[1] So Baronius, _Ann. ad ann._ 544.
CANDLESTICK, the receptacle for holding a candle, nowadays made in
various art-forms. The word was formerly used for any form of support on
which lights, whether candles or lamps, were fixed; thus a candelabrum
(q.v.) is sometimes spoken of from tradition as a candlestick, e.g. as
when Moses was commanded to make a candlestick for the tabernacle, of
hammered gold, a talent in weight, and consisting of a base with a shaft
rising out of it and six arms, and with seven lamps supported on the
summits of the six arms and central shaft. When Solomon built the
temple, he placed in it ten golden candlesticks, five on the north and
five on the south side of the Holy Place; but after the Babylonish
captivity the golden candlestick was again placed in the temple, as it
had been before in the tabernacle by Moses. On the destruction of
Jerusalem by Titus, it was carried with other spoils to Rome.
Representations of the seven-branched candlestick, as it is called,
occur on the arch of Titus at Rome, and on antiquities found in the
Catacombs at Rome. The primitive form of candlestick was a torch made of
slips of bark, vine tendrils or wood dipped in wax or tallow, tied
together and held in the hand by the lower end, such as are frequently
figured on ancient painted vases. The next step was to attach to them a
cup (_discus_) to catch the dripping wax or tallow.
A candlestick may be either "flat" or "tall." The former has a short
stem, rising from a dish, and is usually furnished with an extinguisher
fitting into a socket; the latter has a pillar which may be only a few
inches in height or may rise to several feet, and rarely has an
extinguisher. The flat variety is sometimes called a "bedroom
candlestick." The beginnings of this interesting and often beautiful
appliance are not exactly known, but it dates certainly as far back as
the 14th century and is probably older. It is most usually of metal,
earthenware or china, but originally it was made of some hard wood and
had no socketed pillar, the candle fitting upon a metal spike, in the
fashion still familiar in the case of many church candlesticks. It has
been constantly influenced by mobiliary and architectural fashions, and
has varied, as it still varies, from the severest simplicity of form and
material to the most elaborate artistic treatment and the costliest
materials--gold and silver, crystal, marble and enamel. Previous to the
17th century, iron, latten, bronze and copper were chiefly used, but
thenceforward the most elegant examples were chiefly of silver, though
in more modern periods Sheffield plate, silver plate and china became
exceedingly popular. Sometimes the base and sconce are of one material
and the pillar of another, as when the former are of silver and the
pillar of marble or china. The choice and combination of materials are,
indeed, infinite. The golden age of the candlestick lasted, roughly
speaking, from the third quarter of the 17th century to the end of the
18th. The later Jacobean, Queen Anne and early Georgian forms were often
extremely elegant, with broad bases, round, oval or square and swelling
stems. Fine examples of these periods, especially when of silver, are
much sought after and command constantly augmenting prices. As with most
domestic appliances the history of the candlestick is an unceasing
tendency towards simplicity, the most elaborate and fantastic forms,
animals and reptiles, the monstrous creatures of mythology, lions and
men-at-arms, angels and cupids, having gradually given place to
architectural motives such as the baluster stem and to the classic grace
of the Adam style. The candlestick in its modern form is, indeed,
artistically among the least unsatisfactory of household plenishings.
CANDLISH, ROBERT SMITH (1806-1873), Scottish divine, was born at
Edinburgh on the 23rd of March 1806, and spent his early years in
Glasgow, where he graduated in 1823. During the years 1823-1826 he went
through the prescribed course at the divinity hall, then presided over
by Dr Stevenson MacGill, and on leaving, accompanied a pupil as private
tutor to Eton, where he stayed two years. In 1829 he entered upon his
life's work, having been licensed to preach during the summer vacation
of the previous year. After short assistant pastorates at St Andrew's,
Glasgow, and Bonhill, Dumbartonshire, he obtained a settled charge as
minister of the important parish of St George's, Edinburgh. Here he at
once took the place he so long held as one of the ablest preachers in
Scotland. Destitute of natural oratorical gifts and somewhat ungainly in
his manner, he attracted and even riveted the attention of his audience
by a rare combination of intellectual keenness, emotional fervour,
spiritual insight and power of dramatic representation of character and
life. His theology was that of the Scottish Calvinistic school, but his
sympathetic character combined with strong conviction gathered round him
one of the largest and most intelligent congregations in the city.
