Chapter X: Part 10

Epithelial cancer is largely composed of cells resembling the natural epithelium of the body. It occurs most frequently in those parts provided with epithelium, such as the skin and mucous membranes, or where those adjoin, as in the lips. This form of cancer does not spread so rapidly nor produce secondary growths in other organs to the same extent as the two other varieties, but it tends equally with them to involve the neighbouring lymphatic glands, and to recur after removal.

Cancer affects all parts of the body, but is much more frequent in some tissues than in others. According to recent statistics prepared by the registrar-general for England and Wales (sixty-seventh annual report) the most frequent seats are, in numerical order, as follows:--_males_--stomach, liver, rectum, intestines, aesophagus, tongue; _females_--uterus, breast, stomach, liver, intestines, rectum. Other statistics give similar, though not identical results. It may be said, broadly, that the most frequent seats are the female sexual organs and after them the digestive tract in both sexes. In children, in whom cancer is rare, the most frequent seats appear to be--under five, the kidneys and supra-renal bodies; five to ten, the brain; ten to twenty, the arm and leg bones.

Cancer tends to advance steadily to a fatal termination, but its duration varies in different cases according to the part affected and according to the variety of the disease. Soft cancer affecting important organs of the body often proves fatal in a few months, while, on the other hand, cases of hard or epithelial cancer may sometimes last for several years; but no precise limit can be assigned for any form of the disease. In some rare instances growths exhibiting all the signs of cancer may exist for a great length of time without making any progress, and may even dwindle and disappear altogether. This is called "spontaneous cure."

Cancer research.

Cancer has been the subject of observation from time immemorial, and of the most elaborate investigation by innumerable workers in recent years; but the problems of its origin and character have hitherto baffled inquiry. Modern scientific study of them may be said to have begun with J. Muller's microscopic work in the structure of cancerous tissue early in the 19th century. A great impetus to this line of investigation was given by the cellular theory of R. Virchow and the pathological researches of Sir J. Paget, and general attention was directed to the microscopic examination of the cells of which cancer is composed. This led to a classification, on which much reliance was once placed, of different kinds of cancer, based on the character of the cells, and particularly to a distinction between _carcinoma_, in which the cells are of the epithelial type, and _sarcoma_, in which they are of the connective tissue type. The distinction, though still maintained, has proved barren; it never had any real significance, either clinical or pathological, and the tendency in recent research is to ignore it. The increased knowledge gained in numerous other branches of biological science has also been brought to bear on the problem of cancer and has led to a number of theories; and at the same time the apparently increasing prevalence of the disease recorded by the vital statistics of many countries has drawn more and more public attention to it. Two results have followed. One is the establishment of special endowed institutions devoted to cancer research; the other is the publication and discussion of innumerable theories and proposed methods of treatment. Popular interest has been constantly fanned by the announcement of some pretended discovery or cure, in which the public is invited to place its trust. Such announcements have no scientific value whatever. In the rare cases in which they are not pure quackery, they are always premature and based on inadequate data.

Organized cancer research stands on a different footing. It may be regarded as the revival at the end of the 19th century of what was unsuccessfully attempted at the beginning. As early as 1792, at the suggestion of Mr. John Howard, surgeon, a ward was opened at the Middlesex hospital in London for the special benefit of persons suffering from cancer. It was fitted up and endowed anonymously by Mr. Samuel Whitbread, M.P. for Bedford, and according to the terms of the benefaction at least six patients were to be continually maintained in it until relieved by art or released by death. The purpose was both philanthropic and scientific, as Mr. Howard explained in bringing forward the suggestion. Two principal objects, he said, presented themselves to his mind, "namely, the relief of persons suffering under this disease and the investigation of a complaint which, although extremely common, is both with regard to its natural history and cure but imperfectly known." This benefaction was the origin of one of the most complete institutions for the scientific study of cancer that exists to-day.

In 1804 a Society for Investigating the Nature of Cancer was formed by a number of medical men in London, Edinburgh and other towns at the instigation of John Hunter. The aim was collective investigation, and an attempt was made to carry it out by issuing forms of inquiry; but the imperfect means of communication then existing caused the scheme to be abandoned in a short time. Subsequent attempts at collective investigation also failed until recently. About 1900 a movement, which had been for some time gathering force, began to take visible shape simultaneously in different countries. The cancer ward at the Middlesex hospital had then developed into a cancer wing, and to it were added special laboratories for the investigation of cancer, which were opened on the 1st of March 1900. In this establishment the fully equipped means of clinical and laboratory research were united under one roof and manned by a staff of investigators under the direction of Dr W.S. Lazarus Barlow. In the same year the _Deutsche Comite fur Krebsforschung_ was organized in Berlin, receiving an annual subsidy of 5000 marks (L250) from the imperial exchequer. This body devoted its energies to making a census of cancer patients in Germany on a definite date. A special ward for cancer was also set apart at the Charite hospital in Berlin, with a state endowment of 53,000 marks (L2560) per annum, and a laboratory for cancer research was attached to the first medical clinique under Professor Ernst von Leyden at the same hospital. A third institution in Germany is a special cancer department at the Royal Prussian Institute for Experimental Therapeutics at Frankfort-on-Main, which has been supported, like the Imperial Cancer Research Fund in England, by private contributions on a generous scale. The fund just mentioned was initiated in October 1901, and its operations took definite shape a year later, when Dr. E.F. Bashford was appointed general superintendent of research. The patron of the foundation was King Edward VII., and the president was the prince of Wales. It had in 1908 a capital endowment of about L120,000, subscribed by private munificence and producing an income of about L7000 a year. The central laboratory is situated in the examination building of the Royal Colleges of Physicians and Surgeons in London, and the work is conducted under the superintendence of an executive committee formed by representatives of those bodies. In the United States a cancer laboratory, which had been established in Buffalo in 1899 under Dr Roswell Park, was formally placed under the control of New York state in June 1901, and is supported by an annual grant of $15,000 (L3000). There are other provisions in the United States connected with Harvard and Cornell universities. At the former the "Caroline Brewer Croft Fund for Cancer Research" started special investigations in the surgical department of the Harvard Medical School in 1900 or the previous year, and in connexion with the Cornell University Medical School there is a small endowment called the "Huntingdon Cancer Research Fund." There appear to be institutions of a similar character in other countries, in addition to innumerable investigators at universities and other ordinary seats of scientific research.

