(J. A. H.)
CARBORUNDUM,a silicide of carbon formed by the action of carbon on sand (silica) at high temperatures, which on account of its great hardness is an important abrasive, and also has possible applications in the metallurgy of iron and steel. Its name was derived fromcarbonandcorundum(a form of alumina), from a mistaken view as to its composition. It was first obtained accidentally in 1891 by Acheson in America, when he was experimenting with the electric furnace in the hope of producing artificial diamonds. The experiments were followed up in an incandescence furnace, which on a larger scale is now employed for the industrial manufacture of the product. A full description of the process has been given in theJourn. Soc. Chem. Industry, 1897, vol. xvi. p. 863. The furnace is rectangular, about 16 ft. long and 5 ft. wide by 5 ft. high, with massive brick end walls 2 ft. thick, through which are built the carbon poles, consisting of bundles of 60 parallel 3-in. carbon rods, each 3 ft. in length, with a copper rod let into the outer end to connect it with a copper cap, which in turn is connected with one of the terminals of the generating dynamo. The spaces between the carbons of the electrode are packed tightly with graphite. In preparing the furnace for use, transverse iron screens are placed temporarily across each end, the space between these and the end walls being rammed with fine coke, and that in the interior is filled to the level of the centre of the carbon poles with the charge, consisting of 34 parts of coke, with 54 of sand, 10 of sawdust and 2 of salt. A longitudinal trench is then formed in the middle, and in this is arranged a cylindrical pile of fragments of coke about ½ in. or more in diameter, so that they form a core, about 21 in. in diameter, connecting the carbon poles in the end walls. Temporary side walls are then built up, the iron screens are removed, and a further quantity of charge is heaped up about 3 ft. above the top of the furnace. An alternating current of about 1700 amperes at 190 volts is now switched on; as the mass becomes heated by the passage of the current the resistance diminishes, and the current is regulated until after about 2 hours or less from starting it is maintained constant at about 6000 amperes and 125 volts. Carbon monoxide is given off and burns freely around the sides and top of the furnace, tinged yellow after a time by the sodium in the salt mixed with the charge. Meanwhile a shrinkage takes place, which is made good by the addition of a further quantity of charge until the operation is complete, usually in about 36 hours from the commencement. The current is then switched off, and the side walls, after cooling for a day, are taken down, the comparatively unaltered charge from the top is removed, and the products are carefully extracted. These consist of the inner carbon core, which at the temperature of the furnace will have been for the most part converted into graphite, then a thin black crust of graphite mixed with carborundum, next a layer of nearly pure crystallized carborundum about a foot in thickness, then grey amorphous carbide of silicon mixed with increasing proportions of unaltered charge, and lastly, on the outside, the portion of the charge which had never reached the temperature necessary for reaction, and which is altered only by the intrusion of salt from the inner part of the furnace. Special precautions are taken in making and breaking the intense current here used (amounting at the end to about 750 kilowatts, or 1000 E.H.P.), a water-regulator consisting of removable iron plates dipped in salt water being used for the purpose. In such a furnace as that above described the charge weighs about 14 tons, the yield of carborundum is about 3 tons, and the expenditure of energy about 3.9 kilowatt-hours (5.2 H.P.-hours) per pound of finished product. The carborundum thus produced is crystalline, greenish, bluish or brownish in colour, sometimes opaque, but often translucent, resisting the action of even the strongest acids, and the action of air or of sulphur at high temperatures. The crude product can therefore be treated with hot sulphuric acid to purify it. In hardness it nearly equals the diamond, and it is used for tool-grinding in the form of vitrified wheels (mixed with powdered porcelain and iron, pressed into shape and fired in a kiln). Carborundum paper, made like emery paper, is now largely used in place of garnet paper in American shoe factories, and finds a market in other directions. The amorphous carbide, which was at first a waste product, has been tried, it is reported, with success as a lining for steel furnaces, as it is said not to be affected by iron or iron oxide at a white heat.
(W. G. M.)
CARBOY(from the Pers.qarābah, a flagon), a large globular glass vessel or bottle, encased in wicker or iron-work for protection, used chiefly for holding vitriol, nitric acid and other corrosive liquids.
CARBUNCLE(Lat.carbunculus, diminutive ofcarbo, a glowing coal), in mineralogy, a garnet (q.v.) cut with a convex surface. In medicine the name given to an acute local inflammation of the deeper layers of the skin, followed by sloughing. It is accompanied by great local tension and by constitutional disturbance, and in the early stages the pain is often extremely acute. A hard flattened swelling of a deep-red colour is noticed on the back, face or extremities. This gradually extends until in some instances it may become as large as a dinner-plate. Towards the centre of the mass numerous small openings form on the surface, from which blood and matter escape. Through these openings a yellow slough or “core” of leathery consistence can be seen. Carbuncle is an intense local inflammation caused by septic germs which have in some manner found their way to the part. It is particularly apt to occur in persons whose health is depressed by mental worries, or by such troubles as chronic disease of the kidneys or blood-vessels, or by diabetes. The attack ends in mortification of the affected tissue, and, after much suffering, the core or mortified part slowly comes away. The modern treatment consists in cutting into the inflamed area, scraping out the germ-laden core at the earliest possible moment, and applying germicides. This method relieves the pain at once, materially diminishes the risk of blood-poisoning, and hastens convalescence.
