網頁圖片
PDF
ePub 版

Chryselephantine.

almost universally followed in the west. In France, it was not altogether discontinued till the end of the 15th century. The Christian era is said to have been first proposed in the year 527 A.D., and is now universally used in Christendom. Part of the business of C. is to determine the relationships of the different eras, so as to enable one to express, in the language appropriate to one mode of computation, the date of an event recorded in another. Owing to the birth of Christ being à comparatively recent event, the Christian era is attended by this inconvenience, that we must count backwards from it for the dates of occurrences prior to it. To obviate this, various comprehensive periods, such as the Julian and Louisian periods have been invented, which have the merit of being applicable to most events lying within the limits of history. See PERIOD.

Various systems of C., such as the Chinese, Babylonian, Egyptian, Indian, and Chaldean, are worthy of attention. Accounts of the periods which these nations respectively assign to their histories, will be found under the heads CHINESE EMPIRE, BABYLON, etc. Of sacred C. there have been various systems. In these the epochs are the creation of the world, and the flood; but the chief copies of the Bible do not agree as to the dates of these events. While the Hebrew text reckons 4,000 years from the creation to the birth of Christ, and to the flood 1656 years, the Samaritan makes the former much longer, though it counts from the creation to the flood only 1307 years. The Septuagint version differs from both. It removes the creation of the world to 6,000 years before Christ, and 2,250 years before the flood. These differences have never been reconciled. It is, now, however, universally admitted, that the creation of the world is not to be regarded as having occurred even so recently as 6,000 B.C. The mod ern understanding of the first chapter of Genesis leaves the period of the creation quite indefinite, and one scheme of interpretation stretches out the days of creation into periods of indefinite length. Of the Newtonian C., all that can be said here is, that it was an attempt, now generally admitted not to have been very successful, to rectify the obvious blunders of ancient chronologers, by determining certain epochs by means partly of astronomical calculations, and partly of the critical examination of such chron icles as measured time by reigns and generations. By a very fine argument, the soundness of which has since been doubted, Newton set down the date of the Argonautic expedition as being 43 years after the death of Solomon, or 937 B.C.

CHRONOLOGY (ante), as to many periods is largely conjectural.

The Christian era (q.v.) starts at the birth of Christ. The years before are marked B.C. and those after, A.D. (Anno Domini). This era is now almost universally accepted. The olympiad was a Greek era in periods of five years; the birth of Christ occurred in the middle of the fourth (some say in the second or third) year of the 194th Olympiad. The era of the foundation of Rome is usually assigned to 753 B.C. The era of the creation is fixed at many widely varying points. The reckoning of Constantinople, which is still used by the Greek church, makes it 5509 B.C.; the Abyssinian church, 5492; the Alexandrian church, 5502, and later 5492; the Jews, 3761. One writer on the C. of sacred history collected more than 200 different estimates of the era of the creation, the shortest being 3483, and the longest 6984 B.C. If such or such a date from the creation means anything, it is probably to be read by the period fixed by Dr. Usher, which was 4004 B.C. Yet it must be understood that, on this point, we are without the data for an accurate and positive chronology. There is an era of the creation used in India, which is only 3102 B.C. The era of Vicramyditya in common use in India begins 56 B.C. The Spanish era, dating from the conquest of Spain by Augustus, 38 B.C., was in use in Spain, Portugal, North Africa, and Southern France. The era of Diocletian, or of the martyrs, is dated 284 A.D. The Mohammedan era, beginning at the time of the prophet's flight to Medina, is 622 A.D. As reckoned by our ordinary C., the precise dates of commencing the above and other eras are:

[merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][ocr errors][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][ocr errors][ocr errors][ocr errors][ocr errors][ocr errors][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small]
[merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][ocr errors][ocr errors][merged small][merged small]

CHRONOMETER, or time-measurer, is the name given principally to such time-keepers as are used for determining the longitude at sea. The mechanism is essentially the same as that of a common watch; only the size is generally greater, and the balancewheel is compensated for variations of temperature. See HOROLOGY. See illus., CIRCLE, MERIDIAN, ETC., vol. III., p. 872, fig. 9.

