CAPRICCIO-CAPSICINE. built in honour of the twelve chief deities by the Emperor Tiberius, who passed the last ten years of his life here in the practice of the grossest licentiousness and cruelty. The inhabitants now consist of fishermen, sailors, and a few traders, with vine-dressers and cultivators of olives in Anacapri. Wherever a tree can be planted, the hopeful and industrious people have prepared for it a soil by persevering toil in terrace-culture. Delicious quails, which in vast numbers alight on the island during their migrations to and from Africa, in spring and autumn, are taken in nets, and form an important item in the resources of Capri. To the west of the town of C. is situated the Grotta Azzurra (Blue Grotto), a remarkable cavern, entered from the sea by a narrow opening not more than three feet high. Inside, however, it is found to be of magnificent proportions, and of marvellous beauty, the gorgeous colouring being said to be produced by the reflection and refraction of the sun's rays through the water. Elliptical in form, it has a length of 165 feet, a breadth of 100 in the widest part, and a height of 40 in the loftiest, with 48 feet of water beneath. CAPRICCIO (Ital.), in Art, is applied to a picture or other work which designedly violates the ordinary rules of composition. Foliated ornaments, with Cupids or other figures appearing in them in situations not strictly natural, are capriccios. CAPRICCIO, in Music, is a species of free composition, without being subject to rule as to form or figure. Locatelli, at the beginning of the 18th c., composed capriccios for the violin. The most cele brated C. of modern times is Mendelssohn's B minor C. for pianoforte and orchestra. CAPRICORNUS, the Goat, a southern constellation, and the tenth sign of the zodiac (q. v.); denoted by the sign V, representing the crooked horns of a goat. It is usually represented on the globe as having the forepart of a goat, but the hinder part of a fish (see fig.). It is one of the least striking of the zodiacal constellations. It was, however, Capricornus. celebrated among the ancients, who regarded it as the harbinger of good-fortune, and as marking the southern tropic or winter solstice, wherefore they called it the Southern Gate of the Sun.' It contains no large stars, the two largest, which are situated in the horns, being only of the third magnitude. Neither of these rises above the horizon in our latitude. See TROPICS. CA'PRIDÆ, a family of ruminant quadrupeds, which, as defined by some naturalists, may be described as the Sheep and Goat family, including 594 the Linnæan genera Ovis (Sheep, q. v.) and Capra (Goat, q. v.); but which is extended by others to include Antelopes, their persistent horns being regarded as the great distinction between them and the Cervidae or Deer family. In the more restricted sense, the name designates a very natural family, yet differing from the Bovide or Ox family more in general appearance than in other characters; whilst links of connection with the Antelopes are not wanting, a very remarkable one being found in the Prong-horn of America. been employed in the Levant for securing and CAPRIFICATION, a method which has long hastening the maturation of figs, and which consists in suspending fruit-bearing branches of the wild fig above or beside those of the cultivated tree. The notion once entertained, that this practice is analogous to that by which the fecundation of the female well-known fact, that the fig has both male and palm-tree is secured, is inconsistent with the now female flowers within its own receptacle; and it is therefore supposed that the effects of C. may result from the agency of a species of insect, of which the eggs have been deposited in the early wild figs, and which may promote fecundation by entering the receptacle of the cultivated fig, or perhaps by puncturing it may cause it to ripen sooner. In hope of a similar advantage, some French and English cultivators have inserted into figs straws dipped in olive-oil. But C. is scarcely practised in the western parts of Europe, and has even been discontinued as unnecessary in some parts of the east where it once prevailed. whorls. CAPRIFOLIA'CEÆ, a natural order of exogenous plants, consisting of shrubs and herbaceous plants, which have opposite leaves without stipules, and flowers disposed in corymbs, in heads, or in The calyx is 4-5-cleft; the corolla monopetalous, tubular, or wheel-shaped, sometimes irregular. The stamens are adherent to the corolla at its base, and alternate with its lobes. The ovary is free, 1-5-celled. The fruit is generally a berry, sometimes dry, but not splitting open when ripe. The order is very nearly related to Cinchonaceae, differing chiefly in the want of stipules. More than 200 species are known, chiefly natives of the temperate and colder parts of the northern hemisphere. To this order belong the Honeysuckle, Elder, Viburnum, and Snowberry. Emetic and cathartic properties are prevalent in it. CAPRIMU'LGIDA, a family of birds, of the order Insessores, and tribe Fissirostres, nearly allied to