(E. O.*)
CARCAGÉNTE,orCarcajénte, a town of eastern Spain, in the province of Valencia; near the right bank of the river Júcar, at the junction between the Valencia-Murcia and Carcagénte-Denia railways. Pop. (1900) 12,262. Carcagénte is a picturesque town, of considerable antiquity. Various Roman remains have been found in its neighbourhood. It is surrounded by groves of orange, palm and mulberry trees, and contains many Moorish houses, whose old-fashioned blue-tiled cupolas contrast with the chimneys of the silk mills and linen factories opened in modern times. An important local industry is the cultivation of rice, for which the moist and warm climate of the low-lying Júcar valley is well suited.
CÁRCAR,a town of the province of Cebú, island of Cebú, Philippine Islands, on the Cárcar river near its mouth at the head of Cárcar Bay, 23 m. S.W. of Cebú, the capital. It is connected with Cebú by a railway, and a branch of this railway extending across the island to Barili and Dumanjug was projected in 1908. Cárcar has some coast trade. The surrounding countryis rugged, and produces Indian corn and sugar in considerable quantity. The language is Cebú-Visayan. Cárcar was founded in 1624.
CARCASS,the dead body of an animal. As a butcher’s term, the word means the body of an animal without the head, extremities and offal. It is also used of a hollow iron case filled with combustibles, and fired from a howitzer to set fire to buildings, ships, &c., the flames issuing through holes pierced in the sides. The word is common in various forms to Romanic languages, but the ultimate origin is obscure. Possible derivations are from the Lat.caro, flesh, and Ital.cassoorcassa, chest, or from a Med. Gr.ταρκάσιον, a quiver, for which the Fr. iscarquois, and Port.carcaz.
CARCASSONNE,a city of south-western France, capital of the department of Aude, 57 m. S.E. of Toulouse, on the Southern railway between that city and Narbonne. Pop. (1906) 25,346. Carcassonne is divided by the river Aude into two distinct towns, the Ville Basse and the Cité, which are connected by two bridges, one modern, the other dating from the 13th century. The Cité occupies the summit of an abrupt and isolated hill on the right bank of the river. Its dirty and irregular streets are inhabited by a scanty population of workpeople, and its interest lies mainly in its ancient fortifications (seeFortification and Siegecraft) which, for completeness and strength, are unique in France and probably in Europe. They consist of a double line of ramparts, of which the outer measures more than 1600 yds. in circumference. These are protected at frequent intervals by towers, and can be entered only by two gates, one to the east, the other to the west, both of which are themselves elaborately fortified (seeGate). In the interior, and to the north of the western gate, a citadel adjoins the fortifications. A portion of the inner line is attributed to the Visigoths of the 6th century; the rest, including the castle, seems to belong to the 11th or 12th century, while the outer circuit has been referred mainly to the end of the 13th. The old cathedral of St Nazaire dates from the 11th to the 14th centuries. The nave was begun in 1096 and is Romanesque in style; the transept and choir, which contain magnificent stained glass of the Renaissance period, are of Gothic architecture. Both the fortifications and the church were restored by Viollet-le-Duc between 1850 and 1880. On the left bank of the Aude, between it and the Canal du Midi, lies the new town, clean, well-built and flourishing, with streets intersecting each other at right angles. It is surrounded by boulevards occupying the site of its ramparts, and is well provided with fountains, public squares and gardens planted with fine plane-trees. The most interesting buildings are the cathedral of St Michel, dating from the 13th century but restored in modern times, and St Vincent, a church of the 14th century, remarkable for the width of its nave.
Carcassonne is the seat of a bishop, a prefect and a court of assizes, and has tribunals of first instance and of commerce, a chamber of commerce and a branch of the Bank of France. It also has a lycée for boys, training-colleges, theological seminaries, a library and a museum rich in paintings. The old cloth industry is almost extinct. The town is, however, an important wine-market, and the vineyards of the vicinity are the chief source of its prosperity, which is enhanced by its port on the Canal du Midi. Tanning and leather-dressing, distilling, the manufacture of agricultural implements, furniture and corks, cooperage and the preparation of preserved fruits, are prominent industries.
Carcassonne occupies the site ofCarcaso, an ancient city of Gallia Narbonensis, which belonged to the Volcae Tectosages. It was a place of some importance at the time of Caesar’s invasion, but makes almost no appearance in Roman history. On the disintegration of the empire, it fell into the hands of the Visigoths, who, in spite of the attacks of the Franks, especially in 585, retained possession till 724, when they were expelled by the Arabs, destined in turn to yield before long to Pippin the Short. From about 819 to 1082 Carcassonne formed a separate countship, and from the latter date till 1247 a viscountship. Towards the end of the 11th century the viscounts of Carcassonne assumed the style of viscounts of Béziers, which town and its lords they had dominated since the fall of the Carolingian empire. The viscounty of Carcassonne, together with that of Béziers, was confiscated to the crown in 1247, as a result of the part played by the viscount Raymond Roger against Simon de Montfort in the Albigensian crusade, during which in 1209 the city was taken by the Crusaders (seeAlbigenses). A revolt of the city against the royal authority was severely punished in 1262 by the expulsion of its principal inhabitants, who were, however, permitted to take up their quarters on the other side of the river. This was the origin of the new town, which was fortified in 1347. During the religious wars, Carcassonne several times changed hands, and it did not recognize Henry IV. till 1596.
