Page:Cyclopaedia, Chambers - Volume 1.djvu/296

 CAM

Ardent improves vaftly on the Lift 3 making 'em no lefs

than one thoufand four hundred.

, CALVITIES,in Medicine, Baldnefs,or a failing off of the

Hair, without being able to grow again : thfc Moifture of

the Head, which fhould feed it, being cfry'd up by fome

Difeafe, by old Age, or by immoderate ufe of Pbuder. See

Hair.

Calx, literally iignifies, Lime ; or a Stone burnt, or calj cin'd in a Kiln for that Purpofe, to be us'd in the making of Mortar, &c. See Lime, Mortar, £fJc.

Calx, in Chymiftry, is a kind of Afhes, or fine friable Pouder, which remains of Metals, Minerals, &c. after they have undergone the Violence of a Fire for a long time; and by that means have loft all their humid Parts. Or, Calx, is what remains of a Body after Calcination. See Calci- nation. Gold a"nd Silver, after they have been redtic'ct to a Calx y may be again recover'd to their former Form and .Nature': Calx of 'Tin, is call'd Tutty ; of coniidcrable ufe in polifhing Steel Mirrors, &c. Calx of Srafs, is call'd.^ 2tftw?2. See Ms ttstum. Cdlx of Lead, is call'd Ccriifs. See Ceruss. For Calx of Antimony ', fee Antimonium ZDiaphorcticnm.

Calx, in Anatomy ; See Calcaneus.

CAMAIEU, a Stone, whereon arc found various Fi- gures, and Reprefentations of Landflups, &c. form'd by a kind of Lifus Nature 5 fo as to exhibit Pictures with- out Fainting. The Word is us'd alfo for thofe precious Stones, as Onyx's, Sardoins, and Agats, whereon the La- pidaries employ their Art to aid Nature, and perfect thofe Reprefentations. The Word comes from Ca?nechum i a Name the Orientals give to the Onyx, when they find, in preparing it, another Colour 5 as who fhould fay, a fecond St07ie.

Camaieu is alfo us'd for a Painting, wherein there is only one Colour ; and where the Lights and Shadows are manag'd on a Gold or Azure Ground ; When the Ground is yellow, thcFrencb call it Cirage $ when grey % Grifai lie. This kind of Work is chiefly us'd to reprefent Baffo Relievo's : The Greeks call Pieces of this Kind (i.wo'xji'oy.a.Tet. j the Wo;d is borrow'd from the Stone, call'd by the Latins Cd- ?neus, and by us Cmnayeib 5 which fee. Some derive it from the Greek napai, low ; becaufe Bas-Relievo's are ufually exprefs'd herein.

CAMALDOLI, an Order of Religious, founded by St. Ro?miald, in 1009, in the horrible Defart of Camaldoli ; fituate in the State of Florence, on the Apennines. Their Rule is that of St. Senedicl ; and their Houfcs, by the Sta- tutes, are never to be lets than five Leagues from Cities. The Camaldolites han't bore that Title from the Begin- ning of the Order : Till the Clofe of the Xlth Century they were call'd Romualdins, from the Name of their Founder. Till that Time, Camaldolite was a particular Name for thofe of the Defart of Camaldoli \ and C D. Gra?i- dis obferves, was not given to the whole Order, in regard it was in this Monaftery that the Order commene'd $ but becaufe the Regulation was beft maintain'd here.

CAMBER-BEAM, in Building, a piece of Timber cut Archwifc, or with an Obtufe Angle in the Middle, com- monly us'd in Platforms $ as Church Leads, and other Oc- cafions, where long and ftrong Beams are requir'd. A Camher-'BeMn is much ftronger than another of the fame Size ; fince being laid with the hollow Side down- wards, as they ufually are, they reprefent a kind of Arch.

CAMBR1NG: The Seamen fay, a 2)eck lies Cambring, when it doth not lie level, but higher in the Middle than at either End : Alfo, if the Ship's Keel is bent in the Middle upwards, (which may happen from her lying a- ground on a place, where neither her Aft nor Fore-part do touch it ; and from many other Reafons taken from her Make) they fay, She is Camber-keeled.

CAMELEON, in Natural Hiftory, a little Animal, fa- mous among Antient and Modern Writers, for a Faculty, it is fuppos'd to have, of changing its Colour, and afTuming thofe of the Objects near it.

( H 2 )

CAM

The Citmeletm, or Chameleon, is of the Lizzard Kind , only its Head is fomewhat bigger than the common Liz- zard. It has four Feet, and a long flat Tail ; whereby it can hang to the Branches of Trees, as well as with its Feet. In Egypt there arc fome a Foot long, including the Tail ; but thofe of Arabia fcarce exceed half that Length. Its Snout is long, its Back fharp ; its Skin, from the Head to the laft Joint of the Tail plaited, and rough, fay fome, like a Saw : Dr. Goddard fays, 'tis grain'd, like a Shagreen ; the biggeft Grains, or globular Inequalities, being about the Head ; the next on the Ridge of the Back. Its Head is without any Neck, as in Fillies : It has two little Aper- tures in the Head, that ferve for Noflrils ; it has no Ears nor does it cither make or receive any Sound. Its Eyes are big, and verfatile this or that way, without moving the Head : ordinarily, it turns one of 'em quite the contrary way to the other. The Tongue is half the Length of the Animal 5 confiding of a white Fleih, round as far as the

