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 136 CAUDEBEC CAUL nominating convention, eacli state being en- titled to the same number of votes as in the presidential election; and similar conventions of that party have been held to nominate can- didates for each succeeding presidential term. The opposition, then known as wbigs, adopted the same policy in 1837, and since that period all nominations for the presidency, by whatever party or fragment of party, have been made by a similar agency. The power of assembling these bodies usually rests with a committee ap- pointed by the previous convention. Besides judging the qualifications of their own members, and. nominating candidates, they assume the power of drawing up party creeds or platforms, as they are called, and of determining, in case of new and important questions, what position the party shall take. CAt'DEBEC, a town of France, in the depart- ment of Seine-Inferieure, on the Seine, 26 m. E. of Havre; pop. in 1866, 9,184. The principal Caudebec. edifice is the parish church, a celebrated Gothic building in the florid style of the 15th century, with a spire 330 ft. high. It has manufactures of cotton and wool, and a brisk trade. It was formerly the capital of the Pays de Oaux, but declined in consequence of the emigration of the Protestants after the revocation of the edict of Nantes. It was taken by the English in 1419, and by the Protestants in 1562. In 1592 it was besieged and taken by a Spanish force under Alexander Farnese. who received a wound beneath its walls which proved fatal. CAUDIXE FORKS (Furcula Caudina, rarely Furccs Caudina or Caudina Fances), two nar- row passes through the mountains of ancient Samnium, affording access from opposite sides to an enclosed plain that lay between them. Most authorities consider them to have been identical with the valley now called the Val d'Arpaja, by which passed the road from Capua to Beneventum ; but this does not at all accord with the description of Livy, and in recent works the most weighty objections have been made to the received theory of their position, several writers contending that the valley of the little river Isclero, a short distance away, is the locality described by the Roman historians. The Caudine Forks are famous for the great disaster which here overtook the Eoman army under Veturius and Postumius in 321 B. C., during the Samnite war. The consuls, misled by a false report that the Samnites were besieging Luceria, an important town of northern Apulia, hurriedly broke ug their camp near Calatia, and prepared to hasten across Samnium to the rescue. The nearest way led through the Caudine passes. Supposing the whole Samnite army to be in Apulia, the Romans without pre- caution entered the first pass, and marched through it without opposition to the plain. When they crossed this, however, and en- deavored to pass out through the second de- file on the opposite side, they found the passage blocked up with stones, trees, earth, and all manner of obstructions. Turning back, they found the gorge by which they had entered filled in the same man- ner. The Samnites now appeared on the sur- rounding heights, and the Romans understood the trap into which they had been led. With but little attempt at resist- ance, they surrendered. The Samnites compelled them all to submit to the disgrace of passing under the yoke (a spear resting across two oth- ers fixed upright in the ground), and took the opportunity of this victory to force the gen- erals to consent to terms of peace, which, although moderate and by no means humilia- ting, the Roman senate declared void, deciding that Veturius and Postumius had exceeded their authority in consenting to them. CAUL (Lat. caula, a fold), a membrane which sometimes envelopes the head of a child when born. It is of interest only for the superstitious feelings with which it has long been regarded. The child that happened to be born with it was esteemed particularly fortunate ; and the pos- session of it afterward, however obtained, was highly prized, as of a charm of great virtue. The superstition is thought to have come from the East; and according to Weston, in his " Moral Aphorisms from the Arabic," there are several words in that language for it. With the French, etre ne coiffe was an ancient proverb, indicative of the good fortune of the individual. The alchemists ascribed magical virtues to it ;