446 



CONTRALTO 



CONVEYANCING 



These notes are, in fact, transcripts from books 

 in which it is the practice of brokers to enter or 

 register their transactions. The bought notes and 

 the sold notes are respectively delivered to the 

 principal parties ; and as they contain the essential 

 parts of the bargain, they will suffice as evidence, 

 in the absence of a corresponding entry in the 

 broker's books ; but if they describe the particulars 

 differently or incorrectly, as one species of goods 

 for another, or erroneously state the terms, no con- 

 tract arises, and a variation of this nature cannot 

 be corrected by a reference to the broker's book. 



In England, such written notes are required by 

 the Statute of Frauds ( 29 Charles II. chap. 3) to 

 prove a contract ; while in Scotland, except in cer- 

 tain cases, any kind of evidence will be admitted in 

 proof (see PAROLE EVIDENCE; see also BROKER, 

 SALE). 



Contralto is the deepest or lowest species of 

 musical voice in boys, in eunuchs, and best of all 

 in women, where its beauty of tone gives it the 

 preference. This quality of the human voice 

 was too much neglected by the French and 

 German composers and singing-masters. Rossini 

 and the Italians have, on the other hand, abund- 

 antly utilised its capabilities, and it is now one of 

 the normal parts in the choral music of all nations. 

 The powers of expression which it possesses are 

 quite peculiar, and cannot be supplied by any other 

 kind of voice. Its tone-character ( timbre ) is serious, 

 spiritual, tender, and romantic. The low contralto 

 in particular has a fullness of tone combined with 

 power in the lower range. The high contralto has 

 generally the same range of compass as the mezzo- 

 soprano, but differs from it in the position of the 

 cantabile and in its character of tone. Contralto 

 voices generally consist of two registers, the lowest 

 beginning at F or G below middle C, and reaching 

 as high as the A or B above it. The higher notes 

 up to the next F or G partake more of the character 

 or the soprano. See VOICE. 



Contrat Social ('Social Contract') is the 

 name of a famous work (1762) by J. J. Rousseau, 

 and of the theory maintained in it that govern- 

 ment is based on the consent, direct or implied, of 

 the governed. See ROUSSEAU. 



Contravallation, LINES OF, form a chain of 

 works round a besieged place to resist the sorties 

 of the garrison. See BLOCKADE, ClRCUMVALLA- 

 TION, and SIEGE. 



Contrayerva, a medicine once in much repute 

 against low fevers, and as a mild stimulant and 

 diaphoretic, also as efficacious against snake-bites, 

 whence the Spanish name, consists of the root- 

 stocks ( rhizomes ) of different species of Dorstenia, 

 a tropical American plant of the natural order 

 Artocarpacese. The genus is remarkable for the 

 plane receptacle in which the numerous small 

 flowers are depressed, the female flowers more 

 deeply so. 



Control Department. See COMMISSARIAT. 



Convalescent Hospitals are institutions of 

 the greatest importance. Many patients die on 

 returning to their own unhealthy homes from our 

 ordinary hospitals ; the convalescent home or 

 hospital supplies a valuable stage in the process 

 of cure. Either a series of detached cottages or 

 one large and well-appointed house may serve to 

 secure pure air and wholesome treatment. Of the 

 latter kind, one of the first and best models was 

 the magnificent establishment at Vincennes, founded 

 in 1857. It contains more than 400 beds ; permits 

 an average stay of from twenty to thirty days ; 

 and in three years received 14,000 convalescent 

 artisans. 



Convallaria. See LILY OF THE VALLEY. 



Convection. See HEAT. 



Convent. See MONACHISM. 



Conventicle (Lat. conventiculum, a diminu- 

 tive of conventus) originally meant a cabal among 

 the monks of a monastery. The word was given 

 as an appellation of reproach to meetings of the 

 English and Scottish Nonconformists in the 17th 

 century. Severe statutes were often passed for the 

 suppression of these conventicles, especially the 

 Conventicle Act of 1664, which was repealed by 

 the Toleration Act of 1689. 



Convention, in Diplomacy, is a kind of treaty 

 (especially military) of a temporary kind. 



In Politics, it is a branch of the royal prerogative 

 of Britain that no parliament shall l)e convened by 

 its own authority, or by any other authority than 

 that of the sovereign. Where the crown is in 

 abeyance, this prerogative cannot of course be 

 exercised, and the expedient of Convention Parlia- 

 ments has been resorted to, the enactments of 

 which shall afterwards be ratified by a parliament 

 summoned in accordance with the provisions of 

 the constitution. The convention parliament 

 which restored Charles II. to the throne met 

 five weeks before his return, and was afterwards 

 declared to be a good parliament, notwithstand- 

 ing the absence of the king's writs. In like 

 manner, at the Revolution of 1688, the Lords and 

 Commons, on the summons of the Prince of 

 Orange, met in convention, and disposed of the 

 crown and kingdom, and this convention was 

 subsequently declared to be really the two Houses 

 of Parliament, notwithstanding the want of writs 

 and other defects of form. Under the name of 

 Convention there also took place a meeting of 

 the Estates of Scotland, called by the Prince of 

 Orange on the same occasion. The word conven- 

 tion was frequently used in the United States 

 during the struggles with the British authorities 

 which preceded the revolutionary war. For the 

 French National Convention, see FRANCE. For 

 the Convention of Royal Burghs, see BOROUGH. 



Conversa'no, a town of South Italy, 18 miles 

 SE. of Bari. It has a fine cathedral, and a trade 

 in wine, oil, almonds, and cotton. Pop. 11,006. 



Conversion, a theological term applied to the 

 conscious change of heart prompting the repentant 

 sinner to a new life, which is part of the process 

 of regeneration. Popularly the name means the 

 sensible experience of this, and obviously there 

 will be as much variety in its intensity and im- 

 mediateness in individual cases as there was in 

 their temperaments and antecedent spiritual con- 

 ditions. The man who really knows something of 

 the human heart will no more sneer at the grotesque 

 expression of his experience from the lips of an 

 awakened collier than he will smile at its intensity 

 in the pages of a St Augustine or a Bunyan. 

 The word is applied also to a change of religion 

 or of creed, as that of John Henry Newman from 

 the Anglican to the Roman Catholic Church. By 

 those who disapprove the change, such a conver- 

 sion is called perversion. 



CONVERSION, in Logic, signifies that one proposi- 

 tion is formed from another by interchanging the. 

 subject and predicate. Thus, 'No A is B' has for 

 its converse, by simple conversion, 'No B is A.' 

 For the rules of conversion, see any handbook of 

 formal logic. 



Conveyancing. A conveyance may be de- 

 fined as the form prescribed by law or custom for 

 transferring property from one person to another. 

 In the earliest stage of society, before written titles 

 and contracts were in use, property was transferred 

 by symbolical acts, performed in the presence of 

 witnesses. Thus, in Ruth, iv. 7, a person surren- 

 dering his rights binds himself by plucking off his. 



