bodies which
are said to have the greater affinity for each other, do
not entirely combine together, and leave the bodies with
which they were first in combination. Suppose A and B
are two bodies which have an affinity for each other, and
are in a state of combination ; and suppose C is a third
body which has a stronger affinity for the body B than
the affinity which exists between A and B. Now,
the body C having a greater affinity for the body B
than what exists between the compound body AB
when it is brought into circumstances where the
force of that affinity can be exerted, the compound
body AB will be decomposed, that is, the body C
will combine with the body B, and will leave the
body A. It was formerly supposed by chemical phi¬
losophers, that this decomposition was complete j that
is, as in the case stated above, the affinity between C
and B being greater than the affinity between A and
B, the body C, when in sufficient quantity, abstracted
every particle of the body B from its combination
with the body A. But the experiments and observa¬
tions of the sagacious Berthollet have placed this mat¬
ter in a new light. This will be best illustrated by
detailing some of the experiments by which this inge¬
nious philosopher has clearly ascertained many curious
facts with regard to chemical affinity (d).
The sulphuric acid has a very strong affinity for the
earth
(d) The reader, it is hoped, will find no difficulty in understanding the general reasonings on this subject} but
if he should, he will be able to comprehend it fully by reverting to them, after the substances whose affinities are
given as examples, are treated of in detail in their proper places.
440
CHEMISTRY.
Aflinitv.
94
Examples.
* Resear¬
ches,
Tram/.
95
Affinity in¬
creased by
the mass.
earth called barytes, forming with It a compound which
is Insoluble either in hot or cold water. Sulphuric acid
also has an affinity for potash, but it is much weaker
than that which exists between the acid and barytes ;
yet the potash, although possessed of the weaker affini¬
ty, abstracts part of the sulphuric acid from the barytes,
and combines with it. This is proved by Berthollet hr
the following experiments.
1. He took equal quantities of pure potash, and sul¬
phate of barytes (e), and boiled them together in a
small quantity of water. According to the views which
former chemists entertained of chemical affiflity, no de¬
composition should take place, because the affinity be¬
tween the sulphuric acid and the barytes was strong¬
er than that between the acid and the potash. But
from the result of this experiment it appears, that the
sulphate of barytes was partially decomposed by the
potash, and that the sulphuric acid was divided be¬
tween the two bases $ that is, between the barytes and
the potash.
2. The oxalic acid has a greater affinity for lime than
for potash •, but if oxalate of lime, that is oxalic acid
combined with lime, be boiled along with potash in a
small quantity of water, in the proportion of one part
of the oxalate of lime to two of the potash, a partial de¬
composition of the oxalate of lime will take place, part
of the oxalic acid is abstracted from the lime, and com¬
bines with the potash*.
3. One part of phosphate of lime was boiled together
in a small quantity of water with two parts of potash.
The phosphoric acid has a greater affinity for lime
than for potash 5 but from this experiment it appeared
that the phosphate of lime was partially decomposed,
and part of the phosphoric acid having combined with
the potash, formed a new compound, phosphate of pot¬
ash.
From these experiments Berthollet observes, that the
bases which are supposed to form the strongest combi¬
nations with the acids may be separated from them by
others whose affinities are supposed to be weaker, and
that the acid divides itself between the two bases.
Where a small quantity only of the decomposing sub¬
stance is employed, the effect is not perceptible: but if
a large quantity be employed, as in one of the above
exeriments, if the sulphate of barytes had been treated
with successive portions of potash, it would have been
ultimately and almost entirely decomposed 5 for the
weaker affinity of any body is made up by increasing
the quantity of that body.
Bergman has remarked, that if six times as much of
the decomposing substance be employed as is sufficient
to saturate the base, a decomposition will he effected,
which may be considered as total, because the opposing
substance retains so small a part of that with which it
was combined, that it may escape the observer’s notice,
and he considered as an evanescent quantity. But the
above experiments shew, that a similar decomposition
could be produced, if the reverse of the experiment
which Bergman recommends had been attempted.
When one substance acts on another in combination
with a third, the subject of combination divides itself
between the two others, not only in proportion to the y w
energy of their respective affinities, but also in propor¬
tion to their quantities. The two substances which
act on the combination may be considered as opposing
forces acting on the subject of combination, and sharing
it between them in proportion to the intensity of their
action ; and this intensity may be estimated by the
quantity of the. substance and the energy of its affinity.
The effect, therefore, must increase or diminish as the
quantity increases or diminishes. Thus it appears that
elective affinity in general does not act as a determinate
force by which one body can completely separate an¬
other from a combination $ hut that in all compositions
and decompositions produced by affinity, there is a par¬
tition of the subject of the combination between the two
bodies, the energy of whose affinities is opposed, and the
proportions of this partition depend not solely on the
difference of energy in the affinities, hut also on the
difference of the quantities of the bodies j for it has
been observed that an excess of the quantity of the body
whose affinity is the weaker, compensates for the weak¬
ness of affinity.
Second Law. 1
Chemical ajffinity takes place only between the /lunate Affinit
particles of bodies. tween 3
. ' . ultima
The attraction of aggregation or cohesion which isparticl
exerted between the integrant particles of bodies, is
opposed to the action of chemical affinity. For, as in
the case just mentioned, of the combination that takes
place between a piece of marble and muriatic acid, the.
force of cohesion between the particles of the marble
must be overcome before chemical action begins, and
a new compound can he formed. The new compound
consists of the constituent particles of the two bodies,
which are now intimately united by the force of affini¬
ty existing between them.
Third Law.
Chemical affinity takes place between several bodies. Betws
It is not merely compounds consisting of the parti-
cles of two bodies, that are formed by chemical affini¬
ty, for we shall find that there are numerous instances
of three or four substances entering into chemical com¬
bination. Alum, a ivell known substance, is a com¬
pound of three substances which have entered into che¬
mical union. These are, sulphuric acid, alumina or
pure clay, and potash. The same thing happens also in
all those compounds which were formerly called triple,
now double salts, which consist, like alum, of three dif¬
ferent substances, i. e. a double base to the acid $ but
the most remarkable instances of the effects of chemi¬
cal affinity on several bodies are observed in the alloys
of some of the metals. The temperature at which the
metals are fused is generally pretty high, but the alloys
of some of them may he brought to a state of fusion at 9
a low temperature. This is the case with the alloy ofMloy j
bismuth, lead, and tin, which may he melted at thenieta‘
temperature of boiling water, which is far below the
fusing
(e) This is the compound of sulphuric acid and barvtes, according to the new chemical nomenclature, the
principles of which will be afterwards explained.
9\
( s body
t be
11.
C H E M
iBiiily. fusing point of any of the uncombined metals, and
-v—J shews by this change of their properties, that a chemi¬
cal union has been effected.
Fourth Law.
That chemical* affinity may take place between tivo
bodies, it is necessary that one of them be in the li¬
quid or fluid state.
This law is not strictly universal. In some instan¬
ces solid bodies presented to one another combine to
form a fluid. This is the case with ice and snow.
The solution of a solid body in a fluid, may be con¬
sidered as the destruction of the cohesion of its parti¬
cles, and their equal diffusion in that fluid. It is the
combination of the particles of the solid with those of
the fluid j and the compound still possesses the charac¬
teristic physical properties of the fluid. Thus, in the
first place, the force of cohesion between the particles
of a solid body is destroyed, by its solution in a fluid j
which force must always be overcome before a new
compound can be formed by the action of chemical af- ■
finity. But, 2dly, The particles of a body dissolved in
a fluid are in their ultimate, or at least a very minute,
state of division $ by which means the points of contact
between the particles of the body held in solution,
and those of any other with which it may combine, are
greatly multiplied, and thus the operation of chemi¬
cal action between these particles is greatly extended.
Many familiar processes are examples of the effects of
solution, as sugar dissolved in water •, common salt in the
same fluid ; or the experiment mentioned above, of mar¬
ble in muriatic acid. In the process of making glass
we have another example of the same nature. The
two substances which enter into the composition of
glass are in the solid state. These are siliceous earth
or sand, and an alkali. But to effect the combination
of the two solids, one of them is brought to the fluid
state by the application of heat. The alkali first melts,
and in the state of fusion the sand or siliceous earth
combines with it, and forms an uniform compound,
which is glass.
But Berthollet has shewn, that the solubility of bo¬
dies has a very great influence in modifying the action
of chemical affinity. For, he observes, when a body
is in some degree soluble, its action is composed of that
of the part dissolved and of that of the part which has
retained its solidity. It follows that its action does
not increase in proportion to the quantity employed.
Lime, for instance, acts by the part dissolved, and
by that which remains solid ; but it is probably the
dissolved part which contributes principally to the ef¬
fect produced. If the quantity of lime employed in
an experiment be doubled, without increasing the
quantity of the liquid, the quantity of lime dissolved
will rather be diminished than increased, because a part
of the liquid is absorbed by the lime which has been
added.
When an insoluble combination can become soluble by
being deprived of a part of its composition, the incon¬
venience of insolubility is easily removed. Thus it is
when the phosphate of lime is acted on by an acid.
The part of it which is within the sphere of action is
instantly converted into super-phosphate, and the other
part successively, until both the opposed substances be
reduced to a liquid state.
Vol. V. Part II. t
ICO
iCt of
bility.
I S T R Y.
“ When an eliminated substance becomes insoluble,
the precipitate which is formed retains a portion of the
substance with which it was combined, in proportion
to the individual forces which acted in the moment of
the precipitation. The operation is no farther in¬
fluenced by this portion, so that the quantity of the
precipitating body adequate to the precipitation is all
that is necessary until the end of the operation. But
the case is diflerent when the eliminated substance as¬
sumes the liquid state, for then the resistance increases
according to the progress of the decomposition ; and
hence it follows, if a substance nearly insoluble be
opposed to r. combination, and its action be conse¬
quently only partial, whilst the substance eliminated
remains liquid, that the decomposition must be quickly
stopped, whatever may be the force of the affinities.
Because it has been already shewn, that the decompos¬
ing action depends not merely on the affinities, but al¬
so on the relative quantities in action. When the sul¬
phate of potash was decomposed by means of lime, the
operation was necessarily stopped as soon as the sul¬
phuric acid was entirely divided between the potash
and lime, in proportion to their respective affinities,
and to the quantity of each which had acted on the
sulphuric acid j that is, in proportion to their respective
masses * Serthol-
But fluids in the elastic state, or the state °f gas>
are subjected to forces which are the reverse of the jCI
force of cohesion $ and thus modify in a different man-Elastic
ner the effects of the particular affinity of each sub-
stance. Elasticity acts, either by the removal of some
substances from the action of others, or by diminishing
the proportion of them that comes within the sphere of
action. But if all the substances in action be in the
elastic state, this effect will not follow, because then
they all exist in a similar condition. When a sub¬
stance, on separating from a state of intimate combina¬
tion, assumes the state of gas, it becomes elastic, and
then it can oppose no further resistance to the decom¬
posing action. And thus it appears that substances of
this nature do not act by their mass. A complete de¬
composition can then be effected by the decomposing
substance, and no greater quantity of it is required
than what would have been necessary to form the com¬
pound by direct combination. Thus, carbonic acid,
which is an elastic fluid, may be disengaged from its
combination by another substance whose affinity for the
base may be less, because that other substance can act
by its mass, and can therefore overcome the affinity of
the carbonic acid by its successive action. But if the
whole of the carbonic acid is to be expelled, the de¬
composing substance must be used in greater quantity
than what is strictly necessary to produce saturation. j02
The action which takes place when concentrated Example,
sulphuric acid is poured on dry common salt, that is,
both substances being as much as possible deprived of
water, affords a good illustration of the effect of the
elasticity of one of the substances. Common salt is
composed of muriatic acid and soda. The affinity
of the sulphuric acid for soda is greater than that
of muriatic acid. When, therefore, the sulphuric acid
is poured on the common salt, it combines with the seda,
and the affinity of the muriatic acid is diminished. It
consequently assumes the gaseous state, and acts no
longer by its mass. But if a solution of common salt
3K in
CHEMISTRY.
i°3
Change of
tempera¬
ture.
104
Examples.
in water be employed, or a diluted acid, then the mu¬
riatic acid may be retained in the water, and in this
case it can act by its mass.
When,^therefore, a substance is in the state of gas,
its elasticity is to be considered as a force opposed to the
affinity of liquid substances. When the elasticity ot ga¬
seous substances is diminished, as happens by compres¬
sion, they then combine in greater quantity with liquids.
When water is brought into contact with carbonic acid,
which is in the state of gas, it does not become saturat¬
ed with that acid, because the elasticity of the gaseous
acid opposes the dissolving power of the water : and be¬
fore its dissolving force is exhausted, the two forces are
balanced. But when the opposing elastic force is dimi¬
nished, as by compression, the dissolving power of the
water continues its action, and thus it is more fully sa¬
turated with the acid.
Fifth Law.
When bodies combine together, they undergo a change of
temperature.
All bodies contain a certain quantity of caloric, or
the matter of heat j but when any change takes place
in the nature or constitution of any body, its power
of retaining that portion of caloric is also changed.
During these changes heat is either given out or ab¬
sorbed ; and this increase or diminution of temperature
becomes obvious to our senses, or may be measured by
the thermometer.
The effects of this variation of temperature will be
greater or less, in promoting or retarding the action of
chemical affinity, according to the change which takes
place on the substances which are decomposed, or ac¬
cording to the state of the compound which is formed.
When there is a great elevation of temperature, in con¬
sequence of the heat produced by the combination of
substances, it is necessary to attend to the difference of
volatility of which the substances are susceptible by that
elevation of temperature. If the substances are not all
in the liquid state, or if one of them only be soluble, the
effect of heat is to favour their mutual action ; because
the force of cohesion, which acts even between the
particles of bodies in the liquid state, is thus diminished.
If the expansion by heat of the one of two substances
be greater than that of the other, the more expand¬
ed substance acquires a greater degree of elasticity,
and this, as has been already observed, must be consi¬
dered as a force opposing the affinity which existed be¬
tween the two bodies.
In chemical combinations, according to this law, the
temperature changes. The increase or diminution of
temperature, according to the nature of the combination
which is effected, will be best illustrated by an example
or two.
1. When lime is slaked, that is, when water is
thrown upon burnt lime, a great elevation of tempera¬
ture takes place. The water enters into combination
with the lime ; it passes from the fluid to the solid state ;
and during this change, a great quantity of caloric, or
the matter of heat, is given out, which is the cause of Afsnil
the increase of temperature (f). '~-v. t
2. As an example of two fluids when mixed together
producing a similar effect, take four parts of concen¬
trated sulphuric acid, and pour it on one part of water;
the temperature of the combined fluids will be elevated
to the boiling point of water.
In the solution of solid bodies in a fluid, there is a
great change of temperature : but in this case it is di¬
minished. This is particularly the case when salts are
dissolved in water.
1. Take muriate of ammonia, or sal ammoniac, and
dissolve it in water* and while the solution is going on, if
a thermometer be plunged into it, a considerable fall of
the mercury will be found to take place in consequence
of the absorption of caloric, or the diminution of tempe¬
rature.
2. If a quantity of water, at the temperature of 50°
or 6o° ol Fahrenheit, be poured on an equal quantity
of ice, the temperature of the water will be diminished
to the freezing point, or 32°.
3. A very low temperature is produced by a mix¬
ture of ice and common salt; and a still lower by a
mixture of snow and powdered muriate of lime. We
shall become better acquainted with the effects of these
substances in explaining the method of producing arti¬
ficial cold.
Sixth Law.
1C;
The compounds formed by chemical affinity possess new Compoi s
properties, and different from those of their consti-^KVt™
tuent parts.
We are too little acquainted with the nature of che¬
mical affinity, to be able to determine, a priori, what
is to be the result of a combination between two sub¬
stances. No information can be obtained what the na¬
ture of the union will be, from knowing the properties
of the substance which are to be combined. It is only
by experiment that the nature and properties of the
new compound can be ascertained.
Unwilling to suppose, or unable to conceive, that
the properties of the two substances which enter into
combination, had totally disappeared in the new com¬
pound, the earlier chemists imagined that the proper¬
ties of the latter were of a middle nature, consisting
of the mixed properties of the composing substances.
Hence the compounds of the acids and the alkalies
were denominated middle salts, sales medii, from pos¬
sessing the combined properties of their component sub¬
stances.
But the truth of this doctrine, with regard to the
nature of compound substances, has been fully dis¬
proved by the more accurate observations of mo¬
dern chemists ; for it is found by experiment, that the
compound formed often exhibits not a single property
of any of the substances of which it is composed. From
two mild and insipid substances, a compound is formed
which is highly acrid and corrosive ; and the result of
the combination of two powerfully corrosive substances,
is frequently a mild and insipid compounnd.
It
(f) The explanation of this phenomenon will be given when we come to treat of heat.
It Is one of the usual characteristics of chemical affi-
J nity, that there he a change in the properties of the sub¬
stances which enter into combination. This change
takes place in the sensible qualities of many of the
compounds; and some of these, as an illustration of this
law, may be mentioned.
(l.) Changes of colour. The colour of lead is a
bluish white, but when combined with oxygen it as¬
sumes a bright yellow or red colour, in proportion to
the quantity of oxygen. Cobalt, which is of a gray
colour, becomes, when combined with oxygen, of a
fine blue; and copper, which is red, exhibits, com¬
bined in the same way, a green colour.
(2.) Changes in smell. The smell of muriatic acid
is highly pungent; ammonia, or the volatile alkali, is
not less so ; but when these two are combined, form¬
ing muriate of ammonia, or sal ammoniac, the new
compound is perfectly inodorous. This last is a re¬
markable instance of two highly volatile and odorous
substances becoming fixed in the compound, and desti¬
tute of smell, and thus exhibiting a total change of
properties,
(3.) Changes in taste. 1. The taste of sulphur is near¬
ly insipid ; and oxygen, which is one of the component
parts of the atmosphere, is not only innocent, but ne¬
cessary for the existence of animals : hut when these
two enter into union, the compound formed, which is
sulphuric acid, is one of the most corrosive substances.
Sulphuric acid, which is sour and corrosive, forms
a combination with soda, which is also of a corrosive
nature ; the result, which is Glauber salt, or sulphate
of soda, is a compound of a bitter nauseous taste,
but possessing none of the corrosive properties of its
component parts.
Seventh Law.
Ise of The fot'ce of chemical affinity is estimated by the force
1 which is necessary to separate the substances which
enter into combination.
In treating of cohesion, or the attraction of aggre¬
gation, it was stated, that the method employed by
philosophers to estimate that force, was to measure the
opposite force, or that which was necessary to over¬
come the cohesive force. Thus, the weight attached
to the lower extremity of a metallic wire perpendicu¬
larly suspended, which was just sufficient to tear it
asunder, is considered as the measure of its power of
cohesion. But it will appear, from what follows, that
this law must be adopted with considerable modifica-
roj tion*
«|iated In estimating the force of chemical affinity, various
^ ie time methods have been proposed by different philosophical
e iiition; chemists. It was thought by Wenzel, that the time
which one body required to dissolve another, might be
considered as the measure of the force of affinity be¬
tween these two bodies ; but it must appear from what
has been already said, that the time of solution must
depend greatly on the cohesive force of the body
to be dissolved, and the nature of the compound which
is formed ; and, these being various, no certain mea¬
sure can be obtained from this method.
According to some, the measure of the foree of che¬
mical affinity may be estimated by the difficulty of se-
CHEMISTRY.
parating the substances which have entered into com-
or by taking the compound ratio of this, and
bination
the facility with which they are combined.
But
toS
io5
method has been invented to ascertain either the one or gcult6 off*
the other, which are the necessary previous steps in separation;
the method proposed, it is impossible, in this way, to
estimate the force of chemical affinities.
Observing the effects of the union and the abstraction by the af-
of caloric, in the operations of chemical affinity, La-finity for
voisier and La Place, in a memoir published in I783,ca,<m«*
proposed this as the method of estimating the force of
affinity. But it seems scarcely possible to measure the
force of chemical affinity between two substances by
the degree of temperature which is required to over¬
come the force of cohesion; as this degree of tem¬
perature has no measurable proportion with the force
of chemical affinity, it can afford no data for estimat¬
ing this force. And this quantity being variable and
unknown, a fixed term is wanting to form a scale of
comparison.
We have already mentioned, in treating of adhesion,
the experiments of Dr Taylor on the adhesion of sur¬
faces, and the experiments and conclusions of Morveau
and Achard on the same subject. From these Mor¬
veau has proposed to deduce a method of estimating
the force of chemical affinities. But for an account
of this, w’e refer the reader to the first section. IIO
A different method has been proposed by Mr Kir-Kirwan’*
wan, in his experiments and observations on the at-metllgd.
tractive powers of mineral acids** He observes, ^
that the principal end which he had “in view was,
to ascertain and measure the degrees of affinity or
attraction that subsist between the mineral acids and
the various bases with which they may be combined ;
a subject of the greatest importance, as it is upon this
foundation that chemistry, considered as a science,
must finally rest; and though much has been already
done, and many general observations laid down on
this head, yet so many exceptions have occurred, even
to such of these observations as seem to have been most
firmly established, that not only a variety of tables of
affinity have been formed, but many very eminent
chemists have been induced to doubt whether any gene¬
ral law whatsoever could be tracedff Ibid.
“ The discovery of the quantity of real acid in eachP* 34*
of the mineral acid liquors, and the proportion of
real acid taken up by a given quantity of each basis
at the point of saturation, led me unexpectedly to what
seems to me the true method of investigating the quan¬
tity of attraction which each acid hears to the several
bases to which it is capable of uniting. For it was
impossible not to perceive,
1st, That the quantity of real acid necessary to sa¬
turate a given weight of each base, is inversely as the
affinity of each base to such acid.
2dly, That the quantity of each base requisite to
saturate a given quantity of each acid, is directly as
the affinity of each acid to such base.
Thus, 100 grs. of each of the acids require for their
saturation a greater quantity of fixed alkali than of
calcareous earth, more of this earth than of volatile
alkali, more of this alkali than of magnesia, and more
of magnesia than of earth of alum: as may be seen
in the following table.
3 K 2 Quantity
CHEMISTRY,
Quantity of base taken up by 100 grs. of each of the three acids.
Sulphuric acid
Nitric acid
Muriatic acid
Potash.
grs.
215
215
215
Soia.
165
165
158
Lime.
grs.
I TO
96
89
Ammonia.
grs.
90
87
79
Magnesia.
grs.
80
75
71
Alum.
grs.
75
65
55
Affini
“ As these numbers,” Mr Kirvvan observes, “ agree
with what common experience teaches us concerning
the affinity of these acids with their respective bases,
they may be considered as adequate expressions of the
quantity of that affinity. Thus, the affinity of the
sulphuric acid to potash, that is, the force with which
they unite to each other, is to the affinity with which
the same acid unites to lime, as 215 grs. to no ; and
to that which the nitric acid bears to lime, as 21 ? to
nt 96.”
Objections. But to this method of Mr Kirvvan, objections
have been made by Morveau and Berthollct. It is
stated that the essential principle, of the force of affi¬
nity being in the direct ratio to the quantity of base,
is not fully established. According to the experiments
of Morveau, a quantity of sulphuric acid containing
IOO grs. of real acid, required for saturation 201 grs.
of crystallized carbonate of potash : a quantity of nitric
acid which contained 100 grs. of real acid, required
302 grs. for saturation j and a quantity of muriatic acid
containing 100 grs. of real acid, required no less than
9°5 grs* ^ie same salt for saturation. From these
experiments it appears, that Mr Kirvvan’s calculations
are erroneous, or that the principle on which he has pro¬
ceeded is false j for equal quantities of real acids re¬
quire for saturation different quantities of potash j and
besides, the quantity of base required is in the inverse
ratio to the force of affinity, which is the reverse of
Mr Kinvan’s principle.
Mr Kirwan, however, has acknowledged the force
of these objections, and has deduced the proportion of
real acid in the nitric and sulphuric acids, from less
exceptionable principles. His table, therefore, which
expresses in numbers the strength of affinities, was con¬
sidered as more correct than any previously published *,
but his general principle, that the quantity of base re¬
quired to saturate a given quantity of real acid, is the
expression of the force of affinity between the acid and
the base, is a mere assumption of a peculiar language.
Affinity is mutual between the combining bodies. It
is incongruous to make the expression of it as applied
to an acid the reverse of what it is in an alkali.
Mr K irwan has corrected the quantity of base taken
up by 100 parts of sulphuric, nitric, muriatic, and
carbonic acids, as will be seen in the following table*.* Anal.
Min. H
ter a,
103 pts.
Potash.
Soda.
Ammonia.
Barytes.
Strontites.
Lime.
Magnesia.
Sulphuric
Nitric
Muriatic
Carbonic
I 21.48
1T7-7
177.6
95-1
78.32
73-43
136.2
149.6
26.05
4°‘35
58.48
200.
178.12
314.46
354-5
138.
116.86
216.21
231.+
70.
55-7
118.3
122.
57-92
47.64
89.8
5°-
But in addition to the objection now stated to his
theory, the force of affinity, according to the experi¬
ments and observations of Berthollet, varies in propor¬
tion to the mass of any body, and therefore no method,
however accurate in other respects, will afford a cer¬
tain rule for estimating the force of chemical affinity.
F.ighth Law.
D'ff 12 t Roches have different degrees of affinity for each other.
affinities tj1<; different force of affinity which exists be-
among tween different bodies, depend many of the most im-
bodies. portant operations in chemistry ; and it is by multiply-
ing the facts which fall under this law, that chemical
science can be improved and extended.
Two* kinds. . ,ias been divided into two kinds, simple affi¬
nity, and compound affinity; producing simple elective
attractions, and double elective attractions.
Between Simple affinity.—first of these includes all those
two bodies, combinations which directly take place between two
bodies, as when muriatic acid and lime are combined
together. We have also a case of simple affinity, or
single elective attraction, when to a solution which con¬
tains two substances, a third is added which produces
the separation of one of the dissolved bodies. This
takes place when potash is added to the solution of
lime in muriatic acid. The potash has a stronger affinity
for the muriatic acid than the lime ; it therefore se¬
parates the acid from the lime, combines with it, and
remains in the solution. The lime, thus separated from
its combination, appears in the solid form, falls to the
bottom, and is called a precipitate. n!
In practical chemistry precipitates are distinguished precipi
into several kinds. It is said to be a real or true pre-tales,
cipitate, when the body which is disengaged from the
combination falls to the bottom, as in the case above,
where the lime fell to the bottom, after being separated
from the muriatic acid. A false precipitate is when
the new compound which is formed falls down, as
when sulphuric acid is added to any solution of lime;
for the compound being insoluble, it appears in the
form of a precipitate. A precipitate is said to be pure,
when the body which has been decomposed can be formed
again
lity.
C H E M
again from the separated constituent parts ; and impure,
r—when this cannot be effected ; which is probably occa¬
sioned from the decomposition not being complete. It
sometimes happens, when a body which consists of two
substances is decomposed by means of third, that the
disengaged substance assumes the elastic form. This
is the case when muriate of ammonia is decomposed by
quicklime. The muriatic acid, which is in combina¬
tion with the ammonia, unites with the lime, for which
it has the greater attraction ; and the ammonia, set
free, is instantly volatilized.
^n. Compound affinity.—But there are substances which
than cannot be decomposed when a third substance is pre¬
sented. The affinity of two substances A and B in
combination, may be so much stronger than the affinity
of a third C for either A or B, that no decomposition
will take place when the body C is presented to the
compound of A and B. Suppose the two substances A
and B are held united with a force equal to 12, and
the force of affinity between the body C and B is
equal only to 8, it is obvious that no change can be ef¬
fected, because the force of affinity between C and B
cannot overcome the cohesive force that exists between
A and B. But if a fourth body D is presented to the
compound A and B, and acts with a force on the body
A equal to 6, while the body C acts on B with a force
equal to 8, it is evident that the combined action of
these two forces will overcome the force of affinity be¬
tween A and B, which was supposed to be equal to I 2,
because the measure of a force equal to 14 is greater
than one equal to 12 5 and in this way the decomposi¬
tion of the body A and B is effected by the united ac¬
tion of two other bodies, which would not have succeed¬
ed had any one been presented to it singly. From this
double action, a decomposition of this kind is called a
double elective attraction, a name given by Bergman,
or a case of compound or complex affinity, as it has
been proposed to be denominated by later chemists.
Bergman invented a method of exhibiting these at¬
tractions, in such diagrams as the following.
Nitrate of Potash.
Sulphate
of potash.
Potash.
Sulphuric
acid.
Nitric
acid.
Oxide of
silver.
Nitrate of
silver.
Sulphate of silver.
In this example the substances to be decomposed are
placed on the right and left sides of the diagram. These
are the sulphate of potash, composed of sulphuric acid
and potash on the left side.; and the nitrate of silver,
which consists of nitric acid and the oxide of silver.
When these compounds are combined together, a de¬
composition is effected by the mutual affinities between
the constituent parts of the compounds. Thus the sul¬
phuric acid in combination with the potash, forms a
new compound with the oxide of silver, and the ni¬
tric acid in combination with the silver, forms a
new compound with the potash ", because the sum of
the force of affinities between the nitric acid and the
potash, and the suphuric acid and the oxide of silver,
I S T R Y.
is greater than the sum of the affinities between the
sulphuric acid and the potash, and the nitric acid and
the oxide of silver ; and thus an exchange of principles
takes place, and the new compounds are represented
at the top and bottom of the diagram, namely the ni¬
trate of potash and the sulphate of silver.
Mr Elliot in the year 1782 proposed, as an improve¬
ment on Bergman’s method, to represent the force of
these attractions by numbers. The same case, in Mr
Elliot’s method, is represented in the following diagram.
Nitrate of potash.
Sulphate j
of potash. | ^
Nitrate of
silver.
Sulphate of silver.
As it thus represented, the sulphuric acid and the.
potash are supposed to act with a force equal to 9 ; and
the nitric acid and the oxide of silver attract with a
force equal to 2. The affinity of the potash for the
nitric acid is equal to 8 5 and the affinity between the
sulphuric acid and’the oxide of silver is equal to 4.
But 94-2=11, and 84-4=12} consequently the sum
of the affinities between the nitric acid and the potash,
and the sulphuric acid and the oxide of silver, exceeds
the sum of the affinities between the nitric acid and the
oxide of silver, and the sulphuric acid and the potash,
and thus a decomposition is effected. r [ ^
But “ in all decomposition,” says Mr Kirwan, “ we Two forces
must consider, 1st, The powers which resist any decom-to be con-
position, and tend to keep the bodies in their presents*dc»ed.
state ; and, 2dly, The powers which tend to effect a
decomposition and a new union. The first I shall call
quiescent affinities, and the second, divellent.
“ A decomposition will always take place when the
sum of the divellent affinities is greater than that of the
quiescent; and, on the contrary, no decomposition will
happen when the sum of the quiescent affinities is supe¬
rior to, or equal to that of the divellent; all we have
to do, therefore, is to compare the sums of each of these
powers. Thus, if the solutions of sulphate of potash
and nitrate of lime be mixed together, a double de¬
composition will take place.” This may be illusti’ated
by the following diagram.
Nitrate of potash.
Potash.
215
+
Nitric
acid.
►e
o
ST
2154-Quiescent 7 affinities 96 = 311.
Sulphuric
acid.
I I O
T2T
Lime.
Sulphate of lime.
The
446
CHEMISTRY.
Ailinity.
The affinities between the nitric acid and lime, and
' between the sulphuric acid and the potash, which taken
together amount to 311, are the quiescent affinities.
The affinities of the sulphuric acid and the lime, and
of the nitric acid and the potash, are the divellent af¬
finities which are opposed to the first. But the amount
of the latter is equal to 325, that is, the combined af¬
finities of the substances which tend to form a new
combination, and thus they overcome the force of
the resistance of the quiescent affinities, as 325 ex¬
ceeds 311,
Another example will serve to make this decom¬
position by double or compound affinity still more fa¬
miliar.
Muriate of potash.
S |>’"1 1 -1   mm  
Muriate
of
barytes.
Muriatic
acid.
32
Potash.
, 36
+ 9=45 >
Carbonate
of potash.
Barytes. Carbonic
acid.
nS
This force
not con¬
stant.
Carbonate of barytes.
In this case a solution of muriate of barytes is mix¬
ed with a solution of the carbonate of potash. The af¬
finity of the muriatic acid for the barytes, and that of
the potash for the carbonic acid, are the quiescent af¬
finities, which are opposed to any decomposing force.
But, on the contrary, the affinity of the muriatic acid
for the potash, and that of the barytes for the carbonic
acid, are the divellent affinities. The quiescent affini¬
ties are only equal to 45, while the sum of the divellent
affinities is equal to 46 ; the latter must therefore pre¬
vail. The former combinations are broken, and instead
of muriate of barytes, and carbonate of potash, we ob¬
tain muriate of potash and carbonate of barytes, which
latter is insoluble, and is therefore precipitated.
But Berthollet has shewn that the force of affinity
between the same substances is not constant and uni¬
form, but is greatly influenced by the quantity and
the state of saturation. As, for instance, when two
bases act in opposition on an acid, the acid divides its
action in proportion to their respective masses. If
there be two acids instead of one, and no separation
take place, either by precipitation or crystallization,
both acids will act equally on both bases, in proportion
to their masses. If each of the acids be previously
combined with a base, and the solutions of their salts be
mixed, the sum of the reciprocal forces will be the
same as before. No muriate of potash or sulphate of
lime will be formed ; but there will be a combination
qf potash, of lime, of sulphuric and muriatic acid, which
will have the same degree of saturation as before the
mixture. And hence it happens, that when two salts
are mixed together, the mutual decomposition of which
would produce combinations of very different propor¬
tions, the separation of the component parts, which
should result from such decomposition, is not percepti¬
ble. No change of bases therefore takes place.
The force of cohesion causes the separation which
2
takes place by precipitation or crystallization. Ber¬
thollet observes, that a similar effect is produced by the
same cause, in the action of complex affinities. If a
solution of sulphate of potash be mixed with muriate of
lime, dissolved in a small quantity of water, the lime
brought into contact with the sulphuric acid will be
more powerfully influenced by the force of cohesion
than the potash. This is therefore to be considered as
an additional force to those which pre-existed, and
determines the combination of the sulphuric acid with
the lime, and the precipitation of the new compound.
In all decompositions effected by compound affinity,
the prevailing affinity has been ascribed to those sub¬
stances which have the property of precipitating, or of
forming a salt which can be separated by crystalliza¬
tion. Thus the knowledge of the solubility of salts
which may be formed in a liquid, will point out those
substances which are least soluble, and therefore most
apt to precipitate. To these substances chemists for¬
merly ascribed the strongest affinity, ^
Lime, magnesia, strontites, and barytes, form insolu-MostiSu
ble salts with carbonic acid. W hen therefore anyoflublec.
the soluble salts of these earths are mixed with alka-Poun.^
line carbonates, an exchange is produced, from which
result the formation and precipitation of an earthy car¬
bonate. The compound of sulphuric acid and barytes
forms an insoluble salt. When, therefore, a solution
of a sulphate is mixed with that of a salt of barytes, a
precipitation of sulphate of barytes, which is insoluble,
will be effected. The sulphate of lime has also but
little solubility, and consequently is much disposed to
precipitate. Lime therefore decomposes all the so¬
luble sulphates. But the sulphate of lime being much
more soluble than the sulphate of barytes, the salts of
barytes, which are more soluble than the sulphate of
lime, decompose it.
There are other circumstances which tend to change
the action of compound affinities. The solubility of
salts, which has so much influence in this action, is va- u
ried by temperature. In estimating the result of com-Temp< ■
pound affinities, therefore, the degree of temperature ture Ui
must be considered and taken into the account. To000*^
give an instance of this effect, nitrate of potash mixed
with muriate of soda, crystallizes at a low tempera¬
ture. During the evaporation the muriate of soda is
separated. No change of bases will take place, because
the nitrate of soda is somewhat more soluble when cold
than nitrate of potash ; and muriate of potash is more
soluble when hot than muriate of soda.
The action of complex affinities may also be changed
by the formation of a triple salt which precipitates; * B* i*'
but if the solubility of the combination be known, the^^
decomposition which is effected, and the resulting com-^V
pounds, may also be foreseen.* n
According to the theory of Berthollet, all substances Reeipi *1
in the liquid state exert a reciprocal action. In a so-acliou
lution of sulphate of potash and muriate of soda, these
two salts are not distinct, nor do they become so, until
some extraneous cause produces their separation. Sul¬
phuric and muriatic acids, potash and soda, are con¬
tained in the liquid. To ascertain what combinations
are produced by the force of crystallization, he made
the following experiments. I5
“ Experiment 1.-—A mixture was made of equal parts Fotee
of nitrate of lime and sulphate of potash : after the se-yH*18 ^
paration tion‘
CHEMISTKY.
nity. paration of the sulphate of lime formed in the com-
mencement, (and of which no farther mention is to
be made in the following experiments), the liquid was
evaporated, and nitrate of potash and sulphate of lime
were alone obtained by successive operations. Yet,
after the last evaporation, some crystals of sulphate of
potash were obtained : there was but a small residue of
uncrystallizable liquid, in which carbonate of soda and
nitrate of barytes produced precipitations; whence it
appears that it consisted of a small quantity of sulphu¬
ric acid and lime, and very probably of a larger portion
of nitrate of potash.
“ The quantity of sulphate of lime which precipitated
during this evaporation, was much greater than what
could be dissolved in an equal quantity of water;
whence it appears that its solubility was augmented by
the action of the other substances.
“ Experiment 2.—Two parts of sulphate of potash,
and one of nitrate of lime, yielded, by the first evapora¬
tion, sulphate of potash and sulphate of lime; and by the
following, nitrate of potash with the two sulphates, the
proportions of which continued to diminish until the
salts ceased to crystallize: only a few drops of uncrystal¬
lized liquid remained, in which no precipitate was
formed on adding to it some carbonate of soda, but this
effect was produced by the nitrate of barytes ; whence
it appears probable, that the liquid consisted of sul¬
phate ol potash, and a small proportion of nitrate of
potash.
“Experiment 3.—Two parts of nitrate of lime, and
one of sulphate of potash, yielded by the first evapo¬
ration a small quantity of sulphate of lime, and on
cooling, some nitrate of potash ; by the succeeding
evaporations nothing but nitrate of potash was obtain¬
ed. After the last, however, some crystals of sulphate
of lime were perceivable on the surface of the liquid.
Though the residue, which was abundant, was re¬
peatedly put to evaporate and cool, no crystallization
was effected. This uncrystallizable residue, treated with
alcohol, yielded an abundant precipitate, in the solu¬
tion of which in water no precipitate could be pro¬
duced by nitrate of barytes ; whence it appears that
it contained no sulphuric acid, and that it was com¬
posed of pure nitrate of potash. What had been dis¬
solved in the alcohol was nitrate of lime, with a small
proportion of nitrate of potash : the uncrystallizable
residue consisted, therefore, of nitrate of potash and
nitrate of lime.
“ It appears that the sulphate of lime was rendered
much less soluble in this than in the preceding ex¬
periments ; and that the action of nitrate of lime pre¬
vented a considerable quantity of the nitrate of potash
from crystallizing.
“ Sulphate of lime was necessarily formed in these
three experiments, because its component parts were
m contact; and the insolubility of the compound
formed by them, occasioned its precipitation to a cer¬
tain extent.
“ In the first and second experiments, the sulphate of
lime was rendered much more'soluble than it natural¬
ly is, by the action of the substances in solution ; but
in the third experiment, its solubility was not perceptibly
increased, for this reason, probably, that the nitrate of
lime and nitrate of potash, which existed in the uncrys¬
tallizable liquid, bad mutually saturated each other so
447
much as to diminish their action on the sulphate of Affinity,
lime*. t
From these considerations, he deduces the theory of* ^ert^ol-
uncrystallizable residues: which the succeeding obser-lcl s
vations tend to confirm. attSi*!’
“ Saline substances exert a mutual action, which aug¬
ments their solubility ; as has been proved by the ex¬
periments published by my learned colleague Vau-
quelin. This reciprocal action varies in different salts;
it was once supposed that the solubility of the nitrate of \
potash was not augmented by the action of earthy salts;
and yet it is augmented more by them than by any
others.
“ There must be doubtless, in this respect, some dif¬
ference arising from the nature of the salts, in the ef¬
fect which they produce; but this difference is, in ge¬
neral, very trifling, compared to that resulting from
the force of crystallization.
“ Experiment 4.—A mixture of equal parts of nitrate
and sulphate of potash, yielded by evaporation, and
successively, according to their solubility, sulphate of
potash and nitrate of potash, without leaving any un¬
crystallizable residue; but having made a similar ex¬
periment with a mixture of nitrate and sulphate of so¬
da, each of which has but a feeble tendency to crystal¬
lize, and nearly an equal degree of solubility, there was
separated by crystallization but a small portion of the
sulphate of soda, the other parts of the mixture con¬
tinuing in the liquid state, incapable of being crystal¬
lized by any means. Muriate of soda and sulphate of
alumina, submitted to the same treatment, were per¬
ceived to become more soluble ; but they were totally
separated in the end by alternate evaporation and cool-
ing.
“It appears, then, that substances which are endued
with an active tendency to crystallize, though rendered
more soluble than they naturally are, separate however
in the order of their insolubility, without leaving any,
or but very little, uncrystallizable residue.
“ But when a mixture consists of salts which have but
a weak tendency to crystallize, their mutual action
counteracts that tendency, so that a large portion of
uncrystallizable liquid remains : this effect is still more
complete when the mixture contains a substance natural¬
ly uncrystallizable, as in the third experiment, in w'hich
there wTas an excess of nitrate of lime, the action of
which excess on the nitrate of potash rendered a great
part of it uncrystallizable” +. f
From this it appears, Berthollet observes, that the
formation of salts obtained by crystallization, depends
on the proportions of the substances which act on each
other : and combinations may be formed which vary
according to the proportions of the substances em¬
ployed, or the stage of the operation ; that is, accord¬
ing to the proportions which continue in action, when
the combinations which might take place are not endued
with a force of cohesion sufficient to withdraw them
from the sphere of action.
Ninth Law.
Affinity is the inverse ratio of saturation. ^
In most of the combinations which take place be- Affinity
tween bodies, there exists a certain determinate pro-diminislies
portion of the quantity of the substances which form
the compound. On this indeed depend the constancy Uiration.
and
448 C H E M
Affinity, and permanency, both of natural and artificial com-
l--—v—.-■> pounds. It is to this uniformity and permanency that
their characteristic properties are owing } for when the
proportions in compound bodies vary, although the con¬
stituent parts be of the same nature, the properties oi
the compound are materially changed. 11ms, in a
case already mentioned, the different proportions ot
oxygen with lead, different compounds are produced j
with a smaller proportion of oxygen, the resulting com¬
pound is yellow, but with a greater it is red.
I24> As there are certain limits to the proportions in
.Saturation w],;c|, ij0(];es combine together, beyond which they
cannot pass, these are called the points of saturation ;
and when two bodies, in uniting together, have reach¬
ed this point, they are said to be saturated, or the one
body is said to be saturated with the other : in other
words, the change has taken place, and a new com¬
pound is formed. When, for instance, common salt is
dissolved in, water, the water combines only with a
certain proportion } and whatever quantity of salt is
added beyond this proportion, it falls to the bottom
undissolved. The reason of this is, that the particles
of. the salt are held together by their affinity for each
other 5 that is, by the force of cohesion. Now, be¬
fore any combination can be effected between the par¬
ticles of the salt and the water, this force must be
overcome. The force of affinity, therefore, between
the water and the particles of salt, is greater than that
between the particles of salt themselves, and thus they
are separated and dissolve in the water : but this force
of affinity between the water and the salt is limited; and
when it has arrived at its utmost limit, the action be¬
tween the two bodies ceases. The two forces which were
opposed to each other, that is, the force of affinity be¬
tween the water and the salt on the one hand, and
the force of cohesion between the particles ot the
salt on the other, are balanced. The water in this case
is said to he saturated with salt.
In a sense somewhat similar, the word neutralvza-
tion has been employed. When to an acid there is ad¬
ded the solution of an alkali to a certain point, they
combine together, and form a compound, in which
the properties both of the acid and of the alkali totally
disappear. They are then said to have neutralized each
other ; and hence the name of neutral salts, which has
been given to these compounds.
iu different Somebodies, it would appear, enter into comhina-
proportions. t,km with others, only in one determinate proportion,
and some in two proportions, and these proportions are
denominated their maximum and minimum of satura¬
tion ; that is, the smallest and greatest proportions in
which they combine with each other. There is an¬
other set of bodies which combine in any proportion
between the highest and the lowest points, while a
fourth set combine only in certain determinate propor¬
tions between these points.
Now, from these observations, let us endeavour to
illustrate the meaning of this law, by attending to
what takes place in the different combinations of bo¬
dies with each other. A smaller quantity of salt dis¬
solved in a given quantity of water', is held in combi¬
nation by a greater force of affinity, than a greater
quantity ; because this force is to be estimated by the
affinity which exists between the salt and the water,
and its mass. The nearer, therefore, it comes to the
I S T R Y.
maximum or highest point of saturation, the weaker is
the affinity between the water and the salt, and in ap-  r
proximating to this point, this force is gradually dimi¬
nished.
When two bodies combine together in two different
proportions, or what are called the maximum and mi¬
nimum points of saturation, the force of affinity is
greatest between the two bodies at the lowest point.
Suppose that two bodies, A and B, can enter into
combination with each other, in two different propor¬
tions. Suppose the quantity of A is —20 grs. and the
first portion of B which combines with it is = 10 grs. ;
it is evident from this combination, that part of the
force of the affinity of A is exhausted, but still it com¬
bines with another portion of B j suppose this is =5 grs.
and then it has reached its highest point of saturation,
or the maximum. But as the last portion of B, which
combined with A, is retained in the compound by the
force of affinity in A, which remained after its com¬
bination with the first portion of B, it is obvious that
this force must be greatly diminished, and therefore
the last portion of B will he most easily separated from
its combination with A. This accordingly is found to
to hold in all cases.
Tenth Law.
Between t wo compound bodies which are not acted on
hij compound affinities, decomposition may take place,
if the affinity of' a compound consisting of two of the
principles for a third be greater than that which
unites this third to one of the two first, or to the
fiourth principle, although, at the moment ofiaction,
the union between the two first does not exist. u
This is called disposing or predisposing affinity, be-Dispos
cause no change takes place without the influence ora^in1^
action of a third body on some of the compounds j for
it is this action which operates the formation of the
compound, and the decomposition of another com¬
pound, without the formation of the first. To have a
clear conception of this disposing affinity, let us sup¬
pose that there are two compounds, AB and CD the
affinity of whose constituent parts, that is, the affinity
between A and C, and the affinity between B and D,
is not greater than the affinity which exists between
AB and CD. In this case, it is obvious that no de¬
composition can he effected by compound affinity, be¬
cause the sum of the quiescent affinities exceeds the
sum of the divellent ; but if the force which tends to
combine B and C together, added to that which tends
to unite the compound BC to D, be greater than the
force of cohesion between the compounds AB and CD,
the result of this action will be a decomposition, the for¬
mation of a new compound BCD, and the separation of
the first component part A.
Water is composed of two substances, which have
received the names of oxygen and hydrogen. Sulphur
has no direct action on water. This shows that the af¬
finity between sulphur and any of the constituent parts
of the water, is not so great as the affinity of the oxy¬
gen and hydrogen for each other j but if sulphur oe
united with an alkali, the water is decomposed by this
combination, although there is supposed to be no affinity
between the alkali and the oxygen. But the attrac¬
tion of the alkali for the sulphuric acid gives rise to the
formation of that acid, and causes the sulphur to com¬
bine .
CHEMISTRY.
Liglit b'06 with the oxygen of the water. It is now, however,
-y—since the luminous researches of Berthollet, allowed to
he an absurdity, to maintain that the affinity of any
body for a compound not yet existing, should be ade¬
quate to cause the formation of that compound (in this
case the acid) : and it is allowed, that the substance
causes such a formation, by the affinity which it has for
its two constituent parts (<?. g. the oxygen and the sul¬
phur), although such affinity may be prevented from
showing itself on other occasions, by its weakness and
the opposing influence of extraneous circumstances.
The alkali has a real affinity for the oxygen of the
water, which is exerted in the present instance, though
too weak to be efficient for producing a separate binary
combination of these two bodies.
[jg Eleventh Law.
Another very important law must now be added to
n^om' the preceding, and it is one which has been of com-
ohts, paratively recent establishment.
^theory. Thcit every combining substance has a certain relative
weight, in which, or in simple multiples of which,
it unites chemically with an equally fixed weight of
every other.
Let us suppose, for the sake of illustration, that we
have 24 simple bodies, named from the 24 letters of the
alphabet: one of them has a combining weight double
that of another, or two-thirds, or in proportions more
minutely fractional. Suppose A to be as 10, B as
12, C as 8 ; then 10 grains of A combine always with
exactly 1 2 of B, to form a definite compound. So far
the doctrine had been always maintained. But, further,
if there is another compound of the same bodies in an¬
other proportion, this will always be twice, three times,
or some other multiple of the lowest proportion : 10
grains of A combine with 24, 36, &c. of B j with C,
it combines in proportions as 10 to 8, to 16, to 24, or
some multiple. Or, on the other hand, 12 grains of B
or 8 of C will combine with 10, 20, 30, or some other
multiple of the combining weight of A. What is of
greater importance still, it is found, that if B and C also
form definite compounds, they in their turn combine in
proportions as 1 2 to 8, or the one of these numbers to
a multiple of the other. This is the case in most in¬
stances. Where it is not, it is still in simple arith¬
metical proportions of them, as twice the combining
weight of the one, with three times that of the other.
This law does not apply to that kind of chemical
union which consists in the solution of a solid body in
a liquid menstruum. In this case the gradations are
indefinite, and the proportions necessary to saturation
vary with the temperature. But it applies to the for¬
mation of all compounds in which a change takes place
in the state of aggregation of theconstituent parts, and
in which their previous chemical agencies are prevent¬
ed from appearing, and others entirely new are elicited.
For example :
1. Wherever two gases unite to form a solid or a li¬
quid, the proportions of these combining weights are
observed.
2. Also, wherever a gas combines with a solid to form
a new gas, which shews none of the agencies which
Vol. V. Part II.
marked the simpler gas, hut others which are entirely 0f Liaht.
peculiar to it. ■ J ^
3. Also, wherever a gas, in combination with a solid
substance, forms a definite liquid peculiar in its chemical
relations, or forms a solid equally peculiar, and which
resists entirely those powers by which the simple solid
was readily alfected.
4. Finally, Two gases may unite, and the compound
formed may be a third gas, possessing a peculiar cha¬
racter, and exhibiting a much more extensive activity
than either of the constituents in a simple state.
In these, and other analogous cases, the compound
may, by various manipulations, be purified from the
admixture of any portion of either of the constituents
still remaining uncombined ; and when this is done,
the proportional weights of the combining substances
are invariably observed.
Ibis doctrine, as the expression of a general fact,
was SHggested by certain remarkable uniformities which
occurred as the results of chemical analysis extensive¬
ly compared. The minutiae of it were investigated by
subsequent experiments, by which it has been esta¬
blished to a great extent. In some particulars it la¬
bours under difficulties, and discordant reports, arising
from the difficulty of chemical analysis. Several ano¬
malies which appeared when the doctrine was new,
have been cleared up by subsequent discoveries. If a
few others remain, these only shew us that the details
are not yet perfected, and that room is left for varied
experiments.
For the particulars we refer to the article Atomic
Theory in the Supplement of this work. That de¬
signation has been given to the doctrine, in consequence
of the explanation of the facts assigned by Mr Dalton ;
that every simple body consists of chemical atoms,
which possess in each one constant weight. These
substances, in combining chemically, unite generally
atom to atom, or as 1 of the one to 2, 3, 4, &c. of the
other. Sometimes as 2 to 3.
This doctrine gives necessarily a new aspect to the
whole of Chemistry. The combining weights are found
out by accurate experiments. And these, when com¬
pared as made on the same substances in the varieties of
their combination with others, agree admirably with one
another. Even those which were obtained previously,
approximate in a wonderful degree to those which are
in conformity to the atomic theory'. The other doc¬
trines of chemistry, and the other chemical properties
of different kinds of matter, may be understood without
it, and advantages will be derived from the study of it
as free from this doctrine, which to a beginner some¬
times appears a little intricate. We t lie re fore shall
still proceed in this article, independently of that the¬
ory, except in so far as some of the facts on which it
rests force themselves on our notice as in other respects
of leading importance.
We now proceed, in the following chapters, to exa¬
mine the properties of those bodies, the knowledge of
which belongs to chemical science 5 the changes which
take place by the action of affinity, and the new com¬
pounds which are the result of these changes; and, at
the same time, to point out some of their applications,
and uses.
3 L CHAP.
t
CHEMISTRY.
Chap. II. Of LIGHT.
127
Opinions
of the na¬
ture of
light.
12S
An undu¬
lating fluid
129
Material.
1.30
Velocity
I^1
discovered,
Light and heat, which are to be treated of in this
and the succeeding chapters, are highly interesting,
not only as curious subjects of speculation, but as act¬
ing a very important part in the changes which are
constantly going on among natural bodies. Indeed no
change happens, in which the one or the other is not
either absorbed or extricated, and sometimes both are
concerned.
Light, of which we are now to treat, is the principal
agent in many chemical processes : and this considera¬
tion, as well as the astonishing velocity of its motions,
and the properties which it has of penetrating and tra¬
versing substances with which it comes in contact, ren¬
der it an object worthy of great attention.
Light is too familiar to every one to require any de¬
finition, and too simple to admit of any. It is by the
light of the sun, or that which proceeds from burning
bodies, that we are informed of the presence of objects j
the rays of light proceeding from these bodies, and en¬
tering the eye, produce the sensation of vision. We
have no certain knowledge concerning the nature of
light. Various conjectural theories, however, have
been proposed, with regard to it. Two of these rve
shall only mention. According to Des Cartes, Huy¬
gens, and some other philosophers, all space is filled up
with a very subtile fluid, and this fluid is agitated or
put in motion by the sun, or burning bodies. This
.motion consists of vibrations or undulations, which, ex¬
tending themselves and reaching the eye, render the bo¬
dies which have produced these motions visible.
The other theory is that of Newton and his follow¬
ers. According to this theory, light is supposed to be
a material emanation from luminous bodies ; that is, a
subtile fluid, consisting of peculiar particles of matter,
which are constantly separating from such bodies, and,
by entering the eye, excite the sensation of light, or
the perception of the objects from which it proceeds,
or those from which it is reflected. This theory, which
has been deduced from numerous facts and observations,
was established by Newton by mathematical demon¬
stration. If then it be admitted, that light is a sub¬
tile fluid, consisting of minute particles, several con¬
sequences follow, which require explanation, with re¬
gard to the size, the velocity, and the momentum of
these particles. In what follows, we shall consider
light with regard to its physical properties 5 its chemi¬
cal properties, or the effects it produces on bodies with
which it enters into combination ; and, lastly, the sources
from which it is obtained.
Sect I. Of the Physical Peoperties of Light.
I. One of the most astonishing properties of light is
its velocity. It has been observed by astronomers, that
the eclipses of the satellites of the planet Jupiter ap¬
pear to take place sooner, when that planet is nearest
to the earth, and later when Jupiter is on the opposite
side of his orbit from the earth. Roemer, a Danish
astronomer, in attempting to account for this apparent
anomaly, proved that it was owing to the difference of
time which the particles of light required, to pass
3
through the semidiameter of Jupiter’s oi'bit: and from r- .
this he demonstrated, that the particles of light move — ^ _
through one half of the diameter of the earth’s orbit in
about eight minutes. This discovery of Roemer has I32
been fully confirmed by the theory proposed by DrConfiimed
Bradley, to account for the aberration of the light of
the fixed stars. From these data it has been comput¬
ed, that light moves at the rate of 200,000 miles in a
second ;—a velocity of which the human mind can form
no distinct conception. In comparing it with that of
a cannon ball, it may be observed, that light passes
through a space in about eight minutes, which a can¬
non ball with its ordinary velocity could not traverse in
less than thirty-two years ! ^
2. From the remarkable velocity of light, may be Particles
inferred the extreme minuteness of its particles. TheverImi*
force with which moving bodies strike, is in propor-nute*
tion to their masses, multiplied by their velocities. If,
therefore, the one or the other, or both, be increased,
the striking force is proportionally augmented ; and
consequently, if the particles of light were not extreme¬
ly small, their excessive velocity would generate a mo¬
mentum highly destructive to the existing arrangements
of other matter. Were they even equal in weight to the
two millionth part of a grain of sand, this impulse would
not be less than that of sand shot from the mouth of a
cannon.
The minuteness of the rays of light may be also de¬
monstrated from the great facility with which they pass
through transparent solid bodies. In moving through such
bodies, light seems not to suffer the slightest diminution
of its velocity. If there is nothing to obstruct the rays
of light which proceed from a candle, it will fill the
whole space within two miles around, almost instan¬
taneously, before it has lost any sensible part of its sub¬
stance. j.^
3. When a ray of light falls on a polished substance Reflect^
in a perpendicular direction, it is thrown back in the
same direction ; but when a ray of light falls on the
same body obliquely, it returns from the surface on the
opposite side of a perpendicular line drawn from the
point on which the ray falls, and at an equal distance
from that perpendicular. The angle which the ray of
light forms with the perpendicular as it falls, is equal
to the angle which it forms with the same line, when
it is thrown back. The first angle is called the angle
of incidence, and the second the angle of reflection.
Hence the optical law, that the angle of incidence is
equal to the angle of reflexion. When the rays of
light fall obliquely on polished surfaces, they are re¬
flected before they actually touch these surfaces, which
is supposed to be owing to a repulsion between the par¬
ticles of light and the particles of the polished body.
But when rays of light fall obliquely on a transparent
substance, as a plate of glass, they pass through to the
other side, and then return to the same surface, and are
reflected. 135
4. When a ray of light is admitted into a darklnScctw
room, through a small hole, it forms a luminous spot
on any object opposite to that from which the light
proceeds \ and if the blades of two knives are placed
on opposite sides of the hole, having their planes pa¬
rallel to the plane of the window shutter or pasteboard
through which the ray passes, when the edges of the
^ knives
CHEMIST
.■ht knives are brought near each other, the rays of light
u / are drawn from their former direction towards the
edges of the knives, and the luminous spot appears en-
, larged. This is called the inflection of light. A si¬
milar effect is produced by nearly shutting the eyes,
and looking at a candle. The rays of light appear to
proceed from it in various directions : for the light, in
passing through the eye-lashes, is inflected, and is di¬
vided into separate beams, diverging from the lumi-
36 nous object.
E iction. c. A ray of light passing from one medium to ano¬
ther, in a line perpendicular to the surface by which
they are separated, moves on in the same direction •, as,
for instance, when light passes from air to water, or
from water into air. But if a ray of light passes in
an oblique direction from one medium to another, it is
bent from its former course, and then moves on in a
new direction : this is called the refraction of light.
A straight rod, which is introduced obliquely into a
vessel of water, appears bent, at the place where it
touches the surface of the w^Jer. This is owing to the
refraction of the rays of light passing from the rarer
medium of the air to the denser medium of the water.
When the light passes into a medium of greater den¬
sity, as for instance from air into water, it is refracted
or bent towards the perpendicular 3 but when it passes
from a denser into a rarer medium, as from water into
air, it is refracted from the perpendicular. The mea¬
sure of the quantity of this refraction is nearly in pro¬
portion to the density of the medium: with this excep¬
tion, however, that if the medium be a combustible sub¬
stance, the refractive power is then found to be greater.
It was from the observation of this law of the refraction
of light, that the conjecture which was thrown out by
Newton, of the combustible nature of water and the
diamond, which has been verified by the discoveries of
modern chemistry, occurred to the mind of that saga-
cious philopher.
S trum. 6. When a ray of light is admitted through a small
hole, and received on a white surface, it forms a lumi¬
nous spot. If a dense transparent body be interposed,
the light will be refracted, in proportion to the density
of the medium j but if a triangular glass prism be in¬
terposed, the light is not merely refracted, but it is di¬
vided. The ray of light no longer forms a luminous
spot, but has assumed an oblong shape, terminating in
semicircular arches, and exhibiting different colours,
generally reckoned seven in number. This image is
called the spectrum, and, from being produced by the
prism, the prismatic spectrum. These different colour¬
ed rays appearing in different places of the spectrum,
13S shew that their refractive power is different. Those
j even which are nearest the middle are the least refracted,
■ Hrs' and those which are the most distant, the greatest.
The order of the seven rays of the spectrum is the fol¬
lowing : RED, ORANGE, YELLOW, GREEN, BLUE, IN¬
DIGO, violet. The red, which is at one end of the
spectrum, is the least, and the violet, which is at the
other end, is the most refracted.
Sir Isaac Newton found that, if the whole spectrum
was divided into 360 parts, the proportional space oc¬
cupied by each of the colours would be the following.
R Y.
Yellow,
Green,
Blue,
Indigo,
Violet,
48
60
60
40
80
parts
These different coloured rays are not subject to farther Not farther
division. No change is effected upon any of them by divisible,
being farther refracted or reflected j and, as they dif¬
fer in refrangibility, so also do they differ in the power
of inflection and reflection. The violet rays are found
to be the most reflexible and inflexible, and the red the
least.
7. Light, it is well known, seems to suffer no in¬
terruption in passing through some bodies 3 such are
glass or water : but it is interrupted in its passage
through other bodies, as a piece of wood or stone.
The first set of bodies are called transparent^ and the
other opaque. The density of water or of glass is
greater than that of a piece of wood. It cannot there¬
fore be owing to the density of the later, or the close¬
ness of the particles which compose it, that the trans¬
mission of light is prevented. In the explanation which i>ransua-
has been given by Newton, it is supposed that the par-rency.
tides which compose transparent bodies are of equal
density, and are uniformly arranged j but in opaque
bodies he supposes the particles to be of unequal den¬
sity, or not uniformly arranged. From the uniform ar¬
rangement and equal density which, according to this
explanation, are supposed to exist in transparent bodies,
the light passing through them moves in a straight
line, because it is equally attracted by the particles of 141
the body. But in the latter (the opaque bodies) the Opacity,
attraction between light and the particles of the body
is unequal 3 its direction is constantly changing, till at
last it is entirely interrupted. ^
8. Dr HerscheJ, who has made some interesting dis- Illuminati,
coveries concern ng light and heat, found that the il-iug power,
luminating power of the different rays was different.
From the observations which he made on this subject,
he says, that “ with respect to the illuminating power-
assigned to each colour, we may conclude, that the
red-making rays are very far from having it in any
eminent degree. The orange possesses more of it than
the red, and the yellow rays illuminate objects still
more perfectly. The maximum of illumination lies
in the brightest yellow or palest green. The green
itself is nearly equally bright with the yellow 3 but
from the full deep green the illuminating power de¬
creases very sensibly 3 that of the blue is nearly upon a
par with that of the red : the indigo has much less than
the blue 3 and the violet is very deficient * Philos.
Trans.
Sect. II. Of the Chemical Properties of Light, ^f^'
143
I. From the properties of light now detailed, itLighten-
appears that it is subject to the universal law ofters bodies,
attraction, as well as other bodies 3 but it is also
found to enter into chemical combination with many
substances. These substances, it has been discovered
by experiment, after being for some time exposed to
the light, and carried into a dark place, appear lumi¬
nous. It is found, however that this property is lost
when they are kept in the dark, and they do not re¬
cover it till after they have been again exposed to
3 L 2 the
Bed,
Orange,
45 Parts*
27
144
Canton’s
pyropho-
nis.
HS
Fiom
emitted.
C H E M
the light. Some substances possess this property
in a greater degree than others. One which was dis¬
covered by Mr Canton, who made a number of expe¬
riments on this phosphorescent light, as it has been
called, is prepared by the following process. He took
some oyster-shells and calcined them, after which they
were reduced to powder, and the purest part of them
was put through a fine sieve. Three parts of this
powder were mixed together with one part of the
ilower of sulphur 5 the mixture was put into a cruci¬
ble, and firmly pressed to the bottom, which was then
exposed for an hour to a red heat. It was then re¬
moved from the fire, and when it cooled, the purest
parts of the mixture were scraped off’, and put up in a
well-closed phial. This is called Canton’s pyrophorus.
When this is exposed to the light for a short time, it
becomes so luminous that objects may be distinctly
perceived in the dark, by the light which it emits. It
loses the property, however, by being kept in the
dark, but recovers it again when it is exposed to the
light. And, after being kept in the dark for some
time, the light from the pyrophorus becomes feeble,
or is nearly extinct, but il may be revived or increased
by plunging the phial into hot water. But, if the
whole of the light has been separated previous to the
application of heat, no farther application can cause it
to emit light, till it has been exposed to a luminous
body. Thus it appears that light enters into combi-
which light nation with other bodies, and that it afterwards
is again leaves them without having undergone any perceptible
change.
2. If a quantity of purple-coloured fluate of lime
(Derbyshire spar) be reduced to coarse powder, and
exposed to heat in a dark place, it emits a great quan¬
tity of coloured light j but when this light which has
been in combination with the spar is once expelled, it
does not recover its property of shining in the dark, as
in the case of Canton’s pyrophorus.
It has been supposed by some, that the light emitted
by these substances is the consequence of slow combus¬
tion 5 but many of the substances which have this pro¬
perty are not combustible, and none of the changes
which take place during that process have been obser¬
ved. In some cases it would appear that the light
which is given out is different from that to which they
were exposed, and which they must have absorbed. In
some of the pyrophori, the blue rays were observed to
have a greater effect, and the light which was emitted
was of a red colour,
3. Light is well known to be given out by a num¬
ber of animal and vegetable matters, when the process
of putrefaction commences. In this case it seems to
have constituted one of their component parts. This
particularly happens to fish of different kinds, as the her¬
ring and the mackerel j and is supposed to be the cause
of the phosphorescent light of the sea, which appears
when the water is broken and agitated. These pheno¬
mena were observed by Mr Boyle and Dr Beale, both
in the flesh of quadrupeds and fishes, and earlier by
Fabricius ah Aquapendente and Bartholin in the flesh
of quadrupeds. Experiments were made on the same
subject by Mr Canton, whom we have already men-
A co'istitu- tioned, and more lately by Dr Hulme. The latter
ent priaei- concludes from his experiments, that this light is a con-
pie* stituent principle of marine fishes j that it is incorpo-
146
Supposed
to be slow
combus¬
tion.
,T47
Emitted by
animal
matters,
&c.
14S
I S T R Y.
rated with their whole substance, making a part of it,
in the same manner as any other constituent principle j—y—
that when this spontaneous light is extinguished by
some substances, it may be again revived ; that the
quantity of light emitted is not in proportion to the de¬
gree of putrefaction, but the reverse.
For the sake of those who may wish to repeat these
experiments, we shall detail the following made on the
herring and mackerel, in the words of the author.
The Flesh of Herring.
(1.) “ A fresh herring was divided longitudinally byDrHultr
a knife, into two parts. Then about four drams of it,exP£r*'
being cut across, were put into a solution, composed 0fment5‘
two drams of Epsom salt, and two ounces of cold spring
water drawn up by the pump. The liquid was contained
in a wide-mouthed three-ounce phial, which was placed
in the laboratory. Upon carefully examining the liquid on
the second evening after the process was begun, I could
plainly perceive a lucid ring (for the phial was round)
floating at the top of the liquid, the part below it being
dark j but, on shaking the phial, the whole at once be¬
came beautifully luminous, and continued in that state.
On the third evening, the light had again risen to tbe
top j but the lucid ring appeared less vivid, and, on
shaking the phial as before, the liquid was not so lumi¬
nous as on the preceding night.
(2.) Tbe same experiment was repeated. On tbe
second night, the liquid, being agitated, was very lumi¬
nous ; on the third, not so lucid j and on the fourth the
light was extinguished.
(3.) With sea salt half a dram and two ounces of
water. On the second night, the liquid, when agitated,
was dark 5 on the third, lucid; on the fourth, very
luminous; on the fifth, it began to lose light; on the
sixth, it continued to decrease ; and on the seventh, it
was quite gone. Neither the liquid nor the herring
had contracted any putrid smell.
(4.) With sea water two ounces. On the second
night, dark ; on the third, fourth, and fifth, luminous j
on the sixth, nearly extinct; and on the seventh, total¬
ly. The piece of herring, when taken out and exa¬
mined, was remarkably sweet.
Roe of Herring.
(5.) About four drams, with Epsom salt two drams,
and water two ounces. On the second night, the liquid
was pretty luminous; on the third and fourth, still lu¬
minous ; and on the fifth, its light was extinct.
(6.) With Glauber’s salt or vitriolated natron, two
drams to two ounces of water. On the second night,
when the phial was shaken, as usual in all these expe¬
riments, tbe liquid was pretty luminous ; on the third,
less so ; and on the fourth the light was scarcely vi¬
sible.
(7.) With sea water two ounces. On the second
night dark ; on the third, the liquid was moderately
luminous ; on the fourth and fifth, it had extracted
much light; and on the seventh it was still shining.
After this process, both tbe roe and the sea water re¬
mained perfectly sweet.
The Flesh of Mackerel.
(8.) With Epsom salt two drams, and water two
ounces. On the second night, the liquid was finely il¬
luminated ;
CHEMISTRY.
453
rtlt laminated ; on the third, a similar appearance ; on the
u fourth, a diminution of light j on the fifth, it continued
lucid in a small degree; and on the sixth the light was
extinguished.
Roe of Mackerel.
(9.) With Epsom salt two drams, and water two
ounces. On the second night, the liquid, when agita¬
ted, was exceedingly bright-, on the third, the same 5
and on the fourth and fifth, still lucidf.
* los. Hulme found that some substances have the
power of extinguishing this light. It was quickly ex-
pj j, tinguished when mixed with water alone, with water
impregnated with lime, carbonic acid gas, or sulphu¬
rated hydrogen gas j by fermented liquors and ardent
spirits} by the acids, both concentrated and diluted}
by the alkalies when dissolved in water } by many of
the neutral salts, as the solutions of common salt, Ep¬
som salt, and sal ammoniac. It was also extinguished
by infusions of chamomile flowers, of long pepper, and
of camphor, made with boiling hot water, but not used
till quite cool.
When the substances emitting this light were placed
in a freezing medium, the light was in a short time
quite extinguished ; but when exposed to a moderate
degree of temperature, it was revived. A moderate
degree of heat increased this light, but it was extin¬
guished by a high temperature, and no luminous ap-
o pearance could again be discovered.
*4 4. When all the rays of light are reflected from any
body, that body is said to be white} when all the rays
are absorbed, the body which absorbs them is said to
be black: but experience informs us, that different
bodies absorb and reflect diflerent rays. Thus, if
a body absorb all the rays excepting the yellow, that
body is said to be of a yellow colour ; or if a body
reflect the red rays, wdiile the others are absorbed, it
is said to be red. The colour of the body is charac-
1 terized by the colour of the ray which is reflected.
5. One of the most singular effects which is observ-
^ '.1‘ ed in the combination of light with bodies, is its power
osi an(j of reducing the oxides of the metals. Some of these,
«»l as for instance, the red oxide of lead, when exposed
to the light of the sun, lose part of their weight.
The oxide of gold may be reduced in the same way,
the white salts of silver become black, and the oxide
is reduced } and when that process is going on,
oxygen gas is emitted, which, it would appear, has
been separated by the action of light. Some of the
rays are found to have a greater effect than others.
Scheele, who made a set of experiments to ascertain
the difference of effect of the different coloured rays
in blackening the muriate of silver, discovered that
the violet ray was the most powerful in reducing the Light.
oxide of silver. 1 v—
It was formerly the general opinion, that the colo- p^yj5-^
rific rays of light were the cause of the reduction ofraj.s
the oxides of the metals } but the experiments and ob¬
servations of Messrs Bockman and Ritter in Germany,
and of Dr Wollaston in England, prove that the mu¬
riate of silver is more strongly and rapidly darkened
by rays of the sun which have been more refracted
than the violet rays : for it appeared that the muriate
was affected in a space lying beyond the violet
light. These rays, therefore, have not the property
of giving light, nor do they produce any sensible de¬
gree of heat: in fact, it appears that there are three
different sets of rays } namely, rays which illuminate,
rays which warm without giving any light (which will
be mentioned in the next chapter), and rays which pro¬
duce a chemical action on bodies, but which give neither
light or heat. From the consideration of these curious
and interesting experiments, it has been very naturally
supposed, that the chemical actions dependent on solar
light are owing to the invisible rays which are refracted
beyond the violet rays } and that the colorific rays
have no share in these actions: for it has been, observ¬
ed, that the effect of the different colours increaMs with
their refrangibility } the whole therefore is owmg-to the
invisible rays, which increase in quantity as they ap¬
proach to the violet ray, and are in greatest, quantity
at a certain distance beyond it.
6. The absorption of light by plants produces an-Light ab-
other remarkable effect. It has been long known, that sorbed by
the green colour of the leaves of plants is produced byPlants-
the light of the sun. Experiments were first made to
ascertain this fact by M. Dufay and some others of
the French academicians. The subject has been far¬
ther prosecuted and extended by Senebier of Geneva.
When seeds are sown in a dark place, they vegetate,
and the plant grows with considerable luxuriance } but
it never has any green colour as long as the light is
excluded } the leaves continue white } and this happens
although air be freely admitted. When the plant in
this state is exposed to the light, the green colour be¬
gins to appear, and the plant assumes its ordinary
habit. While the plant remains white, it also contains
but a small quantity of combustible matter, and has
but little taste. When it reassumes the green colour af¬
ter its exposure to the light, it acquires its natural taste,
and the ordinary quantity of combustible matter. It is
upon this principle that the art of blanching celery and
other garden plants depends } by heaping up the earth
about the stems, we exclude the light, and thus they are
deprived of any pungent taste, and become white and-
tender.” (k).
Sect. .
. (k) This is remarkably illustrated by the following observations of Professor Robison. “ Having occasion,
in autumn 1774, to go down and inspect a drain in a coalwork, where an embankment had been made to keep
off a lateral run of water, and, crawling along, I laid my hand on a very luxuriant plant, having a copious,
deep-indented, white foliage, quite unknown to me. I inquired of the colliers what it was. None of them
could tell me. It being curious, I made a sod be carried up to the daylight, to learn from the workmen what
“ort of a plant it was. But nobody had ever seen any like it. A few days after, looking at the sod, as it lay at
the mouth of the pit, I observed that the plant had languished and died, for want of water, as I imagine!. ut
looking at it more attentively, I observed that a new vegetation was beginning, with little sproutmgs from the
same stem, and that this new growth was of a green colour. Ihis instantly brought to my icco lection t ic
° curious
454-
CHEMISTRY.
Light.
TS4
The sun.
Sect. III. Of the Sources of Light.
* Priest,
ley's Op
1. The principal source of light is the sun. It has
been a question of more curiosity than utility, what is
the cause of the sun constantly emitting light, and what
are the means of repairing the waste ? By calculations
it is supposed, that there ought to issue from one square
foot of the sun’s surface in one second, ^^-g-o^th part
of a grain of matter, to supply the consumption of
light; that is, at the rate of little more than two
grains a-day, or about 4,752,000 grains, or 6701b. in
6000 years, which would have shortened the sun’s dia¬
meter about 19 feet, if it was formed of matter of the
density of water only*.
But at the time this calculation was made, the dis-
P-3s9'Cc>veries °f Herschel, of the constitution of the sun,
were not known. The body of the sun, according to
the observations of this philosopher, is not luminous,
but opaque j the light which was supposed to come from
his surface, proceeds from a luminous atmosphere which
surrounds that body 5 and there are probably some
means by which the waste that is constantly going on
is repaired. The light which comes from the stars is
of the same nature with that of the sun.
2. Another source of light is the burning of bodies.
In all cases of burning, light is emitted. This light,
therefore, must have been in combination with some of
the substances which are employed in these processes.
3. But when bodies, without undergoing the process
of combustion, are heated to a certain temperature,
they emit light: and it would appear, from experiments
which have been made upon the subject, that all bodies
which are not decomposed before they arrive at the
proper temperature, begin to give out light, exactly at
the same degree of heat. Iron heated to 635°, ac¬
cording to Sir Isaac Newton’s experiments, becomes
visible in the dark j at 7520 it shines brightly j and
becomes luminous in the twilight at 884°. The tempe¬
rature is above iooo° when it shines in broad day
light. A red heat, according to the experiments of
others, commences at the temperature of 8oo°, and
when a body reaches the proper degree of heat, it ap¬
pears luminous, independent of the air. Mr T. Wedg¬
*55
Combus¬
tion.
*S6
Heat.
wood, who made a number of experiments on this sub- l; j.
ject, found that a piece of iron wire became red hot—v- >
when immersed in melted glass. Air, therefore, is not
necessary to the shining of ignited bodies.
It was also ascertained by Mr Wedgwood, that a
piece of red-hot metal continues to shine for some time
after it has been removed from the fire, which proves
that constant accessions of light or heat are not neces-f PfoVoi
sary for the shining of ignited bodies. But if the red-^rans*
hot metal be strongly blown upon, it instantly ceasesToi'lK:;
to shine, the temperature being now diminished j-. P' ^
From the experiments of Mr Wedgwood, it appears Gases t
that the gases do not become luminous, even at a high-^minou
er temperature. He took an earthen-ware pipe of a
zig-zag form, and placed it in a crucible filled up with
sand. The ends of the pipe were left uncovered.
To one end was attached a pair of bellows, and to
the other a globular vessel with a lateral bent pipe, to
let out air, but exclude the external light, and having
a neck in which was inserted a circular plate of glass.
The crucible, with the sand and the part of the pipe
contained in it, was heated to redness. The eye was
fixed in the neck of the vessel, which was then obser¬
ved to be perfectly dark within. A stream of air was
then directed through the tube from the bellows, but
this air which passed through the red-hot tube was not
luminous. A small strip of gold was then fixed into
the orifice of the tube opposite to the eye, and after two
or three blasts, it became faintly red j which shows,
that though the air was not luminous, it w'as equal in
temperature to what is called red heat. Hr Darwin
made an experiment of the same kind, and with a simi-* Vhiki
lar result. The heated air was altogether invisible;
but when a bit of gold was introduced, it acquired aT0''lsx
bright glow in a few seconds *. ^ 2j !j
4. Light is also emitted by attrition and percussion. Attritic
In the experiments which were made by Mr Wedg- and pei
wood, on the attrition of bodies, he found that differ-cuss1011
ent coloured rays were emitted ; sometimes it was a
pure white light, as from the diamond j sometimes of
a faint red, as from blackish gun flint 5 and sometimes
of a deep red, as from unglazed white biscuit earthen
ware. But this effect, produced by attrition, may per¬
haps be considered as the same with that of percussion.
It
curious observations of M. Dufay ; and I caused the sod to be set in the ground and carefully watered. I was
the more incited to this, because I thought that my fingers had contracted a sensible aromatic smell by handling
the plant at this time. After about a week, this root set out several stems and leaves of common tansy. The
workmen now recollected that the sods had been taken from an old cottage garden hard by, where a great deal
of tansy was still growing among the grass. I now sent down for more of the same stuff, and several sods were
brought up, having the same luxuriant white foliage. This, when bruised between the fingers, gave no aroma¬
tic smell whatever. All these plants withered and died down, though carefully watered, and, in each, there
sprouted from the same stocks fresh stems, and a copious foliage, and produced, among others, common tansy,
fully impregnated with the ordinary juices ol that plant, and of a full green colour. I have'repeated the
same experiment with great care on lovage Qevisticum vulgare'), mint, and caraways. All these plants throve
very well below, in the dark, but with a blanched foliage, which did not spread upwards, but lay flat on the
ground 5 in all ot them there was no resemblance of shape to the ordinary foliage of the plant j all of them died
down when brought into daylight 5 and the stocks then produced the proper plants in their usual dress, and hav¬
ing all their distinguishing smells.
from such experiments, I thought myself entitled to say that the sun’s rays not only produced the green fiecula
of plants, but also the distinguishing juices, and particularly the essential oils. The improvements which have
been made in chemical science since that time, have, I think, fully confirmed my conjecture.” Black's Led, i»
C H E M
0I,ic, It is a familiar circumstance, that sparks of light are
w ' emitted, when two hard bodies, as, for instance, two
quartz stones, are smartly struck against each other;
it appears that light is emitted, or sparks given out,
when these bodies are treated by percussion or attrition,
even under water; and they seem equally luminous in
atmospheric air, oxygen gas, carbonic acid, or hydrogen
gases. The emission of this light is accompanied with
a peculiar smell, which varies in different bodies. The
smell appears to be strongest where the friction is great¬
est; it has no dependence on the light produced by at¬
trition, because it is often very strong when no light is
emitted. Eock crystal, quartz, and other hard bodies,
# id. also emit this smell under water*,
pi. When flint and steel are struck smartly together, a
spark is produced which will communicate fire to com¬
bustible substances* This spark has been found to be
a particle of the iron which is driven off. and which
catches fire as it passes through the air. It is to be
considered as a case of combustion, and quite different
from what happens when two stones are rubbed or struck
against each other.
The matter driven off, when stones of quartz are
struck against each other, consists of small, black, fri¬
able bodies, which leave a black stain when rubbed on
paper, and, when examined with a magnifying glass,
have the appearance of being fused. The light is pro¬
duced, in these cases, by the substances struck toge¬
ther having been red hot. Some have supposed that
they are a combination with oxygen ; while others, who
have probably examined them more accurately, assert
that they are pieces of the quartz surrounded with a
quantity of black powder ; and having been raised to
a very high temperature, set fire, in their passage
through the air, to the combustible bodies that are
floating in it.
Chap. III. Of CALORIC.
J:59
3 iex- The word /leaf in common language has two differ-
P e!i- ent meanings. When we say that we feel heat, we
mean the sensation of heat excited in the body; but
when we say that the fire or a stone is hot, it means
that the power of exciting the sensation of heat in us,
exists in the stone or fire. The one is the cause, and
the other the effect. Thus the word heat is generally
employed to express both the sensation and the cause
of that sensation. To prevent any ambiguity in the use
of terms, the word caloric has been adopted in the new
chemical nomenclature, to signify that state or condi¬
tion of matter by which it excites in us the sensation of
heat; and in this sense it is now to be employed.
The nature and effect of caloric are highly interest¬
ing, as curious subjects of speculation ; and the know¬
ledge of them is of the utmost importance in the study
of chemical phenomena, because no change takes place,
no decomposition is effected, and no new compound is
formed, without the agency of caloric.
* 50
^ opi-
** .
Sect. I. Of the Nature and Properties of Caloric.
Two opinions have been maintained by philosophers
concerning the nature of caloric. According to one,
it is supposed to be a peculiar subtile fluid, of a highly
elastic and penetrating nature, which is universally dil-
I S T R Y.
455
fused. According to the other opinion, it depends on Calorie,
a peculiar tremor or vibration existing among the par- ^ ——y— <
tides of heated bodies. ""
Among the first who seem to have adopted the lat- Bacon’s,
ter opinion, was the celebrated Bacon. In his treatise,
De forma calidi, which he proposed as a model of
scientific investigation, he enumerates all the facts
which were then known concerning heat ; and after a
cautious consideration of these facts, concludes, that i6z
heat is motion. I he facts on which he founded this That heat
opinion were derived from some of the most familiaris motion•
methods by which heat is produced in bodies. A
blacksmith can make a rod of iron red hot by striking
it smartly with a hammer ; the heavy parts of ma¬
chinery, by friction upon each other, and the axles of
the wheels of carriages, by being heavily loaded, some¬
times take fire. A fire may be kindled by the friction
of two-pieces of dry wood ; and the branches of trees
strongly rubbed agninst each other by the violence of
a storm, have set fire to thick forests. From the ob¬
servation and consideration of these facts, this eminent
philosopher vras led to conclude, that heat is the ef¬
fect of mechanical impulse. Since the time of Bacon,
this theory has had many followers, and even at the
present day it is maintained by some philosophers. I(j-
But the theory which supposes caloric to be a dis-A distinct
tinct material substance, is now more generally adopted. su^stance*
It w'as first supposed, by those who favoured this theory,
that this peculiar matter was chiefly characterized by
the great elasticity, or repulsive power, of the parti¬
cles among each other; but, besides this property, Dr
Cleghorn supposed that it possessed another, namely, l6^
that its particles are at the same time attracted by other is attjact-
kinds of matter, with different degrees of force. Buted.
whatever opinion may be formed of the nature of calo¬
ric, after we have investigated its properties and ef¬
fects, we shall probably find, that the phenomena which
it exhibits will be easier understood, and more satisfac¬
torily accounted for, on the supposition that it is a dis¬
tinct substance. I(^.
1. The rays of light and caloric accompany each Velocity,
other as they proceed from the sun, or from burning
bodies. It is therefore supposed that they move with
the same degree of velocity. If this be the case, the
velocity of the rays of caloric must be 200,000 miles
in a second. An experiment made by Mr Pictet proves
their great velocity. Two concave mirrors, the one of
tin, and the other of gilt plaster, 18 inches in diame¬
ter, were placed at the distance of 69 feet from each
other. A thermometer was placed in the focus of the
latter, and a heated bullet of iron in tbe former. When
the bullet was placed in tbe focus, a thick screen,
which was a few inches from the face of the metallic
mirror, was removed. The thermometer instantly rose,
so that the time which caloric requires to move through
the space of 69 feet, cannot be estimated. And in¬
deed, if caloric, as is most probable, moves with the
velocity of light, tbe time that it passes the distance of
69 feet, or even 69,000 feet, is by far too minute to be
measured by our instruments; so that no conclusion
whatever with regard to tbe measurement of its veloci¬
ty, can be drawn from such an experiment. 166
2. From the extreme velocity of caloric, and from Minute
its being equal to that of light, it is concluded that its Part‘Cies*
particles are equally minute. From the accumulation
of
4S<5
Calorie.
167
Espeii-
meiits to
ascertain
the weight
of calorie.
168
unsuccess¬
ful
169
Repulsion.
170
Reflection.
C H E M
of caloric in bodies, and particularly from one striking
efleet which this accumulation produces, namely, ex¬
pansion, it was natural to suppose that bodies having
received this addition, acquired an increase of weight.
Experiments have therefore been made to asceitain
this eft’ect. Boerhaave weighed a mass of iron of 5II1.
weight, while red hot, and afterwards repeated the
same, experiment with other metals, but found no va¬
riation, either in the hot or cold bodies, but what he
could account for from the errors of the balance.
Muschenbroek supposed that heat is ponderous, or pro¬
duced by a ponderous substance ", and Buflbn thought
he had proved, by his own experiments, that a body
is heavier when it is hot than when it is cold j but
when similar experiments were repeated, particularly
by Dr Roebuck and Mr Whitehurst, with very nice
and delicate balances, the bodies which were weighed
appeared heavier cold than when they were hot. Ibis
seems to be owing to the rarefaction or the air sur¬
rounding that scale in which the heated body is pla¬
ced ; the buoyancy of which favours an ascending mo¬
tion in the scale. From more recent experiments, and
particularly one made by Dr Fordyce, it appeared that
bodies become heavier, hut in a very small degree only,
Hot by the increase, but by the diminution of tempera¬
ture.' When the whole quantity of 1700 grs. of water
was frozen, it was found to be, when carefully weigh¬
ed, rYths of a grain heavier than it had been when
fluid. At this time the thermometer applied to the ves¬
sel which contained the frozen water, stood at lo° j
but when it was allowed to remain till the thermometer
rose to 32°, it weighed only tV^13 °f a gra‘n moI'e ^ian
when fluid, and at the same temperature. That the
addition of caloric to bodies produces no sensible change
on their weight, seems to be placed beyond a doubt by
the accurate experiments of Lavoisier, which were
made with a view of ascertaining whether the weight of
bodies is altered by heating or cooling them j but he
found no difference.
In the year 1787, Count Rumford repeated the ex¬
periment of Dr Fordyce with the greatest care and
varying it in every possible way to avoid error, the re¬
sults led him to conclude, that there is no sensible dif¬
ference in the weight of bodies, either by the addition
or abstraction of caloric.
3. Caloric agrees with light in another of its pecu¬
liar properties j this is, its repulsive power, or the ten¬
dency of its particles to separate from each other. The
particles of caloric, therefore, can never be supposed to
cohere.
4. It is found that the rays of caloric have, like
light, the property of being reflected by polished sur¬
faces. Scheele discovered, that the angle of reflection
of the rays of caloric is equal to the angle of incidence.
This has been more fully established by Dr Herschel.
Some very interesting experiments were made by Pro¬
fessor Pictet of Geneva, which proved the same thing.
These experiments were conducted in the following man¬
ner. Two concave mirrors of tin, of nine inches focus,
were placed at the distance of twelve feet two inches from
each other. In thq. focus of the one was placed the
bulb of a thermometer, and in that of the other a ball
of iron two inches in diameter, which was heated, but
not so as to be visible in the dark. In the space of
I
I S T R Y.
six minutes the thermometer rose 22°. A similar ef- Cg,or
feet was produced by substituting a lighted candle in ' A,
place of the ball of iron. Conceiving that both the
light and heat acted in the last experiment, he inter¬
posed between the two mirrors a plate of glass, with
the view of separating the rays of light from those of
caloric. The rays of caloric were thus interrupted, hut
the rays of light were not perceptibly diminished. In
nine minutes the thermometer sunk 14°$ and in seven
minutes after the glass was removed, it rose about 120.
He therefore justly concluded, that the caloric reflected
by the mirror, was the cause of the rise of the thermo¬
meter. He made another experiment, substituting
boiling water in a glass vessel in place of the iron
ball j and when the apparatus was adjusted, and a
screen of silk which had been placed between the two
mirrors removed, the thermometer rose 30 j namely,
from 470 to 50°. .
The experiments were varied by removing the tin
mirrors to the distance of 90 inches from each other.
The glass vessel, with boiling water, was placed in
one focus, and a sensible thermometer in the other,
lu the middle space between the mirrors, was a
common glass mirror, suspended so that either side
could he turned towards the glass vessel. When the
polished side of this mirror was turned towards the
glass vessel, the thermometer rose only xY^13 a ^e”
gree; hut when the other side, which was darkened,
was turned towards the glass vessel, the thermometer
rose 3°.5. And in another experiment, performed in
the same way, the thermometer rose 30 when the po¬
lished side of the'mirror was turned to the glass vessel,
and 90 when the other side was turned. These ex¬
periments shew clearly, that the rays of caloric are
reflected from polished surfaces, as well as the jays of
light. t 171
5. Transparent bodies have the power of refractingRefiact.
the rays of caloric, as well as those of light. They
differ also in their refrangibility. So far as experiment
goes, the most of the rays of caloric are less refran¬
gible than the red rays of light. The experiments of
Dr Herschel shew, that the ray^ of calorie, from hot
or burning bodies, as hot iron, hot water, fires and can¬
dles, are refrangible, as well as the rays of caloric which
are emitted by the sun. Whether all transparent bo¬
dies have the power of transmitting these rays, or what
is the difference in the refractive power of these bodies,
is not yet known. 171 I
6. The light which proceeds from the sun seems to Three:
be composed of three distinct substances. Scheele dis-ofrays,
covered, that a glass mirror held before the fire, re¬
flected the rays of light, but not the rays of caloric :
but when a metallic mirror was placed in the same
situation, both heat and light were reflected. The mir¬
ror of glass became hot in a short time, but no change
of temperature took place on the metallic mirror. I his
experiment shews that the glass mirror absorbed the
rays of caloric, and reflected those of light j while the
metallic mirror, suffering no change of temperature, re- ,73
fleeted both. And if a plate of glass be held before acolourc
burning body, the rays of light are not sensibly inter-and he
rupted, but the rays of caloric are intercepted; for nolDS‘
sensible heat is observed on the opposite side of the
glass; but when the glass has reached a proper degree
of
CHEMISTRY.
oric. temperature, the rays of caloric are transmitted with
0 V-—' the same facility as those of light. And thus the rays
of light and caloric may be separated.
7+e But the curious experiments of Dr Herschel have
[’ ‘the clearly proved, that certain invisible rays which are
g, est emitted by the sun, are possessed of the greatest heat-
h ng ing power. In these experiments, the different co-
Pfr' loured rays were thrown on the bulb of a very delicate
thermometer, and their heating power was observed.
The heating power of the violet, green, and red rays,
was found to be to each other as the following num¬
bers :
Violet 16.
Green 22.4
lied 55.
The heating power of the most refrangible rays was
least, and this power increases as the refrangibility di¬
minishes. The red ray, therefore, has the greatest
heating power, and the violet, which is the most re¬
frangible, the least. The illuminating power, it has
been already observed, is greatest in the middle of the
spectrum, and diminishes towards both extremities j
but the heating power, which is least at the violet end,
increases from that to the red extremity: and when
the thermometer was placed beyond the limit of the
457
red ray, it rose still higher than in the red ray, which Caloric,
has the greatest heating power in the spectrum. The v"' v "J
heating power of these invisible rays was greatest at
the distance of £ inch beyond the red ray, but it was
sensible at the distance of i^- inch.
Dr Herschel’s experiments have been varied, and
still farther confirmed J by a set of experiments by Sir
H. Englefield, the results of which were the following:
Therm, in the blue ray rose in 3' from 550 to 56°
in the green in 3' from 540 to 58°
in the yellow in 3' from 56° to 62°
in the full red in 2^' from 56° to 720
in confines of the red in 2-§-' from 58° to 73 V*
quiteoutof visible light in 2^' from 6l° to 790
The thermometer used in these experiments had its
bulb blackened with Indian ink.
In the following experiments, three thermometers were
employed 5 one had a naked ball, another was whitened,
and the third was blackened. They were exposed to
the sun’s rays till they became stationary, when the
thermometer with the
Naked ball stood at 584-0
Whitened ball 584-0
Blackened ball 63°
In the full red ray
In quite dark
In confines of the red
{
{
the blackened thermom. rose in 3-' from 58° to 6i°
whitened - - - in 3' from 550 to 58°
blackened thermom. - in 3' from 590 to 64°
whitened - - - in 3' from 58° to 584-0
black thermom. - - in 3' from 590 to 710
white - - - in 3'from 574r°to 6oi*
In other experiments, which were made afterwards, the results were,
In the full red ray
In quite dark, 4 inch out of the red, the
black thermom. rose
{
1
the black therm, rose
white
in 3' from 66° to 82°
in 3' from 66° to 69J0
in 3' from 70° to 84°
1
R
TC
P.
In this last experiment, when the thermometer was
carried into the faint red light, it sunk quickly j and
rose again as quickly, when carried into the dark focus j
but when carried into the dark on the other side of the
r. red light, it sunk very rapidly, and did not appear to
fat' receive any heat at all f.
» Thus it appears that the rays of caloric, and the
rays of light are different. These experiments clear¬
ly show, that there are rays which produce heat, but
give no light, and rays which give light but produce
no heat. It was formerly mentioned, that there is an¬
other set of rays which give neither light nor heat, but
produce a remarkable effect in reducing the metallic
oxides and salts. The light which is emitted from
the sun then consists of three distinct sets of rays,
which have been fully recognized by their different de¬
grees of refrangibility and their different effects. The
heating rays are in the smallest degree refrangible;
the rays which have the greatest effect on the metallic
oxides are the most refrangible, and the coloured rays
are in an intermediate degree. The invisible rays be¬
yond the red extremity of the spectrum, which are
least refracted, have the greatest heating power $ the
invisible rays beyond the violet end, which are most
refracted, have the greatest nower in reducing the
Vol. V. Part II. * f
metallic salts or oxides, and the rays in the middle
of the spectrum have the greatest illuminating power.
Sect. II. Of the Effects of Caloric.
The effects of so powerful an agent as heat must be j;£p'ect/s'5of
very considerable : and these effects are found to be dif- caloric dif¬
ferent in different bodies, or as it is more or less accu-ferent in
mulated in these bodies. One general effect is,
the accumulation of heat enlarges, and its abstraction
proportionally diminishes, the bulk of all bodies. When
this accumulation is continued in some bodies, they
change their condition from the state of solid to that of
liquid ; and, when the accumulation is still greater, li¬
quid bodies are reduced to the form of vapour. These
effects, certainly curious and interesting of themselves,
are of the utmost importance in the phenomena of na¬
ture and in the processes of art; and the knowledge
of the laws which have been deduced from these re¬
markable changes, enables us to explain many natural
appearances, and to improve many of the arts of life.
1. Of Expansion.
I. One of the most general effects of heat, it hascajorfo
been observed, is the expansion of bodies $ that is, expands all
when caloric is accumulated in any body, it is enlarged bodies,
3 M ia
458
CHEMISTRY.
Caloric.
177
Exceptions,
178
Expansion
proved.
179
In a solid
body.
1S0
In a liquid
in bulk 5 anil, when that quantity of caloric is abstract¬
ed, there is a corresponding contraction. Experience
teaches us, that this effect of caloric is invariable by
uniform in all the simpler kinds of matter. In some
bodies, however, there are seeming exceptions to this
general rule. In these bodies, when the temperature
rises a little above, or falls a little below a certain
point, they are subject to irregular variations of their
■ bulk ; but these irregularities are limited to a few bo¬
dies, and to certain states of temperature of these bodies 5
for when they are exposed to equal variations of heat,
above or below the temperature at which these irregu¬
larities are observed, the general law of expansion uni¬
formly holds. The expansion of all bodies by heat,
therefore, and their corresponding contraction by the
abstraction of caloric or by cold, may be considered as
one of the most general facts in chemical science.
2. We have many familiar instances of the expan¬
sion of bodies by means of caloric, and the law can be
proved by very simple experiments. We shall men¬
tion an example of this effect on bodies in the solid, the
liquid, and the gaseous state.
(1.) If a rod of metal, as of iron, of an inch in dia¬
meter, six or eight inches long, and the same thick¬
ness through its whole length, be exactly fitted to pass
through a hole in a plate of the same metal, and to be
admitted lengthwise within the projecting edges of a
ruler while it is cold, the same rod, when it is made
red hot, will be found to have enlarged in bulk so
much, that it will not fall between the projecting parts
of the ruler, nor will it pass through the hole } but
when it is cooled, or reduced to its former temperature,
it again contracts, and retuims precisely to its former
dimensions. 1
, (2.) As an example of a liquid, whose bulk is en¬
larged by the accumulation of caloric, fill the body of a
glass vessel which has a long slender neck with spirit Calorii
of wine. On the application of heat, the liquid in the U““Y"
body of the vessel is expanded, and rises in the neck j
and when the heat is abstracted, and the liquid returns
to its former temperature, it is again contracted, and
returns to its original bulk. This experiment is most
conveniently performed by immersing the body of the
vessel in hot water.
(3.) The expansion of a body in the gaseous s*atebyjn j1^1.
the accumulation of caloric, is shewn by the following tjc
experiment. Let a quantity of air be confined in a
bladder, but not so much as to distend it fully. If
the bladder is exposed to heat, the confined air expands,
and the bladder is now fully distended $ but when it is
again cooled, the air resumes its former bulk, and the
bladder its original flaccid state.
3. Thus it appears, that all bodies expand by heat,'^;^
and contract by cold, and the quantity of this expan-the sam
sion is uniformly the same in the same bodies, when bodies,
exposed to the same temperature. But this quantity is
found to differ greatly in different kinds of matter, by
the same increase or diminution of their heat. In solid
bodies it is least, in liquids it is greater, but in elastic
fluids greatest of all ; and in different kinds of solids,
liquids, and elastic fluids, this difference is very consi¬
derable. The ratio at which this expansion takes place
in different bodies, can only be ascertained by expe¬
riment $ and as the knowledge of this is a matter of
great consequence in many of the arts, experiments
have been made with this view by different philoso¬
phers. (l). . # . . ,8*
The expansion of gaseous bodies, we have said, is But
greatest, that of liquids less, and that of solids least ofdifferen i
all, by being exposed to the same degree of heat, which solids, ll |
will appear from the following proportions.
fluids,
. . C Atmospheric air,*1 f 0 to ...ol 137*5 cubIc inches-
IOO cubic inches of ■< Water, r • ^ j i r I04*5
1T * I increased to I ^J
(,lron, j J 100.1
1S4 4. This expansive effect of heat enables us to ac-
Eftects of count for the cracking or breaking of vessels which are
embrittle ma^e substances, by its sudden application or
substances, abstraction. This is particularly the case with sub¬
stances which have little flexibility, as cast iron, glass,
or earthen ware } and accidents of this kind most fre¬
quently happen in vessels made of these materials. If,
for instance, heat be suddenly applied to a glass ves¬
sel of considerable thickness, its external surface, to
which it is first applied, expands more than the inter¬
nal parts.; the consequence must therefore be, that they
are separated or drawn asunder, and the vessel is split
or broken.
185 5. One of the best illustrations of this expansion by
In fitting jieat anci contraction by cold on solid bodies, is in the
^carriage aPPlicat‘.on of iron h°0Ps to carriage wheels. The
wheels, k h00P which has been intended for the wheel is made
of rather smaller dimensions than exactly to fit it. It
is then made red hot, and while it is thus expanded,
it is applied to the wheel. It is suddenly cooled by
(l) See experiments on this subject by Mr Elliot,
throwing cold water upon it, when it contracts, and
returning to its former dimensions, is strongly fastened
on the wheel. iSj|
The unequal contraction at the same degree of tem-jjjg-gfe
perature, which is observed among solids, liquids, andmetals*
aeriform substances, when respectively compared, also equallj ■
takes place among solids themselves. Thus, different ^ctc^
metallic substances, at the same temperature, are found
to expand and contract very unequally.
6. Advantage has been taken of this unequal con¬
traction of metallic substances, to remedy those defects
and imperfections of delicate instruments, which are
occasioned by the contractions and expansions of the
substances employed in their construction, when expo¬
sed to different temperatures. These inconveniences
were most felt in instruments which were employed for
the measurement of time, where great accuracy was
required. The spring of a watch and the pendulum of
a clock being subject to the same law of contraction
and expansion by heat and cold, in these changes, ne¬
cessarily
Phil. Trans, vol. xxxix.. and by Mr Smeaton, ibid, vob
one.
k v—'
*1.
U >f this
in n-
it ting
'Cndu-
lu
:88
1 bulk
0 ater
v u fro-
* is in-
* tfd,
C H E M
cessarily caused variations, in proportion to the extent
of the effect. But as different metals were observed
to expand unequally by the same temperature, this was
applied to the construction of those parts of the instru¬
ment on which the accuracy of its indications depends.
The equable measurement of time, for instance, by a
clock, depends on the length of the pendulum always
continuing the same. If it is subject to variations
in length by expansion or contraction, there will also
be variations in the rate of its motions j when the pen¬
dulum is lengthened by heat, the clock goes slower ;
and when it is shortened by cold, it goes faster. It
becomes therefore an object of great importance, that
these instruments should go at an equable rate in all
temperatures j but this can only be effected by having
the pendulum so constructed, that it shall neither length¬
en by heat, nor contract by cold. This object is ob¬
tained by constructing a pendulum in the following
manner.
“ Supposing we have two metals, one of which ex¬
pands three times as much as the other by the same
increment of temperature. From the point of expansion
A (fig. i. Plate CXLII.) a rod of thick wire, AB, of
the less expansible metal, must hang down a certain
length. At the lower end it must have a stud, or cross
piece, BC, strongly fastened, and projecting a little to
one side. On the projecting part, C, of this cross
piece, must be erected a pillar, CD, of the more ex¬
pansive metal. To the top of this pillar, another cross
and projecting piece, DE, must be strongly fastened j
and, from this last, must again hang down another rod
or wire, EF, of the first metal, having the ball of the
pendulum at its extremity. And now, if the height of
the pillar CD be one-third of the length of the two rods
taken together, the pendulum can neither be lengthen¬
ed by heat nor shortened by cold. For by the ex¬
pansion of the pillar, the pendulum is shortened, or the
ball is raised nearer to the point of suspension, because
the upper end D of the pillar is more raised by its ex¬
pansion, than the lower end C is depressed by the ex¬
pansion of AB j and, on the other hand, by its contrac¬
tion, the pendulum is lengthened, or the ball is lower¬
ed : but, while this happens, the two rods, by their ex¬
pansion or contraction, produce a contrary effect j and
the quantity of expansion or contraction is the same in
the rods that it is in the pillar, the greater length in the
rods compensating for the greater expansibility of the
pillar. The consequence therefore must be, that the
length of the pendulum, that is, the distance between
the point of suspension and the ball, cannot be varied
by heat or cold. Accordingly, the clocks made for the
use of astronomers, have pendulums constructed upon
this principle.
7. There are, however, some remarkable instances
which are seeming exceptions to this general law of
expansion. This is the case with those bodies which
pass from the liquid to the solid state $ as for instance,
water, when it assumes the solid form. Close vessels
which are filled with water, are burst when it freezes.
In an experiment made by Mr Boyle, a brass tube
three inches in diameter, which wras closed with a
moveable stopper, was filled with water 5 when the
water was frozen, it raised a weight equal to 74^*
with which the stopper was loaded. In an experiment
made by the Florentine academicians, a hollow brass
189
I S T R Y.
globe, the diameter of whose cavity was an inch, was
burst by freezing the water with which it was filled.
Muschenbroeck has computed the force necessary to
produce this effect, by estimating it equal to a pressure
of 27,72olbs. weight. But the most remarkable expe-and acts
riments to prove the expansive force of ice, were made wilh pro-
by Major Williams in Canada, in the years 1784 and^^us
1785. The iron plugs with which iron bombshells fill¬
ed with water were closed up by driving them in strong¬
ly with a hammer, were thrown out to a great distance
by the force of the congelation of the water $ and when
the plugs were so firmly secured as to resist this force,
the shell itself was burst*. ^ ^ H
8. To the same expansive force in the congelation
of water, the bursting of water pipes, the splitting ofvol. ii. p.
trees and of rocks, is to be ascribed, which not un-23-
frequently happens, when the water which has been 0i^°
collected in their cavities or fissures is frozen. Theeffccts
stones of the pavement are also raised and loosened by
the expansion of the water, by frost, in the earth in
which they are imbedded.
9. Attempts have been made to discover the cause
of this astonishing effect. According to some, it is
owing to the extrication of the air which water holds in 1^T
combination in a dense, nonelastic state. When the Accounted
water is freezing, part of the air assumes the elastic for from the
form, and separates from it; but when the surface of uew ar'
the water is covered with ice, no more air can make of^he par¬
ks escape. It is then confined, and forms those nume- tides,
rous cavities which are observed in ice. In conse¬
quence of these cavities, a mass of ice must be of greater
bulk than the water previous to congelation, and can¬
not therefore be contained in the same space. But an¬
other cause, which is perhaps the most probable, has
been assigned for this increase of bulk, and consequent
expansive force. Water, when it passes from the liquid
to the solid state, has a strong tendency among its parts
to arrange themselves in a determinate manner. They
assume the form of prismatic crystals, which cross each
other at angles of 6o° and 120°. In this way the in¬
crease of bulk, and the expansive force of water, when
it is consolidated, are accounted for. Ii)2
10. Another, and a much more singular exception More re-
to this law, occurs in water while still fluid, between ma,,kal)le
the degrees of 32° and 40° (Fahr.). Within this short
range of temperature it contracts by heat and expands Un. un(jer
by cold. At 40°, or nearly so, this fluid is at its maxi-400,
mum density. It expands while it is lowered to 320,
as it does when it is raised to 48°.
Exper. If we fill a tall cylindrical vessel with wa¬
ter at 40°, and apply a temperature of 32° round the
outside, by means of ice, at the middle of its height,
the water thus cooled does not sink as it would if the
water had been at 6o°. It is found to rise. A ther¬
mometer immersed near the top, shews, by falling, that
colder water now surrounds it j while another thermo- ,
meter at the bottom remains stationary at 40°.
This probably arises from the particles of water
now changing their arrangement, in such a way as is
preparatory to their crystalline or frozen state, in which
the volume is so powerfully expanded.
This singular law of water, serves the impoitant pur¬
pose of preventing the downward progress of freezing
in the water of deep lakes. Wflile it cools, and before
it is so low as 40°, the colder water at the surface, by
3 M 2 its
4-6o
C H E M
Caloric, its superior density, sinks, ami the cooling process is
-—y-—thus uniformly diffused j but this motion stops when it
is at 40°. The water cooled still lower is now ex¬
panded, and therefore remains on the surface ; and even
when the surface is frozen, and a stratum of ice-cold
wuiter lies under the ice, the lower strata remain at
40°, and are only cooled lower by a very slow transmis¬
sion of the temperature, independent of the motion of
the particles or by motions of an occasional or acciden¬
tal kind. Hence lakes retain at the bottom a tempe¬
rature adapted to the life of fishes during the hardest
winters.
Some metallic substances, particularly cast iron,
are observed to enlarge in bulk, when they pass from
the fluid to the solid state, in the same way as water.
To this increase of bulk in cast iron when it cools, are
I93
In cast
iron.
194
The ther¬
mometer
invented.
195
First con¬
struction.
196
Imperfect.
owing the sharpness and distinctnass of the lines in the
ornamental figures on grates and furnaces which are
made of this metal. The metal is introduced into the
mould while in a state of fusion, and increasing in bulk
as it cools, the minute cavities of the mould are more
accurately filled. This increase of bulk, as in the case
of water when it becomes solid, is also ascribed to a
determinate arrangement of the parts of the metal, or
to crystallization.
I r. On the expansive property of bodies depends the
construction of the thermometer, which is employed for
the measurement of the relative temperatures of bodies.
The invention of this instrument is generally ascribed
to Santorio, an Italian physician, who lived about the
beginning of the 17th century, although it is said by
some, that thermometers were made by Drebel, a Dutch
physician, and that they were common in Holland, and
even in England, before Santorio was known in these
countries.
In the thermometer of Santorio, the expansive
power of air was employed to measure the tempe¬
rature. His thermometer is constructed in the fol¬
lowing manner. A tube of glass of 18 inches or two
feet in length, open at one end, is blown into a ball at
the other. When the ball is heated, the air within is
expanded, and if the open end of the tube be now im¬
mersed in a vessel filled with any coloured fluid j as
the internal air cools, and is diminished in bulk, the
liquid will rise in the tube by the pressure of the exter¬
nal air on the surface of the liquid in the vessel. A
scale of equal degrees was then applied to the whole
length of the tube, and the thermometer was construct¬
ed. To ascertain the heat of any body, as for instance
the hand, it was applied to the ball, and if this tempe¬
rature was greater than the medium in which the ap¬
paratus was placed, the internal air was rarefied, and
consequently depressed the surface of the coloured li¬
quid in the tube. The number of degrees of this de¬
pression was observed and compared in different ex¬
periments. As, for instance, the difference of tempe¬
rature of the human body at different periods, to ascer¬
tain which, it is said, it was employed by the inventor.
But the inaccuracy of this instrument will be obvious,
when we consider that it depended, not only on the
I S T R Y.
temperature, but also on the pressure of the atmo- Calory
sphere.
This defect in the air thermometer -was avoided in r97
the one invented by Mr Boyle, and by the Florentine*niPr0TOV
academicians, nearly at the same time. The first
fluid that was used was spirit of wine, which contract¬
ing and expanding more than water at the same tem¬
perature, and not being liable to be frozen by cold, was
found to be much more convenient. Quicksilver was
some time afterwards employed in the same way.
The ball of the glass, and part of the tube, was filled
with the fluid, when the open extremity of the tube
was closed. When heat was applied to the ball, the
fluid within expanded, and contracted by cold, without
being influenced by the pressure of the atmosphere, as
in Santorio’s thermometer. But still this thermometer
was very imperfect, for want of determinate points in
the scale, by which different instruments might be com¬
pared together. This desideratum was first supplied
by Sir Isaac Newton, and after various improvements,
it was brought to its present state of perfection.
The method of constructing Fahrenheit’s thermome-Fahren-
ter, which is now in general use in this country, is thebeit’sthei
following : A small ball is blown on the end of a glassmometer'
tube, of uniform width throughout. The ball and part
of the tube are then to be filled with quicksilver, which
has been previously boiled to expel the air. The open
end of the tube is then to be hermetically sealed (m).
The next object is to construct the scale. It is found
by experiment, that melting snow or freezing water is
always at the same temperature. If, therefore, a ther¬
mometer be immersed in the one or the other, the quick¬
silver will always stand at the same point. It has been
observed, too, that water, while under the same pres¬
sure of the atmosphere, boils at the same temperature.
A thermometer, therefore, immersed in boiling water,
will uniformly stand at the same point. Here then are
two fixed points from which a scale may be constructed,
by dividing the intermediate space into equal parts, and
carrying the same divisions as far above and below the
two fixed points as may be wanted. Thus, thermome¬
ters constructed in this way may be compared $ for if
they are accurately made, and placed in the same tem¬
perature, they will always point to the same degree on
the scale.
The fluid that is now generally employed is quick¬
silver ; and it is found to answer best, because its ex¬
pansions are most equable. The freezing point of
Fahrenheit’s thermometer, is marked 3 2°, as this ar¬
tist thought that he had produced the greatest degree
of cold by a mixture of snow and salt; and the point at
which the thermometer then stood in this temperature,
was marked zero. The intermediate space between tire
boiling and freezing points being divided into 1800,
the boiling point in this thermometer is 212°. This is
the thermometer that is commonly used in Britain.
There are three other thermometrical scales employ¬
ed in different countries of Europe, which differ from
each other in the number of degrees between thefreex-
ing and boiling points.
Reaumur’s
(m) This is done by heating the end of the tube with the flame of a lamp,
softened. \ 2
and by closing it while the glass is
i one.
Reaumur’s thermometer was generally used in France
u ' before the revolution, and is still employed in different
(99 ( conntries on the continent. The freezing point in this
B< n111,8, thermometer is marked zero, and the boiling point 8o°.
To convert the degrees of Reaumur’s thermometer to
those of Fahrenheit, the following is the, formula.
Reaum. —-f-32=Fahr. that is, multiply the degrees of
Reaumur by 9, divide by 4, and add 32. This gives
30 the corresponding degrees on Fahrenheit’s scale.
C< is. The thermometer of Celsius has the space between
the freezing and boiling points divided into loo0. The
boiling point is 100°, and the freezing point zero. This
thermometer is used in Sweden, and in France, where
it is distinguished by the term centigrade. To convert
the degrees of this thermometer into those of Fahren¬
heit j Cel. •^- + 32=Fahr.
In Delisle’s thermometer, which is used in Russia,
the space between the boiling and freezing points is di¬
vided into 150° j but the degrees are reckoned down¬
wards. The boiling point is marked zero, and the
CHEMISTRY. 46t
freezing point 150°. To reduce the degrees of this Caloric,
thermometer under the boiling point to those of Fahren- -y—-J
DI
D le’s,
33
0 fferent
ffl s.
licit, Del. — —2i2=Falir. and above the boiling point,
Del. — + 212=Fahr.
5
Such are the principles and mode of construction of
the thermometer j an instrument which has been of the
utmost importance in enabling us to discover many
of the properties and effects of caloric, as by it only
we can ascertain with accuracy the relative tempera-
tures <>)• ... a°2
12. It has been an object of considerable interest and Quantity of
importance to ascertain the quantity and rate of expan-exPausion*
sion in bodies. Among solid bodies the quantity of ex¬
pansion is very small, so that a nice apparatus is ne¬
cessary to ascertain it. But it appears that the ratio
of this expansion is equable, or nearly so. The results
of experiments made by Mr Smeaton and some other
philosophers upon this subject, are exhibited in the fol¬
lowing table.
Temperature.
32°
2X2
White heat.
Platina.
I 20,000
120,104
Antimony.
120,000
120,130
Steel.
120,000
120,147
123,428
lion.
120,000
120,151
121,500
Cast Iron
120,000
122,571
Bismuth
120,000
120,167
Copper.
120,000
120,204
Cast Brass.
120,000
I 20,000
Brass Wire.
I 20,000
120,232
n 34
0 iss.
Temperature.
3 2
212
Tin.
120,000
120,298
Lead.
120,000
120,344
Zinc.
120,000
I20»355
Hammer¬
ed Zinc.
120,000
120,373
Zinc S.
Tin 1.
120,000
120,123
Lead 2.
Tin 1.
120,000
120,301
Brass 2.
Zinc 1.
120,000
120,247
Pewter.
120,000
120,274
Copper 3.
Tin 1.
120,000
120,2X8
0 jk.
The rate of the expansion of glass, which is a mat¬
ter of considerable importance, has been ascertained by
M. de Luc, and is exhibited in the following table :
Temperature.
3 2° 100,000
50 100,006
70 100,014
100 100,023
120 100,033
I50 100,044
167 100,056
I90 100,069
2X2 100,083
13. The expansion of liquid bodies is greater than
that of solids, but it is not equable with equal additions
of temperature. It has been observed, that those li¬
quids which are most readily brought to the state of
vapour, or whose boiling point is lowest, expand most.
With the same given temperature, the expansion of-
water is greater than that of mercury, and the expan¬
sion of alcohol is greater than that of water. The boil¬
ing point of water is lower than that of mercury, and
the boiling point of alcohol is lower than that of water;
from which it would appear, that the expansion of li¬
quids is nearly in the inverse ratio of their boiling tem¬
peratures, and this expansion seems to increase with the
temperature ; that is, the nearer a liquid is to that point
of temperature at which it boils, the greater is the de¬
gree of expansion by the addition of caloric j and the
farther it is from the boiling temperature, the smaller
is the increase of bulk by the addition of caloric. The
following table exhibits the ratio of expansion of seve¬
ral liquids, as they have been ascertained by different
philosophers.
Tabk
(n) For measuring high degrees of temperature, the pyrometer of Wedgwood is employed, which will be de¬
scribed under the earth alumina.
1
CHEMISTRY.
Caloric.
Table of the Rate of Expansion of different Liquids from 3 2° to 212°.
Calor
v—V I
Temp.
32^
40
So
60
70
80
90
100
no
120
130
I40
150
l6o
I70
l8o
I90
200
212
Mercury.
100000
100081
100183
100304
100406
100508
100610
100712
100813
100915
101017
101119
101220
IOI322
IOI424
IOI526
IOI628
I0I730
IO1835
Linseed
Oil.
100000
102760
107250
Sulphuric
Acid.
99752
100000
100279
100558
100806
101054
ioi3i7
101540
101834
102097
102320
102614
102893
103116
103339
103587
103911
Nitric
Acid.
995H
IOOOOO
IOO486
IOO990
IOI530
102088
102620
IO3I96
IO3776
IO4352
IO5I32
Water.
IOOO23
IOOO9I
IOOI97
IOO332
IO0694
IOO908
IOI404
I020I7
IO3617
IO4577
Oil of
Turpent.
IOOOOO
100460
100993
101471
101931
102446
102943
103421
I03954
104573
Alcohol.
100000
100539
101105
101688
102281
102890
103517
104162
206
All gases Jt has been proved by experiment that all gase-
erpand e- 0ug undergo the same expansion, with the same
qUa y' addition of heat. This has been ascertained by the in¬
genious experiments of Mr Dalton and M. Gay Lussac.
The increase of bulk of some elastic fluids from 3 2° to
212°, as determined by the latter, will be seen in the
following table :
* Ann. de
Chim. vol.
xliii. p. 157.
Atmospheric air 100I
parts, increased ^
Hydrogen gas - 31’S2 difference-f-0.2
Oxygen gas - 37*4-0 ——— -—0.02
Azotic gas - 37*49 ■' 0.01*
In other experiments he found, that the expansion
of the vapour of water and of ether coi’responded with
the expansion of other gases ; and he remarks, that
this property of the equable dilatation of the vapour of
ether and water, and the gases, with the same degrees
of temperature, depends not on the peculiar nature
of the vapour and gases, but solely on their elastic
state.
Mr Dalton’s experiments shew that the expansion of
air is very nearly equable. It appears, however, that
the rate of expansion diminished as the temperature
increased. The expansion from 550 to 132^-°, which
includes 77^°, was 167 parts 5 but the expansion from
132^° to 2120, the next 77^°, was only 158 parts,
which was nine parts less than the first. The same
philosopher observes, that the results of several experi¬
ments which he made upon hydrogen gas, oxygen gas,
carbonic acid gas, and nitrous gas, correspond with
those on atmospherical air, not only in the total ex¬
pansion, but in the gradual diminution of it in ascend¬
ing. Small differences were observed, but they never
exceeded six or eight parts in the whole amount
325 ; and differences to this amount, he adds, will
take place in common air, when not freed from aque-
3
ous vapour, which, he says, was the situation of his
factitious gases.
2. Of Fluidity.
20' | I
1. When still greater additions are made to most^ng,
bodies, they are followed not merely by a change ofstate,
bulk, but by a total change of their state and properties.
All matter exists, either in the state of solid, of li¬
quid, or of vapour. Most bodies, by the addition or
the abstraction of caloric, are convertible from one of
these states into another. Ice is water in the solid
state. When a mass of ice has received a certain
quantity of caloric, it assumes the liquid state $ and,
when this liquid has received another portion of caloric,
it is changed into the state of vapour. On the other
hand, if the vapour is deprived of a certain portion of
caloric, it returns to the state of liquid or that of wa¬
ter j and when this water is deprived of another por¬
tion of caloric, it becomes solid, or is converted into
ice.
This seems to be a general law of bodies, to which
there are but few exceptions. Some may be converted
into all the three states, as water $ others, as spirit of
wine, are known only in the fluid or the gaseous state,
and there are some solid bodies which are not con¬
vertible into the state of liquid ; but these exceptions
are so few, that it has been supposed the same effect
would follow, were these bodies exposed to the requi¬
site degree of temperature. 2|
2. The temperatures at which these changes are ef- Bodie '-
fected are invariably the same in the same body.. Thus,aie
a mass of ice is converted into the state of liquid or of jegre f
water, when it is exposed to a temperature above 32 j tenw
and water, when it is raised to the temperature of tore.
212° under the usual pressure of the atmosphere,
assumes the state of vapour or of steam. But al¬
though this temperature is constant in the same bo¬
dies,
°9 .
In Me in
st; me-
eu
10
In hers
gr ally.
S5 i n
€ t dis-
e< 7 of
E iiack.
F lity,
« )sed
M ! OW.
>i :o a
tl 1 addi-
^ of ca-
Ic
11 tsist-
f ’ith
•a
C H E M I
dies, it varies greatly in different bodies. Thus, spi¬
rit of wine and ether are converted into vapour at a
very low temperature, while mercury and the fixed
oils, to undergo this change, require a temperature far
above that which is necessary for water.
3. Some bodies are instantaneously converted from
the solid to the liquid state. Thus ice, when the tem¬
perature is raised, passes immediately from the solid to
the fluid state. Other bodies undergo a gradual change.
They first become soft, as in the instance of melting
wax, and pass through different degrees of softness,
till at last they become perfectly fluid.
4. It may perhaps now seem surprising, that these
phenomena should have so long been familiarly known,
while no conception was entertained of the true expla¬
nation. The want of instruments to measure accurate¬
ly the relative degrees of temperature at which these
changes took place, might be one cause of the unsuc¬
cessful investigations of philosophers on this subject.
But even after the invention and improvement of the
thermometer, it was long before the simple cause of
these wonderful effects was fully ascertained. The
discovery of this law, of such universal application to
the phenomena of nature, was reserved for the sagacity
of Dr Black; and the era may be regarded as one of
the most important in the history of chemical science.
Dr Black was distinguished for caution and precision
in all his views ; and the progressive steps by which
this celebrated philosopher was led to ascertain the
true cause of fluidity, afford us a line example of sim¬
ple and elegant investigation.
5. After stating that the cause of fluidity which had
been formerly given was unsatisfactory, and inconsist¬
ent with the phenomena, he observes that “ these phe¬
nomena, when attentively considered, shew that fluidity
is produced by heat, in a very different manner from
that which was commonly imagined ; a manner, how¬
ever, which, when understood, enables us to explain
many particulars relating to heat or cold, which ap¬
peared, in the former view of the subject, quite per¬
plexing and unaccountable.
“ Fluidity had been universally considered as pro¬
duced by a small addition to the quantity of heat which
a body contains, when it is once heated up to its melt-
•ing point; and the returning of such body to a solid
state, as depending on a very small diminution of the
quantity of its heat, after it is cooled to the same de¬
gree ; that a solid body, when it is changed to a fluid,
receives no greater addition to the heat within it than
what is measured by the elevation of temperature indi¬
cated after fusion by the thermometer j and that, when
the melted body is again made to congeal, by a dimi¬
nution of its heat, it suffers no greater lass of heat than
what is indicated also by the simple application to it of
the same instrument.
“ This,” says the author, “ was the universal opi¬
nion on this subject, so far as I know, when I began to
read my lectures in the university of Glasgow, in the
year I757* I s°ori found reason to object to it,
as inconsistent with many remarkable facts, when at¬
tentively considered j and I endeavoured to shew, that
these facts are convincing proofs that fluidity is pro¬
duced by heat in a very different manner.
“ I shall now describe the manner in which fluidity
appeared to me to be produced by heat, and we shall
S T R Y. 463
then compare the former and my view of the subject Caloric,
with the phenomena. >—.■■■ v-—
“ The opinion I formed from attentive observation , V4.
of the facts and phenomena, is as follows: When ice, absorbed*5
for example, or any other solid substance, is changing by solids
into a fluid by heat, I am of opinion that it receives a becoming
much greater quantity of heat than what is perceptible ^id-
in it immediately after by the thermometer. A great
quantity of heat enters into it, on this occasion, without
making it apparently warmer, when tried by that in¬
strument. This heat, however, must be thrown into it,
in order to give it the form of a fluid 5 and I affirm,
that this great addition of heat is the principal and most
immediate cause of the fluidity induced. 2I^
“ And, on the other hand, when we deprive such a Fluids be-
body of its fluidity again, by a diminution of its heat, c.om*.ng so*
a very great quantity of heat comes out of it, while it^^e out
is assuming a solid form, the loss of which heat is not
to be perceived by the common manner of using the
thermometer. The apparent heat of the body, as mea¬
sured by that instrument, is not diminished, or not in
proportion to the loss of heat which the body actually
gives out on this occasion j and it appears from a num¬
ber of facts, that the state of solidity cannot be induced
without the abstraction of this great quantity of heat.
And this confirms the opinion, that this quantity of
heat, absorbed, and as it were, concealed in the compo¬
sition of fluids, is the necessary and immediate cause
of their fluidity.
“ To perceive the foundation of this opinion, and
the inconsistency of the former with many obvious facts,
we must consider, in the first place, the appearances
observable in the melting of ice, and the freezing of
water. 216
“ If we attend to the manner in which ice and snow Proved by
melt, when exposed to the air of a warm room, oroflce anci*’
when a thaw succeeds to frost, we can easily perceive, freezjng
that however cold they might be at the first, they are 0f water,
soon heated up to their melting point, or begin soon
at their surface to be changed into water. And if
the common opinion had been well founded, if the
complete change of them into water required only the
further addition of a very small quantity of heat, the
mass, though of a considerable size>, ought all to be
melted in a very few minutes or seconds more, the
heat continuing incessantly to be communicated from »
the air around. Were this really the case, the con-
quences of it would he dreadful iu many cases $ for,
even as things are at present, the melting of great
quantities of snow and ice occasions violent torrents,
and great inundations in the cold countries, or in the
rivers that come from them. But, were the ice and
snow to melt as suddenly as they must necessarily do,
were the former opinion of the action of heat in melt¬
ing them well founded, .the torrents and inundations
would be incomparably more irresistible and dreadful.
They would tear away and sweep up every thing, and
that so suddenly, that mankind should have great dif- 217
ficulty to escape from their ravages. This sudden li-Melting of
quefaction does not actually happen ; the masses of ice
or snow melt with a very slow progress, and require acess
long time, especially if they be of a large size, such
as are the collections of ice, and wreaths of snow,
formed in some places during the winter* These, after
they begin to melt, often require many weeks of warm
weather, ,
4«4
CHEMISTRY.
Caloric, weather, before they are totally dissolved into water.
» This remarkable slowness with which ice is melted, en¬
ables us to preserve it easily during the summer, in the
structures called ice-houses. It begins to melt in these,
as soon as it is put into them : but, as the building ex¬
poses only a small surface to the air, and has a very
thick covering of thatch, and the access of the exter¬
nal air to the inside of it is prevented as much as pos¬
sible, the heat penetrates the ice-house with a slow
progress, and this, added to the slowness with which
the ice itself is disposed to melt, protracts the total li¬
quefaction of it so long, that some of it remains to
the end of summer. In the same manner does snow
continue on many mountains during the whole summer,
in a melting state, but melting so slowly, that the whole
of that season is not a sufficient time for its complete
liquefaction.
“ This remarkable slowness with which ice and snow
melt, struck me as quite inconsistent with the common
opinion of the modification of heat, in the liquefaction
s1® of bodies.
Foundation << ^n(j this very phenomenon is partly the foundation
covery. “ie °Pimon ^ have proposed } tor it we examine
what happens, we may perceive that a great quantity
of heat enters the melting ice, to form the water into
which it is changed, and that the length of time
necessary for the collection of so much heat from the
surrounding bodies, is the reason of the slowness with
which the ice is liquefied. If any person entertain
doubts of the entrance and absorption of heat in the
melting ice, he needs only to touch it 5 he will instant¬
ly feel that it rapidly draws heat from his warm hand.
He may also examine the bodies that surround it, or
are in contact with it, all of which he will find de¬
prived by it of a great part of their heat; or if he
suspend it by a thread, in the air of a warm room, he
may perceive with his hand, or by a thermometer, a
stream of cold air descending constantly from the ice j
for the air in contact is deprived of a part of its heat,
and thereby condensed and made heavier than the
warmer air of the rest of the room ; it therefore falls
downwards, and its place round the ice is immediately
supplied by some of the warmer air $ but this, in its
turn, is soon deprived of some heat, and prepared to
descend in like manner; and thus there is a constant
flow of warm air from around, to the sides of the ice,
and a descent of the same in a cold state, from the
lower part of the mass, during which operation the
ice must necessarily receive a great quantity of heat.
“ It is, therefore, evident, that the melting ice re¬
ceives heat very fast, but the only effect of this heat
2I^ is to change it into water, which is not in the least
Thermo- sensibly warmer than the ice was before. A thermo¬
meter does meter, applied to drops or small streams of water, im-
not indi- mediately as it comes from the melting ice, will point
calodcab ^ie same ^egree as when it is applied to the ice it-
sorbed. se^» or> ^ there is any difference, it is too small to
deserve notice. A great quantity, therefore, of the
heat, or of the matter of heat, which enters into the
melting ice, produces no other effect but to give it
fluidity, without augmenting its sensible heat; it ap¬
pears to be absorbed and concealed within the water,
so as not to be discoverable by the application of a
thermometer.
“ In order to understand this absorption of heat
into the melting ice, and concealment of it in the Caloiit
water, more distinctly, I made the following experi- v—
ments. 2J0
“ The plan of the first was to take a mass of ice, Proved bI
and an equal quantity of water, in separate vessels, ofexP£ri-
the same size and shape, and as nearly as possible of theraent!*
same heat, to suspend them in the air of a warm
room, and, by observing with a thermometer the ce¬
lerity with which the water is heated, or receives heat,
to learn the celerity with which it enters the ice ; and
the time necessary for melting the ice being also at¬
tended to, to form an estimate, from these two data,
of the quantity of heat which enters the ice during its
liquefaction. 2JI
“ In order to prepare for this experiment, I chose First exp
two thin globular glasses, four inches diameter, andriment.
very nearly of the same weight : I poured into one of
them five ounces of pure water, and then set it in a
mixture of snow and salt, that the water might be
frozen into a small mass of ice. As soon as frozen, it
was carried into a large empty hall, in which the air
was not disturbed or varied in its temperature during
the progress of the experiment; and in this room the
glass was supported, as it were, in mid air, by being
set on a ring of strong wire, which had a tail issuing
from the side of it five inches long, and the end of
this tail was fixed in the most projecting part of a read¬
ing desk or pulpit: And in this situation the glass
remained until the ice was completely melted.
“ When the ice was thus placed, I set up the other
globular glass precisely in the same situation, and at the
distance of 18 inches to one side, and into this pour¬
ed five ounces of water, previously cooled, as near to
the coldness of melting ice as possible, viz. to 330, and
suspended in it a very delicate thermometer, the bulb
of which being in the centre of the water, and the
tube being so placed, that, without touching the ther¬
mometer, I could see the degree to which it pointed.
I then began to observe the ascent of this thermo¬
meter, at proper intervals, in order to learn with what
celerity the water received heat, stirring the water
gently with the end of a feather about a minute before
each observation. The heat of the air, examined at a
little distance from the glasses, was470 of Fahrenheit’s
scale.
“ The thermometer assumed the temperature of the
water in less than half a minute, after which, the rise
of it was observed every five or ten minutes, during
half an hour. At the end of that time, the water was
grown warmer than at first, by 7 degrees; and the
temperature of it had risen to the 40th degree of Fah¬
renheit’s scale.
“ The glass with the ice was, when first taken out
of the freezing mixture, four or five degrees colder
than melting snow, which I learned by applying the
bulb of the thermometer to the bottom of it; but
after some minutes, it had gained from the air those
four or five degrees, and was just beginning to melt,
which point of time was then noted, and the glass
left undisturbed ten hours and a half. At the end of
this time, I found only a very small and spongy mass
of the ice remaining unmelted, in the centre of the
upper surface of the wuter, but this also rvas totally
melted in a few minutes more ; and, introducing the
bulb of the thermometer into the water, near the sides
C H E M
: iloric. of the glass, I found the water there was warmed to
-v—-'the 40th degree of Fahrenheit. From this it appears,
that when a considerable part of the ice was melted,
and the quantity of water around it was increasing,
the heat was not transmitted through tins water to
the remaining ice altogether so fast as it was re¬
ceived by the water; which is easily understood, if we
consider that the distance between the remaining ice
and the external surface of the vessel through which
the heat entered, was gradually increasing, and that
heat always requires time to pass through bodies
or to be communicated from ene part of them to
another.
“ It appears, therefore, from this experiment, that
it was necessary that the glass with the ice receive
heat from the air of the room during 21 half-hours,
in order to melt the ice into water, and to heat that
water to the 40th degree of Fahrenheit. During all
this time, it was receiving the heat, or matter of heat,
with the same celerity (very nearly) with which the
water-glass received it during the single half-hour in
the first part of the experiment. For, as the water re¬
ceived it with a celerity which was diminishing gra¬
dually during that half hour, in consequence of the di¬
minution of difference between its degrees of heat
and that of air 5 so the glass with the ice also received
heat with a diminishing celerity, which corresponded
-exactly with that of the water-glass, only that the pro¬
gression of this diminution was much more slow, and
corresponded to the whole time which the water sur¬
rounding the ice required to become warmed to the
40th Degree of Fahrenheit. The whole quantity of heat,
therefore, received by the ice-glass during the 21 half-
hours, was 21 times the quantity received by the wa¬
ter-glass during the single half-hour. It was, there¬
fore, a quantity of heat, which, had it been add-
ed to liquid rvater, would have made it warmer by
4°;—33X21, or 7X21, or 147 degrees. No part of
this heat, however, appeared in the ice-water, except
€ degrees ; the remaining 139 or 140 degrees had been
absorbed by the melting ice, and were concealed in the
water into which it was changed.
“ The -communication of heat to the melting ice
was easily perceived, during the whole time of its ex¬
position, by feeling the stream of cold air which de¬
scended from the glass.
“ This experiment was an analysis of the manner in
which ice is meited by the heat of the air in ordinary
circumstances.
But another obvious method of melting ice occur¬
red to me, in which it would he still more easy to per¬
ceive the absorption and concealment of heat, and this
iz Was the action of warm water.
»d ex- “ When hot and cold water are mixed together,
eilt the excess of heat contained in the hot water is equally
distributed in an instant through the whole mixture,
and raises the temperature of it according to the great¬
ness of the excess of temperature, and the proportion
which the hot water bore to the cold. If the quanti¬
ties of hot and cold water are equal, the tempera¬
ture is the middle degree between that of the hot
and that of the cold. No part of the heat disappears
on this occasion, so far as we can perceive, hut the in¬
tensity of it only is diminished, by its being diffused
Vol. V. Part II. b +
I S T R Y. 465
through a larger quantity of matter. It was, there- Caloric.
fore, obvious, that if a quantity of heat is absorbed, 1—'y  
and disappears in the melting of ice, this would easily
be perceived when the ice is melted with warm wa¬
ter.
“ To make this experiment, I first froze a quantity
of water in the neck of a broken retort, in order to have
a mass of ice of an oblong form.
At the same time I heated a quantity of water,
nearly equal in weight to the ice, in a very thin globu¬
lar glass, the mouth of which was sufficiently wide to
take in the piece of ice. The water was heated by a
small spirit of wine lamp applied to tire bottom of the
glass $ it was also stirred with the end of a feather, and
a thermometer hung in it.
“ While the water was heating, the mass of ice was
taken out of the mould in which it had been formed,
and was exposed to the air of a temperate room, until
it was perceived to be beginning to melt over the whole
of its surface.
“ I then put a woollen glove on my left hand, and
taking hold of the ice, I wiped it quite dry with a
linen towel, laid it in the scale of a balance on a piece
of flannel, and hastily counterpoised it with sand in the
opposite scale, that I might examine the weight of it
afterwards j and I immediately plunged it into the hot
water, and extinguished the lamp at the same time.
The lamp being small, the heat of the water had been
increasing very slowly, and had almost ceased to in¬
crease ; and being examined immediately before I put
the ice into it, the temperature was found to be just
190 degrees. I he ice was all melted in a few seconds,
and produced a mixture, the temperature of which was
53 degrees.
“ 1 he weight of the ice, when put into the hot wa¬
ter, was seven ounces three drams and a half. The
weight of the glass, with the whole mixture in it, was
16 ounces, seven drams, and seven grains. The weight
of the glass alone was nearly one ounce.
“ In considering this experiment, we may overlook
quantities less than half a dram, or 30 grains, and reckon
the quantities of the different articles by the number of
half-drams in each.
“ Thus the weight of the ice was 119 half-drams.
* Hot water 135
 Mixture 254
— "• -  Glass alone 16
“ The melting of the ice was affected, not only by
the heat of the hot water, but also by that of the
glass. And, by other experiments, I learned that 16
parts of hot glass have more power in heating cold
bodies, than eight parts of equally hot water ; we may
therefore substitute, in place of the 16 balf-drams of
warm glass, eight half-drams of warm water, which,
added to the above quantity of warm water, make up
143 half-drams.
“ The heat of this warm water was 190 degrees, that
is 158 hotter than the ice ; and if this heat had abated
in the mixture only in consequence of the quantity and
coldness of the ice, and if nothing had happened when
the ice was put in, hut merely a communication of
this heat, and an equal distribution of it through the
mixture, the temperature of the mixture should have
been 158, viz. the excess of heat in the warm water,
3 N multiplied
466
CHEMISTKY.
Caloric.
Caloric is
absorbed.
* Black's
beet. vol. i.
p. 125.
224
Called la-
tent heat.
225
Experi¬
ments on
other bo¬
dies prove
the same
tiling.
multiplietl by 143, the quantity of the warm matter,
and divided by 262, the quantity of the whole, which
gives 86.
“ The mixture should have been 86 degrees warmer
than melting ice $ but it was found only 21 degrees
warmer. Therefore a quantity of heat has disappear¬
ed, which, if it had remained in a sensible state, would
have made the whole mixture and glass warmer by 65
degrees than they were actually found to be. But
this quantity of heat would be sufficient for increasing,
by 143 degrees, the heat of a quantity of water, equal
in weight to the ice alone. It was, however, absorb¬
ed by the ice, without in the least increasing its sensi¬
ble heat (o).
“ The result of this experiment coincides sufficiently
with that of the former j the difference is not greater
than what may be expected in similar experiments, and
might arise from the accident of the central parts of the
mass of ice being colder than the surface, by one or two
degrees.
“ I have, in the same manner, put a lump of ice into
an equal quantity of water, heated to the temperature
176, and the result was, that the fluid was no hotter
than water just ready to freeze. Nay, if a little sea
salt be added to the water, and it be heated only to
166 or 170, we shall produce a fluid sensibly colder
than the ice was in the beginning, which has appeared
a curious and puzzling thing to those unacquainted with
the general fact.
“ It is, therefore, proved that the phenomena which
attend the melting of ice in different circumstances,
are inconsistent with the common opinion which was
established upon this subject, and that they support the
one which I. have proposed
6. These experiments shew clearly and incontrover-
tibly, that the conversion of ice into water is owing to
the absorption of a certain portion of caloric : and that
the quantity of caloric absorbed is equal to what would
have given to the temperature of a body which remained
unchanged, as, for instance water, a rise of 140 de¬
grees, These 140°, therefore, have disappeared (for
no increase of temperature is indicated by the thermo¬
meter), have been absorbed by the ice, and are neces¬
sary to reduce it to the liquid state. This portion of
caloric, which had thus disappeared, Dr Black called
latent heat, because in this state of combination its pre¬
sence was not indicated by the thermometer. By others
this has been called the caloric offluidity.
7. In the progress of these investigations, experi¬
ments were made on other substances, which clearly
shewed that their fluidity is owing to the same cause.
These experiments were made on wax, tallow, sperma¬
ceti, sulphur, alum, nitre, and some of the metals.
The late ingenious Dr Irvine, the pupil of Dr Black,
and who materially assisted him in many of his experi¬
ments, ascertained the quantity of caloric which was
necessary for the fluidity of the following substances 5
which, when compared with that of ice, will shew that
the quantity of the caloric of fluidity increases with the
temperature at which the body is converted into the li¬
quid state.
Caioia
Spermaceti,
Bees wax,
Tin,
148“
175
500
8. Dr Black farther observes on the operation of Softness,
this cause, that there is reason to think, that not only !*n(j .™a!
the fluidity of bodies, but even the softness of such as^,-^
are rendered plastic by heat, depends on a quantity of the same
heat combined with them, in the form of latent heat; cause,
and that the malleability and ductility of metals depend
upon the same cause. For, while they are extended
under the hammer, they become warm, and in some
cases very hot 5 at the same time they become rigid,
and are no longer malleable. They have lost their
toughness and softness. To restore this, they must be
annealed, or made hot in the fire and allowed to cool.
They thus recover their malleability, of which they
may be again deprived by a second hammering. 2271
9. The temperature at which solid bodies begin to beTempen
converted into the liquid state, is consant; and tilltu''®at
they are raised to this temperature, no change takes
place. Water in the solid state, or ice, always remainseome pu
unchanged till it is placed in a temperature above 32°. constani
This point, which is called the melting point, is con¬
stant in the same body, but is very different in differ¬
ent bodies. The following table exhibits the melting
point of a number of solid bodies.
Lead, 594*
Bismuth, 576
Tin, 442
Sulphur, 212
Wax, 142
Spermaceti, 133
Phosphorus, 100
Tallow, 92
Oil of anise, 50
Olive oil, 36
Ice, 32
Milk, 30
Vinegar, 28
Blood, 25
Oil of bergamot, 23
Wines, 2Q
Oil of turpentine, 14
Sulphuric acid, 36
Mercury, 39
Liquid ammonia, 46>
Ether, 46
Nitric acid, 66
3. Of Vapour.
1. If, after a mass of ice is converted into water or a2i|
the liquid state, the application of heat to that water be Water
continued, it undergoes other changes, and exhibits very change
different phenomena. If the temperature be raised suf-^J
ficiently high, the water becomes agitated with an in¬
testine
(o) “ These two experiments, and the reasoning which accompanies them, were read by me in the Philoso¬
phical Club, or Society of Professor and others in the University of Glasgow, in the year 1762.”
CHEMISTRY.
a2p
1 iag,
v t.
230
J ing
j 1 con-
11;
,531
' varies
' 1 pres.
232
2 1 of la.
heat
tided.
testine motion, and If It is supplied with a sufficient quan-
i tlty of caloric, the whole of the water is dissipated.
This agitation of the water, it is well known, is called,
in common language, boiling.
2. As solid bodies which are capable of being con¬
verted into the liquid state by an increase of caloric,
have a certain determinate temperature, so many of
those bodies which are capable of assuming the form of
an elastic fluid undergo this change only when they
are raised to a certain temperature. Some liquids, in¬
deed, assume the form of vapour at all temperatures,
which is the case with water, with volatile oils, spirits
of wine and ether. This change is called spontaneous
evaporation; but there are others which remain un¬
changed till the temperature is raised to that point at
which they boil. Boiling is nothing else but the rapid
conversion of the liquid into vapour. The heat being
applied to the bottom of the vessel which contains the
liquid, the particles at the bottom first assume the elas¬
tic form; and as they rise through the liquid, cause it
to be violently agitated. This boiling point, under the
same pressure, is always the same in the same liquid ;
and however strong the heat that may be applied, or
however long it may be continued, the temperature of
the liquid, in open vessels, never rises above this point.
The boiling point of water, for instance, is 212°, and
it never becomes hotter: the application of a higher
heat around it only hastens the progress of evaporation;
and if the heat be continued, the whole is dissipated,
and converted into vapour.
Table shewing the boiling points of several liquids.
Ether, 98°
Ammonia, 140
Alcohol, 176
Water, 212
Muriate of lime, 230
Nitric acid, 248
Phosphorus, 554
Oil of turpentine, 560
Sulphur, 570
Sulphuric acid, 590
Linseed oil, 600
Mercury, 660
3. But this boiling point is found to vary considera¬
bly, and this variation depends on the pressui’e on the
surface of the liquid. When the pressure is diminish¬
ed, liquids boil at a lower temperature ; but when this
pressure is increased, they require a higher tempera¬
ture to produce boiling. Water boils at a low tempe¬
rature on the top of a high mountain, or in the va¬
cuum of an air pump, where the pressure is greatly di¬
minished ; but when it is confined in close vssels, as in
Papin’s digester, the temperature may be raised to 300°
or 400° without boiling.
4. The general law which was discovered by Dr
Black, of the conversion of solids into liquids, was also
applied by him to account for the change of liquids into
elastic fluids. This was proved by the following ex¬
periments.
“ Expei'wiait I.—I procured, (says Dr Black), some
cylindrical tin-plate vessels, about four or five inches
diameter, and flat-bottomed. Putting a small quantity
of water into them, of the temperature 50*, I set them
467
Calorie.
upon a red-hot kitchen table, that is, a cast-iron plate,
having a furnace of burning fuel below it, taking care, i—-y-=
that the fire should be pretty regular. After four mi¬
nutes, the water began sensibly to boil, and in 20 mi¬
nutes more, it was all boiled oft. This experiment was
made 4th October 1762.
“ Experiment 2.—Two flat-bottomed vessels, like the
former, were set on the iron plate, with eight ounces
of water in each, of the temperature 50°. They both
began to boil at the end of three minutes and a half,
and in eighteen minutes more, all the water was boiled
off.
“ Experiment 3.—The same vessels were again sup¬
plied with 12 ounces of ivater in each, also of the tern- .
perature 50°. Both began to boil at the end of six mi¬
nutes and a quarter, and the water was all boiled off
from the one in 28 minutes, and from the other in some¬
thing more than 29.
“ I reasoned from these experiments in the following
manner: The vessels in the first experiment received
162 degrees of heat in four minutes, or 40!- degrees
each minute. If we, therefore, suppose that the heat
enters equally fast during the whole ebullition, we must
suppose that 8ro degrees of heat have been absorbed
by the water, and are contained in its vapour. Since
this vapour is no hotter than boiling water, the heat is
contained in it in a latent state, if we consider it only
as the cause of warmth. Its presence is sufficiently in¬
dicated, however, by the vaporous or expansive form
which the water has now acquired.
“ In experiment second, the heat absorbed, and ren- Quantity
dered latent, seems to be about 830. of caloric
“ In the third experiment, the heat absorbed seems to in vapour,
be somewhat Jess, viz. about 750. The time of rising
to the boiling heat, in experiment third, has nearly the
same proportion to that in experiment first, that the
quantities of water have. The deficiency, therefore,
in the heat absorbed, has been probably only appa¬
rent, and arising from irregularity in the fire. Upon
the whole, the conformity of their results with my con¬
jecture was sufficient to confirm me in my opinion of
its justice. In the course of further experiments made
both by myself and by some friends, and in which the
utmost care was taken to procure a perfect uniformity
in the heat applied,’ the absorption was found extreme¬
ly regular, and amounted at an average to about 810
degrees.
• • 2 "XA
“ There are other cases where this absorption appears oilier
in a much more singular manner. I put into a very proofs of
strong phial, about as much water as half filled it, cal°r'c
and I corked it close. The phial was placed in asorbe^m
sand pot, which was gradually heated, until the sand'a^0Ul’
and phial were several degrees above the common va-
•porific pint of water. 1 was curious to know what would
be the effect of suddenly removing the pressure of the air,
which is well known to prevent water from boiling. The
water boiled a very short while, but the ebullition gradu¬
ally decreased, till it was almost insensible. Here the
formation of more vapour was opposed by a very strong
pressure, proceeding from the quantity of vapour al¬
ready accumulated, and confined in the upper part of
the phial, and from the increased elasticity of this va¬
pour, by the increase of its heat. When matters were
in this state, I drew out the cork. Now, according
to the common opinion of the formation of vapour by
3 N 2 heat,
468
CHEMISTRY.
Caloric,
235
The caloric
absorbed in
proportion
to the
quantity of
vapour.
heat, it was to be expected that the whole of the water
would suddenly assume the vaporous form, because it
was all heated above the vaporific point. But I was
beginning by this time to expect a different event, be¬
cause I could not see whence the heat was to be sup¬
plied, which the water must contain when in the form
of vapoui'. Accordingly, it happened as I expected j
a portion only of the water was converted into vapour,
which rushed out of the phial with a considerable ex¬
plosion, carrying along with it some drops of water.
But, what was most interesting to me in this experi¬
ment was, that the heat of what remained was redu¬
ced in an instant to the ordinary boiling point. Here,
therefore, it was evident, that all that excess of heat
which the water had contained above the boiling point,
was spent in converting only a portion of it into va¬
pour. This is plainly inconsistent with the common
opinion, that nothing more is necessary for watei-’s
existing in a vaporous form under the pressure of the
atmosphere, than its being raised to a certain tempera¬
ture. The experiment makes it more probable, that
if the influx of heat could at that instant have been
prevented, it would have remained in the form of wa¬
ter, although raised, in a very sensible degree, above
the boiling temperature.
“ I was anxious to learn whether the heat which dis¬
appeared in this experiment was in an accurate pro¬
portion to the quantity of vapour produced, or the
quantity of water that had disappeared. But the
drops ol water that were hurried along by the explosion,
without being converted into vapour, made it impos¬
sible for me to ascertain this with any tolerable accu¬
racy, although I repeated the experiment several times.
“ This experiment was afterwards made by my friend
Mr Watt, in a very satisfactory manner. His studies
for the improvement of his steam-engine, gave him a
great interest in every thing relating to the production
of steam. He put three inches of water into a small
copper digester, and, screwing on the lid, he left the
safety-valve open. He then set it on a clear fire of
coals, and after it began to boil and produce steam, he
allowed it to remain on the fire half an hour, with the
valve open. Then, taking it off the fire, he found
that an inch of water had boiled away. In the next
place, he restored that inch of water, screwed on the
lid, and set it on the fire ; and as soon as it began to
boil, he shut the safety-valve, and allowed it to remain
on the fire half an hour as before. The temperature
of the whole was many degrees above the boiling
point. He took it off the fire, and set it upon ashes,
and opened the valve a very small matter. The steam
rushed out with great violence, making a shrieking
noise for about two minutes. When this had ceased^
he shut the valve, and allowed all 'to cool. When
he opened it, he found that an inch of water was con¬
sumed.
It is reasonable to conclude from this experiment,
that nearly as much heat was expended during the
blowing of the steam pipe, as had been formerly ex¬
pending in boiling off the inch of water. For, before
opening the valve, the temperature was many degrees
above the boiling point, and all this disappeared with
the vapour. The same inference may be drawn from
the time that the digester continued upon the fire with
the valve shut, because we may conclude that the
heat was entering nearly at the same rate during the
whole time. It is plain, however, that the experiment
is not of such a kind as to admit of nice calculation ;
but it is abundantly sufficient to shew that a prodigious
quantity of heat had escaped along with the particles
of vapour produced from an inch of water. The water
that remained could not be hotter than the boiling
point, nor could the vessel be hotter, otherwise it would
have heated the water, and converted it into vapour.
The heat, therefore, did not escape along with the va¬
pour, but in it, probably united to every particle, as
one of the ingredients of its vaporous constitution. And
as ice, united with a certain quantity of heat, ib water}
so water, united with another quantity of heat, is steam
or vapour
The following experiment made by the late Dr Ir¬
vine of Glasgow, at the desire of Dr Black, and re¬
corded by the latter, is a still farther confirmation of
the general fact, that the conversion of liquids into elas¬
tic fluids is produced by their combining with caloric.
“ Five measures (each containing qlb. 5 oz. and
6 dr. avoirdupois) of water, of the temperature 52°,
were poured into a small still in the laboratory. The
fire had been kindled about 40 minutes before, and was
come to a clear and uniform state. The still was set
into the furnace, and, in an hour and 20 minutes, tire
first drop came from the worm ; and in three hours
and 45 minutes more, three measures of water were
distilled, and the experiment ended. The refrigera¬
tory contained 38 measures of water, of which the
temperature, at the beginning of the experiment, was
52°. When one measure had come over, the water
in the refrigeratory was at 76°. When two had come
over, it was at ioo°} and when three had come over,
it was at 1230.
“ In this experiment, the heat, which emerged from
three measures of water, had raised the temperature of
the ■water in the refrigeratory from 520 to 1230, or
710. Now 3 is to 38 as 71 to 899!, and the heat
would have raised the three measures 899^- degrees in
its temperature, if this had been possible without con¬
verting it into vapour. The heat of the vapour from
which this emerged was 212°, or *6o° more than
that of the water. Taking this from 899°, there re¬
mains 7390, the heat contained in the vapour in a latent
state.
“ But this must be sensibly less than the truth. Dur¬
ing the experiment, the vessels were verv warm—the
head of the still as hot as boiling water, and the refri¬
geratory gradually rising from 520, which was within a
degree or two of the temperature of the air of the la¬
boratory, to 1230. A very considerable portion of the
latent heat of the steam must have been carried oft’ by
the air in contact with a considerable surface, some of
which was exceedingly hot. A great deal must also
have been carried off in the steam which arose very
sensibly from the water in the refrigeratory, towards
the end of the experiment. Mr Irvine also observed,
that, during the distillation, the temperature of the water
which ran from the worm was about 110 hotter than the
water in the refrigeratory. The steam, therefore, at
a medium, was not 160° hotter than the water which
ran from the worm, but I2j°, its mean temperature
being
Caloric
* Black'
Lect. to]
P- n5i.
236
Confrrme
by Dr Ir
vine.
- c '1C
I -
Wt
3
Bj Yoi-
liei
C H £ M I
being about 87°. This consideration alone will make
the latent heat of the steam not less than *74 degrees,
[without any allowance for waste.
“ Some comparison may also be made between the
heat expended in the production of the steam, and
that which emerges during its condensation. The time
which elapsed during the raising of the temperature of
the five measures of water from 520 to 212°, that is
l6o°, was one hour and 20 minutes, or 80',—and
225' elapsed during the boiling off of three measures.
Therefore, since 80 is to 225 as 160 to 450, as much
beat was expended as would have raised the five mea-
|r|l sures 450° in temperature. This would have raised
,1 three measures 750° above the boiling heat already
jMil produced. . This gives 750 for the latent heat of the
steam, besides what was unavoidably lost by communi-
sj vi>l.cat;on t0 the ambient air, and what was expended in
‘•P heating the vessels*.”
. 0f In some experiments made by Mr Watt, who also
;s esti- assisted Dr Black in conducting these invaluable ex-
by periments, it appears that the latent heat of steam is
irom 900° to 950°* This he discovered by observing
the quantity ot caloric which was absorbed by the wa¬
ter in its conversion into steam or vapour, and the
quantity given out, when that vapour returned to the
state of water.
Ihe latent heat of steam, estimated by the experi¬
ments of M. Lavoisier, amounts to more than iooo°.
5. Thus is this general law established, that all li¬
quids are converted into elastic fluids, by combining
with a certain portion of caloric. This portion of ca¬
loric is not indicated by the thermometer, and is there¬
fore said to be latent heat, as we have already mention¬
ed ; but when the elastic fluid returns to the liquid
state, it again becomes sensible, and precisely the same
quantity is extricated which has been absorbed.
6. It is an object of some importance to ascertain the
elastic force of vapour, and the ratio of the increase of
this elasticity by increase of temperature. The elasti-
.city of vapour which is formed by a liquid boiling in
teijth the open air, is equal to the pressure of the atmosphere ;
and it has been ascertained by the experiments of Mr
ten a-^ ^a^on an(^ Gay-Lussac, that the elasticity of
all elastic fluids is the same with that of the vapour of
water, with the same increase or diminution of tem¬
perature from the boiling point. If, then, the boiling
point of any liquid be known, the elasticity of its va¬
pour may be discovered, by comparing it with the elas¬
ticity of the steam of water, the same number of de¬
grees above or below the boiling point. In the fol¬
lowing table, constructed by Mr Dalton from his ex¬
periments and calculations, the elasticity of the vapour
of water is given for every temperature from 40° to
32 5°. To find the elasticity of the vapour of ether at
40° below its boiling point, which is 98°, take 40° from
98°, there remains 38, and the same number from 212°
the boiling point oi water, there remains 1720, oppo¬
site to which number in the table is 12.73, which is
toe elasticity ot the steam of water at 172°, and also
the elasticity of the vapour of ether at 58°.
E!i -ity
of; ?a-
I pouf 16
Ml] IS
that ‘ wa¬
ter-
S T R Y. 469
Table of the Force of Vipour from JFater in every '•—t-- , ■
temperature, from that of Congelation of Mercury,
or 40° below Lero of Fahrenheit, to 32 ff. f Maneh.
t orce rf Vap
Temp, in inches of
Mercury.
-40“
-30
-20
-10
o
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
*3
H
16
*7
18
*9
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
.013
.020
.030
.040
.064
.066
.068
.071
.074
.076
•°79
.082
.085
.087
.090
•093
.096
.100
.104
.108
.112
.116
.120
.124
.129
•134
•I39
.144
.150
.156
.162
.168
•I74
.180
.186
•I93
.200
.207
.214
.221
.229
•237
•245
.254
.263
•273
.283
•294
•3°5
.316
.328
•339
lrorce of Vap.
Temp, in inches of
Mercury.
48°
49
5°
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
,95
96
97
98
99
100
101
351
363
375
388
401
4i5
429
443
458
474
490
5°7
524
542
i;6o
578
597
616
635
655
676
698
721
745
770
796
823
851
880
910
940
971
1.00
1.04
1.07
1.10
1.14
1.17
1.21
1.24
1.28
1.32
1.36
1.40
1.44
1.48
i-53
1.58
1.63
1.68
1.74
1.80
1.86
1.92
Femp,
Force of Vap.
in inches of
Mercury.
102°
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
no
in
112
XI3
ri4
IX5
116
”7
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
12 5
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
x33
*34
x35
136
J37
*38
J39
140
141
142
r43
144
x45
146
!47
148 ■
T49
r5°
151 ■
152 1
J53 •
*54 •
r55 •
1.98
2.04
2.11
2.18
2.25
2.32
2-39
2.46
2-53
2.60
2.68
2.76
2.84
2.92
3.00
3.06
3.16
•25
•33
.42
•5°
•59
.69
•79
.89
4.00
4.11
4.22
4-34
4- 47
4.60
4 73
4.86
y.oo
5*I4
5*29
5- 44
5-59
5-74
5- 9°
6.05
6.21
6- 37
6-53
6.70
6.87
7'c5
7*23
7.42
7.61
7.81
8.01
8.20
8.40
Mem. vol.
vi P- 559-
Table
C H E M I
Table Continued.
Force of Yap.
Temp. in inches of
Mercury.
Force of Yap.
Temp. in inches of
Mercury.
Force of Yap
Temp. in inches of
Mercury.
1560-  8.60
157   8.8l
158   9.-02
XS9  9,24
160   9.46
161    9.68
162   9.91
163  10.15
164  10.41
165  10.68
166   10.96
167  11-25
168  u-54
169  11-83
170  12.13
i?1 ~—12-43
172  12.73
173  13.02
174  13.32
175 ——13.62
176  13.92
177  14.22
178  14-52
179  -14.83
180  15.15
181  15-50
182 ——15-86
183  16.23
184   16.61
185  17.00
186  17-40
187  17.80
188  18.20
189  18.60
190  .19.00
191  19.42
192  19.86
193  20.32
194  20.77
195  21.22
196  21.68
197  22.13
198  22.69
199  23.16
200  23.64
201 —24.12
202 — 24.61
203  25.10
204  25.61
205  26.13
206  26.66
207  27.20
208  27.74
209  28.29
210 —28.84
211  29.41
212  30.00
2130 20.60
214  31-21
215  S1-^
216  32.46
217  33.09
218 —-33.72
219  34-35
220  34.99
221  35.63
222  36.25
223  36.88
224  37.53
225  38.20
226  38.89
227  39-59
228  40.30
229  41.02
230  41.75
231  42.49
232  43.24
233  44.00
234  44-78
235  45-58
236  46.39
237  47.20
238   48.02
239  48.84
240  49-67
241  50.50
242  51.34
243  52.18
244  53.03
245  53-88
246 —.54.68
247  55-54
248  56.42
249  -57-31
250  58.21
251  59-12
252  60.05
253  61.00
254  61.92
255  62 85
256  63.76
257  64.82
258  6 5.78
259  66.75
260  67.73
261  68.72
262  69.72
263  7°-73
264  71.74
265  72.76
266  73-77
267  74-79
268  75-8o
269°  76.82
270   77.85
271 ■ 78.89
272   79.94
273   80.98
274   82.01
275   83.13
276   84.35
277  85.47
278   86.50
279   87.63
280   88.75
281   89.87
282   90.99
283   92.11
284   93.23
285   94.35
286   95-48
287   96.64
288   97.80
289   98.96
290  100.12
291   101.28
292  102.45
293  103.63
294  104.80
295  io5-97
296  107.14
297  108.31
298  109.48
299  110.64
300 —-111.81
301  112.98
302  114-15
303  115-32
304  116.50
305   117.68
306  118.86
307  120.03
308  121.20
309  122.37
310  123.53
311  124.69
312  125.85
313  127.00
3x4 128.25
315  129.29
316  130.43
317  I3I-57
318  132.72
319  133-86
320  135-00
321  136.14
322  137-28
323  138.42
324  139-66
^325 T4°-70
S T R Y.
Sect. III. Of the Motion of Caloric. t Cal°f‘ |
1. It appears that the motion of caloric, when it is 24°J
not interrupted, is equal in velocity to that of light. jf
When therefore it is emitted by one body, it moves on eqUai tc
with this velocity till it is received by another. This has that of
been called the transmission or radiation of heat. This hght.
radiation or separation of heat from anybody, arxses^a^
from the force with which it is conncted with that
body being diminished ; that is when a greater quan¬
tity of caloric is accumulated in that body than it can
contain. The experiments of Dr Herschel shew, thatRefr^*
heat is radiated, refracted, and reflected in the same 243
manner as light. The reflection of caloric has also and Kfh,
been proved by the experiments of Mr Pictet formerly^-
mentioned. But caloric is communicated from one
body to another by direct contact of these bodies. ^
2. It is well known that a cold body brought intolscomir
contact with a warm body, becomes in a certain time Seated
hot, but this does not take place instantaneously j and20111^-
the time necessary for one body to receive caloric from
another, or for the different parts of the same body to
acquire the same temperature, varies according to the
nature and state of these bodies. This is called the
conducting power of bodies.
3. But as difterent bodies have different degrees
of affinity for caloric, or contain different propor¬
tions of it, it must be separated or absorbed with
greater or less facility. The motion of caloric there- More re
fore, in these different circumstances, will be consi-pidty *n
derably varied in its celerity. This may be proved 0
by direct experiment. If one extremity of two sub- I
stances of different properties, as, for instance, a rod of
iron and another of wood, be put into the fire, and the
hand brought into contact with the other extremity,
the rod of iron will soon be heated too much for the
hand to bear, while the rod of wood will not have its
temperature increased. This shews, that the caloric is
carried a shorter distance through the wood ; or, in other
words, the iron is a better conductor than the wood. J46
4. All solid bodies are conductors of caloric, but Goode-
they possess this power in very different degrees, dactors.
Those which conduct caloric with facility are called
good conductors j those through which it passes with
difficulty, or very slowly, are said to be had conductors.ga^c0
The motion of caloric from one body to another, orjuctors. ,
through the same body, is not altogether in proportion
to their densities, as might be supposed from the in¬
stance of the communication of caloric through wood
and iron, just mentioned. Caloric is conducted very
slowly through a more porous substance, such as a mass
of cork, or a quantity of wool, feathers, or furs. It is
on account of the slowness with which heat is conduct¬
ed in these substances, that some of them are employed
in cold weather, and in cold countries, as materials for
clothing. The heat being slowly conducted through
such substances, they prevent the heat of the body from
being dissipated 5 they retard the communication between 4 J
the w-arm body and the cold air. We find a wise pro-^ir t| |
vision of nature, in furnishing all animals which are in¬
habitants of the colder regions of the earth, with a thick
covering of fur or feathers. The conducting power of
fur, feathers, silk, and wool, was found in the experi¬
ments of Bumford, to diminish in proportion to the fine
ness of their texture.
Metallic
lone.
49 L
j ds the
b| con-
d M'S-
* urn.
d %s.
1.
C H E M
Metallic substances are the best conductors of calo¬
ric ; but among the metals there is considerable variety
of conducting power, and this is not in proportion to
their density, as appears from the experiments of Dr
Ingenhousz on the following metals, which are set down
in the order of their conducting power *.
Silver,
Gold,
Copper,
Tin,
Platina,
Iron,
Steel,
Lead.
I j° . A set of experiments was made on the conducting
( power of different woods, by Professor Mayor of Er-
| is. langen, of which the following are the results, compar-
, ^^ed with the conducting power of water f.
Water, 10.0
5 P*4'3* Ebony, 21.7
Crab apple, 27.4
Ash,' 38.0
Beech, 32.1
Hornbeam, 32.3
Plum tree, 32.5
Female oak, 32.6
Pear tree, 33.2
Birch, 34.1
Oak, 36.3
Pitch pine, 37.5
Alder, 38.4
Pine, 38.6
Fir, 38.9
Lime tree, 39-°
The experiments of Guyton shew, that the conduct-
M, vol. ing power of charcoal is to that of fine sand nearly
'■ P' in the proportion of 2 to 3
j.j 5. Fluid bodies, as well as solids, are conductors of
ds are caloric j but they are found to conduct it so slowly,
1 hicton. that it was at one time supposed that they did not pos¬
sess this power at all, that is, that the caloric was not
conducted from particle to particle in fluids, as it is in
solid bodies. This opinion seemed to be supported by
the nature and constitution of fluids, in which the par¬
ticles have free motion among each other, so that when
one set of particles acquires an additional quantity of
caloric, their specific gravity is necessarily diminished j
and if lower, they naturally change place with those
other particles of the fluid which have been less heated,
and are consequently heavier. These different appear¬
ances which were observed in the heating of fluids led
Count Rumford, who made many ingenious experiments
on this subject, to conclude, that fluids are heated, or
conduct caloric, in a different manner from solids. In
a spirit of wine thermometer, which was placed in a
window to cool, he observed the fluid in the tube in
rapid motion. There were two currents going in dif¬
ferent directions, the one ascending, and the other de¬
scending. The descending current occupied the sides
of the tube, and the ascending current the middle. The
currents were owing to the change in the specific gra¬
vity of the particles, which being heated became light¬
en, and rose to the top ; the heavier particles at the
same time descended. The particles which ascended
having reached the sides or top of the tube, gave out
3
I S T R Y.
their caloric, became specifically heavier, and again fell
to the bottom. The motion of the currents was consi¬
derably increased by the application of a cold body to
the sides of the tube. The count also repeated the ex¬
periment with linseed oil, and with water, in the latter
ot which he dissolved potash, to bring its specific gra¬
vity to that of amber, small pieces of which he intro¬
duced, to observe the currents more distinctly. These
experiments were followed with the same result. When
the temperature was increased or diminished, the cur¬
rents were set in motion, and only ceased when the
temperature became equal to that of the surrounding
bodies.
In prosecuting this subject, the count made other
experiments, to ascertain how far the heating or cool¬
ing of fluids is affected by a difference of fluidity. The
thermometer which he employed in these experiments,
had a copper bulb and a glass tube, and was filled with
linseed oil. This was placed in the centre of a brass
cylinder, and the space between the sides of the cylin¬
der and the thermometer, was 0.25175. The thermo¬
meter being secured, the cylinder was filled with 2276
grs. of pure water, and held in melting snow, till the
thermometer fell to 32°. It was then immersed in
boiling water, and the thermometer rose from 32°
to 200° in 597". The caloric which raised the ther¬
mometer must have been communicated to it through
the water in the cylinder. The experiment was then
varied, by boiling 192 grs. of starch in the water in
the cylinder'. The thermometer now required 1109"
to rise from 32° to 200°. The same experiment was
repeated by mixing 192 grs. eider down with the same
quantity of water, and also with a quantity of stewed
apples. The result of these experiments will be seen
in the following tables §.
Time the Caloric took in passing into the Thermo¬
meter.
471
Caloric.
\ Rumford.
Essay 7.
Tempera¬
ture.
1'h rough
the Water
and Starch.
rtirough the
Water and
Eider down.
Through
stewed
Apple*.
Through
pure
Water.
Therm, rose
from 32°
to ioo°, in
Seconds.
IIO9
Seconds.
949
Seconds.
10961-
Seconds.
597
rherm. rose
So0, viz
from 80°
to 1600, in
341
269
335
172
Time the Caloric took in passing out of the Thermo¬
meter.
Fernpera-
ture.
Through
the Water
and Starch.
Therm, fell
from 200
to 40°, ii
Seconds.
*548
Through the
Water and
Eider down
Second-.
1541
Through
stewed
Apples.
Seconds.
J749i
Through
pure
Water.
Seconds.
IO32
Therm, fell
8o°, viz.
from i6oc
to 8o°, in
468
460
520
277
The
CHEMISTRY.
* Vol iv.
p. 5*9.
f Ibid, oc¬
tavo, vol i
p. 165.
1 Vol. v.
P- 373’
151
but worse
than solids.
Tlie substances which were added to the water in
these experiments, had, by diminishing its fluidity, the
effect of retarding the internal motions or currents by
which the caloric is conducted through fluids. Thus,
when starch was mixed with water, it required nearly
double the time to raise the thermometer to the same
degree, as with pure water. From these and from some
other experiments, Count Rumford concluded, that fluid
bodies are heated in a different manner from solids $
that caloric is not communicated through fluids from
particle to particle, but that all the particles indivi¬
dually come in contact with the heating body, and this
is supposed to be the cause of the currents, which are
observed during the heating of the fluids.
6. Fluids no doubt acquire great part of their tem¬
perature in this manner ; but it has been clearly proved,
by the experiments of others, that they are also con¬
ductors of caloric exactly the same way as solid bodies,
only in an inferior degree. This has been established
in the most satisfactory manner by the experiments of
Dr Thomson * and Dr Murray-f-, which were publish¬
ed in Nicholson’s Journal; and also by another set of
experiments by Mr Dalton, which were published in
the Manchester Memoirs J. By these experiments it
is demonstrated, that fluids conduct caloric from the
surface downwards j which could not be the case, were
it only communicated through them by the ascending
currents of particles, in the way Count Rumford sup¬
posed ; but they are worse conductors of caloric than
solids; that is, it passes through'them much more
slowly.
Sect. I V. Of the Distribution of Caloric.
If a number of bodies be exposed to different tem¬
peratures, and then be all placed in the same tempera-
ture, or brought into contact with each other, they
All bodies acquire in a certain time the same temperature. Thus,
acquire the if one body be raised to the temperature of 200°, ano-
perature'iu ^ler that of 100°, and a third to the temperature of
the Same 6°° ; and if these three bodies be placed in the tem-
mcdiuui. perature of 8o°, they all indicate, in a short time, the
same temperature. The bodies which were at the tem¬
perature of 200° and ioo° are reduced to 8o°, and the
temperature of the body at 6o° rises to the same. This
is called the distribution, or the tendency to equili¬
brium of caloric. To whatever degree bodies are
heated or cooled, they all acquire in time the tempera¬
ture of the surrounding medium, as indicated by the
thermometer. It may therefore be received as a ge¬
neral law, that all bodies which communicate freely
with each other, and are subject to no inequality of
254 external action, acquire the same temperature.
Radiation I. Bodies are deprived of caloric, net only by ra-
not the sole diation from their surfaces, but it is also conducted by
coolhur! the sui;roundiog bodies with which the heated body
comes in contact, and this depends greatly on the na¬
ture of the cold body. The experiments of Professor
Pictet and Count Rumford, however, shew, that radia¬
tion is not the only cause. By those of the former it
appeared, that hot bodies suspended in the vacuum of
an air pump, cooled more slowly than in the open air ;
and by those of the latter, the cooling was still slower
in the Torricellian vacuum.
2. The time requisite for the heating or cooling of
bodies depends much on their conducting power. A Cxlo'
substance which is a good conductor of caloric cools ' 
much more rapidly than a bad conductor. Mercury 255
and water heated to the same temperature cool in very ?00t* ‘
different times: the mercury cools more than twice as^|t0rs
fast as the water in the same circumstances. The time rapidly
of the cooling of fluids has been considered as nearly in
the inverse ratio of their conducting power. It de¬
pends, however, in part on other qualities, as their
moveableness and their capacity for heat, a subject to
be afterwards explained, and which has the principal
influence in the difference between water and
mer-
curyj
3. This equal distribution of caloric was attempted Distribi
to be explained by Boerhaave, Muschenbroeck, andtionof.
others, by supposing that there is an equal quantity of10™ ex
caloric in every equal measure of space, however thatP^'ied
space might be filled up with different bodies, and that
these bodies floated, as it were, in this caloric. From
this equal distribution of caloric in space, they con¬
cluded that there was an equal quantity of caloric in
all bodies, because, whatever was the density or diffe¬
rent circumstances of bodies, they always indicated the
same temperature to the thermometer. A cubic foot
of gold, and a cubic foot of air, according to this theory,
contained the same quantity of caloric.
Professor Pictet gave another explanation of this
phenomenon. He supposed that the accumulation of ;
caloric in a body increased the repulsive force between
its particles, by the diminution of the distance between
them. By the action of this repulsive force, the par¬
ticles are driven off in all directions. This repulsion
continues to act till it is opposed by a new force, which
is the force of repulsion between the particles of calo¬
ric separated from another body ; and, till these two
forces acquire the same intensity, the particles of calo¬
rie continue to separate from the hotter body. When
the two forces are balanced, the bodies are of the
same temperature. Thus, if two bodies of different
temperatures are brought into contact with each other,
the repulsive force of the particles of caloric in the hot¬
ter body is the greatest, and therefore the particles
tend to separate from each other ; but the repulsion
between the particles of the colder body being less,
they come nearer each other. The caloric from the
hotter body continues to separate, and to enter the*-E^f
colder body, till the two forces exactly balance each ^ ^eu<
other, and then the temperature is the same *. Butc*1H^
this theory, with all its simplicity and ingenuity, being
unsatisfactory in accounting for the equilibrium of tem-untaiisi -
pereture, has been given up, even by its author. t0I>
4. Another theory has been proposed by M. Prevost, pre^s9(
professor of philosophy at Geneva. “ Accustomed,” says
he, “ for a long time, to consider this subject in a diffe¬
rent view from what had been formerly taken of it, I
endeavoured to draw the attention of naturalists to this
investigation, in a memoir on the equilibrium of calo¬
ric f, and in my researches on heat J. In these works,! Jwrj
I believe it was first proposed to substitute a moveable ^1
equilibrium in place of the immoveable equilibrium, the
existence of which had been generally admitted.
“ On this hypothesis, it is equally easy and satisfac¬
tory to account for the reflection of cold, as for that of
heat. 1 consider it indeed a chai’acteristic of its truth ;
for these two facts being of the same kind, the theory
that
C H E M
|gr[c> that will account for the one is applicable to the other.
,, v—J Before I proceed to state in a few words the principle
of this theory, I may premise, that I had the satisfac¬
tion of seeing it adopted by M. Pictet and others, who
are well qualified to judge of it.
“ Caloric is a discrete, agitated fluid : each particle
of free caloric moves with immense volocity j one par¬
ticle moves in one direction, and another particle moves
in another, so that a heated body gives out calorific
rays in all directions ; and these particles are so far
separated from each other, that two or more currents
may cross each other, as is the case with light, without
mutual disturbance in their course. Conceiving this to
be the constitution of caloric, if we suppose two conti¬
guous spaces in which it abounds, there will be con¬
tinual changes between these spaces. If in the two
spaces caloric abounds equally, the exchanges will be
equal j there will be an equilibrium. if one of the
spaces contain more caloric than the other, the ex¬
changes wTill be unequal. The coolest will receive
more particles of caloric than it gives out, and after a
sufficient time, the continual repetition of these changes
* it'/. will restore the equilibrium *.
’ w, “ From these principles may be deduced all the
1 laws of the increase and diminution of temperatui’e.
Let us suppose a body placed in a medium hotter than
itself, and that this medium has a constant tempera¬
ture. We may consider the caloric of the medium as
composed of two parts, the one equal to that of the
body, and the other equal to the difference of the two.
With regard to the first, the exchanges are equal j be¬
tween the body and the medium there is an equili¬
brium. The excess of the heat of the medium may
then only be considered j and relatively to this excess
the body is absolutely cold. Let us suppose that in
one second the body receives this caloric j at the
end of the first second the excess will be no more than
to- : the to- °f this new excess will pass into the body
during the next second j and the excess will be reduced
to of T^-; and in pursuing this, at the end of the
third second, the excess will be (y^), an(l 50 on 5 80
that, conformably to the observed law, the times in¬
crease in arithmetical progression, and the diflerences
decrease in geometrical progression. In the same way
may be easily deduced the law of the cooling of a body
placed in a medium colder than itself. And thus the
true theory of heat, founded on facts totally different
from those by which Richmann established this law,
t >/. necessarily leads us to itf.
y, ^ Sect. V. Of the Quantity of Caloric tn Bodies.
We are next to consider the quantity of caloric
which different bodies contain. This subject has occu¬
pied the attention and speculations of many philoso¬
phers. In these speculations, two objects were kept
in view, the one to ascertain the whole quantity of ca¬
loric which a body contains, and the other the quanti¬
ty of caloric necessary to raise different bodies to the
same temperature. This last is most easily investi¬
gated, and is usually called specific caloric.
L i. Of Specific Caloric.
>0
es aed. i. If one lb. of water at the temperature of ioo° be
mixed with another lb. of water at the temperature of
Vol. V. Part II. f
1 S T R Y.
473
50°, they will very soon acquire the same temperature, Caloric,
which will be the mean of the two temperatures. The —y-'
pound of water at loo0 will give out 250, and the
pound of water at 50° will receive 250, which brings
both to the temperature of 750.
2. But if we take one pound of water at ioo°, and
one pound of mercury at 50°, the temperature, after
mixing the water and the mercury, will not be 75°,
the medium temperature in the former case. On the
contrary, when the mixture is made, the temperature
will be found to be 88°. The water therefore has
lost only 120, and the mercury has gained 38°. If
this experiment be reversed, and one pound of water
at 50° be mixed with a pound of mercury at ioo°, the
temperature of the mixture will be found to be only
62° j so that in this case the mercury has given out
38°, and the water has received only 12°. In this ex¬
periment, therefore, it appears clearly, that different
quantities of caloric are necessary to increase or di¬
minish the temperature of different bodies $ for, the
quantity of caloric which raises water 12°, raises mer¬
cury no less than 38°. This quantity of caloric which
bodies require to raise them to the same temperature,
is called specific caloric.
3. “ It was formerly a common supposition,” says
Dr Black, “ that the quantities of caloric required to
increase the heat of different bodies by the same num¬
ber of degrees, were directly in proportion to the quan¬
tity of matter in each j and therefore, when the bodies
were of equal size, the quantities of caloric were in
proportion to their density. But very soon after I
began to think of this subject, in the year 1760, I per¬
ceived that this opinion was a mistake, and that the
quantities of heat which different kinds of matter must
receive, to reduce them to an equilibrium with one
another, or to raise their temperature by an equal num¬
ber of degrees, are not in proportion to the quantity of
matter in each, but in proportions widely difterent to
this, and for which no general principle or reason can
yet be assigned j;.” This difference was first pointed t U/wAr’s
out by Dr Black, which he states in the above obser-vob *•
vations, and he distinguished it by the term capacity of^' 19'
bodies for heat. Dr Black’s method, which is given
by Professor Robison, is the following.
“ Dr Black estimated the capacities, by mixing the Dr Black’s
two bodies in equal masses, but of different tempera-nlct-h°d*
tures j and then stated their capacities as inversely pro¬
portional to the changes of temperature of each by the
mixture. Thus, a pound of gold, of the temperature
150°, being suddenly mixed with a pound of water, of
the temperature 50°, raises it to 550 nearly : There¬
fore the capacity of gold is to that of an equal weight
of water as 5 to 95, or as 1 to 19} for the gold loses
950, and the water gains 50.
“ It will be most convenient to compare all bodies
with water, and to express the capacity of water by
unity, or to call it 1. Let the quantity of the water be
W, and its temperature w. Let the quantity of the
other body be B, and its temperature b. Let the tem¬
perature of the mixture be m. The capacity of B is
W T7Z- /IV 11 c
—   or when the water has been the hotter ot
B X b—m
. W X w—m T *1
:he two, the capacity of B is —*—- -• tn other
' * J B X
3 O words,
474
Caloric.
* Led. v.
p. 506.
z6z
Dr ( raw-
ford’s.
263
Mr
Wilcke’s.
CHEMISTRY.
words, multiply the weight of the water by its change
<’ of temperature. Do the same for the other substance.
Divide the first product by the second. The quotient
is the capacity of the other substance, that of water
u being accounted 1 * (p).”
4. This subject was still farther prosecuted by other
philosophers, particularly by Dr Irvine of Glasgow,
Dr Crawford of London, and Professor Wilcke of
Stockholm.
The method which was employed by Dr Crawford
was similar to that of Dr Black. Two substances,
which were of difi’erent temperatures, were uniformly
mixed \ the change of temperature produced on each
was observed, and this was considered as inversely pro¬
portional to its specific caloric.
Mr Wilcke has ascertained the specific caloric of
many metals, by a set of very ingenious experiments,
which were conducted in the following manner. The
metal, which was the subject of the experiment, was
first accurately weighed. The quantity employed was
generally a pound. It was then suspended by a thread,
plunged into a vessel of tin-plate filled with boiling
water, and allowed to remain till it reached a certain
temperature indicated by the thermometer. A quan¬
tity of water at the temperature of 3 2°, exactly equal
in weight to the metal, was put into another vessel of
tin plate. The metal was then immersed in this ves¬
sel, and suspended in it so as to be kept clear of the
sides and bottom. The temperature, at the moment
when the metal and water were reduced to the same,
was observed. The specific caloric of the metal was
then deduced by calculation from the change of tem¬
perature. He first calculated what the temperature
would have been, if a quantity of water of equal weight
with the metal, and of the same temperature, had been
added to the ice-cold water. The following is the
process.
Let M be a quantity of water at the temperature C,
m another quantity at the temperature c, and let their
common temperature after mixture be x; according to a
rule demonstrated long ago by Richman, x—
In the present case the quantities of water are equal,
therefore M and m are each — 1 $ C, the temperature
of the ice-cold water, ==32: therefore —
32-fc
Now c is the temperature of the metal. There¬
fore if 32 be added to the temperature of the metal, Ca]orj
and the whole be divided by 2, the quotient will ex-'—--y,
press the temperature of the mixture, if an equal weight
of water with the metal, and of the same temperature
with it, had been added to the ice-cold water instead of
the metal.
He then calculated what the temperature of the mix¬
ture would have been, if, instead of the metal, a quan¬
tity of water of the same temperature with it, and
equal to the metal in bulk, had been added to the ice-
cold water. As the weights of the ice-cold water and
the metal are equal, their volumes are inversely as
their specific gravities. Therefore the volume of ice-
cold water is to a quantity of hot water equal in
volume to the metal, as the specific gravity of the me¬
tal to that of the water. Let M = volume of cold
water, m ~ volume of hot water, g r= specific gravity
of the metal, 1 = specific gravity of water j then
M \
?72: M : : I: g; hence — = (M being made =1)
&
-. Substituting this value of m in the formula,
MC -t- me . , . , . r* •„
—— —x. in which M~l and L—12, x will
_ 3Zg+f
g~\~l
the metal be multiplied by 32, and the temperature
of the metal be added, and the sum be divided by the
specific gravity of the metal -f-i, the quotient will ex¬
press the temperature to which the ice-cold water
would be raised, by adding to it a volume of water
equal to that of the metal, and of the same temperature
with it.
He then calculated how much water at the tempera¬
ture of the metal it would take to raise the ice-cold
water the same number of degrees which the metal
had raised it. Let the temperature to which the metal
had raised the ice-cold water be =N, if in the formula
MC-4-772C , -1 TVT HT ^ •»!
-  ~x, x be made rzJN, M~i, Lrz3 2, m will
M+ra 7 7 j >
be = . Therefore, if from the temperature
to which the ice-cold water was raised by the metal
32 be subtracted, and if from the temperature of the
metal be subtracted the temperature to which it raised
the water, and the first remainder be divided by the
last, the quotient will express the quantity of water of
the
be
Therefore, if the specific gravity of
(p) “ These experiments require the most scrupulous attention to many circumstances which may affect the
result. 1. The mixture must be made in a very extended surface, that it may quickly attain the medium tem¬
perature. 2. The stuff which is poured into the other should have the temperature of the room, that no change
may happen in the pouring it out ol its containing vessel. 3. The effect of the vessel in which the mixture is
made must be considered. 4. Less chance of error will be incurred when the substances are of equal bulk.
3. The change of temperature of the mixture, during a few successive moments, must be observed, in order to
obtain the real temperature at the beginning. 6. No substances should be mixed which produce any change of
temperature by their chemical action, or which cha.nge their temperature, if mixed, when of the same temperature.
7. Each substance must be compared in a variety of temperatures, lest the ratio of the capacities should be dif¬
ferent in different temperatures.
“ When all these circumstances have been duly attended to, we obtain the measure of the capacities of differ¬
ent substances for heat.” Black's Led. vol. i. p. 506,
loric.
C H E M
the temperature of the metal which would have raised
the ice-cold water the same number of degrees that the
metal did.
Now, —^expresses the specific caloric of the
metal, that of water being =l. For (neglecting the
small difference occasioned by the difference of tempe¬
rature) the weight and volume of the ice-cold w'ater are
to the weight and volume of the hot water as i to
 ^r-, and the number of particles of water in each
are in the same proportion. But the metal is equal in
weight to the ice-cold water, it must therefore contain
I S T R Y.
as many particles of matter j therefore the quantity of
matter in the metal must be to that in the hot water
as 1 to But they gave out the same quantity
of caloric ; which, being divided equally among their
particles, gives to each particle a quantity of caloric
inversely as the bulks of the metal and water ; that is,
the specific caloric of the water is to that of the metal
as 1 to
N—32
(r).
It will now be proper to give a specimen or two of
his experiments, and the calculations founded on them,
as above described.
Gold. Specific Gravity 19.040.
Num¬
ber of
experi¬
ments.
tempe¬
rature of
the me¬
tal.
163.4'
I44,5
127-4
118.4
103.1
95
Temper,
to which
the metal
raised the
water at
3*°.
38.30
37-4
36.5
36.05
35-6
34-45
Temper, to which
it would have been
raised by a quan¬
tity of water equal
in weight and heat
to the metal.
97-7°
88.25
79-7
75-2
65-75
63-5
Temper, to which
it would have been
raised by water
equal in bulk and
temperature to the
metal.
38-555c
37-58
36.68
36.15
35-42
35-o6
Denominator of
the fraction
N—„ l-~
 —n c—n ,
c—N XT
N—32
the numerator
being 1.
I9-857
I9-833
20.500
20.333
18.750
ip.OOO
Mean 19.712
Leab.
(r) All these formulas have been altered to make them correspond with Fahrenheit’s thermometer. They are
a good deal simpler when the experiments are made with Celsius’s thermometer, as Mr Wilcke did. In it the
freezing point is zero ; and consequently instead of 32 in the formula, o is always substituted.
3 0 2
CHEMISTRY.
476
Caloric.
Lead. Specific Gravity 11.456.
Num¬
ber of
experi¬
ments.
Tempe¬
rature of
the me¬
tal.
186.8
181.40
165.2
163.4
136.4
126.5
107.6
94.1
Temper,
to vvhiclr
the me¬
tal raised
the wa¬
ter at
32 deg.
38-3
37-85
37-4
37-4
36.5
36.05
36*05
35-I5
34-7
Temper, to Which
the water would
have been raised
by a quantity of
water equal in
weight and heat
to the metal.
IO9.4
106.7
98.6
97-7
84.2
81.5
79-25
69.8
63.05
Temper, to which
the water would
have been raised
by water equal in
bulk and tempe¬
rature to the me¬
tal.
44.425
43-473
42.692
42.548
40.344
39-947
39-58J
38-339
36.985
Denominator
of the fraction.
c—N
N—32
23-57I
24-538
23.666
23-333
22.200
24.700
22.333
23.000
22.000
Mean 23.515
Calor
^y.
It is needless to add, that the last column marks the
denominator of the specific caloric of the metal j the
numerator being always 1, and the specific caloric of
water being I. Thus the specific caloric of gold is
. In exactly the same manner, and by taking
19.712
a mean of a number of experiments at different tempe¬
ratures, did Mr Wilcke ascertain the specific caloric
f Thom- a nurn*jer °f other bodies *.
son’s Che- 5. With the same view, to ascertain the specific ca-
mistry, vol. loric of bodies, a simple and ingenious apparatus was
i- 314. contrived by Lavoisier and La Place. This instrument
is called a calorimeter, or measurer of heat. Its prin¬
ciples and construction are the following :
I avoisfer’s “ If, after having cooled (says Lavoisier) anybody
method. tho freezing point, it be exposed in an atmosphere
of 88.25°, the body will gradually become heated,
from the surface inwards, till at last it acquire the
same temperature with the surrounding air. But, if a
piece of ice be placed in the same situation, the cir¬
cumstances are quite difl’erent: it does not approach
in the smallest degree towards the temperature of the
circumambient air, but remains constantly at 32°, or
the temperature of melting ice, till the last portion of
ice be completely melted.
“ This phenomenon is readily explained; as, to melt
ice, or reduce it to water, it requires to be combined
with a certain portion of caloric, the whole caloric at¬
tracted from the surrounding bodies is arrested or fix¬
ed at the surface or external layer of ice which it is
employed to dissolve, and combines with it to form
water j the next quantity of caloric combines with the
second layer to dissolve it into water, and so on suc¬
cessively till the whole ice be dissolved, or converted
into water, by combination with caloric; the very last
atom still remaining at its former temperature, be¬
cause the caloric could never penetrate so far, while
any intermediate ice remained to melt, or to combine
with.
“ Upon these principles, if we conceive a hollow
sphere of ice at the temperature of 32° placed in an
atmosphere of 54-5°’ ant^ containin§ a substance at any
degree of temperature above freezing j it follows,
That the heat of the external atmosphere cannot pene¬
trate into the internal hollow of the sphere of ice j
and, That the heat of the body which is placed in
the hollow of the sphere, cannot penetrate outwards
beyond it, but will be stopped at the internal surface,
being continually employed to melt successive layers of
ice, until the temperature of the body be reduced to
32° by having all its superabundant caloric above that
temperature carried off to melt the ice. If the whole
water, formed within the sphere of ice during the re¬
duction of the temperature of the included body to
32°, be carefully collected, the weight of the water
will be exactly proportioned to the quantity of caloric
lost by the body, in passing from its original tempera¬
ture to that of melting ice 5 for it is evident that a
double quantity of caloric would have melted twice
the quantity of ice. Hence the quantity of ice melted
is a very exact measure of the proportional quantity ot
caloric employed to produce that effect, and conse¬
quently of the quantity lost by the only substance that
could possibly have supplied it.
“ I have made this supposition, of what would take
place in a hollow sphere of ice, for the purpose of
more readily explaining the method used in this species
of experiment, which was first conceived by M. de la
Place.
CHEMISTRY.
477
ilorie. Place. It would be difficult to procure such spheres of
-y—^ice, and inconvenient to make use of them when got;
but, by means of the following apparatus, we have re¬
medied that defect.
“ The calorimeter is represented in Plate CXLII.
fig. 2. The capacity or cavity is divided into three
parts, which, for better distinction, I shall name the in-
laratus terior, middle, and external cavities. The interior ca-
J jribed. vlty ffff into which the substances submitted to ex¬
periment are put, is composed of a grating or cage of
iron wire, supported by several iron bars •, its open¬
ing or mouth LM, is covered by the lid HG, fig. 3.
which is composed of the same materials. The mid¬
dle cavity bbbb, fig. 2. contains the ice which sur¬
rounds the interior cavity, and which is intended to be
melted by the caloric of the substances employed in the
experiment. The ice is supported by the grate m m
at the bottom of the cavity, under which is placed the
sieve n n.
“ In proportion as the ice contained in the middle
cavity is melted by the caloric disengaged from the
body placed in the interior cavity, the water runs
through the grate and sieve, and falls through the coni¬
cal funnel c c d, fig. 2. and the tube x y, into a receiver.
This water may be retained or let out at pleasure, by
means of the stop-cock u. The external cavity aaaa,
fig. 2. is filled with ice, to prevent any effect upon the
ice in the middle cavity from the heat of the surround¬
ing air, and the water produced from it is carried off
through the pipe ST, which shuts by means of the stop¬
cock r. The whole machine is covered by a lid made
of tin, and painted with oil colour, to prevent rust.
“ When this machine is employed, the middle ca¬
vity bbbb, fig. 2. and the lid GH, fig. 3. of the in¬
terior cavity, the external cavity aaaa, fig. 2. and
the lid which covers the whole, are all filled with pound¬
ed ice, well rammed, so that no void spaces remain,
and the ice of the middle cavity is allowed to drain.
The machine is then opened, and the substance sub¬
mitted to experiment being placed in the interior cavi¬
ty, it is instantly closed. After waiting till the includ¬
ed body is completely cooled to the freezing point,
and the whole melted ice has drained from the middle
cavity, the water collected in the receiver is accurate¬
ly weighed. The weight of the water produced du¬
ring the experiment is an exact measure of the caloric
disengaged during the cooling of the included body,
as this substance is evidently in a similar situation with
the one formerly mentioned as included in a hollow
sphere of ice. The whole caloric disengaged from the
included bodv is stopped by the ice in the middle ca¬
vity, and that ice is preserved from being affected by
any other heat by means of the ice contained in the
cover and in the external cavity. Experiments of this
kind generally last from 15 to 20 hours, but they are
sometimes accelerated by covering up the substance in
the interior cavity with well drained ice, which hastens
its cooling.
“ It is absolutely requisite that there be no com¬
munication between the external and middle cavities
of the calorimeter, otherwise the ice melted by the in¬
fluence of the surrounding air, in the external cavity,
would mix with the water produced from the ice of
the middle cavity, which would no longer be a measure
of the caloric lost by the substance submitted to expe- Caloric,
riment. v—y—
“ When the temperature of the atmosphere is only a
few degrees above the freezing point, its heat can hardly
reach the middle cavity, being arrested by the ice of
the cover, and of the external cavity ; but, if the tem¬
perature of the air be under the degree of freezing, it
might cool the ice contained in the middle cavity, by
causing the ice in the external cavity to fall, in the first
place, below 32°. It is therefore essential that this
experiment be carried on in a temperature somewhat
above freezing : Hence, in time of frost, the calorime¬
ter must be kept in an apartment carefully heated. ItiS/em.
is likewise necessary that the ice employed be not under
32°, for which purpose it must be pounded, and spread
out thin for some time, in a place where the tempera¬
ture is higher.
6. Tables of the specific caloric of bodies have been
given by Dr Crawford, Mr Kirwan, Bergman, Gado-
lin, and Meyer. The following are the results of their
investigations.
Table of the Specific Caloric of various Bodies, that of
TFater being — 1.0000.
Bodies.
.Specific
Gravity.
Specific
Caloric.
I. Gases.
Hydrogen gas
Oxygen gas
Common air
Carbonic acid gas
Steam
Azotic gas
II. Liquids.
Water
Carbonate of ammonia
Arterial blood
Cows milk
Sulphuret of ammonia
Venous blood
Solution of brown sugar
Nitric acid
Sulphate of magnesia
Water
Common salt 1 7
Water - 8 5 “
Nitre 17.
Water 8|
Muriate of ammonia
Water
Tartar 1 7. _
V7ater 237.3 J
Solution of potash -
Sulphate of iron I
Water - 2.5 3
Sulphate of soda
Water - 2
Oil of olives
Ammonia
si
1
*4
2.9 y
0.000094
0.0034'
0.00122
0.00183
0.00120
1.0000
1.0324
0.818
1.346
0.9153
0-997
21.4000
4.7490
1.7900
1.0459
1.5500
0.7036
1.0000
1.851
1*030
0.9999
0.9940
0.8928
0.8600
0.844
0.844
0.832
0.8167
0.779
0.765
0 759
0.734
0.728
0.710
0.7080
Table
47 8
Caloric.
CHEMISTRY.
Table continued.
Table continued.
Calori
Bodies.
Muriatic acid
Sulpliuric acid 4'
Water - 5.
Alum 1 1
Water 4-453
Nitric acid 9^
Lime
Nitre 1 7
Water 3 j
Alcohol - - -
Sulphuric acid
Nitrous acid
Linseed oil
Spermaceti oil
Oil of turpentine
Vinegar - - -
Lime 9 7
Water 16 j
Mercury -
Distilled vinegar
III. Solids.
Ice -
Ox-hide with the hair
Lungs of a sheep
Lean of ox-beef
Pine - - -
Fir - - -
Lime -
Pitch-pine- - - -
Apple tree -
Alder -
Oak - - -
Ash - - -
Crab-apple
Rice - - -
Horse beans
Dust of the pine tree
Pease - - -
Beech -
Hornbeam - - -
Birch - - -
Wheat - - -
Elm
Female oak -
Plum tree - - -
Ebony -
Barley - > -
Oats ....
Pitcoal -
Charcoal - - -
Chalk ...
Rust of iron
White oxide of antimony wash¬
ed - - -
Oxide of copper nearly freed
from air
Quicklime -
Specific
Gravity.
1.122
O.8371
I.84O
I,355
0.9403
0.9910
13*568
0.408
0.447
0.408
0-495
0.639
0.484
0-531
0.631
0.603
0.692
0.690
0.608
0.646
0.668
0.687
I*°54
Specific
Caloric.
0.6800
O.6631
O.649
O.6181
O.646
0.6021
O.5968
O.576
O.528
O.50OO
0,472
O.3870
°*3346
0.3100
0.1030
0.9000
0.787
0.769
0.7400
0.65
0.60
0.62
o.c8
°*57
°*53
0.51
0.51
0.50
0.5050
0.5020
0.5000
0.4920
0.49
0.48
0.48
0.4770
0.47
o*45
0.44
o*43
0.4210
0.4160
0.2777
0.2631
0.2564
0.2500
0.2270
0.2272
0.2199
Bodies.
Stoneware
Agate
Crystal
Cinders
Swedish glass
Ashes of cinder’s
Sulphur
Flint glass
Rust of iron nearly freed from
air
White oxide of antimony dit
to - -«
Ashes of the elm
Oxide of zinc nearly free from
air
Iron -
Brass - - -
Copper - - -
Sheet iron - - -
Oxide of lead and tin
Gun-metal - - -
White oxide of tin nearly free
from air - - -
Zins -
Ashes of charcoal
Silver * - -
Yellow oxide of lead nearly
freed from air
Tin -
Antimony - - -
Gold
Lead -
Bismuth -
Specific
Gravity.
2.648
3.189?
2.386
1.99
3*3 293
7.876
8.358
8.784
8.154
10.001
7.380
6.107
19.040
11.456
9.861
Specific
Calorio.
0.195
°*I95
0.1929
0.1923
0.187
0.1885
o.rSs
0.174
0.1666
0.1666
0.1402
0.1369
0.1264
0.1141
0.1121
0.1099
0.102
O.IIOO
0.0990
0.0981
0.0909
0.082
0.0680
0.0661
0.0637
0.050
0.0424
0.043
2. Of the Absolute Quantity of Caloric.
1. Such are the different methods which have been
proposed to ascertain the relative quantities of caloric
which are necessary to reduce bodies to the same tem¬
perature. Attempts have also been made to discover
the temperature of absolute privation, and thus to as¬
certain the whole quantity of caloric which a body con¬
tains. ... 265
The first attempt made with this view was by tbeDrlrvii
late Dr Irvine of Glasgow. The theorem which he method
invented to ascertain the real zero, or the absolute
quantity of caloric which a body contains, is founded
on the uniformity of the specific caloric of bodies at
all temperatures. And taking it for granted that the ^
specific caloric of bodies is always the same, whatever founded
be the temperature, the whole quantity, or the absolute the anif
quantity, will be proportional to the specific caloric.
Having discovered the ratio between the absolute ca"^]oric.
lories of bodies, and the difference between two abso¬
lute calorics, the whole quantity in any body might be
found by calculation. But either the data on which
the theorem proceeds are wrong, or the experiments
which have been made with the view of applying it to
the
1
u
R<
ve
fei
P
CHEMISTRY.
jric, the estimation of the absolute quantity of caloric have
been very inaccurately conducted, the results varying
58 so much from each other. According to Dr Irvine’s
^ own experiments and calculation, the real zero with
regard to ice would be 1228° below 0° j but accord¬
ing to Dr Crawford’s it is 1500°. Mr Kirwan makes
it 1318° below 0°, from a comparison of the specific ca¬
loric of water and ice. Lavoisier and La Place fix it
at 3426° below o°, from the result of experiments on a
mixture of water and quicklime. But in other experi¬
ments by the same philosophers, there is a great varia¬
tion in the result. Four parts of sulphuric acid, and
three parts of water, mixed together, give a result for
the real zero equal to 7260° below o° 5 and four parts
of sulphuric acid, and five of water, give it only equal
to 2598° below 0°. Professor Robison, speaking of
the specific and absolute quantities of heat in bodies
being supposed to be proportional, observes that “ this
opinion is just, only on the supposition that the mea¬
sures obtained by experiments and calculation are con¬
stantly the same, whatever the temperatures may be
in which the experiments are made. Dr Irvine’s in¬
genious method of discovering the temperature of ab¬
solute privation, evidently presupposes this constancy
of specific heat •, or, if they are not constant, it sup¬
poses that we know the whole law of variation. Now,
both of these assumptions are improbable. In none of
the progressions of natural operations that we are ac¬
quainted with do we find this constancy. It is much
more analogous to other phenomena, to suppose that,
in the temperatures near to that of absolute privation,
the quantities of heat necessary for producing equal
elevation gradually diminish, and this, perhaps, with¬
out end, like the distance of the hyperbola from its as-
symptote. It is equally probable that the law of dimi¬
nution may be different in different substances. This
will cause the measures of specific heats to change their
proportions continually ; and therefore the specific ca¬
pacities observed in temperatures, all of which are far
removed from that of the entire absence of heat, give
us no means of obtaining the proportions of the accu¬
mulated sum of all the heats which have been received
into the substances. It follows from this, that even al¬
though it should be granted to Dr Irvine, that the
heat which emerges, in mixing vitriolic acid and water,
or in the freezing of water, is the difference between
the absolute heats of the mixture or the ice, and the
absolute heats of the substances before mixture, or of
the water before freezing, still we cannot ascertain
those absolute heats, or the temperature of no heat.
Accordingly it appears, that it has been only in a
very few cases that Dr Irvine found a tolerable coin¬
cidence of his determination of this extreme cold , and
the determination by means of mixtures differed enor-
acfc’s mously from those obtained by means of congelation ;
•^vqI.i.and still more from those obtained by means of the con-
(j'5 densation of vapour*.
)al. 2. Mr Dalton has proposed another hypothesis for
me- determining the real zero, or the absolute quantity of
caloric in bodies. He observes that the remarkable
fact of the quantity of expansion of elastic fluids being
the same in the same circumstances, shews, that it de¬
pends solely upon heat: “ whereas the expansion in so¬
lid and liquid bodies seems to depend upon an adjust¬
ment of. the two opposite forces of heat and chemical
479
affinity, the one a constant force in the same tempera- Caloric,
ture, the other a variable one, according to the nature —y——'
of the body ; hence the unequal expansion of such bo¬
dies. It seems therefore that general laws respecting
the absolute quantity and the nature of heat, are more
likely to be derived from elastic fluids than from other
substances.
“ In order to explain the manner in which elastic
fluids expand by heat, let us assume an hypothesis that
the repulsive force of each particle is exactly propor¬
tional to the whole quantity of heat combined with it,
or in other words to its temperature reckoned from the
point of total privation : then since the diameter of
each particle’s sphere of influence is as the cube root
of the space occupied by the mass, we shall have
3  3 
Viooo : Vi325 (10 : II, nearly) :: the absolute
quantity of heat in air of 550 : the absolute quantity
in air of 212°. This gives the point of total privation
of heat, or absolute cold, at 15470 below the point at
which water freezes. Dr Crawford deduces the said
point, by a method wholly different, to be 1532°. So
near a coincidence is certainly more than fortuitous.
“ The only objection I see to this hypothesis is, that
it necessarily requires the augmentation of elastic fluids
for a given quantity of heat to be greater in the higher
temperatures than in the lower, because the cubes of
a series of numbers in arithmetical progression differ
more the larger the numbers or roots: but it has just
been shewn that in fact an augmentation of a contrary
kind is observed. This refers us to the consideration
whether the mercurial thermometer is an accurate
measure of the increments of heat: if it be, the hypo¬
thesis fails; but if equal increments of heat cause a
greater expansion in mercury, in the higher than in
the lower temperatures, and that in a small degree,
the fact noticed above, instead of being an objection,
will corroborate the hypothesis. Dr Crawford deter¬
mines the expansions of mercury to be very nearly in
proportion to the increments of heat: M. de Luc makes
them to be less for a given quantity of heat in the lower
than in the higher part of the scale ; and in a ratio
that agrees with this hypothesis. Now as every other
liquid we are acquainted with is found to expand more
in the higher than in the lower temperatures, analogy
is in favour of the conclusions of De Luc, that mercury
does the same.” > Munch.
The different methods which have been proposed
by philosophers to determine the real zero, or the ab-v. 602.
solute quantity of caloric in bodies, and the want of
coincidence between the results of the experiments and
calculations founded on these methods, shew us, at
least, that the subject is attended with great difficulty
and uncertainty. Perhaps the present state of our
knowledge does not furnish us with the means of re¬
moving the difficulty. 2_
3. Having thus considered the relative and- abso-Cold.
lute quantities of caloric in bodies, and the methods
which have been proposed for ascertaining these quan¬
tities, it may be necessary to state in what sense, or
with what limitations, the term cold is to be employed.
When we leave a room at the temperature of 6o°, and
go into the air in a frosty day at the temperature of
£2°, we say that it is cold ; or when the hand is held
in water at the temperature of ioo° for a few minutes,
and
480
CHEMISTRY.
Caloric, and then suddenly plunged into water at the tempera-
»" 1 —' ture of 40°, the latter is said to be cold. This, how¬
ever, is merely an expression of the sensation excited in
the body, which depends solely on the abstraction of its
heat. This may be proved by the following experi¬
ment. If three quantities of water are taken, the first
at the temperature of 32°, the second .at the tempera¬
ture of 50, and the third at the temperature of ioo°.
Immerse the right hand into the water at the tempei’a-
ture of ioo°, and the left into the water at the tempe¬
rature of 32°. Let them remain for a minute, and
then suddenly plunge both hands into the water at the
intermediate temperature of 50° ; the right hand will
feel cold, and the left hand warm ; and thus different
sensations are produced by the same body at the same
time and at the same temperature. This depends en¬
tirely on the previous state of the hands, and on the
absorption or abstraction of caloric ", and this seeming
paradox is easily explained by what has been said on
the equal distribution of caloric. The right hand
which was placed in the water at the temperature of
100° absorbed caloric, because the temperature of the
water is above that of the body. This excites the sen¬
sation of heat 5 but when the same hand is placed in
the water at the temperature of 500 it is deprived of
caloric, because the surrounding medium is far below
its temperature j and thus the sensation of cold is pro¬
duced. But from the left hand, placed in the water at
32° caloric is abstracted, which gives the sensation of
cold, and the same hand placed in the water at 50° re¬
ceives caloric, and this entering the body, excites the
sensation of heat.
Thus, then, the term cold is merely expressive of
the relative temperature of two bodies. In common
language the word cold is sufficiently intelligible, but
in the present view of the doctrine of caloric,.it can
have no other precise meaning, than to express the ab¬
sence of a quantity of heat.
The remarkable effects which were produced on fluids
by the abstraction of caloric, were once ascribed rather
to the addition of a new body, than to the abstraction
of one formerly in combination^ The hypothesis of Le
Mairan and Muschenbroeck, supposed the existence of
frigorific particles j and this prevailed till the effects of
caloric were developed by the discoveries of modern
chemistry. They were led to this hypothesis from ob¬
serving the increase of bulk which takes place when
water is converted from the fluid into the solid state.
These frigorific particles were imagined to have some re¬
semblance to nitre. This opinion probably arose from
the circumstance of a great degree of cold, or dimi¬
nution of temperature, being produced by dissolving
nitre in water. The frigorific particles were supposed
to be constantly floating in the air, and by mixing with
liq uid bodies, as water, converted them into solids, by
acting the part of wedges, which prevented the free
motion of the particles among each other.
The experiments of Professor Pictet, in which cold
seemed to be reflected, still gave some support to this
Cdtd seems opinion. Two concave mirrors of tin were placed at
to be re- t|ie distance of io^- feet from each other; a glass ves¬
sel full of snow was placed in the focus of the one, and
an air thermometer iu that of the other. The thermo¬
meter sunk several degrees, but when the snow was re¬
moved, it rose again; and when a greater degree of
cold was produced on the snow, by pouring an acid up-
271
Frisiorific
particles.
272
fleeted.
on it which dissolved it rapidly, the thermometer fell Caloric
several degrees lower. At first sight it appears, that-v».
cold has been given out by the snow, and this cold re¬
flected by the mirrors occasioned the fall of the ther¬
mometer. The explanation of this fact has been
reckoned difficult; but, on closer attention, all diffi- ^
culty vanishes. The thermometer itself is a radiantAccountc
body and ; its loss of heat, by radiation, is rendered ap-f°r-
parent when placed in a situation in which a stream of
caloric is invited by the cold body, the snow; and the
direction of this current made to pass through the bulb
of the thermometer, as through a focus, by the adapta¬
tion of the metallic reflecting surfaces. See the article
Cold in our Supplement : in which it is to be ob¬
served, however, that the doctrine of Professor Lesslie
is adopted, by which the phenomena of radiation are
ascribed to certain rapid vibrations or pulses taking
place in the surrounding air, in straight lines, between
a hot and a cold body, whether the air is in other re¬
spects stagnant or subjected to motions in any other di¬
rection. This doctrine, we may observe in the passing,
receives great countenance from the fact already men¬
tioned, of the great interruption to radiation, when a
heated body is placed in an exhausted receiver, or the
Torricellian vacuum. |
4. Great degrees of cold are produced, by mixingToprodm
together substances which dissolve rapidly. The rea-great col(
son of this will appear by recollecting what has been
said of the absorption of caloric when a solid body is
converted into a fluid. Mixtures to produce artificial
cold, are generally made of the neutral salts dissolved
in water ; of diluted acids and some of the neutral salts;
and of snow or pounded ice with some of these salts.
A great number of experiments were made upon this
subject by Mr Walker * ; also by Professor Lowitz of* PA#. ;
Petersburgh f ; by Fourcroy and Vauquelin J ; and hy Trans.
Guyton §. The following table exhibits the results of^-^P'
these experiments. p?i2o. :
Table of Freezing Mixtures.
Mixtures.
Parts.
f Muriate of ammonia 5
I. < Nitre - - 3
{.Water - - 16
rMuriate of ammonia 5
\ Nitre - ■ 5
j Sulphate of soda 8
LWater - 16
C Nitrate of ammonia 1
Water - - 1
f Nitrate of ammonia T
4. Carbonate of soda 1
{.Winter - - 1
f Sulphate of soda
^ Diluted nitric acid 2
6.
'Sulphate of soda 6
Muriate of ammonia 4
Nitre - 2
Diluted nitric acid
Thermometer sinks.
From 50° to io°
From 50° to 40
From 50° to 40
From 50° to 70
From 50° to 30
From 50° to ioc
XXYl. p.
297.
t Ibid. v<
xxix. ?•
2Sr.
S Ibid. 21
I Dl‘ic.
C H E M
Table of Freezing Mixtures continued.
Mixture*.
Parts
{Sulphate of soda 6
Nitrate of ammonia 5
Diluted nitric acid 4
From 50° to 140
C Phosphate of soda 9
Diluted nitric acid 4
{Phosphate of soda 9
Nitrate of ammonia 6
Diluted nitric acid 4
From 50° to 12°
10.
C Sulphate of soda 8
\ Muriatic acid - 5
II.
C Sulphate of soda
\ Diluted sulphuric acid 4
12.
f Snow
(^Common salt
T Snow or pounded ice 2
\ Common salt
M-
Snow or pounded ice 1
/ Common salt
T Muriate of ammonia
J and nitre
C Snow or pounded ice 12
15. 4 Common salt
(.Nitrate of ammonia
16.
C Snow and diluted ni-
trie acid
1 Potash
A Snow
CSnow - - 2
18. < Diluted sulphuric acid 1
(.Diluted nitric acid 1
CSm
Id;
luted sulphuric acid I
20.
^ Muriate of lime 3
( Snow - - 2
21.
f Muriate of lime
\ Snow
From 50° to 21°
From 50° to oc
From 50° to 30
From 5 a0 to o°
From o° to — 50
From —5° to — 18°
From — 180 to — 250
From o° to — 46°
From 3 2° to — 31°
From
10° to
56°
From 20° to — 6o°
From 3 2° to — 50°
C Muriate of lii
\ Snow
y Diiu
( Snou
tedsulphur.acidio
r - - 8
From o° to — 66°
From — 40° to — 730
From — 68° to —910
ez 86 any of these substances are to be employed as
sc. freezing mixtures, the salts should be used fresh erv-
Vol. V. Part II. "+
48l
i'liermometer sinks.
I S T R Y.
stallized, and reduced to fine powder j and it will Caloric,
be found most convenient to observe the proportions   *—
which are set down in the table. Suppose it is want¬
ed to produce a degree of artificial cold equal to 509,
which is that produced from 32° by the 20th freezing
mixture. The substances employed, namely, the mu¬
riate of lime and the snow, must be previously cooled
down to the temperature of 32^, or any degree below
it. Ihis may be done by placing them separately in
the nth freezing mixture, the sulphate of soda and di¬
luted sulphuric acid, which reduces the temperature
from 50° to 30; or in the 12th freezing mixture of
snow and common salt, which reduces it from 32® to
O. The materials, thus cooled down, are then to he
mixed together as quickly as possible, when, if the ex¬
periment succeed, the temperature will fall from 32° to 276
—50°> as *n the 20th freezing mixture. The vessels Vessels,
which are employed for these processes should be very
thin, and made of the best conductors of caloric. Ves¬
sels of tin plate answer the purpose, and when acids
are to be used, they may be lined with wax, which
will secure them sufficiently against their action. They
should be of no larger dimensions than just to contain
the materials.
Sect. VI. Of the Sources of Caloric.
We are now to consider the means by which caloric
may be evolved, or rendered sensible. This is a sub¬
ject of great importance, both as a curious investiga¬
tion, and as a useful and necessary application in che¬
mistry and the arts of life. The different sources from
which caloric is derived, or the means which are em-
p’oyed for its evolution, may be reckoned five in num¬
ber ; namely, percussion, friction, mixture, the sun,
combustion : and in this order we shall now consi¬
der them.
First Source of Caloric,
Percussion.
The production of heat by striking together flint FHauuid
and steel, is a well-known fact. The same thing also steel,
takes place when many other hard bodies are struck
against each other. Fires are frequently kindled by
making a piece of iron red-hot by striking it smartly 2yg
and repeatedly with a hammer. In most of the cases Heat pro-
in which caloric is evolved by percussion, this evolu-duced,
lion is ascribed to the condensation of the particles of0™11,1* 10
• 4 COlldCllKH
the body struck. A condensation has been observed to t;0I1
take place, both in elastic fluids and liquids.
I. The sudden condensation of air alone has been in airs;
found to produce a change of several degrees in the
thermometer. In some experiments by Dr Darwin,
the condensed air from an air-gun, thrown on the bulb
of a thermometer, uniformly sunk it about 2°. This
shews that the air had given out some of its caloric j
for during the operation of condensing it, the apparatus
became sensibly hot*. * p;iz7o*.
Mr Dalton’s experiments on the condensation and Trans.
rarefaction of air, shew that an increase of temperature l7s9>
of 50° is produced, by admitting air into an exhaust-p' 44'
ed receiver •, and when the equilibrium is restored to
condensed air, 50° of cold are produced. The sudden¬
ness of the fall and rise of the thermometer is very re-
3 P markable
482
CHEMISTRY.
Caloric.
* Manc/u
Mem. vol.
v- P. 515*
2 So
in hard
bodies.
2S1
Difficult to
account for
incombus-
tibies giv¬
ing out
heat when
struck.
f 'Philos.
Trans.
vol. xxxiv.
p. 2165.
markable in these cases j and from this circumstance,
Mr Dalton conjectures, that the real change of tem¬
perature of the air or medium tvas much greater than
the thermometer indicated, but that the inequality ex¬
isted only for a few seconds*. From these experiments,
therefore, it appears that caloric is evolved during
the condensation, and absorbed during the rarefaction
of air.
A considerable rise in temperature takes place, when
different gases unite together, and are condensed. Mu¬
riatic acid gas and ammoniacal gas, when combined to¬
gether, form a solid salt; and during this combination
a great quantity of caloric is evolved.
2. To the same cause is ascribed the caloric which
is evolved by the percussion of hard bodies. This is
particularly the case with metallic substances. Be¬
fore hammering, the specific gravity of iron is 7.788 ;
after it is hammered it increases to 7.840. In some
other metals the increase of density is still more re¬
markable. Before hammering, platinum is only 19.5 ;
and after hammering, its specific gravity is increased
to 23.0. As a proof that the heat is evolved by con¬
densation, iron, which has been once heated by ham¬
mering, cannot be subjected to a repetition of the same
process till it has been again exposed to heat. It has
become so brittle that it flies to pieces under the ham¬
mer.
3. It is perhaps more difficult to account for the ca¬
loric and light which are emitted by incombustible sub¬
stances j as, for instance, in the case of two quartz
stones struck against each other, which has been al¬
ready alluded to in treating of light. The particles of
these bodies which were struck off by percussion, are
found, on examination, to be in a state of fusion ; and
it would appear that this is a case in which light and
caloric are emitted without oxygen having any share
in the action, as is supposed to happen in all cases of
combustion.
In some observations on the appearances produced
by the collision of steel with hard bodies, made by Sir
H. Davy, he mentions that Mr Hawksbee shewed f,
that no sparks could be produced in vacuo; a faint
light was only perceived. Sir H. Davy thinks, that
the vivid sparks obtained from steel in the atmosphere,
are owing to the combination of the small abraded and
heated metallic particles with oxygen ; but it has been
doubted, he observes, whether the faint luminous ap¬
pearance, when the experiment is made in vacuo, be
owing to the light produced by the fracture and abra¬
sion of the particles of the flint, or only partly to this
cause, and partly to the ignition of the minute filaments
separated from the steel. When a fine and thin flint,
which is easily broken, is used for the collision in va¬
cuo, the light is more vivid than when a thick one is
employed. From this he concludes, that the particles
of steel are rendered luminous in consequence of com- Caloll
bustion. This conclusion was proved by the following'—v 4
experiment.
A thin piece of iron pyrites was inserted in a gun-
lock in place of the flint. By collision in the atmos¬
phere it gave vivid sparks, chiefly white, but sometimes
mixed with a few red sparks. The same experiment
wras repeated when the apparatus was introduced into
the exhausted receiver of an air-pump j but no light
whatever appeared. 2S|i
Sir H. Davy further observes, that bodies which be-Suppo'll
come luminous by being struck or rubbed together z«t0.')e (f|
vacuo, under water, or in gases that do not containtlIC'
oxygen \ such bodies, for instance, as fluate and carbo¬
nate of lime, siliceous stones, glass, sugar, and many of
the compound salts, are both electrics per se and phos¬
phorescent substances j so that the flashes they pro¬
duce are probably occasioned, partly by electricity and
partly by phosphorescence. In some cases, however,
by the collision of very hard stony bodies, which are
bad conductors of heat, there may be an actual igni¬
tion of the particles. This seems to be countenanced
by various facts. Mr T. Wedgwood found, that a
piece of window-glass, when brought into contact with
a revolving wheel of grit, became red hot at its point
of friction, and gave off luminous particles, which were ||
capable of inflaming gunpowder and hydrogen gas f ;
and we are informed, Sir H. Davy adds, by a late 45,
voyager (s), that the natives of Oonalashka light their
fires by striking together two pieces of quartz over dry
grass, their surfaces being previously rubbed with sul
phur *.
Second source of Caloric,
Friction.
1. A great quantity of caloric is also given out by
friction. The intensity of the heat produced by fric-j^l
tion depends on many circumstances, and varies chiefly
in the ratio of the time employed and the nature and
surface of the bodies which are rubbed together.
When the bodies rubbed are combustible, as two pieces
of dry wood, they may be inflamed; but even when
they possess combustibility in a low degree, or are al¬
together incombustible, the temperature may be raised
so high as to communicate a degree of heat sufficient
to set fire to combustible bodies. Greater difficulty
still attends the explanation of the phenomena of the
evolution of caloric by friction, than by the percussion
of hard, incombustible bodies. In many instances
there can be no increase of density by the friction,
for caloric is evolved by rubbing together two pieces
of wood, or rubbing the hand on a piece of soft cloth
where increase of density can scarcely be supposed.
Nor can the increase of temperature by friction be ac¬
counted for by the diminution of the specific caloric of
the
* Jm,
Roy. 1
vol. i.
p. 264
28
(s) Sauer’s account of this fact is the following:: “ I observed in all the huts a basket containing two large
pieces of quartz, a large piece of native sulphur, and some dry grass or moss. This serves them in kindling
fires ; for which purpose they rub the native sulphur on the stones over the dry grass, strewed lightly with a
few feathers in the top where the sulphur falls ; then they strike the two stones one against the other; the fine
particles of sulphur immediately blaze like a flash of lightning, and communicating with the straw, set the whole
in a flame. Sauer's Account of Billings''s Expedition to the northern parts of Russia, p. 159.
Hq •>c-
w  '
4
Uby
frit In not;
ow to
din shed
spt c ca-
|1
0a' pri ^y
Co
' 111 3rd.
)t I
I I 6
Kj o die
K|
C H E M
the bodies which are rubbed together j for Count Rum-
ford, who made some interesting experiments on this
subject, could not discover any change in this respect,
and supposing that this change had taken place, it could
not have been sufficiently great to account for all the
heat produced. In one of these experiments he took
a brass six-pounder, cast solid, and rough as it came
from the foundery •, fixed it horizontally on the boring
machine, and caused its extremity to be cut oft'; and
by turning round the metal in that part, a solid cylin¬
der was formed 7^ inches in diameter, and gT% inches
long. This when finished remained joined to the rest
of the metal by a small cylindrical neck 2^- inches in
diameter, and 2T8o- inches long. This short cylinder
was bored with a horizontal borer used in boring can¬
non. Its bore, which was 3^ inches in diameter, in¬
stead of being continued through its whole length 9^
inches, was only inches in length. A solid bottom
of 2T% inches in length was thus left. A blunt steel
borer was pressed against the bottom of the bore of the
cylinder with a force equal to 10,OOO lb. avoirdupois ;
and the cylinder was turned round by horses at the
rate of about 32 times in a minute. To prevent the
dissipation of the heat, the cylinder was covered up
with thick flannel. At the beginning of the experi¬
ment the temperature of the air and of the cylinder
was 6o°. At the end of 30', when it had made 960
revolutions, a mercurial thermometer was introduced
into the hole made to receive it in the side of the cy¬
linder, and the mercury rose to 130°. When the
borer was removed, and the metallic dust taken out of
the bottom of the cylinder, it was found to amount to
837 grs. As the weight of this dust amounts to no
more than -g-l-gRi part of that of the cylinder, it must
have given off 948° to raise the temperature of the cy¬
linder i°, and consequently it must have given out
66,360° of heat in the course of the experiment.
2. But to determine whether the air of the atmo¬
sphere had any part or not in the generation of this
heat, he contrived the following decisive experiment.
The apparatus was inclosed in a wooden box, which
was made water-tight, and filled with water, so as to
exclude completely the external air. The quantity
of water employed was 18.77 lb* avoirdupois, or 2^
wine gallons, and the temperature at the commence¬
ment of the experiment was 6o°. The machine was
put in motion, and moved at the same rate as in the
former experiment. At the end of an hour the tempe¬
rature was 107°; in half an hour more, it rose to 178°,
and at the end of two hours and 30' from the beginning
of the experiment the water actually boiled. By Count
Rumford’s calculation the caloric generated by friction
in this experiment, and accumulated in two hours and
30', would have heated ice-cold water 180°, or caused
it to boil. From the results of his computation it ap¬
pears, that the quantity of caloric thus generated
equably, was greater than that produced equably in
the combustion of nine wax-candles, each ^ of an inch
in diameter, burning clearly for the same length of time.
Reflecting on these experiments, Count Rumford
I S T R Y.
48
recurs to the question, What is heat? Is there any Caloric.
such thing as an igneous fluid ? And after stating that '
the quantity of caloric thus generated could neither be 2S7
furnished by the particles of the metal detached from ord
the solid masses, nor by the air, nor by the water, be- concedes
cause it must have received its heat from the appara-that heat
tus, he concludes, that caloric is not a material sub-b aiotion.
stance, but only a peculiar kind of motion produced
among the particles of matter f. f ph^
3. The experiments of Professor Pictet also prove, Trans.
that the caloric generated by friction is not owing to ^P8. P-So*
the combination of oxygen with any of the bodies.
He contrived an apparatus which could be introduced
into the receiver of an air-pump. By means of thisHcaV-rc.
apparatus, a piece of adamantine spar was rubbed nerated by
against a steel cup in the open air. A thermometer, friction not
which was fixed in the inside of the cup, did not riseovvin?to
when the apparatus was set in motion, although abund-ti^wlth
ance of sparks were produced. When the apparatus 0xy8en.
was placed in an exhausted receiver, and the experi¬
ment repeated, a phosphoric light, but no sparks, ap¬
peared, nor was the thermometer any way affected ;
but when a smaller brass cup was employed, and a
piece of brass rubbed against it in the open air, the
thermometer was not affected till the motion ceased,
and then it rose 0.3°. The caloric, it would appear,
was carried off as it was generated, by the motion of
the air. When the same experiment was repeated
in vacuo, the thermometer rose 1.2°, and it began to
rise as soon as the friction commenced. When a piece
of wood was made to rub on a wooden cup, the thermo¬
meter rose 2.1°, and in vacuo 2.40 f. fiftsaj
These experiments, therefore, are sufficiently con-sur le Feu,
elusive to prove that the caloric evolved by friction is chap. ix.
not derived from the atmosphere ; but still the question
recurs, What is its origin ! No satisfactory answer can
be given to this question, if it cannot be resolved, as p10^j
some have supposed, by having recourse to the agency owing to
of electricity ; and considering the similarity of the electricity,
eftect of caloric and electricity in heating and cool¬
ing bodies, in producing the expansion and fusion of
metallic substances, in effecting the actual combustion
of inflammable matters, and that in other respects the
one can be substituted for the other, it is not at all im¬
probable that electric matter, which is generated in
great abundance by friction, may be the chief agent
in the evolution of caloric by the friction of bodies on
each other.
4. In some observations on spontaneous inflamma-Choiceof
tions by Bartholdi, he mentions the experiments which wood in
were repeated by Dr Palcani, for obtaining fire by themachines
friction of two pieces of wood, in which he gave to one iniPortant
of the rubbing pieces the form of a tablet, and to the
other that of a spindle or cylinder ; and as the results tion.
of some of these experiments are of importance to shew
what attention ought to be paid to the choice of wood,
in the construction of machines and instruments where
there is considerable friction, we shall state the fol¬
lowing.
cr>
484
CHEMISTRY,
Caloric. Cylinders. Tablet. Duration
Boxwood,
do.
do.
do.
do.
Laurel,
do.
Ivy,
do.
Olive,
Mulberry,
Ash,
do.
Peartree,
Cherry,
Plumtree,
Oak,
Box,
Poplar,
Oak.
Mulberry,
Laurel,
Poplar,
Ivy,
Box,
Walnut,
Olive,
Laurel.
Oak,
Fir,
Oak,
Elm,
Apple tree,
Fir,
5'
5
5
Effect.
Sensible heat,
do.
do.
C Considerableheat
and smoke,
do.
do.
do.
do.
do.
do.
{Considerableheat
smoke and black¬
ness.
Sensible heat,
do.
do.
do.
do.
do.
When the experiment was changed, and a cylinder
of one of the kinds of wood was rubbed between two
tablets of the other; as, for example, a cylinder of pop¬
lar between two tablets of mulberry wood, the in¬
crease of the rubbed surfaces which were in contact
with the air, produced a temperature much more con¬
siderable ; and almost the whole of the kinds of wood
enumerated above took fire.
The effect of friction also varies according as the
woods employed of the same kind are rubbed in the di¬
rection of the fibres, or when the fibres cross each other.
In the first case the friction and heat generated are
-)• AnnaL de much more considerable than in the second t.
Chim. vol.
xlyiii. Third Source of Caloric,
p. 25?.
Mixture.
29 r
Change of
tempera¬
ture by
combina-
tiou.
292
Cfaseou*
bodies form,
ing solids
or liquids.
1. It is one of the characteristics of chemical action
to produce a change of temperature. This happens in
consequence of the increase or diminution of bulk of
the bodies which have been the subject of combination,
or a total change of their state and properties. Thus
it has been established as a general law in chemical
science, that all bodies which pass from the solid to the
fluid state, absorb a quantity of caloric ; and all bodies
which pass from the fluid to the solid state, give out
caloric. This law, therefore, will enable us to account
for those changes which take place by the mixture of
different bodies. In the course of the details of che¬
mical science, we shall have frequent opportunities of
pointing out the effects of this law. At present we
shall only mention a few instances in which caloric is
evolved by mixture attended with chemical action,
2. When two substances in the state of gas enter
into union, and form a solid or liquid body, caloric is
evolved.
a. Ammoniacal gas and muriatic acid gas, which,
when mixed together, instaptly combine, and forma
solid salt, give out, at the same time, a quantity of ca¬
loric.
When oxygen gas and nitric oxide gas are mixed
3
together, they combine and form a liquid, and at the
moment of union give out caloric.
3. When two liquids are mixed together, provided
the density of the mixture be greater than the mean of
the two liquids, caloric is evolved during the combi¬
nation.
a. When alcohol and water are mixed, the density
is greater than the mean of the two liquids; caloric,
therefore, is given out during the mixture.
b. A much greater degree of heat is produced by
mixing sulphuric acid and water. If four parts of sul¬
phuric acid be combined with one part of water, the
density of the mixture is much greater than the medium
density of the two liquids, and accordingly the quantity
of caloric evolved is sufficient to boil water.
4. A great quantity of caloric is also given out when
a fluid body combines with a solid. We have an in¬
stance of this in the slacking of lime.
a. When water is thrown upon quicklime, it instant¬
ly disappears; for part of it combines with the lime,
and becomes solid ; and thus passing from the liquid
to the solid state, it gives out caloric.
b. If a quantity of sulphuric acid be poured upon
quicklime, the caloric evolved is sufficient to raise part
of the sulphuric acid into vapour.
5. Were we to reverse these experiments, and state
instances of caloric being absorbed during the mixture
of bodies, we should observe the operation of the same
law, in the case of solid bodies becoming fluid, pro¬
ducing a great degree of cold. But it appears that
the production of cold by the solution of salts in water
is owing to the water which is in a previous state
of combination with one of the salts, and thus water
passing from the solid to the liquid state, must absorb
caloric, and therefore produce cold. The salts which
are best adapted for this purpose, contain a great pro¬
portion of water in the composition ; for if the same
salts are deprived of water by exposing them to heat,
the same effect by no means follows. On the contrary,
when they are dissolved in water in this state, heat is
produced, because they combine with a portion of the
water for which they have a strong affinity, and this
water passing from the liquid to the solid state, gives
out its caloric.
6. A considerable quantity of caloric is also gene¬
rated in other mixtures, in which the fermentation and
putrefaction of animal and vegetable substances takes
place. During these processes the substances which
are held in solution enter into new combinations, and
their chemical properties are totally changed. While
this change is going on, there is a gradual and con¬
stant evolution of caloric.
It is an artificial heat of this kind which is gene¬
rated by animal and vegetable matters, and on ac¬
count of its uniformity and constancy is employed (or
promoting vegetation ; as when horse dung and tan¬
ner’s bark are used in making hot beds; or for the
hatching of eggs, a practice which has been long in
use in Egypt.
Caloric,
293
CoM pro
dueed bj
water be
coming
suddenly
fluid.
294
Heat eve
Yid in fe
mentatic
Stc,
Fourth Source of Caloric,
The Sun.
I. But the great source of light and heat ill the pla¬
netary system is the sun. When treating of light we
mentioned
C H E M
f rfc, mentioned a speculation of philosophers about the great
u —j and constant waste of light, which the sun, although a
body of immense magnitude, must sustain. But since
the nature and constitution of the sun were discovered
by Dr Herschel, these speculations fall to the ground.
Tl: man According to these discoveries, the sun is not, as was
‘'P1 8 formerly supposed, an immense globe of fire, in which
1)01 the materials composing it are continually wasting by
combustion ; but a solid opaque body, similar to the
other planets, and surrounded by a very dense atmo¬
sphere, in which are observed two kinds of clouds. The
lower region of clouds is similar to those in the atmo¬
sphere of the earth. The uppermost region of clouds
is luminous, and from this proceed the light and heat
which were supposed to come from the body of the sun.
This luminous region, it appears from Dr Herschel’s
observations, in consequence of changes which seem to
be constantly going on in it, exhibits different degrees
of splendour, diminishing greatly the quantity of light
and heat which are emitted at other times. To these
variations he ascribes much of the difference of tempe¬
rature in different seasons, and the consequent abun-
dance or deficiency of crops.
D; co- 2. It is a familiar as well as a correct observation,
lw ib- that dark-coloured clothes, as black for instance, are
so eat mucj] warmer t[lan those which are of a lighter colour.
The rays of light, and also probably those of caloric,
are reflected in greater proporlion by white bodies than
by those of a deeper colour. The sun’s rays enter the
opaque body, and combine with it, and thus increase
the temperature. These rays are permitted to pass
through transparent bodies, which are very little af¬
fected by them j but combining with opaque bodies they
heat them, and the deeper the colour of the body the
^ greater is the increase of temperature.
A :and 3» But this has not been left to the uncertainty of
Fi lin’s common observation. Experiments were made by Dr
*x|‘ Franklin, and before him by Dr Hooke, to ascertain
this curious point. Pieces of cloth of different colours
were placed upon snow, and exposed to the light of the
sun. The colours were white, red, blue, black j and
it was found that the darkest coloured pieces had ad¬
mitted most heat, because they sunk deepest in the
snow, and this was in proportion to the darkness of the
5 colours.
Sir , Sir H. Davy made a similar experiment, to deter-
Hf s. mine the correspondence between the increase of re¬
pulsive motion in bodies from the action of light and
dark colours.
“ Six similar pieces of copper, of equal weight, size,
and density, each an inch square, and two lines thick,
were coloured, one white, one yellow, one red, one
green, one blue, and one black. A portion of a mix¬
ture of oil and wax, which became fluid at about hj6°,
was placed on the centre of each on the inferior side.
They were then attached to a board painted white, and
so placed with regard to the sun, that their upper sur¬
faces were equally exposed to the light. Their inferior
I S T R Y. 485
surfaces, to which the cerate was attached, were equally Caloric.
deprived of light and heat. The cerate on the black 1 v——
plate began to melt perceptibly before the rest, the blue
next in order, then the green and the red, and lastly
the yellow. The white was scarcely at all affected j
the black was in a complete state of fusion*.” It ap-* Beddoes'
pears, therefore, from these experiments, that caloric
enters bodies in dift’erent proportions ; and in the great-H 44*
est proportion in the darkest coloured bodies.
It appears too, that those bodies which absorb most Bodies
light, acquire the greatest degree of temperature when which ab-
exposed to the sun’s rays. This has been demon-
strated by the experiments of Wedgwood, Cavallo, e"
and Pictet. warmest.
The former took two pieces of phosphorescent marble,
one of which was blackened, and placed them on a hot
iron. No light appeared from the blackened marble,
but the other exhibited its usual phosphorescence. Up¬
on a second exposure, the piece which was not black¬
ened gave a faint light ; the blackened one, as before,
gave none at all. When the black was wiped off, and
both pieces were again placed upon the heater, no
light appeared either from the one or the other. This
experiment shows, that the phosphorescent property was
nearly destroyed without any visible light having
appeared. But both pieces of marble before being
heated, must have contained the same quantity of light
and heat, and therefore the light from the blackened
piece must have been absorbed by the black colour*. * Philos.
In Cavallo’s experiments (u), the bulb of a ther- Tram.
mometer was painted black, and exposed
other thermometers to the sun’s rays. Th
thermometer indicated a temperature io° higher than
the otherj but this difference was not constant*, for
it varied according to the brightness of the sun, and
the density and temperature of the atmosphere. Con¬
siderable variations were also observed, from the dif¬
ference of colours which were employed, and from the
difference of polish of the surface of the plate.
The same thing was observed when the thermome¬
ters were exposed to strong day light. The thermo¬
meter whose bulb was blackened vindicated the highest
temperature f. f/i&.iySo,
In an experiment made by Professor Pictet, two? 5^7*
thermometers, one of which had its bulb blackened#
when they were kept in a dark place, indicated the
same temperature. These experiments prove the close
connection between light and caloric j for the greater
the proportion of light absorbed by any body, the higher
is the temperature of that body. And when the light J
is totally excluded, as in the last mentioned experiment
of Pictet, the temperature is the samej.
4. But it has been shewn that there is a very greatDifl'erent
difference in the heating power of the different rays of11631*11^
light. It appears, from the experiments of Dr Hers-
chel, that this heating power increases from the middle
of the spectrum to the red ray, and is greatest beyond
it, where the rays are invisible. Hence it is inferred,
that
along with1?92’
: blackened*1
(u) The hint of these experiments, he says, was taken from the account of an experiment in a volume of the
Philosophical Transactions, made with a thermometer whose bulb was painted black, and exposed to the rays ot
the sun. The experiment alluded to w’as made by Dr Watson, bishop of Llandaff, Philosophical lransactionsy ^
P- 49*
486
Caloric.
Solar rays
of three
kinds.
Transpa¬
rent bodies
not heated
by the solar
rays.
3°3
Effects of
combustion
striking.
3C4 -
Important,
3°S
but of diffi¬
cult expla¬
nation.
305
Difference
between
increase of
tempera¬
ture and
burning.
CHEMISTRY.
that the rays of light and caloric nearly accompany
each other, and that the latter are in different propor¬
tions in the different colom*ed rays.
It has also been shewn, that the different rays of
light produce different chemical effects on metallic salts
and oxides. These effects inci-ease on the opposite di¬
rection of the spectrum, from the heating power of the
rays. From the middle of the spectrum towards the
violet end, they become more powerful ; and produce
the greatest effect beyond the visible rays.
5. From these discoveries it appears, that the solar
rays are of three kinds. 1. Rays which produce heat.
2. Rays which produce colour ; and, 3. Rays which
deprive metallic substances of their oxygen. The first
set of rays is in greatest abundance, or most powerful,
towards the red end of the spectrum, and they are least
refracted. The second set, or those which illuminate
objects, are most powerful in the middle of the spec¬
trum ; and the third set produce the greatest effect to¬
wards the violet end, where the rays are most refrac¬
ted.
6. The solar rays pass through transparent bodies
without increasing their temperature. The atmos¬
phere, for instance, receives little or no increase of
temperature by transmitting the sun’s rays till these
rays are reflected from other bodies, or communicated
to it by bodies which have absorbed them. This is al¬
so proved by the sun’s rays being transmitted through
convex lenses, producing a high degree of temperature
when they are concentrated, but giving no increase of
temperature to the glass itself. By this method, the
heat which proceeds from the sun can he greatly in¬
creased. Indeed, the intensity of temperature produced
in this way is equal to that of the hottest furnace. This
is done either by reflecting the sun’s rays from a con¬
cave polished mirror, or by concentrating or collecting
them, by the refracting power of convex lenses, and di¬
recting the rays thus concentrated on the combustible
body. See Bubxing G/gss.
Fifth Source of Caloric,
Combustion.
It was impossible for men whose attention was di¬
rected to the phenomena of nature, long to pass un¬
observed the singular appearances which are exhibited
in the combustion of bodies.
As combustion is one of the principal sources of
heat, it has long occupied the attentibn of men in ge¬
neral, both as to the means of its improvement and
application in the arts of life, and in the discovery of
a theory or explanation which will account for the
phenomena. But the want of success in this branch
of philosophical investigation, even at the present day,
shews that the subject is attended with great diffi¬
culty.
When a piece of iron is exposed to a high tempera¬
ture, it becomes red hot, and when it is removed from
the heated body, it continues for some time to give
out light and heat. But when it is suffered to cool, it
returns to the same state in which it was before it was
heated. When a piece of wood is burnt, it also gives ca]orjj J
out light and heat; but during this process it is totally'—wy,
changed. Great part is dissipated, and nothing re¬
mains but a small quantity of ashes.
