the solution; and these operations are performed alternately several times. The cloth is lastly immersed in very dilute sulphuric acid, which gives it a pure white color; after which it is washed and dried. Chloride of magnesia has been substituted, with great advantage, for that of lime, in whitening cloth for calico printing; the cloth, when lime is used, retaining a little of it, which, in the subsequent operation of clearing by immersion in weak sulphuric acid, forms sulphate of lime, which remains, and affects the colors when it is dyed; while the sulphate of magnesia is so soluble, that it is entirely removed. Chloride of alumine has been employed to discharge the color of the Turkey-red dye, which resists the action of other chlorides, and is only discharged by chlorine gas, by an operation very injurious to the workmen. Another important application of chlorine gas is that of destroying or neutralizing contagion. Acid vapors, sulphurous acid in particular, under the form of the fumes of burning sulphur, had often been employed for that purpose; but chlorine, from the facility with which it decomposes the different compound gases that contain the elements of vegetable and animal matter, and which may be supposed to constitute noxious effluvia, is superior to any other agent, and is now universally employed for the purposes of fumigation. It is the only agent which can administer relief in cases of asphyxia from sulphureted hydrogen; and it has been round useful, among such persons as are obliged to frequent places where contagious effluvia are constantly developed, to bathe the hands and arms with its sqlution. Chlorine, united with hydrogen, forms an important compound, called muriatic, or hydrochloric acid gas. (See Muriatic Acid.) With oxygen, it gives rise to four distinct compounds, which are remarkable for the feeble attraction of their constituent elements, notwithstanding the strong affinity of oxygen and chlorine for most elementary substances. These compounds are never met with in nature. Indeed, they cannot be formed by the direct combination of their constituents; and their decomposition is effected by the slightest causes. Notwithstanding this, their union is always regulated by the law of definite proportions, as appears from the following tabular view, illustrative of their composition. Chlorine forms, along with nitrogen, one of the most explosive compounds yet known, and was the cause of serious accidents to M. Dulong, its discoverer, and afterwards to sir H. Davy. The chloride of nitrogen is formed from the action of chlorine on some salt of ammonia, chlorine and nitrogen being incapable of uniting, when presented to each other in their gaseous form. Its formation is owing to the decomposition of ammonia (a compound of hydrogen and nitrogen) by chlorine. The hydrogen of the ammonia unites with chlorine, and forms muriatic acid; while the nitrogen of the ammonia, being presented in its nascent state to chlorine, dissolved in the solution, enters into combination with it. The chloride of nitrogen has a specific gravity of 1.653; it does not congeal by the intense cold produced by a mixture of snow and salt. At a temperature between 200° and 212°, it explodes; and mere contact with most substances of a combustible nature causes detonation at common temperatures. The products of the explosion are chlorine and nitrogen. Three distinct compounds of chlorine and carbon have of late been made known by Faraday; but for an account of these, as well as of the chlorides of sulphur and of phosphorus, and the chloro-carbonic acid gas, the reader is referred to the larger treatises on chemistry, it being incompatible with the plan of the present work to enter into those details which are not connected with the useful arts, or which are not absolutely necessary in order to afford a correct idea of the mode of reasoning and general theory of the science.* CHLORITE. (See Talc.) CHOC (from the French choc, the violent meeting of two bodies), in military_language, signifies a violent attack. It is generally applied to a charge of cavalry. To give such an attack its full effect, it is necessary, 1. that the line be preserved unbroken, so that the attack shall take effect at all points at the same time; 2. that the horses be strong and heavy, that their momentum may be great; 3. that the * A letter of M. Dauvergne to M. Gay-Lussac, in the Ann. de Chemie, recently published, states the effect of chlorine as an antidote of hydrocyanic acid. A cat, to which two drops of hydrocyanic acid were given through the lachrymal gland, was affected most violently by the poison. While the animal was in this condition, some chlorine was put into her mouth, and, one hour after, she was able to make a few tottering steps: the next morning the animal was quite well. It has also been lately stated, in the public journals, that