CAS 



205 



CAT 



turpenters and joiners, a term analogous 

 Jo warping (q. v.). -4. Casting of dra- 

 peries, in painting, is the disposition of 

 the folds of the garments, with which, the 



rigures in the picture are clothed. 5. 



Casting off copy, in printing, is to ascer- 

 tain accurately how many pages in print 

 a given quantity of manuscript will oc- 

 tupy ; or how many pages of a larger type 

 a given quantity of print in a smaller type 

 will occupy. 



CASTING-NET, a net which is cast and 

 drawn ; in distinction from a net that is 

 act and left. 



CASTING-VOTE, the vote of a person who 

 presides in an assembly or council, and 

 which, there being a parity of the other 

 Totes, decides the matter at issue. 



CAST-IRON, the iron as it is extracted 

 from the ores, being cast in a species of 

 moulds; called also pig-iron and cast- 

 metal. 



CAS'TLE, Sa-K.castel. 1. A fortified house. 



2. In ships, there are two parts called 



by this name ; the forecastle, which is a 

 short deck in the fore part of the ship, 

 above the upper deck ; and the hindercattle 

 at the stern. 



CASTI.E-GCARD, a feudal tenure, or 

 knight's service, which obliged the tenant 

 to perform service within the realm with- 

 ut limitation. 



CASTLE- WARD, an imposition laid upon 

 objects dwelling within a certain dis- 

 tance of a castle, for the purpose of main- 

 taining watch and ward in the castle. 



CAS'TOR, Lat. from xet<rr*>e. 1. The 

 systematic name of the beaver, a genus of 

 Mammalia, of the order Rodentia. See 



BEAVER. 2. The English name of the 



castoreum of the pharmacopoeias ; a pecu- 

 liar odorous concrete substance, obtained 

 from the Cattor fiber (common beaver). 

 The castor is contained in two bags, 

 ituated in the inguinal region. The best 

 comes from Russia. 



CASTOR AND POLLUX, a fiery meteor 

 which, at sea, appears sometimes ad- 

 hering to a part of a ship, in the form of 

 one, two, or even more balls. When one 

 only appears it is called Helena; two are 

 called Castor and Pollux, or Tyndaridas. 



CASTOR-OIL, is obtained chiefly from the 

 seeds of the Ricinus communis, or Palma 

 Chriiti, an annual plant found in most 

 tropical countries. The oil is separated 

 from the seeds, either by boiling them in 

 water, or by subjecting them to strong 

 pressure. 



CASTRA'TION. 1. In surgery, the removal 



of a teticle from the body. 2. In 



botany, the removal of the anther of a 

 flower. 



CASTRA'TO (Italian). A male person 

 emasculated for the purpose of improving 

 his voice for singing. 



C\s'ricTv.y, the doctrine or science ot 

 conscience, cr the science of resolving 

 cases of doubtful propriety, or of deter- 

 mining the lawfulness or unlawfulness of 

 what a man may do, by rules and prin- 

 ciples drawn from the Scriptures, from 

 the laws of society, or from equity and 

 natural reason. 



CA'SUS FCEDERIS (Lat.), the case stipu- 

 lated by treaty. That which comes within 

 the terms of compact. 



CAT. 1. The domestic cat is the Felis 

 catus, Lin., originally from the forests of 



Europe. See FELIS. 2. A vessel formed 



on the Norwegian model, of about 600 

 tons burthen, carrying from 20 to 30 keels 



of coals. 3. A tackle, or combination 



of pulleys, to suspend the anchor at the 



cat's-head of a ship. i. A double tripod, 



having six feet. 



CAT'ABASioN,a place under the altar, in 

 the Greek church, where the relics are 

 kept. 



CATACHRESIS, xcx,rat,^r,<ris , a rhetorical 

 figure, wherein the name of one thing is 

 borrowed to express another thing, as 

 " the blood of the grape." 



CA'TABAP'TISTS, xotret, against, and 

 i3%TTt%u, I baptise. Those who oppose 

 infant baptism, or deny the necessity of 

 baptism at all. 



CA'TACABS'TICS, xetratxcuu, I burn, in 

 Optics or Geometry, are the caustic curves 

 formed by the reflection of light, in con- 

 tradistinction to diacaustic curves, which 

 are formed by refraction. 



CAT'ACLYSM, a deluge, xetr&x\vou&o;. 

 Applied to describe the Noachian deluge. 



CAT'ACOMBS, subterranean places for 

 burying the dead, from X.<X,T<X.XOIUM,M, 

 I sleep away. The term is said to have 

 been first applied to the chapel of St. 

 Sebastian in Rome, where St. Peter wa 

 deposited. It is now applied to a vast 

 number of sepulchres on the Appian Way, 

 about three miles from Rome. These are 

 supposed to have been the cells and caves 

 in which were deposited the bodies of the 

 primitive Christians. The Egyptian cata- 

 combs extend over a wide tract of country 

 the neighbourhood of Grand Cairo; 

 and those of Paris under a considerable 

 part of the city. 



CATACOU'STICS, from xatratxou*, to hear. 

 That part of acoustics which treats of re- 

 flected sounds. 



CATADIOP'TERICS, from xa,nx. and eio- 

 xrofMJ, to see through. The branch ol 

 optics which treats of reflected light. 



CAT'AFAI/CO (It.), a scaffold. A temporary 

 structure of carpentry, decorated with 

 painting and sculpture, representing a 

 tomb, and used in funeral ceremonies. 



CATALAU, a sort of smelting furnace in 

 use in the Pyrenees, where malleable iron 



