Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 04.djvu/175

CANNIBALISM. lil CANNING. CANNIBALISM. The practice of eating liiiiiian llesh. The word is derived from Caiiiha, a variant of Carib, the name of the West In- dian trihe among whom the Spanish discoverers first noticed the custom. The practice is very widespread, having been fmind within the his- toric period in both Americas, in Africa, India, .iistralia, >7cw ZeaUmd, and throughout the I'olynesian islands. Some early European tribes, and even some of the more cultured early heathen nations, have also been accused of the same practice. By some students cannibalism has been ascribed to economic causes merely, but in most, if not all cases, the custom appears to have had its origin in the superstitious belief that in tliis manner the qualities of the person eaten, particularly if a brave enemy, niiglit be acquired, or his post-mortem ghost existence ut- terly destroyed by leaving nothing in which the spirit might still find lodgment. In some tribes the first-mentioned idea even led children to eat the bodies of their deceased parents. In isolated instances cannibalism appears to have been dic- tated by no other motive than that of mere sav- age revenge. Althougli cannibalism thus appears to have been originally almost a religious cere- monial, the depraved appetite sometimes grew to such an extent that in many tribes human Hesh became a regular article of diet. This was especially the case in equatorial Africa, in some of the South Sea Islands, among the Ta- puyan tribes of Brazil, and on the headwaters of the Amazon. The ancient Aztecs anniuiUy sacri- ficed thousands of human victims to their gods, the bodies being afterward eaten bv' the populace. Cannibal practices are still common among the tribes of Vancouver Island and the northwest coast of North America. Occasional ceremonial cannibalism was quite general among the In- dians of the United States, but the only tribes which practiced it to any great extent were the Atakapa, Tonkawa, and some others of the west- em Gulf Coast. CAN'NIFF, Vii.i.i.M (1830—). A Canadian author and physician, bom at Thurlow, Ontario, Canada. He graduated at Victoria University and studied medicine in Toronto, Xew York, and London. During the Crimean War he served for a time in the Army Jledical Department, and after his return to Canada bec.ime professor of general pathology-, and subsequently of surgery in ^■ietoria University. He was for a time with the .Army of the Potomac during the Civil A'ar, and at its close returned to Canada and resumed the practice of medicine. In 1SG7 he was a dele- gate to the International Medical Congress in I'aris. and contributed a paper on the Indians of Uritish North America : and in the same year he assisted in the formation of the Canadian -Mediea! Association. For many years he was on the editorial staff of the CutKidian Medical Jour- nal, and, besides contrilnitions to various periodi- cals, he has published Principles of Hurqery (IHtini: Settlement of Upper Canada (18f.!)); Canadian atio7ialili/ (187.')) : and The Medical Prrjfissi'in ill Upper Canada (1894). CAN'NING, Charles .Toux, Earl (1812-02). An English statesiiuin, C.overnor-General of India during the Great Mutiny. He was the third son of the celebrated statesman George . Canning, was educated at Eton and Oxford, and suc- ceeded to the peerage as Viscount Canning in 1837. In IS4I he became Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs in Sir Robert Peel's Ministry, and afterwards was chief commis- sioner of woods and forests. When Lord Aberdeen came into office, he was made Postmaster-General, and in the beginning of 185(i he succeeded Lord Dalhousie as Governor-! icneral of India. His conduct during the crisis of the Indian mutiny was described at the time by many as weak and pusillanimous, and he received the nickname of ■Clemency Canning.' With all the circumstances of the case better known, however, it is generally conceded that he acted with firmness and cour- age, combined with magnanimity and impartial justice. In 18.58 the government of India was transferred from the East India Company to the Crown, and he thus became first Viceroj' of India. In I85i( he was raised to an earldom. He died in London. Consult Cunningham, Earl Canning, in the Itulcrs of India Series (London, I89I). CANNING, George (1770-1827). A dis- tinguished British statesman and orator, born in London April U, 1770. His father, who died in poverty when his son was a year old, came of an ancient Bristol family, whose ill-will he in- curred by marrying beneath his station. His mother earned a |irecarious subsistence on the stage, and married twice again, first an actor, and after his death a Plymouth linen-draper. Through Canning's filial afi'ection, she subse- quently- lived in comfort and participated in his success and good fortune. When eight years of age, his luicle, Stratford Canning, a banker, pro- vided for his education and sent him to Eton, where he soon distinguished himself. He founded a school magazine. The Micrueosni, for the copy- right of which a publisher paid him £50, an un- paralleled remuneration for a school-boy author, in 1788 he proceeded to Christ Church, Oxford; the following year, he won the Chancellor's prize with his Filgriniarje to Mecca, and in 1790 gradu- ated B.A. He entered Lincoln's Inn and studied law. At school and college he made influential friends, notably the Hon. Charles Jenkinson, after- wards Lord Liverjiool. and at his uncle's house met Fox and Sheridan, and through them Burke and other well-known men. Bnrke persuaded him to abandon law for a Parliamentary career, and, under the aegis of Pitt, he entered Parliament as member for Xew]H)rt, Isle of Wight, in 1793. In 1796 he became Under-Secretary for Foreign Affairs^ and in 1798 acquired fame as an orator and statesnum by his speeches for the abolition of the slave trade, and against making peace with the French Directory. In debates on other important questions he supported the Ministry, not only by voice, but also by his pen in a sa- tirical pa])er called the Aiiti-Jacohin, which lashed the 'new philosophy,' promulyated by the French Republicans. In 1800 he made a happy marriage with the wealthv heiress .loan Scott, sister to the Duchess of Portland. In 1801 Pitt resigned and Canning joined the opposition against the Addington Ministry, but excited serious and life-long enmities by his caustic wit and criticisms. In 1804 Pitt returned to power, and Canning becanie treasurer of the navy, con- tinuing in olFice until Pitt's death in 1806. Lord Grenville olVered him an oflice in the All-the- Talents Ministry, but Canning declined. In 1807 he was appointed Foreign Minister in the Portland Cabinet, and displayed brilliant qualifications. He originated Nelson's secret expedition and sei-