CAR 
bulky burtlieiis are in question, tliis is a de- 
sideratum; though it contracts the space 
between the points of rotation, and renders 
the machine more liable to overturn. The 
load should generally be carried more in the 
centre of four-wheeled carriages than is 
usually done. Carmen have a great par- 
tiality for burthening the fore-wheels : this 
is a most absurd practice, because they, 
being less in diameter, are more subject to 
be impeded by low obstacles than the hind- 
wheels, which, being larger, travel over ruts 
and clods with much more faciUty. In re- 
gard to the height of loads, it is proper to 
state, that whenever a line drawn perpendi- 
cular to the horizon, and touching the cor- 
ner of a square load, touches the ground on 
the outside of the tire of the opposite wheel, 
the carriage must overset : the line of gra- 
vity. then becoming exterior to the support ; 
and rice versa. From this we see, that 
loads carried low are in general very safe ; 
while such as are injudiciously elevated, 
which too many of our stage-coaches are, 
teem with danger. In two-wheel carriages, 
the load in going down hill bears extremely 
heavy on the shaft-horse ; this should be ob- 
viated by cocking the cart backwards, ac- 
cording to the practice in the West of Eng- 
land. 
CARRIER, laws relating to. Every per- 
son carrying goods for hire is deemed a car- 
rier, and as such is liable in law for any 
loss or damage that may happen to them 
whilst in his custody. Waggoners, captains 
ot ships, lightermen, &c. are therefore car- 
rier’s ; but a stage-coachman is not within 
the custom as a carrier ; neither are hack- 
ney-coachmen carriers within the custom of 
the realm, so as to be chargeable for the 
loss of goods, unless they are expressly paid 
for that purpose, for their undertaking is 
only to carry the person. If a person take 
hire for carrying goods, although he be not 
a common carrier, he may nevertheless be 
charged upon a special assumpsit ; for where 
hire is taken, a promise is implied ; and 
where goods are delivered to a carrier, and 
he is robbed of them, he shall be charged 
and answer for them on account of the hire, 
and the carrier can be no loser, as he may 
recover against the hundred. 
Goods sent by a carrier cannot be di- 
strained for rent ; and any person carrying 
goods for all persons indifferently is to be 
deerned a common carrier, as far, as relates 
to this privilege. A delivery to a servant 
is a delivery to the master, and if goods are 
CAR 
delivered to a carrier’s potter and lost, an 
action will lie against the carrier. 
Where a carrier gives notice by printed 
proposals, that he will not be responsible 
for certain valuable goods if lost, if more 
than the value of a sum specified, unless en- 
tered and paid for as such ; aud valuable 
goods of that description are delivered to 
him, by a person who knows the conditions, 
but concealing the value, pays no more 
than the ordinary price of carriage and 
booking, the carrier is, under such circum- 
stances, neither responsible to the sum spe- 
cified, nor liable to repay the sum paid for 
carriage and booking. 
A carrier who undertakes for hire to 
carry goods, is bound to deliver them at all 
events, unless damaged .and destroyed by 
the act of God, or the king’s enemies; and 
if any accident, however inevitable, happen 
through the intervention of human means, 
a carrier becomes responsible. 
CARRONADE, a cannon of peculiar 
construction, being much shorter and 
lighter than the common cannon, and hav- 
ing a chamber for the powder like a mor- 
tar ; they are generally of a large calibre, 
and carried on the upper works, as the 
poop and forecastle. They are named 
fi’om Can on in Scotland, the town in which 
tliey were first made. 
CARTES (Renes j)es), in biography. 
Few persons have a higher claim to distinc- 
tion than tliis philosopher; we shall there- 
fore, in the present article, interweave an 
account of liis system with that of his life. 
Des Cartes was a native of Touraine, in 
France, and born in 1.^96. While a child 
he discovered an eager curiosity to inquire 
into the nature and causes of things, which 
procured him the apellation of the young 
philosopher. At eight years of age he was 
committed to the care of a Jesuit, under 
whom he made vei'y uncommon proficiency. 
He soon began to discover defects in exist- 
ing systems, and hoped to be the means of 
giving to science a new and more pleasing 
aspect. After spending five years in the 
study of the languages and polite litera- 
ture in general, he entered upon a course 
of mathematics, logic, and morals, accord- 
ing to the methods by which they were 
then taught. With these he was so much 
disgusted, that he determined to frame for 
himself a brief system of rules or canons of 
reasoning, in which he followed the strict 
method of the geometricians. He purified 
the same plan with respect to morals. Af- 
