51 



CIIIMM:. 



CIIIVAI.UY. 



M 



the tern** ; nut above the torus are mull tamieireular arches to let 

 the rain run off the terrace. The parapet* between the battlement* are 

 oach pierced with two small holes, and a small guard house with the 



^Nine-toried Fagudn.] 



roof having the usual turned u;< ..r. ,-.. in built on the top of the 

 terrace. The Great Wall of China is described under CHINA [GEOO. 

 Dtv.. vol. ii.,cols. 467, 8]. Chinese bridges are noticed under BHIDOE. 



'HIM XK. I CixrHOXA, ALKALOIDS or.] 



rHINnlDINK. iCixuioXA, ALKALOIDS or.] 



I'HINoI.ICIXK. [CIM iinXA, ALKALOIDS OF. J 



i IIIXOVIC ACH". [Qi -ixovic ACID.] 



( Mini ni'CIc ACID. [QrixoiiATir A 



CHIRAYTA, the specific name, an imitation of the Sanskrit and 

 Bengalee names, of a plant of the tribe of tl,.- 1 1. ntiamsc [AtUTHOTKS, 

 in NAT. HINT. I'iv.], and so greatly resembling a Gentian, that it is 

 referred to that genus by Dr. W.tllich, who lias figured it in his 

 ' Plantte Asiaticoc Rariores,' vol. iii. p. !!.'!, t. '252. It has not yet been 

 received into the London rharmaoopceia, but has found a place only in 

 that of Kdinlmrgh ; that it merits, however, n more extended use is 

 certain. It is probable that even in India two distinct plants, both 

 gentianaoeous, are designated by the name Chirayta ; at leant I >i . I '. 

 Hamilton Buchanan found in Ncpaul two so termed. The smaller of 

 the two is that which is here treated of. Continental pharmacologists 

 have bad sometimes the one, sometimes the other, supplied to them. 

 1 1" !!' very erroneous account* arc met with of the habitudes and 

 physical characters of the Chirayta. Geigcr describes it OB a perennial 

 plant, native of Egypt as well an of India, and of larger dimensions than 

 tlie plant now intended. The genuine Chirayta is an annual plant. 

 aUmt three feet high, flowering in the rainy season. The whole plant 

 U taken up, and the proper time for collecting it in just when the 

 flowers begin to wither. When dried it lias an intensely but agreeable 

 bitt-r taste, and in dentitnte of aroma. The root is possessed of the 

 greatest bitternem. The bitter principle ia readily imparted to water 

 and to alcohol. As it is not easy to ascertain what plant the Continental 

 chemists analysed, it seems best to follow the analysis of Mr. ll.:t i.-\ . 

 whose specimens must have been genuine, having been furnished by 

 Dr. \Vallich. According to this chemist, it contains a free acid, a 

 I'itt.T reinous extractive, with much gum, and chlorates, with 

 sulphates, of potash and lime. No alkaloid has been detected in it ; 

 what is therefore sold as a sulphate of chiraytine U well known to be 

 only the dwulphntc of tjuinia. In regard to the pharmaceutical prepa- 

 rations of chirayta, infusion and watery extract, or a tincture "i 

 alone to be recommended. Not only is the decoction a most improper 



form, but an infusion made with warm water is to be condemned, as 

 this causes most distressing headache. Even to form the cold infusion 

 a pint of water should not stand more than twenty minutes on half an 

 ounce of the bruised plant The tincture is a grateful addition to it. 



Chirayta possesses the general properties of bitter tonics ; but has tt 

 the same time some peculiar to itself, which fit it \\ ell i< t crtain forms 

 and complications of disease. Unlike most other tonics, it does not 

 constipate the bowels, but tends to produce a regular action of tl..- 

 alimentary canal, even in those subject to habitual eonsti. 