From the very commencement of his ministry in Edinburgh, Candlish took
the deepest interest in ecclesiastical questions, and he soon became
involved as one of the chief actors in the struggle which was then
agitating the Scottish church. His first Assembly speech, delivered in
1839, placed him at once among the leaders of the party that afterwards
formed the Free Church, and his influence in bringing about the
Disruption of 1843 was inferior only to that of Thomas Chalmers. Great
as was his popularity as a preacher, it was in the arena of
ecclesiastical debate that his ability chiefly showed itself, and
probably no other single man had from first to last so large a share in
shaping the constitution and guiding the policy of the Free Church. He
took his stand on two principles: the right of the people to choose
their ministers, and the independence of the church in things spiritual.
On his advice Hugh Miller was appointed editor of the _Witness_, the
powerful Free Church organ. He was actively engaged at one time or other
in nearly all the various schemes of the church, but special mention
should be made of his services on the education committee, of which he
was convener from 1846 to 1863, and in the unsuccessful negotiations for
union among the non-established Presbyterian denominations of Scotland,
which were carried on during the years 1863-1873. In the Assembly of
1861 he filled the moderator's chair.
As a theologian the position of Candlish was perhaps inferior to that
which he held as a preacher and ecclesiastic, but it was not
inconsiderable. So early as 1841 his reputation in this department was
sufficient to secure for him the government nomination to the newly
founded chair of Biblical criticism in the university of Edinburgh.
Owing to the opposition of Lord Aberdeen, however, the presentation was
cancelled. In 1847 Candlish, who had received the degree of D.D. from
Princeton, New Jersey, in 1841, was chosen by the Assembly of the Free
Church to succeed Chalmers in the chair of divinity in the New College,
Edinburgh. After partially fulfilling the duties of the office for one
session, he was led to resume the charge of St George's, the clergyman
who had been chosen by the congregation as his successor having died
before entering on his work. In 1862 he succeeded William Cunningham as
principal of New College with the understanding that he should still
retain his position as minister of St George's. He died on the 19th of
October 1873.
Though his greatest power was not displayed through the press, Candlish
made a number of contributions to theological literature. In 1842 he
published the first volume of his _Contributions towards the Exposition
of the Book of Genesis_, a work which was completed in three volumes
several years later. In 1854 he delivered, in Exeter Hall, London, a
lecture on the _Theological Essays_ of the Rev. F.D. Maurice, which he
afterwards published, along with a fuller examination of the doctrine of
the essays. In this he defended the forensic aspect of the gospel. A
treatise entitled _The Atonement; its Reality, Completeness and Extent_
(1861) was based upon a smaller work which first appeared in 1845. In
1864 he delivered the first series of Cunningham lectures, taking for
his subject _The Fatherhood of God_. Published immediately afterwards,
the lectures excited considerable discussion on account of the peculiar
views they represented. Further illustrations of these views were given
in two works published about the same time as the lectures, one a
treatise _On the Sonship and Brotherhood of Believers_, and the other an
exposition of the first epistle of St John.
See William Wilson, _Memorials of R.S. Candlish, D.D._, with a chapter
on his position as a theologian by Robert Rainy.
CANDOLLE, AUGUSTIN PYRAME DE (1778-1841), Swiss botanist, was born at
Geneva on the 4th of February 1778. He was descended from one of the
ancient families of Provence, whence his ancestors had been expatriated
for their religion in the middle of the 16th century. Though a weakly
boy he showed great aptitude for study, and distinguished himself at
school by his rapid attainments in classical and general literature, and
specially by a faculty for writing elegant verse. He began his
scientific studies at the college of Geneva, where the teaching of
J.P.E. Vaucher first inspired him with the determination to make
botanical science the chief pursuit of his life. In 1796 he removed to
Paris. His first productions, _Historia Plantarum Succulentarum_ (4
vols., 1799) and _Astragalogia_ (1802), introduced him to the notice of
Cuvier, for whom he acted as deputy at the College de France in 1802,
and to J.B. Lamarck, who afterwards confided to him the publication of
the third edition of the _Flore francaise_ (1803-1815). The _Principes
elementaires de botanique_, printed as the introduction to this work,
contained the first exposition of his principle of classification
according to the natural as opposed to the Linnean or artificial method.
