CATARACT CATECHESIS. 



(surpasses the other much in grandeur. The great 

 body of the water passes the precipice witlisueh force, 

 that it forms a curled sheet, which strikes the water 

 below fifty feet from the base of the precipice, and 

 visitors can pass behind the sheet ot water. The 

 best view of this cataract is from Table rock. It is 

 frequently adorned with a rainbow. Sometimes three 

 are seen in the clouds of spray, which rise 100 feet 

 above the precipii . 



The river Montmorency forms a cataract 250 feet 

 in height and fifty feet in breadth ; nine miles below 

 Quebec. 



The fells of the river Chaudiere, not far from the 

 cataract just mentioned, are about 100 feet in height. 



The Mississippi forms a cataract of forty feet in 

 height, above its junction with the Ohio. The stream 

 is 700 feet in width, and the surrounding country 

 level. 



The Missouri, at a distance of 500 miles from its 

 sources, descends 360 feet in eighteen miles. There 

 are three principal cataracts ; one of eighty-seven, 

 one of forty-seven, and one of twenty-six feet in 

 height. The river is 1000 feet broad, and the whole 

 scene is described as most beautiful. 



The fells of Passaic, in New Jersey, at Patterson, 

 about fifteen miles from Newark, are among the most 

 celebrated of the United States. The nver is 150 

 feet broad, and fells, in one entire sheet, into a 

 chasm seventy feet hi depth, and twelve wide. Its 

 waters form the moving power for one of the most 

 manufacturing districts of the United States. 



The Mohawk river, near its junction with the 

 Hudson, forms the fells termed the C'cAoes, about 

 sixty feet high. 



The Housatonic river, in the north-west of Con- 

 necticut, forms the finest cataract in New England. 



In Georgia, the cataract in the Tuccoa creek is 

 interesting. It passes through a channel twenty feet 

 wide, over a precipice of 187 feet, in one sheet, if the 

 season is wet. 



A similar cataract occurs in the river Ache, in Ba- 

 varia ; felling 200, feet, by five steps, and being en- 

 tirely scattered in spray. Its noise is heard at a 

 distance of several miles. 



Bellows falls, on the Connecticut river, near Wai- 

 pole, are grand and striking. Glen's falls, in the 

 Hudson river, are similar. 



The highest cataract in America is that of Tequen- 

 dama, in the river Bogota, or Funza, a branch of the 

 Magdalena. The river rises in the lofty plain, in 

 which Bogota is situated, 9000 feet above the sea, 

 and is precipitated into the lower country, through 

 deep ravines and over steep precipices, and Lnally 

 plunges 600 feet into a deep cliasm. 



The cataracts of the Nile (one at Syene, and the 

 oilier some distance above) have been described, by 

 Mr Bruce, as grand, principally from the wildness 

 and desolation of the scene ; but the highest of them 

 does not exceed forty feet in height. 



The primary regions of Europe abound in cata- 

 racts. The torrents are seldom of great size, but the 

 rocky beds over which they roar and dash in foam 

 and spray, the dark glens into which they rush, and 

 the wildness of the whole scenery, often produce 

 awful emotions. 



The most remarkable cataract hi Scotland is the 

 Fyers. The fells of the Clyde are also very impres- 

 sive and beautiful. See the articles Fyers and Clyde 

 for more particular notices of them. 



The river Gotha has a fell of celebrity at Trolhat- 

 ta, in Sweden. It descends 100 feet. 



One of the most considerable fells in Europe has 

 lately been discovered in the river Lattin, in Swedish 

 Lapland. ' It is descrilx-d as half a mile in width, 

 hud 400 feet in height. 



Another, of immense size, lias been discovered by 

 Mr Esmark, in the river Maamelven, in Norway, con- 

 sisting of three separate fells, the whole height being 



The Alpine highlands in Europe, abound in beau- 

 tiful fells. The cataract near Schuffhausen is 400 

 feet broad and 70 high. 



The river Oreo, descending from mount Rosa into 

 Italy, forms a cascade; the height of which is esti- 

 mated at 2400 feet. 



The fell of the Evanson, flowing from the same 

 mountain, is stated to be 1200 feet high. 



At Staubbach, in the canton of Bern, in Switzer- 

 land, a small stream descends a height of 1400 

 feet. 



In Italy, the fells of Terni and Tivoli are beautiful, 

 and were celebrated even among the ancients. 



At Terni, about forty-five mues north of Rome, 

 the Evelino plunges over a precipice of marble rocks, 

 300 feet high. The waters contain lime, wliich pro- 

 duces many petrifactions. 



At Tivoli, eighteen miles north-east of Rome, are 

 the falls of the Anio or Teverino, a branch of the Tiber. 

 It fells nearly 100 feet deep. 



A comparative view of the principal cataracts in 

 the world, and a specification of their heights, will 

 be found in Plate XVI. 



CATARRH (from xaTtt^tu, I flow down) ; an in- 

 creased secretion of mucus from the membranes of 

 the nose, feuces, and bronchia, accompanied with fe- 

 ver, and attended with sneezing, cough, thirst, las- 

 situde, and want of appetite. There are two spe- 

 cies of catarrh, viz., catarrhus a frigore, which is 

 very common, and is called a cold in the head ; and 

 catarrhus a. contagio, the influenza, or epidemic ca- 

 tarrh, which sometimes attacks a whole city. Ca- 

 tarrh is also symptomatic of several other diseases. 

 It is seldom fetal, except in scrofulous habits, by lay- 

 ing the foundation of phthisis ; or where it is aggra- 

 vated, by improper treatment, or repeated exposure 

 to cold, into some degree of peripneumony ; when 

 there is hazard of the patient, particularly if advanc- 

 ed in life, being suffocated by the copious effusion of 

 viscid matter into the air-passages. The epidemic 

 is generally, but not invariably, more severe than 

 the common form of the disease. The latter is usu- 

 ally left to subside spontaneously, which will com- 

 monly happen in a few days, by observing the anti- 

 phlogistic regimen. If there should be fixed pain 

 of the chest, with hardness of the pulse, a little blood 

 may be taken from the arm, or topically, followed 

 by a blister ; the bowels must be kept regular, and 

 diaphoretics employed, with demulcents and mild 

 opiates, to quiet the cough. When the disease hangs 

 about the patient in a chronic form, gentle tonics and 

 expectorants are required, as myrrh, squill, &c. 

 In the epidemic catarrh, more active evacuations are 

 often required, the lungs being more affected ; but, 

 though these should be promptly employed, they must 

 not be carried too far, the disease being apt to assume 

 the typhoid character in its progress; and as die 

 chief danger appears to be, that suffocation may hap- 

 pen from the cause above mentioned, it is especially 

 important to promote expectoration, first by antimo- 

 nials, afterwards by squill, the inhalation of steam, 

 &c.,not neglecting to support the strength of the 

 patient as the disease advances. 



CATECHESIS; the science which teaches the 

 proper method of instructing beginners in the princi- 

 ples of the Christian religion by question and answer, 

 which is called the catechetical method. (See Method.) 

 Hence catechist and catechise. The art of the cate- 

 chist consists hi being able to elicit and develope 

 th* ideas of the youthful minds of learners, 'i his 

 part of religious science \vas first cultivated in mo- 



