a fertile agricultural and peach-growing district, and has carriage works, machine shops, canning factory, and a creamery. Centerville has adopted the commission form of government and owns its electric lighting plant and water works. Pop., 1900, 1231; 1910, 1435. CENT-GARDES, säN'gärd'. The title of a special bodyguard instituted by Louis XI of France in 1474, consisting of 100 nobles, acting as guards of the palace, each of whom maintained two archers. The latter were later developed into the gardes du corps. The CentGardes were disbanded in 1727 by Louis XV, restored by Napoleon III, and finally dissolved at the fall of the Empire. CEN/TIGRADE SCALE (Fr., from Lat. centum, hundred + gradus, degree). A scale for thermometers where the zero is fixed at the freezing point of water, and the 100° point at the temperature at which water boils under an atmospheric pressure of 760 millimeters (30 inches). See THERMOMETRY and THERMOM CEN’TIPEDE, or CENTIPED (Lat. centipeda, centupeda, from centum, hundred + pes, foot). Centipedes belong to the order Chilop oda, one of the two principal groups of the Myriapoda, and in some places are popularly known as "galleyworms." They have fewer segments in the body than the Chilognatha, the millipedes, in which respect they more closely approach spiders and insects; a centipede, indeed, is like a primitive insect in structure. The form of the body is flattened, has more concentration headward than in the millipedes, and each segment bears one pair of legs. In counting the segments, the ventral surface should be observed, for the dorsal shields often overlap. The head, covered by a flat shield, bears a pair of long antennæ, a pair of small, strong mandibles, and a pair of underjaws; and it contains poison glands, the venom being emitted through a pair of modified legs. Habits and Habitat.-Centipedes are active and ferocious. All are fond of dark and damp places, and stay by day under stones and bark, in decaying wood and leaves, or in loose soil. They go in search of food by night, devouring worms, mollusks, and insects, which they are able to pursue with much persistence, guided almost wholly by the sense of touch, for their powers of vision are at the best poorly developed. Only one family, Scutigeridæ, has compound eyes. In the other forms the eyes are simple or absent. According to Plateau, centipedes can distinguish light from dark, but, since they are night prowlers, the blind forms seem to get on as well as the others. As destroyers of insects, etc., centipedes are, therefore, of practical importance to agriculture. The smaller forms seldom, if ever, bite man, and the poison is never fatal. The bite of the large tropical forms, however, is painful and serious. According to Humboldt, the children of South American Indians tear off the head and eat the remainder of the body. Classification and History.-Four families are distinguished-viz., Scutigeridæ, Lithobiidæ, Scolopendridæ, and Geophilidæ. To the Scuti geride belong long, stout myriapods, and the genus Scutigera is distinguished by its long legs, but is rare in the United States north of New York City. The body of the Lithobiidæ is unevenly jointed. The genus Lithobius is of world-wide distribution, Lithobius forficatus inhabiting both Europe and America. The Scolopendridæ usually have four ocelli and from 17 to 20 jointed antennæ. To the genus Scolopendra the large-jointed centipedes belong, such as the giant centipede (Scolopendra gigantea) of tropical America and the West Indies. Geophilidae have from 30 to 200 segments, the typical genus (Geophilus) inhabiting both Europe and America, under stones and decaying wood. One European species is phosphorescent. The centipedes appeared later in geological times than the millipedes. A Geophilus occurs in the Lower Carboniferous of Nova Scotia and the coal formations of Germany, and the order is well represented in Tertiary times. Compare MILLIPEDE; and for bibliography, etc., MYRIAPODA. The see CENTLIVRE, sent-liv'er or lē'ver, SUSANNA (c.1667-1723). An English dramatist, the daughter of a Lincolnshire gentleman named Freeman, born (most probably) in Ireland. Her early history is obscure; but when 16 years of age she won the heart of a nephew of Sir Stephen Fox, who, however, died shortly after their marriage. Her