Page:Cyclopaedia, Chambers - Supplement, Volume 1.djvu/476

 CAS

CASSOWARY, in zoology, the name of an African bird of the oftrich kind, but not quite fo tall, though larger bodied ; called alfo by many authors emeu, eme, or etna, and cafoarius. It has a crown on the middle of its head ; and its head and neck are almoft naked, having only a few hairs, which are fet ftraggling ; the fkin is of a purplifh blue, but toward the bot- tom of the neck, on the hinder part, it is a little redifh. At the bottom of the neck there are alfo two flefhy protuberances, ■which hang over the bread ; its mouth opens very wide ; its legs are very long and very robuft ; it has three toes on each foot, all placed before ; it has the rudiments of wings, but they are very Short, and have only five quills each, which are almoft naked. It has no tail ; its body is large, and is thinly cover- ed with brownifh feathers, which have more the appearance of brilllcs, than of real feathers, to a flight obferver. It is ve- ry common in Africa, and is cau»ht alfo in many parts of the Eaft-lndics. It feeds on flefh or vegetables, and is eafily made tame. Ray, Ornithol, p. 105.

CAST is particularly ufed to denote a figure, or fmall flatue of bronze. SeeBltONZE.

Cast, among wax-chandlers, denotes a laddleful of melted wax, poured en the wicks of candles made by the laddie.

Cast, among founders, is applied to tubes of wax, fitted in divers parts of a mould of the fame matter, by means of which, when the wax of the mould is removed, the melted metal is convey- ed into all the parts which the wax before pofMed.

Cast, among bowlers. See Bowling.

Cast alfo denotes a cylindrical piece of brafs, or copper, flit in two, lengthwife, ufed by the founders in (and to form a canal or conduit in their moulds, whereby the metal may be con- veyed to the different pieces intended to be cajl. Savar. Die}. Com. T. 2. p. 392. voc. Jet.

Cast, among plumbers, denotes a little brazen funnel, at one end of a mould, for calling pipes without foldcring, by means ^ of which the melted metal is poured into the mould.

Cast of the country, with miners, the colour of the earth. Neve, Build. Dicl. in voc.

Cast, in falconry, denotes a fet or couple of hawks, Didt, Ruft. T. 1. in voc.

. To caji a hawk to the perch, fignifies to fet her upon it.

Cast, or Castje, in fpeaking of the Eaftern affairs, denotes a ti'jhe, or number of families, of the fame rank and profeffion. The divifion of a nation into cajii chiefly obtains in the em- pire of the great mogul, kingdom of Bengal, illand of Cey- lon, and the great peninfula of India oppofite thereto. In each of thefe, there are, according to father Martin », four principal cajh; viz. the cajl of the bramins, which is the firft and mod noble ; the caft of the rajas, or princes, who pretend to be de- fended from divers royal families; the enfi of the cboutres, which comprehends all the artificers ; and that of theparias, the loweft ami moft contemptible of all ; though Henry Lord, it muft be obferved, divides the Indians about Surat in four ra//r, fomewhat differently from Martin; viz. into bramins, orpricfts; cuttery, orfoldiers; Jhuddery, which we call bani- ans, or merchants ; and wyfe, the mechanics, or artificers b. — ['Lett. Edif. T. 5. p. 17, feq. ' Lord, Difcov. of Sefl. of Banians, c. 1. p. 4, feq.] See Bramik, &c. Every art and trade is confined to its proper cajl, nor is allowed 10 be exercifed by any but thofe whofe fathers profefled the fame. So that a taylor's fon can never rife to be a painter, nor a painter's fon fall to be a taylor. Though there are fome employments which are common to all the cafts : e. g. every body may be a foldier or a merchant. There are alfo divers cajls which are allowed to till the ground, but not all. The cajl of p arias is held infamous, infomuch that it is a difgrace to have any dealings, or converfation with them. And there are fome trades in the cajl of cboutres which debafe their pro- feflbrs almoft to the fame rank. Thus Ihoemakers, and all ar- tificers in leather, as alio fifhermen, and even (hepherds, are reputed as no better than paries. The Portuguefe committed an irreparable miftake for want of being acquainted with this diftinSion of cafts. On their firft difcovery of thefe countries, they dealt, and converfed indifferently with all forts, and took parias or fifhermen, without fcruple, into their fervice, which gave the reft an idea of them, as people without honour or lhame, an idea which they have never yet been able to efface. Another falfeftep of the Portuguefe was to oblige the people of the places they conquered to renounce their cafts, and con- form to the European cuftoms; which enraged them beyond meafure. To thefe caufes chiefly it is, that the modern miffi- onaries in thofe parts, attribute the fmall fuccefs of their preach- ing the gofpel ; few, by their own confeffion, are fairly con- verted to chriftianity, except the very fink of the people, the parias, or thofe who have loft their caft by their wickednefs and debauchery. And the number of thefe who are received into the chriftian congregation, helps ftill more to excite the averfion of the reft for Europeans and chriftianity. Martin

r L ™ a V Pere Gobicn - 'n Lett. Edif. T. 5. p. 19, feq.

CASTAGNOLE, in ichthyology, a name given by the Italians to the hfh called by the generality of authors cbromis, and re- duced by Artedi to the genus of the /pari ; he diftinguiihes it by the name of the fparus with the'fecond ray of each belly- fin carried out into a great length. // idughbfi Hift. Pifc. p. 330. See Chuomis, and Sparus.