the French physicians have found chlorine very effectual in preserving from the plague, if put on the linen, &c. charge be made as swiftly as possible, not merely for the sake of the physical effect, but also of the moral effect which it has on the enemy. This swiftness, however, must be attained gradually, increasing as the distance diminishes. The charge commences with a short trot; a long trot follows; at the distance of 150 paces, this is increased to a gallop; and 50 paces from the enemy, the horse must be put to his speed. A choc, whether successful or not, is of short duration. CHOCOLATE. (See Cacao.) CHOCTAWS, Or FLAT-HEADS; a tribe of Indians, residing between the Mississippi and the Tombigbee, partly in Alabama, but mostly in Mississippi. Their territory is bounded N. and N. E. by that of the Chickasaws. The country has a fertile soil, and is traversed by the upper waters of the Yazoo, Big Black, and Pearl rivers. Their number is estimated at about 20,000 or 25,000. They are a hardy, intrepid and ingenious race, and have made, within the last 20 years, great advances in agriculture and other arts of civilized life. They raise cotton, and manufacture it into cloth for their ordinary use, and often appear well clad in garments of their own making. In 1818, the American board of foreign missions established a mission among the Indians at Elliot, on the Yalo Busha, a branch of the Yazoo; and, since that period, eight other similar establishments have been formed. (See Indians.) CHOCZIM (Chotschim); an important frontier fortress of Russia, on the right bank of the Dniester, opposite to Kaminiec, in Bessarabia, with 25,000 inhabitants and a considerable trade. The people are entirely employed in furnishing supplies for the army. The Turks caused Choczim to be regularly fortified, in 1718, by French engineers; but it was taken by the Russians in 1730, 1769 and 1788. As the Pruth, in Europe, is, at present, the boundary of the two empires, the situation of Choczim renders it of great importance as an arsenal and place of rendezvous. CHODOWIECKI, Daniel Nicholas, a painter and engraver, born at Dantzick, 1726, received from his father, in his leisure hours, his first instruction in miniaturepainting, which he practised with great assiduity, in order to support his mother, after the death of his father. His first trials excited the astonishment of connoisseurs. A little engraving, the Play at Dice, in 1756, particularly attracted the attention of the academy of Berlin. Dur ing the seven years' war, he engraved various subjects connected with it; among others, the Russian Prisoners at Berlin, which is now rare. The history of the unhappy Calas gave him an affecting subject for a picture, which, at the desire of all who saw it, he engraved on copper. The impressions of the year 1767 are particularly esteemed. Almost all the plates to Lavater's Physiognomical Fragments are from his designs. He engraved several of them himself. At last, scarcely a book appeared in Prussia, for which he did not engrave at least a vignette. The number of his engravings is more than 3000; but we must observe, that he was in the habit of making changes in his plates, after a number of copies had been struck off, so that all the copies of the same plate are not entirely alike. He must be considered the founder of a new art in Germany-that of representing modern figures. He died, Feb. 1, 1801, at Berlin, where he was director of the academy of arts. He was universally esteemed for his integrity. CHOIR; that part of the church where the choristers sing. In some old churches, the seats of the choristers, and other parts of the choir, are ornamented with admirable carved work. (See Architecture, vol. I, page 343, sect. vii., Gothic style.) CHOISEUL, Etienne François de; duke de Choiseul et d'Amboise; minister of state of Louis XV; born in 1719. When count of Stainville, he displayed a brilliant courage, and was rapidly promoted. His marriage with a rich heiress, sister to the duchess of Gontaut, and his intimate connexion with the marchioness de Pompadour, permitted him to indulge his ambitious hopes, which he never concealed. He went as ambassador to Rome, and, in 1756, in the same capacity, to Vienna. In 1757, he succeeded the cardinal Bernis, then minister of foreign affairs, who, from chagrin at the opposition which he experienced, after the conclusion of the much-contested alliance with Austria, resigned his office. The new minister quickly gained the greatest influence. He was made duke and peer, and administered, at the same time, the department of war. He afterwards resigned the department of foreign affairs to the count Choiseul, who subsequently became duke of Praslin. Without having the name, he was, in fact, prime minister, and conducted alone all the public affairs. From the beginning, he was unfriendly to the Jesuits, and