Some attempt has been made to co-ordinate the work thus carried on in different countries. An international cancer congress was held at Heidelberg and Frankfort in 1906, and a proposal was put forward by German representatives that a permanent international conference on cancer should be established, with headquarters in Berlin. The committee of the Imperial Cancer Research Fund did not fall in with the proposal, being of opinion that more was to be gained in the existing stage of knowledge by individual intercourse and exchange of material between actual laboratory workers.

Theories of cancer.

In spite of the immense concentration of effort indicated by the simultaneous establishment of so many centres of endowed research, and in spite of the light thrown upon the problem from many sides by modern biological science, our knowledge of the origin of cancer is still in such a tentative state that a detailed account of the theories put forward is not called for; it will suffice to indicate their general drift. The actual pathological process of cancer is extremely simple. Certain cells, which are apparently of a normal character and have previously performed normal functions, begin to grow and multiply in an abnormal way in some part of the body. They continue this process so persistently that they first invade and then destroy the surrounding tissues; nothing can withstand their march. They are moreover carried to other parts of the body, where they establish themselves and grow in the same way. Their activity is carried on with relentless determination, though at a varying pace, until the patient dies, unless they are bodily removed. Hence the word "malignant." The problem is--what are these cells, or why do they behave in this way? The principal answers put forward may be summarized:--(1) they are epithelial cells which grow without ceasing because the connective tissue has lost the capacity to hold their proliferative powers in check (H. Freund, following K. Thiersch and W. Waldeyer); (2) they are embryonic cells accidentally shut off (J.F. Cohnheim); (3) they are epithelial cells with a latent power of unlimited proliferation which becomes active on their being dislocated from the normal association (M.W.H. Ribbert and Borrmann); (4) they are stimulated to unlimited growth by the presence of a parasite (Plimmer, Sanfelice, Roncali and others); (5) they are fragments of reproductive tissue (G.T. Beatson); (6) they are cells which have lost their differentiated character and assumed elementary properties (von Hausemann, O. Hertwig). The very number and variety of hypotheses show that none is established. Most of them attempt to explain the growth but not the origin of the disease. The hypothesis of a parasitic origin, suggested by recent discoveries in relation to other diseases, has attracted much attention; but the observed phenomena of cancerous growths are not in keeping with those of all known parasitic diseases, and the theory is now somewhat discredited. A more recent theory that cancer is due to failure of the normal secretions of the pancreas has not met with much acceptance.

Some generalizations bearing on the problem have been drawn from the work done in the laboratories of the Imperial Cancer Research Fund. They may be summarily stated thus. Cancer has been shown to be an identical process in all vertebrates (including fishes), and to develop at a time which conforms in a striking manner to the limits imposed by the long or short compass of life in different animals. Cancerous tissue can be artificially propagated in the short-lived mouse by actual transference to another individual, but only to one of the same species. Cancerous tissue thus propagated presents all the characteristic features of the malignant growth of sporadic tumours; it infiltrates and produces extensive secondary growths. Under suitable experimental conditions the aggregate growth of a cancer is undefined, of enormous and, so far as we can judge, of limitless amount. This extraordinary growth is due to the continued proliferation of cancerous cells when transplanted. The processes by which growing cancer cells are transferred to a new individual are easily distinguishable and fundamentally different from all known processes of infection. The artificial propagation of cancer causes no specific symptoms of illness in the animal in which it proceeds. Under artificial propagation cancer maintains all the characters of the original tumours of the primary hosts. _Carcinoma_ and _sarcoma_ agree in possessing all the pathological and cellular features of malignant new growths.

Statistics of cancer.

Simultaneously with the active pursuit of laboratory research much statistical work has been devoted to establishing the broad facts of the prevalence and incidence of cancer on a firm basis. The point of most general interest is the apparently steady increase of the disease in all countries possessing fairly trustworthy records. It will be sufficient to give the figures for England and Wales as an example.

ANNUAL DEATH-RATES FROM CANCER TO A MILLION LIVING. _England and
Wales._

+----------+----------+----------+----------+----------+----------+----------+
|1871-1875.|1876-1880.|1881-1885.|1886-1890.|1891-1895.|1896-1900.|1901-1904.|
+----------+----------+----------+----------+----------+----------+----------+
| 445 | 493 | 547 | 631 | 711 | 800 | 861 |
+----------+----------+----------+----------+----------+----------+----------+

In forty years the recorded rate had risen from 403 to 861. The question how far these and similar statistics represent a real increase cannot be satisfactorily resolved, because it is impossible to ascertain how much of the apparent increase is due to more accurate diagnosis and improved registration. Some of it is certainly due to those causes, so that the recorded figures cannot be taken to represent the facts as they stand. At the same time it is certain that some increase has taken place in consequence of the increased average length of life; a larger proportion of persons now reach the ages at which cancer is most frequent. Increase due to this fact, though it is a real increase, does not indicate that the cause of cancer is more rife or more potent; it only means that the condition of the population in regard to age is more favourable to its activity. On the whole it seems probable that, when allowance has been made for this factor and for errors due to improved registration, a real increase due to other causes has taken place, though it is not so great as the recorded statistics would indicate.

