A REPRINT ENTIRE OF THE LAST (1879) EDINBURGH AND LONDON EDITION A Dictionary of Universal Knowledge for the People. WITH VERY LARGE ADDITIONS UPON TOPICS OF SPECIAL IN TWENTY VOLUMES. VOL 4. NEW YORK: AMERICAN BOOK EXCHANGE, TRIBUNE BUILDING. 1880. LIBRARY OF UNIVERSAL KNOWLEDGE. CATGUT is employed in the fabrication of the strings of violins, harps, guitars, and other musical instruments; as also in the cords used by clockmakers, in the' bows of archers, and in whip-cord. It is generally prepared from the intestines of the sheep, rarely from those of the horse, ass, or mule, and not those of the cat. The first stage in the operation, is the thorough cleansing of the intestines from adherent feculent and fatty matters; after which they are steeped in water for several days, so as to loosen the external membrane, which can then be removed by scraping with a blunt knife. The material which is thus scraped off is employed for the cords of battle-doors and rackets, and also as thread in sewing the ends of intestines together. The scraped intestines are then steeped in water, and scraped again, when the large intestines are cut and placed in tubs with salt, to preserve them for the sausage-maker; and the smaller intestines are steeped in water, thereafter treated with a dilute solution of alkali (4 oz. potash. 4 oz, carbonate of potash, and 3 to 4 gallons of water, with occasionally a little alum) and are lastly drawn through a perforated brass thimble, and assorted into their respective sizes. In order to destroy any adherent auimal matter, which would lead to putrefaction, and the consequent development of offensive odors, it is customary to subject the C. to the fumes of burning sulphur-sulphurous acid, which acts as an antiseptic (q. v.), and arrests decomposition. The best strings are used for musical instruments; and those which come from Italy, and are known as "Roman strings," are the strongest. They are remarkable for their clearness and transparency. Cord for clockmakers is made from the smallest of the intestines, and occasionally from larger ones, which have been split longitudinally into several lengths. Whip-cord is fabricated from C. which has been twisted in a manner somewhat similar to single-corded ropes. The C. obtained from the intestines of horses, asses, and mules is principally made in France, and is employed instead of leather-belts for driving machinery. CA'THA, a genus of the natural order Calastraceae. The fruit is a three-cornered capsule.-C. edulis, sometimes called ARABIAN TEA, the KHAT of the Arabians, is a shrub with erect smooth_branches, elliptical obtusely serrated leaves, and small flowers in axillary cymes. It is a native of Arabia, and the Arabs ascribe to its leaves, even carried about the person, extraordinary virtues as a preventive of plague, with probably about as much reason as our forefathers had for esteeming the rowan tree formidable to witches. When fresh, they are stimulant, narcotic, and intoxicating, and are eaten with greediness by the Arabs. They are very antisoporific, so that a man, after using them, may keep watch for a whole night without drowsiness. CATHARI or Ca'tharists (Gr. pure), a name very generally given to various sects which appeared in the Church during the middle ages. It appears to have been sometimes assumed in profession of a purity of doctrine and morals superior to that which generally prevailed in the church, sometimes bestowed ironically in ridicule of such a profession, and perhaps was first used as a designation of the Paulicians (q. v.). It became a commou appellation of sects which appeared in Lombardy in the beginning of the 11th c., and afterwards in France and the west of Germany. Having some connection with the Bulgarian Paulicians, they were some (1) times called Bulgarians; sometimes also Patarenes or Patarines, sometimes Publicans or Popelitans, and in the Low Countries, Piphles. The names Albigenses and C. are often used as equivalent to one another; but we are under the disadvantage of having to depend entirely on the writings of very bigoted adversaries for our knowledge of their doctrines and practices, and considerable obscurity rests on all this interesting part of ecclesiastical history. Manichæism, Gnosticism, and Montanism are ascribed to the C.; but there is much reason to think that the errors of a few were often indiscriminately charged upon all, and that such charges indeed sometimes rested on ignorant or wilful misconstruction. It appears quite certain that the C. differed considerably in their doctrines and in the degree of their opposition to the dominant church. Some of them advocated and practised a rigid ascetism. There is no good evidence that any of them nearly approached to the doctrines of the Reformation; although in their rejection of tradition, of the authority of Rome, of the worship of saints and images, &c., there are notable points of agreement with the views of the Reformers. CA'THARINE is the name of several saints of the Roman Catholic Church. The simple designation of Saint C., however, is given to a virgin, said to have been of royal descent in Alexandria, who, publicly confessing the gospel at a sacrificial feast appointed by the Emperor Maximinus, was put to death in 307 A.D., after being tortured on a wheel. Hence the name of St Catharine's wheel." Very extraor dinary legends exist as to her converting 50 philosophers sent by the emperor to convert her in prison, besides a multitude of other persons; the conveyance of her head by the angels to Mount Sinai, &c. She is regarded as the patroness of girls' schools.-St C. of Siena, one of the most famous saints of Italy, was the daughter of a dyer in Siena, and was born there in 1347 A.D.; practised extraordinary mortifications; and was said to be favored with extraordinary tokens of favor by Christ, whose wounds were impressed upon her body, &c. She became a Dominican, and therefore afterwards a patron saint of the Dominicans. She wrote devotional pieces, letters, and poems, which have been more than once printed; the best edition appeared at Siena and Lucca, in 1707-1713, in 4 vols. 4to under the title of " Opere dalla serafica Santa Catarina.