CAP 



CAP 



at 32, so that the increase of capacity 

 in the ice, during its solution, is sufficient 

 to enable it to absorb, without any eleva- 

 tion of its temperature, as much caloric 

 as has raised the temperature of an equal 

 quantity of water 146 ; and the like quan- 

 tity is also again emitted on its becoming 

 again congealed. If a quantity of water 

 be xposed without agitation to a degree 

 of cold equal to 24' or 25, it will fre- 

 quently acquire this temperature without 

 freezing; but as soon as congelation be- 

 gins, the thermometer will immediately 

 rise to 32. and the whole will remain at 

 that temperature till all the water is con- 

 verted into ice. 



This latter change of capacity appears 

 to be absolutely essential to the well-be- 

 ing of the universe, as affording a con- 

 stant modification of the action of heat 

 and cold, whose effects would otherwise 

 be inordinate. If this did not take place, 

 the whole of a mass of water which was 

 exposed to a temperature above the boil- 

 ing point would be instantly dissipated in 

 vapour with explosion. The fact, how- 

 ever, is, that the capacity of those por- 

 tions of the liquid, which are successively 

 resolved into a vapour, becomes thereby 

 sufficiently augmented to enable them to 

 absorb the superabundant caloric as fast 

 as it is communicated : and it is for this 

 reason that boiling water in an open ves- 

 sel never reaches a higher temperature 

 than 212. The polar ices would all in- 

 stantaneously dissolve, whenever the 

 temperature of the circumambient air 

 was above 32, if it were not that each 

 particle absorbs a quantity of caloric in 

 its solution, and thereby generates a de- 

 gree of cold, which arrests and regulates 

 the progress of the thaw ; and the con- 

 verse of this takes place in congelation, 

 which is in its turn moderated by the heat 

 developed in consequence of the dimi- 

 nution of capacity, which takes place in 

 the water during its transition to a solid 

 state. 



CAPACITY, in law, the ability of a man, 

 or body politic, to give or take lands, or 

 other things, or sue actions. 



Our law allows the king two capacities, 

 a natural and a political; in the first he may 

 purchase lands to him and his heirs ; in 

 the latter to him and his successors. The 

 clergy have the like. 



CAPARASON, or horse cloth, a sort 

 of cover for a horse. For led horses it is 

 commonly made of linen cloth, bordered 

 round with woollen, and enriched with 

 the arms of the master upon the middle, 

 which covers the croupe, and with two 

 cyphers on the two sides. The capara- 



sons for the army are sometimes a great 

 bear's skin, -and those for stables are of 

 single buckram in summer, and oi cloth 

 in the winter. 



CAPELLA, in astronomy, a bright fix- 

 ed star of the first magnitude, in the left 

 shoulder of the constellation Auriga. It 

 is in the Britannic Catalogue the four- 

 teenth in order of that constellation. Its 

 longitude is 17 3l' 41", it latitude 22 

 51' 47." 



CAPER. See CAPPAHIS. 



CAPIAS, is a writ of two sorts, one 

 whereof is called capias ad respondendum, 

 before judgment, where an original is 

 sued out, &c. to take the defendant and 

 make him answer the plaintiff': and the 

 other a writ of execution, after judgment, 

 being of divers kinds. 



CAPIAS ad respondendum, is a writ com- 

 manding the sheriff to take the body of 

 the defendant, if he may be found in his 

 bailiwic or county, and him safely to keep, 

 so that he may have him in court on the 

 day of the return, to answer to the plain- 

 tiff' of a plea of debt, or trespass, or the 

 like, as the case may be. And if the 

 sheriff' return that he cannot be found, 

 then there issues another writ, called an 

 alias capias , and after that another, call- 

 ed phiries capias,- and if upon none of these 

 he can be found, then he may be pro- 

 ceeded against unto outlawry. But all 

 this being only to compel an appearance, 

 after, the defendant hath appeared, the 

 effect of these writs is taken off, and the 

 defendant shall be put to answer, unless 

 it be in cases where special bail is re- 

 quired, and there the defendant is actual- 

 ly to be taken into custody. 



CAPIAS ad satisfaciendum, is a writ di- 

 rected to the. sheriff, commanding him to 

 take the body of the defendant, and him 

 safely to keep, so that he may have his 

 body in court at the return of the writ, 

 to make the plaintiff' satisfaction for his 

 demand; otherwise he is to remain in 

 custody till he do. When a man is once 

 taken in execution upon this writ, no 

 other process can be sued out against his 

 lands or goods. But if a defendant die 

 whilst charged in execution upon this 

 writ, the plaintiff may, after his death, 

 sue out new executions against his lands, 

 goods, or chatties. 



CAPIAS, -utlegatum, is a writ that lies 

 against a person that is outlawed in any 

 action, whereby the sheriff' is command- 

 ed to apprehend the body of the party 

 outlawed, and keep him in safe custody 

 till the day of the return of the writ, and 

 then present him to the court, there to 

 be dealt with for his contempt. But this 