The long-established conclusions concerning the incidence of the disease in regard to age and sex have been confirmed and rendered more precise by modern statistics. Cancer is a disease of old age; the incidence at the ages of sixty-five to seventy-five is ten times greater than at the ages thirty-five to forty-five. This fact is the source of frequent fallacies when different countries or districts and different periods are compared with each other, unless account is taken of the differences in age and constitution. With regard to sex females are far more liable than males; the respective death-rates per million living for England and Wales in 1904 were--males 740; females 1006. But the two rates show a tendency to approximate; the increase shown over a series of years has been considerably more rapid among males than among females. One result of more careful examination of statistics has been to discredit, though perhaps somewhat hastily, certain observations regarding the prevalence of cancer in special districts and special houses. On the other hand the fuller statistics now available concerning the relative frequency of cancer in the several organs and parts of the body, of which some account is given above, go to confirm the old observation that cancer commonly begins at the seat of some local irritation. By far the most frequent seats of disease are the uterus and breast in women and the digestive tract in both sexes, and these are all particularly subject to such irritation. With regard to the influence of heredity the trend of modern research is to minimize or deny its importance in cancer, as in phthisis, and to explain family histories by other considerations. At most heredity is only thought to confer a predisposition.

Treatment.

The only "cure" for cancer remains removal by operation; but improved methods of diagnosis enable this to be done in many cases at an earlier stage of the disease than formerly; and modern methods of surgery permit not only of operation in parts of the body formerly inaccessible, but also more complete removal of the affected tissues. Numerous forms of treatment by modern therapeutic means, both internal and external, have been advocated and tried; but they are all of an experimental nature and have failed to meet with general acceptance. One of the most recent is treatment by trypsin, a pancreatic ferment. This has been suggested by Dr John Beard of Edinburgh in conformity with the theory, mentioned above, that failure of the pancreatic secretions is the cause of cancer. It has been claimed that the drug exercises a favourable influence in conjunction with operation and even without it. The experience of different observers with regard to results is contradictory; but clinical investigations conducted at Middlesex hospital in a number of cases of undoubted cancer in strict accordance with Dr Beard's directions, and summarized by Dr Walter Ball and Dr Fairfield Thomas in the _Sixth Report from the Cancer Research Laboratories_ (_Archives of Middlesex Hospital_, vol. ix.) in May 1907, resulted in the conclusion "that the course of cancer, considered both as a disease and as a morbid process, is unaltered by the administration of trypsin and amylopsin." The same conclusion has been reached after similar trials at the cancer hospital. Another experimental method of treatment which has attracted much attention is application of the X-rays. The results vary in a capricious and inexplicable manner; in some cases marked benefit has followed, in others the disease has been as markedly aggravated. Until more is known both of cancer and of X-rays, their use must be considered not only experimental but risky. (A. Sl.)

CANCRIN, FRANZ LUDWIG VON (1738-1812), German mineralogist and metallurgist, was born on the 21st of February 1738, at Breitenbach, Hesse-Darmstadt. In 1764 he entered the service of the landgrave of Hesse-Darmstadt at Hanau, becoming professor of mathematics at the military academy, head of the civil engineering department of the state, director of the theatre and (1774) of the mint. A work on the copper mines of Hesse (1767) earned him a European reputation, and in 1783 he accepted from Catherine II. of Russia the directorship of the famous Staraya salt-works, living thenceforth in Russia. In 1798 he became a councillor of state at St Petersburg. He published many works on mineralogy and metallurgy, of which the most important, the _Grundzuge der Berg- und Salzwerkskunde_ (13 vols., Frankfort, 1773-1791), has been translated into several languages. His son, Count Georg von Cancrin, or Kankrin (1774-1845), was the eminent Russian minister of finance.

CANDELABRUM (from Lat. _candela_, a taper or candle), the stand on which ancient lamps were placed. The most ancient example is the bronze candelabrum made by Callimachus for the Erechtheum at Athens, to carry the lamp sacred to Minerva. In this case it is probable the lamp was suspended, as in the example from Pompeii, now in the Naples museum; this consisted of a stalk or reed, the upper part moulded with projecting feature to carry the lamps, and a base resting on three lions' or griffins' feet; sometimes there was a disk at the top to carry a lamp, and sometimes there was a hollow cup, in which resinous woods were burnt. The origin of the term suggests that on the top of the disk was a spike to carry a wax or tallow candle (_candela_ or _funalia_). Besides these bronze candelabra, of which there are many varieties in museums, the Romans used more ponderous supports in stone or marble, of which many examples were found in the Thermae. These consisted of a base, often triangular, and of similar design to the small sacrificial altars, and a shaft either richly moulded or carved with the acanthus plant and crowned with a large cup or basin. There is a fine example of the latter in the Vatican. The Roman examples seem to have served as models for many of the candelabra in the churches in Italy. The word "candelabrum" is also now used to describe many different forms of lighting with multiple points, and is often applied to hanging lights as well as to those which rise from a stand.

