CAN 
' canon ; and, if turned into words, is a rule 
to solve all questions of the same nature 
with that proposed. Tables of logarithms, 
artificial sines and tangents, are called like- 
wise by the name of canon. 
Canon law, a collection of ecclesiasti- 
cal laws, serving as the rule and measure of 
church govermnent. 
Canons of the apostles, a collection of ec- 
clesiastical laws, which, though very anci- 
ent, were not left us by the apostles. It is 
true, they were sometimes called apostolic 
canons ; but this means no more than that 
. they were made by bishops, who lived soon 
after the apostles, and were called apostoli- 
cal men. They consist of regulations, 
which agree witli the discipline of the se- 
cond and third centuries : the Greeks ge- 
nerally count eighty-five, but the Latins 
receive only fifty, nor do they observe all 
these. 
CANONICAL, something belonging to, 
or partaking of^ the nature of a canon : 
thus we read of canonical obedience, 
wliich is that paid by the inferior clergy 
to their superiors, agreeably to the canon 
law. 
CANOPUS, in astronomy, a star of the 
first magnitude in the rudder of Argo, a 
constellation of the southern hemisphere. 
CANSIERA, in botany, a genus of the 
Tetrandna Monogynia class and order. Ca- 
lyx ventricose, four-toothed ; no corolla ; nec- 
tary four-leaved, surrounding the base of the 
germ ; berry one-celled, one-seeded, supe- 
rior. One species, C. scandens, native of 
India. 
CANTATA, in music, a song or composi- 
tion, intermixed witli recitatives, airs, and 
diflferent movements, chiefly intended for a 
single voice, with a thorough base, though 
sometimes for other instruments. The can- 
tata, when performed with judgment, has 
something in it very agreeable; the variety 
of the movements not clogging the ear, like 
otlier compositions. It was first used in 
Italy, then in France, whence it passed to 
us. 
CANTEEN, a small vessel made of tin- 
plate or wood, in which soldiers, when on 
their march, or in the field, cany their li- 
quor. They are cylindrical, like barrels 
7\ inches diameter, and about four inches 
deep, holding three pints. 
CANTHARIDES, in the Materia Me- 
dina, are insects used to raise blisters. They 
differ in their size, shape, and colour ; the 
largest are about an inch long. Some are 
of a pure azure colour, others of that of pure 
CAN 
gold, and others again have a mixture of 
gold and azure colours, all brilliant and ex- 
tremely beautiful. These Insects are more 
common in hot countries, though they are 
occasionally to be met with in all parts of 
Europe, at some seasons of the year ; parti- 
cularly among wheat and on meadows, upon 
the leaves of the ash, the poplar, the wil- 
low, &c. .Such numbers of these insects 
are sometimes together in the air, that they 
appear like swarms of bees ; they have 
likewise a very disagreeable smell, which is 
a guide for those who make it their business 
to catch them. Those who collect them, 
tie them in a bag or piece of linen cloth, 
that has been well worn, upon which they 
are killed with the vapours of hot vinegar, 
and dried in the sun, and kept in boxes. 
When dried, they are so light, that fifty of 
them will scarcely weigh a dram. The 
Sicilian cantharides, and particularly those 
of Etna, are reckoned better than those of 
Spain. See Materia Meuica and Phar- 
macy. 
CANTHARIS, in natural history, a ge- 
nus of insects of the order Coleoptera. Ge- 
neric character ; antennae filiform ; thorax 
mostly margined, shorter than the head; 
shells flexile ; sides of the abdomen edged 
with folded papillae. Tliere are more than 
a hundred species enumerated, which are 
sepai'ated into three divisions; A. four 
feelers, hatchet-shaped : B. feelers filiform, 
the last joint setaceous: C. fore-feelers pro- 
jecting, the last joint but one with a large 
ovate cleft appendage, the last joint ovate, 
acute. This division is denominated Ly- 
mexylon. The whole genus, excepting the 
last division, which in the grub and perfect 
state feeds on green wood, is most rapa- 
cious, preying on other insects, and even 
on its own tribe : C. bipustulata is a very 
beautiful insect, of a slender and cylindric 
shape ; its colour is a very dark, but ele- 
gant, gilded green, with the tips of the 
wing-shells red, and on each side the tho- 
rax, a little below the setting on the wing- 
shells, is a triple vesicle, of a bright-red co- 
lour, extensile or retractile at the pleasure 
of the insect, and which, if accurately exa- 
mined by the microscope, will generally be 
found to exhibit an alternate inflation and 
contraction, resembling that of the lungs in 
the larger animals. This species is found 
during the summer on various plants, and 
particularly on nettles. 
CANTHIUM, in botany, a genus of the 
Tetrandria Monogynia class and order. Ca- 
lyx four-tootlied, superior ; coralla one-pe- 
