near the head of his bed, a hyena, with several bundles of candles in his mouth. Mr. Bruce immediately struck at him with a long pike, which penetrated completely through him, near his heart. The animal no sooner felt the smarting of the wound, than he appeared animated by the most fierce and desperate vengeance, and strove actually to climb up the shaft of the pike, to reach his destroyer. The servant, however, cleft his head asunder with a battle-axe. Plate VI. fig. 1.

C. aureus, the jackal. In the warm latitudes of Asia and Africa, these animals abound, and no where more than in Barbary. The jackal is of a light yellow colour, with black shades about the back and legs; and about the size of a middling dog. In its excursions, which are chiefly during night, it commits promiscuous ravage among the more defenceless animals, though vegetables are sometimes used for food by it. Jackals frequently assemble in large droves, or troops, even so numerous as two hundred, and hunt the vast herds of deer or antelopes which abound in these regions, sounding the most horrid yells, and pursuing their prey till it sinks under the exhaustion of fatigue and terror. feast of the jackals, however, is generally intercepted, or at least delayed, by the appearance of the lion, who, roused by their sounds, and aware that they are preparing a banquet which he may enjoy at his leisure, follows their footsteps. While he gratifies his appetite, these humble and trembling purveyors await at a distance the moment, when the lord of the forest shall have completed his repast, and they may safely approach, to devour the mutilated remains he was unable to dispose of.

The

It is supposed by some judicious and sagacious naturalists, that the jackal is the real origin of the dog. In the structure of the short intestine, called the cxcum, they both agree, and their instinct and manners are extremely similar. They both are fond of the society of man, and approach on being called by their names. The jackall is easily tamed, and shows an attachment to dogs; it fawns on its owner, and exhibits all those indications of joy, sportiveness and gratitude, which characterize the dog. The jackal and the dog also readily intermix. The wolf and the fox naturally shun mankind. The native regions of the wolf, also, are those of extreme cold, which do not suit the dog; and the construction of

some of the intestines of the fox, is extremely different from those answering similar purposes in dogs. The different times of gestation, however, in the jackal, and in the dog, appears no slight objection to the theory thus advocated. Plate VI. fig. 3.

C. vulpes, the fox. This animal is generally of a yellowish brown colour, with its tail straight, bushy, and tipped with white, from the base of which it emits a rank and fetid odour. The skill of the fox in the construction of its mansion ranks it among the higher order of quadrupeds. He burrows under firm earth, and often where the roof of his dwelling is prevented from falling in by the wattling of the roots of trees. His subterraneous residence is generally extensive, and he provides to it several avenues, for his convenience or security. Thus, instead of being a houseless vagrant, he possesses all the ideas and comforts which attach to a home, and which are justly supposed to imply superior sentiment and intelligence.

The fox is not unfrequently observed, in fine weather, to quit his retreat, and bask at his full length in the sun. His ravages are reserved for the night, and are generally committed at a distance from his home. He destroys for his food various species of vermin. Poultry and young lambs very frequently fall under his power, where he has secure access to them. The dung of other animals, berries, snails, frogs, and insects, are sometimes taken by him. Of grapes he is proverbially fond, and the vineyards suffer very considerably from his depredations. He wastes or destroys far more than he devours, often hiding large quantaties of his prey in thickets, or beneath the roots of trees. His sagacity to discern his prey and his enemies is extraordinary. In Palestine, foxes certainly abound; but, from the narrative of Samson's fire-brands, might be supposed still more abundant. The animals employed by him in that destructive stratagem were probably jackals, which are at least equally abundant, and far more easily accessible. In very northern latitudes, the fox is frequently black, and affords a fur more valued than that of almost any other animal: it has been sometimes sold from Kamtschatka for 400 rubles. The fox has been found sometimes perfectly white. The arctic fox, found particularly in Nova Zembla, is one of the hardiest of all animals, unremitted in its pursuit of prey during the severest ri

