CHAMOMILE 



1265 



CHAMPLAIN 



Though the flesh is highly prized as food, the 

 chief value of a chamois lies in its skin, which 

 is used to make the very soft, warm, flexible 

 leather known as chamois skin. Most of the 

 skin now sold as such, however, comes from 

 the skin of sheep, but it lacks the velvety 

 softness of the genuine. 



CHAMOMILE, or CAMOMILE, kam'omile, 

 a well-known daisylike plant belonging to 

 the Composite family (which see) . It is a peren- 

 nial and has slender, trailing stems. The 

 flower of the chamomile of commerce is white, 

 with a yellow center. Both leaves and flowers 

 are bitter and aromatic. The fragrance is 

 due to the presence of an oil, of a light blue 

 color when first extracted. Both the leaves 

 and the flowers are used as poultices, as in 

 cases of earache, and also medicinally in the 

 form of tea. The flowers are sometimes used 

 in place of hops. Chamomile is cultivated in 

 gardens in the United States and Southern 

 Canada. The golden marguerite, with its beau- 

 tiful bright or pale-yellow flowers, is a variety 

 of chamomile, as is also the common, trouble- 

 some, ill-smelling mayweed, with its small, 

 white, yellow-centered flowers. 



CHAMPAGNE, sham pane', an expensive 

 French wine, white or red, sparkling or "dry," 

 sweet or acid, most of which finds a market 

 in the United States. It is made chiefly in 

 the department of Marne, in the former prov- 

 ince of Champagne, although a similar wine is 

 made elsewhere. Much domestic champagne 

 is consumed in America, most of which is made 

 in California. 



The best qualities are made almost exclu- 

 sively from black grapes. The creaming or 

 slightly-sparkling champagnes are more highly 

 valued and are higher in price than the full- 

 frothing wines. The small quantity of alcohol 

 which the latter contain nearly all escapes from 

 the froth as it rises to the surface, carrying 

 with it the fragrance and leaving the liquor 

 nearly tasteless. The property of creaming, 

 or frothing, possessed by these wines is due 

 to the fact that they are partly fermented in 

 the bottle, carbonic acid being thereby pro- 

 duced. Because this fermenting takes place 

 under pressure, the bottles used must be of 

 the strongest quality. Keeping champagne 

 cool prevents too much frothing, and that is 

 one reason why it is usually served from a 

 bucket of ice. See WINE. 



CHAMPAIGN, ILL., a city of Champaign 

 County, situated in the east-central part of 

 the state, eighty miles east and north of Spring- 

 80 



field and 128 miles south and west of Chicago. 

 The neighboring city of Urbana, which joins 

 it on the east, contains the University of Illi- 

 nois (see ILLINOIS, UNIVERSITY OF). Champaign 

 is served by the Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chi- 

 cago & Saint Louis, the Illinois Central and 

 the Wabash railroads, and by the Illinois 

 Traction System. The area is nearly four 

 square miles. In 1910 the population was 

 12,421 ; in 1914 it was 13,835. 



Champaign has several parks, a Federal 

 building erected in 1906 at a cost of $80,000, 

 a Masonic Temple, the Burnham Library and 

 Burnham Hospital and the University Armory, 

 a building which cost $300,000. The city is sur- 

 rounded by a rich agricultural section, for 

 which it and Urbana are trade centers. It has 

 railroad shops of the Illinois Central, an ice 

 and cold-storage plant, tool and textile fac- 

 tories and foundries. Founded in 1855, Cham- 

 paign was chartered as a city in 1860 and 

 rechartered in 1883. 



CHAMPLAIN, sham plane', a lake 125 miles 

 long and from one to fifteen miles wide, lying 

 between the states of New York and Vermont, 

 with its northern end in Quebec. It covers 

 an area of about 600 square miles, contains 



LAKE CHAMPLAIN 



LAKE CHAMPLAIN 



many islands and is a beautiful and popular 

 summer resort. Salmon, trout and sturgeon 

 abound, and the lake is navigated by large 

 excursion steamers. Numerous small streams 

 flow into it from the south, and the surplus 

 waters are carried into the Saint Lawrence by 

 the Richelieu River. 



On September 11, 1814, a decisive naval 

 engagement was fought between British and 

 United States vessels in the harbor of Platts- 

 burg, on Lake Champlain. The forces were 