second husband (an officer named Carrol) lost his life in a duel. Left in extreme poverty, his widow endeavored to support herself by writing for the theatre, and after producing a tragedy called The Perjured Husband, made her appearance on the stage. She afterward married (1706) Joseph Centlivre, principal cook to Queen Anne. Of her plays, The Busybody, in which the leading character, Marplot, is highly amusing (1709); A Bold Stroke for a Wife (1718); and The Wonder (1714), in which Garrick found one of his best parts,-though not distinguished by purity of style or truthfulness of portraiture, are lively in their plots, and have kept their place on the stage. Her collected Dramatic Works appeared in 1761 (3 vols.); new edition containing an account of her life (London, 1872). CENT NOUVELLES NOUVELLES, SÄN noo'věl (Fr., hundred new stories). A collection of French tales, many of them taken from the works of Italian novelists, first printed by Vérard, in an undated folio, from a manuscript of the year 1456. Boccaccio and Poggio are the principal sources. The tales were originally written for the court of Burgundy, probably at the direction of Philip the Good. Antoine de la Salle had some part in collecting and editing them. They were republished in Paris in 1858, under the editorship of Thomas Wright. They are marked by an extremely cynical and obscene wit. CENTO (Fr. centon, It. centone, from Lat. cento, patchwork, Gk. Kévтpwv, kentron, patchwork, from κévтpov, kentron, pin, from KEVTEÏV, kentein, to prick). A name applied to poems manufactured by putting together distinct verses or passages of one author, or of several authors, so as to make a new meaning. After the decay of genuine poetry among the Greeks, this worthless verse manufacture came into vogue, as is proved by the Centones Homerici (q.v.); but it was much more common among the Romans in the later times of the Empire, when Vergil was frequently abused in this fashion, as in the Cento Nuptialis of Ausonius (who gives rules for the composition of the cento), and especially in the Cento Vergilianus, constructed in the fourth century by Proba Falconia, wife of the proconsul Adelfius, and giving, in Vergil's misplaced words, an epitome of sacred history. The cento was a favorite recreation in the Middle Ages. In the twelfth century a monk named Metellus contrived to make a cento of spiritual hymns out of Horace and Vergil. Consult Delepierre, Tableau de la littérature du centon (London, 1874-75). CENTO, chěn'tō. A city in northern Italy, 16 miles north of Bologna, situated in a fertile plain, on the left bank of the Reno (Map: Italy, F 3). It has a former palace of Count Chiavelli-Pannini, and in the churches are many paintings by Guercino (q.v.), whose interesting house is still shown, and whose statue adorns the principal square. Cento is connected by canal with San Giovanni and with Ferrara, and is a hemp and rice market. Pop. (commune), 1881, 17,000; 1901, 19,118; 1910, 23,907. CENTO'NES HOMER'ICI, or HOME'ROCENTO'NES (Lat., Homeric centos, translation of Gk. Ομηροκέντρωνες, Homirokentrônes, or 'Ομηρόκεντρα, Homērokentra, from "Ounpos, Homeros, Homer + KÉVTρwv, kentrōn, cento). A cento (q.v.) on the life of Christ, made up of Homeric hexameters. It dates probably from the fifth century, and was printed by Aldus in 1501, by Stephens in 1568, and edited by Teucher (Leipzig, 1793). It has been ascribed to the Empress Eudocia. CENTO NOVELLE ANTICHE, chen'to nó-věl'lâ ȧn-těká (It., hundred old stories). A collection of tales belonging to Italy and the thirteenth century. They are founded variously on historical events and mediæval romances and tableaux. See ITALIAN LANGUAGE AND LITERA TURE. CENTORBI, chen-tōr'bê. The former name of the Sicilian city Centuripe (q.v.). CENTRAL AMERICA. That portion of the American continent between Mexico on the north and Colombia on the south, embracing the states of Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala, Panama, and the colony of British Honduras (Map: World, Countries, M 8 special map). It extends from lat. 8° to 18° 30' N., and has an area estimated at about 181,500 square miles. Where it joins the Isthmus of Panama, now crossed by the Panama Canal (q.v.), the distance between the Atlantic and the Pacific is reduced to about 75 miles. It is in general