In 1804 he was granted the degree of doctor of medicine by the medical
faculty of Paris, and published his _Essai sur les proprietes medicales
des plantes comparees avec leurs formes exterieures et leur
classification naturelle_, and soon after, in 1806, his _Synopsis
plantarum in flora Gallica descriptarum_. At the desire of the French
government he spent the summers of the following six years in making a
botanical and agricultural survey of the whole kingdom, the results of
which were published in 1813. In 1807 he was appointed professor of
botany in the medical faculty of the university of Montpellier, and in
1810 he was transferred to the newly founded chair of botany of the
faculty of sciences in the same university. From Montpellier, where he
published his _Theorie elementaire de la botanique_ (1813), he removed
to Geneva in 1816, and in the following year was invited by the now
independent republic to fill the newly created chair of natural history.
The rest of his life was spent in an attempt to elaborate and complete
his "natural" system of botanical classification. The results of his
labours in this department are to be found in his _Regni vegetabilis
systema naturale_, of which two volumes only were completed (1821) when
he found that it would be impossible for him to execute the whole work
on so extensive a scale. Accordingly in 1824 he began a less extensive
work of the same kind--his _Prodromus systematis regni vegetabilis_--but
even of this he was able to finish only seven volumes, or two-thirds of
the whole. He had been for several years in delicate health when he died
on the 9th of September 1841 at Geneva.
His son, ALPHONSE LOUIS PIERRE PYRAME DE CANDOLLE, born at Paris on the
28th of October 1806, at first devoted himself to the study of law, but
gradually drifted to botany and finally succeeded to his father's chair.
He published a number of botanical works, including continuations of the
_Prodromus_ in collaboration with his son, Anne Casimir Pyrame de
Candolle. He died at Geneva on the 4th of April 1893.
CANDON, a town of South Ilocos province, Luzon, Philippine Islands, on
the W. coast, about 200 m. N. by W. of Manila. Pop. (1903) 18,828. Its
climate is hot, though healthy. Candon is surrounded by an extensive and
fertile plain, and is defended by a small fort. Its inhabitants are
noted for their honesty and industry, as well as for their regard for
law and order. They carry on an extensive traffic with the wild tribes
of the neighbouring mountains. Indigo is grown in considerable quantity,
as are rice and tobacco. The weaving of blankets, handkerchiefs, and
cotton and silk cloths constitutes quite an important industry. The
language is Ilocanc.
CANDYTUFT (_Iberis amara_, so called from Iberia, i.e. Spain, where many
species of the genus are native, and _amara_, bitter, i.e. in taste), a
small annual herb (natural order Cruciferae) with white or purplish
flowers, the outer petals of which are longer than the rest. It is a
native of western Europe and found wild on dry soil in cultivated ground
in the centre and east of England. This and several other species of the
genus are known as garden plants, and are of easy culture in ordinary
garden soil if well exposed to sun and air. The common candytuft of
gardens is _I. umbellata_, a hardy annual, native of southern Europe,
and known in a number of varieties differing in colour of flowers. _I.
coronaria_ (rocket candytuft) has long dense heads of white flowers and
is also an annual. Some species have a shrubby growth and are evergreen
perennials; the best-known is _I. sempervirens_, a native of southern
Europe, a much-branched plant about a foot high with long racemes of
white flowers. _I. gibraltarica_ is a showy, handsome half hardy
evergreen.
