CAP 
CAP 
against a person that is outlawed in any 
action, whereby the sheritF is commanded 
to apprehend the body of the party out- 
lawed, and keep him in safe custody till the 
day of the return of the writ, and then pre- 
sent him to the court, there to be dealt with 
for his contempt. But this being only for 
want of appearance, if he shall afterwards 
appear the outlawry is most- commonly 
reversed. 
Capias in withernam, is a writ directed 
to the sheriff, in case where a distress is car- 
ried out of the county, or concealed by the 
distrainer, so that the sheriff cannot make 
deliverance of the goods upon a replevin, 
commanding him to take so many of the 
distrainer’s own goods, by way of reprisal, 
instead of the other that are so concealed. 
CAPILLARY tubes, in physics, little 
pipes, whose canals are extremely narrow, 
their diameter being only a half, third, or 
fourth of a line. 
The ascent of water, &c. in capillary 
tubes is a phenomenon that has long em- 
barrassed philosophers; for let one end 
of a glass tube, open at both ends, be im- 
merged in water, and the liquor within the 
tube will rise to some sensible height above 
the external surface: or if two or more 
tubes are immerged in the same fluid, one 
of them a capillary one, the other of a large 
bore, the fluid will ascend higher in the 
capillary tube than in the other, and this 
in the reciprocal ratio of the diameters of 
the tubes. 
In order to account for this phenomenon, 
it will be necessary first to premise that 
there is a greater attraction between the 
particles of glass and water than there 
is between the particles of water them- 
selves : this appears plain from experience, 
which proves the attractive power in the 
surface of glass to be very strong ; whence 
it is easy to conceive how sensibly such a 
power must act on the surface of a fluid, 
not viscid as water, confined within the 
small cavity or bore of a glass tube ; as also 
that it will be in proportion stronger as the 
diameter of the bore is smaller ; for that 
the efficacy of the power follows the inverse 
proportion of the diameter is evident from 
hence, that only such particles as are in 
contact with the fluid, and these immedi- 
ately above the surface, can affect it. Now 
these particles form a periphei’y contiguous 
to the surface, the upper part of which 
attracts and raises the surface, and the lower 
part, which is in contact with it, supports 
and holds it up, so tliat neither the thick- 
ness nor length oft ie tube avails any thing, 
only the said periphery of particles, which 
is always proportional to the diameter of 
the bore : the quantity of the fluid raised 
will therefore be as the surface of the bore 
which it fills, that is, as the diameter ; as 
the effect would not be otherwise propor- 
tional to the cause, since the quantities fol- 
low the ratio of the diameters, the heights 
to which the fluids will rise in different tubes 
will be inversely as the diameters. 
Some, however, doubt whether the law 
holds throughout, of the ascent of the fluid 
being always higher as the tube is smaller. 
Dr. Hook’s experiments, with tubes almost 
as fine as cobwebs, seem to shew the con- 
trary. The water in these, he observes, did 
not rise so high as one would have expect- 
ed. The highest he ever found was at 21 
inches above the level of the water in the 
bason, which is much short of what it 
ought to have been by the law above men- 
tioned. 
Capillarv vessels, in anatomy, the 
smallest and extreme parts of the veins and 
arteries. 
CAPITAL, the head, chief, or principal 
of a thing. Thus, 
Capital, in geography, denotes the prin- 
cipal city of a kingdom, province, or state ; 
as London is the capital of Britain. 
Capital, among merchants, traders, and 
bankers, signifies the sum of money which 
individuals bring to make up the common 
stock of a partnership when it is first form- 
ed. It is also said of the stock which a 
merchant at first puts into trade for his 
account. It signifies likewise the fund of a 
trading cUmpauy, or corporation, in which 
sense the word stock is generally added to 
it: thus, we say, the capital stock of the 
bank, &c. The word capital is opposed to 
that of profit or gain, though the profit 
often increases the capital, and becomes it- 
self a part of it. 
Capital a'ime, such a one as subjects 
the criminal to capital punishment, that is, 
the loss of life. 
Capital, in ar-chitecture, the uppermost 
part of a column or pilaster, serving as the 
head or crowning, and placed immediately 
over the shaft, and under the entablature. 
The' capiital is the principal part of an 
order of columns or pilasters. It is of a 
different form in the different orders, and is 
that which chiefly distinguishes and charac- 
terizes the orders. Such of these as have 
no ornaments, as the Tusean and Doric, are 
called capitals of mouldings ; and the rest. 
