CAT 
formed out of the bittern, or leach brine, which runs from 
the fait when taken out of the pan. 
CAT-SIL'VER,/. See Mica. 
CAT’s-TAIL, /’. in botany; fee Typha. CAT’s* 
TAIL GRASS ■ fee Phi.hum. 
CAT-THYME, f. in botany. See Teucrium. 
CATABAM'BA, aJurifdiflion of-South America, in 
Peru, and bifhopric of Cufco. It feeds a great number of 
Guttle, and in it are found mines of gold and fiver. 
CATABAM'BA, a town of South America, and chief 
place in the jurifdidti’on of the fame name : ninety miles 
fouth-wedof Cufco. 
CATABAW', a river of North America, otherwise 
called JVt&jktft. which joins w ith the Cangaree, and forms 
tiie Santee, five miles north of Amelia, in South Carolina. 
CATABAW' INDIANS, in North America, a fmall 
tribe who have one town called Catabaw, fituated on the 
river of that name, hit. 44. 39. N. on the boundary line 
between North and South Carolina, and contains about 
4;o inhabitants, of which about 150 are fighting men. 
They are the only tribe which refides in the fate ; and 
i44,ooo acres of land was granted them by the proprie¬ 
tary government. Thefe are the remains of a formidable 
nation, the braved and mod generous enemy the fix na¬ 
tions had ; but they have degenerated fince they have been 
fiirrounded by the whites. 
CATACAU'STICS, or Catacaustic Curves, in 
the higher geometry, are the fpecies of catidic curves 
formed by refledlion. See Geometry. 
C AT ACER A'STICA,y. [from y.osJouagutvvp 1, Gr. to 
mix together.] Medicines which obtund the acrimony cf 
humours, by mixing with them and reducing them. 
CATACHLIDE 7 SIS,y. [from to in¬ 
dulge in delicacies.] A gluttonous indulgence in doth and 
delicacies, to the generation of difeafes. 
CATACHRE'SIS,y. [xa.r&xg-, ictk, Gr. abufe.] It is, 
in rhetoric, the abufe of a trope, when the words are too 
far wreded from their native (ignification ; or when one 
word is abufively put for another, for want of the proper 
word ; as, a. voice beautiful to the ear. Smith. 
CATACHRE'STICAL, adj. Contrary to proper ufe; 
forced ; far fetched.—A catachr efi.it al and far derived fimi- 
litude it holds with men, that is, in a bifurcation. Broom. 
C AT ACLA'SIS,y [from y.cBa.v.y.aw, Gr. to break or 
didort.] An affection of the eye where the eye-lids are dif— 
torted, and'the-mufcles ofc.the eye-lids affefled with fpafms. 
CA'TACTYSM, f. [from Gr.] A.de¬ 
luge ; an inundation : generallyufedfor the univerfaldeluge. 
—The opinion that held thefe cataclyfms and ©mpyrofes 
univerfal, was fuch as held that it put a total confumma* 
den unto tilings in this lower world. Hale. 
CA'TACOMBS,yi [probablyofxaraxotytwj Gr. tocaufe 
Deep.] Certain grottos, where the primitive Chridians 
are faid to have hid themfdves in time of persecution ; 
and therein alfo to liave buried their dead. The cata¬ 
combs of Italy, are a vad aflemblage of fubterraneous fe- 
■‘pulchres, about Rome, fupp'ofed to be tiie fepulchres of 
the martyrs ; and,.which are vilited accordingly with great 
devotion, by the Roman Catholics. Each catacomb is 
three feet broad, and eight or ten Jiigh ; running in the 
form of an alley, or gallery, and communicating with 
others : in many places they extend within a league of 
Rome. There is no mafonry or vaulting, but each fup- 
ports itfelf: the two (ides, which we may confider as the 
parietes or walls, were the places where the dead were de- 
pofited ; which were laid lengthwife, three or four rows 
over one another, in the fame catacomb, parallel to the 
alley. They were commonly doled with large thick tiles,, 
or with pieces of marble, cemented in a manner inimita¬ 
ble by the moderns. Sometimes, though very rarely, the 
name of the deceafed is found on the tile : frequently a> 
palm is feen, painted or engraven, or the cypher Xp, 
which is commonly read pro Chrifio. The opinion held by 
many Protedant authors is, that the catacombs are hea- 
c A T 89* 
then fepulchres, and the fame with the puticuli mention¬ 
ed by Fed us Pompeius. Mr. Monro, in the Philofophical 
Tran fa 6Hons, fuppofes t lie catacombs to liave been origi¬ 
nally the common fepulchres of the fird Romans, and dug 
in confequence of thefe two opinions, viz. That (hades 
hate the light; and that they love to hover about the 
places where the bodies are laid. 
