Page:Cyclopaedia, Chambers - Supplement, Volume 1.djvu/446

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page needs to be proofread.

CAN

CAN

R-fo Candles, ufed in divers parts of England, are made of the pith of a fort of rufhes, peeled, or dripped of the fkin, except in one fide, and dipt in melted greafe. Medicinal Ca n di. f.s, candeUfu?naks, are compofitions _ of odori- ferous, aromatic, and" inflammable matters, as benzoin, ftorax, olibanum, turpentine, and the like, mixed up with mucilage of tragacamh, and formed into manes in fhapc of candies. The effluvia and odours whereof when burnt, arc fuppofed to be fa- lutary to the bread, &c. Junci, Lex. Chym. Pharm. P. 2. p. no, feq.

Candes for caruncles of the urinary pafiage, are made of wax and turpentine melted, and wicks dipt into the fame, till brought to the due thicknefs ; then fmeared over with an un- guent of cerufs, and precipitate and butter of antimony ; to be thruft up the yard till they reach the caruncula. Id. ibid. p. in. Candle-/™?, in the Wert Indies, a tree of whofe fruit boiled to a thick fat confidence, are made good candles. Ray, Wifd. of Creat. P. i. p. 2io. Itfeemsto be the fame as the Candle berry tret, a denomination of an aromatic evergreen, from whofe berries are drawn,by boiling,a green wax,of which candles are made. It is alfo called the Virginia tnyrtle. Bradl New Improv. Gard, P.3. p. 265. Candle wood, flips of pine about the thicknefs of the finger, ufed uiNewEngland and other colonies to burn inftcad of candles, giving a very good light. Bought* Colled. T. 3. N° 417.P. 42. The French Inhabitants of the ifland of Tortuga ufe flips of yellow fantal wood for the fame purpofe, and under the fame denomination of bois ds chandelle, which yields a clear flame, though of a green colour. Tree, Diet. Univ. T. s. p. icq5- voc- Bois. Ca:cdle-.%/^', an officer in the antient church, called alfo accenfor and acdythus. Da Cangs, Gloff. Lat. T. 1. p. 34. voc. accentor. ,

CANDLESTICK, a houfhold utenfil, contrived to hold one, or more Halted candles. Larger, and more ftately candlejVtcks contrived for holding a gre*t number of candles, are called br&ichts and girandoles ; and when made of glafs, lufires. Mofes made a" golden candlejlick with feven branches, fupport ing as many Limps, to be placed in the tabernacle, to illumine the altar of perfumes and table of lliew-bread a j it weighed a talent, or, according to Jofephus, feventy minx. Solomon when he built the temple, inlleatl of one, ere&ed ten golden camlcjlicks of the fame form with that defcribed by Mofes b . On a triumphal arch erected to Vefpafian, is reprefented the golden candle/lick with feven branches '.— [ a Exod. xxv, v. 3 r . fen. J 1 King, c.vii. v. 49. c Baron, an. 73. n. 2. Calm. Did. Bibl. T. 1. p. 354- J° ur - Liter * T " 9- P- 3C9-3 Wata Candlestick, a kind of jet or fountain raifed on a foot which fupports a little bafon refembling the difk of a candlejlick, down which the water falls into another larger bafon. Davil. Courf. d' Archit. P. 2. p. 457- in voc - Chandelier. CAUE,(Cycl.) in commerce, the fame with reed, called among botarnfts arundc.