the Hirundinida or Swallow tribe, but differing from them in the still greater width of gape, and in having long stiff bristles at the base of the bill. They are insectivorous birds. They have very long wings, short legs, and toes united at the base by a membrane. The European goatsucker may be said to be the type of the family, which includes also the Whip-poor-will and Night-hawk of America, with many other species widely distributed over the globe, and now arranged by naturalists in a number of genera. CAPSA'LI, a seaport town of the Ionian Islands, capital of Cerigo, or Cythera, is built upon a narrow ridge, terminating in a precipitous rock near the south end of the island. It has an old castle and a good harbour. Pop. 5000. ciple in capsicum or Cayenne pepper, and can be CA'PSICINE, an alkaloid, is the active prinobtained from it. It is a thick liquid, of a reddish colour, and possessing such acrid properties, that half a grain diffused through a large room causes every one therein to sneeze violently. CAPSICUM-CAPTAIN. holes, and are the levers for enabling the sailors to work the C.; pins, placed vertically through the drum-head, for temporarily retaining the bars in their places; and the shifter, a rope connecting the outer ends of the bars. Many improvements have recently been made in the arrangement and action of capstans; among which is Wardill's, for increasing the bite or holding of a chain-cable around the circumference. CA'PSULE, in Botany, a dry fruit, syncarpous (or formed of several carpels united together into one), and opening either by valves, as in the foxglove, primrose, and rhododendron, or by pores near the summit, which some regard as a sort of Valves, and of which beautiful examples may be either one-celled or many-celled. The Pyridium seen in the poppy and snapdragon. Capsules are is a variety of C., which opens as if cut around near the summit, presenting the appearance of a cup with a lid, of which a very beautiful example may be seen in the Anagallis, or Pimpernel; and another in the great woody fruit of the different species of Lecythis and other Lecythidacea. CAPSICUM, a genus of plants of the natural order Solanaceae, having a wheel-shaped corolla, projecting and converging stamens, and a dry berry. The species are all of a shrubby, bushy appearance, and have more or less woody stems, although they are annual or biennial plants. The number of species is very uncertain, some botanists distinguishing many, whilst others regard them as mere varieties of a few. They are natives of the warm parts of America and of Asia, have simple leaves, and rather inconspicuous flowers, and some of them are in very general cultivation in tropical and sub-tropical countries for their fruit, which is extremely pungent and stimulant, and is employed in sauces, mixed pickles, &c., often under its Mexican name of Chillies; and when dried and ground, forms the spice called Cayenne Pepper. As a condiment, it improves the flavour of food, aids digestion, and prevents flatulence. In tropical countries, it counteracts the enervating influence of external heat. In medicine, it is used as a stimulant, rubefacient, and vesicant; is often administered in combination with cinchona; and is particularly valuable both internally administered and as a gargle, not only in relaxed conditions of the throat, but in some of those CAPTAIN, MILITARY, is perhaps the most gene. diseases in which the throat is most dangerously ral designation given to an officer of land forces; affected. As a medicine, C. is administered in something equivalent to it being found in most pills mixed with bread; in the form of tincture, European languages. As a word, it simply means a obtained by digesting the bruised C. in alcohol; or head or leader, and may be applied to a chief over of an infusion, procured by digestion in water, with any number of men. Captain-general is in some varying proportions of salt and vinegar. A gargle countries a very high command. In the time of of C. is prepared by infusing it in water, along with Queen Elizabeth, there was, among other high candy-sugar and vinegar, and thereafter adding a military officers, a Captain-general of footmen. In little infusion of roses. It has no narcotic properties. the organisation of the British army at the present It owes its power chiefly to Capsicine (q. v.). The day, there is one C. to every company of infantry, fruits of the different species of C. differ in form, and every troop of cavalry. Formerly every battery being round, oval, conical, heart-shaped, &c.; they of artillery had two captains-a first and a second, vary from half an inch to four inches in length, the latter being called C.