and to nothing else. They are sometimes seventy feet long and only six feet wide, that they may be able to pass each other without requiring the canal to be of an inconvenient width. They will contain a very large quantity of goods, and may be drawn by a single horse with tolerable ease. The Hudson and Erie canal, through the State of New York, is the most extensive work of the kind in this country. Canals have of late years been superseded in a degree by railroads. CANE: a reed, brought chiefly from the Indies. Some are without knots, and very smooth and even; that is, when the reed is grown so long that the distance between two knots is large enough to make a cane. Others are full of knots about two inches distant from each other. These last have very little elasticity, and will not bend so well as the others. CANICA: a sort of spice which grows in the island of Cuba. CANNEL-COAL: a solid, dry fossil, very hard, but easily inflammable, and burning with a bright, vivid white flame. CANTHARIDES: flies of a shining green color, intermingled with blue and a golden yellow. They are commonly called Spanish flies, and are of an acrid, highly caustic taste, while fresh. They are found adhering to certain kinds of trees, in the warmer climates of Spain, Italy, and France, and sometimes in Germany. The largest and best come from Italy. They are killed by the steam of vinegar, and then dried in the sun. In medicine, they are used in making blisters. CANVAS: a very clean unbleached cloth of hemp or flax, woven very regularly in little squares. It is useful chiefly to make sails for shipping, and much is brought from Russia. CAOUTCHOUC. RUBBER. See INDIA CAPE: a promontory or headland running out with a point into the sea. CAPER: a low shrub, generally growing out of the joints of old walls or fissures of rocks, in the warm parts of Europe. The capers sold in the shops are the full-grown buds of the flowers gathered before they blow, and spread in the shade till they begin to grow flaccid. Then they are put in a vessel, vinegar added to them, covered with a board, and let to remain for eight days; then, being taken out of the vessel, they are squeezed gently, and fresh vinegar added, and let to stand eight days more. This operation is repeated a third time. This done, the capers are put in a cask with vinegar, to which some add salt. CAPITAL. Among merchants, bankers and traders, CAPITAL signifies the sum of money which a merchant at first puts into trade. It signifies likewise the fund of a trading company or corporation, in which sense the word stock is generally added to it. Thus we say the capital stock of the bank, &c. CAPSICUM: Guinea pepper, of which there are three sorts. CAPSTAN, in a ship, is a large piece of timber of the nature of a windlass, placed next behind the windlass. It is used to weigh the anchors, to hoist up or strike down topmasts, to heave any weighty matter, or to strain a rope. CARAVEL, or CARVEL: a kind of light round ship. Hence the term carvel-built, applied to a ship. CARBON: a substance, which has been found to exist in a state of absolute purity in the diamond. It is the base of common charcoal, which is an oxide of carbon. CARBUNCLE: a precious stone of the ruby kind, of a very rich, glowing, blood-red color. CARDAMOMS: seeds of a dark brown color and an aromatic smell, which are brought from the East Indies. CARGO signifies all the merchandise and effects laden on board a ship, exclusive of the crew, rigging, provisions, &c. CARMINE: a powder of a very beautiful red color, used by painters. The mode of preparing it is a pretended secret with the French, from whom we mostly obtain the article. CARPETS: thick textures made wholly or partly of wool, and wrought in a variety of ways. Persian and Turkey carpets are most esteemed; though at Paris there is a manufactory after the manner of the Persian, where they are made of an equally valuable quality. There is a carpet manufactory at Lowell, which produces very handsome carpets. Excellent carpeting is exported from Brussels, in Germany. CARRONADE: a short kind of ordnance, capable of carrying a large ball, and useful in close engagements at sea. It has its name from Carron, where it was first made, CASCARILLA: the bark of a tree growing plentifully in the West Indies. It is of a bitter, aromatic taste, and yields, when burning, an agreeable odor. It is used in medicine, and is an excellent tonic. CASHIER: he who keeps the cash, or the money, which it is his business to receive and pay. In every bank, there must be an officer of this description. CASSAVA: a mealy substance, derived from the root of a plant called magnoc, growing in the West Indies. From the pure flour of cassava is produced tapioca. CASSIA: the bark of a tree which grows in the East and West Indies and in China. It is thicker and coarser than cinnamon, but of a similar taste. It is mostly imported from China. CASTOR-OIL: : an oil extracted from the seeds of a plant which grows in the Indies, as well as in the United States. Its use in medicine is well known. CAT-GUT: a small string for fiddles and other