Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume III.djvu/551

(LESIUM OAFFARELLI DU FALGA 545 bear the operation better, and runs less risk of inflammation. f.Esim. a metal discovered in 18GO-'61 by Bunsen and Kirohhoff by means of spectrum analysis. It so closely resembles potassium in its properties that it had escaped the notice of chemists who pursued their investigations ac- cording to the ordinary methods of analysis. Bunsen, in his capacity of sanitary inspector of the mineral springs of Baden, received the residues from the evaporation of Durkheim water, and in the course of a critical examina- tion into its properties detected by two blue lines on the spectrum that something different from potash was manifestly present. He precip- itated the new body with chloride of platinum, and by repeated washings separated it from its surroundings. In consequence of the color of the lines on the spectrum he gave the name of csesium (Lat. casim, sky-blue) to the new ele- ment. The first publication on the subject was in the Annalen of Liebig and Wohler for July, 1861. In 1864 Pisani found csesium to the extent of 34 per cent, in a rare mineral from the island of Elba, called pollnx. The metal has since been detected in carnallite and tri- phylline ; in numerous salt brines ; in the lepi- dolite of Hebron, Me., which Johnson found to contain 0'3 per cent. ; in petalite, various sea shells, basaltic rocks, and occasionally in the ashes of plants, though it appears not to be readily assimilated by vegetables, and in this respect to resemble sodium. ^Cresium is the most electro-positive of all the metals, and oxi- dizes so rapidly that Bunsen has not been able to give a full description of its properties. Compounds of caesium, analogous to those ob- tained from potassium and sodium, have been prepared by chemists. They yield alums, soaps, and organic bodies, none of which have at present any application in the arts. The atomic weight of caesium is 133, and its symbol isCs. C.ESIl'S, Bassos, a Roman lyric poet of the 1st century. Only two lines of his poems are ex- tant, one being quoted by Priscian and another by Diomedes ; but he was praised by Quintilian, and Persius addressed a satire to him. He is said to have been destroyed with his villa by the eruption of Vesuvius which buried Herculaneum and Pompeii (79). CAP, or Kaf, a mountain range which, accord- ing to the Arabic and Persian legends, encircles the earth. The sun rises from behind it, and again sets behind it. "From Oaf to Oaf" is from one end of the world to the other. The pivot upon which the mountain rests is a huge emerald, named Sakhral, from the reflection of which earthquakes proceed, and the sky receives its color. The mountain is inhabited by genii and giants. < HI AKKU.I. an Italian vocalist, whose real name was GAETANO MAJOHANO, born at or near Bari in 1703, died in Naples in 1783. He was the son of a poor peasant, and his fine voice early attracting attention, it was culti- vated under the tuition of the musician Caf- faro, after whom he assumed the name of Oaf- farelli (little Oaffaro). His father had him castrated, and after six years' study under Porpora of Naples, who declared him to be the finest singer of Italy if not of the world, he first appeared in 1728 at the Valle theatre in Rome, assuming a female part, as was usual with male soprano singers of those days, and his handsome face increased the number of his admirers. In 1730 he won new success and acquired a large fortune in England, after which he received at Venice the then unpre- cedented annual salary of 800 sequins (about $2,000). In 1750 he sang wonderfully in sa- cred music at the court of France, but offended Louis XV. by insisting upon receiving in ad- dition to another present the king's portrait, which was given only to foreign ministers, re- marking that all the ambassadors in the world could not produce one single Oaffarelli. He was immediately ordered to leave France, and on his return to Italy purchased the dominion of San Dorato, and built a palace on which he put the inscription, Amphion TTiebas, ego domum. He had no rival excepting perhaps Farinelli in the compass, flexibility, beauty, and blended vigor and sweetness of his voice. He also had some talent for composition, and enriched Italian music with new and brilliant chromatic scales. CAFFARELLI, Franfois Marie Angnste, a French soldier, born at Falga, in the present depart- ment of Haute-Garonne, Oct. 7, 1766, died at Leschelles, Aisne, Jan. 23, 1849. He was de- scended from a patrician Italian family. After the revolution of 1789 he entered the French army, and from Napoleon's regard for his brother was promoted to be aide-de-camp and brigadier general ; and in reward for his hav- ing prevailed on the pope in 1804 to officiate personally at the emperor's coronation in Paris, he was appointed governor of the Tuileries (1805) and general of division. From 1806 to 1810 he was minister of war and the navy in the kingdom of Italy, and from 1811 to 1813 he distinguished himself in the peninsular war against the Spanish and English. He was made a peer in 1831. CAFFARELLI DU FALGA, Lonls Marie Joseph Maximlllen, a French soldier, elder brother of the preceding, born at Falga, Feb. 13, 1756, died near St. Jean d'Acre, Syria, April 27, 1799. The eldest of ten children who became orphans at an early age, he divided equally among them an extensive inheritance, though he was legally entitled to half of it. He favored the revolution of 1789, and served as captain in the army on the Rhine ; but having publicly expressed his disapproval of the execution of Louis XVI., he was confined to his country seat. Subsequently restored, he crossed the Rhine under Kleber near Dusseldorf in Sep- tember, 1795, and lost his left leg near Creuz- nach. At Napoleon's request he assumed in September, 1798, the command of the engineer