28 C "E N 
leaves hiifute, the lower pifmatifid. Native of the fonth 
of Europe. There are more fpecies of tills extenfive genus 
in Vahi and other authors. 
Propagation and Culture. The numerous fpecies of this 
genus may be increafed without great difficulty ; thofe 
which are annual by feeds, and fucli as are perennial both 
tliat way and by parting the roots. The feeds of the 
greater part may be fown either in fpring or autumn in a 
bed of light earth, either to remain where they are, and 
in that cafe only to be thinned and kept clean from weeds, 
or to be pricked out, when of a prope.r fize, into a bed of 
frefh earth about fix inches afunder, there to remain till 
autumn, when they ftiotild be planted where they are to 
continue. Mod of the fpecies are hardy, and none of 
them are very tender; fome however require a little pro- 
tefiion in this climate. 
The feeds of fvveet fultan are commonly fown upon a 
hot-bed in the fpring, to bring the plants forward, and 
in May they are tranfplanted into the borders of the flower 
garden ; but if the feeds are fown in a warm border in 
autumn, they will live through the winter; and thofe 
plants may be removed in the fpring into the flower-gar¬ 
den, and will ue ftronger, and come earlier to flower, than 
thofe which are railed in the fpring. The feeds may alfo 
be fown in the fpring on a common warm border, where 
the plants will rife very well, but thefe will be later in 
flowering than either of the other: the autumnal plants 
will begin to flow'er in the middle of June, and will con¬ 
tinue flowering till September; and the fpring plants will 
flower a month later, and continue till the froft flops them. 
Their feeds ripen in autumn. 
Great centaury may be propagated by parting the roots. 
As it requires much room, it is not proper for fmall 
gardens; but in large open borders, or on the verges of 
plantations, with other tall-growing plants, it makes a 
good figure. 
Perennial blue-bottle is now become a common plant in 
large gardens, from the facility with which it is increafed. 
The roots indeed creep fo much, that it is apt to become 
troublefome. It will grow in any foil and fituation. 
There are great varieties of colours in the flowers of the 
common annual blue-bottle, and fome of them are finely 
variegated. The feeds are fold under the name of bottles 
of all colours. They will rife in any common border, 
and require no other care but to be kept clean from weeds, 
and thinned where they are too clofe, for they do not 
thrive well when they are tranfplanted. If the feeds be 
fown in autumn, they will fucceed better, and the plants 
will flower ftronger than thofe which are fown in fpring. 
The fureft method of cultivating the carduus benCdidtus 
is to fow the feeds in autumn; and, when the plants come 
up, to hoe the ground, to cut up the weeds, and thin the 
plants; and in the following fpring to hoe it a fecond 
time, leaving the plants a foot afunder ; they will ripen 
their feeds in autumn, and foon after decay. See Cnic us, 
and STiEHEUNA. 
CENTAU'RI,y. in fabulous hiftory, a people ofTlief- 
faly, half men and half horfes. They were the offspring 
of Centaurus, fon of Apollo, by Stilbia, daughter of tire 
Peneus. According to fome, the Centaurs were the fruit 
cf Ixion’s adventure with the cloud in the fhape of Juno, 
or, as others aflert, of the union of Centaurus with the 
mares of Magnefia. This fable of the exiftence of the 
Centaurs, monflers fupported upon the four legs of a 
horfe, is faid to have arifen from the ancient people of 
Thelfaly having firft tamed horfes, and having appeared 
to their neighbours mounted on horfeback, a fight very 
uncommon at that time, and which, when at a diftance, 
feemsonlyonebody, and confequently one creature. Some 
derive the name airo tov kehteiv ravgov?, goading bulls , be- 
caufe they went on horfeback after their bulls which had 
ftrayed, or becaufe they hunted wild bulls with horfes. 
Some of the ancients have maintained, that monflers like 
the Centaurs can have exifted in the natural courfe of 
things. Plutarch in Sympof. mentions one feen by Perian- 
C E N 
der tyrant of Corinth; and Pliny 7, c. 3, fays, that h€ 
faw one embalmed in honey, which had been brought to 
Rome from Egypt in the reign of Claudius. The battle 
of the Centaurs with the Lapithae is famous in hiftory. 