musical instruments. It is made from the intestines of sheep and lambs, dried and twisted, either single or several together. CAULKING is to drive oakum or spun-yarn, or something of that kind, into the seams of the planks of a ship, to keep the water out. CAVIAR, or CAVIAL: the spawn or hard roes of sturgeon, salted and dried in the sun. It comes from Russia and the Mediterra nean. CAYENNE: red pepper, which derives its name from Cayenne in South America, of which it is a native. CENT: an abridgment of centum, the Latin word for one hundred; also a well-known copper coin current in the United States. Percentage is a word generally used to signify an allowance of a certain sum on every hundred dollars, or a commission-money. When we say a bank or a company has made a dividend of six per cent, we mean that six hundredths of every dollar invested, or six cents on every hundred cents, have been paid to the stockholders. CHALDRON: a dry English measure, consisting of thirty-six bushels. CHALK: a white, dry, calcareous earth, used for a variety of well-known purposes. CHAMBER OF COMMERCE is an assembly of merchants and traders, where the affairs relating to trade are treated of. There are several establishments of this sort in most of the chief cities of France; and in our own country we have lately seen chambers of this kind erected. CHAMPAIGN: the finest and most esteemed of French wines. This wine is of two sorts, the red and white, and is chiefly made in the environs of Ay, Cumieres and Haut-Villiers. CHECKS: drafts on banks or on individuals holding money or property belonging to the individual drawing the check. Checks may be made payable to the bearer simply, or to his order. CHEESE: the curd of milk separated from the whey, and hardened by a slow heat. Cheeses are manufactured to a great extent in this country; but those most esteemed are brought from Holland. CHINA-WARE. See PORCE LAIN. CHINTZ: fine printed calico, first manufactured in the East Indies, but imitated in other countries. CHOCOLATE: a kind of cake, or hard paste, which is prepared chiefly from the pulp of the cacao or chocolate nut, a production of the West Indies and South America. When the cacao is properly roasted, and well cleaned, it is pounded in a mortar, to reduce it to a coarse mass, which is afterwards ground on a stone, till it is of the necessary fineness. The paste being sufficiently ground, it is put into tin moulds, in which it congeals in a very little time. Sometimes vanilla and cinnamon are added to give it a flavor. CHRONOMETER : a timepiece of a peculiar construction, much used by navigators in determining the longitude at sea. CIDER: a liquor extracted from the juice of apples, and constituting an article of considerable produce in this country. CIGARS: leaves of tobacco rolled into a shape for smoking. The best are manufactured in Ha vana. CIMOLIA: the name of the white earth of which tobacco-pipes are made. CINNABAR: a ponderous mineral substance, of which vermillion is made. The best comes from the East Indies. CINNAMON: the under bark of the branches of a tree of the bay tribe, which is chiefly found in the island of Ceylon, but which grows in Malabar and other parts of the East Indies. CITRON: an agreeable fruit, resembling a lemon in color, smell and taste. It comes to us preserved or candied from Madeira of the finest quality. abundance in the United States, where it is an article of increasing importance. This coal, owing to the absence of bituminous ingredients, is inflammable with some difficulty, and burns without smell or smoke. In Pennsylvania, the anthracite coal formation covers a tract of country many miles in width. CIVET: a perfume taken from Mauch Chunk, upon the Lehigh, the civet cat. CLARET: a French red wine, made in the neighborhood of Bourdeaux. CLOVE the unexpanded flower-bud of an East Indian tree, somewhat resembling the laurel in its height and in the shape of its leaves. COAL. Coal, in some cases, appears to have been originally vegetable matter, and, by long burial in the earth, to have been soaked with bitumen, till its very substance has been changed; for sometimes it has been found but partially changed, with the fibrous formation yet discernible. More commonly, however, it seems to have been some earthy substance, thus impregnated and changed by petroleum or some oily matter. Pottsville, at the head of the Schuylkill canal, and Wilkesbarre, upon the Susquehannah, have afforded the chief supply of coal from this region, as well as the greatest proportion consumed in the United States. Much of this coal is transported from the mines by means of railroads. At Portsmouth, in Rhode Island, an extensive bed of this coal exists; and mines of anthracite have been opened at Worcester and at Mansfield, in Massachusetts. The names given to coal are various, and are generally taken from the places where it is found. Most of the bituminous coal consumed in the Eastern States is brought from Liverpool; although considerable quantities are brought from Nova Scotia, called Pictou and Anthracite coal is found in great Sydney coal. |