king of Hungary his successor, in 1339. He caused a new code of laws to be compiled, and protected the peasants with much energy, on which account he was called the peasants' king. He had a great number of mistresses, among whom was a Jewess, named Esther, who procured for her nation those liberties which they enjoy in Poland to the present day. With Casimir, the line of the Piasti, which had ruled in Poland for 523 years, became extinct. From that time, the Poles chose foreigners for their kings, and thus laid the foundation of the troubles which distracted the kingdom till its final ruin.

CASINO, in Germany, is used to signify a clubhouse. They are now to be found in almost every place of middling population.

CASIRI, Michael, a learned Orientalist and Syro-Maronite clergyman, was born at Tripoli, in Syria, 1710, came to Rome, where he studied in the college of St. Peter and St. Marcellino, and, in 1734, entered the clerical profession. The following year, he accompanied the learned Assemanni to Syria, where he was going, at the command of the pope, to attend the synod of the Maronites, and, in 1738, gave, at Rome, an exact account of the religious tenets of the Maronites. He afterwards taught, in his monastery, the Arabic, Syrian and Chaldee languages, theology and philosophy; and, in the year 1748, was invited to Madrid, where he was appointed to an office in the royal library. În 1749, he devoted his attention, by the king's orders, to the library of the Escurial, of which he subsequently became the superintendent. Here he collected the materials for his celebrated work, Bibliotheca Arabico-Hispana (Madrid, 1760—70, 2 vols., folio), which enumerates, in 1851 articles, the manuscripts of the Escurial library, perhaps the richest in Europe in Arabic manuscripts. This work, though not entirely free from errors, contains very important information and valuable extracts, and is indispensable to every Orientalist. Casiri died at Madrid in 1791.

CASPIAN SEA; a large lake, or inland sea, in Asia; bounded N. by Russia, E. by Tartary and Persia, S. by Persia, and W. by Persia, Circassia and Russia; 646 miles in length from N. to S., and from 100 to 265 in breadth; supposed to be the largest lake in the eastern part of the globe. The water is less salt than that of the ocean, of a bitter taste, and of an ochre color, without ebb or flow. In some places it is exceedingly deep, yet it

abounds in shallows, so as to prevent the navigation of ships which draw more than 9 or 10 feet of water. Among the rivers which flow into it are the Volga, Ural and Kur. It has no outlet. The fisheries here, which are very valuable, occupy and train many seamen. The coasts are divided among the Russians, Persians and Tartars. The Caspian sea was, by the ancients, called the Hyrcanian sea; the Tartars call it Akdingis, i e. the White sea; the Georgians call it the Kurtshensian sea; and by the Persians it is styled Gursen. The level of the Caspian sea is 375 feet lower than that of the ocean. The Truchmenes, on the shores of the Caspian sea, assert, that the lake KuliDaria, which is connected with the gulf of Karabogaskoi, a part of the Caspian sea, contains a whirlpool, which takes in the water of the latter. In fact, the current from the Caspian sea into the gulf of Karabogaskoi is very great. The most recent information respecting the shores of the Caspian sea is that given by Murawiew in his Journey to Khiwa, in the year 1819, in Russian.

CASSANDER, George, born in 1515, in the island of Cadsand, or Cassand, near Bruges, in the Netherlands, from which he received his name, is celebrated for his endeavors to settle the disputes be tween religious parties. At Bruges, Ghent and Cologne, he studied, and taught philology, the canon law and Catholic theology, and accepted no pub lic office, on account of his ill health, In 1561, he published a work designed to allay religious disputes, in which his censure of Calvin for his violence and intol erance drew upon him the attacks both of Calvin and Beza, In 1564, he was employed by the duke of Cleves to convert the Anabaptists, The emperor Ferdinand I invited him to Vienna, to com pose articles of union between the Catholics and Protestants, These he published, under Maximilian II, the successor of Ferdinand-De Articulis Religionis inter Catholicos et Protestantes Controversis ad Impp. Ferd, I, et Max. II, Consultatio, ed, Hug. Grot. (1642.) Though a sincere Catholic, he founded his opinions on the doctrines of the old Christian fathers, and showed his concurrence with the Protestants, in regard to fundamental doctrines, by proposing communion under both forms, the marriage of priests, the abolition of image-worship, the reform of many abuses, and a modification of the Catholic system. But he asserted the supremacy of the pope, supported the

doctrine of transubstantiation, and the importance of the sacrament, ex opere operato. His proposals were not relished by the zealots of either party. He died at Cologne, in 1566, with the reputation of a learned and liberal theologian.