united with the parliaments to effect their ruin. Meanwhile, the seven years' war continued, and France, after experiencing continual reverses, was compelled, by the exhausted state of her finances, to conclude a peace, in 1763, on unfavorable terms. This misfortune could not be ascribed to the two ministers who divided between themselves the administration of the state. Less able ministers would probably have been obliged to make greater sacrifices. But the honors and demonstrations of favor with which Choiseul and Praslin were loaded were sufficient to draw upon them the bitterest accusations. Their enemies asserted that they only prolonged the war to render themselves necessary, and reproached them for not having sooner concluded peace. Madame de Pompadour died in 1764, the dauphin in 1765, and the dauphiness in 1767. After spreading the most absurd and infamous reports concerning the death of the dauphin, to throw suspicions on Choiseul, his enemies, the duke d'Aiguillon, the abbé Terray, and the chancellor Maupeou, had recourse to the vilest instruments to effect his ruin. They succeeded so far, that Louis XV, in spite of the representations of the minister, and his own promises, degraded the royal dignity by introducing the countess du Barry (q. v.) at court. At first, the countess used all her arts to insinuate herself into the favor of the minister. Her ambition was, to succeed to all the influence of madame de Pompadour. Choiseul haughtily refused her proposals; but, laudable as was his conduct towards the mistress, he ought not to have allowed himself to forget the respect due to his king and benefactor. He might, perhaps, have persuaded him by compliance: his boldness only irritated him, and supplied his enemies with new pretexts for assailing him. The duchess of Grammont, the minister's sister, always possessed great influence over him. She exercised it, on this occasion, without the least moderation, encouraged by the discontent of the nation, which favored the parliaments, then attacked by the chancellor Maupeou. The cause of the parliaments and the minister soon became one. The king was persuaded that Choiseul excited them to opposition. The attachment of Louis to his minister struggled, for some time, against the intrigues of his enemies; but, in December, 1770, he announced to him, in severe terms, his disgrace, and his banishment to Chanteloup. The departure of Choiseul resembled a triumph. His removal was considered, by the nation, a public misfortune. He lived three years in exile, surrounded by a splendid and select society. On the death of Louis XV, he recovered his liberty, having been in exile just long enough to increase his reputation, and to confirm the general esteem in which he was held. While minister of war, after seven years of reverses, he had changed the organization of the army, in consequence of the new tactics introduced by Frederic the Great. Although the displeasure of the old officers was excited, and many gave in their resignations, yet the necessity of the change was soon evident. The corps of artillery received a new form, and excellent schools were established, in which officers were educated, who rendered the French artillery the finest in Europe. The same improvements were made in the corps of engineers. Choiseul devoted particular attention to the West Indies. Martinique was fortified anew, and St. Domingo raised to the highest degree of prosperity. When Choiseul and Praslin left the ministry, in 1770, the loss of the fleet had been repaired in less than seven years. It consisted of 64 ships of the line and 50 frigates and corvettes. The magazines were filled. Choiseul also concluded the family compact, which united all the sovereigns of the house of Bourbon, and placed the Spanish fleet at the disposal of France. Thus he recovered the respect which France had lost by her military reverses. His firmness supplied what was wanting to his country in real strength. He conquered Corsica without any open opposition from England. Convinced of the importance of the independence of Poland for the balance of Europe, he continually thwarted the ambitious designs of Russia, and involved it in a war with Turkey, which he would have supported more vigorously, had not the king himself opposed it. French officers were sent to the Polish confederates, to the Turks, and the East Indian princes, whom he hoped to arm, as well as the American colonies, against the English. Prodigal of his own fortune, he was frugal in the public expenditures. Louis XV soon felt the loss of Choiseul, and exclaimed, on hearing of the division of Poland, "This would not have happened had Choiseul been here." After Louis XVI ascended the throne, Choiseul was recalled, and received in the most honorable manner, but was not again admitted into the ministry. Notwithstanding his immense debts, he continued