G A' N
t)F Abbas, in the year of the Heglra 150, anfwenng to the year of Chrift 775. There are fome traces ofitftillfubfifting: M. Boutier, in 1703, discovered the end which ariies out of the moft eallerly branch of the Nile. Hift. Acad. Scienc. An. 1 702. p 1 ic. feq.
- Che Great Canal of Chma,'is one of the wonders of art, made
about S'oo years ago. It runs from North to South quite erofs the empire; beginning at the city Canton. By it all kinds of foreign merchandize entered at that city are carried directly to Pekin, a diftance of 825 miles. Its breadth and depth are fuf- ficient to carry barks of confiderable burden, which are ma- naged by fails and mails, as well as towed by hand : On this canal the emperor is faid to employ icoro mips, abating one, for a reafon very peculiar. It paffes through, or by, 41 large cities ; there are in it 7 5 vaft locks, and fluices to keep up the water, and pafs the barks and (hips where the ground will not admit of a fufScient depth of channel, beiides feveral thoufand draw and other bridges. Atlas Mark. p. 199. See alfo Kir- cher,Chin. iilufr. 1. 5. Phil. Tranf. N* 26. p. 487. F. Magaillane allures us, there is paffage from one end of Chi- na to the other, the fpace of 6 co French leagues, always cither by canals or rivers, except a fingle day's journey by land,necef- fary to crofs a mountain, an advantage which thisjefuit, who made the voyage himfelf, obferves is not to be found in any other ftate of the univerfe. De Magaillane Nouv. Relat. de la Chine, c. 8. Nouv. Rep. Lett. T. 14. p. 1194, fcq. We alfo read of divers projects and undertakings of canals, which were never atchieved. Demetrius Poliorcetcs, Julius Csefar, the emperors Caligula and Nero, attempted in vain to cut through the Iflhmus, whereby Peloponefus is joined to the reft of Greece,and make a canal of communication between the Ionian and iEgean feas. Plin. Hift. Nat. 1. 4. c. 4. Mem.de Trev. Juin 1702. p. 149.
'Tis commonly alledged that feveral attempts have been made to cut the Iflhmus or trail: of land, which Separates the Medi- terranean from theRed Sea. But this feems to be a popular error arifing from a miflake of the place where the canal was to he cut. Kirch. CEdip ./Egypt. Synt. t. c. 8. Brown, Vulg. Error. I. 6. c. 8. p. 269. See alfo B tartan, Hift. Orb. Terr. P. i.e. 3. §. 4.
Seleucus Nicanor had a defign to make a canal between the Euxine and Cafpian feas. Lucius Verus, who commanded thi Roman army in Gaul under Nero, attempted to make a canal between the Mofelle and the Rhine.
A new canal Tor conveying the waters of the Nile from ./Ethio- pia into theRed Sea without palling into /Egypt was projected by Albuquerque, viceroy of India for the Portuguefe, in order to render iEgypt barren and unprofitable to the furies. Bee- man, Hift. Orb. Terr. P. i.e. 3. §.5.
The Spaniards have feveral times had in view the digging a canal through the iflhmus of Darien from Panama to Nombre de dios, to make a ready communication between the Atlantic and in? South Sea, and thus afford a ftrait paflage to China and the Eaft Indies. Becman, Hift. Orb. Terr. P. 1. c. 3 § 21.
Canal of an aqueduct, is the part through which the water paf- fes; which in the antient edifices of this kind, is lined with a coat of maflic of a peculiar compofttion. Davil. Courf. de Farchit. P. 2. p. 444.
Canal rf a garden, is along extended piece of water, bordered with (lone or turf. Id. ibid.
Canal is alfo applied to the furrows on the face of, or under- neath a larmier ; fomecimes called porticos ; and fitted up with reeds or flowers. Sometimes to thole cavities ftrait or winding made on the caulicoles of a capital. Id. ibid, p 44?.
Canals is alfo ufed for the flutings of a column or pilaftcr.
Canal, in anatomy. Under canals are included all kinds of veffids, as arteries, veins, nerves, &c. See Artery, Vein, &c: Cycl. and Stippl.
The hole or perforation through the vertebras of the neck, whereby the fpinal marrow communicates with the brain, is bv fome called the facred or great canal, ty* <?v$iy£. Cajl, Lex. Med. p. 1 28.
CANALICIUM aarum, or canalienfe, that gold which is dug out of mines, or veins under ground. Plin. Hift. Nat. 1. 23. c
4. Bihl.Raif. T 3 p. 28. CANALICULATE leaf, among botanifts. See Leaf. Canaliculate^/*. See the article Stalk. CANALIS is ufed by furgeons for an oblong concave inftrument,
in which to put a broken limb, leg, or thigh a . It is made ei- ther of brafs, wood, or earthen ware, fometimes even of ftraw fitted with linnen cloth b .— [ fl Cclf. de Medic. 1. 8. c. 10. N°
5. Junck. Confp. Chir. tab. 2. p. 13. h Scuitet. Arm. Chi- rurg. P. 1. tab. 13. CaJL Lex. Med.' p. 128. Fab. Thef. p. 429.
Canalis arteriefus(CftL) —Dr. Agricola defcribes a valve at the entry of the canalis arteriofus into the aorta defcendens, compof- ed of four fides. Two of them prevent its bein°- (hut till after birth, and the other two prevent its being thruft off from the orifice of the canalis arteriofus. Commerc. Norimb. 1735. Hebd. 4. §. 2.