When a piece of sulphur is exposed to a temperature
between 300° and 400°, it takes fire and burns, gives
out heat and light; and during this process the sulphur
has acquired new properties, or has entered into new
combinations. ^ H
When a metallic substance, zinc for instance, is ex-Uodie/iH
posed to a certain temperature, it also undergoes a very tally chi '
great change, during which heat and light are given1
out. The zinc is changed to a light flocculent sub-^™^' ,1
stance ; most other metals are reduced to the form of
powder. To these substances was formerly given the
name of calces ; they are now denominated oxides.
Now, none of these changes can be effected without
the presence of atmospherical air, or rather without the
presence of oxygenous gas, which is one of its con¬
stituent parts, and that part of it which is necessary „„g |
for the process of combustion. In all cases where com-Oxygenj*
bustion takes place, oxygen disappears or changes its gas necl I
state; light and beat are emitted, and the combus-sary‘n| |
tible body has changed its properties. Such are the1*06688- 1
phenomena of combustion, so far as observation and ex¬
periment have gone ; but still the difficulty remains, to
discover what share the different agents which are ne¬
cessarily concerned in this process have in the changes
which are effected. It is now universally agreed, that
oxygen is fixed in the combustible body during the pro¬
cess of combustion, and that the caloric which was ne¬
cessary to retain the oxygen in the state of an elastic
fluid being emitted during the change, is the source of ^0J1
the heat which is given out by burning bodies. But Source ’
what is the source of the light ? Is it emitted by thethe liglij 1
oxygenous gas along with the caloric in its change’10.^“c<j j
from the fluid to the solid state ? Or has it been a con-1
stituent part of the combustible body which is sepa¬
rated during combustion ? On this point, different opi¬
nions have been entertained by philosophers, and the
question in a great measure still remains undecided.
Let us now consider the different theories which have
been proposed to account for these phenomena. 310 j
1. In the early dawn of chemistry, when the scat-Theorie
tered facts were first collected, and it began to assume
a scientific form, attempts to explain this process were
soon made. Beecher was the first who gave any con¬
sistent form to a theory of combustion. Before his
time, sulphur was considered as the universal inflam¬
mable principle; but he rejected this opinion, consi¬
dering sulphur as an inflammable substance, containing
the principle of inflammability, but not that principle
itself. This theory was improved and extended by
Stahl, who gave this principle the name of phlogis¬
ton (x), from which the theory is called the phlo¬
gistic, and from his own name the Stahlian theory. 311 :
This principle was supposed to exist in all inflammableStahka j
bodies, and to be the same in all. The diversity which
is observed among them, in external appearance and
other properties, is owing to the other principles or ele¬
ments of which they are composed, and with which the
common
('x) This principle was also called terra sccunda, or tei'ra infiammabilis.
CHEMISTRY.
ick’s
, vol.
I e’s
common principle of inflammability, or phlogiston, is
combined. Combustion, with the several phenomena
that attend it, is supposed to depend on a gradual se¬
paration and dissipation of this principle; and this be¬
ing once separated, what remains of the body is no
longer combustible, but is similar to other kinds of mat¬
ter. This principle is represented as a dry substance,
of an earthy nature, composed of particles which more
than all others are disposed to be affected with a swift
•whirling motion. When the particles of a body are
agitated with this motion, the body becomes hot, is ig¬
nited, or undergoes combustion according to its vio¬
lence. The heat and the light which are emitted du¬
ring combustion, depend upon a peculiar motion of the
particles of matter; phlogiston, which is supposed to
be contained in all combusible substances, being most
disposed to assume this motion *.
2. Before this time a different theory had been pro-
MS2" posed by Dr Hooke, who published an account of it
12 in 1665, in a work entitled Micrographta ; and, in the
year 1676, in another work called Lampas. Accord¬
ing to this theory, the air of the atmosphere is the uni¬
versal solvent of all combustibles. This solution takes
place when the temperature of the combustible body is
sufficiently raised, and during the violence of its action
the heat is emitted. This dissolution of inflammable
bodies is a substance inherent in the air, similar to that
which is fixed in saltpetre, if not the very same. Du¬
ring this dissolution of bodies, part unites with the air
and escapes ; and part, after being mixed with it, forms
a coagulum or precipitation, some of which being light,
is carried away, while another part which is heavier
remains behind.
Some time after, an account of the same theory was
published by Dr Mayow, with some additional expe¬
riments, in a work entitled De Sal-nitro et Spiritu Ni-
tro-aereo. The nitro-aerial particles, or the spiritus
nitro-aereus of Mayow, was the same as the universal
solvent of Hooke. According to Mayow, this spiritus
nitro-aereus consists of minute particles, from the mo¬
tion of which it is produced, and when the motion is
more rapid, not only heat but light also is extricated.
The following abstract of the theory of Dr Hooke,
with Professor Robison’s observations, will not, we hope,
be unacceptable to our readers.
“ This theory, so opposite, as Dr Black observes,
to the theory of Stahl, is not so recent as is generally
imagined. It was seen in all its extent and importance
by Dr Robert Hooke, one of the greatest geniuses,
and most ardent inquirers into the operations of nature,
who figured during the latter half of the 17th century,
a period full of great discoveries.
“ Dr Hooke proposed this theory in considerable
detail in his Micrographia, published in 1665 ; and in
his Lampas, published in 1676 ; and he makes it an
important doctrine in his treatise on Comets, and in
many passages of his Cutlerian Lectures. He promi¬
ses to take it into serious consideration, and to publish
a full exhibition of it. The allusions made to it in his
lectures, make it evident that he had continued to make
some desultory additions to his first conceptions. His
Lampas contains a most accurate explanation of flame,
which cannot be surpassed by any performance of the
present day.
13
May
“ In the Micrographia he states the theory in the
following words:
“ I. The air in which we live, and breathe, and
move, and which encompasses and cherishes all bodies,
is the universal solvent of all sulphurous (synonymous
at that time with inflammable) bodies.
“ 2. This action it performs, not till the body be
sufficiently heated, as we observe in other solutions.
“ 3. This action of dissolution produces the great
heat which we call fire.
“ 4. It acts with such violence as to agitate the par¬
ticles of the diaphanous body, air, and to produce that
elastic pulse called light.
“ 5. This action, or dissolution of inflammable bo¬
dies, is performed by a mb stance inherent in, and mix¬
ed with the air, that is like, if not the very same with
that which is fixed in saltpetre.
“ 6. In this dissolution of bodies by the air, a part
of the body uniting with the air is dissolved or turned
into air, and escapes and flies about.
“ 7. As one part is thus turned into air, so another
is mixed with it, but forms a coagulum, or precipita¬
tion, some of which is so light as to be carried away
with the air, while other grosser and heavier matters
remain behind, &c. &c. This latter article is fre¬
quently employed in other parts of his writings, and
is sometimes called a grosser compound, mixed with
matters terrene, and originally insoluble in air, and
incombustible.
“ Can any thing more be wanting to prove that this
is the same with the modern theory of combustion ?
Nothing but to shew that this coagulum contained the
air which had formed it, by shewing an increase of
its weight, or by separating it again. But the eager
mind of Hooke, attracted by every appearance of no¬
velty, was satisfied with the general notion of a great
subject, and immediately quitted it in chase of some
other interesting object. Had he not been thus led off
by a new' pursuit, this wonderful man would not only
have anticipated, but completed many of the great
discoveries of the last century. It was a bold concep¬
tion, and only a vigorous mind could entertain it for a
moment, that the vast heat of combustion was contain¬
ed in a few grains of air. Yet this was his opinion, as
appears by the explanation which he gives, in various
meetings of the Royal Society, and in his lectures on
comets, of the deflagration of combustible bodies with
saltpetre, and of fiery motion.
“ In the treatise called Lampas, he observes that
this his treatise, published eleven years before, had
been very favourably received, and that he had not
seen any valid objection offered to it. It was in this
interval that Dr Mayow at Oxford published his
book De Sal-Nitro et Spiritu Nitro-aereo, in which
he holds precisely the same doctrine ; but his exhibi¬
tion of it is obscure, complicated, and wavering, mix¬
ed with much mechanical nonsense, of wedges, and
darts, and motions, &c. according to the lashion ol
the times. Hooke’s conception ol the subject, on the
contrary, is clear, simple, and steady. 1 lie only ad¬
dition made by Mayow are some observations on tlm
increase of weight observed in th& preparation ol
diaphoretic antimony, &c. Hooke, explaining at a
meeting of the Royal Society, some tricks ol the plum¬
bers
487
Caloric.
2
CHEMISTRY.
488
Caloric, bers workmen, who called the litharge which formed
1 1 v on the surface of the melted lead dross, and took it with
them as their perquisite, says expressly that they can
make dross of the whole, and that it is more than the
lead by all the air which was its menstruum. But
Mayow wrote on the subject expressly, and it appears
in the title of his book. He is remembered, while
Hooke is forgotten, because no one would think of
looking into the Micrographia lor chemical informa¬
tion. The theory comes in by chance, to explain the
indestructibility of charcoal in close vessels by heat.
Mayow also made many very ingenious experiments
on the air v/hich had contributed to inflammation, and
has anticipated both the manipulations and the disco-'
315 veries of modern pneumatic chemistry.”
Phlogiston 2, But in the progress of chemical science, the ex-
be'iMit* t0islence °f the principle of phlogiston began to be called
in question. It had been observed, and was proved
by experiment, that substances became inflammable
merely by being exposed to the light of the sun,
and in this way having acquired the principle of in¬
flammability, it was supposed to be the same as light.
This opinion of phlogiston being light fixed in bodies,
which was the first improvement or modification of the
theory of Stahl, was adopted by Macquer and other
316 chemists.
Farther 4. In the progress of discovery, this theory was still
modified. farther modified. The introduction of pneumatic che¬
mistry, and the accuracy and precision which it gave
to the experiments and researches of chemists, enabled
them to ascertain, with greater certainty, the changes
which take place on bodies after being subjected to
317 combustion, as well as on the air in which they are
Changes burnt. Some of these changes were observed by Dr
observed on prjeM;]ey, wh()Se indefatigable labours contributed es-
the air by • . • 0 e 1 • 1 • tt
Priestley, sentially to the extension ot chemical science. xie
found, by experiment, that the air in which combusti¬
bles had been burnt was afterwards unfit for the sup¬
port of flame, and equally so for the breathing of ani¬
mals. He ascribed this change which the air had suf¬
fered, to its combination with the phlogiston which had
318 separated from the burning body during the process of
tlvTit^ combustion. He considered air as necessary to com¬
bined with bustion, because, having a strong affinity for phlogiston,
phlogiston, it attracted it during the process, and combined with
it; and by this combination the air was contaminated
and rendered unfit for farther combustion, or for ani¬
mal respiration. But still the difficulty remained to
account for the heat and light which are extricated
3^9 during this process.
l^hTexist^ According to Dr Crawford, the caloric and light
in the air. "which appear during combustion, exist in the air in
which the body is burnt j and during the process the
phlogiston combines with the air, from which at the
32° same time the light and caloric are separated.
Phlogiston Soon after Mr Kirwan proposed another opinion,
with hydro-wl,icl1 was Pretty generally adopted by chemical phi-
gen. losophers. According to this opinion, hydrogen and
phlogiston are the same*, that it exists as a constituent
part in all combustibles, separating from them during
32Xt combustion, and combining with the oxygen of the air.
hypothesis. 6’ In tlie y.ear 1'777’ Scheele published a work,
which was entitled Chemical experiments on Air and
Fire. Heat, according to him, consists of a certain
quantity of oxygen united with phlogiston, Radiant Calod,
heat, which moves in straight lines, is composed
oxygen combined with a greater proportion of phlo¬
giston ; and light, of oxygen combined with a still
greater quantity.
7. But the labours and discoveries of the French Dbcov^i
chemists gave a new turn to chemical science. TheofLavoi
unfortunate Lavoisier, who had devoted his time ands>er‘
his fortune to chemical pursuits, had long directed his
attention to the phenomena of combustion, and after
an extensive series of experiments, distinguished for
their accuracy and precision, he established the general
law, that oxygen combines with the burning body in
all cases of combustion ; and thus he was enabled satis¬
factorily to account for the phenomena of combustion
without phlogiston, the existence of which had never
been proved.
8. The principles of this theory are the following.
No combustion can take place without the presence of
oxygen, for it consists in the combination of the com¬
bustible body with oxygen. The oxygen of the at¬
mosphere, which is in the state of an elastic fluid, exists
in combination with caloric and light ; and during the
combustion, that is, the combination of the oxygen
with the combustible body, the caloric and light are
separated. ,
This theory is applicable to the explanation of the Difficult |
phenomena of combustion, in the more limited mean-attendin
ing of that term, i. e. as taking place in oxygenous^-
gas. But when it is considered, that the process of
combustion goes on between two solids, one of which
contains oxygen in its combination, as, for instance,
sulphur and nitre, difficulties arise in accounting for
the heat and light, when the oxygen which combines
with the combustible body is in the solid state. When
it is considered also that oxygen unites slowly with
metals, being condensed from the state of gas, without
any extrication of heat or light, difficulties of another
kind present themselves.
To remove these difficulties, and to explain the ap¬
pearances, the theory of Lavoisier has been greatly
modified, or new theories proposed.
10. With this view a theory has been proposed byc
Brugnatelli. This theory supposes that oxygen exists grUgna(,
in combination with bodies, in two states. In the one
it is entirely deprived of its caloric and light, and in
the other, it retains great part of the caloric and light,
even in its combined, concrete state. It is simply call¬
ed oxygen in the first case, when it is deprived of its
caloric and liojit : in the latter it is denominated therm-
oxygen, when the caloric and light are combined
with it in the concrete state. Thermoxygen, then, is
a compound of oxygen and caloric in the concrete
state. This caloric is dift’erent from that which holds
the thermoxygen in the state of gas, and it is in the
same relation to thermoxygen gas, as water is to cry¬
stallized salts. This thermoxygen only enters into
the composition of acids, when it is deprived of its con¬
crete caloric. But it combines with the metals in the
state of thermoxygen j that is, united with the con¬
crete part of caloric. Metallic substances, therefore,
are denominated thermoxides.
In its union with metals, thermoxvgen is either pre¬
viously formed, or is in its nascent state, during the
combination.
CHEMISTRY.
jloric. combination. In the latter case, the caloric which is
48?
' disengaged by the chemical action, or that which is
ppliaed to assist the combination, furnishes the neces-
sary portion for the formation of the thermoxide j that
is, the combination of oxygen containing caloric in its
concrete state, with a metal. Thus it is, that some
metals require the application of heat for their solution
in concreted acids.
The base of pure air is in the state of thermoxygen,
in its combination with water. The metals, therefore,
which have a stronger affinity for it than for hydrogen,
the other component part of water, readily combine
with it, without the aid of external heat, in acids di¬
luted with this fluid. Gaseous thermoxygen always
gives out caloric, when it passes from the elastic to the
concrete state $ but as thermoxygen requires little ca¬
loric for its expansion, little is separated when it is
condensed. We shall only add the author’s explana¬
tion of the difference between atmospherical air and
those substances which have the same constituent parts
in different proportion. The difference between at¬
mospherical air and nitric oxide gas, he supposes, is as¬
cribed to the proportion of the constituent principles,
and consequently', according to this hypothesis, the at¬
mospherical air might he converted into that gas, by
augmenting the proportion of oxygen gas, or by
diminishing that of the azotic. But the difference be¬
tween these two gases, according to the theory of Brug-
*Jnai. natelli, consists in this, that in atmospherical air the
r vo' azotic gas is combined with thermoxygen gas j but in
nitrous gas, the azotic gas is combined with simple
16 oxygen
T ry 11. This theory, notwithstanding its ingenuity, is
.^‘regarded by some merely as a plausible hypothesis,
*t0 receiving little support from facts. We shall therefore
fen leave it to the consideration of our readers, and pro-
ytlie ceed to state the principles of another, which is pro-
wjusn. p0Setj (-q foe substituted in place of the Lavoisierian the¬
ory, in explaining the phenomena of combustion. In
this theory, it is supposed that the oxygen gas which is
absorbed during combustion, furnishes the caloric,
while the combustible body gives out the light which
previously existed in it as a component part. In proof
27 of this theory it is stated, that some bodies give out,
■ fur- during combustion, a greater quantity of light than
15 others, even where the quantity of oxygen absorbed is
less j that the colour of this light varies according to
the nature of the combustible; and that vegetables
which grow in the dark contain no combustible mat¬
ter, being deprived of the light which is essentially ne¬
cessary for its formation. This theory, which Gren
calls t/ie theory ofjire and combustion, is distinctly de¬
tailed by him in the following words :
“ I take here the word fire in the usual sense of com¬
mon language, and understand by it that light which
is combined with free caloric. Combustion is the ex¬
trication of fire with and by the decomposition of oxy¬
gen gas. Take the example of phosphorus. On its
combustion two new products, the phosphoric acid and
hs fire, arise from phosphorus and oxygen gas.
ory “ In order that the theory of combustion be admis-
pl all" Sl^e> ^ must explain every circumstance by which this
^ iieno. ptauomenon is accompanied, and be in contradiction
with none of them. It, besides, must not be incon¬
sistent with any other fixed invariable law of nature.
Vol. V. Part II. t
oia-
)Ie.
UK
“ According to the antiphlogistic system, a combust!- Caloric,
bje body is such as is possessed of the power of attrac- ^mm,u
ting, in a certain temperature, the oxygen of vital air
more strongly than it is attracted by the caloric. Be¬
sides, in that system, oxygen gas does not merely con¬
sist of oxygen and caloric, but it likewise contains light,
in a fixed state, as a constituent part.
“ If, therefore, phosphorus, at the temperature re¬
quisite to its inflammation, be brought into oxygen
gas, it robs the latter ol its oxygen, and makes with
it phosphoric acid $ whilst the caloric and the basis,
or matter of light, previously latent in the gas, are re¬
stored to liberty ; and, combining together, produce
the fire which flies oil. Thus the oxygen gas is de¬
composed.
“A new body, the phosphoric acid, is now gene-New body
rated ; and, because in many cases an acid is produced generated
by the combustion of inflammable matters, this cir- ^ com^us”
cumstance has induced modern chemists to denote 01
the basis of vital air by the words acidifying princi¬
ple, or oxygen ; not on the ground that it is supposed
to be sour of itself, but because it forms an acid
only when combined with an acidfiable basis, as in
our experiment with phosphorus. And it is on this
account that, in this system, combustion has likewise
received the name of oxygenation. But in the case
(very often occurring) where the combustible matter
imbibes oxygen, yet without becoming thereby an
acid, the product is called oxide (also denominated
half-acid), and the process is termed oxijdation.
“ Since the combustible substance takes up the pon¬
derable basis of oxygen gas, and since, according to
this system, both the caloric and light are imponde-
rable, it is thereby accounted for, why the residue of Acquires
burnt matters, the phosphoric acid, for instance, ac-an in?rease
quires an increase of weight equal to that pox-tion
vital air which was decomposed.—If the inflammable
substance be saturated with oxygen, it is rendered in¬
capable of decomposing moi'e oxygen gas, and the com¬
bustion is ended.
“ When the combustion is performed in atmosphei'ic
air, it is then the azotic, either mingled or mixed with
the oxygen gas, that prevents those phenomena from
going on with the same vivacity as in pure oxygen
gas \ and likewise, as the azotic gas is not affected or
acted on by the inflammable body, it is left as the resi¬
due of the atmospheric air. 331
“Hence, by that system, the combustion of phos-Combus-
phorus in oxygen gas is effected by a simple affinity,t,on. a case
and the principle of fire is not in the combustible body,
but in the oxygen gas. the^ld m
“ However, from what I have stated of the compo-theory,
sition of light, I cannot help thinking, that in combus- 332
tion a double affinity takes place j and to explain this
theory I shall select the example of phosphorus. That
substance consists of the basis of light, called by me
phlogiston, and making a constituent part of all com¬
bustible bodies united to a peculiar body, the phospho¬
ric-radical.— Oxygen gas is a compound of oxygen and
caloric.
“ Now, when phosphorus is heated in this gas, and
by this means the force of attraction between the
plilogiston and the phosphoric-radical is sufficiently
weakened, so that the attractive power between the
radical of phosphorus and the oxygen may prevail,
3 Q then
4
CHEMISTRY.
490
Caloric, then the act of corahustion ensues. The phosphoric
’"“■■■"V"""""' basis attracts the oxygen, while the phlogiston of the
phosphorus is attracted by the caloric of the oxygen
gas. Thus, by virtue of this double affinity, two new
compounds, the phosphoric acid and tire, arise from
the two former combinations, phosphorus and oxygen
gas.
“ When the radical of phosphorus, and in general
of any combustible body, has absorbed so much oxy¬
gen, that it is saturated with it, the combustion is ar¬
rived at its highest degree ; and in the same manner it
is ended, at the moment when all the quantity of oxy¬
gen gas, capable of being decomposed, is exhausted.
By this it is explained, why, in a given volume of oxy¬
gen gas, only a certain quantity of phosphorus, and in
general of every other combustible matter, can be con¬
sumed by fire.
“ The increase of weight in the residue of the burnt
substance is, in this phlogistic, or rather eclectic system,
likewise explained by the access of oxygen ; and the
caloric and basis of light are likewise supposed to be
both imponderable. The remaining azotic gas, not be¬
ing acted upon by the combustible matter, is merely the
333 residue of the atmospheric air.
^n^out^*V" ** Those that wish to be impartial, must allow that
without ^ie in the antiphlogistic system, acts a part quite
oxygen. superfluous j that it may be thoroughly set aside with¬
out impairing the system $ that by this system those
phenomena cannot be explained, where light issues from
combustible bodies without any access of vital air,
(some instances of which will hereafter be given (z) 5
that the influence of light upon the growth and thriv¬
ing of plants, upon the changes of their mixture dur¬
ing vegetation, and upon the alteration in the mixture
of many other bodies, is by far too great, to allow
oxygen gas to be considered as its only reservoir. Fi¬
nally, it must be granted (an important point) that the
antiphlogistic system does in no way explain the inci¬
dents preliminary to the process of combustion ; and
that it affords no argument to show why a certain de¬
gree of beat is necessary, in order that the combustible
* Green's body be inflamed
1K Such then
are the general facts with regard to
p. 13*5. combustion, and such are the theories which have been
334 proposed, to account for the phenomena exhibited in
Three mo- this process. Three states or modifications have been
difications. distinguished in the act of combustion, namely, igni-
335 tion, inflammation, and detonation.
Ignition. Ignition, properly speaking, is rather a prelimi¬
nary step, than a part of the process of combustion it¬
self. A metallic substance, for instance, may become
red hot when exposed to a certain temperature *, but
when it is cooled, it returns without change to its for¬
mer state. In this case caloric and light are {jiven out,
but the body undergoes no farther change. There is
no absorption of oxygen, which is one of the ordinary
phenomena of combustion. But, with an increase of
temperature, this also is effected, and the whole pheno¬
mena of combustion are exhibited •, namely, the union
of oxygen with the combustible body, and the emission
of light and heat.
b. The second state or modification of combustion is
called inflammation. This depends on the nature of Calorf® i
the combustible body, owing partly to its strong affi-  va¬
nity for oxygen, and partly to the slight affinity which 33^
exists between the particles of the combustible body.|?^mnu*j
We have examples of this in the burning of sulphur or
phosphorus, or a candle in the open air, or in oxygen gas.
c. Detonation is another modification of combustion.Detonl.
It is a rapid and instantaneous inflammation, accompa-twu.
nied with explosion. This arises from the sudden for¬
mation of a vacuum, by the change of elastic fluids
into the liquid state, or by the sudden evolution of elas¬
tic fluids from the solid state. Of the first we have
an instance in the composition of water by the inflam¬
mation of oxygen and hydrogen gases, which is at¬
tended with a violent explosion, great condensation and
the extrication of light and heat. Of the evolution of
elastic fluids from solid bodies, we have a good instance
in common gunpowder, from which an immense volume
of elastic vapour is instantaneously extricated, which,
by its expansive force being suddenly exerted, produces
the explosion, and the irresistible effects of this power¬
ful agent. 33g
12. All inflammable substances, Dr Black observes,Combasti-
are changed, during combustion, into one or more Me mb-
principles. From the combustion of some substances,slanC€S J a
■* • ^ • converted
as sulphur and phosphorus, an acid is obtained. Fromjntoacj^
the combustion of others, as hydrogen with oxygen, 339
water is the product ; and in the case of metals, they or water,
are reduced to the state of oxide, or calx, as it was 340
formerly called. After the combustible substance liasor0^08*
been subjected to the. process of combustion, it is to¬
tally changed in its properties, and no longer capable
of exhibiting the phenomena of combustion.
Such, then, are the general properties and effects of
light and heat, two of the most powerful agents, and
of the most extensive influence, in all the changes and
combinations which take place among bodies, by che¬
mical actions. In many properties they resemble each
other, but are totally dift’erent from all other kinds of
matter. These bodies, possessed of a repulsive pow’er
among the particles of each other, are attracted by
other bodies, and combine with them ; and these com¬
binations produce the most astonishing effects, giving
new forms to matter, and inducing innumerable changes,
which may be considered as constituting the principle
and essence of some of the most sublime operations of
nature, and many of the most important processes of
art.
Connected with light and heat in many of their ob¬
vious properties, and also in many of the changes
which they produce upon bodies, are electricity and
galvanism j and with electricity at least, if not also with
galvanism, the magnetic power possesses some common
properties 5 and especially if some of these are to be
considered, as some have supposed, only as modifica¬
tions of the same substances which we have treated of,
the discussion of these subjects would be properly in¬
troduced here ; but according to the nature and ar¬
rangement of this work, each is to be fully detailed un¬
der its proper bead. See ELECTRICITY, GALVANISM,
and Magnetism.
Chap.
(z) As in the case of the combination of sulphur and iron or copper.
#Aa
CHEMISTRY.
Chap. IV. Of OXYGEN.
43
P esse«
I* Oxygen is one of the most important agents in
the chemical phenomena of naturej or in the processes
of art. There is scarcely a single process in which it
has not some share. Its nature and properties, there¬
fore, ought to be early known.
Oxygenous gas is one of the discoveries of modern
o odem chemistry. It was discovered by Dr Priestley in the
0 year 1774, and received from him the name o( dephlo-
gisticated air. It was afterwards denominated highly
respirable air. From Scheele, who discovered it in
*11 Si received the name of empyreal air. It was
called vital air by Condorcet; and Davoisier gave it
the name of oxygen gas, or oxygenous gas, by which it
has since been generally distinguished.
2. Oxygen gas is most easily obtained by the follow-
fc Main- ing process : a. Take a quantity of the native oxide of
manganese ; introduce it into the iron bottle A, fig. 3.
to the neck of which apply the bent tube B, which is
made to fit it exactly, and lute them together at the
joining CD (A.). The bottle, thus prepared, is to be
exposed to the heat of a furnace, or to that of an open
fire. As soon as the heat is applied, the atmospheric
air within the bottle is driven off j and, as the bottle
becomes red hot, the quantity of air which passes over
is greatly increased. Let the end of the tube connect¬
ed with the bottle be introduced under the shelf in the
pneumatic trough, and the bubbles of air will pass
through the water, and may be received in jars filled
with water, inverted over the opening in the shelf with
their mouths immersed.
h. Oxygen gas may also be obtained bv treating
what is called in chemistry the red oxide of mercury
in a similar manner.
c. Ibis gas may be also readily procured, by intro¬
ducing into a glass retort a quantity of the same sub¬
stance (oxide of manganese) reduced to powder, add¬
ing an equal weight of sulphuric acid, and applying a
moderate heat.
d. Or it may be obtained from the substance called
mtre or saltpetre, exposed to a red heat, in an earthen
or coated glass retort.
3* In all these methods of obtaining this gas, it is
-e of
^ rocess unnecessary to mention, that it must be received in the
ae • pneumatic apparatus, in the same way as has been di¬
rected for procuring it from the oxide of manganese,
exposed to heat in the iron vessel ; and, in whatever
way it is obtained, the chemical change which takes
place in these processes, is thus explained. Oxygen
gas consists of two ingredients, the one, which is called
>ts base, and the other caloric, or the matter of heat.
In the oxide of manganese, this base is combined with
the metallic substance 5 and when this compound is ex¬
posed to a sufficient temperature, the oxygen, having a
greater attraction for caloric than for the metal, com¬
bines with it, and passes off in the state of gas. The
same changes take place, when the process for obtain-
mg the gas, by means of the red oxide of mercury, is
employed. When the sulphuric acid, which is in the
state of liquid, is added to the oxide of manganese, it
combines with it at a lower state of oxidation, and be- '
comes solid. But no liquid substance can become
solid, without being deprived of the caloric necessary
to retain it in the state of fluidity. The caloric which
retained the sulphuric acid in the liquid state, combines
with the oxygen of the manganese, assumes the fluid
ob gaseous form, and makes its escape. This is an ex¬
ample of double affinity. The sulphuric acid unites
with a lower oxide of manganese, and forms a solid ;
while the caloric combines with the base of oxygen,
and appears in the form of oxygen gas.
4. Oxygen gas, thus obtained, possesses many of the Properties
properties of Common air. It is colourless, invisible,
elastic, and may be indefinitely expanded or compressed.
Oxygen gas possesses neither taste nor smell j its
specific gravity, according to Mr Kirwan, is to that
of water as 0.00135 to I.OOOO. Being therefore 740
times lighter than its bulk of water, its weight to at¬
mospherical air is in the proportion of 1103 t0 JOOO j
or 100 cubic inches of oxygen gas weigh 34 grs.
while the same measure of atmospherical air weighs
only 31 grs. the temperature being 6o°, and the baro¬
meter being at 30 inches. According to Sir H. Davy’s
experiments, 100 cubic inches of oxygen gas weigh
35.05 grs.
Water does not sensibly absorb this gas. But by
means of strong pressure, it may be made to combine
with, and to retain in solution half its bulk. The wa¬
ter, thus impregnated, is not sensibly different from
common water in taste or smell, but it is said to have
proved a useful remedy in some diseases. ^^5
Combustible substances burn with greater brilliancy ^ombustioa
and rapidity in oxygen gas than in common air. Jn_ more bril-
deed it is owing to a certain quantity of the former,]lantmoxy'
that the process of combustion goes on in the latter} ^ ^aS’
and when the oxygen gas is exhausted, the process is
interrupted. If a jar or phial is filled with this gas,
a lighted candle introduced into it burns with greater
splendour, and produces a greater degree of heat, than
in a similar vessel filled with common air. If a candle
be blown out, and while the snuff is red hot, introduced
into a vessel filled with oxygen gas, it rekindles with a
slight explosion, and burns with the same splendour.
A candle in a vessel filled with oxygen gas burns much
longer than in the same quantity of atmospherical air. ^
Oxygen gas is essentially necessary for respiration. Animals
No breathing animal can live in air which does not bve a long,
contain some proportion of oxygen gas. And the ex-,ei tune 111
periments of Dr Priestley and others prove, that ani-11,
mals live a much longer time in pure oxygen gas than
in an equal bulk of atmospherical air. The experi¬
ments of Count Morozzo fully establish this fact. Into
a vessel filled with common air, and inverted over wa¬
ter, he introduced a number of sparrows in succession,
and observed the effects. The following are the results
of his experiments :
H. M,
The first sparrow lived
The second
The third
3 Q 2
3 0
o 3
o 1
The
(a) A lute, which answers this purpose sufficiently well, is composed of pipe clay and linseed oil well beaten to¬
gether, and reduced to the consistence of glaziers putty. This is neatly applied to the joining, and if allowed to
remain for eight or ten hours before it is exposed to the heat, it will afterwards bear the highest temperature.
492
C H E M
Oxygen.
The experiments were repeated by filling the same
vessel with oxygen gas, and he obtained the following
results:
H. M.
The first sparrow lived
The second
The third
The fourth
The fifth
The sixth
The seventh
The eighth
The ninth
The tenth
23
10
30
10
3°
47
27
30
22
21
Two sparrows were then put in together j the one
lived for an hour, but the other died in about 20 minutes.
Oxyo-en 5- Oxygen combines with a great number of bodies,
combines and forms compounds with-them. It is always pre-
with bo- sented to us in a state of combination. In examining
^ies’ its properties, it is always as a compound ; and these
pi’operties are only cognizable to our senses in that state.
When oxygen combines with metallic substances,
they acquire new properties, and this combination is
in chemical language denominated an oxide. Com¬
bined with many other substances, the nature of the
substance is also changed, and the compound exhibits
new properties. One of the most remarkable of these
is the taste of the compound substance, which is often
sour or acid 5 and because this circumstance was ob¬
served to be one of the most frequent and most re-
349 markable which attend its combinations, the name of
Origin of oxygen, or acidifying principle, was invented for it by
e Iiavoisier. Oxygen gas is also necessary for the ger¬
mination of the seeds of plants j and as the process of
vegetation advances, it is given out in great abundance
by the leaves during exposure to the solar ray. By
this means the great waste of oxygen gas, in the pro¬
cesses of combustion and respiration, has been supposed
to be fully repaired, and the balance between its con¬
sumption and supply to be preserved.
6. The following is the order of its affinity for the
substances with which it enters into combination.
Oxygen.
Charcoal,
Titanium,
Manganese,
Zinc,
Iron,
Tin,
Uranium,
Molybdena,
Tungsten,
Cobalt,
Antimony,
Hydrogen,
Phosphorus,
Sulphur,
Azote,
Nickel,
Arsenic,
Chromium,
Bismuth,
Lead,
Copper,
I S T R Y.
Tellurium,
Platina,
Mercury,
Silver,
Oxide of arsenic,
Nitrous gas,
Gold,
Muriatic acid,
White ox:de of manganese,
White oxide of lead.
Chap. V. Of AZOTIC GAS.
1. Azotic gas was examined by Mr Scheele, the
celebrated Swedish chemist, in 17765 and his experi¬
ments proved, that it is a fluid possessed of peculiar pro¬
perties. It seems, however, to have been known to Dr
Rutherford of Edinburgh, as early as the year 1772,
as appears from his thesis published in that year, in
which he treats of the effects of combustion and respi¬
ration on the atmosphere. ^
2. There are various methods by which this gas may Methods
be obtained. a. The process recommended by Ber-procuring-
thollet is the following: Take a quantity of muscular'1*
flesh, or the fibrous part of the blood, which has been
well washed. Cut the flesh into small pieces 5 intro¬
duce it into a retort, or a matrass to which a ground
tube has been adapted. Pour over it diluted nitric
acid, expose it to a heat of about 100°, and place the
beak of the retort or the end of the tube in the pneu¬
matic apparatus, that the gas which comes over may
be received in proper vessels. The gas thus obtained,
is azotic gas. b. If sulphuret of potash be exposed to
the air of the atmosphere, inclosed in a bell-glass, over
water 5 or, if sulphuret of iron be formed into a paste
with water, and treated in the same way, and allowed
to remain for some days, the quantity of air within the
glass is greatly diminished, in consequence of part
having been absorbed, and what remains is azotic gas.
c. When the air of the atmosphere is inclosed in the
same way, and exposed to the action of phosphorus, it
also suffers diminution, part being absorbed. Azotic
gas only remains.
3. Azotic gas, like common air, is invisible andpfoperti!
elastic, and may be indefinitely condensed and dilated.
Its specific gravity is less than that of atmospheric air
It is estimated by Mr Kirwan at 0.00120, which is in
the proportion of 985 to 1000 5 but according to
Lavoisier’s experiments, it is to atmospheric air as
942.6 to 1000, which makes its specific gravity only
O.OCI 15.
This gas is unfit for combustion. If into a jar or
phial, filled with azotic gas, a lighted candle be intro¬
duced, it is immediately extinguished.
This gas is also extremely noxious to animals, and
is therefore totally unfit for respiration. 353
4. No attempts which have yet been made haveisasimi
succeeded in decomposing azote, or the base of azotic substanc
gas. It must therefore be admitted among the num¬
ber of simple substances. It has never been obtained
in a separate state. It is therefore when it is com¬
bined with caloric, that is, in a gaseous state, that we
are acquainted with its properties j and from its being
unfit for respiration, it derived its name. From being
the radical of the nitric acid, it is often named nitro¬
gen. Some chemists have indeed considered it as a
compound
Azotic G
C H E M
Gas. compound substance. Dr Priestley supposed that it
consisted of phlogiston and oxygen gas. On this ac¬
count he called it phlogisticated air. According to the
Stahlxan theory, the process of combustion is the sepa¬
ration of phlogiston from the burning body. Oxvgen
gas having a strong affinity for phlogiston, combines
with it during the combustion, and is even supposed to
contribute to the separation of the phlogiston, by its
affinity for it. And when this air is saturated with
phlogiston, the process of combustion is at an end. The
air that remains after this process is azotic gas. This
theory, when first announced by Dr Priestley, was
pretty generally received ; but future experiments soon
demonstrated, that the quantity of air in which a com¬
bustible body was burnt, diminished both in bulk and
in weight j and therefore proved that the air, instead
of receiving any addition, was on the contrary deprived
of something.
Achard, about the year 1784, concluded, from some
experiments which he had made, that azotic gas con¬
sists of water and fire. This theory has been support¬
ed by Westrumb, and more lately by Wiegleb. Ac¬
cording to the experiments on which these chemists
rest the truth of their theory, azotic gas is always the
result when steam is made to pass through red-hot
earthen, or. even metallic tubes ; but a series of very ac¬
curate experiments, instituted by the associated Dutch
chemists, clearly proved that no azotic gas was pro¬
duced, when the instruments employed were impene-
*. jatdetrable by air*. Dr Priestley had long before shewn,
Cl vol. in similar experiments, when he employed earthen¬
ware retorts, containing moist clay, and exposed them
to a temperature above boiling heat; instead of vapour
issuing from the beak of the retort, a quantity of air,
which was nearly equal in weight to the quantity of
water introduced, passed over. The conclusion which
he drew from these experiments, was, that the water
was converted into air ; for he found that it possessed
nearly the same properties as common air. But he
proved afterwards, by more accurate experiments, that
water had made its way through the pores of the ves¬
sels, and that its place was supplied by the external
air which was forced in by the pressure of the atmo¬
sphere. For it was clearly ascertained by the experi¬
ments of the Dutch chemists, that no gas was obtain¬
ed, while perfectly sound glass or metallic tubes were
employed.
^ Another theory has been proposed, of the composi-
sj p 3' tion of azotic gas, by Girtanner f. He supposes that
azotic gas consists of hydrogen and oxygen gas, having
a smaller proportion of oxygen gas than what enters in-
vo!. to the composition of water J. But the experiments of
iP-*3-other chemists, as Berthollet and Bouillon Lagrange,
have afforded no such results (b).
5. There is no perceptible action between azotic gas
and light. Combined with caloric, we have already
seen it may be indefinitely expanded, but without un¬
dergoing any change in its properties.
Azotic gas, from its being found in such abundance
in the air of the atmosphere, must act some important
part in the economy of nature. It is given out, or
w 1
31
4
na-
5
halo-
I S T R Y. 493
seems to be given out, in great quantity, during the Azotic Gas.
decomposition of animal and vegetable matters j but' ■' v— *
during these processes, it is the oxygen of the at¬
mospherical air which is absorbed, and thus the resi¬
duary air is azotic gas. The base of azotic gas is un¬
known, and chemists are still unacquainted with its
affinities.
Azotic gas combines with oxyen in different proper-withoxy-
tions, and lorms compounds very different in their na-genindif-
ture and properties. In one proportion it constitutes the^eiei?t Pro_
air of the atmosphere j in another, what is called »/.port,ons*
trous oxide, and in a third, nitric oxide gas. These
we shall examine in their order in the following sec¬
tions.
Sect. I. Of A tmospiiemc Air.
357
1. The air of the atmosphere is composed of azotic Properties,
and oxygenous gases. It is an invisible elastic fluid,
which may be indefinitely compressed and dilated. The
specific gravity of atmospheric air is O.OOI2, or about
816 times lighter than water. This is to be understood
when the temperature is between 50° and 6o°, and
when the barometer is at 30 inches. The pressure of
the air of the atmosphere is nearly equal to ijlb. on
every square inch.
2. Till the discoveries of modern chemistry, atmo¬
spheric air was considered one of the four simple ele¬
mentary substances, of which all bodies are composed.
But the experiments and researches of Priestley and of
Scheele fully demonstrated the existence of two sepa¬
rate substances, totally distinct from each other in their
nature and properties. Oxygenous gas, one of the
component parts of atmospheric air, was, according to
Dr Priestley, completely freed from phlogiston j and
hence he calls it dephlogisticated air, which was in an
eminent degree fit for respiration and combustion but
azotic gas, the other component part, was supposed to
be saturated with phlogiston, and therefore unfit, as it
was found to be, for these purposes. To the latter, the
azotic gas, Scheele gave the name of foul air.
3. According to the experiments of Lavoisier, the Proportions
proportions of the two gases which exist in atmospheric of azotic
air, are 73 parts of azotic gas, and 27 of oxygen gas. anc* oxygen
But according to later experiments the proportions are sas,':'
found to be 78 of the former, and 22 of the latter, by
bulk ; or by weight, 74 and 26. 3^
The proportions of these two gases in atmospheric always con-
air are uniform and constant. They have been found slant,
to be the same in all parts of the world, and in all sea¬
sons of the year.
4. A question has arisen among philosophers con- Constitu-
cerning the constitution of the atmosphere, whether its tion of the
component parts are to be considered merely as a me-atni°-
chanical mixture, or as a chemical combination. TosP*R'ie’
the latter opinion the greater number of chemists are
inclined, from the constancy of the proportions of the 36i
component parts of the atmosphere, these parts always Supposed
being found in the same proportion at all heights, and to be a
never separating according to their specific gravities ; ^henncal
from its possessing distinct properties j and from its tjoa
continuing the same, whatever processes are carried on
in
(b) The component parts of water are oxygen and hydrogen, as we shall find afterwards.
2
494 € H E M
Azotic Gas. in it, or whatever proportions of oxygen may be ab-
V, v   sorbed during these processes.
or a'm2 I A contrary opinion has been adopted by Mr Dalton,
I|JCai injx " which he has endeavoured to establish by some very
ture. acute mathematical reasoning. According to his inge¬
nious hypothesis, the elastic fluids which exist in the
atmosphere have no mutual action whatever. The par¬
ticles of one fluid are only attracted and repelled by
each other, but are not acted upon by the particles of
another fluid. The particles of the different fluids,
^ . with regard to each other, are subjected to the laws of
Mem vol. ine‘astic bodies .
P* 533*
Sect. II. Of Nitkous Oxide Gas.
Process for 1‘ r^^’‘s Sas *s most readily obtained by decomposing
obtaining nitrate of ammonia, a salt composed of nitric acid and
this gas. ammonia, the properties of which will be afterwards
detailed. The crystals of this salt are put into a re¬
tort, and exposed to a temperature between 340° and
500°. It very soon melts after the heat is applied,
and a great quantity of gas is emitted, at first in the
form of white fumes, but afterwards transparent and
colourless. This may be received in jars over water in
the usual way. It is the nitrous oxide gas, the gaseous
oxide of azotic, or, as it has been called by some, from
the pleasurable sensations it excites on being respired,
the gas of paradise. The first part of the gas which
comes over is not quite so pure as the rest, which is
given out slowly, and is transparent. When therefore
it is respired, care should be taken to separate what
comes off first, from the rest. This gas, as is obvious
from the process, is obtained by the decomposition of
the nitrate of ammonia j but the change which takes
place will be better understood when we come to treat
of the salt itself.
Discovery. 2. This gas wras called by Dr Priestley dephlogisti-
cated nitrous gas ; and it was discovered by him in the
year 1776- Its component parts were ascertained bv
the associated Dutch chemists; but its nature and pro¬
perties were more fully and precisely investigated by
Sir H. Davy *.
3<55 ‘ 3-In its physical properties, this gas resembles com-
Properties. mon a‘r* It is elastic, transparent, and colourless. The
specific gravity, as it has been estimated by Sir H.
Davy, is 0.00197. One hundred cubic inches of it
weigh 50.20 grains. Its component parts are 63.58
of azote, and 3^*42 °I oxygen ; by measure, two vo¬
lumes of azotic to one of oxygenous gas.
Some combustibles burn in this gas nearly as well as
in oxygen gas, but with this difference, that they must
be previously in a state of ignition.
Pyrophorus, which spontaneously inflames so low as
the temperature of 40° in atmospheric air, will not
burn in nitrous oxide gas, till it is raised to a tempera¬
ture above 212°. A burning taper introduced into
pure nitrous oxide gas, burns at first with a brilliant
white light, and sparkles as in oxygen gas ; but as the
combustion goes on, the flame gradually lengthens, and
is surrounded with a pale blue light. Phosphorus
burns in it with a brilliancy much inferior to its com-
Effecte ia bustlon in oxygen gas.
retiring it. 4; It was at first supposed that this gas is unfit for
respiration, but the experiments of Davy have shown
T
I S T R Y.
the contrary; and the singular effects which it pfodu-Azoth
ces on the animal frame have excited much interest.L v
From these experiments, and from many others which
have been since repeated, it appears that it may be re*-
spired for some minutes without injury. In some cases
it produces no effect whatever; but, in general, the
sensations it excites are similar to those of intoxica¬
tion ; though rarely followed by its unpleasant effects.
Sir H. Davy describes his own feelings when he re¬
spired this gas in the following words.
“ Having previously closed my nostrils and exhausted
my lungs, 1 breathed four quarts of nitrous oxide from
and into a silk bag. The first feelings were giddiness,
sense of fulness of the head, and indistinct sensation;
but in less than half a minute, the respiration being
continued, they diminished gradually, and were succeed¬
ed by a sensation analogous to gentle pressure on all
the muscles, attended by a highly pleasurable thrilling,
particularly in the chest and the extremities. The ob¬
jects around me became dazzling, and my hearing more
acute. Towards the last inspirations, the thrilling in¬
creased, the sense of muscular power became greater,
and at last an irresistible propensity to action was
indulged in ; I recollect but indistinctly what follow¬
ed ; I know that my motions were various and vio¬
lent.
“ These effects very soon ceased after respiration.
In ten minutes I had recovered my natural state of
mind. The thrilling in the extremities continued
longer than the other sensations.
“ This experiment was made in the morning ; no
languor or exhaustion w-as consequent, my feelings
th roughout the day were as usual, and I passed the
night in undisturbed repose*.” ^ L
But although it may be respired for a short time 1
with impunity, not more than 3 or 4 minutes, yet ani-p^.Ml
mals that are confined in it soon become restless and
uneasy, and at last expire. It is unfit for the support
of animal life, and perhaps could not at all be respired,
if the lungs were previously exhausted of atmospheric
air- . . . J 1
5. Ihe taste of nitrous oxide gas, when in a state ofTastai I
purity, is distinctly sweet to the tongue and palate ; and swell.
it has an agreeable odour. Davy observes, that he
often thought it produced a feeling somewhat analogous,
as he expresses it, to taste in its application to the
lungs; for in one or two experiments he perceived a
distinct sense of warmth in the chest f. , ^ |
6. M ater absorbs nitrous oxide gas in considerablep, 46c. ]
proportion. When the w'ater is agitated, O.54 parts 3<* I
ol its bulk, or 0.27 of its weight, combine with it. Tlie^sa^s0^ j
water becomes sw'eetish, and the whole of the gas may^wat |
be expelled from it unchanged, by boiling.
7. No change takes place upon this gas by the ac¬
tion of light; except when it is exposed to a high
temperature, as when the electric spark is sent through
it, or when it is made to pass through a red-hot porcelain
tube ; it is then decomposed, and converted into common
air and nitric acid.
Sect. III. Of Nitric Oxide Gas.
I. If a quantity of pure copper filings be put into ajj0„^ j
matrass or retort, and diluted nitric acid be poured over cured, j
them, a violent effervescence takes place, and a gi’eat
quantity of gas is evolved. This is nitric oxide gas;
sometimes
«- >•
If I
Aet
Act
hea
*L
Va
to!.
p.i
C H E M
Gas. sometimes caW^A nitt'onsgas. It may be obtained also
—^ by substituting for the copper other metals, as iron, sil¬
ver, and mercury.
This gas is mentioned by Dr Hales ; but it is to
o the labours of Dr Priestley that we are indebted for
rtie«. a knowledge of its nature and properties.
2. It is an elastic colourless fluid, without sensible
taste, and does not redden the tincture of turnsole (c.)
According to Mr Kirwan, the specific gravity of ni¬
trous gas is 0.001458, but by Davy’s estimation it
is O.OOI343. The weight of 100 cubic inches of it
is 34.26 grs. and it is composed of 53.40 oxygen, and
46.60 azote ; or quantities which would make equal
measures of these two principles in the state of gas
This gas is totally unfit for respiration. Animals that
breathe it are instantly suffocated.
Some combustibles burn in this gas. Phosphorus,
when introduced into it in a state of active inflamma¬
tion, burns with almost as much vividness as in oxygen
gas ||. Homberg’s pyrophorus, a substance which takes
fire when exposed to the air, if introduced into this
gas, instantly becomes red, and burns very vividly.
In this experiment, and in the former with the phos¬
phorus, these substances combine with the oxygen of
the nitrous gas, while heat and light are emitted and
azotic gas is left behind.
3. Nitric oxide gas, when exposed to the action of
heat, by being made to pass through a red-hot porcelain
tube, undergoes no change *. It is absorbed by water.
When the water is freed from air, it absorbs about
tV of its bulk of this gas, at the common temperature,
and when it is boiled or frozen, the gas separates un¬
changed. The water thus impregnated has no peculiar
taste, nor does it alter the colour of vegetable blues. *
4. When a quantity of atmospheric air is introduced
into a jar containing nitric oxide gas, a red colour ap¬
pears, from the mixture of the two gases ; they are di¬
minished in bulk, and heat is evolved. The product
is nitrous acid. If oxygenous gas be employed instead
of atmospheric air, the whole of the two gases will be
converted into a liquid. The diminution of bulk is
owing to the condensation of the elastic fluids, and
the evolution of caloric must be ascribed to the change
of state, from that of elastic fluid to that of liquid.
Azotic gas also enters into combination with oxygen
in a different proportion from what has been stated above,
forming nitrous and nitric acids ; but these will come
more properly to be treated of among the class of acids.
The following table exhibits at one view the differ¬
ent proportions of oxygen and azotic gases in the com¬
pounds formed by these two substances.
100 cubic inches.
Atmospheric air
Nitrous oxide
Nitric oxide
Nitric acid
Weight in
grains.
31.10
50.2°
34.26
76.OO
In 100 grains,
Proportions of
 A 
Azote.
73.00
63-J8
46.60
25-97
Oxygen.
27.OO
36.42
53-4°
74-°3
1 s t r y. 495
Chap. VI. Of HYDROGEN. JftT8*"
373
1. This gas, in combination with carbon, has been
long known under the name of the fire-damp of the
miners. Its combustible property is described in the
works of Boyle and Hales, of Boerhaave, and of
Stahl $ but it was not till the year 1766 that its pro¬
perties were particularly ascertained, and the dif--
ference between it and atmospheric air pointed out by
Mr Cavendish. Its properties and combinations were
more fully investigated by Priestley and Scheele, Se-
nebier, and Volta, under the name of inflammable gas
or air. It is now distinguished by the name of hydro¬
gen gas, and its base by that of hydrogen.
Like the two former, oxygen and azote, it is never
obtained in an uncombined state. Its properties can
only be examined in a state of gas. Method of
2. Hydrogen gas may be obtained in a state of toler-procuring,
able purity by the following process. Take one part of
clean iron filings, and introduce them into a tubulated
retort, and add two parts of sulphuric acid previously
diluted with four times its bulk of water. A violent
effervescence immediately takes place, and great abun¬
dance of air bubbles make their escape. Put in the
stopper of the retort, place the beak of it under the
shelf in the pneumatic trough, and let the gas which
comes over be received in proper vessels. The gas
thus obtained is hydrogen gas, which is distinguished by
the following properties.
3. In its physical character it resembles common air.
It is invisible and elastic, and may be indefinitely com-
pressed and expanded. Properties.
Its specific gravity has been variously estimated,
owing, perhaps, to its different degrees of purity. Ac¬
cording to Lavoisier, it is 0.000094, which is nearly
12 times lighter than atmospherical air ; but according
to Mr Kirwan, it is 0.00010.
Hydrogen gas is unfit for supporting combustion.
If a lighted candle be suddenly plunged in a vessel
filled with hydrogen gas, it is immediately extinguish¬
ed ; or if an inverted jar filled with it be suddenly
brought over a lighted candle, it is extinguished in the
same way. The latter experiment is the most effectual,
on account of the smalt specific gravity of the gas,
which is prevented from escaping by rising upwards
when the jar is inverted.
It is also unfit for respiration.
When small animals are inclosed in a vessel filled
with this gas, they are soon thrown into convulsions,
and expire. Scheele, however, who first made the at¬
tempt, breathed it several times without much injury.
Fontana made the same experiment, and he supposes
that this was owing to the common air present in the
lungs before respiration of the hydrogen gas : for when
he made a full expiration, before he began to breathe
the hydrogen gas, he could only inspire it three times,
and these three produced great languor and oppression
in the breast. This was confirmed by Sir H. Davy,
who, in some experiments on himselt found, that, after
having exhausted the lungs as much as possible, lie
could
(c) This is a test for acid substances, which will be mentioned particularly afterwards.
49<S
Hydrogen,
* Davy's
Researches,
p. 40 r.
376
Is combus¬
tible.
377
Combines
with water
only by
pressure.
37s
A remedy
in disease,
f Phil.
Mag. vol.
XV. p. 93.
379
■Employed
in bal¬
loons.
3S0
Explodes.
3S1
With at¬
mospheric
air.
382
And with
oxygen
gas.
C H E M
could not respire this gas for half a minute. It pro¬
duced uneasy feelings in the chest, momentary loss of
muscular power, and sometimes a transient giddiness
From these experiments it maybe concluded, that hydro¬
gen gas is totally incapable of supporting animal life,
4. But although hydrogen gas be unfit for the support
of combustion, or for respiration, yet it is itself a highly
combustible substance. If ajar be filled with hydro¬
gen gas, and a burning taper be applied, the gas will
take fire, and burn with a flame which is more or less
coloured according to the purity of the gas. When
the gas is in the purest state that can he obtained, it
is of a dilute or blackish white colour ; but when it
holds charcoal in solution, it is of a reddish or bright
white colour.
5. Hydrogen gas, if other gases he entirely excluded,
undergoes no change when it is kept in contact with
water, nor is any part of it absorbed by the water :
But when artificial pressure is employed, water is said
to absorb a third part of its bulk of the gas. No per¬
ceptible change is observed in the taste of the water
thus impregnated with hydrogen gas; it is recommend¬
ed by Mr Paul as beneficial in nervous disorders, and
in inflammatory fevers f.
Hydrogen gas, on account of its being so much
lighter than atmospheric air, has been employed for
the purpose of filling air balloons. When perfectly pure,
it is 12 or 13 times lighter than the same bulk of at¬
mospheric air; but, in the usual way of obtaining it,
the specific gravity of hydrogen gas is only seven or
eight times less than that of common air. See Aero¬
station.
6. If hydrogen gas and atmospheric air be mixed to¬
gether, they remain unaltered ; but if one part of oxy¬
gen gas, and two parts of hydrogen gas be introduced
into a phial, and a burning taper be applied to its month,
the mixed gases will explode with a loud noise, and the
bulk will be greatly diminished. The whole of the
oxygen of the atmospheric air disappears, and the azo¬
tic gas only remains. If one part of oxygen gas and
two parts of hydrogen gas be mixed together in a phial,
and exploded in the same way, they both disappear.
This may be proved by mixing the two gases in a jar over
water or mercury, and exploding them by means of the
electric spark. The gases disappear; a vacuum is con¬
sequently formed in the jar, and the water or the mer¬
cury, by the pressure of the air, is forced up. If the
experiment has been made over mercury, and if the in¬
side of the jar was previously free from moisture, drops
of water will appear, which have been formed by the
combination of the two gases. Water, therefore, is
composed of oxygen and hydrogen gas. This is a case
of true combustion. Oxygen combines with the com¬
bustible body ; light and caloric are evolved, and the
result of this action and combination's one of the pro¬
ducts of combustion, namely water. The discovery of
the composition of water, undoubtedly one of the most
important in modern chemistry, will be the subject of
the following section.
1 s T R Y.
Sect. I. Of JFater,
1. W ater acts so important a part in many chemi-Import,
cal combinations, that its nature and properties should ailce in !
be early known. Before the discoveries of modern c^em'st!
chemistry, it was considered as a simple substance, and
one of the four elements which enter into the constitu¬
tion of all bodies jn nature.
The fortunate discovery of the composition of water,
is undoubtedly one of the most important which has-
been made in chemical science. We have already
mentioned, that the product of oxygen and hydrogen
gases, when exploded together, is water ; but in a sub¬
ject of so much importance, it will be necessary to en¬
ter more into detail; and this we shall do, 1st, by stat¬
ing the experiments forming the proofs of its composi¬
tion ; and, 2dly, by giving a short historical view of
the progress of the discovery.
2. Various experiments have been made to ascertain
this fact; but those which were made by Lavoisier be¬
ing on a larger scale, and performed with such precau¬
tions as to insure accuracy and precision, an account
of them will be the more satisfactory.
1. Proof of the Composition of JFater.
. 384 : l
Exper. a. lake a porcelain or glass tube from 8 to Proof olf
12 lines diameter, and place it across the furnace the comlfl
F.FCl), with a gentle inclination from E to F (d).1’05*1'™ j
The higher extremity of the tube is then luted to the analysis!■
glass retort A, containing a known quantity of distil¬
led water. To the lower extremity F is luted the
worm SS, the lower end of which is fixed in the neck Platejjj
of the bottle H, which bottle has the bent tube KK CXLlj ^
fixed to a second opening. This bent tube is intended
to carry off any elastic fluids which may escape into
the bottle H. A fire is then lighted in the furnace
EFCD, sufficient to keep the tube EF red hot, but
not to melt it. The water in the retort A is kept
boiling by a fire in the furnace WXX. The wrater
is gradually changed into steam by the heat of the two
furnaces. It passes through the tube EF into the worm
SS, where it is condensed, and then drops into the
bottle H. When the whole water is evaporated, and
all the communicating vessels are emptied into the bot¬
tle H, it is found to contain exactly the same quantity
which was put into the retort. This experiment there¬
fore is a simple distillation.
Exper. h. Every thing being disposed as in the last
experiment, let 27 grains of pure charcoal, broken in¬
to small parts, and which has been exposed to a red
heat in a close vessel, be introduced into the tube EF.
The experiment is then performed in the same manner
as the former. The. water is evaporated, and a por¬
tion of it is again condensed irj the worm SS, and then
fails into the bottle H j but at the same time a consi¬
derable quantity of an elastic fluid escapes through the
tube KK, which is received in vessels. When the wa¬
ter
(Dj ihe tube EF, if of glass, .should be such as can bear a strong heat without melting. It should also be
coated over with a lute composed of clay and powdered stone-ware ; and to prevent it from bending during the
experiment, it must be supported about the middle by an iron bar.
u ogcn
Pt d by
‘J’1 :8is.
ter Is entirely evaporated, and the tube examined, the
28 grains of charcoal have wholly disappeared.
When the'water in the bottle H is examined, it
is found to have lost 85.7 grains of its weight j and
when the elastic fluid which passed off by the tube
KK is weighed, it is found to weigh 113.7 grains,
which is exactly the weight which the water has lost,
added to the 28 grains of charcoal which had disap.
peared. The elastic fluid, on examination, is disco¬
vered to be of two kinds; namely, 144 cubical inches
of carbonic acid gas weighing jqo grains, and 380 cu¬
bical inches of a very light gas weighing only 13*7
grains. Now IQO grains of carbonic acid gas consist
of 72 grains of oxygen, combined with 28 grains of
carbon. It is therefore evident, that the 28 grains of
charcoal must have acquired 72 grains of oxygen
from the water. It is also evident, that 85.7 grains
of water are composed of 72 grains of oxygen, com¬
bined with 13.7 grains of a gas capable of being
burned.
Exper. c. Every thing being put in the same or¬
der as in the two former experiments, with this differ¬
ence, that instead of the 28 grains of charcoal, 274
grains of soft iron, in thin plates rolled up spirally, are
introduced into the tube EF. The tube is kept red
hot while the water is evaporating from the retort.
After the water has been distilled, it is found to have
lost 100 grains. The gas or elastic fluid weighs 15
grains, and the iron has gained 85 grains of additional
weight, which put together make up 100 grains, the
weight which the water has lost. The iron has all the
qualities which it would have received by being burned
in oxygen gas. It is a true oxide (or calx) of iron.
We have the same result as in the last experiment,
and have therefore another proof for concluding, that
100 grains of water consist of 85 grains of oxygen, and
IJ of the base of hydrogen gas.
We have now exhibited two sufficient proofs, that
water is composed of oxygen and hydrogen ; hut as the
composition of water is so interesting and important a
subject, M. Lavoisier was not satisfied with these proofs
alone. He justly concluded, that if water be a com¬
pound of two substances, it ought to follow, that by
reuniting these two substances, water would be pro¬
duced. He accordingly proved the truth of this con¬
clusion by the following experiment,
Exper. d. He took a large crystal balloon A, fig. 4.
containing about 30 pints, and having a large mouth ;
round which was cemented the plate of copper BC,
pierced with four holes, through which four tubes pass.
The first tube H h is intended to exhaust the balloon
of its air, by adapting it to an air pump. The second
tube gg1 communicates with a reservoir of oxygen gas
placed at MM. The third tube 1) <Ms connected
with a reservoir of hydrogenous gas at NN. The
fourth tube contains a metallic wire GL, having a
knob at its lower extremity L, from which an electric
Bpark is passed to J, in order to set fire to the hydrogen
gas, The metallic wire is moveable in the tube, that
the knob L may be either turned towards 2, or away
from it, as there is occasion. We must also add, that
the three tubes H /if gg, </D £ are furnished with stop¬
cocks.
It. is necessary that the oxygen gas, before being
put into the reservoir, should be completely purified
VOL. V. Part II. f
497
CHEMISTRY.
from carbonic acid. This may be done by keeping Hydrogen,
it for a long time in contact with a solution of caustic
potash. The hydrogen gas ought to be purified in the
same manner. The quantity employed ought to be
double the bulk of the oxygen gas. It is best procur¬
ed from water by means of iron, as was described in
Experiment Third.
Great care must also be taken to deprive the oxygen
and hydrogen gas of every particle of water. For
this purpose they are made to pass in their way to the
balloon A, though salts which have a strong attraction
for water; as the acetite of potash (a compound of
vinegar and vegetable alkali), or the muriate or nitrate
of lime (the muriatic or nitric acid combined with
lime). These salts are disposed in the tubes MM and
NN of one inch diameter, and are reduced only to a
coarse powder, that they may not unite into lumps, and
interrupt the passage of the gases.
Every thing being thus prepared for the experiments,
the balloon is exhausted of its air by the tube H A, and
is filled with oxygen gas. The hydrogen gas is also
pressed in through the tube X) 5 by a weight of one
or two inches of water. As soon as the hydrogen gas
enters the balloon, it is kindled by an electric spark.
The combustion can he kept up as long as we please,
by supplying the balloon with fresh quantities of these
two gases. As the combustion advances, a quantity
of water is collected on the sides of the balloon, and
trickles down in drops to the bottom of it. By know¬
ing the weight of the gases consumed, and the weight
of the water produced, we shall find that they are pre¬
cisely equal. M, Lavoisier and M, Meusnier found
that it required 85 parts by weight of oxygen gas, and
15 parts of hydrogen gas, to produce 100 parts of wa¬
ter.
Thus we have complete proofs, both analytical and
synthetical, that water is not a simple elementary sub¬
stance, as it had been long supposed, hut is compound¬
ed of two elements, oxygen and hydrogen.
But although the knowledge of the component parts
of water was finally confirmed by Lavoisier and his
friends, we shall find that science is indebted for the
origin and progress of this discovery, chiefly, if not en¬
tirely, to the English philosophers.
2, History of the Discovery of the Composition of
Water.
1. So early as the year 1776, an experiment was made Combustion
by Macquer, to ascertain what would be the productof^y^.ro'
of the combustion of hydrogen gas. He accordingly r ‘
set fire to a bottle full of it, and held a saucer over the
flame, but no soot appeared upon it as he expected,
for it remained quite clean ; and was bedewed with drops 3S7
which were found to be pure water. Various conjee-Conieo'
tures were now formed about the nature of the producttam’
of the combustion of oxygen and hydrogen gases. By
some it was supposed to he carbonic acid gas ; by others
it was conjectured it would be the sulphurous or sul¬
phuric acid. The latter was the opinion of M. La¬
voisier. Such were the experiments and opinions of
the French chemists, previous to the year 1781. 355
2. About the beginning of that year, Mr Wajrltire, a Experiment
lecturer in natural philosophy, had long entertained*>7 Pari¬
an opinion that the combustion of hydrogen gas with (
atmospheric air might determine the question, whether ' ' *
3 R heat
385
49 8
Hydrogen,
CHEMISTRY.
329
J?y Cuveii.
dish.
59°
Mr Watt’i
* Philos.
Trans.
1784,
P- 383*.
heat he a heavy body. Apprehensive of' danger in
making the experiment, he had for some time declined
it 5 but was at last encouraged by Dr Priestley, and
accordingly prepared an apparatus lor the purpose.
This was a copper vessel properly fitted, and filled
with atmospherical air and hydrogen gas, which was
exploded by making the electric spark pass through it.
A loss of weight of two grs. was observed after the
combustion. A similar experiment was repeated in
close glass vessels, which, though clean and dry before
the combustion, became immediately wet with mois¬
ture, and lined with a sooty matter. This sooty mat¬
ter, Dr Priestley afterwards supposed, proceeded from
the mercury which had been employed in filling the
vessel.
3, During the same year, Mr Cavendish repeated the
experiments of Mr Warltire and Dr 1 riestley. He
performed them several times with atmospheric air
and hydrogen gas, in a vessel which held 2^,000 grs.
of water, and he never could perceive a loss of weight
more than gr. and often none at all. In all these ex¬
periments, not the least sooty matter appeared. To
examine the nature of the dew which appeared in the
inside of the glass, he burnt 500,000 grain measures of
hydrogen gas with about 2§-times that quantity ol com¬
mon air; and in this combustion he obtained 135 Rr9,
of water, which had neithex* taste nor smell; and when
it was evaporated, left no sensible sediment.
In another experiment, he exploded in a glass globe,
19,500 grain measures of oxygen gas, and 3*7,000 of
hydrogen gas, by means of the electric spark. The
result of the experiment was 30 grains of water, which
contained a small quantity of nitric acid. Ihe expe¬
riments of Mr Cavendish were made in the year xySl,
and they were undoubtedly conclusive with regard to
the composition of water.
4. It would appear, that Mr Watt entertained the
same ideas on this subject. When he was informed
by Dr Priestley of the result of these experiments, he
observes ; “ Let us consider what obviously happens
in the deflagration of hydrogen and oxygen gases.
These two kinds of air unite with violence, they be¬
come red hot, and when cooling totally disappear.
When the vessel is cooled, a quantity of water is found
in it equal to the weight of the air employed. The
water is then the only remaining product of the pro¬
cess ; and water, light, and heat, are all the products,
unless there be some other matter set free, which escapes
our senses. Are we not then authorised to conclude, that
water is composed of oxygen and hydrogen gases, de¬
prived of part of their latent or elementary heat;
that oxygen gas is composed of water, deprived of its
hydrogen, and united to elementary heat and light;
and that the latter are contained in it in a latent state,
so as not to be sensible to the thermometer or to the
eye. And if light be only a modification of heat, or
a circumstance attending it, or a component part of
the hydrogen gas, then oxygen gas is composed of
water deprived of its hydrogen, and united to elemen¬
tary heat*.”
Thus it appears that Mr Watt had a just view of the
composition of water, and of the nature of the process
by which its component parts pass to a liquid state from
that of an elastic fluid.
5. Towards the end of the same year, M. Lavoisier
had made some experiments, the result of which sur- Hydrik
prised him ; for the product of the combustion of the '-~v J
oxygen and hydrogen gases, instead of being sulphuric 39|
or sulphurous acid, as"he expected it, was pure water.™.5 *
This led him to procure an apparatus, with which thelncP;ils'
experiment might be performed on a large scale, and
with more accuracy and precision. Accordingly the
experiments, which we have already detailed were per¬
formed on the 24th of June 1783, in presence of several
academicians, and also of Sir Charles Blagden, who
who was at that time in Paris. A similar experiment
was afterwards performed by M. Monge, with the same
result ; and it was repeated again by Lavoisier and
Meusnier, on a scale so large as to put the matter be¬
yond a doubt. The conclusion, therefore, from the
whole was (as has been stated in detailing the experi¬
ments themselves), that water is composed of oxygen
and hydrogen; and this fact, w*e believe, since Dr
Priestley’s death, is universally admitted. _ ^
6. If farther proofs were necessary to establish the FoujxU
fact, we might refer the reader to an elaborate memoir&c.
on the combustion of hydrogen gas in close vessels by
the celebrated'chemists Fourcroy, Vauquelin, and Se-
guin, which was read at the academy of sciences in the
year 1790** _ .
7. Water exists in three different states; in the S0'yjljZm' f ■
lid state or state of ice ; in the liquid, and in the state V1U'3P|1
of vapour or steam. Its principal properties have al-\\ratet
ready been detailed, in treating of the effects of caloric, three
It assumes the solid form when it is cooled down to thestatcf-
temperature of 3 2°. The specific gravity of ice is lesSj^
than that of water. # 39!
When ice is exposed to a temperature above 3^°» ifWatei
absorbs caloric, which then becomes latent, and is con-liquid-
verted into the liquid state, or that of water. At the
temperature of 40°, water has reached its maximum of
density. According to the experiments of Lefevre
Gineauf, a French cubic foot of distilled water, takenfJouiji
at its maximum of density, is equal to 70II). 223 grs*^5'*
French, r= 529,452.9492 troy grains. An English cu-
bic foot at the same temperatui'e weighs 437,102.4946
grains troy. By Professor Robison s experiments it is
ascertained, that a cubic foot of water at the tempera-
turere of 550 weighs 998.74 avoirdupois ounces, of
437.5 grains troy each, or about I4: ounce less than
IOOO avoirdupois ounces. J
When water is exposed to the temperature of 212 ,yapoi:
it boils; and if this temperature be continued, the
whole is converted into an elastic invisible fluid, called
vapour or steam. This, as has been already shewn,
is owing to the absorption of a quantity of caloric,
which is necessary to I'etain it in the fluid form. In
this state it is about 1800 times its bulk when in the
state of water. This shews what an expansive force it
must exert when it is confined, and hence its applica¬
tion in the steam engine, of which it is the moving
power.
Sect. II. Of Ammonia.
Hydrogen also enters into combination with azote*
and forms a compound of great importance. When hy¬
drogen and azotic gases are mixed together, no change
takes place, nor has any process been yet discovered by
which these two gases can be directly, combined; but
when
CHEMISTRY.
499
bon.
J !97
T dia-
when in their nascent state, as it is called, or in the
moment of evolution from the bodies with which they
are formerly in combination, they unite together and
form ammonia, or the volatile alkali. It is demon¬
strated also, by direct experiment, that this substance
is composed of these two gases j but for the properties
of it, we must refer to the chapter on alkalies, where
they will be fully detained.
Chap. VII. Of CARBON.
P ed
by
dia. I. It may appear at first sight surprising, that the
m 1 com- diamond, one of the hardest and most indestructible
L ble. substances in nature, should be arranged among com¬
bustible bodies. This, however, was conjectured by
Newton, when he considered its great refracting power,
referring it to the general law, that combustible bodies
have this power in greatest perfection. The sagacious
conjecture of this great philosopher has been fully ve¬
rified. The first experiment to ascertain the combusti¬
bility of the diamond was made in the year 1694, in the
presence of Cosmo III. grand duke of Tuscany, by the
Florentine academicians. In this experiment, the dia¬
mond, exposed to the heat of a burning-glass, first be¬
came dull and tarnished, lost weight, and was at last
entirely dissipated, without the smallest residue. Some
years afterwards, a series of experiments was made
before Francis I. emperor of Germany, in which dia¬
monds were consumed in the heat of a furnace. In
the year 1771, Macquer first observed the diamond
swell up and burn with a very sensible flame. Rouelle
the younger, Cadet, Mitouart, ^and Darcet, repeated
the same experiments, all which tended to establish the
volatility and combustibility of the diamond.
But it is to the celebrated Lavoisier that we are in¬
debted for ascertaining the nature and product of this
combustion.
2. But for the sake of comparison we shall mention
some of the general properties of the diamond. This
precious stone is found in the warmer regions of the
earth, and chiefly in the East Indies and the Brazils.
It is found crystallized in regular octahedrons, which
is its primitive form j that of the integrant molecules
is the regular tetrahedron. The most common form is
the six-sided prism, terminating in a six-sided pyra¬
mid. What are called spheroidal diamonds have 48
curvilineal, triangular faces, which form of crystal is
owing, according to Hauy, to a regular decrement,
which may be determined by caculation. The lapida¬
ries are well acquainted with the direction of the lami¬
nae of the diamond, because in that direction it is found
to be most easily polished. The hardest diamonds are
found to have their fibres twisted, which by the lapi¬
daries are called natvral diamonds.
3. The diamond is the hardest body known. It can
only be polished with the powder of itself, which is
procured by rubbing one diamond against another.
The specific gravity of the diamond is 3.5, water be¬
ing 1. Its most remarkable property is brilliancy.
When exposed to the light of the sun for some time,
99
d in
irrid
11
'f ties.
and afterwards carried into a dark place, it appears lu- Carbon,
minous, so that it has the property of absorbing light.-y——J
It becomes very sensibly electric by friction, and is
therefore a nonconductor of electricity. ^02
4. As it was now ascertained, that the diamond ex- ppodact of
posed to a strong heat was susceptible ot combustion, its com*
and might be entirely dissipated, Lavoisier directed his bttsUoa*
attention in the year 1772 to discover the product
which was thus obtained $ and he found by experiment,
that the quantity of the diamond, exposed to the heat
of a burning-glass in oxygen gas, consumed, was in ex¬
act proportion to the quantity of air absorbed. The
air was converted into carbonic acid gas (f). The
quantity of the carbonic acid obtained being found pro¬
portional to the quantity of diamond consumed, it was
concluded that diamond was nothing else but pure car¬
bon. This furnished a striking analogy between the
diamond and charcoal, from the combustion of which a
similar product is obtained. An experiment made by
Guyton in the year 1785, and a similar one repeated
in 1797 by Mr Tennant, proved that the diamond is
combustible, and that it burns like charcoal when
thrown into melted nitre. The conclusion from which
was, that the diamond and charcoal consist of the same
substance. 4°3
5. We shall find, in investigating the properties ofA simple
charcoal in the following section, that the one is a substai,ce*
simple the other a compound substance, which will
enable us to explain the remarkable difference between
many of the properties of the diamond and charcoal. 404
Charcoal burns in the beat of an ordinary fire, but the Compared
diamond requires for its combustion a temperature notj1
less than 5000°; nor is the difference between tlie£e [s°a’Com-C 1
two bodies in specific gravity, hardness, and colour, lesSp0Un<i,
striking. Lavoisier bad ascertained that IOO parts of
carbonic acid contained
28 charcoal,
72 oxygen.
100
In the experiments made by Guyton on the dia¬
mond, it appeared that carbonic acid gas is composed
of
17.88 diamond,
82.12 oxygen.
100.00*. * Ajui. de
^ • 1 j CAim. tom.
If then TOO parts of carbonic acid gas are composed xxi p
of the same proportions of constituent parts, and these
proportions are obtained both by the combustion of the
diamond and charcoal, it must necessarily follow that
the charcoal, which requires a smaller proportion ot
oxygen to make up the 100 parts of carbonic acid gas,
must contain the difference of the quantity of oxygen
between the quantity with which it combines, and the
quantity necessary to saturate the diamond. Hence it
was inferred, that 100 parts of charcoal consist of 63.80
diamond, and 36.14 oxygen. But in more recent and
3 R 2 more
(f) Carbonic acid gas, as will appear afterwards, is composed of carbon and oxygen.
CHEMISTRY.
4°5
Charcoal
very abun¬
dant.
405
Method of
preparing
and puri¬
fying.
407
Properties.
f Journ. de
Phys, vol.
xxv.
40S
Chemical
habitudes.
more accurate experiments, It is found that the purest
charcoal contains no oxygen whatever } and that it dif¬
fers from diamond only in compactness of texture.
From this account, therefore, of the nature and pro¬
perties of the diamond, it must be considered as a
simple substance, and that substance which has received
the name of carbon in the new chemical nomenclature 5
or pure charcoal in a highly condensed form.
1. Charcoal exists in great abundance in animal and
vegetable matters, and it is obtained by the partial de¬
composition of these substances. It may be procured
by burning wood in close vessels j and the matter that
remains after this combustion is a black, shining,
brittle substance, which is well known under the name
of charred wood, or charcoal. To obtain charcoal
pure, it must be repeatedly washed with pure water,
and be afterwards exposed for some time to a strong
heat in close vessels. Thus prepared, if it be entirely
deprived of moisture and excluded from air, it may
be exposed to the strongest heat without any change.
2. Charcoal is a good conductor of electricity.
When it is new made, it is found to have the property
of removing the disagreeable odour with which animal
matters beginning to putrify, clothes and other sub¬
stances, are tainted. On account of this property, per¬
haps, and also on account of its mechanical effects, it
is greatly recommended as an excellent tooth powder.
Charcoal seems to be quite indestructible. Hence
charring is the best method of preserving wood from de¬
cay, which is exposed to the effects of air and moisture.
Stakes charred on the outside have remained in the
ground for some thousand years, and are stiff in perfect
preservation. This seems to have been a common prac¬
tice among the ancients.
3. Charcoal has neither taste nor smell. It is inso¬
luble in water, but it absorbs moisture in consider¬
able proportion. When well dried, charcoal attracts
the air very greedily. A piece of charcoal well dried,
placed under a jar over mercury, absorbs the air, and
the mercury ascends rapidly ; but if a little water
be introduced into the jar, the charcoal absorbs the
moisture, gives out the air, and the mercury descends.
In some experiments made with this view, it appeared
that charcoal absorbed four times its bulk of air j and
when the charcoal was plunged into water, a fifth part
of this air was disengaged, which being examined, a
quantity of oxygen had disappeared. In another ex¬
periment, the charcoal was introduced into a vessel
filled with oxygen gas, when it absorbed eight times its
bulk of the gas, and being plunged into water, gave
out a fourth part. These experiments were made by
Delametherie -f-.
The experiments of Senebier seem to prove, that it
was only the oxygen gas of the atmospheric air that '
was absorbed by charcoal j but it has been since de¬
monstrated, that this only takes place when the char¬
coal is hot. The atmospheric air is absorbed un¬
changed when the charcoal is cold.
4. When the temperature of pure charcoal is raised
to redness, and if it be then introduced into a jar of
oxygen gas, it burns rapidly, giving out brilliant sparks,
but with little flame. The charcoal disappears, and the
oxygen gas is toUlly changed. By its combination with
the charcoal during the combustion, it is converted into
a peculiar gas, which bas rect*vved the name of carbonic
acid gas, the component parts of which were discover¬
ed by M. Lavoisier, to be
28 charcoal,
72 oxygen.
Carlioi
IOO
The properties of this acid will he fully described in
its place among the class of acids.
There is no direct action between carbon and
azotic gas; but by the action of a third substance.
Compounds of azote, hydrogen and carbon, which are
combined also with a greater or lesser proportion of
oxygen, frequently exist among vegetable and animal
matters.
Sect. I. Of the Combinations of Carbon with
Oxygen, particularly Carbonic Oxide Gas.
Carbon enters into combination with oxygen in two
proportions. 1. In that which forms carbonic oxide
gas. 2. In that which forms carbonic acid gas. Of
the first of these we are now to treat: the other will
be considered under the head of Acids.
1. A peculiar inflammable gas, which was at first .
considered of the same nature with the carbonated l]y-HlSt°iy’
drogen gas to be described in the next section, was an¬
nounced by Dr Priestley, from the manner of its pro¬
duction and properties, as a confirmation of the truth
of the phlogistic theory. His experiments were soon
repeated by many other chemists, and particularly by
Mr Cruickshank of Woolwich, who published a very
satisfactory account of the nature, composition, and pro¬
perties of this gas. He gave it the name of the go-
stous oxide of carbon. He considered it as consisting
of carbon united with oxygen \ the oxygen and car¬
bon existing in it being nearly in the proportion of
two to one. Dr Priestley obtained it from the greyM410 L
oxide or lorge scales of iron and charcoal. Mr
Cruickshank also obtained it by a similar process.
He employed the oxides of zinc and copper j the
black oxide of manganese and litharge. The gas
which is obtained from these substances is a mixture
of carbonic acid and carbonic oxide. Mr Cruickshank.
found, that the oxides which most readily part with
their oxygen, afford the greatest proportion of car¬
bonic acid 5 hut the oxides which retain their oxygen
more strongly, give the greatest proportion of the car¬
bonic oxide. At the beginning of the process, car¬
bonic acid comes over in greatest abundance j it then
diminishes, and afterwards carbonic oxide is extricated
pure.
It is also obtained by exposing to a strong heat one
part of pure charcoal and three parts of carbonate of
lime, strontites, or barytes, in an iron retort. The
carbonic acid which is in combination with the earths
is partly disengaged unchanged, and partly decompos¬
ed by the charcoal, and converted by the action of this
substance into the carbonic oxide. The gas which is
obtained in this process is composed of one part of car¬
bonic acid and five parts of oxide t. 1^*
1 he same gases are also obtained, by employing
iron filings with the earthy carbonates, and the quail-^
tity is considerably increased when pure iron is used.
Mr Cruickshank and the French chemists also obtain¬
ed
CHEMISTRY.
)0n, ed it, by making carbonic acid gas pass through
——'red-hot charcoal in an iron or porcelain tube. The
carbonic acid is decomposed, and the gaseous oxide is
formed.
The carbonic acid which is mixed with the carbonic
oxide obtained in all these processes, may be separated
by washing the gas with lime water, and the oxide re¬
mains in a state of purity.
ties 2’ Sas *s invisible and elastic like common air.
Its specific gravity is 0.0011675 100 cubic inches
weigh 30 grains.
It is unfit for respiration. Small animals introduced
into it are instantaneously suffocated 5 and in some per¬
sons who attempted to breathe it, it produced faint¬
ness and giddiness. Desormes and Clement think that
it is probably owing to this gas disengaged from burn¬
ing charcoal, that sudden death is induced in close
apartments. It is not altered by passing it through a
red-hot tube, nor does it undergo any change by being
exposed to light; and it is neither inflamed nor dimi¬
nished by passing the electric spark through it. This
gas in contact with common air, when set fire to, burns
with a blue flame. When made to traverse a red-hot
tube full of air, it produces slight detonations. The
residue of these combustions is carbonic acid and azote.
3. With oxygen gas, if in considerable proportion,
the combustion is very rapid j a red flame is produced,
and the whole of the gas is consumed. The residue in
■ this combustion is carbonic acid t.
According to Mr Cruickshank, the carbonic oxide
is a compound of carbon and oxygen. Thirty grains of
it obtained from charcoal and metallic oxides, required
15 grains of oxygen to saturate it, and the quantity of
carbonic acid produced was 35.5. Thirty grains ob¬
tained from iron filings and earthy carbonate, required
13.6 grains of oxygen, which gave 43.2 grains of car¬
bonic acid.
4. But according to the experiments and conclusions
of Berthollet, this gaseous oxide of carbon contains a
certain portion of hydrogen in its composition. This
quantity, he thinks, amounts to about He
distinguishes two species of inflammable gas, which
contain carbon 5 the one consists entirely of hydrogen
and carbon, which he proposes to denominate carbo¬
nated hydrogen gas, which will be treated of in the next
section. The other species of inflammable gas is also
formed of hydrogen and carbon, but contains a certain
portion of oxygen. To this he proposes to give the
name of oxycarbonated hydrogen gas. But the results
of the experiments of Cruickshank and others do not
correspond with the experiments and conclusions of
Berthollet, in admitting any proportion of hydrogen as
a component part of his oxycarbonated hydrogen gas,
or of carbonic oxide gas. For an account of his obser¬
vations and reasonings on this subject, see Memoires
de PInstitute Nationale, tom. iv. p. 269. 319, and 325.
Sect. II. Of Carbureted Hydrogen Gas.
12
°dof i. If a quantity of wet charcoal be introduced into
rin£* a retort, and exposed to a red heat, a great quantity
of gas passes over, which may be collected in jars in
the pneumatic apparatus in the usual way. It may be
also obtained by making the vapour of water pass
through red-hot charcoal in a porcelain or iron tube
501
placed across a furnace. The water is decomposed ; Carbon.
the hydrogen, one of its component parts, combines v■■" *
with the carbon of the charcoal. The gas obtained by
these processes has been called light inflammable air.
A similar gas may be procured from ether, spirits of
wine, or camphor, by making the vapour of these sub¬
stances pass through red-hot porcelain tubes. This gas,
from its greater specific gravity, has been called heavy
inflammable air. The proportions of the substances
which enter into the composition of this gas vary con¬
siderably, according to the process employed, or the
materials from which it is obtained. It is the same gas
which is given out in great abundance during hot wea¬
ther, from stagnant waters. 413
2. This gas, like common air, is invisible and elastic. Properties.
When a candle is applied to it, it burns with a blue,
lambent flame. If it be mixed with atmospheric air,
the combustion is more rapid and brilliant, and still
more so when it is mixed with oxygen gas, but with¬
out any detonation. The products of this combustion
are carbonic acid and water. The oxygen combines
partly with the carbon to form carbonic acid 5 ami
partly with the hydrogen to form water.
3. It is totally unfit for respiration. Animals intro¬
duced into it are instantly suffocated. It is also unfit
for supporting combustion.
One of the most remarkable properties of this gas
is, when it is mixed in a tube with common air or oxy¬
gen gas, about -fd3 its °f th® latter, and fired by
the electric spark, there is a considerable increase of
volume. 4i4
The component parts of carbureted hydrogen gas Composi-
obtained from different substances, as they have beention.
ascertained by Mr Cruickshank, are the following.
When it is procured from ether, camphor, or stagnated
water, it contains the largest proportion of carbon.
The specific gravity is 0.000804, and it is to common
air nearly as two to three. One part by weight of hy¬
drogen gas holds in solution parts of carbon 5
IOO parts contain 52.35 carbon,
9.60 hydrogen,
38.05 water instead of vapour.
100.00
When it is obtained from ether, the specific gravity
is 0.000787 :
100 parts contain 45 carbon,
15 hydrogen,
40 water.
100
When it is obtained from spirit of wine, the specific
gravity is 0.00063 :
100 parts contain 44.1 carbon,
11.8 hydrogen,
44.1 water.
100.0
The lightest is obtained from distilling wet charcoal,
or passing the vapour of water through red-hot char¬
coal. It contains one part by weight of hydrogen gas,
holding three parts of carbon in solution. The speci¬
fic
CHEMISTRY.
Carboa. fic gravity i3 0,000554. It is to common air nearly as
* v  ■' one to two j
100 parts contain 28 carbon,
9 hydrogen,
f Nitkol. 63 water, f
son’s Jour.    
vol. v. p. 1. I00
Mr Cruickshank has discovered a very easy method
of distinguishing carbonic oxide from the carbureted Car j;
hydrogen gas. A mixture of the latter and oxymuri- j
atic acid gas may be exploded by passing electric
sparks through it. But a mixture of oxymuriatic acid
gas and carbonic oxide suffers no change by the action
of electricity.
The following table, drawn up by Mr Cruickshank,
exhibits the results of his experiments on these two
gases.
A Table, shewing the Analysis, dye* of the different Species of Carbureted Hydrogen Gas, or Hydroearbonates,
and of Carbonic Oxides.
Gases, and the different
Substances from which
the Gases are obtain
ed, &c.
Pure carbureted hy¬
drogen gas from
camphor, &c.
 from ether
 from alcohol
  wet char¬
coal
Carbonic oxide from
charcoal and me¬
tallic oxides
fron
iron filings, ami
carbonate of lime,
or barytes.
of
Weight
100 Cubic-
Inches, Oi
Grains.
Grains.
21
20
l6
I4*5
30
30
Proportion of Ox¬
ygen necessary
to saturate 10a
Measures of the
Gas.
Meas.
176
170
Il8
66
44
40
Quan. of
Grains.
Products when combined with Oxygen.
S— - ■ .. ..
Carbonic Acid.
59>8
i8
40
22,4
i3>6
Fn Vol.
Meas.
Il6
108
75
40
76
92
In Quan.
Grains.
54?5
5°, 5
35,5
43,2
Water
produ¬
ced.
Grains.
18
18
J3
about
8
none
Water held
in Solution
by the Gas.
Grains.
8 or 9
9
7
proby none
none
Hence the Gases consist of
 A 
Oxyg.
none
none
none
none
about
*5
214-
Carbon.
11
9
7
nearly
15
8.6
Hydro.
24-
3
*,9
J,3
1 +
Water.
8 or 9
8
7
uncer¬
tain
Chap. YIII. Of PHOSPHORUS.
4r5
History. i. This singular substance was accidentally disco¬
vered in 1677, by an alchemist of Hamburgh, named
Brandt, while engaged in searching for the philoso¬
pher’s stone. Kunkel, another chemist, who had seen
the new product, associated himself with one of his
friends named Krafft, to purchase the secret of its pre¬
paration ; but the latter deceiving his friend, made the
purchase for himself, and refused to communicate it.
Kunkel, who at this time knew nothing farther of its
preparation, than that it was obtained by certain pro¬
cesses from urine, undertook the task, and succeeded.
It is on this account that this substance long went un¬
der the name of Kunkel’s phosphorus. Mr Boyle is
also considered as one of the discoverers of phosphorus.
He communicated the secret of the process for prepar¬
ing it to the Royal Society of London in 1680. It is
asserted, indeed, by Krafft, that he discovered the se¬
cret to Mr Boyle, having in the year 1678 carried a
small piece of it to London, to shew it to the royal fa¬
mily ; but there is little probability, that a man of
such integrity as Mr Boyle would claim the discovery
of the process as his own, and communicate it to the
Royal Society, if this had not been the case.
Mr Boyle communicated the process to Godfrey
Hankwitz, an apothecary of London, who for many
years supplied Europe with phosphorus; and hence it
went under the name of English phosphorus. Many
chemists now attempted to produce phosphorus, and
different processes had been published for the purpose j
but it would appear that they rarely succeeded.
In the year 1737, a stranger having sold to the
French government a process for making phosphorus,
the Academy of Sciences charged Dufay, Geoffrey,
Duhamel, and Hellot, to superintend it. The latter
published an account of the experiment, which suc¬
ceeded. Rouelle the Elder exhibited phosphorus which
he had prepared, in a course of lectures which he open¬
ed at Paris some years after. In the year 1743, Mar-
graaf made a great improvement in the process, but still
it continued to be obtained with difficulty, and in very-
small quantity. It was not till 30 years after that con¬
siderable improvement was made in the process for pro¬
curing phosphorus. 41
In the year 1774, the Swedish chemists Gahn and Exists
Scheele, made the important discovery, that pbospho-bones,
rus is contained in the bones of animals, and they im¬
proved the processes for procuring it.
2. The most convenient process for obtaining phos-
phorus seems to be that recommended by Fourcroy andU^'|„,
Vauqueli-n Take a quantity of burnt bones, and re-jj ^ ,
duce
*5: i
CHEMISTRY.
503
pii
Prc
!l0. dace them to powder. Pat 100 parts of this powder
into a porcelain or stone-ware bason, and dilute it with
four times its weight of water. Forty parts of sulphu-
ric acid are then to be added in small portions, taking
iJor care to stir the mixture after the addition of every por-
° tion. A violent effervescence takes place, and a great
quantity of air is disengaged. Let the mixture remain
for 24 hours, stirring it occasionally, to expose every
part of the powder to the action of the acid. The burnt
bones consist chiefly of phosphoric acid and lime ; but
the sulphuric acid has a greater affinity for the lime
than the phosphoric acid. The action of the sulphuric
acid uniting with the lime, and the separation of the
phosphoric acid, occasion the effervescence. The sul¬
phuric acid and the lime combine together, being inso¬
luble, and fall to the bottom.
Pour the whole mixture on a cloth filter, so that the
liquid part which is to be received in a porcelain ves¬
sel may pass through. A white powder, which is the
insoluble sulphate of lime, remains on the filter. Af-
- ter this has been repeatedly washed with water, it may
be thrown away, but the water is to be added to that
part of the liquid which passed through the filter.
Take a solution of sugar of lead in water, and pour
it gradually into the liquid in the porcelain bason. A
white powder falls to the bottom, and the sugar of lead
must be added so long as any precipitation takes place.
The whole is again to be poured upon a filter, and the
white powder which remains is to be well washed and
dried. The dried powder is then to be mixed with
one-sixth of its weight of charcoal powder. Put this
mixture into an earthen-ware retort, and place it in a
sand bath with the beak plunged into a vessel of water.
Apply heat, and let it be gradually increased, till the
retort becomes red hot. As the heat increases, air-
bubbles rush in abundance through the beak of the re¬
tort, some of which are inflamed when they come in
contact with the air at the surface of the water. A
substance at last drops out similar to melted wax, which
3 congeals under the water. This is phosphorus,
iri. In this state the phosphorus is not quite pure. It is
t generally mixed with some charcoal powder, and a por¬
tion of half burnt phosphorus, which give it a brown
colour. To have it quite pure, melt it in warm water,
and strain it several times through a piece of shamoy
leather under the surface of the water. The leather
should only be employed once, for phosphorus strained
through it afterwards will b.* coloured. To mould it
into sticks, take a glass funnel with a long tube, which
must be stopped with a cork. Fill it with water, and
put the phosphorus into it. Immerse the funnel in boil¬
ing water, and when the phosphorus is melted, and
flows into the tube of the funnel, then plunge it into
cold water, and when the phosphorus has become solid,
remove the cork, and push the phosphorus from the
mould with a piece of wood. Thus prepared, it must
9 be preserved in close vessels containing pure water,
lies. 3. Phosphorus, when perfectly pure, is semitrans¬
parent, and has the consistence of wax. It is so soft
that it may be cut with a knife. Its specific gravity is
from 1.770 to 2.033. It has an acrid and disagreeable
taste, and a peculiar smell resembling that of garlic.
hen a stick of phosphorus is broken, it exhibits some
appearance of crystallization. The crystals are needle-
shaped, or long octahedrons $ but to obtain them in
their most perfect state, the surface of the phosphorus, Phospbo-
just when it becomes solid, should be pierced, that the rns.
internal liquid phosphorus may flow out, and leave a -v**'
cavity for their formation.
4. When phosphorus is exposed to the light, it ac-Action of
quires a reddish colour, which appears to be the effect bght.
ol an incipient combustion. It is therefore necessary 421
to preserve it in a dark place. At the temperature of0fbeat*
990 it becomes liquid, and if air be entirely excluded,
it evaporates at 2190, and boils at 5540. At the tem¬
perature ol 43° or 440, it gives out a white smoke, and
is luminous in the dark. This is a slow combustion
of the phosphorus, which becomes more rapid as the
temperature is raised. When heated to the tempe¬
rature of 148°, phosphorus takes fire, burns with a
bright flame, and gives out a great quantity of white
smoke.
Phosphorus enters into combination with oxygen,
azote, hydrogen, and carbon.
Sect. I. Of the Combinations of Phosphorus with
Oxygen.
Phosphorus enters into combinations with oxygen in
different proportions.
X. Oxide of Phosphorus.
Phosphorus, when exposed to the light, or kept in'
water that is not freed from air, soon acquires an
opaque white colour, and afterwards changes to a
brown. This is the first combination of oxygen with
it, and being in the smallest proportion, and giving no
acid properties to the compound, it has been denomi¬
nated an oxide of phosphorus. This shews that it is
necessary to keep it excluded from air and light. But To sepa.
phosphorus thus changed on the surface may he freed rate the
from that part which is oxidated by a very simple pro-0*'^0,
cess. Dissolve the phosphorus in warm water, the whole
melts except the oxidated part, which remains at the
surface, not being fusible at the same temperature.
2. Acids.
... 4^3
1. When phosphorus is burned in common air con-Produc-
fined in a vessel, the combustion is pretty rapid, andtIon*
continues till the whole of the oxygen is consumed.
A great quantity of white fumes are produced, and
when these fumes are mixed with water which absorbs
them, it is found to have acid properties. This is the
phosphorous acid, in which the oxygen is in smaller
proportion than in the following, but greater than in
tie oxide.
2. But when a small bit of phosphorus is introduced
into ajar filled with oxygen gas at the temperature of
6o°, it dissolves slowly, but does not appear luminous
till the temperature be raised to 8o°, which shews that
phosphorus requires a higher temperature to burn in.
oxygen gas than in common air. And if the phospho¬
rus be introduced into the oxygen gas, which is per¬
fectly pure at a lower temperature, it undergoes no
change, gives out no smoke, and is not luminous in
the dark. But when it is immersed in a state of igni¬
tion into oxygen gas, it exhibits a most brilliant com-
bastion. The light emitted is almost as splendid as that Splendid)
of the sun, and too powerful for the eye. During thiscomlms-
cumbustion the oxygen gas disappears, loses its gaseoustl0tl*
form,.
;o4 • c H E M
Piosplio- form, and becomes solid in combination with the phos-
rus. phorus. It is during this change from the fluid to the
^ y—' solid state that the caloric is emitted ; and the light,
according to Gren’s theory of combustion, is given
out by the phosphorus. Ihe product is a conciete
substance which adheres to the sides of the jar. I his
is the 'phosphoric acid, in which there is a greater pro¬
portion of oxygen in combination with the phosphorus.
These acids will be treated of in the chapter on acids.
Sect. II. Of Piiospiiureted Azotic Gas.
Phosphorus I. At first sight it seems difficult to explain the reason
combines that phosphorus requires a higher temperature for its
combustion in oxygen gas than in common air. But
the cause of this singular phenomenon appears by exa¬
mining the effects of azotic gas on phosphorus. The
phosphorus, which is readily converted into vapour at
a low temperature, combines with the azotic gas with¬
out combustion, and therefore without giving out any
light. The azotic gas is thus saturated with the phos¬
phorus, and its bulk is increased about ■3’5-. The combi¬
nation is phosphureted azotic gas. In this
state the phosphorus being minutely divided, takes fire
at a lower temperature.
2. When oxygen gas is introduced into a jar filled
with this gas, it becomes luminous, because there is a
combustion of the phosphorus which is held in solution
by the azotic gas. The combustion is more rapid and
brilliant when the phosphorated azotic gas is let up in¬
to the jar of oxygen gas.
■Sect. III. Of Phosphorized and Phosphureted
Hydrogen Gas.
with azo¬
tic gas
without
emitting
light.
426
Phosphorus
dissolved in
hydrogen
gas.
§ Ann. fa
Chitn. vol.
xu. p. 203.
427
History.
1. When a piece of phosphorus is put into a jar fil¬
led with hydrogen gas, it does not appear luminous in
the dark. But, after having remained for several
hours, part of the phosphorus is dissolved. When this
gas, to which Fourcroy and Yauquelin have given the
name of phosphorized hydrogen gas, is introduced into
a jar of oxygen gas, each bubble, as it passes up and
comes in contact with the gas, produces a very brilli¬
ant bluish flame, which fills the whole vessel. This
effect does not take place in atmospheric air. This
gas holds in solution only a small proportion of phos¬
phorus ; out it is owing to the combustion of this por¬
tion that the flame appears in the oxygen gas. This
gas has a less fetid odour than that which is next to be
described. It has, however, a slight smell of gar-
lic §.
2. Phosphureted hydrogen gas was discovered by
M. Gengembre in 1783, by boiling a solution of pot¬
ash on phosphorus ; and by Mr Kirwan in the follow¬
ing year. Its nature and properties have been more
coYnpietely investigated by M. Raymond, in two pa¬
pers in the Annales de Chimie for 1791 and 1800. It
may be obtained by introducing a bit of phosphorus
into a jar of hydrogen gas standing over mercury, and
melting the phosphorus by means of a burning glass.
The phosphorus is thus converted into the state of va¬
pour, when the hydrogen gas dissolves a much greater
proportion. But a more simple process has been re¬
commended by Raymond.
Take two ounces of quicklime, slaked in the air,
I S T B Y.
about 60 grs. of phosphorus, and half an ounce of wa. $u',
ter; reduce the whole to a paste, and put it immedi-
ately into a small glass or stone-ware retort, the body 428
of which may be filled with the materials. Immerse Proe.eMl
the beak of the retort under water in the pneumaticglnin'
trough, and apply a moderate heat. As soon as the
retort is heated, the gas begins to come over; and
when the hubbies come to the surface of the water in
contact with the air, they explode with flame and
smoke. When the gas passes oft* slowly the bubbles
are larger ; and when they reach the surface they ex¬
hibit an elegant appearance, forming, after explosion,
a beautiful coronet of white smoke, which rises with
an undulatory motion to the ceiling, when the air is
still. When this gas is brought into contact with oxy¬
gen gas, the combustion is more rapid and more brilliant.
The products of the combustion of this gas are Producu
phosphoric acid and water. The phosphorus, held in by combi
solution by the hydrogen, combines with the oxy-1 2*0111
gen, and forms phosphoric acid ; while the hydrogen
unites with another portion of oxygen and forms water.
This gas has a very fetid odour, which has some re-
semblance to the smell of putrid fish. Pure water agi-Property
tated in contact with this gas, absorbs about one-fourth
of its bulk at the temperature of 50°. The colour of
the solution is not quite so deep as that of roll sulphur.
The smell is strong and disagreeable, and the taste ex¬
tremely bitter. It does not appear luminous in the
dark. But when it is exposed nearly to the tempera¬
ture of boiling, the whole of the phosphorated hydro¬
gen gas is driven oft’ unchanged, and the water re¬
mains behind perfectly pure. When the solution is
exposed to the air, the oxide of phosphorus is deposi¬
ted, and the hydrogen gas escapes f. f Amf
Sect. IV. Phosphuret of Carbon.
43.0
Phosphorus enters into combination with charcoal,How pvc
and forms what Proust, who discovered it, denomi-d««d.
nates phosphuret of carbon. It is produced during the
distillation of phosphorus, and remains behind on the
leather, when it is strained through it to purify it from
this substance. It is of a red colour, and does not
melt like pure phosphorus. If it be distilled with a
gentle heat, a small portion of phosphorus, which it
contains in excess, is separated. But the true com¬
pound of phosphuret of carbon is not decomposed 431
without a very strong heat. When the vessels have Action
cooled, there is found a light, flocculent powder, of alieat’
lively orange red, which M. Proust considers as the
phosphuret of carbon. If it he exposed to a red heat
in the retort in which it is formed, the whole of the
phosphorus is driven off, and the charcoal remains be¬
hind. When tiiis phosphuret is exposed to the open
air on a heated metallic plate, it burns rapidly; but
the charcoal which absorbs the phosphoric acid, as it
is formed, escapes the combustion. It loses, in a short
time, the property of burning, by being exposed to
the air, and then it may be preserved without any risk
of spontaneously catching fire. X I Mid'
44.
Chap. IX. Of SULPHUR.
43!
1. Sulphur is a simple undecompounded combush-A
ble substance, which is universely diffused in nature ;SUJStli‘
but
phur
33.
f cities,
134
I on of
Nt
133
( tal*
I
336
! wies
v;. d.
137
I Llimed
t38
1 !i azo-
t ;as.
C H E M
but most commonly in a state of combination with mi¬
neral, vegetable, or animal matters. It is found in
some mineral waters, but in greatest abundance in vol¬
canic countries, where it is a valuable article of com¬
merce.
2. Sulphur, as it is extracted from minerals and pu¬
rified by art, is a hard brittle substance of a yellow
colour, which can easily be reduced to powder. It is
always opaque, has a lamellated fracture, and be¬
comes electric by friction. The specific gravity, after
it is melted, does not exceed 1.9907. It has no smell,
and very little perceptible taste. When rubbed some
time, it is volatilized, and diffuses a peculiar and
slightly fetid odour, by which it is easily distinguish¬
ed. It leaves on the skin which has been in contact
with it a very strong smell, which remains for some
hours. It is insoluble in water.
3. Light has no sensible effect on sulphur. But if
a roll of sulphur be held in the hand for a little, it be¬
gins to crackle, and at last it breaks to pieces. When
a temperature equal to that of boiling water is applied
to sulphur, it melts, becomes liquid and transparent, and
changes to a brown red colour; but, in cooling, if the
fusion is not too long continued, it resumes the yellow
colour. When permitted to cool slowly, it crystallizes
in prismatic needles. The crystals are better formed
by pouring out part of the liquid sulphur as soon as the
surface has become solid.
4. If the heat be continued, it becomes thick and
viscid •, and if it be then poured into cold water, it re¬
tains its softness, and in this state is employed for
taking impressions of seals and medals, which are call¬
ed sulphurs. When sulphur is exposed to heat in
close vessels, it is volatilized or sublimed in the form
of a very fine powder, known under the name of
FLOWERS OF SULPHUR.
Sulphur enters into combination with oxygen, azote,
hydrogen, carbon, and phosphorus.
The combination of sulphur with azotic gas has been
little examined. Part of the sulphur is dissolved, when
it is heated in a vessel filled with the gas. This sulphu¬
rated azotic gas, as it is called, has a fetid odour.
When the temperature is diminished, part of the sul¬
phur is deposited. It has been lately discovered in the
mineral waters of Aix-la-Chapelle.—We shall consider
the other combinations of sulphur in the following sec¬
tions.
Sect. I. Sulphur combined with Oxygex.
ci1’39
1 e.
1. When sulphur is kept some time in fusion in an
open vessel, it assumes a red colour, and becomes viscid.
When cooled, it retains its red colour, which is ow¬
ing to the combination of oxygen in small proportion
with the sulphur. In this state it has been denomi¬
nated the oxide of sulphur. According to the experi¬
ments of Dr Thomson, the oxide of sulphur, formed by
melting the substance in a deep vessel, is of a dark
violet colour, fibrous fracture, and tough consistence ;
the specific gravity is 2.325. It contained per
C cent, of oxygen. Another oxide, containing 6.2 per
b cent, of oxygen, was formed by passing a current of
oxymuriatic acid gas through flowers of sulphur f.
2. Sulphur,- when burnt in the open air, emits a pale
blue flame, with a greatrjuantity of white smoke. When
these fumes are mixed with water, the liquid is found
Vol. V. Part II. t
E tin
^ inn
I S T R Y. 5°5
to possess acid properties. This is a combination of Sulphur,
sulphur with a greater proportion of oxygen than exists *
in the oxide, and is called sulphurous acid.
3. But when sulphur is burnt in oxygen gas, a very 441
rapid combustion takes place with a reddish white111 oxy&cu
flame, and it combines with a larger proportion ot oxy-°'
gen. When the fumes which are copiously emitted
during this combustion are collected and mixed with
water, it exhibits the properties of an acid, which is
the sulphuric acid. Thus it appears, that sulphur com ¬
bines with oxygen in four different proportions. In
two of these, in which the proportions are smallest,
the compounds are denominated oxides •, but in the
two others, in which the proportion of oxygen is in¬
creased, the compounds are acids, the properties of
which will be afterwards investigated.
Sect. II. Sulphureted Hydrogen Gas.
1. This gas may be procured by various processes. j^et]10<j Qf
It may be obtained by making hydrogen gas pass piocudug.
through melted sulphur. In this way the hydrogen gas
enters into combination with sulphur. The samejgas may
also be obtained by melting together in a crucible equal
parts of iron filings and sulphur, by which means a black
brittle mass is formed, which is to be reduced to pow¬
der, and introduced into a glass vessel (fig. 6.) with
two mouths, the one of which has a stopper A, and
the other a bent tube B, accurately ground to fit the
mouths C, D. When the mixture of iron filings and
sulphur has been introduced into the phial, the bent
tube is to be fitted into the mouth, with the other end
under the surface of the water in the trough E. The
apparatus being thus prepared, pour in muriatic acid
through the other opening, and immediately close it
with the ground stopper. The sulphureted hydrogen
gas is copiously disengaged, and fills the glass jar F,
which is1 previously placed on the shelf to receive it.
This gas was formerly known by the name of hepa¬
tic gas. ' _ 443.
2. The odour is extremely fetid, resembling that from Properties,
the washings of a gun, or from rotten eggs, which arises
from the extrication of the same gas. The specific
gravity of this gas is 0.00135.
It is unfit for respiration, and for supporting com¬
bustion. A taper immersed in it is extinguished. W hen
it is inflamed in contact with atmospheric air or oxyge¬
nous gas, it burns with a reddish flame, and deposits a
quantity of sulphur. Sulphur also is deposited by sim¬
ple exposure to the air. From this it appears, that the
affinity of hydrogen for oxygen is stronger than for sul¬
phur. During the combustion, the hydrogen unites
with the oxygen, and the sulphur is deposited. It is
from this deposition that the sulphur found about mine¬
ral springs, the waters of which contain this gas, is
derived. 444
3. According to the experiments of Thenard, lOQponiposi-
parts by weight of sulphureted hydrogen gas contain tIon*
70.857 sulphur,
29.143 hydrogen.
IOO.OOO*. * Ann. dc
. Chim. vol.
4. Sulphureted hydrogen gas has the property of dis-x^xll> P-
solving phosphorus. Fourcroy and Vauquelin introdu-2
3 S ced
CHEMISTRY.
. 445
Dissolves
phosphorus.
f Ibid. vol.
xxi. p» *07.
445
With car¬
bon in dif¬
ferent pro¬
portions,
447
Prepara¬
tion.
44S
Precau¬
tions.
449
Properties.
ced pieces of phosphorus into ajar filled with this gas
over mercury. After the phosphorus had been exposed
to the gas for twelve hours, the atmospheric air was
admitted, and a bluish voluminous flame instantly ap¬
peared. The bubbles of the gas diffused in the air,
presented by day light a white vapour, which seemed
to adhere like viscid matter to the surface of the mer¬
cury 5 but in the dark, exhibited a very brilliant light.
The mercury in the trough in which the experiment
was made, continued for some minutes to give out
sparks of light by agitation. The hands plunged into
this gas, continued luminous for some minutes, and a
sponge introduced into it retained the same property
for some time in the air f.
5. Sulphureted hydrogen gas is very readily absorbed
by water, and in this state it changes vegetable blues
to a red colour, and forms neutral salts with different
bases. On this account it is now justly ranked among
the acids.
Sect. III. Cauburet of Sulphur.
1. Sulphur and carbon combine together at a high
temperature, and probably in different proportions }
one of these combinations is liquid at the ordinary
temperature and pressure of the atmosphere. This is
the carburet of sulphur. The following method of
preparing it is given by Clement and Desormes, who
have particularly investigated the action of sulphur and
charcoal.
2. Put a quantity of charcoal in small pieces, or in
powder previously dried, into a porcelain tube, which
is to pass through a furnace that it may be exposed to
a red heat. The gas from the charcoal is to be allow¬
ed to escape, before the other part of the apparatus is
adjusted. To that extremity of the porcelain tube
which contains the charcoal, fit a long glass tube, suf¬
ficiently wide to contain a number of small pieces of
sulphur, which may be pushed successively into the
porcelain tube with an iron rod passing through a cock
which closes the end of the tube. To the other extre¬
mity there is to be fitted another glass tube, bent at the
end, that it may be immersed in a vessel of water in the
pneumatic trough. Heat is then to be applied till the
porcelain tube and the charcoal become red hot, when
the pieces of sulphur are to be pushed slowly forwards
into the tube, and when it acts on the charcoal a yel¬
low liquid of an oily appearance passes through the
tube. The heat being continued, it evaporates, and is
condensed in the water of the vessel in which the tube
terminates, traversing it in globules, which collect to¬
gether at the bottom.
The success of this experiment is somewhat preca¬
rious.^ When sulphur is exposed suddenly to a strong
heat, instead of being sublimed, it appears in some mea¬
sure fixed, and becomes soft by fusion. Sometimes it
passes too rapidly through the charcoal to unite with
it; the pieces of sulphur, therefore, should be slowly
introduced, and the tube, in passing through the fur¬
nace, should be inclined from that extremity at which
the sulphur is introduced.
3. The carburet of sulphur, when pure, is transpa¬
rent and colourless, but frequently has a greenish-yel¬
low tinge. It has a disagreeable pungent odour. The
taste is at first cooling, but afterwards becomes ex¬
3
tremely pungent. It is heavier than water, does not Sulph
mix with it, and therefore remains at the bottom of the -y- 1
vessel. The specific gravity of this liquor is various.
In one trial it was found to be 1.2.
4. This compound evaporates at the ordinary tem-Evaponl
perature of the atmosphere, and increases its volume
nearly as much as ether. When a quantity of this
liquor in a vessel of water is placed under the receiver
of an air pump, and the air exhausted, it rises through
the water in bubbles, and assumes the gaseous form ;
and when the pressure of the air is restored, the gas is
instantly condensed, and returns to the liquid state.
5. The carburet of sulphur burns with great facility, Combus
and during combustion emits a strong odour of sulphu-ble.
rous acid, deposites a little sulphur, which afterwards
burns, and some black charcoal remains in its usual
combustible state. Air holding carburet of sulphur in
solution, burns quietly} but when impregnated with
oxygen gas, and brought in contact with a burning
body, explodes with prodigious violence, and not with¬
out considerable danger.
6. This substance unites with phosphorus, which it
very readily dissolves, but the solution is not more in¬
flammable than the phosphorus itself. It combines also
with a small quantity of sulphur, but without any
other change in its properties than becoming a little
deeper coloured. It seems to have no action on char¬
coal *. * Am.
Chim. 'i
Sect. IV. Sulphuret of Phosphorus.
45a'
1. Sulphur and phosphorus combine together in allPrepara
proportions. If one part of phosphorus with eight timesfi°ns*
its weight of sulphur, be put into a matrass, with 32
parts of distilled water ; on the application of a gentle
heat, the phosphorus melts and dissolves the sulphur.
The new compound assumes a yellow colour, and re¬
mains fluid, till it is cooled down to the temperature of
77°, when it becomes solid. This substance is the sul-
phuret of phosphorus. In other cases, when the pro¬
portion of phosphorus exceeds that of the sulphur, it is
called a phosphuret of sulphur. ^
2. The compounds of sulphur and phosphorus haveCombia
been particularly investigated by Pelletier, and he has^d1511
found that the compound is always more fusible than j^]“c
either of the uncombined constituents. The following
table exhibits the results of his experiments +.
8 Phosphorus 1
1 Sulphur \
4 Phosphorus i
x Sulphur \
I Phosphorus J
Sulphur j
Phosphorus 1
Sulphur jj’
Phosphorus 1
Sulphur j*
Phosphorus 7
3 Sulphur j!’
remain fluid at 950
59
50
41
72
99
f Foun <)
Connais
Chim. t •
i. p. 20
Thus, all these compounds are more fusible than the
phosphorus itself, and much more so than the sulphur. ^ j
3. In making these combinations, great caution pange11
should be observed 5 for if the heat be applied suddenly, the
even
CHEMISTRY.
ds. even when the substances are under water, a violent ex-
—plosion sometimes takes place, from the sudden forma-
tion and extrication of the sulphureted and phosphureted
hydrogen gases.
Chap. X. Of ACIDS.
5*7
combines with oxygen in the smallest proportion which Acick.
gives it acid properties, it is called thepfiosp/iorow acid; ' '
in the greater proportion, the phosphoric acid. And
thus by the simple change of the termination, the name
becomes descriptive of the peculiar state of the propor¬
tions in the compound.
s. i. We have seen, in describing the different sub¬
stances which have been treated of in the five pre¬
ceding chapters, that they all, excepting one, com¬
bine with oxygen in different proportions. Hydrogen
combines with oxygen only in one proportion, and this
compound is water. The first portion of oxygen which
combines with the other four substances, namely azote,
carbon, phosphorus, and sulphur, forms with them
compounds which, possessing no acid properties, have
6 received the name of oxides.
1. But when these substances combine w'ith a great¬
er proportion of oxygen, the compounds exhibit very
different properties ; and possessed of these properties,
they are ranked among the class of acids. The fol¬
lowing are the properties of the substances referred to
■j this class.
ictire a. They redden blue vegetable colours (k).
:ters. They possess a peculiar taste, which is well known
by the terms acid or sour.
c. They combine with water in all proportions.
d. They enter into chemical combination with alka¬
lies, with earths, and metallic oxides, and form with
s them compounds which have been denominated salts.
tance ^ acj^s are a very important class of bodies,
and not merely on account of their peculiar properties,
and the singular and useful compounds which they
form with other substances, but also as they are the in¬
struments of analysis in the hands of the chemist for
discovering the properties and combinations of the ob¬
jects of his science. It is therefore necessary to be-
9 come early acquainted with their nature.
ncla- 4. Acids which have the same radical or base, con¬
tain oxygen in different proportions. Thus, for in¬
stance, sulphur combines with oxygen in two proportions.
IOO parts of one compound contain 32 of oxygen, and
100 parts of the other contain 38 parts. The cha¬
racteristic properties of these compounds are totally
different. It is therefore necessary that they should
be distinguished by some appropriate name, and this
accordingly has been attended to in the construction
of the present chemical nomenclature. The name of
the acid is derived from the base, and this name has
a. different termination according to the proportion of
the oxygen combined with its radical. With the smallest
proportion the name terminates in the syllable ous: with
the greater proportion, it terminates in the syllable ic.
Thus, in the case of the acid formed with sulphur,
that compound in which there is the smaller propor¬
tion of oxygen is denominated the sulphurous acid;
the other, which has the greater proportion of oxygen
is the sulphuric acid. In the same way when phosphorus
Sect. I. Of Sulphuric Acid.
.... 4^3
1. The name of sulphuric acid is given to the com-Names.
bination of sulphur and of oxygen, with the greatest
proportion of the latter. It was formerly called vitrio¬
lic acid, because it was obtained by distillation from
vitriol, which is a compound of sulphuric acid and an
oxide of iron. When it is strongly concentrated, it has
a sluggish appearance; hence it was called oil of vitriol.
It has also been denominated oleum sulphuris per cam*
panam, because it was obtained by burning sulphur un¬
der a glass bell.
2. The ancients were unacquainted with this acid.History.
Pliny speaks of vitriols, which were used for different
purposes, in some of which it was probably decomposed.
Sulphur was burnt in sacrifices, but in neither case was
the product attended to. Basil Valentine is the first
who mentions this acid, about the end of the 15th cen¬
tury. Agricola and Paracelsus have also spoken of it,
but Dornaeus is the first who described it distinctly, in
the year 1570.
3. If a quantity of flowers of sulphur be exposed to
a degree of heat sufficient to inflame it, and if, when it
is in a state of ignition, it be introduced into a jar filled
with oxygen gas, it burns with great splendour, and ^5,
emits a great quantity of white fumes. These fumes Fonnation
may be condensed, by pouring a small quantity of water by experi-
into the jar, and when this is examined, it is found toment'
possess acid properties. This is the sulphuric acid. It
is procured, as appears by this experiment, by burning
sulphur in oxygen gas. ^
4. The process for obtaining sulphuric acid in the And in the
large way is the following. A mixture of sulphur and^ar»e w*y*
nitre is burnt in leaden chambers. The use of the
nitre is to supply a quantity of oxygen for the com¬
bustion of the sulphur. There is a little water in the
bottom of the vessel, which serves to condense the
vapours given out during the combustion. The acid
which is obtained in this way is very weak, for it is
diluted with the water in which it was condensed,
which water may be separated by distillation. Even
after this it is usually contaminated with a little lead
from the vessels, some potash, and sometimes nitric and 464
sulphurous acids. To obtain it perfectly pure, the Purifica-
sulphuric acid of commerce must be distilled. Thisli°n*
process is conducted by putting a quantity of the acid
into a retort, and exposing it to a degree of heat suffi¬
cient to make it boil. The beak of the retort is put
into a receiver, in which the acid, as it comes over, is
condensed. -
5. The acid, thus purified, is a transparent colour-prop^rt;ei>
less liquid, of oily consistency. It has no smell, but a
3 S 2 strong
(k) Hence vegetable blue infusions, or paper stained with them, are employed as tests to discover acids.
These are sometimes called re-agents. A great variety of substances are employed for this purpose, such as the
infusion and tincture of litmus and of turnsole, the syrup of violets, and the infusion of the flowers of mallow or
red cabbage.
5°8
Acids.
466
Action of
heat.
467
Attracts
water
strongly.
468
Method of
determin¬
ing the
quantity.
469
Mr Kir-
wan’s.
strong acid taste. It destroys all animal and vegetable
substances. It reddens all vegetable blues. It always
contains water. When this is driven oil by a moderate
heat, the acid is said to be concentrated. W hen as
much concentrated as possible, the specific gravity is
2, or double that of water ; but it can rarely be obtain¬
ed of greater density than 1.84.
6. Sulphuric acid suffers no change from being ex¬
posed to the light. It boils at the temperature of
546°, or, according to Bergman, 540°. When this
acid is deprived of its caloric, it is susceptible of con¬
gelation, and even of crystallization, in flat, six-sided
prisms, terminated in a six-sided pyramid. It crystal¬
lizes most readily, when it is neither too much con¬
centrated, nor diluted with water. Of the specific gra¬
vity of 1.65 it crystallizes at the temperature of a tew
degrees below the freezing point of water. 01 the
specific gravity of 1.84 it resists the greatest degree of
cold. Chaptal observed it crystallize at the tempera¬
ture of 48°, and Mr Keir found that it froze at 450 of
the specific gravity of 1.78.
7. Sulphuric acid has a strong attraction for water.
In some experiments that have been made, this acid,
when exposed to the atmosphere, attracted above six
times its weight of water. When four parts of concen¬
trated sulphuric acid, and one part of ice at the tem¬
perature of 32°, are mixed together, the moment they
come in contact the ice melts, and the temperature
rises to 212°. A greater quantity of caloric is given
out when the two bodies are mixed together in the li¬
quid state. If four parts of the acid and one of water
are suddenly mixed together, the temperature of the
mixture rises to about 300°. This extrication of calo¬
ric, it is obvious, arises from the sudden condensation
of the two liquids, the medium bulk of which is consi¬
derably less than the two taken together.
8. So great is the attraction of this acid for water,
that the strongest that can be prepared can scarcely be
supposed to be entirely free from it. It has therefore
greatly occupied the attention of chemical philosophers
to determine the proportions of real acid and water,
in sulphuric acid of any given specific gravity. This
subject has been investigated by Wenzel, Wiegleb,
and Bergman, and more lately and successfully by Mr
Kirwan. His method was the following. Eighty-six
grains of potash, dissolved in water, were saturated with
sulphuric acid of a known specific gravity. The solu¬
tion being turbid, yvater was added till the specific gra¬
vity was 1.03 at temperature 6o°. The whole weight
was now equal to 3694 grains. Forty-five grains of sul-
CHEMISTRY.
phate of potash dissolved in 1017 grains of distilled wa¬
ter, had the same specific gravity at the temperature 1
6o°. Hence the proportion of salt in each solution was
equal. But in the last, the quantity of salt was
Acids.
22.6’
3694
then the quantity of salt in the former was =
163.45 grains. Of this quantity only 86 were alkali j
the remainder, therefore, viz. 77.45 grains, were acid,
or acid and water. The quantity of acid employed in
the saturation amounted to 79 grains standard j but the
quantity of acid taken up was only 77.45 grains j there¬
fore J.55 were rejected, and consequently were mere
water, therefore the acid taken up is stronger than
standard $ and since 7.9 parts standard lose 1.55 by
combining with pure potash, 100 parts standard should
lose 1.96 j or 98.04 parts of acid of the strength of
what is found in sulphate of potash, contains as much
real acid as 100 parts standard. Hence 100 parts of
this strong acid are nearly equivalent to 102 ot stand¬
ard. Therefore, 100 parts of potash tak* up nearly
92 of standard sulphuric acid, or 82 of the strongest,
and afford 182 of sulphate of potash. Mr Kirwan
thinks there is no reason to suppose that the sulphate of
potash contains any water ol crystallization. One hun¬
dred grs. exposed to a red heat for hall an hour, fell
into powder and lost only a single grain *. * Irith
It having been suggested by Guyton Morveau, Mr Trans.
Kirwan observes, that the densities of mixtures ol sul-1Tt P*
phuric acid and water being greater than what is found
by calculation, should be ascribed to the condensation
of the aqueous part, rather than to that of the acid j
this led him to consider of a different method from
what he had formerly employed in determining the
quantity of real acid in sulphuric acid of different den¬
sities. Sulphuric acid of the specific gravity of 2.000,
which is the strongest that can be produced by art,
was taken as the standard of the strength of @11 other
acids. He could not procure the acid of this strength
at the temperature of 6o°. But from many experi¬
ments made with acids of inferior density, as 1.8846,
1.8689, 1.8042, 1.7500, he concludes, that the con¬
densation of equal weights of this standard acid and.
water amounts to -^th of the whole. Then by apply¬
ing Mr Pouget’s formula (l) for investigating the in¬
creased densities of inferior proportions of acid and wa¬
ter, the successive increments of density will be found
as in the following table.
Parts
(l) The formula here alluded to was invented by M. Pcuget in the investigation of the specific gravity of al¬
cohol mixed with water in different proportions ; and he has given a detailed account of his method in a letter
addressed to Mr Kirwan, which is inserted in the Transactions of the Iloyal Irish Academy, vol. iii. p. 157*
Having purified alcohol hy repeated distillations, the specific gravity at the temperature 65.75* was foun(^
to be 0.0399. Ibis he took for his standard. And considering the specific gravity as the means of dis¬
covering the increase of density, or the diminution of volume, he thought the quantities in the mixture would
he best determined, not by the difference of weight, but of volume. He therefore took ten mixtures, the
first containing nine measures ol alcohol and one of water, the second eight measures of alcohol and two
of water, and so on to the last, which contained only one measure of alcohol and nine of water. But as the
real measures are always uncertain, he weighed them to ascertain the specific gravity. Thus 10,000 grains
of water, and 8199 of alcohol formed a mixture of equal parts in bulk. Knowing the real specific gravi¬
ties of mixtures ot alcohol and water, taking a mean of a great number of observations made at the same
temperature*
s.
Parts
Water.
5
10
15
20
25
3^
35
40
45 55
50 50
“ By adding, says Mr Kirwan, these increments to
the specific gravities found by calculation, and taking
arithmetical mediums for the intermediate quantities of
standard, I made out the first 50 numbers of the fol¬
lowing table j the remainder was formed by actual ob¬
servation in the following manner, premising that the
specific gravities were always taken between 59,5° and
6o°, or at most 60,5° of Fahrenheit.
“ 1st, I found by the preceding part of the table
that 100 parts of sulphuric acid, whose specific gravity
was 1.8472, contained 88.5 parts standard} consequent¬
ly 400 grs. of this acid contain 354.
“ 2dly, I then took six portions of this acid, each
containing 400 grs. and added to them as much water as
made them contain respectively 48. 46. 44. 42.40. and
38. grains standard. To find the proportion of water
that should be added to each portion of acid, in order
that it should contain the given proportion of standard.
CHEMISTRY.
Increment
Standard. of Density.
95 >0252
90 ,0479
85 ,0679
80 ,0856
75 ,0699
70 ,1119
65 ,1213
60 >i279
>I333
509
Acids.
temperature, and comparing them with the specific gravities found directly by calculation, he thus deduces
the increase of density, or the diminution of volume produced in the whole mass by the mutual penetra¬
tion of the fluids. For calling A the real specific gravity, and B the specific gravity found by calcula¬
tion, n the number of measures which compose the whole mass, n—x that to which it is reduced by mutual
penetration, it is evident, since this increase of density does not diminish the weight of the whole mass that
  a rm A—B ,. A—B
n B=«—x x A. Ihen x=z—j-— x «, or making n—\—^—, which expresses the diminutions of bulk, or
the quantity of fluid absorbed during the mixture.
The following table contains the result of Pouget’s experiments, or the diminutions of volume which is sup¬
posed to be m I of the mixtures, calculated according to the formula.
From this table it appears that the numbers which express the diminution of bulk follow a regular pro-
grcssion.. The greatest correspond to the mixtures of equal parts, and they decrease towards each end of the
progression. They must therefore be regulated by some general law. M. Pouget thinks that the alcohol
may be conceived as being dissolved in the water which has absorbed or retained part of it in its pores.
The quantity absorbed ought to be in the ratio of that of the solvent and the body dissolved, and each measure
of water will retain quantities of alcohol proportional to the number of measures of this fluid in the mixture.
Thus, for example, in a mixture formed of nine measures of alcohol and one of water, this measure of water
will absorb a quantity of alcohol = 9 : and in another mixture of eight measures of alcohol with two of water,
each measure of water will contain a quantity ot alcohol 8. Consequently the diminutions of bulk of each
mixture are in a ratio compounded of the number of measures of alcohol and of water which form it 5 and in
the table above, as 1 X9> 2x8, 3 X 7> 4X^» 5 X J, &c. And in general taking for a constant quantity the
diminution of bulk with equal measures, and calling it e; calling the whole number of measures the number
of
5*0
Acids.
CHEMISTRY.
I usee! the following analogy : Let the quantity of wa¬
ter to be added to 400 parts of the acid, that the mix¬
ture may contain 48 per cent, standard be x.
Then 400-j-r. 354 :: 100. 48, then 19200+48^=:
35400*
. . . 16200
And 48^=35400—192000=10200. And —?r—
=337»5- . . . ,
“ In this manner I found the quantities of water to
be added to each of the other portions. The mix¬
tures being made, they were set by for three days,
stirring them with a glass rod (that remained in them)
each day, and the 5th day they were tried ; after which
the half of each was taken out and as much water ad¬
ded to them, and then set by for three days, by which
means the specific gravities corresponding to 24. 23.
22. 21. 20. and 19. per cent, standard were found,
after which six more portions of 400 grs. each of the
concentrated acid, whose specific gravity was 1,8393,
were taken, the proper proportion of water added to
each, and after three days rest and repeated agitation,
their densities in temperature. 6o° were examined as
above, by which means the specific gravities correspond¬
ing to 36. 34. 32. 30. 28. and 26. per cent, standard
were obtained, and half these portions mixed with half
water exhibited, after three days rest and agitation, the
densities corresponding to 18. 17.16. 15. 14. and 13. per
cent, standard in the above temperature. The balance
I used turned with of a grain when charged with
two ounces, and the solid employed was a small glass
ball containing mercury, which lost 27,88 grs. of its
weight when weighed in water in temperature 56°,
suspended commonly by a horse hair, but when dipped
in strong nitrous and marine acids it is suspended by a
fine gold wire, and then lost 27,78 grs of its weight in
water.
“ I also examined and rectified, in some instances,
many parts of the first 50 numbers of the table in the
same manner, but in general I found them just.
Table
of measures of alcohol in any mixture, xt and the increase of density or diminution of \olume z, we shall have
c : n :: - and ss= X nx—x' : or making n=J, 4c*—4c#*. The increase of density, calcu-
lated according to the formula, corresponds pretty nearly with experiments; for in all mixtures in which the
alcohol is in greater quantity than water, but not in those cases in which the water is in greatest proportion,
the real increase of density is much less than by calculation, and the differences become more considerable as
the quantity of water is increased. M. Pouget thinks, that when the quantity of water is greater than that ot
alcohol, the law of absorption is disturbed; and he conjectures that it is owing to the attraction of the panicles
of the water among themselves, which consequently oppose their union with any other substance. But when
the alcohol forms at least the half of the whole mass, the diminutions of bulk are as the products of the numbers
which express the proportions of alcohol and water forming the mixture : they may be represented by the formula
55 = this formula may be determined the strength of spirits of wine of commerce, or the
n%
number of parts of water and standard alcohol of which they are composed.
The number of measures of the whole mass or the bulk - — i
The number of measures of alcohol in any mixture - “ — x
The diminution of bulk of equal parts by experiment - “ . = c
The diminution of bulk of a mixture containing x measures of alcohol by hypothesis = 4 ex—4 cat*
The specific gravity of water - - - — a
Specific gravity of alcohol - - - ■ = ^
Specific gravity of the unknown mixture - - - =: y_ 
Since the increase of density does not change the weight of the mass, we shall have I—x X ^ *—
1—4cx-j-4cx*Xy-
By this equation may be found the value of x or the proportion of alcohol, having previously ascertained the
specific gravity of the mixture, and to determine this specific gravity, or the value of y by knowing the pro¬
perty of alcohol. Hence,
a—ax-\-btc
ij—  1 
^ 1—4CX-J-4CX*
And making am, 6=0.8199, c=0.0288
0.1801 / 1—y , ( 0.1801
x=o. c \- J   [- ( 
Jo.2304y ' ** 0.1152^ ' \0.2304y
1—o.iSoix
y= ; r.
I—0.U52X+0.1152X
\
CHEMISTRY.
k
1 Table of the Quantity of the Standard Sulphuric Acid
2,000 in Sulphuric Acid of inferior Density.
Standard
ioo Parts. Temp. <5o°
2,000
i,9859
^9S19
I>9439
1,9299
1,9168
I)9°4I
1,8914
1,8787
1,8660
1,8542
1,8424
1,8306
1,8188
1,8070
x>7959
i»7849
I>7738
1,7629
I»75I9
i,74!6
7312
1,7208
I,7I04
1,7000
1,6899
1,6800
1,6701
1,6602
1.6j03
1,6407
1,6312
100
99
98
97
96
95
94
93
92
9r
90
89
88
87
86
85
84
83
82
81
80
79
78
77
76
75
74
73
72
71
70
69
68
too Parts. Standard.
1,6217
I,6l22
1,6027
I>5932
1,5840
1.5748
i.5656
x.5564
1.5473
1,5385
1,5292
i,5205
i,5112
1,5022
M933
1,4844
I>4755
1,4666
I,4427
i,4i89
1,4099
1,4010
i,3875
I»374I
1,3663
1,3586
I,3473
1,3360
I,3254
I>3149
1,3102
1,3056
1,2951
67
66
65
64
63
62
61
60
59
58
57
56
55
54
53
52
51
5°
49
48
47
46
45
44
43
42
4i
40
39
58
37
36
35
100 Parts. Standard
1,2847
I»2757
1,2668
1,2589
1,2510
1,2415
1,2320
1,22x0
1,2101
1,2009
1,1918
1,1836
1,1746
1,1678
1,1614
I»I53I
1,1398
I,I3°9
1,1208
1,1129
1,1811
I,°955
1,0896
1,0833
1,0780
1,0725
1,0666
1,0610
I,°555
1,0492
1,0450
1,0396
1,°343
34
33
32
3r
3°
29
28
27
26
25
24
23
22
21
20
l9
18
J7
16
x5
14
x3
12
11
10
9
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
proaches the corresponding density in the column A,
gains or loses 0,00126 of its specific gravity by every
two degrees between 6o° and 70° of Fahrenheit, and
0,0086 by every two degress between 490 and 6o°.
“ Secondly, That any vitriolic acid, whose density
at any degree between 50° and 70° resembles or ap¬
proaches to the corresponding density in the column B,
gains or loses 0,00158 for every two degrees between
6o° and 7°° 5 aiu1 0,0017 by every two degrees be¬
tween 50° and 6o°. Whence it appears that the
stronger acid is less altered by variations of temperature
than the weaker, which formerly appeared to me an
irregularity, but now seems to proceed from the in¬
crease of the accrued density, when larger propor¬
tions of water are mixed with the stronger acid.
“ 3tMy> Sulphuric acid, whose density at any degree
between 50° and 70° resembles the corresponding at the
same degree in the column C, gains or loses 0.00086
for every two degrees between 6o° and 70° inclu¬
sively, and 0.00076 between 50° and 6o°. Between
450 and 50° I could perceive no difference *. *
9. Attempts have been made to determine the pro- Tran*, vol.
portion of oxygen and sulphur, which enter into theiv*P*7*
composition of sulphuric acid. According to the ex-r 47°.
periments of Lavoisier, in which he measured the quan-tjon_
tity of oxygen absorbed, by a given weight of sulphur
during combustion, the proportions are,
71 sulphur,
29 oxygen. •
100
But other methods have been adopted, which promise
more accurate results. These are, by decomposing
other substances which contain oxygen, by means of
sulphur. According to the experiments of Mr Che-
nevix, conducted in this way, the sulphuric acid con¬
sists of
61.5 sulphur,'
38.5 oxygen.
u The last eleven numbers were only found by analo¬
gy, observing the series of decrements in the four pre¬
ceding densities, and therefore are to be considered
barely as approximations.
“ To reduce vitriolic acids of given densities, at any
degree of temperature between 490 and 70°, to that
which they should have at temperature 6o°, in order
that their proportion of standard may be thereby in¬
vestigated, I made the following experiments:
“ Hence we see that vitriolic acid, whose density at
any degree between 490 and 6o° resembles or ap-
100.0
10. Sulphuric acid does not combine with oxygen,
nor has it any action with azotic gas. ^
11. It appears that hydrogen has a greater affinity Action
for oxygen, than the sulphur has, and therefore the sul-with hy-
phuric acid is decomposed by means of hydrogen gas.^S611*
In the cold there is no action between hydrogen gas
and sulphuric acid j but if they are made to pass
through a red-hot porcelain tube, the acid is decom¬
posed 5 water is formed and sulphur is precipitated.
When hydrogen gas is employed in a greater propor¬
tion than the half of the acid, the superabundant gas
dissolves the sulphur, and is disengaged in the form of
sulphureted hydrogen gas. 2
12. Charcoal has no action on sulphuric acid in the charcoal, -
cold j but at the boiling temperature, it decomposes it,
and converts it into sulphurous acid. If a piece of
red-hot charcoal be immersed in a quantity of concen¬
trated sulphuric acid, part of the acid is suddenly dis¬
engaged under the form of thick white fumes, accom¬
panied with sulphurous acid gas. The sulphuric acid
is decomposed •, part of its oxygen is attracted by the
charcoal, forming carbonic acid, and thus it is reduced
to
C H E M I
473
Phospho*
474
Sulphur.
475
Sulphates.
475
Uses.
477
Affinities.
47 S
Names.
. 479
History.
to the lowest proportion of oxygen, in the state of sul¬
phurous acid.
13. A similar effect is produced by phosphorus.
Phosphorus, with the assistance of heat, partially de¬
composes the sulphuric acid, by abstracting part of its
oxygen. Phosphoric acid is formed, and sulphurous
acid driven off.
14. In the cold, sulphur has no action on sulphuric
acid 5 but, when they are boiled together, the sulphur
is partly dissolved in the acid, and converts it into sul¬
phurous acid. The sulphur which has been added com¬
bines with the oxygen, which is necessary for the con¬
stitution of sulphuric acid, and thus the whole is con¬
verted into sulphurous acid.
15. Sulphuric acid combines with alkalies, the earths,
and the metals, forming salts j which, in the present
language of chemistry, are denominated sulphates.
16. This acid is employed in great quantity in many
arts and manufactures. It is employed also in me¬
dicine and pharmacy j the preparation of it, there¬
fore, has long been an object of considerable impor¬
tance.
17. The order of the affinities of sulphuric acid is
the following:
Barytes,
Strontites,
Potash,
Soda,
Lime,
Magnesia,
Ammonia,
Glucina,
Yttria,
Alumina,
Zirconia,
Oxide of Zinc,
Iron,
Manganese,
Cobalt,
Nickel,
Lead,
Tin,
Copper,
Bismuth,
Antimony,
Arsenic,
Mercury,
Silver,
Gold,
Platina.
Sect. II. Of Sulphurous Acid.
Ack
S T It Y.
nature and composition were discovered by the labours
of Priestley and Lavoisier. Berthollet afterwards in¬
vestigated the formation, decomposition, combinations,
and uses of this acid. Fourcroy and Vauquelin * also * Ann ■
have examined many of its properties, especially the CAi'w. ,
saline compounds which it forms. xm. p
2. The sulphurous acid exists in nature in great 2Js'i
abundance, particularly in the neighbourhood of vol-Abundl
canoes. It is disengaged from some lavas while in aiu nan
state of fusion, and from the soil which is impregnated
with sulphur, when a sufficient degree of heat is applied.
It was by the vapours of sulphurous acid that Pliny
the naturalist was suffocated in the eruption of Mountpimj.
Vesuvius, which destroyed Herculaneum, in the 79th
year before the Christian era. 4S:
3. When sulphur is burnt in the open air, the fumes Foma 1
generated by this slow combustion, are sulphurous
acid. It was in this way that this acid was formerly
obtained. The method of procuring it, which is now
followed, is to decompose the sulphuric acid by means
of any substance which deprives it of part of its oxy¬
gen. If one part of mercury and two parts of concen¬
trated sulphuric acid be exposed to heat in a glass re¬
tort, the mixture effervesces, and a gas is disengaged,
which may be collected in jars over mercury. In this
process the mercury attracts part ol the oxygen of the
sulphuric acid, and leaves behind that portion which
constitutes the sulphurous acid. .jj
4. Sulphurous acid thus obtained is in the state oftntheie
gas, and it is an elastic, invisible, and colourless fluid, of gw
like common air. It is rather more than double the 4s
weight of atmospheric air. Its specific gravity isfl0l* *• >
0.00246; too cubic inches weigh nearly 63 grains.
It has a pungent smell ; is unfit for respiration, and
for supporting combustion. It at first reddens vege¬
table blues, and then destroys the greater number of
them. It is on account of this property that the fumes
of sulphur are employed to remove the stains of fruit
from linen, and that the sulphurous acid is often used
in bleaching.
5. Sulphurous acid gas refracts the light strongly,A«;tio:
without undergoing any change. When strongly heat-with <
«d, as in a red-hot porcelain tube, it remains unaltered,'orlc'
according to the experiments of Fourcroy. But Dr
Priestley and Berthollet found that it deposited sulphur
after long exposure to heat. At the temperature of
— 31° it becomes liquid. This property, which dis-
1. According to the received nomenclature of the
acids, the term sulphurous signifies that this acid con¬
tains a smaller proportion of oxygen. It was formerly
called spirit of sulphur, and volatile sulphurous acid.
Although the ancients must have been acquainted with
some of its properties, as it is formed during the slow
combustion of sulphur, Stahl is the first chemist who
examined it with attention. He supposed that it was
the sulphuric acid combined with his imaginary prin¬
ciple of phlogiston. Hence he called it phlogistic ate d
sulphuric acid. It was not till the year 1774 that its
tinguishes it from other gases, and which was discover
ed by Monge and Clouet, is ascribed by Fourcroy to
the rvater it holds in solution. 4:
6. When sulphurous acid is in the form of gas, it With Y
does not readilv combine with oxygen. In its fluid gen
form it unites with it more freely, and is converted in-^ic‘
to sulphuric acid. A mixture of sulphurous acid gas
and oxygen, in passing through a red-hot tube, combine
together, and are converted into sulphuric acid. I here
seems to be no action between sulphurous acid and
azotic gas
4 .
7. Hydrogen gas has no action on sulphurous acid
gas in the cold ; but when a mixture of these gases is
made to pass through a red-hot tube, sulphurous acid is
decomposed ; the hydrogen combines with the oxygen
and forms water, and sulphur is deposited. If the hy¬
drogen gas be in greater proportion than the oxygen
I contained
CHEMISTRY.
\V char-
to:
by gen
I10
Su iret-
ed iro-
I'l
Vi wa-
..s contained in the sulphurous acid, it dissolves part of
—the sulphur, and passes off in the form of sulphurated
0 hydrogen gas.
8. Its action with charcoal is somewhat similar. In
the cold there is none ; but exposed together to a red
heat, carbonic acid is formed by the union of carbon
and oxygen, and sulphur is deposited.
W phos- 9. There is no action whatever between phosphorus
pk ted and sulphurous acid gas j but phosphureted hydrogen
gas is decomposed by this acid. When the two gases
come in contact, a white thick vapour is produced $
sulphur combined with phosphorus in the solid state is
deposited, and water is formed.
10. Sulphur has no action on this acid ; but sulphu¬
rated hydrogen gas, at the instant it comes in contact
with sulphurous acid gas, is condensed ; solid sulphur
is deposited, and water is formed, with the extrication
of caloric.
11. Water has a strong attraction for sulphurous
te acid gas. A piece of ice brought in contact with it, is
immediately melted without any perceptible change of
temperature. Water saturated with this gas is known
by the name of liquid sulphurous acid. The specific
gravity is 1.040. At the temperature of 430 water
fi rroy, combines with of its weight of sulphurous acid gasf $
Co list, but as the temperature increases, it absorbs it in smaller
I ^7^ proportions. It freez.es at a temperature a few degrees
below 3 2°, and it passes into the solid state without
parting with any of its acid. Liquid sulphurous acid
has the smell, taste, and other properties of the gas*
and particularly that of destroying vegetable colours.
When exposed to the atmosphere, it gradually absorbs
oxygen, and passes into the state of sulphuric acid.
This change goes on more rapidly when it is diluted
2 with water, and agitated in contact with the air.
®jsul* 12. Sulphuric acid separates the sulphurous acid
** in the gaseous form from its combinations, and even
from water. Concentrated sulphuric acid absorbs this
gas, which imparts to it a yellowish brown colour,
and renders it pungent and fuming. The two acids
strongly attract each other, so that when they are ex¬
posed to the action of heat, the first vapour which rises
crystallizes in long, white, needle-shaped prisms. This
is a compound of the two acids. It smokes in the air,
3 dissolves with effervescence in it, and when thrown in-
1 sul-to water produces a hissing noise, like a red hot iron,
acid, it |jas the strong smell of sulphurous acid. This sub-
’1I' stance was formerly called glacial sulphuric acid*.
4 13. Sulphurous acid is very much employed in the
arts, and sometimes in medicine. In the state of gas
it is used for the bleaching of silk and wool, by extract¬
ing the colouring matter. It removes also the stains
arising from vegetable juices, and spots of iron, from
5 linen.
IS*' 14. According to the analysis of Dr Thomson,
parts of this acid are composed of
68 sulphur,
32 oxygen.
Gli
IOO
ICO
15. The compound salts formed by this acid are de¬
nominated sulphites.
16. The following is the order of its affinities :
Vol. V. Part II. t
Barytes,
Lime,
Potash,
Soda,
Strontites,
Magnesia,
Ammonia,
Glucina,
Alumina,
Zirconia.
Sect. III. Of Nitric Acid.
513
Acids.
»   i
497
1. This acid was formerly known by the name ofNames.
aquafortis, and spirit of nitre. Raymond Lully, who . 49s
lived in the 13th century, seems to have been ac-^lstor^‘
quainted with it $ and Basil Valentine, who lived in
the 15th, describes the process for preparing it. He
calls it water of nitre. But till the discoveries of mo¬
dern chemistry, little was known of the nature, proper¬
ties, and composition of this acid. It is to the experi¬
ments and researches of Cavendish and Priestley, of
Lavoisier and Berthollet, that we are indebted for the
knowledge we possess of it.
2. Nitric acid exists in great abundance in nature. Abundant
It is formed by the union of its constituent parts which in nature,
are evolved during the putrefactive process of animal
and vegetable matters ; but it is never found, except
in combination with some base, from which it must be
extracted by art. The component parts of nitric acid
are azote and oxygen. The name in this case is not
derived from the base, which is azote, but from nitre,
from which it is generally obtained. This acid cannot
be formed merely by bringing in contact the two gases
which are its constituent parts j but if they are mixed
together in certain proportions, and electric sparks sent
through the mixture, the gases disappear, and are con¬
verted into a liquid. This is nitric acid. By a simi¬
lar experiment Mr Cavendish discovered the composi¬
tion of the acid. ^00
3. This acid may be obtained by putting three parts Method of
of nitre with one of sulphuric acid into a glass retort, Procur‘nS
and distilling with a strong heat. The gas which comes111
over is condensed in a glass receiver, to which the re¬
tort is to be luted. The gas which is condensed is ni¬
tric acid. Nitre is composed of this acid and potash :
but potash has a stronger affinity for sulphuric acid than
for nitric acid 5 it therefore combines with the sulphu¬
ric acid in the retort, and the nitric acid is disengaged,
and passes over in the gaseous form. ,.or
4. The acid thus obtained is contaminated with mu- Of purify-
riatic, and sometimes with sulphurous acid. It is pu-ing it.
rified by distillation with a gentle heat. At first too it
is of a yellow colour, which is owing to the fumes of
nitric oxide gas with which it is combined. These
fumes are driven off by heat, after which the acid re¬
mains pure, and is transparent and colourless. <.S2
5. Thus prepared, it has a strong acid taste ; a dis- Properties,
agreeable pungent odour, and gives a yel'ow colour to
the skin. The specific gravity of strong nitric acid is
1.583, or, according to Mr Kirwan, at temperature
6°°. Mif . r. J , 503 .
6. Nitric acid and one of its compounds, nitre, have Discovery
lone- been the subject of the experiments and researches o! h-s com-
3 T o{-position.
514
CHEMISTRY.
Acid*.
$ Phil.
Tram.
1784.
| Ibid.
1788,
p. *61.
of chemical philosophers. In investigating the na¬
ture of nitre, Mayow found that it possessed a common
property with atmospheric air} namely, the property
of giving a red colour to the blood. And, from ob¬
serving that air was deprived of this property by the
process of combustion and respiration, he drew the cu¬
rious conclusion, that nitre contained that part of the
air which is necessary for respiration and combustion.
7. When nitric acid dissolves metallic substances, a
great quantity of a peculiar gas makes its escape, and
the metal acquires considerable weight during this pro¬
cess. According to the phlogistic theory, it was sup¬
posed that the metal was deprived of its phlogiston, and
that this phlogiston had combined with the nitrous gas
which had escaped. This was Dr Priestley’s explana¬
tion. But it was differently explained by Lavoisier.
He took 1104 grs. of mercury, and added to it 945 grs.
of nitric acid. Nitrous gas was emitted during the so¬
lution, and when he exposed the mercury which had
been converted into an oxide, to a red heat, oxygen gas
was given out, and the mercury appeared in the metal¬
lic state. Pie therefore concluded, that the nitric acid
in this case was decomposed, and that it consisted of oxy¬
gen which combined with the metal, and of nitrous gas
which was driven off. The proportions, he supposed,
were, 64 parts of nitr.ous gas by weight, and 36 of
oxygen gas. He found, however, that the quantity of
oxygen obtained in this process, was sometimes greater
than what was necessary to saturate the nitrous gas 5
and he wras at a loss to account for this quantity. His
own experiments, as well as some of Dr IJriestley’s,
proved, that azote is a component part of nitre.
Mr Cavendish, who discovered the composition of
water, in his experiments and researches on that sub¬
ject, found, that nitric acid was produced during the
explosion of oxygen and hydrogen gases} and that he
could increase this quantity by adding azotic gas to the
mixture before combustion. Prom this he concluded,
that the formation of the acid depended on the azotic
gas. Pie proved this by passing electrical sparks
through common air in a glass tube. The air dimi¬
nished in bulk, and nitric acid was formed. Kepeat-
ing a similar experiment with oxygen and azotic gases
in certain proportions, he found "that the whole could
be converted into nitric acidt. Mr Cavendish re¬
peated the same experiments, with a view to remove
some objections which had been made to his conclu¬
sions. They were followed by the same result, and the
fact of the composition of nitric acid was thus fully es¬
tablished J.
To perform this experiment, take a glass tube of
about one sixth of an inch in diameter. Close one end
with a cork, through which let a metallic conductor
with a ball at each extremity be passed. Fill the tube
with mercury } immerse the open end into the mercu¬
rial trough } introduce a mixture of .13 parts of azotic
gas, and .87 of oxygen gas, occupying three inches of
the tube, and a solution of potash filling one-half inch
more. Let electrical explosions be sent through the
tube till the air ceases to be diminished in bulk. If
the experiment succeed, the potash will be found con¬
verted into nitre, which shews that the nitric acid,
which is a component part of nitre, has been formed
during the process.
8. Nitric acid, having a strong affinity for water, is
never found entirely deprived of this liquid. When ^eid'
exposed to the air, it attracts moisture from it, and L—-v-! 1
heat is given out when it is mixed with water. Mr 504 {
Kirwan has endeavoured to ascertain the relative ^,IS0rljs;
strength of nitric acid of different densities or specific' ^'
gravities} and the method which he adopted was the Method
following. He saturated 36 grs. of carbonate of sodadetermi.
with 147 grs. of nitric acid, of specific gravity i.2754,'n£ffe
which contained 45.7 per cent, of standard acid, of spe-t*Uaulit-|
cific gravity 1.5543* The carbonic acid which escap¬
ed amounted to 14 grs.} and by adding 939 grs. of
water, the specific gravity of the solution, at the tem¬
perature of 58.5°, was 1.0401. By a similar test with
that employed in ascertaining the strength of sulphuric
acid, namely, by comparing this solution with one of
nitrate of soda of the same density, he found the quan-
16
tity of salt amounted to 1. parts. There was an
901
excess of acid of about 2 grs. The whole weight was
1439 grains. The quantity of salt, therefore, was
*439 r>
--■^^ — 85.142 grs. The quantity of pure alkali was
• 5°—14—3^,05 grs’ The quantity of standard acid
was 66.7 } the sum of both =102.75. Of this quan¬
tity only 85.142 entered into combination with the salt,
the remaining 17.608 were mere water, given out by
the standard acid. If then 66.7 parts standard acid
lose 17.608 parts water combining with the alkali, 100
parts should lose 26.38. And, as Mr Kirwan has
made it probable, that nitrate of soda contains very
little water in its composition } 100 parts of standard
nitric acid is composed of 73.62 of pure acid, and 26.38
ofwfte*;§- . . im
I he following table, drawn up by Mr Kirwan, shews Trans.
the quantity of pure acid in nitric acid of different spe-v°b‘T-
cific gravities. P* 34-
ioc Parts.
Sp. Gravity.
I-5543
1-5295
1.5070
M957
1.4844
I,473I
I,47x9
I-47°7
M695
1.4683
1.4671
1.4640
1.4611
1.4582
J-4553
1.4524
1.4471
1.4422
I'I373
1.4324
M275
1.4222
Real
Acid.
73-54
69.86
67.12
68.39
67.65
66.92
66.18
65-45
64.71
63-98 +
63.24
62.51
6i-77
61.03
60.30
59-56
58.83
58.09
57-36
56.62
55-89
55-I5
54-12 +
100 Parts.
Sp. Gravity.
I-4I7I
I.4120
I.4069
I.4018
I-3975
T-3925
1-3875
1-3825
I-3775
1.3721
1.3671
1.3621
I-357I
1- 3521
2- 3368
I-34I7
i-3364
i-33i5
1.3264
1.3212
1.3160
1.3108
i-3056
Real
Acid.
53-68
5 2-94
52.21
5M7
50.74
50.00
49-27
48.53
47.80
47.06
46.33
45-59
44.86+
44.12
43-38
42.65
4I-9I
41.18
40.44
39-71
38.97
38.34
37-5°
2
ioo Parts,
Sp. Gravity.
I*3004
1.29II
I.28l2
I-2795
1.2779
1.2687
1.2586
1.2500
1.2464
1.2419
I*2374
x.2291
1.2209
1.2180
1-2152
1.2033
Ileal
Acid.
36-77
36-°3
35-3° +
34-56
33-82
33-°9
3 2-3 5
3r-62
30.88
3C.I5
29.41
29.68
27.94
27.21-f-
26.47
25-74+
ico Parts.
Sp. Gravity
Real
Acid.
1.2015
i-i963
1.1911
1.1845
1.1779
1.1704
1.1639
i-i58i
i.i524
1.1421
1.1319
1.1284
1.1241
1.1165
1.1111
2.1040
CHEMISTRY. 515
nitric acid is cooled down to the temperature of — 550, Acids.
it begins to crystallize in a few minutes, assumes a ' v — >
deep-red colour, and congeals into a thick mass re- + Annul, de
sembling butter, by agitating the vessel which contains vo1,
;tt- n„ . . ... Xp'
11. There is no action between nitric acid and oxy- 5C7
gen or azotic gases-, but when concentrated nitric acid Of oxygCI1-
is exposed to the air, the vapour which it exhales com¬
bines with the moisture of the atmosphere, forms white
fumes, and is condensed into a liquid.
25.00
24.26
23-53
22.79
22.06
21.32
20.59
19.85
19.12
18.48
17.65 +
16.91
16.17
14.70
13-27
kir H. Davy has, from his own experiments, de¬
duced the real quantities of nitric acid in solutions of
different specific gravities, and has assigned the follow-
JWbg proportions*.
t>"
Table of the quantities of True Nitric Acid in solu¬
tions of different Specific Gravities.
100 Parts Nitric
Acid, of specific
gravity.
1,5040
M475
1,4285
1,3906
1>355I
1,3186
1,3042
1,2831
1,2090
True Acid (m).
9I>55
80,39
7i»65
62,96
56,88
52,03
49,04
46,03
45,07
Water.
8>45
19,61
28,35
37.04
43,12
47,97
50.96
53.97
54,73
1 *
^ 1 of
Ha
rcroy
’/m.
tom.
9. When colourless nitric acid is exposed to the
light, it undergoes a partial decomposition. Some
oxygen gas is separated, the acid assumes an orange
yellow colpur, and part of it passes into the state of
nitrous acid.
10. It boils at the temperature of 248°, and is en¬
tirely dissipated without alteration, if the heat be con¬
tinued. . When it is made to pass through a red-hot
porcelain tube, it is decomposed, and converted into
its constituent parts, oxygen and azotic gases f. When
12. Hydrogen gas has no action on nitric acid at the Hydrogen,
ordinary temperature of the atmosphere j but, if they Of combus-
are made to pass through a red-hot porcelain tube,tiblc bod*es'
there is a violent combustion with detonation. Water
is formed by the combination of the hydrogen with the
oxygen of the acid and azotic gas, its other constitu¬
ent part, is evolved.
13. Nitric acid is also decomposed by charcoal at a
high temperature. Carbon combines with the oxygen,
and forms carbonic acid, while the azotic gas is set at
liberty.
14. It is also decomposed in the same way by phos¬
phorus and sulphur. When the acid is poured upon
these combustibles at a high temperature, inflammation
takes place, and they are converted into phosphoric
and sulphuric acids.
I5- When nitric and sulphuric acids are mixed to-Of sulp^u-
gether, heat is evolved. The sulphuric acid attractsric acid,
the water which existed in the nitric acid, and this wa¬
ter being more condensed in combination with sulphu¬
ric acid, the caloric with which it xvas combined along
with the nitric acid, is given out. Thus, the nitric
acid becomes more concentrated by the addition of the
sulphuric acid. 5IO
\\ hen nitric and sulphurous acids are mixed toge-Of sulphu-
ther, a very different action takes place. The nitric10118 acid»
acid separates it from water and its other combina¬
tions j parts with its oxygen, and thus converts it into
sulphuric acid, and passes itself into the state of ni¬
tric oxide gas.
16. According to Lavoisier, the proportions of the Composi-
component parts of nitric acid are, one part azote andtioiu
four parts oxygen. This was the result of his experi¬
ments on the decomposition of nitre by charcoal. Ac¬
cording to Mr Cavendish, the proportions of the azote
and oxygen combined by electricity are one part azote
and 2.346 of oxygen. The result of Sir H. Davy’s
experiments shews that 100 parts of pure nitric acid
are composed of
29.5 azote.
7°-5 oxygen.
100.0
iy. The combinations which are formed with the ni-Combina-
tric acid, and the alkalies, earths, and oxides of metals, tion.
are denominated nitrates.
3 T 2 18.
(m) rIhe quantities ot oxygen ;
the oxygen, and Y the nitrogen,
Then
any solution, may be thus found: Let A n the true acid, X
and Y=—.
239
CHEMISTRY.
5\3
Affinities.
5*4
Uses.
5*5
Method of
procuring.
S1^
Composi¬
tion.
. 5*7
Liquid
acid.
5‘8
Action of
light and
heat.
18. The order of the affinities of nitric acid is the
following.
Barytes,
Potash,
Soda,
Strontites,
Lime,
Magnesia,
Ammonia,
Glucina,
Alumina,
Zirconia,
Oxide of Zinc,
Iron,
Manganese,
Cobalt,
Nickel,
Lead,
Tin,
Copper,
Bismuth,
Antimony,
Arsenie,
Mercury,
Silver,
Gold,
Platinum.
19. This is one of tire most important of the acids,
considered as an instrument of analysis in the hands of
the chemist. It is employed in many arts. It is also
used in medicine, for diseases of the skin j and some¬
times as a cure in venereal affections. Perhaps it may
he regarded as a useful auxiliary to the ordinary re¬
medies.
Sect. TV. Of Nitrous Acid.
1. Nitrous acid bears the same relation to nitric acid
that sulphurous acid bears to sulphuric j that is, the
constituent parts of nitric acid are in different pro¬
portion from those of nitrous acid. Nitrous acid may
he formed by combining nitric oxide gas with nitric
acid: and it was at one time contended, that it is a mere
mixture of these two substances. It is now, however,
generally admitted, that the nitrous acid is as much a
distinct compound, as any other of the compounds of
azote.
2. Sir H. Davy finds, that two measures of nitric
oxide gas and 1 of oxygen (= I azote and 2 oxygen)
are condensed into half their volume, forming nitrous
acid gas. One hundred grains of this contain, by
weight,
Azote 3.0.3 2
Oxygen 69.68.
3. When absorbed by water to saturation, it constitutes
liquid nitrous acid $ the water first becomes green, then
blue, and then orange, depending on the quantities ab¬
sorbed. This acid boils at 160, while the nitric boils
at 236.
4. Light has no action on nitrous acid ; but when
heat is applied, nitric oxide gas is driven oft^ and nitric
acid remains behind. In the state of vapour, nitrous
acid remains unchanged by the action of heat.
3
Aciib
5. Neither oxygen gas, azotic gas, nor atmospheric
air, produce any change on nitrous acid. '
6. On combustible bodies the action of this acid is S1?
nearly similar to that of the nitric j but many sub-Combllsl
stances are more rapidly inflamed by nitrous acid. This ieS'
seems to depend on the nitrous acid being more easily
decomposed, and giving up its oxygen, which is less
strongly attracted by the azote, on account of the
greater proportion of caloric united with it. It decom¬
poses phosphureted and sulphureted hydrogen gases, and
precipitates the phosphorus and the sulphur. JJ0
7. Sulphuric acid combines with the vapour of nitrousSulphuri
acid, which communicates the property of disposing theac^
sulphuric acid to crystallize. Nitrous acid converts
sulphurous into sulphuric acid, and, at the same time,
parts with its nitric oxide gas. 52I
8. Nitrous acid enters into combination with the al-Com-
kalies and earths. The compounds are distinguished Poun^s•
by the name of nitrites. These compounds are not
made by direct combination, and therefore the affinities
of this acid are little known.
Sect V. Of Muriatic Acid and Chloride.
... 522
I. The composition of this acid is at the present mo-C'omposi
ment matter of controversy; but before entering ontl0n<*‘s'
this, we shall state the facts known relative to it. The™ ^
name of muriatic acid is derived from the Latin word Names,
muria, which signifies sea-salt, the substance from
which the acid is usually extracted. It was formerly
denominated spirit of salt, acid of salt, and marine
acid.
5^4
2. Muriatic acid may be obtained by putting 100Method
parts of dry common salt, and 35 of sulphuric acid, in-ProcunD
to a retort or matrass with a bent tube. The beak of
the retort at the end of the tube must communicate
with a receiver containing water, that the muriatic acid
may be condensed as it passes into the receiver. In
this way liquid muriatic acid may be obtained. 525 i
3. But if the gas which comes over is received in a Inti?
jar inverted in the mercurial apparatus, its propertiesktate of
may be examined in the state of gas. When it first ^as'
passes over, it is in the form of white smoke. j2fi
4. Muriatic acid gas possesses the physical properties Properti
of common air. It is an invisible elastic fluid. It has
a strong acid taste, and a very pungent smell. The
specific gravity, according to Kirwan, is 0.002315.
5. It is unfit for respiration, and equally so tor sup¬
porting combustion. 527
6. This gas has a strong attraction for water. If a Action (J
little water be introduced into a jar filled with this gas,water’ j
standing over mercury, the whole of the gas will be
absorbed, and the mercury will instantaneously rise to
the top. Or if a jar filled with muriatic acid gas be
inverted into a vessel of water, coloured with vegetable
blue, the water suddenly rushes into the jar, which it
completely fills, and the blue colour is changed to red,
exhibiting the usual effects of acids on vegetable co¬
lours. 518
7. Light has no action whatever on this gas, nor does Light3 4
it undergo any change when it is made to pass throughbcat'
a red-hot porcelain tube. In the state of gas, it has
no action upon oxygen gas. When this gas comes in
contact with atmospheric air, thick white fumes are
produced, with the extrication of caloric. This is a
combination
CHEMISTRY.
5i7
i i(j8 combination of the gas with the water in the atmosphere,
w t '—j by which they are mutually condensed.
8. There is no action between muriatic acid gas
«. I ; and azote, hydrogen, charcoal, phosphorus, or sul-
L phur.
I ci ines 9. The quantity of muriatic acid which water ab-
w water sorbs is very considerable. Ten grains of water com-
j iri [*■ bine with ten grains of the gas. The liquid acid thus
jpritioH' forme{| 0CCUpies the space of 13.3 grains, and hence
its specific gravity is 1.500 j and the specific gravity
of the purest muriatic acid in its condensed state is
3.30°.
The specific gravity of the strongest muriatic acid
that can easily be procured and preserved, is 1.196.
One hundred parts of this, Mr Kirwan calculates, will
contain about 49 of acid, whose specific gravity is 1.500,
[ ;0 which he calls the standard acid.
P :rties. 10. Liquid muriatic acid, in its ordinary state, is of
a pale yellow colour 5 but when pure, it is transparent
i 31 and colourless.
i A n of 11. Light has no action whatever on muriatic acid,
lij an<1 When heat is applied, it readily assumes the gaseous
form. Neither oxygen nor azotic gases are absorbed
by muriatic acid, nor has this acid any action on hydro-
32 gen, charcoal, phosphorus, or sulphur.
t |c Iphu- 12. Sulphuric acid separates the muriatic acid from
ri :id. j{S compounds, and even from its combination with wa¬
ter j but the muriatic acid drives oil the sulphurous
33 acid from this liquid.
' C trie 13. One of the most remarkable characters of mu-
I a riatic acid, is its combination with nitric acid. When
these two acids are mixed together, they act upon
each other, are strongly heated, and produce efler-
vescence, with a change of colour to an orange red.
A mixed acid is thus formed, which possesses proper¬
ties which existed neither in the one acid nor the other
when in a state of separation. It was formerly called
aqua regia, from its property of dissolving gold, which
| 34 was distinguished by the name of Jang of the metals.
> Mira- It is now denominated nitro muriatic acid. This acid
| c' aci(b is not to be considered as a simple mixture of the two
acids. A double attraction takes place in their mutual
action ; the muriatic acid attracts part of the oxygen
of the nitric acid, and the nitric combines with the ni¬
trous gas. The muriatic acid thus combined with a
portion of oxygen, is disengaged with effervescence in
yellow fumes j the undecomposed nitric acid seizes the
nitric oxide gas which is formed, and when it is satu¬
rated with it, the action ceases. Hence arises the co¬
lour of the mixed acid. The peculiar effect of the ni-
tro-muriatic acid on metallic substances, will be de-
l 35 scribed in treating of the metals.
Mm of 14. 1'he bulk of muriatic acid gas is greatly dimi-
j * lichy- nished by the action of electricity, and hydrogen gas is
given out ; but this action is limited. Hr Henry has
shewn that it is not owing to the decomposition of the
acid, as might at first sight be supposed, but to the de¬
composition of water which it holds in solution ; so that
the action continues as long as there is any moisture in
11) I the gas. The oxygen of the water combines with the
acid, and forms oxymuriatic acid : while the hydrogen
I 35 of the water is evolved.
I (| ij. Muriatic acid gas has been successfully employ-
11 "Ss ed in destroying noxious, putrid exhalations. It was
! i>. va'
applied in this way in the year 1773 by Morveau, in Acids,
purifying the cathedral of Hijon from these exhala- ' ■ v
tions, on account of which it had been altogether de¬
serted. 537
16. The compounds which are formed by muriatic Compounds
acid, with alkalies, earths, and metallic oxides, are dis¬
tinguished by the name of muriates. . ,5
17. The following is the order of the affinities of this Affinities,
acid.
Barytes,
Potash,
Strontites,
Lirr.-',
Ammonia,
Magnesia,
Glucina,
Alumina,
Metallic oxides.
. . . > .539
1. Oxymuriatic acid, now called chlorine, was dis-Oxymu-
covered by Scheele in the year 1774, and he gave itnatic^acid,
the name of dephlogisticated marine acid. On account
of its singular properties, and the important uses to
which it was soon applied, it has been much examined
by chemical philosophers. 540
2. This substance is obtained by the following process: Method of
Take three parts of common salt, and one part of theProcunnS'
black oxide of manganese, reduced to powder. Intro¬
duce them into a tubulated retort ; place the retort in
a sand bath, and immerse its beak under the surface of
warm water in the pneumatic trough. Pour upon it two
parts of sulphuric acid a little diluted with water. An
effervescence takes place, and a lemon-coloured gas is
evolved, which may be received in jars, or preserved in
large vessels with ground stoppers.
The nature of this process seemed till lately sufficient¬
ly obvious. Common salt is composed of muriatic acid
and soda ; the affinity of sulphuric acid for soda is
stronger than that of muriatic acid ; it therefore com¬
bines with the soda, and the muriatic acid is disengaged
in the state of gas. The black oxide of manganese is
composed of oxygen and the metallic substance. The
sulphuric acid combines with the manganese at a lower
stage of oxidation, and sets oxygen at liberty in the state
of gas. But there is also an affinity between the muri¬
atic acid and oxygen, so that in the moment of evolution
they unite, and pass off in the state of oxymuriatic acid
gas. This rationale of the process is now however dis¬
puted. We shall state the grounds of dispute, after we
have detailed the properties of the substance obtained. ^
3. This gas is of a yellowish green colour, and is Properties,
hence called chlorine j has a strong penetrating odour,
and excites violent coughing, when a mixture of it with
atmospheric air is respired. The pure gas is totally
unfit for respiration. This gas supports cor.bustion.
It diminishes and reddens the flame of a taper 3 much
smoke is evolved, and the taper consumes rapidly. 542
4. Neither light nor heat have any action on the gas.Unchanged
When passed through red-hot porcelain tubes, it re-’^Jj^11 Bml
mains unchanged.
5. It has no action whatever on oxygen or azotic Action on
gases. inflammable
6. In the cold no effect is produced from a mixture suljslallce'c-
of this gas with hydrogen gas 5 but when they are
passed
S'8
CHEMISTRY.
Acids, passed through a red-hot tube, a violent detonation takes
—~v 11place.
7- In the cold there is no action between charcoal
and this gas. When a mixture of equal bulks of this
gas and carbureted hydrogen gas is inflamed, there is
only a combustion of the hydrogen gas, with a deposi¬
tion of charcoal. If two measures of oxymuriatic acid
gas, and one measure of carbureted hydrogen gas, are
mixed together In a close phial, and allowed to remain
for 24 hours, they decompose each other. Water, mu¬
riatic acid, carbonic acid, and carbonic oxide, are the
products. When water is admitted, the whole is near¬
ly absorbed.
8. A bit of dried phosphorus introduced into this
gas, is instantly inflamed, and converted into phospho¬
ric acid. It also sets fire to phosphorated hydrogen
gas, which has lost the px-operty of spontaneous inflam¬
mation in the air.
Sulphurous
acid.
545
In the li¬
quid state.
546
Destroys
vegetable
colours.
547
Action of
light.
543.
Composi¬
tion.
9. Melted sulphur, plunged into this gas, is imme¬
diately inflamed, and converted into sulphuric acid.
Sulphureted hydrogen gas is decomposed, but without
inflammation, and sulphur is deposited.
10. There is no action between this gas and sul¬
phuric acid ; but, when sulphurous acid gas is mixed
with it, a thick white vapour is formed, which is the
sulphurous acid converted into sulphuric acid, by de¬
priving the oxymuriatic gas of its oxygen. It has no
effect on nitric acid } but nitric oxide gas brought into
contact with it, is reddened, and converted into nitrous
acid.
11. What is commonly known by the name of oxy¬
muriatic acid, is water saturated with this gas. It has
a pale green colour, and exhales the same odour as the
gas. According to Berthollet, a cubic inch of water
absorbs i^jA grs. French of the gas. The quantitv ab¬
sorbed by the water is in proportion to the temperature
and the pressure. When vessels containing water, and
receiving this gas, are surrounded with ice, while the
water is saturated, the gas crystallizes at the surface,
and even at the bottom of the liquid, in the form of
six-sided plates, of a greenish white colour ; but the
slightest heat dissolves them, and they rise through the
liquor in the form of gas.
W ater saturated with this gas at the temperature of
43° lias specific gravity of 1.003.
12. This substance does not x’edden vegetable blues,
like the acids. it has the singular property of de¬
stroying vegetable colours, on account of which it has
been much employed in the art of bleaching. The
effect which takes place in this process, has been sup¬
posed to be the combination of the colouring matter with
the oxygen of the chlorine ; for the chlorine seems to
be deprived of its oxygen, as it is converted into muriatic
acid. For the full account of this process, see Bleach¬
ing.
13* substance, when exposed to the light, is
decomposed ; it gives out oxygen gas, becomes colour¬
less, and passes into the state of muriatic acid. But,
wlieii heat is applied, the chlorine is disengaged in the
state of gas, without any perceptible separation of its
oxygen. Exposed to the air, it is gradually separa¬
ted , exhaling at the same time, its pungent, disagree¬
able odour.
14. The constituent parts of oxymuriatic acid, ac¬
cording to Berthollet, are of 89 muriatic acid, to 11 of
oxygen. According to Mr Chenevix, it is composed of
84 of muriatic acid, and 16 of oxygen.
In consequence of some elegant experiments of Gay
Lussac, however, very strong reasons have appeared
for taking a totally different view of the nature of chlo¬
rine. Many eminent chemists, accordingly, as Sir H.
Davy, Dr Thomson, Gay Lussac, Thenard, and per¬
haps the majority at the present moment, deny the
compound nature of this substance, and maintain it to
be a simple body, forming one of the constituents of
muriatic acid, while hydrogen is the othex-. In every
case in which oxygen has appeared to be yielded by
chlorine, water was present; and when deprived of
water, it is found much steadier in its constitution, not
altered by light, and giving off no oxygen. The con¬
clusion is, that the oxygen comes from the water, while
the hydrogen of the water combines with the chlorine
to form muriatic acid. Besides, it is incontrovertibly
proved that, if chlorine gas differs from muriatic acid
gas, by containing oxygen, this cannot be the only dif¬
ference. In no case can we, by simply removing oxy¬
gen, convert chlorine into muriatic acid gas. When
chlorine is made to act on hydi’ogen gas with detona¬
tion, muriatic acid is formed ; but no oxygen is x-e-
moved, for no water is produced capable of being sepa¬
rated from the gas. Muriatic acid gas is in fact tire
only product. It therefore contains whatever was
contained in the chlorine, and the hydrogen besides.
Those who adhere to the old opinion, therefore, say
that water is an essential part of muriatic acid gas, but
not of oxymuriatic $ that the latter is dry acid in
union with oxygen, while the former is the acid in union
with water; and that the cause of the difficulty of ob¬
taining muriatic acid gas, by removing oxygen without
the aid of hydrogen, is the impossibility of the muria¬
tic acid assuming a separate and gaseous state without
the presence of a portion of water, which is necessary
to it, in the same manner as it is to the sulphuidc and
the nitric acids. The question would be decided in
favour of the old opinion, if it could be proved, either
1. That chlorine yields oxygen, or, 2. That muriatic
acid gas, free from bygrometric vapoux*, contains com¬
bined water, and is capable, under any circumstances,
of yielding it. The affirmative of these two last ques¬
tions has been maintained by the late Dr Murray, who
ably defends the old doctrine, both by arguments
drawn from analogy, and by the results of his experi¬
ments. For these we refer to the last edition of the
Elements of Chemistry of that author. We are cer¬
tainly indebted to him for some careful and ingenious
experiments directed to this object. Minute quantities
of water were yielded by muriate of ammonia subjected
to sublimation, after the muriatic acid and ammoniacal
gases of which it was formed bad been freed from hy-
grometric water, by passing over deliquescent salts.
It also was apparently yielded by muidatic acid gas
when made to act on metals. The only reply made
to these results is, that the water was yielded by
the glass vessels employed, a source which had never
been before suspected of interfering in such cases.
Ihese rigid interrogations of nature ai'e always useful,
but we do not consider them in the present instance as
completed. We wait for a repetition of them, with
some valuations. At all events, it is to be remarked,
that, according to the old opinion, pure muriatic acid,
uncombined
Aeii
Wy
Views
Gay I.
and D
CHEMISTRY.
uncomblned with oxygen, or with water, has never been
—•'procured. It is also to be remarked, that where chlo-
line, called oxymuriatic gas, appears readily to part
with oxygen, it is not its own oxygen that it yields; it
is the oxygen of the water that is present, which is
evolved in consequence of the mutual attraction sub¬
sisting between chlorine and the hydrogen of the wa¬
ter } for dry chlorine does not give off oxygenous gas,
but dry chlorine readily combines with dry hydrogen
when heat is applied. If chlorine is a compound, its
compound nature is not easily demonstrated. Those
eminent chemists of our cotemporaries, who regard it as
a simple body, have introduced a new nomenclature,
not only as applied to it, but to its compounds. The
French chemists call it a combustible substance, and
apply to its compounds a set of terms corresponding to
this view. Its compounds with the metals are called
by them cJilorurets, as those of other inflammables are
called sulphurets, carburets, &c. Its compound
with oxygen being found to possess some qualities in
common with the acids, is called chloric acid, and the
salts which this acid form, chlorates. The muriatic
acid being formed of chlorine and hydrogen, is called
the hydrochloric acid, and its salts hydrochlorates.
The British chemists, who maintain the simple nature
of chlorine, regard it as a supporter of combustion, and
therefore rank it in the same class with oxygen. They
at first designated its compounds by the termination
ane, as sodane, cuprane, &c. Now they call them
chlorides, as a term analogous to the compounds of
oxygen, the oxides. These chlorides of the British,
and chlorurets of the French chemists, are, as we shall
afterwards see, the muriates of the previously used and
still prevalent nomenclature.
0 \\lnr. More recently, however, a still different and verv
ra interesting view has been taken of these substances by
Dr Murray, as contained in the Transactions of the
Royal Society of Edinburgh, and in the last edition of
his System of Chemistry. He supposes chlorine to be
a compound of oxygen with an unknown simple body
as its radical (which may be called murion'), and muria¬
tic acid as the same substance, acidified by the further
addition of hydrogen. This last principle he regards as
an acidifying principle like oxygen, and producing
along with it more powerful acids than those formed
by oxygen alone. Some combustible bodies form acids by
uniting with hydrogen alone j such is sulphureted hy¬
drogen, which is now known to possess acid properties.
These are the weakest acids. Others are formed by
the union of the radical with oxygen alone ; such is
sulphurous acid. These have stronger acid powers.
Of this kind is chlorine or oxymuriatic acid ; a sub¬
stance the acid powers of which are feeble and scarcely
recognizable, but which presents this strong analogy
with the sulphurous acid, that they both have the pro¬
perty of destroying vegetable colours. Other acids are
formed by the union of the radical both with oxygen
and hydrogen j such is the case with the sulphuric
acid, and such, he suggests, may be the nature of the
muriatic. This doctrine is consistent with the results of
his experiments, in which water was yielded by muria¬
tic acid. It contains both oxygen and hydrogen, which
may be obtained in the form of water, though existing
in the acid not as water, but as two acidifying powers,
heightening one another’s efficiency. The author sup¬
ports this view by many beautiful and striking ana¬
logies, and likewise by the application of the doctrine
of definite proportions or fixed combining weights j and
he maintains, by some ingenious calculations, that this
view removes some of the anomalies which that doc¬
trine, as applied to certain compounds, otherwise pre¬
sents. This writer, therefore, still retains the old
nomenclature, calling chlorine oxymuriatic acid, &c.
which indeed may be done in sufficient consistency
with all the facts. It is a suitable enough name for
the compound formed of oxygen with the radical of the
muriatic acid. It may even be used, though we should
consider chlorine as a simple body, if we view it as a
supporter of combustion. It is the oxygen or the aci-
difier to which muriatic acid owes its power.
Sect. VI. Of the Compounds of Chlorine with
Oxygen.
55*
1. When hyperoxymuriate or chlorate of potash, (a Euchiorine,
salt to be afterwards described,) is distilled at a gentle
heat with weak muriatic acid, a gas is collected
over mercury, differing from chlorine. It has a dense
yellow colour, and a smell resembling that of burnt
sugar. It has been called by Sir H. Davy, its dis¬
cover, euchlorine. It explodes by a gentle heat with a
further evolution of heat and light, and yet presents
the remarkable phenomenon of an expansion rather
than a condensation of its elements. Five volumes
are expanded to six, being composed of two volumes of
chlorine and one of oxygen ; and the latter, being con¬
densed to half its bulk. It does not act on mercury at
ordinary temperatures as chlorine does. ^
2. Another compound is procured by distillation Peroxide of
from hyperoxymuriate of potash, treated with a small chlorine,
quantity of concentrated sulphuric acid, and exposed to
a moderate heat. This has a still livelier colour, and
more bland odour than euchlorine. It explodes more
violently than euchlorine when decomposed by heat,
and the expansion produced is greater, amounting to an
addition of nearly one half. It seems to consist of two
volumes of oxygen to one of chlorine. _ ,
3. A compound is also obtained, consisting of a still Hyperoxy-
larger proportion of oxygen with chlorine. It is in fact muriatic or
the same compound which, when united to potash, forms c^|®nc
the hyperoxymuriate or chlorate of that alkali. It is
obtained in a state of liquid or absorption by water, by
detaching it from the chlorate of barytes by means of
diluted sulphuric acid carefully introduced to avoid ex¬
cess or deficiency. This compound, however, does not
admit of being driven off by heat unchanged, and thus
examined in the gaseous state. Such a distillation is
always accompanied with a partial decomposition into
chlorine and oxygen. ^
The order of the affinities of hyper-oxymuriatic or Affinities,
chloric acid, is the following, as they have been ascer¬
tained by Mr Chenevixf. \ Philos.
Fotash, Trans.
Soda, l8o2>
Barytes,
Strontites,
Lime,
Ammonia,
Magnesia,
Alumina.
Sect.
p. izd.
520
Acids.
C H F. M
Sect. VII. Of Iodine and its Acids.
History. I. Iodine was discovered in 1813 by M. Courtois,
a Parisian manufacturer of soda from kelp, whose at¬
tention was first directed to it by an unaccountable cor¬
rosion of his iron vessels, which he endeavoured to un¬
derstand by experiment.
2. It is obtained from the lixivium of kelp. This
lixivium, after repeated concentration and removal of
the crystallizing salts, is treated with concentrated sul¬
phuric acid under a gentle heat. Beautiful purple va¬
pours now come over. These consist of iodine, and
from that colour the substance derives its name. They
condense in a brown crust or crystalline plates similar
to plumbago. To purify it from the acid which comes
over with it, the iodine may be redistilled from water
containing a very little potash, and afterwards dried by
blotting paper. It melts at 225, and is volatilized
about 350. The volatilization which takes place in its
first extrication under a moderate heat, arises from its
556 affinity for aqueous vapour.
Hydriodic 3. Iodine combines readily with hydrogen to form an
acid. acid, which is called the hydriodic. This acid may
exist in the state of gas, but cannot be retained long
pure, as it acts on liquid substances used for confining
it j being absorbed by water and decomposed by mer¬
cury, which combines with the iodine, and sets the hydro¬
gen gas at liberty.
This acid forms neutral salts with alkaline and other
bases. These are called hydriodates. Hydriodate of
soda exists in kelp, and from this the iodine is obtain¬
ed.
Oxiodfc 4" Ioc^ne capable of combining with oxygen when
acid. presented to euchlorine. The compound formed, is a
white semi-transparent solid, very soluble in water, ca¬
pable of combining with alkalies and oxides. It is
. called oxiodic acid, and its salts oxiodates.
Nature of 5* Iodine and its compounds present some striking
iodine, Sec. analogies with chlorine and its compounds j and the
same difference of opinion about its nature, whether
simple or compound, exists regarding it.
. 559
History.
SSo
‘uethod o
Preparing.
561
Properties,
Sect. VIII. Of Fluoric Acid.
1. This acid was supposed to have been discovered
by Scheele in 1771. But the substance then discover¬
ed is now found to consist of a compound of this acid
with silex. In its uncombined state, or combined only
with water, it was first obtained by Gay Lussac, and
Thenard.
2. It is obtained by distillation from fiuate of lime,
i. e. fluor spar (which must be pure and in a particular
manner free from silex,) acted on by thrice its weight
of concentrated sulphuric acid. This must be done in
a leaden retort, to which a leaden or silver receiver is
fitted, and the receiver must be surrounded with ice to
ensure the condensation of the acid which comes over,
as it possesses great volatility.
3. The acid thus obtained is distinguished by some
remarkable properties. It readily combines with wa¬
ter, emitting a strong heat even to boiling, and giving
off dense and noxious fumes. When water is added to
it slowly, its specific gravity is increased, and at last
exceeds that of water itself 5 a property altogether
I S T R Y.
unique as applied to fluids. It powerfully affects the skin. Aci(
A small quantity of it instantly raises a painful blister;
a larger quantity produces a deep ulcer, by exciting a
morbid action which extends far beyond the seat of its
corroding agency. It acts instantly and rapidly on
glass, and therefore cannot be prepared nor preserved
in glass vessels. It may be employed for removing the
polish of glass surfaces, and for etching on glass. 56 j
3. This action arises from the strong affinity of the S'Kco- -
acid for silex, with w'hich it forms a compound calledriCaci
silico-fluoric acid, which presents this singular proper¬
ty, as distinguished from pure fluoric acid, that it is
readily obtained in the form of a gas, which the latter
has never yet been. In the state of gas it does not at¬
tack glass. The gas is readily absorbed by water, to
the extent of 263 times the bulk of the latter. It
unites with ammonia, depositing its silex.
4. The fluoric acid has never been decomposed. Natun
But the great success of modern chemists in analysing
bodies, has given rise to anticipations of its compo¬
sition ; some supposing it to consist of a peculiar
body, a supporter of combustion, which, like chlorine,
forms an acid by combining with hydrogen. This they
have called fluorine : while others suppose it to consist
of a peculiar radical combined with oxygen.1 sSl
5. The compounds with the alkalies, earths, and me-^om'
tallic oxides, are cvlWgA fk/ates. p ^
6. The order of its affinities is the following : Affiniti
Lime,
Barytes,
Strontites,
Magnesia,
Potash,
Soda,
Ammonia,
Glucina,
Alumina,
Zirconia,
Silica.
Sect. IX. Of Boracic Acid.
s4
1. Boracic acid was first discovered by Homberg inDiscovf.
1702, who gave it the name of narcotic ox sedative
salt. The substance called fborax of the shops is a
compound of this acid and soda. s<5j
2. The process for obtaining this acid is the following: Prep81
Dissolve a quantity of this substance in hot-water, andtlon
filter the solution. Gradually pour on it sulphuric acid,
till the liquor acquires a slight degree of acidity. The
sulphuric acid combines with the soda ; and the boracic
acid, as the solution cools, is precipitated in small
shining white scales. To purify the acid thus obtained,
it is to be washed with cold water; which removes the
more soluble salts with which it is mixed. 5(
3. Boracic acid is in the form of silvery white hexa-Comp1
gonal scales, which have a greasy feel, and some resem-1!°!‘ ,,
blance to spermaceti. It has a sourish taste, which after-1
wards gives the sensation of coolness. It has no smell.
It changes vegetable blues to red. In the scaly form,
the specific gravity is 1.479 ; but when it is fused, it is
1.803. ^a3 been decomposed by the agency of po¬
tassium (a substance afterwards to be described), by
being heated along with an equal quantity of that sub¬
stance
CHEMISTRY.
:id*.
369
t 11.
f 5-
57°
( atcr,
stance in a green glass tube, and found to consist of a
peculiar radical, termed boron, in union with oxygen.
This radical is a greenish brown powder, the other
chemical habitudes of which are little known. It seems
to have little tendency to combine vvitli other substances
besides oxygen.
4. This acid, when exposed to beat, froths up, which
is owing to the separation of the water of crystallization,
and assumes the form of a viscid paste. In this state
it is known by the name of calcined borax. When it
ii , is exposed to a red heat, it is converted into a hard
transparent glass, which, without attracting moisture
« urcroy from the air, becomes opaque when exposed to it, but
( taiss. undergoes no essential change : for when it is re-dis¬
solved in warm water, it resumes its former properties,
by cooling and crystallization *.
5. Boracic acid has very little attraction for water :
boiling water only dissolves about a 50th part of its
weight, and cold water much less. When the solution
in water is evaporated in close vessels, part of the acid
rises in the state of vapour along with the water, and
crystallizes in the receiver; but when the whole of the
water is dissipated, the process stops ; so that it is only
by means of it that the acid is volatilized ; otherwise
it is perfectly fixed. The solution in water has little
taste, but it reddens the tincture of turnsole.
6. Neither oxygen, azotic, nor hydrogen gases, pro¬
duce any eftect upon it ; and with charcoal, phosphorus,
and sulphur, it also remains unchanged. When burnt
with phosphorus, indeed, a earthy yellow matter is left
behind.
7. At a red heat it drives oft some of the acids from
their combinations, even those acids which have a
stronger affinity for the same substances in the cold.
Boracic acid has some peculiar action with the sulphu¬
ric and nitric acids ; for when it is heated with these
acids, it deprives them of a portion of their oxygen.
8. The boracic acid is employed in chemistry, not di¬
rectly as an instrument of analysis, because its affinities
and action have little energy compared with other acids,
but to discover its peculiar combinations and com¬
pounds. It is also employed in the arts, as in solder¬
ing, to assist the fusion of metallic substances. It is of
great importance to the mineralogist, in promoting the
fusion of substances under the blow-pipe.
9. It forms an interesting compound with the fluoric
acid. When one part of it, and two of fluate of lime,
are subjected to strong heat in an iron tube, a gas is
given off in great quantity. This gas, which is called
fluo-bonc acid, contains no water, but possesses a singu¬
larly powerful affinity for it. Hence it is used as a test
of the presence of hygrometric vapour in any other gas
on which it does not chemically act. When aqueous
vapour is present, a cloudiness is shown on the intro¬
duction ol fluo-boric acid gas ; water takes up 700 times
its bulk, and acquires a specific gravity of 1.77.
10. The compounds which boracic acid forms with
the alkalies, earths, and metallic oxides, are distinguish¬
ed by the name of borates.
11. 'Lhe affinities of boracic acid are the following :
Lime,
Barytes, &c. as in Fluoric ; then
Zirconia,
Water,
Alcohol.
Vol. V. Part II. f
521
Sect. X. Of Phosphoric Acid.
Acids.
S7i
icids.
57*
, 573
' -
t di.
574
ities.
1. When phosphorus undergoes combustion in oxy- FcrmaHon
gen gas, a great quantity of white fumes are produced,
which are deposited in white flakes. These are phos¬
phoric acid; so that it is a compound of phosphorus and
oxygen. . _ _ 576
2. The phosphoric acid was first shewn to be distinct History,
from all other acids, in the year 1743, by Margraaff.
He found that it existed in the salts which were taken
from human urine, and that phosphorus could only be
obtained from this acid, as well as that it could be
converted into phosphoric acid. This acid was found
to exist in some vegetable substances, although it was
formerly supposed to be peculiar to animal matters. It
was discovered by Scheele and Gahn in bones, in the
year 1772. Bergman, Proust, and Tenant, detected it
in several fossils ; and Lavoisier proved, by a series
of accurate and ingenious experiments, that it was com¬
posed of phosphorus and oxygen. r
3. Phosphoric acid may be obtained, not only by the Prepara-
method just mentioned, but also by transmitting a cur-tion.
rent of oxygen gas through phosphorus melted under
water. The acid, as it is formed, combines with the
water, from which it may be obtained in a state of
purity by evaporation. It may be procured also by
dropping small bits of phosphorus into nitric acid mo¬
derately heated. An effervescence takes place, and ni¬
trous gas is evolved. Phosphorus combines with the
oxygen, and forms phosphoric acid. The precaution of
adding but a little phosphorus at a time, and of apply¬
ing a moderate heat to the acid, should be carefully
observed. The liquid is then evaporated, and the phos¬
phoric acid remains behind in the solid state. The wa¬
ter that may be combined with it is driven off, by ex¬
posing it to a red heat.
4. In this state phosphoric acid is a transparent, co- proptriies,
lourless, solid substance, resembling glass, known un¬
der the name of 'phosphoric glass.
The specific gravity of this acid varies, according
to the different states in which it exists. In the li¬
quid state it is 1.417 ; in the dry state it is 2.697 ; in
the state of glass 2.8516. It changes the colour of vege¬
tables blues to red ; has no smell, but a very acid taste.
5. When it is exposed to the air, it attracts moisture, ^ltl^s
and is converted into a thick viscid fluid, like oil. It moisture,
is very soluble in water. When in the form of dry
flakes, it dissolves in a small quantity of this liquid,
producing a hissing noise like that of a red-hot iron
plunged into water, with the extrication of a great
quantity of heat. In the state of glass it dissolves
more slowly, but the concentrated liquid phosphoric
acid unites with water with very little disengagement of
caloric.
6. Phosphoric acid being fully saturated with oxygen, ^
has no action whatever on oxygen gas ; nor is there any c.jiaicoai>
action between hydrogen or azotic gases, or sulphur,
with the phosphoric acid. Charcoal has no effect on
phosphoric acid in the cold ; but when they are exposed
together to a red heat, the phosphoric acid is decom¬
posed ; the oxygen combines with the carbon of the
charcoal, forming carbonic acid, and the phosphorus is
set at liberty. This is the process already described in
treating of phosphorus, which is generally employed for
obtaining that substance.
3U
7-
522
Acids.
Of acids.
582.
Composi¬
tion.
' C H E M
Sulphuric acid has no action on phosphoric acid ;
but when the two acids are mixed together in the liquid
state, the sulphuric acid, on account ot its strong affinity
for water, combines with the water in the phosphoric
acid j and if heat be applied, the sulphuric acid is dis¬
sipated, and the phosphoric acid remains behind in the
state of a transparent viscid matter, or in that of glass.
Sulphurous acid is separated from its combinations by
the phosphoric acid. Nitric acid separates the phos¬
phoric from its combinations. Muriatic acid has the
same effect.
8. The component parts of this acid have been accu¬
rately ascertained by Lavoisier, and it consists of,
60 oxygen,
40 phosphorus.
583
Import¬
ance.
584
Com¬
pounds.
585
Affinities.
IOO
9. The accuracy of our information with regard to
the component parts and properties of phosphoric acid,
renders it of great importance in many chemical opera¬
tions ; and if it could be obtained with less difficulty
and expence, its uses might be extended to medicine
and the arts.
10. It combines with the alkalies, earths, and me¬
tallic oxides, and forms salts which are denominated
phosphates.
11. The following is the order of its affinities.
Barytes,
Strontites,
Lime,
Potash,
Soda,
Ammonia,
Magnesia,
Glucina,
Alumina,
Zirconia,
Metallic oxides,
Silica.
Sect. XI. Phosphorous and Hypopuosphorous
Acid.
I. Phosphorous acid bears the same relation to phos¬
phoric as sulphurous acid does to sulphuric. It is com-
586 bined with oxygen in the smaller proportion. This was
Forraatica. demonstrated by Lavoisier in 1777, when he pointed
out the difference between the product from the slow or
rapid combustion of phosphorus. This acid is obtained
by the slow combustion of phosphorus at the common
temperature of the air. If phosphorus, in small pieces,
be exposed to the air in a glass funnel placed in a
bottle, it attracts the oxygen and moisture from the at¬
mosphere, and the phosphorous acid runs down into the
bottle. By this process, about three times the weight
of the phosphorus is obtained. It is mixed, however,
with phosphoric acid ; and, according to some, the two
acids are chemically combined, or rather we have in
this instance a separate definite compound, to which
the name of phosphatic acid has been given. When
alkaline bases are presented to it, we have always a
mixture of phosphates and phosphites.
A pure phosphorous acid is obtained by the agency of
2
Acii
5?7
I S T R Y.
a chloride of phosphorus on water. That chloride is
formed by subliming phosphorus through corrosive
muriate of mercury (considered as a compound of that
metal with chlorine). The chlorine combines with the
phosphorus, and when the compound thus formed (the
chloride) is moistened, water is decomposed, the hydro¬
gen unites with the chlorine to form muriatic acid, and
the oxygen unites with the phosphorus in that exact
proportion which forms the pure phosphorous acid. For
this process we are indebted to Sir H. Davy.
2. It is then in the form of a white thick liquid,Propertj,
adhering to the sides of the vessel. It varies in con¬
sistence according to the state of the air. Its specific
gravity is not known. It has an acid, pungent taste,
not different from phosphoric acid. It also reddens ve¬
getable blue colours. ^5
3. Phosphorous acid is not altered by light. When Action
exposed to heat in a retort, part of the water combined hcat>
with it is first driven off j and when it is concentrated,
bubbles of air suddenly rise to the surface, and collect
in the form of white smoke, and sometimes inflame, if
there be any air in the apparatus. If the experiment
be made in an open vessel, each bubble of air, when it
comes to the surface, produces a vivid deflagration, and
diffuses the odour of phosphorated hydrogen gas. This
inflammable gas continues to be evolved lor a long time,
and when the action ceases, phosphoric acid only re¬
mains behind. It ought to be observed, that the phos¬
phorated hydrogen gas is not disengaged till the phos¬
phorous acid is concentrated and brought to a high
temperature, which seems to prove that the phosphorus
which is not saturated with oxygen, strongly adheres
to it. 5S5J
4. There is little attraction between oxygen andOxygei
phosphorous acid, which seems to be owing to the great
affinity between phosphorus and phosphoric acid. It
absorbs, however, very slowly, a small quantity of oxy¬
gen j and even after long boiling, it is not completely
converted into phosphoric acid. ^c
5. Hydrogen gas has no action on phosphorous acid;Hjdro|
but this acid is decomposed at a red heat, by means of
charcoal, which separates from it a greater quantity of
phosphorus than from phosphoric acid. There is no
action between these bodies in the cold. Sulphur has
no action on this acid at the ordinary temperature of
the atmosphere, and they cannot be combined by means
of heat, because the phosphorus is dissipated before it
unites with the sulphur.
6. There is no action between phosphorous acid andofack
sulphuric acid in the cold $ but when they are heated
together to the boiling temperature, the phosphorous
acid deprives the sulphuric of part of its oxygen, and
is converted into phosphoric acid, while part ol the sul¬
phuric acid, thus decomposed, is disengaged in the state
of sulphurous acid gas. Phosphorous acid produces a
similar effect on nitric acid. The phosphorous is con¬
verted into phosphoric acid, and part of the nitric acid
is converted into nitrous gas.
7. Phosphorous acid forms compounds with alkalies,
earths, and metallic oxides, which are known under the
name of phosphites. SS'1 * * * * * *
8. The order of its affinities is the following.
59;
Affiuiw
Lime,
Barytes,
Strontites,
CHEMISTRY.
'ids.
94
>phos-
Strontites,
Potash,
Soda,
Ammonia,
Glucina,
Alumina,
Zirconia,
Metallic oxides.
9. Another acid, with a still smaller proportion of
I MS oxygen, and therefore called hypophosphorous acid, is
formed when a phosphuret of an alkali or an earth is
made to act on water by heat. The water is decomposed,
the hydrogen is evolved, and carries with it a portion
of phosphorus. The oxygen combines with another
portion of phosphorus, forming two distinct acids, the
phosphoric and the hypophosphorous, which both form at
the same time neutral salts, a phosphate and a hypo-
phosphite of the base employed. The hypophosphite is
the most soluble of the two. When a phosphuret of
barytes has been employed, the hypophosphite is ob¬
tained pure in solution, the phosphate of that earth be¬
ing entirely precipitated ; and now the earth may be
separated from this acid by the sulphuric acid, which
thus gives us the hypophosphorous acid uncombined.
Sect. XII. Of Carbonic Acid.
1. When a piece of charcoal, in a state of ignition,
is plunged into a jar of oxygen gas, it burns with great
^ brilliancy j and after the combustion has ceased, the
iatiwi. air in the vessel is totally changed. If a little water
is introduced into the jar, and agitated, the air com¬
bines with it; and this water, when examined, exhibits
acid properties. This is carbonic acid. It is formed
by the combination of carbon and oxygen. This is
one of the most important acids, both on account of its
numerous combinations, and also on account of the dis¬
covery of it having occasioned a total revolution in
chemical science.
2. It was regarded by the ancients, on account of
the noxious effects which it produced, as a pestilential
vapour, and they gave it the name of spiritus lethalis.
56 Paracelsus and Van Helmont considered it as a pecu-
es. liar matter, to which they gave the name, spiritus syU
vestris, or gas. Hales, although he considered it mere¬
ly as contaminated air, distinguished it by the name of
fixed air, because it entered into the composition of
many bodies. Dr Black demonstrated, that it is a
peculiar substance, different from the air $ that lime,
magnesia, and the alkalies, were deprived of their
causticity, by being combined with this air, and there¬
fore he gave it the name of fixed air. It was after¬
wards found, by the experiments of Keir and Berg¬
man, to be an acid, and hence Bergman gave it the
name of aerial acid. The nature and properties of this
acid were investigated by many chemical philosophers,
and from them it received various names, as mephitic
acid, calcareous or cretaceous acid, thus distinguished
from its effects, or from the substances from which it
was obtained. In the present chemical nomenclature
97 it has the name of carbonic acid, from its base carbon.
st «np- g. For some time after the discovery of the differ-
S1B1' ence between carbonic acid and common air, and its
properties as an acid, it was considered by many as a
523
Acids.
simple elementary substance, and was even regarded
as the acidifying principle. In the progress of inves- ~v—•—
tigation it was found to be a compound substance, con¬
taining oxygen as one of its constituent parts, and it
was generally believed that phlogiston constituted the
other. When hydrogen was considered as the same
with phlogiston, it was supposed that oxygen and hy¬
drogen constituted carbonic acid. The discovery of
Mr Cavendish proved that water, not carbonic acid,
was the product of the combination of oxygen and hy¬
drogen. The experiments of Lavoisier established the
fact of its real composition, and placed it beyond dis¬
pute. He demonstrated that the weight of the car¬
bonic acid which was obtained, was exactly equal to
the quantity of the oxygen and charcoal which had dis¬
appeared. ^ # # 59g
4. Carbonic acid may be obtained by taking a quan- Method of
tity of chalk, limestone, or marble, and reducing obtaining,
them to a coarse powder. Introduce it into a matrass,
pour over it a quantity of diluted sulphuric or nitric
acidsj a violent effervescence takes place, carbonic
acid gas is disengaged, which passes over, and may be
received in vessels in the usual way. The chemical
action that takes place in this change is obvious.
The affinity of the sulphuric acid for the lime is strong¬
er than that of the carbonic acid, which is previously
in combination with it; the sulphuric acid, therefore,
seizes the lime, and the carbonic acid is disengaged in
the state of gas.
5. Carbonic acid thus obtained in the state of gas, Properties,
is an invisible, elastic fluid. Its specific gravity is
O.OO18. One hundred cubic inches of it weigh 46.5
grs. It is nearly double the weight of common air.
It has no smell; it is totally unfit for respiration, and
equally so for supporting combustion. It reddens the
tincture of turnsole, which has its blue colour i-estored
on being exposed to the air, by the separation of the
acid. goo
6. Water absorbs a considerable proportion of this Absorbed
acid, which is increased by agitation. At the tempe-^ water'
rature of 410 water absorbs its own bulk. When arti¬
ficial pressure is employed, the quantity of gas absorbed
may be greatly increased. It is in this way that what
are called the aerated alkaline waters are prepared,
some of which, it is said, contain no less than three
times their bulk of the gas. Water impregnated with
this gas, acquires an acidulous taste, and when poured
from one vessel to another, has a sparkling appearance.
When water impregnated with this acid is exposed to
the air, it soon disappears. The air of the atmosphere
attracts it from the water, having a stronger affinity for
it than the water.
When water containing this gas is raised to the boil¬
ing temperature, the whole is driven off’j and if water
impregnated with it be exposed to the temperature of
320, the whole of the gas separates during the freez-
ing. _ get
7. Carbonic acid undergoes no change by the action Not altered
of light. It is not changed by the action of heat in^ybghtor
close vessels, nor by passing it through a red-hotllca'
tube. 60a
8. There is no action between this gas and oxygen. Attracted
Exposed to the air of the atmosphere, it is gradually by air’
dissipated. The air of the atmosphere generally con¬
tains from .01 to .02 parts of this gas.
3 U 2 9. There
524
CHEMISTRY.
Ac ids.
603
Absorbed
by char¬
coal.
604
Diminishes
combusti¬
bility.
605
Com¬
pounds.
606
Affinities.
9. There is no action between this acid and azote.
Charcoal has no chemical action on carbonic acid }
hut when it is heated, it has the property of absorbing
and condensing within its pores the carbonic acid j but
the acid is again separated by plunging the charcoal
under water.
JO. Phosphorus has no action on carbonic acid ; but
can decompose it by the aid of compound affinity.
11. Sulphur has still less action on carbonic acid than
phosphorus. It is said, indeed, that a small quantity
of sulphur is dissolved by this gas by means of heat,
which gives it partly the fetid odour of sulphureted hy¬
drogen gas.
12. Carbonic acid gas mixed with carbureted, phos-
phoreted, and sulphureted hydrogen gases, diminishes
the combustibility of these inflammable gases.
13. The carbonic acid combines with the alkalies,
some of the earths, and metallic oxides, forming com¬
pounds known by the name of carbonates.
14. The following is the order of the affinities of this
acid
Barytes,
Strontites,
Time,
Potash,
Soda,
Magnesia,
Ammonia,
Glucina,
Zirconia,
Metallic oxides,
607 , ,
Yeiyabun- I5* Carbonic acid exists in great abundance in na-
1 ture. It is produced during the processes of combus¬
tion, respiration, and the fermentation of vegetable
matters. Hence it is found in pits and caverns, where
there is a stagnation of the air, and being specifically
heavier than common air, it remains at the bottom.
This is the reason why small quadrupeds, as dogs, are
instantly suffocated, because they respire only this gas,
when they enter places where it is accumulated. This
has been long observed in the celebrated Grotto del Ca-
ni in Italy, where dogs are instantly suffocated ; while
6oS men> whose heads are in the stratum of common air
Fatal ef- near ^le toP ^ie caver'b receive no injury. Men
fects pro- llave ^een suddenly killed by going down into large
4uced byit. vats, in which the process of fermentation had been
carried on. In consequence of the greater specific gra¬
vity of the carbonic acid gas, and the great quantity
generated during the process,, when the fermented li¬
quor is drawn off, it sinks to the bottom of the vessel,
and there remains till it is displaced by a denser fluid,
or slowly attracted by the air. Similar accidents have
happened to persons going down into pits or wells
which have been long shut up, and where the air has
been long stagnant. It is by respiring this gas that
persons are suffocated who have been exposed to the
fumes of burning charcoal in close places. During
the combustion ol the charcoal, the carbon combines
with the oxygen, of the atmosphere j and carbonic acid is
Mode9of formt?d, which soon fills the apartment.. In these cases,
Hecjoyery. where life is not totally extinguished, the best method
of recovery is said to be, tadash cold water on the head
and body j a practice which is commonly followed in.
accidents of this kind, in northern countries, where
charcoal is burnt in close apartments.
Acid
J
Sect. XIII. 0/Arsenic Acid.
1. Tins acid, and tbe four following, have metallicpjVg10 j
substances for their radical. Most metallic substanceslic acid " j
combine with oxygen in different proportions, and the
compounds formed with these substances and oxygen,
are denominated oxides, because they possess no acid
properties ; but some of tbe metals combine with oxy¬
gen in such a proportion as gives them the characteris¬
tic properties of acid substances.
2. The metallic substance arsenic, combines with
oxygen in two proportions j the first, which is usually
called the white oxide of arsenic, has been denominated
by Fourcroy, tbe arscnious acid. Macquer discovered
some of the combinations of arsenic acid, previous to
the year 1746 j for he shews that a mixture of white
oxide of arsenic and nitre, subjected to the action of a
strong fire, yields a neutral salt, to which he gave the
name of the neutral salt of arsenic. But it was by the
investigation of Sclieele in 1775 that its properties were
fully known. '
3. The process for obtaining it which was pointed Proc#st j
out by Scheele, is the following. Take three parts ofpkiainii ]
the white oxide of arsenic, and dissolve it in seven,f‘
parts of muriatic acid. Add five parts of nitric acid
to the solution, and distil it to dryness. The arsenic
acid remains behind.- It may also be procured by
dissolving tlie white oxide in liquid oxymuriatic acid,
or by making a stream of oxymuriatic acid gas pass
through a solution of the white oxide of arsenic. The
chemical action which takes place in these processes,
is the union of'the arsenic with an additional portion
of oxygen, which it derives from the nitric acid, the
liquid oxymuriatic, or the oxymuriatic acid gas. ^
4. By whatever process it is obtained, the arsenic proper*t \
which is not crystallized has an acid, caustic, and
metallic taste. It reddens the syrup of violets, and
its specific gravity is 3.91. When it is exposed to a
strong heat in a retort or crucible, it fuses, attacks the
glass of tbe retort, or the earth of the crucible $ it re¬
mains transparent and pure at a high temperature, gives
out a little oxygen, and is partly converted into white
oxide.
5.. Exposed to the air, it attracts.the moisture from
it, and absorbs two thirds of its. own weight of water
from the atmosphere, which is sufficient to hold it in
solution. (jrjl
6* The arsenic acid is much more soluble in water Action I
than the white oxide.. Three or. four parts of water are water. I
sufficient to dissolve it. When it is evaporated, it as¬
sumes a thick consistence like honey. ^
7. Combustible substances decompose arsenic acid,ofcomrj
by depriving it of part of its oxygen, and convertingtibles.
it into the white oxide. Hydrogen gas, mixed with a
solution of this acid, has the property of precipitating
it. Charcoal, phosphorus, and sulphur, produce a simi¬
lar effect. Exposed in a retort to heat with charcoal j.
the charcoal is inflamed, and the arsenic acid is redu¬
ced to the metallic state. Sulphur heated with arsenic
acid, is partly converted into sulphurous acid gas, and
IHivtly sublimed intp the r^ed sulphuret of arsenic. When
heated
ell.
( 3
Co osi-
tio
7
M ies.
C H E M
heated with phosphorus, part of the phosphorus is con-
' verted into phosphoric acid, and the arsenic reduced
to the metallic state, unites with another' part of the
phosphorus, with which it forms a phosphuret of ar*
senic, which sublimes.
8. The arsenic acid is composed of the white oxide
of arsenic and oxygen. The proportion of its consti¬
tuent parts, according to the experiments of Proust,
are
65 arsenic,
35 oxygen,
too
9. The compounds which arsenic acid forms with al¬
kalies, earths, and some metallic oxides, are known by
the name of arseniates.
10. The order of its affinities is the following :
Lime,
Barytes,
Strontites,
Magnesia,
Potash,
Soda,
Ammonia,
Glucina,
Alumina,
Zircon ia.
Sect. XIV. Of Tungstic Acid.
H; j. I. In the year 1781, Scheele and Bergman, in in¬
vestigating the nature of a heavy stone (called tungsten
by the Swedes), discovered that it is composed of lime
combined with a peculiar acid. Their discovery was
afterwards confirmed by several chemists, and particu¬
larly by the experiments of the D’Elhuyarts, who de-
p tected the same acid in the mineral wolfram.
Mf diof 2. This acid always exists in combination with lime
^ i»g. and iron. It may be obtained by reducing the former
to a fine powder, and treating it with nitric or muriatic
acids, which unite with the lime, and then by alkalies,
which dissolve the acid. The alkaline solution is to
be precipitated by the nitric or muriatic acid ; the pre¬
cipitate is to be carefully washed and dried, which is
d the tungstic acid in the solid state,
ties. Tungstic acid, thus prepared, is in the form of
a white powder, which has an acid and metallic taste j
changes the colour of vegetable blues into red ; and has
R_ a specific gravity according to Bergman, equal to 3.600.
e, s°f Heated under the blow pipe, this tungstic acid becomes
first yellow, then brown, and at last black 5 it affords
no smoke, and gives no sign of fusion. When it is
calcined for some time in a crucible, it is deprived of
1 the property of dissolving in water,
er. 4. Exposed to the air, it suffers no change. It is
soluble in 20 parts of boiling water, but it is partially
separated on cooling. This solution has an acid taste,
and reddens the tincture of turnsole. Heated with
charcoal, it is reduced, but with difficulty, to the me¬
tallic state. With sulphur and phosphorus it becomes
of a gray colour, but without reduction.
5. The acids do not dissolve the tungstic acid in the
form of white powder, but they change completely its
Pr<
Of
I S T R Y. 525
properties. The sulphuric acid changes it to a blue, Add*,
and the nitric and muriatic acids convert it into a fine l——y— J
yellow colour. In this state it has lost its taste and
solubility, has become specifically heavier, and has ac¬
quired the property of forming salts with the same bases
distinctly different from those formed with what was
called the white acid. The Spanish chemists D’Elhuy¬
arts, consider the latter as an acidulous tx-iple salt, and
yellow oxides as real tungstic acid.
6. Vauquelin and Hecht, who instituted a set of ex¬
periments on these oxides, as they propose to denomi¬
nate them, obtained the same results. They consider
the tungstic acid of Scheele as a triple salt, which has
retained a portion of the acid by which it was precipi- Only am
tated in its composition, and when the oxide of tungsten oxide-
is pure, it possesses none of the properties which are
admitted and acknowledged as the characteristics of the
acids, but that it has a strong tendency to form triple
combinations, in which only it exhibits acid properties.
The compounds which it forms with the alkalies, earths,
and metallic oxides, are a species of neutral salts j but
the chemical combination is not fully completed to hide
the alkaline properties of the former f. In formingt ^
these compounds, it is the only property in which it
agrees with the acids. The compounds are denomina-^ ^5*
ted tungstates. Tungstate.*,
7. The order of its affinities is the following: 626
Affinities.
Lime,
Barytes,,
Strontites,.
Magnesia,
Potash,
Soda,
Ammonia,
Glucina,
Alumina,.
Zirconia..
Sect. XV. Of Molybdic Acid*.
1. This acid was discovered by Scheele in the year History.
1778. It is a compound of the metallic substance mo-
lybdena and oxygen. Scheele supposed that it existed
in the mineral from which he obtained it, and that this
mineral was a compound of the acid, sulphur, and iron.
The experiments of later chemists have shown that the
acid is formed in the process of preparing it, by the me¬
tal combining with oxygen.
2. There are various processes for the preparation of
this acid..
a. Scheele found that by treating a little of the sul-Processes
phuret of molybdena (sulphur combined with the metal) for obtain-
on a silver plate, the white fumes which exhaled from‘n8iL
it, adhered to the plate in form of a small scale of a
brilliant yellowish white colour, which was the true mo¬
lybdic acid. But a very small quantity, can only be ob¬
tained in this way.
b. Another process is by means of nitric acid. On
one part of sulphuret of molybdena in powder, pour five
parts of nitric acid, and distil it to dryness. The same
process is repeated three or four times. The dry resi¬
duum is a white powder, which is the molybdic acid
mixed with the sulphuric acid, which is also formed du¬
ring the process with the nitric acid. The sulphuric
acid
526
Acids.
629
Properties.
630
Action of
keat.
631
Of water.
632
Of charcoal
and sul¬
phur.
<>33
Of acids.
* Bikilos.
Trims.
1789,
P- 38<J.
<>34
Com-
pouads.
63S
Discovery.
635
Prepara¬
tion.
C H E M
acid may be washed off with hot water, and the molyb-
dic acid remains behind in a state of purity.
c. It may be also prepared by projecting into a red-
hot crucible three parts of nitrate ot potash, and one
part of sulphuret of molybdena, reduced to fine powder
and well mixed together. A red mass remains after
the detonation, composed of the oxide of iron, ot the
sulphate of potash, and the molybdate of potash.. By
throwing the mass into water, the two salts are dissol¬
ved, and the oxide of iron is precipitated. Evaporate
the solution to obtain the sulphate of potash, and drop
into the liquid which refuses to crystallize, and which
should be diluted with water, sulphuric acid, till there
is no farther precipitation. The precipitate is molyb-
dic acid, but not in a state of perfect purity 5 for it is
combined with a certain portion of potash.
3. Molybdic acid prepared in this manner, and suf¬
ficiently purified, is a white powder of a sharp metallic
taste. According to Bergman, the specific gravity is
3-4- . ...
4. When heated in a large glass retort, it yields a
little sulphurous acid. But when it is exposed to a
strong heat in a close vessel, it fuses, attaches itself
to the sides of the vessel, and crystallizes on cooling in
rays going out from a centre. But if at the moment
the acid is in fusion the vessel be uncovered, it rises
into a white smoke by contact with air, and this vapour
attaches itself to cold bodies in form of brilliant scales
of a golden-yellow colour.
It is readily soluble in warm water. One part of
the acid requires about 500 grs. The solution is of a
yellow colour, has little smell, and reddens litmus
paper.
5. Molybdic acid is decomposed by charcoal, with
the assistance of heat; it is also decomposed by sul¬
phur, with the extrication of sulphurous acid, and the
formation of sulphuret of molybdena.
6. The concentrated sulphuric acid dissolves a consi¬
derable quantity of molybdic acid, with the aid of heat.
The solution on cooling becomes of a violet blue colour,
which disappears when it is heated. The muriatic acid
dissolves a considerable proportion by boiling. When
this solution is distilled to dryness, one part of the acid
is sublimed, of a blue and white colour. The nitric
acid has no effect whatever *.
7. Molybdic acid combines readily with the alka¬
line and earthy bases, which have the name of molyb¬
dates.
8. This acid has not been applied to any use.
Sect. XVI. Of Chromic Acid.
1. This acid was discovered by Vauqnelin in the
year J797- I1 ^ias on^y ^een found in small quantity,
in combination with lead or iron.
2. Chromic acid may be obtained by boiling the red
lead ore of Siberia in a solution of carbonate of potash,
and precipitating it by means of another acid, which
has a stronger attraction for the potash. A red or
yellow orange powder falls to the bottom, which is chro¬
mic acid.
3. It has an acrid and peculiar metallic taste, more
perceptible than any other metallic acid.
4. When exposed to the action of light and caloric,
in open vessels, it assumes a green colour 5 but in close
I S T R Y.
vessels, it gives out pure oxygen gas, and losing its
Ack
acid properties it returns to the state of green oxide.
This is the only metallic acid, which by the action of
caloric, easily parts with its oxygen. ^
5. Strongly heated with charcoal, chromic acid be-Action!
comes black, and is easily reduced to the metallic stateeliareo
without fusion. It is probable also, that it may be de¬
composed with equal facility by hydrogen, phosphorus,
and sulphur. jJ
6. Chronic acid is soluble in water, and crystallizes Water
by cooling and evaporation, in prisms of a ruby red co-
lour. _ .... <ty
7. The muriatic acid by distillation with a moderate Murmi
heat with the chromic acid, passes to the state of oxy-a«<h
muriatic acid, and the mixture acquires the property
of dissolving gold. In this respect it resembles the ni¬
tric acid, and it is the only metallic acid which is di¬
stinguished by this property. ^
8. The chromic acid combines readily with the alka-Corn-
lies, and has the peculiar property of giving an orange pounds
colour to the crystals : from this it derived its name.
The compounds are called chromates. I
- The chromic acid, from its peculiar colour, and ^4'
the beautiful colours which it communicates to other
bodies, promises to be useful in painting on porcelain
and glass, or even in dyeing.
Sect. XVII. Of Colvmbic Acid.
64:
I. The last of the metallic acids is the columbic, j)jsco,,
which was discovered by Mr Hatchet in 1801. In 64;1
the ore from which it was extracted, it is combined PrePar
with oxide of iron, from which it was separated, bytIon'
exposing it to a strong red heat, with five times its
weight of carbonate of potash. The alkali combined
with part of the acid, and from this it was separated by
water. By repeatedly fusing the residuum with po¬
tash, he separated the whole of the acid from the
iron, which latter combined with muriatic acid that
was added to it. By treating the alkaline solution with
nitric acid, a precipitate of a white, flaky, insoluble
substance was obtained. This is the columbic acid. .
It is of a pure white colour, but not very heavy, 4
2.
and has scarcely any perceptible taste ; it is not soluble
in boiling water. When some of the powder is placed
upon litmus paper, moistened with distilled water, the ^ j
paper in a few minutes becomes red. When exposed Actios j
to the blow-pipe, it is not fusible, but only becomes ofbeat.
a less brilliant white. 64 I
3. It is dissolved in boiling sulphuric acid, and forms of aci 1
a transparent colourless solution, which is only perma¬
nent while the acid is in a concentrated state ; for if it
be diluted with water, it assumes a milky appearance ;
a white precipitate is deposited, which, as it dries on
the filter, changes when completely dry to a brownish
gray. It is then insoluble in water, has no taste, is
semitransparent, and breaks with a glossy, vitreous
fracture. This compound appears to be formed of the
sulphuric and columbic acids. Nitric acid has no ef¬
fect on the columbic acid *. * I
Trans I
Sect. XVIII. Of Acetic Acid.
41
I. Acetic acid, or vinegar, was one of the earliestHist«
known. This indeed was to be expected, from the
manner
Ju «•
t9
Pr ra-
tio
i
d by
tion.
C H E M
manner and the abundance in which it is produced, as
J it is the first change to which wine and similar liquids
are subject. The sourness which exists in these liquids,
is owing to the production of this acid. It has dift'er-
ent names, according to the state in which it is found.
When it is first prepared, it is known under the name
of vinegar; when purified by distillation, it is called
distilled vinegar; and when it is strongly concentrated,
it is called radical vinegar, or acetic acid.
2. The process by which vinegar is obtained is the
fermenting process of many vegetable matters, what is
usually denominated the acetous fermentation, or the
second stage of the fermentative process of vegetable
matter. The circumstances in which this fermenta¬
tion takes place are, a temperature between 70° and
8o°, the addition of some fermenting substance, and
exposure to the air.
The process which is recommended by Boerhaave
is generally followed. Two large hogsheads are pre¬
pared, by fixing about a foot from the bottom, a
grating of rods, on which vine branches are to be
placed. The wine to be fermented is poured into the
vessels j the one is to be filled to the top, and the other
only one half. They are both left exposed to the air.
Fermentation begins in the vessel which is half full j
when it is completely begun, fill it up from the other
vessel, which interrupts the fermentation in the full
hogshead, and it commences in that which is half full.
When this has continued for a little time, it is filled
up from the other vessel, in which the fermentation
again commences, and is interrupted in the other.
Thus, the process is carried on by alternately empty¬
ing and filling the vessels till vinegar is formed, which
generally requires a period of from 12 to 15 days.
3. Vinegar is generally of a yellowish colour, an
acid taste, and agreeable smell. It reddens vegetable
blues, and when exposed to heat, it is entirely dis¬
sipated. The specific gravity varies from T.005 to
1.0251. It varies considerably in colour, specific
gravity, and other properties, according to the sub¬
stances from which it has been obtained. Vinegar in
this state is extremely apt to be decomposed. Scheele
has pointed out a very simple process, by which it may
be preserved for a long time. Put the vinegar into
bottles, and place them over the fire in a vessel filled
with W'ater. Let the water boil for a moment, and
then take out the bottles, after which it may be kept
for several years.
4. To separate the impurities with which vinegar
is contaminated, it is distilled with a moderate heat $
the temperature must not exceed that of boiling water,
and the process should be carried on only till about y
of the quantity have passed over. This is distilled
vinegar, or the acetous acid of the chemists. It is
then perfectly transparent and colourless, has an agree¬
able odour, and a strong acid taste. The vinegar in
this state, when exposed to a sufficient degree of cold,
is partly frozen. As the ice which is formed consists
almost entirely of water, when it is separated the
fluid which remains is the vinegar highly concentra¬
ted
5* To prepare what has been denominated radical
vinegar, a salt, of which this acid forms a component
part, must be decomposed. The acetate of copper, or
verdigris, is generally employed for this purpose. It is
I S T R Y. 527
reduced to powder, and distilled in a retort with a Acids,
strong heat. The liquid which first comes over is in- <i"—v—" *
sipid and colourless, and must be kept separate from
the remaining part of the product, which is the acetic
acid in a highly concentrated state. It has generally
a green colour, being contaminated with a little cop¬
per, but it may be purified by distillation with a mode¬
rate heat, by which it is rendered colourless. 553
6. The acid in this state was at first considered by Acetous
chemists as different from the acetous acid in its pro-an.^acelic
perties, affinities, and in the compounds it forms with
other bodies. This was the opinion of the celebrated
Berthollet, and the same opinion was adopted by almost
all chemists. It was supposed that it was the acetous
acid in combination with another portion of oxygen,
and hence it was denominated, according to the present
nomenclature, acetic acid.
7. The nature and properties of these two supposed Found ter
acids were at last investigated fully by Adet and Dar-bc the same,
racq, who proved that there was no difference in the
proportion of oxygen in the acetous and acetic acids.
This conclusion was controverted by Chaptal and Da-
bit, who endeavoured to support the opinion of Ber¬
thollet, that the two acids are distinguished from each
other by different properties and different combinations
with other bodies. It is now generally admitted, that
what have been called the acetous and acetic acids,
are essentially the same, their apparent difference de¬
pending on the quantity of water, mucilage, and other
substances with which the acetous acid is combined.
8. This acid, when pure, is transparent and colour-Propertie*.
less. In the state of acetous acid, it has an agreeable,
aromatic odour. In the state of acetic acid, or when it
is highly concentrated, it acquires a sharp, penetrating
odour, different from that of the vinegar, and in this
state it is extremely acrid. Applied to the skin it red¬
dens and destroys it. It is highly volatilej and when
exposed to the open air, it is soon dissipated. When
heated in contact with the air, it inflames.
9. This acid may be obtained in crystals, by forming Crystal-
distilled vinegar into a paste with charcoal, and sub-lizes.
jecting the mixture to a temperature which does not 657
exceed 212°. By this heat the watery part is dissipa-Action of
ted, and the acid remains behind; but when a stronger^eat*
heat is applied, the acid itself is driven off. By re¬
peating the process the acid may be obtained crystal¬
lized.
10. Acetic acid undergoes no perceptible change by
the action of oxygen, hydrogen, or azotic gases; and it
is not altered by charcoal, phosphorus, or sulphur.
11. Acetic acid is decomposed by the sulphuric acid. Of acids.
It absorbs carbonic acid, and dissolves boracic acid. It
is also decomposed by nitric acid, and is converted into
carbonic acid and water. Dr Higgins analyzed the
acetic acid by decomposing it in combination with an
alkali. He distilled in a glass retort 7680 grs. of ace¬
tate of potash, that is, potash combined with acetic acid,
and he obtained the following products. Analysis.
Potash, - - 3862.9940
Carbonic acid gas, - 1473.5640
Carbonated hydrogen gas, 1047.6018
Charcoal,
Oil.
Water,
Deficiency,
0078.0000.
0180.0000
0340.0000
0726.9402.
Dr
528
Acids.
f Experi.
menU and
observa¬
tions, p. 27.
660
Composi¬
tion.
'661
Com¬
pounds.
66%
Affinities.
<^3
Found in
plants.
664
Method of
obtaining.
CHEMISTRY.
Dr Higgins Was at a loss to account for this defici¬
ency, till by repeated experiments lie found that it is
always owing to the water and oil, and chiefly to the
water which is carried off by the elastic fluids. He
states the quantity of water carried oft in vapour at
700 grs. and the quantity of oil carried off in the same
way at 26.9402, which together make up the whole
deficiency f. The potash remained behind unaltered $
the acetic acid, therefore, has been decomposed, and
has yielded the products which were obtained by distil¬
lation. But the constituent principles of these pro¬
ducts are oxygen, hydrogen, and carbon $ and from
the proportions of oxygen and carbon which enter in¬
to the composition of carbonic acid, the proportions
of carbon and hydrogen in carbonated hydrogen gas,
and of oxygen and hydrogen in the composition
of water, 100 parts of acetic acid are composed of
about,
50 oxygen.
36 carbon,
14 hydrogen.
100
12. The compounds which acetic acid forms with
alkalies, earths, and metallic oxides, are denominated
acetates.
13. The order of its affinities is the following :
Barytes,
Potash,
Soda,
Strontites,
Xiime,
Ammonia,
Magnesia,
Metallic oxides,
Glucina,
Alumina,
Zirconia.
Sect. XIX. Of Oxalic Acid.
1. This acid exists ready formed in the oxalis aceto-
sella or wood-sorrel, and some other species belonging
to the same genus of plants. From this it derives the
name of oxalic acid. It was originally denominated
the saccharine acid, or the acid of sugar, because it was
obtained from that substance. Its properties were
first particularly investigated by Bergman and Scheele,
and the method of preparing it is given by the for¬
mer.
2. An ounce of white sugar in powder is put into a
retort, with three ounces of strong nitric acid. During
the solution, a great quantity of fumes of the nitrous
acid escapes. Apply heat till the liquor boils, and ni¬
trous gas is then driven off. When the liquor in the
retort acquires a reddish brown colour, add three ounces
more of nitric acid, continue the boiling till the fumes
cease, and the colour of the liquor vanishes. Pour out
the liquor into a wide shallow vessel; and, when it cools,
crystals will be formed in slender four-sided prisms, which
may be collected and dried in blotting paper. The
crystals thus obtained may be again dissolved in distilled
water, and evaporated to obtain new crystals. Oxalic
3
acid may be obtained by a similar process from other Acini
vegetables, and from some animal substances, as gum '-~-v 1
arabic, alcohol and honey. |
3. Prepared in this way, oxalic acid is in the con-Proper , |
Crete state, crystallized in four-sided prisms, terminating
in two-sided summits. They are white and transparent,
and have a considerable lustre. They have a strong
sharp taste, change vegetable blues into a red colour,
and produce the same effect on all vegetables except
the indigo.
The acid properties of this substance are so strong,
that one part of concrete oxalic acid gives to 3600
parts of water, the property of reddening paper stained
with turnsole. ^ 1
4. When oxalic acid is exposed to heat, it is vo-Action
latilized, partly in a liquid, and also in a solid and crys-^8*-
talline form. It is not decomposed, but at a high
temperature j but, when it is exposed to a moderate
heat, it dries, is covered with a white crust, and is
soon reduced to powder. It losesof its weight when
put upon burning charcoal j it exhales a pungent, irri¬
tating smoke, and there remains behind a white alka¬
line residue. fiij- I
5. This acid is deliquescent in the air, when it isOfwat ]
loaded with moisture. Cold water dissolves about ^ its
weight of the acid ; boiling water dissolves a quantity
equal to its own weight. I
6. Oxalic acid is decomposed by the sulphuric acidCompoi 1
with the assistance of heat, and charcoal is deposited *, toon-
at the hoiling temperature it is decomposed by the
nitric acid, and converted into water and carbonic
acid. According to Fourcroy, the component parts of
oxalic acid, as they have been ascertained by him and
Vauquelin, are
77 oxygen,
13 carbon,
10 hydrogen. * Court-
  Chim. •
100* vii-P‘M
60 I
7. Oxalic acid combines with the alkalies, earths,Com-
and metallic oxides, and the salts thus formed are dis-f,oun^ ;
tinguished by the name of oxalates. 66 1
8. The affinities of this acid are in the following Affimt j
order:
Dime,
Barytes,
Strontites,
Magnesia,
Potash,
Soda,
Ammonia,
Alumina.
Sect. XX. Of Tartaric Acid.
1. This acid was procured by Scheele in a separate uisto
state, in the year 1770, the process for which he com¬
municated to M. Retzius, who published the account
of it in the Swedish Memoirs for that year. It was the
first discovery in the bright career of that distinguish¬
ed chemist. b
2. The process which he followed was by boiling aprep! *
quantity of the substance called tartar, or cream of lion.
tartar,
CHEMISTRY.
529
l !s.
Cr is.
• Pr
fc
k
tartar, in water, and adding powdered chalk till effer¬
vescence ceases, and the liquid no longer reddens ve¬
getable blues. It is then allowed to cool 5 the liquor
is filtered ; and a white insoluble powder remains on
the filter, which is carefully removed and well wash¬
ed. Th is is put into a matrass, and a quantity of sul¬
phuric acid, equal in weight to the chalk employed, di¬
luted with water, is poured upon it. The mixture is
allowed to digest for 12 hours on a sand bath, stirring
it occasionally with a glass rod. The sulphuric acid
combines with the lime, and forms a sulphate of lime,
which falls to the bottom. The liquid contains the
tartaric acid dissolved in it. Ibis is decanted off, and
a little acetate of lead is dropt into it, as a test to de¬
tect the sulphuric acid, should any remain. With it
it forms an insoluble precipitate ; and if this be the
case, it must be digested again with more tartrate of
lime, to carry oft’ what remains of the sulphuric acid.
It is then evaporated, and about 3- of the weight of
tartar employed is obtained, of concrete tartaric acid.
To purify this, the crystals may be dissolved in distil¬
led water, and again evaporated and crystallized. It
seems probable, Fourcroy observes, that this acid
exists in a state of purity in some vegetables. Vau-
quelin has found a 64th part in the pulp of the tama¬
rind.
3. Tartaric (or tartarous) acid, thus obtained, is in
the form of very fine needle-shaped crystals 5 but they
have been differently described by different chemists.
According to Bergman, they are in the form of small
plates attached by one extremity, and diverging at the
other. They have been found by others grouped toge¬
ther in the shape of needles, pyramids, regular six-sided
prisms, and square and small rlromboidal plates. The
specific gravity is •1.5962.
4. This acid has a very sharp, pungent taste di¬
luted with water, it resembles the taste of lemon
juice ; and it reddens strongly blue vegetable co¬
lours.
5. When it is exposed to heat on burning coals, it
melts, blackens, emits fumes, froths up, and exhales a
sharp, pungent vapour. It then burns with a blue
flame, and leaves behind a spongy mass of charcoal, in
which some traces of lime have been detected. Four
ounces of the concrete crystallized acid, carefully dis-
r(,r(>1 tilled, gave the following products*:
m.
tom. Cub. In.
431 carbonic acid gas,
120 carbureted hydrogen gas.
3
rties.
A 75
Ac 10f
it
6. In the decomposition of tartaric acid by heat,
one of the most remarkable products which particular¬
ly characterizes it, is an acid liquid of a reddish colour,
which amounts to one-fourth part of the weight of the
former. This was formerly known by the name of
pyrotartarous acid. It has a slightly acid taste, pro¬
duces a disagreeable sensation on the tongue, is strong¬
ly empyreumatic, and reddens the tincture of turnsole.
But it has been found by the experiments of Fourcroy
Vol. V. Part II. f
and Vauquelin, to he the acetic acid impregnated with Acids,
an oil f (q). ' v '
7. Tartaric acid is very soluble in water. The sPe*
cific gravity of a solution formed by Bergman, wasxxxv^
found to be 1.230. This solution in water is not solu-p. kJj.
hie to spontaneous decomposition, unless it is diluted. 676
While it is concentrated, it loses nothing of its acid^ater*
nature or its other properties. 677
8. Bergn)an supposed that tartarous acid could not Converted
be changed by the strongest mineral acids, and more*1110 oxa'lc'
especially by the nitric ; but Hermstadt has succeeded
in converting it into oxalic acid by several successive
distillations, with six times its weight of nitric n.ciA.A*<mr?roy
Ihree hundred and sixty parts ot tartaric acid yielded tom>
560 parts of oxalic acid, which shews that it had com-vii. p 256.
bined with a great additional proportion of oxygen J. 67s.
9. According to the analysis of Fourcroy and Vau-£j®^,l,0S1'
quelin, 100 parts of this acid are composed of
70.5 oxygen,
19.0 carbon,
J0.5 hydrogen.
100.0
67p
10. The affinities of this acid are in the following Affinities,
order :
Lime,
Barytes,
Strontites,
Magnesia,
Potash,
Soda,
Ammonia,
Alumina.
Sect. XXI. Of Citric Acid.
680
1. The sour acid or taste of the juice of lemons and Found in
oranges is ivell known, This is nitric acid, but it isfruits.
mixed with water and mucilage; and various processes
have been proposed to obtain it in a state of purity. 68 r
2. The first which succeeded was proposed by M. I’repaia-
Georgius, an account of which was published in thetl0U*
Swedish Memoirs for the year 1774. His process was
the following. It consisted in filling bottles with le¬
mon juice, shutting them up close, and placing them
for some time in a cellar to separate the mucilage. He
afterwards exposed it to a temperature of about 240;
the watery part froze, and carried with it a portion of
mucilage. This was removed, and the liquid part
which remained was again frozen, till the solid part
had a perceptible acid taste. The juice thus reduced
to one-eighth part of its original hulk, is eight times
stronger, and requires the same quantity of potash for
saturation. In this state of concentration it was pre¬
served. 58,
3. But in this state it is not pure. We are indebt-Process of
ed to Scheele for the discovery of the process by which
it is obtained in a state of purity, and for ascertaining
3 X the
it
(<0 The pyromucous and the pyroligneous acids are to be regarded in the same light. The peculiar proper¬
ties which were supposed to distinguish them from other acids were found by the same philosophers to be owing
to a similar impregnation.
53°
CHEMISTRY.
Acids, the characters by which it is distinguished from tarta-
' ric acid, with which it was formerly confounded. Le¬
mon juice which has been filtered, is saturated with
powdered chalk. While the chalk is added, an effer'
vescence takes place, which is owing to the combina¬
tion of the citric acid with the lime, and the separa¬
tion of the carbonic acid from it in the state of gas.
W hen the effervescence ceases, a white powder falls
to the bottom. This is the lime combined with the
citric acid. Wash this powder with warm water till
it passes olf colourless, then put the salt which has been
washed into a matrass with a little water. Take such a
quantity of concentrated sulphuric acid, diluted with six
or seven parts of water, as may be necessary to saturate
the lime which has been employed $ boil it for a few
minutes, then let it cool, and filter the liquor. The
sulphate of lime, formed by the decomposition of the
calcareous citrate, remains upon the filtre. The fil¬
tered liquor contains the pure citric acid, which is to
be evaporated to the consistence of a syrup," and to be
set by in a cool place to crystallize. The citric acid is
thus obtained in small crystals.
Scheele thinks that is necessary to add a small ex¬
cess of sulphuric acid, to take up the whole of the
lime from the citric acid. But Dize is of opinion that
*FoMrcrot/, this excess of sulphuric acid is only necessary, to de-
Connaiss. stroy the remaining portion of mucilage which adheres
viLp. 204. t0 tlie c‘tnc ac‘t1, an(1 t^us t0 seParate from it every
654 " extraneous substance *.
Supposed But it has been observed, that when an excess of
lobe un- sulphuric acid is employed, it may act upon the citric
necessary. acjj itself, decompose it, and produce the black matter
which was supposed to be owing to the mucilage which
adhered to it. And it appears, from an investigation
by Proust on the preparation of this acid, that when
too much sulphuric acid is employed, it decomposes
the citric acid, and prevents it from crystallizing. To
prevent this, a small quantity of chalk is addeif. He
found that four ounces of chalk were necessary for the
saturation of 94 ounces of lemon juice, and that the
f Journ. dePf°^uct whi^h he obtained amounted to 7! ounces of
Phrfs. iii, citrate of lime j and to decompose this, he added 20
655 ounces of diluted sulphuric acid-f-.
Properties. 4. When citric acid is pure, it crystallizes in rhom-
boidal prisms, whose sides are inclined to each other
at angles of 6o° and 120°, terminating at each end in
four trapezoidal faces, which include the solid angles.
By slow cooling of large quantities of the solution of
the pure acid, evaporated to the consistence of syrup
Hizd obtained very fine crystals. *
5. Citric acid has a very strong acid taste, and
even seems to be caustic ; but when it is diluted with
water, the taste is cooling and agreeable. It has a very
slight odour of lemons, and it reddens blue vegetable
685 colours.
Action of 6. When exposed to heat, It melts rapidly in its own
^at. water of crystallization. When the solid acid is put
upon burning coals, it quickly fuses, froths up, exhales
a sharp penetrating vapour, and is reduced to the state
of charcoal. Distilled in a retort, it is partly disengaged
without decomposition, seems to be converted partly
into vinegar, and then yields carbonic acid gas, carbo¬
nated hydrogen gas, and there remains in the retort a
mass of light charcoal.
6S3
Excess of
acid to be
added.
7. Exposed to the air, it effloresces in a dry, warm Acids
atmosphere j but when the air is moist, it absorbs l—-v-J
water, and loses its crystalline form. It is very solu- 6S7
ble in water. Seventy-five parts of water dissolve ioo^akr‘
of the acid. ^
8. Sulphuric acid, when concentrated, converts itAcids.
into acetic acid. It is also decomposed by the nitric
acid, which converts it partly into oxalic acid, but the
greater proportion into acetic acid.
9. From the experiments which have been made Compod
with this acid, by decomposing it by means of othertioa.
acids, and the products which it affords, and its con¬
version into acids whose component parts are known,
it seems to be pretty certain that oxygen, hydro*
gen, and carbon enter into the composition of citric
acid.
10. This acid enters into combination with alkalies,Com-
earths, and metallic oxides, and forms salts which arePoun^s'
denominated citrates.
11.
691
The affinities of citric acid are the following: Affinitie
Lime,
Barytes,
Strontites,
Magnesia,
Potash,
Soda,
Ammonia,
Alumina,
Zirconia.
Sect. XXII. Malic Acid.
6g2
1. Malic acid is found in considerable proportion in History,
the juices of a great number of fruits. In them it ex¬
ists ready formed, and particularly in the juice of ap¬
ples, from which it has derived its name. In some
fruits it exists in small quantity, mixed with a great
proportion of citric acid, as in two species of vaccini-
vm, oxycoccos and vitis idcca, prunus padus, and sola¬
rium dulcamara. These acids are found in nearly
equal proportions in some other fruits, as in the goose¬
berry, cherry, and strawberry \ but it exists in greatest
abundance, and in the greatest purity, in the juice of
applfes. _ 693
2. It is prepared by the following process, which was Method
discovered by Scheele. Bruise a quantity of sour ap-PrePann
pies, express the juice, and filter it through a linen*1,
cloth. Saturate this juice with potash, add to the so¬
lution acetate of lead (sugar of lead) dissolved in wa¬
ter, and continue the addition till there is no more pre¬
cipitation. The acetic acid combines with the potash,
and remains in the liquid, while the malic acid unites
with the lead, and being insoluble, falls to the bottom.
