CAR 
an entire disengagement, by bis own choice, 
from the reading of useless books, and the 
avocations of life; with an incomparable 
acuteness of wit, and an excellent talent of 
thinking clearly and distinctly, and of ex- 
pressing his thoughts with the utmost per- 
spicuity. 
Dr. Halley, in a paper concerning op- ' 
tics, affirms that Des Cartes was the first 
who, in modern times, discovered the laws 
of refraction, and brought dioptrics to a 
science. And Dr. Keil says, that Des 
Cartes was so far from applying geometry 
and observations to natural philosophy, that 
his whole system is but one continued blun- 
der, on account of his negligence in that 
point ; which he could easily prove, by show- 
ing that his theory of the vortices, upon 
which his system is founded, is absolute- 
ly false, for that Newton has shown that 
the periodical times of all bodies that swim 
in vortices, must be directly as tlie squares 
of their distances from the centre of them ; 
but it is evident from observations, that the 
planets, in moving round the sun, observe a 
law quite different from this; for the 
squares of their periodical times are always 
as the cubes of their distances : and there- 
fore, since they do not observe that law, 
which of necessity they must, if they swim 
in a vortex, it is a demonstration that there 
are no vortices in which the planets are car- 
ried round the sun. 
CARTHAMUS, in botany, English bas- 
tard saffron, a genus of the Syngenesia Po- 
lygamia jEqualis class and order. Natural 
order of Compositae, or compound flow- 
ers, and division of Capitgtae. Cinaroce- 
phalae, Jussieu. Essential character ; calyx 
ovate, imbricate with scales, which at the 
end are subovate-foliaceous. There are ten 
species, of which C. tinctorius, oflicinal 
bastard saffi on, is an annual plant ; it is two 
feet and a half high, dividing upwards into 
many branches, with ovate-pointed sessile 
leaves. The flowers grow single at the ex- 
tremity of each branch, the heads are large, 
inclosed in a scaly calyx. It flowers in 
July and August. It grows naturally in 
Egypt, and in some of the warm parts of 
Asia. 
CARTILAGE, in anatomy, a drody ap- 
proaching much to the nature of bones. 
See Anatomy. 
Cartilage has so much induration, as to 
require the ekertion of some force to bend 
it ; and in a morbid state it frequently be- 
comes ossified. Bone, on the other hand, 
is, in tlie first stages of their growth, carti- 
CAR 
laginous ; it sometimes becomes so from 
disease. A cartilaginous matter exists in 
the hardest bones, and forms their basis ; 
from which the other ingredients, the gela- 
tine and earthy matter, may be removed. 
Cartilages are solid, but easily cut : they 
are elastic, dense, white, and semi-trans- 
parent. They cover the articulated extre- 
mities of bones, and sometimes form dis- 
tinct parts. The matter of cartilage has 
been examined by Mr. Hatchett, who con- 
siders it as indurated albumen. 
CARTILAGINOUS ffUs, those with 
cartilaginous instead of bony skeletons : 
they constitute an order of fishes, answering 
to theChondropterygious and Branchiostegi- 
ous of Linnmus. See Chondroptkrygious. 
CARTON, or Cartoon, in painting, a 
design drawn on strong paper to be after- 
wards traced through, and transferred on 
the fresh plaster of a wall to be painted in 
fresco. 
In Italian, whence the term seems to be 
derived, cartone, or cartoni, signifying 
large paper, denotes several sheets of pa- 
per pasted on canvas, on which large de- 
signs are made, whether coloured or with 
chalks only. Of these cartoons there are 
many by Dominichino, Leonardo da Vinci, 
Andrea Mantegna, Michael Angelo, &c. ; 
but the most celebrated performances of 
this kind are the cartoons of Raphael, or 
Raflaello Sanzio Da Urbino, which are se- 
ven in number, and form only a small part 
of the sacred historical designs executed 
by this famous artist, while engaged in the 
chambers of the Vatican, under the au- 
spices of Pope Julius II. and Leo X. As 
soon as they were finished, they were sent 
to Flanders, to be copied in tapestry, for 
adorning the pontifical apartments ; but the 
tapestries were not conveyed to Rome till 
after the decease of Raphael, and probably 
not before the dreadful sack of that city in 
1527, under the pontificate of Clement VII.; 
when Raphael’s scholars having fled from 
thence, none were left to inquire after the 
original cartoons, which lay neglected in the 
store-rooms of the manufectory. The revo- 
lution that happened soon after in the Low 
Countries prevented their being noticed 
during a period in which works of art were 
wholly neglected. These seven, however, 
escaped the wreck of the others, which 
were torn in pieces, and of which some 
fragments remain in different collections. 
These were purchased by Rubens for 
Charles I., but they had been much in- 
jured. In this state they also fortunately 
