Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 04.djvu/164

CANBY. 132 CANCELLATION. maiuied the military division of West Missis- sippi from May, 1864, to June, 18G5, directing, as such, the Mobile campaign of March-April, 18(i5, which resulted in the occupation of -Mol)ile and -Montgomery, in May, 1805, he received the surrender of the Confederate forces under Gen- erals R. Taylor and E. K. Smith. At the close of the war he was brevetted brigadier-general in the regular army for "gallant and meritorious services at the battle of Valverde, N. il.," and major-general for "gallant and meritorious ser- vices in the- capture of Tort Lilakely and ilobilc, Ala." In July, ISUO, he was promoted to the reg- ular rank of brigadier-general, subsequently com- manded various military divisions and depart- ments, and on April 11, 1873, while commanding the Division of the Pacific, was treacherously killed by the Modoc Indians while holding a con- ference with them near the 'Lava Beds' in Ore- gon. CANBY, William ]Mabriott (1831—). An Anicrican botanist, bora in Philadelphia, and educated mainly in private schools. Although in business, he devoted much time to the study of botany, and described many new species of plants. He made large collections in the United States and Canada, and was one of the botanists of the Northern Pacific Transcontinental Survey. His activity in botanical research has included the collection, throigh purchase, exchange, and gift, of a fine herbarium of more than 30,000 species of plants, now the property of the College of Pharmacy in Xew York City, and a smaller col- lection made for the Society of Natural History of Delaware. CANCALE, kax'kal'. The capital of a can- ton in the Department of lUe-et-Villaine, France, situated on a height overlooking the Bay of Mont Saint-Miehel. 10 miles east of Saint 'Malo. It is a favorite seaside resort and a busy fishing port. Ovster-culture is an important industrj-, 430 acres of beds devoted to their propagation being inclosed by the Rocher de Cancalc, an islet which aUo [jrotects a safe liarlxir. Popu- lation, in 1001. of town, 3678; of conunune, 6.549. CAN'CAN (Fr., origin obscure: OF. caquc- hnn. tunmltuous assembly, noise, quarrel. Ro- mance scholars derive it from the disputes of the mediiBval schoolmen over the pronunciation of the Lat. quamijuam, quaiiqtiam, although the word may be purely onomatopoetic) . A wild dance, or rather a series of violent choreographic move- ments, originated by the demi-monde of Paris. There is some resemblance between it and the Bacchic or Dionysian dances of ancient Greece. CANCAO, kiin'kou', KANG-KAO, or Hatien. A siajiort of Cambodia, situated on the Gulf of Siani at the mouth of the river Caneao, on the frontier between Cambodia and Cochin China (Map: Siam, E .5). The harbor is shallow, and the trade, once considerable, is now in a state of deilinc. CANCELING (Lat. canrelli. lattice-work). The extinguishment of the rights or obligations created by a written instrument by obliterating or destroying the instrument itself. Originally the efficacy of the act depended on a strict com- pliance with the prescribed form of drawing tnn'iverse lines over the face of the document: but at the present time any mark or writing — as the word 'canceled' indorsed on the back thereof — clearly showing the intention of the parties is equally valid. In general, the de- struction, obliteration, or marking of an instru- ment creating property rights, whether acci- dentally or with the intention of canceling it, «ill not have the legal effect of extinguishing the rights or obligations created by it. Thus, the destruction of a deed by which real prop- erty has been conveyed will not operate to di- vest the title of the grantee and revest it in the grantor. The title, having passed by the deed, can be restored to the former owner only by another deed. So the tearing or obliterating of a written lease by the parties thereto will not have the elTect of terminating the subsisting relation of landlord and tenant, as this can only be etlected by a surrender made in writing or otherwise, as prescribed by law. The only ex- ception to this rule is when the cancellation of an instrument — as a deed or letters patent — is ordered by a court or other competent authority for fraud or mistake, or because the instru- hient — a mortgage, for example — has answered its purpose and is entitled to be discharged. The case of a will, which may be canceled by the maker at his pleasure, is not a real excep- tion to the rile, as a will does not go into effect and create property rights until the death of the testator. See Letters P.tent; Fbaud; Mlstake: Will. Instruments creating mere contract rights, whether under seal or not — as written agree- ments for services or for the sale of goods, notes, and bills of exchange, and the like — may, on the other hand, usually be canceled by the parties thereto. Even where such contracts are required by law to be in writing, thcv are capable of being revoked by parol ; and tiie cancellation of tiie instrument operates as a revocation or re- scission of the contract, if made with that in- tention. Bonds were, and, to a certain extent, still are, instruments of a peculiar nature, and are considered as comprehending within them- selves all of the rights and obligations de- scribed in them. Even the accidental loss or destruction of .sucli an instrument rendered it unenforceable at common law. While this is generally no longer true, it may always be ex- tinguished by cancellation. See Contract: Bond; Deed; and compare Alteration and Spoliation. CANCELLATION (Lat. caiicellare, to make like lattice, to strike out lattice-wise (X), to cross out. cancel ) . The process of rejecting a common factor from both dividend and divisor, or a common term from both members of an equation. In reducing fractions any factor com- mon to both numerator and denominator is re- jected bv cancellation ; e.g. 6 _ 2-3 _ 3 8 — IT4 — 4 Algebraic expressions are often simplified on the same principle; e.g. a' — h' to' — n' _ (g — 6) ja' + ab + h') TO + II ■ a — 6 m + n (m + i) '"■—") _(„. ■i.^h -!-?.») (,„— n) o — 6 The plan, formerly followed in text-books, of treating cancellation as an independent chapter of elementary arithmetic, has, in recent years, been abolished.