CENTRIFUGAL FORCE. That by which all If there were two balls of equal size fastened to bodies that move round any other body, in a curve, the two ends of a rod, the whole might be consid- endeavour to fly off from the axis of their motion ered as one body, and their common centre of grav-in a tangent to the periphery of the curve, and that ity would be the point equidistant from the two ex-in every point of it. tremes. If one of the balls were greater than the other, the centre of gravity would be proportionally removed towards the larger one, till upon an ascertained point they would balance each other. Thus

or that force whereby bodies tend towards the centre of the earth; magnetical attraction, whereby the loadstone draws iron; and that force, whatever it be, whereby the planets are continually drawn back from right-lined motions, and made to move in curves.

CENTRY, or SENTINEL. Is a private soldier, from the guard posted upon any spot of ground, to stand and watch carefully for the security of the said guard, or of any body of troops, or post, and to prevent any surprise from the enemy.

CEREA. A flowering plant of an extraordinary kind, and is a native of Jamaica. It expands a most exquisitely beautiful flower, and emits a most fragrant odor for a few hours in the night, and then closes to open no more. The flower is nearly a foot in diameter; the inside of the calyx of a splendid yellow, and the numerous petals of a pure white. It begins to open about seven or eight o'clock in the evening, and closes before sun-rise in the morning.

CHAMOIS GOATS. The Chamois inhabits the most inaccessible parts of the woody regions of the great mountains of Europe. He bounds over the chasms of rocks-he springs from one projection to another with unerring certainty-he throws himself from a height of twenty or even thirty yards upon the smallest ledge, where there is scarcely room for his feet to plant themselves. This extraordinary power of balancing the bodyof instantly finding the centre of gravity,-is a peculiarity of all the goat tribe, to which the Chamois is nearly allied. The ability of the eye to measure distances, with such undeviating exactness, is associated with this power of finding the centre of gravity.

In the Chamois these are instinctive faculties, which he possesses almost from the moment of his birth. They are not the result of training; for the young Chamois has only to acquire the necessary strength to be able to imitate the feats of his more practised companions. How different is the process by which man obtains the full exercise of his physical powers! The awkward efforts of the infant, for the first two years of his life, are princiCERES, or Piazzi. A primary planet between pally directed to the acquisition of the ability, by Mars and Jupiter: it was discovered by Mr. Piazzi constant experiments, of poising his body, of ascerof Palermo, on the first of January, 1801. Its di- taining the size and relative position of objects by ameter, according to Dr. Herschell, is only one the touch, and of measuring distances by the eye. hundred and sixty miles. It appears like a star of Throughout life, we cannot be placed in a new the seventh or eighth magnitude. Its distance situation, in which the exercise of these faculties is from the sun is about two hundred and twenty-six demanded, without feeling how completely our million miles, and its periodic revolution is per-powers are the result of experience. formed in one thousand six hundred and eightythree days. Ceres is also the name of a deified woman, of the island of Sicily, who has had the credit of being the first that showed the Europeans the use of corn; on which account the ancient Grecians and Romans placed her among the Gods.

CEYLON. An island in the Indian Ocean; about eighty leagues long, and forty-five wide; separated from the peninsula of India by a narrow sea of about sixty miles width, which is so shallow and rocky, that, in the opinion of Grandpre, this island, in process of time, will be united with the continent. Ceylon is exceedingly fertile, and produces cinnamon, ginger, pepper, sugar, cotton, and all the fruits of the Indies. It had belonged to the Dutch; but, in 1796, it surrendered to the English. The method of killing deer in the island of Ceylon is very singular. The huntsmen go out in the night, and only two usually go together; the one of these carries upon his head an earthen vessel, in which there is some fire burning and flaming; the ingredients are generally small sticks cut into pieces, and common resin. The person who has the fire upon his head, carries in one hand a staff, on which there are fixed a number of bells. This man goes first into the woods, and the other follows close behind with a spear in his hand. As soon as the deer hears the noise of the bells, he turns towards the place where the sound comes; and seeing the fire, he eagerly runs up to it, and stands gazing at a small distance; the second man has then nothing to do but to kill him with the spear; for he observes neither of the men, the fire and bells taking up his whole attention.