-lieutenant. Now, the first and are sometimes of a bright red, sometimes of in command has the title of major, and the second a yellow colour. In all, the dry berry has an inflated appearance, and contains numerous whitish flattened seeds, which are even more pungent than the leathery epidermis, or the spongy pulp. Cayenne pepper consists chiefly of the ground seeds. C. annuum, sometimes called Common C., or Chilly The duty of the C. is to see to the men of his Pepper, is perhaps the most common species in company in everything that relates to discipline, cultivation; and in the southern parts of Britain, if exercises, billeting, pay, settlement of accounts, raised on a hotbed as a tender annual, it produces mess, kit, clothing, arms, ammunition, accoutrefruit in the open border. There are several varieties ments, stores, barracks, cooking, &c.; to receive of it. C. frutescens, sometimes called Goat Pepper, orders concerning these matters from the major, He and C. baccatum, sometimes called Bird Pepper, and to enforce these orders among the men. have greater pungency, and the former is generally is responsible to the major, and is assisted in his described as the true Cayenne Pepper. . cerasi duties by the lieutenant and sub-lieutenant. The forme, with a small cherry-like fruit, and therefore Army Estimates for 1873-1874 provide for 239 called Cherry Pepper, and C. grossum, with a large, captains of cavalry, 1236 of infantry, 248 of artillery, oblong, or ovate fruit, known as Bell Pepper, are 115 for engineers, and 28 for colonial corps-1866 in frequently cultivated. The fruit is used either ripe all, in full commission. The former value of a C.'s or unripe, except for making Cayenne Pepper, for commission, and the circumstances of purchase which ripe fruit is employed. The fruit brought connected with it, are noticed under COMMISSIONS, from South America is sometimes sold by druggists ARMY. under the name Guinea Pepper. CAPSTAN, on shipboard, is a ponderous mass of timber, whose uses are to heave the anchor, hoist up masts and guns, take in and discharge cargo, &c. It has very firm supports on the deck underneath it. It comprises a barrel, round which a rope or a chain coils; whelps, or pieces of timber, which enlarge the diameter without greatly increasing the weight; the drum-head, a polygonal flat piece of timber at the top, pierced laterally with holes; the step, or lowest part, which rests upon and is bolted to the beams; the saucer, an iron socket let into the top of the step; the pivot or spindle, which, resting on the saucer, forms the axis around which the C. turns; the pawls, short bars of iron, to prevent the re-action of the C.; bars, which enter the that of C. The first in command of a battery of artillery, even when styled C., was considered higher than a C. of infantry or cavalry, and was privileged to be mentioned by name in military despatches, like colonels and majors. CAPTAIN, NAVAL, is the general designation for the commander of a ship. It is not universal, for some vessels of war are commanded by officers lower in rank than C.; while the chief officer of a merchant-vessel is often called master. The commanders of all rated ships are captains. The captains rise to the command of larger and larger ships, with increase of pay, according to length of service. The C. is responsible for everything on shipboard, in discipline, navigation, equipment-all, in short, that concerns the personnel or the matériel of the ship. If his ship belongs to a particular fleet or naval station, he is responsible to some admiral or commodore; if not, he is directly responsible to the Admiralty. The C. of that par ticular ship in a fleet which carries the admiral CAPTION-CAPUCHIN MONKEY. is called flag-C., and is for the moment higher in rank than others. A naval officer is always on half-pay, except when attached to a ship in actual commission; and thus in times of peace there have been always more naval captains on half than on full pay; but recent measures have been adopted to assuage this evil. The Navy Estimates for 1873-1874 provide for about 83 captains in commission on full-pay. About 142 are provided for on half-pay, under the designation of the active list these are eligible for re-employment; while on the reserved list and the retired list are 426 more. They rank in dignity with lieutenantcolonels in the army, and with colonels after three years' service. : The word C. is used in other ways also in the navy. The C. of the Fleet is a temporary officer in large fleets; he promulgates the admiral's orders, and receives all the reports and returns, filling, in short, a post equivalent to that of Chief of the Staff in an army. Among the seamen on board a ship, the chief of each gang is called C.; such as the C. of the after-guard, of the forecastle, of the hold, of the main-top, of each gun, &c. CAPTION, in the practice of the law of England, may be defined as that part of a legal instrument which shews the authority under which it is executed, or taken, as the word implies. It also states the time and place of the execution. The word C. is also improperly used in England to signify an arrest a meaning which it strictly and technically bears in Scotland, where, until the passing of the 1 and 2 Vict. c. 114, called the Personal Diligence Act, which authorises more simple forms of legal process, it was the only recognised civil warrant for the apprehension of a debtor or obligee. This word is also used in Scotland