CHAMELEON is the name of a curious animal formthe family Chameleontida, of the order LACERTILIA. Tomane, derived from the Greek xapaitav, signifies " lion," and is so very inappropriate that it seems have been bestowed on the lucus a non lucendo principle. This singular and isolated group of arboreal prehensiledreptiles is confined, with but one exception, to Africa the adjacent islands, as Madagascar and Fernando Po. The Common Chameleon (Chamaleo vulgaris) is found in Africa, the south of Spain, Asia Minor, Arabia, and India. The chameleon, from the days of Aristotle downwards, has been regarded with the greatest interest. Around it grown up a mass of fables, the most popular of which g that it lives altogether on air. It is a truism that the works of nature are much more marvellous than the ventions of the most powerful imagination, and therelate the facts which science now tells us of the chameleon's

Chameleon (Chamaleo vulgaris).

organization and life-history will excite our wonder in a far greater degree than the fables which even professed

Laturalists believed.

CHAMELEON.

habits. The toes are divided into two sets, three on one side and two on the other, and these are disposed inversely; that is, the set containing two toes is placed externally on the fore feet, and the set containing three is placed externally on the hind feet. These two parcels of toes are opposed to each other, and thus form regular pincers, by means of which they can firmly grasp and retain hold of the branches of trees upon which they live. The head of the chameleon is very large and generally more or less strongly ridged, and the neck is so short that the head appears to rest upon the shoulders. There is no external ear apparent, these organs being hidden under the skin. The orbits are very large, and the eyes are particularly prominent, the globe being in a great measure situated outside the cavity. The whole of this organ is covered with a single eyelid, which is a continuity of the skin of the head, and is pierced with a small dilatable hole in the centre, forming, in fact, a true external pupil, which the animal can dilate or close at will. It can even vary the shape of the opening, for we see it sometimes become transverse or vertical. From the peculiar arrangement of the nerves and muscles each of the eyes can move independently of the other. They can move in different directions, one upwards the other downwards, the one forwards the other backwards, and in all sorts of ways, without the head undergoing any change of position. The chameleons have a very large mouth. When shut it is closed so exactly that we can scarcely distinguish the line which indicates the separation of the jaws, though in reality it is deeply cleft. The teeth are sharp-cutting, with three lobes, forming a single line or series upon the sharp edge of each jaw. There are none on the palate. The tongue, however, is the most extraordinary organ in the body, and indeed, as a piece of mechanism, is unique. In a state of repose, and when contained in the mouth, it forms a round fleshy tubercle, white and solid, about 10 lines long and 3 in breadth, a little flattened at its extremity, and lubricated with a glutinous secretion. When, however, it wishes to catch its prey, or to quench its thirst with a drop of water, it can launch it out from its mouth with extreme rapidity, and to a distance as great at least as the length of its whole body. When thus protruded, we see that nine-tenths of its extent consist of a fleshy tube which is hollow, and possessed of such great contractility that it can be withdrawn with great celerity into the mouth again, folding in upon itself, somewhat in the way a pocket telescope is shut up. This motion is performed without making the slightest noise, and in the twinkling of an eye, without any change in the position of any other part of the body. This extraordinary organ is well represented in the figure of Chamaleo vulgaris, in LACERTILIA, Plate IV. Some portions of the internal structure of these animals are no less singular than those of

The skin of the chameleon differs from that of most lizards in being destitute of scales; it is rough, and beset with small horny tubercles. It appears very loose, adhering seemingly to the muscles only of the head, back, the free extremity of the tail, and the feet. The body is compressed or flattened sidewise, from right to left, and surmounted on the back by a projecting sharp ridge, a similar one being also seen in some species along the belly. Their legs are slender, elevated, and much longer in proportion than those of any other reptile, so that they can raise the body so high that their belly never rests upon the surfaces apon which they walk or climb. The tail is rather long, of a conical shape, and like that organ in some of the monkey tribe is prehensile, that is, capable of twisting itself round and grasping the various substances upon The structure of this organ and that of their feet renders these animals truly arboreal in their

which they move.