There have been fome difputes between mefiieurs Mcry, Bu- ifiiere, Rohault and others, about the real ufe of the canalis arte- riofus, as well as of the foramen ovale. Vid. Mem. Acad. Scienc. an. 1693. p. 198, feq. Bibl. Ital. T. 4. p. 83, feq. See Fora- men ovale, Cycl. and Suppl. 2
CAN
Canalis nafalis, a kind of ("ulcus or furrow formed in the ofla unguis and maxillaria, whereby a mucous humour is conveyed from the pun3a lacrymalia to the nofe. June/:. Confp Phy- fid. tab. 15. p. 2 6 + . Heijl. Comp. Anat. §. 82. 8;. p. 31. feq.
Canalis venajus, a dufl in the liver of a foetus, whereby a communication is maintained between the porta and cava- which becoming uielcfs after the birth, the canal gradually dries up. Drat. Anthrop. 1. i.e. 22. p. 173. H.ift, Comp. Anat. §243. p I59 .
•a^ L D t '" zoolo S>'- See the article Tubulus marinus.
<_AN ARIA lappa, in botany, a name given by the antient Ro- mans fometimes to the rough fruit ot the common aparine or clivers, and fometimes to the plant itfelf. Piinv calls the plant lappa and lappago, and the fruit of it lappa bnarix, lappa cana- ries, and lappa: camna.
CANARITJM, in antiquity, a Roman facrifice, wherein dot's of a red or ruddy colour were facrificed ; for a fecurity of 'the fruits of the earth againft the raging heats, and diforders of Sinus in the dog days. Fift. de verb, fignif. in voc. RutiU. Ovid. baft. 1. 4. v. 905. 906. Briflin. de form. I. 1. p. 57- Pitifc. Lex. Ant. T. 1. p. 34 2." Salmaf. exerc. ad Solin. P- 3 r 9-
CANARY birds, a fpecies of finging birds, greenim in colour, formerly brought only from the Canary iflands, but of late chiefly from Germany and Switzerland ; which laft, called alfo German birds, are preferred to the former. Canary birds are diftinguiflicd by different names at different times and ages : Such as are about three years old' are called runts; thofe above two, are named crip ; thofe of the firft year under the care of tbe old ones are termed branchrs ; thofe that are new-flown, and cannot feed thzmkUcs, pnjlxrs ; and thofe brought up by hand, nejilings.
Canary birds are various in their notes ; fome having a fweet fong, others a lavifh note, others a long fong, which is beft, as having greateft variety of notes. Some prefer thofe which whiflc a, d chew like a tit lark ; others are for thofe which be- gin like a iky lark, continuing their fong with a long yet fweet note ; others chufe thofe which begin their fong with the iky lark, and then run on the notes of the nightingale; others again prefer a loud note and lavilb, regarding" little more than the noife. Cox, Gent. Recr. of Fowl, p. 50. feq. W. Dift.
fl'^'^r-T-' 9 53 ' VOC ' Se ""' SeePAS "RES Canarienfes.
LANAT Tt Coronde, a name given by the Ceylonefe to a peculiar kind of cinnamon growing in that ifland ; this is ef- teemed the fecond kind in value, and the name they give to it fignifies bitter and aftringent cinnamon. The bark of this kind of cinnamon tree comes off very eafily, and is of a very fra- grant fmell when frefh, but it has a bitter tafte. It is not very common in the ifland, and is not eafily diftinguifhed on the tree from the beft cinnamon. The trees which yield the eight different kinds of cinnamon, fo very various in flavour and virtue, are all fo like one another, that it requires a great deal of attention to diftinguifh them. The root of this kind of cinnamon tree yields a very fine fort of camphor. Phil. Tran. N' 4-9.
CANAVAY, in natural hiftory, a name given by the inhabitants of the Philippine iflands to a fea bird which is defcribed as be- ing of the bignefs of a pigeon, and laying its eggs on the naked rocks, where it fits and hatches them. Some fuppofe this bird no other than the common kingfifher But this is fcarce proba- ble ; as we have no account of its being very beautifully co- loured ; and this is a circumftance which can hardly have efcaped thofe who mentioned it, being fo very remarkable. It is much more probably fome fea bird wholly unknown in this part of the world.
CANCAMUM, in the materia medica, a name given by the Greeks to a gum or refin, and continued down to the prefent age, though not without fome uncertainty in its fignification. The Arabian writers in general have looked on the word can- camum as a fynonymous term for gum lack, which the Greeks have called lancha and lacha, and Avifenna loch. This however is an erroneous opinion, and the lacha and can- camum of tbe Greeks are evidently different druggs. Serapion has defcribed the cancamum from Diofcorides, tranflating the very words of that author; but this he has done in the chapter of lacca, and under that name. And Avifenna in one part of his writings tells us that many people inhii time were of opinion that the gum called lacca or can a?num was the fame thing with carabe or amber ; and in another place under the name fockim, which is plainly a word formed out of the Greek *«»x«p» can- camum, he tells us that many people believed it to be the fame thing with fandaracha or fandarus ; for this laft is the true name of the gum fince called faudarax and fandaracha, the laft of which names is a notorioufiy improper one, as it confounds this gum with the mineral fandarach a fubftance of the orpi- ment clafs.
The gum fandarach is indeed very like yellow refin, and there- fore cannot be unlike to common yellow amber. The Ara- bian authors have alfo fometimes called this gum by the name vernix, the varnifli gum. It was an extremely improper, but yet very common cuftom among them, to call whatever fub- ftances concurred in the fame general qualities, and had the fame ufes, by the fame name,and confound them one with an- other. Thus the fandarach, cancamum, and vernifh are called
the.