a mountainous region, the elevations reaching about 13,000 feet in the north, and over 11,000 feet in the south. The interrupted mountain chain along the west coast is, in a sense, the connecting link between the cordilleras of North and South America. The chain includes numerous volcanoes, which have ejected enormous quantities of lava and ashes. There are two extensive lakes, those of Nicaragua and Managua. The west coast of Central America is bold and steep, but most of the eastern coast lies at low altitudes. The population is chiefly of mixed Spanish and Indian blood. The prehistoric remains are of great interest. See ARCHEOLOGY, AMERI CAN. History. The coast of Central America was first sighted by Columbus on his fourth voyage, in August, 1502. After 1513 a part of what is now Costa Rica was conquered by Pedro Arias de Ávila. From 1522 to 1525 the country was in dispute between Ávila and Cortés, who, after the conquest of Mexico, dispatched Alvarado to subdue Guatemala (1523-24). Cortés himself invaded the country in 1524-25, completing its subjugation. All of Central America constituted the Captain-Generaley of Guatemala until 1821. In that year Guatemala proclaimed its independence, and in 1822 the five audiencias, corresponding to the present five states, were united to the Mexican Empire of Iturbide. They regained their independence soon after, and in July, 1823, constituted themselves the Republic of the United States of Central America. From the first there was a bitter conflict between the Federalist element, which was strongest in Honduras, and the Conservative party, comprising the clergy and the old Spanish bureaucracy, which were opposed to centralization, their stronghold being Guatemala. The struggle between these two elements has persisted to the present day and has shown itself in the numerous unsuccessful attempts to establish a federated Central America. The Liberals were in the ascendant up to 1839, under the leadership of General Morazán. In 1839, however, the union was dissolved, as the result of the successful uprising of the Conservatives of Guatemala under Carrera. General Morazán made an attempt to restore the federal republic, but was captured and shot in Costa Rica in 1842. In that year a new union of all the states, excepting Costa Rica, was brought about, but this was dissolved in 1845. Costa Rica, in general, took very little part in the political affairs of Central America. In 1850 Honduras, Salvador, and Nicaragua endeavored to restore the republic by force, but their armies were overthrown in the following year by Carrera. It was during the period of disturbances which followed the victory of Guatemala that the filibuster Walker (q.v.) made his audacious attempts to seize the government of Nicaragua (1856) and Salvador (1860). Of subsequent efforts to establish a federated republic in Central America, the most important were those of Barrios, President of Guatemala, who resorted to force (1885) and perished in the attempt, and the peaceful union formed in 1895 by Nicaragua, Salvador, and Honduras, which combined to form the Greater Republic of Central America, with provisions for the admission of Guatemala and Costa Rica. A constitution was adopted in 1898, but owing to the dissatisfaction of Salvador, the union was soon dissolved. Great Britain, in 1665, extended her protection to the Mosquito Coast, which was relinquished in 1850. Through colonization British Honduras was established in that year. In 1903 the revolt and independence of Panama added another to the list of Central American republics. From the Washington Peace Conference of 1907 dates a new era of interstate re lations in Central America. The organization of the Central American Court at Cartago in 1908, for which Andrew Carnegie provided the building, has solved disputes and promoted cooperation. The first decision was in 1909. In the same year the First Central America Conference laid the basis of a uniform monetary, metric, fiscal, and consular service agreement. The Sixth Conference meeting in January, 1914, carried these recommendations even further and added plans for agreements as to international highways, postal and telegraphic regulations, and coasting trade, as well as the establishing of a central pedagogic institute and a central com |