444 CONTINENTAL SYSTEM 



CONTRABAND OF WAR 



nearer the east ; Australia, more extreme, has the 

 main watershed lying close to the east coast. In 

 the two Americas there is a high western mountain- 

 ridge or plateau running from north-west to south- 

 east, ancT a low range on the eastern coast, leaving 

 great central low plains watered by large rivers. 

 The interior of a continent has usually a very low 

 rainfall (see DESERT), and is subject to great ex- 

 tremes of temperature between summer and winter, 

 and between day and night, hence the term con- 

 tinental climate. Land and sea breezes and the 

 monsoons of tropical coasts (see MONSOON) result 

 from this circumstance. 



Continental System, the name given to 

 Napoleon's plan for shutting England out from 

 all connection with the continent of Europe. This 

 system began with Napoleon's famous 'Berlin 

 Decree ' of November 21, 1806, which declared the 

 British Islands in a state of blockade, and pro- 

 hibited all commerce and correspondence with 

 them ; all merchandise belonging to an English- 

 man became a lawful prize, and all trade in English 

 goods entirely prohibited. No ship coming direct 

 from Britain or from a British colony was allowed 

 to enter any port. 



Britain was not long in making reprisals. By 

 an ' Order in Council,' issued January 7, 1807, all 

 neutral vessels were prohibited from entering any 

 port belonging to France or her allies, or under her 

 control. Every neutral vessel violating this order 

 was to be confiscated with its cargo. Still more 

 oppressive for neutral commerce was a second order 

 in council of November 11, 1807, by which all har- 

 bours and places of France and her allies in Europe 

 and the colonies, as well as of every country with 

 which England was at war, and from which the 

 English flag was excluded, were placed under the 

 same restrictions as if strictly blockaded. These 

 orders were followed by new French measures. 

 By the Milan Decree of December 17, 1807, 

 strengthened by a second of January 11, 1808, from 

 the Tuileries, any vessel, of whatever nation, that 

 had been searched by an English ship, had sub- 

 mitted to be sent on a voyage to England, or paid 

 any duty to the English government, was to be 

 declared denationalised, and treated as English. 



Most of the countries of Europe were coerced by 

 Napoleon into joining the continental system. The 

 great war of 1812 against Russia was largely owing 

 to her refusal to adhere to it any longer. It was 

 a violent interruption of human intercourse, which 

 could not last long, and could only serve to 

 strengthen the hatred of Europe against French 

 tyranny. Accordingly, with the breaking up of 

 Napoleon's power, the continental system fell to 

 the ground. The policy of England in connection 

 with the continental system can be justified only 

 on the ground that it was necessary to avert a 

 supreme national danger. It was not without its 

 mischievous results, for the measures adopted in 

 regard to neutral commerce led to the American 

 war of 1812. 



Contorted Strata are beds which are highly 

 folded, plicated, and twisted the folds being ex- 

 tremely irregular, and giving rise to rapid changes 

 in the direction and angle of inclination. Con- 

 torted strata are frequently crumpled and puckered 

 the fossils and pebbles which they may chance 

 to contain being compressed, flattened, and dis- 

 torted facts which show that the beds have been 

 subjected to great crushing and squeezing. 



Contour. When, on a map of any district or 

 country, a line is drawn through points on the 

 earth's surface which are all at the same height 

 above mean sea-level, the curve so obtained is 

 termed a contour-line. For equidifferent altitudes 

 a series of such lines may be drawn. It is obvious 



that they may be ideally laid down by projecting 

 orthographically on the map the sections of the 

 earth's surface made by a series of horizontal planes- 

 at equal distances apart ; or ( what is the same 

 thing) were the sea-level to rise 100 feet, then to- 

 200 feet, and so on, above its normal level, the sea- 

 margins made at each successive rise would be the 

 contour lines of the district for 100 feet, 200 feet, 

 &c. These lines, which are drawn on British Ord- 

 nance Survey maps for intervals of usually 50 feet, 

 however they may vary in form in different cases, 

 have certain common properties which render them 

 of assistance to the surveyor, engineer, and geo- 

 grapher. Suppose, for example, the case of a 

 hemispherical hill be taken (see fig.), and that the 

 contours (which are, in this 

 case, concentric circles) are 

 drawn for each 100 feet of 

 altitude. It will be noticed 

 that where the distance be- 

 tween the two successive con- 

 tours is least, there the hill is 

 the steepest ; for, in ascending 

 the hill at that part, a given 

 length inwards horizontally is 

 accompanied by the greatest 

 vertical ascent. In other words, the steepness of 

 slope or gradient at any point in any given direc- 

 tion is inversely as the distance between the con- 

 tours at that point in the given direction. The 

 line of steepest slope at any point is therefore the 

 shortest line which can be drawn to the next con- 

 tour which it cuts at right angles. This is the 

 course which would be taken by water running 

 down the hillside, and hence is termed a stream- 

 line. Thus in any given system of contour-lines- 

 the corresponding system of stream-lines can be ob- 

 tained by drawing a system of orthogonal curves. 



The method of contours has found many applica- 

 tions in science besides the one already detailed. 

 Especially in meteorology has it been of service ; 

 here isothermals and isobars drawn on a map are 

 simply lines drawn through points having the same 

 temperature and barometric pressure respectively ; 

 the corresponding stream-lines being lines of flow 

 of heat or of atmospheric pressure. Similarly, 

 lines of equal magnetic dip, variation, and in- 

 tensity are examples of applications in terrestrial 

 magnetism. 



The method is also applicable to other dimensions 

 in space than those we have dealt with. The con- 

 tours of a curve are points ; of a surface ( exemplified 

 above), curves ; while those of a solid are surfaces. 

 From the examples given it may be seen that a 

 contour is a point, line, or surface at, along, or on 

 which some physical property or characteristic i 

 constant. Generally the advantage of the method 

 is that by its means the mutual variations of three 

 quantities may be represented by lines in two 

 dimensions. 



Contraband of War ( Lat. contra bannum, 

 ' against the proclamation ' ) is a name applied 

 to certain commodities during hostilities between 

 states which acknowledge what are called the 

 laws of nations. One such law is, that neutral 

 nations must not carry on, for the advantage of 

 either of the belligerent powers, any branches of 

 commerce from which they are excluded in time 

 of peace. Another is, that the name of contra- 

 band of war shall be given to such articles as 

 pertain to military or naval warfare guns, am- 

 munition, and stores of all kinds. Unless there 

 are special treaties, defining exactly what articles 

 are contraband of war, the interpretation of this 

 law often leads to much embarrassment. Another 

 law insisted on by England during the Napo- 

 leonic war was, that each belligerent shall have 

 a right to visit and examine neutral ships, ta 