VOL. IV.

1

the external characters just mentioned. The lungs, for instance, deserve a moment's consideration. When empty they sink down below the heart, like two small fleshy masses; but as soon as the air penetrates them they swell out so much that they cover the whole of the intestines, and are too voluminous to be contained even within the abdominal cavity. They are divided into seven or eight lobes or appendages on each side, which terminate in points, and these penetrate into the various parts of the abdominal cavity, and into the hollows or vacant places already mentioned in the skin under the muscles.

An extraordinary attribute of the chameleon is its power of changing the colour of its skin. Recent investigations into this subject show that the divers hues are immediately due to two movable layers of pigment-cells deeply seated in the skin. These pigment-cells are bluish and yellowish, and their movements are governed by two sets of nervefibres, one of which causes them to withdraw themselves from the surface of the skin (constrictors), while the other determines their emergence and ramification (dilators). The colour of the skin is under the control of the cerebral hemispheres, each hemisphere acting principally on the constrictor nerves of its own side, and on the dilator nerves on the opposite side of the body. In this way the colour may vary from dirty white, the colour which it assumes when asleep, to different tints of bluish-green, yellow, or brown, and it often happens that the colour is not uniform over all the body.

rest.

Chameleons are dull, slow animals, languid and heavy in their movements, often remaining in the same position for hours together, basking motionless in the rays of the sun. In their natural state they live entirely among the branches of trees, and their mode of progression is ludicrous in the extreme. They can neither walk on a plane surface nor swim; but from the structure of their pincer-like feet and their prehensile tail (which serves them as a fifth limb), they are able to cling to the boughs with great tenacity. When a chameleon wishes to change its position it begins by separating the two sets of toes of one of the fore legs; it then bends the fore arm, raises it, and carries it slowly forwards. For a short time this foot remains suspended, as if the creature felt a degree of uncertainty as to the point to which to guide it, groping about with it in all directions, in order to meet with some object upon which to When it has found this, it appears as if it wished to ascertain the solidity of its resting-place, and it is only when satisfied upon that subject that the two sets of toes lay hold of it and take a firm grasp. Immediately after this, the hind foot on the opposite side begins to execute a similar manœuvre. Then the other fore foot unfolds its pincer-like toes, cautiously moves forward, and is succeeded by the opposite hinder extremity. Then, but not till then, the tail begins to untwist itself from its coil round the substance it had previously seized to support itself, and follows the move made by the other members. So they progress with great slowness and regularity, preserving all the time a ridiculous look of affected gravity. The only part of the animal which moves with quickness is its tongue. The food of the chameleons consists of insects and their larvæ, &c.; and they will remain motionless, perched upon a branch, watching for hours their unconscious prey. The moment it stirs the tongue is darted at it, and the insect is caught and swallowed in an instant. Like the rest of the lizard tribe they can, indeed, endure a long-continued abstinence apparently without injury. Hasselquist kept one twenty-four days without giving it the slightest chance of getting any food. It gradually, however, he says, began to get thin; it would fall back when climbing in its cage, and at the end of that period an accident put an end to its life. Mr. Martin, however, tells us that he has known individuals live for months without eating. The female deposits her eggs in holes made by her

in the ground; she then covers them with earth, which she scratches up with her feet as cats do when they cover their fæces, and places over all a layer of dry leaves. The eggs are often as many as thirty, and are round, with a calcareous shell, white, spotless, and very porous.

Fifty species of chameleons are now known. Of these two have been separated from the genus Chamæleo by Dr. Günther, and classed as a distinct genus under the name Rhampholeon. This genus differs from Chamæleo in having the tail very much shorter and imperfectly prehensile, with the addition, however, of a sharp projection at the inner side of the base of each claw. The Common Chameleon (Chamaleo vulgaris) has a most extensive range. Twenty-five out of the fifty species are distinguished by prominences either on the end or sides of the muzzle, or over the eyes, or on the top of the head, or on the occiput.