CANDIA, formerly the capital and still the most populous city of Crete (q.v.), to which it has given its name. It is situated on the northern shore somewhat nearer the eastern than the western end of the island, in 35 deg. 20' N. lat. and 25 deg. 9' E. long. It is still surrounded by its extensive Venetian fortifications; but they have fallen into disrepair, and a good part of the town is in a dilapidated condition, mainly from the effects of earthquakes. The principal buildings are the Venetian loggia (barbarously mutilated by the new regime), the Konak (now Prefecture), the mosques, which are fourteen in number, the new cathedral, the two Greek churches, the Armenian church, the Capuchine monastery, the bazaars and the baths. There are also some beautiful Venetian fountains. The town is the seat of a Greek archbishop. A highly interesting museum has been formed here containing the antiquities found during the recent excavations. The chief trade is in oil and soap, both of which are of excellent quality. The coasting trade, which is of considerable importance, is mainly carried on in Turkish vessels. The manufacture of leather for home consumption is an extensive industry and wine of good quality is produced in the neighbourhood. The harbour, which had grown almost inaccessible, was deepened by Mustapha Pasha between 1820 and 1840. It is formed for the most part by the ancient moles, and was never deep enough to admit the larger vessels even of the Venetians, which were accustomed to anchor in the port of the neighbouring island of Standia. A short distance from St George's Gate there was a small village exclusively inhabited by lepers, who numbered about seventy families, but they have now been transported to Spinalonga. The population of the town is estimated at from 15,000 to 18,000, about half being Mahommedan Greeks. The site of Candia, or, as it was till lately locally known, Megalo castro (the Great Fortress), has been supposed to correspond with that of the ancient _Heracleion_, the seaport of Cnossus, and this appellation has now been officially revived by its Greek inhabitants. The ruins of Cnossus are situated at the distance of about 3 m. to the south-east at the village of Makryteichos or Long Wall. Founded by the Saracens in the 9th century, Candia was fortified by the Genoese in the 12th, and was greatly extended and strengthened by the Venetians in the 13th, 14th and 15th centuries. It was besieged by the Turks under the vizier Achmet in 1667; and, in spite of a most heroic defence, in which the Venetians lost 30,000 in killed and wounded, it was forced to surrender in 1669. (See also CRETE.)

CANDIDATE, one who offers himself or is selected by others for an office or place, particularly one who puts up for election to parliament or to any public body. The word is derived from the Latin _candidatus_, clad in white (_candidus_). In Rome, candidates for election to the higher magistracies appeared in the Campus Martius, the Forum and other public places, during their canvass, in togas with the white of the natural wool brightened by chalk.

CANDLE (Lat. _candela_, from _candere_, to glow), a cylindrical rod of solid fatty or waxy matter, enclosing a central fibrous wick, and designed to be burnt for giving light. The oldest materials employed for making candles are beeswax and tallow, while among those of more recent introduction are spermaceti, stearine and paraffin wax. Waxlights (_cereus_, sc. _funis_) were known to the Romans. In the midlde ages wax candles were little used, owing to their expense, except for the ceremonies of the church and other religious purposes (see LIGHTS, CEREMONIAL USE OF), but in the 15th century, with the cheapening of wax, they began to find wider employment. The tallow candle, mentioned by Apuleius as _sebaceus_, was long an article of domestic manufacture. The tallow was melted and strained, and then lengths of cotton or flax fibre, or rushes from which most of the external skin had been stripped, only sufficient being left to support the pith ("rushlights"), were dipped into it, the operation being repeated until the desired thickness had been attained. In Paris, in the 13th century, there was a gild of candlemakers who went from house to house to make tallow candles, the manufacture of wax candles being in the hands of another gild. This separation of the two branches of the trade is also exemplified by the existence of two distinct livery companies in the city of London--the Waxchandlers and the Tallowchandlers; the French _chandelle_ properly means tallow candle, candles made of materials less fusible than tallow being called _bougies_, a term said to be derived from the town of Bougie in Algeria, either because wax was produced there or because the Venetians imported wax candles thence into Europe. The old tallow "dips" gave a poor light, and tallow itself is now used only to a limited extent, except as a source of "stearine." This is the trade name for a mixture of solid fatty acids--mainly stearic and palmitic--manufactured not only from tallow and other animal fats, but also from such vegetable fats as palm-oil. Paraffin wax, a mixture of solid hydrocarbons obtained from crude North American and Rangoon petroleum, and also yielded in large quantities by the Scotch shale oil industry, is, at least in Great Britain, a still more important material of candle-manufacture, which came into use about 1854. Spermaceti, a crystalline fatty substance obtained from the sperm whale (_Physeter macrocephalus_), was introduced as a material for candles about a century earlier. In practice the candlemaker mostly uses mixtures of these materials. For instance, 5-10% of stearine, which is used alone for candles that have to be burnt in hot climates, is mixed with paraffin wax, to counteract the tendency to bend with heat exhibited by the latter substance. Again, the brittleness of spermaceti is corrected by the addition of beeswax, stearine, paraffin wax or ceresin (obtained from the mineral wax ozocerite). In some "composite" candles stearine is mixed with the hard fat ("cocoa-nut stearine") expressed from cocoa-nut oil by hydraulic pressure; and this cocoa-nut stearine is also used for night-lights, which are short thick candles with a thin wick, calculated to burn from six to ten hours.