Wash the precipitate with water, and pour upon it di¬
luted sulphuric acid. The sulphuric acid combines
with the lead, and forms an insoluble salt, which falls
to the bottom. The malic acid remains uncombined
in the liquid. Care should be taken to add a sufficient
quantity of the sulphuric acid to separate the whole of
the malic acid from the lead, which may be known by
the pure acid taste unmixed with the sweet taste of the
salt of lead. 094
3. When this acid is mixed with citric acid, as isOf sepa-
the case in the juices of many fruits, Scheele contrived
2
(),, the following process to separate them. The juice is
u —first evaporated to the consistence of honey ; alcohol is
poured upon it, by which the two acids are dissolved,
and a great quantity of mucilage is separated j the al¬
cohol is then evaporated j the residue after evaporation
is diluted with two parts of water, and saturated with
chalk, which combines with both the acids. The ci¬
trate of lime, which is the least soluble, is separated by
evaporation ; the malate of lime, or the combination
with the malic acid, may be also separated, by adding
another portion of alcohol, which does not dissolve the
salt, but a saccharine matter which had combined
with the malate of lime. The malic acid may then
be separated as before, with the solution of the sugar
of lead.
Ob ed 4’ Vauquelin has extracted a very pure and nearly
fro ousc-col°ul'less malic acid from the juice of house-leek,
lee! (sempervivum tectortim, Lin.) It exists in this juice
combined with lime. He extracted it by evaporating
the juice, pouring alcohol upon the residue to separate
a small quantity of sugar which it contained, and by
adding to the remaining matter an equal weight of con¬
centrated sulphuric acid, previously diluted with seven
or eight times the quantity of water. But as some
traces of sulphate of lime are always found in the ma¬
lic acid prepared in this way, he prefers the following
method.
Add to the juice a solution of sugar of lead ; a pre¬
cipitate is formed, which is to be decomposed by means
*j ,de of diluted sulphuric acid *.
5. Malic acid, thus obtained, is a reddish brown li-
“! quid, of a pungent acid taste, leaving afterwards the
I Ij sensation of sweetness. It reddens blue vegetable co-
Pr< ties, lours. It never assumes a crystalline form, but be-
fl rroj/comes thick and viscid like syrup ; and when exposed
Cm *s. to dry air, it dries in thin strata like a brilliant varnish,
Cl tom. for which purpose it might be employed on polished
Tu' surfaces f.
Ad 0f 6. Malic acid is very readily decomposed by heat,
its It becomes of a dark colour, swells up, exhales a thick
acrid vapour in the open air, and leaves behind a bulky
mass of coal. When distilled in a retort, it yields an
acid water, a great deal of carbonic acid gas, a little
j carbonated hydrogen gas, and a light spongy coal.
De ,p0. 7* ^ is spontaneously decomposed in the vessels in
sed in. which it is kept; undergoes a kind of vinous fermen-
1,0 dy tation, and deposits a mucous, flaky substance. This
decomposition is owing to the intimate re-action of its
, constituent parts.
by ic 8. AH the strong acids decompose it. Concentrated
,cl' sulphuric acid chars it $ and it is converted into oxalic
acid by nitric acid. Scheele discovered, that mucous
matters treated with nitric acid, passed to the state of
malic acid, or were converted irito this acid, and into
, oxalic acid.
^ lion 9* The proportions of the constituent parts of this
nil °n* aC^ ^ave not been ascertained $ but from its decompo-
nnjj ts sition, and the products which are thus obtained, it is
’ obvious that it is composed of oxygen, hydrogen, and
carbon, of which the latter is supposed to be in great
proportion.
jjJl 0 10. The affinities of this acid are not determined.
t|C8 “* The compounds which it forms with alkalies, earths,
and metallic oxides, are denominated violates.
11. It is very soluble in water.
CHEMISTRY.
Sect. XXIII. Of Gallic Acid.
531
Acids.
—   
702
1. This acid exists most abundantly in a well known Histoiy.
substance, nut galls, and hence it has obtained the name
of gallic acid. It is also found in the bark and wood
of many other plants. It was first examined by the
academicians of Dijon in 1772, and its acid proper¬
ties clearly ascertained ; but it is to Scheele that we
are indebted for the discovery of the process by which
it may be obtained pure and crystallized. The account
of this process was published in 1780, which is the fol¬
lowing.
2. To one part of nut galls, reduced to a coarse Prepara-
powder, add six parts of pure water. Let the infusion Hon.
macerate for 15 days at the temperature of between
70° and 8o° 5 filter it, and put the liquid into a large
glass or earthen vessel, expose it to the air, and al¬
low it to evaporate slowly. A thick glutinous pelli¬
cle forms on the top j a great quantity of mucous
flakes are precipitated, and the solution has no longer
an astringent, but a perceptibly acid taste. At the
end of two or three months, Scheele had observed on
the sides of the vessels in which the solution was con¬
tained, a brown crust covered with shining crystals of
a yellowish gray colour. He found also a great quan¬
tity of these crystals under the thick pellicle which
covered the liquid. He then decanted it, and added
alcohol to the precipitate, the pellicle and the crystal¬
line crust, and applied heat. The alcohol dissolved the
crystallized acid, without touching the mucilage. The
solution was now evaporated, and the gallic acid was
obtained pure, in small shining crystals of a yellowish
gray colour.
3. Deyeux has pointed out another method, by which, Another
with proper precautions, gallic acid may be more process,
readily obtained. He introduces into a large glass re¬
tort, a quantity of nut galls reduced to powder, and ap¬
plies heat slowly and cautiously, by which he obtains
a large quantity of laminated, brilliant, silvery crystals,
sufficiently large, and which have all the properties of
gallic acid. But in following this process, it is neces¬
sary to observe, that the heat must be very moderate,
anil not continued till an oil is disengaged, which in- * Connam.
stantly disolves all the crystals sublimed before its np-Chim. viii.
pearance *. p. 181.
4. Sir H. Davy prepares it by boiling together for some n 7°5
time carbonate of barytes, and a solution of gall nuts.
This affords a bluish green liquor. When diluted sul¬
phuric acid is dropt into it, it becomes turbid ; sulphate f
of barytes is deposited, and after filtration, if the satu- R°y- Inst.
ration of the earth be complete, a colourless solution ofvol‘ u
gallic acid, apparently pure, is obtained f. 274‘
5. Gallic acid is crystallized in transparent octahe-p 7°rtfties-
drons, or brilliant plates j it has a sharp, pungent, and
austere taste, but less strong and astringent than that
of the gall nut.
6. This acid is not sensibly affected by exposure to Action of
the air. It requires 24 parts of cold water, and about water,
two-thirds of its weight in boiling water, to dissolve it,
from which it can only be crystallized by a very slow
evaporation.
7. With a moderate heat, it rises into vapour, which Qf
on cooling is condensed and crystallized. In the state
of vapour, it has a sharp, aromatic odour, resembling
3X2 that
CHEMISTRY.
709
Of acids.
that of the benzoic acid. Every time that It is su¬
blimed, even with a moderate heat, it is partially de¬
composed ; water is formed, an acid liquid, carbonic
acid gas, carbonated hydrogen gas, and some drops ot
a brown coloured oil j and there remains behind, a great
quantity of coaly matter.
8. Concentrated sulphuric acid decomposes and chars
\Fourcroy,the gallic acid. Nitric acid converts it into the malic
Comiaws. an(l oxalic acids. Oxymuriatic acid produces peculiar
Chim- tom. cjiallges on the gallic acid, but these have not been dis-
V11'710 83 tinctly ascertained f.
Of metallic 9. Although we have not yet treated of metallic
oxides. substances, it may be necessary to anticipate a little,
and mention the effects of gallic acid on metallic
oxides. This indeed is its chief characteristic. On
this account, it is much employed by chemists, to dis¬
cover metallic substances, which are held in solution
along with other bodies. Its effects on the metallic
oxides are extremely various, and with different metals
it affords different coloured precipitates. The more
readily the metallic oxides give up their oxygen, the
greater is the change produced by the gallic acid. On
some metallic solutions it has no effect j such are, solu¬
tions of platina, of zinc, of tin, of cobalt, and of man¬
ganese. The precipitates of the different metals pro¬
duced by means of gallic acid, exhibit the following
colours :
' 7”.
Composi¬
tion.
71*
Com¬
pounds.
Gold,
Silver,
Mercury,
Copper,
Bismuth,
Iron,
Bead,
Nickel,
Antimony,
Tellurium,
Uranium,
Titanium,
Chromium,
Columbium,
Brown.
Brown.
Orange-yellow.
Brown.
Citron-yellow.
Black.
White.
Gray.
White.
Yellow.
Chocolate.
Reddish-brown.
Brown.
Orange.
Affinities.
10. The component parts of gallic acid are the same
as those of the other vegetable acids, but having a
greater proportion of carbon j but these proportions
have not been ascertained.
11. The compounds which the gallic acid forms with
alkalies, earths, and metallic oxides, are denominated
gallates.
12. The affinities of this acid have not been ascer¬
tained.
Sect. XXXIV. Of Benzoic Acid.
7r4 ...
History. I. Benzoic acid is obtained from several plants,
and particularly from the strjrax ben%oe, a tree which
grows in Sumatra j from the balsam of Peru and To¬
lu *, from vanilla, and liquid amber. It also exists in
the urine of children, and sometimes in that of adults,
but constantly in the urine of quadrupeds which live
on grass and hay, especially in that of the horse and
cow. It is suspected also that it exists in many of the
grasses, and that it is derived from them by means of ac;<] i
the aliment to the urine of the animals in which it is-y J
found. Fourcroy and Vauquelin suspect that it exists
in the sweet-scented grass, {anthoxanihum odoratum,
Lin.) which gives the fine flavour to hay |. tPoan/(
The first mention of benzoic acid is made by Blaise
Chm. p *
de Vitrenere, who wrote about the commencement of ••
p. 1,
the 17th century (r). He says, that he obtained by
distilling benzoin, an acid salt which crystallized in
needles, of a penetrating odour. It was then called
flowers of benzoin, but at present benzoic acid. ^
2. To obtain this acid by the most common process, Prepan j
put into an earthen pot a quantity of benzoin grosslytion.
powdered. Cover the vessel with a cone of paper, and
apply a very gentle heat.. The benzoic acid is sublimed,
and attaches itself to the sides of the cone, which may
he renewed every two hours. Continue the process till
the acid sublimed begins to be coloured by the oil
which is disengaged. By a process proposed by Geof¬
frey, the benzoin reduced to a powder is digested in
warm water, and this being filtrated, yields on cooling
needle-shaped crystals of benzoic acid ; but the quan¬
tity obtained in this way is very small, which led
Scheele to adopt the following process. He took I
part of quicklime, to which were added 3 parts of wa¬
ter, and afterwards about 30 parts more, which is then
to be gradually mixed with 4 parts of powdered ben¬
zoin. Heat the whole on a moderate fire for half an
hour, continually agitating the mixture j then remove
it from the fire, and let it remain at rest for several
hours. Decant the clear supernatant liquor, and add
8 parts more water to the residuum. Boil it for half
an hour, and mix it with the former. Reduce the li¬
quor by evaporation to two parts j add drop by drop,
to a slight excess, muriatic acid, which causes the ben¬
zoic acid to precipitate, by separating it from the lime.
Wash the precipitate well on a filter 3 and to obtain it
in crystals, dissolve it in 5 or 6 times its own weight
of boiling water, which, on cooling, yields crystals in
the form of long compressed prisms.
3. Pure benzoic acid is either in the form of a lightPropcr •
powder, perceptibly crystallized, or in the form of very
small needles, cf which it is extremely difficult to de¬
termine the shape. It is white and brilliant, and has
some degree of ductility and elasticity. It has an
acrid, pungent, acidulous, and very bitter taste. In
the cold the odour is slight, but is aromatic, and this
is sufficient to characterize it. It reddens the tincture
of turnsole, hut has no effect cn the syrup of violets.
The specific gravity of benzoic acid is 0.667. 71 j
4. Exposed to a moderate heat, it melts, forms a Action
soft brown and spongy body, which cools into a solid beat
crust, exhibiting on the surface some appearance ot
crystallization. Witlwa stronger heat it is sublimed,
and exhales a white acrid vapour, which affects the
eyes. It burns when brought into contact with flame,
and the whole is consumed without any residuura.
When it is distilled in close vessels, great part su¬
blimes unchanged, but part is decomposed and yields a
viscid liquid, a considerable quantity of oil, and a much
greater quantity of carbonated hydrogen gas than any
other
(r) TraitS du feu et du sel, which was printed at Paris In 1608.
CHEMISTRY.
ids
u ,—
iS
0!
10
0i ids-
20
Ci iosi-
tic,
22
ties.
H t7.
r.«.
lit
other body of this nature. A very small portion of
coaly matter remains in the retort.
5. It is not sensibly changed by exposure to the air.
It is scarcely soluble in cold water. Four hundred
parts of boiling water dissolve 20 parts of the acid,
19 of which are separated on cooling.
6. Concentrated sulphuric acid readily dissolves this
acid, and one part of the sulphuric acid passes into the
state of sulphurous acid. Benzoic acid may be sepa¬
rated from this solution without having undergone any
change, by adding water. The nitric acid dissolves it
in the same way, and it is also separated by means of
water. Guyton found, by distilling nitric acid on the
concrete benzoic acid, that nitrous gas was disengaged,
only towards the end of the process, and that the acid
itself then sublimed without alteration.
7. As this acid yields by distillation oil and carbon¬
ated hydrogen gas, it is obvious that it must be com¬
posed of carbon and hydrogen, and probably also
oxygen, although this latter has not been discovered
in any experiments that have been made on this sub¬
stance.
8. Benzoic acid unites very readily with alkalies,
earths, and metallic oxides, and the compounds which
are thus formed are denominated bervzoatcs.
9. The order of the aflinities of benzoic acid is the
following :
"White oxide of arsenic,
Potash,
Soda,
Ammonia,
Barytes,
JLime,
Magnesia,
Alumina.
Sect. XXV. Of Succinic Acid.
1. Succinic acid, formerly called volatile salt of am¬
ber, was long regarded as an alkaline salt. It was
not till towards the end of the 17th century, that its
acid properties were discovered. As amber, the sub¬
stance from which the acid is obtained, is found in
considerable quantity under strata of substances which
contained pyrites, it was thought that this acid was
formed by sulphuric acid. This w'as the opinion of
Hoffman and Neuman. Amber is found on the sea-
coast of different countries, especially in the Prussian
territory on the shores of the Baltic. The name of
the acid is derived from succinum, the Latin name for
this substance.
2. Succinic acid may be obtained by the following
process. Introduce a quantity of amber in powder
into a retort, and let it be covered with dry sand.
Adapt a receiver, and distil with a moderate heat in
a sand bath. There passes over first a liquid which
is of a reddish colour, and afterwards a volatile acid
salt, which crystallizes in small, white, or yellowish
needles in the neck of the retort j and if the distilla¬
tion be continued, a white light oil succeeds, which
becomes brown, thick, and viscid. The acid which
is obtained in this way is contaminated with the oil j
and therefore to separate this oil, it may be dissolved
in hot water, and passed through a filter on which has
* Ann. dc
been placed a little cotton moistened with oil of amber,
which retains the oil, and prevents it from passing
through along with the acid. The acid may then be
evaporated and crystallized. Guyton has observed,
that the acid may be rendered quite pure, by distilling
off it a sufficient quantity of nitric acid, but with this
precaution, that the heat employed is not strong enough xxx ^ l6*
to sublime the succinic acid *. 725
3. The acid thus obtained is in the form of white,Properties,
shining, transparent crystals, which are foliated, trian¬
gular, and prismatic. The taste is acid, but not cor¬
rosive. It reddens the tincture of turnsole, but has no
effect on the infusion of violets. 725
4. With the heat of a sand bath, the crystals of sue-Action of
cinic acid first melt, and are then sublimed and con-heat,
densed in the upper part of the vessel. There is, how¬
ever, a partial decomposition, for there is a coaly mat¬
ter left behind in the vessel. 727
5. At the temperature of 212°, two parts of waterOf water,
dissolve one of this acid, which crystallizes on cooling.
When the water is cold at the temperature of 50°, it
requires 96 parts of water to dissolve one of the acid. 72S
6. This acid, like other vegetable acids, is composed Composi-
of oxygen, hydrogen, and carbon ) for when it is dis-tl011'
tilled in a retort with a strong heat, carbonic acid gas
and carbonated hydrogen gas are evolved, and char¬
coal remains behind in the retort. The proportions of
the component parts have not been ascertained.
7. This acid enters into combination with alkalies, Coin¬
earths, and metallic oxides, and forms with them com-pounds,
pounds, which are denominated succinates. 730
8. The affinities of this acid are in the following order: Affinities.
Barytes,
Lime,
Potash,
Soda,
Ammonia,
Magnesia,
Alumina,
Metallic oxides.
Sect. XXVI. Of Saclactic Acid.
73*
1. To this acid Fourcroy has given the name of 3f//-History.
cous acid, because it is obtained from gum arabic and
other mucilaginous substances *, and it was formerly
called acid of sugar of milk. This latter name it re¬
ceived from Scheele, who discovered it in the year
1780, while he was employed in making experiments
on the sugar of milk, in order to obtain from it oxalic
acid, which he procured from sugar. ^
2. This acid may be obtained by the following pro-prCpura.
cess. To 1 part of gum arabic, or other mucilaginoustion.
substance, add 2 parts of nitric acid in a retort, and
apply a gentle heat. There is at first disengaged a
little nitrous gas and carbonic acid gas, after which
let the mixture cool. There is then precipitated a-
white powder which is slightly acid. This powder is-
the saclactic acid. 73^
3. Thus obtained, saclactic acid is in the form ofpropenies-
a white powder, a little gritty, and wfith a weak acid
taste. * 734
4. It is readily decomposed by heat, and yields an Action of
acid liquor which crystallizes by rest in the shape of heat.
needles,
534
CHEMISTRY.
Acids, needles, a small quantity of an acrid caustic oil, of a
' \ v blood-red colour, carbonic acid gas, and carbonated
Conilnkl hy^roffen Sas j and there is left behind a considerable
Chim. tom. quantJty coaly matter. It is partly sublimed in
needles or brown plates, with an odour similar to that
of benzoic acid f.
j. Saclatic acid in the state of powder is not very
soluble in water. Cold water does not take up more
than 200 or 300 parts of its weight; boiling water
does not take up above one half more. On cooling,
the acid is deposited in brilliant scales, which become
white in the air. The solution has an acid taste. It
reddens the tincture of turnsole. Its specific gravity
at the temperature of 590 is 1.0015 J.
6. This acid enters into combination with earths,
alkalies, and metallic oxides} and the salts which it
forms are known by the name of saccolates.
7. The order of its affinities, according to Bergman,
is the following:
vu. p. 147
735
Of water.
J Encyc.
Method, i.
p. apo.
736
Com¬
pounds.
737
Afiinities.
Lime,
Barytes,
Magnesia,
Potash,
Soda,
Ammonia,
Alumina,
Metallic oxides.
. 738
History.
739
Prepara¬
tion.
740
Properties.
741
Action of
water.
742
Oflieat.
Sect. XXVII. Of Camphoric Acid.
1. This acid is obtained, as the name imports, from
camphor, a concrete substance procured from a species
of laurel (Laurus camphora, Lin.) which is a native
of the East Indies.
2. Camphoric acid was first obtained by Kosegarten,
by distilling nitric acid 8 times successively off cam¬
phor. This experiment was repeated by Bouillon La¬
grange with the same result. He introduced into a
glass retort, 1 part of camphor, and he poured over
it 4 parts of nitric acid. A receiver was adapted to
the retort, and the joinings were well luted. The
retort was placed on a sand-bath, and a gradual heat
was applied. A great deal of nitrous gas and carbonic
acid gas was disengaged. One part of the camphor is
sublimed, and another part seizes on the oxygen of the
nitric acid. The same process must be repeated till
the whole of the camphor is acidified, which is known
by its crystallizing when the liquor cools which re¬
mains in the retort. These crystals are camphoric
acid. rIo purify it, it must be dissolved in distilled
warm water, and the liquor is then to be filtered and
evaporated to nearly half its volume, or till a thin
pellicle i,s formed on it. When it cools, crystals of
pure camphoric acid will be obtained.
3. Camphoric acid has a slightly acid, bitter taste.
It reddens the tincture of turnsole. The crvstals re¬
semble, when, in a mass, those of the muriate of am¬
monia. Exposed to the air the mass effloresces.
4. Cold water dissolves this acid with great difficul¬
ty. An ounce of water at the temperature of between
50° and 60 , cannot dissolve more than 6 grs. while
water at the boiling temperature will hold in solution
eight times that quantity.
5. When this acid is put upon burning coals, it ex¬
hales a dense, aromatic vapour } with a less degree of Ac;- I
heat, it melts, and is sublimed. When put into a heat- 1 yC,
ed porcelain tube, and if a stream of oxygen gas be
passed through it, the acid remains unchanged, but it is
sublimed from the sides of the tube. When distilled
alone, it first melts and then sublimes. This sublima¬
tion produces some change in its properties. It no
longer reddens the tincture of turnsole, and acquires a
strong aromatic odour, and a less pungent taste j be-*,
comes insoluble in water, and in the sulphuric and mu-Oh'nTtc
riatic acids. The nitric acid heated, makes it yellow, xxiii.p., ;
and dissolves it*- „ 743 |
6. Camphoric acid enters into combination with the Com'
alkalies, earths, and metallic oxides, and the compounds\
thus formed are denominated camphorates.
7. The affinities of this acid are the following f :
Lime,
Potash,
Soda,
Barytes,
Ammonia,
Alumina,
Magnesia.
Sect. XXVIII. Of Suberic Acid.
1. This acid is obtained from cork, a well-known Hi8101!1
substance, which is the bark of a tree (the quercus suber
Lin. or cork-tree). From the Latin name of this sub¬
stance, suber, the name of the acid is derived, and hence
it is called suberic acid. The acid which is obtained
from cork, by treating it with nitric acid, was supposed
to be the oxalic acid, on account of possessing some
common properties, and particularly that of forming
with lime an insoluble salt. But the experiments of
Bouillon Lagrange have shewn, that this is a peculiar
acid. 745
2. This acid is obtained by the following process. ^P813-
Take a quantity of clean cork, grated down. Intro-t,on,
duce it into a retort, and pour on it six times its weight
of nitric acid j the acid ought not to be too concentrated.
It is then to be distilled with a moderate heat. The
cork swells up and becomes yellow, and there is dis-
engaged a quantity of red vapours ; and as the distilla¬
tion goes on, the cork is dissolved, and swims on the
surface like foam. If this scum is not formed, the cork
has not been acted upon by the acid. In this case,
when the distillation begins to stop, return into the re¬
tort the acid which had passed over into the receiver,
and distil as long as any red vapours appear, and then
immediately remove the retort from the sand bath, and
pour out the contents while yet hot into a glass or por¬
celain vessel; put it into a sand hath and apply a gentle
heat, stirring it constantly with a glass rod. The mat¬
ter gradually thickens, and as soon as white vapours are
disengaged, which excite a tickling in the throat, it is
to be removed from the sand bath, and constantly stir¬
red till the mass is nearly cold. In this way a substance
is obtained of the consistence of honey, of an orange-
yellow colour, of a sharp penetrating odour while it is
warm, but which gives out a peculiar aromatic smell
when it is cold.
To procure the acid which is contained in this sub¬
stance, put it into a matrass, and pour upon it double >
its
Affinitiei
t Ibxi.
xxvii, p,
74 <
■■
CHEMISTRY.
8
Ac i of
lig]
9
Of it.
ids. weight of distilled water. Apply heat till the mass
r-—/becomes liquid, and separate by filtration that part
which is insoluble in water. The liquor which is ob¬
tained is of a clear amber colour, and of a peculiar
odour. The filtered liquor on cooling becomes muddy,
is covered with a thin pellicle, and deposits a powdery
sediment. The precipitate is to be separated from the
liquid by filtration, and it is to be dried with a gentle
heat. This precipitate is the suberic acid. The re¬
maining liquor is then to be evaporated to dryness with
a moderate heat, to obtain the whole of the acid which
it holds in solution.
The acid which is prepared by this process is a lit¬
tle coloured, and may be purified, either by saturating
the suberic acid with potash, and precipitating with an
-j acid, or by boiling it with charcoal pow’der.
Pn rties. 3. Suberic acid is in the solid form, but it is not
crystallized. When it is obtained by precipitation, it
is in the state of a powder, and by evaporation it is in
the form of thin irregular pellicles.
4. It has a slightly bitter and acid taste. Dissolved
in a small quantity of boiling water, it tickles the
throat, and excites coughing. It reddens vegetable
blues.
5. Exposed to the light, it becomes brown after a
certain time; but this effect is more speedily produced
when it is exposed to the sun’s rays. Heated in a
matrass, the suberic acid is sublimed, and the glass re¬
mains marked with zones of dift'erent colours. If the
sublimation be stopped in time, the acid is obtained on
the sides of the vessel, in small points formed of concen¬
tric circles. When exposed to the heat of the blorv-
pipe on a spoon of platina, it first melts, then falls
down into a powder, and at last is totally dissipated by
sublimation.
6. It undergoes no change from the action of oxygen
gas. The action of the acids on suberic acid is very
weak. The solution is not complete, especially when
it is impure.
y. Water at the temperature of 6o° or 70° dissolves
the concrete acid only in the proportion of 10 grs. to
the ounce. When the acid is very pure, the water
will not dissolve more than 4 grs. Boiling water dis¬
solves half its weight; but as the liquor cools, it be¬
comes muddy, and the acid is deposited*.
8. This acid combines with the alkalies, earths, and
metallic oxides, and forms with them compounds which
are known by the name of suberates.
9. The order of its affinities is the following f :
Barytes,
Potash,
Soda,
Lime,
Ammonia,
Magnesia,
Alumina,
Metallic oxides.
Sect. XXIX. Of Mellitjc Acid.
ery, I. The acid is procured from a mineral substance
which was discovered about the year 1790. Werner
gave it the name of honigstein, (honeystone) from its
colour. By other mineralogists it has been denomi-
Of ds.
L il.ie
Ch tom,
Ui u 41.
i
C01
Hr
Affi eg,
U p.
ir
bis
755
nated mellite, from the Latin name of honey, and
hence the acid which it affords has been called mdlitic'
acid. The mineral from which this acid is obtained
seems to be ol vegetable origin. It is found in small
crystals among the layers-of wood coal at Arten in
Thuri ngia. In the first analysis to which this mineral
wras subjected, no new acid was detected. But in the
year 1799 the acute and accurate Klaproth examined
its nature and component parts, and found that it is a
compound of a peculiar acid and alumina. His experi¬
ments have been since repeated by Vauquelin, and the
result of his analysis has been fully confirmed.
2. It is procured from mellite by the following pro-Process for
cess. The mineral is to be reduced to powder, and ^tabling,
boiled with, about 72 times its weight of water. The
alumina is precipitated in the form of flakes, and the
acid combines with the water. By filtration and eva¬
poration, crystals are deposited, which are the crystals
of mellitic acid. 756
3. This acid crystallizes in the form of fine needles, Properties.
or in small short prisms with shining faces. They are
considerably hard. It has a slightly acid taste, accom¬
panied with some degree of bitterness. 757
4. This acid has very little solubility in water, but Action of
it has not been ascertained to what degree ; orwhatvvater*
proportion of water it requires for its solution. 758
5. A small quantity of this acid, exposed to the^^1631’
flame of the blow-pipe, at first gave out sparks like
nitre; and then swelled up, and left a matter which
penetrated the charcoal. Heated in a crucible of pla¬
tinum, it swells up at first, is then charred, without the
production of any oily vapour, and leaves behind a
light coaly alkaline matter*. * Anna}, de
6. When the nitric acid is added to this acid, it pro ^im' V<>1*
xxxvi. 21c.
ISO
duces no other change than giving it a yellowish colour.
It has not yet converted it into any of the vegetable Of acids
acids, to which it is nearly allied in its properties and
constituent parts.
7. According to Klaproth’s analysis the mineral from Composi-
which the acid is obtained consists of ti011*
46 metallic acid,.
16 alumina,
38 water.
100
"When it was distilled in a retort the acid was com¬
pletely decomposed; and the products obtained by
Klaproth in this way from 100 grains of mellite were
the following:
54 cubic inches of carbonic acid gas,
13 hydrogen gas,
38 grs. of acidulous water,
I aromatic oil,
9 charcoal,
16 alumina.*
The constituent parts of mellitic acid are obviously
carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen. But the proportions
have not been ascertained. ^
8. Mellitic acid enters into combination with theCom-
earths, alkalies, and metallic oxides, and forms com-pound*,
pounds with them which are called mellates.
Sect.
Acid?.
"j6t
Discovery.
7^3
Prepara¬
tion.
7^4
Properties.
7*5.
Cmn posi¬
tion.
765
Com¬
pounds.
7*7
Affinities,
76$
History,
CHEMISTRY.
Sect. XXX. 0/Lactic Acid.
1. In investigating the changes which spontaneously
take place in milk, the celebrated Scheele discovered
that it contains a peculiar acid. To this has been given
the name of lactic acid. The formation of this acid de¬
pends on the change of the sugar of milk or of the sac¬
charine mucous matter ; for after the acid is once well
formed, when the serous part of the milk being very
sour reddens vegetable blues, no more is obtained by
evaporation and crystallization.
2. Scheele did not succeed in separating the acid
from the serous part of the milk by distillation. He
therefore contrived the following process. He eva¬
porated a quantity of sour whey to -^th of its bulk, and
then filtered it to separate the whole of the coagulated
cheesv matter. He then added lime-water to precipi¬
tate the phosphate of lime, and diluted the liquid with
three times its weight of pure water. He then preci¬
pitated the excess of lime by means of the oxalic acid,
adding no more of the latter than what is necessary.
He evaporated the solution to the consistency of honey,
poured on a quantity of alcohol, which separates the
portion of sugar of milk and of other extraneous mat¬
ter, and dissolves the lactic acid ; and distilled the
clear filtered liquor till the whole of the alcohol em¬
ployed be driven off; what remains in the retort is the
lactic acid.
3. This acid is never crystallized ; but always ap¬
pears in the form of a viscid mucilaginous substance.
It has a strong sharp taste, which is far from being
agreeable. It reddens the tincture of turnsole, and
gives a reddish violet shade to the syrup of violets.
4. When it is distilled in a retort it yields an empy-
reumatic acid which is very strong and analogous to the
tartaric, very little oil, carbonic acid gas, and carbo¬
nated hydrogen gas, and a small quantity of coaly mat¬
ter which adheres to the glass. This shews what are
the constituent parts of this acid, but the proportions of
these have not been determined.
5. The compounds with alkalies, earths, and metal¬
lic oxides which are formed with the lactic acid, are
denominated lactates.
6. The affinities of this acid are in the following
order;
Barytes,
Potasb,
Soda,
Strontites,
Time,
Ammonia,
Magnesia,
Metallic oxides,
Glucina,
Alumina,
Zirconia.
Sect. XXXI. Of Laccic Acid.
I. The substance from which this acid is obtained,
is collected in the neighbourhood of Madras. It was
first described by Dr Anderson, who says that nests of
insects resembling small cowry shells were brought to
1
him from the woods by the natives, who eat them with Acids,
avidity. These supposed nests lie shortly afterwards -v—
discovered to be. the coverings of the females of an un¬
described species of coccus ; and having noticed in
Abbe Grosier’s account of China, that the Chinese cal¬
led a kind of wax, much esteemed by them, under the
name of pdla, from a coccus deposited for the purpose of
breeding on certain shrubs, and managed exactly in the
same manner as the Mexicans manage the cochineal in¬
sects, be followed the same process with his new insects,
and found means to propagate them with great facility
on trees and shrubs in the neighbourhood. ^
This substance,.which he called white lac, was found and natu
on examination to have a considerable resemblance toofthesu
bees wax. Dr Anderson supposes, that the animal which ^a^ces^,
secretes it provides itself, by some means or other, with ltob_
a small quantity of honey, resembling that produced bytained.
our bees. The sweetness ot it tempted the children
who w'ere employed to collect it, to eat so much ol it
as very much to diminish his crop. A small quantity
of this matter was sent to Europe in 1789. It was ex¬
amined by Dr Pearson, who published an account of
his analysis in the Philosophical Transactions for 1794*
from which we have extracted the information which
we now lay before our readers.
A piece of white lac, which weighs from three to
fifteen grains, is supposed to be produced by each in¬
sect. These pieces are about the size of a pea, of a gray
colour, opaque and roundish, but with a flat side, by
which they adhere .to the bark. In its dry state, white
lac is soft and tough, and has a saltish and bitterish
taste. A watery liquid, which has a slight salt taste,
oozes out on pressing a piece of this substance. White
lac has no smell, unless it he pressed or rubbed, when
it becomes soft, and then it emits a peculiar odour.
W hen it is gathered from the tree, the pieces ef lac are
lighter than bees-wax ; but after being melted and puri¬
fied, it sinks in water. It melts in alcohol and in wa¬
ter at the temperature of 1450, and very readily in
boiling water. 770
2. Dr Pearson exposed 2000 grains of white lac to Prepara
such a degree of heat as was sufficient to melt them, t1011.
They became soft and fluid, and there oozed out 550
grains of a reddish watery liquid, which emitted the
smell of newly baked bread. The liquid was filtered
and purified from extraneous matter. This liquid is
laccic acid. ■ ' IV
3. It has a slightly saltish taste, with some degree of pro^ert|
bitterness. It smells when healed like newly baked hot
bread. It reddens the tincture of turnsole. Its speci¬
fic gravity, at the temperature of 6o°, is 1.025. When
this liquid remains for sometime at rest, it becomes tur¬
bid, and deposits a sediment. W hen it is evaporated, it
becomes more turbid; and, allowed to remain at rest, it
affords small needle-like crystals in mucilaginous mat¬
ter. t 771
4. Two hundred and fifty grains of this liquid were Action
exposed to heat in a small retort. As the liquor grew l*,at-
warm, mucilage-like clouds appeared, but when it grew
hot, they disappeared. At the temperature of 200
it distilled over verv fast. On distillation to dryness,
a small quantity of extractive matter remained. Ihe
distilled liquid was transparent and yellowish, and while
hot, had the smell of newly baked bread. Paper stain¬
ed with turnsole, which had been put into the receiver,
was
S
CHEMISTRY.
537
was not reddened. One hundred grains of yellowish
i. ymmmj transparent liquid being evaporated till it became turbid,
afi’oi'ded in the course of a night, acicular crystals
which had a bitterish taste. Under a lens they appear¬
ed in a group, somewhat resembling the umbel of pars¬
ley. One hundred grains of yellowish transparent
liquid being evaporated in a low temperature to dryness,
a blackish matter remained behind, which did not en¬
tirely disappear when exposed to pretty strong heat;
but on heating oxalic acid to a less degree, it evapo¬
rated and left no trace behind.
From these properties, and from its peculiar action
with alkaline, earthy, and metallic salts, Dr Pearson
concludes, that this acid is different from any of the
73 acids already known.
t posi- The experiments which have been made on white
lac, and on the acid obtained from it, show that it is
closely allied to the vegetable acids. Its component
parts, therefore, probably are, carbon, hydrogen, and
oxygen j but experiments are still wanting fully to as-
* »/• certain its nature and properties *.
P 3-
74
[ >ry.
* 75
T Iis«
« y.
iS
an-
ed.
Sect. XXXII. Of Prussic Acid.
1. This is one of the most important acids, both to
the chemist and to the manufacturer. It has been al-
ledged, that the ancients were acquainted with Prussian
blue, which they employed in painting j but Landriani
has shown, in his dissertation on this substance, from
the evidence of Theophrastus and Pliny, and from the
analysis of an Egyptian mummy, that the ancients em¬
ployed ultramarine blue and the smalt or azure of co¬
balt ; and that Prussian blue, which is readily acted on
by the substances to which it must have been exposed
in these countries, could not have resisted their influ¬
ence for so many ages, and retain the beautiful colours
which are admired in the paintings of Herculaneum.
2. Stahl relates, in his 300 experiments, that the
discovery of Prussian blue was owing to an accident.
About the beginning cf the 18th century, Diesbach, a
chemist of Berlin, wishing to precipitate a decoction of
cochineal with an alkali, borrowed from Dippel some
potash, on which he had distilled several times his ani¬
mal oil; but as there was some sulphate of iron in the
decoction of cochineal, the liquor instantly exhibited a
beautiful blue in place of a red precipitate. Reflecting
on the circumstances which had taken place, he found
that it was easy to produce at pleasure the same sub¬
stance, which afterwards became an object of commerce.
It obtained the name of Prussian blue, from the place
where it was discovered.
3. This discovery was announced in the Memoirs of
the Academy of Berlin, for the year 1710 j but the
process by which it was obtained was kept secret, that
those who were in possession of it might derive the
whole advantage from the manufacture. It was pub¬
lished for the first time by Woodward in the Philoso¬
phical Transactions for the year 1724, who declared,
that it had been sent to him from Germany, by one
*fh is friends. This is all that is known of the man¬
ner by which this process was made public. It is not
certain whether it came originally from the first inven¬
tors, or was owing to the researcltes of some other
chemist.
Vol. V. Part II. f
4. The method which is described by Woodward Acids,
succeeds very well. It is by preparing an extemporane- v—
ous alkali, by detonating four ounces of nitre, with an 777
equal quantity of tartar; then to add four ounces 0fProce*;,•
bullock’s blood, well dried, and to calcine the whole
with a moderate heat, till the blood be reduced to
a coal, or emit no smoke capable of blackening
any white body that is exposed to it. Towards the
end of the process the fire is to be increased, till the
crucible which contains the materials shall be mode¬
rately red. Throw the red-hot matter into water, and
boil it for half an hour ; and having poured off the
first water, add another quantity, and boil it again.
Repeat this operation till the last water comes oft' in¬
sipid, then add all the quantities of water together,
and evaporate to the quantity of two pints. To this
liquid the Germans have given the name of blood ley.
By others it has been denominated phlogistic ate d alku- .
line ley.
5. A solution of 2 ounces of sulphate of iron, and
8 ounces of alum, in two pints of boiling water, is to
be mixed with the former solution while both are hot.
A great efiervescence takes place ; the liquor becomes
muddy, assumes a greenish colour, inclining more or
less to blue; and a precipitate is formed of the same co¬
lour. Separate this precipitate, and to heighten the
colour, pour upon it carefully muriatic acid till it no
longer increases the intensity of the blue colour ; then
wash it with water, and dry it slowly.
6. Such was the process by which Prussian blue was
obtained, before the theory was discovered, to account
for the different changes and effects which it presented.
The same year in which Woodward published an ac-Nature of
count of the process, Brown instituted a set of experi- it investi-
ments to discover the nature of this substance, and theSate<^ ^
circumstances which attended its formation. He found
that flesh, as well as bullock’s blood, possessed a similar
property. He thought that Prussian blue was the bi¬
tuminous part of iron, developed by the alkaline ley,
and fixed in the aluminous earth. Geoffroy adopted
the same explanation. He found that, in the animal
kingdom, oils, wool, hartshorn, sponge, had the same
effect as blood with the alkali, in precipitating iron of
a blue colour ; and that some vegetable charcoal treat¬
ed with the alkali, in some measure communicated to it
a similar property. Neuman discovered that the ani¬
mal empyreumatic oils might be employed for the same
purpose. The abbe Menon was of opinion, that the
colour of iron is blue ; and that this colour, usually dis¬
guised by same saline matter, reappears, when it is se¬
parated by the phlogisticated alkaline ley, and thus
Prussian blue was only iron precipitated in its natural
state. The aluminous earth, he saw, served only to
diminish the intensity of the colour, and to give it a
more agreeable shade.
7. It is to the celebrated Macquer that we are in-gy^Jac-
debted for the first correct views in developing tbequer,
theory of this process. He observed, 1. That pure al¬
kalies precipitated iron from its solution of a yellow co¬
lour. 2. That this precipitate is soluble in acids. 3. That
the blue fecula obtained from the blue phlogisticated
ley after the addition of muriatic acid, was not acted
on by acids. He therefore concluded that the first
green precipitate was not a homogeneous substance,
3 Y but
538 CHEMISTRY.
Aciok but a mixture of two precipitates, the one yellow and
v—^——* the other blue ; and that it was sufficient to remove the
first by any acid, to give to the second its full inten¬
sity of colour. Hence he supposed, that the acid of
the alum employed in this process was useful in satu¬
rating, in a great measure, the pure alkaline portion of
the ley, and diminishing proportionally the yellow pre¬
cipitate of iron. Having found that it was impossible
to saturate the alkali with a colouring matter by means
of calcination ; and, having discovered that the pure
alkali deprived iron (which was converted into Prus¬
sian blue) of its characteristic properties j and finally,
having ascertained that the alkali which was employed
in the process became exactly similar to that which was
calcined with combustible matters, to prepare it for the
precipitation of iron of a blue colour, and that al¬
kaline properties disappeared as it was more or less
saturated with the colouring matter, he attempted to
saturate it fully. He therefore saturated an alkali so
completely with the colouring matter, that it under¬
went no change by boiling, and exhibited none of its
alkaline properties by chemical tests. By this dis¬
covery we are now in possession of this valuable sub¬
stance which had been hitherto known under the name
of the saturated ley of the colouring matter of Prussian
blue.
Macquer found, in the course of his experiments,
that the saturated ley could not be decomposed by sul¬
phuric acid, or by the solution of alum *, but, on the
contrary, that every metallic substance dissolved in an
acid, separated the phlogistic matter from all the fixed
and volatile alkalies. Hence he concluded, that in
the process of the formation of Prussian blue, it is
necessary that the affinity of the iron should co-operate
with that of the acid with the alkali, to form a sum of
affinities capable of effecting the separation. This lu¬
minous explanation of so striking a process, has not a
little contributed to establish the theory of compound
^So affinities.
and others. &. After the publication of Macquer’s dissertation,
almost all chemists were occupied in researches into the
nature of Prussian blue, either to discover the nature
of its principles, or to improve the process for prepar¬
ing the colouring matter : but they were chiefly occu¬
pied in examining those bodies which were capable of
phlogisticating the alkali, as it was called ; and this pro¬
perty was found to exist in a great number of substances.
Till the year 1775, no change or modification was pro-
7Sl posed on the theory of Macquer.
By Beig- 9. About this time Bergman, in his dissertation on
xiian. elective attractions, threw new light on this subject,
by considering the colouring matter of Prussian blue as
a distinct acid, and possessed of peculiar attractions.
According to Sage, the alkali which precipitated Prus¬
sian blue was nothing but an alkali saturated with
phosphoric acid ; but Lavoisier justlv remarked, that
according to this theory, the salt formed of phosphoric
acid and an alkali ought to precipitate a solution of
sulphate of iron, of a blue colour, which was not the
case.
Many chemists examined the nature of this sub¬
stance by means of heat j and among others Delius and
Scopoli, Deyeux and Parmentier, Bergman and Erx-
leben, subjected it to distillation, the product of which
was a quantity of ammonia. By others an oil was obf
tained in this process, and sometimes a peculiar acid, Aciih
which had the properties of sulphuric acid. The differ- y-1
ence of these results probably arose from the different
states of purity of the Prussian blue which was employ¬
ed in the experiment. j
Fontana discovered that the sulphuric acid distilled By Fon
on Prussian blue passed to the state of sulphurous acid,na.
and that the colouring matter produced detonation with
nitre. Landriani found that it yielded by distillation,
besides ammonia, a small portion of liquid perceptibly
acid, and some oil, and a great quantity of elastic
fluids, which consisted of azotic and hydrogen gases,
the latter burning with a blue flame, aad detonating
strongly with oxygen gas. |
10. But the most important step in the progress ofEyScb .
the discovery of the nature and properties of this sin¬
gular substance, was made by Scheele, an account of
which he published in two dissertations in the Stock- .3 J
holm transactions for 1782 and 1783. He began byHeexa
examining the blood ley, and he found by exposing itm*ne!t
for some time to the air, that it lost the property of pre-lcy'
cipitating iron of a blue colour, and that the precipitate
which it then yields is soluble in acids. To discover
what change had taken place on the air, he put some
of the ley fresh prepared into a large glass globe close
shut up, and he found some time after, that neither
the air nor the ley had undergone any change. He
concluded, therefore, that the colouring matter was H
not pure phlogiston. He suspected that carbonic acidEffectii
might have some effect in changing the nature of thecarbon
alkali when exposed to the open air. He filled aac^*
globe with carbonic acid gas, and having introduced
a quantity of Prussian alkali, he kept it close shut
up for 24 hours, after which, on examining the alka¬
li, it gave a precipitate which was soluble in acids $
the change then must have been occasioned by the
carbonic acid gas. He repeated this experiment by
adding to the colouring matter a small quantity of sul¬
phate of iron. This matter was not changed by the
action of the carbonic acid gas. The same result was
observed when he boiled the colouring matter in an
oxide of iron precipitated by an alkali. It suffered no
change in the carbonic acid gas, but precipitated the ySij
iron as before. The iron then has the property of fix-Iron ft
ing the colouring principle, of defending it against thelheCo:'
action of carbonic acid gas; and hence it happens thatl“^r
the neutral colouring salt formed with an alkali boiled
on Prussian blue, does not so easily lose its properties.
But if the colouring ley be digested on an oxide of
iron, as that which is obtained from the sulphate of
iron boiled in nitric acid, and afterwards precipitated
by an alkali, no effect is produced. By this digestion
the action of the gas is not prevented, and if the sul¬
phate of iron be added, even with an excess of acid,
there is no longer a production of Prussian blue.
To discover what happened to the colouring prin¬
ciple, when it was charged with carbonic acid gas,
Scheele introduced into a globe filled with this gas,
some of the Prussian alkali, and suspended in it a bit
of paper, previously dipped in a solution of sulphate of
iron, and on which he had let fall two drops of alka¬
line liquor to precipitate the iron. The paper was re¬
moved at the end of two hours, and, with the addition
of a little muriatic acid, was covered with a fine blue
colour. The same experiments repeated with alkali
saturated
C H E M
js, saturated with excess of sulphuric acid, gave the same
u r"—* result 5 that is to say, the paper charged with oxide of
liy iron and suspended as above, acquired a blue colour
It l>seU- on adding muriatic acid. Hence it follows, that the
»a 1 by colouring principle is disengaged by acids, without
decomposition, for it still has the property of being
fixed with oxide of iron with which it comes in con¬
tact. Thus he found that the colouring matter might
be separated from the substances with which it was
generally in combination, and without undergoing de-
| SS composition.
flparate u. To obtain it, therefore, in a separate state, he
y contrived the following process. He put into a glass
vessel two parts of Prussian blue reduced to powder,
one part of red oxide of mercury, and six parts of wa¬
ter. He boiled the mixture for some minutes, conti¬
nually stirring it. It then assumes a yellowish green
colour. He put the whole on a filter, and poured up-
on the residuum two parts more of boiling water, to
wash it completely. This liquid is a solution of mer¬
cury combined with the colouring matter, which has
the metallic taste, and is neither precipitated by acids
nor alkalies. Pour this liquid into a glass vessel upon
one half part of clean iron filings, and a smaller quan¬
tity of concentrated sulphuric acid. Shake the mix¬
ture well for some minutes, when it becomes black by
the reduction of the mercury. The liquid then loses
its metallic taste, and gives out the odour which is pe¬
culiar to the colouring matter. Having allowed it to
remain at rest for some time, it is poured oil', put into
a retort to which a receiver is adapted, and distilled
with a gentle heat. One-fourth part of the liquid only
should be allowed to pass over, for the colouring mat¬
ter is much more volatile than water, and consequent¬
ly rises first. The liquid in the receiver is commonly
mixed with a little sulphuric acid, from which it may
be separated by distilling again off a little powdered
chalk, which takes up the sulphuric acid. The liquid
then passes over in a state of purity j and this liquid is
prussic acid.
12. In this process the oxide of mercury which was
mixed with the colouring matter, takes it from the
iron with which it is combined in the state of Prussian
blue, and is then a crystallizable prussiate of mercury.
The iron which is added in the metallic state, reduces
the oxide of mercury ; and at the moment it combines
with the sulphuric acid, which has also been added,
the heat applied sublimes the prussic acid which has
been disengaged from the mercury, which is now re¬
duced to the metallic state. The prussic acid thus ob¬
tained, partly in the liquid, and partly in the gaseous
state, combined with alkalies, produces the same ef¬
fects as the blood ley, and the colourless Prussian
blue.
13. Having obtained the prussic acid in a separate
state, it was his next object to discover its component
parts. He had observed in the process for procuring
it, that the air in the receiver was inHammable *, and
in decomposing the prussiates, he obtained ammonia
and carbonic acid, and found that some metals were
reduced by distillation with the metallic prussiates.
He concluded from this, that prussic acid was com-
posed of ammonia and oil, and he endeavoured to
prove this by the test of experiment •, but he soon
found that he could not succeed in forming the colour-
If
ot icd.
I 1)3
Nl re of
th ix).
‘ n.
B/ti osi.
I S T R Y.
ing compound, by combining ammonia and the differ¬
ent oils heated together. Seeing that water was an
obstacle to the formation of the prussic acid, he con¬
ducted his experiments in a different way, by combin¬
ing the ammonia with the dry combustible principle,
which he supposed existed in oils, and with the carbo¬
nic acid, equally in the dry state. He saw that char¬
coal alone, strongly heated with fixed alkalies, gave
them the property of colouring iron blue. Having
heated these two substances in crucibles, he added to
the one muriate of ammonia, at the moment when the
first mixture had acquired a white heat, and he con¬
tinued the heat till no more vapour was disengaged.
This process furnished him with a pure Prussian alkali,
whilst the combination of the alkali and the charcoal,
without the addition of the muriate of ammonia, afford¬
ed none.
14. Such was the state of our knowledge with re-Bcnhollet’s
gard to the colouring matter of Prussian blue, whencxperi-
Berthollet, at the end of 1787, communicated to theuicnts.
Academy of Sciences, the result of his investigations
into the nature and properties of this substance. He
repeated the experiments of Scheele, improved and ex¬
tended his views, and confirmed his conclusions. The
result of his researches on this substance was closely
connected with the light which he had thrown on the
nature and composition of ammonia some years be¬
fore. He proved that the alkaline prussiate is a triple
salt, which is composed of prussic acid, the alkali
and iron j that when it is evaporated and re-dissolved,
it affords crystals in the form of octahedrons ; and mix¬
ed with sulphuric acid, and exposed to the sun, there
is precipitated Prussian blue, which does not happen
in the dark. After these preliminary experiments, he
proceeded to the examination of prussic acid, by the
action of oxymuriatic acid. This acid, in proportion
as it is dissolved in the prussic acid, is deprived of its
oxygen, and is converted into the state of muriatic
acid. The prussic acid becomes more odorous and
volatile, and less susceptible of combination with the
alkalies, precipitating iron from its solutions, of a
green colour. This green precipitate recovers its blue
colour when exposed to the light, by contact with
sulphurous acid, by iron. It is the oxy-prussic acid.Oxy-pius-
When the oxymuriatic acid is still continued to be sic, or ehlo-
added in the state of gas, and is exposed to the light,^vyamc
the new acid separates from the water, and is precipi-'
tated to the bottom in the form of an aromatic oil,
which is converted by heat to an insoluble vapour,
which is no longer capable of combining with iron.
Thus superoxygenated, this acid can no longer return to
its oritrinal state. It is totally different in its properties.
When the oxyprussiate oriron, which is prepared bv
treating Prussian blue with the oxymuriatic acid, and
which is distinguished by its green colour, is deprived
of its acid, by being brought into contact with a caustic
fixed alkali, it is instantly decomposed, and is converted
into carbonate of ammonia. It is now, however, found
that this oxy-prussic acid consists of prussic acid com¬
bined with chlorine. Hence the French chemists call
it the chloro-cyanic acid, and its salts chloro-cyanates.
15. Scheele and Bergman were of opinion, that
prussic acid contained ammonia ready formed. Btiv
thollet, however, concludes from his experiments, that
it only contains the elements, namely, the azote and
3 Y 2 hydrogen,
540
CHEMISTRY.
Acids.
494
Prussic
acid a
triple com¬
pound.
*Fourcvoy
Connaiss.
Chim. tom.
ix. p. 89.
795
Prussian
blue formed
of carbon
and ammo¬
nia.
•)• Ann. de
Chim. tom.
xi. p. 30.
796.
Properties
of prussic
acid.
Composi¬
tion.
hydrogen, both in combination with carbon ; and thus
he considers prussic acid to be a triple compound of
hydrogen, carbon, and azote, but he has not been able
to ascertain the proportions. He thinks, however, that
the hydrogen and azote come near to the proportions
which exist in ammonia *.
16. In some experiments by M. Clouet, on the co¬
louring matter of Prussian blue, he attempted to com¬
bine the elements of ammonia with charcoal, with the
view of producing prussic acid; but in whatever pro¬
portion he employed them, no colouring matter was
obtained. He therefore concluded, that it was ne¬
cessary to combine directly the ammonia with the char¬
coal, for the production of this substance. He took
2\ parts of quicklime in powder, and mixed them with
one part of sal ammoniac dried, and also in the state
of powder. He put the mixture into a porcelain re¬
tort, which he placed upon a sand-bath. To the
beak of the retort was adapted a porcelain tube filled
with dry powdered charcoal. The porcelain tube
passed across a furnace, in which it might be strongly
heated. It was then made red hot, and heat being
afterwards applied to the retort, the ammonia was
disengaged in the state of gas, which passed through
the red-hot porcelain tube containing the charcoal.
The product was received in proper vessels, and when
examined, was found to be the colouring matter of
Prussian bluef.
It is obtained in a purer state- by decomposing the
prussiate of mercury, by means of the muriatic acid,
under the application of heat. It passes over in va¬
pour, and is condensed by cold.
17. It is a colourless liquid, of the specific gravity
of 0.705, has the odour of peach blossom, or bitter
almond, substances which actually contain it, and owe
to it their peculiar smell and their narcotic power.
The acid is extremely baneful to animal life. A single
drop applied to the tongue of a small animal is fatal,
and we are even told that it has proved destructive
by mere external application.
Its freezing point is 50. It boils at 8o°, and is so
volatile as to freeze by the cold of its own evaporation
in the open air. From this cause a drop held on the
end of a glass rod instantly freezes ; a fact of which it
furnishes an unique example. This acid has scarcely
any effect on vegetable blues.
The composition of it, as consisting of carbon, azote,
and hydrogen, has been demonstrated by analysis, by
passing it in the ->tate of vapour through an ignited
tube containing iron. The products are hydrogen,
and azote in the state of gas, charcoal deposited on the
iron, but without any oxidation of this metal, showing
that it contained no oxygen.
It is further found that the carbon and azote which
it contains can be obtained in a state of mutual com¬
bination, free from the hydrogen, and thenjform a well-
marked and definite compound. This is* effected by
subjecting the prussiate of mercury to a powerful
heat. The oxygen of the mercurial oxide, and the hy¬
drogen of the acid, combine, and the carbon and azote
of the latter assume the state of a separate compound,
which passes over in the gaseous form, and has re¬
ceived the name of cyanogen ; and the French che¬
mists now call the prussic acid, formed by the union of
it with hydrogen, the hydro-cyanic*
Acid*
This acid combines with difficulty with alkalies and
earths, and without destroying their alkaline proper- !
ties.
19. The carbonic acid drives it off from these com- 79s
binations. It deprives oxymuriatic acid gas of its^^'. j
oxygen, and by this addition changes its properties.acjd ^
It has no action on the metals ; but it combines with
their oxides, changing the colour, and forming salts
which are in general insoluble. ^
20. This acid has the greatest tendency to form tri-Tr)ple
pie salts with the alkaline and metallic bases. ThesecomPoai
complex combinations are more permanent and fixed
than the simple alkaline prussiates. They are notdecompi
decomposed by carbonic acid, light, air, or the other ed.
acids. 801
21. The affinities of prussic acid are the following ;Affinitie
Barytes,
Strontites,
Potash,
Soda,
Lime,
Magnesia,
Ammonia.
Sect. XXXIII. Of Sebacic Acid.
1.
The penetrating fumes which are exhaled fromni,tg^
melted tallow, and which affect the eyes, the nostrils,
and even the lungs, had been long ago observed, and
Olaus Borrichius has thrown out some hints, warning
against the danger of being exposed to these fumes.
But little attention was paid to their nature and pro¬
perties. Grutzmacher was the first who demonstrated
the existence of this acid, in a dissertation de ossium
medulla, printed at Leipsic in the year 1748. Rhodes
published a small work in 1753 at Gottingen, in which
he makes particular mention of this acid. The fol¬
lowing year appeared a dissertation by M. Segner, on
the acid of animal fat, which contained a number of
well-conducted experiments. Crell endeavoured to
improve the process for the separation and purifica¬
tion of this acid, and to ascertain the properties of its
combinations. These were published in the Philoso¬
phical Transactions for the years 1780 and 1782.
But it appears, as Thenard, who made experiments
on this acid, observes, that the acid obtained by those
who first treated of the subject, was either the acetic
acid, or some acid different from the sebacic, the pro¬
perties of which are quite distinct from those which
had been formerly described. jc
2. The process by which this chemist obtained thePre^r
sebacic acid is the following. He distilled a quantity1!011-
of hogs lard, and washed the product several times
with hot water. He then dropt into it acetate of lead ;
there was formed a flaky precipitate, which was col¬
lected and dried, put into a retort with sulphuric acid,
and heated. The liquor in the receiver had no acid
character } but there appeared in the retort a melted
matter analogous to fat. This is carefully separated j and
after being washed, is boiled with water. By the action
of heat the whole is dissolved by the water, and when
it cools, crystals in the shape of needles are deposited.
These are sebacic acid. To be certain that these were
not
, Is.
5
Of Is.
iii
Of
Co!
tisi
b
t.
5
3<l*»
C H E M I
not produced by means of the sulphuric acid, he washed
the fat which had been distilled with water, which was
filtered and evaporated, and needles were formed, ex¬
hibiting exactly the same properties. Or, after having
washed with water the distilled fat, he saturated the
filtered liquor with potash, evaporated it, and dropt in¬
to it a solution of lead. There was instantly formed a
salt composed of the sebacic acid and lead. This is to
be decomposed as before with sulphuric acid. This acid
has the following properties.
3. It has no smell, a slight acid taste, and reddens
strongly the tincture of turnsole. When heated, it melts
like tallow.
4. It is much more soluble in warm than in cold wa¬
ter. Boiling water saturated with this acid forms a solid
mass on cooling. It crystallizes in small needles, but
with certain precautions may be obtained in the form of
long, large, and very brilliant plates *.
Sect. XXXIV. Of Uric Acid.
1. This acid was discovered by Scheele in the year
1776. It was at first called hthic acid. It constitutes
one of the component parts of urinary calculi, and is
also found in human urine. There is one species of
calculus which is almost entirely composed of this sub¬
stance. It is that species which resembles wood in ap¬
pearance and colour.
2. This acid, as its properties have been described by
Scheele, is thus characterized. It is insipid, inodorous,
almost insoluble in cold water, and soluble only in about
360 parts of boiling water. It separates from this when
it cools, into small yellow crystals. The solution in
water reddens the tincture of turnsole.
3. There is scarcely any action between uric acid
and sulphuric and muriatic acids. It is soluble in the
concentrated nitric acid, to which it communicates a
red colour. It would appear that in this change of
colour the nature of the acid is also changed, for part
of it is converted into oxalic acid. Oxymuriatic acid
very readily acts upon uric acid, either by suspending
a calculus in the liquid acid, or, which is easier, by
passing a stream of oxymuriatic acid gas through wa¬
ter, at the bottom of which is placed the uric acid in
powder. Its colour becomes pale, the surface swells up,
it softens, and is at last converted into a jelly. This part
disappears, and is soon dissolved, giving a milky colour
to the liquid. There is extricated by slow effervescence
small bubbles of carbonic acid gas. rlhe liquid by eva¬
poration gives muriate of ammonia, acidulous oxalate
of ammonia, both crystallized j muriatic acid, and ma¬
lic acid. Thus the oxymuriatic acid decomposes the
uric acid, and converts it into ammonia, carbonic, oxa¬
lic, and malic acids.
4. When uric acid is distilled, there is a little of it
sublimed without decomposition. It yields also a very
small quantity of oil and water, crystallized carbonate
of ammonia, carbonic acid gas j and there remains be¬
hind a very black coal without any alkali, and without
any lime.
5. All these facts shew that uric acid is a compound
of a very peculiar kind, formed of azote, of carbon, of
hydrogen and oxygen, and susceptible of a great num¬
ber of different changes by chemical agents*
S T R Y.
Sect. XXXV. Of Rosacic Acid.
1. During certain diseases, the urine, when it cools, glI
deposits a peculiar substance, which has been denomina-Origin,
ted from its colour, which resembles bricks, latcritious
sediment. During fevers, this appearance of the urine
takes place ; and in gouty persons, at the termination
of the paroxysms, it is very abundant. And when this
suddenly disappears, and the urine at the same time con¬
tinues to deposit this substance, a relapse may be dread¬
ed. It appears in the form of red flakes, and adheres
strongly to the sides of the vessel. If the urine be heat¬
ed, this sediment is again dissolved. gl2
2. This substance was formerly considered by che- prepara-
mists as uric acid. If into fresh urine a little ni-tion.>
trie acid is dropt, it becomes muddy, and a precipitate
is formed. The nitric acid, and the substance to
which the name of rosacic acid has been given, com-
bine together, and are deposited. The uric acid being
much less soluble than the rosacic acid, it is very easy
to separate them. All that is necessary is to pour boil¬
ing water on the sediments, and to wash them on the
same filter, in which case the uric acid remains be¬
hind.
Proust, who made experiments on this substance,
considers it as another characteristic of rosacic acid,
that it produces with a solution of gold, a cloudy pre¬
cipitate of a violet colour *. * Ann. de
Chim. tom.
Sect. XXXVI. Of Amnio tic Acid. xxx™-
^ p. 205.
814
1. A peculiar acid has been detected in the liquor Propertie*.
of the amnios of the cow. This was discovered by
Buniva and Vauquelin. This acid is concrete, white,
and brilliant, has a very slight acid taste, and reddens
the tincture of turnsole. It is little soluble in cold wa¬
ter, but dissolves more readily in boiling water, from
whence it is deposited, by cooling, in long needle-
shaped crystals. When this acid is exposed to heat, it
swells up, and exhales an odour of ammonia sensibly
mixed with prussic acid. It leaves behind a volumi¬
nous coal. # S15
2. It seems at first to have some analogy with the And di-
saclactic and uric acids, but this is not really the case.stl»cd^«r^
The saclactic acid does not furnish ammonia by distil-c aiac e,3‘
lation ; the uric acid yields ammonia and prussic acid
by heat, but it is not equally soluble in warm water,
and does not crystallize in long, white, brilliant needles,
nor is it soluble in boiling alcohol, as the amniotic
acid is f. lfnn“L dt
1 C/um ton*.*
Chap. XI. Of INFLAMMABLE SUBSTANCES, p.^.
. . 1. 816
The class of bodies which we are to examine in tinsIntrotjuc.
chapter, under the title of inflammable substances, aretion.
alcohol^ ether, and oils. These substances are closely
allied to many of the bodies which w'ere treated of in
the last chapter. Their constituent parts are the same
with those of many of the vegetable acids, arranged,
however in different proportions, and totally diflerent in
their properties and effects. rlhe elements ot these in¬
flammable substances arc chiefly carbon and hydrogen,
542
C H E M
stances.
Inflam- but in Some there is a triple compound of carbon, hy-
mable Sub- drogen and oxygen j the last does not exist in such a
quantity as to exhibit acid properties, or these proper*
ties are concealed by the proportions of the other con¬
stituent parts. It was therefore thought necessary to
treat of these substances in this place, that we might
be early acquainted with their properties, some ot
which are of great importance in chemical researches,
particularly their effects on many saline bodies. They
are valuable instruments of chemical analysis. We
shall consider the inflammable substances in the four
following sections, namely } I. Alcohol, 2. Ether, 3.
Fixed oils, and 4. Volatile oils.
817
Prepara¬
tion.
818
Different
names.
819
History.
820
Purifica¬
tion.
f Fourcroy
Connaiss.
Chim. tom.
viii. p. 143
Sect. I. Of Alcohol.
1. When vegetable matters have been subjected to
the vinous fermentation, the fluid is totally changed.
It is converted into a substance called im'ne or beer,
according to the nature of the materials from which it
has been prepared. When this product, the wine or beer,
is subjected to another process, a very different product
is obtained. By distillation a fluid is obtained of very
different properties from the beer or wine from which
it is extracted. This liquid, when is perfectly pure,
is known in chemistry by the name of alcohol, or spirit
of wine, because it is produced from wine. It is some¬
times denominated also ardent spirit, from its effects.
Ardent spirit, as it is first obtained by distillation, is
to be considered as a mixture of alcohol and water,
because the alcohol in the process of distillation is con¬
densed by water. In this state, ardent spirit is dif¬
ferent in flavour, in colour, and in strength, according
to the nature of the materials from which it is obtained,
and hence in common language it is distinguished by
different names. When it is obtained fi-om the fer¬
mented juice of the grape, it is known by the name of
brandy; from that of the sugar-cane, by that of rznn ;
and from that of farinaceous substances, by that of
whisky. All these substances, therefore, are to be
considered as composed of alcohol, or pui’e spirit of
wine, water, and a peculiar oil, to which the flavour is
owing.
Ardent spirit, it is supposed, was known in the dark
ages. It does not appear, from any of the writings
of the Greeks or Romans, that they were acquainted
with such a liquor. The preparation of it from wine,
and even the discovery of alcohol, or pure spirit itself,
is ascribed to Arnold de Villa Nova, who lived in the
13th century.
2. To purify the alcohol or pure spirit, from water
and colouring matter, it is again distilled 5 and, to have
it perfectly pure, this process must be repeated several
times. When ardent spirit is distilled for the first
time, after it is extracted from the fermented liquors,
it is distinguished by the name of rectified spirits. The
process which is recommended by some is the follow¬
ing. Distil it in a water bath, till one fourth of the
quantity has passed over •, then distil it again for se¬
veral times, taking only the first half of the product.
Mix all these products together, and distil them with
a very gentle heat-, the first half of the liquor which
passes over, is the purest alcohol that can be obtained ;
the remainder may be reserved for ordinary purposest.
3
I S T R Y.
Even in this state, the alcohol, thus obtained, contains
a certain proportion of water, to separate which, Boer-
haave has given a very good process, by means of an al¬
kali. Take a quantity of carbonate of potash which
has been exposed to a red heat, to separate the moi¬
sture ; reduce it to powder, and put it into the spirit.
This salt, on account of its strong attraction for water,
combines with the water of the alcohol $ and this solu¬
tion of the alkali having the greater specific gravity,
falls to the bottom. The alcohol which remains at the
top may be easily separated. To purify this alcohol
from a small quantity of potash which it holds in solu¬
tion, it may be redistilled in a water bath. It ought
to be observed, however, thaf the distillation should not
be carried on till the whole of the alcohol is driven off,
because, towards the end of the process, it carries part
of the potash along with it. The salt called muriate of
lime, may be employed for the same purpose.
3. Alcohol, thus prepared and purified, is a light,
transparent, and colourless liquor, of a sharp, pene¬
trating, agreeable smell, and of a warm, stimulating,
acrid taste. It has the property, in a much greater
degree than wine, of producing intoxication. The
specific gravity of alcohol, when perfectly pure, is
o.Bpo, but the strongest spirit which is afforded by
mgre distillation, according to Mr Nicholson, is 0.820
at the temperature of 71*. The alcohol or rectified
spirit of commerce, has rarely a specific gravity below
0.8371.
4. When alcohol is exposed to the air at a tempera¬
ture between 50° and 6o°, it evaporates, and when it
is pure, leaves no residuum. By this rapid evapora¬
tion it produces great cold, which is very sensibly felt
by dipping the fingers in alcdhol, and exposing them
to the air. It boils at the temperature of 176°, and
is then converted into an elastic fluid. In the vacuum
of an air-pump it boils at 56°. It has never yet been
frozen by the greatest degree of cold to which it has
been exposed. It remains fluid when the thermometer
stands at —69°. When passed through a red-hot por¬
celain tube, it is decomposed, and converted into
carbonic acid gas, carbureted hydrogen gas, and wa¬
ter.
5. With the aid of heat, alcohol dissolves a small
quantity of phosphorus. "When this solution, which has
a fetid odour, is precipitated, by dropping a little of it
into water, it becomes luminous in the dark. Jets of
flame arise from the surface of the water j and an
oxide of phosphorus is formed in the state of white
powder. Alcohol seems also capable of dissolving phos-
phureted hydrogen gas.
6. There is no action between alcohol and sulphur
at ordinary temperatures, nor even when they are
boiled together ; but when the two bodies are brought
in contact with each other in the state of vapour,
they combine readily, and a fetid sulphureted alcohol
is formed, which deposits a small quantity of white
sulphur, and becomes muddy in cooling. The sul¬
phur is precipitated by water, and gives about ^th
part. Alcohol combines still more readily with sul¬
phureted hydrogen gas, which communicates to the
alcohol a little colour, and in this combination is
decomposed with more facility by oxygen gas, and
all other oxygenated bodies, than when it is in the
state
Inllai
mable;.
stuneI
S:i
Proper!
Sir]
Yolatil
Sic
Action
heat.
Sid
Phospli ,'1
Si;l
Sulpk’
CHEMISTRY.
I, ID-
mal Sub
st '«•
Of -er,
Aik '5
ts,
state of gas. Alcohol combines with sulphureteil hy-
- drogen gas, which is contained in mineral waters, and
deprives them of this gas by distillation.
7. The strong acids have a very powerful effect on
alcohol. It is decomposed by the sulphuric, the nitric,
the oxymuriatic, and the acetic acids : and the product
of this decomposition varies according to the nature of
the acid, its strength, and the proportions in which it
is employed. Some of the acids are soluble in alcohol.
With the aid of heat, it dissolves the boracic acid,
which communicates to it the property of burning with
a green flame. It also holds in solution carbonic acid
gas in greater proportion than its own bulk. It preci¬
pitates from water, on the contrary, the phosphoric
acid, almost in the concrete state, and also the metallic
acids which are soluble in this liquid.
8. Alcohol combines with water in all proportions.
The affinity between the two fluids is so strong that
water is capable of separating from alcohol many
bodies with which it is combined, while the alcohol
decomposes many aqueous saline solutions, and preci¬
pitates the salt. When water and alcohol are com¬
bined together, there is an increase of temperature,
which shews that there is a condensation of the two li¬
quids. Accordingly it is found, that the density or
specific gravity of the mixture is greater than the mean
of the uncombined liquids. The density varies accord¬
ing to the different proportions of the alcohol and wa¬
ter which are employed. In consequence of this va¬
riation, it becomes an object of considerable importance,
both in a political and commercial view, to be able to
ascertain the strength of spirits •, that is, the propor¬
tions of alcohol and water of different degrees of densi¬
ty or specific gravity. For the purposes of commerce,
various instruments have been contrived, and tables
constructed, for the convenience of those who are con¬
cerned in the purchase and sale of spirituous liquors.
For the purposes of revenue, a most elaborate and mi¬
nute set of experiments was instituted by Sir Charles
Blagden, who was expressly employed by the British
government to ascertain the relative value or strength
of ardent spirit at different temperatures and different
specific gravities. An account of these experiments
was published in the Philosophical Transactions for the
year 1790. Tables which shew the result of the ex¬
periments were published by Mr Gilpin in 1793 ; but
as these are not immediately connected with the ele¬
ments of chemistry, we refer our readers to the original
papers, to the article Spirituous Liquors, in this work,
and to a long note in the present article, under the
head of sulphuric acid, p. 508—510.
9. Alcohol dissolves the fixed alkalies in the pure
state, and forms with them an acrid solution of a red¬
dish colour. The solution of potash in alcohol was
formerly denominated the acrid tincture of tartar. It
is in this way that the fixed alkalies are obtained in
their purest state. Alcohol, therefore, becomes a va¬
luable instrument of analysis for separating the fixed
alkalies from a great number of extraneous substances.
Ammonia also combines with alcohol by the assistance
of heat. The ammonia with a higher temperature is
driven off, and carries with it part of the alcohol. Many
of the saline bodies may be dissolved in alcohol, and
on this account also it is valuable to the chemist in his
researches. Tables have been constructed, shewing
543
the quantities of different salts which may be dissolved Inflam-
at different temperatures. The following tables were mable Sub¬
drawn up from the experiments of M. Guyton *.
stances.
I. Table of Salts which are readily Dissolved.
Tempe¬
rature.
Grains.
54-5
54-5
54-5
54-5
54-5
ri3-
. , i8o-5
alcohol dis- <J 180.5
240 grains of
solve at
180.C
180.5
240
240
240
240
240
240
694
240
240
Nitrate of cobalt:
copper.
Muriate of zinc.
alumina.
Nitrate of alumina.
Acetate of lead.
Nitrate of magnesia.
Muriate
of iron,
of copper.
Nitrate of zinc de¬
composed.
Nitrate of iron part¬
ly decomposed.
Nitrate of bismuth.
* Joum. rk
Physique,
17*5>P 6S-
II. Table of Salts that are little Soluble.
Grainr.
240 grains of alco¬
hol at the boil¬
ing temperature
dissolve
240
214
212
112
100
23
18
9
7
5
5
4
1
Muriate of lime.
Nitrate of ammonia.
Oxymuriate of mercury.
Acetate of soda.
Nitrate of silver.
Nitrate of soda.
Acetate of copper.
Muriate of ammonia.
Arseniate of potash.
Superoxalate of potash.
Nitrate of potash.
Muriate of potash.
Arseniate of soda.
Tartrate of potash.
III. Salts that are Insoluble.
Borax,
Tartar,
Alum,
Sulphate of ammonia,
iron,
copper,
zinc,
soda,
potash,
lime,
silver,
mercury,.
Tartrate of soda,
Nitrate of lead,
mercury,
Muriate of lead,
Carbonate of potash,
soda..
The
S44 CHEMISTRY.
In&am~ The following table, drawn up by Mr Kirwan, shews alcohol of different densities. The temperature in Infl , |
mable sub- the quautitv of salts that are soluble in 100 parts of which the solutions were made was from £0 to 80 i*. wablt
  * J stan i I
v—v j
fMin. ^ i
P- *7411
stances.
Salts.
Sulphate of soda.
Sulphate of magnesia.
Nitrate of potash.
Nitrate of soda.
Muriate of potash.
Muriate of soda.
Muriate of ammonia.
Muriate of magnesia”}
dried at 120° J
Muriate of barytes.
Do. crystallized.
Acetate of lime.
Alcohol of
O.9OO
o.
I.
2.76
10.5
4.62
5.8
6.5
21.25
I.
1.56
2.4
0.872
6.
1.66
3-67
4-75
0.848
o.
o.
o.
23-75
0.29
o-43
4.12
0.834
o.
0.38
0.38
o-5
36.25
0.185
0.32
4-75
0.817
o.
o.
o.
o.
o.
50.
0.09
0.06
4.88
829
Cam posi¬
tion,
830
According
■to Lavoi¬
sier.
10. A great variety of different opinions have been
proposed with regard to the composition of alcohol. It
had been observed, in burning this combustible sub¬
stance, in close vessels, that water was formed. Some
philosophers had even observed that the quantity of
water obtained by the combustion of alcohol was
greater than the whole weight of the alcohol con¬
sumed. From observing this circumstance, it was
supposed to consist of water, combined with an acid,
an oil, or phlogiston, according to the views and
theories of different philosophers.
It is to the experiments of Lavoisier that we are in¬
debted for ascertaining the real constituent parts of
this substance. He burnt in a proper apparatus, with
a known quantity of oxygen gas, 76.7083 grs. troy of
alcohol, and, after the combustion, carbonic acid gas
and water were found to be the only products j and by
estimating the oxygen gas consumed, the quantity of
carbonic acid and of water which were formed, it ap¬
peared that the quantity of alcohol consumed was com¬
posed of
22.840 carbone,
6.030 hydrogen,
47.830 water.
76.700
To But it has been since proved, by the experiments of
croy, °Ur" Fourcroy and Vauquelin, that oxygen is a component
part of alcohol j for when they mixed together equal
parts of alcohol and concentrated sulphuric acid, and
while ether was formed from it, there was also at the
same time a production of water j the alcohol in this
■case was decomposed, but the sulphuric acid suffered
no change. The oxygen, therefore, which combined
with the hydrogen in the formation of water, must
have come from the alcohol *. 1
Jour. 11
Sect. II. Of Ether. p- I5I
By the action of different acids with alcohol, the j,
latter is decomposed, and different products are obtain¬
ed, according to the proportions of the acid employed,
and the beat which is applied. When the acid and
the alkali are in a certain proportion, and are exposed
to a moderate temperature, the product is a peculiar
substance, which has received the name of ether. Ether
has been obtained by the action of different acids on
alcohol, and hence it has received different names, as !
sulphuric ether, nitric ether, muriatic ether. The first, jjaBu
namely, sulphuric ether, which seems to have been
longest known, and is most easily obtained, has excited
the greatest attention among chemists. We shall
therefore consider it first.
I. Of Sulphuric Ether.
83 1
I. It appears from different passages in the writings HiM 1
of the earlier chemists, that the knowledge of sulphu¬
ric ether was in the number of their secrets. It was
then called oleum vitrioli dulce. The method of pre¬
paring it is described in a book published at Nurem¬
berg about the year 1540. But the nature of this sub¬
stance was not much attended to till the year 1730,
when a quantity was presented to the Royal Society by
Dr Erobenius, with a paper which was published in
their Transactions for that year, containing an account
of a number of experiments which were made upon
2
CHEMISTRY.
I 1
IB*
,S
■ |tm. it. It was long known among the German chemists
B, Sub- under the name of naphtha.
2. The following is the process by which sulphuric
ether may be obtained. Equal parts of concen-
trated sulphuric acid and alcohol are put into a re-
EJi tort, to which a receiver is to be adapted and luted.
Or perhaps it is better to add the acid by small por¬
tions at a time, that the action may not be too violent,
and the heat produced too great. The receiver should
be immersed in cold water, or surrounded with ice, or
it may be kept cool by the application of wet cloths,
over which a small stream of water is directed. Heat
is then applied, and the first product which comes over
is a fragrant spirit of winej but as soon as the mixture
begins to boil, the ether comes over, is condensed by the
cold, and runs in streams down the sides of the receiver.
When the quantity obtained amounts to about one
half of the alcohol employed, the process should be
stopped, and the receiver unluted and removed 5 but if
it be continued, white fumes begin to come off, which
are known to be the fumes of sulphurous acid.
After this there rises a light yellowish coloured oil,
which has been called the sweet oil of wine. The heat
should now be moderated after the ether has passed
over, because the matter contained in the retort be¬
comes black, thick, and swells considerably. When
the whole of the sweet oil has come over, there is still
an evolution of sulphurous acid, which becomes con¬
stantly thicker, till at last there is nothing but a dark
I coloured sulphuric acid.
paj ia- g. Xhe ether obtained by this process is impure,
P6! being generally contaminated writh sulphurous acid.
<1 I To purify it, it has been usual to mix a quantity of
potash with the fluid, and to distil it over again. The
l111 acid in this case combines with the potash, and the
ether being separated, passes over into the receiver.
Dire, however, considering this process as tedious and
, uncertain, has proposed other substances in the room of
potash, and he has tried several metallic oxides, such
as the red oxide of lead, the yellow oxide of iron, the
red oxide of mercury, and the black oxide of manganese.
After a variety of experiments, he is of opinion that
the black oxide of manganese is the most convenient
for the purification of ether. It is mixed with ether,
allowed to remain some time, and is to be frequently
agitated. The oxygen of the manganese combines
with the sulphurous acid, and converts it into sulphu¬
ric acid, which is a more fixed body than the sulphu-
r. rn.de rous acid *.
xbi. To separate the liquid from the sulphurous acid,
Proust recommends the following method, which he
says is employed in the large way, as by far the most
preferable. Introduce into a bottle which is ^ths fil¬
led with impure ether, some water, and a portion of
slaked lime. Agitate the bottle strongly, and do not
open it to examine its odour, till after it has remained
for some minutes in cold water, and when the vapour
within the bottle has ceased to exert its elastic force
against the cork } if the sulphurous smell is not en¬
tirely removed, the process is to be repeated till it
is completely destroyed. This method, which was em¬
ployed by Woulfe, Proust prefers on account of its eco¬
nomy, particularly as it affords at the same time a sul¬
phite of lime, which is formed by the combination of the
sulphurous acid with the lime. When the liquids have
VoL. V. Part II. f
545
p.
&■
separated, the ether which swims on the top, may be Inflam-
drawn off by means of a syphon, and it may be intro- wable Sub-
duced into a retort to be rectified by distillation f. , stances.
4. The ether which is thus obtained, is a transparent! ^4
colourless fluid, of a very fragrant smell, and a hot^Awi xlii.
pungent taste. The specific gravity is only 0.7581, p. 257.
so that it is1 considerably lighter than alcohol. It is 83^.
extremely volatile, so that when it is agitated, or pour-^Sl0^erUei*
ed from one vessel to another, it is instantly dissipated.
It produces so great a degree of cold, that water may
be frozen by means of it. It rises in the state of gas
which burns with great rapidity, and the air which
holds ether in solution may be passed through water
without being deprived of its combustibility or fra-
grance. ... ^
5. It boils in the open air at the temperature of 98°, Action of
and in the vacuum of an air-pump at —20°, so that it beat,
would constantly remain in the state of gas if the pres¬
sure of the air were removed*
When ether is kindled in the open air, it burns very
readily. The electric spark also inflames it. It burns
with a copious white flame, and leaves behind it a
black trace on the surface of any body exposed to the
flame. Lavoisier has observed that an acid is always
formed during the combustion of this liquid ; and
Scheele says that the residuum of ether burnt over a
little water, contains sulphuric acid. W hen the ether
is exposed to a cold of—46*, it freezes and crystallizes.
It is decomposed when the vapour is passed through a
red-hot porcelain tube, and the product is carbonated
hydrogen gas. s^g
6. Dr Priestley discovered that ether agitated with Increases
any kind of gas, greatly increased its volume, and in the volume
most cases doubled it. Mr Cruickshank made a simi-0^ Sa!es>
Jar experiment, by agitating some oxygen gas with a
little ether. The bulk was exactly doubled. In this
state the gas did not explode, but when one part of this
mixture was added to three parts of oxygen, an ignited
body or the electric spark produced a dreadful explo¬
sion. The products were water, with 2^-d carbonic
acid gas. Hence it would appear, Mr Cruickshank
observes, that one part of this vapour requires about
seven of oxygen to saturate it; and according to this
experiment, the proportion of carbon to hydrogen in t Nich.
the vapour of ether or ether itself, should be as five to Joum. v.
one p'
7. Phosphorus is dissolved in small quantity in ether, Actkm of
and produces a transparent solution j but when alcohol phosphorus,
is added to the solution, it becomes milky.
8. Sulphuric acid has a peculiar action on ether, by Of Acids,
converting it into a kind of oil, which is called the sweet
oil of wine. This isone of the products in the preparation
of sulphuric ether. When a small quantity of ether is
introduced into a bottle filled with oxymuriatic acid
gas, it explodes, and inflames ; or if paper moistened
with ether be introduced, the same effect follows. Car¬
bonic acid gas is produced, and charcoal is deposited
on the sides of the bottle. g4r
9. Various theories have been proposed, to account Composi*
for the production of ether. From the manner of its1*011'
production by means of sulphuric acid, it was natural to
suppose that this acid formed one of its component parts.
This accordingly became a general opinion, till it was
found that the sulphuric acid suffered no change in the
process, but merely assisted or disposed the alcohol to
3 Z that
CHEMISTRY.
546
Inflam- that change which it undergoes when it is converted
mable Sub-into ether. According to Macquer, the alcohol has
stances. not been changed, but merely deprived of the whole of
' v " its water. Scheele supposed, that ether was alcohol
deprived of its phlogiston 5 and when the new theories
were introduced, ether was considered as u combination
of alcohol and oxygen.
10. The experiments and researches of Fourcroy and
Vauquelin have thrown new light on this subject, and
have led to different views of the nature and composi¬
tion of ether. According to the result of these experi¬
ments, ether contains a smaller proportion of carbon,
but a greater proportion of hydrogen and oxygen.
From their experiments, and from those of others, it
appears that the changes induced by the action of sul¬
phuric acid on alcohol, depend on the quantity ajid
strength of the acid, and the temperature.
A. Equal parts of concentrated sulphuric acid and
alcohol mixed together raise the temperature to 189°.
Bubbles of gas are emitted j the liquid becomes turbid,
and at the end of some hours assumes a deep red co¬
lour.
B. A mixture of two parts sulphuric acid, and one
part alcohol, produces a temperature of 200°. The
mixture becomes instantly of a deep red colour, passes
to black a few days after, and diffuses an odour which
is perceptibly that of ether.
C. W hen equal parts of sulphuric acid and alcohol
are exposed to the action of heat, in a proper appara¬
tus, such as is employed for the preparation of ether,
the following phenomena are observed.
a. When the temperature is raised to 207°, the
liquid boils; there is produced a fluid which is con¬
densed by cold, into a light, colourless, and fragrant li¬
quor, which from its properties has received the name
of ether. If the process be properly conducted, no
permanent gas is evolved, till about £ of the alcohol is
converted into ether.
Z>. If, as soon as the sulphurous acid appears, the re¬
ceiver be changed, there is no longer any production
of ether 5 but the sweet oil of wine, water, and acetic
acid are formed, without a single particle of carbonic
acid. When the sulphuric acid makes about ^Uis of
the mass which remains in the retort, there is evolved
an inflammable gas, which has the odour of ether, and
which burns with a rvhite oily flame. This is the gas
which the Dutch chemists have called cai'bureted hy¬
drogen gas, or olefiant gas, because when it is mixed
with oxymuriatic acid it forms oil. At this period,
the temperature of the matter contained in the retort
is elevated to 230° or 234°.
c. When the sweet oil of wine ceases to flow', if the
receiver be again changed, there is only sulphurous
acid emitted, water which was previously formed, car¬
bonic acid gas 5 and there remains only in the retort, a
mass which consists chiefly of sulphuric acid thickened
842 charcoal.
Inferences. The operation of ether, then, may he divided into
three periods j the first, in which a small quantity of
ether and water is formed, without the assistance of
heat j the second period, in which the greatest quan¬
tity of ether which can be obtained without the evolu¬
tion of sulphurous acid at a temperature of 207° 5 and
the third, in which the sweet oil of wine, olefiant gas,
acetic acid, sulphurous and carbonic acid, are produced jnjj(
while the temperature of the mixture is raised to 230°mable
and 2340. To all these three periods there is only one stani
circumstance in common, and this is, the continual for- V‘~v
mation of water from the beginning to the end of the
operation. .
On these observations, Fourcroy and Vauquelin haveTkor
established their theory of the formation of ether. In
the case in which ether is formed by the simple mix¬
ture of alcohol and sulphuric acid, without the aid of
heat, the formation which appears by heat as well as
by the black precipitate, the charcoal which is separat¬
ed without the production of sulphurous acid, proves
that the sulphuric acid acts in a different manner on
alcohol from what was supposed. This acid is not de¬
composed by charcoal at that temperature. There isnn
action between these two bodies in the cold, nor is there
any action between this acid and alcohol 5 for in that
case, sulphurous acid would be formed, of which not
the smallest trace can be perceived at the beginning of
the operation. Recourse then must be had to a dif¬
ferent action, namely, the strong affinity which exists
between sulphuric acid and water. It is this which de¬
termines the union of the constituent principles of wa¬
ter existing in the alcohol, and with which this acid
comes in contact : but this action must be very limited.
A balance of affinities is soon established, and no far¬
ther change takes place.
If then it be proved that ether is formed by the
mixture of certain quantities of sulphuric acid and al¬
cohol, it must obviously follow, that a mass of alcohol 1
may be completely converted into ether, water, and
acetic acid, by increasing the quantity of sulphuric^
acid ; and it is equally obvious, that this acid would
undergo no change but that of being diluted with wa¬
ter.
It is not necessary to suppose, according to this the¬
ory, that ether is alcohol deprived of a certain portion
of oxygen and hydrogen, for there is separated at the
same time a quantity of charcoal proportionally greater
than that of the hydrogen j and it may be conceived,
that the oxygen which is combined in this case with the
hydrogen, to form water, w’ould not only saturate this
hydrogen in the alcohol, but that it would saturate at
the same time the carbon which has been precipitated.
Thus, then, instead of considering ether as alcohol
with a smaller proportion of hydrogen and oxygen,
if we take into account the carbon which is precipitat¬
ed, and the small quantity of hydrogen contained in
the water that is formed, it must be considered as al¬
cohol with a greater proportion of hydrogen and oxy¬
gen. Such seems to be the nature of the spontaneous
action between sulphuric acid and alcohol without the
aid of heat.
But when the mixture is subjected to heat, the pro¬
duction of ether is more complicated, and the products
more numerous.
It ought to be observed, that the mixture of sulphu¬
ric acid and alcohol in equal proportions, boils only at
the temperature of 207°, whilst alcohol alone boils at
176°; whence we must conclude, that the alcohol is
retained by the affinity of the sulphuric acid, which
fixes it. Now, if we compare what happens in this
case to the change produced on all other vegetable
matter
C H E M
im. matter exposed to the action of heat, in which the
, sub-principles are volatilized, according to the order of
cet. their affinity for caloric, carrying with them a small
'“"“'’quantity of the more fixed elements, in proportion as
the sulphuric acid attracts the alcohol and the water,
of which it favours the formation, the ether which is
evolved attracts caloric, and is sublimed ; and when
the greatest part of the alcohol has been changed into
ether, the mixture becomes denser, the heat more
considerable, and the affinity of the sulphuric acid for
the undecomposed alcohol being increased, the acid is
decomposed, so that on one hand its oxygen combines
with the hydrogen of the alcohol, and forms water,
which rises gradually into vapour, whilst, on the other,
the ether retaining a greater quantity of carbon, with
which it rises in vapours at this temperature, affords
the sweet oil of wine, which ought to be considered as
an ether with a greater proportion of carbon. This
seems to be proved by its greater specific gravity, less
volatility, and its citron colour.
ii. From this theory the ingenious authors have
deduced the following practical conclusions.
a. The formation of ether is not owing, as was sup¬
posed, to the immediate action of the principles of the
sulphuric acid on those of alcohol, but to the reaction
of the principles of the latter on each other, and par¬
ticularly of its oxygen and hydrogen, occasioned by
the sulphuric acid.
b. A portion of alcohol may be converted into ether
without the aid of heat, by increasing sufficiently the
proportion of sulphuric acid.
c. With regard to the change which takes place on
alcohol in the production of ether, the process may
be divided into two periods. In the one, ether and
water are only produced ; in the other, sweet oil of
wine, water, and sulphuric acid.
d. During the formation of ether, the sulphuric acid
is not decomposed, and there is no production of the
sweet oil of wine. When the latter makes its appear¬
ance, there is given out no more, or at least very little,
ether j and at the same time the sulphuric acid is de¬
composed by hydrogen solely $ whence sulphurous acid
is formed.
e. The formation of the sweet oil of wine may be
avoided, by keeping the temperature of the mixture
between 200° and 207°. This is managed by introdu¬
cing a few drops of water into the retort.
f. And lastly, alcohol differs from ether, in con¬
taining more carbon, less hydrogen and oxygen $ and
the sweet oil of wine is to ether very nearly what alco-
".woy hoi is to the former *.
iss.
tom. II. Of Nitric Ether.
, 161 ,
, I. Nitric acid, or rather nitrous acid, acts with
much greater violence on alcohol than sulphuric acid.
In this case the action must be moderated, either by
diluting the two liquids, or by cooling the mixture.
The first easy process which was proposed for the pre¬
paration of nitric ether, was given by Navier, a physi¬
cian of Chalons.
I S T R Y. 547
2. The process of Navler is the following. He inflam-
put into a strong bottle 12 parts of pure alcohol, andmable Sub¬
plunged it into cold water, or rather surrounded it stances- _
with ice. To this he added, in different portions, ^ ^ '
eight parts of concentrated nitric acid, agitating the prepani-
mixture, after every addition. The bottle is then tion by Na-
stopped with a cork, which is secured with leather, ^ier.
and the mixture is set in a convenient place, to avoid
the danger of accidents from the bursting of the bottle,
which sometimes happens. At the end of some hours,
bubbles rise from the bottom of the vessel, and drops
are collected on the surface of the liquid, which gra¬
dually form a stratum of ether. This action continues
for the space of six days. When it ceases, the cork is
to be pierced with a needle, to permit the escape of a
quantity ol- nitric oxide gas, which, without this pre¬
caution, would rush out rapidly on uncorking the bottle,
and would carry along with it the ether, which would
be lost. When the gas is dissipated, the cork is to be
drawn out, and the whole liquid in the bottle is to be
poured into a funnel. The ether swims on the top,
and the remaining liquor being heavier, is allowed to
pass off, and the ether is retained.
3. This process was improved by Beaume. He Beaume.
found that the greatest produce of ether was from two
parts of acid to three of alcohol. He directed both
ingredients to be used in the coldest state, by keeping
each in melting ice, and the bottle in which the mix¬
ture is made, to be kept equally cold. In this propor¬
tion of ingredients, the danger of explosion is avoid¬
ed, and the low temperature greatly moderates the
violent action. The mixture in the bottle is always
to be well agitated before any new addition of acid is
made, and by this means the accumulation in any par¬
ticular spot is prevented. The ether begins to form,
as in the former process, in the course of a few hours ;
and if the bottle is allowed to remain undisturbed for
eight or ten days, a quantity of ether equal to one half
the weight of the alcohol is obtained, after which no
more is produced.
4. Dr Black’s process is described by himself in the Blank’s
following words. “Into a strong phial, having a process,
ground stopper, I first pour four ounces of strong hale
nitric acid. I then add three ounces of water, pouring
it in so gently, that it swims on the surface of the acid.
I then pour in after the same manner six ounces of al¬
cohol. I put in the stopper slightly, and I set the
phial in a tub of water or ice. The acid mixes slow¬
ly with the water, and in a diluted state comes in con¬
tact with the alcohol, on which it immediately acts,
and ether is produced slowly and quietly. The liquor
gets a dim appearance, because imperceptible bubbles
are formed, which get to the top, and having collect¬
ed to a certain degree, they lift the stopper, and
escape (s). After eight or ten days, I find upwards of
three ounces of nitric ether, though I am certain by
the smell, that much escapes with the vapour. This
is, however, a certain, easy, and safe process, though it
is slow and imperfect Lect. ii.
6. Many other processes have been proposed for the ^ ^47
3 Z 2 preparation La-
planche’s.
(s) Dr Black, we believe, contrived a spring for the stopper which kept down the cork till it was pushed up
by the elastic vapours j and when they had escaped, it returned to its place by the force of the spring.
548 C H E M I
Influn- preparation of nitric ether. Laplanche, a Parisian
mable Sub-apothecary, has employed nitre, which he introduced
, sta"ccs^ , into a tubulated stone-ware retort, and first pouring
the concentrated sulphuric acid, and then the alcohol
\Fowcroy Upori jj- there is an immediate production of ether:
Criim. tom. process it is suspected that the nitric ether
Tiii. p. 170. may be mixed with sulphuric ether. He has therefore
848 proposed another process, which is more complicated f.
Cliaptal s. 6> Xhe process which has been proposed by Chap-
tal, is, according to Proust, the best that can be adopt¬
ed. This process, with some additions and altera¬
tions, which he has found it necessary to make from
his own experience, is the following. The proportions
which he employs are, 32 ounces of alcohol, and 24
of nitric acid. These are introduced into a large re¬
tort, which is to be luted to a globular glass vessel,
furnished with a tube of safety. A tube passes from
this globe to a second, which is also furnished with a
tube of safety. One or two ounces of water should
be introduced into the second globe to shut up its tube
of safety. Three bottles of Woulfe’s apparatus, con¬
taining from 64 to 80 ounces of liquid, are then to be
connected with the second globe. These bottles are
half filled with alcohol. The alcohol and the acid
are poured into the retort, and are mixed by agitation.
I he retort is luted to the glass globe, and heat is ap¬
plied, with this precaution, that it must be removed
as soon as there is any effervescence. The process
now goes on, and requires no farther attention than
occasionally cooling the globes and the bottles with
cloths moistened with snow-water. The greatest part
of the ether which is formed, condenses in the first bot¬
tle, and gives the alcohol a yellow colour. It then
passes to the second, in which the colour is lighter,
I Amial at ^aSt t0 t*le t^rc'’ where there is little percepti-
Ckim. tom. change. . To separate the ether of the first bottle,
xlii. p. 261. fjie mixture is to be saturated with an alkali, and dis-
849 tilled J.
tion11*08" ■ ^Ut ^7 whatever process nitric ether is obtained,
it requires to be purified, to separate the acid and al¬
cohol, which are generally mixed with it. This is
doqe by distilling it from potash, which reduces its
quantity ; for the distillation must not be continued
longer than when two-thirds or one-half of the first
ether has come over. To purify this still more, it is
directed to be mixed with one-fifth of nitrous acid, and
distilled again, taking two-thirds of the product set
apart, and rectify it from an alkali. The remainder
which comes over is a less pure ether, which has been
known under the name of Hoffman's mineral anodyne
liquor. What remains in the retort has been called
8 50 dulcijied spirit of nitre.
Properties. g. Nitric ether, thus obtained, is a yellowish colour¬
ed liquid, equally volatile as sulphuric ether. Its odour,
though stronger and less sweet, is analogous to the sul¬
phuric ether. The taste is hot and more disagreeable.
It is often of a deeper yellow colour, and always con¬
tains a small excess of acid and nitrous gas. The stop¬
per is frequently driven out of the bottle in which it is
kept, for there is a constant evolution of a considerable
§5I quantity of gas.
Burns with 9. When kindled, it gives out a more brilliant flame,
aJmiUant and a denser smoke, than sulphuric ether, and deposits
a greater quantity of charcoal. When it is long kept
S T R Y.
in a close vessel, some water is formed, holding a small iRfjail
quantity of oxalic acid in solution, which falls to the mable 81
bottom of the vessel. stanct
10. Nitric ether is not only analogous to sulphuric
ether in its properties, but also in the nature of theAna^ogt
process by which it is obtained, and in the other pro-tosulph .
ducts which accompany this process. But in the pro-ettar.
duction of nitric ether, there is no deposition of char¬
coal, and the acid itself is decomposed. This appears
from the great quantity of nitric oxide gas evolved du¬
ring the process j and the reason assigned for the dis¬
appearance of the charcoal is, that the oxygen of the
acid combines with it, and forms carbonic acid, which
escapes in the form of gas. The products which are
generally obtained in the processes for the preparation
of nitric ether are nitrous gas, ether, oil, acetic acid,
oxalic acid, and carbonic acid gas.
If equal parts of nitric acid and alcohol are mixed
together, a violent effervescence immediately takes
place, which is owing to the evolution of a great quan¬
tity of gas, which being a compound of ether and nitric
oxide gas, has been denominated etherised nitrous gas<
The same gas is obtained by employing a diluted acid 5
but then the mixture requires the assistance of heat.
This gas may be collected in vessels over water. It
has a disagreeable ethereal odour, quite different from
the odour of nitric ether, and exactly similar to that
kind of ether which is furnished by the oily carbureted
hydrogen gas, treated with oxvmuriatic acid gas. If
a candle be applied to this gas, it burns slowly with a
yellow flame. This gas is soluble in water, and is
wholly absorbed 5 but the absorption is slow. The wa¬
ter acquires the odour of the gas. Alcohol also dis¬
solves it completely, and more rapidly. Oxygen gas
mixed with this gas, provided it be pure, produces no
change ; but when the mixture is kindled, there is a
violent detonation. When this gas was exposed to sul¬
phuric, nitric, and muriatic acids, the ether was ab¬
sorbed by the acids, and the nitrous gas remained be¬
hind. The sulphurous acid in the state of gas, com¬
bined with an equal bulk of the inflammable gas, also
decomposed it; but this effect did not take place till
after several days $ Jew
If the alcohol and nitric acid be mixed together in J%s'Xl
the proportion of one of the former to three of the lat-P'
ter, and a gentle heat applied, there is a copious evo¬
lution of gas, which is composed of the etherised ni¬
trous gas and nitric oxide gas. If towards the end of
the process, when a small part of the liquid remains in
the retort, it is allowed to cool, crystals are formed 5
and these crystals are found to be oxalic acid. They
were formerly called wystals of Hierne, from the name
of a Swedish chemist, who first discovered them ||. II
If one part of nitric acid be added to its own weight^ 34c‘
of alcohol, and one part of sulphuric acid be added
soon after, the mixture is suddenly inflamed, and burns
with great violence. In this case, when the pro¬
ducts are collected, they are found to be ether and
oil.
From this statement of facts, therefore, it appears,
that the mode of production of nitric and sulphuric
ethers is nearly the same 5 that the differences which
take place, are owing to the different nature of the
acids 3 the violent action which follows in the formation
of
CHEMISTRY.
549
j tm. of nitric ether, depending on the nitric acid itself being
,4 Sub-decomposed, and by the operation of new affinities, new
s ce*. actions having taken place.
III. Of Muriatic Ether.
■ |;3
Pr sses
for taia-
in:
4
Fr salts
Pi
uo
iS
;a-
[ fr red
1 fr1' :om.
\ ^ alt,
1. Muriatic acid has no sensible action on alcohol,
either by simple mixture, or by distilling them toge¬
ther, as in the former case. Beaumd obtained a small
quantity of muriatic ether, by combining together mu¬
riatic acid and alcohol in the state of vapour. But
other means were thought of for this purpose, and par¬
ticularly the oxymuriate of antimony, and the oxide
of zinc dissolved in muriatic acid, and to distil this
salt, concentrated by evaporation, in close vessels with
alcohol. By this process muriatic ether has been ob¬
tained. But the most successful method of procuring
this ether, was proposed by Courtanvaux. His process
is the following.
2. One part of alcohol is mixed with three parts of
oxymuriate of tin, or the fuming liquor of Libavius,
in a glass retort. A strong heat is produced, with
the production of a white suffocating vapour, which
disappears when the mixture is agitated. There is
then emitted an agreeable odour, and the liquor as¬
sumes a lemon colour. The retort is then to be placed
on a sand bath j two receivers are to be attached, one
of which is to be immersed in cold water. There
passes over at first some pure alcohol, and soon after
the ether, which is known by its fragrant odour, and the
streams which run down the sides of the retort. When
the odour changes, and becomes sharp and suffocating,
the receiver must be changed j and if the distillation
be continued, a clear acid liquor is procured, on the
surface of which are observed some drops of sweet oil,
which is succeeded by a yellow matter of the consist¬
ence of butter, which is a true, muriate of tin, and at
last a brown heavy liquid, which exhales very copi¬
ous white vapours j and there remains in the retort a
gray matter in the state of powder.
3. To purify this ether, it is put into a retort over
carbonate of potash. A brisk effervescence takes place,
and a very copious precipitate is produced. This is
owing to the oxide of tin which the acid had carried
off during the distillation. A little water is to be addr
ed, and distilled with a gentle heat. About the one-
half of the product of the ether is thus obtained. All
the fluids which come over after the muriatic ether,
are loaded with oxide of tin ; they attract moisture
from the air, and combine with the water without any
precipitation.
4. Another method has been proposed for the pre¬
paration of muriatic ether by Laplanche, He pours
into a tubulated retort sulphuric acid and alcohol on
common salt which has been strongly dried. The mu¬
riatic acid gas, disengaged by the sulphuric acid,
meeting the vapours of the alcohol in the retort, com¬
bines with them. In this way an ether is obtained,
which may be purified in the usual way. But, in this
process, Fourcroy thinks that the production of ether
is owing to a small portion of oxymuriatic acid which is
formed during the process.
5. Pelletier has succeeded in obtaining muriatic
ether, by distilling in a large tubulated retort, a mix¬
ture of oxide of manganese, common salt, concentrated
sulphuric acid, and alcohol. The quantity of ether
obtained by this process is equal to one half the weight inflara
of the alcohol employed. mable Sub-
6. Another process has been proposed by Berthol- stances,
let, by distilling with a gentle heat alcohol which
has been saturated with oxymuriatic acid gas, and byan(j 0XJ_
distilling the oxide of manganese, a mixture of alcohol, muriatic
and strongly concentrated muriatic acid. acid gas.
7. Muriatic ether, thus obtained, is transparent and s<>9.
very volatile. It has nearly the same odour as sulphu- ^
ric ether. It burns like it, and gives out a similar
smoke j but it differs in two of its properties j the one
is, that it exhales, while burning, an odour as pun¬
gent and acrid as sulphurous acid ; and the other is,
that the taste is astringent like that of alum. This
difference in odour and taste is owing, it is supposed,
to some extraneous substances with which it is conta¬
minated ; for in the whole process of its formation it
appears to be exactly the same j a constant product of
the decomposition of alcohol, by whatever re-agent this
is effected.
IV. Acetic Ether.
Stfo
1. An ether has also been obtained by distilling a Prepara-
mixture of acetic acid and alcohol. This was the first ti011-
process which was employed in the production of this
ether. It was discovered by the count de Lauraguais
in I759- 11 has been improved by Pelletier, who di¬
stilled equal quantities of acetic acid, obtained from
acetate of copper, and alcohol. It was then poured
back into the retort, and distilled a second time.
When this process is finished, it is distilled a third
time, and the product of the third distillation is a
mixture of acetic acid and ether. To separate the acid
from the ether, it is saturated with potash, and distil¬
led with a gentle heat. The acetic ether passes over
in a state of purity.
2. Another process has been proposed to obtain the
same ether. Take 16 parts of acetate of lead, six
parts of concentrated sulphuric acid, and nine parts of
alcohol. Let it be distilled till ten parts come over.
Let this liquid be agitated with one third of its bulk
of lime water j the ether separates and swims on the
top. The quantity generally amounts to about six
parts.
3. This ether is similar to the other ethers in its
properties, excepting that it has a slight odour of acetic
acid.
4. Ether has also been formed by several other
acids, and it appears, that these acids possess one com¬
mon property in their action on alcohol, for all the
ethers produced by the diffci’ent acids are nearly the
same, and indeed it is supposed would be exactly the
same, were it not that they are contaminated with ex¬
traneous matters derived from the acids, the alcohol,
or other substances, which are employed in their forma¬
tion.
Sect. III. Of Fixed Oils.
I. Oils, which are copious productions of nature, ,
have been long known ; and their extensive utility in
domestic economy and the arts, has always rendered
them objects of great importance. The general cha¬
racters of oils are combustibility, insolubility in water, 861
and fluidity. From the peculiar properties of different oi,l> of two
oils, kinds-
55°
C H E M I
VU. 319.
Inflam- 0‘1s> they are naturally divided into two kinds ; fixed
mable Sub-or fat oils, and volatile or essential oils. The fixed
stance?. ov fat oils require a high temperature to raise them to
v the state of vapour, a temperature above that of boil¬
ing water ; but the volatile or essential oils are volati¬
lized at the temperature of boiling water, and even at
a lower one. Both the volatile and fixed oils are ob¬
tained from plants, and sometimes from the same plant,
but always from different parts of it. W hife the seeds
yield fixed oil, the volatile oil is extracted from the
bark or wood.
Found only 2. One of the most distinguishing characteristics of
in the seeds the fixed oils is, that they exist only in one part of the
of vegeta- vegetable. They are only found in the seeds. No
hies* trace of fixed oil can be detected in the roots, the
stem, leaves, or flowers of those plants, whose seeds
afford it in great abundance. The olive may seem an
exception to this. The oil which it yields is extract¬
ed, not from the seed, but from its covering. Among
plants too, fixed oils are only found existing in those
whose seeds have a peculiar structure. The seeds of
plants have sometimes one lobe, in which case they
are called monocotyledonous plants; and sometimes
they have two, when they are denominated dicotyledo¬
nous. The formation of fixed oil in plants is exclu¬
sively limited to the latter class. There is no instance
of fixed oils being found in the seeds of plants which
fFot/m-ot/.have only one lobe t. Those seeds which yield the
Connaiss. fixed oils, contain also a considerable portion of muci¬
lage, so that when such seeds are bruised and mixed
with water, they form what is called an emulsion, which
is a white fluid containing a quantity of the oil of the
seed mixed with the mucilage. One of the most com¬
mon emulsions, that of almonds, is an instance of this.
Fixed oils are extracted from the seeds of a great
number of plants. Those which yield it in greatest
abundance are, the olive, thence called o/zW o?7; the
seed.;, of lint, and the kernels of almonds, called linseed,
or almond oil. Fixed oils are also obtained from ani¬
mals ; such is tf-ain oil, as it is called, which is ex¬
tracted from the’fat or blubber of the whale. They are
obtained in great^abundance from the livers of animals,
and a fixed oil is found to exist in the eggs of fowls.
3. These different kinds of fixed oils, although they
possess many common properties, are very different in
others. Many of the vegetable oils have no smell, and
scarcely any perceptible taste. The animal oils are
generally nauseous and offensive. These differences
are supposed to be owing to the admixture of extra¬
neous bodies, or to certain chemical changes arising
from the action of those bodies upon each other, or on
the oil itself.
4. As the fixed oils exist ready formed in the seeds
of plants, they are generally obtained by expression, and
hence they have been called expressed oils. This is
done by reducing the seeds to a kind of pulp, or paste,
which is inclosed in bags, and subjected by means of
machinery, when it is obtained in the large way, to
strong pressure, so that the oil flows out, and is easily
collected. The oil obtained by this process, which has
been called cold drawn ; because it is procured with¬
out the application of heat, and merely by pressure,
is the purest *, but. the quantity of this which seeds in
general yield is comparatively small, and some seeds,
which contain a considerable portion of oil, scarcely
8<S3_
Have diffe.
rent pro¬
perties.
864
Prepara-
tiou.
S T R Y.
afford any when treated in this way. It therefore be- inflam
comes necessary for extracting the oil from seeds of themableS
latter description, and to have it in greater abundance , Uanc(
from all seeds, to employ heat, to facilitate the separa- ^
tion of the oil from the mucilage or other matters
with which it is combined. For this purpose beat is
applied, either to the apparatus which is employed in
pressing out the oil, or the bruised seeds are exposed to
the vapour of water, and sometimes they are boiled in
the water itself, by which means those substances
which are soluble in water, are separated, and thus
the oily part which adhered to these substance, is dis¬
engaged. ... . S6S
3. Oils obtained in this way are very impure. TheyPurifica
are mixed with mucilage, and other parts of the sub-t:on>
stances from which they have been extracted. Many
of these matters separate from the oils when they are
left at rest. They are sometimes mechanically puri¬
fied by filtration through coarse cloths, by which means
the grosser parts are separated. Difl’erent oils too, it
is said, are subjected to dift’erent kinds of purification
by different manufacturers, but these processes are
kept secret. After they have remained at rest for
some time, they are filtered and agitated with water,
by which the parts that are soluble in this fluid are se¬
parated from the oil. Sometimes they are gently heat¬
ed, for a shorter or longer time, according to the na¬
ture of the substances with which the oil is contami¬
nated. Acids diluted with water are employed to se¬
parate the mucilage 5 lime and the alkalies are also
used to combine with an acid which holds this muci¬
lage in solution, and thus to favour its precipitation.
Alum, chalk, clay, and ashes, are also employed in the
purification of oils. $66
6. Fixed oils are generally liquid, but of a thick, Proper!
viscid consistence. They are mild or insipid to the
taste $ sometimes, however, they have a peculiar taste,
which is analogous to that of the plant from which
they have been extracted. When pure, they have no
smell, but are sometimes impregnated with the odour
of the seed which produces them. The fixed oils are
rarely quite colourless, but are generally green or yel¬
lowish. If they are green when fresh prepared, this
colour changes to a yellow, and in time to an orange
or red. Fixed oils in general are lighter than water.
The specific gravity varies from 0.9153, which is that
of olive oil, to 0.9403, that of linseed oil. The boil¬
ing point of the fixed oils is not under the temperature
of 6oo°. When exposed to cold, they congeal, and
even crystallize. There is, however, a considerable
variety in this respect, among fixed oils $ some become
solid at the temperature of a few degrees above the
freezing point of water ; while others, on the contrary,
require a degree of cold = 50 j and some remain fluid
when exposed to the greatest cold. Those oils, it has
been observed, which most readily become solid, such
as olive oil, are least subject to change, while those
which congeal with difficulty have a greater tendency
to spoil and become rancid. $61
*]. When fixed oil is exposed to heat, it does not eva-Action
porate, till it is raised to the temperature of boiling, beat
or 6oo° j but when it is thus raised in vapour its pro¬
perties are changed. It is decomposed by the separa¬
tion of some of its principles. The part that is volati¬
lized has a greater proportion of hydrogen 5 charcoal is
deposited
C H E M
] im. deposited, and water and sebacic acid are formed, while
a)a Sub-carbureted hydrogen gas is disengaged. By this distil-
i ces. ]at;on an 0jl Avas produced, denominated by the older
' chemists 'philosophical oil.
When oil is exposed to the open air, and a burning
body is brought in contact with it, it readily takes
fire, and burns rapidly, with a yellowish white flame.
It is on this conversion of oil into vapour, and the in¬
flammation of this vapour, that the application of oil
in lamps and candles depends. The oil is gradually,
and in small quantities, brought in contact with the
burning part of the wick j it is converted into vapour,
which is immediately inflamed, and continues to burn
till new portions are supplied to undergo the same
change, and thus keep up a constant and uniform light
3 and heat.
Co )si- 8. According to the analysis of olive oil by Lavoisier,
it is composed of hydrogen and carbon. In the expe¬
riment which he instituted to ascertain its component
parts, he burnt
oil I5-79 grs* troy.
■ oxygen gas 50.86
66.65
The products of this combustion were water and
carbonic acid. The weight of the water could not be
ascertained with much precision, but the quantity of
cai'bonic acid which was formed amounted to 44.50
grs. This quantity subtracted from the whole weight
of the substances consumed, namely the oil and oxygen
gas, left 22.15 grains for the weight of the water. The
proportion of oxygen in this quantity of water is
18.82 grs. which leaves 3.33 grs. of hydrogen, the
other component part. The proportion of oxygen in
44.50 grs. carbonic acid gas is 32.04 grs. which leaves
12.46 of carbon. The oxygen of the water and of
the carbonic acid, namely 18.82 grs. of the one, with
32.04 grs. of the other, make up the whole quantity of
oxygen, namely 50.86 grs. that was consumed. From
this analysis, therefore, 15.79 °f olive oil are composed
of
12.46 carbon,
3.33 hydrogen.
I5-79
The component parts, therefore, of IOO grains of
olive oil are
78.92 carbon,
21.08 hydrogen.
100.00
Pjto le 9. The fixed oils are insoluble in water. When it
JP* x. is necessary to combine them with this liquid, it is by
r means of mucilaginous substances, in which case the
mixture is known under the name of emulsion, or with
alkaline substances, when it is distinguished by the
^ ! name of soap.
lit, of 10, When fixed oils are exposed to the air, they un-
I S T R Y. . 551
dergo peculiar changes 5 and these changes are differ- Inflam-
ent, according to the nature of the oil. mable Sub-
11. Some of these oils become thick, opaque, white, stances. ^
granulated, and are analogous in appearance to tallow.
Oils subject to this change are called fat oils, such,
for instance, is olive oil, almond oil, and rapeseed oil.
This change is more or less rapid in different circum¬
stances. If a thin layer of oil be spread on the sur¬
face of water, and exposed to the air, it takes place in
a few days, and this effect is owing to the absorption
of oxygen, which combines with the oil. It was sup¬
posed by Berthollet, that it depended on the action of
light } but his experiments rvere repeated by Senebiex*,
wlxo found that olive oil when kept in the dark be- * Seneti.
came rancid, while the same kind of oil exposed toAnn.de
the light, but excluded from the air, remained un-x**
changed*. i>1# S71
12. Other soils, when exposed to the air, dry alto-Drying,
gether, yet have the property of retaining their trans¬
parency. Those which liave this pecnliar property are
called di'ying oils. The oil of poppies, hempseed oil,
and particularly linseed oil, are possessed of this pi’o-
perty. The nature of the change which takes place
in these drying oils, is supposed to depend on the ab¬
sorption of oxygen j and this oxygen combining xvith
the hydrogen of the oil forms water. This opinion is
supported by the practice which is followed to increase
the drying property of linseed oil. It is usually boiled
with litharge, before it is employed by painters. The
litharge in this case is partly reduced to the metallic
state, by being deprived of its oxygen, which is sup¬
posed to combine with the oil.
13. But many of the fixed oils, when exposed to the
air for a sufficient length of time, undergo a farther
change, and acquire very diffex-ent properties. They are
then said to become rancid. During this change, they
assume a brown colour, have the property of changing
vegetable blues to red, and acquire a peculiar smell and
taste. In this change, the sebacic acid is formed, which
depends on a new combination of the hydrogen and car¬
bon of the oil, in certain proportions with the oxygen
absorbed from the atmosphere. To this acid, there-1 Fourcroy
fore, the rancidity of oils seems to be owing. Part
the hydrogen of the oil too, it would appear, combines
with the oxygen, and forms water+. S73
14. Carbon in the state of charcoal has no action Action of
upon oils ; but they are purified and rendered colour-c*iarcoa*'
less by being passed through charcoal powder. S74
15. Phosphorus combines with oils, with the assist-Of phos-
ance of heat. A small portion of the phosphorus is dis-
solved, which communicates a luminous property to the
oils, so that when they are spread upon any surface,
they shine in the dark. When the oil is completely-
saturated with the phosphorus, with the assistance of
heat, and is allowed to cool, part of the phosphorus is
deposited, and crystallized in transparent octahedrons.
When this phosphureted oil is distilled, phosphureted
hydrogen gas is disengaged. 875
16. Sulphur easily combines with fixed oil, with the Of sulphur,
assistance of heat. The solution, which was formerly-
called o/^z/^/zz/r, is of a reddish colour. When
it cools, the sulphur crystallizes, by which process Pel¬
letier obtained sulphur in the form of octahedrons.
When the cooling is too rapid, the sulphur is precipi¬
tated
552
CHEMISTRY.
f Fourcroy.
Connaiss.
di m. vii.
329-
Of Acids.
Uses
877
t Ibid. \ii.
P* 33a*
Afiinities.
tated of a yellow colour, in the shape of needles. If
■this sulphurated oil, which has a peculiarly fetid odour,
be distilled, it affords a great quantity of sulphurated
hydrogen gasf.
17. The acids have a powerful effect on the fixed
oils. The sulphuric acid, when concentrated, decom¬
poses them. They become brown, thick, and at last of
a black colour. Water is formed, charcoal is precipi¬
tated, and even an acid is formed. Nitric acid in the
cold, thickens fixed oils by communicating part of its
oxygen. In the state of nitrous acid it produces a
more violent action. There is a considerable efferves¬
cence, with the evolution of a great quantity of ni¬
trous gas. If a mixture of nitrous acid and concen¬
trated sulphuric acid be thrown upon fixed oils, they
instantly inflame, and leave behind a spongy mass of
charcoal. Muriatic acid has little effect on fixed oils,
but the oxymuriatic acid thickens and bleaches them,
in the same way as tallow or wax.
18. The various purposes to which fixed oils are ap¬
plied, are too well known to require particular enume¬
ration. They are employed in domestic economy as
articles of food, and for this purpose are used alone, or
in combination with other substances. They are employ¬
ed for giving light, by being burnt in lamps. They are
used in medicine, either on account of the active pro¬
perties which peculiar oils possess, or on account of the
mechanical properties which they communicate to other
substances with which they are combined. In this
state the use o-f oils is well known in the form of un¬
guents, plasters, and liniments. In the arts, fixed oils
are of the most extensive utility. They are employed
in the fabrication of soaps, for mixing colours in paint¬
ing, for some kinds of varnish, and for defending sub¬
stances from the action of air and moisture
19. The order of the affinities of fixed oils is the
following:
Lime,
Barytes,
Fixed alkalies,
Magnesia,
Ammonia,
Oxide of mercury,
Other metallic oxides,
Alumina.
Sect. IV. Of Volatile Oils.
879
Characters.
-880
Names.
1. Volatile oils are distinguished from the fixed oils
by their volatility, fragrance, and acrid taste. They
are also known under the name of aromatic oils, from
their odour j or essential oils, or simply essences, from
being supposed to constitute the essence of the vegetable
matters which furnish them.
2. Volatile oils are not limited to particular parts of
plants, but are found to exist in every part of the plant,
excepting in the seed, which furnishes the fixed oils.
A great number of roots which are generally distin-
all parts of guished by an aromatic odour, and have more or less
riieYobes of an acr^ taste» afford volatile oils. They are fur-
the seeds, wished also by many woods, such as those of the pine
and fir tribe, and by many of those which are natives
of warm climates. The leaves of a great number of
plants belonging to the didynamia class also afford vo-
3
881
Found in
latile oil, as well as many of the umbelliferous plants. iDflanl
It is obtained from many flowers of vegetables, and teable .
from the covering of many fruits, as the skin of oranges , ttalic[
and lemons. It is also obtained from a great number ' 'ri
of seeds *, it is never found in the cotyledons or lobes
themselves, but only in the external covering. The
quantity of volatile oil which is obtained from vege¬
tables, varies according to the age, the soil in which
they grow, and the state of the plant. Some plants,
while green, furnish it in greatest abundance j while
others yield most when they are dry. 8S2I
3. There are two processes by which volatile oil mayPrepanj
be obtained. When it exists in plants in great abun-t,on-
dance, and in vesicles in a fluid state, it may be separat¬
ed by mechanical means. Thus, by simple expression,
the volatile oils are extracted from many plants, as, for
instance, from the fruit of the orange and the lemon.
From the outer rind of these fruits, when they are
fresh, the volatile oil is obtained in the liquid form 5
but in general, the volatile oils of plants are neither so
abundant, nor do they exist in that state of fluidity, by
which they can be procured by so simple a process.
In most cases they are subjected to the process of di¬
stillation j and for this purpose they are macerated for
some hours in water. They are then introduced into
a still along with the water j a moderate heat is appli¬
ed and continued till the fluid boil, when a great quan¬
tity of vapour of water, mixed with the volatile oil,
passes over, and is received in proper vessels. The
oil collects on the surface of the water, from which it
may be easily separated. The water itself is of a milky
colour, on account of a small quantity of oil suspended
in it) and even after the water becomes transparent by
the particles of the oil separating from it, and rising to
the top, it is still loaded with the peculiar odour of the
plant. This was supposed to be a separate principle
of vegetables, to which Boerbaave gave the name of
spiritus rector, and which is still known by the name
of aroma. This fragrance of the water is owing to
the solution of a certain portion of oil in it. In the
distillation of the volatile oils, different practices are
followed, according to the nature of the plant, and
the proportion of the oil existing in it. The roots,
wood, bark, fruits, dried plants, after being cut in
pieces, rasped down or bruised, are macerated for
some hours, or for some days, according to the solidity
or particular state of the vegetable matter. Fresh
plants are distilled with the smallest quantity of water,
have no need of previous maceration, and do not re¬
quire so high a temperature. 8s;
4. The volatile oils are particularly distinguished byFragr£e'
their fragrance, which varies in the oils extracted from
different plants. The consistence of the volatile oils
also varies considerably. Sometimes they are as fluid Fluidii
as water, which is the case with those obtained by ex¬
pression. Some are thick and viscid, as those gene¬
rally are which are extracted from woods, roots, barks,
and fruits of the warmer regions. Some congeal, or
assume a granulated solid consistence at different tem¬
peratures. Of these last, some are always found to be
in the concrete state. Several of the volatile oils areCrystl
susceptible of crystallization, depositing in the remain¬
ing portion of the oil which continues liquid, transpa¬
rent polyhedrons, more or less of a yellow colour,
which are found to be pure oil. This last change,
Vauquelin
8 SI
Tstf
A | )f
iigiit
C H E 1V3
m. Vauquelin thinks, Is owing to an Incipient oxidation ;
giaL sub- for it never takes place, unless oils have been kept for
st es. gome time,
5. There is great variety of colour among volatile
L|d oils. Some are nearly colourless, as the oil of turpen¬
tine ; some are yellow, as the oil of lavender} some
are of a reddish yellow or brown, as the oil of cinnamon
I or of rhodium ; some blue, as the oil of chamomile ;
and some green, as that of parsley. But the most
prevailing colour among volatile oils is vellovv or red-
I dish.
6. Volatile oils have almost always an acrid, and
even burning taste. Yet it is observed that the most
acrid vegetable matters do not yield an oil possessed of
this quality. The specific gravity of volatile oils is
generally less than that of water. Some, however, as
those ot sassafras and canella, have a greater spe¬
cific gravity. rihe specific gravity of oils varies from
0.8697 to 0.9910, in those which are lighter than
water ; but those which are heavier are from 0.0363
to 1.4049. * - °
7. When volatile oils are exposed to the light, the
colour becomes considerably deeper} they become
thicker, and increase in specific gravity. In speaking
of a similar change which takes place in the fixed oils,
this change was ascribed to the absorption of oxygen ;
1 I but, according to the experiments and observations of
p-deM. Tingry, it is effected merely by the action of
ni I.!iSht’ f°r in experiments oxygen *gas was entirely
i excluded *.
pi 8. V olatile oils, when exposed to heat, evaporate
very readily. They are much more combustible than
the fixed oils } and in burning give out a great quan¬
tity of smoke, a very bright white flame, and a good
deal of heat. They require a greater proportion of
oxygen than the fixed oils, and yield a greater quan¬
tity of water. This arises from a greater proportion
of hydrogen, and a smaller quantity of carbon, which
a they contain.
9. When volatile oils are exposed to the open air,
they undergo another change. They assume a deeper
eolour, and become viscid, exhaling at the same time
a very strong odour. The air around is deprived of
its oxygen} it combines with the hydrogen of the oil,
and forms water, which is observed in drops on the
surface. Many of the volatile oils when thus exposed
pass into the resinous state, and are almost entirely
deprived of their odour. This depends on the loss of
part of their hydrogen, and the increase of the propor¬
tion of carbon.
10. The volatile oils are in some degree,soluble in
water. When agitated with this liquid, they combine
with it, and communicate to it a very strong odour,
S; and a slightly acrid taste.
*J18 . II* Phosphorus and sulphur are soluble in volatile
, oils. With phosphorus the solution is luminous in the
dark, is extremely fetid, and gives out, by the force of
heat, phosphureted hydrogen gas. The combination
with sulphur is known under the name of balsam of sal-
I phur, ihis gives out sulphureted hydrogen gas on the
application of heat.
12. Tne concentrated 'sulphuric acid produces a
brown colour, increases the viscidity of the vola¬
tile oils, and disengages part of their hydrogen with
effervescence and heat. Part of the oil is decomposed;
VOL. V. Part II. f
!?;
h
kk
I S T R Y. 553
charcoal is deposited, and it contains an acid. Nitrous
acid, when brought into contact with the volatile oils, mable Sub-
produces instantaneous deflagration ; converts them stancef;‘
in a great measure into water and carbonic acid ; and '
a voluminous mass of charcoal remains behind. Mu¬
riatic acid has scarcely any action ; but oxymuriatic
acid renders them colourless, concrete in part, or
viscid, and brings them more nearly to the state of
resins- . _ 894
13. Some of these oils are employed in medicine. Uses.
They are used also for the solution of those substances
Vhich are to he employed as varnishes; and many of
them are used in perfumery. 5^
14. Many of the volatile oils being produced in Tests of
small quantity, are high priced. There is therefore Purity-
some temptation to adulterate them with fixed oils,
with cheaper volatile oils, or with other substances,
to increase the quantity. Hence it is of some impor¬
tance to be able to detect such frauds. When a vo¬
latile oil is adulterated with a fixed oil, there is a
very easy test to discover it. Let a single drop of the
oil that is suspected fall on clean paper, and expose
it to a gentle heat. If the oil is pure, the whole
will be evaporated, and no trace will remain on the
paper; but if it has been mixed with a fixed oil, a
greasy spot remains behind. Volatile oils are fre¬
quently adulterated with oil of turpentine; but this
can only be detected by its peculiar odour, which con¬
tinues for a longer time than most of the other vola¬
tile oils. When they are adulterated with alcohol, it
is easily detected by mixing a little of the oil with water,
which immediately produces a milkiness, by the abstrac¬
tion of the alcohol from the oil, and its combination
with the water.
15. There is another class of oils known under the Empyieu-
name of empyreumatic oils, which have different pro- matie ode,
perties from those which have been described. These
oils are acrid and stimulating, with a strong fetid and
disagreeable odour. It would appear that these proper¬
ties are owing to a partial decomposition of other oils.
These oils are produced, as the name imports, by the
action of fire. They are obtained when oils are forced
to rise in vapour, and pass over in common distillation,
with a greater degree of heat than that of boiling water,
or by the application of a strong heat to substances
from which no oil was previously extracted. These
empyreumatic oils agree in some of their properties
with the volatile oils. They combine in small propor¬
tion with water, and they are soluble in alcohol; and
probably any difference that exists between them is
owing to a partial decomposition ; for when they are
distilled, the oil is restored to a state of purity, and the
carbonaceous matter which had been separated, re¬
mains behind.
Chap. XII. Of ALKALIES.
The word alkali is derived from the Arabian name Origin of
of a plant, kali, which affords the substance now dis-the name,
tinguished by that term. When other substances were
discovered, possessed of similar properties, the mean¬
ing of the term was extended, and applied to such
matters as had several common properties. Three
substances have been generally ranked under the head
of alkalies. These are potash, soda, and ammonia ;
4 A to
554
C H E M
Inflam- to wliich has lately been added lithina. Some other
mabls Stfb-substances, also, of vegetable origin, are now considered
stances. a8 alkalies. But these will be more advantageously in-
troduced in a different place. The alkalies are cbarac-
898 terised by the following properties.
Characters. 1. They have a peculiar taste, wliich is disagreeaoly
caustic, even when they are diluted with water.
2. They change vegetable blue colours to a green.
3. They have a strong attraction for water, and
combine with it in all proportions.
4. They have a strong affinity for acids.
5. They melt in a moderate heat, but with a stronger
8 heat they are volatilized.
Natural di The alkalies have been divided into two kinds,
vision. namely, the fixed and volatile. Potash and soda, and
lithina, are denominated fixed alkalies, because they
require a great degree of heat to dissipate or volatilize
them. Ammonia has been called the volatile alkali,
because a very moderate degree of heat is sufficient to
volatilize it.
Fourcroy has classed two of the earths, namely, ba¬
rytes and strontites, under the head of alkalies. In
some of their properties, these earths, no doubt, are ana¬
logous to the alkalies j but in other properties they are
more closely allied to the earths. There seems, there¬
fore, to be no inconveniency or ambiguity in classing
them, as usual, among earthy substances.
It may perhaps be considered as one of the general
characters of the alkalies which we have now enume¬
rated, that they have no action on oxygen, azotic, or
hydrogen gases ; nor is there any action between the
alkalies and carbon.
Sect. I. Of Potash and its Combinations.
Names. I. This substance has been long known in com¬
merce, under many different names, derived from the
substances from which it is extracted, or from the pro¬
cesses by which it is prepared. The name of ash or
ashes has been given to this substance, because it is
procured from the burnt ashes of vegetables; and it
has received the epithet of pot-ashes, because it is pre¬
pared in iron pots. It got the name of vegetable al¬
kali, because it was supposed that it only existed in ve¬
getables. Being prepared from nitre and tartar, it
was called the alkali of nitre or tartar, and the salt of
tartar, a name which it still retains in the shops. It
has been proposed also to distinguish it by the term
kali, the name of the plant from which it was originally
901 procured.
Prepara. 2. Potash is generally prepared bv burning wood
upn- or other vegetable matters, and thus reducing them to
ashes. The ashes are then to be washed repeatedly
with water, till the liquid comes off perfectly tasteless.
If the liquid thus obtained he purified by filtration, and
evaporated to drynes«, a salt is obtained, which is the
potash. In this state it is contaminated with much ex¬
traneous matter ; but if it be exposed to a red heat,
many of the foreign substances with which it is mixed,
are dissipated ; it becomes whiter, and from its colour
is then sold under the name of pearl-ash. This salt is
prepared in great abundance in those countries where
wood abounds, as in North America and the north of
Furope , and hence it is known in commerce under the
name of Russian or American pearl-ash.
3.
I S T R Y.
3. Potash, in this state, is coasidered as sufficiently pota3i, c
pure for the ordinary purposes of life to which it is ap-' 1
plied ; but it is still mixed with much foreign matter, 902I
which renders it unfit for the purposes of the chemist.In tllis
It has therefore always been considered as an object ofjmpar”
great importance, to obtain it in a state of purity.
But even when it is seemingly pure, by being de¬
prived of all extraneous substances, it is found to pos¬
sess very different properties, after being subjected to
certain processes. In one state it is comparatively
mild and inactive ; in another, extremely acrid and
corrosive. Various opinions were entertained of the
cause of this remarkable difference. The true cause Blacb’i
was discovered and demonstrated by Dr Black in the^aam
year 1756. This ingenious philosopher, by a few sim¬
ple and satisfactory experiments, clearly proved, that
the different states of the alkalies, lime, and magnesia,
are owing to their combination with a peculiar sub¬
stance, to which he gave the name of fixed air, be¬
cause it is fixed in these bodies. This fixed air, it has
been already observed, is now known by the name of
carbonic acid. When the alkalies are in combination
with carbonic acid, they are in the mild state ; but,
when tliev are deprived of this acid, their effects being
more powerful and corrosive, they are said to be in the
caustic state.
When sulphuric acid is poured upon a quantity of
potash in its ordinary state, an effervescence takes
place. This, Dr Black proved, is owing to the es¬
cape of the carbonic acid in the state of gas j for when
the alkali is in its pure or caustic state, no efferves¬
cence takes place. He also proved, that the alkalies
and lime in their mild state, that is, when combined
with carbonic acid, are heavier than in the caustic
state, and that this difference of weight is exactly equal
to the quantity of carbonic acid which escapes. Since,
then, these substances exhibit such different properties
in these two states, it is necessary to procure them in
a state of purity, to examine their properties and ef¬
fects. This is not without difficulty, on account of the
strong affinity which exists between the alkalies and
carbonic acid ’, for although previously pure, as soon
as they are exposed to the air, they begin to attract
the carbonic acid, and return to their former mild
state. pc 1
4. As this, therefore, is an object of importance, va-Purifr ■ •
rious processes have been proposed, to procure them as lion,
pure as possible. In these processes the principle is to
separate the carbonic acid by the superior affinity of
quicklime, and to dissolve it in alcohol, which leaves
other substances behind. - j
a. The following process for the purification of pot-gert} let *
ash is recommended by Berthollet. It is to be mixed proce I
with double its weight of quicklime, with eight or ten
times the weight of the whole mixture, of pure or rain
water. Boil it for two or three hours in an iron ves¬
sel ; then let it remain in a close vessel for 48 hours,
taking care to agitate it occasionally. Let it after¬
wards be filtered, and boiled in a silver vessel with a
strong heat, till it assume the consistence of honey.
Pour a quantity of alcohol upon it, equal in weight to
one-third of the alkali which has been employed ; then
put it on the fire, and let it boil for some minutes.
Pour it afterwards into a bottle and allow it to cool.
The matter in the bottle separates into three different
strata:
CHEMISTHY.
136.
B jwitz,
, thol.
1 Jour-
1 4to,
il
,°7
'\iL
11.
strata : at the bottom are deposited solid bodies ; in the
middle there is an aqueous solution, or carbonate of pot¬
ash ; and on the top a liquor of a reddish brown colour,
mixed with alcohol. Let this be carefully decanted off
by means of a syphon. This is a solution of pure pot¬
ash in alcohol. Put it into a bason of silver, or of tin¬
ned copper j evaporate it rapidly, till a dry, black and
charry crust forms on the surface, and the liquor be¬
low, which has an oily appearance, becomes solid by
cooling. Let the crust be removed, and pour the so¬
lution into porcelain vessels. When it cools, it be¬
comes solid. It is then to be broken in pieces, and put
into close vessels. This is the potash in a state of pu¬
rity, not only freed from foreign matters, but also de¬
prived of the carbonic acid.
Lime has a stronger affinity for carbonic acid than
potash. W7hen, therefore, lime deprived of its carbonic
acid, as it is in the state of quicklime, is brought into
contact in sufficient quantity with the potash, it de¬
prives it of the carbonic acid. It is with this view that
the lime is employed in this process. The alcohol has
the property of dissolving potash, but has no action on
the other substances with which it is combined. This
is the reason why the alcohol, holding in solution the
pure potash by its less specific gravity, forms the upper
stratum in the bottle. By the evaporation, the last
step of the process, the alcohol and water are driven
off, and the pure potash remains behind in the solid
state.
b. A more economical process has been proposed by
Professor Lowitz of Petersburg!]. He boils together
the potash and quicklime, as in the former process ;
filters the liquor, and evaporates, till a thick pellicle
is formed on the surface. It is then set by to cool,
till crystals are formed in it, which are crystals of
extraneous salts, and are to be removed. He then
continues the evaporation, and removes the pellicle as
it forms on the surface during the process. When
the fluid ceases to boil and no more pellicle is formed,
he removes it from the fire, and keeps constantly stir¬
ring it while it cools. He then dissolves it in double
the quantity of cold water, filters the solution, and
evaporates in a glass retort, till regular crystals begin
to be deposited. If the mass should consolidate ever
so little by cooling, a small quantity of water is to be
added, and it must be heated again, to render it fluid.
W hen a sufficient quantity of regular crystals has been
formed, he decants the liquid, which has a brown
colour, and re-dissolves the salt after it is suflered to
drain, in the same quantity of water. The decanted
liquor is preserved in a well-closed bottle for several
days, till it subside and become clear. He then de¬
cants it, evaporates, and crystallizes a second time, and
repeats this process as long as the crystals afford, with
the least possible quantity of water, solutions that are
perfectly limpid. These solutions are to be preserved
in well-closed bottles, to defend them from the access
of air *.
c. The method of preparing pure potash by the in¬
defatigable and accurate Klaproth, is somewhat diffe¬
rent from this. WTe shall detail it in his own words.
“ As many persons think that the preparation of a
perfectly pure caustic ley is subject to more difficulties
than it really is, I will here briefly state my method
of preparing it. I boil equal parts of purified salt of
555
tartar, (carbonate of potash, or vegetable alkali pre-potash,&c.
pared from tartar) and Carrara marble, burnt to lime, v—'
with a sufficient quantity of water, in a polished iron
kettle $ I strain the ley through clean linen, and
though yet turbid, reduce it by boiling, till it contain
about one half of its weight of caustic alkali; after
which I pass it once more through a linen cloth, and
set it by in a glass bottle. After some days, when
the ley has become clear of itself, by standing, I care¬
fully pour it off from the sediment into another bottle.
To convince myself of its purity, I saturated part of it
with muriatic or nitric acid, evaporate it to dryness,
and re-dissolve it in water. If it be pure, no turbid¬
ness will take place in the solution. The quantity of
caustic alkali which this ley contains, I ascertain by
evaporating a certain weighed portion of the ley to
dryness, in an evaporating dish of a known weight. I
also take care, in the preparation of this caustic ley,
that the alkali be not entirely deprived of carbonic
acid ; because, in that case, I can with greater cer¬
tainty depend on the total absence of dissolved calcare¬
ous earth. By employing burnt marble, or in its stead
burnt oyster-shells, I avoid the usual contamination off Analyt.
the caustic ley by aluminous earth j because lime, pre-p***^*’ s
pared from the common species of lime-stone, is seldom Xrantl
entirely free from argil” *. 9o8
5. Potash, thus obtained, is a white solid substance, Properties,
which is susceptible of crystallization, in long, com¬
pressed, quadrangular prisms, terminating in sharp-
pointed pyramids. These crystals, which are only ob¬
tained from very concentrated solutions, are soft and
deliquescent, i. e. they attract moisture from the at¬
mosphere. The taste is extremely acrid j and it is so
corrosive, that it destroys the texture of the skin, the
moment it touches it. It is from this property that it
has derived the name of caustic, or the potential cautery,
because it is employed for the purpose of destroying
excrescences. According to Hassenfratz, the specific
gravity of potash is 1.7085. It converts vegetable
blues into a green colour. ^
6. Light has no action on potash. When it is heat-Action of
ed in close vessels, it becomes soft and liquid, and is heat,
afterwards converted into a white, opaque, and granu¬
lated mass, when it cools. If the heat be increased
to redness, it swells up, and rises in vapour. If the
vessel be opened, a white smoke arises, which is ex¬
tremely acrid, and condenses on cold bodies with
which it comes in contact. But though it is thus sub¬
limed, it undergoes no other change than assuming a
slight green colour.
7. There is no action between potash and oxygen or
azotic gases, nor is there any direct action between it
and carbon. Phosphorus and sulphur enter into com¬
bination with potash, and form peculiar compounds, the
nature of which we shall consider, after having detailed
the general properties of potash. 9I3
8. Potash has a very strong affinity for water. Wa-Of water,
ter, at the ordinary temperature, dissolves double its
weight. The solution, when the potash is pure, is co¬
lourless and transparent, and nearly of the consistence
of oil.
9. Potash combines readily with the acids, and forms
compounds with them, having different properties, ac- ^l2
cording to the nature of the acid employed. Its affi- Affinities,
nities for the acids are in the following order :
4 A 3 Sulphuric,
9n
556
Potash, $tc
Uses.
9i3
914
Composi¬
tion.
C H E M
* Sulphuric,
Nitric,
Muriatic,
Phosphoric,
Phosphorous,
Fluoric,
Oxalic,
Tartaric,
Arsenic,
Succinic,
Citric,
Lactic,
Benzoic,
Sulphurous,
Acetic,
Saclactic,
Boracic,
Carbonic,
Prussic.
10. Potash is employed for a great variety of pur¬
poses 5 it enters into combination with many substan¬
ces, and forms with them valuable and important com¬
pounds. It is employed in medicine as a useful and
powerful remedy j and in many arts and manufactures,
as in bleaching, dyeing, and glass-making.
This substance, though the subject of various con¬
jectures as to its composition, was never analyzed till
the year 1807, when Sir H. Davy effected tins object
by the application of a powerful galvanic apparatus.
A piece of potash, slightly moistened, is laid on a plate
of platinum, which is connected with the one end of the
battery. The potash is, at the same time, touched with
a wire of platinum, connected with the opposite end of
the series. Fusion takes place at the two points of
contact; oxygen is given out at the positive end, and
at the negative, globules of metallic lustre make their
appearance. These globules, with the oxygen, form
the constituents of potash. The metalloid thus disco¬
vered has received the name of potassium. It is re¬
markably light, more so than alcohol, ether, or any
known liquid. Potassium has a strong attraction for
oxygen, and decompo'ses water with great readiness,
combining with the oxygen to form potash, and setting
hydrogen gas at liberty. When burnt in oxygen gas,
it combines with a larger proportion of oxygen ; the
compound is called a peroxide4 and when this com¬
pound is thrown into w'ater, its superabundant oxygen
is given off in the gaseous form, and the proportion
just requisite to constitute potash is established.
Potash may also be decomposed by means of iron
filings, under an intense white heat, in an iron tube j
the due provision being made for preserving the potas¬
sium, which is distilled over in union with hydrogen,
from the contact of air or water.
I he strong affinity of potassium for oxvgen, x’enders
a convenient instrument for analysing’ those bodies
I S T R Y.
it
containing oxygen, which retain that principle by an
affinity too strong to yield to other agents. Thus, by
means of potassium, several other simple bodies have
been detected ; and the discovery of it forms on that
account one of the most memorable eras in the history
of chemistry. ^
I. Action of Phosphorus on Potash.
1. There is no direct combination between potash
2
and phosphorus $ but although these two bodies have p0tag|
little tendency to unite, they have a very powerful ef- v J
feet upon each other when they are heated together 9I| 1
with water. It was in this way that Gengembre first
obtained the singular gas, which has been already de-gen gT
scribed, when treating of phosphorus, under the name
of phosphureted hydrogen gas.
2. If one part of phosphorus and ten parts of con-Process
centrated solution of pure potash be introduced intoobtaim]
a small retort, and exposed to heat till it boils, phos-11,
phorated hydrogen gas will pass over, which may be
received in jars over water : or if the beak of the re¬
tort be kept under the surface of water, the bubbles
of the gas, as they rise to the surface, explode, and
form the beautiful coronet of white smoke, formerly
mentioned. In making this experiment, the retort
should not be larger than to hold the solution, or it
should be filled with hydrogen or azotic gases, in which
the phosphorated hydrogen gas will not inflame and ex¬
plode, with the risk of breaking the vessel j for the in¬
flammation can only take place when it comes in con¬
tact with the oxygen of the atmosphere. sij
3. In this process, the water which holds the potashNatiml
in solution, is decomposed. The oxygen combines with^le Pr(r'
part of the phosphorus, and forms phosphoric acid, while
another part of the phosphorus unites with the hydro¬
gen, and passes over in the form of phosphorated hy¬
drogen gas. Thus, without any perceptible action be¬
tween the phosphorus and the potash, the decomposi¬
tion of the water is aided by means of the potash, in
consequence of its attraction for the phosphorus, com¬
bined with the oxygen in the state of phosphoric acid.
For it is found, that a quantity of phosphorus of potash
is formed, corresponding to that of the phosphorated
hydrogen gas which is obtained. The decomposition
is also assisted by the affinity of the phosphorus for the
oxygen and hydrogen of the water. The whole of the
phosphorated hydrogen gas which is formed, being dis¬
engaged, shows that no combination takes place be¬
tween it and the potash *.
II. Action of Sulphur on Potash.
%Fqu) Ij(i|
Coma
tom. 11
p. 202:
1. Sulphur and potash very readily combine toge¬
ther. If one part of potash and three of sulphur be
triturated together in a glass or porcelain mortar, the
mixture becomes hot, the sulphur loses its yellow co¬
lour, and acquires {i greenish tinge. There is disen¬
gaged a fetid smell of garlic; the mixture attracts
moisture from the air, becomes soft, and is almost en¬
tirely soluble in water. 91
If two parts of potash and one of sulphur be well
mixed together, and heated in a crucible, the mixture °*p
fuses •, and by this process is obtained sulphvret of pot¬
ash in the dry state. This was formerly called hepar
sulphuris, or liver of sulphur, from its resemblance to
the liver of animals. The same substance may be ob¬
tained by treating sulphur with the potash of com¬
merce, with this precaution, not to apply too strong a
heat, to occasion a sublimation of the sulphur, and
the too rapid evolution of the carbonic acid from the
potash. When the fusion is completed, it is poured
out on a marble slab j it is covered up from the air, al¬
lowed to cool, and broken into small pieces, to be in¬
stantly put up in well-closed glass vessels.
2. The solid sulphuret of potash, thus prepared, is 0’fProl,c
Ip2°
ro-sul-
et.
C H E M I
] ish,&c.a shining brown colour like that of the liver of animals,
-v—'from which it derived its former name. Exposed to
the air, it becomes green, then passes to grey, and even
to white. It is dense, smooth, and has a vitreous frac¬
ture. It has no other smell than that of heated or
sublimed sulphur 5 is acrid, caustic, and bitter to the
taste, and leaves a brown spot on the skin. With a
strong heat, in a porcelain retort, the sulphur is su¬
blimed, and the potash remains in a state of purity at
the bottom of the vessel. The sulphuretof potash con¬
verts vegetable blue colours to green, and afterwards
destroys them.
3. But the sulphuret of potash possesses these pro¬
perties, only while it is recently prepared, and very pure.
When exposed to the air, it is readily decomposed, and
more so, as the air is loaded with moisture. It absorbs
water with avidity, acquires a green colour, and exhales
the fetid odour of sulphurated hydrogen gas. This
change is owing to the decomposition of the water which
has been absorbed. Part of the sulphur combines with
the hydrogen, and forms sulphurated hydrogen gas,
which combines with the sulphuret, and forms hydro¬
genated sulphuret of potash.
4. This may also be formed by passing the sulphu-
1 uatlier rated hydrogen gas into a solution of potash. The gas
I eS8, is absorbed and condensed, till the potash is fully satu¬
rated. To this substance Berthollet, who particularly
investigated the nature of these compounds, gave the
name of hydro-sulphuret of potash.
This compound crystallizes, and is more permanent
than the sulphuret. The crystals are transparent and
colourless, while those of the sulphuret are brown and
opaque. The crystals are large and in the form of four¬
sided prisms, terminating in four-sided pyramids. It is
decomposed by heat, and by the action of the acids.
Sulphurated hydrogen gas is disengaged, but there is
no deposition of sulphur. The oxymuriatic acid decom¬
poses the sulphurated hydrogen, and then sulphur is
precipitated. The pure hydro-sulphuret has no smell,
when it has no addition of sulphur beyond the satura¬
tion of the hydrogen. The alkali seems to have a
stronger affinity for the sulphureted hydrogen than for
the sulphur, so that when it is saturated with the first,
that is, in the state of hydro-sulphuret of potash, which
is in the form of crystals, and without smell or inodo¬
rous, it combines with no more sulphur ; but when sul¬
phureted hydrogen gas is made to pass into a solution
of the sulphuret of potash, already hydrogenated by its
solution in water to a certain degree of saturation, the
wcroy,sulphureted hydrogen acts in the manner of acids, pre-
cipitates the sulphur like them, renders the liquid co¬
lourless, and leaves behind nothing but the hydro-sul¬
phuret of potash *.
5. Sulphur combines with the latter compound, and
forms a new compound, which may be obtained by
pouring a liquid hydro-sulphuret upon sulphur. The
sulphur is dissolved without the assistance of heat j the
liquid assumes a darker colour, and then it is convert¬
ed into the hydrogureted sulphuret. Hydrogureted sul-
)2I
• lined
j|i22
i erties.
SMS.
'• tom.
2od.
23
ogure-
ul-
S T R Y. 557
phuretof potash is prepared by boiling together a mix-p0tasli,8cc,
ture of pure potash and sulphur in water. This solu-
tion is of a deep greenish yellow colour, has a very
acrid bitter taste, and a powerful action on many sub¬
stances. It readily absorbs oxygen when exposed to
the air. When it is kept in close vessels, sulphur is
deposited ; the liquid becomes transparent, and the
smell is dissipated. Thus, there are three different
compounds of sulphur with potash ; namely, sulphuret
of potash, hydro-sulphuret of potash, and hydrogureted
sulphuret, which are all distinguished by peculiar pro¬
perties.
III. Compounds of Potash with Acids, or Neutral
Salts.
I. Sulphate of Potash (u).
924
1. This salt, which was one of the most early known,^7an,es*
is a compound of sulphuric acid and potash. It has
been distinguished by a great variety of names, as sal
de ditobus, salpolychrestus, or salt of many virtues, ar¬
canum duplicatum, and more lately vitriolatcd tartar^
till in the new nomenclature it received the name of
sulphate of potash. 925
2. It is prepared by different processes, either by
directly combining the sulphuric acid with the pot-tlon’
ash, and evaporating and crystallizing it $ or by de¬
composing other salts which have potash for their base,
by means of the sulphuric acid, which, having a stronger
affinity for the potash, combines with it and forms the
new compound. 926
3. The sulphate of potash crystallizes in hexaedral ProPert*es>
prisms, terminated by six-sided pyramids j but this
form is susceptible of several varieties. It has a dis¬
agreeable bitter taste ; it is not very hard, and may be
easily reduced to powder. The specific gravity is
2.4073. At the temperature of 6o°, it is soluble in 16
times its weight of w'ater ; boiling water dissolves about
one-fifth part; on cooling, it crystallizes in a confused
mass 5 and it is only by slow spontaneous evaporation
that regular crystals can be obtained. ( „
4. It suffers no change by the action of the air. Action of
Whep placed upon burning coals, it decrepitates, anda*rand
loses its water of crystallization. At a greater heat
melts, and is converted into a kind of enamel as it cools.
5. When this salt is exposed to a red heat, along
with hydrogen gas or carbon, it is decomposed, and
converted into a hydrogenated or carbonated sulphu¬
ret of potash.
6. The sulphuric acid, with the assistance of heat,
combines with the salt, and forms another with excess
of acid. It undergoes a partial decomposition by the ac¬
tion of nitric acid. The nitric acid combines with
nearly y of potash, which is owing to the action of
double affinity. The nitric acid combines with one
part of the potash, while the sulphuric acid unites with
the sulphate of potash, and forms a salt with excess of
acid. A similar decomposition takes place by means
of the muriatic acid.
(u) In the present chemical nomenclature the compounds of acids with any base are known by names ana¬
logous to this j and when the acid has its greatest proportion of oxygen, as in this case the sulphuric acid, the
name of the compound terminates in the syllable ate, as sulphate of potash, nitrate of potash $ but when the acid
has its smaller proportion of oxygen, the name of the compound terminates in ite, as sulphite and nitrite of potash.-
558
C H E M
I’otash, 3cc. 7- The component parts of sulphate of potash are,
t in—v..i.n.< according to
928 8
Comyosi- Bergman. Kirwan.
tion. Acid 40 - 45.2
Potash 52 - 54.8
Water 8 - 00.0
IOO
100
929
Name*. Acidulous sulphatey or super-sulphate of potash.—
I. This salt was formerly called vitriolated tartar
with excess of acid. It is prepared by heating toge¬
ther, in a retort, three parts of the sulphate of potash,
with one part of its weight of concentrated sulphuric
930 acid.
Properties 2. It crystallizes in long flexible, shining crystals, and
sometimes it exhibits the form of six-sided prisms. It
has a sharp, acrid, and hot taste. It reddens vegetable
r 931 blues. Exposed to the air, it becomes a little more
Action of opaque, but without any other change. It is more so-
water. luble in water than the sulphate of potash, requiring
932 only 2 parts of water at 6o°, and dissolves in less than
Of heat. £ts own weight of boiling water. It melts very readily,
and has the appearance of a thick oil. When it cools,
it becomes a white, opaque mass, exhibiting on its sur¬
face shining silky crystals. When exposed to a great
heat, the excess of acid is driven off, and it is convert-
*933 ed into the sulphate of potash.
Hydrogen. g. It is readily decomposed by the action of hydrogen
and of red-hot charcoal, which deprive it of a great
portion of the sulphur $ and by sulphur itself, which
carries off the excess of sulphuric acid in the form of
sulphurous acid.
4. The first of these salts, the sulphate of potash, is
employed in medicine as a purgative j the last has been
applied to no use whatever.
^ 2. Sulphite of Potash.
Name* and I. This salt was long known under the name of the
prepara- sulphurous salt of Stahl. It is a compound of the sul¬
phurous acid and potash. Its nature and properties
have been particularly investigated by Berthollet,
Fourcroy, and Vauquelin. It may be formed by pass¬
ing a current of sulphurous acid gas into a solution of
carbonate of potash in three times its weight of distilled
water, till the effervescence ceases. The liquor be¬
comes transparent and hot, and, as it cools, the sulphite
935 of potash is deposited in crystals.
Properties. 2. This salt is in the form of long, small needles,
diverging from a centre, or in rhomboidal plates, or in
dodecahedrons formed by two tetrahedral pyramids,
united and truncated very near the base. The crystals
are white and transparent, but sometimes of a slight
93^ yellow colour. The taste is acrid and sulphureous.
Action of The specific gravity is 1.586. The sulphite of potash,
tfte air. exposed to the air, very readily effloresces (x) j becomes
white and opaque, and is converted into sulphate of
potash. 1 his is owing to the sulphurous acid abstract-
I S T R Y.
ing oxygen from the air, and becoming sulphuric acid. polasij g.
It is very soluble in water, at the temperature of the y--
atmosphere, and much more so in boiling water. When
this solution is exposed to the air, it is soon covered
with a thick pellicle, which falls to the bottom, and is
afterwards replaced by another. This is sulphate of
potash, which is formed in contact with the air. The
oxymuriatic acid gas combined with this solution, forms
almost immediately shining crystals of the sulphate of
potash.
3. Charcoal heated with this salt in a retort, yields Of cbarc.
sulphurated hydrogen gas, and carbonic acid j and
there remains in the retort, a hydrogenated sulphuret
of potash.
3. Nitrate of Potash.
93S
1. This salt is composed of nitric acid and potash, Constita 1
and is well known under the names of saltpetre andPartsai1
nitre. It has also been denominated so/J of nitre, nitre™™*'
of potash, or nitrated potash. It is one of the most im¬
portant of the salts, not only on account of the attention
which it has excited, in tracing its formation, and
studying its nature and composition, but also on account
of its numerous and valuable applications in domestic
economy and in the arts. ^
2. The nitrate of potash exists ready formed in many Found ii
plants, as in tobacco, borage, bugloss, pellitory. It has many
been observed crystallized in needles in their dried P'2Dts-
stalks. According to some, it has been absorbed by
the vegetable from the soil in which it grows, while
others suppose that it is formed within the plant, from
the elementary principles.
Nitre exists in great abundance on the surface of the
earth in different parts of the world, especially in the
warmer regions, as in India, Egypt, and South Ame¬
rica. But the production of nitre is not limited to 940
these countries. It is produced artificially in Germany Prepare
and France, by means of what are called nitre artificial
These are formed hy collecting together the refuse of
animal and vegetable matters, in which the putrefac¬
tive process is going on. They are mixed with earthy
substances, but chiefly with calcareous earth, such as
the rubbish from buildings, or collections of the soil in
which lime abounds. All that is necessary to favour
the formation of the nitre, is to moisten occasionally
with water, the mixture of the animal, vegetable, and
earthy matters j to expose it to a moderate tempera¬
ture, and to defend it from rains, which would carry
off the salt as it is formed. This artificial production
of nitre wras greatly improved and extended by the
French during the late war, when they were preclud¬
ed from the usual supply of this salt from India. It
is now produced, it is said, in great abundance in
France.
The nature of the process, and the change which
takes place in this artificial production of nitre, will
be understood hy considering its component parts. The
constituent parts of the nitric acid are azote and oxy-
gen.
(x) A salt is said to effloresce, when deprived of its water of crystallization in the ordinary temperature of the
atmosphere. A powdery cnist is first formed on the surface j and as the process goes on, the whole falls down
into pow ei. Lhe term efflorescence is opposed to deliquescence, bv which the deliquescent substance attracts
moisture from the air. ^
CHEMISTRY.
ash.Stc
941
ifica-
942
iperties.
943
tion of
it.
944
char-
gen. The oxygen is furnished by the sir : and unless
there is a supply of air, no change takes place. A
great quantity of azotic gas is given out by animal
matters during the putrefactive process. But although
these substances, when brought into contact with each
other, do not combine to form nitric acid, it has been
found by experiment, that azote, in its nascent state, or
in the moment of evolution, enters into union with oxy¬
gen, and forms nitric acid, while the nitric acid thus
formed combines with the potash which is furnished by
the soil, or the vegetable matters.
3. After the nitre is formed, it is mixed with water,
which is evaporated, and a salt is obtained of a brown
colour, which is called crude nitre. This is a mixture
of several salts, and from these the pure nitre is sepa¬
rated by other processes. When it is sufficiently
purified, it is obtained in crystals of six-sided prisms,
terminating in six-sided pyramids. The primitive form
of its crystals is a rectangular octahedron, in which
two faces of a pyramid are inclined to the other pyra¬
mid at an angle of I20#, and the two others at an
angle of lli°. The form of the integrant molecule
is the tetrahedron j but there are considerable varieties
in the crystals of this salt, according as it is slowly or
more rapidly evaporated.
4. This salt is distinguished by a cool, sharp, and bit¬
terish taste. It is very brittle. When nitre in large
crystals is reduced to powder, it is found to be a little
humid; but that which is in the form of a white, opaque,
irregular mass, yields a dry powder, on which account
it is generally preferred for many purposes, particular¬
ly in the manufacture of gunpowder. The specific
gravity of nitre is 1.9369. It is not altered by ex¬
posure to the air. At the temperature of 6o° it dis¬
solves in seven times its weight of water, and during
the solution, a great degree of cold is produced.
Boiling water dissolves twice its weight of this salt.
5. When the nitre of potash is exposed to heat, it
fuses before it becomes red, and is converted into a
liquid of an oily consistence. It loses but very little of
its water of crystallization, and if it be allowed to cool,
it congeals into an opaque mass with a vitreous frac¬
ture, which is known by the name of mineral crystal.
While it is melted, it undergoes no change ; but when
the temperature necessary for simple fusion is increased,
it gives out oxygen gas to the amount of about of
its weight. Towards the end of the process, azotic
gas is evolved, and the potash remains behind pure, so
that the salt has been completely decomposed. But to
effect this decomposition, a very strong heat is neces¬
sary. When only part of the gas is extracted, the ni¬
trate of potash is converted into the nitrite.
6. When nitre is mixed with charcoal in the pro¬
portion of three parts of the former to one of the lat¬
ter, a violent inflammation takes place, either by ex¬
posing the mixture to a red heat, or by bringing it
into contact with a burning body. Or the mixture
may be projected into a red-hot crucible, when a de¬
flagration or detonation takes place, and when the re¬
siduum in the crucible is examined, it is found to be pot¬
ash partlv united with carbonic acid, or the carbonate of
potash. This was formerly called nitrefixed by charcoal
or an extemporaneous alkali of nitre. The deflagration
in this case is owing to the combustible matter, the
charcoal coming in contact with the oxygen which is
559
evolved by the nitre, exposed to a high temperature. In Potash,&c.
another process, this experiment was performed in close v ' 1
vessels, to collect the elastic fluids which are disengaged ;
and besides the carbonic acid gas which is formed by
the union of the carbon and oxygen, and the azotic
gas disengaged by the decomposition of the nitre, a
small quantity of water was found in the vessels. lo
this product the alchemists gave the name of clyssus,
and ascribed to it very wonderful properties in the pre¬
paration of the philosopher’s stone. p45
7. A violent deflagration also takes place whenOfphos-
phosphorus and nitre are treated in the same way.pkorus.
But this experiment should be performed with very
small quantities, and with great caution. A mixture
of nitre and phosphorus struck smartly with a hammer,
produces a very violent detonation. 946
8. When sulphur is combined with three times its Of sulphur,
weight of nitre, it burns with great rapidity. This
preparation was formerly made by detonating the two
substances in a red-hot crucible. The product is sul¬
phate of potash, known by the name of sal polychrest
of Glaser. The sulphur combines with the oxygen of
the nitric acid, and forms sulphuric acid, which enters
into combination with potash. * ^
9. But one of the most important combinations ofGunpow.
nitre is with charcoal and sulphur, in the formation ofdcr.
gunpowder. This substance was first known in Europe
in the 14th century. It is said that it was known to
the Chinese much earlier. T he proportions of the ma¬
terials which enter into the composition of gunpowder
are,
Nitre 76
Charcoal 15
Sulphur 9
100
94 S
The materials are first reduced to a fine powder se-prepara.
parately. They are then carefully mixed together,tion.
and formed into a paste with a little water. When the
paste has dried a little, it is forced through a sieve, by
which means it is reduced to grains of such a size as
may be wanted. The powder is then dried in the air, or
in the sun ; and after being dried, it is put into barrels
which turn round by means of machinery, and thus by
the friction of the grains of powder against the sides of
the barrel and against each other, it is polished. Ihis
is called glaring the powder. 949
10. The theory of the combustion, and terrible ef-Nature of
fects of gunpowder is thus explained. The sulphur*15 acUon‘
and the charcoal burn with great rapidity by the ad¬
dition of the nitre with which they are intimately
mixed. During the combustion carbonic acid gas,
azotic gas, sulphurous acid gas, and according to some,
sulphurated hydrogen gas, are formed. Water and am¬
monia also are said to be produced*. But according»
to Mr Cruickshank, the quantity of water formed
not perceptible. The substances which remain after^him'd*-
the deflagration are, carbonate of potash, sulphate and
sulphuret of potash, and some charcoal. It is obvious,
that the irresistible effects of gunpowder are owing to
the sudden evolution and expansive force of the elastic
fluids which are formed and disengaged. 9J.0
1 r. Another combination of nitre produces efiects still Fulmina-
more terrible. When three parts of nitre, two parts ofting pow-
potash, and one of sulphur, are previously well dried andder'
mixed
5
CHEMISTRY.
Fotash, Sic. mixed together by trituration, they form a compound
’■'"“'v——' which is known by the name o*ifulminating powder. A
few grains of this mixture exposed to heat in an iron ladle
first melt, assuming a darker colour; and when the whole
is in fusion, there is a violent explosion. The heat
should be applied slowly and gradually, till it is com¬
pletely fluid, and then by bringing it nearer the heat,
the full effect of the explosion is obtained. This com¬
bustion and explosion are also owing to the instantane¬
ous evolution of elastic fluids. The potash unites with
the sulphur, and forms a sulphuret, which, with the as¬
sistance of the nitre, is converted into sulphurated hy¬
drogen. At a certain temperature the sulphurated
hydrogen gas is disengaged, along with the oxygen gas
of the nitre, and suddenly taking fire, strikes the air
by the explosion which accompanies the evolution of
the gases. When the mixture is made with equal parts
ol nitre and solid sulphuret of potash, the detonation is
Powder of more rapid, but the explosion is less violent. With
iusion. three parts of nitre, one of sulphur, and one of sawdust,
well mixed together, what is called powder of fusion
is formed. If a little of this powder is put into a wal¬
nut shell, with a thin plate of copper rolled up, and the
mixture set fire to, it detonates rapidly, and reduces the
metal to a sulphuret, without any injury to the shell,
T2. A mixture of equal parts of nitre and tartar de¬
tonated in a crucible, gives a product which is much
employed in metallurgy. This compound, called white
flux, is a mixture of pure potash with the carbonate.
When one part of nitre and two of tartar are treated in
the same manner, the product obtained is a mixture of
potash and charcoal. From its black colour, it is known
under the name of black flux. This also is employed
for a similar purpose.
13. Nitrate of potash, accordingto Bergman, is com¬
posed of
31 acid,
61 potash,
8 water.
95*
Fluxes.
953.
Composi¬
tion.
IOO
According to Kirwan, it is composed of
44 acid,
51.8 potash,
4.2 water.
954
Uses.
100.0
14. Nitre is not only employed for the purposes al¬
ready mentioned, but it is used in medicine as a cool¬
ing remedy in feverish disorders, and as a diuretic in
urinary affections. It is employed also in many arts,
as in dyeing, and in domestic economy, for the pre-
servation of animal matters, which are to be used as
food. To these substances it imparts a red colour.
Fto»i! nitre, nitric acid is obtained, by decomposing it
by means^ of sulphuric acid. Nitre is also employed
to burn along with sulphur in the formation of sulphu¬
ric acid. r
4. Nitrite of Potash.
This salt cannot be formed by direct combination of
the nitrous acid with potash ; but if a quantity of ni¬
tre be exposed for some time in a crucible or retort, to
a strong heat, it becomes deliquescent and acid. * It
changes the blue colours of vegetables into green, at-p0ta4i a I
tracts moisture from the air, detonates feebly with com-
bustible substances, and gives red thick vapours by the
action of sulphuric, nitric, muriatic, phosphoric, and
fluoric acids. This is the nitrite of potash, which is de¬
composed by these acids, and gives out the red fumes
of nitrous acid. Little more is known of the nature of
this salt, with regard to its form, solubility, affinities,
or the proportions of its constituent parts.
5. Muriate of Potash.
1. This salt was formerly known by the name febri- Name*'
fuge salt of Sylvius. It was afterwards called digestive
salt, regenerated sea salt, and by Bergman salited ve¬
getable alkali, ,
° T * 1 l 1 T • 950
2. It is prepared by the direct combination of muri-Preparati
atic acid and potash. The solution is evaporated til! aa,adPropf
pellicle appears, when it is set by to crystallize.—Itt®es*
is a curious effect of the new opinions already adverted
to respecting muriatic acid and chlorine, that when the
muriate of potash is deprived of water, it must be con¬
sidered as a substance of totally different composition,
as now containing neither muriatic acid nor potass, but
consisting entirely of chlorine and potassium, and there¬
fore called a chloride of potassium, or in the French no¬
menclature, a chloruret, It becomes necessary to main¬
tain this, because, when potassium is introduced into
dry chlorine gas, a combination is effected, and the
compound thus formed cannot be considered as mu-
riate of potash, since there is no oxygen present to
form potash, and no hydrogen to form muriatic acid.
Both these elements are afforded when water is pre¬
sented, and muriate of potash is established.
3. The crystals are in the form of regular cubes, or
rectangular parallelepipeds. It has a disagreeable bit¬
ter taste, and by this is easily distinguished from mu¬
riate of soda or common salt. The specific gravity
ot this salt is j.836. When the air is moist, it deli¬
quesces ; but when the air is dry, it parts with its
moisture. Three parts of cold water are sufficient for
its solution. Boiling water dissolves a little more, but
regular crystals cannot be obtained by cooling. The
solution must be left to slow spontaneous evaporation,
4. W hen the muriate of potash is exposed to heat, Action of
it decrepitates, loses its crystalline form, and falls into heat,
powder by the separation of .08 parts of its weight of
water. When it acquires a red heat, it melts ; if the
temperature be elevated, it is sublimed in the form of
white vapour, unchanged. After complete fusion, if
it is allowed to cool suddenly, it becomes solid, and
divides on the surface, into many small plates of a
square form.
5. I his salt is decomposed by means of the sulphu¬
ric and nitric acids. The first disengages the muriatic
acid with effervescence in the gaseous form. By the
action of the nitric acid the muriatic acid is convert¬
ed into the oxymuriatic by combining with the oxygen
of the nitric acid. With one part of nitric acid and
two parts of muriate of potash, a compound of the
two acids is formed, which was formerly employed in
the solution ot gold. This is a intro-muriatic acid, or
aqua regia.
6. i his salt is no longer employed in medicine,
is recommended to be tfsed for the decomposition of
nitrate oi lime in the mother waters of nitre, to obtain
the
C H E M
ii, Stc. the nitrate of potash, and also for procuring the cry-
/— stallizatlon of alum.
6. Hyper-oxymurlate or Chlorate of Potash.
959
covery I. This singular salt was the first known of all the
i history.combinations 0f this kind. Fourcroy mentions, that
Dr Higgins prepared this salt, which he calls nitre,
by passing the oxymuriatic acid gas into a solution of
potash j but he seems to have paid no farther attention
to it, except observing, that it detonated on red-hot
coals (x). It was by Berthollet that it was first form¬
ed with any thing approaching to an intelligent view of
its composition. And since its discovery, it has been
particularly examined by Lavoisier, Dolfuz, Vanmons,
Fourcroy, and Vauquelin, on the continent, and in Eng-
II land by Hoyle and Chenevix. It is prepared by intro¬
ducing chlorine into a solution of the alkali. Two dif¬
ferent salts are formed. One portion of the chlorine
combines with the hydrogen of the water to form mu¬
riatic acid, and this acid combines with the alkali,
forming a muriate of potash, which remains in solu¬
tion. Another portion of the chlorine combines with
the oxygen of the water to form chloric or hyper-oxy-
muriatic acid, and this combines with another portion
of the potash to form the salt now under consideration,
which makes its appearance in the form of crystals at
the bottom of the liquid. The old mode of explaining
these phenomena was, that one part of the oxymuriatic
acid (or chlorine) gave oxygen to the other part, so
that the portion which lost oxygen was converted into
muriatic acid, and that which gained oxygen into hy-
per-oxymuriatic acid. The decomposition of water,
however, is a more probable theory, whatever view we
entertain of the nature of chlorine. After the salt has
been removed from the solution in which it crystallizes,
it may be purified by dissolving it in boiling water.
The solution may be filtered, and allowed to cool, when
p60 the crystals are deposited.
•erties. 2. The crystals of this salt are most commonly in
the form of square plates or of parallelepipeds, of a
shining silvery white colour. The primitive form of
the crystals is an obtuse, rhomboidal prism j they are
very transparent and brittle; the taste is cool, pun¬
gent, and disagreeable, very different from that of ni¬
trate of potash. When it is rubbed smartly, it phos¬
phoresces, and gives out a great quantity of sparks or
luminous traces.
3. It becomes yellow after long exposure to the air,
but is otherwise not changed. It is soluble in about
20 parts of water at the ordinary temperature of the
atmosphere ; but boiling water dissolves about one-third
of its weight, so that the whole is nearly crystallized by
)6i cooling.
||)uof 4. When this salt is exposed to heat, although it
contains a considerable proportion of water of crystal-
I S T R Y. ' 561
lization, it fuses quietly; and when the heat is increas-Potash, Sec
ed, it gives out a quantity of oxygen gas nearly equalv-—>
to one-third of its weight. This is the purest oxygen
gas that can be obtained.
5. But the most extraordinary effects of this salt
are those produced by its action on combustible sub¬
stances.
962
a. If a small quantity of charcoal reduced to pow- Of divi¬
der and this salt be rubbed together in a mortar, coa*s
there is a slight explosion, and the charcoal is in¬
flamed. ^
b. Three parts of the salt with one of sulphur, rub- Of sulphur,
bed together in a mortar, produce a violent detonation.
Or, if the same mixture is struck with a hammer on
an anvil, there is an explosion like the report of a pi¬
stol (y). 954
c. The same effect is produced by employing phos-Of phos¬
phorus, and treating it in the same way with this salt.^10111*'
One or grains of the salt should first be reduced
to powder, and brought together to one place in the
bottom of the mortar, and then introducing the phos¬
phorus, and rubbing it strongly on the salt, a vio¬
lent explosion will instantly take place. A similar de¬
tonation may be produced with the same substances
by percussion.
d. Three parts of the salt, one-half part of sulphur,
and one-half charcoal, give more rapid and stronger
detonations, with the evolution of a very bright flame.
Detonations are also produced, by treating this salt
with sugar, gums, oils, and some metallic substances.
6. When concentrated sulphuric acid is poured uponofacid?
this salt, there is a considerable detonation ; it is thrown
about to a great distance, sometimes with a red flame ;
and there is exhaled a brown vapour, accompanied
with a strong odour of oxymuriatic acid. Even when a
lighted taper is brought into contact with the gas which
is disengaged, it explodes more violently than when the
acid first came in contact with the salt. In some
cases, the explosion was so sudden and so violent, that
it broke the vessels in which the mixture was made.
Th is happened to Mr Hoyle of Manchester, and af¬
terwards to Mr Chenevix; so that experiments with
sulphuric acid and.this salt should be conducted with
small quantities, and with great caution. If concen¬
trated sulphuric acid be poured on any of the mixtures
of this salt with sulphur, charcoal, the metals, or with
sugar, there is an instantaneous inflammation, the most
brilliant that can be conceived. There is no detona¬
tion, but the combustion is extremely rapid, and the
odour of oxymuriatic acid is perceptible. Concen¬
trated nitric acid poured upon this salt, causes it to
crackle and effervesce, but without explosion, and
without flame ; oxymuriatic acid gas is disengaged.
With the muriatic acid, this last produces efferves¬
cence, with the evolution of a considerable quantity
of
(x) “ The acid elastic fluid (says Dr Higgins), which issues when two pounds of manganese are mixed and
distilled with two or three of ordinary spirit of sea salt (muriatic acid), may all, except a small portion of phlo¬
gistic air, be condensed in a solution of fixed vegetable alkali ; and the solution, thus impregnated, yields a con¬
siderable quantity of nitre, which crystallizes in the ordinary form, and detonates on red-hot coals. The solu¬
tion at the same time yields regenerated sea-salt (muriate of potash).” Higgins, Exper. p. 181. •
(y) In experiments with this salt, the quantity employed should never exceed one or two grains, at least by
those who have not been previously acquainted with its terrible effects.
Vol. V. Part II. f 4 B
562
C H E M I
Potash, &c. of gas, similar in colour and smell to oxymuriatic
acid gas ) but in some of its properties considerably
different. This gas is more rapidly absorbed by wa¬
ter. If a small jar or bottle be filled with this gas,
and a slip of paper moistened with ether be introduced
into it, and the mouth of the jar be slightly covered
to prevent the contact of air, an explosion takes place,
with a deposition of charcoal. A similar experiment
may be made, by moistening a feather with oil of tur¬
pentine, and introducing it into the jar filled with this
gas. It instantly takes fire with a red flame, and a
great quantity of black smoke.
7. According to the analysis of this salt, as given by
Fourcroy, it consists of
966
Composi¬
tion.
Muriate of potash,
Oxygen,
67
33
100*
* Fourcroy
Co?tnam. t - ,
Chim. iii. But according to the experiments of Mr Chenevix,
p. 226. Jts constituent parts are,
•{• Philos.
Trans.
1802.'
967
Uses.
96S
Little
knowi!.
Acid,
Potash,
Water,
100.0 f.
8. This salt has been employed in bleaching; but
other substances, particularly lime, have been substi¬
tuted for the potash j so that at present it is more rarely
used. It wras proposed by M. Berthollet, when he first
observed its effects, to employ it as a substitute for nitre
in the manufacture of gunpowder 5 and when it was
tried in the way of experiment, it seemed to be more
powerful than the usual component parts of powder 5
but when it was attempted to be made in the large
way, at Essone, in the year 1788, a dreadful accident,
which happened by the spontaneous explosion of the
mixture, in the death of M. le Tors, and Mademoiselle
Chevraud, prevented its effects from being fairly proved.
The danger which attends the trituration of the proper
materials with this salt, has precluded any future at¬
tempt.
7. Fluate of Potash.
This salt has only been examined by Scheele and
Bergman. It is the combination of fluoric acid with
potash. When the acid is saturated, there is formed a
gelatinous mass, which does not crystallize, and which
has a slightly acrid saline taste. When it is evaporated
to dryness, and.exposed to the air, it attracts moisture.
II it be strongly heated in a crucible, it fuses without
effervescence. It then becomes caustic, is very solu¬
ble in water, and is decomposed by the sulphuric and
nitric acids.
8. Borate of Potash.
This is a compound of the boracic acid and potash $
but very little is known of its nature and properties.
It is prepared by decomposing nitre by means of the
boracic acid with the assistance of heat. The heat
drives off the nitric acid, and there remains behind a
white, half-fused porous mass, which is soluble in water,
and yields, by evaporation and cooling, small crystals.
The same salt may be formed by direct combination
S T R Y.
of the boracic acid and potash. This salt seems to hep^},
analogous in many of its properties to borax. '“T
9. Phosphate of Potash.
This combination of phosphoric acid with potash was
announced and described by Lavoisier in the year 1774.
Its properties have been more carefully investigated
by Vauquelin 5 but from the investigation of other che¬
mists it appears, that there are two salts formed from
the same acid and base j the one in which they are
neutralized, and the other in which there is an excess
of acid.
a. Superphosphate of Potash, is formed by the direct
combination of phosphoric acid and potash. This salt
does not crystallize, but exists in a gelatinous form,
and has a sweetish saline taste. Its specific gravity
when dry, is 2.8516. It is very soluble in water j it
attracts the moisture from the air, and becomes thick
and viscid. p^J
1. When heated, it undergoes the watery fusion, then Action
froths up, and becomes dry. When the temperature heat,
is raised, it melts into a transparent glass. The sul¬
phuric, nitric, and muriatic acids decompose this salt.
It has been applied to no use.
b. Phosphate of Potash.—This salt may be formed
by exposing pure potash and the former variety to a
strong heat. The alkali combines with the excess of
acid, and neutralizes the whole. By'the action of Action
heat, a white-coloured substance is obtained, which is heat,
the phosphate of potash. It is scarcely soluble in cold
water, but soluble in hot water $ and as the solution
cools, there is deposited a shining gritty powder. This
salt is very fusible. Before the blow-pipe it melts
into a transparent bead, which becomes opaque on
cooling.
2. This salt is soluble in nitric, muriatic, and phos-Qf
phoric acids, and forms with them thick glutinous solu¬
tions. It has not yet been applied to any use.
10. Phosphite of Potash.
This salt is prepared by dissolving carbonate of potash
in phosphorous acid. The solution is evaporated, and
it deposits crystals of the phosphite of potash. It has a
sharp saline taste. It is crystallized in four-sided rec¬
tangular prisms with dihedral summits. It is very
soluble in water, requiring only three parts of it for
solution. It is not altered by exposure to the air.
11. Carbonate of Potash.
1. This salt, which is a compound of carbonic acid
and potash, has been known under a great variety of
names, in some measure descriptive of its properties,
before its composition was discovered by Dr Black. ^
2. This salt is obtained from vegetable matters by prepa(
burning, and washing out the salt and evaporating itjtion
but the potash obtained in this way is not fully satu¬
rated with carbonic acid. After it has been puri¬
fied from foreign ingredients, the saturated carbonate
of potash may be prepared by exposing a pure solution
of potash to carbonic acid gas, as it is disengaged from
fermenting liquors. The carbonate of potash, as it is
formed, crystallizes in the solution. The crystals may
be taken out and dried upon unsized paper, and put
up in well-closed bottles. Or it may be prepared by
passing a current of carbonic acid gas, disengaged from
the
97j
ack
974,
ipertics
ash,Sic. the carbonate of lime by an acid, into a solution of
—v 1 potash, in tall narrow bottles. rihe carbonate crystal¬
lizes at the surface of the liquid. It may also be ob¬
tained by the process of Berthollet, which is to distil
with an unsaturated solution of potash, solid carbonate
of ammonia, from which the potash carries oft' the car¬
bonic acid, while the ammonia is disengaged in the
state of gas.
3. The carbonate of potash crystallizes in quadran¬
gular prisms, terminated by quadrangular pyramids.
It has a sweet alkaline taste, and changes vegetable
blues to a green colour. The carbonate of potash re¬
quires very near four times its weight of water to dis¬
solve it. At the boiling temperature it dissolves five-
sixths of its weight. It does not crystallize by cool¬
ing, but only by slow evaporation. Pelletier has ob¬
served, that carbonate of potash dissolved in boiling
water, gives out bubbles of carbonic acid gas, which
shews that this salt loses a portion of its acid at this
temperature. Its specific gravity is 2.012. When it
is exposed to the air, it soon effloresces. When it is
deliquescent, it is owing to part of the potash being
unsaturated with carbonic acid.
4. When it is exposed to a slight degree of heat, it
loses its water of crystallization. Part of its carbonic
acid also separates from it, but the whole cannot be
driven off by this process. The last portions adhere
with a very strong affinity.
5. When the carbonate of potash is heated with sul¬
phur at a high temperature, the acid escapes in the
state of gas 5 and there is formed a sulphuret, at the
moment of the effervescence produced by the extrica¬
tion of the acid.
6. All the acids hitherto discovered, have the pro-
CHEMISTRY. 56j
perty of separating the carbonic acid from potash, and Potash, Sec.
of forming with its base particular salts. This salt -v"’-—'
loses more than a third of its weight, by being depriv¬
ed of its carbonic acid. The component parts of car¬
bonate of potash are, according to
Bergman,
Carbonic acid, 20
Potash, 48
Water, 32
Pelletier, Kirwan.
43 43
40 41
17 16
100
100
100
7; Potash of commerce is never saturated with car-Potash of
bonic acid. It is in this state that the carbonate of commerce,
potash is generally employed. It has a stronger alka¬
line taste, and is more acrid and corrosive. It soon
deliquesces when exposed to the air. It does not com¬
bine with a greater proportion of carbonic acid, merely
by exposure to the atmosphere. For the purposes of
the manufacturer it is of great importance to be able to
ascertain, by a simple test, the quantity of pure potash Tests of
in the different kinds which are brought to market.its purity.
Mr Kirwan has proposed to discover the proportion of
the salt, by determining the quantity of the earth of
alum which is precipitated by the potash. A diffe¬
rent method has been proposed by Vauquelin with
the same view. His method is to saturate a given
weight of the salt with nitric acid of known density.
He has also made a number of experiments to dis¬
cover the quantity of foreign ingredients in different
kinds of potash. The following table shews the kinds
of matter and the proportions in six species of pot-
as^ * Annul, de
Chim. xl.
   284.
975
.ion of
976
:ompo-
by sub
Potash of Russia,
Potash of America,
American pearl-ash,
Potash of Treves,
Potash of Dantzic,
Potash of Vosges.
Potash.
772
857
754
720
603
444
Sulphate of
Potash.
65
I54
80
165
148
Muriate of
Potash.
20
44
r4
Insoluble
Residue.
56
24
79
34
Carbonic
Acid and
Water.
254
II9
3°8
199
3°4
3°4
Total.
II52
II52
II52
II52
II52
r4o
„ 12. Arseniate of Potash.
jSo
para- I. The compound of arsenic acid and potash forms
a salt which does not crystallize. Wrhen evaporated
to dryness, this salt deliquesces in the air, gives a green
colour to syrup of violets without changing the tincture
581 of turnsole.
’erties. 2< When strongly heated it fuses into a white glass j
and by the contact ol silica and alumina in the cruci¬
ble it passes to the acidulous state, having been de¬
prived of part of the potash. Exposed to a red heat,
in close vessels with charcoal, the arsenic is sublimed.
It is decomposed by the sulphuric acid. It decom¬
poses salts which have bases of lime and magnesia ; * Fourcroy
forming in the solution arseniates of lime and mag-Co””a**s*
nesia *. v‘ ^
Superarseniate of Potash.—If the arsenic acid be With more
added to the arseniate of potash till it no longer change acid cry-
the colour ot violets, but reddens that of turnsole, it stu^zcs'
yields regular transparent crystals in quadrangular
prisms, terminated by tetrahedral pyramids. This
salt is the arsenical neutral salt of Macquer. He ob¬
tained it by decomposing the nitrate of potash, by
means of the white oxide of arsenic, employing equal
4 B 2 parts
9S3
Prepara¬
tion.
984.
Properties.
\ Jour, de
Mines, No,
xix. p. 21.
985
Prepara¬
tion.
986
Properties.
|| Atmal. de
Chim. viii.
p. 106.
parts of eacli. It is different from the former, because
it crystallizes, reddens vegetable, blues, and does not
decompose salts with a base of lime or magnesia.
13. Tungstate of Potash.
1. This compound of tungstic acid and potash, is
formed by dissolving the oxide ol the metal in a solu¬
tion ol pure potash, or its carbonate. J he alkali is
not fully neutralized. The salt precipitates from the
solution by evaporation, in the state of a white povv-
der.
2. It is distinguished by a caustic metallic taste, de¬
liquesces in the air, and is soluble in water. Ibis so¬
lution in water is decomposed by all the acids which
produce a white precipitate. Ihis precipitate is a
triple salt, differing according to the nature of the acid
which is employed f.
14. Molybdate of Potash.
1. The compound of molybdic acid and potash is
formed by detonating three parts of nitre and one of
suiphuret of molybdena in a crucible j or by combining
directly the molybdic acid with potash. I he salt af¬
fords small irregular crystals, from its saturated solu¬
tion in boiling water. According to Klaproth, the cry¬
stals are in the form of small rhomboidal plates, of a
shining appearance, and heaped together.
2. The taste is metallic. When exposed to the
blow-pipe on charcoal, they fuse rapidly, without
swelling up, and are converted into small globules,
which are absorbed by the charcoal. In a silver spoon
they are melted by the blow-pipe into small gray par¬
ticles, which shrink on cooling, and deposite, during
the process, a whitish powder. This salt is complete¬
ly soluble in distilled water with the assistance of heat.
It has an excess of acid, and is therefore an acidulous
molybdate of potash, or supermolybdate of potash. It
is decomposed by the nitric acid, which unites with
the alkali, and precipitates the molybdic acid in the
form of small crystals j|.
CHEMISTRY.
ed earth of tartar, essential salt of wine, digestive salt Potash, S
of Sylvius, diuretic salt. It may be formed by saturat-1 v—
- *7 - „ . !• .Ml 1 • 11 9S8
I5-
Chromate of Potash.
§ Phil.
Trans.
1802, p.
987
Names.
Nothing farther is known of the nature of this salt,
than that it is easily formed by the combination of the
chromic acid with potash, and that the crystals are of
an orange colour, which sufficiently distinguishes them
from the crystals of all other salts.
16. Columbate of Potash.
Columbic acid, digested for an hour with a solution
of potash, affords this salt by evaporation and cooling,
in the form of white glittering scales, resembling the
concrete boracic acid. If is not changed by exposure
to the air, has a disagreeable acrid taste, and is not
very soluble in cold water j but after it is dissolved,
the solution is perfect and permanent. It is decompos¬
ed by nitric acid, and precipitates in the form of white
powder §.
17. Acetate of Potash.
I. This salt, which is a compound of acetic acid
and potash, has been long known under a variety of
names, which were derived from the substances from
which it was obtained j or from its properties and ef¬
fects. It yms caWsb regenerated tartar, secret foliaU
3
ing carbonate of potash with distilled vinegar, and by prej)an_
evaporating the solution slowly to dryness. When thetion!
heat is too great, the acid is decomposed, and the salt
assumes a brown colour. ^
2. This salt has a pungent, and somewhat alkaline Propertiij
taste. Exposed to the air, it becomes moist. It is
very soluble in water, and if the solution be diluted, it
is spontaneously decomposed in close vessels. Thick,
mucous flakes are deposited. 990
3. When it is heated, it melts and froths up, and^|ono
is then decomposed and charred. When distilled in ane
retort, it yields an acid liquid, an empyreumatic oil,
and a great deal of carbonic acid gas, and carbonated
hydrogen gas. In this process the acid is completely
decomposed 5 what remains in the retort is potash
mixed with charcoal. According to Proust, this acid ^ (
liquid contains ammonia and the prussic acid, and the xjj
carbonate and prussiate of potash are found in the re-p. 13?.
tort J. _ 99\
4. This salt is decomposed by the strong acids. X)i-^oraP05‘
stilled with sulphuric acid, it yields an acetic acidllon‘
which is very acrid. The component parts of the ace¬
tate of potash are, according to Dr Higgins,
38.5 Acid and water,
61.5 Potash.
—
100.0
18. Oxalate of Potash.
I
The compound of oxalic acid and potash may be
formed by direct combination of the acid and the alkali.
The oxalic acid combines in two proportions with pot¬
ash, either in a small quantity, or in sufficient quan¬
tity to saturate the potash. When the acid is in ex¬
cess, it is called the acidulous oxalate, or superoxalate
of potash. *921
1. The oxalate of potash is formed by completelyPiepui
saturating the oxalic acid with potash and by addingtI0B<
an excess of the alkali, crystals are obtained.
2. Without this excess of acid, the salt does not cry¬
stallize, but assumes a gelatinous form. ^ I
3. When this salt crystallizes, it is in the form ofproperti
six-sided prisms, with two-sided summits. It is decom¬
posed by heat, and also by the strong acids, which
deprive it of a portion of the potash, and convert it
into the acidulous oxalate. With an addition of oxalic
acid the acidulous oxalate is also formed. 9pj:
Superoxalate of Potash.— I. This salt exists readyExists
formed in the rumex acetosa, and the oxalis acetosella;planU'
hence it has been distinguished by the name of salt of
sorrel, because it is extracted from this plant.
2. This salt may be formed by gradually combining prepan
potash with a saturated solution of oxalic acid. When lion.
a sufficient quantity of the alkali has been added, the
salt is precipitated in crystals. Scheele discovered that
the salt which is extracted from these plants, is in this
state of combination. He proved the existence of the
acid, and he shewed that the natural salt might be imi¬
tated by this process.
3. The crystals of this salt are in the form of small Pr°P€1
opaque parallelepipeds. The taste is acid, pungent,
and bitter. It is not very soluble in cold water, but
soluble
>97
ara-
198
r"
C H E M
f sh Sec. so^u^e ,n about ten times its weight of boiling water.
. -v-—' Exposed to the air, it undergoes no change. It is
decomposed by heat.
19. Tartrate of Potash.
1. This is a compound of tartaric acid and potash. It
has been long known under the name of so/ub/e tartrate,
and vegetable salt. It is formed by adding tartar or
cream of tartar to a hot solution of carbonate of potash.
The additions of the tartar are to be continued as long
as there is any effervescence. The solution is then
boiled for half an hour, filtered and evaporated, till a
pellicle appears on the surface, and when it is allowed
to cool slowly, it deposits crystals.
2. The crystals of this salt are in the form of long,
rectangular prisms, terminated by two-sided summits.
This salt has a bitter taste. The specific gravity is
2.5567. Exposed to the air, it is deliquescent. Four
parts of cold water dissolve one of the salt $ hot water
dissolves a greater quantity. When heated, it swells
up and blackens. By distillation it yields an acid li¬
quid, some oil, and a great quantity of gas. It leaves
behind a considerable portion of alkali, mixed with
charcoal. It is decomposed by the stronger acids,
which deprive it of a portion of its potash, and reduce
it to the acidulous tartrate, which is precipitated in
the solution. By the addition of tartaric acid to the
solution of this salt, it is also converted into the acidu¬
lous tartrate.
Supertartrate of Potash.— 1. This is a compound of
tartaric acid with potash, but with an excess of acid.
The substance which is well known under the name of
tartar, and which is found encrusted on the bottom
and sides of vessels in which wine has been kept, is
the supertartrate or the acidulous tartrate of potash j
but in this state it is very impure. It is purified by so¬
lution in boiling water, and by filtration while it is
hot. When it cools, there is a copious deposition of
the pure salt in crystals. These are the crystals or
cream of tartar.
2. It had been long known to chemists, that potash
could be obtained from tartar, by exposing it to a strong
heat, which produced a controversy whether the alkali
existed ready formed in the tartar, or whether it was
not, in some way or other, produced by the action of
heat during the process. This point was not fully set¬
tled till Scheele discovered the method of extracting
the acid, the other component part of tartar.
3. The crystals of tartar are in the form of small ir¬
regular crystals, but chiefly of six-sided prisms. This
salt has an unpleasant acid taste, is very brittle, and
its specific gravity is I-953. It requires for its solu¬
tion 30 parts of boiling water, and 60 of cold water.
It undergoes no change when exposed to the air, but in
the solution in water the salt is decomposed, depositing
a mucous matter, and leaving behind an impure carbo¬
nate of the alkali.
4. Exposed to heat, it melts, swells up, blackens,
and the acid is totally decomposed. W hen it is distil-
'99
1 ar.
000.
F ica-
J001
( ains
» ikali.
1002
I erties.
1003
on of
I S T ft Y. 565
led, an oily matter, and an acid liquid, which is an im- Potash, &c.
pure acetic acid, with a great quantity of carbonic acid, “» r
are obtained. This acid was formerly called pyrotar-
tarous acid (z). 1004
5. The component parts of tartar, according to Berg-^'"P061*
man, are, tlon'
Acid 77
Potash 23
100
Or of the saturated salt,
Tartrate of potash 56
Acid 44
100
By the analysis of Thenard, it is composed of
Acid 57
-33
7
Potash
Water
97
* Anna/, dc
Chim.
xxxviif.
P- 39-
.    IO°5
This compound of citric acid with potash may be Properties
1... i,: • * ,1  _/r  _c -i • 1 and com-
20. Citrate of Potash.
formed by combining together 36 parts of the acidan^. ?oni
with 61 parts of the carbonate of the alkali. This salt1,0Sit °n
is very soluble in water, but little disposed to crystal¬
lize. It is very deliquescent. According to the ana¬
lysis of Vauquelin, it consists of
Acid 55.55
Potash 44.45
100.00
21. Malate of Potash.
This salt, which is a compound of malic acid and
potash, is deliquescent, and very soluble in water, but
its properties are little known.
22. Gallate of Potash.
The compound of gallic acid and potash has little
solubility in water, but its other properties are un¬
known.
23. Benzoate of Potash.
This salt, composed of benzoic acid and potash, cry*
stallizes on cooling, into small needles. A drop of
the solution spread on the side of the vessel, as it eva¬
porates, exhibits an arborescent crystallization. It has
a sharp saline taste, is deliquescent in the air, and very
soluble in water.
24. Succinate of Potash.
This compound of succinic acid and potash, forms
crystals in three-sided prisms 3 the taste is bitter and
saline 3 it deliquesces in the air, and is very soluble in
water.
2J-
(z) The pyrotartarous acid, the pyromucous, and the pyroligneous acids, were discovered by Fourcroy and
Vauquelin to be nothing else than the acetic acid impregnated with extraneous substances, particularly with what
is called an empyreumatic oil. See Annales de Chimie, xxxv. p. 161.
566
Potash, &c.
CHEMISTRY.
1006
Prepara¬
tion.
1007
Properties,
1008
Action of
heat.
1009
Of acid?.
ioio
Of alcohol,
ion
Decomposi¬
tion.
* Annul, de
Chim. xxvii,
P 24.
1012
Prepara¬
tion.
1013
Properties.
1014
Action of
heat.
+ Ann. dc
Chim. xxiii,
p. 52*
t Ibid.
xxx vi,
p. 208.
25. Saccolate of Potash.
This is the compound of saclactic acid and potash.
It forms small crystals, which are soluble in eight times
their weight of boiling water.
26. Camphorate of Potash.
1. This salt, which is a combination of camphoric
acid and potash, may be formed by saturating a solu¬
tion of carbonate of potash with camphoric acid. 'When
the effervescence has ceased, the solution is to be eva¬
porated with a gentle heat, when it affords crystals by
cooling.
2. The camphorate of potash is in the form of regu¬
lar hexagonal crystals, which are white and transpa¬
rent ; the taste is bitterish and slightly aromatic. Ex¬
posed to the air, when it is moist, the salt loses its
transparency but if the air is dry, there is no change.
It is soluble in four parts of boiling water ; but in wa¬
ter at the temperature of 6o° requires 100 parts.
3. Exposed to heat before the blow-pipe, it burns
with a blue flame, and the potash remains behind pure.
When the heat isr stronger, it froths up, the acid is
sublimed, and it gives out a thick smoke, which is
slightly aromatic.
4. It is decomposed by the mineral acids. If the
solution be much diluted with water, the decomposition
is not perceptible j but if brought to the consistence of
a thick syrup, the camphoric acid crystallizes in cool¬
ing. A new salt also is partially crystallized. By so¬
lution in cold water the acid may be separated.
5. The camphorate of potash is soluble in alcohol,
and it burns with a deep blue flame.
6. It is decomposed by, 1. Nitrate of barytes and of
silver ; 2. By all the salts whose base is lime j 3. Sul¬
phate of iron 5 4. Muriate of tin and of lead *.
27. Suberate of Potash.
1. This salt, which is a compound of suberic acid
with potash, is formed by saturating the acid with the
crystallized carbonate of the alkali.
2. It crystallizes in four-sided prisms, which have un¬
equal sides. The taste is bitter and saline. It reddens
vegetable blues, and is very soluble in water.
3. Exposed to heat, it swells up and melts ; the
acid is dissipated, and the potash remains behind. It
is decomposed by the mineral acids, which, combined
with the potash, precipitate the suberic acid. It is de¬
composed also by barytes, by all the metallic salts, by
sulphate and phosphate of alumina, by the nitrates and
muriates of lime and of alumina f.
28. Mellate of Potash.
The mellitic acid combines with potash, and forms
this salt, which is fully saturated with the acid, and in
this state it crystallizes in long prisms; but with an ad¬
ditional portion of acid, an acidulous mellate, or super-
mellate, is formed. This salt, as Vauquelin observes,
also crystallizes; but the properties of these salts have
■not been much examined J.
29. Lactate of Potash.
This salt is only known as being deliquescent, and
-soluble in alcohol.
Soda, S
Ibid.
30. Prussiate of Potash.
The compound of prussic acid and potash, is formed
by dissolving the alkali in the acid. The salt is very
soluble in water, produces a green colour on vegetable
blues, and with the application of a moderate heat, it is
decomposed.
31. Sebate of Potash.
This salt has been little examined. According to
the experiments of Thenard, it has little taste, is not
affected by exposure to the air, and is decomposed by
the sulphuric, nitric, and muriatic acids : the solution,
if it be concentrated, becoming solid on the addition
of the acid from the crystallization of the sebacic
acid |[.
xxxrc.
32. Urate of Potash. p.
This compound of the uric acid with potash, is form¬
ed by triturating the acid with the alkali. The mix¬
ture assumes the form of a saponaceous paste, which is
very soluble in water, when there is an excess of the
alkali, but less so when the acid is saturated. This
salt has little taste ; when neutralized is not very solu-* Fo«rc|
hie in water, and seems little disposed to crystallize. Cwm"*
It is decomposed by the muriatic acid *. p zj'i j
IV. Compounds of Potash with Inflammable Substances. icj !
1. Potash is very soluble in alcohol. The solution Alcohol
assumes a red colour, and becomes acrid. It is by a
solution of potash in alcohol, that the former is obtain¬
ed in a state of purity ; for the alcohol dissolves the
potash, while other substances are deposited. By the
application of heat to this solution, there is a partial
decomposition of the alcohol.
2. Ether has no perceptible action on potash. I0I(f
3. Potash readily enters into combination with the Fixed 0
fixed oils, but particularly with that class of them de¬
nominated fat oils; and forms with them very import¬
ant compounds, namely, soaps. The compound with
potash and the fat oils is a soft soap. 1
4. Potash also enters into combination with the vo-y0]atj[;!
latile oils, but in very small proportion, which likewise
forms a species of soap.
Sect. II. Of Soda and its Combinations.
IOI|
1. Soda, the other fixed alkali, has been distinguish-Namcs>
ed by a great number of different names. It was cal¬
led fossil or mineral alkali, because it was supposed that
it only existed in the mineral kingdom. It is the sub¬
stance which is mentioned in Scripture as a detergent,
under the name oi nitre.
2. This alkali exists in great abundance in different ponnj
parts of the earth, and particularly on the surface of the soil]
the soil in Egypt, where it is distinguished by the name
of natron. It is also found on the walls of caves and
places under ground, and old edifices. 10i
But the soda of commerce is generally obtained from Obtain
different species of plants which grow on the sea-shore ; fr°m P*
and as it is prepared from them, it has received dif¬
ferent names in different countries. The salsola soda
yields this alkali in greatest abundance. This plant
is called barilla in the Spanish language, and from this
the
•J1 u
fl pot-
022
F ica-
ti
1023
? :rtie*.
C H E M
, ^ the soda which is prepared on the shores of that coun-
y—✓ try, has been called barilla ashes. For the purposes
of commerce also, soda is prepared in great quantities
from the ashes of another tribe of marine plants, namely
the algcey and particularly from the fuci, all of which
yield it in greater or less proportion. As it is prepar¬
ed from these plants, it is known in France by the
name of varec, and in Britain by the name of kelp.
Soda exists in great abundance in the waters of the
ocean. There it is in combination with the muriatic
acid, forming the well-known compound of common
\ 021 salt.
F <li- 3. In many of their properties soda and potash ap-
j! nished proach very near to each other. They were according¬
ly considered as the same alkali, till, towards the mid¬
dle of the l8th century, by the experiments of Duha-
mel, Pott, and Margraff, they were distinctly charac¬
terised, and the properties of each fully ascertained.
4. The soda of commerce is in very different degrees
of purity, according to the care and attention with
which it is prepared, and the purposes for which it is
intended. To have it perfectly pure, it must be sub¬
jected to a similar process with those which have been
already detailed for the purification of potash ; and by
means of these processes it may be procured in a solid
and crystalline form.
5. When soda is in a state of purity, it is usually in
the form of solid plates, of a grayish white colour, and
the taste exactly similar to that of potash. It is also
extremely caustic and corrosive. By slow evoporation
from a solution in alcohol, it assumes the form of pris¬
matic crystals j but these, when exposed to the air, very
soon effloresce, and fall to powder. Soda changes the
I |0j4 blue colour of vegetables to green. Its specific gravity
is 1.336. W7hen it is exposed to heat, it softens, and
readily melts. It liquefies by the action of heat like
an oily matter, and when it becomes red-hot, boils, and
is reduced to vapour, which is the soda unchanged, ex¬
tremely acrid, and corroding the skin when it comes
in contact with it.
6. When exposed to the air, it first becomes moist
and soft, by absorbing water and carbonic acid •, but
when the air becomes dry, it effloresces and falls into a
powder j and in this respect is sufficiently distinguished
from potash. Soda has a very great affinity for water.
Wrhen the dry alkali is moistened witli water, it is ab¬
sorbed, and becomes solid, with the extrication of calo¬
ric. When more water is added, it dissolves, and also
gives out heat, and a peculiar odour, which is no doubt
owing to a portion of the alkali raised in the state of
vapour along with the water.
7. Soda is a similar compound to potash, and the de¬
composition is effected by the same process, though
somewhat more difficult. It is an oxide of sodium.
Sodium is a soft metalloid, less fusible than potas¬
sium, its melting point being about 180°. It attracts
oxygen slowly from the air. It rapidly decomposes
water by combining with its oxygen. Its different
chemical habitudes are closely analogous to those of
potassium.
8. The affinities of soda are the same with those of
potash.
9. Soda is employed for many similar purposes as
potash. On account of some of its qualities, it is pre¬
ferred to potash, in many manufactures, because it is
0:4
Aj m of
0 r and
,
;l iosi-
ii
'rties
'lium.
I S T R Y. 567
less acrid and corrosive, and is therefore less apt to de- Soda, &c.
stroy the texture of animal and vegetable matters to v——v—
which it is applied.
I. Action of Phosphorus on Soda.
r . . . 102^
Soda scarcely enters into combination with pbospho-Phospho¬
rus. There is no phosphuret formed either by the dry rus*
or humid way 5 but when phosphorus is boiled with a
pure solution of soda, phosphorated hydrogen gas is
evolved in the same way as when it is treated with
potash.
II. Action of Sulphur on Soda.
I029
Soda readily combines with sulphur by simple tritu-Sulphur,
ration, by fusion, and by the humid way. In the two
first cases, there is formed a sulphuret of soda, which
may be decomposed by heat, and by the acids, and
which decomposes water in the same way as the sul¬
phuret ot potash. By the humid way there is formed
a hydrogenated sulphuret of soda, which has an ex¬
tremely fetid odour, and emits, by the action of the
acids which decompose it, sulphurated hydrogen gas.
Hydrosulphuret of Soda.
This may be prepared in the same way as the hydro*
sulphuret of potash. It forms a crystallized salt in the
shape of four-sided prisms, terminated by quadrangular
pyramids. The crystals are colourless, inodorous, and
very soluble in water. When this salt is exposed to
the air, it deliquesces, and becomes of a green colour.
It is decomposed by the action of acids. Soda, it
would appear, has less affinity for sulphur and sulphu¬
rated hydrogen than potash.
III. Compounds of Soda with the Acids.
I. Sulphate of Soda.
1. This salt, which is a compound of sulphuric acid
and soda, is well known under the name of Glauber''s salt,
from the name of Glauber, a German chemist, who
discovered it, in examining the residuum of the decom- 1030
position of common salt by means of sulphuric acid. It Names,
has also been called tbe admirable salt of Glauber, vi-
triolated mineral alkali, and vitriol of soda. lc^j
2. This salt may be obtained by the direct combina- Prepara¬
tion of sulphuric acid and soda. But it is more com-ti011”
monly prepared by the decomposition of muriate of soda
or sea salt, by means of sulphuric acid. The solution
is then to be filtered, purified, and crystallized in the
usual way. I032
3. It crystallizes by slow evaporation, in transparent Properties,
six-sided prisms, terminated by two-sided summits 5 but* Munches.
the crystals are seldom regular, and the sides of th'e^C!VV0’
prisms are furrowed. The taste is cool, bitter, andp 12>
nauseous. The specific gravity is 1.4457 *. 1033
4. When it is exposed to the air, especially when the Action of
air is dry, it effloresces, which is owing to the escape ofaa‘
the water of crystallization. It loses about 0.3 of its
weight. It is very soluble in cold water, and it re¬
quires only ^ths of its weight of boiling water.
5. When it is exposed to heat, it melts, on account Of heat,
of the great quantity of water of crystallization which
it contains 5 and this is called the aqueous fusion. Af¬
terwards it dries when the water is evaporated. It
loses about .58 of its weight. To melt it afterwards,
it
C H E M I
Soda, &c. must be exposed to a red heat long continued, -which
'v*"" •' is called the igneous fusion. After it is cooled, it is
found to have suffered no change. When water is ad¬
ded, it returns to its former state.
6. It is decomposed by means of charcoal, which
at a red heat converts it into sulphuret ot soda, by de¬
priving the acid of its oxygen. The component parts
of this salt, according to Bergman, are
1035
Competi¬
tion.
* 'Sichol.
Journ. iii.
p. 215.
< 1035
Discovery.
1037
Properties.
103S
Action of
the air.
1039
Of water.
1040
Of heat.
Acid 27
Soda 15
Water 58
100
But according to Mr Kirwan, it is composed of
Acid
Soda
Water
Crystallized.
23-5 2
18.48
58.
100.00
100
It is decomposed by barytes ; and by potash, but less
powerfully. Lime and strontites are also capable of
producing a partial decomposition in the humid way,
and in contact with the air.
7. This salt is a good deal employed in medicine, as
a purgative $ in chemistry, for the purpose of decom¬
posing other substances 5 and in the arts, for the ex¬
traction of soda.
2. Sulphite of Soda.
1. This salt, which is a compound of sulphurous
acid and soda, was first taken notice of by Berthollet.
It is prepared by passing sulphurous acid gas into a sa¬
turated solution of carbonate of soda. The sulphite of
soda is precipitated at first, in a confused mass of very
small crystals, which are re-dissolved in warm water,
and crystallize again on cooling.
2. The crystals of sulphite of soda are in four-sided
prisms, two broad, and two narrow, terminated by two-
sided summits. They are perfectly transparent. The
taste is cool and sulphureous. The specific gravity is
2.9566.
3. Exposed to the air, it effloresces, and the powder
formed on the surface is converted into a sulphate. It
is extremely soluble in water. Boiling water takes up
more than its own weight. It crystallizes again on
cooling, but sometimes the solution is formed into a
single mass when it is exposed to the air 5 and if quick¬
ly cooled with agitation, it affords nothing but needle-
formed crystals. This solution exposed to the air is
converted into the sulphate.
4. This salt readily undergoes the aqueous fusion
if the heat be increased, a portion of sulphur is driven
off, and it is converted into a sulphate.
5. It is decomposed by means of the acids, which
disengage the sulphurous acid in the state of gas. The
oxymuriatic acid gas, brought into contact with a solu¬
tion of this salt in water, instantly converts it into sul¬
phate. It is decomposed by barytes, lime, and pot¬
ash ; by the sulphates of lime, of ammonia, and of mag¬
nesia.
S T R Y.
6. The component parts c-f this salt have been found Soda, si
by analysis to be,
Sulphurous acid,
Soda,
Water.
31
18
51
100
10411
Compos!
lion.
It has not been applied to any use.
q. Nitrate of Soda.
iQ4:|
1. This compound of nitric acid and soda was for-Names. ?
merly known by the name of cubic nitre, and rhomboi*
dal nitre. It is prepared by the direct combination of
the acid with the alkali $ or by decomposing the mu¬
riate or carbonate of soda by nitric acid.
2. It crystallizes in the form of rhomboids and prisms, piopertr
The taste is cooling, but more bitter than that of the
nitrate of potash.
3. The specific gravity is 2.0964. Exposed to the
air, it attracts moisture in a slight degree. It is solu¬
ble in three parts of cold water, and in less than its
own weight of boiling water. I0^[
4. When it is thrown on red-hot coals, it decrepitates Heat,
slightly j it is not so fusible as nitre, but it is also de¬
composed, and gives out oxygen gas mixed with azotic
gas.
5. In its decomposition it is similar to the nitrate of
potash. It detonates, however, less powerfully with
combustible bodies, and burns them with less facility.
It is decomposed by barytes and potash.
6. The proportions of its constituent parts are, ac-comp0S
cording to Bergman,
tion.
Acid,
Soda,
Water,
According to Mr Kirwan,
Dried iu a boat of 4000.
Acid, 53.21
Soda, 40.58
Water, 6.21
43
32
25
100
After being ignited.
57-55
42.34
00.00
f Hick
Jour. ii|
p. 215'
100.00 99.89 f.
4. Nitrite of Soda.
Chemists are not acquainted with the properties of
this salt, although it is known to be formed after the
partial decomposition of nitrate of soda by means of
heat.
c. Muriate of Soda.
J 104
1. The muriate of soda, which is a compound of mu-Commo
riatic acid and soda, of all the other salts, from its great salt,
abundance in nature, and its valuable uses, was the 104
earliest known under the name of salt. It has beenNames
distinguished by the names of common salt, kitchen salt,
sea-salt, and sometimes sal gem, rock salt. I0jL
2. This salt, which is found in such abundance in 4buD [ 1
’ in natf
nature,
€ H E M
f j, See. nature, Is never formed by art. In some parts of the
t v world it exists in the bowels of the earth in large masses,
from whence it is dug out, and simply reduced to
powder, to be applied to use. But to obtain it from
the waters of the ocean, in which it exists in different
proportion, according to the temperature, the climate,
aiid other circumstances, it must be extracted by eva¬
poration, which is effected by different processes, ac¬
cording to the strength of the solution, and the art of
the manufacturer. In some parts of the world, all that
is done is to collect the salt as it forms on the shores of
the sea, or on the rocks, by the evaporation of the wa¬
ter ; but, in general, some art is necessary, even when
the salt is obtained by spontaneous evaporation. On
the coasts of France, Spain, Portugal, and the shores
of the Mediterranean, the sea water is admitted into
ponds during the flowing of the tide, and its return is
prevented by sluices which are shut. It is then eva¬
porated by the heat of the sun ; and, as this evapora¬
tion is gradual and slow, the salt crystallizes in large
cubes, and it is known in commerce by the name of
bay salt, from the circumstance of its having been form-
)4p ed in creeks and bays of the sea.
Bj U 3. But as this process can only be followed in those
climates where there is a sufficient degree of tempera¬
ture to promote the evaporation speedily, artificial
heat is generally employed in the manufacture of salt.
Sometimes the water is received in large ponds or flat
vessels, where it is allowed to evaporate for some time
in the open air. It is afterwards boiled in flat iron
pans ; and, during the boiling, the impurities which rise
to the surface are removed. When the water is suffi¬
ciently concentrated by the evaporation, a pellicle forms
on the surface, which is the crystallization of the salt.
This falls to the bottom, and another pellicle forms, till
the whole of the salt is crystallized. The purity of the
salt and the size of the crystals depend on the slow eva¬
poration j and hence it is, that the purest salt, as it is
manufactured in Britain, is that which is called Sun¬
day salt. This is obtained from the last quantity of
water which is boiled on the Saturday night j and as it
has time to cool slowly, the evaporation is more gradual,
I ! .0 and the crystals are purer and larger,
hif a- 4* this state the muriate of soda is far from
being pure. A very ingenious method has been pro¬
posed for the purification of sea-salt by Lord Dundon-
ald. he salts with which common salt is impregnated,
tire more soluble in water than the salt itself, and they
dissolve in much greater proportion in hot than in cold
water. But common salt is nearly equally soluble in
both. On this principle, therefore, the process pro¬
ceeds. A quantity of salt to be purified is put into a
conical vessel or basket, which is slightly stopped at the
apex, so that the water may pass through. A satu¬
rated solution of common salt is then prepared. This
solution of salt is poured boiling hot over the salt in
the basket. It can dissolve none of the common salt
in the basket, because it is already saturated ; but, as
it passes through, it dissolves the other salts, and carries
them along with it. It was found by experiment, that
a saturated solution of I lb. of common salt poured upon
lolbs. removes about yths of all the foreign salts with
jjy! 1 which it is impregnated.
proe ’j 5* But, even after this process, the salt is not per¬
fectly pure for the purposes of chemistry. For this
Vol. V. Part II f
I S T R Y. 569
purpose it may be dissolved in four parts of cold wa- Soda, &c.
ter. Filter the solution, to separate any substances y j
with which it is mixed. Pour into it some drops of a
solution of soda, till no farther precipitate is observed.
The fluid is then to be evaporated, and the salt, as it
forms on the surface in small cubical crystals, may be
extracted $ or it may be obtained in larger crystals by
slow evaporation.
It may also be purified, by dropping into a solution
of common salt a solution of muriate of barytes, and
then of carbonate of soda, as long as any precipitate is
formed. The liquid may then be filtered and evapora¬
ted, till the solution crystallizes. 1052
6. The muriate of soda crystallizes in perfect cubes j Properties,
but from these there are several deviations in the form
of its crystals. Sometimes the angles of the cubes are
truncated; sometimes they are in the form of octahe¬
drons ; which is the case when common salt is dissolv¬
ed in human urine, and allowed to evaporate spontane¬
ously. But the primitive form of the crystal, as wTell
as of the integrant particle, according to Hauy, is
the cube. The taste is sweetish and agreeable, and is
that which is properly called salt, with which all simi¬
lar tastes are compared. The specific gravity is 2.120.
When all the water that can be driven off is expelled,
it is considered as a chloride of sodium, in the same way
as has been mentioned of muriate of potash. See N*
. 1053
7. It undergoes no change by exposure to the air. Action of
Common salt attracts moisture from the atmosphere ; a*r>
but this is owing to an impregnation of other salts
which are deliquescent. These salts are muriate of
magnesia, sulphate of magnesia, and sulphate of lime.
It is from these that it is to be purified by the pro- (j*0^
cesses which have been described above. It is solu-30 walei'
ble in little more than 2\ times its weight of water j
and it is almost equally soluble in hot and cold wa¬
ter.
8. When it is exposed to a strong heat, it decrepi¬
tates and gives out its water of crystallization. It
melts in a red heat, and rises in the air in the state of
white vapour j but it is unchanged j for if this vapour
be collected by condensing it in the cold, it is found to
possess all the properties of common salt. 1055
9. The muriate of soda is decomposed readily by P000™?0-'!"
sulphuric acid, as well as by several other acids whicht*on’
have a stronger attraction for its base than the muria¬
tic acid ; or by the aid of double affinity, when an acid
is in combination with a base, which at the same time io^<T
acts on the muriatic acid. It is by means of the sul-By sulphu-
phuric acid that the chemist procures muriatic acidric acid*
from the muriate of soda. Sometimes the salt is de¬
composed by the same acid to obtain the soda. The
sulphuric acid combines with the soda, and forms sul¬
phate of soda, while the muriatic acid is disengaged,
and that it may not be lost, it is conveyed into a leaden
chamber, which contains a solution of ammoniac, where
it forms sal ammoniac. The sulphate of soda is ex¬
posed to strong heat in a furnace, to drain off any por¬
tion of sulphuric acid that it may contain. It is then
mixed with its own weight of chalk, and half Its
weight of charcoal in powder. The mixture is strong¬
ly heated in a reverberatory furnace, and occasionally
stirred to permit the escape of gas and sulphur, which
fly off. When the mass cools, it becomes solid and
4 C black.
CHEMISTRY.
I0J7
By lime.
* Research
p. 59, and
112.
1058
By lead.
1059
By irou.
id6o
Composi¬
tion.
black. The charcoal, in decomposing the sulphuric
acid of the sulphate of soda, sets the sulphur free,
which combines with the lime of the carbonate of lime,
and is partly sublimated j while a part ol the carbonic
acid combines with the soda, so that the product is a
mixture of carbonate of soda, of lime and charcoal, ana¬
logous to the soda of commerce. In this way 0.58 of
crude soda may be extracted. Other acids, as well as
the sulphuric, such as the acetic, the phosphoric, and
boracic, have been proposed to be employed with the
same view} or indeed, any acid which has a stronger
affinity for the soda than the muriatic acid, and is not
decomposed with much difficulty.
10. But these processes are not sufficiently economi¬
cal to answer the purposes of the manufacturer: Other
processes have, therefore, been proposed and tried with
the same view j but scarcely any has succeeded. This
salt is very readily decomposed by barytes or potash,
which combines with the muriatic acid, and sets the
soda free $ but the expence of preparing these substan¬
ces far exceeds the price of the soda in the market, so
that they cannot be employed to advantage.
It has been proposed to decompose sea salt by means
of lime, for obtaining the soda. Soda is separated
from the acid by mixing the common salt with lime,
in the form of paste, and by exposing it to moisture.
In a short time the soda appears on the surface in the
state of efflorescence. Scheele, it is observed by Ber-
thollet, was the first who noticed the decomposition of
the muriate of soda by means of lime. He explains
this decomposition by showing, that lime acts on salts
with fixed alkaline bases. It decomposes a small part
of the muriate of soda, with which it is in contact, and
the soda, eliminated by this means, combines with the
carbonic acid of the atmosphere. The carbonate of
soda effloresces, so that it opposes all resistance to the
action of the lime, and the decomposition of the muri¬
ate of soda continues until it is impeded by the quan¬
tity of muriate of lime formed. It is in this way that
the same philosopher accounts for the formation of so¬
da in the soil of Egypt. The circumstances necessary
for this are, 1st, A sand containing a great quantity
of carbonate of lime j 2d, moisture j and 3d, muriate
of soda} and these circumstances are found to exist in
those places where there is an abundant production of
soda *. A manufactory for the purpose of extracting
soda from sea salt, by means of lime, was established in
France by Guyton.
11. Common salt is decomposed for the purpose of
obtaining the soda, by means of litharge. In a mix¬
ture of four parts of litharge, and one of sea salt, with
a little water, in the course of a few hours, a decompo¬
sition of the salt is effected. The muriatic acid of the
salt combines with the lead, and is precipitated $ while
the soda remains in the solution, from which it may be
separated by filtration and evaporation.
It has been found too, that sea salt may be decom¬
posed by other metallic substances. Scheele observed,
that iron produced this effect. By dipping a plate of
iron in a solution of salt, and exposing it in a moist
place, it was incrusted with soda. From other experi¬
ments it appears, that this decomposition may be ef¬
fected by means of copper and zinc.
12. Muriate of soda, according to Bergman, is com¬
posed of
Acid 52
Soda 42
Water 6
100
Accoi'ding to Kirwan, when dried in the tempera¬
ture of 8o°, it is composed of
Acid 38.88
Soda 53*00
Water 8.12
Soda, &
100.00
1061
13. Common salt may be regarded almost as a ne-Uses.
cessary of life. It is the most useful of all substances
for the preservation of animal matters which are in¬
tended for food. It is probable that it is highly use¬
ful, not merely as a seasoning for food, of which it is
one of the most agreeable, but also to promote its di¬
gestion. It is also employed in many arts, as in me¬
tallurgy, in dyeing, and in the enamelling of stone¬
ware.
6. Hyperoxymuriate, or Chlorate of Soda. io(jJ
1. This salt is prepared in the same manner as thePrepara.
combination of this acid with potash. It is, however,t1011*
difficult to obtain it pure, as it has nearly the same de¬
gree of solubility in water as the muriate of soda. It
is soluble in three parts of cold and less of warm water.
It is also soluble in alcohol, and it seems to communi¬
cate a greater degree of solubility to the muriate of
soda. lotfyl
2. The crystals of this salt are in the form of cubes, Properti
or in rhomboids. It produces the sensation of cold in
the mouth, and its taste is easily distinguished from
muriate ef soda. It is decomposed by heat, by com¬
bustible bodies, and by acids, in the same manner as
the hyperoxymuriate of potash.
3. This salt is composed of
Hyperoxymuriatic acid 66.2
Soda 29.6
Water 4.2
1064:
Composi
tion.
100.0*
Fluate of Soda.
* Phifo.
Trans.
1802.
p. 144.
ic(S;
1. This salt, which is a compound of fluoric acid Prepara
and soda, is formed by saturating the acid with the al-ti011'
kali. If the solution be evaporated till a pellicle ap¬
pears, crystals of fluate of soda are obtained. io(fj
2. These crystals are in the form of small cubes, Piop2115
have a bitter and astringent taste, are not deliquescent,
and not very soluble in water. They decrepitate on
hot charcoal, and melt before the blow-pipe into a se¬
mitransparent globule.
3. The concentrated acids disengage the fluoric acid
with effervescence. This salt is also decomposed by
lime-water, barytes, and magnesia. , j
8. Borate of Soda.
This salt, a compound of the boracic acid and so¬
da, is formed by saturating the acid with the alkali j
but nothing is known of its nature and properties. The
specific
io6-j
] tory.
’
C H E M
ia, See. specific gravity is I.1351. But the combination of so-
-\r—' da with this acid, which is a natural production, has
been particularly examined.
Sub-borate of Soda, or Borax.
1. This substance has been long known. Indeed it
is supposed, that the ancients were acquainted with it,
and that they employed it for several purposes, under
the name of chrysocolla, which is mentioned by Pliny.
It received this name from them, it is supposed, from
knowing its property of soldering gold and the other
metals. The name borax is derived from some of the
oriental languages. Although borax was the subject
of research among the alchemists and earlier chemists,
yet nothing was known of its nature and composition
till the beginning of the 18th century. It was then
decomposed by Homberg, by exposing it to heat with
sulphate of iron. The acid w’as separated by sublima¬
tion, and long after known by the name of the sedative
salt of Homberg. In 1732 its real composition was
discovered by GeofTroy. He obtained the acid cry¬
stallized in the humid way. In 1748 Baron decom¬
posed borax by means of the vegetable acids, and he
completed the knowledge of its composition, by form¬
ing it with the acid and the alkali. Bergman after¬
wards shewed, that borax is a salt with excess of soda j
and to be neutralized, it requires one half of its weight
of boracic acid.
2. Borax is a natural production of the earth in many
parts of the world. It is formed at the bottom of some
lakes in Persia, the Mogul territory, in Thibet, in
China and Japan. It has been also found in some
lakes in Tuscany. In the East Indies it is known un¬
der the name of tincal, and in commerce under that of
crude borax. In this state the borax is in the form of
small, semitransparent, greenish crystals, intermixed
with a greasy matter, of a dirty gray colour, and of a
sweetish alkaline taste.
3. The purification of borax was originally in the
hands of the Venetians ; but it has since been practised,
and now almost exclusively, by the Hutch. Their
process is not exactly known. Valmont-Bomare, who
visited one of these places in Holland, says, that 80
parts of purified borax are obtained from 100 of the
crude materials 3 and to extract the salt completely,
from eight to twelve solutions and crystallizations are
necessary 3 that all the vessels employed in the purifi¬
cation of this salt, are either of lead, or covered with
lead 3 but he adds, that one part of the process was
concealed from him, and he suspects that lime-water
may have been employed in this part of the process.
4. Borax, after being thus purified, is in the form of
compressed six-sided prisms with three-sided summits.
The taste is sweetish, and perceptibly alkaline. It
changes the vegetable blues to a green colour. The
specific gravity is 1.742. It effloresces slightly in the
air, and is soluble in water. Twelve parts ol water ol
the temperature of 6o° dissolve one of borax. Six
parts are only necessary at the boiling temperature.
5. When borax is exposed to heat, it readily melts.
As the water of crystallization flies off, it swells up and
acquires a greater bulk, and assumes the form of a por¬
ous mass. By this process it loses more than one-third
of its weight, and in this state it is called calcined bo-
068
I uca.
069
cities.
107°
oa of
I S T R Y. 571
rax. When it is exposed to a red heat, it is converted Soda, &c.
into a transparent glass, which is soluble in water.
6. Borax is decomposed by all the acids which have(
a stronger affinity for the soda. It is by means of the
sulphuric and the nitric acids, that boracic acid is
obtained from borax.
—v—
1071
Of acids.
1072
7. The component parts of borax, according to Kir-Composi-
wan, are
tion.
Boracic acid
Soda
Water
*7
47
100
I073
It is supposed that only five parts of the soda are satu¬
rated with the acid, and that the other twelve parts
form the excess of alkali which is contained in the salt.
8. Borax is much employed in the arts, as a flux Uses,
for metals, and to promote the soldering of the more
precious metals. It is also employed by the mineralo¬
gist, as a flux for treating minerals by the blow-pipe.
Calcined borax is employed in medicine as an absor- * Fourcroy
bent *. ■ Connaiss.
9. Phosphate of Soda. p.^!"'
1. This compound of phosphoric acid and soda was,j:
the first discovered of the combinations of phospho-5 ^
ric acid. Margraaf was the first who extracted it
from human urine, then in combination with ammo¬
nia, forming a triple salt, which was known by the
name of fusible or microscomic salt. Haupt after¬
wards obtained it separate, and distinguished it by
the name of sal mirabile per latum, or wonderful per-
lated salt, on account of its pearl-like colour. At last
the younger Kouelle discovered that soda was one
of its constituent parts. By some it was supposed,
that the acid was different from the phosphoric, be¬
cause no phosphorus could be obtained from it. To
this acid Bergman gave the name of perlated acid 3
but by the analysis of Klaproth, it was proved that this
salt consists of phosphoric acid and soda, with an ex¬
cess of acid. IOy2
2. This salt is prepared by saturating the liquid acid Prepara-
phosphate, which is obtained from burnt bones bytlon*
means of the sulphuric acid, with carbonate of soda,
which must be added in excess. The carbonate and a
little phosphate of lime are precipitated in the solution,
which must be filtered and evaporated till a thin pel¬
licle appears on the surface. The phosphate of soda is
crystallized by cooling. Or it may be obtained by
the direct combination of phosphoric acid and soda,
which must also be added in excess. 107(>
3. The phosphate of soda crystallizes in lengthened Properties,
rhomboids, whose angles are often truncated, and some¬
times it affords rhomboidal prisms, and several other
varieties. The excess of soda is necessary, to make it
assume a regular form, and thus it changes vegetable
blues to a green. The specific gravity is 1.33. It has
a sweetish, saline taste, similar to that of common salt. , __
4. It effloresces in the air, and is very soluble in Action of
water. Four parts of water at the temperature of 6o°, water,
and one half its weight of boiling water, are sufficient
to dissolve it.
1078
5. The phosphate of soda, exposed to heat, under-Of heat,
goes the watery fusion. In a red heat it melts, and is
4 C 2 converted,
i°79
Of acids.
1080
Use
572 CHE
Soda, &c. converted, on cooling, into a milky white glass. By
-v—— the action of the blow-pipe on charcoal, it melts into
a globule, which is transparent while it is hot, but be¬
comes opaque on cooling, and assumes the polyhedral
form when it becomes solid.
6. The sulphuric, nitric, and muriatic acids decom¬
pose it partially, and convert it into the acidulous phos¬
phate of soda.
7. Since the properties of this salt was discovered,
it has become an object of considerable importance, on
account of the various uses to which it has been ap¬
plied. It was introduced into medicine by Dr Pear¬
son, and is found to be a mild laxative, particularly
agreeable on account of its taste, as it may be taken in
broth, as a substitute for common salt. It is employed
by mineralogists as a test for the fusion of mineral sub¬
stances by the blow-pipe, and in soldering, as a cheap
substitute for borax.
10. Phosphite of Soda.
10S1
Prepara- 1. This compound of phosphorous acid and soda,
ticm. niay ke formed by the direct union of the acid and
alkali in solution } and by evaporation crystals may be
1082 obtained.
Properties. 2* This salt crystallizes sometimes infeur-sided prisms
with unequal faces; sometimes in long rhomboids,
or in the form of feathers. The taste is cool and
sweetish. It effloresces in the air, and is soluble in
two parts of cold water, and little more soluble in wTarm
water j so that it crystallizes by evaporation rather than
in cooling.
Action of 3* melts readily under the blow-pipe, gives out
heat. fine phosphoric light, and is converted into a glass
which continues transparent while it is hot, but be-
)g4 comes opaque when it cools.
M I S T R Y.
Composi¬
tion.
4. The component parts of this salt are,
Phosphorous acid 16.3
Soda - 23.7
Water - 60.0
ICO.O
5. This salt is easily decomposed by lime, barytes,
and magnesia. It decomposes the sulphates, nitrates,
and muriates of lime, of barytes, strontites, and mag¬
nesia. It has not yet been applied to any use.
II. Carbonate of Soda.
x°85 . , # . .
History. I. This salt, which is a compound of carbonic acid
and soda, was long applied to various uses, before its
nature and composition were known ; nor was it per¬
fectly understood till the discovery of Dr Black, which
shewed the two states in which the alkali exists j in
the caustic or pure state, and in the mild state, when
it is combined with fixed air, or carbonic acid. The
different names under which it is known, have been
already mentioned in treating of soda. It is found in
great abundance in Egypt, where it effloresces on the
soil, and is distinguished by the name of natron. In a
similar state of efflorescence, the carbonate of soda is
found in subterraneous places, and on the walls of build¬
ings j but it is chiefly extracted, as has been already
ioS<5 °fiserve(i, from sea-plants, especially from those which
Prepara- belong to the Senus °Uuci'
tion. 2. Carbonate of soda may be obtained by dissolving
2
a quantity of the soda of commerce with three or four Soda, &
times its weight of pure cold water, and then by filter- —y—
ing the liquor, and evaporating till a slight pellicle is
formed. This pellicle, which consists of small cubes of
common salt, is to be removed. The heat is to be con¬
tinued as long as any pellicle is formed, after which
the liquid is set by to cool, and the carbonate of soda
crystallizes. 10S7J
3. The form of the crystals of carbonate of soda are PropertiJ
irregular or rhomboidal octahedrons, formed by two
quadrangular pyramids, truncated near the base, which
exhibits dicahedral solids, with two acute and two ob¬
tuse angles. The taste is slightly acrid $ it converts
vegetable blues to a green colour, and its specific gra¬
vity is 1.3591. 1088
4. The carbonate of soda effloresces very rapidly in^ct>0&c!
the air. It is soluble in two parts of cold, and little"^*
more than its weight of boiling water. It crystallizes
on cooling ; but to obtain regular crystals, the evapo¬
ration must be slow and spontaneous. 1089I
5. When exposed to heat, it undergoes the watery Of heat,
fusion, and if the heat be continued, it passes into the
igneous fusion. It is somewhat more fusible than the
carbonate of potash, which renders it preferable in the
manufacture of glass.
6. In its decomposition by other substances, it is ex¬
actly similar to the carbonate of potash. 1Cg0
7. The component parts of carbonate of soda are, ac- Composi
cording to fi011,
Kirwan.
Bergman.
Carbonic acid 16
Soda 20
Water 64
In crystals.
34.42
21.58
64.OO
100 100.00
12. Arseniate of Soda.
Dry.
40,°5
59.86
00.00
99-91
1. This is the compound of the arsenic acid with
soda } and when the acid is saturated with the alkali,
the salt crystallizes.
2. According to Scheele the form of the crystals of
this salt is like those of the acidulous arseniate of pot¬
ash. Pelletier observes that the arseniate of soda cry¬
stallizes in six-sided prisms, terminated by planes per¬
pendicular to their axis. In other respects it is simi¬
lar to the arseniate of potash, being decomposed by
charcoal, by the acids and the earths. With an ex¬
cess of acid, it does not crystallize, but becomes deli¬
quescent.
13. Tungstate of Soda.
1. This salt, which is the compound of tungstic acid Preiraw
and soda, may be formed by dissolving the oxide oftloD'
tungsten in a solution of pure soda, or carbonate of
soda. By evaporating the solution, crystals of tung¬
state of soda are obtained. 1091
2. The crystals of this salt are in the form of elon-Property
gated, six-sided plates. The taste is acrid and metallic.
It is soluble in four times its weight of cold water;
and boiling water dissolves one half of its weight. It
restores the colour of turnsole which has been reddened
by an acid. *°93
3. This salt is decomposed by the sulphuric, nitric, °
muriatic, acetic, and oxalic acids. They form a white8*
triple
1091
* ur. He
H's,
N <9*
i|'
94
Pi xa-
tic .nd
pr rties.
C FI E M
jji, Sic. triple salt, which Is also pvoilucetl by lime-water. The
w v-—'phosphoric acid produces no change, and if the sul¬
phuric acid be afterwards added, it no longer causes a
precipitate. The tungstate of soda is not decomposed
by the sulphate of potash or of magnesia. The muri¬
ates of lime and barytes occasion a white precipitate.
The solution of tin, and all other metallic solutions,
also decompose it *.
14. Molybdate of Soda.
15. Chromate of Soda.
The chromic acid combines with soda, and forms a
salt, the crystals of which are of an orange colour, but
its other properties are unknown.
16. Columbate of Soda.
Columbic acid enters into combination mith soda
but little is known of its properties.
17. Acetate of Soda.
1. The combination of the acetic acid with soda was
formerly known by the name of crystallised foliated
earth. This salt is prepared by saturating the acetic
acid with carbonate of soda. The solution is then fil¬
tered, and evaporated till a slight pellicle appear on
the surface j and when it is set by to cool, crystals are
deposited.
2. The crystals of acetate of soda are in the form of
striated prisms, like those of sulphate of soda. It has a
bitter, pungent taste, is not deliquescent in the air, and
is soluble in about three parts of cold water. The spe¬
cific gravity is 2.1. When exposed to heat it is de¬
composed, being first deprived of its water of crystalli¬
zation. After distillation, the residuum has the pro¬
perty of phosphorus. It is decomposed by barytes and
potash f.
18. Oxalate of Soda.
The oxalic acid is capable of forming an acidulous
salt with soda; but when it is fully saturated, the oxa-
Jate of soda thus formed is difficult of crystallization.
If two parts of crystallized carbonate of soda are dis¬
solved in one part of oxalic acid, part of the oxa¬
late of soda is precipitated, and what remains in
the solution, being evaporated, affords crystals in
the form of small grains. This salt is more solu¬
ble in warm than in cold water, and gives a green
colour to the syrup of violets. It is decomposed by
potash. In other respects it resembles the oxalate of
potash.
19. Tartrate of Soda.
This compound of tartaric acid and soda is formed
by saturating the acid with the alkali. The form of
the crystals of this salt is that of fine needles. The spe¬
cific gravity is 1.7437. This salt combines with ano¬
ther portion of acid, and forms an acidulous tartrate or
supertartrate of soda, which is not more soluble in wa¬
ter than the acidulous tartrate of potash.
ff 'troy
fa iss.
9 tom.
ni 198.
soda
kali.
20. Citrate of Soda.
I. This salt, which is a compound of citric acid and
I S T R Y.  S73
2. It crystallizes in six-sided prisms, which are not Soda. See.
terminated by a pyramid. It has a saline taste, efflo- v — v *
resces in the air, and is soluble in two parts of water.
When heated, it boils up, swells, and is charred. It is
decomposed by barytes and lime water. It is compos¬
ed of ^
Acid 60.7
Soda 39.3
100.0
21. Malate of Soda.
This salt, formed of malic acid and soda, is deliques¬
cent in the air,, and very soluble in water. Its other
properties are unknown.
is formed by directly combining the acid and ai-
22. Gal late of Soda.
The nature of the compound of gallic acid with soda
has not yet been ascertained. A green colour is pro¬
duced, when the alkali is dropt into the acid.
23. Benzoate of Soda.
Lhe compound of benzoic acid with soda forms a
salt which readily crystallizes. It is deliquescent in
the air, and very soluble in water. The taste is sharp
and saline. Ihis salt exists ready formed in the urine
of graminivorous animals.
24. Succinate of Soda.
The combination of succinic acid with soda, forms
beautiful transparent crystals by spontaneous evapora¬
tion. T he crystals are in the form of four-sided prisms
with two-sided summits. The taste of the salt is bit¬
ter. It is not deliquescent in the air, and it requires
about three times its weight of water to dissolve it.
It is decomposed when it is exposed to heat in close
vessels.
25. Saccolate of Soda.
All that is known of this salt is, that it crystallizes
in small crystals, and is soluble in five times its weight
of boiling water.
26. Camphorate of Soda.
1. This compound of camphoric acid with soda is
formed by saturating a solution of carbonate of soda
in water with the acid ; and by evaporation with a
gentle heat, the crystals are obtained, when the solu¬
tion cools.
2. The crystals of camphorate of soda are irregular.
They are white and transparent. The taste is bitter.
Exposed to the air, this salt effloresces. It is soluble
in eight parts of boiling water.
3. Exposed to heat, it melts and swells, and the acid
is dissipated in thick vapours of an aromatic odour.
With the blow-pipe it burns with a blue flame, and is
decomposed. The acid is sublimed, and the alkali re¬
mains behind. It is decomposed by potash, and by the
strong acids *. ^ .
0 * Ann. de
27. Suberate of Soda. Chim.
xxvu. p. a 8.
The compound of suberic acid with soda forms a salt
which does not crystallize. It has a slightly bitter
taste, and reddens the tincture of turnsole. It deli¬
quesces in the air, and is very soluble in water. Ex¬
posed
574
CHEMISTRY.
fitc.
f Ibid.
xxiii. p. 33,
Ammonia, posed to heat, It swells and melts ; the acid Is sublimed,
and the alkali remains behind. The mineral acids de¬
compose it, and it is also decomposed by the calcare¬
ous, aluminous, and magnesian salts f.
28. Mellate of Soda.
The compound of mellitlc acid with soda, when it is
saturated, forms crystals in cubes or three-sided tables.
Sometimes they are formed in groups, and sometimes
they are insulated.
29. Lactate of Soda.
/
All that is known of this salt is, that it does not
crystallize, but is soluble in alcohol.
30. Prussiate of Soda.
This salt, which is a compound of prussic acid and
soda, is very soluble in water, converts vegetable blues
to gi*een, and when it is exposed to a very moderate
heat, it is partially decomposed.
31. Sebate of Soda.
Nothing farther is known of the compound of sebacic
acid with soda, than that it is soluble in water.
IV. Compounds of Soda with Inflammable Substances.
1. Soda enters into combination with alcohol, and
forms a reddish-coloured acrid solution $ but when heat
is applied to this solution, it appears that the alcohol is
partially decomposed.
2. There is no action between ether and soda.
3. Soda readily combines with the fixed oils, and
especially that class of them called fat oils, and forms
with them compounds called soaps.
4. Soda combines in very small quantity with the vo¬
latile oils, and the compounds thus formed have some of
the properties of soap.
Sect. III. Of Lithina and its Combinations.
This alkali was discovered by M. Arfvredson, a pu¬
pil of Berzelius, in 1818, in a mineral called petalite.
It is also contained in spodumene and in crystallized
lepidolite. It is distinguished from potash and soda,
chiefly by neutralizing a much larger quantity of the
different acids than either of those alkalies, surpassing
1095 in this respect even magnesia.
History and Like the two preceding alkalies, it is a compound of
properties, oxygen with a metalloid called lithium, which in pro¬
perties greatly resembles sodium.
With the acids, lithina forms salts similar to those of
soda, but differing from them in some slight particu¬
lars. Their crystalline forms Are not exactly the same,
and they are generally more deliquescent.
Sect. I\. Of Ammonia and its Combinations.
Iop6 .
History. This substance has been long known under the
names of volatile alkali, volatile spirit of sal ammoniac,
caustic volatile alkali, hartshorn, spirit of hartshorn and
of urine, because it w'as obtained from these substances.
