m 



CONTRALTO; CONTRATENOR. 



CONVENTION TREATIES. 



in 



ptece after th operation, and oontist* of applying vtrimi* mechanical 

 Mail* for the restoration of the part* to their normal position. Thi 

 treatment it generally commenced from two to four day* after the 

 operation. A great variety of appArattu bare been designed for the 

 purpote, but each COM require* a peculiar adaptation of the mean* for 

 effecting the reduction of the part*. 



Club-hand doee not occur ao frequently ai club-foot, but the distor- 

 tion a of precisely the auue nature, and require* for iU removal the 

 I of the tame measure*. 



v t :. . i 



Wry-neck 



Try-neck (Of put olutiptu*. Torti-nliit) li a diaeaae of the aame nature 

 a* the preceding, and moat frequently arise* from the unequal con- 

 traction of the muscle* of the neck, originating in tome one of tho 

 prerioualy mentioned. The consequence i* that the head it 

 neatly inclined toward* one of the shoulder*. Sometime* this 

 j true* from diia*n in the vertebra: or from the contraction of 

 cicatrice* after severe wounds and burns of the neck. Ill the former 

 case the wry-neck can seldom be removed, but in the latter the cioatriz 

 may sometime* be advantageously divided, and tho wound allowed to 

 heal again with the bead in it* natural position. Where it depends on 

 contraction of the muscles, the came operation may be had recourse 

 to as it used for the relief of club-foot and club-hand. It is a curious 

 fact that the operation for dividing the muscles in wry-neck hid been 

 recommended and practised long before it was found to be generally 

 applicable to tht treatment of contraction*. When it is determined to 

 treat wry-neck by mechanical means without operation, the best appa- 

 ratus is that of Jorg. It consist* of a pair of leather stays, and of a 

 band or fillet which goes round the head. To the stays is attached a 

 pulley, over which run* a band to the back of the ear, in the direction 

 of the muscles of the neck, and which can be tightened by mean* of a 

 screw. It thus act* on the head as the muscles would do if they were 

 inaction. 



Dr. Little of London has recently published a work on the applica- 

 tion of the Stromeyerion operation to contractions depending on what 

 it called partial ankyloai*. These ankyloee* depend upon some organic 

 or functional lesion of tendon or muscle, arising from one of the fol- 

 lowing causes : 1. From sloughing or adhesion. 2. From spasmodic 

 contraction. 3. From organic contraction through paralysis of antago- 

 nist muscles. 4. From contraction owing to long-continued rest of the 

 limb. When this kind of ankylosis has not existed for a great length 

 of time, or occurs in young persons, a division of the contracted muscle, 

 and a careful extension of the limb afterwards, is very often followed 

 by a complete restoration of the function of the onkylosed joint. 



The same causes which produce the above-named diseases give rise 

 to the irregular action of tile eye called squinting, and the operation 

 of Stromeyer has been found perfectly successful in this deformity. 



(Little, OH Ankylotit; Little, On Club-Foot ; Cooper's Surgical Dic- 

 tionary ; Cooper, First Line* of Sitrijcry ; Articles ' Anchylosis ' and 

 ' Club- Foot,' Cyclopedia of Surgery.) 



CONTRALTO; CONTRATENOR. [ALTO.] 



CONTRARY and CONTRADICTORY. Two propositions are com- 

 monly said by logicians to be contrary when the one denies every pos- 

 sible case of the other ; and to be contradictory, when one being 

 universal, the other denies some of the things asserted in the first. 

 Thus, the contrary proposition to " every A i* B " is, " no A is B," and 

 it* contradictory is, " some As are not Bs." 



Contrary propositions may be both false, but cannot be both true ; 

 at in " all angles are equal," and " no angles are equal." But of con- 

 tradictory propositions one must be true and one must be false ; either 

 " all angles are equal," or " some angle* are not equal." One of the 

 most common fallacies of conversation and debate (and occasionally of 

 written argument) i* fixing the assertion of the contrary upon one who 

 simply contradict*. And, on the other hand, nothing is more common 

 than to assume a contrary a* proved upon grounds which establish only 

 the contradictory. 



The most easy way of establishing general propositions is, in many 

 ' ctiMi, the refutation of the contradictory ; and here is another source 

 of error, since the refutation of the contrary is frequently supposed to 

 have the same effect. 



In common language, the two words are used hi the same sense ; 

 persons are said to maintain contrary sides of an argument, when their 

 conclusions are not the technical contraries of the logicians, but only 

 contradictory of each other. The common question, " Have you any- 

 thing to *ay to the contrary } " always means, " Can you contradict 

 thisr" 



CONVENT, from the Latin conrnilnt, an assembly or meeting 

 together. This word is used in a double sense, first, for any corpora- 

 tion or community of religious, whether monks or nuns ; and secondly, 

 for the house, abbey, monastery, or nunnery in which such monk* or 

 nuns dwell. Shaksperc uses it in the fin>t sense, when he says of 

 Woltey 



"At lait, with eajr road, he ciime to Leicester, 

 Lndfred in the abbey; where the reverend abbot 

 With all hi* convent honourably received him." 



II. n. VIII., act IT., ic. 2. 



Addison use* it for the building : " One seldom find* in Italy a 

 spot of ground more agreeable than ordinary that is not covered with a 

 convent." 