-St C. of Bologna and St C. of Sweden are of less note. CATHARINE I. Empress of Russia, was originally by name Martha Rabe, and was the posthumous daughter of John Rabe, a Swedish quarter-master in Livonia. Her inother died in 1685, when she was but three years old. Left helpless and destitute, a parish-clerk took compassion on her, and supported her, and a Lutheran clergymen in Marienburg afterwards received her into his house as an attendant on his ehildren. In 1701, she married a Swedish dragoon, who next year was called to active service; and Marienburg being taken by the Russians, she became for some time the mistress of General Bauer; and afterwards entering the service of the Princess Menchikoff, she attracted the notice of Peter the Great. In 1703 she went over to the Greek Church, aud took the name of Catharina Alexiewna. After being for some years the emperor's mistress, she was privately married to him in 1711; the marriage was publicly avowed in 1712; she was proclaimed empress in 1718, and was crowned at Moscow in 1724. She bore eight children to the emperor, all of whom died in childhood, except two daughters, Anne and Elizabeth, the latter of whom was afterwards Empress of Russia, and the former married the Duke of Holstein, and was the mother of the Emperor Peter III. When Peter the Great and his army seemed entirely in the power of the Turkish army on the Pruth in 1717, C., who was with him, sought an interview with the Grand Vizier, and, by employing her jewels to bribe his attendants, succeeded in procur ng the deliverance of the Russians. conduct on this occasion excited so much admiration and gratitude in the emperor, that he resolved to appoint her his successor, Yet in the end of the year 1724, she became the object of his displeasure and suspicion, on account of an alleged intimacy with a chamberlain, whom he caused to be beheaded. Menchikoff, who had always been attached to her interests, was at this time in disgrace. But she had contrived in a great measure to recover her position, when, on 28th Jannary 1725, Peter the Great died. His death was kept secret as long as possible, that everything might be arranged for her taking possession of the throne; and the Archbishop of Pleskow came forward and declared before the troops and people, that the emperor, on his death-bed, had declared her alone worthy to be his successor. The hostility and Her hesitation of the nobles were at once overconie, and C. was acknowledged as Empress and sole Ruler of All of the Russias. Under Menchikoff's direction, the affairs of government went on well enough for a time; but the empress ere long began to yield to the influence of a number of favorites, addicted herself to drunkenness, and lived such a life as could not fail to hurry her to the grave. She died, however, unexpectedly, 17th May, 1727. CATHARINE II., Empress of Russia was born at Stettin on 25th April 1729. Her father, the Prince of Anhalt-Zerbst, was a Prussian field-marshal, and governor of Stettin. She received the name of Sophia Augusta; but the Empress Elizabeth of Russia having selected her for the wife of her nephew and intended successor, Peter, she passed from the Lutheran to the Greek Church, and took the name of Catharina Alexiewna. In 1745, her marriage took place. She soon quarreled with her husband, and each of them lived a life of unrestrained vice. Among his attendants was a Count Soltikow, with whom her intimacy soon became scandalous; and Soltikow was sent on an embassy abroad. But the young Polish count, Stanislaus Poniatowski, almost immediately supplied his place. After the death of the Em press Elizabeth in 1761, Peter III. ascended the Russian throne; but the conjugal difference became continually wider. C. was banished to a separate abode; and the emperor seemed to entertain the design of divorcing her. declaring her only son, Paul, illegitimate, and marrying his mistress, Elizabeth Woronzow. The popular dislike to Peter, however, rapidly increased; and at length, he being dethroned by a conspiracy, C. was made empress. A few days afterwards, Peter was murdered (July 1762). What participation his wife had in his murder, has never been well ascertained. In The C. now exerted herself to please the people. and among other things, made a great show of regard for the outward forms of the Greek Church, although her principles were, in reality, those of the infidelity then prevalent among the French philosophers. The govorniment of the country was carried on with great energy; and her reign was remarkable for the rapid increase of the extent and power of Russia. Not long after her accession to the throne, her influence secured the clection of her former favorite, Stanislaus Ponitaowski, to the throne of Poland. her own empire, however, discontentment was seriously manifested. the hopes of the disaffected being centred in the young prince Ivan, who was forthwith murdered in the castle of Schlüsselburg. From that time, the internal politics of Russia long consisted in great part of court intrigues for the humiliation of one favorite and the exaltation of another. The first partition of Poland in 1772, and the Turkish war which terminated in the peace of Kainardji in 1774. vastly increased the empire. Turkish war which terminated in the peace of Jassy in 1792, had similar results, and also the war with Sweden, which terminated in 1790. The second and third partitions of Poland, and the incorporation of Courland with Russia, completed the triumphs of C.'s reign. She began a war with Persia, however, and cherished a scheme for the overthrow of the British power in India; but a stroke of apoplexy cut her off on November 9, 1796. She was a woman of great ability; but, utterly devoid of principle, she shrunk from no crime, and sensuality and ambition governed all her actions. She was shameless in vice; and always had a paramour, who dwelt in her palace, and might be regarded as filling an acknowledged office of state, with large revenues and determinate privileges. Yet distinguished authors flattered her; and she invited to her court some of the literati and philosophers of France. She was ever ready to commence great undertakings, but most of them were left unfinished; and little was really accomplished in her reign for the improvement of the country, or the progress of civilisation. On a visit to the southern provinces of the empire in 1787, she was gratified by a perpetual display of fictitious wealth and prosperity along the whole route. This imperial progress was also a triumphal procession of her vile favorite Potemkin (q. v.). CATHARINE DE' MEDICI, the queen of Henri II. of France, was the daughter of Lorenzo de Medici, Duke of Urbino, and was born at Florence in 1519. In her fourteenth year, she was brought to France, and married to Henri, the second son of Francis I. The marriage was a part of the political schemes of her nucle, Pope Clement VII., but as he died soon after, she found herself friendless and neglected at the French court. In these circumstances, she |