It has been well described by a native, Domingo Juarros, whose account has been translated into English by Mr. Baily Statistical and Commercial History of Guatimala. (See also don Francia de Fuente's History of Guatimala, before and after the Spanish Conquest.)

CENTRAL FIRE. Many natural philosophers have supposed a perpetual fire to exist in the centre of the earth, which they call central fire. In ancient times, volcanoes and other similar phenomena were explained by it. At a later period, when it was understood that such a fire in the interior of the earth was impossible, the phrase was used to express the interior warmth of the earth. To this central warmth Mairan ascribes a great part of the warmth on the surface of the earth. To a certain depth, there appears to be a fixed temperature in the interior of the earth, which probably arises from the penetrating heat of the sun. At least experiments show that in hot climates the interior of the earth is warmer than in cold ones. In Siberia, for instance, some workmen, having penetrated 80 feet in digging a well, found the earth frozen even at that depth. Interesting information on this subject may be found in Biot's Astronomie Physique (2d ed., Paris, 1810), in the 2d vol. 15th chap. De la Température de la Terre.

CENTRAL FORCES; those forces by the coöperation of which circular motion is produced; that is, the centripetal and centrifugal forces. Many natural philosophers deny the existence of the latter, and assert it to be a mere mathematical idea. They say, a body, once put in motion, continues its motion in the same direction, and with the same velocity, without the interposition of a new power, on account of its inertia. Now the heavenly bodies were impelled, in the beginning, by the Creator, with an almighty power, and would be obliged, by their inertia, to go on eternally in one direction, and with the same velocity, if they were not attracted, in all points of their motion, towards a point out of this direction, by which a circular motion is produced. Of the first moving force, there is now no longer any question. That power by which the heavenly bodies are drawn towards points out of their rectilinear path, is called the centripetal force. This power would put the heavenly body in motion if it were at rest; as it finds it already in motion, it changes its direction at every point. The case is quite different with the centrifugal force. This appears to be merely the re

sult of the inertia of the body, or rather of the motion which, having been once given to the body, is continued by means of this inertia. (See Circular Motion.) CENTRAL MOTION. (See Circular Motion.)

CENTRE, LE (French; signifying the centre). In the French chamber of deputies, the seats are ranged in a semicircle in front of the president, and leave only a narrow passage in the centre. The ministers themselves do not sit, as in England, among the deputies, but in the front seat, on the left side of the centre. In England, the ministry is the centre of the majority, and all who do not vote with it, however different their views, unite in the opposition. In France, the two chief parties, one of which is attached to the old, the other to the new system of things, are opposed to each other independently of the ministers, and thus enable the ministry to maintain itself, as has been the case till very lately, without belonging decidedly to either party. The ministry bestows many offices on the condition that the officers shall always vote with it. In the French chamber of deputies, the adherents of the ministry chiefly sit near their leaders, on the seats in the centre (le centre). Here are to be found, therefore, the prefects, state-attorneys, and other officers of the government, who, for the sake of office, support all the propositions of the ministers. They are joined by those who, like the Doctrinaires (q. v.), under the ministry of Decazes, keep the centre, independently of the two chief parties, and support the ministers from conviction. (During the ministry of Villèle, the Doctrinaires went over almost wholly to the side of the opposition.) But private opinion, and the circumstances by which it is influenced, often operate so powerfully, that parties even appear in the centre. It is itself divided into a right and left side. The members of the late ministry, preceding that of prince Polignac, belonged chiefly to the moderate party.-In England, the members of the parliament also sit on different sides, according to their party. In the U. States of North America, the seats are decided by lot, in both houses, and thus the members of all parties are distributed all over the house.

CENTRIFUGAL FORCE, in astronomy, is the force by reason of which the heavenly bodies, in their revolutions, tend to fly off from the centre. The circular motion is said to be caused by the perpetual conflict of the centrifugal and centripetal forces.

CENTRIPETAL FORCE. (See Central Forces.)

