Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 5.djvu/197

Rh Cassini. After his father s death he became director of the Observatory at Paris, and was also appointed to the post of maitre dt-s comptes. His work, like his father s, was purely that of an observer, and he does not appear to have hid any adequate knowledge of the state of philosophic thought in his own science. Though he had some personal acquaintance with Newton he does not seem to have under stood his theories, and he was quite ignorant of the discoveries of nutation and the aberration of light. Nevertheless, largely on account of his father s fame, he enjoyed a high reputation throughout Europe.

or (1714- 1781), was son of the preceding, whom he succeeded in both his appointments. Like his father and grandfather, he was a patient and accurate observer, but such work by itself no longer brought renown. He published Eltmens d Astronomie (1740); but his most important work was his topographical map of France, which was completed by his son.

, Count de Thury (1748- 1845), son of the preceding, completed the line of Cassinis, who for a hundred and twenty-two years filled the post of director of the Observatory at Paris. He appears to have held more philosophical views than his predecessors ; but his plans to improve the Observatory, by obtaining larger instruments, and by other means, were cut short in 1793. Tn that year the National Assembly decreed that three of his pupils should be united with him in his office, an arrangement to which he refused to submit. Next year he was in consequence imprisoned for seven months ; and after this he abandoned astronomy, and spent the rest of his life in retirement. The chief events of his life as an astronomer were the voyage which he undertook to test the chronometers of Le Roy (1769), and his association with Mechain and Legendre in the work cf connecting the observatories of Paris and Greenwich by means of a chain of triangles (1779).  CASSIODORUS,, a Roman his torian, statesman, and monk, was born at Scylaceum (Squillace), about 468. According to his own statement, he began public life under Odoacer as head of financial affairs, with the title of Comes sacrarum largitionnm. By Theodoric he was raised to the highest offices ; and, while the Ostro-Gothic power lasted, notwithstanding the in trigues which surrounded the throne, he continued (with tho exception of a short period of retirement at the tyrannous close of the reign of Theodoric), to regulate the affairs of the Western empire, and to support it by alliances with the Eastern. After the triumph of Belisarius, he retired, at seventy years of ago, to the monastery of Viviers, which he had founded in his native province of Bruttium, where he spent about thirty years of far more importance to the world than the fifty during which he held the highest political authority. He deserves to be reckoned as one of the first and most influential of those who set the monks to literary work, and thus preserved the continuity of ancient and modern learning. He has also left a number of books, as the De Artibus ac Disciplinis Liberalium Literarum, the De Institutione Divinarum Literarinn, and the De Arte Grammatica, which were much valued and used in the Middle Ages. But the work which is most valuable to us is his Variarum E pistol arum Libri XII., which contains the decrees of Theodoric, and of his successors, Amalasontha, Athalaric, Theodatus, and Vitiges, and is the best source of our knowledge of the Ostro-Gothic empire in Italy. The writings of Cassiodorus evince great erudition, in genuity, and labour, but are disfigured by incorrectness and an affected artificiality, and his Latin partakes much of the corruptions of the age. His complete works were published by Garet, with an account of his life, at Rouen, 1679, and Venice, 1729. See also Sainte Marthe s Vie de Cassiodore (Paris, 1694), and De Buat s account in the Transactions of the Royal Academy of Munich, vol. i.  CASSIS, a small seaport-town of France, in the depart ment of Bouches-du-Rhone, stands in a narrow valley on the Mediterranean, 10 miles south-east of Marseilles. Its harbour is small, but it has some building yards, and a considerable trade in fruits and muscatel wine. The lighthouse is situated in 42 12 50&quot; N. lat. and 5 31 54&quot; E. long. The town is supposed by D Anville to occupy the site of the Roman Carsicis Portus. It was destroyed by the Lombards in 573, but rebuilt in its present situation in the 13th century. The Abbe&quot; Barthelemy was born here in 1716. Population in 1872, 2976.  CASSIUS LONGINUS,, is best known in history as one of the leaders in the assassination of Julius Caesar. Little is known of his early life. In 53 B.C. he served in the Parthian campaign under Crassus, and dis played great courage and skill. He succeeded in bringing oft a division of the army nfter the defeat of Carrhae, and in the following year, 52 B.C., the government of tho province having fallen into his hands, he was able, by cautious and skilful dispositions, to drive back the Par- thians. In 61 B.C. he was compelled to retreat before a large force of the Parthians under Osaces and Pacorus, but managed to throw himself into Antioch, a strongly-fortified town, which the invaders found impregnable. They were compelled to retreat, and Cassius, pursuing them rapidly, gained a complete victory. He returned to Rome soon after, with a large fortune, and in 49 B.C. became tribune of the plebs. He at first united his fortunes with those of Pompey, but after Pharsalia he surrendered to Caesar, and was treated by him with great generosity. He was made one of the legates, and in 44 B.C. became prsetor peregrinus with the promise of the Syrian province for the ensuing year. Ha does not seem, however, to have been at all conciliated by these favours. He was one of the busiest of the conspirators against his benefactor, and took an active part in the assassination on the Ides of March. Brutus and Cassius soon afterwards left Italy, and gathered together their forces in Macedonia and Syria. They succeeded in overcoming the slight opposition that was offered them in the provinces, and after taking Rhodes, united at Sardia to make a stand against the second triumvirate. They took up their position at Philippi, where they were attacked by Antony and Octavianus. Tho division under Cassius was defeated, and Cassius himself, thinking all was lost, commanded his freedman to slay him. He was buried at Thasos.  CASSOWARY (Casuarius), a genus of Struthious Birds, only inferior in size to the ostrich, and, according to Professor Owen, approximating more closely than any other living birds to the extinct moas of New Zealand. Not many years ago only a single species of cassowary was known, but recent researches among the Australasian islands have led to the identification of at least other four species. They are all characterized by short rudimentary wings, consisting of four or five barbless shafts, a few inches long, and apparently iiseless for purposes of flight, of running, or of defence ; and by loosely webbed feathers, short on the neck, but of great length on the rump and back, whence they descend over the body forming a thick hair- like covering. They possess stout limbs, with which they kick in front, and have the inner toe armed with a long powerful claw. The Galeated Cassowary (Casuarius galcatus) stands 5 feet high, and has a horny, helmet-like protuberance on the crown of its head ; the front of the neck is naked and provided with two brightly-coloured wattles; the tail is not apparent. It is a native of the Island of Ceram, where it is said to live in pairs, feeding 