See E.E. Viollet-le-Duc,La Cité de Carcassonne(Paris, 1858); L. Fédié,Histoire de Carcassonne(Carcassonne, 1887).
See E.E. Viollet-le-Duc,La Cité de Carcassonne(Paris, 1858); L. Fédié,Histoire de Carcassonne(Carcassonne, 1887).
CARDAMOM,the fruit of several plants of the generaElettariaandAmomum, belonging to the natural order Zingiberaceae, the principal of which isElettaria Cardamomum, from which the true officinal or Malabar cardamom is derived. The Malabar cardamom plant is a large perennial herb with a thick fleshy root-stock, which sends up flowering stems, 6 to 12 ft. high. The large leaves are arranged in two rows, have very long sheaths enveloping the stem and a lanceolate spreading blade 1 to 2½ ft. long. The fruit is an ovate-triangular, three-celled, three-valved capsule (about1⁄5in. long, of a dirty yellow colour) enclosing numerous angular seeds, which form the valuable part of the plant. It is a native of the mountainous parts of the Malabar coast of India, and the fruits are procured either from wild plants or by cultivation throughout Travancore, western Mysore, and along the western Ghauts. A cardamom of much larger size found growing in Ceylon was formerly regarded as belonging to a distinct species, and described as such under the name ofElettaria major; but it is now known to be only a variety of the Malabar cardamom. In commerce, several varieties are distinguished according to their size and flavour. The most esteemed are known as “shorts,” a name given to such capsules as are from a quarter to half an inch long and about a quarter broad. Following these come “short-longs” and “long-longs,” also distinguished by their size, the largest reaching to about an inch in length. The Ceylon cardamom attains a length of an inch and a half and is about a third of an inch broad, with a brownish pericarp and a distinct aromatic odour. Among the other plants, the fruits of which pass in commerce as cardamoms, are the round or cluster cardamom,Amomum Cardamomum, a native of Siam and Java; the bastard cardamom of Siam,A. xanthioides—the Bengal cardamom, which is the fruit ofA. subulatum, a native of Nepal; the Java cardamom, produced byA. maximum; and the Korarima cardamom of Somaliland. The last-named is the product of a plant which is unknown botanically. Cardamoms generally are possessed of a pleasant aromatic odour, and an agreeable, spicy taste. On account of their flavour they are much used with other medicines, and they form a principal ingredient in curries and compounded spices. In the north of Europe they are much used as a spice and flavouring material for cakes and liqueurs; and they are very extensively employed in the East for chewing with betel, &c.
CARDAN[Ital.Cardano],GIROLAMO[GeronymoorHieronimo] (1501-1576), Italian mathematician, physician and astrologer, born at Pavia on the 24th of September 1501, was the illegitimate son of Facio Cardano (1444-1524), a learned jurist of Milan, himself distinguished by a taste for mathematics. He was educated at the university of Pavia, and subsequently at that of Padua, where he graduated in medicine. He was, however, excluded from the College of Physicians at Milan on account of his illegitimate birth, and it is not surprising that his first book should have been an exposure of the fallacies of the faculty. A fortunate cure of the child of the Milanese senator Sfondrato now brought him into notice, and the interest of his patron procured him admission into the medical body. About this time (1539) he obtained additional celebrity by the publication of hisPractica arithmeticae generalis, a work of great meritfor the time, and he became engaged in a correspondence with Niccolo Tartaglia, who had discovered a solution of cubic equations. This discovery Tartaglia had kept to himself, but he was ultimately induced to communicate it to Cardan under a solemn promise that it should never be divulged. Cardan, however, published it in his comprehensive treatise on algebra (Artis magnae sive de regulis Algebrae liber unus) which appeared at Nuremberg in 1545 (seeAlgebra:History). Two years previously he had published a work even more highly regarded by his contemporaries, his celebrated treatise on astrology. As a believer in astrology Cardan was on a level with the best minds of his age; the distinction consisted in the comparatively cautious spirit of his inquiries and his disposition to confirm his assertions by an appeal to facts, or what he believed to be such. A very considerable part of his treatise is based upon observations carefully collected by himself, and seemingly well calculated to support his theories so far as they extend. Numerous instances of his belief in dreams and omens may be collected from his writings, and he especially valued himself on being one of the five or six celebrated men to whom, as to Socrates, had been vouchsafed the assistance of a guardian daemon.