gours of winter. In some parts it is compelled to sustain itself by berries, shellfish, or whatever is thrown up by the sea. In others, the sustenance of these animals consists of wild geese, and every kind of water-fowls, with their eggs; and in Lapland, particularly, they feed upon a species of mice called lemings, which, being migratory at uncertain periods, induce the consequent migrations of the arctic fox, who will, in the pursuit of this prey, be absent from his native country sometimes for three, or even four years. The ground in Spitzbergen being eternally frozen, these animals being consequently here unable to burrow, reside in the cliffs of rocks, and two or three are often found in the same hole. The cunning supposed to be characteristic of the fox, and which it might be supposed that embarrassment and hardship would increase, is by no means a quality of the variety under consideration, which is indeed rather noted for its simplicity, instances having been known, in which the arctic fox, after standing by while a trap was baited, has immediately thrust his head into it. The Greenlanders convert the skins of these animals, which are light and warm, but not lasting, to the purposes of merchandize, manufacturing some of the thicker and harder parts into buttons. They occasionally eat the flesh, and the tendons are divided by them into slender fila ments, and substituted for thread. For a representation of the fox, see Mammalia, Plate VI. fig. 4.

CANIS, Major, in astronomy, a constellation of the southern hemisphere.

CANIS Minor, Caniculus, or Canicula, in astronomy, a constellation in the northern hemisphere. See ASTRONOMY.

CANKER, a disease incident to trees, proceeding chiefly from the nature of the soil. It makes the bark rot and fall. CANNA, in botany, Indian flowering reed, or Indian shot, a genus of the Monandria Monogynia class and order. Natural order of Scitamineæ. Cannæ, Jussieu. Essential character; corolla six parted, erect; lip two-parted, revolute; style lanceolate, growing to the corolla; calyx three-leaved. There are five species, most of them natives of the northern provinces of America.

CANNABIS, in botany, English hemp, a genus of the Dioecia Pentandria class and order. Natural order of Scabride. Urtica, Jussieu. Essential character: male, calyx five-parted; corolla none; female, calyx one-leafed, entire, gaping

on one side; corolla none; styles two; not bivalve, within the closed calyx. There is but one species, viz. C. sativa. The uses of hemp are well known, as well as its great importance to the navy for sails and cordage. Exceedingly good huckaback is made from it for towels and common table-cloths. The low priced hempen cloths are a general wear for husbandmen, servants, and labouring manufacturers. The hemp raised in England is not of so dry and spongy a nature as what we have from Russia, and therefore it requires a smaller proportion of tar to manufacture it into cordage. English hemp, properly manufactured, stands unrivalled in its strength, and is superior to the Russian. Like many other plants, generally cultivated, it is difficult to ascertain the original place of its native growth. Linnæus gives it to the East Indies and Japan.

CANNEL coal. See AMPELITES.

CANNON, in the military art, an engine or fire-arm for throwing iron, lead, or stone bullets, by force of gun-powder. Cannons at first were called bombarda, from the noise they made; they had like. wise the name of culverin, basilisk, &c. from the beasts that were represented upon them; and the Spaniards, from devotion, gave them the name of saints; witness the twelve apostles which Charles V. ordered to be cast at Malaga, for his expedition to Tunis.

Cannon are classed as field-pieces or battering pieces; the former are usually made of mixed metals, but sometimes of pure brass; the latter, with very few exceptions, are of cast iron. Every cannon is made by running fused metal into a mould, and is afterwards finished by being turned on a lathe. The chase is bored by means of a strong machine. Some suspend the cannon vertically over the borer, making it press downwards as the borer revolves: others have a horizontal process, in which the cannon is firmly fixed on a frame, and the borer approaches as the chase proceeds. There is a large cylindrical projection on each side of a cannon, nearly in the middle of its length; these are called trunnions; they serve to support it on the carriage, and as pivots, whereon a due degree of elevation or depression may be given. The variation in the elevation is made in fieldpieces, which usually carry balls of 3, 6, 9, 12, and up to 186. weight, by means of a screw fixed to a strong piece of wood, that joins the two cheeks of the carriage, and is fastened by a loop and bolt to the

round knob at the end of the cannon, called the cascabel. As there is great force in the powder when ignited by means of a match applied to the vent, which communicates with the end of the chase, the quantity of metal must, of necessity, be augmented about the breech, or hinder parts. Thus all cannons are fortified in that part; but battering cannons are generally double-fortified, by an additional quantity of metal, in consequence of the large charges of powder given, for the purpose of adding to the impetus or force of the shot's action on the place to be battered.

