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* CASSIANUS. 289 CASSINO. tause eonsiderod indelicate. For the life and teaching of Cassianus, see the prolegomena of the editions named, and also Lombard (Strass- burg, 1803). CASSIAN WAY. A Roman military road from Rome to Arretiuin, Florence, and Lueea. The period at which it was built is unknown. CAS'SIMERE (Fr. casunir, ultimately de- rived from Skt. Kusniira, Kashmir). A thin twilled cloth, either plain or figured, of wool, or wool and ootton, and much used in the manufac- ture of clothing. Cassimere was formerly known a« I'erxe;/ (q.v. ) or lersei/merc, a name which is itself a corruption of Cassimere. CAS'SIN, John- (1813-69). An American oriuthiilii;;ist, bom near Chester, Pa. Coues says of him: "His distinctive place in ornithol- ogy is this : he was the only ornithologist this country has ever produced who was as familiar with llie birds of the Old World as with those of America." He wrote Mammalogy and Ornithol- ogy of the 'Wilkes Exploring Expedition (1858). He was ornithologist of Perry's expedition to Japan, and with Professor Baird and George N. Lawrence publislied a "ilonograph of Birds of Korth America Xorth of Texas," in United States ^^'ar Department Pacific Railroad lie- ports, Vol. IX. (Washington, 1858) ; The Birds of yorth America (1860) : and Illustrations of the Birds of California, Texas, Oregon, British and Russian America, 1853-55 (1862). CASSINI, kas-se'ne, Giovax>t Do^rENico ( lli2o-1712 I . An Italian -French astronomer, born at Perinaldo. near Nice. He was professor of astronomy at Bologna, and first of the family which for four generations filled the post of di- rector of the observatory in Paris. He deter- mined the motions of Jupiter's satellites from observations of their eclipses, and constructed tables of the same: discovered (1071-84) four of Saturn's satellites and determined their peri- ods of revolution; and determined (16ff4-G7) the rotations of Jupiter. Venus, and ilars. To him is attributed the first systematic observation of the zodiacal light. Cassini made a close approximation (10") to the para I la. of the sun, computed a table of refractions, gave a complete theory of the moon's lil)ration, and gave as the obliquitv of the ecliptic 23° 28' 42", instead of 23V2°, and the eccentricity of the earth's orbit as 0.017, in- stead of Kepler's value, 0.018. Cassini's tiame is also connected with proving that the earth is an oblate spheroid. In pure mathematics he discovered the cune known as the Cassinian oval (q.v.), a cune which, according to Cassini, rep- resented the form of the paths in space followed by the planets. CASSINI, Jacqi-es (1677-1756). A French astron(jiiu'r, son of Giovanni Domenico. He was born in Paris, and, on the death of his father in 1712, succeeded him as director of the obser'a- tory. He wrote several treatises on physical subjects, and in his lie In grandeur et de la fifiure de la terre (1720) attempted to .show that the earth must be a spheroid elongated at the poles. The Newtonians denied this, inas- much as it was opposed to the ascertained facts of gravitation and rotation, which necessitated the earth's being a spheroid flattened at the poles. .Jacques Cassini traveled extensively in Europe, making the acquaintance of the leading scientific men of the time. He was a member of the French Academie des Sciences, and of the Koyal Society of London. CASSINI, Jea:^ Dominique, Count de (1748- 1845). A French astronomer, grandson of Jacques Cassini. He was the fourth member of his family to fill the post of director of the ob- sen-atory of Paris. In 1789 he completed the great topographical map of France begun by his father. CASSIN'IAN O'VAL. A bi-eircular quad- ratic curve, the locus of a moving point the product of whose distances from two fi.xed points is constant. Its Cartesian equation is {x^ + if + a')' — ia'x' — m', where 2a = AB. The polar equation is r' — 2aVcos2 + o' — m' = 0. CASSI.XIAN OVAI» The curve is symmetric with respect to both coordinate axes. If m< a, the real curve con- sists of two ovals; if m =^ a, it becomes the leni- niseate; if m>a, it consists of a single oval. Cassinians are curves of the eighth class, except the lemniscate, which is of the sixth. In the case of two ovals, the eur'e is its own inverse 4 with respect to a circle of radius / ^i ,,^4. The cun-es are fully discussed in Briot et Bou- quet, Geometrie atialytique (4th ed., Paris, 1890; American ed., Chicago, 1890). For biography, consult Brocard, Voies de Bibliographie des courhes geometriques (Bar-le-Duc, 1897). See Cassixi, and Lemxiscate. CASSINO, kas-se'no. A city in south Italy, called San Germano until 1871, on the Rapido, 85 miles southeast of Rome (Map: Italy, HO). The ancient Casinum, like the modern Cassiro, ivas famous for foggy weather. San Germano was a frequent residence of popes and emperors, and in 1230 Gregory IX. and Frederick II. con- cluded peace here. On March 10, 1815, Murat was defeated here by the Austrians. Half a milo to the south are the ruins of an amphitheatro erected at her own expense by f mniidia Quadra- tilla, a Roman lady mentioned by Plinv in his letters (VII., 24). Farther on is'the site of the villa of M. Terentius Varro, where Cicero (Phil. II., 40) says Antony led a riotous life. On a hill above the city is tlie famous monastery of Monte Cassino (q.v.). Population, in 1881 (com- mune), 12,000; in 1901, 1.3,473. CASSINO. A game at cards played by two or more persons. Four cards are dealt to each player, and four are turned face up on the table. After the hands are played, the greatest number of cards counts the holder three, the greatest number of spades one, big casino (the ten of