CER 
CEREBELLUM, in anatomy, the hinder 
part of the brain. See Anatomy. 
CEREBRUM, in anatomy, denotes the 
brain. See Anatomy. 
CEREMONIES, master of the, an officer 
instituted by King James I. for tlie more 
honourable reception of ambassadors and 
strangers of qu^ity; he wears about his 
neck a chain of gold, with a medal with 
the crown of Great Britain, having on one 
side an emblem of peace, with the motto, 
Beati paci/uA ; and on the otlier, an em- 
blem of war, with Dieu et mon droit ; his 
salary is ffiree hundred pounds per annum. 
CERINTHE, in botany, English honey- 
wort, a genus of the Pentandria Monogynia 
class and order. Natural order of Aspe- 
rifoliae. Borraginese, Jussieu. Essential 
character ; border of the corolla tube-bel- 
lied ; throat pervious ; seeds two, bilocu- 
lar. There are two species, of which C. 
major, great honeywort, is about eighteen 
inches high, round, smooth, branching, and 
leafy. Leaves glaucous, becoming blue by 
age, without prickles, but ciliated about 
the edge, dotted with white. The tube of 
the corolla is yellow, but the border is pur- 
ple ; the toothlets very short and revolute. 
C. minor, small honeywort, is very nearly 
allied to the foregoing ; the corolla five- 
cleft to one-t'.iird of the length, whereas 
that is only five-lobed at the edge. ’ Annual 
when sown in the spring, but biennial when 
sown in autumn. Both these plants are 
natives of Fiance, Italy, Switzerland, and 
Germany. 
CERITE. See Cerium. 
CERIUM, in chemistry, a new metal 
obtained from a fossil found in Sweden, to 
which has been given the name ofCerite.This 
fossil occurs disseminated or massive ; it is 
of a flesh red colour, more or less deep, 
with sometimes a shade of yellow : it is 
semi-transparent: its fresh fracture has consi- 
derable lustre. It strikes fire with steel with 
difficulty : is not attracted by the magnet : 
its specific gravity is from 4.7 to 4.9. Ex- 
posed to a strong heat it does not melt, but 
loses 6 or 6 per cent, of weight, becomes 
friable, and acquires a bright yellow co- 
lour. With borax it forms a globule, green- 
ish while hot, but colourless when cold. 
From too parts of it, the Swedish chemists 
obtained about 50 of oxide of cerium, 22 
oxide of iron, 23 silex, and 5.5 carbonate 
of lime. According to Vauquelin’s analy- 
sis, the proportions are oxide of cerium 63, 
silex 17.5, oxide of iron 2, lime from 3 to 4, 
water 12. The pure oxide of cerium is 
CER 
extracted from the cerite, by dissolving 
this mineral in nitro muriatic acid, and, 
after saturating the clear solution with an 
alkali, precipitating by tartrate of potash. 
The precipitate well washed, calcined, and 
digested in vinegar, is the oxide of cerium. 
The oxide of cerium exists in different 
degrees of oxidizement. When precipi- 
tated from its acid solutions by the alkalis, 
it is white, but acquires a shade of yellow 
when dried in the air, and, when exposed 
to a continued heat, becomes of a brick 
red colour. The white, according to Vau- 
quelin, is the one at the lower degree of 
oxidizement ; but the difference in the pro- 
portion of okygen is, he remarks, inconsi- 
derable. Neither of them can be fused by 
heat. Borax determines their fusion : the 
globule, heated by the exterior flame of 
the blow-pipe, is of a blood-red colour, 
which, by cooling, becomes of a yellowish 
green, and, at length, colourless and trans- 
parent ; or, if the proportion of oxide has 
been large, opaque and pearly. 
The metal itself, in the trials which Vau- 
quelin made with it, proved insoluble in 
any unmixed acid, and was dissolved with 
great difficulty in nitro-muriatic acid. Its 
oxide, however, combines with tlie acids 
easily, and the properties of its salts have 
been fully determined. 
CEROPEGIA, in botany, a genus of 
the Pentandria Monogynia class and order. 
Natural order of Contortre. Apocine®, Jus- 
sieu. Essential character: contorted; follicles 
two, erect ; seeds plumose ; border of the co- 
rolla converging. There are six species, of 
which C. candelabrum is a twining plant, 
with slender stems, round, green, or red- 
dish, leaves opposite, ovate, thick, soft, 
and smooth. The peduncle, and at first the 
flowers, hang dovni, but when open they 
erect themselves, and, being placed in a 
circle, have the appearance of a set of 
lamps suspended. The follicles or seed- 
vessels hang down. It is a native of the 
East Indies. 
CERTHIA, the creeper, in natural his- 
tory, a genus of birds of the order Pic®. 
Generic character : bill sharp-pointed; slen- 
der, and incurvated ; nostrils small ; tongue 
varying in shape ; legs somewhat stout ; toes 
three before and one behind, the latter 
large ; claws long and hooked ; tail of twelve 
featliers. 
These birds are distinguished from hum- 
ming birds, with which they have some- 
times been confounded, by the circum- 
stances of their being to be met with in 