CENTURIES OF MAGDEBURG. The first comprehensive work of the Protestants on the history of the Christian church was so called, because it was divided into centuries, each volume containing a hundred years, and was first written at Magdeburg. Matthias Flacius (q. v.) formed the plan of it in 1552, in order to prove the agreement of the Lutheran doctrine with that of the primitive Christians, and the difference between the latter and that of the Catholics. Joh. Wigand, Matth. Judex, Basilius Faber, Andreas Corvinus, and Thomas Holzhuter, were, after Flacius, the chief writers and editors. Some Lutheran princes and nobles patronised it, and many learned men assisted in the work, which was drawn, with great care and fidelity, from the original sources, compiled with sound judgment, and written in Latin. It was continued by the centuriatores (as the editors were called) only to 1300. It was published at Bâle, from 1559 to 1574, in 13 vols. fol., at great expense. A good modern edition, by Baumgarten and Semler, which reaches, however, only to the year 500, appeared at Nuremburg, from 1757 to 1765, in 6 vols. 4to. A good abridgment was prepared by Lucas Osiander (Tübingen, 1592-1604, 9 vols. 4to.), of which the Tübingen edition, 1607 and 1608 (usually in four thick vols. 4to.), comprehends also the period from the 14th to the 16th century. The Catholics finding themselves attacked in this alarming way, and confuted by matters of fact, Baronius (q. v.) wrote his Annals, in opposition to the Centuria.

CENTURY (Latin centuria); a division of 100 men. This kind of division was very common with the Romans, and was used, in general, to denote a particular body, although this might not contain exactly 100 men. Thus centuries, in the army, were the companies into which the Roman legions were divided. This name was also given to the divisions of the six classes of the people, introduced by Servius Tullius. The first class contained 80, to which were added the 18 centuries of the knights; the three following classes had each 20 centuries, the fifth 30, and the sixth only 1 century. The people voted in the public elections by centuries. (See Census.)

CEPHALONIA, or CEFALONIA; the largest of the islands in the Ionian sea, west of the Morea, at the entrance of the golfo di Patrasso, or gulf of Lepanto, about 40

miles in length, and from 10 to 20 in breadth; lon. 20° 40′ to 21° 18′ E.; lat. 38° to 38° 28′ N.; square miles 340, with 63,200 inhabitants, who own 400 vessels of different kinds. The island has 203 towns and villages, three ports, and excellent anchoring places and bays. The climate is warm and delightful, the landscape is adorned with flowers during the whole year, and the trees yield two crops of fruit annually. A great part of the soil is devoted to the production of raisins, currants, wine, oil, citrons, melons, pomegranates and cotton. The raisins are preferred to those of any other of the Grecian islands, and even to those of the Morea. About 2500 tons are produced annually. Between 25 and 30,000 casks of oil, and 50,000 of wine, 5 or 6,000,000 pounds of currants, and 100,000 pounds of cotton, are likewise obtained yearly. Silks, medicinal herbs, oranges and lemons are also raised. The system of agriculture adopted by the great land owners requires that a large proportion of the grain and meat consumed in the island should be imported from the Morea. The island is subject to frequent earthquakes. Cephalonia belonged to the Venetians until 1797, when the French took possession of it. Since 1815, it has belonged to the republic of the united Ionian islands. (q. v.) (See Napier's Statistical Account of the Island of Cefalonia, London, 1824.)—The ancient name of the island was Cephallenia, from the mythological Cephalus, husband of Procris. It was tributary to Thebes, the Macedonians and the Etolians, till the Romans took it. In the time of Thucydides, it had four cities; Same, Prone, Čra nii and Pale. Strabo only knew of two.

CEPHALUS; the son of Creusa; according to some, the son of Deioneus, king of Phocis, and of Diomede. He was the husband of Procris. Shortly after his marriage, Aurora carried off the beautiful youth while he was hunting on mount Hymettus. He refused the love of the goddess, who induced him to put the virtue of his wife to a trial which it could not withstand. Procris, in return, tempted him likewise, and he yielded also. Learning their mutual weakness, they became reconciled. But Procris subsequently became jealous of her husband, and concealed herself in a wood to watch him. He mistook her, among the leaves, for a wild animal, and killed her. On this, he was banished from Greece by the court of Areopagus, or, as some relate, killed himself with the same dart which had destroyed Procris.

