Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume IV.djvu/125

 CATHCART CATHEDRAL 117 to some extent, and if they fail to act upon the bowels may be eliminated in part or wholly by the urine. Some of the others, as senna and scammony, demonstrate their occasional ab- sorption by causing purgation in infants when taken by the nurse. The coloring matter of rhubarb sometimes appears in the secretions. Cathartics are very largely used, both singly and in the most various combinations with each other and with tonics and aromatics, from the natural salines of mineral springs to the numerous quack compounds with which the country is flooded. They are probably more abused than any other class of drugs, since a resort to them is so easy as to often lead to a neglect of highly important hygienic rules. They should never be allowed to take the place of due attention to diet, exercise, and habit. The common use of powerful cathar- tics at the beginning of acute diseases, to " work otf a cold " for instance, is as a rule to be dep- recated. Their use, however, is often neces- sary, not only to relieve constipation, but to withdraw water primarily from the intestinal canal, and secondarily from other parts of the body, as in dropsy, or to control the circula- tion by calling a large amount of blood into the capacious veins and arteries of the abdo- men. The uterus, from its nearness to the bowel, may be injuriously affected by the ac- tion of violent purges. CATHCART, William Schaw, earl, a British gen- eral and diplomatist, born at Petersham, Sept. 17, 1755, died at Cartside, near Glasgow, June 17, 1843. He was the eldest son of the 9th Baron Cathcart, studied law, although without intention of practising that profession, and on the breaking out of the American war entered the British army, where he speedily rose to be aide-de-camp to Gen. Spencer Wilson and Sir Henry Clinton. Subsequently he commanded the 29th regiment of infantry, and finally was appointed quartermaster general. Recalled to England, he joined the Walcheren expedition with the rank of brigadier general. After dis- tinguishing himself at Bommel and elsewhere on the retreat, he returned to England, where he was promoted. In 1807 he took his seat as a representative peer of Scotland. The same year he was appointed commander-in-chief of the troops destined to act against Copenhagen, and on the fall of that city and capture of the Danish fleet was created a peer of England as Viscount Cathcart and Baron Greenock. In 1812 lie was sent as minister plenipotentiary to Russia. The emperor Alexander being then with the army, Lord Cathcart joined him at headquarters, where he remained during the campaigns of 1813 and 1814. He entered Paris with the allied sovereigns, subsequently acted as British plenipotentiary at the congress of Vienna, and was made an earl, June 18, 1814. On the final overthrow of Napoleon he again repaired to Paris and signed the treaty of peace which followed Waterloo. He was afterward for some time minister to Russia. His later years were passed at his country house of Cartside. CATHEDRAL (Lat. cathedra, a seat), a church containing a bishop's throne or seat, the chief church of the diocese. Its usual form is a Lat- in or Greek cross, and it is not distinguished architecturally from the basilica. In the old basilicas there was a transverse hall at the end, not intentionally resembling a cross ; but more modern architects, perceiving the resemblance, changed the position of the transept, making the church cruciform. The church of St. John of Lateran at Rome, founded by Constantino, is the episcopal church or cathedral of the pope, and bears over its chief portal the inscription, Omnium urbis et orbis eeclesiarum mater et caput, " Mother and head of all the churches of the city and the world." At its chief altar none but the pope can read mass, for it covers another ancient altar at which the apostle Pe- ter is said to have officiated. The basilica of St. Peter's at Rome is surpassed by no cathe- dral in antiquity and splendor, and equalled by none in -magnitude. In the year 90 Anacletus, bishop of Rome, who was said to have been ordained by St. Peter himself, erected an ora- tory on the site of the apostle's burial, after his crucifixion. In 306 Constantine built a ba- silica on the spot. In 1450 Nicholas V. com- menced a building on plans of Bernardino and others. Paul II. continued it, and Julius II. secured the services of Bramante, whose plan was a Latin cross and an immense dome on arches springing from four large pillars. The latter died in 1514, and Leo X. appointed Giu- liano Sangallo, Giovanni da Verona, and Ra- phael, who strengthened the pillars for the dome ; but Sangallo dying in 1517, and Raphael in 1520, Leo employed Baldassari Peruzzi, who changed the plan to a Greek cross. Paul III. employed Antonio Sangallo, who returned to Bramante's plan ; but he died very shortly, and the pope appointed Giulio Romano, who also died. The work was then given to Michel An- gelo, then in his 72d year. Paul III. died in 1549, but Julius III. continued Michel Angelo in his place, giving him full authority to change whatever he wished in the building as it then stood. He returned to the Greek cross, and strengthened the piers for supporting the dome. The drum of, the dome was completed before he died in 1563. Pius V. appointed Vignola and Pirro, with orders that they should adhere to Michel Angelo's plans. The present dome, finished in 1590 by Giacomo della Porta, is light- er and higher than that designed by Raphael. Sixtus V. gave 100,000 gold crowns annually to- ward its completion. In 1605 Paul V. employ- ed Carlo Maderno, who changed the ground plan back to the Latin cross. The nave was finished in 1612, the facade and portico in 1614. The church was dedicated by Pope Urban VIII. on Nov. 18, 1626. Under Alexander VII., in 1667, Bernini finished the colonnade. The building of St. Peter's, from its foundation in 1450 till its dedication, occupied 175 years;