Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 04.djvu/869

CIRCUMCISION. 765 CIRCUS. pologie de Paris (1893) ; Gunkel, in Archiv fiir Papiirusforschiiug ( 1902) . CIRCUMFERENCE. See Circle. CIRCUMFLEX ( Fr. circonflexe, Lat. circum- flexus, p.p. of circuinflectere, to bend round, from circum, around + ftectcre. to bend.) A mark used to denote an original rising and fall- ing in the pronuneiation of a long vowel. In tircek the signs used are ' " ; in Latin the sign is ". The last sign is sometimes u.sed in- stead of the macron to denote simple length. The presence of a circumllex accent in a French word generally indicates that there has been a con- traction, an s in most cases having originally st'wd between the vowel and the succeeding consonant; e.g. fete (feste), abime (abisme), apre (aspre). CIRCUMLOCUTION OFFICE. The apt name applied bv Dickens in Little Dorrit to the unspeakable British olRcialisni. Of the law's delay he has given a capital concrete example in Hlrnl: Hoiisr. CIR'CUMNUTATION ( from circumnutate, from Lat. circum. around + nutare, to nod). A special case of Nutation (q.v.). CIRCUMPCLAR STAR (Lat. circum, arounil — /io/k.s. pole. axis). Any star which, in the apparent daily revolution of the sky, does not pass below the horizon of the observer ; or, in familiar language, does not set. It will be remembered that the apparent daily motion of the stars is in reality the result of the actual rotation of the earth upon an a.is which passes through the centre of the earth and a point in the sky, near the north or polar star, and that the lines in wnich the stars seem to move — called lines of diurnal motion — are the circumferences of circles perpendicular to this axis. If an ob- server is at the equator, the axis lies in the ob- server's horizon, the circles of diurnal motion are all perpendicular to the horizon, and all stars seem to rise and set. If the observer is at a dis- tance from the equator — for example, in lati- tude 10° X. — the northern end of the celestial axis is raised 10 degrees above the horizon, and any star which is within 10 degrees of the north pole of the sky will not jiass below the horizon in its apparent motion about the pole. The largest circle of the sky that may be drawn about the pole without passing below the hori- zon of the observer is called the circle of per- petual apparition. A similar circle drawn about the opposite pole, without coming above the horizon, is called the circle of perpetual occulta- tion. and the stars within that circle are never visible to the observer. What to an observer at a given latitude in the Xorthern Hemisphere is a circle of i)er|)etual apparition, will to an observer in the Southern Hemisphere at any point equally removed from the equator be a circle of per- petual occultation; and vice versa, what to the former is a circle of perpetual occultation will to the latter be a circle of perpetual apparition, the stars within it being southern circumpolar stars. CIRCUMSCRIBED AND INSCRIBED FIGURES. In plane geometry, .n curve is said to be circumscribed about a polygon when it passes through all the vertices of the polygon; and in that case the polygon is said to be in- scribed in the curve. A polygon is said to be circumscribed about a curve when all of its sides are tangents to the cur-e, and in that ca.se the curve is said to be inscribed in the polygon. Thus, a circle can be circumscribed about or in- scribed in any triangle, and vice versa. This is clso true of a square or of a regular pentagon, hexagon, octagon, decagon, dodecagon, 1.5-gon, and. in general, regular polygons containing 3;2n, 4-2",.5-2i',6-2", 8-2", l()"-2", 12-2", l.o-2" sides, and some others. The limitation is due to the restrictions of Euclidean geometry in the construction of regular polygons (q.v.). Sur- faces, too, may be circumscrilwd and inscribed; e.g. a pyramid whose lateral faces are tangent to the surface of a cone is a circumscribed pyra- mid, the cone being then inscribed in the pyra- mid. The mensuration of the circle, sphere, cone, and cylinder may be efl'ected by means of circumscribed and inscribed figures, with the aid of the theory of limits (q.v.). Thus, the perimeters of the circumscribed and inscribed regular polygons of a circle may be computed, and the circumference be taken, as the limit of either as the numt)er of sides is indefinitely in- creased. When the diameter is I imit. this cir- cumference becomes .3.14159205 units, which number expresses an approximation of ^. See Circle. CIRCUMSTANTIAL EVIDENCE. Evi- dence of facts and circumstances which surround, and are connected with, the particular facts to be proved, and which, taken together, the court and jury may reasonably consider as tending to I)rove or negative the particular facts sought to be established in the case before them. Cir- cumstantial evidence is most frequently called for in criminal cases; especially where the crime is secretly committed, as murder by poison sent by mail, in which case there is generally little positive and direct evidence that the accused committed the act with which he is charged. The circumstances precedent to and connected with a crime may so associate the accused with the crime that an inference of guilt would be the only one that could reasonably be drawn from such circumstances; in which case there may be a conviction, even though there is no one who can testify, from actual knowledge, that the accused committed the act. See Evidence. CIRCUS (Lat. circus, ring, circus, alluding to the shape of the arena). The Circus of an- cient Rome corresponds to the Greek Stadium (q.v.j. It was a large, oblong space, with curved end (whence the name), surrounded by tiers of seats and adapted for chariot-races and horse-races, and used also for the exhibition of athletic exercises, mock contests, and conflicts of wild beasts. Many sports originally held in the Forum were afterwards given in the Circus. During the entire republican period it wss here and in the Forum that the contests took place which after the time of Cipsar were given in the amphitheatres. The Circensian Oanies were alleged by tradition to have originated in the time of Romulus, when they were dedicated to Consus or Neptune, and called Consualia. After the first war undertaken by Tarquinius Prisons, in which he captured the Latin city of ApioUc, his victorj' was celebrated by games. A space was marked out for a circus around the Alt.ir of Consus in the ^'allis Murcia, between the Aventine and the Palatine, and the senators and knights were allowed to erect scaiToidings round