Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume IV.djvu/20

 12 CARNOCHAN CARNOT nal, ranging from four in the lioness to ten in the bitch ; the placenta is zonular, surrounding the foetus. The geographical distribution of the carnivora is very extensive, but the largest and most destructive species are confined to the tropics of the old world ; the tiger is lim- ited to Asia, the lion to Asia and Africa, the cougar to America ; the largest bears frequent the arctic regions, and the largest seals the ant- arctic waters. The carnivora fulfil an impor- tant purpose in the economy of nature, by keep- ing in check the increase of the herbivorous animals, whose countless numbers would oth- erwise destroy vegetation, and thus cause their own and a general destruction. Cuvier asso- ciated under the name carnassiers the cheirop- tera, insectivora, carnivora, and marsupials; excluding the latter, which form a sub-class by themselves, many more recent authors adopt a somewhat similar classification. Prof. Agassiz, in his " Essay on Classification," divides mam- mals into three orders, marsupialia, herbivora, and carniwra, the last the highest in the scale. Prof. Owen divides his sub-class gyrencepJiala into the three primary divisions of mutilata (including the cetaceans), ungulata (pachy- derms and ruminants), and unguiculata (carni- vora and the monkeys), the last being the high- est in development; in the unguiculata, the sense of touch is more highly developed through the greater number and mobility of the digits, and the smaller extent of covering with horny matter ; in the carnivora he places the digiti- grades at the head, then the plantigrades, and lastly the pinnigrades ; and among the digiti- grades the felidcR are placed highest, whose retractile claws and long and narrow hind foot make them the most perfect and typical form of the carnivora. CARNOCIIAN, John Murray, an American sur- geon, born in Savannah, Ga., in 1817. His father, who was a Scotchman, sent him when a boy to Edinburgh. After graduating in the high school and university of that city, he re- turned to the United States, and entered the office of Dr. Valentine Mott of New York as a student of medicine. After taking his degree, he again visited Europe, and passed several years in attendance upon the clinical lectures of Paris, London, and Edinburgh. In 1 847 he com- menced the practice of his profession in New York. In 1851 he was appointed surgeon-in- chief of the New York state emigrant hospital. In 1852 he successfully treated a case of elephan- tiasis Arabum by ligature of the femoral ar- tery. In the same year he performed the operation of amputating the entire lower jaw, with disarticulation of both condyles. Inl854 he exsected the entire ulna, saving the 6rm, with its functions unimpaired ; and subse- quently, in another case, removed the entire radius with equal success. In 1856 he per- formed for the first time one of the most start- ling and original operations on record, in ex- secting for neuralgia the entire trunk of the second branch of the fifth pair of nerves, from the infra-orbital foramen, as far as the foramen rotundum at the base of the skull. Amputa- tion at the hip joint he has performed several times ; once in 1864, after the battle of Spott- sylvania. Among his more recent operations are the ligature of both common carotid ar- teries in a case of elephantiasis of the head, neck, and face ; the ligature of the common carotid on one side, and of the external carotid on the other, for hypertrophy of the tongue ; and the tying of the femoral artery for vari- cose veins of the leg and thigh. He has also been successful in the removal of large ovarian tumors. From 1851 to 1863 Dr. Carnochan was professor of the principles and operations of surgery in the New York medical college, and published his lectures on partial amputa- tions of the foot, lithotomy, and lithothrity, and also a " Treatise on Congenital Dislocations " (New York, 1850), and "Contributions to Operative Surgery" (Philadelphia). He has translated SedUlot's TraitS de medecine opera- toire, bandages et appareils, and Karl Rokitan- sky's Handbuch der pathologischen Anatomie. From 1870 to 1872 he was health officer of the port of New York. CARNOT. I. Lazare Nicolas Marguerite, a French statesman and tactician, born at Nolay, Bur- gundy, May 13, 1758, died in Magdeburg, Prus- sia, Aug. 2, 1823. "When only 18 he was made a second lieutenant of engineers; two years later he was first lieutenant ; in 1783 captain, in which year he wrote an essay on aerial navi- gation and a eulogy of V auban, which brought him into controversy with Gen. Montalembert, who caused him to be arrested and confined in the Bastile. He had also published about the same time an Essai sur les machines, in which he demonstrated a new theorem upon loss of motive power, which Arago declared to be one of the greatest and most useful discoveries of the age. He did not at first actively partici- pate in the revolution, although he submitted to the national assembly a memoir with a view to a restoration of the finances. In 1791 he was elected deputy to the legislative assembly by the department of Pas-de-Calais, and de- voted himself assiduously to his new duties. As a member of the committee on military affairs, he greatly contributed to the adoption of the decree ordering a large addition of forces to the national guard ; and it was in accord- ance with his report that, for want of muskets, the new guards were armed with pikes. The efficacy of these weapons was soon tried, Aug. 10, 1792, in the assault against the Tuileries. In the following month he was elected to the convention, and was present on the trial of Louis XVI. ; his vote was recorded in these words : " In my opinion, both justice and good policy require the death of Louis ; but I must confess that never a duty so heavily weighed upon my heart as the one that is now incumbent >n me." He was neither a Girondist nor a montagnard, but upon the fall of the former party he did not hesitate to side with the lat-