Canes make a confiderable article in commerce. There are imported two forts, viz. walking and rattan canes. Stat. Abr. 8vo. Art.Cuftoms, T.i. p. 193, feq. Bought. Coifed. T. z. N J 307, feq. p. 300, and joa. Walking-Z* nes are faid by Bradley to be joints of the roots of a fort of reed, called canna Indica. This plant moots in joints about three or four feet long, near the furface of the ground, and at every knot produces great numbers of fibres, by which it receives its nourifliment. The joints are made ftrait by the fire, which occafions thofe (hades or clouds frequently (cen in them Bradley thinks the cane tree might be propagated here by planting fame of the roots with their knots in artificial bogs. &c. Bradl. Diet. Botan. T. 1. voc. canna;. Canes may be ibincd iiketortoifc fliell, by a mixture of aqua fortis and oil of vitriol, laid on them at feveral times, over live coals to caufe it to penetrate the deeper, and afterwards giving them a glofs with a little feft wax, and a dry cloth. Boyle's Works, abr. Vol. 1. p. 133- Rattan Canes are a fmaller fort brought from China and Japon, very tou^h ; which being fplit, are ufed for making of cane

chairs. They are the produce of a reed called rotiang mala-

barica minor, ox icffcr rattan 2 . Thefe when dry, being ftruck aeainft each other, will give fire, and are ufed accordingly in fome places in lieu of flint and fteel. Being twirted together they make cordage of them-. The Chincfe and Japonefe vcf- fels arc faid to have their cables made hereof, which are lefs lia- ble to rot in the water than hemp b , — [* Vid Phil.Tranf. N u ?44- P- 3 26 5 %■ ^ tem ' ^° 2 ^7> P-7-I7- b Salmon, Pref. Stat. Chin. p. ty J Cane apple-, in natural hiftory, a name given by the common people of Ireland to the arbutus or itrawberry tree, which is a native of that country, and flourifhes very particularly in it. The moll fouthern parts of France, Italy, and Sicily, are given lis by authors as the places of growth of this tree, and in all thefe places it grows but low and in form of a ftirub : whereas in the rocky parts of the county of Kerry, about Loughlane, and in the ifiands of the fame Lough, it grows up into a large and tall tree.

Bellonius,in his obfervatlons fays, that it grows in this manner alfo in mount Athos in Macedony, and Pliny quotes Juba as mentioning it as a very ftrange thing, that the arbutus or

ftrawberry tree grows to a tall tree in fomc parts of Arabia, In Ireland the body of the tree is often three or four foot in circumference, and its height between twenty and thirty. Phil. Tranf N° 227. p. 510. CANELLA alba, in botany, the fame with what is otherwife

called cortex winteranus. See Winteranus cortex, CANENTES, in natural hiftory, a name ufed by fome of the older writers for a fpecies of foflil fhell not known to us in its recent ftate, but defcribed by Klein under the name of the tu- bulus jnarinus concamcratus, and by other of the late authors un- der thofe of plyibalamium and orthoceratites. Mdrovand. Muf. Met. p. 732. CANEPHOR^ (Cycf.) — The learned are at variance about the contents of the bafkets hore by the camphor tz. Some will have it, that neither they, nor the prieftefs herfclf knew what was in them. Others conjecture that it was the things necef- fary for facrifice. Others with more probability afTert, it was a woman's privities, which had a peculiar fhare in thofe my- fteries. Vid. Sigon. dc Rep. Ath. 1. 4. c. 7. Mmrs. Cecrop. c. 23. Ejufd. Panath.c. 25. Pitijc.Lex. Ant. T. 1. p. 344. Schoetg. Cur. Lex. Ant. p. 261, feq.

There were alfo canepboree in the ceremonies of Ceres and Bac- chus a . Thofe in the Bacchanalia carried golden baikets, in which, befides divers forts of firft fruits b , were contained a man's privities. Among antient monuments, we find mention of divers figures of camphor es c . In that famous cornelian call- ed Michael Angelo's ring, there are three cancphores with their baflcets on their heads. — [ a Vid. Fab. Thef. p. 435. Pitij'c. Lex. Ant. T. i.p. 344, feq. b Lakcmac. Antiq. Gra?c- Sacr. P. 4. c. z. § 12. Schoetg. Lex Ant. p. 263. c Cic. Verr. 6. c. 3.] See CANEPHORiA,Cjr/.

