Page:Cyclopaedia, Chambers - Volume 1.djvu/456

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aboard or afhore without paying the Duties, when feiz'd, are

"'C'a'rf Axiom in Law, that he who confirm the Body confifcatcs At Effea S, to the Profits ot j the King or the Lord of the Fee; i.e. he who is condemn d to lole h,s Life, muft alfo lofe his ESSs : Yet the Widows of Crimi- nals don't lofe their Dowries, nor their {hare in the Goods ot the Community, by the Forfeiture of their Husbands.

CONFLAGRATION, a general burning or a City, or other confutable Place : In this Senfe we fay, MM pro- cured the Chriftians to be accus'd of the Conflagration, or burning of Rome, which was done by his own order.

But the Word is ordinarily reftrain d to that grand Period, or Cataftrophe of our World; wherein the Face of Nature, is to be chang'd by a deluge of Fire, as it was antiently by that of Water. See Deluge.

The antient Pythagoreans, Platomfls, Epicureans, and Stalcks appear to have had a Notion of the Conflagration i the whence they fhould derive ir, unlefs from the facred Books, is difficult to conceive, unlefs, perhaps, from the Pbieuicians, who themfelves had it from the few. .

Seneca fays exprefly, Tempus advenent quojidera fideri- I'ts incurrent, & omm flagrante materia uno igne, qmcqmd nunc ex difpofito lucet, ardebit. This general Diffolution the Stoicki call U-mlge™, Ecpyrojin. Mention of the Con- flagration is alfo made in the Books of the Sibyls, Sophocles, Hydafpes, Ovid, Lucan, &c.

br.'Siimct, after F. Tacbard and others, relates that the Siamcfc believe that the Earth will at laft be parch'd up with heat; the Mountains melted down; the Earth's whole Surface redue'd to a Level, and then confum'd with Fire. And the Sramans of Siam do not only hold that the World fliall be deftroy'd by Fire; but alfo, that a new Earth fhall be made out of the Cinders of rhe old.

Various are the Sentiments of Authors on the Subject of Conflagration; the Caufe whence it is to arife, and the Effeas it is to produce.

The Divines ordinarily account for it Metaphysically; and will have it take its rife from a Miracle, as a Fire from Heaven. -

The Philofophers contend for its being produced trom Na- tural Caufes; and will have it effected according to Laws of Mechanicks: Some think an Eruption of the central Fire fuf- ficienr for the Purpofe; and add, that this may be occa- fion'd feveral ways, viz. either by having its Intention in- creas'd; which, again, may be effected either by being dri- ven into lefs Space by the Incroachments of the fuperficial Cold, or an increafe of the Inflammability of the Fuel where- on it is fed : or by having the Refinance of the imprifoning Earth weaken'd; which may happen, either from rhe Di- minution of its Matter, by the Confumption of its central Parts, or by weakening the Cohefion of the conflituent Parts of the Mafs by the Excefs or the Defeft of Moiflure.

Others look for the Caufe of the Conflagration in the At- mofpherc; and fuppofe, that fome of the Meteors there < ngender'd in unufual Quantities, and exploded with unufual Vehemence, from the Concurrency of various Circumftances 5 may cffeS it, without feeking any further. .

The Aftrologers account for it from a ConjunAion of all the Planets in the Sign Cancer; as the Deluge, fay they, was ercafion'd by their Conjunction in Capricorn.

Laflly, Othets have recourfe to a dill more effeflual and flaming' Machine, and conclude the World is to undergo its Conflagration from the near approach of a Comet, in its re- turn from the Sun.

Thofe wandering Bodies do indeed feem to menace us a little • being able," both by their tranfverfc Motion acrofs the Earth's way, by the hugenefs of their Size, and the intenfe Fire wherewith they glow in their recefs from the Perihelion, to produce the moft fignal Changes and Revolutions in the Syftem of Things. See Comet.

Mr. Wbiflon has {hewn, that they are extremely well fir- ted to produce the Phenomena of the Deluge; and has gone a good way towards proving, that the Comet of ioTciS was the very Body to which that Event was owing; as being then in its approach toward the Sun, and its Atmofphere crouded with the watery Vapours it had gather'd in rhofe inconceivably cold Regions, into which it had fled off in its Aphelion. See Deluge.

This fame Comet, Sir /. Ne-zvton has calculated, when in its Perihelion, 'December the 8th, was heated by the Vicini- ty of the Sun, to a degree 2000 times more hot than red hot Iron : he fhews, likewife, that it would fcarce be cool again in 53000 Years. See Heat.

This fame Comet, again, Dr. Hallcy obierv d November j 1. was nor above a Semidiameter of the Earth from the Ea'rth's Way : So that had the Earth at that time been in that Part of its Orbit, fomething very extraordinary might have been apprehended : but whether in the way of Fire or Water may, perhaps, to fome, leave room to doubr : To us 'tis noue • it being fcarce conceivable the Comet mould brinw any vehement degree of hear, out of thole bleak Re- gions it comes from, whatever heat it might carry thither.