The stearine or stearic acid industry originated in the discovery made by M.E. Chevreul about 1815, that fats are glycerides or compounds of glycerin with fatty acids, mostly palmitic, stearic and oleic. The object of the candlemaker is to remove this glycerin, not only because it is a valuable product in itself, but also because it is an objectionable constituent of a candle; the vapours of acrolein formed by its decomposition in the flame are the cause of the unpleasant odours produced by tallow "dips." He also removes the oleic acid, which is liquid at ordinary temperatures, from the palmitic and stearic acids, mixtures of which solidify at temperatures varying from about 130 deg. to 155 deg. F., according to the percentage of each present. Several methods are in use for the decomposition of the fats. In the autoclave process the fat, whether tallow, palm-oil or a mixture of the two, mixed with 25 or 30% of water and about 3% of lime, is subjected in an autoclave to steam at a pressure of about 120 lb per square inch for eight or ten hours, when nearly all of it is saponified. On standing the product separates into two layers--"sweet water" containing glycerin below, and the fatty acids with a certain amount of lime soap above. The upper layer is then boiled and treated with enough sulphuric acid to decompose the lime soap, the calcium sulphate formed is allowed to subside, and the fatty acids are run off into shallow boxes to be crystallized or "seeded" prior to the separation of the oleic acid, which is effected by pressing the solid blocks from the boxes, first cold and then hot, by hydraulic machinery. In another process saponification is effected by means of concentrated sulphuric acid. The fat is mixed with 4-6% of the acid and treated with steam in boiling water till the hydrolysis is complete, when on standing the glycerin and sulphuric acid sink to the bottom and the fatty acids rise to the top. Owing to the darkness of their colour, when this process is employed, the latter usually have to be distilled before being crystallized. The autoclave process yields about 45% of stearine, one-third of which is recovered from the expressed oleic acid, but with sulphuric acid saponification the amount of stearine is higher--over 60%--and that of oleic acid less, part of it being converted into solid material by the action of the acid. The yield of glycerin is also less. In a combination of the two processes the fat may first be treated by the autoclave process, so as to obtain a full yield (about 10%) of glycerin, and the resulting fatty acids then subjected to acid saponification, so as to get the higher amount of stearine. At the best, however, some 30% of oleic acid remains, and though often sought, no satisfactory method of converting this residue into solid has been discovered. It constitutes "red oil," and is used in soap-making and in woollen manufacture. In the process patented by Ernst Twitchell in 1898, decomposition is effected by boiling the fat with half its bulk of water in presence of a reagent obtained by the action of sulphuric acid on oleic acid and an aromatic hydrocarbon such as benzene.

The wick is a most important part of a candle, and unless it is of proper size and texture either too much or too little fuel will be supplied to the flame, and the candle will gutter or be otherwise unsatisfactory. The material generally employed is cotton yarn, plaited or "braided" by machinery, and treated or "pickled" with a solution of boracic acid, ammonium or potassium nitrate, or other salt. The tightness of the plaiting varies with the material used for the candle, wicks for stearine being looser than for paraffin, but tighter than for wax or spermaceti. The plaited wick is flat and curls over as the candle burns, and thus the end is kept projecting into the outer part of the flame where it is consumed, complete combustion being aided by the pickling process it has undergone. In the old tallow dips the strands of cotton were merely twisted together, instead of being plaited; wicks made in this way had no determinate bias towards the outside of the flame, and thus were not wholly consumed, the result being that there was apt to be an accumulation of charred matter, which choked the flame unless removed by periodical "snuffing."

Four ways of making candles may be distinguished--dipping, pouring, drawing and moulding, the last being that most commonly employed. _Dipping_ is essentially the same as the domestic process already described, but the rate of production is increased by mounting a number of wicks in a series of frames, each of which in turn is brought over the tallow bath so that its wicks can be dipped. _Pouring_, used in the case of wax, which cannot well be moulded because it contracts in cooling and also has a tendency to stick to the moulds, consists in ladling molten wax upon the wicks suspended from an iron ring. When of the desired thickness the candles are rolled under a plate on a marble slab. In _drawing_, used for small tapers, the wick, rolled on a drum, is passed through the molten wax or paraffin, drawn through a circular hole and slowly wound on a second drum; it is then passed again through the molten material and through a somewhat larger hole, and reeled back on the first drum, this process being repeated with larger and larger holes until the coating is of the required thickness. In _moulding_, a number of slightly conical moulds are fixed by the larger extremity to a kind of trough, with their tapered ends projecting downwards and with wicks arranged down their centres. The molten material is poured into the trough and fills the moulds, from which the candles are withdrawn when solidified. Modern candle-moulding machines are continuous in their operation; long lengths of wick are coiled on bobbins, one for each mould, and the act of removing one set of candles from their moulds draws in a fresh set of wicks. "Self-fitting ends," which were invented by J.L. Field in 1864, and being shaped like a truncated cone enable the candles to be fixed in candlesticks of any diameter, are formed by means of an attachment to the tops of the moulds; spirally twisted candles are, as it were, unscrewed from their moulds. It is necessary to be able to regulate the temperature of the moulds accurately, else the candles will not come out freely and will not be of good appearance. For stearine candles the moulds are immersed in tepid water and the cooling must be slow, else the material will crystallize, though if it be too slow cracking will occur. For paraffin, on the other hand, the moulds must be rather hotter than the molten material (about 200 deg. F.), and must be quickly cooled to prevent the candles from sticking.

A candle-power, as a unit of light in photometry, was defined by the (London) Metropolis Gas Act of 1860 as the light given by a sperm candle, of which six weighed 1 lb and each burned 120 grains an hour.

