Page:Cyclopaedia, Chambers - Volume 1.djvu/311

 CAR

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CAR

to the Eldcft Daughter, c£tcms filiabus aliunde fatisfa tis. See Barony.

Caput Draconis, or the 'Dragon's Head., in Aftronomy, the Name of the Moon's afcending Node. See Dbagon's- }{ead ; lee alfo Node.

Caput Gallinaginis, or GalliGallhzacci, Cock's Head, is a kind of Septum-, or fpongcous Border, at tha Extremities or Apertures of each of the Veficultf Seminales ; ferving to prevent the Seed coming from one fide, from rufhing upon, and lo Hopping the Difcharge of the other. Some will have its ulc to be, to prevent the Impulfe of the Seed from dilating the Orifices of the VeJiciU<e, and lb oozing out, except when amlted by the CompreiTion of the fur- rounding Parts -j as in Copulation : But this, according to Dr. Drake, is rather the Office of a dirtinct Caruncle plac'd at each Orifice, and acting as a Valve. See Vesicul-e Seminales, Seed, and Generation.

Caput Mortuum, in Chymiltry, the Faeces remaining of any Body, after all the volatile and humid Parts, as the Phlegm, Spirit, Salt, i&c. have been extracted therefrom, by force of Fire. What remains after DHHUation, is only properly call'd Ftfccs. See Fjeces. E'er it be Caput Mo r- iuum, it mull likewife have pafs'd the Retort. See Dis- tillation, and Retort.

The Caput Alortuum, call'd alfo 'Terra damnata, is found in form of a friable, porous Matter, without Tafle or Smell : 'Tis rank'd among the Chymical Elements ; and fuppos'd to conllitute the dry, fix'd, earthy, and folid Part of all mix'd Bodies. As an Element, it is more commonly exprefs'd by the Name Earth. See Earth.

'Tis what the Chymifts call a pajfive Elements 'Princi- ple 5 ferving as the Bails or Support of the active ones. See Principle.

The Term is fomctimes more immediately reftrain'd to the Remains of Vitriol, after Diltillarion 5 otherwife call'd Calcothar Vitrioli. See Calcothar.

The Caput Mortuum is never pure, but there is (till fome active Principle remaining in it, and particularly a fix'd Salt. See Salt. Thus the Calcothar Vitrioli, ex- pos'd to the Air, is re-converted into Vitriol. See Vitriol j fee alfo Element.

CAR, CARR, or CARRE, a kind of rolling Throne, us'd in Triumphs, and at the fplendid Entries of Princes. See Chariot.

'Plutarch relates, that Camillus having enter'd Koine in Triumph, mounted on a Car drawn by four white Horfes, it was look'd on as too haughty an Innovation. See Tri- umph.

Car, is alio us'd for a kind of light open Chariot. c Pon- tanus, L. III. de Stellis, obferves, that EricJhonius was the firft that harnefs'd Horfes, and join'd 'em in a Car, or Chariot. See Chariot.

The Word is from the anticnt Gaulijb, or Celtic, Carr ; mention'd by Qejdr, in his Commentaries, under the Name Carrus.

The Car, on Medals, drawn either by Horfes, Lions, or Elephants, ufually fignifies, either a 'Triumph, or an Apo- theofis : Sometimes a Proceflion of the Images of the Gods, at a folemn Supplication 5 and fometimes of thole of fome illuftrious Family at a Funeral. The Car cover'd, and drawn by Mules, only fignifies a Confecration, and the Honour done any one of having his Image carry 'd at the Games of the Circus. See Consecration, £5>c.

The Car us'd by the Ladies, was call'd : Pilentum, Car- fentttm, and Sajlerua. Sec Bastef, na.

CARABE, or KARABE, yellow Amber redue'd to Pouder. See Ami'Er.

CARABINE, a Fire-Arm, or little Harquebufs, with a Lock ; antiently us'd in the Army, but now difus'd, by reafonof rhcTime loft in cricking it. There are fome of thefe Carabines fiill in ufe, having rhe infide of the Barrel fur- row'd tpirally, which carry the Ball to a very great dis- tance. The Carabine was formerly the Arms of the Light Horfe, who were hence alfo call d Carabineers : Thefe made feparate Companies, and lometimes Regiments in an Army - 7 ferving to guard the Officers, to feize Polts, and to do other Offices requiring Expedition. There are ttill fome of thofe Carabineers in the French Horfe j two in each Company.

Gaja derives the Word from the Spanifli Cara- and the Latin binits: Intimating the Carabineers to be People with two Faces, from their manner of Fighting 5 fometimes ad- vancing, and fometimes retiring.

CARACOL, in the Manage, a Motion which the Ca- valier makes half round ; or a half turn from Left to Right } changing Hands ; that his Enemy may be uncer- tain on which fide he intends to attack : whether in Front, or Flank.

Caracol, is alfo the half turn each Horfeman in an Army makes after his Difcharge, to pafs from the Front of the Squadron to the Rear. The Word comes from the Arabic, and that from the Hebrezv, Carac, invU-vcre. But

we have it immediately from the Spaizijb ; where it fig- nifies properly a Snail, and figuratively the Evolution de~ fcrib'd above.

