7 S 0 C A F 
CAPRIO'LE,/ [Fr.] in horfemanfliip, arc leaps, fuch 
a horfe makes in one and the fame place, without ad¬ 
vancing forwards, and in fuch a manner, that when he is 
in the air, and height of his leap, he ycrks or flnkes out 
with his hinder legs, even and near. A capriole is the 
mod difficult of all the high manege, or railed airs. It is 
different from the crovpade in this, that the horfe does not 
Ihow his flioes; and from a balotade, in that lie does not 
yerk out in a balotade.. 
CAP'SA, anciently a large town of Numidia, fituated 
amidft deferts full of ferpents, where Jugurtha kept his 
treafure. In his time it was taken and razed by Marius 
the Roman general, who put to death all the citizens ca¬ 
pable of bearing arms, and fold the reft for flaves. It 
was afterwards rebuilt by the Romans, and (Irongly for¬ 
tified ; but on the decline ol their empire, it was taken 
and demoliftted a fecond time, by Occuba a famous Arab 
general. The walls of the citadel are (fill remaining, and 
are monuments of the ancient glory and ftrength of Cap- 
fa. They are twenty-four fathoms in height, and five in 
thicknefs, built of large fquare ftones, and have now ac¬ 
quired the folidity and firmnefs of a rock. 
C APSA'RIUS,/! [from capfa, I.at. afatchel.] In an¬ 
tiquity, a fervant who attended the Roman youth to fchool, 
carrying a fatchel with their books in it, fometimes alio 
called librarius. Capfarins was alio an attendant at the 
baths, to whom perlons committed the keeping of their 
clothes. 
CAPSA'RIUS,/. [from capfa, Lat. a cheft.] Among 
the Roman bankers, was he who had the care of the mo¬ 
ney cheft: or coffer. 
CAP'SICUM,y. [j'.asn-'lw, Gr. to bitei on account of 
the biting heat of the feed and pericarp. Some derive it 
from capfa , a cheft.] The Guinea Pepper ; in botany, 
a genus of the clafs pentandria, order monogvnia, natural 
order of luridas. The generic characters are—Calyx: pe- 
rianthium one-leafed, five-cleft, eredt, permanent. Co¬ 
rolla: monopetalous, rotated; tube very Ihort; border 
half-five-cleft, fpreading, plaited ; divifions broad, acute. 
Stamina: filaments five, fubulate, very (mall; anthers ob¬ 
long, converging. Piftillum: germfuperior, ovate ; ftyle 
filiform, longer than the ftamens ; ftigma obtufe. Peri- 
carpium : berry without pulp, approaching to an ovate 
figure, bilocular, hollow, coloured ; receptacles growing 
to the diflepiment, exfuccous-. Seeds: very many, reni- 
form, comprelled.— FJfenlial CharaBcr. Corolla rotated ; 
berry exfuccous. 
Species i. Caplicum annuum, or annual capficttm, or 
Guinea pepper : Item herbaceous, peduncles lolitary. 
This is an annual plant, two feet high, upright, branch¬ 
ed ; branches fhort, alcending ; leaves ovate-lanceolate, 
quite entire, fmooth, dark green ; flowers white, lateral, 
folitary. The fruit is a berry, varying much in fize and 
lhape, extremely fmooth and fhining on the outfide, fear- 
let, or yellow, inflated or hollow, two-celled, fometimes 
three-celled ; the partitions at top commonly failing to¬ 
wards the axis. Caplicum varies extremely in its fruit ; 
hence Gerard, Parkinfon, Ray, Clufius, Tournefort, and 
others, have many varieties. Parkinfon has twenty ; Ray 
has fixteen, befides many from Marcgraaf and Hernandez. 
Long fays that there are fifteen varieties cultivated in Ja¬ 
maica. Mr. Miller has ten fpecies, befides varieties, but 
feveral of his fpecies are nothing more than varieties ; and 
indeed fome of Linneus’s fpecies feem to be nothing more. 
2. Caplicum baccatum, or final 1 -fruited caplicum, or 
bird-pepper: Hem ftirubby, fmooth, and even, pedun¬ 
cles in pairs. According toT-oureiro, the ftem is three 
feet high, fmooth and upright; with longifti, fcattered, 
(lender, branches. Clulius informs us, that it was culti¬ 
vated abundantly in Moravia, in 1585 ; and it was cul¬ 
tivated here in 1731, by Mr. Miller. The bird-pepper 
is gathered when ripe, dried in the fun, pounded and mix¬ 
ed with fait. It is then kept Hopped in bottles, and is 
commonly known by the name cayan butter. A mixture 
of diced cucumbers, elchalots, or onions cut very fmall, a 
CAP 
little lime juice and Madeira wine, with a few pods or 
this or bonnet pepper well mallied, and mixed with the 
liquor, feldom fails to provoke the moll languid appetite 
in the Weft Indies. It is called tlmre man-dram. The 
pods gathered frefli from thebufti are alfo liberally ufed in 
Weft Indies, to aflift digeftion, and corredt flatulencies. 