CASSANDRA, also ALEXANDRA; daughter of Priam and Hecuba, and twin-sister of Helenus. Both children, according to tradition, were playing in the vestibule of the temple of the Thymbræan Apollo, not far from Ilium; and, having staid there too late to be carried home, a couch of laurel twigs was prepared for them, for the night, in the temple. When the nurses went to them the next morning, they found two serpents at the side of the children, which, instead of injuring them, harmlessly licked their ears. This miraele produced a still greater one; the hearing of the children was rendered so acute, that they could distinguish the voices of the gods. Cassandra subsequently spent much of her time in the temple of Apollo, who, becoming enamored of her charms, disclosed to her all the secrets of the prophetic art, and, in return, demanded her love. But Cassandra, when her curiosity was satisfied, refused the dishonorable reward. Apolio, incensed at this, put a curse on her prophesies, that they should never find belief. She frequently and continually foretold the destruction of Troy, and warned her countrymen in vain against the deceitful horse. When Troy was conquered, and Cassandra, with the other maidens, fled to the temple of Minerva, Ajax tore her from the altar, deflowered the virgin in the sacred place, and dragged her away to the other female slaves,

with her hands tied. On the division of the booty, she fell to Agamemnon, who carried her, as his slave and mistress, to Mycene. Clytemnestra murdered them both. Agamemnon had twins by her Teledamus and Pelops. The ancients regarded this rape of Cassandra as a most infamous atrocity. It has often afforded a subject to poets and sculptors. The Locrians, the countrymen of Ajax, were afflicted, on this account, for many years, with storms, and their country was desolated with the plague.

CASSAS, Louis Francis, born in 1756, inspector and professor in the Gobelin manufactory, celebrated as a draughtsman, is a pupil of Lagrenée, junior, and Le Vien. He travelled as companion of the count of Choiseul-Gouffier, about 1770, over Asia Minor, Palestine, Syria, a part of Egypt, Istria, Dalmatia, and Troas.

He compared the present topography of those places with the accounts of the ancients, took exact measurements of the finest remains of architecture, made drawings of the most remarkable places with equal taste and accuracy, and published his labors, engraved by the best masters, in splendid editions. His Voyage Pitto resque de la Syrie, de la Phénicie, de la Palestine, et de la Basse Egypte (1799 et seq. 30 livraisons, folio, text by De la Porte du Theil), is fully described by Landon (ii., 133-6). The original drawings are preserved in the king's library at Paris. In his Voyage Pittor. de l'Istrie et de la Dalmatie, he has inserted a journal and a short history of this province, digested by Joseph la Vallée (Paris, 1802, grand fol, with engravings).

CASSATION; a term used in the courts on the continent of Europe. It is derived from the middle ages, and signifies the annulling of any act or decision, if the forms prescribed by law have been neglected, or if any thing is contained in it contrary to law.

Cassation, Court of (Cour de Cassation); one of the most important institutions of modern France, which gives to the whole jurisdiction of that country coherency and uniformity, without endangering the necessary independence of the courts. It was established by the first national assembly, and has been preserved, in every essential respect, under all the changes of the revolution and restoration. It has been maintained even in those districts which, by their union with France, became subjected to French laws, but, by the peace of Paris, have become part of the Prussian monarchy. In France, as early as the reign of Louis IX (1226– 1272), petitions were presented to the king by appellants from the decisions of the courts. In later times, appeals to the parliaments, as the highest courts of the kingdom, came into use, and their decis ions were not liable to be set aside by the ordinary forms of law. Yet the parties were allowed to dispute even these decisions, if they were founded upon errors of fact, or violated undisputed principles of law; and, by an ordinance of 1302, it was provided, that the parties should be allowed royal letters for the defence of their rights against the decisions of the supreme courts (lettres de grâce de dire contre les arrets), which should be issued from the chancery (by the chancellor of France). The case was then sent back to the parliament for further investigation, but was examined and decided in the

