Page:Imperial Dictionary of Universal Biography Volume 1.pdf/896

CAG  in one elixir, and the power of making gold in another, and added prodigiously to his own store of the latter commodity. But his connection with Rohan, who was concerned in the famous affair of the diamond necklace, brought him into trouble. He shared the imprisonment and the exile of the cardinal. After spending two years in England, and performing another tour on the continent, in an evil hour he went to Rome, where he was pounced upon by the inquisition, which, making light of his elixirs, condemned him to death—a sentence which was commuted by the pope into perpetual imprisonment. The character in which he was to have suffered death, and in which he underwent captivity, was that of a freemason! His wife, who was shut up in a convent, survived him several years.—J. S., G.  CAGNATI,, an Italian botanist, was a native of Nocera in the kingdom of Naples. He lived during the second half of the 16th century, and wrote a work on gardens, which was published at Basle in 1546.—J. H. B.  CAGNATI,, an Italian physician, was born at Padua, and died about the year 1610. He studied medicine in his native town, and afterwards went to Rome. He has written various medical and botanical works. In his "Four Books of Observations," he has given remarks on the plants mentioned by Hippocrates and Theophrastus.—J. H. B.  CAGNIARD, DE LA TOUR,, Baron, a celebrated French physicist, born at Paris in 1777. He distinguished himself greatly at the ecole Polytechnique; was afterwards attached to the council of state of the ministry of the interior; received the cross of honour in 1815, and the title of baron in 1818; succeeded Gay-Lussac as member of the Academy of Sciences in 1851. Cagniard de la Tour effected many valuable improvements in mechanical and chemical processes. His greatest achievement in engineering is the suspended aqueduct at Crouzol—a bold, original, and most successful work. We are indebted to him for the beautiful sirene, by which, for the first time, the number of vibrations producing the different notes of sound, could be accurately counted. His curious researches and useful inventions find a place in almost every scientific treatise on mechanics and physics.—J. P. N.  CAGNOLA,, Marquis, an Italian architect, born at Milan in 1762; died in 1833. At Rome he received lessons from Tarquini, and soon attained high rank as an architect. Napoleon, for whom he constructed the triumphal arches of Marengo and the Simplon, made him a member of the council of the ancients.  CAGNOLI,, an astronomer of Italian extraction, was born at Zante in 1743. His father, though residing at Zante, discharged the duties of chancellor to the republic of Verona. In 1772 young Cagnoli, in the character of secretary of legation, accompanied Marco Zeno to Madrid, and in 1776 he took up his residence at Paris. It is said that his purpose of devoting himself to astronomy, originated in a view which he obtained of Saturn's ring in the Paris observatory some time in 1780. Having commenced the study in good earnest, and procured the necessary instruments, he went to Verona, and established a kind of observatory at his house. When this town was taken by the French in 1797, he sold his instruments and removed, first to Bresa and then to Modena, where he filled the chair of mathematics in the military school. He subsequently retired to Verona, where he died in 1816. He was a member of nearly all the academies in Europe. His principal works are—"Trigonometria piana e sferica," Paris, 1786 and 1808; "Méthode pour calculer les longitudes géographiques d'après l'observation d'eclipses de soleil ou d'occultations d'étoiles;" "Almanacco con diverse notizie astronomiche, adattate all'uso comune," 1787-1801, 1805-6; "Osservazioni meteorologiche," 1788-96; "Notizie astronomiche, adattate all'uso comune," 1799-1802; "Sezioni coniche," Modena, 1801; "Catalogue de 501 étoiles, suivi des tables relatives d'observation et de mutation," Modena, 1818; "Compendio della Trigonometria piana, ad uso degli aspiranti alla scuola militare in Modena," 1807; numerous articles inserted in the Transactions de la Société Italienne; amongst them, "Nuovo e sicuro mezzo per riconoscere la figura della terra," in vol. vi. of the Transactions, which was reprinted in London by Baily, and noticed in the Philosophical Magazine for May, 1822; "Degli elementi spettanti alla teoria della rotazione solare e lunare," vol. viii. of the Transactions; "Problema sull'equazione dell'orbita e sulla eccentricità de'pianeti," Bologna, 1806.—J. D. E.  