CAB 



CABIN, orCABHiM, is loinctimcs uftd for the huts or 

 cottages of favagcs, and other poor people. 



The habit;'.tioiis of the Indians in Virginia are cabins, 

 about nine or ten feet high, whicii are made after this 

 manner: they fix poles into tiie gronnd, and bring the tops 

 of tliem one within another, and fo tie lliein together; the 

 oiithde of thefe piJes they line wiih bark, to defend them 

 from the injuries of the weather, but they leave a hole 

 in the top, right in the middle of the cabin, for liie fmoke 

 to go out ; round the infide of their cabins they liave banks 

 of earth ca(l up, which ierve iniiead of {lools and beds. 

 Phil. Tranf. N^ 126. 



Cabin, a room or apartment in a fliip, where any of 

 the officers ufnally refide. There are many of thefe in a 

 hrge fliip ; the principal of which is defigned for the 

 captain, or conuiiander. In (liips of the line, this chamber 

 is furniflied with an open gallery in the fliip's Hern, as alfo 

 a little gallery on each quarter. The apartments in which 

 the inferior officers or common failors deep and mefs, are 

 tifually called b'lrlhs, which fee. The bed-places built up 

 for the failors at the (hip's fide in merchantmen, are alfo 

 called cabins. 



The word comes from the French cahane, Spanifh cabana, 

 or \\.-dX\2M ccpaima, a ll'.lle Jlraiu hut; and that from the 

 Greek y.xTra-vii, ajlall or mnngcr. 



C.\B\n J>oinf, in Geogrnphy, a fmall pod-town of America, 

 in Surry county, Virgmia, fituate on Upper Chipoak 

 creek, 26 milts E.S.E. of Peterlburg, 87 Irom Portfmouth, 

 and ,;29 S.SAV. of Philadelphia. 



CABINET, or Caeeini;t, the m'lft retired place in the 

 fined apartinent of a building ; let apart for wntijig, ftudy- 

 iiig, or preferving any tiling very precious. 



A complete apartment confids of a hall, anti-chamber, 

 chamber, and cabinet ; with a gallery on one lide. 



Cabinet is fomctimes particulary ufed for a place at the 

 end of a gallery, wherein are preferved the paintings of the 

 bed maders, conveniently ranged, and acco.iipanied with 

 buds, and figures of marble and bronze, with other curio- 

 fities. In this fenfe, cabinet amounts to the fame with what 

 is called by Vitruvius, pmecothcca. Sometimes there are 

 feveral rooms dedined for this ufe, which are all together 

 called cabinet, or gallery. 



Cabinet alfo denotes a kind of buffet or died of drawers, 

 partly for the prefervation of things of value, and partly as a 

 decoration of a chamber, gallery, or other apartment. 



Thefe cabinets are made of oak or of chefnut, of inlaid 

 work or japan, of ebony and of other fcarce wood. 



In the repofitory of the Royal Society is a Chincfe cabi- 

 net, filled with the indruments and fimples ufed by the fur- 

 geons of that country. The mod remarkable are ihofe 

 which are contrived for fcratching, picking, and tickling 

 the ears, in which the Chinefe take great pleafure. Phil. 

 Tranf. N° 246. p. .590, feq. 



Cabinet, in Garaeiiing, is a little infulated building in 

 manner of a fummer-houfe, built in !ome agreeable form, and 

 open on all fides ; ferving as a place of retirement, and to 

 take the fredi air under cover. 



According to Miller, a cabinet is a kind of falcon, placed 

 at the end or in the middle of a long arbour. 



It differs from an arbour, which is long, in form of a gal- 

 lery, and arched over head ; whereas the cabinet is either 

 fquare, circular, or in cants, making a kind of ialoon. 



Cabin rr, m Natural Hiflory. This term is applied with 

 fome latitude to any fmall or fcleft collection of natural cu- 

 riofities, without regarding whether the articles it comprifes be 

 contained within a cabinet or not. Thus, for indance, it is not 

 unfrcquent with us to fpeak of cabinets of animals, cabinets of 



CAB 



birds, of hdies, rtptiK s, and other fimilar articles, as a mode of 

 cxprelTing fuch an allcmblage of natural hidoi-)' as may not be 

 of fufllcicnt importance to dcferve tl^c epithet of a mufeum. 