to support an expensive style of living, and died in 1785, without children. His nephew and heir was CHOISEUL-STAINVILLE, Claude Antoine Gabriel, duke of, born 1762, peer of France before the revolution. He emigrated in 1792, after he had assisted the flight of the king, in 1791, and been arrested and released. He raised a regiment of hussars, and served against France. In the sequel, he was shipwrecked on the French coast, taken, and remained four years in prison, while it was debated whether the laws against emigrants returning to France were applicable to him. The first consul released him, and caused him to be transported into a neutral territory, January 1, 1800. In 1801, he gave him permission to return to France. After the restoration, Choiseul was made lieutenant-general. In the house of peers, he joined the constitutional party. He has written Rélation du Départ de Louis XVI, le 20 Juin, 1791, and the Hist. et Procès des Naufragés de Calais (both in the Mémoires des Contemporains), CHOISEUL-GOUFFIER, Marie Gabriel Auguste, count de, peer of France, born in 1752, adopted the name of Gouffier after his marriage with Mlle. de Gouffier. In 1776, he travelled in Greece and Asia. His instructive journal of his travels obtained him a seat in the academy. In 1784, he was ambassador at Constantinople, and took with him several literary men and artists, in whose society he occupied himself, during his leisure hours, in learned researches. In 1791, he was appointed ambassador to the court of London, but remained in Constantinople, and addressed all his notes to the brothers of Louis XVI, then in Germany. But, on the retreat from Champagne, this correspondence fell into the hands of the republicans, and, October 22, 1792, the convention ordered his arrest. He therefore left Constantinople, and repaired to Russia, where the empress granted him a pension, as an academician. In February, 1797, he was appointed privy-counsellor by the emperor Paul I. In 1802, he returned to France, and, in the following year, as a member of the former academy, was admitted into the national institute, and, more lately, into the academy itself, after its restoration. He died in the summer of 1817. The 1st part of the 2d volume of his Voyage pittoresque en Grèce appeared in 1809, the 2d part in 1820, the 3d in 1824, gr. folio, with copperplates and an atlas. The 1st volume of this work was published in 1782. In 1816, he read, in the academy of inscriptions, a Dissertation sur Homère, directed against the German philosophers. CHOLERA (Celsus derives it from xo and pew, literally, a flow of bile, and Trallian from xolas and péw, intestinal flux); diarrhea cholerica; felliflua passio; a genus of disease arranged by Cullen in the class neuroses and order spasmi. It is a purging and vomiting of bile, attended with anxiety, painful gripings, spasms of the abdominal muscles, and those of the calves of the legs. There are two species of this genus:-1. Cholera spontanea, which happens, in hot seasons, without any manifest cause. 2. Cholera accidentalis, which occurs after the use of food that digests slowly and irritates. In warm climates, it is met with at all seasons of the year, and its occurrence is very frequent; but in England, and other cold climates, it is most prevalent in the middle of summer, particularly in the month of August; and the violence of the disease has usually been greater in proportion to the intenseness of the heat. It usually comes on with soreness, pain, distension, and flatulency in the stomach and intestines, succeeded quickly by a severe and frequent vomiting, and purging of bilious matter, heat, thirst, a hurried respiration, and frequent but weak and fluttering pulse. When the disease is not violent, these symptoms, after continuing for a day or two, cease gradually, leaving the patient in a debilitated and exhausted state; but where the disease proceeds with much violence, great depression of strength ensues, with cold, clammy sweats, considerable anxiety, a hurried and short respiration, and hiccoughs, with a sinking and irregularity of the pulse, which quickly terminate in death-an event that not unfrequently happens within the space of 24 hours. The appearances generally observed on dissection are, a quantity of bilious matter in the prima via; the ducts of the liver relaxed and distended. Several of the viscera have been found, in some cases, displaced, probably by the violent vomiting. In the early period of the disease, when the strength is not much exhausted, the object is, to lessen the irritation, and facilitate the discharge of the bile, by tepid demulcent liquids, frequently administered. It will likewise be useful to procure a determination to the surface, by fomentations of the abdomen, by the foot-bath, or even the warm-bath. But where the symptoms are urgent, and the patient appears rapidly sinking