It has received the name ammonia, from sal ammoniac,
a salt which was extracted from the urine and dung
of camels, collected near the temple of Jupiter Ammon
in Africa. This salt was first known to the ancients. Ammon
It is first mentioned by Basil Valentine, who lived in &c,
the 15th century, as being prepared from certain sub-
stances, with an account of some of its properties. But
the difference between the pure salt and its compound
with the carbonic acid, was not known till the discovery
of Dr Black. It was supposed to be in the state of
greatest purity in the solid and crystalline form ; and
in its pure, caustic, and liquid state, it was supposed to
be changed, and contaminated with the lime or the dif¬
ferent matters which had been employed in extracting
it from sal ammoniac. It was afterwards examined by
Dr Priestley in the state of gas, and he decomposed it
by electricity, but without discovering its constituent
parts. This was at last effected by the researches and
experiments of Scheele and Bergman, and finally con¬
firmed by those of Berthollet. I05>
2. Ammonia may be obtained by the following pro-Prepan:;
cess. Three parts of quick lime, and one part of sal-d®n«
ammoniac reduced to powder, are to be put into a re¬
tort, a,id the beak of the retort immersed under mer¬
cury in the mercurial apparatus. A jar filled with
mercury is inverted above it. Heat is applied to the
retort, and a gas comes over in great abundance. This
gas is ammonia, or ammoniacal gas. Sal-ammoniac
consists of the muriatic acid and ammonia. The affini¬
ty of lime for muriatic acid is stronger than that of am¬
monia, and therefore the ammonia is disengaged in the
state of gas, while the lime combines with the acid.
The gas must be received over mercury, because it is
readily absorbed by water. ICp;k
3. Ammonia in the state of gas resembles common Properij
air. It is transparent and colourless, and may be in¬
definitely compressed and dilated. The smell is ex¬
tremely pungent and acrid, particularly irritating the
eyes and nostrils. It has an acrid and caustic taste,
but is much less corrosive than the other alkalies. It
changes vegetable blues to a green colour. It is lighter
than common air. Its specific gravity is 0.000732;
so that it is nearly one half lighter. According to Mr
Kirwan, a cubic inch of this gas weighs only .27 of a
grain.
It is totally unfit for respiration. No animal can
breathe it without instant death. It is also unfit for
the support of combustion; but although it extinguishes
burning bodies, the flame of a candle let down into this
gas is considerably enlarged in volume by the addition
of another flame, which is of a pale yellow colour. joji
4. This gas is unaltered by the action of light.Action
When it is exposed to a strong heat, as when it is pas-^eat*
sed through a red-hot porcelain tube, it is decomposed
and converted into azotic and hydrogen gases. It is
also decomposed by the electric spark. When it is ex¬
posed to the temperature of—450, it is condensed, and
assumes a liquid form ; but it returns to the gaseous
state by an elevation of temperature. i1!
5. There is no action between oxygen gas and this^ox'
gas in the cold ; but if the two gases mixed together are
made to pass through a red-hot porcelain tube, the am¬
monia is decomposed ; a detonation takes place, the
hydrogen combines with the oxygen and forms water.
The azote passes off in the state of gas. ncj
6. There is no action between this gas and azotic Comm
gas, nor is there any action between common air and311,
ammoniacal gas in the cold; but if the mixture be
made
nonia, to Pass t,irou^ a red-hot porcelain tube, water
tc 1S formed, and tlie gas which escapes is a combination
v ' of the azotic gas of the atmosphere, and of that which
entered into the composition of ammonia. But if the
urcroy same experiment be made with a greater proportion of
ms. oxygen gas, the product is nitric acid, which is formed
by the combination of part of the oxygen and the
azote *.
7. It has been already mentioned, that the constitu¬
ent parts of ammonia were discovered by Scheele and
Bergman, and Priestley and Berthollet. According
to the experiments of the latter, ammonia is composed
of 121 parts of azote, and 29 of hydrogen. This result
was obtained by decomposing the ammonia by means of
electricity. One hundred parts of ammonia, therefore,
are composed of
Azote 80
Hydrogen 20
CHEMISTRY.
°3
iter.
| - de
xxx i,
IOO
8. Ammoniacal gas combines very rapidly with wa¬
ter. If a bit of ice be brought into contact with this
gas, it absorbs and condenses it, and instantly becomes
liquid. There is at the same time a production of
cold ; but water in the liquid state, as it absorbs this
gas, becomes warm, because the gas is deprived of that
quantity of caloric which is necessary to retain it in
the gaseous form. The water, as it absorbs the gas,
becomes specifically lighter. When water is saturated
with this gas, it is known under the name of liquid
ammonia. The specific gravity of a saturated solu¬
tion is 0.9054. When this solution is exposed to the
temperature of 130° the ammonia is driven off, and
assumes the gaseous form j and when it is slowly and
gradually cooled to the temperature of from —35 to
--•420, it crystallizes $ but when the temperature is ra¬
pidly diminished to —58° it assumes the form of jelly.
At that temperature it has no smell t.
By Sir H. Davy’s experiments, a saturated solution
of ammonia contains, in 100 parts,
Water 74*^3
Ammonia 25.37
100.00
He has also ascertained the different proportions of
U ( water and ammonia which are contained in 100 parts
rfc/L ammonia of different specific gravities
p.«
c/.es, 'j'{iese are exhibited in the following table.
575
_ # ^ Ammonia,
Table of the quantities of Ammonia, such as exists in &c.
the aeriform state, saturated with water at 5 2°, in v-—v"’-—'
Aqueous ammaniacal Solutions of dijferejit specific
gravities.
100
Spec.fic gray.
9°54
9166
9255
9326
9385
9435
9476
9513
9545
9573
9597
9619
9684
9639
97J3
Ammoniac.
25,37
22,07
J9,54
17.52
5,88
14.53
13,46
12,40
11,56
10,82
10,17
9,60
9,50
9,09
7»I7
Water.
74,63
77,93
80.46
82,48
84,12
85.47
86,54
87,60
88,44
89,18
89.83
90,40
9°,5
9°>9I
92.83
9. The order of affinities of ammonia is the same as Affinities
that of the fixed alkalies.
I. Action of Phosphorus on Ammonia.
1. There is no action between ammonia and phospho-
rus in the cold ; but when the two gases are passed
through a red-hot porcelain tube, the ammonia is de¬
composed, and its constituent parts enter into combina¬
tion with the phosphorus. There is formed phosphorated
hydrogen gas, and phosphorated azotic gas. In thi»
case there is a double action of the phosphorus, one
part combinipg with the hydrogen, and another with
the azote.
2. Ammonia is also decomposed by red-hot charcoal,
when it passes over in the state of gas at this tempera¬
ture. Part of the carbone of the charcoal combines
with the ammonia, and forms prussic acid.
II. Action of Sulphur on Ammonia.
1. Ammonia combines with sulphur in the state of
vapour. This combination constitutes a sulphuret of
ammonia, which has the property of decomposing water,
and is then converted into a hydrogenated sulphuret of
ammonia. This may be prepared by distilling, in a re¬
tort, a mixture of muriate of ammonia, lime, and sulphur.
By this process a liquid of a deep orange colour, which
exhales extremely fetid vapours, on account of the ex¬
cess of ammonia which it contains, is produced. This
was known under the name of the fuming liquor of
Boyle. This sulphuret is decomposed by heat, by the
acids and sulphurated hydrogen gas.
2. When ammonia absorbs sulphurated hydrogen
gas, either by agitating the gas in a vessel with liquid
ammonia, or by passing a current of the gas through
it, there is an evolution of caloric and the formation
of vapour, and the liquid is converted into an orange
colour. This is the hydrosulphuret of ammonia. It
has no longer the fetid odour of the hydrogenated sul¬
phurate.
576
CHEMISTRY.
Ammonia, phuret, and it may be crystallized. It is decomposed
&c. by the action of heat, by the acids, and by the metallic
v oxides.
III. Compounds of Ammonia with the Acids.
nod
History.
1107
Prepara¬
tion.
1108
Properties.
1109
Action of
heat.
mo
Prepara¬
tion.
mr
Properties.
I. Sulphate of Ammonia.
1. The compound of sulphuric acid with ammonia
was formerly called secret sal ammoniac of Glauber, be¬
cause it was discovered by that chemist. It was also
called vitriolated ammonia, and vitriolated volatile alkali.
It was discovered by Glauber in examining the resi¬
duum of the decomposition of ammonia by means of
sulphuric acid.
2. This salt may be formed by saturating the acid
with the alkali, and afterwards crystallizing it.
3. The crystals of sulphate of ammonia are six-sided
prisms with unequal sides, terminated by six-sided
pyramids. The sulphate of ammonia undergoes little
change in the air. It slowly attracts moisture in a
humid atmosphere. It is soluble in two parts of cold
water, and in a similar quantity of boiling water.
4. When exposed to heat, it melts ; and if the heat
be continued, it loses a part of its base, and is converted
into the acidulous sulphate of ammonia. This differs
from the sulphate by its sharp taste, and its property of
reddening vegetable blues, greater solubility, and a
different action on several compounds.
5. This salt is not decomposed like the other sul¬
phates, on account of its greater volatility. The com¬
ponent parts of this salt, according to Mr Kirwan,
are.
Acid
Ammonia
Water
54.66
14.24
31*10
100.00
2. Sulphite of Ammonia.
1. The compound of sulphurous acid with ammonia
is prepared by passing a stream of sulphurous acid gas
into a vessel with liquid ammonia. The gaseous acid
is readily absorbed, much heat is produced, and the
sulphite of ammonia crystallizes on the cooling of the
saturated solution.
2. This salt is in the form of six-sided prisms termi¬
nating in six-sided pyramids, or in that of four-sided
rhomboidal prisms, with three-sided summits. The
taste is at first cool and pungent, and afterwards sul¬
phurous. It is deliquescent in the air, from which it
absorbs oxygen, and is converted into the sulphate. It
is soluble in its own weight of cold water. The solution
produces a great degree of cold. Boiling water dis¬
solves still more. Water saturated with sulphite of
ammonia, and agitated in the open air, presents this
salt in a few hours converted into the sulphate, without
any crust on the surface, or muddiness in the liquid,
because it is very soluble in water.
3. It decrepitates slightly on red-hot coals ; when it
is gradually heated in a close vessel, it gives out at first
water and ammonia, and then sublimes totally in the
state of acidulous sulphite.
4. The constituent parts of this salt are,
Sulphurous acid
Ammonia
Water
60
29
11
100
3. Nitrate of Ammonia.
Auim 01
&c.
v—~V'
III!
Compos:
tion.
ni:|
1. This compound of nitric acid and ammonia was «■ . ■
formerly called nitrous sal ammoniac, inflammable nitre.
This salt has been particularly examined by Berthollet,
and more lately by Sir H. Davy.
2. Nitrate of ammonia is prepared by directly com-prep^|
bining the acid and the alkali, and it may be obtain-tion,
ed in crystals by careful evaporation and slow cool¬
ing.
3. This salt crystallizes in six-sided prisms, termi-pr0p^
nating in long six-sided pyramids ; but the appearance
of the crystals varies with the temperature in which
the evaporation goes on. Sometimes they are in long
silky threads, soft and elastic; the taste is very acrid,
bitter, and penetrating j and the specific gravity is
I-5785- • ... mJ
4. When the nitrate of ammonia is exposed to the Action
air, it attracts moisture, and deliquesces. It is soluble water,
in two parts of cold water. Boiling water dissolves
double of its own weight. j
5. Nitrate of ammonia very readily undergoes the of heat
watery fusion. If the heat be continued, it is entirely
deprived of its water of crystallization; and when the
temperature is increased, it explodes spontaneously,
giving out at the same time a white brilliant flame,
with considerable noise *, it is then entirely dissipatedl
into vapour. This detonation instantaneously takes
place, when the nitrate of ammonia is thrown on a
red-hot iron. It was from this property that the salt
derived its name of inflammable nitre. The nature of
this rapid combustion will be understood by consider¬
ing the component parts of the salt. The hydrogen of
the ammonia enters into combination with the oxygen
of the acid j water is formed, and azotic gas is disen¬
gaged from each of the component parts of the salt.
In the different states of crystallization, this salt re¬
quires different temperatures for its fusion and decom¬
position. The following are the conclusions from Sir
H. Davy’s experiments.
“ a. Compact or dry nitrate of ammonia undergoes
little or no change at temperatures below 260°.
“ b. At temperatures between 275° and 300°, it
slowly sublimes without decomposition, or without be¬
coming fluid.
“ c. At 320* it becomes fluid, decomposes, and still
slowly sublimes 5 it neither assuming nor continuing
in the fluid state, without decomposition.
“ d. At temperatures between 340° and 480°, it de¬
composes rapidly.
“ e. The prismatic and fibrous nitrates of ammonia
become fluid at temperatures below 300°, and undergo
ebullition at temperatures between 360° and 400°,
without decomposition.
“ f. They are capable of being heated to 430°
without decomposition or sublimation, till a certain
quantity of their water is evaporated.
“ g. At temperatures above 450°, they undergo de¬
composition,
monift, composition, without previously losing their water of
^ ^c‘ 1 crystallization
* March. 6. The component parts of nitrate of ammonia are,
J-. according to
TnS Tr.
J • Kirwan.
r’'- Acid, _ i7
. Ammonia, 23
Water, 20
CHEMISTRY.
IOO
IOO
f 'l
ll!-
Sir H. Davy has ascertained the proportions of the
component parts of this salt in its three different
states f.
Acid,
Ammonia,
Water,
Fibrous.
72-5
'9-3
8.2
100.0
Prismatic.
69-S
18.4
12.1
100.0
i n9
100.0
7. This salt has been applied to no use but for the
purposes of chemical experiment, and especially for the
preparation of the nitrous oxide or gaseous oxide of
azote, which has been already described in treating of
the compounds of azote.
4. Nitrate of Ammonia.
If this salt be formed by depriving the nitrate of
ammonia of part of its acid, it must be extremely diffi-
ireroy, cult, Fourcroy observes, to obtain it in this way, be-
fore the salt is totally decomposed J.
^ 5. Muriate of Ammonia.
«7> 1. The compound of muriatic acid and ammonia has
been known, from time immemorial, by the name of sal
ammoniac. It derives this name from Ammonia, a
country of Libya, which name is descriptive of the sandy
soil of that region (a). Hence too is the origin of
the epithet Ammon given to Jupiter, to whom a tem¬
ple was erected in that country. This salt was ori¬
ginally collected in great quantities near this temple,
where it was formed in the sand, from the excrementi-
tious matters of different animals, particularly camels.
It was well known to the Greeks and Romans, and
was employed by them in several arts. Before the na¬
ture of this salt was known, it was chiefly brought
from Egypt ; but it is now found to exist, ready form¬
ed, in different countries, particularly in the vicinity
of volcanoes, where it seems to be sublimed. It is
found also in the mountains of Tartary and Thibet, in
grottoes in the neighbourhood of Puzzuoli, and dis¬
solved in the waters of some lakes in Tuscany. The
nature of the muriate of ammonia was first discovered
by Geoffroy j it was afterwards more accurately exa¬
mined by Duhamel ; and, at last, its properties were
fully developed by Black, Bergman, and Scheele, Ber-
2t thollet and Fourcroy.
“a- 2. The muriate of ammonia, which is found ready
prepared in nature, is extremely impure. It must
therefore be subjected to several processes, to separate
Vol. V. Part II. f
5 / /
the foreign matters with which it is impregnated. The Ammonia,
salt which is found sublimed in the crater of volca- &x.
noes, is generally mixed with arsenic and sulphur. v—^
In Egypt it is prepared by collecting together the ex¬
crements of animals which feed on saline plants.
These substances are dried and burnt in furnaces which
are constructed on purpose, or used as the common
materials of fuel. The soot which is thus formed, is
collected, and put into large glass bottles, and ex¬
posed to a strong heat, which is gradually increased
for 72 hours. Towards the second day the salt is su¬
blimed, and attaches itself to the upper part of the
bottles. When the apparatus has cooled, the bottles
are broken, and the salt in form of a cake is taken out,
which amounts to little less than one-third of the soot
which was employed. This manufacture is carried on
at Grand Cairo $ and the French consul then resident
there, communicated an account of it to the Academv
of Sciences, in the year 1719. But it was not till
40 years after this period that it was manufactured in
Europe. The first manufactory was established in Ger¬
many in 1759 5 others afterwards commenced in France,
and in difterent parts of Britain.
In the European manufactories it is prepared by dif¬
ferent processes. Sometimes the calcareous muriate is
precipitated by a carbonate of ammonia extracted from
animal matters. After the lime is deposited, the liquor
is evaporated, and the muriate of ammonia is sublimed.
Sometimes too it is prepared by forming a sulphate of
ammonia ; and by mixing the salt with a muriate of soda,
and exposing the mixture to heat, a double decomposi¬
tion is eflected, and the muriate of ammonia is sublimed.
It is also prepared by the direct combination of muriatic
acid and ammonia. II22
3. Prepared in this way by sublimation, it is in the Properties,
form ol a solid mass, which has some degree of elasti¬
city. It yields to the pressure of the finger, may be
compressed into smaller bulk, and is with difficulty re¬
duced to powder. The specific gravity is 1.42. The
taste is pungent, acrid, and cooling. By solution in
water and slow evaporation, it crystallizes in the form
ot long four-sided pyramids. The primitive form of
the crystal is the regular octahedron j and that of the
integrant particle, the regular tetrahedron. Some¬
times it crystallizes in cubes, and sometimes the prisms
are very small, and grouped together, exhibiting a fea¬
thery appearance. II2.
4. The muriate of ammonia is not altered by expo- Action of
sure to the air. It is soluble in three or four times its vvater*
weight of cold water. Great cold is produced during
the solution ; and on this account it is employed with
snow and ice in the production of artificial cold. Boil¬
ing water dissolves nearly its own weight of this salt. II24
5. The muriate of ammonia is fusible and volatile. Of heat.
When it is thrown on red-heat coals, it is entirely dis¬
sipated in white vapour. Exposed to a high tempera¬
ture, it is decomposed. 112^
6. This salt is readily decomposed by the sulphuric Of acids,
acid, which disengages the muriatic acid with violent
effervescence. It is also decomposed by the nitric acid,
which oxygenates the muriatic acid. In this way a
4 D nitro-mnriatic
(a) From the Greek word ctfi/ntf, which signifies sand.
1126
Composi¬
tion.
* Nichol.
Jcum. Hi.
216.
1127
Uses,
C H E M
nitro-muriatic acid is prepared, which is employed for
the solution of gold. Barytes, potash, soda, and lime,
decompose the muriate of ammonia, and disengage the
ammonia in the state of gas, merely by trituration *, but
if heat be applied, the decomposition is more rapid and
complete.
7. According to the analysis of Mr Kirwan, the com¬
ponent parts of the muriate of ammonia are,
Acid,
Ammonia,
Water,
42-75
25.00
32-2J
100.00
1X23
Prepara¬
tion.
1129
Properties.
f Phi!.
Trans.
1802,
p. 148.
1130
Prepara¬
tion and
properties.
8. No salt is more generally employed than muriate
of ammonia. In chemistry it is used for the extrac¬
tion of ammonia, and the carbonate of ammonia; for
the production of cold, and as an instrument of analy¬
sis. It is also employed in medicine ; in the art of
dyeing, for the preparation of colours ; in metallurgy,
for the indication and separation of some metallic sub¬
stances, and in the arts, for covering the surface of
copper and other vessels, to prevent oxydation in the
process of tinning ; and for the same purpose in solder¬
ing.
6. Hyperoxymuriate, or Chlorate of Ammonia.
The compound of hyperoxymuriatic acid and am¬
monia is formed by pouring carbonate of ammonia in¬
to a solution of any of the earthy hyperoxymuriates.
A double decomposition takes place, and a hyperoxy¬
muriate of ammonia is formed. This salt is very soluble
in water and in alcohol. It is decomposed at a low
temperature, and gives out a quantity of gas together
with a smell of hyperoxymuriatic acid. Such a smell,
Mr Chenevix observes, is doubtless owing to the great
quantity of oxygen contained in the acid, which is more
than what is necessary to combine with the hydrogen
contained in the alkali. Some part, therefore, is dis¬
engaged without decomposition. Mr Chenevix who
formed this salt, could not succeed in ascertaining the
proportion of its constituent parts f.
7. Fluate of Ammonia.
1. This compound of fluoric acid and ammonia is
prepared by saturating the acid with the alkali. By
evaporation it crystallizes in small needles or prisms,
which have a pungent taste analogous to that of sul¬
phate of ammonia.
2. When it is heated, this salt gives out ammonia,
and is sublimed in the state of an acidulous fluate.
This salt decomposes the nitrate and muriate of lime,
and the sulphate of magnesia.
8. Borate of Ammonia.
The compound of boracic acid and ammonia is little
known. It is formed by the direct union of the acid
with the alkali. It has so little permanency, that the
solution being evaporated, the whole of the ammonia
is volatilized, while the boracic acid crystallizes. The
* Fourcroi/base of every other salt decomposes it*.
Chim. iii. 9. Phosphate of Ammonia.
P*336* I> Yhis salt, the compound of phosphoric acid and
I S T R Y.
ammonia, was long confounded with the phosphate of Amraoni
soda, as it exists with it in urine, under the names of &e.
fusible salty native salt of uriney microcosmic salt. It “v->
was first accurately distinguished by Schlosser, De
Chaulnes, and Rouelle, about the year 177°) soon ^"History,
ter by Lavoisier, and more lately by Vauquelin. n,2
2. At first it was extracted from the salt of urine; Prepare
and many processes were adopted to obtain it pure, andtion.
separate from the muriate and phosphate of soda, with
which it is always accompanied. It is now prepared
artificially by directly combining phosphoric acid with
ammonia ; and by slow evaporation of the solution to a
certain consistence crystals are obtained on cooling.
3. The phosphate of ammonia crystallizes in regular Properti
four-sided prisms, terminated by four equal-sided pyra¬
mids, and sometimes in the form of small needles close¬
ly interwoven with each other. It has a cooling, sa¬
line, pungent taste, and changes the syrup of violets to
a green colour. Its specific gravity is 1.8051. 1,34
4. In a moist air, it is slightly deliquescent, but Action c
otherwise it is unchanged. It is soluble in four partswater-
of cold water, and still more so in boiling water. 1135
5. Exposed to heat, it undergoes the watery fusion, Of heat,
swells up, and melts into a transparent glass, which is
acid, part of the base being driven off. Hence it de¬
rived the name offusible salt.
6. It is readily decomposed by charcoal, by the sul-Acids,
phuric, nitric, and muriatic acids, and by the two fixed
alkalies. 1137
7. The phosphate of ammonia is employed as a flux Uses,
in essaying mineral substances with the blow-pipe. It
is greatly used also in the fabrication of coloured
glasses and artificial precious stones.
10. Phosphite of Ammonia. ^ ^
1. This is a compound of phosphorous acid and am-Prcpar
monia. It is prepared by the direct combination ofdon-
the acid with ammonia or the carbonate of ammonia,
and by slow evaporation it may be obtained in cry¬
stals. ii;;
2. It sometimes crystallizes in long transparent Propert
needles, and sometimes in four-sided prisms, terminat¬
ed by four-sided pyramids. It has a strong pungent
taste. 114
3. This salt is slightly deliquescent in the air, is so-Action
luble in twice its weight of cold water, and being more'™1”-
soluble in boiling water, it crystallizes on cooling. 114
When it is heated on charcoal with the blow-O*^31
it boils up, and loses its water of crystallization
4
pipe
When this has escaped, it is surrounded with a fine
phosphoric light; and as the salt begins to vitrify,
there are evolved bubbles of gas, which burn as they
come in contact with the air, with a vivid flame, and
form with the atmosphere a ring of white vapour of
phosphoric acid. What remains is phosphoric acid in
the vitreous state. The same effect may be produced
by heating six or seven grains of the salt in a small
glass globe to which a tube is adapted, and immersed
under jars over mercury. The salt melts, swells, and
gives out bubbles of phosphorated hydrogen gas, which
spontaneously inflame as they come in contact with the
air, and exhibit the white coronet of vapour which is
the characteristic property of the combustion of this
gas. During this decomposition, the base of the salt,
the ammonia, is also volatilized, and pure phosphoric
acid
C H E M
monia, acid remains behind. This salt is decomposed by char¬
ge* coal, the acids, and by potash and soda.
5, The constituent parts of this salt are the follow-
( posir inS>
Phosphorous acid, 26
Ammonia, jl
Water, 23
IOO
6. It has not hitherto been applied to any use,
II. Carbonate of Ammonia.
‘43 ....
J ies. 1. The compound of carbonic acid with ammonia
has been distinguished by different names, as concrete
volatile alkali, aerated volatile alkali, and cretaceous sal
ammoniac. Its peculiar nature and properties were
not clearly understood, till, by the discovery of Dr
Black, it was demonstrated to be a compound salt.
Th is salt is obtained by a great many different proces¬
ses. Formerly it was procured by distilling animal
matters, and particularly horns, as the horns of the
hart, whence it derived the name of volatile salt of
1144 hartshorn.
f iar»* 2. Carbonate of ammonia may be prepared by di¬
rectly combining carbonic acid and ammonia in the
state of gas over mercury j or it may be obtained by
mixing together two parts of chalk, and one part of
muriate of ammonia, well dried and reduced to pow¬
der, and exposing them to heat in a porcelain retort.
The gas, as it comes over, is collected in a receiver,
which is to be cooled with cloths moistened with wa¬
ter. This is the carbonate of ammonia, which is sub¬
limed and attaches itself to the sides of the receiver.
In this process there is a double decomposition. The
carbonic acid of the lime combines with the ammonia,
and forms carbonate of ammonia, which is driven off
by heat; and the muriatic acid of the muriate of am¬
monia combines with the lime and forms muriate of
145 lime, which remains in the retort,
f erties. 3. The carbonate of ammonia is crystallized ; but
the crystals are so irregular, that their form has not
been accurately ascertained. Bergman describes them
as octahedrons, whose four angles are truncated ; while
according to Romi de Lisle, they are compressed four-
sided prisms, terminated by a two-sided summit. The
taste of this salt is slightly acrid, and the smell is per¬
ceptibly that of ammonia, though moi'e feeble. It
converts vegetable blues to green. Its specific gravi-
I4(- ty is 0.966. . _ _ \
A in of 4. When this salt is pure, it is not sensibly changed
by exposure to the air. It is very soluble in water,
and, during its solution, produces cold. Two parts of
cold water dissolve more than one of the salt. Water,
at the temperature of about 120°, dissolves more than
its own weight, &c. When it is rapidly cooled, the
salt crystallizes in the most regular form which it as¬
sumes. Boiling water cannot be employed for its so-
, r47 lution, because at this temperature the salt is driven
eat* off in the state of vapour. When this salt is thrown
upon hot iron, it melts, boils, and is converted into va-
148 pour.
C cidt. 3. It is decomposed by all the acids with effer¬
vescence ; and the effervescence with this salt is more
violent than with the carbonate of the two fixed
I S T B Y.
579
alkalies, because the proportion of carbonic acid is
greater.
6. The constituent parts of this salt, according to
Bergman, are,
Carbonic acid, 45
Ammonia, 43
Water, 12
100
Ammonia,
§cc
1149
Composi¬
tion.
But Mr Davy has found, that the proportion of acid
and water in this salt depends on the temperature at
which it is formed. It is greater when the tempera¬
ture is low, and diminishes as the temperature is in¬
creased. u
7. This salt is employed in medicine, and also in Uses,
the manufacture of muriate of ammonia, for which pur¬
pose it is produced by distillation from animal matters.
The use of it, when it is mixed with volatile oils, as a
perfume, or as a stimulant in smelling bottles, is well
known.
12. Arseniate of Ammonia.
1151
1. This salt, the compound of arsenic acid and am-Prepara-
monia, is formed by combining the acid with the al-^011-
kali. When the solution is evaporated, it affords cry¬
stals of arseniate of ammonia.
2. It crystallizes in the form of rhomboidal prisms ; Properties,
or, with an excess of acid, in the form of needles.
The crystals of the first convert the syrup of violets in¬
to green, and those of the second are deliquescent in
the air. j.,^
3. When this salt is gently heated, the ammonia is Action of
disengaged, and the arsenic acid remains behind ; but boat,
when the heat is violent and sudden, part of the alkali
and of the acid are decomposed, water is formed, azo¬
tic gas is disengaged, and the arsenic is sublimed in the
metallic state.
13. Arsenite of Ammonia.
This is a compound of the white oxide of arsenic, or
arsenious acid, with ammonia ; but nothing is known of
its properties.
14. Tungstate of Ammonia.
1154
1. This compound of tungstic acid and ammonia is Prepara-
formed by dissolving the oxide of tungsten in the solu-tion.
tion of ammonia or carbonate of ammonia ; and by eva¬
porating the solution, the salt is obtained in the form
of crystals.
2. It crystallizes in small scales, which have some Properties,
resemblance to boracic acid ; or in small needles, which
are four-sided. This salt has a metallic taste. It is
not deliquescent in the air, but is soluble in water.
When it is exposed to heat, it is decomposed.
3. The component parts of this salt are,
Tungstic acid, 78
Ammonia and water, 22
ICO
15. Molybdate of Ammonia.
16. Chromate of Ammonia.
4D2 17. Acetate
580
Ammonia,
8tc.
il56
Prepara*
tion.
IlS7
Properties.
* Higgins's
Experi¬
ments,
p. 1S8,
it58
Prepara¬
tion.
”59
Action of
heat.
x 160
Uses.
CHEMISTRY.
17. Acetate of Ammonia.
1. This compound of acetic acid and ammonia has
been long known by the name of spintns mindercri.
In this state it is combined with an excess ot acid. It
may be obtained, but with some difficulty, on account
of its volatility, by slow evaporation. It then crystal¬
lizes in the form of needles. Crystals are also obtain¬
ed by very slow sublimation of this salt.
2. The crystals of acetate of ammonia are long, slen¬
der, flat, and pointed, of a pearly white colour *. The
taste is cooling, with a mixture of sweet. Exposed to
air*, it is deliquescent, and is very soluble in water.
When it is heated to the temperature of i*jo0, it melts ;
and when the temperature is raised to 250, it is sub¬
limed. JBy distillation of the salt in solution, with a
strong heat, it is partly decomposed. The ammonia is
first driven off, then the acid, and, towards the end of
the process, part of the neutral salt.
18. Oxalate of Ammonia.
1. The compound of oxalic acid and ammonia may
be prepared by directly combining the acid with the
alkali. By evaporating the solution, the salt crystal¬
lizes.
2. When the acid is saturated with the alkali, the
crystals are in the form of four-sided prisms, terminated
bv two-sided summits $ one of which is larger, and in¬
cludes three sides of the prism. These salts are soluble
in water.
3. When this salt is exposed to heat, carbonate of
ammonia is driven off, and nothing remains behind but
a little charcoal. From this it appears, that the acid
is decomposed, the carbon and oxygen combining to¬
gether to form carbonic acid, which enters into combi¬
nation with ammonia. It is decomposed by the mineral
acids. The oxalic acid combines with it, and forms an
acidulous oxalate of ammonia. The oxalates of potash
and soda form compounds with this salt, which are
known by the name of triple salts.
4. This is one of the most useful salts to be employ¬
ed as a reagent in detecting lime in liquid solutions, and
for ascertaining the nature and proportions of calcare¬
ous salts.
19. Tartrate of Ammonia.
The compound of tartaric acid and ammonia forms
a salt which very readily crystallizes. This salt has a
cooling bitter taste, is very soluble in water, and easily
decomposed by heat. It is subject also to spontaneous
decomposition. By the action of the stronger acids,
part of the base is separated, and it is converted into
an acidulous tartrate of ammonia.
20. Citrate of Ammonia.
1. This salt, which is a compound of citric acid and
ammonia, is formed by the direct combination of the
acid and alkali, and it crystallizes when the solution is
evaporated to the consistence of a thick syrup.
2. The crystals are in the form of an elongated prism.
They are very soluble in water, and have a saline cool¬
ing taste. This salt is decomposed by heat, the ammo¬
nia being driven oft*.
3. It is composed of
Acid 62
Ammonia 38
100
21. Malate of Ammonia.
This salt, which is a compound of malic acid and
ammonia, is a very soluble and deliquescent salt. Its
other properties are unknown.
22. Benzoate of Ammonia.
The compound of benzoic acid and ammonia forms
a very soluble salt, which readily crystallizes, and the
crystals arrange themselves in an arborescent or plu¬
mose form. This salt is volatile, and is decomposed by
all other acids*. *Fomc)
Conmiss,
23. Succinate of Ammonia. Chim. viil
The compound of succinic acid and ammonia forms152'
a salt, which affords needle-shaped crystals that are
deliquescent, and are sublimed by heat, without being
decomposed.
24. Saccolate of Ammonia.
Nothing farther is known of this salt, than that it
has an acid taste, and is readily decomposed by heat.
25. Camphorate of Ammonia. ^
1. This salt, which is a compound of camphoric Prepara *
acid and ammonia, is prepared by adding the acid totIon*
a solution of carbonate of ammonia, and hot water,
till effervescence ceases. The evaporation must be
conducted with a very gentle heat, on account of the
volatility of the ammonia. h6j
2. It is difficult to obtain this salt crystallized. Properti
When the solution is too much evaporated, it affords
a crystalline mass, in which appear small needles 5 but
if it be evaporated to dryness there remains a solid
opaque mass, which has a slightly bitter and pungent
taste.
3. This salt is slightly deliquescent in the air $ it is
not very soluble in cold water, but may be dissolved
in three parts of boiling water. In these salts, it
would appear that the acid resists the action of the wa¬
ter j for when there is an excess of base, they become
more soluble.
4. Exposed to heat on red-hot coals, it swells and^C^0E ‘
melts, and then rises in vapour. With the blow-pipe,
it gives a blue and red flame, and is entirely dissi¬
pated. ii(,;
5. This salt is decomposed by the sulphuric, nitric, Of acid
and muriatic acids, and if the solution be sufficiently
concentrated, the camphoric acid is deposited. It is
also decomposed by potash and soda, and more rapidly
with the assistance of heat. This salt is completely so¬
luble in alcohol f. ^ jnn.,
26. Suberate of Ammonia. p ^j.
This compound of suberic acid with ammonia af¬
fords crystals in the form of parallelepipeds. It has
a slight saltish taste, leaving an impression of bitterness.
It reddens vegetable blues, and is deliquescent in the
air. It is very soluble in water. W hen it is thrown
on
A Ionia,
<w!. de
Cl. tom.
s» P-55-
C H E M
on burning coals, it swells up, and is deprived of its
water of crystallization. It is entirely dissipated by
the action of the blow-pipe. It is decomposed by the
sulphuric, nitric, muriatic, and oxalic acids, by the
fixed alkalies, and the aluminous and magnesian salts*.
I S T R Y. 581
known, is ten, and we shall treat of them in the follow- Lime, &e.
ing order.
27. Mellate of Ammonia.
This salt, which is a compound of mellitic acid and
ammonia, is formed by saturating the acid with the
alkali. By evaporation it affords transparent, six-sided
crystals, Tdiis salt, when exposed to the air, becomes
opaque, and of a silvery white colour.
28. Lactate of Ammonia.
1. Lime,
2. Barytes,
3. Strontites,
4. Magnesia,
5. Alumina,
6. Silica,
7. Yttria,
8. Glucina,
9. Zirconia.
Thorina.
10.
This compound of lactic acid and ammonia forms a
salt which crystallizes. It is deliquescent in the air,
and is decomposed by heat, great part of the ammonia
being driven off.
29. Prussiate of Ammonia.
The compound of prussic acid and ammonia affords
a salt which has the odour of ammonia. When this
salt is exposed to heat, it is entirely dissipated.
30. Sebate of Ammonia.
31. Urate of Ammonia.
The compound of uric acid and ammonia forms a
salt which is not very soluble in water, and in many of
its properties resembles the acid itself.
IV. Compounds of Ammonia with Inflammable Sub¬
stances.
1. Ammonia enters into combination with alcohol,
with the assistance of a moderate heat; but the am¬
monia is separated when the mixture is exposed to a
temperature below the boiling point of alcohol.
2. Ammonia readily mixes with ether ; but the na¬
ture of the compound, or whether it be a chemical
combination, is not known.
3. Ammonia forms a compound with the fixed oils,
which is well known under the name of soap or lini¬
ment.
4. With the volatile oils it forms compounds, which
have somewhat similar properties.
Chap. XIII. Of EARTHS.
1. The word earth is taken in different significa¬
tions. Sometimes it signifies the globe, and sometimes
it is used to denote the soil on the surface of the globe.
In chemistry it is employed to signify certain elementary
substances, of which a great proportion of the solid parts
of the globe is composed \ and these substances are found
to possess many peculiar, and some common properties.
^eg 2. The general properties of the earths are tire fol¬
lowing.
a. They have neither taste nor smell.
b. They are incombustible.
c. They are nearly soluble in water.
55 d. They have a specific gravity which is under 5.
era- The number of the earths which are at present
Sect. I. Of Lime.
t- . Il67
1. Lime has been known from the remotest anti-Early
quity. 1 he great abundance in which it is found in known,
nature, and the important uses to which it may be
applied, led men to employ it for many purposes from
the earliest ages of the world. It was well known to
the ancients as mortar, and as a manure, and they were
not unacquainted with some of its medicinal virtues.
But it was long before the nature and properties of
lime were fully known ; and particularly those changes
which quicklime undergoes when it is exposed to the
air, or limestone to the action of heat. It was not till
Dr Black made his brilliant discoveries, that the nature
of these changes was fully developed, and the fanciful
theories which had been proposed to account for them
were entirely rejected. j^g
2. Lime is seldom found perfectly pure in nature; Prepara-
but it is universally diffused, and exists in some places^011 of P»re
in the greatest abundance, in combination with other^me'
substances, and particularly with carbonic acid. To
obtain it pure, a quantity of chalk, or marble, or
limestone, is exposed to a strong heat, by which means
the carbonic acid with which it is in combination, is
driven off. When the limestone, or marble, or chalk,
which has been employed, is sufficiently burnt or cal¬
cined, and removed from the fire, and water poured
upon it, it swells up, and at last falls down into a
powder. This powder is called quicklime. In this utf*)
process of slaking lime, as it is called, a great quanti-
ty of water is quickly absorbed, and the water being
fixed in the lime in the solid state, gives out that calo¬
ric which is necessary to retain it in the state of li¬
quidity, so that a great quantity of heat is evolved.
Part of the water, also, rises in vapour in consequence
ot the great beat, before it is consolidated with the
lime. The heat produced is so great, that W'ater may
be boiled, and combustible bodies may be inflamed.
Accidents have happened to carriages and vessels load¬
ed with lime, to which water had been admitted. So
much heat was produced, that they have been set fire
to, and burnt. Light is also emitted when lime is
slaked. ’Ibis, it is said, is seen when the process is
conducted in a dark place, and the quantity of lime is
considerable.
3. I he purity of lime, thus obtained, is in pro¬
portion to the purity of the substance which was cal¬
cined. The lime, which is obtained by burning pure
white marble, or what is called calcareous spar, is to-
582
.Lime, &c.
CHEMISTRY.
1170
Properties
and-cotB-
position.
1171
Action of
water.
1171
Crystal¬
lises.
* Phil.
Mag. xii.
S3-
“73
Action of
heat.
leraWy pure. But there are other processes by wliich
those substances with which it may happen to be mixed
may be separated. If a quantity of chalk be washed
in pure water, dissolved in distilled acetic acid, and
afterwards precipitated by carbonate ©1 ammonia, the
precipitate being washed and calcined, pure lime is the
product. The lime which is obtained from oyster-
shells, may be rendered pure by the following process.
First wash the shells in different quantities of water, and
boil them, to separate any mucilaginous substance. In¬
troduce them into a furnace, and calcine them to white-
r»?ss. After the first calcination, put them into a por¬
celain retort, and expose it to a red heat. By this
process pure lime is obtained. To preserve it in this
state of purity, it must be kept in close vessels.
4. Pure lime is of a white colour, has a hot, sharp,
caustic taste, and destroys the texture of animal;'con-
substances, to which it is for some time applied. It
verts the syrup of violets and other vegetable blues
to a green colour. The specific gravity of lime is 2,3.
This earth may be decomposed by the galvanic battery,
in contact with mercury, a substance, the affinities of
which materially promote the object. The metallic
base or calcium forms an amalgam with the mercury,
Which may be afterwards expelled by heat, and the
calcium is obtained pure. It is a white metal, and when
gently headed, burns and resumes the state of lime.
5. After the lime has been prepared and slaked ;
if more water be added to dilute it, and reduce it
to the consistence of thick cream, this is what was
formerly called tni/k or cream of lime. But if a greater
quantity of water be added, and the solution be filtered,
a transparent liquid is thus obtained, which isfcknown
by the name of lime-water. Four hundred and fifty
parts of water are required, it is said, to dissolve one
of lime. This water is clear and limpid, has a sharp
acrid taste, and renders the syrup of violets green,
m en this water is evaporated, and the whole driven off,
the lime remains pure. If the solution of lime-water be
exposed to the air, the surface is soon covered with a
pellicle, which gradually acquires solidity and thick¬
ness. The pellicle is owing to the attraction of the
lime for the carbonic acid of the atmosphere, forming a
carbonate of lime, which being insoluble in water, is
precipitated.
6. Lime, according to Trommsdorf, crystallizes.
This was first discovered by Scheele. The method by
which Mr Trommsdorf obtained the crystals lime is
the following. Boil any quantity at pleasure of muriate
of lime, with one-fourth or less of caustic lime, and
evaporate the solution till a drop of it let fall on a cold
stone assume the consistence of a syrup. It is then to
be filtered, and put into a close vessel, that the solution
may cool as slowly as possible. Crystals of lime are
thus obtained, which must be washed in alcohol, to se¬
parate any part of the muriate of lime which may ad¬
here. For the complete success of this experiment,
some pounds of the muriate of lime must be employ¬
ed *.
y. Lime undergoes no change by the action of light,
and it remains unaltered when it is exposed to the
greatest heat.
8. Lime is one of the most important of the earthy
bodies. It is applied to a great many valuable pur¬
poses, and fortunately it can be obtained in the great, jjmp ;
est abundance. It is employed in medicine, both as an -y-
internal remedy, and an external application. As a
manure, it is of the most extensive utility j nor is it of
Jess importance, as it is employed for a cement in build¬
ing. When quicklime is mixed with sand and water,
and reduced to the form of a thick paste, it is in the
state of mortar. It is an object of the utmost import¬
ance that the mortar which is employed as a cement in
building, should be durable. To obtain this object, a
good deal of attention has been paid by different phi¬
losophers in ascertaining the proportions which seem to
answer best, or the additions which may be made to
the usual materials in the formation of good and dur¬
able mortar. The proportions which have been pro¬
posed by Dr Higgins are,
11
74
Mortar.
Coarse sand,
Fine sand,
Quicklime,
parts,
The lime should be recently slaked, and the quantity
of water should be just sufficient to bring it to a proper
consistency.
Dr Higgins found that burnt bones, if they did not
exceed one-fourth of the lime, added to the mortar,
improved its tenacity, and prevented it from cracking •
in drying.
It has been proposed to add a certain proportion of
unslaked lime to the mortar, with the view of giving
it greater solidity. Mortar acquires its hardness from
the lime absorbing carbonic acid, and returning to the
state of lime-stone, and also from the combination of
part of the water with the lime. According to Guy,
ton’s experiments, the following proportions compose a
good, durable mortar,
Fine sand, 3 parts
Cement of well-baked bricks, 3
Slaked lime, 2
Unslaked, 2
It is sometimes necessary to use mortar as a cement
under water, but common mortar is unfit for this pur¬
pose. It. has been found by experiment, that manga¬
nese added to mortar gives it the property of consoli¬
dating under water. To prepare a mortar for this pur¬
pose, Guyton recommends the following process. Mix
together 90 parts of limestone, six parts of black oxide
of manganese, and four parts of blue clay in the state of
powder. Let the mixture be calcined, to drive off the
carbonic acid ; then add 60 parts of sand, and mix it
together with a sufficient quantity of water, to bring it
to the consistency of mortar.
9. The order of the affinities of lime is the follow-AUtoiti
ing :
Oxalic acid,
Sulphuric,
Tartaric,
Succinic,
Phosphoric,
Saclactic,
Nitric,
Muriatic,
Suberic,
I
Fluoric,
77
tic?
C H E M
&c, Fluoric,
——' Arsenic,
Lactic,
Citric,
Eenzoic,
Sulphurous,
Acetic,
Boracic,
Carbonic,
Prussic.
I. Phosphuret of Lime.
a. I. Lime combines with phosphorus, and forms a
compound which is phosphuret of lime. To pre¬
pare this compound, introduce into the bottom of a
glass tube, closed at one end, one part of phosphorus,
and afterwards place a little above it four or five times
its weight of quicklime in powder. Expose to a heat
that part of the tube which contains the lime, so that
it may become red hot. In this state raise the tube
and draw it along the coals, till that part of it contain¬
ing the phosphorus be also exposed to the heat. The
phosphorus is raised in the state of vapour through the
lime, and combines with it, so that the whole mass forms
a compound of a brown colour. This is the phosphuret
of lime.
2. It has a deep brown colour, no smell, and when
it is exposed to the air it falls to pieces. It is insolu¬
ble in water, but it decomposes that liquid at the mo¬
ment it comes in contact with it. An efiervescence
takes place, and phosphorated hydrogen gas is emitted,
which is spontaneously inflamed when it comes to the
surface of the water. It is owing to this gas that phos¬
phuret of lime, when it is moistened, gives out the fe¬
tid smell of garlic ; and as this gas is formed by the
decomposition of the water, part of it combines with
the phosphuret of lime, and forms a hydrogenated ph’os-
phuret, so that the phosphuret when it is taken from
the water and dried, gives out flame, when concentrat¬
ed muriatic acid, which disengages the phosphorated
hydrogen gas, is poured upon it.
II. Sulphuret of Lime.
i. This compound of sulphur and lime may be
formed by exposing to heat in a crucible, sulphur and
lime reduced to powder. They fuse slightly, or rather
combine into an acrid, reddish mass, which is the sul¬
phuret of lime, formerly called calcareous liver of sul-
9 phur.
ten- 2. When it attracts moisture from the air, or if a
little water be thrown upon it, it changes colour, and
passes to a greenish yellow, emitting at the same time
an extremely fetid odour, and forming sulphurated hy¬
drogen gas, becomes a hydrogenated sulphuret.
3. When sulphur and lime are combined together
by means of water, the result is not a simple sulphu¬
ret, but always a hydrogenated sulphuret, on account
of the water which is decomposed. '1 his may be pre¬
pared, either by throwing water on quicklime, cover¬
ed with sulphur in powder ; the heat which is emitted
by the slaking of the lime effecting the combination :
or it may be prepared by heating in a matrass, sulphur
and lime in powder with ten times their weight of wa¬
ter, or by heating lime water on sulphur. By the two
I S T R Y. 583
first processes, a liquid is obtained of a red, orange, or Lime, Stc.
yellow colour, of an extremely fetid odour, and a' — ^
pungent acrid taste. This hydrogenated sulphuret of
lime exposed to the air, is deprived of its colour, gra¬
dually decomposed, and the sulphur combining with the
oxygen of the air, is first converted into sulphurous,
and afterwards into sulphuric acid. It is decomposed
by the acids, sulphur is precipitated, and sulphurated
hydrogen gas is disengaged. uSo
4. Lime combines readily with sulphurated hydro-Hydrosuf-
geu. When sulphurated hydrogen gas is passed into aP^aret’
bottle of lime-water, the gas is absorbed and fixed by
combining with the lime, it renders it more soluble,
and forms the hydrosulphuret of lime. This hydrosul-
phuret, as Berthollet observes, performs the part of an
acid, by saturating the lime, and gives it the property
of crystallizing. This hydrosulphuret has no colour,
and, exposed to the air, emits a strong fetid odour. It
is extremely soluble in water, and is decomposed by
the acids with effervescence, while sulphurated hydro¬
gen gas is given out. Thus, lime enters into three
different combinations with sulphur, namely, into the
sulphuret of lime, the hydrosulphuret, and the hydro¬
genated sulphuret.
III. Compounds of Lime with acids.
I. Sulphate of Lime.
1. The compound of sulphuric acid and lime hasj^anjeJ
been known under a great variety of names, as selenite^
gypsum, plaster of Paris, alabaster, vitriol of lime. The pound na-
sulphate of lime is found in great abundance in nature ;tive.
and it is found sufficiently pure, so that artificial pre¬
paration is not required. 1183
2. When sulphate of lime is pure, it is frequently Properties,
found crystallized. The primitive form of its crystals
is a quadrangular prism, whose bases are rhomboidal,
and the angles 113* and 67°. The integrant particle
has the same form. The specific gravity is from 2.1679
to 2.3114. It is not changed by exposure to the air.
It is little soluble in water. Five hundred parts of cold
water, and 450 of boiling water, are required to dis¬
solve it. When it is exposed to heat, it loses its water
of crystallization, decrepitates, becomes very friable, and
falls down into a very white opaque powder. When
this powder is reduced to a paste with water, it absorbs
it very rapidly, and becomes in a very short time solid.
From this peculiar property, it is employed for forming
casts, under the name of piaster of Paris. When it is^clion
strongly heated for a long time, it becomes phosphor.es-heat,
cent, and then melts; and before the blow-pipe it gives
an opaque, vitreous globule. ,,55
3. This salt becomes more soluble by the action of Of acids,
sulphuric acid, without being converted into an acidu¬
lous sulphate of lime. The nitric and muriatic acids
increase its solubility without decomposing it. It is
partly decomposed by the phosphoric acid in the cold. uS6
4. The component parts of sulphate of lime, accord- Compost¬
ing to Bergman, are,
Acid 46
Lime 32
Water 22
100
tion.
After
584
Lime, &.c.
1187
Prepara¬
tion.
itSS
Properties.
1189
Action of
heat.
1190
Composi¬
tion.
1191
History.
1192
Prepara.
tiou.
CHEMISTRY.
After being dried in different temperatures, accord¬
ing to Mr Kirwan, the component parts are,
Dried in 2700 In a red heat. In a white heat.
50.39 55.84 56
35.23 38.81 41
14-38 5-35 00
Acid
Lime
Water
100.00
100.00
100
Anhydrous Sulphate of Lime.
This is a variety of the sulphate of lime found native
in different places, which, as the name imports, con¬
tains no water of crystallization. It is found crystallized.
The primitive form of the crystal is a rectangular
prism, having two of its bases broader than the other
two. The specific gravity is 2.950. It has a pearly
lustre, considerable hardness, phosphoresces when it is
heated, is transparent, and insoluble in water. The
component parts are, according to the analysis of Mr
Chenevix,
Acid 44.88
Lime 55-12
100.00
2. Sulphate of Lime.
1. This salt may be prepared by passing a current
of sulphurous acid gas into a bottle of distilled water,
in which is suspended pure carbonate of lime in pow¬
der. A brisk effervescence takes place ; the sulphite,
as it forms, falls to the bottom in the state of powder ;
and if the gas he continued to be added after the ef¬
fervescence has ceased, the sulphite of lime in the state
of powder is completely re-dissolved j the liquid be¬
comes warm $ and as it cools, it affords crystals.
2. This salt is either in the state of white powder, or
in the form of six-sided prisms, terminated by long,
six-sided pyramids. At first it has no taste, but when
it is kept in the mouth for some time, it becomes sul¬
phureous. It effloresces slowly when exposed to the air,
and is converted into sulphate of lime on the surface.
It is less soluble in water than the sulphate of lime, re¬
quiring 800 parts of water to dissolve it.
3. When it is exposed to heat, it is deprived of some
water, becomes white, and is reduced to powder. A
strong heat separates some sulphur, and it is then con¬
verted into sulphate of lime.
4. The component parts of this salt are,
Sulphurous acid
Lime
Water
48
47
5
100
syrup, and allowing the solution to cool slowly. It is £,inie
thus obtained in the state of crystals. *—~v- i
3. The crystals of nitrate of lime are in the form of npi
six-sided prisms, terminated by long pyramids. Some-^rol)eiti
times they are in the form of long striated needles,
grouped together, of a silvery whiteness. The taste is
acrid, hot, and bitter. The specific gravity is 1.6207. IIf)
4. This is one of the most deliquescent salts. Ex-Action
posed to the air for a few hours, it is totally melted."'ater.
It is sometimes employed in chemistry on account of
this property of attracting moisture, to deprive gases
of the vapour of water with which they may be com¬
bined. For this purpose, the gases are made to pass
through tubes which contain dried nitrate of lime. It
is owing to a mixture of this salt, that nitre is some¬
times deliquescent in the air. The nitrate of lime is
extremely soluble in water. One part of cold water
dissolves four of this salt. Boiling water dissolves still
more. ' Il9*
5. When heated, this salt is very fusible. It melts Of heat
like oil, and after it becomes dry, it often acquires,
during calcination, the property of becoming luminous
in the dark. Hence the origin of one of its names.
More strongly heated, it is decomposed gives out red
vapours of nitrous gas, oxygen and azotic gases, and
there remains behind pure lime.
6. This salt is decomposed by the sulphuric acid, par-Of acl
tially by the phosphoric, and by potash and soda. By
double aflinity it is decomposed by the sulphates of pot¬
ash, of soda, and ammonia. Sulphate of lime, which is
an insoluble salt, is always precipitated. |
7. By the analysis of Bergman, the constituent parts conip0
of nitrate of lime are the following, tion.
Acid, 43
Lime, 32
Water. 25
100
By the analysis of Mr Kirwan, when it is well dried in
the air.
in
Acid,
Lime,
Water,
57-44
32.00
10.56
100.00
3. Nitrate of Lime.
1. Th is salt, which is the compound of nitric acid
and lime, has been long known under the names of cal¬
careous nitre, mother water of nitre, Baldwin’s phospho¬
rus. It always accompanies nitre, and as one of its
names imports, remains in the solution from which nitre
has been obtained.
2. This salt may be prepared by dissolving carbonate
of lime in nitric acid, evaporating to the consistence of
3
This salt has not been applied to any use. It is re¬
commended by Fourcroy as a substitute for nitre in the
extraction of nitric acid *.
4. Nitrite of Lime.
When the nitrite of lime is exposed to heat, till It
give out some bubbles of oxygen gas, there remains
behind a calcareous nitrite, which converts vegetable
blues to green, and gives out a great quantity of red
vapour by the action of acids. It seems to be in the
state of nitrite of lime, that this compound possesses
the phosphorescent property f.
5. Muriate of Lime.
I. The compound of muriatic acid and lime has
been known by the names of calcareous marine salt,
fixed sal ammoniac, and Hombetfs phosphorus. This
salt
* Fou 1
Conna\
Chim.
p. 13-
f Ibid
P. ^
n
Name
199
lant-
f 200
perties.
ie, Sac. salt is frequently found in solution in some mineral
-v—waters.
2. It is prepared by saturating muriatic acid with
carbonate of lime, and evaporating the solution to the
consistence of syrup. It crystallizes on cooling.
3. The muriate oflime crystallizes in six-sided prisms,
terminated by six-sided pyramids. The taste is acrid’
bitter, and disagreeable. It is extremely deliquescent
in the air. Cold water dissolves nearly double its weight.
In a perfectly dry state, it is chloride of calcium. See
N® 956. Its specific gravity is 1.76.
4. Exposed to heat, it becomes soft, melts, and
swells up, and then is deprived of its water of crystal¬
lization. At a very high temperature it is also de-
pi ived of part of its acid. In this state, with an excess
oflime, it acquires the property of shining in the dark,
from which it has been called the phosphorus of Hom-
berg.
5. This salt is decomposed by the sulphuric acid,
by the nitric acid, which converts it into the oxymu-
riatic, and partly by the phosphoric and fluoric acids.
6. According to the analysis of Bergman, the con¬
stituent parts of this salt are,
CHEMISTRY.
585
201
on of
202
cids.
:04
Muriatic acid,
Lime,
Water,
31
44
25
100
But, according to Mr Kirwan, when it is dried in a
red heat, it is composed of
Acid,
Lime,
Water,
42
50
8
100
7. This salt is only employed for chemical experi¬
ments, and particularly for the production of artificial
cold, by mixing it with snow or pounded ice. Of all
the salts employed for this purpose, it seems to have
the greatest effect, in consequence of the rapid transi¬
tion from the solid to the liquid state. To prepare the
salt for this purpose, it is most convenient to evaporate
it to the consistence of a pretty thick syrup ; and then
by stirring it constantly as it cools, it is obtained in
a dry granulated state, which should be reduced to
powder in the cold, and put up in bottles secured with
ground stoppers.
6. Hyperoxymuriate or Chlorate of Lime.
This salt, which is the compound of hyperoxymuri-
atic acid and lime, is prepared by putting a quantity of
pure white marble, reduced to powder, into one of the
bottles of Woulfe’s apparatus, half filled with water,
and by passing a current of oxymuriatic acid gas into
the liquid, till the effervescence ceases, and the powder
has nearly disappeared. It acquires a pungent styptic
taste, with a reddish colour. It exhales the odour of
oxymuriatic acid, and not of the byperoxymuriatic acid.
When ammonia is added to this solution, it is decom¬
posed, and there remains ordinary muriate of lime,
from which circumstance it seems doubtful whether
there is at all formed a hyperoxymuriate oflime. Ac¬
cording to Mr Cbenevix this salt is extremely deli-
Vol. V. Part II. f
quescent, melts at a low heat, in its water of crystalli- Lime Stc
zation, and is very soluble in alcohol. The component1
parts of this salt are,
Acid,
Lime,
Water,
55-2
28.3
16.5
—v—
1206
Composi¬
tion.
100.01
f Philos.
Tram.
1802,
p. 147.
This salt has been successfully employed in the pro- Uses. ^
cess of bleaching.
7. Fluate of Lime.
1208
l. The compound of fluoric acid and lime has been History
long known under the names of Jiuor spar, cubic spar,
and phosphoric spar, from the figure of its crystals, or
from some of its properties. This salt exists in great
abundance in nature, and in a state of considerable
purity
2.. It may be artificially prepared, by combining Piepara-
fluoric acid with lime in solution in water. The salt t‘on'
is deposited in the form of powder in the bottom of
the vessel; and when it is taken out, it is to be well
washed and dried.
3. When the fluate oflime is found native, it is ge- Properties
nerally crystallized in the form of cubes, the angles of
which, and sometimes the edges, are truncated. The
primitive form of the crystal is the regular octahedron.
The form of its integrant particle is the regular tetrahe¬
dron. It has frequently a considerable degree of trans¬
parency, and exhibits *a great variety of colours. The
specific gravity is 3.15. It has no taste, is not altered
by exposure to the air, and it is insoluble in water. tzn
4. When it is exposed to heat, it decrepitates and Action of
becomes luminous in the dark j but when it has once h€at>
given out this light, it cannot be restored, either by ex¬
posing it to the sun’s rays, or by calcination with char¬
coal or any other combustible substance. From this
circumstance it appears, that this phosphorescent pro¬
perty is owing to some volatile principle which has been
a constituent part of the salt. The artificial fluate of
lime also possesses the same property, and even, ac¬
cording to Scheele, in a higher degree. When it is
strongly heated, it melts into a transparent glass. I2II
5. This salt is decomposed by the sulphuric, nitric, Of acids,
and muriatic acids, by the carbonates of potash and
soda, and by most of the phosphates. It is by decom¬
posing it by means of the sulphuric acid, that the fluoric
acid is obtained.
6. The fluate of 1 ime is much employed in small Uses
pieces of sculpture, and for ornamental purposes in the
formation of cups, vases, and pyramids. It is employ¬
ed also as a flux for mineral substances.
8. Borate of Lime.
This salt, which is a compound of boracic acid and
lime, is prepared by pouring a solution of boracic acid
into lime water, or by decomposing the soluble alkaline
borates by means oflime water. A precipitate is thus
formed, of a salt nearly insoluble, which is insipid, and
in the form of a white powder. Little is known of the
properties of this salt.
9. Phosphate of Lime.
L The compound of phosphoric acid and lime,
4 E known
^86
Lime, &c.
1214
History and
prepara
tion.
1215
Properties.
1216
Action of
heat.
1217
Of acids.
121S
Composi¬
tion.
12 ip
Uses.
1220
History.
1221
Prepara¬
tion.
C H E M
known under the name of calcareous 'phosphoric salt,
is one of the most interesting discoveries of modern
chemistry. This was made by Scheele and C»ahn in
1774, when they proved that it formed the basis of
bones. To obtain this salt in a state of purity, a quan¬
tity of bones is calcined to whiteness, reduced to pow¬
der, and well washed with water to separate the carbo¬
nate of soda and other soluble salts which are generally
combined with it. rLhe phosphate of lime is thus pro¬
cured in the form of an insipid white powder. In this
state it is generally mixed with a little carbonate of
lime, which may be separated by diluted acetic acid,
and afterwards Xvashing it with water.
2. By this process the phosphate of lime is procured
in a state of purity from the solid matter of bones. It
has no taste, and does not change the colour of vege¬
table blues. When it is prepared artificially, it is in
the form of white powder, but as it exists in nature, it
is found regularly crystallized. This is known to mi¬
neralogists under the name of apatite, of which there
are several varieties. The primitive form of its crystal
is the regular six-sided prism j the primitive form of the
integrant molecule is a three-sided prism, whose bases
are equilateral triangles. It remains unaltered by ex¬
posure to the air, and it is soluble in water.
3. When this salt is exposed to heat, it scarcely un¬
dergoes any change ; but when it is exposed to the
strong heat of a glasshouse furnace, it is converted into
a semitransparent porcelain.
4. The phosphate of lime is decomposed by the sul¬
phuric, nitric, muriatic, and other acids 5 but this de¬
composition is only partial. Part of the lime only is
abstracted, and the salt is converted into an acidulous
phosphate of lime.
5. The component parts of phosphate of lime, ac¬
cording to Fourcroy and Vauquelin, are,
Acid,
Lime,
41
59
TOO
6. The phosphate of lime is of great importance in
chemistry, for the purpose of extracting phosphoric
acid, to be decomposed to obtain phosphorus. It is
also employed for making cupels, for polishing metals
and precious stones, and for removing spots of grease
from linen, paper, and silk. It is used in medicine as
a remedy for rickets, to correct the supposed effects of
acids in softening the bones.
Superphosphate o f Lime.
1. This salt, with an excess of acid, was discovered
by Fourcroy and Vauquelin in 1795. Scheele had re¬
marked, that the phosphate of lime was dissolved by an
acid in human urine j but he had not ascertained that
this combination between the phosphoric acid and the
phosphate of lime constituted a permanent salt.
2. It may be obtained artificially by the partial de¬
composition of the phosphate of lime by means of any
acid, or by dissolving this salt in phosphoric acid. This
last process, Fourcroy observes, is the most certain *,
and when the phosphoric acid has dissolved as much as
it can take up of the phosphate of lime, the salt is in
the state of acidulous phosphate, or superphosphate.
I S T R Y.
3. This salt crystallizes in small silky threads, or in Lime, 81
•brilliant plates of a pearly lustre, which are attached to ' /-
each other, and seem to have the consistence of honey 1*“
or glue. It has a strong acid taste. Exposed to the >er"
air, it is slightly deliquescent. It is soluble in water,
and the solution produces cold. It is more soluble in
boiling water, and crystallizes by cooling. m3
4. When this salt is exposed to heat, it first melts, Action c
and then swells up and dries. If the temperature be heat,
increased, it undergoes the igneous fusion, and is con¬
verted into a transparent glass. The phosphoric acid
in this salt is more readily decomposed by charcoal
than in the neutral phosphate of lime. It is not de¬
composed by any of the acids, excepting the oxalic.
The proportions of its constituent parts are the fol¬
lowing : Il21
Acid, 54
4« ilw,
’ Connaisi
TOO*. Chitn, ii
p. 247.
10. Phosphite of Lime.
ms
1. This salt, composed of phosphorous acid and lime, Prepara
is formed by the direct combination of the acid with1*0"1
the earth, and when they are saturated, it falls to the
bottom in the form of white powder. This powder is
re-dissolved with an excess of acid, and in this state of
acidulous phosphite of lime, crystallizes by evaporating
the solution. _
2. When thus obtained, it is in the form of a white Propel
powder, if it is just neutralized j but with an excess of
acid, it forms small prisms or needles. This salt has
no taste *, it is not changed by exposure to the air $ and
it is insoluble in water. nr
3. When it is exposed to heat, it gives out a phos-Action
phoric light, yields a small quantity of phosphorus, and^eat.
is converted into a phosphate. By the action of the
blow-pipe it melts into a transparent globule. _ mi
4. The neutral phosphite of lime is soluble in acids, Of acid
without being decomposed. The proportions of its con- m'
stituent parts are,
Phosphorous acid, 34
Lime, 51
Water, 15
Corapof
tion.
IOO
II. Carbonate of Lime.
1*3'
• 3
1. This salt exists in great abundance m nature ;Names,
and it is known by great variety of names, as limestone, i23
marble, chalk. It may be prepared artificially, by di-^Pa!!
rectly combining carbonic acid with lime j but in this
process the proportions of the acid and earth must be
accurately adjusted ; for, if there is too little acid, the
first precipitate which is formed is re-dissolved in the
water, and seems to form carbonate with excess of
lime. If there be too much acid, the carbonate first
precipitated is also re-dissolved, and disappears in this
excess of carbonic acid. ^3
2. The carbonate of lime is perfectly tasteless. Thepfopet*
specific gravity is 2.7. It is frequently found crystal¬
lized, and exhibits a great variety of forms. When it
is transparent and in the rhomboidal form, it has the
property
ne. &c. property of double refraction. The primitive form of
—v—' its crystals is an obtuse rhomboid, whose angles are
about ioi-§-0 and 78^°. The integrant molecule has the
same form.
3. When it is exposed to the air it undergoes no
change. It is insoluble in water.
4. Exposed to a strong heat, it decrepitates, and is
deprived of its water of crystallization. It becomes
white, opaque, and friable. If the heat be increased
and continued, the whole of the carbonic acid is dri¬
ven off in the state of gas.
5. The carbonate of lime is readily decomposed by
all the acids with effervescence, owing to the disen¬
gagement of the carbonic acid in the state of gas.
6. The component parts of carbonate of lime, as
they have been ascertained by the analyses of Bergman
and Kirwan, are the following.
Bergman. Kirwan.
Acid, 34 45
Lime, 55 55
Water, ir 00
CHEMISTRY.
air, but is soluble in water.
1.005.
587
The specific gravity is Lime, &c.
II33
:ion of
t.
1234
icids.
123s
nbina-
IOO
100
12. Arseniate of Lime.
n3^
para- This salt, which is a compound of arsenic acid and
lime, is prepared by dropping the acid into lime water.
awcroy A. precipitate is formed, which is soluble either with
naisu an excess of the base, or the acid. Or it may be form¬
ed by dissolving carbonate of lime in arsenic acid. The
acidulous arseniate-of lime, when it is evaporated, af¬
fords small crystals. When this salt is heated, it melts,
but is not decomposed *.
13. Tungstate of Lime.
The compound formed by tungstic acid and lime is
found native. It is from the mineral called tungsten,
that the metallic substance is obtained which bears this
name. When the solution of tungstic acid is added to
lime water, a precipitate of tungstate of lime is formed,
similar to the native compound tungsten. This mine¬
ral is found crystallized. The primitive form of the
crystal is the octahedron, which is composed of two
four-sided pyramids, applied base to base. It is of a
yellowish colour, with some degree of transparency and
considerable hardness. It is insoluble in water, and
is scarcely altered by the Action of heat. The specific
gravity is about six. The component parts of this salt
m. x.
3.
J237
ion of
t.
‘238
nd na-
'239
>ara-
1140
iposi-
Tungstic acid,
Lime,
70
30
100
1241
)ara-
^42
?erties.
14. Molybdate of Lime.
15. Acetate of Lime.
1. The compound of acetic acid and lime is formed
by dissolving the carbonate of lime in the acid, till it
is saturated. By evaporating the solution till a pellicle
forms on the surface, it crystallizes on cooling.
2. The crystals of acetate of lime are in the form of
small prisms, with a shining silky lustre. The taste is
bitter and sour. It is not changed by exposure to the
3. When it is exposed to heat, it is decomposed,
partly by the separation of the acid, and partly by itsj^c^°n °
decomposition. The component parts of this salt, ac- 1244.
cording to Dr Higgins, are, Composi¬
tion.
Acetic acid and water,
Lime,
64-3
35-7
100.0 f.
16. Oxalate of Lime.
The oxalic acid saturated with lime forms an inso¬
luble salt, which may be formed by dropping oxalic
acid into any of the acid solutions of lime. The oxa¬
late of lime, thus formed, is a white powder, which
converts the syrup of violets to a green. This salt can¬
not be decomposed by any other acid, the affinity of
oxalic acid for lime is so strong. It is on this account
that oxalic acid is employed as a test for lime, whether
it is in a state of combination or uncombined. This
salt may be decomposed by exposing it to heat. The
acid itself is driven off, and undergoes decomposition.
The component parts of this salt, according to Berg¬
man, are,
Acid, 48
Lime 46
Water 6
f Experi¬
ments,
p. 47.
100
Tartrate of Lime.
2245
The compound of tartaric acid and lime may be form- Prepara-
ed, by dissolving lime in the acid } or by adding a so-tion.
lution of lime in powder to a solution of tartar in boil¬
ing water, till it ceases to effervesce, and to redden ve¬
getable blues. The salt precipitates in the form of a
white powder, which is insoluble, excepting with an
excess of acid. This salt is decomposed by the sulphu¬
ric, nitric, and muriatic acids.
18. Citrate of Lime.
1244
This salt, which is a compound of citric acid andprepara-
lime, may be formed by the direct combination of thetion.
acid and the earth. Small crystals are formed, which
are precipitated, and are scarcely fusible in water, ex¬
cepting with an excess of acid, and from this solution
it may be obtained crystallized. The component parts Composi-
of this salt are, ti°n*
Citric acid
Lime.
62.66
37*34
100.00 L
19. Malate of Lime.
t Fourcroy
vii. p. 207.
124S
I. The compound of malic acid and lime may beprepara
formed by combining the acid with the earth, andtion.
neutralizing them. Small irregular crystals are thus
obtained, which are scarcely soluble in boiling water, i2 ^
but become very soluble with an excess of acid. In Exists ii
this state it is the supermalate of lime. This salt is found plants,
4 E 2 ready
588
Lime, &c. ready formed In some vegetables, as in house-leek and
~v—' similar succulent plants.
I2S° 2. This acidulous malate of lime has an acid taste.
^ 1 *' When it is evaporated, it forms a solid, shining sub¬
stance, analogous to varnish. It is decomposed by the
sulphuric and oxalic acids, and also by the alkalies.
Lime water added to a solution of this salt, combines
with excess of acid, and precipitates the malate of
lime.
20. Gallate of Lime.
CHEMISTRY.
slight saline taste, and does not redden the tincture of
turnsole. It is scarcely soluble in cold water. Boil¬
ing water dissolves it more abundantly, but as it cools,
a part of it is precipitated. When it is placed upon
burning coals, it swells up, the acid is decomposed,
and the lime remains in the state of powder. This
salt is decomposed by the sulphuric, nitric, and muri¬
atic acids, by potash and soda, and their carbonates,
and by the phosphate and borate of soda f.
26. Mellate of Lime.
1255
Action u!
heat.
t Uid.
xxiii. p,
The gallic acid combined with lime forms a yellow¬
ish coloured, insoluble salt, which, with an excess of
base, becomes soluble.
21. Benzoate of Lime.
The compound of benzoic acid and lime forms a
salt which is very soluble in water. This salt crystal¬
lizes in an arborescent form on the sides of the vessel
which contains the solution. It is decomposed by the
sulphuric, nitric, and muriatic acids. It exists in great
abundance in the urine of graminivorous quadrupeds.
1251
Prepara¬
tion,
12^.
Properties.
Action of
water mid
Heat,
22. Succinate of Lime.
The compound of succinic acid and lime forms salts
w hich are not very soluble in water, and are not alter¬
ed by exposure to the air.
23« Saccolate of Lime.
Saclactic acid and lime form an insoluble salt.
24. Camphorate of Lime.
1. This salt, which is a compound of camphoric
acid and lime, is formed by adding lime-water to crys¬
tallized camphoric acid. The solution is then to be
boiled, filtered, and evaporated to three-fourths of its
quantity. As it cools, the salt is deposited.
2. The camphorate of lime has no regular shape, un¬
less the evaporation has been properly managed, when
it is found in the form of plates lying on each other.
It is of a white colour, and has a slightly bitter taste.
3. ? It effloresces in the air, and (alls down into pow¬
der. It is scarcely soluble in cold, and requires about
200 parts of boiling water for its solution. When it
is exposed to heat, if it he moderate, it melts and
swells, but if thrown on red-hot coals, or heated in
close vessels, the acid is decomposed and sublimed, and
the lime remains pure.
. 4; It js decomposed by the sulphuric, nitric, and mu¬
riatic acid. With the sulphuric acids there is formed
an insoluble precipitate. 'I he nitric and muriatic acids
precipitate the camphoric acid. This salt is also de¬
composed by the carbonate of potash, and the phos¬
phate of soda.
5. The component parts of this, salt are,
Camphoric acid
Lime
Water
*■ Ann. de
Chim.
xxvii. 22.
1354
properties.
50
43
7
1001
25, Suberate of Lime.
This salt, which is a compound of suberic acid a
lime, does not crystallize, Is perfectly white, has
^ he melhtic acid dropt into lime-water forms a
precipitate which is re-dissolved by adding nitric acid.
Or when the mellitic acid is mixed with a solution of
sulphate of lime, a precipitate is formed of small, grit¬
ty crystals, which do not affect the transparency of the
water.
27* Lactate of Lime.
The compound of lactic acid and lime forms a deli¬
quescent salt, which is soluble in alcohol.
28. Prussiate of Lime.
The compound of prussic acid and lime is formed
by dissolving the lime in the acid. The solution is
then to be filtered, and the lime which has not com¬
bined with the acid is to be separated bv adding car--
honic acid in water, in the proportion necessary to
precipitate the lime from the same bulk of lime-water.
The solution, after a second filtration, must be pre¬
served in close vessels. By distillation the prussic acid
is driven oft, and the pure lime remains behind. Thia
salt is decomposed by all the other acids, and also bv
the alkalies. J
29. Sebate of Lime.
W hen sebacic acid is dropped into lime-water the
transparency of the water is not disturbed, so that
the compound of this acid with lime is soluble in
water.
I^”* Compounds of Lime with Inflammable Substances.
Lime does not enter into combination with alcohol
or ether j but it forms compounds with the fixed oils,
which are known by the name of soaps. Lime com¬
bines also in small quantity with the volatile oils, form¬
ing a similar compound.
Sect. II. 0/* Barytes and its Combinations.
1. For the knowledge of this earth we are indebted to nistorf
modern chemistry. It was discovered by Scheele in
1774 j and its properties were investigated by him, and
in the following year by Gahn, who analyzed a mine¬
ral which had been distinguished by the name at pon¬
derous spar, on account of its weight, and found that
it was composed of sulphuric acid and the new earth.
It received the name of terra ponderosa from Bergman,
who also examined its properties, and confirmed the
experiments of Scheele and Gahn. IVIr Ivirwan gave
it the name of barytes, from the Greek word
which signifies heavy. Its properties were farther in-* Edm‘
vestigated by Dr Hope, in 1793*, and by Pelletier,
Fourcroy, and Vauquelin, in 1797 f. f 'Annai
2. This earth may be obtained in a state of pu-CAim.x*
rity lI3'
CHEMISTRY.
rytes, r^y the following process : A quantity of sul-
.e. phate of barytes, a mineral found in considerable
^ ' abundance in nature, is first reduced to a fine powder,
j^a- ^ -g-th of its weight of charcoal powder, and
expose the mixture in a crucible to a strong heat, for
several hours. The sulphuric acid, by this process, is
decomposed, by being deprived of its oxygen, which
combines with the carbon of the charcoal, and forms
carbonic acid, which is driven off. The sulphur re¬
mains in combination with the earth, forming a sul-
phuret of barytes. This sulphuret is to be dissolved
in water, and nitric acid poured into the solution. The
nitric acid combines with the barytes, and forms nitrate
of barytes, while the sulphur is precipitated. The so¬
lution is to be filtered, and slowly evaporated till it
crystallize. The crystals thus formed are then put
into a crucible, and exposed to a strong heat. The
mtnc acid is decomposed, and driven off, and the earth
remains behind in a state of purity.
Dr Hope has recommended another process, which
is more economical. By this process the sulphate of
barytes is decomposed as in the former. The sulphu¬
ret which is obtained is thrown into water, that all
soluble matters may be dissolved. To the solution,
after filtration, a solution of carbonate of soda is to
be added. A precipitate takes place in the form of a
white powder. This powder is to be washed with
water, made up into balls with charcoal, and exposed
to a strong heat in a crucible. The balls are afterwards
to be thrown into boiling water, when part of the
barytes is found dissolved, and, as the water cools, it
. s crystallizes.
| ties , 3* Barytes, as it is obtained by decomposing the
|>m- nitrate in the first process, is in the form of small, gray,
n. porous masses, which are easily reduced to powder. It
has a hot, burning taste ; and when introduced into
the stomach, is a deadly poison. Its specific gravity is
4-00. It destroys the texture of all animal substances.
It converts vegetable blues to a green colour. In many
of its properties it is perfectly analogous to the fixed
alkalies. It is decomposed by the same process as
lime. Its base is called barium. It is a dark grey
metal, more than twice the weight of water. Barium
is susceptible of a higher degree of oxidation by simply
heating barytes in contact with oxygen.
^ 4. When it is exposed to the air, especially if the
atmosphere be loaded with moisture, it swells up in a
few minutes, becomes hot, and at last falls into a white
powder. It is then deprived of part of its acrimonv, and
is increased in weight 0.22. This is owing to the ab¬
sorption ol water from the atmosphere. If a small
quantity of water he thrown upon barytes, it boils up,
J8 strongly heated, is enlarged in volume, and gives
out a great quantity of beat. After being slaked in
this manner, it is diluted with water, the earth crystal¬
lizes, and assumes the appearance of needle-formed
crystals, which, at the end of some time, if exposed to
the air, spontaneously fall to powder. With a greater
quantity of water the barytes is completely dissolved.
Cold water takes up about of its weight. This solu¬
tion changes the syrup of violets to green, and at last
destroys the colour. When this liquid is exposed to
the air, a thick pellicle is formed on the surface, which
is owing to the absorption of carbonic acid from the
atmosphere. Boiling water dissolves its weight of
589
pure barytes. 1 he solution affords crystals as it cools. Barytes,
I hey are in the form of lono-, four-sided prisms, trans-
parent and white, which effloresce in the air j but the v—
form of the crystals varies according to the rapidity of
the evaporation and crystallization. I,(1o
5. Light has no action on barytes. Heated on char. Of heat,
coal with the blowpipe, it melts into an opaque, gray
globule, which soon penetrates the charcoal. Exposed
to heat in a crucible, it melts, and attaches itself to the
sides of the vessel, to which it adheres strongly, forming
a kind of greenish covering. Less strongly heated, it
hardens, and internally assumes a bluish green shade.
There is no action between barytes and oxygen, azote,
hydrogen, or carbon.
I. Phosphuret of Barytes.
1. Barytes enters into combination with phosphorus,
forming the compound called phosphuret of barytes.\\w.
Ibis is prepared by introducing a mixture of barytes
and phosphorus into a glass tube closed at one end, and
exposing the mixture to the heat of burning coals.
The two substances rapidly combine together. x ^
2. The phosphuret of barytes, thus obtained, is of a Properties,
dam. 'or shining brown colour, having a metallic ap¬
pearance, very fusible, and exhaling, when it is mois¬
tened, a strong fetid odour : in the dark it is lumi¬
nous. When it is thrown into water, it is decomposed,
giving out phosphorated hydrogen gas, and is gradu¬
ally converted, by the action of the air and the tvater,
into phosphate of barytes * * Tourer*,)
II. Sulphuret of Barytes. ChimAi.
1. A similar combination also takes place betweenp* l52Y
barytes and sulphur. The combination may be formed Prepara-
by introducing barytes and sulphur well mixed toge-tion.
ther, into a crucible, and exposing them to a red heat.
At that temperature the mixture melts, and the com¬
pound which is formed is the sulphuret of barytes.
2. This substance is very soluble in water, which itPropcrUei.
instantly decomposes; and, when it is saturated with the
sulphurated hydrogen which is formed, it is converted 1265
into a hydrogenated sulpliuret of barytes, which deposits Hydroge-
by cooling, crystals of different forms, sometimes in that nated *uf‘
of small needles, sometimes in that of large six-sided phurel‘
prisms, sometimes in the form of octahedrons, and of¬
ten in that of small, brilliant, hexagonal plates, which
are crystals ol sulphurated hydrogen and barytes, de¬
nominated by Berthollet, hydrosvlphuret of barytes.
When the sulphuret of barytes is dissolved in water,
it instantly exhales the fetid odour of sulphurated hy¬
drogen gas. The liquid which has deposited crystals
of bydrosulphuret of barytes, retains a hydrogenated
sulphuret in solution. When it is exposed to "the air,
this solution becomes of an orange yellow. Crystals
of hydrosulphuret of barytes, with spots or yellowish
plates, are olteu observed in the midst of the white
masses.
3. The eulphuret of barytes is most remarkable for
the great rapidity with which it decomposes water, and
the great quantity ol the sulphurated hydrogen with
which it combines, forming the hydrosulphuret of ba¬
rytes ; which latter is slowly, and with difficulty, de¬
composed by the air, and the great proportion of sul¬
phurated hydrogen gas which is disengaged by the ac¬
tion of acids, without any precipitation of sulphur.
4-
59°
Barytes,
&c.
1266
Three com
pounds.
C H E M
4. Thus there are three different combinations of
sulphur with barytes. In the first, the sulphur is di¬
rectly combined with the barytes, as when they are ex¬
posed to heat in the state of dryness, which is the simple
sulphuret of barytes. In the other, the sulphur com¬
bined with the hydrogen, is in the state of hydrosul-
phuret of barytes. This compound is prepared by pas¬
sing sulphurated hydrogen gas into water holding ba¬
rytes in solution, which, as it combines with the gas,
becomes more soluble, and is condensed and absorbed
by the water. The distinctive character between the
latter combination and that of the sulphuret of barytes
is, that the first, by the action of acids, only gives out
sulphurated hydrogen gas, without any deposition of
sulphur $ and the second, exposed to heat, is deprived
of its sulphur, which is sublimed, without affording
sulphurated hydrogen gas. Between these two states,
there is an intermediate combination, in which the sul¬
phuret of barytes holds in solution more or less sul¬
phurated hydrogen ; so that, by the action of acids, it
affords sulphurated hydrogen gas, with a deposition of
sulphur at the same time. To this intermediate com¬
pound, Berthollet has given the name of hydrogenated
* Toureroy sulphuret of barytes *.
Connaiss.
III. Compounds of Barytes with the Acids.
Barytes enters into combination with the acids, and
forms with them compounds, which are distinguished
by the name of salts. The order of the affinities of ba¬
rytes for the acids, according to Bergman, is the fol¬
lowing :
Sulphuric acid,
Oxalic,
Succinic,
Fluoric,
Phosphoric,
Saclactic,
Nitric,
Muriatic,
Suberic,
Citric,
Tartaric,
Arsenic,
Tactic,
Benzoic,
Acetic,
Boracic,
Sulphurous,
Carbonic,
Prussic.
Chim. ii
p. 191.
Affinities.
I.
Sulphate of Barytes.
1268
Found na¬
tive.
1269
Properties.
-1270
I S T R Y.
and sometimes compact. There is a considerable va¬
riety among the forms of its crystals. The primitive
form of sulphate of barytes is a rhomboid, with right
angles at the bases, whose angles are ioi^-0 and 78^°
The integrant molecule is the same.
3. This salt remains unchanged in the air, and it is Action oi
insoluble in water. When it is suddenly heated, itheat,
decrepitates. By the action of a strong heat, it melts
with difficulty j and before the blow-pipe it fuses, and
is converted into a white opaque globule. It is de¬
composed at a red heat by hydrogen and charcoal, and
is converted into a sulphuret which is phosphoric.
This was formerly called, from an accident, Bolognian
phosphorus. A piece of the sulphate of barytes was
found in the neighbourhood of Bologna, by a shoe¬
maker of that city, who, suspecting that it contained
silver, put it into the fire to separate the metal. He
found no metal, but he observed that by heating it ac¬
quired the property of shining in the dark, and thence
it obtained the name of Bolognian stone or phospho¬
rus.
This salt is decomposed by the carbonates of potash
and soda, either by exposing them to a strong heat in
a crucible, or by boiling them together in solution.
According to the different analyses which have beencomp05j
made to ascertain the constituents of this salt, it ap-tion.
pears that there is a considerable difference between
the natural and artificial sulphate of barytes, as in the
following table :
Acid
Barytes
Water
Native.
13
84
3
100
ioct
* Fourt 1
By another analysis, when the artificial sulphate cAm ii
was heated to redness, the component parts were found,p. 25.
according to
Thenard f.
25.18
74.82
Acid
Barytes
Chenevix
24
76
100.00
100
f Ann. I,
Chim. x l
p. 266.
| Nicho
Jour, ii
8 vo. p- '•
2. Sulphite of Barytes.
1. This salt, which is a compound of sulphuric acid
and barytes, was formerly distinguished by the name of
heavy spar, phosphoric spar, or Bolognian stone. It ex¬
ists in great abundance in nature, particularly accom¬
panying metallic veins j from which circumstance, pro¬
bably, and from its great weight, it was supposed to
contain a metallic substance. It is rarely formed arti¬
ficially, as that found in nature is sufficiently pure.
2. The sulphate of barytes is the heaviest of all the
salts, the specific gravity being 4.4. It has neither
taste nor smell. Sometimes it is found crystallized,
127'
1. This compound of sulphurous acid and barytesprepara
is formed by passing sulphurous acid gas into water, intion.
which is mixed, or suspended, carbonate of barytes in
the state of fine powder ; or by the direct combination
of sulphurous acid and barytes, either solid or in solution.
In whatever way it is prepared, the salt is deposited in
the form of powder, or crystallized. I2y
2. The crystals of sulphite of barytes are sometimes propert ■
in the form of small, brilliant, and opaque needles, or
very hard transparent crystals in the form of tetrahe¬
drons, with truncated angles. It has little taste. The
specific gravity is 1.6938. It is scarcely altered when
exposed to the air, and is insoluble in water. When it
is exposed to heat, sulphur is driven off, and there re¬
mains a sulphate of barytes. It is decomposed by the
sulphuric and muriatic acids, with the disengagement
of sulphurous acid.
3. This salt has been applied to no use, cxceptingUses.
for
1275
i iposi-
C H E M
for the chemical purpose of ascertaining the purity of
sulphurous acid. It is employed in this way by Four-
croy. If there be any mixture of sulphurous acid with
the sulphuric, it may be detected by this salt ; for as
there is a stronger affinity between sulphuric acid and
barytes than between sulphurous acid and the same
earth, the sulphuric acid, if any be present, combines
with the barytes, and forms with it an insoluble salt,
which is precipitated.
4. The following are the proportions of the constitu¬
ent parts of this salt.
Sulphurous acid
Barytes
Water
: ourcroy
I laiss.
I n. iii.
Is-
I'jS
I >ara-
H
39
59
2
100 *.
3. Nitrate of Barytes.
This compound of nitric acid and barytes is pre¬
pared by saturating the acid with native carbonate of
barytes j or, by the decomposition of sulphuret of ba¬
rytes, by nitric acid. By filtration and evaporation
this salt crystallizes.
I erties. 2. The crystals of nitrate of barytes are in the form
of regular octahedrons, or in small brilliant plates. The
specific gravity is 2.9149. It has a hot, acrid, and au¬
stere taste, and is little changed by being exposed to
the air. It is soluble in 12 parts of cold, and in about
three or four parts of boiling water. When placed
upon burning coals, it decrepitates, boils up, and be¬
comes dry, and gives out sparks round the points
where it comes in contact with the burning coal.
When it is heated in a retort, it gives out a little wa¬
ter, oxygen gas, and azotic gas j and there remains be¬
hind, the barytes in the form of a solid, gray, porous
mass.
The constituent parts of this salt, according to Four-
croy, Vauquelin, and Kirwan, are the following:
Fourcroy and Vauquelin f.
Nitric acid 38
Barytes 50
Water 12
IOO 100
This salt is only employed for detecting sulphuric
acid in nitric acid, and to be decomposed for the pur¬
pose of obtaining pure barytes.
4 Nitrite of Barytes,
Nothing farther is known of this salt, than that it is
formed when the nitrate of barytes is decomposed in a
retort by means of heat. If the operation be stopped
at the time that a third part of the oxygen gas has
been disengaged, the nitrite of barytes remains.
5. Muriate of Barytes.
1. This salt, which is a compound of muriatic acid
and barytes, was first investigated by Scheele and Berg¬
man, and little more has been since added by the expe¬
riments and researches of other chemists.
2. It is prepared by the direct combination of mu¬
riatic acid with the carbonate of barytes •, or, by de¬
composing the sulphuret of barytes by the muriatic acid,
278
1 posi-
t
t d. iii.
R>5.
A chol.
*1'. iii.
P 5-
1 >ry.
180
I S T R Y. 591
filtering the solution, and evaporating till a pellicle ap- Barytes,
pear on the surface. If it be allowed to cool slowly, &c.
crystals of muriate of barytes are formed. But the sul-
phate of barytes, which is employed, sometimes contains
iron : so that a muriate of this metal is formed along
with the muriate of barytes. To separate the iron, the
mixture is to be calcined, by which the acid is driven
off, and the iron remains behind in the state of oxide,
which is insoluble in water. 1281
3. The primitive form of the crystals of this salt is Properties,
a four-sided prism with square bases. The form of the
integrant particles is the same. It crystallizes in tables,
or in eight-sided pyramids. The taste is acrid, astrin¬
gent, and metallic. The specific gravity is 2.8257.
When dried, it is converted into a chloride of barium. I2S2
4. It undergoes no change by exposure to the air. Action of
It is soluble in five or six parts of cold water, but boil-water*
ing water dissolves more j and, on cooling, the salt
crystallizes.
5. When exposed to heat, it decrepitates, loses its Of heat,
water of crystallization, dries, falls down to powder,
and at last melts j but no heat that can be applied de¬
composes it.
6. This salt is decomposed by the sulphuric and ni-Of acids,
trie acids, and a precipitation of nitrate or of sulphate
of barytes is formed. I28„
7. The constituent parts of this salt, according to Composi-
Mr Kirwan, are, tion.
Acid,
Barytes,
Water,
20
64
16
100
When dried.
23.8
76.2
00.0
100.0
1286
8. This is one of the most delicate tests for detect-uges
ing sulphuric acid in any solution. Water, which
holds 0.0002 parts of sulphuric acid, exhibits a visi¬
ble precipitate by a single drop of the solution of mu¬
riate of barytes. Nay, there is a slight cloud in a few
minutes produced by the addition of a solution of this
salt to water which holds 0.00009 parts of sulphuric
acid in solution. The muriate of barytes has been
proposed and recommended as a cure for scrophula j
and it is said, in some cases in which it has been used,
with good effect j but it ought to be administered with
t^ie utmost caution. The carbonate of barytes is one
of the most active poisons, and probably all the salts
of this earth are possessed of similar properties. The
dose should not exceed five or six drops of the solution * t.
at first * * Fourcroy t
ai nrsc * Connam.
6. Hyperoxymuriate, or Chlorate of Barytes. pf^.'11
I. The compound of hyperoxymuriatic acid and Prepara-
barytes was formed by Mr Chenevix. The process tion.
which he followed was, to cause a current of oxymuri-
atic acid gas to pass through a solution of a large
quantity of barytic earth in warm water. This salt
he found soluble in four parts of cold, and less of
warm water j but as it crystallizes like the muriate
of this earth, and has the same degree of solubility, he
could not separate the hyperoxymuriate from the mu¬
riate, which was formed at the same time. He there¬
fore thought of obtaining it by double affinity, as in
the following process.
2.
592
CHEMISTRY.
Barytes,
&c.
ia88
Composi¬
tion,
* Phil.
Trans.
I *02.
p. I47.
1289
Prepara-
&«oa.
2. When phosphate of silver is boiled with muri¬
ate of barytes, a double decomposition takes place j mu¬
riate of silver and phosphate of barytes are formed,
both of which being insoluble, are precipitated. But
the phosphate of silver does not decompose the .hyper-
oxymuriate of barytes. When therefore the muriate
and hyperoxymuriate of barytes are boiled with phos¬
phate of silver, the muriate of barytes only is decom¬
posed. The muriate of silver and the phosphate of
barytes are precipitated, and the hyperoxymuriate of
barytes remains in solution. When this salt is decom¬
posed by the stronger acids, it is accompanied with a
flash of light, which Mr Chenevix conjectures, is ow¬
ing to the relative proportionate affinities, and conse¬
quently the greater rapidity of the disengagement.
The proportions of this salt are,
Hyperoxymuriatic acid, 47.0
Barytes, 42.2
Water, ic.8
100.0 *.
7. Fluate of Barytes.
This compound of fluoric acid and barytes may be
formed, by pouring fluoric acid into a solution of ni¬
trate or muriate of barytes. A precipitate is formed,
which is the fluate of barytes. This salt is decomposed
with effervescence by the sulphuric acid, and it is
precipitated by lime water. Of the proportions of its
constituent parts and other properties, nothing is
known.
8. Borate of Barytes.
The compound of boracic acid and barytes is form¬
ed by pouring a solution of boracic acid into a solution
of barytes. An insoluble^white powder is precipitated,
which, according to Bergman, may be decomposed,
even by the weak vegetable acids.
9. Phosphate of Barytes.
I. The compound of phosphoric acid and barytes
has been only examined by Vauquelin. It is prepared,
either by the direct combination of phosphoric acid
with barytes, or the carbonate of barytes j or by pre¬
cipitating a solution of nitrate or muriate of barytes,
by means of an alkaline phosphate. The phosphate of
barytes is precipitated in the form of powder.
Properties. ^ Sa^ ^ ’n ^le ^orm w^‘te powder, without
* any appearance of crystallization. It is not altered
by exposure to the air, and is insoluble in water. The
specific gravity is 1.2867.
3. Tliis salt at a high temperature is fusible. It is
converted into a vitreous matter or gray enamel. Be¬
fore the blow-pipe, on charcoal, it gives out a yellow
phosphoric light. The vitreous globules become
opaque on cooling. It is decomposed by the sulphu¬
ric acid. The phosphoric and phosphorous acids, when
added in excess, have the property of re-dissolving the
salts which they form with barytes.
1290
1291
Action of
5aeat.
1292
Prepara-
tiaa.
JO. Phosphite of Barytes.
1. This compound of phosphorous acid and barytes is
formed by the direct combiuation of the acid with the
3
earth j or by precipitating the soluble phosphites by ^ Baryte
solution of barytes. By the last process the salt is ob- &c.
tained in the greatest purity. v—
2. The phosphate of barytes is in the form of a white 1293
powder, which is insipid, not altered by exposure toProPett‘'
the air, not very soluble in water without an excess
of acid, by which means it is converted into the acidu¬
lous phosphite. . 1294J
3. The phosphite of barytes melts under the blow-Action e1
pipe into a globule, which is surrounded with a mostteat
brilliant light. The vitreous globule becomes, on cool¬
ing, white and opaque.
4. This salt is decomposed by most of the acids j byOfacfds
lime and lime water. The other alkaline and earthy
bases combine with the excess of phosphorous acid,
when it is in the state of aciflulous phosphate, and
there remains behind a neutral phosphite.
5. The component parts of tlris salt are,
1295
Composi
tion.
Phosphorous acid,
Barytes,
Water,
41.7
5r*3
7.0
100.0 *.
11.
Carbonate of Barytes.
*Fourc
Conmiss
Chim. it
p. 2S1.
1. This compound of carbonic acid and barytes liasj^amel
been known by the names of aerated heavy spar, ae¬
rated haroselenite, and witherite from the name of Dr
Withering, who first discovered that it is a natural
production. Its nature and properties were first inves¬
tigated by Scheele and Bergman, about the year 1776,
and since that time by Kirwan, Hope, Klaproth, Pel¬
letier, Fourcroy and Vauquelin.
2. The carbonate of barytes is found native in stri-Native,
ated, lamellated, semitransparent masses. The primi¬
tive form of its crystals is the six-sided prism. The
specific gravity is 4.331. ,
3. The carbonate of barytes may be prepared artifi-Prep21,6
daily, by exposing a solution of pure barytes to theb? art•
air, or by passing carbonic acid gas into the solution.
It may be prepared also in the dry way, by mixing to¬
gether sulphate of barytes and carbonate of potash or
soda, and exposing the mixture to strong heat; or
by decomposing, by means "of carbonate of potash, so¬
da, or ammonia, the nitrate or muriate of barytes in
solution in water. By whatever processes the carbo¬
nate of barytes is obtained, it is in the form of a white
tasteless powder. When thus prepared, the specific
gravity is 3.763.
4. It undergoes no change by exposure to the air.
Cold water dissolves j boiling water Part- I )0i
5. The carbonate of barytes undergoes little change Aclion 1
when it is exposed even to the strongest heat. Theheat'
artificial carbonate loses about O.28 of its weight by
calcination, while the native carbonate becomes white
and opaque, and is converted into a bluish green co¬
lour, without any perceptible loss of weight ; but if it
be heated in a black lead crucible, or if it be formed
into a paste, with too parts of the salt to lo of char¬
coal, the carbonic acid is separated. IjC J
6. The component parts of the carbonate of barytes Compos
are the following : tion.
Native
CHEMISTRY.
Native Carbonate.
593
Acid
Barytes
100
Fourcroy.
10
90
100
Artificial Carbonate.
Acid
Barytes
Water
100
100
WThen both the natural and artificial are exposed to a
red heat, the component parts, as ascertained by Mr
Kirwan, are,
the carbonates of the alkalies, but not by the alkalies Barytes,
themselves, or the pure earths. &c.
3. This salt may be employed to detect the presence ' 'r~—t
and quantity of sulphuric acid in solutions, particularly tt i^~'^
in vinegar, which may be adulterated with the addition
of this acid -j- Fourcroy
viii. 196.
18. Oxalate of Barytes.
1. The compound of oxalic acid and barytes is form- Prepara-
ed by adding the acid to a solution of barytes in water, tion.
A white powder precipitates, which is oxalate of ba-
rytes j it is insoluble in water. With an excess of
oxalic acid, this precipitate is dissolved, and small an¬
gular crystals are formed.
2. If these crystals are dissolved in boiling water, Action of
they become opaque, and fall down in the form of an beat,
insoluble powder, for the water combines with the ex¬
cess of acid, which held them in solution.
Acid 22
Barytes 78
100
30a .
j. 7. This salt has been found native only in small
quantity, otherwise it is supposed, that it might be of
great use for the preparation of barytic salts, which
promise great service in several arts and manufactures.
It has been proposed to employ it in medicine 5 but in
experiments on animals, it has been found to act as a
most deadly poison. Great caution, therefore, should
urcroy be observed in employing it as an internal remedy*.
12. Arseniate of Barytes.
The compound of arsenic acid and barytes is formed
by dissolving the earth in the acid. It is an insoluble,
uncrystallized salt j but with an excess of acid it be¬
comes soluble, and is decomposed by sulphuric acid.
It melts when exposed to a strong heat, but is not de¬
composed.
13. Tungstate of Barytes.
W ith the tungstic acid, barytes forms an insoluble
salt.
19. Tartrate of Barytes.
The compound of tartaric acid and barytes forms a
salt in the state of white powder, which has little solu¬
bility, excepting with an excess of acid. It is decom¬
posed by the sulphuric, nitric, muriatic, and oxalic
acids.
20. Citrate of Barytes.
1. The compound of citric acid and barytes forms prepara-
a salt, by adding the earth to a solution of the acid. tion.
A flocculent precipitate at first appears, which is dis¬
solved by agitation. The precipitate afterwards be¬
comes permanent when the acid is saturated.
2. T-his salt, which is at first deposited in the form
of powder, shoots out afterwards into a kind of vege¬
tation, of a silvery whiteness, with great brilliancy
and beauty. It is soluble in a great proportion of wa¬
ter. This salt is composed of
Acid jo
Barytes 50
100
• 2i. Malate of Barytes. »
14. Molybdate of Barytes.
Barytes with the molybdic acid forms a salt which
has very little solubility.
15. Chromate of Barytes.
It is little known, but said to be insoluble in water.
16. Columbate of Barytes.
17. Acetate of Barytes.
ra. 1. This salt, which is a compound of acetic acid
and barytes, may be prepared by directly combining
the acid with the earth j or by decomposing sulphuret
ol barytes by means of acetic acid. By evaporating
34 the solution, it may be obtained crystallized.
rUcs. 2. The crystals of the acetate ot barytes are in the
form of fine transparent prisms. The specific gravity
is 1.828. I bis salt has an acid bitter taste, effloresces
m the air, is very soluble in water, is decomposed by
VOL. V. Part II. f
'I he compound of malic acid and barytes is formed
by adding the acid to a solution of the earth in water.
A crystallized, soluble salt is precipitated.
22. Gallate of Barytes.
The compound of gallic acid and barytes is formed
by the direct combination of the acid with the earth.
A salt is thus formed, which is not very soluble, but
with an excess of the base.
23. Benzoate of Barytes.
Benzoic acid combines with barytes, and forms a salt
which is soluble in water, crystallizes, undergoes no
change by exposure to the air, and is decomposed by
heat and the stronger acids.
24. Succinate of Barytes.
Barytes forms, with succinic acid, a salt which has
little solubility.
4 F 25,
594
Strontites,
1309
Prepara¬
tion.
1310
Properties.
1311
Action of
heat
* dm. de
Chim.
xxvii. p. 28,
t Ibid.
xxiii. 52.
131a
History.
C H E M I
25. Saccolate of Barytes.
This salt is insoluble in water.
26. Camphorate of Barytes.
1. The compound of camphoric acid and barytes is
formed by adding the crystallized acid to the solution
of the earth, and then boiling the mixture. It is after¬
wards to be filtered and evaporated to dryness. What
remains is camphorate of barytes.
2. This salt does not crystallize $ but when it is
slowly evaporated, small plates are deposited, which
seem transparent in the liquid, but become opaque
when exposed to the air. It has scarcely any taste;
but an impression remains on the tongue, which is
slightly acid and bitter.
3. This salt undergoes no change by exposure to
the air. It is only soluble in 600 parts of water at the
boiling temperature.
4. When exposed to the action of the blow-pipe,
the acid is volatilized, and the earth is converted into
a vitreous substance. The camphoric acid, as it burns,
first exhibits a blue, then a red, and at last a white
flame.
5. This salt is decomposed by the sulphuric, nitric,
and muriatic acids, and by the oxalic, tartaric, and ci¬
tric *.
. 27. Suberate of Barytes.
This salt does not crystallize, and is only soluble in
water with an excess of acid,; when exposed to heat, it
swells up and melts, and is decomposed by the sulphu¬
ric, nitric, muriatic, and oxalic acids t.
28. Mellate of Barytes.
By adding mellitic acid to a solution of acetate of
barytes, there is formed a flaky precipitate, which is
re-dissolved with the addition of more acid. When
the acid is poured into a solution of muriate of barytes
no precipitate is formed; but a short time afterwards
a group of transparent needle-formed crystals is de¬
posited.
29. Lactate of Barytes.
Barytes forms with lactic acid, a deliquescent salt.
30. Prussiate of Barytes.
Prussic acid and barytes form a salt which is very
little soluble in water, and is decomposed, not only by
the sulphuric acid, but even by carbonic.
31. Sebate of Barytes.
Sebacic acid, added to a solution of barytes in water,
forms no precipitate ; from which it is inferred that
the sebate of barytes is insoluble in water.
Sect. III. Of Strontites and its Combinations.
This eaith was not discovered till about the year
1791 or 1792. Dr Crawford, indeed, previous to this
period, in making some experiments on what he suppos¬
ed was a carbonate of barytes, and observing a striking
difference between this mineral and the carbonate of
S T R Y.
barytes which he had been accustomed to employ, Stronii
conjectured that it might contain a new earth ; and &c.
he sent a specimen to Mr Kirwan for the purpose of 1
analyzing it. This conjecture was fully verified by
the experiments of Dr Hope J, Mr Kirwan, and M. t EA'n.l
Klaproth, who were all engaged in the same analysis
nearly about the same time. Strontites is found na-lv'^ |
tive in combination with carbonic and sulphuric acids.
With the former it is found in considerable quantity in
the lead mines of Strontian in Argyleshire, from which
it has derived its name strontites, or strontian as it is
called by others. The nature and properties of this
earth have been still farther investigated by Pelletier,
Fourcroy, and Vauquelin.
2. This earth may be obtained in a state of purity, Prepar
either by exposing the carbonate of strontites, mixed ti°Di
with charcoal powder, to a strong heat, by which the
carbonic acid is driven off; or, by dissolving the native
salt in nitric acid, and decomposing the nitrate of
strontites thus formed, by heat. Stroptites obtained
by either of these processes, is in small porous frag-
ments of a greenish white colour. It has an acrid, hot, Propers,
alkaline taste, and converts vegetable blues to green.
The specific gravity is 1.647. *s decomposed by
the same process as lime. Strontium, its base, bears a
very near resemblance to barium. 13 j
3. Light has no perceptible action upon this earth. Actioil
When it is exposed to heat, it may be kept a long^€at' ji
time, even in a red heat without undergoing any
change, or even the appearance of fusion. By the ac¬
tion of the blow-pipe it is not melted, but is surrounded
with a very brilliant white flame. j,
4. When a little water is thrown on strontites, itOfwa
exhibits the same appearance as barytes. It is slaked,
gives out heat, and then falls to powder. If a greater
quantity of water be added, it is dissolved. According
to Klaproth it requires 200 parts of water at the ordi¬
nary temperature of the atmosphere for its solution.
Boiling water dissolves it in greater quantity, and when
the solution cools, it affords transparent crystals. These
crystals are in the form of rhomboidal plates, or in
that of flattened silky needles, or compressed prisms.
The specific gravity is 1.46. These crystals effloresce
in the air, and have an acrid hot taste. The solution
of this earth in water is acrid and alkaline, and con¬
verts vegetable blues to green. It is soon covered with
a pellicle, by absorbing carbonic acid from the atmo-
phere.
5. Strontites has the property of communicating a
purple colour to flame. J
6. The order of the affinities of strontites is the fol-Affiui11
lowing:
Sulphuric acid,
Phosphoric,
Oxalic,
Tartaric,
Fluoric,
Nitric,
Muriatic,
Succinic,
Acetic,
Arsenic,
Boracic,
Carbonic.
I.
ntites,
>:c.
US
I. Phosphuret of Strontites.
The phosphuret of strontites is prepared in the same
way as the phosphuret of barytes.
II. Sulphuret of Strontites.
The sulphuret of strontites is formed by exposing
sulphur and the earth in a crucible, to heat. This sul¬
phuret is soluble in water, by means of sulphurated hy¬
drogen, which is disengaged by the decomposition of
the water. The strontites thus combined with sulphu¬
rated hydrogen, forms a hydrosnlphuret of strontites j
and if this solution be evaporated, the hydrosulphuret
of strontites may be obtained in crystals, and the hy¬
drogenated sulphuret remains, as in similar compounds,
in solution. When the hydrogenated sulphuret is de¬
composed by means of an acid, the sulphurated hydro¬
gen gas which is disengaged, burns with a beautiful
purple flame, on account of holding in solution a small
quantity of the earth, which communicates this pro¬
perty.
III. Compounds of Strontites with the Acids.
I. Sulphate of Strontites.
1. The compound of sulphuric acid with strontites
may be formed by adding sulphuric acid to a solution
of strontites in water, and it is obtained in the state of
a white powder. It is found native in different places,
crystallized in fine needle-formed prisms. It has no
taste, and is scarcely soluble in water. It suffers no
change in the air. By the action of the blow-pipe it
gives out a yellowish purple light. It is not decom¬
posed by any of the acids j but it is decomposed by the
carbonate of potash and soda, by the barytic salts, by
the sulphates of potash and of soda, the phosphates of
potash, soda, and ammonia, and by the borate of am¬
monia.
2. The component parts of this salt, according to
Vauquelin, are,
Acid 46
Strontites 54
100
But according to Klaproth, Kirwan, and others,
Acid 42
Strontites 58
100
2. Sulphite of Strontites.
This salt is yet unknown.
3. Nitrate of Strontites.
1. The compound of nitric acid and strontites, is
formed by precipitating, by means of nitric acid, the
sulphuret of strontites, obtained from the decomposed
sulphate, or by dissolving the carbonate of strontites in
the acid. By evaporation it may be obtained in crys¬
tals.
2. The crystals of nitrate of strontites are in the
form of octahedrons. The taste of this salt is cool and
pungent. It is not altered by exposure to the air.
CHEMISTRY. 595
The specific gravity is 3.0061. It is soluble in 15 Strontites,
parts of cold water, and much more soluble in boiling See.
water, in which it crystallizes on cooling. Exposed to —\r——'
sudden heat it decrepitates. When it is subjected to
heat in a crucible, it swells up, gives out oxygen and
nitrous gas, and there remains behind pure earth.
This salt has the property of communicating a purple
flame to combustible substances with which it is mixed j
as when a little of the salt in powder is thrown on the
wick of a candle.
3. The component parts of this salt are, according to
Vauquelin.
Acid 48.8
Strontites 47.6
Water, 4.0
100.0
Kirwan.
31-?
36.21
32.72
100.00
1319
4. Nitrite of Strontites.
The properties of this salt have not been examined.
5. Muriate of Strontites and Chloride of Strontium.
1. The compound of muriatic acid and strontites is Prepara-
prepared by dissolving carbonate of strontites in thetion*
acid. By evaporating the solution, the salt is obtained
crystallized. When perfectly dry, it becomes a chlo¬
ride of strontium. I320
2. This salt crystallizes, in long, slender, hexagonal Properties,
prisms. The taste is cooling and pungent. The speci¬
fic gravity is 1.44021 It is not altered by exposure to
the air. It is very soluble in water. Three parts of
the salt are dissolved in two parts of cold water. These
crystals, which are soluble in alcohol, communicate a
purple colour, which is the distinguishing characteristic
ol this salt. When heated, it melts, and parts with its
water of crystallization, without being decomposed, and
there remains behind a semitransparent enamel. This
salt is decomposed by a very strong heat. It is decom¬
posed also by the sulphuric, nitric, and phosphoric
acids; and by potash, soda, and barytes. j,2l
3. The constituent parts of this salt are, according Composi-
to tion.
Vauquelin.
Acid 23.6
Strontites 36.4
WTater 40.0
100.0
100
1322
6. Hyperoxymuriate, or Chlorate of Strontites.
1. This combination of hyperoxymuriatic acid and Prepara-
strontites was prepared by Mr Chenevix, by a similar tion-
process to that which he employed in the formation of
barytes with the same acid : and in many of its proper¬
ties it is analogous.
2. The crystals of this salt are in the form of needles.
They melt in the mouth, and give the sensation of cold.
It is composed of
1323
Composi¬
tion.
Acid
Strontites
Water
4 F 2
46
26
28
100;
* Phil.
Tram.
iSoz.
£$6
Strontites,
&c.
1324
Prepara¬
tion.
1325
properties.
CHEMISTRY.
7. Fluate of Strontites.
The properties of this salt have not yet been investi-
gateil,
8. Borate of Strontites.
This compound of boraeic acid and strontites is in
the form of a white powder, and requires 130 parts of
water for its solution. It converts the syrup of violets
to a green colour, from which it is inferred, that it con¬
tains an excess of the earth.
9. Phosphate of Strontites.
1. The compound of phosphoric acid and strontites, is
formed by dissolving the carbonate of the earth in acid;
or by mixing together the solutions of muriate of stron¬
tites with those of the alkaline phosphates.
2. It is thus obtained in tbe form of white powder,
which is perfectly tasteless. It is not altered by ex¬
posure to the air. It is insoluble in water, without
an excess of acid. It melts under the blow-pipe into
a white enamel, and gives out a purple, phosphorescent
light.
3. The constituent parts of this salt are,
When the arseniate of strontites is neutralized, it is
only in a slight degree soluble in water*.
13. Tungstate of Strontites.
14. Molybdate of Strontites.
15. Cremate of Strontites.
16. Columbate of Strontites. _
Unknown.
Stmntiti
&c.
* F.din.
Trnns.
i\. 17. J
17. Acetate of Strontites.
1. This compound of acetic acid and strontites is
formed by dissolving the carbonate in the acid. By
evaporation the salt may be obtained crystallized.
2. The crystals remain unaltered by exposure to the
air. They change vegetable blues to green, and are
equally soluble in hot and cold water +.
18. Oxalate of Strontites.
133°
Prepara¬
tion.
Propertk
f Edin.
Trans.
iv. p. 14.
The compound of oxalic acid and strontites is formed
by the direct combination of the acid with the earth in
solution. A precipitate appears in the form of a white
powder, which is nearly insoluble in water. It is de¬
composed by heat.
The component parts of this salt are.
Acid 41.24
Strontites 58.76
Acid 40.5
Strontites 59.0
100.00
100.0
10. Phosphite of Strontites.
The name of this salt is unknown.
t
11. Carbonate of Strontites.
1325
Found na- 1, This salt is found native ; and, as we have already
tive- mentioned, was pointed out by Dr Crawford as differ¬
ent from the carbonate of barytes, with which it had
been formerly confounded.
Piepara- 2. It may be prepared artificially, by saturating a
tion. solution of strontites in water with carbonic acid ; or,
by precipitating soluble salts with a base of this earth,
by means of alkaline carbonates. The carbonate of
barytes crystallizes in needles, or in six-sided prisms.
It has no taste. The specific gravity is 3.6750. It is
1328 not changed by exposure to the air, and it is nearly in-
Froperties. soluble in water. When it is strongly heated in a cru¬
cible, to produce fusion, it is deprived of part of its
carbonic acid. When heated under the blow-pipe, it
melts into an opaque, vitreous globule, and gives out a
1329 Purple dame.
Comnosi- 3* The component parts of this salt, according to
turn. difl'erent chemists, are,
Hope. Klaproth and Kirvvan. Pelletier.
Acid 30.2 30. 30
Strontites 61.2 69.5 62
Water 8.6 0.5 g
19. Tartrate of Strontites.
1. This salt is formed by dissolving the earth in the
acid. The crystals are in the form of small triangular
tables ; they are not altered by the air, are insipid to
the taste, and soluble in 320 parts of boiling water.
2. The constituent parts of this salt are,
Acid and water 47-I2
Strontites 52.88
100.00
20. Citrate of Strontites.
1. This combination of citric acid with strontites
may be formed by mixing together a solution of nitrate
of strontites and citrate of ammonia. A double decom¬
position takes place, but no precipitate is formed. By
slow evaporation, crystals of citrate of strontites may
be obtained.
2. This salt is soluble in water.
21. Malate of Strontites.
This salt is scarcely known.
22. Gallate of Strontites.
Little known also.
100.0 10.00 TOO-
12. Arseniate of Strontites.
M hen arsenic acid is dropped into a solution of
strontites in water, a copious precipitate is formed,
^fhich is redissolved when there is an excess of acid!
23. Benzoate of Strontites.
Unknown.
24. Succinate of Strontites.
Succinic acid combines tvith strontites, and forms
crystals, which may be obtained by slow evaporation.
12.
53*
H. 7*
C H E M
. 25. Campliorate, suberate, mellate, lactate, prus-
j ncsm, gjate^ antj 3e^ate of strontites. Unknown,
Sect. IV. Of Magnesia and its Combinations.
I. Magnesia was first known about the beginning of
the 18th century, when it was sold by a Roman canon,
under the name of magnesia alba or white magnesia,
and the powder of the count of Palma, as a cure for
diseases } and like many new remedies, it was consi¬
dered as universal. In the year 1707, Valentini dis¬
covered that this boasted panacea was the produce of
the calcined ley which remains after the preparation of
nitre. He gave it the pompous name of the laxative
powder of many vii'tues. In the year 1709, Slevogt
described the method of obtaining it by precipitation,
from the mother ley of nitre. Lancisi and Hoffmann
examined some of its properties in 1717 and 1722;
and although the latter discovered that it formed dif¬
ferent combinations with acids from those of lime, it
was generally confounded with this latter substance.
But the nature of magnesia was not fully known,
till Hr Black, in 1755, entered upon his celebrated
investigations of the different properties of this sub¬
stance, lime and the alkalies, in the mild and caustic
state. Margraaf published the result of his experi¬
ments and researches on it in 1759, in which he gave
many distinctive characters of this earth, and of its
combinations *, and, at last, by the observations of
Bergman, published in 1775, and those of Butini of
Geneva in 1779, the nature and properties of magne¬
sia were fully demonstrated.
2. Magnesia, although it exists in great abundance
in combination with other substances, has never been
found perfectly pure in nature. The process by which
it may be obtained in greatest purity, is the following.
A quantity of Epsom salt, which is a compound of
sulphuric acid and magnesia, is to be dissolved in water,
and then precipitated by potash. The precipitate
which is formed is to be well washed and dried, both
with cold and hot water, to separate any saline matters
with which it may be mixed. The nature of this pro¬
cess is obvious. The potash has a stronger affinity for
sulphuric acid than magnesia. It therefore combines
with the acid, and the magnesia is precipitated.
3. Magnesia, when it is obtained pure, is in the
form of a fine white powder, or in white friable cakes
resembling starch. It has no smell, and no sensible
taste j but becomes dry, and leaves on the tongue a
slight sensation of bitterness. Its specific gravity, ac¬
cording to Kirwan, is 2.330. It gives a slight tinge
of green to syrup of violets, or other delicate vegeta¬
ble blues. It is decomposed by the same process as
lime } and an amalgam ol magnium, its base, is obtain¬
ed. This base itself, however, has never been procured
in a separate state.
4. Magnesia is not acted upon by light. It is not
melted when exposed to the gi’eatest heat. By strong
calcination it becomes finer, whiter, and more friable.
When it is exposed to heat in the form of paste with
water, it contracts its dimensions, and acquires a
phosphoresent property ; for when it is strongly rub¬
bed on a hot iron plate, it becomes luminous in the
dark. It is not altered by the action of the blow-pipe
:33
Fr ra-
L 1)4
F'1 rties
an, na_
lys
j 55
*c of
I S T R Y. 597
on charcoal, but gives out a flame of a slight yellow Magnesia,
colour. &C.
5. There is no action between magnesia and oxygen * u ^ '
or azote. When exposed to the air, it attracts a littleQf jj'.3
moisture from the atmosphere, but this goes on very
slowly.
Butini exposed a quantity of magnesia for the space
of two years in a porcelain cup slightly covered with
paper, and he found that it had acquired only
part of its weight in addition, during that time.
6. There is no action between magnesia and hydro¬
gen or carbon, and very little between it and phosr
phorus.
7. Magnesia is very little soluble in water. Ac-Ofwater,
cording to Mr Kirwan it requires near 8000 times its
weight of cold water to dissolve it. Butini found, that
water boiled with this substance, and left in contact with
it for three months, had scarcely acquired Toio-o Part
its weight j but water combines with magnesia in the
solid state. One hundred parts of magnesia, according
to Bergman, thrown into water, and taken out and
dried, acquired 18 parts of additional weight.
8. Magnesia enters into combination with the acids, Afthiities.
and forms with them peculiar salts. The order of its
affinities is the following, according to Bergman.
Oxalic acid,
Phosphoric,
Sulphuric,
Fluoric,
Arsenic,
Saclactic,
Succinic,
Nitric,
Muriatic,
Tartaric,
Citric,
Lactic,
Benzoic,
Acetic,
Boracic,
Sulphurous,
Carbonic,
Prussic.
1339
9. Magnesia does not enter into combination with Of •arths.
the fixed alkalies; but in combination with some of the
earths, it becomes fusible by means of a strong heat.
With lime in certain proportions, it forms a greenish
yellow glass. . _ < 1340
10. Magnesia is much employed in medicine as allies,
gentle laxative, and as an absorbent to destroy the
acidity in the stomach. It is used in pharmacy to sus¬
pend or aid the solution of resinous and gummy sub¬
stances, such as camphor and opium, in water, which
are otherwise little soluble.
I. Of S.ulphuret of Magnesia.
1341
I. Magnesia enters into combination with sulphur, prepara-
either in the dry or humid way. Two parts of mag-tion.
nesia and one of sulphur, put into a crucible, and ex¬
posed to heat, form an orange yellow mass, which is
not very soluble in water, but emits the odour of sul¬
phurated hydrogen gas, when it comes in contact with
that liquid, and which is very readily decomposed by
means.
59s
CHEMISTRY.
Magnesia, means of heat. The heat that is applied to obtain
Sec.
this sulphuret, must be very moderate, otherwise the
sulphur is driven off.
2. The sulphuret of magnesia is formed with more
difficulty in the humid way. When two parts of mag¬
nesia and one of sulphur in powder, with 20 parts of
water, are exposed to heat on a sand bath, the liquid
becomes of a pale yellow colour, which is slightly fe¬
tid, but has nothing of the strong odour of the other
sulphurets. There is formed very little of the sulphu¬
ret of magnesia j for the greatest part of the sulphur
and magnesian earth remains uncomhined. There is
very little sulphureted hydrogen produced, the water
scarcely exhaling the odour of this gas.
3. The solid sulphuret of magnesia decomposes rapid¬
ly when exposed to the air. It seems to absorb very
little sulphureted hydrogen gas j so that the properties
* Fourcroy 0f jjie hydrosulphuret of magnesia are yet unknown *.
Connaiss.
134*
Properties
Chim. hi.
160—167.
. 1.343
Historv.
1344
Prepara¬
tion.
1345
Properties.
1346
Action of
water and
heat.
1347
Of alkalies.
134S
Composi¬
tion.
II. Compounds of Magnesia with Acids.
I. Sulphate of Magnesia.
1. The compound of sulphuric acid and magnesia was
formerly known under the name of Epsom and Seidlitz
salts, because it exists in the water of these springs,
and sal catharticus amarus, bitter purging salt, on ac¬
count of its properties. It was long confounded with
sulphate of soda, till its properties were investigated by
Black, Macquer, and Bergman, and its nature and
composition fully ascertained.
2. This salt exists abundantly in nature. It is
found in many mineral springs, and it forms a consi¬
derable proportion of the saline ingredients of sea water.
The bittern or mother water of commen salt, that is,
the water which remains after the crystallization, con¬
sists chiefly of sulphate of magnesia. It is therefore
rarely prepared by art, by the direct combination of its
constituent parts. It is easily purified by dissolving the
salt in water, and by evaporation and crystallization.
3. The sulphate of magnesia, thus prepared, is cry¬
stallized in four-sided prisms, terminated by four-sided
pyramids. There is, however, some deviation from
this form. The primitive form of the crystal is a qua¬
drangular prism with square bases. The integrant
molecule is a triangular prism, whose bases are right-
angled isosceles triangles. It has a cool, bitter taste.
The specific gravity is 1.66.
4. Exposed to the air it effloresces. It is soluble
in its own weight of cold water : boiling water dis¬
solves more than two-thirds of its weight. Exposed
to heat, it undergoes the watery fusion, and being de¬
prived of its water of crystallization, it does not melt,
nor is it decomposed by the strongest heat. By the
action of the blow-pipe it melts with difficulty into an
opaque, vitreous globule.
5. The sulphate of magnesia is decomposed by the
fixed alkalies, but with ammonia it forms a triple salt.
The component parts of this salt are, according to
Kinvan.
Dry.
63.32
36.68
* Nichol.
Joum, iii.
P- 215.
Sulphuric acid
Magnesia
'Water
Bergman.
33
*9
48
In crystals.
29’35
I7.OO
53-65
00.00
JOO
100.00
100.00*.
6. The sulphate of magnesia is employed in medicine Magnesi
as a purgative. From this salt, too, the earth of mag- &e.
nesia is usually extracted. '■“"“v—
.... I349
2. Sulphate of Ammonia and Magnesia. Uses.
1. This is a triple combination of sulphuric acid prepafa.
with ammonia and magnesia. It is prepared by thetion,
partial decomposition of the sulphate of magnesia by
means of ammonia. By evaporating the solution, the
triple salt is obtained in crystals.
2. This salt crystallizes in octahedrons. It has a Propenk
bitter acrid taste, does not effloresce in the air, is less
soluble in water than either of the salts of which it is
composed, but it is more soluble in hot than in cold
water, and it crystallizes on cooling. By heat it un¬
dergoes the watery fusion. It then dries and is decom¬
posed. The component parts of this salt are,
Sulphate of magne /ia 64
of ammonia 32
  t Tourer
. 4. Connam.
I00t* Chim. iii,
3. Sulphite of Magnesia. 49-
1. The compound of sulphurous acid and magnesia prepara.
is formed by passing sulphurous acid gas into two parts tion.
of water, w-itli one of carbonate of magnesia. A violent
effervescence takes place, with the evolution of heat.
The sulphite of magnesia is formed, and precipitated to
the bottom in the state of powder $ but with an excess
of acid it is re-dissolved, and crystallizes.
2. The crystals of sulphite of magnesia are in the Propertii
form of depressed transparent tetrahedrons. It has a
mild earthy taste, which soon becomes sensibly sulphu¬
reous j it has no smell. Its specific gravity is 1.3802. 1^54
3. It effloresces in the air, and is slowly converted Action 1
into sulphate of magnesia. It is soluble in 20 parts ofair>
cold water. Boiling water dissolves a greater propor¬
tion, and from this it crystallizes on cooling. Exposed
to heat, this salt becomes viscid, and by calcination it
loses 0.45 of its weight. If the heat be increased, it is
decomposed ; the acid is driven off, and the pure earth
remains behind.
The component parts of this salt are,
Sulphurous acid 39
Magnesia 16
Water 45
1353
100
4. Sulphite of Ammonia and Magnesia.
1. This triple salt is formed by decomposing the sul-
phite of ammonia by magnesia, or the sulphite of mag-tiou.
nesia by ammonia, in solution in the cold j or, by mixing
together the solutions of the two salts. 1356
2. This salt is in transparent crystals, the form of Properti
which has not been determined. When it is exposed
to the air, it is converted into sulphate of ammonia and ^
magnesia. It is less soluble in water than either of the Action
two sulphites of which it is formed. By the action ol heat,
heat, sulphurous acid is given out, acidulous sulphite
of ammonia is sublimed, and there remains behind pure
magnesia f. t ^
5. Nitrate of Magnesia.
1. This compound of nitric acid and magnesia was
formerly
89.
CHEMISTRY.
[360
ion of
1361
lent.
1362
I iposi-
, formerly called nitre with base of magnesia, and mag¬
nesian saltpetre. It is formed by the direct combina¬
tion of the acid with the earth. By evaporation it is
crystallized.
2. This salt crystallizes in four-sided rhomboidal
prisms, whose summits are oblique or truncated. Some¬
times it is in the form of small needles combined in
groups. The taste is penetrating and bitter. The spe¬
cific gravity is 1.736.
3. It is deliquescent in the air, and is soluble in its
own weight of cold water. It is more soluble in boil¬
ing water, in which it crystallizes on cooling ; but it
can only be obtained in regular crystals by slow evapo¬
ration from its solution in cold water.
4. By the action of heat it undergoes the watery
fusion 3 the water is driven off, and it becomes dry. It
is decomposed in a strong heat, gives out a little oxy¬
gen gas, then nitrous gas, and at last the nitric acid.—
The pure earth remains behind.
The component parts of this salt are, according to
599
Bergman.
Acid 43
Magnesia 27
Water 30
100
Kirwan.
46
22
32
IOO
1363
J para.
t .
j [3^5
/ on of
1366
' iposi-
■
outcrop
miss,
n. iii.
44-
<367
ml na-
6. Nitrate of Ammonia and Magnesia.
1. Th is triple salt is formed, either by the direct
combination of the solutions of nitrate of ammonia,
and nitrate of magnesia, by which the salt is obtained
pure and crystallized 3 or, by partially decomposing the
nitrate of ammonia by magnesia, or the nitrate of mag¬
nesia by ammonia.
2. The crystals of this salt are in the form of fine
prisms. It has a bitter, acrid, and ammoniacal taste. It
is less deliquescent in the air than either of the consti¬
tuent salts, and less soluble in water. It requires 11
parts of cold water to dissolve it, but less of boiling wa¬
ter. It crystallizes on cooling.
When it is rapidly heated, it inflames spontaneously.
When slowly heated in close vessels, it gives out oxy¬
gen gas, azotic gas, a greater proportion of water than
it contains, nitrous gas, and nitric acid, without the
smallest trace of ammonia 3 which shows that it is de¬
composed, that the hydrogen combines with the oxygen
of the acid, and forms water.
The component parts of this salt are,
Nitrate of magnesia 78
■ ■— ammonia 22
100*.
7. Nitrite of Magnesia.
Nothing is known of the properties of this salt.
8. Muriate of Magnesia.
I. This compound of muriatic acid and magnesia
was formerly called marine salt of magnesia, and was
confounded with the muriate of lime, with which it
is frequently accompanied. The difference between
these two salts was first pointed out by Dr Black, and
Bergman afterwards examined the nature and proper¬
ties of muriate of magnesia. The salt is obtained by
dissolving magnesia in muriatic acid till they are satu¬
rated, and then evaporating the solution. Small irre- Magnesia,
gular crystals are obtained. This salt exists in the wa- &-e.
ters of the ocean, and in mineral waters, along with the *
muriates of soda and lime.
2. It is extremely difficult to obtain the muriate of Properties,
magnesia in any regular form. It is either in the state
of powder, or very small regular needles, or in a kind
of jelly. It has a disagreeable bitter taste. The spe¬
cific gravity is 1.601.
3. It is very deliquescent in the air. Cold water
readily dissolves its own weight, and it is still more so¬
luble in boiling water.
4. It is completely decomposed by heat 3 the acid is Action of
heat.
1370
Composi¬
tion.
* Fourcroy
iii. 204.
f Nichol¬
son’s Journ.
iii. 215.
driven off, and the pure earth remains behind *.
Bergman. Kirwan.
Acid _ 34 34.59
Magnesia 41 3r*07
Water 25 34*38
100
1371
ioo.o4f.
9. Muriate of Ammonia and Magnesia.
This triple salt is formed by mixing the solutions of Prepara-
muriate of magnesia and muriate of ammonia 3 and^011-
by evaporatinrr the solution the salt crystallizes in „
the form of small polyhedrons. It has a bitter, am- ‘
moniacal taste. It is little altered by exposure to the
air, and is soluble in six parts of cold water. It is
decomposed by heat. The muriate of ammonia is sub¬
limed, and the muriate of magnesia is deprived of its
acid.
The component parts of this salt are, Compos-
Muriate of magnesia 73 ti00*
—————— ammonia 27
100
10. Hyperoxymuriate of Magnesia.
This is similar in its chemical and physical proper¬
ties to the hyperoxymuriate of lime, and it is prepared
in the same way. It is precipitated by lime and am¬
monia.
The component parts are,
Acid 60
Magnesia 25.7
15-3
*374
Composi¬
tion.
Water
* Phil.
Trans.
1S02,
p. 149.
*375
100.0 .
II. Fluate of Magnesia.
1. This salt is formed by combining together fluoric Prepara-
acid and magnesia. According to Scheele, it precipi- tk>n.
tates in the form of a gelatinous mass 3 but Bergman
observes that great part of the salt is deposited as the *37$
saturation approaches. By evaporating the solution, Propertie*.
crystals in the form of six-sided prisms, terminated by
a low pyramid composed of three rhomboidal sides, are
obtained.
2. This salt is not decomposed by the strongest heat,
or by any acid.
12. Fluate of Ammonia and Magnesia.
This triple salt is formed, by mixing the solutions of
the fiuate of ammonia and magnesia. A precipitation
is formed, which is the triple salt in crystals. The
properties of this salt are unknown t. f Fourercyr
13. Borate lu-308*
6co
CHEMISTRY.
Magmou, Borate of Magnesia.
1. This salt Is formed by the direct combination of
boracic acid with magnesia. The earth is slowly dis¬
solved, and when the solution is evaporated, crystals
are obtained.
2. The crystals of this salt are very small and irre¬
gular. It melts when exposed to heat, without be¬
ing decomposed ; but it may be decomposed, it is said,
t Ib d 319. by alcohol J.
1378
Properties
T379
Found na¬
tive.
13S0
Properties.
1331
Composi*
tion.
14. Borate of Magnesia and Lime.
1. This salt, which has been lately discovered native,
is called by mineralogists cubic quart%. It was ana¬
lyzed by Westrumb in 1788. It is an insipid salt, and
is regularly crystallized in polyhedrons of 22 faces.
The specific gravity is 2.566.
2. It is not altered by exposure to the air, nor is it
soluble even in boiling water. Exposed to a strong red
heat, the crystals lose their lustre 5 and with a white
heat they decrepitate, and at last melt into a yellow
coloured glass.
3. The component parts of this salt are,
Acid _ 73.5
Magnesia 14.6
Lime 11.9
The component parts of this salt found in the intes- Magne
&c
tine of'the horse are,
Phosphate of ammonia
■ magnesia
water
33-3
33-3
33-3
100.0
139c1
Comnio
salt.
17. Phosphite of Magnesia.
1. This salt may be prepared by directly combin-Prepay j
ing phosphorous acid with magnesia. Or it may be ob-tion.
tained in a purer state, and crystallized, by mixing to¬
gether solutions of phosphites of soda or of potash, and
sulphate of magnesia, by which means it is obtained
in brilliant milky flakes.
2. This salt, which has no sensible taste, sometimespr0p^t 1
crystallizes in the form of tetrahedrons. It effloresces
in the air, and is soluble in 400 parts of cold water.
When exposed to heat, it suddenly swells up, and melts
into a glass. Under the blow-pipe it gives out a phos¬
phoric light, and becomes opaque on cooling.
The component parts of this salt are,
Acid 44
Magnesia 20
Water 36
1382
Prepara¬
tion.
I3®3
Properties.
1384
Action of
water.
i38s
Of heat.
13S6
Found na¬
tive.
1387
Composi¬
tion.
T3SS
Properties.
i3S9
Action of
heat.
100.0
15. Phosphate of Magnesia.
1. This salt may be obtained by the direct combination
of phosphoric acid and carbonate of magnesia; for, it
may be prepared by mixing together phosphate of soda
and sulphate of magnesia in solution. In a few hours,
large, transparent crystals are formed in the solution.
2. rIhis salt crystallizes in six-sided prisms with un¬
equal sides, but it is frequently in the form of powder.
It has a cooling, sweetish taste. The specific gravity
is 1.5489.
3. It effloresces in the air, is not very soluble in
cold water, and requires about 50 parts of boiling water
for its solution, and part of it crystallizes on cooling.
When it is heated, it is easily deprived of its water of
crystallization, and if the heat be moderate, it melts
and falls down into a white powder. With a stronger
heat, it is melted into glass.
16. Phosphate of Ammonia and Magnesia.
1. This triple salt was discovered by Fourcroy in a
calculous concretion, found in the colon of a horse.
Phe results of his experiments on this substance have
been confirmed by Berthollet and Vauquelin.
2. It may be prepared artificially, by mixing together
a solution of phosphate of magnesia with a solution of
phosphate of ammonia.
3. 1 he crystals are in the prismatic form, but cannot
be accurately ascertained. This salt has no taste. In
the concrete form, it is found in the cavities of animal
bodies, and sometimes it is crystallized, but most fre¬
quently lamellated and semitransparent.
4. It is not changed by the action of the air, and is
scarcely soluble xu water. When it is heated mode¬
rately, it falls to powder. With a strong heat it is de¬
prived of the ammonia, and under the blow-pipe it
melts into a transparent globule. It is decomposed by
the sulphuric, nitric, and muriatic acids.
3
100
18. Phosphite of Ammonia and Magnesia.
This salt is formed by the partial decomposition of
phosphite of ammonia by means of magnesia, or by
mixing together the solutions of the two phosphites.
If the solutions be sufficiently concentrated, the triple
phosphite is readily deposited. It forms crystals, and
has little solubility in water. Its other properties are
unknown.
19. Carbonate of Magnesia.
1. This salt, which was first distinguished by DrNanies !
Black, has been called mild magnesia, aerated magnesia.^V^
It is formed by mixing together sulphate of magnesia110"'
and carbonate of potash in solution. Or it may be ob¬
tained by dissolving pure magnesia in water saturated
with carbonic acid. The salt, as the solution is eva¬
porated, crystallizes. j
2. The magnesia of commerce, which is in the statePropertij
of powder, or light friable cakes, is not fully saturated
with the acid. But when it is crystallized by the above
processes, it is in the form of transparent six-sided
prisms, terminated by a hexagonal plane. This salt has
little taste. The specific gravity is 0.294T. 139^1
3. When it is crystallized, it soon loses its transpa-Action'c||
rency in the air. It is soluble in 48 parts of cold water.'valel'al||
Exposed to heat in a crucible it slightly decrepitates, is1’631,
deprived of its water and acid, and falls down into a J1
powder. It is decomposed by all the acids. The com- Con^ciil I
ponent parts of this salt are, according to tiou.
Bergman.
Acid 30
Magnesia 45
Water 25
■y ■■ ■■
100
Rutini.
36
43
21
100
Fourcrcy.
50
25
25
100
The
r'*
jncsia,
See.
C H E M
The magnesia of commerce is composed of
Carbonic acid
Magnesia
Water
Fourcroy.
48
40
12
IOO
Kirwan.
34
45
21
100
20. Carbonate of Ammonia and Magnesia.
This triple salt is prepared by decomposing carbonate
of ammonia by means of magnesia j or by precipitating
a solution of carbonate of magnesia by means of pure
ammonia. This salt, however, has not been particu¬
larly examined.
21. Arseniate of Magnesia.
When arsenic acid is saturated with magnesia, a
thick matter forms towards the point of saturation,
which is soluble in excess of acid j but when it is
evaporated, it does not crystallize. It assumes the
form of a jelly. It is decomposed by the alkaline ar-
seniates.
22. Tungstate of Magnesia.
This acid, in combination with magnesia, forms a salt
which appears in the form of brilliant scales. It is not
altered by exposure to the air, and it is soluble in
water. It is decomposed by acids, and a white powder
is precipitated.
23. Molybdate of Magnesia.
24. Chromate of Magnesia.
25. Columbate of Magnesia
ia.1
; f
1a. J
Unknown.
26. Acetate of Magnesia.
This salt is formed by the direct combination of
magnesia with acetic acid. It does not crystallize, but
a viscid mass remains when the solution is evaporated.
It has a sweetish taste, leaving afterwards an impres¬
sion of bitterness. The specific gravity is 1.378. It
deliquesces in the air, is very soluble in water, and is
decomposed by heat.
27. Oxalate of Magnesia.
This salt is formed by combining oxalic acid with
magnesia, and evaporating the solution. A salt is ob¬
tained in the form of white powder, which is scarcely
soluble in water. It is decomposed by heat. The
component parts of this salt are,
Acid and water
Magnesia
65
35
100
28. Tartrate of Magnesia.
This compound of tartaric acid and magnesia forms
a salt which is insoluble in water, without an excess of
acid. When this is the case, it crystallizes by evapora¬
tion. The crystals are in the form of hexangular trun¬
cated prisms. It is first melted, and then decomposed
by heat.
29. Citrate of Magnesia.
This salt is obtained by dissolving carbonate of mag-
Vol. V. Part II. f
I S T R Y. 601
nesia in citric acid. From the thick solution of this Magnesia,
salt there is no crystallization ; but after some days, &c.
by a slight agitation, it assumes the form of a white —*-v——'
opaque mass, which remains soft, as it separates from
the edges of the vessel. The component parts of this
salt are,
Acid 66.66
Magnesia 33.34
100.00*
* Fourcroy,
vii. aoS.
30. Malate of Magnesia.
This is a deliquescent salt, and very soluble in
water.
31. Gallate of Magnesia.
Magnesia boiled with an infusion of nut galls, affords
a clear liquid, which assumes a green colour. By eva¬
poration to dryness the green colour vanishes, and the
acid is decomposed.
32. Benzoate of Magnesia.
The combination of benzoic acid with magnesia af¬
fords plumose crystals which are easily soluble in wa¬
ter. This salt has a bitter taste.
33. Succinate of Magnesia.
This salt, which is formed by the combination of suc¬
cinic acid and magnesia, does not crystallize. It is %
white glutinous mass, which is deliquescent in the air.
34. Saccolate of Magnesia.
This salt is insoluble in water.
35. Camphorate of Magnesia.
I. This salt is formed by mixing carbonate of mag- prepara-
nesia with water, and adding crystallized camphoric tion.
acid. A slight effervescence takes place. The tem¬
perature should be increased, to drive off the carbonic
acid. The solution is filtered while it is hot, and eva¬
porated to dryness. The mass is dissolved in distilled
water, filtered and evaporated by a gentle heat, till
a pellicle appears on the surface. By cooling, there
are deposited small plates, which are heaped upon each
other.
139s
2. This salt, which does not crystallize, is white Propeitiei.
and opaque, and has a bitter taste. In the air it is
slightly efflorescent. It is not very soluble in water.
Boiling water dissolves a little, but it is precipitated in
cooling. When it is thrown on red-hot coals, the
acid is volatilized, and pure magnesia remains behind.
By the action of the blow-pipe it gives out a bluish
flame. It is decomposed by sulphuric, nitric, and mu¬
riatic acids *. - * Ann. it
Chun.
36. Suberate of Magnesia. xxvii. p. 37.
The compound of suberic acid and magnesia is in the
form of powder. It has a bitter taste, is deliquescent
in the air, and soluble in water. It reddens the tinc¬
ture of turnsole. Fxposed to heat, it swells up and
melts. By the action of the blow-pipe, the salt is de¬
composed, the acid is driven off, and pure magnesia
remains behind. The sulphuric, nitric, and muriatic
acids, decompose it. It is also decomposed by the al-1
kalies, barytes, and lime f. p 56.
4 G 37*
602
Alumina,
&-C.
CHEMISTRY.
37. Mellate of Magnesia.
Unknown.
38. Lactate of Magnesia.
A salt in small deliquescent crystals.
39. Prussiate of Magnesia.
This salt may be prepared by directly combining
prussic acid with pure magnesia ; but the magnesia is
precipitated when the solution is exposed to the air. It
is also decomposed by the alkalies and lime.
Sect. V. Of Alumina and its Combinations.
History? I* Alumina, which is now employed to signify one
of the simple earths, is derived from the word alum, of
which this earth forms a constituent part, and from
which it is obtained in greatest purity. It was former¬
ly denominated argil and argillaceous earth. Pott and
Margraaf were the first who distinguished this earth
from the calcareous earth or lime, and proved that this
latter earth could not be obtained from it by calcina¬
tion. In the year 1739, Hellot shewed, that the basis
of alum, separated from this salt by an alkali, was pure
argil, or alumina. In 1758 and 1762 Macquer exa¬
mined this earth, and detailed its characteristic pro¬
perties. These were afterwards farther elucidated
and confirmed by the experiments and researches of
Bergman and Scheele, so that the nature and charac¬
ters of this earth were completely developed, and it was
universally admitted as distinct from all others hitherto
known.
Prepara- 2* Although alumina exists in great abundance in
tion. nature, yet it is rarely found in a state of perfect pu¬
rity. It may be obtained pure by the following pro¬
cess.
Dissolve a quantity of common alum in water, and
add to the solution, a solution of potash or carbonate of
potash, or, what is supposed to be still better, liquid am¬
monia. An abundant white precipitate is immediately
formed. Continue the addition of the alkali as long as
any precipitate appears. When the whole of the pre¬
cipitate has collected at the bottom of the vessel, pour
off the fluid part, and wash the precipitate repeatedly
with large quantities of water, to free it from all saline
matters which it may have retained. Dry the precipi¬
tate in a moderate heat, and the substance thus obtain¬
ed is alumina in a state of tolerable purity. If this pre¬
cipitate retain any portion of sulphuric acid, it may be
separated by adding muriatic acid in small quantities
at a time, till the whole is dissolved. Evaporate the
solution till a drop of it, when suffered to cool on a
plate of glass, yields minute crystals. Then set by the
solution till it cool, and crystals will be deposited. Let
these crystals be removed by pouring off the fluid, and
continue the evaporation till no more crystals are form-
Aiuni'm
&c.
1401
ed. In this way the alum which the earth retained
may be separated. The liquid which remains is to be
mixed with ammonia as long as any precipitate appears.
This precipitate, well washed and dried, is pure alu¬
mina.
3. The alumina obtained by this process, is either in Propenit
the form of friable fragments, or of very fine white a.n?com
powder, soft to the touch, and insipid to the taste. Jt;sltl0n-
has a peculiar odour, which is distinguished by the name
of earthy smell, and is only perceptible when it is breath¬
ed upon, or moistened (o). It adheres to the tongue in
consequence of its rapidly absorbing moisture. The
specific gravity is 2. It has never been decomposed,
but is, from analogy, concluded to be a compound of a
metallic base (alumium) with oxygen. I40J
4. Saussure has observed, that alumina exhibits two Spon^
different appearances, according to the quantity ofahmwi
water which has been employed in the solution of the
aluminous salt. If the quantity of water does not ex¬
ceed what is necessary for the solution of the salt, we
obtain a light friable white earth, which is very spon¬
gy, and adheres to the tongue. This he calls spongy
alumina. But when the salt is dissolved in a large
quantity of water, we obtain, after drying the preci¬
pitate in the same temperature, a yellowish brittle
transparent mass, which splits into small fragments,
when held in the hand, like solid sulphur. It has a
smooth conchoidal fracture, no earthy appearance, does ^
not adhere to the tongue, and does not swell up when ptynqu
put into water. It occupies 10 or 12 times less volume]ii, p. 2$
than in the spongy state, and has some resemblance to i^c.
gum arabic, or a dried jelly. This he distinguishes by Gelatin
the name gelatinous alumina *. 140,
5. Alumina undergoes no change by being exposed ^cl“in'
to light. When it is exposed to heat, it is diminishedwat€r'
in bulk, in consequence of being deprived of the wa¬
ter with which it is combined. Accordingly, Saussure
has observed, that the spongy alumina, exposed to the
same temperature, loses a greater quantity of moisture
than the gelatinous alumina. The former, when ex¬
posed to a red heat, loses 0.58 part of its weighty but
the latter only 0.43 part. When they are both ex¬
posed to a very strong heat, the spongy alumina is de¬
prived of no more water than what it gives out with a
red heat, while the gelatinous parts with only 0.4825.
On this property of the contraction of bulk of alumina
when exposed to heat, depends the principle of the
thermometer, or pyrometer, of Wedgwood, of which
we shall immediately give a short description.
When alumina is exposed to a very strong heat sud¬
denly applied, as by means of the blow-pipe, with a
stream of oxygen gas, it is susceptible of a kind of fu¬
sion 5 and, when it is cooled, it appears under the form
of an enamel, of a greenish colour, and so hard as to
cut glass.
6. Alumina is not soluble in water, but it absorbs Of wai
and retains that fluid in considerable quantity. With
a greater quantity of water it is diffused in it, and may
be
140,
C°) This smell, however, as it has been justly observed by Saussure, is owing to the oxide of iron, with
which the alumina, in its ordinary state of purification, is contaminated j for when it is perfectly pure, and no
traces of oxide of iron can be detected, it has no perceptible smell. To alumina which was perfectly inodorous,
he communicated this smell, by triturating it with oxide of iron. Journal de Physique, lii. p. 287,
0; rbonc
P7
0 :id.
p8
A tie*.
LI 39
Ol kalies.
.10
0! rtis.
i wan
ral.
C H E M
be formed into a paste, in wbidi state it is moulded
with great facility into any form.
7. There is no action between alumina and oxygen,
azote, hydrogen, or phosphorus j and very little be¬
tween it and sulphur, except when they are in a state
of minute division, or in combination with some other
substances. Carbone combines with alumina, of which
.there are many natural compounds, among the class of
bituminous fossils j but even in these compounds, the
carbon and alumina are mixed with other earths, and
with the oxide of iron.
8. Alumina enters into combination with almost all
the acids, and forms salts which are more or less solu¬
ble and susceptible of crystallization. Some are inso¬
luble in water, and others require an excess of acid.
9. The order of its affinity for the acids is the fol¬
lowing :
Sulphuric acid,
Nitric,
Muriatic,
Oxalic,
Arsenic,
Fluoric,
Tartaric,
Succinic,
Saclactic,
Citric,
Phosphoric,
Lactic,
Benzoic,
Acetic,
Boracic,
Sulphurous,
Carbonic,
Prussic.
10. Alumina combines with the fixed alkalies.
When they are heated together, an opaque mass, which
has little coherence, is formed. Fixed alkali dissolved
in water, with the assistance of heat, has the property
of dissolving alumina ; but from this solution it may be
precipitated by means of an acid, and then it is ob¬
tained in great purity. Liquid ammonia also holds a
small quantity of alumina in solution, if it has been
recently precipitated.
11. Alumina enters into combination with many of
the earths, and particularly with lime and silica. These
compounds form the chief basis of all kinds of pottery
and porcelain. Alumina combines with lime, and en¬
ters into fusion with it by means of heat. A com¬
pound is also formed with alumina and barytes, or
strontites, by exposing them together in a crucible to
a strong heat; or, by boiling them together in water.
Magnesia and alumina alone do not enter into combi¬
nation by means of the strongest heat j but a porcelain
is obtained from a mixture of lime, magnesia, and alu¬
mina. But in the proportions that are employed, it is
necessary that the alumina be greatest. The following
table shews the results of experiments on these earths
in different proportions f.
Alumina,
Lime,
Magnesia,
A porcelain.
I S T R Y.
Alumina,
Magnesia,
- Lime,
Alumina,
Magnesia,
Lime,
Alumina,
Magnesia,
Lime,
603
A porcelain.
Alumina,
&c.
' v  
Alumina, 3
Lime, 2
Magnesia, 2
0
!}
}
Porous porcelain.
Porous porcelain.
Porcelain.
I4tl
12. This is one of the most important of the earths, Uses,
on account of the variety of purposes to which it is ap¬
plied. It forms the bases of all kinds of earthen ware,
from the coarsest brick to the finest china. It is also
chiefly employed in the pots or crucibles which are ex¬
posed to very strong heat, as in glass manufacture and
cast iron. It is employed also in dyeing and calico-
printing, and in the cleaning or scouring of woollen
stuffs. It has been applied to a valuable use by the
late Mr Wedgwood, in the construction of an instru¬
ment capable of ascertaining high degrees of tempe¬
rature, to which the common thermometer cannot
reach.
13. This instrument is constructed on the principle Wedg-
of the contraction of pure clay, when it is exposed to wood’s py-
heat. Mr Wedgwood took a very pure clay, and form-ro,neter*
ed it into small short cylinders, exactly of the same
size. These are baked in a low red heat, to expel the
whole of the air and moisture which adhere to the clay.
The cylinders are thus prepared for the measurement
of strong heats. For this purpose, one of the cylinders
is introduced between two rulers, to which a scale is
attached, and its bulk is exactly measured. It is then
introduced into the furnace whose heat is to be tried,
and the temperature is to be estimated according to
the diminution of bulk which the cylinder has sustain¬
ed. The quantity of contraction is measured by means
of two metallic rulers, which are fixed upon a plate.
These rulers are 24 inches in length, and are divided
into 240 parts. The distance between the rulers at the
upper extremity of the scale is 0.5 of an inch, and at
the lower extremity 0.3 of an inch. The size of the
clay cylinder, before it is introduced into the furnace,
nearly fits the upper part of the scale ; or at least the
degree at which it stands, before it is introduced into
the furnace, is marked. After being heated, the clay
cylinder is again applied to the scale, and the diminu¬
tion of bulk is measured by the distance at which it
stands between the rulers from the top of the scale, or
from the degree at which it stood before it was exposed
to the heat.
Mr Wedgwood connected the scale of his pyrometer Scale of it.
with Fahrenheit’s thermometer. The first degree of
his scale which marks a red heat, corresponds to the
9470 Fahrenheit; but to make this instrument better
understood, we may state a few of the corresponding
degrees of the two instruments.
4 G 2 Red
6d4
Aluiuina,
Stc
1414
Prcpara-
tiou.
r‘4'
■>
HiS
Propel ties.
1416
Action of
lieat, &e.
1417
Composi-
(tion.
1418
yifttory.
C H E M I
Wedgwood.
Red heat
Fine silver melts
Fine gold melts
Welding heat of iron
Cast iron melts
Greatest heat in
eight inches square _
Extremity of the scale, or highest 1
temperature observed j ^
an air furnace
o
28
32
95
130
160
Fahrenheit.
= 947
471?
5237
13427
17977
21877
32277
This instrument has been of considerable importance
iii some arts and manufactures, and it is undoubtedly
fitted to give some information concerning those in¬
tense heats which can be measured by no other instru¬
ment which has yet been contrived. But as the same
kind of clay cannot always be obtained, and as it is
probable that the contractions of the cylinders are not
proportional to the temperatures, their estimation by
this instrument cart only be considered as an approxi¬
mation to certainty.
I. Compounds of Alumina with Acids.
I. Sulphate of Alumina.
1. This is a compound of sulphuric acid and alumi¬
na. It may be formed by the direct combination of the
acid with the earth. But in the preparation of this
salt, the earth and the acid must be in a state of puri¬
ty, and must be saturated with each other. The solu¬
tion is then evaporated to dryness ; the salt is again
dissolved in distilled water, and evaporated slowly till
it crystallizes.
2. The crystals of this salt are in the form of thin
plates, soft and pliant, with a brilliant pearly lustre,
and of an astringent taste. It is not altered by expo¬
sure to the air ; it is very soluble in water, but it does
not crystallize readily. When it is heated, it is infu¬
sible ; but by long calcination, it dries and falls down
to powder. At a high temperature it is decomposed,
and the acid is driven off.
3. The sulphuric acid readily combines with this
salt, and forms with it an acidulous sulphate of alu¬
mina. This salt has a more acid taste than the for¬
mer; it crystallizes with more difficulty, and the crys¬
tals have more brilliancy. It reddens vegetable blues,
and frequently assumes the form of a thick gelatinous
mass.
4. All the alkaline and earthy bases, except silica
and zirconia, decompose either of these two salts.
The saturated sulphate of alumina, according to Berg¬
man, is composed of
Sulphuric acid
Alumina
5»
50
100
2* Acidulous Sulphate of Alumina and Potash, or
Alum.
1. The alum of commerce, now of such extensive
utility in many of the arts and manufactures, was im¬
ported into Europe from Asia, previous to the 15th
3
Alumina
&e,
1459
S T R Y.
century, during which it was begun to be manufac¬
tured in Italy. Alum works were erected in Spain
and Germany in the 16th century j and towards the
end of it, a manufactory of this salt was established In
Yorkshire in England. But the true nature of alnrri
has been only of late understood. It is to the experi¬
ments and researches of Vauquelin that we are in¬
debted for the knowledge of its component parts.
2. Alum is generally obtained by exposing to thePiepaiu.
weather for some time aluminous schistus, or what areUon-
called aluminous ores, which are natural productions
sometimes found in the neighbourhood of volcanoes,
and sometimes, as in Britain, dug out of coal mines
which abound with pyrites or sulphuret of iron. When
these substances, which are also mixed with a consider¬
able proportion of clay, are exposed to air and mois¬
ture, the sulphur combines with the oxygen of the
air, or with that of the water, by decomposing it, and
is thus converted into sulphuric acid. This combines
with the alumina, and thus there is formed a sulphate
of alumina. The salt, thus formed, is dissolved in wa¬
ter, and must be purified by repeated boilings and cry-
tallizations. This aluminous schistus is generally mix¬
ed with a considerable proportion of sulphate of iron.
From this it is to be separated during the process, and
the potash or ammonia, which is necessary to consti¬
tute the triple salt, must be added. Even before the
component parts of alum were discovered, the addition
of potash or ammonia was found to be necessary to com¬
plete the process. This was well known to the manu¬
facturers, who supposed that it was necessary to take up
a quantity of acid, which being in excess, prevented the
granulation, as it was called, or the crystallization of
the alum. 1410
3. Alum crystallizes in regular octahedrons j but Property
this form is subject to considerable variety, according
to the difference of proportion which is found to take
place among its component parts. The primitive form
of the crystal is the regular octahedron, and the inte¬
grant molecule the regular tetrahedron. It has a very
astringent, styptic, and somewhat sweetish taste. It
usually reddens vegetable blues. The specific gravity
is 1.7109. M”
4. It is little changed by exposure to the air. By Action'
long contact there is a slight efflorescence on the sur- ^er ttI
face. Alum is soluble in 16 or 20 parts of cold wa¬
ter. Boiling water dissolves a greater proportion.
When exposed to heat, it melts in its water of crystal¬
lization. It then swells up, enlarges in volume, and
there remains behind a light, porous, dry mass, which
has a sharp acid taste, and reddens more strongly vege¬
table blues, In this state it is called burnt or calcined
alum. When it is exposed to a stronger heat, the acid
is driven off. _ 1411
5. According to the experiments of Vauquelin,Vaiieti*
there are three kinds or varieties of alum, which, al¬
though they possess nearly the same properties, have
different constituent parts, or different proportions of
the same constituents. The first is sulphate of alumina
and potash with an excess of acid $ which indeed is ne¬
cessary to constitute alum. The second consists of alu¬
mina and ammonia, also with an excess of acid. The
third variety, which is most frequently, found among
the alum of commerce, is a mixture of both. It con¬
tains
A ima*
y
Cc osi»
tio
CHEMISTRY.
tains both potash and ammonia. When an additional
quantity of potash is added, the alum crystallizes, not
in its usual form, but in the form of cubes, and hence
it has been denominated cubic alum. If a still greater
quantity of potash be added, the crystallization is near¬
ly interrupted > and it then appears in the form of
flakes.
The component parts of alum are, according to
605
alum, as the earth is added, is gradually precipitated in Alumina,
the solution, in the form of a white powder.
2. This salt, saturated with alumina, never assumes v
1419
Yauquelin.
Sulphate of alumina 49
   -— potash 7
Water 41
Kir wan.
Acid 17.66
Base 12.00
Water 70-34
100
100.00
H
A< n of
eh lal.
25
Pj ho*
76
Pn rties.
6. The three varieties of alum are nearly decompo¬
sed in the same way, by combustible substances. If
alum be exposed to a moderate heat with charcoal, it
is converted into the state of neutral salt, because the
f charcoal acts on the excess of acid, before it can effect
the decomposition of the salt-, but when it is strongly
heated, there is formed with the sulphate of alumina
and potash a black substance, which spontaneously takes
lire in the air. This substance has been distinguished
by the name of pyrophoms ; and it is called Romberg's
pyrophorus, because it was discovered by that che¬
mist.
Pyrophorus is prepared by mixing together three
parts of alum, and one of flour or sugar, in an iron
ladle, and exposing the mixture to heat till it ceases
to swell, and becomes black. It is then to be redu¬
ced to powder, put into a glass phial, and again ex¬
posed to heat, till a blue flame proceeds from the
mouth of the phial. After it burns for a minute, it is
allowed to cool, and must be kept in a well-closed
bottle.
7. The pyrophorus thus formed, contains a hydro¬
genated sulphuret of potash and alumina, mixed with
charcoal in a state of minute division. It kindles more
readily in humid than in dry air. The oxygen gas of
the atmospheric air is absorbed. Part is converted into
carbonic acid, and part combines with the sulphur,
and forms sulphuric acid $ so that when the pyropho¬
rus is burnt, it no longer contains the hydrogenated
sulphuret as before, but sulphate of alumina and pot¬
ash ; not in the state of alum, because it has been de¬
prived of the excess of acid, which gives alum its pecu¬
liar character.
8. Pyrophorus gives out a very fetid odour, when
it is thrown into water, and leaves behind a sulphu¬
ret of potash, and of hydrogenated alumina. It is
rcroj/, inflamed by nitrous gas, and by oxymuriatic acid
59- gas *.
jJ2? 9. The uses of alum are very numerous. It is em-
Juf ployed in medicine as an astringent and styptic. It is
also employed in the arts of bleaching, of tanning, dye¬
ing, calico-printing, and others. It is sometimes used
in preserving animal matters from putrefaction, and it
might be employed for the purpose of securing wood
from catching fire.
Sulphate of alumina and potash.—I. If a solution of
crystallized alum be boiled with a solution of puie
alumina, the saturated sulphate of alumina and potash
is formed. The excess of acid, it is obvious, in this
process, enters into combination with the alumina. The
zS
ft ra¬
tio
any regular form. It lias no taste, is not changed by prp
exposure to the air, is not soluble in water, and when
it is exposed to heat, it is not altered, except at a very
high temperature. This salt is less easily decomposed
than any of the other varieties of sulphate of alumina.
By the action of some of the acids it is converted into
alum, which is owing to the acid combining with the
additional portion of alumina that saturated the ex¬
cess of acid existing in the alum. This salt has been
applied to no use.
3. Sulphite of Alumina.
M30
1. The compound of sulphurous acid and alumina Prepara-
is prepared by passing sulphurous acid gas into water
in which pure alumina is mixed or suspended.
2. The sulphite of alumina, thus formed, is in the Properties,
state of a white, soft powder, which has at first an
earthy taste, and becomes afterwards sulphureous.
When it is exposed to the air tor a long time, it is
converted into the sulphate of alumina, and more ra¬
pidly if it be combined with an excess of sulphurous
acid. It is insoluble in water. Exposed to heat, the
acid is driven off, and partially decomposed, for there
remains behind a small quantity of sulphur. I he com-Composi-
ponent parts of this salt are tion-
Sulphurous acid 32
Alumina 44
Water 24
100
4. Nitrate of Alumina.
M33
X. This salt was formerly known under the names of Prepara-
nitre of argil, and nitrous alum. It is formed by thelio“-
direct combination of the nitric acid with alumina.
It has been found impossible to neutralize the acid j
and it cannot be obtained crystallized, excepting in
the form of thin plates, and often only in a gelatinous
mass. _ M34
2. This salt has an austere and acid taste. The Properties,
specific gravity is 1.645. *s deliquescent in the air,
and extremely soluble in water. When it is heated,
the acid is driven off’, and the pure earth remains be¬
hind. It is readily decomposed by the sulphuric acid,
which disengages the nitric acid j and by the muriatic
acid, which is converted into the oxymuriatic acid.
5. Nitrate of Alumina.
This salt is unknown.
6. Muriate of Alumina.
, - .... *435
1. This salt, which is a compound of muriatic acid Pmifica-
and alumina, is formed by the direct combination oftion.
the acid with the earth j but is never neutralized.
The acid is always in excess. ^
2. This salt is rarely crystallized, but most frequent-rroppr\i€St
!y in the form of white powder, or in that of a gelati¬
nous mass. It has an astringent, acid, and sharp taste.
It reddens the tincture of turnsole and of violets. It is
extremely deliquescent in the air, and very soluble in
water. When it is exposed to heat it melts, and is de*
composed..
6o6
CHEMISTRY.
Alumina, composed. The acid is separated, and the pure alumina
&c. remains behind. It is decomposed in the same way as
~ the other muriates.
7. Hyperoxymuriate of Alumina.
1. This salt is prepared bypassing oxymuriatic acid
gas through water in which newly precipitated alumina
is suspended. The alumina disappears, and when sul¬
phuric acid is poured into the solution, a strong smell
of hyperoxymuriatic acid gas is perceived.
2. This salt is deliquescent, and it is soluble in al¬
cohol. Mr Chenevix could not ascertain the proportion
* Philos. 0f jj-s principles*.
Trans. *
l8°2- 8. Fluate of Alumina,
p. 149.
The combination of fluoric acid and alumina affords
a salt which cannot be crystallized, but which is in
the form of a jelly. It has always an excess of acid,
and an astringent taste. It is decomposed by all the
earthy and alkaline bases. With the latter it forms
triple salts.
9. Borate of Alumina.
It is extremely difficult to form a compound of alu¬
mina and boracic acid by direct combination. This
salt may be formed by mixing together a solution of
borate of soda, with a solution of sulphate of alumina.
Its properties have not been examined.
10. Phosphate of Alumina.
This salt is little known. By saturating phosphoric
acid with alumina, a white powdery mass is obtained,
which has little tate, except there be an excess of acid,
and then it seems to form an acidulous salt. It melts
under the blow-pipe into a transparent globule, without
decomposition. It is decomposed by the alkalies, some
of the earths, and the acids.
11. Phosphite of Alumina.
1. This salt is formed by the direct combination of
phosphorous acid with alumina. The solution is to be
evaporated to a proper consistence.
2. The phosphite of alumina does not crystallize, but
forms a thick, viscid, gummy mass, which becomes dry
and solid in the air. It has an astringent taste, is very
soluble in water, swells up when it is heated, and gives
out a phosphoric light. It is decomposed by all the al¬
kaline and earthy bases.
12. Carbonate of Alumina.
This^com- B^tle is known of the combination of carbonic acid
pound little and alumina. Bergman had observed, when alum was
known. precipitated by an alkaline carbonate, that very little or
no effervescence took place ; he therefore concluded,
that the carbonic acid, not being driven off, must have
Combined with the alumina which was precipitated.
And besides, he found that the liquid contained a
portion of carbonate of alumina, which is deposited
some hours or some days afterwards by the evaporation
of the carbonic acid, which held it in solution.
. C0"101011 .c,ay> wllJch is a mixture of alumina and
silica, contains a certain portion of carbonic acid, which
is disengaged by the application of strong heat. He
obtained from one species of clay several times its vo¬
lume of this acid, mixed with a small portion of hydro¬
gen gas. It is owing to the same combination • of car- Aium;n
bonic acid, that clays, treated with acids, effervesce, &c. j
without containing any carbonate of lime. -y-
According to Saussure, alumina is dissolved in water,
which is saturated with carbonic acid j but when the
solution is exposed to the air, it is decomposed. with wa !
*3'
Arsenic of Alumina.
This salt is formed by dissolving alumina in arsenic
acid, and evaporating the solution to dryness. A
thick mass is thus obtained, which is insoluble in
water. It is decomposed by the sulphuric, nitric, and
muriatic acids, as well as by the earthy and alkaline
bases.
14. Tungstate of Alumina.
This salt has not been examined.
15. Molybdate, chromate, and columbate. Unknown.
18. Acetate of Alumina.
The acetic acid enters into combination with alu¬
mina, and forms with it small needle-shaped crystals,
which are soft, deliquescent, and have an astringent
taste. The specific gravity of this salt is 1.245. Its
other properties are unknown.
19. Oxalate of Alumina.
Oxalic acid very readily combines with alumina.
When the solution is evaporated, a yellowish, soft,
transparent mass is obtained, but it does not crystallize,
This salt has an astringent taste, is deliquescent, andfropertk
reddens the tincture of turnsole. When it is heated,
it swells up, is deprived of its acid, and the alumina
remains behind, slightly coloured. It is decomposed
by the stronger acids. I4.0
The component parts of this salt are, Composi
Acid and water 56
Alumina 44
100
2Q. Tartrate of Alumina.
Alumina enters into combination with tartaric acid,
and forms an uncrystallized, gelatinous mass, which has
an astringent taste, is not deliquescent in the air, but is
soluble in water.
21. Citrate of Alumina.
The properties of this salt have not been examined.
22. Malate of Alumina.
When malic acid is added to a .solution containing
alumina, a precipitate is formed, which is scarcely so¬
luble in water.
23. Gallate of Alumina.
If pure alumina be added to a solution of nut-galls,
an insoluble compound is formed with the tannin and
extract. The liquid remained clear and white, and it
afforded by evaporation, small crystals, which are gal¬
late of alumina with excess of acid *. * phi!.
24. Benzoate of Alumina.
The compound of benzoic acid and alumina affords aP-
salt,
2;.
C H E M
•a, 5ic. salt, which crystallizes in an arborescent form. It has
y—a bitter taste, is deliquescent in the air, soluble in wa¬
ter, is decomposed by the action of heat, and even by
most of the vegetable acids.
25. Succinate of Alumina.
The compound of succinic acid and alumina affords
salts which crystallize in the form of prisms, and are
easily decomposed by heat.
26. Saccolate of Alumina.
This compound of saclactic acid and alumina forms a
salt which is insoluble in water.
27. Camphorate of Alumina.
I iara. I. The compound of camphoric acid and alumina
is formed by precipitating alumina by means of ammo¬
nia, washing the precipitate, and diluting it with di¬
stilled water. Crystals of camphoric acid are then to
be added. The mixture is to be heated, filtered, and
evaporated.
trties. 2. A white powder is then obtained, which has a
bitter, acid, and astringent taste. It reddens vege¬
table blues. This salt is scarcely altered by exposure
to the air. Water dissolves about part of its
weight. Boiling water dissolves it more readily *, but
on cooling, a precipitate is formed. When it is ex¬
posed to heat, it swells up, and the acid is volatilized.
By the action of the blow-pipe, a blue flame is produ¬
ced, the salt is decomposed, and the pure alumina re¬
mains behind. This salt is decomposed by the mineral
acids, and even by some of the vegetable acids. It
is also decomposed by the nitrates of lime and ba-
* ml. de rytes *
C (. jcxvii,
P
28. Suberate of Alumina.
W3
erties.
The compound of suberic acid and alumina may be
formed by evaporating the solution with a very mode¬
rate heat, in a large open vessel. This salt does not
crystallize j but the dried matter which is obtained is
transparent, of a yellowish colour, and has a styptic,
bitterish taste. When too much heat is employed,
the salt melts and blackens. It reddens the tincture
of turnsole, and is slightly deliquescent in the air. Ex¬
posed to the action of the blow-pipe, the acid is volati¬
lized and decomposed, and the alumina remains behind.
It is decomposed by the mineral acids, the earths, and
H.xsiJS.tlie alkalles +*
p.
29. Mellate of Alumina.
The properties of this salt are unknown.
30. Lactate of Alumina.
This is a deliquescent salt.
Sect.. VI. Of Silica and its Combinations.
1. Silica has been distinguished by the names of .?//*-
ceous earth, or quart'zy earth, because it is obtained
from silex, or flint, and from the stone called quarts.
This earth exists in great abundance in nature, and it
constitutes the bases of some of the hardest stones of
which the nucleus of the globe consists $ and, on account
of its great abundance, it has been regarded as the pri¬
ll
I S T R Y. 607
mitive or elementary earth, the base of all the other Silica, &c.
earths. Silica forms one of the constituent parts of v"—
most stony bodies; but it exists in greatest abundance
in agates, jasper, flints, quartz, and rock crystal j in
the latter it is nearly in a state of purity. I44-
2. But to obtain it perfectly pure, a quantity of Prepara-
quartz or rock crystal may be exposed to a red heat,
When it is taken from the fire, and while it is yet hot,
it is suddenly immersed in cold water. Jt is then to be
reduced to powder j and, if transparent rock crystal
has been employed, it is then in a state of tolerable
purity. To have it perfectly pure, mix one part of the
pounded stone with three parts of potash, and expose
them in a crucible to heat which is sufficient for the
fusion of the mixture. The mass thus obtained is so¬
luble in water. Add a sufficient quantity of water
for its solution, and drop in muriatic acid, as long as
there is any precipitate. Let this be repeatedly wash¬
ed with water, and dried. The substance thus obtain¬
ed is pure silica. 144g
3. It is in the form of a very fine white powder, Properties
which has neither taste nor smell. The particles are an(* ?om'
rough and harsh to the feel, as when they are rubbed ^os‘t^on’
between the fingers, or touched with the tongue. The
specific gravity is 2.66. Though never hitherto de¬
composed, it is assumed to be an oxide of silicium. It
may now' be observed, once for all, that the remaining
earths are in the same situation, with respect to the
present state of chemical knowledge. 1447
4. Light has no action on silica; and it is one of the Action of
peculiar characters of this earth, that it resists, un-ll€at’&c*
changed, the greatest degree of heat.
5. There is, no action between silica and oxygen,
azote or hydrogen, nor is it changed by exposure to
the air. It is not acted upon by carbon, phosphorus,
or sulphur. It is insoluble in water j but in a state of
minute division, it absorbs a considerable portion, and
forms with this liquid a transparent jelly. When it is
exposed to the air, the whole of the moisture is eva¬
porated. 144s
6. Silica is frequently found in nature in the crystal-Crystals*
lized form, and then it is distinguished by the name
of rock crystal. It is most commonly in hexagonal
prisms, terminated by hexagonal pyramids. Crystals
of silica have also been formed artificially. In a so¬
lution of silica in fluoric acid which had remained
at rest for two years, Bergman found crystals, some of
which were cubes, and some had truncated angles, at
the bottom of the vessel. Crystals of silica have also
been formed, bj diluting largely with water the com¬
bination of silica and potash, and allowing it to remain
for a long time. Professor Seigling of Erfurt obtained
crystals from a solution which had been kept eight
years in a glass vessel. A crust was formed on the
top, composed of carbonate of potash and crystallized
silica. The crystals of the latter were in the form of
tetrahedral pyramids, perfectly transparent, and so hard
as to strike fire with steel.
1449
7. Silica is only acted on by a very few of the acids. Action of
These are, the phosphoric and boracic, which combine ac^9*
with it by fusion, and the fluoric, which dissolves silica
either in the gaseous or liquid state. When silica is
held in solution in water by means of an alkali, it is
also dissolved by the muriatic acid. 14.0
8. The alkalies have a very powerful action on this Of alkalies.
earth.
6o8
CHEMISTRY.
Silica, See. earth. In the preparation of the pure earth, it was
v..,-*.-v~——> combined with potash by means of fusion. Ibis com¬
pound is different in its nature and properties, accord¬
ing to the proportions of the silica and the alkali.
Two or three parts of potash with one of silica form
a compound which is deliquescent in the air, and so¬
luble in water. This was formerly distinguished by the
name liquor siHcum, or liquor of flints. It is now called
silicated alkali. When this solution is long exposed to
the air, the earth is deposited in a flaky gelatinous
form. It is decomposed by acids, which combine
with the alkali, and the pure earth falls to the bottom
in the state of fine powder. When the solution is
largely diluted with water, and if a greater quantity
of the acid be added than is sufficient to saturate the
alkali, the silica remains in solution. This is particu¬
larly the case when muriatic acid is employed. When
the silica is in greater proportion than the potash, a
compound is formed which is possessed of very different
~t45* properties. The substance thus obtained is glass.
Glass, p. This earth also enters into combination with
some of the earths. If to a solution of the liquor of
flints lime water be added, a precipitate is formed,
which is found to be a compound of silica and lime.
Silica also combines with lime by means of heat, and
in certain proportions a glass is formed.
The following table, drawn up by Mr Kirwan, ex-
* Mineral, hibits the effects of heat on these earths in different
i. p. 56.' proportions *.
i4S*
Of earths.
Proper lions.
50 Lime
50 Silica
80 Silica
20 Lime
80 Lime
20 Silica
Wedgw.
I5°
156°
I560
Effect.
Melted into a mass between
porcelain and enamel, of a white
colour, semitransparent at the
edges, and which gave feeble
sparks with steel.
Not melted, but formed a
brittle mass.
Formed ayellowish-white loose
powder.
10. Silica enters into combination with barytes.
The following table will shew the effect of different
proportions of these earths, as they were ascertained
\ Ibid-$7. by Mr Kirwan+.
Proportions.
80 Silica
20 Barytes
^5 Silica
20 Barytes
66 Silica
33 Barytes
50 Silica
50 Barytes
Wed<;w
l5Sz
[5o
150
148°
Effect.
Formed a white brittle mass.
A brittle hard mass, semitrans¬
parent at the edges.
Melted into a hard, somewhat
porous, porcelain mass.
A hard mass not melted.
Proportions.
80 Barytes
20 Silica
75 Barytes
25 Silica
66 Barytes
33 Silica
Wedgv
148'
The edges melted into a pale
greenish mass, between a porce
lain and an enamel.
15°
150“
Effect.
Melted into a somewhat po¬
rous porcelain mass.
Melted into a yellowish, and
partly greenish white, porous por¬
celain.
11. Silica also enters into combination with stron-
tites. Three parts of strontites and one of silica,
strongly heated in a silver crucible for an hour, afforded
a gray, sonorous, vitreous mass, which has no taste,
and is insoluble in water.
12. Siliceous earth enters with difficulty into com¬
bination with magnessia ; but if equal parts of silica and
magnesia be exposed to very strong heat, they melt
into a white enamel.
13. But the most important compounds of all the
earths are those of silica and alumina. These earths
may be combined together, as appears from the expe¬
riments of Guyton, in the humid way. He mixed to¬
gether equal parts of alumina dissolved by means of
potash, and of silica held in solution by the same al¬
kali. When the solutions came into contact, a brown
zone was immediately formed, which spread by agita¬
tion through the whole mass, and communicated to it
a yellowish colour. The mixture was no farther
changed during the space of an hour, although it was
occasionally stirred by a glass rod ; but at the end of
that time the whole mass assumed the appearance of a^,
thick, opaque, white jelly*. When the silica and^jm>;|
alumina are mixed together, and formed into a paste ^248.
with water, and exposed to heat, they strongly cohere, 145
and assume a considerable degree of hardness. This P°rce’
compound forms the basis of all kinds of pottery and
porcelain.
I. Compounds of Silica with Acids.
1. Muriate of Silica.
. f 145
When muriatic acid is poured upon a solution otprepat
silicated potash, part of the silica remains in the solu-b®11,
tion combined with the acid. To this compound
Fourcroy has given the name of muriate of silica. This
solution, which is perfectly transparent, is always acid. Mil
When it is concentrated by slow evaporation, it as-1’^1
sumes the form of a transparent jelly. But if the so¬
lution be boiled, it is decomposed, and the silica is
precipitated in the form of small crystalline particles, fpoi/i
so that it is totally separated from the water and thei'i- *M
acid t.
Amt
2. Fluate of Silica.
Fluoric acid combines with silica, either in
gaseous or liquid state. When it is disengaged
lime in the state of gas, by means of an acid, if the
process be performed in glass vessels, they are corroded.
The fluoric acid in the state of gas combines with the
silica,
. >4
the prepn
from tioa-
c H E M
, See. silica, and retains it, even when it is condensed by
 water. This earth may be precipitated from the liquid
• solution by means of an alkali. When fluoric acid
gas is condensed by water, part of the silica with
which it was combined is precipitated ; but this por¬
tion is at last dissolved by new additions of the acid,
so that the salt is in the state of an acidulous fluate. If
this solution be evaporated, a quantity of silica, corre¬
sponding to the portion of acid disengaged, is deposit¬
ed, and the liquid which remains contains a portion in
proportion to that of the acid which is left in the solu-
iii. tion J.
3. Fluate of Potash and Silica.
This triple salt is formed, when a solution of fluate of
potash is exposed to heat in glass vessels; or, when the
fluoric acid which has been prepared in glass vessels is
combined with potash. But the nature of this triple
salt has not been examined.
4. Fluate of Soda and Silica.
This triple salt is formed in the same way as the
former.
5. Borate of Silica.
I s T R Y. 609
2. Ifttria is obtained from this mineral, by redu-Yttria, 8cc.
cing it to powder, and adding a mixture of nitric and 1 1 y—1
muriatic acids, till the whole is decomposed. The so- I45^
lution is then to be filtered and evaporated to dryness, ^rePara*
II then it be diluted with water, the silica will remain*1011*
behind. The liquid which passed through the filter is
also to be evaporated to dryness, and what remains is to
be exposed to a red heat in a close vessel. It is after¬
wards dissolved in water, and filtered. The liquid
which passes through the filter is transparent and co¬
lourless. By adding a solution of ammonia, a pre¬
cipitate is formed, which being collected, is pure
yttria.
3. This earth is in the state of a white powder. It Properties,
has neither taste nor smell. It is not fusible. It is not
soluble in water, or in any of the caustic fixed alkalies;
but it readily dissolves in carbonate of ammonia. The
specific gravity of this earth is 4.842.
4. This earth undergoes no change by the action of
light. It is not acted on by oxygen, azote, or hydro¬
gen, nor does it combine with sulphur. It forms com¬
pounds with the acids. These salts have a sweetish,
austere taste, and some of them have a red colour.
Boracic acid and silica combine together by means
of a strong heat, and form a transparent glass. To
this Fourcroy has given the name of borate of silica.
This compound has no taste, is not altered by the air,
nor is it soluble in water.
6. Phosphate of Silica.
This compound of phosphoric acid and silica is form¬
ed by means of fusion ; and the compound is a hard,
dense, transparent glass. When it is exposed to strong
heat, it combines with the alkalies, and forms a triple
salt. It is not decomposed by any of the acids. This
substance is employed in the fabrication of artificial
gems.
Sect. VII. Of Yttria and its Combinations.
I. This earth was discovered by Gadolin in 1794}
and the account of his analysis of the mineral from
which it is obtained, was published in the memoirs of
the Swedish academy, and in Crell’s Annals for the
year 1796. In 1797 Ekeberg analyzed the same mi¬
neral, and confirmed the results of Gadolin. To the
new earth found in this mineral, Ekeberg gave the
name of yttria, derived from Ytterby, a place in Swe¬
den where the stone is found. The same mineral was af¬
terwards analyzed by Vauquelin and Klaproth, about
the year 1800. The mineral from which this earth is
obtained has received the name of gadolinite, is of a
black colour, has a vitreous fracture, and its specific
gravity is 4.0497. It is magnetic. When it is heat¬
ed with borax, it melts, and communicates to the salt a
yellowish colour inclining to violet. The component
parts of this mineral are,
Yttria .47
Silica .25
Oxide of iron .18
Alumina .04
VOL. V. Part II.
•94
f
I. Compounds of Yttria with the Acids.
1. Sulphate of Yttria.
1. Sulphuric acid combines readily with yttria, and Prepara
during the combination there is an evolution of calo-ti011-
ric; and as the union goes on, the salt which is form¬
ed crystallizes in small brilliant grains. l^6l
2, These crystals are sometimes irregular, but often Properties,
have the form of six-sided prisms, terminated by four¬
sided summits, and are of an amethyst red colour.
This salt has a sweetish astringent taste, something
like the salt of lead. The specific gravity is 2.791. It
undergoes no change by exposure to the air. It is so¬
luble in about 50 parts of cold water, but less so where
there is not an excess of acid. This salt is partially
decomposed when exposed to a red heat.
2. Sulphite of Yttria.
Unknown.
3. Nitrate of Yttria.
Nitric acid combines with yttria by dissolving the prepafa_
earth in the acid. This salt crystallizes with difficulty, tion.
When it is evaporated by heat, if too much be applied,
in place of becoming solid as other salts, it becomes
soft, and assumes the appearance of a thick, transpa¬
rent honey. When it cools, it becomes hard and brit¬
tle. It deliquesces in the air. W hen sulphuric acid
is poured into a solution of nitrate of yttria, a precipi¬
tate is formed which crystallizes. These are crystals
of sulphate of yttria *. * Anrit de
Chim.
4. Muriate of Yttria. xxxvi- ‘43*
This salt, which is a compound of muriatic acid
and yttria, resembles the nitrate in many of its proper¬
ties. It dries with difficulty, is fusible with a mode¬
rate heat, and is deliquescent in the air. This salt is
decomposed by ammonia.
4H
J-
6io
Yttria, &c.
CHEMISTRY.
S-
6.
Fluate of Yttria. 1
Borate of Yttria. 3
Unknown.
7. Phosphate of Yttria.
23. Saccolate, Camphorate, Suberate, Mellate, and Lac- GltH
tate of Yttria. Unknown.
28. Prussiate of Yttria.
■* • • • f* •
Piepara- Phosphoric acid does not precipitate yttria trom its
tion* combination with the other acids ; but the phosphate of
soda decomposes the salts of yttria, and forms a phos¬
phate of yttria, which is precipitated in white, gela-
f Ibid, 15S. tinous flakes f »
8. Phosphite of Yttria.
1464
Prepara¬
tion.
Unknown.
9. Carbonate of Yttria.
This compound of carbonic acid and yttria was form¬
ed by Klaproth, by precipitating the earth by means
of an alkaline carbonate, from its solution in acids.
The carbonate of yttria is in the form of an insipid
white powder. It is insoluble in water.
The component parts of this salt are,
Acid 18
Yttria 55
Water 27
100
10. Arseniate of Yttria.
This salt is formed by boiling the earth in the acid,
A white powder is precipitated, which is arseniate of
yttria.
II. Tungstate, Molybdate, Chromate, and Columbate
of Yttria. Unknown.
15. Acetate of Yttria.
This salt is formed by the direct combination of
the earth with the acid. By evaporating the solution,
a salt is obtained in crystals. These crystals, which
are of a red colour, are in the form of six-sided plates
obliquely truncated. This salt undergoes no change
by exposure to the air.
16. Oxalate of Yttria.
This salt is formed by adding oxalic acid to the so¬
lution of yttria in acids. A precipitate is formed in
the state of a white powder, which is insoluble in wa¬
ter. It may be obtained also by employing the oxa¬
late of ammonia.
17. Tartrate of Yttria.
This compound is formed by precipitating yttria
from its solution in acids by means of tartrate of pot¬
ash. This salt is soluble in water.
18. Citrate, Malate, Gallate, and Benzoate of Yttria.
Unknown.
22. Succinate of Yttria.
If the succinate of soda be added to a concentrated
solution of muriate or acetate of yttria, a precipitate is
formed, which is the succinate of yttria in the state of
cubic crystals.
The prussiate of potash crystallized and re-dissolved
in water, causes a precipitate in the solution of yttria
in acids. This is in the form of a white, gritty mat¬
ter *.
Sect. VIII. Of Glucina and its Combinations,
I46l
1. This earth was discovered by Vauquelin in theHistorj
year 1789. He was requested by Haiiy to analyze
the beryl, to ascertain whether its constituent parts
were the same with those of the emerald, which the
latter had conjectured in observing a perfect corre¬
spondence in structure, hardness, and specific gravity.
In the course of this analysis, Vauquelin discovered the
new earth, to which, from its properties, he gave the
name of glucina, from the Greek word yAoasos, which
signifies sweet. The same experiments were repeated
by Klaproth and Bindheim, and the results obtained
by Vauquelin were confirmed. I4(| I
2. This earth is obtained by the following process. Prepai, ,
One hundred parts of the beryl or emerald, reduced to11011,
a fine powder, are fused with 300 parts of caustic pot¬
ash. The fused mass is then diluted with distilled wa¬
ter, and dissolved in muriatic acid. TL he solution is
to be evaporated to dryness, taking care to stir it to-
ivards the end of the evaporation. Dilute the residuum
with a large quantity of water, and filter it. The
silica is thus separated by means of the first process.
The filtered solution, which contains the muriates of
alumina and glucina, is precipitated by carbonate of
potash. The precipitate is to be well washed, and
dissolved in sulphuric acid. Add to this solution, a
quantity of sulphate of potash, and evaporate to obtain
crystallized alum. "When by a new addition of sul¬
phate of potash, and by a new evaporation, the solu¬
tion yields no more alum, add to it a solution of car¬
bonate of ammonia in excess, and agitate it well. Ihe
glucina, after being deposited, is dissolved by means of
the excess of this salt, and the small quantity of alu¬
mina which may remain is precipitated without being
dissolved. After some hours, when the aluminous
precipitate is not diminished in volume by a new addi¬
tion of carbonate of ammonia and agitation, the solu¬
tion is to be filtered, and boiled in a glass matrass, and
as the carbonate evaporates, there is precipitated a
white, gritty powder, which is carbonate ol glucina.,0,
The carbonic acid may be driven off, by exposing the- ^ LI
powder in a crucible to a red heat 1". i«| ;
3. Glucina prepared by this process is in the form Prop <es
of a soft powder, or light white fragments, which are
insipid to the taste, and adhere to the tongue. The spe- M
cific gravity is 2.967 %. It is altogether infusible in the
fire, and it neither contracts nor becomes harder, like^' |j
alumina. It has no effect on vegetable colours.
4. There is no action between glucina and oxygen,
azotic, or hydrogen gases. It is not changed by ex¬
posure to the air, nor is it acted on by carbon, phos- 1 ^
phorus, or sulphur. It combines with sulpbuiatedH) 11
hydrogen. When sulphurated hydrogen gas is madeP
to pass into water in which this earth is suspended, it
combines
* Am
Chinn kj
p. 158.
CHEMISTRY.
611
conia, combines with it, and forms a hydrosulphuret, whose
^c. properties are similar to those of the other hydrosul-
M phurets.
5. Glucina is insoluble in water; but it forms with
£ this liquid, in small quantity, a paste which is slightly
ductile, but has less tenacity than that of alumina.
0 :ids. 6. Glucina combines readily with all the acids, and
forms with most of them soluble salts, which are di¬
stinguished by a sweet and slightly astringent taste.
Its affinities are in the following order.
Sulphuric acid,
Nitric,
Muriatic,
Phosphoric,
Fluoric,
Boracic,
Carbonic.
471
C kalies. y. This earth is soluble in solutions of the fixed al¬
kalies. It is also soluble in carbonate of ammonia, but
i it is insoluble in pure ammonia.
dacte- 8. The characteristic properties of this earth are, ac-
rij Pr°- cording to Vauquelin, the following.
a. It forms with acids sweetish and slightly astrin-
S gent salts.
b. It is soluble in sulphuric acid when a little in
excess.
c. It decomposes aluminous salts, by separating the
earth when it is boiled in their solutions.
d. The salts of glucina are completely precipitated
by ammonia.
e. It is soluble in the liquid carbonate of ammonia.
f. The affinity of this earth for the acids is between
} urcroy that of magnesia and alumina J.
ii 161.
I. Compounds of Glucina with Acids.
1. Sulphate of Glucina.
I. This salt, which was first discovered by Vauque¬
lin, is prepared by the direct combination of sul¬
phuric acid with the earth, either in the pure state or
in that of carbonate. The solution is to be evaporated
to the consistence of syrup, and crystals are obtained
[474 on cooling.
p erties. 2. This salt crystallizes with difficulty in the form
of small needles ; but their form has not been accurate¬
ly ascertained. It has a sweet, and somewhat astrin¬
gent taste. It is not perceptibly altered by exposure
\\1$ to the air, and is very soluble in water.
>uof 2. When it is exposed to heat, it melts, swells up,
and then dries. With a red heat it is entirely decom¬
posed, the acid is driven off in the state of vapour, and
475 the pure earth remains behind.
^ cids, 4. This salt is not decomposed by any of the acids,
but it is decomposed by the alkaline and most of the
earthy bases. The infusion of nut-galls added to a
solution of this salt produces a yellowish white precipi-
* urcrotj tate, which is characteristic of the salt *.
< mm.J
1 iii. 2. Sulphite of Glucina.
This salt is yet unknown.
477
ara-
3. Nitrate of Glucina.
I. The compound of nitric acid and glucina is form¬
ed by the direct combination of the acid and earth in a
state of purity. The solution is evaporated by a mo- Zirconia,
derate heat to dryness, and then the salt is obtained in &-c.
the state of powder. ^ ' 11
2. The nitrate of glucina does not crystallize. It is prop^ties<
either in the form of powder, or in that of a soft ductile
mass. The taste is sweetish and astringent.
3. It is extremely deliquescent in the air, and is Action of
very soluble in water. It readily melts when exposed beat.
to heat, and if the heat be increased it is decomposed ;
the acid is driven oft’ in the gaseous form, and the earth
remains behind. It is only decomposed by sulphuric
acid f. f Ibid. 14$.
4. Nitrite of Glucina.
Unknown.
5. Muriate of Glucina.
This salt, according to Vauquelin, by whom only it
has been described, comes very near the nitrate of glu¬
cina in its properties. It seems to crystallize with moi’e
facility, but the crystals are so small that the form can¬
not be determined. It does not deliquesce in the air.
When it is dissolved in alcohol, and diluted with water,
it affords a very agreeable sweet liquor.
It is decomposed by heat, by the sulphuric acid, the
nitric, and by the phosphoric, by the assistance of heat.
6. Fluate of Glucina. 7 rr 1
7. BorateofGlucina. j Unknown.
8. Phosphate of Glucina.
J4S0
1. Vauquelin procured this salt by adding the phos- Prepara-
phate of soda to the solution of the nitrate, the sulphate,
or muriate of glucina. A copious mucilaginous matter
is instantly precipitated. Or it may be obtained by
heating together the muriate of glucina and phosphoric
acid in the state of glass. I48i
2. This salt does not crystallize, but is in the form Properties,
of mucilage or of white powder. It has no perceptible
taste. It is not altered by exposure to the air, and it
is insoluble in water without an excess of acid. It is
not decomposed by strong heat. It melts under the
blow-pipe into a transparent vitreous globule. It is
decomposed by the sulphuric, nitric, and muriatic
acids.
9. Phosphite of Glucina.
Unknown.
10. Carbonate of Glucina.
r. The compound of carbonic acid and glucina, prepara-
which was discovered by Vauquelin, and on'y exami-tion.
ned by him, is prepared by exposing the earth to the
air, from which it attracts the acid, or by precipitating
some of the soluble salts of glucina by means of an al¬
kaline carbonate. The precipitate is to be washed with
water, and dried in the air. I4g5
2. This carbonate is in the state of a white powder, Properties,
soft and greasy to the touch. It has not the sweet
taste of the other salts of glucina. It is not changed
by exposure to the air, and is insoluble in water. When
exposed to heat, the acid is driven off, and the pure
earth remains behind. It is decomposed by all the
acids with a brisk eft’ervescence.
4 H 2
n.
6l2
CHEMISTRY.
Zirconia,
See.
. 14S4
History.
*485
Prepara¬
tion.
1485
Properties.
14S7
Action of
heat.
II. Carbonate of Ammonia and Glucina.
This triple salt is formed by adding the earth of glu¬
cina to a solution of carbonate of ammonia. It is so¬
luble in the same, quantity of water which holds the car¬
bonate of ammonia in solution. Its other properties are
unknown.
12. Arseniate, tungstate, molybdate, chromate, and
columbate of glucina. Unknown.
17. Acetate of Glucina.
Glucina readily dissolves in acetic acid. This salt
does not crystallize j but by evaporation it is reduced
to a gummy substance, which becomes slowly dry and
brittle. For a long time it retains a kind of ductility.
The taste is sweet and strongly astringent.
18. Oxalate, tartrate, citrate, malate, gallate, and
benzoate of glucina. Unknown.
24. Succinate of Glucina.
This salt, according to Ekeberg, is formed by preci¬
pitating the earth from its solutions, by means of the
succinates. It is therefore nearly insoluble.
25. Saccolate, camphorate, suberate, mellate, lactate,
prussiate, and sebate of glucina. Unknown.
Sect. IX. Of Zirconia and its Combinations.
1. The name of this earth is derived from a stone,
called izz'raw ov jargon, which is found in the island of
Ceylon. It was from this stone that Klaproth extract¬
ed the earth, some time before the year 1793. He
soon after found the same earth in the oriental hyacinth.
By this discovery, Guyton was led to analyze the hy¬
acinths of France ; and in those which were collected
in the river of Expailly, he detected the same earth.
The experiments of Klaproth and Guyton were repeat¬
ed by Vauquelin, and their results were confirmed, so
that the nature and properties of this earth have been
fully developed.
2. Zirconia is extracted from this mineral, in which
alone it has been found, by the following process. A
quantity of the mineral is to be reduced to fine powder,
and fused with five or six times its weight of pure pot¬
ash, in a silver crucible. The fused mass is then dis¬
solved in water, by which means the alkali is separated.
The residuum is then dissolved in muriatic acid, which
is to be heated, to separate the silica ; and when no
farther precipitate appears by means of heat, add a
caustic fixed alkali. Another precipitate is formed,
which is to be well washed and dried. This is pure
zirconia.
3. Zirconia, thus prepared, is in the state of fine
white powder, which is nearly soft to the touch, and
without taste or smell. When it retains water, it as¬
sumes the form of a jelly, and is semitransparent. The
specific gravity is 4.3.
4. Light has no action on this earth. W'hen it is
exposed to the heat of the blow-pipe, it remains infu¬
sible, but gives out a yellowish, phosphoric light. Heat¬
ed in a charcoal crucible, and surrounded with powder¬
ed charcoal, it undergoes a kind of fusion, but without
becoming transparent, or assuming a vitreous form. It
becomes extremely bard, strikes fire xvith steel, and 2lrc&B'
scratches glass. &Cj
5. There is no action between zirconia and oxygen
or azotic gases, nor is it changed by exposure to the
air. It is not acted on by hydrogen, carbon, phospho-
rus, or sulphur. l4Sg
6. This earth is insoluble in water j but it mixes with 01 water
a considerable portion of this fluid, and forms with it a
transparent jelly. If in this state it be slowly dried, it
retains the water, and assumes a yellowish colour, and
something of the transparency of gum arabic*. When*^?ma/.
it is dried in a very high temperature, it loses more than Chm, xj
one-third of its weight. After having been exposed to15^’
a red heat, it becomes of a gray colour, harsh to the
feel, and less soluble in acids.
7. Zirconia combines with the acids, and forms with Of acids,
them peculiar salts. Many of these are insoluble in
water, and are distinguished by an astringent taste. ,490
The order of the affinities of this earth is the fol-Affinities,
lowing :
Vegetable acids,
Sulphuric,
Muriatic,
Nitric.
14911
8. Zirconia does not combine with the alkalies by Action 0
fusion, and is insoluble in liquid alkalies. It mav bealkal‘e8-
dissolved, however, by the alkaline carbonates.
I. Compounds of Zirconia with Acids.
1492
1. Sulphate of Zirconia,
1. This salt is formed by the direct combination ofprepara-
the earth with sulphuric acid. The solution is to betionand
evaporated to dryness. The salt thus obtained is inProPertic
the form of a white powder, which is very friable.
Sometimes it is in the. form of crystals like small needles.
It has no taste, is not changed by exposure to the air,
and is insoluble in water. ^
2. This salt is readily decomposed by heat, the acid Action 0
is driven off, and the earth remains behind. When itheat,
is boiled in water, the earth is precipitated, and the
acid remains in the liquid. At a high temperature it
is decomposed by charcoal, and converted into a sul-
phuret which is soluble in water, and the solution fur¬
nishes by evaporation crystals of hydrosulphuret of
zirconiaf. f ibid.
l99’
2. Sulphite of Zirconia.
Unknown.
3. Nitrate of Zirconia.
, . # # 1494
1. This salt is formed by the direct combination ofPrepara-
zirconia with concentrated nitric acid; and by evapo-1*011,
ration it is obtained in the form of a yellow, transpa¬
rent viscid mass, which dries with difficulty. 2495
2. This salt has a styptic and astringent taste, and Property
leaves on the tongue a thick matter, which proceeds
from a decomposition of the salt by means of the sa¬
liva. 1494
3. When nitrate of zirconia, after being evaporated, Action c
is put into distilled water, a very small quantity only
dissolved. The greatest part remains under the farmBe
of
C H E M
conia, gelatinous and transparent flakes. This salt is very
Stc. readily decomposed by heat.
' ^ 4* *s al80 decomposed by sulphuric acid, which
( Ills, f<>rras in tJl.e so,ution a wljite precipitate soluble in ex-
j cess of acid ; by carbonate of ammonia, which pro¬
duces a precipitate, soluble in an excess of this salt j
and by an infusion of nut galls in alcohol, which af¬
fords a white precipitate, soluble in an excess of this
infusion. But if the zirconia contains iron, the colour
of the precipitate is bluish gray, of which a part re¬
mains in the solution, communicating to the liquor a
pure blue colour. When this liquid is mixed with
carbonate of ammonia, it affords a purple matter, by
the refracted rays, but of a violet colour by reflected
light. Crystallized gallic acid also precipitates the
nitrate of zirconia, of a bluish gray colour. Most of
the other vegetable acids also decompose this salt, and
form combinations with the earth which are insoluble
* in. de in water *.
C i. xxii,
ppp. 4. Nitrate of Zirconia.
Unknown.
5. Muriate of Zirconia.
! ara- I* Of all the acids, the muriatic combines most readi-
ti -ly with zirconia, when the latter is in the state of car¬
bonate. This salt was first formed by Klaproth, and its
properties were afterwards more particularly investi-
^ gated by Vauquelin.
F erties. ^ ^,e muriate of zirconia has no colour, but pos¬
sesses a very astringent taste, is very soluble in water,
and also in alcohol. By slow evaporation, it affords
small transparent needle-formed crystals, whose figure
has not been determined. When muriate of zirconia
contains any portion of silica, the crystals are cubical,
have little consistence, and resemble a jelly. These
crystals, exposed to the air, gradually lose their trans¬
parency, and are diminished in volume. There are
formed, in the middle of the mass, white silky crystals
.Q0 in the shape of needles, which arise from the cubes.
A in of 3* Muriate of zirconia is decomposed by heat, which
b acids, drives off the acid. It is even decomposed in the
mouth by means of the saliva.
4. a. It is also decomposed by sulphuric acid, which
forms a precipitate with the earth in heavy white
flakes, while another part is retained in solution by
the muriatic acid. But by the assistance of heat, the
latter is dissipated, and the remaining part of the sul¬
phate of zirconia is deposited. If the evaporation be
stopped before it is brought to a state of dryness, it as¬
sumes the appearance of a jelly by cooling. The sul¬
phate of zirconia is then soluble in muriatic acid.
b. This salt is also decomposed by the phosphoric,
citric, tartaric, oxalic, and saclactic acids, which form¬
ing with its base insoluble compounds, precipitate in
the form of white flakes.
c. The gallic acid precipitates the muriate of zirco¬
nia in the form of white matter, if the salt has been
pure, but of a grayish green if it contain iron. In
the latter case, the precipitate becomes, when dry, of
a shining black colour, which has the same appearance
as china ink. The liquid, in which are formed the
gallates of zirconia and iron, preserves a green colour ;
and although new portions of gallic acid are added,
I S T R Y. 613
no farther precipitation is produced. But the carbo- zirconia!
nate of ammonia throws down a copious flaky matter, See.
which has a purple colour, and nearly resembles that '“"■"v" ,
of lees of wine. Thus it appears that the gallic acid
has a greater affinity for zirconia than the muriatic,
and that the gallates of zirconia and iron are soluble in
muriatic acid.
d. The carbonate of potash, when fully saturated,
decomposes the muriate of zirconia; and although this
solution is attended with effervescence, the precipitate,
washed and dried in the air, retains a large proportion
of carbonic acid ; for when this earth is afterwards
dissolved in acids, it produces a brisk effervescence.
The carbonate of ammonia at first forms a precipitate
in the solution of muriate of zirconia. This precipi¬
tate is in great part redissolved by new additions of
the ammoniacal salt, and there is produced a triple
salt, which may be decomposed by heat.
e. A solution of sulphurated hydrogen gas in water,
mixed with a solution of muriate of zirconia containing
iron, becomes turbid, and produces a reddish colour ;
but there is no real precipitate. Hydrosulphuret of
ammonia, instantly precipitates this earth of a fine
green colour, which appears black when it is dry.
When this precipitate is placed on burning coals, it
emits the odour of sulphurated hydrogen gas, and be¬
comes of a purple blue colour when reduced to pow¬
der.
y* Pure alumina decomposes the muriate of zirconia,
with the aid of heat. The alumina is dissolved, the
liquid becomes milky, and assumes the form of a jelly
as it cools. It has been remarked, when the muriate
of zirconia contains iron, it remains in solution with
the alumina ; and the zirconia, which has been precipi¬
tated in this way, contains no perceptible portion of
this metal.
g. The prussiate of mercury produces in the solution
of muriate of zirconia a copious white precipitate,
which is soluble in muriatic acid.
h. A plate of zinc introduced into a solution of mu¬
riate of zirconia, produces a slight effervescence. The
liquid becomes milky, and assumes the appearance of a
white semitransparent jelly in a few days *. * Ann. de
6. Fluate of zirconia, borate, phosphate, and phosphitep^^****1"
of zirconia. Unknown.
10. Carbonate of Zirconia.
When an alkaline carbonate in solution is added to
a solution of muriate of zirconia, the earth is precipi¬
tated without effervescence; and when this precipi¬
tate is exposed to heat in close vessels, it gives out
carbonic acid gas. It also enters into combination with
the alkaline carbonates, and forms rvith them triple
salts. This, Yauquelin observes, is one of the remark¬
able characters of this salt.
The component parts of carbonate of zirconia, ac-Composi-
cording to the same chemist, are, tion.
Acid and water 44.5
Zirconia 55.5
100.0
II. Arseniate, tungstate, molybdate, chromate, and co-
lumbate of zirconia. Unknown.
16.
6i4.
CHEMISTRY.
Metals.
16. Acetate of Zirconla.
iS0* Acetic acid combines with zirconia, and forms with
Properties. a gajt w]1jc{1 joes not crystallize. When the solu¬
tion is evaporated to dryness, the acetate of zirconia
remains in the state of powder. This salt has an astrin¬
gent taste, is not altered by exposure to the air, and is
very soluble in water and in alcohol. This salt seems
to have less tendency to be decomposed by heat than
the nitrate of zirconia*.
* Ann. de
Chim xxii.
p. 206.
17. Oxalate, tartrate, citrate, and malate of zirconia.
Unknown.
21. Gallate of Zirconia.
Gallic acid, added to a solution of muriate of zir¬
conia, it has been already mentioned, produces a pre¬
cipitate of a white matter, which is the gallate of zir¬
conia. The properties of this compound have not been
examined.
22. Benzoate, succinate, saccolate, camphorate, sube-
rate, mellate, lactate, prussiate, and sebate of zir¬
conia. Unknown.
Sect. X. Of Thorina.
IS°3 . ...
General This earth, which was found by Berzelius in gado-
account. Unite, and some other minerals found in the neighbour¬
hood of Fahlun, differs from alumine and glucine by its
insolubility in potash ; from yttria, by its solutions be¬
ing astringent to the taste and destitute of sweetness,
and precipitated at a boiling heat •, from zirconia, by
remaining soluble in acids after being ignited, and by
being precipitated by oxalate of ammonia.
Chap. XIV. Of METALS.
1504
rays of light by metallic surfaces. On account of this
property, metals are employed in the construction of'
mirrors. Other substances, indeed, exhibit the ap¬
pearance of this brilliancy, which is the case with
the mineral called mica ; but in this substance, as well
as every other which is not metallic, it is merely
superficial, and it entirely disappears when the surface
is broken, or scratched with a sharp-pointed instru¬
ment. But the metal, treated in the same way, be¬
comes more brilliant. The following is the order in
which the metals possess this lustre :
Importance I. The metals, on account of their importance and
of metals, utility, have always greatly occupied the attention of
mankind. Indeed such is their importance, that man
could not take a single step in the improvement even of
the simplest of the arts of life, without the assistance of
some of the metals. In this view, the origin and im¬
provement of many arts, and the knowledge of metal¬
lic substances, may be, in some measure, considered as
coeval. The metals, therefore, became very early,
and were probably the first objects of chemical investi¬
gation. In the extraordinary pursuits of the alchemists,
they were the subjects of their eager researches, in
the discovery of the means of converting the more abund¬
ant and baser metals, as they were called, into those
which were more valued, on account of their durabi¬
lity and scarcity. They failed of their purposes \ but
their labours were not in vain. The facts which they
discovered, in the progress of their investigations, were
1505 of no small importance to science.
Characters. 2. The metals are distinguished from other substances
by a number of characteristic properties. These are,
brilliancy, colour, opacity, density, hardness, elasticity,
ductility, malleability, tenacity, fusibility, power of
t ^ conducting caloric and electricity.
Brilliancy. 3* Lustre or brilliancy is one of the most striking
characteristic properties of metallic substances, and
hence it has been denominated metallic lustre. This is
owing to the reflection of a great proportion of the
3
Metals,
1507
Platinum,
Steel,
Silver,
Mercury,
Gold,
Copper,
Tin,
•Zinc,
Antimony,
Bismuth,
Lead,
Arsenic,
Cobalt $ and the other brittle metals.
4. Colour is one of the constant properties of me-c0iour
tallic substances, while it is only accidental and vari¬
able in other minerals. And as the metals are the
most opaque, and the densest bodies in nature, colour
in them is very intense, or rather confounded with
their brilliancy. The prevailing colour of metals is
white } some however are yellow, and others reddish.
Those of a white colour were formerly distinguished by
the name of lunar metals, because silver, which was
called luna, being placed at the head of these metals,
has a white colour. Gold, which was distinguished by
the name of sol, having a yellow colour, gave the name
of solar metals to such as resembled it. The colour of
metals is permanent, while they remain unaltered 5 but
it is often totally lost when they enter into new com¬
binations. 1508
5. It is generally admitted, that all metallic sub- Opacity
stances are perfectly opaque. Newton indeed observ¬
ed, that gold-leaf when reduced to T-g-oVo^o" an inch
thick, appeared of a green colour, from which he con¬
cluded that it transmits the green rays $ and he sup¬
posed that other metals might also transmit light, if
they were sufficiently thin. But no metal has yet
been found so malleable as to be reduced to that state
of thinness to permit light to pass through it. Silver-
leaf, so thin as to be only Part °f an *nc^> ‘3
quite opaque. _ _ IS0?
6. The metals are particularly distinguished from Density
other substances by their density. Metallic substances
have a greater specific gravity than any other bodies
in nature j that is, the quantity of matter contained in
a given bulk, is greater in the metals than in other
substances. Even the lightest of the metals possess a
greater density than the heaviest bodies known of any
other kind of matter. The pax-ticles of which they are
composed must therefore be in closer contact than in
any other body. To this greater density is owing their
superior lustre. . i513 pci
7. The metals differ from each other greatly in de-Hanb161
grees of hardness. In general, metallic substances are
not
-CHEMISTRY.
6i5
■ta!s. 80 liar<l as many other natural bodies. The de-
u v—^ gi’ee °f hardness does not depend on the density, for
the hardest metals are by no means the heaviest. This
property, therefore, must be owing to the nature of
the particles of which the metal is composed, or to
some peculiar disposition or arrangement of these par¬
ticles. It is found that some of the metals can be
hardened by art, merely by hammering, or by sudden
cooling after being heated. The hardness of metals,
too, is greatly increased by being combined with each
other, or with other substances $ as, for instance, when
copper and tin are combined together, or iron and car¬
bon in the formation of steel, the utility of which lat¬
ter, as it is applied for cutting instruments, depends on
its hardness. Metallic substances, in comparing their
difl'erent degrees of hardness, have been divided into
eight classes, which are arranged in the following or¬
der.
ist, Iron and manganese.
2d, Platinum and nickel.
3d, Copper and bismuth.
4th, Silver.
5th, Gold, zinc, and tungsten.
6th, Tin and cobalt.
7th, Lead and antimony.
8th, Arsenic.
J5”
I licity.
S12
I lility.
^ leabi-
)i
514
icily.
Mercury being always fluid at the ordinary tempera¬
ture of the atmosphere, cannot be compared with re¬
gard to this property ; and the degree of hardness
which some of the other metals possess has not been
ascertained.
8. The elasticity of metals seems to follow the same
order in which they possess the property of hardness.
The elasticity of some metals can be increased in the
same way as their hardness, either by mechanical means,
as by hammering, or by new combinations.
9. One of the most important physical properties of
the metals is ductility. By this is meant that peculiar
property which some metals possess, of being drawn out
into wire, without destroying or diminishing the cohe¬
sive power of their particles. Some metals possess this
property in a great degree, while others are entirely
deprived of itand some metals are extremely ductile,
while they possess in a very small degree another pro¬
perty, namely, malleability. Iron is one of the most
ductile metals, but is much less malleable than many
others.
10. Malleability is also one of the most valuable
properties of metallic substances. By this property
they can be reduced to any form or shape which may
be wanted, for those purposes to which they are to be
applied. The property ot malleability is supposed to
depend on the form of the particles, or on the mode
of their aggregation. Those metals which possess this
property of malleability or laminability, seem to be
composed of small plates, while the ductile metals
seem to have their particles arranged in a fibrous form.
When metallic substances are hammered, they be¬
come harder, denser, and more elastic, which is
owing to their particles being brought into closer con¬
tact.
11. Tenacity is expressive of the power of cohesion
between the particles of metallic substances. Different
metals possess this property in very different degrees.
The method which has been adopted to estimate the Metals,
different degrees of tenacity, is by suspending wires ot
the same diameter of the different metals by one ex¬
tremity, and attaching weights to the other, till the
wires are broken. Iron, which has the greatest tena¬
city of all the metals, when formed into wire, ^ of an
inch in diameter, will support a weight of 5001b. with¬
out breaking, while a wire of lead of the same diame¬
ter, can only support about 29 lbs. The following is
the order of the ductile metals, according to the de¬
gree of their tenacity.
Iron,
Copper,
Platinum,
Silver,
Gold,
Tin,
Lead.
12. Another property of the metals is fusibility.Fusibility.
When they are exposed to a sufficient degree of heat,
they melt, and are reduced to the state of liquidity.
One of the metals, namely mercury, is always in the
fluid state, at the ordinary temperature of the atmo¬
sphere. The different metals which are generally in
the solid state, require very different temperatures for
their fusion. Thus lead and tin require comparatively
a lower temperature to be melted ; while gold and plat,
tinum can only be brought to the state of fusion, by the
greatest degree of heat that can be applied. 1516
13. Metallic substances are the best conductors 0f c onductors
caloric, but the comparative degrees of this property *ind c]ec_
have not been ascertained. They are also found to betrjc;iy.
the best conductors of electricity.
14. The metals possess some properties in common
with other substances, as taste and smell, by which
some of them are peculiarly distinguished j and in be¬
ing susceptible of crystallization, which is the case with
some, or of being volatilized, as happens to others.
15. But metallic substances are not only of vast Oxidation
importance in the arts of civilized life, on account ofhi the air.
the properties which we have now detailed, which be¬
long to them in the metallic state j but many of them
are not less valuable in those changes which they un¬
dergo by new combinations, and the new properties
they acquire, in consequence of these changes. One
of the first and most ordinary changes to which metal¬
lic substances are subject, is their combination with
oxygen. This is called in chemical language, oxidation.
Wh en a metal, as for instance, a piece ol iron, is ex¬
posed to the air, when it is moist, it soon undergoes a
remarkable change. It loses its metallic lustre, and
the surface is covered with a brownish powder, well
known by the name of rust. This change is owing to
the combination of oxygen with the metal, and the
rust of the metal in this state is known in chemistry by
the name of oxide. The process by which this com¬
pound of oxygen and a metallic substance is formed, is
called oxidation, and the product is denominated an
oxide. 151 s
16. But this process of oxidation is eflected more tty heal,
rapidly when metals are exposed to the action ot heat •,
and indeed many metals require a very high tempera¬
ture to produce the combination, while it cannot be
accomplished in others by the greatest degree ot heat
that .
6i6
CHEMISTKY.
Metals, that can be produced. This process was formerly called
<i y calcination, or calcining the metal; and the product,
now denominated an oxide, was distinguished by the
name of calx or calces, from its being reduced to the
state of powder, in the same way as limestone, by
1519 burning.
Are oxidat- 17. Metals differ very much from each other in the
ed in difl'er-circumstances in which this oxidation takes place, in
eat cir- j.jie temperature which is necessary, the facility of the
ces combination, the proportions of oxygen which com¬
bine, and the force of affinity between the constituent
parts of the oxide. Some metals are oxidated in the
lowest temperature, as, for instance, iron and man¬
ganese } while others require the greatest degree of
heat that can be applied. Such are silver, gold, and
I.2o platinum.
In the air. I8. The facility with ■which oxidation takes place
in some metals is so great, such as iron, tin, lead,
copper, and manganese, that they must be completely
defended from the action of oxygen ; but in gold and
platinum, no perceptible change is observed, for what¬
ever length of time they are exposed to the atmo¬
sphere.
Proportion I9* This oxidation and the quantity of oxygen ab-
of oxygen sorbed is proportional to the temperature. There are,
detenni- however, many metals which combine with a determi¬
nate proportion of oxygen at certain temperatures, and
from this may be estimated the quantity of oxidation
from the degree of heat which has been applied. The
rapidity of the oxidation is almost always increased by
the elevation of temperature. In this way actual com¬
bustion or inflammation is produced. Thus filings of
metals thrown upon a body in the state of ignition,
give out brilliant sparks ; and steel, struck upon a flint,
burns with a vivid flame in the air, in consequence of
the great heat which is communicated to it by percus¬
sion.
20. Metallic substances combine with very different
proportions of oxygen; and this quantity varies ac¬
cording to the manner in which the process has been
conducted, or the temperature to which the metal has
1522 ^eei1 exPosetfi
Different 21. In these different states and conditions of oxida-
phenomena tion, different phenomena are exhibited. Sometimes
tion.Xlda* tllC me-al kecomes red-hot and is inflamed ; sometimes
the oxidation takes place without fusion, or does not
combine with oxygen till after it has been melted j
sometimes it is covered with a brittle crust, or with a
substance in the form of powder. At other times a pel¬
licle, exhibiting different colours, forms on the sur¬
face; but, in all cases, the metal is tarnished, loses its
brilliancy and its colour, and assumes another, which
1523 announces the change that has taken place.
Different 22. Another difference which takes place among
affinities, metals, is the different degrees of force with which the
oxygen adheres to the metal. The knowledge of this,
and the different degrees of affinity between oxygen
and metallic substances, is of great importance in many
1524 operations and chemical results.
Caloric 23. During the fixation of oxygen in metallic sub¬
given out stances, it is absorbed by some in its solid state, and
dation.°X1" g.iveS °Ut.a great.dfal caloric. In others it is com¬
bined, without giving out the same quantity. This
proportion of caloric given out corresponds to the faci-
Metals,
lity with which oxides part with their oxygen, or are
reduced to the metallic state. Those which have com¬
bined with oxygen with the greater proportion of caloric,
are most easily reduced 5 but those, on the contrary, in
which the oyxgen has been deprived of its caloric, are
reduced to the metallic state by a great addition of
caloric, and the greatest number of oxides requires the
addition of substances whose affinity for oxygen is
greater than that of the metal.
24. Metallic oxides are extremely different in dif-Different
ferent metals, and even in the same metal, according oxides,
to the proportion of oxygen. They are, however, pos¬
sessed of some common properties. They are all in the
form of pow’der or earthy substance, or so brittle as to
be easily reduced to this state. They exhibit every
shade of colour from pure white to brown and deep
red, and they are Iteavier than the metals from which
they have been obtained. Some oxides are revived,
as it is called, or are reduced to the metallic state,
merely by being in contact with light or caloric. Some
require the addition of a combustible substance and a
high temperature ; while others have so strong an affi¬
nity for oxygen, that they cannot be deprived of it by
the strongest heat, but become fusible in the fire, and
afford a glassy matter more or less coloured, and even
serve as a flux to the earths. Some oxides are volatile,
but the greatest number are fixed. Some have an acrid
and caustic taste, are more or less soluble in water, and
even possess an acid quality} others are insoluble and
insipid. _ rsj5
25. Observing this remarkable change produced on Theory ol!
metallic substances by the action of air or of heat, phi-Stakh
losophers began early to account for v. According
to Beecher and Stahl, the founders of chemical science,
metals are composed of earths and phlogiston, and the
process which takes place during the calcination of a
metal, is merely depriving it of its phlogiston. This
doctrine, which had undergone various modifications,
from the difficulties which it presented in accounting
for the phenomena of the calcination of metals, was
finally overthrown by the celebrated experiments of
Lavoisier. In one of these experiments he introduced
eight ounces of tin into a glass retort, and having her¬
metically sealed it, after previous heating to expel
some of the air, it was accurately weighed, and ex¬
posed to heat. The tin melted } and a pellicle ap¬
peared on its surface, which was soon converted into a
gray powder. The heat was continued for three hours,
but no farther change appeared upon the metal.
When the retort was cooled, it was found to have the
same weight as before the operation. The point of
the retort was then broken off, and a quantity of air
rushed in. This was equal to 10 grs. which was the
additional weight required by the retort. The whole Overiuns
of the metallic substance in the retort was 10 grainse<b
heavier than when it was introduced, so that he con¬
cluded, that the 10 grains of air which had disappear¬
ed, had combined with the metal, and caused its in¬
crease of weight. The inference which he drew from
this was, that the calcination of metals is not owing
to their being deprived of any substance, but to their
combination with air, and with the oxygen of the air;
for it was found by future experiments,' that the calci¬
nation or oxidation of metals could not be effected
without
C H E M I
tals. without oxygen j and when it took place in a given
tr~' quantity of common air, it was only the oxyo-en which
was absorbed.
26. But as a still farther proof, that the calcination
of metals is owing to the absorption of oxygen, they
an^ reduced by those substances which have a greater
affinity for oxygen. If charcoal in powder be mixed
with a metallic calx or oxide, the oxygen combines
with the carbon of the charcoal, forming carbonic
acid, and the oxide is restored to the metallic state. If
this process be performed in close vessels, the quantity
of oxygen in the carbonic acid corresponds to the
quantity which was absorbed by the metal during cal¬
cination.
27- Fiom these observations, therefore, it appears
that metallic substances combine with oxygen j and it
has been observed, that not only different metals com¬
bine with it in different proportions, but the same
:8 metal forms compounds of one, two, and sometimes
sp tiirce different portions. No combination takes place
far- betvveen azote or hydrogen and metallic substances j
:c but some of them enter into combination with carbon,
phosphorus, and sulphur, forming carburets, phosphu-
rets, and sulphurets. The metals also combine with the
acids, and form salts, some of which are of the utmost
importance, not only in chemistry, but also in the arts of
life. . They also enter into combination with each other,
forming a class of bodies which are distinguished by the
ig name of alloys.
28. Metallic substances were formerly divided into
iwhle or perfect, and imperfect metals. The noble or
perfect metals were platinum, gold, silver, mercury ;
and the property on which this character was founded,
was that of their being susceptible of being reduced by
being exposed to heat. The other metals then known
were called imperfect metals, because, to reduce them
to the metallic state, the addition of some combustible
substance was found to be necessary. They were also
divided into metals and semimetals. Among the first
were included those metals which were malleable and
ductile j the semimetals comprehended those which pos¬
sessed neither of these properties, and were therefore
considered as less perfect. These distinctions, however,
are. now neglected, because they afford no well-founded
or just marks of discrimination.
29. In the arrangement of the metals which we pro¬
pose to follow, that of Fourcroy is adopted. He has
divided them into five different classes, according to
their ductility, and the proportions of oxygen with which
they combine, or the facility with which that combina¬
tion takes place. In the first class he includes those
metals which are brittle, and in some of their combina¬
tions with oxygen have acid properties. These are,
Arsenic,
Tungsten,
Molybdena,
Chromium,
Columbium.
Ihe second class comprehends those which are brittle,
and simply susceptible of oxidation. These are the
following:
Vql. V. Part II. f
S T R Y. 617
Titanium, Arsenic,
Uranium, > C' •
Cobalt,
Nickel,
Manganese,
Bismuth,
Antimony,
Tellurium.
The third class comprehends those metals which have
some degree of ductility, which are only two in num¬
ber, viz.
Mercury,
Zinc.
The fourth class, which consists of three metals, in-
eludes such as are ductile, and easily oxidated. These
are,
Lead,
Iron,
Copper.
The fifth class is composed of three metals, which are
characterized by being very ductile, but oxidated with
great difficulty. These are,
Silver,
Gold,
Platinum.
30. To these preliminary observations we have only
to and, that metallic substances are found, either on history
the surface or in the interior of the globe, and either
uncombined, or forming compounds with different sub¬
stances. Some metals, as gold and platinum, are gene¬
rally found in small grains, mixed with the soil. These,
as well as the matters with which they are accom¬
panied, have proceeded from the decomposition of the
more solid parts of the globe. But metallic substan¬
ces, which are met with in greater abundance, exist in
the interior of the globe, in veins which traverse the
other strata of the earth in different directions. The
metals most commonly found in veins are, lead, copper,
silver, zinc, mercury, and antimony. Some exist in
detached masses.
31. Metals, as they exist in the earth, are either in a
state of purity, or the metallic state, when they are
called native or virgin metals; or combined with each
other, when they are said to be alloyed. They are
found also combined with other substances, very fre¬
quently with sulphur $ when they are said to be mine¬
ralized.. or, they are combined with oxygen, when they
come under the denomination of oxides; or they are
combined with acids in the state of salts.
Sect. I. Of Arsenic and its Combinations.
I.. It would appear that the ancients were acquaint-History1
ed with arsenic in its state of combination with sulphur,
which is a reddish-coloured mineral, and was employ¬
ed by them in painting*, and although Theophrastus
arranged it among metallic stones, probably on account
of its weight, it was not known to possess a metallic
41 substance
6iS
CHEMISTRY.
*53*
Found na¬
tive.
1533
Method of
analyzing
the ores.
1534
Proj>erties.
substance till the midtile of the 17th century. Para¬
celsus, indeed, who lived at air earlier period, is said
to have known it in the metallic state j but the process
of obtaining it i’rom orpiment and arsenic, was only
first described by Schroeder in 1649. Lemery also
published a process for extracting this metal in 1675.
It was afterwards fully demonstrated by Brandt in
1733, and by Macquer in 1746, that arsenic possessed
peculiar properties, and is totally distinct Irom all other
metals. These facts were farther confirmed by Mon-
net in 1773, and by Bergman in 1777.
2. Arsenic is frequently found native, and is then
in dark-coloured masses, which have little brilliancy,
and exhibit no metallic lustre, except at the fracture.
It is frequently found combined with other metals. In
this state it is combined with iron, and is known by
the name of arsenical 'pyrites, or mispickel. One ot the
most frequent combinations of arsenic is with sulphur,
of which there are twq principal varieties •, the one is
of a vellow colour, well known under the name of or-
piment, and the other red, called realgar. It is also
sometimes found in the state of white oxide, or arseni-
ous acid j but this is a rare occurrence.
3. In whatever state arsenic is found, it can easily
be detected, by throwing a little of it on burning
coals. The white fume which arises, and the garlic
smell which is exhaled, are sufficiently characteristic
of this metal. To obtain the metal from its oxide, it may
be mixed with three times its weight of black flux.
This mixture is put into a crucible, to which another
crucible inverted is adapted. They are then to be
luted together, to exclude the air. Apply heat to the
lower crucible till it becomes red, defending the upper
one as much as possible from the heat, by means of a
plate of iron or copper, through which the lower cru¬
cible passes. When the apparatus has cooled, a crust
of metallic arsenic is found in the upper crucible, in
the form of crystals. This being detached and weigh¬
ed, shows the quantity of pure metal in the mineral
which has been tried.
In the humid way, Bergman recommends to treat
native arsenic by dissolving it in four parts of nitro-
muriatic acid, concentrating the solution by evapora¬
tion, and precipitating the muriate of arsenic which is
formed, by means of water. If there is anv silver, it
is first precipitated in the form of an insoluble muriate,
and iron is sometimes found in the solution precipitated
by water.
The sulphurets of arsenic are to be treated by muri¬
atic acid, adding a small quantity of nitric acid, to se¬
parate the sulphur. The oxide of arsenic may then
be precipitated by water. The pure metal may be ob¬
tained by immersing a plate of zinc in the solution,
having previously added a quantity of alcohol.
4. Arsenic is in the form of small plates of a blackish
gray, brilliant, and metallic colour, with considerable
lustre where there is a fresh fracture. The specific
gravity is 8.31. It is extremely brittle, and is there¬
fore easily reduced to powder. It has neither smell
nor perceptible taste when it is cold ; but when it is»
heated, and in the state of vapour, it is remarkable for
a strong fetid odour of garlic. It sublimes before it
melts, so that its fusing point is not known. It is the
most volatile of all the metals. When slowly sublimed,
it crystallizes in the form of regular tetrahedrons, and
3
sometimes in that of octahedrons. The tetrahedron is Arseni
the form of its integrant molecule. &c.
5. When arsenic recently prepared is exposed to the v"“—v"
air, it is soon tarnished, loses its lustre, becomes at first . I*35
yellowish, and then passes to a black colour. It loses atair>
the same time its hardness, and becomes extremely fri¬
able. When it is heated in contact with air, or if it
be thrown into the state of powder on burning coals,
it burns with a blue flame, and exhaling the strong
odour of garlic, is sublimed in the form of a white,
acrid, soluble mass, which has been called the white
oxide of arsenic, or white arsenic. By th is latter name
it is well known in the shops. To this oxide of arse¬
nic, because it possesses some acid properties, Fourcroy
has given the name of arsenions acid. This acid bears
the same relation to arsenic acid as the phosphorous and
sulphurous acids do to phosphoric and sulphuric acids.
6. This oxide or acid is extremely volatile. When Oxide 01
it is heated in close vessels, it is sublimed in transparent,ars«ni9“
regular tetrahedrons. It is extremely acrid and caustic,acic1,
corroding and destroying the organs of animals, so that pr0perti
it is the most violent poison known. The specific gra¬
vity is between 4 and 5. It reddens vegetable blues,
and, when exposed to the air, it is covered with a slight
efflorescence.
7. The arsenious acid is decomposed by hydrogen,
carbon, phosphorus, and sulphur. At a red heat the,
hydrogen and carbon combine with the oxygen, and
reduce it to the metallic state. Phosphorus and sul¬
phur are partly converted into phosphoric and sulphu¬
ric acids, and partly combine with the arsenic, forming
a phosphuret or sulphuret of arsenic.
8. This acid is very soluble in water. It requires
about 15 parts of boiling water for its solution, front
which it may be obtained crystallized on cooling, or
by slow evaporation. The crystals are in the form of
regular tetrahedrons. The solution in water is extreme¬
ly acrid, reddens vegetable blues, combines with earthy
bases, decomposes the alkaline sulphurets, and affords
with them a yellow precipitate in which the arsenic re¬
turns to the metallic state. The component parts of*
arsenious acid are,
Arsenic
Oxygen
75-2
24.8
100.0
153s
9. Arsenic combines with a greater proportion ofArsemc
oxygen; and in this compound it still exhibits acidacl '
properties, and is known by the name of arsenic acid.
The method of preparing this acid, and its properties,
have already been described, in the chapter on acids ;
and the compounds it forms with the alkalies and
earths have been particularly detailed in the chapters
which treat of these substances.
10. Arsenic does not decompose water. It may be
kept for any length of time under water, without un¬
dergoing any change. There is no action between
arsenic and carbon or azote. Arsenic, however, is
soluble in hydrogen gas, to which it communicates a
fetid odour and a poisonous property. 1539
11. Arsenic enters into combination with phospho- Phosplw
rus. When equal parts of phosphorus and arsenic are
distilled together with a moderate heat, there is su¬
blimed a dark-coloured brilliant substance, which burns
ou
CHEMISTRY.
;ewc,
54®
S' uiret.
541 4
S ana
a
?4*
(ties.
on red-hot coals, with a mixed odour of arsenic and
phosphorus. This is the phosphuret of arsenic, which
must be preserved under water. This compound may
be formed under water at a boiling temperature in a
matrass. As the phosphorus melts, it combines with
the arsenic. The properties of this phosphuret of
arsenic have not been examined.
12. Arsenic combines readily with sulphur, either by
fusion or by sublimation. The result of this combina¬
tion is a yellow or red mass. This compound of sulphur
and arsenic, which is a sulphuret of arsenic, is found
native. The red is known by the name of realgar, and
the yellow by that of orpiment.
13. Arsenic enters into combination with the acids,
and forms with them peculiar salts. It also combines
with the metals, forming alloys. The following is the
order of the affinities of arsenic and of its oxide, as they
have been arranged by Bergman.
6l 9
Arsenic.
Nickel,
Cobalt,
Copper,
Iron,
Silver,
Tin,
Gold,
Platinum,
Zinc/
Antimony,
Sulphur,
Phosphorus.
Oxide of Arsenic.
Lime,
Muriatic acid,
Oxalic,
Sulphuric,
Nitric,
Tartaric,
Phosphoric,
Fluoric,
Saclactic,
Succinic,
Citric,
Lactic,
Arsenic,
Acetic,
Prussic.
143
14. Arsenic, in the metallic state, is scarcely applied
to any use, except for chemical purposes. It is some¬
times alloyed with the metals, by which means they ac¬
quire new properties. In the state of white oxide, it is
much employed in the arts. It has even been exhibited
as an internal remedy in the diseases of cancer and inter¬
mittent fevers; but in all cases this terrible poison ought
to be administered with the greatest caution. To coun¬
teract the effects of arsenic, when it has been accidental¬
ly taken into the stomach, one of the best antidotes is
water impregnated with sulphurated hydrogen gas, or
*i rcnw,Sorae tlie alkaline sulphurets dissolved in water*.
SO.
I. Salts of Arsenic.
44
B t Of
Sill lrjc
»c
1. Sulphate of Arsenic.
Concentrated sulphuric acid has no action on arsenic
in the cold j but when they are boiled together, an
effervescence takes place, sulphurous acid gas is disen¬
gaged, the arsenic is oxidated, and falls to the bottom
in the state of white powder. According to Fourcroy,
this powder retains but a small portion of sulphuric
acid, the whole of which is nearly carried off" by wash¬
ing with water 3 nor are crystals obtained from the so¬
lution. By evaporation the white oxide of arsenic is
precipitated, and sulphuric acid remains pure in the
solution. There is no action between sulphurous acid
and arsenic.
2. Nitrate of Arsenic.
Arsenic,
&c.
Concentrated nitric acid produces a violent action .
with arsenic. Nitrous gas is disengaged, and towards Of nitric,
the end of the process, azotic gas. The arsenic is
converted at first into the white oxide, which, with a
new addition of acid, passes to the state of arsenic acid $
and when a great quantity of nitric acid is employed,
with the aid of heat, the metal is instantly converted
into arsenic acid. There x-emains no oxide in the so¬
lution, and there is no nitrate of ax-senic formed. But,
according to Bergman, when the nitric acid is diluted,
it dissolves the oxide, and affords a crystallized salt like
the white oxide.
3. Muriate of Arsenic.
1. Muriatic acid has no action on arsenic in the pre|»ura-
cold } but when they are boiled together, the solution lion,
takes place, and there is disengaged a fetid gas, which
seems to be ai’seniated hydrogen gas. From this it
appears, that muriatic acid enables the arsenic to de¬
compose water. A little nitric acid added, promotes
the solution j and this solution, heated and concentrat¬
ed at first in close vessels, is entirely sublimed in the
form of a thick liquid, which was formerly called butter
of arsenic. This salt is decomposed by water alone,
which precipitates the metal. The muriate of arsenic,
therefore, can scarcely be considered as a permanent
salt*. v‘ P- 73-
2. When arsenic in the state of powder is thrown Oxymuria-
into oxymuriatic acid gas, it instantly catches fire, tic acid,
burns with a very brilliant white flame, and is convei-t-
ed into white oxide. If arsenic be added to liquid oxy¬
muriatic acid, it is converted into arsenic acid, while
the acid returns to the state of muriatic acid.
4. Fluate of Arsenic.
Fluoric acid combines with the white oxide of arse¬
nic, and affords small grains, which have a crystalline
form ; but their propei’ties are unknown.
5. Borate of Arsenic.
Boracic acid also combines with the white oxide of
arsenic, and affords a salt which is in the state of white
powder, or in the form of small needles. Their proper¬
ties are also unknown.
6. Acetate of Arsenic.
Acetic acid enters into combination with the white
oxide of arsenic, and forms crystals, which are only
known to be difficultly soluble in water.
7. Oxalate of Arsenic.
Oxalic acid, combined with arsenic, affords crystals
in the form of prisms. Similar crystals are obtained by
the combination of arsenic with the tartaric acid.
8. Benzoate of Arsenic.
Benzoic acid combines with the white exide of ar¬
senic, and by evaporating the solution, plumose crystals
are obtained. This salt has an acid and acrid taste, is
soluble in water, sublimes with a moderate heat, but
with a stronger heat is decomposed, and is not precipU
tated from its solutions by alkalies.
4X2
Sect.
620
Tungsten,
See.
, 1543
History.
CHEMISTRY.
I549
Found na¬
tive.
I55°
Method of
obtaining
it.
I5SI
Properties.
Action of
heat.
1553
Of phos¬
phorus, Sec,
, 1554
Alloys.
1555
History.
Sect. II. Of Tungsten and its Combinations,
1. The name of tungsten is derived from a white,
transparent mineral, which contains this metal in the
state of acid united to lime. This mineral was ana¬
lyzed by Scheele in 1781, and he found that one of
its component parts is lime, and the other an earthy-
like substance, to which he gave the name of tungstic
acid. His discovery was confirmed about the same
time by Bergman, who conjectured that the basis of
the acid might be a metallic substance. This conjec¬
ture was verified by the experiments of Messieurs
D’Elhuyart, two Spanish chemists, who discovered the
same metal in the mineral called wolfram^ and ascer¬
tained some of its metallic properties. It has since been
farther examined by Vauquelin and Hecht, and by
Allen and Aiken in London.
2. This metallic substance has been only found in
the state of acid, in combination with lime, iron, man¬
ganese, and lead. When it is combined with lime, it
is the tungsten of the Swedes, and in combination with
iron it is called wolfram.
3. I o obtain this metal from the acid, it is mixed
with charcoal in a crucible, and exposed to a very
strong heat. By this process the metal was obtained in
the form of a small button at the bottom of the cru¬
cible, in the first experiments which were made upon it
by the German chemists. This crumbled to pieces
between the fingers; and when it was examined with a
magnifying glass, it was found to consist of a number of
metallic globules, none of which were larger than a pin
head.
4. The colour of the metal is a steel gray. The
specific gravity is 17.6, or, according to others, 17.22.
It is one of the hardest of the metals. It is also one
of the most infusible, requiring a temperature of 170°
Wedgwood. It crystallizes on cooling.
5. When it is heated in the open air, it is readily
converted into a yellow oxide, which afterwards, by a
stronger heat, becomes of a black colour, and then by
combining with a greater proportion of oxygen, it as¬
sumes the character of an acid, namely the tungstic
acid, whose properties and combinations with alkalies
and earths have been already described.
6. There is no action between tungsten and azote,
hydrogen or carbon. Tungsten combines with phos¬
phorus, forming a phosphuret, the properties of which
are unknown. It also combines with sulphur, forming
a sulphuret of a bluish black colour, and which may be
crystallized. There is no action between this metal
and sulphuric, nitric, or muriatic acids. It is only
acted on by nitro-muriatic acid at a boiling tempera¬
ture, and nitrous gas is disengaged. Nothing therefore
is known of the combinations of tungsten with the other
acids.
7. This metal combines with the other metals, and
forms alloys with them.
8. It is too little known, and has been produced in
too small quantity, to be able to ascertain any thing of
its uses or application.
Sect. III. Of Molybdena and its Combinations.
1. The mineral called molybdcna^ from which this
metal is extracted, was analyzed by Scheele in 1778.
He found that it contained sulphur, and a substancem0h.
which he discovered to be possessed of acid properties.
Previous to this time, this mineral had been confounded
with plumbago or black lead, which it resembles in
appearance. The acid which Scheele obtained from
this substance, Bergman conjectured was a metallic
oxide. These experiments were repeated by Pelletier;
and he proved that molybdena was a peculiar metal
combined with sulphur, and that in all the different
processes the sulphur was separated, and the metal oxi¬
dated. T he metal has since been called molybdena,
and the mineral from which it is obtained sulphuret of
molybdena.
2. Molybdena has never been found existing in any ciia,aLj
other but in the state of sulphuret, or in that of oxide, of the
The sulphuret of molybdena, it has been observed, was
long confounded with plumbago, or the carburet of
iron. It has, however, a less greasy feel, more brillian¬
cy, and inclining more to a blue colour. It stains the
fingers less than carburet of iron, and leaves a bluish
trace on paper. It is difficult to reduce it to powder,
on account of the elasticity of the plates or scales of .
which it is composed. The sulphuret of molybdena
too, becomes electric by friction. When the sulphuret
of molybdena is treated with the blow-pipe, it exhales
sulphur, which is detected by its odour, and a white
vapour which is condensed on cold bodies in the form
oi plates or crystallized needles, of a yellowish colour,
but which become blue by the contact of the interior j
flame. Molybdena has only been obtained in black, pr0pe*
friable, agglutinated masses, which have some metallic of theli-.
brilliancy; and when broken, exhibit small roundtal-
grains, of a grayish brilliant appearance. The specific
gravity is about 7, and it is extremely infusible ; but
since the experiments of Dr Hielm, which were made
in 1782, this metal has been procured in such small
quantity, that its characteristic metallic properties have
not been ascertained. 1]
3. When molybdena is exposed to a high tempera-Actk f
tore in contact with air, it is converted into a white heat,
oxide, which sublimes and crystallizes in the form of
brilliant needles. Phis oxide has acid properties.
W hen it is heated with combustible bodies, it assumes
a bluish colour, with little brilliancy, as it approaches
to the metallic state. According to Mr Hatchet, who
made a set of experiments on the compound of this acid
with lead, the molybdate of lead, molybdena, when it
is not in the metallic state, appears to suffer four de¬
grees of oxigenation. The first is the black oxide,
which contains the smallest proportion of oxygen. This
oxide is obtained by exposing to heat in a crucible a ,,
mixture of molybdic acid and charcoal in powder. A oxide
black mass remains, which is the oxide. The second is
the blue oxide, which may be obtained by the same
process, but it must not be continued so long. The
third is the green oxide, which seems to be intermedi- l5(
ate between an oxide and acid. Mr Hatchet proposes Acids,
to call it molybdous acid. The fourth degree of oxida¬
tion is the molybdic acid itself, which has at first a
white colour ; but W'hen it is fused and sublimed, is
converted into a yellow colour. The properties of this
acid and some of its combinations have been already
described *. , ;
4. Molybdena combines with phosphorus ; but the
properties of this phosphuret are not known. Italsop.336
combines
Cei!|
x
in
'«
lie
ri
:al
iit
i
'a.
c/
,64
A
:c.
ifi1
ill of
| ho-
u
lids.
bdena,combines readily with sulphur, and returns to the state
of sulphuret of molybdena, in which it has only been
found native.
5. Molybdena enters into combination ■with the acids,
forming with them peculiar salts.
6. The aikahes have the property of dissolving
molybdena, and of promoting its oxidation. With the
^ assistance of heat, the alkalies form with the sulphuret
kalies.of molybdena an alkaline sulphuret, which holds the
metal in solution.
7. Molybdena enters into combination with the me¬
tals, and forms alloys with them.
I. Salts of Molybdena.
1. Sulphite of Molybdena.
Sulphuric acid, with the assistance of heat, dissolves
molybdic acid, and aflords a colourless solution ; but
when it is cold it becomes of a deep blue. But nei¬
ther this nor any other of the salts of molybdena seem
disposed to crystallize.
CHEMISTRY.