CANE, a name applied to many plants which have long, slender, reed-like
stalks or stems, as, for example, the sugar-cane, the bamboo-cane or the
reed-cane. From the use as walking-sticks to which many of these plants
have been applied, the name "cane" is improperly given to sticks,
irrespective of the source from which they are derived. Properly it
should be restricted to a peculiar class of palms, known as rattans,
included under the two closely allied genera _Calamus_ and
_Daemonorops_, of which there are a large number of species. The plants
are found widely extended throughout the islands of the Indian
Archipelago, the Malay Peninsula, China, India and Ceylon; and also in
Australia and Africa. They were described by Georg Eberhard Rumpf or
Rumphius (1627-1702), governor of Amboyna, and author of the _Herbarium
Amboynense_ (6 vols. folio, Amsterdam, 1741-1755), under the name of
Palmijunci, as inhabitants of dense forests into which the rays of the
sun scarce can penetrate, where they form spiny bushes, obstructing the
passage through the jungle. The slender stems rarely exceed an inch in
diameter and are generally much smaller. They creep or trail to an
enormous length, often reaching 500 or 600 ft., and support themselves
on trees or bushes by recurved spines borne on the stalk or back of the
midrib of the leaf, or by stiff hooks replacing the upper leaflets. In
some cases the midrib is elongated beyond the leaflets to form a long
whip-like structure, bearing recurved hooks at intervals. The natives,
in preparing the canes for the market, strip off the leaves by pulling
the cut plant through a notch made in a tree. The canes always present
distinct rings at the junction of the sheathing leaves with the stem.
They assume a yellow colour as they dry; and those imported from
Calcutta have a glossy surface, while the produce of the Eastern
Archipelago presents a dull exterior.
Canes, on account of their lightness, length, strength and flexibility,
are used for a great variety of purposes by the inhabitants of the
countries in which they grow. Split into thin strips they are twisted to
form ropes and ships' cables, an application mentioned by Captain
Dampier in his _Voyages_. A more important application, however, is for
basket-work, and for making chairs, couches, pillows, &c., as the great
strength and durability of thin and easily prepared strips admit of such
articles being made at once airy, strong and flexible. Much of the
beautiful and elaborate basket-work of the Chinese and Japanese is made
from thin strips of cane, which are also used by the Chinese for larger
works, such as door-mats, houses and sheds.
A very large trade with Western countries and the United States is
carried on in canes and rattans, the principal centres of the trade
being Batavia, Sarawak, Singapore, Penang and Calcutta. In addition to
the varieties used for walking-sticks, whip and umbrella handles, &c.,
the common rattans are in extensive demand for basket-making, the seats
and backs of chairs, the ribs of cheap umbrellas, saddles and other
harness-work; and generally for purposes where their strength and
flexibility make them efficient substitutes for whalebone. The
walking-stick "canes" of commerce include a great many varieties, some
of which, however, are not the produce of trailing palms. The well-known
Malacca canes are obtained from _Calamus Scipionum_, the stems of which
are much stouter than is the case with the average species of _Calamus_.
CANEA, or KHANIA, the principal seaport and since 1841 the capital of
Crete, finely situated on the northern coast of the island, about 25 m.
from its western extremity, on the isthmus of the Akrotiri peninsula,
which lies between the Bay of Canea and the Bay of Suda (latitude 35
deg. 31' N., longitude 24 deg. 1' E.). Surrounded by a massive Venetian
wall, it forms a closely built, irregular and overcrowded town, though
of late years a few of its streets have been widened. The ordinary
houses are of wood; but the more important buildings are of more solid
materials. The Turks have a number of mosques; there are Greek churches
and a Jewish synagogue; an old Venetian structure serves as a military
hospital; and the prison is of substantial construction. The town is now
the principal seat of government; the seat of a Greek bishop, who is
suffragan to the metropolitan at Candia, and the official residence of
the European consuls. The harbour, formed by an ancient transverse mole
nearly 1200 ft. long, and protected by a lighthouse and a fort, would
admit vessels of considerable tonnage; but it has been allowed to silt
up until it shoals off from 24 ft. to 10 or even 8, so that large
vessels have to anchor about 4 or 5 m. out. The principal articles of
trade are oil and soap, and there is a pretty extensive manufacture of
leather. The fosse is laid out in vegetable gardens; public gardens have
been constructed outside the walls; and artesian wells have been bored
by the government. To the east of the town a large Arab village had
grown up, inhabited for the most part by natives of Egypt and Cyrenaica,
who acted as boatmen, porters and servants, but since the fall of the
Turkish government most of these have quitted the island; while about a
mile off on the rising ground is the village of Khalepa, where the
consuls and merchants reside. The population of the town is estimated at
20,000. Canea probably occupies the site of the ancient Cydonia, a city
of very early foundation and no small importance. During the Venetian
rule it was one of the strongest cities in the island, but it fell into
the hands of the Turks in 1646, several years before the capture of
Candia. In 1856 it suffered from an earthquake. The neighbouring plain
is famous for its fruitfulness, and the quince is said to derive its
name _Cydonia_ from the town. (See also CRETE.)