presence of the king himself or of a special commissioner. An abuse, however, crept in, of transferring these cases to the royal council, where they were decided by officers called maîtres des requetes. These letters received the name of lettres de proposition d'erreur, and, during the civil commotions at the end of the 14th century, began to be more frequently presented to the council, which, as soon as one party complained of the partiality of the parliaments, transferred the case to its own bar, and obstructed the course of justice by lettres d'état (suspensions of the process, on the pretext of the absence of one of the parties in the service of the king). Under the chancellor Poyet (1538 -1542), this abuse reached its highest pitch; but the chancellors Olivier (1545 -1551) and Hôpital (1560-1568), the two great reformers of French jurisprudence, limited the use of these lettres, till, by the ordinance of Blois (1576), all the provisions against the decisions of the parliaments were reduced to these three-the proposition d'erreur, for an error of fact; requête civile, to restore the parties to their former condition, on account of the fraud of one of the parties, or the mistakes of the attorney; and cassation (petition for abrogation), for violation of forms or settled principles of law. By the famous order of procedure of 1667, the first of these provisions was abolished, but the province of the requête civile and cassation was enlarged, and more precisely defined. The former was always brought before the court itself, and decided there, the latter before the council. For this purpose, in the conseil privé, or cons. des parties, a particular committee was formed, consisting of the chancellor, the four secretaries of state (ministers of the departments), the council of state, and all the maîtres des requêtes (in 1789, 78 in number). The decisions of this committee were too much influenced by the will of the king and the ministers, and by various other circumstances, so that they did not enjoy great respect, though they often exposed acts of great injustice on the part of the parliament, and other high courts, It was therefore abolished in the first national assembly, and its place supplied by an independent court-the tribunal of cassation (law of Nov. 27, 1790), which was retained in all the constitutions, and received, under the imperial government, (1804), the name court of cassation, which it still retains. It consisted, according to the organization of 1800, of 48 members, chosen from the senate, on the nomina

tion of the consuls, who elected their own president from among themselves. The appointment of president was afterwards vested in the emperor. In the Charte Constitutionnelle of 1814, the right of appointing the counsellors was vested in the king; but they are not removable. The minister of justice or keeper of the seals (garde des sceaur) has the right of presiding when the tribunal exercises its right of censorship over the cours royales: it has, besides, a first president and three presidents of sections. This court never decides on the main question at issue, but on the competency of the other courts, and on the petitions to have their decisions reviewed or annulled, and assigns the question to another court, if a decision is to be set aside for an evident violation of the forms or the principles of the law. For this purpose, it is divided into three sections:-the section des requêtes, which decides on the admissibility of the petitions in civil cases; the section de cassation civile; and the section de cassation criminelle. After a decision has been reversed, if a second court decides the same case in the same way, and an appeal is entered again, the court of cassation must either request an authentic explanation of the law from the government, or, at least, all the three sections must unite, to pronounce a second reversal, or cassation; and if a third decision is the same as the preceding, a repeated petition for a reversal makes the authentic explanation indispensably necessary. The sentences of the court of cassation are not only recorded in the journals of the courts, the decisions of which are reversed, but published likewise in an official bulletin, by which consistency and uniformity are preserved. The tribunal of cassation has enjoyed, from its commencement, the respect and confidence of France, and numbers among its members several of the most distinguished lawyers, as the president Henrion de Pansey, the counsel lors Chabot, Merlin and Carnot.-For the Prussian province on the Rhine (the districts of Cleves, Düsseldorf, Coblentz, Aixla-Chapelle, Treves and Cologne), by the ordinance of June 21, 1819, a court of revision and cassation was established at Berlin (consisting of a president and 16 judges, among whom is professor Savigny), which has under it the court of appeal at Düsseldorf (consisting of a pres ident, together with 32 other officers), and six district courts (the former resembling the French royal courts, the latter the French tribunals of original jurisdic