Though the catacombs of Rome have been much cele¬ 
brated, yet there are others, faid to be at lead equal to 
to them. Thofe of Naples, according to bifhop Burnet, 
are more fpacious than thofe of Rome. Catacombs have 
alfo been difeovered at Syracufe and Catanea in Sicily, 
and in the ifland of Malta. The Roman catacombs take 
particular names front the churches in their neighbour¬ 
hood, and feem to divide the circumference of the ^ity 
without the walls between them, extending their galleries 
every where under, and a vad way from it; fo that all the 
ground under Rome, and for many miles about it, fome 
lay twenty, is hollow. The larged, and thofe commonly 
(hewn to (hangers, are the catacombs of San Sebadiano,. 
thofe of St. Agneus, and the others in the fields oppofite 
St. Agneus. There are men kept condantly at work in 
the catacombs, who (hew them to drangers. The method 
of preferving the dead depofited in them, feems to have 
been common to a number of the ancient nations. The ca¬ 
tacombs of Egypt are dill extant about nine leagues from 
Cairo, and two miles from the city of Zaccara. They 
extend from thence to the pyramids of Pharaoh, which- 
are about eight miles didant. The bodies found in the 
catacombs of Egypt, are called mummies ; and, as their fiefh 
was formerly reckoned an efficacious medicine, they were 
much fought after. Thefe catacombs are hollowed out 
of a white free-done, which is found in all this country a- 
few feet below the covering of land. They are fometimes- 
forty feet below the furtace, where they have fquare 
openings on each fide into palfages of ten or fifteen feet 
wide ; and thefe lead to chambers of fifteen or twenty feet 
fquare. They extend a great way under ground,, fo as to- 
be under the city of Memphis, and in a manner to under¬ 
mine its environs. In fome of the chambers the walls are 
adorned with figures and hieroglyphics ; in others, the 
mummies are found in tombs, round tlie apartment hol¬ 
lowed out in the rock. The Egyptians feem to have ex¬ 
celled in the art of embalming and prefervmg their dead ; 
for the mummies found in the Egyptian catacombs are in a-< 
better data than the bodies found in thofe of any other part 
of the world. See Embalming, and Mummy. 
CATACOU'STICS, or Catafhonics,/ The feienre 
of reflected founds; or that part of aeoudics which, treats 
of the properties of echoes. 
CATADRO'ME,/. [ catadromus, Lat. of. 
Gr. a race.] A tilt or place where horfes run for 
prizes ; alfo an engine like a crane, anciently ufed by buil¬ 
ders in railing or letting down any great weight. 
CATADU'PA, the name of the large cataradts of the 
Nile, whole immenfe noife duns the ear for a diort fpace- 
of time. Cicero. 
CATAGMA'TICA,y. [from xcclciypct, Gr. -3, fradhire.] 
Medicines fit for reducing broken bones, or.to promote a 
callus. 
CATAGRA'PHAjy. in antiquity, denote oblique fi¬ 
gures, or views of fide-faces ; anfwering to what the mo¬ 
derns call profiles. Catagraphs are faid to be the inven¬ 
tion of Simon Cleonaeus, who firfi taught painters to varyv 
the looks of their figures. 
CATAGYIO'SIS, f. [from xctlayviov, to debilitate.; 
xccia, and yv\ov, Gr. a member.] An imbecility and ener¬ 
vation of the drength and limbs. 
CATALEM'M A,y, [from xcslaXvrra, Gr. to unfold.]; 
The proper knowledge and judgment which is necefliiry 
for a phyfreian to be pofTelfed of. , • 
CATALEP'SIS,/. [from Gr. to detain 
or interrupt.] Perception or knowledge; the retention of. 
the breath*, as when, a p.erlon drains at dool 5 a retention 