CHAM'OIS (Rupicapra tragus) is an ANTELOPE inhabiting the Alpine slopes of Europe, from the Pyrenees to the Caucasus. It is clothed with a deep brown woolly coat, the head being of a paler colour and banded on either side by a dark streak, which passes from the angle of the mouth to the eye and base of the car, enveloping both. The horns are from 6 to 8 inches long, running nearly parallel to each other, and curving backwards at the tip. The tail is short and black. The entire length of the body is about 3 feet 3 inches; the height at the shoulders is about 2 feet. The chamois chiefly inhabits the loftiest chains of mountain ridges. It is extremely impatient of heat, and during summer is only to be found on the tops of the highest mountains or in deep glens where the snow lies throughout the year; in winter, however, it descends to the lower ridges, and it is then only that the hunters can pursue it with any hope of success. Its senses of sight and smell are remarkably acute; it scents a man over a mile off, and displays the greatest restlessness and alarm till it obtains a sight of the object of its terror, leaping upon the highest rocks at hand in order to command a more extensive prospect, and uttering a suppressed whistle or hissing sound, being all the time in a state of the greatest agitation; but no sooner does he appear in sight than it flies with the utmost speed, scaling rocks which few other animals could attempt, and, if not intercepted by stratagem, soon leaving its pursuer far behind. The food of the chamois consists of mountain herbs, flowers, and the tender shoots of trees and shrubs. CHAMOMILE. See CAMOMILE.

CHAMOND, ST., a town of France in the department of the Loire, beautifully situated at the confluence of the Gier and the Janon, 7 miles N.E. from St. Etienne and near the Lyons St. Étienne Railway. It is a busy manufacturing town, and has a conseil des prud'hommes, and 14,000 inhabitants. The town is well built, and has a great number of elegant houses inclosed in gardens. The church of St. Chamond, the public baths, and promenades, are among the most remarkable objects. Three are extensive coal mines, iron forges, and smelting furnaces in the environs. The town contains a great number of silk mills, and has important manufactures of ribbons, staylaces, nails for the navy, hardware, &c.

CHAMOUNI or CHAMOUNIX, a celebrated valley of the Alps, in the department of Haute-Savoie, France, immediately N.W. of Mont Blanc, by which and others of the Pennine Alps it is bounded on its south and east sides, and on the west and north by Mont Breven and the Aiguilles Rouges. Its length, N.E. to S.W., from the base of the mountains, is about 12 miles, and its breadth at the bottom in most parts exceeds a mile; but including the mountain slopes and sides it is as much as 9 miles in breadth, and may be reckoned 22 miles in length from its head at the Col-de-Balme to its outlet at the torrent of the Dioza, near Servoz. The average height of this valley

the sea is about 3400 feet; the Arve rises at its ed, and intersects it in its entire length, escaping the valley of Servoz through a ridge of granite rock. pines and larches which clothe the lower parts of the is give a sombre appearance to the west end of aley: and this effect is increased by the unvaried of Mont Blanc, which hang over it. But after the priory of Chamouni the scene changes, and s dreary magnificence succeeds a series of majestic ds, called Aiguilles or needles, of astonishing height, zoo steep to admit of the snows resting on them at $290. The valley, which becomes narrower, is richly ted with trees; and the Arve, rushing between may-chthed rocks and precipices, adds life and beauty to e. The little village of Argentière, with its church ttering spire, and the two Aiguilles above it, together the cheerful appearance of cultivation, form a landscape mely picturesque. Between these Aiguilles are situated Semerons glaciers which constitute the chief interest of teley, to the very bottom of which they descend. NoTelse in the Alps are the glaciers of equal magnitude. The summer aspects of this valley are grand beyond ription; in winter the uniform white covering offers contrasts. The village of Chamouni stands on the 12 miles E. of Sallenche and 40 from Geneva; it is d also La Prieuré, from a Benedictine monastery, *nded in 1990, in which the village originated. In the ter of the monastery granted by Pope Urban II., the ey is designated as the Campus Munitus, the fortificaas being the mountain barriers; hence the modern name, The Champ-Muni. The Benedictine priory first brought valley into cultivation at the beginning of the twelfth entury, but the reputation of the inhabitants was so bad that period that travellers came armed, and spent the in tents, strictly guarded, rather than venture into of the houses. The sobriquet of Les Montagnes Laites acted as a ban upon the district. On one ccasion St. Francis de Sales, bishop of Geneva from 1602 1622, visited the then pathless wilds on foot, which was idered an act of the utmost temerity. The valley e better known in 1743, when the celebrated traveller Pocke and a Mr. Wyndham visited and explored it in all Crections. The ascent of Mont Blanc is generally made In this side. At the village of Chamouni the best guides ce to be obtained, and at the hotels there, which are y good, thousands of tourists are accommodated in the course of the year.

