CANKER SORE 



1155 



CANNING AND PRESERVING 



the dog formed by the star Sirius, one of the 

 nearest to earth, but so distant that it takes 

 eight years for its light to reach us. See 

 ASTRONOMY. 



CANKER SORE, kang'ker sore, a small 

 ulcer or collection of ulcers, which forms in the 

 mouth, usually on the tongue. Ulcers are quite 

 common in children and are usually due to 

 indigestion. They can be removed by the use 

 of pulverized alum or silver nitrate, but the 

 latter remedy should be used with caution, 

 for it may cause a sore as painful as the one 

 it removes. 



CANKERWORM, kang'ker werm, the cater- 

 pillar of either of two moths, the females of 

 both of which species are wingless. The eggs of 

 one species hatch in the spring, those of the 

 other in the fall or early winter, and the cater- 

 pillars may be distinguished by the number of 

 white stripes across their backs, the spring 

 caterpillars having eight and the autumn ones 

 six. These caterpillars are very destructive 

 to the foliage of fruit trees and shade trees, 

 often eating the entire foliage of an orchard 

 or grove in a few days. When the worms are 

 disturbed they drop from the leaves and hang 

 suspended by a silken thread. Since they must 

 climb the trees to reach the foliage, one of the 

 best means of preventing their ravages is to 

 fasten bands of tarred paper or some other 

 sticky substance around the trees early in the 

 spring. Shade trees may be sprayed with Paris 

 green, but this should be used with caution 

 on fruit trees. See CATERPILLAR; MOTH. 



CANNA, kan'a, one of the most brilliant and 

 ornamental of garden plants. Its development 

 has been achieved 

 within recent 

 years, and now no 

 plant is more pop- 

 ular for large beds 

 or as backgrounds 

 for lower-growing 

 flowers. For the 

 canna is tall 

 frequently as tall 

 as a man; and 

 even the so-called 

 dwarf varieties 

 are four feet in 

 height. The large 

 leaves, dark- 

 green or bronze, . CANNA 

 spread about the central stock, at the end of 

 which appear the gorgeous red, yellow or 

 prange flowers. Cannas are very easily grown, 



few plants repaying more generously the care 

 expended upon them. They need a rich, warm 

 soil and plenty of moisture; and the blos- 

 soms as they wilt should be picked, to prevent 

 seeding. At the close of the flowering season 

 the big root is dug up, kept from freezing 

 through the winter and replanted in the spring. 



CANNIBAL, kan'ibal, a person who eats 

 human flesh. Spanish discoverers at the time 

 of Columbus found that the custom of eating 

 their fellow beings existed among the Caribs, 

 a West Indian tribe, and from their name came 

 the modern word cannibal. Man-eating races 

 were mentioned, however, by the Greek his- 

 torian Herodotus and other ancients, and refer- 

 ence is made to the practice in the writings 

 of Marco Polo (which see), an Italian adven- 

 turer of the thirteenth century. Cannibalism 

 until recently prevailed among the savages of 

 West and Central Africa, New Guinea, the 

 Fiji Islands, Australia and New Zealand, and 

 is still practiced in Sumatra and other islands 

 of the East Indies. The early North American 

 Indians were accustomed to eat their prisoners 

 in time of war, and even so highly civilized a 

 race as the Aztecs of Mexico consumed the 

 human victims offered as sacrifices to their god 

 of war. The heart of a brave man was re- 

 garded as an especially choice morsel. 



Among some races cannibalism began as a 

 religious rite, and in the course of time there 

 developed a natural appetite for human flesh. 

 Others have believed "that the virtues of the 

 deceased passed on to the one who ate of his 

 flesh, and so children often consumed their 

 dead parents. In some cases men have eaten 

 human beings simply because there was lack 

 of other food supply. Even highly-civilized 

 beings may be driven to eat of human flesh by 

 extreme hunger, as is shown in the records of 

 sieges and shipwrecks. Cannibalism and can- 

 nibals are mentioned frequently in stories of 

 adventure and travel, a well-known instance 

 being the rescue of Friday from the cannibals 

 by Robinson Crusoe. Other stories are told 

 of mariners adrift at sea who cast lots to see 

 which one should be killed and give his body to 

 satisfy the hunger of his companions. Even in 

 cases of dire necessity, however, such a pro- 

 ceeding is not held to be justifiable, and there 

 are cases on record of the trial, condemnation 

 and punishment of rescued sailors who had 

 during their apparently hopeless hours resorted 

 to this course. 



CANNING AND PRESERVING. See FOOD 

 PRODUCTS, PRESERVATION OF. 



