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CAtrCASUS MOUNTAINS. 357 CATTCTTS. pian. There are but few practicable routes across the range, the most important being from Vladikavkaz, on the northern side, through the Dariel Pass to Tillis, which is used as a com- mercial and military highway. T.ittij: CAicAsrs. To the south of the vallej's of the Kur and Rion. in Transcaucasia, there are several mountain groups forming a broken chain that extends from near Poti on the Black Sea southeast to the Persian frontier. These groups are collectively known as the 'Little Caucasus,' or as the 'Mountains of Transcaucasia.' The highest point is Alaghez, over 13,000 feet. CAUCHON, k6'sh6.', Joseph Edw.vbd (1816- 85). A Canadian journalist and statesman. In 1842 he established Le Journal dc Quebec, and conducted it until his death. He entered the Provincial Parliament in 1844, and sened in it and in the Dominion Parliament after the formation of the confederation until 1877. Dur- ing 1807-72 he was Speaker of the Senate. He held Cabinet offices in the Provincial and Domin- ion (iovernments. and was I-ieutenant-Goernor of Manitoba from 1877 to 1882. Among other works, he published L'Vnion des provinces de I'Amcri- guc Britannigue du Xord (1865). CAUCHY, kd'she', ArcrsTix Loris (1789- 1857 ) . A French mathematician. He was born in Paris, and was educated at the Ecole Poly- technique. In 1810 he went to Cherbourg, in the cai)acity of an engineer, but his health failing, he retume<l to Paris in 1813, renounced engineering, and chose pure science for his life work. His Mcnioire sur la theorie des ondcs was crowned by the Institute in 1815. and in 1816 he became a member of the Academy of Sciences. Later he be- came professor at the Polvteehnie School. In 1830 he refused to take the oath required by Louis Philipjie, and went into voluntary exile. During his stay abroad he held for a short time the chair of mathematics in Turin, and later (1834) ■ent to Prague as tutor of the Comte de Cham- bord. He returned to France in 1837, but his political views were such as to bar him from the higher professorships until the advent of the Government of 1848. In that year Cauchy was made professor of mathematical astronomy at the Sorbonne, a chair which he held, with a brief interruption, until his death. In polities Oauchy was a Legitimist. He was known as a man of piety and was a defender of the Jesuits. The works of Cauchy occupy a leading place in .science. All parts of pure and applied mathematics, as geometrj', algebra, the theory of numbers, integral calculus, mechanics, as- tronomy, and mathematical physics, are indebt- ed to his discoveries. He verified the periodic- ity of elliptic functions, gave the first impetus to the general theory of functions, contributed to determinants (q.v. ), and laid the foundation for the modern treatment of the convergence of infinite series (q.v.). He emphasized the imag- inary as a fundamental, not subsidiarj", quan- tity, perfected the method of integration of linear differential equations (sec C.lculus), advanced the theorj' of substitutions, invented the calculus of residues, and, in general, was one of the leaders of the Nineteenth Century in infusing vigor into analysis. The propagation of light and the theory of elasticity also received his attention. Consult: Valson, La Vie et les travaux de Cauchy (Paris. 1868) : Terquem, "Analyse des travau.x de Cauchy," in the Xouvelles annales dc mathemritiijues (Paris, 1857). Les ccuires completes d'Augustin Cauchy (Paris, 1882- lilOl) were published under the direction of the Acack'iiiy of Sciences. CAUCtrS (of uncertain origin; possibly from Med. Lat. caucus, Gk. itaCicos, kaukos, cup, as being originally an informal festal gathering). A term applied ( 1 ) to an informal meeting of the voters of a political party within a limited district for the purjiose of nominating candi- dates for oflTice or of naming delegates to a nominating convention, and (2) to a conference of the members of a political party in a legisla- tive body for the purpose of determining in de- tail the course to be pursued by the members of the body belonging to such party. In its former application the word is said to have been de- rived from the "Caulkers' Club," a political or- ganization of some prominence in Boston during the activity of Samuel Adams (q.v.). L'ntil within a comparatively brief period this informal meeting of voters was a well recognized and widely established feature of the American polit- ical system. In the party caucus all 'regular' members of the party «ere considered entitled to be present and to be heard. Its participants named the party's candidates for local office and determined the policy of the party in the polit- ical district from which the members of the caucus were drawn. From the caucus of a small political unit, such as the town or the Assembly district, were sent the various constituent mem- bers of a larger and similar conference repre- senting, and acting for, the voters of a Congres- sional district or of an entire State. Within the past two decades the typical caucus of the past has assumed a new form through the statvitory control of nominations to office, especially in the establishment of a system of so-called "pri- maries," the composition and procedure of which have in several States been made the object of as detailed and specific legislative control as are the elections themselves. The infoi-malitics which earlier made possible many questionable prac- tices in the effort to 'capture' a caucus have thus gradually disappeared, and have been super- seded by the routine of secret balloting by the legally registered members of a party. The nominating caucus appeared also in American politics in a conspicuous form, until 1824, in the caucus of members of Congress of each party which for a couple of decades named the candi- dates for the Presidency and Vice-Presidency, until the system of national nominating conven- tions was introduced. The second type of caucus has not only sur- vived, but has increased in influence and has become recognized as a legitimate feature of legislative procedure. Both in local legislative bodies and also in the various State legislatures, and still more conspicuously in Congress, the members of each party participate in a caucus, by which are named the party's candidates for the offices of the body and by which are deter- mined the lines of policy to be followed within the larger body. Such action is considered as binding not only upon all the participants in the caucus, but also upon all members of the Legis- lature belonging to the party holding the caucus; and very rarelv do anv dissentient members of