CAS

CASTANEA, the ehefnut, in botany, the name of a genus of trees, the characters of which are thefe : the flower is of the amentaceous kind, being compofed of a number of ftamina arifing from a five-leaved cup, and affixed to a flendcr capilla- ment or axis. Thefe are the male flowers, but the fruit grows in other parts of the tree : thefe are roundiih, cchinated, and open into four parts, and contain cbefnuts with their kernels. The fpecies of cbfnut enumerated by Mr.Tournefort are thefe : 1. 1 he common cultivated chefnut. 2. The common wild chefnut. 3. The dwarf clufter chefnut. 4. The large-leaved American chefnut, with ilightly-echinated fruit. Tourn. Inli. P\A 84 '

CAS FARON, in botany, a name giver? by the old Arabian writers to the /errata, or few-wort. Serapion writes it ccsjlu- ra, but the plant is the fame, and the words are both derived from the Greek name vfthejerratula^vhich. according to Dio- fcorides, is ceftrum. See Oestrum.

CASTELLANY, the diftrict or extent of land under the juris- diction of alord cajhllan.

The province of Flanders is divided inr.0 fo many cajlellames> each of which bears the name of the capital, as the cajUl any of Lifle, of Yprcs, of Garrt, &c. The court of cnjle.lany was anti- ently compofed of the caftellan, a fifcal, procurator, notary, regirter, &c.

In Poland, a cajlellany is a petty government under the admini- stration of a caftellan, fubordinate to the palatine, whofe pala- tinate comprehends fevcral cajlellanies. Trev. Die*. Univ. T. I. p 1693. voc. caftelkinie.

CASTELLARIUS, the keeper, or curator, of a caftellum.

Gruter gives an antient fepulchral infeription in memory of a cafte/laiius. Grut. Infer, p. 6cg. p. 7. Fab. Thef. p. 48^.

CAbTELLATIUN, oflellatio, in middle-age writers, the a& of building a caftle, or of fortifying a houfe, and rendering it a cattle. See Castle.

By the antient Englifh laws, cajlellation was prohibited, with- out the king's efpecial licence. Willi. Gloff. ad Leg. Angl. Sax. p. 393. Spelm. GloiT. voc. ke.ne.lare. Du Cange, GloiF. Lat. T. 1. p. 871.

CAS FIGATION, caftigatio, among theRomans, the punifhment of an offender by blows, or beating, with a wand or fwitch. Caftigation was chiefly a military punifhment the power of in- flicting which on the foldiery was given to the tribunes. Some make it of two kinds, one with a ftick or cane, called fuftiga- tio : the other with rods, called fiagellatio ; the latter was the moft di {honourable. Lipf. de Milit. Rom. 1. 5. c iS. Pitifc. Lex. Ant. Rom. T. 1. p. 374. Scboetg. Cur. Ant. Lex. p. 281. See Flagellation, Cycl.

But Sichterman, on better grounds, diftinguiihes caftigation from fuftigation, reftraining the former to blows with a wand, the latter to thofe with a ftaft*. Sichierm. de pcen. Milit. Ro- man, c. 2. Jour, des Scav. T. 41. p. 474. feq

Ca stigations, in a literary fenfc, denote corrections, or emen- dations of the text of an antient writer.

CASTILLAN, a gold coin, current in Spain, valued at fourteen rials, and a half.

Castillan alfo denotes a weight ufed by the Spaniards in the weighing of gold, containing the hundredth part of a Spanifh pound. It is alfo ufed at Buenos Aires, and the mines of Chili and Potofi. Savar. Did:. Coram. T. 1. p. 586.

CASTING is fometimes ufed for the quitting, laying, or throw- ing afide any thing; thus, deer caft their horns, Ihakes their fkins, lobfters their fhells, hawks their feathers, &c. annually.

Casting of feathers is more properly called moulting or mew- ing.

Some have pretended that deer alfo caft their penis ; and are yearly fupplied with a new one : but experience fhews this to be a vulgar error. Vid Broivn, Vulg. Err. 1. 3. c. 9. p. 103. See Penis, Cycl. and Suppl.

A horfe cajls his hair or coat, at leaft once a year, viz. in the fpring, when he cafts his winter coat, and fometimes at the clofe of autumn, he cafts his fummcr coat, in cafe he have been ill kept.

Horfes fometimes alfo caft their hoofs, which happens fre- quently to coach-horfes brought from Holland, viz. being bred in a moift, marihy country, have their hoofs too flabby ; fo that coming into a drier foil, and lefs juicy provender, their hoofs fall off, and others, that are firmer, fuccecd. Guilt* Gent. Dift. P. 1. in voc.

Ca sting is alfo ufed for overthrowing.

In which fenfe, we fay to cajl a horfe, an ox, or the like. Di£t. Rufi. T. 1. in voc.

Cast ing is alfo ufed for diftributing or difpofing the parts of a thing to the beff advantage.

The cajling of a building is more properly called compartition. Vid. Wolf. Elem. of Archit. P. i.p. 18. SeeCoMPAHTl- tion, Cycl. "

Theatrical writers fpeak of caft'mg a play, i. e. difpofing the fever..! parts or characters to proper aitors.

Casting of d y, among painters, a free, eafy, negligent way of cloathing a figure Neve, Build. Didi. in voc.

Casting of timber wo<k, with builders, is when a houfe being plaiftcred all ovej on the cutfide with mortar, it is ftruck wet, by a ruler, with the corner of a trowel, &c. to make it look like joints of free ftone. Neve, Build. Dicl. in voc.

4 Cut-