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 498 CHIVASSO CHLAMYPHORUS Charles the Bold, were shattered against the ranks of the Swiss pikemen, and the old supe- riority of the knights disappeared. When a few years later firearms were so improved as to become weapons of precision, the value of the knightly armor was wholly destroyed. An arquebusier was more than a match for a knight in the field. The knights laid aside their heavy mail, their long lances, and two-handed swords, and chivalry as a special military or- ganization disappeared. By the end of the 16th century chivalry as an institution had disappeared. The descendants of the French knights became courtiers, more and more dis- solute and effeminate from generation to gen- eration, until the very name of noble was swept away by the revolution. The place of the institution of chivalry in the world's his- tory is clear. It was good in that it partially took the place of something much worse. If men must fight, it is better that the horrors of war should be ameliorated by some rules of amenity. The benefits which chivalry con- ferred upon the world were many and great, and cannot be questioned. For the rest, it is safe to affirm that the general condition of so- ciety in the best parts of Christendom, during the best days of chivalry, was worse than it now is in the worst parts of the civilized world. The literature connected with chivalry runs through all the history, fable, and poetry of the period of its existence. Among the most important modern works relating to it are: Memoires sur Vancienne chevalerie, by De la Curne de St. Palaye (Paris, 1759-'80); Collec- tion historique den ordres de chevalerie, by Perrot (1836) ; Dictionnaire hutoriqtte des ordres de chevalerie, by Gourdon de Genou- illac (1853); Ritterzeit und Ritterwesen, by Busching (Leipsic, 1823); Ritterwesen und die Templer, Johanniter, etc., by Weber (Stutt- gart, 1822-'4) ; especially the very complete Qeschichte des Rittencesens, by Reibisch (Stutt- gart, 1842); the "History of Chivalry," by Mills (London, 1825) ; " Chivalry and the Cru- sades," by G. P. R. James (London, 1825, and often reprinted). Sir Walter Scott's article "Chivalry," in the "Encyclopaedia Britan- nica," almost a volume in itself, gives a graphic sketch of the character of the institution ; and several of his novels, notably "The Talisman," " Ivanhoe," " Count Robert of Paris," " Castle Dangerous," and " Quentin Durward," contain vivid pictures of the manners and habits which prevailed during the age of chivalry. CHIVASSp, or ( hhas (anc. Clavisium), a city of Italy, situated in a fertile plain on the left bank of the Po, on the railway from Turin to Ticino, in the province and 14 m. N. E. of Turin; pop. about 5,000. It has a church dating from 1425, five convents, and the ruins of an ancient castle or palace of the counts of Montferrat. Its trade is chiefly in grain and cattle; it is also celebrated for its lampreys. For a long period it was regarded as the key of Piedmont, and was well fortified, but its de- fences were destroyed by the French in 1804. A few miles below, on the other side of the Po, are the remains of the ancient city of In- dustria, discovered in 1745. CHLADNI, Ernst Florens Friedrieh, a German physicist, born in Wittenberg, Nov. 30, 1 756, died in Breslau, April 4, 1827. Educated for the profession of law, he early left its prac- tice and gave himself to the science of acous- tics. He was especially successful in experi- menting upon the velocity of sound in various bodies, gaseous and solid; and even more so in experiments and calculations on the move- ments of plates of glass when in acoustic vibration. He also distinguished himself by being the first scientific man who defended the popular opinion of the fall of solid bodies from the sky. Chladni was the inventor of the musical instruments called the euphonon and the clavicylinder. His principal works are : Entdeckungen uber die Theorie des Klanges (Leipsic, 1787); Die Akustik (Leipsic 1802; translated into French, Traite d'acoustique, Paris, 1809); Ueber Feuermeteore (Vienna, 1819); Neue Beitrage zur Akustik (Leipsic, 1817); and Beitrage zur Akustik und zur Lehre vom Instrumentalbau (Leipsic, 1822). (See ACOUSTICS.) 4 Hl.PH riloui s. or Chlamydophorns, a name first given by Dr. Ilarlan to a small mammal, a native of Chili, which seems to form a connecting link between the edentates and the insectivora ; it is placed, however, among the former, and by Gray near the armadillo ; its native name is pichiciago. It is about 5^ inches long, the top of the head, back, and hind quarters being covered with 24 rows of plates, of a consistence greater than that of leather ; at the end of the body this covering is suddenly curved down- ward, so that the creature looks as if the body had been here chopped off; hence its name C. truncatus. The lower parts are covered with a soft fur, like that of the mole ; the head is conical ; molar teeth | ; most of the ribs, as in birds, are united to the breast bone without cartilages; the tail is short, strong, curved ChlamyphoniB. beneath the body, and evidently used for re- moving backward the earth accumulated be- tween the limbs during its burrowing; fore limbs strong and mole-like for digging. It lives