C H I 
this could not be true of Chiron as a-perfon; he could 
not have had pupils of fuch different ages, and fo many- 
different countries ; befides many of them were manifeilly 
ideal perfonages: fuch as the god Apollo, and TEfcula- 
pius in the medicinal arts. Thofe who were inltrufted 
partook only of Chironian education, and were taught 
in the fame academy, but not by one perfon, nor proba¬ 
bly in the fame place, for there were many fuch temples 
for the purpofe of education in the fciences. Thefe places 
were likewife courts of judicature, where juftice was ad- 
miniffered 5 whence Chiron was faid to have been ipiAo- 
(’ppoiewv , v.at ^ixatolaloe.'” 
CHIRO'NIA,yl [from the centaur Chiron .] In bo¬ 
tany, a genus of the clafs pentandria, orcler monogynia, 
natural order rotacese. The generic chara&ers are— 
Calyx: perianth one-leafed, five-parted, ereCt, acute, 
permanent; leaflets oblong. Corolla: monopetalous, 
equal; tube narrower ; border five-parted, fpreading ; 
diyifions ovate, equal. Stamina; filaments five, broad, 
fliort, growing from the tip of the tube; anthers oblong, 
ere&, large, converging, and (after having lhed the pol¬ 
len) 1‘pirally twilled. Piftillum : germ ovate ; flyle fili¬ 
form, a little longer- than the itamens, declinate; ltigma 
headed, aleending. Pericarpium: ovate, bilocular. 
Seeds: numerous, fmall; in fome fpecies the pericarpium 
is a berry, in others a capfule.— EJJential Character. Co¬ 
rolla, rotated; piftillum, declinate; ftamina on the tube 
of the corolla; antherae, finally fpiral; pericarpium, 
two-celled. The drooping ftigma feerns to conllitute the 
effence of this genus. 
■ Species, i. Chironia trinervia: herbaceous; leaflets 
of the calyx membranaceous-keeled. Stem annual, 
quadrangular, acute : leaves oppofite, lanceolate, acumi¬ 
nate at each end, fmooth, quite entire, tluee-nerved; 
flowers from the upper axils oppofite, l'olitary, peduncled! 
Burman adds, that the Item is glofly, alh-coloured, fur¬ 
rowed, with four joints or more ; at each joint a pair of 
feflile leaves ; flowers elegant, blue; capfule one-celled. 
Native of Ceylon and the Cape. 
а. Chironia jaf'minoides: herbaceous; leaves lanceo¬ 
late ; Item four-cornered. Native of the Cape. 
3. Chironia lychnoides : Item Ample, leaves linear-lan¬ 
ceolate. Stem entirely Ample, round, ftiff and llraight, 
two feet high. Native of the Cape. 
+. Chironiacampanulata: herbaceous; leavesfublinear, 
calyxes the length of the corolla. Stem a foot high, 
round with long branches ; flowers terminal, l'olitary, 
wlieel-fliaped, purple, on a long peduncle. Obferved in 
Canada by Kalm. 
5. Chironia angularis : herbaceous; Item acute-angled, 
leaves ovate ftem-clafping. This has the appearance of 
1 efier centaury. Found in Virginia by Kalm. 
б. Chironia linoides, or flax-leaved chironia: herba¬ 
ceous; leaves linear. An underftuub, with filiform, 
round, fmooth, branches. Leaves an inch or more in 
length, fucculent, linooth, feflile, frequent, longer than 
the internodes 5 flow ers fcarlet, folitary at the ends of the 
branches, peduncled. Native of the Cape; introduced 
in 1787 by Mafl’on. 
7. Chironia nudicaulis: herbaceous; leaves oblong 
bluntifh, Items fubdiphyllous quite Ample one-flowered, 
calyxes with fetaceo.us teeth. This is Angular for its ob-. 
long leaves frequently rooted into a tuft. Stems many, 
elongated, with two leaves in the middle, or two pairs of 
leaves. Dilcovered at the Cape by Tliunberg. 
8. Chironia tetragona :-fhrubby ; leaves ovate tluee- 
nerved bluntifh, leaflets oi the calyx bluntifh keeled. 
Corolla yellow, large. It differs from the firft fpecies in 
being fln ubby ; in having fliorter and more obtufe leaves. 