CERACCHI, Joseph, born at Rome, was an eminent statuary, when the revolution in his native city induced him to give up the practice of his art, and engage in politics. In 1799, he was among the warmest partisans of the new republic. On the reestablishment of the papal authority, he was obliged to leave Rome, and went to Paris, where he was employed in making a bust of the first consul. Nevertheless, he joined the young French artists whom he had known at Rome, and whose ardent republican opinions coincided with his own, in a conspiracy against Bonaparte, in whom he saw only the oppressor of his country. In October, 1800, he was arrested at the opera, with Arena, Damerville and Topino Lebrun. Before the tribunal, he answered only in monosyllables to the questions put to him. He was sentenced to death, together with his accomplices, and ascended the scaffold, Feb. 1801, with great firmness. The death of this disciple, and almost rival, of Canova, was a great loss to sculpture.

CERBERUS; a three-headed dog, with snakes for hair, the offspring of Echidna by Typhon, the most terrible of the giants that attempted to storm heaven. At his bark, hell trembled, and, when he got loose from his hundred chains, even the Furies could not tame him. He watched the entrance of Tartarus, or the regions of the dead, and fawned on those who entered, but seized and devoured those who attempted to return. Hercules only subdued him. Thus says the Greek mythology. In the article Cemetery, the reader will find that it was customary, among the Egyptians, after a corpse had been solemnly buried, to bid farewell to the deceased three times, with a loud voice. To express the circumstance that the deceased had been honored with the rites of burial and the lamentations of his friends, they represented, in the legend imprinted on the mummy, or engraved on the tomb, the figure of the horse of the Nile, which the Greeks mistook for a dog, and represented it with three heads, in order to express the three cries or farewells. The Egyptians called this hieroglyphic oms, and the Greeks cerber, from the Egyptian ceriber, a word that means the cry of the tomb. It is natural, therefore, to suppose the Egyptian oms the basis of the Greek mythos of Cerberus. (See page 148 in Lectures on Hieroglyphics and Egyptian Antiquities, by the marquis Spineto, London, 1829, 8vo.) CEREALIA (from Ceres, the goddess of the fields and of fruits) signified the pro

ductions of agriculture, also the festivals of Ceres.

CEREMONIAL OF THE EUROPEAN POWERS. One of the many ridiculous usages and pompous nullities, of which such a number have arisen in Europe, principally from confounding the interests and honor of the person of the monarch with the interests and honor of the nation, is the subject of this article; which has given rise to much war and confusion, and thrown many obstacles in the way of peace. After the thirty years' war, a war of wits, of equal length, was carried on among the ambassadors, on the subject of etiquette. It is evident that no independent state can actually have precedence of another; but, as the weaker seek the protection and friendship of the more powerful, there arises a priority of rank. This has occasioned the gradual establishment of dignities, rank, and acts of respect to states, their rulers and representatives, by which means (in contradistinction to the internal etiquette of a state) an international ceremonial has been formed, to the observance of which far more consideration is often paid than to the fulfilment of the most sacred contracts. Louis XIV carried this folly further, perhaps, than any one before or after him. To this international ceremonial belong, 1. Titles of rulers. Accident made the imperial and regal titles the highest, and thus conferred advantages apart from the power of the princes. After Charlemagne, the Roman emperors were considered as the sovereigns of Christendom, maintained the highest rank, and even asserted the dependence of the kings on themselves. For this reason, several kings, in the middle ages, to demonstrate their independence, likewise gave their crowns the title of imperial. England, for example, in all its public acts, is still styled the imperial crown. The kings of France received from the Turks and Africans the title empereur de France. In progress of time, the kings were less willing to concede to the imperial title, of itself, superiority to the royal. 2. Acknowledgment of the titles and rank of rulers. Formerly, the popes and emperors arrogated the right of granting these dignities; but the principle was afterwards established, that every people could grant to its rulers, at pleasure, a title, the recognition of which rests on the pleasure of other powers, and on treaties. Some titles were, therefore, never recognised, or not till after the lapse of considerable time. This was the case with the royal title of Prussia, the impe