learned Roman, lived at the time of the dominion of the Ostrogoths, and contributed to the promotion and preservation of learning. He was born at Squillace (Scylaceum), 480 A. D., or, as some say, 470, filled several public offices in Rome, and became secretary of the Ostrogoth king Theodoric, but, in 537, voluntarily retired to a monastery in Calabria, where he died, 577. He made the monks of his convent copy the manuscripts of the ancient authors, and his book De Septem Disciplinis liberalibus, in which he treated of the trivium and quadrivium, and inserted extracts from the ancient classic literature, was of much value in the middle ages. For Theodoric he also wrote his compilation of letters, Variarum Epistolarum Libri XII. He likewise composed Historia Gothorum (a History of the Goths), of which we have an epitome by Jornandes, and several theological works of little importance. His works have been collected by J. Caret (Venice, 1679, fol.; new edit. 1721).

CASSIOPEIA; daughter of Arabus, and wife of Cepheus, to whom she bore Andromeda. She dared to compare her beauty to that of the Nereides, who, enraged thereat, besought Neptune for vengeance. The god, in compliance with the request of the water-nymphs, laid waste the dominions of Cepheus by means of a deluge and a dreadful seamonster. Thus it appears that in ancient times, as well as in modern, nations have had to suffer for the faults of their masters. Cassiopeia was the mother of Atymnius by an intrigue with Jupiter.-In astronomy, Cassiopeia is a conspicuous constellation in the northern hemisphere, situated next to Cepheus. In 1572, a new and brilliant star appeared in it, which, however, after a short time, gradually diminished, and at last disappeared entirely. It was thought, at that time, by many persons, that this was the star which appeared to the wise men in the East. The constellation Cassiopeia contains 52 stars of the first six magnitudes. CASSIQUIARI; a river of Colombia, being a large branch of the Rio Negro, and remarkable as forming a communication between the two great rivers, the Amazon and Orinoco. The Cassiquiari flows from the Orinoco, and joins the Rio Negro, which last is a large tributary of the Amazon. The reality of this communication, which had been previously asserted by the Jesuit missionaries, was confirmed by the celebrated traveller Humboldt.

CASSITERIDES, in ancient geography; a name given by Strabo to 10 islands, N. W. of Spain, in the open ocean, abounding in tin and lead. Strabo says the Phoenicians only visited them. There are no islands where he describes them to have been. They are, perhaps, the modern Scilly islands. It is probable that the ancient merchants kept their true situation secret from interested views, which, in those times, could easily be done.

CASSIUS, Longinus Caius, the friend of Brutus, was the questor of Crassus, and preserved the few troops of that general who escaped from the bloody battle with the Parthians. With these he defended Syria against the Parthians till the arrival of Bibulus. In the famous civil war that broke out between Pompey and Caesar, he espoused the cause of the former, and, as commander of his naval forces, rendered him important services. When Cæsar, after the victory at Pharsalia, was in pursuit of Pompey, he advanced with a few vessels, while crossing the Hellespont, against a fleet of 70 sail commanded by Cassius, and called upon him to surrender. The latter, astonished by his daring courage, surrendered at his summons. But, when it became evident that Cæsar was aiming at sole sovereignty, Cassius, who was a zealous republican, resolved to destroy the usurper, and executed his plan, with the aid of several fellow-conspirators, B. C. 44. He then, together with Brutus, raised an army to maintain his country's freedom. They were met by Octavius and Antony, who professed themselves the avengers of Casar, at Philippi. The wing which Cassius commanded being defeated, he imagined that all was lost, and killed himself, B. C. 42. Brutus called him the last of the Romans. (See Brutus and Cæsar.)

