717 



CHALK FORMATION. 



i MX. 



one very productive arable lands ore formed, and very good crone of 

 hortey are raised. There is a plant which aeemi to delight in chalky 

 Mb, and to flourish better there than in deeper and richer earth. 

 This U the saint |. in \ll,,t ;i mnm 0oenVAi). nnd its introduction 

 among the cultivated grasses has greatly reived the value of chalky 

 hod, previously considered too poor to repay cultivation. It not only 

 jiroduces an exc. crior to meadow-hay and scarcely 



inferior to . root* it *o divides and enriches the soil, 



that after having covered it with luxuriant crops of hay for several 

 yean, it leaves it in a fit state to produce excellent crops of grain, with 

 very moderate manuring. 



Chalky soils are not subject to the same perennial weeds which 

 infest richer lands; conch -grans is seldom found in chalk, but the 

 annual*, such as May-weed, charlock. poppy, crow-foot, and several 

 others, abound in it When a chalky soil produces thistle*, it is uu 

 indication of its containing a portion of argillaceous earth, which im- 

 proves its fertility. 



c IIAI.K FORMATION, in NAT. HIST. BIT. 



CHALLENGE. [.Ivuv.] 



( H.U.YIsr.ATi: M'lIINCS. Of all mineral water* those contain- 

 ing iron are the moat common ; but such only are considered cUaly- 

 beatex, in a medical sense, in which the iron predominates, if not in 

 quantity, at least in action, over the other ingredient*. The quantity 

 and combination* of the iron vary in every spring; but it is generally 

 combined with carbonic acid, in the form of protoxide or protocar- 

 bonate, and is deposited in considerable quantity in the form 

 when the water ranches the external air. The presence of chalybeate 

 Kprings may generally be detected by the appearance of the stream or 

 water-course. The inky or styptic taste of the water also indicates 

 the presence of iron. In other instances it is combined with sulphuric 

 acid, in the form of sulphate of irou ; it is often a> 

 alumina ; and more rarely hydrochloric acid is combined with it. 

 When a large proportion of free carbonic acid is present, such springs 

 are termed aciditltt-chalybeak. 



The temperature rarely exceeds that of the ordinary temperature 

 :ng water, and it is generally lower. Of the former class several 

 exist on the Continent; Bath is the only example in Britain. Cold 

 chalybeate waters, with proper conveniences for their employment, 

 are not very numerous in Britain. Tunbridge, Harrowgate, and Holy- 

 well, in England and Wales ; and Peterhead, Dunblane, and Bonnington 

 near Edinburgh, in Scotland, are the chief. Chalybeate waters may be 

 employed either internally or externally in the form of baths; the 

 former mo le is the most common iu thin country. The use of chaly- 

 beate waters possesses many advantages over the other modes of 

 administering iron, aud not only enables many to employ this metal, 

 but likewise to persevere with it for a much longer time. Thi< i 

 .'.uticularly the case when much free carbonic acid exist* in the 

 water, as in the acidulo-chalybeate springs. The cold temperature of 

 the water certainly disagrees with many persons, but thin may be 

 obviated, either by beginning with the Bath waters, or pouring the 

 quantity intended to be used into a littlo warm water, or adding a 

 tea spoonful uf the compound tincture of cardamoms to the first glass. 

 The persona who require chalybeate waters ore those who need tonics 

 to improve their constitution aud remove a tendency to disease ; or 

 convalescents from acute disease ; or persons who have been debilitated 

 either by a residence in warm climates or by severe mental exertions. 

 Persona of a plethoric habit can rarely uso them without undergoing 

 Mine preparatory treatment Like iron, they are improper during 

 pregnancy, or the course of an inflammatory disease, or the existence 

 of organic affections of the heart or liver, or tendency to apoplexy. 

 When alone, or still wore when combined with alumina, they often 

 cause constipation, which requires to be obviated : in mnue individual-, 

 especially at the commencement of their use, an opposite state occur* : 

 in either case a black colour of the motions u olwerved, which should 

 excite no alarm, as it simply arises from the tanuin of the food uniting 

 with the iron, and forming a black taunate of iron. During tl. 

 chalybeate waters, the diet of the patient requires careful regulation. 



The acidulous aud carbonated chalybeate waters do not bear trans- 

 portation well ; the waters which contain sulphate of irou may be sent 

 to a distance with less injury to their qualities. Two methods have 

 been proposed to prevent the deterioration of the acidulous and chaly- 

 beate waters during removal to a distance; the one by boiling the 

 corks previous to putting them into the bottles; the other by , 

 driving an iron nail through the cork, so as to be in contact with the 

 water, which Utter method is even said to increase the quantity of 

 iron held in solution by the water. 



Baths of chalybeate water are sometimes used along with the internal 

 employment of the waters, sometimes alone. They afford great assist- 

 ance in the cure of rlinism fur which iron U proper, and can some- 

 times be employed when the internal use of in-u is iinprao 

 Those of this country are Use resorted to than Alcxiabad in tl. 

 or those of Nassau. [IKON ; BAT 111*0. J Oairdner On Mineral and 

 



MJKLEON, a constellation near the South Pole, formed by 

 Bayer. It contains no eUrs of conspicuous magnitude. 