Battering-pieces are generally from 24 to 42 pounders, sometimes 18 pounders are used, but their effect is feeble, compared with that of cannons of a larger calibre.

Cannon intended for field service are mounted on a carriage, with two stout wheels, about four feet and a half high, on a solid wooden or an iron axle, and suspended by their trunnions on the two cheeks, which are as near to each other as the size of the cannon will permit, tapering down a little towards the ground, at a sufficient angle to oppose the recoil, or run backward, made by every piece when fired. The cheeks diverge a little, and are kept very firm in their places by means of cross pieces called transoms, which are vertical in and secured by strong bolts. The cannon is turned about to any direction by means of a handspike which fixes into the train. The piece is transported by raising its train, and passing the tail-transom, which is perforated for the purpose, on to a very substantial iron gudgeon firmly fixed on the centre of an axle, which has two wheels rather lower than those of the carriage. This appendage is called a limber, and carries a stout water-proof box full of ammunition of various descriptions, for the service of the cannon; it has likewise a pole, or shafts, whereby horses are attached, and the piece thus travels with tolerable ease; the limber wheels traversing under the cheeks of the carriage.

The modes of charging cannon are various, but in general with cartridges, over which wads of spun yarn are well rammed; then the shot, either round or grape; and, lastly, a second wad rammed home but in field service, where grape or canister shot are used, the whole charge is sometimes made to fit in immediately after the cartridge, which is invariably made of serge, shalloon, or other woollen stuff. Grape is made by

putting many small balls together, so as to fit the bore of the piece; they are usually netted to a round piece of board. Canister is nothing more than a number of still smaller balls put into a tin canister; these are intended for close attacks, especially among cavalry, or large bodies of infantry, round shot being mere suited to distant operations. Ship guns, and such others as are intended to be stationary, are placed on low substantial carriages, moving on four small trucks; these ere elevated by means of wedges called quoins. Some are discharged by locks, on the same principles as those for mus. quets; and for ship use are certainly the safest, and best adapted to a certainty of aim. Brass six-pounders often weigh so little as 4 cwt. but some of the double fortified battering cannon amount to full 3 tons each.

A short kind of a cannon, called a car. ronade, is much in naval use: we have some that throw balls of near 70 lbs. : their purpose is chiefly for close attacks, when their effects are dreadful: these slide in grooves on a bed carriage. The pieces used for throwing shells, which are hollow balls filled with powder that explode when the fuse burns into them, are howitzers and mortars; the former are mounted in every respect similar to cannon, but are very short, and chamber. ed. These throw either shells or grape with great effect. The mortar is always fired at an elevation of 45 degrees from the horizon, and its range, i. e. the distance at which the shell is to fall, is determined by putting a greater or less charge of powder into the chamber, Shells for mortars sometimes measure a diameter of 21 inches, but those for howitzers rarely exceed 11 inches, and generally are from 44 to 81, or thereabouts, The point blank range of a cannon is that distance at which the shot cuts a line, supposed to be drawn parallel with the surface of earth, at a distance equal to the height of the chase of the cannon when horizontal. No shot goes in a right line from the muzzle to the object, but forms a curve often many yards above the horizontal line. The point blank distance is according to the calibre of the piece, and the proportion of powder, and its quality, used for a charge; we may however, state the ranges to be from 400 to 1000 yards.

