CAP 



CAP 



being only for want of appearance, if he 

 shall afterwards appear, the outlawry is 

 most commonly reversed. 



CAPIAS in ivithernam, is a writ directed 

 to the sheriff, in case where a distress is 

 carried out of the county, or concealed 

 by the distrainer, so that the sheriff can- 

 not make deliverance of the goods upon 

 a replevin, commanding- him to take so 

 many of the distrainer's own goods, by 

 way of reprisal, instead of the other that 

 are so concealed. 



CAPILLARY tubes, in physics, little 

 pipes, whose canals are extremely nar- 

 row, their diameter being- only a half, 

 third, or fourth of a line. 



The ascent of water, &c. in capillary 

 tubes, is a phenomenon that has long em- 

 barrassed philosophers ; for let one end 

 of a glass tube, open at both ends, be im- 

 merged in water, and the liquor within 

 the tube will rise to some sensible height 

 above the external surface ; or if two or 

 more tubes are immerged in the same 

 fluid, one of them a capillary one, the 

 other of a larger bore ; the fluid will as- 

 cend higher in the capillary tube than in 

 the other, and this in the reciprocal ratio 

 of the diameters of the tubes. 



In order to account for this phenome- 

 non,itwill be necessary first to premise that 

 there is a greater attraction between the 

 particles of glass and water, than there 

 is between the particles of water them- 

 selves: this appears plain from experience 

 which proves the attractive power in the 

 surface of glass to be very strong; whence 

 it is easy to conceive how sensible such a 

 power must act on the surface of a fluid 

 not viscid, as water contained within the 

 small cavity or bore of a glass tube ; as 

 also that it will be in proportion stronger 

 as the diameter of the bore is smaller ; 

 for that the efficacy of the power follows 

 the inverse proportion of the diameter is 

 evident from hence, that only such par- 

 ticles as are in contact with the fluid, and 

 these immediately above the surface, can 

 affect it. Now these particles form a 

 periphery, contiguous to the surface, the 

 upper part of which attracts and raises 

 the surface, and the lower part, which is 

 in contact with it, supports and holds 

 it up, so that neither the thickness nor 

 length of the tube avails any thing, only 

 the said periphery of particles, which is 

 always proportional to the diameter of 

 the bore : the quantity of the fluid raised 

 will therefore be as the surface of the 

 bore which it fills, that is, as the diameter; 

 as the effect would not be otherwise pro- 

 portional to the cause, since the quanti- 

 ties follow the ratio of the diameters, the 



heights to which the fluids will rise ii^ 

 different lubes will be inversely as the 

 diameters. 



Some, however, doubt whether the 

 law holds throughout, of the ascent of 

 the fluid hiring always higlier as the tube 

 is smaller. Dr. Hook's experiments, with 

 tubes almost as fine as cobwebs, seem to 

 shew tlu- contrary. The water in these, 

 he observes, did not rise so high as one 

 would have expected. The highest he 

 ever found was at 21 inches above the 

 level of the water in the basin, which is 

 much short of what it ought to have been 

 by the law above mentioned. 



CAPILLARY vessels, in anatomy, the 

 smallest and extreme parts of the veins 

 and arteries. 



CAPITAL, the head, chief, or princi- 

 cipal of a thing. Thus, 



CAPITAL, in geography, denotes the 

 principal city of a kingdom, province, 

 or state ; as London is the capital of 

 Britain. 



CAPITAL, among merchants, traders, 

 and bankers, signifies the sum of money 

 which individuals bring, to make up the 

 common stock of a partnership when it 

 is first formed. It is also said of the 

 stock which a merchant at first puts into 

 trade for his account. It signifies like- 

 wise the fund of a trading company, or 

 corporation, in which sense the word 

 stock is generally added to it : thus, we 

 say, the capital stock of the bank, &c. 

 The word capital is opposed to that of 

 profit or gain, though the profit often 

 increases the capital, and becomes itself 

 a part of it. 



CAPITAL crime, such a one as subjects 

 the criminal to capital punishment, that 

 is, the loss of life. 



CAPITAL, in architecture, the upper- 

 most part of a column or pilaster, serving- 

 ?s the head or crowning, and placed im- 

 mediately over the shaft, and under the 

 entablature. 



The capital is the principal part of an 

 order of columns or pilasters. It is of a 

 different form in the different orders, 

 and is that which chiefly distinguishes 

 and characterizes the orders. Such of 

 these as have no ornaments, as the Tus- 

 can and Doric, are called capitals of 

 mouldings; and the rest, which have 

 leaves and other ornaments, capitals of 

 sculptures. 



CAPITAL, Tuscan, consists of three mem- 

 bers, viz. an abacus, under this an ovolo 

 or quarter round, and under that a neck 

 or colarino, terminating in an astragal or 

 fillet, belonging to the shaft. 



CAPITAL, Doric> has its abacus plain, 