And yet man, by constant training, may attain an excellence in the employment of his senses very little inferior to the instinctive powers of the lower animals. The Chamois hunters of the Alps are remarkable examples of what he may accomplish by courage, perseverance, and constant experiment. If man fairly bring his physical powers, and his mechanical aids, into a contest even with such surprising faculties as the chamois possesses, the triumph is his; and this triumph shows us that there are few things beyond the reach of human energy.

The Chamois hunter sets out upon his expedition of fatigue and danger generally in the night. His object is to find himself at the break of day in the most elevated pastures, where the Chamois comes to feed, before the flocks shall have arrived there. The Chamois feeds only at morning and evening. When the hunter has nearly reached the spot where he expects to find his prey, he reconnoitres with a telescope. If he finds not the Chamois, he mounts still higher;-but if he discovers him, he endeavors to climb above him and to get nearer, by passing round some ravine, or gliding behind some eminence or rock.

When he is near enough to distinguish the horns of the animal (which are small, round pointed, and bent backward like a hook,) he rests his rifle upon a rock, and takes his aim with great coolness. He rarely misses. This rifle is often double-barrelled. If the Chamois falls, he runs to his prey-makes sure of him by cutting the ham-strings-and applies himself to consider by what way he may best regain his village. If the route is very difficult, he contents himself with skinning the Chamois ;-but if the way is at all practicable with a load, he

He passes then the night-not at the foot of a tree, nor in a cave covered with verdure, as does the hunter of the plain-but upon a naked rock, or upon a heap of rough stones, without any sort of shelter. He is alone, without fire, without light; but he takes from his bag a bit of cheese and some CHAIN. In French chaine, an instrument comof the barley-bread, which is his ordinary food-posed, or consisting of links, and commonly made bread so hard that he is obliged to break it between two stones, or to cleave it with the axe which he always carries with him to cut steps which shall serve for his ladder up the rocks of ice. His frugal meal being soon ended, he puts a stone under his head, and is presently asleep, dreaming of the way the Chamois has taken.

The Romans, when they went to war, carried with them a great number of chains, destined for those that might become their prisoners. He is awakened by the freshness of the morning had them made of different metals; a great many air; he rises, pierced through with cold; he meas- of iron, others of silver, and some even of gold. ures with his eyes the precipices which he must And they were distributed or made use of accordyet climb to reach the Chamois; he throws his bag ing to the rank and quality of the prisoners. Beacross his shoulder, and again rushes forward to fore the battle at the Thrasymene lake, between encounter new dangers. These daring and perse-Hannibal and Flaminius, the latter, who, though vering hunters often remain whole days in the dreariest solitudes of the glaciers of Chamouni; and during this time, their families, and, above all, their unhappy wives, feel the keenest alarm for their safety.

CHALDRON. A dry measure, consisting of thirty-six bushels, heaped up, but on shipboard, twenty-one chaldron of coals are allowed to the score. The chaldron should weigh two thousand pounds.

CHALK. A very common species of calcareous earth, of an opaque white color, very soft, and without the least appearance of a polish in its fracture. It contains a little siliceous earth, and about two per cent. of clay. Some specimens, and perhaps most, contain a little iron.

CHANGE OF THE HAIR. In its ordinary healthy condition, the hair is totally destitute of sensibility, and possesses merely a kind of vegetative life. The various emotions of the mind, nevertheless, exert over it a very powerful influence. The indulgence of grief, anxiety, or indeed any of the depressing passions, will often change it perfectly white in a very short space of time: thus the hair of young people condemned to death, has been known to become white during the night preceding their execution. The French revolution, which produced in abundance the extremes of human suffering, furnished many authentic instances of persons becoming perfectly gray in the space of a few days; and Bichat, an author of the first respectability, relates a case that came under his own notice, in which the hair was deprived almost entirely of its color in a few hours, on the receipt of CHAMBERLAIN. In England, an officer some fatal intelligence. The case of the unfortuwho has the care of any particular chamber or nate Marie Antoinette, queen of France, is familiar place, as the Lord Great Chamberlain of England, to most of our readers. In some cases of extreme a great officer of state, to whom belongs the gov-fear, terror, or surprise, the change is said to have ernment of the palace at Westminster; the Cham- taken place almost instantaneously. berlain of London, who receives the rents of the city, and deposits them in the chamber or treasury of London.

