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ceived him in; and a peace ensued soon after. His batred of the cardinal, however, made him quit PaCondenser. ris, and take refuge among the Spaniards, who made him generalissimo of their forces; and he took Rocroi. The peace of the Pyrenees restored him to his country; and he again signalized himself at the head of the king's armies. Being afflicted with the gout, he refused the command of the army in 1676, and retired to Chantilly, where he was as much esteemed for the virtues of peace, as he had been before for his military talents. He died in 1686, at Fontainbleau.

CONDE, a town of the French Netherlands, in the department of the North, with the title of a principality, and has 5000 inhabitants. It is one of the strongest towns in this country, and seated near the confluence of the rivers Haisne and Scheldt. It was taken by the allies in 1793, and retaken by the French in 1794. Its name by the convention was changed to Nord Libre. E. Long. 3. 39. N. Lat. 50. 27.

CONDE, a town of France, in the department of Calvados, which carries on a considerable trade; seated on the river Nereau, 15 miles west of Paris. W. Long. o. 37. N. Lat. 48. 50.

CONDEMNATION, the act of giving judgment, passing or pronouncing sentence against a person, who is thus subjected to some penalty or punishment, either in respect of life, reputation, or fortune.

CONDENSATION, the act whereby a body is rendered more dense, compact, and heavy. The word is commonly applied to the conversion of vapour into water, by distillation, or naturally in the clouds. The way in which vapour commonly condenses, is by the application of some cold substance. On touching it, the vapour parts with its heat which it had before absorbed, and on doing so, it immediately loses the proper characteristics of vapour, and becomes water. But though this is the most common and usual way in which we observe vapour to be condensed, nature certainly proceeds after another method; since we often observe the vapours most plentifully condensed when the weather is really warmer than at other times. See the articles CLOUD, EVAPORATION, &c.

CONDENSER, a pneumatic engine, or syringe, with which a greater quantity of air may be crowded into a given space; so that sometimes ten atmospheres, or ten times as much air as there is at the same time in the same space, under the usual pressure, may be thrown in by means of it, and its egress prevented by valves properly disposed.

It consists of a brass cylinder, wherein is a moveable piston; which being drawn out, the air rushes into the cylinder through a hole provided on purpose; and when the piston is again forced into the cylinder, the air is driven into the receiver through an orifice, furnished with a valve to hinder its getting out.

The receiver or vessel containing the condensed air, should be made very strong, to bear the force of the air's spring thus increased; for which reason they are general ly made of brass; its orifice is fitted with a female screw to receive the male screw at the end of the condenser.

CONDENSER of Electricity, an apparatus for collecting small quantities of the electric fluid. This instrument was invented by Volta, and is described in the 72d vol. of the Phil. Trans. See ELECTRICITY.

CONDILLAC, ETIENNE BONNOT DE, an eminent Condilac French writer on metaphysics. See SUPPLEMENT. CONDITION, in the civil law, a cause of obliga- Condorcet. tion stipulated as an article of a treaty or a contract; or in a donation of a testament, legacy, &c. in which last case a donee does not lose his donative if it be charged with any dishonest or impossible conditions.

CONDITIONAL, something not absolute, but subject to conditions.

CONDITIONAL Conjunctions, in Grammar, are those which serve to make propositions conditional; as if, unless, provided, &c.

CONDITIONAL Propositions, in Logic, such as consist of two parts connected together by a conditional particle.

CONDITIONAL Syllogism, a syllogism where the major is a conditional proposition. Thus,

If there is a God, he ought to be worshipped.
But there is a God;

Therefore he ought to be worshipped. CONDIVICNUM, in Ancient Geography, the ca pital of the Namnetes, in Armorica. Now Nantes in Brittany, on the Loire, from its name Civitas Namnetum. W. Long. 1. 30. Lat. 47. 15.

