C H A
C H A
ground pine, with ferrated leaves. 4. The common, yellow- flowered ground pine, with bifid leaves. 5. The Portugal, trifid-leaved ground pine, with role-coloured flowers. To urn. Inft. p. 208.
Cbamxpitys, or ground pine, though highly extolled as an aperi- ent, cephalic, and nervous medicine, is however little ufed, ex- cept as an ingredient of the theriaca, and fome other officinal compofitions. CHAMAiRHODODENDROS, in botany, the name of a genus of trees, the characters of which are thefe ; the flower is com pofed of only one leaf, and is of a tubular, and fomewhat fun- nel-like fhape. The piftil arifes from the cup, and is fixed in the manner of a nail to the hinder part of the flower. This finally becomes an oblong fruit, divided into five cells, and finally burfling into fa many capfules, which are all affixed to an axis, and contain fmall feeds.
The fpecies of chcmiarhododendrcs enumerated by Mr. Tour- nefort are thefe : 1 . The fmooth Alpine ekanusrhododendros. 2. The hairy Alpine chamczrhododendros. 3 The ferpyllum- leaved Alpine chanuerhodadendroi. 4. The Indian chamarho- dodendrcs, with large crimfon flowers. CHAMBER IPHES, in botany, a name given by Pontedera to a genus of plants called by Linnaeus chamccrops. Pontcder. 10. See Cham^trops. CHAMjEROPS, in botany, the name of a very fingular genus of plants, which produce diftindt plants, fome hermaphrodite, and fome only male flowers. The characters are thefe : in the hermaphrodite flower the general cup is the whole ear, which is comprefled and bifid ; but befide this each flower has its feparate perianthium, which is very fmall, and divided into three parts. The flower is in the fame manner divided into three parts, and thefe are of a coriaceous fubftance, and oval figure ; they ftand erect, and have a fharp point bending a lit- tle backward ; the ftamina are fix comprefled and pointed fila- ments, very flightly cohering at the bafe ; the anthene are ve- ry flender and double, and grow to the inner fide of the fila- ments ; the piftil has three roundifh germina, to which are joined as many diftincf. ftylus's, which do not fall off with the flower ; the ftigmata are acute ; the fruit is cornpofed of three -globofe berries, each being unilocular, and containing a fingle roundifh feed. The male flowers refemble the female in their whole ftructure, except that they have in the place of the fty- lus a gibbofe, impervious receptacle, which terminates in fix ftamina. Linneei Gen. PI. p. 513. Pontcder. 10. Chamjerops is alfo ufed by Pliny, and fome other of the old authors, for the low, or dwarf palm, called by others the pal- mites. Ger. Emac. Ind. 2. CHAMANIM, in the Jewifh antiquities, is the Hebrew name . for that which the Greeks call Pyre/a, or Pyrateria ; and St. Je- rom in Leviticus has tranflated fimulacbra, in Ifaiah, dehbra. Lev. c. xxvii. v. 30. Ifai. c. 27. v. 9.
Thefe chamanhn were, according to rabbi Solomon, idols ex- pofed to the fun upon the tops of houfes. Abenezra fays, they were portable chapels or temples, made in the form of chariots, in honour of the fun. . What the Greeks call Pyraeia, were temples confecrated to the fun and fire, wherein a perpetual fire was kept up. They were built upon eminences, and were large enclofures, with- out covering, where the fun was worfhipped. Herodotus and Strabo fpeak of them ; and the Guebres or worfhippers of fire in Perfia and the Indies haveftill thefe Pyrma. Strabo fays, that in his time there were many of thefe temples to be feen in Cappadocia, confecrated to the goddefs Anaita, and the god Homantts. Anaita is in all probability the moon, and Homanus, the fun. Herodoi, 1. 1. p. 8;. Strabo, \. 15. The word cbamanim is derived.from ehaman, which fignifies to warm, to burn. Calm. Diet. Bibl, in voc. cbamanim. CHAMARIM, a word mentioned in feveral places of the He- brew bible, and generally tranflated the pricjh of the idols, or friejls cloathsd in black, becaufe chamar fignifies black or black- nefs, St. Jerom a in the fecond book of kings, renders it aruf- pices. In Hofea b , and Zephaniah c , he tranflates it esditui, churchwardens i but the beft commentators are of opinion, that by this word we are to underfland the priefts of the falfe gods, and in particular of the worfhippers of fire ; becaufe they were, as they fay, dreflcd in black; or perhaps the Hebrews gave them this name in derifion, becaufe, as they were continu- . ally employed in taking c^rc about the fewel, and keeping up the fire, they were as black as fmiths or colliers. — [ 2 2 K.ings xxiii. 5. b c. x. v. 5. c c. i. v. 4.]
Wc find priefts among thofe of Ifis called melanepbori, that is to fay, that wear black; but whether this might be by reafon of their drefllng in black, or whether it were becaufe they wore a certain black fhining veil, in the proceflions of this goddefs, is not certain.
Camar, in Arabic, fignifies the moon : Ifis is the fame deity. Grotius thinks the Roman priefts called camilli, came from the Hebrew chamarim. They, among the heathens, who facrificed to the infirnal gods, were dreiied in black. Calmet. Diet. Bibl. Vidi egmiet nigra juccintl am vadcre pallet
Canidiam pedibus nudis, pajfoque eapillo. Herat. 1. 1. Sat. 8.