rial title of Russia, the new titles of German princes, &c. 3. Marks of respect conformable to the rank and titles of sovereigns. To the royal prerogatives, so called (which, however, were conceded to various states which were neither kingdoms nor empires, such as Venice, the Netherlands, Switzerland, the electorates), pertained the right of sending ambassadors of the first class, &c. In connexion with this, there is a much contested point, viz. that of precedence or priority of rank, i. e. of the right of assuming the more honorable station on any occasion, either personally, at meetings of the princes themselves, or of their ambassadors, at formal assemblies, &c., or by writing, as in the form and signature of state papers. There is never a want of grounds for supporting a claim to precedence. As the councils, in the middle ages, afforded the most frequent occasion of such controversies, the popes often interfered. Of the several arrangements of the rank of the European powers, which emanated from the popes, the principal is the one promulgated in 1504, by Julius II, through his master of ceremonies, Paris de Crassis, in which the European nations followed each other in this order :--1. the Roman emperor (emperor of Germany); 2. the king of Rome; 3. the king of France; 4. the king of Spain; 5. of Arragon; 6. of Portugal; 7. of England; 8. of Sicily; 9. of Scotland; 10. of Hungary; 11. of Navarre; 12. of Cyprus; 13. of Bohemia; 14. of Poland; 15. of Denmark; 16. republic of Venice; 17. duke of Bretagne; 18. duke of Burgundy; 19. elector of Bavaria; 20. of Saxony; 21. of Brandenburg; 22. archduke of Austria; 23. duke of Savoy; 24. grand-duke of Florence; 25. duke of Milan; 26. duke of Bavaria; 27. of Lorraine. This order of rank was not, indeed, universally received; but it contained a fruitful germ of future quarrels; some states, which were benefited by the arrangement, insisting upon its adoption, and others, from opposite reasons, refusing to acknowledge it. To support their claims for precedence, the candidates sometimes relied on the length of time which had elapsed since their families became independent, or since the introduction of Christianity into their dominions; sometimes on the form of government, the number of crowns, the titles, achievements, extent of possessions, &c., pertaining to each. But no definite rules have been established, by which states are designated as being of the first, second, third, fourth, &c. rank. At the congress

of Vienna, a discussion took place respecting the settling of the rank of the European powers, and its inseparable consequences; and the commission appointed for the purpose by the eight powers, who signed the peace of Paris, made in their scheme a division of the powers into three classes. But, as opinions were by no means unanimous on the subject, most of the plenipotentiaries voting for three classes, Portugal and Spain for two, and lord Castlereagh entirely rejecting the principle of classification, as the source of constant difficulties, the question respecting the rank of the powers was suffered to rest, and the ambassadors of the crowned heads were merely divided into three classes. (See Ministers, Foreign.) Rulers of equal dignity, when they make visits, concede to each other the precedence at home: in other cases, where the precedence is not settled, they or their ambassadors take turns, till a compromise is effected in some way.-Many states claim not a precedence, but merely an equality. But, if neither can be obtained, there are several means of avoiding the scandalous scenes that formerly so often occurred. The ruler either comes incognito, or sends an ambassador of different rank from his with whom he contests the precedence; or the rulers or their ambassadors do not appear on public occasions; or, if they do, it is with a reservation respecting their dignity. In treaties between two powers, two copies are made, and each is signed by only one party; or, if both sign, each party receives the copy in which it holds the place of honor. According to the above-mentioned resolution respecting the relative rank of ambassadors, which forms the 17th affix to the final act of the congress of Vienna, the order to be observed by the ambassadors in signing public papers or treaties between powers, in respect to which the rule of alternate precedence exists, shall be determined by lot. In England and France, far less ceremonial is observed, in the official style, than in Germany,* where forms and titles are carried to an absurd extent, and the cere

*The following is an instance of the degree of folly to which the love of titles has been carried in Germany. We do not say that it was often carried to this extent, but the instance is too good to be the 17th century, had his likeness taken, and, acomitted. A certain man of the name of Seeger, in cording to the fashion of the period, was represented standing under a crucifix. From his mouth proceeded the words Domine Jesu Christe, amas me? and from the mouth of the Savior the following answer-Clarissime, nobilissime atque doctissime domine mag. Seeger, rector scholae Wittenbergensis meritissime atque dignissime, omnino amo te !

monial words, which extend even to the pronouns by which the princes are designated, it is not possible to translate. Emperors and kings mutually style each other brother, while they call princes of less degree cousin. The German emperors formerly used the term thou in addressing other princes. The we, by which monarchs style themselves, is used either from an assumption of state, or from a feeling of modesty, on the supposition that I would sound despotical, while we seems to include the whole administration, &c.; but the first reason is the more probable.

