302 CAN 
11011 -law that obtained throughout the west, 
til! the twelfth century, was the collection of 
canons made by Dionysius Exiguus in 520, 
the capitularies of Charlemagne, and the de- 
crees of the popes, from Sircius to Anasta- 
sius. 
The canon-law, even when papal authority 
was at its height in England, was of no force 
when it was found to contradict the preroga- 
tive of the king, the laws, statutes, and cus- 
toms of the realm, or the doctrine of the 
established church. The ecclesiastical juris- 
diction of the see of Home in England, was 
founded on the canon-law ; and this created 
quarrels between kings and several archbi- 
shops and prelates, who adhered to the papal 
usurpation. N Besides the foreign canons, 
there were several laws and constitutions 
made here for the government of the church; 
but all these received their force from the 
royal assent: and if, at any time, the eccle- 
siastical courts did, by their -sentence, endea- 
vour to enforce obedienqe to such canons, 
the courts at common law, upon complaints 
made, would grant prohibitions. The autho- 
rity vested in the church of England of 
making canons was ascertained by a statute 
of Henry VIII., commonly called the act of 
the clergy’s submission; by which they ac- 
knowledged that the convocation had been 
always assembled, by the king’s writ; so that 
though the power of making canons resided 
in tfie clergy met iu convocation, their force 
was derived from the authority of the king’s 
assenting to, and confirming them. The old 
canons continued in force till the reign of- 
James I., when the clergy being assembled 
in convocation, the king gave them leave to 
treat and consult upon canons, which they 
did, and presented them to the king, who 
gave them the royal assent. These were a 
collection out of the several preceding ca- 
nons and injunctions. Some of these canons 
are now obsolete. In the reign of Charles T. 
several canons were passed by the clergy in 
convocation. 
QA1N OPUS, in astronomy, a star of the 
first magnitude in the rudder of Argo, a con- 
stellation of the southern hemisphere. 
CANTAB, or Cantaro, in commerce, 
a weight used in Italy, particularly at Leg- 
horn. There are three sorts: one weighs 
150 pounds, the other 151, and the third 160. 
The first serves to weigh alum and cheese; 
the second is for sugar; and the third for 
wool and cod-fish. The word is Used also as 
a measure of capacity used at Cochin, and 
'containing four rubis. 
CANTATA, in music, a song or compo- 
sition, intermixed with recitatives, airs, and 
different movements, chiefly intended for a 
single voice. 
CANTEENS, tin or wooden -vessels used 
by soldiers on a march, &c. to carry water or 
oilier liquor in ; each holds about two quarts. 
Wooden canteens are in general use with the 
British army: they are made cylindrical, like 
barrels, 1\ Inches in diameter, and about four 
inches in length. They are chiefly manufactur- 
ed by Mr. George Smart, of Camden Town. 
CANTHARIS, in zoology, a genus of 
coleopterous insects, with setaceous antenna*, 
the exterior wings of which are flexile, the tho- 
rax somewhat flatted, and the sides of the ab- 
domen plicated. Linnaeus enumerates 27 spe- 
cies of the cantharis, most of them to be found 
In different par's of Europe. 
C A O 
For the cantharis, usually called Spanish ! 
flies with us, see Meloe. 
CAN rill, see Anatomy. 
CANTO, in music, the treble or at least 
the higher part of a piece. 
CANTONED, in architecture, is when 
the corner of a building is adorned with a 
pilaster, an angular column, rustic quoins, or 
any thing that projects beyond the naked 
of a wall. 
Cantoned, or Cantonized, cantonee, 
in heraldry, the position of such things as 
are borne with a cross, &c. between. He 
bears gules, a cross argent cantoned with four 
scallop-shells. 
CAN1EED, or Cantref, signifies an 
hundred villages ; being a British word, com- 
pounded of the adjective cant, i. e. hundred, 
and tref, a town or village. In Wales, some 
of the counties are divided into cantreds, as 
in England into hundreds. 
CANVASS, in commerce, a very clear 
unbleached cloth of hemp or llax, woven 
very regularly in little squares. It is used 
for working tapestry with the needle, by- 
passing the threads of gold, silver, silk, or 
wool, through the intervals or squares. It is 
also a coarse cloth of hemp, unbleached, 
somewhat clear, which serves to cover wo- 
men’s stays, also to stiffen men’s clothes, and 
to make some other of their wearing apparel, 
&c. It is also used to make sails for ship- 
ping, &c. 
CANZONE, in music, signifies in general 
a song where some little figures are intro- 
duced ; and 
CANZONETTA is a diminutive of the 
same. 
