Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 04.djvu/179

CANON. 145 CANON ALEXANDRINUS. ploymeiit of their wliole time vas prescribed, and a -spirit of brotherliood fostered. They diU'ered from monks in wearing no cowl and making no religious vows. The immediate head of the com- nuHiity, under the bishop, was in the rule of (. lirodegang the archdeacon, in the constitution of Aix a provost, or in some churches an abbot. The early fervor gradually decayed and disor- ders crept in, jiartly owing to the j)ossessiou of private property and the growing wealth of cer- tain chapters, and partly to the troubled condi- tion of Europe in the decline of the Carlovingian monarchy. Vigorous reforms were attempted, in harmony w itli the spirit of the time, in the Elev- enth Century, notably by Saint Peter Damian and by Roman synods under Nicholas II. (1059) and Alexander H. (1063). These councils not only laid down strict rules for the maintenance of a common life, but strongly urged the abandon- ment of private property. This counsel was soon followed in many places. As the newer organiza- tions were largely based upon the example and %ritings of Saint Aygustine, his name was gen- erally attaclied to their i-ule, perhaps first by Gervasius, Archbishop of Rheims, in 1007. (See AuGUSTiNi.x.s. ) At first, and even after there were as many as 4000 houses of the kind, they had no connection with each other: but in 1339 Benedict XII. established a system of gen- eral and provincial chapters, whose decisions were to be binding on all houses under their ju- risdiction. In spite of this, a century later these lies had been much relaxed, and the spirit of pov- eity forgotten. Xo further attempt was made at general reformation, although various sejiarate societies succeeded brilliantly in restoring the old standards, ilany of the old foundations were destroyed at the Reformation, and man_v more by the revolutionary developments from the end of the Eigliteeiith Century, so that only a few congregations now exist. Of these the principal ones are the Lateran canons, who possess a few- houses in Austria, including Klosterneuburg, near Menna (founded 1100), and the Prenion- stratensians (q.v.). In modem times, the title of canon is applied to the dignitaries, whether in the Roman Catho- lic Church or in the Church of England, who form a sort of council to the bishop and perform certain duties in his cathedral church. For their organization, see more particularly Chapter. CANON, ka-nyOn' or, Engl, prnn., kan'yon, or CANYON (Sp. cai'ton, caiia, tulie, funnel, can- nun I . A term applied in the United States to a deep and extensive ravine along a watercourse. Caiions are formed by the erosive action of rivers on their beds, and are usually limited to the iippcr portions of basins, where the water flows with considerable velocity. They are typical of dry climates and of plateau regions which have been elevated in comparatively recent geological times. In moist climates rock decomposition and denudation keep pace with erosion, and the com- bined action of these agencies leads to the carv- ing out of broad, open valleys, a result which may be prndticcd after a very long period in a dry cli- mate. But, unless the slope of the river-bed has been greatly reduced, the erosive action of the water in regions of small rainfall will be more effective tlian the atmospheric agencies, and con- sequently the walls of the channel will have a precipitous diaracter. The nature of the rock ocr which the river flows is also a factor in the formation of canons; hard rocks usually decom- pose slowly, and tlvus preserve the contours of the channel as originally determined by erosion. There arc many caiions in the western part of the United States, the most notable being the Grand Caiion of the Colorado, which is more than 300 miles long and has almost vertical walls from 3000 to 7000 feet in lieight. The Rio Grande and Yellowstone have similar but less extensive canons. The name is sometimes ap- plied in the Western States to the narrowing and deepening of the channel as a river crosses a mountainous barrier, but in such instances it does not difl'er from a gorge. See Rtver; Colo- KAiM) EivEK; Yellowstone Xatiox.^l Park; etc. CANON (Lat., from Gk. Kav6v, kanOn, straight bar, rule, norm). A particular form of part- music based on strictest imitation. The opening theme or melody, the antecedent, is repeated by the other part or parts, and is then called the consequent. There is severe observance of the in- tervals of the melodic design, each part 'coming in' after exactly the same number of measures or bars as the second part comes in after the begin- ning of the theme by the first part. During the flourishing period of polyphonic music the canon and fugue (q.v.) reached their highest stage of mechanical perfection. Up to the present time they constitute the most difficult portions in the formal study of the art of music. CANON, kii'nun, Johann (properly JonANy vox Straschihii'Ka) (1829-85). An Austrian painter, born in Vienna. He became an officer of cuirassiers in the Austrian Army, and subse- quently, having gained some success with pic- tures executed largely under the influence of Rahl, traveled in England, France, Italy, and the Orient. His works include genre pictures, his- torical pieces, and portraits — the latter in a largeness of manner reminiscent of Rubens or Van Dyck. Energetic in drawing, and skillful in eflfects of light and shade, he nevertheless lacks originality. Of his works, may be mentioned "Cromwell Beside the Corpse of Charles I,," "The Treasure - Digger," and "The Flamingo Hunt." CAN'ON AL'EXANDEI'NUS (Lat.). The Alexandrine Canon, so called, is made up of lists of the best Greek writers in the various fields of literature, and is commonly attrilmted to Aris- tophanes of Byzantium (q.v.) and Aristarchus (q.v.). It is possible that the older parts of the extant lists go back to these scholars, but it is now agreed that the canon of the orators is as late as the Pergamene School, and indeed may have been prepared by the rhetor C;pcilius in the time of Augustus: the canon of the historians is not earlier than the Second Century B.C. ; and the canons of the sophists, grammarians, and physi- cians all belong to our era. It has commonly been supposed that Aristophanes and .ristarchus selected the best authors in the several fields, and that this selection contributed to the loss of the works of other authors; but it has recently l>cen shown in the Wilamowitz-MoUendorff Textfje- ■•ichichte der priechischen Lyrikcr (Berlin, 1900) that for the lyric poets, at least, the list repre- sents only a codification of the works of the nine poets included, which had already been selected as best by the judgment of preced- ing centuries. That this was the case with