[1] But see the E. major fugue in the second book of the
_Wohltemperirtes Klavier_, where the entry of the diminished subject
(in a new position of the scale) is very tender and solemn.
[2] For technical terms see articles COUNTERPOINT and FUGUE.
CONTREXEVILLE, a watering-place of north-eastern France, in the
department of Vosges, on the Vair, 39 m. W. of Epinal by rail. Pop.
(1906) 940. The mineral springs of Contrexeville have been in local
repute since a remote period, but became generally known only towards
the end of the 18th century; and the modern reputation of the place as a
health resort dates from 1864, when it began to be developed by a
company, the Societe des Eaux de Contrexeville, and more particularly
from about 1895. In the ten years after this latter date many
improvements were made for the accommodation of visitors, for whom the
season is from May to September. The waters of the Source Pavilion,
which are used chiefly for drinking, have a temperature of 53 deg. F. and
are characterized chiefly by the presence of calcium sulphate. They are
particularly efficacious in the treatment of gravel and kindred
disorders, by the elimination of uric acid.
See _Thirty-five years at Contrexeville_ (1903), by Dr Debout
d'Estrees.
CONTROL (Fr. _controle_, older form _contre rolle_, from Med. Lat.
_contra-rotulus_, a counter roll or copy of a document used to check the
original; there is no instance in English of the use of "control" in
this, its literal, meaning), a substantive (whence the verb) for that
which checks or regulates anything, and so especially command of body or
mind by the will, and generally the power of regulation. In England the
"Board of Control," abolished in 1858, was the body which supervised the
East India Company in the administration of India. In the case of
"controller," a general term for a public official who checks
expenditure, the more usual form "comptroller" is a wrong spelling due
to a false connexion with "accompt" or "account." A "control" or
"control-experiment," in science, is an experiment used, by an
application of the method of difference, to check the inferences drawn
from another experiment.
CONTUMACY (Lat. _contumacia_, obstinacy; derived from the root _tem-_,
as in _temnere_, to despise, or possibly from the root _tum-_, as in
_tumere_, to swell, with anger, &c.), a stubborn refusal to obey
authority, obstinate resistance; particularly, in law, the wilful
contempt of the order or summons of a court (see CONTEMPT OF COURT). In
ecclesiastical law, the contempt of the authority of an ecclesiastical
court is dealt with by the issue of a writ _de contumace capiendo_ from
the court of chancery at the instance of the judge of the ecclesiastical
court; this writ took the place of that _de excommunicato capiendo_ in
1813, by an act of George III. c. 127 (see EXCOMMUNICATION).
CONUNDRUM (a word of unknown origin, probably coined in burlesque
imitation of scholastic Latin, as "hocus-pocus" or "panjandrum"),
originally a term meaning whim, fancy or ridiculous idea; later applied
to a pun or play upon words, and thus, in its usual sense, to a
particular form of riddle in which the answer depends on a pun. In a
transferred sense the word is also used of any puzzling question or
difficulty.
CONVENT (Lat. _conventus_, from _convenire_, to come together), a term
applied to an association of persons secluded from the world and devoted
to a religious life, and hence to the building in which they live, a
monastery or (more particularly) nunnery. The diminution "conventicle"
(_conventiculum_), generally used in a contemptuous sense as implying
sectarianism, secrecy or illegality, is applied to the meetings or
meeting-places of religious or other dissenting bodies.
CONVENTION (Lat. _conventio_, an assembly or agreement, from
_convenire_, to come together), a meeting or assembly; an agreement
between parties; a general agreement on which is based some custom,
institution, rule of behaviour or taste, or canon of art; hence extended
to the abuse of such an agreement, whereby the rules based upon it
become lifeless and artificial. The word is of some interest
historically and politically. It is used of an assembly of the
representatives of a nation, state or party, and is particularly
contrasted with the formal meetings of a legislature. It is thus applied
to those parliaments in English history which, owing to the abeyance of
the crown, have assembled without the formal summons of the sovereign;
in 1660 a convention parliament restored Charles II. to the throne, and
in 1689 the Houses of Commons and Lords were summoned informally to a
convention by William, prince of Orange, as were the Estates of
Scotland, and declared the throne abdicated by James II. and settled the
disposition of the realm. Similarly, the assembly which ruled France
from September 1792 to October 1795 was known as the National Convention
(see below); the statutory assembly of delegates which framed the
constitution of the United States of America in 1787 was called the
Constitutional Convention; and the various American state constitutions
have been drafted and sometimes revised by constitutional ...
(Continued in volume 7, slice 3, page 46.)