 During its use. the bile becomes more abundant and healthy in 

 character. The tendency to excess of acidity in the stomach, with 

 disengagement of flatus, is much restrained by its use. These qualities 

 fit it in a most peculiar degree for the kind of indigestion which occurs 

 in gouty persons. It may, when necessary, be associated with alkaline 

 preparations, or with acids; the latter ore generally preferable. The 

 same remark applies to its employment in the treatment < .-... I'M l.i. 

 in which alkalies ore so freely and often injuriously employed. As a 

 remedy against the languor and debility which affect many person- in 

 slimmer and autumn, nothing is equal to the cold infusion of this 

 plant. It may be taken twice or even more frequently daily, for a 

 considerable time ; then discontinued, and afterwards resumed. Children 

 take it more readily than most other bitters. It is found to be a very 

 efficacious remedy in India against intermittent*, particularly when 

 associated with the Guilandina Bonduc, or Caranga nuts. The debility 

 which is apt to end in dropsy is often speedily removed by infusion 

 of Chirayta ; to which is added the tincture formed of it with orange- 

 peel and cardamoms. Its efficacy in worm-cases has procured for it 

 the name of imrm-teed plant. The extract U given with great benefit 

 in some forms of diarrhoea and dysentery, particularly if combined 

 with ipecucuan, the emetic tendency of which it very markedly 

 controls. 



It is unnecessary to enter here into a review of the orgu: 

 adduced by Fee (' Cours d'Histoire Natiirclle I'li.-inn.' ii. 

 Dr. Koyle (' Flora of the Himalayas,' p. 277), to disprove tl 

 Guibourt that this won the Calamiui rerun of the ancients. The cal mais 

 was more probably a grass, possibly that which in the present day is 

 said to yield the yrast-oil of Namur. Whencesoever obtained, this oil 

 possesses great virtues. It iii much used in India against rheumatism. 

 It has the power in a most remarkable degree of preventing the hair of 

 the head from falling off after acute diseases, such as fevers, or after 

 confinements or prolonged nursing. It even restores it after it has 

 fallen off. But it must be strong and pure ; not the diluted feeble oil 

 sold by perfumers under the name of oil of grass. 



CHISLEU or CHISLEV, lb?3, is the third month in the Jewish 



calendar; when earliest coinciding with our November, when latest 

 with December. This is one of the two months which mn\ 

 either twenty-nine or thirty days; a variation allowed in ord 

 admit of the application of a law by which the beginnings of T, 

 Nisan were restricted to certain days of the week. The word is 

 written XturcAcC in the Septuogint, anil \aa\t\\ or XoirAj/S. by 

 Josephus; the Vulgate lias Casleu, and) the Samaritan re 

 All these readings concur to show that the ordinary vocalisation of the 

 first syllabic in erroneous. This month occurs in the Bible at tin 

 In-ginning of Nehemiah, and at Znchariah vii. 1. It is also found in the 

 Apocryplia in 1 Maccabees iv. 52. 



The several etymologies of the word from Hebrew root.-, are \erv 

 unsatisfactory, and, however strange at first sight the suggest 

 Benfey may seem, to derive Chisleu from the Persian Sheriur, a nearer 

 examination will show much in its favour. The modern names do not 

 appear till after the time of the Jewish subjection to the Persian 

 empire, and one would e\|H-ct to tind them borrowed from the names 

 used by the -..\cieign power: Slirrim- must have been ancient 1\ 

 thing like Ivln-riur. from the Zend kdiatra ruiri/n. and with the 

 ordinary variation of the liquids, laheriitr might lie written in II. 



characters, VlboSi "" '* " H fund engraved in one of tin- in:-cription- 

 at Palmyra, and read Caslul or Chislnl. 



The festival of the Dedication of the Temple by .1 

 is kept on the 25th day of Chislcii. See 1 Marc. iv. .V_>. and '_' 

 Mace. x. 5. Thi- festival is named n3jn. khaimkkah. 



CHIVALKY has commonly been represented as a great, in t r 

 invented in the llth century, for a grand moral purpose tliat of 

 struggling against the deplorable conditi vat that period 



of protecting the weak against the strong, and redressing individual 

 injuries. So prevalent and so deeply rooted has been this notion of 

 the origin of Chivalry, that we find it set forth even in the ' Histoire 

 dcs Francois' of M. de Si mondi. a writer usually so clear-sighted and 

 so little a slave to the routine of his predecessors. But a closely atten- 

 tive as well as philosophical analysis of the history of European society 

 in the middle ages, proves this theory, or rather this supposition, to be 

 deceitful. It shows us that Chivalry was not, in the llth century, an 

 innovation, an institution brought about by a special exigency which it 

 was expressly adapted to meet. It arose much more simply, more 

 naturally, and more silently ; it was but the development of m 

 facts long before existing the spontaneous result of the Germanic 

 manner.- and the feudal ivUtions. It took its birth in the interior of 

 "dal mansions, without any set purpose beyond that ..f declaring. 



