14 
CON 
concernment to mankind. Boyle. —Intevpofition ; regard ; 
meddling.—He married a daughter to the earl, without 
any other approbation of her father, or concernment in it, 
than futiering him and her to come into his prefence. 
Clarendon■ —Paffion; emotion of mind.—While they are 
fo eager to deftroy the fame of others, their ambition is 
manifeit in their concernment. Dryden. 
To CONCE'RT, <v. a. [concenter , Fr. from concertare, 
Lat. to prepare themfelves for forne public exhibition, or 
performance, by private encounters among themfelves.] 
To fettle any thing in private by mutual communication, 
To fettle; to contrive; toadjult: 
Mark how, already, in his working brain, 
He forms the "Weil -concerted Icheme of mifehief. Rowe. 
CON'CERT,/. Communication of defigns; eftabliftt- 
ment'of meafures among thole who are engaged in the 
tame affair.—All thole difcontents, how ruinous foever, 
have arifen from the want of a due communication and 
concert. Swift. —A fymphony; many performers joining 
in the fame tune. 
CONCERTA'TION,/ [concerta/io, Lat.] Strife; con¬ 
tention. 
CONCER'TATIVE, adj. \_concertativus, Lat.] Con¬ 
tentious ; quarrelfome; recriminative. 
CONCER'TO,/ [Irak] A piece of mufic compofed for 
a concert. It is now generally ufed for a piece intended 
to difplay the powers of one particular inftrument or 
performer, the reft of the band joining occafionally in 
concert. 
CONCES'SION,/ \_concejio, Lat.] The aft of granting 
or yielding.—The concejjion ot thefe charters was in a par¬ 
liamentary way. Hale. —A grant; the thing yielded.—• 
I (till counted myfelf undiminilhed by my largeft concef- 
fions , if by them I might gain the love of my people. 
King Charles. 
CONCES'SIONARY, adj. Given by indulgence or al¬ 
lowance. 
CONCES / SIVE, adj. Implying conceftlon.—Hypothe¬ 
tical, conditional, concejjive , and exceptive, conjunctions, 
feem in general to require a fubjunCtive mood after them. 
Lowth. 
CONCES'SIVELY, adv. By way of conceftlon ; as, 
yielding; not controverting by affumption.—Some have 
written rhetorically and concejjinoely ; not controverting, 
but afluming the queftion, which, taken as granted, ad¬ 
vantaged the illation. Brown. 
CONCET'EO, f. [Ital. and keeps its plural.] Falfe 
conceit.—'There is a kind of counter-tafte, founded on 
lurprife and curiofity, which maintains a fort of rivalftiip 
with the true, and may be exprelTed by the word concetto. 
Shenjlone .—The thepherds have their concetti and their an- 
tithefes. CbeJIerfield. 
CONCE'ZE, a town of France, in the department of 
the Correze, and diftridt of Brive: fix leagues north-weft 
of Brive. 
CONCH,/. [ concha , Lat.] A (hell; a fea-ftiell: 
Hefurnifhes her clofet firft, and fills 
The crowded fhelves with rarities of (hells: 
Adds orient pearls, which from the conchs he drew, 
And all the fparkling (tones of various hue. Dryden. 
CON'CHE, a finall village in Maritime Auftria, half in 
the .territory of Padua, and half in that of Venice. 
CON'CHES, a town of France, in the department of 
the Lower Pyrenees, and chief place of a canton, in the 
diftridt of Pau : fix leagues north-north-eaft of Pau. 
CON'CHES, a town of France, in the department of 
the Eure, and chief place of a canton, in the diftridt of 
Evreux : three leagues fouth-weft of Evreux. 
CONCHOID,/ orCoNCHiLES, the name of a curve in¬ 
vented by Nicomedes. It was much uled by the ancients 
in the conftrudtion of folid problems. See Fluxions. 
CONCHO'LOGY,/. [from V.07%'/j, a fliell, and a 
difeourfe.] The fcience which teaches an inveftigation of 
CON 
the nature and properties of (hells. This is a very pleaf- 
ing and curious department of natural liiftoiy ; for, iu 
the infinite variety of (hells dilperfed over the univerfe, 
the hand of the Supreme Artift has difplayed every gra¬ 
dation of beauty which can exift in a permanent form. 
