464 CANALS OF GREAT BRITAIN-AMERICAN CANALS. mouth. To avoid these obstructions, the river is to be made navigable for seaborne vessels from Norwich to a place 20 miles lower down the river, called Reedham Ferry, where a new cut of 24 miles is to be made across the marshes, to join the river Waveney at St. Olave's bridge, whence the water communication proceeds by a small stream (Oulton Dyke) and two lakes (Oulton Broad and Lothing), from the latter connected with the sea by a channel 700 yards long and 40 feet wide, with a sea-lock 50 feet wide in the clear and 24 feet deep, for the purpose of admitting sea-borne vessels. Oulton Dyke and Oulton Broad are to be deepened. The lock constructed at the outlet of lake Lothing makes an artificial harbor, the first that has been formed in England. This lock has folding gates pointing both landward and seaward, so as to admit of vessels passing in or out at any time of tide, and whether the water be higher on the outside or inside. The harbor covers about 200 acres, the whole contents of which it is proposed, occasionally, to let off at low water, to keep open the channel from the sea. AMERICAN CANALS. It is proposed to give a more particular description of the American canals under the article Inland Navigation. In the mean time, a very general enumeration will be here made of the principal works of this kind already completed or in progress, which will show the astonishing extent to which canal navigation has been opened in the U. States, during the short period, now (1829) only 13 or 14 years, since these works began to be undertaken upon a large scale. It will appear, from the following outline, that not less than 2500 miles of canal are constructed, or in the progress of execution in the U. States, and will probably soon be completed, making a liberal allowance for a suspension of some of the works projected and commenced. The extent of canal in the U. States will soon equal that in Great Britain. The canals constructed and now in progress in the state of Pennsylvania have been estimated at a length of 900 miles; very nearly equal to that of the canals of France, but doubtless inferior in the style and durability of execution. The Welland canal, in Canada, is intended for opening a sloop navigation between lakes Erie and Ontario. It is not completed. The Middlesex canal opens a boat navigation between Boston and the Merrimack river, and runs 28 or 29 miles, in a northwesterly direction, from its out let into the harbor of Boston, in the town of Charlestown.-The Blackstone canal is constructed along Blackstone river from Providence, in Rhode Island, north-westerly 45 miles, to Worcester, in Massachusetts.-The Farmington canal leaves the coast of Long Island sound at New Haven, in Connecticut, and takes a northeasterly course, towards Northampton in Massachusetts, 65 miles distant, where it is to communicate with Connecticut river. A great part of it is finished and in operation, but a portion, towards the northeastern termination, remains to be constructed.-The Hudson and Erie canal passes from Albany, in the state of New York, along the western bank of Hudson river, until it meets the Mohawk; then runs, in a north-westerly direction, up the south-western bank of that river, to the town of Rome, where it turns more westerly, on a summit level of about 60 miles, without a lock, and, passing in a line eorresponding, in some measure, to the direction of the southern shore of lake Ontario, and crossing the Seneca and Genesee rivers in its course, communicates with lake Erie at Buffalo, 363 miles from Albany. This canal is connected with lake Champlain by the Champlain canal, 63 miles in length; with lake Ontario by the Oswego canal, about 38 miles long; and with Seneca lake by the Seneca canal, about 20 miles long.-The_Hudson and Delaware canal begins at the west bank of Hudson river, near Kingston, in New York, about 85 or 90 miles north of the city of New York, and runs in a south-westerly direction 65 miles, to the Delaware river, near to the north-east corner of Pennsylvania, and the northwest of New Jersey. It then takes a general direction a little to the north-west, and keeps the northern bank of the Delaware river for 25 or 30 miles, to the entrance of Lackawaxen creek, from the opposite side; crosses the Delaware at a point about 110 miles north of Philadelphia, and, leaving that river, keeps the northern bank of Lackawaxen creek; then crosses it, in a westerly direction, to Ris cis Gap, a distance, added to the former, of between 40 and 50 miles, as nearly as can be estimated from Mr. Tanner's map of Pennsylvania, of 1829. This canal opens the Lackawaxen coal district to Hudson river.