In 1547 he was appointed professor of medicine at Pavia. The publication of his works on algebra and astrology at this juncture had gained for him a European renown, and procured him flattering offers from Pope Paul III. and the king of Denmark, both of which he declined. In 1551 his reputation was crowned by the publication of his great work,De Subtilitate Rerum, which embodied the soundest physical learning of his time and simultaneously represented its most advanced spirit of speculation. It was followed some years later by a similar treatise,De Varietate Rerum(1557), the two making in effect but one book. A great portion of this is occupied by endeavours, commonly futile, to explain ordinary natural phenomena, but its chief interest for us consists in the hints and glimpses it affords of principles beyond the full comprehension of the writer himself, and which the world was then by no means ready to entertain. The inorganic realm of Nature he asserts to be animated no less than the organic; all creation is progressive development; all animals were originally worms; the inferior metals must be regarded asconatus naturaetowards the production of gold. The indefinite variability of species is implied in the remark that Nature is seldom content with a single variation from a customary type. The oviparous habits of birds are explained by their tendency to favour the perpetuation of the species, precisely in the manner of modern naturalists. Animals were not created for the use of man, but exist for their own sakes. The origin of life depends upon cosmic laws, which Cardan naturally connects with his favourite study of astrology. The physical divergencies of mankind arise from the effects of climate and the variety of human circumstances in general. Cardan’s views on the dissimilarity of languages are much more philosophical than usual at his time; and his treatise altogether, though weak in particular details, is strong in its pervading sense of the unity and omnipotence of natural law, which renders it in some degree an adumbration of the course of science since the author’s day. It was attacked by J.C. Scaliger, whom Cardan refuted without difficulty.
The celebrity which Cardan had acquired led in the same year (1551) to his journey to Scotland as the medical adviser of Archbishop Hamilton of St Andrews. The archbishop was supposed to be suffering from consumption, a complaint which Cardan, under a false impression, as he frankly admits, had represented himself as competent to cure. He was of great service to the archbishop, whose complaint proved to be asthmatical; but the principal interest attaching to his expedition is derived from his account of the disputes of the medical faculty at Paris, and of the court of Edward VI. of England. The Parisian doctors were disturbed by the heresies of Vesalius, who was beginning to introduce anatomical study from the human subject. Cardan’s liberality of temper led him to sympathize with the innovator. His account of Edward VI.’s disposition and understanding is extremely favourable, and is entitled to credit as that of a competent observer without bias towards either side of the religious question. He cast the king’s nativity, and indulged in a number of predictions which were effectually confuted by the royal youth’s death in the following year.
Cardan had now attained the summit of his prosperity, and the rest of his life was little but a series of disasters. His principal misfortunes arose from the crimes and calamities of his sons, one of whom was an utter reprobate, while the tragic fate of the other overwhelmed the father with anguish. This son, Giovanni Battista, also a physician, had contracted an imprudent marriage with a girl of indifferent character, Brandonia Seroni, who subsequently proved unfaithful to him. The injured husband revenged himself with poison; the deed was detected, and the exceptional severity of the punishment seems to justify Cardan in attributing it to the rancour of his medical rivals, with whom he had never at any time been on good terms. The blow all but crushed him; his reputation and his practice waned; he addicted himself to gaming, a vice to which he had always been prone; his mind became unhinged and filled with distempered imaginations. He was ultimately banished from Milan on some accusation not specified, and although the decree was ultimately rescinded, he found it advisable to accept a professorship at Bologna (1562). While residing there in moderate comfort, and mainly occupied with the composition of supplements to his former works, he was suddenly arrested on a charge not stated, but in all probability heresy. Though he had always been careful to keep on terms with the Church, the bent of his mind had been palpably towards free thought, and the circumstance had probably attracted the attention of Pius V., who then ruled the Church in the spirit, as he had formerly exercised the functions, of an inquisitor. Through the intercession, as would appear, of some influential cardinals, Cardan was released, but was deprived of his professorship, prohibited from teaching and publishing any further, and removed to Rome, where he spent his remaining years in receipt of a pension from the pope. It seems to have been urged in his favour that his intellect had been disturbed by grief for the loss of his son—an assertion to which his frequent hallucinations lent some countenance, though the existence of any serious derangement is disproved by the lucidity and coherence of his last writings. He occupied his time at Rome in the composition of his commentaries,De Vita Propria, which, along with a companion treatise,De Libris Propriis, is our principal authority for his biography. Though he had burned much, he left behind him more than a hundred MSS., not twenty of which have been printed. He died at Rome on the 21st of September 1576.
Alike intellectually and morally, Cardan is one of the most interesting personages connected with the revival of science in Europe. He had no especial bent towards any scientific pursuit, but appears as the man of versatile ability, delighting in research for its own sake. He possessed the true scientific spirit in perfection; nothing, he tells us, among the king of France’s treasures appeared to him so worthy of admiration as a certain natural curiosity which he took for the horn of a unicorn. It has been injurious to his fame to have been compelled to labour, partly in fields of research where no important discovery was then attainable, partly in those where his discoveries could only serve as the stepping-stones to others, by which they were inevitably eclipsed. His medical career serves as an illustration of the former case, and his mathematical of the latter. His medical knowledge was wholly empirical; restrained by the authority of Galen, and debarred from the practice of anatomy, nothing more could be expected than that he should stumble on some fortunate nostrums. As a mathematician, on the other hand, he effected important advances in science, but such as merely paved the way for discoveries which have obscured his own. From his astrology no results could be expected; but even here the scientific character of his mind is displayed in his common-sense treatment of what usually passed for a mystical and occult study. His prognostications are as strictly empirical as his prescriptions, and rest quite as much upon the observations which he supposed himself to have made in his practice. As frequently is the case with men incapable of rightly orderingtheir own lives, he is full of wisdom and sound advice for others; his ethical precepts and practical rules are frequently excellent. To complete the catalogue of his accomplishments, he is no contemptible poet.
