Washington University) from 1825 to 1827, professor of Greek, Latin and German at Waterville College (now Colby College) from 1827 to 1833, professor of biblical literature and criticism in Hamilton (New York) Theological Institute from 1835 to 1851, and professor of Hebrew and of Biblical exegesis in Rochester Theological Seminary from 1851 to 1857. From 1857 to 1875 he was employed by the American Bible Union on the revision of the New Testament (1871). He married in 1830 Hannah O’Brien Chaplin (1809–1865), who was herself the author of The Earnest Man, a biography of Adoniram Judson (1855), and of The History of the English Bible (1859), besides being her husband’s able assistant in his Hebrew studies. He died in Brooklyn, New York, on the 30th of April 1891. Conant was the foremost Hebrew scholar of his time in America. His treatise, The Meaning and Use of “Baptizein” Philologically and Historically Investigated (1860), an “appendix to the revised version of the Gospel by Matthew,” is a valuable summary of the evidence for Baptist doctrine. He translated and edited Gesenius’s Hebrew Grammar (1839; 1877), and published revised versions with notes of Job (1856), Genesis (1868), Psalms (1871), Proverbs (1872), Isaiah i.-xiii. 22 (1874), and Historical Books of the Old Testament, Joshua to II. Kings (1884).
CONATION (from Lat. conari, to attempt, strive), a psychological
term, originally chosen by Sir William Hamilton (Lectures on Metaphysics, pp. 127 foll.), used generally of an attitude of
mind involving a tendency to take action, e.g. when one decides
to remove an object which is causing a painful sensation, or to
try to interrupt an unpleasant train of thought. This use of
the word tends to lay emphasis on the mind as
self-determined
in relation to external objects. Another less common use of the
word is to describe the pleasant or painful sensations which
accompany muscular activity; the conative phenomena, thus
regarded, are psychic changes brought about by external causes.
The chief difficulty in connexion with Conation is that of distinguishing it from Feeling, a term of very vague significance both in technical and in common usage. Thus the German psychologist F. Brentano holds that no real distinction can be made. He argues that the mental process from sorrow or dissatisfaction, through hope for a change and courage to act, up to the voluntary determination which issues in action, is a single homogeneous whole (Psychologie, pp. 308-309). The mere fact, however, that the series is continuous is no ground for not distinguishing its parts; if it were so, it would be impossible to distinguish by separate names the various colours in the solar spectrum, or indeed perception from conception. A more material objection, moreover, is that, in point of fact, the feeling of pleasure or pain roused by a given stimulus is specifically different from, and indeed may not be followed by, the determination to modify or remove it. Pleasure and pain, i.e. hedonic sensation per se, are essentially distinct from appetition and aversion; the pleasures of hearing music or enjoying sunshine are not in general accompanied by any volitional activity. It is true that painful sensations are generally accompanied by definite aversion or a tendency to take action, but the cases of positive pleasure are amply sufficient to support a distinction. Therefore, though in ordinary language such phrases as “feeling aversion” are quite legitimate, accurate psychology compels us to confine “feeling” to states of consciousness in which no conative activity is present, i.e. to the psychic phenomena of pleasure or pain considered in and by themselves. The study of such phenomena is specifically described as Hedonics (Gr. ἡδονή, pleasure) or Algedonics (Gr. ἀλγηδών, pain); the latter term was coined by H. R. Marshall (in Pain, Pleasure and Aesthetics, 1894), but has not been generally used.
The problem of conation is closely related to that of Attention (q.v.), which indeed, regarded as active consciousness, implies conation (G. T. Ladd, Psychology, 1894, p. 213). Thus, whenever the mind deliberately focusses itself upon a particular object, there is implied a psychic effort (for the relation between Attention and Conation, see G. F. Stout, Analytic Psychology, book i. chap. vi.). All conscious action, and in a less degree even unconscious or reflex action, implies attention; when the mind “attends” to any given external object, the organ through the medium of which information regarding that object is conveyed to the mind is set in motion. (See Psychology.)