CONDOM, a town of Gascony in France, capital of the Condomois, with a bishop's see. It is but a poor place, and the trade is very small. It is seated on the river Gelisse, in E. Long. o. 22. N. Lat. 44.

CONDOR, or CONTOR. See VULTURE, ORNITHOLOGY Index.

CONDORCET, JOHN-ANTONY NICHOLAS CARITAT, marquis of, a French writer, and political character of considerable eminence, descended from an ancient family from the principality of Orange, and born at Ribemont in Picardy, in 1743. He received his education at the college of Navarre, where he was distinguished at an early period of life for his strong attachment to the study of physics and mathematics. On his entrance into public life, he established a friendly intercourse with Voltaire, D'Alembert, and other literary characters, who professed opinions analogous to his own, and formed a very powerful party among the French literati, whose united efforts to propagate their ideas of religion and politics, have been applauded or condemned, according to the principles of their dif ferent judges. Condorcet first attracted the attention of the public as a mathematician, obtaining their ap probation for his treatise on integral calculations, which he composed at the age of 22. In the year 1767, his solution of the problem of the Three Bodies made its appearance, and in the following year first part of his "Essays on Analysis." In the year 1769 he was received a member of the Academy of Sciences, the memoirs of which were greatly enriched by him with different papers on the most abstruse branches of mathematical science. His justly merited reputation pointed him out as a fit person to co-operate with D'Alembert and Bossut, in assisting M. Turgot, that celebrated minister and able financier, with arithmeti cal calculations. In the mean time he laboured indefatigably in the study of politics and metaphysics, and defended, in an anonymous publication, the sect of philosophers to which he had attached himself, from

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Condorcet. an attack made upon them in the Trois Siecles; and replied to M. Necker's essay on Corn Laws. He was appointed secretary to the Academy of Sciences in the year 1773, when he employed much of his time in writing eulogies on such of its deceased members as Fontenelle had passed over in silence. Like D'Alembert and some others, Condorcet having united in himself the characters of an elegant writer and a man of profound research, was admitted into the French academy in 1783, when he pronounced an oration on the influence of philosophy, which was ordered to be printed. From the time of D'Alembert's death, which happened this year, he filled the station of secretary to that academy, rendering his name conspicuous by the publication of eulogies on different eminent characters. His panegyric on D'Alembert, to whom he was most sincerely attached, is a very elaborate performance, notwithstanding of which it is esteemed by judges as a candid account of the genuine merits of that great philosopher. His encomium bestowed on that very able mathematician Euler, furnished him with a favourable opportunity of giving a circumstantial account of the specific improvements and inventions conferred on a peculiar branch of science by the labours of an individual; a talent in a biographical writer which Condorcet appears to have possessed in an eminent degree. His eulogy on the minister Turgot was read with avidity, and admired by all those who approved of Turgot's plans of government and system of finance. In the year 1787 he gave the public his "Life of Voltaire," which was highly elaborate, and replete with lofty panegyric, on the merits of which mankind were consequently much divided, according to their sentiments of that author's philosophy. The last of his biographical works was an eulogy on the celebrated Dr Franklin, published in 1790, all of which will be read with some degree of prejudice by those who are inimical to the school of philosophy to which he belonged.

The memorable event of the French revolution, which the writings of Condorcet and his associates unquestionably accelerated, naturally interested his feelings, and called forth his exertions. But the conduct of the political parties and their leaders, during this tumultuous period, is painted in colours so diametrically opposite to each other, that a proper estimate of it is scarcely possible. In this part of Condorcet's life, therefore, we must confine ourselves to such facts as are universally acknowledged, leaving it to our readers to draw inferences for themselves.

