Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume III.djvu/532

 526 CABIKI At these meetings the president presides. The cabinet, however, as a hody of councillors, has no necessary place in the constitutional system of the United States, and each president will accord to it such weight and importance in his admin- istration as he shall see fit. The president, not the cabinet, is responsible for all the measures of the government ; and whatever is done by one of the heads of departments is considered as done by the president through the proper executive agent. In this fact consists an im- portant difference between the executive of Great Britain and that of the United States ; the acts of the former being considered those of his advisers, who alone are responsible therefor, while the acts of the advisers of the American executive are regarded as directed and controlled by him. In the United States, also, there is no premier, no leading member of the administration by whom the others are selected, but the president selects them all ; and though the position of secretary of state has generally been regarded as the leading one, yet this must depend very much upon the na- ture and relative importance of the questions with which the particular administration has to deal, and the incumbent has not in the cabi- net a recognized superiority over the other members. The members of the American cab- inet cannot under the constitution have seats in congress ; while those of the British cabinet are usually members of parliament, and must be newly elected on taking office. Another important difference between the British sys- tem and the American is that there is no con- stitutional principle in the latter which requires the cabinet to be in accord with the congress, or with either house thereof. The president selects for his chief advisers those who con- cur in his views, and he is not expected to change them because the opposition may be strong enough to defeat his measures in con- gress. It has frequently happened that the president's friends have for a considerable pe- riod been in a minority in one or both houses of congress. CABIRI (Gr. 'Kdpmpot), certain divinities an- ciently worshipped in Egypt, Phoenicia, and Greece. Little is positively known respecting them. In Egypt there appear to have been eight ; in Greece three, and perhaps more, who have been identified by some with Ceres, Pro- serpine, and Pluto, or with Jupiter, Minerva, and Mercury, and sometimes with Castor and Pollux and other divinities. The name is probably derived from the Semitic kabir (great), a title especially given to Astarte, the Phoenician Venus. They were sometimes called sons of Vulcan, on account of their being proficients in the art of metallurgy. They are represented as dwarfs with protu- berant bellies. Sometimes they are repre- sented as kindly, sometimes as malevolent. The rites of the Cabiri were solemnized in secret every year, and lasted for nine days. At Lemnos they were celebrated in the night, CABLE women and children as well as men being admitted. The postulants underwent an ex- amination as to their previous life, and were purified of all their crimes, even if they had committed murder. At Lemnos, during the nine days and nights, all fires on the island were extinguished, sacrifices were offered to the dead, and a sacred vessel was sent to Delos io bring back fresh fire; the Cabiri being supposed to accompany the vessel, upon the return of which the pure fire was distrib- uted, and a new life was entered upon free from all past stain. There are indications that in some places the rites were attended with obscene orgies. The principal places in which the Cabiri were worshipped were Lemnos, Samothrace, Imbros, Thebes, Anthedon, Per- gamus, Berytus, and Memphis. The Cabiri and their rites form one of the most perplex- ing subjects connected with Greek mythology. CABLE, a strong rope or chain. The name has of late years been applied also to slender ropes used for telegraphic purposes, very likely on account of their great length. Cables are occasionally used to close the entrance of har- bors, but most generally they serve to connect ships with their anchors. The greatest im- provement ever made in the .mooring of ves- sels is the substitution of the chain cable for the hempen one. A chain is much less bulky and much more pliable than a hempen cable of the same strength ; it is consequently stored in much less space, and is handled more easily. On account of its great bulk, a hempen cable loses much of its weight in the water, and con- sequently assumes a position much less curved than a chain. The great curvature of a chain makes it yield and play as if it were elastic when the vessel gives sudden jerks, and thus the strain upon a chain from this cause is nev- er so great as upon a hempen cable. On a rocky bottom a chain will simply be polished bright by attrition, where a hempen cable would be cut in a few minutes. AYhen the bottom is strewn with heavy stones, or with projecting points of rocks, round which the cable winds itself during the various evolutions of the ship caused by winds and tides, a hemp- en cable is often cut, or at least greatly injured, while a chain cable does not suffer in the least, on account of its power of resisting side strain. On board vessels, the cables are named after the anchor with which they are used. The largest is called the sheet-anchor cable, used at sea; the next in size is the stream-anchor cable, used in rivers. Cables are made of va- rious lengths, according to their size and to the service they are intended for. A cable's length is a measure of distance used by sailors, and is equal to 120 fathoms. Hempen cables are large ropes of the kind denominated cable- laid. The fibres of hemp are first twisted into yarn ; a number of yarns are twisted together into a strand ; three or four strands are twist- ed into a rope denominated plain-laid ; three or four ropes, used as strands, are twisted to-