CONCA, SEBASTIANO (1679–1764), Italian painter of the
Florentine school, was born at Gaeta, and studied at Naples
under Francesco Solimena. In 1706, along with his brother
Giovanni, who acted as his assistant, he settled at Rome, where
for several years he worked in chalk only, to improve his drawing.
He was patronized by the Cardinal Ottoboni, who introduced
him to Clement XI.; and a Jeremiah painted in the church of
St John Lateran was rewarded by the pope with knighthood
and by the cardinal with a diamond cross. His fame grew
quickly, and he received the patronage of most of the crowned
heads of Europe. He painted till near the day of his death, and
left behind him an immense number of pictures, mostly of a
brilliant and showy kind, which are distributed among the
churches of Italy. Of these the Probatica, or Pool of Siloam,
in the hospital of Santa Maria della Scala, at Siena, is considered
the finest.
CONCARNEAU, a fishing port of western France in the department
of Finistère, 14 m. by road S.E. of Quimper. Pop. (1906)
7887. The town occupies a picturesque situation on an inlet
opening into the Bay of La Forêt. The old portion stands on
an island, and is surrounded by ramparts, parts of which are
believed to date from the 14th century. It is an important centre
of the sardine, mackerel and lobster fisheries. Sardine-preserving,
boat-building and the manufacture of sardine-boxes are
carried on.
CONCEPCIÓN, a province of southern Chile, lying between
the provinces of Maule and Ñuble on the N. and Bio-Bio on the
S., and extending from the Pacific to the Argentine boundary.
Its outline is very irregular, the Itata river forming its northern
boundary, and the Bio-Bio and one of its tributaries a part of
its southern boundary. Area (estimated) 3252 sq. m.; pop.
(1895) 188,190. Concepción is the most important province
of southern Chile because of its advantageous commercial
position, fertility and productive industries. Its coast is indented
by two large well-sheltered bays, Talcahuano and Arauco, the
former having the ports of Talcahuano, Penco and El Tomé,
and the latter Coronel and Lota. Its railway communications
are good, and the Bio-Bio, which crosses its S.W. corner, has
100 m. of navigable channel. The province produces wheat
and manufactures flour for export; its wines are reputed the
best in Chile, cattle are bred in large numbers, wool is produced,
and considerable timber is shipped. Near the coast are extensive
deposits of coal, which is shipped from Lota and Coronel, the
former being the site of the most productive coal-mine in South
America. The climate is mild and the rainfall is abundant.
Large copper-smelting and glass works have been established
at Lota because of its coal resources. The valley of the Itata is
largely devoted to vine cultivation, and the port of this district,
El Tomé, is noted for its wine vaults and trade. It also possesses
a small woollen factory. The principal towns are on the coast
and had in 1895 the following populations: Talcahuano, 10,431;
Lota, 9797 (largely operatives in the mines and smelting works);
Coronel, 4575; and El Tomé, 3977.
CONCEPCIÓN, a city of southern Chile, capital of a province and department of the same name, on the right bank of the Bio-Bio river, 7 m. above its mouth, and 355 m. S.S.W. of Santiago by rail. Pop. (1895) 39,837; (1902, estimated) 49,351. It is the commercial centre of a rich agricultural region, but because of obstructions at the mouth of the Bio-Bio its trade passes in great part through the port of Talcahuano, 8 m. distant by rail. The small port of Penco, situated on the same bay and 10 m. distant by rail, also receives a part of the trade because of official restrictions at Talcahuano. Concepción is one of the southern termini of the Chilean central railway, by which it is connected with Santiago to the N., with Valdivia and Puerto Montt to the S., and with the port of Talcahuano. Another line extends southward through the Chilean coal-producing districts to Curanilhué, crossing the Bio-Bio by a steel viaduct 6000 ft. long on 62 skeleton piers; and a short line of 10 m. runs
