CON 
the public prohibitions of the sovereign. 
Contraband goods are not only liable to 
confiscation themselves, but also subject 
all other allowed merchandise found witli 
them in the same box, bale or parcel, toge- 
ther with the horses, waggons, &c. which 
conduct them. There are contrabands 
likewise, which, besides the forfeitoe of 
the goods, are attended with several penal- 
ties and disabilities. 
In this country, there are two principal 
contrabands for exportation, wools and live 
sheep, which all strangers are prohibited 
from carrying out of the country ; the other 
that of sheep skins and calf skins. See 
Customs. 
CONTRACT, in a general sense, a mu- 
tual consent of two or more parties, who 
volmitarily promise and oblige themselves 
to do something, pay a certain sum, or the 
like. All donations, exchanges, leases, &c. 
are so many different contracts. 
Contract, in common law, an agree- 
ment or bargain between two or more per- 
sons, with a legal consideration or cause; as 
where a person sells goods, &c. to another 
for a sum of money ; or covenants, in con- 
sideration of a certain sum, or an amiual 
rent, to grant a lease of a messuage, &c. 
Contracts are two-fold, either express or 
implied. Express contracts are where the 
terms of the agreement are openly uttered, 
as, to pay a stated price for certain goods. 
Implied, are such as reason and justice, dic- 
tate, and which, therefore, the law pre- 
sumes that every man undertakes to per- 
form : thus, if a man take up wares from a 
tradesman, without any agreement of price, 
the law concludes that he contracted to 
pay their real value. 
Contract usurious, is an agreement to 
pay more interest for money than the laws 
allow. 
CONTRACTION, in physics, the dimi- 
nisliing the extent or dimensions of a body, 
or the causing its parts to approach nearer 
to each other, in which sense it stands op- 
posed to dilatation or expansion. See Ex- 
pansion. 
Water and all aqueous fluids are gra- 
dually contracted by a diminution of tem- 
perature, until they arrive at a certain 
point, which is about 8“ above the freezing 
point ; but below that point they begin to 
expand, and continue to do so according as 
tlie temperature is lowered. Similar effects 
have been observed with regard to .some 
metals. Speaking of contraction, a remark- 
able phenomenon, of considerable impor- 
CON 
tance in manufactures, obtrudes itself on 
our notice. It is the hardness which cer- 
tain bodies acquire in consequence of a sud- 
den contraction, and this is particularly the 
case with glass and some of the metals. 
Thus glass vessels, suddenly cooled after 
having been formed, are so very brittle, 
that they hardly bear to be touched witli 
any hard body. The cause of this effect is 
thus properly explained by Dr. Young. 
“ When glass in fusion is very suddenly 
cooled, its external parts become solid 
first, and determine the magnitude of the 
whole piece, while it still remains fluid 
within. The internal part, as it cools, is 
disposed to contract still further, but its 
contraction is prevented by the resistance 
of the external parts, which form an arch 
or vault round it, so that the whole is left 
in a state of constraint ; and as soon as the 
equilibrium is disturbed in any one part, 
the whole aggregate is destroyed. Hence 
it becomes necessary to anneal all glass, by 
placing it in an oven, where it is left to cool 
slowly ; for, without this precaution, a very 
slight cause would destroy it. The Bolog- 
na jars, sometimes called proofs, are smaU 
thick vessels made for the purpose of exhi- 
biting this effect; they are usually destroy- 
ed by the impulse of a small and sharp 
body ; for instance, a single grain of sand, 
dropped into them, and a small body ap- 
pears to be often more effectual than a 
larger one ; perhaps because the larger one 
is more liable to strike the glass with an ob- 
tuse part of its surface,” 
CONTRA harmonical proportion, in 
arithmetic, is that relation of three terms, 
wherein the difference of the first and se- 
cond is to the difference of the second and 
third as the third is to the first : thus, 3, 5, 
and 6, are numbers contra-harmonically 
proportional, for 2 : 1 6 : 3. 
CONTRAST, in architecture, is to avoid 
the repetition of the same thing, in order 
to please by variety. 
CONTRATE wheel, in watch-work, that 
next to the crown, the teeth and hoop 
whereof lie contrary to those of the other 
wheels, from whence it takes its name. 
CONTRAVALLATION, or the line of 
cantravallation, in fortification, a trench 
guarded with a parapet, and usually cut 
round about a place by the besiegers, to 
secure themselves on that side, and to stop 
the sallies of the garrison. See Fortifi- 
cation. 
CONTRAVENTION, in law, a man’s 
failing to discharge his word, obligation, 