See W. Lant Carpenter, _Soaps and Candles_ (London, 1895); C.E. Groves
and W. Thorp, _Chemical Technology_, vol. ii. "Lighting" (London,
1895); L.L. Lamborn, _Soaps, Candles and Glycerine_ (New York, 1906);
J. Lewkowitsch, _Oils, Fats, and Waxes_ (London, 1909).

CANDLEMAS (Lat. _festum candelarum sive luminum_), the name for the ancient church festival, celebrated annually on the 2nd of February, in commemoration of the presentation of Christ in the Temple. In the Greek Church it is known as [Greek: Upapante tou Kuriou] ("the meeting of the Lord," i.e. with Simeon and Anna), in the West as the Purification of the Blessed Virgin. It is the most ancient of all the festivals in honour of the Virgin Mary. A description is given of its celebration at Jerusalem in the _Peregrinatio_ of Etheria (Silvia), in the second half of the 4th century. It was then kept on the 14th of February, forty days after Epiphany, the celebration of the Nativity (Christmas) not having been as yet introduced; the Armenians still keep it on this day, as "the Coming of the Son of God into the Temple." The celebration gradually spread to other parts of the church, being moved to the 2nd of February, forty days after the newly established feast of Christmas. In 542 it was established throughout the entire East Roman empire by Justinian. Its introduction in the West is somewhat obscure. The 8th-century _Gelasian Sacramentary_, which embodies a much older tradition, mentions it under the title of Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary, which has led some to suppose that it was ordained by Pope Gelasius I. in 492[1] as a counter-attraction to the heathen Lupercalia; but for this there is no warrant. The procession on this day was introduced by Pope Sergius I. (687-701). The custom of blessing the candles for the whole year on this day, whence the name Candlemas is derived, did not come into common use until the 11th century.

In the _Quadragesimae de Epiphania_ as described by Etheria there is, as Monsignor Duchesne points out (_Christian Worship_, p. 272), no indication of a special association with the Blessed Virgin; and the distinction between the festival as celebrated in the East and West is that in the former it is a festival of Christ, in the latter a festival pre-eminently of the Virgin Mother.

See L. Duchesne, _Christian Worship_ (Eng. trans., London, 1904); art.
s.v. by F.G. Holweck in the _Catholic Encyclopaedia_.

FOOTNOTE:

[1] So Baronius, _Ann. ad ann._ 544.

CANDLESTICK, the receptacle for holding a candle, nowadays made in various art-forms. The word was formerly used for any form of support on which lights, whether candles or lamps, were fixed; thus a candelabrum (q.v.) is sometimes spoken of from tradition as a candlestick, e.g. as when Moses was commanded to make a candlestick for the tabernacle, of hammered gold, a talent in weight, and consisting of a base with a shaft rising out of it and six arms, and with seven lamps supported on the summits of the six arms and central shaft. When Solomon built the temple, he placed in it ten golden candlesticks, five on the north and five on the south side of the Holy Place; but after the Babylonish captivity the golden candlestick was again placed in the temple, as it had been before in the tabernacle by Moses. On the destruction of Jerusalem by Titus, it was carried with other spoils to Rome. Representations of the seven-branched candlestick, as it is called, occur on the arch of Titus at Rome, and on antiquities found in the Catacombs at Rome. The primitive form of candlestick was a torch made of slips of bark, vine tendrils or wood dipped in wax or tallow, tied together and held in the hand by the lower end, such as are frequently figured on ancient painted vases. The next step was to attach to them a cup (_discus_) to catch the dripping wax or tallow.

A candlestick may be either "flat" or "tall." The former has a short stem, rising from a dish, and is usually furnished with an extinguisher fitting into a socket; the latter has a pillar which may be only a few inches in height or may rise to several feet, and rarely has an extinguisher. The flat variety is sometimes called a "bedroom candlestick." The beginnings of this interesting and often beautiful appliance are not exactly known, but it dates certainly as far back as the 14th century and is probably older. It is most usually of metal, earthenware or china, but originally it was made of some hard wood and had no socketed pillar, the candle fitting upon a metal spike, in the fashion still familiar in the case of many church candlesticks. It has been constantly influenced by mobiliary and architectural fashions, and has varied, as it still varies, from the severest simplicity of form and material to the most elaborate artistic treatment and the costliest materials--gold and silver, crystal, marble and enamel. Previous to the 17th century, iron, latten, bronze and copper were chiefly used, but thenceforward the most elegant examples were chiefly of silver, though in more modern periods Sheffield plate, silver plate and china became exceedingly popular. Sometimes the base and sconce are of one material and the pillar of another, as when the former are of silver and the pillar of marble or china. The choice and combination of materials are, indeed, infinite. The golden age of the candlestick lasted, roughly speaking, from the third quarter of the 17th century to the end of the 18th. The later Jacobean, Queen Anne and early Georgian forms were often extremely elegant, with broad bases, round, oval or square and swelling stems. Fine examples of these periods, especially when of silver, are much sought after and command constantly augmenting prices. As with most domestic appliances the history of the candlestick is an unceasing tendency towards simplicity, the most elaborate and fantastic forms, animals and reptiles, the monstrous creatures of mythology, lions and men-at-arms, angels and cupids, having gradually given place to architectural motives such as the baluster stem and to the classic grace of the Adam style. The candlestick in its modern form is, indeed, artistically among the least unsatisfactory of household plenishings.