to denote a summary warrant of imprisonment, granted on the application of the clerk of court, for the purpose of forcing back the pleadings and other papers in a lawsuit, which had been borrowed by the party against whom the C. has issued, and by whom they are unduly and illegally retained. See on the subject of this article INDICTMENT, COMMISSION, DILIGENCE, WARRANT, HORNING. CAPTIVES. It is laid down by Blackstone, that, as in the goods of an enemy, so also in his person, a man may acquire a sort of qualified property in him as a captive or prisoner of warat least till the ransom of the captive is paid. In Scotland, all legal proceedings against a captive are stopped till his liberation, although, in some cases, execution against his estate may proceed. CAPTURE may be simply defined as prize taken in time of war. The law on this subject is stated with precision in a paper addressed on behalf of the British government to the American ambassador at London in September 1794: When two powers are at war, they have a right to make prizes of the ships, goods, and effects of each other, upon the high seas. Whatever is the property of the enemy, may be acquired by capture at sea; but the property of a friend cannot be taken, provided he observes his neutrality. Hence the law of nations has established that the goods of an enemy on board the ship of a friend may be taken that the lawful goods of a friend on board the ship of an enemy ought to be restored that contraband goods going to the enemy, though the property of a friend, may be taken as prize; because supplying the enemy with what enables him better to carry on the war, is a departure from neutrality.' The procedure to be adopted for determining whether the C. be or be not lawful prize, is now regulated by the 3 and 4 Vict. c. 65. During the Russian war in 1854, there appeared in the London Gazette, under date the 28th March of that year, a declaration stating, inter alia, that her Majesty would waive the right of seizing enemy's property laden on board a neutral vessel, unless it be contraband of war, and that it was not her Majesty's intention to issue letters of marque for the commissioning of privateers. The right of seizing enemy's property on board a neutral vessel, whether contraband of war or not, had always before been maintained by England. On the re-establishment of peace with Russia, a treaty was signed, and the following declarations adopted: 1. Privateering is and remains abolished; 2. A neutral flag covers an enemy's goods, with the exception of contraband of war; 3. Neutral goods, with the exception of contraband of war, are not liable to C. under an enemy's flag; 4. Blockades, in order to be binding, must be effectual-that is to say, maintained by force sufficient to prevent effectually access to the coast of the enemy. As to the right to property captured from the enemy, and its distribution as prize or booty of war among the officers and men of the army and navy, see Booty and PRIZE. CA'PUA, a fortified city of Italy, in the province of Caserta, beautifully situated in a rich plain, on the left bank of the Volturno, about 18 miles north of the city of Naples, with which it is connected by railway. It is a military station of the first class, its defences having been greatly extended and improved by Vauban. As it is the only fortress which guards the approach to Naples from the north, it was regarded as one of the keys of the former kingdom of that name. The only objects of interest in the city are the cathedral, with some splendid granite columns from ancient Casilinum, upon whose site C. was built in the 9th c.; the church of the Annunziata, with some bas-reliefs; and the arch of the Piazza dei Giudici, under which many ancient inscriptions are preserved. Pop. 10,000. The ancient Capua, which enjoyed a reputation for wealth and population second only to Rome and Carthage, was situated about two miles south-east of the present city, where its ruins are still to bo seen, its site being occupied by the modern town of Santa Maria di Capua. C. was founded by the Etruscans, under the name of Volturnum, as early, according to some authorities, as 800 B.C., and was the chief city of the twelve said to have been founded by them in this part of Italy. Its present name was derived from the Samnites, who captured it in 423 B.C. After the battle of Cannæ, 216 B.C., the popular party opened the gates to Hannibal, whose army was greatly enervated by its luxurious The Romans obtained winter-quarters here. In the 5th c., A.D., possession of the city in 211 B. C. It recovered its prosperity again to some extent, C. was devastated by the Vandals under Genseric. but it was totally destroyed by the Saracens in 840. The citizens, who had fled to the mountains, were induced by their bishop to return some 16 years later, and found the modern Capua. From that it had a circumference of 5 or 6 miles, and a the remains of the ancient C., it has been estimated population of 300,000. It had seven gates. Among the Roman antiquities, one of the most remarkable is the amphitheatre, built