At an early period he employed his talents to promote these reforms, (for such they appeared in his judgment) which were to pave the way to a new order of things. A work entitled La Bibliotheque de l'Homme Public, to contain an analysis of the writings of the most eminent politicians, was chiefly conducted by him, as was also a newspaper called La Chronique de Paris, filled with declamation against royalty. He had likewise a share in the Journal de Paris, a paper conducted on similar principles. About the time when the unfortunate king fled to Varennes he proposed a paper called Le Republicain, the obvious intention of which is clearly deducible from its title. He was an indefatigable member of the Jacobin club, and spoke frequently, though not forcibly,

in it. He was chosen a representative for Paris when Condorcet. the constituent assembly was dissolved, and followed the general political course of the Brissotine party. A plan for public instruction was now to exercise his abilities, which he finished in two elaborate memoirs, allowed to contain some exalted and enlarged ideas, but perhaps rather extensive to be reduced to practice. He was likewise author of the manifesto addressed to the European powers by the people of France, on the approach of a war. He wrote a letter of expostulation to the king while he was president of the assembly, which some have considered as by far too severe, and destitute of that ceremony to which the sovereign was entitled. When the king was insulted by the populace at the Thuilleries, in being offered the red cap, it is said that he vindicated their proceedings. We are also informed, that while he was degrading royalty in this manner, he was secretly soliciting the office of tutor to the dauphin; a proposition which the king utterly rejected, on account of his avowed infidelity. Attempts have been made to fix upon his character the most abominable ingratitude, by making him accessory to the murder of the duke de la Rochefoucault, to whom he was under the strongest obligations, and from whose family he had received a most accomplished wife with a fortune; but we sincerely hope that this calumny entirely originated from the malevolence of party spirit. When the trial of the king came to be agitated, Condorcet gave it as his opinion that he could not be brought to judgment in a legal manner; yet it must be confessed that his conduct in regard to the sentence, was rather of an ambiguous nature, and betrayed that timidity and want of resolution which formed the most prominent features of his political career. The judgement of Madame Roland concerning the moral constitution of this wonderful man has all the air of impartiality. "The genius of Condorcet," says that lady, "is equal to the comprehension of the greatest truths; but he has no other characteristic besides fear. It may be said of his understanding, combined with his person, that it is a fine essence absorbed in cotton. The timi dity which forms the basis of his character, and which he displays even in company, does not result from his frame alone, but seems to be inherent in his soul, and his talents furnish him with no means of subduing it. Thus, after having deduced a principle or demonstrated a fact in the assembly, he would give a vote. decidedly opposite, overawed by the thunder of the tribunes, armed with insults, and lavish of menaces. The properest place for him was the secretaryship of the academy. Such men should be employed to write, but never permitted to act." The Gironde party, after the execution of the king, employed him to frame a new constitution, the plan of which was presented to the convention, and obtained their approbation. It was not thus esteemed by the people at large; and it has, perhaps not without reason, been considered as "a mass of metaphysical absurdities." During the violent struggle between the Gironde and Mountain parties, Condorcet took no decided part with either, which seems to have been owing to the native timidity. of his mind, and his abhorrence of the state of public. affairs. He was not comprehended among the number. of those who were sacrificed with their leader Brissot;. but having employed his pen against the victorious par

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Condorcet. ty, he fell under the invincible displeasure of that in- just cause, for which the sincere votaries of Christianity Condorcet n human, blood-thirsty tyrant Robespierre, who issued have ever been conspicuous. '

1
a decree of accusation against him in July 1793. He CONDORMIENTES, in church history, religious
found means to effect his escape from the arrest, and sectaries, who take their name from lying all together,
during nine months concealed himself in Paris. Dread. men and women, young and old. They arose in the
ing at length that the tyrant would order a domiciliary 13th century, near Cologne, where they are said to
visit for the purpose of discovering the place of his re- bave worshipped an image of Lucifer, and to have re-
treat, he passed through the barriers without being ta- ceived answers and oracles from him.
ken notice of, and went to the house of a person in