The work of Cardan’s, however, which retains most interest for this generation is his autobiography,De Vita Propria. In its clearness and frankness of self-revelation this book stands almost alone among records of its class. It may be compared with the autobiography of another celebrated Italian of the age, Benvenuto Cellini, but is much more free from vanity and self-consciousness, unless the extreme candour with which Cardan reveals his own errors is to be regarded as vanity in a more subtle form. The general impression is highly favourable to the writer, whose impetuosity and fits of reckless dissipation appear as mere exaggerations of the warmth of heart which imparted such strength to his domestic affections, and in the region of science imparted that passionate devotion to research which could alone have enabled him to persevere so resolutely and effect such marked advances in such multifarious fields of inquiry.
Cardan’s autobiography has been most ably condensed, and at the same time supplemented by information from the general body of his writings and other sources, by Henry Morley (Jerome Cardan, 1854, 2 vols). His capital treatises,De SubtilitateandDe Varietate Rerum, are combined and fully analysed in vol. ii. of Rixner and Siber’sLeben und Lehrmeinungen berühmter Physiker am Ende des xvi. und am Anfange des xvii. Jahrhunderts(Sulzbach, 1820). Cardan’s works were edited in ten volumes by Sponius (Lyons, 1663). A biography was prefixed by Gabriel Naudé, whose unreasonable depreciation has unduly lowered Cardan’s character with posterity.
Cardan’s autobiography has been most ably condensed, and at the same time supplemented by information from the general body of his writings and other sources, by Henry Morley (Jerome Cardan, 1854, 2 vols). His capital treatises,De SubtilitateandDe Varietate Rerum, are combined and fully analysed in vol. ii. of Rixner and Siber’sLeben und Lehrmeinungen berühmter Physiker am Ende des xvi. und am Anfange des xvii. Jahrhunderts(Sulzbach, 1820). Cardan’s works were edited in ten volumes by Sponius (Lyons, 1663). A biography was prefixed by Gabriel Naudé, whose unreasonable depreciation has unduly lowered Cardan’s character with posterity.
(R. G.)
CÁRDENAS(San Juan de Dios de Cárdenas), a maritime town of Cuba, in Matanzas province, about 75 m. E. of Havana, on the level and somewhat marshy shore of a spacious bay of the northern coast of the island, sheltered by a long promontory. Pop. (1907) 24,280. It has railway communication with the trunk railway of the island, and communicates by regular steamers with all the coast towns. The city lies between the sea and hills. There are broad streets, various squares (including the Plaza de Colón, with a bronze statue of Columbus given to the city by Queen Isabel II. and erected in 1862) and substantial business buildings. Cárdenas is one of the principal sugar-exporting towns of Cuba. The shallowness of the harbour necessitates lighterage and repeated loading of cargoes. The surrounding region is famed for its fertility. A large quantity of asphalt has been taken from the bed of the harbour. A flow of fresh water from the bed of the harbour is another peculiar feature; it comes presumably from the outlets of subterranean rivers. There is a large United States business element, which has been, indeed, prominent in the city ever since its foundation. At El Varadero, on a peninsula at the mouth of the bay, there is fine sea-bathing on a long beach, and El Varadero is a winter resort. Cárdenas was founded in 1828, and in 1861 already had 12,910 inhabitants. In 1850 General Narciso Lopez landed here on a filibustering expedition, and held the town for a few hours, abandoning it when he saw that the people would not rise to support him in his efforts to secure Cuban independence. On the 11th of May 1898 an American torpedo-boat and revenue cutter here attacked three Spanish gun-boats, and Ensign Worth Bagley (1874-1898) was killed—the first American naval officer to lose his life in the Spanish-American War.
CARDIFF,a city, municipal, county and parliamentary borough, seaport and market-town, and the county town of Glamorganshire, South Wales, situated on the Taff, 1 m. above its outflow, 145¼ m. from London by the Great Western railway via Badminton, 40½ m. W. of Bristol and 45½ m. E.S.E. of Swansea. Cardiff is also the terminus of both the Taff Vale and the Rhymney railways, the latter affording the London & North-Western railway access to the town. The Barry line from Barry dock joins the Great Western and Taff Vale railways at Cardiff, and the Cardiff Railway Company (which owns all the docks) has a line from Pontypridd via Llanishen to the docks. The Glamorganshire canal, opened in 1794, runs from Cardiff to Merthyr Tydfil, with a branch to Aberdare. The increase of the population of Cardiff during the 19th century was phenomenal; from 1870 inhabitants in 1801, and 6187 in 1831 it grew to 32,954 in 1861. The borough, which originally comprised only the parishes of St John’s and St Mary’s, was in 1875 and 1895 extended so as to include Roath and a large part of Llandaff, known as Canton, on the right of the Taff. The whole area was united as one civil parish in 1903, and the population in 1901 was 164,333, of whom only about 8% spoke Welsh.
Probably no town in the kingdom has a nobler group of public buildings than those in Cathays Park, which also commands a view of the castle ramparts and the old keep. On opposite sides of a fine avenue are the assize courts and new town hall (with municipal offices), which are both in the Renaissance style. The Glamorgan county council has also a site of one acre in the park for offices.
