6d 4 . CAL 
the calamine, after being calcined, fliould be levigated to 
an impalpable powder. When thus prepared, it is 
ufeful in collyria as an aftringent and corroborant, and 
againft defluxions of thin acrid humours upon the eyes, 
and in ointments for cutaneous exulcerations, &c. If it 
is exquifitely fine, it aits as an abforbent or deliccative ; 
but, if not, it is efcharotic. 
CA'LAMINT and CALAMIN'THA, / in botany. 
See Cunila, Melissa, Mentha, and Glechoma. 
CALA'MITOUS, adj. [calamitofus, Lat.] Miferable ; 
involved in diftrefs ; oppreffed with infelicity ; unhappy; 
wretched : applied to men. — This is a gracious proviliou 
God Almighty hath made in favour of the neceflitous and 
calamitous ; the ftate of fome, in this life, being fo ex¬ 
tremely wretched and deplorable, if compared with others. 
Calamy. —Full of mifery ; diftrelsful: applied to external 
circumflances.—What calamitous effects the air of this city 
wrought upon us, you may read in my dilcourfe of the 
plague. Harvey. 
CALA'MITOUSNESS,/ Mifery; diftrefs. 
CALA'MITUS.yi A gag put into the mouth of dogs 
to hinder them from barking. 
CALA'MITY,/! \_calamitas, I,at.] Misfortune ; caufe 
of mifery ; diftrefs.—Another ill accident is drought, and 
the fpindling of the corn, which with us is rare, but in 
■hotter countries common ; infomuch as the word calamity 
was firft derived from calamus, wdien the corn could not 
get out of the ftalk. Bacon. —Mifery ; diftrels ; 
Prom adverfe fliores in fafety let her hear 
Foreign calamity , and diftant war ; 
Of which, great heav’n, let her no portion bear. Prior. 
CALAMO'CHA, a town of Spain, in Aragon, on the 
Xiloca : fourteen miles fouth of Daroca. 
CA'LAMUS, f. £Gr. -wapa TO y.ctXat; ; or 
from bp light; or from bcp excidere-, or from Calamus, the 
foil of Meander, changed into a reed.] In botany, a ge¬ 
nus of the clafs hexandria, order monogynia, natural or¬ 
der tripetaloideae. The generic charafters are—Calyx : 
-perianth nun (ix-leaved, permanent; the three outer leaf¬ 
lets fliorter, broader ; the three inner longer, narrower, 
acuminate. Corolla: none, unlefs you call the calyx fo. 
Stamina : filaments fix, capillary, longer than the calyx ; 
antherie round. Piftillum : germ roundifh, fuperior; 
ftyle trifid, columnar, fpiral, filiform; ftigmas fimple. 
Pericarpium : membranous, globular, covered with fcales, 
imbricated backwards, and obtufe ; it is one-celled, at 
firft pulpy, but afterwards juicelefs. Seeds : one, globu¬ 
lar, flelhy.— EJjential Charatter. Calyx, fix-leaved; co¬ 
rolla, none; berry dried, one-feeded, imbricate backwards. 
Miller has but one fpecies, called calamus rotang, or 
rattan; but he has feveral varieties, all which have a ftem 
which is perennial, quite limple or unbranched, long, 
sound, unarmed or without prickles, folid, jointed, pro¬ 
cumbent when unfupported, fcandent when near trees, 
but without any tendrils. Fronds large, alternate, re¬ 
clining, with fpiny Iheaths covering the joints ; the ftipes 
are alfo fpiny. I.eaves alternate, fublanceolate, quite en¬ 
tire, (carcely a foot long, often three-nerved, with a few, 
long, hardifi), hairs. Flowers commonly hermaphrodite, 
almoft terminating : on one fpadix or more, branched 
large, differently lhaped in the feveral fpecies or varieties, 
with fpathes either common or partial ; iometimes, but 
feldom, thefe are wanting. The pericarpium a berry, 
which is dry, roundilh, fntall, fuperior, imbricate back¬ 
wards with feveral roundilh, regular, dole, coriaceous, 
fcales. It always contains one feed only. According to 
others, it has (onietimts, though feldom, two or three 
feeds. Gasrtner alligns three feeds to the zalacca. Some 
affert that all the flowers are hermaphrodite, which is not 
probable. The rattan feems to form the connecting link 
between the palms and the gramineous plants, having the 
flower of the former, but the habit of the latter. The 
palm called rap/na has the embryo placed in the fame man¬ 
ner, namely in a lateral cavity of the horny albumen; in 
CAL 
the fruit and fpadix it agrees nearly with this in form, 
only they are much larger : the flowers are but little dif¬ 
ferent, only they are monoecous, as the flowers of the rat¬ 
tan probably are. In another palm called Cache, Atiblet 
defcribes the fruit to be tcflelated and fcaly : as Rmnpliius 
does that of tli ej'agu palm. They both therefore feeni to 
be allied to the calamus. 
