CAN 



CAN 



of a mortar is round, und rests in a hol- 

 low made in the centre of- the bed ; its 

 muzzle is held up by a curved iron stay, 

 which being- acted upon by a screw gives 

 the mortar more or less elevation : the 

 trunnions are close to the breech, and 

 move upon the bi-cl. 



We shall conclude this article with a 

 short description of the method of cannon 

 boring-. 



Fig. 1. Plate cannon, &c. in an eleva- 

 tion of a machine for boring- cannon, and 

 fig. 2. is a plan of it; the same references 

 are used in both figures : A is a cast iron 

 frame to support the bearing for an iron 

 shaft, B, turned by a steam engine, or 

 water wheel ; this has a square box on its 

 end, into which a square knob cast on 

 the end of the gun is fitted by screws ; 

 the mouth of the gun is supported on an 

 iron frame, D, sliding- on the two bed 

 beams, E, E, and can be fixed at any place 

 by screws ; it has also screws to elevate 

 or depress the brass which forms the 

 bearing for the gun ; F is the boring bar, 

 fastened at its end to a large block, G, 

 running on the bed beams with small 

 wheels : H is a rack fastened by its ends 

 to puppets wedged on the bed, passing 

 through the block G : a pinion which 

 works in this rack is attached to the 

 block G, and its spindle has a wheel, I, 

 with pins projecting from it : K is a bar 

 going between these pins, and carrying a 

 weight which turns the pinion, and forces 

 the block G, and the boring bar, towards 

 the gun. When the weight reaches the 

 ground it must be lifted up, and its lever, 

 K, hooked between two fresh pins of the 

 wheel. 



CANNON, with letter-founders and prin- 

 ters, a large sized letter distinguished by 

 this name. 



CANNONADE, in marine affairs, is the 

 application of artillery to the purposes of 

 naval war, or the direction of its efforts 

 against some distant objects intended to 

 be seized or destroyed, as a ship, battery, 

 fortress, &c. 



CANNULA, in surgery, a tube made of 

 different metals, principally of silver and 

 lead, but sometimes of iron. 



CANOE, a small boat, made of the 

 trunk of a tree, bored hollow, and some- 

 times also of pieces of bark, sewed toge- 

 ther. It is used by the natives of Ame- 

 rica to go a fishing in the sea, or upon 

 some other expedition, either by sea, or 

 upon the rivers and lakes. 



CANON, commonly called prebendary, 

 a person who possesses a prebend, or re- 

 venue allotted for the performance of di- 

 vine service in a cathedral or collegiate 



church. Originally canons were only 

 priests, or inferior ecclesiastics, who liv- 

 ed in community, residing near the cathe- 

 dral church, to assist the bishop, depend- 

 ing entirely on his will, supported by the 

 revenues of his bishopric, and living in 

 the same house as his domestics or coun- 

 sellors, &c. By degrees, these commu- 

 nities of priests, shaking off their de- 

 pendence, formed separate bodies; in 

 time they freed themselves from their 

 rules, and at length ceased to live in a 

 community. It is maintained that the 

 colleges of canons, which have been in- 

 troduced into each cathedral, were not in 

 the 'ancient church, but are of modern 

 appointment. 



CANON, in an ecclesiastical sense, a law, 

 rule, or regulation of the policy and dis- 

 cipline of a church, made by councils, 

 either general, national, or provincial. 



CANON of scripture, a catalogue or list 

 of the inspired writings, or such books of 

 the bible as are called canonical ; because 

 they are in the number of those books 

 which are looked upon as sacred, in op- 

 position to those which are either not ac- 

 knowledged as divine books, or are re- 

 jected as heretical and spurious, and are 

 called apocryphal. This canon may be 

 considered as Jewish and Christian, with 

 respect to the sacred writings acknow- 

 ledged as such by the Jews, and those ad- 

 mitted by the Christians. 



CANON, in music, a short composition 

 of two or more parts, in wiiich one leads, 

 and the other follows ; or it is a line of 

 any length, shewing, by its divisions, how 

 musical intervals are distinguished, ac- 

 cording to the ratios, or proportions, that 

 the sounds terminating the intervals 

 bear one to another, when considered ac- 

 cording to their degree of being acute or 

 grave. 



CANON, in arithmetic, algebra, &c. is a 

 rule to solve all things of the same nature 

 with the present inquiry ; thus, every last 

 step of an equation in algebra is such a 

 canon ; and, if turned into words, is a 

 rule to solve all questions of the same 

 nature with that proposed. Tables of 

 logarithms, artificial sines and tangents, 

 are called likewise by the name of canon. 



CANON law. a collection of ecclesiasti- 

 cal laws, serving as the rule and measure 

 of church government. 



CANONS of the apostles, a collection of 

 ecclesiastical laws, which, though very 

 ancient, were not left us by the apostles. 

 It is true, they were sometimes called 

 apostolic canons ; but this means no more 

 than that they were made by bishops, who 

 lived soon after the apostles, and were 