CHAM/EXYLON, in botany, a name by which fome authors
have called the gnaphalium, or cudweed.' Ger. Emac. Ind. 2.
CHAMBERDEKINS, in our old ftatutes, a denomination for
certain Irifh beggars, which by ftatute were to leave England
within a certain time*. They were called in the ihtute b vhamberdeakyrm, and laid to 1 e clerks mendicants c . Blount d fays they are called chamber deacons in theparliament roll. — [ a Terms de ley. in voc. b 1 Hen. 5. c. 8. c Clercs irroyis mendinaunts. d Law Diet, in voc]
CHAMBER [Cjcl.) — Chambers of the king, regies camera, in our old records, is ufed for the havens or ports of the king- dom. Selden. Mar. Clauf. p. 242. ap. Blount. Law Diet.
CHAMEL./EA, in botany, the name of a genus of plants, the characters of which are thefe : the flower confifts of only one leaf divided into three fegments, and that fometimes fo deeply as to appear on a flight view, a three leaved flower. The piftil final- ly becomes a tricoccous fruit, or one cornpofed of three kernels, covered and held together by a thin fkin, and containing with- in them oblong feeds.
The fpecies of ckamelaa enumerated by Mr. Tournefort are -thefe: 1. The common chameUca. 2. The white-flowered ckameclea, with box-like, blackiih green leaves, loum. Inft. p. 65:1.
CHAMELEIA, in natural hiftory, a word ufed by fome authors as a name for a peculiar fpecies of chama, but by others as a name for all thofe chamje which have fmooth furfaces, which are a very great number. See Chama.
CHAMELEON, in zoology, the name of a fmall animal, of which many ftrange things have been reported, fome true, fome falfe.
It is of the clafs of oviparous quadrupeds, and approaches much to the lizard kind, but that its head and back are notdcprcfled and flatted as in the lizards, and' that the legs are longer. There are four diitindt fpecies of this animal. 1 . The Arabian kind, which is fmall, and hardly exceeding the green lizard in fize : this is of a whitifh colour variegated with ycllowifh and redifh fpots. 2. The ./Egyptian, which is twice as large as the Arabian, and is of a middle colour between the whitifh hue of the Arabian and a fair green : this changes its colour to a paler or deeper yellow. 3. The Mexican And fourthly, a kind fometimes fhewn about as a light, and met with by J. Eaber Lynceus at Rome, which differed from all the others. The Arabian and Mexican chameleons feldom exceed fix inches in length ; the ./Egyptian is nine or more; its head is large, but the thicknefs of its body is not to be determined, as the crea- ture alters diat at pleafure, as it more or lefs inflates its bedy ; and this inflation not only goes through the whole body, but into the legs and tail. This inflatiun is not at all like the breathing of other animals, for the body when thus puffed out will remain fo two hours, only gradually and infenfibly finking all the time, and afterwards will be inflated again, but that much more quickly than itfubfuled. It is able a long time to continue either of thefe flares, but more frequently remains empty for a confiderable fpacc, in which time, though before it appeared in good cafe, it looks miferably lean and lank, and its back-bone may be feen perfectly, its ribs counted, and even the large tendons of the feet tliftinctly obferved by the naked eye through the fkin. The back-bone, however, is not ferrated as many have affirmed, but makes, in this its lean ftate, a plain Iharp ridge, and the whole animal looks fo miferably meagre, that it has not unaptly been called a living (kin. The head is very like that of fome fifhes, and is joined almoit immediately to the breaff, the neck being extremely fhort, and has at the fides two cartilaginous eminences* in the manner of filhes. It has a creft Sanding up in the middle of the forehead, and two others over the eyes, and between the crefts there are two re- markable depref lions, the nofe and mouth running from the eyes with a double edge to the end of the fnotit, refemble thofe of a frog : at the extiernity of the nofe there are two perfora- tions, which feem to ferve as noftrils ; the mouth being always kept clofe fhut, and the creature appearing to have no power of refpiringbut by means of thefe. Its mouth isfumifhed with teeth, or rather with continued denticulated bones. Thefe are of no fervice to the creature in eating, fince it preys on flies, and fwallows them whole ; but may ferve for its defence in holding faft a flick in its mouth, which, according to ./Elian, this creature does, placing the ftick crofs-ways, to prevent its being fwallowed by ferpents.
The ftructure and motion of this creature's eyes is very fur- prizing ; they are very large, and fet in large cavities, appear- ing to be large fpheres, of which one half Hands out of the head, and is covered with a thin fkin, perforated with a fmall hole at the top, through which is feen a very vivid and bright pupil, furrounded with a yellow iris; this hole is properly a longitudinal flit, which the creature opens more or lefs wide at pleafure, and the eye feems fixed to this eyelid fo as to follow all its motions, not turning round within it, as in other crea- tures. The motion of the eyes of this creature is not lefs An- gular than their ftructure, fince it can turn them fo as to fee what pafles either far, backward- on either fide, or directly be- hind it, without at all moving the head, which is fixed to the (boulders, and the creature can give one eye all thefe motions while the other is perfectly ftill. The trunk of the body is properly all breaft, for the creature has no belly, its ribs being continued to the ilia; the feet have all five toes, two behind, and three before, the hinder ones being as large as the others. This creature moves as flow as the tortoife, which appears very fingular, as its legs are fufficiently long, and it has no great weight of body to carry ; but it is faid, that on trees, in its wild ftate,