CANE-FENCING (the Fr. _canne_), the art of defending oneself with a
walking-stick. It may be considered to be single-stick fencing without a
guard for the hand, with the important difference that in cane-fencing
the thrust is as important as the cut, and thus _canne_ approaches
nearer to sabre-play. The cuts are practically identical with those of
the single-stick (q.v.), but they are generally given after one or more
rapid preliminary flourishes (_moulinets_, circles) which the lightness
of the stick facilitates, and which serve to perplex and disconcert an
assailant. The thrusts are similar to those in foil-play, but are often
carried out with both hands grasping the stick, giving greater force and
enabling it to be used at very close quarters. The canes used in French
fencing schools are made of several kinds of tough wood and are about 3
ft. long, tapering towards the point. As very severe blows are
exchanged, masks, gloves, padded vests and shin-guards, similar to those
used in football, are worn.
See Georges d'Amoric, _French Method of the Noble Art of Self-Defence_
(London, 1898); J. Charlemont, _L'Art de la Boxe francaise et de la
Canne_ (Paris, 1899).
CANEPHORAE (Gr. [Greek: kaneon], a basket, and [Greek: ferein], to
carry), "basket-bearers," the title given of old to Athenian maidens of
noble family, annually chosen to carry on their heads baskets with
sacrificial implements and apparatus at the Panathenaic and other
festivals. The term (also in the form _Canephori_) is applied in
architecture to figures of either sex carrying on their heads baskets,
containing edibles or material for sacrifices. The term might well be
applied to the Caryatide figures of the Erechtheum. Those represented in
the Panathenaic frieze of the Parthenon carry vases on their shoulders.
CANES VENATICI ("The HOUNDS," or "the GREYHOUNDS"), in astronomy, a
constellation of the northern hemisphere named by Hevelius in 1690, who
compiled it from the stars between the older asterisms Ursa Major,
Bootes and Coma Berenices. Interesting objects in this portion of the
heavens are: the famous spiral nebula first described by Lord Rosse;
_a-Canum Venaticorum_, a double star, of magnitudes 3 and 6; this star
was named _Cor Caroli_, or The Heart of Charles II., by Edmund Halley,
on the suggestion of Sir Charles Scarborough (1616-1694), the court
physician; a cluster of stars of the 11th magnitude and fainter,
extremely rich in variables, of the 900 stars examined no less than 132
being regularly variable.
CANGA-ARGUELLES, JOSE (1770-1843), Spanish statesman, was born in 1770.
He took an active part in the Spanish resistance to Napoleon in a civil
capacity and was an energetic member of the cortes of 1812. On the
return of the Bourbon line in 1814, Canga-Arguelles was sent into exile
in the province of Valencia. On the restoration in 1820 of the
constitution of 1812, he was appointed minister of finance. He continued
at this post till the spring of 1821, distinguishing himself by the zeal
and ability with which he sought to reform the finances of Spain. It was
high time; for the annual deficit was greater than the entire revenue
itself, and landed and other property was, to an unheard-of extent,
monopolized by the priests. The measures he proposed had been only
partially enforced, when the action of the king with regard to the
ministry, of which he was a member, obliged him to resign. Thereafter,
as a member of the Moderate Liberal party, Canga-Arguelles advocated
constitutional government and financial reform, till the overthrow of
the constitution in 1823, when he fled to England. He did not return to
Spain till 1829, and did not again appear in public life, being
appointed keeper of the archives at Simancas. He died in 1843.