CHALLENGE. In general, a summons to fight, whether in a duel, or in a pugilistic contest; in Law, an exception against jurors made by the party put on his trial.

"Deadly fear can time outgo,
And blanch at once the hair."

for the greater part of the twenty-four hours, and in those deprived of a sufficient quantity of sleep, or who are exposed to constant hardships of almost any character. These circumstances likewise cause, not unfrequently, the loss of the hair at a very early period.

CHAMPION. He who undertakes to maintain, becomes white in individuals who are confined in In the same manner the hair very commonly by single combat, his own right or that of another. dark or damp situations, as dungeons, mines, &c.; By the law of England, a species of trial was for-in those given to intense study or to intemperance; merly in use, known by the name of wager of bat-in mechanics confined to a sedentary employment tel, a rude mode of terminating disputes practised by most barbarous nations. In this judicial combat, the parties appeared either themselves, or (as came afterwards to be more usually the case) by their champions, having their armour on, and attended with every circumstance of pomp and ceremony that could give dignity to the spectacle. The It is said that terror will make the hair stand upweapons used were more or less dangerous, according to the nature of the cause, as military, civil, stance in order to express this emotion. How far right. Painters have even made use of the circumor criminal. The consequences likewise, even the statement is correct we are not prepared to say; when the unsuccessful combatant escaped unhurt, but it is so generally admitted that it can scarcely were more or less serious, both to the champion be considered as imaginary. The individual hairs himself and his principal. If the champion of a woman, charged with a capital offence, was over-possess in themselves, however, no power of come, or proved recreant, the woman was burnt, head. If they really do bristle, when the soul spontaneous motion, by which they can rise on the and her champion hanged; and so with regard to shudders from horror or affright, it can only be by smaller offences. Principals seem originally to have been allowed to wage their battle from casu-its intimate connexion with that portion of the latthe action of the muscle of the scalp, which, from alties of sex, nonage, or other excusable disability; ter in which the hair is inserted, may, by its conbut as the better ranks became more effeminate, or wise, proxies came to be allowed in all cases, being traction, produce this effect. either retained as a standing officer among the great lord's other dependents, or hired for the special

occasion.

bility, yet it appears to be capable, in certain_states Although the hair is ordinarily devoid of sensiof disease, of becoming acutely sensitive. In the hospital of the Royal Guard, at Paris, a soldier was CHANCELLOR. In England, an officer of admitted, who had received a violent kick upon the state, known by the title of the Lord High Chan-back part of the head from a horse. Inflammation cellor of England, and the chief person next to the of the brain occurred, accompanied by a very reThe slightest sovereign in the administration of justice; the Chan-markable sensibility in the hair. cellor of the Exchequer is an officer who has the touch of the latter was felt instantly; while cutting, principal management of the king's revenue. The it gave such exquisite pain, that the poor fellow term is applied to the first judge of the Chancery Baron Larrey, his surgeon, on one occasion, to put would seldom allow any one to come near his head. him to the test, gave a hint to an assistant, who was standing behind the patient, to clip one of the hairs, without the knowledge of the latter. This was dexterously effected; but the soldier broke out in a volley of exclamations and complaints, and it was some time before he could be appeased.

Court in the state of New-York.

CHANCERY. The grand court of equity and conscience, instituted to moderate the rigour of the other courts that are bound to the strict letter of the law. 23

Long and luxuriant hair has always been esteemed an ornament, particularly in the female sex; by some, however, a very full head of hair has been considered as debilitating, from the great amount of fluids exhausted in its nourishment. Without fully admitting such an opinion, we must allow that in young and delicate habits this long growth is a supporting cause of weak eyes and pale complexion. When the hair is very thick it becomes uncomfortable in warm weather, and is apt to produce a very copious perspiration, and not unfrequently headache-the latter being almost invariably relieved by frequently thinning the hair.

In individuals of certain religious sects, whose heads are kept shaved, or closely shorn, omitting this practice has been found to be productive of very bad effects. Thus we are told of a Chartreux, who, according to the rule of his order, had his head shaved every month; but quitting his monastery at its destruction, he entered the army, and allowed his hair to grow. After a few months he was attacked with excruciating head-ache, from which he could obtain no relief until some one advised him to resume his old habit, and to have his head frequently shaved. The pain left him and never again returned.