CHRON'OSCOPE, an instrument contrived by sir Charles Wheatstone to measure the duration of certain short-lived luminous phenomena, such as the electric spark, of which the eye itself can be no judge, owing to the persistence of impressions of light on the eye after the cause of sensation has ceased. The phenomenon is observed by reflection in a mirror, in such rapid motion that the image of the luminous object would appear to describe a circle, supposing the luminosity to endure long enough. Should the phenomenon be instantaneous, the image will appear as a mere point; should it last for an appreciable time, the image will form an arc, greater or less, of the circle. The electric spark is found by this test to have no duration.

CHRU DIM, a t. of Bohemia, beautifully situated on a small river, about 62 m. s.e. of Prague. It is walled, has a noble collegiate church, a high school and Capuchin convent, manufactures of cloth, and very important horse-markets. Pop. '80, 11,886.

CHRYS'ALIS, or CHRYS'ALID, a name originally Greek, and strictly belonging to those pupa of butterflies which are adorned with golden spots, but extended to the pupa of lepidopterous insects generally, and even of other orders of insects. The chrysalids of lepidopterous insects are inclosed in a somewhat horny membranous case; sometimes very angular, sometimes nearly round; generally pointed at the abdominal end, sometimes at both ends; and before the caterpillar undergoes its transformation into this state, it often spins for itself a silken cocoon, with which earth and other foreign substances are sometimes mixed, so as to increase its size, and within which the chrysalid is concealed. Chrysalids are often suspended by cords, and generally remain nearly at rest; some have the power of burying themselves in the earth; others are bound by a single silken thread which passes round their middle some twirl themselves round when touched, or when the stalk or leaf to which they are suspended is touched; and in general, they give signs of life, when disturbed, by violent contortions of the abdominal part. See INSECTS; PUPA; LEPIDOPTERA; BUTTERFLY, HAWK-MOTH, MOTH, and SILKWORM.

CHRYSAN'THEMUM (Gr. gold-flower), a genus of plants of the natural order composite, sub-order corymbifera; having a hemispherical or nearly flat involucre, with imbricated scales, which are membranous at the margin, a naked receptacle, the florets of the disk tubular and hermaphrodite, those of the ray strap-shaped and female, the fruit destitute of pappus. The species of this genus are annuals, perennials, or shrubby; and all have leafy stems. They are natives chiefly of the temperate parts of the old world. C. leucanthemum, the Ox-EYE, or Ox-EYE DAISY, is abundant in fields, meadows, and grassy places of woods, in most parts of Europe. It has large flowers, with white ray and yellow disk. It is often a troublesome weed among hay and in pastures; being perennial, and having a creeping brittle root-stock, it is not easily extirpated. It is common in Britain, which has only one other native species, C. segetum, CORN MARIGOLD, a frequent weed in cornfields-although rare in the neighborhood of Edinburgh-an annual, with large deep yellow flowers. It is dealt with like annual weeds in general, by pulling it up when young.-C. carinatum, an annual species with white ray and dark-red disk, the scales of the involucre keeled, a native of Barbary, is frequently cultivated in green-houses or-where the climate permits-in flower-gardens. The favorite species of the gardener is, however, C. Indicum, the CHINESE OF INDIAN C., a native of China, Cochin-China, and Japan; which has long been cultivated in its native countries as an ornamental plant, and of which there are many varieties. Its colors are also very various-red, lilac, rose-color, white, yellow, orange, or two colors combined. It flowers in autumn and winter. It is easy of cultivation, succeeds best in a light rich soil, is easily propagated by cuttings, suckers, or parting the roots, but requires the greenhouse in Britain. It was introduced in 1764. It is reckoned among florists' flowers. CHRYSE. See page 897.