-The Morris canal, now in progress, commences, at its western_extremity, at the river Delaware, near Easton, and passes across the state of New Jersey in a north-easterly, then in an easterly, then in a southerly direction, 86 miles, to Newark, in that state. Its west ern extremity is at the eastern termination of the Lehigh navigation in Pennsylvania, and it is intended for the transportation of Lehigh coal to New York.-The Ohio state canal commences at the mouth of Sciota river, where it discharges into the river Ohio, and takes a northerly course, for about 306 miles, to lake Erie, at the mouth of the Cuyahoga river, in the town of Cleveland, This work is in rapid progress.-The Miami canal is also a line of communication between the river Ohio, which it leaves at Cincinnati, and lake Erie. Its northerly termination is in the Maumee, which discharges into the westerly part of lake Erie. The proposed length of this canal is 265 miles. It is now in progress.-Illinois and Michigan canal. An act was passed in the legislature of Illinois, Jan. 22, 1829, authorizing commissioners," as soon thereafter as they could command funds, and might deem it expedient to commence the work, to effect a navigable communication between lake Michigan and the Illinois river." This is the fourth projected work for making a communication between the great northern and western waters; one of the others being projected by Pennsylvania, from Pittsburg to Erie, of which a very small part is executed; the other two are undertaken by Ohio, and both in progress.-The Lehigh canal commences at the Maunch Chunk coal-mine, on the river Lehigh, and runs to Easton, on the Delaware; the whole distance of this navigation being 463 miles; but a part of it is river navigation, the length of the canal being 37 miles. Its eastern termination at Easton meets the western termination of the Morris canal in New Jersey. The Delaware canal commences, at its northern extremity, at Easton, about 55 miles in a right line nearly north from Philadelphia, on the north-western bank of Delaware river, the general course of which, for about 50 miles from this place, is south-easterly, when it turns, in nearly a south-westerly direction, about 30 miles, to Philadelphia. This canal, which is now (1829) in progress, is to follow the general course of the Delaware, keeping its westerly bank to Morrisville, where it bears off from the river, to avoid a bend, and proceeds, in a pretty direct course, a little to the west of south, to Bristol, on the westerly bank of the Delaware, 193 miles N. E. from Philadelphia.-The Schuylkill canal is constructed on the banks of Schuylkill river, from Philadelphia, about 110 miles, to mount Carbon, the region of the Anthracite, in Schuylkill county, the general direction being nearly northwest.-The Union canal. A little to the westward of the town of Reading, in Berks county, Pennsylvania, about 60 miles from Philadelphia, the Union canal branches off from the Schuylkill canal in a general south-westerly direction, first passing up a branch of the Schuylkill, and then down the valley of the Swatara, somewhat circuitously, about 80 miles, to Middletown, a little above the junction of the Swatara with the Susquehanna.— Pennsylvania canal commences at Middletown, at the termination of the Union canal, whence it is proposed to proceed up along the Susquehanna, in a westerly direction, to the Alleghanies, which are to be passed by a rail-road, now in progress, about 50 miles in length, into the valley of the Ohio, where the canal again commences, and is continued to Pittsburg, a distance, in the whole, of 320 miles of canal and rail-road; the part of the canal beyond the Alleghanies being already completed, and the part on the eastern side being in progress.-The Little Schuylkill canal is 27 miles in length, from the mouth of the Little Schuylkill river to the coal-mines.-Conestoga canal passes from Lancaster, in Pennsylvania, about 62 miles directly west from Philadelphia, down the Conestoga creek, 18 miles, in nearly a south-west direction, to Susquehanna river.-The Chesapeake and Delaware canal, 18 miles in length, from the Delaware river to Elk river, which discharges into Chesapeake bay, is of sufficient dimensions for the passage of coasting vessels, in the route between Philadelphia and Baltimore.-Dismal Swamp canal is a channel of sloop navigation, being 6 feet deep and 70 wide, along the low land between Chesapeake bay and Albemarle sound, and thence to Pamlico sound. Several branches have been constructed, and the whole is in operation, being a very important work, as will be apparent by an inspection of the map, and somewhat similar to that of the Chesapeake and Delaware canal.-The Chesapeake and Ohio canal is a gigantic enterprise, in progress, for opening a navigation of 360 miles, from Wahsington, along the Potomac and its branches, across the Alleghany mountains, and thence down the valley of the Youghiogeny and Monongahela rivers, to Pittsburg, on the Ohio. The execution of this work was commenced in 1828, at the eastern extremity.