Furetiere, who wrote hi* dictionary in the time of Louis XIV., sayt 

 there were no fewer than 14,000 convent* formerly in France. 



Convent, as related to the foreign military orders, meant the prin- 

 cipal seat or head of the order. Furetiere say*, " La Commando) ie da 

 Boixy, pre* d'Orleant, e*t le Convent general da 1'Ordre de St. Latare." 



The earliect inhabitant* of convent* were termed Cenobites, from 



others, probably with more correctness, give them a later origin. 

 St Pachomiua, abbot of Tabenna, on the bank* of the Nile, who was 

 born at the close of the third century, is believed to have been the 

 first person who drew up a rule for the Cienobitea. (Moreri, ' Diet. 

 Hictor.,' torn, viii.) [MONASTERY.] 



CONVENTION, MILITARY, a treaty made between the com- 

 uiandfrs of two opposing armies concerning the term* on which a tem- 

 porary cessation of hostilities shall take place between them. It it 

 usually solicited by that general who has suffered a defeat, when his 

 retreat is not secure and small chance is left of maintaining his position ; 

 and it is seldom refused by the victor, since without incurring the un- 

 avoidable loss attending an action, hi* force become* immediately dis- 

 posable for other operations. 



In 1757 the Duke of Cumberland, when in danger of being ur- 

 rounded, entered into a convention with the Duke de Richelieu, 

 through the medium of Denmark, by which, on consenting to disband 

 all his auxiliaries, he was allowed to retire with the English troops 

 across the Elbe. And in 1 799, when the Anglo-Russian army failed in 

 the attempt to deliver Holland from the French power, the Duke of 

 York made a treaty with General Bruno by which the invading force 

 was allowed to re-embark on condition that 8000 French and Dutch 

 prisoners of war in England should be restored. 



After the battle of Vimeira in 1808, the Duke of Abrantes, having 

 been defeated, and fearing a general rising in Lisbon against him, sent 

 General Kellerman to the quarters of the British commander-in-chief, 

 to request a cessation of arms, and propose a convention by which the 

 French troops might be allowed to retire from Portugal. This being 

 granted, it was finally arranged in the convention that they should not 

 be considered as prisoners of war ; and that, with their property, public 

 and private, their guns and cavalry horses, they should be transported 

 to France : on the other hand, all the fortresses which had not capitulated 

 were to be given up to the British, and a Russian fleet, then in the 

 Tagus, was to be detained in English ports till after the conclusion of 

 a peace. This is the celebrated convention which was made at Lisbon, 

 and is generally but improperly called " of Cintra." It excited much 

 dissatisfaction both in Portugal and England. (Napier, vol. i.) By the 

 appointment of a committee consisting of one individual of each of the 

 three nations, all cause* of complaint were, however, finally removed. 



CONVENTION PARLIAMENT. Two days after the abdicat on 

 [ABDICATION] of James II.,- the Prince of Orange invited the lords 

 spiritual and temporal, to the number of about ninety, who had taken 

 their places in the House of Lords, together with such persons as had 

 sat in Parliament in the reign of Charles II., to the number of about 

 a hundred and fifty, with the aldermen of London, and fifty of the 

 common council, to meet him, and he requested them " to consider the 

 state of the country, and to communicate to him the result of their 

 deliberations." They did so, and the recommendation was that he 

 should summon a convention of the estates of the realm. The prince 

 accordingly despatched circular letter* to the several counties, univer- 

 sities, cities, and boroughs, for the election of members. The con- 

 vention, or parliament, as it was afterwards declared to be, passed the 

 Act of Settlement, which declared the throne vacant, and conferred 

 the crown, with constitutional limitations to it* power, on the Prince 

 and Princess of Orange jointly. The Convention Parliament was dit- 

 solved 29th January, 1691. (See " Popular History of England," by 

 Charles Knight, vol. iv., p. 443, tt teg.) 



CONVENTION TREATIES. These ore treaties entered into 

 between different states, under which they each bind themselves to 

 observe certain stipu'ations contained in the treaty. In 1848 two acts 

 were passed (647 Viet. c. 75 and c. 76) for giving effect to convention! 

 between her Majesty and the King of the French and the United 

 States of North America for the apprehension of certain offenders. 



The act relating to France (c. 75) legalises the convention entered 

 into with the government of that country for the giving up of offenders 

 who may escape from France into England. On requisition duly made 

 by the French ambassador, a warrant will be issued for the apprehen- 

 sion of fugitives accused of having committed the crimes of murder 

 (as defined by the French code), attempt at murder, forgery, or 

 fraudulent bankruptcy ; and any justice before whom they may be 

 brought is authorised to commit them to jail until delivered up pur- 

 suant to the ambassador's requisition. Copies of the depositions on 

 which the original warrant wa* issue!, duly certified a* true copies, 

 are to be received as evidence. But no justice is to issue a warrant 

 for the apprehension of any French fugitive unless the party applying 

 is the bearer of a warrant or document, issued by a judge or com- 

 petent authority in France, authenticated in such a manner as would 

 justify the arrest of the supposed offender in France upon the same 

 charge. The secretary of state will order the person committed to be 

 delivered up to the person or persona authorised to receive him. If 