The hair is liable, also, to a very formidable dis- such an extreme degree of depravity, as to have ease, in which it becomes firmly matted together, lost our native reverence for virtue; yet a regard while the hollow tube, of which each hair is com- to our own interest and safety, which we seldom posed, becomes filled with blood, which escapes lose, will lead us to apply for aid, in all important when it is cut. This disease is most commonly transactions, to men whose integrity is unimpeachmet with among the lower classes in Poland-be-ed. When we choose an assistant, a partner, a ing produced by their extreme filth, and the custom servant, our first inquiry is concerning his character. of keeping the head almost constantly covered with When we have occasion for a counsellor or attora woollen cap. ney, a physician or apothecary, whatever we may be ourselves, we always choose to trust our property and persons to men of the best character. When we fix on the tradesmen who are to supply us with necessaries, we are not determined by the sign of the lamb, or the wolf, or the fox; nor by a shop fitted up in the most elegant taste; but by the fairest reputation. Look into a daily newspaper, and you will see, from the highest to the lowest rank, how important the characters employed are to the employers. After the advertisement has enumerated the qualities required in the person wanted, there constantly follows, that none need apply, who cannot bring an undeniable character. Offer yourself as a candidate for a seat in the government; be promoted to honor and emolument; or in any respect attract the attention of mankind upon yourself; and if you are vulnerable in your character, you will be deeply wounded. This is a general testimony in favor of honesty, which no writings and no practices can possibly refute. Young men, therefore, whose characters are yet unfixed, and who, consequently may render them just such as they wish, ought to pay great attention to the first steps which they take on entrance into life. They are usually careless and inattentive to this object. They pursue their own plans with ardor, and neglect the opinions which others entertain of them. By some thoughtless action or expression, they suffer a mark to be impressed upon them, which scarcely any subsequent merit can entirely erase. Every man will find some persons, who, though they are not professed enemies, yet view him with an envious or a jealous eye, and who will gladly revive any tale to which truth has given the slightest foundation. In this turbulent and confused scene, where our words and actions are often misunderstood, and oftener misrepresented, it is indeed difficult, even for innocence and integrity, to avoid reproach, abuse, contempt, and hatred. These not only hurt our interest, and impede our advancement in life, but sorely afflict the feelings of a tender and delicate mind. It is then the part of wisdom, first, to do every thing in our power to preserve an irreproachable character; and then to let our happiness depend chiefly on the approbation of our own consciences, and on the advancement of our interest in a world, where liars shall not be believed, and where slanderers shall receive countenance from none but him who is called, by way of eminence, the calumniator."

It would appear, likewise, that in individuals in perfect health, whose heads are ordinarily covered with a large quantity of hair, suddenly removing it is not unattended with danger.

CHAPEL. In England, a smaller kind of church, which, being built for the convenience of the parish church, is denominated a chapel of ease.

CHAPLAIN. In England, originally signified one who performed divine service in a chapel, but now more commonly one who attends upon the king, or other person of quality, for the performance of his clerical duties in the family. The term is also applied to the clergyman attached to the navy or army.

CHARACTER. In human life, that which is peculiar in the manners of any person, and distinguishes him from others. GooD CHARACTER is particularly applied to that conduct, which is regulated by virtue and religion. In an inferior, but very common sense, it is understood of mere honesty of dealing between man and man. The importance of a good character in the commerce of life, seems to be universally acknowledged. To those who are to make their own way either to wealth or honors, a good character is usually no less necessary than address or abilities. An elegant moralist observes, that "Though human nature is degenerate, and corrupts itself still more by its own inventions; yet it usually retains to the last, an esteem for excellence. But even if we are arrived at

CHARCOAL. A kind of coal that is made of wood half burnt, under a covering of turf and dust. The microscope discovers a surprising number of pores in charcoal; they are disposed in order, and traverse it lengthwise. If a piece be broken pretty short, it may be seen through with the microscope. In a range the eighteenth part of an inch long, Dr. Hook reckoned one hundred and fifty pores. Char