42 C E R 
Tery flvort and revolute. Annual, flowering in June and 
July : Haller fays it is perennial. There are feveral vari¬ 
eties. This is one of the moft common herbs all over 
Italy; hence Virgil’s expreffion of Ceriniba ignobile gramen. 
J t is no lefs common in Sicily; and is found alfo in the 
South of France, Swiflerland, Germany, and Siberia: 
Cultivated in 1596, by Gerard. There is abundance of 
honey-juice in the tube of the flower, for which reafon it 
is much reforted to by bees; this plant therefore is pecu¬ 
liarly proper to be planted near apiaries. 
.2. Cerinthe minor, or fmall honeywort: leaves ftem- 
clafping entire, corollas acute clofed. Very nearly allied 
to the foregoing, but the corolla flve-cleft to one-third of 
the length, whereas that is only five-lobed at the edge. 
Scopoli makes but one fpecies of them. The whole plant 
is fmooth, and flowering the whole fummer. Annual, 
when fcwn in the fpring, but biennial when f’own in au¬ 
tumn ; in the wild ftate therefore biennial. Italy, Ger¬ 
many, Auftria, Syria, Swiflerland. Cultivated 1570, by 
Mr. Hugh Morgan. 
Propagation and Culture. The fpecies of this plant are 
propagated by feeds, which fhould be fown foon after they 
are ripe ; for, if they are kept till fpring, the growing qua¬ 
lity of them is often loft; or at leaft they lie fome months 
in the ground before they grow; the plants are hardy, 
and, if the feeds are fown in a warm fltuation, they will en¬ 
dure the winter’s cold very well without ftielter ; thefe au¬ 
tumnal plants are alfo much furer to produce ripe feeds 
than thofe which are fown in the fpring, which are gene¬ 
rally late in the feafon before they flower; and confe- 
quently, if the autumn fhould not prove very warm, their 
feeds would not be perfefted. The plants make a pretty 
variety for large borders in gardens, where, if they are 
fuffered to drop their feeds, the plants will arife without 
any farther care ; fo that when a perfon is once furnifhed 
with the feveral varieties, he need be at no more trouble 
than to allow each of them a refpeftive place where it may 
remain, and fow itfelf; and with this culture, there is a 
greater certainty of preferving the forts than in any other 
management; nor will they perhaps be entirely loft in 
this way, if it fhould happen that the feafon fhould pre¬ 
vent their ripening feed, (as it fometimes proves;) for, 
when great quantities of the feeds have fcattered upon the 
ground, fome of them will be buried fo deep, in ftirring the 
earth, as not to grow the firft year ; which, upon being 
turned up to the air the fucceeding year, will come up as 
well as new feeds. If the feeds are not taken as foon as 
they change black, they drop out of the calyx in a fliort 
time, and vegetate with the firft warm weather. See 
ONOsMAand Pulmonaria. 
CERIN'THIANS, ancient heretics, who denied the 
divinity of Chrift. They took their name from Cerinthus, 
one of the firft herefiarchs in the church, who was contem¬ 
porary with St. John. They believed that Chrift was a 
mere man, born of Jofeph and Mary; but that in his 
baptifm, a celeftial virtue defcended upon him, by means 
whereof he was confecrated by the holy fpirit. They fup- 
pofed it was by means of this celeftial fpirit, that he 
wrought his miracles ; and which, as he received it from 
heaven, quitted him after his paflion, and returned to the 
place from whence it came. It was partly to refute this 
left that St. John wrote hisgofpel. 
CERINTHOFDES,/. in botany. See Pulmonaria, 
CERIN'THUS, founder of the above-mentioned herefy, 
was contemporary with the apoftles, and in his doftrine 
he afcribed the creation not to God, but to angels. He 
taught that circumcifion ought to be retained under the 
gofpel. He is confidered as the head of the converted 
Jews, who raifed in the church of Antioch the tumult of 
which St. Luke has given the liiftory in the 15th chapter 
of the Afts. Some authors afcribe the book of the apo- 
calypfe to Cerinthus; adding, that he put it off under the 
.name of St. John, the better to authorife his reveries 
touching the nature of Cftrift’s million upon earth; and 
C E R 
it is even certain that he publifhed fome works of this 
kind under the title of Apocaljpfe. 