CHRYSELEPHANT'INE (Gr., from chrysos, gold, and elephas ivory), the art of making images of gold and ivory, was extensively practiced amongst the Greeks. Winckelmann has calculated that about 100 statues of this kind are mentioned by the ancients. The colossal works executed by Phidias at Athens, in the time of Pericles, are the most famous of this class, the greatest being the Pallas of the Parthenon. It was 26 cubits high, and represented the goddess in armor, covered with a long robe. The famous Olympian Jupiter of Phidias, executed in the same matèrials, was also a world-wide

wonder. The combination of gold and ivory was chiefly used in temple statues; and though the execution of the more famous works of this class belongs to an advanced period of art, the use of various materials in the same statue was very ancient, and probably borrowed from the custom of adorning the wooden images of the earliest time with the precious metals. Sometimes, too, the head, the arms and hands, and the feet were of marble, whilst the rest was of wood, covered with thin plates of gold. These were called acrolites (akrolithoi). See SCULPTURE.

CHRYSIP PUS, an eminent Stoic philosopher, was b. about 280 B.C., at Soli in Cilicia. He came to Athens when still a youth, and eagerly addicted himself to philosophical pursuits. His principal master was Cleanthes, although he is said to have also studied under the academic teachers, Arcesilaus and Lacydes, and learned from them what were the objections urged by skeptics against the doctrines of the Stoics. He had the reputation of being the keenest disputant of his age, and was happily described as "the knife for the academic knots." In fact, his logic was held to be so convincing, that people were wont to say: "If the gods make use of dialectic, it can only be that of Chrysippus.' It is also related of him, that he told Cleanthes he merely wanted to know the principles of his system, as he intended to find arguments for them himself; and this story appears to indicate his true position in philosophy. He was not the creator of a new system, but the expounder of an old. C.'s industry was very great. He seldom wrote less than 500 lines a day, and is said to have composed more than 700 works. Many of these, however, were compilations, and were not characterized by great beauty of style. Only a variety of fragments remain, which have been edited by Petersen (Philosophia Chrysippeæ Fundamenta, Altona and Hamburg, 1827).

[ocr errors]

CHRYS IS, a Linnæan genus of hymenopterous insects, now constituting a family chryside, allied to the ichneumonide, and forming a connecting-link between them and bees, wasps, etc. The French call them Guêpes dorées (gilded wasps), and they sometimes receive the English names of golden-tailed and ruby-tailed flies. They delight in sunshine, and may be seen poised in the air-the motion of their wings being so rapid as to render the body alone of the insect visible.

CHRYSOBALANA CEE, or CHRYSOBALANEÆ, according to some botanists, a distinct natural order of plants; according to others, a sub-order of rosacea (q.v.). They are distinguished from the other plants usually included in the order rosacea by their irregular petals, and by having the stamens also irregular, either in size or position; the ovary stalked, its stalk adhering on one side to the calyx, the style proceeding from its base. The fruit is a drupe of one or two cells. The species are trees or shrubs, natives generally of tropical and sub-tropical regions. About 50 species are known. The fruit of many is eatable, as the cocoa plums (q.v.) of the West Indies (chrysobalanus), the fruit of parinarium excelsum in Sierra Leone, and that of moquilea grandiflora in Brazil. The kernels of some resemble sweet almonds, as those of parinarium campestre and P. montanum. A useful oil is expressed from the seeds of prinsepia utilis, a spiny plant, common in some parts of the Himalaya mountains, and which is also planted for hedges in the Khasia hills, at an elevation of 5,725 ft. above the sea; whilst in Sikkim it is only found where the elevation is above 8,000 feet. This plant would in all probability succeed well in Britain, and an attempt should certainly be made to introduce it.

CHRYSOBERYL, a gem almost as hard as sapphire, and the finer specimens of which are very beautiful, particularly those which exhibit an opalescent play of light. Lapi daries sometimes call it oriental or opalescent chrysolite. It is of a green color, inclining to yellow, semi-transparent, or almost transparent, and has double refraction. It occurs crystallized in six-sided prisms; often in macles, or twin crystals. It is found in granite, in sandstone, and in alluvial soil; in Ceylon, Pegu, Siberia, Brazil, and Connecticut. It is composed of alumina, glucina, and a little protoxide of iron; the alumina being about 80 per cent of the whole.