-The Louisville canal, though only 3 or 4 miles in length, is a work of great importance, 466 AMERICAN CANALS CANARIES. as well as great expense. It is now in progress, and is intended to form a passage along the side of the rapids of the Ohio, near to Louisville, in Kentucky. The canal is constructing of sufficiently large dimensions to admit of the passage of steamboats; and the difficulty and expense, as in the case of the canal at Trolhatta falls, in Sweden, is occasioned by the necessity of excavating rock.-The James and Kanhawa canal is a name given to works intended to form a line of transportation, partly by water and partly by land, from the Atlantic coast to the Ohio; being a navigation along James river to the Blue Ridge, partly by an artificial channel, but mostly by the river, and, across the Ridge, by a well-constructed road, graduated to an inclination not exceeding 3 degrees, which has been completed, and descending, by river or canal navigation, along the Kanhawa river, to the Ohio. A canal was commenced, along the bank of James river, to pass the falls at Richmond, before the revolution. The work was resumed, and completed, after the establishment of the present government, by a private company; but the state has since assumed these works, and greatly enlarged them, upon an improved construction, in the execution of the plan of the extended line of transportation above described. In Mr. Boye's map of Virginia, the canal is laid down along the north-western bank of the James river, from Richmond to Venture falls; a distance of about 20 miles, and, by the course of the canal, probably as much as 24 or 25.-The Appomattox canal is about 5 miles of canal, in detached portions, being a part of a system of improvement of the Appomattox navigation in Virginia.-The Roanoke canal is a similar work on Roanoke river. -The Santee canal is a proposed and partly executed line of navigation from Charleston to Columbia, and thence to Cambridge, in South Carolina. The whole distance is 160 miles. A canal has been cut, and for many years in operation, 22 miles in length, across from Cooper's river, which discharges into the ocean at Charleston, to Santee river. Thence the route of this navigation is proposed to pass along Santee, Broad and Saluda rivers; the project being an improvement of the river navigation, by removing obstructions, deepening the water in shallow places, and locking round falls. The work has not, hitherto, been prosecuted with great success.-The canal Carondolet is a short, artificial channel, connecting the Mississippi with lake Pontchartrain, near New Orleans. It has no locks.Such is a general geographical outline of the most important artificial channels of inland navigation, completed or commenced in the U. States, down to 1829. The table of dimensions, and the most striking features of construction, of these works, is deferred to the article on inland navigation, where a more satisfactory description, in these respects, may be given, when the results or prospects of some of the great enterprises in progress, at the time of writing this article, shall be more fully ascertained. CANALETTO; 1. a Venetian painter, born in 1687, whose true name was Antonio Canale. He is celebrated for his landscapes, which are true to nature, and his architectural paintings. He died at London, in 1768. There is a bird's-eye view of Venice painted by him. He is also said to have first used the camera obscura for perspective.-2. Bernardo Bellotti, who was likewise a good artist, and painted at Dresden many Italian landscapes, also goes by this name. He lived in Dresden, where he was a member of the academy of painters, and died in 1770. CANARIES; a cluster of islands in the Atlantic, considered as belonging to Africa, the most easterly being about 150 miles from cape Non. They are 13 in number, 7 of which are considerable, viz., Palma, Ferro, Gomera, Teneriffe, Grand Canary, Fuerteventura and Lancerota: the other 6 are very small; Graciosa, Roca or Rocca, Allegranza, Sta. Clara, Inferno and Lobos. Lon. 13° 20-18 10 W.; lat. 27° 30-29° 30′ N. The extent and population of the seven largest, according to Ledru, are given in the following table : Pop. Sq. leagues. Pop. to sq.l. Teneriffe,...... 73... 70,000...958 Fuerteventura,.. 63....9,000... 142 Grand Canary,.. 60... 50,000...833 Palma,. Lancerota, Gomera,. Ferro, ....... ... 27 22,600...837 ... 26... 10,000... 384 14....7,400... 528 .7 . . . . 5,000 . . . 