CASSOWARY (casuarius, Briss.); a genus of birds, arranged by Cuvier in his family brevipennes, the first of the order gralle, waders, to which they are related solely by their long, naked, stilt-like legs, and long neck. In the form of the bill and their mode of living, they more closely resemble the gallinaceous birds. The shortness of their wings totally unfits them for flying, and it would seem impossible for nature to have furnished muscular power sufficient to move wings large enough to sustain their great weight in the air. Unlike other birds, their pectoral or wing muscles are comparatively slight and weak, while those of their posterior limbs are very robust and powerful

bestowed on him the first professorship of astronomy at the university. A meridian had been drawn by Ignatio Dante (1575), in the church of St. Petronia, in that city. In 1653, Cassini conceived the idea of extending and correcting it. In two years he completed this difficult task, the first fruits of which were more correct tables of the sun, a more precise determination of its parallax, and an excellent table of refractions. By an observation at Città della Piave, he discovered the shadows cast by the satellites of Jupiter on the disk of that planet, when they are between it and the sun. By means of these, he corrected his theory of the motion of the satellites, and determined the period of Jupiter's revolution. At the same time, he made a number of observations on insects, which were published by Aldrovandi. In 1668, he published his Ephemerides of the Satellites of Jupiter. In 1673, Colbert prevailed on him to settle in France. He discovered four new satellites of Saturn, and the zodiacal light, proved that the axis of the moon is not perpendicular to the plane of the ecliptic, and showed the causes of her libration. The laws of this motion, which he determined with much accuracy, are one of his finest discoveries. He also wrote observations on the Indian calendar. The meridian commenced by Picard and Lahire was continued by Cassini, in 1700, to the extreme limits of Roussillon, and, when measured 100 years later, showed a difference of only 21 toises. He died Sept. 14, 1712, having lost his sight some years before. Lalande gives a catalogue of his writings in the Bibl. Astronom. His first work was Observ. Cometa, Anni 1652-53 (Modena, 1653, fol.). His Opp. Astronom. (Rome, 1666) contain a complete collection of his earlier works. His nephew, Cassini de Thury, has published his biography, written by Cassini himself, under the title Mémoires pour servir à l'Hist. des Sciences (4to.) 2. James, son of the preceding, born at Paris, Feb. 18, 1677, was admitted into the academy of sciences in 1694. After several essays on subjects in natural philosophy, &c. he completed his great work on the inclinations of the orbits of Saturn's satellites and ring. His labors to determine the figure of the earth (q. v.) are well known. The first measurement of 1669 made the degrees of the meridian shorter towards the north than towards the south; whence it was concluded that the earth was an oblong spheroid. Cassini continued the measure

ment, and maintained this opinion in his work De la Grandeur et de la Figure de la Terre (Paris, 1720). In order to settle the question, the academy was commissioned, in 1733, to measure the whole length of France from Brest to Strasburg. Čassini directed this undertaking, but was led into some errors by the defective instruments of former observers. He died in 1756, at Thury. Besides the above-mentioned works, he wrote Elemens d'Astronomie (Paris, 1740, 4to.), and Tables Astr. His eloge in the Mem. de l'Acad. contains a biographical notice of him.-3. Cassini de Thury, Cæsar François, son of the preceding, born June 14, 1714, member of the academy from his 22d year. He undertook a geometrical survey of the whole of France, embracing the determination of the distance of every place from the meridian of Paris, and from the perpendicular of that meridian. When the support of the government was withdrawn, in 1756, Cassini formed a society for advancing the requisite sums, which were to be repaid by the sale of the maps constructed from the survey. The work was almost entirely finished, when he died (1784), leaving many writings relating to his great topographical undertaking.-4. Jacques Dominique, count, son of the preceding, born at Paris, 1740, is director of the observatory, and member of the academy, and is a statesman of ability, as well as a mathematician. In 1789, he presented to the national assembly the Carte Topographique de France, in 180 sheets, now increased to 182, by the addition of the Carte des Assemblages des Triangles. The Atlas Nationale is a reduction of it on a scale of one third, prepared by Dumey, and other engineers. Cassini was arrested by order of the revolutionary tribunal. He escaped with life, but lost the copperplates of the Carte de France, which had cost half a million francs. There is a second reduction of the large map, being only a fourth of the size of the original, in 24 plates.

CASSINO; a game at cards, in which four are dealt to each player, four being also placed on the board. The object is to take as many cards as possible, by making combinations. Thus a ten in the player's hand will take a ten from the board, or any number of cards which can be made to combine into tens. The greatest number of cards reckons three points, and of spades, one; the ten of diamonds, two; the two of spades, one; and each of the aces, one.

CASSIODORUS, Marcus Aurelius, a