CF.RISAY', a town of France, in the department of 
the Two Sevres, ar.d chief place of a canton, in the dif- 
trift of Chatillon fur Seine : two leagues and a quarter 
fouth-fouth-eaft of Chatillon. 
CERISIE'RS, a town of France, in the department of 
the Yonne, and chief place of a canton, in the diftrift of 
St. Florenti'n : four leagues north-north-weft of St. Flo- 
rentin. 
CERISO'LA, a village of Italy, in the principality of 
Piedmont, where the French gained a fignal victory over 
the Spaniards on the 14th of Apiil, 1544: five miles eaft 
of Carmagnola. 
CERISY / , a town of France, in the department of 
the Channel, and chief place of a canton, in the diftrift 
of St. Lo : two leagues and a half north-eaft of St. Lo. 
CERISY' la Salle, a town of France, in the depart¬ 
ment of the Channel, and chief place of a canton, in the 
diftrift of Coutances : two leagues eaft of Coutances. 
CERLIER', fee Erlach. 
CER'NA, a river of Piedmont, which runs into the 
Sefia, three miles north-weft of Vercelli. 
CER'NACHE, a town of Portugal, in the province of 
Beira : four miles fouth of Coimbra. 
CERNAY', a town of France, in the department of 
the Upper Rhine, and chief place of a canton, in the dif¬ 
trift of Befort: five leagues north-eaft of Befort. 
CERNAY'-EN-DORMOIS, a town of France, in the 
department of the Marne : ten miles north of St. Mene- 
hold. 
CERNE, or Cerne Abbas, a fmall market-town in 
Dorfetfhire, famous for its ancient abbey; and, in more 
modern times, for its brewery of ftrong beer ; prodigious 
quantities of which it formerly exported to America, 
and the Weft-Indies. Here are three fairs annually, viz. 
on Mid-lent Monday, 28th of April, and ad of Oftober; 
market on Wednefdays. The town ftands on the river 
Cerne, in a pleafant vale, furrounded with fteep hills on 
the north ; fix miles and a half from Dorchefter, and 121 
from London. On a fteep hill to the north of the town 
is the figure of a giant cut in chalk. His left hand is ex¬ 
tended, and in his right he holds a club. Under the body 
are three rude letters, fcarce legible, and there appears to 
have been more, now not to be traced. Over them is the 
date 74.8. The figure is faid to be that of Cenric, fon of 
Cuthred, king of Weffex, who was killed in battle that 
year. Others fuppofe it to be the figure of fome idol, and 
fay the letters under it are JAO. It covers near an acre of 
ground, and feems to have been projefted by the fhift 
rules of proportion. It is generally repaired about once in 
feven years, by cleaning the furrows, and filling them with 
frefh chalk. Various have been the opinions of antiqua¬ 
ries on it: fome fay it reprefents the Saxon god Heil, and 
muft have been as ancient as 600. Dr. Stukely thinks it 
was done for the figure of Hercules, which he fays was 
called Heil by the Saxon*, and cut as a memorial of their 
arrival, in compliment to Eli, who expelled the Belgas. 
Near it is a large coppice called Hell-wood. 
CERNETZ', a town of Swiflerland, in the community 
of Lower Engadine, with a mineral fpring: twenty-four 
miles fouth-eaft of Coire. 
CERNON', a town of France in the department of the 
Marne, and chief place of a canton, in the diftrift of 
Chaalons : eight miles fouth of Chaalons. 
CERNU', a town of Africa, in the kingdom of Moroccos 
feven miles from Safia. 
CERNY', a town of France in the department of the 
Seine and Oife : feven miles eaft of Eftampes. 
CE'RO, a town of Italy, in the Veronefe : fix- miles 
north-north-eaft Verona. 
CEROU', a river of France, which runs into the 
Aveiron. 
CEROPE'GIA,/. [jwp«OTy«y, Gr. acandelabre,orlamp- 
ftand.J 
