Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 04.djvu/225

* CARAGLIO. 187 CARAUSI0S. is supposed, from a certain quality of style, to have been a pupil of ilare Antonio Raimondi. For some time he was at the court of Sigismund of Poland, where he became well known as a gem- cutter. About sixty of his plates (on copper), many of them after Raphael, have been preserved. Most of them are excellent in design. CARAMBOLA, ka'ram-br/la (East Indian word). An East Indian fruit, of the size and shape of a duck's egg. but with five acute angles or longitudinal ribs. It has a yellow, thin, smooth rind, and a clear, watery pulp, in some varieties sweet, in others acid, of very agreeable flavor. It is often used in making sherbets, and in tarts and preserves, and is known to the British in India as the Coro- mandel gooseberri). It is one of the most uni- versally cultivated and abundant of the fruits of India. It is produced by the Averrlv^a caram- bola, a small evergreen tree or bush of the order Oxalidacefe or Geraniaceoe, according as these orders are considered, some botanists com- bining them into the latter. The bilimbi, blim- bing, or cucumber tree, so called from the shape of the fruit, is the very acid fruit of another species of the same genus, Aierrhoa iUmbi, also East Indian. Both species are now much cultivated in the tropical parts of America, the first to a limited extent in southern California. Both exhibit an irritability of leaf resembling that of a sensitive plant ; they also display in a remarkable degree the phenomena known to physiologists as the sleep of plants (q.v.). CARAMEL (Fr., from Wed. Lat. calamellus, strictly caita ntellis, cane of honey, but considered to be dim. of Lat. calamus, cane). The name applied to the dark-brown and nearly tasteless substance produced on the application of heat to sugar. It is likewise formed during the roasting of all materials containing sugar, such as coffee, chicory, and malt, and is one cause of the dark color of porter and infusions of coffee. It is largely employed in the coloring of whisky, wines, vinegar, soups, gravies, etc. The name is also given to a kind of confectionery. CARAMNASSA, ka'ram-nas'sa. See Kabam- XASSA. CARANCHO, ka-ran'ch6, or CARANCHA, -cha. See Cabac^ba. CAR'APA (Xeo-Lat., from Guiana caraipi) . A genus of plants of the order Jleliacefe, natives of warm climates. Carapa Guianensis, sometimes called the Anderaba, also the carapa tree, is a large tree with beautiful shining pinnate leaves, which have many leaflets. It is a native of Guiana and the adjacent countries, where its bark has a great reputation as a febrifuge, and the oil obtained from its seeds is much used for lamps. Masts of ships are made of its trunk. The oil, which is called oil of carapa, is thick and bitter and is anthelmintic. Carapa procera, also known as Carapa touloucouna or Guitwensis, an African sjjeeies. yields a similar oil, which is employed by the negroes for making soap, and for anointing their bodies, its bitterness pro- tecting them from the bites of insects, a purpose to which the oil of carapa is also applied in South America. CARAPANOS, ka-ra'pa-n6s, Coxstantine (1840 — 1. A Greek arch^ologist. He was bom at Arta and studied at Corfu and Athens. Af- VoL. IV — i:i. terwards he became attache of the Turkish em- bassy at Paris, but renounced a diplomatic ca- reer to become chief secretary of the SociC'te Generale de I'Empire Ottoman, the first great financial institution to be established in Con- stantinople by the bankers of the country ( 1864). In 1870 he began to devote himself to archaeology, and promoted the investigations which led tti the discovery of the ruins of Dodona, concerning which he wrote the interesting work entitled Dodone ct ses riiines (1878). CARAQUETTE, kar'a-ket'. A port of entry in Gloucester County, Xew Brunswick, Canada, on the Bay of Chaleur (ilap: Xew Brunswick, D 2). It is an ancient Acadian settlement, has a good harbor and important fishing industries. The settlement consists of Upper and Lower Cara- quette. Population of parish, about 4000. CARAT (Fr., from Ar. qirut, pod, husk, carat, from Gk. Kepdnov, keration., fruit of the locust-tree, from K^pas, beras, horn). Originally tlie name given to the seeds of the Abyssinian coral-flower or coral-tree (Erythrina Ahys- siiiica). These, which are small, and very equal in size, having been used in weighing gold and precious stones, carat has become the desig- nation of the weight commonly used for weigh- ing jewels, and particularly diamonds. The seeds of the carob (q.v.) tree have also been said to be the original carat weights of jewelers, but with less probability. Jewelers and assayers divide the troy pound, ounce, or any other weight, into twenty-four parts, and call each a carat, as a means of stat- ing the proportion cf pure gold contained in any alloy of gold with other metals. Thus, the gold of our coinage, and of wedding rings, which contains JJ of pure gold, is called twenty-two carats fine, or twenty-two-carat gold. The lower standard used for watch-cases, etc., which con- tains if of pure gold, is called eighteen carat, and so on. The carat used in this sense has therefore no absolute weight ; it merely denotes a ratio. This, however, is not the case with the carat used for weighing diamonds, which has a fixed weight, equal to 3i troy grains, and is divided into quarters, or 'carat grains,' eighths, sixteenths, thirty - seconds, and sixty - fourths. These carat grains are thus less than troy grains, and therefore the jeweler has to keep a separate set of diamond-weights. CARATHEODORY, ka la'ta'o'do're', Alex- andre. See Karatheodobi, Alexander. CAR'ATHIS. The star-gazing mother of Va- thek in Beckford's romance of that name. CARAUSIUS, ka-ra'shi-us ( t -293). A Roman usurper, who made himself Emperor oi Britain, lie was a native of what is now Bel- gium, and was placed by the Emperor Maximian in command of the Roman fleet at Boulogne. Ho used his office to secure wealth .and power, and connived in the piratical expediti<ms of the Ger- mans against Britain. In 280 Maximian or- dered him to be put to death, but Carausius had already revolted. He went to Britain, secured the allegiance of the Roman soldiers there, and assumed the title of Emperor. For six years he maintained his position, and with his ships commanded the British Channel. After the de- feat of a Roman fleet in 289, Diocletian and Maximian recognized him as co-Emperor, but