Mortars will throw shells more than a mile. The carriage of a mortar is a large horizontal bed of timber, strongly clamped together, and placed on loose sand; it should be perfectly level. The breech

of a mortar is round, and rests in a hollow made in the centre of the bed; its muzzle is held up by a curved iron stay, which being acted upon by a screw gives the mortar more or less elevation: the trunnions are close to the breech, and move upon the bed.

We shall conclude this article with a short description of the method of cannon boring.

Fig. 1. Plate cannon, &c. in an elevation of a machine for boring cannon, and fig. 2. is a plan of it; the same references are used in both figures: A is a cast iron frame to support the bearing for an iron shaft, B, turned by a steam engine, or water wheel; this has a square box on its end, into which a square knob cast on the end of the gun is fitted by screws; the mouth of the gun is supported on an iron frame, D, sliding on the two bed beams, E, E, and can be fixed at any place by screws; it has also screws to elevate or depress the brass which forms the bearing for the gun; F is the boring bar, fastened at its end to a large block, G, running on the bed beams with small wheels: H is a rack fastened by its ends to puppets wedged on the bed, passing through the block G: a pinion which works in this rack is attached to the block G, and its spindle has a wheel, I, with pins projecting from it: K is a bar going between these pins, and carrying a weight which turns the pinion, and forces the block G, and the boring bar, towards the gun. When the weight reaches the ground it must be lifted up, and its lever, K, hooked between two fresh pins of the wheel.

CANNON, with letter-founders and printers, a large sized letter distinguished by this name.

CANNONADE, in marine affairs, is the application of artillery to the purposes of naval war, or the direction of its efforts against some distant objects intended to be seized or destroyed, as a ship, battery, fortress, &c.

CANNULA, in surgery, a tube made of different metals, principally of silver and lead, but sometimes of iron.

CANOE, a small boat, made of the trunk of a tree, bored hollow, and sometimes also of pieces of bark, sewed together. It is used by the natives of America to go a fishing in the sea, or upon some other expedition, either by sea, or upon the rivers and lakes.

CANON, commonly called prebendary, a person who possesses a prebend, or revenue allotted for the performance of divine service in a cathedral or collegiate

church. Originally canons were only priests, or inferior ecclesiastics, who liv ed in community, residing near the cathedral church, to assist the bishop, depending entirely on his will, supported by the revenues of his bishopric, and living in the same house as his domestics or counsellors, &c. By degrees, these commu. nities of priests, shaking off their dependence, formed separate bodies; in time they freed themselves from their rules, and at length ceased to live in a community. It is maintained that the colleges of canons, which have been introduced into each cathedral, were not in the ancient church, but are of modern appointment.

CANON, in an ecclesiastical sense, a law, rule, or regulation of the policy and discipline of a church, made by councils, either general, national, or provincial.

CANON of scripture, a catalogue or list of the inspired writings, or such books of the bible as are called canonical; because they are in the number of those books which are looked upon as sacred, in opposition to those which are either not acknowledged as divine books, or are rejected as heretical and spurious, and are called apocryphal. This canon may be considered as Jewish and Christian, with respect to the sacred writings acknowledged as such by the Jews, and those admitted by the Christians.

CANON, in music, a short composition of two or more parts, in which one leads, and the other follows; or it is a line of any length, shewing, by its divisions, how musical intervals are distinguished, according to the ratios, or proportions, that the sounds terminating the intervals bear one to another, when considered according to their degree of being acute or grave.

CANON, in arithmetic, algebra, &c. is a rule to solve all things of the same nature with the present inquiry; thus, every last step of an equation in algebra is such a canon; and, if turned into words, is a rule to solve all questions of the same nature with that proposed. Tables of logarithms, artificial sines and tangents, are called likewise by the name of canon.

CANON law. a collection of ecclesiastical laws, serving as the rule and measure of church government.

CANONS of the apostles, a collection of ecclesiastical laws, which, though very ancient, were not left us by the apostles. It is true, they were sometimes called apostolic canons; but this means no more than that they were made by bishops, who lived soon after the apostles, and were

called apostolical men. They consist of regulations, which agree with the discipline of the second and third centuries: the Greeks generally count eighty-five, but the Latins receive only fifty, nor do they observe all these.