Caracol is fometimes alfo us'd in Architecture for a Staircale in a Helix, or fpiral Form. See Staircas'e

CARACT, CARAT, or KARAT, is properly the Name of the Weight, which cxpreifes the degree of Good- nefs, Title, Perfection, or Imperfection of Gold. Gold.

See

The Coiners fix the higheft Purity and Perfection of Gold at 24 Carats j and the ieveral Degrees are etrimated from the Divifions hereof, which are call'd Grains : Bur 'tis oblerv'd, that what care ibever is taken in purifying Gold, to clear it from Drofs, it can never be brought to 24 Carats ; but flill comes mort .*. of a Carat, or a Grain : this Grain they call a Sixteenth ; and this fif- teenth they fubdivide into two Eighths h and each of thofe eighths into two Sixteenths : On which Calculation, they fay, Gold may be purify'd as far as the nrife Sixteenth of the fecond Eighth, but no further. See Grain.

Gold of 22 Carats, is that which has 22 Parts of fine Gold, and two of Silver, or other Metal ; or that which in refining lofes 2 Parts in 24 of its Weight. The Gold- fmiths generally work on Gold of 22 Carats.

The Carat Fine, as above, is the 24th Part of the Good- nefs of a Piece of Gold ; the Carat 'Price, is the 24th Part of the Value of a Piece of Gold : as, if the Piece be 384, the Carat 'Price is iC Pounds. We alfo fometimes fay, the Carat Weight, which is the 24th Part of the Weight of the Piece, or 192 Grains.

Menage, from Aid at, derives the Word Carat from the Greek xt££w, which was a kind of fmall Weight : But Savot, with more probability, from X"-??- 710 '', a Tribute- Penny, or fmall Coin liruck for that purpofe. Others de- rive it fimply from the Latin Character,

Caract is alio the Weight us'd in weighing Diamonds and precious Stones ; and coniitts of four Grains. See Dia- mond, and Grain.

Thus, the Great Mogofs Diamond is faid to weigh 279 CaraCis. Thefe Grains are fomewhat lefs heavy than thofe us'd in Gold, t£c. In this Scnfe, the Word is fuppos'd to be deriv'd from the Greek ks^t/oi', a fruit which the La- tins call Siliqua, and we Carab-beau - each of which may weigh about four Grains of Wheat : whence the Latin Si- liqua has alfo been us'd for a Weight of four Grains.

CARA1TES, a Sect among the antient Jems ; where- of there arc ftill fome fubfifting in 'Poland, Ruffia, Con- stantinople, Cairo, and other Places of the Levant. Some, call them Carraim 5 others Carrgi, and Caraitte.

Leon de Mcdena, a Rabbin of Venice, obferves, that of all the Hercfies among that People, before the Deduc- tion of the Temple, there is none now left but that of the Carraini ; a Name deriv'd from Micra, which fignifies the pure Text of the Bible ; bcca u fe of their keeping to the 'Pentateuch, obferving it to the Letter, and rejecting all Interpretation, Paraphrafe, and Conffitution of the Rab- bins, Aben Efra, and fome other Rabbins, treat the Ca- raitcs as Sadducees j but Leon de Juda calls them, more accurately, Sadducees reform' 'd ; in regard they believe the Immortality of the Soul, Paradife, Hell, Refurrection, &c. which the anticnt Sadducees deny'd. He adds, however, that they were doubtlefs originally real Sadducees, and fprung from among them : But M. Simon, with more probability, fuppofes them to have rifen hence, That the more know- ing among the Jens, oppofing the Dreams and Reveries of the Rabbins, and ufing the pure Text of Scripture to refute their groundlefs Traditions, they had the Name Carraim given them j which fignifies as much as the bar- barous Latin, Scriptuarii, t. e. People attach'd to the Text of Scripture. The other Jc-ixs give them the odious Name Sadducees, from their Agreement with thofe Secta- ries on the Head of Traditions. See Sadducees.

Scaliger, Voffius, and Spanheim, rank the Caraites among the Sabeans ? Magi, Manichees, and Mujfulmcn, but by mis- take ; Wolfgang, Fabricius, &c. fay, the Sadducees and Ef- feni were call'd Caraites, in opposition to the Pharifees : others take them for the Doctors of the Law, fo often mention'd in the Gofpel : But thefe are all Conjectures. jojephvs, and Philo make no mention of them j which /hews 'em to be more modern than either of thofe Authors. In all probability, this Sect was not form'd till after the Collection of the fecond Part of the Talmud, or the Ge- mara $ perhaps not till after the compiling of the Mifchna in thellld Century. The Caraites themfelvcs, pretend to be the Remains of the ten Tribes led captive by Salma- najjar. Wolfius, from the Memoirs of Mardocheus, a Caraite, refers their Origin to a Maffacre among the jfe-iviJJj Doctors, under Alexander Jamueus, their King, about 100 Years before Chrift : For Simeon, Son of Scbetacb t and the Queen's Brother, making his Efcape into Egypt* there forg'd his pretended Traditions j and at his Return to Jernfakm, publifh'd his Virions ; interfperfing the Law T t a f:er