621
iAf*
- , <5
< ™ is
fr#
il
2. Nitrate of Molybdena.
Nitric acid converts the oxides of molybdena into
molybdic acid, by giving up its oxygen.
3. Muriate of Molybdena.
Muriatic acid, when boiled with the oxide of mo-
jybdena, affords a solution of a deep blue colour, and
there is formed a blue precipitate.
4. Fluate of Molybdena.
Fluoric acid forms a compound with the oxides of
molybdena. The solution is of a greenish yellow co¬
lour when it is hot; but when it is evaporated to dry¬
ness, it becomes of a greenish blue.
5. Phosphate of Molybdena.
The oxide of molybdena is dissolved by phosphoric
acid with the assistance of heat, and a solution of a blue
colour is obtained.
6. Acetate of Molybdena.
7. Oxalate of Molybdena.
8. Tartrate of Molybdena.
9. Benzoate of Molybdena.
All these salts in solution are of a blue colour, and
when evaporated to dryness, afford a blue powder.
They are formed by digesting the several acids with
the oxides of molybdena.
Sect. IV. Of Chromium and its Combinations.
I. This metal was discovered by Vauquelin in 1797,
m a mineral called the red lead ore of Siberia. This
ore had been formerly analyzed by several chemists,
and even by Vauquelin himself j but their results of the
nature of its composition only agreed, that lead was one
of its constituent parts. Vauquelin by his last analysis
found that it contained lead, combined with the new
acid, of which the basis is a metal,
of 2. The process which he followed was the following :
He boiled one part of the red lead-ore of Siberia with
two of carbonate of potash, in 200 parts of water. The
Colum-
bium, &e.
potash combined with the new acid, while the carbo¬
nic acid united to the lead. The carbonate of lead
precipitated to the bottom in the form of a white pow¬
der, and the new salt remained in solution. By adding
nitric acid, the new salt was decomposed, the acid
combining with the potash. This mineral is complete¬
ly dissolved in muriatic acid. The solution assumes a
deep green colour, and by evaporation affords muriate
of lead. I he fine green colour is owing to the oxide
of the new metal having been deprived of part of its
oxygen by the muriatic acid, and being thus converted
from an orange red to a green. ~ ,
3. The acid which is obtained by the first process, Reason of
and the oxide by the second, being strongly heated the name
with charcoal in a crucible, afforded a metal different01 thQ me_
from any other formerly known. To this metal thetal‘
name of chromium was given, from the Greek word
on account of the remarkable property which it
possesses of communicating colour to all its saline com¬
binations. j.gg
4. The metal which was obtained, is of a grayish Properties,
white colour, very hard and brittle, and extremely dif¬
ficult of fusion j but the small quantity which has been
hitherto obtained, precludes chemists from ascertain¬
ing its properties. i 6
5. This substance has been found in four different Found fn
minerals, existing in two states j in the state of green different
oxide, combined with the oxide of lead, and in them*nerals•
same state in the emerald ; and in the state of acid,
combined with the oxide of lead in the red lead-ore of
Siberia, and also in the spinel ruby. It has also been
discovered in the state of chromic acid, combined with
iron, forming a chromate of iron. It has also been
discovered in France.
6. Chromium, therefore, combines with oxygen in two Oxides,
different proportions j the green oxide, and the yellow,
or the chromic acid. It is this acid which exists in
the red lead-ore. When it is separated from the lead,
it is in the form of powder, of an orange yellow colour,
and is soluble in water. Its other properties have been
already examined. The green oxide is prepared by
exposing the latter to heat in close vessels. The chro¬
mic acid is partially decomposed ; part of the oxygen
is driven off, and the green oxide remains behind.
Another oxide also, it is said, which is intermediate
between chromic acid and the green oxide, has been
obtained. .r-I
7. Tittle is known of the action of acids on this me-Action of
tal $ but in the few experiments which have been made, ac'ds.
it appears, that it undergoes no change by means of
sulphuric and muriatic acids. Nitric acid distilled
upon it several times successively, changes it into green
oxide, and at last into chromic acid. The same effect
is produced more rapidly by means of the nitro-muriatic
acid.
Sect. V. Of Columbium and its Combinations.
1572
I. This metal was discovered by Mr Hatchet, in the Hiitory.
year 1802, in a mineral which he found in the British
Museum. This mineral had been sent along with spe¬
cimens of iron ores from Massachusets in America, to
Sir Hans Sloane, in whose catalogue it is described
as a “ very heavy black stone, with golden streaks.”
These streaks, Mr Hatchet observes, proved to be yel¬
low
CHEMISTRY.
622
Co'.um- low mica. This mineral is externally of a dark-brown-
bium, &c. ish gray colour; internally the same, inclining to iron
' v ' gray. The longitudinal fracture is imperfectly lamel-
Characters late(l i flie cross fracture shews a fine grain. The
of the ore. lustre is vitreous, in some parts inclining to the metal¬
lic. It is moderately hard, but very brittle. The co¬
lour of the powder is dark chocolate brown. Tdie par¬
ticles are not attracted by the magnet. The specific
1574 gravity is 5.918.
Analysis. 2. In the analysis of this mineral, Mr Hatchet dis¬
covered, that it consists of one part of oxide of iron,
and three parts of a white-coloured substance, which
exhibited the properties of an acid. The acid, under
the name of columbic acid, with its combinations with
the alkalies and earths, has been already described. Ha¬
ving found that it possessed properties different from all
other acids, and also, that its base is metallic, he gave
to the metal the name of columbium. In the attempts
which Mr Hatchet made to reduce it to the metallic
state, even when it was exposed to a very strong heat
with charcoal, the oxide was only found in the state of
powder, of a black colour. From these experiments
it appeared, that this metal combines with oxygen in
different proportions, and these oxides are distinguish¬
ed by different colours.
3. When the white oxide of this metal was added to
phosphoric acid in solution, and evaporated to dryness,
the whole was put into a crucible, lined with charcoal,
and exposed to a strong heat for half an hour. The
inclosed matter had assumed a dark brown, spongy ap¬
pearance, which had some resemblance to the phosphu-
ret of titanium.
4. No sulphuret was obtained when it was mixed and
distilled with sulphur.
5. Columbium combines with some of the acids,
and forms salts, although few of these have been ex¬
amined.
I. Salts of Columbium.
I. Sulphate of Columbium.
Boiling sulphuric acid forms a transparent colour¬
less solution, with columbic acid. When water is added
to this solution, it becomes turbid, assuming a milky Titiminn
appearance ; and a white precipitate is gradually de- de¬
posited, which cracks as it becomes dry upon the filter, 'r""
and, from white, it changes to a lavender blue colour;
and, when completely dry, to a brownish gray. It is
then insoluble in water, is semitransparent, and breaks
with a vitreous fracture. This precipitate obtained
from the sulphuric solution, by the addition of water,
is a sulphate of columbium.
2. Nitrate of Columbium.
The oxide of columbium seems to be perfectly in¬
soluble, and remains unchanged in colour, when digest¬
ed in boiling concentrated nitric acid.
3. Muriate of Columbium.
Columbic acid, when recently separated from pot¬
ash, is soluble in boiling muriatic acid. This solution
may be considerably diluted with water, without any
change being produced. When evaporated to dryness,
it left a pale-yellow substance, insoluble in water, and
which is dissolved with great difficulty, when it is again
digested with muriatic acid.
4. Phosphate of Columbium.
A few drops of phosphoric acid being added to a part
of the solution of columbium in concentrated sulphuric
acid, at the end of about 12 hours converted the whole
into a white, opaque, stiff jelly, which was insoluble in
water. When a small quantity of phosphoric acid
was added to the muriatic solution of columbium, in
a few hours a white flocculent precipitate was form¬
ed * (a). * Phil.
Tinm.
Sect. VI. Of Titanium and its Combinations, p, 49] i
1. This metal was discovered in 1793 by Klaproth, fligtoiy
He obtained it from a mineral called red schorl. In its disco
this mineral he found the oxide of a metal different Tet7'
from any other then known. Previous to this time,
indeed, the same oxide had been discovered by Mr
Gregor in a black sand, which is found in Menachan
in Cornwall. To this, from the place, he gave the
name
(a) Another metal has been more lately announced by Ekeberg, which, in some of its properties, seems to
resemble columbium. He obtained this metal from two minerals ; to one of which he gave the name of taniahie,
which is of a blackish gray colour, with some metallic lustre, and some appearance of crystallization. This mi¬
neral is very hard ; the specific gravity is 7*953* When reduced to powder, it is of a brownish gray colour,
and is not attracted by the magnet. To the other mineral he gave the name of yttrotantalite. It was found in
small insulated masses, in veins of feldspar, and black mica. The fracture of this mineral is granular, of a gray
metallic appearance, and may be scratched, although with difficulty, with a knife. It is not attracted by the
magnet. The specific gravity is 5.13. From these minerals this chemist extracted a substance, which he con¬
cluded to be a peculiar metal in the state of oxide, having the appearance of a white powder. The following are
the properties which he ascertained.
i. It is not soluble in any of the acids. 2. The alkalies attract and dissolve a considerable quantity of this
substance, which may afterwards be precipitated by means of the acids. 3. The whole oxide of this meta! un¬
dergoes no change of colour by the action of heat. 4. Its specific gravity when it has been exposed to a red
heat is 6.5.. 5. It fuses with phosphate of soda and borax, without communicating to them any colour. 6. The
oxide of this metal, heated with charcoal powder, is reduced to the metallic state, exhibits a brilliant hac'#jnn.
ture, of a dark gray colour. 7. It is again converted into a white powder by the action of the acids. Thec/;wn. *'
other properties of this substance have not been detailed*. To this metal Ekeberg has given the name ofp-iyM
tantalium.
'
:
-I
77
sis of
e.
C H E M
ilium; name of menachine, but be liad not succeeded in re¬
ducing it to tbe metallic state. Klaproth afterwards
analyzed the menachanite of Mr Gregor, and found that
it was precisely the same as the oxide of the metal
which he discovered in red schorl. To this metal he
gave the name of titanium. The experiments of Kla¬
proth were afterwards repeated by Vauquelin and
Hecht in 1796. His results were confirmed, and they
also succeeded in reducing a small quantity of the oxide
to the metallic state.
2. This metal has been found only in the state of
oxide. Red schorl consists entirely of this oxide. It
has been found in different countries, as in Spain,
France, and Hungary. This oxide is disseminated in
the fine specimens of rock crystal, which are brought
from Madagascar, crystallized in long brilliant needles,
the form of the primitive crystal being a six-sided
prism, with two-sided summits ; that of the molecule is
a triangular prism, with right-angled isosceles bases. It
is of a red colour of different shades. It is brittle, but
the fragments are so hard as to scratch glass. The spe¬
cific gravity is from 4.180 to 4.246. The other mine¬
ral, to which Klaproth has given the name ef titanite,
is composed of oxide of titanium, silica, and lime,
nearly in equal proportions. Its specific gravity is
3-519' . .
3. Titanium was obtained by Vauquelin, by redu¬
cing the native red oxide. He mixed together 100
parts of this oxide with 50 of calcined borax, and 50
of charcoal, formed into a paste with oil ; and exposed
the whole to the heat of a forge raised to 1660 Wedg¬
wood. By this process he obtained a dark-coloured,
agglutinated mass, having a brilliant appearance on the
surface.
4. Titanium obtained in this way is of a reddish yel¬
low colour, shining and brilliant on the surface, and
equally brilliant in some of its internal cavities. Its
other properties, as it has been only procured in very
small quantity, have not been determined.
5. Titanium seems to be one of the most infusible
metals known. When the red oxide is exposed to heat
in a crucible, it loses its lustre. By the action ot the
blow-pipe it is dep ived of its transparence, and be¬
comes of a grayish white colour. On charcoal it be¬
comes still more opaque, and of a slate gray. rl he ar¬
tificial carbonate of titanium, exposed to heat in a cru¬
cible, loses TVSo of its weight, becomes yellow, and, as
it cools, resumes its white colour.
6. Titanium enters into combination with phospho¬
rus, and forms with it a phosphuret. This was pre¬
pared by Mr Chenevix, by exposing a mixture of phos¬
phate of titanium, charcoal, and a little borax, in a cru¬
cible, to a very strong heat. The phosphuret which
he obtained was in the form of a metallic button, of a
pale white colour, brittle and granular, and infusible
by the action of the blow-pip?. Titanium has not been
combined with sulphur.
7. This metal enters into combination with the acids,
and forms salts with them. The affinities ot the oxides
of titanium, as they have been ascertained by Fampa-
dius, are in the following order.
Gallic acid,
Phosphoric,
Arsenic,
I S T R Y.
jj
rties.
79
11 of
j So
hureR
Oxalic,
Sulphuric,
Muriatic,
Nitric,
Acetic f.
623
Titanium,
&c.
f Aim. de
Chim. xxvi.
p. 9i.
i<;Sz
8. In the experiments which were made by Vauque- Alloys,
lin and Hecht, to combine titanium with other metals,
they did not succeed with silver, copper, lead, or ar¬
senic ; hut they formed an infusible alloy with iron, of
a gray colour, interspersed with yellow-coloured shin¬
ing particles.
I. Salts of Titanium.
I. Sulphate of Titanium.
According to the experiments of Klaproth, sulphuric Salts,
acid has no action on the native red oxide of titanium
from Hungary ; but this acid is found to dissolve the
carbonate of titanium with effervescence; and when
this solution is evaporated, the red oxide is converted
into a white, opaque, gelatinous mass. This was the
result of Klaproth’s experiment. In those of Vauque¬
lin and Hecht, sulphuric acid being boiled with carbo¬
nate of titanium, assumed a milky appearance, and
there were formed white, light flakes, which were dis¬
solved by a stronger heat ; tbe fluid became transpa¬
rent, but did not afford crystals.
2. Nitrate of Titanium.
Nitric acid has scarcely any perceptible action on ti¬
tanium, but it combines with the carbonate, and forms
a transparent solution, which assumes an oily appear¬
ance in the air, and affords transparent crystals in the
form of elongated rhombs, having the opposite angles
truncated, so as to represent hexagonal tables. But
according to Vauquelin and Hecht, when they heated
a mixture of nitric acid with carbonate of titanium, ni¬
trous gas was disengaged, and the liquid remained
milky. Sugar added to the mixture causes a precipi¬
tate of the oxide, of a whiter colour than the carbo¬
nate ; and if the nitric acid be employed diluted, the
oxide of titanium is dissolved, but the solution becomes
turbid by means of heat, and thus the addition of calo¬
ric opposes the combination of this oxide with nitric
acid, by oxidating it in a higher degree than what is >
soluble in this acid.
3. Muriate of Titanium.
The carbonate of titanium is soluble in muriatic
acid ; and according to Klaproth, the solution affords a
yellowish, transparent jelly, which contains numerous
transparent, cubic crystals. Vauquelin and Hecht
found, that the carbonate of titanium is dissolved with
effervescence in concentrated muriatic acid ; and the
solution assumes a deep yellow colour, when it is made
without the assistance of heat. When it was heated,
it was reduced to a flaky mass, which was neither re-
dissolved by water, nor by new additions of the acid.
A similar soVution which was not heated remained
transparent ; hut when this solution was exposed to a
temperature of about 170°, it was converted into a
yellow, transparent jelly, of an acid and very astrin¬
gent taste, which, by cooling, deposited a great num¬
ber of small crystals which effloresced in tbe air.
When
IJS^
624
C H E M
Titanium,
See.
ISS4
Prepara¬
tion.
t5so
Salts of ti¬
tanium de-
c.mposed.
1586
Discovery.
1587
Natural
history.
When this solution was boil-ed, oxymuriatic acid gas
was disengaged, the oxide was precipitated, and is no
longer soluble in muriatic acid, till it is boiled for a
long time with nitric acid; from which it appears,
that the oxide of titanium must have a great proportion
of oxygen, to combine with muriatic acid, and in this
state it can only combine with it in the cold, because
when it is exposed to heat, the acid carries off a por¬
tion of its oxygen, which renders it insoluble. The
oxide of titanium, separated from muriatic acid by the
action of the blow-pipe, assumes a beautiful orange-
yellow colour.
4. Carbonate of Titanium.
One part of the red oxide of titanium, and five
parts of carbonate of potash, exposed to a red heat in
a crucible, were soon fused, and formed a solid mass
of a whitish gray colour, with small needle-form cry¬
stals on the surface. When this was reduced to pow¬
der, and washed with warm water, there was deposit¬
ed a light white powder, which was found to be car¬
bonate of titanium. The arsenic and phosphoric acids
cause a white precipitate of the oxide of titanium from
its solution in acids. A similar precipitate is produced
by oxalic and tartaric acids $ but it is instantly re-dis¬
solved, and the solution recovers its transparency.
The oxide of titanium is precipitated from its solu¬
tion in acids j 1. By carbonate of potash, in the form
of a white flaky matter, and by ammonia in the same
way. 2. Prussiate of potash causes a copious precipi¬
tate of a mixed colour of green and brown. 3. Infu¬
sion of nut-galls produces a very voluminous precipi¬
tate, of a reddish brown colour; and if the solution
be not too much diluted with water, it coagulates like
blood. A x'od of tin introduced into a small bottle,
with a solution of this oxide in muriatic acid, caused
in a few minutes a pale rose colour, in that part of the
solution near the rod. This colour soon changed to a
beautiful ruby. A rod of zinc first produced a violet
colour, and afterwards that of indigo, 4. Sulphuret
of ammonia combined with this solution, produced a
pale green colour, and a precipitate of a bluish green.
Sect. VII. Of Uranium and its Combinations.
1. This metal was discovered by Klaproth in the
year 1789. It was then announced as a metal more
difficult to be reduced than manganese, externally of a
gray colour, and internally of a clear brown, of consi¬
derable lustre, and middling hardness ; that it might
be scratched and filed, and that its oxide gives a deep
orange colour to porcelain.
2. It has been obtained from three different mine¬
rals. The first is in the state of sulphuret, of a black¬
ish colour, and of a shining fracture, and sometimes
lamellated. This has been called pitch blende. The
specific gravity is from 6.37 to 7.50. In this state it
is sometimes combined with iron and sulphurated lead.
The uranium is in the metallic state. The second ore
from which this metal is obtained, is the native oxide
of uranium. It is always in the state of yellow pow¬
der, on the surface of the sulphuret. The specific
gravity is 3*24> ^ hen it is of a pure yellow colour,
it is then a pure oxide. The third ore of the metal is
Vi'anitt
Sic,
I S T R y. .
the native carbonate of uranium. Of this there are
two distinct varieties, the one of a pale green, and
sometimes of a silvery white colour. This contains
but a small quantity of the oxide of copper, and is
very rare. The other is of a shining deep green,
which is the green mica ox glimmer of mineralogists.
Klaproth supposed that it contained an oxide of ura¬
nium, mixed with the oxide of copper; but it has
been since discovered to have carbonic acid in its com¬
position. It is crystallized in small square plates, and
sometimes, though rarely, in complete octahedrons. rs8j
3. The process by which Klaproth reduced this me-Analysis
tal, is the following. He mixed the yellow oxide oftheore
uranium, precipitated from its solutions by an alkali,
with linseed oil, in the form of a paste, and this being
exposed to a strong heat, there remained a black
powder, which had lost rather more than one-fourth
of its weight. It was then exposed to the heat of a
porcelain furnace, in a close crucible, and the oxide
was afterwards found in a coherent mass, but friable
under the fingers, and reduced to a black shining
powder. It decomposed nitric acid with effervescence.
This black powder, covered with calcined borax, was
for the second time exposed to a still stronger heat, by
which a metallic mass was obtained, consisting of very
small globules adhering together. j.3^
4. The colour of uranium is of a dark gray, andProperti
internally of a pale brown. It has little brilliancy, on
account of the spongy mass, in which state it was ob¬
tained. It may be scratched with a knife, and is ex¬
tremely infusible. The specific gravity is 6.440.
5. VVhen uranium is exposed to a red heat in the
open air, or when it is acted on by the blow-pipe, it
undergoes no change. The yellow oxide of uranium
does not melt. It acquires a brownish gray colour
when it is long heated in the air, but it has not been
ascertained whether it gains or loses oxygen.
6. The oxide of uranium is reduced by means of
charcoal, when it is exposed to heat. Little is known
of the combination of uranium with phosphorus; but
when the oxide was treated with blood, and a strong
heat applied, an acrid bitter mass was obtained, which
was supposed to owe its fusibility to the phosphorus
which it contained.
7. Uranium has not been artificially combined with
sulphur, but it is not improbable that such a combination
might take place, since it is found native in this state.
Of the alloys of uranium with other metals nothing is
yet known,
I. Salts of Uranium,
I. Sulphate of Uranium.
The yellow oxide of uranium is readily dissolved in
diluted sulphuric aerd; and the solution affords, by
evaporation, a salt of a yellow colour, in the form of
small prisms. The sulphate of uranium is different
from all other metallic salts yet known, in colour, form,
and other properties.
«593|
Salts.
2. Nitrate of Uranium.
Nitric acid dissolves with equal facility the oxide of
uranium. The solution being slowly evaporated,
yields large crystals in regular hexagonal tables, of a
yellowish
C H E M
'4 ( ilt, yellowish green colour. The crystals of nitrate of
^ ]=• uranium are the most beautiful of all the metallic
Wt salts.
3. Muriate of Uranium.
Muriatic acid also dissolves the oxide of uranium,
and furnishes small yellow crystals, which are deli¬
quescent in the air.
4. Fluate of Uranium.
Fluoric acid combines with the oxide of uranium, and
forms with it a crystallized salt, which is not altered by
exposure to the air.
5. Phosphate of Uranium.
Phosphoric acid enters into combination with the ox¬
ide of uranium, and forms with it yellowish white flakes,
which are very little soluble in water.
6. Arseniate of Uranium.
Arsenic acid may be combined with uranium, by de¬
composing the nitrate by means of an alkali. A pre¬
cipitate is obtained of a yellowish powder, which is the
arseniate of uranium.
7. Molybdate of Uranium.
In the same way molybdate of uranium may be
obtained by adding a solution of molybdate of potash
to the nitrate of uranium. It is obtained in the form
of powder.
8. Acetate of Uranium.
The oxide of uranium is soluble in concentrated ace¬
tic acid, with the assistance of heat 3 and beautiful yel¬
low crystals are obtained, in the form of long, slender,
transparent, four-sided prisms, terminated by four-sided
f |i pyramids.
De<< posi- The solutions of the oxide of uranium in acids are
pm| the precipitated by the alkaline sulphurets, of a brownish
aitn Jri yellow, and their surface is covered at the same time
with a gray metallic pellicle. The fixed alkalies pre¬
cipitate from their solutions an oxide of uranium, of an
orange yellow colour 3 ammonia occasions a precipitate
I S T R Y. 625
of a bright yellow'; and the alkaline carbonates throw Cobnlt,
down a carbonate of uranium of a whitish yellow', &-c.
which is redissolved in an excess of alkali. The infusion —v—^
of nut-galls thrown into one of these solutions, the ex¬
cess of whose acid has been taken up by an alkali, pro¬
duces a chocolate brown precipitate. Zinc, iron, and
tin, introduced into these solutions, produce no change
of Colour, either in the cold or by heat.
Sect. VIII. Of Cerium.
Cerium was discovered by Berzelius and HisingerHistory
in a Swedish mineral, formerly supposed to be an ore a?d com-
of tungsten. It is denominated cerium, from the planet ,Jinut*0US*
Ceres, discovered about the same time 3 and the mine¬
ral containing it is named cerite. When this mi¬
neral is dissolved in nitro-muriatic acid, the solution,
after being rendered neutral by potash, is precipitated
with tartrite of potash or oxalic acid. This precipi¬
tate, when calcined, is the white oxide of cerium. The
metal itself has very seldom been obtained pure, and
only in very minute quantity. It is white, very hard,
brittle, and volatile. It is capable of combining w’ith
another portion of oxygen by beat, and the peroxide
thus obtained is red. The solutions of the oxides in
the acids are either yellow or red, and give precipi¬
tates of different shades of these colours.
Sect. IX. Of Cobalt and its Combinations.
1. The mineral called cobalt, or cobolt, (^b) seems tOjjjJ^
have been first employed to give a blue colour to glass
alter the middle of the 16th century j but it was not
till about the year 1732, that cobalt was distinguished
as a peculiar metal by Brandt, a Swedish chemist, who
extracted it from its ore, and examined some of its pro¬
perties. In 1761 Lehman gave a particular account
of the nature and properties of this substance 3 but his
researches were chiefly limited to the mineral in the
state of ore. Bergman afterwards examined this metal,
and pointed out the difference between it and nickel,
manganese, and iron. The nature of it has been more
lately investigated by Tassaert and Thenard, and some
other French chemists.
2. Cobalt
(b) The following curious information is given by Beckman with regard to the discovery of this mineral.
“ About the end of the 15th century, cobalt appears to have been dug up in great quantity in the mines on the
borders of Saxony and Bohemia, discovered not long before that period. As it was not known at first to
what use it could be applied, it was thrown aside as a useless mineral. The miners had an aversion to it, not
only because it gave them much fruitless labour, but because it often proved prejudicial to their health by the
arsenical particles with which it was combined; and it appears even that the mineralogica! name cobalt then
first took its rise. At any rate, I have never met with it before the beginning of the sixteenth century ;
and Mathesius and Agricola seem to have first used it in their writings. Frisch derives it from the Bohemian
word kow, which signifies metal 3 but the conjecture that it was formed from cobalus, which was the name of a
spirit that, according to the superstitious notion of the times, haunted mines, destroyed the labours of the miners,
and often gave them a great deal of unnecessary trouble, is probable ; and there is reason to think that the lat¬
ter is borrowed from the Greek. The miners, perhaps, gave this name to the mineral out of joke, because it
thwarted them as much as the supposed spirit, by exciting false hopes, and rendering their labour often fruitless.
It was once customary, therefore, to introduce into the church service a prayer that God would preserve miners
and their works from kobolts and spirits.”
“ Mathesius, in his tenth sermon, p. 501, where he speaks of the cadtiiia fossilis, says: * Ye miners call it
kobolt; the Germans call the black devil and the old devil’s whores and hags old and black kobel, which by their
witchcraft do injury to people and to their cattle.’—Whether the devil, therefore, and his hags, gave this name to
cobalt, or cobalt gave its name to witches, it is a poisonous and noxious metal.”
Vol. V. Part II. f 4 K
626 ■ C H E M :
Cobalt, 2. Cobalt has never been found in nature in a state
of purity. It is either alloyed with arsenic, both me-
' tals being in the metallic state, or it is combined with
Ores " ^ sulphur and arsenic, or in the state of oxide, or form¬
ing a salt with arsenic acid. I. In the first state, when
it is alloyed with arsenic, it is of a gray or whitish ap¬
pearance, with some degree of brilliancy. The speci-
}jc gravity is 7.72. It is sometimes crystallized in cubes,
or octahedrons. When small fragments of this mine¬
ral are exposed to the action of the blow-pipe, or even
to the flame of a candle, they give out a garlic smell.
2. The combination of sulphur and arsenic with cobalt
is denominated gray cobalt ore. The specific gravity
is from 6.33 to 6.45. The structure is lamellated, and
when it is heated, it emits no garlic smell. It crystal¬
lizes in octahedrons, dodecahedrons, and some other
forms resembling the sulphuret of iron, with which it
is frequently combined. 3. The third species of co¬
balt ore is the oxide. It is found in black, friable
masses, or in the state of a black efflorescence, which
soils the fingers. This is a pure oxide of cobalt. 4. The
fourth species is the arseniate of cobalt, which has been
distinguished by the names offlowers of cobalt, cobalt
bloom. It is of a peach-blossom colour, sometimes in
the state of efflorescence,, sometimes in the form of small
needles of a deep colour, which remains even after they
are reduced to powder, and sometimes in four-sided
prisms terminated by two sided summits. When it is
placed on hot coals, it gives out a strong garlic smell,
1595 loses its colour, and becomes black.
Analysis of 3. To procure the pure metal from the ores of co-
the ores. bait, the oxide in the state of black powder, after be¬
ing roasted, is mixed with three times its own weight
of black flux and a little common salt, put into a cru¬
cible lined with charcoal, and exposed to a forge heat.
When the fusion is completed, the crucible is to be
slightly agitated, to collect together the metallic glo¬
bules into one mass. Sometimes two metallic buttons
are found under the vitreous scorite. The cobalt oc¬
cupies the upper part, and the bismuth being heaviest,
is lowest. In this state the cobalt is almost always
combined with a small portion of arsenic, nickel, or
iron. But if the crystallized gray oxide of cobalt has
been employed, the metal is obtained very pure, by the
above process y and when the ore is rich, it yields from
60 to 80 per cent.
By a diflerent process, cobalt may be obtained in
the metallic state, which consists in treating the ore
with nitric acid, which oxidates and dissolves both the
cobalt and the iron. These oxides are precipitated
by carbonate of soda, and well washed with water.
They may be separated by means of nitric acid, which
dissolves the oxide of cobalt, without touching that of
1596 the iron.
Properties 4. Cobalt is of a gray colour, inclining to red, and of
of cobalt. a very fine granulated texture. It is very brittle, so
that it is easily reduced to a fine powder, which is of a
gray colour, and with little brilliancy. The specific
gravity, according to Bergman, is 7.700 j according to
i;97 others, it is from 7.811 to 8.5384.
Action of 5* Cobalt is one of the most infusible metals, requir-
beat. ing a temperature equal to 130° Wedgwood. It be¬
comes red before it melts. When it is slowly cooled,
and by pouring out a part of the fluid w hen it becomes
solid at the edges, the cavity is found lined with pris-
I
S T R Y.
matic crystals. The same crystallization may be effect- Cobalt
ed by inclining the crucible at the moment the surface &c.
becomes solid.
6. When cobalt is exposed to a red-heat in an °PenQxidatN
vessel, it first loses its colour and its brilliancy, becomes
of a deep gray colour, and then passes to a black, or an
intense blue. With a still more violent heat, this last
oxide melts into a bluish black glass. It appears, from
the experiments of Thenard, that cobalt combines with
different proportions of oxygen, forming different oxidesr
When a solution of cobalt in acids is precipitated by
an alkali, the precipitate which is formed is first of a
lilach colour j and with an excess of base it becomes
successively blue and olive, and at last by drying it be¬
comes entirely black. These different changes depend
on the different proportions of oxygen with which it
combines.
He precipitated a solution of cobalt by pure potash.
The oxide collected on a filter was blue, and when ex¬
posed to the air it became of an olive colour; and when
washed with oxymuriatic acid, it changed from green
to brown, and from this shade to the deepest black.
The black oxide dissolved with effervescence in muria¬
tic acid j oxymuriatic acid gas was emitted in great
abundance, and when the muriatic acid was concen¬
trated, the solution was of a green colour, which in the
space of 24 hours became purple. When the acid was
diluted it became instantly red. The oxide is soluble
in sulphuric and nitric acids, and the solution is of a
red colour, accompanied with the evolution of bubbles,
which seem to be oxygen gas.
The brown and coloured oxides produce with sul¬
phuric, nitric, and muriatic acids, similar effects with
the black oxide. With muriatic acid they both give
out oxymuriatic acid, and form a solution of a green
colour, which in time passes to a purple ; or, if the
acid be diluted with water, it becomes instantly red.
The olive-coloured oxide is prepared by pouring potash
into a solution of cobalt. There is formed a blue pre¬
cipitate, which exposed to the air becomes green. If
this oxide be treated with diluted muriatic acid, oxy¬
muriatic acid is obtained with a slight degree of heatj
and the solution becomes more and more red, as this
acid is disengaged ; so that the blue oxide combines
with the oxygen of the air.
The blue oxide of cobalt, Thenard thinks, is most
conveniently obtained by calcining the black oxide for
half an hour in a cherry-red heat. It assumes a blue
colour, by being deprived of part of its oxygen. This
oxide dissolves in acids, without the disengagement of
any gas. Its solution in concentrated muriatic acid is
green, but if the acid be diluted with water, it is red. ijpd ]
Thenard concludes from his experiments, that thei’e are Oxides,
four different oxides of cobalt; the blue, the olive, thefoM>
brown, and the black ; although he supposes that the
brown may be a mixture of the olive and black ,
oxides . c^, s
7. There is no action between azote, hydrogen,
carbon, and cobalt. 1
8. Phosphorus enters into combination with cobalt, Plawi’'11
by projecting bits of phosphorus on small pieces of co-*61,
bait, red hot, in a crucible. The metal is instantly
fused, and it absorbs about rr7 of its weight of phospho¬
rus. A crust is formed at the same time on the sur¬
face, of a violet-red colour. This phosphuret of co¬
balt
5di
huret.
601
|5o3
r°4
erties.
[Io5
ira-
balt lias a metallic lustre, is of a ’tvliiter colour than
the metal itself, ami is more brittle. It loses its brilli¬
ancy in the air; and by the action of the blow-pipe,
phosphorus is disengaged from the metallic globule,
and inflames on the surface. There remains behind
a vitreous globule of a deep blue colour.
9. Sulphur combines with difficulty with cobalt, but
the compound may be formed by the aid of the alkalies.
This metal is soluble in the alkaline sulphurets, and
the result is a sulphuret of cobalt, of a yellowish
white colour, which is only decomposed by means of the
acids.
10. Cobalt enters into combination with the acids,
and forms salts. It forms alloys also with most of the
metals. The order of the affinities of cobalt and its
oxides, according to Bergman, is the following :
'Cobalt. Oxide of Cobalt.
Iron, Oxalic acid,
Nickel, Muriatic,
Arsenic, Sulphuric,
Copper, Tartaric,
Gold, Nitric,
Platinum, Phosphoric,
Tin, Fluoric,
Antimony, Saclactic,
Zinc, Succinic,
Phosphorus, Lactic,
Sulphur, Acetic,
Arsenic,
Boracic,
Prussic,
Carbonic.
I. Salts of Cobalt.
» I. Sulphate of Cobalt.
1. Concentrated and boiling sulphuric acid is decom¬
posed by cobalt, with the evolution of sulphurous acid
gas. A thick, grayish mass, inclining to red, is form¬
ed. Water dissolves the sulphate of cobalt, and affords
a grayish coloured liquid.
2. The sulphate of cobalt crystallizes in small
needles, or four-sided rhomboidal prisms, terminated
by two-sided summits. It is of a reddish colour, and
is soluble in 24 parts of water. It is decomposed by
heat, and there remains behind the black oxide of co¬
balt. By the action of the blow-pipe it swells up
with effervescence. The alkalies also decompose it,
by precipitating a reddish yellow oxide. One hun¬
dred parts of cobalt furnish 140 parts of this precipi¬
tate by pure alkalies ; but when the precipitation is
effected by means of the alkaline carbonates, 160 parts
are obtained.
2. Nitrate of Cobalt.
I. Nitric acid combines with cobalt, with the assist¬
ance of a moderate heat. Nitrous gas is disengaged,
the metal is oxidated, and is dissolved in the acid.
The solution is of a flesh-red colour, but when it is
concentrated, of a brown colour. By evaporation it
affords small reddish coloured prismatic crystals, which
are deliquescent in the air, and which being placed on
red-hot burning coals, swell up, and are decomposed,
leaving behind a deep red oxide.
CHEMISTRY.
2. It is by the precipitation of this salt, that the
oxide of cobalt is obtained for the purpose of enamels,
and for giving a colour to porcelain. When the oxide
is precipitated by means of an alkali, it is redissolved
when the alkali is added in excess.
627
Cobalt,
&c.
1606
3. Nitrate of Ammonia and Cobalt.
This triple salt was formed by Thenard, by adding
to a solution of cobalt in nitric acid, ammonia in ex¬
cess. No precipitate is obtained. This solution be¬
ing filtered and evaporated to dryness, and tire residue
being dissolved in water, and again evaporated, yield¬
ed, on cooling, regular cubic crystals of a red colour,
and of a pungent taste. They were not changed by
exposure to atmospheric air. Being calcined in a cru- *
cible, they burned like nitrate of ammonia, with a vi¬
vid, yellowish white flame. The residue was a black
substance, which had all the properties of cobalt.
The solution of this salt in water is not precipitated by
any of the alkalies or earths. It is still more readily
decomposed by sulphurated hydrogen, or the hydro-
sulphurets. When it is boiled with potash, ammonia
is disengaged ; the oxide of cobalt is precipitated, and
a nitrate of potash is formed *. * Ann. dc
. <• n 1 1 Chim. xlii.
4. Muriate 01 Cobalt. 2I^
1. Muriatic acid has no effect on cobalt in the cold; i6:>7
but a small quantity is dissolved with the assistance oftjon_
heat. But the black oxide of cobalt is readily dissolv¬
ed in muriatic acid. The solution is accompanied w'ith
effervescence, and the disengagement of oxymuriatic
acid gas. When this solution is concentrated by eva¬
poration, it becomes of a line green colour, which
changes to red when it is diluted with water. By
farther evaporation it is crystallized, and affords small
deliquescent crystals of muriate of cobalt in the form
of needles. r6oS
2. When these crystals are dissolved in water, and Synipathe-
so diluted that the solution is nearly colourless, cha- t‘c lu^‘ J
racters marked with it on paper disappear entirely ;
but when heated, assume a line green colour. This
solution was one of the first known sympathetic inks.
In making experiments with this solution, the charac¬
ters are written on paper, or, that the experiment may
be more amusing, a landscape is drawn with a pen¬
cil, representing the verdure of summer on a winter
scene. Those parts of the picture in which the sym¬
pathetic ink has been used, are invisible in the cold ;
but when it is moderately heated, they become of a
fine green colour, changing from the winter to the
summer scene. When it is removed to the cold, the
colour again disappears, and if too much heat be not
applied, the same change may be frequently repeated.
When too much heated, the blue colour is converted
to a brown, which becomes permanent. l6or)
3. Various theories have been proposed to account Theories,
for this remarkable change. According to some, it
is owing to the moisture of the atmosphere being ab¬
sorbed that the colour disappears ; and when this is
driven ofl’by heat, it is restored. But to this opinion
it ha-s been objected, that the same effect is produced,
when paper, on which characters have been written
with this solution, is entirely excluded from the at¬
mosphere, by being introduced into close vessels. Ac¬
cording to others, the sympathetic effect of this solu¬
tion depends on the iron .which is combined with the
4 K 2 cebalt.
628
CHEMISTRY.
Cobalt, cohalt. Some suppose that the concentration of the
&c. solution, which takes place hy the action of heat, is
' ¥ l“—' the cause of the appearance of the colour; and its di¬
lution, hy absorbing moisture from the atmosphere,
the cause of its disappearance ; while others are of
opinion that it is partially deprived of its oxygen by
being heated, and absorbs it again in the cold, when
jgto the colour vanishes.
Another The sympathetic ink may be easily prepared, by
process. dissolving the zaffre of commerce in nitro-muriatic
acid.
5. Fluate of Cobalt.
Fluoric acid dissolves the oxide of cobalt, and forms
with it a yellow-coloured gelatinous solution ; or, by
careful evaporation, it affords crystals, which are fluate
of cobalt.
6. Borate of Cobalt.
Boracic acid has no action on cobalt; but it com¬
bines with the oxide, by mixing a solution of nitrate
of cobalt with a solution of borax.
7. Phosphate of Cobalt.
Phosphoric acid dissolves the oxide of cobalt, and
forms with it a reddish-coloured turbid solution, which
affords a precipitate when the acid is saturated.
8. Carbonate of Cobalt.
This salt is formed by precipitating cobalt from its
solutions in acids, by means of alkaline carbonates.
One hundred parts of cobalt, which afford only 140
of precipitate by means of the pure alkalies, yield
160 parts, when the precipitate is effected by carbo¬
nate of soda.
9. Arseniate of Cobalt.
This salt is formed by combining the nitrate of co¬
balt with the arseniate of potash or of soda. It is some¬
times found native, and it exhibits the deepest and most
beautiful red of all the salts of cobalt.
10. Tungstate, molybdate, chromate, and columbate of
Cobalt. Unknown.
14. Acetate of Cobalt.
This salt is readily formed, by dissolving the oxide
of cobalt in acetic acid. It does not yield crystals by
evaporating, but is deliquescent in the air. It assumes
a blue colour when it is heated, but is red in the
cold, so that it forms a sympathetic ink.
15. Oxalate of Cobalt.
This salt may be formed by precipitating the oxide
of cobalt from its solution in acids, by means of oxalic
acid. This precipitate, when it is dried, is in the
form of a red powder, which is insoluble in water, but
may be dissolved in excess of oxalic acid, and crystal¬
lized.
16. Tartrate of Cobalt.
T-he oxide of cobalt is soluble in tartaric acid, and
forms a red-coloured solution, which affords crystals
by evaporation.
II. Action of Alkalies, Earths, and Salts.
lOl u
Alkalies. i* The alkalies have no action whatever on cobalt;
3
but when the oxides are suspended in water, they se-
parate them from other matters. &c. I
2. Some of the earths, but particularly silica, enter' ^
into combination with the oxide of cobalt and the fix-g ^‘2I
ed alkalies, and form a beautiful blue-coloured glass. m |
The quantity of oxide must be small, otherwise the
glass will appear nearly black and opaque, on account
of the intensity of the colour. l6l,|
3. Some of the neutral salts exposed to a high tern-Suits, |
perature along with cobalt burn with a perceptible
flame. It is by this means that the oxide is prepared
for the purpose of enamels and colouring porcelain.
The hyperoxymuriate of potash, with one-third of
its weight of cobalt in powder, detonates by percus-
sion- . . . 161-
Cobalt is scarcely at all employed in the metallic Uses
state. Zaffre is used for coarse enamels and pottery
ware. The purer oxides of cobalt are chosen for the
purpose of colouring porcelain. A%ure is a vitreous
blue in the state of fine powder, which is prepared for
similar purposes. Zaffre is fused along with silica and
an alkali, and thus forms a deep blue glass, which is
known by the name of smalt. This is reduced to a
powder, and mixed with a great quantity of water. The
first portion which precipitates is called coarse a'zure.
Four different quantities are separated in this way.
The last, which is the finest, is called azure of four
fires.
Sect. X. Of Nickel and its Combinations.
itfi
I. The first mention which is made of this metal is History-
by II ierne, a Swedish chemist, in a work entitled The
art of discovering metals, published in 1694. He parti¬
cularly describes the mineral from which nickel is ex¬
tracted, and which was first called kupfer nickel, or false
copper, because, it was taken for an ore of copper, and
none could be obtained from it. This was the opinion
of Henckel and Cramex-, who supposed it to be copper
combined with arsenic or cobalt. This mineral was
generally arranged among copper ores, till it was ex¬
amined and analyzed by the celebrated Swedish mine¬
ralogist Cronstedt, in 1751, and 1754. In these expe¬
riments, the account of which was published in the me¬
moirs of the Swedish Academy, he proved that this
mineral contains a new metal, different from all those
which had been hitherto known, to which he gave the
name of nickel. This opinion was generally adopted,
and objected to only by Monet and Sage of France,
who affirmed that this new metal was merely an alloy
of cobalt, arsenic, iron, and copper. To remove these
differences of opinion with regard to this substance,
Bergman undertook an elaborate analysis of the ores of
nickel, and an accurate examination of its peculiar pro¬
perties in the metallic state. His experiments were
detailed in a dissertation which was published in 1755.
The object of his x-esearches was, to ascertain if nickel
was a peculiar metal ; and from the result of his expe¬
riments it appeared, that it did not contain the smallest
trace of copper, but that it is generally alloyed with
cobalt, arsenic, and iron, from which indeed it can
scarcely be completely separated ; but that it possessed
peculiar and distinct properties from the other metals
and these properties became mox-e striking and charac¬
teristic in proportion to its purity^
2^ Nickel
Ca
ckel,
\n6
[I1?
Si 'ation
ol : me-
ta
18
f irties.
bi
>19
n of
C H E M
2. Nickel is found in the state of sulphuret, when it
is called kupfernickeL It is of a reddish yellow colour,
with little brilliancy, somewhat similar to tarnished
copper, with which, from its appearance, it is fre¬
quently confounded. This mineral soon loses its bril¬
liancy in the air, becomes of a brownish colour, and
is covered at last with greenish spots. It is found
forming veins in the earth, and is usually combined
with arsenic, cobalt, and iron. Nickel has been
found alloyed with iron, when it is of a laminated tex¬
ture, and composed of rhomboidal plates. The fresh
fracture is of a pale yellow, which becomes black by
exposure to the air. Nickel is also found native in
the state of oxide, when it is of a bright green colour.
In this state it is generally on the surface of sulphuret
of nickel. Native nickel has also been found, accord¬
ing to Bergman, or at least with a very small propor¬
tion of sulphur, but combined with iron, cobalt, and
arsenic. He says, too, that it exists in combination
with sulphuric acid.
3. To obtain nickel from its ores in the state of sul¬
phuret, they are first roasted, by which means the sul¬
phur and arsenic are driven off. In this process the
mineral loses one-third or one-half of its weight; and in
proportion to the quantity of pure metal, which exists
in the ore, it assumes a richer green. The roasted ore
is then mixed with two parts of black flux, put into a
crucible covered with muriate of sodft, and exposed to
a forge heat, to bring it to fusion. When the appara¬
tus has cooled, there is found under the brown, black,
or blue scoriae, a metallic button, which amounts to
one-tenth, and sometimes to one-half, of the mineral
employed.
4. Nickel, in the purest state in which it can be ob¬
tained, is of a yellowish white, or of a reddish white
colour, with more or less lustre, and of a granulated
texture. The specific gravity is 9 according to Berg¬
man, but according to Guyton it is only 7.807. Berg¬
man speaks of it as possessing some degree of ductility j
but this, it is supposed, is owing to its alloy with iron,
which latter constitutes of its weight. It is also mag¬
netic, and this property has also been supposed to de¬
pend on the same alloy. Nickel is a very infusible
metal, requiring a temperature equal to 150° Wedg¬
wood. Its power of conducting caloric has not been
ascertained, nor has its taste or its smell been recogniz¬
ed. It has never been obtained in crystals.
5. When nickel is exposed to heat in an open vessel,
it combines with oxygen, and assumes a brown colour;
but this requires a very high temperature. After long
exposure to the air, when it is moist, and in the cold,
it becomes covered with an efflorescence of a bright
green colour, of a peculiar and distinct shade. It is this
efflorescence which is found on the surface of the native
suiphurets of nickel, the shade of which is so re¬
markable, and so different from that of copper, that
they can be easily distinguished. This oxide is com¬
posed of
Nickel 77
Oxygen 23
100
6. There is no action between nickel and azote,
hydrogen, or carbon ; nor is it at all acted upon by
water.
629
Nickel,
&e.
——v—*.
1621
I S T R Y.
7. Nickel combines with phosphorus, and forms with
it a phosphuret. This is prepared by decomposing
phosphoric acid in the state of glass, which is done by
mixing phosphoric glass, charcoal, and nickel, and fusing ir’,21 .
them together. Ur it may be prepared, by projecting
bits of phosphorus on the metal, while it is red hot, in
a crucible. It acquires an addition of one-fifth part to
its weight; but it parts with a small portion of phos¬
phorus as it cools. The phosphuret of nickel is of a
more brilliant and purer white than the metal itself.
The texture resembles a collection of small needles
heaped together. When it is heated under the blow¬
pipe, the phosphorus burns on its surface, and the me- i62i
tal is oxidated. The component parts of this phosphu-Composi-
ret, according to Pelletier, are, tion.
Nickel 83.3
Phosphorus 16.6
* Ann. de
Chtm. xiii.
IOO.O*. !6a3
8. Nickel combines readily with sulphur, and forms Sulphuret.
with it a sulphuret, which is somewhat different in its
properties from the native sulphuret. It is hard, of a
yellowish colour, and in small brilliant facets. When
it is strongly heated in the open air, it gives out lumi¬
nous sparks. 1624
9. Nickel enters into combination with several of Alloys,
the metals, and forms with them alloys ; the proper¬
ties of which are but little known. With cobalt and
arsenic it forms native alloys. The alloy with the lat¬
ter is of a reddish colour, has no magnetic property,
is considerably hard, and its specific gravity is less than
the mean specific gravity of the two metals. I(j25
10. Nickel enters into combination with the acids, Salts,
and forms with them salts, which are distinguished by
peculiar properties.
11. The order of the affinities of nickel and itSAftimiieg.
oxide, as they have been ascertained by Bergman, is
the following:
Oxide of Nickel.
Nickel.
Iron,
Cobalt,
Arsenic,
Copper,
Gold,
Tin,
Antimony,
Platinum,
Bismuth,
Ijead,
Silver,
Zinc,
Sulphur,
Phosphorus.
Oxalic acid,
Muriatic,
Sulphuric,
Tartaric,
Nitric,
Phosphoric,
Fluoric,
Saclactic,
Succinic,.
Citric,
Lactic,
Acetic,
Arsenic,
Boracic,
Prussic,
Carbonic.,
I. Salts of Nickel.
I. Sulphate of Nickel.
.Concentrated sulphuric acid, with the assistance of Prepara-
heat, is decomposed by nickel. Sulphurous acid gasl*on.
is disengaged, and there remains behind a gray mass
soluble in water, to which it communicates a beautiful
green colour.. By evaporating this solution, crystals of
CHEMISTRY.
630
Nickel, a pale emerald green are obtained, which are sulphate
&c. of nickel. The oxide of nickel is also readily dissolved
v 1 ’ by sulphuric acid, from which also crystals are obtained.
Properties ^ crystallizes in the form of square prisms, or in de¬
cahedrons, which are composed of two four-sided pyra¬
mids, truncated at the summits.
14. Acetate of Nickel. Kick
. . . M
Acetic acid dissolves the oxide of nickel, and forms -^1
a salt in rhomboidal crystals, which are of a deep green
colour.
15. Oxalate of Nickel.
2. Nitrate of Nickel.
Nitric acid oxidates and dissolves nickel with the
assistance of heat. The oxide is dissolved by this acid,
without effervescence. The solution has a blackish
green colour, which affords rhomboidal, deliquescent
crystals, that are decomposed by heat, and leave, after
being strongly calcined, and giving out oxygen gas,
a black oxide'. When the nitrate of nickel is exposed
to a warm dry air, it is deprived of its water of cry¬
stallization, and even of its acid, so that there remains
behind only an oxide of the metal.
3. Nitrate of Ammonia and Nickel.
This triple salt is formed, by adding ammonia in ex¬
cess to the sofution of nitrate of nickel. This salt is
of a green colour. It is obtained in crystals by evapo¬
ration. The solution does, not become turbid by the
addition of alkalies, but the metal is precipitated by
* A*nal. de hydrosulphurets *,
Chim. xlii.
ary. 4. Muriate of Nickel.
Muriatic acid dissolves nickel and its oxide slowly,
except with the assistance of heat. The solution is
of a green colour, and affords irregular crystals. The
muriate of nickel is decomposed by heat, and by ex¬
posure to the air.
5. Fluate of Nickel.
Fluoric acid dissolves the oxide of nickel with diffi¬
culty, and affords crystals of a bright green colour.
6. Borate of Nickel.
The compound of boracic acid and nickel can only
be formed by double affinity, by adding the borate of
soda, for instance, to a solution of nickel in acids.
7. Phosphate of Nickel.
Phosphoric acid has not a very strong affinity for
the oxide of nickel. The solution which is formed is
scarcely of a green colour, and does not afford crys¬
tals.
8. Carbonate of Nickel.
Liquid carbonic acid, exposed to the contact of nic¬
kel, did not appear, to Bergman, to combine with the
metal. But when nickel is precipitated from its solu¬
tions by means of alkaline carbonates, the precipitate
acquires a greater weight than when the pure alkali is
employed $ from which it is concluded, that part of the
carbonic acid has combined with the oxide.
9. Arseniate of Nickel.
Arsenic acid forms with the oxide of nickel a green
saline mass, which is obtained by precipitating the
oxide of nickel from its solution in acids, by means of
an alkaline arseniate. The arseniate of nickel is in
the form of powder, which is scarcely soluble in water.
10. Tungstate, molybdate, chromate, and columbate of
nickel. Unknown.
With the assistance of heat, oxalic acid acts upon
nickel, and a pale green powder precipitates. This
salt is scarcely soluble in water. It may be formed
also, by precipitating nickel from its solutions in sul¬
phuric, nitric, and muriatic acids, by means of oxalic
acid.
16. Tartrate of Nickel.
This salt, and the combinations of the oxide of nickel
with the other acids, are unknown.
II. Action of Alkalies.
162
The fixed alkalies dissolve the oxide of nickel, but Fixed;
in small quantity. They assume a yellow colour; butkalies-
this oxide is very soluble in ammonia ; the solution ofAm^Q3J
which is of a deep-blue colour, and of a peculiar shade.
When it is evaporated, it precipitates in the form of
a blackish brown powder, which passes from blue to
green. Most of the metals separate the nickel from
this solution.
III. Action of the Earths.
1. Many of the earths, as silica and alumina, have
no action on nickel; but others, as barytes and stron-
tites, convert the oxide in solution into an orange red.
If it contain arsenic or cobalt, the glass, which is co¬
loured with nickel, becomes of a blue or violet co¬
lour.
2. The nitrates and the hyperoxymuriates very rea¬
dily decompose the salts of nickel, and reduce it to .
the state of oxide. With the boracic and phosphoric
salts it assumes a pale red colour. The nitrate of
potash detonates feebly with nickel, but has the pro¬
perty orf detecting the smallest trace of cobalt, which
could not have been discovered by any other reagent. iS
So far as is known, this metal has not been applied use?1
to much use. There is, however, little doubt, that it
might be employed for enamels, and for colouring glass,
porcelain, and pottery. Fourcroy observes, that it is
probably employed in some of the secret processes of
these manufactures, as it is brought in considerable
quantities from Saxony to Paris.
Sect. XI. Of Manganese and its Combinations.
itfj
1. A substance was long employed in the manufac-jji5tor
ture of glass, which, on account of its property of de¬
priving glass of its colour, was known under the name
of glassmaker1 s soap ; from its appearance it was called
blackmagnesia, or manganese. But although it was
long employed in manufactures, nothing was known of
its intimate nature or constituent parts. It was gene¬
rally considered as an ore of iron, because it was found
sometimes combined with the oxide of this metal. By
others it was arranged among the ores of zinc, suppo¬
sing that it was §ome combination of this metal. To
Bergman and Scheele we are indebted for the first ac¬
curate knowledge of its nature. Bergman, in a disser¬
tation which he published in 1774, announces it as a
peculiar
(
CHEMISTRY.
I naa' peculiar metal, on account of Its weight, Its property
I of colouring glass, and of affording a white precipitate
« J v-—' with the alkaline prussiates. Scheele, in the same
year, presented to the academy of Stockholm a memoir,
containing his researches concerning the nature and
peculiar properties of this mineral. From these expe¬
riments he concludes that this mineral is the oxide of
a peculiar metal, totally distinct from all others.
Gahn, the pupil of Bergman, was the first who obtain¬
ed the metal in its pure state, from the native oxide of
manganese. His experiments have been repeated by
others, and the results of Scheele and of Bergman fully
confirmed.
2. Manganese is most generally found in the state of
oxide. Of this there are three principal varieties, the
white, the red, and the black. I. The first, or the white
ore of manganese, contains the smallest proportion of
iron and of oxygen. Sometimes it is crystallized. This
ore soon tarnishes in the air by absorbing oxygen.
2. The red ore of manganese contains more iron than
the former. It is either friable, or hard as it is found in
carbonate of lime, on shistus, or accompanying ores of
iron j or in lamellated masses, radiated or crystallized
in pyramids, rhomboids, or in short brittle needles.
3. The black or the brown ore is frequently crystallized
like the red. It is also found in solid masses having a
metallic or dull earthy appearance, mixed with quartz
and other stony bodies. The specific gravity is 4.0.
Manganese has been found native by Lapeyrouse in
some iron mines in France. It was in the form of
small flattened metallic buttons, of a lameilated tex¬
ture. But it has been supposed that the manganese in
this state is alloyed with iron.
Iji ation 3* Manganese is procured in the metallic state by
II: me- the following process. The native oxide of manga¬
nese is reduced to a fine powder, and formed into a
paste with water. Part of it is then made into a
ball, and introduced into a crucible lined with char¬
coal. A thick stratum of charcoal is placed at the
bottom of the crucible, and the ball of manganese is
to be surrounded and covered with the same substance,
and the crucible, which is inverted and luted to the
other, is to be filled with it. The whole is then to be
exposed to a very strong heat, not less than 1600
Wedgwood, for more than an hour. W hen the appa¬
ratus cools, the metal is found in the bottom of the
crucible, or in the midst of the scoriae, in the form of
globules, which amount to nearly one-third of the man¬
ganese employed. But if the heat has been too low, it
II will be found in grains,
P; .^jes. 4* Manganese is of a grayish white colour, with
considerable brilliancy, and of a granular texture.
The specific gravity is 6.850. It has neither taste nor
smell. In hardness it is equal to iron. It is one of
the most brittle of the metals, and at the same time
one of the most infusible, requiring a temperature of
l6o° Wedgwood to melt it. When in the state of
powder it is often attracted by the magnet, on account
of the iron, from which it can only be separated with
^ great difficulty.
Mi of S' When this metal is exposed to the air, it is soon
r tarnished. It becomes gray, brown, and black, and
at last falls down into powder, which is found to have
acquired considerable addition to its weight. But
when it is heated iu the open air, it passes more rapid¬
ly through the different changes of colour, in proper- Manga-
tion as it combines with oxygen, to the absorption of nese, S*c.
which these changes are owing. It appears, therefore, —v—J
that manganese, like some of the other metals, com’Oxides/
bines with different portions of oxygen, forming differ-
ent oxides. The black oxide, which is manganese, com- Black,
bined with oxygen in the greatest proportion, is found
native in great abundance. The red oxide is supposed
to contain the oxygen in the next proportion. This
also exists native, and it may be found by distilling
the black oxide made into a paste with concentrated
sulphuric acid in a retort to dryness. It is deprived
of a great quantity of oxygen, which is given out iu
the state of gas. The residuum is then to be mixed
with water, which is to be filtered. This solution,
which is sulphate of manganese, is of a red colour.
By adding an alkali, a precipitate is formed, which is
the red oxide of manganese. The white oxide is also Red.
prepared by depriving the black oxide of part of its
oxygen. This is effected by pouring nitric acid on
the black oxide of manganese, with the addition of
sugar, which absorbs the oxygen, and converts it into
the white oxide. The latter is then dissolved in the
acid, from which it may be precipitated by potash.
The precipitate is in the form of a white powder. l^a
The proportion of manganese and oxygen in the Whit*,
white and brown oxides ef manganese, according to
Bergman, and in the black, according to Fourcroy,
are,
White Oxide.
Manganese 80
Oxygen 20
Brown Oxide.
74
26
Ulack Oxide.
60
40
100 100
100
When these oxides are exposed to the air, they absorb
oxygen, and are again converted into the black oxide
with the greater proportion of oxygen. 1(;^j
6. It is from the black oxide of manganese that che- Furnishes
mists generally procure oxygen gas. The most econo-
mical process is that which has been already described
in the chapter on oxygen. This is by exposing it to
a red heat in an iron bottle. The manganese is re¬
duced to the state of red oxide by being deprived of the
difference of the quantity of oxygen between the black
and the brown oxides. The same manganese may be
employed after it has been for some time exposed to
the air, and occasionally moistened with water. This
process, however, goes on much more slowly than is
generally supposed. We have kept several quantities of
manganese, which had furnished abundance of oxygen,
and had ceased to give out more in a red heat, exposed
to the air for many months, and frequently moistened
with water, hut when it was again heated to redness,
it did not yield above x%- part of the original quantity
from the native manganese. 1642
7. Manganese is capable of combining with a still Mangane-
larger proportion of oxygen than that contained in the s*c ac^’
black oxide. This combination takes place when that
oxide is exposed for some time to a moderate red heat,
in intimate mixture with an equal weight or a much
larger proportion of pure potash, or nitrate of potash.
Oxygen is then acquired from the air, or from the de¬
composition of the nitric acidj and a compound is form¬
ed which is in fact a mangancsiate of potash, i. e. the
manganese
6^2
CHEMISTRY.
Manga¬
nese, &c.
Phospliu-
i-et and
sulphucet.
* Ann. dv
Chim. iii,
J37-
1644
Afiinities.
manganese now acquires acid properties j a mangane-
sic acid is produced, which combines to form this neu¬
tral salt with the potash. This is of a beautiful green
colour when the quantity of potash is small, and of a
red colour when it is large. When exposed for a time
to the air, or largely diluted with water, it becomes
colourless. These changes acquired for it the name ot
the chameleon mineral when ils nature was unknown.
8. Manganese does not enter into combination with
azote, hydrogen, or carbon. It is by means of
charcoal, that the oxide of manganese is reduced, by
being deprived of its oxygen ; and what has been sup¬
posed to be a compound of manganese and carbon,
is a carburet of iron, or carbon combined with the iron,
with which manganese is almost always alloyed.
9. Phosphorus combines very readily with manga¬
nese. Pelletier formed the phosphuret of manganese by
fusing a mixture of equal parts of manganese in the
metallic state, and phosphoric glass, with about \ part of
charcoal in powder j or by fusing equal parts of the two
former without the charcoal j or by projecting small bits
of phosphorus on manganese heated to redness in a cru¬
cible. The phosphuret obtained by any of these pro¬
cesses is of a white colour, of a granulated texture, and
brittle, and much disposed to crystallize. It undergoes
no change by exposure to the air. It was covered with
an opaque, vitreous matter of a yellowish colour. It is
more fusible than the manganese itself. When it is
exposed to the action of the blow-pipe, the phosphorus
burns, and the metal is oxidated *.
10. Bergman failed in forming a compound with sul¬
phur and manganese by direct combination. But he
succeeded in combining sulphur with oxide of manga¬
nese. Three parts of sulphur, and eight parts of the
oxide, exposed to heat in a glass retort, formed a green¬
ish yellow mass, which effervesced with acids, and emit¬
ted sulphurated hydrogen gas. Scheele has observed,
that a part of the sulphur is converted into sulphurous
acid during the process.
11. Manganese enters into combination with the
acids, and forms salts with them. The order of the
affinities of the oxides of manganese for the acids, ac¬
cording to Bergman, is the following:
Oxide of Manganese.
Oxalic acid,
Citric,
Phosphoric,
Fluoric,
Muriatic,
Sulphuric,
Succinic,
Nitric, ,
Saclactic,
Succinic,
Tartaric,
Lactic,
Acetic,
Prussic.
Carbonic.
I. Salts of Manganese.
I. Sulphate of Manganese,
x. Concentrated sulphuric acid acts on manganese,
even in the cold j but the action is more powerful if jian,
the acid be diluted with two or three parts of water, nese,
Hydrogen gas is given out, and there remains behind vf1
in the liquid, a black, spongy mass, which is the car¬
buret of iron. The solution is colourless, and it affords
by evaporation, transparent, colourless crystals. Sul¬
phuric acid does not combine with the black oxide of
manganese, till it is deprived of part of its oxygen. aiiu
reduced to the state of red or white oxide ; but the acid
combines with either of the two latter oxides, forming 1
salts possessed of distinct properties. There are, there-Xwosnl
fore, two sulphates of manganese, which may be distin-phates. j
guished, from the colour of the base or oxide, by the
names of white and red sulphates. ^ I
2. IVkite sulphate of manganese.—This is the corn-^j^ j!
pound of sulphuric acid and the white oxide of man-wliite tj
ganese. This oxide combines with the acid withoutide.
effervescence, and forms a colourless solution, which
yields, by evaporation, transparent rhomboidal crystals,
which have a very bitter taste. This salt is decom¬
posed by heat j the acid is driven off, and oxygen gas
is given out. It is decomposed also by the pure al¬
kalies, and a precipitate is formed, of the white oxide
of manganese, which soon becomes brown by exposure
to the air, in consequence of the absorption of its oxy¬
gen. The alkaline carbonates precipitate a carbonate
of manganese, which does not absorb the oxygen from
the air, and does not become black like the former. It
is the white sulphate of manganese, which is obtained
by dissolving the metal in diluted sulphuric acid. In
this process the manganese combines with the oxygen
of the water, which is decomposed, and is converted
into the white oxide, which unites with the sulphuric
acid, to form the sulphate. The hydrogen of the water
is driven off in the state of gas, so that the salt formed
in this way occasions an effervescence. This salt may
also be formed by dissolving the black oxide in sulphu¬
ric acid, but in this case it is necessary, as Scheele dis¬
covered, to add some vegetable matter, as sugar,
honey, or gum, to absorb the superabundant quantity
of oxygen, which prevents the solution of the manga¬
nese in the acid. When, therefore, the black oxide is
reduced to the state of white oxide, by depriving it of
part of its oxygen, it combines with the acid, and
forms white sulphate of manganese, as in the former
processes. i<d
3. Red Sulphate of Manganese.—If the black oxide With t
of manganese be distilled to dryness with sulphuric acid, red ox ■
diluted with half its weight of water, and if the resi¬
duum be washed with water, a reddish or violet-co¬
loured solution, which is the red sulphate of manga¬
nese, is obtained. By evaporation it affords thin cry¬
stalline masses, which have no regular form. These
are also of a reddish colour. The alkalies occasion a
red precipitate, which becomes black by exposure to
the air. This sulphate may be also formed by the di¬
rect combination of the red oxide with the acid.
Bergman has observed, that the red oxide of man¬
ganese is intermediate between the black and the
white ; that it is more soluble in sulphuric acid than
the former, and less soluble than the latter j that the
red forms a red-coloured sulphate, while the white af¬
fords a colourless sulphate.
4. Sulphurous acid acts feebly or scarcely at all on
manganese j but it dissolves the black oxide readily,
and
C H E M
mga. and without effervescence. There is not formed, how-
hL&c. ever, a sulphite of manganese ; for the sulphurous acid
H deprives the black oxide of a portion of its oxygen,
and thus converts it into a white oxide, while the acid
itself is converted into sulphuric acid. The white
oxide is then dissolved in the sulphuric acid, and forms
the white sulphate of manganese.
2. Nitrate of Manganese.
I I’4®
[We I. Nitric acid dissolves manganese with efferves-
o.'l" cence, and with the evolution of nitrous gas. There
remains behind a black, spongy mass, which is carburet
of iron, and insoluble. The solution thus formed is of
a dark colour, on account of the iron which it con¬
tains j for it does not appear that the red oxide of
manganese combines with nitric acid. The white ox¬
ide of manganese dissolves very readily in nitric acid,
and without effervescence, or the emission of nitrous
gas. This solution, if the oxide be pure, is colour¬
less. It does not afford crystals, even by slow evapo¬
ration. The black oxide of manganese cannot be dis¬
solved in nitric acid, but by long digestion } but by
adding some vegetable matters, as honey, sugar, oils,
or even some of the metals, to deprive the oxide of part
of its oxygen, the combination is effected. Carbonic
Iacid -gas, which is formed by the union of the car¬
bon of the vegetable matters with the oxygen of the
manganese, is given out during the process.
2. Nitrous acid dissolves the oxide of manganese
much more readily than the nitric acid. No efferves¬
cence takes place, because the oxygen of the manga¬
nese combines with the nitrous acid, and forms nitric
acid, which latter combines with the oxide of man¬
ganese, reduced to the state of white oxide ; and
thus there is formed, not a nitrite, but a nitrate of
manganese.
3. Muriate of Manganese.
I. Manganese is dissolved with effervescence, and
with the evolution of hydrogen gas, in liquid muriatic
acid. The white oxide combines with the acid, without
effervescence, and without the separation of any gas,
because it is sufficiently oxidated, to be dissolved in
this acid. The black oxide is dissolved with equal fa¬
cility in muriatic acid as in the other acids. In this
case an effervescence takes place, with the disengage¬
ment of oxymuriatic acid gas. The nature of this ac¬
tion is obvious. Part of the muriatic acid combines
with part of the oxygen of the manganese, and forms
oxymuriatic acid, which is disengaged in the state of
gas. The black oxide is deprived of part of its oxy¬
gen, and converted into the white oxide, which lat¬
ter dissolves in the remaining part of the muriatic acid,
and forms a muriate of manganese. This salt, being
a compound of the white oxide of manganese and mu¬
riatic acid, may be called the white muriate of manga¬
nese. If any combustible matter be added, the solu¬
tion of the black oxide of manganese in this acid goes
on, without the production of oxymuriatic acid.
2. Oxymuriatic acid readily parts with its oxygen to
manganese, which is thus converted into the white ox¬
ide. It combines also with the oxides of manganese,
and forms solutions of a brown, red, or violet colour,
which afford crystals of the same colour. There is,
therefore, a red muriate of manganese.
Vol. V. Part II. f
I S T R Y. 633
It is from the black oxide of manganese that oxy- Manga-
muriatic acid is obtained, either by adding to the nese, &.c.
oxide muriatic acid, part of which combines with the J
oxygen of the manganese, and is converted into oxy¬
muriatic acid $ or, by adding sulphuric acid to a mix¬
ture of the black oxide of manganese and muriate of
soda. The sulphuric acid decomposes the latter, and
the muriatic acid being disengaged, combines with part
of the oxygen of the manganese, and forms oxymuriatic
acid.
4. Fluate of Manganese.
Fluoric acid has little action on manganese or its
oxides ; but a fluate of manganese may be formed by
double affinity, by adding an alkaline fluate to the
nitrate or muriate of manganese. The fluate of man¬
ganese thus formed, is not very soluble in water. Its
other properties are unknown.
5. Borate of Manganese.
This salt may be formed in the same way as the
former. It is equally soluble in water, and its other
properties are also unknown.
6. Phosphate of Manganese.
A phosphate of manganese may be formed in the
same way as the two former salts. It is not very so¬
luble in water, and its other properties have not been
examined.
7. Carbonate of Manganese.
Liquid carbonic acid dissolves a small portion of
manganese, as well as of its black oxide. When this
solution is exposed to the air, the oxide is gradually
precipitated, and appears on the surface in the form
of a white pellicle. Bergman has remarked, that dur¬
ing the combination of manganese with carbonic acid,
there is evolved an odour somewhat analogous to that of
burnt fat.
8. Arseniate of Manganese.
Arsenic acid combines with the white oxide of man¬
ganese, and forms an arseniate. The arsenious acid,
or white oxide of arsenic, deprives the black oxide of
manganese of part of its oxygen, and passes to the state
of arsenic acid, and then combines with the manga¬
nese, now reduced to the state of white oxide. When
the arsenic acid is nearly saturated with the oxide,
the solution becomes thick, and small crystals make
their appearance. This salt, when heated, does nbt
melt, nor is the arsenic sublimed, without the addition
of charcoal.
9. Tungstate of Manganese,
IO. Molybdate of Manganese, | TT ,
I I. Chromate of Manganese, pnknown-
12. Columbate of Manganese. J
13. Acetate of Manganese.
Acetic acid dissolves part of the black oxide of man* Proces*' for
ganese, but acts very feebly on the metal itself. This separating
acid may be employed to separate manganese from ‘ro11,
iron ; for when it is added to a solution containing
both these metals, the acid combines with the manga-
4 L nese,
63+
Manga¬
nese, &c.
* Ann. de
Chim. xli.
p. 249.
1651
Pare alka¬
lies.
1652
Mineral
chameleon.
1653
A rmonia.
C H E M I
nese, for winch it has a stronger affinity, and leaves
the oxide of iron. Several successive solutions and
evaporations are necessary to separate the whole of the
iron, which is known when the solution becomes co¬
lourless, and when it affords a white precipitate with
prussiate of potash. The solution of acetate of manga¬
nese does not crystallize, and when evaporated to dry¬
ness, it soon deliquesces*.
14. Oxalate of Manganese.
Oxalic acid forms a salt with the oxide of manga¬
nese, which, when the solution is saturated, precipitates
in the form of white powder. It may be formed also
by adding oxalic acid to the sulphate, nitrate, and mu¬
riate of manganese in solution.
15. Tartrate of Manganese.
This salt may be formed by double affinity, by ad¬
ding tartrate of potash to the solution of manganese in
sulphuric or nitric acids. The black oxide of manga¬
nese is dissolved in tartaric acid, and gives a black co¬
loured solution. When it is heated, an eftervescence
takes place $ the acid is partially decomposed, carbonic
acid gas is evolved, and the solution at last becomes
colourless.
16. Citrate of Manganese.
Citric acid, in its combination with the black oxide
of manganese, exhibits the same phenomena as the
former.
17. Benzoate of Manganese.
Benzoic acid readily combines with the white oxide
of manganese. By evaporation, crystals in the form of
small scales are obtained, which are little altered by
exposure to the air, and are soluble in water.
II. Action of Alkalies on Manganese.
It has been already stated, that potash acts on the
black oxide of manganese, so as to give origin to the
absorption of an additional quantity of oxgyen, and the
formation of a metallic acid. Soda, in its pure state,
has a similar agency. This agency is also exerted with
the white oxide of this metal, and with the metal itself.
According to some recent experiments of Forhhammer,
it appears that two different acids may be formed in
this manner $ that, in fact, chameleon mineral, in its
green state, consists of a manganeseous acid in union
with potash $ and, in its red state, contains the acid
formerly mentioned, the manganesic*
2. Scheele had observed the change which ammonia
undergoes by the action of oxide of manganese, in the
distillation of this oxide with the muriate of ammonia.
He suspected that the ammonia was partially decom¬
posed, and to this decomposition lie ascribes the forma¬
tion of a gas, which he obtained by this process, and
which he found to be different from carbonic acid.
Berthollet has shewn, that in this process, the hydro¬
gen, leaving the ammonia which is decomposed, com¬
bines with the oxygen of the oxide of manganese, and
forms water $ and the azote, the other component part
of ammonia, is set at liberty.
A very interesting experiment was contrived by
S T R Y.
Dr Milner, which illustrates the reciprocal action, and Ma„,
decompositions of the oxide of manganese and ammo* nesej.
nia. He tilled a tube with oxide of manganese, ex-'~v*
posed it to a red heat, and made a stream of ammo-
niacal gas pass through it. The gas was decomposed,
and its azote combining with the oxygen of the oxide,
formed nitrous gas.
Some of the alkaline salts have peculiar effects on
the oxides of manganese and their compounds. Tire
sulphates have the property of destroying the colour of
glass, which has been communicated by manganese j
but for this effect a high temperature is necessary. The
nitrates readily burn this metal, and oxidate it strong¬
ly. Melted nitre gives a violet or red colour to glass,
which has been rendered colourless, by restoring to it
the oxygen of which it has been deprived by the fusion
of the glass. With the nitrate of potash and the
black oxide of manganese, heated in a crucible to
redness, a compound is formed, similar to that which is
the result of the direct combination of the oxide with
the alkali.
The alkaline phosphates and borates fused by means
of the blow-pipe, with the oxide of manganese, produce
various colours according to the degree of oxidation,
and the intensity of the heat.
A white precipitate is formed, by adding hydrosul-
phuret of potash to the salts of manganese, and a yel¬
lowish-white precipitate is obtained, by means of the
triple prussiate of potash.
HI. Action of the Earths on Manganese.
There is no action between manganese and any of Colour!
the earths j but its oxide combines with them, andgla*8*
forms vitreous matters, which are of different colours,
according to the degree of oxidation of the manganese,
and its mixture with iron. In general, these colours
are green, brown, black, or yellowish green. jgj
Manganese and its oxides are of great importance,^,
both in chemistry and in the arts. This must be obvi¬
ous, from the minute detail of its properties and com¬
binations, which has now been given.
Sect. XII. Of Bismuth and its Combinations.
, id
1. Bismuth, it would appear, was known to the an-niaor
cients, to the alchemists, and some of the earliest mine¬
ralogists } but it was considered merely as a variety of
some other metal, and generally of tin and lead. Hence
it was distinguished by the name of green tin, gray lead,
and white antimony. It was not till the year I753»
when its properties were particularly examined by Pott
and Geoffrey the younger, that it was ascertained to be
a peculiar metal. Dareet and Rouelle afterwards in¬
stituted a set of experiments on this metal, and disco¬
vered more of its properties. Monnet and Beaum£
investigated its principal combinations at still greater
length ; and Bergman examined, with more accuracy,
some of its compounds and precipitates. 1(j,
2. Bismuth is found native in the state of sulphuretQres,
and in that of oxide. Native bismuth is easily distin¬
guished by its colour, brittleness, and fusibility. The
sulphuret of bismuth is of a bluish gray, sometimes with
a yellowish shade, and is in irregular masses, or crystal¬
lized
CHEMISTRY.
635
lized in the form of small prisms. It has a brilliant,
c. lamellated fracture. The native oxide of bismuth ac-
v—^ companies the metal, or is found on the surface of the
.j.9 sulphuret. It is of a greenish yellow colour.
,-gis in 3. Bismuth is easily extracted from its ores. The mi-
17 neral, after being reduced to powder, and well washed,
is mixed with about of its weight of black flux, is put
into a crucible lined with charcoal, and well covered.
It is then exposed to a moderate heat, which must be
quickly applied, to prevent the metal from being sub-
■6o limed. By this process a metallic button is obtained,
td In the humid way, the ore of bismuth being reduced
to powder, is dissolved in nitric acid, and precipitated
from this solution by water. If the native bismuth be
combined with any other metals, they remain in the
solution. The sulphuret of bismuth is also dissolved in
the same acid by boiling. The sulphur is separated,
as the metal, being oxidated, combines with the acid.
The native oxide is treated in the same way, and is
61 precipitated by water.
rties. 4. Bismuth is of a white colour, inclining to yellow’,
exhibiting a texture composed of large brilliant plates.
Its specific gravity is 9.822. It has scarcely either
tase or smell. By a violent stroke of the hammer it is
broken, and divides into small fragments of a lamellated
structure ; the figure of its particles is the regular
octahedron. It has considerable hardness $ and by
hammering, its density may be increased. It has very
little elasticity, and no ductility. Bismuth is very fu¬
sible. When it is exposed to the temperature of 490°,
according to Guyton, it melts ; and, if after fusion it be
allowed to cool slowly, it crystallizes in parallelepipeds
which cross each other at right angles. This metal
crystallizes more easily and more regularly than any
other yet known. If the heat he long continued after
the fusion, and sufficiently strong ; and if the process be
conducted in close vessels, it sublimes, and attaches
itself to the upper part of the apparatus, where it
crystallizes in brilliant plates.
5. Bismuth is but slightly affected by exposure to
the air in the cold. It loses its brilliancy, and is covered
with a fine powder of a yellowish gray colour ; but,
when it is heated in contact with air, the surface is soon
covered with an iridescent pellicle, which, by agitation
and continuing the heat, is converted into a greenish
gray or brown-coloured oxide. It acquires about ^ of
addition to its weight. By continuing the heat, and
occasionally stirring the fused metal, it becomes of an
orange-yellow colour, and acquires a farther addition
to its weight. If the metal in fusion be exposed to a
red heat, it takes fire with a slight explosion, burns
with a bluish flame, and is sublimed in the form of a
yellowish vapour, which, being condensed and collected,
x- is known under the name of flowers of bismuth. It ap-
jj)Wn pears then, that bismuth combines with oxygen in two
ow’ proportions. The first, or the smaller proportion, is
that of the brown oxide j and the second is the yellow
oxide or flowers of bismuth.
iu- 6. There is no action between bismuth and azote,
hydrogen, or carbon. It combines but in very small
proportion with phosphorus, forming a phosphuret.
When phosphorus is dropped into bismuth in fusion, it
seems to unite with it, according to Pelletier, in the
proportion of four parts in the hundred. But the pro¬
perties of the bismuth are very little changed.
7. Sulphur unites readily with bismuth. When equal Bismuth,
parts of bismuth and sulphur are heated together in a &o.
crucible, the fusion of the metal is greatly retarded.—v-~^
It requires a higher temperature than when the metal su!nWet
is alone. The sulphuret of bismuth is of a shining
dark gray colour, and crystallizes by proper cooling
into needle-form prisms, shaded with splendid blue and
deep-red colours. The crystals are obtained by pier¬
cing the surface when it becomes solid after fusion, and
pouring out the liquid parts j a cavity is thus left in
which they are formed.
Sulphurated hydrogen gas occasions a dark colour
on the surface of bismuth, and converts the oxides into
a deep black colour, which is the commencement of re¬
duction. Kjtfj
8. Bismuth combines with many of the metals, andAfl°ys and
forms alloys ; but its combinations with the metals, al-sa*ts’-
ready described, are little or scarcely at all known.
Bismuth also combines with the acids, and forms
salts.
9. The affinities of bismuth and its oxides are ar-Affinities,
ranged by Bergman in the following order :
Bismuth.
Oxide of Bismuth.
Lead,
Silver,
Gold,
Mercury,
Antimony,
Tin,
Copper,
Platinum,
Nickel,
Iron,
Sulphur.
Oxalic acid,
Arsenic,
Tartaric,
Phosphoric,
Sulphuric,
Muriatic,
Nitric,
Fluoric,
Saclactic,
Succinic,
Citric,
Lactic,
Acetic,
Prussic,
Carbonic.
I. Salts of Bismuth.
1667
The solutions of bismuth in the acids, and also the Different
crystallized salts which are obtained from them, re-^roin
semble each other, but differ from almost all other ^^ns*c S0‘
metallic solutions, as well as from all other salts ; and
particularly in one circumstance, which is, that water
in sufficient quantity decomposes them, and precipitates
an oxide of bismuth of a white colour. This shows
that bismuth is strongly oxidated by the action of the
acids, to which it adheres with no great affinity, and
that it forms with them compounds which are not
very permanent. It seems at the same time remarkable,
that this metal should be more oxidated in this way,
than by the usual process of oxidation, by means of
heat, and by the action of water 5 and that it should
have a white colour, while in the usual way it is of a
yellowish gray.
1. Sulphate of Bismuth.
Concentrated sulphuric acid has no action on bis¬
muth in the cold j but this metal decomposes the acid
at a boiling temperature. Sulphurous acid gas is dis¬
engaged, and the bismuth is oxidated, and converted
4 L 2 into
636
CHEMISTRY.
Bismuth, into a white powder. If the heat be strong, sulphur
&.e. is sublimed. When the remaining mass is washed with
v water, it carries off the remaining acid and a small
quantity of the oxide of bismuth. The solution, by
proper evaporation, affords small soft needle-formed
crystals, which are sulphate of bismuth. This sulphate
is decomposed by water, which separates a white
oxide.
2. Sulphite of Bismuth.
Sulphurous acid has no action on bismuth ; but it
unites with its oxide, and forms a white sulphite,
which is insoluble in water, and even in its own acid $
of a sulphurous taste j fusible by the blow-pipe into a
reddish yellow mass, which is reduced on charcoal in¬
to metallic globules ; decomposed with effervescence by
means of sulphuric acid j giving out by distillation sul¬
phurous acid, and leaving behind a pure white oxide.
3. Nitrate of Bismuth.
166% J
Viplent 1. Nitric acid exhibits a very violent action with
action. bismuth. When the acid is a little concentrated, and
the bismuth in the state of powder, there is a violent
effervescence, with the evolution of nitrous gas. There
is at the same time great heat produced. The bismuth
is converted into white oxide at the expence of the
acid, and when the action ceases, if no more acid be
added than what is necessary to its oxidation, remains
1669 dry.
Properties. 2. The nitric solution, thus prepared, is colourless,
and affords crystals by evaporation. It crystallizes in
tetrahedral prisms, compressed into obtuse three-sided
summits. It has sometimes been obtained in flattened
rhomboidal parallelepipeds, similar to those of Iceland
crystal. When this salt is thrown on red hot coals,
it melts, boils, and frothes up y exhales nitrous vapour,
and leaves behind a greenish yellow oxide. It dries in
the air, and becomes moist when the air is humid.''
When it is brought into contact with water, it becomes
turbid, is decomposed, and a white oxide is precipitat¬
ed. The decomposition is effected with the nitric acid,
which is poured gradually into a large quantity of
water. The oxide which is thus obtained was for¬
merly called magistery of bismuth. It is known in
the shops by the name of pearl white, ft becomes of a
deep gray, brown, or even black colour, when it is ex¬
posed to the action of sulphurated hydrogen gas.
4. Muriate of Bismuth.
1570 __ . ,
Prepara- Muriatic acid has but a feeble action on bismuth,
tioa. It is necessary to assist its action, that the acid be con¬
centrated, and long digested with the metal, or distil¬
led off it in the state of powder. During the process,
a fetid odour is emitted, which is owing to the decom¬
position of water, its oxygen combining with the metals,
and the hydrogen being set at liberty. By evaporat¬
ing this solution, small needles of muriate of bismuth
are obtained j but only in very small quantity; for the
greatest part of the oxide of bismuth is separated by
water. The muriate is sublimed by heat into a thick
solid, fusible matter, which was formerly called butter
of bismuth. It is deliquescent, and may be decomposed
by water, which separates a very fine white oxide.
Oxymuriatic acid readily dissolves bismuth, and
3
forms with the oxide, which is previously produced, a
salt similar to the preceding.
Bismut J
Sic,
5. Fluate of Bismuth.
6. Borate of Bismuth.
These two salts may be formed by adding a fluate
or borate of an alkali to a solution of nitrate of bis¬
muth. A white precipitate is formed of the fluate or
borate of bismuth; but little is known of their proper¬
ties.
7. Phosphate of Bismuth.
This salt is formed by combining the acid with the
oxide of the metal, when precipitated by an alkali.
The phosphate of bismuth is in the state of an insolu¬
ble white powder.
8. Carbonate of Bismuth.
This salt may be formed by precipitating the oxide
of bismuth from its solution in acids, by means of an
alkaline carbonate.
9. Arseniate of Bismuth.
Arsenic acid acts upon bismuth with the assistance
of heat. A white powder appears on the surface of the
metal, and the oxide is precipitated from the solution,
by adding water. The arseniate of bismuth may be
formed by adding arsenic acid to a solution of the ni¬
trate of bismuth. The arseniate of bismuth falls to the
bottom in the form of precipitate.
10. Tungstate of Bismuth.
Unknown.
it. Molybdate of Bismuth.
Muriate of bismuth is precipitated, if there be no
excess of acid, by molybdic acid. The molybdate of
bismuth, thus formed, is of a white colour.
12. Chromate of Bismuth, rT
13. Columbate of Bismuth, j-Unknown.
14. Acetate of Bismuth.
This salt may be formed, by adding a solution of ace¬
tate of potash to a solution of nitrate of bismuth. A
precipitate of acetate of bismuth is formed. The ad¬
dition of acetic acid to the nitrate of bismuth, Guyton
observes, prevented the latter from being precipitated
by means of water.
15. Oxalate of Bismuth.
Oxalic acid combines with the oxide of bismuth,
and forms with it a salt in the state of white powder,
which is scarcely soluble in water. Oxalic acid added
to nitrate of bismuth, occasions a precipitate in the form
of email transparent crystals, which are oxalate of bis¬
muth.
16. Tartrate of Bismuth.
Tartaric acid added to the solution of bismuth in any
of the mineral acids, precipitates the oxide in the form
of a white powder, which is the tartrate of bismuth,
and is insoluble in water.
I7».
; imony,'
kc.
; 571
A: lies.
H72
S a.-
J’73
t.
574
* >ry.
C H E M I
17. Benzoate of Bismuth.
j Benzoic acid combines readily with the oxide of
bismuth. The solution, by evaporation, affords cry¬
stals in the form of needles. They undergo no change
by exposure to the air, are soluble in water, and de¬
composed by sulphuric and muriatic acids. This salt
is also decomposed by heat, which drives off its
acid.
18. Succinate of Bismuth.
Succinic acid combines with the oxide of bismuth, at
a boiling heat. By evaporating the solution, crystals
of succinate of bismuth are obtained, in the form of
plates, and of a yellow colour. •
II. Action of Alkalies, Earths, and Salts, on Bis¬
muth.
1. Scarcely any thing is known of the action of the
alkalies on bismuth. Ammonia, it is said, communi¬
cates to it a yellow colour, and the oxide of bismuth is
soluble in ammonia in the liquid state.
2. The oxide of bismuth combines by fusion with
silica, to which it communicates a greenish yellow co¬
lour*
3. Bismuth is not changed by the action of the sul¬
phates or sulphites. It is oxidated by the nitrates.
When it is strongly heated, and thrown into a red hot
crucible with nitrate of potash, it detonates feebly,
and without much inflammation. It is reduced to the
state of oxide, of which one part combines with the
potash. Bismuth has no action on muriate of ammo¬
nia, but its oxide very readily decomposes this salt.
In the cold, it disengages a little ammonia, by sim¬
ple trituration*, but when exposed to heat, it is total¬
ly decomposed, and there remains a muriate of bis¬
muth.
4. Bismuth is applied to a great many uses. It forms
some important alloys with the softer metals, to give
them hai’dness and consistency. The oxides of bis¬
muth are of still more extensive utility. It is employ¬
ed in this form by the manufacturers of porcelain, for
the preparation of yellow enamels, and it is mixed
with other oxides, to give variety of shade to their co¬
lours. It is sometimes employed in the fabrication of
coloured glasses, to communicate a greenish yellow.
The white oxide, which is most commonly employed
for these different purposes, is also employed as a paint
for the skin, under the name of pearl white ; but it is
extremely improper for this purpose, for besides the in¬
jury which it does to the skin, it becomes black, when
it is exposed to the action of sulphurated hydrogen gas.
It is sometimes used also to give a black colour to the
hair.
Sect. XIII. Of Antimony and its Combinations.
I. It does not appear that the ancients were ac¬
quainted with antimony as a distinct metal, although
it is supposed that it was employed by them in alloys
of other metals. It is said, that they were acquainted
with the oxide of antimony, and that it was employed
as an external remedy in inflammation of the eyes.
S T It Y.
637
As a peculiar metal it was not certainly known till Antimony,
the time of Basil Valentine, who lived about the end &c.
of the 15th century. In bis work, entitled Currus'*~~^r-~J
Triumphalis Antimonii, be has detailed all that was
then known of this metallic substance, and he has par¬
ticularly described the process by which it is extracted
from its ore.
No substance lias been more the subject of investi¬
gation than antimony, and on no subject, perhaps,
has there been so much written. The alchemists re¬
garded antimony as peculiarly appropriate to the ob¬
ject of these researches. Their labours on this subject
were almost incredible j and indeed this is scarcely to
be wondered at, since it appears that they were inspired
with the hope of making, by its means, the fortunate
discovery of the universal medicine. It was therefore
tortured and tried in every possible way, to obtain the
object of their researches ; and on this account it is al¬
most impossible to reckon up the number of medicinal
preparations which were proposed and employed with
this metal and its ores. It is owing to these views and
researche» concerning antimony, that its nature and
properties are now so fully known.
2. About the end of the 17th century, Lemery pub¬
lished a treatise, which was the first correct and ra¬
tional account of antimony. In this he arranged and
detailed the discoveries of his predecessors, and added
some of his own, with a number of curious experiments
and accurate processes for many of the preparations of
antimony and its sulphuret. Mender afterwards pub¬
lished a very complete history of all the facts that were
then known concerning antimony ; and it has been
since examined by more modern chemists j among
whom Bergman, Scheele, Berthollet, Proust, and The-
nard, are the principal writers on this subject. ^76
3. Antimony exists in nature in four different states: Ore*.
In the state of native antimony, that of sulphuret, hy-
drosulphuret of the oxide of antimony, and muriate.
Native antimony is easily distinguished by its colour
and brilliancy. It has been found in Sweden and in
France. The most common ore of antimony is the
sulphuret, which is of a grayish colour, and stains the
fingers. It is sometimes crystallized in square prisms,
which are slightly rhomboidal, and terminated by four¬
sided pyramids. The hydrosulpburated oxide of anti¬
mony is in shining filaments, of a deep red colour, dis¬
posed in rays going from a common centre, adhering
to the surface or cavities of the sulphuret. The muriate
of antimony, which is a rare production, is of a brilliant,
pearly-white colour, in the form of small divergent
needles, somewhat resembling radiated zeolite.
4. To obtain the pure metal from the sulphuret ofAnalysis.
antimony, the ore is first roasted, to separate the greatest
part of the sulphur. It is then mixed with its own
weight of black flux, formed into a paste with oil,
and exposed to a strong heat in a crucible, at the bot¬
tom of which the metal is found reduced. By a shorter
process, eight parts of sulphuret of antimony, six of
tartar, and three of nitre, reduced to powder, and well
mixed, are projected in small quantities into a red-hot
crucible. At each projection there is a strong detona¬
tion $ the tartar forms, by means of the nitre, a black
flux, and the sulphuret being burnt, the metal is fused,
but not oxidated, on account of the charcoal of the ta?-.-
tar
638 • e H E M
Antimouy, tar with which it is surrounded, and the liquid alkali
which covers it. The whole is then fused in a conical
y' iron pot; and, when it is cool, the metallic antimony
is found at the bottom, marked on its surface with
needle-shaped crystals, arranged in the form of a star.
Properties. 5. Antimony, in a state of purity, is of a brilliant
white colour, having a good deal of resemblance to
that of silver or tin. It has a lamellated texture,
composed of plates which cross each other in all di¬
rections. It exhibits sometimes perceptible traces of
crystallization. The form of the crystals, which was
discovered with difficulty by Hauy, on account of its
complicated structure, is the octahedron, composed of
a great number of regular tetrahedrons. Antimony
has a very perceptible taste and smell, and particular¬
ly if it is rubbed for some time on the hands. The
specific gravity is 6.702. It is very brittle, so that it
can be reduced to powder, which is of a grayish white
colour.
6. Antimony undergoes no change by being expos¬
ed to the air, nor is there any perceptible action be¬
tween antimony and water in the cold j but when
water comes in contact with antimony red-hot, it is
instantaneously decomposed, and accompanied with a
violent detonation, and a very brilliant white flame.
Accidents of this kind have happened, attended with
considerable danger.
7. When antimony is heated to the temperature of
8o8°, it melts. If the heat be continued after its fu¬
sion, it is sublimed, and if the process be performed in
close vessels, it is condensed in shining crystallized
plates. If it be allowed to cool slowly, and part of it
be poured off when the surface becomes solid, the ca¬
vity is lined with pyramidal crystals, composed of small
,l68t octahedrons.
8. When antimony is kept in fusion in the open
air, it rises in the form of white vapour, which is pre¬
cipitated on the surface of the metal, or upper part of
the crucible, and crystallizes in long prisms, or in small,
white, brilliant needles. This is an oxide of antimony,
which was formerly called argentine flowers, or snotu
of reguhis of antimony. By this process it is found, that
the antimony has acquired an addition of weight of
about 50 per cent. This oxide may be obtained, by ex¬
posing the antimony in a crucible to a white heat, and
then by suddenly agitating it in contact with air, it
takes fire with a kind of explosion, and burns with a
white light.
_ Thenard, in his researches concerning antimony,
distinguishes six different degrees of oxidation of this
metal. But in a memoir on the same metal by Proust,
he considers that the oxides of antimony may be redu¬
ced to two. According to the experiments of . this
chemist, 100 parts of antimony treated with nitric
acid in a retort, uniformly afford 130 of a yellow
oxide in the state of powder. It is reduced to 126 by
washing with water before drying it, because the nitric
acid dissolves a small proportion. This oxide is not re¬
duced by being exposed to a red heat, but it is sublimed,
and condensed in close vessels, in groups of crystals.
It is insoluble in water. It is the same oxide which was
formerly distinguished by the name oiargentine flowers.
The component parts of this oxide, according to Proust,
are,
1579
Action of
water.
16S0
Of heat.
I S T R Y.
Antimony 77
Oxygen 23
100 *
The oxide, with a smaller proportion of oxygen, isP*380*
formed by dissolving antimony in muriatic acid j and
by adding water to the solution, a white powder is
precipitated, which being washed, is separated from
any acid that may adhere to it. To purify it still
more, it is to be boiled with carbonate of potash, and
afterwards washed, and dried on a filter. This oxide
is of a yellowish white colour, and has little brilliancy}
it melts at a moderate red heat, and when it is allowed
to cool, it crystallizes on the surface. The crystals are
of a yellowish white colour, which are thrown together
in heaps, in a radiated form. This oxide was formerly
known by the name of powder of algaroth. Its compo¬
nent parts are,
Antimony 81.5
Oxygen 18.5
JOO.Of. f Ibid.
I<5S2
9. There is no action between antimony and azote, ^osphr!’
hydrogen, or carbon.
10. Antimony enters into combination with phospho¬
rus, and forms with it a phosphuret. Equal parts of
phosphoric glass and antimony are fused together in a
crucible, or with the addition of -g- of charcoal, or by
projecting pieces of phosphorus on the metal in fusion
in a crucible $ and thus a phosphuret of antimony is ob¬
tained. The phosphuret has a metallic lustre, is brit¬
tle, and has a lamellated fracture. When it is placed
on burning charcoal, it melts, gives out a small green
flame, and is converted into the white oxide of anti¬
mony, which is sublimed.
11. Antimony combines very readily with sulphur,Sulpkreti
and forms with it an artificial sulphuret, which is ex¬
actly similar to the native sulphuret. It is formed by
mixing the antimony and the sulphur together, and
fusing them in a crucible. This sulphuret is of a
brilliant gray colour, is more fusible than the metal
itself, and by slow cooling, may be obtained in crystals.
The component parts of the sulphuret, according to
Proust, are,
Antimony 75.1
Oxygen 24.9
Antiraor,
&c.
* Jour, i
Phys. It.
100.0
1684
12. The yellow oxide of antimony combines with Oxides
different proportions of sulphur, and forms compounds with su!-
of different colours, and which were formerly distin-P^ur‘
guished by different names. With eight parts of the
oxide and one part of the sulphuret, a red-coloured, se¬
mitransparent mass is obtained, which was formerly
called glass of antimony. When two parts of sulphu¬
ret are added to eight parts of the oxide, a yellowish
mass is formed, which was known by the name of m>-
cus metaliorum. Six parts of oxide and one of sulphur,
form a dark red opaque mass, with a vitreous fracture,
which is the true liver of sulphur. In these combina¬
tions,
C H E M I
imony, tlons, the sulphur deprives the oxide of part of the an-
ic. timony, and combines with it, forming a sulphuret.
This sulphuret then combines with the oxide t.
13. Antimony enters into combination with the acids,
^3, and forms salts. It also forms alloys with many of the
6S5 metals. The affinities of antimony and of its oxides
ides, are, according to Bergman, in the following order :
Antimony.
Oxide of Antimony.
Iron,
Copper,
Tin,
Lead,
Nickel,
Silver,
Bismuth,
Zinc,
Gold,
Platinum,
Mercury,
Arsenic,
Cobalt,
Sulphur.
Muriatic acid,
Oxalic,
Sulphuric,
Nitric,
Tartaric,
Saclactic,
Phosphoric,
Citric,
Succinic,
Fluoric,
Arsenic,
Lactic,
Acetic,
Boracic,
Prussic,
Carbonic.
I. Salts of Antimony.
1. Sulphite of Antimony.
Sulphuric acid has no action on antimony in the cold.
At a boiling temperature the acid is decomposed j sul¬
phurous acid gas is emitted with effervescence, and if
distilled in a retort to dryness, sulphur is sublimed.
There remains a white oxide of antimony. If this
mass be washed with water, the acid which adheres to
it is carried off, with a small portion of the oxide ; and
what remains is the white oxide, which is insoluble. By
adding a large quantity of water to the solution, the
oxide which it had carried off is precipitated } but this
solution being evaporated yields no crystals. It is de¬
composed by the earths and the alkalies, which precipi¬
tate a white oxide. Sulphuric acid, therefore, oxidates
antimony, but does not seem to have the property of
forming a salt.
2. Sulphate of Antimony.
Sulphurous acid, with the assistance of heat, is de¬
composed by antimony. The metal is oxidated, and
there is formed a sulphite of antimony. This salt may
be also obtained by adding sulphurous acid to the so¬
lution of antimony in muriatic acid. A white preci¬
pitate appears, which is insoluble, of an acrid, bitter
taste, and is decomposed by heat. When it is distilled
in close vessels, it yields a little sulphurous acid, then
sulphuric acid, and the residuum is a reddish brown
mass, which is soluble in fixed alkali, and may be pre¬
cipitated by means of muriatic acid, into a hydrosulphu-
ret of antimony.
3. Nitrate of Antimony.
Nitric acid is rapidly decomposed by antimony, even
in the cold. There is evolved a great quantity of ni-
S T E Y. 639
trous gas, and sometimes the rapidity of the oxidation Antimony,
is such, that it is accompanied with actual combustion.
The water also is partially decomposed. The antimony ' ♦
is converted into a white oxide. The hydrogen of the
water combines with the azote of the acid, and forms
ammonia, which combines with part of the nitric acid,
and the compound is nitrate of ammonia. The small
quantity of oxide of antimony which is dissolved in ni¬
tric acid, is precipitated by water, so that it adheres
very slightly to the acid.
4. Muriate of Antimony.
Muriatic acid acts on antimony very feebly. By di¬
gesting the metal with the acid for a long time, it dis¬
solves a small quantity, and the solution becomes of a
yellowish colour. The white oxide is more soluble in
this acid, and forms with it a colourless solution. The
first solution yields crystals by evaporation, in the form
of small needles, which are deliquescent, and sublimed
by heat, and are precipitated and decomposed by water.
The solution formed with the oxide is fixed in the fire,
and crystallizes in brilliant plates. It is also decom¬
posed by water. Muriatic acid dissolves more readily
the sulphuret of antimony, for it does not require the
aid of heat. There is disengaged a strong odour of
sulphurated hydrogen gas. When the mixture is heat¬
ed, the whole of the metal is dissolved.
Nitromuriatic acid dissolves antimony more readily
than any of the acids which have been mentioned.
This solution is colourless. The muriate of antimony
which remains after the evaporation, by being distil¬
led, comes over of a thicker consistence, in proportion
as it is concentrated. The muriate of antimony was
formerly called butter of antimony. It is of a grayish
white colour, and sometimes crystallizes in four-sided'
prisms. It is deliquescent in the air, and extremely
caustic and corrosive. When it is diluted with water,
a white powder is precipitated, which is the powder of
algaroth.
5. Fluate of Antimony.
6. Borate of Antimony.
Fluoric and boracic acids have no action on antimo¬
ny, but combine with its oxide, or precipitate it from
its solution in acids, in the form of white powder, form¬
ing a fluate or borate of antimony.
7. Phosphate of Antimony.
Phosphoric acid combines with the oxide of anti¬
mony. The solution, by evaporation, yields a blackish
green mass.
8. Phosphate of Lime and Antimony.
16S6
This triple salt is formed by calcining together James’s
equal parts of sulphuret of antimony and the ashes ofPOW£ter.
bones; or, according to the process recommended by
Mr Chenevix, by dissolving white oxide of antimony
and phosphite of lime in equal parts in muriatic acid $
and then by adding this solution to a sufficient quanti¬
ty of distilled water, which contains pure ammonia.
A precipitate is formed in the state of white powder.
This
640 CHEMISTRY.
Antimony, This powder is nearly insoluble in water. It lias been
Stc. long known as a diaphoretic and emetic, under the
v—"''v name of James's Powder. According to the analysis
of Dr Pearson, it is composed of
1687
Tartar
emetic.
Antimony
Acid
Potash
Water
Phosphate of lime
'* Oxide of antimony
43
57
100
9. Carbonate of Antimony.
Unknown.
10. Arseniate of Antimony.
By digesting together arsenic acid and antimony,
a white powder is obtained, which is arseniate of anti¬
mony. Muriatic acid dissolves this powder, but it may
he separated by adding water. This salt may be form¬
ed, also, by adding an alkaline arseniate to the solution
of antimony in muriatic, tartaric, or acetic acids.
11. Molybdate of Antimony.
Muriate of antimony is precipitated by molybdic
acid ; and if the acid be not in excess, the precipitate
is white.
12. Acetate of Antimony.
Acetic acid dissolves a small portion of the oxide of
antimony, and according to some, yields small crystals.
The acetate of antimony has hreen employed as an
emetic.
13. Oxalate of Antimony.
Oxalic acid combines with the oxide of antimony,
and the solution affords crystals in the form of small
grains, which are scarcely soluble in water.
14. Tartrate of Antimony.
Tartaric acid also combines with a small portion of
the oxide of antimony, and affords a salt which assumes
the form of a jelly.
15. Tartrate of Potash and Antimony.
This triple salt was formerly prepared by boiling to¬
gether the preparation of what was called crocus me-
tallorum, and tartar, in water. But if the white oxide
be mixed with its own weight of tartar, and the mix¬
ture boiled in 10 or 12 parts of water, till the tartar
be saturated, and the solution filtered and evaporated,
crystals are obtained, which are crystals of the tartrate
of potash and antimony, which have been long and bet¬
ter known by the name of tartar emetic. This salt is
of a white colour, and it crystallizes in regular tetrahe¬
drons. It effloresces by exposure to the air, and is so¬
luble in 80 parts of cold, and in half that quantity of
water at the boiling temperature. When it is exposed
to heat, it is decomposed. It is also decomposed by
the alkalies and their carbonates.
According to the analysis of Thenard, this salt is
composed of
3S
34
16
8
96, loss 4,
Ahtimon,
Stc,
* Annal,
Chim,
xixvii.
This salt has been greatly employed as a diaphore-p 39.
tic and emetic, from which property it has derived its
name. An account of the mode of preparing a similar
powder, which, it is said, was invented by an earl of
Warwick, and became famous in Italy as a powerful
and effectual medicine, was published in Italy, in the
year 1620. The preparation of tartar emetic itself
was first published in 1631.
16. Benzoate of Antimony.
Benzoic acid combines with the oxide of antimony,
and, by evaporating the solution, crystals are obtained.
This salt is not altered by exposure to the air, but it is
readily decomposed by heat.
II. Action of Alkalies, &.c. on Antimony.
l6SS
1. All the alkalies have a peculiar action on the Alkali,
sulphuret of antimony. Sulphuret of antimony and
potash form a preparation which is known by the name
of kermes mineral, a name which it derives from the
red animal called kermes. This is prepared in the dry
way by mixing together one part of sulphuret of anti¬
mony and two of potash, and in proportion to the
quantity of sulphuret, add a sixteenth part of sulphur.
Fuse the mixture in a crucible, and pour it into an
iron mortar. When it is cool, reduce it to powder,
and boil it in water; filter the liquid, and as it cools,
a reddish brown powder is deposited. Wash the preci¬
pitate, first with cold and then with boiling water, till
it comes off insipid. It may be prepared in the humid
way, by boiling to or 12 parts of pure liquid alkali
with two of sulphuret of antimony, for half an hour,
and then filtering the liquid $ the kermes is deposited
as it cools.
The compound which is first formed, is a hydrosul-
phuret of potash and antimony. When boiling water
is added in sufficient quantity, the whole is dissolved,
but the solution becomes turbid in cooling, and di¬
vides into two parts; the one, which is deposited
in the form of a reddish brown powder, is the kermt s
mineral, and the other which remains in solution,
containing a smaller proportion of sulphur and oxide
of antimony than the former, has been distinguished
by the name of golden snlphur. The cause of "the se¬
paration is, that the alkali, if it is not in sreat quanti¬
ty, cannot hold the sulphurated oxide of antimony in
solution while it is cold. What remains in solution af¬
ter the spontaneous precipitation, contains a greater
proportion of sulphur, and less of the oxide of anti¬
mony. When an acid is added to this solution, ano¬
ther precipitate is formed, which is of an orange yel¬
low colour, from the greater proportion of sulphur,
and on this account has been called golden sulphur.
Kermes mineral, or the hydrosulphuret of antimony,
according to Thenard, contains the following propor¬
tions.
I
Brown
CHEMISTRY.
A nony,
c.
w r—
Brown oxide of antimony
Sulphurated hydrogen
Sulphur «
Water and loss
72.760
20.298
4.156
2.786
100.000
From the analysis of the same chemist, the golden
sulphur, or sulphur auratum, is also a hydrosulphuret,
having a greater proportion of sulphur, and a smaller
proportion of the oxide. The component parts are the
following:
Brown oxide of antimony 68.300
Sulphurated hydrogen 17.877
Sulphur 12.000
*i dC" 98.177*
t% xmi.
Pj •
39
E« s.
2. The oxide of antimony has the property of com¬
bining with some of the earths during their vitrifica¬
tion, and communicating to them different shades of
colour, more or less yellow and orange.
3. Most of the salts have a peculiar action on anti¬
mony or its sulphuret. By fusing in a crucible two
parts of sulphuret of potash and one of antimony, the
metal disappears, and a vitreous mass of a yellow co¬
lour is formed, which has a caustic property. Dis¬
solved in hot water, it affords, on cooling, a hydrosul¬
phuret of antimony. The antimony has carried off the
oxygen of the acid, and combined in the state of oxide,
with the sulphuret of potash, which is formed by the
sulphur of the acid uniting with the potash during the
process.
The nitrates have a powerful action on antimony
and its sulphuret. A mixture of two or three parts
of nitrate of potash and one of antimony in fine pow¬
der, well rubbed together in a mortar, produces a
lively detonation, by throwing it on burning coals, or
projecting it into a red-hot crucible, or heating it to
redness in a close vessel. This detonation is accom¬
panied with a bright white flame: and the antimony
is strongly oxidated by the oxygen of the nitre, which
is decomposed, and reduced to its alkaline base. The
residuum of this detonation is a white scorified mass,
which being washed with water, leaves a portion of
the oxide of antimony united to a small quantity of
potash, and affords, besides, another compound, with
more of the alkali. The white matter which is first
deposited, has been called washed diaphoretic antimo¬
ny. The water which remains holds in solution a por¬
tion of metallic oxide, united to the potash of the
nitre. The oxide in this case performs the part of an
acid. This compound has been found susceptible of
crystallization. It is decomposed by acids, and the pre¬
cipitate from it, which is an oxide of antimony, has
been distinguished by the names of ceruse of antimony,
magistery of diaphoretic antimony, and pearly matter
of Kerkringius.
When equal parts of nitre and sulphuret of antimony
are treated in the same way, a vitrified mass is obtain¬
ed, similar to what has been already described by the
name of liver of antimony.
Vol. V. Part II. t
641
III. Alloys.
Tellurium,
See.
Antimony enters into combination with the metals,
and forms alloys with them, some of which are of con¬
siderable importance. But the alloys of antimony,
with the metals already described, are either little
known, or have been applied to no use. The alloys of
cobalt and nickel, with antimony, have not been ex¬
amined. With manganese antimony forms but an im¬
perfect alloy, and the compound of antimony and bis¬
muth is very brittle.
Besides the various preparations of antimony used in Uses^of
medicine, which are now comparatively but few intim0]iy.
number, it is much employed in many arts. In the
metallic state it is of the greatest importance as an al¬
loy with other metals which will be afterwards men¬
tioned. In the state of oxide, it is much used in the
fabrication of coloured glass, and of enamels for pot¬
tery and porcelain : particularly in forming different
shades of brown, orange, and yellow colours. The
oxide is mixed with different other metallic oxides, to
produce various shades of colour.
Sect. XIV. Of Tellurium and its Combinations.
1. In the year 1782, Muller of Bichenstein, in exa-„-
mining a gold ore, distinguished by the names of owrwm
paradoxum and aurum problematicum, conjectured that
it contained a peculiar metal. Bergman, to whom
this mineralogist had sent a specimen of the mineral,
could not, from the small quantity which he had re¬
ceived, ascertain whether it was really a new metal,
or merely antimony, with which it possesses some com¬
mon properties. He inclined, however, to the former
opinion. This mineral was analyzed by Klaproth in
the end of the year 1797, the account of which was
published in 1798. By this analysis the conjecture of
Muller was verified, and to the new metal Klaproth
gave the name of tellurium.
2. This metal has been found in four different mine¬
rals. First, In that in which Klaproth first detected it,
which is called white gold ore, a mineral found in the
mountains of Fatzbay in Transylvania. In this mi¬
neral the tellurium is combined with iron and gold.
The second is what is called graphic gold ore, which
is composed of tellurium, gold, and silver. The third
is known by the name of yellow gold ore of Nagyag.
This mineral contains, besides tellurium, gold, silver,
and a little sulphur. The fourth is a variety of the
last, and is denominated gray gold ore. Besides the
metals in the former, it contains a little copper. To
obtain the metal from the ore, a quantity of it is slight¬
ly heated with six parts of muriatic acid, and having
added three parts of nitric acid, it is then boiled. A
considerable effervescence takes place, and the whole
is dissolved. The solution being diluted with distilled
water, is mixed with a solution of caustic potash, to
dissolve the precipitate j and there remains only a brown,
flaky matter, formed of the oxides of gold and iron.
The alkaline solution of the oxide of tellurium is mix¬
ed with muriatic acid, to saturate the potash, and there
is deposited a copious, very heavy, white powder. By
forming this powder into a paste with oil, and heating it
4 M to
642~ C H E M
Tellurium, to redness In a small glass retort, the metal is obtained,
See. ’ partly fused and crystallized at the bottom of the retort,
y   and partly sublimed at the upper part.
l693. 3. Tellurium is of a white colour, somewhat resem-
I roperties. jea{^ antj a considerable lustre. It is very brit¬
tle, and may be easily reduced to powder. It has a
lamellated texture, similar to antimony. By slow cool¬
ing it assumes a crystalline form, especially on the sur¬
face. Its specific gravity is 6.115. It is one of the
most fusible of the metals, and when heated in close
vessels it boils readily, and is sublimed in the form of
Brilliant globules, which adhere to the upper part of the
1694 vessels. _ .
Action of 4. When tellurium is heated by the action or the
heat. blow-pipe on charcoal, it burns, after being melted,
with a lively flame, of a blue colour, and green at the
edges. It is entirely volatilized in the form of a gray¬
ish white smoke, diffusing a fetid odour, which Klaproth
compares to that of radishes.
The oxide of tellurium is very fusible. By heating
it in a retort, a yellow, straw-coloured mass is obtained,
which assumes a radiated texture on cooling. When
the oxide is heated on charcoal, and surrounded with it,
it is so rapidly reduced, that it is accompanied with a
1695 of explosion.
Sulphuret. Tellurium enters into combination with sulphur,
and forms with it a sulphuret. This sulphuret is of a
grayish colour, of a radiated structure, and is easily
crystallized.
I S T R Y.
alkaline carbonates a precipitate is obtained, which is Seknim
much less soluble in excess of alkali. See.
2. The alkaline sulphurets added to solutions of tellu-
rium in acids, produce a brown or black precipitate, as
the metal is more or less oxidated. This precipitate
sometimes resembles the hydrosulphurets of antimony.
The hydrosulphuret of tellurium thus formed, exposed
to heat on burning coals, burns with a small blue flame,
and is volatilized in white smoke. No precipitate is
formed by the prussiate of potash.
3. The action of the oxide of tellurium with the earths
is not known ; but from its great fusibility, it has been
supposed that it is susceptible of forming a vitreous
matter with the earths, and communicating to them a
straw colour.
111. Action of metals.
The alloys.of tellurium are unknown. J(, j
Tellurium is separated from its solutions in acids, by prec;pjt
zinc and iron, in the form of small, black flakes, whichted by2
may be reduced to the metallic state on burning charcoal,and iror
or even by simple friction. Antimony causes a similar
precipitation in a solution of nitrate and sulphate of tel¬
lurium. Tin produces a similar effect. ^
Tellurium has hitherto been found in such small uses,
quantity, that it has not yet been applied to any use.
Were it found in abundance, it has been supposed,
from its easy fusibility, that it might be of consider¬
able importance in some of the arts.
I. Salts of Tellurium.
I. Sulphate of Tellurium.
One part of tellurium mixed in the cold, in a close
vessel, with 100 parts of concentrated sulphuric acid,
communicates to it a beautiful crimson colour. By ad¬
ding water drop by drop to this solution, the colour va¬
nishes, and the metal is deposited in the form of black
flakes. When the solution is heated, the colour also dis¬
appears, and the oxide of tellurium is gradually precipi¬
tated in the state of white powder} but when diluted
sulphuric acid is employed, with the addition of a small
quantity of nitric acid, a larger portion of tellurium is
dissolved. The solution is transparent and colourless,
and is not decomposed by adding water.
2. Nitrate of Tellurium.
Nitric acid readily dissolves tellurium, and forms a
transparent, colourless solution, which being concen¬
trated, spontaneously affords small, light, white, needle-
shaped crystals, disposed in a dendritical form.
3. Muriate of Tellurium.
Nitromuriatic acid very readily dissolves tellurium,
which is precipitated by adding a considerable quantity
of water in the form of oxide. This is a white powder,
which is soluble in muriatic acid.
The infusion of nut-galls added to solutions of tellu¬
rium in acids, occasions a flaky precipitate, which is
of a yellow colour.
II. Action of Alkalies and Earths.
> 1696 t _ t
Alkalies i. All the pure alkalies precipitate the solutions of tel-
flnd earths, lurium in acids, in the form of white oxide. With an
excess of alkali the precipitate is redissolved. With the
2
Sect. XV. Of Selenium.
. ... ... 1<59|3
This metal is contained in minute quantity in the Hiatoi#
pyrites of Fahlun in Sweden, and was discovered inprojeit
consequence of the attention of Berzelius being directed
to a red precipitate, which appeared in the manufacture
of sulphuric acid from the sulphur of that mineral.
From the odour of this substance, he conjectured it at
first to contain tellurium, but found it to be a new me¬
tal, which, from its analogies to tellurium, he named
from the moon selenium. It has a gray colour, and a
brilliant metallic lustre. It becomes soft at 212, and
fuses a few degrees higher. When cooling, it shews
great ductility, admitting of being kneaded between the
fingers, and drawn out into fine threads. When cold,
it shows a granulated fracture, or rather crystalline or
radiant, like that of a piece of sulphur. It gives a fine
blue tinge to the flame of the blow-pipe, and exhales a
smell of horse radish, so strong, that of a grain is
sufficient to give a complete impregnation to the air of
a large apartment. It combines with most of the me¬
tals, often with ignition. With the fixed alkalies it
forms compounds of a cinnabar red colour. In fixed
oils it forms red-coloured solutions. The nitric acid, in
acting on this metal, oxidizes it to such a degree, that
the compound is found to possess the qualities of an
acid, and has been so considered, under the name of
the selenic.
Sect. XVI. Of Mercury and its Combinations.
17J
1. Mercury appears to have been known from tbejjjstor
earliest ages. By comparing its properties with silver,
and being in the fluid state, it has been called quick¬
silver. Mercury was long the subject of the researches
of
C H E M
jrcury, of the alchemists, with the view of discovering the me-
thod of transmuting it into gold or silver. It was sup-
^ ' posed to approach so near to these metals, particularly
to the latter, in its nature, that all that was wanted for
this transmutation, was to fix it, or bring it to the solid
state. In consequence of the numerous experiments
to which it was subjected, and the great variety of
forms it assumed, they regarded it as the principle of
all other bodies, and one of the elements of-nature.
It was supposed to exist in all metals, and also to form
one of the component parts of many bodies. Hence,
according to this theory, there were two kinds of mer¬
cury ; the one the principle of a great number of bo¬
dies, and the other common mercury, or the metal
known by that name. Hence, according to Beecher,
it was called the mercurial principle, or the mercurial
earth. But however extravagant the researches of the
alchemists may now be considered to have been, it is to
their labours that chemistry is indebted for the know¬
ledge of many important properties and combinations of
701 this metal.
2. Mercury is found in four different states. In the
metallic state, alloyed with other metals, combined
with sulphur, and with muriatic acid. 1. Native or
virgin mercury is found in the cavities or clefts of
rocks, in strata of clay, or of chalk, in the form of
liquid globules, which are easily distinguished by their
brilliancy. 2. It is found more frequently alloyed with
other metals, or, as it is called when mercury is com¬
bined with a metal, amalgamated, and most frequently
with silver. 3. A frequent ore of mercury is the red
sulphuret, which is known by the name of cinnabar.
The sulphbret of mercury is of various colours, from
vermilion red to brown. Sometimes it effloresces on
the surface of the ore, when it is c&WeA flowers of cin¬
nabar, or native vermilion. 4. The fourth ore of this
metal is the muriate. This salt is white and brilliant,
702 and of a lamellated structure.
ysis. 3. Native mercury is frequently alloyed with other
metals $ it is therefore of importance to be able to as¬
certain the proportions. For this purpose it is to be
dissolved in nitric acid. If it contain gold, this metal
remains in a state of powder at the bottom of the ves¬
sel. If alloyed with bismuth, it may be precipitated
with water, which does not separate the oxide of mer¬
cury. Silver is detected by precipitating the solution
by means of muriate of soda. The muriate of silver
and the muriate of mercury fall down together ; but the
latter being more soluble in water than the former,
may be easily separated.
The sulphuret of mercury may be decomposed by
boiling it with eight times its weight, of a mixture of
three parts of nitric, and one of muriatic acid ; the me¬
tallic part is dissolved, and the sulphur remains in the
I703 state of powder.
bcover It may be known whether mercury has been adulte-
inty. raf;eil with other metals, by its dull and less brilliant
lustre, and by its soiling the hands, or white bodies on
which it is rubbed, and by its dividing with more diffi¬
culty into round globules, which appear flat and uneven,
adhere to the vessels in which they are agitated, and
ivhen poured along a smooth surface, by their dragging
a tail. Mercury is also impure, when the globules do
not readily run together, and when it is agitated with
water, separating from it a black powder.
I S T R Y.
6+3
To procure mercury in a state of purity, or to re- Mercury,
vive it, as it is called, two parts of cinnabar and one &c.
of filings of iron are well triturated together, and distil- —v——*
led in an iron retort, introducing the beak of the re-purigc:f
tort into a receiver, with water. The iron has at;oa<
greater affinity for the oxygen and the sulphur of the
mercury than the latter. The mercury, therefore,
rises in vapour, and is condensed by the water. There
remains in the retort a sulphuret of iron, in which the
metal is a little oxidated. The mercury thus obtained,
being dried, and passed through a skin, is very pure
and brilliant.
4. Mercury is of a white colour, is one of the most Properties,
brilliant of the metals, and when its surface is clean
and not tarnished, makes a good mirror. Next to gold,
platinum, and tungsten, it is the heaviest of the metals ;
its specific gravity is 13.568. It has no perceptible
taste or smell.
5. At the ordinary temperature of the atmosphere
mercury is always in the liquid state 5 but when it is
exposed to a degree of cold equal to —390 it becomes
solid. This was first discovered in the year 1759 by
the academicians of Petersburg!). Similar experiments
have since been frequently repeated. In 1772, Pallas
succeeded in the congelation of mercury at Krasnojark,
by a natural cold equal to —55^° Fahrenheit. Mer¬
cury was also congealed by a natural cold in 1775 at
Hudson’s bay. The freezing of mercury is now a com¬
mon experiment by means of artificial cold, and the
method of producing this has been already described,
in treating of freezing mixtures. In some experiments
which have been made on the congelation of mercury,
it was remarked, that a slight shock was communicated
to the person who held the tube containing the metal,
by its sudden contraction at the moment it became
solid. Mercury crystallizes in very small octahe¬
drons. It appears to be malleable, for by striking it
with a hammer in the solid state, it was flattened and
extended. _ ^
6. At the temperature of 66o° mercury boils, and is Action of
then converted into vapour. This vapour, like common lieat.
air, is invisible and elastic. When mercury is exposed
to the air, the surface becomes tarnished, and is cover-
ed with a black powder. This change is owing to the Oxides,
absorption of the oxygen of the air, and the conversion
of the mercury into an oxide. This process is greatly
promoted by applying heat to the mercury, or by shak¬
ing it, so that it may be brought in contact with the
air. To this black powder, which is the first degree
of the oxidation of the metal, the name of ethiops per
se was formerly given, because it is obtained without r „
the assistance of any other substance. According tOBJack,
Fourcroy, this oxide contains
Mercury
Oxygen
96
4
100
T> • • I"°S>
By a strong heat the oxygen is driven off, and the Red.
mercury is reduced to the metallic state : but when
the oxide is exposed to a more moderate degree of
heat, it combines with more oxygen, and is converted
into the red oxide, so called from its colour. This
oxide may also be obtained, by exposing a quantity of
mercury for some length of time in a vessel provided
4 M 2 with
644
Mercury,
&cc.
1710
Action of
hydrogen.
1-7 n
PfaospUu-
ret.
1712
Sulphuret
CHEMISTRY.
with a long narrow neck, by which means the vapours
of the mercury are prevented from escaping, while the
air is admitted. By this process the mercury is also
converted into the red oxide} and, obtained in this way,
it was formerly called precipitate per se, or red precipi¬
tate. This oxide may also he obtained by dissolving
mercury in nitric acid, evaporating to dryness, and ex¬
posing the mass to a very strong heat, to drive off the
acid. What remains being reduced to powder, is the
red oxide of mercury, or red precipitate. This oxide,
according to Fourcroy, contains one-tenth of its weight
of oxygen. It is of an acrid disagreeable taste, and has
so powerful an effect upon animal matters, that it
may be considered as a poison. It corrodes the skin
with which it comes in contact. When this oxide is
exposed to heat, it is decomposed 5 part of its oxygen is
given out, and it is converted into the black oxide.
Even by exposure to the light of the sun, this change
is effected, as it passes through different shades of co¬
lour.
h]. Mercury does not enter into combination with
azote, hydrogen, or carbon *, but if hydrogen gas be
kept in contact with the red oxide, it is gradually con¬
verted into the black oxide. If hydrogen gas be made
to pass through a tube heated to redness, containing red
pxide of mercury, a detonation takes place. The oxy¬
gen and hydrogen combine together to form water,
while the mercury is reduced to the metallic state.
This oxide may be also reduced by means of charcoal,
with the assistance of heat. The oxygen of the oxide
combines with carbon, and forms carbonic acid, and
the mercury is revived.
8. Phosphorus combines with mercury with diffi¬
culty. Pelletier took equal parts of phosphorus and
red oxide of mercury, and introduced them into a ma¬
trass, to which he added a little water, to cover the
mixture. It was exposed to the heat of a sand bath,
and agitated from time to time. The oxide soon became
black, and united to the phosphorus. The water re¬
tained phosphoric acid j so that it appears to be a com¬
pound of phosphorus and the black oxide of mercury.
The phosphuret of mercury, thus formed, becomes soft
in boiling water, and acquires some consistence in the
cold. When it is heated, it is decomposed. The phos¬
phorus and the mercury are separately emitted. Ex¬
posed to a dry air, it diffuses white vapours, which have
the odour of phosphorus.
9. Mercury combines readily with sulphur, either
by simple trituration in the cold, or by the action of
heat. One part of mercury and two of sulphur, tritu¬
rated together in a mortar, the mercury soon disap¬
pearing, form a black powder, which was formerly dis¬
tinguished by the name of ethiops mineral. Fourcroy
is of opinion, that in this process the mercury is oxi¬
dated, and the sulphur is combined with the black
oxide ; in support of which, he states that the sul¬
phur cannot be separated from the mercury* but by
some chemical action. Berthollet supposes that this
substance contains sulphurated hydrogen ; and hence
it is concluded that ethiops mineral is a hydrogenous
sulphuret of mercury, composed of mercury, sulphur,
and sulphurated hydrogen.
When this compound is heated in an open vessel, the
sulphur, which is in a state of minute division, takes
ffre, and is soon reduced to sulphurous acid gas. The
3.
mercury is at the same time more strongly oxidated*, Mercti
is converted to a deep violet-coloured powder} and if &.c.
in this state it be heated in a matrass, it is sublimed in'™,^r
the form of a deep red cake, of a brilliant, crystalline
appearance. This substance was formerly called arti¬
ficial cinnabar, or, in the present language of cdie-
mistry, red sulphurated oxide of mercury. Various pro- Cinnaba
cesses have been given for the preparation of this sub¬
stance. Seven parts of mercury squeezed through
leather to purify it, are to be fused with one part of
sulphur in an earthen vessel, agitating the mixture till
it is completely reduced to the black sulphurated
oxide. Introduce this into a matrass, placed in a
crucible furnished with sand, and expose it gradually
to the heat of a furnace, which is to be increased till
the matter is sublimed, and collected, at the top of
the vessel. It is then removed, and when the vessel is
broken, a red mass is obtained, with a degree of beauty
and brilliancy in proportion to the temperature which
has been employed, and the small quantity of sulphur
which it retains. Fourcroy considers this as a com¬
pound of sulphur and the red oxide of mercury : but
according to Proust, it is a sulphuret of mercury ; that
is, a compound of sulphur and metallic mercury. Its
component parts are,
Mercury
Sulphur
85
15
100
This sulphuret is of a fine scarlet colour. It is not
altered by exposure to the air, and is insoluble in wa¬
ter. The specific gravity is 10. When a sufficient
degree of heat is applied to it, it takes fire, and
burns with a blue flame. When reduced to powder,
it is then called vermilion, which is well known as a
paint.
10. The order of the affinities of mercury is the
following :
'71!
Proper t
Verniil
171
Affimti
Mercury.
Gold,
Silver,
Tin,
Lead,
Bismuth,
Platinum,
Zinc,
Copper,
Antimony,
Arsenic,
Iron.
Oxide of Mercury.
Muriatic acid,
Oxalic,
Succinic,
Arsenic,
Phosphoric,
Sulphuric,
Saclactic,
Tartaric,
Citric,
Sulphurous,
Nitric,
Fluoric,
Acetic,
Boracic,
Prussic,
Carbonic.
I. Salts of Mercury..
I. Sulphate of Mercury.
r.. Sulphuric acid forms salts with
oxides of mercury
17
the different Djfepi j
and with different proportions ofsiilp^1*'
these oxides, so that there is a considerable variety of A]
the
rcury,
ic.
J7t8
P ara-
ti
719
a lies.
the sulphates of mercury. This seems to depend on
the nature of the action between sulphuric acid and
mercury, according to the temperature in which the
combination is made, and the quantity of acid em¬
ployed.
2. Sulphuric acid has no effect on mercury in the
cold j but il two parts of mercury and three of sul¬
phuric acid be introduced into a retort, and exposed
,to heat, an effervescence takes place, with the evolu¬
tion of sulphurous acid gas. If the process be stopped,
when the mercury is converted into a white mass,
and there yet remains part of the liquid, it is found
to be acrid and corrosive, and it reddens vegetable
blues. This is the sulphate of mercury with excess of
acid. I his acidulous sulphate of mercury contains
very different proportions of sulphuric acid, according
to the original quantity employed. If this sulphate be
washed with a smaller quantity of water than is neces¬
sary for its complete solution, and if this be repeated
till the water no longer changes vegetable blues, there
remains a white salt without acidity, and which is much
less acrid and corrosive than the saline mass from
which it is obtained. This may be considered as a
neutral sulphate of mercury.
3. It is of a white colour, crystallizes in plates, and
in fine, needle-shaped prisms. The taste is not acrid.
It is soluble in 500 parts of cold water, and in one half
that quantity of boiling water. When crystallized, it
is composed of
CHEMISTRY.
645
J720
A Ter eat
>y con-
ugthe
Mercury
Oxygen
Sulphuric acid
Water
75
8
12
5
100
It is soluble both in cold and hot water, without
being decomposed. The pure alkalies and lime wa¬
ter occasion a precipitate of a grayish-black powder.
When sulphuric acid is added, it is then reduced to the
state of acidulous sulphate, and its solubility increases
in proportion to the additional quantity of acid. A
twelfth part of acid renders it soluble in 157 parts of
cold water, and in 33 of boiling water. But if ^ of
this quantity of cold water be added, it combines with
the whole excess of acid, and forming a liquid of
greater density than when it is diluted with 157 parts
of water necessary for its complete solution, it dissolves
much more of the sulphate of mercury, and brings the
salt to a state of greater acidity. It then requires 500
parts of water for its solution.
4. But if the same proportions of sulphuric acid and
mercury, namely, three parts of acid, and two of mer¬
cury, be exposed for a longer time to the action of heat,
a greater proportion of sulphuric acid is decomposed,
and the mercury combines with a greater proportion of
oxygen. The salt thus obtained, possesses different
properties from the former. It crystallizes in small
prisms, and when it is neutralized, it is of a dirty-white
colour j but if it be obtained in the dry state, it is pure
white, and in this state it is combined with an excess
of acid. It is then deliquescent in the air ; but, in the
neutral state, it undergoes no change. When hot wa¬
ter is added to this salt, it is converted into a yellow
powder, which has been long distinguished by the name Mercury,
of turpeth mineral. Sic.
5. It was formerly supposed that turpeth mineral, v—
which is obtained by the addition of warm water to
this salt, was a simple oxide of mercury, without any
portion of sulphuric acid. Fourcroy mentions, that
Rouelle first conjectured, that it was combined with
a certain portion ot the acid, and that his experiments
have verified and confirmed this conjecture 5 for in
treating turpeth mineral, after being well washed with
muriatic acid, this solution precipitates by means of
muriate of barytes, a sulphate of barytes from this
base. Fourcroy denominates this salt sulphate of mer¬
cury with excess of acid, or yellow sulphate of mercury.
It is soluble in 600 parts of boiling water •, but another
sulphate of mercury remains in the solution. This con¬
tains an excess of acid, and is therefore more soluble
in water; jy2r
6. From a series of experiments which Fourcroy madeThret sul-
on this subject, he concludes, that there are three dis-T)liates‘
tinct sulphates of mercury. 1. The first is the neutral
sulphate of mercury, which crystallizes, is soluble in
500 parts of cold water, and forms a copious precipi¬
tate with the alkalies, which is not decomposed by
nitric acid, but forms a mild muriate of mercury with 1722
the addition of muriatic acid. 2. The acidulous sul-Acidulous
phate of mercury, which is more soluble than the for-su,phate.
mer, is precipitated of an orange colour by means of
the alkalies. The excess of acid is removed, and also
a portion of the salt, with ^ of the water necessary for
its complete solution. The neutral sulphate of mercury
remains behind, and is not decomposed by means of 172.
nitric acid. 3. The third sulphate of mercury cou-Subsul-
tains an excess of base, or of the oxide of mercu-pbate*
ry. It is of a yellow colour, soluble in 200 parts of
water, and is precipitated of a gray colour by the
alkalies. It is decomposed by nitric acid j and mu¬
riatic acid converts it into a hyperoxymuriate of merr
curv.
2. Sulphate of Ammonia and Mercury.
1724
This triple salt is formed by adding ammonia to aPrepara-
solution of neutral sulphate of mercury. A copioustlon*
gray precipitate is thrown down, which, being exposed
to the light of the sun, is partly reduced to the metallic
state, and partly to that of a gray powder. This last
is the sulphate of ammonia and mercury. It is soluble
in ammonia ; and by evaporation, brilliant polygonal
crystals are formed. Or, if a large quantity of water
be added to the solution, it becomes white and milky,
and there is precipitated the same salt, but without any r
regular form. This salt has a pungent, austere taste, properties.
When it is heated, it gives out ammonia, azotic gas, a
small quantity of metallic mercury, and a little sulphite
of ammonia. There remains in the retort yellow sul-
phate of mercury. According to the analysis of Four-Compoei-
croy, this triple salt is composed of tion.
Sulphuric acid 18
Mercury 39
Ammonia 33
Water 10
IOO.
6+6 ‘ C H E M I
Mercury, Nitrate of Mercury.
» 1 i. Nitric acid is rapidly decomposed by mercury. It
p 1727 is accompanied with effervescence, and the evolution
tiorii^13 of nitrous gas. The mercury combines with part of
the oxygen of the acid ; it is thus oxidated, and is
tiien dissolved in the remaining portion of the acid.
This solution of mercury in nitric acid, when it is
made in the cold, is colourless, very heavy, and so
extremely caustic, that it has been employed as an es-
charotic, under the name of mercurial water. It
produces an indelible brownish black spot on all ani¬
mal and vegetable substances. By spontaneous evapo¬
ration it affords regular transparent crystals, composed
of two four-sided pyramids, truncated near their bases,
and on the four angles which result from the union of
the pyramids. But different crystals are formed, ac¬
cording to the nature of the solution, and the evapo¬
ration, whether it has been more slowly or more rapid¬
ly conducted. When this solution of mercury in nitric
acid is made in the cold, the compound formed is a
nitrate of mercury without excess of the oxide or base j
hut if mercury be added to this solution, and the ac-
• tion be aided by heat, a new portion of the oxide is
dissolved. It is then a nitrate of mercury with excess
t 2S of base. Fourcroy distinguishes three nitrates of mer-
Three ni- ?«i‘y» I. Nitrate of mercury neutralized. From this
trates. regular crystals are obtained, and it is not precipitated
by water. 2. The acidulous nitrate of mercury, or
with excess of acid. This is obtained by dissolving
the first in water containing nitric acid, or by adding
this acid to the other nitrates. 3. The nitrate of
mercury with excess of oxide. This exists in the so¬
lution precipitated by water, or by exposing the other
nitrates to the action of heat. In this way is produced
what was formerly called nitrous turpeth.
2. These different nitrates of mercury possess many
common properties, but are sufficiently distinguished
by others, and particularly by their decomposition.
When the nitrate of mercury is placed upon burning
coals, it detonates feebly, although with a vivid white
flame, when it has been sufficiently dried; but when
it is moist it melts, blackens, extinguishes that part of
the coal which it touches, and throws out small red
sparks, with a slight decrepitation about the dried
edges of the mass. The nitrate of mercury with ex¬
cess of oxide possesses a still more feeble detonating
property. The nitrate of mercury with excess of acid
boils up, melts very rapidly, swells greatly, and ex¬
hales red vapours, with very little detonation. If the
nitrate of mercury, neutralized, be heated in a cru¬
cible without any combustible matter, it melts, exhales
nitrous gas, becomes of a deep yellow colour, then
passes to an orange, and at last is converted into a
deep red. In this state it was formerly called red pre¬
cipitate. It is the red oxide of mercury, which is ob¬
tained by the decomposition of the nitrate.
3. The pure nitrate of mercury exposed to the air in
the state of crystals, is soon changed. It gradually
absorbs oxygen from the atmosphere, and passes from
a white to a yellow colour. This is the nitrous tur¬
peth. It is a yellow oxide of mercury combined with
a small portion of nitric acid, or a nitrate of mercury'
with excess of base. The yellow colour becomes
deeper with the addition of boiling water. The ni-
S T R Y.
trous turpeth, it has been observed, contains a greater Mercury
quantity of oxygen than that which is prepared by &c.
sulphuric acid, and from this circumstance it is more
readily converted into red oxide by the action of
heat. # I729
4. The nitrate of mercury is decomposed by all the Decompo.
alkalies, but with different phenomena, according tosition.
the state of the combination, and particularly the de¬
gree of oxidation of the base. Bergman has distin¬
guished the two solutions of mercury, that which is
not precipitated by water, from that which is precipi¬
tated by the different products which are obtained
by means of alkalies. The nitrate of mercury affords,
with potash, a yellowish white oxide j with carbonate
of potash, a white oxide j and with ammonia, an oxide
of a dark gray colour. Sulphuric acid and the sul¬
phates occasion a precipitate in form of a white pow¬
der. Muriatic acid and the muriates give a thick
mass resembling curd. But the solution which is
precipitated by water, and which is more acrid, and
less disposed to crystallize, affords precipitates by
means of the fixed alkalies, of a deeper yellow or brown
colour. By means of ammonia, a white precipitate is
formed j by means of the sulphuric acid and the sul¬
phates, a yellow precipitate, and by the muriatic acid,
a more copious, curdled matter. Fourcroy has ob¬
served in the decomposition of nitrate of mercury
with excess of acid, that a precipitate in the state
of black powder is formed, with a great addition of
the alkali j but if it be added in small quantity, the
precipitate is white or gray. A copious precipitate is
obtained, from the clear supernatant solution, by di¬
luting it with water. The same white precipitate is
obtained, by mixing together nitrate of mercury and
nitrate of ammonia. By evaporating the liquid, which
is rendered turbid by the addition of water, six-sided
prismatic crystals are deposited, as the ammonia is vo¬
latilized. The white precipitate is a brittle salt, which
has very little solubility, having an excess of oxide, of X730I
mercury, and ammonia. The component parts of this Composi-
salt, according to Fourcroy are, ' tlon'
Acid and water 15.80
Oxide of mercury 68.20
Ammonia 16.00
100.00
I73\
5. From a solution of mercury in nitric acid, Mr Howard’
Howard prepared a fulminating powder possessed
peculiar properties; the process which he found to
answer best is the following: 1732
“ One hundred grains, or a greater proportional quan-Prepara>
tity, of quicksilver (not exceeding 500 grains) are to be11011'
dissolved with heat, in a measured ounce and a half of
nitric acid. This solution being poured cold upon two
measured ounces of alcohol, previously introduced into
any convenient glass vessel, a moderate heat is to be
applied until an effervescence is excited. A white
fume then begins to undulate on the surface of the li¬
quor ; and the powder will be gradually precipitated
upon the cessation of action and re-action. The preci¬
pitate is to be immediately collected on a filter, well
washed with distilled water, and carefully dried in a
heat not much exceeding that of a water bath. The
immediate
} Ml
p33.
ft rues.
34
D( upo>i.
tic
Cc 33
w OM-
tic
C H E M
immediate eduicoration of ti»e powder is material, be¬
cause it is liable to the re-action of the nitric acid j
' and, whilst any of that acid adheres to it, it is very
subject to the influence of light. Let it also be cau¬
tiously remembered, that the mercurial solution is to
be poured upon the alcohol.
“ I have recommended quicksilver to be used in pre¬
ference to an oxide, because it seems to answer equally,
and is less expensive; otherwise, not only the pure red
oxide, but the red nitrous oxide and turpeth may be
substituted ; neither does it seem essential to attend to
the precise specific gravity of the acid or the alcohol.
The rectified spirit of wine and the nitrous acid of
commerce never failed, with me, to produce a fulmi¬
nating mercury. It is indeed true, that the powder
prepared without attention, is produced in different
quantities, varies in colour, and probably in strength.
From analogy, I am disposed to think the whitest is the
strongest; for it is well known, that black precipitates
of mercury approach the nearest to the metallic state.
The variation in quantity is remarkable ; the smallest
quantity I ever obtained from 100 grains of quicksilver
being 120 grains, and the largest 132 grains. Much
depends on very minute circumstances. The greatest
product seems to be obtained, when a vessel is used
which condenses and causes most ether to return into
the mother liquor; besides which, care is to be had in
applying the requisite heat, that a speedy and not a
violent action be effected. One hundred grains of an
otxide are not so productive as 100 grains of quick¬
silver.
This powder, struck on an anvil with a hammer, ex¬
plodes with a stunning disagreeable noise, and with
such force, as to indent both the hammer and the
anvil. Half a grain or a grain, if quite dry, is as
much as ought to be used on such an occasion. The
shock of an electric battery, sent through five or six
grains, produces a very similar effect. The powder
explodes at the 368th degree of Fahrenheit’s thermo¬
meter. A quantity of it, sufficient to discharge a bul¬
let from a gun, with a greater force than an ordinary
charge of gunpowder, always bursts the piece. Ten
grains of the powder, exploded in a glass globe, pro¬
duce only four cubic inches of air, consisting of carbo¬
nic acid gas and nitrogene, or azotic gas.
This powder is decomposed by sulphuric, nitric,
and muriatic acids. When concentrated sulphuric
acid is poured upon it, an immediate explosion takes
place. According to the experiments of Mr Howard,
this powder consists of oxalate of mercury, and nitrous
etherised gas. But it appears that the nature of the
component parts varies with the different modes which
are followed in its preparation. When it is prepared
with little heat, it consists of nitric acid, oxide of mer¬
cury, and a peculiar vegetable substance ; but by con¬
tinuing the heat during the fermentation, a greenish
colour is communicated to the powder. It is then
found to be composed of ammonia, oxide of mercury,
and a greater proportion of the vegetable matter. Its
detonating power is more feeble, and it gives out a blue
flame when placed on hot coals. By boiling the mix¬
ture for half an hour, it is composed of oxalate of mer¬
cury, and a small proportion of vegetable matter ; does
not detonate, but decrepitates when it is heated *.
I S T R Y.
647
4. Muriate of Mercury.
Mercury,
See.
1. Muriatic acid has no action whatever on mercury; *  v— 1
but it combines readily with its oxides, and forms salts T,.I75<Sm
which have been the subject of research among che-poundTong
mists, almost in every age. The muriates of mercury known,
were known to the Arabians in the loth and nth cen¬
turies. They were the first objects of study and exa¬
mination with the alchemists, in their search after
the philosophers stone ; and since chemistry assumed
the form of a science, they have greatly occupied the
attention of philosophers, in discovering their nature
and properties.
2. There are two compounds of muriatic acid and Two mu-
the oxides of mercury, which possess very different rLtes.
properties, according to the degree of oxidation of the
mercury. According to the views already mentioned,
relative to the simple nature of chlorine, this substance
is, when dry, considered as a compound of chlorine
and mercury, with a double proportion of the former,
and is therefore called a bi-chloride. The other is
considered as a chloride. i^g
3. Muriatic acid precipitates the oxides of mercury Prepara-
from their solutions in sulphuric and nitric acids. If lion,
muriatic acid be added to the yellow sulphate of mer¬
cury, or to the nitrate of mercury which is precipitabfe
by water, a muriate of mercury is obtained, which is
soluble in water, and which, on account of its proper¬
ties, was formerly called corrosive sublimate, or corro¬
sive muriate of mercury. But if muriatic acid be add¬
ed to the acidulous sulphate of mercury, or to the ni¬
trate of mercury which affords no precipitate with wa¬
ter, a white, insoluble, insipid precipitate is obtained,
which was formerly called sweet mercury or calomel,
and is now known by the name of submuriate, and
sometimes sweet muriate of mercury.
4. The muriate of mercury, or corrosive sublimate, Qf the^mu-
may be prepared by the following process. Boil tworiate.
parts of mercury with two and a half of sulphuric acid
in a matrass, with the heat of a sand bath, to dryness.
Let this dry mass be mixed with four parts of dried
muriate of soda, and let the whole be sublimed in a
glass vessel, by gradually increasing the beat. In the
first part of this process, part of the sulphuric acid is
decomposed; the mercury combines with the oxygen,
and forms an oxide, which is dissolved in the unde¬
composed part of the sulphuric acid, and a sulphate of
mercury is thus obtained. The muriate of soda being
mixed with this salt, produces another decomposition.
The muriatic acid combines with the mercury, form¬
ing the muriate of mercury, which is sublimed ; and
the sulphuric acid of the sulphate of mercury combines
with the soda, forming a sulphate of soda, which re¬
mains behind.
5. The muriate of mercury, thus obtained, forms a properties,
beautiful white, semitransparent mass, which is found
to be composed of small prismatic crystals in the form
of needles. It may be obtained by evaporation, in the
form of cubes or rhomboidal prisms, or four-sided
prisms, having the alternate sides narrower, and termi¬
nated by two-sided summits. The taste is extremely
acrid and caustic, and the metallic impression remains
long on the tongue. The specific gravity is 5.1398. It
is soluble in 20 parts of cold water, and in less weight
of
648
Mercury,
See.
1741 ^
Composi¬
tion.
1742
Prepara¬
tion.
1743
Composi¬
tion.
CHEMISTRY.
of boiling water. This salt is not altered by exposure
to the air; and, when it is sublimed by heat, it remains
unchanged. It is soluble in sulphuric, nitric, and muri¬
atic acids, and, when these solutions are evaporated, the
muriate of mercury is obtained unaltered. It is preci¬
pitated by all the alkalies and earths, of an orange-
yellow colour, which gradually changes to a brick-
red. The carbonates of the fixed alkalies afford a per¬
manent yellow colour. Ammonia forms with it a tri¬
ple salt. The component parts of this salt, according
to Mr Chenevix, are,
Oxide of mercury
Acid
82
18
100
Muriate of mercury is one of the most violent poisons
known. When taken internally, it produces nausea
and vomiting, with severe pain, and, in a short time,
corrodes the stomach and bowels. Externally, it is
employed as an escharotic for destroying fungous flesh.
It sublimes readily when heated, and is extremely in¬
jurious in the state of vapour, to those who breathe
it.
Submuriate, or Chloride of Mercury.—This salt is
prepared by triturating together in a glass mortar, four
parts of muriate of mercury or corrosive sublimate, with
three of mercury, till the latter disappear. When this
is formed into an uniform mass, it is put into a matrass,
of which it should fill and it is to be sublimed with
the heat of a sand bath. When the process is finished,
the phial is broken ; and the white matter at the upper
part of the vessel, and the red matter at the bottom,
are to be separated, and the remaining part of the mass
is to be sublimed, and afterwards reduced to a fine
powder, which is to be well washed with boiling
water. •
In this process, it is obvious, that the mercury which
is added, combines with part of the oxygen of the
oxide of mercury, formerly combined with the muria¬
tic acid ; and the whole of the oxide of mercury having
now a smaller proportion of oxygen, is combined with
a smaller proportion of muriatic acid. This will ap¬
pear from the proportions of its component parts, as
they have been ascertained by Mr Chenevix.
Oxide of mercury in calomel contains,
Mercury
Oxygen
'Calomel composed of
89-3
10.7
100.0
Oxide of mercury
Muriatic acid
88.5
n-J
100.0
*744
Properties.
into muriate or corrosive sublimate, by the flitric and Mereur
oxymuriatic acids. &c.
This salt, which is now generally known in thev—“"v-*
shops by the name of calomel or sweet mercury, was^.^^
formerly described under a great variety of names, de-^^ '
rived from its effects, or the mode of its preparation.
In the beginning of the 17th century, it was regarded
as an important secret. But, in the year 1608, Be-
guin described it very accurately, in his tyrocinium che-
micum, under the name of the dragon tamed, on ac¬
count of the corrosive sublimate from which it was
prepared, being deprived of its poisonous and destruc¬
tive qualities. At different periods it was distinguished
by other names, as aquila alba, aquila mitigata, manna
metallorum, panchymagogus quercitanus, &c. The use
of this salt as a purgative, and indeed in all cases
where mercurial preparations are required, is well
known.
5. Muriate of Ammonia and Mercury.
746
If ammonia be added to a solution of muriate of Prepara-
mercury, or corrosive sublimate, a white precipitate istion-
obtained, which is a triple salt, formed by the combi¬
nation of the ammonia with the muriate of mercury.
This white precipitate has at first an earthy taste,
which becomes afterwards metallic and disagreeable.
It seems to be insoluble in water. Sulphuric acid
forms with this triple salt, corrosive sublimate, and sul¬
phate of ammonia and mercury. Nitric acid converts
it into corrosive sublimate and nitrate of ammonia and
mercury. It is completely soluble in muriatic acid,
and there is formed a muriate of mercury and ammonia.
This preparation was known to the alchemists, and
distinguished by the names of sal alembroth, and salt of
wisdom. The component parts of this salt, according
to Fourcroy, are
Acid
Oxide of mercury
Ammonia
16
81
3
100^
6. Hyperoxymuriate of Mercury.
SubmUriate of mercury, or calomel, is generally in
the form of a white, solid mass; but it is susceptible of
crystallization in four-sided prisms, terminated by pyra¬
mids. It has scarcely any taste, has no poisonous pro¬
perty, and is very little soluble in water. The speci¬
fic gravity is 7.1758. It becomes dark coloured by
exposure to light, is phosphorescent when rubbed in the
dark, and requires a higher temperature for its sublima¬
tion than the muriate of mercury. It is converted
* Foure
v. 305-
342,
The salt was formed by Mr Chenevix, by passing a
current of oxymuriatic acid gas through water, in t;0Dt
which there was red oxide of mercury. The oxide
became of a dark brown colour, and a solution appear¬
ed to have taken place. The liquor was evaporated
to dryness, and a salt was obtained which consisted
partly of corrosive sublimate, and partly of hyperoxy- .
muriate of mercury. By separating the latter, andpr0pgrtj
crystallizing it again, it was obtained nearly pure.
This salt is more soluble than corrosive sublimate, four
parts of water retaining it in solution. Hyperoxymuri-
atic acid is given out by the addition of sulphuric, or
even weaker acids, and the liquid assumes an orange
colour t. f Phil.
Trans.
7. Fluate of Mercury. 1S02,
Fluoric acid combines only with the oxide of mer-260’
cury; or the soluble fluates mixed with a solution of
nitrate of mercury, produce a precipitate of a white
colour, which is the fluate of mercury, of which the
properties are little known.
8. Borate
C H E M
8. Borate of Mercury.
Boracic acid lias no direct action on mercury $ but
by mixing together a solution of borate of soda with
a solution of nitrate of mercury, a yellowish precipitate
is obtained, which is the borate of mercury. This salt
acquires a greenish colour by exposure to the air. Lime
water forms a precipitate of a red powder.
p. Phosphate of Mercury.
Phosphoric acid has no action on mercury, but it
combines with its oxide. This salt may be prepared by
precipitating the nitrate of mercury in solution, by
means of phosphate of soda. A white precipitate is
formed, which is phosphate of mercury. This salt is
insoluble in water, phosphoresces when rubbed in the
dark, and is decomposed by heat, giving out phospho¬
rus.
Coidi
olid*
:s
; o
10. Carbonate of Mercury.
By precipitating the solutions of mercury in the
other acids by means of the alkaline carbonates, a
white precipitate is obtained, which is a carbonate of
mercury.
11. Arseniate of Mercury.
When arsenic acid is distilled in a retort with mer¬
cury, it is partially decomposed. Arsenious acid is
sublimed, with a portion of metallic mercury and a
small quantity of yellow oxide. There remains be¬
hind a yellow mass, which is arseniate of mercury. It
is insoluble in water, .and in sulphuric and nitric acids.
It is soluble in muriatic acid, and affords by evapora¬
tion and sublimation, the muriate of mercury, or cor¬
rosive sublimate. Arsenic acid precipitates the sulphate
and nitrate of mercury in the form of a white powder,
•which is also arseniate of mercury.
12. Tungstate of Mercury.
This salt is formed, by adding to a solution of nitrate
of mercury, an alkaline tungstate. This salt is decom¬
posed, and the tungstate of mercury is precipitated in
the form of a white insoluble powder.
13. Molybdate of Mercury.
Molybdic acid precipitates mercury from its solution,
in nitric acid, in the form of a white flaky powder. It
is also insoluble in water.
14. Chromate of Mercury.
An alkaline chromate in solution, added to a solu¬
tion of nitrate of mercury, forms a precipitate of a
fine reddish purple colour. This is the chromate of
mercury, which is insoluble in water, and which Vau-
quelin, who discovered it, suggests to be employed as
a pigment.
15. Columbate of Mercury.
Unknown.
16. Acetate of Mercury.
1. Acetic acid combines with the oxides of mercu¬
ry, and forms different salts, according to the oxide
Vol. Y. Part II. f
I S T R Y. 649
which enters into the combination. With the red ox- Mercury,
ide of mercury it forms a salt which does not crystal- &c.
lize ; but when the liquid is concentrated, and evapo- v~" '
rated to dryness, it affords a yellow deliquescent mass.
When this salt is dissolved in water, it divides into
two parts 5 the one falls down in the state of yellow
powder, which is acetate of mercury with excess of
base ; and the other part remains in solution, because
it contains an excess of acid.
2. But when nitrate of mercury is precipitated by
means of alkalies, and the precipitate is dissolved in
acetic acid, the solution yields, by evaporation and cool¬
ing, acetate of mercury, in thin brilliant flakes. This
salt may also be formed by mixing together solutions
of acetate of potash and nitrate of mercury. The ace¬
tate of mercury appears in the form of large flat crys¬
tals, which have an acrid taste, and are scarcely so¬
luble in water. This latter salt is a compound of ace¬
tic acid and the oxide of mercury, with a smaller pro¬
portion of oxygen. It is employed in medicine, and
forms the principal ingredient oi Keysets pills.
17. Oxalate of Mercury.
Oxalic acid combines with the oxide of mercury,
and forms an oxalate in the state of white powder*
which is scarcely soluble in water. It becomes black
by exposure to the light. When it is heated it deto¬
nates. This salt may also be obtained, by adding ox¬
alic acid to a solution of the nitrate or sulphate of
mercury.
18. Tartrate of Mercury.
Tartaric acid forms an insoluble salt of a white co¬
lour, with the oxide of mercury, which becomes yel¬
low by exposure to the light.
19. Tartrate of Potash and Mercury.
This triple salt may be prepared by boiling together
in water, one part of oxide of mercury, and six of tar¬
tar. Crystals of the triple salt are obtained by evapo¬
rating the liquid.
20. Citrate of Mercury.
Citric acid produces an effervescence with the red
oxide of mercury, changes into a white colour, and
then unites it in one mass. This salt is scarcely soluble
in water. It has a metallic taste, and is decomposed
by nitric acid.
21. Malate of Mercury.
When malic acid is added to a solution of nitrate of
mercury, a white precipitate is formed, which is ma¬
late of mercury.
22. Benzoate of Mercury.
Benzoic acid forms with the oxide of mercury a
salt in the state of white powder, which is insoluble in
water, and is scarcely altered by exposure to the air.
It is decomposed by heat.
, 23. Succinate of Mercury.
Succinic acid combines with the oxide of mercury
with the assistance of heat, and forms with it an irre¬
gular mass, in which some crystals are observed.
4 N 24. Saccolate
650
C H E M I
Zinc, &c.
24. Saccolate of Mercury.
By adding saclactic acid to a solution of nitrate of
mercury, a white precipitate is formed, which is sac¬
colate of mercury.
25. Mellate of Mercury.
Mellitic acid, added to a solution of nitrate of mer¬
cury, produces a copious precipitate, which is re-dis-
* Klaproth solved by the addition of nitric acid*.
Essays, ii. .
102 Trans. 20. I russiate 01 Mercury,
This salt is obtained by boiling the red oxide of
mercury with Prussian blue. It forms crystals in four¬
sided prisms, terminated by four-sided pyramids. The
specific gravity is 2.7612. It forms triple salts with
sulphuric and muriatic acids, the properties of which
are not known.
II. Action of Alkalies, &c.
There is no action between mercury and the alkalies
of alkaline earths j but the alkalies combine with the
oxides of mercury, and form with them compounds in
which the latter seem to act the part of acids. Some
of these compounds have been already treated of, in
speaking of the action of ammonia on some of the mer¬
curial salts.
Salts formed with the alkalies and earths have no
action on mercury or its oxides, if w'e except the mu¬
riates. By dissolving the muriate of mercury in a so¬
lution of muriate of ammonia, a triple salt, which is
muriate of ammonia and mercury, and which has been
1750 already described, is obtained.
Uses- Mercury is one of the metals of the most extensive
utility. In the metallic state it is applied to the con¬
struction of meteorological instruments, as the baro¬
meter and thermometer. Mercury is also applied to a
great variety of purposes in the arts ; in gilding with
silver and gold; in forming an amalgam with tin for
covering the back of mirrors ; and in metallurgy for
the purpose of separating gold and silver from their
ores. Mercury is also of considerable importance for
the purposes of chemistry. Many of its preparations
form some of the most effectual and most certain reme¬
dies in different diseases.
Sect. XVII. 0/’ Zinc and its Combinations.
1751
History. I. Paracelsus is the first who speaks of zinc under
its present name. It is supposed that the Greeks were
acquainted with this metal in the state of compound
with copper, which formed the famous Corinthian
brass j but it does not appear that they made any di¬
stinction between it and other metals. It is particu¬
larly mentioned by Albertus Magnus, who died in
1280, and he seems to have known that it inflamed,
and communicated a colour to metals with which it
w'as combined. The method of obtaining zinc from
the ore called calamine^ is mentioned by Henckel in his
Pyrotology in 1721. Swab extracted it by distillation
in 1742, and Margraaf was occupied with this process
in 1746. Zinc was supposed by the earlier chemists
to be a variety or compound of some of the other me¬
tals. Lemery thought it was a kind of bismuth, and
S T R Y,
Homberg took it for a mixture of iron and tin ; while Zinc, & t
others supposed that it was tin rendered brittle by sul- '
phur, or that it was a coagulated mercury. jl
2. Zinc is found in four different states : In the state Ores.'
of oxide in the state of sulphuret, in that of sulphate,
and in that of carbonate. 1. In the state of oxide it is
known by the name oicalamine, or lapis calcmiinaris, de¬
posited in a regular form, or in that of incrustations and
stalactites, in the cavities of metallic veins. 2. The sul¬
phuret of zinc, known by the name oi blende, is some¬
times disposed in scales, and sometimes crystallized in
tetrahedrons, or octahedrons. It is frequently found in
lead mines, accompanying the ores of lead. 3. The
sulphate of zinc, which is found native, is readily
known by its white colour and transparency, its strong
acrid taste, and solubility in water. It is generally
found in a stalactitical form, or in fine silky crystals,
like those of amianthus. 4. The native carbonate of
zinc, which is sometimes confounded with the oxide
or calamine, forms another ore of zinc. It is transpa¬
rent, white, or yellowish. It is insipid and insoluble
in water, and dissolves with effervescence in nitric and
muriatic acids. lyjjL.
3. To reduce oxides of zinc to the metallic state, the Analysis
ore is pulverized and mixed with charcoal, and the mix¬
ture is heated in a crucible covered with a plate of cop¬
per. The zinc is sublimed in the metallic state, and
combines with the copper, which it converts into brass j
and in this rude process the richness of the ore is as¬
certained hy the intensity of the colour. The sulphu-
rets of zinc are reduced by roasting, by which process
the sulphur is separated, and the residuum is then
treated in the same way as the oxides. In the humid
way Bergman has proposed to analyze the oxides of
zinc by means of sulphuric acid, and then by precipi¬
tating the oxide by carbonate of soda, he has ascer¬
tained that 193 parts of this precipitate give 100 parts
of the metal.
4. Zinc is of a brilliant white colour with a bluish Properti
shade, which is very perceptible in its metallic state,
and of a distinct lamellated texture j but the plates of
which it is composed are smaller than those of bismuth
and antimony. The specific gravity is 7.190. Zinc
is not quite so brittle as the preceding metals. It re¬
quires a smart and sudden blow to separate its frag¬
ments. It is susceptible of a slight degree of malleabi¬
lity, for, by gradual and cautious pressure, it may be
formed into thin plates which have some degree of
elasticity. It has a slight odour, and a peculiar taste,
which is communicated to the fingers when they are
rubbed on this metal. 173
5. When zinc is exposed to a heat of about 700° it Act*011
melts, and by increasing the heat it evaporates, so that^eat‘
in close vessels it may be distilled. When allowed to
cool slowly after being in fusion, it crystallizes in fine
needles. When zinc is exposed to the air, it under¬
goes very little alteration in the cold. Its brilliancy
is slightly tarnished, and it becomes at length covered }V>"
with a thin gray oxide. When zinc is fused in close®s^atl
vessels and exposed to heated air, at the moment it be¬
comes solid on the surface, it exhibits a great variety
of shades of colour, which is the commencement of oxi¬
dation. When it is kept in fusion, in the open air,
the surface becomes covered with a gray pellicle, which
being removed, is succeeded by another, till the whole
of
1754
Zi
Act
byd
Of
1)9
Pbi
&c> tiie zinc is converted into this gray-coloured matter,
^ which is an oxide of zinc. This process may be pro¬
moted by agitating the vessel, so rhat the metal in fu¬
sion may be exposed to the air. By heating together
the gray pellicles which have been collected in an open
vessel, the whole is converted into a uniform gray pow¬
der, which at last assumes a yellowish colour. The
yellow oxide, thus formed, has acquired an additional
weight of about iy per cent, of the metallic zinc.
hen this metal is heated to redness in an open
vessel, by agitating the vessel, it suddenly takes fire,
and burns with a very brilliant white and somewhat
greenish flame. Zinc is at the same time reduced to a
state of vapour, which is condensed in the air, in light,
filamentous, white flakes, of a very delicate texture.
This is an oxide of zinc. It has been distinguished
by different names, as flowers of •nine, nihil album or
? white nothing, lana philosophica, or philosophic wool.
. Thus, there are two oxides of zinc j the gray oxide,
which consists of about 88 parts of zinc, and 12 of
oxygen j and the white oxide, which, according to
Proust, is composed of 80 parts of zinc, and 20 of
j oxygen.
of 6. There is no action between azote and this metal,
in. Hydrogen gas, it is supposed, dissolves a small quantity
of zinc j for, by dissolving zinc in diluted sulphuric acid,
the hydrogen gas which is obtained by the decomposi¬
tion of the water, has been found to hold a little zinc
in solution, which is deposited on the sides of the jars
bon' containing the gas. It is supposed, too, that zinc is
sometimes combined with carbon, because hydrogen
gas, obtained by the ^bove process, is sometimes con¬
taminated with carbonated hydrogen gas.
7. Zinc combines with phosphorus, and forms a phos-
phuret. This may be prepared by adding small bits
of phosphorus to zinc in fusion, but previously throwing
in a little resinous matter, to prevent the oxidation of
the zinc. This was the process by which Pelletier
formed the phosphuret of zinc. This phosphuret is
of a white colour and metallic lustre. It has some de¬
gree of malleability. When it is hammered it emits
)i the odour of phosphorus, and when exposed to a strong
iora. heat, it burns like zinc. Phosphorus also enters into
ide. combination with the oxide of zinc, and forms with it
a phosphorated oxide. This is formed by distilling in
an earthen-ware retort, equal parts of oxide of zinc, and
phosphoric glass, with one-sixth of charcoal powder.
A strong heat is applied, and a metallic substance of a
silvery white colour is sublimed, which has a vitreous
fracture. When it is heated by the blow-pipe, the
jdiosphorus burns, and there remains behind a vitreous
matter, which is transparent while in fusion, but be¬
comes opaque when it is cold.
8. Zinc has not been combined directly with sul¬
phur. When they are heated together in a crucible,
the sulphur separates without producing any other
change on the zinc than that of being a little more in¬
fusible; but it has been observed that sulphur and zinc,
when fused together in a crucible, enter into combina¬
tion, as the zinc is oxidated. This compound assumes
a brownish gray colour. Guyton afterwards discover¬
ed that sulphur and the oxide of zinc readily unite to¬
gether by fusion, and that the compound is of a gray
colour, similar to the native sulphuret of zinc, as it has
been called, or the sulphurated oxide of zinc, accord-
CHEMISTRY.
651
ho
iuret.
d iret.
ing to this experiment; but according to Proust, the zinc, Sec.
ore of zinc, which is known by the name of blende, is a —y—
sulphuret, that is, sulphur combined with zinc in the
metallic state.
9. The order of the affinities of zinc and its oxide is Affinities,
the following:
Zinc.
Copper,
Antimony,
Tin,
Mercury,
Silver,
Gold,
Cobalt,
Arsenic,
Platinum,
Bismuth,
Lead,
Nickel,
Iron.
Oxide of Zinc.
Oxalic acid,
Sulphuric,
Muriatic,
Saclactic,
Nitric,
Tartaric,
Phosphoric,
Citric,
Succinic,
Fluoric,
Arsenic,
Lactic,
Acetic,
Boracic,
Prussic.
Carbonic.
I. Salts of Zinc.
1. Sulphate of Zinc.
... *7^4
1. Sulphuric acid diluted with water, acts very PiePara-
powerfully on zinc. A violent effervescence takest‘on*
place ; the mixture is strongly heated, and a great
quantity of hydrogen gas is evolved. In this process,
which is usually followed for obtaining the purest hy¬
drogen gas for chemical purposes, the water is decom¬
posed ; its oxygen combines with the metal and forms
an oxide, which is then dissolved in the sulphuric acid,
and forms a sulphate of zinc, while the hydrogen, the
other component part of the water, escapes in the
form of gas. A black powder is sometimes observed
floating in the solution, which is carburet of iron,
with which the zinc is frequently contaminated. As
the effervescence ceases, a white powder is formed,
which gradually disappears towards the end of the
process, and with the addition of water forms a trans¬
parent solution. By evaporation and cooling, the sul¬
phate of zinc is obtained crystallized. -
2. I he sulphate of zinc is frequently contaminated Properties,
with other metals, as with lead, iron, and copper;
but when it is pure, it crystallizes in four-sided prisms,
terminated by pyramids with four faces. This salt
has an acrid, astringent, and strongly metallic taste.
When it is exposed to the air it effloresces. It is
soluble in less than two and a half parts of cold wa¬
ter, and more soluble in boiling water. The specific
gravity of the crystallized salt is 1.912; but as it is
generally met with in the shops, it is only 1.3275.
When heated in a retort, it melts, loses its water of
crystallization, and part of its acid in the state of sul¬
phurous acid, and a little water. It is decomposed
and precipitated in the state of white oxide by all the
alkalies ; and if the precipitate is formed by means of
the carbonates, a white pigment is obtained. The
sulphate of zinc is also decomposed with the assistance
of heat, by means of nitre. The alkaline sulphurets
and hydrosulphurets also precipitate the sulphate of
4 N 2 zinc,
652
CHEMISTRY.
Zinc, &c. zinc, of a deep orange or brown colour.
>.... ponent parts of this salt are, according to
The com-
1766
Composi¬
tion.
1767
White si-
trio].
Acid
Oxide
Water
100
100.0
3. The salt known in commerce by tbe name of
white vitriol, is a sulphate of zinc, and is supposed to
contain an excess of acid. It is in the form ot white
granular masses, resembling sugar, and often marked
with yellow spots. This salt is usually prepared by
roasting the sulphuret of zinc or blende, by which
means the sulphuret is converted into sulphuric acid. It
is then dissolved in water, which is purified and evapo¬
rated, and the salt is crystallized by sudden cooling.
Part of its water of crystallization is afterwards driven
off by heat, so that it is obtained in a regular, solid,*
and granulated mass. It is generally contaminated
with iron and other metals j but it may be purified
from these, by adding filings of zinc, which preci¬
pitate the other metals, and leave a pure sulphate of
zinc.
1763
Prepara¬
tion.
1769
Properties.
1770
Combines
with sul¬
phur.
2. Sulphite of Zinc.
1771
Propei ties.
Concentrated sulphurous acid readily combines with
the white oxide of zinc, without any efi’ervescence,
but with the evolution of heat, and the acid being de¬
prived of its odour. When the saturation is complet¬
ed, white crystals appear on the surface of the liquid.
This salt has a pungent, astringent taste. It crystal¬
lizes readily. It is decomposed by the acids, with
effervescence. It is insoluble in alcohol. It forms
white precipitates with the alkalies, and when exposed
to the air, it is readily converted into sulphate of
zinc.
Sulphurated sulphite of Zinc.—'Vf\\en sulphurous acid
is added to zinc in the state of powder or filings, a
great degree of heat is produced} sulphurated hydro¬
gen gas is disengaged} the liquid becomes at first
brown, sometimes muddy, and assumes a yellow co¬
lour, and towards the end of the process it becomes
transparent. The solution has an acrid, astringent,
and sulphureous taste. Sulphuric and muriatic acids
disengage with effervescence, sulphurous acid gas, and
precipitate a yellowish white powder-. Nitric acid at
first separates sulphurous acid gas, and afterwards a
flaky precipitate, which is pure sulphur. When this
solution is exposed to the air, it becomes thick like ho¬
ney, and affords crystals in the form of needles or fine
four-sided prisms, terminated by four-sided pyramids.
These are crystals of sulphurated sulphite of zinc,
which become white by exposure to the air, and form
a white powder insoluble in water. When this salt
is heated by the blow-pipe, it swells up, gives out a
bright light like burning zinc, and forms dendritical
ramifications. This salt is partly soluble in alcohol.
The part not dissolved, only gives out sulphurous acid
gas by means of sulphuric acid, whilst the part which
is dissolved affords, besides sulphurous acid gas, a copi¬
ous precipitate of sulphur. When it is distilled in a
retort, it gives out water, sulphurous acid, sulphuric Zinc, &c
acid, and sulphur sublimed. There remains behind -v—
oxide of zinc, mixed with a little of the sulphate.
In the solution of zinc in liquid sulphurous acid, wa-Theory of
ter, and part of the sulphurous acid itself, are decom-^16 Proces
posed} for sulphurated hydrogen gas is disengaged,
which is composed of the hydrogen of the water and
part of the sulphur of the sulphurous acid. There is no
precipitation of sulphur during the solution, for it com¬
bines with the sulphite of zinc, as it is formed} but
this is not completely saturated, since alcohol dissolves
only the portion of sulphurated sulphite which it con¬
tains, and separates the sulphite*. *Tourm
3. Nitrate of Zinc.
• • • • • ^773
1. Concentrated nitric acid produces a violent actionPrepara-
with zinc, and sometimes even inflames it. To effeettion.
this solution, with a moderate action, the acid should
be diluted with water. Great heat is produced, with
violent effervescence and the evolution of nitrous gas.
The acid is decomposed } its oxygen combining with
the metal forms an oxide, which combines with the
acid as it is formed. ^
2. This solution is of a greenish-yellow colour, andpropertifs
extremely caustic. By evaporation it affords crystals,
in the form of four-sided, compressed, and striated
prisms, terminated by four-sided pyramids. The speci¬
fic gravity is 2.096. This salt is deliquescent in the
air. When it is heated on burning coals, it melts, and
detonates with a small red flame. When heated in a
crucible, it gives out i’ed vapour, and assumes a deep
colour and gelatinous consistence. When cooled in this
state, it retains its softness for some time. By continu¬
ing the heat, it dries, gives out nitrous and oxygen
gases, and leaves behind a yellow oxide.
4. Muriate of Zinc.
Muriatic acid produces a rapid action on zinc. ItPrepara-
is dissolved with effervescence, and with the evolutionb°n*
ot pure hydrogen gas. The solution of zinc in muria¬
tic acid is colourless } it does not crystallize, but as¬
sumes the form of a transparent jelly. It affords by
distillation a small quantity of fuming acid, and a solid
muriate of zinc, which is fusible with a moderate heat,
and was formerly known by the name of hitter of "zinc.
When this muriate of zinc is sublimed by heat, it be¬
comes of a fine white colour, composing a mass of cry¬
stals in the form of small prisms. It is decomposed by ^5
sulphuric acid, and is precipitated by the alkalies. It properties
is soluble in water, attracts moisture from the atmo¬
sphere, and is soon converted into a transparent jelly.
The specific gravity is 1.577.
5. Muriate of Ammonia and Zinc.
Th is triple salt is formed by boiling white oxide of
zinc in a solution of muriate of ammonia. The oxide
of zinc is dissolved } part of which is afterwards depo¬
sited, when the solution cools, but what remains in the
solution is not precipitated by the alkalies or the alka¬
line carbonates.
6. Fluate of Zinc.
Fluoric acid produces a violent action with zinc}
there is considerable effervescence, with the evolution
of
C H E M
; c, See of hydrogen gas. _ The metal Is oxidated, and then
^ "v dissolves in the acid j but the properties of this salt are
little known.
7. Borate of Zinc.
Boracic acid combines with the oxide of zinc, by
adding the borate of potash or soda to the solution of
zinc in nitric or muriatic acid. This salt is insoluble
in water.
8. Phosphate of Zinc.
p ara- Phosphoric acid diluted with water, acts upon zinc
with the evolution of hydrogen gas, owing to the de¬
composition of water. A white powder is deposited,
which is phosphate of zinc. By exposing phosphoric
glass and zinc to a strong heat, a phosphuret of zinc
is formed, by the decomposition of the acid.
9. Carbonate of Zinc.
Zinc reduced to a fine powder, and added to liquid
carbonic acid, is oxidated and copiously dissolved in
the acid, at the end of 24 hours. This solution, ex¬
posed to the air, is covered with a pellicle of car¬
bonate of zinc of different colours. The carbonate of
zinc is found native, and has been distinguished by the
name of calamine, thus confounding it with the oxide
of zinc. Carbonate of zinc, according to the analysis
of Bergman, is composed of
Acid 28
Oxide 66
Water 6
100
10. Arseniate of Zinc.
When arsenic acid is added to zinc, it produces an
J effervescence, with the evolution of hydrogen gas,
holding arsenic in solution. A black powder is de¬
posited, which is metallic arsenic. In this process,
the zinc decomposes part of the water, and combines
with its oxygen, and at the same time deprives the
arsenic acid of its oxygen, by which it is reduced to
the metallic state. The arseniate of zinc may be ob¬
tained by adding a solution of an alkaline arseniate
to a solution of the sulphate of zinc. A white preci¬
pitate is formed, which is the arseniate of zinc. It is
insoluble in water.
11. Tungstate of Zinc.
12. Molybdate of Zinc.
These salts may be formed by a similar process. A
white powder is obtained, which is insoluble in water.
13. Chromate of Zinc.
This salt is obtained by combining an alkaline chro¬
mate with a solution of zinc in nitric acid. A precipi¬
tate is formed of an orange red colour, which is chro¬
mate of zinc.
14. Columbate of Zinc.
Unknown.
I S T R Y. 653
15. Acetate of Zinc. Zinc,
Acetic acid dissolves zinc, and the solution by eva- r779
poration crystallizes in the form of rhomboidal or^^^j”
hexagonal plates. This salt has a bitter metallic properties,
taste, is not altered by exposure to the air, and is so¬
luble in water. It burns with a blue flame when,
thrown on burning coals. When distilled, it yields
water, an inflammable liquid, and some oil. At the
end of the process, when the salt is completely de¬
composed, the oxide of zinc is sublimed, which being
brought in contact with a candle, burns with a fine
blue flame. The residuum is in the state of pyropho-
rus, but it has little combustibility.
16. Oxalate of Zinc.
Oxalic acid acts upon zinc with effervescence, and
the evolution of hydrogen gas. Water is decompos¬
ed, and as the zinc is oxidated, it combines with the
acid, forming an oxalate of zinc. It is in the state of
white powder, of an acrid taste, and but little soluble
in water.
17. Tartrate of Zinc.
Tartaric acid combines with zinc with effervescence,
and the evolution of hydrogen gas. The properties of
this salt have not been examined.
18. Citrate of Zinc.
Citric acid acts upon zinc with effervescence and
the evolution of hydrogen gas. At the end of 24
hours the action ceases, and the liquid deposits on the
sides of the vessel and on its surface, small, brilliant
crystals in the form of plates, which are insoluble in
water. The citrate of zinc has an astringent, metallic
taste. It is composed of equal parts of acid and of
oxide of zinc.
19. Malate of Zinc.
Malic acid dissolves zinc, and, by evaporating the
solution, crystals may be obtained.
20. Benzoate of Zinc.
Benzoic acid readily dissolves zinc, and by evapo¬
ration the solution affords needle-shaped crystals. The.
benzoate of zinc is soluble in water and alcohol. When
it is exposed to heat the acid is sublimed.
21. Succinate of Zinc.
Zinc is dissolved in succinic acid with effervescence.
By evaporation the solution affords slender, foliated
crystals.
22. Lactate of Zinc.
Zinc is soluble in lactic acid with effervescence, and
by evaporating the solution, the salt may be obtained,
crystallized.
II. Action of Alkalies, &c. on Zinc.
T. When zinc is immersed in a solution of potash Fixed
or soda, it is tarnished, and becomes black 5 and when lie*,
it is boiled in the solution, hydrogen gas is evolved.
The solution assumes a dirty-yellow colour, from which
an oxide of zinc may be precipitated, by acids.
a. Ammonia
654
Tin, &.c.
17 S i
Am monia.
17S2
Sulphates.
CHEMISTRY.
1733
Nitrates.
i7s4
Muriates.
i785
Phosphates
&e.
17S6
Uses.
. 1787
History,
2. Ammonia has a still more powerful action on
zinc. Hydrogen gas is more copiously evolved, and
the oxide which is formed is more abundantly dissolved
in the liquid, and at the end of some time a considera¬
ble quantity of white oxide is deposited. These alka¬
line solutions become turbid by exposure to the air j its
oxygen and carbonic acid, acting at the same time,
precipitate the oxide.'
3. The alkaline and earthy sulphates are readily de¬
composed by zinc, with the assistance of heat. It at¬
tracts the oxygen of the sulphuric acid, and thus de¬
composing it, separates the sulphur, which combines
with the bases of the sulphates. Alum boiled in so¬
lution with zinc, is decomposed, and there is formed
a triple salt, which is sulphate of zinc and alumina.
4. The nitrates produce a vivid inflammation with
zinc at a red heat. The acid is decomposed, its oxy¬
gen combines with the metal, and by this rapid com¬
bination, a violent detonation is produced. The azo¬
tic gas is disengaged, and the zinc is fully oxidated.
Three parts of nitre well dried, and one of zinc in fine
powder, well mixed together and projected into a red-
hot crucible, produce a very brilliant inflammation.
The burning matter is sometimes thrown out to a con¬
siderable distance } so that the experiment should be
made with caution. This compound is sometimes em¬
ployed in fire-works.
5. Zinc has a considerable action on the muriates.
Triturated with the muriate of ammonia, the salt is
decomposed, and ammonia is disengaged. By distill¬
ing this salt with zinc, ammoniacal and hydrogen gases
are obtained ; the latter is obviously owing to the de¬
composition of the water contained in the salt, by
means of the zinc, which combines with the oxygen,
and then forms a muriate of zinc with the muriatic
acid.
6. The phosphates and borates combine by fusion
with the oxide of zinc, which communicates to the
glass thus formed a greenish-yellow colour.
7. Zinc decomposes the greatest number of the me¬
tallic salts from their solutions, by its strong affinity for
oxygen. They are precipitated in the metallic form, or
in the state of oxide, but deprived of a portion of oxy-
gen.
8. Zinc is employed in many of the arts. It forms
useful alloys with some of the other metals, some of
which will be mentioned afterwards. It is also em¬
ployed in medicine. The sulphate of zinc is some¬
times exhibited as an emetic, and frequently used in
solution as an eye-wash. The oxide of zinc, or the
flo 'vers ol zinc, have been prescribed as an antispas-
modic, and particularly in cases of epilepsy.
Sect. XVIII. Of Tin and its Combinations.
I, Tin has been known from the earliest ages. It
was much employed by the Egyptians in the arts, and
by the Greeks as an alloy with other metals. Pliny
speaks of it under the name of white lead, as a metal
well known in the arts, and even applied in the fa¬
brication of many ornaments of luxury. He ascribes
to the Gauls the invention of the art of tinning, or
covering other metals with a thin coat of tin. The
alchemists wrere much employed in their researches
concerning tin. They gave it the name of Jupiter,
1
from which the salts or preparations of tin were called q';n ^
jovial. Since their time, the nature and properties of——y—.
tin have been particularly investigated by many che¬
mists, and it has proved the subject of some important
discoveries in chemical science. So early as the year
1630, John Hey threw out a conjecture, that the air
was fixed in this metal during its calcination. Boyle,
towards the end of the same century, attempted to ac¬
count for the increase of weight which this metal ac¬
quired during this process j but this was only fully as¬
certained by Lavoisier, who repeated the experiment
of Boyle, and calcined the metal in close vessels j but
the method of conducting this experiment and the re¬
sult of it, have been already detailed.
2. Tin exists in nature in three different states. It Ores,
is found native, in the state of oxide, and in that of
sulphurated oxide. Native tin is in brilliant plates,
or regularly crystallized. The native oxide of tin,
which is the most common ore of this metal, exists
under a variety of forms. It is generally found cry¬
stallized. The sulphuret of tin is of a pale or dark
gray colour, and when pure, has some resemblance to
an ore of silver. ^
3. To obtain the metal from its ores, they are first^na]ysjs
roasted, and then treated with a flux, to reduce the
metal. It has been recommended by some, to mix a
small quantity of pitch with the fused mass, to prevent
the oxidation of the tin. After the ore is roasted, it
fuses readily with three times its weight of black flux,
and a little decrepitated muriate of soda.
In the humid way, native tin may bp dissolved in
nitric acid, which readily oxidates, and reduces it to
the state of white powder, which is an oxide of tin j
and if it contain iron and copper, these two metals re¬
main in the solution. ^
4. Tin is. of a white colour, nearly as brilliant aspr0pgfg
silver. The specific gravity of tin is 7.291. It is
one of the softest of the metals. It may be scratched
with the nail, and easily cut with a knife. It is ex¬
tremely flexible, and produces a peculiar noise when
it is bent or folded. It is so malleable, that it can be
easily beaten out to t^o o Part °f an inch, which is
the thickness of tinfoil. It has little elasticity or te¬
nacity. A wire of this metal about of an inch
in diameter supports a weight of about 30 lbs. without
breaking. . _ # I79i
5. Tin is susceptible of very considerable expansion Action c
by means of caloric, and on this account it has been beat
proposed to employ it as a pyrometer. Tin is one of
the most fusible of the metals, and melts at the tem¬
perature of 4420, but it requires a very high tempera¬
ture to raise it in vapour. If it be allowed to cool
slowly, and when the surface becomes solid, by pouring
out part of the liquid metal, crystals are formed, in
large rhomboids, composed of a great number of small
needles.. .
6. Tin is a good conductor of electricity. It odour, sj
possesses a peculiar odour, which is communicated
to the hands by friction. It has also a perceptible
taste. ^ ^ ^
7. When this metal is exposed to the air, it is soonOxidati
tarnished, and assumes a grayish white colour ; but it
undergoes no farther change. When it is melted in
an open vessel, it is soon covered with a grayish pel¬
licle, which is the commencement of the oxidation of
the
In, 8z.cn
...
1794
0 os-
C H E M I
tlie metal. V\hen this pellicle is removed, another
i forms, and so on successively sill the whole is oxidated.
By continuing the heat, and by agitation, the process
goes on more rapidly, and the metal is converted into
a whitish powder. I his oxide contains about 20 parts
of oxygen in 100 of the metal. With the addition of
lead to promote the oxidation, this oxide is the putty
of tin. It contains about two parts of oxide of lead,
and one part of oxide of tin. But when tin is strongly
heated, it is converted into a fine white oxide, which
during the process gives out a vivid white flame. This
oxide is condensed in the cold, and crystallizes in
shining transparent needles.
According to Proust, tin combines with two pro¬
portions of oxygen, thus forming two oxides. The
yellow oxide, which has the smaller proportion of oxy¬
gen, may be prepared by dissolving tin in nitric acid
diluted with water, without the aid of heat. By preci¬
pitating the oxide with pure potash, it is obtained in
the form of a yellowish powder. Its component parts
are those already stated, namely,
20 oxygen,
80 tin,
100
'
'795
sphu-
If
iclfc
W
w
, ‘797
| iposi-
By dissolving tin in concentrated nitric acid, with the
assistance of heat, the whole is converted with efi’er-
vescence into a white powder, which falls to the bottom
of the vessel. The component parts of this oxide are,
28 oxygen, and *72 of tin.
8. There is no action between tin and azote, hy¬
drogen, or carbon, nor is there any perceptible action
between tin or its oxides and water.
9. Phosphorus combines very readily with tin, by
projecting bits of phosphorus on melted tin in a cru¬
cible. A phosphuret of tin is thus obtained, which
crystallizes on cooling. This compound is of a silvery
white colour, may be cut with a knife, and extended
under the hammer, but soon separates into plates.
The filings of this phosphuret are like those of lead,
and when they are thrown on red-hot coals, they take
fire, and burn with the smell and flame of phosphorus.
By the action of the blow-pipe, the phosphorus only
burns, and the small metallic button which remains is
surrounded with a transparent glass. Pelletier dis¬
tilled this phosphuret often with hyperoxymuriate of
mercury, and obtained a fuming muriate of tin, with
the mercury reduced to the metallic state, and phos¬
phorated hydrogen gas, which exploded as it came in
contact with the air. There remained in the retort a
spongy inflammable matter, which he supposed to be a
compound of tin and phosphorus.
10. Sulphur combines very readily with tin, by
adding the sulphur to the metal while in a state of
fusion. This compound forms a grayish or bluish
matter, which has a metallic lustre, a lamellated struc¬
ture, and crystallizes in cubes, or in octahedrons. It
is decomposed by acids with eftervescence. The com¬
ponent parts are, according to
Bergman. Pelletier.
Tin 80 85
Sulphur 20 15
100 JOO
S T R Y. 655
11. If equal parts of oxide of tin and sulphur be Tin, &c.
fused together in a retort, sulphurous acid and some -v '
sulphur are disengaged, and there remains in the vessel
a compound of a brilliant golden colour. It crystal-
lizes in six-sided plates. It is not acted on by the
acids. When it is strongly heated, it gives out sul¬
phurous acid and sulphur, and there remains behind a
black mass, which is sulphuret of tin. This compound,
which is a sulphurated oxide of tin, was formerly dis¬
tinguished by the name of durum musivum, ?nusititm,
or rnosaicum. The component parts of this sulphurated
oxide of tin are,
Oxide of tin 60
Sulphur 40
100
12. Tin enters into combination with many of the
metals, and forms alloys with them, some of which
are of great importance. It also combines with acids,
and forms salts. The affinities of tin and its oxides Aflinities.
are in the following order:
Tin.
Zinc,
Mercury,
Copper,
Antimony,
Gold,
Silver,
Lead,
Iron,
Manganese,
Nickel,
Arsenic,
Platinum,
Bismuth,
Cobalt,
Sulphur.
Oxide of Tin.
Tartaric acid,
Muriatic,
Sulphuric,
Oxalic,
Arsenic,
Phosphoric,
Nitric,
Succinic,
Fluoric,
Saclactic,
Citric,
Lactic,
Acetic,
Boracic,
Prussic.
I. Salts of Tin.
I. Sulphate of Tin.
1. Sulphuric acid acts very feebly on tin in the cold. Two sut-
The acid, however, is at last decomposed $ its oxygen phat«.
combines with the metal, sulphurous acid gas is emit¬
ted, and the oxide falls to the bottom in the state of
white powder. In this case, the oxide has the smaller
proportion of oxygen, and then the solution is more
permanent. There is no precipitation by water.
2. But when the solution of tin in sulphuric acid
is promoted by the action of heat, the acid is still
farther decomposed j a greater quantity of sulphurous
acid is given out, and sulphur is deposited. In this case
the white oxide of tin is formed. This compound, when
evaporated, assumes the form of a jelly, and does not
crystallize by the addition of water. It is precipitated
in the form of Avhite powder. The first might be call¬
ed the yellow sulphate of tin, and the second the white
sulphate of tin.
2. Sulphite of Tin.
When tin is immersed in liquid sulphurous acid, it
assumes a yellow colour. At the end of some days it
becomes
656
CHEMISTRY.
Tin, 8tc. becomes black like charcoal, nnd there is deposited in
' the liquid a black powder. In this process part of the
sulphurous acid is decomposed ; its oxygen combining
with the metal, forms an oxide, which enters into
combination with another part of the acid, and forms
the sulphate of tin. A portion of sulphur is deposited
along with a white sulphite, which is not very solu¬
ble, and another portion remains in solution with part
of the sulphite, forming a sulphurated sulphite. A
third portion of the sulphur combines with part of the
Connaiss. ~ nietaJ^c tin, and forms a black sulphuret, on which the
Chim, iv. acid lias no action *.
p. 30,
1801
History.
3. Nitrate of Tin.
1802
Prepara¬
tion. .
1. Nitric acid produces a very violent action with
tin. It is accompanied with great heat, and the evo¬
lution of nitrous gas. The metal is converted into a
white oxide, which gives to the liquid the appearance
of coagulated milk. It had been long observed by
chemists, that the solution of tin in nitric acid was
not permanent, for by evaporating or concentrating
the solution, the oxide is always precipitated. This
difficulty has been solved by the discoveries of modern
chemistry.
2. If tin be dissolved in nitric acid, diluted with wa¬
ter, and the great increase of temperature moderated
by the application of cold, as by immersing the vessel
in cold water, a solution of a small quantity of the
oxide of tin is effected. The solution is of a yellow
colour, and contains the oxide of tin, with a smaller
proportion of oxygen, which is the yellow oxide. In
this process the tin is chiefly oxidated by the decompo¬
sition of the water. In this process, too, ammonia is
formed from the azote of the acid combining with the
hydrogen of the water. This becomes perceptible
by adding potash to the liquid. When the solution
is heated, the oxide of tin is separated in great abund¬
ance.
In difterent 3. But when nitric acid is more concentrated, a more
piopyrtxons.vj0]enj. ac(-jon takes place between this acid and tin.
The metal is oxidated, and the whole of it separates
from the liquid. To one part of pure nitric acid Guy¬
ton added of tin in a retort, when a violent effer¬
vescence took place, but no gas was given out. In this
experiment a quantity of ammonia equal to ^ of the
Weight of the acid and tin employed, was formed. The
acid and the water are decomposed, and the oxygen
of both combines with the tin, and forms an oxide,
while the azote of the acid and the hydrogen of the
water combine together and form ammonia". In this
state ot oxidation, the tin does not combine with the
acid.
1S03
4. Muriate of Tin.
Prepara- # I- Concentrated muriatic acid dissolves tin, either
tion. in the cold or with the assistance of a gentle heat. The
acid is soon deprived of its fuming property, and of
its yellow colour. A slight effervescence takes place,
which is owing to the decomposition of water, and the
evolution of a fetid hydrogen gas. This peculiar
odour is supposed to be occasioned by the hydrogen gas
holding in solution a portion of the metal. Muriatic
acid dissolves more than 4 its weight of tin. No pre-
1805 cipitate is formed, as with the other acids. When it is
Properties, evaporated, it furnishes crystals in the form of brilliant
needle-shaped prisms, which are deliquescent in the TU, &i
air.
2. This muriate of tin is precipitated by the alkalies D 1806 i
in the form of a copious white oxide, which is re-dis-s.ti011i
solved with an excess of alkali. The alkaline solution
is of a brownish yellow colour. The sulphuret of am¬
monia precipitates this salt in the form of powder, which
becomes black as it dries, and by distillation yields am¬
monia and aurtim musivum. The sulphuret of potash
produces a yellow precipitate, which, by distillation, fur¬
nishes sulphurous acid and sulphur, and what remains
is converted into nurum musivum, or the sulphurated
oxide of tin. This oxide, precipitated by means of so¬
da, and distilled with its weight of sulphur, yields sul¬
phurous acid gas, sulphur, and the residuum is aurum
musivum. j S07
3. This solution of tin absorbs oxygen, with the evo-Absorl,B
lution of heat, from oxymuriatic acid, which is deprivedoxysen'
of its odour. With nitric acid, a violent effervescence
takes place. Nitrous gas is disengaged, and in both
these cases, the oxide of tin combines with an additional
portion of oxygen. With the addition of sulphurous
acid, this solution of tin deposits the yellow sulphurated 1S0S
oxide of a fine bright colour. This solution converts‘7o^In, ^
arsenic acid into the metallic state, and it produces the^11™1*
same effect on the molybdic and tungstic acids, by
combining with their oxygen. The red oxide of mer¬
cury, the byperoxymuriate of mercury, the white
oxide of antimony, the oxides of zinc and silver, are
all reduced to the metallic state by being deprived
of their oxygen by the muriate of tin. This muriate
also precipitates from the solution of gold, the purple
powder ojCassius, by attracting that portion of oxygen
which renders the oxide of gold soluble. In all these
processes, the results of which were ascertained by
Pelletier, the muriate of tin is converted into an
oxymuriate. 1S09
4. This oxymuriate of tin is formed by making a Fornied
stream of oxymuriatic acid gas pass into a* solution of^^
muriate of tin. It is also prepared by triturating equai
parts of an amalgam, consisting of two parts of tin, and
one of mercury, and muriate of mercury, or corrosive
sublimate, and distilling this mixture in a glass retort,
with a very moderate heat. A colourless liquor first
passes over, which is followed with the sudden evolu¬
tion of a white vapour, which lines the inside of the re¬
ceiver. This vapour is condensed into a transparent
liquid, which, in the air, exhales a copious, heavy,
white vapour, from which this liquid has been called
the smoking liquor of Libavvus, or the oxymuriate (f
tin. When this liquor is included in a vessel, it no
longer gives out any visible vapour, but it deposits at
the top of the vessel needle-shaped crystals, while simi¬
lar crystals are precipitated to the bottom. Water does
not precipitate the fuming muriate of tin. When it is
thrown into the water, it produces a noise similar to
that which is occasioned by concentrated sulphuric acid.
A number of transparent bubbles of air being evolved
from the mixture, collect on the surface, and be¬
come white by the contact of air. By agitating the
water, they are more readily dissipated, and the liquid
fumes no longer.
5. Nitromuriatic acid, which is composed of one jn
part of nitric acid, and two or three of muriatic acid, muljatic.
very readily dissolves tin. A strong heat is produced,
which
C H E M I
kc, vvbich may be moderated by immersing the vessel, in
which the solution is made, in cold water. The metal
should be added in small portions, and one part should
be dissolved before the addition of another. In this
way the acid will dissolve half its weight of tin. It is
by this process that the muriate of tin is obtained for
the purpose of dyeing scarlet; but it is found to Vary
considerably in its effects, which, no doubt, depends on
the strength of the acids employed, and the different
proportions in the mixture. This solution is almost al¬
ways coloured. Sometimes it affords a gelatinous mass
on cooling, which becomes in time more solid. Some¬
times it is of a white colour like milk. This solution
has not the fetid odour of the simple solution of tin in
muriatic acid. It often happens, that it does not as¬
sume the viscid or solid form, without the addition of
its weight of water. It is then slightly opaque, which
is owing to the precipitation of part of its oxide. When
this solution is heated, an effervescence takes place ;
the tin is more strongly oxidated, and it is generally
after this process that it assumes the form of a transpa¬
rent jelly.
5. Fluate of Tin.
Fluoric acid has very little action on tin, but it dis¬
solves its oxide, and forms with it a solution which as¬
sumes a gelatinous form. The fluate of tin may be
also obtained by adding a solution of an alkaline fluate
to a solution of tin in muriatic acid.
6. Borate of Tin.
By a similar process boracic acid combines with the
oxide of tin, and forms a borate of tin, which is inso¬
luble.
S T R Y.
10, Acetate of Tin.
7. Phosphate of Tin.
This salt may be formed by precipitating the oxide
of tin from its solution in muriatic acid, by means of
an alkaline phosphate. A phosphate of tin is thus ob¬
tained, which is insoluble in water.
8. Carbonate of Tin.
This salt is prepared by precipitating the oxide of
tin from its solution in muriatic acid, by means of the
carbonates of the alkalies. When this carbonate of
tin is dissolved in an acid, it effervesces $ but, accord¬
ing to Bergman, the oxide of tin, precipitated by an
alkaline carbonate, is not found to have received any
sensible addition of weight, so that the effervescence oc¬
casioned by the action of an acid, on what is supposed
to be a carbonate of tin, probably depends on the de¬
composition of the acid itself.
9. Arseniate of Tin.
Arsenic acid, with a modei’ate heat, dissolves a small
quantity of tin, and the solution assumes the form of a
jelly. Arseniate of tin is formed by adding to a solu¬
tion of tin in muriatic acid, an alkaline arseniate. A
precipitate is formed, which is arseniate of tin in the
state of insoluble powder.
All the metallic acids are decomposed by means of
tin. They also combine with the oxide of tin, and
form salts in the state of powder, which has little solu¬
bility.
Vol. V. Part II. t
Acetic acid dissolves only a small portion of tin j but
when the acid is boiled on tin, the action is more power¬
ful, and the solution, which is of a whitish colour, af¬
fords by evaporation small crystals. The solution of
tin in acetic acid sometimes does not crystallize, but
affords only a gelatinous mass 5 so that, by the action of
acetic acid on tin, the metal is either in different de¬
grees of oxidation, or there are different proportions of
the acid and base.
11. Oxalate of Tin.
Oxalic acid added to tin in thin plates or filings, first
blacken the surface, which is afterwards covered with
a white powder. The oxalate of tin, which is soluble
in water, has an austere metallic taste. By slow eva¬
poration it furnishes needle-shaped or prismatic crystals.
When it is more rapidly evaporated, it affords a trans¬
parent mass like horn.
12. Tartrate of Tin.
Tartaric acid dissolves the oxide of tin, but the na¬
ture of this salt has not been examined.
13. Tartrate of Potash and Tin.
This triple salt may be obtained by boiling together
the oxide of tin and tartar in water. It is a soluble
salt, and crystallizes with difficulty. It is not precipi¬
tated by the alkalies or the alkaline carbonates.
14. Benzoate of Tin.
This salt is formed by adding to a solution of tin in
muriatic acid benzoate of potash. The benzoate of
tin is precipitated, which is soluble in water, with the
assistance of heat.
15. Succinate of Tin.
The oxide of tin is dissolved by succinic acid with
the assistance of heat. When the solution is evaporat¬
ed it affords thin transparent crystals of succinate of
tin.
II. Action of Alkalies, &c. on Tin.
1. Tin in the metallic state is little changed by the Alkalies,
action of the alkalies ; but the oxides of tin readily com¬
bine with these bodies. The combination of the oxide
of tin with the fixed alkalies is effected, either in the
dry or humid way ; and wit!) the assistance of heat the
oxide of tin combines with liquid ammonia. This
combination takes place most readily when the oxide is
recently precipitated, when it is in the state of minute
division. ^
2. The oxide of tin combines with the earths by fu-EartiiS,‘
sion j and with the addition of a fixed alkali, forms an
opaque vitreous mass, which is employed for the pur¬
poses of enamel.
3. Most of the salts are decomposed by means of tin,gaus '
in consequence of the strong affinity of this metal for
oxygen. All the sulphates, when heated with this
metal, are more or less rapidly converted into sulphu- ,s
rets. Equal parts of sulphate of potash and tin, heated Sulphates,
together in a crucible, afford a greenish coloured mass,
which has no metallic appearance, and which seems to lSl .
be a sulphuret of potash and tin. The nitrates pro-* Nitrate!
4 O duce
t
6s8
CHEMISTRY.
Tin, &c. (luce deflagration with this metal, with the assistance of
l' v“" ■' heat. If the tin be melted in a crucible, and brought
to a red heat, and dried nitre in powder be projected
into it, a white brilliant flame is produced, and when
the detonation has entirely ceased, the tin is found to
be oxidated. This experiment may be also made, by
mixing together tin filings with three parts of nitre in
1816 powder, and projecting the mixture into a red-hot cru-
Muriatee. cible. Muriate of ammonia is decomposed by tin j and
by adding sulphur, the sulphurated oxide of tin, or au~
rum musivum, is obtained. Eight parts of tin united
to eight parts of mercury, with six of sulphur, and four
of muriate of ammonia, afford, according to the process
of Pelletier, a very beautiful aurum musivum.
It was observed by this philosopher, that during the
process, sulphurated hydrogen gas, sulphuret of ammo¬
nia, and muriate of tin, were produced $ that the tin
oxidated and united to the sulphur, formed aurum mu-
' sivum 5 and that a part of this matter, composed of the
different substances, in a state of vapour, was deposited
in lamellated, hexangular crystals, in the upper part and
in the neck of the retort.
The alkaline hyperoxymuriates, but especially that
of potash, produce a violent detonation with this metal.
Three parts of this salt, mixed with one of tin in fine
powder, rapidly deflagrates when brought into contact
with a burning body. During this combustion, there
is a brilliant and sudden flame, and the metal is redu¬
ced to the state of vapour. The same mixture by per¬
cussion produces a violent detonation with a consider¬
able flame in the dark.
Many of the metallic solutions and metallic salts are
decomposed by means of tin, and are either reduced to
the metallic state, or deprived of a considerable por¬
tion of their oxygen.
1817
Arsenic.
1818
Cobalt.
1819
Bismuth.
1820
Antimony.
iSat
Mercury.
III. Alloys.
1. Tin and arsenic form an alloy by fusion. The com¬
pound, when the proportion of arsenic is considerable,
is white, brittle, more sonorous and harder than tin. In
the proportion of 15 parts of tin and one of arsenic, the
alloy crystallizes in large plates, is more infusible than
tin, and more brittle than zinc. By exposure to the
air, and with the assistance of heat, the arsenic is dri¬
ven off.
2. With cobalt tin forms an alloy which is in small
grains, and of a light violet colour.
3. Tin combines with bismuth. The tin is then
harder, more sonorous and brighter. The compound in
certain proportions becomes more fusible than either of
the two metals. The alloy of equal parts of tin and
bismuth melts at 280°. Eight parts of tin and two of
bismuth melt at 390°, and two of tin and one of bis¬
muth at 330°.
4. Tin combines with antimony, and forms an alloy
which is white and brittle, and has a specific gravity
less than that of the two metals taken separately. The
antimony gives hardness to the tin, and changes its tex¬
ture. This alloy is employed in many arts, and par¬
ticularly for the plates on which music is engraved.
5. Tin combines very readily with mercury, and in
all proportions. The tin is even dissolved when the
quantity of mercury is considerable. This union takes
place in the cold, but it is greatly promoted by means
qf heat. The heated mercury is poured upon the tin
3
in fusion. The amalgam of tin is susceptible of crys- Tin! $
tallization in the form of cubes. Sage observed the y-
crystals of this amalgam in gray brilliant plates, thin
towards the edges, and leaving between them polygonal
cavities.
This amalgam is employed for covering mirrors.
In applying it, tinfoil is spread on a smooth flat stone
or table, and mercury, in which a certain proportion
of tin has been already dissolved, is poured upon it.
It is then spread equally over the whole with a feather
or a piece of cloth. The plate of glass, one side of
which is to be covered, is then applied to the edge of
the table, and cautiously moved along the tinfoil, so
that the redundant part of the mercury may be carried
before it. What remains enters into union rvitb the
tin. The glass is then to be equally loaded with
weights, to press out any part of the mercury which
may yet remain uncombined with the tin. In the
course of a few hours the amalgam of the two metals
adheres so firmly to the glass, that the weights may be
removed. ^
6. Zinc readily forms an alloy with tin by fusion. Zinc.
The compound affords a hard metal with small grains,
the ductility of which corresponds to the quantity of
tin. The alloy of tin and zinc forms part of the com¬
pound which is known by the name of pewter. jgn
Tin is applied to a great many important purposes.Utes.
In the arts and domestic economy, it is formed into a
great variety of vessels and instruments. The alloys of
tin with other metals are not less important. It forms
a component part of type metal, and bell metal. The
oxides of tin are employed for the purpose of polishing
glass and metallic substances, and combined with the
earths and alkalies for the fabrication offenamels. The
salts of tin are employed for the preparation of colours
in dyeing, or as a valuable mordant for fixing certain
colours. Tin in the metallic state has been exhibited
as a remedy against worms. It is then granulated by
constant agitation while it cools after fusion ; but it is
supposed, if it produces any effect as a vermifuge me¬
dicine, that it is merely by its mechanical action.
Sect. XIX. Of Lead and its Combinations.
182
1. Lead has been known from the earliest ages.
Pliny speaks of it under the name of black lead, pro¬
bably to distinguish it from tin, with the properties of
which he was also acquainted, for he observes that it
was sometimes the practice to contaminate tin with
lead. 1S2
2. Lead is found in great abundance in many partso»«s-
of the world, and in a great variety of farms and com¬
binations. Lead has rarely, if ever, been found native,
and it is doubted whether it has yet been discovered in
the state of oxide. The most common form of lead is
in the state of sulphuret, when it is combined with sul¬
phur. In this state it is of a gray, brilliant colour, of
a lamellated texture, very brittle, and breaks into cubes.
This is the most frequent combination of lead, and it is
generally found in this state in veins. Lead is also
frequently met with combined with several of the acids.
The carbonate, phosphate, and arseniate of lead are not
uncommon pi’oductions in the cavities of the veins of
sulpburet of lead. The chromate, molybdate, and sul¬
phate of lead, are more rare.
3. The
u
I'm
CHEMISTRY.
827
I Gerties.
j 1828
i on of
1
1S29
' iation.
1830
■J oside
1S31
low.
183?
3. The sulphuret of lead, which is the most common
ore, is reduced by roasting, and then fusing with black
flux. The other ores of lead are to be analyzed ac¬
cording to the nature of the acid wTith which they are
combined. To obtain lead in a state of purity, it may
be dissolved in nitric acid, and precipitated by means
of sulphate of soda. The precipitate, which is sulphate
of lead, is well washed, and reduced in a crucible, by
fusing it with three times its weight of black flux.
4. Lead is of a grayish or bluish white colour. It
has considerable brilliancy, but it soon tarnishes when
exposed to the air. The specific gravity of lead is
11.352. It gives out a peculiar odour when it is
rubbed ; it has at first scarcely any perceptible taste *,
but a disagreeable impression after some time remains
on the tongue. When it is taken internally, it produces
violent effects on the animal economy, even in very
small quantity. The colica pictonum or dry belly-ach
of the West Indies, or, as it is called in this country,
mill-reek, which is a violent affection of the bowels, is
occasioned by this metal being taken internally, either
combined with some liquid, or in the state of vapour.
This terrible disease often terminates in palsy. Lead
stains the finger or paper of a bluish colour. It is one
of the softest of the metals. It may be scratched with
the nail or cut with a knife. It possesses considerable
malleabilitv, and may be reduced to plates thinner
than paper. It has no great ductility, and its tenacity
is less than that of the other metals. A lead wire of
about ttt of an inch in diameter can support only a
weight of about 18 lb.
5. Lead is very fusible. It melts at the tempera¬
ture of 540°, or, according to the estimation of Guy¬
ton, at 5940. When it is kept a long time melted,
and at a red heat, it sublimes, and evaporates in the
air. By slow cooling it crystallizes in quadrangular
pyramids composed of octahedrons.
6. When lead is exposed to the air, it soon tar¬
nishes, is deprived of its lustre, and becomes first of a
deep gray, and afterwards of a grayish white colour j
but this process is extremely slow, for the white crust
which is formed on the surface defends the metal from
the action of the air, and its farther oxidation by ab¬
sorption of oxygen.
When lead is melted in the open air, and heat con-
tinued, an iridescent pellicle is formed on the surface,
which afterwards assumes a uniform gray colour. When
this is removed, another pellicle is formed, and in this
way the whole may be converted into an oxide. W hen
these pellicles are heated and agitated together, the
whole is converted into a grayish powder, mixed with
yellowish or greenish spots. This is the gray oxide of
lead, which is the first state of its oxidation.
When the gray oxide of lead is more strongly heat¬
ed in contact with air, it absorbs a greater quantity of
oxygen, and is converted into a yellow oxide, which
is known in the arts by the name of massicot. It
contains about nine parts of oxygen in the hundred.
This oxide, which is much employed in some of the
arts, is prepared in the large way, by constantly agi¬
tating it while heated, in contact with air, without ap-
plying so great a heat as to reduce the metal to the
state of the next oxide.
If this oxide of lead be reduced to a fine powder,
659
and exposed to a strong heat in a furnace for about Lead, &c.
50 or 60 hours, it is converted into a red powder,
which is well known by the name of minium, or red
lead. The heat necessary for this conversion is that of
a cherry-red, in a reverberatory furnace.
Lead is susceptible of combining with another por- Brown,
tion of oxygen, and of forming another oxide. If a
quantity of red oxide of lead, according to the pro¬
cess of Proust and Vauquelin, be put into a vessel with
water, and oxymuriatic acid gas be passed through it,
the oxide assumes a deeper colour, and is dissolved.
By adding potash to the solution, the lead is precipi¬
tated of a brown colour, which is the brown oxide of
lead. It is of a shining brown colour, and is com¬
posed of
Lead 79
Oxygen 21
100
By the action of the blow-pipe it becomes yellow, and
melts. On burning coals it is reduced, and when
heated in a retort, gives out pure oxygen gas, and is
converted into a vitreous matter. It inflames sulphur
by triturating it with the oxide, and gives out a bright
flame. # # 1S34
7. When lead has been converted into an oxide, and Litharge,
when this oxide is exposed to a more violent heat, it
melts into a kind of glass, or semivitrified matter. In
this state it is known by the name of litharge. It con¬
sists of small reddish brilliant scales, which from the co¬
lour is called litharge of gold. When it has been exposed
to a greater degree of heat, and is more vitrified, it is
distinguished by the name of litharge of silver.
8. There is no action between lead and azote, hy¬
drogen or carbon. Water has no action on lead, but
it seems to promote the oxidation of this metal, when
it is in contact with air. Leaden vessels which are
frequently moistened with water, are covered with a
white crust when exposed to the air.
9. Lead combines with phosphorus, and forms with Phoiphu-
it a phosphuret. This may be prepared by projecting rtt.
phosphorus on lead melted in a crucible, or by distilling
phosphorus with lead in a retort. The phosphuret of
lead is of a silvery white colour, with a little of a
bluish shade. It is of a lamellated structure, and may
be separated in plates by hammering. It is so soft
that it may be cut with a knife. It is somewhat less
fusible than the component parts. During its fusion,
a small quantity of phosphorus separates, and takes lg^5
fire on the surface. The component parts of this Composi-
phosphuret are, tion*
Lead 88
Phosphorus 12
100
1837
10. Sulphur combines readily with lead, either by Sulphuret.
melting sulphur and lead together in a crucible, or by
throwing sulphur on melted lead. A black matter is
thus obtained, of a brilliant appearance, fibrous texture,
and less fusible than lead. This compound is brittle,
and resembles the native sulphuret of lead, or galena.
The component parts of this sulphuret are,
4 O 2 Lead
66o
CHEMISTRY.
Lead, 8cc.
lS39
Prepara¬
tion.
1S40
Composi¬
tion.
* Min.
Wat. p.
274.
f assays,
d. 131.
Tnmst.
1841
Prepara¬
tion.
Lead 86.8
Sulphur 13.2
100.0
1S3S
Affinities,
II. Lead enters into combination with the metals,
and forms alloys, and with the acids, and forms salts.
The order of the affinities of lead and of its oxide is the
following :
Lead.
Oxide of Lead.
Gold,
Silver,
Copper,
Mercury,
Bismuth,
Tin,
Antimony,
Platinum,
Arsenic,
Zinc,
Nickel,
Iron,
Sulphur.
Sulphuric acid,
Saclactic,
Oxalic,
Arsenic,
Tartaric,
Muriatic,
Phosphoric,
Sulphurous,
Suberic,
Nitric,
Fluoric,
Citric,
Lactic,
Acetic,
Boracic,
Prussic,
Carbonic.
I. Salts of Lead.
I. Sulphate of Lead.
Sulphuric acid has no action on lead in the cold ;
but when lead is boiled with the acid concentrated, it
decomposes it, and sulphurous acid gas is disengaged
with effervescence. The lead is converted into a white
thick mass, which remains at the bottom of the vessel.
Sulphate of lead may also be obtained by adding sul¬
phuric acid or an alkaline sulphate to acetate of lead.
This salt is precipitated in the state of a white powrder.
The white mass obtained by the first process, being
washed with water, separates into two portions, one of
which is oxide of lead containing a little sulphuric acid,
and the other portion, which is sulphate of lead, is so¬
luble in w'ater, and may be obtained crystallized in
needles. The specific gravity of this salt is 1.8742. It
has scarcely any taste. It is found native, and cry¬
stallized in regular octahedrons, or four-sided pyramids,
or transparent tables. The component parts of native
sulphate of lead are, according to
Oxide
Acid
Water
Kirvvan.
75.OO
23*37
1.63
Klaproth.
70.50
25*75
2.25
100.00*
98.50+
This salt is deprived of great part of its acid by
means of the alkalies.
2. Sulphite of Lead.
Sulphurous acid has no action on lead ; but it com¬
bines readily with the oxide of lead, with a ^nailer
proportion of oxygen. The red oxide of lead, added
2
to liquid sulphurous acid, soon becomes white; the Xead i
acid is deprived of its colour, and there is formed a v——^
saline mass of sulphate and sulphite of lead. The sul¬
phite of lead cannot be obtained separately, but by
treating the white oxide of lead separated from the
nitrate by means of sulphurous acid. The sulphite of „
lead is tasteless and insoluble. By the action of the Action*
blow-pipe on charcoal, it melts, gives out a phosphoric heat, j
flame, and becomes of a pale yellow colour on cooling.
When it is heated for a longer time, it swells up, and
is entirely reduced to the metallic state. When distilled
in close vessels, it gives out water, sulphurous acid, and
sulphur, and there remains behind, sulphate of lead of
a greenish yellow colour. It is decomposed with ef¬
fervescence and the evolution of sulphurous acid, by lg I
means of sulphuric and muriatic acid. It is not de-Decomjj
composed by nitric acid, but is converted into a sul-sition. j
phate, and red fumes of nitrous gas are given out. If,
in place of treating the red oxide with sulphurous acid,
this oxide be exposed to a red heat, along with sulphite
of soda, the oxide is reduced, and the sulphite of soda
is converted into a sulphate, but with excess of soda,
because the sulphuric acid formed, cannot saturate the
same quantity of soda. Hence it appears, that the
red oxide of lead gives up part of its oxygen to the
sulphurous acid when it is uncombined, and the whole
of its oxygen to the acid, when it is in combination
with potash or soda *. *
3. Nitrate of Lead.
1. Nitric acid, a little diluted with water, acts uponp^^.l
lead, oxidates it, and dissolves it with effervescence, tion.
If the acid be too strong, there remains behind a dry
oxide. This oxide is equally soluble in nitric acid.
No precipitate is formed in the solution by the ad¬
dition of water. It has at first a sweetish, then an as¬
tringent, acid taste. By evaporating the solution, it
affords on cooling, regular crystals in the form of flat
triangles $ and by slow, spontaneous evaporation, the
angles are truncated. Sometimes six-sided truncated lS45
pyramids are obtained, with the faces alternately broad Propertl
and narrow. These crystals decrepitate strongly on
burning coals, and give out brilliant sparks. The
salt is decomposed, and a yellow or red oxide of lead
remains behind. Nitrate of lead is decomposed by the
alkalies, and precipitated in the form of white oxide.
It is precipitated of a black colour, by means of the
sulphurets and hydrosulphurets ; it is also decomposed
by sulphuric acid and the sulphates, which form a thick,
white, soluble precipitate of sulphate of lead. Sulphur¬
ous acid also precipitates this salt in the form of sul¬
phate of lead.
2. The former salt is a compound of nitric acid and with d*
the yellow oxide 5 but when nitric acid combines with white ox
the white oxide, the salt crystallizes in yellow colour-^
ed brilliant scales, which are very soluble in water.
This salt may also be prepared by boiling together a
quantity of nitrate of lead with the yellow oxide, along
with lead in the metallic state. The lead deprives the
yellow oxide of part of its oxygen, and the whole is
converted into the white oxide, and combines with the
acid.
3. But if nitric acid be poured on the red oxide of Action*)
lead, heat is produced, the oxide becomes white, part red
is dissolved, and part falls to the bottom in the form of
■
1846
1S47
1*::
-•
.
:lfit
C H E M
j J, See. a black powder. Tills powder Is the brown oxide of
w Y—lead, with the greatest proportion of oxygen, part of
which it has derived from the red oxide, which is then
converted into the white. About ® of the red oxide
are dissolved in the acid, but are previously reduced to
the state of white oxide, and the oxygen which has
been given out, combines with the remaining and
converts it to the state of brown oxide. Thus it ap¬
pears, that the red and the brown oxides of lead do not
form compounds with nitric acid. They must be de¬
prived of a portion of their oxygen, and converted in¬
to the white or yellow oxides, before they are soluble
in this acid.
ii£
n.
'■:k
47
P ira-
ti
*h
it
[: 4s
'.;A C( osi.
til
4. Muriate of Lead.
I. Muriatic acid acts feebly on lead or its oxide j but
when it is heated with the latter, part of the oxide
combines with the acid, becomes soluble with excess
of acid, and affords crystals in the form of shining silky
needles, which are not deliquescent in the air, but are
soluble in water, and have an astringent taste. This
salt may be formed by adding an alkaline muriate to a
solution of nitrate of lead. A white thick precipitate
is immediately formed. The muriate of lead thus ob¬
tained, has a sweetish taste, and is soluble in about 30
times its weight of water. When heated, it readily
melts, and gives out a white vapour, which condenses
into a crystalline powder. When this salt is melted,
it assumes the appearance of a semivitreous, shining,
grayish mass, which has been caUed plumbum corneum,
or horny lead. This salt is decomposed by sulphuric
acid. Its component parts are, according to
Klaproth. Kirwan.
Acid 13.5 18.23
Oxide of lead 86.5 81.77
100.0 100.00
LI 49
red 2. When muriatic acid is slightly heated with the
red oxide of lead, the acid is converted into oxymuri-
atic acid ; while the oxide, deprived of part of its oxy¬
gen, unites to another portion of the acid, and forms
muriate of lead in the state of white powder.
5. Hyperoxymuriate of Lead.
.ra¬
ta:
de.
Pr
Ji
rties.
|W
When oxymuriatic acid gas is made to pass through
water, having a white, yellow, or red oxide of lead, it is
absorbed. The oxide becomes at first black or brown,
and is then dissolved. The hyperoxymuriate which is
formed, remains in solution of a yellow colour. This
solution being precipitated with potash or soda, the
oxide of lead is deposited, of a reddish brown colour.
This salt may be obtained by pouring oxymuriatic acid
on nitrate of lead. No precipitate is at first formed, but
in the end a brownish red powder appeal’s. This salt
is more soluble than muriate of lead, and is readily de¬
composed. The brown oxide of lead, which is ob¬
tained by decomposing this salt, according to the experi¬
ments of Vauquelin, possesses very different properties
from those of the other oxides of this metal. It is of
a deep, shining, velvet-brown colour. Heated with the
blow-pipe, it becomes yellow, and melts. On red-hot
coals it is reduced j it gives out pure hydrogen gas,
when it is heated in a retort, and there remains behind
a litharge of lead. It dissolves in nitrous acid, but is
IS TR Y. 661
insoluble in nitric acid. The addition of sugar, honey, Lead, &.c.
or some vegetable matter, by depriving it of part of its 1 " v 1 1 *
oxygen, renders it soluble in this acid.
6. Fluate of Lead.
This salt may be formed by pouring a solution of an
alkaline fluate into a solution of nitrate of lead. An
insoluble insipid salt is thus formed, which is decom¬
posed by sulphuric, nitric, and muriatic acids.
7. Borate of Lead.
This salt is formed in the same way as the last, and
is in the state of white powder. It melts before the
blow-pipe, into a colourless glass.
8. Phosphate of Lead.
1. Liquid phosphoric acid acts very slowly upon Prepara-
lead, and converts it into a white, insoluble phosphate, tion.
It may be formed, however, by adding an alkaline
phosphate to the nitrate of lead. With an excess of
acid this salt becomes fusible by heat, and when it
cools, assumes the form of regular polyhedrons. It is
decomposed by red-hot charcoal, which converts it
into phosphorus and lead, while the carbon of the char¬
coal is converted into carbonic acid. It is decompos¬
ed by sulphuric, nitric, and muriatic acids, and by the
alkaline carbonates.
2. This salt is frequently found native, crystallized Native.3
in six-sided prisms, of a green or yellow colour. It is
soluble in pure soda, but insoluble in water. The
component parts of a phosphate of lead from Wanlock-
head in Scotland, according to the analysis of Kla¬
proth, are the following:
Oxide of lead
Phosphoric acid
Muriatic
80.00
18.00
1.62
99.62
9. Carbonate of Lead.
* Essays,
ii. 125.
Trcmsi.
1S54
1. Carbonic acid which has no action on lead, com-Prepara-
bines with its oxide j which is converted into the car- lion*
bonate of lead j or this salt may be prepared by the de¬
composition of a soluble salt of lead by an alkaline car¬
bonate. Thus precipitated, it is in the state of white
powder, which has neither taste nor smell, and is in¬
soluble in water, but it is soluble in pure potash. lS-_
2. This salt is frequently found native, of a whitish Native."
colour, and crystallized in tables, in six-sided prisms,
or in regular octahedrons. The specific gravity is
7.2357. It is insoluble in water. By the action of
the blow-pipe on charcoal, the acid is driven off, and
the lead is revived. The component parts of carbo-
nate of lead are, according to
Bergman.
Acid 16
Yellow oxide 84
IOO
Klaproth.
i6-33
83.67
100.00 -
1S56
3. Ceruse, or white lead, which is employed as a White lead
paint, is a carbonate of lead, combined with a certain
proportion
662
CHEMISTEY.
Lead, &c. proportion of oxide. It is prepared by exposing thin
1 11" plates of lead to the vapour of vinegar. A range of
pots are placed on tanners bark, or horse dung, that
they may receive a moderate heat. These are covered
with plates of lead, which are full of holes. Another
range of pots is placed above these, covered in like
manner with plates of lead, and so on, till the whole
chamber is tilled. The acid is decomposed 5 part of
the lead remains in the state of oxide, while the great¬
est pj-oportion is converted into a carbonate, which is
the white lead of commerce.
1857
Composi¬
tion.
10. Arseniate of Lead.
When lead is digested in a solution of arsenic acid,
the surface is blackened, and becomes covered with
a white powder. When lead filings are distilled with
double their weight of solid arsenic acid, the mixture
melts into a transparent mass. A small quantity of
arsenious acid is separated, and there remains behind a
whitish glass, which being diluted wdth water, lets fall
a white powder, whilst part of the arsenic acid is dis¬
solved. The lead in this case has deprived the arsenic
acid of part of its oxygen, and in the state of white
oxide has combined with another portion of the acid.
The arseniate of lead is not soluble in water. By heat
it fuses into a white glass. This salt is found native,
and by the analysis of Mr Chenevix it is composed of
Acid 33
White oxide 63
Water 4
' ICO
11. Tungstate of Lead.
Tungstic acid separates the oxide of lead from its so¬
lution in nitric acid, and forms a tungstate of lead, in
the form of a white powder.
12. Molybdate of Lead.
When molybdic acid is add'fed to the solution of lead
in nitric acid, it forms a copious white precipitate,
which is molybdate of lead. This salt is found native,
and crystallized in cubes or rhomboidal plates. It is of
a yellow colour, insoluble in water, but soluble in fixed
alkalies and nitric acid. It is decomposed by muriatic
acid. The component parts, as ascertained by Kla¬
proth, are,
Acid 34.7
Oxide 65.3
100.0
13. Chromate of Lead.
An alkaline chromate mixed with the solution of
nitrate ol lead, iorms a precipitate in the state of red
powder, which is chromate of lead. This salt is
found native, of a reddish yellow colour, and crystal¬
lized in four-sided prisms, terminated by four-sided
pyramids. The specific gravity is about 6. It is so¬
luble in the fixed alkalies, but insoluble in water. It
is decomposed by muriatic and sulphuric acids, but
dissolves without decomposition in nitric acid. Ac¬
cording to the analysis of Vauquelin, it is composed Lead,
of -v 1
Acid
Oxide
34-9
65.1
100.0
14. Acetate of Lead.
l8* '
1. The combination of acetic acid and lead was for-Named
merly known by the names of extract of Saturn, salt of
Saturn, sugar of Saturn, or sugar of lead. This acid
oxidates lead, and dissolves the oxides with great faci- lS,
lity. It is formed by dissolving carbonate of lead orPrepsu
ceruse in acetic acid, or by exposing thin plates of leadtion. I
to the action of acetic acid in earthen vessels. After
the acid has been sufficiently saturated, and the solution
concentrated by evaporation, the acetate of lead is de¬
posited in small crystals. igJ
2. This salt is in the form of small crystals, which Propm i
are fiat, four-sided prisms, terminated by two-sided sum¬
mits. It has an astringent sweetish taste. The speci¬
fic gravity is 2.345. It is not very soluble in water,
without an excess of acid. It undergoes no change by
exposure to the air. By its solution in water, a small
quantity is deposited in the form of white powder, which
is a carbonate of lead, formed by the carbonic acid
which exists in the water.
• 1 gill
3. Acetate of lead is decomposed by sulphuric, mu-Decony
riatic, fluoric, and phosphoric acids. It is decomposed tion.
by heat. By distillation it affords, according to the
experiments of Proust, from 160 parts of the salt 12
parts of slightly acidulated water j with a greater heat,
72 parts of a yellow liquid, having the odour of alco¬
hol, which had something of an empyreumatic smell.
Ammonia was disengaged, by adding lime to the li¬
quid ; and when the liquid was saturated with potash,
and remained at rest for 24 hours, a third part of oil
separated, and floated on the surface. This oil, which
had a strong odour, was removed, and the liquid di¬
stilled with a moderate heat. The first part that came
over mixed with water like alcohol, and was almost as
volatile as ether. When it was brought into contact
with a burning body, it gave out a white flame.
15. Oxalate of Lead.
Oxalic acid very readily tarnishes lead, and at last
corrodes it. It readily dissolves the oxideand when
it is saturated, the solution becomes thick, and deposits
small shining crystals, which becomes readily opaque
by exposure to the air. This salt may be formed by
pouring oxalic acid into the solutions of nitrate, mu¬
riate, or acetate of lead. It is scarcely soluble in wa¬
ter, without an excess of acid. The component parts
are.
Acid
Oxide
41.2
58.8
100.0
16. Tartrate of Lead.
Tartaric acid combines with the oxide of lead, or
forms a precipitate in the state of an insoluble white
powder,
C H E M
‘i L* [ 11, &e. powder, from the solution of lead in nitric and muriatic
S w y—' acids. It is composed of
Acid 34
White oxide v 66
100*.
17. Tartrate of Potash and Lead.
•Ni| H This triple salt is obtained by boiling the oxide of
f I lead in tartar with water. It is insoluble, and is not
d I decomposed by the alkalies.
* n. de
If. ,
a.
3:
rftte
d til
r
n
18. Nitrate of Lead.
By adding citric acid to a solution of acetate of lead,
a citrate of lead precipitates in the form of powder,
which is scarcely soluble in water.
19. Malate of Lead.
This salt is obtained by adding malic acid to a solu¬
tion of the nitrate or acetate of lead. The malate of
lead precipitates in the form of fine light flakes. It is
soluble in acetic and diluted nitric acids.
20. Benzoate of Lead.
Benzoic acid has but a feeble action on lead. By
evaporating the solution, crystals of a brilliant white
colour are obtained, which are benzoate of lead. This
salt undergoes no change by exposure to the air, is so¬
luble in water and alcohol, is decomposed by beat, and
by the sulphuric and muriatic acids.
21. Succinate of Lead.
Succinic acid combines with the yellow oxide of lead,
and yields slender foliated crystals, which are nearly
insoluble in water, but soluble in nitric acid.
22. Saccolate of Lead.
When saclactic acid is added to solution of nitrate of
lead, a white precipitate is obtained, which is saccolate
of lead.
23. Suberate of Lead.
Suberic acid forms a precipitate when added to the
solution of lead in acetic and nitric acids.
24. Lactate of Lead.
Lactic acid, after it has been digested upon lead
for some days, dissolves a portion of it. The solu¬
tion has a sweet, astringent taste, but it does not crys¬
tallize.
II. Action of the Alkalies, &c. on Lead.
1. The alkalies and earths have no action whatever
on lead. The alkalies, however, promote its oxidation
by the air, on account of the attraction which they pos¬
sess for the oxide of lead.
2. The alkalies and alkaline earths unite readily
with the oxide of lead. Lime water digested some time
with oxide of lead in the state of litharge, dissolves this
oxide better than the red. When the solution is eva¬
porated, it affords small, transparent, iridescent crys¬
tals, not more soluble than lime. The alkaline sul¬
phates decompose this compound of oxide of lead and
I S T R Y. 663
lime. It is also decomposed by sulphurated hydrogen Lead, 8tf.
gas, and by sulphuric and muriatic acids, which latter —y——'
convert the lead into a sulphate and muriate. This
solution blackens wool, the nails, hair, the white of an
egg j but has no action, and produces no change, on
silk, on the skin, or the yolk of an egg. It has been
observed, that the simple mixture of red oxide of lead
and of lime, which latter converts it to white, produ¬
ces a black colour on animal matters. It is sometimes
employed for dyeing the hair. It had formerly been
observed by Bergman, that the caustic fixed alkalies
dissolve the oxide of lead, which takes place when these
bodies are added in excess to the precipitate of this me¬
tal from its solution.
3. The earths, but especially alumina and silica, rea-Earths,
dily combine with the red oxide of lead, by the action
of heat; and, when the proportion of oxide is consider¬
able, the compound is a heavy, uniform, vitreous mass,
which has been called glass of lead. It is on account
of the strong tendency of the oxide of lead to vitrifi¬
cation, and which it communicates to earthy matters,
that it is employed in the composition of glass in the
proportion of from ^ to This oxide was only em¬
ployed formerly, for the preparation of enamels, and
for glazing pottery and stone ware ; but it is now ge¬
nerally used after the example of the English manufac¬
turers, in the fabrication of glass, in most countries of
Europe. # lS<js
4. Lead has no action on the sulphates. It burns Sulphates,
slowly with the assistance of the nitrates. When nitre, &c.
in the state of fine potvder, is thrown into melted lead,
raised to a red heat, there is scarcely any perceptible
flame; and, when the action has ceased, the oxide is
found in small yellowish semivitrified scales, similar to
those of litharge. lS(W
5. There is a perceptible action between lead and Muriates,
the muriates, some of which have given rise to several
important processes in chemistry, and in the arts. It
had been long observed, that a plate of lead immersed
in water, saturated with muriate of soda, was soon co¬
vered with a crust of white oxide. It was also known,
that the red oxide of mercury and litharge became
white when kept in contact with muriate of soda dis¬
solved in water. This process, which is promoted by
agitation, is one of the great desiderata of modern che¬
mistry, to be able to decompose common salt for the
purpose of obtaining the soda. It was at first supposed,
that this was a partial decomposition, from which a
small quantity of muriate of lead only was obtained ;
that the decomposition was aided by beat; and that it
was by this process that a brilliant yellow muriate of
lead, much employed in painting under the name of
English yellow, was prepared.
This subject has been greatly elucidated by the ex-j>ee0nij>0.
periments and researches of Vauquelin. He took seven sition of
parts of litharge reduced to powder, and one of mu-mur*atc of
riate of soda, mixed together, and moistened with a suf-*01^
ficient quantity of water, to reduce them to the liquid
state, and then agitated the mixture for several hours
to promote the reciprocal action. The oxide became
white, and increased in volume, and the mixture ab¬
sorbing the water, became of a more solid consistence.
Having added new quantities of water during four
days, and diluted the whole in seven or eight parts of
this
r
e
664
CHEMISTRY.
Lead, Sec. this liquid, it was filtered. The liquid, which was
now sensibly alkaline, contained a little muriate of
lead, but no trace of muriate of soda. When it was
evaporated to x%- of its bulk, it yielded crystals of car¬
bonate of soda, which were opaque, by being contami¬
nated with muriate of lead. The oxide of lead which
remained, had increased about -g- of the weight 5 it be¬
came of a fine citron-yellow colour, with a moderate
heat, and lost 0.025 *ts weight. It w'as insoluble in
water. Soda dissolved a portion of this oxide, as did
also diluted nitric acid. By this means the muriate of
lead was separated pure and crystallized 5 and the mass
which remained after the action of muriate of soda and
lead, exhibited the characters of a muriate of lead con¬
taining an excess of oxide.
From these experiments Vauquelin concludes, that
the litharge which has been employed in the decompo¬
sition of sea salt, is a muriate of lead with excess of
oxide $ that the caustic alkalies dissolve this salt, but
do not decompose it; that the affinity of muriate of
lead for an excess of the oxide of this metal, is the
cause of the decomposition of muriate of soda by means
of litharge $ that the excess of oxide gives to the muri¬
ate of lead the property of assuming a brilliant yellow
colour by heat, a property which the simple muriate of
lead does not possess ; that the same excess of lead ren¬
ders it insoluble in water, and that this excess may be
taken up by the nitric acid, which reduces it to the
state of ordinary muriate of lead. The same philoso¬
pher has confirmed these inferences, by shewing that,
caustic soda decomposes the common muriate of lead,
only by bringing it to the state of muriate with excess
of oxide, which is characterized by being in the form of
powder, and the yellow colour, which is communicat¬
ed byr heat, and its decomposition by nitric acid, which
converts it into nitrate ol lead, and simple muriate of
lead. Thus, it appears, that the oxide of lead decom¬
poses the muriate of soda, by double affinity ; namely,
by the affinity of the oxide for muriatic acid, and that
of the muriate of lead for an excess of oxide. A con¬
siderable quantity of the latter, therefore, is necessary
for the complete decomposition. Five-sixths, at least,
iS63 are required to form the muriate with excess of oxide.
mnmonia.0 Lit!ia.rge then decomposes sea salt completely, when in
sufficient quantity, while soda only decomposes the mu¬
riate ef lead partially, and reduces it to the state of mu¬
riate with excess of oxide; but the carbonate of soda
efitets the entire decomposition of this salt.
6. The decomposition of muriate of ammonia by
lead, and^ especially by its oxide, has been long
known. The oxides of lead triturated with this salt
in a mortar in the cold, disengage ammonia, which is
very perceptible by its smell. By distilling a mixture
ol one part of red oxide of lead and two of muriate of
ammonia in a retort, very pure caustic ammonia is
obtained. . If the red oxide has remained for any
length ol time exposed to the air, it gives out, during
the process, a little carbonate of ammonia. The hy-
peroxymuriate of potash produces a detonation with
lead. A mixture of three parts of this salt with one
ol lead, gives out a vivid flame by percussion. The
Oilier salts, as the phosphates, fluates, &c. have no ef¬
fect on lead. By the action of the blow-pipe, they
combine with its oxides, and form yellowish, or gray,
opaque, or transparent glasses.
III. Alloys.
Lead, {
J. Lead combines with arsenic by fusion, and the
compound is a brittle lamellated alloy. When the ar
oxides of these metals are combined together by means mc‘
of heat, a vitreous mass of a red colour is formed.
2. The alloys of lead with tungsten, molybdena, and
the newly discovered metals, are not known. j
3. Cobalt seems to have little affinity for lead.Cobalt
Equal parts of the two metals being fused together,
were found, when the mass cooled, to be in separate
masses. The heaviest metal occupied the inferior part
of the vessel, and the lighter the upper part. An alloy
of lead and cobalt has been formed by introducing co¬
balt in powder within plates of lead, and covering them
with charcoal, to exclude the air. A brittle mass,
which assumed a better polish than lead, was obtained
from equal parts of the two metals, by the application
of heat. The two metals in different proportions afford¬
ed an alloy which differed in hardness, specific gravity,
and malleability, according as the one or the other
metal predominated. j
4. Lead forms with bismuth an alloy of a close grain, Bismuth*
and a dark gray colour. This alloy, when the bismuth
is not in great proportion, possesses considerable duc¬
tility. Bismuth has the property of increasing the tena¬
city of lead. The specific gravity of the alloy of lead
and bismuth is greater than the mean. jgA
5. When lead is combined with one-eighth of itsAiitimwl
weight of antimony', it forms an alloy which possesses
great tenacity. When they are combined in equal
parts, the alloy is very brittle. Two parts of lead
with one of antimony, give a brittle alloy in small
grains similar to those of iron. Four parts of lead
with one of antimony, afford an alloy of greater duc¬
tility, and in larger grains. Four parts of lead with
one-half of antimony, give a very soft metal in fine
grains like steel, and having the same colour. The
alloy of 16 parts of lead and one of antimony, differs
only from lead in hardness. This alloy has a greater
specific gravity than the mean, and possesses consider¬
able tenacity. It is employed in the fabrication of
printing types. _ _ lSJ
6. Mercury combines with lead very readily, andMercurl
in all proportions. An amalgam of lead and mercury
may be formed by triturating the former in filings
with the latter; or, by adding heated mercury to
lead in fusion. This amalgam varies in solidity, ac¬
cording to the proportion of the two metals. It is of
a white colour, is altered by exposure to the air, and
aftords crystals by cooling. The mercury is driven
off by strong beat, and when it is triturated with water,
a black powder, which is oxide of lead, separates.
The amalgam of lead and mercury becomes very
liquid, when it is triturated with the amalgam of bis- ,$7!
muth. lo equal parts of lead and bismuth melted inandbU-J
an iron vessel, half the quantity of the whole mass ofmutlu
hot fluid mercury was added, and the mixture was
agitated til! it cooled. A fluid amalgam was thus ob¬
tained, which does not become solid by rest, or expo¬
sure to the air, and which almost entirely passes
through leather like mercury itself. This liquidity of
lead and bismuth is ascribed to their increased capacity
for caloric in a state of combination. When mercury
is thus sophisticated, it may be detected by observing
the
ron, &c
1875
1877
ider.
187S
1 and|
muth.
1879
E8 of
d, &c.
1SS0
tory.
881
y abun-
t.
C H E M
the smaller specific gravity, and subjecting it to the
test formerly mentioned, of pouring it along a smooth
surface, when it is found to drag a tail.
7. An alloy of zinc and lead in equal parts is hard¬
er and whiter than lead, and is malleable. The lead
is rendered volatile by the zinc, while the latter is in
the proportion of IC5 or 12 parts to one of the former ;
but if the zinc be in smaller proportion, it separates
from the lead. The specific gravities of the alloys of
zinc and lead are said to be greater than the mean of
the two metals.
8. Lead combines with tin in all proportions.
Lead, in general, is found to increase in density and
hardness, when alloyed with tin. Three or four parts
of tin with one of lead, according to Muschenbroek,
form an alloy which possesses twice the hardness of
pure tin. The alloy of three parts of tin and one of
lead possesses the greatest tenacity of any proportion
of these metals. Two parts of lead and one of tin
compose an alloy which is more fusible than either of
the metals. This is the composition of common solder
Tinfoil is a compound of tin and lead $ and the sheet
lead employed for lining the 'boxes in which tea is
brought from China to Europe, contains a certain
portion of tin, which gives it hardness. This, how¬
ever, is also found to be alloyed with zinc and bis¬
muth.
One of the most singular alloys of lead is that with
bismuth and tin, which has been called, from its easy
fusibility, the fusible alloy. Eight parts of bismuth,
five of lead, and three of tin, are the proportions pro¬
posed by Darcet for this alloy, which is so fusible,
that it remarns liquid at the temperature of boiling
water. This alloy crystallizes by slow cooling.
Lead and its various preparations are applied to a
great variety of purposes in the arts. In the metallic
state it is employed in the construction of numerous
vessels. In the state*of oxide it is used as a paint, and
in the fabrication of enamels for porcelain and pottery,
and in the preparation of coloured glass and artificial
precious stones. Some of its salts are of great impor¬
tance in the arts, as the acetate in dyeing, and the
carbonate or ceruse in painting.
The greatest caution ought to be observed, how¬
ever, in the use of leaden vessels in domestic economy,
in which substances are preserved which are to be
taken internally, particularly those which contain acids
that are apt to dissolve the lead j and as the effects of
lead are so deleterious to the animal economy when
taken internally, this caution cannot be too strictly ob¬
served.
Sect. XX. Of Iron and its Combinations.
1. limn is one of the most important and most use¬
ful of the metals, and it is fortunately one of the most
abundant. It is supposed that it was not so early
known as some of the other metals, which, on ac¬
count of their scarcity and durability, have been held
in higher estimation, and dignified with the name of
precious metals. But perhaps the difficulty of extract¬
ing and working iron prevented it from being so gene¬
rally applied to those purposes to which, on account of
its valuable properties, it is peculiarly appropriated.
2. Iron, as it is the most useful of the metals, so,
. Vol. V. Part II. f
I S T K Y.