of bricks, and faced with white marble. Well-preserved arches, corridors and seats for spectators, still remain. It is calculated to have been capable of holding 100,000 persons, and must have been altogether one of the most magnificent buildings of the kind in Italy. CA'PUCHIN MONKEY, or CAPUCHIN SAPAJOU, a name often given to Cebus capuchinus, Caracara (Polyborus Braziliensis). CARA'CAS the capital of the republic of Venezuela, the most northerly state in South but it is capable of being tamed, and has been America, with Guiana on the E., and New Granada employed in hunting. on the W., is situated in lat. 10° 30' N., and long. 67° 5′ W., 16 miles to the south of La Guayra, its port on the Caribbean Sea. It is 2880 feet above the tide-level, enjoying from this elevation a healthy air and a temperature so moderate as to average 68° and 72° F. in February and June respectively. Standing immediately above the confluence of four streams, it is well supplied with cool water, which is distributed by means of fountains, pipes, and reservoirs. The neighbourhood is subject to earthquakes-12,000 citizens having, in 1812, perished from this cause. The population in 1873 amounted to 48,897. The streets are straight and regular. The most splendid edifice in the city is the Church of Alta Gracia for the people of colour, excelling even the cathedral in the richness of its decorations. CARACA'LLA, properly named MARCUS AURELIUS ANTONINUS BASSIANUS, a Roman emperor, the son of the Emperor Septimius Severus, was born at Lyon, 188 A. D. He was playfully named by his father Caracalla, from his long hooded tunic, made in the fashion of the Gauls, and so called in their language. After his father's death, 211 A.D., he ascended the throne as co-regent with his brother Publius Septimius Antoninus Geta, whom he afterwards caused to be murdered. Having bribed (at enormous cost) the Prætorians to overlook this foul deed, and to make him sole emperor, C. next directed his cruelty against all the friends and adherents of Geta, of whom twenty thousand of both sexes including the great jurist Papinianus-were put to death. Innumerable acts of oppression and robbery were employed to raise supplies for the unbounded CARACAS, the province of which the fore extravagance of the despot, and to pay his soldiers. going city is the capital, extends in N. lat. from In his famous constitution, he bestowed Roman 7° 38' to 10° 46', and in W. long. from 65° 30′ to citizenship on all his free subjects not citizens-who 68°, and contains 363,858 inhabitants. With a formed the majority, especially in the provinces- generally mountainous interior, the immediate coast but simply in order to levy a greater amount of is flat, presenting, besides La Guayra above mentaxes on releases and heritages, which were paid tioned, several harbours or roadsteads. The exports only by citizens. In his campaigns, he imitated, at of the province are cocoa, coffee, dye-woods, hides, one time, Alexander, at another time, Sulla; while indigo, and sarsaparilla. his main object was to oppress and exhaust the provinces which had been in a great measure spared by the tyranny of former emperors. In 217 he was assassinated, at the instigation of Macrinus, prefect of the Prætorians, by one of his veterans named Martialis, on the 8th of April 217, on the way from Edessa to Carrhæ. Historians paint the life of C. in the darkest colours. Among the buildings of C. in Rome, the baths-Therma Caracalla-near Porta Capena were most celebrated, and their ruins are still magnificent. CARACARA, or CARACARA EAGLE (Polyborus), a genus of birds of prey peculiar to America, and regarded as a connecting-link between eagles and vultures; agreeing with the former in their strongly hooked bill and claws, but with the latter in their naked face and propensity to prey on carrion. The name C. is originally Brazilian, and is derived from the peculiar hoarse cry of a common Brazilian species (P. Braziliensis), a bird of very fine plumage, and about 50 inches in expanse of wings, which is CARA'CCI, a celebrated family of Italian painters, the founders of the Bolognese school of painting. CARACCI, LUDOVICO, the son of a butcher, was born at Bologna, 1555. As a student, he was so inapt that his master recommended him to abandon the pursuit; but instead of that, he went to Venice and Parma, making acquaintance with the works of the great masters there, and returned to Bologna imbued with art principles quite opposed to the superficial mannerism then prevailing in his native city. In conjunction with two of his cousins, who, instructed by him, had imbibed the same ideas, he founded, in spite of great opposition, the school which afterwards became so famous in the history of painting. The first principle of this new school was, that observation of nature ought to be combined with imitation of the best masters.' The allied artists found numerous pupils, to whom they gave practical instructions in drawing from natural and artistic models, with theoretical lessons on perspective, anatomy, &c. So great was their success, |