Native of the Cape. 
9. Chironia baccifpra, or berry-bearing chironia: fhrub- 
by, berry-bearing. This plant grows to the height of a 
foot and half or two feet, and becomes very bufhy, ra¬ 
ther too much fo in point of ornament. It produces both 
flovvers and fruit during moft of the fummer. The Item 
C H I 505 
is quadrangular. The feeds are numerous, final!, ovate- 
globular, pitted, dark chefinut colour, It is a native of 
- Africa, and was cultivated in 1759 by Mr. Miller. 
10. Chironia frutefcens: fhrubby; leaves lanceolate 
fubtomentofe; calyxes bell-fhaped. Branches round, 
tonientole, afh-coloured, moftly alternate, fubdividing a 
. little at top. Leaves oppofite, obtufe, flefhy, about two 
inches in length, feflile, frequent, twice as long as the 
internodes. Peduncles two or three together, terminat¬ 
ing, each having two or three flowers, arifing from the 
axils, with a pair of linear folioles in the middle. Na¬ 
tive of Africa; cultivated in 1756 by' Mr. Miller. 
Propagation and Culture. The feeds fhould be fown, in 
finall pots filled with light landy earth, foon after they 
are ripe, and plunged into a moderate hot-bed, and mult 
be frequently but gently watered; fometimes the feeds 
will lie a long time in the ground, fo that if the plants 
do not appear the fame feafon, the pots fhould not be 
dilturbed, but preferved in flicker, till the following 
fpring, and then plunged into a frefli hot-bed, which will 
bring up the plants in a fhort time, if the feeds are good. 
When the plants are fit to remove, they fhould be tranf- 
planted into fmall pots, four or five in each pot; then 
plunge the pots into a moderate hot-bed, and fprinkle 
them with water, and fhade them every day from the fun 
till they have taken new root; after which they mull have 
a large fliare of air in warm weather, to prevent their 
drawing up weak : when the plants have obtained fome 
ftrength, they muft be gradually inured to bear the open 
air; but when they are expoied abroad, if there fhould 
happen much rain, the plants mult be fcreened from it, 
otherwife it will caufe them to rot: when the plants have 
filled,the pots with their roots, they fhould be parted, 
and each put into a feparate pot filled with light landy 
earth, not rich with dung, placing them in the fhade till 
they have taken frefh root; then they may be removed 
to a warm fneltered fituation, and mixed with fuch other 
plants as require but little water ; in which fituation they 
may remain till autumn, when they muft be placed in a 
dry airy glal’s-cafe ; and in the- winter fhould have very 
little wet, but muft enjoy the fun as much as poffible ; 
and in mild weather fhould have frefh air admitted to 
them, but muft be prote&ed from froft: with this ma¬ 
nagement, the plants will thrive and produce flowers the 
lecond year from feed. The cuttings alio will take root 
with proper management, but not very readily. See 
Gloea, and Gentiana. 
CHIRO'NIUM, f. in botany. See Laserpitium. 
To CHIRP, <v. n. [perhaps contracted from cheer up. 
The Dutch have circken.~\ To make a cheerful rioil'e ; as 
birds, when they call without linging.—No chirping, lark, 
the welkin fheen invokes. Gay. 
The careful hen 
Calls all her chirping family around. ThomJ'on. 
To CHIRP, v. a. [This feem* apparently corrupted 
from cheer up.~\ To make cheerful : 
Sir Balaam now, he lives like other folks; 
He takes his chirping pint, he cracks his jokes. Pope. 
CHIRP, f. The voice of birds or infeCts: 
Winds over us whifper’d, flocks by us did bleat, 
And chirp went the grafshopper under our feet. Addifon. 
CHIRP'ER, f. One that chirps ; one that is cheerful. 
To CHIRRE, n. [ceopian, Sax.] To coo as a pi¬ 
geon. Junius. 
CHIRUR'GEON, f. from the hand, 
and i^yov, work.] One that cures ailments, not by inter¬ 
nal medicines, but outward application. One who am¬ 
putates or fets ffaCfured limbs. In modern writing it is 
fpelt furgeon. 
CHIRUR'GERY, f. The art of curing by external ap¬ 
plications; amputation; the-reducing of fraChues. Tins' 
is called Surgert. 
CHIRUR'GIC 
