112 



CAVENDISH- -CAXAMARCA. 



CAVENDISH, THOMAS ; an eminent navigator in 

 the reign of Elizabeth. Having consumed his pro- 

 perty by his early extravagances, he collected tliree 

 small vessels for the purpose of making a predatory 

 voyage to the Spanish colonies. He sailed from Ply- 

 mouth in 1596, took and destroyed many vessels, 

 ravaged the coasts of Cliili, Peru, and New Spain, 

 and returned by the cape of Good 1 lope, having cir- 

 cumnavigated the globe in two years and forty-nine 

 days, tin- shortest period in which it had then been 

 effected. In 1591 he set sail on a similar expedition, 

 in which his principal success was the capture of the 

 town of Santos, in Brazil. After suffering many 

 hardships, he died in If/.).'. 



CAVENDISH, WILLIAM, duke of Newcastle, was 

 born in 1592, and educated by his father, on whose 

 death he was raised to the peerage. On the approach 

 of hostilities between the crown and parliament, he 

 embraced the royal cause, and was invested with a 

 commission, constituting him general of all his ma- 

 jesty's forces raised north of the Trent, with very 

 ample powers. With great exertions, and the ex- 

 penditure of large sums from his private fortune, he 

 levied a considerable army, with which, for some 

 time, he maintained the king's cause in the north. In 

 military matters, he depended chiefly on his principal 

 officers, whilst he himself indulged in the courtly 

 pleasures and literary society to which he was attach- 

 ed. He obtained a complete victory over lord Fair- 

 fax on Adderton-heath, and, on the approach of the 

 Scottish army, and its junction with the parliamenta- 

 ry forces, threw himself into York. Having been re- 

 lieved by prince Rupert, he was present at the battle 

 of Marston-moor, after which he left the kingdom. 

 He returned, after an absence of eighteen years, and 

 was rewarded for his services and sufferings with the 

 dignity of duke. He died in 1676. 



CAVENDISH, WILLIAM, first duke of Devonshire, 

 was the son of William, third earl of Devonshire. 

 He was born in 1640, and instructed with great care 

 in classical literature. On various occasions, he dis- 

 tinguished himself by his spirit and valour, and, in 

 1677, began that opposition to the arbitrary measures 

 of the ministers of Charles II., which caused him to 

 be regarded as one of the most determined friends of 

 the liberties of his country. Intimately connected 

 with lord Russell, he joined him in liis efforts for the 

 security of free government and the Protestant reli- 

 gion. On the trial of lord Russell, he appeared as a 

 witness in his favour, and offered to assist him in es- 

 caping, after he had been sentenced to death, by 

 changing clothes with him in prison. In 1684, hav- 

 ing succeeded to his father's title, and being regard- 

 edas one of the most formidable opponents of the ar- 

 bitrary designs of king James II., attempts were 

 made to intimidate him, but without success. Hav- 

 ing been insulted by a minion of the king, he dragged 

 him from the chamber by the nose in the royal pre- 

 sence. He took an active part in promoting the re- 

 volution, and was one of the first who declared for 

 the prince of Orange. His services were rewarded 

 with the dignity of duke of Devonshire. He still, 

 however, maintained an independent bearing in par- 

 liament. He died in 1707. 



CAVENDISH, HENRY, born 1731, the son of lord 

 Charles Cavendish, and grandson of the second duke 

 of Devonshire, devoted himself exclusively to the 

 sciences, and acquired a distinguished rank among 

 those learned men who have most contributed to the 

 progress of chemistry. He discovered the peculiar 

 properties of hydrogen, and the qualities by which it 

 is distinguished from atmospheric air. To him we 

 owe the important discovery of the composition of 

 water. Scheele had already observed that, when 

 oxygen is mixed with double the quantity of hydro- 



gen, this mixture burns with an explosion, without 

 any visible residuum. Cavendish repeated this ex- 

 periment with the accuracy for which he was distin- 

 guished. He confined both the gasfe* in dry earthen 

 vessels, to prevent the escape of the p. oduct of their 

 combustion, and found that this residuum was water, 

 the weight of which was equal to the stun of the 

 weights of the two gases. Lavoisier confirmed this 

 conclusion in later times. The same spirit of accu- 

 racy in his experiments led Cavendish to another dis- 

 covery which had escaped Priestley. The latter hail 

 observed that a quantity of atmospheric air, confined 

 in a tube, through which the electric spark was trans- 

 mitted, lost in volume, and formed an acid, which red- 

 dened the tincture of litmus ; but he carried this ex- 

 periment no farther. Cavendish repeated the expe- 

 riment, by confining in the tube a solution of pure 

 potash, which absorbed the acid, and thus proved it 

 to be nitric acid. The analysis of the air, whirl i re- 

 mained in the tube after the experiment, showed that 

 the weight of the oxygen and azote, which liad dis- 

 appeared, was equal to the weight of the acid thus 

 formed. He easily determined the proportion of the 

 azote to the oxygen, which was 2 : |. It was found, 

 also, that, when both gases, sufficiently pure, were 

 mixed in that proportion, and exposed to the electric 

 spark, the mixture disappeared entirely, by which his 

 discovery was completely confirmed. Cavendish dis- 

 tinguished himself no less in natural philosophy, by 

 the accuracy of liis experiments. He possessed also 

 a profound knowledge of the liigher geometry, of 

 which he made a very happy use in determining the 

 mean density of the earth. He found it to be 5^ 

 times greater than the density of water a conclusion 

 which differs but little from that obtained by Maske- 

 lyne hi another way. He was a member of the royal 

 society at London, and hi 1803, was made one of the 

 eight foreign members of the national institute of 

 France. Cavendish was probably the richest among 

 the learned, and the most learned among the rich, 

 men of his time. An uncle left him a large fortune 

 in 1773. This increase of wealth made no change in 

 his character and habits. Extremely regular and 

 simple in his manner of living, he was liberal in en- 

 couraging science, and in his private charities. His 

 large, well-chosen library was open for the use of 

 learned men. He died in London, March, 1810, and 

 left 1,200,000 sterling to his relations. His writ- 

 ings consist of treatises in the Philosophical Trans- 

 actions, from 1766 to 1792. They are distinguished 

 by acuteness and accuracy. 



CAVIARE (ickari) is made in Russia from the roe 

 of sturgeons, belugas, and many other fish. The roe 

 is separated from the skin which encloses it, salted, 

 and, after eight days, pepper and finely minced oni- 

 ons are added. It is then dried, and serves as a re- 

 lisher with toasted bread or bread and butter. The 

 best caviare is that from the Crimea. From Kerch 

 and Jenikale, in that province, 1500 barrels are an- 

 nually exported to Moldavia and the countries on the 

 Danube. 



CAXAMARCA, or QUAXAMARKA; a pro- 

 vince of Peru, bounded N. by Jaen, E. by Chacapoy- 

 as, S. E. by Caxamarquilla, S. by Huamachuco, W. 

 by Sana and Truxillo ; population, 46,000. The 

 country is generally mountainous. It abounds in 

 fruits and cattle. The inhabitants are, for the most 

 part, Indians, and chiefly weavers. 



Caxamarca ; a town of Peru, capital of a province 

 of the same name ; about seventy miles from the Pa- 

 cific ocean, 280 N. Luna ; lat. 7 3' S. ; Ion. 78 35' 

 W. ; population, 12,000. It was at one time a 

 royal city, where the emperor Atahualpa was put to 

 death, after having been defeated and imprisoned by 

 Pizarro. 