CHRYS'OCOLLA, or COPPER-GREEN (Gr. gold-glue), an ore of copper, found in Cornwall and in many parts of the world, but particularly in Wisconsin and Missouri, whereit is so abundant as to be worked for copper. As a pigment, it was much used by the ancients.

CHRYS OLITE (Gr. golden-stone), a mineral composed of silica, magnesia, and protoxide of iron; of a fine green color, with vitreous luster; transparent, and having double refraction; in hardness, about equal to quartz; and with conchoidal fracture. It often crystallizes in four-sided or six-sided prisms, variously modified. Very fine specimens are brought from Egypt and from some parts of the east, also from Brazil. Ĉ. is used by jewelers as an ornamental stone, but is not highly valued. Olivine, which occurs generally massive, in grains and roundish pieces, and is frequent in volcanic countries, and found in the igneous rocks of some parts of Scotland-as on Arthur's seat-is regarded as a coarse variety of chrysolite.-The chrysoberyl (q.v.) is sometimes called C. by jewelers.

CHRYSOLO'RAS, MANUEL, a learned Greek of Constantinople, was b. in the middle of the 14th century. He is regarded as the first who transplanted Greek literature into Italy. About the year 1391, the Byzantine emperor, John Palæologus, sent C. to EngLand and Italy to entreat assistance against the Turks. This mission made C. known

Chrysostom.

in Italy, and, in 1397, he left his native land and went to Florence, where, as teacher of Greek literature, he was highly esteemed and admired. Leonardo Bruno, Poggius, Philelphus, Guarinus of Verona, and other eminent scholars, were pupils of his. He was afterwards employed in public services-especially in mediating a union of the Greek with the Roman church-by pope Gregory XII. In 1413, C. went with John XXII. to the council of Constance, where he died 1415. Besides theological works, his Erotemata, or "Accidence of the Greek Language" (Venice, 1484), has been preserved. Manuel C. must be distinguished from his nephew, JOHN CHRYSOLORAS, who also went to Italy and gave lessons in Greek.

CHRYSOMELA and CHRYSOMELINÆ.

See GODLEN BEETLE.

CHRYSOPHYLLUM. See SAPOTACEA, MONESIA BARK, and STAR APPLE.

CHRYS ́OPRASE is merely a variety of chalcedony, but is valued far above common chalcedony as an ornamental stone; so that a stone of this kind, fit for mounting in a ring, is worth from £10 to £20. It is of a fine apple-green color in choice specimens, but inferior ones exhibit other shades of green, and it is sometimes spotted with yellowishbrown. It is often set in a circlet of diamonds or pearls. Unfortunately, it is apt to lose its color through time, particularly if kept in a warm place; but dampness is favorable to its preservation, and it is therefore sometimes kept in damp cotton. It is found in lower Silesia-where the search for it was particularly encouraged by Frederick the great-and in Vermont. The inferior specimens are made into brooches, necklaces, etc.; and those still coarser, into snuff-boxes, seals, cups, etc.-The C. of the ancients was a stone of yellowish-green color, but it is not certain what it was. CHRYS OPS. See CLEG.

