CASSEL, a town of northern France in the department of Nord, 34 m. N.W.
of Lille by rail. Pop. (1906) 1844. It stands on an isolated hill (515
ft.) from which portions of France, Belgium and England can be seen,
with 32 towns and 100 villages, including St Omer, Dunkirk, Ypres and
Ostend. The former hotel de ville (1634), the hotel de la Noble Cour,
once the seat of the jurisdiction of maritime Flanders, now the
town-hall, and the hotel des ducs d'Halluin are the historic buildings
of the town. Cassel has a communal college. Its industrial
establishments include tanneries, oil-mills, salt refineries and
breweries, and there is trade in cattle and butter.
The town, supposed to occupy the site of _Castellum Menapiorum_, was a
Roman station, as numerous remains of the Gallo-Roman period attest, and
an important centre of roads. It is frequently mentioned in the wars of
the middle ages, and was the scene of important battles in 1071, when
Robert, count of Flanders, vanquished his rival Arnulf; 1328, when
Philip of Valois defeated the Flemish; and 1677, when William of Orange
was defeated by Philip, duke of Orleans, brother of Louis XIV. General
D.R. Vandamme (1770-1830) was born in the town.
CASSEL, or KASSEL, a city of Germany, capital of the former electorate
of Hesse-Cassel, and, since its annexation by Prussia in 1866, capital
of the province of Hesse-Nassau. Pop. (1885) 64,083; (1905) 120,446. It
is pleasantly situated, in a hilly and well-wooded country, on both
sides of the river Fulda, over which a stone bridge leads to the lower
new town, 124 m. by rail N.N.E. from Frankfort-On-Main. The river is
navigable for barges, and railways connect the town with all parts of
Germany. The streets of the old town are narrow and crooked, and contain
many picturesque gabled houses, generally of the 17th century, but those
of the upper and lower new town, and the three suburbs, are not
surpassed by any in Germany. The principal streets are the
Konigs-strasse (5100 ft. long and 60 broad), the Schone Aussicht, and
the Stande-platz (180 ft. broad with four rows of linden trees). The
large Friedrichs-platz is 1000 by 450 ft. in area. In it stands a marble
statue of the landgrave Frederick II. There is a fine view from the open
side. The former residence of the electors (_Residenzschloss_) fronts
this square, as well as the Museum Fridericianum, with a _facade_ of
Roman-Ionic columns. The museum contains various valuable collections of
curiosities, interesting mosaics, coins, casts, a library of 230,000
volumes, and valuable manuscripts. In the cabinet of curiosities there
is a complete collection of clocks and watches from the earliest to the
present time. Among these is the so-called Egg of Nuremberg, a watch
made about 1500 by Peter Henlein. Among other public places and
buildings worthy of notice are the Roman Catholic church, with a
splendid interior; the Konigs-platz, with a remarkable echo; the
Karls-platz, with the statue of the landgrave Charles; and the
Martins-platz, with a large church--St Martin's--with twin towers,
containing the burial-vaults of the Hessian princes. The gallery of
paintings, housed in a handsome building erected in 1880 on the Schone
Aussicht, contains one of the finest small collections in Europe,
especially rich in the works of Rembrandt, Frans Hals and Van Dyck.
The town contains numerous educational institutions, including a
technical college, a school of painting, a celebrated classical school,
which the emperor William II. attended, and a military academy. The
descendants of the French refugees who founded the upper new town have a
church and hospital of their own. There are three Roman Catholic
churches, an English church, and two synagogues. Music is much
cultivated, and there is an opera with a first-rate orchestra, of which
Ludwig Spohr was at one time conductor. The opera-house or theatre was
built by Jerome Napoleon, but in 1906 money was voted for a new
building on the Auetor. A new Rathaus (town-hall) has been erected.
There are also the Bose Museum, containing collections of pictures and
antiquities of Hessian origin, museums of natural history and
ethnography, an industrial exhibition hall, and an industrial art
school. A handsome Gothic Lutheran church was erected in 1892-1897, a
post office (Renaissance) in 1881, and new administrative offices and
law courts in 1876-1880. The municipal (or Murhard) library, in the
Hanau park, contains 118,000 volumes. The most noticeable of the modern
public monuments are those to the emperor William I. (1898), to the
musician Spohr (1883), and the Lowenbrunnen (1881). In the Karlsaue, a
favourite public promenade lying just below the Schone Aussicht, are the
Orangerie and the marble baths. Cassel is the headquarters of the XI.
German army corps, and has a large garrison. It is a favourite residence
for foreigners and retired officers and government officials. The
industries embrace engine-building, the manufacture of railway carriages
and plant, scientific instruments, porcelain, tobacco and cigars,
lithography, jute-spinning, iron-founding, brewing and gardening.
On a slope of the Habichtswald Mountains, 3 m. W. of Cassel, and
approached by an avenue, is the summer palace of Wilhelmshohe, erected
in 1787-1794. Napoleon III. resided here, as a prisoner of war, after
the battle of Sedan. The surrounding gardens are adorned with fountains,
cascades, lakes and grottos, the principal fountain sending up a jet of
water 180 ft. high and 12 in. in diameter. Here also is an interesting
building called the Lowenburg, erected in 1793-1796 in the style of a
fortified castle, and containing among other things portraits of Tudors
and Stuarts. The principal curiosity is the Karlsburg cascade, which is
placed in a broad ravine, thickly wooded on both sides. A staircase of
900 steps leads to the top. On one of the landings is a huge
rudely-carved stone figure of the giant Enceladus, and at the top is an
octagon building called the Riesenschloss, surmounted by a colossal
copper figure of the Farnese Hercules, 31 ft. high, whose club alone is
sufficiently capacious to accommodate from eight to ten persons. In
different parts of the park, and especially from the Octagon, charming
views are obtained. The park was first formed by the landgrave Frederick
II., the husband of Mary, daughter of George II. of England, and was
finished by his successor the landgrave William, after whom it was
named.