The appellation cancphora: was alfo given to virgins at Athens, when becoming marriageable, they prefented certain baikets full of little curiofities to Diana, in order to procure leave to quit her train, and change their ftate of life. Pott, Arehasol. ,Gr;ec. 1. 4. c. 11. p. 279. CANES, in Egypt and other Eaftern countries, a poor fort of buildings for the reception of ftrangers and travellers. People are accommodated in thefe with a room at a fhiall price, but with no other nccefiaries ; fo that, excepting the room, there are no greater accommodations in thefe houfes than in the de- farts, but that there is a market near. PccocPs Egypt, 8vo.p. 3 7. Can E s Venaiici, in aftronomy, the greyhounds, two new conftel- lations, firft eftabliihed by Hevclius, between the tail of the great bear, and Bootes arm, above the Coma Berenices a . The firft is called ajlerion, being that next the bear's tail, the other chara. They comprehend 23 ftars, of which Tychoonly ob- ferved two. The longitudes and latitudes oi~ each are given by Hevclius b . — [- Hevel. Firmam. Sobiefc Fig. E. b tieueU Prodrom. Aftron. p. 277. feq. IVoff.Lcx. Math. p. 303.] CANGA,in the Chinefe affairs, a wooden clog borne on the neck by way rf punifhment for divers offences. The canga is compofed of two pieces of wood notched, to re- ceive the criminal's neck j the load lies on his Ihoulders, and is more or lefs heavy according to the quality of his offence. Some cangas weigh 200 pounds ; the generality from 50 to fco pounds. The mandarins condemn to the canga. Sentence of death is fometimes commuted for by the penalty of the canga. Lett. Edifiant. etCur.T. 18. p. 444. Item, T. 19. p. 3*2. CANIA, in botany, a name given by Pliny and fome other au- thors to the common flinging nettle. Ger. Emac. Jnd. 2. CANICULA, in zoology, the name by which Ariftotle, and fincehim Rondeletius,Aldrovandus, and fome others have call- ed the cotulus. IViltngbbys Hift. Pifc. p. 62. See Catulus. Canicula was alfo ufed by Pliny and the old Romans for that fifli which the Ital ans exprefs by the fame fort of diminutive name,at this time thclamiola. It is the galeus canis of authors,the fifli we in Cornwall call the tape. It is a fpecies of fqualus call- ed by Artedi the fqualus with the noitrils placed near the mouth, and with frnall foramina near the eyes. See the ar- ticles Galeus andScjuALUs. CANICULAR (Cycl.) — Canicular days are computed by Harris to extend from the 24th of July to the 28th of Auguft; by Ozanam from the 24th of July only to the 24th of Auguft \ By the body of almanac-makers from the 19th of July to the 28th of Auguft b . Though by fome from the 19th of July to the 26th of Auguft 6 .— [ a Vid Wolf. Lex, Math. p. 1289, voc. Sirius. Ozan. Di£t.Math. p. 155. Harr. Lex. Tech. in voc. Caniculus. b Vid. Park. Ephem. & Gadb. AJman. an. 1732. c Vid. Lady's Diary ann. 1732. j

Tis obfervable,that the fame qualities and influences are popu- larly afcribed to the dog-days among us as among the antients, though the grounds as well as computations be fo different; for whereas they obferved the canicula's rifing heliacally, we ob- ferve it cofmically. The reafon of the change may perhaps be owinc to this, that before the canicula riles heliacally in our la- titude, the heat of the fummer is ufually fpent. So that we de- duce our dog-days from the hot weather, rather than the hot weather from them. But this is not the only variation ; for the antients computed from the rife of the greater dog-ftar or Sirius, whereas the moderns, at leaft fome of them, reckon from that of the lefler dog-ftar or Procyon, the one in Orion's dog, the other in that of Cephalus ». And hence our almanac- makers fee down the 19th of July for die beginning of the

dog-