Loureiro has dilcriminated fix fpecies of calamus, which 
■lie thus characterizes and defcribes. 
r. Calamus petraeus, or ftone rattan : with a very thick 
grooved ftem, (hort joints, and long ftraight fpines. The 
Hern of this is a hundred feet long, as thick as the human 
arm; the internodes (vulgarly called the joints) are only 
about a foot in length, cylindrical, grooved, fpotted, un¬ 
equal ; the fronds armed clofely with fpines ; the fpadix 
terminating and very long; the berry fubovate and acu¬ 
minate. It is ufed for large fpears and halberts. 
2. Calamus rudentum, or cable rattan : with a very 
long equal ftem, and inverted fpines. Stem five hundred 
feet long and more, an inch thick, very tough, pale afh- 
coloured, not gloffy ; internodes a foot and a half long, 
round, almoft equal; fronds (hotter ; fpines bent back ; 
fpadixes nearly terminating, loofe, wide; flowers regu¬ 
lar ; berry final 1 . The ufe of it is for cables of (hips, 
and for ropes to draw great weights and to tame and fallen 
wild elephants. 
3. Calamus fcipionum, or walking-cane rattan: with 
very long, Tabulate, gloffy, internodes. Stem thick, of 
a middling length, very glolfy, reddifh often fpotted with 
black; internodes three feet long, unequal; fronds fpiny, 
fhorter; fpadix thick, branched ; branches (hort, with 
few flowers. This grows abundantly on both fides of the 
Straits of Malacca, whence it is exported into China and 
Europe. Pifo has figured it in p. 18S of his Mantilla. 
4. Calamus verus, or genuine rattan: fronds very long, 
with long crowded fpines; fpathe (hort; corolla three-pe- 
talled. Stem a hundred feet long, yeliowifh brown, equal, 
very flexile, the thicknefs of a finger; internodes long, 
round, almoft equal - , fronds very long, with ftraight 
fpines, and ovate-lanceolate, three-nerved, alternate, leaf¬ 
lets ; fpadix racemed ; fpathe oblong, prickly; calyx 
three-parted ; petals white, fharp, fpreading, longer thare 
the calyx; berry rather large, brown. Of the ftem cut 
into thongs the largeft cables are made in India; befides 
all forts of ropes for faftening the planks of the country 
veffels and the boarding of houfes, in which no nails are 
tiled; and alfo for tying a variety of utenfils both domeftic 
and rural. 
5. Calamus amartis, or bitter rattan : fpines crowded, 
fhort; leaflets linear; fpadixes remote; fpathes partial. 
Stem fixty feet long, the thicknefs of a finger, hardifh, 
even, pale-coloured; with long, nearly equal, round, in¬ 
ternodes; fronds long; fpadixes almoft terminating, in 
fpikes, many. This has a fix-parted calyx, and no corolla. 
It is ufed for the fame purpofes as the former; but is har¬ 
der and more durable. 
6. Calamus dioicus, or dioecous rattan : with a very 
(lender ftem, (horter fronds and fpikes, and a dioecous 
flower. Stem the thicknefs of a goofe-quill, twenty feet 
long, very regular and flexile, pale and glolfy ; internodes 
a foot long ; male and female flowers on feparate plants; 
calyx three-toothed, very finall; corolla three-petalled, 
petals ovate-lanceolate, (freaked, white. Palmijuncus 
equeftris and viminalis of Rmnphius agree in fome ntea- 
fure, butnot entirely, with this; which is ufed for weav¬ 
ing and faftening (mailer and nicer utenfils. 
All thefe are fpecifically different, for they grow wild 
in places very remote from each other, where they regu¬ 
larly preferve their peculiar habit and differences. Many 
others grow in Cochinchina, the Stnuits of Malacca, and 
other places, which on a more accurate examination may 
be found to be different both from thefe and each other. 
They were named palmijunci by Rumphius, from their (i- 
militude to the palms in the fructification, and their flexi¬ 
bility, like the junci or ruihes. Gsertner defcribes the 
zalacca 