CONDRIEU, a town of Lyonnois in France, re-
whom he could confide, on the plain of Mont-Rouge, markable for its excellent wines. It is seated at the
who unfortunately for Condorcet was at that time in foot of a hill near the river Rhone. E. Long. 4. 33
the metropolis. He was of consequence under the ne- N. Lat. 45. 28.
cessity of passing two dreary nights in the open fields, CONDRUSII, in Ancient Geography, a people of
a melancholy prey to hunger and cold. On the third Belgica, originally Germans, dwelling about the
day he obtained an interview with bis friend, who un. Maese. Their country is now called Condrotx, in
happily durst not venture to afford him shelter under the bishopric of Liege, between Luxemburgh and the
his roof, so that he was once more compelled to wander Maese.
in the fields. Worn out at length by hunger and fa- CONDUCTOR, in Surgery, an instrument which
tigue, and life being no longer supportable without serves to conduct the knife in the operation of cut-
sustenance, he applied at a public house for an ome. ting for the stone, and in laying up sinuses and fistu-
lette, which he devoured with greediness. His cada. las.
verous appearance and uncommonly keen appetite, CONDUCTORS, in electrical experiments, are those
roused the suspicion of a municipal officer who happen- bodies that receive and communicate electricity; and
ed to be present, and by whom he was interrogated. those that repel it are called non-conductors. See E.
The ambiguity and hesitation which characterized bis LECTRICITY.
answers, made the officer conclude that it would be CONDUIT, a canal or pipe for the conveyance of
proper to apprehend him. He was accordingly con- water, or other fluid.
signed to a dungeon, to be next day conducted to There are several subterraneous conduits through
Paris, but bis melancholy fate rendered such a measure which the waters pass that form springs. Artificial
unnecessary. He was found dead in the morning; and conduits for water are made of lead, stone, cast-iron,
as it was generally understood that he constantly car- potter's earth, timber, &c.
ried with him a dose of poison, to this cause his melan-

CONDYLOID and CORONOID processes.

See
choly exit was very properly ascribed. Thus termina- ANATOMY Index.
ted the career of Condorcet on the 28th of March, CONDYLONA, in Medicine, a tubercle, or cal-

а
1794, who for many years sustained a brilliant and bo- lous eminence, which arises in the folds of the anus; or
nourable reputation in the republic of letters. His man- rather a swelling or hardening of the wrinkles of that
ners were replete with urbanity, and as well qualified part.
to please in company as could be expected in a man CONDYLUS, a name given by anatomists to a
who was conceived as destitute of a beart.

knot in any of the joints, formed by the epiphysis of a
certainly blessed with domestic felicity, and had one bone.
daughter by bis wife. Soon after his death appeared his CONE, in Geometry, a solid figure, baving a circle
“ Sketch of a Historical Draught of the Progress of for its base, and its top terminated in a point or vertex.
the Human Mind," a methodical performance, and See Conic SECTIONS.
evincing the profoundest research, in which he strongly Mlelting Cone, in Chemistry, is a hollow cone form-
recommends his favourite idea of gradually bringing ed of copper or brass, with a handle, and with a flat
human nature to a state of perfection, by considering bottom adjoining to the apex of the cone, upon which
what man has been, now is, and may be. This treatise it is intended to rest. Its use is to receive a mass of
will no doubt be viewed by some as rather fanciful; but one or more metals melted together, and cast into it.
it is clearly the effort of a very superior genius, and This mass, when cold, may be easily shaken out of the
must be peculiarly interesting to the feeling man, when vessel, from its figure. Also, if a melted mass consist-
it is known that it was composed while its author was ing of two or more metals, or other substances not com-
in circumstances of danger and distress. The idea bined together, be poured into this vessel, the conical
of man's progressive advancement towards perfection figure facilitates the separation of these substances ac-
and bappiness, inspired bim with consolation under bis cording to their respective densities. The cone ought
complicated misfortunes. Besides the works which we to be well beated before the melted mass is thrown
have enumerated in this sketch of his life, he published into it; that it may not contain any moisture, which
“ Letters to the King of Prussia," with whom he kept would occasion a dangerous explosion. It ought also
up a correspondence, as well as with Catherine em- to be greased internally with tallow, to prevent the ad-
press of Russia. A treatise on calculation, and an ele- hesion of the fluid matter.
mentary treatise on arithmetic, were left behind him Cone of Rays, in Optics, includes all the several rays
in manuscript. Although he was an enemy to reveal- which fall from any radiant point upon the surface of a
ed religion, he was certainly a man of virtue and inte- glass.
grity; yet all his philosophy could never inspire him CONE. See Conus, BOTANY Index.
with that heroic fortitude and contempt of death in a CONE-Shell. See Conus, ConcHoLOGY Inder.
3