CAHANA, R'C., was rector of the then flourishing rabbinical school at Pum-beditha in Babylonia, from 397 to 413. To him is attributed the composition of the "Pesiktha" (agadic, i.e. homiletic exposition of sections of the Pentateuch), frequently mentioned by writers as the Pesiktha of R' Cahana. With numerous additions and corrections, it became known in the ninth century by the name of "Pesiktha Rabbathi" (The Greater Pesiktha); the still existing fragments of which have been published and translated into Latin.—(Fürst, Kultur und Lit. Gesch.) Zunz, however, after a careful analysis of all the vestiges to be found of the above exposition in ancient authors, arrives at the conclusion that the later work is entirely independent of the older Pesiktha, of which nothing is extant save the fragmentary notices in the Midrashim and the Aruch.—(Zunz, Gottesdienstl. Vortr., chap. 11 and 13.)—T. T.  CAHEN,, a French Hebraist and publicist, was born at Metz in 1796. He was educated for the rabbinical office, but, contrary to the wish of his parents, began life as a private teacher in Germany. Having returned to France, he taught some time in the country, and afterwards conducted the consistorial school of Paris from 1823 to 1836. He is the author of an "Easy Method of acquiring the Hebrew Tongue;" of a "Manual of Universal History," &c. But his greatest undertaking was a translation of the bible, and of the documents collaterally related to it. The twentieth and last volume was published in 1851. <section end="896H" /> <section begin="896I" />CAHER-B' ILLAH,, caliph of Bagdad, died in 950. In 929 a revolution placed him on his brother's throne. Three days after Moctader was restored, and reigned till 932, when Caher again ascended the throne. But the emirs soon grew tired of his crimes, and forced him a second time to abdicate. They put out his eyes to prevent his regaining the supreme power. <section end="896I" /> <section begin="896J" />* CAHOURS,, a noted French chemist, born in 1813, was educated at the polytechnic school of Paris. He has lectured on his favourite science successively in the central school of arts and in the polytechnic. Besides a great number of interesting memoirs inserted in the Comptes Rendus, he has published "Leçons de chimie generale elementaire," 1855-56.—J. S., G. <section end="896J" /> <section begin="896K" />CAHUSAC,, a dramatic writer, born of a noble family at Montauban, and died at Paris in 1759. He produced a considerable number of tragic and comic pieces. One of the latter, Zénéide, was for a long time a stock play. Cahusac was fortunate in having his operas set to music, and so rendered temporarily successful, by Rameau, the celebrated composer. He wrote some works of a different kind, among which was a "Treatise on Ancient and Modern Dancing." He also furnished to the Encyclopédie articles on the grand sights of Europe. <section end="896K" /> <section begin="896L" />CAIAPHAS (Receiver), the Jewish high-priest before whom Jesus Christ was tried and condemned ere he was taken before Pontius Pilate. He was created high-priest by Valerius Gratus, Pilate's predecessor, but was deposed by Vitellius, the governor of Syria. <section end="896L" /> <section begin="896M" />CAIET. See. <section end="896M" /> <section begin="896N" />CAIGNIEZ,, born at Arras, April, 1762. His celebrity as a dramatic writer was great in his day amongst the lower classes of the population of Paris, who delighted in the intense emotions excited by his stirring melodramas. From a drama of Caigniez was derived the "Maid and the Magpie," which in various shapes has found its way to every theatre in Europe, and is as a child's nursery tale to big people. He could also soar into such pretty realms of fancy as "The Sleeping Beauty in the Wood," which was the Midsummer's Night Dream of this Boulevard Shakspeare. Notwithstanding the immense popularity of his works, he died in indigence in 1842.—J. F. C. <section end="896N" /> <section begin="896Zcontin" />CAILHAVA, ), a dramatic writer, born near Toulouse in 1731. His genius was first stirred by the general joy excited by the escape of Louis XV. from the attempt on his life by Damiens. While the "well-beloved" Louis yet retained his ascendancy over his people, the news of Damiens' attempt reached the ears of the poetic Toulouse, famous for its floral games and jousts of amorous bards. Cailhava wrote a "Piece de Circonstance," which raised meridional enthusiasm so high, and the author's self-opinion as well, that he set out for Paris with a head full of dramas. But he found that he had to deal with an audience more critical than emotional, and yet his failures were fairly balanced by success. For a while his dramatic career was interrupted by an unlucky <section end="896Zcontin" />