Page:Cyclopaedia, Chambers - Supplement, Volume 1.djvu/442

 CAN

CAN

pra&ice of changing o into u, and b into mp ; thus fcabiofa becomes fcampiufa, and without the initial f, campiuja.

GAMPOIDES, in botany, a name given by Rivinus to a plant corhprifed by Linnaeus under the genus of fcorpiurus, the fer- pioides of other authors. Rivin. 4. 1 15.

CAMPUS, (Cyel.) in antiquity, a field or vacant plain in a city not built on, left vacant either on account of fhews. combats, exercifes. or other ufes of the citizens. Fabric. Defcrip. Urb. Rom. c. 8. Pitifc. Lex. Ant. T. r.p. 388.

Cami-us martius, a large plain field in the fuburbs of antient Rome, lying between the quirinal and capitoline mounts, and the i'yber, thus called becaufe confecrated to the god Mars, and fet apart for military fports and exercifes, to which the Roman youth were trained ; as the ufe and handling of arms, and all manner of feats of activity.

Here were the races run, either with chariots or fingle horfes ; here alfo flood the villa publica, or palace for the reception of ambafladors, who were not permitted to enter the city. Ma- ny of the public comitia were held in the fame field, part of which, for that purpofe, was cantoned out. The place was alfo nobly decorated with flatues, arches, columns, porticos, and the like ftrucrures. Pitifc. Lex. Ant. T. j. 339. Kenn. Rom. Ant. P. z. 1. 1. c. 4- p. 47. Schaet. Lex. Antiq. p. 259.

Campus martins is alfo ufed in a more general fenfe by middle age writers, for any large plain open place near a great city, wherein the inhabitants were trained to the excrcife of arms. Of fuch we find mention at Verona, Triers, Domic, and even Conftantinople. Du Cange, Gloff. Lat, T. 1. p. 730. Schoct. Lex. Ant. p. 260.

Among the French, campus martins was an appellation given to the yearly aflemblies of the people called by the kings, either for enacting new laws, or deliberating on the great affairs of the nation. They were thus denominated, either becaufe ufually held in the month of March, or in imitation of the campus martins of the Romans, which was alloted for the like ufe. In aftertimes, they were called campus majus, and by corruption, campus madius and magius, by reafon the time of holding them was altered by Pepin to the month of May. Le Gendre, Meurs des Franc, p, 12. Item, T. 1. p. 409. Trev. Diet. Univ. T. 1. p. 1610. voc. Champ. F. Daniel takes the campus martius to have denoted, not the aflembly, but the place where the general review of the for- ces was made; which, according to this fuftorian, was fo called, not as being the particular name of any field, for that their reviews were held fometimes in one place, fometimes in another, but in honour of Mars ; who, among the heathens, "was adored as the god of war. Daniel, Hift. de Franc. T. 1. p. 7.

Under the third line of kings, their aflemblies took the deno- mination of ftates genera], etats generate*.

Campvs fcelcratus, a place without the walls of antient Rome, where the veftals, who had violated their vows of virginity, were buried alive. Kenn. Rom. Ant. P. 2. 1. 2. c. 6. p. 70.

CAMSHALL, a word ufed in Zetland to denote the os fapia, which is fometimes found on the fliores of that ifland. Phil. Tranf. N° 473. Sea. 8.

CAMURI, in zoology, the name of a fca-fifh of the lupus or bafle kind, common in the feas and larger rivers of America. It grows to about two foot long, and a foot thick. Its head is monftroufly large, and its mouth extremely wide ; it has a large and ftrong fin on its back, which is armed with fharp prickles, and lias a furrow in the back behind it, into which the fiih can lay it down upon occafion ; its fides are yellowifh, and its belly white; its fins of a brownifh yellow, and its fide lines, which run from the gills to the tail, broad and of a fine black. Willoughby, Hift. Pifc. p. 273.

CAN, in the fea language. — A pump's can, is a fort of wooden jug or pitcher, wherewith feamen pour water into pumps to make them work. Guill. Gent. Diet. P. 3. in voc.

CANADA flag, cervus cav.adenfls, the fame with the Virginian deer. See Tab. of Quadrupeds, N° 9. and the article Deer.

Canada worm. See Worm.

CANAL, canalis, in general, denotes a long, round, hollow inftrumentj through which a fluid matter may be convey cd.

In which fenfe, it amounts to the fame with what we other- wife call a pipe, tube, channel, tsfc.

Canal more particularly denotes a kind of artificial river. Canals are contrived for divers purpofes; fome for forming a communication betwixt one place and another, as the canals between Bruges and Ghent, or between BrufTels and Ant- werp ; others for the decoration of a garden, or houfe of pleafure, as the canals of Verfailles, Fontainbleau, St. James's Park, &c, Others are made for draining wet and marfhy lands ; which laft, however, are more properly called water- gangs, ditches, drains, t5V. Ozan. Diet. Math. p. 362. Egypt is full of canals, dug to receive and diftribute the waters of the Nile, at the time of its inundation. They are dry the reft of the year, except the canal of Jofeph, and four or five others, which may be ranked as confiderable rivers. Mem des Miii" T. 7. p. 115, f eq.

There were alfo fubterraneous canals, dug by an antient king of Egypt, whereby thofe lakes, formed by the inundations of the Nile, were conveyed into the Mediterranean.

