GEN 



210 



CEN 



OELLULA'RII, a family of coralliferous 

 polypiers, bearing a general resemblance 

 to the hydra. Kach polypus is adherent 

 in a calcareous cell, and only communi- 

 cates with the others by an extremely 

 tenuous external tunic, or by the minute 

 pores which traverse the parieties of the 

 cells. 



CELLULAR iNTEorMENT, the succulent 

 pulpy substance situated immediately 

 under the cuticle of plants. Thus leaves 

 consist chiefly of this substance, and the 

 stems and branches are surrounded by it. 

 It is the seat of colour, mostly green, but 

 is itself colourless, the colouring matter 

 being contained in its vesicles. 



CBL'LCLAR MEMBRANE, that tissue of 

 filmy meshes which connects the minute 

 component parts of most of the structures 

 of the animal body. 



CELO'SIA, a genus of tropical plants. Pen- 

 tandriaMonogynia. There are many spe- 

 cies, all producing fine flo were, from which 

 the genus has obtained the name coxcomb. 



CEM'ENT, Lat. camentttm. Chemists 

 give this name to all sorts of lutes, and 

 builders use it to denote a stronger kind 

 of mortar than that commonly employed. 



CEMENTA'TION, a chemical process, which 

 consists in surrounding a body in the solid 

 state with the powder of some other bo- 

 dies, and exposing the whole for a time, in 

 a close vessel, to a degree of heat not suffi- 

 cient to fuse the contents. Thus iron is 

 converted into steel by cementation with 

 Charcoal ; green bottle-glass is converted 

 into porcelain by cementation with sand, 

 Ac. The term is also used for the act of 

 cementing. 



CE.N'OBITES, a religious order who live 

 in community : opposed to anchorets. The 

 term is Gr. zomoGiory; , a community, 

 from xoito;, common, and fyotu, to live. 



CENSE, Lat.c<?nst<s, a valuation, a regis- 

 tering, a tax : censeo, to enrol, to tax. 



CEN'SER, a vase or pan in which in- 

 cense is burned (see INCENSE). The Jewish 

 censer is a sort of chafflng-dish, covered 

 by a dome, and suspended by a chain, 

 used to offer perfumes in sacrificing. 



CEN'SOR, Latin. An officer at ancient 

 Rome, whose business was to register the 

 effects of the citizens, to impose taxes 

 according to the property which each 

 man possessed, and to inspect the man- 

 ners of the citizens, with power to censure 

 vice by inflicting a public mark of igno- 

 miny on the offender. (See CENSE.) The 

 term is now used to designate one em- 

 powered to examine manuscripts and 

 books, before they are committed to the 

 press, to see that they contain nothing 

 immoral or heretical. 



CENSCRE, Lat. Centura. (See CENSOR.) 

 Among ecclesiastics, this term is used to 

 denote a sentence of condemnation on a 



member of a church for mal-conduct, by 

 which he is deprived of the communion 

 of the church, or prohibited from per- 

 forming the sacerdotal office. 



CEN'SCS, Latin. The declaration made 

 in ancient Rome by the citizens before the 

 censors. (See CENSOR.) This declaration 

 was registered, and contained an enume- 

 ration of all their lands and estates, their 

 quantity and quality, with the wives, 

 children, domestics, tenants, and slaves 

 of each citizen. In modern times the 

 word is used to denote the enumeration 

 of the inhabitants of a country. Thus a 

 census of the population of Great Britain 

 is made every 10 years. 



CENT, contracted from Lat. centum, a 

 hundred. Hence, per cent, means per 

 hundred, as five per cent., meaning five in 

 the hundred. Cent is also the name of a 

 copper coin of the United States of Ame- 

 rica, of which 100 = one dollar. 



CEN'TAUR, Lat. centaurus, a fabulous 

 being, supposed to be half man and half 

 horse. The origin of the fable and name 

 is not ascertained. This name is now 

 given to part of a southern constellation 

 (the Archer) , in form of a centaur, usually 

 joined with the wolf. It contains 35 stars. 



CENTAC'REA, the centaury. A very ex- 

 tensive genus of plants, mostly perennials. 

 Syngenesia Poly, frustranea. Name, Lat. 

 from xtr,ufUt- The knapweed, blue 

 bottle, sultan, and star- thistle, are well- 

 known British species. 



CEN'TAURT. 1. A name common to all 

 the plants of the genus Centaurea (q. v.). 



2. The Chironia eentaurium, a British 



annual plant. 



CENTE'NZS, the tearic. A genus of mam- 

 miferous animals of Madagascar, sepa- 

 rated by Illiger from the genus Erinacetts, 

 Lin. There are three species, all covered 

 with spines, like the hedgehog, but they 

 are somewhat larger. Order Carnaria, 

 family Insectivora, Cuv. 



CEN'TERISG or CENTRE. The temporary 

 woodwork on which any vaulted work is 

 constructed. 



CENTES'IMAL, in arithmetic, the next 

 step of progression after decimal, answer- 

 ing to the English word hundredth (cen- 

 tesimus, from centum). 



CENTESIMATION, a military mode of 

 punishing for desertion, mutiny, or the 

 like, where one person in a hundred 

 (centum') is selected for execution. 



CEN'TIARE, from cent and are, a French 

 superficial measure, the hundredth part 

 of an are, or M96 square yards. 



CENTiFo'Liors,fromce<m and folium. 

 having a hundred leaves. 



CEN'TIGRADE, from centum anAgradus, a 

 degree, divided into a hundred degrees. 

 Graduated into a hundred divisions ar 

 equal parts, as a centigrade ttanKWJta? 

 See THERMOMETER. 



