CON 
C O' N 
C O N 
43/0 
concave legs bend in towards one another, 
and run both the same wav. 
Converging rays, in optics, those rays 
that, issuing from divers points of an object, 
incline towards another, till at last they meet 
and cross, and then become divergim? ravs. 
See Optics. 
CONVERSE, in mathematics. One pro- 
position is called the converse of another, 
when, after a conclusion is drawn from some- 
thing supposed in the converse proposition, 
tnat conclusion is supposed ; and then, .that 
which in the other was supposed, is now 
drawn as a conclusion from it: thus, when 
two sides of a triangle are equal, the angles 
unaer these sides are equal ; and, on the con- 
verse, if these angles are equal, the two sides 
are equal. 
CONN ERSION, in war, a military mo- 
tion whereby the front of a battalion is turn- 
ed where the flank was, in case the battalion 
is attacked in the flank. 
Conversion of equations, in algebra, is 
vhen the quantity sought, or any part or de- 
gree of it, being in fractions, the whole is re- 
duced to one common denomination, and 
then omitting the denominators, the equation 
is continued in the numerators only. Tlius 
suppose a — 6= a - f * -f h -f b ; multiply 
all by d, and it will stand thus, da — db — aa 4~ 
cc — dh — |— db. 
Conversion of propositions , in logic, 
the' changing of the subject into the place of 
the predicate, and the predicate into the 
place of the subject ; and yet always retain- 
ing the* same quality of both propositions : as, 
Every right-lined triangle has the sum of its 
angles equal to two right ones : Every right- 
lined figure that has the sum of its angles 
equal to two right ones, is a triangle. 
CONVEX," an appellation given to the 
exterior surface of gibbous or globular bo- 
dies ; in opposition to the hollow inner sur- 
face of such bodies, which is called concave : 
thus we say, a convex lens, mirror, superfi- 
cies, &c. Sec Optics. 
CONVEYANCE, in law, a deed which 
passes land from one to another. The most 
common conveyances now in use are, deeds 
of gift, bargain and sale, lease and release, 
fines and recoveries, settlements to uses, 
&c. A conveyance cannot be fraudu- 
lent in part, and good as to the rest ; for if it 
is fraudulent and void in part, it is void in all, 
and it cannot be divided. Fraudulent convey- 
ances to deceive creditors, defraud pur- 
chasers, Ac. are void, by stat. 50 Ed. III. 
c. 6. 13 Eiiz. c. 5 — ‘27. Elbe. c. 4. 
CONVICTION is either where a man is 
outlawed, or appears and confesses, or else 
is found guilty by the inquest. Cromp. Inst. 
9. 
Summary proceedings are directed by se- 
veral acts of parliament for the conviction of 
offenders, and the inflicting certain penalties 
imposed by those acts. In these there is no 
intervention of a jury, but the party accused 
is acquitted or condemned by the suffrage of 
such person only as the statute has appointed 
for his judge. 
The law implies that there must be a con- 
viction before judgment, though not so men- 
tioned in -a statute; and where any statute 
makes a second offence felony, or subject to 
a heavier penalty than the first, it is always 
implied that such second offence ought to be 
committed after a conviction of the first. 
1 How. 13 — 107. Judgment amounts to a 
conviction, though it does not follow that 
every one who is convict is adjudged. 1 
Horn. 14. A conviction ought to be in the 
present tense, and not in the time past. Ld. 
Eaym. 1370. Str. 60S. A conviction ought 
to be on an information or claim precedent. 
Ld. Raym. 510. 
V> lien an act of parliament orders the con- 
viction of offenders before justices of the 
peace, &c. it must be intended after summons 
to bring them in, that they may have an op- 
portunity of making their defence ; and if it 
be- otherwise the conviction shall be auash- 
1 ed. 
CONVICT-RECUSANT, one who has 
been legally presented, indicted, and con- 
vict, for refusing to come to church to hear 
the common prayer, according to the several 
statutes of 1 Eliz. 2. 23 Eliz. I , and 3 Jac. I. 
GONVIVIUM, banquet, in our old cus- 
toms, a kind of tenure whereby the tenant 
was obliged to provide an entertainment for 
his lord, once, or oftener, every year. It 
corresponded with the procuration of the 
clergv. 
CONN OCATION, is the assembly of all 
the clergy to consult of ecclesiastical mat- 
ters in time of parliament. There are two 
houses of convocation : the one called the 
higher convocation-house, where all the arch- 
bishops and bishops sit severally by them- 
selves ; the other the lower convocation- 
house, where all the rest of the clergy sit ; 
that is, all the deans and archdeacons, one 
proctor for every chapter, and two proctors 
for all the clergy of each diocese: in all 166 
persons. 