CHRYS ́OSTOM, JOHN (Gr. Chrysostomos, golden-mouth; so named from the splendor of his eloquence), was b. at Antioch in 347 A.D. His mother Anthusa was a pious woman, wholly devoted to her son, who grew up under her loving instructions into an earnest, gentle, and serious youth, passing through, as Neander significantly observes, none of those wild, dark struggles with sinful passions which left an ineffaceable impress on the soul of Augustine, and gave a somber coloring to his whole theology. He studied oratory under Libanius, a heathen rhetorician; soon excelled his teacher; and, after deyoting some time to the study of philosophy, retired to a solitary place in Syria, and there read the Holy Scriptures. The ascetic severity of his life and studies brought on an illness which forced him to return to Antioch, where he was ordained deacon by bishop Meletius in 381, and presbyter by bishop Flavianus in 386. The eloquence, earnestness, and practical tone of his preaching excited the attention of Jews, heathens, and heretics, and secured for him the reputation of the chief orator of the eastern church. In 397, the eunuch Eutropius, minister of the emperor Arcadius, who had been struck by the bold and brilliant preaching of C., elevated him to the episcopate of Constantinople. C. immediately began to restrict the episcopal expenditure in which his predecessors had indulged, and bestowed so large a portion of his revenues on hospitals and other charities, that he gained the surname of "John the Almoner." He also endeavored to reform the lives of the clergy, and sent missionaries into Scythia, Persia, Palestine, and other lands. His faithful discharge of his duties, especially in reproof of vices, excited the enmity of the patriarch Theophilus and of the empress Eudoxia, who succeeded in deposing and banishing him from the capital. He was soon recalled, to be banished again shortly afterwards. He now went to Nicæa, in Bithynia; but was from thence removed to the little town of Cucusus, in the desert parts of the Taurus mountains. Even here his zeal was not abated. He labored for the conversion of the Persians and Goths in the neighborhood, and wrote the seventeen letters (or rather moral essays) to Olympias, to whom he also addressed a treatise on the proposition-"None can hurt the man who will not hurt himself." The emperor, enraged by the general sympathy expressed towards C. by all true Christians, gave orders that he should be more remotely banished to a desolate tract on the Euxine, at the very verge of the eastern Roman empire. Accordingly, the old man was made to travel on foot, and with his bare head exposed to a burning sun. This cruelty proved fatal. C. died on the way at Comanum, in Pontus, Sept. 14, 407 A.D., blessing God with his dying lips. The news of his death excited much sorrow among all pious Christians, for Č. was a man who drew the hearts of his fellows after him; a lovable, manly Christian, hating lies, worldliness, hypocrisy, and all manner of untruthfulness, with that honest warmth of temper which all vigorous people relish. A sect sprang up after his death, or martyrdom as they conceived it, called Johannists, who refused to acknowledge his successors; nor did they return to the general communion till 438, when the archbishop Proclus prevailed on the emperor Theodosius II. to bring back the body of the saint to Constantinople, where it was solemnly interred, the emperor himself publicly imploring the pardon of heaven for the crime of his parents, Arcadius and Eudoxia. The Greek church celebrates the festival of C. on the 13th of Nov.; the Roman, on the 27th of January. In his Homilies (Thomas Aquinas said he would not give in exchange those on St. Matthew for the whole city of Paris) C. displays superior powers of exegesis. In general, he rejects the allegorical system of interpretation, and adheres to the grammatical, basing his doctrines and sentiments on a rational apprehension of the letter of Scripture. He is, however, far from being a bibliolater. He recognized the presence of a human element in the Bible as

Chuquisaca.

well as a divine; and instead of attempting, by forced and artificial hypotheses, to reconcile what he thought irreconcilable in Scripture statements, he frankly admitted the existence of contradictions, and shaped his theory of inspiration accordingly. But his greatest and noblest excellence lay in that power, springing from the fervor and holiness of his heart, by which the consciences of the proud, the worldly, and the profligate were awakened, and all were made to feel the reality of the gospel message. The surname C. was first applied some time after his death, and, as it is supposed, by the sixth œcumenical council in 680. C.'s works are very numerous, and consist of, 1st, Homilies, on parts of Scripture and points of doctrine; 2d, Commentaries, on the whole Bible (part of which has perished); 3d, Epistles, addressed to various people; 4th, Treatises, on different subjects (such as Providence, the Priesthood, etc.); and 5th, Liturgies. Of these the most valuable, as well as the most studied, are the Homilies, which are held to be superior to everything of the kind in ancient Christian literature.