 The word cabinet in its iifiial acceptati.Jii with tlie naturalid 

 is not, therefore, confined folely to t!ie boxes, prefs, or cheft 

 of drawers, in which articles of cuiiofity are contained, but 

 implies at once both the repofitory itfelf, and the articles 

 arranged in it. 



So much depends upon the fancy, tafte, or judgment of 

 the collector in the formation, or, as it is fomctimes deno- 

 minated, building, cabinets for the reception of articles of this 

 defcription, that no explicit dircftioi.s can be given for this 

 purpole with propriety. , The mod material obje£l to be 

 confidercd is the compaftnefs of the drawers and cheft, ac- 

 cording to the fize of the articles to be depofitLd in them, 

 in order to comprife as much as convenient within the fmaileit 

 compafs in which they can lie without injury to each other, 

 and at the fame time be feeii and cxamimd with eafe. 



Cabinets of foilils, fliells, and corals have the drawers 

 fometimes divided for this purpofe into fmall compartments, 

 by means of an inner frame work, that lets into the bottom 

 of the drawer; but trays of various fizes made either of 

 card or padeboard have a much neater appearance, and are 

 preferred by many as being more commodious, and more 

 eafily (hifted from one part of the drawer to anotlier, as the 

 addition of new acquifitions in any particular tribe or genus 

 may require. Nothing can be more defirable than to have 

 the cabinets well made, that the drawers may flidc with per- 

 feft eafe in their proper reccffes in the prefs. The drawers 

 flionld fit fo clofe, when fhut up, as to preclude the entrance 

 of dull of any kind. The cabinet itfelf fliould be alfo placed 

 in a dry fituation, as there are few articles of natural hillory 

 that are not afi^edled in a greater or lefs degree by an excefj 

 of damp, or even heat. 



The condru£lion of an entomological cabinet depends lefs 

 on the tafte of the colleftor, in the prcfent day, than the 

 preceding, except fo far as relates to the elegance or exter- 

 nal embelliniment of the cabinet, or the excellence of the 

 workmanfliip. The drawers are uniformly made diallow, 

 the bottom of each is lined with cork, and the top is cover- 

 ed with glafs, through which the infeft may be feen with- 

 out being expofed to the air, or accidents that would arifc 

 from their being touched by the incautious fpeftator. 



Cabinets for infefts are built of various fizes, from tliofc 

 which contain ten or a dozen drawers to others that include 

 above an hundred. They are ufually of mahogany, but it is 

 immaterial whether be they made of mahogany or wainfcoi ; 

 fome have them of cedar, but feldora of deal, or any other 

 wood of a foft texture. The drawers may be from fifteen 

 to thirty inches in length, the fame, or nearly the fame in 

 breadth, and about two or three inches in depth. The cork 

 with which the bottoms are lined mull be chofen as free 

 from cracks and holes as pofftble ; it fhould be alfo glued 

 into the drawers to prevent its warping, and be filed or cut 

 very level ; ai.d after this the irregularities on the furface of 

 the cork Ihould be rubbed down with pumice-done, till the 

 whole is rendered perfeftly fmooth, before the paper is palled 

 over it. The paper fliould be of a fine fmooth and even 

 grain, but neither very dout, nor highly ftid'ened with fize, 

 left it fliould turn the points of the pins, when placing the 

 infefts in the drawers. The top of every drawer mud be 

 covered with a plate of glafs, to prevent the admiflTion of duft 

 or air. This plate is ufually fitted into a frame of the fame 

 fize as the drawer, and is made either to Aide in a groove, 

 or let in on a rabbet ; the latter contrivance is much the beft, 

 becaufe in fliding the glafs along the groove, if any of tb; 

 pins happen to ftand fo high as to touch the frame-work, 

 4 M 2 tte 