CONESSI,

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CONESSI, a sort of bark of a tree, which grows on B the Coromandel coast in the East Indies. It is recomConfession. mended in a letter to Dr Monro, in the Medical Essays, as a specific in diarrhoeas. It is to be finely pulverized, and made into an electuary with syrup of oranges. The bark should be fresh, and the electuary new made every day, or second day, otherwise it loses its austere and grateful bitterness on the palate, and its proper effects on the intestines.

CONFARREATION, a ceremony among the ancient Romans, used in the marriage of persons whose children were destined for the honour of the priesthood.

Confarreation was the most sacred of the three modes of contracting marriage among that people; and consisted, according to Servius, in this, that the pontifex maximus and flumen dialis joined and contracted the man and woman, by making them eat of the same cake of salted bread; whence the term far, signifying meal or flour.

Ulpian says, it consisted in the offering up of some pure wheaten bread; rehearsing withal a certain formula, in presence of ten witnesses. Dionysius Halicarnasseus adds, that the husband and wife did eat of the same wheaten bread, and threw part on the victims. CONFECTION, in Pharmacy, signifies, in general, any thing prepared with sugar; in particular it imports something preserved, especially dry substances. It also signifies a liquid or soft electuary, of which there are various sorts directed in dispensatories. See PHARMACY.

CONFECTOR, among the ancient Romans, a sort of gladiator, hired to fight in the amphitheatre against beasts; thence also denominated bestiarius.

The confectores were thus called à conficiendis bestiis, from their despatching and killing beasts.

The Greeks called them agacor, q. d. daring, rash, desperate; whence the Latins borrowed the appellations parabolani and parabolarii. The Christians were sometimes condemned to this sort of combat.

CONFECTS, a denomination given to fruits, flowers, herbs, roots, &c. when boiled or prepared with sugar or honey, to dispose them to keep, and render them more agreeable to the taste.

CONFEDERACY, in Law, is when two or more persons combine to do any damage to another, or to commit any unlawful act. Confederacy is punishable, though nothing be put in execution: but then it must have these four incidents; 1. That it be declared by some matter of prosecution, as by making of bonds or promises to one another; 2. That it be malicious, as for unjust revenge; 3. That it be false, i. e. against the innocent; and, lastly, That it be out of court voluntary.

CONFEDERATION of the Rhine, a league formed among the smaller German states in 1805, under the protection of France. See SUPPLEMENT.

CONFERVA. See BOTANY Index. CONFESSION, in a civil sense, a declaration or acknowledgment of some truth, though against the interest of the party who makes it; whether it be in a court of justice or out of it. It is a maxim, that in civil matters, the confession is never to be divided, but always taken entire. A criminal is never condemned on his simple confession, without other collateral proofs; nor is a voluntary extrajudicial confession admitted as

any proof. A person is not admitted to accuse him- Confession self, according to that rule in law, Non auditur perire A volens. See ARRAIGNMENT.

CONFESSION, among divines, the verbal acknowledgment which a Christian makes of his sins.

Among the Jews it was the custom, on the annual feast of expiation, for the high-priest to make confession of sins to God in the name of the whole people: besides this general confession, the Jews were enjoined, if their sins were a breach of the first table of the law, to make confession of them to God; but violations of the second table were to be acknowledged to their brethren. The confessions of the primitive Christians were all voluntary, and not imposed on them by any laws of the church; yet private confession was not only allowed, but encouraged.

