Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 4.djvu/889

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CAN—CAN
805

tical questions, and lie soon became involved as one of the chief actors in the struggle which was then agitating the church. His first Assembly speech, delivered in 1839, placed him at once among the leaders of the party that afterwards formed the Free Church, and his influence in bringing about what is known as the Disruption was inferior only to that of Chalmers. As a debater he had powers of the highest order, which would have won for him a foremost place in any deliberative assembly. Great as was his popularity as a preacher, it was in the ecclesias tical arena that his ability chiefly showed itself, and probably no other single man had from first to last so large a share in shaping the constitution and guiding the policy of the Free Church. He was actively engaged at one time or other in nearly all the various schemes of the church, but special mention should be made of his services in the Education Committee, of which he was convener from 1846 to 1863, and in the unsuccessful negotiations for union among the non-established Presbyterian denomi nations of Scotland, which were carried on during the years 1863-73. In the Assembly of 1861 he filled the

moderator s chair.

As a theologian the position of Candlish was perhaps inferior to that which he held as a preacher and ecclesiastic, but it was not inconsiderable. So early as 1841 his reputation in this department was sufficient to secure for him the nomination to the newly-founded chair of Biblical Criticism in the University of Edinburgh. The appoint ment was, however, not ratified by the Home Secretary in consequence of a representation made in the House of Lords, by the earl of Aberdeen, that Candlish had set himself in opposition to the law of the land by preach ing in the parish of Huntly in spite of an interdict from the Court of Session. By a somewhat curious coincidence a second appointment to a professorship was also nullified, though in this case by his own act, and after a few months tenure of the office. In 1847 Candlish, who had received the degree of D.D. from Princeton, New Jersey, in 1841, was chosen by the Assembly of the Free Church to succeed Chalmers in the chair of divinity in the New College, Edinburgh. After partially fulfilling the duties of the office for one session, he was led to resume the charge of St George s, the clergyman who had been chosen by the congregation as his successor having died before entering on his work. In 1862 he was again connected with the New College, being appointed principal in succes sion to Cunningham, with the understanding that he should still retain his position as minister of St George s. Some months before this he had obtained the assistance of a colleague in his pastoral work, but he continued to preach, with one or two intervals of somewhat protracted illness, until within a short time of his death, which occurred on the 19th October 1873.

Though his greatest power was not displayed through the press, Candlish made a number of somewhat im portant contributions to theological literature. In 1842 he published the first volume of his Contributions towards tJie Exposition of the Book of Genesis, a work which was completed in three volumes several years later. In 1854 he delivered, in Exeter Hall, London, a lecture on the Theological Essays of the Rev. F. D. Maurice, which he afterwards published, along with a fuller examination of the doctrine of the essays. A treatise entitled The Atone ment ; its Reality, Completeness, and Extent (1861) was based upon a smaller work which first appeared in 1845. In 1864 he delivered the first series of Cunningham lectures, taking for his subject The Fatherhood of God. Published immediately afterwards, the lectures excited considerable discussion on account of the peculiar views they represented. Farther illustrations of these views were given in two works published about the same time as the lectures, one a treatise On t/ie Sonship and Brotherhood of Believers, and the other an exposition of the first epistle of St John. Among his other works were Life in a Risen Saviour ; Scripture Characters; Reason and Revelation; and The Christian s Sacrifice and Service of Praise. A posthumous volume of sermons with a short prefatory biographical sketch appeared in 1874.

CANDOLLE, Augustin Pyrame de. See De Candolle.

CANE, a name applied to many plants which are possessed of long, slender, reed-like stalks or stems, as, for example, the sugar-cane, the bamboo-cane, or the reed-cane. From the use as walking-sticks to which many of these plants have been applied, the name cane is improperly given to sticks irrespective of the source from which they are derived. Properly it should be restricted to a peculiar class of palms, known as ratans, included under the two closely allied genera Calamus and D&monorops, of which there are a large number of species. The plants are found widely extended throughout the islands of the Indian Archipelago, the Malay Peninsula, China, India, and Ceylon ; and examples have also been found in Australia and Africa. They were described by the learned Rumphius, under the name of Palmijunci, as inhabitants of dense forests into which the rays of the sun scarce can penetrate, where they form spiny bushes, obstructing the passage through the jungle. They rise to the top of the highest trees and fall again so as to resemble a great length of cable, adorned, however, with the most beautiful leaves, pinnated or terminating in graceful tendrils. The plants creep or trail along to an enormous length, sometimes, it is said, reaching 500 feet. In the Paris exhibition of 1855 two examples of Calamus vents, measuring respectively 270 and 230 feet, were exhibited. The stem in few cases exceeds 1 inch in diameter, and it is mostly of much smaller dimensions. When growing it is sheathed in a base of numerous leaves, which the natives, in preparing the canes for the market, strip off by pulling the cut plant through a notch made in a tree. The canes always present distinct rings at the junction of the sheathing leaves with the stem. They assume a yellow colour as they dry ; and those imported from Calcutta have a glossy surface, while the produce of the Eastern Archipelago presents a dull exterior. Caues, on account of their lightness, length, strength, and flexibility, are used for a great variety of purposes by the inhabitants of the countries in which they grow. Split into thin strips they are twisted to form ropes and ships cables, an application mentioned by Captain Dampier in his Voyayes. A more important application, however, is for basket-work, and for making chairs, couches, pillows, &c., as the great strength and durability of thin and easily- prepared strips admit of such articles being made at once airy, strong, and flexible. Much of the beautiful and elaborate basket-work of the Chinese and Japanese is made from thin strips of cane, which are besides used by the Chinese for larger works, such as door-mats, houses, and sheds. The use of cane as a material for constructing bridges in Ceylon is mentioned by Sir James E. Tennent, and Dr J. D. Hooker instances a similar application of the material in his Himalayan Journal.

A very large trade with Western countries and the

United States is carried on in canes and ratans, the prin cipal centres of the trade being Batavia, Sarawak, (Singapore, Penang, and Calcutta. In addition to the varieties used for walking-sticks, whip and umbrella handles, &c., the common ratans are in extensive demand for basket- making, the seats and backs of chairs, the ribs of cheap umbrellas, saddles, and other harness-work ; and generally

for purposes where their strength and flexibility make