Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 04.djvu/79

CALOVIUS. 57 CALUMBA. CALO'VIUS, Abraham (1612-86). A German Lutheran theologian, whose real name was Kalau, born in ilohrungen, East Prussia. He became rector of the gpunasium in Danzig ( 1643 ) and later professor of theology in Wittenberg (1650). He was a strong polemical writer; his chief works were 8i/stema Locorum Theologicorum (12 vols., 1665-77), and Biblia Illustrata (4 vols.). CALPE, kal'pe. One of the Pillars of Her- cules, now the Rock of Gibraltar. CALPEE, or KAXPI, k.^il'pe. A city in the Jalaun district of the Xorthwest Provinces of British India, on the right bank of the Jumna, in latitude 20° 7' X. and longitude 79° 48' E. (Map: India, C 3). Popuhition, 12.700. It is an entrepot for the rice and cotton of the neigh- boring district, and has manufactures of cotton, paper, and sugar. It is 51 miles southwest of Cawnpore. and is closely linked with it in the history of the great mutiny of 1857-58. CALPTJR'NIA. A character in Shakespeare's Julius Carsar. The role is drawn after the his- toric daughter of Calpurnius Piso Csesoninus, and last wife of Julius C.nesar. In the play she receives portents of the impending tragedy and tries to dissuade Ctesar from going to the Senate house. CALPTJRNIA GENS. See Calpubxius. CALPUR'NITJS. The Calpurnia gens was, by its own account, one of the oldest plebeian clans in Rome ; but it does not figure in history till the time of the First Punic War. The fam- ily names, in the time of the Republic, were Bes- tia, Bibulus, Flamma, and Piso. — Marcus Cal- punxiu.s Bibulus is known as the hostile and in- capable colleague of Caesar (B.C. 59) in the con- sulate. He was put up by the aristocratic party, who spent vast sums to carry the election. He finally joined the Pompeian party, had com- mand of the fleet intended to prevent Caesar's passage to Greece, and died B.C. 48, before the battle of Dyrrhachium. Among the Roman women of this family, two are celebrated — Cal- PURXi., the daughter of Calpurnius Piso (consul B.C. 58). and the last wife of Ciesar, who seems, from the scanty notices of her we possess, to have been a quiet domestic woman, full of love and solicitude for her great husband : and Cal- PUBNIA, the daughter of L. Calpurnius Bestia, wife of P. Antistius, who killed herself when her husband was murdered by order of the younger Marius, B.C. 82. CALPTJRNItrS, Titus, surnamed Sicuxus. A little-known pastoral poet of the reign of Nero (a.d. 54-68). He was the author of seven ec- logues in close imitation of Vergil, but exagger- ated and artificial. These have been edited by Schenkl (Leipzig, 1885) and Koene (London, 1887). and translated by Scott (London, 1890). CALTAGIRONE, kal'tA-je-ro'na (from Ar. Eahit-fil-flirche, fortress of Girche, a Saracen general, who captured the place in the Eighth Century). A city of Sicily, 57 miles southwest of Catania. It .stands 2000 feet above the sea, on two steep hills that are connected by a bridge, has a magnificent prospect over fruitful fields in cverj' direction, and is reputed the best built town in Sicily, having wide, well-paved streets. A stone stairway with 155 steps dating from 1506 leads from the spacious market-place up to the castle. The chief manufactures are those of terra-cotta figures, particularly of Sicilians and Calabrians in national costumes. Mosaics and vases, disclosed by excavating, point to an an- cient town of unknown origin. Population (commune), in 1881, 32,000; in 1901, 44,879. CALTANISSETTA, kal'ta-ne-set'ta Ar.{A-a;- at-al-^^sll, fortress of Xisa; Xisa was a Sicanian town). An episcopal city in the centre of Sicily, capital of the Province of Caltanissetta. situated on a hill 1930 feet above the sea, near the Salso, about 80 miles west of Catania, and southeast of Palermo (Jlap: Italy, J 10). The town has a castle, a cathedral with paintings of the later Sicilian school, public gardens with a picture.sque prospect over mountain and valley, a seminary and a gj-iunasium, a school of technology and a school of mines, and a theatre. Two miles to the east is a beautiful Xorman monastery erected in 1153 by Roger II., and 2 miles farther are a mud volcano resembling the Maccaluba (q.v.. under Aragona) and an oil-well. The countrv has rich sulphur-mines, mineral springs, a lake full of fish, fields that fatten cattle and produce grain in abundance, and woods that contain much game. Population, in 1881 (commune), 30,000; in 1901. -13. .300. CAL'THA. See iLRsn-ilARiGOLD. CALTON (kfll'ton) HILL. An elevation in the northeastern part of Edinburgh, overlooking the Forth. Three monuments sumiount it, one in memory of Dugald Stewart, another in mem- ory of Xelson, and a third in celebration of the battle of Waterloo. CALUM'BA, or COLOM'BA (Xeo-Lat., prob- ably from Mozambique Kalumh; according to some, the name is derived from Colombo, in Cey- lon). The root of Jateorrhiza palmata, a herba- ceous plant of the natural order Menispermace*. The calumba now chiefly in use is produced in Mozambique. The flowers of the plant have 12 sepals and petals in all. similar in appearance, and disposed in four rows. The male and female flowers are on separate plants. The leaves are nearly circular, with five to seven lobes, on long hairy footstalks, and solitary axillarv racemes of small green flowers, the racemes of the male plants branching. The fruit is a drupe, or one- seeded berry-like fruit, about the size of a hazel- nut, densely clothed with long hairs. The stem is annual and twining; the root perennial, con- sisting of clustered, spindle-shaped, fleshv tubers, with a brown warty epidermis, intemaily deep- yellow, with a very bitter taste, and a faint aromatic odor. Its bitterness is ascribed to a somewhat narcotic principle called calumbine, and to berberine, an alkaloid originally discov- ered in the barberry. Calumba is regarded as one of the most useful stomachic tonics. As it contains no tannin, it may be taken with prepa- rations of iron. It is well borne by the stomach, and is sometimes given to allay voniiting. It has been found useful in diarrhoea and dysentery. It is administered in the form of powder, fluid e.x- tract, or tincture. The very poisonous .seed known by the name of Coccufus Indicus (q.v.) belongs to a plant of a diff'erent but allied genus. The root of Frasera Walteri is sometimes fraudu- lently substituted for calumba, and has been called American calumba-root. It does not agree with calumba in its properties, but besides its very diff'erent appearance, it may be distin- guished by its undergoing no such change of color.