The Romish church requires confession not only as a duty, but has advanced it to the dignity of a sacrament: this confession is made to the priest, and is private and auricular; and the priest is not to reveal them under pain of the highest punishment.

CONFESSION of Faith, a list of the several articles of belief in any church.

CONFESSIONAL, or CONFESSIONARY, a place in churches under the great altar, where the bodies of deceased saints, martyrs, and confessors, were deposited.

This word is also used by the Romanists for a desk in the church where the confessor takes the confessions of the penitents.

CONFESSOR, a Christian who has made a solemn and resolute profession of the faith, and has endured torments in its defence. A mere saint is called a confessor, to distinguish him from the roll of dignified saints; such as apostles, martyrs, &c. In ecclesiastical history, we frequently find the word confessors used for martyrs in after-times it was confined to those who, after having been tormented by the tyrants, were permitted to live and die in peace. And at last it was also used for those who, after having lived a good life, died under an opinion of sanctity. According to St Cyprian, he who presented himself to torture, or even to martyrdom, without being called to it, was not called a confessor but a professor: and if any out of a want of courage abandoned his country, and became a voluntary exile for the sake of the faith, he was called exterris.

CONFESSOR is also a priest in the Romish church, who has a power to hear sinners in the sacrament of penance, and to give them absolution. The church calls him in Latin confessarius, to distinguish him from confessor, which is a name consecrated to saints. The confessors of the kings of France, from the time of Henry IV. have been constantly Jesuits: before him the Dominicans and Cordeliers shared the office between them. The confessors of the house of Austria have also, ordinarily, been Dominicans and Cordeliers; but the later emperors have all taken Jesuits.

CONFIGURATION, the outward figure which bounds bodies, and gives them their external appear ance; being that which, in a great measure, constitutes the specific difference between bodies.

CONFIRMATION, in a general sense, the act of ratifying or rendering a title, claim, report, or the like, more sure and indisputable.

CONFIRMATION, in Law, a conveyance of an estate,

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Confirma. or right in csse, from one man to another, whereby a tion of its matter, by the consumption of its central Conflagra

voidable estate is made sure and unavoidable, or a par- parts, or by weakening the cohesion of the constitu. HI

cicular estate is increased, or a possession inade perfect. ent part of the mass by the excess or the defect of 8 Copflag ra

Confucius.
CONFIRMATION, in Theology, the ceremony of lay- moisture. Others look for the cause of the conflagra.
ing on of hands, for the conveyance of the Holy tion in the atmosphere, and suppose, that some of the
Ghost.

meteors there engendered in unusual quantities, and
The antiquity of this ceremony is, by all ancient exploded with unusual vehemence, from the concur-
writers, carried as high as the apostles, and founded rence of various circumstances, may effect it, with.
upon their example and practice. In the primitive out seeking any further. The astrologers account for
church, it used to be given the Christians immediately it from a conjunction of all the planets in the sign
after baptism, if the bishop bappened to be present at Cancer; as the deluge, say they, was occasioned by
the solemnity. Among the Greeks, and throughout their conjunction in Capricorn. Lastly, others have
the East, it still accompanies baptism; but the Roma- recourse to a still more effectual and flaming machine,
nists make it a distinct independent sacrament. Seven and conclude the world is to undergo its conflagration
years is the stated time for confirmation ; however, , from the near approach of a comet in its return from

;
they are sometimes confirmed before, and sometimes
after, that age. The person to be confirmed has a CONFLUENT, among physicians, &c. an appella-
godfather and godmother appointed him, as in baptism. tion given to that kind of SMALL-Pox wherein the po-
The order of confirmation in the church of England stules run into each other.
does not determine the precise age of the persons to be

CONFLUENTES, in Ancient Geography, a place
confirmed.

at the confluence of the Rhine and Moselle, supposed CONFISCATION, in Law, the adjudication of to be one of the 50 forts erected by Drusus on the goods or effects to the public treasury ; as the bodies Rhine, in Gallia Belgica : Now Coblenta, a town of and effects of criminals, traitors, &c.

