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CITHAREX'YLUM, a genus of plants. 

 Ikdynamia Angiospennia . Fiddle - wood . 

 There are five species, natives of the West 

 Indies and warmer parts of America, 

 where they grow to large trees. Name 

 from<6aa,aharp, oraiiddle,and iAe, 

 wood : the wood bc-ing particularly adapt- 

 ed for stringed musical instruments. 



CIT'RATE, a salt formed by the union of 

 the citric acid with a stilifiablc base. 



CIT'RIC ACID, the acid of lemons. Ci- 

 trus, a lemon. 



CIT'RON, an agreeable fruit, the produce 

 of the Citrus Jimonium, extensively culti- 

 vated at Madeira. It is a native of Asia. 

 It differs from the lemon in being less 

 acid. 



CIT'RCS. Kcr^otf. A genus of plants. 

 Polyadelphia Polijandria. This genus 

 comprises the orange, lemon, citron, ber- 

 gamotte, lime, and other trees. Warm 

 climates. 



CITY, Lat. rivitas. A borough or town 

 corporate, which is or has been the seat 

 of a bishop, or the capital of his see: it 

 differs in no other respect from another 

 borough. 



CIVET, an unctuous perfume taken from 

 the civet-cat. It is worth, when genuine, 

 from 30s. to 40s. an ounce. 



CIVET-CAT, or CIVET. This name is 

 common to all the species of the genus 

 7'i -<*, but especially applied to the V. 

 civetta, Lin., an animal of an ash-colour, 

 irregularly barred and spotted with black, 

 and not unlike a cat, but more closely re- 

 sembling the fox. It inhabits the hottest 

 parts of Africa. From the civet, andxibet 

 (the Indian species), the perfume called 

 civet is obtained. The name Civet is Arabic, 

 zebft. 



Civ'ic CROWN, a garland of oak leaves 

 which was given to a Roman soldier who 

 had saved the life of a citizen (civicus.) 



CIVIL ARCHITECTURE, the architecture 

 which is employed for the purposes of 

 civil life, in distinction from military and 

 naval architecture. 



CIVIL LAW, the law of a state, city or 

 country ; appropriately the Roman law 

 comprised in the Institutes, Code, and Di- 

 gest of Justinian, and the Novel Consti- 

 tutions. 



CIVIL LIST, the officers of civil govern- 

 ment; also the revenue appropriated to 

 support civil government. 



Ci vi L'I AN, one learned in civil or Roman 

 law; particularly a member of the " Col- 

 lege of Doctors of Law excrcent in the 

 Ecclesiastical and Admiralty Courts " in 

 England and Wales. 



CLACK, from W. dec, noise ; the instru- 

 ment that strikes the hopper of a grist- 

 mill for the purpose of shaking it and 

 discharging the corn. 



CL.ICII- VALVE, a valve much employed 



in hydraulics, consisting of a circular 

 piece of leather covering the bore of the 

 tube in which it is fixed, and moving by 

 a hinge, sometimes of metal, but gene- 

 rally of leather. Semicircular valves of 

 this description are called butterfly valves. 



CLAMP, in general something that binds. 

 In ship-building, the name is given to 

 thick planks in the inner part of a ship's 

 side, used to sustain the ends of beams. 

 Clamps consisting of bent plates of smooth 

 iron are also used to strengthen masts 

 and fasten the masts and bowsprits of 

 small vessels ; and similar irons are fore- 

 locked to the trunnions of a cannon, to 

 keep it fast to the carriage. Clamp is 

 also the name used in some parts, as the 

 vicinity of London, to denote a pile of 

 bricks laid up for burning. 



CLAN. The Clans are tribes consisting 

 of many families bearing the same sur- 

 name, which, according to tradition, de- 

 scend from a common ancestor. 



CLARE-OBSCURE, light and shade in 

 painting. 



CLAR'ICHORD, from clarus, clear, and 

 chorda, a string ; a musical instrument in 

 the form of a spinet ; called also a mani- 

 chord. It is furnished with about 50 keys 

 and 70 strings, some of these being in uni- 

 son. It is a great favourite in nunneries. 



CLA'BION, from Fr. clairon, a wind in- 

 strument differing from the common 

 trumpet in this, that its tube is narrower, 

 an* its tone more acute and shrill. 



CLAR'IONET. dim. of clarion (q. v.). 



CLA'RO-OBSCU'RO (clarus and ofcscwra) . In 

 painting, the art of disposing advanta- 

 geously the lights and shades of a piece. 

 It also denotes a painting in two colours, 

 as black and white. 



CLASS, a term used to denote an assem- 

 blage of beings or things having some 

 marked character in common. Classes 

 are made up of orders. What the genus 

 is to the species, or the order to the 

 genera, the class is in respect to the or- 

 ders. Every class comprehends part of 

 the series of genera collected into several 

 orders ; every order is an assemblage of 

 genera, every genus an assemblage. of si- 

 milar species, and every species is made 

 up of homogeneous individuals. 



CLASSIC. In the fine arts, such an ar 

 rangement of the subject that all the 

 parts are suitable to the general design. 

 In literature, signifies the highest and 

 purest class of writers in any language. 



CLA'VATE, Lat. clavattts, club-shaped ; 

 applied to parts of plants. 



CLA'VIARV, from clavis, a key; a scale 

 of lines and spaces in music. 



CLA'VICHORD, from cluris, a key, and 

 chorda, a musical instrument. See CLA- 



BICBURD. 



CLAVICOR'NES, the fourth family of the 

 pentauierous coleoptera. Name from 