Canga-Arguelles is the author of three works: _Elementos de la Ciencia
de Hacienda_ (Elements of the Science of Finance), London, 1825;
_Diccionario de Hacienda_ (Dictionary of Finance), London, 1827; and
_Observaciones sobre la guerra de la Peninsula_ (Observations on the
Peninsular War), in which he endeavoured to show that his countrymen had
taken a far more effective part in the national struggle against the
French than English historians were willing to admit.
CANGAS DE ONIS, or CANGAS, a town of northern Spain, in the province of
Oviedo; situated on the right bank of the river Sella, in a fertile,
well-watered, partly wooded, undulating region. Pop. (1900) 8537. The
trade of Cangas de Onis is chiefly in live-stock and coal from the
neighbouring mines. A Latin inscription on the town-hall records the
fact that this place was the residence of the first Spanish kings after
the spread of the Moors over the Peninsula. Here early in the 8th
century lived King Pelayo, who started the Christian reconquest of
Spain. His historic cave of Covadonga is only 8 m. distant (see
ASTURIAS). The church of the Assumption, rebuilt in the 19th century, is
on the model and site of an older church of the middle ages. Near Cangas
are ruins and bridges of the Roman period.
CANGAS DE TINEO, a town of northern Spain, in the province of Oviedo,
and on the river Narcea. Pop. (1900) 22,742. There is no railway and the
river is not navigable, but a good road runs through Tineo, Grado and
the adjacent coal-fields, to the ports of Cudillero and Aviles. The
inhabitants have thus an easily accessible market for the farm produce
of the fertile hills round Cangas de Tineo, and for the cloth, leather,
pottery, &c., manufactured in the town.
CANGUE, or CANG, the European name for the Chinese _Kia_ or _Kea_, a
portable pillory, carried by offenders convicted of petty offences. It
consists of a square wooden collar weighing from 20 to 60 lb., through a
hole in which the victim's head is thrust. It fits tight to the neck and
must be worn day and night for the period ordered. The offender is left
exposed in the street. Over the parts by which it fastens slips of paper
bearing the mandarin's seal are pasted so that no one can liberate the
condemned. The length of the punishment is usually from a fortnight to a
month. As the cangue is 3 to 4 ft. across the convict is unable to feed
himself or to lie down, and thus, unless fed by friends or passersby,
often starves to death. As in the English pillory, the name of the man
and the nature of his offence are inscribed on the cangue.
CANINA, LUIGI (1795-1856), Italian archaeologist and architect, was born
at Casale in Piedmont. He became professor of architecture at Turin, and
his most important works were the excavation of Tusculum in 1829 and of
the Appian Way in 1848, the results of which he embodied in a number of
works published in a costly form by his patroness, the queen of
Sardinia.
CANINI, GIOVANNI AGNOLO (1617-1666), Italian designer and engraver, was
born at Rome. He was a pupil of Domenichino and afterwards of Antonio
Barbalonga. He painted some altar-pieces at Rome, including two admired
pictures for the church of San Martino a' Monti, representing the
martyrdom of St Stephen and of St Bartholomew. Having accompanied
Cardinal Chigi to France, he was encouraged by the minister Colbert to
carry into execution his project of designing from medals, antique gems
and similar sources a series of portraits of the most illustrious
characters of antiquity, accompanied with memoirs; but shortly after the
commencement of the undertaking Canini died at Rome. The work, however,
was prosecuted by his brother Marcantonio, who, with the assistance of
Picard and Valet, completed and published it in 1699, under the title of
_Iconografia di Gio. Ag. Canini_. It contains 150 engravings. A reprint
in Italian and French appeared at Amsterdam in 1731.
