CHEST 



the principal are consumption, pneumonia, plem i-\ , 

 and Worn-nit is. These are treated in special article-. : 

 ami for the diM-a.-,e> of tin- heart ami other organs 

 of the chest, >ee HI.VKT, AOHTA, (Ksoi'liAui s, 

 A.- The examination of the chest in disease is 

 large I \ conducted by Auscultation (q.v.) and 



|V;cil ion (q.V.). Fiir measurement roinn! the 



see MAN. See also DIAGNOSIS. 



CHKSTKK 



167 



Chest, MILITARY, is a technical name for the 

 money urn I negotiable securities carried with an 

 army. ami intended to defray the current expenses. 

 In i In- British army it is in the charge of officers of 

 the Army Pay Department. CHEST AT CHATHAM 

 was the name of a fund for maimed and super- 

 annuated seamen, administered at Chatham from 

 I. ">!>o till 1803, and subsequently at Greenwich, 

 till superseded by the regular naval pension 

 system. 



Chester, an ancient episcopal city, municipal 

 and parliamentary Ixirough, and river-port, the 

 capital of Cheshire, on the right bank of the Dee, 

 22 miles from the mouth of its estuary, 16 miles 

 .SE. of Liverpool, and 179 miles NNW. of London. 

 Chester is one of the most picturesque towns in 

 England. It stands on a rocky sandstone height, 

 Ami is still surrounded by the entire circuit of its 

 ancient walls, nearly 2 miles round, 7 or 8 feet 

 thick, and forming a promenade with parapets, 

 where two persons can walk abreast. The ancient 

 .gateways have been all rebuilt. The castle, with 

 the exception of ' Ceesar's Tower,' has been removed, 

 its site being occupied by barracks and county 

 buildings. The Dee is crossed by 

 two bridges, the old picturesque 

 bridge of seven arches, and the new 

 or Grosvenor Bridge, with a noble 

 single arch of stone 200 feet in 

 length ( see BRIDGE, Vol. II. p. 437 ). 

 The two main streets cross each 

 other at right angles, and were 

 cut out of the rock oy the Romans 

 4 to 10 feet below the level of the 

 houses. These streets exhibit the 

 curious arrangement called the 

 ' rows : ' the front parts of their 

 second stories, as far back as 16 

 feet, form a continuous paved 

 promenade or covered gallery, 

 open in front, where there are 

 pillars and steps up from the 

 street below, with private houses 

 above, inferior shops and ware- 

 houses below, and the chief shops 

 of the town within. There are a 

 considerable number of the pic- 

 turesque old timber houses of the 

 16th century, and many of the 

 more modern buildings are in 

 the same style of architecture. 

 Chester Cathedral is an irregular massive struc- 

 ture of crumbling sandstone, 375 by 200 feet, with 

 a massive tower of 127 feet. It was formerly 

 the church of the abbey of St Werburgh, which 

 for 650 years was one of the richest in England. 

 It became a cathedral church after the dissolution 

 of the monasteries. It is of various dates from 

 Norman to Late Perpendicular, its most strik- 

 ing feature being the fine Perpendicular window 

 of the west front. The building has undergone 

 extensive restoration under the direction of the 

 late Sir Gilbert Scott. A part of St John's Church, 

 -a ruined Norman edifice, has lately been restored. 

 It was a cathedral church for some years during 

 Ihe llth century, when the See of Lichfield was 

 temporarily transferred to Chester. The present 

 "bishopric of Chester dates from the reign of Henry 

 "VIII. Other public buildings are the town-hall, 



tin (Jrosvenor Hotel, the general poftt-office, the 

 free library, and the music-hall. Suburb** of villa* 

 have recently arisen outside tint walls ; ami a public 

 park wax opened in ),S<>7. On the common called 

 the lioodee there in a racecourse. The huge rail- 

 way station, with a frontage of 1010 feet, i- the 

 centre of several important railways. Chester has 

 manufactures of lead, oil, and chemical*, iron- 

 foundries, and an iron-shipbuilding yard. The 

 making of boote and shoes i an important 

 industry. The navigation of the Dee has lately 

 been greatly improved. The chief export* are 

 cheese, copper, cast-iron, and coal. Pop. ( 1851 ) 

 27,756 ; ( 1871 ) 35,257 ; ( 1881 ) 36,788 ; ( 1891 ) 37,105. 

 The city is a county in itself. It has returned 

 member- to parliament since the reign of Henry 

 VIII., but by the Distribution of Seats Act, 1885, 

 it lost one of its two members. 



Chester was Deva or Devana Castra, an im- 

 portant Roman station, and has yielded many 

 Roman remains as masonry, coins, inscriptions, 

 fibula;, altars, a hypocaust, and a statue of Pallas. 

 The British name was Caerleon : Chester, alone or 

 in composition, represents the Anglo-Saxon Ceuster, 

 from tne Roman Castra. After the departure of 

 the Romans it was held by Britons, Saxons, and 

 Danes ; and in 605 was laid utterly waste by Ethel- 

 frith of Northumbria. It remained an incfosure of 

 waste walls occupied at times, as in 894, bv a body 

 of marauding Danes, till in 908 it was rebuilt by 

 Ethelred of Mercia ; and prosperity came after 

 942. Chester was the last place in England that 

 held out against William the Conqueror ; not till 



In the Rows, Chester. 



its capture (1070) was the duke really king of 

 England. Henry Lupus, nephew of the Conqueror, 

 was created Earl of Chester, and until the time of 

 Henry III. the Earls of Chester had their own 

 courts and parliaments at Chester, with eight 

 subfeudatories and the superiors of the great 

 religious houses, Cheshire Doing then a county 

 palatine. On the death of John, Earl of Chester, 

 Henry III. made his eldest son Earl of Chester, 

 and since that time the title has usually been held 

 along with that of Prince of Wales by the eldest sons 

 of English sovereigns. Llewelyn ravaged Chester 

 in 1255. The twenty -five famous Chester mysteries 

 or religious plays oy Randle, a monk (1250-60), 

 were acted in 'the* church.. After a long and 

 memorable siege (1643-46), the inhabitants, who 

 held out bravely for the king, were starved into 

 surrender. A projected Fenian attack on the 



