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 CANTON loss, Dec. 29, 1857. The place was occupied as a material guarantee for the payment of an indemnity of 666,000 in equal proportions to the English and French. It was evacuated by the allies on Oct. 21, 1861, and possession handed over to the viceroy of the province. Since this last capture by the allies, the open- ing of other ports for foreign trade has dimin- ished the relative importance of Canton. Its import trade has also suffered from the levy of additional imposts to defray the expenses caused the government by the Taeping rebel- lion. The Canton merchants are getting more and more of the trade into their hands, going to Hong Kong to purchase, and carrying the goods to the various ports in native junks. In consequence there has been a great falling off in cotton and woollen manufactures, and also in opium, the value of which in 1866 was $1,322,866, against $2,290,234 in 1863. CANTON, John, an English savant, born at Stroud, Gloucestershire, July 31, 1718, died March, 22, 1772. In March, 1737, he went to London, where he engaged as an assistant in the school in Spital square, and after a few years succeeded to the mastership. In 1745 the discovery of the Leyden vial turned his at- tention to the subject of electricity, in which he made several valuable discoveries, almost simultaneously with Franklin. He was the first in England to verify Franklin's hypothesis of the identity of dynamic electricity and light- ning (July, 1752). In March, 1750, he submitted a paper to the royal society on the method de- vised by himself of constructing artificial mag- nets, which procured him an election to a mem- bership of the society, and an award of a gold medal. Papers on the possible elevation of rockets, the phenomena of shooting stars, the electrical properties of the tourmaline, the va- riation of the needle, with appended obser- vations for one year, and the compressibility of water with details of experiments, followed each other in quick succession from 1753 to 1762, and brought him in 1765 a second medal from the royal society. The last paper which he submitted to the society was to prove that the luminousness of the sea arises from the putre- faction of its animal substances. His papers are in the "Philosophical Transactions," and in accounts of new experiments in Priestley's histories of electrical and optical discoveries. CANTON RIVEE (Chinese, Choo-Uang, or Pearl river), the lower part of the Pe-kiang, a river of China flowing through the province of Quang-tung. Opposite the city of Canton, and for some distance below, it is filled with small islands, planted with rice, and defended by a number of forts. It is here crowded with shipping, and deep enough to admit vessels of 1,000 tons burden. The ships of foreign na- tions, however, discharge and receive their cargoes at Whampoa, a place 12 m. lower. At a point about 40 m. below Canton the river expands into an estuary 20 m. wide, and takes the name of Boca Tigris. CANUTE 731 CANTU, or Cantnrlo, a town of N. Italy, in the province and 5 m. S. E. of Como, situated in a beautiful region on the Brianza; pop. of the commune about 7,000. It is walled and en- tered by six gates. The fine bell tower of the parish church, with its projecting battlements, was used as a beacon in the middle ages, and then corresponded with that upon the neigh- boring Mt. Baradello. In the vicinity are some iron works. CANTU, Cesare, an Italian historian, poet, and philosopher, born in Brivio, Sept. 5, 1805. He was educated at Sondrio, where he taught belles-lettres, resided afterward in Como, and next at Milan till 1848. One of his earliest works, entitled Ragionamenti sulla storia lom- laraa del secolo XVII. (21st ed., 1864), brought upon the author the animadversion of the Aus- trian government, which condemned him to a year's imprisonment. During his confinement he composed a historical romance, Margherita Pusterla (Florence, 1845 ; 36th ed., 1864). His great work, Storia vniversale, appeared first in 1837, at Turin. It was revised and reprinted at Palermo and Naples (9th ed., 35 vols., Turin, 1864), and translated into German and French. The work consists of the narrative, followed by volumes of documentary history and various illustrative essays by the author, and concludes with tables and appendices giving a resume of the whole work. Cantu possesses a critical spirit, and in his judgments on literary and po- litical characters he seeks to be just as well as independent. He is a friend of liberty, and has suffered in its cause ; yet he is a devoted admirer and practical follower of the doctrines of the Roman Catholic church. All these traits com- bine to give a peculiar character to his history, and render it both interesting and important. His religious lyrics are found in all popular collections of that kind of poetry, and are much esteemed by his countrymen. Among his other works are : Storia di Como (2 vols., Como, 1829); Parnasso italiano: Poeti ita- liani contemporanei, maggiori e minori (Paris, 1843) ; Algixo, o la Lega lombarda (Milan, 1846) ; Letture giovanili (4 vols., published about the same time), devoted to popular education; Storia degli Italiani (6 vols., Turin, 1854); Storia delta letteratura latino, (1863) ; Storia della letteratura greca (1863) ; Storia della letteratura italiana (Florence, 1864) ; II tempo de 1 Francesi (Naples, 1864) ; OH eretici d 1 Italia (3 vols., Turin, 1866); Buon senso; and Porto- foglio (Pun operajo (Milan, 1867). Cantu was obliged to leave Milan at the time of the insur- rection of 1848, but subsequently returned, and devoted himself to historical and philosophical studies. In 1869 he was elected a correspond- ing member of the French academy of moral sciences. CANUTE, or him), the Great, the second king of Denmark of that name, and first Danish king of England, born in Denmark about 995, died at Shaftesbury in 1035. He was the son of King Sweyn, whom he accompanied in his