The University College of South Wales and Monmouthshire, founded in 1883, under the principalship of J. Viriamu Jones, for some time carried on its work in temporary buildings, pending the erection of the commodious and imposing building from the plans of Mr W.D. Caröe, in Cathays Park, where the registry of the university of Wales (of which the college is a constituent) is also situated. The Drapers’ Company has given £15,500 towards building a library, in addition to previous donations to the engineering department and the scholarship fund of the college. The college has departments for arts, pure and applied science and technology, medicine, public health, music, and for the training of men and women teachers for elementary and secondary schools. Its library includes the Salesbury collection of books relating to Wales. Aberdare Hall is a hostel for the women students. The Baptist theological college of Pontypool was removed to Cardiff in 1895.
The public library and museum were founded in 1863, but in 1882 were removed to a new building which was enlarged in 1896. The library is especially rich in books and MSS. relating to Wales and in Celtic literature generally. These comprise the Welsh portion of the MSS. which belonged to Sir Thomas Phillipps of Middlehill (including the Book of Aneurin—one of the “Four ancient books of Wales”), purchased for £3500. A catalogue of the printed books in the Welsh department, which soon became a standard work of reference, was published in 1898, while a calendar of the Welsh MSS. was issued by the Historical MSS. Commission in 1903. There are six branch libraries, while a scheme of school libraries has been in operation since 1899. The chief features of the museum are collections of the fossils, birds and flora of Wales and of obsolete Welsh domestic appliances, casts of the pre-Norman monuments of Wales, and reproductions of metal and ivory work illustrating various periods of art and civilization. There is also a unique collection of Swansea and Nantgarw china. The fine arts department contains twenty-seven oil paintings by modern English and continental artists bequeathed by William Menelaus of Dowlais in 1883, the Pyke-Thompson collection of about 100 water-colour paintings presented in 1899, and some 3000 prints and drawings relating to Wales. In 1905 Cardiff was selected by a privy council committee to be the site of a state-aided national museum for Wales, the whole contents of the museum and art gallery, together with a site in Cathays Park, having been offered by the corporation for the purpose. A charter providing for its government was granted on the 19th of March 1907. In Cathays Park there is also a “gorsedd” or bardic circle of huge monoliths erected in connexion with the eisteddfod of 1899.
The other public buildings of the town include the infirmary founded in 1837, the present buildings being erected in 1883, and subsequently enlarged; the sanatorium, the seamen’s hospital, the South Wales Institute of Mining Engineers (which has a library) built in 1894, the exchange, an institute for the blind, a school for the deaf and dumb, and one of the two prisons for the county (the other being at Swansea). There are a technical school, an intermediate school for boys and another for girls, a “higher-grade” and a pupil teachers’ school. A musical festival is held triennially.
In the business part the buildings are also for the most part imposing and the thoroughfares spacious, while the chiefsuburban streets are planted with trees. The Taff is spanned by two bridges, one a four-arched bridge rebuilt in 1858-1859 leading to Llandaff, and the other a cantilever with a central swinging span of 190 ft. 8 in.
In virtue of its being the shire-town, Cardiff acquired in 1535 the right to send one representative to parliament, which it did until 1832, from which date Cowbridge and Llantrisant have been joined with it as contributory boroughs returning one member. The great sessions for the county were during their whole existence from 1542 to 1830 held at Cardiff, but the assizes (which replaced them) have since then been held at Swansea and Cardiff alternately, as also are the quarter sessions for Glamorgan. The borough has a separate commission of the peace, having a stipendiary magistrate since 1858. It was granted a separate court of quarter sessions in 1890, it was constituted a county borough in 1888, and, by letters patent dated the 28th of October 1905, it was created a city and the dignity of lord mayor conferred on its chief magistrate. The corporation consists of ten aldermen and thirty councillors, and the area of the municipal borough is 8408 acres.
Under powers secured in 1884, the town obtains its chief water supply from a gathering ground near the sources of the Taff on the old red sandstone beyond the northern out-crop of the mineral basin and on the southern slopes of the Brecknock Beacons. Here two reservoirs of a combined capacity of 668 million gallons have been constructed, and a conduit some 36 m. long laid to Cardiff at a total cost of about £1,250,000. A third reservoir is authorized. A gas company, first incorporated in 1837, supplies the city as well as Llandaff and Penarth with gas, but the corporation also supplies electric power both for lighting and working the tramways, which were purchased from a private company in 1898. The city owned in 1905 about 290 acres of parks and “open spaces,” the chief being Roath Park of 100 acres (including a botanical garden of 15 acres), Llandaff fields of 70 acres, and Cathays Park of 60 acres, which was acquired in 1900 mainly with the view of placing in it the chief public buildings of the town.