From the moft rude and mifliapen oyfter, fcarcely to be 
diltinguiihed from its native rock, the fcale regularly 
afeends, till it arrives at perfedtion in the elegant nautile , 
or fuperior iymmetry of the fpiral (nail; whofe convolu¬ 
tions commencing in a point, and winding with the eafy 
flow of the moft beautiful undulating wreath, infenlibly 
dilate themfelves as they advance, till the whole alfumes 
the elegant taper of the cone. From this admired ftruc- 
ture, it is imagined, the Greeks preferved it in one of 
their temples confecrated to Venus, as the emblem of 
that goddefs; for we find united in this fliell all thofe 
lines or figures, which mathematicians pronounce to be 
the moft beautiful. 
Da Cofta ftates the definition of a.(hell as follows : A 
kind of ftone-llke calcareous covering or habitation, iu 
which the whole animal, otlierwife quite naked or flelhy, 
lives included as in a houfe ; whereas the cruftaceous ani¬ 
mals, as lobfters, crabs. See. are not naked, but have every 
particular limb or part feparately covered with the cruft, 
which confequently is formed into many joints, ipfbmuch 
that the whole animal feems as it were loricated, or in a 
coat of mail. All fliell animals are exanguious, that is, 
have no blood fimilar to that of quadrupeds, birds, fifties, 
or reptiles; and therefore properly appertain to Linnaeus’s 
ftxth clafs of animals, or vermes. They are alfo defti- 
tute of any bones ; thofe fulcra or props to the mufcles 
of the animal llruCture, being exterior in thefe creatures, 
in their (hells; and not interior, as all bones of other 
animals are placed. However, they are endowed with 
the principal parts, as the mouth, lungs, heart, &c. be- 
fides other parts fuitable to their mode of life. 
It has been a fubjeCV of fome debate among naturalifts. 
Whether the methodical fyltem or arrangement of tella- 
ceous animals fliould be formed from the living animals 
themfelves, or from their habitations or (hells ? The for¬ 
mer method feems moft fcientifical; but the latter, from 
the (hells, is univerfally followed for the purpofes of con- 
chology ; and for many real* 11s. The vaft number of fpe- 
cies hitherto difeovered, and the numerous collections 
made, exhibit only the (hells or habitations, the animals 
themfelves being fcarcely known or delcribed. Of the 
fliells we daily difeover, few are filhed up living; the 
greater number are found on (bores, dead and empty. 
Accurate defcriptions of animals, whofe parts are not 
eafily feen or obvious, and anatomical relearches, are not 
in the capacity of every one to make.; nor are the parti¬ 
cular parts and their refpedtive functions fo eafiiy cogni¬ 
zable to any but expert, afliduous, and philofophical, en¬ 
quirers. How is it poflible, then, to arrange a numerous 
let of the (hells of animals, by characters or parts we can 
with difficulty, if ever, get acquainted with, in the far 
greater number of thefpecies we colleCt or difeover? 
Ail other ranks of animals are arranged into fyftems 
by obvious and external, not by fcienrifical, characters. 
Quadrupeds are methodized by their teeth, horns, hoofs, 
and hides, or coverings; birds by their plumage, beaks, 
and claws; reptiles and inleCts by like particulars; the 
very fillies, though of a different element, undergo ar¬ 
rangements by their fins; and the vegetables arediftin- 
guiffied by their flowers and fruits. All thefe arrange¬ 
ments are on the principles of external and obvious cha¬ 
racters. Why then lbould it be required to arrange by 
fcientifical or difficult characters, the fliells of animals 
who chiefly live in the depths of the fea, that have hardly 
a progrefiive motion, and are, for the greater part, diffi¬ 
cultly, if ever, within our reach? Why fliould naturalifts 
demand of fuch animals only, a fyftem or arrangement, 
the moft difficult to attain, while ail the other orders of 
animals, whofe arrangements by fucli methods are more, 
eafily attainable, are methodized only, and with univerla! 
con lent 
