CENTIPED CENTO. 



123 



through which a poisonous fluid is thrown out. The 

 body is long, depressed, and membranous, each ring 

 being covered by a coriaceous or cartilaginous plate, 

 and mostly having one pair of feet : the last is usu- 

 ally thrown backwards, and elongated in form of a 

 tail. These insects are nocturnal and carnivorous, 

 and uniformly endeavour to escape from the light. 

 They conceal themselves under the decayed bark of 

 trees, the decayed timbers of buildings, among stones, 

 lumber, and rubbish, whence they sally forth at night 

 in search of prey. The centiped is one of the great- 

 est pests to be encountered in the West India islands, 

 and throughout the hot parts of the American conti- 

 nent. The materials of which the houses are con- 

 structed, and the rapid decay to which timber is sub- 

 ject in such climates, afford these noxious insects ex- 

 cellent hiding-places, and they multiply with great 

 rapidity. The utmost vigilance, even in the most 

 cleanly houses, is necessary to prevent these crea- 

 tures from finding their way into the beds, which 

 they often do notwithstanding all the care that is ta- 

 ken to prevent them. They always attempt to 

 escape when a light is brought into the room. They 

 run with considerable swiftness, but are quite ready 

 to stand on the defensive, and bite with severity. 

 Tin's disposition to bite upon the slightest provoca- 

 tion renders them very dangerous When once they 

 have entered a bed; the least movement of the 

 sleeper over whom they may be crawling, and wlto 

 can scarcely fail to be disturbed by their sharp- 

 pointed feet or claws acting upon his skin, will en- 

 sure a venomous bite, which will be frequently re- 

 peated if the centiped be not speedily dislodged. 

 The bite is exceedingly painful at the moment, and is 

 followed by a high degree of local inflammation, and 

 a fever of great irritation. Where the insect is 

 large, and the bite severe, life is much endangered, 

 ana not unfrequently lost, especially if the sufferer 

 be of delicate and irritable habit of body. The im- 

 mediate application of a cupping-glass, or any con- 

 venient substitute, over the wound, removes the pain 

 and danger at once. Spirits of hartshorn (volatile 

 alkali, aqua ammonias alcoholiz.) applied to the part, 

 and doses of the same administered internally (thirty 

 or forty drops) twice, thrice, or oftener in a day, will 

 also lessen the pain, and avert dangerous conse- 

 quences. The mode of treatment first mentioned is 

 the quickest and most certain. A popular remedy, 

 in all places where the centiped is common, is the 

 application to the wound of brandy or rum in which 

 a centiped has been for some time preserved. This 

 truly noxious insect grows to the size of six inches 

 and more in length, and is a formidable inmate of 

 most of the houses in tropical regions. Bishop He- 

 ber speaks of them as being very large and poison- 

 ous in different parts of India. So accustomed are 

 the West India slaves and residents to their pre- 

 sence, and regardless of danger from their bite, that 

 no particular means are taken to lessen their num- 

 bers, or to banish them effectually. It is very pro- 

 bable that they might be readily destroyed by placing 

 poisoned food within their reach ; yet, wlu'le resident 

 in the West Indies, we never heard of any one being 

 at the trouble of the experiment, though centipeds 

 were almost daily killed about the house. They are 

 frequently brought to America in cargoes of hides, 

 &c. ; and, a few years since, an individual, employed 

 in ui Jading a vessel at Boston, lost his life in conse- 

 quence of being bitten by one of these insects, brought 

 over in this way. Species having considerable re- 

 semblance to the centiped of the West Indies, and 

 much dreaded on account of their bite, are often 

 seen about extensive collections of timber and lum- 

 ber at the saw-mills on the head waters of the Sus- 

 p, &c. A smaller, dart, reddish-brown spe- 



cies, known by the name of thousand legs, is common 

 in most parts of America, living mider dead bark, or 

 among decaying timbers. The order myriapoda, to 

 which these insects pertain, from their cmstaceous 

 covering, the formation of the mouth, &c., appears 

 to form the transition from the cmstaceous or crab- 

 like animals to insects proper. They are the only 

 insects which, in their perfect state, have more than 

 six feet, and have the abdomen not distinct from the 

 trunk. They live and grow much longer than other 

 insects, surviving through several generations. When 

 first hatched, tney have but six feet, or, at least, 

 fewer than they afterwards acquire. The additional 

 feet, as well as the rings to which they are attached, 

 become developed as they advance in age a sort of 

 change peculiar to this race. 



CENTLIVRE, SUSANNA, a dramatic writer, was 

 bom in Ireland, in 1667. Her mind having early 

 taken a romantic turn, on being unkindly treated by 

 those who had the care of her after the death of 

 her mother, she formed the resolution of going to 

 London. Travelling by herself on foot, she was met 

 by Mr Hammond, father of the author of the love 

 elegies, then a student at the university of Cambridge, 

 who persuaded her to assume the habit of a boy, in 

 which disguise she lived with him some months at 

 college. At length, fearing a discovery, he induced 

 her to proceed to the metropolis, where, being yet 

 only hi her sixteenth year, she married a nephew of 

 Sir Stephen Fox. Becoming a widow within a year, 

 she took for a second husband an officer of the army, 

 of the name of Carrol, who was killed in a duel the se- 

 cond year of their wedlock. This event in her singular 

 career reduced her to considerable distress, and led 

 her to attempt dramatic composition. Her first pro- 

 duction was a tragedy, entitled the Perjured Husband, 

 which was performed in 1700. This was followed by 

 several comedies, chiefly translations from the French, 

 which exhibited the vivacity tliat distinguishes her li- 

 terary character,and met with some temporary success. 

 She also tried the stage as an actress on the provincial 

 boards, and by that means attracted the attention of 

 her third and last husband, Mr Centlivre, yeoman of 

 the mouth to queen Anne, whom she married in 1706. 

 She still continued writing for the stage, and pro- 

 duced several more comedies. Some of these re- 

 main stock pieces, of which number are the Busy 

 Body, the Wonder, and a Bold Stroke for a Wife. 

 They are diverting from the bustle of the incident, 

 and the liveliness of the characters, but want the ac- 

 companiments of adequate language and forcible de- 

 lineation. They partook of the license of the age. 

 Mrs Centlivre enjoyed the friendship of Steele, Far- 

 quhar, Rowe, and other wits of the day. Having, 

 however, offended Pope, she obtained a place in the 

 Dunciad, but is introduced by no means characteris- 

 tically. She was handsome in person, and her con- 

 versation was sprightly and agreeable ; her disposi- 

 tion also appears to have been friendly and bene- 

 volent. She died in 1723. Besides her dramatic 

 works, published in 3 vols., 12mo, 17C3, a volume 

 of her poems and letters were collected and pub- 

 lished by Boyer. 



CENTO (Latin) ; originally, a cloak made of 

 patches (hence, as Lessing observes, the dress of 

 Harlequin is called, in Apuleius, mimi centuculus). 

 The term lias been transferred to such poems as 

 have been tormed out of verses taken from other 

 poems. It was a particular art to combine passages 

 of different authors, on different subjects, in this man- 

 ner, so as to form a "regular whole. Thus there 

 were, in early times, Virgilian centos (centones Fir- 

 giliani), in which most of the verses were taken from 

 Virgil ; for instance, the epithalamiiun of Ausonius ; 

 and centos from the verses of Homer (Homcrucentones] 