CANONICAL, something belonging to, or partaking of, the nature of a canon: thus we read of canonical obedience, which is that paid by the inferior clergy to their superiors, agreeably to the canon law.

CANOPUS, in astronomy, a star of the first magnitude in the rudder of Argo, a constellation of the southern hemisphere.

CANSIERA, in botany, a genus of the Tetrandria Monogynia class and order. Calyx ventricose, four-toothed; no corolla; nectary four-leaved, surrounding the base of the germ; berry one-celled, one-seeded, superior. One species, C. scandens, native of India.

CANTATA, in music, a song or composition, intermixed with recitatives, airs, and different movements, chiefly intended for a single voice, with a thorough base, though sometimes for other instruments. The cantata, when performed with judgment, has something in it very agreeable, the variety of the movements not clogging the ear, like other compositions. It was first used in Italy, then in France, whence it passed to us.

CANTEEN, a small vessel made of tinplate or wood, in which soldiers, when on their march, or in the field, carry their liquor. They are cylindrical like barrels, 7 inches diameter, and about four inches deep, holding three pints.

CANTHARIDES, in the Materia Medica, are insects used to raise blisters. They differ in their size, shape, and colour; the largest are about an inch long. Some are of a pure azure colour, others of that of pure gold, and others again have a mixture of gold and azure colours, all brilliant and extremely beautiful. These insects are more common in hot countries, though they are occasionally to be met with in all parts of Europe, at some seasons of the year; particularly among wheat and on meadows, upon the leaves of the ash, the poplar, the willow, &c. Such numbers of these insects are sometimes together in the air, that they appear like swarms of bees; they have likewise a very disagreeable smell, which is a guide for those who make it their business to catch them. Those who collect them, tie them in a bag or piece of linen cloth, that has been well worn, upon which they are killed with the vaVOL. III.

pours of hot vinegar, and dried in the sun, and kept in boxes. When dried, they are so light, that fifty of them will scarcely weigh a drachm. The Sicilian cantharides, and particularly those of Etna, are reckoned better than those of Spain. See MATERIA MEDICA and PHAR

MACY.

CANTHARIS, in natural history, a genus of insects of the order Coleoptera, Generic character; antennæ filiform; thorax mostly margined, shorter than the head; shells flexile; sides of the abdomen edged with folded papilla. There are more than a hundred species enumerated, which are separated into three divisions; A. four feelers, hatchet-shaped : B. feelers filiform, the last joint setaceous: C. fore-feelers projecting, the last joint but one with a large ovate cleft appendage, the last joint ovate, acute. This division is denominated Lymexylon. The whole genus, excepting the last division, which in the grub and perfect state feeds on green wood, is most rapacious, preying on other insects, and even on its own tribe: C. bipustulata is a very beautiful insect, of a slender and cylindric shape; its colour is a very dark, but elegant, gilded green, with the tips of the wingshells red, and on each side the thorax, a little below the setting on the wingshells, is a triple vesicle, of a bright red colour, extensile or retractile at the pleasure of the insect, and which, if accurately examined by the microscope, will generally be found to exhibit an alternate inflation and contraction, resembling that of the lungs in the larger animals. This species is found during the summer on various plants, and particularly on nettles.

CANTHIUM, in botany, a genus of the Tetrandria Monogynia class and order. Calyx four-toothed, superior; corolla one-petalled, with a short inflated tube, and four-parted border; the mouth downy; drupe two-celled, with a onecelled nut in each. One species, C. parviflorum, found in Coromandel.

CANTICLES, or the Song of Songs, in biblical history, a Hebrew mode of expression to denote a song superlatively excellent in style and sentiment. Of this ancient poem the author is asserted, by the unanimous voice of antiquity, to have been Solomon, and this tradition is corroborated by many internal marks of authenticity. In the very first verse it is said to belong to Solomon: he is the subject of the piece, and the principal actor in the conduct of it. Though the Song of Songs comes down to us recommended

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