COUNTEB-IRKITANTS. 496 COUNTER-PROOF. trol flio blnnil-supi)ly to diseased iiitcnial organs or dci'i)-seated stnu-lures. The milder ooimtcr- irritants arc mustard, turpentine applied on hot eloths. and tincluro of eapsieiuu. The stronger are blisters of eantharides or of ammonia; ei-oton oil or tartar emetic in ointment; and (he actual cautery or hot iron. Setons, nioxa", and caustics are no longer employed. None of the stronger counter-irritants should be used without medical advice, great mischief being done by their improper use. Counter- irritiints relieve internal pain, and tend to promote the absorption of effusions. They should be applied at a distance from the site of the inllammation. Counter-irritants are much used for strains and diseases of the joints in liorses, but should never be applied, as they too often are. in recent cases, or while the part is hot or inllanied. Cantharidine preparations and ointment of mercuric biniodide (red iodide of mercury) are the most convenient. For cows, rise hot fomentations, followed by the smart in- friction of nuistard paste; for dogs, soap lini- ment, strengthened, if required, by ammonia or turpentine. See JIoxA. COUNTERMINE. See Mines and Mining, Military. COUNTER-PASSANT (Fr. cont re-passant, passiiiy opposite, from loiitrc, Lat. contra, against -f- passer, ilL. passare, to pace, from Lat. pas- sus, step, from pandcre, to stretch). In heral- dry, a term denoting two beasts passiiig each other. COUNTERPOINT. In music, the setting of one or more parts against a given melody, so tliat all the voices are of equal importance and independence. The name was first used in the fourteenth century. It suggested itself from the fact that one note (punctus) was set against an- other, punctus contra punctum. A counterpoint may be written in various ways against a given melody, as one, two, four, or even more notes against one of the cantus. The counterpoint most useful in practical composition is one where the different parts are variously con- structed, as in the following (Handel) : or injury to the harmony, it is then called double counterpoint, for example: .c3 -s: iJk-„-U *-»-^ s— »- ggte=i=g==^^[' ^ g- When two voices are used the counterpoint is called two-part; when three, three-part, etc. When the counterpoint lies uniformly above or below the cantus it is single. If the parts be constructed in regard to one another so that they can be changed or transposed over or under each other, withoit alteration in the movement, The intervals most frequently used for trans- position in double counterpoint are the octave, decima, and duodecima. The following admits of different transpositions : When three voices are constructed so that they can be exchanged one against the other, the counterpoint is triple ; when four, quadruple. The first indications of counterpoint we find in the thirteenth century in the works of Adam de la Hale. The development of the art of contra- puntal writing was then very rapid, and in the school of the Xetherlands (in the fifteenth and rsixteenth centuries) the acme of technical skill was reached. But counterpoint was then less a genuine musical art than an exhibition of as- tounding technical tricks. The great Italian .schools (see P.lestrin.v ) returned to a simpler and artistic style. As a genuine art counter- p.oint culminated in the form of the fugue (q.v.). The latest and best treatises on counterpoint are those of Dehn, Richter, and Jadassohn. COUNTERPOISE CARRIAGE. See Okd- N.XCE. COUNTER-POTENT. aldry (q.v.). COUNTER-PROOF. An is obtained from a freshly an engraving, by laying it, before the ink is dry, upon "plain paper, and passing it through the press. By this means the ink is transferred from the "wet proof to the plain paper, and a reversed impression is obtained, which is often A fur used in her- iniprcssion which printed proof of