CUAMBKU, a recess formed at the lower extremity of the bore of 

 a gun, howftsrr, or mortar, and in the direction of the axi, in order to 

 receive the charge of powder by which the shot or hell is to be pro- 



jected. Chambers are nude of various forms, the Oomer, the _ 

 shaped, the cylindrical, the hemispherical, and the Paixhan ; the mag- 

 nitude of the chamber is such as to <-uatain the quantity of 

 powder cn.titnting the charge, but its diameter is lees than thet of 



re. It n used in guns in which the charge of powd< T 

 nrall in comparison to the size of the bore, great teas of power would 

 T"iu the explosion of the p nip*y space below 



the shot and breach, unless the bore were contracted to be nearly tiled 

 with the powder. 



The Coiner chamber, so called from th Taupe of the inventor, U 

 i r'i, form of a frustum of a cone, terminating with a concave 

 here at the smaller parts, which is the extremity of the chamber, 

 :md the greater circumference coinciding with that of Ute bore, 

 shot or shell, Wing placed in close contact with the conical part of a 

 chamber of this kind, thus becomes subject to the whole force 

 elastic fluid. 



The Comer chamber is the beet when the charges are Urge, and the 

 cylindrical when they are very small. 



i IIAMliK.KI.AIM (</ ci'Mmi;. or r',,'/an'iM, keeper <>f the 

 ch.imber). Cubicul.n m-, v. a- tli Roman name for a slave whose 

 special business was to look after the rooms or chambers in the bouse, 

 introduce visitors, and the like. The cnbiciilarins was thus a eon- 

 " slave or f rcedmau , as the case might be, and a kind of guardian 

 of his master's person. t'ndcr the emperors the cubicuUrii were 

 officers in the imperial household; and were called the " cubk-ularii 

 ' iculi," tli- -i'_s of the imperial chamber, r ('.>! .' vi. 



tit. 5.) The emperor's wife, the Augusta, also had her chiunberUins. 

 This office, like many others in royal households, is derived from the 

 usages of the later Roman Empire. In the Anglo-Saxon tin:- 

 England, the chamberlain appears to have had the name of Qunerarhu, 

 and had the keeping of the king's treat" . in ' Vit. S. Kd\v. 



Confess.,' c. ii. p. 9), by which name this officer also occurs in (lie 

 Domesday Survey. The word chamber (French, rliambrc) \ from tin- 

 Latin camera. 



The office of lord great chamberlain of England was once of the 

 highest dignity, and was held in grand serjeanty tr, in the 

 of King Henry I. by the family of De Vere. from whom it jiai-- 

 a female heir, to the family of Bertie. By the statute of precc< ; 

 81 Hen. VIII., the great chamberlain's place was next to that of the 

 lord privy seal. In 1714 the Marquis of Lindsay, then hereditary 

 great chamberlain of England, having been raised to the dukedom of 

 Ancaster, surrendered this precedency for himself and his li< 

 only when lie or they should be in the actual execution oi 

 of the said office, in attending the person of the king or q 

 or introducing a peer into the House of Lords. Th 

 was confirmed by 1 Oeo. L c. 8. The duties which now .i 

 upon the great chamberlain are, the dressing and attending on the 

 king at his coronation; the care of the Palace of Westuiiiutci 

 provision of furniture for the Houses of Parliament, and f c >r ' 

 minuter Hall, when uscsl on great ; and attendance upon 



era at their creation, and upon < 



mage. On the death of Robert, the last duke , i Ancaster bu 

 in 1779, the ralitary great chamberlain 



two sisters, Priscilla, Lady \Villoui;hby dc Eiv.-by, and (Jeorgiana 

 Charlotte, Marchioness Cholmondeley. The oilice is now j 

 held by the families of Cholmondeley and M'illoughbs 

 and the honours are enjoyed in each alternate reign by each family 

 successively. 



The office of lord chamberlain of the king's household 

 with the administration. He has the control of all ports of the house- 

 hold (except the ladies of the queen's bed-cliamber) which ai 

 under the direction of the lord steward, the giv 



master of the horse; the kiiu: '<>.. a:< 



well as the royal tradesmen, are by his ap|iintiu< nt : tin c 

 actors at the royal theatres, as part of the household, ore uud 

 regulation, and he is also the licenser of \ 

 I'uess.J Onu of the officers, in his department is styled Examiner of 



The chamberlain of the corporation of the city of Lou 

 >tticcr elected by the freemen who are liverymen. By 

 common council of .I Henry IV. the office is an annual one, but it IK 

 very rarely that theexu-ti ' I 



no such opposition since 17/8. The duties of the ohamberUm are 

 judicial and administrative. He admits on oath all persons entitled to 

 -he. freedom of the city, and hears and determines al' 

 ;>laint between masters aud apprentices, and may commit 



hargu the . , lorn his indentures, and a \ 



premium may be recovered by a [peculiar process iu the Lord M 

 oiut. Au appeal is said to lie from tin the chamberlain 



to the lord mayor. The chamberlain has the conservation of 1 



or goods of citixens who die intestate, leaving orphans, on the 

 . i-iieh orphans or others on their I" halt, for which pur- 

 pose too chamberlain i* law a corporation sole ; but such 

 ipplk-aiious are now rarely made. As treasurer of the corporation, lie 

 oas to receive all rnts, pruliu, aud revenues of markets and 

 items of receipt forming the income of the coiporution, and to pay all 

 money on account of the corporation upon competent warrants or 

 orders. The fixed annual income of the chamberlain is 1160?. 9;. 4''. : 



