on a hill 1305 ft. above sea-level, and is surrounded by medieval walls, in which, in places, fragments of the Etruscan wall are incorporated. The cathedral of S. Mustiola is a basilica with a nave and two aisles, with eighteen columns of different kinds of marble, from ancient buildings. It has been restored and decorated with frescoes in modern times. The campanile belongs to the 13th century. The place was devastated by malaria in the middle ages, and did not recover until the Chiana valley was drained in the 18th century. For the catacombs see Clusium.
CHIVALRY (O. Fr. chevalerie, from Late Lat. caballerius), the knightly class of feudal times, possessing its own code of rules, moral and social (see Knighthood and Chivalry). The
primary sense in the middle ages is “knights” or “fully armed
and mounted fighting men.” Thence the term came to mean
that gallantry in battle and high sense of honour in general
expected of knights. Thus “to do chivalry” was a medieval
phrase for “to act the knight.” Lastly, the word came to be
used in its present very general sense of “courtesy.” In English
law chivalry meant the tenure of land by knights’ service. It
was a service due to the crown, usually forty days’ military
attendance annually. The Court of Chivalry was a court instituted
by Edward III., of which the lord high constable and
earl marshal of England were joint judges. When both sat the
court had summary criminal jurisdiction as regards all offences
committed by knights, and generally as to military matters.
When the earl marshal alone presided, it was a court of honour
deciding as to precedence, coats of arms, &c. This court sat
for the last time in 1737. The heraldic side of its duties are
now vested in the earl marshal as head of the Heralds’ College.
CHIVASSO, a town and episcopal see of Piedmont, Italy, in
the province of Turin, 18 m. N.E. by rail from the town of Turin,
600 ft. above sea-level. Pop. (1901) 4169 (town), 9804 (commune).
It is situated on the left bank of the Po, near the influx
of the Orco. The cathedral is of the 15th century with a fine
façade ornamented with statues in terra-cotta. It was an
important fortress in the middle ages, and until 1804, when the
French dismantled it. One tower only of the old castle of the
marquesses of Monferrato, who possessed the town from 1164
to 1435, remains. Chivasso is on the main line from Turin to
Milan, and is the junction of branches for Aosta and Casale
Monferrato.
CHIVE (Allium Schoenoprasum), a hardy perennial plant,
with small narrow bulbs tufted on short root-stocks and long
cylindrical hollow leaves. It is found in the north of England
and in Cornwall, and growing in rocky pastures throughout
temperate and northern Europe and Asiatic Russia, and also
in the mountain districts of southern Europe. It is cultivated
for the sake of its leaves, which are used in salads and soups as
a substitute for young onions. It will grow in any good soil,
and is propagated by dividing the roots into small clumps in
spring or autumn; these are planted from 8 to 12 in. apart and
soon form large tufts. The leaves should be cut frequently so
as to obtain them tender and succulent.
CHLOPICKI, GREGORZ JOZEF (1772–1854), Polish general, was born in March 1772 in Podolia. He was educated at the school of the Basilians at Szarogrod, from which in 1787 he ran away in order to enlist as a volunteer in the Polish army. He was present at all the engagements fought during 1792–1794, especially distinguishing himself at the battle of Raclawice, when he was General Rymkiewicz’s adjutant. On the formation of the Italian legion he joined the second battalion as major, and was publicly complimented by General Oudinot for his
extraordinary valour at the storming of Peschiera. He also
distinguished himself at the battles of Modena, Busano, Casabianca
and Ponto. In 1807 he commanded the first Vistulan
regiment, and rendered good service at the battles of Eylau and
Friedland. In Spain he obtained the legion of honour and the
rank of a French baron for his heroism at the battle of Epila
and the storming of Saragossa, and in 1809 was promoted to be
general of brigade. In 1812 he accompanied the Grande Armée
to Russia, was seriously wounded at Smolensk, and on the
reconstruction of the Polish army in 1813 was made a general
of division. On his return to Poland in 1814, he entered the
Russian army with the rank of a general officer, but a personal
insult from the grand duke Constantine resulted in his retiring
into private life. He held aloof at first from the Polish national
rising of 1830, but at the general request of his countrymen
accepted the dictatorship on the 5th of December 1830; on the
23rd of January 1831, however, he resigned in order to fight as
a common soldier. At Wavre (Feb. 19) and at Grochow (Feb.