66
as it has been observed, it is the most abundant, and jron &;c
at the same time the most universally diffused. Iron 1 v 
exists in five different states, but in these it exhibits
the greatest variety of any other of the metals. It is
found in the metallic state ; in that of alloy with other
metals j in the state of sulphuret; in the state of ox¬
ide, and combined with the acids forming salts. iS8z
1. Iron has only been found native in insulated masses, Ores,
one of which, discovered by Pallas in Siberia, and
another, which was found in South America, long
occupied the attention of philosophers in speculations
and discussions concerning their origin. This point
remained unsettled till the discovery of numerous other
facts with regard to similar productions, which have
proved, whatever may have been their origin or mode
of formation, that these metallic masses have fallen
from the atmosphere. 2. Iron is frequently found in
the state of alloy with other metals j but in this state
it> is generally in very small proportion. 3. Combined
with sulphur. This compound, or sulphuret of iron,
which is known to mineralogists by the name of pyrites,
is a frequent production among the ores of iron. Sulphu¬
ret of iron is found crystallized in a great variety of
forms. Iron is also frequently found combined with car¬
bon. This compound, now distinguished by the name of
carburet of iron, was formerly known by the name of
black lead, or plumbago. 4. But the most ordinary
state of iron is that of oxide, and in this state it ex¬
hibits a great variety of forms. It is sometimes in ir¬
regular and insulated masses •, sometimes regularly
crystallized, and disposed in veins. 5. The native salts
of iron are very numerous. It has been found in the
state of sulphate, phosphate, carbonate, tungstate, and
prussiate, and there is reason to believe, that it exists
in combination with many other acids. jSS,
3. The method of assaying iron ores, or of extracting Analysis,
the metal froni these substances with which it is com¬
bined, varies according to the nature of the ore. It is
first reduced into powder, and exposed to heat, to se¬
parate the moisture or sulphur, or other volatile mat¬
ters. Four parts of the ore are then to be mixed with
an equal quantity of decrepitated muriate of soda, and
the same quantity of a mixture of equal parts of fluor
spar and lime, with one-half part of charcoal. This
mixture is exposed to a red heat in a crucible nearly
an hour, after which the iron is found in the metallic
state at the bottom of the crucible. In the humid
way, a given quantity of iron ore may be reduced to
powder, and digested with six parts of muriatic acid,
which combines with the iron, and other substances so¬
luble in that acid, but leaves the sulphur and siliceous
earth behind. The solution is then to be saturated
with potash, by which the iron is precipitated in the
state of oxide, along with the earths with which it had
combined. The - precipitate is to be well dried, and
subjected to a red-heat. It is then to be reduced to
powder, and digested with diluted nitric acid. The
acid combines with the earths, but leaves the iron, be¬
cause it is too highly oxidated to be soluble in this acid.
The oxide, after being well washed, is mixed with
charcoal, and.exposed to a strong heat in a crucible, by
which the oxygen is driven off', and the iron remains
behind in the metallic state. j-g
4. Iron has a peculiar metallic brilliancy. It is of Properties,
a grayish or bluish-white colour. The specific gravity
41? ° of
iSS5
Action of
C H E M I
of iron is from 7.6 to 7.89, and according to some,
even 8.16. It lias an astringent taste, and when it is
rubbed, gives out a peculiar smell. One of the singu¬
lar properties of iron, is that of possessing the magne¬
tic virtue, or of being attracted by the magnet. Iron
possesses a considerable degree ol malleability, but in
this property it is inferior to gold or silver. It is ex¬
tremely ductile. It may be drawn out into wire al¬
most as fine as hai . The tenacity of iron is very
great. A wire .078 of an inch in diameter will support
a weight, without breaking, equal to more than 50olbs.
¥ Annul. * avoirdupois *. The texture of iron seems to be fibrous,
Chim, 25. anj jj. js SUpposed, are owing its great ductility
and tenacity, .
5. Iron is one of the most infusible ot the metals.
It is said that it requires a temperature equal to more
than 150° Wedgwood for its fusion. It becomes red
long before it melts, and different degrees of tempera¬
ture are distinguished by the different shades of red
which it exhibits. The first is called a dull red, the
second a cherry red, the third a bright red, and the
fourth a white heat, or incandescence.
6. When iron is exposed to the air, the surface soon
becomes tarnished, and is covered with a brown powder,
which is called rust. This process is greatly promot¬
ed by the moisture of the atmosphere. This is the oxi¬
dation of the metal, and its conversion into an oxide,
by combining with the oxygen of the atmosphere. The
process of rusting, then, is the oxidation of the iron,
and it is owing to the strong affinity which exists be¬
tween iron and oxygen. But rust is not merely a com¬
pound of oxygen and iron. It has combined with a
certain proportion of carbonic acid. This was former¬
ly called saffron of mars.
7. There are two oxides of iron $ the first, or that
which contains the greatest proportion of oxygen, is
common rust, or, as it is denominated from its colour,
brown or red oxide of iron. This oxide may be form¬
ed by exposing iron filings in an open vessel to a red
heat, and agitating them till they are converted into a
j;ed powder. This oxide consists of
1S86
Oxidation.
1887
Oxides two.
18S8
Red oxide
Oxygen
Iron
48
52
100
The red oxide of iron cannot be decomposed by heat;
but when it is exposed to heat with its own weight of
iron filings, there is no evolution of any gas, but the
1S89 *ron filings are converted into a black powder, and the
$lack, red oxide is converted into a similar powder. This is
the black oxide of iron, which contains the smaller pro¬
portion of oxygen. This oxide is composed of
Oxygen 28
Iron 7$
100
This oxide may also be obtained by heating iron fil¬
ings for some time in water at a temperature not un¬
der 70°, or by making the vapour of water pass through
a red-hot tube containing iron wire, or small fragments
of iron. The water in these cases is decomposed, the
hydrogen escapes in the form of gas, and the oxygen
combines with the iron.. This oxide was formerly cal«
S T R Y.
led martial ethiops. It is this oxide which is obtained iron, See. |
by burning iron wire in oxygen gas.
8. There is no action between iron and azote. Hy¬
drogen gas, which is obtained from the decomposition
of water by means of iron filings and sulphuric acid,
holds a small quantity of iron in solution. When hy¬
drogen gas is brought into contact with the red oxide
of iron, ^it deprives it of that proportion of oxygen
which it contains above the black oxide, and converts
it into this oxide. _ ,s0O
9. Iron combines very readily with carbon, and Carburet,
forms a carburet. When the charcoal combines with
one-tenth of its weight of iron, it constitutes a carburet,
which is found native, and distinguished by the name
of plumbago, or black lead. This compound has a me¬
tallic lustre, is of a bluish or dark-gray colour, has a
greasy feel, and stains the fingers. It is well known as
the substance of which black-lead pencils are composed.
But there is another combination of iron with carbon,
which forms one of the most important compounds, on
account of its valuable properties, and the numerous
uses to which it is applied. This is steel. The dif¬
ferent states of iron are owing to its being perfectly
free from contamination with other substances, or to its
combination with carbon in different proportions. In
these different states it is distinguished by the names of
cast or crude iron, wrought iron, and steel.
Crude or cast iron.—When iron is first extracted pr0cess fat
from its ores, it is in the state of what is called crude obtaining. ]
iron. Iron is generally obtained from ores in the state
of oxide, and this is irequently mixed with clay. It
must therefore be separated from these substances.
This is accomplished by reducing the ore to small
pieces, and mixing it with a flux composed of limestone
and charcoal. It is then exposed to a very strong heat.
For this process, furnaces are constructed in such a way,
that the heat can be raised to a very high temperature.
The nature of the process must be obvious. The car¬
bon of the charcoal combines with the oxygen of the
iron, and forms carbonic acid, which is driven off in
the state of gas. By the strong heat to which the lime
and the clay are subjected, they are fused together,
and form a vitreous matter, which, being lighter than
the iron, rises to the surface. The iron also is in a
state of fusion at the bottom of the furnace. When
the process is finished, a hole is opened, through which
the fluid iron flows, and is received into moulds. This
is crude or cast iron, or, in the language of the work¬
men, ptg iron. In this state it is extremely brittle and
hard, and possesses scarcely any malleability. It still
contains a considerable proportion of carbon, and it is
not entirely free from oxygen. ,§92
Wrought /row.—-The next process in the manu-Soft iron. !
facture of iron, is to deprive it of those substances
which alter its properties, and prevent its application
to the purposes of pure or malleable iron. The crude
iron is again introduced into a furnace, where it is
melted by the flame of combustible substances, which
is directed to its surface ; and while it is in the state
of fusion, it is constantly stirred, that the whole of it
may be uniformly brought into contact with the air.
At last it swells, and gives out a blue flame, and when
this is continued for about an hour, the iron begins to
acquire some consistency, and at last becomes solid.
While it is hot, it is removed from the furnace, and
hammer^
CHEMISTRY.
•on, 5tc. hammered by the action of machinery. It is then in
667
1^93
itural
el.
1S94
cemen-
ion.
lS9S
t.
iSpS
perties
teel.
‘.s97
tin-
hed
1 iron.
1898
sphu-
the state of wrought or soft iron.
Steel.—This is soft iron or wrought iron combined
with a certain portion of carbon. There are dif¬
ferent processes for the preparation of steel 5 and the
steel prepared by these processes has received diffe¬
rent names. What is called natural steel, is prepared
by exposing cast iron to a strong heat in a furnace,
while its surface is covered with scoriae. In this pro¬
cess, part of the carbon of the crude iron combines
tvith the oxygen, from which it is not entirely free,
and is driven off in the state of carbonic acid gas.
1 he iron remains combined with a small portion of
carbon. The steel prepared in this way is of no in¬
ferior quality.
Steel of cementation is prepared by arranging bars
of pure iron and charcoal in powder in alternate lay¬
ers, in large troughs or crucibles, which are carefully
closed up with clay. These are exposed to heat in a
furnace for the space of eight or ten days, when the
bars of iron are found converted into steel. This is
sometimes called blistered steel, from blisters which ap¬
pear on the surface, or tilted steel, when it is drawn
out into smaller bars by the hammer. By breaking it
into pieces, and repeated welding in a furnace, and
afterwards drawing it out into bars, it is converted in¬
to what is called German or sheer steel. Steel formed
in this way is generally of a superior quality to natural
steel.
Cast steel is prepared by fusing natural steel with
charcoal powder, and pounded glass, in a close cru¬
cible j or by melting together 30 parts of iron, one of
pounded glass, and one of charcoal. By this process
the best kind of steel is obtained, and it is this which
is generally used for the finer kinds of cutting instru¬
ments. Different opinions have been entertained con¬
cerning the proportions of iron and carbon in the
composition of steel. According to some, the propor¬
tion of carbon amounts to TrT part, though, according
to others, it does not exceed -,£3- part.
Steel possesses very different properties from iron.
It is extremely hard and brittle, does not yield to the
file, and retains the magnetic virtue for any length of
time. When it is hammered, its specific gravity is
greater than that of iron. It is not malleable when
cold, but it has this property when red hot, and it may
be reduced to thinner plates than iron.
There is a very easy test by which steel may be
distinguished from iron. If a drop of diluted nitric
acid be let fall on steel, and allowed to remain for a
few minutes, it leaves behind, after it is washed off,
a black spot, which is owing to the conversion of the
carbon of the steel into charcoal, by combining with
the oxygen of the acid. But if nitric acid is dropt on
iron, a whitish gray spot remains.
10. Iron combines with phosphorus, and forms with
it a phosphuret. It may be formed by melting in a
crucible 16 parts of phosphoric glass with 16 parts of
iron, and one-half part of charcoal in powder. The
phosphuret of iron is of a white colour when it is
broken, and it is observed crystallized in some points
in rhomboidal prisms. It is of a striated and granu¬
lated texture, and is magnetic. This phosphuret may
be formed, also, by dropping small bits of phosphorus
into iron filings heated red-hot. This is the siderite of i10n> gcc.
Bergman* in which he supposed he had discovered a v—~
new metal, to which he gave the name of siderum. r^99
What is cold short iron, from its being brittle^0]11 sll0rt
when cold, but malleable when it is heated, contains a r° '
certain portion of phosphate of iron, to which this pro¬
perty is owing. It was in the investigation of the na¬
ture of this iron, that Bergman obtained, by means
of sulphuric acid, a white powder, which Was convert¬
ed into a brittle metal of a dark-gray colour. By the
experiments ol Klaproth and Scheele it was proved,
that cold short iron is a compound of phosphoric acid
and iron. T ^
11. Iron combines with sulphur by different pro-Sulphuret.
cesses. A sulphuret of iron may be prepared by fusing
together in a crucible equal parts of powdered sulphur
and iron filings. 'Ihis is a mass which is remarkably
brittle and hard, and of a deep gray colour. If this
mass be reduced to powder, and moistened with water,
the water is decomposed, its oxygen combines with the
sulphur, which is converted into sulphuric acid, and the
iron is oxidated. If equal parts of sulphur and iron-
filings be well mixed together by trituration, and a
sufficient quantity of water be added, to form the whole
into a paste, and if this mixture be exposed to the air,
it soon becomes hot, swells up and cracks, exhaling
the vapours of sulphurated hydrogen gas, and some¬
times is spontaneously inflamed. During this action
the water is decomposed, the iron is oxidated, and the
sulphur is converted into sulphuric acid, while the hy¬
drogen of the water combines with a portion of sul¬
phur, and forms sulphurated hydrogen gas. By observ¬
ing the phenomena of this process, which also takes
place, it is said, when the mixture is buried under
ground, Lemery supposed that he could explain the
nature and cause of volcanic eruptions.
If a mixture of three parts by weight of iron filings,
and one of ptfwdered sulphur, be put into a glass vessel
on burning coals, a sulphuret of iron is obtained, with
some remarkable phenomena. It first melts, and then
all at once becomes red-hot, and sometimes, when the
quantity is considerable, is accompanied with an ex¬
plosion, at the moment when the combination takes
place. According to the experiments of Proust, the
component parts of sulphuret of iron are,
Sulphur
Iron
60
40
100
According to the experiments of the same chemist, pv
pyrites, which is found in great abundance in nature, '
and usually crystallized in cubes, is sulphuret of iron
combined with an additional portion of sulphur. The
component parts of pyrites are,
Sulphuret of iron
Sulphur
80
20
100
12. Iron enters into combination with the acids, and
forms salts, and with the metals, and forms alloys.
The affinities of iron and its oxides are, according to x901
Bergman, in the following order. Afliuitiei.
4 I1 2 Iron.
'9^3
Prepara¬
tion.
I9°4
Properties.
190S
Found na¬
tive.
ipc<>
Manufac-
taie.
1907
Names.
1908
Action of
heat.
C H E M I
Iron. Oxide of Iron.
Nickel, Oxalic acid,
Cobalt, Tartaric,
Manganese, Camphoric,
Arsenic, Sulphuric,
Copper, Saclactic,
Gold, Muriatic,
Silver, Nitric,
Tin, Phosphoric,
Antimony, Arsenic,
Platinum, Fluoric,
Bismuth, Succinic,
Lead, Citric,
Mercury. Lactic,
Acetic,
Boracic,
Prussic,
Carbonic.
I. Salts of Iron.
I. Sulphate of Iron.
1. Concentrated sulphuric acid has scarcely any ac¬
tion on iron. When it is heated, the acid is decompo¬
sed, part of its oxygen combines with the iron, and
sulphurous acid gas is evolved. But when diluted sul¬
phuric acid is added to iron filings, a violent efferves¬
cence takes place, and hydrogen gas is disengaged. In
this process, the water, with which the acid is diluted,
is decomposed, the oxygen of which combines with
the iron, and converts it into an oxide, while the hy¬
drogen escapes in the state of gas. The solution is of
a green colour, and, by evaporation, it affords crystals
of sulphate of iron, which are transparent, of a fine
green colour, in the form of rhomboidal prisms, and
having an acrid astringent taste. This salt almost al¬
ways reddens vegetable blues. It is very soluble : two
parts of cold water, and less than its weight of boiling
water, are sufficient for its solution.
2. This salt is, in many places of the world, a na¬
tural production. It is obtained from the decomposi¬
tion of pyrites, which it is sometimes found necessary
to promote by art. This is done by throwing them
together into heaps, and watering them occasionally.
Sometimes previous roasting is necessary, either to ren¬
der them more brittle, and to separate the additional
portion of sulphur above what is necessary to constitute
a sulphuret. After a certain time an efflorescence
takes place, and the surface is covered with the sul¬
phate of iron, which is dissolved in water, concentrated
by boiling, and evaporated, and then allowed to cool
and crystallize. This salt, which was known to the
ancients, was denominated mt.sy, son/, and calchantum.
It is distinguished in commerce by a great variety of
names, as martial vitriol, Roman vitriol, and most com¬
monly by the name of green copperas av green vitriol.
3. When sulphate of iron is strongly heated, it melts,
and is deprived of its water of crystallization. Sul¬
phurous acid gas is then given out, it assumes a red
colour, and is reduced to the state of powder. This
was formerly called colcothar, and colcothar of vitriol.
It is the salt almost entirely decomposed. Part of the
iron is strongly oxidated, and to this the red colour is
owing. It is also mixed with sulphate of iron j but the
S T R Y.
iron in this case is also converted into the red oxide {l0n, &c.
with the greater proportion of oxygen. This change, ——>y——.
it is obvious, depends on the strong affinity of iron for
oxygen ", for by the action of heat, the sulphate of iron,
of which the green oxide forms the base, is decompo¬
sed ; the oxygen of the acid combines with the iron,
and converts it into the red oxide} part of which, as it
is formed, unites with the acid, before the whole of it
is decomposed j and in this way the product of this
process is the red oxide of iron mixed with the red sul-
phate. _ _ 1909
The component parts of this salt are, according to Composi-
Bergman,
tion.
Acid
Oxide
Water
39
23
J!
100
These properties vary, according to the estimation of
Mr Kirwan, who makes this salt to be composed of
Acid - 26
Oxide - 28
Water of composition 8
of crystallization 38
IOO
This distinction made by Mr Kirwan between the wa¬
ter of composition and that of crystallization, is, that
the former is combined with the oxide, and the latter
with the salt. I9i0
4. When this salt is exposed to the air, it becomes Action of
of a yellowish colour, opaque, and a powder forms ona‘r,
the surface. The same thing takes place, if the salt
in solution in water be exposed to the air. From a
fine transparent green colour, it becomes turbid and is
converted into a yellowish red liquid, and there is pre¬
cipitated a powder of the same colour. This change is
owing to the absorption of oxygen, and the conversion
of the green oxide with the smaller proportion of oxy¬
gen, into the red oxide with the greater proportion.
This process is greatly promoted by the direct combi¬
nation of oxygen, or by the addition of those substances
which are readily decomposed, and give out their oxy¬
gen. When oxymuriatic acid is added to the solution,
it becomes instantly yellow, and there is formed a red
precipitate. The same change takes place when the
salt is dissolved in water impregnated with carbonic
acid. The iron decomposes the acid, and combines
with its oxygen. Thus it appears, that the decompo¬
sition of the sulphate of iron is owing, in all these cases,
to the absorption of oxygen, and to the higher degree
of oxidation of the metal. jpn
5. The sulphate of iron is converted into the red Decompo-
sulphate by means of nitric acid. It is decomposed sid011-
by the alkaline earths and the alkalies, which precipi¬
tate it in the form of oxide. The pure fixed alkalies
and lime separate an oxide of a deep green colour,
which, being exposed to the air, is converted into the
red oxide. Ammonia affords a precipitate of a deeper
green colour. The sulphurets and hydrosulphurets pre¬
cipitate from the solution of green sulphate of iron, a
black sulphurated or hydrosulphurated oxide. Most of
the salts decompose the sulphate of iron. When equal
C H £ M
I Iron, &c. parts of nitrate of potash and sulphate of Iron are distil-
—r—' ed together in a retort, a weak nitric acid at first passes
over, then a nitrous acid, and at last a very small quan¬
tity of sulphurous acid. The muriate of soda is de¬
composed by the sulphate ol iron, in consequence of
the disengagement of sulphuric acid, which separates
the muriatic acid from its base. Sulphate of soda, com¬
bined with the oxide of iron in the state of a vitreous
mass, remains in the retort. The hyperoxymuriate of
potash converts the green sulphate of iron into the red.
This salt is also decomposed by the alkaline phosphates,
1912 borates, and carbonates.
repara- . Red sulphate of iron.—In the detail which has been
given of the properties of the green sulphate of iron,
it appears, that it has a strong affinity for oxygen. The
oxide of the green sulphate contains 27 parts of oxy¬
gen ; but by absorbing another portion of oxygen, it
is converted into the red oxide, which contains 48 parts
of oxygen. This salt may be obtained by the direct
combination of the red oxide of iron with concen¬
trated sulphuric acid, with the assistance of heat. The
salt remains in the solution from which the green sul¬
phate of iron has been crystallized. This solution has
been called the mother water of vitriol. The red sul¬
phate of iron is very different in its properties from the
green sulphate. It does aot afford crystals ; it is di¬
stinguished by its red colour, and it deposits the oxide
I9,5 of iron, when brought in contact with the air, or by
foperties. the action of heat. It deliquesces in the air, and at
last becomes liquid. It is more soluble in water than
the green sulphate ; and also soluble in alcohol, by
which it may be separated from the green sulphate,
which is not affected by the alcohol. 'When iron
filings are added to a solution of red sulphate of iron,
part of the oxide is separated, another part gives up a
portion of its oxygen to the iron, and is converted into
the green sulphate. The same effect is produced, as
M. Proust, by whom this subject has been greatly elu¬
cidated, observes, by means of other metals, as mercury,
zinc, and tin. The two sulphates of iron are distin¬
guished by other properties. The infusion of nut-galls
produces no change in the green sulphate of iron,
but gives a fine black precipitate with the red sul-
i9j4 phate.
tion of Prussiate of potash occasions no change of colour on
°f the green sulphate of iron, but produces a deep blue
'as precipitate with the red sulphate; from which it appears
that there are two prussiates of iron, corresponding; to
the two oxides. The white prussiate contains the
green oxide with the smaller proportion of oxygen j the
blue prussiate, the red oxide with the greater propor¬
tion. Another characteristic property is, that the
green sulphate of iron absorbs nitrous gas in consider¬
able quantity, and assumes a yellowish colour j but no
such absorption is effected by the red sulphate.
2. Sulphite of Iron.
-para- I* Sulphurous acid is decomposed by iron, and the
1. portion of sulphur which is separated, remains in com¬
bination with the salt as it is formed. When liquid
sulphurous acid is added to iron filings, it assumes a
deep yellow colour j some hydrogen gas is evolved,
with a production of heat, and the yellow colour soon
changes to a greenish shade. Sulphuric or muriatic
acid, added to this solution, produces an effervescence,
I S T R Y. 669
but without any precipitation. It is necessary to add iron)
the acid in considerable quantity to obtain a precipi- ' 1—1 „<
tate of sulphur in white powder. Fuming nitrous
acid separates the sulphur of a yellow colour, and in
the form of a ductile mass. From these facts it ap¬
pears, that the first portion of acids acts only on the
simple sulphite of iron j but when a greater quantity is
added, the sulphurated sulphite is decomposed, and
the sulphur is deposited.
2. I he solution of iron in sulphurous acid, exposed Properties,
to the air, deposits a reddiah-vellow powder, and af¬
fords crystals which are surrounded with this reddish
powder. .By adding water to this mass, it dissolves
the crystallized part, and leaves the red powder, which
being dissolved in muriatic acid, gives up its iron, and
deposits sulphur, which is still mixed with a little iron. Su!
This precipitate, dissolved in water, affords a sulphurated ted sul-
sulphite of iron, with a smaller quantity of sulphur than phite.
the first solution. Fxposed to the air after the first pre¬
cipitate is formed, the surface is soon covered with a
red pellicle. A red powder is deposited, and after¬
wards crystals of sulphite of iron. l9lS
3. The sulphurated sulphite of iron remains perma-Properties,
nent by exposure to the air. Its simple sulphite ab¬
sorbs oxygen. The sulphurated sulphur deposits sul¬
phur by the action of the acids. The sulphite gives
out sulphurous acid. The sulphurated sulphite is so¬
luble in alcohol ; the sulphite is insoluble.
4* I he red sulphate of iron with the greater propor¬
tion of oxygen, does not produce the same effect on sul¬
phurous acid, by converting it into sulphuric acid, and
thus to form a sulphate of iron, as the oxide of man¬
ganese, because iron has a stronger affinity for oxygen ,5l9
than sulphurous acid. Thus we have seen, in conse-Strong affi-
quence of the same affinity of iron for oxygen, thatn,ty of *r0!1
it decomposes sulphuric acid, and converts part of itfor oxygen“
into sulphurous acid, and that it even decomposes sul¬
phurous acid, by separating its sulphur, which combines
with the oxide as it is formed, and constitutes the sul¬
phurated sulphite of iron. Neither of these sulphites
of iron give a black colour with the infusion of nut-
galls, nor a blue colour with the prussiate of potash j
from which it is inferred that the iron is in its mini¬
mum state of oxidation, or in that of a green sulphate.
of iron.
3. Nitrate of Iron.
Nitric acid acts with great violence on iron ; a great Prepara-
quantity of nitrous gas is disengaged, especiallv whention-
the acid is a little diluted with water. When "diluted 1921
acid has been employed, the solution is of a yellowish Properties,
green colour, and when it is exposed to the air, it as¬
sumes a pale colour, in consequence of the nitrous gas
which it holds in solution, combining with oxygen,
and being converted into nitric acid. When it is ex¬
posed to the air, or concentrated by evaporation, a pre¬
cipitate of the red oxide of iron is formed, because it
combines with another portion of oxygen, and is con¬
verted from the green to the red oxide. By means
of the alkalies, the green oxide is precipitated from this
solution. I923
Red nitrate of iron.—This is the salt formed with Pr«P»ra-
nitric acid and the red oxide of iron. It is prepared tioa‘
by exposing the green nitrate of iron to the air, which
absorbing oxygen, is converted into the red nitrate.
If
6-o C H E M
Iron, Sec. If iron be dissolved in concentrated nitric acid, the iron
* ■|-v—< Js converted into the red oxide, and this combining
I92.3 with the undecomposed acid, also forms the red nitrate
Properties. jron. rp|ie so]utjon 0f sali) which is of a brown
colour, does not crystallize j when it is evaporated, it
assumes the form of a jelly, or deposits a red powder.
1924 When this salt is heated, the acid is driven off, and the
Action of red oxide remains behind. The red nitrate ol iron gives
nut-galls, a black co]our with the infusion of galls, and a blue
precipitate with prussiate of potash, from which it ap¬
pears, that the iron is in its highest degree of oxidation.
This has been fully demonstrated by an experiment
made by Vauquelin. Concentrated nitric acid was kept
for some months on black oxide of iron, without any ap¬
parent change. The nitric acid, however, lost its acidi¬
ty, and acquired a neutral taste. I he liquid had as¬
sumed a brown colour; and large crystals, transparent
and white, with a slight tinge of violet by looking
through them, were formed. The crystals were in
square prisms, terminated by two-sided ridges. Ibis
salt was extremely deliquescent, and had a pungent
inky taste. The solution in water becomes red, as is
also the precipitate, by means of ammonia and potash.
Prussiate of potash gives a fine blue precipitate.
4. Muriate of Iron.
Action of I. When iron filings are exposed to muriatic acid
and are converted into
is owing to the decom-
e gas holds in solution.
The bulk of the gas is increased by the addition of hy¬
drogen gas, from this decomposition of water. When
the whole of the muriatic acid is absorbed by the iron
in the state of oxide, hydrogen gas only remains in
the vessel in which the process has been conducted.
When a little water is added, it assumes a green co¬
lour, having combined with the muriate of iron in the
, 1926 liquid state.
In the li- 2. Liquid muriatic acid acts upon iron in propor-
quid state. jjon t|egree 0f concentration, and the action is
the more violent as it is less concentrated. An effer¬
vescence takes place, with the disengagement of hydro¬
gen gas. As the iron is oxidated by the decomposition
of the water, it is dissolved in the acid. This solution
is of a pale yellowish colour, and of a strong styptic
taste. When it is evaporated to the consistence of sy¬
rup, it forms, on cooling, a viscid mass, in which are
found needle-shaped, deliquescent crystals. When this
solution is exposed to the air, or strongly heated, it as¬
sumes a brown colour, and deposits oxide of iron.
Red muriate of iron.—When the red oxide of iron is
treated with muriatic acid, the acid dissolves the iron,
and forms a solution of a deep brown colour. During
the solution, oxymuriatic acid is formed and given out,
which is owing to the combination of a portion of the
oxygen of the oxide with the muriatic acid. The
oxide, thus deprived of a portion of its oxygen, com¬
bines with the muriatic acid, and forms red muriate of
iron. When this solution is evaporated to dryness, it
aft’ords a yellow coloured mass, which is deliquescent in
the air. This salt does not absorb nitrous gas, and it
is converted into muriate of iron by the action of sul¬
phurated hydrogen gas. When it is precipitated by
the alkalies, the oxide is not farther changed, by ex-
3
muriatic ga3 they soon become black,
acid m the tjie gtate 0f re(j ox|(je> This
a e 0 S1'* pogition of the water which th
I S T R Y.
posure to the air. The infusion of nut-galls gives a jroni jcc
black colour, and the prussiate of potash a blue. '"■■■ y —
5. Hyperoxymuriate of Iron.
This salt was formed by Mr Chenevix, by directing
a stream of oxymuriatic acid gas into water, having
red oxide of iron diffused in it \ but its properties
have not been ascertained.
6. Fluate of Iron.
Fluoric acid has a very powerful action on iron,
which is owing to the evolution of hydrogen gas, and
the decomposition of water. The iron is oxidated,
and dissolves in the acid, forming a fluate of iron.
The solution has a styptic, metallic taste, does not
afford crystals by evaporation, but assumes a gelatinous
form. Evaporated to dryness, it becomes hard and
solid j and when strongly heated, the acid is driven
off, and there remains behind the red oxide of iron,
so that this salt is the red fluate of iron. The red
oxide of iron is also soluble in fluoric acid, and com¬
municates to it, according to Scheele, an aluminous
taste. The fluate of iron is decomposed by sulphuric
acid, and is precipitated by the alkalies and the
earths.
7. Borate of Iron.
Boracic acid promotes the oxidation of iron by wa¬
ter very slowly. The borate of iron may be obtained
by precipitating the sulphate of iron by means of the
borate of soda, or borax. The borate of soda is pre¬
cipitated in the form of a whitish powder. It is insolu¬
ble in water, but its other properties have not been as¬
certained.
8. Phosphate of Iron.
Phosphoric acid combines very slowly with iron, p^paja.
but after the oxidation of the metal has taken place, tion.
it forms with its oxide an insoluble salt. The phos¬
phate of iron may be prepared by adding a solution of
an alkaline phosphate to a solution of sulphate or nitrate
of iron. The alkali leaves the phosphoric acid, and com¬
bines with the sulphuric or nitric j while the phosphoric
acid combines with the iron, and forms a phosphate of
iron, which is in the state of white precipitate. Phos¬
phoric acid combines with both oxides of iron, and
constitutes either a green or a red phosphate. The
red phosphate of iron may be obtained by precipitat¬
ing the red muriate of iron in solution, by means of
phosphate of potash or soda $ and when this latter salt
is treated with pure fixed alkalies, a brownish red
powder is precipitated, which is the red phosphate of
iron, with excess of base. It is nearly insoluble in
acids and in water, but is soluble in the serum of
blood, and the white of an egg, communicating to I9jS
them a brown colour. This salt exists in the blood ofcolourst|
animals, and to it the red colour of the blood isblood.
owing.
9. Carbonate of Iron.
Carbonic acid combines readily with the oxide of
iron. This is the case when iron rusts in the air j for
in proportion as the oxidation of the iron is effected,
it combines with the carbonic acid of the atmosphere,
and
C H E M
ron, See. and forms a carbonate of Iron. Tins acid dissolved in
—y—.'water, when brought in contact with iron, acts upon it
slowly ; and there is disengaged, but without efferves¬
cence, a perceptible odour of hydrogen gas, and the
water acquires in the course of a few hours an astrin¬
gent taste. When this solution is exposed to the air,
as Bergman observed, it becomes covered with an iri¬
descent pellicle, and is decomposed by lime and the
alkalies. But the alkaline carbonates have no such
effect. This solution of the carbonate of iron converts
the syrup of violets to a green colour. When it is
evaporated, it deposits the salt in the form of a reddish
ochre. It is this carbonate of iron which exists in mi-
tgi'p neral waters, to which, for this reason, the name of cha~
ist. lybeate has been given to waters. Rust is a carbonate
of iron, mixed with the oxide. Fourcroy found by
distilling it, that it yielded carbonic acid gas and a
little water, and there remained black oxide of iron ;
and distilled with muriate of ammonia, it afforded car¬
bonate of ammonia. The component parts of this car¬
bonate, according to Bergman, are,
Acid 24
Oxide 76
: S T R Y. 671
Red Arseniate of Iron.—This salt is prepared, either jron, See.
by boiling arseniate of iron in nitric acid, or by adding -v—. <
arseniate of ammonia to a solution of red sulphate of
iron. It is composed of
Acid 42.4
Oxide 3 7*2
Water 20.4
100.0
Both these salts have been found native.
11. Tungstate of Iron.
Tungstic acid has no great effect on iron in the
cold. Iron immersed in a solution of this acid in mu¬
riatic acid, communicates to it a beautiful blue co¬
lour, which is owing to the decomposition of the tung¬
stic acid, and to its reduction to the metallic state by
means of the iron. Tungstic acid precipitates from
the solution of iron in sulphuric acid tungstate of iron.
Tungstate of iron exists native under the name of
wolfram.
12. Molybdate of Iron.
1930
:para-
(
93i
-a ar.
' He.
IOO
10. Arseniate of Iron.
The alkaline molybdates which are soluble preci¬
pitate iron from its solution in acids of a brown co¬
lours
I. When iron is digested with arsenic acid, it is dis¬
solved, and towards the end of the process the solution
assumes the form of a jelly. But if it be conducted in
a close vessel, no coagulation takes place. By exposing
it to the open air for some hours, the surface becomes
so solid, that the vessel may be inverted without any
part of it dropping out. The solution which has not
been exposed to the air, affords a precipitate with pot¬
ash, of a greenish-gray colour, from which there is dis¬
engaged by heat, arsenious acid, and there remains
behind a red oxide of iron. One part of iron-filings
distilled with four of concrete arsenic acid, swell up and
inflame $ the metallic acid is sublimed, and brown spots
appear on the sides of the retort. From this experi¬
ment it appears, that the iron has carried off the oxy¬
gen from the acid.
2. Arsenic acid does not precipitate iron from its
solutions, but the arseniates or arsenites form a very
soluble precipitate, which becomes yellow or red in
contact with the air. This precipitate, which is fusible at
a high temperature, exhales the odour of arsenic when
it is melted, is converted into black scoriae when it is
treated with charcoal, gives out a considerable quantity
of arsenic, and is reduced to the state of black oxide of
iron.
3. Arsenic acid combines with both the oxides of
iron. The green arseniate of iron may be obtained
by adding a solution of arseniate of ammonia to a so¬
lution of sulphite of iron. The arseniate precipitates in
the form of powder which is insoluble in water. The
component parts of this salt, according to Chenevix,
are
Acid 38
Oxide 43
Water 19
200
13. Chromate of Iron.
If chromic acid, combined with an alkali, be added
to a solution of the red sulphate of iron, a precipitate is
immediately formed, of a brown colour j but if an al¬
kaline chromate be added to the green sulphate of iron,
the precipitate is green, because the chromic acid is
deprived of a portion of its oxygen, and is converted to
the state of green oxide *. * Fourcroy
Connaiss.
14. Columbate of Iron.
Chim. vi.
The columbate of iron is found native, and from the1*’ 2I7*
only specimen which has yet been discovered, Mr
Hatchet extracted a new metal, which has been de¬
scribed under the name of columbium. It is of a dark-
brownish gray colour, has a vitreous lustre, and alamel-
lated structure. According to Mr Hatchet, it is com¬
posed of
Columbic acid 77.5
Oxide of iron 21.0
98-S
15. Acetate of Iron.
I. Acetic acid dissolves iron with effervescence,p 19,32
with the evolution of hydrogen gas. The liquid as-tion! 3
sumes a reddish-brown colour, and by evaporation
becomes a gelatinous mass, in which are found long
brown crystals. This salt has a sweetish styptic taste.
It is decomposed by heat, and is deliquescent in the
air. When it is heated till it no longer gives out the
odour of vinegar, it lets fall a yellowish oxide, which is
easily reduced, and is attracted by the magnet. The
alkalies separate the iron nearly in the state of black
oxide. This solution affords a black precipitate with
the infusion of nut-galls, and a blue with the alkaline
prussiates.
2. The
672
Iron, See.
1933
In the large
way.
* Jour.
Roy. Inst it.
i. p. 308.
1934
Prepara¬
tion.
1935
Composi¬
tion.
CHEMISTRY.
2. The solution of this salt is prepared in the large
way with old iron, and vinegar obtained from grain
or molasses. They are exposed to the air in large
vessels, and as the fermentation of the liquid goes on,
it is converted into acetic acid, the iron is oxidated,
and dissolved by the acid. This solution is employed
in dveing and calico-printing.
Green acetate of iron.—This salt has been formed
by dissolving sulphuret of iron in acetic acid. It af¬
fords crystals by evaporation, in the form of prisms,
and of a green colour. The taste is styptic and sweet¬
ish. It gives a white precipitate with the alkaline
prussiates, and no change is effected by the infusion of
galls. When the solution of this salt is exposed to the
air, it very readily absorbs oxygen, and is converted
into red acetate of iron *.
16. Oxalate of Iron.
Oxalic acid produces a violent action on iron, with
the evolution of hydrogen gas. This solution has a
very styptic taste, and forms by evaporation prismatic
crystals of a greenish yellow colour. When this solu¬
tion is exposed to the air, or, when it is heated, it as¬
sumes a red colour, which is owing to the absorption of
oxygen, and its conversion into red oxalate. The oxa¬
late of iron is composed of
Acid 55
Oxide 45
100
Red oxalate of iron.—Oxalic acid precipitates the
red oxide of iron from the solution in sulphuric acid,
and forms an oxalate of iron of a fine red colour.
The red oxalate of iron does not crystallize, and has
little solubility in water. This has been proposed to
be employed as a pigment. None of the acids dissolve
the oxides of iron more readily than oxalic acid, and
especially the gallate of iron. On this account it an¬
swers well for removing spots of ink, for which purpose
also the acidulous oxalate of potash, or salt of sorrel,
is also employed.
17. Tartrate of Iron.
1. Tartaric acid dissolves iron with effervescence,
and the evolution of hydrogen gas. The solution be¬
comes of a red colour, and assumes the form of a gela¬
tinous mass, but does not crystallize. This is the red
tartrate of iron.
2. But when tartaric acid is added to the solution
of sulphate of iron, and heat applied, a precipitate is
formed, which is not very soluble, but affords lamel-
lated crystals. This is the compound of tartaric acid
with the green oxide of iron, for it does not form a
precipitate with the alkaline prussiates, without the ad¬
dition of nitric acid.
18. Tartrate of Potash and Iron.
This triple salt, which was formerly called chaly¬
beate d tartar, and tartarised tincture of Mars, is pre¬
pared by forming into a paste with water, six parts of
iron filings with 16 of tartar in powder. The mix¬
ture is left at rest for 24 hours j and being diluted
with 192 parts of water, is boiled for two hours, when
crystals are deposited of tartrate of potash and iron.
19. Citrate of Iron.
Citric acid acts upon iron with effervescence, occa¬
sioned by the emission of hydrogen gas. The solution
becomes of a brown colour j it deposits by spontane¬
ous evaporation, small crystals of citrate of iron. By
evaporating with heat, it becomes black as ink, and
ductile while it is hot, but falls to powder, and be¬
comes very black when it is cold. This salt has a ve¬
ry astringent taste, and is very soluble in water. It is
composed of
Acid 69.62
Oxide 30,38
100.00
The crystals which were obtained by spontaneous
evaporation, were probably the green citrate ; and the
black mass, by the action of heat, is probably convert¬
ed into the red citrate of iron.
20. Malate of Iron.
Malic acid gives a brown *olution by its action on
iron, but it does not crystallize.
21. Gallate of Iron.
It has frequently been mentioned, in describing the
salts of iron, that the infusion of nut-galls, or gallic gives a
acid, produces no precipitate or change of colour, black co-
when it is added to salts of iron in solution, of which
the black or green oxide constitutes the base j red oxide
when the acid is added to a solution of a salt of iron,
having the red oxide for its base, a black precipitate
is immediately formed. From this it appears, that the
black precipitate can only be obtained from the red
oxide of iron, or it is the gallate of iron in the highest
degree of oxidation. Writing ink is a compound of the
solution of gallate of iron and the tanning principle.
The important qualities of good ink are, that it shall
be durable, and have a black colour. On this subject
Professor Robison observes, in his Notes on Dr Black’s
Lectures, that “ the great art in ink-making is to have
a superabundance of astringent matter to counteract the
disposition of the iron to a farther calcination, which
renders the ink brown. It would be a great improve¬
ment in the manufacture of writing paper, if some
astringent matter could be introduced. A little ardent
spirits effectually prevents the spoiling of ink by keep¬
ing, but makes it sink and spread.
A good Proportion for Writing-Ink.
Rasped logwood, 10 ounces j
Best gall-nuts in coarse powder, 3 ounces j
Gum arable in powder, 2 ounces ;
Green vitriol, 1 ounce j
Rain water, 2 quarts j
Cloves in coarse powder, 1 drachm.
Boil the water with the logwood and gum to one
half j strain the hot decoction into a glazed vessel 5
add the galls and cloves ; mix and cover it up.
When nearly cold, add the green vitriol, and stir
it repeatedly. After some days, decant or strain # j
the ink into a bottle, to be kept close corked in aj^c.v. i
dark place *. y. 401*
Ink
19.38
eason of
e pale
lour.
t . . c H E M
ron, See. Ink xs sometimes of a very pale colour when first
used, but becomes black by exposure to the air. This
is owing to the absorption of oxygen. The green vi¬
triol or sulphate of iron which is employed in making
ink, has not its base fully saturated with oxygen, or is
not in the state of red oxide. It is the conversion of
the green into the red oxide, which takes place when
it is exposed to the air. The use of gum in the com-
position of ink is to prevent the precipitation of the
black particles, and also, it is supposed, to act as a
varnish, to defend it from the air, which might give it
a brown colour by farther oxidation.
22. Benzoate of Iron.
Benzoic acid readily dissolves the oxide of iron, and
forms with it yellowish crystals, which are sweet to the
taste, effloresce in the air, and are soluble in water and
in alcohol. Gallic acid produces a black precipitate,
and the prussiates give a blue. It is decomposed by
uie alkalies, and by the carbonates of lime and barytes.
lnn.de I he acid is driven off by heat*.
im. ix.
23. Succinate of Iron.
Succinic acid combines with the oxide of iron j and
the solution, by evaporation, affords small radiated cry¬
stals, which are transparent and of a brown colour.
Ibis salt is insoluble in water. It may be formed by
adding an alkaline succinate to the solutions of iron in
acids.
24. Suberate of Iron.
Suberic acid decomposes the sulphate of iron, and
produces a deep yellow colour 1".
25. Mellate of Iron.
Mellitic acid produces a copious precipitate of an
Isabella-yellow colour, in the solution of iron in nitric
acid. I his precipitate is readily dissolved in muriatic
acid |.
26. Lactate of Iron.
Lactic acid combines with iron, and forms with it a
salt which does not crystallize. The solution is of a
brown colour.
I S T R Y.
673
bid.
A p. 48
laproth,
'0!/s, ii.
02.
ml.
27. Prussiate of Iron.
1. Prussic acid combines with both the oxides of
iron. W hen the prussiate of potash is added to a so¬
lution of the green sulphate or muriate of iron, a white
precipitate is obtained. This shews, as has been al¬
ready observed, that the base of these salts is in its
lowest degree of oxidation. It is in the state of green
or black oxide. But if the prussiate of potash be pour¬
ed into a solution of the red sulphate of iron, a fine blue
precipitate is formed, which is Prussian blue, or a prus-
: 939 siafe of iron in the state of red oxide.
2. When the white precipitate of iron is exposed to
the air, it gradually absorbs oxygen, and is converted
into the blue prussiate, or Prussian blue. On the other
hand, the blue prussiate may be converted into the
white, by preserving it in a close vessel, with plates of
iron or tin. The metallic substance deprives the iron
of part of its oxygen, and makes it pass to the state
of green oxide ; in which state, combined with prussic
Vol. V. Part II. f
acid, it is colourless. Sulphurated hydrogen gas pro- Iron &c‘
duces a similar eflect, by depriving the iron of its —^-1'
oxygen. Nitnc and oxymuriatic acids convert the
white prussiate into bine, by giving up their oxygen,
which combines with the iron, and forms the red
oxide.
II. Action of the Alkalies, &c. on Iron.
. I* Iron> *n tl'6 metallic state, has a very feeble ac-Alkalies
tion on the alkalies and earths. The alkalies, in their
pure and concentrated state, promote the decomposition
of water by means of iron. Hydrogen gas is disen¬
gaged, and the metal is converted into the state of black
oxide, or martial ethiops; but there seems to be no
perceptible solution of the oxide of iron, which is thus
formed in the liquid alkalies.
2. The brown oxides of iron readily combine with Ea/ths'
the earth suspended in water. This combination has
been long employed on account of its properties of as¬
suming a great degree of solidity and hardness, as a
cement, and especially as a cement or mortar to be
employed under rvater. Hence volcanic productions,
as pou'Z'Z.olana earths, which contain a considerable
proportion of oxide of iron, are often employed for this
purpose. The oxide of iron combines also with the
earths by means of fusion, and communicates to them
various shades of colour, according to the degree of
oxidation, and the proportion of oxide employed. In
this state it is used in the fabrication of enamels and
coloured glass.
3. Hie alkaline sulphates are decomposed by iron Sulphates,
at a high temperature. The iron deprives the sulphu¬
ric acid of its oxygen, and reduces it to the state of
sulphur. I ourcroy heated for an hour in a covered
crucible, one part of sulphate of potash, with two of
iron filings. He obtained a kind of granulated scoria,
which had swelled up, and was of a deep green on the
surface. It was extremely hard, and exhibited in some
of the internal cavities, shining six-sided plates of black
oxide of iron. It had a hot, acrid taste. AVlien redu¬
ced to powder, it exhaled the fetid odour of sulphura¬
ted hydrogen gas. It was not deliquescent in the air j
and diluted with 10 parts of water, it was of a deep
green colour. This was a solution of hydrosulphuret
of potash, holding a small quantity of iron in solution.
Sulphur was precipitated by the addition of acids, with
the evolution of sulphurated hydrogen gas.
The nitrates are also decomposed by means of iron Nitraf ■»
heated to redness. Two or three parts of nitre, with
one of clean iron filings, well triturated together, and
projected into a red-hot crucible, give out at each pro¬
jection a great number of vivid sparks. After tlie de¬
tonation, a half-fused mass remains, of a reddish yellow
colour, which, by washing with water, affords pure pot¬
ash, and there remains an oxide of iron in its highest
degree of oxidation. Steel also detonates with nitre,
and gives out a very brilliant red flame. These mix¬
tures are employed in artificial fire-works.
5. Some of the muriates are also decomposed by AiuiI-°|4
iron. The experiment of Scheele, in which the muri- 1UUa ^
ate of soda was decomposed by means of iron, lias al¬
ready been mentioned. I be muriate of ammonia is
readily decomposed by iron with the assistance of heat.
Hydrogen and ammoniacal gases are disengaged. A
preparation formerly known by the name of martial
4 Q ammoniacal
674
Iron
&c> ammoniacalflowers, was made with 16 parts of muriate
of ammonia and one of iron filings. This mixture is
sublimed in two earthen vessels, the one being inverted
over the other. A small quantity of the muriate of am¬
monia only is decomposed, and the salt assumes a yel¬
lowish colour, with a small portion of muriate of iron.
The muriate of ammonia is also decomposed by tri¬
turating the red oxide of iron with this salt. Am¬
monia is disengaged, and the oxide combines with the
acid.
6. Hyperoxymuriate of potash produces a violent de¬
tonation with iron. Two parts of this salt with one of
iron filings, detonate strongly, and with a vivid red flame,
by percussion, or even by sudden pressure, or by being
brought in contact with a burning body.
7. There is no action between the fluates, borates,
phosphates, or the carbonates, and iron, in the cold.
III. Alloys.
1. Iron combines with arsenic by fusion, forming a
brittle alloy of a white colour, analogous to the native
compound of arsenic and iron, known by the name of
mispickel. It is more fusible than iron, and is therefore
employed, on account of its lustre and fine polish, for
different purposes to which iron is not applicable.
2. The alloys of iron with tungsten, molybdena,
chromium, columbium, titanium, and uranium, are
scarcely known. With titanium iron affords an alloy
of a gray colour, which is extremely infusible.
3. The alloy of iron and cobalt possesses some of
the properties of steel. It is extremely hard, its
texture is fine-grained, and it is attracted by the
magnet.
4. Iron combines with
tween these metals is so
1945
Arsenic.
1946
Tunasten.
1947
Cobalt.
194S
Nickel.
CHEMISTRY.
it in very small proportion. It has been observed that Iron, &c.
zinc may be applied to the surface of iron by fusion, —v*^
so as to defend it from the action of the air, and thus to
prevent it from rusting. 1954
10. Iron combines with difficulty with tin. Berg-Tin.
man made a number of experiments on the alloy of iron
and tin. He put a quantity of tin into a crucible, and
covered it with iron filings. The crucible was then filled
with charcoal, and closely covered. He exposed the
apparatus to the heat of a forge for half an hour, and
he always obtained two distinct alloys, correspond¬
ing to the weight of the metals which he had em¬
ployed.
The one was iron combined with a small quantity
of tin, and the other tin united to a small portion of
iron. Tin alloyed with ^ of iron was very malleable,,
might be cut with a knife, had lost a little of its lustre,
and was a little harder. With the fusible phosphates
it gave a brown glass, which was less fusible ; and by
the addition of nitric acid, it became black, and there
was separated an insoluble powder. Iron combined
with half its weight of tin, exhibits some of the pro¬
perties of the latter. It is slightly malleable, cannot
be cut with a knife, unites with difficulty with mer¬
cury and with the phosphates, and in fusion with the
latter, gives out brilliant sparks, which do not appear
from the iron or tin alone. This inflammation is still
more brilliant when the quantity of tin is increased
to to o-
1955
1949
Manga¬
nese.
195°
Bismuth-
1951
Antimony.
19S2
Mercury.
* Phil.
Mag. xiii.
406.
1953
Z nc.
nickel, and the affinity be-
strong, that it is extremely
difficult to deprive nickel entirely of iron.
5. Manganese is frequently found in combination
with iron, to which it communicates a white colour,
and renders it brittle.
6. Bismuth forms a brittle alloy with iron. It is
attracted by the magnet, even when the proportion of
bismuth amounts to three-fourths of the whole. Twenty
parts of iron and one of bismuth, were broken by a
weight of 151 lb. ; but four parts of iron and three of
bismuth only supported 35 lb. These were the ex¬
periments of Muschenbroeck. Gellert has observed,
that the alloy of iron and bismuth has an inferior spe¬
cific gravity to the mean.
7. Iron combines readily with antimony by fusion.
An alloy of equal parts of these metals is not attracted
by the magnet, has no ductility, and scarcely any mal¬
leability. This alloy was formerly called martial re-
gulus. It is brittle and hard, and has a less specific
gravity than the mean. Iron has a stronger affinity for
sulphur than for antimony, for when the sulphuret of
antimony is heated with iron, it is decomposed, and the
iron combines with the sulphur.
8. Iron, it has been long supposed, has no action on
mercury ; but by triturating together the amalgam of
zinc and mercury with iron filings, and by adding to
the mixture a solution of iron in muriatic acid, and af¬
terwards by kneading this mixture and heating it, Mr
Aiken obtained an amalgam of iron and mercury,
having the metallic lustre *.
9. Zinc forms an alloy with iron, but combines with
Tin combines with iron, and adheres strongly to its Tin-plate
surface, forming a thin covering. This is one of the
most useful combinations of tin, for it renders the iron
fit for a great many valuable purposes, for which,
otherwise, on account of its strong tendency to oxida¬
tion or rusting, it would be totally inapplicable. This
is well known by the name of tin-plate, or white iron.
The process of tinning iron is the following: The
plates of iron being reduced to the proper thickness,
are cleaned by means of a weak acid. For this pur¬
pose the surface is first cleaned with sand, to remove any
rust that may have formed. They are then immersed
in water acidulated with a small quantity of sulphuric
acid, in which they are kept for 24 hours, and oc¬
casionally agitated. They are then well rubbed with
cloths, that the surface may be perfectly clean. The
tin is fused in a pot, the surface of which is covered
with an oily or resinous matter, to prevent its oxidation.
The plates of iron are then immersed in the melted
tin, and are either moved about in the liquid metal, or
are dipped several different times. They are then
taken out, and rubbed with saw-dust or bran, to remove
the impurities from the surface.
It is said by some chemical writers, that the tin not
only covers the surface, but penetrates the iron complete¬
ly, so as to give the whole a white colour. This seems
to be quite a mistake, which may be very easily proved
by the test of experiment. If the surface of a piece
of tin-plate be scraped with a knife, the metallic par¬
ticles which are at first separated, are not attracted by
the magnet. As the process is continued, some of the
particles are magnetic, which shows that they are par¬
ticles of iron, scraped off, after the coating of tin is
separated, and this coating may he so completely re¬
moved that the whole of the particles are attracted by
the magnet. This, perhaps, . it may be said, would
take
topper,
See.
1957
Lead.
* Ann. de
''him.
Jiii. 4S.
1958
aalysis.
C H E M
take place, even though the iron were alloyed with
a certain proportion of tin $ but when the coating of
' tin is entirely removed, and the iron is moistened, it
is soon covered with rust, in the same way as if it
never had been combined with a particle of tin.
11. Guyton has shewn, that an alloy may be form¬
ed et iron and lead, which it was formerly supposed
could not be effected. By melting together equal
parts of lead and filings of iron, he obtained two se¬
parate metallic buttons, of which the lead occupied
the lower part of the crucible, and the iron the upper
part. N,When these were subjected to the test of ex¬
periment, it aapeargd that the lead contained a small
proportion pljj^ron, and the iron a small proportion of
lead *.
The uses of iron are extremely numerous and im¬
portant, but they are so well known, that it is altoge¬
ther unnecessary to enumerate them.
Sect. XXI. OJ Copper and its Combinatiens.
iistory. Copper seems to have been known in the re¬
motest periods of antiquity. It is among the first me¬
tals which were employed by the early nations of the
world; and indeed this might have been expected, as
it is not one of the scarce metals, is easily extract¬
ed from its ores, and not difficult to work. The
Egyptians applied it to a great variety of uses, as it
appears, from the earliest period of their history. The
^'Greeks were acquainted with the mode of working
copper, and employed it in many of the arts. It was
the basis of the celebrated Corinthian metal. The Ro¬
mans' knew the uses of this metal, and it is generally
supposed that of it they fabricated the greatest number
of their utensils. The alloys which they made with
copper, after the example of tire Egyptians and Greeks,
rvere very numerous, and applied to a great variety of
uses.
ifeS/ 2. Copper exists in considerable abundance in na¬
ture ; it is found native, alloyed with other metals,
combined with sulphur, in the state of oxide, and in that
of salt. It is not unfrequently met with in the native
state, sometimes crystallised in an arborescent form,
and sometimes in more regular figures. Copper exists
native, alloyed with gold and silver. The most abun¬
dant ores of copper are the sulphurets, and of these
there is a considerable variety, exhibiting various co¬
lours, and various forms of crystals. In the state of
oxide, it has been found in Peru, of a greenish colour,
mixed with white sand. In the state of salt, copper is
combined with the sulphuric and carbonic acids, form¬
ing native sulphates and carbonates of copper. The
latter present many varieties, but may chiefly be re¬
ferred to the blue and green carbonates.
3. The extraction of the ores of copper is to be
conducted according to the nature of the combination
in which they exist. The following process is recom¬
mended for the treatment of the sulphurets of copper.
The ore is first reduced to powder, and then boiled
with five parts of concentrated sulphuric acid. The
solution is evaporated to dryness, and the residuum well
washed with warm water, to remove all soluble mat¬
ters. The solution being sufficiently diluted, a plate
of copper is immersed in it, which precipitates the
silver, and afterwards a plate of iron to precipitate the
I S T R Y.
copper. It is boiled with the plate of iron, till no
farther precipitate takes place. The copper which is
thus obtained, is dried with a gentle heat, so that it
may not undergo oxidation. It is supposed that the
copper is mixed with iron, the whole may be dissolved
in nitric acid, and the process is again repeated by in¬
troducing the plate of iron. In this way it is easy to
discover the quantity of copper in the sulphurets of this
metal.
675
Copper,
&c.
4. Copper is a very brilliant metal, of a fine red Properties,
colour, different from every other metallic substance.
The specific gravity of copper is 8.584. When it is
hammered, it acquires a greater density. It possesses
a considerable degree of hardness, and some elasticity.
It is extremely malleable, and may be reduced to
leaves so fine that they may be carried about by the
wind. It has also a consider-.ble degree of ductility, '
intermediate, according to Guyton, between tin and
lead. The tenacity of copper is also very great. A
wire .078 of an inch in diameter, will support a weight
without breaking equal to more than 300 lbs. avoirdu¬
pois. Copper has a peculiarly astringent and dis¬
agreeable taste. It is extremely deleterious, when
taken internally, to the animal economy, and indeed
may be considered as a poison. It is distinguished bv
a peculiarly disagreeable odour, which it communicates
to the hands by the slightest friction.
5. Copper does not melt till the temperature is ele-Action of
vated to a red heat, which is about 270 Wedgwood, heat.
or by estimation 1450° Fahrenheit. When it is rapid¬
ly cooled after fusion, it assumes a granulated and po¬
rous texture, but if it be cooled slowly, it affords crystals
in quadrangular pyramids, or in octahedrons, which
proceed from the cube, its primitive form. When the
temperature is raised beyond what is necessary for its
fusion, it is sublimed in the form of visible fumes. i ,
7. When copper is exposed to the air, especially if Oxidation,
it be humid, it is soon deprived of its lustre. It tar¬
nishes, becomes of a dull brown colour, which gradu¬
ally deepens, till it is converted into that of the an¬
tique bronze, and at last is covered with a shining
green crust, which is well known under the name of
verdigris. This process is the oxidation of the metal
by the absorption of oxygen from the atmosphere ; and
it is promoted and accelerated, either by being moisten¬
ed with water, or by the water which exists in the at¬
mosphere. As this oxide is formed, the carbonic acid of
the atmosphere combines with it, so that it is to be con¬
sidered as a mixture of oxide and carbonate of copper.
7. But when copper is subjected to a strong heat,
the oxidation proceeds more rapidly. Jf a plate of
copper be made red-hot in the open air, it loses its
brilliancy, becomes of a deep brown colour, and the
external layer, which is of this colour, may be de¬
tached from the metal. This is the brown oxide of
copper. This oxide may be obtained by immersing a
plate of red-hot copper into cold water. The scales
which are formed on the surface fall off’ by the sudden
contraction of the heated copper. This may be re¬
peated till the whole is converted into this oxide.
The copper in this state is in the highest degree of
oxidation. Sometimes it assumes a black, and some¬
times a green colour, which, according to Proust, are
owing to the combination of carbonic acid with the
oxide. This oxide of copper may also be obtained by
4 Q 2 dissolving
676
Coiper,
&.C.
1964
Black
oxide.
*963
Yellow.
* Phil.
Trans.
1801,
P- 235-
Xc)66
Phosphu-
ret.
1967
Sulphuret.
1968
Singular
expeiu.
fliept.
C H E M I
dissolving copper in nitric or sulphuric acid, and then
by precipitating with an alkali, which precipitate is to
be dried, to separate the water. The component parts
of this oxide are,
Oxygen 25
Copper 75
100
But copper combines with a smaller proportion of
oxygen, forming an oxide of an orange colour. If
the black oxide of copper be mixed with less than an
equal proportion of metallic copper in fine powder,
triturated in a mortar, and introduced into a close
vessel with muriatic acid, the whole of the copper is
dissolved with the emission of heat, and the oxide is
precipitated of an orange colour, by means of potash.
This is the oxide of copper with the smaller propor¬
tion of oxygen. The component parts of this oxide,
according to Mr Chenevix, are
Oxygen 11.5
Copper 88.5
100.0 *
This oxide changes colour the moment it is exposed to
the air, by the absorption of oxygen, for which it has
a very strong affinity.
8. There is no action between azote, hydrogen, or
carbon, and copper.
9. Phosphorus readily combines with copper, and
forms with it a phosphuret, which is prepared by
fusing equal parts of copper and phosphoric glass, with
of the whole of charcoal in powder. Or, it may be
formed by projecting phosphorus on red-hot copper in
a crucible. The phosphuret of copper is of a whitish
gray colour, with a metallic lustre, and of a close
texture. It is much more fusible than copper ; it
melts by the action of the blow pipe $ the phosphorus
burns with deflagration on the surface, and the copper
remains behind in the state of black scoria. Exposed
to the air, it loses its brilliancy, blackens, and is con¬
verted into a kind of efflorescence, which is phosphate
of copper. It is composed of 20 parts of phosphorus,
and 80 of copper.
10. Copper combines with sulphur by different pro¬
cesses. If sulphur in powder and filings of copper are
mixed together, and formed into a paste with a little
water, when they are exposed to the air, the mass swells
up, becomes hot, and is converted into a brown matter,
which effloresces slowly in the air, and is converted
into sulphate of copper. This sulphuret may be also
formed by heating together in a crucible equal parts
of sulphur and copper filings. A deep-coloured mass
is thus obtained, which is brittle, and more fusible than
copper. Ibis substance, which is employed in dyeing,
is prepared by stratifying in a crucible plates of copper
and sulphur. When the whole is melted, it is after¬
wards reduced to powder, and was formerly known by
the name of css veneris.
A singular and splendid experiment was first made
by the society of Dutch chemists at Amsterdam, in the
formation of sulphuret of copper. If three parts of
flowers of sulphur, by weight, and eight parts of
copper filings, be mixed together, introduced into a
i*iss matrass, and then placed upon red-hot coals, the
S T R Y.
mixture melts, and afterwards, with a kind of explo- Copper
sion, becomes almost instantaneously red-hot. If it be &c.
then removed from the fire, it continues red-hot for
some time, and is converted into a sulphuret of copper.
The singular part of this experiment is, that it succeeds
equally well without the access of oxygen j or even it
may be performed, when the mixture is under water.
It seems, therefore, at first sight, to be a case of com-
bustion, or apparent combustion, without oxygen. Ya- Of difficult I
rious opinions have been entertained concerning theexplana-
nature of this process, and different theories have beentlon*
proposed to account for the phenomena, which are
seemingly irreconcileable with the present theory of
combustion. Indeed it was at first held up as an objec¬
tion to the Lavoisierean theory. It has been explained by
some, by supposing that a small quantity of air may have
remained within the apparatus, or mixed with the ma- «
terials ; or that the quantity of air necessary might be
supplied from the moisture, from which the materials
and the apparatus may not have been sufficiently freed.
But this affords no satisfactory explanation ; for the
quantity of air or water which could remain when the
experiment has been carefully performed, is not suffi¬
cient to furnish the necessary portion of air for the sup¬
port of such a vivid combustion. Fourcroy considers
it as a case of simple phosphorescence, a change or
sudden increase of capacity for caloric, or as merely
the separation of light, or the conversion of caloric into
light; and in support of this opinion he states, that
the compound is always sulphuret of copper, which
would not have been the case, had real combustion been
effected, for then it would have been a sulphate of
copper. But it is explained by others according to the
principles of the theory of combustion, which has been
given by Gren, and which we have already detailed,
in treating of heat. According to this theory, the
light exists in combination with the combustible, which
in this case is the copper. When heat is applied to
the mixture, the sulphur melts, and therefore combines
with a great quantity of caloric; but, when the sul¬
phur combines with the copper, it returns to the solid
state, and therefore gives out a quantity of caloric.
The light from the metal at the same time combines
with the caloric, and both appear in the form of fire.
It is at the instant of combination that the mass be¬
comes red-hot, in consequence of the sudden extrica¬
tion of heat and light from the two substances which
form the compound.
Copper combined with sulphur is one of the most Copper j<:|]
common ores of this metal. According to the expe-rite?,
riments of Proust, the natural production, known by
the name of copper pyrites, is a sulphuret of copper,
combined with an additional portion of sulphur. It is
distinguished by its brittleness, metallic lustre, and
yellow colour. j^i
II, The order of the affinities of copper and its Affinities.<:
oxide, is, according to Bergman, the following :
Copper. Oxide of Copper.
Gold,
Silver,
Arsenic,
Iron,
Manganese,
Zinc,
Oxalic acid,
^Tartaric,
Muriatic,
Sulphuric,
Saclactic,
Nitric,
Copper.
Copper.
Antimony,
Platina,
Tin,
Lead,
Nickel,
Bismutii,
Cobalt,
Mercury,
Sulphur,
Phosphorus.
CHE
Oxide of Copper.
Arsenic,
Phosphoric,
Succinic,
Fluoric,
Citric,
Lactic,
Acetic,
Boracic,
Prussic,
Carbonic.
M I S T R Y.
Acid
Oxide
Water
677
18
68
ICO
Copper,
&e.
1977
Composi¬
tion of.
Copper is reduced. to the metallic state from its so¬
lutions in acids, by several metallic substances, as
iron, zinc, tin. It a plate of iron be introduced into
a solution of copper in an acid, the iron is in a short
time covered with metallic copper. It is in this way
that copper is obtained from its natural solutions in
water.
I. Salts of Copper.
1. Sulphate of Copper.
epaia- I. Sulphuric acid has no action on copper in the
cold j but when it is concentrated, and at a boiling
temperature, it is decomposed by the copper, with the
disengagement of sulphurous acid gas. By evaporating
the liquid, and by slow cooling, crystals of a fine blue
colour are obtained. This salt, which is a sulphate of
copper with excess of acid, reddens vegetable blues,
has a strong styptic, metallic taste, and is at the same
l973 time extremely acrid and caustic. Its specific gravity
operties. is 2.1943. It is soluble in 4 parts of cold, and in 2 of
boiling water. It effloresces slightly in the air, loses
its water of crystallization when it is heated, and is
converted into a bluish white powder. By increasing
the heat the acid is driven off, and the oxide remains
miposi. behind. The component parts of this salt are, accord-
m. ing to Proust,
Acid 33
Oxide 32
Water 35
100
2. Sulphite of Copper.
c 1 1 -j 1 • I97s
oulphurous acid has no action whatever on copper ; Prepava-
but the oxide of copper readily combines with thistion.
acid. Or, the sulphite of copper may be formed by
adding a solution of sulphite of soda, to a solution of
sulphate of copper. An orange-yellow precipitate is
formed, and small crystals of a greenish white are de¬
posited. These become deeper coloured by exposure
to the air. Both the yellow precipitate and the green¬
ish white salt have been proved by experiment to be
sulphites of copper. The first contains a greater pro¬
portion of copper, and therefore has an excess of base,
to which its colour and insolubility are owing. The
second is a saturated sulphite, which is soluble and crys¬
tallizes. When these salts are heated by the blow-pipe,
they melt, blacken, assume a grayish colour, and are at
last reduced to the metallic state. By the addition of
nitric acid they are converted into sulphate of copper.
By the sulphuric acid the sulphurous acid is driven off,
and there remains behind a brownish-coloured matter
in the state of powder, which is the oxide of cop¬
per mixed with a portion of that metal in the metallic
state.
1975
Rive* 2. This salt is generally found in great abundance
in nature, and is obtained either by evaporating the
water which holds it in solution, or by expressing the
sulphuretof copper to air and moisture, by which it is
converted into sulphate of copper. This salt is known
in commerce by the name of blue vitriol, blue copperas,
and vitriol of copper.
3. None of the acids have any action on the sulphate
of copper. It is decomposed by the alkalies and earths,
and precipitated in the form of a bluish-gray oxide,
which becomes green when exposed to the air, by ab¬
sorbing carbonic acid from the atmosphere. Ammonia
decomposes and precipitates the sulphate of copper, and,
with an excess of alkali, dissolves the oxide, which as¬
sumes a rich, brilliant blue colour. It is also partially
decomposed by muriate of ammonia. Fqual parts ot
this salt and sulphate of copper in a heated solution, ap¬
pear of a yellow colour, but when the solution cools, it
is converted into green. This solution has been em¬
ployed as a sympathetic ink. Paper moistened with
it appears of a yellow colour when it is heated, but, in
the cold, the colour entirely disappears.
Jathe- 4. When a small quantity of caustic potash is added
ink. to a solution of sulphate of copper, a greenish-coloured
precipitate is formed, which is diftused in the solution.
This is a sulphate of copper with excess of base, and,
according to Proust, is composed of
3. Nitrate of Copper.
. . # i979
1. Nitric acid is decomposed by copper with great Prepara-
rapidity. Nitrous gas is given out in great abun-tion*
dance, the metal is oxidated, and dissolved in the acid.
The solution, which is at first of a pale blue, assumes
a deep colour, and by slow evaporation yields crystals
in the form of long parallelepipeds. This salt has an
acrid styptic taste, is extremely caustic, and corrodes
the skin. It is deliquescent, and very soluble in wa- 19S0
ter. This salt exposed to a heat, even under ICO0, Properties,
melts j by increasing the heat, the water of crystalli¬
zation is driven off j it detonates slightly on red-hot
coals, and when mixed with phosphorus, by percus-
sion* . . . 19S1
2. If a quantity of this dried salt, reduced to pow-Violent
der, be spread on a sheet of tinfoil, it remains without action on
any action ; but if it be moistened a little with water,t,n*
and wrapped up, a violent action takes place. The
salt is decomposed, and nitrous gas is disengaged with
a great degree of heat. The tinfoil is burst to pieces,
and sometimes it is even inflamed. In this process,
the nitric acid of the nitrate of copper is decomposed,
in consequence of the strong affinity of the tin for the
oxygen of the acid. The tin is oxidated, nitrous gas
is given out, and the copper is partly reduced to the
metallic state. 19S j
3. The alkalies and earths precipitate the solution*^™11'0*
of
6yB
Coppep,
&c.
i9s3
Coniposi-
txon.
C H E M
of nitrate of copper in the form of a bluish-white
oxide, which becomes green by exposure to the air.
1 When it is precipitated by means of potash, it the pot¬
ash predominate, a bulky precipitate is formed, of a
fine blue colour. The precipitate is composed of the
oxide of copper and water, from which Proust, who
particularly examined it, has denominated it hydrate
of copper. Lime thrown into this solution has the pro¬
perty of giving it a deeper shade of blue. It is by this
process that the blue pigment known in commerce by
the name of Verditer, and which is employed tor paint¬
ing paper, is prepared.
4. If nitrate of copper be distilled in a retort, the
salt becomes thick, and forms a green crust on the
retort. It is then in the state of nitrate with ex¬
cess of base, or subnitratey which is insoluble in wa¬
ter.
5. The component parts of this salt are, according
to Proust,
I S T R Y.
Acid
Oxide
Water
16
67
!7
100
1984
Prepara¬
tion,
Properties.
19S6
Composi¬
tion.
4. Muriate of Copper.
I. Concentrated muriatic acid, with the aid of
heat, acts on copper and dissolves it. It produces a
slight effervescence, with the evolution of hydrogen
gas. The solution is of a fine green colour, by which
it is distinguished from the sulphate and nitrate of
copper. This salt may be formed by the direct com¬
bination of the green oxide of copper with muriatic
acid, a little diluted with water. By evaporation and
slow cooling, crystals may be obtained in the form
of long small needles, or rectangular parallelepipeds,
which are of a tine grass-green colour. This salt is
extremely acrid and caustic *, it melts with a moderate
heat ; it is deliquescent in the air, and is soon convert¬
ed into a thick liquid like'oil. The salt fuses at a mo¬
derate heat, and becomes of a uniform mass by cooling.
It is not decomposed by sulphuric or nitric acids. The
alkalies precipitate a bluish white oxide, which becomes
green in the air ; the copper is precipitated by zinc and
iron. The component parts of this salt, according to
Proust, are,
Acid
Black oxide
Water
24
40
36
100
1987
Submuri¬
ate.
Acid
Oxide
Water
12.5
79.O
8-5
100.0
Copper, j
Sec.
19SS
Composi-1
lion.
This salt is therefore the muriate of copper with the
oxide in the highest degree of oxidation.
2. Th is salt, according to the experiments of Proust,
may be distilled to dryness without any change j but
by increasing the heat, a part of its acid is driven off
in the state of oxymuriatic acid, and the copper re¬
mains behind in its lowest state of oxidation, and
forms a muriate of copper of a white colour. This
muriate may also be obtained by dissolving copper in
nitro-muriatic acid. A greenish powder appears, which
is a muriate of copper with excess of base. The com¬
ponent parts of this salt are,
3. Muriatic acid also forms a salt with the oxide ofwiththe
copper in its lowest degree of oxidation. Proust ob-orange
tained this salt by mixing salts of copper with muriate
of tin, which latter deprived the copper of a portion
of its oxygen, and afforded a salt of a white colour.
It may be formed also by introducing a plate of cop¬
per into a bottle filled with muriatic acid. This salt
crystallizes in tetrahedrons. It may be precipitated in
the state of white powder j by diluting the solution
with water, and by repeated washings, the orange oxide
of copper is obtained. When it is exposed to the air,
it soon combines with oxygen, and is converted into
muriate of copper with the oxide in its maximum state
of oxidation. This salt is soluble in ammonia, and
forms with it a colourless solution, which, after being
for some time exposed to the air, assumes a fine blue
colour by the absorption of oxygen.
5. Hyperoxymuriate of Copper.
The oxide of copper diffused in water, is dissolved
when a stream of oxymuriatic acid gas is directed
through it. This salt is of a bluish green colour, dif¬
ficult of crystallization. Paper impregnated with it is
easily kindled, and burns with a remarkably fine green
flame.
6. Fluate of Copper.
Fluoric acid readily oxidates and dissolves copper $
but the properties of this salt are little known. It
forms a gelatinous solution, and affords by evaporation
cubical crystals.
7. Borate of Copper.
This salt is most readily formed by adding a solution
of an alkaline borate to the solution of nitrate or sul¬
phate of copper. A greenish precipitate is formed,
which has very little solubility in water.
8. Phosphate of Copper. I9$)0
Phosphoric acid is not decomposed by copper ; but Prepara
when it remains for some time in contact with thetlon-
metal, it promotes the oxidation, and there is thus
formed a phosphate of copper, which has little solubili¬
ty. Or it may be obtained by pouring an alkaline
phosphate into a solution of sulphate or nitrate of cop¬
per. The phosphate of copper is formed, which is al¬
most insoluble. When it is heated with charcoal in a
crucible it affords a gray phosphuret of copper, which
has some brilliancy. The component parts of phosphate I99[
of copper, as they have been ascertained by Mr Chene-Composi?
tion.
vix, are,
Acid
Oxide
Water
100.0
The above oxide is composed of 49.5 brown oxide, and
12 of water.
9. Carbonate
>993
omposi-
)U.
1994
lieele’s
*995
para-
1.
CHEMISTKY.
Copier,
&c
9. Carbonate of Copper.
Carbonic acid has no action on copper, either in the
gaseous or liquid state ; hut it is very readily absorbed
by the blue or green oxides of this metal. It may be
formed by adding an alkaline carbonate to any of the
solutions of copper in the other acids. To prepare this
salt of the most brilliant and uniform colour, it should
be precipitated with boiling water, washed carefully,
and the vessel which contains it placed in the sun.
The carbonate of copper is found native, and is known
by the name of malachite. It contains the same pro¬
portions as the artificial carbonate. Its component
parts are,
Acid 25.0
Brown oxide 69.5
Water 5.5
100.0
10. Arseniate of Copper.
This salt may be formed by adding a solution of an
alkaline arseniate to nitrate of copper j or by digesting
arsenic acid on copper. A green solution is obtained,
and the arseniate of copper is precipitated in the form
of a bluish-white powder. The arseniate of potash
added to a solution of sulphate of copper forms a preci¬
pitate of a very rich green, which was proposed by
Scheele as a paint, because it is unaltered by the air,
and hence it obtained the name of Scheele's green. It
is the arsenite of copper. This salt may be formed by
the following process : <
Dissolve a quantity of potash in water, and add white
oxide of arsenic, till the potash is saturated. Filter
the liquor, and add gradually a solution of sulphate of
copper while it is hot, stirring the mixture during the
addition. It is then left at rest for some time, after
which the arsenite of copper precipitates in the form of
a beautiful green powder. The precipitate is to be re¬
peatedly washed with water, and dried. Several va¬
rieties of the arseniates of copper have been described,
and analyzed by the Count de Bournon and Mr Che-
nevix, and an account of them published in the Philo¬
sophical Transactions for 1801.
11. Tunsgate of Copper.
Tungstic acid combines with oxide of copper, or
forms a precipitate when added to a solution of sul¬
phate of copper.
12. Molybdate of Copper.
Molybdic acid, added to a solution of nitrate of cop¬
per, produces a green precipitate.
13. Chromate of Copper.
This is formed by adding chromic acid to a solu¬
tion of nitrate of copper. A red precipitate is ob¬
tained.
14. Acetate of Copper.
Copper is readily oxidated and dissolved in acetic
acid. The solution is aided by heat, and gradually as¬
sumes a green colour. The oxide of copper, which is
thus formed, is the verdigris of commerce. It is usu¬
679
Copper,
Sic.
ally prepared by exposing plates of copper to the action
ot vinegar. The surface of the plates is covered with
this bluish-green powder, which being dissolved in ace¬
tic acid affords a solution of a fine greenish blue colour.
This solution by evaporation and cooling gives crystals
of a deep blue colour, and in the form of quadrangular,
truncated pyramids. The specific gravity is 1.779.
"I his salt has a strong disagreeable taste, and is poiso-
nous. It effloresces in the air, and is very soluble in Properties,
water. It is decomposed by all the alkalies ; and by
means of heat, or by distillation, it is decomposed, and
gives out acetic acid. This salt, according to the ana¬
lysis of Proust, is composed of
1996
Acid and water
Oxide
61
39
100
15. Oxalate of Copper.
Oxalic acid readily acts upon copper, and forms with
it needle-shaped crystals of a green colour. It readily
combines with the oxide of copper, and is then in the
state of a bluish green powder, which is little soluble
in water. Oxalic acid precipitates the sulphate, ni¬
trate, and muriate of copper, in the form of a bluish
gray powder.
16. Tartrate of Copper.
Tartaric acid dissolves copper, when exposed to the
air, and at last converts it into an oxide. It combines
readily with the oxides of copper, and forms with them
a salt of little solubility, and of a green colour. When
this acid is added to the solution of sulphate or muriate
ot copper, it forms a tartrate of copper, which appears
after some time in irregular greenish crystals.
17. Tartrate of Potash and Copper.
This triple salt may be prepared by boiling together
oxide ot copper and tartar in water. By evaporating
the solution, blue crystals are obtained, which have a
sweetish taste, ft the same solution be evaporated to
dryness, a bluish green powder remains behind, which 1997
is employed as a paint, by the name of Brunswick Brunswiek
green. green.
18. Citrate of Copper.
Citric acid dissolves the oxide of copper at the boil¬
ing temperature. The solution affords by evaporation
greenish coloured crystals.
19. Benzoate of Copper.
Benzoic acid readily dissolves the oxide of copper.
The solution yields small crystals of a deep green co¬
lour, which have little solubility in water. It is decom¬
posed by the alkalies, the carbonates of lime, and barytes,
and the acid is driven off by heat.
20. Succinate of Copper.
When succinic acid is long digested with copper, it
dissolves a small portion, and the solution affords green
crystals.
21. Suberate of Copper.
When suberic acid is added to a> solution of ni-^
. trate
68o
CHEMISTRY.
Copper,
&c.
1998
Prepara¬
tion.
* Journ.
Roy. Inst,
i. 307.
1999
Fixed alka
lies.
2003
Ammonia.
2001
Glass co¬
loured.
2002
Sulphates.
trate of copper, it produces a green colour } but there
is no precipitate.
22. Mellate of Coppef.
When mellitic acid Is added to a solution of acetate
of copper, it affords a precipitate, and the colour of
verdigris, but it produces no change on muriate of
copper.
23. Lactate of Copper.
Lactic acid, after digestion with copper, first assumes
a blue colour, then changes to a green, and is afterwards
converted into a dark brown. The solution does not
yield crystals.
24. Prussiate of Copper.
The prussiates of potash precipitate the Salts of cop¬
per of different colours. The prussiates obtained from
sulphate, nitrate, and muriate of copper, Mr Hatchet
observes, are very beautiful 5 but the finest and deepest
colour he obtained from the muriate. He has pro¬
posed the prussiate of copper as a paint ; and on trial
with oil and water, it has been found to answer the
purpose. The method which he recommends for the
preparation of this pigment, is to take green muriate
of copper with 10 parts of distilled or rain water, and
to add prussiate of lime, which he thinks is preferable
to prussiate of potash, until the whole is precipitated.
The prussiate of copper is then to be well washed with
cold water, and to be dried without heat *.
II. Action of Alkalies, &c. on Copper.
1. The fixed alkalies in solution in water, digested
with copper filings, and allowed to cool, promote the
oxidation of the metal. The liquid assumes a slight
blue colour, as well as the copper, but the action of the
air is necessary for this process. It scarcely succeeds in
close vessels.
Liquid ammonia, treated in the same way, becomes
of a brilliant blue colour, but it dissolves only a very
small quantity of the oxide. By the slow evaporation
of this solution, the greatest part of the ammonia is se¬
parated in the form of gas j a very small quantity on¬
ly remains combined with the oxide of copper. This
solution, it has been said, yields transparent crystals of
a fine blue colour1. The dried mass assumes a green
colour when it is exposed to the air, as the ammonia is
dissipated, and the oxide absorbs carbonic acid. The
green oxide of copper is instantly converted to a blue.
This action is promoted by heat, and when the heat is
increased, azotic gas is disengaged •, the hydrogen of
the ammonia combines with part of the oxygen of the
oxide, and forms water j the oxide becomes of a brown
colour, and the metal is at last revived.
2. There is no action between the earths and copper,
excepting by fusion. With the vitrifiable earths and
the oxides of this metal, a glass is formed, which is
most commonly of a fine green colour, with different
shades of brown or red, according to the degree of
oxidation. The oxides of copper are frequently em¬
ployed to colour glass, porcelain, and pottery.
3. Copper seems to have but a feeble action on most
of the salts. The sulphates are not decomposed by this
metal, even with the assistance of heat. When cop¬
per is boiled with the solution of alum, it is oxidated
3
Copper,
See.
2003
aud partially dissolved, by the excess of sulphuric acid
which this salt contains. The sulphate of copper thus
formed, seems to combine in the state of triple salt with
the sulphate of alumina and potash. It has been ob¬
served that alumina precipitated from alum, the solu¬
tion of which has been kept for some time in copper
vessels, is slightly tinged with a blue colour. The ni-Nitrates,
trates, especially the nitrate of potash, when fused to¬
gether, give out sparks, but without inflammation or
detonation. A brown oxide of copper is thus formed,
mixed with potash. When it is washed with water,
the alkali is dissolved, and there remains the pure oxide
of copper, which is often prepared in this way for the
fabrication of enamels. . 2004
Muriate of ammonia is decomposed by copper with Muriates,
the assistance of heat. Hydrogen gas and ammoniacal
gas are disengaged, and there remains behind a muri*
ate of copper. The solution of muriate of ammonia
also acts upon copper, and becomes of a blue colour,
when it is kept in vessels of this metal. When muri¬
ate of ammonia is sublimed with about ^ of its weight
of green oxide of copper, a small quantity of the muri¬
ate of ammonia is decomposed, and the muriate of cop¬
per which is formed, combines with the undecomnosed
salt. This was formerly called cvpreovs flowers of sol
ammoniac, or ens veneris. If a quantity of lime water,
with about ^ of its weight of muriate of ammonia, be
kept in a copper vessel for 10 or 12 hours, the liquid
assumes a fine blue colour. This was formerly called
celestial water. In this process a small quantity of am¬
monia is disengaged by the lime, and it dissolves some
portion of the copper, which communicates a blue co¬
lour to the whole solution. This compound may also
be formed, by adding a small quantity of copper filings
to a mixture of the solution of muriate of ammonia and
lime water.
4. The phosphates, fluates, borates, and carbonates,
have no other action on copper than by means of the
water in which they are dissolved. This action is great¬
ly promoted by exposure to the air.
III. Alloys.
1. Copper readily combines with almost all other
metals, by means of fusion •, and many of the alloys
which are thus formed are of great importance in the
arts* . . . 2005
2. When copper is combined with arsenic, by melt-Algeuic.
ing them together in a close crucible, and covering
the surface with muriate of soda, to prevent oxidation,
a white brittle alloy is formed, which has been called
white tombac. With a certain proportion of zinc and
tin, this alloy is employed in the fabrication of various
utensils.
3. The alloys of copper with tungsten, molybdena,
chromium, columbium, titanium, and uranium, are
either altogether unknown, or have not been exa¬
mined. 200(5
4. Little is known of the alloy of copper and co-Cobalt,
bait. It is said that it resembles cobalt itself in tex¬
ture and brittleness. 2007
5. Copper forms with nickel a white hard alloy, Nickel,
which has no ductility, and which is soon altered by
exposure to the air. 200S
6. Copper unites with manganese, and gives an al-Manga-
Joy of a red colour, which is very malleable. nesei
7. Equal
C H E M I
Copper, 7* Equal parts of copper and bismuth, melted toge-
Stc. ther, form a brittle alloy of a pale red colour. \Yith
—*v ' one-eighth of bismuth, the alloy is extremely brittle, of
3ismuth. a vei.y r.e^ C0J°ur> a«d exhibiting in its texture
nearly cubical fragments. The specific gravity of this
alloy is exactly the mean of that of the two metals j
and, as the proportion of bismuth is increased, the te-
2010 nacity of the alloy is diminished.
Utimony. 8. Copper combines readily with antimony by fu¬
sion. Equal parts of the two metals constitute an al¬
loy of a beautiful violet colour, and of a greater speci¬
fic gravity than the mean. This alloy is remarkable
for its lamellated and fibrous texture. The alchemists
gave it the name of regulus of Venus. A compound
formed ol equal parts of martial regulus and regulus of
\enus, according to an alchemical prescription, the
surlace ot which exhibits the appearance of meshes or
cavities, was called Vulcan's net, because it seemed to
envelope iron and copper, which were denominated
2011 Mars and Venus.
Mercury. 9. Copper enters into combination with mercury
with some difficulty. This alloy may be formed by
triturating very thin plates of copper which have been
rubbed with vinegar or common salt, with mercury j
or, by triturating copper filings with the solution of
mercury in nitric acid. It is also formed by other
processes ; but whatever be the process, this amalgam
is of a reddish colour, and sufficiently soft to receive
the most delicate impressions when it is a little heated.
It becomes hard by exposure to the air. It is decom-
2012 Pose,f hy heat, and the mercury is separated.
yiuc. I0’ The compound of copper and zinc constitutes
one of the most important and useful alloys, of all the
combinations of the metals. Muschenbroeck has gi¬
ven a particular description of several of these alloys.
Equal parts of copper and zinc afforded a metal of a
fine golden yellow, whose specific gravity was 8.047 5
one part of copper and half a part of zinc, formed a
compound of a pale golden colour j one part of copper
and three-fourths of zinc, composed an alloy of a golden
colour, which yielded to the file $ one part of copper
and one-fourth of zinc, gave a compound of a finer co¬
lour than that of brass. According to the proportions
of the metals which are employed, the alloys have re¬
ceived different names. The usual process for combin¬
ing them, is either by fusing copper with a mixture of
calamine, or native carbonate of zinc and charcoal $ or
by stratifying plates of copper with the same mixture,
10i^ and exposing them to heat.
rass. The well known compound, distinguished by the
name of brass, is an alloy of copper and zinc. The
proportion of the zinc is about one-fourth of the cop-
S T R Y. 68l
per. This alloy is of a fine yellow colour, less liable Copper
to tarnish, and more fusible than the copper. The &c.
density of this alloy is one-tenth more than the mean. v—■ ■■»
It is malleable, and possesses considerable ductility.—
A compound applied to a great variety of ornamental
purposes, and known by the names of Prince Rupert's
metal, prince's metal, or pinchbeck, is an alloy of zinc Pinchbeck,
and copper in the proportion of three parts of the for¬
mer to four of the latter. This alloy is less malleable
than brass; but has a fine golden colour, which is
pretty permanent, and little affected by exposure to
air.
The compound of zinc and copper, called brass, it
is supposed, was well known to the ancients. An ore
of zinc was employed in the fabrication of it, although
it does not appear that they were at all acquainted with
zinc as a distinct metal. “ It is probable,” Pro¬
fessor Beckmann observes, after Pliny, “ that ore con¬
taining zinc, acquired the name of cadmia, because it
first produced brass.” “ Ipse lapis c quo fit aes, cad¬
mia vocata.” “ When it was afterwards remarked,
that calamine gave to copper a yellow colour, the
same name was conferred on it also. It appears,
however, that it was seldom found by the ancients,
and we must consider cadmia in general as signifying
ore that contains zinc. Gold-coloured copper or brass
was long preferred to pure or common copper, and
thought to be more beautiful the nearer it approached
to the best aurichalcum (c). Brass, therefore, was
supposed to be a more valuable kind of copper ; and
on this account Pliny says that cadmia was necessary
for procuring copper, that is, brass. Copper as well
as brass was for a great length of time called ces, and
it was not till a late period, that mineralogists, in order
to distinguish them, gave the name of cuprum to the
former. Pliny says, that it was good when a large
quantity of cadmia had been added to it, because it not * Vlid. of
only rendered the colour more beautiful, but increasedln,vent-
the weight (d)*.” 111.74.
To discover the proportions of the two metals in this Brass ana-
alloy, Vauquelin dissolved a quantity of brass in nitricIjzed.
acid. When the solution is completed, he precipitates
the two metals by means of potash, which is added in
large quantity, to dissolve the whole of the oxide of
zinc } and as the oxide of copper is not soluble by this
alkali, it remains in the form of black powder, which
is separated, washed, and dried. A fiftieth part of
the weight of this precipitate is deducted for the oxy¬
gen with which it is combined $ the remainder gives
the weight of copper in the alloy. What is deficient
of the whole weight of the alloy, is the weight of the
ZinC f Fourcroy
11. Copper Connais*.
Chim. vi.
-IS9-
(c) According to Bishop Watson, the aurichalcum, or orichalcum, of the ancients, is to be considered as the
same with our brass. Manchest. Trans, ii. 47.
(d) Mr Beckmann "farther adds, “ At first it wras called ces cyprium ; but in course of time only cyprium,
from which at length was formed cuprum. It cannot, however, be ascertained at what periods these appellations
were common. The epithet cupreus occurs in manuscripts of Pliny and Palladius, but we cannot say whether
later transcribers may not have changed cyprius into cupreus, with which they were perhaps better acquainted.
The oldest writer who uses the word cupreum, is Spartian, who says in the life of Caracalla, cancclli ex cere, vel
cupro; but may not the last word have been added to the text as a gloss ? Pliny, book xxxvi. 26. says, addito
cypreo et mtro, which Isidore, xvi. 15. p. 363, expressed by the words adjecto cupro et nitro." History of In¬
ventions, iii. 75.
Vol. V. Part II. f 4 R
f
682
C H E M
Copper,
&c.
20l5
Tin.
2017
For can¬
nons.
ir. Copper combines very readily with tin. This
is a very important alloy in the arts. It is with tins
alloy that bronze, metals for casting statues and cannons,
bell-metal, and metallic mirrors, are formed. Tin di¬
minishes the ductility of copper, and increases its tena¬
city, hardness, and sonorous quality. According to
Muschenbroeck, copper acquires the greatest solidity
with the addition of one part of tin to five or six of this
metal. By increasing the quantity of tin, the alloy be¬
comes hard and brittle.
To form the alloy employed for cannons, 12 parts of
tin are united to 100 of copper. In fusing the two me¬
tals for this alloy, it is necessary to stir or agitate the
mixture, otherwise they remain uncombined. Bronze,
or the metal which is used for statues, is not diflerent
from that of which cannons are made, excepting in the
proportion of tin being either more or less, to vary the
o 18 cuiuiii •
Bell-metal. component parts of bell-metal are usually 75
of copper and 25 of tin, or three of copper and one
of tin. A small quantity of other metals is sometimes
detected by analysis, in fragments of bells that have
been examined, such as zinc, antimony, bismuth, and
even silver. But these metals are not considered as
essential to the alloy. Bell-metal is of a grayish white
colour, of a close grain, and so hard as to be scarcely
touched with the file. It is also elastic and sonorous.
The specific gravity is considerably more than the
mean, and it is more fusible than copper. A mixture
of three parts of tin and one of copper, fused with a
little arsenious acid, and black flux, gives an alloy of
the colour of steel, very hard, and susceptible of a fine
polish, which is employed in the fabrication of mirrors
for telescopes. But other proportions, with the addition
of other metals, are employed hy diflerent opticians.
Bismuth, antimony, and silver, are added, to increase
2019 the reflecting property of the mirror.
Tinning Copper vessels which are employed for the purposes
copper, 0f domestic economy are apt to be corroded or oxi¬
dated by the substances which are boiled or preserved
in them. To defend them from the action of these
substances, and to prevent the terrible accidents which
would otherwise happen to those who employ any of
these matters as food, the inside of such vessels is co¬
vered with a thin coating of tin. This is performed
by the following process. The surface to be covered
with tin, is scraped very clean with an iron instrument,
or it is scoured with wine lees, or weak nitric acid
and sand. The tin is then applied in two ways; in
the first way, the tin is in a state of fusion, and the
surface is covered with some resinous or oily matter,
to prevent oxidation, in the same way as in tinning
iron. The surface to be tinned is first immersed in a
solution of mui'iate of ammonia, and dried, and then
dipped into the melted tin. Another method is, to
heat the copper vessel on charcoal, and then to apply
to the inside of it a quantity of tin, which is then
melted 5 a little muriate of ammonia being thrown in
at the same time in powder. The surface is then rub¬
bed with tow. The muriate of ammonia is employed,
both to clean the surface of the copper, and also to
prevent the tin from being oxidated. The coating of
tin which can be applied to copper is extremely thin ;
and it cannot hy any means be increased, to bear a
heat greater than that which melts tin. Bayen in his
2
I S T R Y.
researches concerning tin, found, that a vessel nine Silver, &
inches in diameter, and three lines in depth, acquired, ——y—.
by having its surface covered with tin, only 21 grains
of additional weight.
In using vessels thus tinned, care should be taken
not to allow acid substances to remain for any length
of time in contact with them, because the tin would
he corroded, and part of the copper afterwards dis¬
solved, which would inevitably act as a poison. Pure
tin ought only to be employed, at least without any
mixture of lead. _ _ 2020
12. Copper combines very readily with lead hy Lead,
fusion. With an excess of lead, the alloy is of a gray
colour, is ductile, but brittle when it is hot, on account
of the great difierence of fusibility of the lead and cop¬
per. This alloy is employed in the fabrication of
printing types for large letters. According to Savary,
the proportion for this purpose is 100 of lead and 20 or
25 of copper. _ 2021
13. Copper combines with iron, but with much Iron,
greater difficulty than with the other metals. As the
proportion of iron is increased, the alloy becomes of a
darker gray, loses its ductility, and is more infusible.
The alloy of copper with iron has been supposed to
constitute that variety called hot short iron, which
possesses greater tenacity than other kinds ol iron, and
on account of some peculiar properties is more appli¬
cable to a variety of purposes. . 202a |
Next to iron, copper is of the greatest importance, Uses,
and most extensive utility, of all the metals. In the
metallic state it is employed for a great variety of in¬
struments and utensils ; some of its oxides and salts are
much used in painting, dyeing, and enamelling j and
the alloys with other metals, especially with zinc and
tin, are applied to many valuable purposes in the arts,
and in domestic economy. But the uses of copper in
its different states, and in its various combinations, are
so familiar and well known, that it must appear quite
unnecessary to enumerate them.
Sect. XXII. Of Silver.
2. Silver has been reckoned among the noble or per- H;s|orv!
feet metals, and has been known from the earliest ages
of the world. Its scarcity, beauty, and utility, have
always rendered it an object of research among man¬
kind, so that the nature and properties of this metal
have been long studied and minutely investigated. In
the midst of the rage for the transmutation of metals
which for centuries fired the imaginations of the alche¬
mists, silver occupied a great share of their attention and
labour, with the hope of discovering the means of con¬
verting the baser and more abundant metals into this,
which is more highly valued on account of its scarcity
and durability. When the dawn of science commen¬
ced, and its light had dissipated the follies and extra¬
vagances of these pursuits, the earlier chemists were
much employed in examining the properties and com¬
binations of silver 5 nor has it been overlooked or ne¬
glected by the moderns. 2C24
2. Silver, which is neither in such abundance nor so Qies.
universally diffused as many other metals, exists in na¬
ture in five different states $ in the native state j in that
of alloy with other metals, especially with antimony j
in that of sulphuret, sulphurated oxide, muriate, and
carbonate*
2025
lalysi?.
C H E M
UlTfT, &c. carbonate, i. Native silver, which is characterized by
*— v its ductility and specific gravity, is frequently tarnished
on the surface, of a gray or blackish colour, and ap¬
pears under a great variety of forms. In this state it
is not perfectly pure. It is usually alloyed with a lit¬
tle gold or copper. 2. The alloy of silver and anti¬
mony, which is the most frequent, is distinguished by
its brittleness and lamellated structure from native sil¬
ver, which it resembles in lustre and colour. It crys¬
tallizes in prisms which are six-sided and pretty regu-
lar. 3. The sulphuret of silver, which is known to
mineralogists by the name of vitreous silver ore, is of a
dark gray colour, and has some metallic lustre. It is
usually crystallized in the form of cubes, octahedrons
with angular facets, or sometimes in the form of the
dodecahedron. 4. The sulphurated oxide of silver and
antimony. In this ore of silver the sulphur is combined
with the metal in the state of oxide ; in the former,
in the metallic state. This ore is called red silver ore.
It is of a deep red colour, sometimes transparent, and
sometimes nearly opaque, frequently having the lustre
of steel on the surface. The primitive form of its
crystals is the rbomboidal dodecahedron. 5. The mu¬
riate of silver, which has been long known to mineralo¬
gists by the name of corneous silver, is found in irregu¬
lar masses of a grayish colour, frequently opaque, but
sometimes semitransparent. It is soft and very fusi¬
ble.
3. The analysis of silver ore varies according to its
nature and combinations. Native silver, after be¬
ing broken down and washed, is rubbed with liquid
mercury, which by sti-ong trituration dissolves, and
combines with the silver. This amalgam is subjected to
pressure, to separate the excess of mercury. It is then
distilled, and afterwards heated in a crucible, to volati¬
lize the mercury, and the silver remains pure. When
silver is combined with antimony and sulphur, the ore
is to be strongly roasted, to separate the antimony or
sulphur. It is then melted with a proper quantity of
alkaline flux. The sulphurated oxide of silver and an¬
timony may be treated in the same way.
But by these processes the silver is not in a state of
i by cu- perfect purity. To obtain it pure, by the separation of
btion. other metals, as copper or iron, it is subjected to the pro¬
cess called cupellation. This depends on the peculiar
property of lead, when it is oxidated and afterwards
vitrified, of combining with the metals, and leaving the
silver in a state of purity. A small flat cup made of
the powder of burnt bones, which has received the
name of cupel, is employed for this purpose. The sil¬
ver to be purified is included in a plate of lead, usual¬
ly double the weight of the silver. The cupel is in¬
troduced under a muffle in the middle of the furnace.
The'use of the muffle is to increase the heat, by allow¬
ing the metal to be surrounded on all sides with coals,
and at the same time preventing the admixture of any
part of the fuel with the fused matter. The heat is
then to be applied sufficiently great, that every part of
the metal may be in fusion, but not such as to sublime
the lead too rapidly. As the process advances, the
lead is oxidated and vitrified, and having combined
with all the other metals except the silver, sinks into
the pox-ous cupel, and leaves the silver pure. The lead,
which is now in the state of litharge, is extracted from
the cupel, and applied to the usual purposes.
2026
ver pur
2029
It has Electricity,
See.
I S T R Y. 683
4. Silver is of a line white colour, and great bril-silver,&e.
liancy. The specific gravity is 10.474, anc^ according  >
to some, when it is hammered, 10.535, and sometimes 2027
nearly 11. Uie hardness of silver is intermediate be- ^roPeil!es-
tween iron and gold. The elasticity of silver is consi¬
derable, and it is one of the most sonorous of the metals.
It possesses very great ductility and malleability. It may
be beaten out into leaves yqostso an inch thick, and
a grain of silver may be so extended as to be formed
into a hemispherical vessel of sufficient capacity to hold
an ounce of water, or to he drawn out into a wire 400
feet in length. Ihe tenacity of silver is very great.
A wire .078 of an inch in diameter, will support a
weight of 187 lbs. avoirdupois. ,
5. Silver is a good conductor of caloric. Its ex-Action of
pansive power is less than that of lead and tin, and beat,
greater than that of iron. TVhen it is exposed to a
white heat it melts. The temperature necessary to
bring it to fusion has been calculated at the iooo° of
Fahrenheit} but according to Kirwan, it x-equires a
higher temperature than 28° Wedgwood to melt it,
although at that temperature it continues in a state of
fusion. When it is cooled slowly after fusion, it ex¬
hibits some marks of crystallization. It assumes the
form of four-sided pyramids, or of octahedrons. If
the heat be increased after the silver is melted, it boils
and may be reduced to vapour. The surface of melt¬
ed silver is so extremely brilliant, that it seems to
throw out sparks, which is called coruscation by the
workmen.
6. Silver is a good conductor of electricity,
no perceptible taste or smell.
7. Silver is not altered by exposure to the air, al-nf2?3°
though it is soon tarnished, which is owing, as Proust m
ascertained, to a thin covering of snlphui-et of silver,
which is formed by sulphureous vapours to which it is
exposed ; but when it is subjected to a strong heat for
a long time, in an open vessel, it combines with the
oxygen of the atmosphere, and is converted into an
oxide. In the experiments of Macquer, the oxidation Oxidation,
of silver was effected by exposing it for 20 times suc¬
cessively in a crucible, to the strong heat of a porce¬
lain furnace. At last perceptible traces of oxidation
were observed, and vitreous matter of an olive co¬
lour was obtained. In other experiments, silver being
acted on by the heat of a burning glass, was covered
with a white powder, which was afterwards convert¬
ed into a crust of a green colour. Van Marutn
passed electric shocks through silver wire, which was
instantly x-educed to a kind of powder, with a greenish
white flame, and the oxide which was formed xvas dis¬
sipated in vapour. The oxide of silver, which is form¬
ed by these processes, is of a greenish or yellow coloux*.
It is composed of about ten parts of oxygen, and 90
of silver. The oxide of silver is very easily reduced,
for the affinity of oxygen for this metal is very feeble.
It is decomposed by the application of heat, and even
when it is exposed to the light. By heating it in close
vessels, pure oxygen gas is obtained, and the metal is
converted to the metallic state, by melting it in a cru¬
cible.
8. Azote, hydrogen, or carbon, have no action what¬
ever on silvei’.
9. Silver combines with phosphorus, forming ant20-?2
phosphuret. One part of silver in filings, with two ofret.04l>1U
4 ^ 2 phosphoric
684
Silver, &c;
2033
Sulphuret,
2034
Affinities.
CHEMISTRY.
phosphoric glass, anil half a part of charcoal, exposed
to heat in a crucible, yielded a phosphuret of silver
which had acquired one-fourth of its primitive weight
of silver. This phosphuret is of a white colour, brit¬
tle, of a granulated texture, and may be cut with a
knife. By throwing pieces of phosphorus on silver
red-hot in a crucible, the metal is instantly melted,
and the phosphuret which is formed remains at the
bottom. At the moment when the surface becomes
solid, a quantity of phosphorus is thrown out with a
kind of explosion, and the surface ot the metal then
exhibits a lamellated appearance. Pelletier, who ftrst
made this experiment, concludes from it, that silver
is susceptible of retaining a gi'eater proportion of
phosphorus in combination w'ith it, when it is in
fusion than in the solid stale, and that the separation
of the phosphorus is owing to the sudden contraction
of the silver. A hundred parts of silver in fusion re¬
tain 25 of phosphorus, but only 15 when it becomes
solid. Phosphorus has the .property ot reducing the
oxides of silver, and of precipitating them from this
solution in acids, in the metallic form.
9. Sulphur combines readily with silver, both in the
dry and humid way. By stratifying in a crucible plates
of silver alternately with sulphur, and melting them ra¬
pidly, a deep violet-coloured mass is obtained, which is
more fusible than silver, brittle, crystallized, and has a
metallic lustre. It may be cut with a knife, and has
a good deal of resemblance to vitreous ore of silver.
When this sulphuret of silver is exposed to heat for a
considerable time, the sulphur is gradually dissipated,
and the silver remains pure and ductile. Silver com¬
bines very readily with sulphur, when it is long exposed
to those matters which gradually deposit this substance.
This effect is immediately produced, when silver is
brought into contact with sulphurated hydrogen gas, or
when it is immersed in water impregnated with this gas,
as in natural sulphureous waters. It is owing to the
same cause that a silver spoon is tarnished by a boiled
egg, and particularly if the egg has begun to spoil.
Sulphurated hydrogen gas which is exhaled by the egg,
is decomposed, the sulphur combines with the silver,
and forms a thin layer of sulphuret of silver, which is
of a dark or violet colour. The same thing happens,
when silver is exposed in places that are much frequent¬
ed, as in churches and theatres.
TO. Silver forms alloys with most of the metals, and
salts with the acids. The order of the affinities of sil¬
ver and its oxide, as they have been arranged by Berg¬
man, is the following.
Silver.
Oxide of Silver.
Lead,
Copper,
Mercury,
Bismuth,
Tin,
Gold,
Antimony,
Iron,
Manganese,
Zinc,
Arsenic,
Nickel,
Muriatic acid,
Oxalic,
Sulphuric,
Saclactic,
Phosphoric,
Sulphurous,
Nitric,
Arsenic,
Fluoric,
Tartaric,
Citric,
Lactic,
Silver.
Platinum,
Sulphur,
Phosphorus.
I. Salts
Oxide of Silver.
Acetic,
Succinic,
Prussic.
Carbonic,
of Silver.
Silver, ^
I. Sulphate of Silver.
2035
1. Sulphuric acid has no action on silver in the cold jPrepara-
but three or four parts of the concentrated acid, boiledtion.
with one part of silver in filings or small pieces, pro¬
duce an effervescence, with the evolution of sulphurous
acid gas. A white powder is formed, which is entire¬
ly soluble in water acidulated with sulphuric acid.
With excess of acid, a solution of sulphate of silver is
obtained, which is colourless, very acrid and caustic.
By evaporation it affords crystals, which are white and
brilliant, and in the form of fine prisms or needles.
When the solution is more concentrated, a deposition
is formed as it cools, and then it crystallizes in large
white, brilliant plates, which seem to be composed of
compressed four-sided prisms. 2036*
2. This salt is not very soluble in water. When ex-Propertij
posed to heat, it melts and swells up; at a higher tem¬
perature it blackens, gives out sulphurous acid, and
oxygen gas, and is then reduced to the metallic state.
It is slowly decomposed by the action of light. It is
decomposed by phosphorus, and vapour of sulphur in the
cold, and by charcoal at a red heat. It is not altered
by the action of the acids, excepting the muriatic. All
the alkalies and the alkaline earths precipitate the
oxide of silver from its solution in sulphuric acid, of a
dark gray or brown colour, and especially in contact
with light. Lime causes a precipitate of a greenish
gray colour. Ammonia re-dissolves the precipitate. 203-j
Sulphate of silver is decomposed by the muriates, phos- Decomi
pirates, and fluates. The carbonates give a white inso-sltlon-
luble precipitate of carbonate of silver. The alkaline
sulphurets, sulphurated hydrogen gas, and water im¬
pregnated with this gas, decompose the sulphate of sil¬
ver, and form in its solution a black precipitate of sul¬
phuret of silver ; for the oxide is reduced by the hy¬
drogen, while the silver combines with the sulphur.
2. Sulphite of Silver.
Sulphurous acid combines readily with the oxide ofPrePm
silver. It assumes the form of small shining grains, of tlon•
a pearly-white colour. It is not altered by exposure
to light. Sulphurous acid precipitates the solution of
silver in nitric acid, in form of a white powder of sul¬
phite of silver. The same salt is obtained by adding a
solution of sulphite of ammonia to a solution ot nitrate
of silver. An excess of this sulphite re-dissolves the
precipitate, and forms a triple salt. This sulphite ot
ammonia and silver, exposed to the sun’s rays, is soon
covered with a pellicle of silver, and the liquid contains
sulphate of ammonia. Sulphurous acid, aided by the
affinity of ammonia, deprives the oxide of silver of its
oxygen, and is converted into sulphuric acid, which
combines with the ammonia, and forms a sulphate. Sul¬
phite of silver is decomposed by muriate ot ammonia ;
and the precipitate, which is formed, assumes a black M I
colour, and is partly reduced. When sulphite ol sil-pec0iM
ver is exposed to the action of the blow-pipe, it gives sition. ■
out
2040
’repara-
ion.
1041
roperties.
C H E M
Silver, &c. oat sulphurous acid, melts Into a yellow mass, and
  v ; leaves behind a metallic button of pure silver. ’ This
salt has an acrid metallic taste ; it is soluble in the
caustic alkalies, and forms with them a triple salt.
3. Nitrate of Silver.
I* Silver dissolves nitric acid with effervescence, in
consequence of the evolution of nitrous gas. If the
solution be made in a tall conical vessel, the nitrous
gas, which is disengaged from the bottom, is dissolved
in the acid, and communicates a green colour to the
lower part of the liquid. If the green colour is per¬
manent, or passes to a blue, the metal is contaminated
with copper j but if it be mixed with gold, a purple-
coloured powder is deposited at the bottom of the
vessel.
2. Nitric acid dissolves more than •§■ of its weight of
silver. This solution is nearly colourless, very heavy,
and extremely caustic. It colours the skin, first of a
reddish purple, and then of a deep black. It produces
the same effect on the nails, the hair, and all animal
substances. It is employed to dye the hair of a black
colour, but this should be done with great caution.
When it is diluted with water, so as to deprive it of its
causticity, it has an astringent bitter taste. By eva¬
porating the solution till a pellicle is just formed on
the surface, and by slow cooling, it crystallizes in trans¬
parent brilliant plates, sometimes of a metallic lustre,
when the liquid has been exposed to the sun during
the crystallization. These crystals are not very regu¬
lar. They are sometimes six-sided, sometimes square,
and sometimes triangular j but they seem to be com¬
posed of very fine small prisms. The taste is so ex¬
tremely bitter, that it has been denominated the gall of
the metals. It is not deliquescent in the air. When ex¬
posed to the light of the sun, it gradually blackens,
and the silver is reduced. When it is heated in a cru¬
cible, it readily melts into a brown liquid, which swells
up, as it is deprived of its water of crystallization :
and in this state of fusion, if it be allowed to cool, it
unar cau-assumes the form of a deep gray or black mass. When
the nitrate of silver is thus fused, and cast into small
cylindrical moulds, the cylinders thus formed, which
exhibit a radiated fracture, are well known in surgery
by the names of lunar caustic and lapis infernalis. This
is generally prepared by evaporating the solution of
nitrate of silver to dryness, without previous crystalli¬
zation.
3. W7hen nitrate of silver is heated in a retort, it first
gives out nitrous gas, then very pure oxygen gas,
which is afterwards mixed with azotic gas. The
silver is reduced at the bottom of the vessels. When
a plate or crystal of nitrate of silver, well dried, is put
upon burning coals, it produces a brilliant detona¬
tion •, the silver is reduced, and adheres to the surface
of the charcoal.
4. The nitrate of silver is very soluble in wrater, and
in this state it may be reduced by hydrogen gas and
phosphorus. By exposing paper or silk moistened with
a solution of nitrate of silver to hydrogen gas, the pa¬
per or silk is coated with metallic silver, in consequence
of the reduction of the salt by the hydrogen, which
has a stronger affinity for the oxygen than the silver.
The same effect takes place, if a cylinder of phospho¬
rus be immersed in a solution of nitrate of silver. The
2042
2043
ction of
at.
2044
ccotnposi
m.
2045
< nydro-
2045
(1 plios-
orus.
I S T R Y. 685
phosphorus combines with the oxygen of the oxide, s-iver, &c.
and the silver is deposited on the surface of the pbos- v i"— v— 1 >
phorus in the metallic state. The phosphorus may be
separated from the silver by melting it in boiling wa¬
ter. These experiments were made by Sage and Bouil¬
lon in France, and Mrs Fulham in England. 2047
5. A mixture of this salt ami phosphorus struckDetona-
smartly with a hammer, produces a violent detonation.tion*
Nine grains of nitrate of silver and three of sulphur
produce no detonation, but only an inflammation of
the sulphur, when they are struck with a cold hammer;
but with a not hammer, a detonation takes place, with
the reduction of the silver.
6. Nitrate of silver is decomposed by sulphuric acid,
and forms a precipitate of sulphate of silver, in the
state of white powder. It is also decomposed by sul¬
phurous acid. Muriatic acid produces a copious white
piecipitate, which is very insoluble, and is deposited
in the form of thick heavy flakes of muriate of sil¬
ver.
7. Nitrate of silver is decomposed by all the alka¬
line and earthy matters. A white precipitate is at first
foimed, which afterwards passes to an olive green ;
but the caroonates of the alkalies give a white preci¬
pitate which remains unaltered. Ammonia occasions
a sparing precipitate, which is re-dissolved by an ex¬
cess of alkali, when there is formed a triple salt. But
a very peculiar action takes place between ammonia
and the oxide of silver, by which both the one and
the other are decomposed with a violent detonation.
This is the celebrated fulminating silver, which was
discovered by Berthollet in 1788. It is prepared by
the following process.
A solution of pure silver in nitric acid is precipitat-Fulmina-
ed by lime water. The precipitate is placed on gray dng silver,
paper, which absorbs the whole of the water and the
nitrate of lime. Pure caustic ammonia is then added,
which produces an effect somewhat similar to the slak¬
ing of lime. The ammonia dissolves only part of this
precipitate. It is left at rest for 10 or 12 hours, when
there is formed on the surface a shining pellicle, which
is re-dissolved with a new portion of ammonia, but
which does not appear, if a sufficient quantity of am¬
monia has been added at the first. The liquid is then
separated, and the black precipitate found at the bot¬
tom, is put in small quantities on separate papers.
This powder is fulminating silver, which, even wbile
it is moist, explodes with great violence, when it is
struck with a hard body. W hen it is dry, it is suffi¬
cient to touch, or rub it slightly, to produce an ex¬
plosion. If the liquid decanted off this precipitate be
heated in a glass retort, it effervesces, gives out oxy¬
gen gas, and there are soon formed small, brilliant,
opaque crystals, which have a metallic lustre, and
which fulminate with the slightest touch, though co¬
vered vvith liquid, and break with violence the vessels
containing them. In this action the most obvious cir¬
cumstance is the tendency of the compound to decom¬
position. The oxygen of the oxide combines with the
hydrogen of the ammonia, and forms water, while
the azote of the ammonia escapes in the form of gas,
and the silver remains behind in the metallic state.
The violence of the explosion is owing to the sudden
expansion of the azotic gas. The shining pellicle
which appears on the surface, is part of the silver,
from
686
Silver, &c,
CHEMISTRY.
2049
Action of
salts.
2050
Of metals.
2051
Mercury.
2052
Arbor Di¬
ana, or siL
ver tree.
2053
Copper.
from which the ammonia has been separated by the
'action of the air j and to have the full effect, another
portion of ammonia is necessary to dissolve it. Carbo¬
nate of ammonia dissolves the oxide of silver precipi¬
tated by lime, with effervescence, and the evolution of
carbonic acid ; but there remains enough of this acid
to form a triple salt, which, when dried, is in the form
of a yellow powder, but has no fulminating property.
The preparation of this dangerous powder frequently
fails. A mixture of copper, the absorption of carbo¬
nic acid by the oxide of silver, precipitated by means
of lime, and left too long exposed to the air, and am¬
monia containing a little of this acid, either diminish or
destroy its fulminating property.
7. Many of the salts decompose the nitrate of silver.
All the sulphates produce a precipitate of sulphate of
silver in the form of powder. The same effect is pro¬
duced by the other salts, and the effect is similar to
that which takes place with the acids of which they
are composed.
8. Most metallic substances have a stronger affinity
for oxygen than silver has j it is therefore precipitated
from its solution in nitric acid, either partially or en¬
tirely deprived of its oxygen, and in the metallic state.
In the precipitation which takes place by means of
mercury, the silver is reduced in an arborescent form,
which has long retained the name of arbor Diance.
■Different processes have been recommended to effect
this decomposition. One part of silver, according
to Lemery, is dissolved in diluted nitric acid. The
solution is then to be farther diluted with 20 parts
of distilled water, and then to add two parts of mer¬
cury. It is said, that it requires, by this process,
about 40 days for the formation of the metallic tree.
Homberg gives a shorter process, which succeeds suffi¬
ciently well. It consists in making an amalgam in
the cold of four parts of silver-leaf and two of mer¬
cury. This amalgam is then to be dissolved in a
sufficient quantity of nitric acid, and the solution
to be diluted with 32 times the weight of the metals
of water. By introducing into part of this liquid a
small ball of soft amalgam of silver, the formation
of the tree immediately takes place. It may be formed
also by putting a soft amalgam of silver into six parts
of a solution of nitrate of silver, and four of a solution
of nitrate of mercury. In these processes one part of the
•mercury of the amalgam attracted by that of the solu¬
tion, and carrying off the oxygen of the silver, preci¬
pitates the latter in the metallic state. The precipita¬
tion of the silver is still favoured by the affinity between
it and the portion of undissolved mercury, and also part
of the silver of the amalgam. All these attractions con¬
spire to effect the separation of the silver, when it is
deposited in prismatic needles, which arrange them¬
selves in an arborescent form.
9. Silver is precipitated from its solution in nitric
acid, by means of copper. When a plate of copper is
immersed in this solution, diluted with its weight of
distilled water, the silver is immediately separated
in whitish gray-coloured flakes. If this precipitate
is scraped off, and well washed with water, after¬
wards fused in a crucible, and subjected to the pro¬
cess of cupellation with lead, pure silver may be ob¬
tained.
4. Muriate of Silver. Silver, 8ce.
Muriatic acid has no action whatever on silver ; but 2054
by adding muriatic acid to a solution ol silver in sul-^^>ara'
phuric or nitric acid, the moment it comes in contact
with these solutions it decomposes them, carries off
the oxide of the silver, and forms with it a white in¬
soluble salt, which is precipitated in a kind of coagu¬
lated state. The muriates also produce a similar preci¬
pitate, and hence it is that the nitrate of silver is em¬
ployed as a re-agent, and a most delicate test of muri¬
ates or muriatic acid in mineral water. The muriate
of silver, which is called corneous silver or horny silver,
is extremely insoluble in water. Exposed to the light
it becomes brown, violet, and black. By heating it
gently in a matrass, it melts like tallow, and when it
becomes solid by cooling, it assumes the form of a se¬
mitransparent gray substance, similar to some kinds of
horn, from which it derived its name of luna cornea,
or horn silver. If it be fused on a stone, it is converted
into a kind of friable matter, crystallized in beautiful,
brilliant, and as it were metallic needles. When it is
strongly heated in a crucible, it filters through it, and 20S5
is lost in the fire. The component parts of this salt, Composi-
are, according to Proust, tion.
Acid 18
Oxide 82
100
This salt is not decomposed by any of the acids, or by
the pure alkalies. It is decomposed by the alkaline
carbonates. The muriate of silver is very soluble in
caustic liquid ammonia. This solution, which is trans¬
parent and colourless, undergoes a remarkable change
when it is exposed to the air. As the ammonia eva¬
porates in the air, there is formed on the surface a
pellicle which assumes a brilliant, bluish, or iridescent
colour. This pellicle, which gradually increases in
thickness, deepens in colour, and at last becomes of a
dirty gray or black, by the contact of light. The sub¬
stance thus separated is the muriate of ammopia, con¬
taining a small proportion of the metal reduced.
5. Hyperoxymuriate of Silver.
This salt may be prepared by passing oxymuriatic
acid gas through water having the oxide of siver dif¬
fused in it. It is soluble in two parts of warm water,
and crystallizes in cooling in the form of small rhom¬
boids. It is decomposed by muriatic acid, and by ni¬
tric and acetic acids. The muriate of silver remains
behind. Exposed to a moderate heat, it melts, oxygen
gas is given out, and the salt is reduced to the muri¬
ate of silver. With one-half its weight of sulphur, it
produces violent detonation, by slight percussion, ' It
gives out a white vivid flash.
6. Fluate of Silver.
Fluoric acid dissolves the oxide of silver, and forms
with it an insoluble salt. It is decomposed by sulphu-
ric^acid.
7. Borate of Silver.
Boracic acid combines with the oxide of silver, by
adding
C H E M
Ira-, &c. adding a soluble borate to the solution of nitrate of
—v——'silver. ^ he whole ol the silver is precipitated in the
form of a white, heavy, insoluble powder.
8. Phosphate of Silver.
Phosphoric acid dissolves the oxide of silver, and
precipitates it from its solution in nitric acid. The
precipitate is a white heavy powder ; with considerable
heat it melts into a kind of greenish enamel. It is
not soluble in water without an excess of acid. When
it is heated in a retort with charcoal, it gives out a
little phosphorus, and is reduced, in great part, to phos-
phuret of silver.
9. Carbonate of Silver.
Carbonic acid combines readily with the oxide of sil¬
ver. It may be prepared by adding an alkaline car¬
bonate to sulphate .or nitrate of silver. The carbonate
of silver is precipitated in the form of a white powder.
This salt, which blackens by the aption of light, readi¬
ly gives out its carbonic acid by heat.
10. Arseniate of Silver.
Arsenic acid dissolved in water, and heated with
silver, has no action upon it $ but when the water is
evaporated, and the heat is increased to produce vitri¬
fication, arsenic is sublimed, and there remains a white
vitreous matter, which contains the silver oxidated,
and is covered writh a deep yellow coloured glass. By
heating water on this glass reduced to powder, the so¬
lution becomes of a brown red colour; the arsenic
acid is dissolved, and carries with it a little oxide of
silver, which is precipitated by adding muriatic acid.
The brown insoluble powder is fused at a high tempe¬
rature, and becomes semitransparent. By continuing
the heat in a crucible, the silver is reduced. Arsenic
acid gives a brown precipitate in the solution of nitrate
of silver.
11. Tungstate of Silver.
Tungstic acid does not seem to have any action on sil¬
ver j but, when added to a solution of nitrate of silver,
it occasions a precipitate in the form of white powder,
but its properties have not been examined.
I s T R Y. 687
14. Acetate of Silver. ,s]!ve^ &c-
Acetic acid dissolves the oxide of silver. The acetate 2°58
of silver may be prepared, by adding acetate of potash ^•cetalc’
to a solution of nitrate of silver. The solution affords,
on cooling, small prismatic crystals. This salt is very
soluble in water, and has an acrid metallic taste. When
heated, it swells up, and is decomposed. The acid is
driven off, and the oxide remains behind.
15. Oxalate of Silver.
Oxalic acid dissolves a small portion of the oxide of^xalate.
silver, which is precipitated from nitric acid, by means
of potash, or, by adding oxalic acid to a solution of ni¬
trate of silver. A white, thick, insoluble precipitate
is formed, which is oxalate of silver. This salt is soon
changed by the action of light. When exposed to the
rays of the sun, it becomes black; and when it is heat¬
ed in a spoon, it undergoes a kind of detonation.
16. Tartrate of Silver.
rp . . . # _ 2060
lartanc acid combines with the oxide of silver, and Tartrate,
forms with it a tartrate of silver, which becomes black
by exposure to the air. This acid has no action on
silver itself, nor does it produce a precipitate in the
solution of nitrate of silver.
17. Tartrate of Potash and Silver.
When tartar is added to a solution of nitrate of sil¬
ver, there is formed, according to Thenard, a triple
salt, which consists of tartaric acid, oxide of silver,
and potash.
It is decomposed by the alkalies and alkaline car¬
bonates, and by the sulphates and muriates *. * Ann. de
Chinn.
18. Citrate of Silver. xxxiii. 36.
Citric acid dissolves the oxide of silver, and forms cjtratc
with it an insoluble salt, which becomes black by be¬
ing exposed to the sun. It has a harsh, strong, metal¬
lic taste. It affords by distillation concentrated acid,
and leaves behind the silver reduced in an arborescent
form, mixed with a little charcoal, at the bottom of the
retort. This salt is decomposed by nitric acid. Its
component parts are,
^ 12. Molybdate of Silver.
ybdate. Molybdic acid produces a white, flaky precipitate in
a solution of nitrate of silver. Nothing is known of
the properties of this salt.
12. Chromate of Silver.
2057 3
Jmate. By adding chromate of potash to a solution of silver
in nitric acid, a precipitate is formed, of a most beau¬
tiful crimson red, which the action of light changes to
purple. The precipitate, which is the chromate of
silver, is in the state of powder. When heated by the
action of the blow-pipe, it becomes black, and is re¬
duced in part to the metallic state. Beduced to pow¬
der in this state, it is still of a purple colour; but when
it is heated with the blue flame of a candle directed by
the blow-pipe, it becomes green, and the silver is sepa¬
rated in globules. The chromic acid, decomposed by
the hydrogen of the blue flame, passes to the state of
green oxide, and the oxide of silver is reduced.
Acid 36
Oxide of sulphur 64
100
19. Malate of Silver.
Malic acid, added to a solution of nitrate of silver, Malate.
produces a precipitate, the nature of which is un¬
known.
20. Benzoate of Silver.
Benzoic acid combines with the oxide of silver, and Benzoate,
forms with it a salt which is soluble in water, is not
deliquescent in the air, but becomes brown by exposure
to the sun’s rays, and is decomposed by heat; the acid
being driven off, and the oxide reduced to the metal¬
lic state.
21. Succinate of Silver.
Succinic acid has no action on silver, but it combines Succinate,
with
688
CHEMISTRY.
Silver, 8ic. with its oxide. The succinate of silver crystallizes in
—■‘-y——*thin oblong prisms, which are arranged in a radiated
form.
22. Saccclate of Silver.
zo6S . . . . c . c
Saccolate. Saclactic acid poured into a solution oi nitrate ot
silver produces a white precipitate, the nature of which
has not been examined.
2066
II. Action of the Alkalies, &c. upon Silver.
Action of 1. The pure alkalies have no effect on silver. Its
*11 siT”* ox*^e *3 soluble in ammonia ; but if this solution be
n s ver. ]ong exposed to the light, the ammonia is decomposed,
azotic gas is disengaged, water is formed by the com¬
bination of the hydrogen of the ammonia and the oxy¬
gen of the oxide, which is reduced to the metallic
state.
2. Silver forms no compound with the earths \ but
in the state of oxide it combines with some of them, by
vitrification, and in this state it colours glass and ena¬
mels of a yellow, olive green, or brownish shade. For
this purpose the oxide of silver is employed in the
arts.
3. None of the salts have any action on silver. It
is not sensibly oxidated by the nitrates or hyperoxymu-
riates. The metals which are more easily oxidated,
and with which silver is frequently contaminated, are
acted on by these saline matters, and in this way, it has
been observed, silver may be refined or purified by
means of nitre.
III. Alloys.
I. There are few metallic substances with which sil¬
ver does not enter into combination, and form alloys.
Few of these, however, are applied to useful purposes.
Arsenic combines with silver, and forms an alloy, which
is externally of a yellow colour, but internally of a dark
gray. It is brittle } and, when it is exposed te heat,
the arsenic is sublimed, and the silver remains behind
2067 in a state of purity.
Cobalt. 2. Cobalt is with difficulty alloyed with silver. When
they are melted together in a crucible, they separate
from each other, according to their specific gravities,
206S each retaining a small proportion of the other.
Bismuth. 3. Bismuth combines with silver very readily by
fusion. The alloy is brittle, lamellated, and of an in¬
termediate colour between bismuth and antimony. The
specific gravity is greater than the mean. The two
metals cannot be separated, but with difficulty. When
this alloy is exposed to strong heat in the open air, the
bismuth is oxidated, and vitrified at the same time that
it is partially sublimed, so that it might be employed in
place of lead for the cupellation of silver $ and in some
cases bismuth is preferred, on account of its more rapid
206*9 oxidation.
Antimony. 4. The alloy of antimony and silver is easily effect¬
ed by fusion. It is heavier than the mean of the two
metals. This alloy is brittle, and has not been applied
to any use.
3. Silver has a strong affinity for mercury. An
amalgam may be formed of these two metals, by sa¬
turating silver leaf, or fine filings of silver, with mer¬
cury *, or by adding to silver, while it is red-hot, heated
mercury. The consistence of this amalgam varies ac¬
cording to the proportion of the two metals. In general
3
2070
Mercury.
it is white and soft, and the specific gravity is greater Silver, &
than the mean. It sinks to the bottom of liquid mer-1 «—
cury. Exposed to a moderate heat for some time, it
shoots out into a kind of vegetation, like the tree of
Diana-, and if, after fusion, it is allowed to cool slow¬
ly, it crystallizes in the form of small leaves, or in square
prisms, terminated by four-sided pyramids. When it
remains long exposed to the air, it becomes harder, and
of a more solid consistence. This amalgam is much
employed in gilding. 2071
6. Silver combines readily with zinc, by means ofZinc.
fusion, and forms with it a brittle alloy, which has not
been applied to any use. 20^
7. Silver combines easily with tin, and forms an Tin.,
alloy which is extremely brittle. The silver is entire¬
ly deprived of its ductility. This alloy, however, in¬
stead of being useful, is considered as one of the most
troublesome in the working of silver, on account of
the hardness and brittleness which it communicates,
and it is found almost impossible to separate them en¬
tirely. > 2073
8. Lead, it has been already observed, readily com-Lead,
bines with silver by means of fusion. It is employed
for the purification of lead in the process ot cupella¬
tion. This alloy is very fusible, resembles lead in co¬
lour, and is less sonorous, but not less ductile than sil¬
ver. The specific gravity is greater than the mean. 20^4
9. An alloy of silver and iron in equal proportions iron,
has nearly the colour of silver. It is harder, has some
ductility, and is attracted by the magnet. Steel is
soldered with silver. Guyton fused together silver and
iron, and obtained two buttons, which were placed by
the side of each other, and strongly adhering, but suf¬
ficiently distinct. Each of the metals was found to be
alloyed with a small proportion of the other. The sil¬
ver renders the iron hard and compact, and the iron
communicates to the silver properties which seem to
render it applicable to many important uses. 2075
10. Silver combines readily with copper, and forms Copper
with it one of the most useful alloys. This alloy gives
hardness to the silver, and the colour of the latter is
not diminished, unless the quantity of copper is con¬
siderable. These properties render it extremely useful
in the fabrication of various utensils, and especially of
money. The density of the alloy is less than the mean
of the two metals. If 137 parts of silver he alloyed
with 7 of copper, the mean specific gravity is 10.301,
but it is only 10.175, which shews an increase of bulk
of TV part. This is the alloy of the silver coin of
France *. The standard silver, which is employed in *
Mines.
3°-
the British silver coin, is composed of 11 parts ol silver
and one of copper. 207:
The uses of silver are as important and extensive as Utes.
any of the metals, except iron, and especially when it
is alloyed with copper 3 as it is applied as the medium
of commerce by all civilized nations, and for various
instruments and utensils, most of which are so familiar
as to require no particular enumeration.
Sect. XXIII. Of Gold and its Combinations.
207!
1. Gold is spoken of in the earliest histories of the Hist°n|
world. The peculiar properties of this metal, its scarci¬
ty, durability, and beauty, have rendered it always an
object of pursuit, and have raised it high in the estima¬
tion
CHEMISTRY.
Gold, See. tion of mankind. The alchemists regarded gold as the
'—> ' purest, the simplest, the most perfect, and very justly
the most inrlpctrimfihlo of oil  vi J .
689
*079
"^traction
rom its
res.
- # £ 7 —— v* t j juowty
the most indestructible of all the metals with which
they were acquainted. Hence it was esteemed the
noblest and most perfect of what they considered as
perfect metals, and dignified with the pompous name
of fo'ng of the metals. It was the object of all their la¬
bours and researches, to discover the means of trans¬
muting the baser and more abundant metals into this
JOj8 precious metal.
Universally 2. Gold is supposed to be, next to iron, the most uni-
liffused, versally diffused of all the metals; but at the same time
faititks i<; is f0Und 'n ?Uch Sma11 (luantIties, that it is one of the
scarcest. It is most commonly found in the state of
small grains, mixed with the sand or with the soil, al¬
most in every part of the world. Gold is also found
imbedded in stones, especially quartz, either in grains,
or crystals, which are octahedrons ; and it is probably
from these that the grains found in the soil or in the
sands in the beds of rivers, have been derived. Gold
is, however, more abundant in the tropical regions of
the earth, where it forms an article of commerce, un¬
der the name of gold dust. In this state it is found in
the rivers of Africa, and exported to Europe. But
although gold is always found in the metallic state,
it is not absolutely pure. It is generally alloyed with
copper or silver, and sometimes with iron and mer¬
cury.
3. To separate gold from the metals with which it
is alloyed, the process recommended by Bergman may
be employed. It is first dissolved in nitro-muriatic
acid ; the silver is deposited spontaneously in the form
of muriate of silver, which is insoluble ; the gold is pre¬
cipitated in fine powder by the sulphate of iron ;
the quantity of iron may be ascertained by prussiate
of potash ; and the copper is separated by means of iron.
Each of these processes is performed on different por¬
tions of native gold, so that the quantity of gold, and
the different metals with which it is alloyed, may be
determined. In the large way, the extraction of gold
is a very simple process. The auriferous sand of rivers
is first washed to carry off all extraneous matters. It
is triturated in a vessel with water, with 10 or 12 times
its weight of mercury. The water is poured off, and
carries with it the earthy matters. The amalgam is
pressed in skins, to separate the excess of mercury, and
the solid portion which remains is exposed to heat in
stoneware retorts, to drive off the mercury, and the
gold remains behind. To separate the gold from other
metals, it is subjected to the process of cupellation,
which has been already described in treating of the
purification of silver. '
’loperties 4* Gold is of a reddish yellow colour. It possesses
considerable lustre, although other metals have this
property in a superior degree. Gold, next to platinum,
is the heaviest body in nature, having a specific gra¬
vity of 19.3 and 19.4. It is not very hard, but is ex¬
tremely ductile and malleable. It may be beaten out
into leaves so thin as to equal Part °f an inch.
The method of extending gold, which is followed by
the gold-beaters, is by hammering a number of thin
rolled plates between skins or animal membranes. A
single grain of gold may be beaten out in this way, so
as to cover 56^ square inches. The coating of gold
which covers wire is still thinner. By computation it
Vql. V. Part II. t
*080
is found, from the diameter and length of the wire, and Gold, &c.
the quantity of gold employed, that it is only TV of the ^ ■"—v —
thickness of gold leaf. The tenacity of gold also is
very considerable. A gold wire .078 of an inch in dia¬
meter will support a weight equal to more than 150 lbs.
avoirdupois, without breaking. Gold has no percepti¬
ble taste or smell. 2oSj
5. Gold melts, according to Guyton, at the tempe-Action of
rature of 32° Wedgwood. It has been observed, that beat,
gold, in the state of filings or grains, melts with more
difficulty than in larger masses; and that the small
fragments, even after they are fused, remain in separate
globules. To make them run into one mass, a little
nitre or borax is thrown into the crucible. It has also
been observed, that gold, which has only been subject¬
ed to the degree of heat necessary for its fusion, is brit¬
tle after cooling. To preserve its ductility, therefore,
the temperature must be raised much higher. It is
brittle also, when it is too suddenly cooled after fu¬
sion. . By increasing the temperature while the gold is
in fusion, it seems to become convex on the surface,
and when it cools, it sinks, which is ascribed to the
expansion and contraction of the metal. When it is
slowly cooled, it crystallizes in the form of quadrangu¬
lar pyramids, or regular octahedrons. If the heat be
continued while it is in perfect fusion, it seems to be
agitated, and to undergo a kind of ebullition. This
was observed by Homberg and Macquer, by the ac¬
tion of the burning glass, or when a small globule of
gold was acted on by the blow-pipe. According to
Macquer, it rose in vapour to the height of five or six
inches, and attached itself to the surface of a silver
plate, which it gilded completely. 2og
9. Gold is the most indestructible, and the least al- of air.2
tered of all the metals, by exposure to the air. It pre¬
serves its lustre, its brilliancy, and colour, for any
length of time.
7. The strongest heat of a furnace, which has been Oxidation,
applied to gold in fusion, has been found incapable of
producing the smallest change, or the least tendency
to oxidation; but by the action of Tschirnhausen’s
powerful burning glass, Homberg having placed some
gold in the focus, found that it rose in vapour ; and
that it was covered with a violet-coloured vitreous
oxide. This change was at first ascribed to foreign
bodies, particularly to the charcoal on which the gold
was placed during the experiment. But Macquer re¬
peated the same experiments with a more powerful
glass, and obtained the same result. The vitrification
after some time gradually extended, the gold diminish¬
ed, and the support was impregnated with a purple-co¬
loured matter. The effect of electricity on gold leaf, 2084
placed between two cards, was observed by Camus in electrf-
1773. The gold was converted into a violet-coloured Glty‘
powder, which adhered to the paper. This seeming
oxidation was regarded by some as merely a minute
mechanical division of the gold ; but this objection has
been removed by the experiments of Van Marum on
the combustibility of gold by means of the powerful
electrical machine at Haerlem. A strong electrical
shock w’as passed through a golden wire suspended
in the air. It kindled, burned with a perceptible
green flame, and was reduced to fine powder, which
was dissipated in the air. It was supposed by this
philosopher, that the inflammation of gold might be
4 S effected
CHEMISTBY.
2085
By light¬
ning.
2086
Yellow ox¬
ide.
2087
Phosphu-
2088
Affinities.
effected without the excess of oxygen gas, as he found
it to take place in hydrogen gas and other elastic fluids,
which are incapable of supporting combustion. But the
force of this objection is removed by recollecting, that
all gases hold in solution a quantity of water, and that
water is very readily decomposed by electricity.
A similar oxidation has been observed to take place
on the gilding in the inside of houses, or on the furni¬
ture, which has been struck with lightning. The pur¬
ple oxide of gold, thus obtained, contains about five or
six parts in the hundred of oxygen. Gold combines
with a greater proportion of oxygen, forming a dif¬
ferent oxide of a yellow colour j but this oxide is in¬
capable of combining with any farther portion of oxy¬
gen. It remains, therefore, unchanged in the air, and
retains for a long time its brilliant rich colour. This
oxide, however, is decomposed by the action of heat ;
the oxygen is driven off, and the gold remains behind
in the metallic state.
When gold is dissolved in nitro-muriatic acid, or in
a mixture of equal parts of nitric and muriatic acids, an
effervescence takes place, and the solution becomes ot
a yellow colour. In this process the nitric acid is de¬
composed, its oxygen combines with the gold, and the
oxide, as it is formed, is dissolved in the muriatic acid.
By adding lime water, a precipitate is formed, which
is the yellow oxide of gold, consisting of eight or ten
parts of oxygen in the ICO.
8. There is no action between gold and axote, hy¬
drogen, carbon or sulphur. The oxides of gold, indeed,
are readily decomposed by hydrogen.
9. Phosphorus, according to the experiments of Pel¬
letier, combines with gold, by heating together in a cru¬
cible a mixture of one part of gold in filings, with two
parts of phosphoric glass, and one-eighth part of char¬
coal. Great part of the phosphorus is separated from
the acid, and driven off, but there remains a small quan¬
tity united with the gold, forming a phospburet of gold.
This pbosphuret is whiter and more brittle than the gold,
and has some appearance of crystallization. It may be
formed also by adding phosphorus to gold in a red heat
in a crucible. It becomes pale coloured, granulated,
brittle, aud a little more fusible.. This pbosphuret con¬
tains -/^th part of phosphorus. It is decomposed by be¬
ing kept some time in fusion ; the phosphorus is driven
off in the state of vapour, and inflamed.
10. The order of the affinities of gold and its ox¬
ides, as they have been arranged by Bergman, is the
following:
Gold.
Mercury,
Copper,
Silver,
Bead,
Bismuth,
Tin,
Antimony,
Iron,
Platinum,
Zinc,
Nickel,
Arsenic,
Cobalt,
Manganese.
Oxide of Gold.
Muriatic acid,
Nitric,
Sulphuric,
Arsenic,
Fluoric,
Tartaric,
Phosphoric,
Prussic.
I. Salts of Gold,
r. Nitrate of Gold.
Go'd, See.I
2C;$9
When concentrated nitric acid is several times sue-Prepara-
cessively poured upon gold, boiled and distilled to dry-tion.
ness, the gold is dissolved, and the solution assumes
a vellowT colour. This effect was first observed by
Brandt, in separating gold and silver, by means of this
acid. But it appears from the observation of Deyeux
on the solubility of gold in nitric acid, that the solu¬
tion is more readily effected in proportion to the
quantity of gas, or nitrous gas, which the acid con¬
tains. According to the experiments and observations
of Fourcroy, gold leaf is dissolved in nitric acid, im¬
pregnated with nitrous oxide, and that it is owing to
the nitrous oxide that the gold is oxidated, this oxide
being more easily decomposed than nitric acid. Thus it
happens that the acid is deprived of its colour as it acts
On the gold, and the solution is more rapidly effected
in the cold than with heat, because the nitrous gas is
disengaged by heat. The acid which at first had been
deprived of its colour, by the oxidation of the gold, as
this oxide is dissolved, assumes an orange-yellow colour,
holding in solution the nitrate of gold with excess of
acid. The nitrate of gold cannot be obtained in cry-De<jOinp0.
stals. It is decomposed by heat, or by exposure to thesed by heal
light of the sun. When this solution is filtered, it leaves ant! th*aI
on the paper a violet-coloured trace, which is the oxide
of gold. The nitrate of gold is also decomposed by the
alkalies, or by introducing a plate of tin or silver into
the solution, and the purple oxide is precipitated in the
form of powder. It is also decomposed by muriatic
acid, which, at the instant of combination, converts the
orange colour to a pure yellow.
2. Muriate of Gold.
acpi
I. Muriatic acid has no action whatever on gold, orprepara-
on its purple oxide, but gold is immediately oxidatedtion.
and dissolved by oxymuriatic acid j or if nitric acid be
added to muriatic acid, the solution of gold is imme¬
diately effected. It is on account of this property that
nitro-muriatic acid was distinguished by the name of
aqua regia, because it dissolved gold, which was stiled
by the alchemists, the king of the metals. The nature
of the action is obvious. Gold is oxidated with great
difficulty. This is effected by oxymuriatic acid, which
readily parts with its oxygen, or by the addition of ni¬
tric to the muriatic acid, the former of which is de¬
composed, giving up its oxygen to the gold, which
being oxidated, is dissolved in the muriatic acid, form¬
ing a muriate of gold. This solution of the muriate a05J
of gold is of a deep yellow colour, extremely acrid pyopertks.
and caustic, has a very astringent, metallic taste, and
stains the skin of a deep purple colour, which becomes
darker by exposure to the air and the light. It con¬
tinues permanent till the epidermis is renewed. It
produces a similar effect on all vegetable and animal
matters, and on marble and siliceous stones. By eva¬
porating this solution, nitric acid is disengaged, and
crystals are obtained, in the form of truncated octahe¬
drons, or small quadrangular prisms, of a topaz co¬
lour. These crystals are easily procured by evaporat¬
ing the solution to one half, and adding a little al¬
cohol. They assume a red colour by the action of
strong
jn.
2094
1 hydro
Q.
2095
ioipho-
>old, &c. strong light. They attract moisture from the air, and
 ' spontaneously become liquid. By gradually heating
in a retort this solution of gold in nitro muriatic acid,
there passes over nitric acid, muriatic acid, which car¬
ries with it a portion of gold, and even reddish-yellow
crystals of muriate of gold. To the nitro-muriatic li¬
quid, which is of a high colour, and which rises during
the distillation, the alchemists gave the name of red
lion. By evaporating the solution to dryness, a dry
muriate of gold is obtained, which may be reduced by
a strong heat, previously giving out oxygen gas, and
2093 leaving the gold behind in the metallic state,
ecoraposi- 2. The muriate of gold is very soluble in water.
It is decomposed by hydrogen gas. If a piece of silk
be moistened with a solution of muriate of gold, the
salt is decomposed, and the gold, reduced to the metal¬
lic state, attaches itself to the silk, llluriate of gold is
also decomposed by phosphorus. If a stick of phos¬
phorus be introduced into a saturated solution of mu¬
riate of gold, the salt is decomposed, and the gold
being reduced to the metallic state, forms a cylindrical
covering to the phosphorus, which may be separated
by dissolving the latter in hot water. A similar effect
is produced by burning sulphur, by sulphurated and
2095 phosphorated hydrogen gases, and by sulphurous acid.
Iphurous If a solution of muriate of gold be cautiously added to
sulphurous acid, a fine pellicle of gold appears on the
surface, which is instantly precipitated in the form of
small grains. These curious and interesting experi¬
ments were made by Mrs Fulham. It is easy to see
the nature of the process. All the substances which
have been enumerated, have a stronger affinity for oxy¬
gen than gold, so that the oxide of gold in combina¬
tion with the acid is decomposed j the oxygen com¬
bining with the hydrogen, for instance, and forming
water, or with the phosphorus or sulphur, and forming
sulphuric or phosphoric acid. The reduction of muri¬
ate of gold, Mrs Fulham has observed, does not take
place except in the liquid state, and she supposes that
the decomposition of water is necessary to produce
this effect. But the liquid state of the salt, it is sup¬
posed by others, is only necessary to expose it to the
action of combustibles in a state of minute division, and
that otherwise this theory does not account for the phe¬
nomena.
3. The muriate of gold is soluble in ether. It forms
with it a solution of a golden yellow colour, which
floats on the top of the fluid. By adding ether to a
solution of^old, and agitating the mixture, as soon as
it is left at rest, the two liquids separate, the ether rises
to the top, and assumes a yellow colour, while the
nitro-muriatic acid remains below and becomes white.
By this process a tincture of gold, or what was formerly
called potable gold, was prepared. The solution of gold
in ether is not permanent. It is soon reduced to the
metallic state, and is sometimes found crystallised on
the surface.
4. The muriate of gold is decomposed by all the
alkalies and earths, and is reduced to the state of
yellow oxide. This decomposition is effected slowly
by the fixed alkalies, and if the alkali be added in suf¬
ficient quantity, the precipitate is re-dissolved, and the
liquid assumes a reddish colour. It is owing to this
solution of the oxide of gold by these alkalies, that the
CHEMISTRY.
1097
ible in
:ir.
098
on of
lies.
69I
precipitation is slow and difficult. Triple salts are Gold, &c.
formed, the nature of which is unknown. The oxide 1 ■—’v ■1
of gold, thus precipitated, becomes of a purple colour
by exposure to the light; by the action of heat it gives
out oxygen gas, and the gold is revived. 2099
1 he most singular precipitate from the muriate of Fu!mmat-
gold is that by means of ammonia, which forms the’D^^°^‘
compound csWeA fulminating gold. It is prepared by
the following process. To a solution of gold in nitro-
muriatic acid, and diluted with three or four times its
weight of distilled water, gradually add pure ammonia,
as long as any precipitate is formed. No excess of
nlkali must be added, because the precipitate is re¬
dissolved. It is then washed and dried in the air on
paper, and afterwards put into a phial, which should be
covered only with a bit of cloth or paper, as the powder
is apt to explode with the slightest friction. 2JD;.
Fulminating powder may also be obtained, by dis-Another
solving gold in a solution of two parts of nitrate ofprocess,
ammonia, and one of muriatic acid. The oxygen of
the nitric acid combines with the gold, and forms an
oxide, which is dissolved in a portion of the muriatic
acid ; nitrous gas is disengaged, and there remain in *
the liquid, muriate of gold, and muriate of ammonia.
By precipitating this solution by means of a fixed
alkali, fulminating gold is obtained*. The alkali com¬
bines with the muriatic acid of the gold and ammonia,
and the oxide of gold, uniting with the ammonia,
forms the fulminating gold. The precipitate is washed
and dried as in the former process. Basil Valentine,
who first described this singular preparation, had ob¬
served that it produced detonation equally by means
of heat, by friction, and percussion. When a small
quantity of fulminating powder is exposed to heat, it
produces a violent detonation ; or, if it be rubbed
with a hard body, a similar effect takes place. It ex¬
plodes also, by being smartly struck with a hammer.
These astonishing effects long excited the attention of
philosophers, hut received no satisfactory explanation,
till the nature of the composition of this substance was
discovered by modern chemists. It was examined by
Scheele and Bergman ; and at last the theory of its
violent action was fully developed by Berthollet. This
compound consists of the oxide of gold and ammonia,
and as the oxide performs the part of an acid, it is 2I0I
sometimes denominated aurate of ammonia. During Theory,
the explosion which takes place, whether by the
application of heat, or by friction or percussion, the
hydrogen of the ammonia combines with the oxygen
of the oxide of gold, and forms water. This water,
being suddenly raised to the state of vapour, and the
azote, the other component part of ammonia, being at
the same time suddenly converted into gas, produce
the explosion. The gold is reduced to the metallic
state. 2101
This substance maybe deprived of its fulminating ^
property, by being exposed for some time to a very c°mposed
gentle heat. It is then converted into a blackish ^piosiln.
brown powder. A similar effect is produced, by sub- °
jecting it for a long time to the temperature of boil¬
ing water. Its fulminating property is at least greatly
diminished by the latter process. It appears, too, that
the contact of air promotes this action : for when
it was heated in an iron globe, in an experiment
4 ^ 2 which
CHEMISTRY.
2103
Action of
metals.
2194
Purple
powder of
Cassius.
2105
Metallic
apids.
which Birch performed before the Royal Society of
London, or In a sphere of strong copper, in an expe¬
riment by Bergman, no detonation took place. Ber-
thollet applied a gentle heat to a quantity of fulmina¬
ting gold, in copper tubes $ and he obtained ammonia-
cal gas, and the gold was reduced to the state of pur¬
ple oxide. By these experiments it appears, that this
substance is decomposed without detonation, when the
sudden dilatation of the gases which are disengaged is
resisted by strong vessels, or when the heat is so mo¬
derate as to separate the ammonia without decomposi¬
tion.
5. The muriate of gold is decomposed by almost
all metallic substances. Some metals decompose it
completely, and reduce it to the metallic state, while
others deprive it of a portion of oxygen, and reduce
it to the state of purple oxide. Bismuth, zinc, iron,
copper, and mercury, reduce the gold to the metallic
state. Lead, silver, and tin, occasion a precipitate in
the form of purple oxide. The most singular of all
these precipitates, and which has long occupied the
attention of chemists, is that which is produced by
means of tin. This is called the purple precipitate, or
powder of Cassius. It was at first particularly described
by Cassius, from whom it derived its name ; but it
was known long before, even so early as the time of
Basil Valentine, by whom it is mentioned. If a plate
of tin be immersed in a solution of muriate of gold,
the surface of the metal is soon covered with a deep-
coloured violet or purple powder, which is gradually
diffused through the whole liquid. This is usually
prepared by adding to a solution of gold in nitro-mu-
riatic acid, a solution of muriate of tin recently pre¬
pared. The theory of this process is the following.
The gold in solution is in the state of yellow oxide.
It is deprived of part of its oxygen, and reduced to
the state of purple oxide by the tin. The purple
oxide is no longer soluble in the acid, and is there¬
fore precipitated. The same effect is produced when
a salt of tin is added, provided this salt be not fully
saturated with oxygen, for in that case no precipitate
is obtained. This is the reason, as Pelletier has
shown, that muriate of tin, after it has been for some
time exposed to the air, loses the property of produ¬
cing the purple precipitate, because it has absorbed
oxygen from the atmosphere, and is not susceptible of
combining with a greater quantity. For the same rea¬
son no precipitate is obtained by the oxymuriate of tin,
or the smoking liquor of Libavius, or the red sulphate of
iron, because both these salts have their bases fully sa¬
turated with oxygen. Other metallic solutions have
also the property of decomposing and precipitating the
nTuriate of gold. The nitrate of silver produces a red¬
dish precipitate, which is a mixture of white muriate of
silver and purple oxide of gold. The nitrate of lead
deposits a dark-coloured substance, composed of muri¬
ate of lead and oxide of gold.
6. The metallic acids have no effect whatever on
gold. Vauquelin found that chromic acid, mixed with
muriatic acid, gave it the property of dissolving gold.
This is owing to the chromic acid giving up part of
its oxygen, which appears to be the case, from its pas¬
sing from its natural colour, which is orange, to the
state of green oxide.
II. Action of Alkalies, &c. upon Gold.
Gold, &c.
1. None of the alkalies have any action upon gold or 21c<5
on its purple oxide 5 but the yellow oxide precipitated Alka!ies‘
from its solution by means of the fixed alkalies, and di¬
gested for some time with ammonia, is readily convert¬
ed into fulminating gold. 2IOy
2. The earths have no action on gold in the metal-Earths,
lie state j but in the state of purple or yellow oxide, it
combines with the earths which are vitrified by means
of the alkalies, and forms with them enamels, which
are of a violet or purple colour, or glass of a golden-
yellow colour. It is on account of the latter property
that the yellow oxide is employed in the fabrication
of artificial topazes. It has been observed that glass
coloured by means of gold, and which contains a con¬
siderable proportion of oxide of lead or of manganese,
has a remarkable property of changing to a permanent
purple or ruby-red colour, when it is slightly heated,
and long before fusion. This is supposed to be owing
to some change in the state of the oxidation of the dif¬
ferent metals. 2loS
3. The most powerful salts, as the nitrates, the hy-Salt?,
peroxymuriates, have no action on pure gold. It has,
however, been observed, that borax diminishes its co¬
lour, and that nitre, which is employed in its purifica¬
tion, renders it more brilliant.
III. Alloys of Gold.
1. Gold is susceptible of combination with most me-yyjth arse*
tallic substances, which produce a very particularnic,
change on its properties. The alloy with arsenic is
brittle, hard, of a granulated texture, and of a very
pale colour. According to Mr Hatchet’s experi¬
ments, arsenic readily combines with gold raised to a
common red heat, when the former is in the state of
vapour, and particularly when the combination is made
in close vessels. 2irc
2. The alloys of gold with tungsten, molybdena, Tungsten,
chromium, titanium, and uranium, have not been ex-&c.
amined. 2III
3. The combination of gold and cobalt is not per-Cobalt,
ceptibly different from pure cobalt. This alloy re¬
duced to a fine powder, and heated in contact with air,
gives, after its oxidation, and by strong heat, a deep
blue glass. In Mr Hatchet’s experiments, one part of
cobalt and 140! gold form a brittle alloy of a dull yel¬
low colour. With of cobalt the alloy was brittle,
but became ductile with part. 2m
4. Gold forms with nickel a white and brittle alloy.Nickel
In Mr Hatchet’s experiments of nickel rendered
the alloy brittle. It was scarcely, if at all, brittle with
-gj part, and with of nickel it was completely duc¬
tile. One part of nickel and 16 of gold give an alloy
of the colour of brass.
5. Mr Hatchet formed an alloy of gold with man¬
ganese. It was of a pale yellowish-gray colour, had
something of the lustre of polished steel, and some %
ductility, although it was very hard. It contained j,rans[
about one-ninth of manganese.. Acids produced nojgoj.
effect, nor was it altered by exposure to the air *. 211^
6. Bismuth fused with gold, yields an alloy which Bismuth-
is brittle in proportion to the quantity of bismuth em¬
ployed. The specific gravity of this alloy is greater
than.
C H E M
Joid, &c. than the mean. In Mr Hatchet’s experiments, this
—v—' alloy was brittle, when the proportion of bismuth
?n4 amounted only to -rg^o part.
7. Antimony combines with gold, and renders it
hard and brittle. Equal parts of these metals form an
alloy not much different in appearance from gold it¬
self. This compound was frequently employed0 by the
alchemists in their researches. Antimony was called
the royal bath. They pretended that the quantity of
gold was increased when it was separated from the
alloy, after having been fused with this metal. But it
appears that this increase of weight was owing to
part of the antimony, which was not separated from
the gold. The sulphnret of antimony was formerly
much employed for the purification of gold, to sepa¬
rate, by means of the sulphur, the metals which were
combined with it; and from this property of acting on
all the metals then known, excepting gold, the sul-
phuret of antimony was called by the alchemists, the
1115 wolf of the metals.
ercuiy. 8. Gold unites very readily with mercury. If gold
be brought into contact with this metal, it is instantly
covered with it j and if gold leaf be triturated with
mercury, it totally disappears, and is dissolved in the
mercury ; so that even in the cold, mercury combines
with the whole quantity of gold with which it can be
alloyed. When the proportion of gold is increased,
the amalgam becomes solid. When this operation is
performed in the large way, the combination is pro¬
moted by means of moderate heat. This amalgam is
of a yellowish-white colour j it is fusible at a moderate
heat, and crystallizes in the form of quadrangular
prisms. It is decomposed by a strong heat, and the
mercury is dissipated. This amalgam is much employ-
ui(S ed 'ia gilding.
nc. 9. Gold combines with zinc by means of fusion.
This alloy is paler than gold, has little malleability,
and if the proportion of the zinc be considerable, is
very brittle. An alloy consisting of equal parts of the
two metals, is of a greater specific gravity than the
mean, is very hard, susceptible of a fine polish, and is
not much altered by the air. It has been recommend-
ed, on account of these properties, for the fabrication
J1Ij of the mirrors of telescopes.
a. 10. Gold combines easily with tin by means of fu¬
sion. This alloy, it is said,- is the dread of the
workmen, because it deprives gold of its ductility.
They are even cautious in preserving gold from the
contact of the vapour of tin in fusion, which ren¬
ders the gold so brittle, that it may be reduced to
powder in a mortar. It is extremely difficult to puri¬
fy gold after it has been alloyed with tin, for it does
not pass into the cupel with lead or with bismuth.
Nitre, borax, and even the hyperoxymuriate of mer¬
cury, which are often employed with this view, do
not always succeed. The most successful method is
by treating the alloy with sulphuret of antimony, or
with muriatic acid, which dissolves the tin when it is
in considerable proportion. But in the experiments of
Mr Hatchet and Mr Bingley, it appears that the uni¬
versal opinion which has hitherto prevailed, of tin be¬
ing so injurious to the ductility of gold, is, to a certain
extent, erroneous ; and it appears probable, that the
ductility of gold being destroyed, as was supposed,
even by the fumes of tin, ought to have been ascribed
3
S T R Y. 693
to other metals, as bismuth, lead, antimony, or zinc, Gold, &c.
with which the tin was contaminated. *-.
11. Lead very readily combines with gold by fu- 2118
sion ; this alloy deprives the gold of its ductility, and^611’
diminishes the colour. So small a proportion as
part of lead destroys the ductility of gold. This al-
loy, it has been already stated, is made for the purpose
of purifying gold from other metals, in consequence of
the easy oxidation and vitrification of the lead. 2119
12. Gold is easily alloyed with iron, and forms with Iron*
it a hard brittle mass. Some of these alloys are so
hard, that Hr Lewis found them fit for cutting instru¬
ments. Equal parts of iron and gold form an alloy of
a gray colour. Four parts of iron and one of gold af¬
ford an alloy nearly of the colour of silver, and the spe¬
cific gravity of this alloy has been ascertained to be less
than the mean. One part of iron alloyed with 12-of
gold, according to Mr Hatchet, was of a pale-yellow¬
ish gray colour, and was so ductile that it might be
rolled and cut. W hen gold is fused, it adheres readily
to iron ; and hence it has been proposed to solder small
pieces of steel with gold, which seems to be preferable
to copper. _ 2120
13. Gold readily combines with copper by fusion. Copper.
This is one of the most important alloys, on account of
the hardness which copper communicates to gold, with¬
out diminishing its colour. This alloy, according to
Muschenbroeck, possesses the greatest hardness, with¬
out sensibly diminishing its ductility, when the propor¬
tions are one part of copper and seven of gold. This
alloy is more fusible than gold, and on that account
it is employed as a solder for that metal. The gold
coin of most countries consists of this alloy. The pro¬
portions in the gold coin of Britain and France are 11
parts of gold to one of copper. According to Brisson,
the specific gravity of this alloy is greater than the
mean. It is 17.486, but it ought to be 17.153. But,,
according to Mr Hatchet’s experiments, there is no-
mutual penetration in the alloy of these metals, and'
therefore no increase of density. On the contrary,
some degree of expansion was observed. Four hun¬
dred and forty-two grains of gold of specific gravity
19.172, were alloyed with 38 grains of copper of spe¬
cific gravity 8.875. The specific gravity of the alloy
was found to be 17.157. The bulk of the alloyed
mass amounted to 27.98, while the natural bulk of the
two metals before combination was 27.32, which shews
an increase of expansion of the alloyed mass equal to
Mr Hatchet observes that Brisson’s experiment
was probably made on part of a large bar or ingot, in
which it generally happens, that the two metals are
very unequally diffused, and this inequality; which is
greater according to the quantity of the metal, is * phit.
found to vary with the form, nature, and position of Tra??*.
the mould, and therefore to produce variations in thelSo3*
specific gravity *. P :[r2,•
14. Silver forms an alloy with- gold. HombergS;jv^1
found, that equal parts of these metals fused together
in a crucible, formed an alloy which contained ^ of its
weight of silver. One part of silver and two of gold,
according to Muschenbroeck, give to the alloy the
greatest degree of hardness. One-twentieth part of
silver changes the colour of gold very sensibly. This
alloy is employed for soldering gold, being more fusi¬
ble than this metal.
15. Mr,
C H E M
\
Sic. 15* Mr Hatchet observes, that the obvious inference
to be deduced from his experiments is, that only two
metals are proper for the alloy of gold coin. These
are silver and copper. All other metals either consi¬
derably alter the colour, or diminish the ductility of
gold. According to the same philosopher, the ductility
of gold is diminished by different metallic substances,
nearly in the following decreasing order :
Bismuth, T
Lead, > These are nearly equal in effect.
Antimony, J
Arsenic,
Zinc,
I S T R Y.
Cobalt,
Manganese,
Nickel,
Tin,
Iron,
Platinum (e),
Copper,
Silver *.
Cold, &c.
* Phil.
Trans.
lSo3.95.
2122
The uses of gold, many of which have been al-Uses,
ready detailed, in describing its properties and com¬
binations, are too familiar to require particular enu¬
meration (f).
Sect.
(e) Mr Hatchet supposes that the platinum not being quite pure, the place he has assigned to it is perhaps
not precisely that which it ought to occupy.
(f) The metals which were earliest known, were long distinguished by particular names and characters, of
which the following account is taken from the elaborate researches of Professor Beckmann. The following table
exhibits their names and characters.
Metals.
Gold,
Silver,
Mercury,
Copper,
Iron,
Tin,
Lead.
Names.
Sun,
Moon,
Mercury,
Venus,
Mars,
Jupiter,
Saturn.
Characters.
©
D
$
2
%
h
It cannot be doubted, Professor Beckmann observes, that these names were first given to the heavenly bodies 5
and the metals which were then known, amounting to the same number, were supposed to have some affinity or
relationship to the planets, and with them to the gods, and were accordingly named after them. “ To each god
was assigned a metal, the origin and use of which was under his particular providence and government; and to
each metal were ascribed the powers and properties of the planet and divinity of the like name j from which
arose, in the course of time, many of the ridiculous conceits of the alchemists.
“ The oldest trace of the division of the metals among the gods is to be found, as far as I know, in the reli¬
gious worship of the Persians. Origen, in his refutation of Celsus, who asserted that the seven heavens of the
Christians, as well as the ladder which Jacob saw in his dream, had been borrowed from the mysteries of Mi¬
thras, says, ‘ Among the Persians the revolutions of the heavenly bodies were represented by seven stairs,
which conducted to the same number of gates. The first gate was of lead $ the second of tin j the third of
copper ; the fourth of iron j the fifth of a mixed metal j the sixth of silver ; and the seventh of gold. Tiie
leaden gate had the slow tedious motion of Saturn j the tin gate the lustre and gentleness of Venus; the third
was dedicated to Jupiter ; the fourth to Mercury, on account of his strength and fitness for trade ; the fifth to
Mars ; the sixth to the Moon ; and the last to the Sun.’ ‘ Celsus de quibusdam Persarum mysteriis sermonem
facit. Harum rerum, inquit, aliquod reperitur in Persarum doctrina Mithrasisque eorum mysteriis vestigium.
In illis enim duee caelestes conversiones, alia stellarum fixarum, errantium alia, et animae per eas transitus
quodam symbolo representantur, quod hujusmodi est. Scala altas portas habens, in summa autem octava
porta. Prima portarum plumbea, altera stannea, tertia ex aere, quarta ferrea, quinta ex eere mixto, sexta ar-
gentea, septima ex auro. itti TrvXri cyhon. 'H TTgamj ruv TrvXaii ptoXiGdov, « diVT&gx xetorrirteov,
w Tg<T)j %%Xx.ov, v Tirxgm <ridnPov, m[A7rrr\ y.KQctfQv n txryi agyigov, %(>vtrov S k Primum assignant
Saturno, tarditatem illius sideris plumbo indicantes : alteram Veneri, quam referunt, ut ipsi quidem putant,
stanni splendor et mollities ; tertiam Jovi, aheneam illam quidem et solidam ; quartam Mercurio, quia Mercu-
ruis et ferrum, uterque operum omnium tolerantes, ad mercaturam utiles, laborum patientissimi. Marti quin¬
ta m, iuaapalem illam et variam propter mixturam. Sextam, que argentea est, lunse ; septimam auream soli
tribuunt, quia solis et lunse colores htec duo metalla referunt.’ Contra Celsum, lib. vi. 22. p. 161. Here then
is an evident trace of metallurgic astronomy, as Borrichius calls it, or of the astronomical or mythological no¬
mination of metals, though it differs from that used at present. According to this arrangement, tin belonged
to Jupiter, copper to Venus, iron to Mars, and the mixed metal to Mercury. The conjecture of Borrichius,
that the transcribers of Origen have, either through ignorance or design, transposed the names of the gods, is
highly probable : for if we reflect that in this nomination men, at first, differed as much as in the nomination
of the planets, and that the names given them were only confirmed in the course of time, of which I shall soon
produce proofs, it must be allowed that the causes assigned by Origen for bis nomination do not well agree
with
Platinum,
Sect. XXIV. Of Platinum and its Combinations.
U23
'istory.
I. Platinum in most of its properties is equal to gold,
but in others, it is superior. It was first clearly ascer¬
tained to be a distinct metal, by Scheffer, a Swedish
chemist, in the year 1752. It had been indeed taken
notice of at an earlier period. A quantity of it was
CHEMISTRY. 695
brought from Jamaica in 1741, by Mr Wood. It is platinum,
particularly mentioned by Antonio de Ulloa, a Spa- &c.
nish mathematician, in the account of his voyage to v~"“" *
I eru with the French academicians, to measure a de¬
gree of the meridian, which was published in 1748.
After this period numerous experiments were made
upon this new substance, all of which tended to prove
that it is a different metal from any formerly known ;
Scheffer
that inwS welenfwSnsent1 ^ mUch jUSter when the names are ^posed in the same manner as
that in which we now use them. Bornchius arranges the words in the following manner : Secundam portam
AWF Z9;- Crrante%-1 Stanm SpIenrd0rem et m0,litiem’ ‘ertiam Veneris Latam et sohdam • q-LTi
Marti., est emm laborum patiens, geqiie ac ferrum, celebratus hominibus ; nointam Merctirii propter mistarani
:zrzr; r,m’et qT si 2Zv oTh7^
c/uus de ortu et progressu ckemue. Hafnise 1668, 410. p. 29.
“ Th.s astrological nomination of metals appears to have been conveyed to the Brachmans in India: for we
e ";,BraCbr Sent it0-,Ap° ?-‘“c Seven ringS’ distinSuish^ the names of the seven stars or pla¬
nets, one of which he was to wear daily on his finger, according to the day of the week. This can be no other¬
wise explained than by supposing that he was to wear the gold ring on Sunday j the silver one on Monday : the
iron one on Tuesday, and so of the rest. Allusion to this nomination of the metals after the gods occurs here
and there m the ancients. Dyd.mus, m his explanation of the Iliad, calls the planet Mars the iron star. Those
who dream of having had any thing to do with Mars are by Artemidorus threatened with a chirurgical operation ;
for this reason he adds, because Mars signifies iron. Heraclides says also in his allegories, that Mars was very
proper y considered as iron j and we aro told by Pindar that gold is dedicated to the sun.
Plato likewise, who studied in Egypt seems to have admitted this nomination and meaning of the metals.
slesaffi,a •1:,aStdariri-S°^^rSl,,rS FlC,nUn 5 bUt 1 haVe been able t0 fi,ld it, -cept where he
says of the island Atlantis that the exterior walls were covered with copper and the interior with tin, and that the
walls of the citadel were of gold. It is not improbable that Plato adopted this Persian or Egyptian representa¬
tion, as he assigned the planets to the demons ; but perhaps it was first introduced into his system only by his
disciples. They seem however, to have varied from the nomination used at present j as they dedicated to Ve¬
nus copper, oi-brass, the principal component part of which is indeed copper 5 to Mercury tin, and to Jupiter
electrum. The last-mentioned metal was a mixture of gold and silver ; and on this account was probably con-
thesenoUe metals ^mCt ’ beCaUSe ,U the ear]-v Penods mankind were unacquainted with the art of separating
“ The characters by which the planets and metals are generally expressed when one does not choose to write
their names, afford a striking example how readily the mind may be induced to suppose a connection between
things which m reality have no affinity or relation to each other. Antiquaries and astrologers, according to
whose opinion the planets were first distinguished by these characters, consider them as the attributes of the dei¬
ties of the same name. The circle in the earliest periods among the Egyptians was the symbol of divinity and
perfection ; and seems with great propriety to have been chosen by them as the character of the sun, especially
as, when surrounded by small strokes projecting from its circumference, it may form some representation of the
emission of rays. I lie semicircle is, in like manner, the image of the moon, the only one of the heavenly bodies
that appears under that form to the naked eye. The character J? is supposed to represent the scythe of Saturn :
Of the thunderbolts ol Jupiter j $ the lance of Mars, together with his shield j $ the looking-glass of Venus ;
and g the caduceus or wand of Mercury.
“ The expression by characters adopted among the chemists agrees with this mythological signification only in
the character assigned to gold.—Gold, according to the chemists, was the most perfect of metals, to which all
others seemed to be inferior in different degrees. Silver approached nearest to it, but was distinguished only by
a semicircle, which, for the more perspicuity, was drawn double, and thence had a greater resemblance to the
most remarkable appearance of the moon ; the name of which this metal had already obtained. All the other
metals, as they seemed to have a greater or less affinity to gold or silver, were distinguished by characters com¬
posed of the characters assigned to these precious metals. In the character $ the adepts discover gold with a
silver colour. The cross placed at the bottom, which among the Egyptian hieroglyphics had a mysterious signi¬
fication, expresses, in their opinion, something I know not what, without which quicksilver would be silver or
gold. This something is combined also with copper, the possible change of which into gold is expressed by the
character $. ^ The character $ declares the like honourable affinity also j though the semicircle is applied in
a more concealed manner ; for, according to the properest mode of writing, the point is wanting at top, or the
upright line ought only to touch the horizontal, and not to intersect it. Philosophical gold is concealed in steel j
and on this account it produces such valuable medicines. Of tin one half is silver, and the other consists of the
something unknovvn *, .for this reason the cross with the half moon appears in -y.. In lead this something is pre¬
dominant, and a similitude is observed in it to silver. Hence in its character Fj the cross stands at the top, and
the silver character is only suspended on the right hand behind it.
“ Hie mythological signification of these characters cannot be older than the Grecian mythology ; but the che-
2 mical
CHEMISTRY.
696
Platinum, Scheffer, gave it the name of white gold, because it re-
&-e. sembled this metal in many of its properties. In the
v "" '-year 1754, Dr Lewis published an account of a very
full and elaborate set of experiments on platinum, in the
Philosophical Transactions. The properties of this
new metal were still farther investigated by Margraaf
in 1757, and by Macquer and Beaume in 1758* it
became afterwards the subject of research with many
other philosophical chemists. Among these may be
mentioned Buffon, Bergman, Sickengen, and more
lately Guyton, Lavoisier, and Pelletier. It was at last
denominated platinum, signifying little silver, from the
2124 Spanish \\ov& plata, silver.
Where 2. Platinum has only been found among the gold ores
found. 0f South America, and especially in the mine of Santa
Fe near Carthagena, and in the district of Choco in
Peru. It is found in the form of small grains or scales,
of a white or grayish colour, intermediate between
that of silver and iron. These grains are mixed with
several other substances, as particles of gold, a black fer¬
ruginous sand, and some particles of mercury. Some
of these grains extend under the hammer 5 others, which
seem to be hollow, containing particles of iron and a
whitish powder, break to pieces. To these grains of
iron is ascribed the magnetic property which platinum Platinum
seems to possess (g). t ^c-
3. To obtain platinum in a state of purity, it is first
separated from the substances with which it is contami- puriflja.
nated. Mercury is driven off by exposing it to a redtion.
heat, and the particles of iron are separated by the
magnet. The grains of platinum are then heated with
muriatic acid, which dissolves the remaining part of
the iron. By this process, Bergman has observed that
the platinum diminishes in weight about 0.05. The
platina is now only alloyed with gold, which is to be
separated by dissolving both in nitro-muriatic acid, and
by precipitating the gold by means of the green sul¬
phate of iron. But even after these processes, the pla¬
tinum is not in a state of absolute purity, as will appear
afterwards (h).
4. This metal is of a white colour, but less bright ProPerlie
than silver, and it possesses nothing of the brilliancy
of either silver or gold. Platinum is the densest body,
and therefore the heaviest vet known. Its specific
gravity, when it is hammered, is 23 j or, according
to Chabaneau, 24. According to Guyton, it comes
next to iron and manganese in hardness. It possesses
very considerable malleability, for it may be ham¬
mered
mical may be traced to a much earlier period. Some, who consider them as remains of the Egyptian hierogly¬
phics, pretend that they may be discovered on the table of Isis, and employ them as a proof of the high antiqui¬
ty, if not of the art of making gold, at least of chemistry. We are told also that they correspond with many
other characters which the adepts have left us as emblems of their wisdom.
“ If we are desirous of deciding without prejudice respecting both these explanations, it will be found neces¬
sary to make ourselves acquainted with the oldest form of the characters, which, in all probability, like those
used in writing, were subjected to many changes before they acquired that form which they have at present. I
can, however, mention only three learned men, Saumaise, Du Cange, and Huet, who took the trouble to collect
these characters. As I am afraid that my readers might be disgusted were I here to insert them, I shall give a
short abstract of the conclusion which they form from them ; but I must first observe that the oldest manuscripts
differ very much in their representation of these characters, either because they were not fully established at the
periods when they were written, or because many supposed adepts endeavoured to render their information more
enigmatical by wilfully confounding the characters j and it is probable also that many mistakes may have been
committed by transcribers.
“ The character of Mars, according to the oldest mode of representing it, is evidently an abbreviation of the
word Qov^of, under which the Greek mathematicians understood that deity $ or, in other words, the first let¬
ter 0, with the last letter j placed above it. The character of Jupiter was originally the initial letter of Zit/j;
and in the oldest manuscripts of the mathematical and astrological works of Julius Firmicus the capital Z only
is used, to which the last letter $ was afterwards added at the bottom, to render the abbreviation more distinct.
The supposed looking-glass of Venus is nothing else than the initial letter, distorted a little, of the word
<S>Mr<p<>£9;, which was the name of that goddess. The imaginary scythe of Saturn has been gradually formed from
the two first letters of his name Kgmf, which transcribers, for the sake of dispatch, made always more convenient
for use, but at the same time less perceptible. To discover in the pretended caduceus ol Mercury the initial
letter of his Greek name ItaA&ay, one needs only look at the abbreviations in the oldest manuscripts, where
they will find that Z was once written as C $ they will remark also that transcribers, to distinguish this abbre¬
viation from the rest still more, placed the C thus Q , and added under it the next letter r. If those to whom
this deduction appears improbable will only take the trouble to look at other Greek abbreviations, they will find
many that differ still farther from the original letters they express than the present character 5 from the C and
r united. It is possible also that later transcribers, to whom the origin of this abbreviation was not known, may
have endeavoured to give it a greater resemblance to the caduceus of Mercury. In short, it cannot be denied
that many other astronomical characters are real symbols, or a kind of proper hieroglyphics, that represent cer¬
tain attributes or circumstances, like the characters of Aries, Leo, and others quoted by Saumaise.’* Hist, of
Invent, iii. 53.
(g) Collet Descostils observes, that among the metallic substances which are usually found accompanying
platinum, there are two kinds of ferruginous sand ; of which one is attracted by the magnet, and soluble in acids.
This contains titanium. The other has no magnetic property, and is only partially soluble in acids. This last
contains a considerable proportion of chromic acid. Ann. de Chim. xlviii. 154.
(h) Several new metals have been discovered in platinum, by some late experiments. These will be mentioned
in a future section.
2127
fusing
ioint ua
mown.
C H E M
Platinum, mereil out, although with difficulty, into very thin
&c' , P1^63 j and 11 is so ductile, that it may be drawn out
into wire toW °f an inch in diameter. The tenacity
of platinum is very considerable. A wire of .078 of an
inch in diameter will support a weight, without break¬
ing, equal to more than 274 lbs. avoirdupois.
5. Platinum is the most infusible of all the metals.
The temperature at which it enters into fusion is un¬
known. But small particles of platinum have been
fused by means of the blow-pipe, or by directing a
stream of oxygen gas on red-hot charcoal. Guylon
also succeeded in fusing it by means of a flux, compo¬
sed of eight parts of pounded glass, one of calcined
borax, and one-half part of charcoal in powder. When
platinum has been exposed to a white heat, it may be
welded by hammering, like iron.
6. As platinum is infusible in the strongest furnace
heat, so it remains otherwise unchanged (1). It does
not appear to undergo, like most other metals, any
degree of oxidation ; but if platinum be dissolved in 16
times its weight of nitro-muriatic acid, by boiling,
the solution becomes at first of a yellow, and then
ellow or-changes to a brown colour. This solution is precipi¬
tated by means of lime, and the precipitate is in the
form of a yellowish powder, which is the oxide of pla¬
tinum. I he proportion of oxygen in this oxide is sup¬
posed not to exceed .07. But according to the expe¬
riments of Mr Chenevix, it is composed of
I S T R Y.
2128
hidalion.
2129
Platinum
Oxygen
87
J3
697
exposing this phosphuret to a strong heat, the phospho- Platinum,
rus is separated, and burns on the surface, and the me- &c.
tal remains behind very pure and malleable. Pelletier v'"""V ■-ll
has proposed this process for the purification of plati¬
num from other metals. 2\ z
9. Sulphur has been found in combination with na-Sulphuret.
tive platinum. When native platinum is exposed to
the action of the blow-pipe on charcoal, it exhales the
penetrating odour ot sulphur, accompanied with a va¬
pour which does not render gold white, and which re¬
quires a higher temperature to sublime it than mer-
CUI7*' * Ann.de
tci /• ni • Chim.
baits 01 Platinum. xxxyiii,
1. Sulphate of Platinum.
By adding sulphuric acid to a solution of platinum
in muriatic acid, Mr Chenevix obtained an insoluble
salt, which he found to be composed of
Oxide of platinum
Acid and water
54-5
45*3
100.0
2. Sulphate of Platinum and Potash.
This triple salt is formed by adding a solution of
potash to sulphate of platinum. The component parts
of this salt are, sulphuric acid, oxide of platinum, and
potash ; but the proportions have not been ascertained
by Bergman, who examined it.
2130 100
Ct The same chemist also found, that in the reduction of
this oxide of platinurp, it became of a green colour, and
remained for some time in that state. Ammonia as¬
sumes a green colour when it holds oxide of platinum
in solution. This Mr Chenevix considers as a second
oxide of platinum, and it contains.
Platinum
Oxygen
93
7
PhiL 100
rans.
03. 314. Platinum has also been oxidated by means of electrici¬
ty. In Van Mar urn’s experiments, a wire of this metal
through which electric sparks were sent, burnt with a
white flame, and was dissipated in the form of fine
powder or dust.
7. Azote, hydrogen, and carbon, have no action
2131 whatever on platinum.
ospliu- 8. Phosphuret of platinum was formed by Pelletier,
by mixing together equal parts of platinum and phos¬
phoric glass, with one-eighth of charcoal. This mix¬
ture being exposed to the temperature of 3 2° of Wedg¬
wood for an hour, yielded a small button of phosphuret
of platinum, of a silvery white colour, part of which had
assumed the form of cubic crystals. It was so hard as
to strike fire with steel, and was not attracted by the
magnet. It was covered with a dark-coloured glass,
which afterwards became green, bluish, and white. By
Vol. V. Part II. t
3. Sulphate of Platinum and Ammonia.
This triple salt is formed in the same way as the
former, by adding ammonia to the sulphate of platinum.
4. Nitrate of Platinum.
Nitric acid has no action on platinum, but it dissolves
the yellow oxide. Mr Chenevix precipitated the ox¬
ide of platinum from its solution in nitro-muriatic acid
by means of lime, and although it was added in ex¬
cess, a great portion of platinum remained in the liquor.
The precipitate was re-dissolved in nitric acid, and eva¬
porated to dryness. The result was, a subnitrate of
platinum, which consisted of
Yellow oxide 89
Nitric acid and water 11
100
5. Nitrate of Platinum and Potash.
When potash is added to a solution of nitrate of
platinum, crystals are deposited, forming a triple salt,
and composed of nitric acid, oxide of platinum and pot¬
ash.
6. Nitrate of Platinum and Ammonia.
This triple salt is formed by adding ammonia to a
solution of nitrate of platinum.
4 T 7. Muriate
(1) Guyton proposes to construct a pyrometer of platinum. See Jnn. de Chim. xlvi. 276.
698
Platinum,
See.
CHEMISTRY.
2134
Properties.
II35
Composi-
t'on.
7. Muriate of Platinum.
Muriatic acid has no action on platinum, but the mu¬
riate of platinum may be obtained by dissolving the
metal in nitro-muriatic acid. Boiled in 16 parts of a
mixture consisting of one part of nitric acid and three
parts of muriatic acid, it is gradually dissolved with
effervescence. It may be also dissolved in oxymuriatic
acid. The solution of platinum in muriatic acid is of
a reddish or deep brown colour. It is extremely acrid
and caustic, corrodes and burns animal matters, and
leaves a dark brown spot on the skin. When the so¬
lution is concentrated, it deposits, on cooling, small ir¬
regular crystals, nearly in the state of powder, and of
a brownish yellow colour. When these crystals are
washed and dried, they are found to be less soluble by
boiling in water, than even the sulphate of lime. The
solution is of a yellow colour. The muriate pf plati¬
num has a harsh, astringent taste •, it is decomposed by
heat; the acid is driven off, and the oxide remains.
It is also decomposed by concentrated sulphuric acid.
Potash produces in this solution small reddish crystals,
frequently in the form of octahedrons, constituting the
triple salt already described. The same triple salt is
formed by the sulphate of potash. Ammonia, or the
muriate of ammonia, also forms a triple salt, by being
added to the solution of muriate of platinum. Soda in
sufficient quantity occasions a precipitate of the yellow
oxide of platinum, and a triple salt also is formed. Mr
Chenevix found that the insoluble muriate of platinum
is composed of
Oxide of platinum 70
Acid and water 30
10. Muriate of Platinum and Ammonia.
Platinum
&c.
1. A similar triple salt is formed by adding ammo- " ^
nia to the solution of muriate of platinum. Ibe triple
salt is precipitated in the form of crystalline grains, of
a reddish yellow colour, which are soluble in water.
By evaporating the solution of these triple salts to dry¬
ness, and by exposing it to a strong heat, the platinum
is reduced. This fact with regard to the fusibility of
platinum by means of potash or ammonia, was observed
by Bergman, and it is by this process that platinum is
purified and wrought.
2. When this salt is precipitated by means of potash,
a fulminating platinum is obtained. This, according to
Fourcroy and Vauquelin, by whom it was prepared, is
a compound of oxide of platinum and ammonia. When
it is exposed to sudden heat, it decrepitates and is
agitated with a rapid motion, but when the heat is gra¬
dually applied, it detonates violently *. c? ^Til'
II. Oxalate of Platinum. P* I79*
Oxalic acid combines with the oxide of platinum, and
affords by evaporation crystals which are of a yellow
colour.
12. Benzoate of Platinum.
Benzoic acid, according to Trommsdorf, dissolves a
small quantity of the oxide of platinum. When this
solution is evaporated, it crystallizes. This salt under¬
goes no change by exposure to the air, and is not very
soluble in water. The acid is driven off by heat, and
the oxide of platinum remains behind.
II. Alloys.
100
8. Muriate of Platinum and Soda.
Till the experiments of Collet-Descostils, little was
known of this triple salt. It may be obtained by add¬
ing to a solution of platinum a salt with base of soda.
By concentration and cooling it crystallizes in the
form of long prisms, and sometimes in that of triangular
tables, of a yellow or red colour. It is very soluble
in water, and also in alcohol. It is decomposed by
muriate of ammonia, and by a solution of soda ; but
an excess of this salt re-dissolves the precipitate. It
may be reduced by the action of the blow-pipe on char¬
coal. This crystallized triple salt, if it has no excess
of acid, changes from a red colour to a green by ex¬
posure to the air. If in this state it be dissolved in
water, and oxymuriate of lime be added to it, a deep
blue precipitate is formed, which being washed and
collected, is soluble in muriatic acid, and communi¬
cates to it a beautiful blue colour. The addition of
alcohol deprives the solution of its colour, but the oxy-
* Ann. de niuriate of lime restores it *.
rfviifp. 9- Muriate of Platinum and Potash.
This salt is formed by adding potash to a solution of
muriate of platinum. Small crystals of a red colour, in
the form of octahedrons, are precipitated, which are a
triple salt, consisting of muriatic acid, oxide of plati¬
num and potash.
1. Platinum combines with many of the metals, and
forms with them alloys, some of which are of consider¬
able importance in the working of this metal.
Platinum forms an alloy with arsenic, which is brittle Combim
and very fusible. It is in this state of alloy that pla-witbars
tinum is susceptible of being formed into different uten-mc*
sils and instruments for which it is peculiarly fitted.
It is first fused with this metal, and then cast into
moulds, at first in the form of square plates. It is then
exposed to a red-heat, and hammered into bars. By
the heating and hammering, the arsenic is driven off,
and the metal is purified and becomes infusible, but
retains its ductility, so that it may be wrought like
iron.
2. The alloys of tungsten, molybdena, chromium,
columbium, titanium, uranium, and manganese, are
unknown 5 nor have the alloys of cobalt and nickel
with this metal been examined. zijj
3. Platinum combines with bismuth by means of fu- Bismuiklj
sion. This alloy is fusible and hard in proportion to
the quantity of bismuth. It is altered by exposure to
the air it becomes yellow, purple, and black. 213I
4. Platinum readily combines with antimony, andAntimol
forms a very brittle alloy. The antimony may be se¬
parated by means of heat, but not completely. Some
part remains, which diminishes the weight and ducti¬
lity of the platinum. 2151
5. It has been found extremely difficult to combine Mercuijj
platinum and mercury. Guyton had observed that the
adhesive force of platinum and mercury is greater than
that
CHEMISTKY.
not combine with it, and
to those which readily
1140
inc.
2141
in.
2142
ead.
2143
in.
”44
•pper.
”45
ver.
2146
'Id.
that of metals which do
that it is not inferior 1
form alloys j from which he conjectured that the alloy
of platinum and mercury might be effected by the fol¬
lowing process. He placed a very thin plate of pure
platinum at the bottom of a matrass containing a quan¬
tity of mercury. The matrass was put upon a sand
bath, and heat applied, till the mercury boiled and the
matrass became red hot. When the platinum was taken
out, it was found to have acquired additional weight,
and to have become very brittle. But this combination
is different from the other combinations of mercury with
the metals, for the platinum did not lose its solid form.
Mr Chenevix, in the course of experiments and re¬
searches respecting a supposed new metal called palla¬
dium, succeeded in forming an amalgam with platinum
itnd mercury. He heated purified platinum in the form of
fine powder, with ten times its weight of mercury, and
rubbed them together for a long time. The result was
an amalgam of platinum, which being exposed to a vio¬
lent. heat, lost all the mercury it contained, and the
original weight of the platinum remained.
6. Platinum readily combines with zinc, and forms
with it a fusible alloy, of a bluish colour, brittle, and
hard. By heating, the zinc is sublimed, and burns on
the surface.
7. Platinum alloys readily with tin. This alloy is one
of the most fusible. It is hard and brittle, when the
two metals are in equal proportions j but tin in the pro¬
portion of 1 2 parts to one of platinum, affords a very duc¬
tile alloy, which becomes yellow by exposure to the
air. Irom this it appears that platinum diminishes the
ductility of tin.
8. Platinum readily combines with lead, by means of
fusion. An alloy of equal parts of these metals is of
a purplish colour, granulated in its fracture, brittle,
and easily altered by exposure to the air. The cupel-
lation of platinum by means of lead has been an object
of considerable importance with chemists, in the view
of being able to purify it in the same way as gold and
silver j but on account of the infusibility and refrac¬
tory nature of platinum, the attempts that have been
made have rarely succeeded.
9. Hr Lewis failed in his attempt to combine pla¬
tinum with iron, but he obtained an alloy by fusing
together platinum and cast iron. This alloy was ex¬
tremely hard, and possessed some degree of ductiJity.
Platinum, as it is found native, is frequently alloyed
with iron.
10. Platinum combines with copper by means of fusion,
and gives it hardness. When the proportion of copper
is three or four times greater than that of platinum, the
alloy is ductile, susceptible of a fine polish, and is not
altered by exposure to the air. This alloy has been em¬
ployed in the fabrication of mirrors for telescopes.
11. Platinum readily combines with silver by fusion,
although a very strong heat is required. The platinum
greatly increases the hardness of silver, but diminishes
its whiteness. When this alloy is kept in fusion for
some time, the two metals are separated. During
this fusion, Dr Lewis observed the silver forced to¬
wards the sides of the crucible with a kind of explo¬
sion.
12. Gold combines readily with platinum, but it xe-
699
quires a very powerful heat for the fusion of these two Rhodium,
metals. Platinum diminishes the colour of gold, unless &c.
it be in very small quantity. When the proportion of'■““■’V’''-”*'
platinum is above xy* the colour of the gold begins to
be altered. There is no perceptible change in the spe¬
cific gravity or the ductility of gold from this alloy.
Platinum, on account of its peculiar properties, its in¬
fusibility, density, and indestructibility, could it be ob¬
tained in sufficient quantity, and at a moderate price,
would undoubtedly prove one of the most useful and
most important of the metals yet known. The import¬
ance and utility of platinum, on account of its scarcity,
have been hitherto limited to chemical purposes $ and
for different chemical instruments and utensils, it has
been found peculiarly appropriate, as there are few che¬
mical agents whose effects it cannot resist. There is
indeed little doubt but it might be employed with equal
advantage in the construction of instruments and uten¬
sils, in various arts and manufactures.
Sect. XXV. Of Rhodium, Palladium, Iridium and
Osmium, metals obtained from crude Platinum.
Rhodium, a metal discovered by Dr Wollaston, is
separated from the ore of platinum by the following
process. ^r
When a solution of this ore in nitro-muriatic acid Rhodium,
has been precipitated as far as possible by muriate ofSeparation.
ammonia, it retains considerable colour, and contains
some metals. Let a plate of zinc or iron be immersed,
and all the metals are separated in the form of a black
powder. The precipitate is to be washed (without
being dried) with very dilute nitric acid, assisted by a
gentle heat, and the copper and lead are thus dissolved.
Digest the remainder in dilute nitro-muriatic acid, and
add to the solution a portion of muriate of soda equal to
TV part of the weight of the original ore. Evaporate
by a gentle heat. The dry mass contains the soda-mu¬
riates of platinum, palladium, and rhodium. The two
former are separated by alcohol, and the salt of rho¬
dium remains. From its solution the metal is precipi¬
tated by zinc in the form of a black powder, amount¬
ing to x4o of the weight of the ore. 2l4g
It is infusible by heat, but may be fused by means Properties,
of arsenic or sulphur, which may be expelled by a con¬
tinued heat. The metallic button thus obtained is not
malleable. Its specific gravity is 11. It unites readi¬
ly with all the metals except mercury. It is insoluble
even in nitro-muriatic acid till alloyed with bismuth,
copper, or lead. The muriate of rhodium, thus ob¬
tained, has a rose colour, from which the name of the
metal has been derived.
From the alcoholic solution above mentioned, con-Palladium,
taining the soda-muriates of palladium and platinum, Separation,
the platinum is precipitated by muriate of ammonia, and
palladium may be obtained from the remaining liquid
by adding precipitate of potash. The precipitate is to
be ignited and purified from iron, by cupellation with
borax. Or it may be precipitated from the first solu¬
tion of the ore, by prussiate of mercury in the state
of a prussiate, which, on being heated, yields the metal
in the proportion of about I in 200 of the ore. 2I
It has been found native in small fragments, which Sometimes
differ from the grains of platinum, in being formed ofnative.
4 T 2 fibres
700
Palladium,
&c.
2151
Properties
CHEMISTRY.
2152
Alloys.
. 2153
Iridium.
2154
Osmium.
f Nichol.
Jour. viii.
p 1iS, and
220.
fibres diverging in some degree from one extremity.
A small portion of iridium is the only other ingredient
in these fragments.
The colour of palladium resembles that of platinum,
but is a duller white. It is malleable and ductile.
Specific gravity about II. Has nearly the same con¬
ducting power with platinum, and is rather more
expansible by heat. It forms a blue solution with sul¬
phuric acid, a beautiful red with nitric, and also with
muriatic acid. The precipitates from these solutions
by the alkalies and earths are generally of a fine orange.
Green sulphate of iron precipitates palladium in the
metallic state.
It combines readily with other metals. A very
small proportion of it destroys the colour of gold. An
alloy of gold and platinum is used for the graduation
of a magnificent astronomical circle, constructed by
Mr Troughton, for Greenwich observatory. It has the
appearance of platinum, and is rendered peculiarly fit
for receiving the graduations by its very great hard¬
ness.
Two other metals were discovered in crude plati¬
num by Mr Tennant, in analyzing the black powder
which remains after dissolving platinum. To the first
of these metals Mr Tennant has given the name of z’r/-
dium, from the various colours it assumes in solution.
It possesses the following properties. It is soluble in
all the acids, but less soluble in muriatic acid, with
which it forms octahedral crystals. The solution with
much oxygen is deep red j with a smaller proportion,
green or deep blue. It is partially precipitated by the
alkalies, and by all the metals except gold and plati¬
num. Infusion of galls and prussiate of potash deprive
this solution of its colour, but without any precipitate ;
thus aft'ording an easy test of its presence. The oxide,
therefore, loses its oxygen by water alone. When
combined with gold or silver, it cannot be separated by
the usual process of refining these metals. The same
substance was examined by Descostils and Vauquelin,
and the properties which they ascribe to this metal are
the following. 1. It reddens the precipitates of plati¬
num made by muriate of ammonia. 2. It is soluble in
muriatic acid. 3. It is precipitated by the infusion of
galls and prussiate of potash.
5. Osmium is obtained by heating the black powder
with pure alkali in a silver crucible. The oxide of this
metal combines with the alkali, and may be expelled
by an acid, and obtained by distillation, being very
volatile. It does not redden vegetable blues, but stains
the skin of a deep red or black. The oxide in solu¬
tion with water has no colour j but by combining with
alkali or lime, becomes yellow. With the infusion of
nut-galls it gives a very vivid blue colour. It is pre¬
cipitated by all the metals excepting gold and platinum.
An amalgam may be formed with mercury, by agita¬
ting it with the aqueous solution of this oxide. When
this amalgam is heated, the mercury is driven oft’, and
the pure metal remains behind in the state of black
powder. To this metal Mr Tennant has given the
name of osmium, on account of the strong smell of the
oxide f.
sphere.
Chap. XV. Of the ATMOSPHERE.
The atmosphere is that invisible elastic fluid which
surrounds the earth. Its physical properties, such
as density, elasticity, and pressure, have been long Coniponen
known j but its composition and constituent parts must 1Jaits of;
be ranked among the discoveries of modern chemistry. t',e Atm°'
In the present chapter we propose only to take a short
view of the nature, constitution, and changes of the
atmosphere, reserving the full discussion of the latter
to meteorology, to which it properly belongs.
Sect. I. Of the Component Parts of the Atmo-
sphere.
2155
1. The air of the atmosphere was considered by the Is a com-
ancients as one of the four elements of which all pound
bodies are composed. The same opinion was held by
all philosophers, previous to the discoveries of modern
chemistry. It was universally admitted to be a simple 21,jg
homogeneous substance, till by the discovery of oxy-of oxygen
gen gas by Dr Priestley, and that of azotic gas byandazotii
Scheele, it was fully demonstrated that these two^ases*
substances are the chief ingredients in atmospheric
air* . . . 2157
2. This compound possesses all the physical properties physical
of the different kinds of air which we have hithertopropertiei|
examined. It is invisible, elastic, and may be indefi¬
nitely expanded and compressed. The specific gravity
of atmospheric air is 0.0012, or it is 816 times lighter
than water. A hundred cubic inches weigh 31 grains
troy ; but in consequence of the elasticity of the air,
the absolute weight and the density must vary with
the temperature and pressure. The estimation which
we have here given, is taken at the ordinary tempera¬
ture of the atmosphere, between 50° and 6o°, and when
the barometer, which indicates the pressure, stands at
30 inches. The density must vary by diminishing, ac¬
cording to the height above the surface of the earth.
The experiments of naturalists, whose attention has
been particularly directed to this subject, have shewn
that the diminution of density is in the ratio of the
compression, and therefore, that the increase of density
is in geometrical progression, while the heights increase
•in arithmetical progression.
3. After the discovery of the composition of atmo-Method
spheric air, it became an object with philosophers toofestime
determine the proportions of its component parts. Iting thepl
was observed by Priestley and Scheele, and other phi-P0ltl0D6,
losophers who were occupied in the prosecution of
their discoveries, that a certain portion of a given quan¬
tity of atmospheric air only w’as absorbed during the
processes of combustion and respiration. It ivas ob¬
served too, that certain substances combined with the
portion of atmospheric air which disappeared during
these processes, and that the same quantity of atmo¬
spheric air suffered no farther diminution, whatever
length of time it was exposed to the action of these
substances. The portion of the air absorbed is the oxy¬
gen gas, and on this principle is founded the construc¬
tion of those instruments which have been denominated
eudiometers, because they are employed to measure the
purity of a given portion of air, by ascertaining the
quantity of oxygen gas which it contains. Different
eudiometers have been proposed for this purpose, but
all depending on the same principle, namely, the ab¬
straction of oxygen gas from a given quantity of air.
The reader will probably recollect the effects which
take place by mixing together nitrous gas and the air
of the atmosphere, or oxygen gas. When these gases
C H E M
oniponent come into contact, red fumes are produced ; the at-
Parts of mospheric air is partially diminished ; but the oxygen
splfere0” ?.aS ^ntire(17 disflPPears* This is owing to the
hination ot the nitrous gas with the oxygen gas, forming
nitric acid, which, if the experiment be made over
water, is absorbed j thus diminishing the bulk, of the
air by the quantity of oxygen gas abstracted. This
is the principle ot the first eudiometer which was
proposed by Dr Priestley; but it has been found
that the results and experiments with this kind of
eudiometer are far from being uniform and constant.
It is subject to variation from the difference of purity
of the nitrous gas employed, the water over which the
experiment is made, and even the form and construc¬
tion ot the apparatus. The variations in the results of
different experiments by different philosophers, are
from 22. to 30. of oxygen gas in 100 parts of atmosphe¬
ric air.
Scheele proposed a different eudiometer. A mixture
of iron filings and sulphur formed into a paste with wa¬
ter absorbs the whole of the oxygen gas of any given
portion of atmospheric air. The diminution of bulk of
a portion of air, exposed to the action of this substance,
therefore, indicates the proportion of oxygen gas, which
it contains ; but this absorption goes on slowly, and is
therefore an objection to this mode of ascertaining the
proportions of atmospheric air. This objection has
been removed by an improvement of this eudiometer,
in which hydrogenated sulphuret of potash or lime is
substituted for the iron filings and sulphur. This is
prepared by boiling together sulphur and lime water,
or a solution of potash in water. By the use of this
sulphuret, the absorption takes place in a few minutes.
A given portion of air is agitated in a bottle with this
sulphuret, taking care to exclude the external air with
a ground stopper. The diminution of the bulk of this
quantity of atmospheric air shews the proportion of oxy¬
gen gas which it contained.
Volta proposed to explode a given portion of atmo¬
spheric air with hydrogen gas, by means of the electric
spark. The hydrogen and oxygen combine together
and form water, and the diminution of the bulk of the
airs employed is in proportion to the quantity of water
formed. But to this method of ascertaining the quan¬
tity of oxygen gas in a given portion of atmospheric air,
it has been objected, that the proportion of hydrogen
gas requires to be accurately adjusted ; for if it exceed,
the superabundant quantity increases the bulk of the
remaining air; and, if the proportion be too small, the
oxygen and azote will form nitric acid by the action of
electricity, and thus the residuary quantity of air will
be too much diminished.
When phosphorus is exposed to the air, it absorbs
the oxygen readily, and is converted into phosphorous
acid. This, which was first proposed by Achard, has
been improved by Berthollet, for the purposes of a eu¬
diometer. A given portion of air is exposed to the ac¬
tion of phosphorus, in a vessel over water ; when the
absorption has ceased, the remaining air is measured,
the diminution of which indicates the quantity of oxy¬
gen gas which it contained.
Sir H. Davy has proposed the green sulphate or mu¬
riate of iron dissolved in water, impregnated with ni¬
trous gas. This solution is prepared by transmitting
nitrous gas through green muriate or sulphate of iron
I S T R Y. 70I
dissolved to saturation in water. All the apparatus Component
necessary is a small graduated tube, having its capacity Parts of
divided into 100 parts, and greatest at the open end, Atmo-
and a vessel for containing the fluid. The tube is fill- *Phere- .
ed with the air to be examined, and then introduced ^ J
into the solution. To promote the absorption, it is
gently moved from a perpendicular to a horizontal posi¬
tion. In a few minutes the experiment is completed,
and the whole of the oxygen condensed by the nitrous
gas in the solution, in the form of nitric acid. But in
this process it is necessary to observe the period at
which the diminution stops, for after this the volume of
residual gas is increased by the decomposition of the
nitric acid, by means of the green oxide of iron *. * Joum.
From a number of comparative experiments made by Inst‘
Sir H. Davy with different eudiometers, and from otheri’ p' 45’
experiments on air in different places, and collected un¬
der different circumstances, it appears that the com¬
ponent parts of atmospheric air are always nearly the
same. These proportions are from .21 to .22 of oxy¬
gen gas, and from .78 to .79 of azotic gas. The con¬
stituent parts therefore of atmospheric air by bulk may
be taken at
Oxygen gas
Azotic
22
.2!
100
*159
Composi¬
tion.
But in estimating the proportions of given hulks of
atmospheric air, it is necessary, as we have already
hinted, "to take into account the density and tem¬
perature, otherwise very great anomalies must hap-
Pen* T . . 2160
4. It is universally admitted, that water exists in the Water,
atmosphere ; but philosophers are greatly divided with
regard to the quantity of water, and the state in which
it exists in the air. To ascertain the quantity of wa¬
ter, instruments called hygrometers or measures of mois¬
ture, have been contrived ; the quantity of which is
indicated by certain changes which take place by its
absorption ; but none of these instruments that have
yet been invented are susceptible of great accuracy^
and perhaps to this is owing the very different results
in estimating the quantity of water in the atmosphere.
There is also a very great difference of opinion whe¬
ther this water exists in the atmosphere in the state
of water, or whether it has been converted into va¬
pour. According to the first opinion, the water is
held in solution by the air, and the quantity increases
as the temperature of the air is increased. But accord-
216*
In the
ing to others, the water of the atmosphere is in the gtate'of
state of vapour. According to the experiments of vapour,
naturalists, the quantity of water in the atmosphere
varies in different climates, and at different seasons of
the year, from ^ to part of the weight of the at¬
mosphere.
5. When lime-water, or an alkaline solution, is ex- (;arbonL
posed to the air, it is soon covered with a crust oracid gas,
pellicle. This is owing to the absorption of carbonic
acid, and the conversion of the alkali or lime to the
state of carbonate. This shews that carbonic acid gas
exists in the atmosphere. This gas has been found not
only on the surface of the earth, where the density of
the atmosphere is greatest, but also on the tops of some
of the highest mountains. The quantity of carbonic
gas.
2163
Different
opinions.
2164
In chemi¬
cal union.
7D2 C H E M I
Component acid gas in the atmosphere is supposed to vary from .01
Parts of to .005 parts,
the Atmo-
■ sphyere'_ Sect. II. Of the Constitution of the Atnospbuhu.
1. The component parts of the atmosphere are,
azotic gas, oxygen gas, water, and carbonic acid gas.
Here a question has arisen among philosophers, whe¬
ther these parts are chemically combined, or merely
form a mechanical mixture. According to one set of
philosophers, the oxygen and azotic gases of the at¬
mosphere are in chemical union, because their propor¬
tions are alvvays found to be uniform and constant,
which it is supposed could not be the case from the in¬
equality of the causes acting in diminishing the quan¬
tity of oxygen gas, by the different processes ot com¬
bustion and respiration, which are going on in the sur¬
face of the earth, if the component parts of the air
•were not in chemical combination. T he air of the at¬
mosphere too, it is said, possesses properties very dif¬
ferent from the artificial mixture of its component parts.
The processes of combustion and respiration continue
for a greater length of time in the latter, because it
parts with a greater proportion of its oxygen, and for
the same reason it is more diminished by nitrous gas.
According to others, the air of the atmosphere is mere¬
ly a mechanical mixture. This opinion is supported
by Mr Dalton, in some ingenious speculations on the
constitution of mixed gas, and particularly ot the at¬
mosphere. The principle on which Mr Dalton’s hy¬
pothesis is founded is, that the particles of homogene¬
ous elastic fluids only mutually act upon each other,
and that the particles of an elastic fluid of one kind are
neither attracted nor repelled by the particles of an
elastic fluid of a different kind, when they are mixed
together. According to this hypothesis, therefore, the
particles of the oxygen gas of the atmosphere mutually
act on each other, or are only attracted and repelled
by those of their own kind *.
2. Difference of opinion also prevails, whether the
, vapour of water, as it exists in the atmosphere, be
merely a mechanical mixture, or chemically combined.
The former opinion is also supported by Mr Dalton,
upon the principle that all gases mixed with vapour,
expand in a proportional degree to the elasticity ot the
vapour in that temperature.
2i5s
Mechani¬
cal' mix¬
ture.
* See
Manch.
Mem. vol.
Sect. III. Of the Changes of the Atmosphere.
2166 I. The changes which are produced in the atmo-
Tempera- sphere by heat and cold, are too obvious to escape ob-
ture* serration j but it was not till the invention of the
thermometer that these changes could be observed and
marked with any degree of accuracy ; and even after
the invention and improvement of this instrument, it
was long before any scientific application was made of
the changes of the temperature which it indicated.
The variable temperature of the same day, the great
difference between midnight and midday, and the still
greater difference between the heat of summer and the
cold of winter, seem to hold out a number of insulated
facts, without resemblance or connection, and incapa¬
ble of being arranged under any general latv. But
more comprehensive views, and more extended obser¬
vations, have not only shewn fehe possibility of estab-
S T R Y.
lishing a general principle, but have enabled philoso-c]iange, Jj
pliers to arrange and classify phenomena which were the Aim-),
otherwise seemingly unconnected.^ ^ _ . sphJ!'e^
2. The great source of heat is the sun. This is 2
fully demonstrated by the increase of temperature be-Thcsu„
ing in proportion to the duration and greater or less the source ||
obliquity of the sun’s rays. It has been imagined that of heat,
the earth is heated by central fires: but this opinion
seems to be fully disproved, by observing that the tem¬
perature depends invariably on the absence or presence
of the sun ; that this temperature is diminished, at least
to a certain extent, by going deeper into the earth >
and that the cold is greatest in places most distant from
the sun’s rays j so that the temperature, which is most
uniform within the tropics, diminishes, other things be¬
ing equal, in proportion to the distance from the equa¬
tor towards the poles. 2158
3. In considering the difference of temperature Fixed
which is observed in different places, it became an 0b-Pointsr°f
ject with philosophers to discover some fixed points^?™'
from which the whole amount of the changes for anyp0rtant. ,
given period could be ascertained. This .was first
thought of by Mayer, who proposed the method used
by astronomers, of finding the meaji of certain large
periods, as for years and months j and he made the
discovery by which the mean annual temperature of
two latitudes being known, the mean annual tempera¬
ture for every other degree of latitude may be also
found. The application of this rule has been greatly
improved and extended by Mr Kirwan, and upon this
principle he constructed tables which exhibit the mean
annual temperature for all degrees ot latitude from the 2169
equator to the poles. These tables were constructed Annual
by finding from observation the temperature of wbattemPera"|
he calls a standard situation, that is, a place less liable Uire‘
to be affected by adventitious causes, but where the
cause of temperature, or the communication of heat
from the source, was most uniform and constant j and
having discovered this standard situation, to compare
the temperature of every other situation with it. The
land, Mr Kirwan thought, owing to the operation of
causes which occasion variations less easily appreciable,
would not afford results sufficiently uniform. This
situation, he then concluded, was to be sought for on
the water $ and that part of the ocean which he chose,
was the immense tract of water which includes that
part of the Atlantic lying between the 8o° of north
latitude, and the 450 of south latitude, extended west¬
ward as far as the gulf stream, and to within a few
leagues of the coast of America j and all that part of
the Pacific ocean reaching from the 450 north latitude
to the 40° south latitude, and from the 20° to the 27 f3
of longitude east from London. This includes the
greater part of the surface of the globe. But for the
method of constructing these tables, and for the tables
themselves, we refer our readers to the article Meteo¬
rology, where they will be inserted.
The difference of temperature, it may be observed,
within io° of the equator and within the same distance
from the poles, is very small ; and the variation of tem¬
perature for different years within the same space, is also
found to be very little : but, as the distance increases
from the equator towards the poles, the difference of
temperature is greater. In latitudes under 350, it
scarcely ever freezes, excepting in very elevated situa¬
tions,
2170
loiithly.
2171
oldest
2172
Warmest.
Changes of tlons, and It scarcely ever halls in latitudes higher
the Atmo- than 6o°. In places near the sea, between the Tati-
spliere. tudes of 350 and 6o°, it generally thaws when the sun’s
'”*"v altitude is 40°, and seldom begins to freeze till the me¬
ridian altitude be below 40°.
4. Mr Kirwan has also constructed tables to mark
the mean monthly temperature. In every latitude the
mean temperature of the month of April approaches
nearly to the mean annual heat of that latitude. And
from this analogy he proceeded, supposing that the
temperature is always regulated by the direct action of
the solar rays, unconnected with the other circumstan¬
ces which occasion considerable variations. Taking
all these into the account, and endeavouring to reduce
them to strict calculation, he found it impracticable ;
and therefore he constructed his tables, partly from
principle, and partly from the best observations he
could procure from sea journals, and similar sources of
information. The mean monthly temperature in these
tables also refers to the standard ocean.
5. The coldest weather also prevails about the middle
of January in all climates, and the warmest in July ;
but if it depended immediately on the sun’s heat, the
greatest heat should prevail in the latter end of June,
and the greatest cold in the latter end of December.
But as the earth requires a considerable time to ab¬
sorb heat, so also it is some time before what has been
absorbed is given out. All these observations and cal¬
culations refer to the surface of the ocean, which is
less subject to variation from causes, the influence of
which could not be ascertained with precision.
6. But as the earth is the chief source of heat in
the atmosphere that surrounds it, the temperature must
decrease with the elevation above the earth, and in
the highest regions of the atmosphere, where the air
is perfectly free from clouds, the greatest cold must
prevail. Hence, in consequence of this elevation
above the level of the ocean, the highest mountains,
even under the equator, are covered with perpetual
snow. Mr Bouguer found the cold on the top of
Pinchinca in South America, immediately under the
line, to vary from 70 to 90 below the freezing point
every morning before sunrise, and hence at a certain
height, which varies in almost every latitude, it con¬
stantly freezes at night in every season ; although in
some latitudes, in the warmer climates, it thaws next
day. This height he calls the lower term of conge¬
lation, and he places it at the height of 15,577 feet be¬
tween the tropics. In latitude 28° he thinks it should
commence in summer at the height of 13,440 feet
above the level of the sea. But at still greater heights
it never freezes at all, because the vapours do not as¬
cend so high. This height M. Bouguer denominates
the upper term of congelation; and immediately under
the equator he fixes at it 28,000 feet. As the weather
is not subject to great variations under the equator,
the height of both these terms is nearly constant;
but in other latitudes this height is variable, both
in summer and winter, in proportion to the degree
of heat which prevails j and as there is a mean an¬
nual temperature peculiar to each latitude, so is
there a mean height for each of these terms peculiar
to each latitude. By taking the differences between
the mean temperatures of every latitude, and the point
of congelation, it will appear that whatever proportion
CHEMISTRY.
**73
he eartli
sats the
mo-
here.
703
the difference under the equator bears to the height Changes of
of either of these terms, the same proportion will the the Atmo-
difference peculiar to every other latitude bear to their sphere.
lieiSht- . ... 1 a.Vj' '
7. But there is not the same uniformity or capacity Land and
in air, land, and water, for receiving and returning water dif-
heat. Hence arise very considerable deviations in the ferent in
temperature of places, as they are more or less connec-
ted with these bodies. Air, when it is perfectly trans¬
parent, receives very little heat from the rays of the
sun as they pass through it. Air which is over seas or
large tracts of water, is generally many degrees warm¬
er in winter, and colder in summer, than air which is
incumbent on land, because the land receives the heat
much more readily than the water j in general the air
participates of the temperature of those substances with
which it is in contact. Land, if dry, receives heat
rapidly, but transmits or conducts it to great depths
very slowly; but water receives it more slowly, and
diffuses it more rapidly. From experiments made by
Dr Hales, it appears that the earth is much heated
during the summer, but that this heat descends very
slowly, great part of it being communicated to the air ;
that during winter, the earth gives out to the air the
heat it had received during the summer, and that wet
summers must be succeeded by cold winters, because
the heat is carried off by the greater proportion of eva¬
poration during the wet season. At the depth of 80
or 90 feet below the surface of the earth, the tempera¬
ture is found to vary very little, and it generally ap¬
proaches to the mean annual heat. The temperature
of the cave at the observatory of Paris, which is 90
feet below the pavement, is about 53.50. The great¬
est variation which has been observed, does not exceed
half a degree, and this only happens in very cold
years. Hence, too, the temperature of springs is al¬
most uniformly the same throughout the year, and cor¬
responds with the mean annual temperature of the cli-
mate* . ... 2175
8. There is not only a considerable difterence in the Tempera-
temperature of land and water ; but this variation also ture varies
holds with regard to the land itself, according as it according
is elevated above the surface, and according to the na- 0f
ture of the surface, whether it is covered with vege-p]a£es.
tables, or only exhibits bare rocks, or sterile sand. A
considerable deviation also is observed to take place
in proportion to the distance from the ocean. All,
these causes, however, are greatly modified by the re¬
lative situation of places with regard to seas and oceans,
mountainous regions, and extensive tracts of level
country covered with thick forests, or improved by
cultivation. These causes too are modified by parti¬
cular winds, which produce considerable deviations, as
they proceed from the ocean, from low, flat countries,
or elevated regions.
9. Another remarkable change to which the atmo¬
sphere is subject, is the difference of its weight or pres¬
sure. The air, like all other matter, is influenced by
the law of gravitation, by which it presses with a cer¬
tain force on the surface of the earth. It has been
found that the measure of this force is nearly equal to
151b. on every square inch. The variations which
take place in the atmosphere are measured by the ba¬
rometer. The mercury in the barometrical tube is sup¬
ported by a column of air of an equal base, and since
this
2176
rcssate-
704
C H E M I
Changes
of the At¬
mosphere.
this column of air and the mercury in the tube mutual¬
ly balance each other, it follows that they are of the
same weight, and therefore the barometer may be em¬
ployed as a measure of the weight or pressure of the
2I77
The same
at the level
of the sea.
217S
Causes.
2179
Winds.
10. The first general fact with regard to the weight
of the atmosphere is, that in all places at the level of
the sea, the barometer stands nearly at the same point,
and the mean height is about 30 inches. But as the
elevation is increased, the barometer sinks, because then
there is a shorter column of air to support it, which is
therefore lighter. In no place does the weight of the
air continue always the same. It is subject to daily
variations, which are greater or smaller according to
the latitude of the place, or the influence of particular
causes. In all places within the tropics, the variations
of the barometer have been observed to be smallest, and
in elevated situations the variations are considerably
smaller than on the level of the sea. The deviations
of the mercury from its mean annual altitude are more
frequent and extensive in the neighbourhood of the
poles than in that of the equator, and they are greater
and more frequent without the tropics in winter than
in summer.
11. The causes which have been proposed to ac¬
count for these variations, are changes of temperature,
velocity of winds, and the agency of vapours. The
air is subject to the action of heat, by which it is rare¬
fied or condensed, according to the increase or diminu¬
tions of temperature. Dense air is heavier than that
which is rarer*, but if the masses of air remain the
same, the weights must be the same, and consequently
the heights to which they elevate the mercury will be
also equal. If, therefore, a change of temperature oc¬
casion a variation of the barometer, it must be by in¬
creasing or diminishing the mass of the atmosphere.
But it appears from observation, that a variation of the
mass of the atmosphere is not a necessary consequence
of a change of temperature, for the mercury is often at
the same height at different seasons, and at different
places at the same time, when the difference of tempe¬
rature is very great. But even when the mercury
changes with the temperature, this variation is often
directly contrary to what it ought to be. The baro¬
meter has sometimes risen with an increase of tempera¬
ture, instead of falling by the rarefaction of the air.
The changes of temperature are very inconsiderable
in the higher regions of the atmosphere, so that it
would appear that the barometer can be little affected
by changes of temperature. Mr Kirwan has endeavour¬
ed to show, that the influence of winds, or a greater or
smaller quantity of vapours existing in the atmosphere,
can have little effect in elevating or depressing the ba¬
rometer. According to Mr Kirwan the variations of
the barometer, or the difference of pressure of the air
of the atmosphere, can only be accounted for from an
accumulation of air over those places in which the mer¬
cury exceeds its mean height, and from the diminution
or subtraction of the natural quantity of air, over those
regions in which the mercury falls below its mean
height.
12. The winds constitute another remarkable change
in the atmosphere. The winds in general are subject to
great irregularity ; but in some parts of the world they
are pretty regular and uniform. Between the 30° of
21S0
S T R Y.
N. Lat. and the 30° S. Lat. the wind, when it is not Changes
counteracted by local causes, continues to blow constant- ol Al¬
ly from the same points. On the north side of the equa- niosl”‘eic-
tor, that is from the equator to the 30° of N. Lat. it
blows from the north-east, and from the equator to
the 30° S. Lat. it blows from the south-east. This
is called the trade-wind. Immediately under the equa¬
tor the wind is observed to be pretty nearly from the
east *, that is, about the place where the two currents
meet, the one from the north-east, and the other from
the south-east; but receding from the equator, the di¬
rection of it deviates more and more from the easterly
point, till it reaches the intermediate point between
north and south, and then constitutes the north-east
trade-wind on the north side, and the south-east trade-
wind on the south side of the equator. Were the
causes which produce the constancy and uniformity of
the trade-winds uninfluenced by others, these winds
would prevail without variation within the limits or
near the boundaries of the torrid zone; but they are
greatly counteracted, and subject to great variations,
from the unequal influence of land and water, in rare¬
fying or condensing the air.
13. As the air of the atmosphere is a fluid body, and Trade-
therefore subject to all the laws of fluids, if any partvvinds*
be removed, the remainder rushes in to restore the
equilibrium, and hence an agitation or wind is produ¬
ced, as air is capable of indefinite dilatation and com¬
pression. The denser air being heavier, must sink, and
the rarefied air ascends, when air of unequal densities
is mixed together. The greatest degree of mean tempe¬
rature is within the torrid zone, in consequence of the
sun’s rays being more perpendicular, and acting with
greater force on the earth’s surface. The air there¬
fore round the equator undergoes the greatest degree
of rarefaction, and this extends to the north and south,
in proportion to its distance from the equator, 6r ra¬
ther its distance from the sun’s place. Thus, when the
sun is perpendicular to the equator, or middle part of
the torrid zone, the air in that place being most rare¬
fied, becomes lighter, ascends, and its place is filled
with the colder air from the north and south. And thus,
as long as the sun’s influence continues to rarefy the air,
would a north and south wind blow to that quarter
where the rarefied air, being rendered lighter, had as¬
cended. But as the earth has a diurnal motion on its
axis from west to east $ those parts of the earth’s sur¬
face to the westward are first heated, and consequently
the incumbent air is first rarefied. The denser air
from the east must therefore rush in to restore the equi¬
librium. Thus, there is produced an easterly wind.
But there is another current of air from the north and
south : the two currents coming from the north-east
trade-wind on the north side of the equator, and the
south-east trade-wind on the south side. Such are the
causes which are generally supposed to produce the re¬
gular trade-winds.
14. These winds are regular and uniform in open Deviation
oceans, such as the Pacific or Atlantic, but they are
subject to considerable variation from the unequal
rarefaction of the air over land and water. Thus,
islands situated within the very course of the trade-
winds have regular land and sea breezes, which are of¬
ten directly contrary to the trade-wind. In conse¬
quence of the air incumbent on the land being more
rarefied
nSi
Waters
2182
lousoons
21S3
u t of the
r sappos-
l to
isti-actcd.
c H E M
rareBed during the day, the wind blows from the sea
' constituting the sea breeze* but the air over the sea
being warmer during the night, the wind blows from
the land, from which it is called the land wind. To a
similar cause is owing another remarkable deviation
from the uniformity of the trade-winds, which is ob¬
served in the great Indian ocean. Here the winds
called monsoons blow from one quarter during six
months of the year, and from an opposite direction
during the remaining six months. While the sun is in
the northern tropic, the air over the extensive Indian
continent is greatly rarefied * and, in consequence of
this rarefaction, the denser air from the ocean rushes
in to restore the equilibrium, and hence the current of
the air or wind continues during this period of the
year, constituting the south-east monsoon. But when
the sun passes the equator to the southward, the air
over the southern hemisphere is more influenced by his
lays, and therefore more rarefied. I he denser air then
rushes in from the north, and thus produces the north¬
west monsoon, which blows during our winter, when
the sun is in the southern tropic.
15. But even a superficial observation will shew, that
the phenomena of the winds cannot be satisfactorily ac¬
counted for, merely upon the general principle of the
unequal rarefaction of the air over land and water.
Thus sudden changes of wind often happen in particu¬
lar places, which are extremely limited, and altogether
unconnected with the difference of density of the air
over land and water. The hurricane has swept the
land, whose effects have not been felt on the neigh¬
bouring ocean, and the storm frequently agitates the
ocean without reaching the land. These and other
phenomena of the winds, equally inexplicable, have
been ascribed by naturalists to the abstraction or sud¬
den destruction of a certain quantity of the air of the
atmosphere in particular places. But for the full dis¬
cussion of this subject, and the other phenomena of
the atmosphere, we must refer our readers to Meteo¬
rology.
Chap. XVI. Of WATERS.
I'* have already treated of the component parts
of water, of the discovery of its composition, and of its
most remarkable properties, and especially those which
it exhibits by a change of constitution, as in the solid
state, or that of ice, in the liquid state, and in the state
of vapour. In these views water was considered as
2184 Peyfectly pore } but this is rarely or never the case, as
ter not found in nature. Rain water, which is the purest,
id pure, is not entirely free from impregnation, even when col¬
lected before it falls to the earth. It is slightly con¬
taminated with certain substances, which it held in so¬
lution, as it existed in the clouds, or with which it com¬
bined in its passage through the atmosphere. But
waters, as they flow on the surface of the earth, or are
carried through the strata under the surface, must dis¬
solve those soluble substances with which they come
in contact. It is the object of our present investi¬
gation to examine the waters as they are found in
nature, and the substances with which they are im¬
pregnated.
2. The properties of pure water are almost obvious to
Vol. V. Part II. f
I S T R Y.
7°S
the senses, so that few substances, at least in any quan-Sea water.
tity, can be dissolved in water, without being easily re* ^  i>
cognized. Thus, the saline, nauseous taste of sea-wa¬
ter, the fetid odour, or the astringent taste of mineral
springs, must readily be distinguished by these striking
qualities. But although it is probable that the re- • 2l85
markable diversity of waters, from their obvious pro-^an °.n^
perties, could not fail to be early observed by man- hy^emf.
kind, it is only by chemical investigation that the na-cal agents,
ture of the substances to which they owe these proper*
ties, can be ascertained 5 and indeed we are indebted
to. the discoveries and improvements of modern che¬
mistry for the knowledge which we possess of the na¬
ture and proportion of the ingredients which enter
into the composition, either of sea-water or mineral
springs.
This subject has been particularly investigated by
Bergman, Westrumb, Black, Fourcroy, Klaproth, and
Kirwan. In the three following sections we propose to
treat, 1. Of sea-water * 2. Of mineral waters* 3. Of
the method of analyzing them.
Sect. I. Sea-water.
1. The saline taste of sea-water, we have already pr0pertjes,
observed, could not fail to make it be distinguished
from puie vyater * and this taste, it is well known, is
chiefly derived from common salt which it holds in
solution. Sea-water is also distinguished by a nauseous
bitter taste, which is ascribed to the animal and vege¬
table matters which are floating in it. This taste has
been considered as in some measure foreign to it * for
it is only found in the water on the surface of the ocean
or near the shores. Sea-water, taken up at considera¬
ble depths, contains only saline matters. The specific
gravity of sea-water varies from 1.0269 to 1.0285.
Its greater density is owing to the salts which are
dissol ved in it * and to this impregnation also it is owing,
that it is not frozen till the temperature is reduced
nearly to 28°.
2. The salts which are chiefly found in sea-water, Sait2?tlS7
are muriate of soda, or common salt, muriate of mag¬
nesia,^ sulphate of magnesia, sulphate of lime and so¬
da. The quantity of saline ingredients in the waters
of the ocean varies from to part. Mr Kirwan *
makes the average quantity about ^ of its whole
weight. The quantity of saline contents of water,
taken up by Lord Mulgrave at the back of Varmouth
sands, in latitude 530, amounted nearly to TV * while
Bergman found the water taken up in the latitude of
the Canaries to contain about -/T of its weight of saline 2lSS
matter. . These quantities, however, vary, even in the Proportion
same latitude, during rainy and dry seasons, near the varies,
land, 01 the mouths of great rivers. The difference
of latitude does not seem to make any considerable dif¬
ference in the proportion of saline matter. In latitude
8o* north, 60 fathoms under ice, sea-water taken up
by Lord Mulgrave, yielded about ^ ; in latitude 74°
nearly the same * and in latitude 6o°, Pages ob¬
tained four per cent, from water taken up in latitude
8x°, and the same quantity of saline matter from water
taken up in latitude 450 and 390 north. In southern
latitudes, the proportion was still greater 5 he found it
to contain the following proportions ;
4 U Lat.
7c6
Sea-water. Lat. 49*
46° oo'
21S9
In southern
altitudes.
4°° S0'
28° 54'
20° OO'
i° 16'
C H E M
4.1666 per cent, of saline matter.
4-5
4
4 ,
3-9
3-5
In the Mediterranean the proportion is said to be
still greater but the Euxine and Caspian seas are
found to be less salt than the ocean. This also is the
case with the Baltic. If the saline matters of the wa¬
ters of the ocean did not consist of different kinds, the
proportion of salts which it contains might be ascertain¬
ed by the specific gravity. In the following table the
specific gravity of sea-water taken up in different lati¬
tudes has been determined by Mr Bladh. The tem¬
peratures are reduced by Mr Kirwan to 62® of Fahren¬
heit j and the longitude is reckoned by Bladh from
Teneriffe.
2190
Specific
gravity in
different
latitudes.
Lat.
N.
59
57°
57°
•K
44°
39
18'
1'
oo'
32'
44® °7'
40° 41'
34° 4°'
29° 50'
240 oo'
18° 28'
16° 36'
140 56'
io° 30'
5° 50'
2° 20'
25'
16'
IO'
oo'
40'
06'
45'
S.
o°
5°
10°
i4°
20°
25c
30° 25'
37° 37'
Long.
Sp.Gr. at 62°
E.
8° 48'
180 48'
W.
i° 22'
4° 45'
2° 04'
E.
i° 00'
o° 30'
i° 18'
0° 00'
W.
2° 32'
24'
37'
46'
49'
28'
26'
30'
3° 40'
6* oo'
6° 05'
70 00'
5° 3°'
2* 22'
E.
70 12'
68° 13'
1,0272
1,0269
1,0272
1,0271
1,0276
1,0276
1,0276
1,0280
1,0281
1,0284
1,0281
1,0277
1,0275
1,0272
1,0274
1,0271
1,0273
1,0277
1,0277
1,0285
1,0284
1,0285
1,0281
1,0279
1,0276
1191
In the Bal-
ii*.
S T R Y.
following is the specific gravity of the waters of the Mineral
Baltic, taken during the prevalence of different winds, Waters,
and reduced by Mr Kirwan to the temperature of 62*. ’ ~
Wind. Specific gravity.
East, 1-0039
West, 1.0067
West, a storm, 1.0118
Northwest, 1.0098
1 .
From this it appears, that the proportion of saline
matters in the Baltic is increased by the influx of wa¬
ter from the ocean, and is considerably influenced dur¬
ing a storm, when the wind blows from that quarter.
4. Dr Watson has estimated the quantity of salt in
water of different specific gravities. It is also reduced
to the temperature of 62® by Mr Kirwan, as in the fol¬
lowing table.
Salt.
vs-
I
■ST
1
•S7
I
To
1
TT
1
TT
r
TT
To?
Specific Gravity.
I.0285
I.0275
I.O27O
I.0267
I.0250
I.O233
I.O185
I.OO33
I.OIO5
I.OO4O
I.OO23
These experiments were made with solutions of com¬
mon salt, which was not perfectly pure, and therefore
it is allowed that they may correspond pretty nearly
with the proportions of saline matter in sea-water of the
same specific gravities. 2Ip2
5. The proportions of the different salts, in an ana-pr&por-
lysis by Bergman, are the following : tions.
Muriate of soda,
Muriate of magnesia,
Sulphate of lime,
3°-311
6.222
1.000
38.133
In 1000 parts of water taken up near Dieppe, Lavoi¬
sier found the following salts:
Muriate of soda,
... of lime and magnesia,
i of magnesia,
From this table it appears that the proportion of sa¬
line matter is greatest near the tropics ; and the small¬
er quantity near the equator is ascribed to the great
quantity of rain that usually falls on that part of the
globe.
3. The experiments of Mr Wilcke show that the
proportion of saline matter in the Baltic is less than
that of the ocean ; and that it is salter during the pre¬
valence of a westerly wind, by which the water is dri¬
ven from the ocean, than during an easterly wind. The
Lime,
Sulphate of soda and magnesia,
1375
256
87
84
[958
Sect. II. Of Mineral Waters.
a
1. The name of mineral waters has been given toCh&L'acte
those waters which are distinguished by the smell,
taste, or colour, from pure water, the obvious proper¬
ties of which are, transparency and insipidity. These
peculiarities of taste, smell, and other properties, are
owing
ai94
lasses.
2195
cidulous.
1196
iline.
2197
alphure-
is.
2198
C H E M
Mineral owing to the impregnation of certain mineral substances
Waters, which they have acquired in their passage through the
~ v '' soil or strata of the earth. The effects which such wa¬
ters produce on the animal economy, early attracted the
attention of mankind, and led to their application as
remedies in the cure of diseases. It was long indeed
before any other distinction of mineral waters was made,
except what was indicated by their sensible qualities,
and their effects on the human constitution. From these
properties mineral waters have been divided into four
classes : 1. Acidulous or gaseous water; 2. Saline wa-
ters ; 3. Sulphureous or hepatic waters ; and, 4. Chaly¬
beate waters.
(1.) Acidulous waters are distinguished by their pe¬
netrating acid taste, the facility with which they boil;
by sparkling when they are poured into a glass ; and
by the emission of bubbles of air, by agitation. The
acid with which they are impregnated is generally the
carbonic. These waters redden the tincture of turn¬
sole, and precipitate lime-water.
(2.) The second class, or the saline waters, are suffi¬
ciently characterized by their taste, which varies ac¬
cording to the nature of the salt with which they are
impregnated.
(3.) The sulphureous or hepatic waters are at once
recognized by their fetid odour, and by blackening
some metallic substances, as lead and silver. Some of
these waters are impregnated with sulphurated hydro¬
gen gas, while in others it is combined with lime, or
with an alkali.
Iialybeate. (4.) The fourth cl ass, or the chalybeate waters, are
distinguished by an astringent taste. With the prus-
siate of lime they give a blue colour, or a black with
the infusion of nut-galls. This property is owing to a
portion of iron which is held in solution, either by car¬
bonic or sulphuric acid. Sometimes carbonic acid is
in excess, and then the water has a penetrating slight¬
ly acid taste.
2. The substances which have been found in mineral
waters, as they have been enumerated by Mr Kirwan,
belong either to the class of gaseous bodies, acids, alka¬
lies, earths, or salts.
3. Oxygen gas was first discovered in waters by
Scheele. It is generally in small proportion, and does
not exist in waters with sulphurated hydrogen gas, or
iron, because it is incompatible with these substances.
Azotic gas has been found in the waters, of Buxton,
Harrowgate, and Lemington Priors. Common air was
first discovered in mineral waters by Mr Boyle ; the
quantity scarcely exceeds ^ of the bulk of the water.
Fixed air or carbonic acid was first discovered in Pyr-
inont waters by Or Brownrig. The proportions are
very variable ; but there are few mineral waters which
are entirely free from it. A hundred cubic inches of
most waters, contain from 6 to 40 of carbonic acid
gas. A hundred cubic inches of Pyrmont waters con¬
tain, according to Bergman, 95 of fixed air ; accord¬
ing to Or Higgins, 160, and according to Westrumb,
187 cubic inches. Sulphurated hydrogen gas is the
principal ingredient in sulphureous or hepatic water.
Carbonated hydrogen gas is said to have been detected
in some mineral waters in Italy.
4. The next class of substances found in mineral
waters, are the acids. Sulphuric acid has never been
found, except in combination with other substances,
2199
ibstances
und in
ineral
aters.
2200
»ses.
2204-
*201
ids.
I S T it Y.
forming salts in mineral waters. With some of these
salts it exists in excess. Sulphurous acid has been de¬
tected in many of the hot mineral springs in Italy, in
the vicinity of volcanoes. Muriatic acid has only been
found in mineral waters, in combination with other
substances. Nitric acid is said also to exist in mineral
waters in Hungary, in a combined state. Boracic acid
has been found in a separate state, in some lakes in
Italy- _ ... 2202
5. The alkalies are rarely found combined in mine-A kalies.
ral waters. In the state of carbonate they are frequent.
Soda only was detected in the hot mineral springs of
Iceland, by Dr Black. 2ao?
6. Few of the earths, except in combination, have Earths,
been found in mineral waters. Lime, it is said, exists
uncombined in some waters ; but Bergman observes
that it must be in hot and not in cold mineral waters.
Dr Black detected silica in the waters of Geyser and
Rykum in Iceland. It has been found in those of
Carlsbad by Klaproth, and it has not unfrequently
been observed by others in different mineral waters.
7. The salts which have been found in mineral Salts,
waters, are sulphates, nitrates, muriates, and carbo¬
nates.
Sulphates.—Sulphate of soda is frequently found in
the waters of springs and lakes. Sulphate of ammo¬
nia has been found in mineral waters, in the neigh¬
bourhood of volcanoes. Sulphate of lime is one of
the most common substances in most springs. Sulphate
of magnesia, or Epsom salt, is not unusual in many mi¬
neral springs. Sulphate of alumina is rarely found in
mineral waters ; it is more commonly found in the state
of triple salt or alum. Sulphate of iron is frequent
in the springs and lakes of volcanic countries. It has
also been found in other places. Sulphate of copper
has only been detected in the waters which issue from
copper mines.
Nitrates.—Nitrate of potash or nitre is rarely found
in mineral waters. It has, however, been detected
in several springs in Hungary ; some traces of it have
been observed in wells in Berlin, and in some salt
springs in Germany. Nitrate of lime has been detect¬
ed in springs in the sandy deserts of Arabia. Nitrate
of magnesia is said also to have been found in mineral
waters.
Muriates.—Muriate of potash is but rarely found in
mineral waters. It has been detected in the springs
of Uleaburg in Sweden. Muriate of soda or common
salt exists in almost all waters, as well as in the ocean.
Muriate of ammonia is not very frequent in waters; it
has been detected, however, in some mineral lakes in
Italy, and also in Siberia. Muriate of barytes is very
rare, but according to Bergman, it has been found in
some mineral waters. Muriate of lime is very gene¬
rally found in mineral springs. Muriate of magnesia
is very common in mineral waters. Muriate of alu¬
mina has been detected in some mineral waters by Dr
Withering. Muriate of manganese was found by Berg¬
man in some mineral waters in Sweden, and it has late¬
ly been discovered, in small proportion, in the waters of
Lemington Priors, by Mr Lambe.
Carbonates.—Carbonate of potash, it is said, has beert
found in some mineral waters. Carbonate of soda
exists very frequently in the Waters of many springs
and lakes. Carbonate of ammonia has been found in
4 U 2 the
708
CHEMISTRY.
Analysis of
Mineral
Waters.
2105
Hydro-sul-
phurets.
2206
Bitumen.
2207
Physical
properties.
2208
Tests.
2209
Gaseous
bodies.
the waters of Rathbone Place in London, by Mr Ca¬
vendish, and in some waters in France. Carbonate of
lime is commonly found in almost all waters, and it is
held in solution by an excess of carbonic acid. Carbo¬
nate of magnesia very frequently exists in mineral wa¬
ters. When it is fully saturated with carbonic acid,
it is soluble in water, without any excess of acid. Car¬
bonate of alumina is said to have been found in the
waters of Avor in Anjou, in France. Carbonate of
iron is frequently found in mineral waters. It is to
this that chalybeate waters owe their distinguishing
properties.
8. Borax, or the subborate of soda, is found in some
lakes in Thibet and Persia.
9. Sulphurated alkali and sulphurated lime, or the
hydro-sulphurets of soda and of lime, have been found
in mineral waters. It is to these substances that hepa¬
tic or sulphureous waters owe their distinctive proper¬
ties.
10. Bituminous substances have also been discovered
in some mineral waters. Sometimes they have been
found combined with an alkali. Waters also sometimes
contain vegetable and animal matters ; but these are
not, properly speaking, to be considered as ingredients
in these waters.
Sect. III. Of the Analysis of Mineral Waters.
In the analysis of mineral waters, the first thing to
be attended to is to ascertain the temperature and si¬
tuation of the springs from which they are obtained.
The sensible properties are then to be examined, such
as colour, transparency, smell, and taste. Of the phy¬
sical properties of mineral waters, one of the most im¬
portant, and the first to be ascertained, is the specific
gravity. By this means, although not with perfect ac¬
curacy, the quantity of saline ingredients may be
known j but it is only by means of chemical opera¬
tions that the nature of the substances with which mi¬
neral waters are impregnated can be determined j and
by obtaining these substances in a separate state, or
forming new combinations, that their quantity or pro¬
portions can be accurately ascertained. In the ana¬
lysis of mineral waters, therefore, after discovering their
physical properties, the object of the chemist is first to
detect the nature of the substances, and then the quan¬
tity or proportion of these substances which they con¬
tain. In both we shall follow the method pointed out
by Mr Kirwan, in his Essay on the Analysis of Mine¬
ral Waters.
I. Of the Method of Discovering the Substances in
Mineral Waters.
1. The nature of the component parts of mineral
■waters is discovered by the addition of certain substances
which produce changes of different kinds. The sub¬
stances employed for this purpose are known in che¬
mistry by the name of tests or re-agents, because they
act upon the substances with which the waters are im¬
pregnated, by decomposing them, and forming new
combinations.
2. Gaseous substances are easily detected, either by
their escaping in the form of bubbles when the water
is exposed to the air, or, if they are more permanently
held in solution, by boiling a quantity of the water in
a retort, and receiving the gas over water or mercury, ^nabsis of
The nature of the gas, thus collected, may then be ex- Mineral
amined by the usual tests for gases. Waters.
3. Carbonic acid is detected by the infusion of lit-
mus, not, however, when the acid is saturated with any Carbonic
base, unless the acid be in excess. Saturated lime acid,
water may also be employed as a test for carbonic acid.
One cubic inch of carbonic acid gas in 7000 grains of
water, may be discovered by this test. These effects
are not produced by carbonic acid, after the water has
been boiled. azI
4. The infusion of litmus, or paper tinged with it, Mineral
is also employed as a test for mineral acids existing in acids,
waters. A red colour is produced, either when the
acid is combined, or united with a base in excess.
In this case the redness is permanent, and is not de¬
stroyed by boiling. _ aj[2
5. Sulphurated hydrogen gas reddens the infusion ofSulpUurat.
litmus, and blackens silver or lead, or the solutions ofed.
these salts. It is also easily recognized by its peculiar
odour. # 2ZI3
6. Carbonated hydrogen gas burns with common And car-
air without explosion j is not absorbed by lime-water, donated
and has no peculiar smell. hydrogen
7. The fixed alkalies produce a reddish-brown C0*^aS’22I4
lour with the infusion of turmeric. The same change Fixed al-
takes place with the alkaline and earthy carbonates, kalies.
The infusion of Brazil wood assumes a blue colour.