The archbishop of Canterbury is the presi- 
dent of the convocation, and prorogues and 
dissolves it by mandate from the king. The 
convocation is not only to be assembled by 
the king’s writ, hut the canons made by them 
are to have the royal assent. They "are to 
have the examining and censuring of hereti- 
cal and schismatical books and persons, &c. 
but appeal lies to the king in chancery, or to 
his delegates. 4 Inst. 322. 2 Rol. Abr. 225. 
1 lie clergy called to the convocation, and 
their servants, &c. have the same privileges 
as members of parliament. Stat. 8 II. VI. 
c. 1. 
CONVOLVULUS, bind-weed, a genus 
of the pentandria class, and monogynia or- 
der, and in the natural method ranking un- 
der the 29th order, campanaceie. The co- 
rolla is campanulated and plaited ; there are 
two stigmata ; the capsule is bilocular, and 
the cells are dispermous. 
Of this genus there are 110 species, the 
most remarkable of which are the following : 
1- The sepium, or large white bind-weed, 
is often a troublesome weed in gardens, when 
its roots are interwoven with those of trees' 
and shrubs, or under hedges, as every small 
piece of root is apt to grow. Tt flourishes 
under moist hedges, and has white or purplish 
blosso i s. 
2. The scammonia, or Syrian bind-weed, 
grows naturally in Syria. ’ The roots are 
thick, run dteep into the ground, and are co- 
vered with a dark bark. ~ The branches ex- 
tend on every side to the distance of 10 or 
12 feet: they are slender, and trail on the 
ground ; and are furnished with narrow, ar- 
row-pointed leaves. Tke flowers are of a 
pale yellow; and come out from the side of 
the branches, two sitting upon each long foot- 
stalk : these are succeeded by roundish seed- 
vessels, having three cells filled with seeds. 
From this species the scammony of the shops 
is produced. 
3. The purpureus, or convolvulus major, 
an annual plant growing naturally in Asia and 
America, has been long cultivated in the 
British gardens. If these plants are proper! v 
supported, they will rise iOor 12 feet high in 
warm summers. There are three or four 
lasting varieties : the most common lias a 
purple flower ; the others have a white, a red, 
or a whitish-blue flower, which last has white 
seeds. They flower in June, July, and Au- 
gust, and their seeds ripen in autumn. 
4. The nil, or blue bind-weed, rises with a 
twining stalk 8 or 10 feet high ; with heart- 
shaped leaves, divided into three lobes, which 
end in sharp points. These are woolly, and 
stand upon long footstalks. The flow ers also 
come out on long footstalks, each sustaining 
two flowers of a very deep blue colour, 
whence their name of nil or indigo. This is 
one of the most beautiful plants of the ge- 
nus : it flowers all the latter part of the sum- 
mer, and in good seasons the seeds ripen 
very well in the open air, 
5. The; batatas, or Spanish potato?, lias 
esculent roots, which are annually imported 
from Spain and Portugal, where they are 
greatly cultivated for the table ; but they are 
too tender to thrive in the open air in Britain. 
Uheir roots are like the common potatoe, 
but require much more room: for they semi 
out many trailing stalks, which extend six or 
eight feet every way, and at their joints send 
out roots which in warm countries grow to 
be very large bulbs ; so that from a single 
root planted 40 or 50 large potatoes are pro- 
duced. 
6. The canariensis, with soft woolly leaves, 
is a native ot the Canaries, but has long been 
preserved in the British gardens, "it lias 
strong fibrous roots, whence arise several 
twining woody stalks, which, where they 
have support, will grow more than 20 feet 
high ; garnished with oblong heart-shaped 
leaves, which are soft and hairy. The flow- 
ers are produced from the wings of the 
leaves, several standing upon one footstalk. 
They are for the most part of a pale blue ; 
but there is a variety with white flowers. 
They appear in June, July, and August, and 
sometimes ripen seeds here. 
7. The tricolor, or convolvulus minor, is a 
native of Portugal, hut has long been culti- 
vated in the gardens of this country. It is 
an annual plant, which has several thick her- 
baceous stalks growing about two feet long; 
which do not twine like the other sorts, but 
decline towards the ground, upon which many 
of the knver branches lie prostrate : they 
have spear-shaped leaves, w hich sit dose to 
the branches ; the footstalks of the flowers 
come out just above the leaves of the same 
joint, and at the same side of the stalks. They 
are about two inches long, each sustaining 
one large open bell-shaped" flower, which iii 
some is of a fine blue colour with a white 
bottom ; in others it is pure white, and 
some are beautifully variegated with both co- 
lours. The white flowers are succeeded by 
light seeds, and the blue by dark-coloured 
seeds: which difference is pretty constant. 
8. The soldanella, or sea bind-weed, styled 
