CAN- 



sailed apostolical men. They consist of 

 regulations, which agree with the disci- 

 pline of the second and third centuries : 

 the Greeks generally count eighty-five, 

 but the Latins receive only fifty, nor do 

 they observe all these. 



CANONICAL, something belonging 

 to, or partaking of, the nature of a canon : 

 thus we read of canonical obedience, 

 which is that paid by the inferior clergy 

 to their superiors, agreeably to the canon 

 law. 



CANOPUS, in astronomy, a star of the 

 first magnitude in the rudder of Argo, 

 a constellation of the southern hemi- 

 sphere. 



CANSTERA, in botany, a genus of the 

 Tetrandria Monogynia class and order. 

 Calyx ventricose, four-toothed; no co- 

 rolla; nectary four-leaved, surrounding 

 the base of the germ ; berry one-celled, 

 one-seeded, superior. One species, C. 

 scandens, native of India. 



CANTATA, in music, a song or com- 

 position, intermixed with recitatives, airs, 

 and different movements, chiefly intend- 

 ed for a single voice, with a thorough 

 base, though sometimes for other instru- 

 ments. The cantata, when performed 

 with judgment, has something in it very 

 agreeable, the variety of the movements 

 not clogging the ear, like other compo- 

 sitions. It was first used in Italy, then in 

 France, whence it passed to us. 



CANTEEN, a small vessel made of tin- 

 plate or wood, in which soldiers, when 

 on their march, or in the field, carry their 

 liquor. They are cylindrical like barrels, 

 7^ inches diameter, and about four inch- 

 es deep, holding three pints. 



CANTHARIDES, in the Materia Me- 

 dica, are insects used to raise blisters. 

 They differ in their size, shape, and co- 

 lour ; the largest are about an inch long. 

 Some are of a pure azure colour, others 

 of that of pure gold, and others again 

 have a mixture of gold and azure colours, 

 all brilliant and extremely beautiful. 

 These insects are more common in hot 

 countries, though they are occasionally 

 to be met with in all parts of Europe, at 

 some seasons of the year; particularly 

 among wheat and on meadows, upon the 

 leaves of the ash, the poplar, the willow, 

 Sec. Such numbers of these insects are 

 sometimes together in the air, that they 

 appear like swarms of bees ; they have 

 likewise a vc -v >:^reeable smell, which 

 is a guide for ~ror-.se who make it their 

 business to cute a them. Those who col- 

 lect them, tie tnem in a bag or piece of 

 linen cloth, that has been well worn, up- 

 n which they are killed with the va- 



VOL. III. 



pours of hot vinegar, and dried in the 

 sun, and kept in boxes. When dried, 

 they are so light, that fifty of them will 

 scarcely weigh a drachm. The Sicilian 

 cantharides, and particularly those of 

 Etna, are reckoned better than those of 

 Spain. See MATERIA MEDICA and PHAR- 

 MACY. 



CANTHARIS, in natural history, a ge- 

 nus of insects of the order Coleoptera, 

 Generic character ; antennae filiform ; 

 thorax mostly margined, shorter than the 

 head ; shells flexile ; sides of the abdo- 

 men edged with folded papillae. There 

 are more than a hundred species enume- 

 rated, which are separated into three di- 

 visions ; A. four feelers, hatchet-shaped : 

 B. feelers filiform, the last joint setace- 

 ous : C. fore-feelers projecting, the last 

 joint but one with a large ovate cleft ap- 

 pendage, the last joint ovate, acute. This 

 division is denominated Lymexylon. The 

 whole genus, excepting the last division, 

 which in the grub and perfect state feeds 

 on green wood, is most rapacious, prey- 

 ing on other insects, and even on its own 

 tribe : C. bipustulata is a very beautiful 

 insect, of a slender and cylindric shape ; 

 its colour is a very dark, but elegant, 

 gilded green, with the tips of the wing- 

 shells red, and on each side the thorax, 

 a little below the setting on the wing 1 - 

 shells, is a triple vesicle, of a bright red 

 colour, extensile or retractile at the plea- 

 sure of the insect, and which, if accurate- 

 ly examined by the microscope, will ge- 

 nerally be found to exhibit an alternate 

 inflation and contraction, resembling 

 that of the lungs in the larger animals. 

 This species is found during the summer 

 on various plants, and particularly on net- 

 tles. 



CANTHIUM, in botany, a genus of the 

 Tetrandria Monogynia class and order. 

 Calyx four-toothed, superior; corolla 

 one-petalled, with a short inflated tube,, 

 and four-parted border; the mouth 

 downy ; drupe two-celled, with a one- 

 celled nut in each. One species, C. par- 

 viflorum, found in Coromandel. 



CANTICLES, or the Song of Songs, in 

 biblical history, a Hebrew mode of ex- 

 pression to denote a song superlatively 

 excellent in style and sentiment. Of this 

 ancient poem the author is asserted, by 

 the unanimous voice of antiquity, to have 

 been Solomon, and this tradition is cor- 

 roborated by many internal marks of au- 

 thenticity. In the very first verse it is 

 said to belong to Solomon : he is the sub- 

 ject of the piece, and the principal actor 

 in the conduct of it. Though the Song 

 of Songs comes down to us recommended 



