900 CAT 
mills, and wheels, are erefted on the edge of the river, 
und a portion of the vail bafon, into which the cataract 
falls, is confined by a dyke, which preferves the warehoufes 
and the neighbouring huts from its. inundations. Shel- 
tered within this little nook, and accuftomed to the neigh- 
bourhood of the torrent, the boatman unloads his mer¬ 
chandize, and the artifan purfues his toil, regardlefs of 
the falling river, and inattentive to thofe thundering founds 
which feem calculated to fufpend all human a&ivity in fo- 
Icmn and awful aftonifhment; while the imagination of the 
fpeclator is (truck with the comparative littlenefs of fleet¬ 
ing man, billy with his trivial occupations, contrafted with 
the view of nature in all her vaft, eternal, uncontroulable, 
grandeur.” But we learn from feveral perfons lately re¬ 
turned from Swillerland, that the cataract of the Rhine, 
near Schatfhaufen, no longer prel'ents to the eye of the 
aftoaifned traveller the awful fpeclacle which formerly 
attracted the attention of lb many ftrangers.. Since one 
of the rocks which helped to form the wondeiful cafcade 
lias been detached from the others, the fall of wateis ceafes 
to have any thing remarkable ; and the fair confequence is, 
that it is no longer the refort of thole who are lond of 
following Nature ""through her ftupendous operations. 
About three or four Italian miles eaft of Terni in Italy, 
there is a famous waterfall in the river Velino, near the 
place where it flows out of the Lago delle Marmore.. The 
mountain on which it takes its courfe before its fall is very 
hmh, and environed on both lides by much higher moun- 
tafns. The Ihelving of the river’s bed, as loon as it comes 
out of the lake, caufes a very rapid ftream, that colledls 
itfelf into three fucceflive cafcades, the laft and loftieft of 
which feems to be zoo feet high. The noife ol this cata- 
raft cannot be heard without aftonifhment; and from the 
bottom a white mill riles and fills the air to a confiderable 
height. When the river clears itfelf of the rocks, between 
which thefe cafcades are formed, it falls into the Neia 
about 100 paces diftant. The grand waterfall is called 
the “ Cafcata delle Marmore.” 
The Zaire, an African river in Congo, commences with 
a large cataraft, which falls from the top of a mountain. 
In Japan, which is very mountainous, many rivulets form 
by their junction confiderable rivers, in which are large 
and furprifing cataracts. The moll remarkable is that of 
the lake TogTtz, or Facone, which, being furrounded on 
all fides by high mountains, has no outlet for its waters 
excepting three different apertures, from which they fall 
down m cataracts, with a dreadful violence and nolle $ 
thence the three itreams, reuniting, run down with a pro¬ 
digious impetuofity, by a narrow channel through a deep 
valley, over rocks and precipices into the fea. 
On the Highlands of Scotland, as well as other mountain¬ 
ous countries, there are feveral falls ; but the grandell cal- 
.cade is that in the river Fyres, for which fee vol. viii.p. 14.8. 
In the vicinity of the lakes of Cumberland there are feve¬ 
ral confiderable cataraas or cafcades ; that called Sour-milk 
Force, near the bottom of Buttermere lake, is fuppofed to fall 
upwards of 300 yards. hefe cataraas are alio rivalled by 
a remarkable fall of the Tees, on the well of the county of 
Durham, over which is a bridge fufpended by chains, fel- 
dom paffed but by the adventurous miners ; and in this con- 
neaion we might mention Afgarth Force in Yorkfhire. 
The principality of Wales abounds with falls of water, 
cafcades, or cataracts, as they may be feverally called, 
which afford amufement to the curious traveller. In the 
vale of Neath, the lcenery of which is very romantic, 
there are feveral cafcades, that are worthy of notice 5 but 
thole of the river Hepfey claim particular attention. In 
the moll confiderable of thefe, near the junaion of the 
rivers Hepfey and Meita, a broad llieet of water projeas 
over an abrupt ledge of rock to the depth of 50 feet. 
Four others occur within an eighth part of a mile from 
the firfl. The principal of thefe is about 15 feet in height, 
and the fmallefl about ten. Thefe fourare all feen at once; 
but a bend of the river prevents a view of thegreat cafcade. 