The most correct Greek edition of C.'s works is that by Henry Savil (8 vols., Eton, 1613); and the most complete Greek and Latin edition is that by Montfaucon (13 vols., Par. 1718-38; republished in 1834-40). The best authority in regard to C. is Neander, who, besides treating of his life and labors in his Kirchengeschichte, published a life of this eminent father.

CHRYS'OTYPE (Gr. chrysos, gold; typos, impression), a photographic process invented by sir John Herschel, and depending for its success on the reduction of a persalt of iron to the state of protosalt by the action of light, and the subsequent precipitation of metallic gold upon this protosalt of iron. The process is conducted as follows: Good paper is immersed in a solution of ammonio-citrate of iron of such a strength as to dry into a good yellow color, without any tinge of brown in it. It is then exposed to light under a negative until a faint impression is obtained. A neutral solution of chloride of gold is then brushed over the paper, when the picture immediately appears, and is rapidly developed to a purple tint. It should then be freely washed in several changes of water, fixed with a weak solution of iodide of potassium, again thoroughly washed and dried. The action of the iodide of potassium is to convert any unaltered chloride of gold into a soluble double iodide of gold and potassium, thus rendering the picture permanent.

CHRZANOWSKI, ADALBERT, 1788-1861; a native of Poland, who participated in Napoleon's Russian campaign, in the engagements at Leipsic, Paris, and Waterloo. After Napoleon's final defeat he served in the Russo-Polish army, and was under Diebitsch in Turkey in 1829. In the Polish revolution of 1830 he served with distinction, rose to the rank of gen. of division, and was made governor of Warsaw. He fell under suspicion of friendliness to the Russians, and was from time to time under a sort of ostracism. In 1849, he was chosen by Charles Albert commander-in-chief of the Sardinian forces in the short-lived revolution of that period. Ramorino and C. were charged with treachery, and the former was put to death. Some years later C. emigrated to the United States, and died in Louisiana.

CHUB, Leuciscus cephalus, a fish of the family cyprinida, of the same genus with the roach, dace, bleak, minnow, etc. See LEUCISCUS. The color is bluish-black on the upper parts, passing into silvery white on the belly; the cheeks and gill-covers rich golden yellow. The C. rarely attains a weight exceeding 5 lbs. It is plentiful in many of the rivers of England, and occurs in some of those of the s.w. of Scotland. In the rivers of Cumberland it bears the name of skelly, supposed to have reference to the size of its scales; but the schelly of Ullswater lake is the gwyniad, and the C. is there called the chevin. It is found in many rivers of the continent of Europe; being the jentling or bratfisch of the Danube, and the jese of the Oder. It spawns in April and May. It is not in great esteem for the table.

The C. rises well at a fly, and takes freely a variety of baits. The same baits and the same means of fishing may be employed as for the barbel and bream. The C. is very fond, moreover, of slugs, grasshoppers, cockchafers, and humble-bees. The latter two are to be used either naturally, by means ofdibbing or dapping, or, being imitated, may be used artificially, and cast as a fly. The best flies for the C. are large red, black, and brown palmers, with the hackles laid on thickly. The best places to fly-fish for C. are close under overhanging boughs at the sides of streams, or against piles, or other places where they can get some shelter, for the C. is somewhat shy and easily alarmed. He is a bold riser, and when he comes at a fly seldom fails to hook himself. Of all the baits for bottom-fishing, he prefers greaves, cheese, and worms; and the fatter the bait the better he likes it. He will occasionally run at a minnow, and is often taken on a spinning bait. The C. spawns in May and comes into condition again by the end of June or early in July; bites best, and is in the best condition for bottom-fishing, in Oct. and Nov. When first hooked, he makes a great dash, but he very soon gives in. Some years ago, the scales of the C. were in much request, in common with those of the bleak, for artificial pearl-makers.

CHUBB, THOMAS, an English rationalist, who wrote on religious questions during the first half of the last century, was b. at East Harnham, in Wiltshire, in 1679. He received but a meager education in youth, and, after an apprenticeship to a leather glove and breeches maker in Salisbury, he became a tallow-chandler, in which business he con

« 上一頁繼續 »