714 270 174,000 644 Hassel states the population of the whole at 181,000, and the square miles at 3213. The soil of these islands is very fertile, and produces all kinds of grain, fruits and pulse in great abundance; so that the name of Fortunate Islands, which the ancients gave them, was well deserved; but the method of cultivation practised by the natives tends very little to its improvement. them at a later period. At present, the islands are inhabited almost entirely by Spaniards: only a few Portuguese reside there. Teneriffe (q. v.) is an island of basaltic formation, thrown up by internal convulsions. The fortified capital is the seat of the governor, has 8400 inhabitants, and an excellent harbor on the eastern side of the island. Another city, Laguna (8800 inhabitants), is the seat of the bishop (who has an income of about £6000 sterling), and of the tribunals. The island Lancerota, or Lancelotta, contains three volcanoes, and, in 1823, experienced violent eruptions. Five islands of this cluster are uninhabited. The people of the C. are rigid Catholics. CANARY-BIRD, or CANARY FINCH. (See Finch.) All the islands furnish good wine; but the preference is given to the wines of Palma and Teneriffe. The situation of the C., the salubrity of their climate, the fertility of their soil, and the quality of their productions, all conspire to render them the most valuable of the Spanish colonies. The exports amount to 242,000 dollars annually, and consist of wine, raw silk, soda and fruits. One of the most recent works on these islands, and probably the most valuable one, is Leopold von Buch's Physikalische Beschreibung der Canarischen Inseln (Physical Description of the Canary Islands, by Leop. von Buch; Berlin, 1825, 4to. They are of volcanic origin, and were, as has been stated, known to the ancients. Juba II, king of Mauritania, described them first with some degree of accuracy. He graced a triumphal en- CANARY, GRAND, or CANARIA; an island try of Cæsar into Rome, was instructed in in the Atlantic ocean, about 180 miles all branches of liberal knowledge, and from the coast of Africa. It is the most became a highly accomplished prince. fertile and important of the Canary islPliny followed his description of the islands, to which it gives name. Canary, ands. Juba called the C. Proper Fortu- or Cividad de Palmas, is the capital of the nata, but Madeira and Porto Santo, Pur- island. (See Canaries.) purea. Of the island of Ferro, which he calls Ombrios, and of the others, he gives an interesting account. The loss of this work is the more to be regretted, as we might reasonably hope to find in it some information respecting that mysterious tribe who originally inhabited these islands. This people understood how to embalm their dead, who were sewed in goat-skins, put into coffins of one piece of wood, and placed in grottoes. These mummies smell agreeably, but fall to dust if they are taken out of their goat-skin coverings. The Spaniards relate strange things of the civilization of these tribes, called Guanches, of their respect for women, of their chastity, and aristocratic constitution. Their language resembled that spoken on the neighboring continent; but we know too little of it to be able to give any opinion respecting it. Between 1316 and 1334, the Spaniards, pressed by the Moors, discovered and conquered these islands; and they are laid down with accuracy in the old map which Andreas Bianco published in Venice, 1436. The Spaniards seem, however, not to have esteemed these islands much; for the infante of Portugal, Henry the Navigator (q. v.), ordered them to be taken possession of, and prosecuted his discoveries from them to the coast of Guinea. In 1478, the Spaniards undertook again the conquest of the C. At the end of the 15th century, they had subdued the original inhabitants entirely; and they extirpated CANCER, in astronomy; the fourth sign in the zodiac (q. v.), marked thus, which the sun enters on the 21st day of June, thence called the summer solstice. It consists, according to Kepler, of 17, according to Bayer, of 35 stars, 2 of which are of the third magnitude. Flamstead made a catalogue of 83 stars, the comparative brightness of several of which will be found estimated by doctor Herschel (Phil. Tran. lxxxvii., 311). The tropic of cancer is a small circle of the sphere, parallel to the equator, from which it is 23° distant, and marks the sun's greatest northern declination. It is so called because it passes through the beginning of the sign Cancer. CANCER. In medicine, this name is given to a roundish, unequal, hard and livid tumor, generally seated in the glandular texture. Though this is the texture in which it is believed always to originate, it may extend to others. This is doubted by some; and the disease which is often met with in the immediate neighborhood of advanced cancer, and in different textures, is, by them, ascribed to mechanical pressure of the cancerous tumors, aided by the acrid discharges which accompany its ulceration. The name was derived from a supposed resemblance of the tumor to a crab, and furnishes a good example of the nomenclature from resemblance, which was very much in use in the early periods of the sciences. Two forms of cancer are recognised by 468 