Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 4.djvu/690

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districts of Scotland. Tall or German greens, which grow to the height of 4 feet, with bright green very much curled leaves, have largely superseded kale in cultivation. A very remarkable variety of open-leaved cabbage is cultivated in the Channel Islands under the name of the Jersey or branching cabbage, It grows to a height of 8 feet, but has been known to attain double that altitude. It throws out branches from the central stem, which is sufficiently firm and woody to be fashioned into walking-sticks ; and the stems are even used by the islanders as rafters for bearing the thatch on their cottage-roofs. Several varieties are cultivated as ornamental plants on account of their beautifully coloured, frizzled, aud laciniated leaves. Brussels sprouts, which represent ,Dr Lindley s second class, are miniature cabbage-heads, about an inch in diameter, which form in the axils of the leaves. They form a tender and delicate table vegetable. The third class is chiefly repre sented by the common or drumhead cabbage, the varieties of which are distinguished by difference in size, form, and colour. In Germany it is converted into a popular article of diet under the name of Sauerkraut by placing in a tub alternate layers of salt and cabbage. An acid fermentation sets in, which after a few days is complete, when the vessel is tightly covered over and the product kept for use with animal food. Cabbages contain a large percentage of nitro genous compounds as compared with most other articles of food. Their percentage composition is water, 93 4; albu men, 1 8; starch and dextrin, 3 3; woody fibre, 5;. and mineral ash, 8. Red cabbage is chiefly used for pickling, and the Savoy is a hardy green variety, characterized by its very wrinkled leaves. The Portugal cabbage, or Couve Tronchuda, is a variety, the tops of which form an excellent cabbage, while the midribs of the large leaves are cooked like sea-kale. Cauliflower, which is the chief representative of class four, consists of the inflorescence of the plant modified so as to form a compact succulent white mass or head ; this is upon the whole the most highly prized cultivated form of the plant, and has been in use from very remote times. Broccoli is merely a variety of cauliflower differing from the other in the form and colour of its inflorescence and its hardiness. Broccoli sprouts, the representative of the fifth class, is a form of recent intro duction, and consists of flowering sprouts springing from the axils of the leaves. Kohl-rabi is a peculiar and excep tional variety of cabbage in which the stem, just above ground, swells into a fleshy turnip-like mass. It is much cultivated in certain districts as a food for cattle. The varieties of cabbage, like many other Cruciferous plants, are possessed of anti-scorbutic properties ; but unless eaten when very fresh and tender they are difficult of digestion, and have a very decided tendency to produce

flatulence.

Several species of palm, from the fact of yielding large sapid central buds which are cooked as vegetables, are known as Cabbage Palms. The principal of these is Areca oleracea, but other .species, such as the Coco Palm, the Maximiliana regia, Arenga saccharifera, &c., yield similar edible leaf-buds.

CABBALA and CABBALISTS. See Kabbala.

CABENDA, or Cabinda, a seaport town of Western Africa, in Lower Guinea, 40 miles north of the mouth of the Zaire, on the right bank of the Bele, in 5 33 S. lat., 15 40 E. long. From the great beauty of its situation, and the fertility of the adjacent country, it has been called the paradise of the coast. The harbour is well sheltered and commodious, and the trade is considerable. Popula tion about 16,000.

CABET, Etienne (1788-1856), an active French Communist, was born, the son of a cooper, at Dijon in 1788. He chose the profession of advocate without succeeding in it, but erelong became notable as the persevering apostle of republicanism and communism. He assisted in a secondary way in the Revolution of 1830, and obtained a legal appointment in Corsica under the Govern ment of Louis Philippe ; but, being dissatisfied with the moderation of the new rule, he began to attack it even in public, and was dismissed. Elected, notwithstanding, to the Chamber of Deputies, he was prosecuted for his bitter criticism of the Government, and obliged to go into exile in England. On the amnesty of 1839, he returned to France, and attracted some notice by the publication of a badly-written and fiercely democratic history of the Revolution of 1789 (4 vols., 1840), and of a social romance, Voyage en Icarie, in which he set forth his peculiar views. These works met with some success among the radical working-men of Paris. An opportunity at length occurred of realizing his schemes. Pressed by his friends, he made arrangements for an experiment in communism on American soil. In his journal, Le Populaire, he announced the purchase of a considerable tract of land on the Red River, Texas, and a treaty by which Cabet was made the dictator of an intending colony, .and the depositary of all the funds, community of property being the distinctive principle of the society. Accordingly, in 1848, an expedition of 150 sailed to America ; but unexpected difficulties arose and the complaints of the disenchanted settlers soon reached Europe. Cabet, who had remained in France, had more than one judicial investigation to undergo in consequence, but was honourably acquitted. In 1849 he went out in person to America, but on his arrival, finding that the Mormons had been expelled from their city Nauvoo, in Illinois, he transferred his settlement thither. There, with the exception of a journey to France, where he returned to defend himself successfully before the tribunals, he re mained, the dictator of his little society. In. 1856, how ever, he was expelled, and died the same year at St Louis. He had not the advantages of either birth or eloquence, or even of ability. The little success he obtained was due entirely to the singularity of his opinions, and the straight forward persistency with which he advocated them.

CABEZA DEL BUEY (i.e., bullock s head), a town of Spain, in Estremadura, in the province of Badajoz, and 86 miles E.S.E. from the city of that name. It manufactures woollen cloth, and has a population of 6500.

CABINET, a conventional, but not a legal, term

employed to describe those members of the Privy Council who fill the highest executive offices in the State, and who, by their concerted policy, direct the Government, and are responsible for all the acts of the Crown. The Cabinet now always includes the persons filling the following offices, who are therefore called Cabinet Ministers, viz : The First Lord of the Treasury, the Lord Chancellor, the Lord President of the Council, the Lord Privy Seal, the five Secretaries of State, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, and the First Lord of the Admiralty. The Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, the Postmaster General, the First Commissioner of Works, the President of the Board of Trade, the Chief Secretary for Ireland, the President of the Poor Law Board, and the Vice-I resident of the Education Committee are sometimes members of the Cabinet, but not necessarily so. Hence the Cabinet must consist of at least eleven members, and it has sometimes included as many as seventeen. But the better opinion appears to be that a large Cabinet is an evil. Mr Disraeli in 1874 acted wisely in restricting the numbers of his colleagues to eleven besides the Prime Minister. When Lord Grcnvillein 1806 brought Lord Chief Justice Ellenborough into the Cabinet by combining his judicial office with that of Lord President, the appointment was strongly reprobated, and the experi

ment has never been repeated. The Master-General of the