CAT 
At a fmall diftance the brink of a precipice difclofes the 
great fall of the river Meita, which is broader than that 
of the Hepfey, and 70 feet high. This projects as fudden- 
ly as the others, and, carrying a larger body of water, 
with greater violence. It is, therefore, more awful and 
tremendous, but unaccompanied with thofe circumltances 
of variety and beauty which adorn and enliven its rival 
cataraft. In the vicinity of Neath, at a place called Melin 
Court, there is a magnificent fall of the Cledaugh from the 
height of 80 feet. With the exception of the Mynach 
fall, this is the largeft in South Wales, and unrivalled in 
its accompaniments, conlidered as an enclofed fcene. The 
cafcade at Havod in Cardiganlhire, which has a continued 
fall of about 100 feet, is an interefiing objeft in the lcenery 
of that fpot, which has been fo juitly celebrated on ac¬ 
count of the improvements introduced and Hill carried 
on by Thomas Jolines, efq. its proprietor. 
The moll remarkable cataracts in North Wales are the 
following: I11 Merionethlhire, at Doly-Mel-ynllyn, near 
Llanelltyd, is Rhaiadr-du, or the black cataracl, which is 
a double fall of about 60 feet high, where the water foams 
with a thundering noife down l'ome black rocks, giving 
to the fcene a lingular appearance; which is increaled by 
being covered in many places with a pure, white lichen. 
The torrent falls into a fmall deep bafin, from whence it 
dallies itfelf along its rugged channel. About one mile 
from this is another cataract, called Rhaidr-a-Mawddach, 
fituated in a river of that name, where the llream forces 
itfelf down a rock, about 60 feet high, in which the llream 
is three times broken in its fall to the bafin, round which 
the rocks and trees form a kind of amphitheatre. Near 
the latter is Piltiil-y-Cain, which is by far the highelt and 
moll magnificent of the three : it confills of a narrow llream, 
which rulhes down a vaft rock of the height at leaft of 15a 
feet, whole horizontal ftratarun into irregular Heps through 
its whole breadth, forming a mural front; but its piclu- 
refque beauty is much injured by its regularity. 
CAT'ARACT, f. in medicine, an opacity of the cry- 
ftalline humour of the eye, which prevents the rays of 
light palling to the retina, thus hindering vilion. Dr. 
Hunter lays, it is when an inflammation in the coat of the 
cryftalline humour hath rendered it opake; but Mr. St. 
Yves leems to intimate, that the cryftalline humour fwells, 
Hippocrates called it glaucofis ; Galen hypochojis, and hy- 
pochyma ; the Arabians gutta opaca ; but many cataracts arc 
termed macults cculorun. But the idea of a cataract is now 
totally cleared from all that confufion in which it was for¬ 
merly involved ; it is univerfally allowed to be an opacity 
of the cryftalline lens and its capfule. 
M. de St. Yves divides the cataract into the true, doubt¬ 
ful, and falfe. The true, is when the cryftalline humour 
hath loft its tranlparency: and this he lubdivides into three 
forts: ill, When the cryftalline humour is foft: zdly. 
When it is hard: and, 3dly, When it is purulent. The 
doubtful , are thofe in which the fuccefs of the operation 
is as uncertain as the ufe of topical remedies. Thele are 
of four forts : ilt, A membranous cataraft: zdly, A fila¬ 
mentous catarafl: 3dly, Cataracts from blows or other 
external injuries: and, 4-thly, From a defeit of the mem¬ 
brane which covers the bottom of the focket in the vitre¬ 
ous humour. The firft and third of thefe he fubdivides 
again, each into three kinds, as he endeavours to be mi¬ 
nute, as well as full, in his defcription of this diforder. 
The falfe, are thofe in which the remedies afford no relief 
farther than to palliate pains, or to remove deformity j 
and thefe he divides into the glaucoma, and the (baking 
cataract. All this divifion, and fubdivifion, feems little 
regarded in prefent practice; but yet fome ufeful hints 
will be derived by a perufal of this author. 
When a cataract begins, the patient at firft complains 
of a diminution of his fight; and, on a careful examina¬ 
tion of the eye, a whitenefs is perceived very deep in it: 
on examining the eye at diftant periods of time, its opacity 
becomes more and more manifeft to the obferver, and the 
1 patient-; 