CANIS MAJOR ("Great Dog"), in astronomy, a constellation placed south of
the Zodiac, just below and behind the heels of Orion. _Canis minor_, the
"little dog," is another constellation, also following Orion and
separated from Canis major by the Milky Way. Both these constellations,
or at least their principal stars, Sirius in the Great Dog and Procyon
in the Little Dog, were named in very remote times, being referred to as
the "dogs of Orion" or in equivalent terms. Sirius is the brightest star
in the heavens; and the name is connected with the adjectives [Greek:
seirhos] and [Greek: sehirios], scorching. It may possibly be related to
the Arabic _Siraj_, thus meaning the "glittering one." Hommel has shown
that Sirius and Procyon were "the two _Si'ray_" or glitterers. It is
doubtful whether Sirius is referred to in the Old Testament. By some it
has been identified with the Hebrew _mazzaroth_, the _Lucifer_ of the
Vulgate; by others with _mazzaloth_, the _duodecim signa_ of the
Vulgate; while Professor M.A. Stern identifies it with the Hebrew
_kimah_, which is rendered variously in the Vulgate as Arcturus, Hyades
and Pleiades.[1] The inhabitants of the Euphrates valley included both
constellations in their stellar system; but considerable difficulty is
encountered in the allocation of the Babylonian names to the dominant
stars. The name _kak-ban_, which occurs on many tablets, has been
determined by Epping and Strassmaier, and also by Jensen and Hommel, as
equivalent to Sirius; etymologically this word means "dog-star" (or,
according to R. Brown, _Primitive Constellations_, "bow-star"). On the
other hand, _Kaksidi_ or _Kak-si-sa_, meaning the "leader," has been
identified by Sayce and others with Sirius, while Hommel regards it as
Procyon. The question is mainly philological, and the arguments seem
inconclusive. We may notice, however, that connexions were made between
Kaksidi and the weather, which have strong affinities with the ideas
expressed at a later date by the Greeks. For example, its appearance in
the morning with the sun heralded the "north winds," the [Greek: boreai
etaesiai] or _aquilones etesiae_, the strong and dangerous
north-westerly winds of Greece which blow for forty days from the rising
of the star; again, when Sirius appeared misty the "locusts devour."
Sirius also appears in the cosmogony of Zoroaster, for Plutarch records
that Ormuzd appointed this star to be a guard and overseer in the
heavens, and in the _Avesta_ we find that Tistrya (Sirius) is "the
bright and happy star, that gives happy dwelling." With the Egyptians
Sirius assumed great importance. Appearing with the sun when the Nile
was rising, Sirius was regarded as a herald of the waters which would
overspread the land, renewing its fertility and promising good harvests
for the coming season. Hephaestion records that from its aspect the rise
of the water was foretold, and the Roman historian Florus adds that the
weather was predicted also. Its rising marked the commencement of their
new year, the _annus canarius_ and _annus cynicus_ of the Romans. It was
the star of Sept or Sothis, and, according to one myth, was identified
with the goddess Hathor--the Aphrodite of the Greeks. It was the "second
sun" of the heavens, and according to Maspero (_Dawn of Civilization_,
1894) "Sahu and Sopdit, Orion and Sirius, were the rulers of this
mysterious world of night and stars."
The Greeks, borrowing most of their astronomical knowledge from the
Babylonians, held similar myths and ideas as to the constellations and
stars. Sirius was named [Greek: Seirios, Kuon] (the dog) and [Greek: to
astron], the star; and its heliacal rising was associated with the
coming of the dry, hot and sultry season. Hesiod tells us that "Sirius
parches head and knees"; Homer speaks similarly, calling it [Greek:
kakon saema], the evil star, and the star of late summer ([Greek:
opora]), the rainy and stormy season. Procyon ([Greek: Prokuon]) was so
named because it rose before [Greek: Kuon]. The Euphratean myth of the
dogs has its parallel in Greece, Sirius being the hound of the hunter
Orion, and as recorded by Aratus always chasing the Hare; Pindar refers
to the chase of Pleione, the mother of the Pleiads, by Orion and his
dogs. Similarly Procyon became Maera, the dog of Icarius, when Bootes
became Icarius, and Virgo his daughter Erigone.
