246 



CHURCHYARD 



CHUSAN 



beadle, &c., and the general conduct of the civil 

 part of parish business. See CHURCH-KATES, 

 PARISH, VESTRY ; and Prideaux's Practical Guide 

 to the Duties of Churchwardens (15th ed. 18.86). 



Churchyard. The churchyard in the earliest 

 days of Christianity was often prior in time to the 

 church itself. The Roman law so strictly protected 

 the area within which stood monuments of the 

 dead from violation, and even from the incidence 

 of those acts of ownership to which other lands 

 were subject, that the Christians found it usually 

 feasible to obtain security for their burial-places, 

 which would have been by no means equally ex- 

 tended to their places of religious assembly. For 

 this reason, and also from personal feeling, they 

 were in the habit of assembling for worship at the 

 tombs of martyrs, and it became usual to erect 

 churches close to these. But where the church 

 was prior in point of time, it was not at first usual 

 to bury within the curtilage or precinct of the 

 building, and the cemeteries were entirely apart. 

 A few instances of interment within the church- 

 yard proper appear as early as the 4th century, 

 but it is not till after the 6th that it became a 

 general custom. The first direct evidence of the 

 formal consecration of a burial-ground is in this 

 same era (Greg. Turon., De Gloria Confessorum, 

 chap. 6), but the usage most probably dates 

 much earlier, because such dedication was custom- 

 ary in respect of all things and persons set apart 

 for religious purposes. The belief in the efficacy 

 of prayers for the dead had much influence in 

 promoting burial within the precincts of churches, 

 as those attending for worship might be expected 

 to pray for those interred close by ; and this 

 reason, adduced by Gregory the Great, was em- 

 bodied in the Canon Law. 



The introduction into England of the custom 

 of burying in churchyards is ascribed to Cuthbert, 

 Archbishop of Canterbury (741-758), and by com- 

 mon law the freehold of the churchyard belongs 

 to the rector of the parish, qualified by the rights 

 of the parishioners, who, in their turn, are bound 

 to repair the fence at their own cost, unless there 

 be a local custom for the owners of adjoining lands 

 to repair so much of the fence as marches with 

 their ground. The trees and grass growing in the 

 churchyard also belong to the rector, but though 

 he may depasture his sheep or cattle there, he 

 is not at liberty to cut down the trees unless 

 to provide timber for repairing the church. Until 

 the enactment of the statute 43 and 44 Viet, 

 chap. 41, no form of burial service except that 

 of the Church of England could legally be us 

 in any churchyard ; but under that act not 

 may be given * to the incumbent or officiating 

 minister, by the representatives of any deceasec 

 person, that they intend the burial to be either 

 without any religious service at all, or with some 

 ' Christian and orderly religious service ' other than 

 that of the Church of England. The widest in 

 terpretation is to be put on this definition, so as 

 to include all services used by any society profess 

 ing to be Christian, but non-Christian rites an 

 specifically excluded from the operation of thi 

 statute. Churchyards, even if closed for purpose 

 of burial, cannot under the existing law be con 

 verted to secular uses, and the freehold continue 

 to vest in the incumbents of the parishes wher 

 they are situated. Any person guilty of violent o 

 indecent behaviour in a churchyard, or disturbing 

 any clergyman conducting a burial therein, is liabl 

 b/22 and 23 Viet. chap. 32, sect. 2, to a penalty o 

 5 or two months' imprisonment, and for damag 

 to any monument or fence, under 24 and 25 Viet 

 chap. 97, sect. 39, to imprisonment not exceedin 

 six months with or without hard labour. Se 

 BURIAL, CEMETERY. 



Churchyard Beetle. See BLAPS. 

 Churl. See CEORL. 



Churns are machines used for the production 

 f butter from cream or from whole milk. By 

 gitation the butter globules are thrown against 

 ach other until after a period which varies in 

 ength with the quality of the butter-fat, the tem- 

 erature, and the condition of 'ripeness,' or incipient 

 cidity of the cream. Churns are of great variety 

 n form and dimensions, from the ladies' glass hand 

 burn producing a few ounces of butter at a time, 

 o one driven by water, steam, or horse-power, and 

 burning the whole milk of a dairy at one opera- 

 ion. The plunge churn or thump churn is one of 

 he oldest and most simple varieties. The common 

 upright hand churn seen in country places is per- 

 haps the best known form of it, but the principle 

 s equally applicable to larger churns. The box 

 :hurn, either oblong or cubical, is stationary like 

 ,he latter, the action being brought about by 

 dashers' or 'works' made to revolve on a hori- 

 zontal spindle passing through its centre. 



Revolving churns, taking the shape of a box or 

 barrel, are supported from two points on a rigid 

 framework, so that the whole body of the churn is 

 turned round at the rate of forty to fifty revolutions 

 >er minute by a crank handle after the fashion of 

 in ordinary grindstone. Sometimes the motion is 

 a simple rotatory one, as when the barrel is sup- 

 Dorted from the centre of both ends, giving it the 

 position of a barrel rolling on the ground. It may 

 ilso be hung from two corresponding points, one on 

 each side, and occupy an upright position while at 

 rest. The action is then called 'end over end.' 

 An eccentric motion is given by hanging the body 

 unevenly. These churns also contain ' dashers ' or 

 'diaphragms' which increase the agitation of the 

 cream. Their great advantage is the ease with 

 which they can be worked a matter of first import- 

 ance where hand labour is employed. Swinging or 

 'cradle' churns are increasing in favour, because 

 they are so extremely easily worked, inexpensive, 

 and simple, and because they contain no movable 

 ' dashers,' which demand much care and labour in 

 keeping them sweet and clean. The body, con- 

 sisting of an elongated box, may be suspended 

 by four chains or thin iron rods, or it may be 

 carried on four flat, flexible iron supports. It is 

 pushed so that it swings backwards and forwards, 

 giving the cream within a course which assumes 

 the form of the figure 8. The Holstein churn is 

 upright and rigid. Its dashers, which are attached 

 to a perpendicular shaft, are worked at high speed. 

 With these churns the temperature of a cream may 

 be kept nearly 10 F. lower than in ordinary ones, 

 and churning at 50 F. (even in summer) produces 

 firmer and better butter. See BUTTER, DAIRY. 



Churrus, the resinous exudation found in leavea 

 and stems of Indian hemp, the important element 

 in the preparation of Hashish (q.v.) or bhang. See 

 HEMP. 



ChUSan', the principal of the group of islands 

 known as the Chusan Archipelago, lies about a 

 mile off the east coast of China, opposite Nmgpo. 

 It has an area of over 230 sq. m., and a pop. of 

 200 000 to 250,000 ; and although mountainous in 

 the' centre, it is generally fertile, and everywhere 

 carefully cultivated. Ting-hai, the capital, a 

 walled town about 3 miles in circumference, is, 

 from its position on the route between Canton 

 and Peking, close to the great ports of Shanghai 

 and Ningpo, a place of both strategic and com- 

 mercial importance, and its land-locked harbour is 

 a busy shipping centre. There are few manufac- 

 tures, but its carved work and silver wares are in 

 repute, and cordage, matting, and fans are ex- 

 ported. It was taken by the British in 1840, and 