Triers. E. Long. 7. 15. N. Lat. 50. 30. CONFLAGRATION, the general burning of a CONFORMATION, 'the particular consistence and city or other considerable place.

texture of the parts of any body, and their disposition
This word is commonly applied to that grand pe.

to compose a whole.
riod or catastrophe of our world, when the face of na- CONFORMATION, in Medicine, that make and con-
ture is to be changed by fire, as formerly it was bystruction of the human body which is peculiar to
water. The ancient Pythagoreans, Platonists, Epi- every individual. Hence a mala conformatio, signifies
cureans, and Stoics, appear to have had a notion of some fault in the first rudiments; whereby a person
the conflagration ; though whence they should derive comes into the world crooked, or with some of the
it, unless from the sacred books, is difficult to con- viscera or cavities unduly framed or proportioned.
ceive ; except, perhaps, from the Phænicians, who Many are subject to incurable asthmas, from a too
themselves had it from the Jews. Seneca says ex small capacity of the thorax, and the like vicious con-
pressly, Tempus advenerit quo sidera sideribus incur. formations.
rent, et omni flagrante materia uno igne, quicquid nunc CONFORMITY, in the schools, is the congruency
ex deposito lucet, ardebit. This general dissolution the or relation of agreement between one thing and ano-
Stoics call ixtuguris, ecpyrosis. Mention of the con- ther; as between the measure and the thing measured,
flagration is also made in the books of the Sibyls, So- the object and the understanding, the thing and the
phocles, Hystaspes, Ovid, Lucan, &c. Dr Burnet, division thereof, &c.
after F. Tachard and others, relates that the Siamese CONFRONTATION, the act of bringing two
believe that the earth will at last be parched up with persons in presence of each other, to discover the truth
heat; the mountains melted down ; the earth's whole of some fact which they relate differently.
surface reduced to a level, and then consumed with The word is chiefly used in criminal matters, where
fire. And the Bramins of Siam do not only hold the witnesses are confronted with the accused, the
that the world shall be destroyed by fire, but also accused with one another, or the witnesses with one
that a new earth shall be made out of the cinders of another.
the old.

CONFUCIUS, or CONG-FU-TSE, the most eminent,

,
Various are the sentiments of authors on the subject and most justly venerated of all the philosophers of
of the conflagration ; the cause whence it is to arise, China, a descendant of the imperial family of the dy-
and the effects it is to produce. Divines ordinarilynasty of Chang, was born in the kingdom of Lu, now
account for it metaphysically; and will have it take called the province of Chang-tong, about 550 years
its rise from a miracle, as a fire from heaven. Phi- before the commencement of the Christian era. This
losophers contend for its being produced from natural makes bim to bave been cotemporary with Pythagoras
causes; and will have it effected according to the laws and Solon, and prior to the days of Socrates. He gave
of mechanics. Some think an eruption of the central striking proofs of very uncommon talents at an early
fire sufficient for the purpose, and add, that this may period of life, wbich were cultivated and improved
be occasioned several ways, viz. either by having its with great assiduity under the tuition of the ablest
intensity increased; which again may be effected ei- masters. Scarcely bad be attained to the years of
ther by being driven into less space by the encroach- maturity, when he evinced himself acquainted with all
ments of the superficial cold, or by an increase of the the literature of that period, possessing, in particular, a
inflammability of the fuel whereon it is fed ; or by comprehensive knowledge of the canonical and classical
having the resistance of the imprisoning earth weak. books, ascribed to the legislators Yao and Chun, which
ened, which may bappen either from the diminu- the Chinese emphatically denominate the five volumes

as

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