The earliest mention of Cassel is in 913, when it is referred to as
Cassala. The town passed from the landgraves of Thuringia to the
landgraves of Hesse in the 13th century, becoming one of the principal
residences of the latter house in the 15th century. The burghers
accepted the reformed doctrines in 1527. The fortifications of the town
were restored by the landgrave Philip the Magnanimous and his son
William IV. during the 16th century, and it was greatly improved by the
landgrave Charles (1654-1730), who welcomed many Huguenots who founded
the upper new town. In 1762 Cassel was captured by the Germans from the
French; after this the fortifications were dismantled and New Cassel was
laid out by the landgrave Frederick II. In 1807 it became the capital of
the kingdom of Westphalia; in 1813 it was bombarded and captured by the
Russian general Chernichev; in 1830, 1831 and 1848 it was the scene of
violent commotions; from 1850 to 1851 it was occupied by the Prussians,
the Bavarians and the Austrians; in 1866 it was occupied by the
Prussians, and in 1867 was made the capital of the newly formed Prussian
province of Hesse-Nassau.
See Piderit, _Geschichte der Haupt- und Residenzstadt Kassel_ (Kassel,
1882); Fr. Muller, _Kassel seit 70 Jahren_ (2 vols., 2nd ed., Kassel,
1893); and Hessler, _Die Residenzstadt Kassel und ihre Umgebung_
(Kassel, 1902).
CASSELL, JOHN (1817-1865), British publisher, was born in Manchester on
the 23rd of January 1817. His father was the landlord of a public-house,
and John was apprenticed to a joiner. He was self-educated, gaining by
his own efforts a considerable acquaintance with English literature and
a knowledge of French. He came to London in 1836 to work at his trade,
but his energies at this time were chiefly centred in the cause of
temperance, for which he was an active worker. In 1847 he established
himself as a tea and coffee merchant, and soon after started a
publishing business with the aim of supplying good literature to the
working classes. From the offices of the firm, which became in 1859
Messrs. Cassell, Petter, Galpin & Co., were issued the _Popular
Educator_ (1852-1855), the _Technical Educator_ (1870-1872), the
_Magazine of Art_ (1878-1903), _Cassell's Magazine_ (from 1852), and
numerous editions of standard works. A special feature of Cassell's
popular books was the illustration. At the time of the Crimean War he
procured from Paris the cuts used in _L'Illustration_, and by printing
them in his _Family Paper_ (begun in 1853) secured a large circulation
for it. The firm was converted in 1883 into a limited liability company,
under the name of Cassell & Company, Limited. John Cassell died in
London on the 2nd of April 1865.
CASSIA (Lat. _cassia_, Gr. [Greek: kasia]), the aromatic bark derived
from _Cinnamomum cassia_. The greater part of the supply coming from
China, it is sometimes termed Chinese cinnamon. The bark is much thicker
than that of true cinnamon; the taste is more pungent and the flavour
less delicate, though somewhat similar to that of cinnamon. The
properties of cassia bark depend on the presence of a volatile oil--the
oil of cassia, which is imported in a fairly pure state as an article of
commerce from Canton. Cassia bark is in much more extensive demand on
the continent of Europe than in Great Britain, being preferred to
cinnamon by southern nations. The chief use of both the oil and bark is
for flavouring liqueurs and chocolate, and in cooking generally. When
ground as a spice it is difficult to distinguish cassia from cinnamon
(q.v.), and it is a common practice to substitute the cheap common spice
for the more valuable article. _Cassia Buds_, which have a pleasing
cinnamon flavour, are believed to be the immature fruits of the tree
which yields Chinese cinnamon. They are brought in considerable
quantities from Canton, and used as a spice and in confectionery.
_Cassia pulp_, used as a laxative, is obtained from the pods of _Cassia
fistula_, or pudding pipe tree, a native of Africa which is cultivated
in both the East and West Indies. Some confusion occasionally arises
from the fact that _Cassia_ is the generic name of an extensive genus of
leguminous plants, which, in addition to various other medicinal
products, is the source of the senna leaves which form an important
article of materia medica.
CASSIA, VIA, an ancient high-road of Italy, leading from Rome through
Etruria to Florentia (Florence); at the 11th mile the Via Clodia (see
CLODIA, VIA) diverged north-north-west, while the Via Cassia ran to the
east of the Lacus Sabatinus and then through the place now called Sette
Vene, where a road, probably the Via Annia, branched off to Falerii,
through Sutrium (where the Via Ciminia, running along the east edge of
the Lacus Ciminius, diverged from it, to rejoin it at Aquae Passeris,
north of the modern Viterbo[1]), Forum Cassii, Volsinii, Clusium and
Arretium, its line being closely followed by the modern highroad from
Rome to Florence. The date of its construction is uncertain: it cannot
have been earlier than 187 B.C.,[2] when the consul C. Flaminius
constructed a road from Bononia to Arretium (which must have coincided
with the portion of the later Via Cassia). It is not, it is true,
mentioned by any ancient authorities before the time of Cicero, who in
45 B.C. speaks of the existence of three roads from Rome to Mutina, the
Flaminia, the Aurelia and the Cassia. A milestone of A.D. 124 mentions
repairs to the road made by Hadrian from the boundary of the territory
of Clusium to Florence, a distance of 86 m.
See Ch. Hulsen in Pauly-Wissowa, _Realencyclopadie_, iii. 1669.
(T. As.)