CAOUTCHOUC. About the beginning 
of the 1 8th centmy, a substance called caout- 
chouc was brought as a curiosity from Ame- 
rica. It was soft, very 7 elastic, and com- 
bustible. The pieces of it that came to Eu- 
rope were usually in the shape of bottles, 
birds, &c. This substance is very much used 
in rubbing out the marks made upon paper 
by a black-lead pencil ; and therefore in this 
country it is often called Indian rubber. No- 
thing was known of its production, except 
that it was obtained from a tree, until the 
French academicians went to South America 
in 1735, to measure a degree of the meri- 
dian. Mr. de la Condamine sent an account 
of it to the French academy, in the year 
173b. He told them, that there grew in the 
province of Esmeraldas, in Brazil, a tree, 
called by the natives hheve ; that from this 
tree there flowed a milky juice, which, when 
inspissated, was caoutchouc. 
It is now known that there are at least two 
trees in South America, from which caout- 
chouc may be obtained ; the haevea caout- 
chouc and the jatropha elastica: and it is ex- 
ceedingly probable that it is extracted also 
from other species of hawea and jatropha. 
Several trees, likewise, which grow in the 
East Indies, yield caoutchouc. When any 
of these plants is punctured, there exudes 
from it a milky 7 juice, which, when exposed 
to the air, gradually lets fall a concrete sub- 
stance, which is caoutchouc. 
If oxy muriatic acid is poured into the 
milky juice, the caoutchouc precipitates im- 
mediately, and, at the same time, the acid 
loses its peculiar odour. This renders it pro- 
bable that the formation of the caoutchouc is 
owing to its basis absorbing oxygen. ■ If the 
CAP 
milky juice is confined in a glass vessel con- 
taining common air, it gradually absorbs 
oxygen, and a pellicle of caoutchouc appears 
on its surface. 
Caoutchouc, when pure, is of a white co- 
lour, and without either taste or smell. The 
blackish colour of the caoutchouc of com- 
merce, is owing to the method employed in 
drying it after it has been spread upon 
moulds. The usual way is to spread a thin 
coat of the milky juice upon the mould, and 
then to dry it by exposing it to smoke ; after- 
wards another coat is spread on, which is j 
dried in the same way. Thus the caoutchouc ' 
of commerce consists of numerous layers of 
pure caoutchouc alternating with as many la* - 
ers of soot. It is soft and pliable: it is exceed* j 
ingly elastic and adhesive ; so that it may be 
forcibly stretched out much beyond its usual 
length, and instantly recover its former bulk i 
when the force is withdrawn. It cannot be ] 
broken without very considerable force. Its] 
specitic gravity is 0.9335. It is not altered 
by 7 exposure to the air; it is perfectly inso- 
luble in water; but if boiled for some time, j 
its edges become somewhat transparent, ow- 
ing undoubtedly to the water carrying off 
the soot; and so soft, that when two of them 
are pressed and kept together for some time, 
they adhere as closely as if they formed one 
piece. By this contrivance pieces of caout- 
chouc may be soldered together, and thus 
made to assume whatever shape we please. 
Caoutchouc dissolved in ether may be em- 
ployed to make instruments of different kinds, 
just as the milky juice of the haivea; but this 
method would be a great deal too expensive 
for common use. 
Caoutchouc is soluble in volatile oils ; but, 
in general, when these oils are evaporated, it 
remains somewhaPglutinous ; and therefore is 
scarcely proper for these uses to which, be- 
fore its solution, it was so admirably adapted.] 
It is also soluble in alkalies. When exposed 
to heat, it readily melts; but it never after- 
wards recovers its properties, but continues 
always of the consistence of tar. It burns 
very readily with a bright white flame, and 
diffuses a fetid odour, jn the countries where- 
it is found, it is frequently used by way of 
candle. When distilled, it gives out ammo- 
nia: from this, and from the effect of sulphu- 
ric and nitric acid upon it, there is no doubt 
that it is composed of carbon, hydrogen] 
azote, and oxygen ; but the modes of their 
combination are unknown. 
CAP of maintenance, one of the regalia or 
ornaments of state belonging to the kings of 
England, before whom it was carried at the 
coronation, and other great solemnities] 
Caps of maintenance are also carried before 
the mayors of the several cities in England. 
Cap, in a ship, a square piece of°tunber 
put over the head or upper end of any mast, 
having a round hole to receive the mast. By 
means of these caps, the top-masts and top- 
gallant-masts are kept steady and firm in the 
tressel-trees where their feet stand. 
Cap of a gun, a piece of lead which is put: 
over the touch-hole of a gun, to keep the 
priming from being wasted of" spoiled. 
CAPE, in law, a judicial writ concerning 
plea of lands or tenements, and divide! 
into cape magnum and cape parvum, both 
of which affect things immoveable ;. and be- 
sides these there is a cape ad valenciam. 
Cape magnum, is designed to lie where a 