CANDLISH, ROBERT SMITH (1806-1873), Scottish divine, was born at Edinburgh on the 23rd of March 1806, and spent his early years in Glasgow, where he graduated in 1823. During the years 1823-1826 he went through the prescribed course at the divinity hall, then presided over by Dr Stevenson MacGill, and on leaving, accompanied a pupil as private tutor to Eton, where he stayed two years. In 1829 he entered upon his life's work, having been licensed to preach during the summer vacation of the previous year. After short assistant pastorates at St Andrew's, Glasgow, and Bonhill, Dumbartonshire, he obtained a settled charge as minister of the important parish of St George's, Edinburgh. Here he at once took the place he so long held as one of the ablest preachers in Scotland. Destitute of natural oratorical gifts and somewhat ungainly in his manner, he attracted and even riveted the attention of his audience by a rare combination of intellectual keenness, emotional fervour, spiritual insight and power of dramatic representation of character and life. His theology was that of the Scottish Calvinistic school, but his sympathetic character combined with strong conviction gathered round him one of the largest and most intelligent congregations in the city.

From the very commencement of his ministry in Edinburgh, Candlish took the deepest interest in ecclesiastical questions, and he soon became involved as one of the chief actors in the struggle which was then agitating the Scottish church. His first Assembly speech, delivered in 1839, placed him at once among the leaders of the party that afterwards formed the Free Church, and his influence in bringing about the Disruption of 1843 was inferior only to that of Thomas Chalmers. Great as was his popularity as a preacher, it was in the arena of ecclesiastical debate that his ability chiefly showed itself, and probably no other single man had from first to last so large a share in shaping the constitution and guiding the policy of the Free Church. He took his stand on two principles: the right of the people to choose their ministers, and the independence of the church in things spiritual. On his advice Hugh Miller was appointed editor of the _Witness_, the powerful Free Church organ. He was actively engaged at one time or other in nearly all the various schemes of the church, but special mention should be made of his services on the education committee, of which he was convener from 1846 to 1863, and in the unsuccessful negotiations for union among the non-established Presbyterian denominations of Scotland, which were carried on during the years 1863-1873. In the Assembly of 1861 he filled the moderator's chair.

As a theologian the position of Candlish was perhaps inferior to that which he held as a preacher and ecclesiastic, but it was not inconsiderable. So early as 1841 his reputation in this department was sufficient to secure for him the government nomination to the newly founded chair of Biblical criticism in the university of Edinburgh. Owing to the opposition of Lord Aberdeen, however, the presentation was cancelled. In 1847 Candlish, who had received the degree of D.D. from Princeton, New Jersey, in 1841, was chosen by the Assembly of the Free Church to succeed Chalmers in the chair of divinity in the New College, Edinburgh. After partially fulfilling the duties of the office for one session, he was led to resume the charge of St George's, the clergyman who had been chosen by the congregation as his successor having died before entering on his work. In 1862 he succeeded William Cunningham as principal of New College with the understanding that he should still retain his position as minister of St George's. He died on the 19th of October 1873.

Though his greatest power was not displayed through the press, Candlish made a number of contributions to theological literature. In 1842 he published the first volume of his _Contributions towards the Exposition of the Book of Genesis_, a work which was completed in three volumes several years later. In 1854 he delivered, in Exeter Hall, London, a lecture on the _Theological Essays_ of the Rev. F.D. Maurice, which he afterwards published, along with a fuller examination of the doctrine of the essays. In this he defended the forensic aspect of the gospel. A treatise entitled _The Atonement; its Reality, Completeness and Extent_ (1861) was based upon a smaller work which first appeared in 1845. In 1864 he delivered the first series of Cunningham lectures, taking for his subject _The Fatherhood of God_. Published immediately afterwards, the lectures excited considerable discussion on account of the peculiar views they represented. Further illustrations of these views were given in two works published about the same time as the lectures, one a treatise _On the Sonship and Brotherhood of Believers_, and the other an exposition of the first epistle of St John.

See William Wilson, _Memorials of R.S. Candlish, D.D._, with a chapter
on his position as a theologian by Robert Rainy.

CANDOLLE, AUGUSTIN PYRAME DE (1778-1841), Swiss botanist, was born at Geneva on the 4th of February 1778. He was descended from one of the ancient families of Provence, whence his ancestors had been expatriated for their religion in the middle of the 16th century. Though a weakly boy he showed great aptitude for study, and distinguished himself at school by his rapid attainments in classical and general literature, and specially by a faculty for writing elegant verse. He began his scientific studies at the college of Geneva, where the teaching of J.P.E. Vaucher first inspired him with the determination to make botanical science the chief pursuit of his life. In 1796 he removed to Paris. His first productions, _Historia Plantarum Succulentarum_ (4 vols., 1799) and _Astragalogia_ (1802), introduced him to the notice of Cuvier, for whom he acted as deputy at the College de France in 1802, and to J.B. Lamarck, who afterwards confided to him the publication of the third edition of the _Flore francaise_ (1803-1815). The _Principes elementaires de botanique_, printed as the introduction to this work, contained the first exposition of his principle of classification according to the natural as opposed to the Linnean or artificial method. In 1804 he was granted the degree of doctor of medicine by the medical faculty of Paris, and published his _Essai sur les proprietes medicales des plantes comparees avec leurs formes exterieures et leur classification naturelle_, and soon after, in 1806, his _Synopsis plantarum in flora Gallica descriptarum_. At the desire of the French government he spent the summers of the following six years in making a botanical and agricultural survey of the whole kingdom, the results of which were published in 1813. In 1807 he was appointed professor of botany in the medical faculty of the university of Montpellier, and in 1810 he was transferred to the newly founded chair of botany of the faculty of sciences in the same university. From Montpellier, where he published his _Theorie elementaire de la botanique_ (1813), he removed to Geneva in 1816, and in the following year was invited by the now independent republic to fill the newly created chair of natural history. The rest of his life was spent in an attempt to elaborate and complete his "natural" system of botanical classification. The results of his labours in this department are to be found in his _Regni vegetabilis systema naturale_, of which two volumes only were completed (1821) when he found that it would be impossible for him to execute the whole work on so extensive a scale. Accordingly in 1824 he began a less extensive work of the same kind--his _Prodromus systematis regni vegetabilis_--but even of this he was able to finish only seven volumes, or two-thirds of the whole. He had been for several years in delicate health when he died on the 9th of September 1841 at Geneva.