Paper tinged blue with litmus, and reddened with vine¬
gar, may be also employed as a test for alkalies j and
by all the alkaline and earthy carbonates, the original
blue colour is restored. The muriate of magnesia is
precipitated only by the fixed alkalies. Potash forms
with nitric acid a prismatic salt; with acetic acid a
salt which does not deliquesce, and with sulphuric acid,
a salt which effloresces. Ammonia, when in consider¬
able quantity, is detected by the smell. If the pro¬
portion be small, it may be discovered by distilling
part of the water with a gentle heat. 2215
8. The carbonates of the earths and the metals are Caibonates
precipitated by exposure to the air, or by boiling and
evaporation. Carbonates of lime, of alumina, and of
iron, are precipitated by boiling for a quarter of an
hour. Carbonate of magnesia is only partially precipi¬
tated by the same process. 2ilg
9. Iron, either in the state of carbonate, or combin-iron,
ed with some other acid, is detected by tincture of
galls, which produces a black or purple colour. A
very minute portion of iron is detected by this test.
Three grains of crystallized sulphate of iron dissolved
in five pints of water, strike a purple colour in five
minutes, with a single drop of this tincture. With
this test the colour assumes different shades, according
to the nature of the other substances which are in
combination. If the water contains a carbonate of an
alkali or an earthy salt, the colour is violet j it is
dark purple with other alkaline salts 5 with sulphate
of lime it is first whitish, and afterwards black; and
with sulphurated hydrogen gas, the colour is purplish
red. The latter, Mr Kirwan suspects, is occasioned
by manganese. Iron, dissolved by carbonate of am¬
monia, is at first whitened, and afterwards blackened
by tincture of galls. In the caustic fixed alkalies the
precipitate is at first crimson red, but afterwards be¬
comes black. Prussian alkali is a sensible test of iron $
the
2217
ilphuric
:id.
22 f8
[uriatic.
2219
jracic.
2220
me.
2221
trytes.
ignesia
d alu-
C H E M
nalysu of tlic precipitate is blue : but if an alkali exists in the
water, it prevents a small portion of iron from strik¬
ing a blue colour with this test, until it be saturated
with an acid.
10. Sulphuric acid is detected by muriate, nitrate,
or acetate of barytes, nitrate or acetate of lead, ni¬
trate of mercury, nitrate, muriate, or acetate of stron-
tites, and nitrate, muriate, or acetate of lime.
11. Muriatic acid is readily detected by nitrate of
silver. It forms a white precipitate, or a cloud in the
water. . If there are any carbonates of alkalies or
earths in the water, they must be previously saturated
with nitric acid. Sulphuric acid, or the sulphates, must
be precipitated by nitrate or acetate of barytes. Ace¬
tate and sulphate of silver may be also employed for
the same purpose.
12. Boracic acid, when it is uncombined, is detected
by acetate of lead } but the alkaline and earthy car¬
bonates must be previously saturated with acetic acid.
The sulphates must be decomposed by means of ace¬
tate of strontites, and the muriates by acetate of silver.
13. Lime is readily detected with oxalic acid j but
if the water contains any mineral acid, it must be pre¬
viously saturated with an alkali. Barytes, if any exists
in the water, must be precipitated by sulphuric acid.
Magnesia is precipitated very slowly with oxalic acid,
by which it is readily distinguished from lime.
14. Barytes is detected by diluted sulphuric acid,
with which it instantly forms an insoluble white preci¬
pitate.
15. Magnesia and alumina are both precipitated by
means of pure ammonia and lime water j but it is ne¬
cessary that carbonic acid, if any exists in the water, be
previously separated by means of a fixed alkali, and by
boiling. If lime-water is employed, the sulphuric acid
must be first precipitated with nitrate of barytes. If
the two earths are precipitated together, the alumina
may be separated from the magnesia, by boiling them
with pure potash, which combines with the alumina.
16. Siliceous earth may be discovered by evaporat¬
ing a large quantity of water nearly to dryness, and
then by re-dissolving the precipitate in nitric or sulphu¬
ric acid, and afterwards evaporating to dryness. The
dry mass, re-dissolved in water and filtered, leaves the
silica on the filter.
The proportions in which these different acids and
salifiable bases are contained in a mineral water, are
propor- known by considering what is the proportion of them
contained in any precipitate which they occasion,
wtant Till lately it was a great object with chemists to as-
m of certain the mode in which these substances existed in
Murray.the water. It was conceived that every acid was com¬
bined in a definite manner to form either a binary or a
ternary compound with one or more of the bases pre¬
sent; much pains were bestowed, by frequent evapo¬
ration and cooling of the water, to find out what salts
it would afford, and it was conceived that these were the
salts contained in the water in question. It now appears,
however, by the researches of the late Dr Murray,
which commenced with an analysis of the water of
Dunblane, that these operations afford no information,
and that the kind of binary salts which make their ap¬
pearance depends on the circumstances of the evapora¬
tion. The former view proceeded on the presumption,
that the least soluble combinations of the ingredients
2
2223
ca.
1124
>de of
iraating
I S T R Y. 7o9
are those existing in solution, for these are compounds Vegetables.
which appear in the form of crystals. This author con- ' v——’
ceives it most probable, that the most soluble binary com¬
pounds are those contained in the water, and that a wa¬
ter from which we obtain muriate of soda and sulphate
of lime consists in reality of sulphate of soda and muriate
of lime. By this consideration he explains the well
known medicinal activity of waters, which afford, on
evaporation, none but very inert combinations. It is to
muriate of lime that he ascribes the active properties of
the waters of Bath and others. Perhaps it is most
probable, on the whole, that in mixed chemical solu¬
tions the acids and the bases are in universal cotem-
poraneous combination. Whatever be in this respect
the case, all the information to be derived from analysis
is obtained by discovering the different acids, salifiable
bases, and other simpler ingredients which they contain. 222(S
31. Alkalies combined with bitumen are sometimes Bitumen,
found in mineral waters. These mineral soaps, or bi-
tuminated alkalies, as they are called by Mr Kirwan,
form a coagulum with the acids. This coagulum is
soluble in the alkalies.
32. Extractive matter, which is sometimes found in Extractive
mineral waters, is discovered by means of nitrate of matter,
silver, with which it forms a brown precipitate ; but the
water containing it must be freed from sulphuric and
muriatic acids with nitrate of lead. Three grains of the
precipitate, according to Westrumb, indicate one grain
of extractive matter.
... . . 2228
33. Animal extractive matter gives a very disagree- Animal.
able taste and smell to water. It is soluble in alcohol.
Chap. XVII. Of MINERALS.
In following out the arrangement which we have
laid down at the beginning of this treatise, we should
now enter upon the consideration of mineral substances.
To preserve the chemical investigation of the different
departments of nature unbroken, we proposed to em¬
ploy this chapter in a general view of the characters
of mineral bodies, of their composition and methods
of analysis; but as this article has been unavoidably
extended to so great a length, we shall reserve the
whole to the article Mineralogy, where they will be
fully detailed.
Chap. XVIII. Of VEGETABLES.
1. Natural bodies may be properly divided into or* jjiyj2-29 (
ganized and inorganized, each of which exhibit cha-^aulrLTbo-
racters sufficiently discriminative. The substances in-dies,
eluded under the 17 preceding chapters, belong to the
latter class. Organized substances are vegetables and
animals, which are to be treated of in this and the
following chapters. The distinction between these two
classes of bodies, although in some cases it is less ob¬
vious, in general is easily recognized. The most per¬
fect forms of inorganized matter afford no marks of
resemblance to the varied and complicated structure of
a plant or an animal. In the mode of formation, or
the growth and increase of the individuals of these
two classes, there is the most striking diversity, which
exhibits plain and certain characters of distinction. In
the one class the growth or increase takes place by the
mere aggregation of the particles of matter already pre¬
pared, and according to the laws of affinity between
the
7I0 C H E M
Vegetables.the particles*, and no new properties exist in the ag-
1—“■v—-J gregate, which did not exist in the minutest particles of
which it is composed. The other class of bodies, com¬
prehending vegetables and animals, exhibits a very dif¬
ferent process. The substances which enter into their
composition are received into tubes or vessels, are con¬
veyed by them to every individual part of the vege¬
table or animal, are subjected to peculiar changes, and
assume new forms, possessing properties and qualities
which could not be previously detected in the simple
elements, by any chemical or mechanical operation.
This is indeed the essential characteristic of vegetables
and animals. The particles which compose a crystal,
formed by the evaporation of water, were held in solu¬
tion by the water, and invariably and uniformly ar¬
ranged according to certain laws 5 but the almost in¬
finite variety of substances which compose vegetables
and animals, are not to be found in the materials
which are necessary to promote their growth and
health j neither in the water, the earth, the air, the
heat, nor the light, all which contribute their share to
the same end. These undergo new changes, and en¬
ter in new combinations, none of which existed in
the simple elements, and none of which can be effect¬
ed by any mechanical or chemical process. Indeed
the laws which regulate vegetable and animal opera¬
tions, seem to be totally different from the established
laws of chemical action. Hence, from observing this
difference of action, the existence and influence of a
different principle have been inferred in animals and ve¬
getables. This has been called the vital principle, or
the principle of life, because by its influence the varied
and complicated phenomena of animals and vegetables
are exhibited, which cannot be accounted for on me¬
chanical or chemical principles. It is by the influence
of this principle that the animal or vegetable seems to
possess the remarkable power of resisting or counteract¬
ing to a certain degree the effects of chemical or me¬
chanical agents which may prove injurious to its exist¬
ence ; the power of regulating and selecting what is
beneficial and necessary, of supplying what is deficient,
and of curtailing what is redundant. Organized sub¬
stances admit of a natural division into vegetables and
animals. The bodies included under each of these di¬
visions have some points of resemblance but in gene¬
ral are sufficiently characterized and distinguished from
each other, by their form, structure, power of motion,
component parts, and peculiarities of habits. The first
of these divisions, namely vegetables, forms the subject
of the present chapter.
2. A vegetable is composed of a root, stem, leaves,
flowers, fruits, and seeds 5 and when all these different
parts are fully developed, the vegetable is said to be
perfect. When any are deficient, or at least less obvi¬
ous, the vegetable is said to be imperfect.
The root is that part of the plant which is concealed
in the earth, and which serves to convey nourishment
to the whole plant. The stem which commences at
the termination of the root, supports all the other parts
of the plant. When the stem is large and solid, as in
trees, it is denominated the trunk, which is divided
into the wood and the bark. The bark constitutes
the outermost part of the tree, and covers the whole of
the plant, from the extremity of the roots to the ter¬
mination of the hranches. The bark is composed of
'*23°
Structure
ef plants.
2231
Hoot.
*232
Bark.
I S T R Y.
three parts, namely, the epidermis, the parenchyma, Vegetables,
and cortical layers. The epidermis, which is a thin —*
transparent membrane, forming the external covering
of the bark, is composed of fibres crossing each other.
When the epidermis is removed, it is reproduced.
The parenchyma, which is immediately below the epi¬
dermis, is of a dark green colour, composed of fibres
crossing each other in all directions, and is succulent
and tender. The cortical layers, which constitute the
interior part of the bark, are composed of thin mem¬
branes, and increase in number with the age of the
plant. _ 2233
The wood immediately under the bark is composed Wood,
of concentric layers, which increase with the age of the
plant, and may be separated into thinner layers, which
are composed of longitudinal fibres. The wood next
the bark, which is softer and whiter, is called the al¬
burnum. The interior part of the trunk is browner and
harder, and is denominated the perfect wood. 2234
In the middle of the stem is the pith, which is a Pith,
soft spongy substance, composed of cells, or utriculi,
as they are called. In old wood, this part entirely
disappears, and its place is occupied by the perfect
wood. The leaves are composed of fibres arranged in
the form of net-work, which proceed from the stem,
and footstalks by which they are attached to the
branches. These fibres form two layers in each leaf,
which are destined to perform different functions. The
leaves are covered with the epidermis, which is com¬
mon to the whole of the plant. Each surface of a leaf
has a great number of pores and glands, which absorb 2,35
or emit elastic fluids. Flowers are composed of dif-Flower*
ferent parts. The calyx or cup is formed by the ex- and fruit!>
tension of the epidermis j the corolla is a continuation
of the bark, and the stamina and pistilla, the internal
parts of fructification, are composed of the woody fibres
and pith of the plant. Fruits are usually composed of
a pulpy, parenchymatous substance, containing a great
number of utriculi or vesicles, and traversed by nu¬
merous vessels. Seeds are constituted of the same
utricular texture, in the vesicles of which is deposited a
pulverulent or mucous substance. These cells have a
communication with the plant by means of vessels, and
by these is conveyed the necessary nourishment during
germination. 2136
Plants contain different orders of vessels, which are Vessel
distinguished from each other by their course, situation,
and uses. Lymphatic vessels serve for the circulation
of the sap. They are chiefly situated in the woody
part of the plant. The peculiar vessels, which gene¬
rally contain thick or coloured fluids, are placed im¬
mediately under the bark j they are smaller in num¬
ber than the sap-vessels, and have their interstices fill¬
ed up with utriculi or cells, with which they form a
communication. Some of these proper vessels are si¬
tuated between the epidermis and the bark, which are
readily detected in the spring. Some are situated in
the interior part of the bark, forming oval rings, and
filled with the peculiar juices of the plant. Another
set of proper vessels is placed in the alburnum, nearer
the centre of the stock or trunk, and sometimes in the
perfect wood. The utriculi or cells constitute another
set of vessels, which seem to resemble a flexible tube,
slightly interrupted with ligatures at nearly equal di¬
stances, but still preserving a free
communication
through
C H E M
functions through its whole length. They vary in form, colour
fVegeta- and magnitude, in different vegetables, and exist in the
b!es- j roots, the bark, leaves, and flowers. The trachese or
v spiral vessels, which are readily detected in succulent
plants, appear in the form of fine threads, and may be
drawn out to a considerable length without breaking.
These vessels are very numerous in all plants, especial¬
ly under the bark, where they form a kind of ring, and
are disposed in distinct bundles, in trees, shrubs, and
stalks of herbaceous plants.
After these preliminary observations on the charac¬
ters of organized substances, and the general structure
of plants, we now proceed to give a short view of the
functions, decomposition, and component parts of vege¬
tables. These shall form the subject of the three fol¬
lowing sections.
Sect. I. Of the Functions of Vegetables.
I. Of Germination.
empera- jt "When the perfect seeds of a vegetable are placed
in certain circumstances, they produce plants exactly
similar to those from which they originated. The re¬
quisite circumstances for the germination of seeds are,
heat, air, and moisture. It is well known that no ve¬
getation goes on when the temperature of the air is at
the freezing point, and very little till it rises a consi¬
derable number of degrees above it. The seeds of dif¬
ferent plants, it is observed, require difi’erent degrees
of heat for their germination, and hence the various
seasons and climates in which different plants and seeds
2238 are found to vegetate.
r‘ 2. But whatever the temperature may be, no seeds
germinate, unless they are exposed to the action of the
air. It is the oxygen of the air which is necessary for
the production of this change j for when it is entirely
excluded no change can take place except that of de¬
composition, and when it is in greater quantity, vege-
2239 tation is more rapid and more vigorous.
oisture. 3. Moisture is also necessary for the vegetation of
seeds. The water must be applied in moderate quan¬
tity, for, with the exception of the seeds of aquatic
plants, which are possessed of peculiar habits, most
seeds are deprived of their vegetative power, and en¬
tirely decomposed, when kept immersed in water.
Hence it is that many seeds do not vegetate in stiff
clay soils, which retain too much water, nor in sandy
lands, which allow the whole of the water to filtre
through them. Many seeds, although they are ex¬
posed to the favourable action of these agents, do not
vegetate when they are exposed to the action of light.
It is on this account, and also no doubt, for the proper
application of moisture, that seeds are covered with the
soil, by which means germination is found to be greatly
2240 promoted.
rts 4. A seed is composed of three principal parts, which
have been denominated the cotyledons or lobes, the
radicle, and plumula. The greatest number of seeds
have two cotyledons. Some, however, as many of the
farinaceous seeds and seeds of grasses, have only one.
Others have three, and some six. Hence plants have
been distinguished into mono-cotyledinous, di-cotyledi~
2241 nous, and poly-coUyledinous.
utform- 3. The first change which takes place on a seed
placed in circumstances favourable to germination, is
3
I S T R Y. 7II
the increase of size by the absorption of moisture. The Function*
radicle is next formed, which stretches downwards into ofYegeta-
the earth. The plumula afterwards shoots upward, and b*es’
expands into leaves and branches. The peculiar func* v
tion of the root is to convey nourishment from the earth
for the future growth of the plant j but from what
source is the nourishment derived for the formation of
the root itself ? 2
6. The very first change which takes place within Oxygen ab-
the seed is, that the oxygen of the air which enters alongs°rbed.
with the moisture, combines with the carbon which
exists in the lobes of the seed, and carbonic acid is
thus formed, which is given out in the state of gas.
The farinaceous matter of the seed being deprived of Carbonic
part of its carbon, is converted into a saccharine sub-acid gas
stance, which is destined for the nourishment of theemitted.
embryo plant, till its parts are so far evolved, as to de¬
rive nourishment from the earth. But if oxygen gas
be entirely excluded, no part of the process of germi¬
nation goes on : or even if it has proceeded so far
that the plumula shall have appeared above the surface
in the form of seminal leaves $ yet if these leaves are
removed before others have been unfolded, the plant
dies. The seminal leaves are the lobes which have
been pushed out of the earth along with the plumula,
so that if they are destroyed, the plant is cut off from
the necessary source of nourishment for the evolution
of its parts, and for the formation of roots and leaves,
which are destined to perform the different functions of
vegetation.
II. Of the Food of Plants.
2244
1. But air, heat, and moisture, are not only necessary Supposed to
for the first formation of the different parts of the plant jbe water,
their continued action is absolutely requisite for its fu¬
ture health and growth. It could not long escape ob¬
servation, that plants when entirely deprived of water
cease to vegetate. Hence it became the opinion of the
earlier physiologists, that water constituted the chief or
the only food of plants $ but it has been proved by ex->40t pure,
periments in analysing plants which have grown in pure
water, that there is one of the necessary principles in
their constitution, of which they receive no increase
above that which previously existed in the seeds or roots
from which they sprung. In a series of experiments in¬
stituted by Hassenfratz, on the roots of hyacinths, the
seeds of kidney beans and other plants, he found that
the quantity of carbonaceous matter in the full formed
plant, was less than what previously existed in the bulb
or seed.
2. But pure water is necessary as a solvent for those Is the sol-
substances which are considered as the proper food of vent of the
vegetables. When impregnated with certain saline
and earthy, and still more with carbonaceous matter, it
is found to be most proper for promoting the growth
and increase of vegetables. We have observed plants
growing in a soil which was frequently moistened with
the water from a dunghill, advance with a more rapid
and vigorous growth, and attain to a larger size, than
similar plants in the same soil, which received only the
usual supply of rain and dew from the clouds. It has
been found by experiment, that this water holds in so¬
lution a considerable portion of carbon. It is not im¬
probable that it also contains some of those saline mat¬
ters which have been detected by analysis in plants in
the
b!es.
712 C H E M I
Functions the greatest health'and luxuriance. The waste of the
of Vegeta- soil requires to be repaired with frequent additions of
manure, which may be considered as necessary supplies
of food or nourishment.
3. The Food of plants, whatever it may be, is taken
up by the roots in a state of solution in water, and con¬
veyed by the vessels to every part of the vegetable.
For this purpose it would appear that there is a pecu¬
liar adaptation of structure in the very extremities of
the roots ; for, if part of the Hbre of a root be cut off,
the plant ceases to vegetate till new fibres are formed
capable of absorbing the necessary quantity of water.
4. This fluid, found in plants, is called the sap. It
is most abundant in the spring, as the season of vege¬
tation advances j and during that season, when the
plant is wounded, it flows out copiously, and it is then
said to bleed. This is particularly the case with some
trees, such as the birch and a species of maple ; the
sap of which, by certain processes, even yields wine or
sugar. The sap is contained in what is called the lym¬
phatic or common vessels of the plant.
S T K Y.
Sap.
2248
2249
Is prepared 5. The fluids taken up by vegetables, it is probable,
in the
plant
2250
Sap of the
elm.
2251
Experi¬
ments.
Acetate of potash
Vegetable matter
Carbonate of lime
9.24a
1.060
.796
Functions
of Vegeta.
bleg,
sooner enter the plant, than they undergo some
change. Vauquelin has directed his attention to this
subject, and has analyzed the sap at different periods
during the season of vegetation. The sap of the com¬
mon elm (ulmus cainpestris, Lin.') extracted from the
tree early in the spring, was of a brown colour, had a
sweet mucilaginous taste, but scarcely reddened the
tincture of turnsole. Ammonia produced in this fluid
a copious yellow precipitate, soluble with effervescence
in acid. Barytes and lime-water produced a similar
effect. Oxalic acid and nitrate of silver gave a white
precipitate. Sulphuric acid, diluted with water, occa¬
sioned a brisk effervescence, with the evolution of the
odour of acetic acid from the mixture. Oxymuriatic
acid destroyed the colour of the sap, and formed in the
liquid a yellow precipitate. Hydrosulphuret of pot¬
ash and sulphate of iron effected no change, but alco¬
hol threw down a flaky precipitate. A quantity of
this sap being evaporated with a moderate heat, there
was found on the surface a brownish pellicle j a brown
matter separated in the form of flakes, and an earthy
matter deposited on the sides of the vessel, which was
dry to the touch. After evaporation to a certain de¬
gree, and cooling, a yellow earth was deposited, which
dissolved with effervescence in muriatic acid. When
the solution was completed, the liquid was filtered, to
separate the insoluble vegetable matters. The muria¬
tic solution mixed with carbonate of potash, yielded
carbonate of lime. The liquid which had deposited
the vegetable matter being evaporated with a gentle
heat aflorded a grayish extract, which strongly attracted
moisture from the air, and had a very pungent, saline
taste. It effervesced with the addition of concentrated
sulphuric acid, and gave out the odour of radical vine¬
gar. Distilled with three parts of sulphuric acid, it
furnished very concentrated acetic acid, and there re¬
mained in the retort sulphate of potash with excess of
acid.
6. From this analysis it follows, that the extract of
the sap of the elm is chiefly composed of acetate of
-potash. One thousand and thirty-nine parts of this
sap yielded nearly the following proportions.
The deficiency was made up of water and some v°la-Compobi
tile matter. tions.
When the season was farther advanced, the sap of
the same tree was again subjected to analysis, and it
was found that the quantity of acetate of potash and
carbonate of lime had diminished, but that the quan¬
tity of vegetable matter was nearly double. At a still
more advanced period of the season, the experiment was
repeated, the result of which was, that the increase of
the vegetable matter, and the diminution of the ace¬
tate of potash and carbonate of lime, were still greater.
It appeared too, that carbonic acid existed in excess in
the sap, and held in solution the carbonate of lime. ^
7. The same chemist analyzed the sap of the beech, of the
and it was found to be composed of water, acetate of lime beech,
with excess of acid, acetate of potash, gallic acid, tan,
mucus, extractive matter, and acetate of alumina $ but
the proportions of these parts are not mentioned. From
this analysis it appears, that the sap of the beech dif¬
fers from that of elm, in containing acetic acid uncom¬
bined, besides gallic acid and tan, having at the same
time no carbonate of lime. When the sap of the same
plant was examined later in the season, the proportion
of gallic acid and tan had increased. Vauquelin also
examined, by analysis, the sap of the carpinus sylves-
tris or hornbeam, and the betula alba or birch *. The* dt
component parts of the sap of the former were found to Chivi.
be, acetate of potash and lime, mucilage, sugar, and xxxl* 20,
extract, with water $ and the latter tvere found to be
water, acetates of lime, alumina and potash, sugar, and
vegetable extract. From these experiments it appears
that the fluids which are taken up by plants, are im¬
mediately changed by certain processes within the
plant; for some of the substances which are compo¬
nent parts of the sap of plants, are either not found in
the liquids before they enter the plant, or exist in them Of the
in very small quantity. These changes, it appears too,h0™!3®®115
from the same experiments, are considerably greater,
at the later periods of the season of vegetation. Some
of the component parts are greatly increased, while
others are much diminished.
8. The sap ascends from the root to the extremities Ascends
of the branches, which has been proved by making in-through.
cisions in the trunk of a tree at different heights in thel^e ''00
spring season. The sap is observed to flow, first,
from the lowest incision, and successively to the high¬
est. It is through the vessels in the woody part of
the tree, that it ascends, for none flows from an in¬
cision unless it has penetrated the wood, and in some
trees it is necessary to make the incision nearly to the
centre. It has been observed that coloured infusions
always pass from that part of the wood called the al¬
burnum. 225(5
9. The sap of plants is conveyed through those ves-Bythe
sels which were described under the name of trachece^™^®'
or spiral vessels. These were denominated tracheae or
air-vessels by the earlier physiologists, because being
found empty, when they were cut across and examined,
they were supposed to convey nothing but air.
10. As the sap of vegetables moves with very con¬
siderable
■i
2254
iiictioiis
Vegeta¬
bles.
tl , , C H E M
siderab e force, it has given rise to much speculation
about the nature of that power, or the cause by which
this is effected. Malpighi ascribed the ascension of the
sap to the alternate dilatation and contraction of the
air in the air-vessels ; while Grew supposed, that it
was owing to the lightness of the vapour, in which state
he conceived the sap entered the plant, and was con¬
veyed through it. By many others the ascent of the
sap has been ascribed to the force of capillary attrac¬
tion ; but the nature of this action, as it is demonstrat¬
ed and explained by mechanical philosophers, seems to
be incompatible with the phenomena of the circulation
of the sap in vegetables, and has therefore been reject¬
ed as a hypothesis equally unsatisfactory with those
which have been just mentioned. It has been ascribed
with more probability to the action of the vessels them¬
selves. This arises from what is termed the irritabili¬
ty of the vessels, or a certain power by which they are
enabled to contract, when subjected to the action or
influence of certain substances. The sap is supposed
to have such an influence, and the action which takes
place when it enters the roots, is owing to the irri¬
tability of the vessels. The sap is earned a certain
length by the first contraction, and by successive con¬
tractions is propelled through every part of the plant,
while at the same time new additions continue to enter
the extremities of the root.
III. Of the Functions of the Leaves.
I. M batever be the nature of the process, the sap is
canied to every part of the vegetable, and undergoes cer-
**8 fam changes, which become more considerable accord-
1 luce ing to the progress which it has made after its absorption,
t iges on , ^ ^le Sreates(; changes which take place in the sap of
t sap. plants, are effected in the leaves. The leaves are to
259 be considered as essential organs of vegetables, for in
*'t them the sap is totally changed, and converted into the
pilLr Pecub'ar juice, the succus proprius, of the plant.
jli. 2* During the day, the leaves of plants transpire a
260 very considerable quantity of moisture, the proportion
lug the of which appears from some experiments not to be
much inferior to the quantity absorbed. From simi¬
lar experiments, it appears that the quantity evaporated
is in proportion to the extent of surface of the leaves.
I he quantity has been observed to be greatest during
sunshine and warm weather. It is greatly interrupted
during the night, and entirely checked by cold. When
tlm quantity of moisture transpired is diminished, the
moisture imbibed is found to be less in proportion. In
experiments made on this transpired matter, by eva¬
porating to dryness a quantity which had been collect¬
ed, a small portion of carbonate of lime was obtained ;
from the residuum, a still smaller proportion of sulphate
of lime, with a little gummy and resinous matter. It
has been found that the transpiration of moisture takes
place chiefly on the upper surface of the leaves, and
this seems to be performed by a particular set of or-
! ;5l gans.
[Jf-ngas 3* During the day, at least during bright sunshine,
5°“t' oxyge.n gas is given out by the leaves of plants. The
I S T It Y.
713
mi'c °f oxygen gas emitted by leaves, as appears
8cgas *rorn the experiments of naturalists, depends on the
PJl»ed. quantity of carbonic acid gas absorbed by the plant}
for it has been ascertained that vegetables grow ra-
Vol. V. Part II. f
pidly and vig0r0„sly wl,en exposed to this gos; nay, Fonc,ions
it i„ found essentially necessary to their health and ofVegeta-
growth. If the water with which plants are supplied hies,
be deprived of the whole of its air by boiling, no oxy- "v—'
gen gas is emitted, and water which is impregnated
with the greatest proportion of carbonic acid gas, gives
out the greatest quantity of oxygen gas. * 22(j
. 4* Diis process goes on only during the day, and it Action if
is more vigorous during bright sunshine j from which hght.
it is natural to conclude, that light performs some ne¬
cessary part in it. It is well known that plants which
grow in the dark do not acquire a green colour : and *
it is found that such plants contain a smaller propor¬
tion of carbon than similar plants, in the same circum¬
stances, exposed to the light. From this it may appear
what is the nature of the process when carbonic acid
gas is absorbed by plants, and oxygen gas emitted. It
is the decomposition of the former, which is effected j
the carbon being retained in the plant, and the oxygen
given out} but light being a necessary agent in this
decomposition, the process must be interrupted when it
is excluded.
5. I his decomposition takes place in the parenchy-Parenchy¬
matous substance of the leaf; and the quantity emitted, ma of the
it appears, is in proportion to the thickness of this sub-*ca^S8ves
stance. The green colour of plants, it has alreadyout lhe oxy‘
been mentioned, depends on the action of light. Plants ^ ^
which vegetate in the dark, both have a smaller pro¬
portion of carbon, and continue of a white colour ; but
in a short time after they are exposed to the light, the
green colour is restored.
. 6- Thus it appears, that it is one part of the func¬
tions ot leaves of plants to exhale a considerable pro¬
portion of the moisture taken in by the roots ; to ab¬
sorb carbonic acid gas; to decompose this gas, by
which its carbon is retained in the plant, and the oxy'- 225,
gen is given out. It has also appeared from this fact, Vegetables
that vegetables are great sources of supply of oxygen !ireat
gas, which is essentially necessary in the numeroussource of
processes of combustion, and the respiration of animals,0X7gCn*
which are constantly going on on the surface of the*
earth ; and that thus the waste of this vital fluid is re¬
paired, and the balance preserved between its destruc¬
tion and supply.
7. The leaves of plants perform a very different Faction of
function during the night. Instead of emitting mois-leaves du-
ture and oxygen gas, and absorbing carbonic acid gas,r^nft the
as they do during the day, the process is reversed. Car-niSht*
bonic acid gas is emitted, and moisture and oxygen
gas are absorbed. The absorption of moisture seems to
be chiefly performed by the under surface of the leaves,
at least in many plants. It has been found by experi¬
ment, that plants, which have been made to grow’ in
oxygen gas give out a greater quantity of carbonic acid
gas, than when they grow in common air. From this
circumstance it has been supposed, that the carbonic
acid gas, em.tted by plants during the night, is Owing
to the combination of the oxygen absorbed, with the
carbon of the sap ; for it is at the same time that oxy¬
gen is absorbed. It has also been ascribed to tbe de¬
composition of the water. By some comparatively re¬
cent experiments, indeed, it has appeared that the
evolution of oxygen gas only takes place during the
full and direct action of the solar rays, and that even
by day, plants, when exposed only to the light reflected
4 from
714
Functions
of Vege-
bles.
2267
Peculiar
juice.
C H E M I
from the sky, give out carbonic acid. These experi¬
ments, however, require to be repeated on many species
of plants before the doctrine here delivered can be sub¬
verted.
8. By these different processes which are earned on
in the leaves of plants, the sap undergoes important
changes. It is there converted into the peculiar juice
of the plant, from which are derived, by other process¬
es, the different substances produced in the difterent
parts of plants, the nature of which is to be after¬
wards examined. rlhe leaves of plants have been com¬
pared to the lungs and stomach of animals. There can
be no doubt that they are essential organs in the eco¬
nomy of vegetables. Jn the very first step in the pio-
cess of vegetation, during the germination of seeds, the
moisture absorbed by the roots is carried to the semi¬
nal leaves, and there undergoes certain changes, before
it is fit for the formation of the stem and the other
leaves of the plant; for, if these leaves are removed,
vegetation is entirely interrupted, and the plant dies.
Even when plants have made farther progress, and are
in full vigour, if they are entirely stripped of their
leaves, the powers of vegetation cease, till these neces¬
sary organs are restored, and new leaves are formed.
The progress of vegetation is also stopped when the
surfaces of the leaves are varnished over, and the ab¬
sorption and emission of the necessary fluids thus inter-
2268
Sap flows
from the
roots to the
leaves.
rupted.
9. The sap of plants, it has been already observed,
flows from the roots towards the branches and leaves
of the plant. In the leaves it undergoes peculiar
changes, in consequence of part being exhaled, and in
consequence of the absorption of different principles
which combine with it, and no doubt contribute by
this combination to the changes which take place.
The sap, as we have already said, is then converted
into the succus pj'oprius, or peculiar juice. It is the sap
of the plant, which is thus far prepared to be convert¬
ed into the different parts of the plant, corresponding
to its nature and properties •, and, as the different parts,
both of liquids and solids in plants, possess properties
totally distinct from each other, and have derived these
from the same nutriment, the processes by which
these different substances are produced in different
plants, and even in the same plant, must undoubtedly
2269 be specific.
Peculiar 10. The peculiar juice of plants flows from the leaves
juice from towards the roots. If a ligature is fastened round the
to the roots stem a Plant> ^ie P^ace immediately above the liga-
' ture, that is, between it and the leaves, swells out by
the accumulation of this juice. Or it a wound be
made in the bark, the peculiar juice flows in greater
abundance from that side of the wound next to the
a270 leaves, than from the other side.
Properties it. The peculiar juice of plants has a greater con¬
et it. sistence than the other juices. It is readily recognized
by some peculiarity of colour. In a great many plants
it is milky, in some it is of a green colour, and in
others it is red. The component parts of the peculiar
juice of plants are little known ; but from some ex¬
periments which have been made on this subject, it ap¬
pears that some part of the vegetable is ready formed.
In the experiments of Chaptal on the peculiar juice
of plants, he detected a substance which possessed the
properties of the woody fibre. In similar experiments
S T R Y.
on the seeds of plants, it was found that they contained Decomp
a greater proportion of the woody fibre, from which ity .^
^inferred, that the peculiar juices of plants contain ^
their nourishment ready prepared, and in that state in
which it is found in the seed. The peculiar juices of
plants contain a greater proportion of these elements
which constitute the different parts of plants, than what
is found to exist in the sap. I hese are carbon, hydro¬
gen, and oxygen.
12. Many plants cease to vegetate as soon as they
have perfected their seeds, which is accomplished by pei.;ods o
some in one season, by others in two, and hence such duration
plants have been called annuals and biennials. Other
plants, however, continue to yield seeds and fruit for
many successive seasons, and to live for a great length
of time. The cause of this remaikable diversity among
the vegetable tribes is to us unknown.
Si:ct. II. Of the Decomposition of Vegetables.
1. As soon as the plants have ceased to vegetate,
they undergo a new set of changes. I he whole plant
is broken down j the elements of which it is composed
enter into new combinations, and new substances make
their appearance, which did not previously exist in the
plant. This decomposition is owing, partly to the affi¬
nities between the component parts of the vegetable
themselves, and partly to the affinities which exist be¬
tween some of the elementary principles of the plant,
and the heat, air, and moisture, without which no de¬
composition takes place. While the plant continued
to exhibit the phenomena of vegetation, that is, while
it continued to live, it possessed a power of resisting
this chemical action between the elements of which it
is composed, and also to a certain extent the action
of external agents. During this decomposition of vege¬
tables, air, heat, and moisture, are necessary. Gase¬
ous bodies are generally given out, and new compounds
are formed. Some plants, and some parts of the same
plant, have a greater tendency to undergo this decom¬
position than others, because they either possess a
Greater proportion of the substances which promote the
decomposition, or a greater proportion of the substan¬
ces of which the new compounds are formed. “7^
2. The changes or spontaneous decompositions of
vegetables, as they are almost always accompanied with
an intestine motion, have received the name fermen¬
tation. The nature of these changes is very different,
both with regard to the gaseous bodies which are ab¬
sorbed or emitted, and the nature of the products which
are obtained after the process is finished. Hence, fer¬
mentations have been usually distinguished into three
kinds ; namely, the vinous, the product of which is
wine, when certain substances are subjected to this
process, and beer, when other substances are employed*,
the acetous fermentation, during which vinegar is pro¬
duced 5 and the putrid or putrefactive fermentation, in
which the substances are still farther decomposed, and
run into the state of putridity. These different kinds
of fermentation might perhaps be considered merely as
different stages of the same process 5 for unless it is
checked at certain periods, it runs on through the dif¬
ferent stages without interruption. According to some,
these three species of fermentation do not include all
the changes which have the characters of this process
1*7^
"our kinds, we
i*74
Ii story.
”75
onditioas.
Oecompo-to which vegetables are subject. To these it has been
rition of proposed to add the saccharine fermentation, or that
fcgetabieg.change which is induced on farinaceous seeds by heat
~ v ' and moisture, which is the germination of seeds or the
process of making ; and the colouring fermentation, or
that process by which the colouring matter of vegeta¬
bles, as indigo, is developed. In the present section
propose to treat, r. Of the vinous fermentation j
2. Of the acetous or acid fermentation ; 3. The panary
fermentation, or the formation of bread ; and, 4. Of the
putrid fermentation.
I. Of the Vinous Fermentation.
1. The vinous fermentation, otherwise denominated
the spirituous, has been so called, because the first pro¬
duct is wine, which by distillation yields spirits. Boer-
haave was the first who directed his attention to trace
the causes, and to observe the phenomena of fermenta¬
tion. The same subject was afterwards prosecuted by
other chemists, and much was written on the nature
and manufacture of wine; but till the discoveries of
modern chemistry, and especially the important one of
the composition of water, nothing was ascertained with
precision concerning the nature of fermentation, or the
changes which take place on the fermenting substances.
To the experiments and researches of Lavoisier on the
formation and decomposition of alcohol, chemistry is
indebted for some of the most important facts with re¬
gard to the process of fermentation.
2. Certain conditions are necessary to promote the
vinous fermentation. The first indispensable condition
is the presence of some saccharine matter. Experience
has shewn that no vegetable substances are susceptible
of tins fermentation, which do not contain sugar. Thus,
the sweet juices of fruits are usually employed in this
process; and particularly, for the production of wine,
the juice of the grape.
But sugar in a state of purity, or uncombined with
other substances, is not susceptible of any change. A
certain quantity of water, therefore, is necessary, that
the saccharine matter may be in the liquid state. Wa¬
ter, therefore, is one of the essential conditions of the
vinous fermentation ; and it seems necessary that the
water should neither be in too great quantity nor defi¬
cient. Tn the latter case the fermentation is interrupt¬
ed ; in the former it is promoted too rapidly, and is apt
to be converted into the next stage, the acetous or acid
fermentation. When the consistence is too great, wa¬
ter must be added, and when it is too fluid, the addi¬
tion of sugar becomes necessary.
The vinous fermentation scarcely commences, if the
temperature be below 6o°, but at the temperature of
70° the process goes on briskly.
But sugar and water alone do not ferment, without
the addition of some other substances. In the liquid
expressed from grapes, which has received the name of
must, there are, besides sugar, a portion of jelly, some
glutinous matter, and tartar.
The contact of air has been considered as one of the
requisites of the vinous fermentation ; but this is not
necessary, on account of the fermenting liquid deriving
any addition from the atmosphere, for the process goes
on equally well, when it is excluded, provided the ga¬
seous bodies which are formed are permitted to escape.
CHEMISTEY.
7i5
_ -A- large mass is also favourable for promoting the Deeompo-
vinous fermentation. A small quantity of saccharine sition of
matter scarcely at all undergoes this change, while it^eSe*a^k*.
runs speedily to the acid fermentation.
3. When the substances which are susceptible ofpije2n207mc_
this fermentation, are placed in proper circumstances, na of fei-
the process commences in a few hours, or a few days, mentation,
according to the temperature and the quantity of li¬
quid employed. The liquid is then agitated with an
intestine motion ; it becomes thick and muddy ; the
temperature increases, and carbonic acid gas is disen¬
gaged. The liquid is increased in bulk, and the sur¬
face is covered with a voluminous, frothy matter,
which is owing to the carbonic acid gas adhering for
some time to the viscid matters in the liquid. The
quantity of carbonic acid gas disengaged during this
process is very considerable. It begins to be evolved
at the commencement of the fermentation, and con¬
tinues till its termination. At the end of a few days,
or a longer or shorter time, according to the tempera¬
ture and other circumstances, the fermentation ceases.
The liquid becomes transparent, the matters which
occasioned the muddiness having precipitated to the
bottom, and from having a sweet taste, it becomes
sharp and hot, and from having been viscid and gluti¬
nous, it becomes more liquid and lighter. It is now
converted into wine.
4. Such are the phenomena of fermentation, from Decompo-
which, and from the nature of the product, very consi-^ition of
derable changes must have taken place on the compo-llie suSai"
nent parts. One change has been observed during
this process ; namely, that the quantity of sugar is
always diminishing, and, at the end of the process, is
entirely decomposed. The liquid is now more fluid,
is specifically lighter, and has obtained a vinous taste ;
which new properties are ascribed to the formation of
alcohol which exists in all wine. It would appear,
from the experiments of M. Lavoisier, that it is the
sugar only which has suffered decomposition. It is di¬
vided into two portions, one of which separates, and is
carried off in the form of carbonic acid gas, while the
other, containing a greater proportion of hydrogen, re¬
mains in the liquid, in the form of alcohol. Part of
the alcohol is carried off, and the alcohol which re¬
mains in the liquid is combined with the acids of the
wine and the colouring matter, from which it must be
separated by distillation. The tartaric acid, it has also
been found, is partially decomposed during the pro¬
cess, and a portion of malic acid is formed. It appears
from other experiments, that azotic gas is disenga¬
ged during this process, from which it is inferred,
that some others of the constituents of the fermenting
liquid have been decomposed, since sugar contains no
azote.
2278
5. There is great variety in the colour, flavour, Component
and strength of wines. These differences depend on parts of
the nature of the soil and of the grapes, and very of- waies>
ten on the manner in which it is manufactured. But
the component parts of wine are generally some acid
matter, alcohol, extractive matter, oil, and colouring
matter. It has been ascertained by experiment, that all
wines redden the tincture of turnsole. The acid which
exists in greatest abundance in wine, was found by
Chaptal to be the malic acid ; some portion of citric
4X2 acid
ji 6
Becompo- acid also has been detected,
sition of paigne
CHEMISTRY.
Vegetables. acjj
' V It
Some
contain a considerable portion
wines, as cham-
of carbanic
II. Of the Acetous Fermentation.
2279
Extractive
matter.
2280
Volatile
oil.
2281
From other
22-32
Bee
is to a certain portion of alcohol contained in
wines that they owe their strength ; and, when wines
are subjected to the process of distillation, the alcohol
passes over, and the spirit which is thus obtained is
known by the name of brandy.
The extractive matter found in wines has been ob¬
served to diminish in proportion to the age of the wines,
as it separates gradually from the liquid, and is preci¬
pitated to the bottom.
The flavour and odour of wines have been ascribed
to a small quantity of volatile oil ; but this quantity is
so small, that no means hitherto employed have succeed¬
ed to obtain it in a separate state. Wines are distin¬
guished by a peculiar colour, which is owing to the co¬
louring matter originally derived from the husk of the
grape.
6. The juices of other fruits also afford materials for
au s !l,lces. fermentaj.jon^ ag 0p Cyder from apples, and perry
from pears. These are distinguished from wines pro¬
perly so called, by containing a greater proportion of
mucilaginous matter. The juice of the sugar cane also
affords a fermenting liquid from which is obtained by
distillation the spirit called rum.
7. Beer or malt liquors, as they are called in Bri¬
tain, are fermented liquors obtained from farinaceous
seeds. Different kinds of corn are employed for the
purpose of making beer. In Britain, barley is the most
common grain in the preparation of this liquid. It is
fii'st steeped in water, and afterwards thrown together
in a heap for about 24 hours. During this period, in
consequence of the moisture which has been absorbed
by the grain, the process of germination commences,
oxygen gas is absorbed, carbonic acid gas is given out,
and heat is evolved, while the radicle is protruded.
The process having advanced thus far, is checked by
slowly drying the grain. For this purpose it is spread
out on a floor, and in this state it is known by the
name of malt. It is afterwards exposed to heat, fully
dried, and ground to a coarse powder. An infusion
is then made with water about the temperature of
1600, which is drawn off j more water is added till the
whole soluble part of the malt is extracted. This infu¬
sion, which has a sweet taste, from having a portion of
saccharine matter, is called wort. After being boiled
with some bitter substances, as hops, it is allowed to
ferment, and the process of fermentation is in a great
measure similar to that which has been already de¬
scribed of the fermentation of wine. The temperature
most proper for this fermentation is about 6o° ; the fer¬
mentation of wort is greatly promoted, and the quan¬
tity of the fermented liquor is more abundant with the
addition of yeast.
It has been found, also, that the infusion of malt fer-
°^ o ments in close vessels, and equally well as when exposed
to the open air. During this fermentation carbonic
acid gas is disengaged, which is mixed with a portion of
the wort. By the distillation of the liquid obtained af¬
ter the fermentation has ceased, alcohol is obtained j
the nature and properties of which have been already
described in treating of that liquid under inflammable
aubstances..
- 2283
Eenneifta-
tion goes
oa in
vessels
BeaompO'
sition of
Vegetabieii
1. In treating of acetic acid, which is the pro-
duct of this fermentation, we have already detail¬
ed the method proposed by Boerhaave for the ma¬
nufacture of vinegar, and we have also described
the properties of that acid. All that is now necessary,
therefore, is shortly to state the general phenomena 2284
which are exhibited during this fermentation. WhenPhenome-
wine or beer, which is the product of the vinous 1,a•
fermentation, is exposed to a temperature between 70°
and 90°, it becomes gradually turbid j the tempera¬
ture is increased $ it is agitated with intestine motions,
and flaky substances are seen floating through it in all
directions. The intestine motions at last subside, the
liquid becomes transparent by the matters which ren¬
dered it turbid precipitating to the bottom of the
vessel. The liquid has now assumed diflerent proper¬
ties •, it is converted into acetic acid or vinegar. 2aS..
2. The conditions necessary for the acetous fer-Conditionsi
mentation are, a considerable elevation of temperature,
and exposure to the air of the atmosphere. During
this fermentation oxygen is absorbed from the air, and
unless this absorption takes place, the fermentation
does not go on. It is necessary that the substances to
be subjected to this fermentation contain a certain pro¬
portion of extractive matter j for if they are entirely
deprived of it, the process does not go on. Weak wines
or beer are more readily converted into vinegar than
strong wine; but when the process of fermentation
has commenced on the latter, the product is a stronger
and better vinegar.
3. In examining the products of this fermentation, changes, j
it has been found, that the malic acid and the alcohol
which previously existed in the wine, have entirely
disappeared, so that by their decomposition, they have
contributed to the formation of the vinegar. Some
portion of the extractive matter also has been decom¬
posed. The acetic acid is formed also during the de¬
composition of many vegetable substances, either by
means of heat, or other chemical agents.
III. Of the Panary Fermentation, or of Bread.
... . 22S7
I. The fermentation which takes place in making Nature ofl
bi’ead is supposed to be peculiar ; but the phenomena this rer¬
and product have not been sufficiently examined to bementallon
able exactly to ascertain its nature. The process is
exti-emely simple. Wheat flour, which is generally
employed, is formed into a paste with water, the propor¬
tions of which vary according to the age and quality
of the flour. After some time it is agitated with an
internal motion, similar to the other fermentations,
in consequence of the action of the component parts
upon each other, the formation of new compounds,
and the evolution of gaseous matter. Water is es¬
sentially requisite in this fermentation. One of the
changes which have taken place during the process, is
that the gluten which constitutes a part of the flour
has disappeared. It is entirely decomposed. This
matter has acquired a sour disagreeable taste, and if
it is made into bread, it is found unfit to be eaten. 22ss
A quantity of new paste is then prepared, and a Leaven.
sma,ll
VejretaMc8*
J2S9
(I feast.
C H E M
Decompo- small quantity of the old sour paste is added to
Sition of it. This produces rapid fermentation. The sour
paste, thus added, to promote the fermentation,
is called leaven, and the bread prepared by this
process has received the name leavened bread; a
distinction which has been known to mankind from
the earliest ages of the world. It is frequently men¬
tioned in Scripture, in the Jewish history. It requires
some attention to be able to determine the exact quan¬
tity of leaven necessary for the proper fermentation of
the paste. When it is deficient in quantity, the pro¬
cess of fermentation is interrupted, and the bread thus
prepared is solid and heavy, and if too much leaven
be used, it communicates to the bread a disagreeable
sour taste. When the fermentation succeeds, the paste
swells up, and is greatly enlarged in bulk, which is
owing to the formation of a quantity of gas, which is
confined within the mass, by the viscidity of the gluti¬
nous part of the flour.
Other substances are employed to promote the fer¬
mentation of paste for the purpose of making bread ;
one of the most common is the matter which col¬
lects on the surface of fermenting liquids from fari¬
naceous matters. This substance, which is called
barm or yeast, is equally efficacious in producing fer¬
mentation, and is less apt to contaminate the bread
with any disagreeable taste. As it is collected on
the surface of fermenting beer, it was examined by
Westrumb, and was found to contain a great variety
of ingredients. Besides the water, which was in
greatest proportion, it consisted of gluten, sugar, and
2290 murage, with a quantity of alcohol, and a small portion
Component malic, acetic, and carbonic acids. The essential
arts. parts of barm or yeast were found, by the same che¬
mist, to be gluten mixed with a vegetable acid j and
therefore yeast, which has been collected and put
into bags strongly pressed and dried, by which means
it is obvious many of the component parts must be
separated, has been found equally fit for fermentation.
2. When the paste has undergone the proper de¬
gree of fermentation, it is formed into loaves, and in¬
troduced into an oven, which has been previously
heated. The same temperature is as nearly as pos¬
sible employed for the baking of bread. This is re¬
gulated by throwing a little flour on the bottom of
the oven. If it becomes black, without taking fire,
the oven is supposed to have acquired a proper tem¬
perature. This is found to be about 448°.
3. If the fermentation has been properly conducted,
the bread during the process of baking enlarges in
bulk, becomes light and porous, and is full of eyes or
cavities, in consequence of the extrication of the gas
which was confined by the viscid, glutinous matter,
and now driven off by means of heat. It is also con¬
siderably lighter, in consequence of the evaporation of
moisture; and it still continues to lose weight by being
kept, if it be exposed to the air. When it is first re¬
moved from the oven, bread is distinguished by a pe¬
culiar taste and odour. These are also carried off by
the evaporation of the moisture, unless it be prevent¬
ed by excluding the air. The component parts of
bread, so far as they have been investigated, are quite
different from those of the flour, so that these have
undergone a chemical change.
4. Loaf bread is usually made of wheat flour,
2291
iaking of
read.
2251
han
ges.
I S T R Y. 7i7
which is found most proper for this purpose, in conse- Decompo-
quence of the great proportion of gluten which it con- sition oL
tains. Rye is also frequently employed in making Vegetables,
bread, but being deficient in the proportion of gluten, Y
it is less proper for the purpose. Bread made of rye Brea(l9of
has not the lightness and porousness of the wheaten rye and
loaf. Parmentier has described a process for making potatoes,
bread from potatoes. The potatoes are boiled and re¬
duced to a fine paste ; but before they can be con¬
verted into bread, it is necessary to add an equal
weight of starch obtained from the same root. In this
way a white, well-raised bread, it is said, is obtained.
rlo a fermentation somewhat similar is ascribed the 2294
production of the colouring matter of some vegetable Co5om'ing
substances, as for instance that of indigo; in this, how-f®imenta'
ever, greater changes are effected. In this process110”’
the indigo plants are put into water, which is soon agi¬
tated with an intestine motion. It is also accompanied
with an increase of temperature, the production of a
frothy matter on the surface, and the evolution of an
elastic fluid, which is a mixture of carbonic acid and
carbonated hydrogen gas. During this process, the
colouring matter of the plant is separated and precipi¬
tated, from which Fourcroy proposes to denominate
this the colouring fermentation.
IV. Of the Putrid Fermentation of Vegetables.
1. The putrefactive process is the last stage in the Nature5
decomposition of vegetable matters. In some the parts
are completely separated, and resolved into their pri¬
mary elements, by the escape of those substances by
which they were mutually held together. In others
new compounds are formed, by a new set of attractions
and combinations.
2. Several conditions are necessary to promote pu-Conditions,
trefaction. The first requisite is water, without which
the process does not go on. When vegetables are kept
perfectly dry, they undergo no change. The contact
of air is also necessary, and a moderate temperature.
When the temperature is too high, the moisture is
carried off by evaporation, before the changes in
which this process consists can be effected ; but when
the moisture is not carried off, the higher the tem¬
perature, the more rapid is the putrefaction.
3. When vegetables are placed in proper circum-Plienome.
stances to favour this process, the colour and consist-na.
ence are soon changed ; the texture is destroyed,
the fibres are separated; the soft and liquid parts swell
up and are covered with froth ; elastic fluids are dis¬
engaged, the temperature is increased, and sometimes
so high as to produce actual inflammation. The gases
which are disengaged, are, after the process has fairly
commenced, accompanied with a fetid odour. They
are composed of a mixture of carbonated hydrogen,
carbonic acid, and azotic gases. After these phenome¬
na have continued for some time, which is longer or
shorter, according to the nature and consistence of the
vegetable matters, great part, it appears, has been dis¬
sipated by evaporation. There remains a dark-colour¬
ed substance, containing the more fixed materials of the
vegetable, as the earths combined with the acids and
part of the carbon.
4. In observing the necessary conditions, the pheno- Changes,
raena, and the products of the putrid fermentation of
vegetables,
7i8
CHEMISTRY.
2199
Obtained
processes.
Component vegetables, the influence of the numerous attractions
Parts of of the different materials which enter into their com-
yegetable?-position is manifest. Part of the hydrogen combines
‘“—’■''■“—’'with the oxygen, and is carried off in the state of
water, part escapes in the state of gas combined witu
a portion of carbon, and another portion of hydrogen
unites with the azote of those plants which contain it,
and forms ammonia. A fourth part remains behind,
and communicates odour and colour to the residuary
mass. The carbon combines partly with the disengaged
hydrogen, partly with the oxygen, forming carbonic
acid, and part remains behind. 1 he oxygen is divided
between the hydrogen and carbon, forming compounds
of which these elements are the base.
Sect. III. Of the Component parts of Vegetables.
1. Having in the two former sections given a short
view of the functions and spontaneous decomposition
of plants, we are now to consider the nature and
properties of those substances which enter into their
    composition. Some of these substances are obtained
by different from plants, while they continue to exhibit the phe-
nomena of vegetation j such are saccharine matters
obtained from the sap, which is extracted by wound¬
ing the bark and wood, without much seeming injury
to the health and growth of the plant j and such too
are gummy and resinous matters, which many plants
throw off by spontaneous exudation $ and which, so far
from being injurious, is perhaps necessary in some de¬
gree to vegetation ; but, in general, the substances form¬
ed during the process of vegetation, or which are con¬
stituent parts of vegetable matters, can only be obtained
by the destruction of the vegetable itself. rIhese are
procured by different processes, which we shall shortly
describe, in treating of the nature and properties of
each individual substance.
2. The component parts of vegetables, so far as they
tionofsub- have been examined, and sufficiently characterized by
stances. distinct properties, may be enumerated under the fol¬
lowing heads: ,
1. Gum,
2. Sugar,
3- Jelly,
4. Acids,
5. Starch,
6. Albumen,
7. Gluten,
8. Extractive matter,
9. Colouring ditto,
10. Bitter ditto,
11. Narcotic ditto,
12. Oils,
13. Wax,
14. Camphor,
15. Caoutchouc,
16. Resins,
17. Gum-resins,
18. Wood,
19. Tan,
20. Sober,
21. Alkalies,
22. Earths,
23. Metals.
S300
Enumera-
Component
I. Of Gum. Parts of
tables. I
1. Gum exudes from many trees during the process'
of vegetation, in the form of a viscid, tiansparent,. in- Extraction
sipid fluid. The finer kind of gum is obtained chiefly and proper,
from the mimosa nilotica, a plant which is very common ties,
in many parts of Africa. This gum is usually distin¬
guished by the name oigum arabic. After it separates
from the tree, the watery part evaporates, and the gum
remains behind. It has then some degree of hardness,
and is so brittle that it may be reduced to fine powder.
It retains its transparency, is generally of a yellow co¬
lour *, but, when pure, it is entirely colourless. . It has
neither taste nor smell. The specific gravity is from
1.316 to 1.481. .
2. Gum is not changed by exposure to the air, but Action of
it is deprived of its colour by the action of the sun’s light.
When it is exposed to heat, it becomes soft, swells up,
gives out air-bubbles, blackens, and is reduced to char¬
coal. During the change it gives out very little flame,
and is greatly enlarged in volume. It readily dissolves
in water. The solution is thick and adhesive, and well
known as a paste, under the name of mucilage. This
solution is little disposed to decomposition. By evapo¬
ration the whole of the gum may be obtained un¬
changed. 2303
3. Gum is soluble in the vegetable, acids without de-Of acids,
composition. Sulphuric acid decomposes it, and con¬
verts it into water, acetic acid, and charcoal. With
the assistance of heat, muriatic acid produces a simi¬
lar effect. Oxymuriatic acid converts it into citric
acid.
Gum is soluble in nitric acid with the assistance of
heat. Nitrous gas is emitted during the solution, and,
when it cools, saclactic acid is deposited. Malic acid
appears at the same time ; and, by continuing the heat,
the gum is at last converted into oxalic acid. . Four
hundred and eighty grains of gum, digested with six
ounces of nitric acid, afforded Mr Cruickshank 210
grains of oxalic acid, and six grains of oxalate of lime. 3^04
4. By puring alcohol into a mucilaginous solution, Alcohol
the gum is precipitated, so that it is insoluble in this
liquid. It is also insoluble in ether. # 3305
5. Mr Cruickshank distilled 480 grains of gum arabic Distilla-
by exposing it to a red heat 111 a glass retort, and ob-tion-
tained the following products :
Acetic acid mixed with some oil 210 grs.
Carbonated hydrogen and carbonic acid gases 164
Charcoal - " 9^
Lime and a little phosphate of lime - 20
480
a3c5
Thus the constituent parts of gum are, oxygen, by-Constiu-’
drogen, carbon, azote, and lime.
6. Besides gum arabic, the properties of which we
have now described, there are different species^of gum
obtained from different plants, which, however, in their plants,
general properties resemble gum arabic. In some in¬
deed they seem to be different, but these differences have
not been distinctly ascertained. Gum tragacanth, the
produce of the astragalus tragacantha, which is in the
form of vermicular masses, is less transparent than gum
arabic, less soluble in water, and more adhesive $ but
yields
1
j3o8
lucilage
dsts in
isny
lants.
'ses.
C H E M
:omi»nent yields by distillation similar products. Gum obtained
Parts of from the cherry and plum tree, is of a brownish
egetables. co]our> softer and more soluble in water, but seems
' otherwise to possess nearly the same properties as gum
arable.
7. Gum in the state of mucilage exists in a great num¬
ber of plants, and especially in the roots and leaves.
It seems to be most abundant in bulbous roots, as those
of the hyacinth, which contain such a quantity that
they may be advantageously employed in place of gum
arabic. It is obtained also in considerable quantity
from many of the lichens, and most of the fuci. Mu¬
cilage is found in greatest proportion in young plants,
but this proportion diminishes with the age of the plant.
It is a principal constituent in the leaves and roots of
esculent vegetables.
8. In the state of mucilage, gum constitutes a nutri¬
tious aliment. On account of its adhesive properties
it is employed as a paste, and by the calico-printers to
mix with their colours to give them consistency. It is
well known as a component part of ink, to prevent
the precipitation of its more insoluble ingredients,
and it forms a very valuable article in the Materia
Medica.
II. Of Sugar.
ajio
1 all parts I. Sugar exists in every part of plants. It is found
plant'. Jn the roots, as those of the carrot and beet root 5 in
the stems, as in the birch, the maple, some palms, and
especially the sugar-cane ; in the leaves, as those of the
j.jj ash; in the flowers, the fruits, and seeds,
igar-cane. 2. But the sugar which now forms a very extensive
article of commerce, and may be considered as a neces¬
sary of life, is entirely obtained from the juice of
the sugar-cane, which is chiefly cultivated in the
East and West Indies, for the purpose of extracting
the sugar. When the plants have arrived at their
ajia ^ gro'vth> which in the West Indies is in the course
anufae- of 12 or 14 months, they are cut down and bruised
e, by means of machinery ; the juice which is collect¬
ed is conveyed to iron boilers, where it is boiled,
with the addition of a small quantity of quicklime, and
the impurities which rise to the surface are scummed
off. The boiling is continued till it acquires the con¬
sistence of syrup, after which it is put into shallow ves¬
sels, where it is allowed to cool and granulate. In ge¬
neral, it is afterwards put into hogsheads, in which it is
imported to Europe, the bottoms of which are perfo¬
rated, that the molasses with which the sugar is mixed
may be allowed to drain off. Sometimes it is put into
conical earthen vessels, open at both ends, the base of
which is covered with moist clay, so that the water
{litres through the sugar, and carries with it a greater
quantity of the molasses and other impurities. Ihe su¬
gar thus treated, is called clayed sugar. It is not dif¬
ferent from the former, but in being somewhat purer.
The addition of quicklime in the boiling is supposed to
take up some vegetable acids which prevent the granu-
2313 lation of the sugar.
w. 3. In this state the sugar is known in commerce by
the name of raw Muscovado sugar. It is still farther
purified by dissolving it in water, and boiling, when
the impurities which rise to the surface are again re¬
moved ; a quantity of lime is also added, and it is clari¬
fied with blood. When boiled down to a proper con-
I S T R Y. 719
sistency, it is put into unglazed earthen vessels of a Component
conical shape, and inverted to allow the water from farts of
the moist clay with which the base of the cone is cover- ^egetabks.
ed, to pass through the sugar, and carry off its impuri¬
ties. It is still farther purified by again dissolving it in
water, and subjecting it to a similar process. Accord¬
ing to the number of processes to which it has been
subjected, it is called single or double refined su-
Sar* . . . . . . 23H
4. Sugar in this state is of a white colour ; it is well Proper lies,
known for its sweet taste ; it hasmo smell. It has some
degree of transparency when it is crystallized. It is con¬
siderably hard ; but it is brittle, and may be easily re¬
duced to powder. It is phosphorescent in the dark.
When the solution of sugar in water is concentrated,
it crystallizes in the form of six-sided prisms, terminated
by two-sided summits. The specific gravity of sugar
is 1.4045. _ _ 2315
5. When sugar is exposed to heat, it melts, swells up, Action of
becomes of a dark brown or black colour, emits air^ieat*
bubbles with a peculiar smell, which has been called ca-
romel. If a red heat be applied, it suddenly bursts into
flames, with a kind of explosion.
6. Neither oxygen nor azote have any action on su¬
gar. It is not altered by exposure to the air. If the
air be moist, it absorbs a little water. There is no ac- 2]i6
tion between hydrogen and sugar. It is very soluble in Water.
water; at so low a temperature as 48° water dissolves
its own weight of sugar. This power increases with
the temperature of the water. When water is saturated
with sugar, it is called syrup, which by concentration
and rest affords crystals. 231J
7. Sugar is soluble in many of the acids. It is de-Acids,
composed by sulphuric acid ; when heat is applied,
the acid itself is decomposed, and converted into sul¬
phurous acid ; and a great quantity of charcoal is de¬
posited.
Nitric acid acts on sugar with considerable violence;
an effervescence is produced, nitrous gas is emitted ; and
the sugar is converted into oxalic and malic acids.
Muriatic acid gas is slowly absorbed by sugar, which
becomes of a brown colour, and acquires a very strong
smell. Sugar is instantly dissolved when it is thrown
in the state of powder into liquid oxymuriatic acid ; it
is converted into malic acid, while the oxymuriatic acid
is deprived of its oxygen, and reduced to the state of
muriatic acid. Alcohol readily dissolves sugar. One
part of sugar is soluble in four of boiling alcohol.
Sugar also combines with the oi'.s, and by this means
they may be mixed with water.
8. The fixed alkalies combine with sugar, and de-Alkalies,
prive it of its sweet taste ; but by adding sulphuric acid,,
and precipitating the sulphate which is formed by means
of alcohol, the taste is restored. Some of the earths,
as lime, combine with sugar, and form similar com-
pounds. 3319
9. The sulphurets, hydro-sulphurets, and phosphu-Sulpmuets^
rets of the alkalies and some of the earths, decompose &c.
sugar, and reduce it to a state somewhat similar to gum».
Mr Cruickshank dissolved a quantity of sugar in alco¬
hol, and added to it phosphuret of lime. After expos¬
ing the mixture to the open air for some days, it was,
evaporated, and water was added. There was no evo¬
lution of gas, and the phosphuret was found converted
into a phosphate, By filtering the liquid, and By eva¬
poration.
/
720
Vegetables.
Component poration, a tenacious substance, resembling gum, re-
Parts of mained behind.
10. By distilling sugar in a retort, the first part of
the product is water, nearly in a state of purity. Ace¬
tic acid with a little oil next comes over, and afterward
empyreumatic oil. A bulky carbonaceous matter, which
sometimes contains a little lime, remains behind. Mr
Cruickshank obtained by the distillation of 480 grains
of pure sugar, by means of a red-heat,
CHEMISTRY.
is also advantageously applied to a similar purpose ill Component
the preservation of animal substances.
Acetic acid and oil
Charcoal
Carbonated hydrogen and carbonic acid gases
270 grs.
120
90
480
Constituent Sugar, therefore, is composed of o%gen, carbon,
parts. and hydrogen. The proportions of its constituent parts,
according to Lavoisier, are the following:
Oxygen 64
Carbon 28
Hydrogen 8
100
tjzt
Mapio II. Sugar is also obtained from the juice of the ma-
sugar. pie tree in North America. The juice is extracted
from the tree during the ascent of the sap in the spring
season. A single tree, it is said, yields from 20 to 30
gallons of sap, from which are obtained five or six libs,
of sugar. It is manufactured in the same way as the
%*22 juice of the sugar cane.
Beet root, It has lately been proposed to extract sugar from the
root of the beet j and the attempt has been made, even
in the large way, by Achard of Berlin. The pro¬
cess which he followed is to boil the roots, cut them
' into slices, and extract the juice by pressure. The
roots are again put into water for 12 hours, and again
subjected to the press. The liquids thus obtained are
filtered through flannel, boiled down to 3, and filtered
a second time. The remaining liquid is reduced by
boiling to I of the original quantity, and again filter¬
ed. It is then evaporated to the consistence of syrup.
The crust which forms on the surface must be broken
from time to time, and the spontaneous evaporation
allowed to continue till the surface is covered with a
viscid pellicle, instead of the crystals which first form
on it. The whole mass is then introduced into woollen
bags, and the muqilage is separated by pressure. This
sugar, which in many respects possesses the properties
of common sugar, is contaminated with some matter,
which communicates a bitter nauseous taste. Many
other plants also contain sugar, either in the roots, the
sap, or the seeds. It exists in wheat, barley, beans,
pease, and other leguminous seeds, especially when they
are young, in considerable quantity.
Uses; • I?- The uses of sugar are so familiar, that it is
scarcely necessary to enumerate them. In most coun¬
tries where it can he obtained, it may be considered in
some measure as a necessary of life. It contains a great
proportion of nutritious matter. It is not changed by
the action of the air, so that it may be preserved for
any length of time. It is employed to preserve other
vegetable matters from putrefaction, and sometimes it
3
III. Of Jelly.
Parts of
V cgetables,
3324
1. Jelly is a soft tremulous substance which is ob-Prepara-
tained from the juice of different fruits, especially fromfi°n>
currants and bramble berries. The juice is extracted
by expression, and when it is allowed to remain at
rest, it coagulates. It is still mixed with a portion of
aqueous liquid j but this being poured oft’, and the
coagulated part washed with water, the jelly remains
nearly pure. _ z.^5
2. It is sometimes perfectly colourless, but frequent-Properties,
ly tinged with the colouring matter of the fruit. It is
of a soft, tremulous consistence, and has an agreeable
slightly acid taste. It dissolves readily in hot water,
and again coagulates on cooling. In cold water it is
nearly insoluble. It is deprived of the property of
coagulating by boiling, and then it is similar to muci¬
laginous matter. a;ag
3. By coagulating the juices of the fruits which Resembles
yield jelly, separating the liquid parts by filtration, gum,
afterwards washing the coagulum with cold water, and
by allowing the mass to dry, it is found diminished in
bulk, and is transparent and brittle, having many of
the properties of gum $ so that it has been supposed
that jelly is this latter substance in combination with
some vegetable acid.
4. Jelly is converted into oxalic acid by means of Action of
nitric acid. It combines readily with the alkalies j nitric acltU
and when it is distilled, it yields a considerable portion
of acetic acid mixed with oil, but no perceptible
quantity of ammonia. Jelly is found in all the acid
fruits, as in gooseberries, oranges, and lemons.
IV. Of Acids.
1. The acids which exist in many vegetables are at
once recognized by their taste. These acids were for¬
merly denominated essential salts of vegetables, and it
was supposed, that all essential salts were the same, and
were composed of tartar, or vinegar. But Scheele’s
discovery of the citric, malic, and gallic acids, which
possessing distinct properties from those of tartaric and
acetic acids, proved the contrary. Some vegetables
contain only one acid, as oranges and lemons, which
contain citric acid only. In other vegetables two
acids are found, as in gooseberries and currants, the
malic and citric acids; and sometimes three, as the
tartaric, citric, and malic acids, which exist together
in the pulp of the tamarind. As the acids which exist
in vegetables have been already described, with the
method of preparing them, it is now only necessary
to enumerate the vegetable acids, specifying at the
same time some of the plants from which they are ob¬
tained.
2. Acetic acid has been discovered in the sap of
some trees, and in the acid juice of cicer arietinum.
In the latter it is mixed with oxalic and malic acids.
Acetic acid was detected by Scheele in the sambucus
nigra or elder.
3. Oxalic acid exists in combination with potash, in
the leaves of the oxalis acetosella or wood-sorrel. In
other
*3*3
Easily
known.
*3*;
Acetic.
*330
Oxalic.
C H E M
Component other species belonging to the same genus, and in some
Parts of species of rumex, it is in the state of acidulous oxalate
Vegetables,of potas[j. Oxalate of lime has been found in the root
of rhubarb.
4. The following vegetable substances contain tar¬
taric acid ; in which, however, it is combined with
potash, m the state of acidulous tartrate of potash.
In this state it is found in the pulp of the tamarind,
the juice of grapes, of mulberries, of rumex acetosa
or sorrel, of rheum raponticimi or rhubarb, and of
agave americana. It is found also in the roots of triti-
cum repens or couch-grass, and in leontodon taraxa¬
cum, or dandelion.
5. Citric acid is found in the juice of oranges and
lemons, in the berries of two species of vaccinium, the
oxycoccos or cranberry, and the vitis ideea or red
whortleberry, the prunus padus or bird-cherry, sola-
num dulcamara, bitter-sweet or nightshade, rosa ca-
nina, or wild rose.
6. Malic acid exists unmixed with other acids, in the
apple, the barberry, plum, sloe, elder, rowan, or fruit
of the mountain ash.
In the gooseberry, in the cherry, strawberry, cur¬
rants, and some other fruits, malic and citric acids are
found nearly in equal proportions.
Malic acid has been found mixed with tartaric acid
in the agave americana, and in the pulp of tamarinds,
along with citric acid. Vauquelin found it combined
with lime, forming a malate of lime, in the sempervi-
vum tectorum or house-leek j in three species of sedum
or stone-crop, namely the album, acre, and telephium ;
in different species of crassula and mesembryanthe-
mum, and in arum maculatum.
7. Gallic acid is found in a great number of plants,
and in them it exists chiefly in the bark. The follow¬
ing are the relative proportions of the quantity of gallic
acid in different plants, as they have been ascertained
by Mr Biggin.
721
2332
Jitric.
2333
lalic.
2334
aliic.
Nichol.
w. iii.
Elm
Oak cut in winter
Horse-chesnut
Beech
Willow boughs
Elder
Plum-tree
Willow trunk
Sycamore
Birch
Cherry-tree
Sallow 8
Mountain ash 8
Poplar 8
Hazel 9
Ash 10
Spanish chesnut 10
Smooth oak 10
Oak cut in spring 10
Huntingdon or Lei¬
cester willow 10
Sumac 14
2331s
assic
d phos-
onc.
8. Benzoic acid is found in benzoin, balsam of Tolu
and Peru, liquid styrax, cinnamon, and vanilla. Four-
iizoic. croy and Vauquelin suspect that it exists in the antho-
xanlhum odoratum, or sweet-scented grass, which com¬
municates the aromatic flavour to hay.
9. Prussic acid has been found in the leaves of the
laurocerasus and peach, in bitter almonds, in the ker¬
nels of apricots ; and it is supposed that it exists al¬
so in the kernels of peaches, of plums, and cherries.
It is obtained from the kernels of apricots by distilling
water off them with a moderate heat ; and if lime be
added to the concentrated infusion of bitter almonds, a
prussiate of lime is formed.
10. Phosphoric acid has been found in different parts
of plants ; but it is generally combined with lime, form-
Vol. V. Part II. f
I S T R Y.
ing a phosphate of lime. This salt exists in the leaves Component
of many trees, in the aconitum napellus or monks-hood, Parts of
and in all kinds of grain. Vegetables.
2337
Some acids belonging to the vegetable kingdom, in ad-
dition to those enumerated in our chapter on acids, are ]sj-ew acids,
now taken into the list. Such are the kinic acid, ob¬
tained from cinchona j the meconic acid, obtained from
opium, in which it exists combined with a newly dis¬
covered alkali, morphine or morphium; moric acid,
which exists in combination with lime in the bark of the
morus alba; the sorbic acid, obtained from the pyrus
(formerly called Barbus') aucupariq,
V. Of Starch.
1. If a paste be formed of wheat flour and water, prepara-
and this be washed with additional quantities of water, tion.
till it is no longer turbid, but comes oil pure and co¬
lourless, the mass which remains becomes tenacious and
ductile. This is called gluten, which will be afterwards
described. If the water with which the paste was
washed be allowed to remain at rest, it deposits a white
powder, which is distinguished by the name offecula
or starch.
2. Starch is of a fine white colour, and is usually in Properties
the state of concrete columnar masses. It has no per¬
ceptible smell, and scarcely any taste. It is little al¬
tered by exposure to the air; when it is exposed to Action of
heat on a hot iron, it melts, swells up, becomes black, heat,
and burns with a bright flame. The charcoal which
remains, contains a little potash. When it is distilled,
it gives out water mixed with acetic acid, which is con¬
taminated with oil. It gives out also carbonic acid
and carbonated hydrogen gas.
3. Starch is not soluble in cold, but forms a thick
paste with boiling water, and when this paste is allow¬
ed to cool, it becomes semitransparent and gelatinous;
it is brittle when dry, somewhat resembling gum. If
this paste be exposed to moist air, it is decomposed,
for it acquires an acrid taste.
4. Sulphuric acid dissolves starch slowly ; sulphurous of
acid is disengaged, and a great quantity of charcoal is
formed.
Muriatic acid also dissolves starch, and the solution
resembles mucilage of gum arabic. When left at rest,
a thick, oily, mucilaginous liquid appears above, and
a transparent straw-coloured fluid below. The odour
of muriatic acid remains ; but when water is added, it
is destroyed, and a strong peculiar smell is emitted.
Starch is also soluble in nitric acid, with the evolu¬
tion of nitrous gas. The solution assumes a green
colour, and when heat is applied, the starch is con¬
verted into oxalic and malic acids. Some part of the
starch, however, is insoluble in nitric acid, and when
this is separated by filtration, and washed with water,
it has a thick oily appearance like tallow, is soluble
in alcohol, and when distilled, yields acetic acid, and
an oily matter similar to tallow in colour and consist¬
ence.
5. Starch is insoluble in alcohol, but is soluble in ComposL
the alkalies j in pure potash it swells up, becomes trans- tion,
parent and gelatinous, and is then susceptible of solu¬
tion in alcohol. The component parts of starch, as ap¬
pears by distilling it, and by the action of re-agents,
are oxygen, hydrogen, and carbon.
6. Starch exists in a great number of vegetable sub-
4 Y ‘ stances,
722
Component
Parts of
Vegetables.
Found in
roots and
seeds.
2344
Potato.
2345
S a loop.
2347
Cassava.
234S
Lichen.
C H E M
stances, but chiefly in the roots and seeds, and particu¬
larly those which are employed as food.
Starch, it is well known, may be obtained from the
potato. If the potato be grated down and washed with
v/ater till it comes off pure and colourless, this Water
being left at rest, deposits a fine white powder, which
assumes something of a crystallized appearance, and is
heavier than wheat starch.
Sago, which is well known on account of its nutri¬
tious qualities, is obtained from the pith of different
species of palms which grow within the tropics. The
stem is cut into pieces, which are split into two ; the
pith is washed out with cold water, which being left
at rest deposits the starch. The water is poured off,
and before the remaining mass is fully dried, it is for¬
ced through a perforated vessed, and granulated, in
which state it is brought to Europe.
Saloup, which is chiefly composed of starch, is pre¬
pared from the roots of different species of orchis. It
is mostly imported from Persia.
Cassava, or cassada, is a kind of bread chiefly com¬
posed of starch, which is much used as an article of
food in the West Indies. It is prepared from the
roots of the jatropha manihot. The roots are well
Avashed,.grated down, and put into bags, which are
subjected to strong pressure. By this process the
whole of the juice is separated. This juice, or some¬
thing at least which it holds in solution, when taken
internally, is a deadly poison to most animals. The
matter remaining in a bag is dried and sifted, and
without any other addition, when it is spread thin on
a hot stone, it forms a cake, which is the cassada
bread, found to be of a very nutritious quality, in
consequence of the great proportion of starch which it
contains.
Some species of the tribe of lichen contain a consi¬
derable proportion of starch, as the lichen rangiferinus,
or rein-deer lichen, which affords food to the rein-deer,
and the lichen islandicus, which is formed into bread
by the Icelanders, and is found to be extremely nutri¬
tious. The latter has lately been recommended as
a remedy in consumption ; but it probably possesses no
other virtue in the cure of that fatal disease, than af¬
fording a great proportion of nutritious matter in small
bulk.
VI. Of Albumen.
1. The existence of albumen in vegetable substances
had begun to be doubted by chemists, till it was late¬
ly discovered, by Vauquelin, in the juice of the carica
papaya, or papaiu-tree, which grows in different coun¬
tries within the torrid zone. The juice which exudes
from this tree was brought home in the liquid state,
mixed with an equal quantity of rum, and another
portion of the juice was in the state of extract. The
first was of a reddish brown colour, was semitranspa¬
rent, and had the odour and taste of boiled beef. The
second was of a yellowish white colour, semitranspa¬
rent, and of a sweetish taste $ had no perceptible smell,
but was of a firm consistence, and in the form of small
irregular masses. When the dried portion was mace¬
rated in cold water, it was almost entirely dissolved.
When nitric acid was added, a copious white precipi¬
tate was formed. This was the albumen in the state
of white flakes. Wfien the extract of this juice was
subjected to distillation, it yielded carbonate of ammo-
2
I S T R Y.
nia, a thick, fetid, reddish coloured oil, carbonic acid, Component ;
and carbonated hydrogen gases, and there remained be- /aits of
hind a light carbonaceous matter 5 which, being burnt,^e^etal)!es'
left a quantity of white ashes, consisting almost entire-
ly of phosphate of lime. 2240
2. From other experiments to which this matter was Resembles
subjected by the same chemist, from its solution in wa-animal al¬
ter, its coagulation hy means of heat, its action withbumen-
the acids, the alkalies, metallic solutions, the infusion
of nut-galls, and alcohol, he concludes, tliat it is pre- * Ann. de
cisely of the same nature with animal albumen *. C/um. xlui,
J p. 270.
and xlix.
VII. Of Gluten. p. 304.
2350
1. When a paste is formed with flour and water, and ^repara-
washed with more water till it passes off pure and co-110'1*
lourless, a tenacious, ductile, soft, elastic mass, remains
behind, which is gluten. 2:5SI
2. This substance is a gray colour, extremely due-Properties
tile and tenacious, and possesses considerable elastici¬
ty. It has a peculiar smell, but no perceptible taste.
When it is suddenly dried, it increases much in vo¬
lume, and, when it is exposed to heat, it cracks, swells,
blackens, and burns like horn, exhaling a fetid odour.
When it is distilled, it yields water impregnated with
ammonia, and an empyrenmatic oil: charcoal remains
behind. When moist gluten is exposed to the air, it
gradually dries, becomes hard, brittle, slightly trans¬
parent, and of a brownish colour, having some resem¬
blance to glue. When it is broken, it resembles the
fracture of glass. It is insoluble in water, but retains
a portion of it, which it absorbs, and to which the elas¬
ticity and tenacity are owing. It is deprived of these
properties by boiling.
3. When it is kept moist, it ferments with the evo-Fermenuj
lution of hydrogen and carbonic acid gases. An of¬
fensive putrid odour is given out at the same time.
The gluten afterwards, if the process be allowed to go
on, exhales the smell, and acquires the taste of cheese.
In this state it is found to contain ammonia and acetic
acid. _ . . ... 2353 '
4. Gluten is soluble in all the acids. It is precipi-Action of:
tated from this solution by all the alkalies, and is then acids,
nearly in the state of extractive matter, being deprived
of its elasticity. It is decomposed by concentrated sul¬
phuric acid ; hydrogen gas is emitted, and water, char¬
coal, and ammonia are formed. It is also decomposed
by nitric acid ; azotic gas is emitted, and if the heat
he continued, a portion of oxalic acid is formed. Yel¬
low coloured oily flakes are precipitated. After gluten
is fermented, it is soluble in acetic acid, and this solu¬
tion may be employed as a varnish.
5. Gluten is insoluble in alcohol and in ether 5 but OfalcoM
if fermented gluten be triturated with a little alcohol, on fer-
and afterwards mixed with a quantity of the same liquid,mentecl
part of it is dissolved and forms a varnish, which mays
be employed either for paper or wood, for cementing
china, or for mixing with vegetable colours that are
used as paints. Pieces of linen dipped in this varnish,
adhere strongly to other bodies, and if lime be added
to the solution, it constitutes a good lute. 2355
6. With the assistance of heat gluten is soluble in Of alkali
the alkalies j and when they are much concentrated it
is decomposed, and formed into a kind of soap, consist¬
ing of oil and ammonia.
7. It appears from the distillation of gluten, and
from
4356
rompasi-
’ lion.
2357
11 wheat.
2353
'.eaves.
C H E M I
Component fron'1 its spontaneous decomposition, that it consists of
Parts of oxygen, hydrogen, carbon, and azote. The vapour
Vegetables.which is evolved during the fermentation of gluten
blackens silver, from which it is inferred that sulphur
is one of its constituent parts. From the properties
and composition of gluten, the resemblance between
this suostance and animal matter is sufficiently obvi¬
ous.
8. Gluten exists in greatest abundance in wheat
flour, but it is found in a great number of plants, and
in different parts of vegetables. It exists in consider¬
able proportion in the juice of the leaves of many
plants, as those of the cabbage, cresses, &c. When
this juice is procured by expression, filtered through a
cloth, and allowed to remain at rest, it deposits in the
course of some days a greenish powder, which has been
called the green fecula of plants. This fecula is chief¬
ly composed of gluten mixed with a resinous matter,
which gives it its colour, and a portion of woody fibre.
If this juice be exposed to the temperature of about
1309, the fecula coagulates in the form of large flakes,
ltd ries when separated from the water, and assumes
the appearance of horn. When it is treated like glu¬
ten, it also acquires the smell and taste of cheese.
Gluten has been found in acorns, chesnuts, and horse-
chesnuts, in barley, rye, pease, and beans ; in apples
and quinces ; in the leaves of seclum of different spe¬
cies, hemlock, borrage, saffron ; in the petals of the
rose, in the berries of the elder, and in the grape.
None was detected in the potato by Proust, although
he found it in several other roots.
A substance which resembles the fibrina of the
blood, was found by Vauquelin in the juice of the pa-
paw-tree. When this juice is mixed with water, part
is dissolved, and part remains insoluble. The latter
has a greasy appearance, becomes soft in the air, viscid,
brown, and semitransparent. It melted when thrown
on burning coals, while drops of grease exuded. It
was entirely consumed, without leaving any residuum.
But according to some, this substance is exactly similar
to gluten, and therefore, is not to be considered as one
of the constituents of vegetable matter.
9. Gluten is one of the most important of the com¬
ponent parts of vegetable substances. It is one of the
chief ingredients in wheat, and to this it is owing that
wheat flour is fit for beins: formed into bread.
S T R Y.
1-
2359
1 seeds
nd fruits.
2360
ses.
2361
iepara-
on.
2362
‘‘operties.
VIII. Of Extractive Matter.
1. The word extract was formerly employed to sig¬
nify the inspissated juices of vegetables, but of late it
has been limited to a peculiar principle possessed of dis¬
tinct properties. If saffron be infused in water for
some time, and if the infusion be filtered and evapo¬
rated to dryness, the residuum is that substance to
which the name of extractive principle is given.
2. The following properties of extract were ascer¬
tained by Vauquelin. 1. All extracts have an acid
taste. 2. If a few drops of ammonia be added to a so¬
lution of extract, a brown precipitate is formed, which
consists of lime, and part of the extract becomes in¬
soluble. 3. Sulphuric acid disengages a penetrating
acid vapour, which is found to be acetic acid. 4. V hen
quicklime is added to a solution of extractive matter,
ammonia is disengaged. A solution of sulphate ol
alumina without excess of acid, being poured into a so-Component
lotion of extractive matter, and boiled, there is formed Parts of
in the liquid a flaky precipitate which is composed of Vegetables,
alumina and vegetable matter, and rendered insoluble' v
in water. 6. Almost all metallic solutions produce
a similar effect. With muriate of tin an insoluble
brown precipitate is formed, which is composed of the
oxide of tin and vegetable matter. 7. Oxymuriatic
acid poured into a solution of extractive matter, forms
a copious, dark yellow precipitate. Muriatic acid re¬
mains in the solution. 8. If wool, cotton, or thread,
be impregnated with alum, and boiled with a so¬
lution of extractive matter, these substances become
charged with a great quantity of the extractive sub¬
stance, they assume a fawn-brown tint, and the solu¬
tion loses a great deal of its colour. The same effect
is produced by immersing the substances to be dyed in
a solution of muriate of tin. The effect is still better, if
oxymuriatic acid be employed instead of alum, or the
solution of muriate of tin. 9. When extractive matter
is distilled in an open fire, it yields an acid liquid,
which contains a greater portion of ammonia than when
it is distilled in the humid way with lime or alka¬
li. 10. When extractive matter is dissolvefl in water,
and is left exposed to the open air, it is completely de¬
composed. The carbonates of potash, of ammonia, and
of lime, and some other mineral salts which previously
existed in the extractive matter, and are indestructible
by putrid fermentation, remain behind.
3. It appears that extractive matter is found in Exists in
greater proportion in old plants. It is found in dif-old plants,
ferent parts of the plant. It frequently forms one of
the constituents of the sap. It is this extractive mat¬
ter which precipitates during the evaporation of the
sap, or when oxymuriatic acid is added to it.
Extractive matter has been found in the bark ofintiieT
many trees, and it is supposed that it exists in all barks bark,
which possess an astringent property. It has been found
in the bark of the common willow, the Leicester willow,
the oak, and the elm.
Extractive matter has been obtained from the in- catcck\i.
fusion of catechu, in which it is united with tan. If
the powder of catechu be repeatedly washed with wa¬
ter, the liquid which passes off no longer precipitates
gelatine. The residuum is extractive matter, of a red¬
dish-brown colour, has no smell, but a slightly astrin¬
gent taste. The solution in water is at first yellow¬
ish-brown, but acquires a red colour by exposure to
the air. Many of the metallic salts form a precipi¬
tate with the solution of this matter. Linen boiled in
it almost extracts the whole, and becomes of a light
red brown colour. Extractive matter softens when ex¬
posed to heat; the colour becomes darker, but it does
not melt. WThen it is distilled, it yields carbonic and
carbonated hydrogen gases, acetic acid, and a small
portion of extractive matter unchanged. A light por¬
ous charcoal remains behind.
The infusion of the leaves of senna is of a brown co-^
lour, has a peculiar aromatic odour, and a bitter taste. nna‘
When the air of the atmosphere or oxygen gas is
made to pass through this infusion, a yellow coloured
precipitate is formed. It is produced also by adding
to the solution muriatic or oxymuriatic acid. In this
state the extractive matter has combined with oxygen,
and has assumed a yellow colour, and being no longer
4 Y 2 soluble
724
Component
Parts of
Vegetables.
2367
Peruvian
bark.
CHEMISTRY.
23OS
Exists in
many
plan ts.
£369
Madder.
£170
Caithanxus
as? I
Brazil
wood.
*372
Logwood.
soluble In water, It is precipitated. The taste is slight¬
ly bitter. It is soluble in alcohol, but when water is
added, it is thrown down. It is soluble also in al¬
kalies, and forms with them a deep brown solution.
When placed on burning coals, it gives out a dense
smoke, exhales an aromatic odour, and leaves behind
a spongy mass of charcoal.
Extractive matter is obtained from the infusion of
Peruvian bark, which being united with oxygen, be¬
comes of a fine red colour. It is obtained by boiling
water on it, and by slow evaporation, and then dissolving
what remains in alcohol. By evaporating the alcohol,
the peculiar extractive matter is deposited. The mat¬
ter thus obtained was of a brown colour, of a bitter
taste, soluble in hot water and alcohol, but insoluble
in cold water. It is of a black colour when dry and
brittle. It breaks with a polished fracture. With the
addition of lime-water it was precipitated in the. form
of a fine red powder, which combined with alkalies,
but is insoluble in water and alcohol.
IX. Of Colouring Matter.
1. Colouring matter is extracted from a number of
plants for the purposes of dyeing, as from madder, car-
thamus, Brazil wood, logwood, yellow weed or reseda
luteofa, fustic or yellow wood, anatto, and indigo.
2. The colouring matter of madder or mbia tinc-
torum, is soluble in alcohol. By evaporation it leaves a
residuum of a dark red colour. A violet precipitate
is formed in this solution by a fixed alkali. Sulphu¬
ric acid produces a fawn-coloured precipitate, and sul¬
phate of potash, a beautiful red. Precipitates of dif¬
ferent shades of colour are obtained with alum, nitre,
chalk, acetate of lead, and muriate of tin.
3. Carthamus (tinctorius) contains two colouring
matters, the one yellow and the other red. The first
only is soluble in water, but the solution is turbid. It
becomes transparent with the addition of acids ; with
alkalies it inclines to an orange colour j a fawn-colour¬
ed precipitate is formed, and then the solution becomes
clear. Alum produces a dark yellow precipitate, but
not very copious. A slight tincture is extracted from
the flowers of this plant by means of alcohol, after
the whole of the yellow matter has been dissolved by
water.
4. Brazil wood, orfernambouc, is much employed
in dyeing. A recent decoction of this wood gives a
red precipitate inclining to fawn colour with sulphuric
acid. The liquid in which the solution was made re¬
mains transparent and of a yellow colour. With the
first addition of nitric acid the tincture first passes to a
yellow colour j but with a greater quantity, becomes
of a dark orange yellow and transparent, after having
deposited a matter similar in colour to the former, but
more copious. The same changes take place with the
muriatic acid as with the sulphuric.
3. Logwood or Campeachy wood yields its colouring
matter to water and to alcohol, but more copiously to
the latter. The tincture of logwood, or the solution in
alcohol, is of a beautiful red colour, inclining to violet
or purple. These different shades are more obvious in
the decoction in water. When the aqueous solution is
left to itself, it first becomes yellow, and then changes
to black.. The addition of acids produces a yellow
dolour ; alkalies deepen the colour and restore the pur- Component!
pie or violet. Sulphuric, nitric, and muriatic acids Parts of
throw down a light precipitate which separates slowly. Vegetables
Sulphate of iron communicates a bluish colour some-
what resembling ink. A copious precipitate of a simi¬
lar colour is formed at the same time. 2373
6. Yellow weed, or dyers weed {reseda luteola, Lin.) Yellow
in solution in water yields a yellow colour inclining to vveet^
brown. When it is diluted with a greater quantity of
water, the yellow colour which was more or less bright
changes a little to green. The colour becomes paler
with the addition of acids. It becomes deeper by the
action of alkalies. ^ i
7. Fustic, or yellow wood, (rnorus tinctoria, Lin.) Fustic,
contains a great proportion of colouring matter. A
strong decoction in water is of a dark reddish yellow
colour. When water is added to this solution the co¬
lour becomes orange-yellow. The liquid grows turbid
with the addition of acids. Alkalies render it much
deeper and nearly red. 3375
8. Anatto is in the form of a dry hard paste, exter- Anatto.
nally brown, and internally of a beautiful red colour.
It is prepared from the seeds of the bixa orellana, by
reducing them to powder, mixing them with water,
and allowing them to ferment. Anatto is more solu¬
ble in alcohol than in tvater. With the addition of an
alkali the solution is promoted, and the colour inclines
less to red.
Beside these, a great variety of other vegetable sub¬
stances give out their colouring matter to water or al¬
cohol, and are employed in dyeing. To what has now
been said, however, we shall only add a short account
of one of the most important, namely, indigo. 3376
9. Indigo is a colouring matter which is obtained Indigo,
from several plants, and has some resemblance to fecula
or starch. The indigo of commerce is chiefly obtained
from the indigofera tinctoria, a shrubby plant which is
cultivated in the East and West Indies, for the pur¬
pose of extracting the colouring matter. 3377
10. When the indigo plant has arrived at maturity, Prepara-
it is cut down, and conveyed to large wooden vessels, fi00* *
where.it is covered with water, and soon commences a
fermentation. When tbe plant is cut down at the
period of its maturity, it produces a more beautiful
colour, but in smaller quantity. If it be too late, the
quantity is still diminished, and the indigo is of a
bad quality. The putrefactive process soon com¬
mences, and succeeds best about the temperature of
8©°. The water becomes turbid and of a green co¬
lour. The smell of ammonia, and carbonic acid gas
are evolved. The fermenting process is finished in
the period of from 6 to 24 hours, according to the
temperature and state of the plant. The liquid is
then poured oil'into flat vessels, in which it is constant¬
ly agitated till blue flakes appear. With the addition
of a quantity of lime-water these flakes precipitate to
the bottom. A yellowish liquid is poured oflP, and the
blue precipitate is collected in linen bags, from which
the water drains olf. When the matter in the bag has
acquired sufficient consistence, it is formed into small
cakes, which are slowly dried in the shade. This is
the indigo of commerce.
11. Indigo may be also extracted from the nerium From
tinctorium, or rosebay, a plant which grows in ahun- l^aut9‘
dance in the East Indies^ from the leaves of which Dr
Roxborough
237 s.
*379
’ioni
voad.
2380
Sstory of
ndigo.
C H E M
Component Roxborough extracted it, by the following process.
Parts of He digested the leaves in a copper vessel with water,
/egetables. kept at tiie temperature of i6o°till they assumed a
— y yellowish colour. The liquid becomes of a"deep green j
it is then poured off, and with the addition of lime-
water is agitated till the indigo is precipitated. To
produce one pound of indigo, two or three hundred
pounds weight of green leaves were found necessary •,
but this quantity varies according to the season and
state of weather in which they are collected.
I 2. The isatis tinctoria, or woad* which is a British
plant, also yields indigo, by treating it in the same way
as the indigo plant.
13. The history of indigo is curious. It was early
known in India, but its value as a dye-stuff was not
understood in Europe before the middle of the 16th
century. But what is most singular, the use of this
substance was either restricted or entirely prohibited in
different countries from some prejudice that its effects
in dyeing were injurious. The use of it was prohibit¬
ed in England from the time of Queen Elizabeth till
the reign of Charles II. It was also prohibited in
Saxony. It is described in the edict as a corrosive
substance, and denominated food for the devil! In
France during the administration of Colbert, the dyers
were restricted to the use of a certain quantity. For
some time after, indigo was generally employed as a
dye stuff' in Europe, and was chiefly cultivated in the
♦Vest Indies, and some parts of the American con¬
tinent. This indigo was generally preferred in the
market. What is now cultivated in the East Indies is
found to be equal in quality.
14. Indigo is a light, friable substance, of a compact
texture, and a deep blue colour. The shade varies
from copper, violet, and blue tints. The lightest indi¬
go is the best. It is always contaminated with extra¬
neous matters. Bergman found in the purest indigo
which he could procure, the following component parts :
I S T R Y.
7*5
*381
'roperties,
2382
omposi-
on.
Pure indigo
Gum
Resin
Barytes
Time
Silica
Oxide of iron
47
12
6
10.2
10.0
1.8
13.0
100.0
Other earths have been found in indigo. In some spe-
2383 cimens Proust detected magnesia.
ction of 15. Pure indigo is a soft powder of a deep blue co-
eatl lour, which has neither taste nor smell. When exposed
to heat, it emits a bluish red smoke, and then burns
away with a faint white flame. The earthy part re¬
mains behind in the state ot ashes. It undergoes no
change by exposure to the air. It is insoluble in wa¬
ter, but if kept some time under it, a fetid odour is ex-
2384 haled, owing to some change.
'facids. 16. Diluted sulphuric acid poured upon indigo dis¬
solves only the earthy and mucilaginous matters $ but
if concentrated sulphuric acid be added, in the propor¬
tion of eight parts of acid to one ot indigo, the latter
is dissolved with the evolution of heat, in about 24
hours. The mixture is black and opaque J but it wa¬
ter be added, it becomes clear, and of a fine blue co¬
lour, producing various shades, according to the quan-Component
tity ot water. This solution of indigo in sulphuric acid Parts of
is called liquid blue, or according to Bancroft, sulphatey^getables.
of indigo. v_' 1 *
Bergman made a great number of experiments on Effects'of
the effect of different substances on this solution, somedifl'erent
of which we shall now mention, in which the colour suki4aiffes
was either changed, or entirely destroyed. When it
was dropped into sulphurous acid, the, colour, which
was at first blue, became green, and was at last de- '
stroyed. In diluted tartaric acid the colour became
gradually green, and was at last converted into a pale
yellow. In acetic acid it became green, and was at
last destroyed. In potash, carbonate of potash, soda,
ammonia and its carbonate, the colour became green,
and at last disappeared. In sulphate of soda, the solu¬
tion being diluted, after some time became green. It
also became green in sulphate of iron, and at last dis¬
appeared. In the sulphurets the colour was very soon
destroyed. Black oxide of manganese produced the
same effect. These experiments have been mentioned,
to shew that indigo is deprived either partially or total¬
ly of its colouring matter, by those substances which
have a strong affinity for oxygen. From this it is in¬
ferred that indigo owes its colour to oxygen 3 and that
it becomes green when it is deprived of it. 2^86
Concentrated nitric acid attacks indigo with such Nitric acid,
violence that it sometimes inflames it. By diluting
the acid, the action is greatly moderated. The solution
becomes of a brown colour; crystals appear, which are
supposed to be oxalic acid, and a brown viscid sub¬
stance remains behind.
Muriatic acid dissolves indigo precipitated from sul¬
phuric acid, and forms a liquid of a dark-blue colour.
The other acids, as the phosphoric, acetic, and tartaric,
exhibit similar phenomena. They readily dissolve in¬
digo, which has been precipitated.
Oxymuriatic acid has little action on indigo in sub¬
stance, but it destroys the colour of it in the state of
solution. 2387
17. Neither alcohol, ether, nor oils, have any action Of alcohol,
on indigo. Common indigo, when digested with al¬
cohol and ether, communicates a yellow colour; but
this, it is supposed, is owing to the solution of the resin¬
ous substance.
18. The solution of the fixed alkalies readily dissolves Alkalies,
indigo, when it is precipitated fi’om its solution. The
colour of the solution is at first green, and is at last de¬
stroyed. Liquid ammonia and its carbonate produce a
similar effect, from which it appears, that indigo is de¬
composed by the alkalies.
19. Lime water also dissolves indigo precipitated
from its solution. The colour is at first green, becomes -
gradually yellow; when exposed to the air, the green
returns, and at last disappears.
20. Bergman subjected indigo to the process of dis¬
tillation ; from 576 grains he obtained the following
products:
Carbonic acid gas - - - 19
Yellow acid liquid containing ammonia 173
Oil - - - - 53
Charcoal - - - 331
576
2389
Composi¬
tion.
The
72(S CHEMISTRY.
Component The component parts of indigo, therefore, appear to be
Parts of oxygen, carbon, hydrogen, and azote.
Vegetables.
X. Of Bitter Matter.
In different A great number of vegetable substances are dis-
substances. tinguished by a very bitter taste, such as quassia, a
substance used in medicine, gentian, hops, chamomile.
This taste is ascribed to a peculiar matter, called from
this property bitter matter. It may be obtained by in¬
fusing quassia for some time in water. This solution,
which is of a yellow colour, has an extremely bitter
taste, but no smell. If the water be evaporated with
a moderate heat to dryness, a brownish yellow sub¬
stance, which has some degree of transparency and
ductility, remains behind. After some time it becomes
4391 brittle.
Properties. 2. When this substance, which has a very bitter
taste, and a brown yellowish colour, is heated, it sof¬
tens, swells, and blackens, then burns away without
much flame, and leaves a small quantity of ashes. It
is verv soluble in water and alcohol. Nitrate of silver
renders it turbid, and afterwards produces a yellow
precipitate in the form of flakes. Acetate of lead pro¬
duces a copious white precipitate.
*35*
Found in
different
plants
*393
Extraction
of opium.
*394
Properties.
*395
Separation
of the nar¬
cotic mat¬
ter.
* Ann. de
Chim. xlv.
353.
3396
Of alcohol.
XI. Of Narcotic Matter.
Vi
1. A peculiar substance has been detected in opium,
to which it is supposed the properties it possesses of
producing sleep are owing. On account of this pro¬
perty this substance has received the name of narcotic
matter. It is obtained from the milky juices of some
plants, as those of the poppy, lettuce, and some others.
Opium, which is extracted from the poppy, is prepared
by the following process.
The heads of the pnpaver albvm or white poppy,
which is cultivated in India and different countries of
the east for this purpose, are wounded with a sharp in¬
strument j a milky juice flows out, which concretes, and
is collected and formed into cakes.
2. In this state opium is a tenacious substance, of a
brownish colour, has a peculiar smell, and a disagree¬
able bitter taste. It becomes soft with a moderate
heat. It readily takes fire, and burns rapidly. By
the analysis of opium, it appears to be composed of
the sulphates of lime and of potash, extractive matter,
gluten, mucilage, resinous matter, and an oil, besides
the narcotic matter to which its peculiar properties are
owing.
3. By digesting opium in water part of it is dissolved,
and by evaporating the solution to the consistence of
syrup, a gritty precipitate appears, which becomes
more copious with the addition of water. This preci¬
pitate is composed of resinous and extractive matter,
besides the peculiar narcotic matter which is crystal¬
lized. When alcohol is digested on this precipitate,
the resinous and narcotic matters are dissolved, and
the extractive matter remains behind. As the solution
cools, the narcotic matter crystallizes, hut the crystals
are coloured with a portion of resin. By repeated so¬
lutions and crystallizations it may be obtained tolerably
pure *.
If alcohol be digested on the residuum, it acquires
a deep red colour; the same crystals are deposited on Component
cooling, and may be purified in the same way from the 1'artsof
resinous matter with which they are contaminated. }egetablej
4. The narcotic matter, or, as it is called by De-
rosne, the essential salt of opium, when properly pnri- Properties
fied, is of a white colour, crystallizes in right-angled
prisms, with a rhomboidal base, and has neither taste
nor smell. It is insoluble in cold water, and requires
400 parts of boiling water for its solution, from which
it is precipitated by cooling. The solution does not
redden the tincture of turnsole. It is soluble in 24
parts of boiling alcohol, and requires about 100 parts
when it is cold. When water is added to the solution
in alcohol, it is precipitated in the form of a white
opaque matter. 3398
Ether and the volatile oils dissolve this salt with the^ct*°noM
assistance of heat ; but on cooling it is deposited in theet^ei’^c
form of an oily liquid, and some time after crystals ap¬
pear at the bottom of the vessel.
5. One of the most decided characters of this sub-Of acids,
stance is its easy solubility in all the acids, and with¬
out the aid of heat. It is precipitated from these so¬
lutions by means of an alkali, in the form of white
powder. Pure alkalies increase the power of its solu¬
bility in water ; and the acids, when not added in ex¬
cess, occasion a precipitate. When nitric acid is poured
on the crystals reduced to a coarse powder, it commu¬
nicates to them a red colour, and readily dissolves them.
When the solution is heated and evaporated, it yields
crystals of oxalic acid in considerable quantity. The
residuum has a very bitter taste. a^00
6. When it is thrown on burning coals, it gives out Of heat,
a copious flame. When heated in a spoon, it gradu¬
ally melts like wax. Distilled in a retort with a mo¬
derate heat, it melts, and afterwards swells up, with the
evolution of white vapours, which condense on the
sides of the vessel, in the form of a yellow oily matter.
There passes over, at the same time, a little water im¬
pregnated with carbonate of ammonia. Towards the
end of the process, carbonic acid and carbonated hy¬
drogen gas, with some ammonia, are disengaged. There
remains in the retort a light, spongy, voluminous mass
of charcoal, which, by burning, gives some traces of
potash. The oily matter deposited in the neck of the
retort is very viscid, and has a strong aromatic odour,
with a pungent, acrid taste. ^0i
y. Derosne tried the effects of this substance on ani-Effect onj
mals, and in very small quantity. The symptoms aBiraab'
which appeared, when it was given to dogs, were ex¬
actly similar to those which are produced when a large
quantity of crude opium is swallowed. They were re¬
covered from its effects by means of vinegar, which he
accounts for on the principle of the easy solubility of
this substance in acids.
8. From the effects of heat and of nitric acid on thiscomposi
substance, it appears to be composed of oxygen, hydro-tion.
gen, carbon, and azote. aj0-
9. This narcotic substance is also found in the milky Opium
juice, and in the extracts which are obtained from se-fonndin
veral other plants, as from different species of lactucaQ^tx
or lettuce, hyoscyamus niger or henbane. The leaves P
of some plants also produce similar effects, as those of
the deadly nightshade, foxglove, and conium maculatum
or hemlock.
XII.
CHEMISTRY.
Jompoiient
Parts of XII. Of Oils.
egetables.
2404 . I* ^ie nature> properties, and component parts of
ixed. °^s» liave already been detailed, when treating of in¬
flammable substances. Oils are of two kinds, fixed
and volatile. Fixed oil exists chiefly in the seeds of
plants, as linseed oil, almond oil, and rape-seed oil.
Fixed oil is also found in the pulp of some fruits, as
in that of the olive. Fixed oils are found in those
seeds which have double lobes, or two cotyledons, and
in these they are mixed with a quantity of mucilage.
These oils are extracted from seeds by expression and
,405 boiling.
alatile. 2. Volatile oils are found in all parts of plants ex¬
cepting the seeds. In some plants they exist in the
root, or the stem, and in others in the leaves, the
flower, the pulp and rind of the fruit. The peculiar
odour by which almost all plants are distinguished, is
supposed to be owing to a volatile oil. These oils
are also extracted by expression, and sometimes by
distillation.
. . 727
This compound is known by the name of cerate, which Component
is much employed to form plasters for dressing wounds. Parts of
It is soluble also in some of the volatile oils, as those pf Vegetables,
turpentine, with the assistance of heat. As the solu- v
tion cools, part of the wax is precipitated. 241I
6. Wax combines with the fixed alkalies, and forms Alkalies,
with them substances similar to soap. 2412
7. According to the analysis of Lavoisiei', wax isComposi-
composed of tion.
Carbon 82.28
Hydrogen I7-72
100.00
8. When wax is distilled with a temperature above Butter of
212°, water comes over, some acid, and a little fluidwax*
and odorous oil. The oil in the course of the process
becomes thicker, and at last assumes the consistency of
butter $ and hence it has been called butter of wax.
T-his substance by repeated distillation is converted
into a volatile oil. A coaly matter remains in the re¬
tort.
XIII. Of Wax.
3406
epara- I. Wax, of which bees form their combs for con-
D' taining honey, is collected from vegetables ; and a si¬
milar substance being found in different parts of plants,
it is to be considered as vegetable matter. The var¬
nish with which the upper surface of the leaves of some
trees is covered, possesses the properties of bees wax.
If the bruised leaves are digested in water, and after¬
wards in alcohol, till the soluble part is extracted, and
the residuum be mixed with six times its weight of a
solution of ammonia, and after maceration, the solution
being poured off and filtered, diluted sulphuric acid be
added in excess to saturate the alkali, constantly stirring
it, the varnish precipitates in the form of a yellow pow¬
der. It is then to be washed with water, and melted
2407 with a moderate heat. This substance is wax.
japerties. 2. Pure wax is of a white colour, has no taste, and
scarcely any smell. The aromatic smell of bees wax
is owing to some substance with which it is mixed, for
it is entirely removed by exposure to the air, when the
colour at the same time disappears. Pure wax under¬
goes no change by exposure to the air. The specific
2408 gravity is 0.96. It is insoluble in water.
jtiou of 3. Wax becomes soft by the application of heat.
111 Unbleached wax melts at the temperature of 1420.
When it is pure it requires the temperature of 1550,
and then melts into a colourless transparent fluid. By
increasing the heat, the wax boils and evaporates j with
a red heat the vapour takes fire, and burns with a bright
2409 flame.
lt*s‘ 4. The acids have scarcely any action on wax. It
is bleached by means of oxymuriatic acid, but no other
3410 effect is produced.
:°liol, j. Wax is soluble in boiling alcohol. It requires
20 parts of alcohol to dissolve one of wax, and as the
solution cools, the greater part is precipitated. With
the addition of water the whole is thrown down. With
the assistance of heat ether dissolves wax nearly in the
same proportion, but on cooling it is also precipi¬
tated.
Wrax is soluble in the fixed oils with the aid of heat.
9. Wax is extracted from a number of plants, pos-Obtained
sessing different degrees of consistency, as that from frorii many
the cacao, called the butter of cacao; from the crofo«i)lants*
sebifcra, called the tallow of croton ; and the myrtle wax
extracted from the myrica cerifera, or candle-berry
myrtle of America. The myrtle wax is obtained from
the berries of this plant. They are collected and put
into a kettle, and covered with water to the depth of
half a foot. Heat is applied, and the berries are pres¬
sed against the sides of the vessel. The wax melts, and
swims on the top. It is collected, passed through a
cloth, dried and melted again, and then cast into cakes.
The wax, it appears, exists chiefly in the outer cover¬
ing of the berries. Myrtle wax is of a pale-green co¬
lour; the specific gravity is 1.015. When heated to
the temperature of 109°, it melts ; with a stronger
heat it burns, giving out a white flame with little
smoke ; an agreeable aromatic odour is at the same
time emitted. In its other properties it resembles bees
wax.
Proust has detected wax in the rind of plums,
oranges, and similar fruits, and in the green fecula of
many plants.
XIV. Of Camphor.
1. Camphor is obtained from the laurus camphorata, Extraction,
a species of laurel which grows in China and Japan.
It is extracted by sublimation in an ii’on pot. The Hutch
afterwards purify it by a second sublimation.
2. It is a white, brittle substance, possessing a hot Properties,
acrid taste. The specific gravity is 0.9887. It is not
altered by exposure to the air, but it is so extremely vo¬
latile, that it disappears entirely if left in an open ves¬
sel. It crystallizes by sublimation in close vessels in
the form of hexagonal plates or pyramids. It is inso¬
luble in water, although at the same time it communi¬
cates some of its odour.
3. When a heat about the temperature of 300° is Action of
suddenly applied, it melts, and then is volatilized. It heat,
readily catches fire, and burns with a bright flame, with¬
out leaving any residuum. It even burns on the sur¬
face of water. Wrhen a small quantity of camphor in
a
728
CHEMISTRY.
Component
Carts of
Vegetables.
21-18
Acids.
2^19
Alkalies.
2420
Composi¬
tion.
2421
Oil of cam¬
phor.
242a
Found in
many
plants.
. *-125
History.
a state of inflammation is introduced into a large glass
vessel filled with oxygen gas, it bursts out into a vivid
flame 5 the inside of the vessel is covered with a black
powder, and a great deal of carbonic acid gas is dis¬
engaged. If a little water has been previously put into
the vessel, it is impregnated with carbonic and campho¬
ric acid.
4. Camphor is soluble in the acids, but with the ad¬
dition of water or an alkali, it is precipitated un¬
changed. Camphor in sulphuric acid forms a red solu¬
tion 5 in nitric acid, a yellow solution, which was for¬
merly called oil of camphor. By the repeated distilla¬
tion of nitric acid off camphor, it is converted into cam¬
phoric acid.
Sulphurous acid, muriatic acid, and fluoric acid, in
the state of gas, dissolve camphor. It oxymuriatic
acid gas be made to pass into a solution of camphor in
nitric acid, it is immediately changed to a rose colour,
and instantly afterwards it becomes yellow, which is
permanent during the process. When water is added
to the solutions of camphor in acids, it is separated.
Camphor is also soluble in water impregnated with car¬
bonic acid gas, and in acetic acid. The latter com¬
pound constitutes Henry’s aromatic vinegar.
5. Alcohol readily dissolves camphor, but it is preci¬
pitated with the addition of water. By diluting alco¬
hol which holds camphor in solution with water just so
much as not to precipitate the camphor, the latter cry¬
stallizes in the form of feathers. The fixed and vola¬
tile oils dissolve camphor with the assistance of heat, but
on cooling the camphor is precipitated, and crystal¬
lized, as in the solution with alcohol.
6. Camphor communicates to the alkalies a little of
its colour, but is not otherwise soluble in these bo¬
dies.
7. According to the analysis of Bouillon Lagrange,
by distilling one part of camphor with two of alumina,
formed into a paste with water in a glass retort, the
component parts of camphor are carbon and hydro¬
gen ; the proportion of carbon being much greater
than in oils.
In the course of the distillation, he obtained a vola¬
tile oil, of a golden yellow colour, which floated on the
surface of the water in the receiver. It had an acrid
burning taste, and aromatic odour, similar to that of
thyme or rosemary.
8. Camphor has been detected in many other plants.
It has been extracted from the roots of thyme and
sage, and in these plants it seems to be combined with
volatile oil. If the oil be exposed to a temperature be¬
low 540 in the open air, it evaporates, and the camphor
crystallizes. It may be also obtained by distilling the
oil in a vrater bath, under the temperature of 212°,
till a third part of the oil passes over. Part of the
camphor is found crystallized in the vessel, and by re¬
peating the process, the whole may be extracted from
the oil. By mixing the camphor with a little dry lime,
and subliming it, it may be purified.
XV. Of Caoutchouc.
I. Caoutchouc is a soft elastic substance, chiefly ob¬
tained from the inspissated juice of two trees, the
hcevea caoutchouc and jatropha elastica, which are na¬
tives of South America. This substance was first
brought from America about the beginning of the 18th
3
century. It is called by the inhabitants of Componen i
a province of Quito, heve, and by the natives of the Farts of
province of Mainas, caoutchouc. Vegetable
2. It is extracted by making incisions in the bark of
the tree. A milky juice, flows from it, which is col-Pre^^
lected in proper vessels. The juice is then applied,tion.
one stratum above another, on earthen moulds, and
suffered to dry in the sun, or before a fire. Various
figures are formed on the surfaces of the different
pieces by means of a pointed instrument. They are
then exposed to smoke, and, when perfectly dry, the
moulds are broken. In this state it is brought to Eu¬
rope. It is generally in the shape of bottles, but some¬
times in other forms. 2425
3. When caoutchouc is pure, it is of a whitish co- Properties 1
lour j it is soft and pliable like leather, extremely
elastic, and possesses . great tenacity. The specific
gravity is 0.9335. _ _ _ 2^6
4. When caoutchouc is exposed to heat, it readily Action of
melts into a matter of the consistence of tar. It burnslieat-
with a bright white flame, and diffuses a fetid odour.
5. Sulphuric acid decomposes caoutchouc ; charcoal
is precipitated, and the acid is partially converted into
sulphurous acid. It is also decomposed by nitric acid j
carbonic acid gas, azotic gas, and prussic acid gas, are
disengaged, and oxalic acid is formed. Muriatic acid
has no action upon it; but if oxymuriatic acid is pour¬
ed upon the milky juice, the caoutchouc is immediate¬
ly precipitated, and the acid is converted into muriatic
acid. If a given quantity of air be confined in a vessel
over a quantity of this milky juice, the oxygen of the
air is absorbed, and a pellicle of caoutchouc is formed
on the surface, from which it appears that the forma¬
tion of caoutchouc is owing to the combination of its
base with oxygen. 2,27
6. Caoutchouc is insoluble in alcohol. It is solu-Alcohol-
ble in ether, but it is necessary that the ether be pre¬
viously washed with water. By this treatment it is
formed into syringes, catheters, and other instruments.
It is soluble in the volatile oils, but it remains some¬
what glutinous after the evaporation. A mixture of
volatile oil and alcohol forms a good solvent for caout¬
chouc, and in this state it may be employed as a
varnish for paper or stuffs. A varnish may also be
formed with it by dissolving it in boiling wax. It
is also soluble in rectified petroleum, and when the
solution is evaporated, the caoutchouc remains un¬
changed. 2J2S
7. According to some, caoutchouc is insoluble in the Alkalies-
alkalies *, but, according to others, all of these bodies
are capable of dissolving it. 2429
8. By distillation caoutchouc yields ammonia 5 andComposi-
from this, and its decomposition by means of sulphurict1011,
and nitric acids, its constituent parts mnst be carbon,
hydrogen, azote, and oxygen. %^o
9. Caoutchouc has been detected in different parts Found i'
of many other plants, but it is mixed with resinous, differeni
gummy, and extractive matters. It has been found ve§eta 11
in different species of the misletoe, in opium and
mastic. It has also been extracted from the artocar-
pus integrifolia or bread-fruit tree, the urceola elastic a,
and ficus indica.
XVI. Of Kesins.
243*
1. Resinous bodies form a very nnmerous class ofxatureo
> vegetable
443 »
roperties
2433
ction of
:at.
2434
cids, &c.
*435
Ikalies.
2436
osin.
C H E M
omponent vege^a^|e substances. When volatile oils are exposed
Parts of to the air, they become thick after a shorter or longer
^tables. tjme> and are then found to be converted into a resin.
The oil absorbs oxygen from the air, and is deprived of
part of its carbon, which combining with the oxygen
of the atmosphere, forms carbonic acid. Resinous sub¬
stances, therefore, are generally considered as volatile
oils saturated with oxygen. The general properties of
resinous substances are the following.
2. They are solid, brittle, and commonly of a yellow¬
ish colour, with some degree of transparency. The taste,
resembling volatile oils, is hot and acrid/ They have
no smell. The specific gravity is from 1.0180 to 1.2289.
All resinous bodies are electrics, and when excited by
friction, the electricity is negative 3 hence it is called
resinous electricity.
3. I hey melt by being exposed to heat, and burn
with a yellow flame, giving out a great quantity of
smoke. Resins are insoluble in water.
4. Resinous substances are soluble in nitric acid ;
part is precipitated by the addition of water, and the
whole by means of the alkalies. With the assistance of
heat they are all soluble in alcohol, and in sulphuric
ether. Resins are soluble in some of the fixed oils,
and also in volatile oils.
5. Resinous substances have been found to be soluble
in the fixed alkalies.
6. We shall now enumerate some of the resins which
are best known.
llosin.— Ibis substance is extracted from different
species of the fir, and the resinous matter obtained
from it has received different names. That procured
from the pinus slyvestris is the common turpentine ;
from the pinus larix, Venice turpentine; and from the
pinus balsarnea, balsam of Canada. The turpentine is
obtained by stripping the bark off the trees ; a liquid
juice flows out, which gradually hardens. This juice
consists of oil of turpentine and rosin. By distilling
the turpentine the oil passes over, and the rosin re¬
mains behind. By distilling to dryness common rosin
is obtained. When water is added, while it is yet
fluid, and incorporated by agitation, what is called yel¬
low rosin is formed.
Pitch.—Is a resinous juice obtained from the pinus
picea, or pitch pine. It is purified by melting and
squeezing it through linen bags, and it is then known
by the name of white or Burgundy pitch. White
pitch mixed with lamp black forms black pitch.
Mastic.—This is a resinous substance obtained from
the pistacia lentiscus, a tree which grows in the Levant.
The fluid which exudes from the tree, concretes into
yellowish semitransparent brittle grains. It has little
taste, melts and exhales a fragrant odour when heated,
and readily dissolves in alcohol and fixed oils. It con¬
tains a little volatile oil.
Sandarac.—This resinous substance is extracted from
the juniper. It is a spontaneous exudation from this
plant in the form of brown tears, which are semitrans¬
parent and brittle.
Labdanum, or Ladanum.—This is the produce of
the cistus creticus, a shrub which grows in Candia. It
is the exudation of a viscid juice, which concretes by
exposure to the air. It has a fragrant odour and a
bitter taste.
Dr(t%ons-bloo(l.—rThis resinous substance is a pro-
Vol. V. Part II. t
I S T R Y.
729
*437
tch,
243S
ilSlIC.
*439
ndarac.
2440
kdanum.
*44*
»gons-
>d.
duction of the draewna draco and some other plants. Component
It is of a dark-red colour, opaque and brittle. The Parts of
powder is of a crimson colour. It melts when it isVeg«tabks.
heated, and readily burns, It has no taste, is insoluble
in water, but soluble in alcohol, to which it communi¬
cates a crimson colour. It is also soluble in the fixed
oils, and gives them a red colour.
Resina ammee.-—This resin is the produce of a spe- Anime.
cies of hymencea, or locust tree, a native of North
America. It is soluble in alcohol, and is employed as
a varnish.
Copal.—-This resinous substance is obtained from the Copal.
rhus copallinum^ a tree native in North America. The
copal most preferred is brought from Spanish Ame¬
rica. It is a light brown transparent substance. It
melts when heated, but is not directly soluble in alco¬
hol, or in oil of turpentine, and it is with difficulty so¬
luble in fixed oils. Copal forms an excellent varnish.
Indeed it is one of the best that is known for beauty
and durability.
If copal be treated with oil of turpentine in a close Varnish*
vessel, from which the vapours are not allowed to es¬
cape, they exert a great pressure, which prevents the
the boiling, and thus the mixture acquires a higher
temperature. A considerable portion of the copal is
thus dissolved, and with the addition of a little poppy
oil, it forms an excellent elastic varnish.
If copal be kept melted till a sour-smelling aromatic
odour ceases to proceed from it, and if it be then
mixed with an equal quantity of linseed oil previously
rendered colourless by exposure to the sun, it com¬
bines with the oil, and thus forms a varnish. The sub¬
stances varnished with this preparation must be dried
in the sun.
Copal may be dissolved in alcohol, by previously
dissolving half an ounce of camphor in 16 ounces of
alcohol. This solution is poured on 4 ounces of copal
in a matrass, which is stopped with a cork, and perfo¬
rated with a pin. When the copal is nearly dissolved,
the process is stopped, and the matrass allowed to cool,
before the cork is removed. This solution forms a co¬
lourless varnish.
Copal, it is said, may be dissolved in alcohol, by
exposing it to the action of the vapour. This process
is conducted by boiling a quantity of alcohol in the
bottom of a vessel, at the top of which a piece of copal
is suspended. During the process the copal softens,
and falls down like oil into the alcohol.
Elemi.—This resinous substance is the produce of3
the amyris elemi fern, a tree which grows in the East
and West Indies. It is semitransparent, of a pale *
yellow colour, softish, and hardens by keeping. It has
a strong fragrant smell, and when distilled it yields a
fragrant oil.
Opobalsamum, or balm of Gilead.*—This resin is pro-
cured from another species of amyris, the Gileadensis,
a native of Arabia. The best kind, which is highly
valued by the Turks, is never seen in Europe.
Copaiva, or balsam of Copaiva.—This resinous sub-(. 2^7
stance is obtained from the copaiva officinalis, a tree
which is a native of South America. It exudes by
wounding the trunk of the tree. It is transparent, of
a yellowish colour, has a pungent taste, and an agree¬
able smell. It is at first of the consistence of oil, but
afterwards becomes as thick as honey. By distillation
4 Z the
73°
C H E M I
Component
Farts of
Vegetables.
2448
Guaiac.
2449
Lac.
2450
Amber.
2451
Effect of
acids.
2452
Distillation.
2453
Varnish.
24S4
Benzoin.
2455
Sty rax.
tlie volatile oil, with which it is mixed, may be sepa¬
rated, and the resinous matter remains behind.
Guaiac.—This resin is the produce of the guaiacum
officinale, a tree which is a native of the West Indies.
The resin exudes spontaneously in tears, but it is chiefly
obtained by cutting the wood into billets, and boring
them longitudinally. When one of these is heated on
the fire, the resinous matter is melted, and runs through
the hole as the wood burns. This resin is of a brown¬
ish-yellow colour, .and has some degree of transparen¬
cy. It is soluble in alcohol, and has neither smell nor
taste. It melts when heated, and when it is thrown on
hot coals, it diffuses an agreeable odour. When swal¬
lowed in the state of powder, it produces a strong sen¬
sation of heat in the throat.
Lac.—This resinous substance is obtained from the
croton lacciferum. It is of a deep red colour, with
some degree of transparency. It is the basis of the
liner kinds of sealing wax, and is employed as a var¬
nish.
Amber.—This substance possesses many of the pro¬
perties of the resins, and it has been considered by
some of vegetable origin. It is a brittle hard sub¬
stance, transparent, sometimes colourless, but often
yellow or deep brown. The specific gravity is 1.065.
It has neither taste nor smell, except when it is heat¬
ed, and then it becomes soft, and gives out a fragrant
odour. It burns with a strong heat, leaving only a
small residuum. It is insoluble in water, but alcohol
dissolves a small quantity of it. When the solution is
concentrated, it becomes milky with the addition of
water. The precipitate which is formed is a resinous
substance. It is soluble in the fixed alkalies at a boil¬
ing temperature.
Sulphuric acid converts amber into a black resinous
mass. It is also soluble in nitric acid.
. By the distillation of amber, carbonic acid gas and
carburated hydrogen gas, an acid liquor, and an oil,
which is at first thin and transparent, but afterwards
larger and thicker, is obtained. Succinic acid sub¬
limes towards the end of the process.
When amber is roasted, it becomes soluble in the
oils, and forms a varnish. This varnish may be form¬
ed by spreading the amber on a flat-bottomed iron
pan, and exposing it to heat till it melts. It is then
covered up, and set by to cool. One part of this roast¬
ed amber, which has lost half of its weight, if the
process be properly managed, is then to be mixed with
three parts of linseed oil. The mixture is to be exposed
to a gentle heat till the amber is dissolved. It is then
to be removed from the fire, and four parts of the oil
of turpentine are to be added when it is nearly cold.
The clear part, after it has settled, is strained through
a linen cloth.
Benzoin.—This substance contains a resinous matter
combined with an acid, and is commonly ranked among
balsams. Benzoin is obtained from the styrax benzoin,
a tree which is a native of Sumatra. It is a brittle
substance, has a fragrant odour when rubbed, and
when it is heated, the acid escapes. It may be dis¬
solved in alcohol, but it is insoluble in water.
Styrax.—This substance, which is in a half-fluid
state, exudes from a tree in Arabia. It is of a green¬
ish colour, has an aromatic taste, and an agreeable
odour. The benzoic acid, which is one of its com-
S T R Y.
ponent parts, ^dissolves in water. The whole of it is Compontitj
soluble in alcohol. It absorbs oxygen, and becomes Parts of
harder by exposure to the air. Vegetable
Storax.—This substance is procured from the styrax 24_6
officinale, a native of the Levant. It is of a brown co-Storax.
lour and brittle, has an aromatic taste, fragrant odour,
and is soluble in alcohol. It gives out benzoic acid by
heat.
Balsam of Tolu.—This substance is obtained from Ba]s^L
the toluifera balsamum, a native of South America, xolu.
It is of a reddish brown colour, becomes solid and brit¬
tle when exposed to the air, and has a very fragrant
smell. 245S
Balsam of Peru.—This is obtained from the my- Of Fern.
roxylon peruifei'um, a plant which is a native of South
America. The resin is extracted by boiling the twigs
in water. It is of the consistence of honey, has a
brown colour, an agreeable smell, and an acrid taste.
It is soluble in alcohol. The acid part is soluble in
water. Benzoic acid is driven off by heat.
XVII. Of Gum-Resins.
2459 !
1. This class of substances seems to be composed ofConstins-1
a mixture of resinous matter with a portion of gummy ents. 1
and extractive matter. They are never obtained from
plants by means of spontaneous exudation, but are pro¬
cured by wounding the plants which contain them.
The general properties of gum-resins are the follow¬
ing. 2460 j
2. They are always in the solid state, and common-Propertie
ly brittle and opaque. They are softened by heat,
but do not melt, and are less combustible than the
resins. They burn with flame. They have an acrid
taste, with a strong smell, somewhat resembling garlic.
They are partially soluble in water, and in alcohol.
The solution in water is opaque and milky, and the
solution in alcohol is transparent. They are partially
soluble in vinegar and wine. They are soluble in
nitric acid, and also in the alkalies, with the assistance
of beat.
3. The gum-resins by distillation yield a portion of
ammonia, which shews that azote forms one of their
constituent parts.
4. Many of the gum-resins have been long known in
medicine, and some of them are of considei’able impor¬
tance. We shall specify the peculiar properties of the
following. _ 2461
Olibanum.—This gum-resin is chiefly collected inOlibanui
Arabia, from ihe juniperus lycia. It is brought from
Mecca to Cairo, and from thence to Europe, in the
form of transparent brittle grains, not larger than a
chesnut, of a yellow colour, a peculiar aromatic smell,
but with little taste. With water it forms a milky
fluid, but it is entirely soluble in alcohol. When
heated it does not melt, but inflames and burns with an
agreeable smell. It is the frankincense of the ancients,
and is still employed to diffuse an agreeable fragrance
in the Greek and Romish churches.
Scammony.—This substance is extracted from theScamm<
convulvulus sc ammonia, a climbing perennial plant
which grows in Syria. By cutting the roots, a milky
juice flows out, which is collected and dried in the sun.
It is of a dark-gray colour, a bitter acrid taste, and a
nauseous smell. It forms a greenish milky fluid with
water
It is employed in me-
/egetables.
2463
Cuphor-
ium.
1464
Lsafoetida.
1465
mmonia
iomponent water. It is soluble in alcohol.
Parts of dicine as a cathartic.
Kuphoibrum.—1. his substance is obtained from the
euphorbia officinalis, which is a native of Ethiopia. The
milky juice which flows from incisions made in the
plant, is dried in the sun. It is in the form of small
yellow tears. It has no smell, and at first no percep¬
tible taste, but it communicates afterwards a burning
sensation to the mouth. It is soluble in alcohol. It
has been considered as poisonous.
Asafcztida.—This gum-resin is obtained from the
ferula asclfcctida, a perennial plant, which is a native
of Persia. It is extracted from the roots by cutting off
the extremity. The milky juice flows out, which is
dried in the sun. It is brought to Europe in large ir¬
regular masses, which are of a whitish, reddish, or vio¬
let hue. It has a strong, fetid, alliaceous smell, and a
bitter acrid taste. It is but partially soluble, both in
alcohol and in water. It is much employed in medi¬
cine as a stimulant and antispasmodic.
Ammoniac.—This gum-resin is supposed to be ob¬
tained from another species of the ferula, a plant
which grows in Abyssinia and in the interior parts of
Egypt. It is brought from the East Indies, usually
in large masses, which are composed of little lumps or
tears, of a milky colour. When exposed to the air, it
is changed to a yellow colour. It has a nauseous, sweet
taste, which is succeeded by a bitter. It has a pecu¬
liar smell. It is not fusible $ but when placed on hot
coals, it burns away in flame. It forms a milky solu¬
tion with water and vinegar, and it is partially soluble
in alcohol.
Myrrh.—It is not yet known from what plant this
substance is obtained. It is brought from the East
Indies in the form of tears j is light and brittle, of a
reddish-yellow coloux*, and an unctuous feel. It has a
bitter aromatic taste, and a strong but somewhat grate¬
ful odour. It does not melt, and burns with difficulty.
It is more soluble in water than in alcohol. With the
former the solution is yellow and opaque j with the
latter it is transparent.
Scrcoco/.—-This substance is supposed to be the pro¬
duct of \\\e pencea sarcocolla. It is brought from Persia
and Arabia, in the form of small whitish-yellow grains.
It has a bitter and somewhat sweetish taste. It is al¬
most entirely soluble in water.
Galbanum.—This substance is obtained from the
bubon galbanum, a perennial plant which grows in
Africa. The milky juice sometimes exudes from the
joints of the old plant, but is most commonly procured
by cutting them across. This juice becomes hard, and
is the galbanum brought to Europe. It is in the form
of whitish-yellow tears, has a bitterish'acrid taste, and
a peculiar smell. It forms a milky solution with water,
wine, and vinegar. It is scarcely soluble in alcohol.
It does not melt, but yields a considerable proportion
of oil by distillation.
Sagapenum.—It is only conjectured that this gum-
resin is obtained from the ferula persica. It is brought
in large masses or distinct tears from Alexandria. It
is of a yellow colour, becomes hot in the hand, but is
not fusible. It has a hot, nauseous, bitterish taste, and
a disagreeable garlic smell. It is sparingly soluble in
alcohol, but dissolves almost entirely in water. It yields
by distillation a fetid volatile oil.
CHEMISTRY. 73r
Opoponax.—This gum-resin is obtained from the pa- Component
2466
tyn-h.
2457
arc*col.
2468
aibannm.
*4^9
‘gape-
na.
stinaca opoponax, a perennial plant which grows wild farts of
in the south of Europe. It is obtained by wounding Vegetables,
the stock or root, and is in the form of round drops or *
tears, or in irregular masses of reddish-yellow colour. Opoponax.
It has a bitter, acrid, and somewhat nauseous taste,
with a strong peculiar smell. It forms a milky so¬
lution with water, and yields an essential oil by dis¬
tillation. 2 r
Gamboge.—This gum-resin is obtained from the sta-Gamooge.
lagmitis gambogioides, a tree which grows wild in Siam
and Ceylon. In Siam it is procured in drops by break¬
ing the leaves and young shoots, from which it is sup¬
posed to derive the name oigum gutter. In Ceylon it
is obtained by wounding the bark and collecting the
juice, which is afterwards dried in the sun. It is
brought from the East Indies in cakes or rolls. It is
of a orange-yellow colour, opaque and brittle, has no
smell, and little taste, leaving only a slight sense of
acrimony when it has been kept in the mouth. It
forms a turbid yellow solution with water, and is almost
entirely soluble in alcohol. It is employed in medicine,
and is a violent cathartic. 5^72
Bdellium.—Little is known of this substance, or of Bdellium,
the tree from which it is obtained. It is in the form
of small pieces or tears of different sizes, of a golden-
yellow colour, with a reddish tint. This substance, or
a substance with the same name, was long celebrated
among the ancient physicians.
XVIII. Of Wood.
I. If a piece of wood be boiled in a great quantity Prepara-
of water till it no longer gives out taste or smell, and lion,
if it be afterwards digested in alcohol, the substance
which remains is the woody fibre. 2474
1. It is either in a fibrous, lamellated, or pulveru-Properties,
lent form. This substance, which is more or less co¬
loured, has neither taste nor smell, is not altered by
exposure to the air, and is insoluble in water and al-
cohol. ntHr
3. When it is heated in contact with air, it blackens, Action of
exhales dense, acrid, pungent fumes, and leaves behind heat,
a coaly matter, which does not change its form. By
reducing it to ashes, it is found to contain a little pot¬
ash, sulphate of potash and lime, phosphate of lime.
When it is distilled in a retort it yields water, acetic
acid contaminated with oil, a thick oily matter, carbo¬
nated hydrogen and carbonic acid gases, and a portion
of ammonia, combined with acetic acid. 2475
4. By the action of nitric acid on quinquina, which Composi-
resembles the woody fibre, Fourcroy obtained from ioo1*0118*
parts the following products :
Oxalic acid
Citric acid
Malic acid
Acetic acid
Azotic acid
Carbonate of lime
Residuum,
56.250
3-9°5
0.388
0.486
0.867
8*33°
70.226
32.031
A quantity of carbonic acid gas was also disengaged,
A O. xxi Mir* K
732 . C H E M
Component which was not estimated. The increase of weight is
Parts of ascribed to the oxygen which combined with the bases
Vegetables, pf the acids which were formed during the decomposi-
tion of the woody fibre by the nitric acid. The resi¬
duum, by distillation, yielded a yellowish fluid mixed
with alcohol and some acetic acid, a concrete oil solu-
bl in alcohol, charcoal, and carbonate of lime, besides
carbonic acid and carbureted hydrogen gases. The
component parts of wood, therefore, appear to be, oxy-
*477 gen» carbon, hydrogen, azote, and lime.
Proportions The relative proportion of wood in plants has been
of charcoal. estimated by the proportion of charcoal which they af¬
ford. From different woods, Proust obtained charcoal
in the following-proportions.
Black ash 25
Guaiac 24
Pine 20
Green oak 20
Heart of oak 19
Wild ash 17
Wkite ash 17
XIX. Of Tan.
247S
Prepara¬
tion.
2479
Properties
2480
Action of
heat.
2481
Acids.
2482
Alkalies.
1. Tan is obtained from a great number of vegetable
substances. It exists in considerable proportion in oak
bark and nut-galls j and it is obtained from the latter
by the following process.
Reduce a quantity of nut-galls to a coarse powder,
infuse them in water till it is saturated, pour oft’ the
liquid, and boil it to dryness. A black matter re¬
mains, which is nearly in a state of purity. It is
proposed also to extract tan from nut-galls by other
processes. If a solution of muriate of tin be added to
the infusion of nut-galls, a copious precipitate of a yel¬
low colour is produced. When this is separated by fil¬
tration, and dried, it is in the form of a buff-coloured
powder. It is a compound of oxide of tin and tan. It
is then mixed with water, and a stream of sulphurat¬
ed hydrogen gas is passed through it. An insoluble
sulphuret of tin is formed, and the tan is dissolved in
water. By filtration and evaporation of this water to
dryness, a bi’own substance remains, which is tan ; but
by this process it is not perfectly pure, being mixed
with a portion of extractive matter. It has also been
proposed to separate tan from the infusion of nut-galls
by means of concentrated sulphuric or muriatic acid,
carbonate of potash, or lime water.
2. Tan is a brittle substance, of a brown colour, has
a very astringent taste, is soluble in water and alcohol,
to both of which it communicates a brown colour and
very astringent taste.
3. When it is heated, it becomes black, gives out
carbonic acid gas, and burns in the open air, leaving
behind a small quantity of lime.
4. Tan is precipitated from the infusion of galls,
by means of sulphuric, nitric, and muriatic acids, and
forms with them compounds which are soluble in wa-r
ter.
5. The alkalies combine with tan, and form com¬
pounds which are soluble in water. A reddish brown
colour is produced in the liquid by the addition of
potash or soda, and it loses the property of precipitat-
I S T R Y.
ing gelatine. Ammonia forms a similar compound with Component
the infusion of galls. Parts of
6. Most of the earths combine with tan, and form WgetaMm
with it compounds which are chiefly insoluble in wa- a
ter. Lime water, added to the infusion of galls, pro-Eartils<
duces an olive-coloured precipitate. A similar preci¬
pitate is obtained by means of barytes, strontites, and
magnesia. _ . 24s4
7. The metallic oxides combine with tan, and form Metallic
compounds which are nearly insoluble in water. Si-oxides
milar precipitates are obtained by means of many ofan<* 5a^Ss
the metallic salts. The green sulphate of iron pro¬
duces no precipitate) but the red sulphate gives a
deep-blue precipitate, which becomes black by expo¬
sure to the air, or when it is dried. This is the base
of writing ink, as was formerly described in treating of
the sulphate of iron. 2^55
8. Tan forms an insoluble compound which gelatine, Gelatine,
which is the principle of the important process of
tanning leather, and is nothing more than the combi¬
nation of tan with the animal matter called gelatine or
glue. 24S6
9. Tan is chiefly found in the baik of trees; it is Exists in
also found in the leaves, the wood, the sap, and some-^
times it is obtained by spontaneous exudation, as is the
case with the substance called kino. Several varie¬
ties of tan have been found in difl’erent vegetable sub¬
stances, as in catechu, dragon’s blood, sumach, and
fustic.
10. The quantity of tan varies with the age and sizeProPorliw
of the tree, and at different seasons. The greatestvaucs*
proportion has been found in the inner bark. Sir H.
Davy ascertained the quantity of tan obtained from the
solid matter extracted by water, from an ounce of dif¬
ferent vegetable substances.
24S7
White inner bark of old oak
young oak
Spanish chesnut
Leicester willow
Coloured or middle 7 1
bark of !oak
Spanish chesnut
Leicester willow
Entire bark of oak
Spanish chesnut
Leicester willow
elm
common willow
Sicilian sumach - _ -
Malaga sumach - - -
Souchong tea - - -
Green tea -
Bombay catechu - . _
Bengal catechu - - .
Nut-galls -
Solid Matter. Tan,
jo8 grs. 72 grs.
77
in
89
117
43
41
34
61
53
71
63
79
19
*4
16
29
21
33
J3
11
78
79
— 48
— 41
—- 261
— 231
180 127*
163
156
* Phil.
Trans.
The following proportions of tan were found by add- 1803.
ing a solution of glue to the infusion of the plant in
water.
Proportion
of Tan.
Elm 2.1 Horse chesnut
Oak cut in winter 2.1 Beech
r .*• 248 s.
* roportion pr0portiu
of Tan. in Jifferei
2.2
m
plants.
2.4
Willow
:omponent
Parts of
egetablcs. WjIIow boughg
Elder
Plum tree
Willow trunk
Sycamore
Birch
Cherry tree
Sallow
Mountain ash
CHEMISTRY.
Proportion
of Tan.
Phil
'runs.
199-
2- 4
3- °
4.0
4.0
4*1
4.1
4.2
4.6
4- 7
Poplar
Hazel
Ash
Spanish chesnut
Smooth oak
Oak cut in spring
Leicester willow
Sumach
Proportion
of Tan.
6.0
6-3
6.6
9.0
9.2
9.6
10.1
16.2 *.
XX. Of Suber.
24S9
onstitutes
le epi-
;rmis.
249°
ropeities.
2491
ction of
iat.
2492
f nitric
:id.
1. The vegetable substance denoted by the name of
suber, is, according to Fourcroy, the epidermis or outer
covering of trees. This substance is analogous to com¬
mon cork, which is the epidermis of the quercus suber,
from which the name of this peculiar vegetable sub¬
stance is derived.
2. It is a light, soft, elastic substance, is insoluble in
water, but readily absorbs this liquid. Common cork
is the same substance, having greater density, and ac¬
cumulated in greater quantity.
3. This matter is very combustible, and burns with
a white vivid flame, leaving behind a very black, light,
voluminous coaly matter. When distilled, it yields
ammonia.
4. When cork is treated with nitric acid, carbonic
acid gas and nitrous gas are evolved. The cork is
decomposed, and converted, partly into a yellow, soft,
unctuous matter, which swims on the surface, and part¬
ly into suberic acid ; the nature and properties of which
have been already described.
XXI. Of Alkalies.
, M93
ixed al-
und.
2494
Hash.
1. The fixed alkalies only have been detected in
tlies only plants, and there are few plants which do not yield a
smaller or greater proportion of one of these alkalies. It
is supposed that they exist in plants, in combination with
acetic and carbonic acids.
2. Potash, formerly called vegetable alkali, because
it was supposed to exist only in vegetables, is found in
all plants except those which grow near the sea. The
process for extracting it has been already described.
The vegetables are reduced to ashes by burning; the
ashes washed with water, which is filtered and evapo¬
rated to dryness. The potash remains behind.
3. Shrubby and herbaceous plants yield a greater
proportion of ashes than trees. The branches of trees
afford more ashes than the trunks, and the leaves
more than the branches. Other salts are found mixed
with the potash, such as the sulphates of potash and of
lime, muriate of potash, phosphate of lime, and phos¬
phate of potash ; the last of which has been detected
in maize and wheat. In the following table the pro¬
portion of ashes obtained from 100 parts of different
plants, and the quantity of potash which these ashes
yield, are exhibited.
Sallow
Elm
Oak
Ashes.
2.8
2.36727
i*35 ii85
Potash.
O-285
39- 
°*I5343
Poplar
Hornbeam
Beech
Fir
Vine branches
Common ne'ttle
Common thistle
Fern
Cow thistle
Great river rush
Feathered rush
Stems of Turkey
Wormwood
Fumitory
Red clover
Vetches
Beans with their
Ashe?.
I.23476
1.1283
0.58432
°-34I33
3-397
10.67186
4.04265
5.00781
10.5
3- 85395
4- 33593
wheat 8.86
9-744
21.9
stalks
Potash.
C.07481
O.1254
O.I4572
0.00000
o-55
2-5°33
o-53734
0.6259
1.96603
0.72234
0.50811
i-75
7-3
7'9 a
0.078
2.75
2.
733
Component
Parts of
Vegetable*.
2495
2496
4. Soda is generally found in all marine plants, and Soda,
in many others which grow near the shore. The pro¬
portion of soda which many plants containing it yield,
is very considerable. A hundred parts of the salsola
soda afford 19.921 of ashes, from which may be extract¬
ed 1.992 part of soda. It is from different species of
fact that the soda or kelp of Britain is obtained. The
soda of commerce is extracted from two species of sal-
sola, the saliva and the vermiculata, which grow a-
bundantly on the shores of Spain and the Mediter-
ranean. 24^
5. Of late several compounds of vegetable origin New al
possessing alkaline qualities have been discovered by kalies.
chemists, and ranked among the alkalies. The first
of these is morphine, found in opiumj in which it exists
in combination with the meconic acid. The process for
obtaining it consists of the following steps. 1. To boll
a strong solution of opium along with a little magne¬
sia. This earth combines with the meconic acid, and
leaves the morphine free, but precipitated along with
the meconate of magnesia. 2. The mixed precipitate,
after being gathered on a filter and washed with cold
water, is treated with weak alcohol at 150°, which
separates the colouring matter. 3. It is then boiled
in pure alcohol, which dissolves the morphine, and,
while it cools, deposits it in white crystals. Morphine
turns syrup of violets green, and turmeric brown. It
is found to be the active matter from which opium de¬
rives its power over the animal economy. Another al¬
kali has been obtained from the Angostura bark, and
has been named brucine, from the name of the genus
by which this bark is yielded, the brucea anti-dysente-
rica. A third, from the seeds of delphinium staphisa-
gria, is called delphim ; and a fourth, strychnine, is ob¬
tained from the strychnos nux vomica. Here a most
extensive field has been opened for chemical research;
and we may expect a rapidly increasing list of similar
vegetable compounds, by manipulations performed on the
different species of plants, particularly those known to
possess active qualities, or the products of which pre¬
sent any remarkable character.
XXII. Of Earths.
1. Four of the earths have been detected in vege-Limel
tables, namely lime, silica, magnesia, and alumina,
Few
2497
/
734 C H E M
Component Few plants have been found which do not contain some
farts of portion of lime. It is the most abundant of all the
Vegetables.earths in plants.
2* Silica has been found in several plants, and chief¬
ly in the epidermis, some of which are almost entirely
composed of this earth. A hundred parts of the epi¬
dermis of the following plants yielded the annexed pro¬
portions of tliis earth.
•2498
Silica,
2499
Magnesia
and alu¬
mina.
2500
Proportion
of earths.
Bonnet cane
Bamboo
Common reed
Stalk of corn
90
7r-4
48.1
6-5
3. Magnesia is more rarely found in vegetables. It
has been detected in considerable proportion in the fuci
and other sea plants. The greatest proportion yet dis¬
covered is found in the salsola soda. A hundred parts
of this plant have yielded 17.929 of magnesia.
4. Alumina is found in plants in very small quan¬
tity.
5. In the following table is exhibited the quantity
of earths in general, found in 100 parts of different
plants.
Oak
Beech
Fir
Turkey wheat
Sun-flower
Vine branches
Box
Willow
Elm
Aspen
Fern
Wormwood
Fumitory
1.03
1-453
0.003
7.10
3-72
2.85
2.674
z-S'S
1.96
1.146
3.221
2.444
14.000
Herbaceous plants, it appears, contain a greater pro¬
portion of earths than trees. In all the kinds of grain
which Bergman examined, he found all the four earths.
From 100 parts of oat grain, Vauquelin obtained a re¬
siduum ot 3.1591, which by analysis he found to be
composed of
Silica
Phosphate of lime
60.7
39-3
100.0
By burning the stem and seeds of the same grain, the
residuum by analysis afforded the following substances :
Silica
Phosphate of lime
Potash
Carbonate of lime
55
J5
20
5
95
2501
Iron and
amnganese
Some traces of oxide of iron were also detected.
XXIII. Of Metals.
The only metallic substances which have certainly
been found in plants are iron and manganese. Iron
has been detected in the ashes of salsola $ and manga-
I S T R Y.
nese has been found in the ashe^ of the pine, green Functions
oak, calendula, vine, and fig-tree. Gold, it is said, ot'Ani.
has been found in some plants, but in very minute pro- ,nal8'
portion. v~—
Chap. XIX. Of ANIMALS.
Animals constitute the second division of organized
matter. They are distinguished from vegetables by s
texture, form, and component parts. The more cha¬
racteristic differences between animals and vegetables
are, the locomotive power of animals, irritability, and
sensibility. Animal matters pass to the putrid fermen¬
tation, and they are all soluble in the alkalies. Sulphu¬
ric acid reduces them to a carbonaceous matter. Char¬
coal is precipitated, and ammonia is disengaged. Ni¬
tric acid acts violently on animal substances, with the
evolution of azotic gas.
In treating of animal matters, we shall first consider
the functions of living animals; 2. The decomposition
of animal matters; and, 3. Their component parts.
These subjects shall occupy the three following sections.
Sect. I. Of the Functions of Animals.
In taking a view of animal substances, it is necessa-CannoAe
ry to consider the functions of the living animal, socxP^ained
far at least as these functions admit of explanation on011.0^1™0
chemical principles. It is beyond the reach of human ^ P
sagacity fully to understand the simplest processes in the
animal economy. These cannot be explained on che¬
mical or mechanical principles ; but to comprehend
clearly and fully, even what is known of the func¬
tions of living animals, it would be necessary to enter
into a description of the structure and nature of the
organs by which they are performed. This is not the
province of chemistry $ it belongs to Anatomy and
Physiology. We must here content ourselves with
giving a short account of the chemical changes which
take place by the action of living animals. The func¬
tions of animals which have occupied the attention of
chemical physiologists, and which we propose to treat
of in this section, are respiration, digestion, secretion,
and assimilation.
I. Of Respiration.
-r, . . . . . 25°4
1. Respiration is to be considered as one of the vital A That
functions of animals. No animal can exist when it isfunctlon‘
interrupted, nor indeed can it be suspended, even for
a short time, without hazard. The mechanical part
of this function, consists in alternately drawing air into
the lungs, and expelling it.
2. That all gases are not fit for respiration is well All gases
known. Some indeed, as carbonic acid gas, the mo-1101®1^
ment they are inhaled, are destructive to life. Others,re®piratc1
although not productive of such sudden effects, prove
ultimately fatal to the animal which is forced to re¬
spire them. Animals are very differently constituted,
both with regard to the structure of their respira¬
tory organs, and with regard to the quantity of air
which must be respired in order to support life. In
these respects, the hot and cold-blooded animals differ
much from each other $ and even among the cold¬
blooded, there are some tribes which require a very
small quantity of air, and can bear with much less
apparent
C H E M
Functions apparent. inconvenience a temporary interruption of
of Ani- this function ; but for all animals, whatever be their
mals. nature, whatever be their structure, or whatever be
the modifications of their respiratory system, the air
of the atmosphere is best adapted for the support
of life. It is the oxygen of the air which is ne¬
cessary for the breathing of animals j but although
animals live longer in a given quantity of oxygen gas
1506 ^ian atmospheric air, as appears from the experi-
I Jot even ments of Count Morozzo, related in the chapter on
ure oxy- oxygen gas, yet it is too powerful, or too stimulating
for their organs j for to such as have been confined to
2 breathe it, it has been found highly injurious,
ome fatal 3* Some of the gases prove immediately fatal to life*,
o life. such for instance is carbonic acid gas. It seems to be
certain that no animal ever made a full inspiration of
this gas unmixed, without being destroyed. It is so
noxious to animal life, that the organs themselves, by
an involuntary action, obstruct it in its passage to the
lungs. Other gases are equally fatal after a few in¬
spirations, such as hydrogen and azotic gases j and in¬
deed it is probable, that if the lungs were completely
emptied of air, before the inspiration of anv gas what¬
ever, excepting oxygen gas or atmospheric air, a single
inspiration would prove fatal. This, however, is never
the case; for after the fullest expiration, a considerable
quantity of air remains in the lungs. We may con¬
clude, therefore, that the air of the atmosphere is the
only gaseous substance proper for the respiration of
animals, and the support of life,
he same 4. The same quantity of atmospheric air or oxygen
"be*111 °n~Sas> after having been once respired by animals, be-
spiredCe comes t°taby unfit for farther respiration, either by the
same animals or any other. It is then deprived of a
great part of the oxygen, and contaminated with noxi¬
ous gases. This even happens to fishes and insects,
which require a very small quantity of air. If the
water in which the former live be deprived of its air,
it is equally fatal to them, as immersion under water
is to those animals which live in the air of the atmo-
*509 sphere.
iie quail- 5. Attempts have been made by physiologists to as-
certain the quantity of air respired by animals. This
must be extremely different in the different classes.
Even in the same class of animals, it is probable that
it varies much. The difference of the results of ex¬
periments on man to ascertain this point is enormous.
No conclusion whatever can be drawn from the num¬
ber of respirations made in a given time, even if this
could be determined with any degree of accuracy,
which is scarcely to be expected. For no function of
the body is sooner influenced by mental affections than
the breathing. The very attention implied in reckon¬
ing the number of respirations has some effect in occa¬
sioning deviations from the natural number. Some
have reckoned the number of respirations 14 in a mi¬
nute, while others make it amount, to 27* which shews
that little dependence can be placed on any precise
statement of the number. But even if this could be ac¬
curately ascertained, still it would not enable us to as¬
certain the quantity of air respired. For it is extreme¬
ly probable that this quantity varies greatly in different
men and in different animals, and in the same animal
at different times, arising from causes, the operation of
2
1 s T R y. 735
which either entirely eludes observation, Or is alto- Functions
gether inappretiable. Accordingly we find that the of Ani-
differences of the results of observations made on the , rods,
quantity of air taken in at a single inspiration, or of v '
the quantity calculated in the lungs after expiration, Q
are not less than those of the number of respirations. Changes on
6. The nature of the changes which the air inspired die air.
undergoes has been ascertained with more accuracy.
Part of the air which is inspired disappears; and this
part consists of oxygen. Dr Menzies estimates the
quantity of oxygen gas consumed by a man in 24 hours
at rather more than 41 oz. troy. Lavoisier fixes it
at 32§ oz. nearly ; and Sir H. Davy gives as the result
of his experiments and calculations about 32^ oz. , .ri
7. The air thrown out of the lungs by expiration Gases ex-
contains at the same time a quantity of carbonic acid pind.
gas exactly equal in volume to the oxygen which dis¬
appears.
8. Water in the state of vapour is also thrown out
of the lungs during respiration.
9. The blood, as it flows from the left side of the Circulation
heart, is of a bright red colour. It is conveyed from of the
this organ by the arteries to every part of the body. It Wood.
is then taken up by the veins, and carried back to the
heart, by the venous system. The blood having thus cir¬
culated through the body, enters the right side of the
heart, its colour being totally changed. It is now of a
dark purplish red colour, instead of the bright red
which it possessed when it passed out of the heart, to
be distributed through the body. But before the blood
can go to the left side of the heart to enter the general
circulation again, it must pass through the lungs, where
it re-acquires the bright red colour. From the lungs it
proceeds to the left side of the heart, from which it
flows as before through the arterial system to all parts
of the body. The blood thus acquires this florid red
colour in the lunas.
10. This change was ascribed by some of the earlier Changes on
chemical physiologists to the absorption of air. Dr the blood.
Priestley observed that venous blood, which was cf a
dark colour, became of a bright red when exposed to
oxygen gas, and that hydrogen gas produced a con¬
trary effect. The same thing has been since ob¬
served by other chemists. According to Dr Priest¬
ley, the blood was deprived of its phlogiston as it pas¬
sed through the lungs ; according to the theory of La¬
voisier and others, no part of the air inspired is ab¬
sorbed; the blood gives out hydrogen and carbon,
which, combining with the oxygen of the air, form
water and carbonic acid. He supposed that the quan¬
tity of oxygen in the water and carbonic acid expired
was equal to that which had disappeared during re¬
spiration. According to another theory, the oxygen
gas combines with the blood, and while this combina¬
tion takes place, the carbonic acid gas and water
which are expelled from the lungs along with the azo¬
tic gas, are given out. According to later experi¬
ments, it appears that there is no reason for believing
that any part of the air inspired passes into the blood.
The oxygen, when it has entered the lungs, seems to
unite there with the carbon, which is conveyed from the
blood-vessels to the air-cells, by a species of secretion.
Nor is there any reason for believing, that the forma¬
tion of water by the combination of oxygen with hydro-
gen.
*516
To form
fibrina.
736 C H E M
Functions gen, is one of tlie effects of the function of respira-
of Ani- tion.
mals. J2. What are the purposes accomplished by these
7^' clianges ? What are the definite uses of respiration in
Purposes of the animal economy ?—As the blood is the source from
re ^nation, which are derived the materials for repairing the con¬
stant waste of the body, it is necessary that means
should be provided to supply this waste, to which the
blood is constantly subjected. This is accomplished,
as we shall find afterwards, by the process of digestion,
the product of which is conveyed to the blood. But
before it can be converted into blood, it must undergo
certain changes, which take place in the lungs. The
separation of the superfluous carbon is an essential
change, and the only one perfectly ascertained. There
is one essential part of the blood, and an essential part
also of solid animal organs, namely the fibrine, which
does not exist in the chyle and lymph, which are the
substances conveyed to the blood, to repair its waste,
before they have passed through the lungs along with
the blood. Hence it is supposed that one purpose of
respiration is to form the fibrine of the blood.
To preserve 13* Another great purpose of respiration in the ani-
tempera- mal economy is to preserve the proper degree of tem-
*ure* perature necessary for the health and life of the animal.
It is well known that the temperature of animals is not
regulated, like that of inorganized matter, by the sur¬
rounding medium. In whatever temperature animals
are placed, except in those extreme degrees of heat or
cold which destroy life, the temperature of the body
continues almost uniformly the same, and this tempera¬
ture, it appears, corresponds to the quantity of air in¬
spired. Hence it is that the temperature of the lower
orders of animals which require but a small propor¬
tion of air, as insects, fishes, and amphibious animals,
is not much higher than that of the medium in which
they live, and on this account they constitute a division
of animals which have been distinguished by physiolo¬
gists by the name of cold-blooded animals. The tem¬
perature of warm-blooded animals, whatever be that of
the medium in which they live, is from 96° to 140°. The
temperature of man is about 98°, while that of birds,
which require a greater proportional quantity of air, is
_i3 usually 50 or 6° higher.
Theories of I4- The manner in which the temperature of the
animal body is kept up by means of respiration, has been thus
heau accounted for, on the principles of Dr Black’s theory
of latent heat. Part of the latent heat of the air,
which was inspired and combined with the blood, is
given out, and thus raises the temperature of the blood,
and that of the whole body through which it circu¬
lates. But if this change took place in the lungs, and
all the latent heat of the air inspired was extricated in
these organs, it was urged as an objection to this theory,
that the temperature in them would be much higher
than in other parts of the body. According to the
theory of Crawford, the capacity of arterial blood for
caloric, or the specific caloric of arterial blood, that is,
the quantity of caloric which is necessary to raise it to
a given temperature, is greater than that of venous
blood *, and the caloric disengaged in the lungs by the
combination of oxygen with carbon, which is strictly
analogous to the combustion of charcoal, immediately
, disappears again, being requisite to keep up the exist¬
ing temperature of the blood, now enlarged in its capa-
3
I S T R Y.
city for caloric by passing from the venous to the arte- Function.*
rial state. And the specific caloric of arterial blood, of Ani-
as it circulates through the body, is more and more ^ ™a)s-
diminished, in proportion as it is converted into venous ’ ''J
blood j caloric, therefore, is evolved. In this way it
has been proposed to obviate the objection of the tem¬
perature of the lungs being highest, if, as it has been
supposed, the whole of the caloric is here evolved ; and
to account for its gradual evolution, and the consequent
uniformity of temperature which exists in every part of
the body. Such are two of the important purposes
which seem to be accomplished by means of the func¬
tion of respiration j namely, the complete formation of
the blood, and the preservation of animal temperature.
II. Of Digestion.
1. The animal body is subject to continual waste, yyagj’e
and the quantity of this waste varies according to the the body,
nature and age of the animal. This waste is repaired
by the blood, which must consequently receive some
supplies, to make up for its continual consumption. On
this account, all animals require food or nourishment,
to compensate for the waste of the body, and directly
for the consumption of the blood from which this waste
is supplied. < _ . JSl0
2. Different animals, according to their nature, con* f0U(j of
stitution, and the circumstances in which they are placed, different
require different kinds of food. Some animals live en-animals
tirely on vegetables, others feed exclusively on animals, diffcient‘
while a third class feed indiscriminately on vegetables
and animals. But whatever be the kind of food, or
whatever the nature of the animal, it is all converted,
by the process of digestion, into the same uniform
substance. In most animals the food, as it is taken
into the mouth, is broken down, mixed with the saliva,
and conveyed to the stomach, and after it has remained
there for a short time, it is totally changed, and is con¬
verted into the uniform substance above alluded to,
called chyme. 2*2i
3. In attempting to account for the functions of the False aim]
animal body, chemists and physiologists have been al- logics ol
ways too much disposed to consider the changes which P1TS!0,<>'
take place within the body, as analogous to those which &uU‘
take place on inorganized or dead matter, in supposed
similar circumstances. Accordingly we find among
the speculations of philosophers, that digestion has been
ascribed to fermentation. By one set it was ascribed
to the vinous or acetous $ and by another set to the pu¬
trefactive fermentation. But now, that the nature and
circumstances of the processes both of fermentation and
digestion have been more accurately observed, this
opinion is exploded. The experiments of physiolo¬
gists, also, have led to more rational views of the func-
tion. . _ 2SJI
4. It is now found, that the conversion of the foodQastrjc
into chyme is effected by the action of a peculiar fluidjUiCe.
secreted in the stomach, from wdiich it has been deno¬
minated gastric juice. This liquid possesses difi’erent
properties in different animals, for those animals which
live entirely on vegetables cannot digest animal food,
and the gastric juice of those which have been accus¬
tomed to live entirely on animals, has no effect on ve¬
getables. It is true, indeed, that the nature of animals
in this respect, as well as in most of their habits, may
be
C H E M
^notions be completely reversed, when their habits are changed
ofAni- by slow degrees. All substances taken into the sto-
in^U^ . mach are not equally acted upon by the gastric juice.
Some of the hardest are readily dissolved, while others,
seemingly less compact and durable, remain unalter¬
ed. The husks of grain in the stomachs of many ani¬
mals resist its action, while the hardest bone is con-
„ - sumed.
i nature 5- No accurate knowledge has yet been obtained
ilpiQwir concerning the constitution of the gastric juice. Ac¬
cording to some, it is of an alkaline nature ; according
to others, it possesses acid properties. But this differ¬
ence of opinion is by no means to be wondered at, if
we consider the difficulty, perhaps the impossibility, of
obtaining the gastric juice in a state of purity, to sub¬
ject it to chemical examination. Even if it were pos¬
sible to collect it perfectly pure, its effects could not be
the same as within the body, since all animal matters,
the moment they are separated from the living body,
begin to undergo new changes, and to exhibit new pro¬
perties. All experiments, therefore, which have been
made, to ascertain the nature of the gastric juice, and
the process of digestion out of the body, must be re¬
garded as inconclusive. They shew us the effects of
this liquid in the state of dead matter, but can lead to
no knowledge of its nature and properties while it ex-
*514 ists in the living body (b).
>od con- 6. Whatever be the nature of this liquid, or the pro-
rted into cess 0f digestion, the food, as we have already observed,
,me* is broken down in the mouth and mixed with the saliva,
which, in the first instance, probably contributes much
to favour its commencement $ for the process of diges¬
tion is considerably deranged when the secretion of sa¬
liva is interrupted, or its usual quantity diminished. All,
then, that is certainly known concerning this change is,
that the food conveyed to the stomach is in a very short
time converted into chyme.
Web is 7. The chyme, which is a soft, pulpy matter, after
wged being formed in the stomach, is carried to the intestines,
a chyle, w|iere j3 mIxed w!th other substances, and undergoes
new changes. As soon as it has passed into the intes¬
tines, it is converted partly into a milky fluid called
chyle, and partly into excrementitious matter. Thus it
is decomposed by some process, and separated into two
parts, one of which is destined for the nourishment and
reparation of the body, while the other is ejected,
yle ee- 8. The chyle, when formed from the chyme, mixes
ated in- with tjje biie which flows from the liver into the intes-
tines. In consequence of this combination, it is sup¬
posed the excrementitious matter is separated from the
chyle, and is thrown out of the body ; while the chyle
itself is taken up by a set of vessels called lacteal.?,
which open on the inner surface of the intestines, and
receiving this fluid, convey it to a large trunk in which
they all terminate, denominated, from its situation in
the thorax, the thoracic duct. The use of the bile is
supposed to be, to separate the excrementitious matter
X S T R Y. 737
which might prove injurious to the system, if it were Functions
absorbed along with the chyle ; for this purpose the of Ani-
bile, it is supposed, is decomposed ; its saline and al- t ma's'
kaiine constituents combine with the chyle, by which —
it becomes more liquid, while the resinous and albu¬
minous matter, combine with the excrement, and in
this state act as a stimulant to the intestines, so that
tne contents, which might prove injurious, if long re¬
tained, are the more speedily ejected.
9. As a proof that the food which has been taken is totaliy
into the body has been totally changed, substances changed,
have been detected in the excrement of different ani¬
mals which did not previously exist in the food. Ac¬
cording to Vauqnelin, excrementitious matter is always
distinguished by an acid property. Benzoic acid has
been detected in that of horses and cows. An acid of
a peculiar nature has been found in the dung of pigeons ;
in general this matter is much disposed to ferment, and
at last gives out ammonia.
In the analysis of the excrement of a hen by Vau-
quelin, compared with the nourishment, he found that
while the oats which were taken in were composed of
phosphate of lime and silica, that the shells of the eggs,
and the excrements which were examined, consisted of
phosphate of lime, carbonate of lime, and silica. The
proportion of silica which was found in the excrement
was less than the quantity taken in ; but the quantity
of phosphate of lime was increased, and a quantity of
carbonate of lime, which did not previously exist in the’t/?'171'
food, was formed*. CJm*.
10. Little is known of the properties of the chyle, Properties
excepting that it possesses some in common with milk. °f chyle.
Like milk, it coagulates, and divides into a serous and
mly matter. In the thoracic duct the chyle is mixed
with another fluid called the lymph, which is conveyed
from all parts of the body by a set of vessels denomi- Z.Z9
nated the lymphatics. This fluid is in considerable Of lymph,
quantity, is viscid and colourless j but from the diffi¬
culty ot collecting it, little is known of its properties.
The lymph and the chyle, thus mixed together, are
conveyed by the thoracic duct to the blood-vessels. It
is mixed with the blood in the veins, and conveyed by
them to the right side of the heart, from which it is
carried to tfie lungs, where it undergoes the changes
already described in the account of respiration, and the
whole is converted into arterial blood, which returns to
the left side of the heart, from whence it is distributed
to all parts of the body.
III. Of Secretion.
2530
1. In the course of the circulation of the blood, dif-Matter se-
ferent substances are separated from it, some of which ParatC(1
are destined for the growth and nourishment of the from,the
body, as in young animals, or for the repair and supply b 00 '
of parts that are destroyed j while other substances,
which seem either to be superfluous, or if retained,
would
(b) The stomachs of young animals contain a substance which has the property of coagulating milk. Acids
also have this property, from which it has been concluded that the substance in the stomach of young animals,
which produces this effect on milk, is of an acid nature $ but it ought to be recollected, that when used by us it
is out of the body, and has undoubtedly undergone new changes; and besides, it is not known exactly what dif¬
ferent substances may have the property of inducing this change on milk.
Vol. Y. Part II. f 5 A
738
CHEMISTRY.
Functions
of Ani¬
mals.
25.3t
By the kid¬
neys.
25.32
Is an im¬
portant
change.
2533
Secretion
from the
skin.
2 534
Quantity.
would be injurious, are thrown out of the body. These
secretions are performed by peculiar organs, the de¬
scription and operation of which belong to Anatomy
and Physiology. At present we will give a short ac¬
count of two of the most important of these secretions,
namely, the secretion of urine, and that of perspirable
matter.
Secretion oj urine.—The urine, which is an excre-
mentitious matter, is separated from the blood by the
action of the kidneys. According to the observations
of anatomists and physiologists on the structure and
office of these organs, a great proportion, or even, as
some suppose, the whole of the blood, passes through
them. As the urine secreted by these organs seems
to serve no purpose in the animal economy, since the
whole of it is thrown out, it is probable that the sub¬
stances of which it is composed, or at least their con¬
stituents, would have proved injurious if they had been
retained.
2. Whatever the change be which takes place on
the blood by the action of the kidneys, it is of the ut¬
most importance to the health and even to the life of
the animal ; for if these organs are destroyed by dis¬
ease or accident, death is the certain consequence.
3. By the action of the kidneys on the blood, new
substances make thejr appearance. Such are urea and
uric acid, which exist in the urine, but cannot be de¬
tected in the blood j but the bases or constituents of
these substances must have formed part of some of the
matters of the blood, which are therefore decomposed
for their evolution ; and this decomposition must take
place in these organs. The urine, or secreted matter,
has been accurately analysed, and its component parts,
after it is thrown out of the body, pretty well as¬
certained $ but it is yet unknown what are the peculiar
changes which the blood undergoes by the action of the
kidneys.
Perspiration.—1. A considerable quantity of matter
is separated from the blood by means of a set of vessels
on the skin of animals. This action is called perspi¬
ration, and the substance emitted,wotfter.
The attention of physiologists and chemists has been
long directed to ascertain the quantity and nature of the
matter thus thrown off. To ascertain the first point,
many experiments have been made. Sanctorius, an
Italian physician, was the first who made this attempt,
by weighing himself at stated times for many years,
and estimating the quantity of food which was taken
in, and the quantity of excrementitious matter thrown
off. The difference, he supposed, indicated the quan¬
tity of matter perspired j but neither in his experi¬
ments, nor in those of many others, who endeavoured
to ascertain the same thing, was any estimate made of
the quantity of matter given out by the lungs.
2. With this distinction in view, a set of experi¬
ments w7as instituted by Lavoisier and Seguin. The
latter was inclosed in a varnished bag, which prevent¬
ed the escape of every thing thrown off from the bo¬
dy, excepting what was lost by respiration. Having
previously weighed himself, and continued the experi¬
ment for some time, the quantity of matter thrown off
by respiration was ascertained, by weighing a second
time. By weighing himself afterwards without the co¬
vering, and repeating the operation at the end of a si¬
milar interval, he was enabled to ascertain the quanti-
I
ty lost by cutaneous transpiration alone, by subtracting Functions
what had been previously ascertained to have passed of Ani-
off from the lungs, from the whole diminution of weight i^als.
indicated in the preceding experiment. From the ex- ' J
periments thus conducted, the following conclusions
were drawn.
a. In a state of health, and when there is no dispo¬
sition to corpulence, the body returns to the same
weight once every 24 hours.
b. Indigestion retards transpiration. The weight is
increased for four days, and on the fifth the body re¬
turns to its original weight.
c. Drink only, and not solid food, increases the per¬
spiration. It is least at the moment of taking food,
and immediately after.
d. The perspiration is greatest during digestion.
e. The greatest quantity of matter perspired amount¬
ed in a minute to 26.25 grains troy j the least to nine
grains.
f. The pulmonary transpiration is proportionally
greater than that of the skin. It is greater in winter,
on account of the necessity of preserving the tempera¬
ture of the body.
3. The quantity of matter perspired is greatest du¬
ring hot weather, and in hot climates. The quantity
too bears a relation to the quantity of urine. The
following are the results of the experiments of Rye,
made in Ireland, on the relative proportion of urine
and perspirable matter, which were excreted in the
course of one day at different seasons of the year.
I
Matter perspired. Urine.
Ounces. Ounces.
t
Winter, 53 42
Spring, 60 40
Summer, 63 37
Autumn, 50 37
4. When the temperature to which the body is ex-Sweat,
posed is much elevated, the quantity of perspired mat¬
ter is greatly increased, and it then appears in a visi¬
ble liquid form called sweat. This answers a very im¬
portant purpose in the animal economy, for by this
means the equilibrium of temperature is preserved.
The heat which is absorbed is carried off along with
the matter which evaporates from the surface of the
body, and thus the increase of temperature, which
would otherwise prove fatal, is prevented. 2536
5. The next object of chemical physiologists was toCemponen
ascertain the nature of the substance which is perspir-Parl*‘
ed. This has been found extremely difficult, on ac¬
count of the small quantity which it has been possible
to collect. But it has been ascertained to consist
chiefly of water and carbon, with an oily matter.
Phosphoric acid also, and phosphate of lime, have been
detected in the perspirable matter. In the air which
has been confined in contact with the skin, carbonio
acid gas has been detected j from which it is conclud¬
ed, that either the carbon must have been evolved,
and combined with the oxygen of the air, or the oxy¬
gen gas must have been absorbed, and combining with
the carbon, is given out in the state of carbonic acid.
The former is the conclusion drawn. The oily matter
which is emitted by the skin, is supposed to occasion
the
mals.
C H E M
Functions the peculiar smell by which animals are distinguished,
of Ani- The remarkable^circumstance of a dog being able to*
^ trace another animal to a great distance by the smell,
or to discover his master by the same means to a much
greater distance, is ascribed to the emission of this
matter. I he matter perspired, according to Berthol-
let, possesses acid properties, and the acid he sup¬
poses is the phosphoric. Phosphate of lime has been
detected in the skins ot horses by Fourcroy and Vau-
quelin.
Besides these there are other secretions which are
destined for peculiar purposes in the animal economy,
or immediately connected with the functions of parti¬
cular organs, or parts of the system. Such is the se¬
cretion of saliva in the mouth, of tears in the eyes, of
mucus in the nose, and wax in the ears. The secre¬
tion ol milk in the female is destined for the nourish¬
ment of the offspring; but we shall not enter into the
description of the organs employed in these secretions.
The nature and properties of the matters secreted will
come under our consideration in treating of the differ¬
ent parts of animals.
2537
>ther se-
rs lions.
2533
IV. Of Assimilation.
Faste of I. The continual waste and decay of the body re-
mst Lefr ^U're t0 be rePa'red* This, as we have already seen,
aired. PurP0Se taking nourishment into the body;
part of which being subject to the processes of digestion
and respiration, is converted into blood, from which
source are derived those supplies of new matter which
are wanted in the formation of new parts, or to make
up the general decay of the system. New supplies of
matter are peculiarly necessary, in young animals, in
which the parts already formed increase in size and
consistency, and in which, in the progress of the growth
of the body, entirely new parts are evolved. But if
there be any truth in the speculations of physiologists,
of the whole matter in the body being periodically
changed, even after it has arrived at its full growth,
a constant supply of new matter becomes absolutely ne¬
cessary. All these supplies are furnished by the blood,
and for this purpose it is distributed to every part of
the body. The materials for repairing the general
waste, for increasing those parts which are already form¬
ed, or for the formation of new parts, are all derived
from it. From this source are derived the most fluid,
as well as the most solid parts of the body; the saliva
of the mouth, and the gastric juice of the stomach, so
necessary in the function of digestion, by which the
health and life of the animal are preserved, as well as
the bones and muscles, which give it strength, firmness
and motion. The process by which the different sub¬
stances furnished by the blood for the repair of some
parts and the formation of others, has been distin¬
guished by the name of assimilation, because, in conse¬
quence of new actions and combinations, matter ex¬
actly similar to the parts repaired or renewed, is depo-
2539 sited, which did not previously exist in the blood,
y particu- 2. These changes are effected by the action of pecu-
■r organs. ]jar organs or vessels. Whatever be the nature of the
food taken into the stomach, it is converted into chyme
by the process of digestion. This again, by a farther
change, as it passes into the intestines, forms the
chyle, which is conveyed to the blood, and alter this
I S T B Y. 739
fluid has undergone the changes which are induced on Decompo-
it by respiration, it has acquired those properties which sition o£
render it fit lor the important purposes to which it is Animal
destined. Substances.
3. By the action of the different secretory organs, * ''2540
the same matter is always separated in each from the Which al-
blood, while the animal continues in the healthy state. wa>'s se-
The perspirable matter is separated by the glands orcrete tlie
vessels on the skin, and the saliva is prepared by the^™6 ma^
glands of the mouth. The matter of bones, of muscles,
or of nerves, is separated and deposited in those places
where it is required, and no other. While the body
continues healthy, muscular matter is not deposited
among the bones, nor is osseous matter mixed with the
muscles.
4. I he most astonishing part of the animal system Functions
is that power which it possesses of accommodating it-vary whh
self to particular circumstances. It would be less sur-circum"
prising that the same actions and the same functions,stances’
after they have commenced, should continue to be per¬
formed with uniformity and regularity. But, in the
animal system, new actions take place, or at least those
which were comparatively feeble and limited, become
more powerful and more extensive. Thus, a part of
the body which has been destroyed or removed is, by
this new or extended action, completely renovated. A
large piece of muscle in the healthy state of the body
is soon renewed ; and, what is more surprising, the con¬
stituent parts of bone are prepared, when necessary,
and deposited in those places where large pieces of this
substance have been removed. 2^2
5. But although some, or perhaps all these changes Are regu-
which take place in the different processes going on^ated.
in the animal system, are of a chemical nature, yet
they are subject to the controul of some power, the cha-PUnCiP e*
racteristics of which are totally difl'erent from those of
a chemical or mechanical agent. This is the living
principle, which counteracts, regulates, and directs the
effects of chemical agents. it is by means of this
power that the materials of which the different parts
of the body are composed, are deposited in their pro¬
per places. It is by means of the same power that a
greater quantity of matter necessary for the renovation
of any particular part which has been destroyed, is pre¬
pared and deposited exactly in that place where it is
wanted. But the power of this agent is limited. Cer¬
tain substances taken into the stomach, which are unfit
for digestion or nourishment, are immediately rejected ;
others are too powerful, and destroy the organ it¬
self. As the strongest proof of the existence and con¬
troul of this power, the constituent parts of animal bo¬
dies begin immediately to decompose each other as
soon as its action has ceased. The gastric juice of the
stomach, which acts only on the substances introduced
into it in the living state, has been sometimes found to
corrode and destroy the stomach itself, after death.
But the investigation of the nature of this agent, and
of its influence on the animal body, belong to Phy¬
siology.
Sect. II. Of the Decomposition of Animal Sub¬
stances.
I. As soon as an animal has ceased to live, its frame
and texture are destroyed, the constituent parts are se-
J A 2 parated,
740
Decompo-
fcition of
Animal
Substances.
2 543
Decomposi¬
tion of ve¬
getables
and ani¬
mals d.ffer-
ent,
2 544
Owing to
the diffe¬
rence of
composi¬
tion.
CHEMISTRY.
2S4S
Conditions
of putrefac¬
tion.
2546
Phenome-
parated, they enter into new combinations, new sub¬
stances are formed, and the component parts are total¬
ly changed. The rapid spontaneous decomposition of
animal matters, which has been called putrefaction, is
one of the most striking characters by which they are
distinguished. Vegetable matters, we have seen, when
vegetation ceases, are also subject to decomposition ;
but in them the process is slow and gradual, and many
of the products are totally difierent.
2. The remarkable difference between the sponta¬
neous decomposition of vegetables and animals, de¬
pends on the difference of the constituent parts of these
two classes of organized substances. Animal matters
are composed of a greater variety of constituent prin¬
ciples, and hence arises a greater variety of action,
when the different component parts begin to act on
each other. By the numerous and complicated attrac¬
tions which exist among these constituent principles,
decomposition is more readily effected, and a greater
variety of new products make their appearance.
3. But notwithstanding the varied and complicated
-structure of animal substances, total decomposition or
putrefaction does not take place, except in certain cir¬
cumstances, by which the mutual action of the consti¬
tuent principles is promoted. The chief circumstances
necessary for the putrefaction of animal matter are,
moisture and moderate heat. Dry animal matters
hardly undergo any change. Bones, when moistened
with water, the soft parts of animals, and still more
the liquid parts, run rapidly on to putrefaction. Heat
is also necessary to promote this change. No putrefac¬
tion takes place at or below the freezing temperature.
Before it commences, the temperature must be eleva¬
ted some degrees above this point, and as the tempe¬
rature rises, the rapidity of the process is proportional.
This condition, however, has its limits ; for when the
heat reaches a certain point, so far from promoting the
process of putrefaction, it totally retards or interrupts
it, by carrying off the moisture. The contact of air
was once thought necessary to favour this process; but
although it appears that this is not an essential condi¬
tion, putrefaction goes on more rapidly in the open air,
perhaps by receiving and carrying off the elastic fluids
as they are formed, as well as by the action of its oxy¬
gen. Matters which have already undergone this
change, brought in contact with recent animal sub¬
stances, promote and accelerate their putrefaction.
4. When animal matters are placed in favourable
circumstances, the solid parts become soft, and the li¬
quid parts more fluid. The colour changes, and is
converted inlo a reddish brown, or deep green. The
odour, which is at first disagreeable, becomes fetid
and insupportable. An ammoniacal smell is diffused j
but this is only temporary, while the putrid odour con¬
tinues during the whole process. The liquids become
turbid, the soft parts are melted into a kind of jelly,
accompanied with an intestine motion, and an enlarge¬
ment of the bulk of the whole mass, owing to the es¬
cape of elastic fluids, which are slowly disengaged.
The whole matter is then reduced to one mass, the
swelling ceases, the bulk is diminished, and the colour
deepens. Towards the end of the process, a peculiar
odour, somewhat aromatic, is emitted. When it ceases
entirely, an unctuous, viscid, and fetid earthy mass
remains behind.
5. The duration of this process is extremely various, Decompo, I
according to the nature of the substances and the cir- siiion of
cumstances in which they are placed ; but it has been Animal
divided by some into different stages. In the first there i11 st^ne~a
is merely a tendency to putrefaction, accompanied with
a very slight change of texture and colour. The se-The period;
cond change, or incipient actual putrefaction, exhibits different,
some traces of acidity 5 the parts are more softened, a
serous matter begins to flow from the relaxed fibres;
the colour is more altered, and the putrid fetid odour
exhaled. In the third or more advanced stage of pu¬
trefaction, the fetid odour is more or less mixed with
the smell of ammonia j the dissolved putrid matter ac¬
quires a deeper colour, and is diminished in weight by
the escape of a great quantity of volatile matter. In
the last stage, or when the process is completed, the
ammoniacal odour vanishes, the fetid smell becomes
less powerful, and is often succeeded by something of
an aromatic smell. The animal matter has diminished
greatly in bulk, and has lost all appearance of orga¬
nized structure. There remains only a dark brown,
earthy substance, unctuous to the feel, which has been
called animal earth. But these changes are regulated
by the particular circumstances in which the process
takes place. 3548
6. In the course of the putrefactive process of ani-Elastic
mal substances, different gases are successively emitted.
These are chiefly carbureted, sulphureted, and phos-
phureted hydrogen gases, water in the state of vapour,
ammonia, and carbonic acid gas. These bodies are
evolved and volatilized, carrying with them some of
the principal constituents. Other products, formed at
different periods of the process, and of a more fixed na¬
ture, make their appearance j such, for instance, are
an unctuous matter, and a kind of soap, formed of this
matter and ammonia 5 such too is nitric acid, which is
frequently formed during this decomposition, and is
combined with an earthy or alkaline base j and such fi¬
nally is the unctuous earth which remains after the evo¬
lution and separation of the former products.
7. The process of putrefaction, then, consists in a Nature of)
change produced by the action of affinities, more the proses
powerful than those which hold together the constituent
principles of the animal matter. These constituents
are, hydrogen, azote, carbon, and oxygen, with a
small proportion of sulphur, phosphorus, and different
species of phosphates. During the decomposition, a
portion of the hydrogen combines with azote to form
ammonia, while another portion probably combines
with part of the oxygen to form water $ part of the
carbon is united with a portion of oxygen, to form car¬
bonic acid ; the union of azote with a third portion of
oxygen constitutes nitric acid j a combination of hy¬
drogen, carbou, and azote, yields a volatile or fixed
oil, according to the proportion of the constituents;
and finally, the saline, earthy, and metallic substances,
which are little susceptible of change, during this pro¬
cess, remain unaltered, and constitute the residuum.
Thus, in taking a general view of the affinities which
come into action during this process, the amount of
those which tend to combine the hydrogen with the
azote, to form ammonia ; the oxygen with the carbon,
to form carbonic acid ; the carbonic acid with the am¬
monia, to form carbonate of ammonia ; the hydrogen,
carbon, and oxygen, to form oil, and this last with
ammonia
CHEMISTRY.
'onipouentammonia to constitute soap, besides the hydrogen and
Parts of oxygen to form water, is greater than the sum of the
uSces. f°rCeS whicl1 retain in combination, the hydrogen, the
y azote, the carbon and oxygen, which are the principal
2550 constituents of animal compounds.
1 the open 8. Such are the results when the process is conducted
ir* in close vessels. When it takes place in the open air,
similar results are obtained, but in a manner somewhat
different, according to the nature of the compounds
which are. formed. In this case part of the animal
substance is dissolved, and carried oft' by the air and
the water. The ammonia and carbonic acid are dissi¬
pated as they are formed j part of the carbureted hy¬
drogen is also volatilized by the increase of tempera¬
ture, and no unctuous matter or ammoniacal soap is
j.jj formed.
ause of 9. It is well known that the odour which proceeds
ie fetid fr0m putrid animal matters is extremely offensive. This
is owing, in a great measure, to the sulphureted and
phosphureted hydrogen gases disengaged. This is not
merely offensive, but noxious to the health, and some¬
times destructive to the life of animals. These effects
are no doubt owing to the putrid effluvia which are
exhaled, and which are taken into the lungs during re¬
spiration. To counteract the effects of those putrid
exhalations, attention should he paid to agitate the air
of inhabited places by proper ventilation, which may
be done by burning wood in the vicinity of infectious
air, so that the smoke may be mixed with it, or by
directing currents of water into similar places. To
destroy the noxious effects of putrid miasmata, which
are produced in confined places, frequented by numbers
of people, muriatic acid gas, disengaged from common
salt by means of sulphuric acid, has been successfully
employed. Oxymuriatic acid gas has also been pro-
S5S2 posed for the same purpose.
[ethod of i0> It js an object of considerable importance in do-
mest*c economy, to prevent the process of putrefaction
alters. those animal substances which are to be preserved
and employed as food. It is also an object of some
importance for many other purposes. Different me¬
thods have been proposed to accomplish this. It is
effected by depriving the animal matters entirely of
their moisture, without which the process is interrupt¬
ed. Animal matters are also preserved by keeping
them at the freezing temperature, or below it. The
same object is attained by covering up matters to be
preserved with such substances as readily enter into
combination with water, and thus prevent its effects
upon the animal matters. The acids, sugar, alcohol,
and some salts, it is supposed, act in this way, by pre¬
venting putrefaction. With the same view aromatic
and resinous substances, volatile oils, camphor, the
powder of dried astringent and fragrant plants, char¬
coal and bitumen, are employed.
Sect. III. Of the Component Parts of Animal
Substances.
Having given a short account of the functions
of living animals, and of the spontaneous decomposi¬
tion which takes place after death, we now proceed
to take a view of their component parts, as they have
been investigated by chemical analysis. This shall be
the subject of the present section, which, for the sake
of perspicuity of arrangement, will be subdivided un- Component
der the four following heads ; I. Of the constituent Parts of
parts of animal substances in general. II. Of the li- Animal
quid parts of animals. III. Of the solid parts; andSubst^nce5:
IV. Of substances peculiar to different classes of ani¬
mals.
I. Of the Constituent Parts of Animal Substances in
General.
2553
The simple substances which enter into the com* Elements,
position of the different parts of animals, are chiefly
azote, carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen, of which, ar¬
ranged in different proportions, the soft parts are com¬
posed ; phosphorus and calcium, which constitute the
basis of the hard parts ; sulphur, the fixed alkalies, mu¬
riatic acid, iron, aud manganese. But by the consti¬
tuent parts of animals, are here to be understood those
substances into which they are resolved by analysis.
Some of these are compound, and some are simple, as
will appear from the following enumeration.
1. Gelatine,
2. Albumen,
3. Pibrina,
4. Urea,
5. Sugar,
6. Oils,
7. Resins,
8. Phosphorus,
9. Sulphur,
10. Acids,
11. Alkalies, earths, and metals.
I. Of Gelatine.
1. Glue, a well known substance in the arts, is ge-Prepaia-
latine in a state of impurity. This may be obtained1*011-
pure by repeatedly washing the fresh skin of an ani¬
mal in cold water, afterwards boiling it, reducing it
to a small quantity by a slow evaporation, and allowing
it to cool. It then assumes the form of a solid tremu¬
lous substance called jelly. When this substance is
dried in the air, it becomes hard and semitranspa-
rent.
2. Gelatine has different degrees of hardness, and Properties,
when pure, it is colourless and semitransparent. It is
brittle, breaks with a vitreous fracture, and has neither *
taste nor smell.
3. When it is exposed to heat, in the dry state, it Action of
becomes white, then blackens, and is converted into heat*
a coaly matter. Tremulous gelatine melts before it
undergoes these changes. When it is distilled, it af¬
fords a watery fluid, impregnated with ammonia and
a fetid oil. A voluminous mass of charcoal remains
behind. 2558
4. Gelatine remains unaltered in the dry state by Of air and
exposure to the air; but the solution in water is soonwat*,•
decomposed, giving out an acid, the nature of which is
unknown, a fetid odour, and some ammonia. It is not
very soluble in water; it increases in bulk, and be¬
comes soft and tremulous. In this state it soon dis¬
solves in warm water ; but as the solution cools, it re¬
turns to its former state. ^
5. With the assistance of heat gelatine is readily dis-Ackh,
solved '
Component
parts.
742
CHEMISTRY.
Component
Parts of
Animal
Substances.
Alkalies.
255.1
Metallic
oxides.
2562
Tan.
8S53
Composi¬
tion.
25<J4
Different
kinds.
2565
Found in
different
parts of
animals.
2566
Uses.
solved by the acids. Sulphuric acid acts slowly on
this substance, and forms a brown solution, which be¬
comes gradually darker with the evolution of sulphur¬
ous acid. Nitric acid, by digestion on gelatine, is de¬
composed $ azotic gas is evolved, and afterwards a
great quantity of nitrous gas. The gelatine is dissolved,
and converted partly into oxalic and malic acids, and
an oily matter which remains on the surface. Muri¬
atic acid readily dissolves gelatine, and forms a brown-
coloured solution, from which a white powder is gra¬
dually precipitated. When this solution is added to
the solution of tan in water, a copious precipitate is
formed.
6. Gelatine is readily dissolved by the alkalies, with
the aid of heat. There is no action between any of the
earths and this substance.
y. Some of the metallic oxides form precipitates with
gelatine in its solution in water. The compound thus
formed is insoluble. Similar precipitates are occasion¬
ed by some of the metallic salts.
8. Gelatine forms a copious white precipitate with
tan. A brittle compound is thus produced, which is
insoluble in water, and is not changed by exposure
to the air.
9. The component parts of gelatine are carbon, hy¬
drogen, azote, and oxygen, with some traces of phos¬
phate of lime and of soda, but the proportions of these
substances have not been determined.
10. There are various kinds of gelatine, probably
arising from slight variations of the proportions of its
constituents, or from the addition of other substances,
the nature of which has not been distinctly ascertained.
Glue is extracted from different animal substances, as
bones, muscles, membranes, but especially from skins, by
first steeping them in lime-water, to purify them from
all extraneous substances, and afterwards boiling them
with pure water. The strongest glue is obtained from
the skins of old animals. What is called size, is a
weaker kind of glue, which is colourless and transpa¬
rent, and is extracted from the skins of eels, horses,
cats, rabbits, and from some kinds of white leather.
It is this which is employed in the manufacture of pa¬
per, and in gilding and painting. Isinglass, another
kind of glue, is extracted from different parts of the
sturgeon, and some other fish.
11. Gelatine forms a principal part both of the solid
and fluid parts of animals. It is found in blood and
in milk, in the bones, ligaments, skin, and other solid
parts.
12. Animal jelly, which is gelatine, is well known
as a very nutritious food, and is much employed in
the state of glue, size, and isinglass, in numerous
arts.
II. Of Albumen.
2567
Obtained
from eggs.
'' 2568
Action of
heat.
1. The white of an egg consists chiefly of albumen.
It is combined with a portion of soda and sulphur.
From these substances it cannot be separated without
decomposition, so that its properties are probably mo¬
dified by them.
2. When albumen is exposed to a heat of about 165°
it coagulates into a solid white mass, of different de¬
grees of consistency, according to the duration of the
heat applied. This is the characteristic property of
albumen. In this state it has totally changed its pro¬
perties. Formerly soluble in water, it cannot now be Component
dissolved in that liquid, either hot or cold. , Parts of
Different opinions have been formed concerning the
nature of this change, or the cause of the coagulation , ^ lce8‘
of albumen. It has been ascribed by some to the ab- 2^6g
sorption of caloric, and by others to that of oxygen. t>-n*e of
The former opinion was that of Scheele, and the lat- coaguk-
ter is supported by Fourcroy ; but this coagulation isUu1,
found to take place when air is entirely excluded, or
without any change being produced in the surround¬
ing air. It has been supposed by others, that the coa¬
gulation is produced by the extrication of caloric, as
in other cases when fluid bodies are converted into
solids. According to an experiment of Fourcroy, this
extrication of caloric actually takes place ; but it is
ascribed by others to a different arrangement of the
particles of the albumen, which is induced by the ac¬
tion of the heat applied. 3570
3. The properties of albumen, it has been observed, Properties
are very different after coagulation. Before coagula- °f ancoa-
tion it is a glairy liquid which has scarcely any tasteJbuniel 8"
and no smell. When dried in a moderate heat, it be¬
comes brittle and transparent, and by being spread
thin, forms a varnish. When thus dried, it is not
changed by exposure to the air, but otherwise it soon
becomes putrid. 5^7,
4. Albumen is coagulated by means of the acids. Action of
With the aid of heat, sulphuric acid dissolves it, beat,
and forms a solution of a green colour. By the action
of nitric acid, azotic gas is disengaged : the albumen
is then dissolved j nitrous gas is given out, and oxalic
and malic acids are formed, besides a thick oily sub¬
stance which appears on the surface. The coagula¬
tion of albumen does not take place when it is dis¬
solved in a great proportion of water. Albumen is
also coagulated by means of alcohol and ether, but if
the quantity of water in which it is dissolved be consi¬
derable, the coagulation is not effected.
3. By trituration with a concentrated solution ofAlkaiiei.
pure potash, albumen, left at rest for some time, coa¬
gulates, and is converted into a substance resembling
jelly, which is brittle and transparent when it is dried.
No change takes place on albumen by the action of the
earths. _ ... 2574
6. Albumen is precipitated, from its solution in wa-Metallic
ter, by many metallic salts. The precipitate is white, salts,
yellow, or brown, according to the metal employed. 3^75
7. Tan precipitates albumen from its solution in Tan.
water, in the form of a copious yellow substance,
which is insoluble in water. It becomes brittle when
dry, and is not changed by exposure to the air. 2576
Coagulated albumen.—1. Albumen, when it is coagu- Properties,
lated, acquires new properties. It is then a tough,
opaque substance, of a pearly white colour, and of a
sweetish taste. It is insoluble in water, and is less 2577^
subject to change. When it is dried in the tempera-
ture of 212°, it is converted into a hard, brittle, yel¬
lowish substance, of the transparency of horn. When
it is some time digested in water, it becomes soft,
white, and opaque, like albumen newly coagulated.
By long action a small part seems to be dissolved, but
no precipitation is formed in this solution by the infu¬
sion of tan.
2. The mineral acids, largely diluted with water,
dissolve a portion of coagulated albumen j but by the
addition
14
257s
nnponent addition of the same acids in their concentrated state,
'arts of it is again precipitated. If coagulated albumen be
topees.kept.'11 lliluted nitrlc aci(1 for several weeks, the acid
acquires a yellow colour, which gradually deepens j
the albumen becomes more opaque, but is not dis¬
solved.
CHEMISTRY.
743
*579
kalies,
1580
mposi-
*581
lists in
ferent
ts of
mals.
2582
*583
:ained
11 blood.
m mus-
*i8S
pcities.
more opaque, but is
By saturating the yellow-coloured acid with
ammonia, no precipitate is formed, but it assumes a
deep orange colour. If the albumen be then intro¬
duced into liquid ammonia, the latter assumes a deep
orange colour, inclining to red. The albumen dis¬
solves slowly, and after the solution is completed, it
is of a yellowish-brown colour. By washing and
boiling in water, the albumen thus treated with nitric
acid is dissolved, the liquid becomes of a pale yellow,
and assumes the form and appearance of jelly, when
it is concentrated. If this mass be dissolved in boiling
water, the solution is precipitated by tan j so that ni¬
tric acid has the property of converting coagulated al¬
bumen into gelatine.
3. Coagulated albumen is readily dissolved in a so¬
lution of potash by boiling. Ammonia is disengaged,
and a soap is formed. If this soap be dissolved in
water, and muriatic or acetic acid be added, a pre¬
cipitate is formed which also has the properties of
soap. When it is moderately heated, a portion of oil
flows out, and a viscid brownish substance remains
behind.
4* Albumen is composed of carbon, hydrogen, azote,
and oxygenj but the proportions have not been deter¬
mined. It is supposed by some that it contains a great¬
er proportion of azote than gelatine.
5. Albumen constitutes an essential part in the com¬
position of bones and muscles. Cartilage, horns, and
hair, consist almost entirely of this substance, as well
as the membranous portion of shells and sponge.
6. Albumen is advantageously employed for clarify¬
ing liquids. The liquid to be purified is mixed with
the white of eggs, the serous part of the blood, or other
substances containing albumen, and then heated. By
the action of heat the albumen is coagulated, and falls
to the bottom, carrying with it those substances which
were mixed with the liquid, and occasioned the opacity,
and which, on account of the minuteness of the par¬
ticles, could not be otherwise separated.
III. Of Fibrina.
I. Fibrina is readily obtained by allowing blood to
remain at rest for some time after it has been drawn
from an animal. The clot, which has formed and falls
to the bottom, is to be separated, put into a linen cloth,
and repeatedly washed with water, till the liquid come
OS' insipid and colourless. The fibrous part of the
blood, as it has been called, or the fibrina, remains be¬
hind. Mr Hatchet obtained it by cutting lean beef
into small pieces, macerating in water for fifteen days,
changing the water daily, and squeezing it out at the
same time by pressure. The muscular substance was
boiled every day five hours for three weeks in a fresh
portion of six quarts of water. The fibrous substance
was then pressed, and dried with the heat of a water
bath. What remained is considered as fibrina nearly
pure.
2. Fibrina is of a white colour, soft and elastic, when
it is recently extracted from blood j and as it dries
the colour becomes deeper. When it is extracted by
boiling and maceration from muscular matter, it is Component
brittle, has some degree of transparency, and does not Parts ot
become so deep in the colour. It has neither taste nor ^ Animal
smell. It is insoluble in water and alcohol, and is not ^ll’jstances*
changed by exposure to the air.
■—v——
- _ 2585
3. When it is exposed to heat, it contracts suddenly, Action of
and emits the smell of burning feathers. It melts with beat.
an increase of temperature. It yields by distillation,
water, carbonate of ammonia, a thick fetid oil, carbo¬
nic acid, and carbonated hydrogen gas, with some traces
of acetic acid. The coaly matter which remains be¬
hind burns with difficulty, on account of the phosphate
of soda, phosphate and carbonate of lime, with which it
is mixed.
4. Fibrina is soluble in the acids. The solution in Acid*,
sulphuric acid is of a deep brown colour •, charcoal is
precipitated, and acetic acid formed. When diluted
nitric acid is added to fibrina, azotic gas is copiously
disengaged. Fibrina kept by Mr Hatchet for 15 days
in nitric acid diluted with 3 times its weight of water,
gave to the solution a yellow colour, and it resembled
in its properties the solution of albumen in the same
acid. By this process, after being dissolved in boiling
water, and concentrated by evaporation, the fibrina is
converted into gelatine, which is soluble in hot water,
and is precipitated by tan. The fibrina in this stats
also is almost entirely dissolved by ammonia, and the
solution is of an orange colour. Fibrina is dissolved in
boiling nitric acid, in which ammonia produces a pre¬
cipitate, composed chiefly of oxalate of lime. During
the action of the nitric acid, prussic acid passes over,
with carbonic acid gas and nitrous gas. Oxalic acid
is formed, and a fatty matter appears on the surface.
Fibrina is also soluble in muriatic acid, with which it
forms a green-coloured jelly. It is dissolved also in
acetic, oxalic, tartaric, and citric acids, with the as¬
sistance of heat j and is converted, by concentrating the
solutions, into a gelatinous mass. Alkalies precipitate
fibrina from its solution in the acids, in the form of
flakes which have the properties of gelatine, and are
soluble in hot water.
5. Concentrated potash or soda, boiled upon fibrina,
forms a deep brown coloured solution, which has the
properties of soap. During the process ammonia is
given out.
6. Fibrina is composed of carbon, hydrogen, azote,
and oxygen, but the proportions are unknown. It
is found only in the blood and muscular parts of ani¬
mals.
IV. Of Urea.
1. The nature and properties of urea have been
chiefly investigated by Fourcroy and Vauquelin. It is
obtained from urine. It may be extracted by the fol¬
lowing process.
If a quantity of human urine which has been passed Method of
a few hours after taking food, be evaporated with a preparing,
gentle heat, to the consistence of a thick syrup, and
allowed to cool, it concretes into a crystalline mass.
Add to this mass in separate portions four times its
weight of alcohol j with the application of a gentle heat,
great part is dissolved, and what remains consists of
different saline substances. Separate the solution from
the undissolved part, and introduce it into a retort.
Distil with the heat of a sand bath, and continue
744
Component
farts qC
Animal
Substances.
frppertiesj
259®
Action of
Iteat.
»59i
Composio
tioiii
»5S*
Action of
acids.
Alkalies.
C H E M I
the boiling till the liquid is reduced to the form of a
thick syrup. The matter which remains in the retort
crystallines as it cools. The crystals thus formed are
urea.
2, Urea, which is prepared by this process, is cry¬
stallized in the form of plates, crossing each other.
It is viscid, resembling thick honey, and of a yellowish
white colour. It has a strong acid taste, and a fetid
alliaceous smell. It deliquesces in the air, and by at¬
tracting moisture is converted into a thick brown li¬
quid, It is very soluble in water, and also in alco¬
hol, The solution in water concentraited is of a brown
colour. This solution is gradually decomposed, air is
emitted, which is partly composed of ammonia, and
acetic acid is formed in the liquid. If the solution in
water be boiled, and as the evaporation goes on fresh
portions of water be added, the urea ia decomposed ;
carbonate of ammonia is disengaged, while acetic acid
ia. formed and charcoal precipitated,
3, By the action of heat urea soon melts, enlarges in
bulk, and evaporates, emitting an extremely fetid
smell. By distillation, benzoic acid first passes over,
afterwards carbonate of ammonia, carbonated hydro¬
gen gas, with a small portion of prussic acid and oil.
What remains behind consists of charcoal, muriates of
ammonia and of soda, The benzoic acid, the mu¬
riate of ammonia and muriate of soda, are consi¬
dered as extraneous matter, so that the products of
urea by distillation consist of the carbonate of ammo¬
nia, carbureted hydrogen gas, and charcoal, The
component parts of urea, therefore, are supposed to be,
Oxygen 39.5
Azote 32.5
Carbon 14.-7
Hydrogen 13.3
190.0
4, If one-fourth of ita weight of diluted sulphuric
acid be added to the solution of urea, and heat be ap¬
plied, an oily matter appears on the surface, which
concretes on cooling. Acetic acid is found in the li¬
quid which is collected in the receiver, and sulphate
of ammonia remains in the retort. The whole of the
urea may be converted into acetic acid and ammonia
by repeated distillation,
Nitric acid produces a violent effervescence with
the crystals of urea. The liquid becomes dark red,,
and during effervescence nitrous gas, azotic gas,
and carbonic acid gas, are evolved, A concrete white
matter remains after the effervescence has ceased, mix¬
ed with a small portion of the red liquid, The resi¬
duum produces a detonation with the application of
heat.
Urea ia soluble in muriatic acid, but it remains un«
changed, A diluted solution of urea absorbs very ra¬
pidly oxymuriatic acid gas. Whitish flakes appear,
which soou become brown, and adhere to the sides of
the vessel, After the absorption, the solution gives out
carbonic acid and azotic gases. Muriate and carbo¬
nate of ammonia remain in the liquid after the effer¬
vescence ceases,
|, Urea is readily dissolved in solutions of potash or
soda. Ammonia is also disengaged, when urea is dis¬
solved in solutions of barytes, lime, or magnesia. It
S T R Y.
is also disengaged by triturating pure potash in the Cempauent
solid state, with urea. Heat is produced at the same Part* of
time. The mixture assumes a brown colour, and an^11’11”11
oily matter is deposited. , ubst‘*1]c^
Muriate of soda, dissolved in a solution of urea in
water, affords, by evaporation, crystals in the form of
regular octahedrons $ but muriate of ammonia, dis¬
solved in the same way, crystallizes in the form of
cubes,
V, Of Sugar,
. *594
1. Sugar has only been discovered among animalE*tract«<J
matters in milk and in the urine of persons ]abouring^ora
under diabetes. Sugar is obtained from milk by eva¬
porating fresh whey to the consistence of honey. When
it cools, it concretes into a solid mass. This is to be
dissolved in water, and being previously clarified with
the white of eggs, to be filtered and evaporated to the
consistence of syrup. Crystals of sugar of milk are de¬
posited on cooling.
2. When sugar of milk is pure, it is of a white co-pro^ s
lour, has a sweetish taste, but no smell. It crystallizes ** '
in the form of regular parallelepipeds, terminating in
four-sided pyramids. The crystals are semitransparent.
The specific gravity is 1.543, It is soluble in seven
times its weight of water,
3. When it is burnt, it exhibits the same appearances Action of
as vegetable sugar, giving out at the same time thereat,
odour of caromel. Similar products are obtained by
distillation as from vegetable sugar $ but the empyreu-
matic oil has the odour of benzoic acid.
4. By means of nitric acid the sugar of milk is partly Acids’.97
converted into saelaefcic acid, . I
Sugar from diabetic urine,-—This is obtained by eva-Method oil
porating the urine of persons labouring under diabetes,obtaining
One twelfth of the weight of urine of a sweet-tasted sub-k,
stance of the consistence of honey has been obtained by
this process. When this substance is treated with ni¬
tric acid, it affords oxalic acid in the same proportion
as vegetable sugar J but no saciaetic acid is formed, as
when sugar of milk is treated in the same way. It has
net been crystallized,
VI. Of Oils.
f. The oils which have been detected in animals ia ddferen
have the characters of fixed oils. Sometimes they ex-states,
ist in the solid state, and sometimes they are liquid.
Fat is a copious animal production, which has different
degrees of consistence, as it is obtained from different
animals. To purify it, it is cut into small pieces,
which are to be well washed with water, and the mem¬
branous and vascular parts separated, It is then put
into a shallow vessel along with some water, and kept
melted till the whole of the water is evaporated. It
is then of a pure white colour, without taste or
smell. 2(Joo'
2. It melts at different temperatures. Hogs lard re* Action of
quires only a temperature of 97°, while the fat extract-lieau
ed from meat by boiling requires a temperature of
127°. When the heat is raised to 400°, a white smoke
is given out j as the heat increases it is decomposed,
and becomes black. When hogs lard is distilled in a
retort, carbonated hydrogen and carbonic acid gases,
accompanied
C H E M
omponent accomPan*eti with a very offensive smell, pass over. A
[•arts of portion of water is also obtained, and a white oil which
brilces. C°nCrete.S in.the receiver* Acetic acid and a portion
> - sebacic acid are also found in the receiver. A black
l6oi mass remains behind in the retort.
:ids. 3. Fat is insoluble in water and alcohol. It is dis¬
solved and decomposed by the strong acids. If nitric
acid be poured upon fat, and a moderate heat applied,
the acid is decomposed, and the fat is converted into a
yellow coloured ointment. Fourcroy calls this an oxide
of fat ; the oxygen of the acid having combined with
the oily matter.
kalies. 4. I at combines with the alkalies in the same way as
1603 other oily substances, and with them it forms soap,
impost- I he constituent parts of fat, as appears from the
products which are obtained from its decomposition,
are oxygen, hydrogen, and carbon.
There are besides some other oily substances obtain¬
ed from different parts of animals, as spermaceti from
the head of the spermaceti-whale, spermaceti-oil, which
is separated in the purification of the spermaceti, and
train oil, extracted from the blubber of the whale, and
from other sea animals.
VII. Of Resins.
1. Resinous substances are found in different parts of
animals, or rather they exist in those substances which
are secreted by animals.
2. A resinous substance is extracted from the bile of
animals. It is extracted from the fresh bile of the ox,
by muriatic acid, in the proportion of one part of the
latter to 32 of the former. The mixture remains for
some hours, is filtered, and a white coagulated sub¬
stance is separated. The filtered liquid, which has a
fine green colour, is to be evaporated in a glass vessel
with a gentle heat. The evaporation is continued till
a green-coloured substance precipitates, which is to be
separated, and washed with pure water. This sub-
j504 stance is the resin of bile,.
>perties. 3« It is of a dark-brown colour, but when spread
thin, is of a fine green. The taste is extremely bit-
2605
tion of 4. When it is heated to the temperature of 122°, it
lt- melts. By increasing the heat, it takes fire and burns.
It is soluble in cold and hot water, and also in alcohol}
hut it is precipitated from the latter by water. The al¬
kalies also dissolve this substance, and form a compound
which has the properties of soap. This substance is
precipitated from all these solutions by means of dilut¬
ed acids.
A resinous substance has also been discovered in hu¬
man urine, in ambergris, which will be afterwards de¬
scribed, and in castor, civet, and musk.
VIII. Of Phosphorus.
2606
'en o«t During the putrefaction of animal matters, phospho-
Jng pu- rus Js given out in the state of phosphureted hydrogen
action. go jj. muS£ jjave entered as a constituent into
these matters.
IX. Of Sulphur.
. . . • r 1 .
'nd in Albumen is always mixed with a portion of sulphur.
tlmen- It has been detected in the white of eggs and in milk,
VOL. V, Part II. f
I S T R Y.
745
in the blood, in the urine and fieces, in the muscles, Component
and in the hair. According to Proust, sulphur exists Parts of
in the blood, in combination with ammonia, forming a Animal
hydrosulphuret of ammonia.
’ Substances.
X. Of Acids.
No less than 12 different acids have been detected
ready formed in animal bodies. These are*
aloS
Enumera¬
tion of
acids.
Sulphuric,
Muriatic,
Phosphoric,
Carbonic,
Acetic,
Oxalic,
Malic,
Benzoic,
Lactic,
Uric,
Rosacic,
Amniotic.
1. Sulphuric acid has been found combined with
soda, forming sulphate of soda, in the liquor of the
amnios of cows. Sulphate of lime has been detected
in the urine of quadrupeds.
2. Muriatic acid exists in combination with soda
in almost all the animal fluids, forming muriate of
soda.
3. Phosphoric acid is found in great abundance in
different parts of animals. The phosphate of lime con¬
stitutes the basis of the bones, and it exists also in al¬
most all the solid parts of animals, and in most of the
fluids. In the blood it is combined with iron.
4. Carbonic acid is found combined with lime in the
urine of horses and cows. It has also been detected in
fresh human urine.
5. Acetic acid is found in urine ; but it has been
detected in great abundance in the red ant, and was
formerly called formic acid, at least combined with
malic acid.
6. Oxalic acid has been found in urinary calculi.
7. Malic acid has been found in the liquid obtained
from the red ant. This is obtained by bruising the
ants, and macerating them in alcohol. The alcohol is
driven off by distillation, and an acid liquid remains be¬
hind. By saturating this liquid with lime, and adding
acetate of lead to the solution, a copious precipitate is
formed, which is soluble in acetic acid, so that this li¬
quid contains something besides acetic acid. If nitrate
of lead be mixed with the acid liquid after it is saturat¬
ed with lime, a precipitate is formed, which is the malic
acid combined with lead.
8. Benzoic acid has been detected in human urine,
and in considerable quantity in the urine of cows. It
has been found in the. blood, white of eggs, in glue, silk,
or wool, in the sponge, and in mushrooms.
9. Lactic aeid is obtained from milk, when it be¬
comes sour. It is also said, that it has been found in
new milk.
10. Uric acid exists in human urine, and forms one
of the constituents of urinary calculi. One species
of calculus, indeed, is composed entirely of this sub¬
stance.
11. Rosacic acid is obtained from the urine of
persons labouring under fevers and other disorders,
when the urine deposits what is called a lateritious se¬
diment.
12. Amniotic acid is obtained from the liquid of the
amnios of the cow.
5B XL
74-6
C H E M
Component
Parts of
Animal
Substances.
XI. Of Alkalies, Earths, and Metals.
2609
Alkalies.
I. The common alkalies have been found in animal
fluids. Potash has been found in considerable abun¬
dance in the urine of quadrupeds. It has also been
detected in the milk of cows. Soda is found in all
the fluids. It is usually mixed with albumen. It is
frequently combined with the phosphoric and muri¬
atic acids. Ammonia also has been detected in
2610
Earths.
2611
Metals.
urine. .
2. The earths which have been detected in animals
are, lime, magnesia, and silica. Lime forms, in com¬
bination with phosphoric acid, the basis of bones. It
is also found in the same state in the other solid parts,
as well as in most of the fluids. rlhe shells of animals
are composed chiefly of carbonate of lime. Magnesia
has been found in human urine, combined with phos¬
phoric acid and ammonia. It forms also one of the
component parts of urinary calculi. Silica has only
been found in similar concretions.
3. The only metal which has been detected in ani¬
mals is iron, in combination with phosphoric acid,
which forms a constituent part of the blood.
II. Fluid parts of Animals.
Enumera- We shall treat of the animal fluids in the following
bon. order:
1. Blood,
2. Bile,
3. Urine,
4. Milk,
Saliva,
7. Humours of the eye,
8. Wax of the ear,
9. Synovia,
10. Semen,
11. Liquor of the amnios,
6. Tears and mucus of the 12. Fluids secreted by dis-
nose, ease.
I. Of the Blood.
2613
Properties.
2614
Separates
into two
parts.
2615
Action of
acids.
I. The blood is a fluid of a red colour, which circu¬
lates through the body, and is distributed by means
of the arteries to every part of it, communicating, as
we have seen, heat and nourishment. It is then re¬
conveyed by the veins from the extremities to the
heart. Human blood, and that of some other animals,
is of a fine, purplish-red colour, has some degree of
consistency, soft and soapy to the feel, of a sweetish sa¬
line taste, and a peculiar odour. The blood is found to
vary in consistence, so that its specific gravity also va-
1' s f >. n 1.053 to 1 *I26.
2 When blood, after it has been separated from the
body, remains for some time at rest, it separates into
two parts. One part, called the clot or cruor, is co¬
agulated, and continues of a red colour } the other part,
called the serum, remains fluid. The usual proportion
of cruor to sernm, is about one part of the former to
three of the latter. This proportion, however, is sub¬
ject to considerable variation.
3. The acids also coagulate blood, and decompose
it. Concentrated sulphuric acid occasions a brown
colour, with the production of charcoal. It is coagu¬
lated by nitric acid, with the evolution of azotic gas,
and the production of carbonic and oxalic acids, be¬
sides some unctuous matter. Muriatic acid also coagu¬
lates blood, but without any perceptible change of co-
■L
Scfum.
I S T R Y,
lour. Oxymuriatic acid renders it as black as ink. Gomponeni
Acetic acid also produces a coagulation. tails of
4. The caustic alkalies dissolve the coagulum ofblood,^ Animal^
even when it has been produced by acids. If they are ^.
mixed with blood recently drawn, the coagulation is in- 26l6
terrupted. Many saline bodies produce a similar ef-Alkalies,
feet by preventing coagulation, or decomposition. aSiy
5. The metallic oxides have little perceptible ac-Metallic
tion on blood, except those which readily part with oxides,
their oxygen. It is then coagulated. Almost all me¬
tallic solutions coagulate blood, and have the proper¬
ty, as well as the alkaline salts, of preserving it from
putrefaction. ... a<>i8
6. Many vegetable substances, when mixed with Vegetable
blood, prevent its putrefaction, such as sugar, volatileproduc-
oils, camphor, resins. It is coagulated by solutions of*■0
gum and of starch. Tan produces a copious precipi¬
tate in blood, and gallic acid gives a black colour,
owing to the iron which is contained in blood. The
latter precipitate may he obtained by diluting the blood
with a considerable proportion of water.
7. Blood, by remaining at rest, it has been
served, separates into two parts, the serum and the
cruor. The serum is of a pale, greenish yellow co¬
lour, of a thinner consistence than blood j but retains
its taste, smell, and soapy feel. The specific gravity
is about 1.0287. In consequence of its containing a
portion of soda, it gives a green colour to syrup of
violets. Serum coagulates at the temperature of 156°.
The same effect is produced by adding boiling water.
This coagulum is of a grayish white colour, resem¬
bling the white of eggs. By breaking the coagulum
to pieces, a fluid may be expressed from it, which has
been called the serosity of blood. The residuum being
washed with boiling water, exhibits the properties of
albumen.
8. By diluting serum with six. times its weight of Gelatine
water, and boiling it, the albumen is coagulated. The
remaining liquid, if evaporated with a gentle heat, till
it is considerably concentrated, assumes the form of
jelly, and thus shews that it possesses the properties of
gelatine. # , 26*1
9. By heating the coagulated serum in a silver ves-Sulphur,
sel, the silver is blackened, in consequence of its con¬
version into a sulphuret, by combining with sulphur
contained in the coagulum. It has been alieady
mentioned, that this sulphur exists in the blood, in
combination with ammonia, in the state of hydrosul-
phuret. _ . atfsi
10. The serum of blood contains muriate of soda, Dif&ren
carbonate of soda, phosphate of soda, and phosphate ofsalts.
lime. These salts may be obtained by mixing serum
with double its weight of water, applying heat to coa¬
gulate the albumen, which being separated, and the
remaining liquid filtered and evaporated, crystals are
deposited on cooling. The soda exists in blood com¬
bined with gelatine and albumen, and is in its caustic
state. It unites with the carbonic acid of the air du- ^ ^
ring the evaporation. The component parts of serum, Composi
therefore, are the following : tion of 5
’ rum.
2620
2523
Albumen,
Gelatine,
Hydrosulphuret of ammonia,
Soda,
Muriate
jlumponetit
Parts of
Animal
Substances.
Muriate of soda,
Phosphate of soda,
Phosphate of lime.
2625
llbumen
imd soda.
2626
ron.
2617
Quantity
onjec-
ured.
idaS
ibriim.
2^29
Hstilla.
11. The cruor or clot of the blood, the other por¬
tion into which it spontaneously separates, is of a red
colour, and has considerable consistence. Its specific
gravity is about 1.245. ^*7 washing this substance
with a small quantity of water, and continuing the
process till the water passes off colourless, part of it is
dissolved in the water, and part remains in the state
of a solid white elastic substance, which is the fibrina
pf the blood. That part which is held in solution by
the water contains the colouring matter. This solu¬
tion converts the syrup of violets to a green colour.
JBy exposure to the air it deposits albumen in the form
of flakes. By the evaporation of this solution to dry¬
ness, and the addition of alcohol, part is dissolved. If
this solution be evaporated, the residuum converts ve¬
getable blues to green, and mixes with water like soap.
This residuum contains albumen and soda,
12. If the watery solution be evaporated to dryness
with a moderate heat, a quantity of iron remains be¬
hind, which may be separated by the magnet. It has
been said that the quantity of iron in the blood of a
healthy man amounts to more than two ounces j but
this is little better than conjecture, founded on vague
calculation. The iron in blood is combined with
phosphoric acid. If the watery solution be evaporat¬
ed to dryness, and the residuum obtained be calcined
in a crucible, a red mass remains, which amounts to
0.0045 of the blood which was employed. Part of
this residuum, which is phosphate of iron, is dissolved
by digestion in nitric acid. From this it is precipi¬
tated of a white colour, by ammonia. With the ad¬
dition of pure potash, the precipitate becomes red.
By adding lime water to the solution which contains
the potash, a precipitate is formed, which is phosphate
of lime. By the action of these re-agents, it appears
that the iron in the blood combined with phosphoric
acid, is in the state of sub-phosphate. Phosphate of
iron is insoluble in water, but soluble in the acids. It
is partially decomposed by the alkalies, which carry off
part of its acid, and leave the remainder with excess
of iron. Thus it is that this salt is preserved in the
state of sub-phosphate, by means of the soda which ex¬
ists in the blood.
13. The method of obtaining fibrina from blood has
been already described. This substance may be sepa¬
rated by agitating, or stirring rapidly with a stick, the
blood which has been newly drawn from the animal.
The fibrina or fibrous matter being well washed and
dried on paper, loses about two-filths of its weight, and
becomes hard and brittle. The mean proportion of fi¬
brin a in the blood of man has been estimated at 0.0028.
The fibrina is formed in the blood as it passes through
the lungs, and is deposited in the muscular part of ani¬
mal bodies, of which it forms one of the principal con¬
stituents. When the fibrina is separated from the
blood, the latter is no longer disposed to coagulate
when it is left at rest. A flaky matter only is sepa¬
rated, which appears on the surface.
14. Blood dried with a moderate heat, exhales a
quantity of water which possesses a peculiar odour,
owing to a portion of animal matter which it holds in
€.H E M I S T B Y. 747
solution. If the blood thus dried be distilled in a re-Component
tort, a watery fluid passes over, afterwards carbonic lJurts ot
acid gas, carbonate of ammonia, which crystallizes >n s^l'^es
the neck of the retort, a fluid oil, carbonated hydro- y 
gen gas, and an oily matter of the consistence ol but¬
ter. A green powder is precipitated from sulphate of
iron by the watery fluid. A portion of this powder is
soluble in muriatic acid, and a small quantity ot Prus¬
sian blue remains behind, from which it appears that
prussic acid and an alkali are contained in the watery
liquor. 2630
A quantity of dried blood amounting to 9216 grs. Action of
was introduced into a large crucible, and being gra- beat,
dually heated, it became at first nearly fluid j it then
swelled up, gave out abundance of yellowish-coloured
fetid fumes, and at last took fire, and burnt with a
white flame. The flame and the fumes ceasing to be
emitted, were succeeded by a light, acrid smoke, which
had the odour of prussic acid. When the matter had
been deprived of about five-sixths of its weight, at the
end of six hours it melted again ; a purple flame ap¬
peared on the surface, with the evolution of dense
acrid fumes, which being collected were found to pos¬
sess the properties of phosphoric acid. One hundred
and eighty-one grains of a deep black colour and me¬
tallic brilliancy constituted the residuum. It was at¬
tracted by the magnet. From these observations it ap- 2631
pears that the constituent parts of the blood are the ^omposi-
following. tIon*
1. Water,
2. Fibrina,
3. Albumen,
4. Gelatine,
Hydrosulphuret of am- 10,
11.
6. Soda,
7. Subphosphate of iron,
8. Muriate of soda,
9. Phosphate of soda,
Phosphate of lime,
Benzoic acid.
15. The constituent parts of blood vary considerably Varies at
at different periods of life, and in different states of the different
body. The colouring matter of the blood of the foetus ^riotls>
has been found to be darker and more copious. It con¬
tains no fibrina or phosphoric acid.
16. The blood of persons labouring under inflamma-Inflamma¬
tory disorders seems to possess different properties fromtory.
that of persons in health. It then exhibits, soon after
it is drawn from the body, what has been called by
physicians the buffi/ coat, which is considered to be the
characteristic of inflammation. This inflammatory crust
has been found to consist of fibrina, so that the eruor
deprived of this matter becomes soft, and is almost en¬
tirely soluble in water. The albumen of the serous
part has also undergone some changes. It assumes a
milky appearance when mixed with hot water, and does
not coagulate when it is heated.
17. The serum of the blood of persons labouring Diabetic,
under diabetes, is deprived of its saline taste, has the
appearance of whey, and somewhat of a saccharine
taste.
II. Of Bile.
1. Bile is an important fluid m the animal economy, import-
It seems to perform an essential part in the function ofance and
digestion. It is secreted from the liver, and is of aProPert‘es*
yellowish-green colour, has a soapy feel, a bitter taste,
5 B 2 and
748
CHEMISTRY.
Component
Farts of
Animal
Substances.
^36
Action of
iiCat.
3537
Ilistillii-
tion.
^38
Action of
8,qids.
and a peculiar odour; but it varies in colour, and in
some other of its properties, in different animals. It
varies also in its specific gravity. It has been esti¬
mated at 1.0246. The experiments which have been
made on bile relate chiefly to that obtained from the
gall-bladder of the ox, hence denominated ox-gall.
When bile is strongly agitated, it forms a lather like
soap $ and hence it has been called an animal soap. It
mixes in all proportions with water, to which it com¬
municates a yellow colour.
2. When bile is exposed to a moderate heat, it be¬
comes thick, having lost a great part of its weight.
The vapour it exhales has a peculiar offensive odour.
A solid brown mass is thus obtained, which has a bit¬
ter, with somewhat of a sweetish taste, becomes soft
with the heat of the hands, is ductile, attracts moisture
from the air, and is soluble in water. This substance
effervesces slightly with acids, and acquires a percepti¬
ble odour of musk or amber, when kept for some time.
This has been called the extract of bile. When this
process is conducted in close vessels, with the heat
of a water bath, it gives out a clear aqueous fluid of a
disagreeable odour, which undergoes no particular
change by means of re-agents, if the distillation has not
been carried too far, or the bile has not become in some
degree putrid. If this latter circumstance has taken
place, the watery product has frequently a strong odour
of musk, and becomes turbid on cooling.
When this extract of bile is heated in a retort, it is
decomposed with peculiar appearances. When heat is
gradually applied, a watery fluid, which is slightly
muddy, and of a fetid odour, passes over. This fluid
precipitates metallic salts, and contains almost always
sulphurated hydrogen. The matter in the retort en¬
larges in volume, and the fluid which then comes over
is of a brown colour, extremely fetid, and contains car¬
bonate and zoonate of ammonia. Soon after an oil is
evolved, which is at first liquid, and afterwards becomes
of a brownish colour, thick, and empyreumatic, and of
a most offensive fetid odour. At the same time car¬
bonate of ammonia crystallizes on the sides of the re¬
ceiver. There is then a copious evolution of an elastic
fluid, composed of carbonic acid, carbonated and sul¬
phurated hydrogen gases, holding in solution a small
portion of oil. The carbonate of ammonia thus obtain¬
ed, does not amount to the one-eighth part of the quan¬
tity which is extracted from the blood and from the
bones of animals, from which it is supposed that the
bile is less animalized than many other animal sub¬
stances. There remains behind a black spongy mass of
coal, which is easily burnt. This coaly matter, by ex¬
posure to the air, effloresces on the surface, which is
found to be carbonate of soda. When it is well burnt,
it preserves a deep gray colour j and there is separated,
by means of cold water, nearly half its weight of car¬
bonate of soda, a little muriate of soda, phosphate of
soda, phosphate of lime, and some traces of iron.
3. Bile irf decomposed by all the acids. A preci¬
pitate is formed, which is always of a green colour. Part
of this precipitate remains suspended in the solution,
and is even dissolved by agitation. The solution being
filtered, leaves on the filter a portion of coagulated al¬
bumen. By evaporation the liquid deposits a deep
green flaky substance like pitch, which has consider-
3
able tenacity, swells up when put upon hot coals, readi-Comi)ontr
ly takes fire, and burns like resinous matter. After Farts of
the separation of this matter, the liquid affords by eva- Animal
poration a salt with a base of soda. Substance
Three different saline substances have been obtained" 'r~*
by the action of acids on bile 5 the first with a base of
soda, the second which crystallizes in small r.edles has
lime for its base, and the third is a crystalline matter,
of a slightly sweet taste, which is supposed to be simi¬
lar to sugar. Thus it appeax-s that acids act on bile in
three different ways $ they coagulate the albumen,
which is precipitated $ they combine with the soda by
separating the oily matter which constituted the sapo¬
naceous part of the bile $ and they decompose the phos¬
phoric salts.
Concentrated sulphuric acid coagulates bile in the
form of dense flakes, and communicates to it a deep
colour. Nitric acid, after having formed a precipitate,
of a green colour in the cold, assumes a golden yellow
colour, when it is heated for a sufficient length of time.
It converts a portion of bile into oxalic and prussic acids.
Muriatic acid at first produces a green precipitate,
which afterwards assumes a shade of a reddish violet
colour, especially by means'of heat. Oxymuriatic acid
renders it white and turbid like milk. It changes the
properties of the different constituents of bile, and oc¬
casions a precipitate similar to that matter which fre¬
quently constitutes biliai'y calculi.
4. When the precipitate from bile by means of the PhosphaU
acids is treated with alcohol, and every thing soluble of Ihue.
in this liquid separated, there remains a whitish mat¬
ter which is infusible, nearly insipid, insoluble, whe¬
ther with cold or hot water, but soluble in solutions of
the caustic fixed alkalies, which burns on red hot coals
with the odour of horn, and which gives by analysis,
similar products, especially carbonate of ammonia in
considerable quantity. The coal which remains con¬
tains a portion of phosphate of lime.
5. The alkalies deprive bile of its bitter taste j but Action oi
they do not coagulate it. alkalies.
6. Thus it appears that the constituent parts of bile
are the following.
2639
Water,
Albumen,
Resin,
Soda,
Sulphurated hydrogeh,
Saccharine matter,
Muriate of soda,
Phosphate of lime.
Phosphate of soda,
Iron.
7. Bile, it has been already observed, performs an uses.
important part in the function of digestion. The al¬
buminous and saline parts combine with the chyle, and
are conveyed to the blood. The resinous portion com¬
bines with the excrementitious part of the chyle, and is
thrown out of the body.
Bile is employed in the arts for removing spots of
grease and oil from woollen stuffs. It is also employed
as a pigment. It is evaporated and reduced to the form
of extract, and diluted with a little water, in which state
it gives a brown colour.
2641
III. Of Urine.
I. The properties of urine vary considerably, ac-
cording to the constitution and health of the body, ^
and the period when it is voided after taking food.
The
C H E M
Component The urine of a healthy person is of a light orange co-
Earts of lour, and uniformly transparent. It has a slightly aro-
Animal matic odour, in some degree resembling that of violets.
Substances. Jt ^ ^ gjjghtjy acrid, saline, bitter taste. The speci¬
fic gravity varies from 1.005 to I*033* The aromatic
odour, which leaves it as it cools, is succeeded by
what is called the urinous smell, which latter is con¬
verted to another, and finally to an alkaline odour.
Urine converts the tincture of turnsole into a green
colour, from which it is concluded that it contains an
acid.
2. By adding a solution of ammonia to fresh urine,
a precipitate is formed in the state of white powder,
which is found to be phosphate of lime. But if lime
water be employed in place of ammonia, a more copi¬
ous precipitate, of phosphate of lime, is obtained, from
which it is concluded, that the phosphate of lime is held
in solution with an excess of acid.
3. A small portion of magnesia is also found mixed
rfmagne- with the phosphate of lime which has been precipitated,
derived from phosphate of magnesia, which has been
decomposed by the alkali or lime.
4. The froth which appears when urine is evapo¬
rated is ascribed to the evolution of carbonic acid gas.
5. Urine which has been kept in new casks, depo¬
sits small crystals, which effloresce in the air. These
crystals have been found to possess the properties of
carbonate of lime.
6. A brick-coloured precipitate is frequently formed
in urine as it cools. This substance is uric acid, which
exists in all urine, and may be obtained by evaporating
fresh urine, dissolving it in pure alkali, and precipitat¬
ing by means of acetic acid.
7. The urine of persons labouring under intermit¬
ting fevers, and some other diseases, deposits a copious
sediment called the lateritious sediment, which consists
of rosacic acid.
8. Benzoic acid also exists in urine. It is obtained
by evaporating fresh urine to the consistence of a
syrup, and adding muriatic acid. A precipitate is thus
formed, which is benzoic acid. But it may be obtain¬
ed by evaporating urine to dryness, separating the sa¬
line substances, and applying heat to the residuum. By
this process the benzoic acid is sublimed, and crystal¬
lized in the receiver. The quantity of benzoic acid is
more considerable in the urine of horses and cows than
in human urine.
9. Albumen or gelatine has been found in urine, and
is precipitated by means of an infusion of tan. The
cloud which appears as urine cools, consists of these
substances, which are increased in proportion during
different diseases. The urine of persons labouring
under dropsy contains a large quantity of albumen $
and in the urine of those persons who are subject to
indigestion, the albumen and gelatine are greatly in¬
creased.
JO. Urea is the principal constituent of urine. The
method of obtaining it from urine has been already
described. It is to this substance that the taste,
smell, and peculiar characters of urine are owing.
If concentrated nitric acid be poured upon urine,
evaporated to the consistence of syrup, crystals ap¬
pear, which are the nitrate of urea. The quantity
of urea secreted is very different in different circum¬
stances.
I S T R Y.
749
«643
Phosphate
jf lime.
2<*44
Phosphate
*645
Carbonic
tcid.
1646
Carbonate
lime.
2<>47
Uric acid.
2648
itosacic
tcid.
2649
Icnzoic
! tcid.
afijo
Ubumen
nd gela-
ine.
, 265i
.«t.
11. A resinous substance resembling the resin of Component
bile has been detected in urine, to which its colour is Parts of
ascribed. Urine evaporated to the consistence of ex-
tract, mixed with sulphuric acid and distilled, gives .
out this resinous matter, which is soluble in water and 2652
in alcohol. When urea has been separated from urine Resin,
by evaporation and crystallization, a saline mass re¬
mains. If this be dissolved in hot water, and spon¬
taneously crystallized in a close vessel, two kinds of
crystals are deposited. Those at the bottom are in the
form of rhomboidal prisms, and consist of phosphate of
ammonia mixed with a little phosphate of soda. The
crystals in the upper part of the vessel are in the form
of rectangular tables, composed chiefly of phosphate of
soda. These were formerly called sable salt of urine,
microcosmic salt. 16 i t,
12. Muriate of soda was the first saline substance Muriate of
detected in urine. It may be obtained by slowly eva- soda,
porating it to the consistence of syrup. The salt crys¬
tallizes upon the surface, but in this case the form of
the crystal is that of an octahedron, and not the cube,
the usual form. The cause of this deviation is ascribed
to the urea.. . 26s4
13. Muriate of potash is also found among the Muriate of
crystals which are formed during the evaporation of potash.
Urine* . . . . ,a<>55
14. Muriate of ammonia is one of the salts which Muriate of
are found in urine. The crystals of this salt which are ani(BC,nia‘
usually octahedrons, when they are formed in urine,
assume that of the cube, a deviation which is also ascri¬
bed to the action of the urea. 2(^6
15. Urine contains sulphur, which maybe detected Sulphur,
by holding paper stained with acetate of lead over mine
when it is become putrid. The paper is blackened,
which is owing to sulphur exhaled with the carbonic
acid. Sulphate of soda and sulphate of lime have also
been detected in urine.
16. No less than 30 different substances have been Component
detected in urine by chemical analysis, the principal ofpaits.
which are the following :
Water,
Phosphoric acid,
Phosphate of soda,
Phosphate of soda and
ammonia,
Phosphate of ammonia,
Phosphate of lime,
Phosphate of magnesia,
Phosphate of magnesia
and ammonia,
Carbonic acid,
Carbonate of lime,
Uric acid,
Urate of ammonia,
Rosacic acid,
Benzoic acid,
Benzoate of ammonia.
Gelatine,
Albumen,
Urea,
Resin,
Muriate of potash,
Muriate of soda,
Muriate of ammonia,.
Sulphur,
Sulphate of lime,
Sulphate of soda.
17. Urine is particularly prone to spontaneous de-puti-efac.
composition* The time when this process commences, lion uf
and the rapidity of the changes which take place, de-uiine'
pend on the quantity of the gelatine and albumen.
When the proportion of these substances is consider¬
able, the decomposition is very rapid. This is owing
to the great number of substances, and the united
force of their attractions, overcoming the existing affini¬
ties of the different compounds of which fresh urine
consists,
ISO
Component
Carts of
Animal
Substances.
t6s9
Varies in
different
circum¬
stances.
2660
Urine of
infants.
2661
After tak¬
ing food..
2662
In warm
seasons.
. 2663
Kinds of
food.
C H E M
consists, and especially to the facility with which urea
is decomposed. This substance is converteu during
putrefaction into ammonia, carbonic acid, and acetic
acid. Hence the smell of ammonia is always recog¬
nized while urine is undergoing these changes. Part
of the gelatine is deposited in a flaky form mixed with
mucilage. Ammonia combines with phosphoric acid,
and the phosphate of lime is precipitated. It combines
also with phosphate of magnesia, and forms a triple
salt. The other acids, the uric, benzoic, the acetic and
carbonic acids, are all saturated with ammonia. The
following substances, therefore, are obtained from urine
by putrefaction.
Ammonia,
Phosphate of ammonia,
Phosphate of magnesia and ammonia,
Carbonate of ammonia,
Urate of ammonia,
Acetate of ammonia,
Benzoate of ammonia,
Muriate of ammonia,
Muriate of soda.
Products nearly similar are obtained by the-distil¬
lation of urine. The remarks, however, which we have
formerly made, under the head of mineral waters, on
the mode of combination of the ingredients of mixed
saline solutions, apply to urine of all kinds, and in every
state; i. e. the salts which are actually obtained, are
not those which exist in the liquid, any more than other
salts capable of being formed by different combinations
of the acids and alkalies which are present. See N° 2225.
18. Such are the properties of human urine in its
healthy state ; the changes to which it is subject; and
the products which ai'e obtained, either by means of
chemical analysis or spontaneous decomposition. But
the nature and properties of urine vary considerably,
according to the period of life, the time it is voided af¬
ter taking food, different seasons of the year, the
nature of the food, the influence of passions, and disease.
In the urine of infants no phosphate of lime is
found. The proportion of benzoic acid is consider¬
able, and the quantity of urea is small. There is less
acrimony, odour, and colour. As the period of life
advances, the saline matters increase, especially the
phosphate of lime, which is no longer required for the
formation of bone.
The urine, which is passed immediately after taking
food, is white and colourless, and seems to contain
little else but water. It is not till seven or eight
hours after a repast, that the urine is completely
formed.
Urine voided during the warmer seasons of the year,
or by persons who inhabit hot climates, is high-coloured
and acrid, which is ascribed to a greater proportion of
saline matter and urea. In winter also the urine is red
and high-coloured, owing to a greater proportion of the
earthy phosphates and of uric acid, which it then con¬
tains. It is no doubt considerably influenced by the
modification of the action of the skin.
The food frequently communicates its properties to
the urine. The odour of garlic, of resinous substances
and some aromatics, is often perceptible in the urine
a few minutes after these substances are taken into the
stomach, or even only applied to the skin. The fetid
I S T R Y.
odour of the urine of those who have eaten asparagus, Cqmponen
is well known. The colouring matters of some sub- Farts of
stances are communicated to the urine ; such as the red Animal
colour of beet-root, the orange-yellow of rhubarb, orSubst^nw:
the colour of madder.
The passions of the mind have great influence on the Passions,
secretion of urine, both in changing its properties and
increasing its quantity. In these cases the urine is ge¬
nerally colourless, insipid, and without odour. jgg-
But the nature and properties of urine undergo still Diseases,
greater changes during disease. From these changes
the empiric has attempted to form prognostics of the
nature, progress, and termination of diseases.
At the commencement of fevers and inflammatory
disorders, the urine is high-coloured and extremely
acrid, scarcely becomes turbid on cooling, and deposits
no sediment. In affections of the liver, such as jaundice,
it is of a yellow orange colour, like saffron, and com¬
municates its colour to the vessels into which it is
received, or to those substances which are immersed
in it. It is then called bilious urine. It seems to
contain a portion of the colouring matter of bile. To¬
wards the termination of febrile disorders, the quantity
of urine is increased ; and it deposits, as it cools, a cry¬
stalline or scaly matter, of the colour of peach flowers,
which is called critical urine. The sediment is com¬
posed of phosphate of lime, rosacic and uric acids.
During nervous affections, as in hysteria, the urine is
perfectly limpid and colourless, inodorous and insipid.
It has been observed, that the urine of gouty persons
contains a smaller proportion of acid than usual. At
the commencement of a paroxysm, the quantity of phos¬
phoric acid seems to be diminished ; but it gradually in¬
creases towards the termination of the fit, and is then
in greater proportion than in ordinary health. The
urine of persons lahoiu ing under rickets deposits a great
portion of lime. The urine of an infant who died of
worms, was found on analysis to contain oxalate of
lime. In some cases of diabetes, the urine is colour¬
less and insipid ; in others it contains a great propor¬
tion of saccharine matter. _
19. The urine of other animals exhibits different j);fferent
characters from that of man, according to their na- animals,
ture, the diversity of their organs, their food, man¬
ner of respiration, and the medium in which they
live. 266-j
The urine of the horse has a strong peculiar odour. The horst
It is turbid when voided, or soon after becomes mud¬
dy. A pellicle, which is carbonate of lime, forms on
the surface when it is exposed to the air. It changes
the syrup of violets to a green colour, effervesces with
acids, and is precipitated by the alkaline ■ carbonates.