Both this and the common Guinea pepper are given in¬ 
ternally to horfes and mules, to cure the dry gripes, oc-> 
calioned by rank and four grafs. They are likewife ap¬ 
plied externally in cataplafms. Miller has four forts with 
perennial ftirubby ftalks: they rife four or five feet high, 
and are not fo hardy as the annual fort. 
3. Caplicum Sinenfe, or Chinefe caplicum : ftem fiirub- 
by, flowers and fruits pendulous. Trunk perennial, 
woody, with an aftf-coloured bark. The whole plant is 
fmooth. It is cultivated in Martinico, and ufed therefor 
culinary purpofes. 
4. Capficum groffum, or heart-ftiaped caplicum or bell- 
pepper: ftem uuderffirubby ; fruits thickened, various. 
This bears a great refemblance to the annual capficum, 
and indeed feems to be the connecting link between the 
herbaceous and ftirubby forts. The ftem is perennial, a 
Ipan i:i height, and fomewhat branching. The fruit, in 
proportion to the plant, is very large, being almoft as big 
as an apple, but differing in fhape ; it is folitary and ereft; 
from an inch and half to two inches long, fwelling and 
wrinkled, flatted and angular at top. Bell-pepper is the 
fort molt proper for pickling, the (kin being fieftiy and ten¬ 
der, whereas in the others it is thin and tough. Tile fruit 
fliould be gathered before it arrives at the full fize, vvhilft 
the rind is tender: it fliould be (lit down on one fide, to 
get out the feeds; after which it Ihotild be foaked two or 
three days in fait and water. When drained from this, it 
mult be covered with boiling vinegar, and clolely flopped 
down for two months, and then boiled in vinegar to make 
it green. It wants no addition of fpice. -If the ripe fruit 
of this or any of the capficumus be thrown into the fire, 
it will raife ftrong and noifome vapours, which occaftow 
vehement fneezing and coughing, and often vomiting. 
The powder taken up the nofe will occalion violent and 
dangerous fits of fneezing. Thunberg relates that a pretty 
little dwarf variety of bell-pepper is much in favour with 
the Japanefe, who are very fond of any thing ft range or 
minute. 
5. Capficum frutefeens, or ftirubby capficum : ferns 
ftirubby, roughilh; peduncles folitary. Stem three feet 
high, and rugged ; flowers axillary, fmall, white, five or 
fix cleft; fruit at firft green, but when ripe golden or faf- 
fron coloured,crooked and lhaped like a horn, an inch long, 
ufually folitary. This was cultivated in 1656 by Mr.John 
Tradefcaut, jun. Moll of the fortsof capficum are natives 
of both the Indies, but they have been chiefly brought to 
Europe from America, where they abound iivall the Ca- 
ribbee iilands, and are greatly ufed in fauces, efpecially by 
the negroes, whence the fruit is called negro and Guinea 
pepper. The well-known preparation called Cayenne 
pepper, made from the pods of the fmaller lorts of capfi¬ 
cum, when ufed in moderation is conftdered as by no 
means unwholefome, efpecially to thofe of a cold leuco- 
phlegmatic habit. In fuch temperaments, as well as in 
paralytic cafes, it is tiled medicinally, in fmall quantities, 
as-one of the liigheft ftimulants. It has alfo been exhi¬ 
bited in combination with aloetic medicines and the deob- 
ftruent gums in uterine diforders.. A fmall quantity of the 
powder of capficum has fometimes given almoft immedi¬ 
ate relief in the tooth-ach, when anting from a caries : it 
is to be applied to the part affedted, by introducing it into 
the cavity of the carious tooth. 
Propagation and Culture. The annual capftcums are pro¬ 
pagated by feeds, which muft be lown upon a hot-bed in 
the fpring ; and, when the plants have lix -leaves, they 
fliould be tranfplanted on another hot-bed, at lour or five 
inches diftance, (hading them in the day time from the 
fun, until they have taken root; alterwhich, they muft 
have a large fit.ire of air admitted to them in warm wea- 