2 ) CON

CONFLUENCE, CONFLUX, the Place where twt, Rivers join, and mix their Waters. See River.

CONFLUENT, in Medicine, an Epithet added to that Species of Small- Pox wherein the Puitules run into one ano. ther. See Small-Pox.

CONFORMATION, the particular Texture and Confif. tence of the Parts of a Body, and their difpofirion to m^ a Whole; Thus, we fay, Light of different Colours i s te. flefted from Bodies according to their different Conformation. in oppofition to the Cartcjians, who fay, that refleaedLighJ becomes of different Colours, according to the different Con- formation of the Bodies that refka it. See Light, and Co.

LOTJR.

Again, we fay, that the Conformation of the Members f an Em brio, is not perfeft enough to allow of a Diffeftion.

Conformation, in Medicine, is ufed to exprefs that Make and Conftruaion of the Body which is peculiar to every Individual : Hence, a mala Canformatio lignifies hm e Fault in the firft Rudiments; whereby a Petfon comes into the World crook'd, or with fome of the Vijcera, orCa- vities unduly proportion'd.

Thus, many are fubjea to incurable Afthma's, from too fmall a Capacity of the Thorax, and rhe like vitious Confer, mations.

CONFORMITY'. I Sce ^conformists, a "d »>*

CONFORMITY.

Occafional Conformity. See Occasional Conformity.

Conformity, in the Schools, is the Congrucncy, t Relation of Agreement between one thing and anothet : as between the Meafure and the Thing meal'ur'd; the Objetl and the Understanding; the Thing and the Conception; the Thing and the Divifion thereof, igc. See Congruency.

CONFRONTATION, the Aaion of fetting two People in prefence of each other, to difcover the Truth of fome Faa which they relate differently.

The Word is chiefly ufed in criminal Matters; whete, the Witneffes are confronted with the Accufed; the Accufcd with one another, or the Witneffes with one another.

Confrontation of Witneffes, by the Civil Law, is not to be out of Prifon. .

CONFUSION, in its Metaphyseal Senfe, is oppoled to Order; in a Perturbation whereof, Confujion confitis, 1. j, when things prior in Nature do not precede; or pofleriot do not follow, &c. , ,

In a Logical Senfe, Confujion is oppofed to Diftinanefs, or Perfpicuity; and may happen, either in Words, as when mifconflru'd or mifapply'd; or in Ideas, as when the Idea of any thing prefents fomething along with it, which does not properly belong to that thing. See Idea, and Notion.

In a Phyfical Senfe, Confujion is a forr ol Union, or Mix- ture by mere Contiguity. Such is that between Fluids of contrary Nature, as Oil and Vinegar, (gc.

CONFUTATION, in Rhetorick, &c. a Part of an Ora- tion, wherein the Orator feconds his own Arguments, and ftrengthens his Caufe, by refilling and deflroying the oppo- fite Arguments of the Antagonitt. See Oration.

Confutation makes a Branch of what we call the Confir- mation. See Confirmation.

The Confirmation and Confutation are fometimes call'd the Head of Contention.

CONGE, a Licence, or Permiflion, granted by a Superior to an Inferior, which gives him a Difpenfation from fome Duty to which he was before oblig'd.

Thus, we fay, a Woman cannot obligate her felf without the Conge or Licence of her Husband : A Monk cannot go out of his Convent, without the Conge of his Superiors.

The Word is French : Menage derives it irom the IMV Comm atum, ufed for Commeatim, and Commeare, often feen among antient Writers; The Italians fay Congedo.

Conge d'Elire, is the King's Permiflion Royal to a Dean and Chapter, in time of a Vacancy, to chufe a Bifliop. See Chapter, Canon, and Collation.

G'alin obferves, that the King of England, as Sovereign Patron of all Bifhopricks and other Benefices, had antiently the free Appointment of all Ecclefiaftical Dignities; invert- ing, firft, per Sacnliim Sg Annulum; See Investiture.

And afterwards by Letters Parent.

But that, in procefs of Time, he made the Ele^on over to others, under certain Forms and Conditions : As, t hat t ney fhould at every Vacancy, ere they chofc, demand ot tti- King Conge d'Elire, i. e. leave to proceed to Ele&on; ana after Eleaion ro crave his Royal Affent, £fc.

He adds, that King John, was the firft who granted tins, which was afterwards confirmed by Stat. Wefim. and agau Articuli Cleri. f

Conoe, in Architeaure, a Moulding either in form oi» Quarter-Round, or of a Cavetto; which ferves to fef arat two Members from one another. ,

Such is that which joins the Shaft of the Column to the Cinclure, call'd alfo Apophyge; which, in Greek, iigM» Flight; the Column feeming ro arife hence : By the lv *