Commerce and Industries.—Edward II.’s charter of 1324 indicates that Cardiff had become even then a trading and shipping centre of some importance. It enjoyed a brief existence as a staple town from 1327 to 1332. During the reigns of Elizabeth and James I. it was notorious as a resort of pirates, while some of the ironfounders of the district were suspected of secretly supplying Spain with ordnance. It was for centuries a “head port,” its limits extending from Chepstow to Llanelly; in the 18th century it sank to the position of “a creek” of the port of Bristol, but about 1840 it was made independent, its limits for customs’ purposes being defined as from the Rumney estuary to Nash Point, so that technically the “port of Cardiff” includes Barry and Penarth as well as Cardiff proper. Down to the end of the 18th century there was only a primitive quay on the river side for shipping purposes. Coal was brought down from the hills on the backs of mules, and iron carried in two-ton wagons. In 1798 the first dock (12 acres in extent) was constructed at the terminus of the Glamorgan canal from Merthyr. The commercial greatness of Cardiff is due to the vast coal and iron deposits of the country drained by the Taff and Rhymney, between whose outlets the town is situated. But a great impetus to its development was given by the 2nd marquess of Bute, who has often been described as the second founder of Cardiff. In 1830 he obtained the first act for the construction of a dock which (now known as the West Bute dock) was opened in 1839 and measures (with its basin) 19½ acres. The opening of the Taff Vale railway in 1840 and of the South Wales railway to Cardiff in 1850 necessitated further accommodation, and the trustees of the marquess (who died in 1848) began in 1851 and opened in 1855 the East Bute dock and basin measuring 46¼ acres. The Rhymney railway to Cardiff was completed in 1858 and the trade of the port so vastly increased that the shipment of coal and coke went up from 4562 tons in 1839 to 1,796,000 tons in 1860. In 1864 the Bute trustees unsuccessfully sought powers for constructing three additional docks to cost two millions sterling, but under the more limited powers granted in 1866, the Roath basin (12 acres) was opened in 1874, and (under a substituted act of 1882) the Roath dock (33 acres) was opened in 1887. All these docks were constructed by the Bute family at a cost approaching three millions sterling. Still they fell far short of the requirements of the district for in 1865 the Taff Vale Railway Company opened a dock of 26 acres under the headland at Penarth, while in 1884 a group of colliery owners, dissatisfied with their treatment at Cardiff, obtained powers to construct docks at Barry which are now 114 acres in extent. The Bute trustees in 1885 acquired the Glamorgan canal and its dock, and in the following year obtained an act for vesting their various docks and the canal in a company now known as the Cardiff Railway Company. The South Bute dock of 50½ acres, authorized in 1894 and capable of accommodating the largest vessels afloat, was opened in 1907, bringing the whole dock area of Cardiff (including timber ponds) to about 210 acres. There are also ten private graving and floating docks and one public graving dock. There is ample equipment of fixed and movable staiths and cranes of various sizes up to 70 tons, the Lewis-Hunter patent cranes being largely used for shipping coal owing to their minimizing the breakage of coal and securing its even distribution. The landing of foreign cattle is permitted by the Board of Trade, and there are cattle lairs and abattoirs near the Cardiff wharf. The total exports of the Cardiff docks in 1906 amounted to 8,767,502 tons, of which 8,433,629 tons were coal, coke and patent fuel, 151,912 were iron and steel and their manufactures, and 181,076 tons of general merchandise. What Cardiff lacks is a corresponding import trade, for its imports in 1906 amounted to only 2,108,133 tons, of which the chief items were iron ore (895,610 tons), pit-wood (303,407), grain and flour (298,197). Taking “the port of Cardiff” in its technical sense as including Barry and Penarth, it is the first port in the kingdom for shipping cleared to foreign countries and British possessions, second in the kingdom for its timber imports, and first in the world for shipment of coal.
The east moors, stretching towards the outlet of the Rhymney river, have become an important metallurgical quarter. Copper works were established here in 1866, followed long after by tin-stamping and enamel works. In 1888 the Dowlais Iron Company (now Messrs Guest, Keen & Nettlefold, Ltd.) acquired here some ninety acres on which were built four blast furnaces and six Siemens’ smelting furnaces. There are also in the city several large grain mills and breweries, a biscuit factory, wire and hemp roperies, fuel works, general foundries and engineering works. At Ely, 3½ m. out of Cardiff, there are also breweries, a small tin works and large paper works. The newspapers of Cardiff include two weeklies, theCardiff TimesandWeekly Mail, founded in 1857 and 1870 respectively, two morning dailies, theSouth Wales Daily NewsandWestern Mail, established in 1872 and 1869 respectively, and two evening dailies.
History and Historic Buildings.—In documents of the first half of the 12th century the name is variously spelt asKairdif,CairtiandKardid. The Welsh form of the name, Caerdydd (pronounced Caerdeeth, with the accent on the second syllable) suggests that the name means “the fort of (Aulus?) Didius,” rather than Caer Dâf (“the fortress on the Taff”), which is nowhere found (except in Leland), though Caer Dyv once existed as a variant. No traces have been found of any pre-Roman settlement at Cardiff. Excavations carried out by the marquess of Bute from 1889 onward furnished for the first time conclusive proof that Cardiff had been a Roman station, and also revealed the sequence of changes which it had subsequently undergone. There was first, on the site occupied by the present castle, a camp of about ten acres, probably constructed after the conquest of the Siluresa.d.75-77, so as to command the passage of the Taff, which was here crossed by the Via Maritima running from Gloucester to St David’s. In later Roman times there were added a series of polygonal bastions, of the type found at Caerwent. To this period also belongs the massive rampart, over 10 ft. thick, and the north gateway, one of the most perfect Roman gateways in Great Britain. After the departure of the Romans the walls became ruinous or were partly pulled down,perhaps by sea rovers from the north. In this period of anarchy the native princes of Glamorgan had their principal demesne, not at the camp but a mile to the north at Llystalybont, now merely a thatched farmhouse, while some Saxon invaders threw up within the camp a large moated mound on which the Normans about the beginning of the 12th century built the great shell-keep which is practically all that remains of their original castle. Its builder was probably Robert, earl of Gloucester, who also built Bristol castle. Then or possibly even earlier the old rampart was for two-thirds of its circuit buried under enormous earthworks, the remainder being rebuilt. It was in the keep, and not, as tradition says, in the much later “Black Tower” (also called “Duke Robert’s Tower”), that Robert, duke of Normandy, was imprisoned by order of his brother Henry I. from 1108 until his death in 1134. Considerable additions of later date, in the Decorated and Perpendicular styles, are due to the Despensers and to Beauchamp, earl of Warwick, while the present residential part is of various dates ranging from the 15th century down to the last half of the 19th, when a thorough restoration, including the addition of a superbly ornamented clock-tower, was carried out. The original ditch, about 20 yds. wide, still exists on three sides, but it is now converted into a “feeder” for the docks and canal. Geoffrey of Monmouth was at one time chaplain of the castle, where he probably wrote some of his works. The scene of the “sparrow-hawk” tournament, described inGeraint and Enid, one of the Arthurian romances, is laid at Cardiff.
