CONDESCENDENCE 



CONDITION 



403 



coast, salt water may In- <listillr<l ftai OOndflOMcL 



See DISTILLATION, GAB AND CABER. 



'I'lir Ki .!.< line CIINHKNSKK is an apparatus eoii- 

 si>tiri- e-.i-ntially f two parallel conducting plates, 

 .separated ly a layer of noii -conducting matrrial or 

 dielectric, employed to receive and retain quantities 

 ui i-li-et i icit v greater than either or both of tin- 

 plates would do alone. The simplest and typical 

 form <>i' niinli-MMT is that which was first used liy 

 l-'i.mUin. It i> simply a sheet of glass, C (see 

 fig.), l>otli sides of wnich, excepting a margin at 

 the edges, are covered with tinfoil, 

 A and B. To charge such a con- 

 denser, one of the sheets of tinfoil, 

 say B, is connected with the ground, 

 E (either by some metallic connec- 

 tion or by being placed on the hand 

 of the experimenter), while the 

 sheet, A, remains insulated. If A 

 be now charged with electricity, 

 positive for example, a negative 

 charge is induced on that side of B 

 nearer A, while an equal quantity 

 passes to the ground. Increasing 

 the charge in A induces a corre- 

 sponding increase in B. This pro- 

 cess, although by means of it large 

 quantities of electricity may be 

 accumulated, cannot go on inde- 

 \E finitely ; for on reaching a certain 

 limit, depending on the dimension, 

 &c. of the apparatus, the nature of the dielectric 

 used, and the difference of potential of the two con- 

 ducting plates, either a disruptive discharge (see 

 ELECTRICITY ) takes place, or the charge passes off 

 through the insulating supports of the condenser. 



All the various forms of condensers satisfy the 

 definition given above. One useful form is that in 

 which the two conducting plates are fixed on the 

 ends of brass rods which pass through brass knobs 

 on the tops of two glass pillars, the dielectric in 

 this case being air. The more common form, how- 

 ever, is the Leyden Jar (q.v.). Another is made 

 up of sheets of tinfoil and paraffined paper, 

 placed alternately in layers ; the first, third, fifth, 

 &c. sheets of tinfoil are connected to one terminal, 

 and the second, fourth, sixth, &c. to another. 



The capacity of a condenser is defined to be that 

 quantity of electricity with which one plate must 

 be charged in order to raise its potential by one 

 unit. It can be shown that, in the case of con- 

 densers of the Leyden jar form, the capacity is 

 numerically equal to the product of the outer and 

 inner radii of the coating, divided by the difference 

 of the radii i.e. is greater as that difference is 

 less. Hence the thinner (within certain limits) 

 the glass between the two coatings of such a con- 

 denser, the greater is its capacity. 



Condesceildence, in the judicial procedure 

 of Scotland, is an articulate statement annexed to 

 a summons, setting forth the allegations in fact 

 upon which an action is founded. 



Condillac, ETIENNE BONNOT DE MABLY DE, 

 philosopher, was Ixmi of a noble family at Grenoble, 

 30th Septeml>er 1715. His life was uneventful. As 

 a child his delicate health delayed his progress in 

 education ; but in youth he numbered among his 

 friends Rousseau, Diderot, Dudos. \-c. Many of 

 his works were composed for his pupil, the Duke 

 of Parma, grandson of Louis XIV. ; and he was 

 titular Abbe de Mureaux. He was chosen a 

 member of the French Academy of Sciences in 

 1768. He died on his estate of Flux, near Beau- 

 gency, on August 3, 1780. 



A great part of the Essai sur FOrigine des Con- 

 nnixiitnn-i'x Uumaines (1746), and nearly all the 

 Truite des Systemes .(1749), are occupied with a 



iic against innate ideas and abstract BystemH. 

 lit- expounds his analytic method in the Loaique 

 ( 17NO) and the Art de liuinonner (part of the Court 

 d Etudes, in 13 vols. 1755). The Lungue de* Col- 

 i-iils appeared in 1798. 



In the 'I'l-niii- des Sensation*, Condillac uses hw 

 analytic method to solve the problem of the origin 

 of our ideas and the formation of the mental 

 faculties. He divided philosophical systems into 

 three classes ( 1 ) Abstract systems, ( 2 ) hypothesis, 

 (3) the ' true ' system of Locke, which rests on the 

 facts of experience. But in confounding sensation 

 and perception, and endeavouring \ base all 

 thought on sensation, he departed from Locke, 

 and necame the founder of Sensationalism. To 

 Condillac all reasoning is only a variation of the 

 form of expression. He held that all ideas and 

 mental operations are only transformations of 

 sensation. So he was compelled to put into the 

 primary sensation all that he sought to develop 

 out of it. His curious device of the statue, gradu- 

 ally endowed with the various senses and mental 

 faculties, was for the purpose of isolating sensa- 

 tions. He substituted for the Cartesian test of 

 truth his own criterion of identity. He recognised 

 three kinds of evidence of fact, of feeling, and of 

 reason ; and he affirmed that the same method of 

 analysis is common to all the sciences. Unlike 

 his scholars and followers, the encyclopaedists 

 Diderot, D'Alembert, Holbach, Condillac was not 

 a materialist. 



Le Commerce et le Gouvernement, published in 

 1776, treats economy as the science or exchanges, 

 and has much influenced later economists. Cou- 

 dillac was a strong believer in Free Trade. The 

 first of several editions of his CEuvres Completes 

 appeared in 1798. See monographs by Robert 

 (Paris, 1869) and Rethori (1864), and Lewes's 

 History of Philosophy. 



Condiments, or seasoning agents, are those 

 substances which are employed at table for the 

 purpose of imparting a flavour or seasoning to the 

 ordinary solid or liquid food. The principal condi- 

 ments are saline substances, such as common salt ; 

 acidulous bodies, such as acetic acid or vinegar ; 

 oily condiments, such as butter and olive-oil ; 

 saccharine substances, such as sugar and honey ; 

 and aromatic and pungent condiments, such as 

 mustard, ginger, pepper, and pickles. See 

 DIET. 



Condition means in law a declaration or pro- 

 vision that upon the occurrence of an uncertain 

 event an obligation shall come into force, or shall 

 cease, or that the obligation shall not come into 

 force until a certain event. Such conditions are 

 known respectively as precedent or subsequent, 

 resolutive, and suspensive. Physically impossible, 

 and unlawful conditions in matters of contract 

 annul the obligation to which they are annexed, 

 but in questions under settlements and wills the 

 opposite rule holds, and such conditions are ignored. 

 Conditions in restraint of marriage are considered 

 unlawful only where they are absolute and imposed 

 on persons otherwise entitled to succeed. A potes- 

 tative condition is the technical name for a condi- 

 tion in the power of one of the parties. It is an 

 important doctrine of contract law that if a debtor 

 does anything to prevent the accomplishment of a 

 condition, he becomes liable as if the condition had 

 occurred. Many most important conditions are 

 merely implied e.g. in a marine policy that the ship 

 is seaworthy. In bankruptcy, dividends are set aside 

 to meet conditional obligations. Again, in sales on 

 credit, solvency is an implied condition, and where 

 the buyer is declared insolvent, the seller may refuse 

 to proceed. A good instance of a suspensive condi- 

 tion is that of sale on approbation, or on sale and 



