Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume IV.djvu/198

 190 CENIS CENSOR in 12. From Lanslebourg the track reaches the summit, 4,460 ft. above Saint-Michel, in six zigzags, with a gradient of 1 in 15 to 1 in 12J, in a distance of~6f m. At the summit there is a nearly level run of 5 m., and then begins the descent on the Italian side to Susa, over a line extended to a length of 20 m. by a series of zigzags so continuous that the view changes every moment. The train slides down by its own momentum, and all the mechanical power is applied to the centre brake which checks and regulates the speed. But as this road super- seded Napoleon's carriage road, on which the greater part of the line was laid, so it in turn has been superseded by the Mont Cenis tun- nel railway, completed in 1871. While it was in use travel was occasionally suspended by snow and floods, though wherever there was danger from avalanches the line was thor- oughly protected by covered galleries. The idea of a tunnel through the Alps was con- ceived more than 40 years ago. In 1832 Jo- seph Medail, a peasant of Bardonecchia, pre- sented to the king of Sardinia a plan for con- necting Piedmont and Savoy by a railway tunnel from Bardonecchia to Modane ; and in 1843 this plan, accompanied with many par- ticulars, was approved by the chamber of agriculture and commerce at Chambery. In 1846 the Sardinian government invited the engineer Maus and the geologist Sismonda to prepare designs for making a tunnel through Mont Cenis ; and Mans, turning his attention to creating a machine for cutting rock rapidly, was ready in 1849 to present to the commis- sion at Turin a plan for tunnelling the Alps. The defects of his plan were the cost, want of ventilation, and waste of motive power. Dan- iel Colladon of Geneva discovered more perfect means of ventilation, and also of transmission of force ; and an English engineer, Thomas Bart- lett, invented an ingenious machine for rapidly perforating rocks. These two inventions, modi- fied by the engineers Sommeiller, Grandis, and Grattoni, with further plans of their own, were presented tohe Sardinian parliament in June, 1856, and experiments for perforating the Alps were authorize^ and begun at Coscia. These were so successful that parliament ap- proved the project of the Alpine tunnel, and the work was inaugurated "by the king of Sar- dinia, who fired the first mine Aug. 31, 1857. In October and November piercing by hand was begun at the two extremities, and a large force was also employed in the construction of roads, water channels, magazines, offices, store- houses, and houses for workmen. Tle waters of the Arc on the north side, and of the Mele- zet on the south, were utilized for the hydrau- lic machines which compressed the air supplied to the tunnel. In January, 1861, the perfora- ting machines, worked by compressed air, were introduced on the south side at Bardonecchia, and in January, 1863, on the north side near Modane. The work was carried on success- fully night and day till Dec. 26, 1870, when the two bodies of workmen met and the tun- nel through the mountain was complete. The progress of the perforation, nearly 8 m., was as follows: on the Bardonecchia side, from 1857 to 1861, by hand, 2,379 ft. ; from 1861 to 1871, by machines, 20,851 ; on the Modane side, from 1857 to 1863, 2,866 ; from 1863 to 1871, by machines, 18,886; total for the two en- trances, 39,482 ft. The mechanical means were water-column compressors, pump compressors, and perforating machines. The number of workmen employed was 1,500 in winter and 2,000 in summer at each entrance. "When Savoy in 1860 was annexed to France, an agree- ment was made between the French and Ital- ian governments by which Italy was to execute the entire work within ten years, receiving from France about 32,000,000 francs for one half of the expense. The total cost of con- struction was about 75,000,000 francs, or $15,- 000,000. The Mont Cenis tunnel (improperly so called, as it is 16 m. from the mountain) was opened for railway travel Sept. 17, 1871. The elevation of the southern entrance above the sea is 4,237 ft. ; of the northern entrance, 3,802 ; of the culminating point, 4,247. The tunnel is broad enough for two double lines of rails. The railway does not run in a straight line through the tunnel ; the entrances are left open only for ventilation, and the tracks are laid in junction tunnels, on the south of the length of 2,484 ft., and on the north of 1,488. (See TUNNEL.) CENOBITE (Gr. Kotv6f, common, and /?fof, life), a person who lives in community with others under a common rule. The term is usually applied to the members of some religious asso- ciation who live in common. In very ancient times the Brahmans of India formed such asso- ciations. St. Pachomius established a cwnobium or monastic institution on Tabennoe, an island of the Nile, in the year 340. Those members of religious orders living in cloisters and con- vents were called cenobites, as distinguished from the anchorites who lived in solitude. CENSER, a vessel for burning and wafting incense, used in the celebration of religious rites by the ancient Hebrews, Greeks, and Ro- mans, and still retained in the Roman Catholic church. The Hebrew censer appears to have been a sort of chafing dish, with or without handles, which the high priest carried into the sanctuary or placed on the altar of incense. That used in the Catholic church, also called a thurible, is a vessel shaped much like a goblet, with a perforated lid, swung by long chains, and carried by an acolyte. CENSOR (Lat. cenaere, to estimate), the title of Roman magistrates of high dignity and great influence, instituted in the year 448 B. C. The office was vested in two persons, originally elected for five years, from and by the patrician order; but later changes introduced by the dictator Mamercus, 483 B. C., and afterward, reduced the term of the office to 18 months, and made it attainable by plebeians, of whom