CLI 



CLI 



be supported by the doctrine of numbers 

 introduced by Pythagoras; though many 

 eminent men, both among the ancients 

 and moderns, appear to have hud great 

 faith in it. 



CLIMATE, in geography, a space 

 upon the surface of the terrestrial globe, 

 contained between two paiallels, and so 

 far distant from each other, that the 

 longest day in one differs half an hour 

 from the longest day in the other paral- 

 lel. The difference of climates arises 

 from the different inclination or obliqui- 

 ty of the sphere ; the ancients took the 

 parallel wherein the length of the long- 

 est day is twelve hours and threequarters 

 for the beginning of the first climate; as t o 

 those parts that are nearer to the equa- 

 tor than that parallel, they were not ac- 

 counted to bein any climate,eitherbecause 

 they may, in a loose and general sense, 

 be considered as being in a right sphere, 

 though, strictly speaking, only the parts 

 under the equator are so; or because they 

 were thought to be uninhabited by reason 

 of the heat, and were besides unknown. 

 The ancients, considering the diversity 

 there is in the rising and setting of the 

 heavenly bodies, especially the sun, and, 

 in consequence thereof, the difference 

 in the length of the clays and nights in 

 different places, divided as much of the 

 earth as was known to them into cli- 

 mates : and instead of the method now 

 in use, of setting down the latitude of 

 places in degrees, they contented them- 

 selves with saying in what climate the 

 place under consideration was situated. 

 According to them, therefore, what they 

 judged the habitable part of the northern 

 hemisphere was divided into seven cli- 

 mates, to which the like number of south- 

 ern ones corresponded. A parallel is 

 said to pass through the middle of a cli- 

 mate, when the longest day in that paral- 

 lel differs a quarter of an hour from the 

 longest day in either of the extreme pa- 

 rallels that bound the climate : this pa- 

 rallel does not divide the climate into 

 two equal parts, but the part nearest to 

 the equator is largerthan the other, be- 

 cause the farther we go from the equator 

 the less increase of latitude will be suf- 

 ficient to increase the length of the long- 

 est day a quarter of an hour. 



Some of the moderns reckon the dif- 

 ferent climates by the increase of "half an. 

 hour in the length of the longest day, be- 

 ginningat the equator, and going on till 

 they come to the polar circle towards the 

 pole ; they then count the climates by 

 the increase of a whole natural d:w, in the 



length of the longest day, till they come 

 to a parallel, under which the day is of 

 the length of fifteen natural clays, or half 

 a month ; from this parallel they proceed 

 to reckon the climates by the increase of 

 half or whole months in the artificial day, 

 till they come to the pole itself, under 

 which the length of the day is six months. 

 Those between the equator and the polar 

 circles are called hour climates : and 

 those between the polar circles and the 

 poles monthly climates. Vulgarly, the 

 term climate is bestowed on any country 

 or region differing from one another, 

 either in respect of the seasons, the qua- 

 lity of the soil, or even the mannersof the 

 inhabitants, without any regard to the 

 length of the longest day. 



CLIMAX, in rhetoric, a figure, where- 

 in the word or expression which ends 

 the first member of a period begins the 

 second, and so on ; so that every mem. 

 ber will make a distinct sentence, taking 

 its rise from the next foregoing, till the 

 argument and period be beautifully fi- 

 nished. 



CLIMBING plants, in gardening, are 

 such plants as ascend either spirally 

 round supports, or by means of claspers 

 and tendrils. They are either herbaceous 

 or wood)', and which, according to their 

 mode of climbing, may be denominated 

 twining climbers, cirrhous climbers, and 

 parasitic climbers. The first sort includes 

 all such as have winding 1 stalks, and twist 

 about, any neighbouring support; such as 

 scarlet kidney beans, hops, and some sort 

 of honey-suckle. The second kind com- 

 prehends all such as ascend by means of 

 spiral strings, issuing from the sides of 

 the stalks and branches, or from the foot- 

 stalks of the leaves, and even from the 

 leaves themselves, twisting about any 

 thing they meet with, by which their 

 stalks are supported and arrive at their 

 proper height ; such as most of the pea- 

 tribe, cucumber, vine, passion-flower, 

 and various others. And the last plants 

 are also of the same kind, but their clasp- 

 ers plant themselves as roots in the bark 

 of the plants on which they ascend, or in 

 the crevices of walls or pales, thereby 

 supporting themselves, and mounting- to 

 their tops; as the ivy, Virginia creeper, 

 radicant bignonia, and several others. 



CLINCHING, in the sea-language, a 

 kind of slight caulking used at sea, in a 

 prospect of foul weather, about the ports: 

 it consists in driving a little oakum into 

 their seams, to prevent the waters com- 

 ing in at them. 



'CLINK stone, in mineralogy, nearly 