CANCER CANDELABRA. physicians. They may rather be called two states or stages of the same disease. One of these, and the first, is carcinoma, scirrhus, or concealed cancer, of some writers. The second is the open, or ulcerated cancer-ulcerated carcinoma, as it is designated by writers. Under proper internal treatment, the second stage may be kept off for some time; and, in favorable cases, the extirpation of the tumor by the knife may effect a cure. The disease is kept in check, in the first case, but is not removed, and is very prone to pass into the ulcerative stage. The fact that this can be deferred, by proper treatment, is an important one. The sufferings of the patient are thus made less, especially during the first stage; and, even in the last, their severity is much mitigated. One very early symptom of carcinoma is pain. This pain differs from that which ordinarily accompanies local diseases of a different kind. It is described as lancinating, occurring somewhat in paroxysins, and resembling the suffering which the sudden passage of a sharp and pointed instrument would produce in the part. Besides this, there is always more or less dull pain present. The progress of the disease, and the occurrence of the second stage, are marked by increased pain of both kinds; by increase in the size of the tumor, augmented heat, greater inequality in the surface, a darker color, and increased tenderness on pressure. When ulceration is just established, and even a little before, the patient complains of general irritation of the skin; the stomach is disturbed; and symptoms of constitutional irritation, more strongly marked, make their appearance. Ulceration begins on the surface of the tumor, and parts are destroyed, in succession, from without, until the whole texture presents a mass of disease. Instead of this destructive ulceration, we have, in many cases, fungous masses projecting from the diseased surface; and these, at times, attain considerable size. But it is not a character of carcinoma to grow, and become as large as other diseases of some of the organs in which it appears. This is especially true of it when seated in the womb. An offensive, sanious discharge proceeds from the ulcer. Bleeding often takes place from it, especially when fungous, either from mechanical irritation, though slight, or from accidental excitement of the arterial system only.-Carcinoma is a malignant dis ease. Its tendency is to death. The constitution has not power to overcome it; and hence, when left to itself, it is certainly mortal. Internal remedies do little more than palliate symptoms, or prevent the rapid progress to ulceration, which belongs to the disease. The only remedy is the knife; and, in cases in which the constitution and neighboring parts are not contaminated, extirpation by the knife has removed the disease entirely. There are parts of the body which are liable to carcinoma, in which extirpation cannot be practised, and some in which, though an operation has been performed, death has, nevertheless, followed. In cases of this sort, especially those of the first class, palliatives only can be resorted to; such remedies, namely, as mitigate suffering, and retard the progress of the disease. CANCER-ROOT, or BEECH-DROP (orobanche virginiana, L.); a parasitic plant, indigenous in America, growing almost exclusively on the exposed root of the beech tree. The whole plant is powerfully astringent, and the root of a brownish color, spongy, and of a very nauseous, bitter taste. It has been applied more externally than internally to the cure of cancer. The one-flowered cancer-root (orobanche uniflora) is used in the same mauner. All parts of the plants are used in medicine. CANDELABRA. Torches and lamps were the means used by the ancients for obtaining artificial light. The latter were either suspended from the ceilings of their rooms, with chains, or placed upon small, movable tables (lampadaria, candelabra, and candelabri). The candelabra were originally made of cane, with one plate fixed above and another underneath, or with feet, for supporters. The Greeks called these Auxoxo. The Grecian artists produced, in ornamenting these lampstands, the richest forms, which always, however, had reference to the original cane, and were encircled with an infinite variety of beautiful ornaments. Sometimes they were shafts in the shapes of columns, which could be shortened or drawn out; sometimes the luxuriant acanthus, with its leaves turned over; sometimes they represented trunks of trees, entwined with ivy and flowers, and terminated by vases or bell-flowers at the top, for the reception of the lamps. Examples of these forms may be found in the British museum and the Louvre, but particularly at the Vatican, where a gallery is filled with marble candelabra. Candelabra of yet more delicate forms, of bronze, inlaid with silver and other met |