The Romans adopted the Greek ideas. They named the constellation
_Canis_, and Sirius was known as _Canis_ also, and as _Canicula_.
Procyon became _Antecanem_ and _Antecanis_, but these names did not come
into general use. They named the hottest part of the year associated
with the heliacal rising of Sirius the _Dies caniculares_, a phrase
which has survived in the modern expression "dog-days"; and the
pestilences which then prevailed occasioned the offering of sacrifices
to placate this inimical star. Festus narrates, in this connexion, the
sacrificing of red dogs at the feast of Floralia, and Ovid of a dog on
the Robigalia. The experience of the ancient Greeks that Sirius rose
with the sun as the latter entered Leo, i.e. the hottest part of the
year, was accepted by the Romans with an entire disregard of the
intervening time and a different latitude. To quote Sir Edward Sherburne
(_Sphere of Manilius_, 1675), "The greater part of the Antients assign
the Dog Star rising to the time of the Sun's first entering into Leo,
or, as Pliny writes, 23 days after the summer solstice, as Varro 29, as
Columella 30.[2] ...At this day with us, according to Vulgar
computation, the rising and setting of the said Star is in a manner
coincident with the Feasts of St Margaret (which is about the 13th of
our July) and St Lawrence (which falls on the 10th of our August)."
Sirius is the most conspicuous star in the sky; it sends to the earth
eleven times as much light as Aldebaran, the unit standard adopted in
the revised Harvard Photometry; numerically its magnitude is -1.6. At
the present time its colour is white with a tinge of blue, but
historical records show that this colour has not always prevailed.
Aratus designated it [Greek: poikilos], many coloured; the Alexandrian
Ptolemy classified it with Aldebaran, Antares and Betelgeuse as [Greek:
upokirros], fiery red; Seneca describes it as "redder than Mars"; while,
in the 10th century, the Arabian Biruni termed it "shining red." On the
other hand Sufi, who also flourished in the 10th century, pointedly
omits it from his list of coloured stars. The question has been
thoroughly discussed by T.J.J. See, who shows that Sirius has shone
white for the last 1000 to 1200 years.[3] The parallax has been
determined by Sir David Gill and W.L. Elkin to be 0.37"; it is therefore
distant from the earth over 5 X 10^13 miles, and its light takes 8.6
years to traverse the intervening space. If the sun were at the same
distance Sirius would outshine it 30 times, the sun appearing as a star
of the second magnitude. It has a large proper motion, which shows
recurrent undulations having a 50-year period. From this Bessel surmised
the existence of a satellite or companion, for which C.A.F. Peters and
A. Auwers computed the elements. T.H. Safford determined its position
for September 1861; and on the 31st of January 1862, Alvan G. Clark, of
Cambridgeport, Mass., telescopically observed it as a barely visible,
dull yellow star of the 9th to 10th magnitude. The mean distance apart
is about 20 astronomical units; the total mass of the pair is 3.7 times
the mass of the sun, Sirius itself being twice as massive as its
companion, and, marvellously enough, forty thousand times as bright. The
spectrum of Sirius is characterized by prominent absorption lines due to
hydrogen, the metallic lines being weak; other stars having the same
spectra are said to be of the "Sirian type." Such stars are the most
highly heated (see STAR).
_Procyon_, or a Canis minoris, is a star of the 2nd magnitude, one-fifth
as bright as Sirius, or numerically 0.47 when compared with Aldebaran.
It is more distant than Sirius, its parallax being 0.33"; and its light
is about six times that of the sun. Its proper motion is large, 1.25",
and its velocity at right angles to the line of sight is about 11 m. per
second. Its proper motion shows large irregularities, pointing to a
relatively massive companion; this satellite was discovered on the 13th
of November 1896 by J.M. Schaeberle, with the great Lick telescope, as a
star of the 13th magnitude. Its mass is equal to about that of the sun,
but its light is only one twenty-thousandth.