Tip which is flat and hollow ; fomewhat liie an Elephant'? iroboicis, or Trunk ; and accordingly, fome call it a Trunk This it can dart out very nimbly, and draw back again over a Bone which reaches from the Root, half its Length ■ much as a Silk Stocking is drawn off and on the Leg. ' 'Tis a common Tradition, that the Camcleon lives on Air ; but Experience ihews the contrary. The great Ufe of its Tongue is to catch Flies, by (hooting it b'fifkly up6n em, and entangling 'em in its Probofcis : Some fay, the Tongue is tipp'd with a glutinous Matter, which the Flics flick to ; that at the Academy of Sciences, they ire- quently obferv'd to catch and fwallow Flies : They found alio the Signs of 'em in its Excrements ; and, when it was diffeaed, the Stomach and Inteftmes were found full Of em. M. <Perrault affuras us, when at Refl, and in the Shade, its Colour is fomewhat various : That at 'Paris, was of a blueifh grey ; but, when expos'd to the Sun. this grey chang'd into a browner or darker grey : and its lei's il- lumm'd Parts into divers Colours ; forming Spots, half the bignefs of a Finger's End, fome of 'cm of an Ifabclla Co- our : The Grains of the Skin, not illumin'd at all, refem- bled a Cloth m.x'd of divers Colours. That at London, delcnb d in the Phlofiphical Tranfatiions, by Dr. God- dardwzs mix'd of feveral Colours, like a medley Cloth : I he Colours difcernable, were a Green, a fandy Yellow, and a deeper Yellow, or Liver Colour ; but one might ea- fily imagine iome Mixture of moll, or all Colours. He adds, that upon Excitation, or Warming, it fuddenly Be- came full of black Spots, of the bigne'fs of a great Pin's Head, equally difpers'd on the Sides, £5c. all which after- wards would vamfli, M. Perraidt obferves fomewhat like this of the Tans Camelem 5 via, that upon handling and ftirring it, it wou'd appear fpeckled, or ftain'd with dark Spots, bordering on green. He adds, that wrapping it up in a Linen Cloth, for two or three Minutes, it wou'd be taken out whitifli ; tho not conflantly fo : Nor did it take the Colour of any other Stuff it was wrapp'd in. So that what Tbeophraftus and Plutarch wrote, that it affumes all the Colours it comes near, excepting white, is contrary to Experience. Monconys affurcs us, that the Camelem, when plac d in the Sun, appears green ; tho in a Place where there is no Grafs, or other gteen Obiect : that by the Can- dle it appears black, tho plac'd on white Paper ; and that, when (hut up in a Box, it becomes yellow and green : and he aflerts, it never takes any other than thefe four Colours. Naturalifls are very little agreed, as to the Reafon or Manner of the Change of Colour : Some, as Seneca, main- tain us done by Suffufion ; others, as Solium, by Reflexi- on ; others, as the Cartefians, by the different Difpofition of the Parts that compofe the Skin, which give a different Modification to the Rays of Light : Others, as Dr. God- dard, afcnbe the Change to the Grains of the Skin ; which, in the feveral Poflufes, he thinks, may (hew feveral Co- lours ; and, when the Creature is in full Vigour, may have as he terms it, rationem Speculi ; that is, the Effect of Mirrors, and reflcfl the Colours of Bodies adjacent.

Thefe Hypothefcs are all deficient enough, and there is flill room for a new one of our own : The Camelem, then, is represented to us as an exceedingly lean ftinny Animal ; mlomuch that the Italians call it a living Skin. M Per- rault obferves, of that which he diffefled in the King's Library, that one Hour it appear'd to be a mere Skin, and nothing elfe ; and yet the next it would appear fat and plump. Hence we gather, that it mult have an extraor- dinary Command over the Skin, as to Tenflon or Laxncfs • fince by (welling its Bulk its Skin will be fill'd, the Fibres' thereof Aretch'd, and the Pores leffen'd : and again by withdrawing its groffnefs, the Skin will be left lank 'and flirivell'd, one Part wrapping over another : Which is con- firm'd by what we have already obferv'd, that its Skin is ufually feen to be full of Ru g! e, or little Plaits. Now, the Animal having it in its Power to fill the Skin more or left, has it in its Power not only to alter the Tone and Texture of the Fibres, upon which their reflexive Quality.in a great meafute depends ; but alfo to bring Parts into fight which befote lay conceal'd, or to conceal fuch as before lay open- and 'tis mote than probable, that the Parts which are or-' dinanly cover'd, are of a fomewhat different Colour from thofe conflantly open to the Air.

On thefe Principles, we believe, all the Pha-nomena in the Camcleon s Colour may be folv'd. The Animal 'tis evident, has a Power to rehVa different colour'd Rays from the fame Parts ; alfo to make certain Parts reflect, and to ptevent others reflecting : and hence that variety, that medley of Colours. See Ray, Colour, Reflexion 5>c

Mattlnolus relates feveral fuperfliticus Notions of the An- ticnts touching the Camcleon ; as that its Tongue torn out, while alive, help'd the Bearer to gain his Law-Suit ; that burning its Head and Throat with Oaken Wood, or load- ing its Liver on a red Tile, made it thunder and rain. That its Right Eye, torn out while living, and (teep'd in Goat's Milk, took away Pearls in the Eyej that its Tongue

tjr'd