His son, ALPHONSE LOUIS PIERRE PYRAME DE CANDOLLE, born at Paris on the 28th of October 1806, at first devoted himself to the study of law, but gradually drifted to botany and finally succeeded to his father's chair. He published a number of botanical works, including continuations of the _Prodromus_ in collaboration with his son, Anne Casimir Pyrame de Candolle. He died at Geneva on the 4th of April 1893.

CANDON, a town of South Ilocos province, Luzon, Philippine Islands, on the W. coast, about 200 m. N. by W. of Manila. Pop. (1903) 18,828. Its climate is hot, though healthy. Candon is surrounded by an extensive and fertile plain, and is defended by a small fort. Its inhabitants are noted for their honesty and industry, as well as for their regard for law and order. They carry on an extensive traffic with the wild tribes of the neighbouring mountains. Indigo is grown in considerable quantity, as are rice and tobacco. The weaving of blankets, handkerchiefs, and cotton and silk cloths constitutes quite an important industry. The language is Ilocanc.

CANDYTUFT (_Iberis amara_, so called from Iberia, i.e. Spain, where many species of the genus are native, and _amara_, bitter, i.e. in taste), a small annual herb (natural order Cruciferae) with white or purplish flowers, the outer petals of which are longer than the rest. It is a native of western Europe and found wild on dry soil in cultivated ground in the centre and east of England. This and several other species of the genus are known as garden plants, and are of easy culture in ordinary garden soil if well exposed to sun and air. The common candytuft of gardens is _I. umbellata_, a hardy annual, native of southern Europe, and known in a number of varieties differing in colour of flowers. _I. coronaria_ (rocket candytuft) has long dense heads of white flowers and is also an annual. Some species have a shrubby growth and are evergreen perennials; the best-known is _I. sempervirens_, a native of southern Europe, a much-branched plant about a foot high with long racemes of white flowers. _I. gibraltarica_ is a showy, handsome half hardy evergreen.

CANE, a name applied to many plants which have long, slender, reed-like stalks or stems, as, for example, the sugar-cane, the bamboo-cane or the reed-cane. From the use as walking-sticks to which many of these plants have been applied, the name "cane" is improperly given to sticks, irrespective of the source from which they are derived. Properly it should be restricted to a peculiar class of palms, known as rattans, included under the two closely allied genera _Calamus_ and _Daemonorops_, of which there are a large number of species. The plants are found widely extended throughout the islands of the Indian Archipelago, the Malay Peninsula, China, India and Ceylon; and also in Australia and Africa. They were described by Georg Eberhard Rumpf or Rumphius (1627-1702), governor of Amboyna, and author of the _Herbarium Amboynense_ (6 vols. folio, Amsterdam, 1741-1755), under the name of Palmijunci, as inhabitants of dense forests into which the rays of the sun scarce can penetrate, where they form spiny bushes, obstructing the passage through the jungle. The slender stems rarely exceed an inch in diameter and are generally much smaller. They creep or trail to an enormous length, often reaching 500 or 600 ft., and support themselves on trees or bushes by recurved spines borne on the stalk or back of the midrib of the leaf, or by stiff hooks replacing the upper leaflets. In some cases the midrib is elongated beyond the leaflets to form a long whip-like structure, bearing recurved hooks at intervals. The natives, in preparing the canes for the market, strip off the leaves by pulling the cut plant through a notch made in a tree. The canes always present distinct rings at the junction of the sheathing leaves with the stem. They assume a yellow colour as they dry; and those imported from Calcutta have a glossy surface, while the produce of the Eastern Archipelago presents a dull exterior.

Canes, on account of their lightness, length, strength and flexibility, are used for a great variety of purposes by the inhabitants of the countries in which they grow. Split into thin strips they are twisted to form ropes and ships' cables, an application mentioned by Captain Dampier in his _Voyages_. A more important application, however, is for basket-work, and for making chairs, couches, pillows, &c., as the great strength and durability of thin and easily prepared strips admit of such articles being made at once airy, strong and flexible. Much of the beautiful and elaborate basket-work of the Chinese and Japanese is made from thin strips of cane, which are also used by the Chinese for larger works, such as door-mats, houses and sheds.

A very large trade with Western countries and the United States is carried on in canes and rattans, the principal centres of the trade being Batavia, Sarawak, Singapore, Penang and Calcutta. In addition to the varieties used for walking-sticks, whip and umbrella handles, &c., the common rattans are in extensive demand for basket-making, the seats and backs of chairs, the ribs of cheap umbrellas, saddles and other harness-work; and generally for purposes where their strength and flexibility make them efficient substitutes for whalebone. The walking-stick "canes" of commerce include a great many varieties, some of which, however, are not the produce of trailing palms. The well-known Malacca canes are obtained from _Calamus Scipionum_, the stems of which are much stouter than is the case with the average species of _Calamus_.