Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 04.djvu/495

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CENTRAL AMERICA. 423 CENTRALISTS. cratoil republic in Central America, the most important were those of Barrios, President of Guatemala, wlio resorted to force (188.5) and perished in the attempt, and the peaceful union formed in 1805 hy Nicaragua, Salvador, and Honduras, which combined to form the (ireater Eepublic of Central America, with provisions for the admission of Guatemala and Costa Kica. A constitution was adopted, and went into ell'ect on Xovcml)er 1. ISHS, but one nmnth later, owing to the dissatisfaction of Salvador, the union was dissolved. Great Britain, in 1G0.5, extended her protection to the iloscpiito Coast, which was re- linquished in 18.50. Through colonization British Honduras was established in that year. See America: British Ho.dur.s: Costa Rica: Gu.TKMAi,. : IIo>-ut"BAS: Nicaragua; Sai.v.v- DOB: MosQiiTo Coast. CENTRAL CITY. A city and county-seat of Gilliin County. Col., 40 miles west by north of Denver, on the Colorado and Southern Kailroad (Map: Colorado, E '.2). It is the centre of sup- ply for a rich mining district, and is engaged in gold-mining. The first discovery in the State of gold in paying quantities was made at Central (Mty: it was settled in 1859, and was incorpo- rated in 1804. The government is administered by a mayor, annually elected, and a city coimcil. There are municipal water-works. Population, in 1890, 2480: in 1900, 3114. CENTRAL CITY. The county-seat of der- rick County. Xcb.. 1,32 miles west of Omaha, on the Platte River, and on the Union Pacific and the Burlington and ilissouri River railroads (Map: Nelira-ka. F 2). Population, in 1890, 13G8: in 1900, 1571. CENTRAL FALLS. A city in Providence County. R. I.. 4 miles north of Providence, on the Blackstone River, and on the New York, New- Haven and Hartford Railroad (Map: Rhode Isl- and, C 2). It has extensive manufactures of cotton, woolen, and silk goods, haircloth, and machinery. Central Falls has a public library and parks, and obtains its water-supply from Pawtucket, though it owns the pipe system by which the water is supplied. The city, formerly included in the town of Lincoln, was incorporated in 1895, having been settled in the Eighteenth Centurj". Under its present charter, the mayor is elected annually, and the city council is a bicameral assembly. The executive, with the consent of the board of aldermen, nominates po- lice officers, and the school committee is chosen by popular election ; except in these departments, all oflicials are selected hy the council. Popula- tion, in 1900, 18,167. CENTRAL FORCES. Forces which pro- duce on a moving body an acceleration toward a tixcd point called the 'centre of for<e.' Il- lustrations are afforded by the motion of a stone whirled in a sling, by the motion of the moon with reference to the earth, or of the earth with reference to the sun. It is evident, since the line of action of the force is through a fixed point, that the moving body will always move in a definite plane, and that the moment of the force around a line through the fixed point per- pendicular to this plane being zero, there is no change in the angular momentum arfiund this line. (See Mkciiaxk-s.) This leads at once to what is called the principle of the 'conseira- tion of areas.' or the statement that, if a radius vector be drawn from the fi.cd point to the moving body, it wi'U describe equal areas in equal intervals of time; thus, the nearer the body is to the centre, the greater must be its speed. It can be shown further that, if the force is ail attraction varying inversely as the square of the distance from the centre to the body, the orbit of the body will be an ellijjsc, hyjjerbola or parabola, depending upon the conditions under which the motion may be reg-.irded as being started, the centre of the force being a focus. If the orbit is elliptical,, it may be shown that the square of the period of revolution of the body in its orbit is proportioned to the cube of the major axis of the ellipse. See Tait and Steele, Ui/naiiiics of a Piiriicle (London, 1850). The great astronomer Kepler, in 1009, by a careful consideration of the observation-' of Tycho Brahe ocv the motions of the planets, de- 'luced the fact that thesi> motions oheyed the three laws stated above; that is, they satisfy the conservation of areas, their orbits are elliptical about the sun as a focus, and the squares of their periods are proportional to the cul)es of the ma jor axis of the orbit. These are, therefore, often called "Kepler's laws.' Sir Isaac Newton some years later showed that these laws were a neces- sary consequence of his principle of universal gravitation, which states that any two particles of matter act upon each other with a force of attraction which varies directly as the product of the masses of the particles and inversely as the square of their distance apart, and of the further principle that a large spherical body acts upon outside points as if its matter were con- centrated at its centre. CENTRA'LIA. A city in Marion County, 111.. (12 mil(< ca-t of Saint Louis. Mo., on the Illinois Central, the .Jacksonville and Saint Louis, the Southern, and the Illinois .Southern railroads (^lap: Illinois. C 5). It is the centre of a noted fruit-growing country', and has a large trade in fruit, especially apples and strawberries. Coal-mining is another important industry, and there are also the repair-shops of the Illinois Central Railroad, flour-mills, glass-works, and manufactures of boxes, crates, pick-handles, and envelopes. The city owns and operates its water- works, and has a large cit)' hall, a Carnegie public library, and parks. Settled in 1853, Centralia was incorporated in 1859, and is now governed under a charter of 1872. since amended at various times, which provides for a mayor, elected bien- niallv, and a city council. Population, in 1890, 4703': in 1900. (1721. CENTRAL INDIA POLITICAL AGENCY. The od'icial name for a group of feudatory Stales in the centre of India, the princi|)al of which are Gwalior. Indole. Rewah, Bliopal. Bundel- khand, Baghelkhand, and West Malwa. The total number, including the smaller States, is over seventv, covering about 90,000 square miles. Population, in 1891. 10.318.812: in 1901, 8,501.883. CENTRALISTS. A political party in Mex- ico, and some of the South American republics, which advocated the centralization of the gov- ernment, as against a federalization of separate •States. It has lieen a factor in Mexican politics since 1823: and the fight for the ascendency between it and the Federalists has caused many