CHAM PACA is the native name in India for Michelia Impaca (the champak tree), a tall, handsome tree, red to Vishnu. It is planted round temples, and is tivated extensively, as the wood is used for houseing, furniture, carriage work, &c. The flowers are ly prized for their rich orange colour and their exte perfume. The bark is bitter and aromatic, and is el in the Mauritius in cases of low intermittent fevers. The genus belongs to the order MAGNOLIACEÆ.

CHAMPAGNE, one of the provinces into which France was divided before the Revolution of 1793, was bounded N. ty Belgium, E. by Lorraine, the duchy of Bar, and FrancheConté, S. by Bourgogne, and W. by the Isle de France. It was divided into eight districts:-Champagne proper, Benois, Rethelais, Perthois, Vallage, Bassigny, Senonais, Brie-Champenoise.

Champagne included two archbishoprics, Rheims and Sens; four bishoprics, Langres, Chalons, Troyes, and Meaux; and a great number of abbeys, the most celebrated which was that of Clairvaux. It now forms the departHents of MARNE, HAUTE MARNE, AUBE, ARDENNES, and part of those of YONNE, AISNE, SEINE-ET-MARNE, MEUSE, COTE D'OR, HAUTE SAONE, and VOSGES.

In the time of Julius Cæsar, the territory subsequently called Champagne was inhabited chiefly by the Remi, the

Senones, the Lingones, and the Tricasses, from whom the names of the cities Rheims, Sens, Langres, and Troyes are said to be derived. It belonged to the Roman Empire till A.D. 486, when Siagrius was defeated by Chlodwig, who, as well as his son Clothaire, held the territory, which probably got the name of Campania (Champagne) about this time. From the time of Charles the Simple to the year 1274, Champagne was governed by counts and dukes, who, at first appointed by the king, had contrived to render their power hereditary. On the death of Henry III., count of Champagne and king of Navarre, in the last-mentioned year, Champagne reverted to the crown of France in consequence of the marriage of his daughter, Joan of Navarre, to Philip the Fair. Owing to its position and natural form it has been the scene of military operations in most of the French invasions, especially in the Austrian War of the sixteenth century, and in the invasion of 1814, and the German War of 1870.

CHAMPAGNE (wine) is the produce of the vineyards of the departments of the Marne, Haute Marne, Ardennes, and Aube, which were comprehended in the ancient province of Champagne. Of the various growths of Champagne that made on the banks of the Marne has the highest reputation, and forms the greater part of what is sent to foreign countries. Champagne is light in body; it is of various colours-white, straw colour, pink, and red, and is divided into sparkling, creaming, and still, or, as they are called in France, mousseux, crémant, and non-mousseux. The red wines of good quality are, for the most part, exported to Belgium, and the white to England, Russia, Germany, the Levant, Greece, and the French West India colonies; some portion of the shipments to England are reshipped to India and other parts.