from the continued vomiting, violent pain, &c., it is necessary to give opium freely, but in a small bulk, from one to three grains, or even more, in a table-spoonful of linseed infusion, or with an effervescing saline draught, which must be repeated at short intervals, perhaps every hour, till relief be obtained. Sometimes, where the stomach could not be got to retain the opium, it has answered in the form of clyster; or a liniment containing it may be rubbed into the abdomen; or a blister, applied over the stomach, may lessen the irritability of that organ. Afterwards, the bile may be allowed to evacuate itself downwards; or mild aperients, or clysters, given, if necessary, to promote its discharge. When the urgent symptoms are relieved, the strength must be restored by gentle tonics, as the aromatic bitters, calumba, and the like, with a light, nutritious diet: strong toast and water is the best drink, or a little burnt brandy may be added, if there is much languor. Exposure to cold must be carefully avoided. The abdomen and the feet, particularly, must be kept warm, and great attention is necessary to regulate the bowels, and procure a regular discharge of bile, lest a relapse should happen. It will also be proper to examine the state of the abdomen, whether pressure give pain at any part, because inflammation in the prime via is very liable to supervene, often in an insidious manner. Should that be the case, leeches, blistering the part, and other suitable means, must be promptly resorted to. CHOLESTERIC ACID; a French name for the acid formed by the union of nitric acid and the fat matter of the human biliary calculi. CHOLESTERINE. (See Calculus.) CHOLIAMB (Greek, xwλiaußos, the lame iambus; also called skazon, from okážw, to halt; or versus Hipponacticus, because the satirist Hipponax of Ephesus made use of it, or perhaps invented it). The choliambus is an iambic trimeter, the last foot of which, instead of being an iambus, is a trochee or spondee, which gives it a lame motion, as, for instance, Martial 1, i. epig. 3: Cur in theatrum, Cato severe, venisti? An ideo tantum veneras, ut exires? We perceive, from the construction of the choliambus, that it may be applied with advantage to produce a comic effect. The Germans have happily imitated this verse, as well as all other ancient metres. An instance of a German choliambus is— こ ~-~ Der Choliambe scheint ein Vers für Kunstrichter. CHOLULA; a town of Mexico, in Puebla; 60 miles E. of Mexico; lat. 19° 2′ N.; lon. It was 98° 8′ W.; population, 16,000. formerly a city of Anahuac, containing, in the time of Cortes, according to his account, 40,000 houses, independent of the adjoining villages or suburbs, which he computed at as many more. Its commerce consisted in manufactures of cotton, gems, and plates of clay; and it was much famed for its jewellers and potters. With respect to religion, it may be said that Cholula was the Rome of Anahuac. The surprising multitude of temples, of which Cortes mentions that he counted more than 400, and, in particular, the great temple erected upon an artificial mountain, which is still existing, drew together innumerable pilgrims. This temple, which is the most ancient and celebrated of all the Mexican religious monuments, is 164 feet in perpendicular height, and, at the base, it measures, on each side, 1450 feet. It has four stories of equal height, and appears to have been constructed exactly in the direction of the four cardinal points. It is built in alternate layers of clay and bricks, and is supposed to have been used both as a temple and a tomb. CHORAL (derived from chorus); a term applied to vocal music, consisting of a combination of different melodies, and intended to be performed by a plurality of singers to each part; as choral anthem, choral service. In Germany, this term is applied to the music of hymns, in the composition of which the Germans are so much distinguished. CHORD (from the Greek xood, an intestine), in modern music; a combination of two or more sounds according to the laws of harmony. The word chord is often used in counterpoint; as fundamental chord, accidental, anomalous, or equi-vocal, transient chord. CHOREGRAPHY; an invention of modern times; the art of representing dancing by signs, as singing is represented by notes. It points out the part to be performed by every dancer-the various motions which belong to the various parts of the music, the position of the feet, the arms, and the body, &c. The degree of swiftness with which every motion is to be performed may be thus indicated, by which all becomes as intelligible to the dancer as a piece of music to the musician. Drawings to assist the tactician, by designating the position, motion and evolutions of troops, have also been called choregraphical drawings. CHORIAMBUS, in metre; a foot compounded of a trochee and an iambus. (See Rhythm.) |