88 



CASTRAMETATION CASUISTRY. 



ma Chritti) is a native both of the East and West In- 

 dies, and has a stem from five to fifteen or sixteen 

 feet in height, and large, bluish-green leaves, divided 

 into sevenlobes, serrated and pointed, the foot-stalks 

 long, and inserted into the disk. The flowers are 

 produced in a terminating spike, and the seed-vessels 

 are covered with spines, and contain three flattish, 

 oblong seeds. It is to the seeds of this plant that 

 we are indebted for the drug called castor-oil. It is 

 now often pre{>ared by pressing the seeds in the same 

 way as is practised with oil of almonds. The oil 

 thus obtained is called cold expressed. Hut the mode 

 chiefly adopted in the West Indies is first to strip the 

 M-fds of their husks or pods, and then to bruise them 

 in mortars. Afterwards they are tied in linen bags, 

 and boiled in water until the oil which they contain 

 rises to the surface. This is carefully skimmed off, 

 strained, to free it from any accidental impurities, 

 and bottled for use. The oil which is obtained by 

 boiling is considered more mild than that procured 

 by pressure, but it sooner becomes rancid. The 

 mildest and finest Jamaica castor-oil is very limpid, 

 nearly colourless, and has scarcely more smell or taste 

 than good olive-oil. Many people, however, have so 

 great an aversion to castor-oil, even in its purest state, 

 that they do not take it without great reluctance. 

 The uses of castor-oil in medicine are well known. 



CASTRAMETATION ; strictly, the art of tracing 

 out and disposing to advantage the several parts of a 

 camp on the ground. It is sometimes used more ex- 

 tensively to include all the ordinary operations of a 

 campaign. A camp, whether composed of tents or 

 barracks, or merely of places assigned for bivouack- 

 ing, must be divided in such a way that the several 

 divisions shall be disposed as they are intended to be 

 when drawn up in order of battle ; so that, on a sud- 

 den alarm, the troops may rise in their proper posts. 

 At the same time, the places for cooking, for the 

 baggage, and for ammunition, must be conveniently 

 arranged. 



CASTRATES. The change produced in men by 

 emasculation is highly remarkable, and assimilates 

 their constitution, in some respects, to that of females. 

 The elasticity of the fibres and muscles is weakened, 

 and the cellular membrane becomes charged with a 

 much larger quantity of fat ; the growth of the beard 

 is prevented ; the upper part of the windpipe con- 

 tracts considerably, and the castrate acquires the 

 physiognomy and voice of a female. On the moral 

 character it likewise appears to have some influence, 

 by weakening the intellectual faculties, and render- 

 ing the subject unfeeling, morose, faint-hearted, and, 

 on the whole, incapable of performing those deeds 

 which require a high, magnanimous disposition. The 

 most numerous class of castrates are those who are 

 made such by the removal of the testicles. Another 

 class are not deprived of the parts of generation, but 

 have them ingeniously injured in such a manner as 

 to leave them the faculty of copulating, but deprive 

 them of the power of begetting. Juvenal mentions 

 these as the particular favourites of the licentious 

 Roman ladies. To the third class belong those who 

 are entirely deprived of^.their genital members. They 

 are used in preference, by the Turks, as keepers of 

 their women. The castrates of all three classes are 

 called eunuchs. Those of the third class, to distin- 

 guish them from the two others, are frequently term- 

 ed entire eunuchs. The word eunuch is Greek, and 

 signifies guard or keeper of the bed. The castration 

 01 adults produces some change in the disposition, 

 but little in the bodily constitution. Even the power 

 of engendering continues for a short time. Accord- 

 ing to the accounts of ancient historians, the Greeks, 

 particularly the Lydians, castrated women. The 



their wives and daughters. With females, the ope- 

 ration produces a completely opposite effect to that 

 which it has on men. The sexual appetite ceases, a 

 beard appears on the chin and upper lip, the bosom 

 vanishes, the voice becomes harsh, &c. Boerhaa\ a 

 and 1'ott relate modem instances of- this kind. No- 

 thing but an immediate and fatal injury to the parts 

 authorizes an operation of such vital consequence to 

 the human race. Among the evils which religious 

 enthusiasm has at all times produced, castration is 

 conspicuous. The emperors Constantine ;:nd Justi- 

 nian were obliged to use their utmost power to op- 

 pose this religious frenzy, and could put a stop to it 

 only by punishing it like murder. The Valerians, a 

 religious sect, whose minds had been di.str, (ted l>y 

 the example of Origen (q. v.), not only considered 

 this mutilation of themselves as a duty which reli- 

 gion imposed on them, but believed themselves bound 

 to perform the same, by fair means or foul, on all 

 those who came into their power. In Italy, the cas- 

 tration of boys, in order to form them for soprano 

 singers, has been in use for a long time, evirati hav- 

 ing been employed in the pontifical chapel, ever 

 since the beginning of the 17th century, to sing 

 the treble parts. Clement XIV. prohibited tlu's 

 abuse, which, notwithstanding, continued for a long 

 time, and, in some Italian towns, was not only 

 suffered, but exercised with such shameful openness, 

 tliat the practitioners gave public notice of their pro- 

 fession. In modern times, severe laws have been 

 enacted against castration, and the custom is going 

 out of use. Beings thus mutilated, however, are 

 sometimes to be found on European stages and in Ca- 

 tholic churches. Among the papal singers, we 

 find castrates as late as 1823. It is remarkable 

 that so odious and unnatural an operation should pro- 

 duce the fine effect on the tones of the singer, which 

 all must acknowledge who can rid themselves of the 

 disagreeable effect of the association. In the Catho- 

 lic church, no castrate, however he became such, is 

 permitted to be an officiating priest. The part which 

 eunuchs have always played, wherever they have 

 belonged to the household of princes, is well known ; 

 and some authors have compared them to Catholic 

 priests, who, like them, have often been the intrigu- 

 ing advisers of sovereigns, and, like them, are not 

 connected with society by the gentle bonds of mar- 

 riage and family relations. 



CASTRIOT. See Scanderbeg. 



CASTRUM DOLORIS, a Latin term, signifying 

 castle of grief , has a different meaning from catafalco. 

 The latter is used to denote an elevated tomb, con- 

 taining the coffin of a distinguished person, together 

 with the tapers around, ornaments, armorial bearings, 

 inscriptions, &c., placed in the midst of a church or 

 hall. The castrum doloris is the whole room in whicii 

 the catafalco is elevated, with all the decorations. 

 The sarcophagus, usually empty, is exposed for show 

 upon an elevation covered with black cloth, under a 

 canopy surrounded with candelabra. Upon the coffin 

 is laid some mark of the rank of the deceased, as his 

 epaulette or sword, and, when the deceased was a 

 sovereign or a member of a ruling family, princely 

 insignia are placed on surrounding seats. The French 

 call the castrum doloris, chapelle ardente, which is to 

 be distinguished from chambre ardente (q. v.). 



CASUISTRY; that part of the old theology and 

 morals, which relates to the principles by which diffi- 

 cult cases of conscience (especially where there is a 

 collision of different duties) are to be settled. Kant 

 calls it the dialectics of conscience. Hence a casuist 

 is a moralist who endeavours to solve such doubtful 

 questions. There have been many celebrated casu- 

 ists among the Jesuits (e. g., Escobar, Sanchez, Bu- 



latter are said to have used these beings as guards of 1 senlmum, &c.), famous for their ingenuity in the 