CHAMPA'RAN, a district of British India, occupying the north-west corner of Behar, under the lieutenantgovernor of Bengal, lies between 26° 16′ and 27° 30′ N. lat., and between 83° 55′ and 85° 21′ E. lon. The total area is 3531 square miles, and the population 150,000 souls. Champaran consists of an irregular triangle, with its apex toward the south-east. Its sides are formed by the two bordering rivers, the Gandak and the Baghmati; its base on the north is closed by the low hills on the Nepal frontier; while it is bisected throughout its entire length by the Buri or Old Gandak. The land is almost uniformly level and under continuous cultivation. Towards the north the country becomes undulating and broken until it reaches its highest elevation in the Sumeswar range, which averages 1500 feet above sea-level. Champaran suffers from the effects of an irregular water supply. Droughts are of common occurrence. On the other hand, all parts of the district are liable to destructive inundations.

The crops in Champaran are divided into three harvests, named after the season of the year in which they are reaped-(1) the bhadai, or summer crop; (2) the aghani, or autumn crop; (3) the rabi, or spring crop. The total cultivated area is almost equally distributed between the three. Rice may be either a bhadai or an aghani crop, but more usually the latter. The miscellaneous crops not grown for food are indigo, oil seeds, opium, tobacco, and sugar-cane. The indigenous manufactures are confined to the weaving of coarse cotton cloth and blankets, and the making of pottery. The preparation of indigo is almost entirely conducted by European capital and under European supervision.

The climate of Champaran is comparatively cool and dry. The rainy season lasts from June to September. The hottest month of the year is May, at which time hot winds from the west frequently prevail. The cold weather lasts from November to March. The nights are then cold and bracing, and light winds blow. Endemic diseases of a malarious origin prevail, especially in the north of the district. Goitre, with its attendant cretinism, is common.

CHAM'PLAIN, LAKE, in North America, lies between the Green Mountains in the State of Vermont, and the Essex Mountains in the State of New York. It extends from 43° 33' to 45° 4', about 5 miles into Lower Canada, making the entire length about 109 miles, exclusive of the wide part of the channel of the river Richelieu, or Sorelle, which is upwards of 20 miles long. The lake is navigable as far as the town of St. John, in Lower Canada, from Whitehall, in the State of New York, which is at its southern extremity. The width is from half a mile to 20 miles. The depth varies from 50 to 280 feet; area, 600 square miles. It contains about fifty isles, many of which, as well as most parts of both shores, are highly picturesque. It is 90 feet above the sea and 16 feet above the St. Lawrence, into which it discharges north by the Richelieu or Sorelle River, through a distance of 68 miles. The Champlain Canal, 64 miles long, extends the navigation from Lake Champlain southwards into the river Hudson. The name originates from that of an officer of the French navy, who was the first European to visit it in 1609. During the war with America in 1814 the lake was the scene of a defeat of the English flotilla.

CHAMPOLLION, JEAN FRANÇOIS, a distinguished Egyptologist, was born at Figeac, in the department of Lot, in France, in 1790. He studied in the lyceum of Grenoble, and afterwards went to Paris, in 1807, where he applied himself to Oriental languages under Langlès and De Sacy, but more especially to the study of the Coptic, and to Egyptian archæology. In 1809 he was appointed professor of history in the lyceum of Grenoble, and librarian of the public library. In 1814 he published his first work, "L'Egypte sous les Pharaons," two vols. 8vo. In 1824 he was sent by Charles X. to examine the collections of Egyptian antiquities in Italy, and on his return was made director of the Egyptian Museum at the Louvre, of which he published a description. In 1828 he was appointed to conduct a scientific expedition to Egypt to examine the monuments there, while at the same time a similar expedition, at the head of which was his friend Rosellini, was sent by Leopold II., grand-duke of Tuscany. The results of these expeditions were, in consequence of the death of Champollion in March, 1832, given to the world by Rosellini in his "Monumens de l'Egypte et de la Nubie" (Paris, 1835-45). Champollion's merits as a laborious student of Egyptian archæology are undeniable; but his judgment was not sound, his deductions from his premises not always correct, and his learning (except on Egyptian antiquities) was neither extensive nor exact.

CHANCE is a term used to denote the cause of events which are not the result of any known laws. For information as to what is sometimes spoken of as the doctrine of chances, see PROBABILITIES, THEORY OF.