M. Gaudereau attributes the frcquencyof the plague in Egypl of late days, to the decay, or flopping up of thefe canals. which happened upon the Turks becoming matters of the country. Jour, des Scav. T. 71. p. 561, feq. Canals of communication are artificial cuts, ufually furnifhed with locks and fluices, and fuftained by banks or mounds, in order to make a quicker paflage and fhorten the way between one place and another, by means of veflels. DaviL Courf. d'Archit. P. 2. p. 444.

Store of navigable canals and rivers, is one of the marks of good policy in a country; in which refpect, Italy, the Ne- therlands, and France, but efpecially China, abound, as much as England is defective.

We have but one remarkable canal, and that made by other people, and fuffered to decay by ourfelves. By this I mean, that antient canal from the river Nyne, a little below Peter- borough, to the river Witham three miles below Lincoln ; called by the modern inhabitants caerd'tke; which may be ranked among the monuments of the Roman grandeur, though 'tis now moft of it filled up. It was 40 miles, long; and fo far as appears from the ruins, muff, have been very broad and deep; fome authors take it for a Danifh work Morton will have it made under the emperor Domitian. Urns and medals have been difcovered on the banks of this canal, which feem to confirm that opinion. A fort. Nat. Hift. Northampt. c. 10. Mem. de Trev. an 1714 p 8,6.

In China, there is fcarce a town or village but has the advan- tage either of an arm of the fea, a navigable river, or a canal, by which means navigation is rendered fo common, that there are almoft as many people on the water as the land. Nouv. Relat. de la Chin. c. 0. Nouv. Rep. Lett. T. 1 4. p. j 195. The canal of Languedoc, called alfo the canal of the two feas, as ferving to join the Mediterranean and Cantabrian feas, was firft propofed under Francis I. but begun and finifhed under Louis XIV. By means of it, a ready communication is made between the two fertile provinces of Guyenne and Langucdoc. The canal is 64 leagues long, extended from Narbonne to Tholoufe, and receiving fevcra! little rivers in the way, fiip- ported at proper intervals with 104 fluices. In fome places it is conveyed over aquaeducts and bridges of incredible height, built on purpofe, which give paflage underneath to other ri- vers. What is moft extraordinary is, that in fome places for a mile together, a pafTage is dug for it through the rock. The expence was thirteen millions of livres, of which the king contributed near feven millions ; the province of Languedoc the reft. Vid. Savor. Diet. Comm. Supp. p. no, feq. At- las Marit. p. 67.

The canal of Briere, called alfo canal of Burgundy, makes a communication between the Loire and the Seine, and fo to Paris ; to the great advantage of all this part of France, and even to Burgundy itfelf. Atlas Marit. p. 55, feq. The canal of Orleans was begun in 1675, for eftablifhing a communication between the Seine and the Loire. It is con- fidcrably fhorter than that of Briere, having twenty fluices. The canal of Bourbon was but lately undertaken ; its defign being to make a communication from the river Oife to Paris. Savor* Diet;, Comm. Supp. p. no, feq. Atlas Marit. p. 67. The nevj canal of the lake Ladoga, cut from Volhowa to the Neva, whereby a communication is made between the Baltic, or rather ocean, and the Cafpian fea, was begun bv the czar Peter I. in 1719: i>y means of it, the Englifh and Dutch merchandife are eafily conveyed into Pcrfia without being obliged to double the Cape of Gocd Hope a. There was a former canal of communication between the Ladoga lake and the river Wolca, whereby timber, and other goods had been brought from Perfia to Petersburg ; but the navigation of it was fo dangerous, that anew one was refoived on b. — [ a Journ. desScav. T. 82. p. 401. b New Mem. of Liter. T. i.p. 38*.] The canal of Egypt, for a communication between the Nile and the Red-fea, was begun, according to" Herodotus, by Ne- cus fon of Pfammeticus, who defifted from the attempt on an anfwer from the oracle, after having loft fix fcore thoufand men in the enterprize. It was refumed and compleated by Da- rius fon of Hyftafpes, or according to Diodorus and Strabo, by Ptolemy Philadelphus; who relate, thatDarius relinquifhed the work on a reprefentat'ion made to him by unfkilful engi- neers, that the Red-fea being higher than the land of Egypt, would overwhelm and drown the whole country a . It was wide enough for two galleys to pafs a-breafi ; its length was four days failing b . Diodorus adds, that it was alfo called Ptolem's river ; that this prince built a city at its mouth on the Red-fea, which he called Arfmoe from the name of his favourite fifter; and that the canal might be either opened or fhut, as occafion required : policy probably had fome fhare inthedifufe to which it afterwards fell.— [ a Diod. Sic Bibl. 1. 1. Sirab. Rer. Geogr. 1. 17. b Herodot Hift. 1. 2.] It feems to have been opened afrefh about the year 63;, -un- der the Caliph Omar. Elmacin indeed fays, that a new canal Wiis then made for the conveyance of the corns of Egypt to Arabia ; but this is more naturally underftood of a renewal of the antient one, the navigation of which, towards the decline of the Roman empire, had been much neglected. The fame author adds, that it was flopped again on the fide next the Red-fea by the Caliph Abugiafar Almanzor II. of the family

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