CERES (with the Greeks, Demeter, or Deo.) She is particularly the goddess of the earth, or the productive and fruitful earth. She was distinguished, especially, as the inventress of agriculture (hence her attributes of blades and ears of corn), and also as the founder of civil society, who fixed the wandering savages to the soil, and thus softened their manners, gave them the rights of property, the protection of laws (hence her name Thesmophoros), and with these a love of country. These ideas are suitably expressed in the works of art. She was the daughter of Saturn and Rhea, born near Enna, in Sicily, which refers to the fruitfulness of that island. By Jupiter, her brother, she was mother of Proserpine. When her daughter was afterwards carried off by Pluto, Ceres resolved to wander over the whole earth, in the human shape, in search of her. She lighted her torch at the fires of Ætna, and mounted her chariot, drawn by dragons.

But her endeavors were fruitless. Hecate merely informed her that she had heard the cries of the ravished maid. She arrived, at last, at Eleusis, where the hospitable Celeus received her. When she departed from his house, she permitted him to consecrate to her, in that place, an altar and temple, gave to his son Triptolemus her chariot drawn by dragons, and taught him the cultivation of wheat, that he might spread it over the whole earth, and distribute among men the gifts of the goddess. At length, the all-seeing eyes of the god of day discovered to her the residence of her beloved daughter, and, filled with anger, she demanded of Jupiter her restoration from hell. Jupiter granted her petition on condition that Proserpine had eaten nothing in Pluto's realms. But she had, in fact, eaten part of a pomegranate. Ceres, therefore, obtained her request only so far as this, that her daughter was allowed to remain half the year in the upper world. After finding Proserpine, she

revoked the curse which she had pronounced upon the earth, and restored to it life and fertility. Jasion, to whom was attributed the introduction of agriculture into Crete, was, by her, the father of Plutus, the god of riches. Jupiter, inflamed with jealousy, slew Jasion with a thunderbolt. All these circumstances refer to the invention and extending of agriculture. "Ceres has," says Hirt, "in the representations of her, the same lofty stature and the same matronly appearance as Juno; yet there is something milder in her aspect than in that of the queen of the gods; her eye is less widely opened, and softer, her forehead lower, and, instead of the high diadem, her hair is bound with a light wreath or a simple band." She has in her hand a torch, often a sickle, a horn of plenty, or a wreath. Her festivals in Rome were called the Cerealian; in Greece, Thesmophorian and Eleusinian. (See Egyptian Mythology.)-Concerning the planet of this name, see Planets.

CEREUS, NIGHT-BLOOMING. (See Cactus.)

CERIGO (anciently Cythera), an island in the Mediterranean, separated from the Morea by a narrow strait, and belonging to the Ionian republic of the Seven Islands; lon. 23° E.; lat. 36° 28' N.; population, 8 or 10,000; sq. m. 95. It is dry and mountainous, and produces neither corn, wine, nor oil, sufficient for the inhabitants; yet some of the valleys are fertile: sheep, hares, quails, turtles and falcons are abundant. It was anciently sacred to Venus.

CERIGO OF KUPSULI (anciently Cythera), a town on the west coast of the island of Cerigo, defended by a castle, situated on a sharp rock, surrounded by the sea, with a small harbor; lon. 22° 54′ E.; lat. 36° 28 N.; pop. 1,200. It is the see of a Greek bishop.

CERINTHUS. (See Gnostics and Millennium.)

CERIUM, a rare metal, was discovered in 1803, by M. M. Hisinger and Berzelius, in a Swedish mineral, known by the name of cerite. Dr. Thomson has since found it, to the extent of 34 per cent., in a mineral from Greenland, called allanite. The properties of cerium are, in a great measure, unknown. It is a brittle, white metal, which resists the action of nitric, but is dissolved by nitro-muriatic acid.

CERQUOZZI, Michael Angelo; a Roman painter of the 17th century, who received the surname delle battaglie (battle painter), and, at a later period, that of delle bombocciate, because, in imitation of Peter Laar, he painted ludicrous scenes taken from