CHANCE-MED'LEY, in English law, is a corruption of chaudemellé, a term used in old French legal phraseology, and in the barbarous Latin of ancient ordinances translated calida melleia. The term in French law denoted, consistently with its etymology, a casual affray or broil accompanied with violence, but without deliberation or preconceived malice. In English law it can hardly be doubted that chance-medley originally meant the same thing; but in modern times the expression is limited to the killing of another in self-defence upon a sudden and unpremeditated encounter. There is often much difficulty in distinguishing manslaughter from homicide by chance-medley, which, though an offence by law, is excusable on the ground of self-defence. The general distinction is that, if both parties are actually fighting, he who gives the mortal stroke is guilty of manslaughter; but if one of them at first refuses to fight, and, on being closely pressed, retreats as far as he can, and at last, in order to avoid his own destruction, kills his antagonist, this is homicide excusable in self-defence, or, as it is inaccurately called, chance-medley.

CHAN'CEL is a termed now used to denote that part of a church in which the communion-table or altar is placed, with the area before it in which the congregation assemble when the Eucharist is administered. The chancel was often, and in some churches still is, separated from the nave or body of the church by lattice-work (cancelli), and it was from this circumstance that the term chancel seems to have originated. Prior to the Reformation service was always performed in the space thus divided off, and the clergy were held to have a special right to it, in return for which its repairs in general still fall on the impropriator, rector, or vicar, and not on the parish. In some churches we may hear of the chancel of a particular family, where such family has had a private oratory within the church, and which has usually been also the burial-place of the family. These private chapels or chantries are sometimes called chancels, likewise in consequence of being divided from the rest of the church by cancelli.

CHAN'CELLOR (in Latin cancellarius, a great officer of state; for the derivation of the word see CANCELLI). All the modern nations of Europe have or have had chancellors, though the powers and duties seem to have varied in each. In England the chancellor was originally the king's chief secretary, to whom petitions were referred, by whom patents and grants from the crown were approved and completed, and by whom reports upon such matters were, if necessary, made to the king; hence he was sometimes styled Referendarius.

A large discretionary power was retained by the king on the establishment of courts of justice, and to the office of the chancellor or king's secretary petitioners for redress were referred as the place where they might obtain the proper form of petition. The suitor told his story in the rough to the secretary, and from the statement thus made the chancellor or his assistants either framed the petition to the king or made out a writ for the court, as the case might be, in the proper technical language. It was from such humble beginnings as these that there arose, as we shall presently show, one of the most renowned tribunals of modern times, and whose name-the "Court of Chancery"—became largely written upon the political history of the country and deeply impressed on its social life.

The office of chancellor is so ancient that King Arthur himself is said to have appointed one. The term occurs in a charter of Ethelbert, A.D. 605; and the name first figures in the history of England in the time of Edward the Elder, about A.D. 920. In Saxon times he was intrusted with the custody of the Great Seal wherewith monarchs unversed in caligraphy evidenced their grants; hence the other title by which the chancellor was in after years frequently known-the "Lord Keeper." In early times the clergy enjoyed a monopoly of legal as of other learning, and from their order the chancellors were usually selected, to whom, as to men of education and integrity, the wronged and defrauded could appeal. The last ecclesiastic who exercised the office was John Williams, archbishop of York, who was keeper from July, 1621, to November, 1625. When Thomas A'Becket held the office he made it of so much consequence that the post of chief justiciar-the second man in the kingdom, at once principal judge, prime minister, and ex-officio guardian of the realm during the absence of the monarch-was left unfilled. A'Becket does not appear to have formally sat as a judge, but he took such a part in the administration of justice as to make the establishment of a court by his successors almost inevitable. Whatever the merits of his quarrel with his sovereign, his conduct, when advising the king on matters of equity jurisprudence, commended itself to the conscience and inspired the confidence of the people. The necessity for the functions he had thus discharged remained after his murder or martyrdom. The hard unbending application of cast-iron rules by the law courts proved, in multitudes