On the conquest of the district by the Normans under Fitz Hamon, Cardiff became the caput of the seigniory of Glamorgan, and the castle the residence of its lords. The castle and lordship descended by heirship, male and female, through the families of De Clare, Despenser, Beauchamp and Neville to Richard III., on whose fall they escheated to the Crown, and were granted later, first to Jasper Tudor, and finally by Edward VI. in 1550 to Sir William Herbert, afterwards created Baron Herbert of Cardiff and earl of Pembroke. Through the daughter and grand-daughter of the 7th earl the castle and estates became the property of the 1st marquess of Bute (who was created Baron Cardiff in 1776), to whose direct descendant they now belong.
The town received its earliest known grant of municipal privileges sometime before 1147 from Fitz Hamon’s successor and son-in-law Robert, earl of Gloucester. In 1284 the inhabitants petitioned the burgesses of Hereford for a certified copy of the customs of the latter town, and these furnished a model for the later demands of the growing community at Cardiff from its lords, while Cardiff in turn furnished the model for the Glamorgan towns such as Neath and Kenfig. In 1324 Edward II. granted a number of exemptions to Cardiff and other towns in South Wales, and this grant was confirmed by Edward III. in 1359, Henry IV. in 1400, Henry VI. in 1452, and Edward IV. in 1465.
Its most important early charter was that granted in 1340 by Hugh le Despenser, whereby the burgesses acquired the right to nominate persons from whom the constable of the castle should select a bailiff and other officers, two ancient fairs, held on the 29th of June and 19th of September, were confirmed, and extensive trading privileges were granted, including the right to form a merchant gild. A charter granted in 1421 by Richard de Beauchamp provided that the town should be governed by twelve elected aldermen, but that the constable of the castle should be mayor. In 1581 Queen Elizabeth granted a confirmatory charter to the mayor and bailiffs direct without reference to the lord of the castle. The town was treated as a borough by prescription until 1608, when James I. confirmed its status by express incorporation, adding also to its rights of self-government, and granting it a third fair (on the 30th of November). In 1687 the town surrendered this charter to James II., who in a substituted one, which, however, was never acted upon, reserved to the Crown the right of removing any member of the corporation from office. The first step towards the modern improvement of the town was taken in 1774, when a special act was obtained for the purpose. Nineteen private acts and provisional orders were obtained during the 19th century.
Among the many early English kings who visited or passed through Cardiff was Henry II., on whom in 1171, outside St Piran’s chapel (which has long since disappeared), was urged the duty of Sunday observance. About 1153, Ivor Bâch (or the Little), a neighbouring Welsh chieftain, seized the castle and for a time held William, earl of Gloucester, and the countess prisoners in the hills. In 1404 Owen Glendower burnt the town, except the quarters of the Friars Minors. In 1645, after the battle of Naseby, Charles I. visited the town, which until then had been mainly Royalist, but about a month later was taken by the Parliamentarians. In 1648, a week after the Royalists had been decisively defeated by Colonel Horton at St Fagan’s, 4 m. west of Cardiff, Cromwell passed through the town on his way to Pembroke.
Outside the north-west angle of the castle, Richard de Clare in 1256 founded a Dominican priory, which was burnt by Glendower in 1404. Though rebuilt, the building fell into decay after the Dissolution. The site was excavated in 1887. Outside the north-east angle a Franciscan friary was founded in 1280 by Gilbert de Clare, which at the Dissolution became the residence of a branch of the Herbert family. Its site was explored in 1896. The only other building of historic interest is the church of St John the Baptist, which is in the Perpendicular style, its fine tower having been built about 1443 by Hart, who also built the towers of Wrexham and St Stephen’s, Bristol. In the Herbert chapel is a fine altar tomb of two brothers of the family. A sculptured stone reredos by W. Goscombe John was erected in 1896. The original church of St Mary’s, at the mouth of the river, was swept away by a tidal wave in 1607: Wordsworth took this as a subject for a sonnet.
In 1555 Rawlins White, a fisherman, was burnt at Cardiff for his Protestantism, and in 1679 two Catholic priests were executed for recusancy. Cardiff was the birthplace of Christopher Love (b. 1618), Puritan author, and of William Erbury, sometime vicar of St Mary’s in the town, who, with his curate, Walter Cradock, were among the founders of Welsh nonconformity.