20) he displayed all his old bravery, but was so seriously
wounded at the battle of Olszyna that he had to be conveyed to
Cracow, near which city he lived in complete retirement till his
death in 1854.
See Jozef Maczynski, Life and Death of Joseph Chlopicki (Pol.) (Cracow, 1858); Ignacy Pradzynski, The Four Last Polish Commanders (Pol.) (Posen, 1865).
CHLORAL, or Trichloracetaldehyde, CCl3·CHO, a substance
discovered by J. von Liebig in 1832 (Ann., 1832, 1, p. 189) and
further studied by J. B. A. Dumas and Staedeler. It is a heavy,
oily and colourless liquid, of specific gravity 1.541 at 0° C., and
boiling-point 97.7° C. It has a greasy, somewhat bitter taste,
and gives off a vapour at ordinary temperature which has a
pungent odour and an irritating effect on the eyes. The word
chloral is derived from the first syllables of chlorine and alcohol,
the names of the substances employed for its preparation.
Chloral is soluble in alcohol and ether, in less than its own
weight of water, and in four times its weight of chloroform; it
absorbs chlorine, and dissolves bromine, iodine, phosphorus and
sulphur. Chloral deliquesces in the air, and is converted by
water into a hydrate, with evolution of heat; it combines with
alcohols and mercaptans. An ammoniacal solution of silver
nitrate is reduced by chloral; and nascent hydrogen converts
it into aldehyde. By means of phosphorus pentachloride,
chlorine can be substituted for the oxygen of chloral, the
body CCl3·CCl2H being produced; an analogous compound,
CCl3·C(C6H5)2H, is obtained by treating chloral with benzene
and sulphuric acid. With an alkali, chloral gives chloroform
(q.v.) and a formate; oxidizing agents give trichloracetic acid,
CCl3·CO(OH). When kept for some days, as also when placed in
contact with sulphuric acid or a very small quantity of water,
chloral undergoes spontaneous change into the polymeride
metachloral (C2Cl3OH)3, a white porcellaneous body, slowly
volatile in the air, and reconverted into chloral without melting
at 180° C. Chloral unites directly with hydrocyanic acid to
form β-trichloracetonitrile, CCl3·CH(OH)CN, and with hydroxylamine
it forms chlorglyoxime, C2H3ClN2O2.
Chloral is prepared by passing dry chlorine into absolute alcohol; the latter must be cooled at first, but towards the end of the operation has to be heated nearly to boiling. The alcohol is converted finally into a syrupy fluid, from which chloral is procured by treatment with sulphuric acid (see P. Fritsch, Ann., 1894, pp. 279, 288). The crude chloral is distilled over lime, and is purified by further treatment with sulphuric acid, and by redistillation. A mixture of starch or sugar with manganese peroxide and hydrochloric acid may be employed instead of alcohol and chlorine for the manufacture of chloral (A. Staedeler, Ann. Ch. Pharm., 1847, 61, p. 101). An isomer of chloral, parachloralide, is made by passing excess of dry chlorine into absolute methyl alcohol.
Chloral hydrate, CCl3·CH(OH)2, forms oblique, often very short, rhombic prisms. The crystals are perfectly transparent, only slightly odorous, free from powder, and dry to the touch, and do not become white by exposure. The melting-point of pure chloral hydrate is 57°, the boiling-point 96-98° C. When heated with sulphuric acid it is converted into anhydrous chloral and chloralide, C6H2Cl6O3. When mixed with water, chloral hydrate causes a considerable degree of cold; and, as with camphor, small fragments of it placed on the surface of water exhibit gyratory movements. Chloral hydrate does not restore the colour to a solution of fuchsine which has been decolorized by sulphurous acid, and so one must assume that the water present is combined in the molecular condition (V. Meyer, Ber., 1880, 13, p. 2343). Chloral may be estimated by distilling the hydrate with milk of lime and measuring the volume of chloroform produced (C. H. Wood, Pharm. Journ., (3) 1, p. 703), or by hydrolysis with a known volume of standard alkali and back titration with standard acid (V. Meyer, Ber., 1873, 6, p. 600). Chloral hydrate has the property of checking the decomposition of a great number
