Page:Collier's New Encyclopedia v. 02.djvu/476

LEFT CHALCIS 412 CHALMERS stroyed by the Turks, by whom it was taken, about 1075. In ecclesiastical his- tory it is important as the place at which, in 451, Marcian held the general council for destroying the influence of Dioscuros and the Monophysites by formulating the belief in the existence of two natures in Christ. CHALCIS (kal'sis), a Greek town, anciently the chief town of Euboea, sep- arated by the narrow strait of Euripus from the Boeotian coast, on the main- land of Greece, with which it was con- nected by a bridge. Chalcis, which is mentioned by Homer, early became one of the greatest of the Ionic cities, carry- ing on an extensive commerce, and planting numerous colonies in Syria, Macedonia, Italy, Sicily, and the islands of the ^gean Sea, It was subsequently a place of importance under the Ro- mans. There is still a town on the site, consisting of an inner walled town and an outer suburb. Pop. about 17,500. CHALCIS, a typical genus of a large family of Hymenopterous insects, not unlike small wasps. The family {Chal- cididse or Pteromalini) has this great importance, that the larvae of its mem- bers are parasitic in the eggs, larvae, or pupae of other insects, and as some of the latter are very destructive to plants, their parasites are animals to be thank- ful for. Thus forms so different as the cabbage butterfly and the destructive Hessian fly have their attendant Ptero- malini. Many of the so-called gall- wasps (Cynipidx) which cause many of the commonest galls — for instance, on the oak, or the curious bunches on rose and briar bushes — are preyed upon by Chalcididas. Some of the hosts of these Chalcidae are themselves parasitic, and thus we have parasites within para- sites, or double parasitism. Altogether over 2,000 species of Chalcididas are known. CHALD.ffiA, in ancient geography the regions of Babylonia, or more generally Babylonia. The early history of Chal- daea as a separate kingdom is very un- certainly known. The Chaldaeans were conquered by the Assyrians, with Baby- lon, and 'vaged frequent wars with the latter power. When the Assyrian power began to wane, the Chaldaeans, being a more warlike and powerful people than the Babylonians, became supreme; Chal- dsea and Babylonia, by their conquests under Nebuchadnezzar, became one kingdom, and the names Chaldaea and Babylonia became synonymous terms. CHALET, the French-Swiss name for the wooden hut of the Swiss herdsmen on the mountains; but is also extended to Swiss dwelling-houses generally, and to picturesque and ornate villas built in imitation of them. CHALEUR BAY, or BAY OF CHA- LEURS (shal-er'), an inlet of the Gulf of St. Lawrence, between Quebec and New Brunswick. The French fleet was here defeated by the British in 1760. There are a number of islands in this bay, notably Shippegan, near its mouth. The navigation ia good and the mackerel fishery is important. The Restigoucho river flows into the bay, as do numerous other large streams. Length from E. to W. 90 miles, and greatest breadth 20 miles. The bay is a great resort of fishermen, as its waters teem with many varieties of the finny tribe, including salmon. The bay, whose original name was Ecketam Nemauchi, or Bay of Fish, forms a single great harbor, destitute of shoals and reefs, and forming a safe refuge from storms and dangerous cur- rents, as well as affording exceptionally safe anchorage. CHALK, a well-known earthy lime- stone, of an opaque white color, soft, and admitting no polish. It is an impure carbonate of lime, and is used as an ab- sorbent and anti-acid, and for making marks for various purposes, as on the blackboard in schools, and by artisans and others. Black chalk is a soft variety of argillaceous slate. Brown chalk, a familiar name for umber. Red chalk, another name for ruddle. French chalk, steatite or soap-stone, a soft magnesian mineral. Drawing chalks were origi- nally restricted in colors to white, black, and red, but now chalks of every color are used, and are known by the name of crayons, commonly made of calcium sulphate and not the carbonate, as sup- posed. In geology chalk is the rock which forms the higher part of a series or group of strata, comprising rocks of different kinds, termed the cretaceou? system. CHALMERS, THOMAS, a Scotch clergyman, born in Anstruther, Fife, March 17, 1780. At the age of 12 he was sent from the parish school to the Uni- versity of St. Andrews, and after study- ing there seven years, was licensed as a preacher in July, 1799. During the two following years he studied mathe- matics and chemistry in Edinburgh, and then became assistant professor of math- ematics at St. Andrews. In 1803 he was presented to the parish of Kilmany, in Fife, where he made a high reputa- tion as a preacher, which gradually spread throughout Scotland, and in 1815 he was inducted to the Tron Church of