The urine of the horse yields no phosphorus. The
component parts of the urine of this animal, as they
have been ascertained by Fourcroy and Vauquelin, are
the following:
l!
i
it
■;
if'
iTii
11
Carbonate of lime
Carbonate of soda
Benzoate of soda
Muriate of potash
Urea
Water and mucilage
o.on
0.009
0.024-
0.009
0.007
0.940
1,000*
The
* Mein.
I’Inst, ii*
p. 445-
267° _
he rabbit.
C H E M
Component The urine of the cow possesses nearly the same pro-
Paru of pertxes as that of the horse. It has a soapy feel, and
’ rma!s a stronq Peculiar odour. It gives a green colour to
rn stances-syrup o|. vj0iet;Sj effervesces wfeh acids, but is not altered
2668 by the alkaline carbonates. When it is exposed to the
The cow. air, small crystals form on the surface. Its component
parts are,
Carbonate of potash,
Sulphate of potash,
Benzoic acid,
Urea.
2559 /
fhe camel. xhe urine or the camel is more distinguished by its
odour.than any other, hut it is analogous to that
of the cow. It is not mucilaginous, and does not deposit
carbonate of lime. The specific gravity of this urine
is greater than any other. It produces a slight change
on the infusion of violets, communicating a green co¬
lour. It effervesces with acids, and furnishes nitre,
sulphate and muriate of potash, with the addition of
sulphuric, nitric, and muriatic acids. It contains
Carbonate of potash,
Sulphate of potash,
Muriate of potash,
Urea.
The urine of the rabbit, examined by Vauquelin,
exhibits similar characters with that of the horse, the
cow, and the camel. It becomes milky, and deposits
carbonate of lime by exposure to the air. It converts
vegetable blues to a green colour, and effervesces with
acids. It contains the following substances :
Carbonate of lime,
Carbonate of magnesia,
Carbonate of potash,
Sulphate of potash,
Sulphate of lime,
Muriate of potash,
Urea,
Gelatine,
Sulphur,
The urine of the Guinea pig is analogous in its na¬
ture and properties to that of the larger animals alrea¬
dy described.
It appears that the urine of graminivorous animals
belonging to the class of mammalia, or which live on
vegetables in general, contains no phosphoric salts, or
uric acid ; that it is loaded with carbonate of lime,
salts having a base of potash, and benzoic acid. The
only substance which the urine of these animals possesses
in common with human urine is urea. The urine of
carnivorous animals, of which indeed scarcely any thing
is known, is supposed to possess different properties from
that of the animals just mentioned. The strong fetid
odour of the urine of the cat is well known. Muriate
of ammonia has been obtained from the urine of this
animal by evaporation $ but it is supposed, from the pe¬
culiar odour, that it contains urea.
The urine of birds affords a copious sediment, which
seems to be carbonate of lime.
,
■uinea pig.
2672
"rarninivo-
>us ani.
2673
arnivo-
)US,
I S T R Y. ' 751
A substance which was found in the urinary bladder Component
of the turtle, in the form of paste, and which was exa- Pans of
mined by Vauquelin, was composed of
Animal
Substances.
Muriate of soda,
Phosphate of lime,
Animal matter,
Uric acid.
IV. Of Milk.
2675
Turtle.
birds.
I. Milk, which is secreted in particular organs by pr0peities.
the females of viviparous quadrupeds and cetaceous
fishes, included under the class mammalia, and destined
for the nourishment of the offspring, is a white opaque
fluid, varying in its properties according to the different
species of animals, and the nature of their food. The
milk of the cow, which is most easily and most abund¬
antly procured, has been chiefly the subject of chemical
investigation. To it, therefore, the following observa¬
tions are chiefly applied.
2. Milk is distinguished by an agreeable sweetish taste, Of cows
and a peculiar smell. But these properties belong to™^'
it only when it is just separated from the cow, for in
the course of a few hours they are considerably different.
The specific gravity varies at different periods. It is
greater than that of water, and has been found to
amount to 1.0324. The boiling and the freezing points
of milk are also variable. 2(^s
3. If milk be left at rest for some time, it separates Separation
into two parts j an unctuous matter which floats on of cream,
the surface, called cream, and a denser fluid which still
retains many of the properties of milk. The quantity
of cream obtained from milk, and the time it requires
to separate, vary according to the nature of the milk
and the temperature.
4. Cream thus obtained is of a yellow colour, and Its proper-
acquires a greater consistence by being exposed to the!*68,
air. It is lighter than water, has an unctuous feel,
and becomes rancid like oils, by keeping. ' When
it is boiled, a small portion of oil appears on the sur¬
face. Cream is not soluble in alcohol or in oils.
When cream is agitated for a longer or shorter time,
according to the temperature to which the milk has
been exposed during its separation, and perhaps to
some circumstances, which have not yet been obser¬
ved, it separates into two parts *, one which has a
solid consistence, is bitter, and another which remains
fluid. ' 2680
5. Butter is of a yellow colour, and has all the pro-®lUter*
perties of an oil, combined with a portion of the curd and
serum of the milk. It melts at the temperature of 96°,
and mixes readily with other oily matters. When but¬
ter is kept for some time, it is decomposed ; it becomes
rancid, which is ascribed to the whey and the curd with*
which it is combined; for when these substances are
previously separated, it may be preserved sweet much
longer. Butter yields by distillation water, an acid
liquid, an oily substance, which is at first fluid, but be¬
comes afterwards concrete. A small portion of carbo¬
naceous matter remains behind. 2681
6. When fresh cream, or the whole of the milk fresh ^angcs “1
drawn from the cow, is churned, it requires the process ot^hurn.-^
to be continued a much longer time than when theing.
cream
752
Component
Parts of
Animal
Substances.
CHEMISTRY.
268a
Coagula¬
tion.
1683
Curd.
2684
Cheese.
2685
Whey.
2585
Koumiss.
2587
Vinegar.
cream or milk is left to repose, as is usually the case,
till it has acquiretl a slightly acid taste. But when
cream which has become sour, is churned, the butter
separated has no acid properties, and the milk which
remains is even less sour than the cream previous to
the commencement of the process. An acid, therefore,
has been evolved, and this acid is supposed to he the
carbonic. When fresh cream or fresh milk is subject¬
ed to this process, in which the acid has not been iorm-
ed, it requires greater agitation to complete this pre¬
vious part of the change which the cream or milk must
undergo, before the separation of the oily part or the
butter. The milk which remains after the butter has
been separated, or, as it is called, the butter-milk, has
all the properties of milk from which the cream has
been separated.
7. The milk which remains after the separation of
the cream, may be coagulated by the addition of se¬
veral substances, particularly by the addition of runnet,
which is in most common use, and which is prepared
by digesting the inner coat of the stomach of young
animals, especially that of the calf. This coagnlum
separates into two parts, the curd and the serum or
whey.
Curd is a white solid substance, and somewhat brit¬
tle, when the whole of the whey is expressed. It is
soluble in acids, but it is necessary that the mine¬
ral acids be greatly diluted, and the vegetable acids
concentrated.
Cheese is prepared from curd, by separating the
whey by expression. The quality of the cheese depends
upon the quantity of cream which remains in the
milk. The best cheese is obtained by coagulating the
milk at the temperature of about ioo°, and expressing
the whey slowly and gradually, without breaking down
the curd.
If milk be not too much diluted with water, it may
he coagulated by a great number of different substances.
Among this number are acids, alcohol, neutral salts,
gum arabic, and sugar.
8. Whey expressed from coagulated milk is of a
yellowish green colour, and has an agreeable sweet
taste. If it is boiled, a quantity of curd separates,
and after being left at rest for some time the whole
of it is precipitated, and the liquid remains transparent
and colourless. By slow evaporation it deposits white-
coloured crystals of sugar of milk, with some muriate
of potash, muriate of soda, and a little phosphate of lime.
The liquid which remains after the separation of the
salts, is converted, by cooling, into a gelatinous sub¬
stance. If whey be kept for some time, it becomes
sour, by the formation of an acid, which is lactic
acid. It is to this acid that the spontaneous coagula¬
tion of milk, after it remains at rest for some time, is
owing.
9. If milk, after it has become sour, be kept in a
proper temperature, it ferments, emitting carbonic acid
gas, and exhibiting the other phenomena of fermenta¬
tion. A vinous intoxicating liquor is thus prepared,
which has been long known among the Tartars, and
called by them koumiss. They prepare it from the
milk of the mare.
10. Milk is susceptible of the acetous fermentation.
If about six spoonfuls of alcohol be added to eight pints
of milk, and the liquid be excluded from the air, vine¬
gar will be formed in four or five weeks. Although Component
the air is to be excluded, yet the carbonic acid gas Parts of
must be allowed to escape as it is disengaged. ^n'nial
By the distillation of milk with the heat of a water- ^ s
bath, water passes over, after which the milk coagulates,
and an oily yellowish white substance remains behind,
which, by increasing the heat, yields a transparent li¬
quid, a fluid oil, ammonia, an acid, a thick black oil,
and in the end carbonated hydrogen gas. The coaly
matter in the retort contains potash, muriate of potash,
phosphate of lime, and sometimes muriate of soda, with
a small portion of magnesia and iron.
The constituent parts which enter into the composi¬
tion of milk are the following :
T. Water, 6. Muriate of soda,
2. Oil, 7
3. Curd, 8
4. Gelatine, 9
5. Sugar of milk,
Muriate of potash,
Phosphate of lime,
Sulphur.
2688
Composi¬
tion.
2689
II. Although the milk of different animals be com-Milk dif-
posed nearly of the same substances, the proportions ferent in
vary so much, as to give them very different properties.
The following are the results of the investigations of
Deyeux and Parmentier with regard to the properties Compared,
of the component parts of the milk of different animals
compared together.
A. Every kind of milk, when left at rest, produces
cream on the surface, but it is different in the milk of
different animals.
a. In the milk of the cow it is copious, thick, and of
a yellow colour.
b. In women’s milk it is more liquid, white, and in
small quantity.
c. In goats milk it is more abnndant than in that of
the cow, thicker and whiter.
d. In ewes milk it is nearly as abundant, and of the
same colour as that of the cow, but has a peculiar taste.
e. In asses milk it is thick, less abundant, and in a
great measure resembles that ef women’s milk.
f. In mares milk it is very fluid, and similar in co¬
lour and consistence to good cows milk before the cream
appears on the surface.
B. Butter obtained from the milk of different ani-Butter,
mals, has the following comparative properties.
a. That of the cow is sometimes of a deep yellow,
sometimes pale or white, and has always a considerable
consistency.
b. It is difficult to separate the butter from the cream
of women’s milk. It is in small quantity, insipid, and
of a pale yellow. It has been erroneously supposed
that no butter could be obtained from this milk.
c. The butter of asses milk is always very white, soft,
and disposed to become rancid.
d. The butter from goats milk is easily separated
from the cream. It is abundant, always white, soft,
and disposed to become rancid.
e. The butter from ewes milk is of a yellow colour,
soft, and soon becomes rancid.
f. The butter of mares milk is difficult to he obtain¬
ed, and in small quantity. It has little consistence, and
is readily decomposed.
C. The curd of milk varies in different animals.
a. That from the milk of the cow is bulky, tremu¬
lous, and retains a great deal of the serum.
b. That
2691
269Z
Curd.
Animal
Substances
Vhev.
C H E M
Component _ That from women’s milk is in small quantity,
Parts of little coherent, has an unctuous feel, and retains but a
small portion of the whey.
c. 1 he curd of asses milk is similar to the former,
but without being unctuous.
d. Curd from the milk of the goat is in great pro¬
portion, of a firmer consistence than that of the cow,
and retains less whey.
e. Curd from ewes milk is fat, viscid, and communi¬
cates a soft paste to cheese.
f The curd from mares milk is in very small quan¬
tity, and similar to that from women’s milk.
D. The serum or whey constitutes a very great pro¬
portion of the milk, and exhibits the following va¬
rieties.
(i. W hey from the milk of the cow is of a greenish-
yellow colour, a sweet taste, and contains sugar of milk
and neutral salts.
b. The whey from women’s milk has little colour,
but has a very sweet taste, containing a considerable
proportion of saccharine matter.
c. The whey of asses milk is colourless, and contains
less salts and more sugar than that of the cow.
d. Whey of the goat is of a slight yellow colour, and
contains very little sugar and saline matter. The lat¬
ter consists almost entirely of muriate of lime.
e. The whey of ewes milk is always colourless, and
contains the smallest quantity of sugar, and but a small
portion of muriate and phosphate of lime.
f. The whey of mares milk has little colour, and con¬
tains a great proportion ol saccharine matter and of sa-
Fourcroy, line substances *.
:■ 435-
V. Of Saliva.
1. The saliva which is secreted by peculiar glands,
and which flows into the mouth, is a clear, viscid fluid,
without taste or smell. Its specific gravity varies from
1.0167 to 1.080. It has generally a frothy appearance,
being mixed with a quantity of air.
2. Saliva has a strong attraction for oxygen, which
by trituration it communicates to some metallic sub¬
stances, as mercury, gold, and silver. When saliva is
boiled in water, albumen is precipitated, and when it is
slowly evaporated, muriate of soda is obtained. A ve¬
getable gluten remains behind, which burns with the
odour of prussic acid.
3. Saliva becomes thick by the action of acids.
Oxalic acid precipitates lime. Saliva is also inspis¬
sated by alcohol. It,is decomposed by the alkalies;
and the nitrates of lead, of mercury, and of silver, pre¬
cipitate muriatic and phosphoric acids.
4. By distillation in a retort, it froths up, affords
near four-fifths of its quantity of water nearly pure, a
little carbonate of ammonia, some oil, and an acid.
What remains behind consists of muriate of soda, phos¬
phate of soda and of lime. The constituent parts of
saliva are the following.
2694
'ropeities.
2 fyS
ombines
itli oxy.
en.
2696
ctiou of
:ids.
,2697
bstilla-
269S
°niposi-
oa.
t699
®Hva of
le horse.
5. Phosphate of soda,
6. Phosphate of lime,
7. Phosphate of ammonia.
1. Water,
2. Mucilage,
3. Albumen,
4. Muriate of soda,
5'. The saliva of the horse is of a greenish yellow
-colour, a disagreeable smell, a saline taste, and soapy
Vol. V. Part II. f
2701
Parts of
the eye.
* Phil.
Trans.
1802.
2702
Eyes of
sheep.
I S T R Ys 753
feel. It is coagulated by the acids, alcohol, and boil- Component
ing water. A black earthy residuum remains after Parts of
spontaneous evaporation. By distillation it yields an Animal
insipid watery liquid, carbonate of ammonia, carbonated ^ii:^ti'inees‘
hydrogen and carbonic acid gases, and a black empy-
reumatic oil.
6. The pancreatic juice, it is supposed, possesses pro-Paucreattc
pet ties analogous to those of saliva, and is destined for juice,
similar purposes, namely, to contribute to the solution
of alimentary substances, and to their conversion into
chyme ; but very little is known of its nature and
uses.
VI. Of the Humours of the Eye.
1. The eye is composed of three substances, which
in anatomy have received the name of humours. These
are the aqueous, the vitreous, and the crystalline hu¬
mours or lens. The following observations are from
Mr Chenevix’s experiments on this subject*.
2. The aqueous humour of the eye of the sheep is
transparent like water, and has scarcely any taste or
smell. The specific gravity is 1.0090. It evaporates
slowly when exposed to the air ; a coagulum is formed
by boiling. When 100 parts are evaporated to dryness,
eight parts remain behind. None of the metallic salts
produce any precipitate except nitrate of silver, which
throws down the muriate of silver. Tan also produces
a precipitate in the aqueous humour. The component
parts, therefore, of this substance, are albumen, gela¬
tine, and muriatic acid, or rather muriate of soda, as
the acid is in combination with soda. The vitreous
humour exhibits the same properties.
3. The crystalline lens of the sheep is solid, com¬
posed of concentric coats, and transparent. The spe¬
cific gravity is 1.1. When fresh it has scarcely any
taste. It is soluble in water, and the solution is coa¬
gulated by heat. Tan produces a copious precipitate,
both before and after coagulation. Its component
parts are, therefore, albumen and gelatine, with water.
4. The human eye was found to be composed of the
same substances. The specific gravity of the aqueous
and vitreous humours is 1.0053 ; °f crystalline lens,
1.0790. The specific gravity of the aqueous and vi¬
treous humours of the eye of the ox is 1.008 ; the crys¬
talline lens 1.0765. The composition is the same as
that of the sheep.
271 2 33
Human
eye.
VII. Of Tears and Mucus.
1. The tears are secreted by the lachrymal gland, p1.02^°4ics
for the purpose of lubricating the eye. This liquid is * ‘ 1C'
transparent and colourless, has no perceptible smell,
but a saline taste. It communicates to vegetable blues
a permanent green colour. When it is evaporated
nearly to dryness, cubic crystals are formed, consist¬
ing of muriate ol soda. The soda is in excess, for
vegetable blues are converted by it to green. A
portion of mucilaginous matter, which becomes yellow
as it dries, remains after the evaporation. This liquid
is soluble in water and alkalies. Alcohol produces
a white flaky precipitate, and when it is evaporated,
soda and muriate of soda remain behind. By burnino-
the residuum, some traces of phosphate of lime and of
soda are detected. The component parts of tears are,
therefore,
JC
Water,
754
CHEMISTRY.
Component
Parts of
Animal
Substances.
2706
Mucus.
27°9
Composi¬
tion.
Water,
Mucilage,
Soda,
Muriate of soda,
Phosphate of lime,
Phosphate of soda.
2707
Properties.
2708
Action of
alcohol.
2710
Properties.
2711
Action of
water.
2712
Acids.
The mucilage of tears absorbs oxygen from the at¬
mosphere, and becomes thick, viscid, and of a yellow
colour. It is then insoluble in water. Oxymuriatic
acid produces a similar effect. It is converted into
muriatic acid, so that it has been deprived of its oxy¬
gen, or rather has acquired hydrogen from the water,
the oxygen of which has combined with the mucilage.
2. The mucus of the nose consists of the same sub¬
stances as the tears ; but being more exposed to the
air, it acquires a greater degree of viscidity from the
mucilage absorbing oxygen.
VIII. Of the Wax of the Ear.
1. The wax of the ear, or cerumen, is a liquid secret¬
ed by glands, which are situated in the internal ear.
It is of a viscid yellow colour, and becomes concrete by
exposure to the air. The taste is bitter; it melts with
a moderate heat, gives out an aromatic smell, and
stains paper like oil. When thrown upon burning
coals, it gives out a white smoke, melts, swells, be¬
comes dark-coloured, and gives out the odour of am¬
monia. A light coaly matter remains behind. It
forms a kind of emulsion by agitation with water.
2. Alcohol dissolves a portion of cerumen *, the un¬
dissolved part exhibits the properties of albumen mixed
with oil. By evaporating the alcohol, an orange-colour¬
ed residuum, similar to turpentine, is left behind. It has
the properties of resin of bile. This matter is also so¬
luble in ether. By burning the albumen of the ceru¬
men, some traces of soda and phosphate of lime are de¬
tected. The component parts of cerumen are,
Albumen,
Resin,
Colouring matter,
Soda,
Phosphate of lime.
>
IX. Of Synovia.
1. The liquid secreted within the capsular ligaments
of the joints, to facilitate motion by lubricating these
parts, is called synovia. The synovia of the ox is a
viscid, semitransparent fluid, of a greenish-white colour,
which soon acquires the consistence of jelly, and not long
after becomes again fluid, depositing a filamentous mat¬
ter.
2. Synovia mixes with water, and renders it viscid.
When this mixture is boiled, it becomes milky, and
some pellicles are deposited on the sides of the vessel.
Alcohol produces a precipitate when added to synovia.
This precipitate is albumen. After this matter is se¬
parated, the liquid still remains viscid ; but if acetic
acid be added, the viscidity disappears, and it becomes
transparent, depositing a white filamentous substance,
which resembles vegetable gluten. It is soluble in cold
water, and in concentrated acids and pure alkalies.
This fibrous matter is precipitated by acids and alcohol
in flakes.
3. The concentrated mineral acids produce a flaky
precipitate, which is soon re-dissolved 3 but the visci¬
dity of the liquid is not destroyed till they are so Component
much diluted with water, that the acid taste is only Parts of
perceptible. c
4. When synovia is exposed to dry air, it evapo-, ^ ‘
rates, and cubic crystals remain in the residuum with 27I3
a white saline efflorescence. The first are muriate ofSaltssepa-
soda, and the latter carbonate of soda. This substance rat-e(h
soon becomes putrid, giving out ammonia during its
decomposition. By distillation in a retort, it yields
water, which soon becomes putrid 3 water containing
a portion of ammonia, and an empyreumatic oil, with
carbonate of ammonia 3 by washing the residuum, mu¬
riate and carbonate of soda may be obtained. A small
portion of phosphate of lime is found in the coaly mat¬
ter. The constituent parts of synovia are the follow¬
ing :
Fibrous matter
Albumen
Muriate of soda
Soda
Phosphate of lime
Water
11.86
4-52
i-75
00.71
00.70
80.46
100.00
a7r4
Composi.
tion.
X. Of Semen.
I. Semen is secreted in the testes of male animals
but when it is ejected it is composed of two substances 3
the one is fluid and milky, and the other of a thick mu¬
cilaginous consistence, in which appear a great number
of white silky filaments, especially if it be agitated in
cold water. It has a disagreeable odour, and an acrid
irritating taste. The specific gravity varies consider¬
ably, but is always greater than that of water. When
it is rubbed in a mortar, it froths up, and acquires the
consistence of pomatum from the air with which it
mixes. It converts the flow'ers of mallow and of vio¬
lets to a green colour, and it precipitates the calcare¬
ous and metallic salts 3 which shews, that it contains
an uncombined alkali. The thick part of the semen,
as it cools, becomes transparent, and assumes a greater
degree of consistence 3 but it afterwards becomes en¬
tirely liquid, even without absorbing moisture from the
This change takes place in about twenty minutes
* Arm. it
Chim. xiv.
p. 123.
Properties.
•716
from the time of its emission.
2. If semen be exposed to the air after it has be-Action of
come liquid at the temperature of 6o°, it becomes co-air*
vered with a transparent pellicle, and at the end of
three or four days deposits fine transparent crystals of
a line in length, crossing each other like radii from a
center. When they are magnified, they appear to be
four-sided prisms, terminated by long four-sided pyra¬
mids. When semen is exposed to a warm air, in con¬
siderable quantity, it is decomposed 3 it assumes the
colour of the yolk of egg, and becomes acid, either by
absorbing the oxygen from the atmosphere, or by a dif¬
ferent combination and arrangement of its own consti¬
tuent principles. It then emits the odour of putrid
fish, and is covered with the byssus septica. 2717
3. Heat accelerates the liquefaction of semen ; and Of beat,
when it has undergone this change it is no longer
susceptible of coagulation. It is decomposed by the
application of strong heat. Water is first separated 3
it then blackens, swells up, and emits yellow fumes,
having
Parts of
Animal
Substances
2718
;)f water.
2719
3f lime.
2729
kids.
X-jXl
Salts.
C H E M I
Component having an empyreumatic, ammoniacal odour. A light
coal remains behind, which burns readily to white
ashes.
4. Before it has become fluid, semen is not soluble
in water either cold or hot. To the latter it commu¬
nicates an opal colour. But in the fluid state it com¬
bines readily with either hot or cold water, from which
it is separated by alcohol or oxymuriatic acid in the
form of white flakes. The alkalies promote the solu¬
tion of semen in water.
5. No ammonia is disengaged from fresh semen by
means of quicklime j but when it has been exposed for
some time to a warm and moist air, it is separated in
great abundance, so that ammonia is formed during its
exposure to the air.
6. The acids readily dissolve semen, and this solution
is not decomposed by the alkalies; nor indeed is the
alkaline solution of semen decomposed by the acids.
Wine, cyder, and urine, also dissolve semen, but it is
in consequence of the acid which is combined with
these liquids. Water acidulated with sulphuric acid
acquires the same property. Oxymuriatic acid coagu¬
lates semen in white flakes, which are insoluble in wa¬
ter and in acids. The same acid produces the coagu¬
lation of fluid semen. This is owing to the absorption
of oxygen derived from the acid, which is converted in¬
to muriatic acid.
7. Barytic salts are not decomposed by the seminal
fluid which has been liquefied in a close vessel $ but
%vhen it has undergone this change in the open air,
rhomboidal crystals are formed with the addition of
these salts. The calcareous and metallic salts are de¬
composed by semen in both conditions. From these
facts it appears that semen contains an uncombined al¬
kali, which has not the property of decomposing the
barytic salts till it has combined with the carbonic acid
2722 from the atmosphere.
Semen con- 8. The crystals which form in semen by spontane-
fs P^03* ous evaporation in the open air, and which are en¬
tangled in the viscid matter, may be separated by add¬
ing water. These crystals have neither smell nor taste.
They melt under the blow-pipe into a white opaque
globule, which is surrounded with a yellowish flame.
This salt is insoluble in water, and is not acted on by
the alkalies j but is soluble in the mineral acids with¬
out effervescence, from which solutions, lime water, the
alkalies, and oxalic acid, throw down a precipitate.
Alcohol added to the concentrated muriatic solution
of this substance, dissolves part of it, which exhibits all
the characters of muriate of lime j and there remains
another substance which melts under the blow-pipe
into a green transparent glass, soluble in water, which
precipitates lime water and reddens vegetable blues.
This salt, therefore, as is demonstrated from these ex¬
periments, is phosphate of lime. After the formation
of the above salts, a great number of small, white,
opaque bodies, appear on the surface. They are also
phosphate of lime.
9. By burning 40 grains of dried semen in a cru¬
cible, it first became soft, and then gave out the odour
of burnt horn accompanied with yellow fumes. It
blackened and emitted the odour of ammonia. The
coaly matter which remained was lixiviated with water.
This was evaporated, and afforded crystals in the form
of rhomboidal plates, which effervesced with acids 5
j>hate of
, ?723
And soda.
S T R Y. 755
with sulphuric acid afforded sulphate of soda, and with Component
muriatic acid formed muriate of soda. The alkali, Parts of
therefore, was soda. Animal
10. The alkaline matter being separated, the resi- ^nbgt^nces;
duum was still exposed to strong heat, and furnished
13 grs. of white ashes, which had the following pro¬
perties. By the action of the blow-pipe it is converted
into an opaque white enamel, which attracts moisture
from the air, is soluble in acids, and the solution has all
the characters of phosphate of lime. The component
parts of semen, therefore, are,
2724
Water 90
Mucilage 6
Soda 1
Phosphate of lime 3
too
Composi¬
tion.
XI. Of the Liquor of the Amnios.
* Vauque-
lin, Ann. dc
Chim. ix.
. . . _ 64—So.
1. This liquid is secreted in the amnios or bag which
surrounds the foetus in the uterus. It is very different
in different animals, so far at least as its nature and
properties have been investigated. The liquor of the
amnios of women and cows only has been examined. * ^
The following are the results of the experiments of^^*
Yauquelin and Buniva on these liquids*. XXX‘“*22
2. This liquid in women is of a milky colour, an Properties,
agreeable odour, and a saline taste. It becomes trans¬
parent by filtering and separating some coagulated
matter which is suspended in it, and which communi¬
cates the white colour. The specific gravity is 1.005.
It seems to contain both an acid and an alkali j for it
converts syrup of violets to a green colour, and red¬
dens the tincture of turnsole. It froths when agitated,
becomes opaque wfien heated, and exhales the odour Action of
of the white of egg. heat.
3. It is rendered more transparent by acids j but .a727
alcohol and the alkalies occasion a flaky precipitate, Ac*ds’
which is like glue when it is dried. The infusion of
nut-galls gives a copious brown precipitate} and nitrate
of silver produces a white precipitate, which being in¬
soluble in nitric acid, is muriate of silver.
4. By slow evaporation this liquid assumes a milky
appearance } a transparent pellicle forms on the sur¬
face, and a very small residuum is left. By adding
water to the residuum, and evaporating the solution,
muriate and carbonate of soda are obtained. The ashes
which remain, after burning the residuum, consist of
carbonate of soda, phosphate and carbonate of lime.
During the burning, a strong, fetid, ammoniacal odour
is exhaled. 2y2S
5. From these experiments, it appears that this li-Comp«si-
quid consists of a great proportion of water, of albu-tion*
men, muriate of soda, of soda, phosphate of lime, and
lime.
6. A white shining soft substance, somewhat resem-Cmst on
bling soap, is deposited on the body of the foetus in the foetus,
the uterus. It is insoluble in water, alcohol, and oils.
The caustic alkalies dissolve a portion of it, and form
a kind of soap. It decrepitates on burning coals, then
dries, blackens, and gives out the odour of an em¬
pyreumatic oil. It leaves behind a coaly matter,
which burns with difficulty. When it is heated in
a crucible of platina, it decrepitates, while an oily
5 C 2 matter
756
CHEMISTRY.
Component
Tarts of
An'mal
Substances.
a/.io
Composi¬
tion .
273x
Characters.
273^
Amniotic
acid.
2733
Sulphate
of soda
obtained.
2734
Animal
flatter.
2735
Composi¬
tion.
matter exudes. It then curls up like horn, inflames,
and leaves behind gray ashes, which effervesce with
acids, and which seem to be composed chiefly of car¬
bonate of lime.
7. This matter seems to be a mixture of animal mu¬
cilage and fat, originating from the albumen, which
lias undergone some peculiar change. I he parts of a
foetus which have remained in the uterus after death,
have been found converted into a fatty matter.
Liquor of the amnios of the cow.— 1. This liquid
differs from the former in being of a reddish brown
colour, in having an acid bitter taste, an odour resem¬
bling the extracts of some vegetables, and the viscidi¬
ty of a solution of gum. The specific gravity is 1.028.
It reddens the tincture of turnsole, forms a copious
precipitate with muriate of barytes, and with alcohol
a precipitate of a reddish matter.
2. When it is evaporated, a thick scum forms on
the surface, which is easily separated, and which, on
cooling, is found to contain white crystals of a slightly
acid taste. A viscid matter like honey appears, by
continuing the evaporation. When this matter is
treated with boiling alcohol, it furnishes, on cooling,
an acid which crystallizes in shining needles. This is
the amniotic acid which has been already described.
The matter which remains after the separation of the
crystals is insoluble in alcohol, and is firm and tena-
Water,
Acid,
Sulphate of soda,
Animal matter.
XII. Of Fluid Morbid Secretions.
the different cavities of the body ; and when the skin CcmpoJmt
is irritated by the action of blisters, a fluid collects be- Parts ot
tween the cuticle and true skin. Animal
Liquor of dropsy.—This liquid is of a yellowish green Sui):Aances.
colour, has sometimes considerable transparency, but is
sometimes turbid. In its chemical properties it seems
to correspond with the serum of the blood.
Liquor of blisters.—The liquor which is secreted by
the action of blisters is usually transparent. The con¬
stituent parts are the same as those of the serum of the
blood. Two hundred parts of this liquid yielded
Albumen
Muriate of soda
Carbonate of soda
Phosphate of lime
Water
200
3. Having extracted the whole of the acid, if the
evaporation be continued till the liquor acquire the
consistence of a syrup, large transparent crystals are
formed, which have a bitter taste, and are soluble in
water. These crystals were found to be sulphate of
soda, which are obtained in a state of purity, by burn¬
ing the residuum of a quantity of the liquid evaporated
to dryness, dissolving the coaly residuum in water, and
evaporating.
4. The animal matter which accompanies the saline
substances, is of a reddish brown colour and a peculiar
taste, very soluble in water, but insoluble in alcohol,
which even separates it from water. It neither com¬
bines with tan, nor is it susceptible of being converted
into jelly, so that it does not possess the properties pf
animal mucilage. When it is heated strongly it swells
up j exhales at first the odour of burning mucilage 3
afterwards that of ammonia and an empyreumatic oil j
and at last that of prussic acid. When it is burnt,
there remains behind a bulky coal, the ashes of which
are white, and contain phosphate of magnesia and a
small portion of phosphate of lime.
5. The constituent parts of the liquor of the amnios
of the cow are the following.
I . During the diseased action of the vessels of differ¬
ent parts of the body, liquids are secreted, as for instance
when the muscular or bony parts are wounded, a mat¬
ter is exuded, which continues to flow till the wound is
healed up j in dropsical diseases a liquid is secreted in
* Ann. ck
C/ixm. xiv.
Pus.—What is called healthy pus is about the con- 225’
sistence of cream, and of a yellowish-white colour, an
insipid taste, and when it is cold, without smell. It
produces no change on vegetable blues. 2y^6
2. When pus is exposed to a moderate heat, it dries, Action of
and assumes the appearance of horn. By distillation heat'
it gives out water in considerable proportion, ammonia
and some gaseous substance, and an empyreumatic oil 3
a shining coaly matter remains behind, the ashes of
which, after being burnt, afford some traces of iron.
3. When this liquid is exposed to the air, it becomes Of air and
acid. It is soluble in sulphuric acid, forming with it acids.
a purple-coloured solution. With the addition of wa¬
ter the pus separates, and the dark colour disappears.
With concentrated nitric acid it forms a yellow co¬
loured solution, which effervesces during the combina¬
tion. Water produces a precipitate. Pus is also solu¬
ble in muriatic acid, and is separated by means of wa¬
ter. Pus is not soluble in alcohol, but it is thickened 3
nor is it soluble in the oils.
4. A whitish ropy fluid is formed by 4116 addition of Alkalies,
a solution of the fixed alkalies, and by adding water
the pus is precipitated. Pure ammonia forms with pus
a transparent jelly, and dissolves it in considerable pro-
5. A precipitate is occasioned by means of nitrate of Metallic
silver, and it is still more copious with nitrate and oxy-salts,
muriate of mercury. 2^0
6. The following tests have been given to distinguish To distin-
pus from mucus, which is of considerable importance g11’^ pa5-
in cases where the formation of pus is suspected in the
lungs.
(1.) Pus is soluble in sulphuric acid, and precipitat¬
ed by water. Mucus swims. (2.) Pus may he diffus¬
ed through water, diluted sulphuric acid, and brine 3
hut mucus is not. (3.) Pus is soluble in alkaline solu¬
tions, and is precipitated by water 3 but this is not the
case with mucus. 2741
7. These are the properties of pus when it is secreted Varies in
from a sore which is said to be in good condition, or inx!s Pf°Per'
a disposition to heal. Its properties are very differenttles*
in what are called ill-conditioned sores. In these cases
the matter secreted is thin, fetid, and acrid. Matter
secreted by cancerous sores, which has been examined,
converts the syrup of violets to a green colour, and
from.
C H E M
lomponent from this matter sulphurated hydrogen gas is separated
Parts of by means of sulphuric acid. This gas is supposed to
Animal ex;st jn combination with ammonia.
nbstances.
Subdivision III. Of the Solid Parts of Animals.
1742
Cnumera- The following are the solid parts of animals, which
we shall treat of in the order in which they are enume¬
rated.
1. Bones,
2. Skin,
3. Muscles,
4. Cartilage, tendons, &c.
5. Brain and nerves,
6. Hair and nails,
7. Morbid concretions,
1. Of the Bones.
. 2743
)f different
ensity.
2744
idion of
eat.
*745
ontains
it.
, 2746
■elatine.
, 2747
;artilage.
2748
alts,
2749
omposi-
Dll.
Ann, de
dm,
:*iv. 71,
1. The bones are those parts of animals which give
firmness, strength, and shape to the body. Bones are
very different with regard to solidity and density, not
only in different parts of the body, but even in the same
bone. The specific gravity, therefore, of bones, must
be various. They are of a white colour, of a lamellated
structure, and inflexible.
2. When bones are burnt, they are converted into a
white, porous, insipid substance, which still retains the
shape of the bone.
3. When bones are broken into small pieces, and
boiled in water, a considerable quantity of fat rises to
the surface ; an oily matter, therefore, is one of the
constituent parts of bones.
4. If the boiling be continued for a greater length
of time, the water dissolves another substance, which,
being concentrated and left at rest, assumes a gelatinous
form. Bones, therefore, contain a portion of gela¬
tine.
5. If bone is kept for some time in diluted muria¬
tic acid, it is converted into a white flexible substance,
which retains the shape of the bone. It becomes brit¬
tle and semitransparent when dried j it is soluble in
nitric acid, and when this acid is diluted, it is convert¬
ed by its action into gelatine. It forms a soap with the
fixed alkalies. From these properties it resembles
coagulated albumen. This substance, which is called
cartilage, is the first part of the bone which is form¬
ed.
6. Besides these substances, bones contain a con¬
siderable proportion of earthy salts. These are phos¬
phate of lime, which is in great proportion 5 carbonate
of lime in smaller proportion, with a still smaller of sul¬
phate of lime.
7. The component parts of bones, therefore, are
earthy salts, cartilage, gelatine, and fat. The follow¬
ing table exhibits the proportions of these constituent
parts in the bones of different animals. It was drawn
up by Merat-Guillot. A hundred parts of bones were
employed, and as much dried as possible, and to this
quantity the proportions specified refer *.
I S T R Y.
Names.
Gelatine
Human bones taken")
from a burying
ground.
Human bones dried ^
but not buried.
Bones of the ox
calf
1
3
horse
sheep
elk
hog
hare
pullet
pike
carp
16.
23-
3-
25-
9*
16.
M
17.82
9.0
6.0
12.0
6.0
Phos¬
phate of
lime
67
63
93
54
67-5
70.0
90.0
C2.0
80.5
72.0
64.O
45*o
Cai bo-
nate of
of lime.
I.25
o-5
1.0
1.0
1.0
>•5
1.0
°*5
Loss.
r5-5
2
21
22.25
*3-S
7-5
30.0
5-o
20.5
23.0
28.5
757
Component
Parts of
Animal
Substances.
2750
8. The human teeth have been analyzed by MrOf teeth.
Pepys, and he found the constituents of different
teeth, and different parts of teeth, to be the fol-
lowine.
Phosphate of lime
Carbonate of lime
Cartilage
Loss
Teeth of
adults.
64
6
20
10
100
Shedding
teeth of
children.
62
6
20
12
100
Roots of
the teeth.
58
4
28
10
100
He found the following to be the component parts
of the enamel of the teeth.
Phosphate of lime 78
Carbonate of lime 6
Loss and water 16
100
But according to Fourcroy and Vauquelin, the en¬
amel is composed of
Phosphate of lime 72.9
Gelatine and water 27.1
100.0
II. Of the Skin.
1. The skin, which forms the external covering of ant-Consist of
mals, consists ol three parts j the epidermis or cuticle, lfiree Parts*
the true skin, and a soft substance called the rete mu-
cosum, which lies between the cuticle and true skin.
2. The epidermis, which may be separated from the Epidermis,
cutis, by macerating the skin in hot water, is a thin
elastic substance, which is insoluble in water and in
alcohol.
3. Sulphuric and muriatic acids have little action Action of
for some time on this substance ; but it is immediately acids, 6cc,
converted into a yellow colour by means of nitric acid,
and.
75°
C H E M I
Component
Farts of
Animal
Substances.
2754
Cutis.
2755
Action of
heat.
2756
Contains
gelatine.
2757
Tanning.
2753
Rete nnj-
cosum.
and at last entirely decomposed. It is entirely soluble
in the caustic fixed alkalies. From these properties the
epidermis is supposed to be coagulated albumen in a
peculiar state of modification.
4. The cutis or true skin is denser and thicker.
When it is heated, it first contracts, then swells, ex¬
haling a fetid odour, and leaving behind a dense mass
of charcoal. By distillation the same products are ob¬
tained as from fibrina.
5. The skin is softened by weak acids, is rendered
transparent, and is at last dissolved. It is converted
into oxalic acid and fat by nitric acid, with the evo¬
lution of azotic gas and prussic acid. It is converted
by means of the concentrated alkalies into oil and
ammonia.
6. After maceration for some time in water, a small
proportion of gelatine may be obtained, by evaporating
the water 5 but if the skin be boiled for a considerable
time in water, it is entirely dissolved, and the liquid,
by evaporation, assumes the consistence of jelly. The
skin is thus converted into glue. It is from the skin
of animals that glue is chiefly extracted ; and it is ob¬
tained of different degrees of strength from the skin of
different animals.
hj. As skin consists chiefly of gelatine, it combines
readily with tan. This compound forms leather j and
the process by which it is effected is called tanning, for
the detail of which see the article TANNING.
8. The mucous substance, or rete mucosum, lies be¬
tween the epidermis and true skin. It is this which
gives the black colour to the skins of negroes. It is
deprived of its colour, even in the living body, by
means of oxymuriatic acid. The foot of a negro be¬
came nearly white by being kept for some time in wa¬
ter impregnated with this acid. The black colour,
however, returned in a few days.
III. Of the Muscles.
2759
Structure.
2760
Action of
cold water.
2761
Roiling.
I. The muscular, or fleshy parts of animals, are of
a reddish-white colour, and fibrous structure. If a
quantity of muscular substance is separated into small
pieces, it becomes white. If the water be heated,
it coagulates. Albumen and a portion of fibrina are
obtained. It becomes gelatinous by farther evapora¬
tion ; and when the process is carried on to dryness,
and alcohol added, a peculiar matter is dissolved ;
which, after the alcohol is expelled by heat, appears of
a reddish-brown colour, has an aromatic smell, and a
very acrid taste} and it is soluble both in water and
alcohol. The gelatine formed in the mass evaporated
to dryness, with a little phosphate of soda and ammo¬
nia, remains undissolved by the alcohol. When this
extractive matter is distilled, it affords an acid, which
is combined with ammonia.
By boiling the same muscular matter for some time
in water, another portion of albumen is obtained ; and,
when the water is concentrated by evaporation, it is
converted into a jelly *, and by treating with alcohol
as before, after evaporating to dryness, the extractive
matter is taken up, and the gelatine and phosphoric
salts remain undissolved. The fibres of the muscle are
then of a gray colour, insoluble in water, and become
brittle when dry. This substance is fibrina, which
constitutes the chief part of muscular matter.
S T R Y.
2. If muscular matter be dissolved in nitric acid, Component
anti ammonia added to the solution, a precipitate of Parts of
phosphate of lime is obtained; but no phosphate of ^Animal
lime is obtained, when treated in this way, after being ,
long boiled in water, for it is either combined with the
gelatine, or is thus rendered soluble. Carbonate of Nitric acid,
lime, however, is found after boiling the muscular sub¬
stance, and is converted into oxalate ol lime by means
of nitric acid. 2763
3. The constituent parts of muscular matter are theCompoii-
following:
tion.
Fibrina,
Albumen,
Gelatine,
Extractive,
Phosphate of soda,
Phosphate of ammonia,
Phosphate of lime,
Carbonate of lime.
2754
4. From the difference of solubility of the substan-Properties
ces which enter into the composition of muscular mat- of macula
ter, and the different effects of heat on these substan-tor
ces, the sensible qualities at least must vary consider¬
ably, according to the manner in which this matter is 2765
prepared for food. Accordingly, when the flesh of Boiled,
animals is boiled, those parts which are soluble in wa¬
ter combine with it. These are, the gelatine, tlm ex¬
tractive matter, and part of the saline bodies. It is to
these that the nutritious property of soups is ascribed. 2766
But when the flesh of animals is roasted, it has a much Roasted,
higher flavour, in consequence of these substances not
being separated from it, and particularly the extrac¬
tive matter, on which the odour and flavour depend.
This extractive matter, according to Fourcroy, com¬
poses the brown crust which is formed on flesh during
its roasting. # . .
5. The muscular part of different animals, from its Different
sensible qualities at least, seem to possess very differ-P10*161 ies
ent properties. Hence the diflerence in the taste, fla¬
vour, and nutritious quality, of the flesh of different
animals. 276S
6. When the muscular parts of animals are exposed Coaversic
for a considerable length of time to the action of run' ^atteHn
ning water, they are converted into a peculiar sub- Sperraace
stance, resembling in some measure spermaceti. The
same change, indeed, in similar circumstances, takes
place on the other soft parts of animals. This was first
observed in the year 1786, in the Innocents burying-
ground in Paris, where great numbers of bodies were
thrown together into the same pit. The time which
was required for this conversion was supposed to be in
general about thirty years. But it has since been
found, that animal matters are converted into a sub¬
stance exactly similar, and in a much shorter period,
by exposing them to the action of running water. _ 2769
7. The matter produced by this change is of a white PropMu£
colour, soft and unctuous to the feel, and melts like tal¬
low. It is decomposed by diluted acids ; and an oily
matter, with which it is mixed, is separated. By the
action of alkalies and lime, ammonia is evolved. By
exposure to the air, it is deprived of its white colour;
the ammonia is almost entirely carried ofl; and a sub¬
stance resembling wax remains behind. The oily mat¬
ter, which is separated by a diluted acid, is of a white
colour, and concrete. It becomes of a grayish brown
colour by drying, and assumes a crystalline, lamellated
texture, like spermaceti. At the temperature of 126°
it
17
JIB
C H E M
jmponent ^ is soluble in alcohol at the temperature of
farts of 120°. It forms a soap with alkalies, and burns like
Animal 0i| j but exhales a disagreeable odour, which is the
ibslancet cbief objection to its use as a substitute for oil, as it is
supposed it may be obtained at a cheaper rate. A ma¬
nufacture indeed has been established at Bristol for the
preparation of this substance.
IV. Of Membranes, Tendons, and Ligaments.
277°
lembranes Membranes are those parts of the body which in¬
clude some of the internal parts of animals. Many of
thetp are extremely thin, and they possess different de¬
grees of transparency. They become pulpy by mace¬
ration ip water, and by boiling are almost entirely con¬
verted into gelatine, so that they are chiefly composed
of this substance. No phosphate of lime or other sa¬
line matter has been detected in the membranous sub-
2^! stances hitherto analyzed,
eitdons. 2. Tendons are reduced by boiling to a gelatinous
substance, so that they are composed of a similar mat-
ter with membranes.
agaments. 3* ligaments afford a portion of gelatine by
boiling, but are not, like the two former, entirely re¬
duced to a jelly, so that some other substance besides
gelatine enters into the composition of ligaments.
*773
ction of
ater, See.
,l77^
ulphunc
cid.
T. J77S
utric acid.
I S T R Y. 759
of ammonia is separated with effervescence, and char-Component
coal remains behind, mixed with oxalic acid. Parts of
3. If a quantity of brain be evaporated to dryness
with a gentle heat, a portion of transparent liquid se- 7 ^, ■'
parates, and the residuum assumes a brown colour when ayyg
it is dried. The weight of this residuum does not ex-Of heat,
ceed one-fourth of the quantity employed. If the re¬
siduum be repeatedly boiled with alcohol, more than
one-half is dissolved $ and when the alcohol cools, it
deposits a yellowish white substance in the form of
shining plates, which may be reduced to a kind of
ductile paste. It becomes soft with the heat of boil¬
ing water, and blackens with an increase of tempera¬
ture, exhaling empyreumatic and ammoniacal fumes j
a charred matter remains behind. By evaporating the
alcohol, a yellowish black matter is deposited, which
reddens paper stained with turnsole.
4. Brain is soluble in concentrated caustic potash ; Alkalies,
and during the solution, a great quantity of ammonia is
given out.
V. Of the Brain and Nerves.
1. The matter of the brain and nerves has a soft,
soapy feel, and a close texture. When exposed to the
air at the temperature of 6o°, it soon becomes putrid,
exhaling an offensive smell, and giving out a consider¬
able quantity of ammonia. It is not soluble in cold
water ; but triturated with water in a mortar, a part is
dissolved, and if this be heated moderately it coagu¬
lates. If sulphuric acid be added to this solution,
white flakes appear on the surface, and the liquid as¬
sumes a red colour. Similar flakes are produced by
the action of nitric acid, but the colour of the liquid
is yellow. If nitric acid be added till a slight acidity
is produced, a coagulum of a white colour separates,
which is insoluble in water and alcohol, is softened by
heat, and becomes transparent when it is dried. This
matter, therefore, possesses many of the properties of
albumen.
2. If a quantity of brain be triturated with diluted
sulphuric acid, part is dissolved, and part is coagulat¬
ed. The liquid part is colourless, and when it is eva¬
porated, it becomes black, while superfluous acid is
exhaled, and crystals are formed. When it is evapo¬
rated to dryness, a black mass remains behind. By di¬
luting this with water, charcoal separates. The mat¬
ter therefore is entirely decomposed, ammonia is dis¬
engaged, and combines with the acid, forming sul¬
phate of ammonia. By evaporating the water, sul¬
phate of ammonia and sulphate of lime, phosphoric
acid, and phosphates of soda and ammonia, are obtain¬
ed ; and these salts may be separated by means of al¬
cohol. These salts, however, exist in brain in small
proportion. By treating in the same way a quantity
of brain with nitric acid, part is dissolved, and part
coagulated. When the solution, which is transparent,
is evaporated till the acid is concentrated, carbonic
acid and nitrous gases are evolved j a great quantity
VI. Of Hair and Nails.
277S
1. If we include all those substances which form the Differentia
covering of animals, as bristle, hair, wool, and down, appearance,
under the general name of hair, and particularly as
they possess nearly the same properties, we shall find
that it varies greatly in size, in length, and colour,
in different animals, and even in different parts of the
body of the same animal.
2. If hair be boiled in water, a quantity of gelatine Action of
is obtained, and, by continuing the boiling, the hair water,
becomes so brittle, that it crumbles to pieces. The
part which remains, after the gelatine has been sepa¬
rated, seems to be coagulated albumen. But besides
gelatine and albumen, it appears from the combustion
of hair, that it contains a portion of oily matter. Ber-
thollet obtained by the distillation of a quantity of
hair, carbonate of ammonia, water having the smell
of burnt hair, some oil, and elastic fluids, which were
probably carbonated hydrogen and carbonic acid ga¬
ses. The oil was of a brownish colour, and was con¬
crete in the ordinary temperature of the atmosphere. Sq
It was soluble in alcohol, and burnt with a vivid flame. Distillation
The charcoal which remained could scarcely be calcin¬
ed, but some of its particles were attracted by the
magnet. „ ^
3. The acids soften and destroy the colour of hair.
It is decomposed by sulphuric acid with the assistance
of heat; charcoal is deposited, and carbonic acid gas
given out. Nitric acid communicates a yellow colour
to hair, and dissolves it with the aid of heat. An
unctuous matter is separated, and oxalic acid is form¬
ed. Muriatic acid at first whitens hair; but it be¬
comes yellow when it dries. Oxymuriatic acid also
bleaches hair ; but at the same time destroys its tex¬
ture. It is converted into a pulp when it is introdu¬
ced into oxymuriatic acid gas.
4. Hair is soluble in the alkalies, and is collverled
into a reddish-coloured soap, with the evolution of am¬
monia. If muriatic acid be added to the solution of
hair in potash, sulphurated hydrogen gas is evolved,
from which it appears that hair contains sulphur. Sil¬
ver is blackened by the same solution. 17S3
j. The metallic oxides also have the effect of black- Metallic
cning
oxides.
760
CHEMISTRY.
Component
Parts of
Animal
Substances
27S4
■Nails,
273s
Composi¬
tion.
ening hair. It is in this way that the hair is
dyed black. The red oxide of lead, the acetate ot
lead, and sometimes even the nitrate of lead, and the
nitrates of mercury and silver, are employed for this
purpose.
Nails.—The nails are considered as an elongation
of the epidermis. They are attached to it, and sepa¬
rate when it is removed. They become soft by long
maceration in water. There is no precipitate formed
in this solution with tan. Nails are soluble in the
acids and the alkalies. They are stained with metal¬
lic oxides, and combine with colouring matters.
From these properties the nails are considered as a
kind of coagulated albumen, with a small proportion of
phosphate of lime, and, according to some, carbonate
of lime.
VII. Of Morbid Concretions.
tySd
Found in
different
parts of the
’ body.
, »787
Pineal.
-4788
Salivary.
2789
Tartar of
the teeth.
2790
Pulmonary.
2791
Intestinal.
crystallized structure. The component parts of a stone Component
of this description, analyzed by Berthollet, were the Parts of
following:
I. Earthy matters are frequently found in different
parts of animal bodies, which are to be considered as
extraneous, and occasioning, at least in the human
body, some of the severest disorders to which it is sub¬
ject. These earthy matters are generally combined
with an acid, and in some cases entirely composed
of an acid. These substances, which have been
called concretions and calculi, are formed, sometimes
in the solid p^rts of the body, but chiefly among the
fluids.
Pineal concretions.—These concretions are almost
always found in the pineal gland of the human brain.
They are indeed so rarely wanting in the brain, that
they are considered as natural, as they do not seem to
produce any inconvenience or disease. They have
been found to consist of phosphate of lime, mixed with
some animal matter.
Salivary concretions.—Concretions form in the sali¬
vary glands, and in the ducts which convey the secret¬
ed fluid from these glands to the mouth. The compo¬
nent parts of these concretions have been found to be
also phosphate of lime and animal mucilage.
The tartar of the teeth is composed of the same sub¬
stance. When this was examined with the microscope,
it seemed to be composed of small shining grains unit¬
ed to each other, and containing a great number of
pores or small angular cavities, resembling the cells of
polypi, on account of which some naturalists have
ascribed its formation to insects $ but it is more na¬
tural to suppose that it is merely a crystalline arrange¬
ment of the saline matter of which it is composed.
Concretions have also been found in the pancreas,
and its ducts, and are supposed to consist of the same
materials.
Pulmonary concretions.—These concretions are form¬
ed in the lungs during asthmatic and phthisical dis¬
orders. They are small hard bodies, unequal and
rough, of a gray or reddish colour, which become
white as they dry in the air. They are also composed
of phosphate of lime mixed with animal matter.
Intestinal concretions.—These are more rarely met
with in the human body. When they are found, they
have been generally formed on the stones of fruits, or
some other hard body which has been swallowed.
They are more frequent, in the intestines of the inferior
animals, as in those of the horse. Some that have been
examined were of a gray colour, and of a radiated or
3
Magnesia
Phosphoric acid
Ammonia
Water
Animal matter
Animal
Substances.
18.O
26.0
3-2
46.O
4.0
2792
Composi-
tion.
67.2
* Ann.de
Chim xxiii,
130.
*795
a sub-
Biliary concretions.—Biliary concretions, or calculi,
are formed, either in the liver itself, in the gall-blad-composed
der, or in the gall ducts, hence they have also been
called gall-stones. Some found in the liver itself ai'e
composed of phosphate of lime combined with some
animal matter. The calculi which have been found
in the gall-bladder are different, both in structure 0fin8pjs„
and composition. Some of them seem to be composed sated bile;
of concentric layers of inspissated bile. These have
different degrees of consistence j they are sometimes
friable, and of a brown or reddish colour. The gall¬
stones of the ox, which are used by painters, are of this
kind. Another kind of biliary calculi differ only0f
from the former in having a smooth whitish or gray-stance like
ish covering, resembling spermaceti. They are some-sPe™acet‘
times found in considerable numbers in the gall-blad¬
der. 2796
A third species is of a white or gray colour, opaque,of lining
or semitransparent. These are composed of shining^ates ’
crystalline plates, or have a radiated structure. They
are frequently solitary, and are then about the size,
and have the form, of a pigeon’s egg. The nucleus of
this kind of gall-stone is composed of inspissated bile.
A fourth species is composed of different proportions or mixed,
of the spermaceti substance and the concrete bile.
These are the most frequent of all the kinds of gall¬
stones, and are also the most numerous. They are of
a deep green or olive colour. Sometimes they exhi¬
bit, internally, small shining plates of a deep yellow
colour. 379s
All these calculi are soluble in the caustic alkalies,
in solutions of soap, in fixed and volatile oils, in alcohol,^'1 us’
and partially in ether.
Urinary concretions.—1. These concretions, which Urinary
are frequently formed in the urinary bladder of nlan,ca,cul‘•
and produce one of the most excruciating disorders to
which he is subject, have long attracted attention,
with a view to prevent their formation, or to effect
their dissolution after they have been formed. Little,
however, has yet been done, to accomplish either of
these ends 5 but the nature of the concretions them¬
selves has been carefully investigated, and their com¬
ponent parts minutely examined by different chemists. ^
Among these the labours of Fourcroy and Vauquelin ^lffcient
are not the least conspicuous. Urinary calculi are parts of da
found, either in the kidneys, the ureters, or the uri-organs.
nary bladder itself. Calculi, as found in the kidneys,
vary considerably in size, form, colour, and inter¬
nal structure. They are usually small, round, con¬
crete bodies, smooth and shining externally, of a red ¬
dish-yellow colour, and so hard as to be susceptible of
polish. They pass readily along the ureters to
the bladder, and from thence are ejected along with
the urine. It is the formation of these small concre¬
tions
t8oi
hysical
operties
C H E M
omponent tions which constitutes the disease called gravel.
Parts of Some of these concretions sometimes remain in the
titslances. ki(,Veys’ and increasing in volume by receiving new
additions of matter, form large calculi. This happens,
however, but rarely. The calculi which have been
found in the ureters have originated from the kidneys,
and being too large to pass along the ureters, receive
new additions of matter as it is deposited from the
urine, and enlarge in size, at the same time dilating
the ureter.
But by far the most common are those which are
found in the bladder itself. These calculi have either
originated from small concretions formed in the kid¬
neys, and these passing along the ureters into the blad¬
der, form a nucleus on which successive layers of mat¬
ter are deposited from the urine; or they have their
origin and complete formation in the bladder itself, or
have been formed on some extraneous substance intro¬
duced into the bladder through the urethra. The first
are the most frequent.
2. The farm of urinary calculi is various, but they
are frequently of a spheroidal or egg-shape, or compres¬
sed on two sides. Sometimes they are polygonal, which
happens when there are several in the bladder at the
same time. Some have been found of nearly a cubical
form. Their extremities are frequently either pointed or
obtuse. Their size is extremely various. Sometimes
they are not larger than small beans, while some have
been of such an extraordinary size as to fill the bladder
itself j but they are most frequently from the size of a
pigeon’s egg, to that of a hen’s egg. Some are of a
yellowish-brown colour, resembling wood. These are
composed of uric acid. Those which are white, or gray¬
ish-white, consist of the earthy phosphates, and those
which are of a deep gray or blackish colour, are com¬
posed of oxalate of lime. Some exhibit all these dif¬
ferent shades mixed together. The surface of urinary
calculi is sometimes smooth and polished} sometimes it
is rough and unequal, and tuberculated. Some urinary
calculi having their surface mamellated, are called
mulberry stones, from some resemblance to a cluster of
mulberries. Some of the white calculi are soft and
smooth, semitransparent, and covered with shining crys¬
tals. The specific gravity varies from 1-213 to 1.976.
The odour of urinary calculi is sometimes perceptibly
urinous and ammoniacal, which is discovered by rasp¬
ing or sawing them; sometimes it is faint and earthy,
as in the white calculi ; and sometimes it resembles that
of ivory sawed or rasped, and is analogous to the odour
ol semen. Mulberry calculi are distinguished by this
2g02 odour.
Mstituent 3* The following substances have been discovered in
ifls. urinary calculi.
Uric acid,
Urate of ammonia,
Phosphate of lime,
Phosphate of magnesia and
ammonia.
Oxalate of lime,
Carbonate of lime,
Silica,
Animal matter.
1803
fic acid.
Uric acid exists in almost all urinary calculi. Many
calculi indeed are entirely formed of it; but it is found
in greater or smaller proportion, in almost all that have
been analyzed. The nature and properties of this acid
have been ali'eady described. The cakuli composed
toL, V. Part II. t
I S T K Y. 76i
of it are of a brown colour, are smooth and polished, Component
and have the appearance of wood. When this sub- farts of
stance is triturated with a concentrated solution of pot- Animal
ash or soda, it forms a thick saponaceous matter, which S"l>st““ce*;
is precipitated by diluted acids. It is dissolved by ni¬
tric acid, and is converted into a red colour. This acid
is a compound of azote, carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen ;
and when decomposed by bhemical agents, it is con¬
verted into ammonia, malic, oxalic, prussic, and carbo¬
nic acids. „c„.
Urate ot ammonia, the next substance found in uri-Urate of
nary calculi, is also soluble in potash and soda, but the ammonia,
solution is accompanied with a copious evolution of am¬
monia. Calculi composed of this substance, consist of
thin layers, and are not always smooth. They are ge¬
nerally of a small size, and resemble an infusion of cof¬
fee. The earthy phosphates are frequently interposed
between the layers of calculi composed of this substance,
and it is often mixed with phosphate of ammonia and
magnesia. _ 28o5
. Phosphate of lime frequently enters into ,the compo- Phosphate
sition of calculi. It is usually in thin layers, whichoflime’
are friable, and have little consistency. They are of
a grayish-white colour, and opaque, without taste or
smell. The phosphate of lime is usually mixed with
gelatinous matter ; is soluble in difierent acids, and is
precipitated by the alkalies. Some calculi have been
discovered entirely composed of phosphate of lime. 28o6
Phosphate of ammonia and magnesia is in the form Of ammo-
of white, semitransparent layers, and it is sometimesnia-
found crystallized on the surface of calculi in the form
of prisms. When reduced to powder it is of a bril¬
liant white, very soluble in diluted acids, and is de¬
composed by the fixed alkalies. ^
Oxalate of lime is usually mixed with phosphate of Oxalate of
lime and uric acid, but sometimes it is combined only lime,
with animal matter in mulberry calculi. The calculi
composed of it are of a dark green colour, and extreme¬
ly hard. It dissolves with difficulty in diluted nitric
acid, and is decomposed by the carbonates of potash
and soda. 280j
The carbonate of lime con«titutes the greatest part Cai!)(jnale
of some urinary calculi. of ,ime'
Silica has been rarely found in calculous concre-silica?9
tions. It was detected mixed with phosphate of lime,
only in two mulberry calculi, which were extremely
hard. „ 0 _
In all calculous concretions there is a quantity of Animal
animal matter, which unites or cements together the niatter-
layers or particles of the hard substances of which they
are composed. This animal matter seems to possess the
properties of albumen. Sometimes it seems to be com¬
posed of albumen mixed with urea, of coagulated albu¬
men, or gelatine. s
4. Fourcroy and Vauquelin have analyzed more than Divided in^
600 calculi, and by comparing the properties of each,t°three
they have arranged them into three genera and 12 spe-Senera and
cies. The first genus comprehends those species which 14 *1)ecies-
are composed of one substance. These are the three
following :
1. Uric acid,
2. Urate of ammonia,
3. Oxalate of lime.
The second genus includes those species which are
5 -D composed
762
Component
Farts of
Animal
Substances.
C H E M I
composed of two substances. It consists of the follow¬
ing seven species :
1. Uric acid and the earthy phosphates, in distinct
layers.
2. Uric acid and the earthy phosphates intimately
mixed together.
3. Urate, of ammonia and the phosphates in distinct
layers.
4. The two preceding intimately mixed.
5. Earthy phosphates mixed or in thin layers.
6. Oxalate of lime and uric acid in layers.
7. Oxalate of lime and earthy phosphates in layers.
S T R Y.
uncommon, and they are generally of the largest size
of all the urinary calculi. The specific gravity is very
variable.
2. Uric acid and earthy phosphates intimately mixed.
—This species contains numerous varieties, f.om the
different proportion of the constituent parts. Some¬
times the uric acid and the earthy phosphates are ar¬
ranged in layers so thin, that they are scarcely percep¬
tible. Sometimes they are so mixed together that they
can only be detected by analysis. But sometimes the
layers are sufficiently distinct. The specific gravity is
from 1.213 to 1.739* This species of calculus is com¬
mon.
Oomponm
Parts of
Animal
Substances,
The third genus consists of two species, which are
composed of three or four substances.
1. Uric acid or urate of ammonia, earthy phosphates,
and oxalate of lime.
2. Uric acid, urate of ammonia, earthy phosphates,
and silica.
We shall now state the general characters of these
different species.
Genus I.
Species I. Uric acid.—These calculi are easily known
by their colour, which resembles wood. It is reddish,
or yellowish. They are of a radiated, dense, fine texture,
completely soluble in pure alkalies, without emitting
any odour. They vary greatly in size, and have gene¬
rally a smooth polished surface. The specific gravity is
from 1.27610 1.786. It usually exceeds 1.5. Of 600
calculi which were analyzed byFourcroy and Vauque-
lin, 150 consisted of pure uric acid. The sand or gra¬
vel which is formed in the kidneys usually belongs to
this species.
2. Urate of ammonia.—Calculi composed of this sub¬
stance are usually of small size, soluble in caustic fixed
alkalies, with the evolution of ammonia, of the colour
of the infusion of coffee, and are composed of fine
layers which are easily separated. The surface is com¬
monly smooth, and sometimes shining and crystalline.
The specific gravity is from 1.225 1*720. They
are soluble in hot water, at least when reduced to
powder. The external layer is sometimes pure uric
acid. This species is rare.
Oxalate of lime.—This species is easily recognized
by its rough, mamellated surface, from which those cal¬
culi have received the name of mulberry stones. The
colour is brown, they are of a close hard texture, and
when rasped or sawed, emit the odour of semen. They
are soluble with difficulty in acids, and are insoluble in
the pure alkalies. The specific gravity is from 1.428
to 1.976. This species frequently constitutes the nu¬
cleus of other calculi.
Genus II.
Species 1. Uric acid and earthy phosphates in distinct
layers.—This species is known by its surface, which is
white like chalk, friable, and semitransparent. The
external layer is composed of the phosphate of lime,
or of ammonia and magnesia. The nucleus consists of
uric acid, and when the calculus of this species is sawed
asunder, two substances of which it is composed are
distinctly seen. It is indeed only then that the species
can be recognized. Calculi of this description are not
2
3. Urate of ammonia and the phosphates in distinct
layers.—In this species the nucleus consists of urate of
ammonia j and the external layers are most frequently
composed of the earthy phosphates mixed together, .or
more rarely of phosphate of ammonia and magnesia.
This species is usually of small size ; its specific gravity
is from 1.312 to 1.761. It is not very common.
4. Urate of ammonia and earthy phosphates mixed.—
The calculi belonging to this species are very rare.
They are of a pale yellow colour, and of less specific
gravity than the second species of this genus, which
they resemble in external characters. When they are
treated with potash, ammonia is disengaged. This spe¬
cies is usually of small size.
5. Earthy phosphates mixed, or in thin layers.—This
species is distinguished by its pure white colour. They
are of a friable texture, insoluble in alkalies, and so¬
luble in diluted acids. This species is pretty common,
and often of a large size. The concretions formed on
extraneous matters introduced through the urethra into
the bladder, are of this kind. The specific gravity
varies from 1.138 to I*47I*
6. Oxalate of lime and uric acid in distinct layers.—
In this species the nucleus consists of oxalate of lime,
and it is covered with a layer of uric acid. From ex¬
ternal appearance they are not distinguished from
those entirely composed of uric acid, till they are
sawed asunder. The specific gravity varies from I-341
t0 1 *754*
7. Oxalate of lime and earthy phosphates in layers.—
The oxalate of lime constitutes the nucleus, and the
earthy phosphates compose the external covering in this
species of calculus. It can only be distinguished by
being sawn asunder. The calculi belonging to this
species vary greatly in form and size, but they are
always white externally. The specific gravity is from
1.168 to 1.752.
Genus III.
Species I. Uric acid, urate of ammonia, the earthy
phosphates, and oxalate of lime.—In this species there are
frequently three distinct layers. The centre or nucleus
is composed of oxalate of lime; the next of uric acid
or urate of ammonia $ and the outermost of the earthy
phosphates, which are usually mixed with uric acid, or
urate of ammonia. The calculi of this species can only
be distinguished by sawing them in two. There are
many varieties of this species, from the different propor¬
tions and the different arrangement of the constituent
parts.
2. Uric acid, urate of ammonia.
earthy phosphates,
and
C H E M
Component silica.—In the calculi belonging to this species, the
farts of silica seems to hold the place of the oxalate of lime. It
'ubstances n“xet^ ,vv^^ uric and urate of ammonia, and
lU S/U1C(' ■' covered with the phosphate of lime. This is the rarest
tS 12 species of all that have been examined.
Causes of 3. The investigation of the cause of the formation
lirinary cal-of calculous concretions has occupied a great deal of
the attention of physiologists and physicians, and un¬
doubtedly it is one of the most important on which
their researches can be employed ; for by obviating
the cause of this disorder, its terrible effects might be
prevented. Unfortunately, however, little is yet known
on this intricate subject. In many cases, indeed, the
formation of urinary calculi is obviously owing to the
introduction of some extraneous substance into the
bladder by the urethra. But this mode of formation is
comparatively rare, and the calculi thus formed are
composed of the earthy phosphates, which are depo¬
sited from the urine. All urine contains uric acid.
This forms one of the most common species of calculi.
The particles of gravel which are formed in the kid¬
neys consist of this acid, so that it very often forms the
nucleus of calculous concretions. But the production
of an excessive quantity of uric acid, in whatever way
this takes place, seems to be the most powerful cause
of the production of urinary calculi. It has been ob¬
served, too, that the urine of those persons in whom
these concretions are most frequent, is loaded rvith an
unusual proportion of animal matter. This forms the
cementing substance of these concretions. In the
formation of these concretions, it would appear that the
diflerent substances of which they are composed, are se¬
creted at different times, or in different proportions, since
the diflerent successive layers of calculi are composed
of totally distinct substances. It is perhaps difficult or
impossible to explain the formation of those calculi in
which oxalic acid is a constituent part. This acid has
scarcely ever been detected in the urine, at least of
adults, so that it must be produced by some morbid ac¬
tion, by which some of the animal fluids are converted
2813 into this substance.
Solvents, 4. It has long been an object with physicians, to dis¬
cover the means of dissolving these substances after
they have been formed ; and the empiric has not been
idle in offering his nostrums, which are held out as sol¬
vents of the stone, and which it is no wonder are ea¬
gerly received with the hope of relief from one of the
most dreadful maladies which can afflict mankind.
Nothing, however, can be done with this view on ra¬
tional principles, without previously knowing the na¬
ture and properties of the substances which are to be
dissolved j and even when this is known, it must ap¬
pear, from considering the function of digestion, and
the changes which all substances taken into the stomach
undergo, that little can be expected from the exhibi¬
tion of remedies in this way. After being subjected to
the different processes of digestion, respiration, and se¬
cretion, the properties of these substances are totally
changed, so that they can only produce some general
effect on the system, and can have no specific action
on particular organs. It has therefore been proposed
by the French chemists, to employ these substances
which possess the property of dissolving urinary calculi
out of the body, by injecting them through the urethra
ioto the bladder.
I S T R Y. 763
It has been found by experiment, that calculi com-Component
posed of uric acid, or urate of ammonia, are soluble in Farts of
solutions of pure potash and soda, even when these so- Anfmal
lutions are so much diluted with water that they may ^ut)st|>l>ces;
be taken internally, without producing any inconve¬
nience.
Experiments have also shewn, that calculi composed
of the earthy phosphates are soluble in nitric and mu¬
riatic acids, so much diluted that they may be taken
internally without the smallest injury.
Calculi composed of oxalate of lime are less easily
dissolved. They are, however, soluble in diluted so¬
lutions of carbonate of potash or soda. 28,4
The first difficulty, however, which presents itself in Methods
the use of these solvents, is to discover the nature and0^5^’
composition of the concretion to be dissolved. This can
only be done by employing some of the solutions, and
examining them after they have remained for some time,
or as long as they can be retained in the bladder. If
a weak solution of potash has been injected, it is to be
filtered, as soon as it is thrown out ; and if on the addi¬
tion of a little diluted muriatic acid, or vinegar, a white
precipitate appears, the calculus is to be considered as
composed of uric acid. But if this solution has been
employed for some time, and no precipitate is produced
in this way, the solution for the phosphates is then to
be employed, and when it is passed, after remaining
some time in the bladder, a precipitate will be formed
with the addition of ammonia. This precipitate will be
phosphate of lime.
If no effect is produced by any of these solutions,
and if the severity of the symptoms continues, there is
some probability that the calculus consists of oxalate of
lime. This, it has been observed, is the most difficult
of solution. It may be dissolved, however, although
slowly, in nitric acid greatly diluted with water, or in
weak solutions of the carbonates of potash or soda.
These solutions, therefore, must be employed when the
others have failed. The effects of these solutions must
be judged of by the alleviation of the symptoms, or by
the actual examination of the stone itself at different
times, by means of the catheter, or sound. Whatever
solution is employed, it ought to be of the temperature
of the body, and so much diluted as not to irritate or
injure the internal surface of the bladder to which it is
applied. Before the injection is made, the urine should
be evacuated, and the injection retained, for at least a
quarter of an hour, from that to an hour, or as long as
it can be done without inconvenience. The injections
should be repeated at first three or four times a day,
and afterwards increased to six or eight times. As
calculous concretions are frequently several years in
forming, it is obvious that they must require a long
time to dissolve them, so that the use of injections, if
any relief is to be obtained from them, must be long
continued. ».* ^
5. Calculous concretions are not unfrequent in theinot}ier
urinary organs of other animals. They have been animals,
found in the horse, in the dog, the rabbit, the hog, and
the rat. They are most frequently composed of car¬
bonate of lime with some animal matter 5 sometimes
of phosphate of lime, of phosphate of ammonia, and
of carbonate of lime and phosphate of lime j but no
traces of uric acid have yet been detected in these con¬
cretions.
5 D 2 Gouty
764
Coinpomut
iJarts of
Animal *
Substances.
CHEMISTRY.
2815
Chalk
stones.
2817
Properties.
2818
Action of
alkalies.
2819
Acids, &c.
2820
Artificial
formation.
* Phil.
Trans.
1797,
P 3Sd*
Gouty concretions.—I. Concretions, which are com¬
monly called chalk stones, are sometimes formed in the
joints of those who have been long subject to the gout.
They have been discovered by chemical analysis to be
composed of uric acid and soda.
2. These concretions are of a white colour, irregular
in their form, and of a fine granulated texture. When
they are boiled for a few minutes, in 100 times their
weight of water, they are entirely dissolved. Sulphuric
acid added to this solution produces a white precipi¬
tate, which asumes the form of small needles, which
are crystals of uric acid. The remaining liquid, by
being evaporated, affords sulphate of soda.
3. By treating a quantity of gouty concretion with
100 times its weight of a concentrated solution of pot¬
ash with the aid of heat, it is almost entirely dissolved,
exhaling at the same time the faint odour of animal
matter. When the liquid is filtered, and muriatic acid
added, it produces a white precipitate, which is uric
acid. From this it appears, that gouty concretions
possess similar properties with those formed in the uri¬
nary organs, excepting that they contain a greater pro¬
portion of animal matter.
4. When it is dissolved in a small quantity of dilut¬
ed nitric acid, it tinges the skin with a rose colour, and
when evaporated, leaves a rose-coloured deliquescent
residuum. By distillation this substance yields ammo¬
nia, prussic acid, and an acid sublimate.
5. If a small portion of uric acid be triturated with
soda and a little warm water, they combine ; and af¬
ter the superfluous alkali has been washed out, the re¬
mainder has all the chemical properties of gouty mat¬
ter *.
Subdivision IV. Of Substances peculiar to Different
Animals.
Having briefly detailed the nature and properties of
those substances which are common to animals, we shall
now take a general view of some substances which are
peculiar to different animals, and we shall treat of these
according to the order in which they are arranged in
natural history.
I. Of Substances peculiar to the Class IMammalia.
I he substances peculiar to this class of animals are
the following:
2821
Ivory.
1. Ivory,
2. Horn,
3. Hartshorn,
4. Wool,
5. Musk,
6. Civet,
7. Castor,
8. Ambergris,
9. Spermaceti,
10, Bezoards.
Phosphate of lime
Carbonate of lime
Gelatine
Loss
64.0
0.1
24.0
11.9
100.0
Component
Tails of
Animal
Substances.
2822
2. Horn.—The substance called horn possesses dif- Htfn.
ferent properties from that of bone. This matter is
produced in the horns of different animals, as those of
oxen, sheep, and goats. It has some degree of trans¬
parency, and when heated it becomes so soft and flexi¬
ble, that it may be made to assume different shapes,
and formed into different instruments and utensils.
Horn yields a very small proportion of earthy matter.
The other constituent parts seem to be coagulated albu¬
men and gelatine.
The following are the proportions of the constituents
of hartshorn :
Phosphate of lime
Carbonate of lime
Gelatine
Loss
57-5
1.0
27.0
I4-5
100.0
2823
1. Ivory, which is the teeth of the elephant, is a
bony substance, of a fine compact texture, white co¬
lour, and so hard as to be susceptible of a fine polish.
It is composed, like the bones, of gelatinous matter and
phosphate of lime, and when it is distilled, it furnishes
water, a thick oil, and carbonate of ammonia ; and
when calcined to whiteness, it leaves pure phosphate of
lime.
The component parts of ivory, are, according to
Merat-Guillot, the following:
3
3. Hartshorn.—The constituent parts of hartshorn, Hartshorn,
from the analysis which has been made, are exactly the
same as those of bone, but they contain a greater pro¬
portion of gelatinous matter. 2s2ij
4. JFool is a kind of long hair, very fine and soft, Wool,
which is a covering to different animals, especially the
sheep. It has been considered as nearly analogous in
its nature and properties to hair. It is entirely solu¬
ble in the caustic alkalies, and forms with them a
soapy matter, which has been employed, it is said, with
advantage, as a substitute for soap, in different manu¬
factures.
5. Musk is a substance which is secreted in a bag Musk,
situated near the umbilical region of the musk deer
(moschus moschifer). It has an unctuous feel, is of a
dark-reddish brown colour, has a very bitter taste, and
is distinguished by a strong aromatic smell. It is par¬
tially soluble in water, to which it communicates the
odour. A small portion of it also may be dissolved in
alcohol, but it does not retain the odour. Musk is so¬
luble in sulphuric and nitric acid j but in these solu¬
tions the odour is dissipated. The smell of ammonia is
given out by the action of the fixed alkalies on musk.
When it is laid on red hot iron, it takes fire, and is al¬
most entirely consumed, leaving only a small portion of
gray ashes. During its combustion it gives out the fe¬
tid odour of urine. Musk seems to possess many of the
properties of the volatile oils, but its component parts
have not been determined. 2Si6
6. Civet.—This substance is extracted from a small Civet,
bag near the anus of the viverra civeta, or civet cat»
It is of a yellow colour, and of the consistence of but¬
ter. When first extracted it is said to be white. It
has a very strong smell, and slightly acrid taste; it
combines readily with oils, and is much employed as a
perfume. 2S27
7. Castor.—-This substance is extracted from two Castor,
bags situated near the anus of the beaver. The best
castor
C H E M
)mpoiientcastor Is obtained from the large bag-, that which is
Parts of secreted in the small bag is said to be of an inferior
Animal qUaljty, When castor is first taken from the animal,
ihstances. .g near]y an(j 0f a yellow colour. After it is
exposed for some time to the atmosphere, it becomes
hard, and of a darker colour, assuming a resinous ap¬
pearance. It has an acrid, bitter, and nauseous taste,
and a strong aromatic smell, which it loses by drying.
It becomes soft in water, and communicates to it a
pale yellow colour. This infusion converts vegetable
blues to a green colour. When it has been long mace¬
rated in water, the infusion becomes of a deeper colour,
and yields by evaporation extractive matter, which is
soluble in alcohol and in ether. A resinous matter is
precipitated from the solution in alcohol, by means of
water, which has similar properties with the resin oi
bile. According to the analysis of Lagrange, the com¬
ponent parts of castor are the following :
Carbonate of potash,
      lime,
''   ammonia,
Iron,
Resin,
Mucilaginous extractive matter,
Volatile oil.
aSzS
nbergris. g. Ambergris.—This is a substance which is sup¬
posed to be formed in the intestines of the spermaceti
whale. It is frequently found floating in the sea. For
its natural history, see Ambergris, and Cetology
Index.
It is a soft light substance, of an ash-gray colour,
with brownish-yellow and white streaks. It has an in¬
sipid taste, but an agreeable odour. The specific gra¬
vity is from 0.844 to 0.849. melts the tempera¬
ture of 122°, and with the heat of boiling water is com¬
pletely dissipated in white smoke, leaving a small trace
qf charcoal. By distillation an acid fluid is first ob¬
tained, and a light volatile oil; and there remains be¬
hind a voluminous mass of charcoal. By sublimation
benzoic acid is separated.
Ambergris is insoluble in water. Concentrated
sulphuric acid separates a small portion of charcoal.
It is dissolved in nitric acid. During the solution, ni¬
trous gas, azotic gas, and carbonic acid gas are evol¬
ved. A resinous matter is obtained by evaporating the
solution. Ambergris is soluble in the alkalies, with
the assistance of heat. It is also soluble in the oils, in
'nijxKi- alc°bol and ether. By the analysis of Bouillon la
n. Grange, the constituent parts of ambergris are the
following :
Adipocire
Resin
Benzoic acid
Charcoal
52*7
3°.8
11.1
5-4
innal. ic
m.
fii. 84.
100.0
*
The substance called adipocire possesses the mixed or
intermediate properties of fat and wax. This name was
first given by Fourcroy to the matter into which the
dead bodies found in the Innocents burying-ground
I S T R Y. 765
were converted. In appearance and some of its pro- Component
perties it also resembles spermaceti. Farts of
9. Spermaceti.—This is a production of the same
whale which yields the preceding substance. It is an * , ^ .
oily matter which surrounds the brain. It is separated 2830
from a fluid oil, with which it is mixed, by expres-Spermaceti,
sion. Spermaceti is also found in other cetaceous
fishes, and in other parts of the body, mixed with the
oilV ... . 2S31
It is a fine white substance of a crystallized texture, Properties,
very brittle, and lias little taste or smell. It crystal¬
lizes in tbe form of shining silvery plates. It melts at
the temperature of 1120. With a greater heat it may
be distilled without change ; hut, by repeated distilla¬
tion, it is decomposed, and partly converted into a-
brown acid liquid. It is soluble in boiling alcohol, hut
it separates when the solution cools. It is also soluble in
ether, both cold and hot. In the hot solution it con*
cretes on cooling into a solid mass. 283*
Spermaceti is scarcely at all soluble in the acids. Action of
It combines readily with the pure alkalies, with sul-ac^8’^c-
phur, and with the fixed oils. By exposure to the
air it becomes rancid. The uses of spermaceti are
well known, and particularly in the manufacture of
candles.
10. Ifesoffrcfo.—These are calculous concretions Bezoards.
which are found in the intestines of different animals
belonging to this class, particularly the horse. Some
of very large size have been found in the elephant and
the rhinoceros. These substances were once celebrated
on account of their medical virtues, and they were for¬
merly distinguished into oriental and occidental. The
first were most highly valued, and frequently bore
a high price, especially the hezoards obtained from a
species of goat which inhabits the Asiatic mountains.
Some that have been examined were composed entirely
of vegetable matter. In general the nucleus is of ve¬
getable matter, on which phosphate of ammonia and
magnesia or phosphate of lime have been deposited.
These substances are distinguished by a strong aroma¬
tic odour when they are rubbed or reduced to powder.
The brown or golden-coloured matter which has been
observed on the grinding teeth of ruminating animals,
is found to be of the same nature with the bezoards
which are formed in the intestines.
II. Of Substances peculiar to the Class of Birds.
The substances which are peculiar to this class of ani¬
mals are the following :.
1. Eggs,
2. Feathers,
3. Excrement,
4. Membrane of the stomach.
r 1 • • 2®34
I. liggs.—In a chemical view, three parts of an egg Eggs.
merit attention. These are the shell or external cover¬
ing, the white, and the yolk. The white of egg,
which consists of albumen, has been already described,
so that it now only remains to give some account of the
shell and the yolk.
The shells of the eggs of birds which have been ana-Shells
lyzed are composed of similar constituents with bone,
but in very difl’erent proportions. The following is the
result of the analysis ofVauqueliu.
Carbonate
766
C H E M
Component
Parts of
Animal
Substances.
< II, I y ■■■■! J
* Ann. de
Chirn. xxix.
6.
aS’ttf
Yolk.
Carbonate of lime
Phosphate of lime,
Animal matter
100.0
2837
Composi¬
tion.
2838
leathers.
2839
Excrement
2840
Membrane
of the sto¬
mach.
The yolk of egg is of a soft consistence, a yellow co¬
lour, and of a mild oily taste. It becomes solid by boil¬
ing, and crumbles easily into small particles. By heat¬
ing gently after it has been boiled, and by expression,
an oily liquid of a yellow colour, and insipid taste, is
obtained. It is distinguished by the properties of fixed
oil. What remains after separating the oil is albumen,
still coloured with a small portion of oil. By boiling
this residuum in water, a portion of gelatine is obtained,
so that the yolk of egg is composed of oil, albumen, ge¬
latine, and water.
2. Feathers—are considered as possessing similar pro¬
perties with hair, According to some, the solid part,
or quill, may be reduced to the gelatinous state by
boiling } but according to others, no gelatine whatever
can be detected. The quill part is therefore supposed
to consist chiefly of coagulated albumen. It becomes
soft by the action of acids and the alkalies.
. 3. Excrement.—This matter in birds is very different
from that of the animals included in the class mamma¬
lia. It is generally of a white colour, less liquid, and
less fetid. It is commonly accompanied with a glairy
matter of different degrees of transparency, analogous
to the white of egg. This seems to be owing to a quan¬
tity of albumen which is secreted in the oviduct. The
white part of this matter is composed of carbonate and
phosphate of lime and albumen. The colouring matter
seems to be part of the food.
4. Membi'ane of the stomach.—The internal surface
of the gizzard, or muscular part of the stomach of birds,
is covered with a wrinkled membrane, which is sus¬
ceptible of considerable extension, and through the pores
of which gastric juice is copiously secreted. This mem¬
brane is easily separated from the muscular part. When
it is boiled in water, it is converted into jelly, and com¬
municates to the water the property of reddening ve¬
getable blues, and coagulating milk. When it is dried
and reduced to powder, it produces the same effect.
III. Of Matters peculiar to Animals in the Amphi¬
bious Class.
4841
Poison of I. Poison of the Viper.—Some of the animals be-
the viper, longing to the snake tribe secrete a peculiar fluid in
the mouth, which is of a poisonous quality. The
poison of the viper is a yellow viscid liquid, somewhat
resembling oil. It is secreted in two small bags, and
from them conveyed to the fangs of the animal, which
are hollow and perforated, and when it bites, the li¬
quid is squeezed out of the hag, and flows through
the teeth into the wound. It has no smell. It be¬
comes thick by exposure to the air, and is converted
into a transparent jelly j but it retains its poisonous
property long after it is separated from the animal-
It is soluble in water by agitation, hut if thrown into
the water when extracted from the vesicle, it falls in¬
stantly to the bottom like a heavy oil. It is soluble in
warm water after it is dried, but not soluble in alcohol,
or coagulated by boiling water. Acids and alkalies
I S T R Y.
produce no perceptible change upon this matter. It Component
is precipitated from its solution in water by alcohol. Parts of
It resembles gum in so many of its properties, that it,,
has been called an animal gum. K . >
2. Liquid secreted from the tubercles on the head oj 33^2
the Toad.—It has been long supposed that the liquid Toad,
secreted on the head of the toad is of a poisonous qua¬
lity ; but although it is said by some naturalists, that
this fluid, brought in contact with the skin, produces
inflammation, yet there seems to be no positive proof
of this effect.
3. Tortoise-shell.—This substance, which forms a Tortoise
strong covering and defence to the body of the turtle, shell,
possesses many of the properties of horn $ for it may be
softened with heat, or in boiling water, and shaped
into any form which may be wanted. It is composed
of a number of hard plates or membranes, of different
degrees of thickness, closely applied to each other. It
becomes soft by maceration in nitric acid, and by burn¬
ing it yields a very small proportion of phosphate of
lime and soda, with some slight traces of iron.
IV. Of Substances peculiar to Fishes.
2S44
1. Scales—generally possess a silvery whiteness, and Scales,
are composed of different laminae. In many of their
properties they resemble horn. By long boiling in
water they become soft, and when they are kept for
some hours in nitric acid, they are converted into a
transparent membraneous substance. By saturating the
acid with ammonia, a precipitate is formed, which is
phosphate of lime. The constituent parts of scales,
therefore, are membrane and phosphate oflime.
2. Bones of fishes.—These are composed of the same Bones,
constituents as those of other animals, but have a
greater proportion of animal matter. In some they are
soft, flexible, and semitransparent, and hence they are
called cartilaginous. In others they are hard and solid,
having the usual appearance of bone.
3. Fish oil.—A great quantity of oil is extracted
from the soft parts of different kinds of fish, and espe¬
cially from the blubber of the whale. It is usually
denominated train oil. It is obtained, either by ex¬
pression, or by boiling. It is supposed that the oil ob¬
tained from the blubber of the whale, and from other
fishes, possesses different properties, which are ascribed
to the difference in the function of respiration of ceta¬
ceous and other fishes ; but how far this difference real¬
ly exists, does not seem to have been accurately ascer¬
tained. Fish oil is distinguished by a disagreeable
smell, and it has long been an object to deprive it of
this odour, as it is much employed in domestic econo¬
my and in many arts. By agitating the oil with a
small portion of sulphuric acid, and adding water, the
oil when left at rest, rises to the surface considerably
purified. A portion of coagulated matter has separated,
and the water is milky.
V. Of Substances peculiar to Insects.
1. -The nature and properties of this sub¬
stance have already been described as a vegetable pro¬
duction.
2. Propolis.—This is a substance collected by bees, propolis*
and with which they cover the bottom of the hive, or
any
C H E M
"omp*nent any foreign matters which happen to be introduced
Parts of into it, which they cannot remove. It is the substance
Animal yvhich they collect on their legs and thighs. It is per*
ia stances. jiapS more pr0perly to be considered as a vegetable
production. It possesses more tenacity than wax, but
has much of its ductility. It is insipid to the taste,
but is distinguished by an aromatic odour. It is par¬
tially soluble in alcohol, to which it communicates a
red colour. Another portion is dissolved in boiling
alcohol, and part precipitates as the. solution cools,
which has the properties of W'ax. A resinous mass is
obtained by concentrating the solution in alcohol and
boiling in water. It is semitransparent and brittle. An
acid was detected in the water in which it w'as boiled.
The resinous substance is soluble in fixed and volatile
oils. The following are the constituent parts of pro¬
polis.
Pure resin
Pure wax
Extraneous matter
Loss and acid
* Nichol.
four. v.
>•49-
2845
loney.
57
14
14
15
100 ’
2846
anthari-
3. Honey.—This also has been considered as a ve¬
getable production, as it is collected from plants by
bees. It is of white or yellowish colour, of a gra¬
nular soft consistence, and has an aromatic smell j
but these properties vary according to the plants from
which it is collected, or the climate in which they
grow. By distillation honey yields nearly the same
products as sugar. It is converted into oxalic acid by
means of nitric acid. It is very soluble in water, and
is even somewhat deliquescent. It readily passes to
the vinous fermentation, and affords a fermented li¬
quor which has been called hydromel. It is partially
soluble in alcohol, and by this means sugar may be
extracted from it. The component parts of honey are
sugar, mucilage, and an acid. If pure honey be melt¬
ed, and carbonate of lime be added till the efferves¬
cence ceases, the sugar is separated, and is deposited
in crystals.
4. Cantharides are a species of fly (the mcloe vest-
catoidus, Lin.) which are much employed, from a pe¬
culiar property they possess, to raise blisters on the
skin. For this purpose the whole of the insect is re¬
duced to powder. Cantharides have been subjected to
analysis ; and by successive treatment with water, al¬
cohol, and ether, four different substances have been
extracted. 1. Three-eighths of their weight consist
of extractive matter, of a reddish-yellow colour, very
bitter, and which yields by distillation an acid liquor.
2. A little more than one-tenth of the weight consists
of a concrete oil, something of the nature of wax,
which is of a green colour and very acrid taste. To
this is owing the peculiar odour of cantharides. This
substance yields, by distillation, a very pungent acid
substance and a thick oil. 3. About one-fiftieth of a
yellow concrete oil, which seems to communicate the
colour to the insect, is also obtained. 4. About one half
the weight of a solid matter remains, the nature of
which has not been ascertained. The blistering effect
of cantharides seems to depend on the green waxy
matter, part of which is extracted by means of warm
water, and it is entirely soluble in ether..
I S T R Y. 767
Millepedes.—These insects, which are different spe- Component
cies of oniscus, were formerly employed in medicine, fait* of
By distillation with the heat of a water bath, they yield
a watery liquid, which converts the syrup of violets to .
a green colour, and by this process they are deprived 2847
of five-eighths of their weight. By treating them af-Millepedes,
terwards with water and alcohol, they furnish one-fourth
of their weight of an extractive and waxy matter j
the latter is soluble in ether. The muriates of potash
and lime have been detected in the expressed juice of
these insects. 2S4S
Ants.—These insects contain an acid liquid, which Ant*,
they emit from the mouth when they are irritated, or
when they are bruised on paper. This liquid converts
vegetable blues to red j and it has been observed that
streaks of the same colour are communicated to blue
flowers, over which the insects creep. The acid ob¬
tained from ants, and particularly from the formica
rufa, or red ant, was formerly considered as possessing
peculiar properties, and thence denominated formic
acid; but it has been lately ascertained to consist of a
mixture of acetic and malic acids. aS^r
Lac.—This is a substance which is formed on the Lac.
branches of several plants, as the ficus indica, the ficus
rcligiosa, and especially the croton lacciferum. It is
produced by the puncture of an insect, but is consider¬
ed as belonging to vegetable substances, among which
the general properties have been already described, as
well as the properties of an acid obtained from it,
among the acids. „
Silk.—This is the production of several insects, ei-gp^ “
ther for the purpose of covering up their eggs, or
forming a net to catch their prey, as is the case with
many of the spider tribe, or to cover up the insect du¬
ring one of the stages of its metamorphosis. The silk
of commerce is usually obtained from the phalcena bom-
byx, or silk-worm. This substance is prepared in the
body of the larva of the insect, from which it is pro¬
truded through several small orifices in very fine threads;
and with this it forms a covering for itself while it re¬
mains in the state of chrysalis or pupa.
Silk is a very elastic substance, and is of a white or
reddish-yellow colour, when it is produced by the in¬
sect. The elasticity of silk has been ascribed to a var¬
nish with which it is covered, of a gummy or gelati¬
nous nature, which is precipitated by tan and muriate
of tin. The yellow colour of silk is ascribed to a resi¬
nous matter which is soluble in alcohol. By distilla¬
tion silk yields a large proportion of ammonia. It is
soluble in sulphuric, nitric, and muriatic acids. By
nitric acid it is partly converted into oxalic acid, and
a fatty matter which swims on the surface. 2S,r
Cochineal.-—HlWis is an insect which breeds on the Cochineal,
leaves of the cactus coccinelliferm, Lin. sometimes
called opuntia or nopal. The plant is cultivated in
Mexico, for ths purpose of rearing the insects, which
are collected, dried, and employed as a beautiful dye
stuff. By burning, the same results are obtained as
from other animal matters ; but with boiling water it
gives a crimson violet colour, which becomes red
and yellow by the action of acids, while a precipitate
is formed of the same colour. The metallic solutions
added to this decoction also produce a coloured preci¬
pitate. The muriate of tin throws down a beautiful
red precipitate. The evaporated residuum of the de¬
coction
768
Component
Parts of
Animal
Substances
1352
Kennes.
C H E M
coction of cochineal, treated with alcohol, gives a fine
red colour, and this, by evaporating the alcohol, as¬
sumes the form of a resin. Oxymuriatic acid converts
the solution of this substance into a yellow colour,
from which the proportion of colouring matter may be
in some measure estimated, by the quantity 01 acid re¬
quisite to destroy its colour. Cochineal is well known
by its producing a beautiful scarlet colour. It may
be kept for any length of time, at least in a dry place,
without being deprived of its colouring matter. It has
retained this property for 130 years. Cochineal is em¬
ployed in the preparation of the beautiful lake called
carmine.
Kermes.—This also is an insect which is employed
in dyeing, from whence it has been called coccus in-
fectorius. It is the coccus ilicis, Lin. and is produced
on a small kind of oak, the quercus coccifera. The in¬
sect attaches itself to the bark of the tree by a soft sub¬
stance, which possesses many of the properties of caout¬
chouc.
When the living insect is bruised, it gives out a red
colour. It has a slightly bitter, rough, pungent taste,
but its smell is not unpleasant. The dried insect, or
the kermes, imparts this odour and taste to water and
to alcohol, and communicates also to these liquids a
deep red colour. By evaporation, an extract of the
same colour is obtained. It is employed in dyeing, and
2g-3 has been also used in medicine.
Crabs'eyes Ci'abs eyes.—The substance which has received this
name, merely from its form, is a concrete body, con¬
vex on one side, and concave on the other. Two of
these bodies are usually found in the stomach of the
crab, about the time that it changes its shell. After
the shell is fully formed, they are no longer found, so
that they are supposed to furnish the materials of the
new shell. They are entirely composed of carbonate
of lime, a small proportion of phosphate of lime, and
gelatine.
The crustaceous coverings of the crab, lobster, and
similar animals, are composed of carbonate of lime,
phosphate of lime, and animal matter, or cartilage.
I S T R Y.
dermis, under which is the shell, composed chiefly of Component
the substance called nacre, or mother of pearl. Such Parts of
are the oyster, the river mussel, the haliotis iris, and
the turbo olearetis. In these the proportion of carho-, “ us
nate of lime is smaller, and that of the animal matter
greater. _ 2856
3. Pearl.—This is a concretion formed in several Pearl,
species of shells, as in some species of the oyster and
the mussel. It is considered by some as a morbid con¬
cretion, owing to an excess of the shelly matter, or to
a wound of the shell containing the animal. Pearls are
of a silvery or bluish-white colour, iridescent and bril¬
liant. The refraction of the light is ascribed to the
lamellated structure, for they consist of concentric
layers of carbonate of lime and membrane alternately'
arranged. The constituent parts of pearl are the same
as mother of pearl.
VI. Of Substances peculiar to Testaceous Animals.
, .2854
Shells.
»«S5
Mother of
pearl.
VII. Substances peculiar to Zoophytes.
2857
The zoophytes, many of which have been examined Zoophytes,
by Mr Hatchett, are composed of carbonate of lime,
phosphate of lime, and animal matter of different de¬
grees of consistency. In some the constituents are
only carbonate of lime and a gelatinous matter. Such
are some species of the madrepore, as the madrepora
muricata, virginea, and labyrinthica; some species of
millepore, as the millepora cerulea and alcicornis, and
the tubipora musica. Others again are composed of
carbonate of lime and a membranaceous substance.
Such are the madrepora fascicularis, the nnUepora cel-
lulosa and fascialis, and the iris hippuris. White
coral and articulated coralline are composed of similar
substances. Another division of zoophytes is composed
of carbonate of lime, a small portion of phosphate
of lime and membrane. Such are the madrepora poly-
morpha, the gorgonia vobilis or red coral, and the gor-
gonia setosa; but some of the zoophytes are also
found to consist chiefly of animal matter, with scarce¬
ly any portion of earthy substance. To this division
belong some species of gorgonia and many species of
sponge.
The only substances to be mentioned peculiar to
this class of animals are shells, mother of pearl, and
pearl.
1. Shells.—Such as have been particularly examined
by Mr Hatchett are divided into two classes. In the
one he includes those which have the appearance of
porcelain, and have an enamelled surface, which he
calls porcellaneous shells. Such are the various species
of valuta and cyprcea. These shells were found by
analysis to be composed of carbonate of lime, with a
small portion of animal gluten.
2. Mother of pearl.—The second class comprehends
those which are generally covered with a strong epi-
Ghaf. XX. Of Arts and Manufactures.
In this chapter it was intended to give a general
view of the application of the principles of chemistry
to different arts and manufactures, such as the manu¬
facture of soap, of glass, and porcelain 5 the arts of dye¬
ing, bleaching, and tanning. In this view it was pro¬
posed to explain the principles of these arts and manu¬
factures, so far as they depend upon chemistry, leaving
the detail to the different treatises on those subjects in
the course of the work. But the unavoidable length
to which this article has extended, obliges us to refer
our readers for the whole to the different treatises.
APPENDIX.
CHEMISTRY.
769
appendix.
!S58
ixygeua- One of the most interesting trains of experimental
'ids^ad researc^ chemistry that liave recently occurred, is
' muer. t',at Thenard on the oxygenation of the acids and
ot water j of which we shall subjoin an account, as it
is more recent than the date even of the Chemistry in
our Supplement, and the subjects which it implies
are some of the most important novelties in this science.
This eminent chemist has found, in the first place, that
several of the acids are capable of being made to com¬
bine with an additional quantity of oxygen ; and in the
second, that water is susceptible of a similar combina¬
tion. The leading instrument by which he was en¬
abled to accomplish these combinations was the peroxide
of barium, a compound discovered by himself, consist¬
ing of the metallic base of barytes (barium), in combi¬
nation with a larger quantity of oxygen than that which
constitutes this earth. That peroxide is formed simply
by subjecting pure barytes to a high temperature in
contact with pure oxygenous gas. The gas is absorbed,
and the peroxide adapted to the following curious pur¬
poses is obtained. Diluted muriatic acid, poured slow¬
ly on this substance, dissolves it without setting at li¬
berty any of its oxygen ; we have then an oxygenated
muriate of barytes. When to this we gradually add
sulphuric acid, the barytes is precipitated in union
with this last-mentioned acid, i. e. the sulphate of ba¬
rytes, a very insoluble compound, is formed. This pro-
2Ss9 cess is continued till the whole earth is precipitated,
cygenat- The additional dose of oxygen which had made it a
muriatic peroxide is neither evolved in the form of gas, nor pre¬
cipitated with the earth j it remains in solution in union
with the muriatic acid. Nitric acid is capable of be-
2560 *ng oxygenated by a similar process.
Iphuric The oxygenation of sulphuric acid was not effected
with equal simplicity. When that acid is brought in
contact with peroxide of barium, it forms sulphate of
barytes, by combining with that earth which is a prot¬
oxide of barium > and the overplus of oxygen is disen¬
gaged in the gaseous form, exactly in the same way as
this acid operates on the peroxide (the black oxide)
of manganese, combining with the deutoxide of that
metal, and setting oxygenous gas at liberty. In order to
effect the oxygenation of the sulphuric acid, we first pro¬
cure an oxygenated muriatic acid. We must also be
provided with liquid sulphate of silver. This solution
is added to the oxygenated muriatic acid. A muriate
of silver, a very insoluble precipitate, is formed by the
combination ot the oxide of silver with the muriatic
acid. The sulphuric acid retains the liquid state j but
the superabundant oxygen is transferred to it from the
muriatic. We have now an oxygenated sulphuric
2561 acid*
ygenat- When the substance last mentioned is treated with
matter, an aqueous solution of barytes, the sulphuric acid is
Vol. V. Part II. f
precipitated in combination with this earth, and the
oxygen remains in union with the water. The same
portion of water may receive additional combinations of
oxygen by a repetition of the same process. This com*
bination is singular in this respect, that the oxygen is
not so easily separated by certain processes as we might
be apt to anticipate, while there are others which dis¬
engage it with astonishing rapidity. When oxygenat¬
ed water is placed within the exhausted receiver of an
air pump, the oxygen is not liberated as it would be if
it were retained in its state of union with that fluid in
any degree by the pressure of the atmosphere. What
is more, if it be placed in an exhausted receiver, which
at the same time contains a bason of sulphuric acid, the
water is gradually raised in vapour, while the oxygen
continues united to the remaining portion. We can
thus procure oxygenated water in a highly concentrated
state, and are presented with a view of its properties
in a more striking form. This fluid is heavier than
pure water ; it sinks in it like sulphuric acid, and has
the same heavy and sluggish consistence.
The substances which most readily induce a separa- Properties,
tion of the oxygen, are some of the metallic oxides :
when these are added to it, the oxygen flies off with
a sudden explosion 5 and it is a curious additional
circumstance that the oxygen of the oxide is liberated
along with it, and the metal reduced to a state of puri¬
ty. Another singular fact is, that even the pure metal
thrown into oxygenated water effects a separation of
the oxygen. In order to account for such an agency
in a substance which does not in consequence enter
into any new chemicals tate, Thenard sagaciously sug¬
gests, that the agency exerted must be of an electrical
nature. This subject, probably, presents much scope
for farther ingenious research.
It is to be observed, that pure water does not re¬
tain this additional oxygen so strongly as the acids j
and hence has arisen a question, whether in the latter
this principle is in union with the acid as well as with
the water. It appears, however, that other impreg¬
nations, such as saccharine and gummy substances,
dissolved in water, give it, like the acids, the power of
retaining the oxygen more strongly. The experiments
on this part of the subject, however, do not yet seem
to have been greatly extended. 2S6?
Oxygenated water lias the property of removing the Uses,
dark colour induced on white lead by sulphureted hy¬
drogen, which in many cases occasions serious injury
to ancient paintings. This purpose it fulfils so com¬
pletely, without affecting the generality of other co¬
lours with which the white lead is in contact on the
canvas, that it has been hailed by amateurs as a truly
precious discovery.
5e
EXPLANA-
CHEMISTRY.
77°
Explana¬
tion of
Plates.
EXPLANATION OF THE PLATES.
Explana.
lion of
Plates.
Plate CXLII.
Fig. I. Represents Harrison’s pendulum, constructed
on the principle of the unequal expansion of metals.
Fig. 2. The calorimeter of Lavoisier and Laplace,
the tube D, which communicates with a spiral tube
in the refrigeratory E, which being filled with cold
water, the vapour is condensed, and passes out at the
other extremity of the tube F, and is received in the
vessel G.
see page 476*
Fig. 3. Iron bottle and bent gun-barrel for procur¬
ing oxygen gas from manganese. The black oxide is
reduced to powder, and introduced into the bottle A.
The bent tube is put on the mouth of the bottle at C,
and luted with the materials described at the foot of
page 490. The bottle is then exposed to a red heat,
and the gas which comes over is received in jars on the
pneumatic apparatus.
Fig. 3. and 4. represent the apparatus for the decom¬
position of water. See page 496.
Fig. 5. Pneumatic trough for collecting gaseous
bodies. Suppose a quantity of sulphurated hydrogen
gas is to be collected, which is described in page 505.
The iron filings and sulphur which were melted toge¬
ther in a crucible, and which then form a black brittle
mass, are to be introduced into the glass vessels. Fig.
6. B is a bent tube ground to fit the mouth D, and is
air-tight. To the other mouth C is fitted the ground
stopper A. One end of the bent tube is fitted into
the mouth I), and the other placed under the glass jar
F on the shelf of the pneumatic trough E, which is
filled with water about an inch above the surface of
the shell. The jar is also previously filled with water,
cautiously inverted, and set on the shelf. The apparatus
being thus adjusted, muriatic acid is poured into the
opening C, and the ground stopper is immediately re¬
placed. A violent effervescence takes place, a great
quantity of gas is disengaged, and as there is no other
way for it to escape it passes into the glass jar. When
this is filled, it is removed to another part of the shelf j
another jar which was previously filled with water
is put into its place, and so on till the whole gas is col¬
lected.
Fig. 7. Papin’s digester. A is the body of the ves¬
sel, which has been generally made of copper or iron,
very thick and strong. BB are two strong bars fixed
to the sides of the vessel. To the upper end of these
bars is fixed the cross bar C, through which passes
a strong screw D, which presses on the lid of the
vessel at E, so that it is enabled to resist the elastic
force of the vapour: and the water can thus be
raised to a higher temperature than the ordinary boil¬
ing point.
Fig. 8. This represents an apparatus for distilla¬
tion. A is the furnace, B is the body of the still,
which is generally made of copper; C is the top or
head, made of the same metal. The vapour, as it rises
from the liquid by the application of heat, passes along
Fig. 9. Glass Retort.
Fig. 10. Tubulated Retort.
Fig. II. Glass Alembic.
Fig. 12. Solution Glass.
Fig. 13. Crucible.
Fig. 14. Apparatus for obtaining muriatic acid from
muriate of soda by sulphuric acid. The muriate of
soda is introduced into the retort A, and by means of
the bent tube B the sulphuric acid is added. The ma¬
trass C is adapted to the retort, to receive the portion
of impure sulphuric acid and muriatic acid which passes
over towards the end of the operation. D, E, and F,
are bottles containing water ; the quantity of which
should be equal in weight to that of the salt employ¬
ed. These bottles are furnished with tubes of safety /
GG; or the tube of safety may be applied as H in the
bottle E. | ^
Fig. 15. Apparatus for impregnating fluids with
gases. A is a tubulated retort which is joined to B,
a tubulated receiver, from which a bent tube C passes
to the second receiver D. This last communicates with
the bottle F by means of the bent tube E. The end of the
tube C which enters the receiver I) is furnished with a
valve, which prevents the return of any gas from the
receiver H to the receiver B, in case a vacuum should
take place in the course of the operation in the receiver
B, or in the retort A. The gas which is not absorbed
by the water in the receiver H, passes through the tube
E to the bottle F.
Fig. 16. A gazometer, which is a convenient ap¬
paratus for holding gases. It is usually made of tin
plate. A is an inverted vessel, which exactly fits ano¬
ther, which is fixed within the cylinder B. When it
is pressed down to the bottom of the cylinder, water
is poured in, by which means the small quantity of air
which remains in the intermediate spaces, is forced out,
and the gas to be preserved may be introduced at the
lower stop-cock C. The vessel A is nearly balanced
by the weights HD, which are connected with it by
means of the cords a a act, which move on the pulleys
bbbb. As the gas enters the apparatus, it forces up
the vessel A, and in this way it may be completely fil¬
led. It is forced out by turning the stop-cock E, and
pressing down the vessel A, and may be conveyed in¬
to a pneumatic apparatus, and received in jars by means
of the flexible tube F»
INDEX.
/'*/,. / v/'jex/j/
v/.y.
i)
ErCL^
Fry.
Fit/, c?.
Ftj/F
-F. r///ct/fo
Chemistry
/j/^/r/7<; GSL7ZT.
f,'isy./3.
[ 771 3
INDEX.
Acetate of potash, n° 987
icetic acid, history of, 647
properties, 650
analysis, 659
Icids, distinctive character of, 456
importance, ih.
found in animal bodies, 2608
idhtsion, how it happens, 59
accounted for, 60
Affinity, history of, 49
action of, explained, 50
limited, 90
laws of, 92
force of, 106
examples of, 94
Albumen from eggs, 2567
uses, 2582
Alchemists, most eminent of, 25
Alchemy, history of, useful, 31
declines, 28
not fruitful in discoveries, 32
the reason, 33
Alkali, calcined, 1421
silicated, I45°
Alkalies, origin of the name, 897
characters, 898
Alum, history of, 1418
preparation, I4I9
properties, 1420
Alumina, history of, J399
properties, 1401
gelatinous, 1402
uses, 1411
spongy, 1402
Amber, 245°
Ambergris, 2828
composition of, 2829
Ammonia, history of, 1096
properties, 1098
composition, 1102
salts, 1110
Ammoniac, 24^5
Amnios, liquor of, properties, 2725
composition, 2728
of the cow, 2731
composition, 2735
Amniotic acid, properties of, 814
Animals, functions of, 25°3
decomposition, 2543
component parts, 2553
Anime, 2442
Antimony, history of, 1675
properties, 1678
uses, 1691
Ants, 2848
Apparatus described, 265
Application of chemistry to the arts, 13
hgil, 1399
Argillaceous earth, N° 1399
Arseniate of potash, 987
Arsenic vlcAA, properties of, 612
action of water on, 613
affinities, 617
Assafaetida, 2464
Atmosphere,
component parts of, 2155
constitution, 2163
changes, 2166
Atmospheric air, properties of, 357
Atomic theory, 126
Azotic gas, discovery of, 350
properties of, 352
combines with oxygen, 356
B
Bacon's theory of heat, 161
Balm of Gilead, 2446
Barium, 1258
Barytes, history of, 1256
properties, 1258
salts, 1268
Bdellium, 2472
Beecher's elements, 43
Benzoic acid, history of, 714
properties, yifi
component parts, 720
affinities, 722
Benzoin, 2454
Berthollet on affinities, 125
Bergmann's explanation of affinity, 56
Bezoards, 2833
Bile, properties of 2&35
composition, 2640
Bismuth, history of, I^57
properties, 1661
Bitter matter, 2390
Black, Dr, on caloric, 212
fixed air, 38
Blisters, liquor of, 2764
B/ood, properties, 2^I3
serum, 2619
cruor, 2624
fibrina, 2628
constituents of, 2631
inflammatory, 2633
diabetic, 2^34
Blue, liquid, what, 2384
Bodies, capacities of, for caloric, 261
Boerhaave, his distribution of bodies, 256
Boiling, 229
point constant, 230
Bones, 2743
composition, 2749
of different animals,
of the teeth, 2750
of fishes, 2845
Boracic acid, discovery of, 566
preparation, 567
Boracic acid, composition and pro¬
perties, N° 568
affinities, 574
Borate oiWme, 1213
Borax, history of, 1067
properties, 1069
uses, I073
Boron, 568
Boscnvich's theory of cohesion, 72
Brain and nerves, 277-3
Britain, chemistry first studied in, 36
Brucine, 2496
Brugnatelli on combustion, 325
Butter of antimony, 1685
of bismuth, 1670
of zinc, J775
C
Calamine, 1752
Calces of metals, 1518
Calcium, 1170
Calomel, 1738
Caloric, what, 159
Bacon’s theory of, 161
velocity of, 165
minute particles, 166
reflection, 170
rays of, 172
effects of, 303
modifications of, 334
elastic fluids, effects on, 181
radiated, 241
refracted, 242
reflected, 243
Camel, urine of, 2669
Cameleon, mineral, *652
Camphor, 2415
Camphorate of potash, 1006
Camphoric acid, history of, 738
properties, 740
affinities, 744
Cantharides, 2846
Canton's pyrophorus, 144
Caoutchouc, 2423
Carbonate of potash, 974
Carbon, nature of, explained, 397
Carbonic acid, formation of, 59 ?
names of, jp6
method of obtaining, 598
properties, 599
affinities, 606
fatal effects of, 608
oxide, 409-10
Castor, 2827
Cavendish, Mr, his experiments on
water, 389
Cerium, 1592
Cerumen of the ear, properties, 2707
composition, 2709
Cheese, 2684
5 E 2 Chemistry,
772
Chemistry, destination of, N° r
importance of to man, 7
application of, to the arts, 13
an art among the Egyp¬
tians, 17
Greeks, 18
Phoenicians, 19
Chinese, 20
Romans, 21
Chloric acid, 553
Chlorides, 349
Chlorine, 339
Chlorurets, 349
Chromate of potash, 986
Chromic acid, discovery of, 633
uses, 641
Churning, process of, 2679
Cinnabar, 1701
Citrate of potash, IOC5
Citric acid, found in fruits, 680
compounds of, 690
affinities, 691
Civet, 28 26
Coagulation, cause of, 2369
Cobalt, 1393
Cochineal, 2831
Cohesion, force of, 68
Newton’s theory of, 70
Desaguliers’s, 71
Boscovich’s, 72
Go/J reflected, 272
accounted for, 273
Colour, 130
Colouring matter, 2368
Columbate of potash, 986
Columbia acid, discovery of, 642
properties, 644
Columbium, history of,
analysis, !574
Combustion, 133
Concretions, morbid, 2786
found in pineal
gland, 2787
salivary, 2788
pulmonary, 2790
composition of, 2792
. biliary, 2793
urinary, 2799
properties of, 2801
constituents, 2802
solvents, 2813
how used, 2814
gouty, properties of, 2817
action of alka¬
lies on, 2818
Copaiva, 2447
Copal, ' 2443
Copper, history of, 1958
ores, 1959
properties, 1961
alloys, 2003
Corros«W sublimate, 1738
Cow, urine of, 2668
Crabs eyes, 2833
Crawford, Dr, his method of asqer-
CHEMISTRY.
taining the capacities of bodies
for caloric, N° 262
£Vz/or of blood, 2628
Crystallisation accounted for, 82
by Newton, 83
Hauy, 84
Curd, 2683
of milk of different animals, 2692
Cutis or true skin, 2754
D.
Dalton on caloric, 269
Davy's discoveries, 914
Decomposition of animals, 2343
Definition of chemistry, 1
Delphine, 2496
Desaguliers on cohesion, 71
Detonation, what, 337
Diamond, 397
found in the torrid zone, 399
form of, 400
properties, 401
production of its combus¬
tion, 402
a simple substance, 403
compared with charcoal, 404
Different affinities among bodies, 112
Digestion, 2319
nature of, unknown, 2323
Discoveries of the alchemists, 30
importance of 39
Dragon's blood, 2441
Dropsy, liquor of, 2764
E.
Earths, properties of, 1165
Effects of light on metallic oxides, 131
caloric, 173
solubility, 100
Egg yields albumen, 2367
Eggs, . _ 2834
Egyptians, their knowledge of che¬
mistry, 17
.E/asfzc fluids, 183
Elemi, 2445
Elements of bodies, 41
Epidermis of the skin, 2752
Epsom salt, 1343
Ether, formation of, 832
names, 833
sulphuric, 834
nitric, 844
muriatic, 833
Evaporation explained,. 80
Euchlorine, 331
Euphorbium, 2463
Examples of affinity, 94
Excrement, 2839
Expansion, 178
quantity of 202
Extractive matter, 2361
humours of, 2701
of sheep, 2702
human, 2703
Fat, ' 2599
Fermentation, acetous, 2284
Index.
Fermentation, vinous, N° 2274
panary, 2287
Fibrina, obtained from blood, 2583
muscle, 2384
properties, 2385
composition, 2387
Flint and steel, effects of, 277
Flowers of bismuth, 1661
of zinc, 1758
Fluate of potash, 968
of lime, 1208
Fluidity, 207
owing to an increase of ca¬
loric, 212
Fluids, elastic, 101
Fluo-boric acid, 373
Fluoric acid, history of, 339
properties, 361
composition, 363
affinities, 363
Foetus, crust on, 2727
nature of, 2728
Fourcroy's experiments on water, 392
France, chemistry studied in, 37
Freezing mixture, how used, 275
Friction, 290
Frigorific particles, 271
Fulminating gold, 2099
mercury, 1731
platinum, 2133
powder, 9301
silver, 2048;
G.
Galbanum, 2468
Gallic acid, properties of, 706
affinities, 713
employment of, in che¬
mical analysis, 914
Gamboge, 2471!
Gases not luminous, 137
expand equally, 206
azotic, 330
nitrous oxide, 363
nitrous, 369
Gelatine, 2$5S
Glass of antimony, 1684
Gold, history of, 2077
properties, 2080
affinities, 2088
salts, . 2089
fulminating, 2099
alloys, 2109
Glucina, history of, 1463
properties, 1467
salts, . 1473
Gluten, properties of, 2331
Good conductors, what, 246
use of, 248
Greeks, their knowledge of chemi¬
stry, 18
Guinea pig, urine of, 2671
Gam, properties, 2301
distillation of, 2303
resins, 2439
Gun-powder, 947
Gun-powder,
Index.
Gun-powder, preparation^ N* 940
nature of, 949
Guaiae, 2448
H.
Hair and nails, 2807
action of water on, 2808
action of acids on, 2781
distillation of, 2780
composition, 2785
Hartshorn, 2823
Hauifs theory of crystallization, 84
Heat explained, 156
latent, 224
from condensation, 278
by friction, 284
animal 2517, 18
History of chemistry, 16
Honey, 2845
theory of light, 312
Horn from sheep, &c. 2822
Horse, urine of, 2667
Howard's fulminating powder, l73l
Hulme's experiments on light, 149
Hydriodic acid 336
Hydrogen gas, history of, 373
properties, 373
a remedy in disease, 378
Hyperoxymuriatic acid,
how obtained, 336
composition of 538
affinities, 339
I.
Ice, water in the state of, 394
Importance of chemistry, 7
Inflammable substances, 816
names of, 818
history, 819
properties, 821
constituents, 829
Inflection ol \\g\rt, 133
Ink, black, how to make, I93^
sympathetic, 1608
Iodine, 333
Iridium examined, 2133
fro/?, history of, 1880
ores, 1882
properties 1884
cast, its properties, 1896
salts, 1903
. alloys, < # 1945
Irvine, Dr, his confirmation of
Black’s theory, 236
hory from the elephant, 2821
K*
Kermes, 2832
Rirwan's method of estimating the
torce of affinity, no
objections to it by
Morveau and
Berthollet, in
method of ascertaining the
quantity of water in
sulphuric acid, 469
CHEMISTRY.
Koumiss, N° 2686
L.
Labdanum, 2440
Lac, 2449
Laccic acid, discovery of, 768
properties of, 771
Lactic acid, discovery of, 762
properties of, 764
affinities of, 767
Lana philosopliica, J757
Lavoisier on caloric, 264
Z£7iy,y of affinity, 92
Lead, 1824
properties of, 1827
salts of, 1839
alloys of, 1869
Ligaments, 2772
Light, velocity of, 130
particles, 133
effects, 131
reflection of, 134
rays of, 132
inflection, 133
refraction, 136
transparency, 140
undulating fluid, 128
Limbourg's idea of affinity, 35
Lime, properties and composition of, 1170
affinities, H75
salts, 1181
Liquid, water in the state of, 395
Liquor silicum, I45°
of the amnios, properties, 2725
dropsy, 2735, 6
blisters, ib.
Litharge, 1834
Lithina, 1095
M.
Magistery of bismuth, 1669
Magnesia, history of, 1332
properties, J334
uses, 1340
Malate of potash, 1005
Malic acid, history of, 692
properties, 696
Manganese, history of, 1632
ores, 1632
properties, *635
oxides, 1637
Manganeseous acid, 1632
Manganesic acid, 1642
Mastic, 2430
Mastic acid, 2337
Matter, solid, 73
fluid, 76
Mayow's theory of light, 313
Mcconic acid, 2337
Medicine, 9
Mellitic acid, discovery of, 734
properties, 736
composition, 760
Membranes, 2770
.Mercw/y, history of, 1700
analysis, 1702
properties, 1703
773
Mercury, affinities, N° 1716
fulminating, 173I
JMetuls, importance of, 1304
brilliancy,
density, I5°9
ductility, ^S12
fusibility, 15I5
imperfect, *5 29
perfect, ib.
Milk, properties of cow’s l()qq
separates into two parts, 2678
coagulation of, 2682
ferments, 2686
composition. 2688
comparison of different kinds, 2690
Millepedes, 2847
Mineral came Icon, 1652
waters, classes of, 2194
gases, 2200
salts, 2204
analysis, 2207
Minerals, 9
Mixture, source of, 291
Mixtures, freezing, 274
Molybdate of potash, 985
Molybdena, history of, J555
properties, 1337
Molybdic acid, history of, 627
properties, 628
Morphine, 2496
Mother of pearl, 2835
Mucus of the nose, 2706
Muriate of potash, uses of, 938
properties, 960
composition, 966
lime, 1298
Muriatic acid, names of, 322
properties, 326
supposed formation of, 337
affinities,
Murray's (Dr.) views of mineral
waters,
Muscles, structure of,
composition,
boiled,
roasted,
properties,
Musk,
Myrrh,
N.
536
538
2223
2759
2763
2765
2796
2767
2823
2466
Narcotic matter, 2392
Natural history, 3
philosophy, 4
Newton's theory of cohesion, 70
crystallization, 83
Nickel, history of, 1613
properties,. 1618
alloy of 1624
Nitrate of potash, properties, 942
uses, 934
Nitric acid, names of, 497
history, 498
properties, 302
absorbs water, 304
Nitrogen
774
Nitric oxide gas, how prepared,
Nitric oxide gas, properties of,
combine with oxy-
. sen>
Nitrogen, see A%otic gas.
Nitrous oxide gas,
properties of,
taste and smell of,
Nomenclature, new,
N° 369
370
372
O.
Oils, of two kinds,
fixed, preparation of,
properties,
composition,
randicity,
uses,
volatile, characters of,
fragrance,
fluidity,
taste,
uses,
Olibanum,
Opobalsamum,
Opoponax,
Osmium,
Oxalate of potash,
Oxalic acid found in plants,
properties of,
component parts,
affinities,
Oxidation,
Oxide,
Oxiodic acid,
Oxygen, discovery of,
how obtained,
properties
effects of, in combustion,
animals live in,
combines with bodies,
Oxygenated water, properties,
uses,
Oxygenation of acids,
water,
P.
Palladium, properties of,
Paracelsus, account of,
Particles, frigorific,
Pearl,
white,
Percussion, source of caloric,
Pewter,
Philosophers stone,
Phosphate of lime,
ammonia.
Phosphorous acid,
properties,
composition,
affinities,
Phoenicians,
Phlogiston, supposed to be light,
Phosphorated hydrogen gas,
Phosphoric acid, properties of,
Phosphorus, history of,
365
367
40
861
864
866
868
872
877
879
883
884
887
894
2461
2446
2470
2154
992
663
665
668
669
1517
363
557
341
343
345
346
347
348
2862
2863
2856
2861
2149
26
271
2856
1669
277
1822
23
2805
2806
CHEMISTRY.
Phosphorus, exists in bones, No 416
how obtained,
purified,
combustion of,
combines with azote,
Pictet on caloric,
experiments,
Pinchbeck,
Pitch,
Plates, explanation of.
Platinum, properties of,
salts
fulminating,
alloys,
Potash, names of,
preparation,
purification,
properties,
uses of,
Potassium,
Poiuder, fulminating,
Priestley on air,
on water,
Propolis,
Prussic acid, history of,
discovery,
examined by Macquer,
417
424
425
257
271
2014
2437
page 770
No. 2126
2132
2135
2136
900
901
9°4
908
9I3
9r4
950
3*7
388
2646
774
775
779
Bergman, 781
Scheele, 683
796
properties,
affinities,
Pus, nature of,
how to distinguish,
Pyrites,
Pyrophorus of Canton,
Q.
Quick-lime,
silver,
E.
Rabbits, urine of,
Radiation not the only cause of cool-
801
2736
2740
1901
144
1700
2670
586
592
594
23
3i5
426
576
4X5
ing,
Rays, solar, of three kinds,
coloured and heated,
invisible,
Red precipitate,
Reflection of light,
Refraction,
Reflection of caloric,
Repulsion,
Refraction,
Resins, vegetable,
from bile,
Respiration,
changes on the air,
blood,
Rhodium,
Rosacic acid, origin of,
properties,
Rosin,
S.
Saclactic acid, history of
Sagapenum,
Saliva, properties of,
composition,
254
301
J73
174
1728
J34
136
170
169
171
2431
2
2504
2CIO
25*4
2147
8ll
813
2435
731
2469
2694
2698
Saliva of the horse,
Sandarac,
Sarcocol,
Saturation, what.
Scales,
Scammony,
Sea-water, properties of,
Sebacic acid, properties of,
Secretions, morbid,
Selenium,
Semen, properties of,
composition,
Serum of blood,
contains gelatine,
sulphur,
salts,
Shells,
of egg, _
Silica, properties of,
Siliio-fluoric acid.
Silk,
Silver, history of,
ores,
analysis,
salts,
alloys,
fulminating,
Skin, epidermis of,
cutis,
rete mucosum,
Smell, earthy,
Soda, names of,
purification,
salts,
Sodium,
Spectrum,
Spermaceti, properties of,
Stahl improves Beecher’s theory,
Starch, properties of,
Steam, nature of,
caloric of,
Stomach, membrane of,
Storax,
Strontites, history of,
properties,
salts,
Strychnine,
Suber,
Suberate of potash,
Suberic acid, properties of,
Succcinic acid, history of,
properties.
Sugar, manufacture of,
properties,
component parts,
Sulphuric acid, properties,
purification,
Sulphurous acid, history of
Sulphur, properties,
Sun, chief source of light,
Styrax,
Synovia,
T.
Tables of affinity invented,
enlarged,
Index.
N° 2690
2439
2467
124
2844
2462
2186
804
2736
1699
2715
2724
2620
2621
2622
2854
2834
1446
562
2850
2023
2024
2025
2035
2067
2048
W
2754
2758
1401
1018
1022
1030
1027
137
2830
34
3338
228
237
2840
2456
1312
13*4
2496
2489
1012
747
723
725
2312
23H
2320
465
464
479
433
i54
2455
2710
52
53
Tani
Index.
Tan,
Tartaric acid, history of,
properties,
component parts,
affinities,
Tartrate of potash,
Tears, properties,
composition,
Teeth, bones of,
enamel of,
Tellurium, history of,
properties,
action of alkalies on,
metals,
Temperature, change of,
Tendons,
Thermometer,
construction of,
Fahrenheit’s,
Reaumur’s,
Celsius’s,
Delisle’s,
Tin, history of,
ores,
properties,
affinities,
salts,
alloys,
Tinfoil,
Tinning, process of,
Tinplate,
Titanium, properties,
Toad,
Tortoise,
Tungstate of potash,
Tungsten, properties,
alloys,
Tungstic acid, history,
properties,
Turpeth mineral,
nitrous,
N° 2478
670
673
678
679
997
2704
2705
2750
ib.
1692
1693
1696
1698
I03
2771
I94
203
198
199
200
201
1787
1788
1790
1799
1800
1817
I79°
1956
I9J5
1517
2842
2843
984
1554
618
620
1720
1728
U.
Universal medicine,
Uranium, discovery of,
history of,
properties,
Urate of ammonia,
Urea, how obtained,
24
1586
1587
i.s'89
2804
2588
CHEMISTRY.
Urea, properties, N° 2589
composition, 2S9l
Uric acid, history of, 806
properties, 809
found in urinary calculi, 2803
Unne, properties, 2642
component parts, 2657
products by spontaneous de¬
composition, 2658
of the horse, 2667
cow, 2668
camel, 2669
rabbit, 2670
Guinea pig, 2671
graminivorous animals, 2672
carnivorous, 2673
birds, 2674
turtle, 2675
V.
Vapour, elasticity of, 239
water in the state of, 396
Varnish, copal, 2444
amber, 2453
Vegetables, root of, 2231
bark, 2232
pith, 2234
vessels, 2236
germination, 2237
food, 2244
leaves, 2258
decomposition, 2272
Vegetable acids, 2328
Velocity of light, 130
discovered, 131
confirmed, 132
caloric, 240
Vermilion, 1701
Vinous fermentation, 2274
phenomena of, 2276
Viper, poison of, 2841
W.
Water, adhesion of, to glass, 64
bulk increased by freezing, 188
effects of, 190
composition, 384
conjectures concerning, 387
77S
Water^ Priestley’s experiments on, N° 388
Cavendish’s, 3®9
Watt’s, 390
Lavoisier’s, 391
Fourcroy’a 392
in the state of ice, 394
liquid, 395
vapour, 39<5
Wax, 2406
of the ear, 2707
composition, 2709
Wedgwood's pyrometer, 1412
Whey from milk of different animals, 2693
Wilcke, Mr, his method of ascertain¬
ing the capacity of bodies
for caloric, 263
Wood, 2473
conducts caloric, 250
Wool, 2824
Y.
Yolk of egg, 2836
composition of, 2837
Yttria, history of, 1457
properties, t459
sulphate of, 1460
nitrate of, 1462
phosphate of, I4^3
carbonate of, J4^4
Z.
Zinc, history of, I751
properties of, *754
phosphuret of, 1760
sulphuret of, 1762
sulphate of, 1764
sulphite of, 1768
nitrate of, J773
muriate of, I775
phosphate of, 1777
carbonate of, 1778 *
acetate of, 1T19
action of alkalies on, 1780
Zirconia, history of, 1484
properties, i486
affinities, I49°
salts, 1492
Zoophytes, 2857
CHEMNITZ,
CHE [ 776 1 CHE
Chemnitz CHEMNITZ, Martin, a famous Lutheran di¬
ll vine, the disciple of Melancthon, was born at Britzen
( herein. jn Brandenburg, in lq22. He was employed in seve-
v~ 1 ' ’ ral important negotiations by tlie princes of the same
communion-, and died in 1589. His principal work
is the Examen of the Council of T. rent, in Latin.
CHEMOSH. See Chamos.
CHEMOSIS, a disease of the eyes, proceeding from
an inflammation -, wherein the white of the eye swells
above the black, and overtops it to such a degree, that
there appears a sort of gap between them. Others de¬
fine it differently. '
CHENIER, Marie Joseph de, a French writer
on politics and general literature. See SUPPLEMENT.
CHENOPODIUM, Goose-Foot, or Wild Orach,
See Botany
CHEPELIO, an island in the bay of Panama and
province of Darien, in South America, situated about
three leagues from the city of Panama, which it sup¬
plies with provisions. W. Long. 81. N. Lat. 9.
CHEPSTOW, a market town of Monmouthshire
in England, seated on the river Wye, with 2581 inha¬
bitants in 1811. W. Long. 2. 40. N. Lat. 51. 40.
CHEQ, or Cherif, the prince of Mecca, who is, as
it were, high-priest of the law, and sovereign pontiff of
all the Mahometans of whatever sect or country they
be. See Caliph.
The grand signior, sophis, moguls, khans of Tarta-
rv, &c. send him yearly presents, especially tapestry to
cover Mahomet’s tomb withal, together with a sump¬
tuous tent for himself, and vast sums of money to pro¬
vide for all the pilgrims during the 17 days of their
devotion.
CHERASCO, a strong and considerable town of
Italy, in Piedmont, and capital of a territory of the
same name, with a strong citadel, belonging to the
king of Sardinia, where he retired in 1706, during the
siege of Turin. It is seated at the confluence of the
rivers Sturia and Tanaro, upon a mountain. E. Long.
7. 55. N. Lat. 44. 35.
CHERBURG, a seaport town of France, in Nor¬
mandy, with a harbour and Augustine abbey. It is
remarkable for the ^ea-fight between the English and
French fleets in 1692, when the latter were beat, and
upwards of twenty of their men of war burnt near
Cape la Hogue. The British landed here in August
1758, and took the town, with the ships in the bason,
demolished the fortifications, and ruined the other
works which had been long carried on for enlarging
the harbour. The work was resumed in 1783, upon the
the plan of sinking large conical masses of stone in the
sea, to break the force of the waves. They were, how¬
ever, thrown down, and the work was abandoned, about
1 808. Since that an artificial harbour, capable of hold-
ing 50 sail of the line, has been excavated out of the
solid ground. E. Long. 1. 38. N. Lat. 49. 38.
CHEREM, among the Jews, is used to signify a
species of annihilation. See Annihilation.
The Hebrew worm cherem, signifies properlv to de¬
stroy, exterminate, devote, or anathematise.
Cherem is likewise sometimes taken for that which
is consecrated, vowed, or offered to the Lord, so that
it may no longer be employed in common or profane
uses. No devoted thing that a man shall devote unto
the Lord, of all that he hath of man and beast, and
3
of the field of his possession, shall be sold or redeemed j ciievem
every devoted thing is most holy to the Lord ; none |J
devoted, which shall be devoted of men, shall be re- Cherub,
deemed, but shall surely be put to death. There are 'r“m‘
some who assert that the persons thus devoted were put
to death *, whereof Jephtha’s daughter is a memorable
example. Judges xi. 29. &c.
CHEREM is also used for a kind of excommunication
in use among the Jews. See NiDDUI.
CHERESOUL, or Chahrzul, a town in Turkey
in Asia, capital of Curdistan, and the seat of a begler-
beg. E. Long. 45. 15. N. Lat. 36. O.
CHERILUS, of Samos, a Greek poet, flourished
479 years before Christ. He sung the victory gained
by the Athenians over Xerxes, and was rewarded with
a piece of gold for every verse. His poem had after- -
wards the honour of being rehearsed yearly with the
works of Homer.
CHERLERIA. See Botany Index.
CHERLESQUIOR, in Turkish affairs, denotes a
lieutenant general of the grand signior’s armies.
CHERMES, in Zoology, a genus of insects belong¬
ing to' the order of insecta hemiptera. See Entomo¬
logy Index.
CHermes Mineral. See Kermes.
Cherry-island, an island in the northern ocean ,
lying between Norway and Greenland, in E. Long.
20. 5. N. Lat. 75. O.
CiiERRY-Ti'ee. See Prunes, Botany Index.
CHERSON, a town in Europe, in Russia, situated
on the Dnieper, about 60 miles from its mouth. It
was founded in 1778, and increased rapidly for some
time *, but owing to the unhealthiness of the situation,
and the difficulty of navigating the river, it has since
declined. E. Long. 33. 5. N. Lat. 46. 20.
CHERSONESUS, among modern geographers, the
same with a peninsula j or a continent almost encom¬
passed round with the sea, only joining to the main land
by a narrow neck or isthmus. The word is Greek
yti^<r6iYio'os 5 of pcigroff land,* and »j£raj, island/ which
signifies the same. In ancient geography, it was ap¬
plied to several peninsulas j as the Chersonesus Aurea,
Cimbrica, Taurica, and Thracica, now thought to be
Malacca, Jutland, Crim Tartary, and Romania.
CHERT, PETROSILEX, Lapis Comcus, the Horn-
stein of the Germans. See Mineralogy Index.
CHERTZEY, a market town of Surry in England,
about seven miles west from Kingston upon Thames,
W. Long. 30. N. Lat. 51. 25.
CHERUB, (plural, Cherubim) j a celestial spirit,
which in the hierarchy is placed next to the seraphim.
See Hierarchy.
The term cherub, in Hebrew, is sometimes taken for
a calf or ox. Ezekiel sets down the face of the cherub
as synonymous to the face of an ox. The word cherub,
in Syriac and Chaldee, signifies to till or plow, which
is the proper work of oxen. Cherub also signifies
strong and powerful. Grotius says, that the cheru¬
bim were figures much like that of a calf. Bochart
thinks likewise, that the cherubim were more like to
the figure of an ox than to any thing besides ; and
Spencer is of the same opinion. Lastly, St John, in
the Revelation, calls cherubim beasts. Josephus says
the cherubim were extraordinary creatures, of a figure
unknown to mankind. Clemens of Alexandria be¬
lieves,.
CHE [ 777 ] CHE
Ckerub lieves, that the Egyptians imitated the cherubim of
li the Hebrews in the representations of their sphinxes
Cheselden. an(j their hieroglyphical animals. All the several de-
* scriptions which the scripture gives us of cherubim,
differ from one another ; but all agree in representing
them as a figure composed of various creatures, as a
man, an ox, an eagle, and a lion. Such were the
cherubim described by Ezekiel. Those which Isaiah
saw, and are called seraphim by him, had the figure
of a man with six wings ; with two whereof they
covered their faces, with two more they covered their
feet, and with the two others they flew. Those
which Solomon placed in .the temple at Jerusalem are
supposed to have been nearly of the same form. Those
which St John describes in the Revelation were all
eyes before and behind, and had each six wings. The
first was in the form of a lion, the second in that of a
calf, the third of a man, and the fourth of an eagle.
The figure of the cherubim was not always uniform,
since they are diflerently described in the shapes of men,
eagles, oxen, lions, and in a composition of all these
figures put together. Moses likewise calls these sym¬
bolical or hieroglyphical representations, which were
embroidered on the veils of the tabernacle, cherubim of
costly work. Such were the symbolical figures which
the Egyptians placed at the gates of their temples and
the images of the generality of their gods, which were
commonly nothing but statues composed of men and
animals.
CHERVIL. See Ch^rophyllum, Botany In¬
dex.
CHESAPEAK, in America, one of the largest
bays in the known world. Its entrance is between
Cape Charles and Cape Henry in Virginia, 12 miles
wide; and it extends 270 miles to the northward,
dividing Virginia and Maryland. Through this ex¬
tent it is from 7 to 18 miles broad, and generally about
9 fathoms deep ; affording many commodious har¬
bours, and a safe and easy navigation. It receives the
waters of the Susquehannah, Potomak, Rappahannock,
York, and James rivers, which are all large and navi¬
gable.
CHESELDEN, William, an eminent anatomist
and surgeon, was born at Burrow on the Hill, in the
county of Leicester, descended from an ancient family
in the county of Rutland, whose arms and pedigree
are in Wright’s “ History of Rutland.” He received
the rudiments of his professional skill at Leicester 5
and married Deborah Knight, a citizen’s daughter,
by whom he had one daughter, Williamina Deborah.
In 1713 he published his Anatomy of the Human
Body, one volume 8vo •, and in 1723, A Treatise on
the High Operation for the Stone. He was one of
the -earliest of his profession who contributed by his
writings to raise it to its present eminence. In the
beginning of 1736, he was thus honourably mention¬
ed by Mr Pope : “ As soon as I had sent my last
letter,.! received a most kind one from you, ex¬
pressing great pain for my late illness at Mr Chesel-
den’s. I conclude you was eased of that friendly ap¬
prehension in a few days after you had dispatched
yours, for mine must have reached you then. I won¬
dered a little at your query, Who Cheselden was ?. It
shows that the truest merit does not travel so far any
wav as on the wings of poetry: he is the most noted
Vol. V. Part II. f
and most deserving man in the whole profession of chi- Chcsdden
rurgery j and has saved the lives of thousands by his !!
manner of cutting for the stone.” He appears to have (^lcsne' .
been on terms of the most intimate friendship with Mr
Pope, who frequently, in his Letters to Mr Richard¬
son, talks of dining with Mr Cheselden, who then lived
in or near Queen Square. In February I737> Mr
Cheselden was appointed surgeon to Chelsea hospital.
As a governor of the Foundling Hospital, he sent a
benefaction of 50I. to that charity, May 7. 1751, in¬
closed in a paper with the following lines :
’Tis what the happy to th’ unhappy owe ;
For what man gives, the gods by him bestow. Pope.
He died at Bath, April II. 1752, of a disorder arising",
from drinking ale after eating hot buns. Finding
himself uneasy, he sent for a physician, who advised
vomiting immediately; and if tiie advice had been
taken, it was thought his life might have been saved.
By his direction, he was buried at Chelsea.
CHESHIRE, a maritime county of England,
bounded by Lancashire on the north ; Shropshire and
part of Flintshire on the south ; Derbyshire and Staf¬
fordshire on the east and south-east ; and Denbigh¬
shire and part of Flintshire on the west and north -west.
It extends in length about 44 miles, in breadth 25 ;
and is supposed to contain 676,600 acres. Both
the air and soil in general are good. In many places
of the country are peat mosses, in which are often
found trunks of fir-trees, sometimes several feet under
ground, that are used by the inhabitants both for fuel
and candles. Here also are many lakes and pools well
stored with fish ; besides the rivers Mersey, Weaver,
and Dee. The number of inhabitants iu 1811 was
227,031. This county also abounds with wood: but
what it is chiefly remarkable for, is its cheese, which
has a peculiar flavour, generally thought not to be in¬
ferior to any in Europe ; (see Cheese). The princi-
cipal towns are, Chester the capital, Cholmondely,
Namptwitch, &c.
William the Conqueror erected this county into a
palatinate, or county palatine, in favour of his nephew
Hugh Lupus, to whom he granted the same sovereign¬
ty and jurisdiction in it that he himself had in the rest
of the island. By virtue of this grant, the town of
Chester enjoyed sovereign jurisdiction within its own
precincts; and that in so high a degree, that the earls
held parliaments, consisting of their barons and tenants,
which were not bound by the acts of the English par¬
liament : but the exorbitant power of the palatinates
was at last reduced by Henry VIII. ; however, all
cases and crimes, except those of error, foreign plea,
foreign voucher, and high-treason, are still heard and
determined within the shire. The earls were ancient¬
ly superiors of the whole county, and all the landholders
were their vassals, and under the like sovereign alle¬
giance to them as they were to the kings of England ;
but the earldom was united to the crown bv Ed¬
ward III. since which time, the eldest sons of kings
of England have always been earls of Chester, as well
as princes of Wales. Cheshire sends four members to
parliament ; two for the county, and two for the capital.
See Cheshire, Supplement.
CHESNE, Andrew du, styled the father of French
J f history,
CHE
Chesiie
H
Chess.
history, was born in 15^4* 'y1’0^ I* history
of the popes. 2. A history of England. 3. An in¬
quiry into the antiquities of the towns of 1 ranee. 4.
A history of the cardinals. 5. A bibliotheca of the
authors who have written the history and topography
of France, &c. He was crushed to death by a cart,
in going from Paris to his country house at Verrieie,
in 1640.
CH ESNUT-tree. See Fagus, Botany Index.
CHESS, an ingenious game performed with differ¬
ent pieces of wood, on a board divided into 64 squares
or houses 5 in which chance has so small a share, that
it may be doubted whether a person ever lost a game
but by his own fault.
Each gamester has eight dignified pieces, viz,, a
king, a queen, two bishops, two knights, and two
rooks, also eight pawns j all which, for distinction’s
sake, are painted of two different colours, as white and
black.
As to their disposition on the board, the white
king is to be placed on the fourth black house from
the corner of the board, in the first and lower rank ;
and the black king is to be placed on the fourth
white house on the opposite, or adversary’s, end of the
board. The queens are to be placed next to the
kin<rs, on houses of their own colour. Next to the
king and queen, on each hand, place the two bishops j
next to them, the two knights $ and last of all, on
the corners of the board, the two rooks.. As to the
pawns, they are placed, without distinction, on the
second rank of the house, one before each of the dig¬
nified pieces.
Having thus disposed the men, the onset is com¬
monly begun by the pawns, which march straight for¬
ward in their own file, one house at a time, except
the first move, when it can advance two houses, but
never moves backwards: the manner of their taking
the adversary’s men is sidewise, in the next house
forwards j where having captivated the enemy, they
move forward as before. The rook goes forward or
crosswise through the whole file, and back again.
The knight skips backward and forward to the next
house, save one, of a different colour, with a sideling
march, or a slope, and thus kills his enemies that fall
in his way, or guards his friends that may be exposed
on that side. The bishop walks always in the same
colour of the field that he is placed in at first, forward
and backward, aslope, or diagonally, as far as he lists.
The queen’s walk is more universal, as she takes all
the steps of the before-mentioned pieces, excepting
that of the knight; and as to the king’s motion, it is
one house at a time, and that either forward, back¬
ward, sloping, or sidewise.
As to the value of the different pieces, next to the
king is the queen, after her the rooks, then the bi¬
shops, and last of the dignified pieces comes the knight.
The difference of the worth of pawns, is not so great
as that of noblemen ; only, it must be observed, that
the king’s bishop’s pawn is the best in the field, and
therefore the skilful gamester will be careful of him.
[ 778 ] CHE
It ought also to be observed, that whereas any man
may be taken, when he falls within the reach of any
of the adversary’s pieces, it is otherwise with the king,
who, in such a case, is only to be saluted with the
word checks warning him of his danger, out of which
it is absolutely necessary that he move } and if it so
happen that he cannot move without exposing himself
to the like inconveniency, it is check-mate, and the
Chess,
game is lost. The rules of the game are,
1. In order to begin the game, the pawns must be
moved before the pieces, and afterwards the pieces must
be brought out to support them. The king’s, queen’s,
and bishop’s pawns, should be moved first, that the
game may be well opened j the pieces must not be
played out early in the game, because the player may
thereby lose his moves: but above all, the game
should be well arranged before the queen is played
out. Useless checks should also be avoided, unless
some advantage is to be gained by them, because the
move may be lost, if the adversary can either take or
drive the piece away.
2. If the game is crowded, the player will meet with
obstructions in moving his pieces j for which reason
he should exchange pieces or pawns, and castle (a)
his king as soon as it is convenient, endeavouring at
the same time to crowd the adversary’s game, which
may be done by attacking his pieces with the pawns,
if the adversary should move his pieces out too soon.
3. The men should be so guarded by one another,
that if a man should be lost, the player may have it in
his power to take one of the adversary’s in return j
and if he can take a superior piece in lieu of that which
he lost, it would be an advantage, and distress the ad¬
versary.
4. The adversary’s king should never be attacked
without a force sufficient; and if the player’s king
should be attacked without having it in his power to
attack the adversary’s, he should offer to make an ex¬
change of pieces, which may cause the adversary to
lose a move.
5. The board should be looked over with attention,
and the men reconnoitred, so as to be aware of any
stroke that the adversary might attempt in consequence
of his last move. If, by counting as many moves for¬
ward as possible, the player has a prospect of success,
he should not fail doing it, and even sacrifice a piece or
two to accomplish his end.
6. No man should be played till the board is tho¬
roughly examined, that the player may defend him¬
self against any move the adversary has in view 5 nei¬
ther should any attack be made till the consequences
of the adversary’s next move are considered $ and when
an attack may with safety be made, it should be pur¬
sued without catching at any bait that might be thrown
out in order for the adversary te gain a move, and
thereby cause the design to miscarry.
7. The queen should never stand in such a manner
before the king, that the adversary, by bringing a
rook or bishop, could check the king if she rvere not
there ; as it might be the loss of the queen.
8. The
(a) Castle his king, is to cover the king with a castle j which is done by a certain move which each player
has a right to whenever he thinks proper.
CHE f 779 ] CHE
Chess, 8, The adversary’s knight should never be suffered to
—’-v—”*' check the king and queen, or king and rook, or queen
and rook, or the two rooks at the same time ; espe»
cially if the knight is properly guarded : because, in
the two first cases, the king being forced to go out of
check, the queen or the rook must be lost j and in the
two last cases a rook must be lost at least for a worse
piece.
9. The player should take care that no guarded
pawn of the adversary’s fork two of his pieces.
10. As soon as the kings have castled on different
sides of the board, the pawns on that side of the board
should be advanced upon the adversary’s king, and the
pieces, especially the queen and rook, should be brought
to support them; and the three pawns belonging to the
king that is castled must not be moved.
11. The more moves a player can have as it were
in ambuscade, the better j that is to say, the queen,
bishop, or rook, is to be placed behind a pawn or a
piece, in such a position as that upon playing that
pawn or piece a check is discovered upon the adversa¬
ry’s king, by which means, a piece or some advantage
is often gained.
12. An inferior piece should never be guarded
with a superior, when a pawn would answer the same
purpose; for this reason, the superior piece may re¬
main out of play $ neither should a pawn be guarded
with a piece when a pawn would do as well.
13. A well-supported pawn that is passed often costs
the adversary a piece •, and when a pawn or any other
advantage is gained without endangering the loss of
the move, the player should make as frequent ex¬
changes of pieces as he can. The advantage of a pas¬
sed pawn is this: for example, if the player and his
adversary have each three pawns upon the board, and
no piece, and the player has one of his pawns on one
side of the board, and the other two on the other side,
and the adversary’s three pawns are opposite to the
player’s two pawns, he should march with his king as
soon as he can, and take the adversary’s pawns : If
the adversary goes with his king to support them, the
player should go on to queen with his single pawns j
and then if the adversary goes to hinder him, he should
take the adversary’s pawns, and move the others to
queen (b).
14. When the game is near finished, each party
having only three or four pawns on each side of the
board, the kings must endeavour to gain the move in
order to win the game. For instance, when the player
brings his king opposite to the adversary’s with only
one square between, he will gain the move.
15. If the adversary has his king and one pawn on
the board, and the player has only his king, he cannot
lose the game, provided he brings his king opposite to
the adversary’s, when the adversary is directly before
or on one side of his pawn, and there is only one square
between the kings,
16. If the adversary has a bishop and one pawn on
the rook’s line, and this bishop is not of the colour ciicss.
that commands the corner square the pawn is going to,—-y—
and the player has only his king, if he can get into that
corner, he cannot lose j but on the contrary, may win
by a stale (c).
17. If the player has greatly the disadvantage of the
game, having only his queen left in play, and his king
happens to be in a position to win, as above-mention¬
ed, he should keep giving check to the adversary’s
king, always taking care not to check him where he
can interpose any of his pieces that make the stale 5 by
so doing he will at last force the adversary to take his
queen, and then he will win the game by being in a
stale-mate.
18. The player should never cover a check with a
piece that a pawn pushed upon it may take, for fear of
getting only the pawn in exchange for the piece.
19. A player should never cover his adversary up
with pieces, for fear of giving a stale-mate inadvert¬
ently, but always should leave room for his king to
move.
By way of corroborating what has been already said
with respect to this game, it is necessary to warn a
player against playing a timid game. He should never
be too much afraid of losing a rook for an inferior
piece $ because, although a rook is a better piece than
any other except the queen, it seldom comes into play
to be of any great use till at the end of the game j for
which reason it is often better to have an inferior piece
in play, than a superior one to stand still, or moving
to no great purpose. If a piece is moved, and is im¬
mediately drove away by a pawn, it may be reckoned
a bad move, because the adversary gains a double ad¬
vantage over the player, in advancing at the same
time the other is made to retire j although the first
move may not seem of consequence between equal
players, yet a move or two more lost after the first,
makes the game scarcely to be recovered.
There never wants for variety at this game, pro¬
vided the pieces have been brought out regularly $ but,
if otherwise, it often happens that a player has scarce
any thing to play.
Many indifferent players think nothing of the
pawns, whereas three pawns together are strong j but
four, which constitute a square, with the assistance of
other pieces, well managed, make an invincible
strength, and in all probability may produce a queen
when very much wanted. It is true, that two pawns
with a space between are no better than one ; and if
there should be three over each other in a line, the
game cannot be in a worse way. This shows that the
pawns are of great consequence, provided they are
kept close together.
Some middling players are very apt to risk losing
the game in order to recover a piece $ this is a mis¬
take } for it is much better to give up a piece and at¬
tack the enemy in another quarter 5 by so doing, the
player has a chance of snatching a pawn or two from,
5 F 2 or
(b) To queen^ is to make a queen j that is, to move a pawn into the adversary’s back row, which is the rule
at this game when the original one is lost.
(c) When the king is blocked up so as to have no move at all.
CHE
[ 780 ]
CHE
Chess.
or gaining some advantage over the adversary, whilst
1 his attention is taken up in pursuing this piece.
It the queen and another piece are attacked at the
same time, and that by removing the queen the piece
must be lostprovided two pieces can be gained in
exchange for the queen, the queen should be given
up, it being the difference of three pieces, and conse¬
quently more than the value of the queen. By losing
the queen, the game is not thrown into that disorder
which it would otherwise have been 5 in this case it
would be judicious to give the queen lor even a piece,
or a pawn or two } it being well known among good
players, that he ufho begins the attack, and cannot
maintain it, being obliged to retire, generally loses the
game.
A player should never be fond of changing without
reason, because the adversary, it he is a good player,
will ruin his situation, and gain a considerable advan¬
tage over him. But rather than lose a move, when a
player is stronger than the adversary, it is good play to
change, for he thereby increases his strength.
When the game is almost drawn to a conclusion,
the player should recollect that his king is a capital
piece, and consequently should keep him in motion ;
by so doing, he generally gets the move, and often the
game.
As the queen, rook, and bishop, operate at a distance,
it is not always necessary in the attack to have them
near the adversary’s king.
If a man can be taLken with different pieces, the
player should take his time, and consider which of
those pieces is the best to take it with.
If a piece can be taken almost at any time, the
player should not be in a hurry about it, but try to
make a good move elsewhere before he take it.
A player should be cautious how he takes his adver¬
sary’s pawn with his king, as it often happens to be a
safeguard to it.
After all that has been said, it is still necessary for
us to advise those who would play well at this game, to
be very cool and attentive to the matter in question}
for it is impossible that any person in the universe can
be capable of playing at chess if their thoughts are em¬
ployed elsewhere. The laws at this game are,
1. If a player touches his man, he must play it j and
if he quits it, he cannot recal it.
2. If by mistake or otherwise a false move is played,
and the adversary takes no notice of it till he hath
played his next move, it cannot be recalled by either
of the parties.
3. If a player misplaces the men, and he plays two
moves, it is at the option of the adversary to permit
him to begin the game or not.
4. If the adversary plays or discovers a check to a
player’s king, and give no notice of it, the player may
let him stand still till he does.
r. After the king is moved, a player cannot castle.
Sarasin has an express treatise on the different opi¬
nions of the origin of the Latin schacchi, whence the
French echecs, and our chess, is formed. Menage is
also very full on the same head. Leunclavius takes it
M come from Uscoches, famous Turkish robbers. P.
birmond, from the German scache, “ theft j” and that
from calculus. He takes chess to be the same'with the
iudus latrunculorum of the Homans, but mistakenly.
This opinion is countenanced by Vossiusand Salmasius,
who derive the word from calculus, as used lor lairun->.
cuius. G. Tolosanus derives it from the Hebrew, search,
valavit and mat, mortuus; whence check and checkmate.
Fabricius says, a celebrated Persian astronomer, one
Schatrenscha, invented the game of chess ; and gave it
his own name, which it still bears in that country. Ni-
cod derives it from scheque, or xeque, a Moorish word
for lord, king, and prince. Bocbart adds that scach is
originally Persian j and that scachmat, in that language,
signifies the king is dead.—The opinion of Nicod and
Bochart, which is likewise that of Scriverius, appears
the most probable.
Mr Twiss mentions a small treatise on chess, written,
as he supposes, about 400 years ago j at the end of
which is a representation of a round chess-board, with
directions for placing the men upon it. In this the
knight can cover the 64 squares on the board at as
many moves. The board is divided into these 64 parts
by four concentric circles, having an empty space in
the middle 5 and each of these is divided into 16 parts.
Number I is placed in the outermost circle j number
2 in the third circle counting inwards, in the division
to the right hand of the former ; number 3 is placed
in the outermost circle, in the division to the right hand
of 2 ; 4 in the third circle, counting inwards to the
right hand of three *, and thus alternately from the
first to the third, and from the third to the first circle,
till the round is completed by 16 on the third circle to
the left hand of 1. Number 17 is then placed on the
division of the innermost circle to the right hand of I j
18 on the second circle counting inwards, to the right
hand of 17 ; and thus alternately from the fourth to
the second, and from the second to the fourth circles,
until the round is completed by 32, directly below
number 1. Number 33 then is placed on the third
circle directly to the right hand of number 25 34 on
the fourth circle, to the right hand of 4 j and thus al¬
ternately between the third and fourtn circles, until
the round is again completed by 48 °ti the fourth circle,
directly below number 33. The numbers are now
placed in a retrograde fashion j 50 on ^ie ou^er circle
in that division immediately to the right hand of 1 j
51 on the third circle to the left hand of 2 j and di¬
rectly below number 325 52 is then placed on the
outer circle, immediately on the left hand of 1 ; 53
on the third circle directly to the left hand of 16 ; and
thus alternately on the first and third circles, until the
last ground is completed by 64 between the number 3
and 5. On this round chess-board, supposing the black
king to be placed in number 48 on the fourth circle,
the queen stands on number 17 at his left band j the
bishops in 33 and 2 } the knights 18 and 47 j tlie castles
in 3 and 20 the pawns on 19, 4, 49, 64, and 46, 51,
32, 1. The white king will then stand in 25, opposite
to the black queen ; the white queen in 40 opposite to
the black king, and so on. In playing on a board of
this kind, it will be found, that the power of the castle
is double to that in the common game, and that of the
bishop only one half 5 the former having 16 Squares to
range in, and the last only 4. The king can castle
only one way j and it is very difficult to bring the
game to a conclusion.
With regard to the origin of the game at chess, we
are much in the dark. Though it came to us from
Cliess.
CHE [7
Chess. the Saracens, it is by no means probable that they were
the original inventors of it. According to some, it was
invented by the celebrated Grecian hero Diomedes.
Others say, that two Grecian brothers, Liedo an d Tyr¬
rhene, were the inventors; and that being much pres¬
sed with hunger, they sought to alleviate the pain by
this amusement.
According to Mr Irwin it is a game of Chinese in¬
vention. During his residence in India, he found that
a tradition of this nature existed among the Bramins,
with whom he frequently played the game. While
he was at Canton in 1793, he gives the following ac¬
count of the information which he acquired relative to
the origin of the game of chess. ‘ A young mandarin,
of the profession ot arms, having an inquisitive turn,
was my frequent visitor; and what no questions could
have drawn from him, the accidental sight of an Eng¬
lish chess-board effected. He told me, that the Chi¬
nese had a game of the same nature; and on his speci¬
fying a difference in the pieces and board, I perceived,
with joy, that I had discovered the desideratum of which
I had been so long in search. The very next day my
mandarin brought me the board and equipage ; and I
found, that the Bramins were neither mistaken touch¬
ing the board, which lias a river in the middle to di¬
vide the contending parties, nor in the powers of the
king, who is entrenched in a fort, and moves only in
that space, in every direction. But, what I did not
before hear, nor do I believe is known out of this
country, there are two pieces, whose movements are
distinct from any in the Indian or European game.
The mandarin, which answers to our bishop, in his sta¬
tion and sidelong course, cannot, through age, cross the
river, and a rocket-boy, still used in the Indian armies,
who is stationed between the lines of each party, acts
literally with the motion of the rocket, by vaulting
over a man, and taking his adversary at the other end
of the board. Except that the king has his two sons to
support him, instead of a queen, the game, in other
respects, is like ours ; as will appear in the plan of the
board and pieces I have the honour to enclose, to¬
gether with directions to place the men and play the
game.
“ As the young man who had discovered this to me
was of a communicative and obliging disposition, and
was at this time pursuing his studies in the college of
Canton, I requested the favour of him to consult such
ancient books as might give some insight into the pe¬
riod of the introductioh of chess into China ; to con¬
firm, if possible, the idea that struck me of its having
originated here. The acknowledged antiquity of this
empire, the unchangeable state of her customs and
manners, beyond that of any other nation in the
world ; and more especially the simplicity of the game
itself, when compared ta its compass and variety in
other parts, appeared to give a colour to my belief.
That I was not disappointed in the event, I have no
doubt will be allowed, on the perusal of the transla-
81 J CHE
tion of a manuscript extract, which my friend Tinqtia Chess,
brought me, in compliance with my desire ; and -v—
which, accompanied by the Chinese manuscript, goes
under cover to your lordship. As the mandarin so¬
lemnly assured me that be took it from the work quot¬
ed, and the translation has been as accurately made us
possible, I have no hesitation to deliver the papers as
authentic.
“ From these premises 1 have therefore ventured to
make the following inferences :—That the game of
chess is probably of Chinese origin. That the con¬
fined situation and powers of the king, resembling
th ose of a monarch in the eastern parts of the world,
countenance this supposition ; and that, as it travelled
westward, and descended to later times, the sovereign
prerogative extended itself, until it became unlimited,
as in our state of the game. That the agency of the
princes, in lieu of the queen, bespeaks forcibly the na¬
ture of the Chinese customs, which exclude females
from all power or influence whatever ; which princes,
in its passage through Persia, were changed into a
single vizier, or minister of state, with the enlarged
portion of delegated authority that exists there ; in¬
stead of whom, the European nations, with their usual
gallantry, adopted a queen on the board (d). That
the river between parties is expressive of the gene¬
ral face of the country, where a battle could hardly
he fought without encountering an interruption of this
kind, which the soldier was here taught to overcome;
hut that, on the introduction of the game into Persia,
the hoard changed with the dry nature of the region,
and the contest was decided on terra firma. And last¬
ly, that in no account of the origin of chess, that I
have read, has the tale been so characteristic or con¬
sistent as that which I have the honour to offer to the
Irish academy. With the Indians, it was designed by
a Bramin to cure the melancholy of the daughter of a
rajah. With _the Persians, my memory does not assist
me to trace the fable ; though, if it were more to the
purpose, I think I should have retained it. But, with
the Chinese, it was invented by an experienced soldier,
on the principles of war. Not to dispel love-sick va¬
pours, or instruct a female in a science that could nei¬
ther benefit nor inform her; but to quiet the murmurs
of a discontented soldiery ; to employ their vacant
hours in lessons on the military art, and to cherish the
spirit of conquest in the bosom of winter-quarters. Its
age is traced by them on record near two centuries be¬
fore the Christian era; and among the numerous claims
for this noble invention, that of the Chinese, who call
it by way of distinction, chong ke, or the royal game,
appears alone to tie indisputable.”
Translation of an Extract from the Concum, or Chinese
Annals, respecting the Invention of the Game of Chess,
delivered ta me by Tinqua, a soldier Mandarin of the
Erovince of Fokien.
“ Three hundred and seventy-nifte years after the
time
(d) That on the acquisition of so strong a piece as the vizier, the pao were suppressed, this possessing powers
unintelligible, at that time, to other nations; and three pawns added, in consequence, to make up the number-
of men ; and that as discipline improved, the lines, which are straggling on the Chinese board, might have been
closed on ours.
Chess.
CHE [ 78
time of Confucius, or one thousand rune hundred and
sixty-five years ago, Hung Cochu, king of Jviangnan,
sent an expedition into the Shensi country, under the
command of a mandarin, called Hansing, to conquer
it. After one successful campaign, the soldiers were
put into winter-quarters j where, finding the weather
much colder than what they had been accustomed to,
and being also deprived of their wives and families,
the army, in general, became impatient of their situa¬
tion, and clamorous to return home. Hansing, upon
this, revolved in his mind the bad consequences of
complying with their wishes. The necessity of sooth¬
ing his troops, and reconciling them to their position,
appeared urgent, in order to finish his operations in
the ensuing year. He was a man of genius, as well
as a good soldier $ and having contemplated some time
on the subject, he invented the game of chess, as well
for an amusement to his men in their vacant hours, as
to inflame their military ardour, the game being whol¬
ly founded on the principles of war. The stratagem
succeeded to his wish. The soldiery were delighted
with the game 5 and forgot, in their daily contests, for
victory, the inconveniences of their post. In the spring
the general took the field again j and, in a few months,
added the rich country of Shensi to the kingdom of
Kiangnan, by the defeat and capture of its king, Chou-
payuen, a famous warrior among the Chinese. On
this conquest Hung Cocbu assumed the title of em¬
peror, and Choupayuen put an end to his own life in
despair.
Explanation of the Position, Powers, and Moves of the
Pieces on the Chinese Chess-board, or Chong Ke
[Royal Game).
“ As there are nine pieces instead of eight, to oc¬
cupy the rear rank, they stand on the lines between,
and not within, the squares. The game is consequent¬
ly displayed on the lines.
“ The king, or chong, stands on the middle line of
this row. His moves resemble those of our king, but
are confined to the fortress marked out for him.
“ The two princes, or sou, stand on each side of him,
and have equal powers and limits.
“ The mandarins, or chong, answer to our bishops,
and have the same moves, except that they cannot
cross the water or white space in the middle of the
board to annoy the enemy, but stand on the defen¬
sive.
“ The knights, or rather horses, called mad, stand
and move like ours in every respect.
“ The war-chariots, or tche, resemble our rooks or
castles.
“ The rocket-boys, or pab, are pieces whose mo¬
tions and powers were unknown to us. They act with
the direction of a rocket, and can take none of their
adversary’s men that have not a piece or pawn inter¬
vening. To defend your men from this attack, it is
necessary to open the line between, either to take off
the check on the king, or to save a man from being
captured by the pab. Their operation is, otherwise,
like that of the rook. Their stations are Marked be¬
tween the pieces and pawns.
44 The five pawns, or ping, make up the number of
the men equal to that of our board. Instead of taking
2
3 ] CHE
sideways, like ours, they have the rook’s motion, ex- Chess,
cept that it is limited to one step, and is not retro-'-—v—*-'
grade. Another important point, in which the ping
differs from ours, is that they continue in statu quo,
after reaching their adversary’s head-quarters. It will
appear, however, that the Chinese pieces far exceed
the proportion of ours} which occasions the whole
force of the contest to fall on them, and thereby pre¬
cludes the beauty and variety of our game, when re¬
duced to a struggle between the pawns, who are ca¬
pable of the highest promotion, and often change the
fortune of the day. The posts of the ping are marked
in front . * AmA
But according to Sir William Jones, this game is of'Anns. vol.
Hindoo invention. “ If evidence were required to prove v*
this fact (says he 1*), we may be satisfied with the testi-f Asiatic
mony of the Persians, who, though as much inclined as itoraretes,
other nations to appropriate the ingenious inventions of^^”'
a foreign people, unanimously agree that the game was
imported from the west of India in the sixth century of
our era. It seems to have been immemorially known
in Hindostan by the name of Cheturanga, i. e. the four
angd's, or members of any army j which are these, ele¬
phants, horses, chariots, and foot soldiers; and in this
sense the word is frequently used by epic poets in their
description of real armies. By a natural corruption of
the pure Sanscrit word, it was changed by the old Per¬
sians into Chetrang; but the Arabs, who soon^ after
took possession of their country, had neither the initial
nor final letter of that word in their alphabet, and con¬
sequently altered it further into Shetranj, which found
its way presently into the modern Persian, and at length
into the dialects of India, where the true derivation of
this name is known only to the learned. Thus has a
very significant word in the sacred language of.the
Brahmins been transformed by successive changes into
axedre%, scacchi, Schecs, chess, and, by a whimsical con¬
currence of circumstances, has given birth to the Eng¬
lish word check, and even a name to the exchequer of
Great Britain.”
It is confidently asserted, that Sanscrit books, on chess
exist in Bengal j but Sir William had seen none of them
when he wrote the memoir which we have quoted. He
exhibits, however, a description of a very ancient Indian
game of the same kind, but more complex, and in his
opinion more modern, than the simple chess of the Per¬
sians. This game is also called Chaturanga, but more
frequently Chaturaji, or the four kings, since it is played
by four persons representing as many princes, two allied
armies combating on each side. The description is ta¬
ken from a book called Bhawishya Puran ; in which the
form and principal rules of this fictitious warfare are
thus laid down : “ Eight squares being marked on all
sides, the red army is to be placed on the east, the green
to the south, the yellow to the west, and the black to
the north. Let the elephant (says the author of the
Puran) stand on the left of the king } next to him the
horse ; then the boat j and before them all, four/oof
soldiers ; but the boat must be placed in the angle of
the board.”
“ From this passage (says the president) it clearly
appears, that an army with its four angds must be pla¬
ced on each side of the board, since an elephant could
not stand, in any other position, on the left hand of each
king} and Radhacant (a Pandit) informed me, that
CHE [ 783 ] CHE
Chess, the board consisted, like ours, of 64 squares, half of
■—v "■ * them occupied by the forces, and half vacant. He
added, that this game is mentioned in the oldest law
books, and that it was invented by the wife of a king,
to amuse him with an image of war, while his metropo¬
lis was besieged, in the second age of the world. A srfitp
or boat is absurdly substituted, we see, in this complex
game, for the rat^h, or armed chariot, which the Ben¬
galese pronounce rot'k, and which the Persians changed
into rokh ; whence came the rook of some European
nations $ as the vierge and fal of the French are sup¬
posed to be corruptions of fe7"z and jil, the prime mi¬
nister and elephant of the Persians and Arabs.”
As fortune is supposed to have a great share in de¬
ciding the fate of a battle, the use of dice is inti’oduced
into this game to regulate its moves $ for (says the Pu-
ran) “ if cinque be thrown, the king or a pawn must be
moved ; liquatre, the elephant ; if trois, the horse ; and
if deux, the boat. The king passes freely on all sides,
but over one square only 5 and with the same limitation
the pawn moves, but he advances straight forward, and
kills his enemy through an angle. The elephant marches
in all directions as far as his driver pleases $ the horse
runs obliquely, traversing the squares; and the ship
goes over two squares diagonally.” The elephant, we
find, has the powers of our queen, as we are pleased to
call the general or minister of the Persians \ and the ship
has the motion of the piece to which we give the unac¬
countable appellation of bishop, but with a restriction
which must greatly lessen its value.
In the Purdn are next exhibited a few general rules
and superficial directions for the conduct of the game.
Thus, “ the pawns and the ship both kill and may be
voluntarily killed j while the king, the elephant, and the
horse, may slay the foe, but must not expose themselves
to be slain. Let each player preserve his own forces
with extreme care, securing his king above all, and not
sacrificing a superior to keep an inferior piece.” Here
(says the president) the commentator on the PuiJan ob¬
serves, that the horse, who has the choice of eight moves
from any central position, must be preferred to the ship,
'which has only the choice of four. But the argument
would not hold in common game, where the bishop
and tower command a whole line, and where a knight is
always of less value than a tower in action, or the bi¬
shop of that side on which the attack is begun. “ It
is by the overbearing power of the elephant (continues
the Purdn) that the king fights boldly; let the whole
army, therefore, be abandoned in order to secure the
elephant. The king must never place one elephant be¬
fore another, unless he be compelled by want of room,
for he would thus commit a dangerous fault; and if he
can slay one of two hostile elephants, he must destroy
that on his left hand.”
What remains of the passage, which was copied from
Sir William Jones, relates to the several modes in which
a partial success or complete victory may be obtained
by any one of the four players ; for, as in a dispute be¬
tween two allies, one of the kings may sometimes as¬
sume the command of all the forces, and aim at a sepa¬
rate conquest. First, “ When any one king has placed
himself on the square of another king (which advantage
is called sinhasana or the throne), he wins a stake, which
is doubled if he kill the adverse monarch when he seizes
his place j and if he can seat himself on the throne of
his ally, he takes the command of the whole army.” cites*.
Secondly, “ If he can occupy successively the thrones '
of all the three princes, he obtains the victory, which is
named cheturaji; and the stake is doubled if he kill the
last of the three, just before he takes possession of his
throne ; but if he kill him on his throne, the stake is
quadrupled. Both in giving the sinhasana and the che¬
turaji, the king must be supported by the elephants, or
by all the forces united.” Thirdly, “ When one play¬
er has his own king on the board, but the king of his
partner has been taken, he may replace his captive ally,
if he can seize both the adverse kings $ or if he cannot
effect their capture, he may exchange his king for one
of them, against the general rule, and thus redeem the
allied prince, who will supply his place.” This advan¬
tage has the name of nripacrishta, or recovered by the
king. Fourthly, “ If a pawn can march to any square
on the opposite extremity of the board, except that
of the king, or that of the ship, he assumes whatever
power belonged to that square.” Here we find the
rule, with a slight exception, concerning the advance¬
ment oipawns, which often occasions a most interest¬
ing struggle at our common chess, but it appears that,
in the opinion of one ancient writer on the Indian
game, this privilege is not allowable when a player has
three pawns on the board j but when only one pawn
and one ship remains, the pawn may advance even to
the square of a king or a ship, and assume the power of
either. Fifthly, According to the people of Latiee,
where the game was invented, “ there could be neither
victory nor defeat if a king were left on the plain with¬
out force ; a situation which they named cacacasht',ha.'iy
Sixthly, “ If three ships happen to meet, and the fourth
ship can be brought up to them in the remaining angle,
this has the name of vrihannauca ; and the player of the
fourth seizes all the others.”
The account of this game in the original Sancrit is
in verse.
This game was very fashionable in former times in
every part of Europe ; though in this country it is
not now very common, probably on account of the
intense application of thought required to play at it.
It has long been a favourite of the Icelanders and
other northern people. There is little difference be¬
tween their game and ours.
The game of chess has been generally practised by
the greatest warriors and generals j and some have even
supposed that it was necessary for a military man to be
well skilled in this game. It is a game which has
something in it peculiarly interesting. We read that
Tamerlane was a great chess-player, and was engaged
in a game during the very time of the decisive bat- „
tie with Bajazet the Turkish emperor, who was de¬
feated aud taken prisoner. It is also related of A1 A-
min, the caliph of Bagdad, that he was engaged at chess
with his freedman Kuthar at the time when A1 Ma-
mun’s forces were carrying on the siege of that city
with so much vigour that it was on the point of being
carried by assault. Dr Hyde quotes an Arabic history
of the Saracens, in which the caliph is said to have
cried out when warned of his danger, Let me alone,
for I see checkmate against Kuthar ! We are told that
Charles I. was at chess when news were brought of the
final intention of the Scots to sell him to the English j
but so little was he discomposed by this alarming in¬
telligence,
Chess.
CHE' [ 784 ] C H
telllgence, that lie continued his game with the utmost This, like the former, died with
composure *, so that no person could have known that
the letter he received had given him information of
any thing remarkable. King John was playing at
chess when the deputies of Rouen came to acquaint
him that their city was besieged by Philip Augustus 5
but he would not hear them until he had finished his
game.
The following remarkable anecdote we have from
Dr Robertson in his History of Charles V. Johnl're-
deric, elector of Saxony, having been taken prisoner by
Charles, was condemned to death. The decree was in¬
timated to him while at chess with Ernest of Bruns-
wic, his fellow-prisoner. Aftey a short pause, and ma¬
king some reflection on the irregularity and injustice
of the emperor’s proceedings, he turned to his antago¬
nist, whom he challenged to finish the game. He play¬
ed with his usual ingenuity and attention ; and having
beat Ernest, expressed all the satisfaction that is com¬
monly felt on gaining such victories. He was not,
however, put to death, but set at liberty after five
years confinement.
In the Chronicle of the Moorish kings of Granada
we find it related, that in 1396, Mehemed Baiba seized
upon the crown in prejudice of his elder brother, and
passed his life in one continual round of disasters. His
wars with Castile were invariably unsuccessful 5 and his
death was occasioned by a poisoned vest. Finding his
case desperate, he dispatched an officer to the fort of
Salabreno to put his brother Juzaf to death, lest that
■ prince’s adherents should form any obstacle to his son’s
succession. The alcayde found the prince playing at
chess with an alfaqui or priest. Juzaf begged hard for
two hours respite, which was denied him ; at last with
great reluctance the officer permitted him to finish the
game ; but before it was finished, a messenger arrived
with the news of the death of Mehemed, and the una¬
nimous election of Juzaf to the crowm.
We have a curious anecdote of Ferrand count ol
Flanders ; who having been accustomed to amuse him¬
self at chess with his wife, and being constantly beaten
by her, a mutual hatred took place ; which came to
such a height, that, when the count was taken prisoner
at the battle of Bovines, she suffered him to remain a
long time in prison, though she could easily have pro¬
cured his release.
The game of chess has undergone considerable vari¬
ations sinpe it was first invented. We have it on good
authority, that, among the eastern nations, the piece
now called the queen was formerly called the vi%ir or
king’s minister, and that the powers of the queen her¬
self were but very small. The chess-boards used by
Tamerlane were larger, and contained many more
squares than those at present in use. Carrera invented
two new pieces to be added to the eight commonly in
use. One of these, which he calls Campione, is placed
between the king’s knight and castle j the other, named
Centaui', between the queen’s knight and castle, has
the move of the bishop and knight united. This in¬
vention, however, did not survive its author. In an¬
other of this kind, the two additional pieces are called
the centurion and decurion ; the former situated between
the king and his bishop, in its move the same with
that of the queen, but only for two squares ; the latter
moves as the bishop, but only one square at a time.
3
its inventor. The
chess-board of Tamerlane was a parallelogram, having
II squares one way and 12 the other. In the Me¬
moirs of the late Marshal Keith, we find it related,
that he invented an amusement something similar to
that of chess, with which the king of Prussia was high¬
ly entertained. Several thousand small statues were
cast bv a founder \ and these were ranged opposite to
each other as if they had been drawn up in an army;
making the difl’erent movements with them as in real
service in the field.
A very complicated kind of game at chess was in¬
vented by the late duke of Rutland. At this the
board has 14 squares in breadth, and 10 in height,
which make in all 140 houses; and there are 14 pawns
on each side, which may move either on two, or three
squares the first time. The other pieces were the king,
queen, two bishops, two knights, a crowned castle
uniting the move of the king and castle, and a com¬
mon castle. On the other side of the king was a con¬
cubine, whose move united that ol the castle and knight,
1 two bishops, a single knight, a crowned castle, and a
common one. In this game the pawns are of very
little use ; and by the extent of the board, the knights
lose much of their value, which consequently renders
the game more defective and less interesting than the
common one.
There is an amusing variety at the game of chess, in
which the king with eight pawns engages the whole
set, by being allowed to make two moves for every one
of his adversary. In this he is almost certain of com¬
ing off victorious £ as he can make his first move into
check, and the second out of it. thus he can take
the queen when she stands immediately before her
king, and then retreat; for he cannot remain in check.
He cannot be check-mated unless his adversary has
preserved his queen and both castles.
Cnsss-trees, (Joquets ddanjure^ ; two pieces of wood
bolted perpendicularly, one on the starboard, and ano¬
ther on the larboard side of the ship. They are used to
confine the clue, or lower corners of the main-sail; for
which purpose there is a hole in the upper part, through
which the rope passes that usually extends the clue of
the sail to windward. See Tack.
The chess-trees are commonly placed as far before
the main-mast as the length of the main-beam.
CHEST, in commerce, a kind of measure, contain¬
ing an uncertain quantity of several commodities.
A chest of sugar, v. g. contains from ten to fifteen
hundred weight ; a chest of glass, from two hundred
to three hundred feet ; of Castile soap, from two and
a half to three hundred weight; of indigo, from one
and a half to two hundred weight, five score to the
hundred.
Chest, or Thorax. See Anatomy Index.
CHESTER, commonly called JFest-Chester, to dis¬
tinguish it from many other Chesters in the kingdom j
the capital of Cheshire in England. It is a very an¬
cient city, supposed to have been founded by the Ro¬
mans j and plainly appears to have been a Roman sta¬
tion by the many antiquities which have been and are
still discovered in and about the town. It was among
the last places the Romans quitted : and here the Bri¬
tons maintained their liberty long after the Saxons had
got possession of the rest of their country. At present
it
CHE [ 785 ] CHE
Chester, it Is a large^ well-built, wealthy city, and carries on a
Chester- considerable trade. Mr Pennant calls it a city without
ie-Street.^ a parallel, on account of the singular structure of the
T four principal streets. They are as if excavated out
of the earth, and sunk many feet beneath the surface ;
the carriages drive far beneath the level of the kitchens
on a line with ranges of shops. The houses are mostly
of wood, with galleries, piazzas, and covered walls
before them ; by which not only the shops, but those
who are walking about the town* are so hid, that one
would imagine there were scarce any inhabitants in it.
But though by this contrivance such as walk the streets
are screened from rain, &c. yet the shops are thereby
rendered dark and inconvenient. The back courts of
all the houses are on a level with the ground 5 but to
go into any of the four principal streets, it is necessary
to descend a flight of several steps. It contained 17,472
inhabitants in 1811.
Chester is a bishop’s see. It was anciently part
of the diocese of Litchfield j one of whose bishops
removing the seat of his see hither in the year 1075,
occasioned his successors to be frequently styled bishop
of Chester. But it was not erected into a distinct
bishopric until the general dissolution of monasteries,
when King Henry VIII. in the year 1541, raised
it to this dignity, and allotted the church of the
abbey of St Werburg for the cathedral, styling it the
cathedral church of Christ and the blessed Virgin;
adding the bishopric to the province of Canterbury :
but soon after he disjoined it from Canterbury, and
added it to the province of York. When this ab¬
bey was dissolved, its revenues were valued at 1003I.
5s. 1 id. This diocese contains the entire counties
of Chester and Lancaster, part of the counties of West¬
moreland, Cumberland, and Yorkshire, two chapel-
ries in Denbighshire, and five parishes in Flintshire $
amounting in all to 256 parishes, of which 101 are im¬
propriations. This bishopric is valued in the king’s
books at 420I. is. 8d. and is computed to be worth
annually 2700I.; the clergy’s tenth amounting to
435I. 12s. To this cathedral belong a dean, two arch¬
deacons, a chancellor, a treasurer, six prebendaries,
and other inferior officers and servants. W. Long. 3.
o. N. Lat. 53. 12.
CHESTER-le-Street, the Cuneacestre of the Saxons ; a
small thoroughfare town between Newcastle and Dur¬
ham, with a good church and fine spire. In the
Saxon times this place was greatly respected on ac¬
count of the relics of St Cuthbert, deposited here by
Bishop Eardulf, for fear of the Danes, who at that
time (about 884) ravaged the country. His shrine
became afterwards an object of great devotion. King
Athelstan, on his expedition to Scotland, paid it a
visit, to obtain, by intercession of the saint, success on
his arms j bestowed a multitude of gifts on the church j
and directed, in case he died in his enterprise, that his
body should be interred there. At the same time that
this place was honoured with the remains of St Cuth¬
bert, the bishopric of Lindesfarn was removed here,
and endowed with all the lands between the Tyne and
the Were, the present county of Durham. It was
styled St CuthberCs patrimony. The inhabitants had
great privileges, and always thought themselves exempt
from all military duty, except that of defending the
body of their saint. Chester-le-Street may be con-
Vol. V. Part II. f
sidered as the parent of the see of Durham : for when Chester-
the relics were removed there, the see in 995 followed le-Stieet
them. Tanner says, that probably a chapter of monks, ^})ev!|.eau
or rather secular canons, attended the body at this , ,
place from its first arrival 5 but Bishop Beke, in 1286,
in honour of the saint, made the church collegiate, and
established here a dean and suitable ecclesiastics j and,
among other privileges, gave the dean a right of fish¬
ing on the Were, and the tythe of fish.
Ncw-Chestee, a town of Pennsylvania in Ame¬
rica, and capital of a county of that name. It is seated
on the Delaware: and has a fine capacious harbour,
admitting vessels of any burden. W. Long. 74. 7.
N. Lat. 40. 15.
CHESTERFIELD, a market-town of Derbyshire
in England, pleasantly situated on a hill between two
small rivers. It has the title of an earldom $ and a
considerable market for corn, lead, and other country
commodities. The houses are for the most part built
of rough stone, and covered with slate. Population
4476 in 1811. W. Long. I. 25. N. Lat. 53. 20.
Chesterfield, Earl of. See Stanhope.
CHEVAL de Frise, a large piece of timber pier¬
ced, and traversed with wooden pikes, armed or
pointed with iron, five or six feet long. See Plate
CXXXYII.
The term is French, and properly signifies a Frise-
land horse ; as having been first invented in that coun¬
try.—It is also called a Turnpike or Turniquet.
Its use is to defend a passage, stop a breach, or
make an entrenchment to stop the cavalry. It is some¬
times also mounted on wheels with artificial fires, to
roll down in an assault. Errand observes, that the
prince of Orange used to inclose his camp with Che-
vaux de Frise, placing them one over another.
CHEVALER, in the manege, is said of a horse,
when in passing upon a walk or trot, his off fore¬
leg crosses or overlaps the near fore-leg every second
motion.
CHEVALIER, a French term, ordinarily signify¬
ing a Knight. The word is formed of the French
cheval “ horse,” and the barbarous Latin cavallus.
It is used, in heraldry, to signify any cavalier or
horseman armed at all points ; by the Romans called
cataphractus eques: now out of use, and only to be seen
in coat-armour.
CHEVAUX de Fiiise. See Cheval de Frise.
CHEVIN, a name used in some parts ef England
for the Chub.
CHEVIOT, or (Tiviot) Hills, run from north to
south through Northumberland and Cumberland } and
tvere formerly the borders or boundaries between Eng¬
land and Scotland, where many a bloody battle has
been fought between the two nations j one of which is
recorded in the ballad of Chevy-chase. These hills
are the first land discovered by sailors in coming from
the east into Scotland.
CHEVISANCE, in Law, denotes an agreement or
composition, as an end or order set down between a
creditor and his debtor, &c. In the statutes, this
word is most commonly used for an unlawful bargain
or contract.
CHEVREAU, Urban, a learned writer, born at
Lundun in 1613. He distinguished himself in his youth
by his knowledge of the belles lettres j and became se-
5 G cretary
CHE [ ?36 ] CHI
CWevreau cretary of state to Queen Christina of Sweden. Seve-
j) ral German princes invited him to their courts} and
Cheyne. Charles Lewis, the elector palatine, retained him un-
^er ti,e tJt[e 0f counsellor. After the death of that
prince, he returned to France, and became preceptor
to the duke of Maine. At length retiring to Lundun,
he died there in 1701, aged 88. He was the author
of several books, and amongst others of an Universal
History, which has been often reprinted.
CHEVRON, or Cheverok, in Heraldry. See
Heraldry.
CHEWING-balls, a kind of balls made of asafce-
tida, liver of antimony, bay-wood, juniper-wood, and
pellitory of Spain ; which being dried in the sun, and
wrapped in a linen cloth, are tied to the bit of the
bridle for the horse to chew *, they create an appetite j
and it is said, that balls of Venice treacle may be used
in the same manner with good success.
CHEYKS. See Bengal, No. 17.
CHEYNE, Dr George, a physician of great learn¬
ing and abilities, born in Scotland in 1671, and edu¬
cated at Edinburgh under the great Dr Pitcairn. He
passed his youth in close study, and with great tem¬
perance •, but coming to settle at London, when about
30, and finding the younger gentry and free-livers to
be the most easy of access and most susceptible of
friendship, he changed on a sudden his former manner
of living, in order to force a trade, having observed
this method to succeed with many others. The con¬
sequence was, that he grew daily in bulk, and in inti¬
macy with his gay acquaintance ; swelling to such an
enormous size, that he exceeded 32 stone weight $ and
he was forced to have the whole side of his chariot
made open to receive him into it; he grew short-
breathed, lethargic, nervous, and scorbutic $ so that
his life became an intolerable burden. In this deplo¬
rable condition, after having tried all the power of
medicine in vain, he resolved to try a milk and vege¬
table diet; the good effects of which quickly appear¬
ed. His size was reduced almost a third : and he re¬
covered his strength, activity, and cheerfulness, with
the perfect use of all his faculties. In short, by a re¬
gular adherence to this regimen, he lived to a mature
period, dying at Bath in 1742, aged 72. He wrote se¬
veral treatises that were well received j particularly
“ An Essay on Health and Long Life j” and “ The
English Malady, or a Treatise of Nervous Diseases
both the result of his own experience. In short, he
had great reputation in his own time, both as a prac¬
titioner and as a writer j and most of his pieces passed
through several editions. He is to be ranked among
those physicians who have accounted for the onerations
of medicines and the morbid alterations which take
place in the human body, upon mechanical principles.
A spirit of piety and of benevolence, and an ardent zeal
for the interests of virtue, are predominant throughout
his writings. An amiable candour and ingenuousness
are also discernible j and which led him to retract with
readiness whatever appeared to him to be censurable in
what he had formerly advanced. Some of the meta¬
physical notions which he had introduced into his
books may perhaps justly be thought fanciful and ill-
grounded ; but there is an agreeable vivacity in his
productions, together with much openness and frank¬
ness, and in general great perspicuity.
3
CHIABRERA, Gabriel, esteemed the Pindar of chiabrm
Italy, was bom at Savona in 1552, and went to study jj
at Rome. The Italian princes, and Urban VIII. gave
him public marks of their esteem. He wrote a great ’
number of poems j but his lyric verses are most admi¬
red. He died at Savona, in 1638, aged 86.
CHIAN earth, in Pharmacy, one of the medici¬
nal earths of the ancients, the name of which is pre¬
served in the catalogues of the materia medica, but of
which nothing more than the name has been known for
many ages in the shops.
It is a very dense and compact earth j and is sent
hither in small flat pieces from the island of Chios, in
which it is found in great plenty at this time. It
stands recommended to us as an astringent. They tell
us, it is the greatest ol all cosmetics j and that it gives
a whiteness and smoothness to the skin, and prevents
wrinkles, beyond any of the other substances that hav*
been celebrated for the same purposes.
CHIAOUS, a word in the original Tuikish, signi¬
fying “ envoys,” are officers to the number of five or
six hundred in the grand signior’s court, under the
command of a chiaous baschi. They frequently meet
in the grand vizir’s palace, that they may be in readi¬
ness to execute his orders, and carry his dispatches in¬
to all the provinces of the empire. The chiaous bas¬
chi assists at the divan, and introduces those who have
business there.
CHIAPA, the capital of a province of the same
name in Mexico, situated about 300 miles east of Aca¬
pulco. W. Long. 98. o. N. Lat. 16. 30.
Chiapa el Peal, a town of Mexico, in a province of
the same name, with a bishop’s see. Its principal
trade consists in chocolate-nuts, cotton, and sugar.
W. Long. 9,8. 35. N. Lat. 16. 20.
Chiapa de los Indos, a large and rich town of
North America, in Mexico, and in a province of
the same name. The governor and most of the in¬
habitants are originally Americans. W. Long. 98. 5.
N. Lat. 15. 6.
CHIARI, Joseph, a celebrated Italian painter, was
the disciple of Carlo Maratti j and adorned the churches
and palaces of Rome with a great number of fine paint¬
ings. He died of an apoplexy in 1727, aged 73.
Chiari, a town of Italy, in the province ol Brescia,
and in the Austro-Venetian territories, 7 miles west of
Brescia, and 27 east of Milan. Here the Imperialists
gained a victory over the French in 1701* E. Long.
18. 18. N. Lat. 45. 30.
CHIARO scuro. See Clabo Ohscuro.
CHIAVENNA, a handsome, populous, and large
town of Swisserlaud, in the county of the Grisons.
It is a trading place, especially in wine and delicate
fruits. The governor’s palace and the churches are
very magnificent, and the inhabitants are Roman Ca¬
tholics. It was at one period, during the late contest
with France, the scene of much carnage and bloodshed.
It is seated near the lake Como. E. Long. 9. 29.
N. Lat. 46. 15.
CHIAUSI, among the Turks, officers employed in
executing the vizirs, bashaws, and other great men :
the orders for doing this, the grand signior sends them
wrapped up in a black cloth j on the reception of
which they immediately perform their office.
CHICANE, or Chicanery, in Zaw, an abuse of
judiciary
CHI [ 787 ] CHI
Chicane judiciary proceeding, tending to delay the cause, to
ii puzzle the judge, or impose upon the parties.
Chicuitos. Chicane, in the schools, is applied to vain sophisms,
* distinctions, and subtleties, which protract disputes, and
obscure the truth.
CHICHESTER, the capital city of the county of
Sussex, was built by Cissa, the second king of the
South Saxons, and by him called Cissan Ccester. It is
surrounded with a wall, which has four gates answer¬
ing to the four cardinal points ; from which run two
streets, that cross one another in the middle and form
a square, where the market is kept, and where there
is a fine stone piazza built by Bishop Read. The space
between the west and south gates is taken up with the
cathedral church and the bishop’s palace. It has five
parish-churches $ and is seated on the little river Ha¬
vant, which washes it on all sides except the north.
This city would have been in a much more flourishing
condition if it had been built by the sea side ; how¬
ever, the inhabitants have endeavoured to supply this
defect in some measure, by cutting a canal from the
city down to the bay. The principal manufactures of
the town are malt and needles. The market of Chi¬
chester is noted for fish, wheat, barley, malt, and oats j
the finest lobsters in England are bred in the Lavant ;
and it is observable, that this river, unlike most others,
is very low in winter, but in summer often overflows
its banks. Chichester is a city and county of itself;
it is governed by a mayor, recorder, aldermen, com¬
mon-council without limitation, and four justices of
the peace chosen out of the aldermen ; and it sends
two members to parliament. It is a bishop’s see.
The cathedral church was anciently dedicated to St
Peter. It was new built by Radulph, the twenty-fifth
bishop ; but being destroyed by fire, it was again
built by Seffridus II. the twenty-ninth bishop. This
see hath yielded to the church two saints, and to the
nation three lord chancellors, two almoners, and one
chancellor to the university of Oxford. Anciently
the bishops of Chichester were confessors to the queens
of England. This diocese contains the whole of the
county of Sussex (excepting 22 parishes, peculiars of
the archbishop of Canterbury), wherein are 250 pa¬
rishes, whereof II2 are impropriated. It hath two
archdeacons, viz. of Chichester and Lewes ; is valued
in the king’s books at 667I. is. 3d. and is computed to
be worth annually 2600I. The tenths of the whole
clergy are 287I. 2s. o^d. To the cathedral belong a
bishop, a dean, two archdeacons, a treasurer, a chan¬
cellor, thirty-two prebendaries, a chanter, twelve vicars-
choral, and other officers. Population 6425 in 1811.
W. Long. 50. N. Lat. 50. 50.
CHICK, or Chicken, in Zoology, denotes the
young of the gallinaceous order of birds, especially
the common hen. See Phasianus, Ornithology
Index.
CmcK-Weed. See Alsine, Botany Index.
Ceicken-Pox. See Medicine Index.
CHICKLING-pea, a name given to the Lathy-
rus. See Botany Index.
CHICUITOS, a province of South America, in the
government of Santa Cruz de la Sierra. The chief
riches consist of honey and wax ; and the original in¬
habitants are very voluptuous, yet very warlike, 'i hey
maintained bloody wars with the Spaniards till 1690 ;
since which, some of them have become Christians. It Chicuitos
is bounded by La Plata on the north-east, and by Chili (j
on the west. Chilblain.
CHIHLEY, or Chimley, a market town of Devon- ^ '
shire, situated in W. Long. 4. o. N. Lat. 51. o.
CHIEF, a term signifying the head or principal
part of a thing or person. Thus we say, the chief of
a party, the chief of a family, &c. The word is form¬
ed of the French chef, “ head of the Greek KiipctXn,
caput, “ head though Menage derives it from the
Italian capo, formed of the Latin, caput.
Chief, in Heraldry, is that which takes up all the
upper part of the escutcheon from side to side, and re¬
presents a man’s head. In chief, imports something
borne in the chief part or top of the escutcheon.
CHIEFTAIN, denotes the captain or chief of any
class, family, or body of men. Thus the chieftains
or chiefs of the Highland clans, were the principal
noblemen or gentlemen of their respective clans. See
Clans.
CHIELEFA, a strong town of Turkey in Europe,
in the Morea. It was taken by the Venetians in 1685 ;
but after that the Turks retook it, with all the Morea.
E. Long. 22. 21. N. Lat. 26. 50.
CHIGI, Fabio, or Pope Alexander VJI. was
born at Sienna in 1599. His family, finding him a
hopeful youth, sent him early to Rome, where he soon
engaged in a friendship with the marquis Pallavicini,
who recommended him so effectually to Pope Urban
VIII. that he procured him the post of inquisitor at
Malta. He was sent vice-legate to Ferrara, and af¬
terward nuncio into Germany : there he had an op¬
portunity of displaying his intriguing genius ; for he
wTas mediator at Munster, in the long conference held
to conclude a peace with Spain. Cardinal Mazarin
had some resentment against Chigi, who was soon af¬
ter made a cardinal and secretary of state by Inno¬
cent X. but his resentment was sacrificed to political
views. In 1665, when a pope was to be chosen, Car¬
dinal Sacchetti, Mazarin’s great friend, finding it was
impossible for him to be raised into St Peter’s chair,
because of the powerful opposition made by the Spa¬
nish faction, desired Cardinal Mazarin to consent to
Chigi’s exaltation. His request was granted, and he
was elected pope by the votes of all the 64 cardinals
who were in the conclave-: an unanimity of which
there are but few instances in the election of popes.
He showed uncommon humility at his election, and at
first forbade all his relations to come to Rome with¬
out his leave ; but he soon became more favourable to
his nephews, and loaded them with favours. It is as¬
serted that be had once a mind to turn Protestant.
The newspapers in Holland bestowed great encomi¬
ums upon him ; and acquainted the world that he
did not approve of the cruel persecutions of the Wal-
denses in Piedmont. There is a volume of his poems
extant. He loved the Belles-Lettres, and the conver¬
sation of learned men. He was extremely fond of
stately buildings : the grand plan of the college Della
Sapienvsa, which he finished, and adorned with a fine
library, remains a proof of his taste in architecture.
He died in 1667.
CHILBLAIN {pernio), in Medicine, a tumor af¬
fecting the feet and hands ; accompanied with an in¬
flammation, pains, and sometimes an ulcer or solution
5 G 2 of
CHI
[ 788 ]
C H I
Chilblains °f continuity j in which case it takes the denomination
U of chaps on the hands, and of kibes on the heels. Chil-
Children. blain is compounded of chill and blain; q. r/. a blain
' J or SOj-e contracted by cold. Pernio is the Xjatin name
adopted by physicians j and is derived by Vossins from
perna, “ a gammon of bacon,” on account of some re¬
semblance. Chap alludes to gape, both in sound and
appearance. Kibes, in Welch kibws, may be derived
from the German kerben, “ to cut j” the skin, when
broke, appearing like a cut.
Chilblains are occasioned by excessive cold stopping
the motion of the blood in the capillary arteries. See
the article Pernio.
CHILD, a term of relation io parent. See PARENT
and Children.
Bartholine, Parc, Licetus, and many other writers,
give an account of a petrified child, which has seemed
wholly incredible to some people. The child, however,
which they describe, is still in being; and is kept as a
great rarity in the king of Denmark’s museum at Co¬
penhagen. The woman who was big with this, lived
at Sens in Champagne in the year 1582 J it was cut
out of her belly, and was universally supposed to have
lain there about 20 years, lhat it is a real human
foetus, and not artificial, is evident to the eyes of any
observer 5 and the upper part of it, when examined, is
found to be of a substance resembling the gypsum or
stone whereof they made the plaster of Paris j the lower
part is much harder, the thighs and buttocks being a
perfect stone of a reddish colour, and as hard as com¬
mon quarry stone j the grain and surface of this part
appear exactly like that of the calculi or stones taken
out of human bladders ; and the whole substance, ex¬
amined ever so nearly, and felt ever so carefully, ap¬
pears to be absolute stone. It was carried from Sens
to Paris, and there purchased by a goldsmith ot \ e-
nice •, and Frederic III. king of Denmark purchased
it of this man at Venice for a very large sum, and add¬
ed it to his collection of rarities.
CHILD’Sed. 1 gee Midwifery.
Child-Birth. 3
Child-Wit, a power to take a fine of a bond-woman
unlawfully gotten with child, that is, without consent
of her lord. Every reputed father of a base child got
within the manor of Writtel in Essex, pays to the lord
a fine of 3s. 4d.$ where, it seems, child-wit extends to
free as well as bond-women.
CHILDERMAS Day, or Innocents Day, an an¬
niversary held by the church of England on the 281I}
of December, in commemoration of the children ol
Bethlehem massacred by order of Herod.
CHILDREN, the plural of Child.
Mr Derham computes, that marriages, one with an¬
other, produce four children not only in England, but
in other parts also.
In the genealogical history of Tuscany, written by
Gamarini, mention is made of a nobleman of Sienna,
named Pichi, who of three wives had 150 children;
and that, being sent ambassador to the pope and the
emperor, he had 48 of his sons in his retinue. In a
monument in the church-yard of St Innocent, at Paris,
erected to a woman who died at 88 years of age j
it is recorded, that she might have seen 268 children
directly issued from her. This exceeds what Hake-
well relates of Mrs Honeywood, a gentlewoman of
3
Kent, born in the year 1527, and married at 16 to thildren.
her only husband R. Honeywood of Charing, Esq. -v—^
and died in her 93d year. She had 16 children of her
own body •, of which three died young, and a fourth
had no issue ; yet her grandchildren, in the second ge¬
neration, amounted to 114 ; in the third, to 2285
though in the fourth they fell to 9. The whole num¬
ber she might have seen in her lifetime, being 367.
I6-fi4-}-228-f9=367. So that she could say the
same as the distich does of one Dalburgh’s family at
Basil:
I 2 3 4
Mater ait natce, die natce JUia natam,
5 ^ • 6
Ut moneat, natce plangere, jiholam.
Management of Children. See Infant.
Overlaying oj Children, is a misfortune that fre¬
quently happens j to prevent which, the Florentines
have contrived an instrument called arcuccio. See
Arcuccio.
Children are, in Law, a man’s issue begotten on
his wife. As to illegitimate children, see Bastard.
For the legal duties of parents to their children, see
the articles Parent and Bastard.
As to the duties of children to their parents, they
arise from a principle of natural justice and retribu¬
tion. For to those who gave us existence, we natu¬
rally owe subjection and obedience during our mino¬
rity, and honour and reverence ever after j they who
protected the weakness of our infancy are entitled to
our protection in the infirmity of their age ; they who
by sustenance and education have enabled their off¬
spring to prosper, ought, in return, to be supported
by that offspring, in case they stand in need of assist¬
ance. Upon this principle proceed all the duties of
children to their parents, which are enjoined by posi¬
tive laws. And the Athenian laws carried this prin¬
ciple into practice with a scrupulous kind of nicety,
obliging all children to provide for their father when
fallen into poverty; with an exception to spurious
children, to those whose chastity had been prostituted
with consent of their father, and to those whom he
had not put in any way of gaining a livelihood. The
legislature, says Baron Montesquieu, considered, that,
in the first case, the father, being uncertain, had ren¬
dered the natural obligation precarious ; that, in the
second case, he had sullied the life he had given, and
done his children the greatest of injuries, in depriving
them of their reputation $ and that, in the third case,
he had rendered their life (so far as in him lay) an in¬
supportable burden, by furnishing them with no means
of subsistence.
Our laws agree with those of Athens, with regard
to the first only of these particulars, the case of spu¬
rious issue. In the other cases, the law does not hold
the tie of nature to be dissolved by any misbehaviour
of the parent $ and, therefore, a child is equally
justifiable in defending the person, or maintaining
the cause or suit, of a bad parent as ot a good one ;
and is equally compellable, it of sufficient ability, to
maintain and provide for a wicked and unnatural pro¬
genitor, as for one who has shown the greatest tender¬
ness and parental piety. See further the article Filial
Affe0ti°n- CHILI,
CHI [ 789 ] CHI
CHILI, a province of South America, bounded by
Peru on the north, by the province of La Plata on the
east, by Patagonia on the south, and by the Pacific
ocean on the west, lying between 75 and 85 degrees
of west longitude j and between 25 and 45 of south
latitude 5 though some comprehend in this province
Patagonia and Terra del Fuego.
The first attempt of the Spaniards upon this coun¬
try was made by Almagro in the year 1535, after he
and Pizarro had completed the conquest of Peru. He
set out on his expedition to Chili with a considerable
body of Spaniards and auxiliary Indians. For 200
leagues he was well accommodated with every ne¬
cessary by the Indians, who had been subjects of the
emperors of Peru : but reaching the barren country
of Charcas, his troops became discontented through
the hardships they suffered j which determined Alma¬
gro to climb the mountains called Cordilleras, in order
to get the sooner into Chili; being ignorant of the in¬
valuable mines of Potosi, contained in the province of
Charcas, where he then was. At that time the Cor¬
dilleras were covered with snow, the depth of which
obliged him to dig his way through it. The cold
made such an impression on his naked Indians, that it
is computed no less than 10,000 of them perished on
these dreadful mountains, 150 of the Spaniards sharing
the same fate ; while many of the survivors lost their
fingers and toes through the excess of cold. At last,
after encountering incredible difficulties, Almagro
reached a fine, temperate, and fertile plain, on the op¬
posite side of the Cordilleras, where he was received
with the greatest kindness by the natives. These poor
savages taking the Spaniards for deputies of their god
Virachoca, immediately collected for them an offering
of gold and silver worth 290,000 ducats ; and soon
after brought a present to Almagro worth 300,000
more. These offerings only determined him to con¬
quer the whole country as soon as possible. The In¬
dians among whom he now was had acknowledged the
authority of the Peruvian incas, or emperors, and con¬
sequently gave Almagro no trouble. He therefore
marched immediately against those who had never
been conquered by the Peruvians, and inhabited the
southern parts of Chili. These savages fought with
great resolution, and disputed every inch of ground ;
but in five months time the Spaniards had made such
progress, that they must infallibly have reduced the
whole province in a very short time, had not Almagro
returned to Peru, in consequence of a commission sent
him from Spain.
In 1540, Pizarro having overcome and put Alma¬
gro to death, sent into Chili, Baldivia or Valdivia,
who had learned the rudiments of war in Laly, and
was reckoned one of the best officers in the Spanish
service. As he penetrated southwards, however, he
met with much opposition j the confederated caziques
frequently gave him battle, and displayed great cou¬
rage and resolution ; but could not prevent him from
penetrating to the valley of Masiocho, which he found
incredibly fertile and populous. Here he founded the
city of St Jago; and, finding gold mines in the neigh¬
bourhood, forced the Indians to work in them j at the
same time building a castle for the safety and protec¬
tion of his new colony. The natives, exasperated at
this slavery, immediately took up arms, attacked the
fort, and though defeated and repulsed, set fire to
the outworks, which contained all the provisions of
the Spaniards. Nor were they discouraged by this and
many other defeats, but still continued to carry on the
war with vigour. At last, Valdivia, having overcome
them in many battles, forced the inhabitants of the
vale to submit j upon which he immediately set them
to work in the mines of Quilotta. This indignity of¬
fered to their countrymen redoubled the fury of those
who remained at liberty. Their utmost efforts, how¬
ever, were as yet unable to stop Valdivia’s progress.
Having crossed the large rivers Maulle and Hata, he
traversed a vast tract of country, and founded the city
of La Conception on the South-sea coast. He erected
fortresses in several parts of the country, in order to
keep the natives in awe j and built the city called Im¬
perial, about 40 leagues to the southward of Concep¬
tion. The Spanish writers say, that the neighbouring
valley contained 8o,oco inhabitants of a peaceable dis¬
position ; and who were even so tame as to suffer Val¬
divia to parcel out their lands among his followers,
while they themselves remained in a state of inactivity.
About 16 leagues to the eastward of Imperial, the Spa¬
nish general laid the foundation of the city Villa Rica,
so called on account of the rich gold mines he found
there. But his ambition and avarice had now involved
him in difficulties from which he could never be ex¬
tricated : He had extended his conquests beyond what
his strength was capable of maintaining. The Chile-
sians were still as desirous as ever of recovering their
liberties. The horses, fire-arms, and armour of the
Spaniards, indeed, appeared dreadful to them ; but
thoughts of endless slavery were still more so. In the
course of the war they had discovered that the Spa¬
niards were vulnerable and mortal men like themselves ;
they hoped, therefore, by dint of their superiority in
numbers, to be able to expel the tyrannical usurpers.
Had all the nations joined in this resolution, the Spa¬
niards had certainly been exterminated 5 but some of
them were of a pacific and fearful disposition, while
others considered servitude as the greatest of all pos¬
sible calamities. Of this last opinion were the Arac-
ceans, the most intrepid people in Chili, and who had
given Valdivia the greatest trouble. They all rose to
a man, and chose Capaulican, a renowned hero among
them, for their leader. Valdivia however received
notice of their revolt sooner than they intended he
should, and returned with all expedition to the vale of
Araccea ; but before he arrived 14,000 of the Chi-
lesians were there assembled under the conduct of Ca¬
paulican. He attacked them with his cavalry, and
forced them to retreat into the woods ; but could not
obtain a complete victory, as they kept continually
sallying out and harassing his men. At last Capauli¬
can, having observed that fighting with such a num¬
ber of undisciplined troops only served to contribute to
the defeat and confusion of the whole, divided his for¬
ces into bodies of IOOO each. These he directed to
attack the enemy by turns; and, though he did not
expect that a single thousand would put them to flight,
he directed them to make as long a stand as they could ;
when they were to be relieved and supported by ano¬
ther body ; and thus the Spaniards would be at last
wearied out and overcome. The event fully answered
his expectations. The Chilesians maintained a fight
for
CHI [ 790 ] CHI
Chiii. for seven or eight hours, until the Spaniards, grove-
—v——ing faint for want of refreshment, retired precipitately.
Valdivia ordered them to possess a pass at some distance
from the field, to stop the pursuit ; but this design be¬
ing discovered to the Chilesians by the treachery of
his page, who was a native of that country, the Spa¬
niards were surrounded on all sides, and cut in pieces
by the Indians. The general was taken and put to
death *, some say with the tortures usually inflicted by
those savages on their prisoners j others that he had
melted gold poured down his throat ; but all agree,
that the Indians made flutes and other instruments of
his bones, and preserved his skull as a monument ot
their victory, which they celebrated by an annual fes-
rival. After this victory the Chilesians had another
engagement with their enemies j in which also they
proved victorious, defeating the Spaniards with the
loss of near 3000 men ; and upon this they bent their
whole force against the colonies. The city of Con¬
ception, being abandoned by the Spaniards, was taken
and destroyed : but the Indians were forced to raise
the siege of Imperial $ and their progress was at last
stopped by Garcia de Mendoza, who defeated Capau-
lican, took him prisoner, and put him to death. No
defeats, however, could dispirit the Chilesians. They
continued the war for 50 years ; and to this day they
remain unconquered, and give the Spaniards more
trouble than any other American nation. Their most
irreconcilable enemies are the inhabitants of Araccea
and Tucapel, those to the south of the river Bobia,
or whose country extends towards the Cordilleras.—
The manners of these people greatly resemble those of
North America, which we have already described under
the article America ; but they seem to have a more
warlike disposition. It is a constant rule with the Chi¬
lesians never to sue for peace. The Spaniards are ob¬
liged not only to make the first overtures, but to pur¬
chase it by presents. They have at last been obliged
to abandon all thoughts of extending their conquests,
and reduced to cover their frontiers by erecting forts
at proper distances.
The Spanish colonies in Chili are dispersed on the
borders of the South-sea. They are parted from Peru
by a desert of 80 leagues in breadth ; and bounded by
the island of Chiloe, at the extremity next the straits
of Magellan. There are no settlements on the coast,
except those of Baldivia, Conception island, Valparaiso,
and Coquimbo or La Serena, which are all seaports.
In the inland country is St Jago, the capital of the co¬
lony. There is no culture nor habitation at any di¬
stance from these towns. The buildings in the whole
province are low, made of unburnt brick 5 and mostly
thatched. This practice is observed on account of the
frequent earthquakes ; and is properly adapted to the
nature of the climate, as well as the indolence of the
inhabitants.
The climate of Chili is one of the most wholesome
in the whole world. The vicinity of the Cordilleras
gives it such a delightful temperature as could not
otherwise be expected in that latitude. Though gold
mines are found in it, their richness has been too much
extolled 5 their produce never exceeds 218,750!.
The soil is prodigiously fertile. All the European
fruits have improved in that happy climate. The
wine would be excellent if nature were properly as¬
sisted by art $ and the corn-harvest is reckoned a bad cyn
one when it does not yield a hundred fold. With all {j
these advantages, Chili has no direct intercourse with Chiliing-
tlie mother-country. Their trade is confined to Peru, , vvolt^
Paraguay, and the savages on their frontiers. With
these last they exchange their less valuable commodi¬
ties, for oxen, horses, and their own children, whom
they are ready to part with for the most trifling things.
This province supplies Peru with great plenty of hides,
dried fruit, copper, salt-meat, horses, hemp, lard,
wheat, and gold. In exchange it receives tobacco,
sugar, cacao, earthen-ware, woollen cloth, linen, hats,
made at Quito, and every article of luxury brought
from Europe. The ships sent from Callao on this
traffic were formerly bound to Conception Bay, but
now come to Valparaiso. The commerce between this
province and Paraguay is carried on by land, though
it is journey of 300 leagues, 40 of which lie through
the snows and precipices of the Cordilleras : but if it was
carried on by sea, they must either pass the straits of
Magellan or double Cape Horn, which the Spaniards
always avoid as much as possible. To Paraguay are
sent some woollen stuff's called ponchos, which are used
for cloaks j also wines, brandy, oil, and chiefly gold.
In return they receive wax, a kind of tallow fit to make
soap, European goods, aad negroes.
Chili is governed by a chief, who is absolute in all
civil, political, and military affairs, and is also inde¬
pendent of the viceroy. The latter has no authority
except when a governor dies $ in which case he may
appoint one in his room for a time, till the mother-
country names a successor. If, on some occasions, the
viceroy has interfered in the government of Chili, it
was when he has been either authorized by a particu¬
lar trust reposed in him by the court, or by the defe¬
rence paid to the eminence of his office: or when he
has been actuated by his own ambition to extend his
authority. In the whole province of Chili it was for¬
merly computed there were not 20,000 white men, and
not more than 60,000 negroes, or Indians, able to bear
arms. Since 1810 this province has been the theatre of
some revolutionarymovements, which arenot yet brought
to a termination. See Chili, Supplement.
CHILIAD, an assemblage of several things ranged
by thousands. The word is formed of the Greek
mille, “ a thousand.”
CHILIAGON, in Geometry, a regular plane figure
of 100 sides and angles. Though the imagination
cannot form the idea of such a figure, yet we may
have a very clear notion of it in the mind, and can
easily demonstrate that the sum of all its angles is
equal to 1996 right ones: for the internal angles of
every plane figure are equal to twice as many right
ones as the figure hath sides, except those four which
are about the centre of the figure, from whence it
may he resolved into as many triangles as it has sides.
The author of VArt de Tenser, pis 44. has brought this
instance to show the distinction between imagination
and conceiving.
CHILIARCHA, or Chiliarchus, an officer in
the armies of the ancients, who had the command of a
thousand men.
CHILIASTS, in church-history. See Millena-
rians.
CHILLINGWORTH, William, an eminent di¬
vine
CHI [ 79I
Chilling- vine of the church of England, was horn at Oxford
worth in 1602, and bred there. He made early great pro-
Chiloe ficiency *n ^ls stutiies> being of a very quick genius.
1 ° * , He was an expert mathematician, as well as an able
divine, and a very good poet. Study and conversa¬
tion at the university turning upon the controversy
between the church of England and that of Home, on
account ot the king’s marriage with Henrietta daugh¬
ter to Henry IV. king of France, Mr Chillingworth
forsook the church of England and embraced the
Romish religion. Dr Laud, then bishop of London,
hearing of this, and being greatly concerned at it,
wrote Mr Chillingworth j who expressing a great deal
of candour and impartiality, that prelate continued to
correspond with him. This set Mr Chillingworth on
a new inquiry ; and at last determined him to return
to his former religion. In 1634 he wrote a confuta¬
tion of the arguments which had induced him to go
over to the church of Rome. He spoke freely to his
friends of all the difficulties that occurred to him j
which gave occasion to a groundless report, that he
had turned Papist a second time, and then Protestant
again. His return to the communion of the church
ol England made a great noise, and engaged him in
several disputes with those of the Romish persuasion.
But in 1635 he engaged in a work which gave him a
far greater opportunity to confute the principles of the
church of Rome, and to vindicate the Protestant re¬
ligion, under the title of “ The religion of Prote¬
stants a safe Way to Salvation.” Sir Thomas Coven¬
try, lord keeper of the great seal, offering him pre¬
ferment, Mr Chillingworth refused to accept it on ac¬
count of his scruples with regard to the subscription of
the 39 articles. However, he at last surmounted these
scruples j and being promoted to the chancellorship
of the church of Sarum, with the prebend of Brix-
worth in Northamptonshire annexed to it, he com¬
plied with the usual subscription. Mr Chillingworth
was zealously attached to the royal party j and, in
August 1643, was present in King Charles I.’s army
at the siege of Gloucester, where he advised and di¬
rected the making certain engines for assaulting the
town. Soon after, having accompanied the Lord
Hopton, general of the king’s forces in the west, to
Arundel castle in Sussex, he was there taken prisoner
by the parliamentary forces under the command of Sir
William Waller, who obliged the castle to surrender.
But his illness increasing, he obtained leave to be
conveyed to Chichester, where he was lodged at the
bishop’s palace ; and, after a short sickness, died in
1644. He hath left several excellent works behind
him.
CHILMINAR. See Persepolis.
CHILD, one of the seven sages of Greece, and of
the ephori of Sparta the place of his birth, flourished
about 556 years before Christ. He was accustomed to
say that there were three things very difficult: “ To
keep a secret ; to know how best to employ our time j
and to suffer injuries without murmuring.” According
to Pliny, it was he who caused the short sentence Know
thyself, to be written in letters of gold in the temple of
Delphos. It is said that he died of joy, while em¬
bracing his son, who had been crowned at the Olympic
games.
CHILOE, an island lying near the coast of Chili
]
C H I
in South America, under the 43d degree of south la¬
titude. It is the chief of an archipelago of 40 islands,
and its principal town is Castro. It rains here almost (
all the year, insomuch that nothing but Indian corn,
or some such grain, that requires but little heat to
ripen it, can ever come to perfection. They have ex¬
cellent shell-fish, very good wild-fowl, hogs, sheep, and
beeves j as also a great deal of honey and wax. They
carry on a trade with Peru and Chili j whither they
send boards of cedar, of which they have vast forests.
CHILTENHAM, a town in Gloucestershire, six
miles from Gloucester; noted for its purgative chaly¬
beate spring, which has rendered it of late years a place
ot fashionable resort. This water, which operates with
great ease, is deemed excellent in scorbutic complaints,
and has been used with success in the gravel.
CHILTERN, a chain of chalky hills forming the
southern part of Buckinghamshire, the northern part
of the county being distinguished by the name of the
Vale. The air on these heights is extremely health¬
ful : The soil, though stony, produces good crops of
wheat and barley ; and in many places it is covered
with thick woods, among which are great quantities
of beech.—Chiltern is also applied to the hilly parts of
Berkshire, and it is believed has the same meaning in
some other counties. Hence the Hundreds lying in
those parts are called the Chiltern Hundreds.
ChilternHundreds, Stewards f. Of the hundreds
into which many of the English counties were divided by
King Alfred for the better government, the jurisdiction
was originally vested in peculiar courts; but came after¬
wards to be devolved to the county courts, and so re¬
mains at present; excepting with regard to some, as the
ehilterns, which have been by privilege annexed to the
crown. These having still their own courts, a steward
of those courts is appointed by the chancellor of the
exchequer, with a salary of 20s. and ail fees, &c. be¬
longing to the office : and this is deemed an appoint¬
ment of such profit, as to vacate a seat in parliament.
CHIMiERA, a port town of Turkey in Europe,
situated at the entrance of the gulf of Venice, in the
province of Epirus, about 32 miles north of the city
of Corfu, near which are the mountains of Chimaera,
which divide Epirus from Thessaly. E. Long. 20. 40.
N. Lat. 40. 20.
Chimera, in fabulous history, a celebrated mon¬
ster, sprung from Echidna and Typhon. It had three
heads ; that of a lion, a goat, and a dragon ; and con¬
tinually vomited flames. The fore parts of its body
were those of a lion, the middle was that of a goat,
and the hinder parts w’ere those of a dragon. It ge¬
nerally lived in Lycia, about the reign of Jobates, by
whose orders Bellerophon, mounted on the horse Pe¬
gasus, overcame it. This fabulous tradition is explain¬
ed by the recollection that there was a burning moun¬
tain in Lycia, whose top was the resort of lions on
account of its desolate wilderness ; the middle, which
was fruitful, was covered with goats ; and at the bot¬
tom the marshy ground abounded with serpents. Bel¬
lerophon is said to have conquered the Chimaera, be¬
cause he destroyed the wild beasts on that mountain,
and rendered it habitable. Plutarch says that it was the
captain of some pirates who adorned their ships with
the images of a lion, a goat, and a dragon.
By a chimcera among the philosophers, is under¬
stood
Cbiloe
.11
Chimasra.
CHI C 792 ] CHI
Chimera, stood a mere creature of the imagination, composed of
f'Chiaies. suc|i contradictions and absurdities as cannot possibly
anywhere exist but in thought.
CHIMES of a Clock, a kind of periodical music,
produced at equal intervals of time, by means of a
particular apparatus, added to a clock.
In order to calculate numbers for the chimes, and
adapt the chime-barrel, it must be observed, that the
barrel must turn round in the same time that the tune
it is to play requires in singing. As for the chime-
barrel, it may be made up of certain bars that run
athwart it, with a convenient number of holes punch¬
ed in them to put in the pins that are to draw each
hammer j and these pins, in order to play the time
of the tune rightly, must stand uprightly or hang down
from the bar, some more, some less. To place the
pins rightly, you may proceed by the way of changes
on bells; viz. 1, 2, 3, 4; or rather make use of the
musical notes. Observe what is the compass of your
tune, and divide the barrel accordingly from end to
end.
Thus, in the examples on Plate CXLIV. each of
the tunes is eight notes in compass ; and accordingly
the barrel is divided into eight parts. These divisions
are struck round the barrel; opposite to which are the
hammer-tails.
We speak here as if there were only one hammer
to each bell, that it may be more clearly apprehended;
but when two notes of the same sound come together
in a tune, there must be two hammers to the bell to
strike it; so that if in all the tunes you intend to chime
of eight notes compass, there should happen to be such
double notes on every bell, instead of eight you must
have sixteen hammers ; and accordingly you must divide
the barrel, and strike sixteen strokes round it, opposite
to each hammer tail; then you are to divide it round
about into as many divisions as there are musical bars,
semibreves, minims, &c. in the tune.
Thus the hundredth-psalm tune has 20 semibreves,
and each division of it is a semibreve ; the first note
of it also is a semibreve ; and, therefore, on the chime-
barrel must be a whole division, from five to five ; as
you may understand plainly, if you conceive the sur¬
face of a chime-barrel to be represented by the above
figures, as if the cylindrical superficies of the barrel
were stretched out at length, or extended on a plane ;
and then such a table, so divided, if it were to be
wrapped round the barrel, would show the places where
all the pins are to stand in the barrel; for the dots
running about the table are the places of the pins that
play the tune.
Indeed, if the chimes are to be complete, you ought
to have a set of bells to the gamut notes ; so as that
each bell having the true sound of sol, la, mi, fa, you
may play any tune with its flats and sharps; nay, you
may by this means play both the base and treble with
one barrel ; and by setting the names of your bells at
the head of any tune, that tune may easily be trans¬
ferred to the chime-barrel, without any skill in music;
but it must be observed, that each line in the music is
three notes distant; that is, there is a note between Chimes,
each line, as well as upon it. Chimneyj
CHIMNEY, in Architecture>, a particular part of a ' -v——*
house, where the fire is made, having a tube or funnel
to carry off the smoke. The word chimney comes from
the French cheminee; and that from the Latin cami-
nata, “ a chamber wherein is a chimney caminata,
again, comes from caminus ; and that from the Greek
Kaputt;, “ chimney of ksiiu, uro, “ I burn.”
Chimneys are usually supposed a modern invention,
the ancients only making use of stoves; but Octavio
Ferrari endeavours to prove chimneys in use among
the ancients. To this end, he cites the authority of
Virgil,
Etjam summa yrocul villarum culmina fumant:
and that of Appian, who says, “ That of those persons
proscribed by the triumvirate, some hid themselves in
wells and common sewers, and some on the tops of
houses and chimneys ;” for so he understands xaTrvulliK;
VTragopia;, fumaria sub tecto posita. Add, that Aristo¬
phanes, in one of his comedies, introduces his old man,
Polycleon, shut up in a chamber, whence he endeavours
to make his escape by the chimney.
Chimneys, in Professor Beckmann’s opinion, are
comparatively of modern invention. We shall lay be¬
fore our readers some observations from his elaborate
dissertation on this subject. He thus explains the above
passage of Virgil.
“ When the triumviri, says Appian *, caused those* Behellk
who had been proscribed by them to be sought for by civilib. lib.
the military, some of them, to avoid the bloody hands
of their persecutors, hid themselves in wells, and others/
as Ferrarius translates the words, in fumaria sub tecto,
qua scilicet jumus e tecto evolvitur (a). The true trans¬
lation, however (says Mr Beckmann), \sfumosa cozna-
cula. The principal persons of Home endeavoured to
conceal themselves in the smoky apartments of the up¬
per story under the roof, which, in general, were inha¬
bited only by poor people ; and this seems to be con¬
firmed by what Juvenal f expressly says, Rarus venit\
in ccznacula miles. Yer' I7‘
“ Those passages of the ancients which speak of
smoke rising up from houses, have with equal impro¬
priety been supposed to allude to chimneys, as if the
smoke could not make its way through doors and win¬
dows. Seneca X writes, ‘ Last evening I had some I Epist. 65
friends with me, and on that account a stronger smoke
was raised ; not such a smoke, however, as bursts forth
from the kitchens of the great, and which alarms the
watchmen, but such a one as signifies that guests are
arrived.’ Those whose judgments are not already
warped by prejudice, will undoubtedly find the true
sense of these words to be, that the smoke forced its way
through the kitchen windows. Had the houses been
built with chimney funnels, one cannot conceive why
the watchmen should have been alarmed when they ob¬
served a stronger smoke than usual arising from them ;
but as the kitchens had no convenience of that nature,
an apprehension of fire, when extraordinary entertain¬
ments
(a) Ef v7ra^oip;xit *> wvi nyui ran xt^apirt fivoptratf
CHIME S
PLATE CYLIV.
Fig. 1.
The JSTohes oTthe J0O Tsahn tune
o o
a
-O Cl C|
TL
it=e
Tiy. 3.
Cipher
Tip. 2.
el ft/h/e /hr elade/in# t/ie h'/u/ne ham/
of th e /00 Tsa/rn tone.
F/g.S.
u-€ noon c euruuexesT
DSaucx rv 75TDa3
NXODOCN V vrOOX” E+^X
+ XAS3xue xcruxsAUe
xONurox^.+xiTO eurr
vusuexe sioroaos ex
cxvvjDxirDxaLjS dxc
r N OH S TD 7 N-f X D u n s D □
NX+)rAX7nu6N0N0u6
XONCEUU6 rux NU€ X 0E
rexOTOSDTOdSXOTOL
tnux.
Fey.g.
Cleft
XTo _
c/xoo e/+io A+rc / a
sr^.r+c +ro icro +
lxeoi sro.eoxucDC+eA
^+e eco.csm +u
exEDOfLO o. isecc+r
r+ cxscc+x cr ca
crDCuuoxorLO o
rOTIOLC occxox uco
a+Ao Aosta r+ aoto
Ao s ioccox aa+x c i v
0 IOC AO AOO CASE CC
L+AOAUX+A caoaosxc
+x tonox osxo o aOO
XV OSLO A+XO.
1 E-A^U/Zt ///y*
CHI [ 7
Chimney, merits were to be provi<led in the houses of the rich for
—v— large companies, seems to have been well founded ;
ami on such occasions people appointed for that pur¬
pose were stationed in the neighbourhood to be con¬
stantly on the watch, and to be ready to extinguish
the flames in case a fire should happen. There are
many other passages to be found in Roman authors of
the like kind, which it is hardly necessary to mention j
Eclog. i. such as that of Virgil *,
r* Et jam summa procul villarum culmina fumant.
Aulular. an<^ ^ie following words of Plautus f, descriptive of a
et. ii. sc. 4. miser :
Quin divum atque hominum clamat contin 110 fidem,
Suam ran periisse, seque eradicaricr,
De suo tigillo fnmus si qua exit foras.
“ The passage of Aristophanes above alluded to,
however (says the professor), which, according to the
usual translation, seems to allude to a common chimney,
can, in my opinion, especially when we consider the
illustration of the scholiasts, be explained also by a sim¬
ple hole in the roof, as Reiske has determined ; and
indeed this appears to be more probable, as we find
mention made of a top or covering (rr^tx) with which
the hole was closed.”
It has been said that the instances of chimneys re¬
maining among the ruins of ancient buildings are few,
and the rules given by Vitruvius for building them are
obscure ; but it appears that there exists no remains of
ancient chimneys j and that Vitruvius gives no rules,
either obscure or perspicuous, for building what, in the
modern acceptation of the word, deserves the name of
a chimney.
“ The ancient mason-work still to be found in Italy
does not determine the question. Of the walls of towns,
temples, amphitheatres, baths, aqueducts, and bridges,
there are some though very imperfect remains, in which
chimneys cannot be expected ; but of common dwell¬
ing houses none are to be seen, except at Herculaneum,
and there no traces of chimneys have been discovered.
The paintings and pieces of sculpture which are preser¬
ved, afford us as little information ; for nothing can be
perceived in them that bears the smallest resemblance
to a modern chimney.
“ If there were no funnels in the houses of the an¬
cients to carry off the smoke, the directions given by
Columella, to make kitchens so high that the roof should
not catch fire, was of the utmost importance. An
accident of the kind, which the author seems to have
apprehended, had almost happened at Beneventum,
when the landlord who entertained Maecenas and his
company was making a strong fire in order to get some
birds sooner roasted.
ubi sedulus hospes
Horat.
il>. i. tat 5.
Peene arsit, macros dum turdos versat in igne ;
I'fam vaga per veterem dilapso jlamma culinam
Vukano surninum properabat tatnbere tectam J.
Had there been chimneys in the Roman houses, Vitru¬
vius certainly would not have failed to describe their
construction, which is sometimes attended with consider¬
able difficulties, and which is intimately connected with
the regulation of the plan of the whole edifice. He
does not, however, say a word on the subject) neither
Ydl. V. Part II.
93 ] CHI
does Julius Pollux, who has collected with great care Chiinney.
the Greek names of every part of a dwelling-house ) ^ ■-■■y "■ '■ >
and Grapaldus, who in later times made a collection of
the Latin terms, has not given a Latin word expressive
of a modern chimney * Francisci
“ Camenis signified, as far as I have been able to Marii
learn, first a chemical or metallurgic furnace, in Grapuldide
which a crucible was placed for melting and relining^,-um
metals *, secondly, a smith’s forge ) and, thirdly, a
hearth on which portable stoves or fire-pans were pla¬
ced for warming the apartment. In all these, how¬
ever, there appears no trace of a chimney.” Herodo¬
tus relates (lib. viii. c. 137.), that a king of Libya,
when one of his servants asked for his wages, oft’ered
him in jest the sun, which at that time shone into the
house through an opening in the roof, under which the
fire was perhaps made in the middle of the edifice.
If such a hole must be called a chimney, our author
admits that chimneys were in use among the ancients,
especially in their kitchens; but it is obvious that such
chimneys bore no resemblance to ours, through which
the sun could not dart his rays upon the floor of any
apartment.
However imperfect may be the information which
can be collected from the Greek and Roman authors re¬
specting the manner in which the ancients warmed their
apartments, it nevertheless shews that they commonly
used for that purpose a large fire-pan or portable stove,
in which they kindled wood, and, when the wood was
well lighted, carried it into the room, or which they
filled with burning coals. When Alexander the Great
was entertained by a friend in winter, as the weather
was cold and raw, a small fire bason was brought into
the apartment to warm it. The prince, observing the
size of the vessel, and that it contained only a few coals,
desired his host, in a jeering manner, to bring more
wood or frankincense ; giving him thus to understand
that the fire was fitter for burning perfumes than to
produce heat. Anacharsis, the Scythian philosopher,
though displeased with many of the Grecian customs,
praised the Greeks, however, because they shut out the
smoke and brought only fire into their houses t. Wef
are informed by Lampridius, that the extravagant He-1^/”^0*-
liogabalus caused to be burned in these stoves, instead 7'
of wood, Indian spiceries, and costly perfumes^;. It Lam-
also worthy of notice, that coals were found in some ofprtrf. Vita
the apartments of Herculaneum, as we are told hy Heliogab.
Winkelmann, hut neither stoves nor chimneys. caP’ 31*
It is well known to every scholar, that the useful arts
of life wei;e invented in the east, and that the customs,
manners, and furniture of eastern nations, have remain¬
ed from time immemorial almost unchanged. In Per¬
sia, which the late Sir William Jones seems to have con¬
sidered as the original country of mankind, the .me¬
thods employed by the inhabitants, for warming them¬
selves, have a great resemblance to those employed by
the ancient Greeks and Romans for the same purpose.
According to De la Valle, the Persians make fires in
their apartments, not in chimneys as we do, but in
stoves in the earth, which they call tennor. “ These
stoves consist of a square or round hole, two spans or a
little more in depth, and in shape notunlike an Italian
cask. That this hole may throw out heat sooner, and 1
with more strength, there is placed in it an iron vessel
of the same size, which is either filled with burning
f 5 H coals, .
C H T [ 794 1
C H I
Chimney, coals, or a fire of wood and other inflammable sub-
w—-v i.1 stances is made in it. When this is done, they place
over the hole or stove a wooden top, like a small low
table, and spread above it a large coverlet quilted with
cotton, which hangs down on all sides to the floor.
This covering condenses the heat, and causes it to
warm the whole apartment. I he people who eat or
converse there, and some who sleep in it, lie down on
the floor above the carpet, and lean, with their shoulders
against the wall, on square cushions, upon which they
.sometimes also sit; for the tennor is constructed in a
place equally distant from the walls on both sides.
Those who are not very cold only put their feet under
the table or covering ; but those who require more heat
can put their hands under it, or creep under it altoge¬
ther. By these means the stone diffuses over the whole
body, without causing uneasiness to the head, so pene¬
trating and agreeable a warmth, that I never in win¬
ter experienced any thing more pleasant. Those, how¬
ever, who require less heat, let the coverlet hang down
on their side to the floor, and enjoy without any incon¬
venience from the stove the moderately heated air. of
the apartment. They have a method also of stirring
up or blowing the fire when necessary, by means of a
small pipe united with the tennor or stove under the
earth, and made to project above the floor as high as
one chooses ; so that the wind, when a person blows
into it, because it has no other vent, acts immediately
upon the fire like a pair of bellows. When there is
no longer occasion to use this stove, both holes are
closed up, that is to say, the mouth of the stove and
that of the pipe which conveys the air to it, by a flat
stone made for that purpose. Scarcely any appear¬
ance of them is then to be perceived, nor do they oc¬
casion inconvenience, especially in a country where it
is always customary to cover the floor with a carpet,
and where the walls are plastered. In many parts
these ovens are used to cook victuals, by placing ket¬
tles over them. They are employed also to bake
bread ; and for this purpose they are covered with a
large broad metal plate, on which the cake is laid ; but
if the bread is thick and requires more heat, it is put
* Hut. of into the stove itself
Invent, ii. professor farther observes, the oldest account
of them which he finds is an inscription at Venice,
which relates, that in the year 1347 a great many
chimneys were thrown down by an earthquake. It
would appear, however, that in some places they had
been in use for a considerable time before that period ;
for De Gataris, in his history of Padua, relates, that
Francesco de Carraro, lord of Padua, came to Rome in
1368, and finding no chimneys in the inn whei’e he
lodged, because at that time fire was kindled in a hall
in the middle of the floor, he caused two chimneys
like those which had long been used at Padua to be
constructed by masons and carpenters, whom he had
brought along with him. Over these chimneys, the
first ever seen at Rome, he affixed his arms, which
were still remaining in the time of De Gataria, who
died of the plague in 1405.
Method of Building Chimneys that will not smoke, chimnev
Workmen have different methods of drawing up the |]
funnels of chimneys, generally according to their own Cliimpan.
fancies and judgments, and sometimes according to the , 2ee-
customs of places. They are seldom directed by sound v
and rational principles. It will be found, for the most
part, that the smoking of chimneys is owing to their
being carried up narrower near the top than below, or
zig-zag, all in angles ; in some cases, indeed, it is
owing to accidental causes ; but, for the most part,
to those two above mentioned. Where they are car¬
ried up in the pyramid or tapering form, especially if
the house be of a considerable height, it is ten to one
but they sometimes smoke. The air in the rooms,
being rarefied, is forced into the funnel of the chim¬
ney, and receives from the fire an additional force to
carry up the smoke. Now it is evident, that the fur¬
ther up the smoke flies, the less is the force that drives
it, the slower it must move, and consequently the
more room in proportion it should have to move in ;
whereas in the usual way it has less, by the sides of
the chimney being gathered closer and closer to
gether.
The method here proposed of carrying up chim¬
neys will be objected to by some, thus : The wider a
chimney is at the top, say they, the more liberty has
the wind to blow down. Very true ; but is it not re¬
sisted in going down, both by the form of the chim¬
ney and other evident causes, so that it must return
again ? In the other way, when the wind blows down,
the resistance being less, the wind and smoke are, if
we may use the expression, imprisoned, and make the
smoke puff out below. This method has proved ef¬
fectual after all others had failed ; and that in a house
placed in the worst situation possible, namely, under a
high mountain to the southward, from which strong
blasts blow down upon it. A vent was carried up
without angles, as perpendicular as possible ; and was
made about three or four inches wider at top than at
the bottom : the funnel was gathered in a throat di¬
rectly above the fire-place, and so widening upwards.
Since that time the house has not only ceased to smoke,
but when the doors stand open, the draught is so
strong, that it will carry a piece of paper out at the
chimney head. See more on this subject, and the im¬
provements by Count Rumford, under the article
Smoke.
Chimney-Money, otherwise called Hearth-money, a
duty to the crown on houses. By stat. 14. Char. II.
cap. 2. every fire-hearth and stove of every dwelling
or other house, within England and Wales (except
such as pay not to church and poor), was chargeable
with 2s. per annum, payable at Michaelmas and Lady-
day to the king and his heirs and successors, &c. }
which payment was commonly called chimney-money.
This tax, being much complained of as burdensome
to the people, has been since taken off, and others
imposed in its stead ; among which that on windows
has by some been esteemed almost equally grievous.
CHIMPANZEE, in Natural History. See Simia.
END OF THE FIFTH VOLUME.
DIRECTIONS for PLACING the PLATES of VOL. V.
Part I.
Plate CXXXI. CXXXII. to face - - p. 14
CXXXIII. - - 74
CXXXIV. - - 112
CXXXV. - - 260
CXXXVI. - - 282
CXXXVII. - - 320
cxxxviir. cxxxix. - 318
CXL. CXLI. - - 35s
Part XL
CXLII. CXLIII. - - . 770
cxliv. . . - 792
'
FJfW - 1
T ^ ^ vl 'J\
| V;'M
ij r*- .'N*''^ / \w
■'%' ':,■ yj* : g|
y^. \ i
wS&t^m
m
\ \
\ \
\ \
,N \ \ \, p
'
\ - X \ \ ^ \
. .v"-: \ \ \ \ . \ \ \ A x ^
\ \ \ \ \ \ \ . \ N ,
\ \ \ \ \ \ . ' \
\ \ \ \U \ \ \ \ V
\ \ \ \ \ \ X
\ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ N
■ ' ' \ \ \ \ \ 'X X ; \f|
\ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ X \ '
X \ \ \ \ \ \ \\ x \
v \ \ \ \ \ X \ \ \ \ \
\ \ \ \ \ \ X \ \ \ \ ^ X
x ' \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ ' I
\ \ \ ' \ \ \ \ \ \ X
. \ \ x
\ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \N \\ \
■ , \ \ \
\ \ \ \ X X \ \ \ \ > N
\ x \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \
\ \ \
X \ '
\ \
\ \ '
\ \
. \ •
\ \ \
X* X X.
\ ■ if. \. \
' N S \ X X xv X X N X X v X
\ x X X \ \ X X x. \ \ x Wik xs
\ X \ X X \ \ X \ x X ' X X
x X X X \ \ \ X x N X \ \ x
x \ X \ X X X \ X X X X x \,
X \ x X
X x x
X \s'\-'
\ \, \ \ x \ \\ \X\X\\X X X
X \ x X X \ \ \ \ \ \ X \ \ V; \ \
X \ X X \ \ \ \ \ \ \ X \ • X
x \ X X x X X X X X x
■\ N \ X X X X \ \ \ x.
\ \ \ , X X \ X X X
X X X X X X X X X \ \ x X
X X X X X X X X X \ \ X
\ X X X X X X \ X X X \ x X
x X X \ \ \ X X \ \ X X X \ X N X
XN x X \ x X X XX \ \ \\ X x
x X. \ x \ x X X X X \ X \ x . . N .
■ X X X X X X X X X X X x \
- x . \ \ \ \ \ x XX X X *x r
X X X X \ \ X X X X X X
x. \ X \ X X \ X X \ \ \\ \ \ X \ X
X X XXX X \ \ X X X X X \ \ x X x
m X x X X X X \ X X X X X X x X \ X
1 X X N x • X X X \ X X . X
I) I V