It consists of no more than two or three pages, and contains only the Ten Commandments, the Creed, the Lord s Prayer, and an expression of the doctrine of baptism held by the English Church. In the reign of James I. an explanation of the Anglican doctrine of the sacraments was
added by Bishop Overall.The first catechism produced by the Scottish Presby terians was that known as Craig s, which was laid before the General Assembly in 1592. It embodied, in twelve chapters, the Calvinistic doctrine of the church with regard to original sin, redemption, the sacraments, and ecclesiastical discipline ; and after each chapter was a number of questions and answers. This catechism, together with some of those used on the Continent, served the British Presbyterians till 1647. In that year the Westminster Assembly of Divines appointed committees to draw up the famous Larger and Shorter Catec/ti-sms.
Besides these catechisms, which profess to be the sj mbols of various churches, a large number of private catechisms have been published. In the English Church the most important are Cranmer s and Noel s (1570). Among the English Protestant dissenters, who, of course, do not possess an authoritative catechism, there have been several, of which the most famous are those of Dr Watts. A con siderable number have also been produced by German theologians ; but many of the works which they have published under th? name have no claim to it whatever.
CATECHU, or Cutch, is an extract obtained from several plants, its chief sources being the wood of two species of Acacia (A. Catechu and A Sitma), both natives of India. The extract obtained from these plants is also known as black catechu, Pegu cutch, and Terra japonica. A similar extract, known in pharmacy as pale catechu (Catechu pallidum), and in general commerce as Gambir, is produced from the leaves of Uncaria Gambir and 17. acida, Rubiaceous plants growing in the East Indian Archipelago. A third product to which the name catechu is also applied, is obtained from the fruits of the areca or betel palm, Areca Catechu; but this substance is not chemically the same as the other two, neither does it appear to enter to any extent into European commerce.
Ordinary black catechu is usually imported in three dif ferent forms. The first and best quality, known as Pegu catechu, is obtained in blocks externally covered with the large leaves of a species of Dipterocarpus ; the second and less pure variety is in masses, which have been moulded in sand ; and the third consists of large cubes packed in coarse bags. The wood of the two species of Acacia yielding catechu is taken for the manufacture when the trees have attained a diameter of about 1 foot, The bark is stripped off and used for tanning, and the trunk is split Tip into small fragments, which are packed into earthenware jars, covered with water, and boiled in the open air. As the liquor becomes thick it is passed into separate vessels in which the evaporation is continued till the proper degree of inspissation is reached. It is then cast into the forms in which it is found in commerce, and further hardened by exposure to the sun. Catechu so prepared is a dark brown, or, in mass, almost black substance, brittle and having generally a shining lustre. It has a powerfully astringent taste, with a sweetish after-effect. In cold water it dis integrates, and in boiling water, alcohol, acetic acid, and strong caustic alkali it is completely dissolved. Chemically it consists of a mixture of a peculiar variety of tannin termed catechu-tannic acid with catechin or catechuic acid, and a brown extractiform substance due to the alteration of both these principles. Catechu-tannic acid is an amorphous body soluble in cold water, while catechin occurs in minute, "white, silky, needle-shaped crystals, which do not dissolve in cold water. A very minute proportion of quercetin, a principle yielded by quercitron bark, has been obtained from catechu.
Gambir, which is similar in chemical composition to ordinary catechu, occurs in commerce in the form of cubes of about an inch in size, with a pale brown or yellow colour and an even earthy fracture. For the preparation of this extract the plants above mentioned are stripped of their leaves and young twigs, and these are boiled down in shallow pans. The juice is strained off, evaporated by boiling, and when sufficiently concentrated, poured into vessels for cooling in which it is stirred in a peculiar manner as it cools and thickens. The mass, when it has attained a syrupy consistence is cast into shallow boxes, where, as it hardens and dries, it is cut into small cubes.
Gambir and catechu are extensively employed in dyeing and tanning, and to some extent as astringents in medicine. For dyeing they have been in use in India from the most remote period, but it is only during the present century that they have been placed on the list of European dyeing substances. Catechu is fixed by oxidation of the colouring principle, catechin, on the cloth after dyeing or printing ; and treated thus it yields a great variety of most durable tints of drabs, browns, and olives with different mordants. In tanning, catechu is used only for a low class of leather, which, when made into boots, communicates to the stockings a yellow stain. The principal consumption of catechu occurs in the preparation of fibrous substances exposed to water, such as fishing-lines and nets, and for colouring stout canvas used for covering boxes and portman teaus under the name of tanned canvas. The average annual imports into Great Britain amount to about 5000 tons of catechu, which comes chiefly from Bengal, and 20,000 tons of gambir, coming from the Straits Settlements.
CATECHUMEN. The Catechumeni in the earliest ages of the church were those who were desirous of and candidates for baptism. The literal signification of the term, according to its etymology (Greek) is one who is caused to hear something. In ecclesiastical language, and the word is no otherwise used, a catechumen is one who is being instructed in the doctrines of Christianity in preparation for baptism.
Catechumens were usually divided into four classes. The first class appears to have been those who were still in the condition of inquirers, those who had been sufficiently impressed by that they had heard of Christianity to wish for more complete instruction. It would seem that this first instruction was, from motives of prudence, given privately and not in the churches. The second class con sisted of those who, having been thus instructed, were found worthy of being admitted to the churches, not, however, to take any part in the holy mysteries, or even, as it would seem, in the prayers of the faithful, but for the hearing of sermons and exhortations, and the reading of the Gospel. These were accordingly called audientes, hearers. They left the church when the reading of the sacred Scriptures and the sermon had been concluded. The third class consisted of those who had formally demanded baptism, and placed their names in the list of catechumens. These were called prostrati or genuflectentes, those who shared in the prayers of the congregation. The fourth class w r as the electi or competentes, or those who had completed the period of their probation, and were deemed ready to receive baptism, and only waited to do so on the first occasion, that is" to say, at the following Easter or Pentecost. The most important body of catechumens was obviously those of the third class, the genuflectentes ; and it is of these that most of what we read in the early writers of the catechumens generally must be understood.