Ovid lias elegantly deferibed it, and it has alfo employed 
the pen of Hefiod, Valerius Flaccus, &c. and Paufanias in 
Eliac. fays, it was reprefented in the temple of Jupiter at 
Olympia, and alfo at Athens by Phidias and Parrhafius ac¬ 
cording to Pliny 36, c. £. The origin of this battle was a 
quarrel at the marriage of Hippodamia with Pirithous, 
where the Centaurs, intoxicated with wine, behaved with 
rudenefs, and even ottered violence to the women that 
were prefeut. Such an infult irritated Hercules, Thefeus { 
and the reft of the Lapithae, who defended the women, 
wounded and defeated the Centaurs, and obliged them to 
leave their country, and retire to Arcadia. Here their in- 
folence was a fecond time puniffied by Hercules, who, 
when he was going to hunt the boar of Ery manthus, was 
kindly entertained by the Centaur Pholus, who gave him 
wine which belonged to the reft of the Centaurs, but had 
been given them on condition of their treating Hercules 
with it, whenever lie patted through their territory. They 
refented the liberty which Hercules took witli their wine, 
and attacked him with uncommon fury. Tiie hero de¬ 
fended himfelf with his arrows, and defeated his adverfa- 
ries, who fled forfafety to the Centaur Chiron. Chiron 
had been the preceptor of Hercules^ and therefore they 
hoped that he would defift in his prefence. Hercules, 
though awed at the fight of Chiron, did not dettft, but, 
in the midft of the engagement, he wounded hjs precep¬ 
tor in the knee, who, in the exceflive pain he flittered, 
exchanged immortality for death. The death of Chiron 
irritated Hercules the more, and the Centaurs that were 
prefent, were all extirpated by his hand. Diod. Hefiod\ 
Homer, Ovid, &c. 
CENTAU'RIUM, f. in botany; fee Aceratum, 
Centaurea, Chironia, Cnicus, Eranthemum, 
Serratula. CENTAURIUM LUTEUM; feeCHLO- 
ra, Thesium. CENTAURIUM MINUS; fee Achy- 
raxthes, Cheronia, Gentiana, Eranthemum, 
Exacum, and Sarothra. 
CENTAU'RUS, in aftronomy, the Centaur, one of 
the forty-eight old confteliations, being a fouthern one, in 
forrri half man and half horfe; from the Greek fajtte of 
Chiron the Centaur, who was the tutor of Achilles and 
Efculapius. The ftars of this conftellation are, in Ptolo- 
my’s catalogue 37, in Tycho’s 4, and in the Britannic ca¬ 
talogue, with Sharp’s appendix, 35. 
CENT AU'RUS,/! a Tillp in the fleet of Aineas, which 
had the figure of a Centaur. Virgil. But, according to 
others, the fhip was fo named, from its fimilitude to the 
ark, which, Mr. Bryant fays, was fometimes called cen¬ 
taurus-, from v hence many of the Arkites were called 
centauri, and were reputed of the Nepheiine race. The 
fame learned author obferves, that (hips feem of old to 
have been denominated from the ark centauri, and bucen - 
tauri; and that the Venetians at this day call their princi¬ 
pal galley bucentaur. 
CEN'T AURY,/. inbotany; fee Chlora, Gentiana, 
CENTEL'LA,yi in botany; fee Hydrocotyle. 
CENTENA'RIUS, f. An officer who had the govern¬ 
ment or command, with the adminillration of juftice, in 
a village. The centeiiarii as well as vicarii were under the 
jurifdidlion and command of the court. We find them 
among the Franks, Germans, Lombards, Got hs, &c. Cen- 
tenarius was alfo ufed for an officer who had the command 
of one hundred men, moil frequently called a Centurion. 
CEN'TEN ARY,y. \_centcnarius, Lat.] The number of 
a hundred. In every centenary of years from the creation, 
fome fmall abatement ftiottld have been made. Hakezoill. 
CENTE'NIUM O'VUM,/. with naturalifts, a fort of 
hen’s egg much fmaller than ordinary, vulgarly called a 
cock's egg-, from which it has been fabuloufly held that the 
cockatrice or bafilifk is produced. The name is taken 
from an opinion, sjiat thefe are the laft eggs which hens 
la/s 
